Senses working overtime #36

This week's senses are devoted to Star Wars in general and The Force Awakens in particular because it is awesome. Beyond awesome. Whatever the word for 'beyond awesome' is - that's what describes The Force Awakens!

What a film! Perfect in so many ways.

1 The appeal
Why do we love Star Wars so much? This article aims to sum up some explanations.

2 The myths
I love the fact that SW taps into the rich history of myths and arechetypes. 

3 The review
Everyone seems to be saying the same things about the new film. Not sure if there's even one negative review out there. I particularly liked this one from The Guardian.

4 The biz
Disney own Lucasfilm and Star Wars now so the film's even more of a marketing giant than before.



5 The Greedo incident
I loved this one - analysis of Han Solo's preemptive strike against the bounty hunter, Greedo, in Episode 4.

Overtime
This guy is nuts (technical term!)

Great overview piece provides another bonus!

Senses working overtime #35

1 Scott Weiland
This is a sobering piece, written by Mary Forsberg, his second wife and the mother of Scott's two teenage children. He died on his tour bus but in reality he'd been busy dying for years. Sad.

2 Star Wars NFL mash up

Check out these great helmets in Star Wars themes.

3 Speaking of space
Loved this article in The Guardian about life on the ISS (that's International Space Station).

4 The Force Awakens

The Guardian review says it all and it's spoiler free!

5 Bowie
Like a lot of people, I enjoy watching how Bowie morphs his image.

6 London
My senses have been overwhelmed by being back in London this week. So many sights, sounds, body spam,  and mmm - smells to delight in. As for taste - who knew that you could get gluten free bread that tasted sensational?

The Artisan Gluten Free Bakery in Upper St (Highbury Islington where I'm staying) makes the most unbelievably awesome gluten free breads.

Senses working overtime #34

1 J.J. Abrams
The depth of my respect is well known. The man is amazingly awesome in his wonderfulness. He even managed to add some class to Jimmy Fallon's show!



2 Spectre
This is a cool article on British spelling vs Americanisation of film titles.

3 Macbeth
Looking forward to this one! Visceral is a great word!



4 Christmas

Those are real people!

We're heading to London for Christmas this year and I'm REALLY looking forward to a winter Christmas. Here's a cool place to begin stoking up the Christmas cheer.

5 LA smog
We've arrived for three days to visit Samantha and Jesse before heading to England. The smog haze over LA is NOT a good look - is this just a permanent thing now? Pity.

Loverley clear day yesterday at Venice Beach - more like it!

Overtime

I love overseas airports. The sounds and sights at the arrivals' gate at LAX were wonderful!!

Senses working overtime #33

1 Captain America
The next big Marvel movie looks the biznis - Captain America: Civil War (but then, I did think that about The Fantastic Four reboot promo).



2 Floating
I loved this selection of photographs by Nick Layton where people (and phones) float...

3 Puddings

Need a chuckle? Here's a triffic article explaining what Americans and Brits call 'puddings', 'biscuits' ; 'scones' and so on. A hoot!

4 Unsplash

More stunning photography from the good people at Unsplash for your sensual perusal (I think that's a thing).

5 Bill Murray

I've always been a fan - a National Lampoon record with Bill as a DJ was my hilarious introduction to his genius.

This is a pretty cool read - about the cult of personality that is taking shape around his public persona.

Overtime: Thought I'd keep with the Bill-a-thon concept for the bonus this week. 

My first Bill Murray movie experience was Meatballs. And, no apologies, I LOVE Meatballs.

Senses working overtime #32

1 Ringo Starr

The Beatles (White Album) #0000001

The great man is selling off a load of tat, I mean antiques and memorabilia. Some thoughts - where the hell did he store all this stuff? I bet there's more! Why did he keep it? Did he like all this stuff? How much stuff do you need? And so on...

Here's the news story but if you're like me and nosey - scan through the whole catalogue. It's an eye opener!

Wouldn't mind that first copy of The Beatles - expected to go for around $60,000!

2 Star Wars

These fan posters are pretty doggone awesome.

3 That did NOT just happen!
Watch this. It is freakish.



This kid solved a Rubik's Cube puzzle in under 5 seconds. Yep. Five. SECONDS.

4 Christmas 1991
I dug out this old photo to celebrate Jade's birthday today - she's four weeks old in the photo.

Funny looking back - I have a really strong sense of that time - new baby, living in Nelson NZ and how things looked, smelled etc. Senses were most definitely working overtime!

5 Overtime
Michael Jackson's Black Or White was number one 24 years ago...

Senses working overtime #31

1 Tina and Amy

I'm a huge Tina Frey fan! This is a cool little piece about Sisters - new movie featuring the immensely talented dynamic duo of Tina and Amy Poehler.

2 Whatley in

James Watley's Five Things (TM) alerted me to this amazing collection of photos - part of a National Geographic competition. They are all brilliant and as he rightly says - well worth a look. The one I've chosen is bizarre - a wedding couple heading into the surf - did they know about the rays? Incredible image!

3 Adele

She's about to reconquer the world with third album 25. This is a great piece from The Guardian that gets things right - the interview, the tone, the picture of Adele.

4 Jake Bailey
My Walrus Gumboot newspaper alerted me to this inspirational speech by CBHS Head Boy Jake Bailey who was diagnosed with cancer a few weeks before this prizegiving.

It's obviously made more poignant because of that but he makes a great series of points that regardless, are worth hearing. How refreshing to hear a young guy allude to his moral compass. Wonderful! 

He's doing well apparently and if youtube love has anything to do with things - he'll continue to do well.



5 Star Wars makeover of Disneyland

The acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney was bound to result in some amazing awesomeness at the happiest place on Earth. My wife and I will be there in December and I'm really looking forward to Hyperspace Mountain!

Overtime: Glen Hansard

Ever since Once, I've been a big fan. Here he is doing a cover of the Springsteen song (an obscure one from The River - half way up side four is pretty obscure). 

This Letterman Show version is without Eddie Vedder and Jake Clemons who appeared on the single but it's still full of Glen's wonderful soulful passion. 

Goodnight, and joy be with you all!

Senses working overtime #30

1 Spectre
Oh oh - doesn't look good for the latest James Bondathon - Spectre. This is a pretty cool review though - written by someone who knows their Bondage.

2 Noel Gallagher

I love Noel's music and he's always a great interviewee (if you can get past the obscenity laced braggadocio). This Esquire article is hilarious!!! It is a huge mega interview but well worth your diligence!

At one stage I wondered if Noel has any hobbies.

“This is my hobby!”

“You mean, music?”

“No! This: doing interviews. I fucking love it. I could do this all day long. It’s sick.”

“Why do you love it so much?”

“Because I get to be a gobshite, and I get to do that thing: to be the last of a dying breed.”

Much, much more in the interview - go read it!

3 GOAL!!!!!!

Adam sent me this link to a goals compilation. Check out Denis Bergkamp's audacious turn!

4 Burnt
This is a great article about film titles that either shouldn't or weren't used. Hilarious! 

5 Peanuts
Great read on the Peanuts cartoon franchise. Who doesn't love the Charlie Brown gang?

Overtime: Battlefront!
I tried not to include some Star Wars material in this edition, but genius cannot be avoided for long: Keegan sent me this link to a promo for Battlefront. As I've said before - if anything is to tempt me to the dark side of gaming it would be this...