Being extremely busy at the moment, here’s a very lazy post - I stole another music video from Spaghetticode’s secret stash because it’s absolutely brilliant.

Music by Loney, Dear:

Loney, dear is the sound of Swedish songsmith Emil Svanängen recording in “the tiny, sweltering hot Stockholm studio apartment, or in the cool basement of his parents house.� Using a “minidisc mic and a set of headphones to avoid disturbing his neighbours,� this is the sound of Scandinavian intrigue at its most modern.

Clips of more songs available on the website, I think I’ll have to get the album.

The video was created by Andres Nilson, who I couldn’t find much info on, except various people saying he’s brilliant. A more thorough search might be in order soon…

Bob, over at Clamnuts, has been working on the cover for his silent masterpiece Mr Amperduke. He posted some mock up covers to solicit feedback, and of course I couldn’t resist throwing my oar in.

I’ve stuck my suggestions on to the end of Bob’s mock ups above, I edited Bob’s no.3 and no.6, as the two I feel have the most potential.

No.3 is the most eye catching which I think is important, and no.6 has class which is another good way to go.

I took the eye catchingness of no.3, gave it the vibrant brick colour from no.1 and the solid composition of the brick in no.2 - so my first edit is really a combination of all three in Bob’s top row.

My other edit is just his no.6 simplified as I felt it needed to be more confident in itself.

Head over and let Bob know what you think yourself!

Thanks to Green Ink for pointing me in the direction of the Moomins.

When he mentioned them in reference to my interest in animation, I thought they sounded familiar. I did a search on YouTube and found the above episode, and ineed they also looked familiar. But only in a vague fuzzy way.

And I wasn’t entirely sure that it was animation I remembered, which is entirely possibly because it seems they started life in print. Author Tove Jansson from Finland wrote Moomin books and comics , it seems, before they were turned into a series and a film.

Wherever I came across them, I think they stuck in my conscious somewhere as being just barely the right side of scary for whatever age I was.

As you can see from the above clip, they are fairly unconventional - is there anything this edgy around for kids at the moment? I’m a little out of touch, but Spongebob Squarepants is comparable I suppose… in that it’s enjoyable by adults as well as children, and tends toward the absurd - but let’s face it, Spongebob lacks a certain class that the Moomins have.

Or will people look back on Spongebob and think it’s got class when the media of the time has further increased in pace and crassness.

Anyway, enough rambling, enjoy the gentle insanity of the Moomins.

I searched YouTube to see if any footage of CSS in the Savoy in Cork had been put up, and one clip had been, but it’s mobile phone footage… enough to remind me what an excellent night I had, but doesn’t capture incredible the energy or sound that was actually emanating from the stage.

The other interesting thing was that the clip was put up by Spaghetticode, who is a registered contributor here (I won’t out his secret identity just yet!), but he hasn’t contributed much yet…he has a great knowledge of off the beaten track music too, and attends gigs by mad bands you’ve never heard of that he could review… coincidentally I then met Spaghetticode on the street last night and he said he keeps meaning to put stuff up here… c’mon Spaghetticode, start blogging… you know you want to!

Anyway, I found the above clip in his YouTube favourites, and thought I’d share it. ‘Architecture in Helsinki - Do the Whirlwind’ I do love animated music videos.

The Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild Blog linked to an article in the Guardian about podcasting reviving Radio Drama.

I didn’t read it or anything. But it’s full of tasty links to sites that do drama podcasts which I intend to look at sometime and never will.

I meant to ask Hammergrin, ages go, if they had thought about doing drama podcasts - I’ve read some of their comedy writing for radio and was duly impressed. Perfect for podcasts. Cast me, cast me…