Nice work if you can get it

Tony Parker wants $40 million for not shagging that model


I really like this headline at Hecklerspray

My rate for not shagging models is a little less than Tony Parkers demand for $40 million though.

Interested? Any models out there that don't want me to (or do want me to) shag them?

...then drop me an email.

Arise Vlad

I needed a reminder that the year was nearly over and it came today: Vladimir Putin has been named as Time's person of the year. Inevitably there are likely to be those who misunderstand the title and question why it has been bestowed on a leader who many deem a fascist, ahead of say Al Gore. But thats always the case.


I'm just glad that Time decided to name an actual person this year and not cop out in the manner they did last year by naming "You" as person of the year and having that ridiculous foil cover.

So, who is going the 2008 Person of the Year? My guess is that Time will revert to predictability. Therefore the primaries for Person of the Year 2008 are going on right now; with things about to kick off in Iowa. Vlad will be passing the crown to either Giuliani, Huckabee, Clinton or Obama in a years time...........a bold prediction indeed......or maybe not.

Came in Eighteen to One

Earlier, I wondered at the thinking of those at BBC Radio One who decided to censor some of the more provocative and colorful lyrics in Fairytale of New York

After the reversal of that decision, I feel like theorizing/speculating.

Perhaps the person(s) in question had money on the Pogues classic being this years Christmas number one and correctly reasoned that their decision to censor the song would provoke a flurry of criticism and publicity. This attention would instigate a popular movement with sufficient momentum to propel the single to number one, ahead of the X-Factor person (thereby getting one over on ITV) or at least bring the odds down so that they could close out the bet in profit (if they used betfair).

But thats mere speculation on my part.

Got on a lucky one
Came in eighteen to one
Ive got a feeling
This years for me and you

You cheap lousy **BEEP*

Given that in Ireland, the Pogues/Kirsty MacColl's Fairytale of New York is unavoidable around Christmas, this story about BBC Radio 1 censoring the song caught my attention. It brings to mind a documentary I saw about the song on RTE a few years back where Phil Coulter and Ronan Keating collaborated on a cover version that changed the offending lyrics with rather pathetic and soulless end results.


Now, I don't want to jump on the "political correctness gone mad" bandwagon. There are unfortunately two many opportunities to do so nowadays and especially at this time of year (see the crib advertisement debate in Ireland which is actually more ridiculous). But I have to wonder at the thinking of those within the BBC who make these sort of decisions.

They must surely know that they are going to be drowned in criticism and will have to endure a deluge of accusations of "political correctness gone mad". It is especially curious given that recent Wikipedia edits from within the Corporation would indicate that the Beeb is somewhat sensitive to accusations of over zealous political correctness (see this article in the Independent).

But then again, maybe they like the criticism, and much like their old nemesis, Alex Ferguson, are aiming to cultivate somewhat of a siege mentality after what has been a tough year. One never knows with the BBC.

I want Forbidden Lego!

A day after criticizing Sky News propensity for leading with inconsequential stories, I find a bizare story on sky (although they didn't lead with it) that I love: Forbidden Lego

I wish I had this book when I used to play with Lego

Although, the article would suggest that this idea would not be palatable to all:

"Kids could make atomic bombs out of LEGO, and just think what would happen if some Islamic terrorist get hold of a copy. The possibilities are terrifying."

Sky News - The first for irrelevant, inconsequential news.

Sky News is among the sites that I visit quite frequently when I've nothing better to do. Way back in the day when I watched TV, Sky News was the default channel, so I said.."Hey why not take a look at their website".

To be fair, its a reasonably good site and has improved since adopting a new look incorporating more video content over the past 4-5 months.

But what consistently pisses me off is the frequency with which they not just feature but lead with matters relating to the English Premiership and other ridiculous non-stories (and I'm not saying that the English Premiership is a ridiculous non-story)

I can understand the English Premiership stories due to Sky's commercial interests but leading with stories such as this one about a Chinese girl undergoing surgery to remove a third arm is beginning to grate.

I feel compelled to offer more evidence but none immediately comes to mind; which to a certain extent proves my point of sorts; that these stories are irrelevant and imminently forgettable.

But anyway....I need to find an alternative news site.

Martin McGuinness - Trend setter and fashion icon

Sites about mens fashion.....thats what I was looking for and I ended up at men.style.com. Not quite aimed at poor students in the fashion mecca of Edinburgh but alas.

Wandering into their Trend Report section, I see a picture straight out of Devs Ireland (transposed to New York), a red haired guy dressed in tweed accompanied by the title: "Eire Apparent". Being from "Eire", I was of course, intrigued.

Flicking through a slideshow, I come across a reference to the awful Wind that Shakes the Barley and then this:
I was immediately reminded of pictures and footage of Martin McGuinness; Northern Irelands deputy first minister and one half of the chuckle brothers, back in the 70s, when he was an upcoming young "freedom fighter". Wanting to confirm that my intuition was correct on this, it was off to Google with me where querying Martin McGuinness (along with the addition of MacStiofain) yielded this (note the vague correspondence in jumpers/tops):


So there you have it: Martin McGuinness; style icon and trend setter well before its time. Isn't it a pity that he was behind the times in other respects?

An (Re) Introduction

This is a spin off or continuation of a previous blog I started on the concept of wilfing; the practice of aimlessly surfing the web. While I liked to idea and desperately wanted to make an effort, after 2 posts in 6 months, I felt that it wasn't really working out with wilf-owi.

So what will be different about this blog?

In theory, not much.

There will be some changes. While the two posts at wilfer concentrated on the practice of wilfing, the scope of this blog will be a little wider; namely everything....or at least anything that I encounter on the web and feel is worthy of comment.

Admittedly, the previous blog was to evolve in that manner, but again in a more constrained manner. I don't particularly want to constrain myself. Authorities on successful blogging would seem to advocate that concentrating on a single topic or niche is more conducive to success; and perhaps they are right. But following an evolution that has occurred in my world view in the past year, I feel I should just blog and see what (shit) happens.

But this is venturing in the realms of profundity. If I'm entirely honest, the main reason for the change is that I quite like the moniker wilfman and unlike wilfer, wilfman.com was available!

So......let shit happen