I think I've already posted the lyrics to this Belle and Sebastian song before, but not the video. The footage comes from the movie "Why We Fight," in which the song can be found (it's not been officially released separately by B&S as far as I know), and which I highly recommend. Lyrics and vocals are by Stuart Murdoch. Enjoy.

I know Damian Albarn has since done a cover version of this song, but as I'm not particularly interested in hearing it I can't be arsed to find a link. Just stick to the original.

Pills

Blue pills
Orange pills that dissolve fast
Awful white pills that last
Burgandy capsules
Absolute madness

More white pills, make me tired
But the yellow ones are worse
And the orange rectangles
Leave me wired
Pills, so many pills

Pills for the malady
Pills for the side effects
Of the original pills
Pills for pills, jeez
What kind of a species are we?

DRIVER DETECTIVE is a piece of malware that will thrash your computer. Do not under any circumstances downloaded or install it. Well, downloading won't hurt, but don't run it or do anything it says.

Your first clue should be that it tends always to be found in a colorful advertisement, rather than a reputable place like MajorGeeks. Its cheerful page makes it seem like it's completely free - there is no mention of it being trialware or anything of the sort. And it promises to scan your computer to look for out of date drivers, which sounds great... sort of. By now if you're me you're starting to get a bad feeling, like you get for all those so-called Registry "cleaners."

Anyways, to make the long story into the short one, were you to install it it would appear to work until it came time to update all those out of date drivers it found on your computer (interestingly enough, it's not totally bogus, it actually does find legitimately out of date drivers and identifies your motherboard and other devices correctly). That's when the bait and switch happens.

To update them you need to 'register' the product, so it takes you to their website on the wrong side of town, puts a bag over your head, then tells you you need to fork over twenty dollars or something like that for the program to fix the problems. Oh, but it's a generous kidnapper, it'll give you 2 extra years for an extra ten bucks (a savings of $69! or some such ludicrous amount). By now the cute graphics aren't so cute anymore.

You can leave the site, uninstall the program, and I would recommend doing several spyware / registry scans from legitimate programs like Spy Sweeper, CCleaner, Ad-Aware, SD Spybot Search & Destroy, et al. Hopefully no permanent damage (so to speak) has been done. But your best option of all is not to even try it. Some normal prudent freeware sites are actually still offering this turd. Don't they scan their software? I guess it's not an actual virus or trojan, but it's a piece of malware for sure, and may be a malware loader - that is, a way to let in other naughty programs through it's little hole in your firewall.

Steer clear!

OMG! I must have one of these! $79!

The new iPod Shuffle. 1,000 songs. Smaller than a AA battery.

Talks to you (seriously).

www.apple.com

Because everything should taste like bacon.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER HEAVEN

The Ringleaders

"This one goes out to the one I love...."

A magical young woman....





HAPPY 19TH BIRTHDAY,

SWEETHEART. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

Dennis and TMM feel the same way, too.




Embedding the video was disabled, but just click this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCyP4CYx-0A


Letter to Elise

by The Cure
(Robert Smith)

oh elise it doesn't matter what you say
i just can't stay here every yesterday
like keep on acting out the same
the way we act out
every way to smile
forget
and make-believe we never needed
any more than this
any more than this

oh elise it doesn't matter what you do
i know i'll never really get inside of you
to make your eyes catch fire
the way they should
the way the blue could pull me in
if they only would
if they only would
at least i'd lose this sense of sensing something else
that hides away
from me and you
there're worlds to part
with aching looks and breaking hearts
and all the prayers your hands can make
oh i just take as much as you can throw
and then throw it all away
oh i throw it all away
like throwing faces at the sky
like throwing arms round
yesterday
i stood and stared
wide-eyed in front of you
and the face i saw looked back
the way i wanted to
but i just can't hold my tears away
the way you do

elise believe i never wanted this
i thought this time i'd keep all of my promises
i thought you were the girl always dreamed about
but i let the dream go
and the promises broke
and the make-believe ran out...

oh elise
it doesn't matter what you say
i just can't stay here every yesterday
like keep on acting out the same
the way we act out
every way to smile
forget
and make-believe we never needed
any more than this
any more than this

and every time i try to pick it up
like falling sand
as fast as i pick it up
it suns away through my clutching hands
but there's nothing else i can really do
there's nothing else
i can really do
at all...

Frank says hello....




I MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU SO MUCH. I WISH I COULD TELL YOU DIRECTLY.
LOVE, DAD.

I'm doing great and would love to hear from you someday.

Just a check...

Which artists do you like/respect/tolerate/dislike/hate/have insuffient knowledge or recognition of/would like to know more? Please give some sort of response, if you have time!

I know sometime I 'resort' to putting up videos or lyrics, but it's not an entirely lazy exercise - I'm usually trying to expose bands or artists (for their music, lyrics, or both) to some people who may not have had much or any such exposure. I try to be open minded when others suggest new band, and I think I could be given perhaps a C+ for my efforts, B- if I'm feeling kind to myself. That is, I sincerely try, but there are some things I just will never like, or will appreciate for what it is, but will see it as too simplistic for my convuluted brain or whatever. Plus apparently I like strange things.

So, just as a check, I'm wondering what your thoughts as a (small) audience on the following artists I've tended to promote here. This needn't be scientific, and you can answer with one word or an essay, it's up to you!

I'll number them to make it as easy as possible for you as possible. If you don't want to participate you don't have to of course - just some helpful feedback for me. I'll do this in alphabetical order, so I don't betray any personal bias.

And, thanks. It does help me immensely, in ways you'd never guess.

01. Air
02. Bauhaus / Love and Rockets / Peter Murphy
03. Black Uhuru / Michael Rose / Junior Reid / Don Carlos
04. Boards of Canada
05. Bob Marley / Peter Tosh / Bunny Wailer
06. Bruce Springsteen (selected works)
07. Buffalo Springfield / Neil Young
08. Cat Power (Chan Marshall)
09. Cream / Eric Clapton
10. Dan Fogelberg
11. David Bowie
12. Dead Can Dance / Lisa Gerrard / Brendan Perry
13. Depeche Mode / Martin Gore / Dave Gahan
14. Duran Duran
15. Einstuerdende Neubauten / Blixa Bargeld
16. Emiliani Torinni
17. Emmylou Harris
18. Enigma
19. Fleetwood Mac / Lindsay Buckingham / Stevie Nicks
20. Frou Frou / Imogen Heap
21. George Michael
22. God Speed You! Black Emperor
23. Goldfrapp
24. Gordon Lightfoot
25. Grace Jones
26. Gregory Isaacs
27. Hector Zazou
28. Jakob Dylan / The Wallflowers
29. Japan / David Sylvian
30. Jeff Buckley
31. Johnny Cash
32. Joy Division / New Order
33. k.d. lang
34. Kristeen Young
35. Leonard Cohen
36. Mark Knopfler / Dire Straits
37. Mazzy Star / Hope Sandoval 
38. Moloko / Roisin Murphy
39. Morphine
40. Neil Finn / Crowded House
41. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
42. Nick Drake
43. Nine Inch Nails
44. Nirvana
45. Norah Jones
46. Pearl Jam / Eddie Vedder
47. Peter Gabriel
48. Pink Floyd / Roger Waters / Dave Gilmour
49. Psychedelic Furs / Love Spit Love / Richard Butler
50. Radiohead / Thom Yorke
51. REM
52. Roxy Music / Brian Eno
53. Sade
54. Soundgarden / Audioslave / Chris Cornell
55. Stina Nordenstam
56. SWANS / Michael Gira / Angels of Light / Jarboe
57. Tears For Fears
58. The Beatles / John Lennon
59. The Blake Babies / Juliana Hatfield
60. The Chameleons / Mark Burgess and the Sons of God
61. The Clash / BAD / Joe Strummer
62. The Cranberries
63. The Cure
64. The Doors
65. The Police / Sting (selected works)
66. The Smiths / Morrissey
67. The Sugarcubes / Bjork
68. The Sundays
69. The Who / Pete Townsend / Roger Daltry
70. Tim Buckley
71. Tupac Shakur
72. U2
73. Velvet Underground / Lou Reed / Nico / John Cale

If you need help remembering which artist did which song(s) you may have heard, ask me, or just search Youtube or the web.

And please be completely honest, in the positive, the negative, or in ignorance; no one is judging you here.

Thanks again. =)

Untitled.

Algol, rigel, a vigil, livid
I need someone I can count on,
I'm tired of hearing brass in the background
Or synthesized strings, my body craves the real thing
How like a queen bursts forth the lonely moon!
A chessboard of players, all playing,
A game I want only to be leaving
There will be a reaving when I aim
My sights at them all.

Don't crawl away into your foxhole
I could get myself to Greenland if I wanted
Somehow, I could find a way to make it happen
The angle of the light may change,
But human beings are toolmaking animals
Though I am one of the most primitive of all
And would throw my body again the fiercest foe
Slam my head against the hardest wall
If it meant escaping stasis.

Breathe.

Breathe
It's a blow against all they believe
Just breathe

Breathe
So that people will remember us
Just breathe

After all we've said I guess we're ugly underneath
What the hell they gonna say?

Are we porno for the aliens? Are there aliens at all?
Man I wonder what they'll say

If we breathe.

Breathe
Start the engine, wind the windows down
And breathe

Breathe
Put a blanket at the door and let's
Just breathe

When you wake up in the morning of the last day in the world
What the hell they gonna say?

At the dawning of the ice age was it worth it after all?
Man I wonder what they'll say

If we breathe.

Breathe
It's a blow against the family
Just breathe

Breathe
Put the ugliness behind us
If we breathe.


©2006 Richard Butler

Reality

top photo found on net, bottom photo taken by me

Untitled

Pinned down bedsheets, jail tight
Crawled in forward like a slug
No room to turn
Feels like a furnace in here
From the far side of the moon
And plumes shoot up red and blue
On either side
Wide of their mark but getting
Closer, as the crimson tide
Seeks like a helicopter below to
Engulf him in raging whirls
He wonders about the ceiling fan
When he was a stout boy, he sees
So many things shredded
Led me directly to this hole
In the earth, mossy and grave
Where Indians they say
Would never venture very far
And there are pinpricks of light
Searing in his eyes
Shooting up on either side
Of him like stars
Peeling from his skin, now he
Becomes a different thing
In his mind he's found an escape
A way of moving forward but his
Shell is wedged so tight
That he's dried out long before
He grows his wings.

credit unknown

For JH.

When he arrives,

Bury me facing the sky
with jewels in my eyes
nothing is ever really over.

Poor rock girl in this slum world
wants it all so she dresses
dresses to kill

Bellows out to fill that hole
but black clothes can never
fill a hole that's feeding.

Bury me with my lips sewn shut
so nothing can ever come
out but the truth.

Poor diamond face and such a smile
so ashamed when they wanted her
thought too much about it all,

That unsolvable equation
every intelligent woman cursed with
beauty must tackle.

Bury her facing the sky
with jewels in her eyes
another young life is over.

But do it under the cover of
darkness, don't let the secret
out. Keep creating

Idols and drug addicts,
down-to-earth hippies and kings.
rock trains don't stop for anything

The show is never over.

For Me.

Did I sleep the day away?
See you mouthing words one hundred
Pounds inside of life on your side.
Forgot to pray last night
Six thousand nights in a row
Lined up, the tears of a Christ forgotten.

And I hear there may be snow
In the mountains, and ice on the lake
Where we used to skip stones
And play the most fantastic games.
But you're turned away on your side
And the day, well it's only beginning

For me.

“LIFESAVER”

Lifesaver
Your timing's really strange
Catch me later
But can you please be late

And it's funny how your thoughts think they're right at all
And it's funny how your cause makes no sense at all

Lifesaver
Let's play a little game
Catch me later
But make sure you'll be there late

And it's funny how it seems you're doing things
And its funny how you find your peace of mind

Lifesaver
I'm cancelling our date
Lifesaver
It's time you had a break

Lifesaver
I'm cancelling our date
Lifesaver
Lifesaver

©1994 Emilíana Torrini Davíðsdóttir