Neil's Slightly Random Wiblog

I expect this will be the last blog of the year from me, so happy new year, and see you in 2005!

…over 4000 visitors to this wiblog since stats began in Feburary!

Went to see the film “Phantom of the Opera” last night, gosh, all your nightmares have come at once! Being trapped under water, masked men, fire, eerie mechanical toys and Opera music.

Was really good though, and the singers were excellent. Dodgy miming at one point for one of the actresses though (the one who was in Brookside, or Emmerdale Farm or something). Worth seeing if you want to be disturbed and don’t value sleep.

…Had a lovely Christmas (Got the fantastic new U2 CD, and lots of Next vouchers), ate lots and lots, dranks plenty of port, then on Boxing day it was up to the moor to see the snow (and slide around in the Panda) and then back to a friends to watch the whole first series of little Britian, and quite a chunk of Ali G.

Today will be a bit like Christmas Day part 2.

…Merry Christmas!

Sorry for the belated greeting, but I think there has been snow on the lines of the Wibsite today.

oh, and… Congratulations Alice! (See the legally blonde wiblog if you are confused)

… second part of our pull out and throw away guide

Christmas Day

5.45am – Who Was Wenceslas and who Decided he Was Good? (BBC Radio 4) – One for early risers, no idea what it will be like, but looks interesting, and only 15 minutes long.

9.00am – Live from Dan’s Shed (AppleFM) – 3 hours of chaos from the shed, including the nativity play and celebraty phonecalls.

12.30pm – News Quiz of the Year (BBC Radio 4) – The best bits of the last 12 months of News Quiz.

1.00pm – Robbie Williams Special (BBC Radio 1) – We all love Robbie, so listen to this exclusive interview and find out more about the man.

1.00pm – Rocket Science with Marc Riley (BBC 6Music) – If you don’t like Robbie then you may be better off listening to Marc with The Earlies, Rob Hughes and Elbow.

Not a lot on the in evening, but that’s ok, you will have plenty of new CDs to listen to…

… second part of our pull out and throw away guide

Christmas Day

5.45am – Who Was Wenceslas and who Decided he Was Good? (BBC Radio 4) – One for early risers, no idea what it will be like, but looks interesting, and only 15 minutes long.

9.00am – Live from Dan’s Shed (AppleFM) – 3 hours of chaos from the shed, including the nativity play and celebraty phonecalls.

12.30pm – News Quiz of the Year (BBC Radio 4) – The best bits of the last 12 months of News Quiz.

1.00pm – Robbie Williams Special (BBC Radio 1) – We all love Robbie, so listen to this exclusive interview and find out more about the man.

1.00pm – Rocket Science with Marc Riley (BBC 6Music) – If you don’t like Robbie then you may be better off listening to Marc with The Earlies, Rob Hughes and Elbow.

Not a lot on the in evening, but that’s ok, you will have plenty of new CDs to listen to…

It annoys me that, despite the name, the Radio Times deals mainly with TV listings.

So here is the real Christmas Radio Times! (Not definitive, just a selection of interesting things to listen to)

starting with…

Christmas Eve

6.15pm – The Now Show (BBC radio 4) – Christmas special of this topical comedy show.

10.15pm – Mixing it (BBC Radio 3) – An eclectic mix of music featuring interview with local(ish) singer PJ Harvey.

11.30pm – Little Britian (BBC 7) – An episode from the first series. An offbeat look at british life and people.

…We seem to have run out of work to do. It really does not motivate you to get up in the morning!

Gosh, only 2 days until Christmas now. to be honest it just feels like a normal weekend coming up, perhaps New Year will seem more exciting?

…Last night I drive home about midnight in the pouring rain, I wake up this morning to find a thick layer of snow over everything!

… The jury (the one in my head) is out over the new Athlete single “Wires”. It is either a work of greatness, or a predictable Coldplay/Embrace clone. Why do I find it so hard to work out what is good music and bad music nowadays – It seems I can only make a judgement years after a record is released.

I read How to Have a Number One the easy way by the KLF years and years ago, and loved it. I am pleased to say that Tom Robinson has no made it available on his site here.

For some reason I am getting loads of hits from searches on “Nicola Bonn” and “Capital Life”. I will mention them again, just so I can vainly get more hits.