998

Mutterings continued.

I was hoping that Manfred was going to click over to 1000km tonight but he's a tad short.

Met TUS at Retro Betty's for nachos and chat. A very nice evening. Leece and I dropped into the Luna Cinema to see when they're screening Shaun of the Dead - seems we've missed by a month or so.

There was a lot of police activity in the carpark at the rear of Oxford St tonight. One booze bus and a lot of boys (and girls) in blue.

It's been a great couple of days for Psitticine spotting. Yesterday it was a couple of large flocks of White-tailed Black cockatoos (not sure if they were Baudins or Carnabys - I always get the two confused) and tonight it was a bunch of Long-billed Corellas.

More HHGTTG casting: "Comic Bill Bailey has joined the cast of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie. The comedian and Never Mind the Buzzcocks captain will provide the voice of a sperm whale. Director Garth Jennings confirmed Bailey's involvement in the film - due out in the UK on 6 May - and also that of Alan Rickman, who voices Marvin, the paranoid android. Part of Bailey's recent Part Troll stand-up tour can be seen in a Channel 4 programme on Friday 21 January." I'm a huge Bill Bailey fan - I love his Manny in Black Books. And Alan "Professor Snape" Rickman as the voice of Marvin, eh?

From Ananova: "Filming of the new series of Doctor Who has been hit by a shortage of dwarf actors.

Producers needed them to play little blue aliens in the new BBC sci-fi drama, reports the Mirror.

But most midget actors have already been snapped up for the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie or to play Gringotts Bank staff in the new Harry Potter film."

<>Also from Ananova: "A rock legend who once sold out Madison Square Gardens earned just 14p when he tried his hand at busking.

Rick Wakeman, keyboard player with Yes, busked for half an hour in York city centre, reports the Yorkshire Evening Press.

"I played Madison Square Gardens once and filled it five nights running," he said. "They took a lot more notice than the crowd here." Did you know that Mr Wakeman raises money for the Conservative Party in the UK?