Reasons To Love Ben Folds (Pt 1 of an endless series)

Philosophy

won't you look up at the skyline
at the mortar, block, and glass
and check out the reflections in my eyes?
you see they always used to be there
even when this all was grass
and I sang and danced about a high-rise
and you were laughing at
my helmet hat,
laughing at
my torch

go ahead you can laugh all you want
I got my philosophy
[keeps my feet on the ground]
and I trust it like the ground
that's why my philosophy
[my phil]
it keeps me walking when I'm falling down
[los-o-phy]

I see that there is evil
and I know that there is good
and the in-betweens I never understood
won't you look at me, I'm crazy,
but I get the job done
yeah, I'm crazy, but I get the job done
and I say:

go ahead you can laugh all you want
but I got my philosophy
[keeps my feet on the ground]
and I trust it like the ground
that's why my philosophy
[my phil]
it keeps me walking when I'm falling down
[los-o-phy]

I pushed you 'cause I loved you guys
I didn't realize
you weren't having fun
and I dragged you up the stairs
and I told you to fly
you were flapping your arms
you started to cry, you were too high
no, too high

now you take this all for granted
you take the mortar, block, and glass
and you forget the speech and moved the stone
but it's really not that you can't see
the forest for the trees
you never been out in the woods alone

so you can laugh all you want to
but I got my philosophy
[keeps my feet on the ground]
and I love you, you're my friend
but you got no philosophy
[my phil]
it keeps me walking when I'm falling down
[los-o-phy]

New Intentions and weddings...

I realise that I've been lax at updating this blog in particular. I never meant it to be a regular weekly update or anything, but certainly more frequent than I've managed. So now I'm going to try and concentrate. I'll put down thoughts and beliefs - I'll even try to rationalise what I've been thinking. I'll talk about music, comedy, books. All that I think about in day-to-day life... So that includes Nikki and Luke (my little family, for those who don't know).

As a bit of background, the last two weeks have made me rather thoughtful (when time has allowed) - Nik was rushed to A&E with appendicitis Tuesday before last and was operated on the evening after. She was then kept in (despite the doctor's wishes) until Friday evening. But that's meant that most, if not all, of the caring for Luke has been done by me while she's been in hospital and at home, recuperating from the op. And I've loved it. Not the fact that Nik's been in a lot of pain and has to rest a lot, obviously, but spending so much time with Luke and Nik is wonderful...

It has not been easy. Not by a long chalk. Looking after a toddler would never be anything but that, but its been enjoyable. Something in me completely enjoys the running around and keeping busy - and it does mean that any time I get to sit and just think is either taken up by a sneaky reading session, or by working out solutions to something that hasn't quite gone as planned instead of leading me down a dark and depressing path!

And that's made me think about who I am. I'd be foolish to ignore the fact that I've made plenty of mistakes, and even plenty since Luke was born, but I have been pretty lucky with how those mistakes have turned out, I think. So far, anyway. Learning the hard way is not pleasant. But then, its also the only sure-fire way to make sure I get the message, for some reason...

I went to my brother Paul's wedding on Saturday. It was a very strange day for me (so I can't imagine what it would have been like for him, or mum and dad...) but not for any bad reasons. I always thought that out of the two of us, I would be the first to get married. Not because I think I'm better looking or that I find it easier to get someone to go out with me because the first is completely relative and the second false... But because I always seemed to be the more likely. Things didn't work out that way, and I think its for the best. If I was married before now, I think it would have been a mistake - I haven't quite managed to sort out what to do with myself in the grown-up world, let alone what to do as part of a couple, or even part of a little family...! He does seem more sorted for what he wants to do.

So on Saturday, I was very proud. For all the hostilities between us over the years, for all the petty arguments and silly dislikes, he's a good brother. And sitting in the church we grew up in, watching him marry the woman he loves was a very nice way to pass an afternoon.

Brought back a few nice nostalgic thoughts, and reminded me of the song that always reminds me of him - "Disembodied Voices" by Neil and Tim Finn:

Talking with my brother
When the lights went out
Down the hallway
Forty years ago

And what became much harder
Was so easy then
Opening up and letting go

Disembodied voices
Floating in the air
This place in the darkness
Could be anywhere

Talking to each other
As we wait for sleep
The angel in the detail
Soon arrives

Spreading her wings over
Every memory
And keeping all our hopes alive

Disembodied voices
Floating in the air
This place in the darkness
Could be anywhere

We all made our choices
Let's work out what we're going to do
Disembodied voices
Revealing what we know is true

And so much is here
If we all disappear

We could be anywhere

The reception was interesting too. Kerry - if you read this... There will be revenge for making Paul and I sing Nelly The Elephant during the karaoke...

Anyway, here's to Paul and Debbie. May they be happy for a very long time...

Taking the easy option... and knocking Eastenders...

I just read the following comment on this Guardian blog

“It is easy to knock Eastenders, but without this soap, non of the other soaps would be where they are today without nicking all the best things about Eastenders from a while back.”

I don’t see any better reasons for getting rid of it, do you?!

NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!

Why the blinkin’ hell do we let bishops open their mouths in public if they spew this sort of crap?!
Floods are judgement on society say bishops

What next? “David Beckham’s latest bad haircut is punishment for the Spice Girls reunion says curate”?

On a lighter note, the story of how the only entrant in a village fete’s cake competition came second…

Logo Nogo... So what?

I’m getting really sick of the ignorance and the cynicism of the people who aren’t in favour of the Olympics, and the newspapers who continually criticise some of the elements of the funding.

Particularly the people who think that we’re moving too slowly. We’re on track to be ready well in time. Athens wasn’t anywhere near this stage this far ahead, and that came off. So why on earth do they think that the UK can’t do it? We all seem to be of the opinion that Greece is a disorganised and inefficient country when it comes to major events (something seemingly borne out by the Champions League Final debacle last month), and that we’re highly capable. So what’s the issue?!

I’m particularly sick of the people who assume that things like the cost of the Olympic logo were only so high because it factors in things like corporate jollies and focus groups and that everyone in the government had a whizzo jolly time and then designed it in 10 minutes using clip art.

I don’t like the logo either, and I work for the Dept now defending it, the one responsible for the Olympic Games going ahead. And none of us had a wonderful time at anyone’s expense. In fact, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we all have to pay tax too…

Its not the objection to the logo that I can’t stand – I totally understand that bit. It’s the assumption that every civil servant working on anything remotely linked to the games is spending the budget on fine wine and caviar and getting pissed at their desks.

Or the people who phone or write to us to complain and when they get an answer to their letter, no matter how true or complete our response, constantly accuse us of lying, or covering up, or being ignorant of what the country as a whole thinks. I forget when we selected them to talk on the country’s behalf, but there we go. We don’t express our own opinions when answering letters, just the policy. So why do they assume we are? Is everyone really as thick as that? Surely not…

We work bloody hard for very little public respect, often, and then get criticised for anything and everything – including trying to ensure our job security when thousands of civil service jobs are being cut - by newspapers who make a lot of their information up and morons who read and believe every word they say.

And as for the people who think that we shouldn’t have an Olympics because they can’t see what benefit it will have on their area, they should stop being so damn selfish. Londoners are paying more council tax to help fund the games when everyone else isn’t. The benefits will be best for Londoners, yes, but you can’t put a price on a few weeks of sport inspiring a whole new generation. Luke will be 6 when the Olympics come to town, and if he’s interested and wants to go, I’ll take him if I can. Its one of the best and high-profile events in the world, and I don’t see the point in being all po-faced about it.

Step forward champion!

Dance Tonight - Paul McCartney

The new Paul McCartney video - directed by Michel Gondry, guest starring Natalie Portman and Mackenzie Crook... It's great, and the song is great too... To me, anyway...

Huh?

Newsround used to be one of my favourite programmes when I was younger. And even when I was at university, I’d still watch it, because it was just a bit nicer to watch than the news.

These days, however, it annoys me.

This morning’s edition is a good example of why.

Take a few seconds to think about all the news in the world at the moment. Wars in Afganistan, Iraq, the Middle east. Terror suspects absconding. Human rights abuses all over the world, change of Prime Minister in a month’s time, North Korea test-firing missiles, the underwater dinosaur tracks showing that they could swim and the first results of this year’s Spingwatch survey. If you’re pushed, there’s the Big Brother controversies both here and in Australia, Blue Peter losing a show a week, the results of the Ivor Novello Awards, and even a story about an escaped Orangutan running riot at a zoo.

This was the 3-story order for the stories on this morning’s Newsround:

1, Michael Owen will captain the England B team against Albania tomorrow.

2, A boy who lives in a tent is interviewed

3, a bird poos on George W Bush during a press conference.

Now, granted, the third is a very funny story and would always make my personal running order, but is this really the best we can do?

I know that not all kids would be interested in a lot of the heavy news that’s been cropping up, and the editors need to do what will interest their target audience, but surely we don’t have to dumb things down so much that we get to this stage?!

Sigh.

Judge not lest you be judged...?

Theologian damns most Britons to hell

Why is it that the Conservative side of Christianity has a far bigger mouth?

The Eurovision Political Contest

Sigh.

We're not in a Balkan country. Or an ex-Russian territory. Or a Baltic country. In short, we're unlikely to win the Eurovision Song contest until everyone else has forgotten about Iraq - or been forced to vote according to the quality of the song entry, not whether or not they're mates with another country.

It's sad - there were some intruiging songs in there, not great, but interesting. And ours wasn't bad, you know. I am aware that the papers have criticised Scooch for their performance (especially the Daily Mirror), but they did well - the performance was funny, they weren't out of tune, and the song was a good one in Eurovision terms - it was silly, fluffy pop, subtly filthy, and accompanied by daft costumes and at least one permatan. In fact, all we needed was for the two guys to be sporting healthy beards and we'd be able to claim we'd followed the Abba formula...

And we, the humble voting public of the UK did vote this through as our representative. We can hardly blame Scooch for not winning - we sent them there, and they don't decide to mount illegal invasions of other countries. We should be proud of them, I think - they certainly deserved to do a lot better in the voting than they did.

The voting is ridiculous. It always was, but its worse now. There were always the predictable love-ins: Greece and Cyprus; Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden; Portugal and Spain. But now we have countless countries voting, and surely we can't be sure that there's not some rigging going on somewhere...

The song that won, quite simply, was awful. It was dirgy, had perhaps the least exciting performance of the show, and a performer who had the on-stage charisma of a squashed ant. It's neatly summed up by her views on music:

'I listen to music - I don't want to watch it, I want to listen to it.'

Which misses the entire point of Eurovision, surely.

Scooch had a catchy song, and maybe it was a little out of date in that sense (as Tim Moore argues here). But hang on, a lot of the other songs were rocky power ballads - a staple from the 1980s... And the only differences that spring to mind are Ireland (awful as it was, it was a truely Irish pop song - folky and twee. And in need of stronger vocals), Estonia (hmm. It was just an old drag queen - the song was not at all memorable), and Sweden (an interesting 60s throwback with a man who looked a bit ridiculous).

Oh, and the French. That was worse than awful with a small bald man resembling Richard O'Brien running round and round the band shouting into the mic, completely distracting from the act.

The German entry was very good as I remember though, nice to see something as different as swing making it onto the Eurovision stage. but that disappeared too.

I'm a quiet Eurovision fan, but I'm no less disappointed with this year's show. Something needs to change. If the people running the show were there on Saturday and heard the boos coming from the audience, maybe they'll get the message somewhere along the line.

I love music, and I love the art of songwriting, and that is what this is meant to showcase. Instead, its a daft circus which is followed by a biased and allegedly corrupt method of determining a winner.

Time for a regime change, George and Tony?