Blow Me Down

Posted By Mark on May 29, 2013

The Cone Of Shame

Posted By Mark on May 25, 2013

"I feel like an idiot." "You're fine." "I look stupid." "You look fine. Trust me." "No. I really look stupid. Everyone will stare at me." "Nobody will pay you any attention. They've seen it all before. Hell, they've seen far worse." "You're just saying that. I look stupid." "You don't look stupid. Please, can we just go out?" "I don't know if I can cope with people staring at me all the time." "They won't notice you. I promise." "You're just saying that." "Look, I'll stick a transparent cone around my neck and nobody will even see your shoes." "You'd do that for me?" "Let's go." Google+: View post on...

You Might Like Drupal

Posted By Mark on May 22, 2013

Browsing Google+ and it displayed this to me: Dear Google, You couldn’t be more wrong. Love,...

The Eurovision Song Contest Is Broken

Posted By Mark on May 19, 2013

For as long as I can remember I’ve been a fan of the Eurovision Song Contest. I recall, when I was young, being wowed by the spectacle and the amazing fact that it was a show being broadcast all over Europe, bringing so many different people together in a moment of continental hilarity. And in later years it was something special too; something that hit the nostalgia nodules of the brain just right, something different from all the usual crap on television, something gaudy and kitsch and unashamedly us. America couldn’t do this. This was Europe. Parties! People like parties! People all over Europe like parties! Not so long ago we had a party every year with people who wanted to sit through, eat, drink, and enjoy the Eurovision Song Contest. But now there are fewer people and less enjoyment. The competition is broken; it’s been corrupted by greed. Right now we’re at a point where the whole event is just a few years away from yet another in the long, long line of generic “talent” programmes designed to find the next star of limited interest, with practically nothing to distinguish it from some Simon Cowell-produced tedium. And that moment of continental hilarity has been usurped by one of political complaints and bickering. Here’s what’s wrong with the Eurovision Song Contest: 1. The Jury Vote It used to be just the national juries who voted. Then it was just the people who voted. Now it’s the jury and the people in a 50/50 split. And it’s not working. When the jury used to vote it was at a time when people would accept that there may well be people who knew better than they did. We accepted it as much for that reason as the fact there was no practical democratic way to do anything else. The problem with a jury vote is that the members of the jury may not accurately represent the will of the people and, quite often, this was exactly the case. Luckily, there was no internet on which to complain. A second problem with a Eurovision jury is that it’s very easy to fix results. Juries are corruptible. When the people voted we hit another problem which I want to address in my list of suggested remedies for fixing Eurovision. People vote for things they like but the things people like are borne out of the environment in which they live. People who hear nothing but folk songs will tend to prefer folk songs to disco. People who hear nothing but ballads might suffer a heart attack if subjected to thrash metal. People listen...

Starbucks Coffee

Posted By Mark on May 15, 2013

Times are hard if you're a large chain of coffee shops still facing a bit of public backlash over tax avoidance. Do you just wait it all out, relying on the media to find something new to get their teeth into and the laziness and short memory of the average consumer? Or do you try something to entice the customers back from Costa? Do you, perhaps, provide free front row seats to the latest sport sweeping the nation: Giant Street Skittles? Do you hope that the lure of big names from boules crossing over into the high stakes street sport world will bring in the coffee-lovers in sufficient numbers to offset compensating families for the inevitable skittles-related fatalities? No, you wait it out, of course. For #WindowWednesday curated by +Cheryl Cooper +Jason Kowing +J.J. Bentley +Jules Falk Hunter  Google+: View post on...