The skiiny

Ever wondered what Skinny O'Bri was doing in 1989 and 1990?

Hop over to http://bernwanderingyears.blogspot.com/ and wonder no more.

Picky

Myself: You are wonderful.
Prodnose Thank you; I've worked hard to become so.
Myself: I admit it, you are better than I am.
Prodnose Then why are you smiling?
Myself: Because I know something you don't know.
Prodnose And what is that?
Myself: I... am not left-handed.
Prodnose You are amazing.
Myself: I ought to be, after 20 years.
Prodnose Oh, there's something I ought to tell you.
Myself: Tell me.
Prodnose I'm not left-handed either.

St Dwynwen's Day

What with one thing and another I forgot to remind you that St Dwynwen's day was celebrated in Wales on 25 January and commemorates the patron saint of friendship and love.

Dwynwen lived during the 5th century and was, by all accounts, one of the prettiest of Brychan Brycheiniog's 24 daughters. The story goes that Dwynwen fell in love with Maelon Dafodrill, but unfortunately her father had already arranged that she should marry someone else. Maelon was so outraged that he raped Dwynwen and left her.

In her grief Dwynwen fled to the woods, where she begged God to make her forget Maelon. After falling asleep, Dwynwen was visited by an angel, who appeared carrying a sweet potion designed to erase all memory of Maelon and turn him into a block of ice.

God then gave three wishes to Dwynwen. First she wished that Maelon be thawed, second that God meet the hopes and dreams of true lovers and third that she should never marry. All three were fulfilled, and as a mark of her thanks, Dwynwen devoted herself to God's service for the rest of her life.

Motto: If it smells like a Maelon, looks like a Maelon and tastes like a Maelon: it's a Maelon! What a country.

In which I lose my faith in the human race

We are reliably informed that:

The Daily Mail, an omniverous middle-market British tabloid, has quietly unseated the New York Times to become the newspaper with the biggest online reach in the world, according to figures from the online tracking service comScore.

The figures show Mail Online reached 45.3 million people last December, to the Times's 44.8 million. Trailing them are USA Today at , the Tribune newspapers , and the Guardian. The growth, the editor and publisher of the Mail's online properties, Martin Clarke, said, has been driven by U.S. traffic.

You should all be ashamed of yourselves, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ is an avalanche of inanity and cruelty pouring relentlessly into a witless design.

AWBI's previous verdict:

I sometimes read the Daily Mail over a sandwich in Virgin Active at lunchtime, so I know it well as a gastric band for the brain

is upheld.

OH! pleasant exercise of hope and joy!

THE ‘Nearly Men’ are really there.

For all the mind games in the build-up to this dramatic semi-final, it is Cardiff City who will be at Wembley for the Carling Cup final.

Because for all the suggestions from Palace boss Dougie Freedman that the Bluebirds are perpetual bridesmaids, at least Malky Mackay’s men have been invited to the ceremony after an incredible penalty shoot-out victory.

It is the Cardiff fans who will have the big day out underneath the arch, their fourth in four years – more than either Manchester City or Liverpool who play tonight for the right to face the Bluebirds.

See Icons passim  to understand the thrill when the Bluebirds:

Were called upon to exercise their skill,
Not in Utopia, subterranean fields,
Or some secreted island, Heaven knows where!
But in the very world, which is the world
Of all of us,--the place where in the end
We find our happiness, or not at all!

Palms of Goa

It wasn't officially eat you way around the world in London, but I went to my first Goan restaurant in Charlotte Street over the weekend.

After perusing Goan Cuisine and Goan Catholic Cuisine in wikipedia (fascinating stuff by the way) I had a Pork Mas.

(By the way, after India gained independence from the British in 1947, Portugal refused to negotiate with India on the transfer of sovereignty of their Indian enclaves and in 1961, the Indian Army annexed it in Operation Vijay. This is surprisingly little remembered.)

While we are on the subject of food, I was looking at haggis last night, thinking of introducing the Bomber to it for Burns' Night tomorrow. You have to cook it for an hour and a half though, and that is not really a practical proposition for when we get in after athletics, so he has escaped for this year.

Enter the dragon

As the celebrations of the year of the dragon sweep across Asia, it has struck me that the Bomber, who was born in 2000, is a little dragon (龍 Lóng) as well.

The other options are

 鼠 Shǔ Rat, 牛 Niú Ox, 虎 Hǔ Tiger,  兔 Tù Rabbit, 蛇 Shé Snake, 馬 Mǎ Horse, 羊 Yáng Goat, 猴 Hóu Monkey, 雞 Jī Rooster, 狗 Gǒu Dog and 豬 Zhū Pig.

He has got off comparatively lightly. I wonder what I am?

Genius

I went to see Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination in the British Library yesterday. I bought a fridge magnet as a souvenir.

The library says:

Facebook users can comment on the books in the Royal Manuscripts exhibition, by viewing our seven specially created albums.

 That is an intriguing initiative.

Lightning Strikes

After the Muppets, I think we should have a Klaus Nomi revival.

Broadband, bold, becalmed, benign

Fri 20/01/2012 at 07:26

Major Business broadband problem

http://btbusiness.custhelp.com/app/service_status

Thus I am late addressing the nation this morning.

This may be a blessing in disguise as I have nothing to say.

"What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)

As Kelly Clarkson's latest magnum opus  "What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)" came on the radio yesterday I found myself wondering how Friedrich Nietzsche's "what does not kill me, makes me stronger" from Twilight of the Idols, which is close to 125 years old, casts such a spell on the purveyors of popular music.

See Icons passim and the following video.

The Artist

I went to see The Artist in the HMV Curzon last night. It is great.

Feel free to think of me sitting in a silent film as a SOPA protest; a bit like the Wikipedia blackout.

same old same old

Nothing major, but www.royal.gov.uk got a wash and brush up yesterday.

Manic Pixie Dream Girl

The Bomber and I came across New Girl while innocently testing the 4OD app on the XBOX this weekend, and both rather fell for Zooey Deschanel's scatterbrained protagonist.

What can I tell you? We had to download Fast Five on Zune just to restore the testosterone level.

Prodnose (sings): Soon you'll grow, so take a chance with a couple of kooks hung up on romancing.