Tag Archive: Scarlett Johansson


The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. This blog was viewed about 42,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 5 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 97 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 477 posts. There were 15 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 20mb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was June 14th with 576 views. The most popular post that day was SLEEPING WITH SCARLETT JOHANSSON. Continue reading →

100,000 HITS

Within the world-wide Blogosphere 100,000 hits since I started this blog on 25th May 2007 is a pretty modest number but I’m quietly pleased to clock up this milestone just the same.

Although I don’t write with any target audience in mind  I do find myself dallying over the Blog Stats in a not so healthy manner and I cannot deny that I’m bothered when the graph plummets dramatically.

It’s interesting to see what posts get the most hits and to speculate on why surfers are drawn in. Here’s my current top ten with my thoughts on why they are the most popular:

1. IF YOU ARE MORTAR

I struck blog-gold with this, my 4th ever post. This accounts for a quarter of all visitors.  I’d like to think there were 25,000 Ivor Cutler fans out there in Cyberspace but I realise that most of the hits are from those searching for an image of a brick wall! (don’t ask me why). The wall image accompanied by the word ‘loneliness’ is presumably intriguing enough to click on. I hope most stuck around to read the short poem. I tried to repeat the success another post with a brick wall picture but this got only 19  hits!

2. SLEEPING WITH SCARLETT JOHANSSON

A deliberately suggestive title and a sexy image of Ms Johannsson are the obvious bait to this review of her Tom Waits covers album.

3.  NO DIRECTION DINOSAURS

Surprised that so many clicked on this review of Martin Scorsese’s tedious concert movie of the Rolling Stones. Maybe they were searching for other dinosaurs.

4. THE THOUGHT-FOX

Again I don’t think this attracts poetry lovers. Probably most are looking for Fox Tv rather than Ted Hughes in which case I hope I’ve raised their cultural level ever so slightly.

5. LOVE LYRICS AND MENTAL HEALTH

I like this quote from Frank Zappa – when I started blogging most of the first entries were straight quotes and an image. Again the title is probably intriguing.

6. SIZE MATTERS TO HALLE BERRY

Forgive me for I have sinned . I confess to having lascivious thoughts about Halle Berry’s perfectly toned body – I can  take some  comfort in the knowledge that there other sinners out there in web-land.

7.  AN AFTERTASTE OF THE FAST FOOD NATION

Not a great movie but hopefully interest lies in seeking out a fast-free diet and lifestyle. The message of the movie was enough to inspire my daughter to follow my example and become a vegetarian – she hasn’t wavered since.

8.  SHALL WE DANCE?

Another of my filler posts with a quote I like coupled with a memory of Ballet Rambert’s magnificent ‘Ghost Dances.

9.  MISS ITALIA VIEWED FROM BEHIND

More proof that sex sells and the prospect of admiring the backside of a beauty queen has proved an irresistable temptation for many.

10. NATURAL GROUPER THERAPY

I was asked to cease and desist by someone who helps run a grouper therapy website promoting mega-strength fishing tackle !  I politely asked how my post could be viewed as affecting their online trade but received no reply so the title stands. I have a fantasy that hordes of misdirected fishermen are getting turned on to the etherial beauty of Liz Harris’ music.

If you have read this far and/or have ever visited my humble blog in the past – thank you for being one in 100,000.


SLEEPING WITH SCARLETT JOHANSSON

Today I had my siesta with Scarlett Johansson.

Unfortunately, it’s not that I pulled big time – she was only on my mp3 player. I was listening to her new album of Tom Waits covers .

Tom Waits, it goes without saying, has one of the most distinctive voices in rock. Scarlett, it has to be said, has one of the least distinctive.

Immediately we encounter the crux of the problem with this record.

Obviously it would be ridiculous to expect her to try to emulate Wait’s singing style – she’s only 23 and she’d have to have smoked around 50 cigarettes a day from the age of 5 to get even half way towards her gravel-voiced hero.

An alternative would have been a high risk strategy of doing a major re-vamp of the songs which would almost certainly ended in tears and would have had Waitsian fans up in arms.

The middle way, which is attempted here, is to perform the songs relatively straight and call upon the help of some talented mates.

TV On The Radio’s David Andrew Siteks co-wrote the one original tune of the album (‘Song For Jo’) as well as producing the record and supplying his multi-instrumental skills. The finished result is,according to the website link for the album, “murky and thick” which is another way of saying her voice is buried in the mix somewhere if you’re bothered enough to listen for it. A certain Mr. David Bowie sings on two tracks, “Falling Down” and “Fannin Street”, an indication of the celebrity endorsement she can call upon.

The decision to make such a record could be construed as (delete as appropriate) :
bold /imaginative /presumptive / arrogant/ill advised/respectful.

If you’re kind you’d say this was the kind of dreamy pop that might make you want to go lie on a branch with wellingtons on – which is what you see her doing on the album’s cover shot.

It’s certainly not the turkey it might easily have been but it’s plain that the record didn’t get made on Ms Johansson’s vocal talents alone.