#totp fans: is it well known among you lot that Lou Bega is a selectable dictator in the video game Tropico?
Or is that just for people who are both pop nerds and game nerds?

Are you aware that A*Teens competed in Melodifestivalen this year?
They got to the final but did not win, so the rest of Europe won’t get to experience that reunion. At least not yet.

“I’m feeling Semisonic, give me gin-less tonic”

In recent years, I have come to quite enjoy Closing Time. I have a general affection for that brand of lame shit when I’m doing karaoke.
But I gave it no attention when it first came out, because Secret Smile had made me completely write off Semisonic already. I do not regret this.

THAT’S what you get for never sending me that VHS of The Acid House that I won on your show in 1999, Scott Mills.

Fortunately that looks a lot like our drive, so I could tell it was somewhere on our estate.
Did a bit of a wander. A helpful neighbour had picked it up and put it in his garage for safety, and correctly clocked me as a man looking for a parcel.

Photo of a parcel in the middle of a driveway, in front of a garage door. It's just been plonked on the floor, even though it has clearly snowed recently.

Did I already show you this delivery photo from a couple of months ago?
This is not our driveway.

Marquise - "Chuva" | 1ª Semifinal | Festival da Canção 2026 YouTube video by Festival da Canção

And also this fun bit of shoegaze really stood out in a Portuguese contest otherwise filled with the sort of shit Portugal usually send

youtu.be/pPHCiLC_3FM?...

wavvyboi – „black glitter“ YouTube video by Eurovision Song Contest | Deutschland

Was charmed by this lad who came a close second in the German final, and his excellent name

youtu.be/PgWypv1OkJ4?...

It’s also made me feel a lot better about my understanding of German and Swedish. I’m not _great_ at them, but can kinda keep up. The contrast is very noticeable compared to watching four hour shows in Italian and Portuguese, neither of which I know at all.

In the last week, I have watched four Eurovision national finals, having watched only one last year, and none before that.
It’s mostly really fun, like having extra Eurovision - especially important when actual Eurovision is in a bad state right now.

Are any of these the £70 Luigi that got away? Afraid I’m not very good at identifying £70 Luigis myself.

Mug featuring a drawing of Brett Anderson from Suede, overlaid with the text "Tea's in fashion".

Like most households, we already have more than enough mugs.
But how am I going to resist getting this for one pound.

Even more fun than playing Revolution 9 in Beatles Rock Band.
(They did not include Revolution 9 in Beatles Rock Band)

A photograph of a jigsaw of Beatles album covers. Taken in the shop, where i chose not to buy it. The Beatles (aka the White Album) is indeed taking up a significant amount of space while being mostly plain white)

A jigsaw of Beatles album covers sounds very briefly like a fun idea, until the second it takes you to remember the White Album.

theoatmeal.com/pl/minor_dif...

Me, posing with a new randomly-generated new year's resolution. "Less smoking weed; more board games"

My new resolutions for next year seem somewhat achievable, if I smoke some weed in the next 20 minutes

Me, holding a board and a couple of pieces of card indicating a randomly-generated pair of new year's resolutions: "Fewer computer games; more ice cold baths"

Just looking back at the new year's resolutions the generator gave me last year, and it turns out I've surprised myself by actually unconsciously doing them.

I held on for longer than most, and was still watching music tv regularly up until that big switch-off last year. It was pretty much the only reason I’d been paying for cable tv, but the remainder since then have only been serving the most predictable nostalgia, and hardly any new pop music.

I’ve already cancelled my cable tv, so I didn’t watch the death of MTV today, but Together In Electric Dreams was a lovely choice for the final playout on MTV 80s.

I was in the pub with workmates the other day talking about this, and none of them had even heard of Daphne & Celeste.
So they weren’t that impressed by my being there (Reading in my case) and like five rows from the front.

Manic Street Preachers - Little Baby Nothing with Kylie Minogue - Shepherd's Bush Empire 15/12/96 YouTube video by MSPpedia

SLIGHTLY SCRATCHY BOOTLEG RECORDING OF THE DAY: Kylie Minogue performing Little Baby Nothing with the Manics at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, 15/12/96: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2au...

The hotel where attendees of the Convervative Party conference are staying, surrounded by temporary metal fences. The metal fences are adorned with brightly-coloured vague adverts for the concept of Manchester

This is kinda grim isn't it? "Welcome" and "VisitManchester.com" pasted on the metal fences they've put up to make sure that Tory conference attendees don't accidentally interact with Mancunians.

The People That Don't Give a Fuck - Classic T-Shirt This is our best seller for a reason. Relaxed, tailored and ultra-comfortable, you'll love the way you look in this durable, reliable classic.  100% pre-shrunk cotton (heather gray color is 90% cotton...

@numetalagenda.bsky.social did a cool t-shirt of this.

store.numetalagenda.com/products/the...

Arthur Bostrom, in his much-loved role as Officer Crabtree in ‘Allo, ‘Allo!

There were a couple of repeat games, but mostly new ones and that’s good enough for me. Highlight was when they each had to make a cheese sandwich, and the closest to 470 grams wins.

Finished episode 2 of Schlag Den Raab, and I’m just loving how ruthlessly competitive he is, even though he doesn’t stand to win anything.
I’m no longer sure who the ideal UK equivalent would be; Paddy McGuinness would show too much mercy.
Perhaps one of my hyper-competitive faves from Taskmaster?

And don’t worry: comments are switched on for this ad, and someone has correctly commented “get off-a ya face”

Advert for a book called “Modern Psychedelics”, with the subtitle “the handbook for mindful exploration”. The author’s name is Joe Dolce

It’s moderately surprising that Reddit’s algorithm has chosen to serve me an advert for this book about psychedelics, but that wouldn’t be worth a reshare on its own.
But when the author is called Joe Dolce, I have no choice but to tell the world.

There _was_ a UK version - presented by Vernon Kay because it was ITV in 2008 - but it’s not appealing: prerecorded and only 75 minutes is coward shit. And having a different celeb each week isn’t as cool.
I’d be much more excited if we’d committed to Beat The McGuinness or something.