This meme has appeared all over teh internets in the last few months, including on Mike’s blog, Gordon’s blog, Lisa’s blog and Rob’s blog (and Rob’s just put a new round of 25 up).

Here’s how it works: I’ve set my iTunes to shuffle and written down the opening lines of the first 25 tracks to come up, excluding songs where the title is in the opening line and limiting entries to one per artist (and removing one which has already appeared in Lisa’s daily opening lines). All you have to do is pop into the comments* and tell me the name of the song and who recorded it. Not all of these songs are singles – some are album tracks, some are B-sides, and some are pretty obscure.

Oh, and you shouldn’t judge my music taste solely from these 25… Here we go then.

1. “Although my lover lives in a place that I can’t live” Come On Home by Franz Ferdinand identified by Mark

2. “I pick up the phone, I’m dialing your number while I pray you’re at home, at home and alone” A Thing About You by Roxette (artist identified by Neil)

3. “No-one wrote a song for me, just instrumental, not too long” Hit Parade by The Beautiful South

4. “And maybe we’re just kids who’ve grown, and maybe not” The Chemistry Between Us by Suede identified by phil

5. “From the mountain tops down to the sunny street, a different drummer’s playing a different kind of beat” Oblivion by Aztec Camera identified by Cat

6. “Please don’t stop me from drinking, oh it’s my only joy” Sick, Sober and Sorry by Gene identified by Adam

7. “I stand in the distance, I view from afar” Confide in Me by Kylie Minogue identified by David

8. “These mist-covered mountains are a home now for me” Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits identified by Alan

9. “I don’t know when to go out, I don’t know when to stay in” The Final Arrears by Mull Historical Society identified by inspector34

10. “Is it wrong to want to live on your own?” Sheila Take A Bow by The Smiths identified by Cat

11. “I can’t see why you’re not satisfied with what you’ve got, it might not seem like much to you, to me it seems a lot” Kylie and Jason by Midget

12. “Twitching, turning, itching, burning, finding my space, finding my place” Don’t Stand Me Down by The Bluetones

13. “I’ve been around and around but I’ve got nowhere to go now” Lenny by Supergrass identified by Antonia

14. “I’m hearing images, I’m seeing songs no poet has ever painted, voices call out to me straight to my heart, so strange but we’re so well-acquainted” I Let The Music Speak by ABBA (artist identified by Neil)

15. “Hello! Hello! My name’s Terry and I’m a law-abider” The Irony Of It All by The Streets identified by SwissToni

16. “On a morning from a Bogart movie in a country where they turn back time” Year of the Cat by Al Stewart identified by kat

17. “We’re on our own we don’t need anyone, we live deep down, deep down underground, it helps us” Statuesque by Elcka

18. “It was pretty bright upon the rainbow bridge tonight, I could see into your window even though you’re far away” Wrapped Up In Books by Belle & Sebastian identified by Neil (artist) and phil (track)

19. “First time, I did it for the hell of it” Something 4 The Weekend by Super Furry Animals identified by inspector34

20. “You smelled an Eldorado pussycat, and it was a bright grey day” Imposters (Mixed Up) by David Devant & His Spirit Wife (artist identified by Sarah)

21. “Well I went to a movie with a girl last night” Dressed Like A Cow by The Coral identified by Neil

22. “In my mind there’s a face, on my lips there’s a name” From New York To LAby Patsy Gallant identified by Tina

23. “Her hair is hollow gold” Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes identified by Alan

24. “They say that you’re a runaround lover, though you say it isn’t so” The Night Has A Thousand Eyes by Bobby Vee identified by DanW

25. “I hear the ticking of the clock, I’m lying here, the room’s pitch dark” Alone by Heart identified by Biscit

Any takers?

(*Don’t worry if your comment gets eaten by the spam filter – I check through and restore legit comments manually several times a day.)

Stephen Tall, in his latest vidcast, ponders whether newspapers are dying a death, which has spurred me to finally recount the end of my long dalliance with theguardian.

I used to buy theguardian every day. I started five or six years ago, if I recall, and the paper provided something to read at lunchtime when I was away from a PC. When I started commuting a couple of years ago, I began buying a newspaper at the station and reading it on the train, filling half an hour with the day’s news (and the sudoku). On the way home, I’d read the rest and do the kakuro or the crossword. The print copy was preferable to the online version: you could write answers into the puzzles, see the cartoons, and it didn’t involve having a computer with internet access on the train. For all these reasons, I couldn’t see myself giving the paper up.

A couple of months ago, I became an ex-Guardian reader. Initially, I wanted to save cash and to divert my daily hour on the train to a couple of books. I never felt the urge to read the paper online – the website isn’t anywhere near as easy to navigate as the print version and I’ll automatically go to the BBC if I want news at a computer. There were still interesting stories carried, but big stories would be picked up by the BBC website – or by bloggers.

And this is where the big change occurred. Now I spend my commute catching up with blogs via my mobile phone. Nearly all of them load quite happily in Opera Mini (theguardian doesn’t – the long sidebar gets in the way, as do the ads). I can access Bloglines and check the feeds I’m subscribed to, and LibDem Blogs carried the latest posts from LibDems bloggers, at least one of whom will pick up on any worthy news stories. I can also check my email and go to the BBC mobile site for news and sport.

In the past, I couldn’t see myself reading the papers on the train on a handheld electronic widget, and yet this is almost what’s happened – but without reading the newspapers part. I no longer have to worry about turning the pages without hitting the person sitting next to me. The only cost is having to charge my phone battery more often as GPRS runs it down quite quickly, and the only occasional problem is passing through an area with no signal. I don’t feel I’m missing out, and I can even post comments to other blogs on the move. Hurrah for the twenty-first century.

Tapes of the BBC’s new Robin Hood series have been stolen.

Rumours has it that the culprits are trying to blackmail to BBC, but an email from the thieves leaked to this blog reveals the truth:

“We rob from the rich BBC to give to the poor. We will be distributing the tapes to TV stations in Africa and Eastern Europe that can’t afford quality drama. And to ITV1.”

Badoom tish.

I hope this is only the minor problem the BBC claims as I’m very Much looking forward to this series.

Go here.
Choose the ninth eighth picture.

Then looks at photos 1, 5 and 7 4 and 6 and ponder whether the caption to photo number 9 8 is really the best they could come up with.

(Sensitive readers should be forewarned that this does involve a glimpse of Simon Cowell’s chest. And his face. Sorry.)

Update: The Beeb appear to have remove a picture (I think it was Donald and Kiefer Sutherland), which has messed up my numbering and removed an example. Fiends.