The Soundtrack of My Life VII - Mahna Mahna by Mahna Mahna and the Snowths

Sesame Street is celebrating its 40th birthday this year. While it might have been originally designed for pre scholar students, I have to admit that I keep watching it until well past that age. And, as you know, my chronicle incapability to tell left from right is not my fault at all. I missed the show where they explained it, and somehow never catch up with the contents.

One thing leading to the other, it came to my mind that one of the very first albums I ever owned was The Muppet Show (1997). I listened to it until the grooves disappeared, and still keep it together with all my old records. The Mahna Mahna song was strategically placed after a heated row between Miss Piggy and Kermit (Kermit got smacked at the end, if I remember well). Once Mahna Mahna and the Snowths said their goodbyes, Gonzo came up to stage to try eating a rubber tire to the sound of The Flight of the Bumble Bee (What do they know about art?!).

Mahna Mahna was played on the very first show of The Muppet Show in 1977. It was originally titled Mah-Na Mah-Na, and written by composer Piero Umiliani for an Italian documentary about life in Sweden, titled Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso (Sweden, Heaven and Hell).

Please welcome Mahna Mahna and the Snowths! Whatever that means.....

The Soundtrack of My Life VI -Connected by the Stereo MCs

When I finished my undergraduate studies in 1992, I got back to Lisbon for a while, trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life and looking for the funds that would hopefully get me back to Madrid. In the meanwhile, mainly to avoid starvation, I landed at a substitute teacher position. As all beginnings, life certainly looked and full of decisions and crucial steps. Yet, it was effortless and easy enough to allow me to relax and enjoy myself. Something that was welcomed after all the stress getting my degree finished in a relatively good shape.

And, by those very days, Lisbon was boosting with all new bars and clubs. Every place looked cool and sophisticated and the city was proud to host a club that was considered to be the best one in the world - the Kremlin. Yet, those days most roads would end or start at Fragil.

Fragil, who opened its doors in 1983 in Bairro Alto, was one of the Lisbon's first clubs. In reality,it was more like a bar with small dance floor, and a very mixed crowd. Its two doorwomen were legendary. One eventually became a singer of relative success, and the other one ended up to be a public figure and lead and AIDS support organization. About 10 years ago, Fragil's owners moved the club to a much bigger space close to there river, called LuxFragil. For oner reason or the other, have never been to Lux. If you go to Lisbon, you will still be able to find Fragil, but it is a million years away of what its original splendor and glory. I was there once, but certainly will not go back. Sequels were never good ideas...

I used to be a Fragil's regular. I cannot remember the first time I was allowed in to have a gin and tonic. I vividly remember being was allowed in without a question during my freshman year in University, much to the newbies envy.There are even reports me huffing puffing over people who suddenly remember they were my friends once they saw me jumping over the line. And, once I got back to Lisbon for my gap year, I probably distilled in there a good part of teacher salary. So many happy hours of trendy music and casual (or not so casual) conversation! For whatever reason, no song like Connected by the Stereo MCs makes me travel back to that space.

Stereo MC's - Connected
par ptidavid

Taylor's drawer II - Cheese or font?

Just found out an ideal time waster for rainy Sunday afternoon: Cheese or font? This game tests your knowledge of fine cheeses and fonts. You are given a name, and you have to decide whether it is a font or a cheese. It is not so easy as it might seem...

Oddly enough, the same website offers a link to Monotask, a simple attention management program. Still in preparation, this program will allow you to lock down internet, and create create productive blocks of time to work on the stuff that is valuable to you.

Of olive oil drips, a naive kid and an almost perfect object

The world of olive oil bottles is divided in two - the ones that drip and have their outside walls covered with a sticky and oily film, and the beautiful and almost perfect Marquina bottles.

Spanish architect Rafael Marquina knows only too well how badly designed the olive oil bottles can be. When he was a kid, his mother used to ask him to pass her the olive oil (¡pásame el aceite, niño!). Rafael would invariably pick the bottle by its handle, oblivious that it was resting on a dish that protected the table from oily stains. The dish would invariably stick to the bottle, and it would invariably fly until it ended up crashed on the floor much much to the despair of his infuriated mother. Just imagine: she would give me one slap for every dish, and every day she would ask me to pass the olive oil - said recently Rafael Marquina in an interview.

Probably still suffering from an aching cheek, in 1961 Rafael Marquina created a bottle that would forever end with the drip and tray problems. These glass bottles feature a flared neck that prevent prevent dr

ips from running down the outside. The neck acts as funnel that forces the drips inside the bottle, and the ground glass of the opening and stopper keeps them firmly together. The large bottom provides enough stability, avoiding the bottle to tip over. The stopper is easily extractible and has a small ope

ning that allows you to control the quantity of liquid you want to use.

The Marquina bottles suspiciously look like an Erlenmeyer, a glass flask that is widely used in every lab. They share the same large flat base, the conical body, and the cylindrical neck, and they both were designed to solve the similar challenges. But, the inspiration seems to have come from the work the of the Finish designer Tapio Wirkkala for Arabia.

Rafael Marquina claims that these bottles are far from perfect. The grind glass of the opening and stopper have to be hand made, making it unsuitable for industrial production. And this according to the arch

itect, is not in agreement with two of the most important premisses of design: low pr

ice and economy of procedures. Regardless, this

iconic object have become a symbol of Spanish design and possibly its most copied object

Image taken from the book 'Cocos, copias y coincidencias' (Editorial Electa)

The Soundtrack of My Life V -Your love is the place where I come from by The Teenage Fan Club

Truth to be said, before making its way to my iPod, this song was actually in someone else's soundtrack. I discovered it in Nick Hornby's 31 songs a while back, and rescued it from oblivion a few days ago while dusting my CD collection. Before I forgot it again, here it goes.

It is just great, isn't it?

Partly Cloudy

Everybody knows that storks deliver babies, but.... where do the storks get their babies from?

Thank you, MJP!

The Soundtrack of My Life IV - Dusk by the The

I bought Dusk a bit by accident in 1993. I just bumped into it during a shopping spree, without even knowing the The had a new CD, and put it on my cart without too much thought. The CD had been released earlier that year, and I remembered the The as a sort of band that always had been close to my heart and had great songs. After only a couple of hearings, Dusk became one of my favorite CDs ever - one of those that found room in the shelfs of 15 flats in 3 different countries. It is flagged with a VV, initials for the Portuguese Vai e Volta. Meaning, it is outbound and inbound. When I borrow it, I demand to have it back... Needless is to say that it has always found its way back home.

The the was founded in 1979 by Matt Johnson, who has been the only constant member of the band. Matt Johnson takes his time to create his master pieces. In 30 years, the The released 6 albums: Soul Mining (1983), Infected (1986, Mind Bomb (1989), Dusk (1993), Hanky Panky (1995) and their last one NakedSelf (2000). But, all of them were worthwhile the waiting. A seventh album was announced as forthcoming in May 2007 (The End Of The Day). As yet, it is still unreleased.

Choosing just one song from Dusk is not an easy task. It is one of this albums that is more than the sum of its songs. I was not able to find any video produced for my favorite song in Dusk: Bluer than Midnight . But, I can offer Dogs of Lust and an anedoct about the shooting of this video. Matt Johnson, being the perfectionist that he is, was not totally happy with the results of the shooting. There was not enough tension, he argued. At his request, the studio temperature was set to a most unbritish 38oC and the video shot again. Matt Johnson was right - you can almost feel the heat and lust when you watch the video:

the the - Dogs of lust
par nico2oo6

And, a bonus song: Uncertain Smile, played live during the 1993 Reading Festival. This song was released in 1983, as a single of the Soul Mining record. It seems it was just yesterday....