Introducing The Alot

Occasionally I will type 'alot' instead of 'a lot'. When I notice this, I smile and think of this article from the 'Hyperbole and a Half' blog*. In it she offers advice for dealing with the anguish caused by the poor grammar of internet commenters. Her best one centres on the mythical creature the Alot. Everytime she sees the word 'alot' used she imagines they are talking about a real creature - as seen on the right.


* My spell checker is underlining 'blog' and offering me 'biog', which is apparently informal for biography instead. That is a new one for me. Who uses 'biog'? What's wrong with 'bio'?


One that I find difficult to explain why it is funny is is the Spaghatta Nadle. I do not know why I find it funny.  It is silly, it is stupid, but it made me laugh out load.

Be Careful With Superlatives

I love watching SportsCenter commercials on ESPN so I was delighted to stumble across the following video:



So what do you call the next video when you realise that you have left some out?

Best Of 8 Simple Rules

Rory won't reveal who beat him up. CJ fails to get him painkillers. The girls get fake IDs; and Bridget gives their number to a cop. They fear Cate answers his call. CJ fears the pharmacy calls. Cate fears Scott calls. Who answers whose call?


This may be my favourite episode of any comedy in terms of re-watchability. The first ten minutes are funny without being spectacular but they  set up ten of my favourite comedy minutes. Excellent use of irony and James Garner brings the pyrotechnics.

Microscope Puzzle

The following game is based on the Microscope puzzle in 7th Guest, a game I had on, what Wikipedia calls the ill-fated, Philips CD-i. You can make two types of moves:

• Move to an adjacent square and a new blob of your colour will appear
• Jump to a square (has to be within two squares) and all blobs of the opponents colour that are adjacent to the square that your blob lands on will turn to your colour

I was really happy that I beat this game either first time or first time I knew the rules - which is better than some people. After passing this puzzle I wanted to continue playing but the game did not have that option. I look forward to playing it again but I am nervous of putting my winning streak on the line. Let me know how you get on.

Mens Erger Je Niet

Image via WikipediaMany years ago I had the fortune to play in the White House Junior Invitational in Amsterdam. On one of the nights that we stayed in, we became a bit restless. I had spotted games at the hostel's reception earlier and so went and procured the intriguingly titled Mens Erger Je Niet. At first we were disappointed to find out it was Ludo in another language.

We opened it up, selected colours and laid the pieces in the obvious way. We were about to start playing but realised that nobody was quite sure of the rules. After a brief discussion we came up with the following synergistic cocktail:

What To Watch Tonight: National Championship Game

LSU plays Alabama tonight in the college football championship game - or maybe its basketball.This is a rematch of a bone-crunching defensive struggle in which LSU prevailed in overtime - after Alabama's Australian kicker had missed four field goals. There is a lot of controversy over the BCS allowing a rematch in the title game but these are the two best teams in the country - even if they won't produce the most aesthetically pleasing game. Nick Saban and Les Miles are two of the best coaches in the game. The latter perhaps at times unconventionally so. Of course the stars will be on the field and in this article Tony Pauline discusses the NFL draft prospects in the game. Of course off the field Alabama already has one major victory over LSU this week.

Happy 65th Birthday David Bowie

When I was 16, at the end of a weekend of bridge training in Dublin, I stopped off in HMV on the walk back to the bus. I had very little money and wasn't feeling well. I had to choose between buying food or buying something to listen to on the bus, in those days the individual lights often failed to work so reading was out. I chose to go with a David Bowie compilation. It was an excellent choice. 'Absolute Beginners' and 'Drive-In Saturday' really hit my sweet spot.

Here are my favourite Bowie songs:

Absolute Beginners: