Saturday, April 15, 2006

Life Momentarily Imitates Pop Video Conceit

Walking down Paddenswick Road earlier (in the manner of Richard Ashcroft in any Verve video, only happier), the scent of almond blossom in the air, the sun shining on the colourful stucco facades of the rich people's houses, a small child in front of me blowing bubbles that reflected the rich metallic blue of a parked Peugeot 306 convertible, listening to Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins singing "Melt Your Heart", was all quite lovely.

Then the sun went in, the kid started screeching and "Shot By Both Sides" by Magazine came on, but never mind...


largely experimental tags: | |

21 comments:

Occasional Poster of Comments said...

There should be a word for those occasional happy conjunctions between life and MP3 player. Something like shuffelicity, only better.

patroclus said...

I quite like "shuffelicity", especially as the mp3 player in question is indeed a Shuffle. Nice work, OPC! I'll set it up as a tag and upload it into the collective consciousness of the blogosphere.

...where it will probably immediately succumb to tag rot, but hey, then I can set up a tag for "tag rot"!

*patroclus gets carried away with delusions of folksonomic grandeur, ceases to make any sense or interest anyone at all*

patroclus said...

UPDATE: it transpires that the tag "tag rot" did once exist, but has itself succumbed to tag rot.

Did your philosophy degree by any chance furnish you with a suitable word to describe such an eventuality? It's bound to start with meta-, but after that I'm lost.

Occasional Poster of Comments said...

Erm, meta-tag-rot? Sorry, it's late. And my philosophy degree furnished me mainly with large books that are rather handy as footstools. Or they would be if I didn't keep them where I need a footstool to reach them. [sighs] For someone with tendencies to think too much, I really don't do very much forward planning.

Occasional Poster of Comments said...

Actually, now I come to think about it, perhaps it's not such a bad idea keeping philosophy books on very high shelves with only a slightly shaky TV-unit nearby for reaching purposes. You do come to view the matters within them from what seems to me quite a healthy perspective:

Epiphenomenalism? What was that all about again? [stares up at books whilst considering possibility of personal injury] You know, suddenly it doesn't seem that important.

frangelita said...

Nothing like "shuffelicity" to jar you back to reality - which is, of course, moments where everything fits together very neatly interspersed with times when everything falls into a large heap of poo.

Tabby Rabbit said...

Er - not much to add to this debate apart from to ask where on earth is Paddenswick Road???

Folksonomic grandeur. I like it...

I hate the whole random thing of shuffling songs. Does that make me weird/a control freak?

patroclus said...

TR: Paddenswick Road is the one by the Seven Stars that isn't Goldhawk Road - you know, the one that leads to Ravenscourt Park tube :-)

I like the whole shuffling songs thing. Does that make me a pathetic, indecisive doormat?

Frangelita: if I was going to fall into a large heap of poo, I'd like it to be while "Safe" by Canyon Country was playing. It probably is quite safe and warm inside a large heap of poo, so it would be fitting as well as calming.

prolix said...

For the above situation I might prefer Lynyrd Skynrd's 'What's That Smell?'

I haven't had any great shuffelicity moments for ages, this is most dissapointing.

patroclus said...

Right, now we're getting down to the *real* issue of the day, which is: if you were to fall into a large heap of poo, what song would you like to be playing on your mp3 player? Anyone else?

Dave said...

Pile ou face, by Emmanuelle Beart.

That Smell: Lynyrd Skynyrd

Pile of Woe: Laura Cantrell

Smell the Roses: Kurt Nilsen

Poo-Poo In The Prawn: Ian Dury And The Blockheads

Tabby Rabbit said...

>>you know, the one that leads to Ravenscourt Park tube :-) >>

Ah yes. Or no rather - seeing as I can never find it after a few drinks...

Spinsterella said...

I don't have an i-pod. I feel all left out.

*cries*

FirstNations said...

that reminds me of like when you're all wasted, right, and you have the stereo on but you have the tv on too but the sound's off? and then a song comes on the stereo and the people on the tv look like they're singing the words along with the song but they're not, but it looks like it and you all go 'woooooooah' and it's really trippy?


....what was i saying?

Smat said...

spinsterella, I don't have an ipod either - not really sure when I'd use it to be honest. I'm really really sad though.

patroclus said...

Spinny: Good lord, what do you listen to on your walks around Bristol? Surely not the ambient noises of the city? Where's the fun in that?

Smat: Ah, but you have a car with a smiley face on the front. And a garden. And a lovely husband and three lovely kids. That's got to be better than an iPod.

Spinsterella said...

I have a CD walkman, a cassette walkman, and a digital radio walkman.

Which played 'Shot by Both Sides' on 6 music just the other day, funnily enough.

I will get an ipod when the price hits about £40. It was well past the millenium before I acquired a CD player.

surly girl said...

i am so indecisive i put my ipod (pink, mini) on shuffle then just keep forwarding through until i find one i like. repeat until battery (does it have a battery?!) is flat.

stupid short attenti....ooh! look! a digger!

ScroobiousScrivener said...

No iPod (I love the idea but hate earphones), but almost the only way I listen to music these days is through iTunes anyway (since I'm always bloody working and the CD player's in the other room, but iTunes is right there). And it's always on party shuffle. The closest I get to making an actual decision about what to listen to is changing the playlist. As a result, I'm far less familiar with the CDs I've bought in the past couple of years (iTunes era) than those I bought previously and actually listened to a few times. Now it all just goes in the big ol' Music Stew. I feel sure this says terrible things about my seriousness as a music fan, but then I never really laid claim to any such seriousness, so that's all right.

patroclus said...

Crikey, this is all very zeitgeisty. Who needs Wired, eh? Speaking of which, another fantabulously dull post coming up about my mythical dissertation...stay tuned.

Spinsterella said...

I have very strong feelings about the album* as a perfect, um, vehicle.

If I still had my other blog I'd be writing a very post about it. Thank your lucky stars I'm not going to subject you to THAT.

*Proper albums, not compliations obviously. Must be in the vicinity of 45 mins long. I could go on...