Shed 2a

I have a mate who's deadpan humour is equalled only by his astounding knowledge of
world history. For example, not many people know the level of detail of the jacobite rebellion, or the Wat Tyler revolt as he, and yet still work in IT (I told him, "forget IT, use your knowledge for good, young paduan, wear plaid and/or corduroy and represent
Fragfest college, Oxbridge on University Challenge", but he ignored me... wise, he is not).

Anyway, when you have a close interaction with people like this, you pick up certain traits and concepts. One of his favourite concepts is cultural osmosis, the idea that you pick up tidbits of information just from living your life in a given culture.
This information is not learnt in the traditional sense, but soaked up like a sponge, just by living. For example, we all have general knowledge, i.e. trivia that we can't seem to identify where we got it from, we just "know it", such as knowing the words to "Maybe Tomorrow" by Terry Bush, and knowing that it comes from the TV series / film, "The Littlest Hobo". You're not sure why you know this, you just do.

As part of my ongoing cultural osmosis, I learnt a very interesting fact today ( and this has been verified by http://www.amazingstoriesthatarealmostcertainlytruewethink.com (well, actually, Bill Bailey's 2001 show "Bewilderness")), and that is that in the 1960s, Buckingham Palace was moved (for "security" reasons) to behind the Authorised Personnel Only door in the little chef on the A1 near Leicester.
In it's place, stands a shed. But, not just any shed, no sir... but a shed with a
holographic cloaking device, allowing it to pass for the real Buck Palace.

MI6 know this shed only as "Shed 2a" (Shed 2b, of course, being the
real Buckingham palace). A further bit of information for those shed-trivia-hungry
blog readers out there, is that the shed is really a Malmesbury 400GL with optional twin gabling.

This will probably stay with me for life. I hope it does for you as well.

Viruses, closed systems and Bill Bailey.

Well, it's been a while since I last posted, and for that I apologise whole-heartedly, but it's been a bit hectic at home. To say that for the last couple of weeks it's been like a plague-pit in the household would be an understatement. I suppose it's the problem of viral / bacterial infection(s) and closed systems, really. Kids go to nursery / mums and tots group, pick up god knows what, the office has air conditioning and the worse feng shui I can possibly imagine ;-) I think you get the picture.

Anyway, back to the posting. I'm a big fan of most stand-up comedy (with the exception of Jimmy Carr!), my faves being Eddie Izzard and Peter Kay, although I'm partial to Lee Evans and Jack Dee as well. One comic which I never really got into, although I thought he is ace in Buzzcocks, is Bill Bailey. However, all that changed recently with the purchasement of his 1996 Bloomsbury Theatre show on DVD,
Cosmic Jam. What an astonishingly funny show, a combination of "rock opera" ("Insect Nation" : investigating what life would be like if insects ruled the world),
and hilarious cockney music / rock fest (yes, really...). It's not often that I say this, but it was hilarious. It also gave him a great forum for showcasing his cracking skills with both the guitar and the piano, didn't actually realise just how
good he was at both instruments really. The DVD also has a bonus disc of a 2001 show ("Bewilderness"),which I'll watch asap. Highly recommended.....

The other thing I've finished watching, finally, is all five series of Angel. I don't mind saying that this is one american TV series I simply can't get enough of. True enough, there's some weak episodes, but that's going to happen with any long-ish running TV series (yes, even Torchwood... ;-)), but thankfully they're in the minority. The long running story arcs are brilliant scripted and executed (Joss Whedon has to take the credit here), it's gritty, dark, yet witty and it's far enough away from the Sunnydale teen-angst to make it amazingly watchable. I'm just sad that
there's only 5 series, and what's more... no more Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia.....