1January

As those of you who read this on the website will have spotted, there have been some fairly major changes to the look of this blog. Everything that was over there (waggles hands towards the right of the screen) is now over there (points due left). The pictures, they've gone, at least for now, and we've widened the text column a little bit, and changed the backing colour to a much lighter shade of purple.

There have also been some changes behind the scenes. After two and a half years, I've ditched the Thingamablog blogging program, and reverted to doing it all by hand. There are many reasons: it takes something like two minutes to load the entire blog, a 5.5MB file; the program makes it very difficult to add categories; the weekly files have a fixed-format name, and Thingamablog rebuilds all of them every single week, because the developer lazily assumed that we would keep a list of archive files on every page. Most importantly, there's been no serious development of Thingamablog since early 2005, and the roadmap doesn't look like it'll address my method of working.

Doing it by hand will. The front page becomes a series of fairly short pieces, with links off to the weekly page, where things like news, weather, and music charts will be posted. Longer articles - such as my predictions for the year, or the Brief History of Silence (when it's next updated) - get pages of their own. I can define categories to my heart's content, without having to wait for a million pages to change.

And I'm doing something with the RSS feeds. The RSS full feed will remain a complete log of everything I write, and you'll still get about ten articles. The RSS summary feed - the one you'll see at reputable syndication websites - is the text from the front page, complete with links to longer articles.

Please bear with me while I work out the bugs on this - I won't get it right first time, and there's still a comment link on every post for the inevitable errors. The articles I've written to-day as though I'd been around yesterday have been copied to the front page, at least for a few days.

Those who are reading a Glicko sportsblog, describing the European, NCAA, and CFL football series, will be pleased to hear that this service continues unchanged.

1January

Back at the start of last year, we made some predictions. How badly did we do, and what do we think will happen during 2007?

(More: Predicting 2007, 1366 words)

Miscellany

1January

Be very careful what you wish for, dear commentariat. When writing about Cognoscenti vs. intelligentsia, a regular correspondent said, This is quite terrible, and shame on you if you can identify the source of the tune on which it's based.

There are two reasons for liking the Hamsterdance Song, for that is the original. First, it was the only quarter-way decent song in the christmas chart of 1999 - with Pestside, John Lennin, and Lord Cliff Richard in the top three, some light relief was welcome. And second, the version credited to Hampton the Hampster was the song that finally knocked Dane Elton John's insufferable Candle in the wind '97 from the top spot in Canada after three years.

Two Songs a Week

2January

From the list of things people searched for on this site:

annie lennox number 1's - The one that the Utah Saints sampled, and that's about it.
did sarah cawood have a sex change in life - We have no evidence to back up this contention.
evanescence snow white queen video - All Amy Lee is good.
free christmas countdown calendar online - Readers may make their own jokes about Carol Vorderman (or Des d'hebdom) and stockings.
free naked pictures of eminem - Jae?
gilmore girls on nickelodeon theme tune - The opening song is Carole King performing Where you lead. The closing tune, one that the Nick announcers never talk over and we love them for that, is specially composed.
god save the queen transfer - Well, we knew AC Milan were on a bit of a buying spree this month...
iris remake 2006 - A bad karaoke song. The original remains the best.
listen free online to the darkness don't let the bells end for - Good grief.
organisation chart of nestle - Cheat, lie, kill.
rda with john gordillo - Are you the controller of BBC-4? Let's talk.
real vampire that's not dead in stevenage - Ah, it's a shame you insisted on the location. We don't know anyone in Stevenage who isn't dead.
the lyrics for the song called dick a dum dum by des o'connor - Consonant, vowel, consonant, consonant - oh, you get the drift.
what swansea would lok like in 5 years - Like this.
whatever happened to the outhere brothers - Their fifteen months of fame elapsed. Let us all be thankful.

Blogging

3January

It's still list of good music season. Anthologie is a Panic, Brem is right, and I propose the top 25.

(More Great Tunes of 2006: 835 words )

Music

4January

It is broadly possible to split Madonna's career into three phases. From her initial rise to fame in 1984 to the release of The Immaculate Collection in 1990, Madonna made some of the most sublime dance-pop of the era. She had at least one single in the UK top 40 for nine months starting in May 1985, had a brief flirtation with Latin rhythms for True Blue and Who's That Girl, and delved into the black roots of pop for Like a Prayer.

The second phase, running roughly from 1992 to 1996, was marked by a slew of soppy ballads. Madge had only released one out-and-out love song during the 80s, The look of love, and it was one of just two UK singles to miss the top five. Her 1992 tribute album to the former Goodie, Bill Oddie, was rubbish from start to finish. 1994's Bedtime Stories was saved by Take a bow, which promptly broke her string of UK top ten smashes at ten years and 32 releases.

It was from this more mature perspective that Madonna re-recorded the Andrew Loud Webby musical Evita, putting herself in the title role. To spice up a cover of the otherwise dowdy Don't cry for me, Argentina, a number of danceable mixes were prepared. This was the first out-and-out foot-stomping number from Madge since 1992's Deeper and deeper, and only her second since 1990.

In the years since, there's been a marked deterioration in Madonna's work. 1998's Ray of Light was rather good, but clearly off her best; three subsequent albums have shown that the best years of the 48-year-old mother-of-two are long behind her.

Two Songs a Week

5January

Just a quick one to-day; I've updated the list of million-selling singles to include last year's sales.

(More: Britain's million-selling singles)

7January

This week, we've been watching...

* The Secret History of the Life of Brian - a documentary recalling the moral outrage put about by Mary Whitewash when she learned that Angela Chase wouldn't be doing all the voice-offs.
* Mark Lawson Talks At Armando Iannucci - too little Armistice, and no mention of his three years and two series on Channel Fore. A useful interview, in parts - I never knew he was the first person to host Radio Scotland's seminal Bite the Wax.
* Who Owns Britain's Wealth - though it's Peter and Dan Snow, it's not their best.
* Bankrupt to the Yanks, which I switched off after twenty minutes before falling to sleep.

... and listening to...

* 1966 And All That - the radio version of Craig Brown's history of the United Kingdom through the last forty years. Recommended.
* The Personality Test - Claire Rayner sounds remarkably fragile. Not a patch on Anna Rabies.

And game shows: Des Chiffres et Des Lettres, Des or No Des, Countdes, Fortune: The Million Pound Desaway, Just the Two of Des. This week's Week is a special edition, reviewing some of the shows I saw in Belgium last November.

Media

7January

Not many major changes in European charts this week, though Monrose is deposed from the top in Germany after just two weeks by Nelly Furtado. There's a top 10 entry in France for Emmanuel Moire, and Vanessa Hudgens enters in the top 20 with a song from High School Musical.

This week is the first time we're including Ireland in the North Europe Chart, and it now means we cover all countries east of the CIS and north of 50°N. That's with the exception of Iceland, where no reliable sales or airplay chart yet exists.

Ireland's chart is very similar to that of the UK - Leona Lewis is number one for a third week, holding off Akron and Take That. U2 (new at number 6) and Pestside (slumping from 8 to 20) are the only local talent in the 20, and there are two songs by Cascada up there. It appears that Ireland, like the UK, is allowing tracks to chart on downloads alone, ensuring that Snow Patrol's Chasing cars re-enters at 8, and Fairytale of New Amsterdam returns to the top 30.

 20 13 Depeche Mode - Martyr
 19 NE Leona Lewis - A moment like this
 18 NE U2 - Window in the skies
 17 11 Monrose - Shame
 16  3 Wham! - Last christmas
 15 17 Nadiya - Amies ennemies
 14 10 Faudel - Mon pays
 13 re Shakira - Illegal
 12 20 U2 / Green Dull - The saints are coming
 11  5 Silbermond - Das beste
 10 NE Red Hot Chili Peppers - Snow
  9 15 Fatal Bazooka - Fous ta cagoule
  8 14 Justin Numberwang - My love
  7  7 Seizure Sisters - I don't feel like dancing
  6  6 Snow Patrol - Chasing cars
  5  8 Akon - Smack that
  4  4 Clitring Aguilera - Hurt
  3  9 Razorlight - America
  2  2 Take That - Patience
  1  1 Nelly Furtado - All good things

The big day has arrived, and the new singles tracks chart rules have kicked in. No longer is a physical single required for a track to appear in the listing, as Currybet remembers. No, all you need now is enough digital downloads to rank. Not that this alters the best-seller, Leona Lewis holds on for a second week, but she's now only got a 2:1 lead over Eric Prydz, and will be vulnerable from him and Take That - inches behind at number 3 - to a challenge next week.

Prydz's hit is a dance re-working of Pink Floyd's famous Another brick in the wall. Entitled Proper education, the tune follows the template outlined by his Call on me a couple of years back, and follows it to the letter. Second-highest new entry honours go to U2's tedious Window in the skies at 4; the only song to re-enter the top 20 is Snow Patrol's Chasing cars at position 9. According to listeners to Vermin Radio, this is the one song on the planet that's even better than Iris. How wrong can you be?

Lower re-entries under the new chart rules come from Gnarls Barkley (30), Automatic (33), Nelly Furtado (38), the Kooks (39). There's a more traditional re-entry from the Cast of High School Musical, back up 15 places after the production was shown on BBC-1 over the festive period.

Almost forgotten in the rush are proper new entries: Jojo (22, though we still prefer Amy Diamond), Emma Nem (32, as dull as ever), Amy Whinehouse (40, as dull as ever). And, as we suspected, Iron Maiden's top 3 hit has not been played in full on the Radio 1 chart show; the last song to be ignored in this way was George Michael's too-explicit-for-its-time I want your sex.

Lower down, there are new entries for the Ordinary Boys (49) and Freemasons (51), and a third top-75 single for High School Musical. In addition to those noted below, there are re-entries for James Morrison (50), Snoop Doggy Dogg (56), Kooks (69), and Feeling (70). Two of the songs are more than a year old - Gary Jules was the festive chart-topper in 2003, Jay-Zed and Linkin Park from the end of 2004. There are plunges for David Gilmour (19-47), Lazy Town (28-48), Price and Andrex (29-61). Out of the top 75 go the Pogues (from 13), and Slade (34).

Take That retain the number one albums slot, ahead of Amy Whinehouse, up from 16 to 2 on some deep discount. Also up: The Fratellis (12-6), Kasabian (19-11), Lily Allen (29-14), and Muse (33-23). Slumps include Oasis (2-10), Pestside (7-20), Ill Divo (15-30). Only one new entry into the top 75, the Cheetah Girls soundtrack enters at position 59.

12 11 Nelly Furtado - All good things
13 15 Razorlight - America
22 NE Jojo - Too little too late
23 31 Feeling - Love it when you call
24 23 Razorlight - Fall to pieces
25 20 McFly - Sorry's not good enough
26  3 Iron Maiden - Different world
29 24 My Chemical Romance
  - Welcome to the black parade
31 33 Shakira - Hips don't lie
33 re Automatic - Monster
35 22 Little Chris - Getting enough
37 52 High School Musical OCR - Breaking free
38 re Nelly Furtado - Maneater
41 32 Lily Allen - Littlest things
43 36 Mary J Blige - MJB da MVP
47 19 David Gilmour - Arnold Layne
52 59 Lily Allen - Smile
55 re Killers - When you were young
58 re Gary Jules - Mad world
60 66 High School Musical OCR
  - We're all in this together
63 68 Goo Goo Dolls - Iris
64 re Jay-Zed / Linkin Park - Numb / encore
66 re Nelly Furtado - Promiscuous
71 51 Killers - Bones
72 75 Lily Allen - LDN
73 50 Razorlight - In the morning
74 NE High School Musical OCR
  - Stick to the status quo
75 re Orson - No tomorrow

Charts

7January

In Iraq, a group of hooded and masked men kidnapped another Iraqi, taunted him, and killed him. A video of the incident was made, and distributed through the internet. It cannot be confirmed that the dead man was President Sadaam Hussein, or one of his many body doubles. Nor can it be confirmed, as British foreign minister (outside Europe) Margaret Beckett claims, that this was the will of the Iraqi populace. Prochain ancien British prime minister, Mister Tony Blair, has refused to comment.

Police in Derbyshire declined to release the pictures of two escaped prisoners, intimating that they had to protect the human rights of the convicts. Following a sharply-worded intervention by Charlie Falconer, the Lord Chancellor, police in Manchester released shots of the two men.

Ian Pearson, a junior environment minister, has called O'Ryanair the unacceptable and irresponsible face of capitalism, in respect to its opposition to carbon-trading. Chief polluter Michael O'Leary played into Mr. Pearson's description, attacking the minister and road transport, rather than defending his own company's woeful environmental record.

A young girl was killed by a pit bull-type dog, sparking off a mild moral panic about the mutts.

A coach overturned on the road linking the M-4 to the M-25, killing two people. Operator National Express briefly withdrew the remaining twelve double-decker coaches from operation; no fault was found.

The inaugration of the new archbishop of Krakow was cancelled to-day, less than an hour before the ceremony was due to commence. Stanislaw Wielgus has resigned his position, after confirming that he was an informant for the secret police during the Communist era.

The Ashes series has ended, Australia won 5:0. The England and Wales Cricket Board has announced a review. We can save them the trouble: we wuz rubish.

The English F.A. Cup has reached the last 64, where top-flight league sides enter. Last year's finalists Liverpool lost 3:1 to Arsenal, while West Ham beat Brighton 3:0. League leading Manchester Ship Canal Buccaneers beat the Birmingham Browns 2:1; defending league champions Chelsea beat fourth-division Macclesfield 6:1. The Scottish Cup began its round of 32, and Rangers suffered a remarkable upset, losing 3:2 at Dunfermline. Celtic beat Dumbarton 4:0, while both of last season's finalists had easy away wins - Hearts won 4:0 at Stranraer, Gretna 3:0 at Clyde. In France, third-division Calais put out first-division Lorient in the most significant upset of the round of 64.

We are sorry to read that Music Zone is heading for the great high-street in the sky. This was just about the last bastion of proper music shops where it's possible to browse, rather than overpriced commercial gobshite (HMV) or pokey shoe closets (Virmin). What's the website of a decent French record store, again?

Amongst the obituaries this week are Cecil Walker (UU, Belfast N, 1983-2001).

And finally, there has been a strange advertisement in Birmingham. It appears to be from a woman taking revenge at her ex-husband, who left her for someone else. The words are identical to a campaign that ran in North America last year, and there is suspicion that the whole thing is yet another stunt by local radio station BLOB.

News

7January

A wet, windy, and mild week.

01 Mo sun, showers       5/10, 2.5
02 Tu cloud              4/ 8, 2.0
03 We cloud, showers     4/10, 2.0
04 Th cloud              8/10, 2.0
05 Fr mostly cloud       8/11, 2.0
06 Sa light rain         4/ 7, 4.5
07 Su showers            6/10, 5.5

Rainfall this month: 20.5mm; Monthly average: 74mm.
Degree heating days: 206
2005-6: 326½/808
2004-5: 246½/677½.