Dinner (and what goes on around here)

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Or maybe: What goes on around here (and dinner)

There are a few new 6000 miles… readers in the house after the last couple of days, [deity] help them.

But anyway… Hi. Thanks for clicking through.

In case you didn’t know, I’ve been blogging each day (yes, all of them) for over 13½ years on here now – and not daily for a few years before that. There’s no particular theme here; just whatever takes my fancy on any given day from the news, my browsing, something I did, some photo I took or… whatever.

It’s a mixed bag.

If you’re expecting a post like yesterday’s each and every day, you might be a little disappointed, but those do come around occasionally, when the need and the time arise.

But like I said, it’s a mixed bag. And tonight, we made burgers and my daughter went all foodie photographer on us, so that’s what you’re getting here:

Super tasty, and almost certainly more nutritious than what I had planned having spotted this earlier:

Although on the downside, also quite a lot more prep time and washing up.

Look, it’s not exactly subtle stuff from the Olive Marketing Board there, but damn, it almost worked. Reading through, I found myself very tempted, but also concerned about the guilt and the potential consequences of eating 30 to 40 olives directly out of the jar with my fingers. Thankfully, that last line:

you will certainly not regret eating 30 to 40 olives

really put my mind at ease, and it was only when the rest of the family reminded my that I was long grown out of my heathen student days that we went for the burger option instead.

It was very nice. But there’s still a bit of me that thinks that maybe I’ve missed out on something.
Like 30 to 40 olives.

Maybe tomorrow.

This B-girl Raygun “protest” theory is clearly nonsense.

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Earlier, someone linked to a huge – s t r e t c h – by local “expert on everything”, Graeme Codrington, in which he explains why Australian “B-girl” RayGun’s atrocious performance at the Olympics was actually just a protest about the “sport” being included in the Games. Here are some highlights (of his theory – there were no highlights in the actual performance).
Please ignore the smugness if you can.

How likely do you think it is that Australia selected a completely useless competitor for the Olympics? Not likely, right? Should this have alerted you to a bigger story, and to do a touch of research before posting? I think it should have.

A quick search will uncover that her name is Prof Rachael Gunn, and she’s a university professor, with a focus on breakdancing, gender and politics. She’s also a really well established breakdancer and has represented Australia at World championships for many years, to much acclaim. Did this give you pause for thought? It should have.

Slightly more research will uncover that she’s recently written an academic journal article entitled “The Australian Breaking scene and the Olympic Games: The possibilities and politics of sportification”. The theme of this paper is a concern that if breakdancing is institutionalised via the Olympics it is likely to lose its very essence. Her argument is that if the sport is forced to adhere to a strict code that gives points for certain elements and is centrally controlled by a body not strongly linked to the sport (like the IOC) it will stop being the sport she loves. Does that information give you pause for thought? It should.

Let’s pause for thought, as instructed. Here’s that paper, written two years ago.

And here’s how Graeme sees her performance:

The most likely story here is that her dance at the Olympics was a supreme expression of what she believes is the essence of her art form: an anti-institutional dance of rebellion and defiance. Could it have been a throw down. A challenge. The judges gave her a zero – and by doing that she was the winner of a dance that is a form of protest.

STREEEEEETCH! But then of course:

I know I am a full-time researcher so this type of info is maybe easier for me to track down, but we should all make some effort.

Eww.

Anyway, I made some effort and I found out that if this was indeed a protest, then it’s a long held gripe that she has. Indeed, RayGun seems to protest in many of her routines, given her Instagram videos.
Here she is… er… protesting in Cyprus, Sydney and the UK with form and style that seem to pretty much match exactly what she did in Paris this week.

Here she is last year, talking about how they’ve had to work hard in Oz to get athletes to the Olympics:

For many traditional Olympic sports, there is a clear pathway for athletes to qualify. For the Australian breaking community, the past three years have been a scramble to get everything in place for the road to Paris. A qualifying event in the Oceania region later this year has yet to be locked in.

“The last three years has been really fast putting all that [infrastructure] in place,” Gunn said.

“It’s been really intense, we’ve had to build a lot, and on top of training and on top of reimagining ourselves as Olympians, [it’s] been really fast-paced the last couple of years. But we are ready, we’re going to get there, and we just need the support now from the Australian public.”

Which is a bit weird, given how much Graeme says she hates the idea.

And here she is extolling the virtues of Breaking being in the Olympics, a whole three weeks ago:

Breaking provides an opportunity to explore the “faster, higher, stronger” ethos of the Olympics in new ways. It shows us that we truly don’t know every point on which the body can spin or launch its weight, the different shapes it can make, or all the ways it can move.

And finally, here’s an interview with her after her disguised protest, in which she disguises it still further…

…by not saying it was a protest at all.

After her performance, the 36-year-old Macquarie University lecturer explained she wanted to leave a creative mark.
All my moves are original. I was never going to beat these girls on what they do best, the dynamic and the power moves, so I wanted to move differently, be artistic and creative because how many chances do you get in a lifetime to do that on an international stage?

It is Genius!

Listen, I know I’m not a full-time researcher, but this type of info was very easy for me to track down, so maybe Graeme should make some effort.

Jeez. The lengths some people will go to to get some attention.

Also, please share this post. Thanks.

Closing time

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I’m all confused at the moment. Yesterday being a public holiday has thrown me right off.
But for anyone who thought that the long weekend was going to be fun, sadly, the weather had other ideas. A couple of big cold fronts have left us underwater, and with plenty of damage outside, including what looks like a bent rail under the solar panels, which will need some fairly urgent attention.
Not like anyone can get up there today though.

But I keep thinking that it’s Sunday, and that means that tonight (tomorrow night) is the Olympic Closing Ceremony.

And after that Opening Ceremony: I CAN’T WAIT.

Because, let’s face it, it can’t be any more cringeworthy than the Breakdancing, can it?

And whereas there was no indication of what was going to happen at the Opening Ceremony, we already know the narrative for the Closing Ceremony:

The closing ceremony will feature performers, dancers and circus artists taking part alongside famous headlining acts, both French and American.
Snoop Dogg, who has been prominent throughout the Games, is expected to perform – as are French artists Air and Phoenix.

Nothing new here. Just your usual music, lights, and dancing. Yawnsome.

But then…

Artistic director Thomas Jolly said the show was called ‘Records’, and it promises to take the audience on a science-fiction dream-like immersive journey through time, that will begin from the origins of the Olympic Games and will go to a dystopian future when the Olympics have disappeared and must be reinvented.

Now that’s more like it. I do hope it annoys some more religious people.

Presumably, Dionysus will feature prominently in the “origins” bit, because you can never have enough blue scrotum in any accurate reenactment of Olympic history. And no-one quite does “dystopian future” like ironically named French Artistic Directors: I’m guessing that it might well involve some colourful genitalia.

As would any artistic French depiction of any other sort of future, you’d imagine.

Here we go again. Again.

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After the disappointment of last time out, and the exhilaration of the previous campaign, it’s the start of another football season, kicking off (for us at least) at Deepdale in Preston, this evening.

And usually about now, I’d offer some sort of salient comment or knowledgeable opinion on how things are going to go for my beloved Blades this time around.

But I actually have no idea.

We’ve got rid of some great players, we’ve got some promising new players in, we’ve had a decent pre-season, but we haven’t really been tested, we have all sorts of boardroom issues hanging over us, we’re starting on -2 points, and this is the Championship: a notoriously difficult league.

In fact, I’m not even sure what a successful season looks like. Promotion? Play-offs? Avoiding relegation?
But then, if you don’t have a goal, you can never be disappointed when you don’t hit the target you never set, right?

And, with the club’s video package at an eye-watering £180, I’m not sure how many of the matches I’m going to be watching anyway.

Ah, here we go again. Again.

Breeze

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Could this be the last “proper” cold front to come through this winter?
It’s definitely on its way, with the skies looking threatening, and the wind on the rise.

My feeling is no. There’s still plenty of time for a couple more Cape storms to round off a very wet and cold wintertime here.

So, some sort of hat is probably in order.

That said, after this one and its hangers on, there does appear to be a bit of a window of distinctly springlike weather in the medium-term forecast.

Let’s not count our chickens.

Actually, chicken counting might be a good idea before the worst of the weather comes in tonight. There’s a real danger that your chickens might get blown away by a wind which is expected to gust well into the 90s. That’s kph, not the best decade for music.

50 knots. 58 Swedish miles per hour. Hectic, bru. Those numbers fall squarely into the Force 10 Storm on the Beaufort Scale, which I’m told is the goto scale for all things wind-related. So yes, count your chickens and make sure you tape down your beagle’s ears firmly to prevent excessive flappery.

So yeah, another few days of cold, wet misery to get through before we can even think about getting rid of these “hospital tans” and enjoying the sunshine.

Good luck.