Arthur C. Clarke was, according to the intro to his popular TV shows, the "author of 2001 and inventor of the communications satellite". The former claim is irrefutable. Clarke did write the book that the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey was based on, along with its sequel, 2010, and many more science fiction novels. And of course, in creating his Space Odyssey, he influenced a certain Mr. David Jones...
Imagine the far flung future of the year 2001... who knows what things will be like then? Well, there'll be monkeys everywhere, and computers that won't open the door for you. That's about all I can remember from that movie. Or the year 2001, to be honest.
I smashed your phone tonight, oh joy The consequences will reverberate Until eternity I'm told I smashed your phone tonight oh joy
I smashed your phone Outside Yordas Cave I smashed your phone Splintering fragments Like in an Arthur C. Clarke
As to that second claim, about the satellite... well, I'd take that one with a grain of salt. Google "inventor of the communications satellite" and you'll find Clarke's pal John Robinson Pierce taking the credit, although with a little more digging you might discover that Clarke suggested the concept in a lecture that JRP attended. Clarke later said, "I'm often asked why I didn't try to patent the idea of a communications satellite. My answer is always, 'A patent is really a licence to be sued.'" Still, I suppose you can afford the lawyers by that point, Arthur.
Magic is the art of influencing the course Of events by the intervention Of spiritual forces or some other occult device.
According to Arthur C. Clarke Any sufficiently advanced technology Is indistinguishable from magic.
I was never a fan of 2001, book or film, but I was an acolyte of Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World and its sequel, World of Strange Powers, two TV shows that ran throughout my childhood and informed much of my belief system. UFOs? Yep. Nessie? Absolutely. Big Foot... that video is incontrovertible proof in my mind. (A former colleague of mind practiced for ages until he'd perfected the "Big Foot Walk". He would saunter across the sales office, pause to look back, then continue on his way. But he wasn't as convincing as the real thing.)
I take my coffee black I love Arthur C. Clarke I'm more than what I lack I'm ready to start
Every day I get lost in the thoughts That haunt my head when I wake up Did I sleep through the only years I have For a future I don't?
The intro to Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World informed us that the author was pondering these mysteries "in retreat in Sri Lanka", which always sounded a bit dodgy (especially when allegations were made about him in the UK tabloids, which were later proved untrue). However, it turns out the real reason he chose to spend his retirement there was that he was a big fan of scuba diving.
Who'd have thought Arthur C. Clarke would appear in so many pop records? And that's before we even get to the ones that feature his name in the title...
But it's Neil Hannon who takes pride of place today. Being just 18 months older than me, and by his own admission, a child who didn't go out much in the 70s, it's no surprise that Neil and I ended up watching the same TV shows. The only difference being, he turned that experience into an amazing pop song. I turned it into this blog post. I think Neil's ahead on points.
Do you remember that old TV show? 'Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World' Well, if ITV make a new series They ought to come take a look at my girl
I don't understand her She doesn't make any sense to me I don't understand her It's like she's speaking in Swahili
Basically, Sam is now obsessed with Formula 1. This seems a natural progression for someone who spent the first 6 years of his life obsessed with Lightning McQueen and Disney's Cars. Since his mum bought him the above book (or last year's version of it... I bought him the new one, on the day it came out), he reads it every day. He has memorised all the drivers, all the teams, all the racetracks. He then quizzes me on it.
I, of course, know nothing about F1. I am amused, however, than Sam seems to think one of the drivers is called Chinny Reckon. (It's Kimi Räikkönen. But Chinny Reckon is good enough for me.)
The other thing Sam does a lot is use the word "basically". I mean, basically, every sentence. I think he must get this from Louise, who uses it infrequently. Basically's not really a word I use much... I'm more likely to say "ultimately", but Sam hasn't picked up on that. It's basically getting on my wick... but not as much as the whistling. He also says "to be fair" and "to be honest" a lot, the latter when he's basically not being very honest at all... I mean, when he's telling a proper chinny reckon.
There is a World Party song called Basically, but I don't want to listen to it. No offence to World Party. This seems more appropriate today...
Put your Umbrella away and stop staring at your Diamonds (maybe put some clothes on too) because it's time for the answers to this week's Saturday Snapshots.
Some fierce competition yesterday morning between Rigid Digit and George... I think RD just clinched it, but it was pretty close. Good support from the rest of you, although I don't think anyone cracked my fiendish cryptic crossword clue for the Eddie Reader song. Thanks for playing, as always, guys...
It took me ages to remember what Dido had to to with Otis, since it seemed obvious that "resting on the harbour wall" referred to (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay. Then I remembered: "Dido resting" was an anagram.
Take A Bow if you got them all right... more next week.
(Who knew both Madonna & Rhianna had songs called Take A Bow? Made my job much easier this weekend.)
B-side to the first ever Crystals single, There's No Other (Like My Baby), from 1961. Pretty standard Wall of Sound production... Spector may have been a nutter, but he knew how to make a great record.
From
the third B4L album, the one where Natasha Khan appears naked on the
cover apart from a strategically placed (also naked) man. You're going to have to google that, aren't you? Lately, she's been
doing Sexwitch stuff with Toy (not a euphemism). About time for a proper
comeback, I think.
A pretty standard bluesy-country ballad, enlivened by the mundane detail of the lyrics contrasted with the constant reminder of the title. Brad does this kind of thing so well.
Sounding like Welwyn Garden City's answer to The Strokes on this one; The Subways' secret weapon was the male-female vocal combo of Billy Lunn and Charlotte Cooper. It works well here.
Forgotten cartoony-Britpop band who deserved to be bigger than they were. They don't even have an iffypedia page... the only reference I can find for them is on the page for [dweeb], another indie guitar band who came along a few years later and had a similar level of success. Obviously not a name that was destined for greatness.
I'm not sure I ever really got Roxy Music, but this is one of many decent singles from them. It's a little bit too wine bar to be rock 'n' roll, but it still sounds nice when you hear this band playing on the radio, with its rhythm of rhyming guitars... (whatever that means).
How many truly great triple albums can you name? I can only think of one, and it's The Magnetic Fields' finest hour (well, 2.8 hours): 69 Love Songs. Here, Claudia Gonson tries to mend bridges with her estranged "husband", played by Fields mastermind Stephin Merritt, but he's having none of it...
When we met I thought Money was everything So I let you buy the house, The car, the ring But I can't take your perpetual whining And you can't sing!
A summertime teenage romance writ large with anthemic guitars and Tim Wheeler's angel faced vocals. Can't help but remind me of being a teenager... even though I was 24 when it came out.
If Sparks had come from Switzerland (rather than LA), they might have been Yello. Dieter Meier and Boris Blank were conceptual artists first, popstars second. (Arguably, Meier didn't need pop success, he was a millionaire industrialist before Yello were even formed, not to mention being a professional poker player AND a member of the Swiss national golf team.)
Oh Yeah oozes 80s from every pore. The stop motion video is like Morph meets Peter Gabriel meets Tales of the Unexpected. Although the song wasn't a big chart hit, it did soundtrack three big 80s movies - yuppie-com The Secret of My Success with Michael J. Fox, cop buddy movie K9 with James Belushi and a German Shepherd, and most memorably of all, possibly the greatest 80s movie of all (after Back To The Future): Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Gummy bear?
