New BMW commercial - ripe for a spoof

It's not often I come up with spoof ideas like this, and I really wish I had the video editing skills to take advantage. Unfortunately I don't , but hopefully I can describe the idea sufficient to raise a smile or two nonetheless...

The new commercial shows a mixture of archive and new footage of BMW's driven in various settings. Here's how the wording goes:

We didn't set out to be a get away car

or an art car

We didn't intend to be a part of any sub culture

or pop culture

We didn't set out to play games

or to start a religion

We just made the car

(People who know me might know where I'm going with this)...

Here's my version, with one subtle modification:

We didn't set out to be a get away car

or an art car

We didn't intend to be a part of any sub culture

or pop culture

We didn't set out to play games

or to start a religion

We just made an entire legion of assholes

Heh.

New start, new layout

So I've decided to start posting here again, somewhat inspired by the blog of a colleague of mine.

To mark the occasion I've changed the layout. I think this one is a lot clearer.

I stopped writing on this blog partially because of time, and partially because I'm really self-conscious. I foudn myself wondering too much how my writings were being perceived by other people. Did they think my writing sucked? Did they think I was wasting my time? etc...

But I don't think it actually matters. What matters if that I write for myself and enjoy doing it. And I do enjoy writing this stuff: it amuses me and gives me something I can reflect back on in the future, long after I forget what I have written.

So, hopefully I'll be posting reasonably frequently now, and I don't care who (if anybody) reads and what they think of what I write...

James Dean Bradfield: what a singer

I was listening to The Holy Bible by the Manic Street Preachers the other day, and something stuck me: James Dean Bradfield is one hell of a singer.

Ignore for a moment the usual measures by which a singer is normally judged: the ability to hold a tune, timbre, a sense of rhythm etc. No, he goes beyond that. I'm talking about having the ability to sing lyrics like this:

he's a boy, you want a girl so tear off his cock
tie his hair in bunches, fuck him, call him Rita if you want, if you want

Now, before I continue I waant to stress very strongly that I'm in no way knocking the lyrics of the manics in this blog. The lyrics of this band are a very strong element of the band making up a significant part of their identity. But their 'singability' was definitely not foremost in the minds of Messrs James and Wire when they were writing them: the message was clearly first and foremost (actually as I understand it Richey James wrote the passage above, but I didn't want to leave Wire's significant later contributions out).

Now, this situation would be a complete and utter disaster if you were writing the lyrics for someone like, oh, let's say Craig David who doesn't seem to be capable of singing anything without first saying his own name a few times first. But if you have a singer like Bradfield in your arsenal, the difficult nature of the lyrics becomes something of a secret weapon.

As mentioned above, Bradfield can croon, hold a tune, and keep rhythm like the best of them. He can show pain, anger and sweetness: all of which are essential when singing the lyrics that the manic put into their songs. What's more, he puts music to these words and makes them into songs.

Really damn good songs too.

I'm quite strange when it comes to identifying music that I like. I have odd criteria, and tend to be impressed by strange things beyond the usual suspects such as a good beat or catchy melody. This is one of those examples: I have an appreciation for lyrical art with deliberate meaning being turned into musical art by way of pure talent without compromises on either side.

Execution needed
A bloody vessel for your peace
If man makes death then death makes man
Tear the torso with horses and chains