helmi on a pillow

Imagine being so small (and sad) that you can sleep on half a pillow at an awkward angle (I know it doesn't look like she's sleeping but she was a split-second before this picture was taken - story of my and every photographer's life, more or less, you take the picture just too late). 
 

back to d. p. nelthorpe

 

Since I can't sleep (again) I am showing you the sum total of what I know about D. P. Nelthorpe aside from the previously mentioned exhibition. There is the above, which was in a book the state library has of D. P. Nelthorpe's, called, yes, The Island of Triska. And there is the book itself, which is copiously illustrated as per below. 

Now I will try to go to sleep, again. 
 

listening to side 1 of born again on the bus this afternoon

It is odd in hindsight that I was very aware of Randy Newman's Born Again at the age of 14. It has always been a favourite of mine. I looked it up on wikipedia and the story seems to be that not many people liked it when it came out. I guess it was RN's first album after he had a hit in his own right (with 'Short People') but of course he had had other hits previously but covered by other people. 

I had a little listen. I think that really the drumming on 'It's Money That I Love' doesn't work, but it's the same drummer on 'The Story of a Rock 'n' Roll Band' and that drumming is amazing, especially all the toms after the bit about calling ELO 'The Renegades'. That song btw is still hilarious almost 50 years later.

Perhaps it's the sequencing that people didn't like, or someone should have put all the 'dark' songs on one side and the 'funny' ones on the other, that might have worked, whether they were labelled as such or not. I mean 'Pretty Boy' is such a great track in itself and would undoubtedly go on the 'dark' side though I suppose it might have flummoxed a few people at the time because its narrator is, I guess, homophobic and this was a time when that was cool. 'Ghosts' goes on the dark side too. 

I remember in 1979 or 80, whenever I heard the album (it came out in late '79) talking with a friend about the song 'Mr Sheep' and how weird it was (it really isn't) but I think possibly what we were reacting to was the unreliable narrator who is a prick, then starts to be conciliatory, then becomes a prick again. These days I really like that but then it possibly confounded me. 

'They Just Got Married' possibly troubled me as well because while it is kind of resolved, it seems to portend a terrible outcome, but it really doesn't - the first wife dies and the second one seems a bad choice but she is also very wealthy, so the second marriage might be (in the conventional way of thinking) a bad choice but it's also one that will at least end up with everyone being rich. I guess there's a kind of tossed-off feel to this too, which is not problematic for me now but might once have been, for me and everyone else. 

Anyway, it's still my favourite RN album, I will listen to it again soon (I had it playing on spotifuck while I was in the supermarket and it just cut off at the end of side one, I don't know why but it was ok as I had to go and stand at the checkout while two ladies who both worked for Woolworths one of whom was buying stuff but had some discount coupons, fiddled over the coupons for an excessively long time which I decided to be nice about because a smile costs nothing). 

not sleeping

Whatever I'm doing (trying to do some admin, trying to write a chapter, cutting Nancy's claws, emptying the dishwasher) I'm definitely not doing what I want to be doing, which is sleeping. It's 2am and I went to bed 3 and a half hours ago and got up 2 hours ago because it wasn't working. 

I can't stand sleeping, but at the same time I know it has to be done. It's a sort of maintenance thing, isn't it, like I can't stand washing my hair, but I do it every day (I just do ok?). 

So, what do you know about D. P. Nelthorpe? This caught my eye in one of those taggs. I'm interested. 

Alright I'm going to go to bed again and try to sleep properly this time. 

tagg

 

Remember tagg? Those were the days. They really had to strive to fill the blank space between the ads. If I had any sense back then I would have realised that they'd print anything at all. Maybe I'm doing them a disservice but some of the stuff they did print suggests a kind of a lack of discernment. Sorry tagg. 

 

saturday

Saturday was in many ways a write-off. I could create two columns and put the pluses and the minuses there. Pluses include I washed Perry and got quite a bit of hair off him. Laura and I had some samosas (out of a box) and she made a really good salad. We watched two episodes of The Box (#365, #366) which was good. John keeps not leaving even though he's constantly telling people he's about to leave. Max went back to Channel 12 and wants to sack Tony or kill off Manhunt, or both. I can't help feeling the discussion about keeping Tony for 'a series' and killing off the show is a kind of reference to George Mallaby leaving Homicide but coming into The Box. 

So considering the above, it wasn't a bad day really. But most of the day I have had a work task hanging over me which I feel is very onerous and troubling and it's been really hard to concentrate. I haven't even done it all properly, yet, but it's not as problematic as it was. I've also been very, very tired and it's been hot. 

Above is a picture of Nancy on the deck this afternoon.