Powerfully Average

Old man

2007-08-11T12:27:33Z

I played bowls for the first-time yesterday. It was a lot of fun, and not nearly as difficult as I expected. I suspect I will play again in the future. Also, my right buttock aches.

So, where do I apply for my bus-pass?

AHW, RIP

2007-08-10T21:20:51Z

Bugger.

abdoujaparov @ 2007-07-07T17:27:00

2007-07-07T16:27:58Z

To the Victoria Pendleton fans on my flist, I heartily recommend this article. Pay particular attention to the slide show link.

Train of thought

2007-04-15T19:44:52Z

I downloaded a South Bank Show about Victoria Wood from uknova. Geoffrey Durham cropped up (the SBS was from 1996, before they split up), so I toodled over to his Wikipedia page for a quick refresher course on the Great Soprendo, as was. After having my thirst for information about said portly prestidigitator (available for parties, functions, and after-dinner speaking) sated, I followed the link to the Magic Circle page, from which I found out that not only was David Devant a famous magician, but that David Devant and His Spirit Wife were named after him and didn't, in actual fact, feature any members named David Devant. I'm glad I don't know anyone who knows the first thing about the band, otherwise I could have made a serious faux-pas on the scale of "I say, that Echo fellow has a cracking voice, although he needs his hair cut badly".

When I lived in Brussels, circa 1998, I only had about 10 CDs with me, having traveled light, and DD&HSW's Work, Lovelife, Miscellaneous was one of them. It did heavy rotation for a couple of months, but I don't think I've played it once since I moved back to the UK in 2000. Inspired, I just put it on. It's great, it really is. I love the internet.

(I have a similar story with a similar UKNova -> Wikipedia chain from a few days ago, but that finished with the laughably inept MC Tunes, the world's worst rapper, so the least said, soonest mended on that)

Gee-gees

2007-04-14T16:25:17Z

I certainly had my money's worth in this year's Grand National. My 100-1 outsider led for most of the first circuit, with about 6 fences to go my other three picks were 2, 3, and 4, and coming to the Elbow, I had first and second, before Slim Pickings tired into third. Still, £50 profit!

Too large for the shelf

2007-03-23T15:45:39Z

Occasionally, I'll be reading a Wikipedia page and read something that just has to be a very subtle vandalisation, but turns out on further research to be actually true. Today, I found another one.

Ladies and gentlemen, My Grandfather's Clock performed by Boyz II Men

(And yes, according to this
it really is that one)

Digital cameras

2006-12-14T22:12:42Z

I'd search for the other times this has been asked on my flist, but the models have probably already changed, so . . .

Can anyone recommend a good digital camera in the £100-£150 range? Simple to use, standard media, good photo quality? It's for my parents, not me, so the more point-and-shoot it is, the better, as long as the default quality is good.

Young@Heart

2006-12-11T11:20:48Z

Many thanks to oldbloke and k425 for the recommendation of Young@Heart. I downloaded it off uknova, and it was the best tv programme I've seen in . . . well, ever, possibly.

Following on

2006-11-25T05:32:47Z

A reader comment on the BBC's website claims that the Aussie players are on a share of the gate receipts, which is why they decided not to enforce the follow-on. Amusing, if true.

The players also have a share of the gate receipts in baseball's World Series. The authorities realised early on what a dubious motivation that could be, though, and stipulated that the players only get a share of the first four games of the best-of-seven series.

Wot I Ate meme.

2006-11-16T17:05:23Z

Memetastic. I'm kind of missing the point with this entry, though, because I've been eating properly for four or five weeks now, and I've been recording everything I've eaten in FitDay anyway. Still, yesterday, I ate:

Brekkie: A banana, some low-fat plain yoghurt, a sprinkle of Splenda
Lunch: smoked salmon and cottage cheese sandwich on granary bread
Dinner: Three chicken thighs, satay sauce, asparagus, baked potato (worked together much better than you'd think)
Supper: Mug of hot semi-skimmed milk with sweetener.

The day before, I ate:

Brekkie: Two poached eggs on two slices of granary toast, and a mini Muller Corner
Lunch: Tesco "sushi" (it's quite nice, if inauthentic)
Dinner: Tuna, cottage cheese, mustard, spring onions in a baked potato
Supper: Banana, low-fat plain yoghurt.

On the other hand, I went up to Leatherhead to visit some mates on the weekend, and decided to treat it as a lost weekend, foodwise. I had steak and chips, chilli prawns with spesh fried rice, fried breakfast, a brie and cranberry sandwich, deep fried squid, pasta with clams, profiteroles, and Sunday dinner. I put back on 3lbs of the 20 I had lost, although I've taken it back off now.

First thing we do is kill all the marketers

2006-10-06T18:35:29Z

Via Crooked Timber I find this, a Walmart website that shows kids a bunch of toys, encourages them to add them to their wishlist, and then email it to their parents. If you choose not to add an item, it implies that one of the elves might lose his job, which is just a delightful touch.

Hanging's too good for 'em, and I don't even have kids.

Review: Gilby's Restaurant, Cardiff

2006-10-01T21:24:17Z

I've been down at my mate Mike's in Cardiff for the weekend, along with James and Jason, who were down from London.

We usually have a pretty low-key time - some wine, a board game, a takeaway, lots of chat. We do make a point to go out for a really nice meal on the Saturday, though. This time, we chose Gilby's in Culverhouse Cross. It has a very good reputation in the area, and the awards to match (AA restaurant of the year for Wales in 2006, e.g). First impressions were good - high gabled ceilings with exposed beams, exposed stone walls, open plan dining area, very nice decor. They took our order as we drank in the lounge area, which I wish more restaurants did.

To start, I had the foie gras and chicken liver parfait with toasted brioche. I ate it with a gormless grin on my face. Afterwards I said, in all seriousness, that it might have been the nicest thing I've ever eaten. Buttery warm brioche, creamy pate, sweet chutney, absolute heaven.

The others had a mozarella salad, crab and salmon cakes, and a black pudding, bacon and trout concoction that shouldn't have worked, but apparently did to great effect.

For the main course, I had sea-bass with scallops, a risotto, some fried prawn wontons, and a champagne sauce. It was excellent, but not in the same league as the starter. It really needed something in it with a stronger, more distinctive taste.

The others had the duck, and the turbot, both pronounced excellent.

For desert, I had rice pudding with armagnac prunes and clotted cream, which was outstanding. Thick, creamy beyond belief, and faintly alcoholic. What more could you want? The others enjoyed their tarte au citron (totally *lemony*), ice cream, and pavlova.

We didn't bother with wine, but with tip and a round of drinks, it came to £40 a head, which was more than reasonable. We're going back again.

Serendipity

2006-09-12T00:29:50Z

If I'd never gone to college, I might never have become a Usenet addict. If I'd never have become a Usenet addict, I wouldn't have subscribed to uk.misc. If I'd never have subscribed to uk.misc, I'd never have signed up to LiveJournal with the friend's list I did. If I'd never have subbed to LJ with the friends list I did, I would never have friended rhodri. And if I'd never have done that, I wouldn't have discovered the Free French, who are easily one of my top 5 bands ever.

Hurray for serendipity (and specifically, juggzy)

It's all meme, meme, meme.

2006-06-28T21:23:35Z

LIVE TRUMPS

abdoujaparov



Player 375	abdoujaparov



Social Rating	36



Sophistication	39



Speed	1.87



Honesty	100.00%



Ambiguity	21



Depth	7



Parent	bopeepsheep


CREATE YOUR CARD

Books, etc

2006-06-16T22:40:53Z

I used to be a two-books-a-week kind of guy, but these days I hardly read at all. Unfortunately, my second-hand book buying habit hasn't caught up with reality. My current reading list (these aren't all the books I own that I haven't read, just the ones I plan on reading some time soon, but haven't)

Brick Lane, Monica Ali
The State We're In, Will Hutton
You Shall Know Our Velocity, Dave Eggers
Underground at War, Donald Thomas (about spivs, etc)
The New Industrial State, JK Galbraith
The Afflent Society, JK Galbraith
Hugh Dalton, Ben Pimlott
Herbert Morrison: Portrait of a Politician, Donoghue and Jones
The Forsyte Saga Vol I, Galsworthy
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Greg Palast
Primary Colors, ~~Anonyomous~~Joe Klein
People's History of the USA, Howard Zinn

Anyone read any of these? Any recommendations on what to start with?

(On the other hand, I bought a Jeevers&Wooster anthology on Sunday for 10p in a car boot sale, and I've finished it already. Good old Wodehouse and his ultra-readable prose)

Don't you know there's a World Cup on?

2006-06-09T14:47:28Z

Primitive nationalism prevents me from supporting England. Indeed, primitive nationalism leads me, nay forces me, to support anyone England is playing. However, such negativity is no way to go into a World Cup, so as always, I get to pick my team. After a careful research period of, ooh, a good minute, I'm happy to throw my lot behind . . . [opens envelope] the Ivory Coast.

Allez les Elephants!

Stuck in the middle with them

2006-05-30T11:11:22Z

I went up to London for the weekend to visit some mates. Pleasant time had by all, much food eaten, some alcohol drunk. The really interesting stuff happened on the way home, though.

Mike and I have a history of interesting journeys back from London. We've been diverted up the M5 because the bridges were closed; we've had blizzards, thunder and lightning, hailstones, torrential rain, and high winds. Travelling back on the M4 on Sunday, Mike happened to mention that it had been a fairly normal journey. Seconds later, he also noticed that there was no traffic at all on the eastbound carriageways.

Well, of course, a minute later, 5pm ish, we were stationary behind a queue of traffic. The radio told us that the road was completely closed due to an accident. People started streaming out of their cars to trade information and traffic-jam jokes.

To cut a long story short, we were stuck there for 3hrs 45 minutes. It was real spirit of the Blitz stuff. Nobody got angry, people were sharing ciggies and chocolate. A 2 hour game of cricket was started in the deserted eastbound lanes. Dogs were walked, visits to the trees by the side of the road were made regularly. Jokes were made about how nervous the driver of the ASDA lorry was going to be if we were stuck there all night.

A few people failed to get into the spirit of the thing, and after a couple of hours decided to turn around and drive the wrong way up the hard-shoulder to cries of 'splitters' and 'scab' (mostly from me and Mike, to be honest). Ten minutes later, they bashfully returned, having been sent back by the police, and had to rejoin the queue at the back.

I'm not going to pretend that spending almost four hours on the motorway is a favourite way to spend a Sunday evening, but it was certainly an experience. It was even fun, in a one-off kind of way, and it was mildly reassuring that we didn't end up in a Lord of the Flies recreation.

Pokerstars blogger tournament

2006-05-24T00:29:44Z

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

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Registration code: 7330476

Crossword clue

2006-05-22T23:02:23Z

Non cryptic - s?m?h? (6)
Chinese alcoholic drink made from fermented rice.

I've Googled with no results. Any ideas?

Armstrong!

2006-05-21T08:35:49Z

I've just spent a pleasant half hour watching the highlights of the 1982 World Cup on the BBC Website. I was 9 in 1982, so most of it was barely remembered, but Gerry Armstrong's strike against Spain was as if it was yesterday. Ditto Captain Marvel's goal in the first minute against France, although I'd completely forgotten he scored another in that match.

The names, whether legendary like Rossi, Rumenigge, Platini, or Zico, or barely remembered (by me), like Dominique Rocheteau or Paul Breitner, are so evocative, and watching Harald Schumacher commit ABH on Patric Battiston stick makes me wince[1]. I'm just sad that my love of football has dwindled so much in the intervening years, such that I'm not even sure if I'll bother to watch this year's World Cup, when in 1982, or even 1998, I'd have happily watched Honduras play Kuwait.

The 1982 coverage has reminded me of two things, though. Barry Davies was 10 times the commentator that John Moston was, even back then. And, the improvement in broadcast technology that means the audio doesn't sound like it was recorded in the bottom of a septic tank has totally destroyed the World Cup atmosphere. I want it to sound like it's coming from the other side of the world, dammit, and not like it's next door.

[1] Although any football fan who likes pub quizzes could tell you that Battiston invited Schumacher to his wedding.

Ouch

2006-05-09T21:28:15Z

For the poker players amongst you, here's a bad beat whine disguised as a hand history

Happy Birthday

2006-04-29T09:07:50Z

HB to burkesworks!

Sonic boom, uh boom boy.

2006-04-19T13:03:06Z

It's a long shot, but does anyone have an mp3 copy of Sonic Boom Boy by Westworld that they could send my way? Ta.

Mark Steel

2006-04-13T20:14:28Z

I went to see Mark Steel at the Glee Club in Cardiff last night. I've been a big fan of his Mark Steel Lectures/Solutions/Revolutions radio series, and enjoyed two of his books (Reasons to be Cheerful, Vive le Revolution; I haven't read Not a Runner Bean yet).

His latest tour is based on his French Revolution book. I wasn't sure what to expect - his delivery hasn't been the best when I've heard him without a script, and I thought I might have heard most of the gags on the radio show and in the book. Well, his delivery wasn't the best - he gets a bit ahead of himself sometimes, and stumbles over his words. And, yes, I had heard quite a few of the gags before. On the other hand, I did have "tears of laughter streaming down the face" moments, and there were plenty of them. The funniest bits were where he used the Revolution as excuses for funny stories from the present, and the usual "Hello <insert place of gig here>, how about <place down road>?" that touring comedians are prone to were genuinely hilarious. He does a cracking South Welsh accent, which helps.

It was only let down by a heckler towards the end. Steel dealt with him pretty well originally, but when he started up again later, Steel seemed to get flustered, and I'm pretty sure he finished his routine with at least 5 minutes' worth of material undelivered. Still, an excellent night out. Next up for me at the Glee Club is going to be Marcus Brigstocke in June.

Iraqi Invasion: A Text Misadventure

2006-01-22T17:25:21Z

Cracking stuff - GWB, Adventure-style