ROSS NOBLE..

  

At 10:30 Ross starts to talk about losing his home in Australia in the fires..

Out of bad good things come though! He has moved back to the UK and hopefully will do more live shows as I still haven't seen him yet!

  

THINGS JAPANESE..

A random and meandering blog (sorry) that is inspired by an in-joke between my and my partner -
that will necessarily be less 'in-' and more 'out' after this blog..

So, here it is world.. dah, dah da da (cue drum roll and all that).. I have a thing for Japanese girls. Not a dark secret, not sinister. In fact, something I'm quite proud of really!

It all started in 1986. I hot-footed my ass down to London in search of golden pavements. In a way, I found mine for a while - working in the City in a new trading department dealing in Government Bond Futures contracts.. Japanese ones to be exact. New instruments. New world. Loadsa dosh etc etc and all those other 80s emotions!

I worked for Diawa Europe, a Japanese Securities House. As their current website states, your insight to asian financial markets..

During my time there I had ample chance to learn a bit about Japanese culture, food (as we regularly worked late nights to settle trading positions with Japan overnight we had fresh Japanese food in the office each evening for free - heaven!). And the best bit was yet to come.

All of the Directors were Japanese imports. Unsurprisingly. But their daughters (never did see any sons - but maybe I wasn't looking?) often dropped by the office to grab Daddy's gold card (when gold cards were only for people who were earning the really big money not just anyone who wanted one). As an 18 year old kid from a 99.9% 80s white town my eyes were truly opened! For me Daiwa Europe was more like my insight into asian females. Don't get me wrong, I don't like other Asian looks at all but Japanese girls hold a special place for me.

In the Wag Club with a friend one Saturday I fell over myself and fell in love with one Japanese girl in particular. Truly beautiful. My only problem was that she had only just hit London, her dad was an investment banker or some such and she had moved over to attend the esteemed Japanese College in London. I managed to be able to buy her a drink - which turned out in relative terms to be as expensive as the drinks are nowadays in Tokyo! Well, the Wag Club was THE place to be at that time. Derek B and Yazz on the turntables. Gilles Peterson with his new Talkin' Loud sound. House music exploding all over the place etc.


One problem. My Japanese language skills in those days didn't extend much further than a few numbers, yes, no and ham and egg sandwich (honestly - hamu eggu sandoicchi.. see it's not that difficult!). Ishiko or Michiko (whatever!) knew less English than I did Japanese. Not surprising the conversation didn't go very far. But hey! I have the memory!

After that, Japanese life was a barren desert for many a year. I moved back up North, to a city with very few Japanese faces in it (in those days, less so now after a few successful inward investment projects). I quickly forgot about my Japanese fetish (apart from sporadic Yohji Yamamoto clothes purchases) and got on with my life. Probably for the best!

Then, recently I re-visited early 90s band Sultans of Ping on my mp3 player (and went to see them too - which I can't recommend highly enough). Their song I Like Japanese Girls reminded me of the old days and my partner has wound me up about it from time to time in our healthy rivalrous way. It is funny. It is a fetish. It is, let's face it, part of what makes Polko Polko.


So, there it is. It's out. Polko likes Japanese Girls... Cool cool cool cool Japanese Girls...

vid link here if you're interested!

and this is just funny!

REALIT-V

As I was having a relatively laid back day at work today I was playing a random playlist of tracks. I say random. I mean barely random in the spirit of being drawn from my own hand-picked collection of mp3's that sit safe and happy on my 500Gb external hard drive. A back up of everything that is Polko-digital. And why not? Given Polko is somewhat of a digital ego anyway?

Anywaaaay...

I'm not a U2 fan but.. isn't Beautiful Day a great track? Or is it just my mood today? Or the fact that it has stopped raining at last today and I find I have to go to the post office with my 48 year old classic car sat outside and ready to please. It may be a slightly indirect journey?

So here they are. Simple and plain. Like the way I spell my name.

The traffic is stuck and you're not moving anywhere.
You thought you’d found a friend to take you out of this place
Someone you could lend a hand in return for grace

It's a beautiful day,
the sky falls
And you feel like it's a beautiful day,
Don’t let it get away

This track was followed by Spiller's Groovejet.. big change!

Parts of the track also reminded me of someone that I have 'bumped' into and off recently. But more pertinent perhaps are these lyrics from Roland Orzabal - always good listening if he's behind the lyrics..

Wake up
You've had an operation
Ideas above your station
Too much reality
(Everybody Loves A Happy Ending, from CD of same name)

Says it all about the individual in question really. I'd only embellish it further by changing reality to realit-v. But it was written sometime before 2004, slightly ahead of the mass invasion of the nation by reality shows. A better day. A more beautiful day in fact.

Gotta go now. A Nick Cave track has just entered the playlist and that's a very different mood for a very different days blogging.

A DAY IN THE LIFE..

Thought I'd do something slightly different today. The blog will grow by the hour (or thereabouts) as I step through today, a Wednesday, a pretty typical middle of the week day looking forward. So, here's a day in the life of.. Polko. Much for my own benefit as anybody else's. I am pretty lucky as I live in a great, quiet place, work from home with only the odd trip out to see my clients and - thanks to the global financial crisis - have a little more time on my hands than usual (given that a lot of what I do relies on the property market and funding).

08:35. Polko's cat has had his tablets, squeezed in tuna so he definitely takes them. Mrs Polko is outside letting our chickens out to free range, probably getting attacked by our cockerel who, given it is Spring, has become a bit of a nutter again. Breakfast at desk = vanilla coffee and cinnamon and raisin muffin. I may go back for a bowl of cereals. BBC News website to check how many more people have died from flu overnight (see last post!) and read about Brown & Co's latest stunt - every home in the UK to receive a leaflet about how to cut down the risk of contracting flu? hmmm. One thing did catch my eye on the news given that most holiday companies and regular airlines are being sensible and cancelling flights, etc.. British Airways, which has four flights a week to Mexico City, said it would not be cancelling any flights. Very sensible.

11:00. Started a new job file for a contract won yesterday. Responded to a few emails, most importantly to a good friend in Hungary who thinks the flu issue may have a more sinister raison d'etre - maybe just maybe the virus or at least the advice to stop international travel is related to the fact that those in power (who have recently been pocketing millions if not billions of dollars of government financial sector handouts... where has that money gone?) don't want us bumping into them as they wander the globe spending their not so hard earned new fortunes... Maybe?

Surfed the web for a new bathroom radiator - dark metal tubular model that has varied in price between £505 and £395 delivered, illustrating the power of the web to grab a keen price. Then surfed to www.edmistoncompany.com to gaze at the yachts that are still being bought, presumably by those in receipt of aforementioned government money. Another coffee just appeared on my desk, with a Pecan pastry courtesy of Mrs Polko. Nice.


12:30. Few games on Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare (of course). Skimmed the UK Inward Investment 2007/08 report from UKTI. Riveting. Not riveting as in engineering wise, just an interesting read. Honest. Filled out my 5 Best Rap albums on a facebook app - very hard to pick only 5 of anything but listed 1 x BDP, 1 x EPMD, 2 x Braintax and a Poor Righteous Teachers album I love. Good distribution of the types of rap I like I guess - all saying a lot more than guns and ho's ovr a bassline. I did try to list Hijack (an old South London rap crew) but couldn't as this is probably as rare as a rare thing.. but much better than anything that I've heard since 1990!

13:30. Lunch at desk - mackerel, baked potato and cheddar with a glass of water. Quickly stripped air horns off my old (as in 47 years old) car as Mrs Polko micro-baked the spuds - having a radiator re-cored and so the chance is here to take apart, clean paint and make tidy various bits at the front of the bonnet. My baby is getting there.. More surfing around. Need a funky toilet for my bathroom project and maybe one or two youtube comedy videos to lighten the lunch half hour.

15:00. A few emails sorted out, two meetings set for London in two weeks time. Interspersed with another few games of Call of Duty 4. I am clearly not in an aggressive mood today as I keep losing or winning the coveted award of least kills in the online games (usually of around 12 players). 4pm sees me finishing early today to watch the final game in the quarter final series (game 7 if you're that interested) of New York Rangers' attempt at winning the Stanley Cup. Sadly, my team (New York Islanders) didn't even make it to the playoffs - much the same as me today on COD4 they managed to come lowest of all NHL teams this year. But hey! There's always next year! Some light has started to shine at the end of the economic tunnel - HMV have been cleared to take over 15 Zavvi music stores and one of my clients has just secured funding to build some more data centres (big sheds, super-cooled, served by multiple power units, full of server racks essentially). Sadly, we don't get involved in this type of work so nothing much in it for me.

15:30. More COD4 for me. Mrs Polko is far more energetic and is cutting grass outside. First US death from swine flu is a young Mexican child on holiday apparently. All is good on our hill, clearly not so elsewhere. But, what hype this virus is gettin'!

17:30. I have a bad back at the moment and so instead of sitting for long periods in front of a TV watching ice hockey (see above) I have to get up and do something else to ensure I am not crippled when it comes time to get off the sofa. I either have a very badly strained lower back muscle or Hodgkin's Disease (which ain't nice believe me). I am sincerely hoping it's the former. So, back at desk surfing the web (again) for more information or in the blind hope of finding a website that says, if this is happening it can't be that Disease and must be something less serious. I need to book in with the doctor sort it all out for once and for all. Tomorrow. Honest. (those that know me know I hate anything to do with order, appointments and medical personnel - except sister-in-law of Polko who is a nurse and is therefore ok). Also need to sort out my expenses forms as I have been travelling a lot recently and the receipts are piling up in my in-tray and I'm owed a fair amount of money by my employer. Which is me. So, that's sort of ok then? More ice hockey in a mo'


19:00. My son's favourite team are now out of the Stanley Cup. He won't be happy - I'll text him. He won't reply. He rarely does. Even if I fund his mobile phone top-up... How quick this time has come round - especially when memories of him being 3 and taking his clothes off in Kendals Manchester, calmly sat on a sofa while I was buying some clothes seem only yesterday... Also managed to squeeze in 15 minutes of shooting outside - still hitting right of target - need to adjust my scope I think - before setting to and making some Pecorino and Mozarella Ravioli for Mrs Polko to come home from her horse riding to. Switching to kitchen computer to update the rest of today's blog.

20:00. Pasta made - a change of mind and the discovery of an old-ish avocado in the fridge has resulted in Avocado & Gorgonzola Ravioli instead. The last hour has been one of new things; Mrs Polko arrived home with some fresh goats cheese made from a friends goat's milk.. yummy, I made pasta to a random soundtrack from youtube - spurred on from my search for a Big B track called Hooligan I found a list including a band called Hed PE and their track Ordo Ab Chao - knew it was going to be good when it started with a quote "The puppetmasters create disorder, so the people will demand 'order'." and then a sample saying "President Bush come out with your hands up, you're under arrest..." Check it out by clicking here. Really not my usual cup of tea guv' what with its thrash guitar chorus (Polko is no fan of guitars - having a range of synths and massive array of Reason 4.0 Refills on the theme 'classic analog synths and drum machines!') but a strange and extremely engaging mix of latin percussion, political statements and thrash. I like. A lot. Anyway, here's Big B - big indeed!


22:00. Dinner was great - Avocado works well with Gorgonzola. Lesson of the day digested. Quite literally. Watched some TV - Victorian Farm and an hour programme about wheat farmers on BBC4 (Polko lives on a farm, so this is in the mould so to speak - although this farm is a sheep farm and not arable.. but hey! who's counting). The news is full of the upscaled Grade 5 threat of the swine flu virus, which makes me ever more suspicious of the political nature of the whole event? A good friend of Polko's has a medical degree and I had a brief text chat with him earlier in which he suggested that the only real threat at this stage is to those who are already low in immuno-reponse.. another friend of Polko is stepping on a plane to NY this Friday & I think all will be well there. Polko is also thinking a trip to US is in order to watch the remainder of the 2009 Stanley Cup in his favourite sports bar (in Santa Barbara). California is so enticing this time of year. Any time of year in fact. Oh, and in other news a great big hole has appeared in Barlow Moor Rd, a road Polko used to know well in South Manchester - see here. Which reminds me of that strange unanswered Beatles line, "how many holes does it take to fill the Albert Hall".

23:30. Watched a Newsnight special on Obama's first 100 days in office - court is still out on that one. One last glass of wine. One last game of COD4. Mrs Polko is ascending the stairs. Lava lamp is still doing its thing. Another day in the life of Polko is drawing to a close...

Hope you've enjoyed it.

no more later..

IT'S SPRING AGAIN...

Today has reminded me of why I moved to this house on a hill. One very great day. It is very chilled here in Polko-land.

Among the myriad of Spring cleaning-like activities (though not direct spring cleaning activity - those that know me know I don't do the cleaning at Polko-ville) I've junked eMule and moved to another 'provider' so to speak. Recommendation of a friend who is usually the one asking me about things IT, and most definitely a great recommendation. Among other things I've just downloaded Talk Talk 'The Colour of Spring' - their 1986 album which is loaded with great tracks to play out the evening sunset over the hills out of my kitchen window.

One track is in particular very relevant - it's called April 5th.
Check it here: Talk Talk - April 5th
Sounds very moody, Depeche Mode-like?

Busy week ahead, trying to fit five days work into two and half but fitting in a trip to Nodnol in between to watch ABC re-do The Lexicon of Love with the BBC Orchestra - and it's going to be good. Real good!

LAST TWENTY..

No, I'm not giving up smoking (since I never started). Nor down to my last twenty quid (which would be worrying?).

It's that time again. The post of my last twenty mp3's played on MediaMonkey. For what it's worth (well, fills up another post?)

Here it is (if you can't read it, then click the picture to see more detail):


Another strange mix... the OneTwo stuff and the 808 State electronica are fairly obvious choices for me. But those few A-ha tracks surprised me. I burnt a Best Of collection of A-ha when I was last at Sister Polko's house (bad man. home taping is killing music after all?) and when I've listened to them I've been most impressed. I'd go so far as to say that Coldplay must have listened to this CD just before they went into the studio... go on, try them back to back. Strange enough they are very similar with A-ha just slightly ahead of Coldplay given that they have the authentic 80s sound after all.

And this list marks a welcome return for Joan Armatrading on my playlist - I own every album (those big black plastic disc like things.. you remember..?) that the woman from Birmingham has ever released. One of the country's finest songwriters - when you're in the mood for it - but I think it's such a shame that she represents all that is bad with Birmingham. How many bands/singers do you know from there that have stayed? or support it in some way? UB40 are probably the only ones?? rest my case m'lord..

..which brings us neatly to The Twang. This track was played as I was just emailing a friend with a few examples of this bands material (and they may well go out and buy the CD? who says home taping is killing music now?). If you don't know about them - find something and play it. Then buy some. Or ask a friend like me to send you more! Anyway, they are a Birmingham band - not exactly famous or big in the hits list, but brilliant all the same. Check out their info here.

The other things on the list (and this is the house PC not my own work PC or my notebook) reflect a desire to play something different and shock people as to the breadth of my musical appreciation. Has it worked? You tell me.

Oh, it's also nice to see - in a six degrees of separation kind of way - that I'm never more than 20 steps away from a Braintax track too! If you haven't heard of him, then you haven't been born yet - as Jazzie B once said Get A Life... which may well be my next track played..

WHILE THE CAT'S AWAY..

Now that Mini-Polko has been dropped at school for the week Polko is having a week without Mrs Polko.. Jetted off to the Canary Islands for a well earned week of sun with Sister Polko she has (well if it keeps 'em happy)..

Not quite alone, and not quite while the cat's away though.. Cat Polko is at home with me too..

Polko is however, also not really working hard this week. A Three Day Week again for me. The way it should be. So, I'm catching up on a whole heap of things I like to do. Playstation 3 online gaming (NHL'09 has just been released.. yay-hey!), mp3 sifting and sorting and re-tagging (the Nerd in Polko strikes again!), fixing up the bathroom, manning the phones, taking long breakfasts in the village coffee shop, finishing three books that are half read, mailing out 300 flyers and, last but not least, cooking up some experimental recipes for Sister Polko and Mrs Polko to try on their return. Life at Polkosville goes on much the same in the correct relaxed fashion.

Now, while we're on the subject.. I'd like to provide a quick list of some mp3's that I've been playing around with / including some bands that I've under-rated for too long..

1. Simple Minds. Just playing through New Gold Dream (one of my favourite 80s albums) but then I also selected some of their greatest hits stuff... and now I realise I really really like Waterfront as a power track. I know it might not be trendy to like this band, but damn they're good. And my first band to see live too - when they weren't famous.. so that counts for something?

2. Braintax. Pure UK consciousness. Those that know Polko know of his admiration for the lyrics this particular lad from Leeds has been pumping since 1991. Pity he's now had enough of fighting the greyness around us and slotted off to Australia to live forever and ever. Amen. I'll be following (not necessarily to the land of Wallabees however!) in 8 more September's after this very one. Nice.

3. Blancmange. Neil Arthur. Pure idiocy and pure brilliance all rolled into one songwriter. I mean, their first release was called Irene and Mavis ??? Check out What's Your Problem if you get a chance for a slice of Blancmange. Only 2 downsides to this band - they're from London (someone has to have the misfortune) and they signed to London Records (the gits who took over Factory Record's catalogue) :-)

And I will also leave you with one of life's imponderables (which in itself is a great word for any Monday?).. why do I always cut one slice of sweet potato thicker than the rest and have to leave it in the pan one minute more?

hmmm.....