Ordinary Finds

A lot of people (OK, several people) have been kind enough to say that this blog is one of their first online stops every day.  That's OK, I can take the pressure, and the Full English Breakfast with an extra sausage for regulars is always available, day or night.  In fact, that's pretty much all we serve.  Apart from tea, lots of tea, in big, white, one-pint china mugs.  Bikers and coach parties welcome.

But where do I stop off to start the day?  Well, I think Ordinary Finds is the place to go.  I can't recommend it highly enough.  It is a Tumblr site run by Bent Sørensen, a Danish academic specialising in American literature, particularly The Beats (Kerouac, et al.).  The concept is simple:  most days, Bent marks a cultural anniversary or two by  putting up some relevant images and live music links -- usually single tracks from an album or two  -- to other Tumblr media sites.  The point is, his range of reference is both wide and deep: pop, opera, rock, folk, jazz, country, classical...  He covers the whole cultural gamut and every week I discover something new and wonderful that I can't believe I've never come across before.

What more do you want?  Go there, and lose yourself in the treasures he puts out for your enjoyment.  Don't forget to come back, though!  And if you're meant to be at work, look busy.

No connection...  Just polishing up the Viaduct set

Talking of Danish, if you've been watching The Killing, The Bridge, or Borgen on TV, you've probably been wondering about Danish pronunciation.  I mean, honestly...  Danish sounds like sort-of-Swedish but as spoken by someone immediately following multiple root-canal fillings, or downing an entire bottle of akvavit, possibly both.  Worse, it bears little or no relation to the way it's spelt.  For helvede! [pron. "fuh hilvl!" = Dammit!].  Well, check out these comments on the Language Hat blog (no relation) post of 4th January 2013, "The Emetic Nature of Danish".