Lørdag den 25. november 2017

09:00 Lois og jeg går i bad og bagefter spiser vi morgenmad. Jeg går i gang med at rydde op i min brevholder og arkivere gamle breve og regninger til vores arkivskab: en typisk doven pensionisters projekt, hører jeg dig sige, men brevholderen er blevet overfyldt, for at sige mildt, og arbejdet kan ikke udsat længere. Lois og jeg må have god plads tilbage i huset til at leve i -  det ville være et vanvid at lave brevene hobe sig op så meget, at vi skal flytte ud.

tiden er kommet at rydde op eller flytte ud

12:30 Under frokost ser vi et par Lou Reed-sange på YouTube på vores Roku tv-enhed, startende med hans mest kendte sange, dvs, ”Perfekte dag” og ”Tag en tur på den vilde side”. Vi må sætte os ind i Reeds værker igen, før BBC Radio 4 begynder på mandag at sende uddrag af Reeds biografi. BBC har valgt bogen som deres ”ugens bog”. Reed minder os igen, at ”vi vil høste hvad vi sår”, fordi Lois og jeg ikke har sået ret meget for nylig, ærligt talt. Og det er rart at høre endnu engang de ”farvede piger” synge ”Do do doo” osv. Noget mad til tanke der ha ha ha!  

14:00 Jeg går i seng og tager mig en gigantisk eftermiddagslur, og bagefter hopper jeg op på min kondicykel. Jeg cykler 9 miles (15km) og ser på endnu en YouTube video, mens jeg cykler, den første del af en musikalsk biografi af Reed, Bowie og Iggy Pop. Starten af radio-version af Reeds biografi er nu kun 2 dage væk, og der er ingen tid at spilde. Lois og jeg trænger til at komme op på mærkene igen om Reeds "rejse" gennem livet, ingen tvivl om det!!!!

YouTube-videoen indeholder også nogle interessante gendskerninger om Reeds ven, Bowie. Hans første hit var ”Space Oddity”, der blev udsendt i 1969, men faktisk ikke havde nogen forbindelse med den første månelanding. Efter Space Oddity tilbragte han nogle år i ubemærkethed, og blev betragtet som en one hit wonder.

Han udsendte faktisk en meget tidligere single i 1965, der faldt i min smag, selvom den aldrig blev et hit: ”Can’t Help Thinking About Me”. Sangens teksten, med linjerne ”Do you remember when we used to go to church on Sunday, and lie in bed terrified of school on Monday”, som anslog en streng med mig om min egen skolegang: skole var altid skræmmende, fordi jeg blev tvunget til at skifte skole i gennemsnit hvert 2. år, og jeg aldrig fik chancen for at opbygge en omgangskreds. Stakkels mig !!!!!

15:00 Det er heldigt, at Lois var en kvalificeret biblioteker i sin ungdom, fordi vi går i gang med at gøre lidt forskning på nettet, for at finde endda de mest obskure men fascinerende detaljer om Reeds liv. Vi falder over nogle forbløffende, men nu glemte kendsgerninger: for eksempel hvem husker nu Reeds forsøg på at skabe i 1964 en ny dansedille, som han kaldte ”strudsen” (rapport, den 6. august 2009, discogs.com) ?

Men ”strudsen” mislykkedes at vinde samme populariteten som for eksempel, den ”funky kylling” (Rufus Thomas) eller den ”funky gibbon” (The Goodies).

The Ostrich, som Lou Reed komponerede.

”The Funky Gibbon”, komponeret af Bill Oddie

Reed rammede næst overskrifterne i 2013, men hvem husker nu den furore, skabt af Reeds ny lever?

Bare uger efter at blive transplanteret i Lou Reeds underliv, udtalte en 3,5-pounds donorlever klager til journalister om vanskeligheden ved at arbejde med den "temperamentelle" rocklegende (rapport den 3. juni 2013, Onion News).

"Det er virkelig svært at komme ud af det med Lou” sagde leveren på en hurtigt arrangeret pressekonference. ”Et minut er han din bedste ven, og det næste øjeblik er han direkte fornærmelig," sagde det vitale organ, der beskriver sit igangværende samarbejde med den tidligere Velvet Underground frontman som "anstrengt i bedste fald."

"Han har denne måde at få dig til at føle sig helt utilstrækkelig på. Jeg kan fortælle, at han overhovedet ikke respekterer mig. Faktisk er jeg temmelig sikker på, at han allerede overvejer at erstatte mig.”

Reeds ny lever indrømmede at han overvejede at afslutte sine afvænningssessioner med den 71-årige optagelse artist og bare lade ham syntetisere proteiner og fordøjelsesbiokemiker på egen hånd. Du godeste, det er sgu en underlig verden vi lever i, ingen tvivl om det !!!! 

Hmmmmm!!!!! Lois og jeg er 71 også !!!!!!

16:00 Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te. Det har været en udmattende eftermiddag, men vi føler nu, at vi er parate til at nyde næste uges radio-biografi af singeren, uden at blive nødt til at løbe hver 2. minut til vores opslagsværker – hurra!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant men lidt uhyggelig film, ”Ex Machina” på Channel 4.

Lois og jeg har ikke for vane at se denne slags film, men vi er begge meget interesserede i robotter og vi spekulerer ofte mellem hinanden om, hvordan verden kommer til at ændre sig, når robotter bliver et hverdagsfænomen. Og næste uge starter Channel 4 en sæson af programmer, der handler om robotter, og vi er meget ivrige efter at se dem.

Ærligt talt er Lois og jeg faktisk lidt besat af ikke kun robotter, men også droner, og chaufførløse biler og alt det der lort. Sikke et vanvid!!! Men vi kan ikke gøre for det, ærligt talt.

Vi er begge 71 år gamle. Hvis vi lever så længe som Lois’s far, overlever vi til at se 2026, men hvis vi  lever så længe som min mor, overlever vi til at se 2035 – yikes, skræmmende !!!! Hvad slags verden kommer vi at se, før vi dør???

Vi sætte os til rette i sofaen og begynder at se filmen. Jeg er kendt i vores familie for at ikke kunne følge med i historier og plots, og for at blande hovedfigurerne sammen, men denne film er ikke for svært at følge med i, fordi der ikke er ret mange hovedfigurer, gudskelov.

Nathan er en uhyggelig selskabsformand, der bor i et stort palads ude på landet. Han bor alene bortset fra nogle kvindelige robotter og/eller ikke-engelsktalende stuepiger, tror vi, men det er ikke helt klart i vores øjne – uha! Vi begynder allerede at have lidt svært ved at følge med – pokkers!

Nathan beslutter at engagere Caleb, en af sine IT-eksperter, til at finde ud af, om hans robotter har nogen begreb om selvbevidsthed, eller ej.

21:45 Jeg går i seng, men Lois bliver oppe og se endnu en time af filmen, uden at se slutningen. Hun hopper op i sengen til mig kl 22:45 og fortæller mig lidt mere om, hvad der sker. Det viser sig, at nogle af de ikke-robotter begynder at mistænke, at de faktisk selv også er robotter: herunder selve Caleb, der er blevet engageret til at finde ud af, om robotter har noget begreb om selvbevidsthed – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!! Men vi glæder os til at se slutningen i morgen, ingen tvivl om det!!!!

Vi snakker lidt om, om vi ville har lyst til at ansætte en eller flere robotter, hvis vi overlever til at se tiderne, når de bliver et hverdagsfænomen. Vi kommer til den konklusion, at vi må ikke downsize og flytter til et mindre hus, fordi det kan være, at vi har brug for vores nuværende gæsteværelser (dvs vores to døtres gamle værelser). Så mindes vi, at robotter ikke har brug for at sove, så ville ikke har brug for senge, mistænker vi. Jeg formoder, at man bare slukker dem om aftenen, efter man har slukket for fjernsynet, men før man har slukket for lysene. Men det er vi ikke helt sikre på.

English translation

10:00 I tidy up my letter-rack and archive old letters and bills to our filing cabinet: a typical lazy retiree's project, I hear you cry, but the letter-rack has begun to overflow, to put it mildly, and the job cannot be delayed any longer. Lois and I have to have plenty of room left in the house to live in - it would be a madness to make the letters pile up so much that we have to move out.

The time has come to clear up or move out

12:30 During lunch, we see a couple of Lou Reed songs on YouTube on our Roku TV unit, starting with his most famous songs, ie "Perfect Day" and "Take a Walk on the Wild Side". We have to get into Reed's works again before BBC Radio 4 begins to broadcast excerpts from Reed's biography on Monday. The BBC has chosen the book as their "book of the week".

Reed reminds us again that "we're going to reap just what we sow" because Lois and I have not been sowing that much recently, to be perfectly honest. And it's nice to hear the "colored girls" one more time singing "Do do doo" etc. Some food for thought there ha ha ha!

14:00 I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap, and afterwards I hop up on my exercise bike. I cycle 9 miles (15km) and watch another YouTube video while cycling, the first part of a musical biography of Reed, Bowie and Iggy Pop. The start of the radio version of Reed's biography is now only 2 days away and there is no time to waste. Lois and I need to get back up to speed again about Reed's 'journey' through life, no doubt about that !!!!

The YouTube video also contains some interesting facts about Reed’s friend, Bowie. His first hit was "Space Oddity", which was released in 1969, but actually had no connection with the first moon landing. After Space Oddity, Bowie spent some years in obscurity and was labelled a one hit wonder.

He actually released a much earlier single in 1965, which took my fancy, even though it never became a hit: "Can't Help Thinking About Me". The song's lyrics, with the lines "Do you remember when we used to go to church on Sunday, and lie in bed terrified of school on Monday" struck a chord with me about my own schooldays: school was always scary because I was forced to change school on average once every 2 years, and I never got the chance to build up a circle of friends. Poor me !!!!!

15:00 It's fortunate that Lois was a qualified librarian in her youth because we get started doing some research online to find even the most obscure but fascinating details about Reed's life. We come across some amazing, but now forgotten facts: for example, who remembers now Reed's attempt to create a new dance craze in 1964, which he called "The Ostrich"? (report, August 6th 2009, discogs.com)

However "The Ostrich" failed to win the same popularity as, for example, the "funky chicken" (Rufus Thomas) or even the "funky gibbon" (The Goodies).

“The Ostrich”, which Lou Reed composed.

"The Funky Gibbon", composed by Bill Oddie

Reed next hit the headlines in 2013, but who now remembers the furore created then by Reed's new liver?

Just weeks after being transplanted in Lou Reed's abdomen, a 3 and a half-pound donor liver complained to reporters about the difficulty of working with the "temperamental" rock legend (report June 3, 2013, Onion News).

"It's really hard to get along with Lou," said the liver at a press conference. "One minute he is your best friend, and the next moment he is downright abusive," said the vital organ, describing its ongoing cooperation with the former Velvet Underground frontman as "strained at best."

"He just has this way of making you feel totally inadequate. I can tell that he does not respect me at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's already considering replacing me."

The new liver was already admitting that he was considering finishing his detox sessions with the 71-year-old recording artist and just allowing him to synthesize proteins and digestive biochemicals on his own. My god, it's a strange world we live in, no doubt about that !!!!

Hmmmmm !!!!! Lois and I are 71 too !!!!!

16:00 Lois and I relax with a cup of tea. It has been an exhausting afternoon, but we now feel that we are ready to enjoy next week's radio biography of the singer without having to run to our reference works every couple of minutes - hurrah for that at least!

18:00 We have dinner and watch television. An interesting but slightly creepy movie, "Ex Machina" is on Channel 4.

Lois and I don't make a habit of watching this kind of movie but we are both very interested in robots and we often speculate to each other about how the world will change when robots become a everyday phenomenon. And next week Channel 4 is launching a season of programs all about robots, and we are very anxious to see them.

To be honest, Lois and I are a little bit obsessed with not only robots, but also with drones, and driverless cars and all that crap. What madness !!! But we cannot help it, to be frank.

We are both 71 years old. If we live as long as Lois's father, we will survive to see 2026, but if we live as long as my mother, we will survive to see 2035 - yikes, scary !!!! What kind of world will we see before we die ???

We settle down on the couch and start watching the movie. I am known in our family for not being able to follow stories and plots, and for mixing up the main characters, but this movie is not too difficult to keep track of, because there are not many principal characters, thank god.

Nathan is a creepy company chairman who lives in a large mansion in the countryside. He lives alone apart from some female robots and / or non-English speaking maids, we believe, but it is soon not 100% clear in our minds - oh dear! We are already starting to struggle with it - damn!

Nathan decides to engage Caleb, one of his IT experts, to find out if his robots have any concept of self-awareness, or not.

21:45 I go to bed, but Lois stays up and watches another hour of the movie without seeing the end. She hops into bed with me at 10:45pm and tells me a little more about what happens. It turns out that even some of the non-robots start to suspect that they are actually robots as well: including Caleb itself, who has been engaged to find out if robots have a sense of self-awareness - my god, sheer craziness !!!! But we are looking forward to seeing the ending tomorrow, no doubt about that !!!!

We chat a little about whether we would want to hire one or more robots if we survive to see the times when they become a commonplace phenomenon. We come to the conclusion that we must not downsize and move to a smaller house because it may be that we need our current guest rooms (ie our two daughters’ old rooms). Then we remember that robots do not need to sleep, so they would not need beds, we suspect. I suppose you just switch them off in the evening after turning off the TV, but before turning off the lights. But we are not entirely sure about that.