Very probably bad....

(Barely) containing such wonders as "Alligator Ass" and "Dust my Broom", Steve Knockers Seagal delivered his second album, Mojo Priest straight through the letterbox of bad taste earlier this year. Your equine correspondent is very afraid of what he might do next.


I'll keep 'em coming just as long as I keep missing my flight to France. What a silly nag.

Yours,
Chives Eclair & Thunderbox

It haunted the fucking budgie...

Busher?
Here's a fantastic live rendition of sounds of silence by Simon and Garfunkel. Incidently, this is Colin's first post. I'll let him say a few words now -

Harmoneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.



Colin

PS
Er, well, that is to say, um... yes? This is what happens when you blog and booze - it gets ugly. No, you're not really supposed to understand much of the jibber above unless you were there - and since there were only three of us - that about counts you out, I'd imagine. This post was part of a rather super evening at Colin's house, where there was feasting on pheasant, fine wines and a not few rounds of Winner's Circle. But there'll be more on that later...

And just before I sign off, and finally leave Colin's post alone, I'd like to formally welcome him and Chives Eclair to the P club. Do you aspire to number in the select ranks of the P Clubbers? Well, get in touch with me and your dreams may very well become a reality.
- Mr. Ed

Blogging in your Bloghole for 2007

Mr Ed kindly stopped by mine well-furnished stablings and, with the promise of frequent nose-baggery, persuaded your very own Chives Eclair to get a-blogging. With no more of a fanfare than that I present the first Chives Eclair Musical Handbag: a very enjoyable snippet of Tucson's wundermensh and daytime "hosers", Giant Sand, hard at work in their backyard. Yee, and verily, Haw....



See you at the track,
Chives Eclair

Dylan DJ fantastique!

Yes that's right, Dylan is manning the decks on radio 2 this evening - well actually right NOW. Unfortunately, tonight is is his last show until march, but you can listen again if you click here.

- Mr. Ed

From the cozy by the fire committee:

Seasons greetings P Clubbers. If you ask me, bad TV, by the fire, with a nice cuppa, is what Christmas is all about. No mince pies yet, but I must be patient - in time there will be pies and pints and pigs in blankets aplenty! So, I imagine the bloggery will probably be pretty light through the rest of my holiday-get-away-break-now, but look out for a celebration of one whole year of horseyness early in the new year...

Time for a jaffa cake, I fancy.


- Mr. Ed, Beigey and Bluecupboard

To Our Friends in Thanet and Beyond...

To all P-Clubbers east of Margate (Scout and Phillip This Means You), a warning this evening to be on the lookout for a strange masked character getting all limber down down at the Temple. More info can be about this dastardly type here. In the mean time, remember, he is NOT as mild mannered as he seems...

- Bluecupboard

See you then

I'm off to Blighty in a few minutes. See all you P Clubbers on the other side of th'Atlantic!

- Mr. Ed

Santa, baby, slip a sable under the tree...

Having seen how well these so called 'polls' are going down at our brother publication Zvayam.com, we of the pony set felt it was time for our own little survey of you out there in Netsville. So vote my pretties, vote vote vote like a Florida voter...

What the Pony Club wants for Christmas...

All I want for Christmas is... My two front teeth a snake a hake a rake a cake intimacy intimacy with a Hollywood starlet an Erotik Kabberet an erotic beret reindeer games Current Results

- Bluecupboard

More shameless promotion

Well, hello and happy Sunday, from a frankly frikkin' cold Chuckcity. This is just a quick post to let you all know that some things have been added to Zvayam.com. There's a web-venture, something to do with marching bands and even a NEW poll. You should have a look. NOW.

-Mr. Ed

Flatt City tonight

Photo from Charleston City Paper Left to Right: Chris Robinson, Stephen Schabel, Dave Okey, John Svenson, and Michael Bruner

Steiners and I are off to a crimble party this evening, but we'll be making our excuses and sneaking out by around 9:30ish so we can catch Flatt City at West Ashley Bait and Tackle. They don't sell bait and they don't sell tackle, but the do have a pickin' porch where the grass is blue and the bourbon flows.

Here are some excerpts from this week's music feature in the City Paper:

Often, the best parties are pickin' parties. Whether it's a bonfire or a living room, after the milling about and catching up, it's time for all capable hands to find an instrument and chuck, strum, or bang away.

The guys in James Island-based Flatt City agree. They've taken the drink-and-play impulse, polished it up, and put it on stage. They recently bought suits ("It feels good to play in a suit, as long as you're not sweating too bad," they say), adding an air of respectability only slightly contradicted by the multiple cans of PBR strewn about the stage at a typical show. Their fingers only seem to move faster as the night goes on, unfazed by the multiple whiskey shots folks seem to buy them at every performance.

"It takes a lot of practice," explains mandolin-player and unofficial spokesman Stephen Schabel. "But I heard the recordings sober, and there were still people clapping."

-snip-

How these five players came together is a puzzle of mixed bands, gigs, and chance meetings. Okey and Svenson grew up together in Charlotte, playing together in a blues/punk/rock band in high school. Schabel was half of the acoustic duo Wheelhouse, who won City Paper's best album of the year award in 1998. He hooked up with Okey, who was living with Svenson and Robinson, and late night jam sessions soon commenced.

"They lived in a party house where we could go and pick until four in the morning and not have to worry about making anybody mad," says Schabel. "Except for that one guy who threw a log in the window."

-snip-

Judging by the quality of their songs and their synchronicity with each other, you'd think Flatt City played full-time, but it's really a just-for-fun, couple-nights-a-week hobby. Svenson's getting a PhD in molecular biology, Schabel is the education director at the International Center for Birds of Prey, Bruner is an award-winning glass artist, and Okey and Robinson both work at NOAA, as a web developer and an image analyst ("what the hell is an image analyst?"). Still, they're as polished as many full-time touring groups.

Yippee-yay.

- Mr. Ed

Talking Point Blank

Joshua Micah Marshall is one of the brightest shining lights in American journalism today. I was particularly taken with two of his most recent posts, so I thought I would share them with P Clubbers in their entirety:


December 08, 2006 -- 12:24 AM EST

Below I favorably note Sen. Carl Levin's (D-MI) statement that he's willing to start handing out subpoena's in the hearings he's going to hold into the Pentagon's conduct of the war in Iraq. I won't deny for a second that there are hearings I'm looking forward to just to see some of the Bush administration's crooks and incompetents get their comeuppance. This isn't one of them.

Think how much might have been different if Congress had exercised any meaningful oversight role through any of this catastrophe. The level of irresponsibility, the lockstep indifference has been nothing short of depraved. Calling it an abdication of responsibility is like saying a murderer didn't have enough concern for his victim's health.

Even at this late stage in the game, there are basic dimensions of what's going on in Iraq that we're just clueless about. And I don't mean the policy answers we can't find. I mean, the facts about the conduct of the war that the administration -- the ultimate unreliable narrator -- just won't share with the public or the Congress.

Consider: why did we have to wait for the ISG, the ultimate band of CFR foggies, to tell us that the US has been systematically undercounting the numbers of Iraqi dead? This is hardly the most shocking of the lies I'm sure we're being told. But it does highlight the point. How can we find our way out of this mess if we're left in the dark?
-- Josh Marshall



December 08, 2006 -- 12:10 AM EDT

That's more like it (from the Post) ...

Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said he plans to hold a series of hearings on Iraq soon after becoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee next month when Democrats take control of Congress, and he said he is prepared to use subpoenas to get relevant documents from the Pentagon.

And this ain't bad either ...

Hamilton also told the senators that they are part of the problem. "I, frankly, am not that impressed with what the Congress has been able to do," said the 34-year House veteran. "I think the Congress has been extraordinarily timid in its exercise of its constitutional responsibilities on the question of warmaking and conducting war."

More please.


-- Josh Marshall

Amen.

- Mr. Ed

Spooky

The other day, I saw a TV ad for a variation on the old 20 questions game, where you think of something and this computer box thing asks you questions - it's supposed to be impossible to beat. To be honest, I thought it looked like a bit of a gimmick. But then my mate Kenneth E. found this online version and I couldn't believe how good it was. I did beat it with "cup of tea", but it beat me with hammock and spider - it's really creepy when it gets the answer right.

- Mr. Ed

Frugal Food

Here's a recipe that I made up recently, based on the meagre ingredients I had to hand - my fresh herbs on the porch really came in useful. Basically, it’s a poor man’s penne alla bosciaola, but it turned out to be rather tasty. (If you want to make the real deal - penne alla bosciaola - just add pancetta or bacon and porcini mushrooms or shitake mushrooms)



Penne all’ indigente

Ingredients.

Olive oil
Salt
Pepper (lots and lots)
Some Parmesan cheese (to taste – no such thing as too much in my opinion)
A few tablespoons of cooking wine (or dry sherry, dry vermouth etc)
One bowl of penne (I use Barilla or DeCecco)
One shallot (roughly chopped)
One clove of garlic (crushed)
Two teaspoons of flour
Some thick cream (maybe a cup and a half?)
A few fresh sage leaves
Some fresh parsley for garnish

Soften the shallots over a medium heat in the olive oil. Then add the garlic and the sage and cook for a minute or two on medium heat, but don’t brown the garlic. Turn the heat up to high and then add the wine (or sherry or vermouth) to deglaze the pan. Allow to simmer, and boil off a little of the liquid, before adding the cream and turning the heat down to medium/low. Cook for a few minutes, then add the sieved flour and stir well. Season well with salt and pepper to taste. Allow the flour to cook and thicken the sauce, and when the sauce is nice and thick you’re done.


In the meantime, you should have boiled some water and cooked the pasta according to instructions (in general around 8-10 minutes). If you time it right, the sauce should take slightly less time that the pasta. Add the drained pasta to the sauce – mix well and serve with a heap of Parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of parsley and some fresh ground pepper.





Yum!

-Mr Ed.

Bus Good - Car Bad

- Stiffrook.com

Your Daily Monster

Apparently, 344 loves you. How much you ask? Well, enough to draw you a monster everyday.

Here's today's monster:



Raarrr!

- Mr. Ed

My new Neighbourhood - Nice !

- stiffrook.com

Tunetastic Tuesday Seven

What ho! Tuesday is upon us again, so it must be time for a tune. This week it's Wilco, live on Later with Jools Holland, with an oldie but a goodie, War on War, from their meisterwerk Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.



Thank you very much,

- Mr. Ed

The inevitable

Well, it looks like England are headed for a draw in the second test against Australia. That’s if we can’t snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, as we have so often in the past.

And in other news, Simon finally got his way - despite my repeated attempts to dissuade him - and jumped in the toilet. This had been a goal of his for some time, and yet, judging by his reaction, it was a bit of a disappointment. Well that's not a move he’ll be repeating, I thought - another valuable life lesson. And though my first instinct was to console him, since that involved touching him, I thought better of it.

Oh, and Zvayam.com is also suffering some technical possibilities. I’ll advise when it’s back up and running.



Update 1:58am:

Zvayam.com* is up again, England have collapsed, and Simon is all dry and back to his naughty, naughty ways.

Bedtime!

- Mr. Ed

* with a new feauture - lab art.

Well...

Image from BBC Sport

bugger me backwards with a pitchfork, England are in with a chance. It's 2:35am here, and we're 545-ish for 6. Massive 'cred-ay' has to go to Paul Collingwood for his magnificent total of 206 runs, scored off a knackering-just-thinking-about-it 392 balls. Impressive. But, can we keep it up?

- Mr. Ed

A litte art and a lot of science

Via Boingboing: Here is cool a sculpture by Mara G. Haseltine that was just unveiled at Cold Spring Harbour. It is meant to represent a series of ribosomes moving down an mRNA molecule, translating it into proteins.


Molecular biology 101
Proteins are the stuff of life. As enzymes, they catalyze almost every essential reaction that takes place in the human body. While they play vital structural roles in skin, bones and connective tissue, they can also be dynamic; acting as motors in muscle tissue and pumps in nerve cells. Proteins are the messengers that coordinate the development of an organism and they also act as regulators in the day-to-day maintenance of living things.

But how are these proteins made?

Well, let's start at the start - with genes. Physically, a gene is a length of DNA. Stored in that length of DNA is a set of instructions - instructions on how to make a protein. One gene codes for one protein. The code is very simple, but it is over four billion years old and shared by every living thing on earth, so it must have something going for it. It does, and its simplicity is just one of it's many strengths. The DNA language has four letters, called bases - A, C, G, and T - but it's read in triplets, or groups of three letters. This gives it 64 possible "words". The human body only uses twenty of these words, because it uses only twenty amino acids - the building blocks of proteins - to make everything we are made of. These amino acids are strung together, with peptide bonds, to form polypeptides, or proteins.

The ribosome
Now, to get from a gene to a protein, the triplet code of DNA has to be translated into the twenty-letter amino acid code, and that's where the ribosome comes in. The ribosome is your one-stop-shop for protein synthesis - it's able to read the triplet code of DNA (in the form of messenger RNA, or mRNA), and then string together the corresponding sequence of amino acids to form a protein. It does this, I might add, with a speed, accuracy and efficiency that human chemists will almost certainly not match this millennium, if ever. They are the world's smallest and oldest factories.

Molecular clocks
Since proteins are essential for life (as we know it) it is safe to assume that ribosomes have been around, in some form, just as long. This observation, coupled with the knowledge that over time there is a constant mutation rate in DNA, gave rise to the use of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences as molecular clocks. By analyzing the sequences of rDNA in different organisms, scientists are able to gauge how closely related they are, or more accurately, how long ago the two organisms diverged from one another. By combining these comparisons and collating all this information we are able to construct trees of relatedness or phylogeny. Previously, phylogenic trees were constructed based on morphology, but this genetic method is far more accurate. One of the most profound discoveries to have come out of ribosomal DNA sequence analysis is the discovery of the Archaea, the third domain of life. But that's another story, and besides, it's time for bed now.

- Mr. Ed

Tunetastic Tuesday 6

In honour of their first UK shows, this week I thought we'd hear a little more from The Films. This tune is called belt-loops and I think it's rather rocktacular. If you missed the boys this week in London, don't fret, they'll be back again on the 15th of December after their German jaunt.



mit senf,

- Mr. Ed

Creations

I found cre.ations.net via a Boingboing post on how to turn your wee blue (and having some experience with methylene blue, I would advise against trying it). After a bit of hunting around, I found some other great submissions, including the achingly funny "open letter to my misbehaving toaster" and Balloon Day:



So next time you're bored, check out Cre.ations.net - one more fabulous way to waste time on the web.

- Mr. Ed

PS
This is pretty amusing too.

The Films do Europe

The Films are playing a few shows in London this week. Tonight they are playing at Metro, tomorrow night they're playing an acoustic show at the Lock Tavern (which is free!) and then on the 27th they're playing at 93 Feet East. Through december they'll be touring Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Ireland. For full details have a look at their website or myspace page.

Here's a promo video from their US tour earlier this year:


They're very good boys and awfully good fun to see live. So if you're at loose end, you should go and see them. If you do, be sure to tell them I sent you.

- Mr. Ed

Shameless self-promotion

Check out Zvayam.com, it's new. It's not finished yet, but we're getting there.

-Mr. Ed

Tunetastic Tuesday f-f-five.

I'm still shivering from my snow-ventures outside. Anywho, this week we have the super-cool sounds of Zero 7 with the added bonus of vocals by Jose Gonzalez.



Chillily chillin',

- Mr. Ed

It's what now?

It's snowing here in Charlesville. Not very conivincingly mind you, and it keeps turning back to rain. Nevertheless, it's snowing. I've never seen it snow here before.

The current conditions from weather underground.


My neighbour Alison was excited about the snow too!


Look, a blurry snowflake!

The joy of kitten-sitting

- Mr. Ed

Sunday Slackness

One of my favourite procrastination techniques is to spin the roulette wheel of memory and, wherever the ball lands, google search it. So, today it was Paris.

I lived in Paris for a about four months when I was 15, and I have some very fond memories of my time there. First, I perused the vividly detailed google sattelite images of Paris. I found our old flat, the street where we bought our groceries and then, almost without thinking, I found myself following the route of the No. 92 bus towards Place Montparnasse. It's a journey I made almost everyday after school - with a Graham Greene novel under my arm - to my favourite cafe, Le Chien qui Fume.







After a bit of googling, I found a favourable mention of LCQF, from someone practiced in the art of flânerie, no less:

I washed up on the shady terrace of the café Le Chien Qui Fume. Even without a monumental view, I had 'la vie est belle' for a while. An altogether good café.

And I also found a more detailed review:

Dans un cadre hérité du début du siècle, le chien qui fume rallie une clientèle de quartier. Ses petites tables en bois lui donnent un air très cosy
-snip-
En fin de journée la terrasse extérieure est baignée de soleil. Une aubaine pour les autochtones comme pour les passants.

Shoddy translation:
In a space with a turn of the century feel, Le Chien qui Fume attracts a local clientele. It's small tables give it a very cozy atmosphere. -snip- In the afternoon the the outdoor seating is bathed in sunlight, which is delightful for both the regulars at the cafe and the passers-by.

Well, its a fresh and sunny autumn day here in Chuckton. And on that note, I think it's time to try and whip up something that resembles a cafe noisette and dig out my copy of The Tenth Man.

Á plus tard mes amis,

- Mr. Ed

He had a pocket full of horses...

A tribute to America's first President, George Washington.

A tough act to follow, I think you'll agree.

- Mr. Ed

Tunetastic Tuesday - Fo' Sho'

This week's tune comes by way of a chum, who may join the P Club ranks under an as yet undisclosed nomme de plume, and is always a good source for new and exciting music treats. Many of the lost hours of my worky weekend were livened up by some of his most recent recommendations including the new Sparklehorse album and today's tune - Herculean by The Good the Bad and the Queen. TGTBATQ is a bad name for a really promising band; featuring Damon Albarn, a bloke from the Verve, thingy Simonon from the Clash and a drummer called Tony Allen. This is their first single and I think it's fab. This live version was performed at the Roundhouse in Norf London a few weeks ago.



Tarrah then,

Mr. Ed

That synching feeling

I'm off for more all work no sleep fun at the Synchrotron this weekend so the bloggage, if any, will be light. This is my third visit this year and I'm really really over it.

So hope you all have a good weekend - I won't!

-Mr. Ed

What a smoothie

Will it blend? That's a question that, at some point, all reasonable people have asked about such common-or-garden objects as golf balls, marbles, credit cards, rake handles and of course coke cans:

Tom Dickson is the founder of Blendtec and a hero to blender-obsessed geeks the world over.

- Mr. Ed

The Gay News

One disappointment from last night was that anti-gay marriage amendments passed in several states. Amendment #1 here in South Cackolacky passed by a jaw-dropping 78% to 22%. So 8 out of 10 of us are backwards, slack-jawed bigots - but perhaps we knew that already. We can take heart though; Arizona did not pass their amendment and what's more, it seems to me that gay marriage, as a wedge issue, has been flogged to death.

Moving on:
This is the news!


Happy now?

-Mr. Ed

Update
Here's a useful link to let you know what's 'gay today', everyday.

You know when you've got Mo.

They're all gonna go. It looks like the Senate will fall to the Democrats too. This is huge. Here's an excerpt from Claire McCaskill's acceptance speech, which I feel sums up the mood of the election perfectly:

Missourians have rejected the politics of personal character attacks, and they have embraced the power of hope. Missouri Democrats have something special to celebrate, once again we have claimed Harry Truman's Senate seat for the working people of Missouri. I think he would be very proud of the way we did it.

This election was not about me. This election was about you. It was about changing our country's direction and restoring a sense of accountability and integrity to Washington, D.C. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped my campaign and the thousands of those who invested their financial support in our effort. You believed that you could make a difference, and you did.

The political posts will end soon, I promise.

- Mr. Ed

Done and done

Good bye and good riddance to the both of them. What a difference a landslide makes.

-Mr. Ed

Update
Here's Andrew Sullivan's take on Rumsfeld's "resignation".

Nice one Nancy

The new speaker of the House Nacy Pelosi and (maybe) the Senate majority leader Harry Reid celebrate their sweeping mid-term victory.
Image from the Guardian

Sorry about the slightly redundant election posts, but it's been a while since I've felt the election joy over here, so please indulge me. Normal programming will return shortly. Tunetastic Tuesday got bumped because of the election but will return, with a vengance, next week.

- Mr. Ed

Dems take the House

This is very good news:
According to NPR, Rove called Bush a little while ago and told him that it looked like the GOP had lost control of the US House of Representatives. Apparently the President was disappointed, which is one way to massively understate things.

Image from Getty Images via CNN

-Mr. Ed

Simon says:

Go and vote!

I don't even know if Mike Hunt is actually up for election this year, that poster is from the 2004 election that he won. Regardless, Simon insisted that I point out that he is not endorsing the incumbent sherrif from Aiken county this year. I take full responsibility for the photo - but you know, it's vaguely political and Simon looks, well, very stern...

Whilst on the subject, this weekend we discovered that Simon likes to lick the foam off Lattes. Of course, he's fond of sushi too and though, as yet, no volvo driving tendencies have been observed, he does like to skim the Times on a sunday. So, I think we can safely say where his allegencies lie. Setting aside how he'll vote though, the most important thing is that everyone does vote. I mean, even if you froth at the mouth are going to vote Republican I urge you to take time out today and head to the polls. And if you can't vote for some reason - like the fact that you just so happen to be one of those 19 out of 20 people in the world who aren't American - then please cross your fingers and hope that the good (no, really they are good, well, some of them anyway) people of the USA make the right decision.

I'm Mr. Ed and I approved this message.

- Mr. Ed

Paid for by the Simon for World High Inquisitor 2008 campaign. All feathers on strings and kitten treats gladly accepted.

Friday night is alright for rockin'

Last night, I went to see Broken Social Scene at the Music Farm and they rocked my world. I knew next to nothing about them when I walked in, but by the time I left, I was a big, big fan. Broken Social Scene consists of somewhere between 10 and 14 people and they play so many different instruments it hard to keep track, but at different times there is a violinist, two female vocals and five or six male vocals, three drummers(two playing at once in some instances), a couple keyboards, four or five guitarists and a five piece brass section. Their music is has a richly layered indie-rock sound, but it's upbeat and eminently danceable. Their cacophonous multi-instrumental sound and synthesis of complex soundscapes gives them a bit of an art-school feel, and yet not in a pretentious way. All in all, it was a fantastic live show. So to check them out, click on the second BSS link above, follw the 'media' link and you can watch some videos. My favourites are 'major label debut' and 'shoreline'.

I foud these photos online - you can seem all of them here.

Still dancing - in my mind,

Mr. Ed

Porch Blogging - Holiday Special

Happy Halloween!

- Mr. Ed

Tunetastic Tuesday Three!

My, it's getting so very tunetastic these tuesdays, don't you find? I know you do. Well in keeping with that theme, this week, we have the meoldious truckin' ways of Bonnie "Prince" Billy. He's going to be singing a little number called Horses from the masterpiece that is Greatest Palace Music.



Truckin' on,

-Mr. Ed

Update
If you liked that song and crave a little more Billy-based goodness then whey not have a listen to his Ohio Riverboat Song (not the Greatest Palace version, mind you).

Attack of the Giant Kitten!

Simon investigates the Kitchen...

Trot-tastic tunes

My mate Erik put me on to this most horsey website - daytrotter, which allows you to listen to and download songs from some great indie and alt. country artists. Why not trot over there today? I just downloaded some great tunes from a session that Bonnie Prince Billy recorded for them. Good music, free music - P Clubbers likey!

- Mr. Ed

Clearing the blog back-log

Ahoj - so many news, but where to start? Well, the Cardinals won game five of the world series and clinched their tenth world series title and the first in 24 years.


Photo ~ Huy Richard Mach/P-D via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

And in other news, Steinbrenner got a six week-old orange kitten. His name is Simon, and he is the fuckingcutestthingontheplanet.





And there's more to come but I think we'll start a new post...

-Mr Ed

Update: I fixed the fuckingcutestthingontheplanet link, sorry about that.

Tune-tastic Tuesday Two

Recently, I picked up the new (and super-fab) Beck Album, The Information. In what cynics might dismiss as a lame gimmick, he made a video for every song on the album. They're available individuallly on itunes (at a rather hefty price) or on a bonus CD that comes with the album. Of course, they're all over yoututbe now too. So, here's one of my favourite tunes from The Information, Nausea.



Rock on.

-Mr. Ed

More Baseball.

But first an update on the cricket.
England lost again. Shame, really.

Moving on...
Here's a report from the Beeb about last night's game, which the Cards won handily.

Image from BBC Sport.
Tonight's game starts in roughly 7 of our earth minutes - exciting! Just in case there are any Pony Clubbers out there that can't watch the game but want to follow it live on the web; Lorne Manly (don't call him a sissy!) will be live blogging the game at the Bats Blog over at the NYT. Just click the link and refresh every few minutes.

I know no one really cares.

- Mr. Ed

It's Just Not Cricket

Didn't understand a word of that last Blog Mr Ed. Not quite getting your banter old boy.

Tigers - Cardinals World Series!

Well, they did it, and what a game it was. Honourable mentions go to Jeff Suppan, who pitched 8 great innings and Jim Edmonds, who was denied a home-run in the sixth after some magical fielding by Chavez. It was a really tight game; tied 1-1 until the bottom of the ninth inning. Then, with one out and a man on first, Yadier Molina hit a two-run homer and the Cardinals were just three outs away from winning. Though, getting those outs would tun out to be anything but easy. The relief pitcher, Wainwright, walked the lead off batter and and the crowd at Shea Stadium smelled blood. A few pitches later and the Cardinals were really sweating - the Mets had the bases loaded, two outs and their star batter, Beltran, was at the plate. It went to a full count before Wainwright threw a devilish breaking ball and Beltran didn't even swing*.

The 3-1 victory in game 7 earns them a place in the World Series against the American League's Detroit Tigers. Game one is in Detroit on Saturday night.

- Mr. Ed

Update:
Here's a good round-up from the NYT.

Correction:
*I had said that Beltran swung, that was incorrect. Is 'swung' even a word?

Around town:

An indie-fabulous night out, in a few words but mainly pictures.

Last night was the grand re-opening of 52.5, my favourite chuckton record store. You can vist them on the web-ternet at corporaterocksucks.com.



Later the the Chimney Sweeps played at Cumberlands, ably supported by Run Dan Run and Steve Fiore.







Our newest Pony Club member, Baby Bird, was there too and she was wearing a pony dress!

Fun fun fun.

- Mr. Ed

Never Mind the Nostradamus...

Here's the Frankie Howerd. It appears that Frankie had the "coalition" pegged for likely problems in Mess-o-potamia as long ago as 1973- as you can see by pressing here. This makes him, by my reckoning, a better predictor of all things coming then the old Frenchman with the candle and the feather. Unfortunately it seems that neither London nor Washington are big fans of Superfrank.

It all started so nicely with Up Pompeii! (except for Pompeii obviously). As long as there isn't a third series out there (oh, the classic trilogy- so very Howerd- although with his Carry On roots who knows where it could end- ooh, I say...) as long as there isn't a third series called something like Bother, Meteor! or Ooh Nurse, Armageddon! Has anyone googled any of these possibilities? On the other hand, maybe don't...

-nervously, (stable door firmly bolted), Bluecupboard

It's getting exciting

What do you mean, "what's getting exciting?" The National League Championship Series, of course!
Tonight the Mets failed to rein in the Cardinal's offence, and were let down by their own, even after they had stormed the Cardinals 5-12 in game four. The turning point came in the fourth inning, when Albert Pujols Photo left from ABC Sports - yes, very funny, that's right, it is pronounced poo-holes - hit a home-run off the Met's star pitcher Tom Glavine Up to that point, Glavine hadn't given up a run in twenty innings. It all unravelled for the Mets after that. Tomorrow is game 6 - back at Shea Stadium. If the Cardinals win, they'll have booked their ticket to the first game against the Detroit Tigers, in the World Series*.

- Mr. Ed



*Not actually a 'world series' per se, or any se, for that matter. A 'planetary' level of satisfaction, derived from sitting through twenty-odd hours of baseball, is not guaranteed. All haircuts are 'for real' and, yes, we know how backwards and 'po-dunk' this makes the sport look. Seriously - don't get us started on 'dip'. That's just nastiness.

Tune-tastic Tuesday #1

Yes, that's right folks, it's finally here - Welcome to tune-tastic Tuesday! This week we've got a real treat in store, why, it's Jens Lekman!



Admittedly it's a a bit of a 'warts and all'* rendition of Black Cab. Mind you, after the dodgy low singing he sorts it out, and that song, in just a few months, has jumped right up into my all time faves list.

Scandinavally,

- Mr. Ed

*Mad love going out to Mr. Shepard (Shepherd?) and The A-level History Krewe.

So long CBGB

(Photo from notkin.net)

The iconic lower Manhattan club which launched the likes of Patti Smith and The Ramones has closed it's doors for the last time. Read more in the NYT here (Free - but registration required).


- Mr. Ed

Update: Here's more on the closure of CBGBs from The Onion.

Long time no leprechaun...

There. Isn't that better. A lovely leprechaun. I was going to go with "long time no leprosy" or just "long time no leper", but I somehow felt the images might, well, you know...
Never to worry, more from the stable soon...

-Bluecupboard

p.s. I was going to say "the images might have been missing a certain 'je ne sais quois'", but then it occurred to me that this might be a Bad Thing to say, so I put it down here instead.

Sunny day

I went out for a walk to enjoy the lovely weather we've been having here in Charlesville. Along the way I took some pictures of my 'hood. It's nice - I like.











-Mr. Ed