On Noteworthy Numbers

Believe it or not this is my hundredth blog post. Some have been short. Some have been long. (Unless you're Emma, in which case, all of them have been long). Some have been interesting, but not very many admittedly.

This got me wondering a little. I suppose it's in our nature to focus on nice round numbers and make them more important. It's the neatness of rounding to significant figures - 100 looks far neater than either 99 or 101 even though it's not that different. Take cricket, for a random example - where a 50 is recorded as an achievement, but getting to 99 is still almost always just recorded as that - a 50. Yet one more run and it's recorded as a century. I realise this is absolute meaningless rubbish I'm writing here. Theoretically, you could take a wild leap of logic and possibly comment on society's bulletin approach to the world around them, and how details and in-depth analysis are overlooked. But I'm really lacking in the motivation for such an abstract link.

Instead, however, I will provide, as is my trademark, an amusing picture. Albeit one exhibiting my own rather sad sense of humour as much as anything else.

Slacking Off

Well, having been in such a good run of blogs for a while, I appear to have tailed off again due to a relentless lack of inspiration. However, I am back again to give you more pithy insights.

To draw a random parallel, if this blog was a cricket innings, I the author would be having the worries of a batsmen as I would technically be in the nervous nineties, this in fact being my ninety-ninth blog so far. Uncanny yet true. In other news, seamlessly linked, the Cricket World Cup which I am following appears quite interesting - although overshadowed by the death of Bob Woolmer which seems very strange to say the least. The delay in the autopsy results just gives a chance for more needless speculation, which is not something that is ever needed. But it is a very odd scenario.

I just noticed I inadvertently said 'seamlessly links' - puntastic without even trying to be.

The Day After The Day Before

Well, as you all know, yesterday was Mother's Day, as it has now become Hallmarkised - instead of the more traditional name of Mothering Sunday. As my blog last year on the subject said, this is usually a rather thoughtful and reflective day for me. Today wasn't as bad as past years, as I haven't been bombarded with signs for it. But it wasn't too bad, it was more of a reflective and thoughtful day for me.

On a lighter note, the only comments I have had in the past month seem to be only from these commentbots saying "Hi I love your blog read my blog on the history of vacuum cleaners" or something equally unlikely. It amuses me. Not that it's an excuse for you not to comment to leave me only with these comments.

Lax Commitment

Well, I said I'd stop linking to various random or not so random YouTube clips. However, today I'm going to completely change that and ignore my own promises. This is mainly due to finding eventually clips of the 'best of' episode from Series 4 of Mock The Week. Due to being fed up with how long my blog takes to load with YouTube clips embedded, I'm just going to link to them.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

In my mind, Mock The Week is the best program on TV at the moment by far. I am saddened, however, that they didn't find space in the best-of compilation for my all-time favourite clip from the series - the first 22 seconds or so of this clip which is utterly hysterical.

Poetry In Motion

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
All mimsy were the borogroves
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Jabberwocky really is a fantastic poem. It has such an ethereal sound when you quote from it at random. It's also a nice random conversation starter. I've been using the opening line this week as an alternative to 'hello' when talking to people, and the reactions are fantastic.

Apparantly the poem was where the word 'chortle' originates from. If so, that's fantastic. It's a brilliant poem and the fact that it is quoted in Dodgeball makes that movie even better, if such a thing was possible. Vorpal blades are also underused weapons, and snicker-snack is an underused adjective. Why I suddenly started pondering on the poem the other day I'm really unsure, but it is a great poem and one of the few poems I can actually quote from.

Until tomorrow, may your borogroves be mimsy and your vorpal blades go snicker-snack.

Planning Ahead

After yesterday's embarassing catastrophe as I forgot to actually remember what my idea for the blog is, I am writing this ahead and saving it as a draft. So come today (as you read this), I can simply publish it and it will be here. Untouched.

So, my post a couple of days back on a couple of songs that make you feel always good. And I was inspired enough to try and come up with the idea of an 'ultimate' song listing. Because there are some ultimate songs that simply are unparalleled. Again the wonder that is YouTube is here to link to from each song name, where I could find one. So here's my go at some of the real ultimate songs that, in my humble opinion - and my opinion is far more humble than yours - should simply be stored for posterity and really immortalised. In no particular order:

Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell
The Who - Baba O'Reilly
Dire Straits - Walk Of Life
R.E.M. - End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven
Don McLean - American Pie
Guns and Roses - Paradise City

It has to be said, when you listen to some of the classic tunes over the years, you have to realise how pitiful our generation is for music. There's typical average stuff, but I can't think of a single song in the last, what, 15 years perhaps, that would even come anywhere close to this sort of level. You have to go back to the early 90s and perhaps Smells Like Teen Spirit approaches it. What's our generation of music going to be remembered for, apart from taking the classics and destroying them with crappy cover versions? Or am I missing some hidden gems?

Beware The Ides Of March

I had a post planned out yesterday, but I deferred because I thought I'd use it for another update today instead. Then, inevitably, I forgot what I was writing on, so today is going to be a typical disjointed, rambling and utterly incoherent blog - the sort that I am renowned for.

However, I have a new topic. Hi Dad! Apparantly my father reads my blog. I suspect this is almost purely out of a desire to know just what I'm doing, that I am still alive and what the hell is going on in my life, as my tendency to be prompt with e-mail communication is somewhat lax! So I'm just checking in, still alive, still well, and weatherwise - it's raining here. Quelle surprise.

Incidentally, that ups my regular reader base to ... one.

Ultimate Feel Good Songs

After earlier hearing a fantastic song on the radio, I started thinking, as I am loathe to do. What are the ultimate feel good songs? The ones that almost everyone likes and will always get you in a good mood just listening to them? The ones that make you want to turn your volume up to max?

Apparantly research shows that Beach Boys - Good Vibrations is the song least likely to cause road rage and calm drivers. So I suppose in a way that could be a contender. However, I have two ultimate selections of my own that are close to being unsurpassed in this regards. I provide links to YouTube as opposed to the overwhelming trend of embedding I've been doing recently, because it makes the page ugly and slow to load.

The first is the fantastic R.E.M. - End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine). It's just inspired. Ironic, despite the title, that it is a great one to cheer you up or boost your mood.

Second submission is the equally unparalleled song from the end of Monty Python's Life of Brain, the truly superb Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life.

Anyone else want to add to my listings?

I am an Idiot

So, exciting stuff, I got a new debit card in the post today. Opened the envelope, signed the card, as you do, got out the big pair of scissors, cross-checked ten times I was cutting up the OLD card and not the new one, duly dispensed of it with one dramatic chop, and put the new one in my wallet. No problem, you say! But what is this? A small note at the top of the page saying that your card won't be valid until the valid date. So I check the card, and it's not valid until 04/07.

Bugger.

To the bin! To reclaim the two halves of my lost card, so that I can order everything online for the next two weeks until my new card becomes valid and I can use it.

I am amazed as to how I could make such a simple procedure be so complicated.

Joke Of The Day

I know, two posts within a matter of hours, it's uncanny. But I needed to share this with you.

"After Sunday's loss to Tottenham, West Ham United boss Alan Curbishley was spotted driving around Upton Park while talking on his mobile phone. Club officials said he had been forced to such desparate measures due to his failure to get three points any other way!"

Marching Into March

Well, we're now definitely into March. We were into March in the last post, but still, this hasn't been pointed out, so here we go. I realise that recently my posts have just taken the form of YouTube links and I'm trying to veer away from that here. So this post won't contain any youtube links, be grateful.

This week I've been watching and been very praising of the Super League season that's gotten under way yet again. This again looks like being a fantastically competitive season and from the highlights I've seen on the Super League Show is well, well worth watching. It's extremely competitive, close and no side is going to run away with it. It looks like being another great season for rugby league, and the Super League really is blossoming. It's a shame it doesn't get more media attention because it's by far the most competitive, open and enthralling league in British sport yet noone really knows much about it.

On the same subject, one thing I've kept meaning to refer to, yet haven't, is the St. Helens vs Brisbane Broncos World Club Challenge game. For those of you who aren't aware, this is the annual challenge between the winners of the Super League and the winners of the NRL in Australia. This was a couple of weeks back and I've yet to link to it or talk about it, but this was a cracking game, competitive and yet utterly overlooked by the media who have preferred to focus on the average mediocrity of the Six Nations instead of this.

Besides all that, here's a link to the highlights on BBC. Well, well worth watching.

Random Musical Clips

Oh, happy March by the way.

Was discussing this so decided to throw up a blog with a couple of music videos which I've been listening to of late. The videos are meh, but the songs are fantastic. Very riff-tastic, and both definitely are ones you want to headbang to.

Maximo Park - Our Velocity


Fear Of Music - We Are Not The Enemy