Blog! This is probably old news to everyone ... but I've just been reading 'Scotblog' and it's bloody good ...

That Day I've had a busy day ...

stuart is back for another
stuart is great because
stuart is british karting champion
stuart is not guilty
stuart is high on country's mountain top
stuart is a pharmacist
stuart is february pacific bell play of the month winner
stuart is back for another adventure
stuart is left alone to attend to the plane which he turns on and starts flying around the house in
stuart is carried off against bolton
stuart is british karting champion
stuart is like dolly parton
stuart is now ready to do such rough and tough things as play soccer
stuart is known as "the sailfish capital of the world"
stuart is seen here with his new art tool
stuart is also the director of the columbus optical seti observatory
stuart is depressed that george is angry and that he doesn't have a friend of his own
stuart is experienced in negotiating and litigating cases involving high net worth individuals
stuart is now
stuart is a leading provider of executive search and other human capital consulting services
stuart is joined by his cousin
stuart is currently involved in two research projects
stuart is something of an enigma
stuart is able to travel only on foot
stuart is known as "the sailfish capital of the world" and is rated as one of the best sailfishing spots in the world during december
stuart is pretty hands
stuart is currently one of the top ten downloaded people in the world
stuart is now the highest paid newsletter writer in the uk and his subscribers are fanatical about stuart's monthly missives
stuart is often described as a mystical man with a mysterious
stuart is distinguished to have received one of the first licenses issued by the oshawa airport in 1945
stuart is a graduate of western kentucky university
stuart is a feature writer for several national publications
stuart is ee
stuart is now 70 (err ... 28 actually)
stuart is a mouse who is part of the little family
stuart is due
stuart is in his groove
stuart is ruled out for six months
stuart is dead release
stuart is the experienced
stuart is approximately 11 (give or take a DECADE or so)
stuart is a strong believer in helping to harness the power of the internet for fans and professionals
stuart is sympathetically voiced by michael j fox
stuart is about two inches long
stuart is promoted from deputy advertisement director following the appointment of carolyn mccall as managing director designate
stuart is a diminutive member of the little family
stuart is een pratende muis
stuart is mulling over the limitations of his identity
stuart is forced to make a new friend
stuart is a good role model for kids because he's ingenious and he never lets his differences stop him from doing anything
stuart is a progressive town
stuart is a uniquely positioned community
stuart is "almost a local"
stuart is a research assistant for palatine
stuart is also featured as tom sawyer
stuart is very well animated
stuart is beautiful
stuart is also a master at telling stories about love
stuart is also trying to adjust to a new area ...
[Googlism ... because everyone has to ...]

Music Will DVD-Audio take over from CD in the same way that Vinyl was superceded? Judging by this article it sounds like a very hard cell. There is convenience to CD, whereas you need a full five speaker entertainment system to take advantage of the new format. If anyone has the set up and has an interest, play.com are already selling them. Very tempted to get this just to see, but I'm wondering if I'll really be able to tell the difference through my bogstandard speakers.

Music Intermusic offers some handy hints for getting into the music industry. Strangely at no point does it mention going to televised auditions and experiencing ritualistic humilation.

TV Freeview began today with a wimper. Nothing to write home about yet (more news channels! more shopping channels! more documentaries!). I'll be writing about it at length elsewhere at some point, but I will say that one of the killer apps might 'The Music Factory' which is basically Mtv when it first started -- wall to wall videos, but with a massive playlist and not affraid to mix it up a bit -- saw Aha's 'Take On Me' earlier next to Avril Lavagne next to Donna Summer. The chance to listen to Five Live without interference is a boon. And oneword might come into it's own. And BBC7 (a sort of E4 for Radio Four) looks like something to look forward to -- I seem to miss a lot of good radio and this'll be a chance to catch up.

Weblogging Blogdex back up. Blogwise is tralling for entries.

Art I haven't seen any of the work of the new Turner Prize nominees, but I'm routing for Fiona Banner, both because she's from my neck of the woods, and because the other artists seem to lack definition. As you'll know I was always a fan of Georgina Starr's work and I can see some similarities here:

"Banner explores the seemingly limitless possibilities of language, yet at the same time demonstrates how words can often fail us, exposing our inability to convey internal thoughts, emotions and experiences. Since 1994, she has created handwritten and printed texts, which describe feature films or particular scenarios in meticulous detail. Since 2000, Banner has used pornographic film to explore sexuality and the extreme limits of written communication. In the works shown in the exhibition, she transcribes the activities taking place in Arsewoman in Wonderland, an X-rated version of Alice's fictional adventures."

Richard Blackwood and the cast of 'Babyfather' spluttered their way through that last title on the family show RI:SE this morning, risking the wrath of the ITC all the way. It may be the funniest thing I've heard all day.

Tittle-tattle Jenny Powell, discovered by Jonathan King, hosted 'Wheel of Fortune' with John Leslie ...

Health Looking down the list of symptoms, I seem to know a lot of people who are afflicted by SAD -- and it looks like it's common amongst webloggers in particular judging by a random linking from Blogger. Someone is missing a research study right there. If anyone is worried, handbag also include a handy list of treatments:

"Light therapy involves exposure to very bright light (at least 10 times the intensity of ordinary lighting), for up to four hours a day. This is achieved by buying a special light box that can be used at home. Light treatment should be used every day starting in early autumn. The user should sit about two to three feet away from the light box with the light shining in his/her eyes."

Part of the problem seems to be modern work places. Where I'm currently working, the majority of the window shutters are closed and the lights only turn on if there is a lot of activity underneath -- not something which happens in a call centre. At the moment the darkness of winter is just being perpetuated. Can't be healthy.

Commerce I'm standing in Boots, Manchester paying for a Meal Deal. I've been shopping and have many bags. As I extricate my hand from the handles so that I can dig out some money to pay, a pain shoots through my fingers and I let out a yelp. I look up at the sales girl:
Me: A bit heavy.
Her: You're like my mother.
Me: Am I?
Her: We went shopping the other day. I carried her bags for her. Do you have a Boots card?
Me: No. Bags?
Her: And they were really heavy. I din't know what I was carrying.
Me: What was it?
Her: She'd bought a lunk hammer.

Food In a related topic, the US army is developing a sandwich can last for three years:

Some of the stabilizing agents are manufactured, others are intrinsic to the sandwiches - the bread in the pepperoni sandwich is more or less left alone by the sausage, which lacks moisture; in the barbecue chicken sandwich, acids in the sauce's tomato, vinegar and lemon naturally bind moisture in place.

Still, soldiers aren't likely to take a bite until 2006 because more research is needed - principally, the researchers confessed, on PB&J, the sandwich most demanded by troops in focus groups. Other sandwiches in the works include pizza-flavored and ham and cheese.

Pizza-flavoured how? That said, Boots have increased the range of their sandwiches to cater for all kinds of markets -- some more successful than others. I've tried a fair few over the months and for some reason I keep returning to the Chicken triple-pack ...

Listless Blogger

Percentage of blogger population: 0.0001%
Hours spent blogging: 30/week
Habitat: Metropolises
Average Age: 28
Favorite hangout: Cinemas and around
Last Book Read: Something about stuff. Probably history.
Favorite Offline Activities: Anything non-interactive, everything interactive
Mode of Dress: T-shirt. Jeans. Leather jacket sometimes.
Typical post: Weblogging Actually I don't think I fit into any of the profiles (although feel free to correct me). I do link a lot, but I try to include personal stories and media reviews. I'm not sure what that means. But forty or so of you who visit at least once every few days think I'm doing something right. Something about Buffy. Saw 'The Road To Perdition' the other afternoon and was very disappointed. [other profiles, Metafilter]

That Day You see I hadn't planned to write anything about my birthday tomorrow. I didn't last year, but this it feels more acute. I'll be thirty in two years, which feels like a significant year. There is still a lot of thing I haven't done yet -- the kind of things that god knows I should have done by now. I wouldn't say I was in a panic as trying to prioritise. What are the important things now? After all, in three years I'll be thirtysomething. Why do those guys look so much more mature than I am?

News I'm updating the Blog! archive tonight, so if you're a new reader, you might find something interesting there ...

Film Danny Boyle having a laugh? Or is a sequel to Trainspotting really going to happen?

"I saw Ewan for the first time in five years a few days ago. I hadn't seen him in such a long time. It was great fun. There is an opportunity to do Porno, but it would be difficult because he's got such a varied career - would he go back and play a character he's already played? But he's halfway through the book and was laughing because (his character) Renton doesn't appear until halfway through. He's going to finish the novel first and take it from there. I finished it and think it's amazing."

Actually it was probably a good thing McGreggor stayed away from 'The Beach' -- we might never have got him back ...

Ugh! View Askew (was) hacked.

Cartoons Mike at Imperial Doughnut ponders on the fact that red hair in cartoons is a short hand way of making the viewer attracted the characters. Why do Disney make all of their heroines so curvacious? What were Hanna or Barbara thinking?

Firstly, representing the old skool, Daphne Blake, the wealthy society girl who provides the financial backing for Mystery Inc, endless boxes of Scooby Snacks and all the weed Shaggy can handle. Why does she do this? Apparently she's an aspiring writer seeking inspiration for a future career in the mystery genre [financial independence, creative ambition beyond stereotypical female occupation]. Almost always she pairs off with snazzy dresser and gang leader Freddie Jones leaving Velma, Shaggy and Scooby to do the *real* detective work. But what do they get up to during all that off-screen time alone? They aren’t playing Scrabble that’s for sure.

Wihlmaaaa!?!

Film One of the joys of Hollywood film in late eighties / early nineties were the James Earl Jones moments. For example, you're watching Sommersby (not a great film) and suddenly Jones appears as a judge. You're watching 'Sneakers' and he appears at the end as the man who needed the secrets and can grant wishes. He's Terry Mann in 'Field of Dreams'. He has the ability to lift any film -- could you imagine that scene in Empire if Dave Prowse had kept his West Country accent? 'Naaa ... aaahm yrrr faaathrrr.'

It hadn't occured to me until now, but now that Jones seems to have gone into semi-retirement, Sam Jackson has taken over the mantle. You're watching 'Out of Sight' and he turns up at the end to give a speech. Or 'The Red Violin' were he turns out to be the modern guy after the instrument. It turns out he likes it that way:

Unlike many actors, Jackson has no directorial projects or production companies to attend to. 'I'm pretty passionate about acting right now - I've got no plans to direct just yet,' he says. And he rarely plays the lead in most of his films. In fact, he occasionally demands that his name not be used in the marketing of a film so that audiences can discover him for themselves.

Actually, I think they missed a trick when the first action figure to come out 'The Phantom Menace' was Sam's character, Mace Windu. Imagine how we'd have felt at that moment in the film first time around if we'd suddenly noticed Jackson sitting next Yoda ... I think I'm going to hire 'The 51st State' finally this week. The kilt ...