John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

Music To Spy By

Washington D.C. has some of the world's greatest museums, and most of them are free to the public, even to visiting tourists such as ourselves. Two notable museums that I would recommend happen to be privately owned and thus charge admission, but they're worth it. One is the Newseum, an enormous complex dedicated to news, current affairs and the pursuit of journalism, and the other is the International Spy Museum, which appeals mightily to kids but which also offers quite a lot to the grownups, too.

When we visited last year, one of the souvenirs we collected was this CD, which was produced for the museum itself and consists largely of music from the heyday of spying, at least in pop culture. It contains the James Bond Theme (bet you can hum that guitar part to yourself right now, can't you), and themes from several Bond films, including John Barry's incandescent You Only Live Twice melody. There are selections from everything from North By Northwest to Get Smart to The Saint to novelty hits like Secret Agent Man.

The tunes get recycled a fair bit; Nick loves several of them, and the CD has come along for road trips. It's as essential a slice of the Sixties to me as, say, Sgt. Pepper or Pet Sounds.

Annoyed

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves."
- Carl Jung

[The image of Carl Jung is from this Flickr stream.]

That takes care of my summer murder-solving itch

A new series of Mystery! (sorry, Masterpiece Mystery - the marriage of two PBS institutions feels utterly arranged) starts in a few weeks. PVR, fired up. 

This year's run includes three Poirots, a Marple, a string of episodes of Zen, featuring Rufus Sewell, and then the latest bit of Inspector Lewis. 

I'll meet you at Pequods

Before settling on a name inspired by the first mate in the novel Moby-Dick, the founders of Starbucks had first thought about calling the enterprise Pequods, after Capt. Ahab's ship. It didn't roll right off the tongue, and hence the switch. More here. 

The Logical Song

Today's song of the day is by Supertramp, from 1979. 

Rocket Bakery

Rocket Bakery opened a couple of months ago on Water Street in St. John's, in the space left vacant when Janet Kelly wrapped up her retailing career and Auntie Crae's sold. The new spot involves two people who have been deeply involved in the downtown business scene, Kim Winsor of Johnny Ruth and Dave Hopley of Living Planet. Rocket Bakery's main calling card is its array of baked goods, which are, well, out of this atmosphere. They also sell prepared foods, coffees and imported goods; we had a chat several weeks ago with Kim about the items they're planning to bring in. I have to say I'm intrigued. 

Here are some snaps I took during a recent visit. [If the slideshow does not play properly in your browser, you can see the images in this set on my Flickr stream.]

Not noticed, nor experienced

"The tragedy of life is not so much what men suffer, but rather what they miss."
- Thomas Carlyle  

Minimalist Star Wars

Most of us, I would think, can easily recall the original poster for Star Wars (but if you need a refresher, here it is), filled with paintings of the characters and details of the movie's scenes and sequences. The above is an imaginative reworking, with everything scraped away. It's no less intriguing. I saw it on Tiefighters. 

 

Pale Shelter

We would have called it emo, if the word had been around at the time. Tears For Fears, with their finger on the control-freak button.

Indy lore

The winner of the Indy 500 race downs a bottle of milk upon victory, making it one of the more wholesome beverages to be associated with a sports victory (but not, of course, precluding other drinks from later being quaffed). The Los Angeles Times explains why: 

After three-time winner Louis Meyer drank buttermilk in Victory Lane in 1936, a milk industry executive made an effort to have future winners repeat the gesture, and it eventually stuck.

 

 

 

Why, look, it's spring

Spring never comes early to St. John's, but the warm temperatures of the last couple of days - yes, kids could wear shorts without tempting fate - caused the leaves on many trees to pop. I snapped this while we were downtown late this afternoon, near the Anglican Cathedral. 

Comfort

"Nothing comforts me at all. I think the world is a mesmerizing mess ... And there we are."
- Morrissey

[Said during a 2009 appearance on BBC's Desert Island Discs; I heard it today while sampling some of the past episodes released as podcasts.]

Hitch

Alfred Hitchcock was the first person to receive a lifetime achievement award from BAFTA, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Hitchcock received the BAFTA Fellowship Award in 1971, about three decades after he relocated to Hollywood, and nine years before his death. 

Naked Eye

From Luscious Jackson, the best player the NBA never had. 

Daniel Lanois's fingerprints are all over this one. 

Rinse and repeat

As my family and a lot of my friends know, I have sinusitis, among other issues, and it's no picnic. Some years ago, a doctor who was treating me recommended a sinus rinse, and it's been part of my daily regimen ever since. And I do mean daily ... every morning, without fail.

At the time, there was exactly one drugstore in St. John's that stocked a product like the above, and now it's impossible to imagine a pharmacy that wouldn't have a display like this, especially at this time of year. Every physician I've been seeing, from my GP to specialists, recommends these products, which are non-medicinal and easy to use.

I actually had my first sinus rinse during allergy season (yes, I have them, too), and it was like a switch had been turned off instantly. Within a moment, the intense feeling of wanting to take my nose and eyes out of my head was gone, and the irritation in my head had stopped. For a time, anyway. I've never had so sudden a sensation of relief.

Mahler's Second

One of the things to benefit from YouTube's ability to house longer-form videos is classical music. As proof, here is the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra performing the Second Symphony by Gustav Mahler, often just called the Resurrection.

Empathic Civilization

I love how these are animated.

There's a Robin among those Angry Birds

... and a bat, too. This is today's T-shirt design from RIPT.

Watch Your Step

Elvis Costello and the Attractions, from Tom Snyder's Tomorrow show in 1981.

Bonded

Christopher Lee, who played Scaramanga in The Man With the Golden Gun, had another connection to Bond author Ian Fleming: they were step-cousins. 

Chopped peppers

We made risotto on the weekend; Martha got the stock from the freezer and assembled most of the ingredients, while I turned my attention to dicing a couple of peppers. We took turns stirring, which is the demanding part of making risotto. The results, though? As Martha wrote in her column this week, the results are more than worth it. 

Belief system

 
"I believe in God, only I spell it Nature."
- Frank Lloyd Wright 

 

Check out East of Empire

I haven't see East of Empire live yet, so a video of the up-and-coming St. John's band - recorded just this week, at CBTG's - is nice to see.  [For a site, the band is maintaining a Tumblr feed. Economical, and no less functional than what many bands put up.] 

Spidey slings a web ... or goes to a rock concert

New from TeeFury today, a nod to Spider-Man.

True Blood's brilliant ads

A month or so to go before True Blood kicks off its fourth season. Ah, summer.

From the start, True Blood's advertising has been top-shelf, and often quite funny. I reposted to my Tumblr feed a large collection of print and outdoor ads the show has used to promote the show.