13th June 2005
Hi all,
Last week I spent the best part of two days on the sofa at home, feeling ill due to my enflamed tonsils (I know, deja vu all over again). Here's what I learned during that time.
DAYTIME TV STILL ISN'T VERY GOOD
When I was thirteen I started doing everything I possibly could to buy a VHS video recorder for my room. My reasoning was simple - daytime TV was so poor I needed something besides my parents' betamax video recorder to keep me amused when I was off school with illness (incidentally this coincided with me rarely be off between then and the end of my formal education eight years later, just in case you thought I was never in school).
Now all these years later not much has changed. Nothing at all worthwhile watching on the terretrial channels, just a few shows on my usual suspects batch of satellite channels. Highlights included:
- "Around the Horn" and "Pardon the Interruption" repeats, starting at 11am on NASN.
- Re-run of the Chicago Bulls 1993 NBA Championship clinching game in Phoenix on NASN (sweet indeed).
- A "Newlyweds" marathon on TMF.
- Various episodes of "Pimp My Ride" on MTV.
Thank goodness for them, otherwise I would have fallen asleep and not got as many of my required fluids for my sore throat.
ABI TITMUSS IS "UNPOPULAR AND UNFANCIED"
In amid the dire daytime TV I was desperate enough to pick up one of Lorraine's magazines for a skim through. There on the front cover of Now was a picture of Abi Titmuss with the words "unpopular and unfancied".
Well judging by the fact she's apparently a millionaire due to constant appearances on the covers of magazines aimed at the women's market I would suspect that neither of these are true. After all, these magazines aren't going to put just anyone on the cover. They're the hook, it wouldn't work if unpopular and unfancied women were shown there.
Here's a better suggestion: Abi Titmuss, unpopular (with female viewers) and unfancied (by a handful of guys on a celebrity freebie). I think she'll be able to come to terms with that somehow.
IFFY MUSIC CHARTS - IT'S NOTHING NEW
Prior to me being off I kept hearing or reading about how much the Crazy Frog's rendition of "Axel F" was outselling Coldplay's latest single by four-to-one in the battle to be top of the singles charts. Shock, horror, an awful annoying song heads for top of the charts!
Well live it with everyone, it isn't a new phenomenon and it won't be the last time it will happen. Furthermore it is likely that the charts aren't even a very good indicator of how good a song is or how long it will live in the memory for.
On Thursday morning after I got back from the doctor's I flicked the TV onto music channel The Vault (Sky channel 456). Excellent channel actually, shows lots of different stuff. Possibly the best music channel that no-one talks about, a title previously held by Magic (Sky channel 452) until I heard a handful of people at work talking about it.
Anyway, one of the things that The Vault does that I like is a feature called "Best of..." where they show songs from a particular year. Now forget about the fact that they think Oasis released "Live Forever" in 1992, and instead think about the opportunity to watch an hour's worth of show thinking about favourite songs from that year that you might hear. Good idea, right? Too right. And it isn't interrupted by any hosts or twists like news headlines or the like. Just the song, with a brief snippet showing the artist, title, year released and the highest chart position.
It is when I saw some of the highest chart positions that I raised my eyebrows a bit (well, as much as I could while I was coughing and chugging Lucozade). Counting Crows, "Mr Jones", a catchy number which will keep me on a particular radio station in the car. Highest chart position - number 23! Limp Bizkit, "Rollin'", a right chavvy tune with no discernible lyrics or musical excellence - number 1!
BANGLADESH AREN'T VERY GOOD AT CRICKET
One of the advantages of being off on a Thursday (when I started my absence) was the thought of the England-Bangladesh test match starting in Durham. Small problem - the match wasn't actually starting until Friday.
So what's the problem? Well for just about as long as I can remember test matches in England have started on Thursdays. Why is it different for Bangladesh? Er, presumably so that the game hasn't finished by lunchtime on Saturday. Good idea. Thanks to the change in days the match finished within four overs of play starting on Sunday, so that worked well.
I actually feel a bit sorry for the Bangladesh players. They're getting slaughtered on the field and in the media. Maybe they shouldn't be a test nation but how are they going to learn otherwise? Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?
On the plus side it is nice to be watching the English cricket team and feeling sorry for the opposition. I didn't think I'd be saying that about five or six years ago.
PREGNANCY AFFECTS YOUR EYESIGHT
Along with my prescription from the chemist I also got a new bottle of mouthwash. Quite what Lorraine thought I got is another question.
"Why have you got powder mouthwash?", she asked. That'll be powerful mouthwash then...
Have a good week!
Tony
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