c4countdown

Julie T wrote:

Jason Larsen wrote:Charlie, do you have someone you really like at the moment?

Must admit, that occurred to me, too, Jason!
Since Charlie claimed on the show not to have a girlfriend, but wanting one, are we talking solo sex here, Charlie??

Cyber-sex, blatantly.

Jimmy wrote:Cyber-sex, blatantly.

...there's another kind?

Korfball. Not while having sex. Given some of our opponents, this is a shame.

Lesley Jeavons wrote:Ooh, I'm tempted by both... and you're not much further up the country than MK where family are... *ponders next weekend*

Wow - would be great to see you if you feel like coming! We're about an hour from MK. A word of advice though if you're seriously considering it - book soon as next Friday and Saturday are already close to selling out.

Thank you re my brother - keep you posted. I've just found out he'll also be on TV this week - Stockwell on ITV1, Wed, 9pm. There's also a wee pic of him p4 this weeks Radio Times

Oh yeah. He gets a name check too, on p92. I'd have watched this anyway but will certainly do so now, with one eye out for Scott.

Michael Wallace wrote:

Jimmy wrote:Cyber-sex, blatantly.

...there's another kind?

Bestiality?

kathleen batlle wrote:
now I'm doing patchwork and quilting, much more interesting!

Phew! Don't feel so embarassed about owning up to cake-decorating now!

(And yes, Lesley, about the TV thing!)

Michael Wallace wrote:Hmm, it occurred to me whilst I was on the coach to ask whether the various people who've mentioned learning Japanese also read manga/watch anime (I wouldn't presume to be the only person who did this on here, since it's a fairly geeky 'hobby' (if you can even call it that)).

I don't really like manga, but I'm a big reader of other comic books and "graphic novels" (a term I dislike. I mean seriously, it's just a long comic, get over yourself.) Again this is probably not unique.

Charlie Reams wrote:I don't really like manga, but I'm a big reader of other comic books and "graphic novels" (a term I dislike. I mean seriously, it's just a long comic, get over yourself.) Again this is probably not unique.

Awesome - I never really read comics but the other half (hi Kirk) is quite a hardcore comic book dude, and so I've ended up being forced to read stuff. I wonder if you (or any other comic people) have read I-Mockery's 'review' of Frank Miller's latest Batman comic - if you haven't it is really worth a read, it's amazing (in short - Frank Miller went crrrrazy and drew a Batman comic). (And when you inevitable want to read the next installments, here are parts 2 and 3.)

I do part of the MCing for the Lincolnshire youth darts team. Good fun, especially when getting to shout out "ooooooone huuuundred and eiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighty"

Gary Male wrote:I do part of the MCing for the Lincolnshire youth darts team. Good fun, especially when getting to shout out "ooooooone huuuundred and eiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighty"

Oh, I do the MCing though too - I'm well sought after in York - people are paying me in beer to shout their finals nights on stage and people say I should do it as a career on TV. Let's have a shout off...

CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNING!!!

I used to throw boomerangs (the theoretically returning type), but not competitively, and was also fairly competent at catching a stationary target with a bolas(!) As I recently found said items again, I might come out of retirement as there is a large sports field where I work.

The trouble with catching something moving with a bolas is that the animal or person comes crashing to the ground in an uncontrolled way, which can be undesirable. If you use a lariat (or "rope" as they say in the American West), you can catch a moving target gently if you want, and if the target surrenders quickly, which it tends not to if it's an animal.

Kevin

Kevin Thurlow wrote:I used to throw boomerangs (the theoretically returning type), but not competitively, and was also fairly competent at catching a stationary target with a bolas(!) As I recently found said items again, I might come out of retirement as there is a large sports field where I work.

Same here on the boomerang front, although I haven't done it tin ages due to the need to have a very large open space without anyone to accidentally decapitate (I'm not very good...).

Ben Wilson wrote:In addition to playing videogames I am a keen collector and possess a... reasonable... collection spanning about 30 years (Combat is still remarkably playable even today). Currently Fallout 3 is occupying most of my time. At least it would be if my Xbox didn't kill itself last week.

When you have a problem with the Xbox (eg the "three red lights"), you go online to request a new repair. Now this is a four-stage process, but how long does it normally take, from the day you submit your repair order before it is processed (therefore completing stage 1)?

Joseph Bolas wrote:

Ben Wilson wrote:In addition to playing videogames I am a keen collector and possess a... reasonable... collection spanning about 30 years (Combat is still remarkably playable even today). Currently Fallout 3 is occupying most of my time. At least it would be if my Xbox didn't kill itself last week.

When you have a problem with the Xbox (eg the "three red lights"), you go online to request a new repair. Now this is a four-stage process, but how long does it normally take, from the day you submit your repair order before it is processed (therefore completing stage 1)?

Umm, when it breaks you'll know. And don't bother with the website, ring them up (though you will have to navigate past an incredibly annoying computerised woman).

Ben Wilson wrote:

Joseph Bolas wrote:

Ben Wilson wrote:In addition to playing videogames I am a keen collector and possess a... reasonable... collection spanning about 30 years (Combat is still remarkably playable even today). Currently Fallout 3 is occupying most of my time. At least it would be if my Xbox didn't kill itself last week.

When you have a problem with the Xbox (eg the "three red lights"), you go online to request a new repair. Now this is a four-stage process, but how long does it normally take, from the day you submit your repair order before it is processed (therefore completing stage 1)?

Umm, when it breaks you'll know. And don't bother with the website, ring them up (though you will have to navigate past an incredibly annoying computerised woman).

Aaaah, so that's why I'm not getting anywhere, I have to phone instead. Thank you Ben

EDIT: I have deleted the online repair request. It had been up since Saturday so wasn't sure how long that was going to take.

Phil Reynolds wrote:

Lesley Jeavons wrote:Thank you re my brother - keep you posted. I've just found out he'll also be on TV this week - Stockwell on ITV1, Wed, 9pm. There's also a wee pic of him p4 this weeks Radio Times

Oh yeah. He gets a name check too, on p92. I'd have watched this anyway but will certainly do so now, with one eye out for Scott.

Just finished watching this - I found it gripping despite (obviously) knowing how it ended. Interestingly Lesley, I thought your brother bore a closer resemblance to Hussain Osman that the guy playing Menezes did! (Although to be fair the latter didn't really look much like the real Menezes.)

Phil Reynolds wrote:

Phil Reynolds wrote:

Lesley Jeavons wrote:Thank you re my brother - keep you posted. I've just found out he'll also be on TV this week - Stockwell on ITV1, Wed, 9pm. There's also a wee pic of him p4 this weeks Radio Times

Oh yeah. He gets a name check too, on p92. I'd have watched this anyway but will certainly do so now, with one eye out for Scott.

Just finished watching this - I found it gripping despite (obviously) knowing how it ended. Interestingly Lesley, I thought your brother bore a closer resemblance to Hussain Osman that the guy playing Menezes did! (Although to be fair the latter didn't really look much like the real Menezes.)

Yes, my brother doesn't look typically Scottish does he?! lol Maybe his Osman resemblance is why he was the one character about to be shot on the platform by another officer until he managed to bring his ID out to prove he was a policeman too.

His part was bigger than I thought, as I assumed the further down the cast list in the RT you are the smaller your role. But actually he was one of the main officers, especially as he's the one that followed on the bus, got off at Brixton, then finally held Menezes down as he was shot.

Stockwell has had quite a few reviews in today's papers, including this Telegraph one with Scott's pic http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvan ... -ITV1.html

Re your ER this weekend, we're not able to make it. Let me know how it's received.
But I will put TFM in my diary, so fingers crossed.

Lesley Jeavons wrote:Re your ER this weekend, we're not able to make it. Let me know how it's received.

Very favourably, I'm glad to say. We've played to an average 80% attendance over the 10 performances, with the last few being sold out.

But I will put TFM in my diary, so fingers crossed.

You'll need to cross more than your fingers.

I'm thoroughly proud of this thread. Being the man behind the so-called Worst Thread Ever, I'm pleased that this one hasn't gone down the same road
It's been genuinely interesting hearing about some of your hobbies, and genuinely interesting to hear people come back with "actually, that's not unique - I do that too!", and hope it keeps going.

Does anyone here watch any of the cartoons/programs on [adult swim] ?

Phil Reynolds wrote:

But I will put TFM in my diary, so fingers crossed.

You'll need to cross more than your fingers.

No Phil, YOU'LL need to cross more than your fingers!

Matt Morrison wrote:I'm thoroughly proud of this thread. Being the man behind the so-called Worst Thread Ever, I'm pleased that this one hasn't gone down the same road

Aw, bless yer heart! Congratulations on your thread Matt!

@ Phil: you should have plugged ER on Willy's site - they have a list of any productions of his plays that they know about. http://www.willyrussell.com/whatson.html
BTW do you know about the pending Blood Brothers film? I'm so excited about it! Willy's currently working on it and Alan Parker's to direct! Though I'm slightly worried as I adore the stage version so much, but Mr R and Mr P have never let me down so far! Keep your ears open for any auditions for it - we could be in it, even if it was just walking by.
Oh and I forgot to say, glad it's going well!

Languages! More specifically, learning them. Also, I see that anime, manga and the Japanese language were brought up earlier, so I have to add my comments! Currently I'm not learning it because my tutor returned to Japan over the Christmas holidays and I haven't had an email about resuming. I did take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test at the most basic level (4), but I'm not too confident about the results. I know some kanji, but nowhere near 1,945 of them (or however many comprise the Joyo Kanji list, a list of kanji which are taught in primary school and secondary school in Japan!). Also, I've just read that the list might have another 189 kanji added to it, so I'll have a long way to go! I do occasionally watch anime and manga, but I'm not very good at following the storylines/buying the books or DVDs.

I also like video games, but I think I'm narrow-minded when it comes to them as I tend to stick to familiar games- like the Pokemon series. I just kept buying them as they came out (if I admit I'm 16, will this make me look bad? ) Other than that, my hobbies are reading and writing, so not much!

Hannah O wrote:I tend to stick to familiar games- like the Pokemon series. I just kept buying them as they came out (if I admit I'm 16, will this make me look bad?

Not at all. Pokemon are awesome. FACT. Countdown tip: BLASTOISE - O = ASTILBES Welcome to the forum Hannah

Hannah O wrote:I also like video games, but I think I'm narrow-minded when it comes to them as I tend to stick to familiar games- like the Pokemon series. I just kept buying them as they came out (if I admit I'm 16, will this make me look bad? ) Other than that, my hobbies are reading and writing, so not much!

Just to redress some of Dinos' crazy balance, it makes you look bad no matter what age you are
though that is, of course, just opinion!

So what's the reason for them adding all those new kanji symbols Hannah? Is it the equivalent of the dictionary being updated for modern terms?

I'm not sure why they're adding more, being pretty much a beginner at Japanese, but I'd assume they're adding kanji that are used relatively frequently nowadays, or maybe dropping some that aren't used so much in modern times. The third possibility is giving a Japanese word a kanji reading- since kanji is basically the Chinese system of lettering borrowed and used in Japanese, there'll be Japanese words that can't be written in kanji...unless they make up a kanji themselves and add it to the list.

Gary Male wrote: I do part of the MCing for the Lincolnshire youth darts team. Good fun, especially when getting to shout out "ooooooone huuuundred and eiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighty"

I played a set of darts with Martin 'Wolfie' Adams (BDO World Champion 2007 and current World Masters Champion) last May, just SIX WEEKS after I'd taken up the sport. I was brutally slaughtered by him but after the first 3-dart throws, I was ahead! I was staggered to the very limits of incredulity! I was STILL ahead after our first 6 darts (and put on a very brave, comical show of poorly-justified cockiness) but then he got into the groove and all I could do was ensure he didn't win too quickly!

Was still smiling and laughing at the end of it! Wolfie is such a terrific person........

All I can say is: Ni Hao, Charlie, and anyone else with a passing acquaintance of mandarin. (GCSE grade A* last summer, and proud of it at my advanced age! Although it could be construed of clear evidence in the declining standard of our education system.) And am obviously too old for Charlie's main hobby having read the posts following CoLin!!
Christine

Hannah O wrote:I'm not sure why they're adding more, being pretty much a beginner at Japanese, but I'd assume they're adding kanji that are used relatively frequently nowadays, or maybe dropping some that aren't used so much in modern times. The third possibility is giving a Japanese word a kanji reading- since kanji is basically the Chinese system of lettering borrowed and used in Japanese, there'll be Japanese words that can't be written in kanji...unless they make up a kanji themselves and add it to the list.

There is a book I have, which I've mentioned above (if you can't find it though it's called - The Kodansha Kanji Leaner's Dictionary) that contains 2,230 Kanji characters, which I thought was all the Kanji that there was.

I know that the Jōyō Kanji consists of 1,945 characters, but not sure about the other 285 Kanji symbols.

Christine Armstrong wrote:clear evidence in the declining standard of our education system

Yep, you're old alright

Something I have been interested in since school was Typography and collecting certain fonts (like gameshow fonts etc).

Joseph Bolas wrote:Something I have been interested in since school was Typography and collecting certain fonts (like gameshow fonts etc).

Haha, I used to enjoy a bit of that! Not exclusively gameshows but any 'famous' font - TV shows, products (like the original Playstation font) etc. etc. Nowadays I have to choose my fonts based on other criteria such as "clean" and other such boring designer-y type words.

Oh come to think of it had a great mini-collection of rude fonts - one called XXX which was people spelling out letters in sexual positions. And one called Monica's Dress, which I am sure you can work out!

I like peeping down drains

Thinking of the juggling video I posted in the 'Puppet Boy' thread, I used to be able to do kick ups with a football - the most I ever did was 1044, which is about 10 minutes.

Martin Gardner wrote:Thinking of the juggling video I posted in the 'Puppet Boy' thread, I used to be able to do kick ups with a football - the most I ever did was 1044, which is about 10 minutes.

I can join you in that hobby, though again it's more of a "used to" and less than 1044 for sure. Nice work!

Christine Armstrong wrote:All I can say is: Ni Hao, Charlie, and anyone else with a passing acquaintance of mandarin. (GCSE grade A* last summer, and proud of it at my advanced age! Although it could be construed of clear evidence in the declining standard of our education system.) And am obviously too old for Charlie's main hobby having read the posts following CoLin!!
Christine

That's really awesome, I'm aspiring to take my GCSE eventually.

Charlie Reams wrote:

Christine Armstrong wrote:All I can say is: Ni Hao, Charlie, and anyone else with a passing acquaintance of mandarin. (GCSE grade A* last summer, and proud of it at my advanced age! Although it could be construed of clear evidence in the declining standard of our education system.) And am obviously too old for Charlie's main hobby having read the posts following CoLin!!
Christine

That's really awesome, I'm aspiring to take my GCSE eventually.

Cambridge without a GCSE? Standards really are slipping...

(...I matriculated before you, right?)

Michael Wallace wrote:Cambridge without a GCSE? Standards really are slipping...
(...I matriculated before you, right?)

You think that's bad, Rachel got into Oxford without being able to speak English or do 600 minus 3.

Matt Morrison wrote:

Joseph Bolas wrote:Something I have been interested in since school was Typography and collecting certain fonts (like gameshow fonts etc).

Haha, I used to enjoy a bit of that! Not exclusively gameshows but any 'famous' font - TV shows, products (like the original Playstation font) etc. etc. Nowadays I have to choose my fonts based on other criteria such as "clean" and other such boring designer-y type words.

Oh come to think of it had a great mini-collection of rude fonts - one called XXX which was people spelling out letters in sexual positions. And one called Monica's Dress, which I am sure you can work out!

I'm still trying to find a few fonts (for free):

Contempary Brush - Family Guy's end credits font.
Gotham - Font used on Mer Griffins Crossword and QVC.
Futura Regular - Countdown's Font (I think).

You have put a name to THE Countdown font? You earn my never-ending respect. I have a rather odd ambition, which is to make my own Countdown cards for use in school, and it would help to use the right font!

Oh, um, sorry for going off-topic (I see it says non-Countdown style!) Let me haul my post back on-topic... I like reading books and I play in a (very amateurish) marching band for my local Scout group.

Hannah O wrote:I also like video games, but I think I'm narrow-minded when it comes to them as I tend to stick to familiar games- like the Pokemon series. I just kept buying them as they came out (if I admit I'm 16, will this make me look bad? ) Other than that, my hobbies are reading and writing, so not much!

Pokemon is an awesome serious of video games, and anyone who says otherwise has allowed themselves to be blinded by the awful array of toys/animated films/other shit that has grown to accompany it.

Hannah O wrote:(I see it says non-Countdown style!) Let me haul my post back on-topic... I like reading books and I play in a (very amateurish) marching band for my local Scout group.

You suggesting that no one else in here reads Hannah?! Crazy talk! Though you might well be on to something with the Scout-based marching band action.

Charlie Reams wrote:Pokemon is an awesome serious of video games, and anyone who says otherwise has allowed themselves to be blinded by the awful array of toys/animated films/other shit that has grown to accompany it.

Something I collected when I was younger was the Pokemon Cards. I must have about 1,000 of them (though I do think it was a bit of a waste of money ).

Charlie: That's just beautiful, man! To have an intelligent Countdown player of such high standing endorse the Pokemon games is super! (Not implying that the rest of you aren't intelligent, but if you don't like Pokemon... ) I do agree that the animated stuff is pretty rubbish. However, I'm just impressed that the translators managed to translate a joke from Japanese and still have it make sense (although it's awful in English). Basically, the main characters are going through a forest with bug Pokemon in, and one of them says "mushi", the Japanese for bug/insect. The other person mishears and goes "ushi?", which is the Japanese from cow. In the English episode, one of them says "Cowterpie" (i.e. Caterpie), which is faithful to the original considering how difficult it is to translate jokes...I didn't say it was good!

Matt: Haha! Do you read? I was just trying to think of a good non-Countdown style hobby then realised it didn't work because Countdown is about words! Playing the music is fun, but carrying a huge xylophone over bumpy roads isn't.

Joseph: I was in a GAME shop a few months back and a staff-woman asked my brother if he liked Pokemon. He pointed me out to her, and then she gave me several loose Pokemon cards, saying they'd been there for a while and they couldn't get rid of them. So now I own a 4th generation Eevee card, a pretty weak Chimchar and a Chatot...odd combo. I'm pretty sure I know the names of all the Pokemon up to 386 at least (Ruby/Sapphire), but the ones in Diamond/Pearl are really pushing it.

Hannah O wrote:Joseph: I was in a GAME shop a few months back and a staff-woman asked my brother if he liked Pokemon. He pointed me out to her, and then she gave me several loose Pokemon cards, saying they'd been there for a while and they couldn't get rid of them. So now I own a 4th generation Eevee card, a pretty weak Chimchar and a Chatot...odd combo. I'm pretty sure I know the names of all the Pokemon up to 386 at least (Ruby/Sapphire), but the ones in Diamond/Pearl are really pushing it.

The only problem with collecting cards is that you get sooo many duplicates. My cards go all the way back to the beginning (with the original 151 pokemon). I do remember creating a list of all the cards I had and how many duplicates but I can't find the list and I can't be arsed going through them all again

Joseph Bolas wrote:

Charlie Reams wrote:Pokemon is an awesome serious of video games, and anyone who says otherwise has allowed themselves to be blinded by the awful array of toys/animated films/other shit that has grown to accompany it.

Something I collected when I was younger was the Pokemon Cards. I must have about 1,000 of them (though I do think it was a bit of a waste of money ).

I never got into Pokemon cards even though I have one game from every generation (Yellow, Crystal, Emerald, Pearl) as well as various other related software bits.

I've got about 150 Pokemon gashapon figures though...

Ben Wilson wrote:

Joseph Bolas wrote:

Charlie Reams wrote:Pokemon is an awesome serious of video games, and anyone who says otherwise has allowed themselves to be blinded by the awful array of toys/animated films/other shit that has grown to accompany it.

Something I collected when I was younger was the Pokemon Cards. I must have about 1,000 of them (though I do think it was a bit of a waste of money ).

I never got into Pokemon cards even though I have one game from every generation (Yellow, Crystal, Emerald, Pearl) as well as various other related software bits.

I've got about 150 Pokemon gashapon figures though...

I was looking on eBay and the cards still seem to be quite expensive, so what I might do is go through all my stuff, see whats Pokemon related and then try to sell it all on eBay .

Hannah O wrote:Haha! Do you read?

Popular to contrary belief about English degrees, I had little choice! I love reading, though I don't get enough done - have a list of books I need to read as long as my arm.

Hannah O wrote:I was just trying to think of a good non-Countdown style hobby then realised it didn't work because Countdown is about words!

Yeah to be fair I guess the title of the thread isn't quite true to my intention, as I said in the first post I was enquiring more about which hobbies people had that they thought other people here in the forum wouldn't have. As opposed to the more literal translation concerning hobbies which aren't related to Countdown - which (I presume) Pokemon would fit right into, yet a lot of you (yeuch) have turned out to be fans! ...Hmm.. damn there isn't one of those green being-sick smilies.

Joseph Bolas wrote:Contempary Brush - Family Guy's end credits font.
Gotham - Font used on Mer Griffins Crossword and QVC.
Futura Regular - Countdown's Font (I think).

I'll give you a shout if I can at the weekend when I get back to my own PC - might be able to help you out.

See, a good reason for doing English A Level would have been to force me to read books. I don't make time for it with all the AS work I do now, and when I have free time I either internet or sleep! And I think I skipped the first few posts (bad me) which said hobbies that others didn't have! What do you have against Pokemon?

Rd 1 today KINGLER

Charlie Reams wrote:Sex.

I remember it well. (sigh)

Not hugely original but I'm a very keen Pool player. I've captained my college team this year and tonight we secured promotion to the top division Not bad given that we were in the 4th division just 2 years ago. I clinched the last frame with one of the best shots of my life...then tried my damnedest to play it cool and not grin.

I was on top form about a year ago but then focussed more on Countdown and my form dipped quite a lot. But last week it suddenly came back out of nowhere, even though I don't practise much anymore. The uni tournaments are about to start so I hope the good form stays!

Charlie Reams wrote:Sex.

I remember It well.

Charlie Reams wrote:Sex.

I remember It well

Matt Morrison wrote:

Martin Gardner wrote:Thinking of the juggling video I posted in the 'Puppet Boy' thread, I used to be able to do kick ups with a football - the most I ever did was 1044, which is about 10 minutes.

I can join you in that hobby, though again it's more of a "used to" and less than 1044 for sure. Nice work!

Well I practised in the same obsessive way I do Countdown/Scrabble now. In a couple of years it will probably be something else, then!

Junaid Mubeen wrote:Not hugely original but I'm a very keen Pool player. I've captained my college team this year and tonight we secured promotion to the top division Not bad given that we were in the 4th division just 2 years ago. I clinched the last frame with one of the best shots of my life...then tried my damnedest to play it cool and not grin.

I was on top form about a year ago but then focussed more on Countdown and my form dipped quite a lot. But last week it suddenly came back out of nowhere, even though I don't practise much anymore. The uni tournaments are about to start so I hope the good form stays!

I used to have a mini-table and play at weekends as well. I played with Christine (pool that is) about a week ago and I can still play ok, although I don't claim to be particularly good at it. The last time I played someone who plays regularly, I lost 6-0.

Second thoughts, it was 1-1 and then we had to stop because our food arrived, but the time before that against the same person, he beat me 6-0.

Does anyone here do cross country running? Apart from Ollie.

Charlie Reams wrote:Sex.

I remember it well

Charlie Reams wrote:Sex.

I remember it well