http://www.mitchbenn.com en admin@notbbc.co.uk Fri, 07 Dec 2007 21:02:01 +0000 http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/468/weight_blah.html Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:54:28 +0100 About 22st 5lb, I reckon, so another 3lb lost.  This is going better than I'd hoped so far; the weight loss is bound to slow down to one or two pounds a week soon, but thanks again for all your support. http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/467/weight_watch.html Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:05:10 +0100 See what I did there? I've got a new watch. Out of necessity, mainly; the one I'd been wearing for the last year or so had disintegrated and was being held on with a bit of gafffer tape. Not a good look. In fairness it did cost a fiver from a stall on Tottenham Court Road so I think I got my money's worth out of it.I've got a new watch. Out of necessity, mainly; the one I'd been wearing for the last year or so had disintegrated and was being held on with a bit of gafffer tape. Not a good look. In fairness it did cost a fiver from a stall on Tottenham Court Road so I think I got my money's worth out of it. However, rather than simply pick up another cheapo one to tide me over, Clara suggested I get a good one as a sort of self-reward for losing two stone. Apparently a lot of people run these little incentive schemes for themselves to help them sustain a weight-loss programme. While I'm sure it helps, if "incentive" were all I needed to lose weight I'd have done it decades ago: "So, if I do this, I'll be able to wear what I like, I'll feel better than I've ever felt before, I'll be less self-conscious, more self-confident, I won't be permanently saddled with feelings of guilt and inadequacy, I'll smell better and I'll live for twenty years longer, but what's in it for ME?" http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/466/very_funny.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:34:32 +0100 (if you get it) Clara, on her way to bed, has pointed out that I haven't done a blog entry since Monday, and she's right. I wouldn't want this place's sole purpose to become me showing off about how much weight I've lost, but on the other hand I'm rather under the gun at the moment; it's 1.30am and I HAVE to get my Now Show stuff finished WITHOUT doing my usual staying-up-till-9am thing, as tomorrow's recording - for reasons which rather escape me - is happening at the Latitude rock festival in Southwold, which will require me getting into the centre of town by 1pm in order to get on The Now Show Minibus. Gaah. http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/465/wibbly_wobbly_scaleywaley.html Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:33:39 +0100 Okay, as far as I can tell from my bouncy mechanical scales, today I weigh either 22st 8lb or 22st 9lb.  Think I'll go with 22 8 as a. I'm feeling sympathetic towards myself as for some reason I couldn't sleep last night, and b. because it sets a bigger challenge for next week. In any event I've now lost over two stone.  http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/464/party.html Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:09:39 +0100 Previously on Desperate Housewizards... So on Friday night I was at the Union Club on Greek Street for Jon Culshaw's birthday party (yes, I was invited); much fun was had and MUCH drink flowed, all of it on Jon's tab, the silly, generous man that he is.So on Friday night I was at the Union Club on Greek Street for Jon Culshaw's birthday party (yes, I was invited); much fun was had and MUCH drink flowed, all of it on Jon's tab, the silly, generous man that he is. I re-made a few acquaintances, specifically Sylvester McCoy, who'd been a guest on Out There, the paranormal talk show I used to host back in the early days of digital TV (and who either remembered me or did a creditable job of pretending to) and Nicola Bryant, who I'd met a few years ago at a Cult TV convention (and on whom I had the most insane crush back in the 80s, but then all male Who fans of my vintage did); she's about to open in a stage adaptation of Don't Look Now in the Julie Christie part. http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/463/rather_good_fan_vid.html Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:14:58 +0100 There are quite a few "fan-vids" people have made to accompany my songs on YouTube just now; some of them have obviously involved a bit of work, some of them just dub the song onto a single still or caption (but hey, if it gets my work heard by people who otherwise wouldn't it's ok by me); this one is the best to appear for a while. I've put it up on the Videos page but I thought it deserved a bit more attention so here it is: http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/452/apples_and_lemons.html Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:51:39 +0100 iDon'tPhone (yet) I notice that they've been doing the whole queueing-up-all-night-thing outside the New York Apple Store in anticipation of the lauch of the new iPhone... I wonder if any of the current queuers were in the same queue a couple of years ago in the hope of being among the first to own an original iPhone, and subsequently complained bitterly a few months later when Apple halved the price. Bet you some of them were. Early Adopters never learn.I notice that they've been doing the whole queueing-up-all-night-thing outside the New York Apple Store in anticipation of the lauch of the new iPhone... I wonder if any of the current queuers were in the same queue a couple of years ago in the hope of being among the first to own an original iPhone, and subsequently complained bitterly a few months later when Apple halved the price. Bet you some of them were. Early Adopters never learn. I'm impressed with the iPhone as a piece of design, as I always am with anything Apple do, although I'm not that enticed by it yet. I think Apple were a bit surprised that the rabid enthusiasm that greeted its US launch wasn't quite replicated over here, but that's more a reflection of the fact that American mobile telephony is a good few years behind European, technologically speaking. The Americans had literally never seen anything like the iPhone; we'd all seen phones that could do everything the iPhone does and indeed more, if perhaps not quite so stylishly. It didn't even shoot videos, which my little Sony Ericsson does, and I got that for free. http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/440/i_expect_better_than_this.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:20:00 +0100 ... much better In many ways I'm the archetypal Guardian reader. I grew up in a Guardian reading household, I've contributed to it myself a couple of times and I'm pretty much the model of the sort of smug liberal intellectual it's aimed at. Which is why this rather made my gorge rise.In many ways I'm the archetypal Guardian reader. I grew up in a Guardian reading household, I've contributed to it myself a couple of times and I'm pretty much the model of the sort of smug liberal intellectual it's aimed at. Which is why this rather made my gorge rise. Come on guys, you're not the bloody Sun or the Express. You're just as appalled as the rest of us when one of the trashloids drags out all the wearisome and skin-crawling Nazi clichés ahead of any and every sporting clash between Enger-land and Germany, so why are you stooping to that level? http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/439/weight_update_again.html Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:42:50 +0100 It's Monday and I've bought ANOTHER set of scales. So, back to Argos with a mutinous Greta in tow (the sheer tedium of shopping in Argos never quite hits you until you're forced to experience it vicariously from the point of view of a two-year old); swapped the crappy electronic scales for some ol' fashioned mechanical ones. Less to go wrong or that's the theory anyway.So, back to Argos with a mutinous Greta in tow (the sheer tedium of shopping in Argos never quite hits you until you're forced to experience it vicariously from the point of view of a two-year old); swapped the crappy electronic scales for some ol' fashioned mechanical ones. Less to go wrong or that's the theory anyway. Well they work; how accurate they are is hard to tell (that's the case with any scales, mind you). In particular when I'm on 'em the needle does wobble a lot (possibly because I'm right up near the end of their tolerance) and as such you do rather have to make a good guess based on where it's wobbling to and from. In any event I reckon they're showing my weight as somewhere around 22st 12lb, so that's what I've told the WW site and that's what I'm posting here. I'll be able to chart my general progress with these scales which if anything matters more to me than knowing exactly what I weigh at any given time. http://www.mitchbenn.com/blog/438/arse.html Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:03:40 +0100 Spoil this and I'll find you and kill you So I'm in Leeds, sitting in the foyer of the Radisson Hotel, where they have an internet terminal which guests (like myself) can use for free. Finding this terminal gave me a glimmer of hope, one that has now been dashed as it turns out that this computer is way too old and shonky to handle BBC iPlayer (took two or three goes to log onto this blog, which should give you an idea how old and shonky).