just around the corner in the english civil war....

Today marks the 360th anniversary of the execution of Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Charles reigned from 27th March 1625 until 30th January 1649, when he was beheaded on the orders of Parliament after being found guilty of high treason and "other high crimes". He wore two shirts that day, lest the cold weather make it look as though he was shivering from fear, and he was beheaded by a single-stroke from the executioner. As his head left his shoulders, an audible gasp was heard from the assembled crowd, and there was a rush as they tried to dip their handkerchiefs in the blood of a divinely annointed monarch.

Given that the monarchy was restored in 1660 and we still have a royal family firmly in place today, we tend to forget how enormous a moment in history this was. The American Declaration of Independence was more than a 100 years later and the French Revolution was still 140 years away on the day when the English Parliament cast aside their king and set up a Republic. Both those other revolutions were massively influenced by these events in England, which were entirely without precedent. Of course, Kings had been removed in the past, and Parliament itself had been used by various usurpers in English history to legitimise the deposition of a legitimate monarch and their own succession -- Edward II, Richard II and Henry VI were all removed with some form of Parliamentary consent. This was different though. In each of those other examples, the deposed king had been replaced by another king with at least some figleaf of justification for their right to the throne. Charles I was removed by a Parliament who had no intention of putting another monarch on the throne or doing anything other than ruling the country for themselves. We are not traditionally seen as a nation of rebels and anarchists, yet we overthrew our monarchy long before it became fashionable. The fact that this Republic did not ultimately endure should not lessen the magnitude those events more than three centuries ago.

These were very confusing times, and it's always dangerous to wonder how things might have turned out if things had been only a little different, but for me it's still irresistible to think how different our history might have been if we'd never put the monarchy back in place in 1660 and had instead remained a republic for the last 360 years. It's pointless to speculate, of course, but imagine how different a place the world might have been. Would Britain have still ruled the waves and built a massive worldwide empire? Would there have even been an American Revolution at all? What would all those people selling postcards of Princess Diana to tourists be doing now instead?

Nevermind the speculation, the fact remains that England executed its king on this day 360 years ago. I know I'm a history bore, but I will certainly be spending a couple of minutes today thinking about those momentous events all that time ago.

You knew there was an English Civil War, right?

--

[as a point of interest, I wrote this post at the beginning of January and filed it away for publication at a time when I would be away skiing. That's pretty sad, right?]

snow (hey oh)

Right. That's pretty much your lot. After I finish work tomorrow, I'll be heading down to Gatwick to stay with some friends before heading over to the airport early on Saturday morning to catch a flight that will ultimately take us to Val D'Isere. The snow forecast is looking very good, and conditions are apparently already excellent, so fingers crossed we'll get some quality skiing done next week.

Fresh air, good company, a spot of sunshine and a little exercise. Perfect.

Not that skiing is just about the actual skiing, of course.



I like to sample the odd vin chaud.

Just to help keep warm, you understand.



....and perhaps a pression or two.



... and the occasional snifter now and again can't do too much harm either, right?

I do quite a lot of eating too.

Frankly it's amazing I actually get any skiing done at all.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to pack. I'm a nervous packer, and this may take some time, and I won't stop worrying about it until I get into the car.

Have a good week....

don't believe a word that I haven't heard....

-
Shuffleathon 2008/9 Update

Not much to add this week really. Bedshaped and JamieS have now received their CDs (which after last year, is probably something of a relief for Jamie anyways), and Mandy tells me that hers is nearly out in the post now. Only two people have now not received their CDs: Paul W and (typically!) me. If you are sitting on a CD for either of us, or if you sent it ages ago and it apparently hasn't turned up yet (and looking at the table below, it shouldn't take a rocket scientist to work out who I'm talking about here....), then give me a shout and we'll see if we can't arrange a resend or something.

I'm away next week, and fingers crossed that when I return there will be one or two new reviews to point you in the direction of...... I'm not going to nag anyone, but if you've been sat on your CD for a while, perhaps you could consider pulling your finger out? It's all good though. When you're ready. Don't force it.

As always, any updates on progress should be sent to the email address in my profile.

Shuffler	Posted out	Received?
1. Me	yes
2. Mandy	almost	yes
3. Charlie	yes	yes
4. Planet Me	yes	yes
5. Ian	yes	review
6. Mike	yes	yes
7. Jerry	yes	review
8. monogodo	nearly	yes
9. Erika	yes	yes
10. Michael	yes	review
11. Lisa	yes	review
12. Cody Bones	yes	review
13. Del	yes	review
14. RussL	yes	review
15. Tina	yes	review
16. Wombat	yes	yes
17. Joe the Troll	yes	yes
18. JamieS	yes	yes
19. Cat	yes	yes
20. Rol	yes	review
21. Beth	yes	review
22. asta	yes	yes
23. bedshaped	yes	yes
24. Paul	yes	review
25. Alan	yes	review
26. Astronaut	yes	review
27. Threelight	yes	review
28. The Great Grape Ape	yes	review
29. Paul W	yes
30. Ben	yes	review

Oh, and as always, I must add that the shuffleathon is based upon an original concept by the lovely YokoSpungeon.... thanks Yoko. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

high apple pie in the sky hopes...

Look, I know it's a great day and everything, but as the 44th President of the United States of America gets down to business, do you mind if I get something off my chest?

WTF is "The Audacity of Hope"?

The "Audacity" bit is simple enough:

au·dac·ity (ô das′ə tē)

noun

1. bold courage; daring
2. shameless or brazen boldness; insolence
3. pl. audacities -·ties; an audacious act or remark

I'm assuming that, in this context, Obama is talking about courage or daring and not about brazen boldness or insolence.

The "Hope" seems pretty clear too:

hope (hōp)

noun

1. a feeling that what is wanted is likely to happen; desire accompanied by expectation
2. the thing that one has a hope for
3. a reason for hope
4. a person or thing on which one may base some hope
5. Archaic trust; reliance

OK. So we have bold courage and we have desire accompanied by expectation. Fine. What about the little word that joins the two together?

Now, here's where I have a problem. "Of". Is that really the right word? Does he really mean "of"? The Audacity OF hope? Is that right?

of (uv)

1. from; specif.,
--a. derived or coming from; men of Ohio
--b. resulting from; caused by; through to die of fever
--c. proceeding as a product from; by the poems of Poe
--d. resulting from an operation or process involving the product of 3 and 4
--e. at a distance from or apart from
--f. deprived, relieved, or separated from; robbed of his money
--g. from the whole, or total number; one of her hats
--h. distinguished as by excellence; from among the greatest Presidents
--i. distinguished as the best, most important; from among the holy of holies
--j. made from; using as its material (a specified substance); a sheet of paper
2. is what was done, expressed, etc. by how wise of her!
3. belonging to; the pages of a book, that dog of his
4.
--a. having; possessing a man of property
--b. containing a bag of nuts
5.
--a. that is; having the designation of; a height of six feet
--b. as a way to characterize; a prince of a fellow
6. with (something specified) as object, goal, etc; a reader of books
7.
--a. having as a distinguishing quality or attribute; a year of plenty
--b. as characterized with respect to; quick of mind, hard of heart
8. concerning; about; with reference to think well of me
9. set aside for; dedicated to a day of rest
10.
--a. during of late years
--b. Informal on or at (a specified day, time, etc.); he came of a Friday
11. before: used in telling time ten minutes of nine
12. Archaic by rejected of men

Etymology: ME <> L ab (see ab-), Gr apo-

The bold courage derived from desire accompanied by expectation?

I'm not sure about you, but I think that's got a slightly uncomfortable ring for such an accomplished orator?

How about The Audacity TO Hope?

to (to̵̅o̅)

1.
--a. in the direction of; toward a turn to the left, traveling to Pittsburgh
--b. in the direction of; it fell to the ground
2. as far as; to the extent of wet to the skin, starved to death
3.
-- a. toward or into the condition of; to grow to manhood, a rise to fame
--b. so as to result in; sentenced to ten years in prison
4.
-- a. on, onto, against, at, next to, etc.: a house to the right, cheek to cheek
--b. in a (specified) relation; with lines parallel to each other
--c. in front of; face to face
5.
--a. until; no parking from four to six
--b. before; at ten to six
6. for the purpose of; for come to dinner
7.
--a. as concerns; with respect to; to leave oneself open to attack
--b. in the opinion of; it seems good to me
8. producing, causing, or resulting in; to his amazement, torn to pieces
9. along with; accompanied by; dance to the music
10. being the proper appurtenance, possession, or attribute of; of the key to the house
11. as compared with; as against a score of 7 to 1, superior to the others
12.
--a. in agreement, correspondence, or conformity with; not to her taste
--b. as a reaction, or in response, toward; the dog came to his whistle
13. constituting; in or for (each) four quarts to a gallon
14. as far as the limit; of moderate to high in price
15. with (a specified person or thing) as the recipient of the verb: give the book to her
16. in honor of; a toast to your success
17. by: used in some passive constructions a person known to me
18. at or in (a specified place) [to have someone to the house for dinner]
19. Dialectal with (a specified crop) a field planted to corn

Etymology: ME <> L (quan)do, when, then, do(nec), until

adverb

1. forward; his hat is on wrong side to
2. in the normal or desired direction, position, or condition; shut the door
3. into a state of consciousness; the boxer came to
4. at hand; we were close to when it happened

The bold courage so as to result in desire accompanied by expectation? Is that better?

As the originator of this phrase is now the most powerful man in the world, is it not all the more important that we clarify this?

Or am I missing something?

and I stumble and fall....

At some point on Sunday morning, I hauled myself out of bed, walked a couple of steps, and then collapsed in a heap on the floor when my right leg totally refused to respond and wouldn't bear my weight. Apart from a couple of scrapes and bruises, I got away pretty lightly from the fall, managing not to land on the edge of the bed or against the radiator or anything like that. Psychologically though, it's a different story. Why was my right leg - actually most of the right side of my body - refusing to respond? After recovering from the initial surprise of the fall, I found that my leg still wasn't working properly when I stood up, and I had to drag it behind me to the bathroom. I was still half-asleep at this point, so after a bout of headspin (not all that uncommon for me, actually, and in this case possibly brought on by the fall), I went about my business and then dragged myself back into bed.

As I lay there, I was actually pretty calm, although I could feel that C beside me was awake and worried. Ever since I was first diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis in August 2005, there has often been an underlying assumption that this could be the underlying cause of almost anything that happens to me: when I fell over in the shower a year ago, it might have been because of the loss of sensitivity in my feet, or it might have been simply because I slipped on some shower gel. Although I seem to have upswings and downswings, my symptoms have essentially remained stable for the last few years: I have pins and needles in my hands and feet, widespread numbness across my body and a loss of power across my shoulders and arms. The problem is that TM could be a transient diagnosis on the way to something else, and the neurologists are looking out for new symptoms that could be the first signs that my diagnosis is moving. No one knows when, or even if, this could happen. It could be tomorrow. It could be in twenty years. It might never happen.

With that in mind, I have chosen to be phlegmatic about my symptoms. I am a terrible worrier about things that I think I ought to be able to control. This manifests itself in worries over stupid things like (in the old days) the fit of my glasses or the scratches on the lenses (worries that have, to a smaller extent, transferred to my new eyes), I fret over a small imperfection on the heel of a new pair of shoes, or the fit of my new skiing helmet. I will obsess over each of these tiny little things until something else comes along to occupy my mind. The bigger stuff I generally find much easier to deal with. I have no control over the lesion on my cervical spinal cord that is disrupting the flow of nerve signals around my body and causing my current symptoms. I have no control over the progression (or otherwise) of whatever underlying neurological issue caused that lesion. I can't do anything about the numbness or the pins and needles that I feel, and I can't really do anything about the loss of strength either. I continue to exercise as best I can and I have added a regime, three morning a week, that is designed to slow the wastage of the muscles across my arms and shoulders. I take fish oil supplements every day. Beyond that, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot to be gained by worrying about it.

Was my fall on Sunday morning caused by a new symptom? Was the lack of response in the right-hand side of my body a new symptom? were things moving on? Was this a sign of things to come? I really don't know. My symptoms are on a upwards curve at the moment generally, and I've been feeling more tired than usual and finding exercise a bit more of a struggle, but it doesn't follow that things are getting worse. I might be finding exercise harder because I'm older, because it's the middle of January and because I've been doing more than usual. I might have fallen over on Sunday morning because I slept on my right leg funnily and cut off the blood supply. Whatever caused it, it seems to me that there's very little to be gained by worrying about it.

All the same, I suppose I wouldn't be human if I wasn't a little concerned; that fall wasn't exactly a pleasant experience and it's certainly one that I hope isn't repeated any time soon. Apart from anything else, I'm going skiing next week, and I reckon I'm going to be needing the right-hand side of my body....

I don't want virtue to exist anywhere....

--

Earworms of the Week

> "The Fear" - Lily Allen

When I first heard this song, I quite liked it. I liked the way that Lily Allen was sending up those vacuous idiots who are so determined to be famous that they don't care how they get there. I liked that it was written in character, and I liked the understated observations on their stupidity and cupidity:

"I want loads of clothes and fuckloads of diamonds

I heard people die while they are trying to find them"

The more I've heard it though, the less I've liked it. Now, I'm not stupid enough to believe all of the things that I've heard about Lilly Allen, so I'm not going to fall into the trap of saying that she's dangerously close to throwing stones inside a greenhouse.... but her targets are sitting ducks, aren't they? Isn't their stupidity pretty obvious to anyone with half a brain? Do they really need to have it dissected and thrown back in their faces in a song? It's just a bit obvious, isn't it? That's not to say I dislike the song, particularly, it's just that it's a little bit too designed to allow people like you and me to look down our noses at people we need little encouragement to look down our noses at already.

> "Club Foot" - Kasabian

I don't like Kasabian. I don't like their swaggering, simian imitation of bands like Oasis and the Stone Roses. I don't like the way that they seem to take every opportunity to fire their mouths off. I hate the posing and the posturing. Every time I see their singer, I feel the urgent need to stagger around the room with my knuckles dragging on the floor and making monkey noises. They're the kind of band who will wear massive coats and sunglasses on the warmest day of the year. That said, there is something mesmeric about some of their music, and I found this song slipping so far under my skin this week that I've had to get the album out and give it a listen. I have never got round to buying their second album, probably put off by my dislike of the band, but I have to say that I quite what I've heard of that too. Apparently they're superb live too, but when they played at Glastonbury last year, I just couldn't bring myself to go and watch them. I hate the guitarists hats too.

> "Tarzan Boy" - Balitimora

I'm going to blame the pub quiz on Wednesday night for this one. On a bontempi organ round that also featured bizarrely upbeat versions of Joy Division's "She's Lost Control", Nirvana's "About a Girl" and Marillion's "Kayleigh", all earworm candidates in their own right, it was this song that stuck. When the song got to the relevant bit, the whole pub pretty much spontaneously broke into the "woooah oh-a oh-a oh-a"s, so frankly, what chance did I have?

> "Never Miss A Beat" - Kaiser Chiefs

Another band that I'm not overly fond of. I don't dislike them anwhere near as much as Kasabian, but I cannot get away from the idea that the Kaiser Chiefs are a derivative, britpop pub band who got extremely lucky and can't quite believe that they haven't been found out yet. I quite liked their early run of singles, so went to buy the album, only to discover that it was the singles plus a load of guff. I didn't bother with either of the following two albums and have become increasingly irritated by the band's posturing as a kind of sub-Madness, sub-Monkees, sub-Blur tribute act. Ricky Wilson is just a little bit too pleased with himself and you should never trust a band that has such an obviously frustrated frontman and attention seeker as their drummer. This song is fairly typical really, it's a sort of playground chant about having crisps for tea and although it's catchy, it doesn't ever really go anywhere. They're supposed to be very entertaining live, and Mike's been kind enough to offer me his "plus one" for the Arena gig later this year... so we'll see. I'm not exactly sharpening my poisoned pen, but let's just say that they've got a lot to prove.

> "Womanizer" - Britney Spears

I can thank the PA system at the gym for this one. After catching myself singing along on the way to the sauna, I had to think for a minute or two before I remembered who this actually was. It's alright, I suppose, in a kind of robotically efficient way, but it's hardly "Toxic" or "Hit Me Baby One More Time", is it? Actually, I saw the rather disturbing and hypocritical sight of a National Enquirer journalist pretending to be concerned about that time when Britney went a bit mental and shaved her head. Concerned? Don't make me laugh. You weren't concerned about Britney's mental health, you were concerned about selling copies of your rag and it's disingenuous of you to pretend otherwise, or to pretend that your coverage of her "breakdown" hardly helped with her recovery. Pah. Do I sound grumpy today? I'm actually in quite a good mood, but I might have to take Kasabian off the stereo as it appears to be making me angry. Great video this, though (she ties a knot in a cherry stem with her tongue and everything!). Good for you Brit.

> "Karen" - The National

Oh, now this is more like it. I discovered The National via "Boxer" and have worked my way as far back in their back catalogue as "Alligator", which features this song. Matt Berninger has got the most amazing voice: deep, rich and soulful. Although I don't really know what this song is about, and I fear for the couple at the heart of this relationship, I love the way that he seems to reach into this pit of emptiness.

"Karen, put me in a chair, fuck me and make me a drink

I've lost direction, and I'm past my peak

I'm telling you this isn't me

No, this isn't me

Karen, believe me, you just haven't seen my good side yet"

Fantastic band.

> "Reasons Not To Be An Idiot" - Frank Turner

This is a bit of an odd song really. I keep hearing it radio 1, and every time I hear it, it seems like some kind of a throwback. I can't think who it reminds me of, but it seems oddly out of time in on the radio 1 playlists. I'm also not sure that I even like the song all that much, to be honest. The "Get up, get down and get outside" lyric is sort of catchy, but what's he trying to say? It's better than many, I suppose, but it's hardly the future of music, is it? (even if he does have a great 'tache and even if it does namecheck The Smiths).

> "Ace of Spades" - Motorhead

Now we're talking.

I mentioned "Protect the Innocent" when talking about "Breakin' the Law" by Judas Priest last week, and this song featured on the same album. This may be the greatest rock song ever recorded. It's absolutely perfect as it stands and it even helps me get over the fact that Lemmy has a really unpleasant obsession with nazi memorobilia. Actually, this is a brilliant earworm and is welcome in my head anytime.

> "Highway Patrolman" - Johnny Cash

Originally appearing on Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska" album", this song was covered by Johnny Cash some time before he started working with Rick Rubin. As a sensitive interpretation of someone else's song, I suppose it provides a clear pointer to the "American Recordings" with Rubin that were to so spectacularly revive Cash's career shortly before he died. Actually, in my opinion, Cash's cover of this song rivals his more famous cover of "Hurt". Yes, alright, there is something profoundly moving about the ageing Cash's take on Trent Reznor's song, especially when you watch the video, but he does a pretty damn fine version of this song too. First and foremost, it is a great song, featuring Springsteen's storytelling genius at its finest. It's not as melodramatic as "Hurt", but in its own way, and as the story unfolds in that wonderful bass voice, this is every bit as moving. It's a great record. Another good earworm, too.

> "Faster" - Manic Street Preacher

This song dropped into my head when I was playing football (badly) the other night. I've no idea where it came from or why it appeared, but it was a most welcome visitor. This song was the lead single from "The Holy Bible" and was thus my first taste of what remains my favourite Manics album. I remember them playing it at the 1994 Reading Festival, the first show that they played after Richie had gone into rehab, and a few days before the release of the album itself. Those first lines are remarkable:

"I am an architect, they call me a butcher

I am a pioneer, they call me primitive

I am purity, they call me perverted

Holding you but I only miss these things when they leave"

For me, that's all of the awkwardness and intelligence of the Manics at their best, with all those words shoe-horned into a furious rock track by a frantically gurning James Dean Bradfield. That record will be 15 years old this year. Time flies, eh?

And that's your lot for the week. As always, something of a mixed bag, but there are a few gems in there this week, that's for sure. I'm away down to the Gatwick area next Friday in preparation for my early morning flight to France to go skiing, so I may not manage to get any earworms done. We'll see. I might even seen if I can pressgang one of the volunteers to Guest Edit to do the hard work for me.....

Have a good weekend, y'all and stay classy.

snake eyes watching you....

Of an evening, when I've got nothing better to do, I quite often find that the TV works its way towards Dave and I end up watching old episodes of Top Gear, QI, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Mock the Week and suchlike. They're repeats, of course, but they are generally pretty funny and it's an easy way to pass the time. Easier, certainly, than watching Celebrity Big Brother, anyway.

One thing really gets up my nose though: the primetime coverage on Dave is sponsored by Cobra beer, and we get little adverts at the start and end of every advertising break. There's nothing wrong with that, particularly, and generally I find adverts fairly easy to tune out, but I find these particular adverts absolutely insufferable.

They feature the three characters pictured above, sitting at the bar in a pub chatting over a Cobra, and they have the tagline "Prime time on Dave with Cobra beer -- Now You're Talking". I think the idea, although it's not very clearly articulated, is that Cobra is less gassy than other beers, thus promoting easier conversation in the pub.

Eh? Well, exactly.

The trouble is that not only are these ads not in the slightest bit funny, but they are also irritating, smug and self-satisfied.... which I'm not sure is entirely what Cobra had in mind when they commissioned them.

Here's a sample.

[waitress breezes past with a tray of food]
"Wow, the food here looks amazing"
"Is this a gastro pub?"
Well, they've got [pause] gastronomical prices"
Smug laughter all round.

or

[barman is making cocktails in the background]
"I've got a recipe for a cocktail"
"Oh yes?"
"Yes, you take half a pint of Cobra, and you mix it with another half pint of Cobra"
Smug laughter all round.
Prime time with Cobra. Now you're talking.

Or

[man singing tunelessly into a microphone]
"You've got to love karaoke night"
"Someone always murders 'my way'"
"....by doing it their way"
Smug laughter all round.
Prime time with Cobra. Now you're talking.

...you get the general idea.

There are loads of them. None are funny. All are irritating.

What are Cobra going for here? Are they suggesting that people who drink Cobra beer are smug wankers, or are they trying to sell their beer to the smug wankers who they believe watch Dave? Either way, I have to be honest and say that neither scenario makes me want to be the kind of person who buys Cobra. Quite why anyone would want to associate their brand with this rubbish is beyond me.

What do you mean I'm wasting my time being irritated by something as pointless and inconsequential as this?

In case you hadn't noticed, that's what I do.

this restless feelin' on my mind....

--
Shuffleathon 2008/9 Update

I think we're really making some headway now. Excellent reviews are in from Alan, Del and from The Great Grape Ape for their CDs from bedshaped, Paul and Mike respectively. Wombat has now got her CD and at least two more are en-route to their lucky recipients. It's all shaping up nicely. I'm strangely reminded of the shuffleathon from a couple of years ago though, when my CD was the very last to arrive (due to an unfortunate series of postal catastrophes that required two resends). Am I going to be last again? Really? When I've been counselling everyone else to be patient? That's not fair!

Lots of reviews still to come though, and they're pretty much my favourite part of the whole process.... they certainly will be if we get any more of the same kind of quality as the last batch, anyway.

As always, any updates on progress should be sent to the email address in my profile.

Thank you kindly. As you were.

Shuffler	Posted out	Received?
1. Me	yes
2. Mandy		yes
3. Charlie	yes	yes
4. Planet Me	yes	yes
5. Ian	yes	review
6. Mike	yes	yes
7. Jerry	yes	review
8. monogodo	nearly	yes
9. Erika	yes	yes
10. Michael	yes	review
11. Lisa	yes	review
12. Cody Bones	yes	review
13. Del	yes	review
14. RussL	yes	review
15. Tina	yes	review
16. Wombat	yes	yes
17. Joe the Troll	yes	yes
18. JamieS	yes
19. Cat	yes	yes
20. Rol	yes	review
21. Beth	yes	review
22. asta	yes	yes
23. bedshaped	yes	on the way
24. Paul	yes	review
25. Alan	yes	review
26. Astronaut	yes	review
27. Threelight	yes	review
28. The Great Grape Ape	yes	review
29. Paul W	yes
30. Ben	yes	review

Oh, and shuffleathon is based upon an original concept by the lovely YokoSpungeon.... thanks Yoko. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

yackety yack...

I doubt I'm the first person to say this, but I'll almost certainly not be the last: I think that if Twitter hasn't already jumped the shark, then it has definitely got its leather jacket and its waterskis on and is approaching the ramp at speed to make that jump.

The company only started in late 2006, but although I've been using it for something like 2 years, I would certainly never claim to be an early adopter. In fact, I actively resisted @sarlitchin's encouragement to get signed up, and only joined on 23rd February 2007, with my first update at 12:39pm. And how did I choose to greet the world?

"digesting homemade pea and ham soup. Exactly who homemade it, I didn't dare ask. It was yellow. mmmm. *burp*."

Nice.

It really took off for me on our three week trip to Ecuador that March, when I found that the 140 character text message update was a good way of keeping a record of where I was and what I was doing, be that staring at erupting volcanoes, discovering the effects of altitude or celebrating my birthday at 4500m.

That was it. I was hooked. An addiction that really took off when I got an iPhone and discovered just how easy applications like Twitterific and TwitterPhon make updating from almost anywhere.

I think what I liked was the way that the 140 character limit brings out the creative side and entertaining side out in some people. It's actually probably more amazing how much you can say in that space, rather than how little. As someone who, as this post will testify, is prone to be a little verbose, I loved the freedom of expression it gave me. I gathered "friends" at a gentle pace. I've never been a Facebook user, so I didn't feel the urge to add people unless I wanted to read their updates in my stream. Of those I did add, most were people that I actually knew somehow, either in real life or from a blog or something. Others I picked up randomly or were friends of friends and had said something that caught my eye. It was all good.

This week - and it is very definitely in the last seven days - something has changed. Suddenly Twitter is everywhere. Even the Daily Mail felt the need to tell the world how boring and pointless it was on 3rd January this year, and when the Daily Mail knows and disapproves of something, then the writing really is on the wall.... (although interestingly, the Daily Mail has a Twitter presence, @mailonline.... which, I'm pleased to say, has about five times fewer followers than a Daily Mail Parody, @notdailymail_UK). The reason for this sudden flurry of interest in twitter? The growing presence and visibility of celebrity users.

Now, I've got nothing against this and obviously they have as much right to be there as anyone else. I follow the likes of @stephenfry, @wossy (Jonathan Ross), @neilhimself (Neil Gaiman). All are pretty entertaining and, as they obviously all do their own twittering and don't leave it to some PR flunky, it's somehow a little bit thrilling to be so involved and engaged with their day to day lives. As well as reading about their lives, you can interact with them by replying to their tweets or asking them a question, knowing that there's a chance, no matter how small, that they may just @ you back personally. Not surprisingly, most of the famous people on twitter have thousands of people following their streams: Stephen Fry has 45,055 and Ross has around 10,000 (I have 55), but the numbers of followers they have are growing exponentially. Neil Gaiman remarked this afternoon that a couple of days ago he had 500 followers, and now he has around 5000.... As these numbers grow, behaviours start to change: even the most entertaining streams become full of answers to other people's (invisible, unless you actively go looking for them) questions. Even the most sane people start to spend their time replying to celebrities in the same way that they might a 'real' friend. I keep catching myself doing it, and even though it was nice to receive a reply from @wossy, it was basically pointless.

But the celebrities are bringing people flooding onto Twitter, and even those of us already on twitter are flocking to the celebrities. Lists are being published showing the usernames of notable people, even in such apparently sensible places as the Guardian. Of course, this being the internet, countless numbers of people on Twitter are not exactly who they say they are. Luckily Jonathan Ross is on hand with his address book to ring up his mates and to tell us that Jeremy Clarkson is fake, Alan Sugar is fake, Alan Carr is real, Jimmy Carr is real but done by his assistant.... Russell Brand isn't on yet, but he's working on him.... There was a bit of confusion over David Mitchell, but we soon found out that @ADavidMitchell was a fake and that @RealDMitchell was the real deal. Actually, that last one was something of a shame, as the real David Mitchell apparently has absolutely nothing to say other than to confirm that he is the real David Mitchell. The other one was much more entertaining. I've also got a soft spot for @thefuckingpope - he's probably real, right?

There are countless applications that will tell you all about how influential a tweeter you are, whatever that means. Twitter Grader will tell you if you are in the so-called "Twitter Elite", or exactly how far off it you are. My Twitter Grade is 84 out of 100 (93,830 out of 955, 229)... although based on what criteria I don't know. I checked the list for Nottingham to see if there was anyone local that might be interesting to follow, and was a touch disappointed to see that the majority of the local "Twitter Elite" have streams that consist almost entirely of links to their own weblogs. What's interesting about that?

Jonathan Ross reappears back on our TV screens from his exile on 23rd January. One of the guests on his first show back is Stephen Fry, and it will be a miracle if they don't talk about Twitter at some point in their conversation, which will subsequently be broadcast on prime time TV on BBC1 on a Friday night..... priceless publicity, I'm sure, and both will presumably suddenly acquire a whole new batch of readers on Twitter, and an even greater percentage of the Twitter using public will be following the same handful of people than are now, shrinking the online ecosystem of just a little bit more diversity and creativity. Most of all, it will be robbed of a little bit more of that intimacy that once made it feel special.

Still, I suppose that Twitter is very much what you make of it, isn't it? Stephen Fry has never been anything less than entertaining on his twitstream, and nobody is forcing me to follow (or to @reply) to anyone else if I don't want to, famous or otherwise. I'm starting to feel like I'm reading "Heat" magazine, or "Hello" or something like that: I'm finding myself grubbily compelled to subscribe to these people, even though it makes me feel a bit dirty and is turning twitter into something I never intended it to be.

Perhaps I should just go cold turkey and see if I can kick the habit? I'm 1,833 tweets in. Is it too late for me?

[I've just read about @PiMPY3WASH - the washing machine modified to tell its owner when a washload is finished. Great idea. It's got 193 followers.....all bar one of whom I think need to look closely at their lives]

your lovely head...

It doesn't seem quite so remarkable now that everyone wears them, but sometime around the early 1990s, I remember being struck how everybody on 'Neighbours' wore a helmet when they rode their bicycle. Thinking about it now, it was probably something that the producers of the programme made conspicuous entirely on purpose, as Australia was the first country in the world to impose uniform national mandatory bicycle helmet legislation, beginning in 1990. What self-respecting family-orientated cul-de-sac based soap opera wouldn't want to be encouraging its nation's children to ride safely?

Nearly thirty years later and still Britain has no equivalent law, and back then I had probably never seen such a thing being worn by a normal person before (if you can call Toadfish Rebecchi a normal person). Nowadays though, even though we're not obliged to wear them, it is far more likely that you will see a cyclist wearing a helmet than you are to see one without. I think I bought my first helmet because it was a pre-condition for competing in a triathlon I had entered, but I certainly wouldn't get on my bike without it now.

I mention all this because I have just bought myself a ski helmet. I go skiing every year, and it's something that has been nagging at me for a little while. If I won't get on my bike without a helmet, why am I happy to hurl myself down a mountain at speeds in excess of 30mph wearing only a beanie?



Although a helmet is obviously not a guarantee of safety, the statistics make for interesting reading:

"44% of skiers currently wear a helmet and 42% are intending to wear one the next time they visit the slopes. One reason for this growth is that out of 84,200 winter sports injuries recorded last season, 17,500 were head related. It is believed that out of those 17,500, 7,700 injuries and 11 deaths could have been avoided if they had been wearing a helmet."

To be honest, I value my brain quite a lot. Certainly enough to spend a few quid on a helmet. Did I really want to wait until I had an accident before I took the plunge? Surely every single person who skis has seen the dreadful sight of someone being taken down the mountain headfirst in a stretcher? Forget the stats: intuitively, do you reckon that it's better if you hit your head with or without a helmet? I realise it's better not to hit your head at all, but even the best skiier in the world can't do anything about someone crashing into them from behind, can they? Everyone falls over. Everyone. You might think that snow is a soft landing, but most pistes are packed pretty hard, and there are always things like trees, rocks and barriers that you could run into. Perhaps I'm getting old, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought that I should get myself a helmet.

Of course, given that I have a massive head, my next problem was to find a helmet that fitted me properly. I did a bit of research so that I had a reasonable grasp of what I should be looking for, and on Saturday, having taken the precaution of ringing ahead to make sure they had my likely size, we made the trip over to the Tamworth Snow Dome to have a look in our nearest decent skiing shop. No can do. Didn't fit. So I trooped back to Nottingham and ended up buying the first helmet I'd tried on the week before: The Red Hi-Fi. Obviously, it makes me look silly. And between now and the first day I wear it on the slopes, I'm going to be fretting if it fits me properly. I'm wearing it now to see if can tell.

So far so good.

It's quite warm, worn indoors with the heating on, anyway. No, please don't come round and look through the living room window. I know it looks ridiculous.

Reading this though, I'm fairly sure I've done the right thing. About wearing it on the mountain, that is, not on the sofa.

so much for the golden future, I can't even start....

Shall we start another year's worth of Earworms then?

Ah, go on then.

Earworms of the Week

> "Career Opportunities" - The Clash

I fell for The Clash in a big way at the back end of last year, overdosing both on the "Live at Shea Stadium" album and on an electronic copy of their debut (that in the end cost me nothing) from iTunes. Stuck for present ideas for Christmas, I had the brainwave of asking C's brother, a confirmed Strummer-ite, to get me whatever Clash album he thought I should have that I didn't already possess. Helped by the fact that the whole back catalogue seems to be available for buttons, he came up trumps with not one, not two, not three, not four but five albums. I am now the proud owner of a CD copy of their debut, as well as "Give 'em Enough Rope", "Combat Rock", "London Calling" and "Sandinista!". How cool a present is that? I've done quite a lot of running in the last couple of weeks, and I've taken to listening to a playlist made from a selection from all of those albums. I've actually been surprised that so many people say that "London Calling" is the album to have, when in my opinion it's left standing by that first album. Still. "Career Opportunities" is a standout track even amongst all their other standout tracks. It's short, sharp and ferocious. I especially like the way how, in the 1982 Shea Stadium recording, Strummer changes the line:

"I don’t wanna go fighting in the tropical heat"

to

"I don't wanna die fighting on a Falkland's street"

Bit of politics for you there.

Brilliant band.

> "Hot N Cold" - Katy Perry

As if "I kissed a Girl" wasn't annoying enough an earworm, this one has come along and taken up residence in my head. I really should stop listening to radio one in the mornings. My radio alarm is set to Radio Five, but I like to listen to music radio in the bathroom and as I potter about in the kitchen. It's harmless enough normally, but it does mean that you run the risk of having something hideous planted in your subconscious. This is one of those times. The worst thing about it? That as calculating as it is, it's a great pop record.

> "These Words (Lenny B remix)" - Natasha Bedingfield

There I was, minding my own business in the gym. I'd fought my way through all the New Year Resolutioners in the pool and I was just getting changed to head off home for my tea, when BANG! This happened. I usually ignore the music playing in the gym - it's usually pretty bland, and played (in the changing rooms anyway) at a low enough level that I don't have to worry about it. For whatever reason, when they started playing some god-awful dance remix of this song, it drilled straight into my head and wouldn't let go. I don't mind the original, I suppose, but like so many remixes, this was execrable. What can you do?

> "Crack the Shutters" - Snow Patrol

I'm very undecided about the new Snow Patrol album. I've played it through a couple of times, and it hasn't really stuck on me, so I've put it aside and not listened to it since. I know lots of people hail Snow Patrol as being akin to an even less imaginative Coldplay, but just as I like Coldplay, I also quite like the Patrol. I'm not going to not like a band just because they're popular and feature a lot on Grey's Anatomy, anyway. Lots of the reviews of the new album picked this song out as being the "next Chasing Cars". I couldn't see that at first, and I don't really agree with them now, but the song definitely has hooks. Unfortunately, as the lyrical content invites you to imagine a naked Gary Lightbody having sex, it's not really an earworm you want to find yourself stuck with at any particular point.

> "Livin' on a Prayer" - Bon Jovi

Within the space of 10 days in March, two of my very best friends turn 35, and so do I. We usually try and get together to do something every year, but this year we are now halfway to the fabled "threescore and ten", and thus starting the downhill run towards the grave. So we're going to have a big party, and because we're halfway there, what better to soundtrack our slide into oblivion?

> Theme tune to "Ivor the Engine"

Oliver Postgate was an absolute genius. This featured in the "backwards TV Theme tunes" round at the pub quiz on Wednesday night, but was actually intially planted in my head a few weeks ago when we sat and watched a couple of episodes when I was in Oxford. The one where they rescue the fox from the hunters is an absolute cracker.

R.I.P.

> "Say aha" - Santogold

The album passed me by, and I only picked it up on the recommendation of bedshaped in the Auditorium's countdown of the albums of the year. It's something of a mixed bag, I suppose, and certainly seems to cover a pretty wide variety of genres, but basically I think it's all pretty good. "L.E.S. Artistes" is my favourite song, but this is the one that I've been singing to myself all week, so....

> "Heart in a Cage" - The Strokes

I started craving The Strokes at the beginning of the week when I was sat in the Sauna (just before I heard the Bedingfield song, actually). I have no idea where it came from, as I've never especially liked them as a band, and I haven't listened to them in years. I resisted the urge. Why the hell would I want to listen to them now? The very next day, the craving came back as I was getting into my car to drive to work. I thought about resisting, then idly scrolled my iPod to the relevant section and plugged it into the stereo. As "Juicebox" came on, I knew I had done the right thing, but it was when this one came on that I knew I was doomed. It's a great song, isn't it? They were an infuriating band in that they *looked* as though they would be all style and no substance. I'm still not convinced that they were all that, but they were certainly capable of some fantastic records.

> "Breaking the Law" - Judas Priest

Picture the scene: we're in the pub, in the middle of a tense quiz, locked in battle with our arch rivals. It's the "Nish's Nana's Bontempi Organ" round, in which well known records are played on a bontempi organ. We'd had a mixed round so far, picking out ELP's "Fanfare for the Common Man", but had missed a couple of others. The last track in the round comes on, and within about 2 seconds I know exactly what it is. I let out a cry of triumph. Oh yes! It's "Breaking the Law" by Judas Priest. This song was included on the very first CD that I ever owned: "Protecting the Innocent". A brilliant compilation that opened up with "Don't Fear the Reaper" by the Blue Oyster Cult, rolled on into "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath, "Fireball" by Deep Purple and then into "Ace of Spades" by Motorhead. Somewhere a little further down on the first disc is this little beauty. I bought that CD when I was thirteen years old, and I was delighted / ashamed to discover that I still seemed to know all the words. Ah, just for a moment there, I was thirteen all over again. Brilliant song. Utterly ridiculous, but brilliant all the same.

Have a good weekend y'all and stay classy.

Any volunteers for guest editors in 2009, then just say the word (the word is on your lips).

god is a concept by which we can measure our pain....

I really shouldn't waste my time getting irritated by stuff like this, but....

**deep breath**

Remember the atheist bus advertising campaign?



You know, the advertising campaign sponsored by the British Humanist Association from an original idea by Ariane Sherine, who had been appalled by some of the religious messages she saw on buses. I'll quote her directly:

"Yesterday I walked to work and saw not one, but two London buses with the question: "When the Son of Man comes, will He find Faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8). It seems you wait ages for a bus with an unsettling Bible quote, then two come along at once....There was also a web address on the ad, and when I visited the site, hoping for a straight answer to their rather pressing question, I received the following warning for anyone who doesn't "accept the word of Jesus on the cross": "You will be condemned to everlasting separation from God and then you spend all eternity in torment in hell. Jesus spoke about this as a lake of fire which was prepared for the devil and all his angels (demonic spirits)" (Matthew 25:41). Lots to look forward to, then. Now, if I wanted to run a bus ad saying "Beware – there is a giant lion from London Zoo on the loose!" or "The 'bits' in orange juice aren't orange but plastic – don't drink them or you'll die!" I think I might be asked to show my working and back up my claims. But apparently you don't need evidence to run an ad suggesting we'll all face the ire of the son of man when he comes, then link to a website advocating endless pain for atheists."

Determined to do something about this, Sherine then set about raising enough money to run some atheist adverts on buses... and aren't they a whole lot more uplifting than the usual crap you see on the side of a bus. It makes me smile. It's not saying that there definitely isn't a God, it's just saying that maybe you should be worrying about something else instead.

Richard Dawkins, as you might imagine, and as pictured on the bus above, thought this was a brilliant idea, but so did lots of other people, and they soon raised £140,000 to run the campaign as widely as possible.

Brilliant. You'd have to be completely humourless not to see the funny side, wouldn't you?

Oh, apparently The Christian Voice has complained to the Advertising Standards Agency. Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, said:

"There is plenty of evidence for God, from people's personal experience, to the complexity, interdependence, beauty and design of the natural world. But there is scant evidence on the other side, so I think the advertisers are really going to struggle to show their claim is not an exaggeration or inaccurate, as the ASA code puts it."

So you're suggesting that there is more evidence for the existence of God than there is evidence that God doesn't exist? Where exactly?

Well, the complaint goes on, "According to growing numbers of scientists, the laws and constants of nature are so "finely-tuned," and so many "coincidences" have occurred to allow for the possibility of life, the universe must have come into existence through intentional planning and intelligence. In fact, this "fine-tuning" is so pronounced, and the "coincidences" are so numerous, many scientists have come to espouse "The Anthropic Principle," which contends that the universe was brought into existence intentionally for the sake of producing mankind. Even those who do not accept The Anthropic Principle admit to the "fine-tuning" and conclude that the universe is "too contrived" to be a chance event...."

The Anthropic Principle? What about the infinite monkey theorem that states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare. That being so, why is it so hard to believe that, in an infinite universe, it might be possible for a series of absurdly unlikely accidents and coincidences to happen and create life? Or is God an infinite monkey? Why am I even attempting a rational argument?

I'd go on with the detail of their complaint, but I'm rather losing the will to live. You can read the whole thing here, but it cites various scientists, including Sir Fred Hoyle and Stephen Hawking, as apparently all being forced to conclude that God does, indeed, obviously exist.

Bollocks.

Bollocks, bollocks, bollocks.

Actually, that might just be the funniest thing I've ever heard.

As I drove home this evening, there was a big sign outside the church just around the corner boldly proclaiming "JESUS IS HOPE". No caveat there, is there? Jesus isn't probably hope, he is HOPE. Definitely.

The atheist message was originally intended to be "There is no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." The Advertising Standards Agency would only allow them to run the campaign if they added the word "probably". Possessing previously unheralded metaphysical authority, the ASA determined that the advert had to leave room for doubt, and they insisted that it acknowledged that there is "a grey area".

So if the atheists are forced to put in a caveat, how come the christians aren't?

Anyway, why are christians getting so agitated about this? Why do they feel so threatened by atheists? Why are they so interested in anyone "proving" whether God exists or not? I thought the whole point of their religion, and the source of all their smugness and immunity to rational debate, was that it was based upon FAITH. Not hard evidence. After all, there can be no hard evidence that a made up mystical, all powerful being exists, can there? The whole thing is based upon the blind belief that there is something guiding our miserable lives and that there might be somewhere better for us to go once we had died, as long as we'd lived a good and worthy life. Why should they give a shit about proof? And actually, why should they feel that they're a special case, somehow worthy of special treatment, with a right to leave things like copies of their hubristic and mostly fictional propaganda material in every hotel drawer? Who do they think they are? God's chosen people?*

I realise it's a waste of time being angry about this, but I simply cannot help myself. I pride myself on being a rational, tolerant and reasonably intelligent human being, and I find this kind of bullshit infuriating. Everyone has the right to believe what they want, of course they do, and I know that lots of people draw huge comfort and solace from their faith. I also realise that the silent majority of christians probably aren't in the least bit worried or threatened by these atheist adverts. It's a small but vocal and high profile minority that are kicking up this fuss, and it's them that have annoyed me. Why do they feel the need to inflict themselves on everyone? Why can't they respect anyone else's views or opinions when they don't agree with their own? Why do they have to be so fucking self-righteous about everything?

GAH!

*ah no, they're busy bombing schools and shelling civilians at the moment, aren't they?

rule the world....

At some point in the first episode of "Guns & Germs & Steel" that I watched the other day, Jared Diamond holds forth on the part of his grand theory that reckons that one of the reasons that Eurasian societies conquered the rest of the world was because we lucked out by having the most easily domesticated species of animals nearby (sheep, cows, goats, horses and the like). According to him, it was this fact, coupled with the equally convenient presence of easily domesticated and long-lasting crops like wheat and barley, that helped us move away from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and into a more settled agricultural existence with the kind of specialised roles in society that enabled us to focus on things other than our next meal. So, obviously, with all that extra time on our hands, we built some really cool weapons of mass destruction that we then inflicted on the rest of the world.

Well, I'm not about spout off about Diamond's theory - although, if you ask me, it all sounds a little convenient, and besides, QI told me the other day that horses originated in the Americas, and if Stephen Fry says it's so, then it must indeed be so....

As Diamond was talking though, I did look over at the sprawled shape on the beanbag by the radiator and idly wonder at what point in history the cat had been domesticated. It didn't take me long to realise that, in fact, the cat has never been domesticated. They turned up one day, liked what they saw and found a way to wrap us so tightly around their little paws that we happily provide them with everything that they need and then ask if there is anything else we can possibly do for them. It wasn't the cat that was domesticated by humans, it was humans that were domesticated by cats.

This came to mind in the very small hours of this morning when I awoke to find myself distinctly marginalised in the bed. This isn't all that uncommon an experience, to be honest, but as C is currently in Paris, it took my sleep and Night Nurse addled brain a few minutes to work out what had happened and why I was now hanging out of the bed and slowly freezing to death.

It was a cold night, so as I had made my way up to bed, I'd made myself a hot water bottle (yeah? what of it?). The cat, it turns out, is no fool. She doesn't often sleep on the bed, but her special cat senses must have told her that there was an extra-warm patch to be investigated tonight. Upon discovering the source of this hot spot, she had proceeded to methodically elbow me off the hot water bottle and practically out of the bed all the better so that she could curl up and benefit more directly from this new heat source.



And so what did I do once I had worked out her little game? Did I boot her off the bed and resume my posession of the hot water bottle? Did I hell. I tried to grab as much of the bed back as I could without disturbing her, and then went back to sleep in a really uncomfortable position.

Cat's rule the world. Or if not the whole world, then at least the most comfortable parts of it.

seems like heaven ain't far away....

Shuffleathon 2008 Update

I've actually got something a bit more substantial for you today than the usual chaser for people to post out their CDs..... Paul does not have a blog of his own, so here's his review of Threelight's CD:

----

Whether I like it or not (and I don't) I'm a child of the eighties and there was much on the CD I received that brought that decade screaming back at me in all its hideousness. I'd figured out Threelight might be my sender and had a stroll around his blog. I remember clocking that he was a fan of Deacon Blue and bang! Track One: Dignity. I'm afraid I never liked Deacon Blue but I gave the whole track a listen out of courtesy. For the first time I was struck by a similarity to "The Whole of the Moon" by The Waterboys - but that's just another tune I don't like.

Track Two: Straight off I thought it was the title track from the film Footloose but it turned into something I didn't recognise but which I liked. I listened to the CD blind first time around and when I looked at the listing this was revealed to be "Fascination" by Alphabeat. I'd seen them on the telly and thought they were good but hadn't got around to properly checking them out. Their contribution here adds to the impetus to do so.

Track Three: More eighties, "If I Was" by Midge Ure. I quite liked this at the time and still do. It suffers from some bombastic-ness but is superior pop.

Track Four: Without knowing it I've been a fan for years - "Jessica" by The Allman Brothers Band, aka the theme from Top Gear. I've a feeling I probably wouldn't like any of their other stuff and while looking them up on Wikipedia I see that Threelight has a link up his sleeve as Duanne Allman had a hand in the recording of the next track.

Track Five: Sadly this track is Layla by Eric Clapton so the effort is wasted on me. I hit ffwd by about the seventh note. Life's too short to ever, ever have to listen to this song again (am I plagarising someone there with this comment?).

Track Six: When I look at the titles - "The Boys of Summer" by Don Henley. I always thought this was Bryan Adams. Anyway: drab American synth rock.

Track Seven: "Girls in Their Summer Clothes", this was familiar but it surprised me to discover it was Bruce Springsteen. I'm not a fan but I liked this. Was he ever in the Travelling Wilburys? This sounds a bit like them, a bit drowsy.

Track Eight: "Creep" by Radiohead. Like track five I've heard this too many times but I think I liked this more in the first place than I ever liked Layla. But now it's just dust to my ears.

Track Nine: "Break it Down Again" by Tears for Fears. I really don't like this. I listened to it a few times to try and get a hold of what it was exactly that I hated so much but it just defeated me. It's just terrible. An awkward non song. Ironically the neighbours probably think I love it.

Track Ten: "Valerie" by The Zutons. The first song to come along that I know and that I like. Top notch indie pop that I'll probably never be bothered about enough to actually shell out for.

Track Eleven: "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley. I am aware of the reverence in which Jeff Buckley is held but I cannot agree. This version of the song is wet. I'm not just being a snob but the John Cale version leaves this standing.

Track Twelve: "I Sing About You" by Ricky Ross. The chappie from Deacon Blue is back. Shorn of all the eighties production he's quite good. Throw in a bit of sleaze and this could even be Mark Lanegan.

Track Thirteen: "Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf" by The Killers. Lazy, lazy music. This bores me in under 30 seconds. I honestly don't believe that this could have been written for any reason other than a 3:38 sized gap on an album.

Track Fourteen: "Yesterday" by The Beatles. Yeah, it's great. Even after all the listens I still like this.

Track Fifteen: "Easy" by the Commodores. Like track fourteen but not quite so much so.

Track Sixteen: "The Dark End of the Street" by James Carr. I'd never heard of James Carr or this song. It's playing while I'm typing and yes it's a lovely song and I'll probably listen to it again. It reminds me a lot of Van Morrison and hang on, didn't Van Morrison write a tune called "Bright Side of the Road"? A co-incidence? I'll look into it.

Track Seventeen: "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. I've heard this before. In the current climate I had thought I might get a whole CD of tracks like this. Musically it's just pleasant and lyrically banal. A bit of a boring track.

Track Eighteen: "Exitlude" by The Killers. More crap from The Killers but I hear what Threelight is up to here and thanks for the sentiment.

In conclusion: it turns out I like nine songs out of eighteen. Which, after the first listen and glance at the track listing, amazes me. Admittedly there's not much I can do with some of these likes ("Yesterday" and "Easy", for instance) but as Threelight half acknowledged in his covering letter, I don't think this CD was ever meant to steer me into new dimensions of sound. But I will have a closer listen to Alphabeat and Bruce Springsteen.

Thanks,

Paul

---

Well, I think it's fair to say that's a mixed bag of a review... a few hits, a few misses. I always say that if the reviewer takes away at least one song from the mix that they really like, then overall it's been worth doing. I'm not sure that "Yesterday" or "Easy" count in that regard, but hey! Paul's discovered Alphabeat! Yay!

Thanks for playing guys.

As always, any updates should be sent to the email address in my profile - be that CDs sent, received or reviewed. Did I mention yet that I can't help but notice that a handful of you haven't yet sent out your CDs. Any chance of an update please?

Alright, as you were. Reviews also in from Threelight himself and from Beth.... What are you waiting for? Go check them out. Links below....

Shuffler	Posted out	Received?
1. Me	yes
2. Mandy		yes
3. Charlie	yes	yes
4. Planet Me	yes	yes
5. Ian	yes	review
6. Mike	yes	yes
7. Jerry	yes	review
8. monogodo	nearly	yes
9. Erika	yes	yes
10. Michael	yes	review
11. Lisa	yes	review
12. Cody Bones	yes	review
13. Del	yes	review
14. RussL	yes	review
15. Tina	yes	review
16. Wombat	yes
17. Joe the Troll	yes	yes
18. JamieS	yes
19. Cat	yes	yes
20. Rol	yes	review
21. Beth	yes	review
22. asta	yes	yes
23. bedshaped	yes	on the way
24. Paul	yes	review
25. Alan	yes	review
26. Astronaut	yes	review
27. Threelight	yes	review
28. The Great Grape Ape	yes	review
29. Paul W	yes
30. Ben	yes	review

As I keep forgetting to mention, shuffleathon is based upon an original concept by the lovely YokoSpungeon....