h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's 24.9C here today and I went to the garden centre to buy two geraniums and a fuschia to brighten up my patio.

I hope you had a wonderful solstice Peanut.

Evening all!

It's very lucky for you that we don't have a sound facility here, mvp. . I'm getting some good rhythms though, even though one of my tunes is called 'At the peak of my powers I bought you some flowers'.

It's the heat.

Not that hot. What???? 46C in Cali?? That is serious gasp weather indeed, ITI. I've never experienced that kind of heat. And 24C in Sussex? We're lucky to reach 20C. but tis coming next week apparently. The beach has been amazing though, stretched out on the Jurassic dino shore.

Back in a minute.

Hullo Peanut!! Love and wonders to you also! Been thinking about you, with Glasto festival happening, remembering your photo of the site, taken from the Tor.



That's a great link, Elektra, lucky there's a glass window. Not sure if the little kittie would be so brave otherwise, when saying hullo to the mountain lion outside. heheh. It's funny when the lady says where's the kids? and the guy says they're outside and she goes what???? then he says, not really, they're upstairs.



Ahh real summer now. Glastonbury Festival on TV!! (just been watching Boy George, Motorhead and scenes from the site).

What a wonderful thing, the WI have a tent!! First ever time at Glastonbury. (That's the legendary and very British Women's Institute). They are serving tea and cake. Of course. Wonderful!!

Apparently the Dalai Lama is turning up on Sunday. Maybe he will have tea with the WI.



Two geraniums and a fuschia. (title of next synth tune). Heheh.

Is Peanut at Glastonbury? I she's having a good weekend.

I think my thermometer is in the sun because the general temperature in sussex was about 17C. Hotter next week

Hey CC and other Daydreamers, here is a link on a British woman who pioneered in electronic music at the BBC. With all of CC's musical postings I though you'd enjoy this link on Delia Derbyshire:

http://www.openculture.com/2015/07/two-documentaries-introduce-delia-derbyshire-the-pioneer-in-electronic-music.html


Also I hope Peanut enjoyed the festival.

Hola amigos!
long time no see you...I haven´t read the backlog, but I feel I can jump to this ongoing party, verdad?

Today is my brand new first day of holidays! I really deserve them. Some say that summer is the time when parents realise how grossly underpaid teachers are...


ah, festivals.... next weekend my daughter and me go to a theatre festival:
http://www.festivaldealmagro.com/

On Friday we´ll see A Midsummer´s night dream, performed by the crew of Tim Robbins. It´s going to be with subtitles... No idea how is that...
And on saturday a play from Calderón de la Barca, a 17th century spanish playwriter ( Very trendy among German Romantics) It´s about political corruption... ha!


The time of the play it´s late, since we are also having scorching heat.

Then I´ll be in Granada with the family. Internet access is not easy in the village where I´m going to be, so I take advantage of being still near it to say you hello.

all around!

Hola, Maria! I hope you enjoy your theatre festival.
I don't think I'd like to be in heat as scorching as yours. It's scorching enough here.


I remember seeing a ballet of Midsummers Nights Dream in Budapest. The scenes between Titania and Bottom were sexy. Having read the play at school I didn't realise how sexy it is.

I feel like a child on the eve of Santa Claus day or whatever similar expectation.

Hola dearest Maria and hullo all! And do I see a link about Delia Derbyshire? She's my hero, along with Daphne Oram, who pretty much invented electronic music, by drawing waveforms on film and turned image into sound, and I will check all these wonders tomorrow.

Sorry I've been a bit absent, I've had a bit of a strange time in the last week trying to sort out the chaotic life of a family member, but it's taken a lot of energy and left me feeling drained. I've decided that there's only so much one can do to try to help someone find their peace. In the end they have to do it for themselves from the inside, as if I didn't know. hmm.



So these wonderful postings are like a sparkle in the darkle. heheh. And I will read tomorrow. Thankyouuuuuuu. I feel less drained already.

Oh, and the other thing is, I've found the ultimate breakfast. This is one of the downfalls of moving to the city. heheh. A fine downfall. Pain au raisin, those swirly things with the custardy bit in the middle. I keep buying them to eat with coffee. Luckily I have to share with 'im, so I only eat less than half, but mmmmmm that custardy centre.

Must sleep. Speak soon.

Morning all!

(drinks coffee on the rocks with a bit of cocoa powder mmmmm and a cup of Perculiar to follow.)

Ah, iced coffee! I haven't had a frappe since the last time we were in Greece. I love a frappe, even if it was just cold Nescafe, with ice and milk in it, which it was in the taverna where I used to go.



I don't think Peanut was at Glasto festival, but she lives near there, and I remember the photo that Hiccup took from the Tor, with the festival site in the distance.

Glastonbury on TV was as wonderful as ever this year. It goes so fast, and when it's over then it's like summer is passing already, and I have to go eat pain au raisin in a coffee shop and write in orange lettering to fill the gap. And we're at the semi finals of Wimbledon already.



The theatre festival sounds amazing, Maria! Lovely to hear from you!

Ah Delia Derbyshire.

It's interesting that women in fact pioneered electronic music. Of course people don't realise that being part insect is also an advantage, I need all my six legs to twiddle all those synth knobs. I think a lot of musical styles were inspired by the beetles. hahah The Beatles.

One of these days I'm going to get over my Gregor Samsa joke. I think there is a band called Gregor Samsa in fact, perhaps I should buy an album.

Back in a minute...

It's good to be back rabbiting on here. I just went to the smiley list to find and , and I remembered everything.

I really did get drained last week, it musn't happen again.



And Dirk Gently is on TV!! The BBC is repeating the series, with Stephen Mangan as Dirk. I never saw if before! I know that people said it was nowhere near as good as the book, they left out a lot of essential dialogue and wit, but I'm loving it.





I decided that sometimes I'm going to lay down some musical painting/patterns here, like I did with NaJoPoMo. heheh. Lucky you. Ignore me. This way I can unite my synth obsession with my hootoo obsession, and come up with my titles or lyrics at the same time, for my great master tape magnum opus. Mix in some passing photos of imaginary street lamps and I can get all my work done at the same time and still have time to sleep.



Tiny silver sparkly fragments of memory fluttering through an area of unexplained shadow.



Hmm, interesting start. Unexplained shadow, what is that. Could be psychological, could be the shadow of a cypress tree, but there's no cypress trees in the landscape so that's strange, could be ....

Oh, have to go.

Did you see Dmitri's challenge, on his Writing Right column in ? To write some lyrics for a tune.

I thought I can't do that. You could probably do it.

I thought I can't do that .

Then I got Land of Hope and Glory in my head. That's a good earworm. So I came up with this, to be sung to the tune of Land of Hope and Glory:

Land of rampant Tories
bashers of the poor,
selling us their stories
dividing us still more.

So the rich grow fatter
while the frail and sad
are told their needs don't matter.
If they can't work they're bad!

Well done!

That's absolutely the best way to do it - start with an earworm.

I was going to add: and a major gripe.

I've been writing on gay rights all day. If I get caught up, maybe something will come to me to the tune of 'Lola'...

heheh. Excellent mvp! Splendid!!

I love that song, Lola, by the Kinks. It was sooo risque for its time.

Funnily enough I was chatting this morning to the guy who runs the local wholefood shop, and turns out he played backing guitar with The Kinks, way back when. Pre fame days I think.

That's a funny coincidence eh? I don't think about The Kinks for months, then twice in one day.



I'm not really a lyric writer. I wrote a song once which started 'Now Diamond Jack and Mrs X were walking all alone, along the street of memories they sometimes knew as home' which was quite interesting but not entirely catchy or destined for the mainstream market.

It would be good to write a synth pop song, 'shooby doooo I'm missing youuuu' sort of thing. .

OK, favourite song lyrics. If you could take three songs only with you to a desert island, to listen to for a year, what would they be?

Hmm. Mine would be

Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum
Hotel California by The Eagles
Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts by Bob Dylan.

The unifying theme of my choice is that all these songs have lyrics that mean nothing yet everything yet nothing. I love that. I build my life on such nothingness, yet everythingness, yet nothingness.

I've never met a pop song I could take to a desert island. Sooner or later, I'd tire of them.

I'd take all the songs in my head. It would take days, maybe weeks, to sing them all...

However, if I could take 3 recorded songs, they might be:

1. A good version of the choral movement from Beethoven's 9th.
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-9O_GEiaEY
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9UodkM5EHI

Hey guys there are lots of cool things in the latest edition of including a contribution from CC's brill husband who is an artist. Check it out!

heheh The husband would be flattered at such a description. . It is way more polite than what I usually call him.

Ah, fine desert island music, Mister D. I just love Beethoven's 9th, especially the choral part. It transports me to Heaven (and back).

Thing is, these days one could just take an ipod to a desert island, with a few thousand songs loaded into it, and chill out to the shuffle. Not the same at all.



What about the Pluto flyby then? The trouble with such achievements of space travel, and I do honour the achievement, is that there's never anything recognisable to discover on these planets, after all that travelling.

Like, long lost cousins who look like tiny insecure purple spiders , but have human tendencies, because they argue all the time and get emotional.

Or interesting dust with healing properties, best sprinkled on salads, or mixed into porridge, that can cure the common cold and paranoia in fifteen seconds.

I'm just sooo humancentric.



We saw this amaaazing vintage Rolls in the beach carpark the other day, one of those huge 1930s ones, that are often used for wedding cars. Except this one was just parked there all alone and unexpected, looking quite spectacular.

It shifted the brain because it was out of context. Strange, it looked futuristic rather than vintage, so shiny, like it had done several Pluto flybys in the last five minutes.

One expected The Doctor to step out of it. heheh.

The newest edition of is now up.