Your Disco Needs Hula Hoops...

At Duckie on Saturday night was a fantastically camp hula hoop act. Here are the last few moments to give you a flavour.

Pet Shop Boys at The Brits...

So it's congratulations to the Pet Shop Boys for their well deserved Outstanding Contribution To Music Award at The Brits. They played a 'Pet Shop Boys on 45' mix of Suburbia, Love etc., Left To My Own Devices, Always On My Mind, Go West, What Have I done To Deserve This? (with Lady Ga Ga), Domino Dancing, I'm With Stupid, Being Boring, It's A Sin (with Brendan Flowers), All Over The World and finally West End Girls (Lady Ga Ga and Brendon Flowers). Well done Boys.

And they are on tour (pre-sale here)!

When A Bird Breaks A Blade In A Jet Engine...

One of the many reasons I don't like flying; start jet engine, insert dead bird and stand well back.

Arsenal 4-0 Cardiff...

It was a rough night at the Grove last night for our FA Cup fourth-round replay. Not the football, mind you. That was fine. On the pitch Eduardo scored a couple just under a year since breaking his leg and Bendter and van Persie made the total four. So it was a convincing win against a rather crap Cardiff City.

No, the roughness was outside the ground. I counted eight police vans, six snarling police dogs with handlers, a circling helicopter and wave after wave of riot police. And that was just on my particular route away from the ground. Goodness only knows how many there were in all the other directions.

Duckie @ Bexhill On Sea...

Last Friday Simon, Paul, Stuart and I went down to stay with Charlie in St Leonards on the south coast. Charlie had organised tickets for us to go to Duckie's 13th birthday bash at the De La Warr Building at Bexhill On Sea and was letting us stay. Charlie was a brilliant host - so much so that Stuart and I stayed on until the Sunday.

Duckie was great fun; six hours of Amy Lame, Miss High Kick, a fire eater, a local opera singer, dancers, a hula hooping sailor, the Readers Wives spinning the tunes and much else besides - all the usual nonsense that we know and love.

Below are some of the snaps I took from the weekend. You can see many more by clicking here.

Spotify...

I love Spotify. It doesn't have the biggest range of music ever but it's still quite big. And it's free if you don't mind an advert every 30 mins or so. The sound quality is pretty good and it's very responsive. Faster than playing a locally stored track on iTunes I'd say. Great if you want to listen to that one track without actually buying it. Kind of like our own radio on last.fm.

Microsoft Tag...

So this is mobile tagging with Microsoft Tag. You take a picture with your iPhone say. It decodes the symbols and takes you to a URL. This tag take you to this site.

Here's the blurb: Microsoft Tag creates unlimited possibilities for making interactive communications an instant, entertaining part of life. They tranform physical media (print advertising, billboards,product packages, information signs, in-store merchandising, or even video images)—into live links for accessing information and entertainment online. With the Microsoft Tag application, just aim your camera phone at a Tag and instantly access mobile content, videos, music, contact information, maps, social networks, promotions, and more. Nothing to type, no browsers to launch!

Get it at http://gettag.mobi/.

Entertaining Mr Sloane...

Last night Stuart and I went to see Entertaining Mr Sloane at the Trafalgar Studios in London's glitzy Whitehall.

It starred Imelda Staunton as the sex starved sister Kath, Simon Paisley Day as the gay brother and Mathew Horne as the eponymous bisexual anti-hero Mr Sloane.

Originally staged way back in 1964, Joe Orton’s wickedly biting comedy sparked controversy at the time with its mischievous peep at the hypocrisy behind the new permissive society of the 1960’s and the British fascination with sex. And it hasn't lost any of it's comic value. We laughed like drains.

Horne was a tad miscast although the savagely sexual Staunton and 'liberal' Day were excellent.

Best line: "It's what is called a dilemma, boy", Ed explains, "and you are on the horns of it."

Code...

 

To keep anonymous happy...

1. New PSB single "Love etc." is 'quite good' to quote a Popjustice phrase.
2. New Torchwood trailer less good.
3. Girls Aloud song is tepid at best.

Star Trek Communicator...

Trekkies, to the bridge! Gadgeteers Dream Cheeky have come up with a VoIP/Skype speakerphone that looks exactly like a Star Trek Communicator.

It uses Bluetooth and will be launched to coincide with the arrival of the new movie.

I want one!

Tottenham 0-0 Arsenal...

He had has to go.

Stephen Hawking...

He was one of my tutors at university. And now true fame at last: being immortalised in Lego.

Just Can't Get Enough...

British-Irish girl group The Saturdays will be releasing a cover of Just Can't Get Enough (the Depeche Mode song written by Vince Clarke) as their fourth single. It will be the official single for Comic Relief 2009, with the proceeds being donated to the charity.

Sunset Boulevard...

Last night Stu and I went to see the Watermill Theatre's diminuitive production of Sunset Boulevard at the Comedy Theatre in London glitzy West End. Sunset Boulevard is a musical with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on the 1950 Sunset Boulevard film, the plot revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the fabled Los Angeles street. When young screenwriter Joe Gillis accidentally crosses her path, she sees in him an opportunity to make her comeback to the big screen. Romance and tragedy follow. The production uses a brilliant cast who simutaneously act, play musical instruments, sing and dance. An amazing feat which is carried off with much skill. The Olivier Award nods are well deserved. Last night Norma was played by Kathryn Evans (wife of Doctor Who and Blue Peter's Peter Purvis) and she was a revelation. Dramatic, musical and with the grace of a ballerina she pretty much stole every scene she was in. If you get a chance, go see.

Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life...

And on the eighth day, God created Charles Darwin, and behold, he was good. And God said, go forth Charles, be fruitful and multiply, and study the beasts of the earth and the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air. So Charles went forth, was fruitful and multiplied. And he studied the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. And then, when his work was done, he returned to his creator ... and only went and killed him. Patricide, I believe it's called.
[Sam Wollaston : Last Night's TV: The Guardian]

Andrei Arshavin...

Andrei Arshavin, or Arse Shovin' as no doubt he will be nicknamed, has finally joined the Gunners.

He'll be sporting the old 23 shirt previously worn by Sol Campbell. Good luck, mate-ski.

We have high expectations of you.

I wonder if Wenger will play you against the Spuds on Sunday or whether he'll wait until Cardiff on Monday week...

Dame Edna Experience...

 

Snow...

 

Arsenal 0-0 West Ham...

Paul and I froze our nuts off at The Grove on Saturday afternoon. It was a dire performance. Our boys had most of the possession but in the end couldn't make it count. So our Champions League hopes suffered yet another dent.