Sanriotown issues

 

It was with some shock to find on Friday last an activity that had been a part of my internet life for a long time just wasn't available outside of the other business talked about elsewhere and still isn't available as I type this.

For almost as long as this blog has been going, Sanriotown.com was the first port of call not just for The Game but also things such as the busy forum where by design discussions were never 18+ which suited me as most adult conversations go over my head and don't really fit in my life, offered wallpaper and screen-savers.

It tied into my kawaii centred feminine boy side totally.

They also has something I just adored, a oh so kawaii email with customization of the domains for whatever Sanriotown character you liked  which for me meant I had a me @hellokitty.com email address that linked directly to things such as ecards you could people at Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas and that.

When I went to look at it, my email had gone with over a decades worth of stored emails from past organizations and acquaintances 

The overall impression is that sanriotown.com and Hello Kitty Online is for all intents and purposes dead joining other sites we used such as experience project, friends reunited, beststuff and the GeoCities blogging platform in the internet graveyard. 

The Boy and the Mouse

After last week's excursion we're back to more regular ground  here after spending a few weeks with a few friends reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle from cover to cover. 

You see, and I'm no expert on literature, actually that had it of come from this side of the Atlantic would be seen a classic Boys Own  novel which of course it is really because the motorvation was writing for her (Beverly Cleary's) son and no girls are involved.

It captures that boyhood friendship between the mouse in room 216 and him at a level we'd get, the trust and betrayal when Ralph loses Keith's beloved motorcycle but how Ralph risked his life to get him the aspirin that saved his life from a fever.

Keith could of been any of us at the age of eight or nine with our collections of toy cars we'd play and Beverly's son did play with them while sick as many of us did, capable of striking up a friendship over shared interests.

And we're all carrying around a bit of 'Keith' as sophisticated as we may feel as much as we all can identify with Ralph's longing for freedom, independence and adventure  being probably as reckless in his innocence too, having scrapes in our pasts.

To me, between the pages of The Mouse and the Motocycle lies the spirit of childhood in rude health .

Let's drink to it.

Seventies favourites

While arrangements for going away are working their way through I did have a couple more discs this month I'd like to devote a little space to.

 Argent were a British Progressive rock group formed from the ashes of the Nice and this package comprises of 1970's Ring Of Hands which was their debut, 1973's In Deep home of God Gave Rock and Roll To You and 1974's Nexus  with In Deep also presented in Quadraphonic surround sound thanks to the super audio cd player.

Missing just All Together Now with its Hold Your Head High, its nearly all the essential albums  in a nice well mastered bundle.

There's usually a corner of the collection marked for those it was uncool to like but when the mice were away and so were your friends you'd enjoy them.

The Australian singer Helen Reddy was one bursting  on to the seen when feminism and female solo artists were both on rise and I often borrowed the Grumps discs cos uncool amongst my friends she was, I liked her.
 

This two one one super audio issued early this year has two of her most important albums, 1972's I am Woman a manifesto in a song and a cover of This Masquerade popularized by the Carpenters and 1973's Long Hard Climb, home of Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress) and Delta Dawn.

Interestingly these albums were mixed for Quadraphonic sound but only issued on so-so US Capitol Q8 tapes and so this super audio cd twofer holds for the first time those mixes in real hifi.

A flashback to early 70's sounding better than ever.

70's

Crackerjack returns and on BP!

On Blue Peter on last Thursday we had Linzi attempt a be a radio presenter challenge for Radio One which is actually much harder than you think as you need to do several things at once and the other BIG THING is Crackerjack is back so the new team were on.

Slivering Barnacles alive, I loved that show as a kid with quizzes, gunge competitions, music performances all with lots of running about and screaming so it's on at Six c clock rather than Five past Five on CBBC so I watched that on Friday.

I mean they even got the infamous Crackerjack pencil.

The Herbs

Last week wasn't the best in terms of weather with Storm Brendan battering away for  couple of days with added heavy rain so with this so far having the coldest weather this year due I do have a few things to do  should it be too icy for me to be on foot.

 The Herbs were an late nineteen-sixties cartoon put together by the same people as Paddington Bear and indeed was written  by Michael Bond himself that I always loved for the  stories of the animals named after herbs such as Parsley the Lion and Dill the Dog and Sir basil and Lady Rosemary.

It doesn't take much for me to start singing:

I'm a very friendly lion called Parsley,

with a tail for doing jobs of every kind,

but I mustn't treat it roughly or too harshly,

for it's such a useful thing to have behind.

 I picked up a couple of dvd's of the show that do play in the Blu Ray machine to watch with Gordon Rollin's narrating when it's too bad to be out.

It can live with my Paddington, Ivor The Engine, Clangers,80's  Dangermouse and Bagpuss discs.

Christmas reflections

Christmas came with not just the excitement of family getting together although today that's harder than it was when I was a young boy with people living a bit further apart and more working shifts  but also for there were presents that connected with Christmas's as a young boy like classic lego sets that I can make anything from, things like the Dandy annual  which while fitting into a stereotypical for the period boys Christmas was okay with me.

It was just the add ons that were problematic like socks that were too big, boys gloves when I needed smaller and softer girls one having small hands and the like. 

Sometimes I'd get a tartan tie although the moths attack one of mine but of course what I'd of loved would of been a tartan skirt for best.

One day it just might happen.

The non academic things we learn in school

 

I had an image of  your boarding school boy in my head of "Boris the Bold" leading on with the entire forms tuck box  saying "This could be jolly handy later on in my life".

In a way while we do have the ability to change, much of who we are is well established by the time we've left school that there is a lot to said for looking at the kinds of opportunities that can help people develop life skills while at it rather just a preoccupation with the academic as much as I don't give anyone who  doesn't value that an easy ride at all.

It may be something like being the Captain of a sports team or say running a club during recess, getting others involved, showing how to do things more effectively or fixing the competitions or presentation for say parents day.

These kinds of things do actually help like for example in my school we had a after school time gym class a friend run, taking the contributions, setting out equipment and exercises.

They were hardly well off, frankly my family was more well off than hers but she did an excellent job of it and so she had something to say about herself for when she left school because she demonstrated skills and abilities that people especially employers are looking for.

She really impressed me and within our school she wasn't alone either.

One thing I tend to think is having either all girl or boy settings means it is more likely everyone will take those opportunities sensing they need to be done rather than just assuming "The girls will do that" or "we'll leave that to the boys of form V" because they will need to take ownership apart from making each group more in tune with what its members want as trying to run something co-ed doesn't always work well.