Senses working overtime #54

1 Prince
I've had enough of celebrity deaths in 2016. It's quite a list so far: Merle Haggard, Garry Shandling, Patti Duke, Frank Sinatra Jnr., Vanity (like her former producer Prince, she was only 57), Dan Hicks, Maurice White, Terry Wogan, Abe Vigoda (a.k.a. Fish), Jimmy Bain, Glen Frey, Dale Griffin (from Mott The Hoople), Victoria Wood, Alan Rickman, Dan Haggerty, Pierre Boulez, Robert Stigwood, Paul Bley, and Vilos Zsigmond are the big ones.

Enough already! This has been a bad four months so far. I thought I'd dedicate this week's SWO to five + one of those who have joined all of those listed and Polly, the famously stunned Norwegian Blue.

Prince was only 57. I'm also a baby boomer, a year older than Prince.



2 Kantner and Anderson

Kantner far left, Anderson up front.

Freakishly, Paul Kantner and Signe Anderson left the Planet Earth Rock 'N' Roll Band together on the same day in January and are now among the stars. 

Signe was the vocalist before Grace took over.




3 Emerson
Keith Emerson. Sadly, prog titan Keith Emerson has made sure ELP never play again.




4 George  
Dear old George Martin. Bless his cottons.




5 Black
Tragically, Colin Vearncombe (a.k.a. Black) died from a car crash in Ireland in January. He was only 53!

No need to laugh or cry/ It's a wonderful, wonderful life



Overtime: Bowie
This continues to resonate and appall really. How is all this possible?

My choice - how to pick one Bowie song? Changes? Ashes To Ashes? Heroes? Sorrow? Lazarus? All are appropriate, but I'm going for a slightly more obscure one from Hunky Dory: the prophetic Quicksand.

Senses working overtime #53

1 Cap is back

I'm loving the positivity surrounding the new Captain America: Civil War. I am drawn to superhero movies via my love of comics but they often let me down (I'm still smarting from the latest Fantastic Four horror show) but this one sounds like a goody.

2 Guster
I'd never heard of Guster before reading this on Medium.com - a piece written by band member Brian Rosenworcel. Now, I'm a fan!

3 Macro

Wow - more of this amazing macro stuff here.

4 Taylor and Ryan
I watched this great little interview of Taylor Swift by Ryan Adams. I loved reading his posts as he was recording his version of 1989 and this interview is also fun.



5 Cuepoint
A recent discovery - Cuepoint is a great place to find music articles/ photography. The front page has vinyl spinning on a turntable - a beautiful sight/site. That Guster article from above was from there too, as well as some great Bowie photographs - I'll wait while you check it out...

Overtime: More Taylor Swift

Cuepoint also has this great background article on Taylor Swift's 1989 - an album that is going to loom even larger as the years go by.

Senses working overtime #52

Wow - 52 weeks - a whole year! That seems implausible! Inconceivable!

But here we are - the stats don't lie: Season One of Jewels is now complete.

1 Black Panther

Last week Superman - this week Black Panther!

2 To Zlatan
Apparently it's a verb! Great list of new football terms.

3 JERRY!!!

Where would we be without Jerry Seinfeld? I love the man. Recently, he's flogged off some old tat and made 22 million! He's the man!!

4 Richard Linklater
This Vox article on Linklater's latest film (the one after Boyhood, called Everybody Wants Some!!) made me want to reconnect with his earlier films (even though I didn't like Dazed And Confused). Reading someone else's enthusiasms can be infectious!

5 Weather channel photos



What a world we live in! Loving these photos from the weather channel.

Overtime
Want to learn about some some stuff that will make you healthier? You're welcome!

Loved this interactive journey through Hieronymus Bosch's wonderful painting, The Garden Of Earthly Delights.

And that's it for the first year of Jewels. Thanks for being along for the ride.

Senses working overtime #51

1 Superman

Loved this Superman comic that was featured on James Whatley's Five Things on a Friday. Great writing!

2 Luke's lightsaber
James was on fire last week - here's a second item that I have to re-share - a great attempt to trace Luke's lightsaber through the Star Wars saga.

3 Hmmm...
Two great pieces - Hilary Clinton on Trump's stance on women's health and photos from a Trump rally.

How weird can this circus get? Pretty darn weird!

4 Invisible

Some amazing photographs in this Vantage article - the depth and richness of colour and texture makes them come alive!

5 Trumpites
Who is supporting the Trumpster? This article gives a snapshot of who and what the people are. Revealing and stunning!

Overtime:
1 First Star Wars: Rogue One preview is out...ex-cit-ing!



2 I've been chewing over this article on Brain Pickings about the art of living for a while. It needs some concentration but is very rewarding. I recommend a read!

The goal of living [is] to grow optimally according to the conditions of human existence and thus to become fully what one potentially is; to let reason or experience guide us to the understanding of what norms are conducive to well-being, given the nature of man that reason enables us to understand.

Senses working overtime #50

1 Shake it up..er..off!



I visited JB Hi Fi this week and came away with my usual armful of eclectic bargains. I bought Ryan Adam's version of 1989 a while back and have been looking for a bargain bin priced copy of Taylor Swift's original album since then. Loving it, especially the hit Shake It Off! What a video too!!

2 Spurious friends
I recently had to ditch my Facebook account because of some hacking on my page. I'm kinda missing it or more accurately anxious that I've lost touch with some friends. But then I read this and realised true friends will still be in contact - we find a way.

3 Documentary heaven
Great list of ten documentaries that must be seen (according to The Guardian and you know how much I love The Guardian so...just trust the list, okay!).

4 Heard it in a love song
Six movies about love that you should watch. Yes, I know but watch them anyway!

5 Living here, OMG...amazing!
Fritha Hookway wrote a nice piece on how great living in NZ is. It's easy to get blasé about the crust upon which we live, so it's nice to be reminded of things from time to time.

Overtime
I'll end with more Swift stuff - pretty cool cover of Clean (a terrific song, also from 1989)


..and Ryan Adam's cover of Shake It Off takes us via Springsteen Roy Orbison...