Football lookalikes

David Beckham = Tracey Emin

Paul Robinson = Emmerdale's Scott Windsor

Peter Crouch = Rodney Trotter

Wayne Rooney = Desperate Dan

Rio Ferdinand = Rasputin

Pix to come...

Hastings beach

Photo taken 06/11/05

What is bird flu...?

... the opposite of man flu?

London bombings: through the news

An interesting aspect of today's shocking terrorism in the capital, was the way in which the news filtered out (ie, the falsehoods were eliminated). I first heard from a colleague the news that Liverpool had been victim to a bomb at about 9:30am. A quick scout of BBC News online showed that it was in fact Liverpool Street, London, that had been targetted.

Throughout most of the morning, the BBC website was particularly slow in its updates. Despite the obvious demands on its servers and those of rival news sites such as Sky, ITV and CNN, I thought this would have been the ideal opportunity to see if the press are right when they claim that it's the world of blogging that beats the traditional media. When it comes down to it though, how do you find out what's happening now? Type in
"london bombing blog" on Google, and at this moment in time (11:33pm), you get 257,000 results, of not very much relevance. Of course, at 10 this morning, the hit rate was a lot lower.

I tried out technorati.com, which was better, but the blogs I trawled through at mid-morning were cut and paste jobs -- with no unique comment.

The newsgroup uk.local.london was my next port of call. Discussion was on here, but it was rife with further red herrings, such as similar incidents occuring in other parts of the country including Brighton.

It was also about mid-morning when the words "bombs" and "terrorism" were being officially used -- a major U-turn on earlier comments of a "power surge".

The London newsgroup was eventually ditched after comments about bombing Iran and killing Jews started to be offered as solutions to all our problems.

Luckily, I stumbled across blogs.guardian.co.uk/news and I stuck to this for the rest of the day. Yes, it struggled at times with the worldwide web demand, but it kept me up to date on exactly what was happening. It also led its readers to the excellent flickr photo service of the day's unfolding events.

Lookalike: Wonka = W*nker

Ever noticed how the great Gene Wilder shares an unfortunate appearance with Paul Danan (who he? CV includes Hollyoaks and most recently, ITV's Celebrity Love Island)?



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Things that make me go "Mmm"

#1: Benjamin Verdonck's nest

New Year Challenge: April update

Today's money spending
Sainsbury's shop:
- Uncut magazine
- Pitted olives
- Meat-free burger
- Stirfry veg
- Pitta bread
- Merlot wine
- Mouthwash
- Milk
- Crisps
- Tomatoes
- Tofu
- Vegetarian sausages
- Fresh pasta
Sub-total: £25.90
Petrol: £19.99
Library loan of CD: 70p
Mojo magazine and The Independent: £3.55
TOTAL: £50.14

BOGOF

I saw an inspired piece of shopping today in Sainsbury's. An old bird behind me bought about 100 packs of Real McCoy crisps. As the spotty checkout boy scanned in the items, the lady said he'd got the price wrong as they were on offer. She then proceeded to give him the piece of plastic which was attached to the shelf, with the Buy One Get One Free (BOGOF) offer written on it.

New Year Challenge: April

March was a disaster. I didn't knock up a new recipe for every week of the month, and neither did I do a bit of yoga every day. But, I did get back into going for a run (outside, as opposed to the gym's running machine), at least once a week.

So, this week, I'm aiming to keep a check on all my money spending and TV watching. I don't know why, I just am...

Today's money spending
Brand X air freshener: £1.00
First class delivery for eBay item: £0.75
TOTAL: £1.75

Today's TV watching
BBC Breakfast: 20 mins
Fred Dibnah: 30 mins
Liverpool v Juvenus: 60 mins

Cruickshank

Dan Cruickshank presents a programme on BBC 2 called Around The World In Eighty Treasures. In it, he visits 80 of the world's greatest historic monuments. It's excellent TV, but one of the treasures is the man himself. Scrambling around various parts of the world, viewers do not see him without his obligatory notebook and hat. So far he's been touring hot countries and can be seen with a sweat-drenched shirt and scarf-encassed neck, breathlessly describing his treasures.

As well as selecting the obvious (ie, the Taj Mahal), he also goes in for the more obscure. He shunned the Empire State Building for an obscure glass-fronted buidling.

New Year Challenge: February update

Part one) To abstain from chocolate for the whole month
Not quite successful. I lapsed halfway through, eating a fun-size Kit Kat and a fun-size Twix. Then, with just two days to go I ate a handful of chocolates from a box at my parents’ house.

Part two) To read two works of fiction
Completed. I read Toby Litt’s Adventures in Capitalism (6 out of 10) and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (9 out of 10).

March challenge
Part one) To cook at least one new meal every week
Part two) To perform either yoga or skipping every day

New Year resolution update

The no-chocolate-for-February has not lasted. A small slip on my behalf led to me munching a Twix and a Kit-Kat, both fun-size, but both big enough to count against this month's challenge. My guard slipped as I travelled to watch the mighty Southend United versus Scunthorpe. There I was, sat in the car with my Dad, just licking my fingers after a portion of chips, and out came the chocolate as 'dessert' and that was that.

However, the second challenge for this month, to read two novels is still on. I finished off Toby Litt's Adventures in Capitalism and have now got eight days to get into a second book.

Lookalike: Ellen MacArthur =

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Being Kilroy-Silk

So Robert Kilroy-Silk has left UKIP and formed his own political party -- Veritas, the 'straight talking party' -- in order that he can become a leader of something. How come I wasn't surprised to discover that the colour of Veritas is purple? I know that several other colours are already taken (ie, Labouring Red, Conservationist Blue, Liberating Orange and Green Party Green) but purple? That's mentalist David Icke's favourite colour. Somehow Icke and Silk do go together. Who knows, maybe Icke could join Veritas as environmental minister.

PS Is it 'Kilroy-Silk' or 'Kilroy'? After all, before being dropped by the BBC, he dropped the '-Silk' from the title of his talkshow. The electorate needs to know.

New month, new pointless challenges

My January New Year resolutions ended with a whimper. I drank two glasses of wine and some Harvey's stout two days before the month came to an end. I had to do it. I was with my family and the beer came out especially. The next day I had my first coffee of the month. My boss made it and I thought it churlish to throw it back in his face.

The two challenges for February are as follows:

1) To give up chocolate
2) To read two fiction books

Googlewhacked in the face

After reading Dave Gorman's very good Googlewhack Adventure! I decided to find my own whack. I duly discovered naysay eggplant which I loved and cared for, for a number of weeks. The two words were found on one web page from a website covering 'ramblings on things no one cares about'. However, I was recently dismayed to find that this is no longer a Googlewhack. A second website now covers both 'naysay' and 'eggplant' on one of their pages, a messageboard for 4x4 nuts. This is extremely disappointing.

Googlewhack: what happens when two words are entered in to Google and it comes back with one hit

Say 'nay' to coffee and alcohol

My New Year resolutions for 2005 are going well -- all 13 days of them. I don't normally make them, but I wanted the challenge of giving up coffee and alcohol for the entire month of January. I don't drink copious amounts of alcohol, except for the odd session, so it's a fairly easy vice to temporarily give up. Likewise, I don't binge-drink coffee. The only hassle about omitting both from your daily life is the lack of choice it creates. When in a pub, you're limited to fizzy drinks or orange juice. Anywhere else, and you're faced with tea, or, if you're lucky, hot chocolate, as a coffee alternative.

As I am enjoying the challenge, I reckon I'll give up two things a month, throughout 2005. Any ideas are gratefully accepted.

My Room 101 contents

Songs that don't have a proper ending and fade out.

Toliet paper rolls placed upside-down in their holders.

Being ill.

Films watched throughout 2004

Here it is, a complete list of the films I've watched last year -- in chronological order! -- which to be honest, is a pretty futile exercise, but it keeps me out of mischief...

Film | My rating
The Secretary 7
Matrix Reloaded 1
Notting Hill 6
Indiana Jones Trilogy 8.5
Muppet Movie 7
Love Actually 6
Night Of The Living Dead 5
Freaks 7
51st State 4
A Shot In The Dark 7
Spellbound 8
Master And Commander 7.5
Along Came Polly 4
Starsky And Hutch 6.5
Robin Hood 8
The Day After Tomorrow 7
Matchstick Men 7
Calendar Girls 6.8
Touching The Void 7
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest 8.5
Lost In Translation 6.75
View From The Top 6.9
The Swimming Pool 6.9
American Splendor 6
Kind Hearts And Coronets 8
Lavendar Hill Mob 7
The Wicker Man 7.5
Big Fish 7
Police Academy 6
School Of Rock
Crocodile Hunter 6
Jerry McGuire 6
Shape Of Things 6.6
Shaun Of The Dead 6.4
Brassed Off 6.4
Cabin Fever 2
Spy Kids 3D 2
Shrek 3D 7
Citizen Kane 4
Whale Rider 6.4
It’s A Wonderful Life 7.7
Finding Nemo 6.9
Hidden Fortress
Throne Of Blood 6
Bourne Identity 6.7
Seabiscuit 6.4
Ghostbusters 7
K-Pax 6
Star Wars IV 9
Spy Game 3
Blue Crush 7
Spiderman 7.8
Shrek II 7
The Odd Couple 7
50 First Dates 4
Time Bandits 3
Big Fat Greek Wedding 7
Some Like It Hot 8
Van Helsing 4
Holes 8
Adaptation 6
Phone Booth 6
Old School Unseen 2
Farenheit 9/11 7
Girl With A Pearl Earring 6
The Ladykillers (Remake) 6.5
Rabbit-Proof Fence 6.7
The Ring 3
Harvey 7.5
X Men II 7
Insomnia 6.7
The Core 5.6
Ocean’s 11 (Remake) 6
North By Northwest 8
Mona Lisa Smile 6.5
Changing Lanes 6.8
Karate Kid 7
Chocolat 7
Steptoe Rides Again 7