Ilpo Väisänen Live in Moscow 2019

Discovered a few of his live shows from Moscow, going to check them all out.

It took me a long time to appreciate Plastic Surgery Disasters because it didn't feel as raw and savage as Fresh Fruit. Over the years I think it's become my favourite.

Like I said though it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

A historical week

I missed Pylon when it was released (2015) so I gave it a spin. Yep, unmistakably Killing Joke with more modern production.

Been listening to early Devo and Dead Kennedys albums this week. It's a paradox choosing a track for each. So difficult because there's so many great tracks by both bands how do you choose? Equally so easy - like randomly pick a track, you can't really miss.

Devo - Secret Agent Man

Dead Kennedys - I Am The Owl

Confirmed for me. Thank you!

Is this the Japanese analogue of "As time goes by'?

MC 900 Ft Jesus - The City Sleeps

Starts off with a smooth, chill beat and when the lyrics kick in, takes a sharp left turn.

Watched a few live performances on youtube and love the variety. Only found 3 albums though and still checking them out.

Listened to Zan by Liraz this week, an Iranian born Israeli. It might seem a bit odd to enjoy songs that you can't understand but I listen to so much music with no vocals that it doesn't bother me.

Here's one of my favourites from the album.

Liraz - Shab Gerye

That sounded very reminiscent of Khruangbin to me. Surprise, surprise their live KEXP set has a Khruangbin cover:

Liraz live on KEXP

On a superficial (and most likely racist) note she looks very much how I'd imagine a Persian princess might look.

Oh man that sucks. How many ducksworth do you have on that lake?

I'm fascinated by the space between borders. Saw a documentary about Mehran Karimi Nasseri a refugee who was stuck at Charles de Gaulle Airport for 18 years - not this one but I can't find the original I saw. I have so much empathy for him because... funny story.

I got held up with my wife at Bucharest airport for 3 days.

We got diverted due to bad weather and when we landed they wouldn't let her board the onward leg since she'd lost her travel permit in transit. She couldn't get a stamped visa - for reasons - so it was stapled onto her passport. I actually think it was stolen at Delhi where we'd flown from.

Landed in the small hours of Friday morning. Spent most of the day held and questioned by the authorities who eventually let us into the transit area. Had lots of conversations with security who eventually gave her passport back and had to hole up there over the weekend until the British consulate opened up... except it was a national holiday on Monday so we had to wait until Tuesday.

Massive coincidence that we bumped into someone we'd met in India during our stay in "Hotel Transit" becuase their flight had also been diverted, They gave us contact details of a friend of theirs who lived in Bucharest We managed to gain entry to Romania to pick up emergency travel papers, but they sent us through a unmanned channel with no-one checking passports or anything so we'd entered illegally. The consulate said it would take 3 days for security checks etc so we looked up the address we were given and had an incredible unexpected stay in Bucharest getting shown around by locals - pointing out buildings still peppered with bullet holes and shell damage from the revolution and stories about what it their life was like and losing family members to Ceaușescu's regime. One weird detail I remember was pointing out watermarks near the ceiling of the underground station as we descended the escalators from when it had flooded.

Such amazingly warm and lovely people.

To cap it all we had to bribe our way back into the airport and onto the onward flight because we had no stamp to enter the country. I'll always wonder if we could have avoided the whole ordeal by offering a bribe when we were initially refused to board the plane but we would have missed out a really special heart-warming break in Bucharest.

I'm chuckling at the way this article is written.

Although managed by a German company, the Ever Given’s Japanese owners, Shoei Kisen Kaisha, have leased the ship to Taiwanese firm Evergreen. Insured by a British broker, run by an Indian crew, it flies the flag of tax haven Panama.

And stranded in Egypt. what a headache.

Fully loaded, it’s as heavy as 2,000 blue whales.

Who can come up with a relatable animal simile form me for 2,000 blue whales? Or at least better than my pathetic 66,000 elephants.

NAME A PRODUCT and it’s probably on the Ever Given. Its 18,300 containers hold everything from IKEA furniture to dildos, from microchips to pillow cases.

These are the 4 items the author chose to represent the mind-blowing product diversity onboard. OK then.

Same here, but this archiving site has it.

https://archive.ph/20210620205711/https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/06/15/lab-leak-theory-doesnt-hold-up-covid-china/

Shorter: https://archive.ph/GjZTF

The whole thing sounds too fanciful to me, I just remembered your comment when I read about it.

I think it might be clumsy US disinformation - the dailybeast article mentions the rumours spreading through the anti-CCP Chinese media.

Dong’s defection was raised by Chinese officials last March at the Sino-American summit in Alaska, according to Dr. Han Lianchao, a former Chinese foreign ministry official before defecting after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

This move is going to piss China off so badly, that my guess is that the administration already has the evidence they need to make a reasonably certain conclusion.

The about-face on the lab leak theory felt very orchestrated to me. In particular the public finger pointing linking the scientists decrying the theory and their involvement in gain of function research and those that funded them also promoting a zoonotic cause.

There is a juicy rumour floating around recently that a high level Chinese intelligence officer has defected. I can't find any reliable sources talking about it, but haven't looked very hard either.

https://redstate.com/jenvanlaar/2021/06/17/breaking-chinese-defector-confirmed-as-top-counterintelligence-official-n398374

https://www.thedailybeast.com/rumors-of-us-secretly-harboring-top-china-official-dong-jingwei-swirl

Getting into King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard

Superbug

Also KRS-One - Return 0f The B00M Bap