The funniest thing I saw tonight at the zoo was when some guy turned to his mate and told him a fact about gorillas. He seemed so proud of his little nugget of gorilla trivia until the other guy replied “Yeah, I saw that episode of QI as well”.
Shot. Down.
I really need to stop watching travel programmes, or hearing about places I haven’t been to.
Yesterday, I was chatting with someone at work who has just got back from Copenhagen, and it instantly shot to the top of my list of places to go for a city break weekend at some point. It sounds like a cool city, and Denmark’s a country I haven’t been to yet.
Its position in the number one slot lasted about six hours, as I stumbled across a TV programme that evening where Griff Rhys Jones spent a day in Rome, cramming in a ridiculous amount of activities. He talked a lot about the history of the city, and how the modern-day existence can very much mirror that in Roman times.
I immediately fell in love with it, and want to go there as soon as possible. Never mind that in 2010 I’ll be in Italy twice (went to Venice in February, and am in Tuscany in September): Rome is very much on the cards for next year.
There’s something wholly satisfying about getting the answer to a question on University Challenge correct before any of the contestants.
It seems that my specialist subject on Mastermind would be kings and queens of Britain, by the way.
And this is where I will be tonight. 3D football: it could be the future.
Or I could have one too many drinks and need to close one eye just to focus, thus defeating the point of it…
Hear’Say - Pure And Simple
30 Day Song Challenge - Your Least Favourite Song
I wouldn’t say that this song itself is one that I hate, as it’s merely a fairly bland pop tune, but it’s the wider concept that it represents which makes me dislike it so much.
Hear’Say were the first musical act to become famous as the result of winning a talent contest on TV in the UK. They were formed of the five winners of Popstars, with the five runners-up also forming a pop group: Liberty X (who had more success as a group, although the individual members of Hear’Say have probably had more subsequent success).
This, their first single, was a massive hit, becoming the quickest-selling single in history and topping the charts. Obviously, this made an absolute fortune, and it wasn’t long before two Simons copied the format in the following years: Fuller and Cowell.
As each series and rejigging of the format resulted in ever more viewers, and an almost certain Christmas Number One single (until the groundswell of support for Rage Against The Machine last year), the genre grew and grew, until the point where you can’t move for celebrity judging panels and talent contests.
Yes, it’s Popstars that we have to blame for such monstrosities as Britain’s Got Talent, Strictly Come Dancing, and all manner of other crap. It’s to blame for middle-of-the-road, bland pop that seems only to be capable of producing ballads and not much else. It’s to blame for Simon Cowell’s smug fucking face being in the newspapers for weeks on end, and it’s to blame for a convicted thug being venerated as the nation’s new sweetheart.
Hear’Say never were the problem. It’s what they spawned that I dislike.
Pure and simple.
20 plays
It’s not often that we get these kinds of events in Britain, but for the second time in a month we have a gunman on the loose. At the start of June, Derrick Bird went on a seemingly random shooting rampage, which saw 12 people killed before he turned his gun on himself.
Now, Raoul Moat, an ex-bouncer from Newcastle, is on the loose. His shootings have been more targetted thus far, killing an ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend, and severely injuring her. He then somewhat randomly shot a policeman (who has survived), and today saw the release of a letter he sent to the police, stating that the public were not in danger, only police officers.
The BBC is covering the search for him, and for the last 20 minutes or so has been concentrating on this abandoned farmhouse, which was stormed by a large number of officers. By the looks of things, they haven’t found anything, but for me it was probably the first time I’d watched something like this.
I know that in the US there is more live coverage of police operations, be it at school shootings, on highway pursuits and whatnot, but it is so rare to see it here. It is addictive, and I’m not sure it’s because I want to see the situation resolved successfully or unsuccessfully.
We’ll see how it plays out.
EDIT: It looks like the BBC has been asked to stop showing live coverage of this area (now identified as Pike House).
Bacon Chili Motherfucking Cheese Dog, thanks very much. At The Diner, near Old Street.
What a cool little random discovery this was. I was actually at Amnesty International for a Zimbabwean event, and as we made our way back to the Tube station, we spotted this place. It was pretty cool, with a menu full of classic American delights. I’m still disappointed that I didn’t go for one of their Hard Shakes (ice cream + booze, essentially), but being able to get a Brooklyn Lager was a big plus.
Randomly, the cast of Misfits were in there, and either the actors all dress exactly like their characters and hang out together nowadays, or a second series is currently being filmed. It reminds me that I need to finish watching the first series soon, as the first few episodes were great.
My view back into the living room as I stand at the kitchen sink washing dishes: cricket on the laptop and tennis on the TV!
I’ve watched a ridiculous amount of sport this weekend, actually. There’s just been stuff on TV pretty much all day every day, and it’s continuing into this, the Bank Holiday Monday.
