Quick, before he gets to work

Posted on Wednesday, 10/19/05 by Dr Sharleena

Barry and his beard are 34 today! have a happy one!!! :kiss:

Posted in Personal | 27 Comments

Scrupulosity

Posted on Tuesday, 10/18/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

This sounds like a Police album but in fact scrupulosity is “a debilitating form of obsessive-compulsive disorder which takes the form of excessively fastidious religious observance, often in completely arbitrary ways, and fear of not being sufficiently devout or virtuous.”

Null Device:

Fortunately, drugs such as Zoloft and Paxil can be used to treat scrupulosity. I wonder how many potential saints the world loses every year to modern psychopharmacology.

Posted in Bizarre, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Scrupulosity

“ZAPPADAG!” – Zapmen of Belgium, unite!

Posted on Monday, 10/17/05 by Balint

Zappa-day in Genk, Belgium! It seems to me, that one time it used to be a regular program (in Eindhoven, I think… Am I right?) After some FZ videos the belgian group Wrong Object will play. Hey! (from United Mutations)

Posted in Frank Zappa, Music, Zappa Audio/Video | 3 Comments

Comedian Quotes

Posted on Friday, 10/14/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

“A study in the Washington Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say to the authors of that study: Duh.” — Conan O’Brien

More comedian quotes…

Posted in Amusing | Comments Off on Comedian Quotes

Sad Songs

Posted on Friday, 10/14/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

What are the saddest songs you can think of? (via)

Posted in Music | 1 Comment

Exhausted Pattern Potentialities

Posted on Friday, 10/14/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Interesting take on “the decay of American culture”, using music as the marker:

Eventually you run out of chairs for chords, variations on the order you play them, and their complexity. You reach the point that Kroeber described: “With pattern potentialities exhausted, there could be only diminished or devitalized repletion… so more and more sluggish mechanical repetition within the realized but fully exhausted patterns became the universal vogue.”

Which is to say, much of the music of today.

Over the top maybe but: food for thought.

Posted in Music, Pop Cult | Comments Off on Exhausted Pattern Potentialities

Pass That Joint

Posted on Friday, 10/14/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Potheads around the world rejoice:

A synthetic chemical similar to the active ingredient in marijuana makes new cells grow in rat brains. What is more, in rats this cell growth appears to be linked with reducing anxiety and depression. The results suggest that marijuana, or its derivatives, could actually be good for the brain.

Posted in Science | 9 Comments

Melbourne ’73

Posted on Friday, 10/14/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Gilles owns a vault the size of which probably rivals that of the ZFT if you ask me. This week he’s come up with another Roxy-era show: Melbourne Australia, June 29 1973. One week, yada yada…

Posted in Frank Zappa, Friday Boots | 12 Comments

Doom Mongering

Posted on Thursday, 10/13/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Fear as a political marketing ploy.

Posted in Politics, Science | 1 Comment

Do The Twitch!

Posted on Thursday, 10/13/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Let’s have a bit of Thursday morning fun with George W. Bush’s body language (never thought I’d ever write a sentence like that, but hey), shall we? There’s the jaw thing, then there’s the blink, and of course a then-and-now comparison which is telling…

Posted in Amusing, Politics | 3 Comments

Four Docs

Posted on Wednesday, 10/12/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

How cool is that: British Channel 4 allows anyone to upload little 4-minute documentaries on whatever topic. Such as, say, fear of beards for instance.

Posted in Film | 3 Comments

Aerial

Posted on Wednesday, 10/12/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Kate Bush’s new album “Aerial” features cover art showing a bunch of shadowy rocks that could be interpreted as a soundwave. How long before someone tries to transpose the image to sound? Not long.

Posted in Music, Pop Cult | 2 Comments

MegaChurch

Posted on Wednesday, 10/12/05 by Barry's Imaginary Publisher

Forget about Aquarius, we are living in the age of the Megachurch.

Posted in Religion | 2 Comments

3 Guys from Albany

Posted on Wednesday, 10/12/05 by Balint

Some audio-poetry:

The Three Guys are, Charlie Rossiter, DanWilcox, and Tom Nattel, friends who share the idea that poetry should be part of society rather than apart from it – relevant, communicative and, above all, honest.

Tom Nattel has a poem called Frank Zappa Memorial Barbecue there – in mp3. Zomby Woof used a sample of this in his recend – really fine – cover of Moggio.

Posted in Pop Cult, Zappa Misc | Comments Off on 3 Guys from Albany

Milk Rap

Posted on Monday, 10/10/05 by Balint

“We got the big bad Bessie with the M-I-L-K!” See the video here.

Posted in Bizarre, Silly | 3 Comments