Renovations
Week from Monday 16th March 2026 - I thought it might be nice to have a "TWIN PEAKS"-a-thon, so my Sunday evening was spent watching the "FIRE WALK WITH ME" movie, followed by the 'international' version of the PILOT EPISODE (the one with the alternative ending). I think this may well become my new SUNDAY THING, so I'll continue with the first actual TV episodes next weekend...
This week's YOUTUBE-ing project... I revived the recording of the occasion when I, posing as "Eamonn Fitzquackahoot", performed the "EUROVISION SONG" in public, accompanied by The Artists Formerly Known As JUMP, Formerly Known As LOUD FARMER, Eventually Known As TV BY TEARS. I isolated the vocals for better clarity (paying special attention to RABBITHOLE's MC-ing). I also pasted in some bits of my original 'primitive' demo tape... It's a 'LIVE COMEDIC EVENT', the sort "YOU [DEFINITELY] CAN'T DO THAT ON STAGE ANYMORE"! However, I once again had trouble getting the SUBTITLES to synchronise with the audio. The Googlebots' efforts to interpret what is being said and sung, were laughably wide of the mark. Even when I pasted in the transcript that I'd written myself, they still didn't 'fit' properly. Editing the timecodes using YOUTUBE STUDIO's own interface is frankly a bit of a pain.
So in the end, I've taught myself (with the help of That Internet That Have Now) how to create an .srt file (it stands for "SubRipText"), with all the timings and everything intact, just how SMPTE would like it! It does involve the fairly tedious task of me stopping and starting the recording in real time, and manually filling in the time codes on the 'script', but it works a lot better than just leaving it to the robots! The editing process can be carried out offline, using VLC and this very BLUEFISH Editor, then one uploads the .srt file alongside the .mp4 video it will accompany. So should you choose to play the track on YourOwnTube, you can now read what Mr RABBITHOLE SAM and I were banging on about, by clicking on the 'subtitles' button on the player.
But highlight of the week is the arrival of the 50th Anniversary box-set version of "BONGO FURY", the ZAPPA/BEEFHEART (mostly) live album from 1975. I've only had time to listen to Disc One (the original album itself) so far, but it's noticeably a huge improvement in sound quality over the 1989 CD that it replaces. I still have the complete concerts to look forward to...
Week from Monday 23rd March 2026 - On Monday, I had to go into town for a BLOOD TEST. So I'm effectively doing 'TUESDAY STUFF' on Monday, and regular 'MONDAY STUFF' will have to wait until Tuesday.
I had my telephone consultation with DR.D.R. on Wednesday. Nothing much to report... a couple of my 'numbers' are up a bit, but no immediate concern.
I'm getting well into the "BONGO FURY" box set now, that's been my main LISTENING PLEASURE all this week, along with the 'new' SOFT MACHINE and a recent STICK MEN 'official bootleg'. The latter is a FREE/'NAME YOUR PRICE' download, but I decided to slip them a few shekels anyway. I got an email from MARKUS REUTER telling of the band's misfortune during their South American tour. Some vital pieces of gear got stolen, including Markus's laptop containing all his looping and soundscaping software, a hard-drive full of recent recordings and Pat's drum computer.
I've just updated all my devices to FIREFOX 149. A number of 'new' features are still only on "THE BIG SCREEN" and not on My Little Androids. I'm glad to see the A.I. FEATURE BLOCKER is still doing its job and there's a couple of other nice additions to the desktop version that might be worth exploring, such as the SPLIT-SCREEN option, which will make it easier for me to cheat at quizzes by reading Wiki pages in a parallel window (tee hee hee!). The matching email client THUNDERBIRD, as well as my 'back-up' browser, the non-Google generic version of CHROMIUM, have also received updates... Meanwhile, somebody invented a plug-in for BLUESKY that purports to block any pictures of DONALD TRUMP's face from your timeline. I tried it out, but it proved to be fairly inaccurate. It also muted pictures that turned out to be of MARLON BRANDO and FRANK SINATRA!
Week from Monday 30th March 2026 - After my failed attempt to breathe life into a MELOS ECHO UNIT from the '70s, I currently have another "REPAIR SHOP"-type fixer-upper project... Although I already have a nice posh pair of AKG HEADPHONES which interact superbly with my Android tablet at home, I don't feel comfortable taking those outside on my trips to the hospital. Up to now, I've been using an old pair of Apple iPOD earbuds, but I fancy something with a little more oomph. So I'm 'renovating' a trusty old piece of '80s technology, in the shape of a pair of THOMPSON headphones (model HED25ANC) that I just happened to have lurking at the bottom of a drawer. They have a fairly reasonable sound quality for their age and feature a cute NOISE REDUCTION circuit, housed in a chunky little battery box halfway down the cable. I've reinforced the rather flimsy jack plug with copious amounts of gaffer tape... and now I have to borrow the neighbours' Amazon account, so that I can get some replacement FOAM PADS. No good having 'noise reduction' if there is sound leakage! Of course, in the good old days BEFORE Amazon, we had handy places locally like TECHNO-TRADE and MAPLIN'S (or going even further back, RADIO-SHACK and TANDY'S) where we could purchase such components, but nowadays there aren't any actual shops anymore!
I followed the daily highlights of the VOLTA CATALUNYA. It wasn't a terribly exciting race all told (yet another boring and predictable week dominated by JONAS VINGEGAARD), but LiDL-Trek's GIULIO CICCONE won the King Of The Mountains, so that was something...
For this week's GRIDLING ARCHIVE PROJECT, I thought I might isolate some MUMBLING JACK UNITROBA vocals and xenochronize them with some different backing tracks. The results were mixed to say the least! I was quite pleased with the 'new' version of "Poker Dice Unitroba" however, so that one might be worth keeping... but I'm not sure I'm ready to share it with the public just yet! If nothing else, I don't fancy having to work out what the hell he's 'MUMBLING' about, so that I can generate a SUBTITLES file!
This week's YOUTUBE-ing project... I revived the recording of the occasion when I, posing as "Eamonn Fitzquackahoot", performed the "EUROVISION SONG" in public, accompanied by The Artists Formerly Known As JUMP, Formerly Known As LOUD FARMER, Eventually Known As TV BY TEARS. I isolated the vocals for better clarity (paying special attention to RABBITHOLE's MC-ing). I also pasted in some bits of my original 'primitive' demo tape... It's a 'LIVE COMEDIC EVENT', the sort "YOU [DEFINITELY] CAN'T DO THAT ON STAGE ANYMORE"! However, I once again had trouble getting the SUBTITLES to synchronise with the audio. The Googlebots' efforts to interpret what is being said and sung, were laughably wide of the mark. Even when I pasted in the transcript that I'd written myself, they still didn't 'fit' properly. Editing the timecodes using YOUTUBE STUDIO's own interface is frankly a bit of a pain.
So in the end, I've taught myself (with the help of That Internet That Have Now) how to create an .srt file (it stands for "SubRipText"), with all the timings and everything intact, just how SMPTE would like it! It does involve the fairly tedious task of me stopping and starting the recording in real time, and manually filling in the time codes on the 'script', but it works a lot better than just leaving it to the robots! The editing process can be carried out offline, using VLC and this very BLUEFISH Editor, then one uploads the .srt file alongside the .mp4 video it will accompany. So should you choose to play the track on YourOwnTube, you can now read what Mr RABBITHOLE SAM and I were banging on about, by clicking on the 'subtitles' button on the player.
But highlight of the week is the arrival of the 50th Anniversary box-set version of "BONGO FURY", the ZAPPA/BEEFHEART (mostly) live album from 1975. I've only had time to listen to Disc One (the original album itself) so far, but it's noticeably a huge improvement in sound quality over the 1989 CD that it replaces. I still have the complete concerts to look forward to...
Week from Monday 23rd March 2026 - On Monday, I had to go into town for a BLOOD TEST. So I'm effectively doing 'TUESDAY STUFF' on Monday, and regular 'MONDAY STUFF' will have to wait until Tuesday.
I had my telephone consultation with DR.D.R. on Wednesday. Nothing much to report... a couple of my 'numbers' are up a bit, but no immediate concern.
I'm getting well into the "BONGO FURY" box set now, that's been my main LISTENING PLEASURE all this week, along with the 'new' SOFT MACHINE and a recent STICK MEN 'official bootleg'. The latter is a FREE/'NAME YOUR PRICE' download, but I decided to slip them a few shekels anyway. I got an email from MARKUS REUTER telling of the band's misfortune during their South American tour. Some vital pieces of gear got stolen, including Markus's laptop containing all his looping and soundscaping software, a hard-drive full of recent recordings and Pat's drum computer.
I've just updated all my devices to FIREFOX 149. A number of 'new' features are still only on "THE BIG SCREEN" and not on My Little Androids. I'm glad to see the A.I. FEATURE BLOCKER is still doing its job and there's a couple of other nice additions to the desktop version that might be worth exploring, such as the SPLIT-SCREEN option, which will make it easier for me to cheat at quizzes by reading Wiki pages in a parallel window (tee hee hee!). The matching email client THUNDERBIRD, as well as my 'back-up' browser, the non-Google generic version of CHROMIUM, have also received updates... Meanwhile, somebody invented a plug-in for BLUESKY that purports to block any pictures of DONALD TRUMP's face from your timeline. I tried it out, but it proved to be fairly inaccurate. It also muted pictures that turned out to be of MARLON BRANDO and FRANK SINATRA!
Week from Monday 30th March 2026 - After my failed attempt to breathe life into a MELOS ECHO UNIT from the '70s, I currently have another "REPAIR SHOP"-type fixer-upper project... Although I already have a nice posh pair of AKG HEADPHONES which interact superbly with my Android tablet at home, I don't feel comfortable taking those outside on my trips to the hospital. Up to now, I've been using an old pair of Apple iPOD earbuds, but I fancy something with a little more oomph. So I'm 'renovating' a trusty old piece of '80s technology, in the shape of a pair of THOMPSON headphones (model HED25ANC) that I just happened to have lurking at the bottom of a drawer. They have a fairly reasonable sound quality for their age and feature a cute NOISE REDUCTION circuit, housed in a chunky little battery box halfway down the cable. I've reinforced the rather flimsy jack plug with copious amounts of gaffer tape... and now I have to borrow the neighbours' Amazon account, so that I can get some replacement FOAM PADS. No good having 'noise reduction' if there is sound leakage! Of course, in the good old days BEFORE Amazon, we had handy places locally like TECHNO-TRADE and MAPLIN'S (or going even further back, RADIO-SHACK and TANDY'S) where we could purchase such components, but nowadays there aren't any actual shops anymore!
I followed the daily highlights of the VOLTA CATALUNYA. It wasn't a terribly exciting race all told (yet another boring and predictable week dominated by JONAS VINGEGAARD), but LiDL-Trek's GIULIO CICCONE won the King Of The Mountains, so that was something...
For this week's GRIDLING ARCHIVE PROJECT, I thought I might isolate some MUMBLING JACK UNITROBA vocals and xenochronize them with some different backing tracks. The results were mixed to say the least! I was quite pleased with the 'new' version of "Poker Dice Unitroba" however, so that one might be worth keeping... but I'm not sure I'm ready to share it with the public just yet! If nothing else, I don't fancy having to work out what the hell he's 'MUMBLING' about, so that I can generate a SUBTITLES file!
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