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Wed 10 Apr 69 Manic Street Preachers — Your Love Alone Is Not Enough +4 57 Mark Ronson ft. Amy Winehouse — Valerie 51 Corinne Bailey Rae — Put Your Records On 47 The Killers — When You Were Young 41 Plain White T’s — Hey There Delilah 39 Kate Nash — Foundations 38 Gwen Stefani ft. Akon — The Sweet Escape -6

Library doesn't have that, and second-hand copies are pricey.

Yes, I did watch all 18 episodes and at some point I caved in and bought a blu-ray of Fire Walk With Me which had English subtitles. (Most Lynch DVDs don't have subtitles and I often have difficulty making out dialogue.) Overpriced but worth it as the sound was not good and dialogue completely inaudible in a few places. I watched it about halfway through the return series, I don't think it did too much harm, better late than never! As for Episode 8, I must admit that I fell asleep first time round. But this was really caused by watching one episode too many, too late. Not so much the content - although some of the visuals were somewhat hypnotic. So I had to watch it again when not tired. After watching each episode I looked at the IMDB reviews. There was one reviewer in particular who provided a very thoughtful commentary, episode by episode, and I found his views helpful. I've just read Mark Frost's 'Twin Peaks - The Final Dossier' which I got from the library. It fills in a few gaps but doesn't explain everything. Which is fine with me!

I needed to quote him for the purposes of the joke.

Following the latest shenanigans, the Government should be banned from using mobiles.

Tue 9 Apr 65 Manic Street Preachers — Your Love Alone Is Not Enough +2 53 Mark Ronson ft. Amy Winehouse — Valerie 52 Gwen Stefani ft. Akon — The Sweet Escape 48 Corinne Bailey Rae — Put Your Records On 47 The Killers — When You Were Young +2 46 Kate Nash — Foundations 41 Plain White T’s — Hey There Delilah 18 Mark Ronson ft. Daniel Merriweather — Stop Me 06 Maroon 5 — Makes Me Wonder -6

Count yourself lucky, he usually reverses everything I do.

Whatever happened to Cava? That used to be all the rage. All these sparklies taste much the same to me.

If I see her mum in the butchers again tomorrow I'll ask her.

Bit like the time I saw Edwin Starr performing on a Channel ferry.

Mon 8 Apr 64 Manic Street Preachers — Your Love Alone Is Not Enough 60 Gwen Stefani ft. Akon — The Sweet Escape 50 The Killers — When You Were Young +4 49 Mark Ronson ft. Amy Winehouse — Valerie 47 Kate Nash — Foundations 50 The Killers — When You Were Young +4 39 Plain White T’s — Hey There Delilah 38 Corinne Bailey Rae — Put Your Records On 23 Mark Ronson ft. Daniel Merriweather — Stop Me 21 Maroon 5 — Makes Me Wonder 14 Embrace — Nature’s Law 09 Red Hot Chili Peppers — Dani California -1 00 Avril Lavigne — Girlfriend -5

Who did this?

But the wider public have no say in the selection of candidates.

I reported an Ebay item which is listed as follows: Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit 2016 2017 2018 Puddleduck Flopsy Bunny 50p Coin Except the image is none of those coins. It is the 2017 Benjamin Bunny 50p, the commonest of all the Beatrix Potter series. Response from Ebay: We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made using automation or artificial intelligence.

Sun 7 Apr 64 Manic Street Preachers — Your Love Alone Is Not Enough +4 61 Gwen Stefani ft. Akon — The Sweet Escape 41 Kate Nash — Foundations 41 Corinne Bailey Rae — Put Your Records On 39 Plain White T’s — Hey There Delilah 38 The Killers — When You Were Young 37 Mark Ronson ft. Amy Winehouse — Valerie 32 Mark Ronson ft. Daniel Merriweather — Stop Me 31 Embrace — Nature’s Law 26 Maroon 5 — Makes Me Wonder 20 Fall Out Boy — This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race 17 Red Hot Chili Peppers — Dani California 07 Avril Lavigne — Girlfriend -3 00 The White Stripes — Icky Thump -3

Who is?

Sat 6 Apr 60 Gwen Stefani ft. Akon — The Sweet Escape 60 Manic Street Preachers — Your Love Alone Is Not Enough +4 43 Mark Ronson ft. Amy Winehouse — Valerie 41 Kate Nash — Foundations 40 The Killers — When You Were Young 37 Corinne Bailey Rae — Put Your Records On 34 Plain White T’s — Hey There Delilah 32 Mark Ronson ft. Daniel Merriweather — Stop Me 31 Embrace — Nature’s Law 30 Maroon 5 — Makes Me Wonder 17 Red Hot Chili Peppers — Dani California 16 Fall Out Boy — This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race 13 The White Stripes — Icky Thump 10 Booty Luv — Boogie 2Nite -4 06 Avril Lavigne — Girlfriend -2

Post of the day

Fri 5 April 54 Manic Street Preachers — Your Love Alone Is Not Enough +4 47 Gwen Stefani ft. Akon — The Sweet Escape 35 Mark Ronson ft. Amy Winehouse — Valerie 35 Corinne Bailey Rae — Put Your Records On 35 Plain White T’s — Hey There Delilah 34 Kate Nash — Foundations 33 Embrace — Nature’s Law 32 The Killers - When You Were Young 29 The White Stripes — Icky Thump 29 Mark Ronson ft. Daniel Merriweather — Stop Me 26 Booty Luv — Boogie 2Nite 24 Maroon 5 — Makes Me Wonder 21 Red Hot Chili Peppers — Dani California 20 Avril Lavigne — Girlfriend 19 Fall Out Boy — This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race 17 Mary J. Blige & U2 — One 14 Christina Aguilera — Ain’t No Other Man 11 U2 & Green Day — The Saints Are Coming  09 Arctic Monkeys — Brianstorm  -1 06 Rihanna — SOS -5

Yes, that Reddit conversation nails it. I have to disagree with the comment about the Velaryons in House of the Dragon though. They come from Valyria, where the people were established to be fair-haired and pale-skinned. It's the Targaryens who were obsessed with marrying within their own family to keep their bloodline pure. It's the same argument as the Rings of Power - why only one black family in Valyria? If they originated from, for example, the Summer Isles, fine, no problem. I read somewhere that George RR Martin originally intended the Velaryons to be black. So why did he change his mind? Presumably because he realised that it made no sense.

Yeah, but they wouldn't make them like that here now. The heyday was the 1970s, they set out to scare the shit out of kids, but in these snowflake times nobody is allowed to upset anyone.

For me casting needs to fit the context, to have internal consistency or logic, or it takes me out of the story. Don't know if anyone is familiar with 'His Dark Materials', You may know the film 'The Golden Compass' which was based on part of it but spoiled by studio interference. Anyway there was a recent TV series made by BBC/HBO. The story involves parallel worlds, so all bets are off really. They cast a black actor (Clarke Peters) as the Master of an Oxford college and I was fine with that. They made one of the main characters mixed race - OK. There are also angels and witches, and again I had no problem with diverse casting there. However there is a tribe of people called Gyptians who are obviously based on Gypsies, but they live on narrowboats and travel by water rather than road. The casting of these people was diverse, and it shouldn't have been, it really undermined the idea of who these people were. They cast white actors like James Cosmo and Anne Marie Duff as well as Lucien Msamati and other black actors. What would have made more sense is if they had cast actors of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, or Indian appearance, but these were conspicuous by their absence.

Oh no, he was Aethelhelm in The Last Kingdom! I didn't recognise him. What a fabulous love-to-hate villain he was in that. Oh, the one with the slurry pit was brilliant. Apaches?

Thu 4 Apr 50 Manic Street Preachers — Your Love Alone Is Not Enough +4 49 Gwen Stefani ft. Akon — The Sweet Escape 36 Plain White T’s — Hey There Delilah 35 Mark Ronson ft. Amy Winehouse — Valerie 35 Corinne Bailey Rae — Put Your Records On 32 Embrace — Nature’s Law 29 Kate Nash — Foundations 28 The White Stripes — Icky Thump 28 Mark Ronson ft. Daniel Merriweather — Stop Me 26 Booty Luv — Boogie 2Nite 23 Maroon 5 — Makes Me Wonder 23 The Killers — When You Were Young 21 Mary J. Blige & U2 — One 20 U2 & Green Day — The Saints Are Coming 20 Avril Lavigne — Girlfriend 20 Christina Aguilera — Ain’t No Other Man 19 Red Hot Chili Peppers — Dani California 19 Fall Out Boy — This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race 15 Rihanna— SOS 14 Arctic Monkeys — Brianstorm 12 Ida Corr vs. Fedde Le Grand — Let Me Think About It -1 06 Mutya Buena — Real Girl -5

We use "faux" with any word. Faux leather = imitation, synthetic. Faux contrition = feigned, insincere.