There have been plenty of threads recently asking about your favourite this and favourite that, so I was thinking whether it's time to start having some polls on here, to create the definitive list of what the Massive thinks are the best of everything. A sort of Massive awards.

For example, we could determine once and for all which is the best Dylan song, who's the best Beatle, what's the best horror film and which is the best Robson and Jerome album. Okay, maybe not the last one, but you get the picture. It will also give us the chance to pick the Massive's album of the year at the end of the year, as well as slowly building up a list of our definitive favourites. Perhaps polls with no clear runaway winner could be re-tested a year or so down the line.

I'd suggest that each poll is started on a Monday and lasts for a week, that each person can only vote once and that we have the chance to add a suggestion to each poll if your particular favourite isn't on the list (although we shall have to threaten to collectively frown on those that add 'comedy' suggestions). What I mean by the last point is that for categories where there are hundreds of choices, for example best Dylan song, we just stick down the twenty or so most obvious ones and if someone feels strongly that another choice should be added they have the option of adding it.

Okay, now I've come up with the suggestion, should people think it's a good idea and we decide to take it forward I have to confess my lack of computer know-how means that I wouldn't have a clue how to do this sort of thing, so we'd need a volunteer to manage the polls.

What do you think?

Sorry to ask a question that has undoubtedly been asked umpteen times before (I have had a search, but can't find the answer I am looking for), but is it still possible to access old podcasts?

I'm a subscriber and have got hold of the URL thingy, so I've just had the latest one downloaded to my i-tunes, but I have tried searching on i-tunes and have only found a handful of the old ones. Are they still available and, if so, where and how can I find them? I'm keen to listen to the one with Nick Lowe for example.

For years I have clung to three memories from childhood that only I seemed to remember, which made me doubt whether I was right in the first place. Once the internet came along I was able to verify that Gerry Marsden did indeed feature on the Sooty Show in the seventies, doing a sketch with Don MacLean or Bernie Clifton (can't remember which) usually based around the premise that Harry Corbett is coming for dinner. Much mayhem ensued and Gerry led the band with the closing number at the end.

However, despite much digging around I have never been able to verify the other two memories, so I was wondering whether anyone on here can help me out, or whether my memories are a load of nonsense.

1 - Joe Brown used to present a DIY show on a Sunday morning on TV in the late seventies.

2 - There was once a pop stars version of Superstars on BBC1. I can't remember anyone else who was in it, but seem to recall that Jimmy Pursey was and was rubbish at everything.

Can anybody verify these for me. Whilst you're at it, does anyone else have any memories lurking in the back of your mind that you doubt ever actually happened?

We all like a lyric quiz and I was thinking the other day that some lyrics are so well known that only two words are needed to identify the song. I'll start you off with a dozen, all from the 60's, and once these have been identified please throw in your own.

1 - Newspaper taxis
2 - Crawly caterpillar
3 - Light fandango
4 - Mystery tramp
5 - Bar-room queen
6 - Charcoal burning
7 - Strange hobby
8 - Some marigolds
9 - Bert's lumbago
10 - Colourful clothes
11 - That umbrella
12 - Natural exuberance

Now I like zombies as much as the next man, providing the next man is a zombie fanatic that is. I love zombie films, zombie fiction, zombie comics and even Colin Blunstone's band. Having said that, although I'd say that zombie films are one of my favourite genres there are only a handful that I would consider truly great (Night of the Living Dead, the two Dawn of the Deads, Land of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead amongst them).

But one thing that seems to be common amongst all zombie films/literature is that, when the outbreak starts, nobody has a clue what's going on, what these creatures are or how to kill them. This never happens with vampire films ("get me a cross, some garlic, some holy water and a stake...oh, and open the curtains"), werewolf films ("we'd better change the bullets for silver ones") or even demonic possession films ("get out the yellow pages and look up exorcists"). Everybody always seems to know what a ghost is, or a poltergeist.

In zombie films everybody just acts incredulous that the dead are rising and then proceed to try to stab them or shoot them in the belly. Eventually, some bright spark will explain that you need to either shoot them in the head or chop their heads off (this scene is common to just about every zombie film, apart from sequels).

Vampires, ghosts and werewolves have it tough. As soon as they pop their heads out of their evil lairs, people are already grabbing the tools necessary to off them. Zombies, certainly in the early stages of the epidemic, seem to have it easy.

Next - movie mysteries number two. I'm also a James Bond fanatic. Films, books, magazines, the lot. But how come international super villains always seem to not only know the identity of our premier secret agent, but they also know his favourite tipple?

I am a hoarder/collector/completist, call it what you want, but it's gradually sinking in that I spend too much money and time on things that I perhaps shouldn't be, so I am trying to stop, but it's not easy. Now, in the age where a physical CD is becoming very old fashioned it's time I changed, but how?

Continued in thread...

Or are we all the same? Here's 20 things I love. They're in no particular order and not necessarily the 20 things I love the most (because I'm certain to forget something), although I love number 20 the most. Well, either number 20 or number 5.

1 - The Beatles
2 - Woody Allen
3 - My ipod
4 - James Bond
5 - Barnsley Football Club
6 - Ed's Diner's chocolate malt milkshakes
7 - Zombies
8 - The Simpsons
9 - Stephen Duffy
10 - The Godfather 1 and 2
11 - My new Sony Blu Ray surround sound system
12 - Blade Runner
13 - Pet Shop Boys
14 - Laurel and Hardy
15 - The KLF
16 - Batman
17 - Bob Dylan
18 - Boxing (watching, rather than participating!)
19 - The Princess Bride
20 - My wife, daughter and son

Anyone else got 20, to show that we're all different?

This is an appeal to the more technically minded members of the congregation. Or someone who knows how Spotify works at least.

I clicked on my Spotify icon to listen to a couple of albums I was thinking of buying (this is all I ever use Spotify for - I listen to the Word cover CD, for example, like a track and want to know what the rest of the album sounds like. I need Spotify for nothing more than that!) and it kept crashing. Then, when it finally opened, it had a user agreement that I had to click on. Like the fool I am, I never bothered reading what I was accepting. The next thing, Spotify opens and it starts adding all my files from my i-tunes database. I don't particularly want it to do that.

I tried looking through Spotify's help pages to see how I can stop it, but all their help pages do is tell you how super it is. I keep my i-tunes files on an external hard drive, cos there's so many of them. Is Spotify copying them to another folder somewhere on my PC? Is this going to slow my PC down even more? Is it going to affect i-tunes the next time I try to update my ipod? How do I stop it from syncing? Am I panicking over nothing? Can anybody help?

I've just become the owner of a Blu Ray player, as part of a bundle with a new mobile phone (you always get a great deal when you hardly ever use the phone!). I first compared a Disney cartoon DVD against the Blu Ray version and couldn't really notice the difference, but I bought John Carpenter's The Thing on Blu Ray (because it was cheap) and compared that with the DVD. The difference was very noticeable, so I'm now thinking about replacing a few of my DVDs with Blu Ray versions.

The thing is, I understand that some Blu Ray discs are not much of an improvement on the DVD version and some are actually worse. I've tried to find a website that compares the discs, but I haven't been able to find one, so do any of you know of such a site? If not, do any of you have tips as to which Blu Ray discs are miles better than their DVD counterpart and which Blu Ray discs I should avoid?

I'm aware that the Lord of the Rings Blu Ray box set is the theatrical versions, rather than the extended versions that are on the DVDs, and I also know that the Apocalypse Now Blu Ray set contains the Hearts of Darkness documentary, but that's the sum extent of my knowledge.

I'm just (finally) listening to the excellent podcast with the great Danny Baker and he mentioned regretting having no photos, etc to remind him of his meetings with some of the mega-famous people he's encountered, and it got me thinking. Having lived in Hampstead and worked in central London, happening across celebs is not uncommon, but have you ever happened across any of your proper heroes (for want of a better term) and regretted not saying something to them/shaking their hand/etc? I'm talking proper heroes of yours here, not just some random celeb you've walked past. The reason I'm asking is that I can recall three separate occasions where I've regretted being too cool in the presence of greatness.

I once got in the lift at Belsize Park tube and George Martin got in. There was just me, a young Japanese lad and George Martin. And yet I said nowt.

I also was once sat outside the Irish pub on Goodge Street with my missus when Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe walked down Whitfield Street and stood by us, waiting to cross the road. But nothing more than a nod of recognition from me.

And thirdly, although I blame my old boss for this one because I think I might have said something this time, I was walking down Charlotte Street on the phone to my boss and walked past Stephen Duffy (okay, an acquired taste, this one). However, I couldn't shake my boss off the phone and by the time he hung up Duffy was a mere spec in the distance.

I suppose all the above is easier to take, considering I've twice met and chatted with my proper hero, Neil Redfearn (and thoroughly smashing bloke he is too), but has anybody else 'almost' met one of their heroes, but been too nervous/cool to say anything?

I settled down a short while ago to watch a film I'd recorded off the horror channel a few days ago, Peter Jackson's zombie gorefest Brain Dead. I couldn't remember whether I'd seen it before.

Now I was disappointed from the off, because it was badly acted and the effects were poor, but I thought that was probably the charm of it, as I've read a lot of references to it being a good film, making the most of a low budget. Alarm bells started to ring at the high levels of nudity early on though. I was surprised that someone who'd made this film would be given big budget Hollywood films.

The action got worse and I started reaching for the fast forward button, disappointed that I just didn't get what all the fuss was about. And then it hit me. Perhaps I was watching the wrong film. Sure enough, Jackson's film is Braindead and not Brain Dead. Easy mistake to make, but I'm never going to get those 25 minutes back.

Any sixties fans with Sky HD should check out Sky Anytime, as there are a couple of gems on there at the moment. Two shows presented by Kent "hello, grapple fans" Walton, Fluff Freeman and Brian Matthew, featuring performances by the likes of The Hollies, The Animals and The Tornados. The links with the deejays are excruciating at times, but you don't often get to see The Swinging Blue Jeans singing the fab "You're No Good" on telly.

Okay, you have to put up with the awful "Shout" by Lulu, but it's on Sky Anytime, so you can fast forward.

I've got to say though, I thought I had a pretty good knowledge of sixties music, but I'd never heard of The Wackers or The Cockneys.

I'll start:

The The
The Bible
Jimmy Jimmy
The Act

It's said that once you buy a new car, it instantly loses 25% of it's value. Well it seems to me that once you have bought a new CD nowadays (obviously not including CDs of the limited edition variety or of more obscure artists) it becomes completely worthless in a matter of months.

Just try selling standard CDs by the likes of Doves, The Dears, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Flaming Lips, etc on e-bay. You'll be lucky to sell them and you'll get next to nothing for them.

I've just been reading a list of the best selling singles in the UK, year by year, and it made for interesting, if somewhat slightly depressing, reading.

During the four periods that British bands were supposedly at the forefront of music (mid-60's, Glam era, punk/new wave era and Britpop) the best selling singles were as far from those genres as possible, with the latter period being dominated by cover versions (including Sir Elt's cover version of his own song).

1965 - Tears by Ken Dodd
1966 - The Green Green Grass of Home by Tom Jones
1967 - Release Me by Engelbert Humperdinck

1972 - Amazing Grace by The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Band
1973 - Tie a Yellow Ribbon by Tony Orlando and Dawn

1976 - Save Your Kisses For Me by Brotherhood of Man
1977 - Mull of Kintyre/Girl's School by Wings
1978 - Rivers of Babylon/Brown Girl in the Ring by Boney M
1979 - Bright Eyes by Art Garfunkel

1994 - Love is All Around by Wet Wet Wet
1995 - Unchained Melody by Robson and Jerome
1996 - Killing Me Softly by The Fugees
1997 - Candle in the Wind 1997 by Elton John

Looking at some of the other entries, such as Cliff's mistletoe and Wine in 1988, Bob the Builder in 2000 and, unbelievably, the re-released Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers in 1990.

Are we guilty of looking back and trying to re-write history by concentrating on seemingly more obscure acts like The Stones, David Bowie, The Clash and Pulp, or is it just proof that the British public are fools? 1.8 million sales for Robson and Jerome's single suggests that this is so.