Quote Of The Day

"Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake - Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956)"

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Benugo...
Last Sunday Stu and I met up with Sarah, Ben and the triplets on the South Bank to go to the family themed film funday at the bfi - specifically to benugo bar and kitchen. Most people were wrapped up warm and joining in the fun for the launch event of film and workshops inspired by a snowy theme. We were there for the wine. Great kid friendly event. The next funday is on Sun 24 Feb when they are showing Peter Pan with pirate-themed workshops for kids and a special menu at benugo. We'll be there!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle...
Paul and I went to the game last night at the Emirates. It was the Premiership this time round rather than the FA Cup. Haven't we been here already this week? Same opponents and same score line. A three-one slaughter. Great night out. Cheers boys.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Night Out With the Girls...

Last week Stu and I met up with Bee and Fay for a drink or three after work. Great to see the girls on good form. We really should do it more often.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle...
Drew and I were at the game on Saturday. It was a shaky start but we improved in the latter stages of the second half. Wenger must have put a rocket up (PBYC?) them at half-time because they came out battling for it. The Gunners dominated in the second half with two goals by Adebayor and an own-goal by Nicky Butt off a free-kick from Fabregas. Now we're just waiting to see who we play in the fifth round. The draw is at 1:25pm today.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Yazoo Live Update...
Yay! Just got pre-sale tickets for the Hammersmith Apollo gig. Can't wait.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Yazoo Live...
Are you a Yazoo fan? I am! Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke are reforming for a mini-tour in June.

"Yazoo (Vince Clarke & Alison Moyet) have announced that they will reunite for the first time in over 25 years for "Reconnected", a UK tour in June, starting in Glasgow on the 4th and culminating in a headline show at London's Hammersmith Apollo on the 18th. Tickets are available from 1st February direct from the venue or online at ticketmaster.co.uk, gigsandtours.com, livenation.co.uk. The tour is preceded by "In Your Room", a 4 disc box set which includes remasters and 5.1 mixes of both Yazoo's classic albums "Upstairs At Eric's" and "You And Me Both", b-sides and remixes and a DVD featuring a new short film containing exclusive new interviews with Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet and the promo videos for Don't Go, The Other Side Of Love, Nobody's Diary, Situation (1990) and Only You (1999)."

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Tottenham 5-1 Arsenal (Spurs win 6-2 on aggregate)...
Paul and I went to Shite White Hart Lane last night to watch our B team get ripped to shreds by Spurs. I think they just really wanted it more than we did. Hey ho. It was only the Carling Cup so it's not like it actually mattered (grimace).

Mind you, it was my first time at that shit-hole and it was a bit like battling through a war zone getting there. Tottenham is rough. As we arrived we were greeted with chants of 'I'd rather be gay than a Gooner' ringing in our ears. Well I'm both. So there!

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

ITV...
When did ITV suddenly get good again? On series record on my V+ I'm currently watching Friday night's Moving Wallpaper and Echo Beach (no, not that Echo Beach but it does use the song as the theme music) as well as Saturday night's All New You've Been Framed (for the Harry Hill commentary as well as the sight gags), Harry Hill's TV Burp and Primeval.

Gone are the days when ITV was a no-go area. I remember when our mum and dad would only let us watch BBC's Blue Peter and not ITV's Magpie ("darling, they're collecting money not bottle tops!")

Monday, January 21, 2008

Herongate Wood...
Kev's funeral on Friday was very moving. It was a green burial at Herongate Wood - a 25 acre green burial site at Herongate, just outside Brentwood in Essex. Over a hundred people attended and many family, friends and colleagues got an opportunity to stand up and say kind words and share fond memories of Kev. There are also plans for a large memorial / celebration of Kev life soon.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Brain Teaser - Number sequence - Answer...
OK, this one was a bit more lateral than usual. The answer is: 13112221
You read each preceding line out and write what you say. So the last line would read the preceding line as : One 3, One 1, Two 2's, Two 1's...

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Brain Teaser - Number sequence...
What is the next sequence of numbers?

1
11
21
1211
111221
312211
????????

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Arsenal 1-1 Birmingham...
Mark and I went to see Arsenal play Birmingham on Saturday at the Emirates. We squandered a one-nil lead as yet again we underestimated the opposition. Grrr.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Battleship Potemkin...
Last Friday Stuart and I went to see the Pet Shop Boys with the BBC Concert Orchestra perform live to a screening of Battleship Potemkin at the Barbican.

I knew the Pet Shop Boys music quite well as I'd owned the recording for a while but had never actually seen the film. And wow what a film. I can see why it gets rated as one of the greatest films of all time. And of course many other films have been inspired by the powerful scene at the Odessa steps - a baby in a pram rolling down steps amidst gun fire (The Godfather, The Untoucables, Revenge of the Sith, Brazil etc.) If you've not seen Battleship Potemkin before you can watch it online or download it for free from the rather wonderful Internet Archive.

Friday, January 11, 2008

The Birthday Problem...
Does anyone have the same birthday as you? Of course they do. I share mine with Olivia Newton-John, Bryan Ferry and Will Self. But how about within your group of friends?

When I was in the first year of secondary school our maths teacher asked us a question: in a group of randomly chosen people, how big will the group need to be before there is more than a 50/50 chance that some pair of them will have the same birthday?

We all guessed. Wildy. Some said 365. Some said 183. I was second closest though with a guess of 50.

The actual number is surprisingly low. Just 23. That is to say if you have just 23 people in group there is a 50/50 chance that two of them with share the same birthday.

Now this birthday problem asks whether any of the 23 people have a matching birthday with any of the others — not one in particular. To find out the size of the group in which there is a 50/50 chance of someone having the same birthday as you the maths is a bit different and the answer is much bigger. 253.

So it depends of the question you ask. I don't know any people in my group of friends who have the same birthday as me but I do know people within my group of friends who share the same birthday. Which stacks up with the odds.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Arsenal 1-1 Tottenham...
I have to say that Spurs were the better side last night in the Carling Cup semi-final first leg but it was a thrilling game to watch nevertheless. Paul and I were ever optimistic despite going one-nil down towards the end of the first half. And despite the wind and the rain we were rewarded with an admittedly lucky equaliser from Theo ten minutes or so before home time. Second leg here we come.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Brain Teaser: Answer...
7.5 degrees.
The minute hand turns the dial four times an hour so forty eight times every twelve hours (360 degrees). So if at 3 o'clock the hands are at ninety degrees then a quarter of an hour later the hour hand will have moved on by 360 / 48 = 7.5 degrees.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Brain Teaser...
The time is 3:15. How many degrees are there between the hour-hand and the minute-hand on the clock?
[Thanks Bryn]

Monday, January 07, 2008

I'm Glad You Weren't In Charge Of The Headstone...
It's A Typo! Bit rude and best with sound.
[Thanks Blake]

Friday, January 04, 2008

Sparks...
As you may know Sparks are going to perform all twenty-one of their albums in their entirety over twenty-one nights in May and June later this year. We were a little torn between our favourite album to go and see but have eventually plumped for Plagiarism (their sort of greatest hits/remix album) on Saturday 7th June. I wonder if Erasure, Faith No More and/or Jimmy Sommerville will show up as they all collaborated on that album. Hope so.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

St. Trinian's...
Last night Stu and I went to see the St. Trinian's movie at the Vue in Islington. Oh dear. Think Spiceworld: The Movie (made by same people). The setup was sort of OK (being based upon the books and The Belles Of St Trinian's) but it just should have been funnier. Rupert Everett was sort of OK but Russell Brand just looked nervous. And I wasn't sure just who the film was aimed at; adults or kids. Mostly it seemed to written be for 12-15 year old girls judging by most of the cultural references in it but then just about every plot twist revolved around giving the relevant character drugs (uppers, downers, poppers, magic mushrooms, skunk or ecstasy). So not for kids then. I somehow doubt that they'll be making a sequel anytime soon. Shame.

Best bit: fast edited montages set to songs by Shampoo, Sophie Ellis Bextor and Girls Aloud.

Best 'in' joke: when Rupert Everett's character (in drag) muses to Colin Firth's character, "we met in another time... another country..."

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Arsenal 2-0 West Ham...
Drew and I went to the game yesterday. The Gunners took an early lead and in the end had a comfortable win. So that's ten points from four games over Christmas. Nice.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

New Year's Eve 2007...

Last night we went round to Andrew and Michael new flat for drinks before going to the RVT to celebrate NYE. There were lots of people there and it was great to see everyone. At one point there was a fire in a flat opposite and Nau and I legged it across the road to try and get some of the people out of the flats above. Soon the fire brigade turned up so we left them to it. Later on the RVT wasn't quite as hot as the fire but getting close. We headed home at about 2am. A few snaps below.