Mad Men Barbie dolls, as reported in The Guardian today. Disappointingly Joan's proportions appear to be more Barbie than Christina Hendricks.

I'm nicking this idea from elsewhere on the internet, where someone is compiling a list of songs to be played on the sound system of an enormous and empty stadium while you lie in the centre of the pitch. Song requirements:

A very creative use of the piles of empties that collect in a student flat. I was never this enterprising... I think about all those hours I wasted actually learning things, and feel slightly ashamed.

This is a picture apparently created by the Head of Photography at Columbia to show all ten items banned by the Hays Code. It looks like a still from a pretty interesting film...

(via Sociological Images)

As sort of an antidote to the traditionally testosterone filled best of lists, Wears the Trousers Magazine have come up with 100 best albums by women in the 00s. Some interesting inclusions and omissions:

100-76

75-51

50-26

25-1

So what are your best albums by women in the 00s?

and people being rude about Sting, you should read the lovely Eamonn Forde's column in today's Times:

The children of pop royalty will never be music to my ears

Saw this just after listening to the podcast. Yes, it's The Cassette Tape Closet.

I had a Rockstar Barbie when I was a girl, but nothing as cool as these:

Yes that's Debbie Harry and Joan Jett. Also available is Cyndi Lauper apparently. (Found via here)

Pixie Lott. According to the BBC at least, though I am not sure which awards she has won - Joe R wondered if they were perhaps for her dedication to wearing short shorts. Shortly after I had accepted the inaugural Award For Never Having Knowingly Seen A Picture Of Pixie Lott, this video was posted on Facebook by a friend. (It is worth noting that this friend is a big fan of Florence and the Latrine... make of her musical tastes what you will.) Anyway, turns out Pixie can sing a bit, and since I know her name has popped up in a few posts, I thought people might be interested:

I know there are some Deadheads amongst the massive, but are any of you qualified librarians? The University of California, Santa Cruz is looking for someone to run their Grateful Dead Archive:

http://careers.archivists.org/jobdetail.cfm?job=3227980

I'm sure there is a rich seam of comedy and puns waiting to be mined here...

Also, do any other groups have University archives devoted to them?

The lovely Eamonn Forde on Channel 4 news this lunchtime, talking about US download site Bluebeat offering Beatles tracks for 25 cents each:

And this is further good news for him:

There's some good news this morning for our readers from the Emerald Isle: their Irish brogue has topped a poll of 5,000 women worldwide to emerge as the world's sexiest accent.

This is a band called Cherri Bomb, covering 'Volcano Girls' by Verucca Salt. Apparently they are 11 years old, and have been together 3 months. They are incredibly good.

Just a quick public service announcement - noticed BBC4 are showing the Glastonbury set at 9pm, then more Madness related stuff including the film of their latest album. Might be of interest to some here...

These days everyone has a mobile phone - which is a problem for those who make horror films. How do you convey suspense and terror if people have the means to call for help?

John Harris had a piece in yesterday's Guardian which is essentially flogging his new book, but seemed to describe the Word Massive to a tee:

If you don't suffer from this completely benign condition, you probably know someone who does, and their giveaway symptoms: most obviously, long conversations about, say, the right and wrong varieties of electric guitar, the history of the rock haircut, and the strange backstage demands of international recording artists. In plenty of cases, with their minds brimming with such thoughts, overqualified obsessives get the urge to take low-paid jobs in record shops, doting fathers beat a retreat to the loft conversion, and otherwise sensible adults spend hours shouting at each other in the pub.

Needs updating for 2009 with 'otherwise sensible adults spend hours shouting at each other on blogs and via Twitter', but otherwise...