2013 — 25 August: Sunday
For my birthday1 my chum Roger once gave me a copy of Mike Harding's 1998 "A little book of gargoyles". Yes, that Mike Harding. This morning, my chum Ian asked whether I'd seen the 'Alien' chest-burster gargoyle on Paisley Abbey, sending me a picture of a critter that was clearly modelled on the work of that deeply unnormal Swiss artist HR Giger. I've been following (or, more accurately, keeping a gentle eye, from time to time, on) that gentleman's various art projects since buying a copy of "Necronomicon" in 1977.
But I'd so far managed to remain uninfected by what I've now learned is one of the latest Internet viral memes. A three-second dalliance with Mrs Google turned up not only a Reddit item from 2010 but also a much more recent BBC Scotland news clip in which the Reverend Alan Birss admitted that a stonemason was clearly just having a bit of fun during a 1990s refurbishment programme.
I must say, I love the idea of a Gargoyle Refurbishment Programme. So much more cost-effective than building aircraft carriers or replacing Trident nuclear missiles.
Meanwhile...
... I gather that "the secret of life is that this is not a drill". Worth remembering, I guess. (Link.)
As often happens...
... as I listen to the Cerys 'show' she's sent me in search of some of the music she's chosen. Since her playlist didn't identify the album that contains a 14-minute version of "I can't write left-handed" by Bill Withers, I've just settled for a 2-CD compilation of his stuff... and it's earned me a quid off my next MP3 download, too.
While I wait for that...
... to show up in about five days from now, one of my choices is "Low Estate" by 16 Horsepower, a group I first heard in Calais where my faltering command of French took a while for me to explain that I wished to buy the strange (but very pleasant) CD that was then playing. And was last played when last mentioned on New Year's day. Which brings me, not a moment too soon, to lunch. I'm starving (again).
And, as the lengthy examination of / interview with Trent Reznor (on BBC 6Music, where else?) starts to wind down, I've just given in and ordered my first-ever Nine Inch Nails album "The Fragile". Mr Reznor won an Oscar for the music in "The Social Network"; a fact that had entirely passed me by. I don't even have to wait for the CDs to show up, either: it's one of these new-fangled Amazon "Auto Rip" deals.
I put off...
... watching the remainder of "The Abyss" from yesterday until just a few minutes ago because I always find the 'deliberate drowning' scene more than a little traumatic. As disturbing, in its way, as the 'buried alive' scene in "Kill Bill". But then, if you're going to be a wuss, you may as well be a big one. I shall now move back in time a century or two for my next little batch of entertainment, and imbibe it from some other medium.