While You Were Gone

No Standing Only Dancing 1974 by Rennie Ellis (via kiddavid)

Thu, 31 May 2012 18:18:55 +0100

No Standing Only Dancing 1974 by Rennie Ellis

"For the millions of Americans who don’t subscribe to HBO, or who may not even watch shows on a..."

Wed, 30 May 2012 18:11:14 +0100

“For the millions of Americans who don’t subscribe to HBO, or who may not even watch shows on a television, this means there is no legal way to watch Game of Thrones. If you only watch TV on your laptop, there’s no way you’re going to pay $50/month for cable and another $15/month for HBO.”

- —Erik Kain, on Forbes

Whilst I’m usually the first to criticise the big copyright holders for their short-sighted and counterproductive attitudes towards the internet¹, statements like this drive me crazy. Yes there is a legal way for Americans to watch Games of Thrones. The legal way is to pay for cable and for HBO. “I don’t want to pay $65 a month” is NOT THE SAME AS “it is illegal.”

For example, I would spend more money renting/buying movies on my Apple TV if the selection available weren’t so derisory. ↩

"Then there was the “white” wine. This one’s aroma was slightly more earthy. Do you..."

Tue, 15 May 2012 18:01:27 +0100

“Then there was the “white” wine. This one’s aroma was slightly more earthy. Do you know that smell of grass right after it’s cut? That’s nice. I was just making chit-chat, because this smelled like rotten eggs tucked into the anus of a dead cat.”

- — Steve, Don’t Eat It! Vol. 8: Prison Wine

Also definitely worth a read: The Black Table, on the same subject, viz., pruno.

(both via the ragbag’s post on, you guessed it: pruno)

Don't buy Lightroom from the Mac App Store

Fri, 11 May 2012 18:09:04 +0100

So, for $149 I can buy from Adobe a boxed copy or digital download of Lightroom 4 for Windows and Mac, with discounts available for upgrades from earlier versions, and discounted upgrade pricing for version 5, whenever that comes out.

OR, on the Mac App Store I¹ can buy a digital download for Lightroom 4 for Mac-only, with no discounts for upgrading from previous versions, and most-likely no discounted upgrade pricing² to version 5. The price?

$149.

That is a compelling deal, Adobe.

Well, technically-speaking, I can’t, but people in the USA can. ↩
There ain’t no upgrades on the App Store. That might change. It might not. ↩

World Tapir Day 2012

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:01:44 +0100

Today is World Tapir Day!

Why not visit the World Tapir Day website to learn about the grave danger all four species of tapir face, or go read my post from 2009 for some more fun facts about these majestic beasts!

(Many thanks to redditor Secretsanta1979 for the use of his/her great photo.)

Christina Aguilera vs The Moon People

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 18:20:00 +0100

Christina Aguilera vs The Moon People:

Whilst trying to find this wonderful funk track¹ to declare as my jam², I stumbled upon this fascinating article on the confusing history behind the great horn sample used by DJ Premier on the Christina Aguilera track, Ain’t No Other Man.

(I’ll Be a) Happy Man, by The Latin Blues Band. ↩
This Is My Jam is my current favourite “social” music site. My all-time fave is the sadly defunct Listening Room. The only other contenders are, last.fm, which has a lot of potential, but currently is failing on the whole “social” aspect, and Spotify, which I’ve never really got into. ↩

The Greatest Diva of All

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 18:10:12 +0100

The Greatest Diva of All:

With the recent deaths of Etta James and Whitney Houston, this 2010 article by Jay Caspian Kang keeps popping up in my head, and I don’t think I’ll be able to get it out of there until I’ve convinced you, dear reader, to take a look at it.

It’s an attempt to “scientifically” evaluate who should claim the title of “Greatest Diva of the Last 25 Years”. It is clever, educational, funny, and it has graphs¹, and you should go read it now.

My only quibble is that in proclaiming “Whitney broke our goddamn National Anthem,” Kang seems to be forgetting Marvin Gaye. And, to a lesser extent, these other guys. ↩

Caine's Arcade

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:51:26 +0100

Caine's Arcade:

“The fun pass is an awesome deal.”

(via: everyone)

iOS Game Review: Win, Lose, or Banana!

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:07:34 +0100

Rating: four out of five bananas: 🍌🍌🍌🍌

This game is SUPER excellent: easy to learn, hard to master, contains surprising DEPTH of tactical gameplay, given the extravagantly simple concept. Story mode is a wonderful addition, and adds a good 3-5 seconds of extra narrative content to each run-through. It’s funny! Polished! Well designed! And it’s FREE! How can Asmadi Games cut a profit at this price?! It is truly a mystery for the ages.

HOWEVER, I am DOCKING a banana. Only FOUR bananas for you, Win, Lose, or Banana! Why? For the following omissions:

No Game Center? Are you kidding me, Asmadi? How can I know if I’m having fun if I can’t COMPETE against my friends?
Should include variant ruleset: Who’s the Banana? I can’t believe you are RIPPING me off by holding this back, Asmadi.

Remedy these INSANE missteps, and I’ll award that elusive fifth banana. Sláinte!

~~Buy~~Obtain Win, Lose, or Banana! from the App Store.

(Special WYWG website exclusive bonus info! Non-iAteers can play Win, Lose, or Banana! online. Have at it!)

It’s just a little too late for Nice Pass Week, and the...

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:20:05 +0100

It’s just a little too late for Nice Pass Week, and the video quality is terrible, but I just can’t NOT post this nice pass. If you’re super pressed for time, skip to 0m 45s.

Twitter Spam

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:08:44 +0100

There is a lot of spam on Twitter. And there are a lot of people complaining about the spam on Twitter. Many of those people point out that it would be easy for Twitter to detect this spam, because, in the vast majority of cases, spam accounts on Twitter have very few followers and vomit out hundreds of near-identical tweets at a time. Often they haven’t even changed their avatar from the default egg.

But I wonder if Twitter’s inaction is maybe deliberate. Because if they actually implemented some kind of auto-spam detection, then the spammers would inevitably up their game and create more intelligent, less obvious spam accounts.

And that, in turn, would make it harder for me to see at a glance whether a slightly mysterious 140 character @-reply is from a spam account or not. I can even envisage a situation where I cannot actually tell whether a reply is spam or not without clicking on a link in the tweet. And that is a situation I don’t want to have to deal with.

So kudos to you Twitter. Your utter failure to tackle spam is making my life easier.

To round off Nice Pass Week, here is a great example of how you...

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:20:06 +0000

To round off Nice Pass Week, here is a great example of how you can pass nicely in sports other than basketball¹. Quick hands, indeed.

(via walesrugby)

Yes, the final pass before the try was a bit forward. But did you know it is an actual rule in rugby that when a sequence of play is that good you are allowed one forward pass? True story. ↩

Wales vs France

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:50:00 +0000

So! It is the final day of the Six Nations tournament. Today, Wales take on France, at home in the Millennium Stadium. If Wales win, they will have won the Grand Slam for the third time in eight seasons! If they lose, I am going to be grumpy for the entire rest of the weekend/month/year. As usual, WYWG will be liveblogging all the action, ably assisted by First Mate Tom, whose salty contributions will be [notated in a manner similar to this.]

[Taking WYWG’s lead, the BBC offers an] All-Welsh commentary team today: Eddie Butler and Jonathan Davies. Well, all-Welsh apart from Eddie Butler, I guess. [Boom! This commentary combo will also give us some excellent compare and contrast moments between the ostentatious over-pronunciation of Eddie “I did French at Cambridge” Butler and the tortured and baffling mispronunciations of Jiffy.]

The English members of the BBC team keep calling the conditions in the Millennium Stadium, “greasy”. Racist.

Inverdale: “The noise mounting and mounting to a crescendo.” So it’s getting louder and louder and then… it gets louder? Actually maybe that’s a fair description.

Ref: Craig Joubert. I can’t remember if I like him or not. I’ll let you know in about 80 minutes!

I suddenly realise halfway through the national anthems that I haven’t organised flowers for Mothering Sunday, and miss the first 7 minutes of the match battling the Interflora website. Luckily, no-one scores any points while I’m away. [But what you do miss is a). an atrocious drop goal attempt by Beauxis and b). a very bright start from Wales who are all over these Frenchies like the proverbial blanc sur le riz. In the even-handed spirit of Jiffy, C’MON BOYS!]

Phillips takes a free kick quickly, but fails to release after the tackle (because he didn’t think the tackler held onto him) and Joubert awards France a penalty. France attack, and are awarded another penalty a short distance from the try-line.

Wales 0 - 3 France

Wales attack after the kick-off, and France are forced to run the ball into touch after a little grubber through by Jamie Roberts. [Not often that you see Roberts kicking, but that was a pleasingly pragmatic option from Wales there. Apart from the whole scoring less points aspect, Wales are definitely the better team thus far.]

The French defence is up doggedly [and dog-leggedly, in the now standard ‘umbrella blitz’ formation], and Wales lose about 30 yards in a series of phases. But then Yachvili is penalised.

Priestland seems to be back in favour as a kicker. [None of the commentators have any insight as to why he’s preferred to Enlightenment Halfpenny.] He hits the sodding post! That is definitely his speciality.

Halfpenny gets nailed by Fofana [Butler: “Foh-FAH-nah”. JD1: “Fow-fanner”.] Priestland puts up a high ball, but the Frenchman has no trouble catching it for the mark.

I don’t want to jinx it, but the Welsh lineout has looked really good so far. [It really has been excellent, I think they’ve thrown to a different jumper each time, some tap ball, some held and mauled. Where have they been hiding this lineout all season?]

Joubert awards France a scrum because the Welsh were attempting to rake a collapsed maul. And then a penalty at the scrum. [To Wales, who surprise me again, as per the England game, by looking to have the upper hand in the scrums. Scrums, lineouts, kicking game, passing game—Wales ahead in each. Blimey.]

20 mins in, Wales have heavy edges in the stats for passes completed, tackles required, and territory. France still 3 points ahead, though.

Good French lineout move, poorly defended by Wales. All of a sudden France are attacking, but then they give away a penalty.

Wales turn the ball over in the French half [Lydiate poleaxing Dusautoir and AWJ snaffling the ball off him like a lean, hungry, and balding wolverine], take it down the blindside, pass it quickly along the line [a peach of a flat mis-pass from Rhysy P] to Cuthbert, who jinks [good jinks for a big man!] his way past 3 or 4 [or 5!] French defenders and scores under the posts. [Beautifully taken try by Cuthbert, and laser sharp from each attacking player involved. Whether Poitrenaud can be rightly described as a “defender” in that prior sentence is highly questionable however. When faced with a patented Welsh Enormo-Wing in full flight, he just quietly sat down on his bum and kept out of the way.]

Priestland has had his chance, and Halfpenny slots over the easy conversion. [Contemplate, if you will, how young Leigh chooses to address the ball. We’ve mentioned on here before his preposterous youthfulness, but as he alternates his view between ball and posts, he has a beseeching, supplicant aspect to his features that is compelling. Basically, he looks like Puss in Boots from off of Shrek in a red shirt with massive biceps.]

Leigh Halfpenny

Wales 7 - 3 France

Knew I shouldn’t have mentioned the lineout! Wales tap one back but fail to control it, and France boot the ball through and chase. The ball goes into the end zone, though, and Wales gather.

Nice bit of skill by Halfpenny, chipping a fast moving grubber up into his hands. [And he then almost ruins it by looping a slightly lackadaisical pass inside to Priestland, who digs out some aplomb for the following…] Great long kick by Priestland.

Every time Butler mentions Beauxis, I think he’s saying, “Whoopsies!” [Whereas JD1 will not be budged from pronouncing it “Boxes”. Davies also seems to take every contribution that Boxes makes to the game as a personal affront, his singular lack of élan an insult not just to the French 10 shirt, but to all wearers of a 10 shirt in history.]

France counter-attack from a long Priestland kick. Harinordoquy throws the ball directly into touch. [Which is not a common sight. France have had the, er, un-lion’s share of the possession and look a lot less sure of what to do with it than Wales so far.]

Nice Welsh lineout! Faletau receives a very long throw, clean over the entire lineout, and Wales make a few yards. They immediately lose it again, and more, to the French blitzing defence.

Wales play two rucks at a glacial pace. Ugh. But at least they haven’t lost the ball.

Phillips, under pressure from Yachvili at the scrum, knocks on. Welsh scrum surges through the French, and as the French backs scramble to gain control, Jonathan Davies charges up in defence and forces a handling error. He kicks on, and then tackles the French defender, who concedes a penalty whilst trying not to lose the ball. Halfpenny makes the kick. That’s really good stuff.

Wales 10 - 3 France

Good high kick, received well by Poitrenaud.

George North! is knocked over after he kicks the ball on, but Joubert doesn’t think there was foul play. I didn’t see it well enough to say. (After replay, it definitely wasn’t foul play. He just tripped over the Frenchman.)

Wales have numbers on the right! Jamie Roberts fumbles the ball, though. [Now fair’s fair, it was a filthy pass from Priestland—the polar opposite of his beauty to Cuthbert. And as far out as they are, that was T R Y time if the pass had been in front of the player.]

Wales are playing really well, now. France are defending very well, but aren’t forcing turnovers, so Wales have monopolised the ball.

Five minutes left.

Poitrenaud comes off for Buttin. [How do you know this? Neither the cameras nor the commentators seem to have any idea that a substitution has occurred? WYWG: I can’t remember! Maybe I overheard the match officials say something? I do recall being slightly perplexed by the BBC’s lack of note of the substitution, though, and began to doubt whether or not it happened. ]

France set up a maul after a lineout, but they’re driven back, and concede a penalty. Priestland misses touch with his penalty.

Davies thinks Poitrenaud is a weak kicker, and blames him for a poor French kick, even though Poitrenaud is not currently on the pitch.

Now France have a chance to attack. Rougerie attempts to kick through, but George North! gets a boot on it.

Wales pinch a French lineout. What is going on?! Roberts kicks the ball over the French blitz, and catches the ball after one bounce. Wales attack! France turn the ball over. Ian Evans charges down a Yachvili kick. Wales turn the ball over. France give away a penalty. Wales wing it down the line, George North! is bundled into touch, (after making a superb leaping one-handed catch of a bad pass). Advantage over. [And another try scoring overlap gone to waste. I may have punched the sofa. Only soft furnishings were damaged in making this programme. Am on strict instructions after my house-breaking episode in the World Cup.]

Time is up, and Halfpenny steps up to attempt the penalty. He hits the post, too! Welsh kickers are the best at hitting the post. We really need to enact Tom’s proposed rule change.

Half time score: Wales 10 - 3 France

I think Wales dominated that half. [Agreed. Should be more than 7 up.] But let’s see what the studio team and the stats say!

Inverdale: “The Grand Slam is just 40 minutes away.” Not if Wales lose, it ain’t.

Wales have had 59% possession and 64% territory. Felt like more than that to me. Wales have won 9 lineouts to France’s 4 and each team have lost 1. Nine lineouts! I think that’s more than we’ve won in the entire rest of the tournament!

“In the ascendancy” count: 1 (Inverdale)

Castaignède is not impressed by the French. “If we play like this, we’ve got no chance.” [TC looks like some sort of twitchy nocturnal tree-dwelling mammal. Alert to danger!] Shane Williams is happy with the Welsh performance, and thinks we just need more of the same. [Hard to argue with. At the beginning of his punditry career, Shane is mostly going for the “state the obvious” approach. His beard, hair, and suit have all improved since Game 1 for sure. Baby steps.]

Inverdale to Shane: “You and Alex Cuthbert share an awful lot of things. Mostly the fact that you play on the wing.” They also have the same dentist and split a time-share in the Algarve.

The team are impressed with the quality and variety of the Welsh lineout. So am I!

Jason Mohammed has bad news on the sideline. Warburton will not play the rest of the match, as he has a shoulder injury. Luckily, he is replaced by Ryan Jones, “A man who knows how to win a Grand Slam.” Let’s hope he decides to apply that knowledge today!

Inverdale is still hopeful that England might win the tournament. Man, I hope he’s wrong. [Normally is. What a plum.]

[I feel a palpable tension in my upper left chest. Half-time phone call with Dad consists mostly of us both making various exhalation sounds and studiously avoiding any tempting of fate.]

Second Half

Wales fluff a lineout, but somehow end up with the ball.

Cuthbert attacks after a French kick, and makes it past four French defenders before popping a (slightly forward) pass to Faletau.

Priestland finds himself isolated and has a pop at a drop goal. Not even close.

French breakaway after a botched high kick. Buttin kicks ahead, [Is it me or is Butler slyly pronouncing it “Putain”?] and Gethin Jenkins receives the ball from offside. Penalty.

Beauxis makes the kick.

Wales 10 - 6 France

[I am despondent at the six points that bounced off uprights in the first half. Four point game and I wanna puke with nerves.]

Servat comes off (forever—he is retiring after today). Poux also comes off.

George North! makes a tackle after a chase, and is penalised for not rolling away. [This happens a fair bit to young GN! Something to work on over the summer!] Joubert nails Attoub in the face with an elbow. You WILL respect my authority!

France attack, and go for a drop goal. Misses by a couple of feet. Jonathan Davies is disgusted by their negative attitude. [Davies’s DISDAIN of Boxes is overwhelming.]

Alun Wyn Jones/Harinordoquy massive collision!

Ryan Jones and Gethin Jenkins combine to turn the ball over! Mike Phillips kicks the ball through, and Cuthbert and Jonathan Davies chase. Cuthbert takes a knee to the groin for his troubles.

Welsh lineout. Wales lose it and France attack, but then turn it over. Wales attack, as Jonathan Davies screams, “GOTTA GO RIGHT GOTTA GO RIGHT!”

France steal the ball. Jonathan Davies: “DANGER!” [I think he might also be saying some other things that only dogs can hear. He’s getting pretty damn excitable and high-pitched right now.]

France knock on. Gethin Jenkins makes a long clearance. (Not for the first time in his career—thinks he’s Emyr Lewis.) [I experience the discombobulating sensation of being a bit cross with Gethin. That needed to stay in the hands.] France attack again. Lydiate puts in an exceptional tackle on Fofana, and France concede a penalty just outside their half. [Great kick from Gethin, field position first and foremost. Never doubted him.] Halfpenny will have go at it… He makes it with plenty to spare. That is one hell of a kick. [The gods cannot say no to Puss in Boots.]

Wales 13—6 France

Trinh-Duc comes on. [Lady of the night] Buttin is now on the left wing, and I guess someone came off?

Scott Williams is on for Jonathan Davies.

France attack, They’re looking much more dangerous this half, keeping the ball in hand. They knock it on this time, though.

2nd half territory: France 67%

Wales have the ball, but they’re losing ground to the French defence, and the ball is agonisingly slow.

After a very, very, long time, Wales try a backs move, but France are having none of it.

Big tackle from Pascal Pape on Adam Jones. [As I reflect on just what a reassuring presence I find Adam Jones to be, I think to myself, imagine if Adam Jones was your big brother. That would be so awesome. No-one would mess with you at school for sure. And then I realise that I am older than Adam Jones. I am older than Adam Jones, a man who looks just slightly older than time itself. He cannot be my big brother. And now I’m a bit depressed.]

Wales have had about a hundred phases, but haven’t had a sniff of a line break. They pass it out wide, but fumble it, lose the ball, and then concede a penalty. [Poor choice to go wide off that slow ball. Now I’m ANGRY, which at least displaces my unsettling meditation on my passing years, in particular as relates to the Wales tighthead prop.]

Jonathan Davies thinks Wales shouldn’t be chasing the game: if the ball is slow, they don’t need to spin it wide, they should kick for the corner, and make the French defence turn.

France take a penalty kick wide to Buttin on the left wing. [Even Davies couldn’t begrudge Boxes that bit of skill—a perfectly weighted, low-flying cross-field kick to the WHORE on the touchline.] Lydiate is there to make the tackle! Man of the tournament.

Jamie Roberts crunching tackle on Rougerie. French scrum. Davies thinks Wales had turned it over.

Jonathan Davies is back on and Williams is off.

Bonnaire goes off. (Also forever.) [Being subbed in your last game must really suck. Two excellent players Servat and Bonnaire—chapeau messieurs!]

Wales win a free kick at the scrum! Priestland puts it into touch.

George North! is going to give me a heart attack with his straight-arm high ball technique. He catches it, though.

Wales kick. Harinordoquy slips, and Wales swarm him, but can’t turn it over.

Wales put a little chip over the line, but it bounces favourably for the French defender.

Lydiate SMASHES [Roxanne] Buttin into Ian Evans. Seriously, the crunching noise was immense. Wales Scrum. Man. Of. The. Tournament.

Charteris, Owens, and Lloyd Williams come on. Can’t blame the Welsh players subbed off for being tired. I’m knackered and I’m just watching. This game has been gruelling. Another free kick at the scrum. Wales opt for another scrum. It doesn’t go well, though, and they concede a penalty.

Now France have an attacking lineout, with 15 mins left on clock.

France attack, and grind forwards. 5m from line. Wales penalty! Didn’t see what for. Not releasing, perhaps?

Priestland puts up a high ball, but it’s a bit too long. Trinh-Duc kicks it back, and Priestland makes a superb long kick in response. Trinh-Duc has to kick for touch; Welsh lineout.

Trinh-Duc again has to kick defensively for touch. Another Welsh lineout.

George North! is penalised [again!] for going off his feet at a ruck, letting the pressure off France.

(2nd half?) Territory and possession stats are dead level.

High ball inside the Welsh 22 bounces off Halfpenny’s head. France are through! Wales scramble to defend. Lydiate again makes an superb tackle, forcing a knock-on. [Prior to which Harinordoquy makes an atrocious decision to cut inside rather than pass to rampaging Picamoles outside him. Now, I know it’s a joke when people call him Harry Ordinary, but he has not had a great game today.] Welsh defensive scrum. Halfpenny is down with cramp, possibly of the tactical variety.

Parra comes on for Whoopsies.

8 mins left. My mistake, it was a French scrum. Wales concede a penalty, and France elect to take the easy kick for the points. Yachvili knocks it over. [I really am so very tense. This is not a fun experience.]

Wales 13 - 9 France

7 mins left.

Halfpenny makes a fantastic run, spinning and slipping tackles. After the ruck, France are clearly offside. Wales chip through, and Trinh-Duc is bundled into touch, and throws the ball away! [What a moron.] Penalty on the 22! Halfpenny is calm, and reverts the Welsh 7 point lead.

Wales 16 - 9 France

After kick-off, France go offside again. Priestland makes touch.

Jonathan Davies awards Lydiate of the match. No-one can argue with that. He has been absolutely incredible today. [And Halfpenny’s not been far off. Both 23 years old I think.]

France tap the ball back at a Welsh lineout, but Ryan Jones goes through lineout and steals it back. [Ryan has also been brilliant in this second half.] Wales attack. Priestland is in the pocket for the drop goal, but there’s no scrum half. Wales play another quick phase and Lloyd Williams spins the ball back to Priestland. He misses. [He doesn’t seem to be overly adept with the drop goals as yet. He’s only young mind…] The difference in speed of service when Phillips is off the pitch is remarkable.

Wales secure the ball after France kick the drop-out. They control the ball in the forwards. 30 seconds left. The crowd is LOUD. HYMNS AND ARIAS! France look like they’ve turned it over, but it’s a penalty! Time is up. Priestland boots the ball into touch, and WALES HAVE WON THE GRAND SLAM!!!

Final Score: Wales 16 - 9 France

Was this an exciting finish? This is what my computer screen looked like just after the final whistle blew. You be the judge:

Summary: French defence was superb. [French attack was frankly a bit Italian.] Wales were outstanding.

I said to Tom last weekend that it was a concern that Wales couldn’t seem to make tries from attacking positions. Again, today, they didn’t manage to. But it didn’t matter. They didn’t really allow France any chances to score (apart from the missed high ball), and when France allowed that turnover, Wales seized the opportunity. [Professional, clinical, calm, in control. Bendigedig, I haven’t said that often about Wales—even in the other recent Slam years!]

This is by far the best Welsh team I have ever had the opportunity of watching. [That is some BIG talk. But you must be right. I might add best squad—as one of the truly novel sensations for a Wales fan in this 6N has been not cowering in fear when the subs come on. Fr’instance, we’ve had three starting hookers in this tournament, all have been excellent. Ryan Jones has started at blind side, started at lock and come off the bench to No.8/flanker, and put in close to MotM performances in each instance. Tipuric came in for Warburton and impressed, Charteris came back, Ian Evans returned like he’d never been away. And, whisper it, we didn’t miss Shane. Amazing.]

Cymru am byth!

Special bonus final note: as the (now somewhat anti-climactic) Eng/Ire match is kicking off, Brian Moore says, angrily, “Anyone who thinks there’s nothing left to play for better disabuse themselves of that notion pretty quickly.” I love Brian Moore.

[Special bonus final note II: as Wales parade the trophy round the ground, I have a eureka moment when it finally clicks who Gethin Jenkins reminds me of (other than the face of God himself of course)—after watching him play for Wales for about 10 years, it’s now screamingly obvious that he’s a dead ringer for legendary 3D boat perceiver Ethan Suplee—and in particular new slimline bike-riding Ethan Suplee v2.0. Phew, glad I got to share that revelation before the end of the tournament. Well done me, and well done Wales. Australia here we come…]

Gethin Jenkins, Grand Slam winner

Wesley Matthews to Nicolas Batum In case you haven’t...

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:19:28 +0000

Wesley Matthews to Nicolas Batum

In case you haven’t noticed, it is Nice Pass Week here on While You Were Gone.

(via: Tas Melas)

Andrew Bynum to … Is this just another nice pass, or is...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:25:01 +0000

Andrew Bynum to …

Is this just another nice pass, or is this the best pass ever made?

Danilo Gallinari to Kenneth Faried This is also a nice pass.

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:20:05 +0000

Danilo Gallinari to Kenneth Faried

This is also a nice pass.

"I’ve only mentioned Mike Daisey once on Daring Fireball, when I linked to This American Life’s now..."

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:15:52 +0000

“I’ve only mentioned Mike Daisey once on Daring Fireball, when I linked to This American Life’s now retracted episode, and when I did, I added no commentary. I caught much shit about this from critics, who posited that my lack of analysis or coverage of Daisey’s claims was proof of my hopeless bias in favor of Apple, no matter the evidence.”

- —John Gruber

As of right now, Gruber has published fourteen posts about how Mike Daisey is an inveterate liar—I’d be surprised if there’s not more in the pipeline.

Try comparing that to the number of posts on Daring Fireball about the real issues with workers’ conditions at Foxconn, and perhaps to the number of posts about that other famous liar, Jayson Blair.

Okay, maybe it’s not hopeless exactly, but still…

(N.B. Don’t get it twisted—Daring Fireball is still one of my favourite technology blogs.)

Mark Swarf Calape Hat Tricks Showreel A few years ago I saw...

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:55:45 +0000

Mark Swarf Calape Hat Tricks Showreel

A few years ago I saw this dance and choreography showreel of Mark ‘Swarf’ Calape¹ on a friend’s wall on Facebook. The whole video is worth a watch, but the section that starts at 1m28s was something I’d never seen before, and it’s stuck in my mind ever since.

The other day I decided to try and hunt out the clip, and found the video above. Looks like he’s been practising.

And while we’re on the subject of hat tricks, you should also check out Tahrod “Rudeboy” Smith. Magic.

A couple of years later, Calape featured as a contestant on the first UK series of So You Think You Can Dance, but they didn’t use his “Swarf” nickname, and I don’t think they ever showed any footage of him doing hat tricks, so I didn’t even realise it was him. ↩

"His first album, Original Pirate Material, made it acceptable for British artists to rap in their..."

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:04:28 +0000

““His first album, Original Pirate Material, made it acceptable for British artists to rap in their own accent, subtly but significantly altering the way his generation saw itself.””

- Decca Aitkenhead, on Mike Skinner

It is impossible to articulate how angry this made me without using a lot of swear words.

World’s First Sit Ski backflip. You gotta get right back...

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:04:00 +0000

World’s First Sit Ski backflip.

You gotta get right back on the ~~horse~~Sit Ski.

Previously, on While You Were Backflipping…