Booze worse than Speed or Acid shocker...

So recent research from the Lancet magazine suggests a better way to categorise drugs is based on the harm they do to the user and to society more widely. The final list put heroin at the top, alcohol was in fourth place, ketamine in fifth, and tobacco in sixth. Cocaine was at number two followed by barbiturates. Cannabis kept its mid-rank position at number 11. Bringing up the rear were khat or qat in 20th place and amyl nitrates (poppers) in 19th. Ecstasy was the third least dangerous drug, according to researchers. So there you go. Think I'll stick to a good strong cuppa.

Gas Bill...

I know the warmer weather is upon us at the moment but memories of last month's chill came back when I got my three monthly gas bill recently. This time last year it was £132. But this most recent one was over £455! Either I've turned into a gas guzzler this past three months, they've made a mistake or gas prices have shot up (which everybody tells me has indeed happened). Wait, it's probably all three. Let's hope me turning the heating down, having it on for less time and British Gas's recent price drop will help with next year's winter bill.

I feel like a pelican. Everywhere I look there's a massive bill in front of me.

Arsenal 3-1 Man City...

Yay! We're up to third (for the moment at least). It was an exciting yet frustrating game to watch at the Emirates last night though. We just don;t have the strikers available. The law of averages (should such a thing exist) meant that if our midfield got it up to their area it had to go in eventually. Three times as it happens. And Lehmann is a ruddy liability at times. But the biys played well and the scoreline reflected the game we watched.

It's Gym Space, But Not As We Know It...

I've final taken the plunge (quite literally as it has a pool) and joined our local gym. Highbury Pool Highbury Leisure Centre has just had a £1.6m refit and now sports a pool, three gym rooms, two studios and a sauna. I've not actually set foot inside a gym in over three years but the double impetus of an ever expanding waistline and slight wheezing after walking up even the shortest flight of stairs has spurred me to think again. Heart attacks before you're fifty are so last century.

The membership set me back the princely sum of £517 plus a £50 joining fee which I guess is a high enough price/incentive to keep going regularly. No point in wasting the fee. I've promised Stu I'll give myself ten weeks to get into it.

The membership I chose (Izz card Platinum) gives me access to everything for free so we went swimming on Sunday (Stu thirty lengths, me a paltry twenty) and last night I went to a step class (how 1990s?). I used to go to step three times a week yesteryear at the Y but I'd not done it in over a decade. It soon came back to me though; 'repeater knee', 'straddle', 'superman' and 'round the world'. And no, I wasn't the only man in the class. Just. God, I ache this morning. But I feel better.

Has anyone got any tips for starting out back at the gym?

Arsenal 2-1 Bolton ...

Paul and I went to see the Gunners play on a lovely sunny Saturday afternoon. It was our first win in five games. What a relief. Shame we had to come from behind again though.

The Crimson Diva - Marc Almond remixed...

My mate Hanko had edited a video of Marc Almond's The Crimson Diva. Fab.

Gwen McCrae...

Last night Stu treated me to dinner, drinks and a show: the rather marvelous Gwen McCrae at the Jazz Cafe in London's glitzy Camden Town.

Due to turn sixty-four this year McCrae has lost none of her sultry sexiness. She oozed onto the stage cracking jokes, playing with the audience and rendering each of her songs note perfect. Buried amongst her hits Rockin' Chair, Funky Sensation, All This Love That I'm Givin' and 90% of Me Is You were a bit of Prince's Purple Rain and Hues Corporation's Rock The Boat. Fab.

Apple iPod Sales Surpass 100m...

Not that that means there are 100m owners mind you. I've bought four of them myself!

Arsenal 0-1 West Ham...

I took my Dad to see Arsenal play on Saturday. A shameful performance by the Gunners didn't in any way dampen my mood. I do like my Dad.

Brain Teaser Answers...

Well we only had one entry this time round so maybe it was a bit too tough. I'll make it easier next time. Here are the answers anyway.

1. 72 people: we have enough room for 60 of these, expanding the 60 capcity by 40% will give us enough room for 84 - which we know is 12 more than the current count.

2. 4 people.
159 is the product of the number of people invited and the number of pages in each document. The only two numbers which, when multiplied together, give 159 are 3 and 53, which are known as its prime factors. So the number of people given documents was either 159, 53 or 3. It is extremely unlikely that Stephen would have had time to distribute 53 documents to 53 people (let alone 159) in the few minutes available, so he must have distributed three copies of the document, and each copy had 53 pages in it. His manager kept the original, making four documents for the four at the meeting.

3. The letter U

300...

Stu and I went to see 300 last night. Load of old bollocks. I almost fell asleep. Bring back Sin City (coming soon I hear). It made the 300 Spartans with their 1800 abs seem like homophobic homoerotic hypocrites. Bah!

Spartans, 300: Plot, Nil.

Calvin Harris 'Acceptable in the 80s'...

I so love this: [Video removed]

Brain Teasers...

A slightly tougher set of questions this time round as it's Easter.

1. Our company has recently expanded and we can no longer accommodate all the staff in the conference room for a training course. Luckily 12 people do not need to attend the training course on this occasion so we are OK this time round. However if we increase the conference room by 40%, this will allow for everyone, plus enough room for the extra 12 people for future events. How many people work at our company?


2. Stephen has to take photocopies of the marketing strategy and personally deliver one copy to everyone who is coming to the management meeting at noon, and return the original to his manager. And he only has half an hour to do it. Stephen churned out 159 sheets of paper from the photocopier. How many people went to the meeting?


3. What occurs once in June, once in July, but twice in August?

The Apple of My i(Pod)...

Apple giveth and Apple taketh away.

N-n-n-n-nineteen...

I've now been in my current office for thirteen years. And for six years before that I was doing the same job for the same company but in a slightly different office across the road. So that's nineteen years doing the same job. Man and boy.

Playstation 3 Is Shit Video...

So how are the Sony marketing-heads handling all the negative press surrounding the launch of their new games console? Stuff like this ain't helping, a lovely little song complaining about Sony pissing their brand away.

And here are the top ten things that Sony Execs wish they hadn't said.

Billy Mackenzie Tribute...

Last night Darren, David, Paul and I went to the Billy Mackenzie Tribute at the Shepherd's Bush Empire. It would have been Billy's 50th birthday so lots of bands got together for a bit of a party and a benefit night in aid of Sound Seekers.

The acts were there I guess because they were either Billy friends, fans or collaborators. We didn't get too much of the maestro's oeuvre in the end but enough to keep the interest up.

On the bill were Electric Soft Parade (a rather over long prog rock set I thought), British Electric Foundation (their first ever gig believe it or not with highlights being Claudia Brucken on backing vocals for Temptation and a haunting version of Party Fears Two), OneTwo (OMD + Ms Brucken = fabulousness), Claudia Brucken & Andrew Poppy (ZTT is alive and well my friends), Subterraneans (obviously real Billy fans and I loved their version of No) and Apollo 440 (their first gig in seven years and who came closest to actually sounding like Billy).

It was a great night and left me wanting more. Well, more Claudia Brucken to be honest.

YouTube Video Awards 2006...

So the seven 'best' clips on YouTube have been announced. They're all good but the OKGo video still gets my vote.

Flying The Flag (For You)...

I know this happened last week but I've been a bit busy: So Scooch's airline-themed tune Flying The Flag (For You) will be representing us in Eurovision in May. Fab. I for one love the camp song and the even camper dance routine. I have a bit of a soft spot for Scooch - Mike Stock and Matt Aitken's answer to Pete Warterman's Steps. Their hit When My Baby never fails to bring tears of joy to my eyes. No really. I cry with joy whenever I hear it. Really.

My name is overyourhead and I'm a Scooch fan. There, I've said it.

Slapton...

It was fantastic weekend down in Devon. Sarah and I and the triplets drove down last Thursday and spent four days in a cottage in Slapton. We had gone down to spend some time with Sarah's brother Stuart. It was great to see Stuey who I have known as a close friend for going on twenty years now. But of course. as was right. everything centred arond the kiddy-winks. At fifteen months they are almost walking, almost talking and a handful of fun to be with. I got a chance to bathe them, dress them, feed them, walk them and play with them: being Daddy for a few days. Bliss. You can see a few snaps below.