• 10:30 Comics - Not just for kids: bit.ly/gQ9q8 Apparently some people still find this surprising. #
• 15:14 I find the lack of poppies when I walk down the street to be disappointing. #
• 15:33 The story so far:
  In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move. #
• 15:45 I'm assuming Joss Whedon's trying to be cute with the Terminator thing. But I'm leaning towards slappable. bit.ly/3o9OZd #
• 15:50 11 Photos Made Infinitely Awesomer By Lightsaber Photoshops - bit.ly/3RXrLV #
• 17:13 This lists thing may actually prove to be extremely useful. I like being able to read groups of users updates without having to follow. #
• 17:33 I ache, therefore I am. #
• 00:04 Major OS failure. Desperately trying to backup and restore, but looks like my computer's fatally choking. Consider me AWOL for the duration. #

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"Mr. Rafiel's bloodhound - his avenging angel. She looks so harmless, doesn't she? But her camouflage is perfect because she is partly just what she seems - a gossipy old village lady, but her logic is ruthless and her powers of synthesis formidable. And above all she never lets go."

I've recently been addicted to the BBC's adaptations of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple stories when I picked up the DVD in response to the star studded, but lamentable, recent ITV productions. I've always had a soft spot for Miss Marple, far more so than Christie's more famous creation Poirot.

Originally airing between 1984 and 1992 the BBC adaptated all twelve of the Miss Marple novels, featuring the superlative Joan Hickson in the title role. I remember watching many of the adaptations as a child (a good murder mystery is just the ticket for kids. I certainly recall being terrified by the chilling murderer in The Sleeping Murder, with their hands like "grey, monkey paws".) The complete DVD collection is 1,360 minutes of solid, glossy crime, with some fabulous scripts from playwrights like Alan Plater, a cast of great British character actors (Joan Sims, Peter Davison, Samantha Bond, Paul Eddington, Donald Pleasence, Liz Fraser, Josh Ackland and many others), and directed by some memorable directors, including the Boulting Brother's Roy Boulting.

Most impressive though is Joan Hickson, who's widely regarded as the definitive Miss Marple. (After seeing Hickson in an adaptation of her "Appointment With Death," as early as 1946 Christie reportedly sent her a note expressing the hope she would one day "play my dear Miss Marple.") She play Miss Marple not as a simpering twitterer nor as a comical eccentric, but as a rather stiff upright observer whose gaze can be unflinching. As she says in Nemesis: "He called me Nemesis, you know, and he wasn't being entirely humorous". You might invite Margaret Rutherford's Marple out for drinks. You'd probably wonder why sprightly Angela Lansbury was hanging out with all the fuddy duddies. You'd certainly pretend to be out if ghastly Geraldine McEwan battered on the door with a gin bottle.. It's Joan Hickson who you'd choose to solve your murder. Hickson quietly layers Miss Marple with the many qualities that make her a good detective and a good person—keen reasoning skills, a willingness to really look and listen, patience, a little sadness and cynicism, perseverance, and, of course, an ear for gossip. As Inspector Slack memorably states in one of the episodes, "She's a little old lady who knits and wears lace. She also has a mind like a bacon slicer. It's a very good disguise." And all the while quintesentially the grande dame of the village circle - unflinching and unforgiving, whilst politely sipping at her tea.

The collection of adaptations is excellent and, unlike the more recent ITV adaptations, true to the books with slight exceptions (the wonderful, unsubtle, long-suffering and insufferable Inspector Slack is slipped into a couple of the adaptations where he was otherwise absent), but there's none of the playing hard and fast with the stories or attempts to modernize them - the period detail is near perfect and feels true, rather than forcing political correctness onto a character that would undoubtedly be of her time. It's a strength of the performances and the screenwriting that even the most irritating Christie-isms, where red herrings crop up to the point of ridiculousness, don't spoil the enjoyment of the adaptations of a whole.

The boxed set includes The Body in the Library, At Bertram’s Hotel, The Moving Finger, Nemesis, A Murder Is Announced, 4.50 from Paddington, A Pocketful of Rye, A Caribbean Mystery, Murder at the Vicarage, They Do it with Mirrors, Sleeping Murder, The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side, of which my favourite is probably Nemesis, where Miss Marple is a fearless and unforgiving avenging angel in tweed.

All of which, with the unforgettable (trust me, I've tried) theme music makes this one of the most enjoyable boxed sets I've picked up in a very long time.

• 10:14 Support Royal British Legion, add a #twibbon to your avatar now! - bit.ly/4AZ9S0 #
• 10:18 Is deadline and Halloween over now? Is it safe to come out without getting attacked by a trick or bloody treater? #
• 10:23 Have to admit to being annoyed by the commercial attempts to Americanize Brits. They'll be trying to get us to celebrate Thanksgiving next. #
• 10:24 Although, I think we should celebrate Independence Day. For different reasons from the Yanks, obviously. #
• 14:59 I fear anyone who describes themselves as "a humourist". #

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There's a certain addictiveness with the Harry Potter books that's hard to deny. It's a sensible move that the novels mature with their audience, so by the time we get to this, the fifth book in the series, it's more in-depth, more teen-angsty than the previous outings with a nice line in dark and twisted moments.

However, in other ways it's a disappointment. The book's hard to put down and doesn't feel its length, but it's hard to deny there's an awful lot of prose that doesn't really add a lot to the plot. There's not as much pure filler as the last novel, with Hermione's house elf obsession thankfully shuffled to one side this time around, but there's undoubtedly a lot of time devoted to certain plotlines that, in the end, don't really tie into the novel's climax. Again. And what's all that repetition needed for? How many time does Harry have to lose his temper and yell at his friends? How many times does his stomach have to jump to show that he's somewhat in love with Cho? And how many punishments and disappointments does he have to suffer to show that his fifth year at Hogwarts is not an easy one? How many scrapes do Fred and George have to get into?

And all the extra wordage doesn't always help the characterisations. Take for example, Delores Umbridge. In the movie version I found her to be a wonderful, rather satirical villain. In the novel less so, since she's so obviously described as repulsive a toad-like and pantomime-villainous from the first rather than the semi-subtlety of Imelda Staunton's performance. Given her presence throughout the novel, I was expecting some kind of tie-in to the climax - instead she's a hindrance throughout and then is not-so-neatly shuffled aside to make room for the real villain to appear.

Then there's the disappointing way some of the old characters are used. While Snape and Neville finally get further developed and Hermione gets to demonstrate she's wise as well as smart, Ron is given nothing of interest to do and doesn't contribute to the plot at all, while Hagrid and Dumbledore are screwed over rather, with the former's repeated oblivious tendency to put his friends in mortal peril and the latter's unsympathetic and illogical reasons for being a jerk to Harry for most of the novel. And Sirius is pretty much only tolerable because of remembrance of Gary Oldman's charismatic performances in the movies rather than the portrayal in the novel.

Of course, Harry's whiny bad temper would be off-putting by itself, but since I've never found him particularly sympathetic anyway, I can't say it bothered me too much. In one way I rather liked that the heroes demonstrated more shades of grey and Harry wasn't portrayed as being the perfect, lucky bastard of previous novels and he and his friends aren't saved by some magical doohicky at the end of the book and there are losses. It's especially nice to see his "heroic" father and god-father had plenty of darkness in their souls and Rowling isn't afraid to show Harry himself as a typical teenager - making him aggressive, loud, irritating and out and out obnoxious at times. Whether there's much fun in that depends on your mileage, though.

So some good, mixed with the bad. The trouble is, while the earlier novels were light on detail, I found this one went the opposite way. I didn't care about the ins and outs of the quiddich teams or a daily breakdown of the character's revision timetables. And 25 pages of exposition at the end of the novel is rather too many, let's face it.

In fairness, however, despite its length and the amount of unnecessary storylines tagged onto the central plot, I didn't feel like putting the book down at any point. In fact, I found it rather addictive and read it a lot quicker and easier than I was expecting why I first picked it up. However, I couldn't help but feel that the tempo should have picked up rather more than it did - the return of Voldemort apparently meant nothing more than a few bad dreams for Harry and him attempting to hear a prophesy. Hardly the terrifying weapon we'd been hearing about and the confrontation with Voldemort isn't exactly gripping. For book five I was expecting a more climactic plot than I got.

From what I hear, and from the movie adaptation, I can look forward to more teenage soap opera in the next book and very little plot, but if the book's as easy to read as this was, despite its numerous flaws, I won't mind that much.

When people start to ask me what I'm doing for Halloween. At which point I like to steer them in the direction of this particular educational video from Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie:

• 13:39 As the media launch an attack on the BNP, one blogger asks, "Wait a minute, aren't you a bunch of racist A-holes too?" bit.ly/inlKX #
• 16:47 Well, that was two hours of my life I'll never get back. Thanks a bunch chronologically challenged Indian restaurant people. #
• 16:57 Okay, I should be getting back to work. But first, I think, a bit more Miss Marple with bonus Arthur Bostrom. #
• 00:08 Pisces: Try to avoid any Virgos or Leos with the Ebola virus. You are the true Lord of the Dance, no matter what those idiots at work say. #
• 00:26 Worth a read before the church of Scientology yanks it: bit.ly/F6ADB Director Paul Haggis quits over their support of Proposition 8 #

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A new music meme for you.

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your LJ along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they're listening to. Feel free to snag if you like!

I'm on a bit of a nostalgic indie kick at the moment. Although not entirely.

The Wonder Stuff - Sleep Alone

From the classic "Never Loved Elvis" album, released in 1991. Damn I feel old. The soundtrack to my teenage years, though. RIP Rob "The Bass Thing" Jones and drummer Martin Gilks.

The Cardiacs - Is This The Life?

I can't remember whether I first heard this track on John Peel or Mark and Lard when they were on late night Radio 1. It was stuck on one of my radio-recorded compilations for years though. I still love how... out there it sounds.

Nirvana vs Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give Your Teen Spirit Up

What?

Kirsty MacColl - There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis

A little before my time, really. I missed Kirsty's golden years. But I still miss her. She guested on a bunch of albums I did own, whether it was the Wonder Stuff, Billy Bragg, The Happy Mondays, The Smiths, The Pogues. Her tragic death in 2000 was a terrible blow.

Weird Al Yankovic - Hardware Store

Yes, I'm obsessed with this song. Still.

Johnny Cash - God's Gonna Cut You Down

Should I admit that I heard this for the first time a few months back in an Eastenders trailer? Probably not.

Carter USM - Do Re Me (So Far So Good)

Still appropriate, even if it's not 1992 any more. "Where are the songs about boozers and buildings,
banning the bomb and abusing the children?" Fruitbat's shorts and cycling hat, less appropriate.

• 10:57 Five reasons why it sucks being a Joss Whedon fan: bit.ly/10KQ6E #
• 11:06 Oh dear. Maybe it was a bad idea to add Diora Baird as a Facebook friend when I check it from work. *furtivefapfapfap* #
• 12:00 RIP Kanye West appears to be in the best traditions of Chris Morris announcing the death of Michael Heseltine on Radio 1 when he was fine. #
• 12:01 Oooh, you lucky bastard: bit.ly/2PK4Sz #
• 13:32 That girl on Masterchef looks like she was animated by Nick Park. #
• 14:42 Oh well, I appear to have offended pretty much everyone I was talking to about Thanksgiving. Job done. #
• 16:43 "They hung in the air exactly the same way that bricks don't." #
• 17:03 Today it's Trafalgar Day, for celebrating that time in 1805 when Nelson gave the united Frenchie and Spanish navies a damn good licking. #
• 17:10 As tradition dictates, visit HMS Victory & by the brass plaque that says "Nelson fell here" intone "I nearly tripped over the thing myself". #
• 21:13 The part with Cthulhu interviewing for the job of God in the new Hitchhiker's book is pretty good. Shame there's not more stuff like that. #
• 21:59 Okay, I just watched the last 10 minutes of the US version of Life on Mars on Youtube. WHAT THE F*** DID THEY DOOOoooooooo...??!!!! #
• 22:00 To be fair, both endings made me cry. It's just one wasn't with laughter. #
• 22:16 There's something wrong when I'm going to bed at 10 at night. Any time before 1am and it doesn't feel right. But my body's rebelling. #

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ICv2 have now posted the estimated sales figures for September. I've skipped a month since the figures came out while I was on holiday last month, so I'll try and cover that. Or just ignore it. We'll see!

Blackest Night and it tie-ins have been the big winner in terms of unit sales and dollar sales were up again, 12% on the previous year, although part of that can be attributed to price rises on many titles. Marvel, particularly, has been pushing price rises across the board, to the detriment of unit sales. Of those raised to $3.99, the newly relaunched Ultimate line (Avengers and Spider-Man) saw some drop substantial drops from their second issues, dropping a around 25,000 copies each from the first issues, while another title recently converted to $3.99, Hulk, is also down substantially, with #15 down about 18,700 copies from the previous issue.

Now on to the titles I've been tracking:

( Read more... )

I've been hitting a few new releases over the past week or so - I've finished Terry Pratchett's latest and am onto the new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy novel. But first about the Pratchett.

Unseen Academicals is the latest Discworld novel and, like Making Money, The Truth and Going Postal other recent entries in the series, it focuses on the idea of taking a modern concept - in this case, football - into the Discworld setting.

The trouble is that it becomes clear very early on that the book doesn't really know what it wants to do. Is it an intelligent comment on individuality vs tribalism? Is it a funny book about the wizards attempting to learn football? Is it a romance story? Is it an introspective on being the best you can be, no matter where you came from? The answer is: probably.

And the trouble with trying to be so many things is that it ends up not being anything much. Oh, it's funny enough, but with too many characters and plotlines fighting for attention - it starts off being about the wizards and they soon end up being more like cameos by the end of the book with their plotline forgotten as the new (and, frankly, blander) characters take over. The new characters, Glenda, Juliet and Mr Nutt and so forth are from the same stable that brought forth Moist, Christine and Pteppic and a number of other characters that strike me as being equally unmemorable. There's loose ends that never get resolved, details that don't quite ring true to characters/scenarios from previous books, and stray bits of story that just don't fit in anywhere.

Then there are the cameos, be they the Librarian, Rincewind, Sam Vimes or whoever, who circle into the story's orbit without contributing much, often act vaguely out of character and don't appear to be there for any reason other than being there. Vetinari's appearance is worth the price of admission for the scene where he gets drunk but I'm not sure when he got to be so chatty and gregarious.

Although the book is enjoyable, Pratchett doesn't really seek to break the mold or take things to the next level, like he did with Nation. It was a book I found all too easy to put down - while usually I'd finish a Pratchett novel in a couple of days, this took almost a week to get through. It's not bad, it's just not that great either - sadly, part of the course for recent Pratchett.

• 10:56 Hey, I was at this gig. ♫ blip.fm/~f3yq3 #
• 13:06 RIP Vic Mizzy, best known for writing the themes for Green Acres and The Addams Family, who has passed away at the age of 93. #
• 13:12 It was nice of my boss to tell me to take an extra day off. Of course, now I'm worried that there's stuff I should be doing at work, but... #
• 19:57 Gotta love it when people do insane stuff with LEGO. bit.ly/12wiLv #
• 20:03 Bagpuss, dear Bagpuss, Old Fat Furry Catpuss, Wake up and look at this thing that I bring... bit.ly/CuxX4 #
• 20:08 I believe that there's a generation of Brits with a highly advanced sense of whimsy purely down to Oliver Postgate - bit.ly/Y5Kjw #
• 21:26 Quarter of the way through the new Hitchhiker's Guide book. So far it is what an Oasis album is to Sergeant Peppers. #
• 23:42 In a Stuffies mood today. I remember when indie music was... well, fun. I call it BC. Before Coldplay. ♫ blip.fm/~f51w8 #

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• 20:50 Much as I love Kelly Brook, I think casting her and other 30-something actresses in the stage version of Calendar Girls is rather missing the point #
• 22:17 The fact that Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright have been in the throes of writing group Hot Fuzz slash fiction all night unnerves me. #
• 22:18 Twitter really is full of wonderful things, isn't it? #
• 22:35 15 Weird Al covers: bit.ly/2y1hOy When people cover Weird Al's covers it all starts to get a bit surreal. Nice polka, though. #

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I made a comment about the film Waterloo yesterday, which contained the epic exchange between the Duke of Wellington and Henry Paget, Lord Uxbridge, Marquess of Anglesey during the battle:

"By god, sir, I've lost my leg."
"By god, sir, so you have."

What I didn't know, but what wal_lace was kind enough to inform me, was that was an actual reported exchange and not just dialogue for the movie.

What I also didn't know was the story of what happened to Lord Uxbridge's leg after that exchange.

Some background first: Lord Uxbridge was a cavalry commander at the Battle of Waterloo and personally led some of the most decisive charges of the heavy and light cavalry in the battle, personally having eight or nine horses shot from under him in the process. One of the last canon shots of the battle hit his right leg, reportedly triggering the above exchange with Wellington and necessitating its amputation above the knee.

After that point, Lord Uxbridge's leg starts to become a legend in its own right.

Uxbridge was taken to his headquarters in Waterloo, a house owned by the Paris family and the remains of his leg were removed by surgeons, without antiseptic or anaesthetics. Uxbridge's reaction was as stoical as the exchange with Wellington would suggest - apparently his only comment through the dreadful procedure was, "The knives appear somewhat blunt." Although he is also reported to have commented, "I have had a pretty long run. I have been a beau these forty-seven years, and it would not be fair to cut the young men out any longer."

According to the account of Sir Hussey Vivian recorded by Henry Curling in 1847:

“Just after the Surgeon had taken off the Marquis of Anglesey's leg, Sir Hussey Vivian came into the cottage where the operation was performed. "Ah, Vivian!" said the wounded noble, "I want you to do me a favour. Some of my friends here seem to think I might have kept that leg on. Just go and cast your eye upon it, and tell me what you think." "I went, accordingly", said Sir Hussey, "and, taking up the lacerated limb, carefully examined it, and so far as I could tell, it was completely spoiled for work. A rusty grape-shot had gone through and shattered the bones all to pieces. I therefore returned to the Marquis and told him he could set his mind quite at rest, as his leg, in my opinion, was better off than on."

Uxbridge was offered an annual pension of £1,200 in compensation for the loss of his leg, but refused it.

The story doesn't end there.

( Read more... )

• 16:21 Just been watching Waterloo. They don't write war movies like this anymore. "My god, sir, I've lost my leg." "My god, sir, so you have." #
• 19:47 You know, coming down with a virus on deadline is not a fun experience. Doubles the awfulness. To cheer myself up I'm sneezing on someone. #
• 21:22 Wow, ITV, you've reached a new low. This has to go down as the worst piece of TV since that nude Keith Chegwin quiz. #

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• 15:45 Today I'm spending my time quoting P.G. Wodehouse: "She looked as if she had been poured into her clothes and had forgotten to say "when."" #
• 15:52 "Marriage isn't a process of prolonging the life of love, but of mummifying the corpse." #
• 16:14 "The Duke of Dunstable had one-way pockets. He would walk ten miles in the snow to chisel an orphan out of tuppence." #
• 16:25 "I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled." #
• 16:48 "The face was drawn, the eyes haggard, the general appearance that of one who has searched for a leak in life's gaspipe with a lighted candle." #
• 17:15 "Unseen, in the background, Fate was quietly slipping the lead into the boxing glove." #
• 18:00 "Honoria is one of those robust girls with the muscles of a welter-weight and a laugh like a squadron of cavalry charging over a tin bridge." #
• 19:02 "The rule by which he had always lived was that the best would have to do until something better came along." #
• 20:47 "Mrs. Pringle's aspect was that of one who had gotten bad news round about the year 1900 and never really got over it." #
• 21:02 "I suppose I'm one of those fellows my father always warned me against." #
• 21:15 "He felt like a man who, chasing rainbows, has had one of them suddenly turn and bite him in the leg." #
• 22:35 "He was white and shaken, like a dry martini." #
• 22:51 "I would like to have called him a pessimist, only I couldn't think of the word." #
• 22:59 "...now tailors measured him just for the sake of exercise." #
• 00:16 "Her hair was a deep chestnut, her eyes blue, her nose small and laid back with about as much loft as a light iron." #
• 00:18 "It was my Uncle George who discovered that alcohol was a food well in advance of modern medical thought." #
• 00:21 "She spoke with the mildness of a cushat dove addressing another cushat dove from whom it is hoping to borrow money." #

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• 12:01 Why did no one tell me it was a dress down day? I could have worn my spats. #
• 14:01 Tickets to @RobBrydon booked. Post sent. Harry Ramsden's eaten. No, the latter isn't a sexual reference. #
• 14:14 Radio just played Pete Townshend and the Who and R Kelly back to back. Is it pedophile theme hour? Who's next? Gary Glitter? Jonathan King? #
• 16:48 Why is it that a fly can get into the office though the tiniest crack in the door but can't get out through an open fucking window? #
• 18:57 Leona Lewis has reportedly been "punched in the head" at a book signing for her autobiography. I'm shocked. An autobiography?! Of what?! #

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• 11:08 I could have done with getting to sleep before half three in the morning... #
• 18:57 Something something in the face with a blunt spoon. #
• 18:59 The name of the site is DonMurphy.net. Not "MichaelBayisAwesome.com" or "GiantRobotTestacles:BestIdeaEver.org". Remember that or I end you. #
• 19:22 ...
  
  With a melon? #
• 23:07 Went to an Italian restaurant my boss recommended. It was quite an experience. Like stepping back in time. Last time I ate in 1981 was 1981. #
• 23:10 I felt like I was in an episode of Ashes to Ashes. Especially as the manager was apparently callled Luigi. #

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• 11:21 RT @Schwarzenegger twitpic.com/kujml - "This is how I start my day." Bless him. #
• 11:57 Never rub your eye when you still have Bonjela on your fingers. #
• 14:37 The common phrase I read in reviews of the new HHGTTG book is that "it's not Douglas Adams". Thanks critics for stating the bleedin' obvious #
• 15:01 I can't think of anything worse than waking up next to someone and not being able to remember their name, how you met, or why they're dead. #

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Kevin Smith was on the BBC's Newsnight Review on Friday, along with Mark Millar on film talking about geek culture and pushing his upcoming Kick Ass movie. Other guests included Jeanette Winterson, the novelist (writer of "Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit" for one) and Natalie Hynes, comedian and author and Kirsty Wark, the host.



Millar did a little piece proclaiming that Hollywood has changed its hero stories to reflect the geek and how the female audience is rising to the fore.

Strange to hear Millar talking about the female audience, but there then followed this exchange:

Kirsty Wark: Mr Millar.. may say the geeks are all powerful now… but he’s still doing a lonely boy revenge fantasy.

Jeanette Winterson: It’s misogynist, it’s homophobic, everyone’s a fag or a cocksucker, there’s absolutely no place for women except as cardboard cut outs, and the thing is just full of the worst kind of dripping violence, which is a kind of adrenaline injection which means you’ll utterly dead to life in its subtlety, its complexity, its possibilities of expansion of relationships. This is the kind of thing that’s the product of human emptiness

Kevin Smith: I just thought it was a comic book.

Natalie Hynes: Misogynist is a bit unfair, and also inaccurate, it’s the comic book world.

Jeanette Winterson: The comic book world is misogynist! It wipes women out.

Natalie Hynes: I don’t think that’s true any more.

Jeanette Winterson: It is in Kick Arse

I think this little exchange pretty much summed up why I get constantly frustrated with the comics industry when they deal with women. You get Kevin Smith's trite "It's only a comic book!" throwaway and the response to pointing out that the women only exist as cardboard cutouts again there's the "It's the comic book world" response. Honestly, nothing will ever change as long as that attitude is prevalent, amongst observers, but most particularly amongst creators such as Smith.

It also provided this exchange:

Jeanette Winterson: You cannot swap a stereotype of sexual proclivity for a stereotype of violence and call that progressive.

Natalie Hynes: It’s a slight progress.

I think the thing that depresses me most is seeing this on BleedingCool and reading the "HAHA WHAT A BITTER LESBO AMIRITE?!" comments.

I think I'll go hide in Scans_Daily for a few weeks again.

EDIT: And yes, I am aware of the irony of using an icon from a Dave Sim book for this post.

• 01:28 Just watched the first episode of Ashes to Ashes. Very ropey. Keeley Hawes' performance lamentable. It sure ain't no Life on Mars so far. #
• 12:04 Stephen Gately. What? Never a big Boyzone fan, but he's suddenly died? At the same age as me? That's absolutely tragic. #
• 13:59 What was Dannii doing on last night's X-Factor trying to forcibly "out" Danyl? What does his sexuality have to do with his performance? #
• 14:02 I like to think that we're past being skittish of gay performers. A calculating attempt to "nobble" the favourite though? Definitely. #
• 14:08 Coming from someone who's a self-proclaimed "gay icon", mindboggling. Simon Cowell right to be angry and accusing her of "playing games". Oy #
• 20:00 So, is it going to be the Double Take Brothers or the Strippers/Not Strippers departing tonight on X-Factor? Has to be one of them, surely? #
• 23:47 Okay, the second episode of Ashes to Ashes was better. Although Alex hugely annoying at the beginning. Glad to see the wind blow out of her. #

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ANIMAL HARMONIZE!!!

• 10:27 Conservatives to "rewrite Bible to remove "liberal bias". bit.ly/XKGnb Say goodbye to turning the other cheek and forgiveness. #
• 10:31 The Sugababes really are starting to look like Trigger's broom. #
• 11:27 The New College University of Toronto's Africa Studies department presents: "How to write about Africa" - bit.ly/TS0nr #
• 12:08 RT @Shane_McCarthy "The truth is out, Harry Potter was accepted to Hogwarts on a Quidditch scholarship." Perfectly put. #
• 12:42 NASA are bombing the moon today. That seems a bit excessive. Is that where Saddam hid his WMDs? #
• 14:03 I think the headline calling the decision of postal workers to strike against modernisation "the suicide of the Royal Mail" has it dead on. #
• 14:09 So, apparently I currently look like I'm on the run from my fellow Time Lords: www.angelophile.co.uk/pictures/DSC014412.jpg #
• 17:01 Russell Brand and Katy Perry have hooked up. Fingers crossed for a very specific meteor strike. #

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