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CLICK5: Shifting Sands https://t.co/bHInLvuYcQ via @Roobeedoo1 pic.twitter.com/jVObxGpXoF
— RooBeeDoo (@RooBeeDoo1) March 3, 2021
Tag: 137
Invisible Times: Xmas, 1984
A Christmas Message from MRS REGN
I’d like to start by addressing this missive to Hugo. Merry Christmas. This message was brought to you after listening to Medium is the Massage… again *rolls eyes*
If anybody wants to understand synchronicity, they could spend 42 minutes (including ad that will probably be skipped over) out of this year’s Christmas celebrations to listen the audio extra that accompanies Marshall McLuhan & Quentin Fiore’s 1967 book…
Hugo, like me, you are not employed by anybody presently. Like me, you’re not sure what you want to do now you’re no longer in paid employment. You jumped first; I followed not long after.
Perhaps we’re like frogs that realised the water in the pan was starting to get a wee bit too hot 😉
I’ve really enjoyed our film discussions on MEROVEE over the last couple of years. The first one I remember you posting about was ‘The Terminal’. I replied to you directly about it, but I made a shambles of it, hear.
Then we briefly compared two Tom Cruise movies: ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ and ‘Vanilla Sky’. Again, a I made a shambolic reply.
This led to the big breakthrough for us with ‘Memento’ and ‘The Matrix’: what if Mr Anderson had taken the Blue Pill from Morpheus and woken up the next morning in his bed (just like Morpheus said), not at NEO but as LEO, who can’t remember anything and can only function by writing things down…
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A digression – The Boys have returned from watching ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ at the cinema with their school chums. They were dropped back on the doorstep by Thoughtful Man (who’s work; it’s Friday night), bearing branded offerings and a major spoiler…
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So I should get on with it and tell you about my time in Xmas 1984. One of the times I really enjoyed working.
I was placed in the Radio & TV Dept at John Lewis, Oxford Street in August of that year. As a YTS ‘O’ Level trainee, I’d spent the Christmas before, on the ground floor, in the Needlework & Knitting Wools dept before spending the next six months in the women’s fashion department, called ‘Trend’. I was 17. I hate working in fashion and was so looking forward to moving on to somewhere else.
I was one of only a couple of women working in this prestigious department on the 3rd floor. Otherwise, IT WAS STAFFED ENTIRELY BY MEN!! Sharp-suited men – both young and older gents. AND MOST OF THE CUSTOMERS WERE MEN, TOO!!
I was in my element. I learnt to sell TVs, radios, Walkmans, stereos, wogboxes (Apols! Ghetto Blasters) and video recorders (VHS mainly, Betamax was already on the way out). There was even the introduction of a teeny-tiny, portable TV. I sold one to Jess Conrad.
Additional things I learnt in my time there were a) how to safely wire up an electrical plug, b) how to string a box and c) how to flirt with the opposite sex. I went to an all girls school before – I really hadn’t had much practice 😉
As a newb I wasn’t allowed to sell the high end hi-fi equipment (like Bang & Olly-Bolly) – those were sold by Experts and where shut away in glass-fronted, sound-proofed rooms. However, there was also one other section within the department for a new up-and-coming product… Computers.
So I spent Xmas 1984 in Radio & TV Dept. ‘Computers’, at that time, wasn’t formally named; it was invisible, and I wasn’t allowed to try to sell them either. Goo goo g’joob, too – to me those stupid little boxes and bulky screens looked pants 😉
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Another one. Digression that is. This time Maccy :D. This is usually a late night Friday/early morning Saturday treat, some folks nose about. Tonight it is a tad earlier.
I’ll be back on the morrow, without any sorrow, with a music post inspired by Thoughtful Man. Can anyone suggest any sort of music he’s never heard before?
Come on Joe Public. I nose ur out there… Give us a Song 😉
I’m off to watch 5 episodes of The Big Bang Theory and rolls some fags.
CYL *blows kiss*
When the Music’s Over? Good Vibrations…
Musical discussion at Frank’s place today…
*I know, Clicky! Do you reckon Jezza Clarkson got a vibe with the selection of that image? I’d posted my hand-made version in both the Red and Blue Universes… Shit! have you clocked the times on each of those posts? 17/07/15 at 1.37pm and July 23rd 2015 at 7.31pm… Mirror Franks, MIrror 137 timings. Cllcky… /fingers tremble… I had no fucking idea I’d done that…*
*I didn’t say you did… /squint…*
Prog’s post and GaryK30’s reply prompted me to look up Beethoven because he was deaf…
A large collection of Beethoven’s hearing aids, such as a special ear horn, can be viewed at the Beethoven House Museum in Bonn, Germany. Despite his obvious distress, Czerny remarked that Beethoven could still hear speech and music normally until 1812.[50] Around 1814 however, by the age of 44, Beethoven was almost totally deaf, and when a group of visitors saw him play a loud arpeggio of thundering bass notes at his piano remarking, “Ist es nicht schön?” (Is it not beautiful?), they felt deep sympathy considering his courage and sense of humor (he lost the ability to hear higher frequencies first).[51]
As a result of Beethoven’s hearing loss, his conversation books are an unusually rich written resource. Used primarily in the last ten or so years of his life, his friends wrote in these books so that he could know what they were saying, and he then responded either orally or in the book. The books contain discussions about music and other matters, and give insights into Beethoven’s thinking; they are a source for investigations into how he intended his music should be performed, and also his perception of his relationship to art. Out of a total of 400 conversation books, it has been suggested that 264 were destroyed (and others were altered) after Beethoven’s death by Anton Schindler, who wished only an idealised biography of the composer to survive.[52] However, Theodore Albrecht contests the verity of Schindler’s destruction of a large number of conversation books.[53]
*Just like the comment threads we frequent to converse in, eh, Clicky? It’s literally like I can hear their voices…* 😉
There is a film, called ‘Good Vibrations‘. It is about the power of music. Shiny recommended I watch it and I’m so glad because I witnessed a man have an epiphany, well several…
*Oh bugger! Is that the time. Thanks Clicky… early start in London tomorrow. Damn! I was just getting into my stride… I’ll pick it up tomorrow…*
Library of Libraries 