Morris Men, Stealing Sheep, And An Apparition
A fabulous music video for the song Apparition by Stealing Sheep featuring the Abingdon Traditional Morris Side and the Oxford City Morris Men. I’ve got some history with Abingdon Traditional Morris having photographed them on one or two occasions before (Mayor’s Day 2011, Mayor’s Day 2012, and the Abingdon Extravaganza) and from having a wife and a best friend, both of whom are cousins of one of the dancers (the bearded one you can see stepping over the broom at the start of the video). The song is great and it’s made greater by the video which is wonderfully choreographed and expertly directed by Dougal Wilson with some lovely effects and a fantastic attempt to feel like a one-take video, without actually being one. Extra points go to the band for learning some of the steps too. Stealing Sheep is Rebecca Hawley, Emily Lansley, and Lucy Mercer. Their sound in general and the sound in particular for this song fits perfectly with this video. Quirky is the...
Movies I’ve Made My Wife Watch
Over twenty years ago, in the period before I met the woman who would soon move in with me and much later become my wife, I used to watch movies quite a lot. This was the golden age of VHS video and small video shops with quality making way for quantity meaning there was a neverending stream of films to rent of every genre imaginable. Some were great, some were appalling, some were both great and appalling. In the period since I met my now-wife I have introduced her to some of these films as they’ve sprung to mind or I’ve accidentally rediscovered them somehow. I love all these films for their nostalgia factor or because I genuinely think they’re fabulous. My wife does not always share my opinion despite repeated attempts to change her mind. Cry Baby My wife – being a woman with eyes – already had a bit of a thing for Johnny Depp. Thus, she had no problems at all agreeing to watch Cry Baby and there was no need for The Restraining Device. This, along with Hairspray, formed my introduction to my wife of the wonderful world of John Waters. Is there a more enigmatic film director on the planet? There is not. The film is a great 1950s-style musical with great songs and wonderful cast. “Look!” I said to my wife. “That’s Traci Lords.” “Should I know her?” she asked. “Er.” “Where do you know her from?” “Er.” Wife’s review: So good. John Waters can do no wrong. The Beastmaster My wife describes this fantastic fantasy adventure (my words; not hers) as my “Hawk the Slayer”, meaning I feel about The Beastmaster in the same way she feels about Hawk the Slayer; she has fond memories of the latter while accepting its many flaws and assumes I feel the same way about the former. I do not feel that way, though. She is wrong. It has Marc Singer, witchcraft, human sacrifice, Rip Torn, scary leathery bird things, and ferrets. That’s the sort of pedigree you won’t find anywhere else. The Beastmaster shits all over Hawk the Slayer. That’s all you need to know. Note: under no circumstances ever watch Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time. Just. Don’t. I’m not kidding. Wife’s review: It’s nice that you like it but it’s not very good. Running Scared Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines. Cops. Sick and tired of getting nowhere with the criminal elements of Chicago they decide to retire to Miami. They’ve just got to survive the homicidal tendencies of Jimmy Smits and a montage to the sound of Sweet Freedom by Michael McDonald....
Californian Water
Source: What does California have in common with a decades-old Saudi Arabian water mystery? An interesting and worrying comparison on the misuse of water in Saudi Arabia in the 1970s and misuse of water in California today. Saudi Arabia: The government announced next year’s wheat harvest will be the country’s last. The Saudis are drinking desalinated water from the ocean — a process too expensive to use for irrigating farmland. Agricultural production is in a free fall. The country has less than half the farmland it did in the mid-1990s, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Its fling as a major food exporter was nothing but a brief mirage in its long history. Instead, the government announced that to feed its 30 million people, it will rely almost entirely on crops imported from other countries. California: For the past two years, stories similar to Saudi Arabia’s have been bubbling up in the Central Valley, which produces about 10 percent of America’s agriculture. Wells are going dry, farmers are forced to chase water ever deeper underground, and the ground is sinking. […] Some California aquifers have been so depleted by irrigated farmland that the state is now pumping water that trickled down more than 20,000 years ago. Rainwater won’t recharge these ancient aquifers. When it’s gone, it’s gone — at least for the next 800 generations or...
False Widow Spider Invasion
We are duly informed that Experts warn ‘invasion’ of false widow spiders likely in coming weeks! Invasion is, of course, in quotes, because spiders don’t typically plan these sorts of things. Anyway… as a person somewhat afeared of arachnids this story compels me to read this because forewarned is foreterrifiedofeverylittlebitofdarkfluffinthehousefromnowon as they say. Sightings of spiders often peak from September as males of many species reach adulthood and venture into homes in search of a mate, but we could be seeing a lot more of them than normal over the next month or two. Clive Boase Oh no! More than usual! Why? Why! Well, change in climate is one reason, and the fact that there are just more of them and they’re coming over here taking all our native spiders’ jobs is quite possibly the other one although it might not be. Spiders will have fewer places to hide if you keep clutter to a minimum, so I would say keep your house tidy and vacuum regularly. Rob Simpson Well, I think we can all agree that’s some somewhat obvious advice after some vague information from the experts that ITV sought out. Still, we should be a little bit grafteful that at least they sought out the advice of experts on this subject. Experts. Scientists, hopefully. Scientists who’ve studied spiders and spidery behaviour as well as population modelling of arachnids. Scientists that journalists approached when tasked with the story of whether we might be facing an upturn in mildly dangerous spider numbers. I mean, I’d hate to discover that Clive Boase was a pest management consultant or that Rob Simpson was some sort of manager at a pest controllers register and that this was little more than a “press release” for services most people don’t need glossed over as news. I would really hate...
Birds Of England’s East Coast
Something for ornithologists and amateur bird-watchers alike, a selection of some of the more rare birds you might just spot out and about around the eastern coast of England between late summer and early winter. Factory Swan Named because their black feathers were believed to be the result of soot belching out from late Victorian factories when the birds were first identified living in large groups alongside the Thames estuary these swans are actually 19th century immigrants from Iceland whose colouring made them easy to spot by predators once that country underwent The Coldening during the early 1800s. Their beaks have a very distinctive red flash along the top in adulthood, the result of staining from the swans’ preferred food source of subterranean cherries. Narcissus Tern Visually very similar to other terns along shorelines across northern Europe but distinguishable by silver flecks across the breast and eyes typically 15% larger than other birds of the Sternidae familiy, it is, however, the behaviour of these seabirds that gives them their obvious name; prior to courting – and to a lesser extent immediately before feeding – the Narcissus Tern will often seek out highly reflective surfaces and stare at itself intently, grooming when necessary, but sometimes simply staring at itself at the expense of all other activity. Some bird experts suggest this forms a means of “psyching itself up” although there is no consensus of opinion. Magpie Eagle Not a magpie and not an eagle, but actually a medium-sized hawk typically residing in urban areas in a rough triangle formed of London, Colchester, and Ramsgate during the colder weather, moving to the countryside as the temperatures increase. The bird’s feathers form a black and white fractal pattern that roughly resembles birds in flight but it’s the hawk’s unusual penchant for stealing bright objects with which to decorate its nesting areas – vacant beehives – that gives it part of its name; the remainder being a printing mistake from the definitive 1932 publication of British Hawks & Turtles that’s yet to be rectified. Logan’s Turnstone Like other turnstones the Logan’s Turnstone lives by the coast and feeds on insects, crustaceans, and molluscs, most often in areas with seaweed-covered rocks. Unlike other turnstones the Logan’s Turnstone often throws itself off cliff edges in large numbers once it reaches what is for the bird old age; for reasons not understood it will not use its wings and will either smash itself on the surface below or, if above water, allow itself to drown. The name Logan’s Turnstone was adopted in the 1970s after the movie Logan’s Run, replacing the previous and politically-incorrect name of...
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