is it all going pear shaped?

 

Well it's been such a big fortnight in the groan up world of politics it would of been difficult to had predicted what was going to be around the corner beyond the inability of the government with a massive commons majority to get done what it's leader and Prime Minister wishes.

 

From votes that would of been lost requiring 180 degree turn arounds to losing the deputy Prime Minister for being less than entirely truthful about just how much Stamp Duty she should of paid on her third home following on from the less than accurate work experience details on her Political C.V. the Chancellor or the Exchequer had.

 

The week saw four contenders whittled down to two to be the deputy leader of the ruling Labour Party which not being the same as Deputy Prime Minister has the potential to act as an out of parliament challenge to his authority and losing Lord Mandelson over connections to a U.S. Developer who is a pedophile with gushing set of emails and comments upon his then 50th birthday.

 

And this person, prominent in Tony Blair's days in office from 1997 to 2007for handling the media was seem as a bit a slippery eel then was appointed in 2024 after the General Election to be our Ambassador to the United States of America.

 

Now he has been sacked.

 

Not a good week and bit for Prime Minister Starmer,eh? 

Sorted!

 

September and school's back don't you know!

Between a bit of tidying up, I have been playing a few records as I'm getting used to the changes on the vinyl side changing the cartridges over with have the one I had when I first acquired this record deck in 2016 being unobtainable new today over here although it is based on a design by a well known manufacturer and some recording on the previous set up being a bit bright and lacking in the lowest notes.

They're a mixture of original mono discs, regular stereo issues and the odd "audiophile" versions and at the same I time cleared some duplicates hawing determined which copies I do prefer and it is sometimes quite a subjective thing.

While some might prefer to keep a whole catalogue of variants, I find that's unworkable looking at storage alone and how many copies would I get around to actually playing?

I think I did a decent job of that and now I can enjoy more the records I prefer that'll pay dividends for the future. 

Prétear

I've been recently rewatching this complete Prétear collection four DVD set that presents the complete series for a total of 13 episodes.

Shin Shirayuki Hime Densetsu Pretear is a long title which translates into New Legend of Snow White Pretear. 

What makes Pretear anime special is the story. Its a magical girl show, but its part Cinderella plus part Snow White and a dash of bishounens! You will see a lot of fairy tale parallels with this anime series.Created by acclaimed animators Kaori Naruse and Junichi Sato (SAILOR MOON), the magical-girl anime series PRÉTEAR centres around 16-year-old Himeno, who's widowed father remarries and moves them to his new wife's palatial island estate.

On her way to school, Himeno meets a little boy who asks her to take his hand. When she does, she faints and later she wakes up staring up at a dark haired bishounen! The bishounen who helps revive her turns out to be Hayate, one of the seven knights of the earth. They were looking for Shin Shirayuki Hime Densetsu Pretear (the legendary magical girl that can help them save the earth from ruin and destruction). Hayate, the more temperamental of the seven believes that Himeno is the girl they are looking for.

The story is not just about Himeno and the seven knights. It is also about her home life and her father, Kaoru. Kaoru and Himeno are very close to each other. Natsue, Kaoru's new wife, is jealous of the closeness that Himeno and Kaoru share. 

Natsue also has two spoiled daughters, Mawate and Mayune. Her father, Kaoru, is quite enamored with his new wife and the life he lives that he assumes that Himeno is happy too.

With a stern new stepmother and two stepsisters who either taunt or ignore her, Himeno thinks that things can't get any worse--until she is visited by seven mysterious men called the Leafe Knights. Led by the handsome but disdainful Hayate, the knights inform Himeno that she is a magical being with the power to help them battle the evil Princess of Disaster, who is spreading demon larvae in an effort to destroy the world's life force.

Eschewing the genre's typical cutesiness for truly innovative storytelling bolstered by gorgeous animation and exciting action sequences, Prétear is the rare magical-girl anime that appeals to both female and male fans alike.

I quite enjoyed rewatching this as it deals with sadness, the need to be strong facing down one's demons and the magic of loving another.

Cameras we loved

 While the peace talks around Ukraine continue to unravel faster than a cat playing with a ball of wool given Trumps lack of real grasp of the issues and Putin's ability to play him like a fiddle we'll get on other things as that changes every other hour.

Photography in various forms was always a thing with me from 127 film cameras, some pre-loaded variants such as the one I had in 1974 through 1976 in those heady days of Rollermania - and the camera had to returned to Renfewshire for developing and reloading! through Kodak  120 "Box" cameras bought cheaply from bring and buy stores to the Kodak Instant one I had in 1980.

Because of legal issues with Poloroid the originators of Instant Cameras whose prints self developed out of the camera, they had to discontinue it and start a replacement program which was when I first got a Disc Camera.

 The disc camera was designed to be really easy to use using 8mm film mounted on a disc in a caddy you cliped in and unclipped to load it unlike threading film or slotting in a 126 or 110 cartridge and unlike many 126 camera came with built in, automatic electronic flash for indoor pictures rather than flash cubes you had to manually turn and change.

I used it taking pictures of favourite places often with many memories for me  - and many of use cameras (or facilities on modern smart phones) to preserve memories although images tended to be a bit grainy lacking fine resolution.

By the 1990's I'd bought a Vivitar 35mm compact camera that had auto focusing and automated loading which armed wiith a decent 100 iso film took much better pictures but the think I liked about that Disc camera was its easy of carriage, fitting into a pocket or small clutch bag easily. 

R.i.p Joan "Biddy" Baxter

This week we go back to the past with the reported death Monday that Joan "Biddy" Baxter (pictured centre) the producer for some twenty-six years until the end of 1988 of Blue Peter had died aged 92 years.

Blue Peter is a U.K. institution, a magazine style show of around a half hour length on the BBC that began as a breath experiment and to which it is fair to say Biddy coming in secured its feature and set the standards that are still there.

Often criticized by left-liberal types as too middle class, stuffy and more compared to shows that tried to compete such as Magpie nonetheless it proved popular not least for that the ideas were drawn mainly from what its audience wanted, writing in, competitions you could join in winning a prize and that a badge system that a reward for interests and new activities that some evidence was needed was set up by her and expanded to cover Green topics and music.

No question of write in, maybe hand over a payment and get anything, you jolly well had to work for it but then it was about inspiring children and rewarding so that makes sense.

Another thing was Animals. Aware some could never have access to a pet, the show had pets you could follow, taking an interest in and wildlife was shown too and visits to places too.

Presenters had to be on top of their scripts because she believed children deserved the best show they could have and perhaps her biggest fault was she was strict over that that could be overbearing.

A show that remains the longest running children's tv show in the World, a shining example of what she achieved and was as a child I loved the show.

R.I.P. Biddy. 

 

 

hh 

Tidy up ends

 

Well it does happen to be Friday  which means I'm busy helping the one of kind (thankfully) Grump out with the shopping after posting my Postal Vote renewal application blank of the Electoral Services of this inept council first class as the Royal Meow delays things if you don't.

 

And yes Old Me has returned from the mid 2010's probably aided by reading a new book that took me back to things with my first love musically which having nearly finished I'd say was well written and puts you very much in this band members shoes. Definitely worth it.

 I'm also finishing something off that got stalled from the same era as the old Avatar, as in 2014 I started getting in dribs and drabs the Official Remastered Edition of the conductor Herbert von Karajan's recordings for Emi Records from the late 1940's to 1984 which came out in themed box of differing sizes.

This one has his recordings from the late 1940's and late 1950's of Choral Works, some from the era of the 78 rpm shellac disc sounding better than ever  which was the big plus point of this very comprehensive set of issues.

Time for an ice cream now! 

Into August

So, it is Friday and a New Month during the summer vacations here so while it is cooler if a bit wet what's going on this week?

Well a Big Baby came to Scotland and played golf between various political meetings with the Prime Minister, the First Minister of Scotland and the leader of the European Union who kind of invited herself that went fairly well by Trump standards - no tantrums and swearing.

Perhaps he was on Cow-pol? 

The Lionesses roared winning the penalty shoot outs so a 1-1 draw was converted to 3-1 win over Spain at the final of the Women's Euro's defending their previous win, bagged a reception at 10 Downing Street, London and after an open top bus parade, held a party for all including the youngest girl fans.

Football has been refreshed with lots of new girls teams being established, more women watching games and a different feel to the game.

Thank you women for making it all happen and delivering the bestest posthumous spanking to the Football Association that said women and girls can't play football. They beeping can! And how!!!! 

This week saw the Beano comic mark its 87th birthday, still going strong.

The world has changed from when casual racial tropes and stereotypes might of been seen as appropriate, gender roles have changes for boys and girls as well those pesky grown ups and modern technology has altered lives including children.

All the evidence shows children do love a humour based comic but production cost and issues with getting magazines out to them in stores plus online marketing make it difficult.