I recently noticed on the BBC website that they’d created a word cloud of Barack Obama’s Cairo speech. It revealed that he used the word ‘people’ most often, followed by ‘America’, ‘must’ and ‘world’. Though it’s not really as useful, statistically speaking, as a plain old bar chart it certainly looks far more interesting!

It’s more art than science but that’s just the way I like it.  So I went to www.wordle.net and created my own using the text of this blog…

What do you think?

I’ve come across a website called WikiHow. While some might find it useful, I often find it hilarious. Much like Wikipedia, members of the public write and edit articles that offer useful and practical advice on all manner of topics.

Perhaps Sir Alan and his protégées should take a look at the following articles:

• How Not to be Annoying
• How to Have Respect for Yourself
• How to Have Good Manners
• How to Cope with Annoying People
• How to Stop Swearing
• How to Deal with Stress

I strongly urge you to read the articles if you have time. They give very thorough yet sometimes down-right obvious advice…

“Do not go around poking people constantly. In fact, don’t touch them at all if they don’t like it“…

After seeing Lego’s Frank Lloyd Wright sets I had a look around on the web for other examples of Lego architecture. It seems it’s a booming art-form and the results are pretty amazing.

I found a Flickr group dedicated to Lego Architecture and Design and this Eames House really stood out for me…

Isn’t it stunning? It was built by Stacy Sterling and you can even see inside the house on this page.  If you dig around on that site you can also see an amazing diner she’s made and lots of examples of other people’s work.

It’s all making me want to get the Lego out of my mum’s attic and have a go myself. I’ll let you know if I do!

Oh my goodness, I’ve just found a present I REALLY want for Christmas! Take a look at this.

I used to love playing with lego when I was younger. I had a snowmobile/ snow rescue kit that I used to build, break-down and rebuild endlessly. I also had an entire box full of random pieces and used to create all sorts of houses for my little lego men.

I’m really not joking when I say I want one of these. I’d love to spend a Sunday afternoon trying to work out how to put it together. The only drawback would be having to find somewhere to display it once finished. But I can cross that bridge when I get there!

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about an Alain de Botton lecture on the Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. Though I was given a copy of the book for my birthday I’ve not got around to reading it yet. Ooops!

But, I’ve just found that the Monocle website has produced a slideshow all about it, which is narrated by Alain himself. If you’re interested, click here to watch it…

I’m pretty sure Alain explains the ideas behind his book better than I did!

As you know, I was toying with going to see Angels and Demons at the cinema. But on Friday I happened to catch Mark Kermode’s review on Radio 5 Live. As ever, he was hilarious and the film took quite a battering…

With the words “inter-galactically stupid” ringing in our ears, we decided to see State of Play instead on Saturday. It’s a really great political thriller and I’d certainly recommend you watch it at the cinema.

The only low point of the evening was when half the audience left as soon as the credits started, even though they were being shown over an important final sequence. I got quite upset that, given the high quality of the film, people weren’t prepared to watch it right through to the end. But obviously a director’s hard work is nothing compared to getting out of the car park first!?!?

Wow, it’s been quite a while since I posted. I’ve been rather snowed under with job applications and not doing or thinking much else!

But my weekend started early yesterday with a trip to the new and improved Little Chef at Popham. Did you see the television series in which Heston Blumenthal made it over? Well I watched it avidly and was very excited to try the new food and see the revamped restaurant.

And I certainly wasn’t disappointed. The food was delicious and came out so quickly it interrupted our game of Connect Four (probably provided for kids…).  I had macaroni cheese and then shared a chocolate pudding topped with popping candy which was a lot of fun.

But I did occasionally get my restaurant makeover shows confused. While tucking into a fresh and tasty green salad I had to remind myself that it wasn’t amazingly surprising – Gordon Ramsay hadn’t been in there chucking rotting food about just months earlier!

All in all, it was an experience I’d recommend. I just feel sorry for the other Little Chef, about a mile down the road, that’s still got the old decor and looked a lot emptier as we passed it.

Yet again I’m feeling very sophisticated, because we went to Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club on Friday. One of our friends is an amazing trumpeter and we saw him perform with the London Horns (they toured with Kylie!!!). We had a lovely time drinking strange cocktails and listening to the music.

But I do have a confession. At points I would drift off and then realise I’d become completely fixated on watching the group in front of us having dinner. I was hypnotized by the balletic way in which the waitress served them. Every move seemed studied and was supremely graceful. Every time she opened a bottle of wine, she performed exactly the same sequence of movements and she seemed to glide around the table.

During other lapses in concentration I also noticed that Ronnie’s has particularly elegant glassware – beautifully rounded wine glasses and narrow tumblers. I think this goes to prove that I’m much more of a visual than a musical person!

Have you been watching ‘Kirstie’s Homemade Home’ on Channel 4? Have you too been extremely jealous of her privileged access to the homes of design’s great and good?

If yes, then take a look at this part of the Wallpaper* website. At the moment you can have a nose through the treasured possessions of Paul Smith and Erik Kessels, but I’m sure more people will be added soon.

Enjoy!

Ben Southall, a 34 year old Brit has become the temporary caretaker of Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef. It’s been dubbed  ‘The Best Job in the World’ and certainly sounds like it. It’s a 6 month contract worth £70,000+ and he gets to live in a tropical paradise. I just wish there were jobs like that being advertised now!

Ben’s success has obviously got people thinking about what their dream job would be. I found the comments on this BBC page really interesting. There’s a huge variation in what people class as a dream job and a surprising amount of people say they have it already. Lucky them. I personally like the suggestion of being a cat cuddler…do you think someone would pay me to do that?!

On a slightly more cynical note, I also hope that the person at the Queensland Tourist Board who came up with the idea for the competition has been roundly congratulated. What a great PR move!