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.

Twister

Seems like my dopey finger problem may be just related to twisting and such in bed resulting in compressing nerves and some such medical jargon in combination with the wallpaper stripping.

HandyDan

I've never been quite the handymen that Val and Earl (Earl is on the right, Val is on the left) proven to be for the population of Perfection. I've done a fair bit of painting, yard clearances, mild demolition (sheds and walls) and general gardening work. However, I thought I had worked out any kinks there might be in my technique. I may have been wrong.

It seems that my wallpaper removal and painting may have had a more permanent effect than I was expecting. The last 2 weeks or so I've been waking up with my litte finger on my right hand curled up and try as I might I can't unfold it. I have to use my other hand to do it manually(yes, I can see the funny part of referring to something that you do with your hand as manual). It is as if it has locked up, that or the wiring is shot.

I've got an aunt who has suffered considerably since her late 30s with arthritis, so I'm somewhat concerned; as rated on the Mitty Concerned scale where 'somewhat' is higher than 'mildly' but not as high as 'a good bit'. From my light net reading, it seems arthritis is like a weakness or condition that you are prone to that get triggered or released due to a trauma in the joint. I'm going consult with one of those quackery folks and see if this is just a mild dose of hypochondria.

My eye ate a fly.

As I was biking in this tomorrow, I was in collision with some flying thingy. Well, collision is a strong word to use when the other objective is a gnat compared to yourself. In fact is could have been a gnat.

Anyhow, my eye closed on it and in the ensuing struggle it seems my eye may have devoured it, well there appeared to be wriggling after I had stopped and I couldn't find or pull any bits out. Later on, the phrase that came to be me as a minor poetic phrase was 'My eye ate a fly', said with a lilting southern (as in American south) accent it sounds kinda fun.

Not a patch on the 'I ate a bug' from young Ms. Tam on our left. There again, I'm no Whedon.

my wee band

There is a concept I heard Jim Kerr of the Simple Minds put forth one day on afternon tv (many years ago) about the dangers of what he termed 'my wee band'. Basically, you discover a band that you really like and proceed to talk about them endlessly, buy all their stuff and promote them to all your mates. However, if they actually have the bad grace to become successful you start moaning about how they've sold out, that their new stuff isn't as good as their original material. The idea Jim was driving at was this was all a form of selfish toss. When the band were yours alone they were shiny and great but when they came to belong to everyone they were cheap and nasty. A generous confident person who values the work will be glad the band's work has found a wider audience, while a more insecure and selfish person wants the pretty thing just for themselves. Yet they do want everyone to know how fabulous the thing they and they alone have is! It can only ever end in tears before bedtime

In slightly different vein, while living the land of 'pan I discovered the joys of a CD library in Maebashi. You could borrow CDs much like books 2 weeks at a time. This offer included new releases and it wasn't long before I was taping to beat the band like the cute Kerryman I am. One band whose album I recorded at the time but had not heard of was this '24 years of Hunger' by Eg and Alice. The album quickly became one of my favourites but try as I might I've never been able to get it new on CD in order to give some reward to those who created it. And that is a real, real pity. I urge poeple to look out for it for themselves. It really is a divine piece of work. And I'm going to root it out and give it a good old listen now that I've got my tape collection back.

And not a nana in sight!

Album art is a lost art some might say due to the smaller area to work with on CD covers as compared to LPs and rightly so judging by these examples!

I too have lost this love

but I should make the effort to renew the relationship that was so important to me when I was a wee laddie. I'm a library brat after all.