Lady Gaga Telephone by Pomplamoose

Another great little cover from the talented Pomplamoose.

It's fair cheered me up anyway!

Owl City - Fireflies

Beautifully constructed little video: one of those where you notice another little detail each time you watch it. Nice upbeat little song too.

Death In All Its Many Forms

I see dead people: lots of them. Primarily in my job as a doctor in a geriatric ward, I have issued dozens of death certificates. For the vast majority of these patients death came after "a good innings", and for a lot of these people death came as a blessed relief from pain, or other distressing symptoms. For most folk, death is something they rarely come across, and it remains very much a taboo subject for much of the UK population, even in the 21st Century. For me, and the doctors and nurses I work with, death is very much part of life. Some might see this response (or lack of it) to death as a form of desensitisation, and I certainly think my response to my father's death was influenced, and probably blunted, by my medical experience.

Today I'm on call for the Police. At 17.00, when I was thinking of going for a curry, I was asked to go and examine a 25 year old man who had put the barrel of a rifle in his mouth and pulled the trigger. He had left a suicide note. I can still see his face.

If that sort of death ever stops touching me I should probably "hang up my spurs".

"Typography" by Ronnie Bruce

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

This excellent little video from Vimeo features the words of the poet Taylor Mali. Don't you find it irritating the way some people have a regular "upstroke" at the end of their sentences, or finish every sentence with "Know what I'm saying?"

You do? Well this video is right up your street!

Nothing To Blubber About?

Busy Doing Nothing 2
Originally uploaded by Son of Groucho.

In July the Sog family visited the United States of America. Our first port of call was the lovely city of San Francisco, home of the celebrated Fisherman's Wharf. Fisherman's Wharf has many appealing attractions, not least San Francisco's branch of Hooters (but that's another story). One of it's most memorable features for us, not only from a visual but an olfactory point of view, was the colony of sea lions basking in the sun at Pier 39. These guys have been a tourist attraction for about 20 years, although I'm not sure if the locals loved them quite so much! Imagine my dismay, therefore, to read in this Wired Science Article that Salty and his chums have mysteriously disappeared!

It seems officials at the Marine Mammal Center aren't worried about the animals’ disappearance. They point out that sea lions are migratory animals and they say it’s natural for them to move around. I did hope to visit San Francisco again, and maybe the smelly, noisy but somehow quite loveable old so-and-sos will have returned by then?

Single Ladies - Beyonce

This is an interesting cover version of Beyonce's song "Single Ladies" performed by Indie rockers Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte who form the group Pomplamoose. Not quite as sexy as the original version, but catchy in its own way. If you want to find more from Pomplamoose check out their YouTube Channel.

There's a bit more info about the group here too, and especially here. Apparently, they are in the top 100 most subscribed to musicians on YouTube. Their cover of Beyonce's song above has had over 2.5 million hits, and they have been able to give up their day jobs because they make enough money from their music.

Well I've just come across them, so there!

The Credit Crisis Visualised

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

This brilliant little Vimeo video explains the origins of the credit crisis with great lucidity.

The rest, as they say, is history...

The Ascent of Money Part 1

Many thanks for my friend JumpinJack on Flickr for pointing me in the direction of the Channel 4 series The Ascent of Money. This first programme traces the history of money from ancient times to the bond market. It is made more interesting for me because I've visited several of the places in the film including Venice, Florence and the east end of Glasgow. I've not visited sub-prime USA, but maybe that is no great loss!

Well worth setting aside 45 minutes of your time to watch this and start to get some idea how banks have become so powerful: how we have reached the situation where the directors of the Royal Bank of Scotland, into which taxpayers have paid millions, are now trying to blackmail the same taxpayers into allowing them to be paid their obscene bonuses.

Fiona Apple - Across The Universe

I always wondered what this Beatles song meant: I suspect they were "chemically altered" when they wrote it! Having watched this little video of Ms Apple's excellent cover version, I am none the wiser, but greatly entertained nevertheless!