The 8th December, was the anniversary of John Lennon’s death in 1980, Dear Reader. 37 years ago; I was reminded of that day whilst reading Blue Frank‘s post yesterday about May Pang, John Lennon’s girlfriend, briefly, in 1973…
*Weird, Clicky… /drags… RedFrank has a newMEROVEEpost up today about a black hole discovery that’s puzzling scientists…/taps ash… created just after the Big Bang, like…*
*GUT of everything? …/drags… As John Lamb Lash mentioned at the end of his last talk… ‘See colon backslash’ …/blows smoke ring… The singularity… /stubs butt… I asked my good friend, ‘The Gut Doctor’ about 137 before, Clicky…*
*Roob-ID-I-um… /lights up…*
Rubidium-87 has a half-life of 48.8Ă109 years, which is more than three times the age of the universe of (13.799±0.021)Ă109 years, making it a primordial nuclide.
…Knot only that, Dear Reader, it was but a year ago, on December 8th 2016, that the very first Underdog Anthology was published. I was reminded of this reading Leggy update on the upcoming Christmas edition, posted last night…
*Leggy just emailed me a complete final copy, Clicky… /puffs merrily… It looks fucking AWESOME!!!*
There’s an additional treat included with three illustrations Leggy drew way back in the 80s. Three perfect Santa cartoons that illustration Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come perfectly…
…And, Dear Reader, you may notice from the Contents page that a certain missive writer from Text US has a story included. I had the most enormous fun last weekend editing ‘Christmas Ever’, as Cade wrote it…
There is a real treat in this one for those who enjoyed Brian W. Aldissâs excursions into the deeper, stranger SF regions. If you re-read his shorts such as âAs for our Fatal Continuityâ and âSend Her Victoriousâ (in âComic Infernoâ, well worth a read if you can still get it and the title story is in much the same vein too), and his novel âThe Eighty-Minute Hourâ (which I read several times) then you are going to love this one. Iâm not telling you the title yet, but I will when itâs ready to go.
*/squints… What’s that red book Cade’s using, Clicky?*
*/rolls eyes… Figures… /continues to smoke…*
Sew… hopefully, Dear Reader, ‘The Underdog Anthology IV: The Good, the Bad and Santa’ will be available to everybody…
*/coughs… Don’t give Leggy ideas, Clicky!*
… Um, nearly everybody sometime before Thursday. I will post a link when it is and let you have a look at the Afterword corruption. In the meantime, have a good week, don’t be mean and… Have a Song… đ
*/puffs… Clicky! I find the new title of that Song highly offensive… /streams smoke… Get another…*
This time last year, Dear Reader, I was still embarked on a ‘Pointless Exercise‘. I’ve not touched on the show since but it remains a treasure trove of synchronicity, wrapped up in the innocent garb of an amusing teatime TV quiz show…
*George Michael, who recently died, Clicky… Where are you going with this? …/furrows brow…*
*Okay… Red Frank’s MEROVEEpost… You’re not being rude are you? …/squint…*
*Ah! Yes, apparently MRS REIGN is a fan of ‘Pointless’… Clever, Clicky… /rubs snout… No, don’t pout… Of course I had faith in where you were taking me… /glances away…*
Armstrong later corroborated the source in a Radio Times interview, where he said a Palace insider affirmed that Pointless was indeed on Her Majestyâs TV viewing schedule.
Itâs highly unlikely weâll ever see The Queen make a guest appearance on the show herself. However, it may make other fans of it rather chuffed to know that they can count on the Head of the Commonwealth amongst their ranks.
Armstrong, Dear Reader, the name Armstrong occurs twice in the Pointless sync I am about to relay…
*/grins… Yeah, Hugo… He’s involved in my Pointless sync as well, Clicky… Â /continues grinning…
So, on Thursday evening Thoughtful Man and I were watching a back episode of ‘Pointless‘. It was in the ‘head-to-head’ round when the subject of Royalty came up, as it occasionally does…
It wasn’t Damien of ‘The Omen‘ fame of course, but Viscount Linley, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, a.k.a. David Armstrong-Jones…
*No… /rolls eyes… Yes, that’s Doctor Who as a ‘father’ but that’s not ‘Who’s father’, Clicky… /shakes head…*
… I mentioned Lord Snowdon’s passing to Hugo in conversation on Friday evening, but only after he sent me a news story about ‘Road Rage‘. It was unsolicited – I hadn’t told him of the silly Pointless answer I’d given the night before…
*/sings… You give me road rage… Love that strong Welsh accent, Clicky… Hey! Snowdon is in Wales… /smiles…*
*/gasps… OMG! Clicky, the brilliant sci fi book I’m currently proofing for Leggy… You are so clever! …/holds out arms… Come here, you impossible creature…/rubs snout…*
Dear Reader, I hope you have enjoyed this pointless sync at the LoL. I’m off to continue my reading, so if you have any questions or observations, please avail yourself of the comment section, below…
AA: Well done, Jamie and Alex. What about that?! You’ve seen off ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here’. You’ve seen off ‘The Apprentice’ in the Head to Head. Er, and you saw off ‘Big Brother’. I mean fantastic and you’ve won our coveted Pointless trophy.
Clicky for Pointlessly Pointed
JAMIE: We feel honoured.
AA: Wa-well.
ALEX: Ecstatic.
AA: As… so you should. You now have a chance to win our Pointless jackpot for your charities, which is very exciting. At the end of today’s show the jackpot stands at two thousand five hundred. Interestingly untroubled…
Clicky for a look
AA: Well you’ve done very well indeed. What would like to finish this show off with? What, what is your dream topic?
JAMIE: I feel like I would like something… movies would be alright. Movies, I usually do alright… movies.
ALEX: I could go for history, something like that.
JAMIE: No! Why history?
ALEX: I did it…
JAMIE: It’s so big! It’s such a big topic… shorten it. ‘Made in Chelsea’ would be great actually… let’s go ‘Made in Chelsea’.
OZ: I’m sorry, too many pointless answers I’m afraid.
Clicky for quick draw
JAMIE: Oh we can edit that out…
AA: Ha ha ha ha…Â yeah.
Clicky for look
AA: Er, you get to choose your category for this final round from the 4 we put up on the board behind me. Let’s see what today’s selection looks like… We’ve got ‘Rappers’. We’ve got ‘The Year 2008’. We’ve got ‘Horror Film Directors’ and we’ve got ‘The X Factors’.
RxB: Ooh, I hope they don’t pick the X Factor, I would not have clue.
SEB: I’ll take a wild stab and say they’re not going to be going for rappers. 2008 maybe, that or the X Factor.
RxB: Not horror film directors? They’re both jolly ‘frightfully alright’…
SEB: Fucking Chelsea!
RxB: Spoken like true Fulham fan.
JAMIE: The year 2008… everything else seems so b… Can you do  any X Factor winners?
ALEX: Yes but let’s go 2008.
JAMIE: We’ll go ‘The Year 2008’ please.
Clicky for the year 2008
RxB: Yay!
AA: There we are. Richard?
OZ: Good luck gents, 3 very different categories so take your answers from any of these, however you want to do it. We are looking for anybody who was nominated for a Best Actor or Best Actress Oscar in 2008. Or Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor…
SEB: What was out in 2008? The King’s Speech?
RxB: No, that was later… Erm, I don’t know, I can’t remember.
OZ: We’re looking for any act that had one of the 50 best selling albums in 2008…
RxB: Bollocks! No idea.
OZ: Or we’re looking for any country which won a gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, apart from GB.
RxB: Right, um… North Korea… Er, one of the ones that used to be Russia…
SEB: Ukraine?
RxB: Probably… should go for a South American country… Argentina. Didn’t they win the football?
SEB: Dunno.
OZ: So, any actor or actress Oscar nominees. Any acts who had one of the 50 best selling albums. Or any gold medal winning countries at the 2008 Olympics. Very best of luck guys. I hope they’re, er, good categories in there for you.
Click for deja vu with 2008
AA: Thank you very much indeed. Okay, now as always you have up to 1 minute to come up with 3 answers and all you need to win that jackpot for your charities is for just 1 of those answers to be pointless. Are you ready?
JAMIE: No.
ALEX: Not at all, this is hard.
JAMIE: This is really hard!
AA: Okay. Let’s put 60 seconds up on the clock. There they are. Your time starts… now.
ALEX: Okay. So what’s a good gold winning..?
JAMIE: ‘K ‘k, you think of that, think of that one. I’ll think… Okay so, so, okay Oscars… What was that like in 2008? Was it, er was it Schinder’s List, something like that?
ALEX: No, that’s a lot older than that.
RxB: Oh for fuck’s sake! Schinder’s List? That was last century!
SEB: I’m gonna let the dog out – they’re getting on my nerves.
RxB: Okay.
JAMIE: I don’t think it is much older than that…
ALEX: Yeah. Yeah.
JAMIE: … 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15… 7 years ago. That’s like Schinder’s List…
Clicky for knot Nilson
ALEX: 2008… Is that when they brought out the first Batman?
JAMIE: Batman? That didn’t win an Oscar!
RxB: Yeah it did. Heath Ledger… no, that would have been at the Oscars in 2009…
JAMIE: The, um… so who actually had best selling albums in 2008… who was big in 2008? Seven years ago, who were we listening to? Um…
ALEX: Ad, Adele, I think might of have had a…
JAMIE: Adele!
ALEX: Er, Amy Winehouse?
JAMIE: The computer Adele. Erm…
ALEX: That’s a Dell. Um, so I reckon Amy Winehouse or, or…
JAMIE: Okay, Amy Winehouse. Medals would be, what, really random countries.
ALEX: Like shooting. Who’s really good at shooting? Like…
RxB: South Korea, Thailand..?
AA: 10 seconds left.
JAMIE: Finland. Amy Winehouse, Finland and… let’s go for, um, an actor would be okay… stop the…
ALEX: Daniel Day-Lewis for the actor. I don’t know why.
AA: Okay, that is your time up. I now need your 3 answers. What are you going to give?
RxB: North Korea, Ukraine and Argentina. (shouts) I’M GOING ARGENTINA, NORTH KOREA… ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?
JAMIE: Okay, for one of them, because he’s won loads…
ALEX: Daniel Day-Lewis.
AA: Daniel Day-Lewis as the actor… an actor.
JAMIE: Yes. Acts will be a best selling… No, then we’re going gold medal, we’ll just pick two, gold medal… come on.
ALEX: Switzerland.
JAMIE: Okay, Switzerland.
AA: Switzerland.
RxB: Nah. Roger Fedora…
JAMIE: And we’ll go for someone like, er, care, er, Kenya?
RxB: No chance! Too well known for long distance running.
AA: Kenya. Okay. Switzerland and Kenya as our gold medal winners. Of those 3 which is your best shot at a pointless answer?
ALEX: I think Kenya.
AA: Okay, Kenya. Shall we put Kenya last?
JAMIE: Yeah, let’s put Kenya last.
AA: Least likely to be pointless?
JAMIE: Daniel Day…
ALEX: Lewis.
AA: Daniel Day-Lewis, we’ll put him first. Let’s pop those up on the board in that order then. And here they are. We’ve got  Daniel Day-Lewis, Switzerland, Kenya. Well, 3 good answers, I’d say, on the board there.
JAMIE: You think?
AA: I think so. The question is will any of them be pointless.
RxB: Okay? Did she have a wee?
SEB: Yeah. Well they aren’t going to be pointless.
RxB: Yeah, well we’ve gone for Argentina, North Korea and Ukraine.
AA: If any of them is pointless, you will win that jackpot for your charities. Wa, wa, what charities are you playing for. Jamie?
JAMIE: My charity is ‘Rays of Sunshine‘, which is, er, a charity that brings bright light into really poorly kids, aged from 3 to 18.
AA: Very good. Fingers crossed. As I say, 3 good answers there. Let’s hope 1Â of them is pointless and you can take that jackpot home for those charities. Well your first answer is Daniel Day-Lewis and, in this case, we were looking for 2008 Oscar nominees. Remember, it has to be pointless for you to win. Let’s find out how many of our 100 people said ‘Daniel Day-Lewis’.
Click for view from one’s door
AA: One!
ALEX: I don’t believe it!
JAMIE: Nooo!
RxB: That was close!
AA: One person got Daniel Day-Lewis.
ALEX: I want to find that person.
JAMIE: Who was it?
ALEX: Was it Daniel Day-Lewis?
JAMIE: It was Daniel Day-Lewis himself.
AA: Ah, bad luck. Not a pointless answer which means you only have 2 more shots at today’s jackpot.
JAMIE: That is so unfair!
AA: Your next answer was Switzerland and in this case, we were looking for medal winners at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Again, it has to be pointless for you to win that jackpot of two thousand, five hundred pounds. How many people said Switzerland? Is it pointless? It’s right.
JAMIE: It’s right again?! Unbelievable!
AA: Daniel Day-Lewis took us all the way down to 1. This is Switzerland now taking us down…
JAMIE: Come on!
AA: …through the twenties…
JAMIE: Come on!
AA: …and the teens, will it be..?
JAMIE: COME ON!
AA: …It’s still going down, going down…
JAMIE: GO ON! Yeah…
AA: It’s one!
JAMIE & ALEX: Ooh!!!
ALEX: I don’t believe it!
Click for view of one’s front door
RxB: Switzerland only got one? Ours are looking good then.
JAMIE: Oh no, Daniel Day-Lewis again! Is he in Switzerland?
AA: Incredibly close so far. Everything is now riding on your third and final answer, which is Kenya.
JAMIE: This isn’t fair. Can we do it again? Who would have said Switzerland?!
OZ: Well you did.
JAMIE: I know but that was so random and pointless…
AA: Kenya is your third and final answer. This has to be pointless. Come on, to win the jackpot of two thousand five hundred, how many people said Kenya? Is it pointless? It’s right!
JAMIE: Come on!
SEB: It won’t be pointless.Â
RxB: Yeah, I know. Known for it, they are, known for it…
AA: Well, Daniel Day-Lewis was right, that took us down to 1. Switzerland was right. That took us all the way down to 1, as well. Kenya has to be pointless…
SEB: Winning gold for long distance running?
RxB: Yeah…
JAMIE & ALEX: Come on! Oh!
AA: Bad luck!
Clicky for a breaking sync…
SEB: Told you it wouldn’t be pointless.
ALEX: I can’t believe it.
AA: Listen. Okay, you didn’t win the jackpot but 3 excellent answers there considering how you felt when you started that minute. You managed to get 3 brilliant answers that took us right down to the bottom of the column. Er, I’m so sorry. That means you don’t win today’s jackpot of two thousand five hundred pounds. I’m sorry, however, as it is a celebrity special and everyone is playing for a charity, we’ll donate five hundred pounds to each celebrity pair for their respective charities. So you get that and you’ve been brilliant right the way across the show. You can hold your heads up high and you get a Pointless trophy each to take away as well. So there you are… it’s all good.
JAMIE: I don’t believe that.
OZ: Um, the gold medal winning countries was the place to get the pointless answers from because 53 countries won, er, won a gold medals at those Olympics and 30 of them are pointless. And one of the countries that was pointless was Finland.
RxB: Lordi! Not Finland again..?
ALEX: We said that!
SEB: What did we say again?
JAMIE: Oh we said Finland…
ALEX: Why didn’t we do it?
RxB: I told you – Argentina, North Korea and Ukraine. You chose Ukraine.
SEB: Well, that’s definitely going to be pointless.
RxB: We’ll see. That’s a pretty low score for Kenya, 4.
OZ: And I was just waiting for you to read it out and you didn’t do it.
JAMIE: Ooh!
OZ: Let’s take a look at the pointless answers in the different categories. There will be ones you know in all of these, I’m afraid. Um, we’ll start with, er, actors and actresses. Julie Christie, Marion Cotillard, Tom Wilkinson, Tommy Lee Jones. You could have had Philip Seymour-Hoffman. You could have had Hal Holbrook, Amy Ryan. You could have had Ellen Page… lots of pointless answers there.
SEB: Did we say any of those?
RxB: No.
OZ: Let’s move on to the best selling albums. Elbow would have been a pointless answer, also Guns n’ Roses. You could have had Leona Lewis… N-Dubz, unbelievably was a pointless answer. Celine Dion, Chris Brown, Enrique Iglesias, Il Divo, Mark Ronson, Will Young. All of those were pointless. Well done if you said any of those.
RxB: Nope. Gold winning countries, come on…
OZ: And the gold medal winning countries… as I said, there’s 30 odd countries here…
OZ: Argentina is pointless. Mongolia, New Zealand, Poland. You could have had Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Denmark, North Korea…
RxB: Double pointless!
OZ: …Norway, Thailand, Tunisa, Turkey, Ukraine…
RxB: Fucking hell! Triple pointless!
SEB: They’d never let you on this show – your language is disgusting. Well done, babes.
OZ: …Uzbekistan and our good friends in the Netherlands, all of those were pointless answers. Gents, it’s been an absolutely pleasure having you on the show and I’m so sorry. 1, 1 and 4 is terrific work in that final round.
RxB: Triple pointless… I shall bask awhile and then do the ironing.
SEB: Yeah, get on with it, bitch.
RxB: Oi! Triple pointless bitch, thank you.
AA: Thanks very much. Well unfortunately we have to say goodbye, Jamie and Alex, but just to add to what Richard said, it’s been brilliant having you on the show. A great performance and, er, thank you so much for playing. Jamie and Alex! Brilliant! Join us next time when we’ll be putting more obscure knowledge to the test on Pointless. Meanwhile its goodbye from Richard.
OZ: Goodbye.
AA: And it’s goodbye from me. Goodbye.
Clicky for a Song
*******
Any questions, please put them in comments. I have got a stinking cold and am going to bed but either I or Clicky will be about to reply to any tomorrow.
AA: Okay, here’s comes your third question. Now Jamie and Alex, you get to answer it first but Solomon and Ruth, once again you have to win it to stay in the game. So, best of luck. It concerns…
OZ: We’re gonna show you the names of 5 zoo animals now but, er… I wish we hadn’t done this now… we’ve put them in anagram form. Â Can you unscramble them and give us the most obscure answer please…
Clicky for… *Er, Clicky, that looks shit…*
OZ: …and when I say ‘please’, I mean poleeze…
RxB: You got the controller? It’s anagrams, pause it.
SEB: Way ahead of you.
AA: Thanks, Richard. So let’s reveal our 5 anagrams and here they come…
RxB: What do you reckon we should go with, alligator or antelope?
SEB: Which one’s alligator?
RxB: Alligator it is.
AA: We’ve got ‘On Rich Rose’, ‘A Trial Log’, ‘Impeach Zen’, ‘Ark Meet’, ‘Lean Poet. I shall read those again, ‘On Rich Rose’, ‘A Trial Log’, ‘Impeach Zen’, ‘Ark Meet’, ‘Lean Poet. So, Jamie and Alex, you go first.
*Clicky, I cunt use that… or can I?*
JAMIE: My spelling is so bad…
ALEX: (whispers) Alligator is the second one.
JAMIE: You’re sure it is?
ALEX: I think so, yeah…
JAMIE: I don’t know how to spell!
ALEX: Should we go with the second one?
JAMIE: Is that how you spell it though?
ALEX: I think so.
JAMIE: You’re how sure?
ALEX: Er, 90%.
JAMIE: Okay for 90% I’ll take… if you’re wrong, I’ll be furious. Um, number 2 we think is alligator.
RxB: They’ve gone for our one. Come on Ruth, antelope. It’s the only one that might beat it.
SEB: Have a shot and pass me that packet of fags.
AA: Okay. Jamie and Alex are saying ‘Alligator’ for ‘A Trial Log’. Now then, er, Solomon and Ruth. The board is all yours, talk us through it.
RUTH: Okay, the second one up is meerkat.
SOLOMON: Ah yeah… I kinda think ‘ark meet’ is a real animal anyway.
Clicky for red paws
RxB: Fuck! They’re gonna go for meerkat. Bollocks!
RUTH: Yeah, let’s… shall we go *claps* we’ll go for meerkat.
AA: Okay, you’re gonna go for ‘meerkat’. So we’ve got ‘alligator’, we’ve got ‘meerkat’. Jamie and Alex said ‘alligator’, let’s see if that’s right, let’s see how many people said ‘alligator’.
Clicky for confused
AA: 16!
JAMIE: That’s not us… oh it is us… Come On!
Clicky for sumthing
ALEX: I wondered why you weren’t celebrating.
AA: Okay, Solomon and Ruth have gone for ‘meerkat’ for ‘ark meet’. Let’s see if that’s right and if it is, how many people said that. It’s right. Oi! Look at that 83!
RxB: Fuck me, that’s high!
SEB: Ooh. Did she win the apprentice?
RxB: Na. She got beat in the final to someone who outsourced telecoms to India.
AA: Very well done. After 3 questions we’ve finally got there. Jamie and Alex, you go through to the final 2 nil.
OZ: Er, yes, it’s the best answer on the board as well, gents. Very well played.
Clicky by the numbers
OZ: Um, the top one is ‘rhinoceros’, would have scored you 26. The middle one, chimpanzee, would have scored you 38. And at the bottom…
AA: Antelope.
OZ: ‘Antelope’ and that would have scored you 19. So, yeah, ‘alligator’, best answer up there.
RxB: I knew it! Now I can play for the Jackpot Round.
SEB: You can anyway.
RxB: Yeah, I know but… it doesn’t matter. Shot?
SEB: Yeah. Go and get a fresh can of Bull from the fridge, this one’s dead.Â
AA: There we are. So, the pair laving us at the end of the Head 2 Head round… and I’m sorry, Solomon and Ruth, it is you. You made it this far. Listen, it been such an experience having you on the show. Er, please come back and do it again.
RUTH: Yeah… never, never.
AA: Thanks very much for playing. Solomon and Ruth!
RUTH: Thank you.
Click for Solomon wave
AA: But for Jamie and Alex it’s time for our Pointless Final.
*******
Yikes! Only the Jackpot Round left, when all will be revealed… Have a Song đ
This is exciting for a Pointless exercise in physics, innit?
The Made in Chelsea Boys are up 1 nil in the Head 2 Head by picking La Cotton for their answer. Neither The Apprentice team (on screen Ruth) nor the home team, Team Bonner (The Invisibles) could beat that answer.
Couldn’t rely on, let’s face it, Apprentice losers to get a Ruth to the final and a chance at the jackpot… I was gonna have to pull my finger out…
Click for Song. H/t A Void on Merovee for posting it
On with the show…
*******
AA: Thanks very much. Okay, well here’s comes your second question. Solomon and Ruth, you get to answer this one first, but you have to win it to stay in the game. The second question concerns…
AA: Eurovision winners. Richard?
OZ: We’re now going to play you, er, a little extract from 5 Eurovision Song Contest winning songs. We need you to tell us the name of the country that released, er, these 5 songs, please.
AA: Okay. So, let’s play our five excerpts. Here is the first excerpt, we have A.
Click to Hear Song A
SEB: That’s Dana. Ireland.
RxB: Yep.
AA: Here’s B.
Click to Hear Song B
(SEB and RxB look at each other and pull ‘I don’t know faces’.)
AA: C.
Click to Hear Song C
RxB: No fucking clue.
SEB: Me either.
AA: Here’s D.
RxB &Â SEB: Sweden.
Click to Hear Song D
AA: And here, er, is E.
Click to Hear Song E
SEB: That’s Lordi. Norway.
RxB: No, Finland. They’re Finnish; everyone makes that mistake.
SEB: Oooo…Â
RxB: Shut up! I’m going E, Finland.
AA: There we go, five excerpts from Eurovision winners. Solomon and Ruth what are you going to go for?
RUTH: Erm, ohh, no…
SOLOMON: Alright, let’s…
RUTH: I know the last one, I can actually hear…
SOLOMON: Shall we flip a coin?
RUTH: No. I can actually hear the last song because it’s a mad video, so I can see it in my head.
SOLOMON: I think you’ve got a gut feeling on this one.
RUTH: Right, I’m gonna punt it. I’m gonna go E and I’m gonna go Norway…
RxB: Noo! It’s fucking Finland *sigh*
AA: E, Norway says Solomon and Ruth. E, Norway. Now, Jamie and Alex talk us through the rest of the board.
JAMIE: Ha hum…
ALEX & JAMIE: Well…
JAMIE: Do you wanna begin?
ALEX: We were trying to sort of pick out languages and I believe B was sung in French.
JAMIE: Ya, so we’re thinking…
ALEX: Um, but other than that it was all English, I think.
JAMIE: Then you, though, you thought E was… He went E, it’s Scandinavian…
ALEX: Scandinavian… Swedish maybe…
JAMIE: I think we’ll do B then, so we’ll go B, French.
AA: You’re gonna say B, France. So we have E – Norway, B – France. Solomon and Ruth said E, Norway. Let’s see if that’s right, let’s see how many of our 100 people said ‘Norway’.
Click for RxB Reaction
AA: Nooo… Er, Jamie and Alex said ‘B, France’, so let’s see if that’s right, let’s see how many people said it. It only has to be right for you to win the point.
Click for RxB Reaction
AA: Noo… both wrong. Er, which means after 2 questions, Jamie and Alex you’re still up 1 nil.
OZ: There’s people at home screaming, please just go for Abba… Go for Abba!
JAMIE: Do you know, we couldn’t remember where Abba were from, we couldn’t remember.
OZ: Er, the first one. Let’s take a, let’s take a tiny listen to A… Is Dana for Ireland and Ireland would have scored you 66. B… It’s not France. It’s Celine Dion singing for Switzerland and it would have been a good answer, actually. It would have scored you 11.
SEB: Oh, Celine Dion. Didn’t know that.
RxB: I’m just waiting to see how many points Finland scored.
OZ: The third one was Conchita Wurst, very famously, er, and, er… Austria, the answer there and Austria would have scored you 27.
RxB: Oh that’s the bearded lady from Austria. That’s a Shining word, you know.
SEB: How’s my beard looking? *sticks out chin*
RxB: *caresses SEB’s face* Very nice, stubbly.
OZ: D, Abba from Sweden… we discover. Sweden would have scored you 81. And E? Everyone’s right, it’s Lordi from Finland and that would have scored you 39.
AA: Lordy indeed.
RxB: Told ya! Finland.Â
SEB: Yep. You won that one *rubs chin* I’ll give you your prize later *winks*
*******
Nail biting, eh? đ
Next up the Head 2 Head continues. Will the next question be the decider or will Ruth and Solomon pull it back to one all. You’ll just have to to tune in next time to find out… unless of course you’ve seen the episode  đ
Before I get into the next round of this Pointless Exercise, just a word about the actor Alan Rickman, who died yesterday.
I can confirm that he did knot feature on Thoughtful Man’s ‘CD of Death‘. However, I did meet him, briefly, in the early 90s when I accidentally stepped on his foot whilst collecting my tickets at the Criterion theatre box-office, for that evening’s performance of ‘Misery‘.
He was very gracious when I turned to apologise; it made my night seeing Hans Gruber and the Sheriff of Nottingham in the flesh.
Anyhoo… let’s get on with the post…
*******
Click for Tete a Tete IntroClick for QueenClick for Knot HardlyClick for Fuck UpClicky for badgeringClicky for knot kneel… Sun?
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I don’t want this post to be too long… Sew, the next Head–toe–Heed question follows shortly. Find out then whether Kobayashi Maroon will need to be deployed by yours truly (Hint. Yes it does). In the meanwhile, have a Song…
Many Apols! for the delay. It’s Thoughtful Man and mine’s 25th wedding anniversary and it’s also Poppy 4th birthday.
Here come Round Two of this Pointless Exercise and it’s ‘Words’ round, sew… let’s start with a word…
ark (n.) Old English earc, mainly meaning Noah’s but also the Ark of the Covenant, from Latin arca“large box, chest” (see arcane). Also borrowed in Old High German (arahha, Modern German Arche). From the Noachian sense comes extended meaning “place of refuge” (17c.). As the name of a type of ship or boat, from late 15c. In 19c. U.S., especially a large, flat-bottomed river boat to move produce, livestock, etc. to market.
And a Song… *Hit it, Clicky!*
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AA: And suddenly we’re down to 3 pairs. At the end of this round we’ll be down tattoo pairs, in time for our Head-2-Head round. But, er, I’ve got some-I’ve got some Apols! to chuck out… Ruth, well done to you.
AA: Er, thank you very much. Well, listen, we’re half way through the round so let’s take a look at the scores as they stand. Twenty One, very well done, Solomon. Solomon and Ruth, very much the top of the table there. Er, then up to 79 where we find Carl and Jimmy, then up to 83, where we find Alex and Jamie. So yeah, Jamie, we need a low scoring one from you, hear…
AA: Yeah, there we are… ‘stark’. There’s your red line, it’s quite low. You’ve gotta get blow that red line to stay in the game. Let’s see how many of our 100 peepole said ‘stark’.
AA: It’s been- it’s been lovely having you on… Jimmy and Carl, everyone!
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Goodness, is that the time? Well, it was our wedding anniversary yesterday. Oh dear, I’d best get to bed or else Thoughtful Man might think of chuck me out…
*Cheers for that, Clicky… rolls eyes … Hey! Did you see that Dumey had a visitor yesterday? Was asking after you… is there anything you want to tell me?*
cameo (n.) early 15c., kaadmaheu, camew, chamehieux and many other spellings (from early 13c. in Anglo-Latin), “carved precious stone with two layers of colors,” from Old French camaieu and directly from Medieval Latin cammaeus, which is of unknown origin, perhaps ultimately from Arabic qamaa’il“flower buds,” or Persian chumahan“agate.” Transferred sense of “small character or part that stands out from other minor parts” in a play, etc., is from 1928, from earlier meaning “short literary sketch or portrait” (1851), a transferred sense from cameo silhouettes.
As we’re going down the line now, and I want to get to the end of Round 1, I shall have to speed up. Sew… maybe a slight change of format is required… đ
It’s Thorsday and there are only 11 days left to catch the ‘Pointless Exercise’episode. So if anyone wants to join in, fill your boots… I shall be coming back down the line, shortly…
*note to Clicky – better get your skates on, too, luv *
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AA: False Cog… Thank you Richard. Well, we’re half way through the round. Let’s take a look at those scores… Well done Jamie – 25, the best score of the pass…
AA: Then up to 38 where we find Carl and Jimmy…
AA: 75, where we find Craig and Nikkei…
AA: …And then up to a hundred where we find Solomon and Ruth…
AA: …Sew, yes, Ruth… you’re knot that far out in front…
RUTH: No.
AA: Butt, you gno what we need; a lovely low score.
(AA turns to the scoreboard and the red line starts to descend. Plinky plonky guitar music)
AA: It’s right… look at that you’re through. Well done Alex…
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Well done, Click. Phew… managed to construct that shamble quite nicely before the end of Thorsday… Have a Song đ
No ‘back to work’ ‘for me today, sew … I’ll just continue from 1.8 whilst I figure out what to do with my life. And it’s knot as if Part 1.9 wasn’t already prepped… đ
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*Thank you, Clicky, for help with this ‘Pointless Exercise’, so far… you’ve been very well behaved. Hear, have a Song… đ *
âWe do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvertâ. - J Robert Oppenheimer.
I AM the SynchroMiss planted on Earth, here to share my downloads, intel, and code-cracking, integrating the art of synchronicity as we transition to a higher state of consciousness and awareness.
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