Portishead – "Glory Box" (1995)

Through this new frame of mind

A thousand flowers could bloom

If I do say so myself, I crushed Christmas this year.

I did my shopping early – and I got everyone on my list real gifts.  (No one is getting cash, or a check, or a gift card.)

I studied a couple of online videos about gift-wrapping techniques before getting to work with wrapping paper, scissors, and tape.

And I wrapped everything all by myself!  (I delegate a lot of tasks to 2 or 3 lines staff members, but I did all my gift-wrapping personally.)

That's what 27 beautifully wrapped
Christmas presents looks like!

All kidding aside, I am very pleased with how I handled Christmas this year.  I got started early and didn’t cut any corners – and that hasn’t always been the case in the past.

*     *     *     *     *     

“Let a hundred flowers bloom,” Mao Zedong declared in a 1957 speech.  “Let a hundred schools of thought contend.” 

The so-called “Hundred Flowers Movement” invited criticism of the Chinese bureaucracy.  But when government offices were flooded with critical letters, Mao realized that his movement had gotten out of control.

The “fragrant flowers” were being overwhelmed by “poisonous weeds,” Mao announced.  Thousands and thousands of critics of Mao’s regime were rounded up and shipped off for execution or re-education.

Mao Zedong

I guess that whoever penned the “Glory Box” lyrics quoted above decided that a hundred flowers were good, a thousand flowers were better.  Mao would probably have disagreed.

I’ve been a fan of Portishead since my hot (age-adjusted) French ex-girlfriend introduced me to their music years ago.  But I’ve never featured one of their records on 2 or 3 lines.

Better late than never!

Click here to listen to “Glory Box,” which was released in 1995 on Portishead’s debut album, Dummy.  (I don’t know what’s going on in the music video, but I do know that lead singer Beth Gibbons is m-o-n-e-y!)

 

Click here to buy the record from Amazon.