Today I've learnt that the man responsible for this...

Was also the man that arranged the strings on this...

Harry Robinson I salute you!

So what have you learnt lately?

Big smile on my face after watching this

I was listening to my iPod on shuffle the other day when the song 'Lofty Skies' by T-Rex came on. A really good tune, nice guitar, and fine backing vocals from Mickey Finn, but around 15 seconds in Marc sounds like he's coughing up a fur ball. Because of this it sadly stays as a good record and not a great one. Any other good tunes that are held back from greatness by a moment of oddness?

Listening to Steve Lamacq this evening on 6 music. He was talking about the upcoming Mercury prize nominations. Apparently last year on his show he discussed which album would have won the Mercury if it had been around in 1980. Tomorrow he's inviting people's suggestions for who would have claimed the prize for 1981. Cracking idea I thought, so unable to wait till tomorrow I thought I'd ask the question here. What would have won the Mercury prize if it had been around in 1981?
For me it's got to be Dare by The Human league

It's coming up to phone upgrade time. A small holiday in our house where gifts of hand me down phones are passed around the family (except for me and my shiny new one). My problem (and it is a very tiny problem) is I really can't decide. I've had enough of Nokia and fancy a change. I've boiled it down to a choice between Android and Iphone. So if Android, which model? and if Iphone, Why? I throw myself on the wisdom of the collective genius known as The Massive.

A real pity

So feel free to post things that cheer yourself up. I'll start with...

I got this offer by email yesterday and thought I'd share it with the good people here. Subscribe to audio book sellers Audible for £7.99 a month and get a voucher code for £50 off iPod's MP3 players and docks at Amazon. Details here http://www.audible.co.uk/aduk/site/register.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&token...

Anybody else found any pre Christmas offers worth sharing?

OK Hate's maybe too strong a word, but is their a song you love by an artist you generally can't stand. I'll start

Musical differences apparently
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/yourtown/oxford/8094504.Supergrass_spli...
They were good though, saw them twice at both ends of the scale. Once at The Old Trout pub in Windsor just after 'Caught by the fuzz' came out (They were supporting Shed 7!). Last time they were supporting the Foo Fighters at Wembley Stadium. I for one will miss them.

I saw this on the fantastic website http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/. Apparently it was made for an 80 year old lady on her birthday from film shot by her father when she was a nipper. Beautiful and moving, and the Nilsson song fits the images like a glove. I posted this earlier in the week on another thread, but think that it deserves a space of it's own.

Elvis Costello was the suprise guest at Chris Difford's 'Songs in the key of London' at the Barbican last night. Declan was in top form and sang 'Hoover Factory' and 'London's brilliant parade', but his appearance got me thinking. The general public know Elvis and could describe him (as he looked at the start of his career) but probably could name only a half dozen of his songs at best. Any more examples of well known people that the public actually know very little about?

I know we've been over this subject before, but people chatting all through gigs should be punished quite severely (and painfuly!). Last night the FPO, who was taking a night off from being an FPO, and I went to the Barbican to see the Chris Difford curated 'Songs in the key of London'. Absolutely fantastic, a variety of artists (Glenn, Chris and Jools from Squeeze,Kathryn Williams,Chas and Suggs from Madness, some Blockheads and a suprise turn from Elvis Costello among others) singing various songs about the capital, nearly ruined though by the four blokes sitting in the row behind us. They just would not shut up all through the night,and when asked too, decided making sarky remarks was a suitable response.They only stopped when it looked like violence was potentially on the cards. Why pay £30 to sit in a concert hall and talk bollocks in a loud voice, when you can do it in a pub for free? Absolute arseholes the lot of 'em. Glad I got that off my chest.

A video of the known universe, made by the American natural history museum.I know I'm not the only space nut in the massive,and this is well worth six minutes of anyones time.

Thought this was pretty good.