Thursday, 29 March 2012

Out of Office Message

Off having fun, back next Wednesdayish.

Tuesday, 27 March 2012

Hah, a small victory (Magalenha)

The Samba Lady pretended, at the end of the class, that she was going to have us do the basic samba step at sprint speed from where the drums come in at 00:45 to the end of Magalenha.



She stopped the music before half way through because too much of the class had dropped out. But I already knew I could do it, because I'd practiced it at home until I could, and that blonde on the left is not going to get the better of me. Hah.

I don't think what I did makes a lot of sense,  musically speaking, and I think the rhythm in this song also has another name, as well as samba, that I can't remember. Most people seem to call it samba, however, and sambaing to it right through at the faster of the two possible speeds is a very good aerobic workout, at least if you remember to breathe, which was why I did it. It's a wonderfully infectious song that keeps you moving pretty much regardless of what you do.

This performance I think is really beautiful:

Saturday, 24 March 2012

Lovely smell

After a dance:

"Oh, I can have a mint now, after that. I wouldn't have been able to smell the lovely smell if I'd had one before ...

 ... I don't know what that stuff is that he puts on ... I'd be quite happy to just stand there and smell it. There was somebody in [town] who I swear had the exact same stuff  ...

... Sugar now."

Thursday, 22 March 2012

The importance of NumLock

I was trying to write the word "empañada*", which requires [Ed: or possibly doesn't, depending on the sense, thank you comments] one of these: ñ. Naturally, this doesn't appear on my keyboard.

Like most not-especially-special characters, it's easy to produce it using its numeric code by holding down ALT and typing (in this case) 0241 on the number pad.

But you have to have Number Lock set. I didn't, and one of the resulting keystrokes turned my computer's display upside-down.

I had no idea at all that my computer could do that.

Saturday, 17 March 2012

Happy St Patrick's Day

I see it's St Patrick's Day. Here, in a tribute to my Irish friends and their persistently, imaginatively cultivated reptuation for being fruitloops, is a flyer I picked up at Carablanca last night. On first seeing this I read it as "Tit-ango" and was mildly surprised. Then I looked again, and my surprise turned to astonishment.

Read both sides.



"No icebergs in sight ... She was fine when she left here! ..." - yes, but that's not what I have in my head now.

Dear Belfast Argentine Tango Society at www.belfasttangofestival.co.uk, I'm happy to share your flyer. I'm sure your venue is fabulous and I hope your event has a magnificent launch, is well handled, keeps a proper lookout, and doesn't sink or kill anyone at all. You totally got my attention.

Wednesday, 7 March 2012

Leaf Amphora

Another experimental object. I have no animals to make at the moment, so this continues my idea of artefacts in an imaginary tomb. It has a good deal of internal capacity, well-padded: it's pleasing as an object, but it can also be used to contain smaller things.


It's an undyed organic Welsh wool, I think - certainly undyed - but I've mislaid the ball band and don't remember the brand or breed. It might be the Grey-Faced Dartmoor from Garthenor, and I probably bought it from iKnit, although it doesn't seem to be stocked in the online shop. I think the greyish oatmeal colour, with dark brown hairs, is very easy on the eye. It makes lovely housewares.

Sunday, 4 March 2012

A remark

"I just wish I'd started this earlier. I was sitting at home all those nights watching telly and eating pizza when I could have been out having fun with women."