Does It Really Matter?

Isn't it amazing how beautiful music can minimize life's problems and trivialities.

Although the bills still have to be paid.

Okay so we may have lost many of our old time regular visitors, looking at the blog

statistics, although they may of course be hiding behind private VPN's. And my last

Youtube Video uncharacteristically failed big time. But when I listen to this kind of music

above by Thomas Newman taken from the film 'American Beauty'  then life's trivialities

don't seem so bad.

Of course next month sees the start of our annual Summer events. And I'm hoping to be

back out on the streets with my video camera with all the other patriots for the next

'Unite The Kingdom' rally. It's always great to be out there among all the regular and

familiar Street Youtubers. What we now know as citizen journalists.

But first there's one obstacle to get past as I'm booked in for a Kidney and Bladder

operation at the start of May.

ABOVE VIDEO KINDLY UPLOADED TO YOUTUBE

BY  japaro3

Looking forward to returning to Cornwall at the end of next month having turned down

the offer of my fully paid holiday there last September due to bad weather. Of course you can

never trust the weather predictions so I'll be going there anyway.

Interestingly after visiting my old friend this week at the Paddington Hospital, I then took

a walk down Praed Street and into Paddington Station and the ticket booking office. It seems

that if I buy my ticket in advance to Cornwall two to three months early then a single standard

ticket will only cost £150 as opposed to the £300 I paid last June when buying the ticket on the

actual day of travelling.

I should know these things, but then my usual travelling partner used to organize the train

 fares to Cornwall. But with his declining health it's most likely that for the second year

running I'll be going on my own.

Above:  The beautiful sea by Tresco Island in The Isles of Scilly Cornwall.

Above is an old painting I made of St Michael's Mount in West Cornwall.

And I'm hoping to visit the Island next month to see the carnage that was caused

by the terrible Winter storms in February when eighty percent of the Island's

trees were uprooted. 

MY BIRTHDAY FITNESS VIDEO

So I've been gathering up lots of sportswear props from my wardrobe as well as buying

lots of new things from Amazon and e-bay. And as you can see from the picture above, it

gives you a clue as to which sporting activities I'll be including in my video.

(original post on the Birthday video HERE ).

I realized later that actually much of the video can be filmed indoors in my Flat where

I can be a bit bolder, or as bold as Youtube will allow, rather than feeling uncomfortable

outdoors in the Park.

Below is some of the gear I hope to be wearing including some colourful shorts and

briefs as well as a rather cheeky pair of see through shorts (below). I also picked up from

Amazon an interesting sports vest, shown in the bottom picture.

But as I hinted earlier in this post, I'm undecided about splashing up all the pictures and video

up on this blog as our readership has been sinking lately, with lots of our old followers

no longer to be seen on the blogs statistics. And unfortunately this blog is only linked on

four other blogs, three of which no longer post anymore.

The Hilarious 'On The Buses' The Squeaky Bed...Video Reaction.

It's good to see that one of the many video reactors out there has taken a liking to one of

our classic tv comedy series 'On The Buses.'

The series ran from 1969 to 1973  and featured Reg Varney as Stan the bus driver alongside Jack

the Conductor played by Bob Grant, who both became a thorn in the side of the Bus Depot Inspector Blakey played by Stephen Lewis.

On The Buses also happens to be my all time favourite 1970's tv comedy, even over shows

like 'Fawlty Towers' and 'Love Thy Neighbour.' And if the two busmen weren't sciving off

from their work, then they were usually chasing after the Clippies, the female Conductors.

Of course we'll probably never see this kind of bawdy feel good comedy ever again as times have

sadly changed. And so in this episode above the two loveless family members Olive played by Anna

Karen and husband Arthur, brilliantly played by Michael Robbins, have problems with their

squeaky marital bed.

And the fun really begins when Stan returns home late from his shift, tucks himself up in bed

only to be woken up by the outrageous sound effects of a squeaky bed.

Thanks to our youtube reactor for posting this

and many other episodes.

bxkid7

Elvis....A 20th Century Icon

There's no denying that Elvis Presley was singularly the most successful selling pop

artist of the 20th century. And thanks to the recent release of Baz Luhrmaan's

'Epic...Elvis in Concert' film, it has brought back this legendary artist back into the

forefront of the entertainment world, as well as attracting a new generation of fans.

1956 was Elvis's big breakout year marking his rise to international stardom in a

year that many claim was the birth of a new youth culture. Even John Lennon once

said that 'Before Elvis there was nothing.'

Sadly Elvis died at the young age of 42 in August 1977.

In the video above is what was originally the opening title scenes of Elvis's 1970

concert film 'That's The Way It Is' so it's quite a novelty to see this without the screen

titles plastered all over it. And many fans would agree that 1969/70 was a high point

in Elvis's career having just returned to live performing after a break of nine years

after ending his Hollywood movie commitments.

Video kindly uploaded to youtube by

The Elvis Factory

Raimondi is Spectacular as Scarpia.

It's often been said that operatic baritone Tito Gobbi was the ultimate anti hero in Puccini's

famous opera Tosca, playing the role of Baron Scarpia, Chief of Police. But for me it

would have to be Italian bass baritone Ruggero Raimondi. It was a role that he was born to play.

In this short clip above in a powerful climax at the end of Act 1 we see Raimondi contorting

his face with anger, passion, jealousy and revenge. It's clear now that Raimondi as Scarpia

is going to have Floria Tosca's lover Mario executed so that he can have Tosca for himself,

crying out his final words at the end of Act 1, 'Tosca you make me forget my God.'

Raimondi is spectacular in this closing scene.

Video kindly uploaded to youtube by

melmoth