The independent record label ECM – Edition of Contemporary Music – was founded by producer Manfred Eicher in 1969, and to date has issued more than 1700 albums spanning many idioms.
ECM’s distinctive cover art is a collaborative effort, but prominent artists include Barbara Wojirsch and her late husband Burkhart Wojirsch, who handled much of the early design, and Dieter Rehm, who contributed significant photography and design work from 1978 onward. Other photographers like Lajos Keresztes and Max Franosch have also contributed.
The wonderful thing about ECM Jazz is they record their music in high quality, just like classical music is recorded. So you get brilliant jazz music at a high quality. Gavin.
For me this is one of the worst crimes of all time. I remember seeing ‘In Cold Blood’ for the first time in the 90s and I was shocked to my core.
In the early morning of November 15, 1959, four members of the Clutter family – Herb Clutter, his wife, Bonnie, and their teenage children Nancy and Kenyon – were murdered in their rural home just outside the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas.
I first time I realized I had something set in stone was when I was in my early twenties and I was a vegetarian.
There is nothing wrong with being vegetarian. For some people it’s a healthy choice and lifestyle.
But for me it was an Identity, not a lifestyle choice, so I had an investment in BEING vegetarian.
What happened was: I went to a vegetarian restaurant/cafe with a good friend. We loved going to this place as the food was delicious. Somewhere during the meal, we were chatting about rice, and my friend said: “rice is a vegetable”.
Suddenly I found myself feeling VERY offended. The feelings were overwhelming, and I was SO angry and so upset by a small comment: “well rice is a vegetable”.
I will never forget that day. I didn’t say anything to my friend because I knew I was in the wrong, and what he had said was innocent.
Fast forward to 2025 and I do my very best not to have things set in stone, so that people cannot upset me.
the three major things that come to mind when thinking about this issue are…
politics: if your politics and your identity is caught together, you will be offended if someone thinks or feels different to you.
religion: If what you believe in and who you are R caught together you may get offended if someone believes something different to you.
sex: because sexuality is something so close to us, we can find ourselves easily offended.
I have a friend who has a long list of things that are set in stone for him.
Vaccines cause brain injury
Donald Trump
Extreme Right Wing
Climate change is a hoax
Google is evil
DMSO
Red light therapy
RFK ….and I’m sure there is more.
I respect each one of those choices, but for him he believes he has to actively defend those beliefs…and will do so with anger and aggression.
The only thing set in stone for me is God, but it’s not connected to organized religion, so there is nothing anyone can say about God that will upset me.
Everything else is as it is. I have no investment in anything or concept or practice or philosophical beliefs. I am free. G
This story is rather distressing (so viewer discretion is advised).
A compelling story of a British man who was abused by his wife.
I made myself watch this as it is (for me) important. The three children in this story are witness to the horrific violence, which is most distressing. Thankfully the mother did plead guilty in the end.
a person or thing with only one special feature, talent, or area of expertise.
Some word experts say the idiom “one-trick pony” comes from the circus. A circus pony that can only do one trick is not going to entertain a crowd for very long. The term “one-trick pony” appeared around the turn of the twentieth century. Within about fifty years, the term had become an idiom.
Away with the Pixies
informal•British English
(see also: away with the fairies)
distracted, in a dreamworld, or out of touch with reality.
“you seem away with the pixies, are you listening?”
Pixies are: playfully impish or mischievous, prankish.
pixie mood; a pixie sense of humor.
The origin of the phrase “away with the pixies” is unclear, but it relates to the folklore of pixies, which dates back to Celtic Britain and is particularly prominent in Southwest England. The idiom, used to describe someone mentally absent or flighty, suggests a connection to fairies taking or captivating people’s minds in folklore. While the phrase isn’t directly from a single source, it draws on the folk belief that pixies were mischievous entities capable of robbing people of their wits, as seen in stories and folklore.
Enen a trained Monkey can do that
We need to be careful that we don’t offend the monkey community while explaining this one.
To all monkeys past and present, we honour you.
It would be phrased as such largely because the person doing it wouldn’t require much intelligence nor oversight – and likely the connotation that the person would also be paid peanuts. Not literally, of course.
All of this imagery is made to offend deliberately, and to derogate those who take these types of jobs.
Noir 