The One About England's Football Legends

Edited by Loup Dargent | Friday, February 26, 2010 | , , , , , ,


Genuine football legends share how it feels to wear the England shirt




At last a post that my kids will read and won't mind being seen reading...
They're lovely kids, really... but when it's football's World Cup and/or European Cup time, they usually turn all BNP on me, loudly supporting the English team (they're born in England and their mum is British) but not allowing me to make my support to the French team too vocal. Hmmph! 

(I'm only joking, they're not that bad.)

The video for today's post is a film where football legends are interviewed in a way that lets us see them as everyday heroes... people who have simply achieved their personal best.


  • Terry Butcher expresses how it feels to put an England shirt on – that it has the ability to inspire you to realise that you could be making history. His story about wearing the shirt, looking in the mirror before games and feeling a sense of readiness for the challenge of playing is summarised perfectly in his line ‘right, let’s go!”.
  • Viv Anderson communicates the sense of positivity he felt with the entire country right behind him when he played his first game for England. We also realise how he proudly rose to the occasion of being England’s first black player.
  • We feel Bert Williams’ sense of self-belief shine through as he explains that putting the England shirt and badge on made him ‘feel on a different planet!’
  • We begin to appreciate the sense of inspiration Stuart Pearce must have felt when he expresses the feeling of being in the England team for the first time. We also understand the sense of achievement he must have felt being selected for England after all his efforts to get there - it is summarized perfectly in his line ‘it’s not bad for an electrician.’ Most poignantly we realise the scale of the challenge he must have faced in rising to the occasion of walking out against Brazil to a crowd of 92,000 people.
  • Hope Powell’s sense of positivity is felt as she explains how playing for England felt like being in a fairytale.
  • And finally, as Martin Peters relates his experiences of being picked for the 1966 England squad we appreciate the personal efforts he must have made to get there and the pressure he must have felt to rise to the occasion of playing for his country in a World Cup final.

Yep, genuine football legends and everyday heroes...


I can see a competition coming on...
















Ah, yes... It's for our readers living in the UK, and the winner could be Mars' official reporter at England’s pre South Africa training camp. Not a bad prize, is it?

Tell the competition's organisers why you should go and you could be a winner! Simples.


 Enjoy the video and good luck to our British readers...

Loup Dargent

PS: RSS Feed Readers: If the video player doesn't appear on the page shown by your RSS Feed Reader Facility, please click on this link...


Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

The Origin Of Giving Valentine's Day Cards

Edited by Loup Dargent | Saturday, February 13, 2010 | , , , , ,

Lover's Post Office Closes

Cards, flowers and/or chocolates (maybe even your loved one's last Rolo),
with a bit of History on top... What more could one want or even need?

Especially when this extra information on the Valentine's Day tradition is brought to us by Eric V. Allen himself...

Yep, this is the same Eric who recently gave us "A Note From Saint Valentine - A First Person Tale Of This Wonderful Day".  With Guest Writers of that caliber, we can't really go wrong, can we?

So, enjoy and... "Happy Valentine's Day!"

 
Loup Dargent


Valentine's Day Spirit Grips The U.S.




The Origin
Of Giving
Valentine's
Day Cards  

Eric V. Allen

Traditionally, mid-February was a Roman time to meet and court
prospective mates. The Lupercian lottery (under penalty of
mortal sin), Roman young men did institute the custom of
offering women they admired and wished to court handwritten
greetings of affection on February 14. The cards acquired St.
Valentine's name.

As Christianity spread, so did the Valentine's Day card. The
earliest extant card was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of
Orleans, to his wife while he was a prisoner in the Tower of
London. It is now in the British Museum.

In the sixteenth century, St. Francis de Sales, bishop of
Geneva, attempted to expunge the custom of cards and reinstate
the lottery of saints' names. He felt that Christians had
become wayward and needed models to emulate. However, this
lottery was less successful and shorter-lived than Pope
Gelasius's. And rather than disappearing, cards proliferated
and became more decorative. 

Cupid, the naked cherub armed with arrows dipped in love
potion, beame a popular valentine image. He was associated with
the holiday because in Roman mythology he is the son of Venus,
goddess of love and beauty.

By the seventeenth century, handmade cards were oversized and
elaborate, while store-bought ones were smaller and costly. In
1797, a British publisher issued 'The Young Man's Valentine
Writer', which contained scores of suggested sentimental verses
for the young lover unable to compose his own.

Printers had already begun producing a limited number of cards
with verses and sketches, called "mechanical valentines," and a
reduction in postal rates in the next century ushered in the
less personal but easier practice of mailing valentines. That,
in turn, made it possible for the first time to exchange cards
anonymously, which is taken as the reason for the sudden
appearance of racy verse in an era otherwise prudishly
Victorian.

The burgeoning number of obscene valentines caused several
countries to ban the practice of exchanging cards. In Chicago,
for instance, late in the nineteenth century, the post office
rejected some twenty-five thousand cards on the ground that
they were not fit to be carried through the U.S. mail.

The first American publisher of valentines was printer and
artist Esther Howland. Her elaborate lace cards of the 1870s
cost from five to ten dollars, with some selling for as much as
thirty-five dollars. Since that time, the valentine card
business has flourished. With the exception of Christmas,
Americans exchange more cards on Valentine's Day than at any
other time of the year. Just thinking about it brings memories
of red construction paper, and little boxes of heart candies

 
About The Author:


Lover's Post Office Closes




Related articles by Zemanta

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Do You Love Anyone Enough To Give Them Your Last Rolo?

Edited by Loup Dargent | Thursday, February 11, 2010 | , , , , , ,




Giving someone your last Rolo is the ultimate Little Gesture this Valentine’s.


String of paper hearts and shadows

"Since the iconic brand and pioneers of loving gestures asked ‘Do you love anyone enough to give them your last Rolo?’ it has remained a symbol of love and romance"
 Ah, yes... I do remember all those Rolo adverts. Thanks to them, giving our last Rolo to the one you loved was seen as the ultimate sacrifice... and it was far much cheaper than buying a diamond, a meal or some flowers. But, then again, it was your last Rolo... So it was still a tough decision to make. Was the object of your love worth it after all?

Okay, we're definitely into full Valentine's Day mood today, and the current advert from the Rolo Team is even taking us a step further... Yep, we can be romantic and win a prize.  
Now, that's what I call a perfect Valentine's Day!

While the competiton itself is for UK residents only, our friends from the other side of the Pond can still benefit from this post as, the idea behind the competition is that Valentine's Day doesn't have to cost a fortune...

"Making Valentine’s Day special doesn’t have to cost the earth, in fact the importance of little gestures has been greatly underestimated in the romance stakes..." 
 No argument from us here... We definitely agree with that statement.

"That’s why Rolo, the ultimate Little Gesture, is urging the great British public to consider what small gestures they can make this Valentine’s - whether that means breakfast in bed, a romantic meal at home, a kiss and cuddle or giving someone your last Rolo a little gesture speaks volumes!"
 There are examples in the video and on the Rolo competition site (link provided in the video), so do take notes... They might come handy if you've forgotten to buy those darn expensive flowers/

"Winners will also receive Rolo chocolates so you can indulge the one you love this Valentine’s with Rolo, the perfect combination of smooth chocolate and chewy caramel in individual bite size cups."
 The icing on the cake, in a way... 




Of course, for research purposes, I had to go and visit the competiton page. I liked it a lot, but what I liked the most was the statement on the landing page:

"Valentine's day shouldn't be the only day we celebrate love - the Valentine's day spirit can live in every day of the year.
We're not talking about the tacky cards or expensive roses, but those little romantic gestures that mean so much more, like the giving of your Last Rolo."

Yes, I know, I'm getting soft in my old age...


Good luck to our British readers and...  
Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!

Loup Dargent

PS: RSS Feed Readers: If the video player doesn't appear on the page shown by your RSS Feed Reader Facility, please click on this link...







Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

The One About 'Keeping Keeley Hazell'

Edited by Loup Dargent | Wednesday, February 10, 2010 | , , , , , , , ,




 Have you got what it takes to keep Keeley interested?


The FHM 100 Sexiest Women In The World Party 2006



With Valentine's Day around the corner, this post might be one of our timeliest of all.
Well, it's about girls anyway. So, close enough...

The video-clip is an advert that has been running for a little while in the UK, but it's more than just an ad. We could even go as far as saying that It's an advert with a... twist.

Here is what its makers are saying about it:

"Girls get bored easily so it's a must to keep them interested which is why Lynx has developed the innovative new fragrance Twist - the fragrance that changes


To celebrate the launch of new Lynx Twist, the fragrance that changes, Lynx has taken its first foray into film production with the sexy comedy ‘Keeping Keeley’. This interactive film differs from other online offerings by allowing viewers to control the fate of the protagonist.


Insight from Lynx HQ has shown that girls are increasingly looking for guys who keep them interested. This interactive film is designed to test guys’ skills at keeping potential girls interested during crucial mating game moments - made all the easier by the fact the potential girl in question here happens to be the lovely Keeley Hazell! As seen in the TV advert where the Lynx guy ‘Twists’ himself with an array of looks to keep the girl interested, viewers of ‘Keeping Keeley’ are presented with a series of options on Lynx’s Facebook page to ‘Twist’ the guy, revealing new skills, hidden talents and fresh looks.


The film features a stellar cast of up and coming UK talent including: the eponymous Keeley Hazell, Blake Harrison (Neil from The Inbetweeners), Mike Fielding (Naboo from The Mighty Boosh) and the Scarlet Harlots (T4’s Orange Unsigned Act). Scripted by the BAFTA award winning team behind Channel 4 comedy Green Wing, ‘Keeping Keeley’ is shot entirely from multiple POV.


Guys can watch the film at www.facebook.com/lynxeffectuk or on X-Box Live, to see if they have what it takes to keep Keeley interested."





So guys,  have you got what it takes to keep Keeley interested?


Have fun! 

Loup Dargent






Related articles by Zemanta



Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

A Note From Saint Valentine

Edited by Loup Dargent | Sunday, February 07, 2010 | , , , ,

Valentine's Day Celebrated Across The World



Eric V. Allen, our Guest Writer
for today's post, was so determined
to get first hand information regarding
who should be thanked/blamed for having
started the Valentine's Day tradition that
he decided to travel back in time to
Emperor Claudius' Rome to get it...


(That particular travel in time was no
picnic as, apparently, there was no internet
or even mobile phones during Claudius' life.

And, believe it or not, they didn't have TVs
either in those days... Yikes!)


So, thanks to Eric's dedication, we are
now in possession of the equivalent of an
exclusive interview with Mr Saint Valentine
himself.


Enjoy.

Loup Dargent

Trial Of A Saint



A Note From
Saint Valentine
- A First Person
Tale Of This
Wonderful Day

Eric V. Allen


Let me introduce myself. My name is Valentine.
I lived in Rome during the third century. That was long,
long ago! At that time, Rome was ruled by an emperor
named Claudius. I didn't like Emperor Claudius, and
I wasn't the only one! A lot of people shared my feelings.


Claudius wanted to have a big army. He expected men
to volunteer to join. Many men just did not want to fight
in wars. They did not want to leave their wives and families.
As you might have guessed, not many men signed up.
This made Claudius furious. So what happened? He had
a crazy idea. He thought that if men were not married,
they would not mind joining the army. So Claudius decided
not to allow any more marriages. Young people thought
his new law was cruel. I thought it was preposterous!
I certainly wasn't going to support that law!


Did I mention that I was a priest? One of my favourite
activities was to marry couples. Even after Emperor
Claudius passed his law, I kept on performing marriage
ceremonies -- secretly, of course. It was really quite
exciting. Imagine a small candlelit room with only the
bride and groom and myself. We would whisper the words
of the ceremony, listening all the while for the steps of soldiers.


One night, we did hear footsteps. It was scary! Thank goodness
the couple I was marrying escaped in time. I was caught. (Not
quite as light on my feet as I used to be, I guess.) I was thrown
in jail and told that my punishment was death.


I tried to stay cheerful. And do you know what? Wonderful
things happened. Many young people came to the jail to
visit me. They threw flowers and notes up to my window.
They wanted me to know that they, too, believed in love.


One of these young people was the daughter of the prison
guard. Her father allowed her to visit me in the cell. Sometimes
we would sit and talk for hours. She helped me to keep my
spirits up. She agreed that I did the right thing by ignoring the
Emperor and going ahead with the secret marriages. On the
day I was to die, I left my friend a little note thanking her for her
friendship and loyalty. I signed it, "Love from your Valentine."


I believe that note started the custom of exchanging love
messages on Valentine's Day. It was written on
the day I died, February 14, 269 A.D.


Now, every year on this day, people remember. But
most importantly, they think about love and friendship.
And when they think of Emperor Claudius, they remember
how he tried to stand in the way of love, and they laugh --
because they know that love can't be beaten!








Related articles by Zemanta


Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...