Fry On Fame

Yes, he's at it again. You could subscribe to the feed but frankly I am almost certainly going to post in awe of his (and I quote) 'blessays' whenever they are posted, so you may as well just follow it here:

Stephen Fry: Let Fame

I did particularly enjoy, on being asked the question, "What is it like?":

‘Being famous is like wearing blue pyjamas at the opera. It’s like kissing Neil Young, but only on Wednesdays. It’s like a silver disc gummed to the ear of a wolverine. It’s like licking crumbs from the belly of a waitress called Eileen. It’s like lemon polenta cake but slightly wider. It’s like moonrise on the planet Posker.’

Very good. Of course.

Overheard #25

Allegedly referring to one of the directors of a FTSE-listed company:

"At Eton they used to call him 'Circus Boy' but he cries if you say it to him now."

Jesus Wants Me For A Facebook

Well looky here, y'all. Apparently that there Facebooky thing is like totally sooooo much fun that my lovely online (and offline, some of 'em) chums feel I am missing out on all the garden/cake/vampire networking grooviness and have taken time out of their busy Web2.0 virtual tagging sessions to set up a 'group', dedicated to little old me and the persuading-to-join thereof:

Get Adrian To Join Facebook Group*

Nope. Nice try. But sorry. Never in a million years. Although......a million.....what if a million people joined that group AND PLEDGED TO DONATE A SINGLE UK PENNY EACH? Then I might be tempted.

£10,000

Ten thousand pounds to a charity of my choosing. What do you reckon, Level 5 Zombie Facebook-types??

* Obviously I would have to join to see it, so I'll just have to take their word for it :)

First Ade

Emmanuel Adebayor has auctioned his hat-trick shirt, the one he wore in the 5-0 win against Derby, for £50,000 in an auction to raise money for leukaemia research. He really is a jolly nice chap (and he can keep scoring beauties like the one against Spurs all season long, if you don't mind, please).

Meanwhile, not to be outdone, Frank Lampard has donated his shirt from last Sunday's 2-0 defeat at Manchester Utd to Shelter. A spokesman said they were "very grateful and hoped to be able to house up to fifty homeless people inside it in the very near future".

*flees*

In For A Penny

...in for a rouble. Separated at birth?

"I want to be in a position that will allow me a blocking stake and will then wait for it to go up in value."

After statements like that, I think it's a valid comparison; where's Dangermouse when you need him?

(On the back of a londonist post which alleged a similarity between Greenback and Avram Grant but I reckon mine is better...)

Flake 'n' Bacon

Now I have to admit that I really like bacon. And Solveig would readily confirm that she really likes chocolate. So, how do we resolve this marital issue? OK, I'll tell you how:

"Deep milk chocolate coats your mouth and leads to the crunch of smoked bacon pieces. Surprise your mouth with the smoked salt and sweet milk chocolate combination."

Er, right. 'Surprise your mouth' indeed.....

Overheard #24

It's a difficult life, being a chap:

"I have to leave by 6.30, I'm picking up my shooting trousers. I do draw the line at plus-fours, however."

Sunday Morning Fry Up

The FryPhone

Well said.

(11:43pm? Was I really up that late watching Arsenal's demolition job on Derby County? Ah well...)

Hands Off Our Club

Oi! Where's my lawyers letter, fatty?

Some You Win...

What a peculiar week.

My man Stuart Broad gets clobbered for six sixes in one over in the Twenty20 World Cup, England go out & Freddie is injured (again).

Then Arsenal crush Sevilla 3-0 with an outstanding display of Cruyff-esque attacking football (Thierry who?)

But to cap it all, The Special One only goes and resigns from Chelski and Spurs put SIX past a team who sound like a disease. Even Darren Bent managed to score; ergo, they must have been sh**.

You really couldn't make it up :)

Overheard #23

A corker, you couldn't make it up.

"I'm off next week as I have to go to the deaf clinic - not that I'm telling them that; I'll never hear the end of it..."

f4c3b**k

Hey, Daring Fireball, that's my line...

Thank goodness Zeldman joined Facebook; gets me one step closer to my goal of being the last person on the web who has not.

Overheard #22

Topical.

"I thought the banks crisis was really getting worse when I walked past Nationwide and saw a huge queue gathering outside. Then I realised that they weren't open yet.

Top Posting

Kick In The Spuds

I am flabbergasted. It would appear that tomorrow's North Laaahndan derby between the globally-admired demi-gods of free-flowing beautiful elegant creative one-touch football and Spurs is NOT ON THE TELLY!!!!

It's a travesty.

El Scousers wander down to the South Coast to hoof the pigskin around a corrugated iron shed in Portsmouth, and that's on.

Chelski One-Nil trek North to have their shins brutally examined by Blackeye Rovers, and that's on.

But where is our steeped-in-tradition local encounter at Three Point Lane? Nowhere, that's where. And they wonder why pubs arrange dodgy satellite feeds from Norway and savvy internet punters stream things from China. What is the point of have three lunchtime games (at 12.00, 12.45 and 1.30 respectively) if you are not going to show them? They may as well have been at 3.00 in the good old fashioned way.

Sky & Setanta - what a complete set of swag-bellied harpies.

Still, more listeners for Lofty on BBC Radio London I suppose...

Woolly Yumper

No, really - how to 'knit' marzipan:
And here's the tutorial - Antonia, over to you...

Overheard #21

"Yeah, the chips don't lie, they just make it worse"

I know. Bizarre on so many levels.

Plat(form) Du Jour

Deezer Geezer

Just become aware of this French website which offers free access to user-uploaded MP3s to listen to online.

"What the ... ?!" I hear you cry.

Apparently it has an agreement with SACEM (which as I understand it is the French version of the PRS/ASCAP) to pay it an agreed portion of its advertising revenue in publishing royalties.

Deezer

Remains to be seen if the RIAA will flex its international muscles (like it did with the Russian site, AllOfMP3) and wade in with the helicopter gunships. Although Universal is said to be somewhat unhappy and might beat them to it (having just signed an exclusive agreement with a different French ISP, neuf.fr, with whom they share a parent company, Vivendi).

Worth a look, streams fine, not a bad selection. Is it the new Napster?

And obviously there's a Slashdot thread.

Two And You're Out

The best just got better. To celebrate the forthcoming Twenty20 World Cup, Stick Cricket have started a new competition:

Stick Cricket - Two2

Yep, two overs. Twelve balls to prove yourself worthy of a place in the next round. Hit out or get out. Aces.

(OK, so I haven't actually managed it yet, might be a long night...)

Wasp (Not Wasp)

I was stung by a wasp for the first time ever yesterday. It gently landed on me, looked casually about, walked about five paces then stung the merry hell out of my forearm. Luckily, I had the speed of thought and presence of mind to let go of everything I was holding and attend immediately to this unprovoked attack. Regrettably, the thing I was holding was a pushchair with our daughter in it which, as we had been happily strolling around Greenwich Park, promptly accelerated down the hill away from the Royal Observatory. Oh how we laughed, as we chased frantically after her buggy, careering at high speed towards the carved stone pillars of the National Maritime Museum.

So anyway, I was stung by a wasp for the first time ever yesterday.
The absolute bastard.

Google Reader Just Got Better

"We found it!"

Awesome.

iWant

You knew it was coming, didn't you: iPod touch

Oooooooooooooooh.

Hit And Myths

Well done to Klaxons for winning the Mercury Music Prize; still enjoying Myths Of The Near Future on my journey to work (and yes, I do sometimes sing the falsetto bit in Golden Skans as we pull into Lewisham station, so what?) and I really should have stuck a tenner on them; could have got 9-1 apparently :(

Anyway, day-glo leggings on, horns in the air, whoop, whoop, whoop!

Last.fm (But Not Least.fm)

Gadget alert - this last.fm Normaliser re-ranks your last.fm favourites by actual listening time (rather than number of tracks consumed). So a couple of Orbital albums and a bit of the Floyd can easily make amends for that secret passion you know you really have for Girls Aloud and/or Lawnmower Deth. Nice.

Overheard #20

Just now. Coffee -> monitor.

"Outnumbered - isn't that the one that's like 'CSI'?
Er, no, it's got Hugh Dennis in it..."

NBC You Later

Well done, chaps.

NBC = No Bloody Clue

(via daring fireball)

Weekending

Good weekend here.

• Reduced the number of washing machines we own to the tune of one, whilst increasing the standard of the aforementioned items (and therefore the quality of life for our tenants) at the flat
• Popped round to see our ex-downstairs neighbours, John & Mercedes, for the first of two BBQs
• Collected Freyja from our ever-willing babysitters (my parents!) and jollyed over to Helena's 30th birthday thing, also a BBQ (excellent potato salad, H, by the way)
• Despite the dreadful traffic around Dulwich Village/A205, got to the Honor Oak for dinner with the aforementioned parents, food very good, (Hoegaarden very good also :)
• Popped to Alex & Katherine's with a composter (is it quite large?) which was exchanged somehow for a lawnmower and an old fridge (note to self: must discuss advanced bargaining tactics with Alex at work next week :)
• Successfully mowed lawns at great speed before the gathering and looming dark clouds did the inevitable English summer thing :(
  
• Aforementioned random fridge to tip (quite literally 2 minutes before closing time)
• Took shears to edges (followed by some surprise to have already half-filled our composter)
• Sat down with Tanqueray & tonic, and then followed...
  
• Arsenal 3-1 Portsmouth which was a good professional win, partly with 10 men. But then
• Aston Villa 2-0 Chelsea which was a complete shock, Lampard or not. Blimey.

Carry on!

The Pope Don't Work

Like, Dylan, man.
You know, Dylan.
Woah.
Man.
Dude, like Dylan, y'know?

Dylan, by me (courtesy of some web jiggery pokery and that)

You can too, here. Cool.