The Killers, Michael Jackson, and my long weekend

Well - Friday came around (as expected, right after Thursday) which meant I had the day off, and also that I went to see The Killers play Hard Rock Calling at Hyde Park.The day was bloody good, I can tell you. Got there around 3pm, with the first band (Chew Lips) on around 4pm. 2 Guys and a girl doing some pop-synthy type stuff, very good.
Several bands later, and The Killers came on at 9pm, and played for a little under 2 hours - and they were fuckin' A. We had a great spot near the stage, nestled between the man who looked like he'd been let out for the weekend, and the girl who'd drank her own bodyweight in Vodka Redbulls. My plan was to post some pics/vids, however, I can't find the lead that connects my phone to the PC, so I'll have to put them on some other time.

On a sadder note, the news of the weekend - Michael Jackson is dead. MJ did seems to divide public opinion, he had his die hard fans who pretty much thought her was Jesus without the beard, and then everyone else who thought he used to be great, but was now just a bit weird.

But whatever you thought of him; pop-god, child molester, misguided genius, or any combination of these, there's no doubting the great impact he made on the world of pop. It was hard to believe he was over 6 foot tall and had hands the same size of Mohamed Ali's when you saw him shaking his stuff on stage, and Thriller changed the way everyone thought about the music video. It's a shame he won't be playing the O2, I know a few people who had tickets to see him and I'm sure they'll be most upset.
That is of course assuming he is dead, and not somewhere alive and well and suddenly debt free in south America whilst one of his many doubles lies in a morgue...

And if you're going to to LA anytime soon, and plan to leave a tribute on his star on 'Hollywood's walk of fame', please be sure to get the right one. The one in all the papers, surrounded by candles, flowers, and crying MJ fans, is actually that of very much still alive LA talk radio host Michael Jackson. The now deceased pop sensation Michael Jackson's star is currently underneath the red carpet outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre waiting for the cast of Bruno to walk all over it at the premier.

So farewell Michael - you of moonwalking feet, not-quite-proven allegations, and curiously Caucasian children (apparently, the daughter Paris is the result of a 'donation' from MacCaulay Culkin - hence the blonde hair). You were a bit weird, well, you were a bit mental in all honesty and quite possibly spent a bit too much dubious time with boys not of your own age, but nobody else could move quite like you, and you will be sorely missed by the world of pop.

His first moonwalk on stage (at least I think this was the first performance):

1500 Phillipino prisoners can't be wrong:

Acts of god

What is an act of god? I've been writing a bit lately (about someone who thinks he's god) and was thinking about this.
All insurance policies have it down - but what does it actually mean? Does it mean that if a plague of locust steal my car I'm not covered? If I had a house on the shore of the red sea a couple of thousand years ago and it got flooded out when that Moses guy parted it in the middle, thereby raising the sea level everywhere else - would I still be covered?
Or does it include all acts of god - in which case (if you're religiously inclined) just about everything is an act of god. If a tree falls on my house - god made the tree, the wind etc... therefore it's his fault. If someone sets fire to my house - god put him here on the planet - therefore is it an act of god in a roundabout way? Where do you draw the line?
And what about atheists. For them it's just a case of 'shit happens' - nothing's an act of god. Is that a valid argument on a claim form?
And no-one ever seems to say which god - there's thousands of religions around the world - they can't all be right.

Personally, I'm agnostic - so I'm siding with the 'shit happens' folks - but it's an interesting question nonetheless which had me pondering for a while this morning.

Anyways - enough of the philosophising - here's The Killers doing some accoustic magic. Going to see them later this month, so I'm currently listening to them pretty much non-stop.

From the strange to the F*%£ed up

Tuesdays are normally my least favourite day of the week, but today I feel strangely sanguine. Maybe it's because I've got lots of stuff planned for the weekend (my sister-in-law is coming to stay), or maybe it's because my wife's been putting Valium in my coffee to make me more cheerful, but whatever, good days should be enjoyed, not dissected for their meaning.

On a 'I-should-really-have-blogged-about-this-at-the-weekend' note, the UK came 5th in this years fantabulously weird and probably most camp competition in the world - Eurovision, which was held on Saturday in Moscow. Our entry was sung by Jade, accompanied by the phantom of the opera himself, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and watched by me and wife accompanied by a coupld of bottles of wine (not necessary but highly recommended).
For those of you outside of Europe, who are not familiar with this annual spectacle, allow me to explain.

Every year, Europe holds a song contest. Just about ever country in Europe (and Israel which always puzzled me) puts a song forward. There's normally a couple of heats before the top 25 songs get performed live on stage in the country that won it the previous year, followed by the live votes from all of the European countries (and Israel) which decide the winner. Previous entrants include that little know band at the time Abba, as well as God botherer Cliff Richards and Bucksfizz.

The acts are normally your typical euro-pop. It's customary for them to wear some sort of hideous costume that makes your eyes hurt, whilst belting out such great lyrics as 'Dum tek tek' (this years Turkish entry which came 4th).
There's also usually a couple of entries that are just plane weird, and the odd one or two that are actually disturbing, such as Russia's entry this year which seemed to consist of a woman having a nervous breakdown whilst a video of herself turning into an old woman was played behind her on the stage. I guess they couldn't afford to host it 2 years running.

Anyways, the winner this year with quite possibly the most annoying song in the world was Norway - some fiendishly cute elf-man playing a violin and singing about being in love. Someone pass the bucket. They scored a new record of 387 points, easily beating the previous highest score of 297 or thereabouts set by Lordi, the zombie death metal band who won it a couple of years ago with 'Hard Rock Hallelujah'.
Yes, you read that correctly, zombie death metal.

They were followed in second place by Iceland, whose entry was a very nice ballad sung by a pretty girl dressed like one of those dolls old people put on top of toilet rolls. They were robbed if you ask me, much better than Norwegian elf boy.
Third were Azerbaijan, I have no idea where that is on a map.

But hey, we came 5th! that's the first time we've been in the top 10 for years, mostly due to the fact that they've changed the voting system, so now half the votes come from people phoning in. Last year (as in previous years) it was decided in each country by a panel who voted for whatever country was threatening to invade/turn off their gas supply if they didn't vote for them.

My personal favourite was the Ukraine, with 'Be my Valentine (Anti-crisis girl)'. Apparently she re-mortgaged her flat to pay for the stage set-up. The bit with her being towed by Roman soldiers whilst playing the drums is the best bit.

And not forgetting Germany of course - awful song, but they had Dita Von Teese taking off her clothes on stage, so not all bad!

I'll leave you with some of the highlights, just to annoy you.




Now looking for a new flat - Ukraine


Previous winners Lordi. If you think this is bad, you should have seen second place.

Tutus, breakfast and some light music.

I now know how to make a Tutu. Another of life's essential skills mastered there then.

This is actually for my wifey. No, she's not a ballerina, she's running the London Marathon on Sunday, and has decided that to make things just that little bit trickier - and increase her chances of getting on TV, she's going to run it in a Tutu, hence us walking around Soho on Saturday trying to find suitable Tutu material.

So last night, we got out the scissors and YouTube, learnt how to make one without sewing, and voila - 45 mins later, half a Tutu. We just need to go get some more fabric and we'll have a full one in no time. It is surprisingly easy - you should all try it.

Anyways - I was watching Breakfast on the BBC this morning whilst ironing the wifeys shirt for her - God I'm starting to sound like a right domestic goddess today aren't I. Anyways, I was manly ironing a shirt this morning, watching Breakfast on the BBC, which is something I don't normally have on - in fact I don't normally have the TV on at all in the mornings, and watching it I remembered why.

Bill Bloody Turnbull.

As a journalist and news presenter, I guess he's OK, but they really shouldn't let him speak to people. They had Lady GaGa on this morning, and he just kept banging on about her eye shadow like it was a totally new concept for women to put coloured powder on their eyes. Nice one Bill, we wouldn't want to hear about the music or anything, make-up tips are what keeps your show real.

This was closely followed by him telling the gorgeous Natascha McElhone that her TV series Californifaction was quite a bit like 'The OC'. Yes Bill, they're both set in California I'll give you that, but perhaps you should watch them first yeah?

I don't know, it's Kate Silverton I feel sorry for.

Anyways - as treat for you all today, this is my mate's band, Alberto Veto, when they played down here in sunny London about a month back. A great gig, if you listen closely, you'll hear me clapping.

Friday friday friday!

Ah joy, the weekend once more. My boss is on holiday as well, so I get to do very little today. Bliss.
I'm also in a good mood today, as I won the 'spot the ciggy packets' competition over at the Patsy Log, and won a dedication of this truly moving performance. of 'Arms wide open'. Cheers Babe.

Anyways, had lots of family come to see me this week, which means my Father is currently staying for what he claims is a week (very long story) - so not been writing as much as I'd like. Still, I'm here now, and wanted to to talk for a moment about award ceremonies. Not the kids-sports-day type thing, but the actors golden-statues-of-various-things type thing.
They had Kate bloody Winslet on TV again last night. I liked her when she was nobody, but now she's all wailing on at award ceremonies proving she can't act that well without a script.
I mean, if these things mean so much to them, why are the ones that loose all smiles and have that 'Ah, well' look that I'm pretty sure they practice in the mirror for an hour before they head out? Just once I'd like to see someone go crazy because they didn't win, like Joey in that episode of friends a million years ago that my wife made me watch (honest).
Personally I think it would be great if Angelina Jolie went postal screaming 'That's Mine you whore! I'm gonna fuck that bitch up' before smashing a bottle of cristal over her managers head.
That's entertainment.

Today I am mostly listening to KT Tunstall doing some amazing things with a loop pedal:

Zombies and the J-Lo

Had this weird dream last night. The world had been taken over by zombies, and I was living with a bunch of survivors in a concrete tower block surrounded by trees and flowers. Everyone was happy, though my wife was pissed off with me and I didn't know why. There was a concert in the main hall, and Jennifer Lopez was playing - which is pretty odd as I don't like her music or her acting, though I did go say hi after the show.

Probably drank too much coffee and was seeing the wrong type of dead people. Weird things dreams. There's still not a doctor or psychologist around who can tell you for sure why we have them. One of life's little mysteries I guess.

Anyways, It's raining sideways outside, apparently we're going to have 60mph winds here today. I've got no money - again, and I've got a shit load of work to do, which I'm obviously not doing right now, so that'll mean working late.

But it's Friday, so nothing can piss me off today (except zombies). I love Fridays, I really do. I know I've said it before, they they're just the shiz. 2 whole days of getting out of bed when I want, going where I want, doing what I want - free from the oppressive thumb of responsibility.

I've been writing as well you'll be indifferent to hear. Actually made a start on something for the blog (based on ksquared's suggestion a while back when I asked for a first line). Spent a whole 40 minutes on it so far, but got my 500 words. I'll edit it later today and post it up if I get chance.

Today I am mostly listening to Doors covers by people who sound like they're on an awful lot of medication.