To while away the odd half hour, my son, my mate Simon and myself have recently been issuing each other the odd 'challenge' to list certain things - top ten albums, favourite 20 songs and the like.

The last challenge, flung down by Simon, was to name ten albums from our collections that we can't believe we bought - the 'what possessed me?' albums that we've never been able to get to grips with since the day we handed over the readies - or really understand what caused us to hand over the readies in the first place.

Believe me, listing (and justifying) ten such albums was a lot harder than I thought it would be - much harder than listing your favourites.

Solely to avoid a long cut 'n' paste, and at the risk of incurring Fraser's wrath, my list is here if you are interested.

But what I'm interested in are the deep secrets the Massive have lurking in their record collections - what did you buy and then think "why?"

So here's the thing.

Treated myself to a nice big new telly the other week, along with a matching blu-ray player. 50" Plasma, Panasonic Viera, full HD 1080p - the works.

My problem is this.

Thus far, I can see no reason to start buying (or renting) blu-ray discs in preference to DVDs. The player seems to upscale all my DVDs to a more than acceptable quality, and I just can't bring myself to justify the additional price premium that blu-ray still attracts.

My one concession to blu-ray was to buy the Planet Earth box set for a more than reasonable thirty quid. The quality is absolutely fantastic, and in this instance I can see the value.

But otherwise?

Have I just got cloth-eyes, or is the difference really not that great?

Are there any 'essential' blu-rays out there, by virtue of visuals, extras or whatever, or do I just save my pennies and stick to DVDs?

I throw the floor open to the Massive.

Just had a delivery from the postman - a strange little origami fold-up cardboard thing from the nice people at Latitude.

Lurking on the front, next to Tuborg and Gaymers, is a logo from The Word.

Did I miss the memo?

Have the team defected from Cornbury to Southwold?

Will there be a Word tent?

And - most importantly - will The Love Trousers be opening proceedings in the Sunrise Arena?

We need to be told.

Or pick up your poker chips, share your vampiric booty or help you fight your Mafia battles.

I could also care less how many points your latest word scored, how many balls you bounced or how long your snake is (oo-er missus).

Now don't get me wrong, Facebook is a useful tool for keeping in touch with distant friends and relatives - people I love and cherish.

But they are also people who enjoy playing these pigging Facebook games and insist on telling me all about their high scores and trying (inadvertently, I know) to suck me in as well.

Please - can anyone tell me how - if indeed it is possible - to filter out and never again see any messages relating to these sodding Facebook 'games'?

Or do I just need to change my friends?

I'm trying to track down a play shown on TV some years ago now - probably some time in the '80s I think.

No idea what it was called, or who was in it - but it seemed to be set in some sort of dystopian 'alternative' present day, in a deserted council estate left unpopulated and decaying.

The one thing I remember about the play was one particular, striking scene, where the cast members congregated in one of the deserted houses. One of the cast (dressed, along with his colleagues, in Reservoir Dogs-esque black suits, white shirts and black ties) produces a ghetto blaster that he places on a nearby table. The cast stand around in a circle, heads bowed, as Otis's 'Try a Little Tenderness' plays on the ghetto blaster. The cast then are, individually and collectively, transported to ecstasy by the song.

Does anyone out there have any recollection of this strange little performance, or have I imagined the whole thing?

If anyone knows, The Massive knows.

Jimi Hendrix to release 'Valleys of Neptune' in March.

60 minutes of previously unreleased music including covers of 'Sunshine of Your Love' and Elmore James' 'Bleeding Heart', as well as versions of previously released tunes such as 'Stone Free', 'Hear My Train a'Comin' and 'Red House'.

Most of the songs originally recorded after Electric Ladyland, in the run up to Woodstock, mainly involving the original Experience with Buddy Cox replacing Noel Redding on some tracks.

Eddie Kramer is involved in the production, which must be a good thing I guess.

But isn't it time to let go? After forty years, surely everything worth releasing is already out there? No doubt I'll buy it - but I'm struggling to muster the enthusiasm I have to say.

Any members of the Massive familiar with these versions through 'unofficial' sources?

So, I bought the first series of Elvis Costello's US "chat show" dvd - "Spectacle" - this week and have started working through it.

Now as you might imagine, some of the music is (inevitably) great, what with James Burton in Elvis's backing band, along with Pete Thomas and Steve Nieve on occasion, but certainly at the start of the series, Elvis is 'on the learning curve' as far as interviewing is concerned - with Elton in the first episode and with Bill Clinton in the second.

He's getting there with Tony Bennett in the third - but in the fourth episode - well, was there ever a better interview with Lou Reed?

Spectacle - what 'Later...' ought to be.

Now bear in mind I'm only four episodes in - does it get better or has it peaked already? So far, I'm loving it!

In the 'Bad Actors' thread below, I mentioned 'Our Friends in the North', essentially defending Daniel Craig's ability to act. Leaving that to one side, I was slightly surprised by the 'meh' response to the series from Retro Man and Five-Centres, two posters whose opinions I generally hold in high regard.

For my part, I believe that OFITN is one of the finest British drama series of the last 25 years, up there with the likes of Boys From the Blackstuff, The Singing Detective, Cracker, Prime Suspect and any other, similar series you can name.

I also thought that was the 'accepted critical wisdom', if you will.

Now admittedly, I do like my dramas to be Northern and Gritty, and I did grow up (in the North) through all the events that the series portrays, so maybe the series resonates for me more than for others. I dunno.

But leaving the context (and the bad wigs) to one side, I thought the acting - not just from the four main characters, but also (and especially) from the likes of Peter Vaughan, Nicky's dad who suffered from Alzheimer's - was of the highest quality.

Now I know that tastes differ, and I'm certainly not looking for 'validation' of my own opinion here, I was just surprised at the less than lukewarm response to my comment.

So - what is the view of the Massive? Masterpiece or Meh? Is it a 'Northern' thing?

And what are the other great British (not American - we know what they are) drama series of the last twenty-odd years?

Listening to Madness tonight.

Our House.

The line about their mum...

"She's the one we're going to miss - in lots of ways"

Always gets me, every time.

Ian Dury. My Old Man.

"All the best mate, from your son."

What are the odd, throwaway lines, that get you filling up? And why is it that it's the cockney boys that do it best?

At the risk of being castigated for being insufficiently 'Rock', I thought I'd check out the Massive's geekier proclivities and ask what, if any, version of Linux blows up our collective frock?

Is SuSe the one you use?
Or is Ubuntu the one you run to?
Is Mint, "mint"?
Do you tip your hat to Fedora?
On the other hand, do you find Debian to be plebian?

I'm fannying around with a cheap netbook (HP 2133) and looking for no more than access to the internet, email and possibly a touch of OpenOffice and the off film on VLC. Oh, and Spotify via WINE would be nice as well.

I've played around with Ubuntu for a while and it's fine, but am happier to brave something a bit more esoteric if the pain is worth the gain.

Come on! Embrace your inner nerd and share!

Oh, and most importantly - Lienux or Linnux?

If the last show Phill Jupitus saw was Springsteen at Glastonbury...

...what did he do on the Sunday?

I may be wrong, but I suspect the general consensus around these here parts is that - all things being equal - bands reforming and touring (and/or recording) years after splitting up is generally a bad thing.

So are there any reformations that have worked?

Oh, I think so.

Firstly I give you Magazine. Not seen or heard of for many years, then suddenly back on the circuit in 2009. I saw them twice, at Manchester Academy and at Latitude, and I think they got it just right.

Original band members - as many as they could get together from the 'classic' lineup with the obvious exception of John McGeoch.

Replacement band members - Noko proving to be an excellent replacement for the irreplaceable.

Setlist - included plenty of the familiar, with some notable obscurities for the diehards. Safe, but not too safe. Oh, and no tracks from our 'new' album either.

Finally band members pretty much acting their age, not pretending to be twenty-five again. Some self-deprecating humour from Howard Devoto - not a failed attempt at recreating the 'angry' Devoto of 1979.

So - Magazine - a successful (and artistically worthwhile) comeback as far as I am concerned.

Any others? And which comebacks should just never have happened?

I throw the floor open to the Massive.

I'm falling out of love.

I'm not sure when it began, but we just don't seem to be getting along too well any more.

The long, silent pauses.

The sudden flounces, shutting down without warning.

Frankly, I'm beginning to think it's all over between us.

But what to do?

Is it me, or has Firefox gone to the dogs?
Is the latest flavour of IE as bad as all the others?
What about the NKOTB, Google Chrome?
Does anyone still use Opera?
Is Safari any use on a Microsoft machine?

What browsers do the Massive favour, and why?

(I'm running version 3.5.3 on a 2009 vintage PC, running Vista Home Premium, if that's relevant. And don't get me started on Vista.)

Apologies if we've done this before, but I did search the blog for previous posts on the subject, honest!

My Joni collection is very limited indeed, to just 'Blue' and 'Travelogue' (picked up dirt cheap in Fopp a while back).

She's always been an artist I've admired rather than liked, if that makes sense, but if I'm honest I've never really given her a fair hearing.

So my question is, where to start? What is indispensable and what is a bit meh? And in this time of remasters and remixes, are there any definitive editions I should seek out? Any box sets or collections that are definitive?

On the basis of what I've heard to date, I suspect her jazzier stuff will be more to my taste than the earlier, folky stuff.

so - over to you lot - I know you won't let me down!

Ok, so I've downloaded iTunes 9 and I've updated 'Genius'. After long minutes waiting for Genius to do its thing, I now have twelve 'Genius Mixes' that iTunes has kindly provided me with.

Which is nice.

But my question is, 'Is that it?'

I don't seem to be able to edit the mixes, or update them, or replace them with new mixes.

I know I can do my own genius playlists, but I want to do Mixes!

Also - the mix criteria seem to be a bit off - it has given me a mix called the 'Singer/Songwriter (Female) Mix' that is, apparently, "based upon Crowded House, Edwyn Collins, Scouting For Girls (I know, I know) and others"

Anyone able to enlighten me?