Stringed planks playing on new boards.......

In further developments over at The Towers, I've just had word from a friend that a local building is being turned into a new music venue, to open in October this year. Being a fan of live music I'm exceedingly glad to get another possible place to go and see people.

This is part of the "Carling Academy" chain and as such mean that we'll almost certainly be getting some good named acts trundling around as part of their tours. We have plenty of small college/bar sized venues and a hulking great arena but little inbetween - this may help fill that gap

We've already booked two tickets to go and see Cradle of Filth in December so expect some reports of broken/bruised/mangled limbs some time after that point. This being the band that helped give life to the "Carpathian" side of my name, I'm somewhat especially pleased.

The Carpathian is happy now - it's always the case with a live gig on the horizon.

A very practical weekend over at The Towers.........

"So, whats been going on with you, Carpy ?" I hear you mutter under your breath, feigning interest......

Well, seeing as you asked, I'll fill you in.

The "Great CD sort of 2005", as it's never been called, is nearly done. I've read the advice given by the posters to my previous entry on this and tried to think of a happy medium.

So, here's the plan as it stands. All the CD's are now back on the shelves in alphabetical order...but random within each letter. That way I'll know roughly where to look for any album but can still chance upon something within that section.

This still now leaves me with about 50 compilation albums which, although they came off the shelves amongst the others, now don't fit back on there ? How does that work ? Answers on a postcard to "Hey, that's very strange...."

Also over the weekend I finally took the decision to get rid of my car. Although very attached to "Lucretia", a Ford Ka 2 (in rare Mica Stone colour, no less) I'm driving it on average about once every 8 months. Yep, you read that right. When I get in to drive it you can sense the car going "Hmmm, and you were whos exactly ?".

All this time I'm paying breakdown cover, car insurance, road tax, yearly MOT's and all those other things where you pay stupid amounts of money to get a small piece of paper. Well, it's time to be sensible and stop that here and now. With the money I save each month I can afford a train ticket or hire a car when needed and STILL be up money wise each year.

I'm sad to see it go though - it's a great little mover and, of my varied assortment of Fords, probably the best I've had - 6 CD changer, electric tinted windows, power steering and a 1.3i engine in a very light car. Now though, I really have to stop torturing myself with thinking how good it is - there isn't an "is" now , just a "was".

I'll be posting a goodbye photo on here later in the week. Yes, I realise that's very sad behaviour but after this many years with it and it being the first time in about 20 years I've not got a car, well, I think that it'll be nice to give it a send off.

Oh, and for those of you wondering my first car was a Ford Fiesta which, due to rhyming, a friend named "Uncle Fester". Hence my next cars also got Addams Family names......

The Mother of all Superior information sources.....

The internet is a mine of information. Regardless of your view on the information thats there it's not really something that can denied. I do sometimes wonder how much of it can be taken at face value though and how much you need to weed out the gold from amongst the shiny foil.

Have a case in point.

Was talking to Ray about nuns, as you do, and happened to mention I had a book to let him borrow and that I'd bring it in. To give him an idea of what he'd be getting I fired up my 'Fox and searched for it. What I found surprised the hell out of me.

The book in question is the weighty 320 page AntiCristo: The Bible of Nasty Nun Sinema and Culture by Steve Fentone. An exhaustive trawl through the use of nunsploitation through media - sexy nuns, drug nuns, rock'n'roll nuns...heck even spark spitting, wind-up nunzilla toys. All there and all in fine form.

I bought it direct from Purgatory films, an off shoot of the Salvation stable (note: hey kids, thems got naughty pages - lock 'em down). They've got it still for just £17.99 of your earth pounds

However, one of the first places my search brought up was over at Amazon and whether you looked at the UK version, US version or the Waterstones site, well, you're in for a surprise. They have people selling the same papercover copy for three figures, between £170 and £260.

Am I missing something here ?

Buy a few from one place, sell them at the other, go on holiday. Sounds too easy, doesn't it ??

I get the feeling that somebody, somewhere is chuckling at things like this - though I'd imagine it's not the Mother Superior.......

If music be the food of love, pass me the blender.......

The time has come, the Walrus paraphrased, to sort out many things......


When I moved house a couple of years ago I made a snap decision to do something seemingly foolish, but ultimately brilliant.

I let my CD's get horribly mixed up and then stacked them as such onto my shelves.

Yeah, crazy eh ?

There was logic in my apparent madness though. I came to the conculsion that when you know where all your favourite or regular listens are, and you fancy something to put on, you're more likely to grab something from that and let the others languish away. The thing about this is that most of those in the second division of being chosen are as loved as the ones that are like old friends - it's simply that they don't get the listens. Pick one up and play it and you realise how much you like it and wonder why it's taken so long to play it.

Therefore, mixing things up like I did was great for looking for album A and accidently browsing past album B and grabbing that instead. I couldn't tell you how much fun I've had rediscovering artists I've just not got round to over the last few years.

All good things come to an end though.

Now the novelty has worn off and the thrill of the new has faded, I'm left with the downside. If I really want a certain album it takes me an age to find the bloody thing. Last night was the final straw (cd) that broke the camels (Carpathians) back (patience).

Trying to find "Themes from Williams Blakes 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'", the avant-garde metal poem-reinventing sprawl-fest by gods of bafflingness Ulver, took me nearly 15mins.

Now, there's a point where "fumbling music related fun" becomes "annoying scrabbling searching" and this, I think, was a musical foot crossing the line. I've concluded, therefore, that having around 1200 CD's out of order is a little, well, out of order.

This three day weekend will see this Carpathian littering The Towers with piles of CD's in what I'm going to call my yearly homage to Nick Hornby.

Wish me luck, folks - I think it's going to be a busy weekend. Still, I'm not going to be short of music to see me through.

It's just where I'm going to find it, that's all............

Taxi for a vegetable..............

You know how taxi cabs always arrive either very early or very late but never on time ?

Well, a certain space-carrot whose blog has been linked from here has had their cab, er sorry, near Earth object arrive some years early and they've headed home after soaking up life here for a while.

May I just take this chance to wish them well and advise they tip the driver else he may be dropping them off a few light years early and making them walk the rest.

With carrots that walking may just take a while....... ;o)

Just another manic.......Saturday.

Saturday.

The day everybody looks forward to at the start of the weekend.

The day is obviously sabotaged over here at The Towers.

Firstly I'm woken up at some stupidly early time by either building work or road repairs (look, I'm no engineer but it's noisy, nearby and is banging/drilling) which lasted just long enough to wake me enough to not be able to get back to sleep again.....then stopped.

Then, thinking I may as well get up and use the extra time, I find the milk I had left has mysteriously decided to die - whilst still sealed in the bottle. Lovely. Luckily milk hit cereal but cereal didn't hit mouth. Otherwise vomit would have hit, well, most likely everything.

Things come in threes, right ?

Yep - that seems to be the case.

Opened the post to find a final reminder for my gas bill. This bill being the same one I have a direct debit setup for just so that this sort of thing never happens. Called the gas company to hear that "it may be a problem their end and they'll look into it for me and will let me know at some point".

"...at some point" !?!?

Erm, would that be "some point" be immediately then, seeing as you've just put the possible-gas-cancellation-in-error fear of god into a customer on a morning before he's even had his breakfast ? I should bloody think so !

Their hold music is the tune "Happy Together".

Yeah, I'll be happy together with you, me and a blowtorch powered by your own gas...then lets see how "at some point" you'll sort this rubbish out.........

UPDATE:

Oh, and I now find a certain orange vegetables blog has vanished too.

Maybe four is the (not so) magic number in this case ?

More spam in my box please !

What a mine of helpful souls there are out "in the cyber-web".

Only today I've had a bunch of unsolicited emails arrive from people positively overflowing with advice and ideas for me. It makes me wonder what I've done to deserve such random acts of kindness. In fact, as I feel to modest to take these on for myself, I'm going to share them with you. Well, it's the least I can do.

Firstly, it seems people are falling over themselves to offer me business advice.

Freda Pineda Investors, Microcap Profile for You FEJINE

Ginger Daley Shooting Stars Stock Report 3vFUFO

For all you investors out there Freda and Ginger (so nearly dancing partners) have some thoughts on where to place your money. It's always good to get these insider murmurs - even better when I don't even have to ask for them !! I note that Ginger has included a reference should I decide to follow it up, and Freda seems to want to call me feline. Such a sweet thing to do, apart from the slight spelling mistake.

BinoCam Blow-Out Digital Binoculars that take pictures - On Sa|e Now

Another great one in the inbox today - an offer of cheap binocs that also have a camera in !! Not only that but they've helpfully drawn attention to the fact they're on sale by using a | character in the word. So thoughtful.

Ariel Emerson you wont find anything better Veronica

I'm guessing this one was mis-sent. I'm wondering if Ariel had seem the Binocs offer himself and was trying to pass on the good word to another lucky recipient called Veronica ? Nice to know other people are profiting from this sort of email-gift.

Ned Turnbull It is scary to check the high prices on tablets at the local store.

kirby sandholm Start spending less on tablets. All the items are price-reduced for a weekly special.

Ah, very true Ned - I'd imagine that finding expensive prices for something you buy could catch you out from time to time - scary indeed. It's lucky that people like Kirby are around to help ! Not only does Kirby want to help me find good offer, they also seemed to have done research on how much money my tablets normally cost and can therefore advise me how to be spending less.

Isn't it great to be told when weekly specials are on ? To think I may have missed it otherwise !

Ramon Don`t buy her flowers, give her milk...

Ah, not only are random individuals bothered about my financial aspirations but it seems I'm due for advice on all aspects of my life. Here's me thinking the world was a cold dark place and I find this sort of thing sent to me each day. Kinda makes your heart swell, doesn't it.

If it wasn't for Ramon I'd have been ordering flowers to send to a loved one not realising a dairy product is actually what a lady of the day would prefer. Such an easy mistake to make !!

Deluxe Wills & Trusts Toolkits Don't Wait to Create Your Will

Slightly more sobering advice from this company but very sagely all the same. I'd not written a will out to this point and now they make me think of it I really should. It's very admirable that they didn't shy away from broaching such a delicate subject. What fine people.

{Yes, before you ask, this is written with tongue firmly in cheek and boot firmly in the ass of the #!"$%^$ that keep bloody spamming me !}

What dark, forboding sound is this ?

Hyatari
"The Light Carriers"
CODE:BREAKER Records



Help me, for by the sound leeching into my ears I am truly in hell.

The monolithic riffs that assault my ears cannot be made by the hands of man - I fear the source of such eminations of noise. It pulls the darkness down around me, wrapping me with it's impermeable form.

Each behemoth of aural abomination, heavier as the last. A force which can not be seen but still felt.

I hear the tortured voices of others truly damned but away, flung back behind the sound until my ears strain to catch a single word. Their hidden meaning drawing me into the centre of the sound even more - tempting me in to risk losing myself completly in it's dark rapture.

I'm sure I'm not the first to experience this - I can only guess at the fate of the previous victims of it's lure.

The occasional slivers of light in melody form that drip from it's core are beautiful and shine like a salvation out of reach. The waves of sound batter my hands away from reaching to it's glinting.

....and still it builds.

If only I could conjure up a manifestation or two to really show to you the full nature of this unearthly yet entrancing sound of which I describe.

Just as I feel the pulsating air of menance can't get any more oppressive so it does, goodness only knows to what end. More passages of light in the darkness only serve to bring home the power of the blackness that teases me with glimpses of air in musical form.

Wait.

Fractured silence, broken only by the fluttering of crackling remnants......then peace.

I'm drawn somehow to reach out and start the noise again - what madness is this that infects me and brings on the doom of my own making. Am I to be truly destroyed by my own hand ?


This album review brought to you by the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft - maybe you have a spirit guide to write a review for you ?

The Arcade Fire - "Funeral".

Thank you, Uncle Jools, for yet again springing a surprise on me.

Yes, another new series of "Later....." hits the airwaves and somehow an artist you've never heard of before hits you between the eyes and makes you realise you really must have been taking your eyes off the radar far too often over the last year.

This time it's The Arcade Fire, a six piece hailing out of Montreal, Quebec.



I'd describe how the band came to be but the official site bio does a far better job than I could:-

"The Arcade Fire reside in Montreal, Quebec. Win [Butler] moved to Montreal four winters ago, as a panther moves from jungle to jungle — silently, with rocking shoulder blades. Looking for musicians, he found Régine [Chassagne], who combed his sleek fur and removed the thorns from his paws.

Régine had secretly learned to sing, play piano, guitar, accordion, mandolin, flute, drums, and harmonica while her parents weren’t watching. Her family fled Haiti (under the dictatorship of Duvalier) in the 1960’s for Chicago, New York, and then finally to Montreal, where Régine grew up."

Over the course of recording their debut album the band members had the deaths of three family members and a wedding to cope with and "Funeral" was released in 2004.

"Ok, Carpy", I hear you ponder, "that's all very well and good, but what do they sound like ?"

Ok, let's try it this way.

Imagine the humour of Jarvis Cocker on full form, combined with the directness of Kings of Leon...but sounding like neither and both.

Take the boldness of The Pixies and the pop leanings of Pulp....but then throw in a piano ballad to melt the heart and wrong foot you wonderfully before you hit Talking Heads territory.

Build up a track like Mars Volta (if they made decent tunes) and not be afraid to use xylophones or an accordian. Layer lush strings in front or behind the sound and somehow make them work for a bar with disco shuffles.

These are what Conor Oberst would be doing if he had the sound and songs to backup the hype and a load of his friends happened to pop round for tea at the same time. And they'd brought whatever instruments they'd fished out of the loft.

So, that's already Pulp, Kings of Leon, The Pixies, Talking Heads, Mars Volta, Bright Eyes...and I'd add Flaming Lips and Radiohead in the mix too.

Damn, this is a really weird album to pin down and yet the tracks all fit together like a very oddly designed jigsaw that can only end up being itself, and uniquely so.

I'm gushing now, aren't I ? I'm doing the pretentious music journo-speak that we all love to make fun of. Well, maybe I can see why that sort of thing issues from peoples typing fingers when things like this appear.

I'm going to regroup for a moment so have another picture - people like pictures.



Oh, and you want lyrics ? Real lyrics that can mean a million things to the same person on every listen, delivered straight to the heart but through the ears ?

Yep, tick them boxes cos they have them in spades.

You want examples, pulled screaming from the completeness from which they hail ? God, you're a tough bunch.

Here you go:-

When daddy comes home you always start a fight,
so the neighbors can dance in the police disco lights.
The police disco lights. Now the neighbors can dance!
Look at ‘em dance.

Ice has covered up my parents hands
don’t have any dreams don’t have any plans.
Growin’ up in some strange storm,
nobody’s cold, nobody’s warm.

They say it fades if you let it,
love was made to forget it.
I carved your name across my eyelids,
you pray for rain I pray for blindness.

If the children don’t grow up,
our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up.
We'’re just a million little god’s causin rain storms
turnin’ every good thing to rust.

I am waitin’ ’til I don’t know when,
cause I'’m sure it’s gonna happen then.
Time keeps creepin’ through the neighborhood,
killing old folks, wakin'’ up babies
just like we knew it would.

All the neighbors are startin’ up a fire,
burning all the old folks the witches and the liars.
My eyes are covered by the hands of my unborn kids,
but my heart keeps watchin’ through the skin of my eyelids.

Sleeping is giving in, no matter what the time is.
Sleeping is giving in, so lift those heavy eyelids.
People say that you'’ll die faster than without water.
But we know it'’s just a lie,
scare your son, scare your daughter.

360 degrees of Minty magic.....

Goats.

Camels.

Sheep.

Hippies.

Next-gen games consoles.


Can you spot the one that's out of place ?


Well, that's the exciting thing - there isn't one.

Much to my pleasure I've heard today that the forthcoming Xbox 360 games console will feature a graphical front-end for watching whilst playing CD's, MP3's and WMA's. This, in itself, is nothing unusual - after all every PC has that built in as part of Windows Media Player.

What warms these Carpathian cockles is that Neon, the tool in question, is designed and built by none other than Jeff Minter and Llamasoft.......

Yak and Llama.

Yes, you read that right - the hairy hippy from the late 70's who goes by the name of Yak and addled the brains of many of that generations home computer users. Tucked away in the firmware of a super-console.

For some of you that name will mean nothing but for others it's probably already conjuring up images of spliff smoking animals, flying camels and laser-spitting death llamas.

I for one am absolutely overjoyed.

Deus ex Machina.

Reproduction.

{stop sniggering at the back}

It's what we can do that robots or machines can't. It's why we are so much better than them. Actually, that may not be the case in the future so I wouldn't be saying that too loud right now.

You know when you think of moments in films and then real life does a tiny little step towards it ? You know, things like the scanner that looks inside people to diagnose things in Star Trek. The one that you suddenly see on the news in the form of medical scanners that take multiple slices to form a 3D, multi-layered form that can even pinpoint calcium deposits on bones ?

Well, folks, here's another one.

Randomly smurfing the w3 and spotted a story starting to crop up in a lot of places - for example at Wired News. It features small modular cubes that can connect to others by means of self-controlled magnets on each face and a twisting mechanism through it's centre.




Each cube is aware of it's position and it's place in the group it's involved with. It can therefore coordinate towards a given task - in this case moving other self-aware blocks to spawn a second active 'form' like itself.

Not only does it do this but the one being built moves itself around to aid the other, even when only half built.

There's something really creepy about the short video clip on the site - I'd strongly suggest you take the time to watch it - the sudden movement of the one being built is just so....wrong.

I'm a real geek when it comes to AI, shiny things and, in the words of Python, 'machines that go ping' but this is the first time I've had hairs stand up on the back of my neck when viewing something of this ilk.

In Chinese philosophy 'even the longest journey starts with a single step'.

Ever get the feeling you've just seen that step being taken ??

Are you playing with me ??

Seems to be a good time for me at the moment where bumping into good/bad/unfortunate quotes and descriptions are concerned.

Eurogamer has today run a story about how a videogame version of "Taxi Driver" is being made. Ignoring for a moment how specific the film is and how it really doesn't lend itself to any sort of free-exploration away from the plot, I give you their knowingly wacky recap of the film for those not sensible enough to have seen it:

"For those who are too forgetful or too wickle to recall, the movie follows the adventures of Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), a psychotic New York cab driver with a penchant for guns, knives, washing all the scum off the streets and wacky haircuts.

He experiences a series of zany mishaps involving a child prostitute (Jodie Foster) and her violent pimp (Harvey Keitel) before embarking on a gun-crazed killing spree in an attempt to win over the lovely Cybill Shepherd, with hilarious results."

So, that noise sounded like what exactly ?

With the new Napalm Death album firing up the Carpathians ears at the moment I was trawling around the web and happened to spot the following on the Relapse record label website. Whether you like or hate the band or their music I just thought it was a wonderful description....and, it must be said, pretty accurate.

"What does Napalm Death sound like, exactly? Well imagine 2 binliners full of rabid, three-headed mutant rottweiler puppies stuffed in a metal dustbin and kicked down the stairs of a multi-story tenement block during a riot whilst overhead souped up B52 bombers flown by screaming demons drop grand pianos full of roaring crack babies into a dynamite-packed quarry of one-armed born-again Christian steel-drummers. On drugs. They sound exactly like that. Only madder.

Do you get it? Do the down-tuned guitars, ultra fast blast-beats and gruff throat cancer vocals make any fucking sense whatsofuckingever!? As a recent letter to the Guardian newspaper pointed out - "without the correct critical tools, Napalm Death and Wagner both sound shit". Have you got the ears?

If you approach Napalm Death expecting the leopard-skin print poodle fakery of LA's cod-metal wank bands then you'll be savagely disappointed. If you come to Napalm Death seeking the dry wit of Belle and Sebastian then you'll run home screaming with your bloody and shattered brains spurting out of your ruptured eardrums. And serve you right."

Whoever said the art of writing was dead...... ;o)

Long live the Grind. Have some noise.

Oh, go on then, have a taste of the noise screaming out from The Towers right now.......




Napalm Death
"Silence is Deafening"
(Taken from 'The Code is Red...Long Live the Code')

Rant long and loud
Repeat 'til you're blue in the face
Ever get the feeling you're always on a losing streak ?

Their silence is deafening
From the havens of thieves and kings

Empower those who serve to deflect suspicious minds
Action and answers as likely as a reversal of time

Their silence is deafening
From the retreats of tamed apologists
Their disdain is crippling
For those whose crises they have fixed

I am your 'untermensch' - a trace of filth to be scraped off
A trace of filth to be scraped off

Yet when it's you who's in their debt
the strong-arm brings you to your knees
So much for 'progressive authority'
A trace of filth to be scraped off

Power for the powerless - well, where ?
Screaming at the wall to make more sense...

...I melt back into indifference

The silence is deafening.
The silence is deafening.
The silence is deafening.

Because somebody asked me about the pink ones.....

KARMIC SUTURE

Trust the Doctors. They know how the needle can pierce and they
know the threads that will match your blood. Bright lights and
sanitised air, white coats and forceps are wielded by the trained
plasti-coated hands of the Hooker Medics.

They know what to do, trust the Doctors.

Status : A special dark Pink from Chimera’s Sade Marquee.

Which feather suits your mood today ?

Phones, grindcore and pickled cabbage fish.

Ying and Yang.

Night and Day.

Mike and Bernie Winters.

Yes, many things have halves that you either love or hate, sometimes within a short time of each other. Today was one of those days

Not a good start to the day. Struggling with a shiny new phone that joyfully announces a new text message like a small puppy yapping hello. Then, a short while later, it brings me the same one again. And again. And again. And once more. Etc bloody Etc.

Trailed into town to get a replacement SIM card, fitted it and....well, nothing. Just the same. Seems therefore it'll be a case of new shiny phone going back into the darkness of it's box and being sent back for a replacement.

This actually makes me very sad. Partly for the hassle, partly as the phone is damn good but mostly as I've realised just how materialistic AND geeky I truly am. It's only going back for a replacement - it's not dead or kidnapped or lost a leg - and I'm actually sad. Sigh.

Aside from this we have Lucretia sounding like the world is getting her down, Retarius removing his blog, Ray winning nothing and another blog-buddy working for the next few days and mostly out of contact. Now that pile of things I have no embarrasment being sad about. These are things featuring real people. Well, I assume they're all real.

"So where is the other half of this cosmic see-saw, Carpy ?" I hear you ask.

Well, to cheer myself up some shopping took place. Some people call it 'Retail Therapy' but I prefer to think of it as 'buying stuff that makes you smile'. More honest, don't you think ?

So, in a musical double-whammy I grabbed an old Napalm Death shirt and the new Napalm Death album, The Code Is Red... Long Live the Code (featuring guest vocal cameos by Jello Biafra, Hatebreed's Jamey Jasta, and Carcass's Jeff Walker)


Napalms unapologetic anti-Nazi classic


Loud and proud - the new album....

Also, in a smile-inducing lack of self control I've been weak and ended up buying more wacky oriental goodies alongside a tray of seafood sushi. Cold fish and sticky rice - doesn't that just make your mouth water ?


Noodles with flavours that scare at 30 paces....

Why don't we get "Sichuan Pickles Instant vermicelli", "Original Hot and Sour Sweet Potato Noodles" and the classic "Pickled Cabbage Fish Sweet Potato Noodles" ?. We should, because there are some days tomato or french onion just don't do it for me.




Some delicious Sushi rolls and a fresh batch of savoury Mung Bean pastries.

Also ended up with a Hung Fook Tong Sour Plum Drink and some Unif Green Tea with Jasmine Flower. Oh, and some Hometown Egg Rolls.

I'm off to write a quick email to somebody and drown my sorrows in a giant mug of sticky toffee hot chocolate.

I wasn't heading to Georgia......

Journeying home from a works night out last night (beer, curry, talking far too much shop - you know the score) I ended up catching the 'Midnight Metro', the last one of the night, back home.

Whether it was the late hour, the sort of day he'd had or just the fact he was a few stops from finishing for the day, the driver was seemingly in a little comedy world of his own.

For the handful of passengers being carried home he decided to embellish on the normal dry station announcements with the following joyous stupidity:-

"Welcome to the magical mystery tour. It's not a mystery where we're going but it is when it comes to how we ever get there."

"We're now pulling into Cantral Station. For those of you who are fans of "Thomas the Tank Engine" this is where the big chuff-chuffs live."

"Can those of you on the train please wish goodnight the the guard who's been travelling with me tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has now left the train."

"We'll now be entering a long dark tunnel - for those of you afraid of the dark I suggest putting your hands over your eyes. For those of you scared of tunnels please forget I said that. Oh, and those of you with "Attention Defecit Disorder" you most likely already have."

Hat ? Chocolates ? Flowers ?

Time to big-up another post out in blogdom currently getting peoples interest aroused. Amongst other things, no doubt.

Stop by a non-stop cavalcade of fun to find out about a gift for all seasons with satisfaction (in all meanings) guaranteed......