Newspage go! and more M50

So this is gonna be a mish-mash between the M50 and Newspage go!, bringing you #s 20-11, because the M10-M50 coming up Friday will be mashed enough!

I have no idea going in what all you'll see today, so hang on!  I hit the newspages, pulled back all the articles on the deaths of Carrie Fisher and George Michael, and found some fun on BBC:


Headline 1- Talk about Doctor Mysterio

So the headline on BBC Travel read, "The world's most secretive places".  And it looks like they weren't kidding.  The last place on the list was the world famous Area 51- and the video that went with that section was perfect:

An actual screenshot of the end of the article, with "This video is no longer available" under the blank screen.


Headline 2- Wow, no wonder it's called Dairy Queen

The headline:  "Hammond criticized over gay ice cream joke".  Gay ice cream?  Here, let them tell the tale:

TV presenter Richard Hammond has been criticised after making a joke about eating ice cream being gay.
He was responding to a comment made by Jeremy Clarkson on The Grand Tour.
Talking to an audience, co-host Clarkson points at a photo of a Volvo's interior and says: "The only problem is that in one of those, you couldn't enjoy a chocolate Magnum ice cream."
Richard Hammond replied: "It's all right, I don't eat ice cream. It's something to do with being straight."
After the audience on the Amazon Prime show applauded, Jeremy Clarkson asks: "Why are you applauding him? What do you mean? You're saying all children are homosexual?"
Richard Hammond replies: "What? What? Ice cream is a bit - you know... There's nothing wrong with it, but a grown man eating an ice cream - it's that way, rather than that way.
"I'm right. I can't believe you can't see that. It's easy. It's in front of you."


Maybe in the UK, but here you're all good as long as you don't get rainbow sprinkles.


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20- Lean On Me, Telekinesis:  The highest charting McDonalds ad in M10 history, this tune spent the week after my birthday at the top.  Here's another live video I hadn't seen before.

19- Ride It Out, Redspencer:  Another of my Aussie discoveries with a very Strawberry Alarm Clock- sounding song.   Audio from this gem is right here.

18- Golden Green, Agnes Obel:  Agnes definitely gets Chris's performer of the year kudos.  This is her second of three hits on the 50, and 3rd-highest of the non-number ones.  Relive this very strange experience here.


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Headline #3- C'mon, you know I'm good for it


From the Moscow Times,


Mongolia Requests 100 Bln Ruble Loan From Russia Without Explaining Why

Termed a "concessional loan", the request was met much like a loan request from me would have been.  But Mongolia, cheeky lot that they are- and without apparent care that Russia just forgave 97.8% of their 170 billion ruble debt less than a year ago, marched right over to Russia’s state-owned VTB bank, asking for a $200 million loan with a “better” interest rate, the report said. This money would be used to pay for the import of “Russian oil products.”


Odds on that one going through, anyone?


Headline #4- My luggage went to the right place, but guess where I ended up...


From the Daily Mail:

'They don't even have passwords!' Security experts warn computer hackers are able to tamper with airline bookings - and could even put you on the WRONG plane  


That first bit is a bit exaggerated- but only a bit.  It seems that the password needed to get into most airline databases require all caps only- which means a half-assed computer program wouldn't break a sweat getting in.  Karsten Nohl, head of Security Research Labs, was the go-to guy in this story.  Mr Nohl said: ‘Really everyone can manage to do it. Booking systems lack a security feature that we know from all other computer systems – the password.’
If airlines had more modern computer systems then they would limit the number of attempts a person could make at guessing the code. But the decades-old computers most of them operate have no such limit.
Mr Nohl said the issue was an ‘industry-wide problem’.
And he added that the same flaw also affected rental cars because the hire companies often used a six-digit confirmation code too.


Now you know how Patrick "The Tick" Warburton passes by human contact to get his rental car...

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17- Strange Tides, Shakes:  The first and biggest hit for my NZ boys, this one was on top for three weeks, and by points it would have been #9.  Of course, as I said, I didn't go much by points, and 4 top tens in points missed the top ten on my countdown, including Golden Green at #6, and the song after this one.  For the first time on my show, the official video to this tune:

16- Face Down In The Gutter Of Your Love, Dent May:  This one pointed at #8, and provided me a great Halloween disguise.  The first non-continuous #1 in M10 history, you can listen to the audio again here.

15- You Bring The Summer, The Monkees:  This song, more than any, made my summer.  One of that select few that pointed where I put it.  And now that I'm done watching the video for the umpty-hundredth time, you can too...



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Headline #5- It don't mean nothin' till you tase 'im on the bottom line...

I caught this story last week when it broke out- a Korean Air flight had a near crisis when a drunken passenger refused to be settled down, and the plane staff had no luck subduing him- until singer Richard Marx stepped in.  His efforts were later exposed by himself and fellow passenger/wife Daisy Fuentes on social media, complaining of flight crew's utter lack of knowledge to handle the situation.  Then today comes this headline on The Japan Times:


Following unruly passenger incident, Korean Air to get tough and ease stun gun rules


I'm guessing they meant "ease stun gun restrictions" as the various stories I heard went back and forth between "we have a tase gun, but aren't allowed to use it", and "we don't know HOW to use it".  Here are some bits from the JT article:

The Korea Times reported that he is the son of a Seoul-based trading company’s chairman and recently joined his father’s company after working for Samsung Electronics.

Don't THAT figure...

On the flight, Lim slapped the face of a South Korean passenger sitting next to him, hit two female crew members in the face and stomach, and kicked and spat at a Korean Air mechanic, the Korea Times said. When arrested, he was sent home because he was too drunk to be questioned.

REALLY?  Never heard of a drunk tank?

The new crew guidelines, announced on Tuesday following the Dec. 20 incident, will also include more staff training, the use of the latest device to tie up a violent passenger, and the banning of passengers with a history of unruly behavior.


Men account for about one-tenth of Korean Air flight attendants, and the carrier said it will try to have at least one male on duty in the cabin for each flight.

I asked this then, and I'll ask it again- the co-pilot or navigator couldn't have stepped out for a few minutes?

Marx’s wife, Daisy Fuentes, a TV host and model who was with the singer during the flight from Hanoi to Incheon near Seoul, said on Instagram that crew members “didn’t know how to use the taser & they didn’t know how to secure the rope around him (he got loose from their rope restraints 3 times).”

Good thing they weren't attacked by a drunken shoe salesman...

Upshot being, the airline sent a letter of thanks to Marx's agency for his bravery in doing their job, and the drunk, "Mr Lin" of the "Daddy Dearest Trading Company", pled that he remembers nothing.


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14- Familiar, Agnes Obel:  The song of the summer by points, Agnes rounds out her M50 dominance with this first single from Citizen Of Glass.  Watch the rather odd video here.

13-  Madness, Lucius:  I well remember the first night I heard this one- right after the Joy Formidable's Liana.  The next week, they were 2-3 on the M10.  Here's another one of those great KEXP live videos.

12- Born To Wander, Jack Wood:  With a recording date of 1966, the oldest #1 in M10 history.  You've read the amazing story of it's rebirth from obscurity on previous Time Machines; listen to the amazing lost gem again here.


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Headline #6- Sic 'em, Fido, Indian style



The headline reads, "Cops get into a bow-wow" on the Times Of India, and comes with a delightful "artist's conception":

It was in the wee hours that four constables tried to apprehend a "habitual offender" who was holed up at his sister's place in Kashi Nagar.  First she chewed them out for waking the house at that hour; then she did the appropriate denials; then, when they asked to search the place, she set her dog after them.  After they initially fled, they must have figured out he wasn't so mean and got him tied back up.  Then she really opened a can of invective and hurled her mighty cell phone at them to no avail.  Brother and sister are now both in police custody, and she might be in more trouble than he is.  No word on whether the dog was arrested.


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Annnnd #11- Betty, The Pom Poms:  Kinda surprised me this one only pointed 14th.  The bigger of the two hits by Marlene Gold and Co., You can watch it again here.


So okay, tomorrow comes my Deaths In Music report, and Friday the big M10-M50 mash- and I do mean mash, because not one, not two, but THREE of the current M10 will be IN the top ten of the year!  Don't miss any of it!