Hurry up with my damn croissants

Posted on October 4, 2013 by tashfriday

Morning Tash Appreciators,

I’m a bit behind in listening to it but this week has seen Kanye West’s eighth album – Yeezus (yeah, it’s very like Jesus, isn’t it) – getting a lot of airtime in TF HQ. For those who don’t know who he is, this magazine cover tells you everything you need to know about who he used to be:

This album is good – really good. The lyrics and melodies are imaginative and quite different from any hip hop album I’ve heard before. The only difficulty with it is it’s also one of the angriest records I’ve ever heard. Parts of it make for difficult listening.I don’t have a problem with an album being difficult to listen to, nor do I think that many Tash Appreciators are interested in what Kanye raps about on this album. What is interesting, I think, is that he wasn’t always an angry guy. In his first big release in 2004, his lyrics were about consumerism, being self-conscious and modern racism. It was all pretty insightful and constructive:

We buy our way out of jail but we can’t buy freedom.

We buy a lot of clothes when we don’t really need ’em:

Things we buy to cover up what’s inside.

I don’t know what’s happened to Kanye to make him seemingly change his outlook on life so dramatically (maybe it’s just as he predicted in 2004: “the people highest up have the lowest self-esteem”) but it seems a shame that it’s come to this, even if it does make for entertaining music.

We’ve probably all had times when we’re angry or disappointed about what’s going on around us and that can sometimes seep into our attitude towards life in general. It’s also difficult for us to always see those changes in ourselves. The aim, I guess, is to ensure that we have folk around us who will say when things are getting out of hand. It’s a shame, but maybe Kanye doesn’t have someone around him to say: “Here, you know that song when you say ‘I am a God’ over and over again and then use that line which talks about you wanting a “damn croissant”? That’s too far.” They should perhaps show him a picture of this week’s Tash:

The croissant Tash is a first for TF.

I’ll leave you with one final Tash this week. It’s a picture of Kanye from his High School yearbook. As you can see, he was awarded best dressed, he’s happy, he’s rocking a Tash (just about) and he’s wearing a polo shirt:

As a matter of fact, he chastises himself in this current album for ever wearing a polo shirt. However, I wonder when he was happier: when he was wearing that shirt or when he was writing this album.

Have a great weekend folks!

#keepgoing

Can’t Hold Us

Posted on September 13, 2013 by tashfriday

Morning Tash Appreciators,

The subject of TF from a few weeks ago has been on my mind. The future starting slow can be a pain in the neck for all of us – waiting just isn’t fun. So, this week, I’ve got a few examples of people for whom the wait was worthwhile.

First up, for the hipsters, a rapper who seemed to emerge from nowhere with a track about fly second-hand clothes:

Macklemore, complete with Tash – a man with style.

For most of us, the first time we came across this chap was with his track “Thrift Shop“. Personally, though, I preferred his second single, “Can’t Hold Us”. From a TF perspective, this is a much better song. It’s about raising yourself up and generally not taking no for an answer.

Perhaps surprisingly, “Can’t Hold Us” was first released in August 2011. It was only after the monster success of “Thrift Shop” that Macklemore spent big bucks on a good video to accompany the track and effectively re-released it. As of July this year, over three million copies of “Can’t Hold Us” have been bought in the US alone. He’s also playing in Glasgow tonight, if any Appreciators happen to be in that part of the world.

Looking back in history, there are numerous examples of people who have had to wait half a lifetime or more before getting where they wanted to be.

Benjamin Franklin didn’t sign the Declaration of Independence until he was 70, making him the oldest signatory:

Ray Kroc was in his fifties when he started to think about turning his family owned business into a franchise which now serves 68 million people every day – McDonald’s:

Susan Boyle didn’t hit the big time until she was 48:

And, this week’s Tash didn’t become President of South Africa until he was 76:

If we think the future starts slow for us, imagine what it must have been like to spend 26 years waiting in prison. I think sometimes we can be too impatient. Sometimes, but by no means all the time, we should sit back and prepare ourselves for the moment when the right chance comes along; at which point, we’re ready to grab it with both hands.

Have a great weekend folks!#keepgoing

TGI Friday

Posted on September 6, 2013 by tashfriday

Hello Friday Appreciators,

The last few Tash Fridays have seen some examples of classic Tashes. While that’s all well and good, I wonder sometimes whether TF focuses too much on the Tash and not enough on the Friday.

Like the Tash, Friday is one of those things that is universally appreciated (hence the change to this week’s usual greeting). I bet that if you all looked on your Facebook news feeds today, at least one person will have posted something like this:

For most of us, Friday at 5pm is the point where we are furthest from our next day of work and for that reason we can’t get enough of it. To prove that universal appeal, you only need to look at the global chain of restaurants which uses an acronym of “thank goodness it’s Friday” as it’s name.

It may mean something different to all of us, but the feeling of turning the computer off and flying out of the office on a Friday evening is common to us all. I think that feeling it’s a combination of this :

And this:

Of course, there is a Tash connection to both of those clips. The song in the first video is “You Make My Dreams” by Hall and Oates and the second is an example of Carlton Banks’ dance from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air (essential Friday viewing when I was younger). John Oates had one of the greatest Tashes in rock and roll:

And both Will Smith and Alfonso Ribeiro are well versed in the ways of the Tash:

The point is, both Tashes and Friday are part of that long list of small things that make life worth living (along with cider on a hot day, showers with good water pressure etc) and it’s no wonder that the combination of them seems to have an appeal.

Have a fantastic Friday and a great weekend.

#keepgoing

The Future Starts Slow

Posted on August 30, 2013 by tashfriday

Hello Tash Appreciators,

I came across a Nike advert called “just do it – possibilities”. It’s pretty good:

It looks at various every-day people who are starting out in sport and asks what’s stopping them from taking their participation to the next level. Like many Nike adverts, it challenges the amateur to ask more of themselves: to run further, jump higher and fight harder than they have in the past or ever thought they could.

The choice of music used in the advert is interesting too. The song is called “The Future Starts Slow” by The Kills, and I think it hits the nail on the head – if you want a future filled with success, you’re going to have to expend a lot of time and energy in getting there. In sport, and life generally, it’s often the initial stages that are the most difficult as, although it never gets easy, once you’ve started to get better you can least look back and see the progress.

This week was also the 50th anniversary of Dr King’s “I have a dream” speech. TF has covered this in the past but it was a long time ago and I’m sure you’ll forgive me for coming back to it.

The most famous part of the speech (the “I have a dream” part) is towards the end but, at the beginning, Dr King talks about President Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. He says that, one hundred years after the Proclamation that slavery was to end, the “black man” (I’ve changed the words used) “is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land”. He says that the Proclamation was a cheque which has not been cashed and he talks about now being the time for the bank of justice to pay out.

I guess that the speed at which ambitions are reached is directly proportionate to the scale of what you’re trying to achieve. You can go from being able to run a mile to running a marathon in a few months, but even Abraham Lincoln’s efforts couldn’t speed up a civil rights movement that took 100 years to give minorities even a semblance of equality.

All of that being said, fifty years after Dr King’s speech, we can look back and see real progress not just in the US but around the world. Sure, there is a vast amount of work to be done in the fight for equality but the future now doesn’t seem quite so far away and it’s coming more quickly all the time. I guess all we can do is think “we’ve come this far, why can’t we go further?”

I’ll leave you with Dr King and his superlative Tash. Can it be any surprise that such a man chose to wear one:

Have a great weekend folks!

#keepgoing

P.s. If you haven’t read the speech, it’s well worth it: http://www.archives.gov/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf

Curtain Raiser

Posted on August 23, 2013 by tashfriday

Good morning Tash Appreciators,

After an extended break, TF has reopened for business refreshed, reinvigorated and ready to raise the curtain on the next season of Tash Friday.

As this is the season opener, it seems only appropriate to go back to the roots of TF. Although the level of Tash related paraphernalia appears to be cresting a wave of popularity at the moment, that wave has been building for years. Even as far back as the turn of the last century, a Tash was seen as an essential element of what the “ideal man” should look like:

That’s Eugen Sandow, the man who some people say was the father of modern body building. He measured Greek sculptures to find the proportions of “The Grecian Ideal” and then lifted weights until he had sculpted himself into the desired shape. At the time this photo was taken (in around the mid 1890s), he was seen as having the ideal male physique. We can only assume, as he was a man that honed his appearance, that he saw his Tash as an essential element of what the ideal man looked like.

These days, we still attempt to sculpt ourselves. Some of us do it literally and work to achieve a desired body shape; while others take a more figurative approach and work until other ambitions are achieved. TF is here to encourage you to keep going and to press on towards those goals.

Back to today, one man who appears to have harnessed the power of the Tash to propel himself to greatness is this guy:

Looks like chicks really do dig him…

That’s Lachlan Morton, a 21 year old cyclist who, after starting to rock a Tash last month, has been putting a hurt on his competitors in literally every race he’s ridden . TF has been bike-heavy of late (and many of you have made your views on that clear) but, on this occasion, I make no apologies for including Mr Morton. The reason for that is the recent addition to his race-bike:

When he appeared at the start line with this first licence plate (he’s been using a couple in recent weeks), he raised a few eyebrows and I’m sure some saw it as a pretty arrogant move. However, not only does he not take himself too seriously, he knew something that his competitors didn’t: that he’d worked harder than them in the run-up to the race and that he was able to beat them; which he promptly did, all on his own.

That, fellow Appreciators, is how it’s done. Hard work, and the confidence which comes with it, can be big factors in whether we are able to achieve our goals. One can imagine the reaction Eugen Sandow received when the people of Victorian England saw that he was lifting weights in order to look like Greek sculptures! I suspect his response was the same as Lachlan’s – “I’ll show ’em…”

Have a great weekend folks!

#keepgoing

Cliffhanger

Posted on July 26, 2013 by tashfriday

Morning Tash Appreciators,

This week brings to an end another season of TF. For the next two weeks, TF headquarters is scheduled to be closed for a summer holiday.

End of season finales are tricky things. This time last year, which was the end of the first “proper” season of TF (i.e. when more than about a dozen people read it!), the aim was to finish on a positive note that would leave you all wanting more. For the second season, something more is required. Like all quality entertainment, it has to be believable; and for it to be believable, the end can’t always be a happy one.Looking back at last year, TF was talking about star-spangled super dreams of sky-scrapers and sparkling blue sea. It really was a super dream and a fantastic time. But that’s the thing about dreams, sooner or later you have to wake up. This year, life certainly has been a wake-up call: even coming up with alliterative sentences requires more energy than I have to spare.

For some Appreciators (including this one) parts of 2013 have been majestic, but considerable chunks have been bloody awful. This year TF has seen its ensemble cast (us) go through trials and tribulations that we could not have seen coming. But unlike conventional entertainment, the people are genuine, and none of the drama has been set up purely for our enjoyment.So, as the curtain falls on season 2, we are left with something of a cliffhanger: will our heroes and heroines overcome, or will they stumble and fall?

The beauty of season 3, and everything that follows, will be that the outcome is in our hands.If I was a betting man, I’d say that this narrative arc of ours has plenty of running-time left to allow for the story to take a turn for the better. Maybe not this year – maybe not even at the end of next year – but, by the time all is done and the credits start to roll, I’d be amazed if things hadn’t worked out ok.So for the next couple of weeks, TF will rest, re-energise, recuperate (hey, maybe I do have the energy for alliteration!) and prepare itself to throw anything and everything at whatever life foolishly puts in it’s way. That’s where this week’s Tash comes in. When TF returns, it intends to channel some of the spirit of this man:

That’s Jules Winnfield (aka Samuel L Jackson) in Pulp Fiction. He will be the inspiration for season 3 because, sometimes, you have to snap some necks if you want to cash those cheques (figuratively speaking, of course).

Have a great couple of weeks!

KEEP. GOING.

Grow the roses

Posted on July 12, 2013 by tashfriday

Good morning Tash Appreciators,

This week, I had the great pleasure of catching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on TV. Even though it was released in 1968, it has lost none of its appeal:

The film fits in with just about everything which TF stands for (with the obvious exception of the state-sponsored abductor of children). It starts with a man who is faced with the cold reality of life: his inventions, although brilliant, aren’t paying the bills or allowing him to give his kids the things he wants them to have. He’s told that he needs to stop dreaming and do an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. In the end though, all of his dreams come true.

I could go on for ages about the different messages which I think stem from the film. However, I will skip the lecture on how it illustrates the point that, no matter how downtrodden they are, young folk will always prevail. In my opinion, the most important message comes from a group of imprisoned inventors who have been tasked with building a car as good as Chitty: from the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success:

It’s a theme that runs through the whole film. For example, as the opening credits roll, the car which will later become Chitty goes on fire and is destroyed. The leading man’s life is a bit of a disaster too. His wife (he’s wearing a wedding ring) is, for whatever reason, no longer part of the family and his home and career are a wreck. It’s only by sheer bloody-mindedness that he perseveres and succeeds. The inventors’ song tell us exactly why he carries on:

When it gets distressing it’s a blessing!
Onward and upward you must press!
Yes, Yes!
Till up from the ashes, up from the ashes, grow the roses of success.

This only occurred to me as I watching it, but literally 90% of the male cast has a Tash. It’s therefore hard to choose just one for this week’s TF. The spies and Baron Bomburst, for example, are particularly funny. However, Grandpa Potts wins it both because of this role in the “Grow The Roses” hymn but also because of the line:

“Never say “no” to adventures. Always say “yes”; otherwise you’ll lead a very dull life.”

It just doesn’t get any better.

Have a fantastic weekend folks!

Keep going!

Redemption squared

Posted on June 28, 2013 by tashfriday

Salut Tash Appreciators,

With the Tour de France starting in Corsica tomorrow, cycling is our starting and ending point this week:

Courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrk_andrsn/

Although that picture includes four world-class riders, it wasn’t taken in France, or anywhere with a particular culture of cycling. It was actually taken during the UK National Road Race last Sunday, which took place in Glasgow.

The front chap, in blue, is David Millar – Scotland’s top road cyclist. Some of you may have heard of him because of his “colourful” past as an ex-doper. He was caught, banned and almost jailed for his part in the doping culture of early 2000s. But since then, he has done more than anyone else in cycling to make/keep it clean. He always been proud of his Scottish background but Sunday seemed to have a special significance for him. You could tell that not only from his performance (which was superb) but also from the tweets he posted after the race:

There are, as I see it, similarities between Millar and the city he was racing in: both have had a rough time and both looked like their best days were behind them. However, like Millar, Glasgow did itself proud on Sunday. The race itself was fantastic: it was well organised and well supported. But it also seems to have been good for other people too. For a start, it prompted the Council to fix the roads in the centre of town, which is a big deal for the drivers of Glasgow. Not only that, but the Council has carried on with the work and other roads are now being improved. It also got people excited about a sport which is growing in Scotland. I’ve heard stories of customers chatting about the race in shops, and if Instagram and Facebook are anything to go by, many folk who had no interest in cycling enjoyed it almost as much as the sad acts (like me) who watched it from beginning to end.

There are plenty of other things going on in the city at the moment too: the east end is more or less being re-developed for the Commonwealth Games; Strathclyde University is building what seems to be a new campus in the middle of town; and many of the huge tower blocks are being demolished to make way for more sociable social housing. If you look to the east of the country, the new forth crossing (have they picked a name for that yet?) is growing out of the depths at an impressive rate and on an impressive scale and if you look north Aberdeen seems to be booming.

We haven’t had a really positive message from TF for a few weeks now, primarily because there hasn’t seemed to be a lot to be positive about. However, that makes it all the sweeter when you look around and see things improving.

So, to the Tash. Unfortunately, Dave Millar appears to have never rocked a Tash. However, there’s a cyclist who will hopefully be on your screens for the next three weeks who does. I saw him riding in the Giro a few weeks ago and made a quick note of his name. Ladies and gents, this chap must be the happiest looking man ever to ride the Tour, Jose Perez:

Have a fantastic weekend folks!

Keep going!

Racing Through The Dark by David Millar (alexscycle.org)
30,000 spectators turn out to cheer on cyclists in city road race (local.stv.tv)
Bid to turn neglected housing estate into bike town (heraldscotland.com)

We are still here

Posted on June 20, 2013 by tashfriday

Morning Tash Appreciators,

I must first apologise for this week’s TF hitting your inbox in the “old” format. Technology 1 – TF 0.

I came across this photo this week:

It’s quite a famous one, called the Pale Blue Dot. It was taken from the Voyager 1 Spacecraft in 1990, when it was around 3.7 billion miles from home. Earth is – surprisingly enough – the pale blue dot about half way down the brown strip on the right of the photo.

Carl Sagan was so moved by the photo that he wrote this:

“There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

Within the entire universe, the chances of humans (a) coming along and (b) surviving, must have been minuscule. But we are still here. It would be a shame to waste that kind of luck by not taking full advantage of what we have around us.

The difficulty we mere mortals have is that, as small as it is, we all sometimes feel the weight of the world on our shoulders. For most of us, this is a problem and can make things feel quite unpleasant. After all, we can’t all be as strong as this guy:

(that’s your Tash for this week by the way)

Thankfully, in my experience, if you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, the strain can be made manageable if you have at least one other person there to help you carry the burden. I think that’s the kind of thing that Sagan was getting at – we make the most of this Pale Blue Dot when we band together, and help each other through the harder times in life.

I cant leave this week without saying a few words about James Gandolfini, who died this week. His portrayal of Tony Soprano was some of the most compelling television ever made. He constantly made the audience despise him and root for him all at once. For me, it was all in the eyes – they really were the window to Tony’s soul. It seems that the same could be said for Gandolfini himself:

I know I say this every week, but KEEP GOING!

What’s his name?

Posted on June 6, 2013 by tashfriday

Good morning Tash Appreciators,

Earlier this week, I had to do google image searches for manly/macho men (don’t ask, but I swear it was legit).

What struck me about the results of these searches was that although there were one or two familiar faces (Tom Selleck being one, obviously), there were also a whole slew of Tash toting men who weren’t named. They were simply filed under the name “manly man”.

A few examples:

Who are these men? I may simply be ignorant and these chaps are in fact as well known as Tom Selleck, but I doubt it. It’s strange that their names have been lost/forgotten but the fact that they’re proper blokes lives on.

In classic portrayals of “real” men, such as classic westerns, the hero of the piece is often not named. He just appears, fights off a gang of lesser men and rides off into the sunset. The best example is perhaps Once Upon A Time In The West where Charles Bronson (another classic Tash) is simply listed as “Harmonica”:

A more recent example would be Ryan Gosling in “Drive”, where he’s simply “Driver”:

There’s something about these characters that appeals to men (and women?). They lack any ego whatsoever, to the extent that they have no name, but they do have a conscience and a depth of character which goes beyond simply what they are known as.

In an age when every person has to self-publicise themselves and what they do – and when every movement must be documented on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or some other social networking website – it’s reassuring to know that, even on google, a real man can be just be a bloke, without having to provide his life story. If people like his work, great. If they don’t, then that’s fine too.

I suppose it harks back to simpler times, but sometimes simple would be better.

Have a great weekend folks.

Keep going!

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