Monday Monday

Here are some recent pictures - I'm also dead proud of the one in my "current favourite" slot on the menu bar - it's Rich playing me an awesome dj set I had the pleasure of getting a sneak preview of earlier. He's a genius, and I can't wait till I can start adding links to my posts about him so you can find out too...

Here's my contribution to the epic Star Wars Photoshopping Project.

Graham has started a blog. Graham, we salute you, and will add you to our sidebar forthwith, as well you might expect.

I've decided (probably) to vote in the European Elections , but only because the BNP will be getting a few votes round here and the PR thang means they might get some seats, so I figure my small contribution to any other party will be worthwhile. As I have said before, I don't vote as a rule, because I have searched my heart and genuinely do not feel that any of the parties, big or small represent my viewpoint enough for me to actively contribute to giving them a mandate. But this election is a bit different, as I say, because of the BNP. I've read the leaflets of the three parties competing for my vote - Labour, the Greens and Respect, and I'm completely stumped. It would have been Labour, but although the European elections should obviously be about, erm, Europe, I can't tick the box next to Blair's party. It has too many implications. Iraq, tuition fees, and the insane links with the Bush regime are too much for me to put aside. And I don't really dig Respect's anti-european stance, although I of course understand that as a socialist party they have a problem with multi-national capitalism (hey, who doesn't), but it seems a tad self defeating to sent Euro-sceptics to the european parliament. So that leaves the greens (see what I did there?). Not perfect by any means, but I suspect they'll get my cross on the 10th. I'm still not voting in the locals btw. No significant BNP threat in my ward. Which is a relief really as I'd hate to have to chose between the lib dems and labour...

Currently listening to: The Zombies, She's Not There
Currently about to: Have a bath

p.s. Update! Just had a bath, and it were great.
p.p.s. Cheat Commandos O's - I'm so glad they're back.
p.p.p.s When you've finished watching that, go to the home page and wait for the "What's new" button to say "Puppet Jam 2." Then click on it. Then watch homestar runner in puppet form singing with backing from They Might Be Giants. Then be pleased you did.

Late night thoughts...

It's very late, and I'm very tired - here are some thoughts : )

If you have the time and inclination, join me in heartily congratulating my lovely mother and friend Jocelyne on taking the plunge and starting her own blog. Knowing how talented a writer she is I'm sure it will grow into a thing of wonder and beauty! (I also think it has a funky title.) I'll be adding a link in my sidebar very soon!

If you can - listen to Corrina, Corrina by Bob Dylan.

If you can - listen to Held Down, by De La Soul, indeed listen to anything and everything you can get your hands on by them.

If you know how, can you help me with making the new template able to handle more than one post on a page without going all funny (as it does now in the archives)? I like the look of it, but I'd much prefer a long scrolly page with lots of posts - it would mean I wouldn't feel all this pressure to make each post interesting : )

Me, Phill, Dave and Graham played Cranium this evening. It is my new favourite game ever, but we'll see how long that lasts - I suspect it will suffer the same fate as all other games where there are sets of cards, (especially the fantastic Articulate) and we will know them all by heart after a fortnight...

Right - night all!

The Relaunch!

Well, here it is. What do you think - any comments very very much appreciated? It all works except the archives...

Here are some links, instead of a proper post, as 9 hours of web design has somewhat taken it out of me :)

Slime Volleyball - wow, it's addictive

Black and White Photography - absolutely beautiful photography

The BBC 7 Listen Again page - pick a day, and listen again! I was so pleased to see that they had begun to make BBC7 programmes available online. So much great comedy - Dead Ringers, Knowing Me Knowing You, The News Quiz, the wondrous I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue - fantastic.

The Brain Wrongs of Cerys - Brilliant photoshoping from a good friend of mine from Mid Wales! Some of it has fairly adult themes, just so you know.

Sorry if it's a bit weird!

I'm in the middle of updating the look of the whole site, so some experimentation is taking place! Thank you for your patience, assuming you're being patient and not clicking your tounge and generally complaining about the shoddy workmanship..

On a lighter note...

Defective Yeti has one of the most fantastic photos I've seen in ages...

Despicable Neo-Con propaganda

I've been busy today, so I've not read lots of people blogs, and I imagine this has been commented on at length, but the lengths that the Bush regime will go to to get re-elected are shocking. This article from BBC news has the details, but it's the not-particularly hidden subtext that I'd like to talk about. John Ashcroft, who should basically be wanted for crimes against humanity, but is actually the US attorney general, has said that there's a specific al-Qaeda attack threat to be all spooked about. Now, they've been doing this kind of thing on and off since 9/11 but the lovely, right-wing, terrifying sting in the tail this time is that they are drawing comparisons with the Madrid bombings, and suggesting that the terrorists might feel that they were effective in helping to contribute towards the socialist victory in Spain. Now, let's be clear about the facts first. The Madrid bombings may have contributed to the election results, in that the government completely botched the immediate aftermath, blaming the bombings on ETA and, of course, the election result may have had a little something to do with the fact that the vast majority of the Spanish people were against their President's choices in terms of the war in Iraq and his support for Bush.

But for the neo-cons to basically say, "hey, just 'cos they bomb us, or wanna bomb us, or we're making you nice and scared that they're gonna bomb us, don't, whatever you do, vote for the other guy. 'Cos that would mean the terrorists have won!"

It's propaganda of the most dangerous and damaging kind, it's clinging to political and economic power by any means necessary, and it's playing right into the hands of the people in proports to oppose. The war is apparrently on "terror" but the actions of the regime are geared towards creating the exact emotion they are supposed to be at war with. Fear is an incredibly destructive force, and those who seek to use it to control the masses are playing a dangerous game. Sadly it's a game which has the power to affect humanity very widely indeed, and I suppose what I'm really saying is don't give in to the fear!!! If you'll permit me to quote Yoda for a moment "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." The thing about the quote is, despite it's origins in a work of science fiction, I'm absolutely convinced that it hits upon a very deep truth about the human condition...

Maybe we could sit Dubbya down in front of the tube for a few hours in front of the star wars trilogy, see if any of it sinks in...

Leadership Race a Go Go

Now, in fairness, I've been watching a lot of Yes Prime Minister recently, so maybe my general suspiciousness of politicians has become excessively heightened, but am I wrong in thinking that Prescott is leading the public face of the campaign for leadership change in the Labour Party. The BBC article quotes the Deputy PM saying "I am convinced, though, from my talks with Tony, of course, that he would like to lead us into that election. But he always considers events, events, events." Now, this, in a press conference where he was "defending" the pm's position, is pretty inflammatory language, especially when taken in the context of Prescott's earlier talk of plates shifting in the party.

So none of this is exactly cutting edge political journalism, it seems pretty clear to most observers that the game's afoot, but why does it have to be played in such an underhanded way? On the ITV news this evening, Prescott was quoted as being something like "horrified" or "appalled" at how his remarks had been interpreted. Which, as far as I can tell, makes him either incredibly naive or a liar. And I say this as one who really doesn't like to make those kind of judgments about people; I'm not into making cheap attacks on politicians -in fact I think those kind of attacks have contributed to the low level of political debate in this country. But in distancing himself from the perceived opinion that he was making a statement which shed a doubting light on the party leadership we're being asked to either believe one of two things. The first option is that he had no idea that giving such a soundbyte worthy quote he would increase speculation about moves afoot for leadership change. And the second option is that he meant it to stir up some speculation. So option a. means that the deputy pm with manymanymanymany years of political experience is so naive that he never considered that in the midst of this climate of speculation his words would be seen as supportive of the pm and is thus, frankly, foolish and option b. means he knew exactly what he was doing and is a liar. Which is it?

p.s. Having said I'm not into cheap and personal political attacks, this is full of them, but it's hilarious and jam packed with serious points too (it has audio if you're at work btw). Bloggerheads, we salute you!

Ahhh...

Sbemail....

What happens when you give goths $20 million dollars

They get together and make the awful Van Helsing. It's the worst film I've seen in the cinema since Superman IV, the first film I can ever remember not enjoying, aged 10. I amused myself for the duration by imagining the conversations that might have led to the film.

Update
Allow me to stress that neither person a, nor person b are meant to be goths! Many apologies for any offense caused...

Person a: Hey, let's make a movie. And just for fun, let's make sure we avoid any original thought whatsoever.

Person b: Wow, that sounds fantastic. Well, let's have dracula in it.

Person a: Good, good, that's been done before. So's Frankenstein...

Person b: Brill, whack him in - and Werewolves?

Person a: Sold. So, for our hero, how about someone from an old book.

Person b: That's nice - very unoriginal, and, tell you what, let's make him make faintly unfunny wisecracks at opportune moments.

Person a: Person b, you're an un-genius!

Person b: Thanks person a. I think he should have a couple of sidekicks.

Person a: One of them geeky, one of them a woman?

Person b: Yes! Hey, why don't we make our hero get bitten by a werewolf and turn into one!

Person a: Hmm, good idea, a feral, wolven hero. That's been done recently...now, who played that character...let me think.

Person b: Hugh Jackman?

Person a: Yes! Get his agent on the phone.

Person b: Ok, so - design values?

Person a: Well, gothic, obviously with all these monsters knocking about. And that means we can use Neo's coat for our hero...

Person b: Nice one. So, what about when there aren't any monsters then, how are we going to make sure it stays nice and gothy...

Person a: Masquerade ball?

Person b: Fab! Let's have a woman doing some melancholy classical singing. She can wear a black velvet dress.

Person a: All the women can wear velvet dresses!

Person b: Right. Where's me chequebook...?

Phew

Michael Moore's movie will be distributed.

Cup Final

Ok, so Milwall weren't the best opposition in the world, but Ronaldo was absolutely a class above. I don't believe Sven chose Van Nistelroy as man of the match - it made me think of those Alistair McGowan and Roni Ancona sketches in which Nanci sends Sven, who knows nothing about football, reluctantly off to watch matches and it is in fact her that runs the England team. I imagine Sven must have slept through the game, and looked at who scored the most goals. Ronaldo was just phenomenal - the cross he delivered with his right foot hooked around the back of his left leg, the stepovers, the Zidanesque spin and step over - its was awesome...I hope United make one or two good signings over the summer, 'cos that kid's gonna be world class in a year or two, and it would be nice to see a world class team built around him.

My head is freakishly large

I apparently have a head not catered to by the normal hat market. Me and Dave went to the revamped Birmingham City Centre in search of a hat. Dave found one easily, having a normal human sized head. His is a cross between a beret and a flat cap and makes him look like a jazz musician. I am in search of a cool cowboy hat. The only problem is, this means shopping on American websites and the choice is overwhelming me - I've narrowed it down to 8!

Hare's the shortlist - let me know what you think!

Hat One
Hat Two
Hat Three
Hat Four
Hat Five
Hat Six
Hat Seven
Hat Eight

French New Wave Cinema Day

Today at Is This A Good Idea Towers (towers/suburban cul de sac house) we've declared a celebration of French New Wave Cinema. I'm not an expert, by any stretch of the imagination, but having watched Linklatter's Before Sunrise, a
beautifully shot love story set in Vienna, I thought I'd have a look at some of the influences on the American film makers who make my favourite films. I put this whim into practice by watching Truffaut's Les Quatre Cents Coups (The 400 blows) and then Godard's Bande A Part (The Outsiders) and being thoroughly blown away by both of them.

There's a really good article on the French New Wave here for anyone interested in the history or significance of the movement, so I'm skipping the background details, as I'd just be cutting and pasting from it. What I will say is that there isn't a film maker who's films I loved who wasn't influenced by the movement.

The two films are incredibly different - 400 blows is an emotional, subtle and, in many ways, frightening portrayal of a young boy being let down in every conceivable way by his parents who have no idea how to handle him. Truffaut took up the story of the boy's later life in several pictures, none of which I've seen - all of which I'm going to try and track down! The performance by Jean-Pierre Leaud is by a very wide margin the finest performance I've ever seen by a young actor. And the end! Oh the end...not going to say anything about it as if you've never seen it you really should, but, boy, that's one heck of a tracking shot...

As for Bande a Part, really the plot matters not a jot. But the dance sequence and the running through the Louvre sequence are just wonderful. In the sense that they left me full of wonder. Tarantino owes more than a tad to it, as I'm sure he'd be the first to admit/discuss at length with film writers and interviewers...

There is a kind of theme running through the picture, seperated out from the plot or central characters and told visually and symbolically about the relationship between modern and traditional art and culture - there is a moment early on, where, in some kind of English adult education class, the teacher writes on the board "Moderne=Classique", quoting from TS Elliot. And later, the running through the Louvre sequence sort of echoes this - the act, running through an art gallery, to kill time and break an American tourist's record is totally "Moderne" - it's irreverent in the extreme, but the effect on screen of this sight, this glimpse of freedom and abandon and completely substanceless behaviour which manages to transcend the mundane for a moment or two is completely and utterly "classique".

Anyway...check 'em out!

Woohoo - new tracking system installed

I'll be able to see where people come from.

More on the Michael Moore story from the beeb here

Sven's named the England squad for Euro 2004 today. Still no left sided midfielder, - he's apparently planning to play Gerard on the left of the diamond. Hopefully it will be a good tournament. I quite enjoy it when England do well, because there's an interesting vibe around, but I'm sure it'll be the same as ever - increasing expectations till the opening game, a disappointing perfomance and then qualifying from the groups with a great performance raising the expectations again, and then of course losing disappointingly, probably to Germany...It's bin that way since the first world cup I can remember, when the hand of Diego crushed a young boy's hopes and dreams. I warmed to him later in life when I found out it was revenge for the Falklands...not so much a brazen act of cheatery as a radical anti-thatcher statement...

Things I've Called Championship Manager Save Games (or A Little Light Relief)

A fabulous prize for the person who correctly identifies the team I started as manager of. It's not hard. But the prize isn't really fabulous.

It's Real love, yes it's Real Love
United! United! United!
Up the 'ammers!
villa - ooed have thunk?
Ansorgio!
Dag and Red (that one's rubbish)

It's not that they are interesting, just that I've gone to the trouble of naming them in a flowery way...what's that about...

Taking requests

This is just a quick post in response to my lovely step-mum (Hi Beth!) alerting me to the situation with Michael Moore and Farenheit 9/11 - it seems Disney in its infinite corporate wisdom is blocking the release of Moore's latest documentary. The thing is, I'm not even really surprised. But it's a story which deserves the spotlight of every possible media outlet in the known universe, and I'm adding my small light to it! Have a look here for all the details, and just generally a fabulous and important website.

Wow - it took me around 40 minutes to write that!

I know, because I was going to sign off with "Currently listening to: Led Zeppelin 1" but that's not true any more...

Out the other side

Ok - I've been poorly for weeks now, and appear finally to be on the mend (huzzah!). Not much personal news to report - the biggest thing that's happened was definately the loss of the entire contents of my 40gb hard drive - fortunately the contents of my 180gb drive are safe and sound. The biggest loss in the entire 35gb or so of data was obviously my movie script. I've got back almost all of it from various people I'd recently sent it to, but there's a bit of work lost. Ironically, I had literally got as far as sticking a floppy disc in the drive ready to back up the latest work on the script, but had got distracted and forgotten about it -the next day - *poof* up in smoke. Not too drastic though, I remember most of what I'd done! It is nice to have a fresh install of xp - only a matter of time before it gets all clogged up again : )

I've been entertaining myself by watching lots and lots of films whilst I've been poorly (Almost Famous directors cut and old favourite Dazed and Confused being the winners of best 70s classic rock youth movies I've seen lately ;) . My one significant trip out of the house was to see Bill Bailey (who has a little blog on his site). He was truly truly (repeat ad infinitum) wonderful. Very funny routine about Argos, very cool Portishead doing Zipadeedoodah and very very cool looking at your washing up through the vegetable drawer in your fridge to see it underwater bit. And BBC news music apocalyptic rave mix - I've been waiting for that since the day they changed to the current music.

I really want to write a long rambling post in defense of the Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, having seen and really enjoyed them both in the last week, but bearing in mind I was so poorly I actually quite enjoyed an episode of the Weakest Link I think I'd better make sure my critical faculties are definately in order first. I wouldn't want to needlessly upset and/or alienate Simon Pegg.

So Blair might be going

Well now, it really does appear as if the party is politiking like crazy at the mo - Prescott might be/appear to be a bit of a buffoon when it comes to his media image, but presumably one doesn't become deputy prime minister without a bit of political nouse, and the quote from the Times article - "I think it’s true that, when plates appear to be moving, everyone positions themselves for it" - seems to be a pretty strong indication that all is not well in the court of President Teflon. And this article, if well sourced, definately seems to indicate that Blair might be on his way out.

Of course, looking at it dispassionately, and with a bit of historical overview there's a strong case to be made for the fact that he was always going to have to step aside once he had got into the double bed of foreign policy with his arms so closely wrapped around a neo-conservative, extreme-right-wing, election stealing failed oil magnate and his not-so-failed oil magnate buddies (wow, that's a stretched and unpleaseant metaphor). Blair's desperate pleas to the electorate before the Iraq war all hinged on him being able to steer the security council into a second resolution, and once that had failed, he was left holding hands with George. Bush would never have been elected in Britain. He's widely distrusted (and rightly so, he's a liar, a thief and a warmongerer, and I'm pretty sure he couldn't sue me for saying any of those thingss) and Blair's closeness with Bush, if it plays well in the UK will only play with people who aren't gonna vote Labour if their lives depend on it. So Blair has finally made himself so unattractive to the party that has changed so much to please him, because they saw pleasing him as a way to power, that he might be pushed aside for Brown, to gain a bump in momentum which will take them to victory at the next election. Most of the tory amoury will work best against Blair, as he has his head above the parapet for long enough that they've managed to take pretty good aim. The Iraq situation is not going to get any better in the near future, and the tories will be able to say "well, we may have supported the removal of Saddam, but we wouldn't have done x,y and indeed z." Blair might have made the Labour party electable again, but at the moment he seems to be working on the double - he's lied to "the people" he's been playing to all along, and he's making the tories electable again. And for that reason alone, I hope the "plates" are shifting.

No politics for a while - honest! BTW I need to counter all this by saying that, genuinely, I think most of the people involved really truly are trying to do the best they can, and have been blinded by either their education, their experience, or their own egos...

OK - two very different links for you

Cheat Commandos - I'm almost sure it would have been my favourite tv programme when I was eight.

And, a very interesting article by an American pollster about the presidential election, that I found via b-may. I remain unsure as to whether he would have been my favourite pollster when I was eight.

No no no

First police chiefs rapping

And now Tories doing Ali G

*shakes head sadly*

Dubbya

A very interesting article about Dubbya. I found it via someone I found via defective yeti, but I don't remember who!

Christian conspiracy

The link that I posted below about the site with one letter different to mine, it turns out, is part of a Christian conspiracy to use the URLs of blogs, with one letter changed - blogpot instead of blogspot. Now, frankly, I think that's a bit out of order. Whilst I understand the desire to protelyze (even if I can't spell it)in order to "save" I think the any means necessary approach ill befits the Christian message. Ho hum.

Bombjack!

Bombjack!!

What a difference one letter makes

Compare and contrast this site with mine! Sorry , bit of a self indulgent post, but I mean - I'm one letter away from being an online bible! And not just that, but one which makes all your transitions between pages into wipes and fades. Not good at all...

Incidentally

May the Forth be with you...always.

Marble Madness!

Got this link via Doctorvee - way cool - it's still as much of a nightmare as ever...

A proper post at last

As promised, a post covering all the topics listed in the post below - though the 'orrible virus is still with me, I seem to have a bit more brain power, so long as I don't have to concentrate too hard.

~Why Snooker is Great~

Ah, Ronnie. Didn't you do well. This years World Championships had a touch of the anti-climax about them after the excitment of earlier rounds. However, it has to be said that the Essex Exocet as the MC kept calling him (not sure what it means!) was absolutely knock you down kick you in the teeth fantastic. He beat the greatest player in history 17-4 in the semi final, and he did it without resorting to name calling or other such shenanigans, but rather by playing composed snooker that was artful, and also, crucially, craftful. His control of the cue ball and his shot selection were awesome, and his complete dominance of the field meant he ran out a thoroughly deserving winner. Graeme Dott (my goodness me that's a lot of pictures of Graeme Dott!) was a revelation in the semis and the quarters, and indeed in the first session of the final, but in the end his apparently granite tough composure was fractured by the sheer size of Ronnie's snookery genius. The fact that only a few months ago, Dott snapped his cue at a motorway service station in frustration at his poor form only makes the size of his achievement more impressive.

I love snooker. It's an incredible game. It's like chess, only with sticks and balls and a table. The essence of snooker at the highest levels is the mental battle that takes place between two people who are essentially both capable of beating each other. The winner is generally the one who best deals with the fact that their subconcious (which is in charge of their ability to play the shots their concious mind wants them to play) is being bombarded by the pressure of the situation. This years championships were slightly different, in that O'Sullivan was a class above the field in terms of ability, but normally the abiltiy levels are similar, and it is mental tenacity and composure that wins games.

There is also something incredibly beautful to me about the applied physics of the game, the controlled environment in which spinning balls collide with each other in a way which is either very controlled and precise, or chaotic and apparently random. The sounds are very satisfying when the contacts are smooth and the pots are true. The levels of application required to become a master of the game are mind boggling - the hours spent in smokey and dimly lit snooker halls mean it is little wonder the sight of a glowing and healthy looking snooker player is a rare one. But I could watch them pot those balls all day (in fact, for the last week I have been). I can't play to save my life sadly!

~Why Muppets from Space is a great movie~

No, seriously, I mean it, it's fab! I watched it when it was first released in the cinema, during the height of my "hey the muppets are cool, surely that's about acid" phase and was slightly disappointed. Not that there weren't scenes you could point to and say "hey the muppets are cool, surely that's about acid" - Gonzo and the cosmic space fish anyone? But much more than that there are some really great sequences and some very interesting themes explored in Muppets from Space. My favourite sequence by far is the opening, with all the muppets getting ready in the morning (fighting over the bathroom, having breakfast etc.) This leads in to the exploration of the central theme of the movie, Gonzo's existential angst about being alone in the universe. His lonliness drives him to the edge of madness, and it is only the arrival of his family from outer space that saves him from this bleak mental oblivion. Gonzo's always been a bit of a self-harmer, always first in line to be shot out of a cannon, and muppets from space is the first time that some of the roots of his psychosis are investigated. It's the first time that it's not good enough to describe him as a "whatever." There are some great supporting performances from the guest stars and some really really top notch comedy writing. If you like the Muppets and passed over "from Space" the first time, check it out again!

~Why Lenny, the 1974 Lenny Bruce biopic starring Dustin Hoffman, is a really properly great movie~

The Lenny Bruce story is really really moving. He was a pioneering stand up comedian who was basically driven to his death by being constantly busted for obsenity and possesion. Most of the links here will contain v. strong language as a result of this btw. If you've never come across him and you have any interest at all in the history of stand up comedy and aren't put off by "adult" themes, check him out. The film is a great place to start, Dustin Hoffman is remarkable as Bruce, I mean absolutely remarkable - Hoffman is a famously methody actor, so it's no surprise that he gets the character so perfect, but it was a breathtakingly accurate portrayal. Valerie Perrine as Honey Bruce, Lenny's wife and Jan Miner as his mother also give really really compelling performances. The film's structure is based around a series of interviews, with Honey, and Lenny's mother and agent, intercut with performances and traditional story telling. I could ramble on about how wonderfully it is directed and how the dialogue is superb and how it darn near made me cry at the end, but I won't. I'll end this section with a link to this somewhat heartening story - I would imagine this would mean a tremendous amount to his family, and the people that loved him.

~Football~

Leeds have gone down, perhaps fatally, Wolves haven't managed to avoid the drop, United are, tragically, rubbish and are gonna struggle to beat Milwall and Arsenal may very well go the whole season unbeaten. The only good news is that West Brom are back up, Birmingham might finish in the top ten for only the eighth time ever (is anyone else surprised by that stat) and Villa might get into Europe! Come on you West Midlands footballing revival!

~The Is This a Good Idea Referendum Result~

An honourable draw! Phill started the ball rolling, in order to stir up some controvers. This worked admirably, as there have been several minor flamings in the comments. The votes, when counted, come out at 4 all, but the reasons for and against stack up somewhat in the no campaign's favour. So, no new career for me in politics just yet - I'll join the party if Tom gets either PM, Home secretary or Foreign Minister though...Thanks to all those who voted, and it's been lovely to have a wider range of readers!

Right, all that's left me a bit exhausted, going to curl up on the sofa and try not to feel sorry for myself now ;-)

I am one of two entries on google if you seach for Iconic Twix fonts...

Thanks to whoever it was that did that search and brought this incredible fact to my attention...

Apologies for lack of blogging

I have a horrible virus thingy which means my brain isn't working properly and I can't concentrate on anything for very long! My next post will, however, be a good one, and feature such topics as "Why Snooker is Great" "Why Muppets from Space is a great movie" "Why "Lenny" the 1974 Lenny Bruce biopic starring Dustin Hoffman is a really properly great movie." " Football" and, most excitingly of all "The results of the Is This A Good Idea referendum!"