These aren't the droids you're looking for

For the most dedicated of Star Wars pedants... er, fans... everywhere, here's a wiki solely devoted to all things Star Wars. How can there be 46,000 articles on Star Wars out there? This website could probably settle half the arguments at comics conventions.

Wookieepedia

[Courtesy of Fleur]

Living dangerously

'Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, on Larry King Live recently, was waxing lyrical about his experiences overseas as a youthful Mormon missionary. "I went to a different country and saw how different life could be if we didn't have the values and the kinds of opportunities that exist in America," he trilled. And where was this foreign hellhole? Er, Paris, France'

- Guardian, 28 March 2007

[Minor milestone ahoy - this is the 500th post to the Very Friday Blog...]

Heroic Secret Service Agent Takes Question Intended For Bush

'WASHINGTON, DC—White House Secret Service Agent Anthony Panucci is being called a hero after intercepting what could have been a critically damaging question aimed directly at President Bush during a press conference in the Rose Garden Tuesday. 

According to eyewitnesses, the press conference began with Bush fielding routine questions about March Madness and the dedication of a World War II memorial near his home in Crawford, TX. However, approximately seven minutes into the event, a lone reporter somehow managed to maneuver to the front of the press corps group and fire off a loaded, highly charged question concerning Bush's role in the controversial dismissal of eight federal attorneys last year.

"I just followed my training and did what I was supposed to do—put myself between the president and irreparable harm," said Panucci, who is credited with safely deflecting the attack away from Bush, as well as acting before the reporter had a chance to get off a follow-up question at close range. "And let's not forget my colleagues who rushed the president from the scene."

 

The reporter who aimed the pointed question has been positively identified as Walter Pincus of The Washington Post. He was pronounced dead at the scene after being shot more than 140 times by Secret Service agents, FBI sharpshooters, and D.C. police'

 

- The Onion, 28 March 2007

Life in Stanley

An interesting photo-essay of life in Stanley in the Falkland Islands, as the 25th anniversary of the war between Britain and Argentina approaches.  It looks quite like the Chatham Islands... or at least how I imagine the Chatham Islands looks.

 

- Life in Stanley, BBC News

 

The red tape is now black for your convenience

'This is a personal question, but when you visit a public convenience do you notice who made the ceramic furniture? Does your heart lift when you see "Armitage Shanks" on the cistern? Can you think about anything else for the rest of the day?

Bureaucrats at the cricket World Cup are worried that spectators will leave with only urinals on their mind, which hardly says much for their faith in the quality of the cricket. At grounds across the Caribbean, strips of black tape have appeared across the makers' names on toilets, soap dispensers and hand dryers. Tape has also been put across fax machines, telephones and televisions. There has been so much black tape that one journalist wondered whether it was an odd way of marking the death of Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach.

But no. The International Cricket Council (ICC), the body that runs the game, fears that sponsors (or "official partners") will lose out with so many other brands about to grab the attention. There may not be an "official lavatory bowl partner", but if a product has a name on it, it must be covered over. It is a ludicrous example of the way accountants and lawyers control the game. Never mind match-fixing, cricket has a bigger problem with legal money'

 

- Patrick Kidd, 'Everything's banned at the accountancy World Cup', The Times, 29 March 2007

 

[Did you like the 'convenience' reference in the title?  A joke is always at its best if you have to point it out, I find]

Matt Lucas's plans for world domination

Metro: 'You were named the ninth most influential gay in a poll last year.  How will you use your power?

 

Matt Lucas: 'If I become the number one most influential gay in the world, I'll make it my mission to turn the world gay - I will use my power for evil.  I will make everybody have an Erasure ringtone.  I don't want to aim too high - I want something achievable.  Everyone will have Love To Hate You as their ringtone'

 

- Little Britain's Matt Lucas, interviewed by Metro.co.uk, 26 March 2007 

A truth universally acknowledged

Is the pitch for this new TV programme so irredeemably bad that it actually might be worth watching?

'In Lost in Austen, Amanda, a chardonnay-swigging West London girl, discovers a bonnet-wearing woman in her bathroom who introduces herself as Elizabeth Bennet. Through a series of accidents, Amanda is transported into Regency England, where she arrives at Netherfield Hall and melts in front of Mr Darcy's brooding glare. Miss Bennet, meanwhile, breathes life into the modern girl's useless boyfriend and learns to negotiate the Hammersmith flyover'

- 'Pride and Prejudice is put through time warp', The Times, 23 March 2007

Square Pegs

Anyone else remember seeing Square Pegs back in the day? The new wave highschool comedy from 1982, in which Sarah Jessica Parker got one of her earliest lead roles on TV. The price to pay: she had to wear the biggest glasses in the civilised world.

'All we need to do is click with the right clique and we can finally have a social life that's worthy of us' 'No way - not even with cleavage!' 'I tell you, this year we're going to be popular' '...Yeah?' 'Yeah. Even if it kills us'

(Yeah, I think I must've misheard that bit about cleavage into something far more innocent when I was ten). Good snarly theme tune by The Waitresses too. Pity about poor Johnny Slash (RIP, totally...)

- Youtube: Square Pegs opening credits

A cavalcade of drunkenness

In the wake of England cricket vice-captain Andrew Flintoff's demotion after having to be rescued after a bender ended in him having to be rescued from a capsized beach pedalo at 4am, the Guardian takes a quick look at alcoholic excess through the history of sport. Well, football.

- 'Good advice for drunken sportsmen', Guardian, 20 March 2007

They call him 'Macca'

NZ cricketer Craig McMillan takes a break from his tiring World Cup campaign to plug away at his laptop to bring us the inside word from the NZ camp, not to mention a few recipes here and there. Interesting to have a look at this before they reveal who's actually behind it. Even if it's meant to be a viral advert, it's decent so far. There must be an innate humour in McMillan somewhere!

- (Not) Craig McMillan's World Cup blog

[Courtesy of FSC]