Archive for the ‘culture’ Category

An appreciation of The Divine Comedy band

Posted: December 13, 2020 by John Ruberry in culture, entertainment, media
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

By John Ruberry

Listening to music is a serendipitous adventure. And it was on one of those journeys I uncovered another great band that you’ve probably never heard of, The Divine Comedy. Last year before the post was swallowed up by a memory hole at Da Tech Guy, I profiled another undeservedly unknown band, the Rainmakers. Only I first encountered the Rainmakers on a local radio station years ago.

I discovered The Divine Comedy when I downloaded the “Inspired by the Kinks” compilation on Apple iTunes. A great collection, yes, and easily the standout cut for me was “The National Express,” a satirical look at a ride on the eponymous company’s bus line.

Unknown? As this is an American blog with, I believe, a predominately American readership, that’s true. But The Divine Comedy has scored hits in Europe, particularly in Great Britain and Ireland, which is understandable as the band’s only constant member is Neil Hannon, who is from Northern Ireland.

As great as “The National Express” is, there’s just one small issue in my opinion. I’m a huge Kinks fan, but unless you count that British band’s last big hit, “Come Dancing,” it doesn’t sound like any other Kinks tune.

Listen for yourself!

The Divine Comedy’s first album, since cancelled by Hannon, was the R.E.M. inspired Fanfare for the Comic Muse, which was released in 1990. The only place it seems to be available is on YouTube. If you somehow find a copy of it at a rummage sale or used record store, grab it if it’s priced cheap, as it is probably a collector’s item.

The band then “regenerated” three years later into a chamber pop, or if you prefer Britpop band, for Liberation. Actually I prefer the moniker baroque pop. Regardless of the name, what kind of music am I talking about? Think along the lines of “Penny Lane” by the Beatles, “Senses Working Overtime” or “Easter Theatre” by XTC, or “Never My Love” by The Association, the glimmering song that was used with such beautiful yet chilling effect in the final episode of the most recent season of Outlander. Oh, throw in a bit of Cole Porter too. Back to Liberation: My favorite song from that collection is “The Pop Singer’s Fear of the Pollen Count,” which is cleary inspired by the Beach Boys. Yes, I suffer from allergies too so I can commiserate.

Hannon, who writes nearly all of the band’s songs, is a clever lyricist who brings wit and even snarkiness to many of his songs. The Divine Comedy’s melodies are striking and the musicianship is superb.

Here’s a snippet from “Catherine the Great.”

With her military might
She could defeat anyone that she liked
And she looked so bloody good on a horse
They couldn’t wait
For her to invade
Catherine the Great.

Yes, there is a sly reference here to the historical gossip that the Empress of Russia died from a mishap during carnal relations with a stallion.

“The Frog Princess” incorporates strains of “La Marseillaise” into it.

One more Divine Comedy favorite of mine is “Gin Soaked Boy” from the 1999 compilation A Secret History…The Best of the Divine Comedy, which might be good place for you to see if The Divine Comedy is for you. Or you can begin as I did on Apple Music with their “Essentials” and “Next Steps” collections.

Of the band’s dozen studio albums Fin de Siècle, which contains “The National Express,” is my favorite. If you prefer to see what the Divine Comedy is up to now, its latest album is Office Politics. The track I enjoy the most on this collection is “Philip and Steve’s Furniture Removal Company.” It’s about a proposed sitcom and its theme song, both devised by Hannon, in which minimalist classical composers, Philip Glass and Steve Reich, operate a furniture removal business in the 1960s in New York.

Silly? Of course. Brilliant? Definitely.

Oh yes, I said “regenerated” earlier. Regeneration is the title of the Divine Comedy’s 2001 album. Perhaps not coincidentally Hannon contributed a couple of solo tracks, “Song for Ten” and “Love Don’t Roam” to Doctor Who: Original Television Soundtrack from 2006.

In addition to Apple Music works by The Divine Comedy are also available on Amazon.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

The Stick: Questions and Incentives For the GOP & Trump Under the Fedora

Posted: November 25, 2020 by datechguy in culture, elections, politics

Sonny: Now youse can’t leave

A Bronx Tale 1993

Last week I put up a piece basically asking what the incentives are for the Democrat left to suddenly behave honorably if we go along with their steal of this election. Now I’d like to point out some of the incentives or lack thereof that the GOP should consider before they jump on the Biden bandwagon.

Let’s say you are a GOP Governor, Senator or ex cabinet official who would like to run for President of the United States in 2024 or beyond who chooses to oppose President Trump fight to stop the theft of election 2020: What incentive does the President or his supporters have to turn out for you in the primaries or donate to your cause?

Let’s say you are the GOP nominee for President in 2024 or 2028 and you urged President Trump to concede and/or insisted that election 2020 was not tainted by fraud. What incentive do Republican voters have to turn out for you or to donate to you if they believe the fix is already in?

Let’s say you are a GOP governor or Senator or Congressman who is running for re-election in 2022 and you choose to oppose President Trump’s fight to stop the theft of election 2020: What incentive does the President or his supporters have to eskew supporting a primary challenger and/or hold rallies for a primary challenger running against you?

Let’s say you are a GOP member of a state legislature in Georgia, or Michigan or Pennsylvania or Wisconsin who has decided against pushing back against a corrupt election in your state: What incentive does the President or his supporters have to eskew supporting a primary challenger and/or hold rallies for a primary challenger running against you?

Let’s say you are a GOP member of a state legislature in Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania or Michigan and your state supreme court rejects compelling evidence of election fraud and sworn affidavits of day presented by Sydney Powell, Lyn Wood and/or Rudy Guiliani and you choose not to vote for an alternative slate of electors: What incentive does a potential primary opponent have to stay away when they can raise money nationally from angry supporters of President Trump and maybe even get a visit or rally from said president in your race?

Finally let’s say you are a GOP official or pol who decides to leave government after opposing President Trump attempt to stop the steal of election 2020. What is the incentive of any think tank or conservative group to hire you when having you on their staff could adversely affect their fundraising or credibility among the party base?

Update: added quote

30 (33) Tips to Stay Married 30 (33) Years: # 33 Repeat it Back

Posted: November 22, 2020 by datechguy in culture, personal
Tags: ,

“Quite obviously you don’t think alike,” Kirk said, “or both of you would have offered that remark simultaneously and in the same words.”

“True but not relevant, Captain, if I may so observe,” said Spock Two, “Even if we thought exactly alike at the moment of creation of the replicate, from then on our experiences differ slightly —beginning, of course, with the simple difference that we occupy different positions in space-time. This will create a divergence in our thinking which will inevitably widen as time goes on.”

“The difference, however, may remain trivial for some significant time to come.” said Spock One.

“We are already disagreeing, are we not?” Spoke Two said coldly, ‘That is already a nontrivial difference.”

James Blish Spock Must Die 1970

This was a piece of advice that came up in conversation with a couple who have been married 47 years who my wife and I was visiting. I was so impressed with this piece of advice that it is our final piece of advice.

“When you have something to convey to your partner, when you’ve told them, ask him or her to repeat back what they understood you to say, not what they heard you say but what they understood you to say.”

No matter what the culture or academics say men and women are different but more than that PEOPLE are different and understand things differently. You can have five eye witnesses to an event and each will have a different spin on what they saw.

People in a marriage are no different, they have different backgrounds, different experiences and different way of looking at things, they can see and hear the same thing and come back with totally different interpretations of it.

So when you say something that’s really important don’t assume he or she thinks you mean what YOU think you mean. Ask them to say how they took it.

This has the potential to save days of potential arguments.

My thanks to Mar Mar and Mike for this input. I wish I had heard it 30 years earlier.

The 30 (33) tips so far

Twitter Apology 3 or 4 Or ERROR MY ASS! (Will They Lock me out again between 1 & 2 PM EST?)

Posted: November 19, 2020 by datechguy in blogs, elections, News/opinion, politics, Vive L'Empereur
Tags: , ,

As you can see from the above image Twitter has once again upheld my appeal and restored my account this time waiting a full day as my last post about the instant automatic apology might have been a tad embarrassing for them. Of course they might not have gotten the Lewis Carroll reference I put in the last post comparing them to Fury in the famous poem which I included in my appeal (image follows)

fyi I only included the text not the image as it would not go in the appeal

But this latest “apology raised some questions which I took the liberty of asking and I include them here

If I were you no matter what odds anyone offers you on twitter letting the tweet go without a lock I wouldn’t take them.

Unexpectedly of course

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