because why not, or if you like post 2940

hello there

wow, this is the 2940th post i have done here, apparently. bravo to you if you have even read so much as 1% of them, and my compliments, look you see, if you have had the willpower and the tenacity to read all of them. i certainly haven't, hence the sporadic and random "can't be bothered to check" typo mistake things from time to time here.

typos are, oddly, something i will need to be rather careful, if not clever, with in this post. a post that, other than marking the 2940 thing, tests somewhat - at first - the patience of my willingness to put things by request here. not that i get all that many requests, beyond the rather flattering "just keep on doing your thing, man" sort of comment from time to time.

i see blogger is busy rotating pictures again, putting them how they think they should be shown. cheers for that.

this, ladies and gentlemen, is a letter that Spiros got in the post, presumably earlier today. he was very, very excited about it indeed, and requested that i post it here, albeit in the edited form that you see before you.

why was he so excited about me sharing it here? the chap is genuinely touched by the number of you that like reading of his exploits and escapades, and so wanted you to know all about this.

what are my thoughts, feelings, musings and reactions to his letter, or if you like results? not much, really. i mean, of course i am thrilled that he has had no harm befall him or his immune system as a consequence of his curious, fascinating lifestyle. it is not, however, something that i have ever spent all that much time wrestling with thoughts of. i mean, usually it's "hello Spiros, how are you, what was the Turkish Baths like today?" when i correspond with him; not "hello Spiros, what's the state of play with your blood at the moment?". i may well ask him such things now, of course, as he is quite keen to share it seems.

now then, the because why not section of this post. a video, no less, from what was once, and what to some still is, the Transvaal.

my brother was in Johannesburg, no less, watching the celebrated Middlesbrough march, or perhaps pedestrian, their way to a win over Norwich. he offered to send a video to me via cellphone technology to show how the match looked on TV there. i agreed to this, on the provision that the video would feature a hotly contested throw-in.

here, thanks to Apple (i think that's what he has, could be one of them Samsung ones) and my blueberry, is the video clip of a not quite hotly contested throw-in, but all the same.....

for those of you who were delighted with the result as much as i was, i am sure that this video shall serve to bring back some fond memories of something that happened merely moments ago, then.

and, with no further requests, that's just about that for this blog post. 2941 will come soon, then, and as i have just finished another novel (reading, not writing; very lazy) i suspect it will feature book reviews, or if you like a review of some books. well, two.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

there's no going back

hello there

today was the day that i experienced not one, not three, but two, look you see, slices of extraordinary revisionism. one is staggeringly generous, the other i am not at all sure of the motives behind but welcome it all the same.

first off, the single best trailer to be released today. no, not that one. i know you are all excited and worked up about Star Wars Episode VII : Mission To Moscow, but that trailer just does the job it is supposed to do. as in, it has all that it should in it, it doesn't make you go 'hey, wow, they did that?'.

no, the best trailer of the day featured this chap. as in, this specific version of this chap.

yes, that's the much loved Mel Gibson interpretation of Mad Max. in an extraordinary, unexpectedly and staggeringly generous Legacy Trailer, Warner Bros have chosen not to abandon but rather embrace the Mel Gibson version as a final promotion push for the (very impressive looking) Tom Hardy version.

why generous? because for the last decade or so the world has turned its back on Mel. i am not going into the details, but it was all something to do with him getting p!ssed up, driving in that state, getting arrested, and blaming a Jewish conspiracy for it. every film he has made since has been box office poison; not even the elegant cast surrounding him in Expendables 3 worked - Mel's presence is blamed for the dire box office returns of the film.

i like Warner Bros, always have. their legendary patience and support of Kubrick aside, look at what they have allowed Christopher Nolan to do. the fans knew that Warner couldn't cast Mel in a Mad Max film and spend more than $10 on the film. the fans have, as far as i can see, readily taken to Tom Hardy, for he is the perfect mix of very much his own look and a nod to the classic look we expect. i'd like to think that this trailer is a bit of a thank you from them, telling us to get ready to enjoy.


the other bit of revisionism i have seen today? it's all about someone i have never once thought to apologise for liking or admiring; someone it seems the world is slowly all of a sudden getting ready to say 'oopsie. sorry' to for bashing so much.

yeah, Bono.

for the second time in recent months, the first i think was a TV interview, a very big deal was made about the "revelation" that Bono in fact wears sunglasses all the time not because he is a f*****g wanker, but because he has glaucoma, and has done so for 20 odd years.

i am struggling, somewhat, with the "revelation" part of this, like it's all been a secret, only recently disclosed to the world, as if Bono never ever speaks or gives interviews to the people. there's something of a clue, ladies and gentlemen, or if you like dear reader, in that whole 20 odd years part of the comment above.

at no point did Bono hide or not reveal the glaucoma? in interviews around that whole Zoo TV tour thing, what was it, 92 - 94, he in interviews said he had been diagnosed with glaucoma and that's why he had to keep the glasses on pretty much all the time, lest he get splitting headaches and make his eyes worse?

yeah, that's the awesome cool bit off of the Discothèque video for you right there.

i cannot but help wonder why there's this great clamour to find a reason to "forgive" Bono, to give everyone an excuse to just let the man do this thing and let the people enjoy the music of the band? is it some PR stunt he has orchestrated (unlikely, he doesn't seem to particularly care what the people write), or has the press and the music industry at large clocked that we are better off in a world with U2 than we are in a world in which they are no longer around?

i am not overtly convinced that the world, or parts of it, consider Bono to be a f*****g wanker because of the sunglasses thing. usually it's people saying "oh, he has millions and millions yet he asks everyone else to donate to charity instead of doing it himself". which is of course bullsh!t. not once has anyone ever been able to produce a recording or verified account of Bono asking/telling people to give money. because he hasn't. Bono knows that if he or U2 appear at any event, it immediately raises the profile of that event and ensures attention is on matters that he thinks are important. otherwise, it's "oh, he's a tax dodger". yeah, right. i would like to see those that throw that at him not even earn the hard way but just get given the money Bono has; see how all of a sudden keen they are to hand as much of it as possible over to the taxman. thought so.

so, two people that i have been made to feel like i should be ashamed of liking - the first, granted, with some justification - have been celebrated today. it's like today it was OK for me to openly like Mel Gibson as Mad Max, and today i didn't feel like the last apologist standing that really, really likes what Bono sings about. it's no bad thing, you know, every once in a while not feeling so isolated.

will it last? will we get Mel back in films? will Bono and his merry band be allowed to release music and everyone appreciate or dislike just the music, not the idea or reputation? doubt it, for there probably is no going back. but the hint of going back today was very, very nice indeed.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cows, or lack thereof

hi there

yeah, you know when cows appear in the title that i don't really have all that much of interest to say; instead just doing an update to let you know that yes, i am very much still around, or we have all gone off to some bizarre afterlife together, look you see.

i was recently asked, somewhat anonymously by my (considerably) better half, about what the cows were up to and if it was at all likely that i would be subject to an attack. well, if i was, everyone is. feel free to browse through this blog and see the updates on this, newer sort of reader - i would not wish to bore the regulars with it all again. i suspect they were sufficiently bored the first time around, or at the least half way through it.

on that note, for some reason i am not getting about 400 direct page reads a day. not all that massive compared to, say, amazon, or them mucky sites that Stumpie was looking at before he took a cricket bat to a door, but somewhat overwhelming compared to the 3 or 4 people i usually expect might have a look. so thanks, and happy to see that something from me is of some interest to you somewhere.

but, cows. here's the field in which they plot their conquest. see if you can spot anything.

yes, that's right, there is no frost. which means that Spring might be here at last, and staying this time. yay. to this extent, i have opted to go with short sleeve shirts for most of the time i am out and about. weirdly, someone said - and i don't think they were taking the p!ss - that i looked "trendy" today. the last time i can recall being told that, i think, there were 3 Beatles alive and this absolutely enormous wall in Berlin for some reason. also, there are no cows in the field.

where are they? or if you like, and feel like being all posh, wither; cows? don't know. i suspect they caught wind of that Game Of Thrones Series 5 episode leak, but i am unsure as to what a cow computer would be, or how they would download it. but maybe they were off watching all of that, since cows tend to fare a lot better than humans in the show. 

let me try my best to make up for the complete an utter waste of time the above has been to you and your world with a few other things, then.

it was, in a world of literature sense, the best of times and the worst of times for me today. best as i discovered that one of my, like totes fave writers, John Connolly, had a new book out. worst as he had one last year.

i had hoped that the ending of the last one, The Wolf In Winter, was him taking a break from the adventures of Charlie Parker, as it allowed for a couple of years of pause. when he rushes out books featuring the character, the rushed one tends not to be so good. in calendar terms, this one, Song Of Shadows, would be the rushed one. ah, or oh.

well, it's bought, or if you like purchased, now, and i will be reading it. i may well (i hope) thoroughly enjoy it and be wrong. or i may read it and tut tut about it as i do. strangely, it seems his fans in America have to wait for a while - whilst we have this here in England now, it's not scheduled for release, or if you like publication, over the pond until September. who knows, maybe the publishers will give dudes and lasses that do reviews a DVD of the first four chapters and the pirates will go right ahead and do their thing.

i am giving thought, dear reader, to using the picture you see here as my new image for profiles, or if you like profile image, on assorted social network things. i am just wondering, if you have found the image yet, if i will get away with it.

everything about this image is smart. that wanker's tache bum fluff moustache is sensational, as is the remnants of stubble. the headgear is boss, and that cheeky, naughty smile-grin thing this chap has on the go pretty much confirms absolutely everything Sprios has told me of his numerous adventures of, or rather with, Arabian gents.

it's those sunglasses though, man. they are boss, they are. big, massive, 70s style ones, with mirrors and everything.

i probably never would, right, but i would absolutely love to go walking around, very much like this gent, with some massive mirror sunglasses on, having that maniacal, somewhat saucy and cheeky aroused grin on the go. in my mind it would be awesome, and reflect, so to speak, the image and look i wanted to both portray and project to the world. i have been through Dubai a fair few times, as it happens, and never went for this look on any of the trips. a lost opportunity, you could argue, but self doubt says i would not look as cool as awesome as this dude looks.

you seriously wish for a video of the field bereft of cows? ok.

can a cow actually download anything? i mean, either legally or in a "what the hell compelled you to issue four episodes on a DVD with just a joke for security?" sense? i have no proof or evidence that says they can, but also cannot say for certain that they are unable to. for all i know, it's all cows currently pushing the reading figures for my blog to ridiculous heights.

something of some semblance of interest to finish off with? yeah, go on then, since you have made it this far into this particular post. that young man Robbie Williams has released another order via the web set of CDs, this time featuring some gigs in France earlier this month.

did i order them for my sister? well, yes. no, not all of them, just the "best of" 2 CD set. and here is the back of that CD set.

when can you see the rest? when my sister has taken ownership of it via the miracle of the modern post office. you probably shouldn't even be getting this view of it before then, but there you go.

is it any good? don't know. one of them download things of it came my way via placing an order of the CD, but i have not been brave enough to update the ipod thing with it yet. will do, and shall have a listen.

the gig, or gigs, that this were recorded off of was at that Le Zenith in Paris. i seem to recall that the celebrated Beethoven Was Deaf album off of Morrissey, or if you like "that twat Morrissey" who i happen to like a lot, was recorded in the same place. must have a decent tape deck or something installed there.

right, apparently i will be off to bed, then, to start reading this new John Connolly novel. you, of course, will be already quite asleep after reading this, i would expect.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

boba fett and her with the fancy dinosaur bird things

hi there

phew, what a busy weekend. if for some reason your enjoyment of the weekend hinged on frequent updates here, i am both sorry to hear of the state of your life, look you see, and indeed sorry that i have been too busy to do much of anything with a computer and that.

what have i been up to? strolling around for a bit, or i suppose if you like strutting, since i naturally seem to exude some sort of sexual magnetism and thus every walk i take is one of them flash, attractive strut things. visiting people here and there featured, and indeed the delight of bumping by chance into a dear friend from days gone by.

but yes, also shopping, as that seems to be what weekends are all about. did i pick anything up of particular interest to show off here? why yes of course, you know that this is the case, hence their being a post here now. and here is your first image of it, or rather them.

yes, more toys (although apparently they are not toys) and indeed more Boba Fett related stuff. manufacturers, merchandisers and so forth seem to have clocked, have they not, that if they shove Boba Fett on something there is a very good, indeed exceptional, chance that i will part with coins of money to purchase it off of them, without bothering to check exactly how many coins of money.

on that note, how much were these? Toys R Us agreed to sell them to us, or rather my (considerably) better half as she acted as underwriter, for £9.99 each. not bad, i suppose, considering the price that i have seen these Pop! things go for (sometimes £5 or £10 higher than that).

and so, another bit of Boba Fett merchandise for the collection. do i not have enough Boba Fett things in my life? apparently not, according to the shops.

just what is the appeal of Boba Fett? the sleek design, i suppose. i mean, he just looks cool, does he not, even when presented with a head that would seem to be somewhat out of proportion to the body.

from a "fanboy" point of view, i guess the loud minority that rant and rave about how Star Wars was destroyed by prequels, being sold to Disney, etc, see him as the one thing to cling to. he was a fairly dark, our of place character in a series of films that, lest we forget, were U certificate, suitable for all, family fun adventure tales of good vs evil.

i am probably in a quite slender minority here, in terms of at least saying it out loud, but i prefer the voice of Boba as done by that Temura (or whatever) Morrison bloke that played Jango Fett in the prequels. that New Zealand accent just sounds more no-nonsense, i mean business, really. it is the New Zealand way, just as it is like their neighbours, to be "well why wouldn't you just say what you want or mean and why wouldn't you have a go".

but all of that is perhaps over-thinking it all. i just like Boba Fett, as do many others.

my (considerably) better half, by comparison, really likes this one, that Daenerys Targaryen lass off all of that Game Of Thrones stuff. she is, as far as i can see, the one in it that has all them fancy dinosaur things which flap around, breathing fire and burning goats, children and what have you.

quite well made, this thing is. despite the absolutely massive head, she - as in the toy statue thing - balances very well indeed on those tiny, girlie feet she has. and she is holding one of them dinosaur things - dragons, if you like, too, which is a nice touch.

yes, i know that posting this is all topical and timely and what have you, since the new, fifth series of Game Of Thrones is due to start on TV next week, and indeed the first few episodes (four, if i am not mistaken) have magically appeared online.

links to those "leaked" or "stolen" four episodes? not here, sorry. i don't think anyone interested really needs me to point the way, since the news reports seem to suggest half a million people are downloading or "streaming" them every hour.

if that rate continues, then surely everyone on this planet of ours will how downloaded in by the end of the month. yay, something to at last unite all the people of the earth, then.

what do i think of all this "leaked" episodes and downloads malarkey? not for me to condemn of condone, really. although i am struggling to work out why the makers of one of the most successful and most talked about TV series of all time felt the need to give it an even bigger publicity push by handing out 40% of it to people to review.

these, as i am sure you can work out, are the characters you can also get in Pop! head things off of Game Of Thrones. also note you are supposed to be over 14 to have them, and it says that it is not in fact a toy. don't know why; to a child that has never seen the show this figure, or statue, is nothing more than a cute peasant girl holding a dragon.

do i like Game Of Thrones? we are probably at a point now where it's hip and trendy to deride it, and say that you never liked it, as if doing such a thing made you in some way superior to the fans. my perspective would be that the first three series were some of the most brutal, harsh, brilliant and compelling things i have ever seen on a television set. the fourth series gave every suggestion, however, that they have lost their way badly, and that this is all going to get padded out to cash in on the popularity. the ending, when it comes, is pretty clear - it is based on books called A Song Of Ice And Fire, so one assumes the queen of the heat eventually ends up with the king of the cold, and they bring peace to the world. or destroy it, or whatever.

but you want more Boba Fett, and more Star Wars, don't you people. for the sake of being complete, here's the back of the Boba Fett box, so that you can sort of see what all the other ones you can get look like. yes, indeed, that green guard thing (Gamorehan or something) looks smart.

what other characters did they have for sale in the shop? enough to have allowed me to successfully bankrupt myself, to be honest. Boba Fett nearly did not get bought, as i could pick one and the RoboCop one was awesome. and i do mean proper Robo, from the 80s, not that rubbish they released last year. also the Predator one and the Alien one were boss. might go back and get them, actually.

what is it exactly that we hope, plan or intend to do with the two Pop! head things that we have? that's an interesting question, and one that i do not have an immediate answer for, as it happens. my (considerably) better half has wished for one so that she could have it stuck in the car for some reason. i suppose there is not a great deal of difference or harm in putting both of them in, then. other than their exit from the boxes to have their picture taken so i could show you them, discerning reader, there is of course every chance that they might just stay in the boxes they came in for the term of their natural lives.

does the head bobble on the statues? well, yes in respect of Boba Fett, but no in respect of her, dinosaur dragon lady one. that's probably why they don't see her one as a toy, then.

a video of Boba Fett's head bobbling? sure, why not, except, alas, it is a sideways video, as i held my blueberry the wrong way round as i recorded it and i can't be bothered to make another.

it's a shame that the Game Of Thrones ones don't do bobble head stuff. for those in the know, as you will know, a bobble headed Ned Stark one would be most smart to play with.

in the interests of some sort of consumer review thing, are these statue Pop! thingies worth the street value of £9.99 that they apparently command? pretty much, i guess. they are exceptionally well made, even if they are presumably mass produced in some factory somewhere. and, as i hope these pictures have sort of hinted, they do look really smart.

did i make any other purchases that i am going to be all flash about and show off here? why, yes i did. however, they are things that one would read, so they will appear here as and when i have read them, dear reader. some quite exciting titles too, if that is of interest.

as the weekend here draws to a close, all i can say is that i trust you all had a simply marvellous weekend.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i am sure this will be smart

hi there

after years of doing so, it is i suppose not all that often, and certainly not to all that large an extent of expense, that i indulge myself much these days. cigarettes, look you see, kind of dominate my entertainment and leisure budget for myself, what with the UK government thinking that slamming high taxes on them is a brilliant and wise thing to do.

i do, however, go and spend a modest amount on an insane amount of discs from time to time. well, practically weekly. some nice chaps that i like to talk about the classics with sell them off, box free, for 49p a go, as has been shown off here. today was such a day when i went and picked some up.

today was a bit of a jackpot day in that regard, as i got some absolutely boss titles. there were a fair few Disney ones i was happy to find, as well as some meant for a more mature audience. but i am not going to show any of the smart ones, instead the one "this will be crap but i will get it" disc i spotted.

for some reason i am sure i have read something about this Alien Intruder film recently, but cannot remember what exactly. perhaps it was on TV and i watched a few moments after reading of it on the guide, or maybe somewhere i read an article on the greatest films of Billy Dee Williams. which would feature two Star Wars, the classic Nighthawks (a review of that one is somewhere on this blog) and all them other films which he did that i cannot remember right now. actually, now that i think, he has not been mentioned as returning to his role of Lando whatever in Star Wars Episode VII - Mission To Moscow has he? maybe they are keeping his appearance a secret. boss if Lobot comes back too, he was smart, him.

other than Billy, this one has Maxwell Caulfield in it. yes, that one. the legend out of Grease 2 and, i think, Dynasty or one of the spin-offs. i can't wait to watch this one.

that imdb site does not speak at all well of this film, but it could be that the 437 people who confessed to watching it over the last 22 years are wrong, i suppose. ah, here's that Nighthawks review. wow, 6 or so years since i last watched it? thought it was more recent.

anyhow, should i watch Alien Intruder and it looks like it might be worth writing something more than these mere speculative comments about it, i will do so here.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you want to be the song that you hear in your head

hello there

wow, or if you like, phew. i am going to do one of them 'mega' posts here, look you see, instead of splitting it up over two or three of them. why? well, why not? variety, you never know, may or may not make it all somewhat more interesting for you.

quite a bit of it - the spine, if you like - relates and indeed pertains to the challenge of getting an Apple product to simply do what you bought it to do, so if you are one of the Apple disciples or apologists you may want to consider opting out round about now for the sake of your blood pressure.

and on that note, that seemingly dangerous thing that happens when you want some different vibes to listen to on your ipod thing. this means plugging it into a proper, non-iOS or OS computer to add the tunes from. this, as has been seen time and again on this blog, angers Apple somewhat, and they on a whim just blank all the vibes off of your ipod for you to show their displeasure.

oh hell yes, i do indeed use an old Windows XP machine to update the ipod with. there is no way, no way at all, i am letting iTunes unleash its misery on my regular, Windows 7 computer, thank you.  going on how iTunes cripples any machine it comes into contact with, i am not knacking a computer i care about with it.

if i feel this way, should you be a new reader, then why on earth do i use any Apple products? because the ipod is the best available portable, personal music player on the go, and there's nothing that comes even close to it. i really wish there was. i think something called a Go Gear off of Philips is supposed to be good; as and when the pods die perhaps that is what i will move to.

going on the enthusiasm with which Apple like blanking my ipods, i thought i would take a photo of what was on it before i started adding some new tracks. just, you know, to remember.

you have, i suspect, reached a point at which you are rather tired of Apple grumbles for the moment, so let us all take a nice pause and watch some video of the cows conspiring and planning their revolutionary liberation.

oh yes, i have still with some interest been monitoring the evolution of the cows and their plans, i just have not had the margin or inclination to update here with it all. i don't mind giving updates as and when, you know, and i do appreciate one or two of you visit here purely to see what the cows are doing. it's just that, the way i see it, one day - possibly soon, possibly many decades from now - the cows will take over and you will know all about it before you read it here.

so, then, back to Apple, and this very funny request.

i did actually laugh out loud when i saw this, and then got very, very cross when i saw there was no "go f*** yourself" button to press as a means of a response. of course i selected no thanks, and was indeed furious that the word 'thanks' was included.

that Apple for some reason want people who give them lots of coins of money to buy products to believe that they have any interest at all in what they might want is an exciting one. it is patently not true, of course. i am assuming they are making this token gesture as a means of working out ways to extract more coins of money from the people, not to give them anything in particular for the coins of money already extracted.

a photo of the cows engaged in conspiracy? sure, why not. it allows you, after all, to see what an early Spring morning, say around 7:10am, looks at the moment.

that fence / hedge thing is not going to hold them back, at all. if the cows do make a break for it, if they act of their clear intentions of world domination, a simple charge at that hedge / fence, or if you like fedge i suppose, will see them break through and towards me. the only thing that could save me is a passing truck or tractor knocking them down as they make their way over the road. assuming, of course, that the cows do not look left and right when crossing.
 
back to Apple moans and groans? sure, if that's what you want.

that is indeed one of them iPod touch things, the ones that i am not at all impressed with. i got it for a rather good price, however, and my (considerably) better half likes it. she can do all them touchscreen things that i have no interest in.

updating the ipod used mostly by (considerably) better half first seemed like a wise way to gauge the mood of Apple. if they opted to go on a "we are blanking your device" mission, her 8GB model (of which you can use nearly half of the memory; the other half of course reserved for their ridiculous software) was pretty easy to reconstruct.

here we go, then, the 'sync in progress' screen. it likes to make you think it's doing what you want it to, but doesn't reveal if it has worked until you've ejected it and checked.

just what Apple's problem is with 'drag and drop' would be beyond me. it's pretty basic and user friendly, and oh yeah, it's that latter point that they will have a problem with.

i don't get why you have to 'drag and drop' the vibes into the ipod via iTunes, and then after you have dragged and dropped, and only then, does it 'sync'. no, it does not make it better, it's a pain and a waste of time. yeah, very first world, that problem.

what's the one thing that would improve Apple products and cut out most of my complaints? buttons. a power off button, ideally, not this 'sleep' or 'standby' rubbish. and buttons to use to navigate and select things with. all this touchscreen rubbish is annoying and intended for children's toys. buttons are the hallmark of a proper, real, grown up device. access to the battery would be nice too, so you could replace it, but of course that would go somewhat against the business model of Apple; "oh your battery is not working so here buy a whole new device".

i believe if you make a quality product, and market it well, people will throw money at you. that Apple constantly seek to find ways to milk money off of people and consider the quality of a product to be negligible and unimportant says it all.

have i done anything even more ambitious than try to update an ipod recently? why yes, indeed i have. in something of a reckless, hopeful and sentimental mood, i have opted to try and trust the South African Post Office to deliver mail and, if at all possible, deliver mail in a reasonable amount of time.

by "reasonable" i mean in 6 to 8 weeks or so, or if you like 2 months. i really, really like posting things to people, in particular cards and that for easter, birthdays and whatever else they sell cards for. i suppose at some point someone will think of sending cards at christmas, but we will see.

will the above arrive in time? well, i can but hope. the last i heard was that the SA Post Office was in such a bloody mess that no international mail was going in or coming out of the country. bonus, then, if it turns up at all. 

so, did the ipod with the touchscreen all update ok with no fuss and no theatrics? why yes, actually it did, as you can see here.

yeah, that's U2 on the display right there. a band somewhat synonymous with Apple. although, as i recall, there was not really all that much fuss the first time Apple gave away a U2 album with their products - i think it was How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb that came loaded on the ipod. and i do quite like how that's an image of Bono singing to represent songs as an icon.

that Apple really, really likes U2 is one of the few redeeming features of the company, in retrospect. although i still don't get all the fuss from last year with Songs Of Innocence. outside of it being a very, very good album, why did U2 get blamed for all of that? to recap, U2 made an album with the intention of releasing it so people like me could buy it and get on with enjoying it. Apple comes along and says "hello, can we give you (guessed at) $100million in return for giving your album away for free please?". Bono and the lads decide that this would be most agreeable. Apple set it all up with their impossible to navigate software so that it automatically downloads to the Apple devices of many people who lack the interest in U2 that they might have. and somehow U2 are to blame?

another break? surely. here's an image that amused Spiros somewhat, and a few others too.

it's off one of them shows which that Harry Enfield fella did, you know, him that did all that Loadsamoney and stuff. not sure if he is still on the go, probably is.

i am getting pretty bored with this now, so presumably you are too. anyway, let's make this as painless and quick as we can to end, here's a picture showing that, at this stage, Apple are happy and content to leave my vibes on the device.

will it stay like that? well, we will see, but the lack of swearing should be something of a clue that this all ends reasonably well. for a change.

wither sentinel, or if you like lone wolf? that renegade cow that seems to be leading the evolutionary revolution? why, right here, alone, looking all leader-like, broody and deep in thought.

i at least think that's sentinel. i am pretty sure it is, although they all look the same to me. are you allowed to say that about cows? i mean, if you say that they all look the same do you now get knacked by some sort of lobby group for prejudice? i will find out if you do, i suppose, because i just did say that.

you want for a video of my ipod classic, also known as a proper ipod, updating? not sure why you would want for such a thing, but sure, that's doable.

if you can hear some sort of music on the go there (sorry, i never check the sound. i very rarely put the sound on the pc at all, unless someone insists). it's U2, possibly Discotheque, an underrated and very, very clever single from the band. 

and there would be U2 again, on the ipod, all nicely updated and working fine with the vibes that i wanted on it, thank you very much indeed.

quite phenomenal. the challenge of adding new vibes to not one, not three, but two Apple products went, by and large, fine and without a hitch.

i was so excited that i very nearly wrote them a letter, telling them how i was able - twice - to update a product of theirs the way i wanted to, and was able to do something with the product that i actually wished to; something that it was bought to do. and sign it off with a suggestion that they stop being twats, of course.

i did not write any such letter, of course. sure, they would ignore the part about asking them not to be twats, which would be disappointing and somewhat understandable. no, what held me back was the thought of them knowing that someone was able to do what they wanted to do with their product, not what Apple insisted on. that would just lead to yet another bloody iOS update being unleashed, bringing a swift and decisive end to such freedoms for your coins of money.

what new vibes is it that i shall be listening to on the ipod, or ipods? well, as the pictures have pretty much suggested here, Prince. i have that best of Prince DVD on the go at the moment, and am very much reminded of how awesome his love of bass is. i may well, when not reading, listen to a bit of Prince on the bus as i go upon my travels.

how many items of mail am i presently throwing into the system in the hope that the South African Post Office kind of does its job? three so far, and a fourth will be added tomorrow, or maybe Monday.

it would be really, really nice if they all arrived, you know. i can only do what i have done to try and bring this about, we shall see.

i can't think what exactly it might be, but if something in the above has been of interest or entertainment, well then so much the better. i shall attempt to refrain from further updates until i have something of actual interest to post, methinks.

until such a time, then, dear reader,




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

shoe express

hello there

my travels to and from verk were bookended, somewhat, today. well, if you wanted to go for a mega play on words, yes they were literally as i was of course reading, look you see, as the bus did its thing and tried to totally shatter and knack whatever remnants of my spine remain. on that note, it turns out that selecting books to read because they have been dedicated to Warren Zevon is a very wise approach indeed, but more on that as and when we are due review things here. but that's not what i am speaking of here. instead, i mean that my day of travels today was bookended by bins.

on the way to verk i saw a scene which brought to mind all of that Game Of Thrones stuff, or if you like GoT, should you be an upper aged teenage type with the attention span of an asparagus. a gent of the road, a chap who had taken to the outdoor life - a vagrant, if we are to be honest - had taken up a very, very King's Landing stance in defence of one bin in particular. another chap, who seemingly or presumably lives a similar sort of lifestyle, looked all set to try and use speed, cunning and guile to mount a class invasion and stake a claim to the bin for his own kingdom.

how did that end up? sadly, or perhaps fortunately, the bus moved on before the assault was unleashed, so i have no idea. no, i didn't take any pictures and no i did not look on the way home to see if there was any evidence of carnage or carcasses.

i did, however, manage to get a picture of the bin incident from this afternoon, after rushing to catch the bus home. here you go, and indeed yes, i can assure you that it has not been worth the weight, and nor is it worth the energy you burned up to click on this link.

yes, that really is it, people. i did warn you in the paragraph above that it was a waste of your time, but you continued to read.

i have no idea why, but i was fascinated by the idea that someone had thrown a pair of shoes in the bin, in a box too. well, i assume the shoes were in the box. size 7.5 it says they are.

i can only imagine that some gent - for they were shoes quite clearly made for a man, looking at the sticker - had some  sort of shoe crisis or emergency which meant that they had to buy a new pair as soon as possible, put them on with a similar level of haste and then dispose of the old ones in as a responsible and considerate of the environment way as was possible to do.

i'd like to think it was more interesting, though, and less dark than the idea of a chap having shoe distress. perhaps them shoes that came in the box were, like, totes the most amazing shoes what he had ever seen, and he simply must have had them. after crossing the road to the bus stop, maybe he said to himself "f*** it i shall wear them now", hence the older ones being in the box and discarded if not disposed of.

thank you for reading this, despite it being a waste of your time and adding no value whatsoever. as a means of a reward, or if you feel it necessary an apology, here is proof that yes, indeed, as you might have heard, the BBC opted to run a story about a 'Hardon Collider'.

yes, i will bet it was coming up, too.

more as and when something amusing, interesting, dull or compelling crops up, or as and when such an amount of time has passed that i think maybe i had best do a post here as i have not done one for a while.

until such a time, then,




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

just checking how clever google is....

hello there

wow, isn't this three posts today. awesome, or if you are feeling Australian, sensational stuff.

there's a little project that i've been wanting to do for a while, look you see, and today was the day that i had either enough time or boredom to do it. it might be of some interest on a scary or sinister sense, but i did it just out of sheer curiosity. the project, as the title suggests, is all about working out just how clever google has got of late. the answer, for those in a rush, is 'not very', it seems. here, have a gander.

this picture was taken of me earlier today, as part of a traditional easter selfie thing we did. it is fair to say, then, that this is a relatively recent picture of me, your humble and apparently today prolific narrator.

i figured why not have a go at that whole google images thing with this picture, then. for those that don't know, it is a feature of google which lets up upload a picture from your computer, or select one off of the web, and lets google go wild, or if you like mental, searching for similar.

my thought was that there are surely so many images of my good self up and about on the web, mostly placed there by me, that it would simply return pictures of me. these would come, no doubt, mostly from the blog posts i have done here, possibly from the last couple of years, for my looks have not changed all that much. yeah, i know, they certainly haven't improved, many thanks for pointing that out.

the results of this? well, not many pictures of me were found. in fact, none at all. what did google decide that the picture of me actually was, then? some rather confused and conflicting results. here, have a look for yourself, why don't you.

quite flattering, most or practically all of them search results are, really.i was particularly impressed to be likened to an 80s or 90s Australian cricketer there on the second row. and boss that google thinks i might be Mel Gibson, Sean Connery, David Beckham or the legend that is Alexi Lalas.

the image that features twice is, of course, Michael Stipe off of REM. so, then, for google, i am Michael Stipe out of REM, or if you like formerly of REM, for my understanding is that the band is no more.

what can we conclude here? not a great deal scientifically, since this was a singular random test done mostly out of boredom. however, that i searched for an image of me, whilst logged in as me, and that they have loads of images of me at their disposal, i think it's fair to say that google's image search isn't all that dark or sinister just yet.

well, thanks for the flattering comparisons, google. one day, no doubt, you will find something ace, boss or otherwise Australian to do with all this stuff you keep harvesting, but it would for now seem that the image search thing is not a conduit for it.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

an easter hanging

hello there

no, not quite that sort of hanging, you easily excited lot. the title there, look you see, refers to hanging a picture, or indeed pictures, within the confine of a frame - indeed, frames - upon the wall.

those of you who are well aware of the negative fiscal impact of even the slightest level of diy sort of thing i do in and around the home shall be somewhat pleased to learn that my involvement in the hanging was limited to financial outlay, printing and adding some wire to act as reinforcement for the rustic string look which my (considerably) better half wished to have in place.

and, as the pictures you see are within a frame that was a gift for my (considerably) better half for all that mother's day thing, what she wished for was what she was to have. be, if you will, hold.

whereas i would have been perfectly content to get my (considerably) better half some quickly grabbed box of chocolates for mother's day, or indeed some cheap flowers or perhaps a bottle of engine oil off of the garage, she expressed a wish for one of them "multi picture frames" for the wall. i set off, then, looking for such an item, and found the above. for a substantial fee, might i add, but not of such substance that i cried about it for all that much more than a week.

the images are ones which she herself selected to be put in place, and i helped a bit to that extent with supplying the photo paper, the printer, the computer and that. i even printed the first one or two so that it could be seen if they would come out as wished, and as i think you can see they did.

meanwhile, i think it has been some time since a picture of all of us has featured here, so here you indeed go. this is our traditional easter selfie, a fine, fine tradition which dates all the way back to this year.

although you are all familiar with how i look and get sporadic, unsolicited and unwanted images of me here, i am sure you are all pleased to see the 75% of my family which you all actually like here.

speaking of which, today marks 75% through a long weekend for easter. how has it been? pretty good, so far. i have engaged in some minor shopping, with a major stint of that to be happening tomorrow. further, i went on my usual strolls, seeing the people and conversing as and when appropriate. fortune of timing even allowed for a visit to the library, where i picked up further books to read on the bus, you may or may not be pleased to learn. four, no less, and one of them appears to be dedicated to Warren Zevon in the front dedication part, so there is every chance that will get read sooner rather than later.

my main intention for this afternoon was to doze on the couch whilst some sort of film played away on the tele or blu ray or combination of both, but hanging a picture, or if you like hanging a number of pictures, was apparently more what i wished to do. no matter, yesterday i sat and watched Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes as William played away on that Mine game thing. he did glance at the tele once in a while, and was quite impressed with the idea of monkeys having fire and guns.

oddly i was thinking of 'watching' Battle For The Planet Of The Apes today, but as far as i can work out the recent Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes that we watched recently was essentially a remake. so perhaps it is not so bad that i engaged in easter hanging instead. so probably wise to have given it a miss, although such familiarity may well have stimulated a snooze some.

anyway, hope your long weekend has been good, continues to be good or, if reading after the fact, was very good indeed.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

easter eight threshold thrashed

hello there

i will be frank, if not blunt, look you see. there is nothing mature, intelligent or sophisticated with this post. if you read it, no good whatsoever can come of it, and it is all on you, and you alone, if you pursue perusal after reading these words.

it was the case that this morning, known in circles outside of the ultra orthodox as easter sunday, i got a very excited message from Spiros. an excited message from Spiros is, granted, not all that unusual, but in this case he was very, very excited indeed. he implored, if not charged, me with the urgency with which i should stroll to a suitable grocer and purchase a copy of today's edition of the Sunday Sport. i decided, on trust, to go along with this proposition.

circumstances have not allowed me to read it thus far, but i believe it was the lead page story that Spiros was so excited about, and to an extent rightly so.

that the eight threshold, long since (apparently) considered to be the end of the frontier which man could reach, has finally been broken has made this easter all the more special for Spiros, by default me, and by extension you, i suppose, dear reader.

not all, of course, are going to widely celebrate this achievement, or if you like accomplishment. outside of the obvious, obligatory "why would you want to do that" questions, many will argue that the nine benchmark was reached purely by the corporate greed prevalent in egg based confectionery manufacture in the 21st century. this is to say the the Creme Eggs used in this day and age are smaller than what they were. the Creme Eggs of the 80s, for instance, were longer and more rotund - meaning that nine would be unlikely if not entirely impossible.

should you have found this story as exciting and compelling as Spiros did, well then so much the better, and i am very pleased that i could bring you this news. if this is something that you would rather not have known about at all, i can only refer you to the warning, or if you like disclaimer, at the top.


*** UPDATED DUE TO UNEXPECTED AND FRANKLY ALARMING INTEREST ***

here's the x-ray image of the "success" of the nine Creme Eggs. i believe this really rather creates even more controversy, but before you read my comments, have a look and see what you think.

i don't know if it's just me, but one of them - possibly the second or the third of this sensational thing that this bloke did - looks rather more like a squash all than it does a Creme Egg.

also, there's a school of thought to say that the last one is not exactly as in as much of the others, but this is not a conversation i am prepared to have. Spiros, no doubt, would very much be ready and happy to have a conversation about that; off you go his way.



be eggsellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

saying goodbye to an old friend

hello there

i went, as is quite usual to be the case, for a walk around the village today. this invariably sees me stop off to see Gran & Gramps, look you see, to say hello, see how they are and if they require anything doing.

all was perfectly fine and well today, with them having no ills to speak of beyond age, and having no requirements for stuffs of things from the shops or anywhere like that. they did, however, have something to ask me whether i wished to have or not.

what was it? why, the stag, or if you like quad, or indeed if you like mr twirly, or if you further like and you don't particularly care to give names to equipment, stereo that i had installed in the lounge when i went to live with them for a couple of years at the farm.

you wish to have a look at it? why sure you do, you people get upset when it's just my text here without any fancy pictures to make your visit worthwhile....

this is indeed, those in the know will (erm) know a 1990 model Sony stag. a pretty smart one too, for it's day. CD player? that was separate, and was there at some point, but now gone. there is a turntable too, in perfect working order, but i have not included it in the picture. sorry.

did i want this stereo? oh yes. some top memories with this stag. the back of Bowie's Ziggy Startdust CD said "to be played at maximum volume" on it, and it was, often - one of the perks of the isolated ways of a farm house is that there are no neighbours for miles; play the vibes as loud as you want, man.

what gems were played through this stag? well, all of the celebrated Ryko / EMI reissues of the Bowie albums, for a start. one mate, and i am hesitant to name names here, for they all have their own stories to tell, brought the first Blur album - Leisure, i think? - to play through it. Turns Into Stone off of The Stone Roses, too. and a bit of Bee Gees.

am i taking the stag? sadly not. i simply have nowhere to put it. the stag is no doubt destined for disposal, then. but it was very nice to get a picture of it before it went away forever. i was, to be honest, quite thrilled and pleased to see it has survived, and remained in serviceable use, this long.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

books (mostly) on the bus

hello again

yes indeed, another two books read. well, they were both reasonably short books, look you see, and i sort of cheated with the last one, reading it away from the confines of the bus. that would be why, if you are at all interested, these reviews come so soon after the last ones.

what books, short as they were, did i read this time? curiously, or perhaps co-incidentally, they were both bought for a cost of £1 each, although from different sorts of establishments and in different circumstances. but you probably want to rather see the covers than hear this.

something of a quick, spoiler free review of both? very good, as it happens, very good indeed. i am unsure how the novel of All You Need Is Kill would compare to the film Edge Of Tomorrow, but we will get to that.

as usual, links to the books to the world's grocer are not an endorsement, affiliation or form of recommendation. they are there just for convenience and indeed as usual *** SPOILER WARNINGS *** are in place for the rest of this post. 

so, then, All You Need Is Kill, or Edge Of Tomorrow as it has been renamed for the film version, or indeed Live Die Repeat, since Amazon are unable to work out what is the name of a film and what is the tagline.

plot? at some point in the future, we - that being the world - are at war with a mysterious alien invader. everyone is thrown at the enemy in the hope of defeating them, including the protagonist of this novel. that protagonist happens to be an 18 year old Japanese lad, so yeah, i am rather interested to see how this will translate into the Cruise being in the part as and when i get to watch the film.

not surprisingly, or if you like unsurprisingly, the 18 year old Japanese lad does not do all that well in the battle. not too bad, in fairness, but not too well, in the sense that it ends for him via being killed by death. and then he wakes up on the day of the battle and gets all ready to do it again. and, as it happens, gets killed by death. and then he wakes up on the day of the battle, only with a puzzling, indeed curious sense of deja vu, or if you like the feeling that this has all happened to him before.

how and why is this happening to him? can't say as i don't want to be too much of a spoiler type for those interested in the book or the film. i can, however, say that it all gets resolved in a - by science fiction terms - logical, plausible way. so yeah, i really enjoyed it. impressive, as this was my first foray into Japanese literature. i expected it to be impenetrable, but it was all a good deal more English than i feared.

i bought this on a whim when i saw it for £1 on the shelf at Poundland. i am rather glad i did, even if at less than 200 pages (198 i think) it was a rather short, quick read.

can i wallow in memories? sure, it's my blog. once upon a time i was an avid, extensive reader of books based on screenplays, or novels that were turned into films. they were a standard issue back in the 80s, and very handy too, since it was usually a year after a film was released before it came out on video. books based on the screenplay were particularly boss, as they often included details and scenes cut from the released movie. the "school hostage" scene, for instance, off of Lethal Weapon was there in the novelization, but only appeared in the film when a 'Director's Cut' DVD came out, some 15 or so years after the movie was released.

back, for the fourth time this year, to the world of Peter Robinson, then, with the novel Dead Right. i picked this up at the village library for the accessible and attractive fee of £1.

plot? a lad is found murdered, somewhat by extensive kicking to death, near a pub. it, and you were given spoiler warnings but this is mostly all on the back of the book, transpires the lad was a leading figure in a right wing group, and so suspicion for responsibility for the kicking soon turns towards the rather less right wing, less white members of the community.

going on my experience of Peter Robinson thus far - which is to say that his main character, DCI Banks, chooses to conduct all police business in a pub - i sort of smiled to myself when i started reading this, as i was pretty sure it would be a case of all racial tensions and situations of unrest being solved over a pint, down the pub. a bit like, some of you may recall, how Sepp Blatter once speculated that any and all matters which happened on a football field could, surely, be resolved with a simple handshake after the match, and everyone could just get along. a nice thought, perhaps, but one that you do not really believe likely to work.

i was, as it happens, somewhat mistaken. very little of this novel actually happens in a pub, and for the most part it all seems to involved actual police and detective work. oh, for sure, certainly and of course the whole thing more or less ends up being resolved and solved via the English way of doing things in the last few pages, but it takes a while to get it there, and for once the actual culprit/s have good reason to do the decent thing.

this novel was published in 1997 in the first instance. i mention it as something called 'an internet' causes some mild curiosity in the constabulary investigating the case. one of the constabulary has a computer with 'an internet' at home, and uses it find the identity of someone wanted to have speaks with. i say this not to mock or laugh, but to show how unwired the world was once. it would certainly seem somewhat easier to find people via 'an internet' now than it was then.

the best Peter Robinson / DCI Banks book i have yet read? yes, i think. well, put it this way, i decided to finish off the last 100 or so pages today instead of wait for the next bus ride on Tuesday. but be warned, this is book 10 or 11 in the series, and you would have had to read at least some of the early ones to know which characters were being spoken of and why.

so, two pretty enjoyable reads on the bus. whereas i appreciate that science fiction is not for everyone, if you are a fan and have not read this one with Cruise on the cover i would strongly suggest you do so. i have, as i think i mentioned above, picked up the DVD, will watch it at some point i hope.

as ever, i hope these reviews have been of at least passing interest or at best of some use to someone out there, anywhere, that has access to 'an internet' thing.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

insights from a packet of one direction mini top trumps cards

hi there


today, and there's no way of dressing up the fact it was today, i was browsing a store and i spotted some one direction mini top trumps cards. they were going for what i believed to be a very reasonable price, and so i purchased them. well, no time like the present to learn a few things about my top band.

that i quite like top trumps too was a bonus, i suppose. i at least knew a thing or two about top trumps, what with them being an on-off but nonetheless constant presence in life to date.

yes indeed,  as i think you can more or less make out, 1D top trumps cards presently carry a street value of 50p. well, the mini ones anyway. can you get them, if you want them, for 50p? if you so wish, you can pay less or more for them, by the looks of amazon.

so, what have i learned about one of my all time, toppermost of the poppermost bands of all time from these cards? well, the names of the members, which was nice.

up to now Harry has been my favourite. this has been purely because his is the name i can make out on that class 1D mug i have at verk. whereas the other four (yes, i know, we will get to the recent lineup change) scrawled something as opposed to a signature, Harry very kindly writes 'Harry' in big massive crayon style letters. so he is easy to identify.

here are all of them class lads that are in 1D, then. well, are or were. in this picture you can also see their ratings in the world of top trumps.

indeed they do all have the same impact rating and excitement rating. this is somewhat at odds with the recent developments, which saw one of them - Z something - leave the band. his departure has seen prices for 1D merchandise be adjusted by between 20% and 50% by most retailers operating within the realm at the moment. 20% suggest equality, but the higher discount on certain goods suggest that, for some, he carried a far higher value.

speaking of merchandise, i am indeed considering purchasing this; an item that must surely be considered as the holy grail of 1D things. except, of course, it is far more important than any sort of holy grail thing.

i note with interest that the one who left, Z something, has his name at the bottom of most 1D items, in particular that very smart shaped rubber, or if you like eraser, look you see, you can see right there. it would then surely just be the work of a moment to remove his presence from this merchandise with a pair of scissors, or a knife, or something. like, totes simples, darlings.

but you don't want reimagining or customising  stationery, dear reader. you, as i, wish to learn of this 1D thing, to understand the phenomenon in terms of top trumps ratings.

here, as far as i know, is their incredible journey to success. it looks like a path far, far more challenging than playing a pub in Liverpool or messing about in Hamburg.

i had no idea at all that they formed on that x factor thing; i thought it was some sort of talent show that they met on. that x factor thing looked quite tough, from what i remember of it. all them mental challenges and the assault course would have knacked me, so credit to the lads for forming a band during that show. this achievement is all the more impressive when you consider, as you can see, that they got to the final, too.

i think it was someone called Gordon Burns that hosted x factor? all i can really remember is that the Art of Noise did a boss theme for it.

anyway, as you can see, meeting and forming was a staggering 2 less exciting that auditioning for x factor or appearing on the final of it. what do we learn from this? that bands forming is not as exciting as what they do. that's every rock and roll biography ever destined for the bin, then.

onwards we go, then, with the ratings for their path to glory in the world of top trumps. admittedly these pictures are probably not as large or clear as they could be, but then again this is mini top trumps, you crazy kids. work with me, not against me.

it's interesting that the least exciting thing to happen to 1D is that whole "twerker" thing, which i think is that thing where people "twerk" short, ultimately pointless messages, usually to share ill-informed opinions on subjects that have no relevance whatsoever to them.

that the band, and presumably by extension the fans, consider this whole twerker thing to be not as exciting as,  say, releasing a single or going on tour, speaks volumes about the maturity on display here. yes, granted, that's if you accept the top trumps measurement for such things, and i see no reason not to - they are pretty accurate, going on the Batman pack i have here too.

any other insights? loads, really. but i wouldn't want to be the one to disrupt your own voyage of discovery should you purchase a pack, or if you like deck, of these yourself. would i suggest that you buy these? well, if you like top trumps, and 1D, or just like top trumps and are not fussed about who is on them so long as there are numbers, then 50p is a pretty decent price for a pack/deck, i would have thought.

right, i am off to play 1D top trumps, then, all be it in a mini form.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!