Just a quick note to say that I came back with nearly 400 photos from yesterday’s Canal Parade. They’ll take a while (a couple of days) to upload into Flickr, so please be patient. Once they are there, then I’ll write a proper entry on the day, with a selection of my favourite photos…
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Amsterdam Canal Parade
This weekend it’s Amsterdam’s Gay Pride 2006. Today is the day of the annual Canal Parade. Hopefully the weather will remain fine. I’m about to make the two hour journey off to Amsterdam to take some photos of the parade. In particular, of the Pink Pearl boat – crewed by the GLBT employees of my old employer, Shell.3 responses to “Amsterdam Canal Parade”
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Greetings from sunny Iowa, USA, Geoff!
I hope the weather is temperate and the day fine for all participants. Are you going to post photos of the event? I hope you will. Have a wonderful time!
I found you through Gel at http://normality31.spaces.live.com after harkening to his kind words about your space. Your space has a kindly, good-humoured energy which I find engaging; I will most certainly be back!
By the way, I have been active in our local community theater, and you have a Doppelganger here in Iowa. A fellow actor is nearly a dead-ringer for you in appearance; he has a cheerful personality, a quick wit, and a sense of humour dryer than a well-made martini. He’s a sweet spirit and a good friend.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Peace and love, always…
Marge
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Geoff;
Thanks for the link to Eric Schwartz’s Country Music ditty, very funny.
I thought I’d post a link to the picture of your Doppelganger at our
local Community Theatre. It’s a web page developed by Bill C. Roberts,
you and him don’t look anything alike, however Bill Roberts below him, after first
glance of your picture you two could’ve been twins seperated at birth.
Everything Marge mentioned below is true of our Mr. Bill, who is a joy to
be around. Hopefully the weather was cooperative as well today, looking forward to the
pictures. Oh also of note, you’ll see a bio of my beloved Marge above
Mr. Bill C. Roberts as well.
Be at Peace,
Steve.
P.S. – I would be the one at the top of the "S" folder on our MCT.org site.
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Hi, Steve and Marge,
Thanks for dropping by, and for providing evidence of my doppelganger! Cheers.
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Country Music Protest Song
And by way of light relief, here’s Eric Schwartz with a cheerful little ditty aimed at America’s religious right entitled: Keep Your Jesus Off My Penis. Don’t say I didn’t warn you if you click on the link, but it’s very good, albeit somewhat rude if you’re easily offended.Leave a comment
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Department of the Bleeding Obvious
Research carried out recently indicates that churchgoers are likely to be superstitious. Well I never, cor blimey, knock me down wiv a fevver, what a surprise… I also got a chuckle out of the fact that the research team was led by a "Professor of Practical Theology". "Practical Theology" – isn’t that another example of an oxymoron, like "military intelligence" or "airline cuisine"? Jesus and Mo’s barmaid says it all, really.One response to “Department of the Bleeding Obvious”
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I love that! wish I’d thought of it first. (this is Gelert btw – its late and im on another nic and puter and it wont let me add my name)
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Um, How Exactly?
Seen at the Pride Parade in San Diego. One wonders at what passes for thought processes in his brain (I use the term somewhat loosely, you understand).2 responses to “Um, How Exactly?”
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Speechless……
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Claire
Hi Geoff,
I did a search of blogs with the term "musings" and accidentally ran into this. It reminded me of what a friend’s father used to say, that there are more horses’ asses in the world than there are horses. And I’m not talking about me Geoff just see for yourself. Go to http://danielsright.blogspot.com I promise, it’s not a trick I am outraged but I didn’t post so as not to give this guy the satisfaction of being heard!
http://media-lapdog.blogspot.com
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Life’s Final Curtain
Dr. Crippen has another of his excellent posts. This time it’s about the touchy subject of how to acknowledge and cope with the process of dying. As he says, it’s not a happy-clappy learning experience for all the family. It’s often messy, protracted, and not pleasant for all concerned. Nonetheless, it’s what we are likely to have to deal with at least once in our lives, and we’d better face up to the fact. Worth reading.Leave a comment
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Whose Culture Is It Anyway?
Once again, Toxoplasma gondii is back in the news. Carl Zimmer, over at the Loom, continues to be fascinated by this organism and draws our attention to some new research. This seems to suggest that Toxoplasma is capable of modifying human behaviour to the extent that the influences can be seen in human cultures.I find the implications of this fascinating, and was particularly struck by some of the comments on Zimmer’s post, to whit, what is my mind’s "I" anyway? Is it not simply the collection of my (brain) cells and the chemicals produced by both them and any parasites and bacteria that I am currently playing host to…Leave a comment
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Disrespectful To Dead Eels
The traditional game of Conger Cuddling at Lyme Regis is no longer going to use a dead conger (a type of eel). Animal Rights activists have claimed it would be disrespectful to the dead eel. Spare me, don’t these folk have anything better to complain about?One response to “Disrespectful To Dead Eels”
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I saw this Geoff, and I knew just what you’d say!! I was rather glad the poor eels were spared this further indignity!
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Stiff
I’ve just finished reading Stiff, by Mary Roach. It’s a delightful book (no, really), all about human cadavers. Roach writes with a wry wit, possibly in part as a way to cope with the subject matter at hand, but she does it very well. She opens her book with a bang, describing the scene of forty heads (each "about the same size and weight as a roaster chicken") sitting in individual roasting pans awaiting their turn to be practiced on by plastic surgeons attending a facial anatomy and face lift refresher course. Subsequent chapters are devoted to cheery topics such as body-snatching, human decay, crash test dummies, crucifixion experiments, head transplants, cannibalism and such like.One chapter gives the back story of the work of Susanne Wiigh-Masak, who is turning dead bodies into compost (and good luck to her, I say; it seems an eminently practical thing to do). When Roach met her, Wiigh-Masak was still trying to get her ideas accepted, but as I reported last year, it does seem as though she has now won over the parish administrators of Jönköping.In the pages of Roach’s book, we meet not just sensible people and dedicated professionals, but also (in Roach’s words) a number of wacks. Somewhat unsurprisingly, one of them (a Dr. Pierre Barbet) was devoted to proving the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin. This involved crucifying dead people and he spent many happy hours banging in the nails.I was also delighted to see the appearance in Stiff of another "wack" – the simply wonderful, and completely barking, General Albert N Stubblebine III. Roach can’t resist retelling the story of one of General Stubblebine’s experiments in remote viewing, and who could blame her. For more on the General, and his colleagues in one of the wilder shores of the US Army, I thoroughly recommend Jon Ronson’s The Men Who Stare At Goats. Ronson opens his book by describing the true story of the scene where General Stubblebine believes that he can go to the office next door by simply walking through the wall. Yep, you read that correctly. Ronson’s book is by turns both hilarious and chilling, and its pages are liberally sprinkled by a cast of characters who are either deluded or certifiably insane. The really bothersome part is that Ronson’s book is ostensibly not a work of fiction. These people are real.So there you go, two book recommendations for the price of one. Both are excellent.2 responses to “Stiff”
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Claire
Hi Geoff,
I’m so glad that Gelert steered me your way. You have a very good sense of humor! I work with a lady who teaches surgical lab procedures to doctors. She is brilliant and not the least bit squeemish, so she has stories to tell. I’m a chicken when it comes to blood and guts and suffering so I could never go into the medical field, but I do admire those who choose such professions for they at least attempt to alleviate disease and suffering. I agree some are a little kooky or eccentric. In general, they’re brainy and their hearts are in the right place. I loved your book reviews and I will tell my friend about the books.
Take care.
http://media-lapdog.blogspot.com -
Hi Claire,
Glad you liked the blog! Hope that your friend enjoys Stiff – I’m sure she will. One book that she might also enjoy is Mutants, by Armand Marie Leroi. I confess that I’ve had it in my library for over a year, but I still haven’t got around to reading it. I’ll save it for the long winter evenings…
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The Burton Repertory Company
I got around to seeing Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride tonight – and thought it was brilliant. In these days of CGI, it is wonderful to see how good stop motion animation can be, when it is carried out at the very highest levels. Corpse Bride, like the best works from the Aardman stable, is filled with an unstoppable inventiveness that makes the puppets more alive than many live action films. The film is filled with visual and verbal jokes on all levels (the second hand shop, with the second hands pointing the way in which the fugitive Victor has fled, for example)What also struck me is how Burton increasingly seems to be the manager of his very own repertory company – he uses the same actors time and again in his films: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham-Carter, Christopher Lee, Albert Finney, Michael Gough, and, doing the music, Danny Elfman.Whilst Elfman’s music is immediately recognisable (and in Corpse Bride, has clear echoes with his Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas), there were moments of pure Gilbert and Sullivan or Cab Calloway coming through in this score. In several places, the music took centre stage to advance or to illuminate the plot (for example, According to Plan or Bojangles’ Song), and animated film became operetta.There were also some new additions to the repertory company, who I hope will make reappearances in future Burton films: Joanna Lumley, Paul Whitehouse and Jane Horrocks.All told, Corpse Bride is simply wonderful.Oh, and as an aside, it was interesting to see Burton and Bonham-Carter, who are, apparently, an item, sporting the same birds-nest hairdos…2 responses to “The Burton Repertory Company”
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Geoff – would you mind if I featured you in my blog? I love coming here and reading your posts and think lots of other peeps would to. Anyway, I wanted to flag you as being worth visiting, but if you’d rather not, let me know.
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Gelert, flattered that you think the blog is worthy of flagging. Not a problem as far as I’m concerned… Thanks
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Don’t Lose Your Head
I’m somewhat disappointed to learn that the female praying mantis does not always bite off the head of her mate during the sex act. Apparently, it’s much more likely to happen in the laboratory, where the sights and sounds (of anxious observers?) can make the female become more aggressive.Coturnix, over at his imaginatively-named Blog Around The Clock (he specialises in chronobiology), has more information about what the male praying mantis should know before he goes a-wooing…Leave a comment
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Clarifying the Big Bang
The Angry Astronomer (Jon Voisey) has a useful post over at his blog that addresses some of the misconceptions that people have about the Big Bang. For example, despite the name, it was not an explosion – it was an expansion of space… It’s worth a read.Leave a comment
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Photosynth
Microsoft Live Labs has some news about their Photosynth project. It will be shown at Siggraph next week. Meanwhile there are a couple of videos on their web site. An Overview and a Demo – this latter video is the more interesting one, as you get to see something of what the system can do.And may I just say, as a grumpy old man, that whoever was responsible for the making of these videos should be taken out, put against a wall and shot. There is nothing that gets up my nose more than videos with lots of insane jumpcuts, weird angles and DEAFENING, IRRELEVANT BACKGROUND MUSIC. I blame MTV for the death of narrative cinema* as we know it.*With thanks to Mark Kermode, despite his reported cynicism about evolution.Addendum: And of course Microsoft has now scrapped the Photosynth product and technology, so none of these links work anymore. It’s dead, Jim.
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The Forbidden Corner
My brother is just back from a trip to Yorkshire and recommends a visit to The Forbidden Corner in Middleham. Apparently it’s a series of architectural follies created in a four-acre garden by a Colin Armstrong who was once the honorary British consul in Ecuador. It sounds intriguing, just the sort of thing that would appeal to me.Leave a comment
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The Silly Season Has Begun
Margot has discovered that the Silly Season has begun in the media. Sometimes I wonder whether it ever went away…Leave a comment
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A Hairy Tale of Soy Sauce
The Museum of Hoaxes adds some more background to the true tale of Soy Sauce made from human hair.I’m intrigued to see that the original paper (published in the online Internet Journal of Toxicology) is by Alexander Tse-Yan Lee of the Queers Network Research in Hong Kong. Alexander is clearly on a mission to alert us to the dangers of what we eat, and seems to have plenty of source material to research. Some of his other papers include The Foods From Hell, Vegetable Borne Poisoning, Deadly Cooking Oil and Faked Eggs.Leave a comment
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Rita Gets Another Award…
I missed this when it was announced, but the latest issue of the Gay Krant (the Dutch gay magazine) draws my attention to the fact that the Lovely Rita Verdonk was awarded a place of honour in the Hall of Shame by the Human Rights Watch in May.Rita can now add this citation to the Big Brother award she picked up in January.Rita Verdonk was summarised well by Job Cohen, the mayor of Amsterdam, who said of Verdonk, “The position of Minister for Integration needs to be filled by someone with a cool head and a warm heart. Unfortunately Rita Verdonk has a hot head and a cold heart and has done nothing but exacerbate the growing divide between immigrants and the rest of the Dutch society.”(hat tip to Mike Tidmus for the Cohen quote)Leave a comment
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That’ll Do Nicely
Mike, over at Coffee Corner, draws my attention to the fact that the makers of Monopoly are planning to replace the paper cash in the game with credit cards. He does some nice riffs on similar implications for other games.And as a result, I learn that the good old British game of Snakes and Ladders is apparently called Chutes and Ladders in America. I wonder why Milton Bradley substituted chutes for snakes?Leave a comment
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Spin and Deliver
Sometimes, there are good reasons why inventions stay on the drawing board.Leave a comment
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Art Foretells Reality
Last night, BBC Four showed a couple of programs devoted to the life and work of Terry Gilliam. First up was an interview with Gilliam by Mark Lawson, which was interesting in itself. But for me, the real revelation came with the showing of Gilliam’s masterpiece Brazil that followed the interview.Of course, I’ve seen Brazil before; several times, in fact. But this was the first time that I’d seen it in many years. Post 9/11 and 7/7, the film has taken on many resonances that simply did not exist for me in the early years. I was struck by the parallels between the political landscape of the film (unseen terrorists versus the state and its propaganda machine) and today’s world. It was, I have to say, a much more uncomfortable experience for me than when I had previously seen the film.I’m not the only person to feel this way, it appears. Check out this essay from Robert Blumen. While Blumen naturally views Brazil through the lens of being American, I can report a similar frisson as a Brit, viewing the recent history of Blair’s Britain. It makes for uncomfortable thoughts of where we are and where we are going.Leave a comment
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