Saturday, February 25, 2006

The illness has changed me

Blog readers (not the ones who post in the comments about that day's comic - I don't think they read the actual words) will be pleased to hear that I am on the mend. But I am totally ravaged by disease. I have the deth-voice (kind of "GRAARRGHH"), I cough a lot, and I have renounced listening to all music that is not YACHT ROCK.

Yacht rock is a special kind of music. It's aspirational, it's midtempo, it's smooth. It's the kind of thing that Don Johnson would isten to. It's Michael McDonald, Hall and Oates, Christopher Cross. Of course Andrew Gold, of course Fleetwood Mac circa 1987. From now on, I refuse to listen to anything that doesn't slip down easy.

Learn more about Yacht Rock in the short films at Channel 101. You will find yourself transformed. My favourite is episode 3, but it's best to jump in at the start.

Trust me on this one - forget the future: we're on a yacht now.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Inappropriate b-sides desk

As I prepare for the coolness of the tomb, of course I am singing "Seasons In the Sun", that most mordant of chart-toppers. But when one's soul has been thoroughly ravaged by Terry Jacks' hymn to dying young and you flip the record, why not quack it up a notch with...



..."Put The Bone In"?!

Insult to injury

Now I have a fever! I had some wild dreams last night, all of them hideously unpleasant. I'm pretty sure that this will be my last post ever, as tomorrow the men in tall hats will be carrying me out of my house feet first.

The good news is that I am now rated #1 in the area for shivering and complaining.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Things are getting worse

Now I have caught a cold, and I burnt my finger on a baking tray.

Fortunately I did not burn it very badly. My hands are so cold that it just went "fwoosh", as if my icy finger was cooling the tray.

Since the cold has apparently gotten into my bones, I imagine that my death is imminent. Pretty soon you'll be talking about "the John Allison legacy". I don't have a will, so I guess I'll leave everything to my friend Kelly Vivanco, and she can do what she wants with my chattels. Kelly, look forward to owning a right hand drive Japanese car, a terraced house in the armpit of civilisation, and two dozen "Just William" books. You earned 'em.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Production has ceased

I've pulled a muscle in my neck while excecuting some very very tidy parallel parking. At the moment of one's greatest triumph, one is frequently struck down. Now my head is only comfortable at 45 degrees to my shoulders, and by "comfortable" I mean "extremely painful". Also I appear hunched, like an old man. It's pretty much over for me as a member of the human race.

I'm sure that you want to know how you can help. You can help by not laughiing at me when you see me on the street, bent over like a geriatric fellow enjoying his last weeks.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Single of the "week"

Of course it is "Free jazz" by the Envelopes, a song so pleasingly jaunty and Swedish that it cannot fail (to get to #71 in the charts)



See the video here, learn more about this new and pleasing band on their website.

Lesnick breaks the silence

Josh Lesnick, the gifted and energetic artist(e) behind such comics as Girly, has drawn this wonderful picture of Gibbous Moon, which I thought you might like to see.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Pop video Wednesday (includes problems)

I was very excited today to find the video for "You Made Me Realise" by My Bloody Valentine on Youtube. I can remember seeing this video in 1988 and being extremely scared of the sound of "indie music". It's still a scary song!

I have developed a problem when I see the "Ladyflash" video by Go! team on MTV2. Every time it comes on, I start crying! This is very disturbing, since I have listened to the song dozens of time in my "listening area" with no ill effect. it has happened three times now and I am worried. Field tests are going on, because I think this might be sinister. I tried watching it in Realplayer, but that didn't make tears come out. All I know is this:

1. It features a lot of bright and pleasing strobing colours
2. There are some drumkits
3. And a plane
4. Also cheerful dancing

(point 1 seems the most important)

I am not a habitual crier, even at the saddest things, so my final conclusion is that I am going senile. I am going to form a support group of similar weeping imbeciles.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Superstars of blogging

Sorry that there haven't been many blog posts lately. I realise that this is tantamount to a failure at life. There are books and posters to ship and I am full of high anxiety. I have to go and pick up the posters tomorrow, but I've had a phone call to say that they're very heavy and I may fall over under their mighty weight. So to prepare for my new life as a 2D man I am re-reading Flat Stanley.



There should be a Scary Go Round Flat Stanley project: a FLAT SHELLEY project! Unfortunately my mind is too tired to know what form this might take.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

The IT Crowd

Channel 4 have very kindly put the first two episodes of Graham Linehan's (Father Ted, Black Books) new sitcom online. The first episode is pretty good, the second is absolutely priceless. Once a master, always a master.

See it here! See hear!