Secret Songs of Silence

bolle!

If Roberto Bolle is going to tweet a pic such as this, how can I resist blogging it?

signs of aging

I turned 56 and a half twelve days ago.

An unremarkable anniversary you might think.

As did my financial advisor; the guy who is preparing various life insurance applications on my behalf.

He started these in December.

Had he finished them then, things would have been fine.

But now, that we are past my 56.5 anniversary, he needs an EKG to go with my application.

A nurse will visit me at home to wire me up etc.

Sigh.

boys and toys

The Harper regime wants to buy new fighter jets.  65 of them.  Brand spanking new F-35s for $9 billion.

Now, it seems to me that this money would be better spent on social programs in Canada, and that our air force could do their job quite admirably with a different less-sophisticated aircraft. Besides, they're attack aircraft; just who do we plan on attacking?  Oh, yes, dumb question.  Good (sic) King Stephen has his sights set on the persian landmass.

There's also the not-so-trivial matter that they're going to cost way more than $9 billion no matter what the promises and what anyone says.  And we're already seeing headlines about problems with the aircraft meeting this or that technical specification.

So, you might glean that I'm not really in favour of this particular purchase.

And you might also understand that Scott has rather pissed me off by posting this little video:

 

'cause, man, do they ever look like cool planes.

 

Burns Nicht

I completely forgot that today was Rabbie Burns Day.  Our local Burns supper was held last saturday night so, for me, that has put the occasion out of mind.  That, plus the fact that today was the day the maids were due so I had to rush around this morning tidying stuff away!

Anyway, here via Scots pr0n actor J.P. Dubois's (and if that's a common name in Aberdeen, I'll eat ma bunnet) twitter feed is a poster suitable for the occasion:

...oh what the heck, Burns was known to enjoy himself with his clothes off, so why not toast the twittering laddie hi'self with his pic:

It can be embiggened with a click!  Google his name if you want to see more pics, in almost none of which is he clothed.

dragon stripper and sp==do cuties

[note: this post shamelessly inspired by Nicky's...]

I have reached that stage in my life where I know that I will never be a pole dancer.

But, I'd be as mortified and as thrilled as the young woman in this video to be on the receiving of this lap/pole dance:

 

and for extra asian goodness, two cuties:

(via tgrade5)

Happy New Year of the Dragon everyone!

 

fred

Fred Mayer is a former pr*n actor who appears from time to time on cam4.  I could watch him for hours!  Not because he's hot, 'cause he is, but because he talks to his viewers in real time, he has the sexiest french accent, and he is unfailingly polite thanking every viewer who leaves a compliment.

Alas, yesterday afternoon, when I saw him on the site, I was unable to stay long.  I captured a souvenir...

movies en voyage

My recent trip was an opportunity to watch some movies since I rarely - i f ever - go to the movies on my own.

On my outward journey I watched Moneyball.  Good movie, and not at all what I expected.  I did not know the story at all, nor did I know the real life personalities.  Going into the movie I had thought that Billy Beane was the manager of the Oakland A's.  Learning that he was the GM and not responsible for the day-to-day player list certainly educated me but I spent a good chunk of the movie wondering why he didn't just fire the manager for not obeying instructions.  I did enjoy Brad Pitt in the title role but i wouldn't categorise it as an Oscar-winning performance.  I thought Jonah Hill's performance as Billy Beane's sidekick was the better of the two.  It was interesting to hear the baseball announcers at the very end of the movie fall back into the narrow-minded viewpoint against which Beane/Pitt have fought the entire season.

On my return journey, I watched The Guard, an Irish movie starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle.   This was a thoroughtly enjoyable movie and, if you like avant-garde or off-the-wall (slightly) movies, then I recommend this.   Gleeson playes a police sergeant in the west of Ireland who has both an unorthodox and a jaded approach to his job.  He knows his community and reacts as they do against outsiders, most notably Cheadle, who plays an FBI drugs investigator assigned to a case in the area.   While, I thought that was highly unlikely, the two played off one another really well and both end up as heros though in quite different ways. The Guardian revire sums it up nicely:

It's an amalgam of In the Heat of the Night, The Quiet Man and Pulp Fiction telling the not wholly plausible tale of a combined anti-narcotics operation between the FBI and the Garda on the west coast of Ireland that brings together sly, slobbish, boozy, faux-racist Gerry Boyle and efficient, uptight federal agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle), an African American Ivy League graduate and Rhodes scholar.

And, as they say, its best "taken in the right spirit, which would be Old Paddy with a Guinness chaser".

I also watched "Margin Call" though, to be honest, I started the movie and dozed fitfully throughout.  It was about a financial company trying to save itself at the start of the financial crisis - supposedly based on Lehman brothers.  It was an OK movie for in-flight entertainment.

a week of minor crises

It's been a rather chaotic week since I got back.   When I checked my email on monday morning, it was to read that a colleague was scheduled for surgery and wanted me to sub for them on thursday.  Unfortunately, the surgery was first thing on monday so by the time I read the email, they were already under the knife, so to speak.  Except that, as I found out on wednesday, they were really under the knife as the planned for laparotomy turned into full surgery.

The email that I received on wednesday (from my colleague's boss) also contained a somewhat cryptic reference to a family friend.  It wasn't until I spoke to my collegaue yesterday that I learned that my friend's son - who I also consider a friend - has had some serious medical incident.  Whatever it was/is, I know that it will have a life-altering effect.

And into the bargain, I learned on wednesday that my boss has quit.  He replaced me in the position, I know what led to the resignation, and I don't blame him one bit.  All the obvious candidates to step into the position are not available for one reason or another so it will be interesting to see what happens.  It's fortunate that I have a plane ticket to Hawaii and California for the next two months so I can't be persuaded (not that I would given the circumstances that led to the resignation).

* * *

It's a cold snowy day here today, but here's a pic to warm the eyes.  The chest fur makes it extra hot; I don't associate so much chest hair with Asian guys.

(via London Calling Luv)

 

a real dublin mammy

Way, way back, when this blog was barely six months old, I wrote about reading a series of books by Irish author Brendan O'Carroll about a Dublin woman, Agnes Browne, a widow and her seven children.  I've forgotten the precise details of those books but I remember enjoying them immensely.

Fast forward to my recent trip to Ireland.  Sitting in my brother's sitting room on a cold afternoon with little of much else to do, he switched on the telly and introduced me to the series: Mrs Brown's Boys.  It features Irish actor and comedian, Brendan O'Carroll in the title role. It was only after I got back that I made the connection that it is the same Brendan O'Carroll who wrote the books.

Reading about the show in the irish newspapers suggests that Irish opinion is divided about the show.  Basically, the Irish either really like it or don't.  It's not hard to see why.  The show probably most closely resembles Father Ted in its portayal of the Irish.  And yet, O'Carroll is an Irishman poking good-natured fun at a very definite type of irish family.  A bit like "All in the Family" set in North Dublin.

The series would never survive an airing on any mainstream US or Canadian channel.  It would be bleeped out of all comedic existence.  That wonderful Irish expletive, "feck", is used abundantly.

There are many clips on youtube, all worth watching if you take to the humour.  Here's one sample that I particularly liked:

 

The actors playing the missionaries are all wrong but this dialogue:

"It rained for 40 days and 40 nights and you call that a disaster"

"Yes, ma'am"

"In Ireland, we call that the fecking summer!"

Priceless.

winter woollies

I'll be on my way back to Canada today.

Prior to leaving, winter had been rather mild and storm-free.  Let's hope that it won't be too cold when I get back.

 

(pic via Undie Fan Gallery)

(pic via David Dust)

(via undiefangallery)

(via At Worst, My Best)