20/20 Vision

Cricket is an acquired taste. Luckily, it is one I acquired many years ago. Having recently girded my ethical loins and passed over 30 pieces of silver to Rupert Murdoch for Sky TV, I have been able to once again watch cricket on my telly box

There is, of course, a new fangled form of God's Own Game known as Twenty20. In recent days it has been hailed as the saviour of world cricket in the media. This is mainly because it can take as little as 2-3 hours to play a match instead of 5 days, you can put cheerleaders in the breaks and it doesn't tax the attention span of today's discerning sport fan.

Now I like cheerleaders as much as the next man (or woman - 9/10ths full of penguins is an open-minded blog), however, I have got a bit of a problem with the branding of Twenty20. Its pitched as this high tempo excitement-fest of action with a side helping of power-hitting. I have seen a number of Twenty20 games of the last couple of years and aside from one or two notable exceptions they have been hugely dull affairs.

Take for example the recent game between Kent Spitfires and the Sussex Something or Others, who played out an entirely forgettable match. The problem is that the batting side need to accumulate large amounts of runs very quickly, while the bowling side needs to curtail those runs. This should lead to scintillating strokeplay and aggressive bowling. However, captains will often bowl average spinners and seamers chucking down medium pace dibbly-dobblers because slower bowling is harder to hit to the boundaries. This means that for much of the time you are watching boring medium pacers being hit for 4 or 5 singles every over.

Hmmmmm. Not thrilling in any way. But at least there are cheerleaders.......

Maybe there is something to this Twenty20 lark after all.....

Theatre of Noise 2008 A-Z Part the Second

Phew. Back now. I do apologise for the delay in bringing you the second part of The Theatre of Noise 2008 A-Z. Here is a link to the first. The first Theatre of Noise podcasts from 2008's Refresh FM Manchester are now available. Find them here, they're full of crunchy goodness and entertaining silliness.

Here is J-Z. If you click on the name of the band it will whisk you to their website (if they have one) and if you click on the song name it should take you to a video of said ditty.

J. SufJan Stevens - John Wayne Gacy Jnr
A slice of customary odd gorgeousness.
K. Nine BlacK Alps - Unsatisfied
I know its a few years old now, but I don't mind hearing from this great Manchester band again
L. The Prayer Chain - Bendy Line
Sadly, a band that effectively ceased to exist in the mid 90s. I was unable to find a video of the magnificent Bendy Line which we played quite a lot, so have a performance of Sky High instead
M. Monarch - Perform
One of my favourite songs of the broadcast - very very sad though...
N. Number One Gun - Wake Me Up
From their new album the North Pole Project.
O. BecOming the Archetype - Epigone
A song intro so loopy, we nabbed a bit of it for the Theatre of Noise jingle.
P. Project 86 - Evil (Chorus of Resistance)
"Eeeeeeeeevvvvviiiiiiiiiiiilllllllllll" Fantastic! Plus the video is hilarious.
R. Beat Rabbi & Deepspace 5 - Deepspace Soul
Yo Yo Yo - and that....
S. Soulsavers - Revival
The video for this wonderful song is well worth a look.
T. Dashboard Confessional - Thick as Thieves
A song so annoyingly catchy that even Jeremy Clarkson would fall for it.
U. FebrUary Remaining - Samson
The lead singer of February Remaining dropped in to see us on the Theatre of Noise. And a jolly nice chap he is.
W. Does it Offend You Yeah? - We Are Rockstars
I first heard this while listening to Fearne Cotton on Radio 1 (don't let that put you off though, its quite good. Really)
X. Secret & Whisper - XOXOXO
A man with either a unnaturally high voice or tight trousers. You decide which...
Z. Neon Horse - Speed KillZ
I couldn't find a video for Speed Killz, so enjoy the equally marvellous Cuckoo.

Movies
The Lives of Others *****
Iron Man ***
In the Name of the King *
Mission to Mars **
Payback ***
Stargate Ark of Truth **
Dragon Wars ****
Indiana Jones: Crystal Skull...
Before last 20 mins ****
Last 20 mins *

RIP Humph.

I was lucky enough to see the Radio 4 programme I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue live at the Lowry in Salford recently.

Humphrey Lyttleton will be sorely missed.....



Movies/TV
Torchwood Series 2 ****
Cloverfield ***
Golden Compass **

Theatre of Noise 2008 A-Z Part the First

The Theatre of Noise has closed its radio curtains after a destruction-filled 3 weeks over Easter. This year's broadcast on Refresh FM was bigger and better than ever, encompassing Manchester on FM and the whole world via the netweb.

In my previous ramblings I promised a post dedicated to the music that lurked within the Theatre of Noise's inner reaches. Here it is, (drum roll) the first part of The Theatre of Noise 2008 A-Z. If you click on the name of the band it will whisk you to their website (if they have one) and if you click on the song name it should take you to a video of said ditty.

A. The Afters - Never Going Back to OK

A thoroughly enjoyable toe tapper.

B. Ivoryline - Be Still & Breathe

Slightly retro rock feel, with some properly crunchy guitar-ness.

C. The Choir - Nobody Gets a Smooth Ride

Clicking will take you to a page where you can listen to samples. I've always loved The Choir and I took every chance I could to play stuff from their 2005 album O, How the Mighty Have Fallen.
D. The Dream Pilots - One More Time

I liked it very much, Eyan decided half way through the 3 weeks he didn't. Cue much musical bickering that didn't produce a single reason why he didn't like it. It's slightly derivative, but still rather good.

E. Emery - The Party Song

It was such a shame. Emery have long been a Theatre of Noise favourite. However, their new album, while not bad, is not a patch on their earlier release The Question.

F. Falling Up - The Dark Side of Indoor Track Meets

This sneaked in tacked on to the end of a deeply average album by Falling Up. This song however, is far from average. After a deceptively gentle start it explodes into an epic chorus before fading out Vangelis style.
G. Grey Holiday - Glorious

A bit U2-ish, but fun nontheless.

H. Hawk Nelson - Bring Em Out

A song that divided opinions in the studio everytime we played it. Some people loved it, some people hated it. Its a marmite song.
I. ScroobIus Pip - Letter From God to Man

A magnificently written song that we criminally underplayed over the 3 weeks. The video I've chosen makes the lyrics very easy to follow.

J. onwards will be come in later posts.

We took lots of pictures this year and they will be appearing soon at the slightly unfinished Theatre of Noise website - http://www.theatreofnoise.co.uk/. To whet your appetite here are a couple of said pictures. In this one, resident tool expert Fil the Destroyer prepares to terminate a stack of 11 CDs in perennial show favourite, the Chainsaw Challenge.

Here, Fil & I play cricket with McFly's Greatest Hits album. It didn't last as long as a normal cricket ball would, but it did shatter most satisfyingly.

Movies
Ratatouille *****
Come & See ****
Battlestar Galactica:Razor *****
Alien Vs Predator:Requiem. Unrated version *
No Country for Old Men *****
So so so good - if you haven't seen the latest Coen Brothers film, you really must. I doubt you will see a better film all year

Adventures in Radio 2008 Vol 1

I am more excited than a bucket of monkeys running over a bagful of hamsters at the moment.

(Thats quite excited...)

I am currently one week into a three week radio adventure with Refresh FM in Manchester. Along with long-term radio comrade Eyan, I am presenting the Theatre of Noise 9-11pm every week night till the 4th April. If you live in Manchester you can apply your ears to 87.7FM. Everywhere else on the planet you can stream the madness live here.

The Theatre of Noise has a website - which you should tentatively inspect. http://www.theatreofnoise.co.uk/. I have found lots of terribly exciting music that I will dedicate a post to in the near future.

As I am currently on my Easter break (sometimes working in a school is marvellous!) I have been attempting to catch up on movies I've bought, but haven't had time to watch yet, so...

The Transporter 2 **

Superman Returns ****

Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer ***

The Devil's Backbone ****

The Lives of Others *****

Zodiac ****

Planet of the Apes (1968) ****

Planet of the Apes (2001) *

"You're a very nice tall man..."

Now I don't really talk about religion that much on this here blog, mainly because it bores most people to tears. But as an RE teacher and a (reasonably sane) Christian, I do have significant interest in that particular topic area. I was reading sarahcontrary's moving thoughts on her faith today (click here to go there) and it made me think about how people explore and communicate what they believe. However, not everyone does that in a positive way.

Sometimes you come across people so vile that you feel genuinely replused by them and by their beliefs. Fred Phelps and his cronies at the Westboro Baptist Church (you may find their site distasteful) in the US are just such people. You may have seen them on TV waving their 'God hates fags' and 'God hates cripple soldiers' banners around at funerals. They hate everyone; gay people, Jews, the Irish, Sweden(!) and many many others with such a frightening passion that it makes me deeply ashamed that I apply the same basic label of 'Christian' to myself.

However, Phelps would also hate me as the only people he doesn't hate are the 100 odd people who go to his church (intriguingly, most of whom are related to him by blood or marriage). These happy few are the only people going to heaven apparently.

As with any self-important, petty minded bigot; the best way to bring them down a peg or nine is not to engage in sensible argument with them. It has even been suggested by some of Phelp's estranged children, who have sensibly left their father's church, that Westboro exists solely to feed Phelp's addiction to hatred. Below is a video of Fred Phelp's Jnr being interviewed. The Australian interviewer take a novel approach to tackling the big questions....



"You're a very nice tall man..." Genius!

God bless that interviewer (in the proper sense of the word). If Phelps and his ilk make me ashamed to be a Christian sometimes, the reporter makes me feel proud to be a human being.

A musing on movies

Is this man a criminal?
If you see his latest movie, National Treasure:Book of Secrets, you will probably think so. Any money spent seeing it is definitely daylight robbery.

I went to the cinema the other day with a friend and due to the vagaries of half-term cinema times we were stuck with a choice of National Treasure or a 3 hour wait till Cloverfield. So we took a deep breath, set our expectations to sub Men in Black 2 levels and took the plunge.

As the trailers rolled I reflected on the cast. As Nicholas Cage has been frankly dreadful in just about everything since Raising Arizona I didn't hope for much from him. However, there are some quality actors here - Helen Mirren, Ed Harris, Harvey Keitel & Jon Voight. This gave me hope for gleaning some enjoyment out of the film.

These hopes were rapidly dashed. I don't believe I have EVER seen a film as bad as National Treasure: Book of Secrets at the cinema. It was so bad that it has replaced Men in Black 2 as officially the worst film I've ever paid to see at the cinema. Admittedly, you don't expect gritty realism in a popcorn-muncher like this, but still this film stretched the boundaries. On three occasions Cage and his moronic sidekicks were required to get themselves out of plot dead ends by doing the most ridiculous things. Firstly, breaking into Buckingham Palace to get a look at the Queen's Resolute Desk(which incidentally appeared to be an 18th century Rubiks cube). Then they had to break into the Oval Office to sneak a look at the President's desk and finally and most inconceivably they had to kidnap the President to get a look at his 'Secret President's Book' (I'm really not kidding).

I have rarely seen a film that treats its viewers with such brazen contempt. It wasn't even 'so bad its good'. I suppose that none of this should come as a surprise when you look at the names of the screenwriters.The Wibberleys? No wonder its awful. It appears to have been written by Australian children's TV presenter rejects. Anyhoo, have a trailer for the upcoming Hellboy 2. Its a film which I'm very much looking forward to, particularly as director Guillermo del Toro has brought his Pan's Labyrinth box of monster tricks to the party..



Movies
National Treasure: Book of Secrets (no stars) first film to ever receive no stars.
Hitman ***
Charlie Wilson's War ****
Tom Hanks really should be Oscar nominated for his role in this...
Curse of the Broken Flower ****

What is music for?

I have been thinking about music quite a lot recently. I've been inspired by posts at Cultural Snow and My Nut Free Life to think about what music is for.

I was talking to someone other day and they couldn't understand why I dislike so called 'dinner party music'. You see, I hate bland music, I almost prefer something to be terrible than just shoulder-shruggingly OK. At the very least music that is genuinely awful ilicits some sort of response from you.

The whole conversation got me thinking about the moments in my life when a song or a piece of music has grabbed me and forced me to pay attention. They are extraordinary moments that only ever happen once when you listen to that song. Every time you listen to it again, you know what is coming and no matter how arresting it is, it will never have the impact of that first moment.

It may well be pleasant to hear James Taylor, Norah Jones, Damien Rice et al burbling competently quietly in the background but they will never have the impact of the truly great. Great music refuses to stay in the background, it demands your attention. They are musical moments that make you realise what music is for. Moments that I look back on with a bit of sadness because the exact way I was feeling would never be repeated.

When I think about my moments I remember hearing Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit. and Radiohead's Let Down for the first time. Mahler's Tenth Symphony, Bob Marley's Redemption Song and the sheer swagger of Rock'n'Roll Star by Oasis all had a great impact on me.

To illustrate what I mean, here is a more recent song that just blew me away the first time I heard it. This is Glosoli by Sigur Ros. Sigur Ros can be something of an acquired taste with their ethereal meoldies and lead singer Jónsi’s falsetto voice. However, it is a taste well worth acquiring as this extraordinary song demonstrates. I would encourage you to listen to it first before you read what I've written underneath the video.



The song starts quietly and gradually builds and builds before exploding at 4.41 (thats the moment!) into a wall of sound with tumultuous guitars and the skirling falsetto soaring over the top. When I heard that for the first time, it sent almighty tingles down my spine and it may sound ridiculous, but it made me feel 3 foot taller.

In the end, I think that is what music is for. It should make you feel. It should make you feel happy, sad, angry, peaceful or any number of other feelings or emotions. The best music changes how we feel, everything else is just aural wallpaper...

Quiz like its 2008

Last night saw the resumption of my monthly pub quiz in a shiny new venue in East Didsbury. To see posts relating to previous quiz shenanigans click here.

If you are exceptionally lucky, my fellow quizmaster Eyan may post his questions on his blog at some point. I treated a selection of South Manchester's finest to two epic rounds of questioning that are presented below for your edufication.

1) How many stomachs does a cow have?
2) Where on a horse do you find its poll?
3) What is the only bird that is capable of seeing the colour blue?
4) The following adjectives refer to which animals?
a) Vulpine b) Hippocampine c) Chelonian
5) How many claws does a house cat have?
6) What is the name for a group of goldfish? A troubling, a dole or a bloat?
7) How many legs does a lobster have?
8) Which insects account for most human deaths?
9) Who recorded an early description of a reindeer in the 1st Century BC?
10) Why are penguins black and white?


The answers to the following questions each contain the model of a car - past or present
1) What is the only sport where left-handed play is banned?
2) Which one word describes a book title by Frederick Forsyth, a class of British escort carrier and a role played by Diana Rigg in the 1960s?
3) Former Big Brother contestant Jade Goody believed which area of the UK was abroad?
4) What is the word used to describe narrowed attention on a specific thing?
5) Gracie Fields owned a villa on which island?
6) What is the musical term for “quick or lively”?
7) Which one word describes a Yorkshire TV documentary series of the 1970s, a space shuttle, and a number one album by ELO?
8) What name is specifically given to a Mediterranean wind that comes from the Sahara and reaches hurricane speeds in North Africa and Southern Europe?
9) In rowing, what is the name of the short-sleeved T-shirt with a front opening, where the opening and sleeve ends are trimmed in the colours of the club?
10) Which animal has varieties called trapdoor, yellow sac, and chinese bird?

Answers sometimes next week. Oh, by the way, for every answer you google a fairy will die....

* Update - Answers are now in the comments

Movies
I Am Legend ***
The Holiday ***
Night Watch *****
Jason & The Argonauts ****
Star Trek:First Contact ***
Notting Hill **
Heima *****

Biggest Movies of 2007

Permit me to blow my own trumpet for a moment.

Paaaaaarrrrrpppppp *

Thank you.

Now, I have excellent taste in movies, so I'd like to run through the top ten grossing movies of 2007 with you. As usual I will give a star rating for each one, do let me know if you disagree...

1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (£49,420,484) ****
Possibly the best of the Potter movies so far with the acting of the young leads improving, a much darker tone and a spectacular duelling sequence between the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters.
2. Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End (£42,237,960) **
Flabby dross with very few redeeming qualities at all.
3. Shrek the Third (£38,620,659) **
Forgetting everything that made the first two Shrek movies watchable.
4. The Simpsons Movie (£38,544,114) ***
Some very funny gags - sadly not the masterpiece we were all hoping for.
5. Spider-Man 3 (£33,547,946) *
Indescribably awful in just about every way
6. Ratatouille (£24,716,887) ****
Pixar strikes gold one more time. The dud that was Cars fades away...
7. The Bourne Ultimatum (£23,703,150) *****
Best action film for ages - The setpieces in Waterloo station and over the rooftops and houses on Tangiers were nothing short of breathtaking.
8. Transformers (£22,863,864) ***
Big and very dumb fun
9. Mr Bean's Holiday (£22,142,332) *
Don't even go there......
10. Hot Fuzz (£21,005,064) *****
My film of the year. Hands down

It depresses me greatly that most of the films on that list are either crushingly predictable or utterly dreadful. There were some superb films released this year that were totally ignored by people scurrying to see the latest Shrek film. And in what sane world does the funniest film of the year come one place behind the inexplicably popular Mr Bean's Holiday? Where does that get fun?

I think I can see the problem. People like to go for things that are familiar (I am the same), and frankly, the cost of the cinema is so extortionate that people aren't that willing to take risks on movies anymore. It means that magnificent oddities like Daywatch for example, are shown in cinemas for one or two weeks at best. While tripe like Mr Bean or Pirates are shown for months on end. This leaves no room for word of mouth growth. By the time I have seen a really good movie and let people know about it, its already out of the cinemas.



I just wish that cinema chains would charge less for the offbeat or arty films. They can continue charging outrageous sums for the big blockbusters, people will still lap them up regardless (and I count myself in that number). However, if I could go and see something quirky and off the beaten track for a few quid instead of paying on the unpleasant side of £6, I'd be in the cinema much more often, which surely only benefits the business side of things.

* I know trumpets don't make this noise. I am open to suggestions at how I should represent the sound of a trumpet in text form.

2007

Around this time last year, I subjected the t'interweb to my 2006 review of the year. In the interests of symmetry (I like that word so much, I'd like you to read more about it here), I thought I should do something similar for 2007.

Best Moment
2007 has been a surprisingly good year so there have been many moments to choose from. Completing my PGCE and getting a job in a school and my radio shows on Refresh FM at Easter were both great. However, the winner is this year's Greenbelt festival. This year's festival was probably the best I've been to. The weather was magnificent, the atmosphere was amazing and I had a great time working for the festival radio station Greenbelt FM. The single best moment (in a pure ego trip stylee) was taking part in a live radio show at the YMCA venue whereby myself and radio partner in crime Fat Roland were given license to unleash our Theatre of Noise games Chainsaw Challenge and Sackcloth & Bashes on an unsuspecting Greenbelt. Much hilarity and destruction ensued.

Best Film
There was some great movies this year - some very worthy, some guilty pleasures. In the end, the brilliance and sheer rewatchability of Hot Fuzz gets my vote. Honourable mentions also go to the beautifully shot Sunshine, the fascinating Zodiac, the thrilling Bourne Ultimatum, the brutal 28 Weeks Later and the frankly bonkers Daywatch.

Worst Film
The excreble Spiderman 3. Read my thoughts at the time here.

Best TV
Top Gear & Spooks became unmissable TV for me this year. Top Gear made me laugh like a drain - even though I can't stand Jeremy Clarkson. Spooks was a thrillingly entertaining and slick creation. This year's Dr Who series was a bit hit and miss. When it was wrong (human daleks? come on) it was pretty poor, but when it was right it was glorious (Weeping Angels? Even I found them rather unnerving).

Worst TV
The moment it was announced that Catherine Am-I-Bovvered Tate would be in the whole of the next Dr Who series.

Best Album
Mae - Singularity

Best Book
Even though it was written in 1954, I have only just read it this year. Richard Matheson's I Am Legend is brilliant. Forget the Will Smith film, the book is much darker, much bleaker and much more unnerving. I also liked 2004's The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, mainly due to the sparkling dialogue between Daniel and Fermin, which is a joy to read.

Best Penguin related story of 2007
This marvellous story about Roxy the Rockhopper penguin who turned to the t'interweb to find love. Read it here.

Blogs of the Year
Here are my five favourite blogs of the year in no particular order with links to their latest posts.
Fat Roland - the surreal ramblings of a proper gentleman.
Quinquireme - The erudite Patroclus was considering laying her blog to rest. The t'interweb breathed a sigh of relief when she was convinced otherwise.
Postsecret - PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. It can be funny, disturbing, uplifting and sometimes heartbreaking.
The Manchizzle - an essential Manchester blogging hub....
Cultural Snow - A blog that wears its brain openly on its sleeve.

Also worth a mention are Midnight Candle & Blue Cat.

Here's to 2008 - Happy New Year!

Has 2007 been 9/10ths Full of Penguins?

Out of 365 days of 2007 I blogged on 72 occasions.

So no.

Tis the season to be jolly.....

Just a quick post to wish my reader a Happy Christmas. I know, I could have sent a card, but frankly I was too stingy to buy a stamp.

I like Christmas, but one of the things that annoys me about the festive period is the forced jollity and bonhomie that oozes around for all of December. I combat this by acting like a miserable bugger, while inside I'm hopping up and down excitedly about opening presents. However, there are some things that can crack my Scrooge-ish facade.

In lieu of a Nine Tenths Full of Penguins Christmas gift, I give you Eddie Izzard talking in his own inimitable fashion about the first Christmas.



There are a couple of swear words in there, so be warned....

Wishing you a Happy Christmas (or insert faith-neutral good wishes here).

*Update
Right thats it! I am no longer myself. I have got old and soft. I found myself watching the first Santa Clause movie today. 'Whats so bad about that?' I hear you cry, well wait for the kicker. I quite enjoyed it......

I feel wrong. Just wrong. I think I'm going to crawl into a whiskey bottle for the remainder of my Christmas break. I'm just ashamed. Oh well, at least my Pandora Radio station is good, that offsets the shame somewhat.

In which I get all misty-eyed about Sigur Ros

I don't normally do internet/blog meme things, but this one (courtesy of the ever excellent Patroclus) caught my attention.

It is the great Wikipedia Band Name Meme....

Here's how you play. Click here to be whisked to Wikipedia and then click on 'random article' on the left side of the page, the title of the first article is your band name. Then click it again, that will be the name of your album . Then click 'random article' a further 7-10 times, and those titles are your album track names.

Here is mine:

Band Name: Fjalar

Album Name: 4th Infantry Division

Track Titles

1: Democratic Republic of the Congo

2: Fours

3: VYRE

4: Cingulate Sulcus

5: Sohni Lag Di

6: Kora Kagaz

7: Reactivity Series

8: Clinchfield

9: Varfell

10: Transcendental

I think it brings to mind a band clinging desperately on the coat-tails of Sigur Ros. Fjalar are a band with hints of political activism and delusions of grandeur. I like them already....

While I'm thinking of Sigur Ros, I'd just like to mention their new DVD Heima. It is utterly stunning. Sigur Ros are an Icelandic band that specialise in making beautifully ethereal music that is quite unlike anything else. They released a documentary following them as they toured round Iceland promoting their last album Takk. Heima has the documentary as well as a second disc full of concert performances. The main documentary has footage of the band playing at a variety of rather offbeat locations in Iceland.

If you get chance, you MUST see this on a big screen with good quality sound. There are some moments where the combination of the Icelandic scenery and the wonderful music is so staggeringly beautiful that I found myself getting a lump in my throat and actually felt that I might shed a tear or two.

Movies
The Departed *****
Cliffhanger **
V for Vendetta ****

Bah Humbug...

This year I'm feeling resolutely un-festive so far. I'm not actively scrooge-ish, but I'm failing to feel the cheer of the season as yet.

In an attempt to kick-start some yuletide goodwill I offer you this marvellous little ditty/video by the wonderful Sufjan Stevens.



Ah thats a bit better......bring on the mince pies.

I decided on a bit of a colour scheme change to go with the switch to www.ninetenthsfullofpenguins.co.uk. Do let me know what you think.

Misunderstandings

Before I crack on with this post I just need to do a bit of housekeeping.

The url of this blog is now http://www.ninetenthsfullofpenguins.co.uk/. Of course, you'll still be able to get to it via the blogspot address, its just that this one is a bit more streamlined. Why not bookmark it now?

On to business. I spent the weekend in a very grey and sodden Birmingham, a place that has on every occasion I have visited it, treated me to lots of rain. So it was that I pitched up at Birmingham New Street train station at about 6pm on Friday evening. As I was a little earlier than expected, I needed to wait outside the station for a while.

I bought myself a rather large coffee in a cardboard beaker the size of a small tanker and plonked myself outside the station to wait. I had come directly from work in Manchester, so I was still wearing a shirt and tie and my smart black coat. As I was sitting on my bag, reading a book (the excellent Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin incidentally), my open coffee steaming enticingly by my side, deflecting panhandlers with aplomb; something unexpected happened.

Engrossed in a particularly gripping chapter, I almost failed to respond when a smartly dressed gentlemen bent down and calmly deposited 20p in my coffee cup, which was still half full. He generously said something along the lines of "Here you go mate" before moving off. I was rather taken aback and all I could respond with was "Ermmmmm" in my best teacher voice. On hearing this, our Good Samaritan turned back and looked at me properly, horror dawning in his eyes as he realised what he'd just done.

He scurried back apologising so profusely and with such embarrassment on his face that I couldn't help bursting into laughter. After a few minutes conversation he went on his way with a face like a belisha beacon, but with the knowledge that he'd given me the best laugh I've had in ages.

Incidentally, while I'm talking about coffee; I visited a Costa Coffee in Solihull (kicking weekend eh?) and foolishly ordered a large black coffee. I was expecting a large black coffee, what I received was this two handled soup bowl containing over a pint of black liquid.


Movies
Hot Fuzz ****
Kingdom of Heaven ***
Munich ****
Ghostbusters *****
Beowulf 3D ***
I really enjoyed this at the cinema, mainly due to it being in utterly stunning 3D. However, be warned on two counts. Firstly, if you do watch it in 3D, expect a splitting headache when you come out. Secondly, its certified 12A which means in theory, you could take young children to it. Whatever you do, don't do that. Its considerably more adult than 12A would lead you to believe. Definitely worth a watch in 3D though....

Life imitating art

George Bush has never been a man to let facts get in the way of, well, anything.

Monday saw the release of a report by his own intelligence agencies that essentially said that Iran was not building nuclear weapons. Did the conclusion of this report that brought together the collective expertise and knowledge of the 16 branches of US intelligence signal a reduction in Bush's vehement rhetoric against Iran?

Of course not. Here's a quote from one of the candidates vying for Bush's position come the elections next year. Democrat Senator Barack Obama:

"Bush will not let facts get in the way of his ideology... and that's been the problem with their [the Republicans] foreign policy generally."

It seems that Bush and his advisors have got their (black) hearts set on another war before the reins of power are prised out of his hands in 2008. And it seems even his own intelligence agencies won't stand in his way....

Read the story here.

It scares me that the Iran-US storyline in Spooks at the moment is increasingly seeming less inconceivable by the week.

Movies
Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix ****

Serenity ****

28 Weeks Later ****

Pans Labyrinth *****

Fight Club *****

Celebrating 100 Posts with a New Feature

Nine Tenths Full of Penguins is 100 posts young today! Break out the balloons, party poppers, jelly & ice cream...

I've been thinking quite a lot about music recently as I have received many gratifyingly positive comments about my Pandora station (Quite Early Music, which can be heard here) since I blogged about it last week.

One of the benefits of owning an MP3 player of frankly ridiculous capacity is that I am able to have thousands of songs on there at any one time. I often choose to listen to them all on random, which can throw up some wonderful combinations of tunes. So I've decided to record some of these on this here blog.

This is how it will work:

Step 1: I will set the player to random

Step 2: I will record the first 10 songs that present themselves

Now I will make a deal with you. I will record all ten (including any of the embarrassing ones that lurk in the nether regions)if you promise not to laugh too loudly.....

Here are the first ten:

1) Manic Street Preachers - Removeables

2) Linkin Park - Points of Authority

3) Jonezetta - Popularity

4) Arcade Fire - Antichrist Television Blues

5) Further Seems Forever - Bleed

6) Derek Webb - Rich Young Ruler

7) Anberlin - Audrey, Start the Revolution!

8) Def Leppard - Hysteria

9) Levellers - Haven't Made It

10) Muse - Map of Your Head

I will leave you to judge which, if any, I am slightly embarrassed about....

Sadly, not my CD collection

Pandora's Box

I have been cruelly severed from my interweb for about 2 weeks, so I apologise for my enforced absence.

Since returning to the information superhighway I have been reacquainting myself with Pandora. If you are unfamilar with Pandora, it is a website that creates a personalized radio station based on music you have selected. You choose a selection of your favourite bands and then a fiendish music monkey on the other side of the world selects songs that it believes you might like.

So far so Web 2.0. For the most part it works really well and I've discovered loads of new bands through Pandora. However, there is a fly in the ointment. Every now and then, the music monkey decides to arbitrarily subject me to lots of dreadful europop dance music. I have no idea why it thinks this. Unless it has taken my admiration for certain artists and thought "Hmmm, he likes Theivery Corporation who are electronica and Sigur Ros who are European - ergo he must like 2Unlimited" (I'm not kidding, it played No Limits, for the love of all that is holy).

Anyway, if you'd like to hear whats in my ears, go to Pandora and search out a station called Quite Early Music.

#Say Anything, But Say What You Mean...#

A random fan video to a great song by Mae. Here is the official music video version. I think I like the random one a wee bit more.



Look at their website here: http://www.whatismae.com/default.aspx