It has to be. Andrew Ridgeley’s 1990 ‘comeback’ single Shake truly is car crash stuff. The video is appropriately nasty, but ignore it if you can and just listen to the song: after the cak-handed, overwrought acoustic intro, there’s this ‘intriguing’ and ‘dramatic’ pregnant pause – during which, it seems, Ridgeley trips up and falls into a drum kit. Incredibly, they kept that bit in the final recording and somehow passed it off as a real drum intro.
Few remember Ridgeley’s solo debut (and, thus far, only) album Son Of Albert. Fewer still own it, or remember it with any affection whatsoever. Arguably, it is the the worst record ever made – of course, we’re not allowed to say that accolade applies to Freddie Mercury’s Mr Bad Guy anymore, because he’s dead. But that’s another discussion for another day. Read the rest of this entry »
The über stylish German act, Goombay Dance Band, featuring the incomparable Oliver Bendt, performing their only UK hit, Seven Tears. This spent three weeks at Number One in 1981. Wouldn’t happen nowadays.
As I’ve mentioned before, I have a slight weakness for Easy Foodmagazine, the monthly step-by-tiny-step guide for novices of the fine culinary arts of tin opening, bread browning and kettle operating.
The October ‘Halloween Special’ contains some appropriately horrifying dishes with which you can easily ruin even the most voracious of appetites. But before we get all complicated, let me introduce to their delightful recipe for Ham And Cheese Croissants. Read the rest of this entry »
First thing first: naturally, this blogger cannot contain his glee at Fiorentina’s marvellous 2-0 win over Liverpoo-el in their home Champions League encounter last week; witnessing the precocious talent of young Montenegro forward Stevan Jovetic come alive in front of Europe has put many, myself included, in mind of that young Viola star of two decades ago, Roberto Baggio. Long may Jovetic blossom in Firenze - and for crying out loud, do not sell him to J******s at any cost.
Anyway, we might have had incredible young footballing talent 20 years ago, but thank Christ we didn’t have the eye-gouging, ear-bleeding awfulness that is TV3’s football coverage. I won’t have a pop at the meedja’s Mr Versatile, Matt Cooper, whose presentation skills are not in doubt – even if his position as the channel’s Champions League frontman does somewhat put me in mind of the early days of Channel 5 in the UK, when they allowed horse racing’s Brough Scott to present their first live England football match, an occasion which, in turn, reminded me of one of those “In At The Deep End”-type programmes, where a bricklayer suddenly trains to be a stripper. Read the rest of this entry »
Oxymoron alert – there are astonishing signs of progress in the trade union movement, according to this week’s thrilling edition of Industrial Relations News (a.k.a. Workshy Whingers’ & Malingerers’ Time-Wasting Pamphlet).
In a story about a brainstorming session ahead of the next ICTU-led wave of protest campaigns, under the headline ‘Away day’ session as Congress unions plan next move, IRN reports that “some union leaders take the view that marches are a thing of the past’. Unfortunately, this appears to be more down to inertia or a lost sense of direction rather than a glut of new ideas: Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve often wondered what sort of person, in 2009, goes into Dublin city centre to buy a pair of shoes based on a drawing they’ve seen on the back page of The Irish Times. You all know the shop, I’m sure. It’s an impossibly quaint method of advertising, from a time way before such mod cons as pocket calculators, fondue sets and Soda Streams.
So, do you know anyone who has ever gone into that shop, ripped back page corner of TheTimes in hand, looking for that particular shoe? If so, did the illustration and the reality actually bear any resemblance to each other? Read the rest of this entry »
The news that celebrated ‘rockney’ duo Chas & Dave have split up will come as a massive shock to the millions of people who had absolutely no idea they were still together. I have to admit, I was in that category myself, but not entirely due to ignorance. Read the rest of this entry »
Like many parents, I’m often concerned about the effect TV advertising has on my children. Now, this isn’t simply me being tightfisted and worrying about the ‘pester factor’ when trying to do a supermarket shop (“Daddy, can we have a Barbie? Can we have a water cannon? Can we have a Black & Decker chainsaw?”), but just what messages the advertisers are subliminally putting into their suggestible little heads? Read the rest of this entry »
Like my friend Rebekah, I do enjoy happening across English errors, whether inadvertent or straightforwardly remedial. I’ll reserve judgment about which category the above (which stopped me in my tracks in Dun Laoghaire) falls into, purely because it’s not clear whether: Read the rest of this entry »
