Neil's Slightly Random Wiblog

Kevin Greening dies, 44.

I remember first hearing him on Radio One with Zoe Ball on the breakfast show, and they were a natural pairing, his quick thinking and wit got Zoe through her first nervous few months of broadcasting. More recently I enjoyed listening to him on XFM, where he stood out as a real professional on the station. A sad loss to the world of radio.

…And the worst seen in the cinema this year…

5. Darjeeling Ltd Not awful, but the biggest let down of the year
4. Miss Potter Wrong actress for the script
3. Becoming Jane Why was this film made?
2. Gabrielle So boring and tedious I almost walked out
1. Climates Painfully bad self indulgent twaddle

…It’s that time of year again, my favourite films of the year!

This is the top 20 films I have seen in the Cinema this year, some may have been released last year but I only saw them this year, so they count as a 2007 film for me!

20. Curse of the Golden Flower
19. Bobby
18. Elizabeth – The Golden Age
17. Amazing Grace
16. Brick Lane
15. Waitress
14. The Illusionist
13. Hallam Foe
12. Children of Men
11. In the Shadow of the Moon
10. After the Wedding
9. Hot Fuzz
8. A Prairie Home Companion
7. The Bourne Ultimatum
6. A Mighty Heart
5. Black Book
4. Once
3. Notes on a Scandal
2. The Prestige
1. The Lives of Others

…I have been killing time searching on You Tube for childrens TV programmes I used to watch, especially the educational ones. One I remember our school showing us was Jigsaw, and in particular I remember the creepy Noseybonk section. Until recently I had only seen one picture of him on the net, but now there is a whole video…

Scary stuff eh?

So this is Noseybonk, a sort of phallic french mine artist…

And what exactly is he planting???

And they turn into these…

Is it no wonder I have turned out as I have?

…I am not sure who still uses Friends Reunited, it seems to have fallen a bit behind the times and replaced by other social networking sites. Anyway I decided to log in as I have not for ages, and I noticed you can put an “announcement” by your name, for example “New Job”, or “Moved in with my girlfriend”, or “In a civil partnership”.

Under life issues you can also pick “I’m Gay”, which is a lazy way of coming out to your friends! I wonder why there is not a “I’m straight” option for people who have gone back into the closet? Perhaps I will email them and suggest it.

…after a rather heavy night out with work last night (Meal at the Firestone, excellent food and service and the wine just kept flowing…) I have been doing little more today than listening to Radio 2, drinking Irn Bru, occasionaly feeling sick and looking up random things on Wikipedia.

So from my almost wasted day I bring you these two nuggets from Wikipedia…

From the article about Movie Theaters: It is rather common to throw and leave your garbage on the floor in a movie theater, than elsewhere, which is defiant to the cultural standard of cleaning up after oneself, much to the chagrin of theater employees… and also Sometimes movie going teenagers throw various foodstuffs — most notably popcorn — at each other, though sometimes at other moviegoers. This is frowned upon by management.

And from the article about Geri Halliwell: Labour went on to win their second landslide, due in great part to Halliwell’s endorsement.

…funny things happen at work, and usually the humour is unintentional and laughter is inappropriate.

For instance this week a lady stormed in and demanded to speak to the Assistant Manager. I just laughed at the thought process that must have gone on… Well, I am annoyed, but am I annoyed enough to speak to the manager? Well no, I guess it is not that bad a complaint, I will demand to see the senior sales associate, but wait, it is just a little more inportant than that…

Then today a lady came in and said she went to her grandmothers funeral last week, and that it was very sad, but it was sadder for her mother, because it was her mother. That is of course true, but it struck me as an odd thing to say!

…After a few drinks with work friends the other night I left the pub and suddenly noticed a branch or Northern Rock. I was not even aware that Exeter had a branch, I would have noticed surely? I though about blaming the several pints of cider I drank at the White Hart, but what kind of drunken hallucination is branches of troubled banks? I have since seen the branch in the cold light of day, and can only assume it is fairly new – but what a strange time in the life of the bank to start opening branches…

Have been listening to some old shows of Milton Jones on BBC7, and loved this line,
I was environmentally concious as a child, once in an exam I put my hand up and asked for less paper…

Pub quiz at the Seven Stars last night, the same team won yet again, I am starting to think that it is a fix.

You can listen again on the BBC website here. Click the bit that says “Listen to the current programme, then they start talking about the SPCK shops about 25 minutes in.

Good to hear so many friends such as Aude, Dave and Richard being interviewed, just a shame about the reason they were being interviewed. Brilliantly and eloquently put guys!

There was a lot of rubbish too, such as Phil saying they had “Increased the variety of their stock…” Not the impression I get from going to the Exeter shop and seeing all the empty shelves, also he makes it sound like we left just over management style, but that was just one factor amongst many for people leaving, although he seems to deny that people have left because of them. Staff were not poached by bigger companies, we desperately looked for other jobs to get away from the bookshops! I also found it interesting that no one from SPCK would comment because of ongoing legal proceedings.

[Edited to add that this was my resignation letter, and that Phil received scores like it from our shop and others (I saw them). How he can say that people left for retirement or been "recruited away" is beyond me, they simply take only the bits that suit them, and live in a world far far from reality]