cheekbones3

Happy 12:12:12, 12/12/12! Exciting time. Shame I'm late.

Why did nobody tell me that Polaris is a cepheid variable star? I've often vaguely wondered why it seemed more obvious some days, but I never actually considered that such a well-known star would be a variable and for me to not know about it.

Then again, now I've read that, the variability is probably below a level I can perceive, so I'm making myself look silly. Stranger things have happened!

I used to be much more closely interested in the music charts, but that's faded over the years as I've become less interested in the music therein, a process which started in my mid-teens, as is probably quite natural.

I was therefore surprised today to spot that there's a surge in sales for horror-themed songs - into the top 75 this week went Thriller, Ghostbusters and The Monster Mash. Nicky Minaj was already there.

Judging by the amount of weeks given on the chart for Ghostbusters (14), I'm guessing that this has been happening to some extent since downloads became eligible, and that Ghostbusters's original 40 or so weeks on the chart were under a different catalogue number or some such.

In fact, I've checked, and after originally charting for 32 weeks in 1984 and 1985, it's charted again in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012 for a week at a time. The Official Chart page probably counts weeks in the top 100 for no apparent reason.

So that's chart entries for Christmas, Hallowe'en, deaths, occasional sport events, and anything else?

Apparently, Oscar Pistorius has an Achilles heel, and Sarah Storey won hands down today.

I think Rangers should be put into division 2. Just cos it's the one thing that no bugger's suggested yet.

While buying a pint yesterday, I was intrigued as to why the chap next to me was fiddling with his crotch and exhorting the bar staff to give him a stanley knife. On closer inspection, he was struggling to remove a zip-tie from his glans. I didn't ask.

So, Robin Gibb's died. It's one of the Bee Gees' most popular songs, but I've not heard anyone playing 'Staying Alive' this morning. How odd.

In other news, Super League Monday nights begin today. I might have to mosey on to the boozer! Although given that we ripped up the bedroom carpet last night (not as a side-effect of anything else!), I should really put the flat back together.



EDIT (not actually), erm ADDENDUM: They just played Staying Alive on 5 Live. That's okay then :)

Caramba, the new Garbage single sounds great!

With the Olympics coming up, and being a sports fan in general, and with the athletes of my country more likely to bring me to tears than almost anything else (such a boy, I know), it's been on my mind that I didn't actually understand what it is that means I'm so excited by a British (or English, Scottish etc, but that's another debate) sports(wo)man or team achieving success.

Part of it is certainly the simple joy of watching people who are amazingly good at what they do, and also the joy of them being beaten by superlative displays of underdogs.

The bigger thing I think I've worked out today though is that it's not the country that matters, I couldn't give a monkey's in many ways what country people represent, the key is the affinity I feel to my people, it's my social group, these people who grew up with similar experiences to me, making the most of the opportunities that were available to most of us. In a nutshell, it's some sort of monkey thing!

I realised that this morning watching the London Marathon, in which I'm not generally interested, but seeing the sister of a colleague at the front (almost) just added so much!

This is a simplification of course, but I think it covers the main points. How do you lot feel about it?