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QotD: First Celebrity Crush
Who was your first celebrity crush?
Submitted by Glory.
I have destinct memories of being obsessed with a card I had of her from a bubble gum collection, and having no idea why I was obsessed with it. All I knew was that looking at it made me happy and gave me an odd feeling of longing.
Puberty (and the metal bikini) were many years away.
QotD: Best Day
What is your favorite day of the week?
I'm really struggling with this one. Friday would be an obvious choice, but I spend so many Friday nights on the A12 or M4 that I rarely look forward to them. Nobody with any sanity looks forward to midweek days. Monday can be cool, when I'm enjoying my job as much as I am, but that just sounds, well, disturbed.
The Lords of The North (Bernard Cornwell)
The 9th century is a time of intense struggle, with the idea of England being born in the south, and nearly being destroyed by the Vikings before it takes root. King Alfred ("the Great") not only defeats the Norsemen, but steadily brings the whole country under the banner of Wessex. The first two books take us through Alfred's near total defeat and fightback, through the lens of Uthred, a young Saxon from the north who was raised by Vikings.
This books sees Alfred put on the back-burner while Uthred heads north to deal with personal quarrels, and gets caught up in the machinations of a would be king of the North. It's a page turner, as one would expect from Cornwell, with a huge twist in the middle that caught me completely by surprise. But it's not a book I can recommed to those who aren't already reading the series. It's a book of tranistion, tying up plot threads from previous books, and clearling the decks for the next major steps in the major arc of the books: the rise of King Alfred. We pay occasional visits to that story, and get ideas of how it's going, but this feels like an attempt to reconnect Uthred with his roots before returning to a struggle that is only just becoming his own.
An enjoyable read, sure enough, but only as part of a series. It's too clearly a chunk of filler between the key events in Alfred's reign to stand alone as a novel. Pick up The Last Kingdom and start from the beginning.
Brief Lives: Newton (Peter Ackroyd)
Take this brief, but enjoyable, biography of Newton, the founding father of modern scientific thought. Ackroyd plunges the depths of his genius and his obsession, and sheds new light on familiar stories, as one would expect. But he doesn't shy away from the areas of his life that cleave less to the modern idea of what a scientist should be: his deep, abiding and ever-so-slightly heretical Christian faith and his life-long flirtations with alchemy.
He also doesn't play down the difficult, arrogant and insecure nature of the man, and delves into the conflicts with others and periods of seclusion that defined his life. What makes this book, like earlier efforts in the series, so compelling is that they take the greatness of the subject's work for granted, and delve as best as one can, into the reality of the man behind the work. And that can't help but be fascinating.
In The Beginning...there were Barenaked Ladies
The Barenaked Ladies/YouTube video I blogged a couple of days ago, combined with general video-related noodling here in the office this afternoon have reminded me of this:
Little did I know…
Vox Hunt: Yeah, About This Thing...
Show us something weird that's on your desk.
Submitted by Alex.
In the most incredibly tardy Vox Hunt entry ever:
Good Morning, Vox
Good morning! For the first time in a fortnight, I feel like I've had a good night's sleep and I'm actually facing the world with a positive attitude.
Well, a positive attitude and a big pot of coffee.
I do wander whether my good night's sleep has anything to do with the two glasses of wine I had at the Mashup event Piers and I attended last night. (There's coverage over on One Man & His Blog) Maybe it relaxed me enough that I actually slept properly.
I've become dangerously close to a teetotaller in recent years, so maybe a little gentle boozing is the way forward…
Barenaked YouTube
Canadian band the Barenaked Ladies, boosters of Google traffic for bloggers everywhere, have pulled together a video for one of their tracks by working with YouTube celebrities:
Report from Adders Central
Tired. Very tired. Too many late nights and long drives over the last week.
Productive day at work.
Bed beckons.
More tomorrow.
That is all.
Vox Hunt: Set Your DVR
Video: Show us a clip from your current favorite TV show.
"You are inelegant"
"Daleks have no concept of ele-e-gance"
"This is obvious"
Put the handbags down, guys.
QotD: The Best Brew
What method do you use to prepare your coffee or tea?
Submitted by AgentBouche
While I'd like one of those several-hundred-quid flash coffee making machines, I (a) can't afford it and (b) don't have the space for one in the current flat. Maybe when we've moved…
My family has all fallen for the charms of the Tassimo, since Mark & Jo bought one for La Taupanne, but I'm less convinced myself. While it makes nice enough coffee, I miss the ritual involved with the French press, and am worried about the environmental impact of all those plastic pods.
QotD: Apple For The Teacher
Who was your best (or worst) primary school teacher?
Submitted by Minnow.
(Question edited for the British market)
My best was Mrs Simm, who taught me in primary 3. She was a lovely woman, with over 40 years of teaching little Scottish brats under her belt. She knew every teaching trick in the books, but still clearly loved her job.
My worst was her immediate predecessor Mrs Pritchard, who was rubbish and confused "bored, bright kid" with "stupid kid". Strangely enough, I can remember Mrs Simm clearly, and have no memory at all of what Mrs Pritchard looked like.
Well, it's nearly Friday Night in Sutton...
further to Andrew's post about the Fashion Police arriving in Sutton:
I can now report that it's the dog section in attendance.
Insert your own joke here.
Hitting The Headlines (on p29)
Just over a week ago, Katie Allen of The Guardian came to visit us here at RBI Towers:
You can also see the results online. All in all, I'm pretty pleased. Hanging the story on the current Avian Flu kerfuffle is no big surprise, and will probably get more readership as a result. There's a couple of small factual errors, and my job title's wrong, but, on the whole. it's great publicity for what we're doing here.
I'll be very interested to see what this does for our traffic over the next few days.
Vox Hunt: It's Like This...
Audio: Share a song that reminds you of a current or past relationship.
QotD: Pass Me The Style Section
Do you read the Sunday paper? Which one(s)?
I alternate between The Sunday Telegraph and The Observer, thereby confusing any watching ninjas attempting to discern my political affiliation.
Ninjas are fascinated by political affiliations..
What I Did On My Weekend
Friday: Drove to Norfolk. Watched while nurses pumped poison into my Mum. Went to the pub. Went home. Spent a fun afternoon creating logins for Flight journalists, and dealing with the news that they're changing Mum's chemo routine.
Saturday: Fixed stuff. Shopped. moved stuff. Cooked a roast meal. Drank beer. Watched a movie.
Sunday: Cooked a full English. Drove to London. Continued putting the flat back together after the carpet fitting. Wrote a really dull Vox post. Went to bed.
Vox Hunt: I'm The VJ
Video: Show us a great music video.
I've loved this video since it first appeared:
I think the common feature both is the perfect matching of visuals to the mood of the song, if not the literal narrative of the lyrics.