A pregnant pause...

The other day, my mum brought home a women's health magazine from work. On the back page was an advert for the London Underground promoting a scheme where pregnant women can get badges they can wear to let passengers know they're pregnant, so they can get a seat on the tube.
A novel idea, it has to be said. However, it is a bit of a shame that it has come to the point that people have to wear a sign saying they're pregnant/disabled/elderly, etc. for people to exercise good manners by offering their seat to such people when people should automatically offer to help them. Still, it's worth it if it means that people are made to consider those other than themselves for once.

Wise words... (from www.internetbumperstickers.com)

The Return of the Pog- part 2

Following on from my last entry, I discovered this hilarious animation, made specially to promote the Pogs' comeback. Check it out here*:

Weebls Stuff - Pogs


*I forgot to mention that in order to view this Pog-tastic animation, you will need to have the flash plugin installed. Also a belated Happy Easter to everyone! (Updated 17/04/2006)

The return of the Pog

While out on an Easter egg shopping expedition yesterday, I walked past a shop advertising that they were selling Pogs. Yes, pogs are the latest toy from the past to make a comeback in the 21st century.

Pogs, if you remember, were one of the big toy crazes of the early to mid nineties-little cardboard discs with different coloured patterns and pictures on them. You could play a game with them by stacking the cardboard ones up and hitting the pile with a plastic one which you also got with each packet. I can't remember all the rules of the Pog games (I know there were a few variations of the game that I saw people playing), but then I didn't really collect them to play them. I mainly collected them as I liked the pictures on them. My favourite ones were the ones that featured the brand mascot, a caveman-like character who I think was called Pogman. I was hooked on them the moment I first got a packet of them free with a magazine. I even got a Pog making machine for my birthday and made my own, using pictures I'd cut out from old magazines. I remember that Walkers crisps also cashed in on the craze with their own range of pog like discs that featured Looney Tunes characters and had little slits in them so you could put them all together, but they weren't as good. For one, you couldn't fit them together that well and the cardboard used could be easily bent.

Whether kids today will be as interested in them as I was, I'm not sure. They seem so preoccupied with their mobile phones and other high tech stuff you wonder whether they'd be bothered playing with multicoloured cardboard discs. At the same time, it remains to be seen whether the pogs of today can compare with the ones I had growing up. If I see any, I might buy a packet just to see what they're like. I've still got all the ones I had, both bought and home made, somewhere at home.

New name, new look.

You may have noticed over the last week that there have been a couple of changes to this blog of mine.

The first change you'll have noticed is the background. I was getting a little tired of the previous one so I changed it. I'll probably get bored of the new one sooner or later, but for now I like it so its staying for the forseeable future. Besides, I probably wouldn't be bothered to change it again even if I did get sick of it any time soon.

The second change to the blog is the one I've made today. As of this moment, Work in Progress will now be known as A Random Title. I have changed the name mainly as I have recently realised that, if I'm going to get any audience at all on this page, its probably going to cause confusion if the name of it is one thing and the address doesn't have that name included in it. Plus it was easier to change the name of the blog than change the web address. The background and name may have changed, but its still the same blog it was before.

For Your Information...

Many of the old British Public Information films are now online. The National Archive has made some of the most famous films of the last 60 years available to view on their website. Among the ones featured are the "Protect and Survive" films that told us what to do in the event of a nuclear attack (whether their advice would've saved us all is another matter), the "Green Cross Code" films, comedians Hale and Pace as their bouncer characters promoting the fireworks code (what happened to them?) and of course, the legendary adverts featuring Charley the Cat. They're interesting to watch if only to see how much life in Britain has changed over the years. You wouldn't get adverts warning of the dangers of putting rugs on slippery floors on TV today. That said, you wouldn't get many public information films on TV today, aside from ones about road safety. We probably need them on TV today as much as we did in the past, maybe even more so. If you want to see the old public information films in all their glory, click the link on this page.

This is NOT an April Fool!

This week it was reported on Radio Five Live that a species of bird native to America was found in England. The bird, described as being similar to a robin, was thought to have ended up here as a result of being blown off course during migration. However, what the news presenters paid more attention to was the fact that this particular species has a rather unfortunate Latin name.

The Latin name of this breed of bird (I apologise for any incorrect spelling)is... Turdus Migratorious.

All I will say is, I hope I never stand on one!