The Daily Teaser - 24-2-2012

You know, it‘s not that often I mention the weather, it really isn’t.

But I’ve got to admit, I’ve woken up, this morning, to find that myself briefly looking out of the winow, and reciting the old nursery rhyme about the weather.

You know, ‘Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight, red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning’ … ?

It basically means the day’s going to be awful, weatherwise.

Saying that … ?

It also looks bright, right now: welcome to Essex … !

Lets get moving on, shall we … ?

Before I have a Michæl Fish moment …

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Yesterday’s Teaser saw Debbi — all on her ownsome — putting in her answers: and, along with announcing an old fashioned promo giveaway — blimey, Debbi, you don’t see Triumphs* that age often! — also mentioning army cateringª, AND bagging 5 out of 6.

Let’s see how she — and you — do with today’s questions, shall we? Here they are, along with the ‘How To’, License and video …

Q1) 24th February, 1955, saw the birth of Steve Jobs: what did he and Steve Wozniak sell, before selling computers, through Apple?

Q2) 24th February, 1582, saw Pope Gregory 13th announce what: Gregorian chant, the Gregorian calendar, or the first cheque-book … ?

Q3) 24th February, 2008, saw which Caribbean leader retire … ?

Q4) More to the point, as leader of where … ?

Q5) 24th February, 1971, saw the UK restrict immigration to the UK from where … ?

Q6) And finally … 24th February, 2011, saw the last launch of which of the Space Shuttles … ?

And here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 23rd February, 1966, saw Salah Jadid lead a military coup: in which country … ?

A1) Syria.

Q2) 23rd February saw the US flag raised over the island of Iwo Jima: in which year … ?

A2) 1945.

Q3) More to the point, in which war … ?

A3) World War 2.

Q4) 23rd February, 1963, saw farmer Peter Hicks waiting to see if he’d be charged with assault, after electrifying his what … ?

A4) Car. (A Land rover, to be exact.)

Q5) 23rd February, 1455, saw the printing of the Gutenberg Bible, the first book printed with movable type: which language is it in … ?

A5) Latin: as it’s an edition of the Bible used by the Roman Catholic church.

Q6) And finally … 23rd February, 1836, saw the start of the Battle of the Alamo: in which US state is the Alamo … ?

A6) Texas: San Antonio, to be precise …

Enjoy those, everyone: I’ll leave you with the Delaware Slide …

* The very few of them you see around Brentwood — along with one or two vintage Morgans, and an AC Cobra I’ve seen — actually sound like cars: most modern cars sound like washing machines: these things, though … ? Just go vrooooooooom, in a very satisfying way.

ª Yeah, but hang on, Debbi: an army marches on it’s stomach. Which is odd, because I always thought legs were involved … … … … …

The Daily Teaser - 23-2-2012

OK, scary family photos, part 2.

And I’ve GOT to admit, I’m pretty convinced that’s me.

At least, going by the eyebrows, that’s me!

(Not in the dress, before anyone says anything: that’s my mother.)

But at any rate … ?

At ANY rate, this really is getting rather … um …

Yes, ‘um’ seems to be the best word to use, at the moment.

Trust me, it’s definitely scary seeing some of my old shirts.

You never know your luck.

I might just post one here.

That’s if you’re REALLY lucky …

Let’s get moving on, shall we … ?

Yes, let’s …

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Yesterday’s Teaser saw Debbi — feeling contentious, and asserting that wars are a Bad Thing* — putting her answers: and bagging 6 out of 6º.

Let’s see how she — and you — do with today’s questions, shall we? Here they are, along with the ‘How To’, License and video …

Q1) 23rd February, 1966, saw Salah Jadid lead a military coup: in which country … ?

Q2) 23rd February saw the US flag raised over the island of Iwo Jima: in which year … ?

Q3) More to the point, in which war … ?

Q4) 23rd February, 1963, saw farmer Peter Hicks waiting to see if he’d be charged with assault, after electrifying his what … ?

Q5) 23rd February, 1455, saw the printing of the Gutenberg Bible, the first book printed with movable type: which language is it in … ?

Q6) And finally … 23rd February, 1836, saw the start of the Battle of the Alamo: in which US state is the Alamo … ?

And here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 22nd February, 1983, saw the opening — and closing — of Moose Murders, Broadway’s worst play: in which theatre … ?

A1) Eugene O'Neill Theatre.

Q2) More to the point, who wrote Moose Murders?

A2) Arthur Bicknell.

Q3) 22nd February, 1959, saw Lee Petty win the debut what … ?

A3) Daytona 500.

Q4) 22nd February, 1879, saw Frank Woolworth open the first of his Woolworths store: these were what’s called a what store … ?

A4) 5 and Dime.

Q5) 22nd February, 2006, saw six men stage Britain’s biggest robbery: in which Kentish town … ?

A5) Tonbridge.

Q6) And finally … 22nd February saw the death of actor Nicholas Courtney: which character did he famously play in Dr Who … ?

A6) Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, generally referred to simply as the Brigadier.

Enjoy those, everyone: I’ll leave you with Ghosts, by Japan: as it’s David Sylvian’s birthday, today …

* Don’t think that worked, Debbi: how about ‘Wars are Bad … If no-one is tap-dancing’ … ? No … ?

º I should add Debbi has just confirmed her Über-geek status, by getting the Brigadier’s full nameª.

ª This is possibly going to sound sad … But I still get the urge to salute, whenever I see photos of Nicholas Courtney …

Die Hard With a Vengeance/Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: Two For One Posting

You, by now, you’ve figured I like watching the odd movie or two, haven’t you?

Possibly along with that, you’ve possibly also worked out that I manage to get through a lot of DVD’s from the library, AND manage to borrow a few from friends.

And that, boy, I’m looking forward to Brentwood’s cinema finally being completed.

That’s assuming it gets started, of course …

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At any, you’ve worked out I like a film or two.

Which is funny, now I see it written down like that.

Because watching two movies is something I’ve managed to do, since … well …

Yesterday, in point of fact.

In fact the film I caught tonight … ?

Was the DVD version of something I’ve already seen at the cinema, late last year: the Gary Oldman, 2011 version of Le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

I’ll try and avoid repeating myself, here. But WILL say that having seen it again … ?

Have definitely started to appreciate it, some more …

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

★★★☆

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Next up … ?

Is the film I managed to catch with Kevin D, on Tuesday afternoon.

And you’ve possibly worked out that was Die Hard With A Vengeance*, just by looking at the poster … !

Whatever one chooses to call it, Die Hard With A Vengeance sees Bruce Willis reprising his role as Lieutenant John McClane: McClane is dropped into Harlem, wearing only a sign that says I Hate N*ggers, after a bomb destroys a department store and the terrorist who set it demands McClane be humiliated.

The net result … ?

Is that, as the terrorist — revealed as Simon Grüberº, brother of the antagonist, Hans Grüber, in the original Die Hard — starts to play a gruesome psychological game with McClane, and Zeus Carver — Samuel L Jackson‡ — an innocent bystander and store caught up in the violence, after trying to get McClane — and his incriminating sandwich board — out of Harlem.

With colourful results …

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Now … I’ve got to admit, I’m not usually one for sequels and franchises …

But the Die Hard series — with the possible exception of Die Hard 2 — are always worth checking out, number three no less than the rest.

Personally … ?

I’ll leave you with stars …

Die Hard With A Vengeance

Paul: ★★★☆

Kevin: ★★★☆

Average: ★★★☆

* Now I know Kevin and I will have our disagreements, here: but I WISH the company that made it called it Die Hard 3: Die Hardest. A little continuity would’ve been appreciated: by me, if no-one else … !

º And played by Jeremy Ironsª.

ª I’ve a theory he and Alan Rickman were grown in the same cloning facility in Virginia that gave us the incredibly similar looking Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino. And the weird genetic experiment that turned into Keanu Reeves, and his clone sister, kd lang …

‡ The most inherently cool man in Hollywood.

vlc: Now At Version TWO ... !

Oooh …

He says, in a vaguely excited tone of voice.

I've got to confess, I could certainly get used to walking up Warley Hill.

Which isn't why I'm posting from Brentwood Library.

(No, tell a lie: I needed a change of scenery, and the exercise, but that's beside the point.)

No, I actually meant to let people know that everybodies favourite open-source media player, vlc, has now been officially updated to version two.

Avaiable in Mac OSX, Windoze and Ubuntu flavours, you can ALSO get copies for the iPhone: and the developers are now working on an unreleased version for Android phones.

Go get, folks: and feel free to donate, if you can.

Projects like vlc need our cash to keep going.

The Daily Teaser - 22-2-2012

I’ll be frank …

That’s a really old photo, isn’t it … ?

I’ve been happily scanning in a bunch of old — decades old — family photos, just recently: in point of fact, I’ve a few more to do, in this batch.

And it’s fascinating stuff to see.

Fascinating …

And sort of scary, too.

After all, it’s a touch frightening to see quite how thin I was, back in the day!

AHEM … !

Let’s get moving on, shall we … ?

Before I dig some of the really embarrassing* shirts I had … !

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Yesterday’s Teaser saw Debbi — all on her ownsome, and definitely leaving comments about itª — putting in her answers: AND bagging 7 out of 7.

Let’s see how she — and you — do with today’s questions, shall we? Here they are, along with the ‘How To’, License and video …

Q1) 22nd February, 1983, saw the opening — and closing — of Moose Murders, Broadway’s worst play: in which theatre … ?

Q2) More to the point, who wrote Moose Murders?

Q3) 22nd February, 1959, saw Lee Petty win the debut what … ?

Q4) 22nd February, 1879, saw Frank Woolworth open the first of his Woolworths store: these were what’s called a what store … ?

Q5) 22nd February, 2006, saw six men stage Britain’s biggest robbery: in which Kentish town … ?

Q6) And finally … 22nd February saw the death of actor Nicholas Courtney: which character did he famously play in Dr Who … ?

And here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 21st February is International Mother Language Day: how many official languages does the United Nations have … ?

A1) Six.

Q2) More to the point, name one of them.

A2) Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

Q3) Even MORE to the point: name any of those languages that don’t usually use the Latin alphabet.

A3) Arabic, Chinese and Russian.

Q4) 21st February, 1965, saw the death of activist, Malcolm Little: how was he better known … ?

A4) Malcolm X: and as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, later in life.

Q5) 21st February, 1612, saw Mikhail 1st named as Tsar: which dynasty did he found as a result … ?

A5) The Romanov.

Q6) 21st February, 1878, saw New Haven, Connecticut, issue the world’s first what … ?

A6) Telephone directory.

Q7) And finally … 21st February, 1848, saw the original publication of The Communist Manifesto: name either of the authors.

A7) Karl Marx, or Friedrich Engelsº.

Enjoy those, everyone: I’ll leave you with a few words of wisdom from Neil the Hippie …

* Bright pink paisley, before you ask …

ª Debbi, what can I tell you … ? You just don’t get the comments … ! (I’ll be keeping me fingers crossed: we’ll have to see who’s paying attention … )

º I’m not sure how true it is, but I’m sure I read — somewhere — that Marx hated Engels’ misstress: and felt she was common. I mean … Common … ?