FOR ALL you Beatles fans – on a roll these days are you not? – YouTube have something that will sober you up. Search YouTube under “worst cover of a Beatles song ever”.
There on stage in all its hideous glory is some class of a Russian choir, members all decked out in little sailor suits and absolutely murdering Let It Be. And we mean murdering – so awful its good!
As of last night, it was enjoyed by 83,392 viewers with lots of the comments in Russian (translations please to magpie@irish-times.ie).
In other Fab Four related news pop pickers, it seems that a spoof trailer for a Beatles version of Grand Theft Auto, in which the Fab Four go on a killing spree in Liverpool, has been posted on the web to coincide with the imminent release of The Beatles: Rock Band. See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/6131492/The-Beatles-from-Rock-Band-to-Grand-Theft-Auto.htmlfor details . . .
HOW MUCH would you be willing to pay for the opportunity to have dinner with Sarah Palin (we must warn you that husband Todd would be tagging along)? It seems that the winner of the top prize in a charity auction on eBay will get to dine with the former governor of Alaska.
The 10-day auction began on Tuesday, with the opening bid set at $25,000.
All money will go to Ride2Recovery, which helps wounded military veterans with their rehabilitation through cycling schemes.
As of last night, four bidders were duelling for the delight of breaking bread with La Palin, with some deranged soul prepared to stump up $37,700. Search eBay under “private dinner for five with Sarah Palin”.
One catch: you gotta get to Wasilla, Alaska, on yar own steam if ya win buddy . . . A poor alternative is lunch with Karl Rove and three friends at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse in Washington DC for which bidding starts at $7,500. Further details from http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/53203,news,sarah-palin-puts-herself-and-husband-todd-up-for-auction-ride-2-recovery-e-bay?DCMP=NLC-daily
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INSURER AVIVA commissioned a survey to identify the public’s top 10 favourite gobbledygook phrases in order to mark the fact its website has received the Internet Crystal Mark for simple and direct language by Plain English Campaign. A total of 4,000 people took part and here is the top 10:
1: George W Bush, August 5th, 2004: “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways gobbledygook to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”
2: Arnold Schwarzenegger, election campaign, 2003: “I think that gay marriage should be between a man and a woman.”
3: Donald Rumsfeld, US department of defence news briefing, February 12th, 2002: “Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”
4: Murray Walker, motor racing commentator: “The lead car is absolutely unique, except for the one behind it which is identical.”
5: John Motson, BBC football commentator: “For those of you watching in black and white, Spurs are playing in yellow.”
6: Gordon Brown, prime minister’s question time, July 1st, 2009: “Total spending will continue to rise and it will be a zero per cent rise in 2013-14.”
7.:Bill Clinton, during his 1998 grand jury testimony about Monica Lewinsky: “It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is. If ‘is’ means ‘is and never has been’ that’s one thing – if it means ‘there is none’, that was a completely true statement.”
8: Eric Cantona, footballer, press conference, 1995: “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.”
9: George W Bush, Rome, July 22nd, 2001: “I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe – I believe what I believe is right.”
10: Boris Johnson, on BBC TV’s Have I Got News for You, 2003: “I could not fail to disagree with you less.”