At work earlier today, someone asked "what's your favourite animal?" and the question went round the office. In amongst the responses of 'sheep', 'elephant' and 'labrador', I answered 'Eric Burdon'.

And not one single person had a clue what I was on about. I had to explain myself to stop the confused looks.

Bloody philistines...

Dear Florence off of Florence and the Machine,

I saw your performance at The Brits last night. Just so you're aware, shouting in tune is not the same as singing.

All the best,
Joe

...by, er, Kasabian? http://bit.ly/9baLZ8

It's now (almost) ten years since the turn of the millennium and for most of us, it's likely we won't see another one. Everyone was worried about the Y2K bug, aeroplanes falling out of the sky and the worrying rise to fame of Patrick Kielty.

A lot has changed in the past ten years, but how have you changed? What's different to ten years ago, be it job, hometown, taste in music or favourite flavour of ice cream?

It must be.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8243769.stm

Inspired (read: nicked wholesale) from the digression on the Pixie Lott thread and the fact that contributors on this site are quick to make a comparison when photos of the residents of Word Towers are uploaded, I was wondering who you look like.

Have you ever been told you're a thin Giant Haystacks? a short Cameron Diaz? Maybe you're an Asian Henry VIII?

Of course, both complimentary and not-so-complimentary comparisons are welcomed...

I know very little about Northern Soul. In fact, everything I do know about Northern Soul comes from reading Stuart Maconie's Cider with Roadies.

Whilst cooking the other day (Thai mango chicken stir-fry, since you ask), I heard Marc Riley play a fantastic Northern Soul record on his 6Music show: Born a Loser by Don Ray. It was so good it gave me the urge to go out and buy lots of Northern Soul but I could probably do with some direction.

So, what should I be buying? Classic albums, underappreciated gems and comprehensive compilations, I'm open to them all and your assistance would be greatly .

Whilst wandering through Waterloo underground station this morning, I noticed an advert for the film Role Models on DVD featuring Seann William Scott (from American Pie), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (from Superbad) and Paul Rudd (from all other films).

Amongst the usual raft of magazine quotes of "a must-see" and "hilariously funny - ****", the one that caught my eye was from Metro and was the biggest on the poster. It read:

"Like watching monkeys throw their own poo at each other on YouTube!"

Clearly, the makers of this poster think that's a good thing and have therefore given it pride of place.

Is it just me that thinks that's an awful, awful quote to put on your promo poster? Are there any examples of quotes even worse than that?

Wordies, I require your assistance.

I'm in my early twenties and seriously considering pursuing a career in music journalism. I currently have a full-time job, but write articles and reviews (for free) for an online music and film magazine in my spare time. Ideally, I'd love to work for the good people of The Word, but it's best to learn to walk before you run.

It seems a relatively high number of contributors to this site work in media and/or have a large amount of (careful choice of words here), ahem, life experience, so what advice can you give me?

Apologies for hijacking the blog for my own personal benefit, but I'd appreciate any pearls of wisdom.

Much obliged.

Here is the official Top 40 singles charts for the week beginning 18th January 2009.

The chart may be completely redundant these days, but how many of the forty songs have you actually heard? I remember the days when I knew them all but this week, that number is down to a paltry 15.

How about you? And who's this Lady GaGa character?

After yesterday's thread of classic albums you'd never heard, it got me thinking that it doesn't have to be restricted to music. For example, I have never read:

Catch 22
The Catcher in the Rye
Anything by Charles Dickens
Bonfire of the Vanities
Lord of the Rings

Similarly, I have never seen:

Apocalypse Now
The Godfather
Pulp Fiction
It's a Wonderful Life
Jaws

What about you?

I heard Astral Weeks for the first ever time this morning (it's really rather good, I think this guy could have a future) and it got me thinking. I'd guess that the average contributor to this site listens to a lot of music and more or less knows their stuff. But have we all heard the classic albums? The ones that have been around for years, are well-known and highly acclaimed. I'm talking about Forever Changes, Blonde on Blonde, Kind of Blue etc.

To my shame, I've never heard (off the top of my head):
Revolver
Exile on Main Street
Dark Side of the Moon
Physical Grafitti
Never Mind the Bollocks

Anyone else willing to confess?

Rumour has it that Ipswich Town are interested in signing Stockport County defender Jimmy McNulty.

Any more Wire homonyms? If there's a professional footballer called Roland Pryzbylewski, I'll eat my hat.

Leona Lewis has signed a deal to write her autobiography. I fail to see why this would be of interest to anyone. She led a fairly unremarkable life until two years ago and as soon as things started to get interesting, everything she's done has been televised. Good luck to the girl and all that but it won't be going on my Amazon wish list.

The art of counting in at the beginning of a track is becoming rarer, but you can't beat a good old-fashioned 1-2-3-4.

So, what are the best ones? I'll start the ball rolling with:

Tindersticks - The Hungry Saw
Flaming Lips - Do You Realize??
Run DMC and Aerosmith - Walk This Way