Wholly nifty, Batman! I've found what I consider to be one of the finest pieces of video game composition, certainly from the 16-bit days, hanging around online free to download.

Visit this page, the Aladdin Mega Drive (Genesis) soundtrack, and check out the track called Arab Rock 1.

With music that good, I can forgive the level itself for being flipping impossible. The whole soundtrack is pretty good, as you'd expect from a game that was licensed to use the music from the film. It had nice instrumental mixes of the songs, occasionally used in surprising places, and the original-for-the-game compositions stand up well on their own: try Camel Jazz, or Rug Ride for more excitement. I like Gloomy Tune because I'm a sucker for cave levels.

In other retro-gaming news, the Ecco the Dolphin Genesis soundtracks (I'm not familiar with the music from the other platforms) are solid. They can be found here. Very atmospheric watery music with a few pulse-racing tracks: for example, Tube of Medusa from Ecco 2 (Genesis) and Open Ocean from Ecco 1 (Genesis). Welcome To The Machine from Ecco 1 (Genesis) is beautiful and just a little disturbing, something that's played up nicely in this twisted remix by Trace Kyshad. Fish City from Ecco 2 (Genesis) is nice and kind of relaxing, at least if you don't know what's going on at this point in the game.

Dude! Radio 4 is doing a whole day of programmes from the Cern lab in September. This is gonna be great! I hafta record the whole thing!

Particle physics is something I understand very poorly. Luckily, science fiction has educated me in what to expect. Switch-on will end the world, give us all superpowers and make aliens arrive brandishing huge electricity bills. (Further reading.) I'm just hoping they'll give away bags of gravitons. They're my favourite theoretical particle. (I bet most of you lot prefer muons... and I know at least one relative who probably likes pi mesons.)

Eye condition badgers Dachshunds, offering genetic clue to similar condition in humans

Potter prequel book sets record

Nigerian advises against 86 wives. I can't even mock this. Read it and weep.

Chippies use special 'art' wrappers for their fish and chips. I wonder how many people won't notice. You don't get much newsprint used for chips nowadays; it's generally (the ones I see) cheap offwhite sugar paper these days. (No, not edible paper; that's ricepaper.)

If anyone ever MISSED THE SODDING POINT of camping... I hate camping and like my creature comforts, and that's why I DON'T GO CAMPING. I don't buy a tent with a flippin' built-in radiator and jacuzzi.

Man, I might go if the park had African wild dogs, though. *melts*

Cankers killing horse chestnuts. Ignore their silly focus on conker tournaments. Poor trees.

Robbie Coltrane is a burglar? No, it's his 16-year-old son by Alan Rickman.

Are boy bands on the way back? Uh. Oh Loki Minerva Xolotl Hanuman Bau and Anubis please no?

'Miracle' rescue for family pet

Scouting robot for danger zones, and another for interpretative dance.

Is it the WALL-E thing that's causing them to do this stupid "yay, robot luv" hook every time? Because it's annoying... I claim robots as my asexual brethren. Except that Joe guy from AI. He was irritating, anyway.

Film looks at 'honour killings'

Retarded report on free-running. Seriously, I apologise for the facileness of some of these video reports. It seems a lot of them are from breakfast news, which is very patronising because it assumes all its viewers have either just got up or are unemployed and lounging in the house all day.

*saves this for project later tonight*

Border collies!

Saudi Arabia is hell. Yes, you heard me.

Whereas this is direct from heaven. World's smallest snake discovered

Row clouds Belfast gay parade. Prepare to enjoy the cultie politician-spouse opening mouth and inserting both feet.

Child matador is banned from performing in France... the reasons cited being child labour laws and health and safety, not cruelty to animals, of course. Featuring interview with the lovely little brat saying he loves bulls like his brother loves football and it's so unfair.

Pint and prayer for pub regulars. Not in my local, thanks.

Zoo celebrates new giraffe calves

Audio slideshow: Inside influential Indian madrassa

Costumed impersonators on Hollywood Boulevard. Kinda cool, definitely creepy.

Study of IMs revives that hoary old "six degrees of separation" theory.

PIX PLZ!

Science news now.

Smart contact lenses dispense medication. This is awesome because they're using bits of silver to measure the pressure of an eyeball. You'd think that'd itch...

Plant parasite 'wiretaps' host. This is awesome because it's intercepting tiny chemical messages in order to synchronise its flowering with its host just before it kills the thing. Harsh, nature!

ABBA Gold tops UK chart again. There isn't a song on there of which I'm not heartily sick. More ABBA Gold has some good ones, including ABBA Does The Iliad (which could not possibly win any more coolness points... OK, well, not unless they'd sneaked a mention of a net in there).

Yay medical ethics, from the only guy the BBC ever seems to get to write on the subject.

Farmer has double arm transplant

In pictures: Tackling Ethiopia's HIV stigma

Aaaaaand finally. Pot Noodle - The Musical, helpfully bringing corporate values to the Fringe.

edit: Le Crash sends this: No, wait, I didn't mean henbane! Oh sh—

Simply Noise: this is very cool. A coworker clued me onto this site, which generates static noise to help block out ambient noise (eg hugely loud air conditioning!!) or block distractions.

I can't stand the white noise setting, but the brown is lovely. Even when cranked to a comfortable level, though, it doesn't block out the Radiohead* stuck in my head. (I could turn it up further, but I'm always worried about damaging my hearing.) Bass frequencies still get through, too, so I can hear one half of my boss's conversation with an older gentleman.

*Airbag. Dammit, I'm at the mercy of whatever I listened to last.

Eeeeeee, my album arrived! The Hound of the Baskervilles by Clive Nolan and Oliver Wakeman. I'm listening to it for the first time and enjoying it, even though I don't normally like songs with talking over them.

Coincidentally, I was watching a Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes that I'd recorded off the telly. This had me shouting at the television. People were talking in the Diogenes Club! It wasn't too impressive in other ways, and anyway the PVR cut off the last few minutes, as is its wont. Huh.

Really liking this progressive rock. Also, I want a dog. I could pretend that attempting to inherit a mysterious curse just so I could have a doggie had nothing to do with recent naming events, but this would be stretching the truth to whining point.

Slen's just arrived and told me Clive Nolan did the keyboard solo on DragonForce's Disciples of Babylon. Very nice!

edit for coolness: Slen's just pointed this out. Guitars: Arjen Lucassen.

'Puppy trafficking' campaign (vid) with a very GOOD dog called Molly.

New Radiohead video is shot with lasers, not cameras. I shouldn't need to explain why this one is awesome. Frickin' lasers.

The sun's sphere of influence, the 'heliosphere', is not spherical but sort of oviform. And the edges are wibbly. This is awesome because we haven't sent anyone outside it before, meaning we've never had a clear view of things without old Sol figuratively leaning over our shoulders and breathing on the glass. And then of course [spoilers for Star Trek: The Motion Picture] which will be freaking immense.

Cow 'burps' 'help' climate study. I don't see why this should be considered any more acceptable than
tapping moon bears' bile ducts, personally...

What the eff, Japan?

Downing Street rescues kestrel (vid) (apologies for patronising presenters)

Outsourced hydroponics franchises on Mars draw one step closer to the inevitability horizon with the discovery that Mars's soil is pretty suitable for Earth-style life. This is awesome despite the little drawback that there's no sign of any carbon (essential for pencils, diamonds, carbohydrates, hydrocarbons and by definition anything organic, so pretty important, one would assume).

Torture through music, following up on David Gray's polite complaint, which I linked a week or so ago. (Rick Astley, note.)

It's a rather clever technique, really, because most people who hear about it will react like that vapid NBC anchor they quote, trivialising the whole thing—just like waterboarding doesn't really sound that bad (see an article I've linked previously in which a journalist volunteered to undergo it to see what it's really like). That in mind, it's worth reading the full article.

Someone in the comments links this example of how the US media covers it. I don't know about you, but this makes me shudder. "Hey, ha ha, you like my tunes? I'll write you some more." I think I'll not be reading his book.

Although, want to know a secret? The first article is actually stealth torture-lite. There's at least one song in their quoted list that you know, and now it's in your head. Eee-xit light, en-ter night, grain of sand...

Registrar wins same-sex tribunal. Every secular, gay-friendly or generally non-bigoted person should be AFRAID right now. WTF, Britain?

Early Aussie tattoos match rock art. This is awesome because it's further proof that the tradition of people mutilating themselves while other people like me crow "It'll still be there when you're 70, moron!" is nothing new. And it's interesting in terms of cultural identity, impressionability and ritual. Also, they cut them directly into the skin. Brutal. (Please don't do such things to yourself as a result of reading this, or you're probably a moron and/or in need of help. Really. Even if it's a flaming dog skull. Although those are cool.)

Women 'using web for abortions'

Blind trek to the South Pole (vid)

Video of that beautiful Welsh ghost slug I linked yesterday. That guy has a tremor like mine and he's still getting to play with slugs. Good on him.

Black tie arts festival.

Dogs' new trick: finding mobile phones—and I'm trying to watch the vid, but it's crashing everything in sight. Probably just my machine...

(not news) Random awesome picture.

Taxi firms have been warned they face fines if they refuse to allow guide dogs into their cabs.

British Grand Prix preview

Brave Man Rescues Drowning Bear (from Sky News's hideous new site)

David Gray warns on torture music. It sounds funny, but it really is.

And if you think about it, Babylon is an apt choice. (I like the song in moderation.)

edit: And more scariness: Google must divulge YouTube log

edit2: *jawdrop* which, being close to home (what's a Channel between friends?), makes me feel less smug about *snigger* this.

It was Slen's birthday yesterday. It was sad to see him miserable all day, but at least I know it was nothing I did. Huh.

I got him loot: the recent Helloween album, Gambling with the Devil, and one by the Hellacopters (this purely because he likes their name!). As Slen ironically remarked, I didn't need to stray out of the H section in the music shop. Actually I looked all over their metal section, having looked up a list of the best power metal albums of last year and chosen a few, but that shop's range is pretty bad. They had one out of ten in stock. OK for a store in the centre of Manchester, I suppose; there evidently isn't much call for good music around here, and they do at least stock DragonForce.

There was also pirate T-shirtage, a book of mnemonics because it was in the rack near the tills and looked pretty interesting in a stocking-filler sort of way, and some white chocolate raspberries. Then I called for pizza (Slen being easy to please in some ways) and we watched the recent two-part Doctor Who, the one in the library. After the direness of The Doctor's Daughter I was close to stopping watching the programme altogether. This was pretty good, though.

I knew I couldn't top last year's gift and didn't try. He knew not to expect another book this year. I will write the sequel sometime, though.

Writing Mews has been unexpectedly helpful to me. I still get warm squirmy fuzzy feelings thinking about the fact of having done it, or remembering giving it to him. I hadn't ever done anything comparable with my life before. It's a warm golden-red-brown glowing point to curl around, the first really pure and good alternative I've found to my usual habit of dwelling on mistakes and bad things. It's a carrot on a slender string.

Either that or I just really like resting on my backpats.

Today's educational and extremely sezzy video! Learn disco dancing.

Watch the dude in white from about 3:14-3:28.

(Sadly, this HAS radically increased my knowledge of dancing, which previously encompassed the grapevine and nothing else. ILU, Finnish instructional presenters.)

Also see: The Disco Handbook

Connectivity issues at home seem to continue... please let me know if I've missed anything major in anyone's life or LiveJournal because I am unlikely to catch up anytime soon. If you've emailed me I'll try to get to it soon.

Theatrics

Other than that, this was a fun long weekend. On Saturday Slen and Paul hustled me out of the house in smug secrecy and we headed to the Lowry, where I discovered we were seeing... um. This, actually.

Yes, a Eurovision Song Contest parody musical. Absolutely [insane|hilarious]. I shall show you clips, although these are not from the performance and cast we saw. Here's the chavtastic UK entry, 'I Love to Love to Love (Love)'. And Hungary's 'Little Birds' ("Today I killed a chicken and ate its entrails. Mmm, entrails!").

Here also are the Russians with 'Ice Queen', which I'm sorry to say I recognised instantly as a rip on Northern Girl (er, what can I say, songs about ice really do it for me), and which also caused me to utter the line "In Soviet Russia, skirt rips you off", leaving the others in, um, stitches.

The source for Sweden's 'Same Old Song' is pretty obvious from the second you hear the opening piano line. Iceland... yes. Oh, and the 'German techno' is absolutely flipping adorable. Makes me want to hug the entirety of Germany. So that was that. Oh, and they have the mp3s on their site, downloadable under a Creative Commons licence, if you register.

Tonsorial

On Saturday morning I lost 45cm of hair from my head. Have had no difficulty adjusting to the short haircut. I keep forgetting I've had it cut, actually.

Don't ask for pics until I've trained it to lie back more successfully. At the moment the front keeps forming itself into curtains, despite wax, because my hair is very thick and soft and the last inch or so always curls.

I also do not know why the hairdresser gave me teddy-boy sideburns. (*may be exaggeration caused by Mutt not being used to it yet)

Eurovizh

Eurovision itself, well, bah. We've no choice now; it has to be a return to the judges system. I don't see why we should continue to fund a "how many borders have you got?" contest (or, indeed, a "please don't re-invade us" contest, as the guys'n'I called it) and none of the happy little bloc voters can afford to keep it afloat without Western Europe's backing. In practice the phone votes will have to stay because they raise so much money, but they should only make up a small part of the overall score.

The UK's entry was out of place. It was a real song, and a boring song (I didn't like it much), so I don't care that it did badly. What really has me steaming is that Latvia didn't place highly. What is not awesome about a bunch of smelly pirates?

(Digression: it has the word "wolves" in the title, causing me to wonder idly if Finnish Telecom's records would show about 80 votes for Latvia from Tony Kakko's number. Tony luvs wolves like I love pirate pandas and pickpocket pangolins.)

Well, no point getting steamed about the votes, though, because in the end the ones we liked (Finland, Greece* etc) go on our mix tape and hang the rest.

* My private version of this Greek chorus begins "My secret combination, it's 1 2 3 4″ and you may be able to guess the rest. Also, "I'm not a little girl"? YES YOU ARE.

Giggage

Ohohoho. Speaking of pirate music, I don't think I've blogged yet about Slen's gig last Monday. It was a college gig; Slen was there supporting co-songwriter/co-guitarist John, who is the music student. (They met when both were on the lower version of the same course; John's now doing the further syllabus.) They played their pirate metal song, which is now called Captain Solerno, and a couple of others. They even had a tin-whistle player there for the woodwind line, which was cool.

What was awesome was that their pirate track was played on the radio (yes, I have proof! *clutches mp3*) earlier that day, with a plug for the gig.

The gig overall overran drastically because of the number of students playing. Slen's group didn't have the chance for a sound check beforehand so there was some faffing around before they could play. I can't listen to live music so I can't really say how it went, but I did my best to stir up the crowd by example during the "YARR!"s and suchlike. I also spent some time before writing out slips of paper with their email address on them to add to their sample CDs, then tried to pass those CDs out. I'm hilariously bad at this, really, but oh well, did the supportive sibling thing...

Their set seemed to go down pretty well, especially considering they were on late and running late, so that some of the smallish audience had already started leaving. They played Drunken Sailor for an impromptu encore (making it extremely lucky I'd taught John a couple of verses of it a few days back, ahem). Missed the last tram by far and had to get a taxi. Got home at 01:00 with work the next day. I am so metal. Well, except for the long hair, now.

blah

I've been doing more playing Pokémon than writing, down to general and/or ambient depression I think, but I hope to begin bucking that trend.

Also been eating badly for the same reasons. Hopefully now I'm back at work and online this too should sort itself out. I baked cookies today, they're really bad. So out of practice.

Looking forward to next week, when I'm going with the brothers to Chester Zoo (which has GUESS WHAT?) and Alton Towers. Don't know yet what we'll do with the other days.

Iran rounds up Bahai leaders. Lovely.

Oh, more charming. People burnt as witches in Kenya.

Tasmanian tiger DNA implanted in mousies.

Cat gatecrashes concert (vid)

Ravens fledging in Scotland and disappearing in Lancashire.

Mixed-sex NHS wards 'still a problem'. Not a problem for me. If I ever have to go inpatient I don't particularly want to be segregated by caste. Besides, there are shockingly few "strange neuter-creatures from the planet Zog" wards.

Tram expansion's green light (vid)

There is hope for me yet. (brilliant audio)

Dog too big to patrol beach (vid) and article

In pictures: Senegal's beached whales (distressing images)

Exam papers had answers on back. It is unlikely that any of the 12,000 students sitting the examination would have recognised the value of the information in the copyright statement and subsequently used it. Unfortunately probably true, as schools don't teach critical thinking any more, just rote answering. (Yes, I do know this for a fact. What does "don't put it in your own words, just make sure you write down every point with no waffle" sound like to you? From a good mid-league independent secondary school?)

'Trust drug' may cure social phobia and help autism. Ooh! Just what I need, to be more trusting and less alert to manipulative, untrustworthy bzsatards!

Whole scelidosaurus on show to public. Just in case you needed to be informed, ankys are the best dinosaurs EVER and you should adopt one, because every party needs a tank.

Churches boo-hoo-hoo over the fact that despite all their sound and fury, everyone's ignoring them. Since the topic at hand doesn't concern them one jot (besides, never mind my relationships, I definitely don't want a church anywhere near my children!), this is a healthy thing for society and makes me feel more positive than I have for a long time.

If we ever feel the need to pass any more laws about precisely how trefoil the invisible magic friend is, or who's not allowed to eat the invisible magic friend's flesh, we'll give you a call, 'kay?

We're asking the public what is the most respectful and appropriate way to display them. ... The majority of the comments have been that we shouldn't cover them up. So what did we do? Oh yes: Egyptian mummies are covered up

I'm gonna throw this one over to Charlycrash. *Erisian smile*

Supernova filmed LIVE! (Well, timeshifted a bit. Like 100 million years.) More from AP. Squeeeee.

Registrars' beliefs make them unfit for their jobs. So, resign. They shouldn't be pandered to and accommodated, because religion is a voluntary disability. Or, to put it another way, if you feel you can't do your job for reasons of conscience, you have a moral duty to resign.

Derbyshire couple may have 'oldest' dog (vid)

Sesame Street puppets explain war to kids of soldiers (vid)

Some punks and goths in Mexico want to beat up emos. (vid)

Infrasound may be the cause of shadows during eclipses, rather than atmospheric disturbance. Well, sound is atmospheric disturbance, anyway...

New dinosaur tracks discovered

Biggest rodent ever... not so big (if that's not ready-made inspiration for Ursula Vernon, nothing is...)

The cult of the Eurovision (vid)

I have a discovery to share with you all. It is Pirate Gangsta Rap.

In recent weeks, I've been listening to a lot of Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew. They arre "the only rap crew with buccaneer technique" and their influences arre "davey jones, scurvy, hip hop, tupac, eminem, blackbeard, sailling" [sic]. It is, as one review says, all the attitudes of gangsta rap, 300 yearrs earlier. It is the best, nay, the only gangsta rap to which I have listened willingly. It is hilarious.

Highlights of the first album, Authentic Pirate Hip Hop, arre Flintlock Glock (the title alone...), Blackbeard's Treasure and the unabashedly misogynistic Round the Corner Sallies.

Here is the epic quest for Blackbeard's treasure. Die, Corsair!

As for the second album, Rimes of the Hip Hop Mariners, the title track is goofy fun, as is the timber-shiveringly detailed description of a keelhaul. We'll ignore what appears to be a song about World of Warcraft. But the winner, oh yes, has to be the rap battle between a shipful of pirates and the British Navy.

If that sounds delightful, listen to Broadside.

And finally, if rap isn't your thing, here's a more traditional kind of sea shanty. Very educational if you didn't know what Round the Corner Sallies are.

US orchestra conducted by robot

Universe twice as bright as known

Birdsong CD helps rescue starling

Zoo's escaped orangutan attacks keeper

Marcus Brigstocke's religious routine. <3 I know I've linked to it in the past, but it's just that good.

This clip mentions Ratzinger's past in passing.

Archbishop attacks 'debt culture'. I agree wholeheartedly; I get really angry at all the advertisements that scream "Interest free credit, pay nothing for a year!". But because it's Rowan Williams saying it, somehow I want to disagree.

A third of girls, and a fifth of boys, admit to having self-harmed. This makes me furious.

Trunchbull gets comeuppance. Over 10 years after the first complaints. Roald Dahl was bang on the mark about nobody believing kids.

Making opera interesting and accessible for the new generation. I know, guys! Let's make it look less pretentious... by doing it in a giant plexiglass cube with pictures projected on all the walls around it! Oh, and don't forget to add moar topless chick.

I'd like to see more pretenders to Gilbert and Sullivan's cap. Say, a Lee and Thomas with patter songs. How would that not be awesome? But then, that's my basic problem with opera: taking any of it seriously. People don't (thank Polymnia) sing their feelings in real life, and I can't sympathise with any screaming chick, so. To me the medium just begs for fun and banter. The stilted, formal, genteel, sung equivalent of a rap battle.¹ And, preferably, no mass marriages.

(Yeah, I don't know the first thing about opera. I just thought Lucia di Lammermoor a silly goose², and as for Turandot... seemed a perfectly nice girl to me.)

Carpenter develops wood allergy: one of these cases where you really don't need to read the story, because the headline's glorious on its own.

English village votes to be Welsh (article contains embedded vid)

¹ Or, in web vernacular, "comic baritone x comic baritone OTP".

I should find it most agreeable if you lady novelists would bear this sort of detail in mind. Ta, mate. Toss another— no, sorry, that's Australia.

[edit: This was written yesterday and I forgot to publish it. Whee!]

Rent-a-dog! Fantasy Fuff: about as close to a real relationship as hiring a prostitute, imho. Inclined to agree with the RSPCA person.

Cloned sniffer dogs are after your Mary-Jane!

Arrest warrant issued for Darth Vader

Birdie

I was reading this (short) experimental report on chimpanzee grooming. It's from 1958 and laughably patronising, not to mention a bit unimaginative. (Didn't E. ever think of grooming Malcolm in return?)

Also, these things. PRATCHETT things. (David Tennant is involved, for all those who inexplicably find him attractive.)

And finally, a sad tale. Because it's official: I can't hear that damn Metallica song without my fingers twitching. (I'm not a guitarist or guitar-gamer, I point out; I would probably hurt myself if I attempted this track on Easy.¹)

Slen has five-starred almost everything in GHII and III's career modes on Expert (with only that Slayer auditory fart and Misirlou left to go, I think—not counting DragonForce because that is solid damn.) All this has had the effect of making me vaguely itchy to play an actual instrument.

Also, we only have a righty bass guitar, but I'm strongly lefty by instinct. Boo. >:( (cf achirality, which I have in heaps, but I'd really really rather not pluck with the hand whose fingers seize up. Oh well, sucks to be driving this body, I guess.)

¹ Well, my claim to the realm of not suck can be that I got 70% into TTFAF on my first attempt at the game, on Easy obviously. I attribute that to beginner's awesomium coupled with knowing the real song very well. I also epically failed Slow Ride mere minutes beforehand.

[also, edit: must stop air guitaring to Cliffs of Dover in lift.]

The prizes are out for the Return of Sloth plot on Neopets, and the top prize is a robot paint brush. As I predicted—and awesome it is too! I can afford one. I've been itching for a Robot Kyrii for ages... although the Robot Gelert is also a thing of stainless awesomium. I am very tempted. Also, the Daily Dare month finished yesterday. We managed to finish it on all of our accounts, thanks largely to two late evenings at the very last minute by Slen. Thank the gods we can stop slashdotting that site between us now and get on with other things.

I wrote the lyrics for a song (or a large chunk of one) this evening. It is about a city-nymph. This counts towards my weekly poem target because I say so, and it'll help Slen, who needs both musicians and material for a music competition he plans to enter. The first prize is the chance to open the V Festival... they don't have a hope, but hell, it's something for the CV whatever happens.

Siblings are awesome. Oh, and I have verrrry tentative ideas stirring for Mews II. Don't breathe—you'll scare them off.

Saw the GP today, nagged him about a few things. Afterwards I was with my mother while she ran a few errands. We went into a pet superstore and, fellows, I think I must be getting hormonal in my old age because I came very close to breaking down and crying. Just from walking into the place. There was hardly any scent to the air that I could detect, but it was obviously enough for that subconscious part of me. I swear my chin dimpled and my eyes overcast. I went and browsed some of their books, which included a couple about golden retrievers and didn't help much.

It's a big shop with a miniature vet's surgery attached, and they allow pets in the store part too. I went over to the waiting area for the vet, where there was the most incredible long-haired dachshund PUPPY, black and brown and ears and oh my DOG you should have SEEN it and and and it came over and said hello and demanded strokies and its fur was so soft and and PUPPY. Walking away from that I nearly started crying again, and got damned close when I got back in the car.

She bought some cat food...

Answers have been added to the music lyrics meme post, my beloved minions. I'd have been amazed if you had got them all between you, but you didn't. Nowhere close. Which quite surprises me.

Eclectic music tastes (or philistine friends? ;) for the win...

Meme from Snoggie and others. If Charlycrash isn't first in with two of these in particular, I will grin and poke him. ;)

1. On your current playlist, hit shuffle and pick the first twenty-five songs on the list (no matter how cheesy or embarrassing, but excluding instrumentals).
2. Write down one or two line(s) of the song. Try to avoid dead giveaways, like lines that include the title.
3. Wait for your friends to comment and identify the songs. If they cheat with Google, they are stinkybutts.
4. When someone guesses correctly, strike out the lyric and list the correct name of the song next to it.

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