A Free Man

The family has returned safely - if a little jet lagged and sniffly - from The Great White North.

Tonight we’re off to a Scottish friend’s Hogmanay bash. As far as I can tell, Hogmanay is just the Scots’ word for New Year’s Eve, but if anyone out there knows more than I - unlikely as that may be - I’d love to hear about it.

I’ve got lots of pictures and stories to share, but today is for recovery, unpacking and readjusting to Greenwich time. Looking forward to getting back to the blogging routine but until then - here’s a teaser of a fascinated Z in the Heathrow departure lounge and a Death Cab for Cutie song. Happy New Year!

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Happy Holidays to all my readers! Wishing you and yours a joyful Christmas season. It’s been a blue Christmas without your comments. Come back and visit in the New Year after our return from the frozen North. Until then, enjoy Bright Eyes’ interpretation of the Elvis classic.

Image from Loneleaf

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“Take the poison of your age
Don’t lick your fingers when you turn the page
What I know is what you know is right
In the city it’s the only light
It’s the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible
Not much chance for survival
If the Neon Bible is right…”

-Arcade Fire - “Neon Bible”

To remind you how we got here: Continue Reading »

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“On the back of a cartoon coaster
In the blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada
Oh Canada
And your face sketched on it twice…”

-Joni Mitchell - “A Case of You”

I’m really leaning on Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” this holiday season. With Christmas nearly upon us, “A Case of You” has been getting nearly as heavy rotation on the iPod as the more blatantly Christmas-y “River” ahead of our trip to the Old Country this weekend. Continue Reading »

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Readers of this blog will know that I’ve been counting down my choices for the ten best albums of 2007 for a couple of weeks now. Ahead of revealing the number one album on Friday I’ve decided to run a little contest as a thanks for my readers. I will give away your choice of one of my top 10 albums or those that got an honorable mention in either mp3 or CD format. All that you have to do is guess what my number one will be for 2007 and attach that guess as a comment to this post. Maybe not an easy task, but I have featured the number one album on my site at some point in the months I have been blogging. Continue Reading »

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 Ben Folds - "Lonely Christmas Eve" [3:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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“The tears on my shoulder
Freeze then boil
I wouldn’t be here
If not for your snake oil…”

-Kristin Hersh - “Snake Oil”

One side-effect of the global warming era is that if you can sell a concept or products as “green” it can go a long way. There is a green alternative for nearly every product that you use on a daily basis - from cars to toilet bowl cleaners. The good thing about this is that it encourages creative thinking to deal with what is certainly a real and dangerous problem. The flip side is that it opens the door for snake oil salesmen, those unprincipled folks that will slap the green label on their product or idea and go out looking for a rube. Continue Reading »

 

 Kristin Hersh - "Snake Oil" [3:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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What did I do to offend you, Mr. Brown? Seriously, your prime minister-ship, what have I done to become your nemesis? A couple of weeks after you lost my bank details it seems as if you’ve chucked my driver’s license information away somewhere in Iowa of all places. Why were my driver’s license details in Iowa?

Either of these things considered alone I could believe were purely coincidence, accidental. But how many learner drivers have recently applied for child benefits? I must believe that you have it in for me, Gordon. I know that you are not likely doing these things personally, but please could you call your henchmen-buffoons off?

Is it any wonder that your Labour party is trailing the Tories by 13 points in the latest polls? Please, Mr. Brown…

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“Though I knew you masked your disdain.
I can see that change was just too hard for us,
Hard for us.
You always had to hold the reins,
But where I’m headed, you just don’t know the way.

The Shins - “Turn On Me”

I thought it would be fun to combine posts today, so I played Z my second favorite album of the year - The Shins - “Wincing the Night Away.”

One note on our contest. Continue Reading »

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“You were caught kissing 8 chinese brothers
Well, there’s a reason why the last is smiling wider and sitting higher than the others
Stinking with charm
And he says, “Lets get lost, let them send out alarms
He says, “Let’s get crossed out and come to harm”
“Lets make the world’s stupidest stand and truly mean it
Lets hit the limit of loss over lover’s arms
No, lets exceed it”

-Okkervil River - “The Stage Names” Continue Reading »

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