Musical musings

So, on the car on the way into work I was listening to The Firm's Star Trekkin', and two thoughts struck me.

Firstly, what the heck happened to The Firm? As far as I'm aware this, and their earlier Minder-related work Arthur Daley ('e's Alright), were the only occasions on which they graced the charts. I think that's a shame, as I genuinely wouldn't mind to hear more of their TV show-based novelty records - I suspect they'd have made a more interesting record about Doctor Who than The Timelords' "mash-up the theme tune with some old glam rock records and bung a few samples on top of it" Doctorin' the TARDIS. And having been listening to an extensive selection of late '90s number one singles as part of mine and Tim's "collect every number one ever" project, I'm convinced that there are some occasions on which the record-buying public just collectively decide to take the pee; there doesn't seem to be any other explanation for Spacedust's Gym and tonic, compared to which Star Trekkin' seems positively sane.

Secondly - it's been 24 years since Star Trekkin'. To put that in perspective, it made number one a few months before ST:TNG started in the USA, and some considerable time before it made it over to the UK. Aren't we due some new mixes? Star Trekkin': The Next Generation with all the parts updated for the new cast (Captain Jean-Luc Picard..."we come in peace...shoot to...erm, I mean: Make it so..."); Star Trekkin': Deep Space Nine, all string pads and dub basslines; Star Trekkin': Enterprise, in which the whole record is played backwards and still works better as a TV theme tune than some old tosh written by Diane Warren; and finally, a totally new re-working, Star Trekkin': The J J Abrams Version, sung by Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto as a romantic duet.

ETA: And no, I don't have a Star Trek userpic. Have a Star Cops one instead.

On the subject of Number One singles...

...I've just discovered that I can't listen to Backstreet Boys' I want it that way without thinking of Weird Al's eBay song.

Which is a relief, on the whole.

I always thought...

...that being a Spanish place, Ibiza was pronounced...well, as a Spanish word, with the "z" taking a "th" sound. Despite this, the Vengaboys seem to be (or to have been 12 years ago) pronouncing it...well, to rhyme with "pizza".

My head may asplode.

My tweets

• Wed, 14:03: Oh, stop it. http://j.mp/qX3Vgk
• Wed, 15:31: Disorganised as ever. http://j.mp/mUaCOI
• Wed, 19:00: What? http://j.mp/nsfkeR
• Thu, 09:47: Musical musings http://j.mp/ofc2te
• Thu, 10:14: On the subject of Number One singles... http://j.mp/nPdjpG
• Thu, 11:48: I always thought... http://j.mp/n2CMcN

One of those "I don't often do this sort of thing" posts...

Food recommendations.

If you like fish, and you're either a.) on a tight budget, b.) pressed for time, or c.) both, I can recommend these two rather scrummy fish products. Links are to the Tesco website, but other supermarkets are available (although the second product is a Tesco own).

Firstly, Young's "It's in the bag" haddock fillet. Microwave for 7½ minutes (or longer if, like ours, your microwave is on the fritz. That, however, is not the fault of the manufacturer of the fish product nor of the supermarket selling it), and hey presto, a nice substantial bit of haddock in a rather delicious wholegrain mustard and butter sauce. What's better is you get two bits in a £2:99 packet. Bargain or what?

Secondly, Tesco fish pie. I love fish pies, and often make my own (except that, well, they end up more soups than pies. But anyway). Quite often I'll start buying one regularly, and then after a few months the manufacturer will change the recipe, introducing garlic or onion into the mix. If you're like Sarah or Tim or my mum, you'll tell me, "oh you won't taste the garlic or onion" (in which case, why put it in there?), but honestly, I don't like garlic or onion and don't like eating food that contains either of them, and there it is (Nando's being an honourable exception, admittedly). So this wins. No garlic, no onion, just pollock in a cheese sauce with mashed potatoes on top. And like the haddock, it's a bit of a bargain - £2:10 a pack, or 3 for £5:00! For a while we managed to quite stock the fridge up with them (I was living off them, I swear), until the local Tesco Express sold out. Erm!

Anyway, both lovely, and I normally cook a tin of potatoes and a tin of peas to go with them (your taste in veg may differ). Not much time to prepare, not much washing up afterwards, and not much money spent.

This has been a public service announcement. Normal service will be resumed.

(ETA: My fish soup recipe.. Thank goodness I tagged it.)

Exciting news...

...from the fine folks at Blogtor Who, that Invasion of the Dinosaurs and The Android Invasion will be getting a DVD release in a UNIT boxed set, probably in the UK on January 9th and in the US (as separate releases and boxed) on January 10th.

Particularly exciting is that Steve Roberts has hinted on Gallifrey Base that although episode one will be in black and white, there may be some sort of colour presentation of it as well - there were known issues with the colour recovery, with all the blues not really coming across at all well (in an episode featuring the blue TARDIS on a day with clear blue skies and the Doctor emerging in a blue jacket...well, potential problems there), but it looks as if there might be an "as good as we can possibly get it" version on there.