Click Random

Josephine’s reaction to reading this blog. The self-deprecation continues. ( Michael Chow-USA Today Sports ) Ask anyone that knows me, they will tell you that I am the biggest football fan you will ever meet, so this one will be fun. Strikes, spares (another word for a substitute), turkeys (another word for the over-payed players), I know it all. Josephine Chukwunonye  — why does Wikipedia love giving me these complicated names? — is a Nigerian football player in the defender position. But before she became an international athlete, she was selling bananas on the busy market streets of Lagos, Nigeria. Her mother, the owner of the fruit stand and with whom Josephine lived with in a one-room shack along with six others, would allow Josephine to keep ten cents of every dollar she earned to buy her football boots. “It’s so loud you hear nothing. It smells bad — it smells like everything.” Not sure if Josephine is talking about the marketplace or the women’s locker room ...

Take her wrap, fellas. Let me set the scene for you. It’s 1926, and you’re in a speakeasy. You’re dying for a cold one, but a bit jittery that the cops could arrive any second.  Smoke from petite cigarettes and burly cigars clouds the room. You can hardly see to appreciate the stylish raccoon coats and sequined dresses. The most visible is the sheen of a polished grand piano and a set of four beaming lights projecting onto a worn, but looked after, mustard coloured velvet curtains — yes mustard, not red, what’s it to you?. You’re waiting for your drink when a croaky New York accent projects “ladies and gentlemen, George Gershwin , with That Certain Feeling”. You think, “surely not, George Gershwin is a hitmaker for Broadway. I mean, this song is from Tip-Toes the musical, the bigwigs were annoyed , but I really wanted to see it!”  You’re certain it’s not Gershwin, but you go along with it anyway because you’re a massive fangirl for jazz. The...

I ran, I ran so far away Two citizens of Qodrat Kandi. Welp, it’s back to Geography today — I might have to start vetoing articles, but I fear that in doing so I will begin to question the integrity of Click Random and my own morality. So far, the village of Qodrat Kandi  in Iran has the smallest population of any location I have written about with 164 citizens in 39 families as of 2006, and this probably includes their goats. Qodrat Kandi is found within the province of West Azerbaijan. Yes, Azerbaijan is a different country, but Iran don’t care. They’re probably hoping that this will allow them to compete in Eurovision, just like neighbours. The most recent population data I could find for Qodrat Kandi is that, as of 2016, there are 1,129,000 living in rural areas like Qodrat Kandi in West Azerbaijan. When attempting to research Qodrat Kandi, most of the talk was about the weather, so us Brits might appreciate that, or anyone that is trapped in awkward...

In Russia, we wash paintbrushes with vodka, not water like puny Americans. Wouldn’t be Russian without a strong tache. With a name like Pyotr Pertsov , it’s not surprising that this guy is Russian. Pertsov was a poet, a publisher , a literary and art critic . A person of the arts. So if you’re not into poetry, you’ve come to the wrong place. Well, actually, don’t worry too much, I couldn’t find any of his poems. I did look for them, promise. I might have found them if there was a standard way of writing his name! Petr? Pyotr? Piotr? Pete? What is it?!? Pertsov’s probably rolling in his grave as I write this post. Pertsov began his literary career by publishing his poems for Nedelya (“Week”) and Novosti (“News”). Then he contributed to magazines linked with political, social, and artistic movements including Russian Symbolism , which were influenced by irrationalism and mysticism — think God and ghouls. Spooky. It was spurred by a movement away from the aristocracy...

Royston Head . Were you expecting more? G’day. It’s another location, location, location today. I’m starting to notice a pattern here. Geography is Wikipedia’s wet dream. Royston Head is a headland (i.e. a coastal landform sticking out into the sea, often with a steep drop) found in South Australia. The headland is connected to Royston Island by a drying reef. The headland is said to be named by English navigator Matthew Flinders . Rather than taking the glory for himself, he named the headland after Lord Royston who died at sea at the age of 24 in 1808. Lord Royston even has a memoir written of his short life. Although, it might not be worth the read, as The Spectator describes Lord Royston’s life as uneventful , yet the book was pleasingly written. The headland is home to White-bellied Sea Eagles , Ospreys , and Sooty Oystercatchers , all of which are either considered rare or vulnerable in South Australia, and all of which probably sound funnier when pronounc...

She was promised Frank Sinatra, but she got a cheap Groucho Marx. We have a film, ladies and gentlemen! Click Random’s first film.  High Society Limited . No, it’s not a sequel to High Society where Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and Frank Sinatra start a jazz magazine company named High Society Ltd , get high on crack (say nope to dope, kids), and get wrapped up in a money laundering scheme headed by the mafia. No, this is a West German comedy from 1982 starring Elisabeth Bergner, Lilli Palmer, and Hardy Krüger. I’ll just awkwardly nod and say that I know exactly who these actors are, just like when someone that studied film for a year is talking to me about this moving Azerbaijani film they’ve watched for the tenth time. What’s that? Did someone say philistine? I had hoped to watch this film and provide a bit of a review for my one loyal reader — thanks mum. Sadly, it seems that the film reels for the English subtitled version might have been lost or damaged af...

Car crash or Click Random. Which one is worse? Today we take a look at the fun and exciting world of insurance.  Beazley Group or Beazley PLC is a specialist insurance company founded in the UK in 1986 by Andrew Beazley and Nicholas Furlonge. The group is also one of the largest insurers for Lloyd’s of London.  So, who insures the insurance company? And who insures the insurer of the insurance company? And who insures them?!? Andrew Beazley served as CEO of the company for 22 years, and is credited for having confidence in and bolstering Lloyd’s of London reputation even in the company’s time of loss in the 90s. Beazley Group offers an array of insurance products, including marine, environmental liability , and data breach insurance, which was of particular note during the recent ransomware attacks.  They also have coverage for terror related attacks including nuclear incidents. I’m gonna need that insurance money in a nuclear winter, jus...