Stupid Questions I've Asked on Yahoo! Answers Down the Years and Their Answers Part 3

Part 2 is here...

Me: "I'm a huge fan of legendary British comedy due Little and Large, and as such was wondering if a DVD was available (couldn't find one on Amazon). I like their early stuff of course, but I actually found their ground-breaking later work, including the seminal 'Tina Turner' series of sketches, to be the more radical, perhaps a little (no pun intended) way out there for most people's taste.
Influencing a whole new generation of comedy, and given that I think TV audiences weren't sophisticated enough back in the late '70s to be ready for such geniuses, their legacy is surely great enough to warrant a box set."


The Yahoo! Community:

• "I agree. I do not think they are available on DVD just yet though...slowly but surely the production companies are starting go go farther & farther back in to the vaults of all the old great shows...eventually a set will be released, it's just a matter of when."

This was actually chosen as best answer despite missing the spirit of the question somewhat.

• "I disliked them intensely. We had many wonderful comedians in the UK, but I never liked Little and Large."

Yes, me too, hence the saki question.

• "Oh!!! Dear Lord

Is this a joke?"
Yes.

• "Yes, I loved them too, they were even better than Hale and Pace. Whatever happened to Jim Davidson, his Chalky White always had me crying with laughter". 

Finally someone gets it.

• "God preserve us all should they ever waste some bits of metallised plastic on producing DVDs of that rubbish! You've GOT to be taking the micky, haven't you !!! I mean - Legendary????? --- Comedy????? Let us know what you're on and we'll all have some !!!"

Yes, I am taking the mickey.

• "You seem to have captured the populist zeitgeist where this 'due', or duo, as I think they should be referred to are concerned. Yes, their mastery of timing and comedic wit was indeed exemplary and as for their savage, scathing parodies of 70's icons, well, there was no comparison.They will surely go down in comedy history as the funniest duo comprising of an alcoholic, bubble permed midget and a tall, thin bloke with glasses that ever appeared on tea-time television....genius. "

Hooray! My fave answer despite getting a 0% rating.

Just in case you're wondering what the hell I'm referring to or have forgotten just how shit they were, here they are in one of the massive two clips of them I could find on youtube. 

Why Is It So Difficult For Us To Exercise?

Note to self - we're pretty long on posts which have a question in their header. But then again, what does it matter, noone's reading! Well, if you are - that's another minute of your life gone for ever, for no gain whatsoever! Sucka!

Anyway, back to today's rhetorical question. It takes me a huge mental run up just to do my routine circuit train, which I don't even have to go anywhere to do, so I'm sure it's the same for others. The people who run gyms have got it right - make money about people's initial enthusiasm in joining for the next decade or so, only to fade away once January turns into February.

Any excuse will do for me. It's too cold (in Tallinn that can be a legitimate alibi, though the cold period seems to linger later and later every year - we're in April now!), it's too hot, I've just eaten, I'm too hungry, etc etc. Trying to think how such lackadaisical attitudes would work in other areas of life: "sorry I didn't finish the assignment, I hadn't had any lunch" and yet the promises we make to ourselves are surely the most important ones, aren't they?

Of course, exercise is tough. Even the crapout Royal Marines-derived circuits I do, whilst hardly being an ironman triathlon, do get you up to your VO2 max if you do a tough one, and can leave one feeling somewhat light headed for some time after. But the rewards are practically infinite; exercise needn't cost much, leaves you feeling great, and if not looking great at least a little less repulsive, and everything else slots into place. Too stressed and busy to have time to exercise? (yet another question - ed) Do it anyway and the time you need for the other stuff will look after itself.

So I'm going to put into practice what I've been preaching to an empty nave and exercise every day for the rest of this week. Will report back on the outcome..

One Man's Terrorist is Another's Freedom Fighter

...apparently. I remember having this conversation about the IRA anyway, which is a conversation which has no end, but to my mind the question is could the status applied to them differ depending upon whether they achieved their end or not? Since the IRA haven't achieved their main aim to date they are, or were, deemed one or other of these depending on who you're speaking to. Same with the Von Stauffenberg plot to kill Hitler. Had it succeeded I wonder what we'd be calling Von Stauffenberg today.

Seth had a good approach to this two sides to the same coin here; a 'self help' book which doesn't help you is still a self help book. One which does is something far more than that, something we pass on to others, something which passes the re-read test, a friend for life, or whatever. I have these feelings about 'Man's Search for Meaning' by Viktor Frankl. SImilarly a salesperson who doesn't manage to sell us anything is just that, whereas if they do (usually something we were out looking to buy anyway) then they're enormously helpful.

So on that basis this is either yet another blog or...well, I think here the theory has reached the limits of its pamarameters..

Don't Change Your Scottish Notes Here

On looking at silver coins in the Tavid kiosk in Kristiina Keskus I was a bit surprised to see that, for some reason, a 'Scottish' pound is set at a lower price than an 'English' one, whether buying or selling, to the tune of about a Kroon or so, given that they are actually the same currency.

Now, not being an expert in monetary matters I'm sure there's a legitimate reason, and I can well remember the confusion that Scottish notes that I was given as a kid when visiting relatives (especially if they were issued by the Clydesdale Bank) would bring when trying to persuade hog ignorant anglo saxons that they were legal tender. But at the same time I'd have thought there ought to be some solidarity between one small, formerly oppressed nation and another. Or are Estonian issued Euros going to exchange at a lower rate than Finnish ones from next year?

The Recession is Apparently Over

Not a feeble April fool's gag, the PMC is above such puerility of course (!) but according to a Moody's report this is the case. They were the people who (I think, or was it Standard and Poor's?) downgraded Freddie Mac in the US from the highest rating to the lowest in one fell swoop.
According to the report Estonia's outlook has been raised from negative to stable due to impressive Governmental fiscal performance (1.7 per cent budget deficit), a stabilizing of overdue bank loans and the likelihood of joining the Euro in early 2011. Furthermore there's likely to be gradual recovery from here on in, tempered by the high degree of debt leverage in the private sector.
All well and good, but more important than that what does that mean for the PMC? Does that mean people failing to pay us on time (delayed and incomplete returning of rental deposits, tenants being in arrears month after month, failure to pay for orders made, just failure to pay really) is going to be a thing of the past? Well, maybe, but the point is, we think this recession was primarily in people's minds anyway. The PMC's editor was in Riga this time last year and, though the economy was a mess, doesn't recall anything terrible happening, no bread queues or people starving in the streets, just a fairly insipid riot.
These things are really just numbers on a page which cause some 'experts' to go on TV and trumpet their little learning and knowledge like, well, a tuba and everyone follows suit causing a mass hysteria which is completely unnecessary, unhelpful, and leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Yes, there has been a high degree of unsettling things like defaulting on loans and job losses, but we can't help thinking that a lot of it needn't have been so and was a part of this knock on effect to follow on from the giddiness of the 'boom' years.
Let's hope that once the dust settles some pointed lessons will have been learnt and Estonia can continue to progress and get stronger.
Oh, April fool's by the way.

It Only Takes Some Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Months, Years Or Other Unit of Time to Make an Impression

Canfield, Proctor, Nightingale, Zagler, Hill, Robbins, Tracy, Aaron... step aside please..there's a new success guru in town! Walt Gleeson is a highly successful, internationally renowned author of motivational books and CDs and other products. With a career spanning over half a decade, he has enthralled readers all over the world, from Alaska to Florida and from Hawaii to Rhode Island, with such titles as You Can Do It!, You Can Do It! Too, Literally Make Your House Work For You and Become a Billionaire Whilst On The Toilet, Walt is the Puumaja Crew's personal realization and fulfilment coach, whatever that is.

I was talking to a woman once..but she made her excuses and left, ha ha. Anyway this incident reminded me of the short space of time we have in which we have to make our pitch; do you know, it takes in the region of two seconds for someone to form an opinion about us, so those first two seconds are absolutelöy crucial. I can't count the number of times I've ballsed up an opportunity by sneezing at an inopportune moment.

If you watch the movie 'a lie' (which incidentally I didn't contribute to, purely because I was, I think, in the shower when the phone call probably came through offering me the gig) you'll remember just how critical a soft focus shot and funny moving background is in making that ciritical first impression, something that some of the world's most notorious people - Sadam Hussein, Price Edward and that guy that ended up on various outtakes programs for going on TV and trying to juggle without having practised properly and cocking it up - will never grasp.

This is equally true of a blog post; if you've made it this far you evidently don't have a whole lot to do at the moment but you can console yourself with the fact that you're probably unique in having made it to the end of this, so you can at least take that away with you.

So have a killer day!

Walt

Why I Don't Like Facebook Part Two

I've already posted about Facebook but that was way back in November, so this is just an update to say that nothing in fact needs to be updated.

I still dislike it, despite having a profile. I don't care if someone regretted eating that whole bag of revels, wishes the snow would melt or is returning from somewhere (and 'friends' who are supposedly employed in full time jobs are often the worst offenders). It's just a devourer of time. Maybe it's just me - maybe I'm too antisocial (I don't have time for twitter or even instant messaging, barring one person of course, either) but I think you'd have a hard  time trying to disprove the time wasting aspect.

Seth Godin will back me up on this - think you know better than he does? In fact he's not having a go at Facebook or social websites per se, just their abuse. He recognises the technology does have its uses, well, more than that, it's a central plank of his approach and seemingly noone below the age of about 90 can really afford to ignore it. I suppose once something's available to the masses it runs the risk of getting compromised and degraded - look how people drive cars compared with (I presume) the requisite etiquette or mandatory detailed knowledge of how a car actually works that was the case in the early days of motoring, yet they have made our lives incomparably easier (again, I presume).

So, maybe I'm wrong. But I still don't like Facebook. And I don't even want to hazard what the next social networking site round the corner is....

Business How Usually

The PMC is back open following almost a week in London, and it's good to be back in the cold.

Spotted a certain media star on the same flight (so even they have to fly sleazyjet!) which amused us; they look a lot better on the TV...

Forthcoming contributions to look backward to including offerings from Walt Gleeson, the Rabbi and a short awaited new installment of Charlie Moraine's 'book', so watch this space.