Olympics, 2008.

I used to really be into watching the Olympics.

They are starting in a couple of days.

I hope they are able to broadcast alot of them live.

I hate delayed broadcasts.

You end up hearing the results no matter how hard you try not to.

• • David Letterman: ''Do you have Olympic fever? Everybody in the Olympics is worried about the air quality in China, a lot of smog.

I have friends over there who tell me that the air in China looks like the inside of Willie Nelson's tour bus.

They had a practice [last week] in Beijing for the Olympics. A javelin thrower -- this is the honest-to-God's truth -- he threw the javelin up into the air and it stuck.''

• • Jay Leno: ''China says they're doing everything they can to help clean up air pollution before the Olympics, and they're taking this very seriously.

In fact, they have got every 6-year-old in the country working 24 hours a day.

In fact, Beijing skies are so polluted that Chinese authorities are planning emergency measures for the Olympics.

For example, protesters will now only be run over with hybrid tanks.''

Shooting the Moon.

Beautiful day.

Everything is maturing in the garden.

Too many green beans and I'm out of freezer bags.

Supper: burger and green beans.

My neighbor gave me a cutting of a Moon Flower this spring.

I put it in next to my dahlias.


This is the Moon Flower from 2 days ago.




This was Sunday morning about 11:00 (I'm not an early riser):



Later Sunday afternoon, just before dusk (hence the name Moon Flower):

I took this for perspective - the dahlias are about 2 to 4 feet high.

(Notice the Japanese Beetle damage on the morning glory leaves in the background - they look like green swiss cheese):

I was looking for Van Morrison's Moon Dance.

Couldn't find his but I like this version and she has nice legs:

Martha does Emily. And Leonard; and Shrek.

She has family cred:

Martha Wainwright (born May 8, 1976) is a Canadian-American folk-rock singer-songwriter. She is the sister of Rufus Wainwright and the daughter of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle.

I have to admit I never heard of her till listening to her version of one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs, See Emily Play written by Syd Barrett: quite a haunting version of it in fact.

Background: The song was reportedly about a girl named Emily, whom Barrett claimed he saw while sleeping in the woods after taking a hallucinogenic drug. Barrett later stated that the story about sleeping in the woods and seeing a girl before him was made up "...all for publicity."

According to A Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey, by Nicholas Schaffner, Emily is the Honourable Emily Young (b. March 13, 1951), daughter of Wayland Hilton Young, 2nd Baron Kennet, and nicknamed "the psychedelic schoolgirl" at the UFO Club.

An article in Mojo magazine called "See the Real Emily" supposedly shows a picture of Barrett's Emily.

Martha doing Far Away (pretty, up close video):

And being a Wainwright, you must do a Leonard Cohen song (or two). This is

I'm your man (2005)

followed by her brother Rufus singing Hallalujah from Shrek:

Rufus, Hallalujah:

Happy Birthday Mick.

Happy 65th Mick.

Sir Michael Phillip "Mick" Jagger, Kt (born July 26, 1943)

He is a Golden Globe-winning and two-time Grammy-winning

English rock musician, actor, songwriter,

record and film producer and businessman.

He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman

of the rock and roll band The Rolling Stones.

An appropriately named song by Mick, Charmed Life:

Picture made from some of my stuff

I've kept over the years:

(1972 Life Magazine)

I had remembered it when it came out, never saved it.

I (re)-bought it on Ebay a couple years ago.

Ticket stubs from $ 6.50 to almost a $ 100.00.

I hope I have that much energy at 65 (and money).

Hundreds of songs and versions of songs are available from youtube.

Here is one that was made this year with Amy Winehouse.

No special reason other than he will never, ever, have to beg; for money or for sex.

Really. Ha.

Ain't too proud to beg:

Qantas has never crashed. Still.

I have only flown twice. One bit of trivia I've always remembered is that

Qantas Airlines has never had a plane crash.

A video taken by a passenger of their close call is on most news sites.

From Fox News
QF Flight 30 from London to Melbourne had left Hong Kong airport after a stopover at 9 a.m. local time when a loud explosion ripped through the plane's underside.

Some of the 346 terrified passengers onboard the flight last night told of how debris — including bits of wood — flew through the first-class cabin and oxygen masks dropped down.

Experts said the hole, measuring about 2mx4m, could have been caused by metal fatigue, an internal explosion or a combination of both.

Any breach of an aircraft's skin above 10,000 feet can lead to a loud explosion, de-pressurization and an immediate loss of cabin pressure.

The plane — under the command of Captain John Bartels — was travelling at 29,000 feet when it lost pressure and descended 20,000 feet before making an emergency landing at Manila airport.

Close call. Whew.

I thought I'd add the mention of this from the movie Rainman.

Garden stuff: 2008.

Summer is officially here. I'm starting to get some morning glories. I took these pictures just before work this morning.

Right now they are at a manageable size - but they are extending their vines, reaching out as we speak.

I tie up strings so they can grow up over the garden fence they are on.

They end up covering the corner of my garage and the same with my side porch.

More pictures as they progress. I like them at this size because you notice individual flowers more, but as they grow bigger, then you notice all the color at once. It's a trade off I guess.

Corner of my side porch where the morning glories are already reaching the porch roof.

This is a good place for revolving plants in and out of the sun. I switch them all every couple of days.

I was standing on a lawn chair, tying up strings for the morning glories to climb on.

This was shooting over my head and over the edge of the porch roof - right into afternoon sun.

Worked out fine. I was even lucky with the focus.

Also just off the porch, I have some red lily flowers growing. Aimers gave me bulbs a couple years ago.

Each year they get bigger and prettier. Wish I knew the name of them.

Nice thing about them is I don't have to dig them up in the winter.

Must be because they are close to the house and don't get as cold / frozen.

Take a hike.

Originally built in 1901, this walkway now serves as an aproach to makinodromo, the famous climbing sector of El Chorro.

El Caminito del Rey (English: The King's pathway) is a walkway or via ferrata, now fallen into disrepair, pinned along the steep walls of a narrow gorge in El Chorro, near Álora in Málaga, Spain. The name is often shortened to El Camino del Rey.

The Last Shadow Puppets.

'The Age Of The Understatement' is a wide-screen, bold and brilliant introduction to the band. The Last Shadow Puppets are Alex Turner (from Arctic Monkeys) and Miles Kane (from The Rascals).

Firm friends ever since Arctic Monkeys toured with Kane's previous group, The Little Flames, the pair were so inspired by listening to the likes of Scott Walker, early Bowie and David Axelrod, that they hatched a plan.

The result is 'The Age Of The Understatement'.

I like the Bowie influence and had already liked the Arctic Monkeys.

Take me out to the ballgame.

This picture inspired this blog. Amy ran into this familiar looking guy in Lake Geneva and someone was nice enough to take a picture (since she had lent her own camera out to someone else).

Little did he know he would be booed for his singing two days later at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. Ha.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame was written 100 years ago, in 1908, coincidentally the last year the Chicago Cubs won a World Series (I didn't know that!!)

Broadcaster Harry Caray began singing it at Chicago White Sox games in Comiskey Park (early 70's to 1981) and later at Wrigley Field after he moved across town to broadcast for the Cubs (1982 to 1997).

It's sung during the Cub's 7th inning stretch (between halves of the seventh inning). Harry used to lead the crowd in the song, leaning out of his broadcast booth, his mike and arms flailing.

Late in his career (after a stroke) various guest celebrities would lead the crowd in song. The best and funniest has to have been Bill Murray.

Now at every home game, there is a guest performer for the 7th inning stretch singing of the song.

Some are better than others and the worst ones are remembered the most. Ha.

This last Sunday it was Tony Romo, Quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, and somewhat local resident. (He grew up just over the border in Wisconsin.)




The concensus is that he is not a singer but will join the elite crowd of those remembered the most for singing.
-------
Taken from a column by Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun Times:

Romo's oh-no of a solo

Maybe Jessica Simpson hooked up with Tony Romo because she knew she'd always be the singer in the relationship.

Romo's interpretation of Take Me Out to the Ball Game on Sunday still has small dogs howling in Wrigleyville.

He wasn't only off-key; he was in a key never before heard by anyone.

Not only that, Romo didn't seem to know all the words.

The Cowboys QB now joins Mike Ditka, Ozzy Osbourne, Jeff Gordon and "American Idol" alum Kellie Pickler ("Buy me some popcorn and Cracker Jack") as among the ranks of the worst "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" singers in Wrigley history.
------
Looks like he's a good sport though and had fun.

Blonde and Bluesy.

Aimee Anne Duffy (born on 23rd June, 1984 in Gwynedd), known professionally as Duffy, is a Welsh singer-songwriter of soul music.

Album Notes: This her debut single made it to #1 in the UK! 2008 two track CD pressing of the first track pulled from the Welsh singer/songwriter's debut album Rockferry. Straight out of Nefyn, North Wales, (Aimee Anne) Duffy's smoky Retro-Soul has earned her comparisons with Dusty Springfield.

I really like her voice - this is getting a lot of air play. I don't know that she necessarily sounds like Dusty Springfield, but she sure has a catchy song out. She's been mentioned as an Amy Winehouse competitor. Could happen, who knows. I like her, and she's cute. Works for me.

A mention of both here.