Posts from May 2010
31
May 10
Which Decade Is Tops For Pops? Round 8: the Number 3s.
Back after an extended break, we’re finally ready to tackle the Top Three – but before we do that, let’s check the cumulative scores so far:
1(1) The Eighties – 29.20 points.
2(2) The Nineties – 27.65 points.
3(3) The Noughties – 23.32 points.
4(5) The Sixties – 22.56 points.
5(4) The Teens – 22.46 points.
6(6) The Seventies – 21.82 points.
Since the last round was basically all about Blondie and Adamski, it’s no surprise to find the Eighties and Nineties increasing their lead over the rest of the pack. And while it might seem strange that the Sixties have gained a place on the Teens, straight after a round in which the King Brothers are currently placing last, that’s down to some of the late votes that we’ve been receiving in earlier rounds, which have worked in the favour of our 1960 chart.
So, will our Number Threes upset any apple carts, or will they merely confirm the emerging status quo? Let’s take a look.
1960: Adam Faith – Someone Else’s Baby (video)
1970: The Moody Blues – Question (video)
1980: Paul McCartney – Coming Up (video)
1990: Alannah Myles – Black Velvet (video)
2000: Craig David – Fill Me In (video)
2010: Plan B – She Said (video)
Pop World Cup 2010: First Semi Final – Honduras 1 Germany 2
Touching distance, now. It’s the semi-finals and, of all the matches in the Pop World Cup, the semi-finals are the most tense. The stakes feel high: win, and you’ll soon savour the feeling of running out in the biggest pop football game of all; lose and you’ll join the club – that stupid club – of teams who’ve experienced the anti-climax of the third place play-off. Strange things can happen under this kind of pressure…
This match closes at midnight on Sunday 6th June
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29
May 10
Pop World Cup – Weekend Update – Quarterfinal Results
With Roger Bozack pulling a sickie, it falls to Eli Sessions to join Peter Baran in the booth for all the quarterfinal results. In the sporting tradition for which the Weekend Update has become justly celebrated, we focus on the sides who lost last week and reminisce over their best moments. Eli’s prediction of a narrow Cameroon victory was bang on the money, as it turns out, but Spain’s manager, Alberto, has a parting treat for all his fans. It’s Marta Sanchez, Spain’s current Queen of Pop, with “Superstar” which you can listen to here. The outro is “The Boat That I Row” by Sodsai Chaengkij.
Produced by Eli Sessions
28
May 10
Sleightlett & Danegeld (cheesy lovers #82 & #83)
Sleightlett
A small raw goat’s milk cheese from Somerset, bought from Neals Yard Dairy
This little squat, disc-like little round of cheese is covered in a bloomy grey and white mould. The centre’s bright white. It’s soft and creamy, slightly fluffy, wth a grainy fine-sand texture.
It’s an intensely creamy cheese, with a subtle fresh fruityness, fragrant and citrussy – lemon zest and orange flowers, I think. The bright fresh milkiness makes it feels like a very clean, clear cheese; it makes me think of tall glasses of fresh, cool milk. A touck of acididty gives a very slight hint of yoghurtiness. The rind is soft and sweet, with a touch of dry dustyness; henna powder, or dried, sun-warmed straw.
Pop World Cup: Semi-Finals Preview
As anticipation begins to build for the football world cup, the pop version approaches its climax. Thirty-two teams arrived in South Africa: only four remain. We’ll be bringing you the semi-finals next week – let’s have a look at the teams who are now just two wins from glory and their greatest moments in the competition.
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27
May 10
Cheesy lover? Cheesy VOMMER, more like: Ilchester Mexicana
I read about Mexicana over on this here cheese blog. and I thought that;
- it looked like congealed vomit
- it looked disgusting and
- I sorta wanted to try it.
And, lo! I stumbled across it today, and shamefully concealed it at the bottom of my shopping basket and so I can confirm that;
26
May 10
The FT Top 25 Pubs of the 00s No 4: The Calthorpe Arms
So, we reach the top 4, an area, one would assume, of almost complete agreement between those voting but, for some reason, our fourth choice has elicited strong opinions, hence two different views. Let’s take this to the comments box!!!
25
May 10
Eurosong Derby Playoffs
Kat Stevens, having skillfully managed Slovenia into the Pop World Cup’s Round of 16, will be liveblogging the semifinals of that other, slightly more Swarovski-crystal-laden pop competition, the Eurovision Song Contest. It all kicks off tonight at 8pm on The Singles Jukebox.
And don’t forget that the polls are still open for Nigeria v Ghana and Cameroon v Spain in the Pop World Cup 2010. So go vote! And reduce the chances of another controversial result.
Update! Tom Ewing and Mike Atkinson will also be taking part!
24
May 10
Which Decade Is Tops For Pops? Round 7: the Number 4s.
Looking at today’s cumulative scoreboard, we find the Teens – who led the pack for the first two rounds – continuing their gradual slide down the rankings. The Eighties are beginning to look unassailable, the Seventies could be irredeemable… but, as ever on Which Decade, ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN.
Cumulative scores so far:
1(1) The Eighties – 24.19 points.
2(2) The Nineties – 22.54 points.
3(4) The Noughties – 20.54 points.
4(3) The Teens – 20.35 points.
5(5) The Sixties – 20.18 points.
6(6) The Seventies – 18.89 points.
Now let’s open the traps, and bid a cordial welcome to our plucky Number Fours.
1960: The King Brothers – Standing On The Corner (Spotify)
(video: same song, different group) (video: same group, different song)
1970: Frijid Pink – House Of The Rising Sun (video)
1980: Blondie – Call Me (video) (Tom’s post on Popular)
1990: Adamski – Killer (video)
2000: The Bloodhound Gang – The Bad Touch (video)
2010: Pendulum – Watercolour (video)
23
May 10
European Convention On Human Rights (Ice Cream Edition)
I am aware that it is seemingly against the law in this country to make any kind of joke regarding bombs and airports online. It is a law that I find frankly ridiculous but in the spirit of understanding that site Managing Editor Tom Ewing has two young sons and could do without being banged up for 28 days at her majesties not inconsiderable pleasue, I shall not be making any jokes about such a think right now. When I refer to a Bombe later in this piece, it is an an Ice Cream Bombe, and no kind of explosion, beyond a taste explosion, should be inferred.
And anyway, you can’t get a Bombe in Luton Airport. You can’t get Mr Whippy, you can’t get a Magnum, a Two Ball Screwball, a callipo, a feast, a tub of Haagen Dazs, any amusingly titled Ben & Jerry punning ice cream, not even a four litre tub of Bejam’s White Vanilla, whose whiteness in a less enlightened day showed its purity from all artificial additives bar bleach.
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