Skip to main content

'University Challenged 2017/18: Volume Nine (18.09.17)'


Tonight’s University Challenge wasn’t an overly gripping affair, although I did enjoy the serious intensity of Oxlade.

Everything he said - as I mentioned in a tweet - appeared to be in inverted commas, and it wasn’t so much as if he enjoyed taking part; more that he was driven by some inner urgency to compete, like the world would end if he didn’t answer each question as best he could.

The episode was also notable for Howe’s terribly quasi-psychedelic jumper, which looked like it had been knitted (or ‘knat?’) by George Harrison’s mum as an outfit for his trip to Height Asbury. It really truly wasn’t a good look.

See below for today’s UC-based Twitter ramblings:

Leicester Vs. Fitzwilliam - Cambridge.

8:02PM: Aldred with his egghead.

8:02PM: Howe's jumper is a sensory explosion.

8:03PM: Tindall's severe, Bond villain eyebrows.

8:04PM: Oxlade speaks like he's doing a voice-over, while pulling his best voice-over face.

8:05PM: Howe's jumper is officially a war crime and should be tried as such at The Hague.

8:06PM: Even Gyles Brandreth wouldn't wear that jumper; a jumper so bad, I don't need to point out who's wearing it.

8:07PM: French isn't.

8:08PM: Howe's jumper looks like an Opal Fruit's vomit.

8:08PM Oxlade would like to be Roger Moore.

8:10PM: Just when you think Howe's jumper isn't bad enough... ...his shirt.

8:11PM: Oxlade says everything "LIKE THIS".

8:12PM: Oxlade could out-stern Paxman.

8:16PM: The person who knitted Howe's jumper was attempting to document a late-Sixties acid trip in wool.

8:24PM: Howe's magical mystery jumper is waiting to take you away, 
waiting to take you away, 
take you today. 
(I buried Paxman.)



8:25PM: Howe's depressed face doesn't sit comfortably with his choice of outfit.

8:26PM: Oxlade.



8:28PM: Oxlade says "pass" like it's an answer.

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Not The Bayeux One.

The Carole King album Tapestry has been my 'getting-ready-in-the-morning' soundtrack for the past few weeks.  It's been a favourite album ever since I was a student, which makes for a pleasantly gentle way to usher in the start of a day. I've always been a fan of a well-crafted song, which is something of a Carole King hallmark, ever since she started writing with her first husband in the early Sixties. Tapestry may be an unimaginative choice for a favourite LP, as it suggests I haven't delved that far into her career, but it's still an undoubted classic; anything with '(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman', 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?' and 'You've Got A Friend' on it can't really fail; if nothing else, it proves she likes writing songs with long titles.  Next month, she's set to perform the album live in its entirety for the first time at a gig in Hyde Park, which I would have loved to have gone to, if it weren...
Read more

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Have Parker from Thunderbirds and Noel Gallagher ever been seen in the same room? The resemblance is uncanny. So much so, I think something’s afoot. If my suspicions are correct, I've stumbled across a secret that will blow the music and puppet industry wide apart. In the mid-60s / mid-90s at least. It doesn’t take long to see the signposts. There’s the similarity between the name of Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, and Supermarianation, Gerry Anderson’s puppetry technique. The Gallagher brothers would often wear Parkas . Live Forever was clearly a reference to Captain Scarlet and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to the size difference between Noel and his bandmates. The more you think about it, the more brazen it gets. It’s fishier than Area 51, Paul is Dead and JFK's assassination put together. The only glitch to the theory is scale . According to Wikipedia, Anderson’s marionettes were 1’10” and Gallagher is 5’8”. How does he maintain an illusion of avera...
Read more

'Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream..."

While I’ve been practising meditation for quite some time now, I’ve recently taken to using the mindfulness app 'Headspace' . If you’ve never meditated before, or you’re an old hand at it, it’s a great resource, offering daily ten-minute guided meditations that create a sense of progress, rather than stagnating and going through the same process every day. Until I started using the app, I’d often listen to a handful of audio guided meditations I have on my phone in case of a brain emergency. If you see me with my eyes closed and my earphones in on public transport, I’m probably doing this (unless I’m sleeping and using this blog as an elaborate alibi). While the tracks on my phone are great, they can get a little repetitive as I become too familiar with them and start to anticipate everything the person on the recording will say. This is where Headspace is great, as it offers you a daily course with a different focus each day, as well as pl...
Read more