Senses working overtime #357

1 Time for yourself is crucial

Photo by Malvestida on Unsplash

The Guardian advocates 20 minutes a day.

2 Why has Putin invaded Ukraine and what does he want?

3 Zelensky

4 What makes a great opening line?

5 Ninety per cent of your worries are optional

Overtime: You say "Yes" and you never do it.

Overtime: 

You are in the present moment. The present moment seems like a little dot. But that dot carries the human history of past present and future and all of the people and things you love.

Yoko Ono.

Senses working overtime #344

1 Ghost Signs

They are still to be found in London.

2  The sublime spectacle of Yoko in Get Back

John, Paul, George and Ringo, and Yoko.

 

3 The year in vibes - Kyle Chayka  

"Maybe we used the word (vibe) so much because 2021 itself has offered an unplaceable vibe. It is a year that feels as though it does and does not exist, a hangover from the depths of terror in 2020 that provides a significant improvement and yet remains vacuous and unstable".

4 The 50 best albums of 2021 

#1 according to Pitchfork

I own none of these albums, nor I have heard any of them - even Adele's. And I call myself a music fan. 

In a year when I bought a huge number of records, this tells me I am completely out of touch with popular music in 2021 (but that's not news - I have been for the last twenty years).

I will make an effort to listen to some of these in the next few weeks.

5 Mel Brookes

 

Overtime: How we became weekly

This one is apposite as Jewels For The Thirsty is my own artificial weekly contruction - this one is my 344th edition. 

It neatly marks my end of a week. and the start of a new round for my other blogs. 

Senses working overtime #270

1 Loving John

Current reading matter is Loving John - May Pang's book. I've never read it before! Scandalous!! 

She's pretty good at setting the scene.

2 Belief and plans

Steve Jobs on those things is really interesting.

3 Love Poem: Centaur

Nothing approaches a field like me. Hard gallop, hard chest – hooves and mane and flicking tail. My love: I apprehend each flower, each winged body, saturated in a light that burnishes. I would make a burnishing  of you, by which I mean a field in flower, by which i mean, a breaching – my hands making an arrow of themselves, rooting the loosened dirt. I would make for you the barest of sounds, wing against wing, there, at the point of articulation. Love,  I pound the earth for you. I pound the earth.  Donika Kelly (2017)

4 Dylan interview

He has a new album out. That's a big deal when you're nearly 80 and you've a cultural icon for six decades.

5 Solitude

Overtime: She'll be right, Icelandic style.

Senses working overtime #260

1 Goin' back 1

I love this photo so much - taken while we lived in Cambridge (Alpha St.)  purely for the fact that we are all genuinely smiling at something Nita (the photographer) has said.

2 Goin' back 2
The nostalgia thing is an impulse right now. 

Interesting that my Facebook friends appear to be responding to a challenge (from someone somewhere) to post pictures of themselves as young children. I think The Byrds nail the reason why.

 


3 She has always been ahead of her time

Mask Piece I Make a mask larger than your face. Polish the mask every day. In the morning, wash the mask instead of your face. When somebody wants to kiss you,  let the person kiss the mask instead. Yoko Ono (1961) Mask Piece II Make a mask smaller than your face. Let it drink wine instead of you. Yoko Ono (1962)

4 Zoom fatigue

Wondering why you are so tired from all those online video calls? Here's why.

5 Today’s special

I just noticed something about the ubiquitous sign at every diner.

On one hand, it means, “the special that was assigned to today.” It’s possessive.

But on the other hand, it could simply mean, “today is special.”

Because both are true.

Plan accordingly.

(Seth Godin) 

Overtime: The Warren Ellis sign off-
And that's it from me.  Remember to be kind to yourself this week, because you do actually deserve it and you need to quit arguing with yourself about that.  The days are still passing, you're still moving forward, and the good times are ahead. Hold on tight. Be well.

Senses working overtime #209

1 Baby, you're a star (Prince)
That 'you' would be music in general: I can't live without music as this selection shows.

I'm not sure if I like this new storage trend for vinyl, replicating the shopping experience. Maybe. Maybe.

2 Yesterday
I saw the shorts of this movie recently and made a mental note to catch it if I can.




3 Here today

This Netflix Joko doco travels some familiar ground (regardless of what this piece would have you believe) but it's still a must see!

4 Good work if you can get it

The world's richest musicians. Where do you think Macca featured on that list? Check your answer here.

5 Waterloo Sunset
The Kinks masterpiece goes under the Thom Hickey microscope on his great blog - The Immortal Jukebox.

Overtime: Hall and Oates

Been spending a lot of time in the Purdmobile this week (my new work car has been christened 'Sid'). Radio Wozza threw up a few Hall and Oates classics along the way and this one had me bopping and pounding the wheel like a maniac, maniac. A perfect road trip song:

Senses working overtime #203

1 Nu Zild

This week we returned to live in New Zealand (above picture is pretty much the first thing you see as you arrive at Auckland Airport) so my senses have been filled with familiar sights and smells and sounds. New Zealand life is a lot more relaxed than the UK. A lot more!

2 North Hollywood
On the way home we stopped off in North Hollywood to visit with our eldest daughter. Noho has its own feel. Which we really liked btw. The smells are interesting for a start, with cannabis being legal.

While there I visited downtown and Amoeba Music. Right by the CNN building and Sunset Blvd. The biggest independent music store apparently. Luvverly!

3 John and Yoko's room

Baby, you're a rich man: exploiting a moment part 9 - Joko's honeymoon suite at the Amsterdam Hilton has been turned into a weird kind of corporate shrine. Go look.

4 Jacinda-mania part two

I loved this article about our PM which appeared in The Guardian before we left the UK. I read it out to my wife and got quite emotional.

5 Great advice
I've been chain reading books of late. This is great advice from Austin:

My last book was The Beatles On The Roof - excellent on the lead up to the roof session in January 1969 with great attention to detail. 

I've stood on the footpath below and gazed up and wondered and this book fills in the gaps.

Overtime: In praise of WS Merwin (may he rest in peace)

Senses working overtime #202

1 Women power

The cover version I'm reading

After ditching the James Patterson novel (what was I thinking?), I've been reading Viv Albertine's Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys. Required reading for everyone on the planet!

2 John and Yoko
Fantastic to read that Viv was and is a big John and Yoko fan. Yoko has written many great female-centric songs (Women Power below and others) but in a week that had International Women's day, I've gone for Women Is The Nigger Of The World (even though it cuts off before the end of the song - the message is still relevant!)



3 Yoko
We didn't hear much from Yoko in the above clip, so here she is on her own...




4 Safety cycles
Did not realise the power that safe movement had for women.




5 Captain Marvel

Brie and Captain Marvel deliver the goods! 

Overtime Ending with Viv

Great article on her second volume of autobiography (To Throw Away Unopened) - now I need to find a copy of that to take home.

Senses working overtime #170

1 Hist'ry

I love this image - so many decades and styles of architecture in this frame - all with a story to tell. Fascinating!

2 Poetry corner

from With Your Steps You Measure With your steps you measure the ground our house will fill knowing both of us have done this with other people, in other places. But this is different, we aren't young, love isn't easy anymore. Lorna Crozier (1985)

3 Yo-ko

Exciting news about a new album or song 'reimaginings' called Warzone from Mrs Lennon. I'll be looking out for this one!

4 Our Paulie

And waddiya know - so does our Paulie! Can't wait for Egypt Station either!

5 Diane Keaton

Really enjoying Diane's autobiography Then Again - she takes her mother's diaries and interweaves her own story with Dorothy Hall. Magic ensues.

Overtime - Comic-Con 2018

Yikes - Aquaman and everyone else -  all the trailers in one convenient spot. 

Overtime - Thai cave boys and meditation
Thoughtful piece on the assistant coach and his use of meditation techniques to calm the boys during their cave ordeal.

Senses working overtime #153

1 This week's 'I Love This Photo' section

Continuing the over-the-shoulder shot theme from the last JFTT: I love this shot, taken by my wife this time, of me and our daughter at Universal Studios - our destination after riding the 101 from SF to LA. This time I'm riding the escalator!

2 Poetry corner...

For years I dug in the earth trying to discover the blue sky deeper and deeper I tunneled until one night I made stones and tiles fly into the air with no effort I broke the bone of the void Musō Soseki trans. W.S. Merwin 3 Liverpool museum exhibition I'm hoping to visit this Lennon/Ono exhibition - hopefully  during the Christmas holidays. It's free! 4 Bikes for Afri...erm, make that China Confiscated shared bicycles in Shanghai This is amazing. When we lived in China, my wife and I were  often the only people on bikes, everyone else had electric  scooters. The place, China, is vast and so is the waste!  In this case - bikes! 5 Change I love this quote: Overtime Time waits for no one. Don't people have great ideas!  Love this real time clock!

Senses working overtime #113

1 Annie and Alvy

True confession time - I'm a huge Woody Allen fan, and so I enjoyed this film review of the classic Annie Hall.

2 The Simpsons inserted

Great fun. More here.

3 Rock stars
Gotta love em.

4 21st Century movies - best of...so far
Some movies here I need to see (and some I can recommend).

5 Oh Yoko

Fair's fair - very pleased with the decision to add Yoko credit to John's Imagine. If you have read Grapefruit (Yoko's collection of stuff) you will know this rights an injustice of sorts.

Extra Texture
Arsene Arsene, give us a wave!

Fancy some stats on Arsene's 20 year reign at the greatest club the world has ever seen? Me too. Check it out fellow gooners.

Senses working overtime #45

1 Tracking lives
I love the Granada TV series called UP . I need to buy the latest version) and so this TED talk about tracking Harvard students for 75 years is fascinating!

2 US Primaries
I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that Jed Bush withdrew from the Republican race with a $100 million warchest. That's a lot of money!!

This digital planner keeps a good record of how the various candidates are doing.

3 Donald Trump
This whole Trump rise thing is looking increasingly scary!

4 Picture of the year

Great article and great picture. Loads of awesome questions that may haunt your day (it did mine!).

5 Yoko Ono
Yoko has a new album coming out soon. This news possibly doesn't excite you as much as it does me! This Guardian article is a nice review of her style.

Overtime: Winter is Trumping
This is great - Donald Trump inserted into Game Of Thrones.

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