Whiter Shade of Pale

I always get a few chuckles from the various comments on this:

"It's shocking that Procol Harum's records are still being played on the radio after what they did in Nigeria."

"Wow, what happened to Procol Harum?  Whiter Shade of Pale was a great song, but it doesn't excuse terrorism."

"Okay Procol Harum, Whiter Shade of Pale was a great song but you've gone too far in Nigeria."

And from the band:

"I don't think Boko Haram have released any progressive rock albums."

Gameshows

I’m a bit out of the loop nowadays, but it seems like late afternoon/early evening quiz shows are now dominated by Pointless and The Chase, rather than Fifteen to One and Countdown.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen The Chase.  Regardless, this only crossed my mind when I bizarrely came across this YouTube video of Richard “Twice Nightly” Whitely earning a “Gotcha”.

You don’t need to be Nostradamus to predict the YouTube comments about Richard Whitely having sadly passed away but Noel Edmonds having not yet… (PS I recommend watching the unedited version available on YouTube)

Raffle Winner

I randomly won $25 in a raffle today related to the 8 week step challenge that I've been doing through work that finished yesterday.  I also earned enough points to win a gold award which is another $75 gift voucher, so that is a nice little $100 bonus.  It hardly makes up for the lack of substantial work awards that I've missed out on over the last year and a half, but is better than nothing!  The $25 prize was awarded to me as a "Visa Virtual Gift Account" - which meant that, as far as I could tell, it was impossible for me to use as partial payment for something over $25 since I had to register it as a debit card rather than a gift card.  So, to get around this, I just spent it on a $25 Amazon gift card!

England 2 - 1 Slovakia

It was Labor Day today, so no work thank god, and how did I make the most of the day off?  Why, by doing practically nothing - our region is once again engulfed in smoke, this time from Oregon/East Washington rather than Canada.  The air quality is shocking - the sun is incredibly orange, and so makes for some great sunsets but put me off going to some of the big attractions this weekend.  So, instead I was able to catch the England game on TV.  Oh boy.  We hardly look like world-beaters did we...  It was yet another mediocre performance, with long periods of absolute awfulness, but were able to scrape a victory against a far inferior opponent.  This is classic England - good enough to qualify, nowhere near good enough to get through the group stages or maybe the first knockout round in the actual tournament.  A better side like Germany or Spain is absolutely going to rip us apart.  Especially with our suspect central defense, and why Joe Hart is still our number one is beyond me.  But a win is a win, so I guess you got to be happy with that.      

US Open

I've been watching some of the US Open recently - a lot more than I watched any of Wimbledon.  I don't know what it is about the US Open, but I'd much rather go watch a game in New York than at Wimbledon - just seems like a better atmosphere, and just a bit less of a "Daily Mail" audience.  But I have some thoughts.  Firstly, glad to see Sharapova knocked out today.  She is a drug cheat, and surprised she was welcomed back as much as she was - any other sports and she would be roundly booed and hated (a great example is Justin Gatlin in sprinting).  I know that I wouldn't shake her hand if she beat me.  Secondly, is it fair that the men and women get equal pay?  I'm just not sure I can agree with that when men play best of 5 sets and women only play best of 3.  In tournaments when they play an equal number of sets, I have no issue whatsoever.  But when you have such a huge discrepancy in average playing time between the men and the women in the majors, it doesn't make sense to me.  I think people like Djokovic have said in the past that men should make more than women because men's tennis is more popular than women's.  I don't think it's a question of popularity, but the time they spend on the court - and thus the time the audience has to watch them - should be closer in parity.  Equal play = equal pay.  Thirdly, isn't it great to see Nadal and Federer doing so well this year.  These guys have carried tennis for so long after the awfulness of big serve and volleyers epitomized by the drudgery of Pete Sampras matches at Wimbledon.  And to still be the best in their sport after so many years of wear and tear is amazing.

Time

I had to take a photo of the cover of Time magazine that I've just finished reading, for posterity.  Still shocking.

(Originally posted this with my name and address showing - so much for some semblance of anonymity, yikes!)

Millennium Falcon

Just announced:

The biggest lego model ever, the most number of pieces ever, (unsurprisingly) the most expensive retail price ever for a lego set.  Yep, I shall be getting this.