This is a Hollywood movie from 1935. Filmed in black and white, it stars Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. It tells the story of a father and daughter who have to flee from their home in France, and travel to England. For a rather unbelievable reason, Hepburn needs to disguise herself as a boy, and changes her name from Sylvia to Sylvester.

Anyway - here are eight things that are quite interesting about the film:

#1 Cary Grant has a fairly bad Cockney accent throughout. Grant was actually born in Bristol, and as a young man worked in London before moving to make his fortune in the U.S. So maybe his accent is more complicated than you think.

#2 The film is based on a book by Compton MacKenzie. "The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett". There are a series of novels about the characters, it would be fun to read them - ebooks are available free on Project Gutenberg. MacKenzie is a very interesting character, most famous these days for his comic novel and film "Whiskey Galore"

#3 It pushed boundaries of what was acceptable in the cinema regarding sexuality. A woman kisses a woman (dressed as a man), a man invites a woman to bed with him (though she is a dressed as a man).

#4 It lost a lot of money at the box office, and set back Hepburn's career. Why - was it resistance to Hepburn's cross-dressing and gender fluidity?

#5 Hepburn was already an Academy award winner, and on her way to even greater success, but this was the first of four unsuccessful films which gave her the name "box office poison" and nearly ruined her career.

#6 A co-star, Natalie Paley, is uncredited. She is actually Princess Natalia Pavlovna Paley, a Russian aristocrat and member of the Romanov family.

#7 Though set in France and England, the film was filmed of course around Los Angeles - the outdoor beach scenes take place at Leo Carrillo Beach which has interesting rock formations and caves. Many other films have shot here, including 'Grease', 'Inception' and "The Karate Kid'.

#8 Hepburn is remarkably agile. She easily lifts her body high on isometric rings at one point, and jumps out of a high window.

I'd encourage you to watch it, and hope that by seeing these behind the scenes details will make it as interesting for you as it was for me.

I want to buy a book called Dark Matter by Blake Crouch.

The author has a Dark Matter page on his website. He has links to online bookshops, but I'm not clicking on them as they have a lot of tracking rather than just going directly to the site - I'm funny like that. They are all American anyway.

I want an actual physical book in my hand. I've been dabbling with ebooks, and have had a Kindle for a long time. However my pace is slow with this format. It's much easier to pick up a paperback and read a few pages than an ebook reader - no buttons to press, no checking if it's charged enough. Bookmarks really work and you get a real feel for how far through the book you are.

So far I have 3 options.
1. Waterstones
2. Amazon
3. Wordery

Pros and Cons.

Waterstones are a real bookshop in my town. I can use click and collect and pick it up easily. However the books costs £8.99

Amazon Prime is very easy - I can click and have it delivered the next day. The book is discounted and only costs £3.99. However, Amazon pay no tax in the UK and I would like to support local business if possible.

Wordery also deliver the book for free. I've been told they are a better option for the UK as they do pay tax. They charge £7.02 for this book.

I'm torn. I want to buy local, but £8.99 is a lot. I'd like to support a UK company, but Amazon saves me as much as £5. I'm not rich - I can use £5. I'm not so poor that £5 would make a material difference to my life, but is it my job to pay extra tax voluntarily. Waterstones is a nice shop, I like having it to visit, and I'd like it to still be there in the future.

Hmm.

Update: Bought from World of Books - a second hand online shop similar to Wordery, for £2.99

I decided to have a listen and as thy only did three albums, chose one at random - it happened to be "'64-'95", but again, that's not important.

I wondered what they were up to, and why there were no more releases after 2005. I had never cared much who the band members were, but found Fred Deakin in my searches. He was using Kickstarter to fund printing and selling prints of the very excellent album cover of "Lost Horizons". He was also quite recently asking for £10k to produce a new album.

This new album is a science fiction concept album - it's called "The Lasters". I saw it was fully supported, and some people had already received it on Vinyl and MP3 memory stick.

But, according to this site Original Rock it is out on Spotify, released THIS VERY DAY, 24.01.2020.

I'm listening now :)
The Lasters

Update: I listened to it all the way through, and it doesn't have any of the quirky energy of the other albums by Lemon Jelly.

I would probably not have listened twice to this track if I'd heard it on the radio.

AS LONG AS I'VE GOT YOU - Charmels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um0dz-h5KGQ

But listen again. Just for 8 seconds. That's quite a nice little piano phrase. It doesn't get repeated however - what a waste.

I've heard of Wu Tang Clan of course, but when they emerged I was in my fallow period of music appreciation and they didn't get much attention from me. I never felt the need to fix this absence, hip-hop hasn't played a big part in my musical life. My loss probably. Anyway, they made a track called C.R.E.A M. which apparently was quite successful https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.R.E.A.M. - have a listen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBwAxmrE194 - hear anything you recognise? Yes, it's that nice bit from the Sharmels song earlier. Sampled over and over again.

Now, let's move on, there is a point to this, eventually, and a great song. Recently I asked Spotify to play me some music (on my Amazon Echo Dot, this bit is important)- specifically Gabor Szabo (don't ask, just randomly saw his name when I was investigating minimalist music). I don't have a paid subscription, so it plays me a radio station of similar tracks. After a few songs, I hear something I really like, no lyrics, but a great beat and a nice melody. I ask Alexa "What's this song?" She tells me. I don't understand her so ask again, and again. The closest I come is "Ed Nichols Affair, mumble A.M.). Thinking this is enough I start searching for the song online. But there is nothing like this anywhere.

I search in my Alexa app, I ask for the playlist again, and again (each time I get a new list). I try asking for the playlist on my computer and work through the results (coincidentally finding a great track by someone called Moondog who I'd not heard of: "Bird's Lament" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSimbyS_YlA which I knew I knew - and I've decided I probably heard the Mr Scruff remix called "Get a Move On" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS_CLIF1h-o - but I digress.

Weeks pass. Then I'm in the kitchen and the song comes on out of the blue. I ask my girlfriend "How!", and she says she'd asked for Gabor Szabo while I was out of the room. Hurrah. No point in asking Alexa, this time I whip out my phone instead and record as much as I can of the music. I happen to not have Shazam or any other music recognition tools installed, but on my work phone I have Soundhound. So I sit the two phones together, and play the music between them, and Soundhound does it's magic and I have the answer at last!

El Michels Affair - C R E A M - you can hear it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhDnWLfm07o

It's really chilled, cinematic, has a great hook at 40 seconds you might know by now. It's not overused like Wu Tang Clan did, it's not under used like Sharmels, just right. This is a much better track musically than either of the previous ones.

I read through a lot of the YT comments and this is how I backtracked to get the story above. The interesting thing is that El Nichols Affair copied a track, that sampled another track - or as Dylkim says so eloquently:

"does anyone else realize how amazing this is? a DJ samples records to interpret a new sound from live instruments. here, live instruments are interpreting the DJ's sampled sound of other live instruments! this dude is taking a hip hop sound and translating it back into live instruments (with his own style on top of it)!"

The story might end there, but here's a little coda. There is a film I quite liked watching a couple of years ago, made by Jon Favreau, called "Chef". A lot of the YT comments are saying that "Chef" send them there, and so it is that this tune is in the film, and on the soundtrack. Perhaps I mentally noted it when watching, and when it came up in my kitchen I was ready for it - I do know I jumped on it very quickly when it started, which is a bit unusual for me.

Hope you enjoyed this journey of discovery as much as I did.

I was eleven years old, and had just started at a grammar school in the nearest big town to me, Coleraine. It was a long bus ride, which gave me plenty of time to read. If I missed the normal bus home, due to after school clubs or sports, I could walk through town to the station, and wait for the next one.

I found a second-hand bookshop, and began missing the bus more and more. It was a small place, and sadly is gone now, but the owner got to know me, and even when I was grown up and living in England, when I returned with my family I made a point to pop in and buy a book from him.

My first purchase was "Nine Tomorrows" by Isaac Asimov. I can't remember why I picked it now. I knew his name as a giant of science fiction literature that's for sure. It is an anthology of nine stories, so maybe I was attracted by that - I still like short science fiction probably more than longer novels. The cover is fairly typical of the times. It shows a massive spaceship, in what looks like a junk yard, with the crescent moon in the twilight sky behind.

Looking through the story names, they are familiar to me even now. without prompting I can only remember the details of two, but one story I remember very well indeed.

"The Last Question" is widely regarded as Asimov's best story, and it is his own favourite too. It gets included in many lists of greatest science fiction stories, and rightly too. I think I was really lucky to start at the top when I bought this book.

I won't describe the plot, though I urge you to seek out the story and read it for yourself. What I will say about it is that it posits a future of high technology, which I very much liked. Computers existed of course, but this story included a timeline reaching far into the future where they would become more intelligent and powerful. I might have decided right there than my career would be in this profession.

The key point though, is the optimism, which along with his prolific writing, his breadth of subject matter, was one of Asimov's trademarks. Entropy is widely regarded as irreversible, and a direct consequence is what has come to be known as the 'heat death' of the Universe (basically, everything will end. Everything). This won't have any effect on me, or you, or our children, or any human being that will ever life most likely. But it
is troubling nevertheless to think, as Douglas Adams would write in "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe", would you "raise families, strive for new and better societies, fight terrible wars for what you know to be right..." if you knew that in the end, the Universe just dies?

Asimov finds an optimistic take on that piece of existential dread. I know I found this very comforting, and brought it up later in many late night drunken conversations in university dorm rooms and bars.

So Asimov opened my mind to a really big idea, in this story, and to plenty of others too, like the simple Three Laws of Robotics, which turned out, when you actually analysed them, to make for a whole heap of trouble in the interpretation. He was ambitious for a technologically better world, and fully expected science to make all our lives better.

I was, and still am, infected by this optimism. I imagine, like he did, a future where we don't have to work except if we enjoy it, where power is free and no one needs to be hungry. And of course, I don't worry much about the end of the universe any more.

This update is mainly to thank Kimbofo for the kind mention on her Blog.

Dirty Tricks by Michael Dibden is a great book, and it is so long since I read it, I think I might just read it again. I did try one of his serious crime books, but didn't make it all the way through it - something that is quite unusual for me.

I'm trying to think what to do, but I will be doing something...

Some book reviews imminent.

The Princess Bride 10
Stardust 7
Hellboy 8
Alien vs Predator 7
The Karate Kid 9
The Katate Kid 2 6
The Karate Kid 3 6
The Karate Kid 4 6
The Librarian 2 6
JCVD 8
The Spiderwick Chronicles 8
The Hitch-Hikers Guide to The Galaxy 7
Next 7
Night at the Museum 8
Hot Fuzz 7
AvP 7
Watchmen 10
AvP 2 - Requiem 5
Cube 2 6
Cube 0 6
The Pirates Of The Caribbean 6
Coraline 3D 8
Night of the Living Dead 8
Dawn of the Dead (new) 7
Dawn of the Dead (original) 8
Day of the Dead 6
Ghost Town 7
The Butterfly Effect 8
Quantum Of Solace 6
I-Robot 6
WALL-E 6
Star Trek 8
The Little Vampire 7
Silent Running 7
Predator 8
Predator 2 8
Bedtime Stories 7
A Fistful Of Dollars 10
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince 7
The Ring 8
Arsenic & Old Lace 7
My Neighbour Totoro 8
Land of the Dead 8
Zoom 4
The Grudge 8
For a Few Dollars More 10
GI Joe 7
Stargate 8
First Blood 8
Guess Who 5
Tarzan 9
The Goonies 6
Race To Witch Mountain 7
12 Monkeys 8
Enigma 6
Bride Wars 4
Maverick 7
District 13 8
Adaptation 8
Rocky 7
When Worlds Collide 6
A History Of Violence 9
Twilight 8
The Accidental Hero 8
Transporter 3 8
The Witches of Waverley Place Movie 6
PS, I Love You 5
The Vampires Assistant 8
Mr Magorium's Wonder Emportium 7
Ruthless People 7
Wolverine 7
The Haunting Hour 4
The Haunted Mansion 5
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 5
Moon 7
City of Ember 7
Pocahontas 5
This Island Earth 7
Elf 8
Home Alone 10
The Santa Claus 6
Christmas with the Kranks 5
Avatar 9
Underworld - Rise of the Lycans 7

I'm willing to defend most of those ratings, but could be swayed slightly on a few of them.

I love watching films more than other TV, and if I had the chance, would watch one every day. However, a lot of my TV time was taken up with some pretty good US TV series. I watched the whole of "The Wire", Lost, Heroes, Flashforward, SGU, 24 Season 7, amongst others. These have the advantage of being about 1 hour long per episode - ideal just before going to bed.

You can see I've tried to revisit some classic movies, as well as watching the latest 3D efforts in the cinema. I've also mixed up family friendly stuff with scary gorefests.

Pretty good year, but I want to watch more this year.

I read 21 books in 2009. Here is the list

The Ghost - Robert Harris
Martians, Go Home - Fredric Brown
Esio Trot - Roald Dahl
Just After Sunset - Stephen King
We Think, Therefore We Are - ed. Peter Crowther
Old Man's War - John Scalzi
Brother Odd - Dean Koontz
The Ghost Brigade - John Scalzi
Shock - Richard Matheson
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larson
Shock III - Richard Matheson
The Last Colony - John Scalzi
Random Acts of Heroic Love - Danny Scheinmann
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster
Zoe's Tale - John Scalzi
Double Act - Jacqueline Wilson
The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larson
House of Suns - Alistair Reynolds
Flash Forward - Robert W Sawyer
Bad Science - Ben Goldacre

Outstanding find of the year is the Swedish author Stieg Larson, who sadly died not long after completing his 'Millennium' trilogy of crime novels. I'm currently working my way slowly through the final volume - slowly, because I know there will be no more.

John Scalzi wrote a great book called "Old Man's War" - then followed it with sequels of ever decreasing enjoyment, culminating in the final insult - "Zoe's Tale" - a book which tells the exact same story as the previous entry in the series, from a slightly different point of view. that idea can work, but needs a lot of skill. It didn't work here.

"The Hunger Games" is a real standout. It is teen fiction, but very well done, very gripping right from the beginning.

My last pick of the year is "Bad Science". Ben Goldacre's book is a must read for anyone wanting a little perspective on how we are being sold so much science crap by the media. Full of interesting facts about MMR, MRSA, homeopathy and why the Daily Mail seems to be categorizing every substance known to man into either the cancer curing or cancer causing camp.

Christmas Decorations
All electrical Christmas decorations must be approved and PAT tested (portable appliance tested), incl fibre optic trees etc - Please request this through the Facilities Helpdesk.
Do not pin items to the walls
No decorations to be put up at a height - no step ladders/steps/chairs to be used
No glass baubles
No candle decorations
No unauthorised real Christmas trees in offices
Artificial trees must be flame retardant

...err... Merry Christmas to you too.

Reminds me of this photo I took a few years back.

Here is the Spotify Link

I seem to be getting bored of writing reviews of individual tracks.

I'll try harder next week, but of the new entries into the Top 10 I don't like Leona Lewis, N-Dubz, Britney Spears or Sugababes much. If they stick around till next week, I'll write more.

Finally got JLS on Spotify, it's very uninspiring.

1 The Black Eyed Peas - Meet Me Halfway up 2 | 8 weeks in chart
2 Leona Lewis - Happy new entry | 1 week in chart
3 JLS Everybody - In Love down 2 | 2 weeks in chart
4 Cheryl Cole - Fight For This Love down 2 | 4 weeks in chart
5 N-Dubz - I Need You new entry | 1 week in chart
6 Ke$ha - Tik Tok non-mover | 2 weeks in chart
7 Britney Spears - 3 new entry | 1 week in chart
8 Sugababes - About A Girl new entry | 1 week in chart
9 Jay Sean - Down (feat. Lil Wayne) down 5 | 3 weeks in chart
10 Alexandra Burke - Bad Boys (feat. Flo Rida) down 5 | 5 weeks in chart
11 Lady Gaga - Bad Romance down 1 | 3 weeks in chart
12 Jay-Z - Empire State Of Mind (feat. Alicia Keys) down 1 | 9 weeks in chart
13 Chase & Status - End Credits (feat. Plan B) down 4 | 2 weeks in chart
14 The Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling up 2 | 23 weeks in chart
15 Michael Bublé - Haven't Met You Yet down 8 | 5 weeks in chart
16 Westlife - What About Now down 8 | 3 weeks in chart
17 Robbie Williams - You Know Me new entry | 1 week in chart
18 Miley Cyrus - Party In The Usa down 5 | 3 weeks in chart
19 Whitney Houston - Million Dollar Bill down 5 | 6 weeks in chart
20 Snow Patrol - Just Say Yes down 5 | 2 weeks in chart

1. JLS - Everybody In Love new entry | 1 week in chart

Still haven't heard this one - at least not consciously. Only song not on Spotify. Can't believe that is a good sign.

2. Cheryl Cole - Fight For This Love down 1 | 3 weeks in chart

A catchy song. I like the heavy percussion bass section in the middle (at 2:45). I'm not sure where she has found her slightly urban/London accent from - and it is annoying me more and more.

3. The Black Eyed Peas - Meet Me Halfway up 3 | 7 weeks in chart

Yes another chart entry for Black Eyed Peas. After one listen, it's not too impressive, however, as with many of their previous songs, after a few times, you get to quite like it. Good song.

4. Jay Sean - Down (feat. Lil Wayne) down 1 | 2 weeks in chart

Fairly typical dance orientated track. Someone should lock up the vocoder machine for a few years though.

5. Alexandra Burke - Bad Boys (feat. Flo Rida) down 1 | 4 weeks in chart

Burke's first single since the appalling, but massively selling Hallelujah last Christmas. This is a crowd friendly disco inspired feel of a song. Flo Rida gives a short, and largely ignorable rap in the middle just to give the song a more modern feel. It's OK.

6. Ke$ha - Tik Tok new entry | 1 week in chart

A new name to me - with a very silly '$' symbol in it.

A computer aided vocal to make her sound drunk, and lyrics about binge drinking. It would be funny if she wasn't trying so hard to sound like Lady Gaga - and failing badly due to lack of originality. Then it all goes eurodance. It's catchy, but vacuous.

7. Michael Bublé - Haven't Met You Yet down 2 | 4 weeks in chart

I'm not a huge Bublé fan, I'm not even a big fan of this song, but it's nice to see something a bit more traditional in the chart for a change. I guess this sounds a bit patronising - but the song isn't the strongest. I am suspecting the Terry Wogan and Radio 2 effect here.

8. Westlife - What About Now down 6 | 2 weeks in chart

Westlife seem as strong as ever. This song is one of their very typical ballads, a good track with great vocal performances. it might not suit everyone, but the band do their job well.

9. Chase & Status - End Credits (feat. Plan B) new entry | 1 week in chart

Maybe one day I will be able to look at a new top 10 and recognize every artist. This is my second discovery this week.

I like this one, sounds a bit less electronic than the rest of the chart - makes a nice change.

10. Lady Gaga - Bad Romance up 4 | 2 weeks in chart

If Lady Gaga didn't exist, someone would have to invent her. Almost single handedly giving the charts the good kicking it needs with the most interesting tracks this year. And outrageous videos; if you haven't caught them yet, they are so bonkers you have to watch them several times just to try and get 10% of what they might be about.

Bad romance continues the trend - weirdly addictive gutteral chanting, catchy chorus, and a video better than many science fiction films I've seen.

This is my 5th week, you know the drill by now.

1. Cheryl Cole Fight For This Love non-mover | 2 weeks in chart

Quite a catchy song. I like the heavy percussion bass section in the middle (at 2:45). I'm not sure where she has found her slightly urban/London accent from.

2. Westlife What About Now new entry | 1 week in chart

New entry. Who would have thought 10 years ago, when Westlife appeared as a cheap alternative to Boyzone, that they would still be going. Not me.

However, they seem as strong as ever, and I actually quite liike some of the boy bands. This song is a good track, a ballad with great vocal performances.

3. Jay Sean Down (feat. Lil Wayne) new entry | 1 week in chart

Fairly typical dance orientated track. Someone should lock up the vocoder machine for a few years though.

4. Alexandra Burke Bad Boys (feat. Flo Rida) down 2 | 3 weeks in chart

Burke's first single since the appalling, but massively selling Hallelujah last Christmas. This is a crowd friendly disco inspired feel of a song. Flo Rida gives a short, and largely ignorable rap in the middle just to give the song a more modern feel. It's OK.

5. Michael Bublé Haven't Met You Yet up 4 | 3 weeks in chart

I'm not a huge Bublé fan, I'm not even a big fan of this song, but it's nice to see something a bit more traditional in the chart for a change. I guess this sounds a bit patronising - but the song isn't the strongest. I am suspecting the Terry Wogan and Radio 2 effect here.

6. The Black Eyed Peas Meet Me Halfway up 5 | 6 weeks in chart

Yes another chart entry for Black Eyed Peas. You might think from a first listen that this isn't much good. However, as with previous songs, after a few times, you get to quite like it. Good song.

7. Chipmunk Oopsy Daisy down 4 | 4 weeks in chart

English incoherent rapping, with metaphors based on baseball (baseball love/three strikes/home run) for some weird reason. The female vocal is OK and has grown on me, but I could do without the rap.

8. Whitney Houston Million Dollar Bill down 3 | 4 weeks in chart

Whitney has lost a lot of her trademark sound, her vocal is a lot less piercing. This is not a bad thing in my opinion, but nevertheless, without that, she is just another identikit vocalist. It sounds a bit old fashioned in a disco'ey 1970s way - a bit boring.

9. Robbie Williams Bodies down 5 | 3 weeks in chart

I don't like Robbie Williams songs in general, and this is no exception. Happily, it's falling down the charts already.

Mostly it's the lyrics on this one I dislike. From what I have made out so far, they just seem like random gibberish on a religion theme. Then it's the delivery, Robbie's odd singing/not singing verses, and sweeping chorus where he almost, but not quite, sings. Is that chorus the same as the Millennium one?

Truely terrible.

10. The Black Eyed Peas I Gotta Feeling down 3 | 21 weeks in chart

Second entry from this group in the Top 10. I've gotten to like this once more as the weeks go by - it took me a long time to get the massive "Where is the Love?" as well. This is a fun song, with a feel good lyric. Something you'd definitely want to play before going out partying.

Back next week.

This is my 4th week, and I'm starting to get used to the songs. This is due to the cumulative effect of remembering tracks that have endured through the weeks, with a only few new entries. And I've also been watching the music channels on Sky.

1. Cheryl Cole - Fight For This Love 5/10 new entry | 1 week in chart

There was never any doubt that this would go straight in at Number One. Cole got massive viewing figures on the X-Factor on TV last weekdnd, and an endorsement from Simon Cowell. Also, it is quite a catchy song. I like the heavy percussion bass section in the middle (at 2:45). I'm not sure where she has found her slightly urban/London accent from.

2. Alexandra Burke - Bad Boys (feat. Flo Rida) 5/10 down 1 | 2 weeks in chart

Burke's first single since the appalling, but massively selling Hallelujah last Christmas. The X-Factor winner has taken her time and come back with a completely different kind of song, a crowd friendly disco inspired feel of a song. Flo Rida gives a short, and largely ignorable rap in the middle just to give the song a more modern feel.

I think it's just OK, still.

3. Chipmunk - Oopsy Daisy 4/10 non mover | 3 weeks in chart

English incoherent rapping, with metaphors based on baseball (baseball love/three strikes/home run) for some weird reason. The female vocal is OK and has grown on me, but I could do without the rap.

4. Robbie Williams - Bodies 4/10 down 2 | 2 weeks in chart

I don't like Robbie Williams songs in general, and this is no exception.

Mostly it's the lyrics. from what I have made out so far, they just seem like random gibberish on a religion theme. Then it's the delivery, Robbie's odd singing/not singing verses, and sweeping chorus where he almost, but not quite, sings. Is that chorus the same as the Millennium one?

Truely terrible.

5. Whitney Houston - Million Dollar Bill 5/10 up 9 | 3 weeks in chart

Didn't realise this was lower in the chart last week. I guess it was the appearance on X-Factor (which I didn't see) which has pushed it up. This is the third X-Factor related track in the top 5. Whitney has lost a lot of her trademark sound, her vocal is a lot less piercing. This is not a bad thing in my opinion, but nevertheless, without that, she is just another identikit vocalist. It sounds a bit old fashioned in a disco'ey 1970s way - a bit boring.

6. Taio Cruz - Break Your Heart 7/10 down 2 | 6 weeks in chart

Definitely my favourite track in the Top 10. This one is really catchy and has some staying power. Quite a clever lyric too, so all round a great song.

7. The Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling 6/10 down 1 | 20 weeks in chart

I'm getting to like this once more as the weeks go by - it took me a long time to get "Where is the Love?" as well. This is a fun song, with a feel good lyric. Something you'd definitely want to play before going out partying. just realised that it's been in the chart for 20 weeks - seriously, it's not that good.

8. Jay-Z - Empire State Of Mind 5/10 (feat. Alicia Keys) down 3 | 6 weeks in chart

Rapping terribly dull, Alicia Keys singing section screechy and annoying. She is so talented this is a waste, like that James Bond theme last year which did her no favours.

9. Michael Bublé - Haven't Met You Yet 5/10 non mover | 2 weeks in chart

I'm not a huge Bublé fan, I'm not even a big fan of this song, but it's nice to see something a bit more traditional in the chart for a change. I guess this sounds a bit patronising - but the song isn't the strongest. I am suspecting the Terry Wogan and Radio 2 effect here.

10. Young Soul Rebels - I Got Soul new entry - 1 week in chart

Billed as an "Urban soul super group", this is a charity single along the same lines as Band Aid with new artists including Pixie Lott, N-Dubz, tinchy Stryder and Chipmunk. Unfortunately, Spotify have removed this song, so I only heard it once. Sounded enough like the original to me to make no difference. Charity singles are rarely good, this is no exception.

If you played me any of these, I can now identify the track, and artist. Four weeks ago when I started doing this that was impossible - I don't think I'd have gotten one.

Listen on Spotify

1. Alexandra Burke - Bad Boys (feat. Flo Rida) 5/10 new entry | 1 weeks in chart

Burke's first single since the appalling, but massively selling Hallelujah last Christmas. The X-Factor wiiner has taken her time and come back with a completely different kind of song, a crowd friendly disco inspired feel of a song. Flo Rida gives a short, and largely ignorable rap in the middle just to give the song a more modern feel.

Give me a week or two to hear this more, but so far it seems just OK.

2. Robbie Williams - Bodies 4/10 new entry | 1 weeks in chart

Apparently if you make a new record, when you've spent a couple of years off, they call it a comeback these days. So Robbie is back. I should probably say here that I've hated his past records, so the chances of me liking this were slim. And lo, it came to pass, that I hate this song - a lot.

Mostly it's the lyrics. from what I have made out so far, they just seem like random gibberish on a religion theme. Then it's the delivery, Robbie's odd singing/not singing verses, and sweeping chorus where he almost, but not quite, sings. Is that chorus the same as the Millennium one?

Truely aweful.

3. Chipmunk - Oopsy Daisy 4/10 down 2 | 2 weeks in chart

English incoherent rapping, with metaphors based on baseball (three strikes/home run) for some weird reason. The female vocal is OK, but it's all a bit dull.

4. Taio Cruz - Break Your Heart 7/10 non-mover | 5 weeks in chart

This one has grown on me a lot. Nice melody, a bit throw away but pleasant to listen to. Quite a clever lyric.

5. Jay-Z - Empire State Of Mind 5/10 (feat. Alicia Keys) down 2 | 5 weeks in chart

Rapping terribly dull, Alicia Keys singing section screechy and annoying. She is so talented this is a waste, like that James Bond theme last year which did her no favours.

6. The Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling 6/10 up 2 | 19 weeks in chart

I'm getting to like this once more as the weeks go by - it took me a long time to get "Where is the Love?" as well. It's a fun song, with a feel good lyric. Something you'd definitely want to play before going out partying.

7. Shakira - She Wolf 6/10 non-mover | 6 weeks in chart

The voice manipulation is a bit rubbish and unnecessary as Shakira has a very distinctive vocal sound already. Not a bad song though - grows on you. Agree with a comment I read about the wolf howl - a very half hearted effort. The video has to be seen to be believed - that girl is bendy.

8. The Saturdays - Forever Is Over down 6 | 2 weeks in chart

Still not available on Spotify - review to follow maybe, but had a quick listen to a 30s preview and wasn't that impressed.

9. Michael Bublé - Haven't Met You Yet 5/10 new entry | 1 weeks in chart

This new entry is a breath of fresh air. I'm not a huge Bublé fan, I'm not even a big fan of this song, but it's nice to see something a bit more traditional in the chart for a change. I guess this sounds a bit patronising - but the song isn't the strongest. Is he the housewife's choice? I am suspecting the Terry Wogan effect here.

10. David Guetta - Sexy Chick (feat. Akon) 3/10 down 5 | 10 weeks in chart

Average dance sound - vocoder vocals. Lamenting the days when songs with derogarory terms about girls in the lyrics wouldn't get on the radio. This is lazy writing. But have discovered that I was listening to the album version last week - the single uses 'chick' instead of 'bitch', even though they deliberately mispronounce it to rhyme with 'bitch'. Why can't they just write one song - have some integrity, and take the radio ban