Not Cat Photos

Click here to see some great animal photos at The Guardian. 

Let the theremin rip

My first experience of the musical instrument called theremin was at Melbourne's Southbank, where there was a huge operational theremin, a few metres squared and perhaps a metre tall. It operated by moving around the instrument. I think I only photographed it at the time and I did blog about it sometime in the 2000s. 

I brought it up again in the twenty teen years (help me express those years better) and below this video you can read the comments at the time. I remember first hearing the term 'pensioner porn' from a blogger, but who knows which one. The term refers to tv perennial tv programmes like Doc Martin and Midsomer Murders, avidly watched by many older people.

I find the instrument quite fascinating. 

Wow, so many former bloggers commented, and some current ones. A different MC commented back then.

11 comments:

1. 
   diane b7:52 am

   You learn something new everyday from blogging. Midsomer Murder is Bill's favourite show and Gattina another blogger.

   Reply
2. 
   smudgeon10:04 am

   Theremins are fascinating instruments. I have one in kit form, just waiting for me to pick up a soldering iron (yuck) and put it together.
   
   "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys is another good example of a theremin used well.

   Reply
3. 
   Andrew11:18 am

   Diane, some knowledge you can sprout as the opening credits roll on Sunday night. I like the show especially for the scenery and the buildings.
   
   And then Smudgeon, you have to learn to play it. I am surprised that I had not heard of it. I just listened to the BB track and I can hear it clearly.

   Reply
4. 
   Rubye Jack12:08 pm

   Oh, I've seen these before - somewhere. Simply lovely.

   Reply
5. 
   Hels5:06 pm

   I too had never heard of the Theramin, as the first electric music machine ever made or as an instrument making sound tracks for horror movies. But it was and is totally brilliant.
   
   How old is the film footage, by the way? I loved hearing the Russian...it tapped right into my family's collective unconscious :)

   Reply
6. 
   Andrew9:33 pm

   Rubye, note that any pretender who like to conduct an orchestra would have great fun.
   
   Hels, Theramin invented it in the late twenties, so I imagine the film is not much newer than that. It is a cool and weird instrument.

   Reply
7. 
   River10:04 pm

   Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory has a Theramin, that's where I first heard of them. it's an interesting sound.

   Reply
8. 
   BlissHill9:02 am

   I have never heard of one either! If you close your eyes, the sound is very close to a wavery soprano. What a great little machine.

   Reply
9. 
   Andrew11:36 am

   River, good that it is in popular culture.
   
   Bliss, it is something I would like to play with. It is very high pitched isn't it.

   Reply
10. 
    Middle Child2:52 pm

    Wow - thannks for that - you learn something new every day of the week some weeks...now How can I slip that into my conversation? Maybe wait till i hear one in a theme track and say, "Isnt it amazing what a well played Theramin" can do"
    
    You are a fount (or is it font) of knowledge

    Reply
11. 
    Andrew3:11 pm

    MC, I just heard a tiny bit about it and forgot the name. The rest I found on the net.

    Reply

 

Politics and our Kylie Minogue

It is interesting to observe former politicians, especially but not only the conservative ones, who suddenly become reasonable once retired. Former Australian conservative politician Joe Hockey seems to be such a person. From his ridiculous rants while on the floors of the parliament and once retired, he went on to be appointed Australian ambassador to the United States, 2016 to 2020. His speaking on tonight's tv seemed quite honest with his views of US politics, and the corruption within.

It isn't a good idea for bloggers to mix up subjects, but here you go with snaps of the tv screen when Kylie Minogue performed ahead of the Australian Rules Football Grand Final. 

She put on a fabulous twenty minute spectacular, and the 100,000 crowd loved her. 

An evening out

It seemed curious to have a dinner party on a Monday night. I say dinner party, but it was five of us who were invited, and I was the only guy. The invitation came from our Tasmanian friend's ex partner, our friend who is here for her annual check on her heart transplant, now 20 years ago. How traumatic the time was, but she had the best care possible at St Vincent's public hospital in Sydney where the transplant was performed. The heart of a young man killed in a car accident saved our friend's life.

My Hairdresser Friend came too. I was going to catch a tram and then walk, and she had made a desert, so thought about driving herself. I asked Phyllis if he would be free between 6 and 7 to drive us and he was, so that worked out well.

The mother of the ex of our friend lived in what was then the tallest building in Australia, I think called Q1 on Queensland's Gold Coast. When her husband died, she moved back to Melbourne into her daughter's home, our friend's ex. The mother was becoming very old and began to behave strangely. She saw a gerontologist, who discovered the huge number of pain killers for arthritis she had been prescribed were affecting her brain. She improved after the pain killers were reduced, without a noticeable increase in levels of pain. But eventually her care became too much for her daughter and she went to live in a care home almost across the road.

The home of the ex is a thirty year old three bedroom unit, and very nice it is too. She has such good taste and has renovated what she didn't like, and had a pergola built at the space at the side. The slat angles and lighting are all controlled by remote.

 

Before a traditional home is built, women should have the say about where power points are located and how many there are. Maybe some men could plan well enough.

In the side garden and the front garden were heaps of clivia in full bloom. 

We had nibbles and drinks and chatted away. The dinner was snapper fish fillets, doused in an overpowering tamarind sauce that killed any taste of the fish, with rice and a dressed tossed salad. 

Over the dining table hung a single pendant light bulb in some kind of rattan cage. It looked nice enough, until I noticed the actual light bulb was filthy. My eyes kept going back to the filthy light bulb. Maybe you know the feeling of when you want to straighten someone's wall picture frames. I wanted to get some chemical or hot soapy water onto the light bulb and make it crystal clear. 

The ex made a cheesecake from scratch, nice enough, and my Hairdresser Friend made a rather curious dessert from scratch that was quite stodgy. We did have a nice night, in spite of talking about periods and 'putting in the rags'. I was very complimentary to the ex for her nice home, for dinner and her very cute dog. If only that light bulb could be cleaned... 

Phyllis had messaged me to ask how we getting home. I replied, 'By cab or Uber, unless you are free to pick us up'. He did come and take us home.

I knew I was not in a good state once home. I felt very hot before I got into bed, and sure enough, something I had eaten had not agreed with me. I slept for ten minutes and woke up, boiling hot. Repeat the same until about 5.00am and I then fell into a proper sleep. I experienced the same years ago when we used to dine at cheap Chinse restaurants. I have no idea what triggers what is clearly food related.

Monday Mural

Sami and others join in Monday Murals. What do I have stored up my sleeve? 

Time to clear some old ones. Ok, the last three taken in 2023. They are all great, in my opinion, with the second clearly being a commissioned work. 

Sunday Supplement

Daylight saving has begun, with Jass being happy to be fed an hour earlier. In this electronic age, I had to correct two bedroom clocks, the microwave, the oven, the weather station, the digital wall clock and the mantle clock.

Monday morning on the balcony is delightful as I view all the sad sacks having to go to their employment, but even nicer is Sunday evening when the white noise reduces, with the loud Harley Davidson and Royal Enfield motorcycles, along with the Maserati type cars with loud backfiring, spluttering and roaring exhaust noises, rather like an out of tune Austin 7 without a muffler, return to their outer suburban homelands. 

Trams still glide past but it is so peaceful, with only a very faint hum of electric bikes and small motor bikes delivering food to the lazy.

I pondered how I would occupy my time if I lived in small country town or on a farm and didn't live in a big city. If I had an internet connection, I suppose I would survive. A gay farmer is quite desirable by certain folk, as their imaginations work overtime. An old gay farmer, yes well....

Gloved up, at least my fist could remove a calf from a cow with a tight passage. 

Sunday Selections

River and others participate in Sunday Selections and here is my effort for the day.

Kosov loves making models, ships, dinosaurs, trains, trams and Phyllis makes buses. I allowed them some shelf space but not enough to fit all the models, so they rotate them.

Spirit of Tasmania IV was berthed at Station Pier. There is a SoT V too. I am not sure what is happening with them and I must investigate because it is assumed I know about such things. 

I wonder why the name was changed and did the lane lead to a synagogue? AI is kind of helpful. Changed to Little Queen Street in 1868 as the lane had become disreputable. 1909 changed to Bourke Lane. It did run alongside the Melbourne Synagogue before the Melbourne Synagogue moved to Toorak Road, it being the domed building in my blog header photo. It was changed back to Little Queen Street, but I can't easily find that date. While at least the sign references the former synagogue, I would like to see the Synagogue Lane put back. 

The homeless are doing quite well, at the Elizabeth Street Metro supemarket.

Steve asked about the game Phyllis and Kosov were playing with their friends, and this is it. 

Goog luck buying public transport card here if it is raining. The rain pours off the shelter right where you need to stand. Back of the classroom, that boy.

All cats like a box and Jass is no exception. I can't remember what was in the box, maybe my new monitor.

What was she looking at?

This homeless person sleeping next door doesn't have his own shelter. 

A friend visited Calcutta and sent me a few photos. 

This is the tram driver's cabin, complete with free standing stool. There is probably asbestos inside the controller unit, hence the do not open sign. 

Isn't a mobile library tram such a great idea.