Now this is a band

Back in the day you were either a Duranie or a Spandau person and I was firmly in the Duran camp. Well, they had more tasty girlies in their video for one thing. So last week's Jonathan Ross was quite a treat for me, Simon le Bon's voice was well probably never going to get him through X -factor but that is really where the X factor fails to find the true X factor, the something that takes someone not so great at all and makes them truly brilliant.

It start somewhat limply but by the time you get to the chorus it sounds like solid Duran gold.



After the new single "Falling down" we have Girls on Film which is a classic. Ignore the video which was frankly only better by The Chauffeur.

and isn't that what all good young bands should be about? Sex in whatever form you're interested in? And what comes back so much is that A) Roger Taylor was an excellent drummer which we get from the version of Girls on film and B) how iconic some of their early songs were.

It's the Arts!

Went to see a play during the week, it was seasonally enough an adaption of Bram Stoker's Dracula by the , with a cast of thousands. The Belltable does this thing sometimes where they get you to enter from the rear as they want to do it in the round as one might say and this was one of those occasions. There were three areas of action on the stage itself then one in the middle of the seating and then to the opposite end of the state the seating was wooden benches and with the slight incline lead to one buttock getting numb while the other was much more content with the sitting arrangements.

Part of the difficulty with the play for me was that it was perhaps too close to the book and too condensed. the movement from one area to another seemed concerned with ensuring that our attention didn't stray from the matter in hand. The lack of movement in the final third only served to highlight this.

The person playing Dracula was quite good as was Lucy, though I wonder if Lucy has gotten a bad deal down the years as being much more of a minx than she actually was meant to be and for me the Mina was well, kind of lacking in the depiction of her character she was much more and I'm sure some of the story got lost there. Jonathan Harker was similarly lacking existing mostly as a plot device than a person, he appears not to possess the backbone and cop-on of a blade of grass but he is much like that in the book too.

3/5 from me.

Really liking the new Take That song

"we could rule the world" which is a bit strange so perhaps I'm really settling into being elderly. Or it just be the idea of ruling the world I like.

Issues with the Heineken ad

There is an ad on the telly for Heineken and I must admit it surprises me even more than the Gaviscon lady given our PC times, which is saying a lot. Basically, the ad involves a place called "the memory hotel" from which bad events (like a failed driving test) are ejected in order to make room for new things, people or the curve of a woman's smile that our Heineken Hero is encountering while drinking, so basically they are saying that drinking alcohol can help you to forget the bad aspects of life?

Spider Pig indeed!

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 85% Iron Man 85% Green Lantern 70% Hulk 70% Superman 65% Robin 58% Catwoman 55% The Flash 50% Supergirl 46% Wonder Woman 41% Batman 40%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

The trouble with Gaviscon

I've been often tempted to post on a ad that is running on the telly at the moment in which an attractive young lady at a party cures her upset stomach (I suspect it is a problem with excess acid) by getting a friendly group of mature cartoon firemen with mustaches to get out their large hose and squirt a white creamy substance down her throat. Which apparently sorts her out no end.

I'm sure there is a subtext there somewhere but I can't just put my finger on it at present.

Honestly one of the funniest things I've seen in ages

Came across this on Mulley's site

And who are you now?

The old alma mater is running an ad to attract new students on the telly. And dear me is it terrible. I decided to capture it in a lazy fashion from the telly and change the audio to something more swinging. Watch here.

There again based on what I've heard it seems the place can't even get the names of people right when they're graduating. There again it is very possible some of the names were entirely made up to get into musicals.

Late night movies

Damn BBC. Just as I was heading to bed I did a final channel scan and discovered they were showing Thirteen Days. It is an interesting behind the scenes look at the Kennedy White House during the Cuban missile crisis. Of course the accuracy is open to challenge but the movie is done with a appropriate pacing and Kevin Costner is suitably low key for most of the movie.

I do not know what it is but I'm fascinated by the 1960s. Could be as result of being an actual child of the decade or because there was so much hope and optimism for the future evident in that decade. I would recommend watching this if you get the chance.

A Christmas pressie to me.

I've been watching one of those nostalgia shows about Man Utd Heaven and Hell. They featured one of Palace's goals from the 1990 FA cup final and I was given to wonder if they were both on the net somewhere. Before you could say, 'you don't want to type that in there' I had headed to youtube and typed in ian wright palace and got this set of gems. I'm sure some will say it must have been hard to find twenty but I can think of a few they could have included.

Merry Christmas to one and all

I was admonished yesterday for a lack of blogging in recent times. I'm all ok with people living
vicariously through me from time to time, but you wouldn't want to make a habit of it. Just as with belief as we all saw in Hogfather it would seem there is only so much writing to go around these. Not that this should be taken as implying that I've been producing anything else of any real quality elsewhere. And kudos to Sky for not making a complete bags of that adaption. Ian Richardson particularly quite grew on me as Death and David Jason was quite low key instead of scenery chewing which he could have been.

To satisfy those requests I'm going to finish some draft posts I had half done, just to clear the boards as it were. New brooms for the new year and such like.

Anyway, I would take this chance to wish you all a Merry Christmas from everyone at Kane manor. And a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Boilers - an ugly business.

I've been babysitting a boiler for a just under the last week or so. Now, not that kind. Though, I suppose I have indulged a few on occasion. One does what one can, (would listen to me! and the season that is in it) this boiler has a leak right at the bottom. I have concocted a device to trap the water with it resting on the floorboards and doing terrible damage.

Water is a nasty business when it comes to houses. It can causes terrible superficial damage, and that can escalate to serious structural problems in no time at all. What with the weather being so miserable it is hard not to avoid the creeping idea that we might be heading into some prolonged period of dampness.

More about children

isn't that what everything wants to read, me talking about children? Hey, I got broody too every once and a while, it passes.

Went to see 'Little Children' last night which was not at all what I was expecting. We were treated to some adult nudity from Kate and Jake which was alright by me (and I have to apologise for my delight at the trailer for 'Stick It' from the writer of Bring it On. What can I say I'm a sucker for twentysomethings in leotards and cheerleader outfits). It was more of a slice of suburban east coast US, married somethings with more time on their hands than they rightly knew what to do with. Some of the characters get a raw deal in terms of development, and there appears to be more going in in places than we get to see. The film is quite long at 130 minutes. Though it isn't arse numbingly so could have done with looping off 20 minutes. As it was it seemed like a few scenes had been removed. The performances were quite good and it appears intended to leave you talking about it. Worth a look but not sure if it needs to be seen on the big screeen. Oh, hang on large screen nude Kate, yes then see it in the cinema.

I had a quick gander at the trailer over on apple.com\trailers and they make it seem like a slow boiling thriller.

It's the way they say it

I say this recently and it made me think

DO YOU KNOW THAT 80% OF THE WORLD’S PEOPLE LIVE IN THE UNDERDEVELOPED WORLD…

…AND THAT THE RICHEST 20% OF THE WORLD’S PEOPLE SHARE 84% OF THE WORLD’S WEALTH…

If we really look at what is being said here, we can see that (a) not all of the richest 20% live in the developed world (b) how are we judging this wealth that people own? After all, if it is cash in the form of currency or stocks or property value then the value of that wealth has more to do with the fact that more wealth pushes up the value of the items than anything else.

Damn pesky kids

they never came, and I'd bought chocs and all.

I had one group of four kids call by about 6pm and that was it.

Have to eat themselves myself now.

The boys are back

Our friends from ballydung manor are back for another season. Here is Rodge tastefully expressing his liking for one of Spiral's dancers. Apparently, he was in BB7.

One year older, none the wiser.

Unlike Mr. Russell Nash, I'm thinking I should just take a few years off at a time rather than stealing the identity of some wee child who didn't make it and reinventing myself aged 74.

So, how about being 29 this years? That would make still allow me to claim Argentina '78 as my first world cup and in time for the great Kerry teams of the 70s. OK, so I'd have missed the team of '75.

I'd have been a tad on the young side for the summer of love mk2, but since most of the activities prevalent at the time on the illegal side how would having been underage make a difference?.

Anyway, 29 today.

This sounds familar I wonder if I blogged this last year?

The Solution to the 'conflict' in Iraq

The US Government has finally seen the light!

United States Redneck Special Forces (USRSF)

Battle Cry - GET'R DONE!

Press Release:

The Pentagon announced TODAY the formation of a new 500-man elite fighting unit called the
United States Redneck Special Forces (USRSF) Arkansas,Arizona, Georgia,Kentucky,Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri,Oklahoma, Tennessee,Texas and West Virginiaboys will be dropped off into Iraq given only the following facts about terrorists :

1. The season opened today.
2. There is no limit.
3. They taste just like chicken.
4. They don 't like beer, pickups, country music or
Jesus.
5. They are directly responsible for the death of Dale
Earnhardt.

The Pentagon expects the problem in Iraq to be over by Friday.

Flotsam

Twink is a game old burd all the same, her latest excursion into the public mind is a bit of a verbal car crash but still kinda fun.

Also, I came across a pretty interesting and followable description of Buckaroo Banzai's hometown and the neighbours.

G'luck Stevo

Steve Irwin was killed today while filming a documentary We need more people to make science fun for the kid in all of us. You'll be missed Stevo.