Sleepypete's Pillow

… It’s Twenty20 season again 🙂

After watching England batter the West Indies over the weekend, I’m moving into seeing my Going Home Times from work get dominated by the Twenty20 cup. Tonight’s game is between Somerset and Warwickshire and we’re already seeing the Howitzers make life dangerous for the crowd. They’re playing at Taunton which is actually not too far away. Surprised they’ve got a game on cos it’s been quite damp here.

Don’t know if I’ll actually get to see a game this year, as the Yorkshire games aren’t on at convenient times for the family to go see one. I’m not too far from the Gloucestershire ground but for various reasons I won’t be going to a game there. (Let’s just say I get irritated when ignored and the Gloucestershire people completely ignored the works cricket club when we tried to organise a second season of pre-season nets there)

So :
Tonight – Somerset v Warwickshire, got my fingers crossed for Somerset as the local team, although I do keep an eye on Warwickshire cos I was born there.
Tomorrow – 7pm start, so I raid Sainsburys before the game starts.
Friday – Yorkshire v Lancashire – go Yorkshire !

And then we have two ICC World Twenty20 competitions, one for the men and another for the ladies. Looking forward to it, although the recorder in my cable TV box may end up screaming for mercy 🙂

Curious how I’m looking forward to watching as much of the English and World Twenty20 games as I can but had almost total lack of interest in the IPL games I could have seen. I guess it’s how “connected” you feel with the teams on show. I’ve followed the English leagues for a couple of decades now but know nearly nothing about the artificially set up IPL teams.

Got an interesting combination on show at the moment. The bowler’s a fella called Max Waller who bowls legspin, with a livewire keeper called Craig Kieswetter. Legspin is a bowling discipline that is incredibly difficult to pull off. Whereas normal offspin gives just two options – turn in and no turn – legspin opens up incredible variation. The standard delivery will move in a bit in the air before turning away but with not much change in the bowling action you can do one that goes in (googly) and one that stays straight. Even more dangerous is the topspinner, which doesn’t just go straight, it speeds up after bouncing. Very nasty. I caught out my village team skipper with one while messing around at the end of practice. I was practicing my spinners, he was looking to whack ’em. Out comes the topspinner, skipper goes for a Big Whack, ball rolls … Old cliche is “You Miss, I Hit” and the stumps rattle.

I used to be able to bowl the basic legspin action but couldn’t get it to do much more than turn in (googlies). So my offspin was a far better thing to develop as I could get that to turn in with accuracy and also had a vicious topspinner (it had a tendency to roll :-). I also had a couple of other weapons with my spin bowling. Never really used that in a game though cos my medium pace swing bowling was far more effective.

Those are days long gone now though, as my long term shoulder injury means bowling is not a good idea now. I can move through the action but there’s a blockage in there that means :
a) it hurts ! (which means more damage is being done)
b) no accuracy whatsoever
It started out with my shoulder dislocation but I reckon it got finished off by me doing a Typical Bloke by not asking for help when installing my 28″ CRT telly a few years ago. Yep – not particularly strong or big person attempting to drag a big telly out of it box and put it on a stand. (I’m also blonde and occasionally do Dumb Blonde things)

The other fella is the keeper, who’s pulled off a couple of excellent stumpings in this game. With the indoor matches (see Blog Part 1 for some match reports 🙂 I used to do the wicket keeper’s job as well as doing the captain thing and a little bowling. Keepers are always in the game and it’s a fun job. Their role is to stand behind the stumps and catch anything that gets past the batsmen. They look to take catches but if the batsman isn’t careful, they’ll stump them. Fast reactions essential (or you miss things and it hurts less to catch cricket balls than drop them).

I used to be good enough in the indoor games to turn game results around with more than my fair share of stumpings, although I rarely did that job in outdoor games. I preferred to terrorize batsmen with speedy fielding from reasonably close. I’m a big too fat though nowadays to do much of that.

Hey ! I’m missing the game and it’s almost half time … One advantage of cricket watching is that it doesn’t demand your full attention all of the time as you wait for something to happen. Instead, you can tap away at a keyboard for a while and look up as the bowler is running in. It’s similar with baseball, look up when the pitcher throws, look away when a new hitter is coming out. So even though the game has inspired this post, I’ve not missed any of it 🙂

One of my favourite themes is the music post, not done one for a little while. I like doing them because it gets me hunting Youtube for videos. I listen to a lot via iTunes, although that’ll slacken off a little over the next few months because the cricket season will get me watching the telly instead of having a listen.

So what have I been listening to ? Here goes and as usual, lots of Youtube links :

I have a weakness for ladies with long dark hair and Natasha Khan of Bat For Lashes really does fit that stereotype. Excellent voice too. Here’s an excerpt from a Later show of them doing Sleep Alone.

Time for another couple of snippets from Later, which had two ladies on last week, Lisa Hannigan and Little Boots (aka Victoria Hesketh). If you go by the stereotype, I’d have been looking to find out more about Lisa Hannigan. Yep, pretty with long dark hair and while her voice isn’t as good as Natasha Khan’s, it’s still enchanting. Here’s Lisa Hannigan’s I Don’t Know from Later Live. It didn’t get to the Friday night Later show, which is a shame because the two tracks that did weren’t as good. It’s as if she got blown away by the other one who caught my eye on Later. Lots of potential here, needs more confidence to know that she is pretty good. The album’s still a little more than I’d like to spend so I’ll be waiting on this one.

Who’s the other Later show lady ? Well, there were actually 3 ladies on Later, Lisa Hannigan, Annie Lennox and Little Boots. I do like some of the tracks that Annie Lennox and Eurythmics came out with but there’s a phrase that says “retire gracefully”. And that’s all I’ll say about Annie Lennox … Little Boots on the other hand is just emerging into the pop scene and Remedy is one track from Later.

And because I think she’s so good and because this one’s been rattling in my head since I first heard it, here’s Boyfriend. There’s plenty more too at LittleBootsVideos. Incredible voice here and I’ll be getting the album when it gets released in a couple of weeks.

Ok – to the complete surprise of all who know me, that’s Sleepypete ignoring the highly cute dark haired girl to go chasing the blond one.

Who else has been gracing the playlist lately then ?

Been pleasantly surprised by Katie Melua and KT Tunstall, although I’m not too sure how much more Katie Melua I’ll be buying. Bit bland … although Shy Boy which I’ve linked in the last sentence touches a bit of my soul. On the other hand, KT Tunstall will keep me interested cos of the energy she injects into songs like Saving My Face.

Oh dear – that’s the hair stereotype coming in again … So to show I really go by the voice instead of the hair, here’s a track from Lene Marlin’s latest album. There’s more available too from LeneMarlinTV on Youtube. And while I’m on incredible voices, here’s Alison Goldfrapp singing Utopia. Truly incredible voice here.

Right – time to close with “something completely different”. I’ve had this double album for quite some time now but haven’t listened to it enough. The War of The Worlds by H.G. Wells has spawned quite a bit in the scifi world but this is one of the highlights. Thunderchild from the Jeff Wayne musical version.

Carmi said: Everyone who’s gone – fan and non-fan alike – can’t stop raving.

Oh… I’ve been *raving* alright…. [grinds teeth] [laughs]

I so need to go see this movie. Everyone who’s gone – fan and non-fan alike – can’t stop raving.

I think we may have that too, although it's not given a name …

Every year, UK cars over 3 years old need to take the MoT (Ministry of Transport) Test, which checks all points for roadworthiness. Things like :

Brake condition, tyre condition
Body condition (rust)
Pipes & hoses & bulbs

All sorts – one relatively new thing is emissions … If the engine's not too healthy then it'll get picked up on that.

Different name, similar test 🙂 Bit more discreet though, we need insurance and a valid MoT to get our tax discs, which is a 2 inch thing posted in the windscreen.

Here in Ontario, they have something called DriveClean which ensures cars don’t spew more pollutants into the atmosphere than they absolutely must.

You’re obligated to have such a test every couple of years, and they’re nice enough to tie it to your plate registration – which is equally conveniently connected to your birthday.

So….on your birthday, you must pay for DriveClean, pray the car makes it through, then pay for your new plates. Happy b-day from your government…now pay up 🙂

(Thankfully, everything was perfect this year. The wondervan performed as new. Whew!)

I’ve kinda hit a wall with the games lately, just not had the energy or the interest to play them too much. So what have I been getting up to instead ?

Hmm. Music and books. Lots of books. I’m currently re-reading some older books while the music is playing away in the background. I’ve been enjoying the cable TV box too 🙂 So what’s the 4 above ?

Ben Bova was a favourite author of mine a good few years ago now. Think teenage years. He’s written a few series, with the Mars and Orion (above) books probably being his best. Mars is good for its technical aspects, which have a slightly different take on things to what’s in Kim Stanley Robinson’s 2/3 excellent Mars series. There’s actually 5 books in the Orion series, although I give the Star Trek Nemesis treatment to one of them (it’s bad, if I ignore it then it didn’t happen).

Orion – These books are centred around the better-than-human protagonist, Orion. He’s inserted into several crucial nexuses (plural nexus? nexii ? I give up 🙂 in time, where human civilisation could have gone one way or the other. Orion has his Enemy, in the form of the dark, brooding borderline insane Ahriman. He’s put in various situations by Creators, who are the equivalent of gods, although that’s really on the level of how a Stone Age person would view a wielder of today’s high technology.

This first book has Orion meeting up with fusion power, the Mongols, Neolithic hunter gatherers and the emergence from the Ice Age. At each turn, he’s trying to thwart his enemy Ahriman, who is looking to either eliminate humanity or divert it into stagnation. If civilisation stagnates, then the breakthroughs required to bring about the Creators wouldn’t happen, which translates as “Everything’s gone horribly wrong”.

A central theme of all of the Orion books is time travel : As soon as time travel is developed, the people with that power must go back in time to ensure their own survival. And to protect their own race against competitors … Hence the first book, where Orion is trying to protect humans from the destructive intentions of Ahriman.

Vengeance of Orion – This one sees Orion washed up on the shores of Troy, as a thetes in the service of the Greeks who have the city under siege. It’s an interesting take on a few high profile events that took place around that time :

The Siege of Troy
The fall of Jericho
Internecine struggles in Egypt

It also places the siege of Troy at about the same time as the Hittite Empire disappeared into civil war, which places a band of Hittite Engineers under the command of our boy Orion. Said Hittite engineers devise a siege tower, which they use to get over the walls into Troy. It’s a decent interpretation of the Trojan Horse myth and is one of the few to make sense 🙂 I just can’t believe that intelligent people would be so daft as to wheel in a big Wooden Horse with soldiers hidden inside. However a siege tower mistaken for a horse does make sense.

Orion then legs it from Troy with the girl 🙂 Yep, he’s now on the run with Helen in tow. Next stop Jericho, which Orion’s boss (Apollo aka Ormazd aka Christian God) wants him to help out the Israelites who are knocking on Jericho’s door. The Biblical story with Jericho has it that the Israelites march around the city “making a joyous noise unto the Lord”, with that eventually bringing the walls down. Orion’s Hittite engineers are here again, with the Israelites’ noise covering the sound of them tunnelling to undermine the walls.

It’s simple interpretation of historical events, tying meanings to them that make far more sense than what’s in the various myths. Although Christians will get upset by the portrayal of their god in this one, let’s just say he’s a little bit insane.

Orion in the Dying Time – Here we have Orion hunting dinosaurs. This is probably the best of the Orion books, as it has Orion starting to emerge into being a major player in the pantheon. There’s another old favourite of mythology coming in here in the form of Set, a reptilian from the planet Shaydan which is orbiting the Sun’s companion star Sheol.

Everyone’s probably gone : Oooookay … there 🙂 But it makes sense and works out with a little bit of artistic license applied. Good story this one, although it suffers from Bova not being the best of authors. He comes up with decent stories and is always well worth a read but he’s not in the same league as Banks, Weber and Heinlein.

Orion and the Conqueror – Book 2 again but set in the time of Alexander the Great. I skip this one cos it’s almost a copy of the second book and reduces Orion back to a point where I’m embarassed to read it. So I ignore it.

Orion Among The Stars – Final book, absolutely no historical context in this one 🙂 Orion’s dropped on the planet Lunga with soldiers equipped with jump packs, laser guns and a liberal supply of nukes. And they’re fighting feline people who eat their prisoners (Kzin ripoff?).

Orion gets his people into various scrapes in this one and as a central character, steadily continues the emergence that started in book 3. Good future scifi book this one, with the gloves taken off completely due to there being no need for historical context.

Ben Bova’s better books tend to be based around historical events, whether they be distant past or very near future. Possibly his best is Millenium, which is the sequel to Kinsman, being set on the close of the 2nd millenium. However, the historical context falls away somewhat due to the central core of Millenium being the lunar colony fighting for indepence. Erm – we ain’t got no lunar colony yet …

So how do they come together ?

I’ve read the Orion series a few times now and always remember them being pretty decent. I’ve matured a fair bit as a reader though since reading these for the first time. I’ve also read better authors so I’m less forgiving with the content. Ben Bova’s a decent author but can suffer from loss of focus in the narrative. That’d be when your imagination, fed by the words, can’t quite keep up the picture of what’s going on. David Weber’s good at this, I can usually keep a picture in my mind of what he’s getting up to with ships flying around at half light-speed. But Ben Bova’s not quite up to that standard. Not quite top-quality English doesn’t stop a book being an addictive page-turner.

Worth reading 🙂 For a few reasons :

Interpretation of myth, legend and geological history, whether this be Troy, Jericho, Neanderthals, why we hate snakes or just who was responsible for chucking the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.
Deities and pondering why all that’s written about them seems to give the personality of spoilt children. The Greek pantheon gets a decent kicking but that’s nothing compared to what the Golden One gets …

I’m already piling through my next series, David Weber’s Ashes of Empire. 3 books, 2 down so far and I’m just starting the third 🙂 More on that later after I’ve finished the third.

PS I was contemplating having Chinese tonight but looking outside … Going out the door may lead to getting drowned and I’m too young to die.

Cake = yum 🙂

The other birthday person still has some cakes left. She’s trying to make me fat by pointing out the fact when I walk past her desk while heading to the kitchennette to make coffee.

Me being… The 4th Trekkie… [snigger]

A truely *awful* film.

Epic Fail.

did someone say cake!? 😉