elisi's humble abode

Today is The Football Day, no point in avoiding it. :) So here, have the song that is still stuck in my head as THE football song:



Does anyone else remember The Adam and Joe Show? Good times. <3 (Joe Cornish went on to write things like Attack the Block and Antman. The latter has the best fight scene in the whole of the MCU, hands down.)

I don't really care about football so I'm unlikely to watch, but I figured you could have a bunch of stuff about the good aspects:

( Look, the team are great and full of Marxists! :D )

( Daily Dimash: War & Peace )

The ACCURACY! :O

This is what the entire 90's felt like pic.twitter.com/KAMXJoylYz

— Sads Dikkelsen (@Merzboner) July 7, 2021

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And since I got my 2nd jab today (waiting for side-effects to kick in), a lovely thing:

the french vaccination ad campaign is just *so good* pic.twitter.com/ciObPlRwW8

— juan (@juanbuis) June 10, 2021

Yes I know I just got better from covid, but we are going abroad (hopefully!) and it's been 8 weeks since my 1st. Don't worry, we consulted with health officials. But my arm hurts. (I remember that part from the 1st shot, oh yes.)

Also I can almost smell & taste again. This is all very exciting.

( Daily Dimash: Jasmine Flower )

ETA: Posted this due to the England-Denmark match.

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I can't with the news today, have one thing:

Please donate, if you think the @RNLI should save lives at sea, regardless of the nationality of the people drowning. https://t.co/znYx8rcBy3

— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) July 7, 2021

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And today you get Eivør instead of Dimash because I just happened across this song and it helped me with my fic:

In case the ridiculously lengthy posts haven't given it away - yes I am much improved. As is everyone else in the family. Which is nice.

Under the cut several LGBTQ+ videos (VERY different, some funny, some informative):

( Read more... )

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The National Health Service is 73 years old today. A very happy birthday to an incredible institution xx pic.twitter.com/oMKry371vl

— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) July 5, 2021

Oh and here's a Petition that touches on both of today's topics (I'm sure I have shared it before, but in case there's someone who hasn't signed yet):

Increase funding for NHS transgender services

ETA: OK, couldn't let this one go (in light of today's announcement):

Look, either get vaccinated before more strains appear or we all have to learn the Greek alphabet. Those are the options.

— Daniel Silvermint (@DSilvermint) July 3, 2021

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And since we've done a Bond-homage music video above (although a very tongue-in-cheek one) let's have Dimash's (more straight *g*) version.

( Daily Dimash: Be With Me )

ME FROM LAST YEAR: Your summer going better?
ME NOW: Good news: there's a vaccine
ME FROM LAST YEAR: Oh good so...
ME NOW: ...But the virus has mutated. Also it's 100 degrees every day and the water is on fire.
ME FROM LAST YEAR: The water is-
ME NOW: The water is on fire. Yes. https://t.co/K6pXECDZYo

— Hunter Felt (@HunterFelt) July 2, 2021

Couldn’t find ANYTHING on the BBC (it’s now 7pm, they’ve had a day!) so here is a link from ABC:

Video shows fire in Gulf of Mexico after gas pipeline rupture

In order not to fall into inconsolable depression, a comedy sketch from 1991 which is still impossibly on the nose. With endless thanks to Owls who brought it to my attention:



( Nattering about superheroes & stuff )

Daily Dimash: Qairan Elim

Sticking with the theme, have a song & video about his love of his homeland, showcasing its beauty. As far as I know Dimash helped to direct. Thanks to plotting out this post since this morning, I've had the song in my head all day! :)



( Read more... )

Further re. Good Omens, then the thing that is making everyone excited (apart from all the other things) is that John Finnemore was announced as co-writer. Darcy for example was utterly indifferent to the news of S2 (and he very much enjoyed S1) but the moment I mentioned Finnemore's name he declared that S2 might just be better. Here is the man himself to explain a little about who he is. His stuff is very funny, clever and meta. I'm not terribly familiar tbh, but what I have heard has reminded me of Wodehouse in the way he creates a wide and humourous canvas and then pulls everything together with incredible skill and ingenuity. Also he apparently has a thing for replicating the structure of the show within the show. (I hope that makes sense. Feeling better than I was, but brain still... not firing on all cylinders.)

This is not me trying to sell my stuff, because it’s free... but if you’re an anxious Good Omens fan who’s never heard of me, and wants to know what kind of a writer I am, this is the last show I wrote. https://t.co/1RPB1hjnPW

— John Finnemore (@JohnFinnemore) June 29, 2021

ETA: He talks mostly about his most recent series of John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme. Money quote:

'Now the more metaphysical answer. This series is rather different from the previous eight series. I'm very proud of it, and I'd love you to hear it. However, it turns out to be one of those shows where it takes a couple of episodes to get into it... but I think it's fair to say the people who do get into it REALLY get into it. Two days after the final episode aired, I was invited to a Zoom meeting where about a hundred people had got together to share theories, analysis, and poetry about it. That... didn't happen with any of the previous series. And not just because Zoom wasn't a thing then. '
^This sounds so awesome I am actually listening. (It helps that I am in recovery mode and RESTING.)

~

And via Kerk, have a wonderfully heartwarming story [from 2019]:

Frank's coffee stand

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Daily Dimash: Ulisse

Another one from the Igor Krutoy celebration event. Dimash Qudaibergen (in full baritone/tenor ♥) & Aida Garifullina signing, Igor on the piano AND ice dancers!



ETA: More info (from ju1ietta in the comments to this reaction):

[You can] watch this amazing concert on Igor Krutoy’s channel in its entirety: 2019/11/03 Ace show of Igor Krutoy, Moscow, Russia: https://youtu.be/JxFIInXqaGk

This number is plot related to the previous number performed by Dimash "Olimpico". Both songs are in Italian (Dimash and Aida costumes in European style). Skaters depict the plot of the ancient Greek poet Homer "Odyssey" (another name is "Ulysses"). In the song "Olimpico" Dimash portrayed the Olympic gods, who sent trials to Ulysses in the form of a storm, but also motivating him to overcome the elements. The number ends in a shipwreck. Therefore, at the beginning of the next issue you see the defeated Ulysses at the bottom of the ocean. Around the fragments of the ship are scattered and fish, stingrays swim ... A vision of the waiting Penelope saves Ulysses and brings him ashore. The costumes of the skaters should correspond to the style of ancient Greece, but they remind me more of Russian ethnic costumes. The director of dance numbers is Olympic champion in figure skating Ilya Averbukh.

And I threw the original lyrics into google translate (since I couldn't find a translation):

Polarity, ambiguity,
silver peaks in the blue
My Ithaca!
I am at the mercy of your vices and virtues.
For Ulysses Odyssey, life, death and idea,
journey that pierces the soul, the infinite love.
Take me with you in your mind and heart.
Prisoners of the chase,
we are always the mirage.
God of the sea, of the great love,
guide the ship because in sailing, in waiting
there is the search for oneself
For Ulysses Odyssey, life, death and idea,
journey that pierces the soul, the infinite love.
Take me with you in your mind and heart.
Prisoners of the chase,
we are always the mirage.
For Ulysses Odyssey, life, death and idea,
journey that pierces the soul, the infinite love.
Take me with you in your mind and heart.
Prisoners of the chase,
we are always the mirage.
Always us, always us.


Dimash Masterpost

Today's covid update is that it's basically turned into a full-blown head cold. This is not an improvement.

~

ETA: It's a year since Mae Dean came out! I keep meaning to share her comic (it's been going since forever), so this seems an auspicious day:

https://reallifecomics.com/comic.php?comic=june-29-2020

Keep clicking Next...

~

I believe there's a football thing happening. I'm still stuck on this:



I did a post w/links here: *Screaming*

~

And then I had this stuck in my head for hours! :)

( Daily Dimash: Screaming )

Well guess who had a positive covid test! It comes with a lot of paperwork, yo...

( General nattering about covid )

Here, have something more fun. This is painfully accurate:

Them: "How does writing work?"

Writer: "Umm you type and then you delete. Do a couple hours of research and rewrite. You reread, wonder if anything you say makes any sense. Then you revise."

Them: "So that's how you write a book?"

Writer: "That's how you write a sentence."

— Michael J. Seidlinger (@mjseidlinger) June 21, 2021

And I have a feeling I've shared this before, but it still makes me laugh:

When I say fandom has never changed throughout history, only our access to each other and ready ability to feud in front of crowds of the community and other people. pic.twitter.com/oALgVFqc7B

— Deramin (@otdderamin) December 20, 2020

Daily Dimash: Samal Tau

Now this is one of those songs where I want to say: 'If you watch no other video, watch this one', and not just because it is one of my favourites, or because of Dimash, but for the history of the song. Dimash is very patriotic (not surprising, given the history of Kazakhstan, they only gained independence 30 years ago) and patriotic in this instance means 'proud of his country and deeply invested in the culture' and this is one of his favourite songs to perform. Here is the background (copied from elsewhere) some of which is also explained in the intro:

Samal Tau is an old historical folk Kazakh song and tells the story from the First World War. The name of the author is not known. Kazakhstan was at that time part of the Russian empire. The Russian Tsar issues a decree in 1916 the draft of Kazakhs aged 19–39 years for the army. Samal Tau is the song of these recruits. The place where they came from was called "Samal Tau" in the North Kazakhstan region.

The song contains the words: "We wander tired, very tired for 15 days, almost reached Omsk. Samal Tau, where I was born and raised, was left behind. Elderly parents stayed at home. How are they supposed to live without me?" The song also has information about the age of the author. He is a little over two mushels old. He was born in the year of the cow, which means in 1888, so he is 28 years old.

The instrument's name is Kobyz (Kazakh: қобыз, Qobyz) or kyl-kobyz and is an ancient Kazakh string instrument. It has two strings made of horsehair. The resonating cavity is usually covered with goat leather. According to legends, the kobyz and its music could banish evil spirits, sicknesses and death and imitate animal voices and bells of cattle herds of Kazakhstan steppe. (At the beginning of the performance: howling of wolf, dog's bark and crane cry)



( More performances under the cut )

House of plague confirmed (Darcy's PCR was positive).



Am not feeling great myself - just sort of all over achy, so I guess we'll see how it goes. If the daily posts stop because of actual covid I'll appreciate the irony for sure...

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Somehow getting a notification for this story feels very apropos, given the state of my head at the moment:

UFO report: Government can't explain 143 of 144 mysterious flying objects, blames limited data

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Daily Dimash: Thousands Of Miles A Common Dream

The song is based on the poetry of Zhang Jiuling of the Tang Dynasty. The poem was written to comfort friends who are about to travel a long journey.

( Longer video with context & subtitles under the cut )

So, update on the school situation! (Please note, it's not unusual for them to have cases pop up and having certain bubbles isolating. This happens fairly regularly and the 15 y.o. has already spent several miserable quarantines doing online learning.) But this one's in another league...

Apparently some of the kids went to a party Friday night (which they obviously shouldn't have) and cases have popped up all over, so it's not possible to isolate any specific group. Ergo, the whole year group has to stay at home until next week. Ah, teenagers. Here's to hoping that the fall-out is minimal.

And look, a very apropos article: Should schoolchildren still have to self-isolate?

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In news closer to home Darcy is feeling crap and has spent most of the day watching Rick & Morty, curled up on the sofa. And Impish Girl is under the weather too. Guess we'll see how it goes. (Incidentally both Miss M and Impish Girl are still at their respective unis. I don't have a house full of poorly ppl, just the one patient.)

The Delta variant apparently tends to look like a cold (as well as possible nausea and aching joints) so look out for that!

~

In happier news, have a Spuffy vid rec - can't believe I didn't rec it already:

Truth or Dare by double_dutchess

warning/incentive to watch: It is packed with sex scenes from Season 6, and gets pretty steamy. So, rated R and possibly not worksafe.

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Should I add this? I feel I ought to add current news now and again...

HMS Defender: Russian jets and ships target British warship

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I have thoughts on music, but they'll have to wait... I'm still thinking through it all, and am not quite sure how to formulate it properly.

Daily Dimash: Know

To quote a comment by a Dear (Dimash fan) from somewhere (I don't have a link, thank you unknown fan, whoever you are):

One of his best is a song also written by Igor called Know. He does it with lyrics at New Wave. Then he honestly takes it to a whole different level in both New York and in Kiev where he simply sits flat on his bum and vocalizes the song, differently both times of course.

Here is the New Wave performance (with subtitles):

Dimash Qudaibergen - Know ~ New Wave 2019


Below the cut the vocalising performance & the official music video (impressive but SO STRANGE) + more. :)

( Read more... )