Just remembered seeing this clip earlier this year. Fresher week Quebec students doing do a great Black Eyed Peas.
Fab lyrical references throughout. And all only done on the 2nd take. Brill.
to view my first Londonist article in a few weeks, click on the link below:
http://londonist.com/2009/12/what_is_a_kidnapping_hot_spot_not.php
1. going behind the scenes
2. putting on a slightly different outfit to the norm
3. about to start running the track. this was *not* in the schedule
4. tour guiding has its privileges
5. broadcasting his own iphone video
6. catching the moment for broadcast
Today marks '1000 Days To Go' until the start of the Paralympic Games.
A good moment to write about Paralympic (and indeed Olympic) Icon, Natalie Du Toit:
http://www.london2012.com/blog/2009/12/paralympic-and-olympic-icon-natalie-du-toit-swimmer.php
According to TweetCloud, it looks like I'm often "late", saying "Morning!", drinking "coffee", "blogg[ing]", doing something "olympic", heading "home", appreciating "sunshine", and running around a "park" or two.
Sounds about right.
1. Will Young (Evergreen) [yawn]
2. Gareth Gates (Unchained Melody) [oh good god, please no]
3. Shaggy (Wasn't Me) [well it clearly was]
4. Tony Christie/Peter Kay (Amarillo) [don't remember this, but Peter Kay so must = good]
5. Band Aid 20 [ho hum, fair enough]
6. Hear’Say (Pure & Simple) [*coughs*. love this, and their other good one. just a little bit more. I admit to seeing them perform at GAY 9 years ago]
7. Shayne Ward [who? next!]
8. Kylie (Can't Get You Out Of My Head) [woop woop. HM, queen of the dancefloor.]
9. Bob the Builder (Can We Fix It) [the jive bunny of its time?]
10. Atomic Kitten (Whole Again) [ooh wasn't this when they hit the big time? perfect timing - just after Kerry needed more £ to feed her drug habit and so had left to go to Iceland]
Sarah Palin's new book apparently lacks an index.
Slate produced its own, below. Brilliant - and linking to actual pages in the book.
Am especially fond of these three index entries:
"Meat, deep question about:" "If God had not intended for us to eat animals, how come He made them out of meat?"
"Prayers (answered): boyfriend; job for Todd with BP"
"Prayers (not answered): winning debate with Joe Biden; winning 2008 election"
"Running (exercise): Refusal of campaign to let her engage in; Injury incurred the one time she is allowed to engage in"
http://www.slate.com/id/2235917/
Well, here we go. This is going to be the last time I leave something to the Gods.
Last year I won a 2009 ballotplace for the final Flora London Marathon (roughly a 1 in 10 chance). It's been my ambition for years to do a sub-4-hour marathon, and I can't articulate just how personally devastating it was to miss out with a 4 hour 6 minute effort.
It had been a terrible race. I had gone too fast for the first half (way ahead of target, feeling great) and so scuppered my whole race at Mile 17. From then on I had to walk and jog (painfully limping) and watch the target time drift away. I have 2 particularly intense memories of the race:
1) Of having another chap face the same problems from Mile 17. We overtook each other repeatedly for the rest of the race - and as I passed the final bend at Buckingham Palace, I saw he'd collapsed and was being looking after by Paramedics who were about to take him off the course. Couldn't help but think how lucky I was not to be him.
2) Of crossing the line, getting through the melee and finding a metal bollard to collapse against and sob to myself before I could get myself together to go and meet everyone who'd come out to see Greg and I race.
The next day, on a calculated whim, I put my application in for the first Virgin London Marathon. I knew that I had little chance of winning an entry 2 years in a row, and on the basis that 4 entries in a row leads to a guaranteed entry the following year, I thought it was worth investing in case I decide to go for it in future. By my calculations, the odds of success for 2010 were 1x10 x 1x10 = 1 in 100). I would let the Gods decide for sure, but I wasn't going to get in. Lo and behold, I was given an entry.
So now I'm looking at a new project, Marathon 4.0. This will be my 4th Marathon, and in my mind it's my last chance of completing it within 4 hours. I'm now working on my training, and although my speed isn't amazing at the moment I'm well aware that this time it's *distance* I need to nobble to avoid Mile 17 nastiness.
2 weeks ago I ran my first long-run, at 22km. Yesterday I managed a whopping 34km, which means I'm beginning to be able to run longer distances, although I need to make sure I don't do too much as my body's not accustomed and I'm likely to injure myself (which would be less than pleasing).
So, I apologise in advance for a few things:
1) Leading a slightly duller life until 25 April 2010
2) Not being able to meet people for dinner/drinks/clubbing/etc due to the fact I'll be running or - especially after Christmas - in need of sticking to a healthy lifestyle.
3) Blogging on 26 April 2010 - whatever happens.
4) Not letting the Gods decide on anything, again. Cads, all of them.
Have wanted to do this for years, but last week I finally got myself and Greg up Parliament's Clock Tower to see Big Ben (the Bell). We walked up 334 steps in stages before:
1) Stepping behind the four 24-ft-diameter clock-faces felt weirdly safe as it was an enclosed space - despite being a foot and a layer of glass away from a 300-ft fall. Tried to imagine the WW2 bomb exploding all the glass out from the Southern face.
2) Seeing the steps up the wall to different lighting points which illuminate each clock-face at night. Electric lights were installed in 1906, but before then a gas-man, each dusk, stepped up and around the wall in (25 or so, I think) places to light each gas-lamp.
3) Standing by Big Ben itself as it chimed 3pm (together with its smaller chiming counterparts). Ear-plugs, obviously, mandated. My naughtily-audio-booed ear-splitting recording of a Bong is up at: http://audioboo.fm/boos/75117-big-ben-bell-close-up (but don't tell the tour guide please).
4) Watching the clock-mechanism work, and how it's connected to huge weights going up and down the tower to power the bell chiming. (The weights need to be winched up the tower most days to have enough energy to do the chimes). Was good to see how (old) pennies are added to the pendulum to shift the centre of gravity slightly, altering the pace of the clock to keep it accurate to within a second each day.
My surreptitiously-taken photographs are up at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=168204&id=607106116&l=56f4915ea2
Time's running out!
In 1,000 days' time the first Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Games will begin. The point is marked tonight after 8.30pm on BBC1 (the Lottery Show) and with fireworks across the London sky-line. I'll be at Primrose Hill. Come!
It's a good moment to step back and have a think about things. I've worked at the Organising Committee for about 640 days, so I'm over 1/3 of the way there already. I have always - always - been a big advocate for the bringing the Olympic and Paralympic Games here. I remember the initial discussions and how difficult it was at points in the early stages of the bid to persuade the more curmudgeonly officials and politico's. I remember the decision day, and being poised at a computer with 3 draft statements ready to go out at the push of a button - London win; Paris win; Madrid/Moscow/New York win.
It seems a different world. Now I get to contribute inside the body that will actually stage the event in 1,000 days.
My job is great, and I take great pride and satisfaction when the hard work and creative approach comes off - in Parliament, in the devolved assemblies, with individual MPs, Peers, Ministers, Civil Servants etc. But I get a huge kick from seeing fantastic work of others around me, who are the best and sparkiest in their respective fields - and brought together under one roof by the attraction of working on 2012. In the course of things I've learned loads on the technical/operational side but also absorbed so much across sport, culture, new media, press and areas that I had hardly been exposed to before January 2008 when I signed my name in black felt pen on the over-sized LOCOG Vision and Values now up on the wall at work.
There are so many highlights, though, and generally the unexpected things. Here's a Top 10:
* being personally inspired by being around a fair few Olympic/Paralympic athletes that have achieved amazing things (and realising how funny and enjoyable people they are whether they're young up-and-coming current champions, or legends - Seb, Jonathan Edwards, Giles Long, Christine Ohuruogu (the giggliest by far), Jason Gardener, Leon Taylor...) It's no coincidence that after I meet one, I end up gymming/running/squashing a lot in the few days afterwards.
* helping manage an area at the London 2012 Handover Party on the Mall in front of Buck House, and watching the Mayor of London take the flag before Mrs Boris texted how proud she felt (I'd helped her and her family get to their vantage point)
* being sung happy birthday by my Olympian boss underneath the London Assembly. a bizarre moment. (Note to self - never invite him to karaoke.)
* twittering for work and timing the VIP time-trial (from the front carriage) of the Javelin train from St Pancras to Stratford International
* being force-fed Welsh Cakes by the Welsh First Minister who thought everyone else in the meeting was too old and would have a heart attack if they had them (they were indeed lovely)
* taking a model of the Olympic Park into the G20 summit and talking to the negotiators and journo's about their next trip to the UK and what it would be like
* physically following in the footsteps of diver Matthew Mitcham on to the Beijing 2008 Diving Board in the Water Cube (but not jumping off). actually, working in the London 2012 press office at the Beijing Paralympic Games was an amazing opportunity for me, so I soaked up every last minute of it - the atmosphere, how the place worked, the venues, the feel of the field of play.
* having to tell the Prime Minister he'd made a mistake and gone the wrong way on a visit (cue raised eyebrows and an ''ooh" - but him putting his hand on my back to reassure me my career hadn't just imploded after all)
* learning my way around the Olympic Park in Stratford so I can now tour-guide my own minibus. (my tourism past comes back to haunt me)
* watching the 2016 host city selection with colleagues to see Rio triumph (I predicted the winner correctly, if not the full order)
* standing on the 100m line - or up in the rafters of the Olympic Stadium - and imagining exactly what it's going to be like, and how lucky I really am (see pic I took yesterday, above)
What will the next 1,000 days bring? After the fireworks have dimmed tonight, I know of one highlight that'll take place next week, so god knows what'll happen next...
New post on Londonist: http://londonist.com/2009/10/calling_all_greenwich_park_users.php
In West Wing there's a point where a character says that the greatest speech can blow the doors off a hall.
This was yesterday. I think President Obama did it, in a speech to the Human Rights Campaign, the main gay civil rights group in the US.
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The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.I'm 35 in 2 weeks. The old bible isn't often quoted on this blog (mainly because it's fictional and normally cited by wingnuts) but it does help remind that not so long ago, hitting 35 would have heralded life's half-way point. Which technically makes me middle-aged. And if Wednesday is 'hump day' then does that make 35 'hump year'?
Brilliant.
But is it just me or is this inspired in part by the amazing British Airways ad in the late 80s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxs106rp5RQ
