'Hole in my Bucket' Day

A day dedicated to the song 'There's a hole in my bucket',........

Or in other words, a day dedicated to annoying people by singing a song with an infinite loop for as long as you can until someone attempts to tape your mouth shut/destroy your vocal chords/kill you.

Hug a Musician Day!

Today is hug a musician day!! We've had a day of tuba love, general musical instrument love, and now its the musicians turn. 

So get out there and show a musician you know, that they are appreciated. Also persuade them to play you a little tune whilst you do a jig. 

Hell, why not go all out and get a bunch of musicians together and poke them with sticks till they start having a jam session (not the kind that involves pots of jam). 

Now go forth and show the musicians some love!!!!

Pownum

For Chistmas 2009, a facebook group was created to get a single by Rage Against the Machine to Number one, and they pulled it off (I bought it *pats self on back*).

Social networks online are being used more and more often to enable people to come together to achieve something through the power of numbers, and now there's a new site called Pownum which is taking it even further.

This website allows you to rate and review well known companies and organisations, such as Orange or HSBC. So if a company seriously screws you over or angers you as a customer, instead of feeling helpless because that company is too big to care about losing your business, get on to Pownum and tell the world about how much that particular company sucks.

Graphics tablet

So I've been having lots of fun with my newly acquired graphics tablet.

I bought the Trust widescreen mini tablet from amazon and I'm amazed by its value for money. It looks good, works really well and is easy to install and use. I had looked at the range of bamboo tablets by the well established Wacom company, but I didn't want to spend £50+ on something I had never used before, and had no idea if I'd actually like. Now I can't figure out what the extra £30+ would get you...... I guess there are lots of things but I'm too much of a newbie to know.

anyway, here are some pictures I've made using my tablet:

My swirly porcupine

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

Buy a Musical Instrument Day

It's a shame this whimsical celebration didn't come before 'International Tuba Day'. But alas, if you decide to commemorate this glorious day by purchasing yourself a tuba, you will have to wait almost a year before you can participate in tuba day. 

If you already have a tuba, as every self-respecting tubist should, obviously........ why not invest in a slightly stranger instrument. 

Check out these bad boys:

Laser Harp!!!

Ukulele

Stylophone

Theremin

Keytar

'I need a patch for that' Day

Today is 'I need a patch for that' Day! Don't ask me why.... it just is, ok?

So there are patches to help you quit smoking, administer hormones for birth control, for supposed weight loss, for pain killers and a couple other bazillion things.

But if you could have a patch for absolutely anything, what would it be? A Hangover cure patch? or perhaps an invisibility patch....

I need a patch to stop time. That's not a big ask, is it?
Feeling really sleepy, need a couple hours longer in bed? Not a problem, slap on a patch! Need more time before a deadline to finish a piece of work? You know what to do, slap on a patch!

I'm fairly sure scientists are only a couple years away from that. If not, they need to step up their game.

Eliza Doolittle Day

Come on, Dover, move yer bloomin' arse! 


Eliza Doolittle Day! Yaaaaay!! 


Celebrate by talking in an unbearable cockney accent for most of the day.... then slowly become a laaaady in time for a grand ball in the evening!! 


Be sure to incorporate such delightful phrases as:


"I ain't dirty! I washed my face and hands before I come, I did."
"Somebody pinched it. And what I say is: them 'as pinched it, done her in."
"Well if I was doing it proper, what was you sniggering at? Have I said anything I oughtn't?"

You could probably just watch the film ... but you wouldn't get any points for effort. 

I Heart SMBC comics

These daily comics always crack me up, check them out here

Here's one of my favourites:

Sir Hopsalot

King Arthur and the knights of the round table is a very well known legend. Most people will recognise the names Lancelot and Galahad, but there is one knight, braver than them all, that most people have never heard of.  

Master Assassin

It seems that there is an extremely high possibility that I have the incredible natural instincts of a master assassin. Bear with me and I shall explain........

Recently I watched The Day of the Jackal (1973). It's about an assassin known as the Jackal, who is hired to kill the French president. If you haven't seen this film, I suggest you stop reading now if you don't want me to spoil it for you. 

Why F1, Why???

I was so happy at the start of the grand prix weekend. It was pretty much entirely down to Alonso's crash in practice which prevented him from taking part in qualifying. Awesome. 

This meant he had to start the race from the pit lane today, and find his way past all the new teams at the back of the pack. The only one that really put up a fight was Lucas di Grassi, in the Virgin car. It made me feel warm and fuzzy inside to think of Alonso's face screwed up in frustration at not being able to pass a newbie. Good Work, di Grassi. 

Dinosaur Day!!

It's Dinosaur Day!!!

Here's some ideas on how to celebrate this great holiday:

• Run around in the style of a T-Rex all day (don't forget the tiny arms).
• Make a paper-mache fossil, then alert the press claiming you've discovered a new dinosaur species.
• Get your furry friend in on the action, Dogzilla!!

• Raptor-proof your home if you haven't done so already.
• Start and end every sentence with 'Rawr'
• Watch all three Jurassic Park films.
• Watch all 37 Land Before Time films. 
• Use your advanced scientific skills to blend the DNA of a raptor and a ninja and bring this terrifying new species to life....... this one is a double dinosaur day celebration; not only do you bring a super ninja raptor to life, you also extinct the entire human race, as a homage to the dinosaur extinction. So anyone that does this gets double dino-points! Although no one will be left alive to appreciate it....

Familiar Faces part four

Daniel Brühl

Anyone recognise the guy next to Brad Pitt? Those of you that have seen Inglourious Basterds will know him as the annoyingly persistent Fredrick Zoller, the star of Joseph Goebbels' movie within a movie, played by Daniel Bruhl

6 years before this, he played the lead in Good Bye Lenin! This film has a great premise. A woman wakes up from a coma into a world unknown to her. The Berlin wall has fallen and her beloved East Germany no longer exists. However, if she were to be told all of this she would most likely have a second heart attack which would undoubtedly be fatal. So her son, Daniel Bruhl, decides not to tell her. Instead he cares for her at home, where he can try to maintain the charade of East Germany. 

Definitely one to add to your 'must see' list. 

Limerick Day

Today is Edward Lear's birthday (he's 198 years young), which is also known as Limerick day!! Yaaaaay!


Edward Lear is known for popularising limericks and writing nonsense poems. You will probably know him best for 'The owl and the pussycat'. I thought I would write my own nonsense song to pay tribute to Lear, so here they both are:

Awesomeville. Population: these four....

Cool animal? check
Slightly odd? check
Ridiculously cute? double check

Familiar Faces part three

Audrey Tautou

This little pixie has made a bucket load of great French films, but you might know her as Sophie in The Da Vinci Code.

Her most famous role, is the title character in a French film I'm sure you will have heard of, and hopefully have seen. I'm talking, of course, about Amelie. It follows the imaginative and naive, Amelie as she goes through life with her own wonderful take on things. If you haven't seen it, you have a week to do so before I come after you.

 It looks fantastic, makes you laugh and completely draws you in to its own quirky world. I can't say anything here that would do it justice, so you MUST see it for yourself.

Another great Audrey Tautou film is A Very Long Engagement. She plays a young woman who is searching for her fiancé, who has supposedly been killed in the war. A beautiful film about love and loss that I highly recommend.


Why are you still here...? You should be watching Amelie! Go!

Familiar Faces part two

Next up, is the lovely

Monica Bellucci

You may recognise her as Persephone from the 2nd and 3rd matrix films. She asks Neo to kiss her and in exchange she helps him. Bellucci also played the main female role in the crazy carrot-filled action film Shoot 'Em Up.

Surprise, surprise, she has also been in some excellent French films that you really should see! Malena is one such film. Another, which the movie Wicker Park is based on, is L'appartement. This is a great film about lost loves and obsessions.

Another of her films, is one which I am hesitant to recommend. It is entitled Irréversible and despite being very distressing to watch, it really is incredibly well directed, with some amazing shots and a gripping story line. The plot unfolds backwards which adds to the horror and intensity of each scene as it draws you in.

However, it honestly is very harrowing to experience. As well as being extremely graphic and sexually violent, for the first half an hour of the film there is a background noise at a very low frequency which can cause nausea and vertigo. Added to the spinning camera views, it really is an assault on the senses. Many people walked out of the cinema because of this, even during Cannes film festival showings. So.... it is a must see for hardcore cinematic followers..... but not for the faint-hearted. 

Lost Sock Memorial Day

Yesterday I encouraged you to shed your socks and let yours toes wiggle in the breeze. 

Today I urge you to take a minute to remember the socks that have been lost in your life time, in order to acknowledge lost sock memorial day. Many were lost in the great washing machine war of 93, others taken from us by the sock fairies. Each one was a brave soul and will be forever remembered. 

Familiar Faces..... Maybe...

I'm hoping to throw some recognisable faces your way, then use them to lure you into the world of foreign films. Subtitles are not scary and do not ruin a film, embrace them... learn to love them......

So first up:

Penélope Cruz

She recently appeared in Nine, and has been in other well known films such as Sahara and Captain Corelli's Mandolin. But she has spent a large portion of her career working with, the wonderful, Pedro Almodóvar. 

He's a great writer/director with a lot of amazing films to his name, most of them centring around strong female characters. Two of his most well known ones are probably All about my mother and Volver. But to be honest, all of his films have this great charm that draw you in and make you fall in love with them. 

These two are probably the best place to start. So go! Watch them! Borrow them from me, rent them, buy them, whatever, just witness the awesomeness that is Pedro Almodóvar.

No Socks Day!!

That's right, another glorious random holiday!

So whip off your socks and let your toes be free for a day. 

Everyone knows when your toes are happy, your ears are happy, and happy ears only listen to happy things!

International tuba day!!!

That's right people, today is international tuba day!   

So, grab your tubas and run to the streets to join your fellow tub....ists? tubists? Is that the word? 

Head to this website for more tubalicious awesomeness:

tubaday.com!!!!

image via flickr image

Speed Duck!

Na na na na 

Na na na na

Speed Duck!!!!!!

Here he is..... The one and only, Speed Duck!!

Doing what he does best, racing around on his bike, breaking all kinds of speed limits.

What a Hero.

He just wanted to let all his fans know that he is going to be part of the British cycling team for the 2012 Olympics. So you guys can catch him in action in many events, including the men's sprint, which is ironically called a 'cat and mouse' style race. 

Not any more people

Duck and bread. 

Duck

And

Bread

Tortoise

Ever been seduced by a tortoise?

Well now you have. 

Admit it, you loved it. 

I Heart Keith Lemon

From Keith Lemon's World tour:

Avatar Review by Gregg Mutt

Check out this awesome video. Makes me smile every time.



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