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<channel>
	<title>WordPress Snippets &#187; Musings</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/category/musings/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.wpsnippets.com</link>
	<description>Random musings about life, in addition to tips, code snippets and plugins for the average and newbie WordPress user</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:07:54 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
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		<item>
		<title>Custom Post Type Code Generator by Themergency</title>
		<link>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2011/05/custom-post-type-code-generator-by-themergency/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2011/05/custom-post-type-code-generator-by-themergency/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 28 May 2011 13:12:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>flick</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Find of the Day]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WordPress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brad vincent]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[custom post type]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[custom post type code generator]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[custom post type ui]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gravity forms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[themergency]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpsnippets.com/?p=110</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I found this generator quite by accident whilst looking up articles about Custom Post Types and thought I should let you know about it too: Custom Post Type Code Generator by Themergency This is because I think it is the &#8230; <a href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/2011/05/custom-post-type-code-generator-by-themergency/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I found this generator quite by accident whilst looking up articles about <a title="Custom Post Types - WordPress Codex" href="http://codex.wordpress.org/Post_Types">Custom Post Types</a> and thought I should let you know about it too:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong><a title="Custom Post Type Code Generator by Themergency" href="http://themergency.com/generators/wordpress-custom-post-types/">Custom Post Type Code Generator by Themergency</a></strong></p></blockquote>
<p>This is because I think it is the ideal tool for those who are put off using the <strong>functions.php</strong> method when creating a custom Post Type, as all it requires is some form-filling. So it took all of (the famous WordPress) 5 minutes to go from this empty form:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/cpt-generator.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-111" title="Custom Post Type Generator" src="http://www.wpsnippets.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/cpt-generator.jpg" alt="" width="578" height="310" /></a></p>
<p>to this lot of code (full sample code after the cut):</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/cpt-generator-2.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-112" title="Custom Post Type Generator by Themergency - Results" src="http://www.wpsnippets.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/cpt-generator-2.jpg" alt="" width="577" height="230" /></a></p>
<p>This nifty tool was <a title="Generate your own Custom Post Type - Themergency" href="http://themergency.com/generate-your-wordpress-custom-post-type-code/">only released earlier this month</a> (May 2011) and you can <a title="Generate your own Custom Post Type - Themergency" href="http://themergency.com/generate-your-wordpress-custom-post-type-code/">read about</a> how <strong>Brad Vincent</strong> developed the generator (using <a title="Gravity Forms" href="http://www.gravityforms.com/">Gravity Forms</a>) and from his comment on 16th May, the plan is to release the plugins that generate the code once he has &#8216;refactored&#8217; them.</p>
<p>So if you&#8217;re using a plugin like <strong><a title="Custom Post Type UI - WordPress Extend" href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/custom-post-type-ui/">Custom Post Type UI</a> </strong>(one of my favourites) to create your custom post type and want to try the <strong>functions.php</strong> method instead, why not start off with the <strong><a title="Custom Post Type Code Generator by Themergency" href="http://themergency.com/generators/wordpress-custom-post-types/">Custom Post Type Code Generator</a></strong>?</p>
<p><span id="more-110"></span></p>
<p>The resulting code generated from the form-filling exercise:</p>
<pre class="brush: php; title: ; notranslate">
add_action( 'init', 'register_cpt_wine' );

function register_cpt_wine() {

    $labels = array(
        'name' =&gt; _x( 'Wines', 'wine' ),
        'singular_name' =&gt; _x( 'Wine', 'wine' ),
        'add_new' =&gt; _x( 'Add New', 'wine' ),
        'add_new_item' =&gt; _x( 'Add New Wine', 'wine' ),
        'edit_item' =&gt; _x( 'Edit Wine', 'wine' ),
        'new_item' =&gt; _x( 'New Wine', 'wine' ),
        'view_item' =&gt; _x( 'View Wine', 'wine' ),
        'search_items' =&gt; _x( 'Search Wines', 'wine' ),
        'not_found' =&gt; _x( 'No wines found', 'wine' ),
        'not_found_in_trash' =&gt; _x( 'No wines found in Trash', 'wine' ),
        'parent_item_colon' =&gt; _x( 'Parent Wine:', 'wine' ),
        'menu_name' =&gt; _x( 'Wines', 'wine' ),
    );

    $args = array(
        'labels' =&gt; $labels,
        'hierarchical' =&gt; false,
        'description' =&gt; 'Wine Portfolio',
        'supports' =&gt; array( 'title', 'editor', 'thumbnail' ),
        'taxonomies' =&gt; array( 'country', 'region', 'supplier_company', 'company', 'brand', 'product_type', 'grape_type' ),
        'public' =&gt; true,
        'show_ui' =&gt; true,
        'show_in_menu' =&gt; true,
        'menu_position' =&gt; 5,

        'show_in_nav_menus' =&gt; true,
        'publicly_queryable' =&gt; true,
        'exclude_from_search' =&gt; false,
        'has_archive' =&gt; true,
        'query_var' =&gt; true,
        'can_export' =&gt; true,
        'rewrite' =&gt; true,
        'capability_type' =&gt; 'post'
    );

    register_post_type( 'wine', $args );
}</pre>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>WP 2.9 Features Vote Results say &#8216;Media Features &#8211; Put em&#8217; in core&#8217;?</title>
		<link>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2009/08/wp-2-9-features-vote-results-say-media-features-put-em-in-core/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2009/08/wp-2-9-features-vote-results-say-media-features-put-em-in-core/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:25:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>flick</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WordPress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2.9 features]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[canonical plugin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[photoblog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wordpress development]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpsnippets.com/?p=84</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The results of the WordPress 2.9 Features Vote came out today, where Jane Wells wrote that over 3,500 people participated in the poll.  Although only the first question was mandatory, Media albums and Easier embedding of Media were clearly priorities &#8230; <a href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/2009/08/wp-2-9-features-vote-results-say-media-features-put-em-in-core/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The results of the <a title="2.9 Features Vote Results" href="http://wordpress.org/development/2009/07/2-9-vote-results/"><strong>WordPress 2.9 Features Vote</strong></a> came out today, where <strong><a title="Jane on WordPress" href="http://jane.wordpress.com/">Jane Wells</a> </strong>wrote that over 3,500 people participated in the poll.  Although only the first question was mandatory, <em>Media albums</em> and <em>Easier embedding of Media</em> were clearly priorities for most as they took up more than a third of the votes (34%).</p>
<p>I would have voted for the same thing &#8211; particularly for embedding media &#8211; since I tend to write and embed about third party content. For that reason I would probably have voted for a better media interface as well.</p>
<p>What is worrying though is that out of the 3284 people (apx 91% of total voters) who answered the 4th question about whether media features such as Albums should be:</p>
<ul>
<li>A Core or standard feature of <strong>WordPress</strong>; or</li>
<li>Bundled with core as a plugin; or</li>
<li>Left as a plugin in the Repository.</li>
</ul>
<p>56.2% said this should be in core! Thankfully there were still many who thought otherwise, but it seems most of these were developers rather than users.</p>
<p>This doesn&#8217;t mean that the demi-gods of <strong>WordPress</strong> development are going to go with the flow, as they said that:</p>
<blockquote><p>Clearly this issue deserves more discussion, and the concept of how we move toward a system of canonical plugins and/or core “packages” intended for different use cases (CMS, photoblog, portfolio, etc) will be a big topic in the months ahead.</p></blockquote>
<p>However, as a user, I really believe that if media features were introduced, &#8216;canonical&#8217; plugins that are either left in the Repository or &#8211; at a push &#8211; bundled are the way forward for several reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li>They will still &#8216;hook&#8217; or work effectively with Core, and presumably this will be because-</li>
<li>Plugin development may be done in-house or the third-party developer will work closely with the <strong>WordPress</strong> team; and</li>
<li>No excess code in Core for features not everyone uses, as the plugins are mainly standalone, which reduces the size of the core download; and</li>
<li>Avoids unnecessary code running in the background; whilst</li>
<li>Minimises the possibility of bloated code.</li>
</ul>
<p>No doubt <strong>WordPress</strong> will  investigate the routes taken by other software such as <strong><a title="Gallery" href="http://gallery.menalto.com/">Gallery by </a><a href="http://www.menalto.com/bharat/index.html">Bharat Mediratta</a></strong>, which offers 3 different packages for everyday users to download &#8211; the &#8216;Full&#8217; package is more than twice the size of the &#8216;Minimal&#8217; package &#8211; so the compromise is the &#8216;Typical&#8217; package to &#8216;satisfy the demands of most Gallery users&#8217;.</p>
<p>But having more than one download will probably confuse new entrants to the <strong>WordPress</strong> user base (I know the Gallery one confuses me &#8211; then again, I am easily confused) and I imagine that quite often the boundaries for &#8216;use cases&#8217;  &#8211; CMS, photoblog, etc. &#8211; might be too easily blurred to offer packages on that particularly basis, but I am open to other thoughts.</p>
<p>This is why the <strong>WordPress</strong> core is currently great as it is &#8211; because it is flexible enough for users to go opt for one or more &#8216;use cases&#8217;, and can be downloaded and installed in (less than) 5 minutes &#8211; all in a tidy 2.2MB package.</p>
<p>By contrast, <strong><a title="Joomla" href="http://joomla.org/">Joomla</a></strong>&#8216;s standard download is 6.4 MB and even Gallery&#8217;s &#8216;typical&#8217; package is some 4MB.</p>
<p>For these reasons, I believe that the new Media Features should not be in Core and should be offered separately as plugins. Leaving them in the Repository or &#8216;Repo&#8217; would be most ideal in my mind, because the Core download size will be smaller.</p>
<p>Then the issue will be simply how to include these features as an option within a user-friendly interface for users to simply &#8216;activate&#8217;, whereby <strong>WordPress</strong> core can then download and install them automatically, rather like the Core &#8216;upgrade&#8217; system now in use.</p>
<p>p/s: More opinions and related posts can be found in the <a title="PingBack for 2.9 Features Vote Results" href="http://wordpress.org/development/2009/07/2-9-vote-results/#comments">Pingback section</a> at the bottom of the <a title="Vote results for 2.9 Features" href="http://wordpress.org/development/2009/07/2-9-vote-results/">official blog post</a>, including a <a title="WP Tavern - 2.9 Voting Results - Comments" href="http://www.wptavern.com/forum/general-wordpress/734-2-9-voting-results-comments.html">dedicated WP Tavern thread</a> and even one discussing the <a href="http://www.r-statistics.com/2009/07/simple-visualization-of-a-11x5-table-for-wordpress-2-9-features-vote-results/" title="Simple visualization of a 11X5 table (for WordPress 2.9 Features Vote Results)">presentation of data</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>WordPress Plugin Competition 2009</title>
		<link>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2009/07/wordpress-plugin-competition-2009/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2009/07/wordpress-plugin-competition-2009/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:29:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>flick</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WordPress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[changelogger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[twitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wltc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wordpress plugin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wordpress plugin competition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wptavern]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpsnippets.com/?p=82</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Our humble website, WPSnippets, is hardly the first stop WordPress fans will visit when they look up information regarding their beloved WordPress (I recommend visiting WP Tavern and WLTC for that!)  but I do still feel it is important to &#8230; <a href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/2009/07/wordpress-plugin-competition-2009/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Our humble website, WPSnippets, is hardly the first stop WordPress fans will visit when they look up information regarding their beloved WordPress (I recommend visiting <strong><a title="WP Tavern" href="http://www.wptavern.com/">WP Tavern</a></strong> and <a title="Weblog Tools Collection" href="http://weblogtoolscollection.com/"><strong>WLTC</strong></a> for that!)  but I do still feel it is important to get the word out as a much as possible about this year&#8217;s:</p>
<blockquote><p><a title="WordPress Plugin Competition 2009" href="http://weblogtoolscollection.com/pluginblog/"><strong>WordPress Plugin Competition 2009</strong></a></p></blockquote>
<p>This is an annual competition which, I believe, began last year and has both directly and indirectly resulted in some of the most useful plugins for 2008 &#8211; I believe the concept behind one may even have been somewhat &#8216;integrated&#8217; into WordPress core &#8211; it was that good!</p>
<p>The incentive for plugin authors across the world is firstly, a place to publicise their plugin in a forum outside of the <a title="WordPress Plugins Repository" href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/">WordPress Plugin Directory</a> &#8211; particularly to non developers (including myself). Secondly, as <strong><a title="WP Engineer - WordPress Plugin Competition" href="http://wpengineer.com/a-chance-wordpress-plugin-competition/">WPEngineer</a></strong> pointed out (with thanks to WPTavern for the <a title="RT- WP Tavern: A Chance: WordPress Plugin Competition" href="http://twitter.com/wptavern/statuses/2588935433">Retweet</a>), your plugin will receive a lot of feedback. I think he sums it up nicely:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8230; your Plugin surely gets more attention and more feedback, as I have experienced in the past year. This year should be at least the same amount of feedback as last year, where each plugin was inspect by OZH. Also this year, you can expect to get some feedback from Ozh as you can see at <a href="http://planetozh.com/blog/2009/07/lets-get-more-contestants-into-the-wordpress-plugin-competition/">contribution to the Plugin Competition</a>. Sure, the opinion of Ozh can be different then yours, but his feedback is crucial. As a developer, I have learned a lot from last year, my knowledge expanded.</em></p></blockquote>
<p>Just to recap on last year&#8217;s plugins, the personal highlights for me from <strong>2008</strong> were (in no particular order):</p>
<ul>
<li><a title="WP Comment Remix" href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-comment-remix/">WP Comment Remix</a> by <a title="Jason DeVelvis" href="http://pressography.com/">Jason DeVelvis</a></li>
<li><a title="Role Scoper" href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/role-scoper/">Role Scoper</a> by <a title="Agapetry Creations" href="http://agapetry.net/">Kevin Behrens</a></li>
<li><a title="Snazzy Archives" href="http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/wordpress-plugins/snazzy-archives">Snazzy Archives</a> &amp; <a title="WP Wall" href="http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/wordpress-plugins/wp-wall">WP Wall</a> by <a href="http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/">Vladimir Prelovac</a></li>
<li><a title="Tabbed Widgets Plugin" href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tabbed-widgets/">Tabbed Widgets Plugin</a> by <a title="Kaspas Dambis" href="http://konstruktors.com/blog/">Kaspas Dambis</a></li>
<li><a title="WP Sentry" href="http://www.peteholiday.com/wp-sentry/">WP Sentry</a> by <a title="Pete Holiday" href="http://www.peteholiday.com">Pete Holiday</a></li>
<li><a title="Post Tabs" href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/posttabs/">postTabs</a> by <a title="Leo Germani" href="http://pirex.com.br/wordpress-plugins">Leo Germani</a></li>
</ul>
<p>for the simple reason that they were really quite innovative and ones I personally found very useful (or potentially useful) for my own sites (fan and private club ones) and these were to name but a few of the multiple plugins that were submitted.</p>
<p><strong>2009</strong> has yet to receive the same level of submissions, which is surprising, given the incentives listed above and <a title="WLTC - Plugin Competition Prizes (2009)" href="http://weblogtoolscollection.com/plugin-competition-prizes/">some lovely prizes to boot</a>. Hopefully this is because all this year&#8217;s potential competition participants are furiously writing up a changelog before posting their entry. :p</p>
<p>As a non developer, some of the new submissions that have caught my eye to date are:</p>
<ul>
<li><a title="Twitter Friendly Links" href="http://weblogtoolscollection.com/pluginblog/2009/07/08/twitter-friendly-links/">Twitter Friendly Links</a> by <a title="Konstantin Kovshenin" href="http://kovshenin.com/">Konstantin Kovshenin</a></li>
<li><a title="Max Image Size Control" href="http://weblogtoolscollection.com/pluginblog/2009/05/21/max-image-size-control/">Max Image Size Control</a> by  <a title="Hiroaki Miyashita" href="http://wordpressgogo.com/">Hiroaki Miyashita</a></li>
<li><a title="Changelogger" href="http://weblogtoolscollection.com/pluginblog/2009/06/30/changelogger/">Changelogger</a> by <a title="Oliver Schlöbe" href="http://www.schloebe.de/wordpress/changelogger-plugin/#english">Oliver Schlöbe</a></li>
<li><a title="Advanced Export for WP and WPmu href="http://weblogtoolscollection.com/pluginblog/2009/06/27/advanced-export-for-wp-and-wpmu/">Advanced Export for WP and WPmu</a> by <a title="Ron Rennick" href=http://ronandandrea.com/">Ron Rennick</a></li>
</ul>
<p>where <a title="Changelogger" href="http://www.schloebe.de/wordpress/changelogger-plugin/#english">Changelogger</a> is a plugin that I believe really offers something that should be in WordPress core, and <a href="http://wpmututorials.com/plugins/advanced-export/">Advanced Export for WP and WPmu</a> will be such an essential tool when moving or even revamping a site as you can select specific content.</p>
<p>The deadline for submissions is the <strong>end of July 2009</strong>, so &#8211; as a WordPress fan  who loves plugin developers and their plugins &#8211; please can I humbly implore you to send in your plugin for the <a title="WordPress Plugin Competition 2009" href="http://weblogtoolscollection.com/pluginblog/"><strong>WordPress Plugin Competition 2009</strong></a>!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Beijing Olympics 2008 &#8211; Closing Ceremony &#8211; The Moon is Bright Tonight</title>
		<link>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/12/beijing-olympics-2008-closing-ceremony-the-moon-is-bright-tonight/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/12/beijing-olympics-2008-closing-ceremony-the-moon-is-bright-tonight/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Dec 2008 01:14:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>flick</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Olympics 2008]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[andy lau]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bbc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beijing olympics 2008]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beijing olympics closing ceremony]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[guests from afar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jackie chan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[joey yung]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[karen mok]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lyrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[matt slater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mp3]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Placido Domingo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[please stay]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[soprano]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the moon is bright tonight]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[亮出來亮旺旺亮旺旺]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[今夜月明]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[宋祖英]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[愛的火焰]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wpsnippets.com/?p=70</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Photo courtesy of 赤子之心 It has only been 4 months since the Beijing Olympics 2008, but for some reason it seems to have happened so very long ago. Perhaps it&#8217;s because of the credit crunch and lots of real life &#8230; <a href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/12/beijing-olympics-2008-closing-ceremony-the-moon-is-bright-tonight/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21559858@N00/2796588310/"><img class="alignnone" title="Beijing Olympics 2008 - Closing Ceremony - The Moon is Bright Tonight" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3005/2796588310_2ca7c2a214.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="330" /></a><br />
<em> Photo courtesy of </em><a title="Link to 赤子之心's photostream" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21559858@N00/"><em>赤子之心</em></a></p>
<p>It has only been 4 months since the <strong>Beijing Olympics 2008</strong>, but for some reason it seems to have happened so very long ago. Perhaps it&#8217;s because of the credit crunch and lots of real life things happening, but my online activity has really dwindled. This includes the continuation of the series on the <a title="Beijing Olympics 2008 - Closing Ceremony - Introduction" href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/beijing-olympics-2008-closing-ceremony-introduction/">Closing Ceremony</a>, where this post has been in &#8216;draft&#8217; for far too long without actually having ever been written up.</p>
<p>Above is a photo of the 7 sopranos who serenaded us all with their rendition of the Chinese folk song <strong>今夜月明</strong> or <strong>The Moon is Bright Tonight</strong>.  Out of all the performances that night, I have to say this sweet love song was my absolute favourite performance of the evening (more photos of some of the other performances can be found at the end of this post) Their voices (and their outfits) were absolutely gorgeous!</p>
<p>This is the list of the soprano performers:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">張也, 湯燦, 張燕, 陳思思, 雷佳, 王麗達,哈輝</p>
<p>The original plan was to introduce all of the singers individually, but I think it&#8217;s safe to say that they are all very accomplished sopranos and perhaps it will be fine to leave it at that, since on a personal level, the actual song and their rendition of this particular arrangement was the most wonderful part.</p>
<p>I have actually recorded the song from the BBC broadcast of the Closing Ceremony, and find it so very uplifting to listen to. The song is sung by a girl to a boy in the mountains, and she sings about the magnificently bright  moon that has risen, which reminds her of the one she is missing.  And as the wind sweeps up to the hills, she asks if he can hear her calling to him.</p>
<p>At least, that&#8217;s my interpretation of the <a title="Sohu - the female Soprano Zhang Ye performs The Moon is Bright Tonight" href="http://2008.sohu.com/20080824/n259180501.shtml">original lyrics</a>, although <a title="The group rendition of The Moon is Bright Tonight" href="http://big5.cri.cn/gate/big5/gb.cri.cn/17844/2008/08/24/1945s2209704.htm">CRI Online</a> has helpfully provided the names of the people who brought us this arrangement (卞留念、趙兆、孟可 and 尹宜公)  I have decided to edit the <a title="Sohu - the female Soprano Zhang Ye performs The Moon is Bright Tonight" href="http://2008.sohu.com/20080824/n259180501.shtml">original lyrics</a> and post what the sopranos actually sang here:</p>
<blockquote><p>(恩噠恩噠  哩羅來哩羅來)<br />
(恩噠恩噠  哩羅來哩羅來)<br />
月亮出來亮旺旺亮旺旺 （哪呀咿哪呀咿也  哪呀咿哪呀咿也)<br />
想起我的阿哥<br />
在深山 (噠   噠  哩羅來哩羅來）<br />
(哪呀咿  哪呀咿也  哪呀咿呦呀咿也)<br />
哥想月亮天上走天上走  哥 (哪呀咿哪呀咿也)<br />
哥哥啊 (來啦哩 來啦哩  來啦哩  來啦哩羅來哩羅來）<br />
山下小河淌水<br />
清悠悠 (哪呀咿哪呀咿也 啊呦呀呦  咿也)</p>
<p>月亮出來亮旺旺  亮旺旺  月亮出來亮旺旺  亮旺旺<br />
亮旺  亮旺  亮旺  亮旺&#8230;&#8230;<br />
月亮出來亮旺旺</p>
<p>一陣清風  吹上坡  吹上坡  哥啊  哥啊  哥啊<br />
你可聽見阿妹叫阿哥&#8230;&#8230;<br />
阿哥  月亮出來  月亮  月亮</p></blockquote>
<p>It is a little shorter than the original, and the words that you can see  within brackets interweaves between the actual lyrics, and are nonsense if taken literally, but musically they are a perfect accompaniment for the song.</p>
<p>If you would like to be reminded why this song is so good, feel free to listen  to the mp3 recording that I mentioned earlier from the BBC broadcast below.  Alternatively, you can also download <strong><a class="downloadlink" href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/download/The+Moon+is+Bright+Tonight" title=" downloaded 891 times" >The Moon is Bright Tonight</a></strong> for your own enjoyment as well.  It is really something worth listening , especially in the winter months, in my humble opinion, and it would be great to find out if you thought the same too!</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">[Audio clip: view full post to listen]</p>
<p class="download"><a href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/download/The+Moon+is+Bright+Tonight" title="Download 'The Moon is Bright Tonight'"><strong>Download the mp3 recording</strong></a> of <strong>The Moon is Bright Tonight</strong> from the <strong>BBC</strong>&#8216;s broadcast of the Beijing Olympics Closing Ceremony or click on the &#8216;play&#8217; button above to listen to the mp3 on the site!</p>
<p>Unless I get round to writing about the Handover to London, this may be the last post on the Olympics 2008 for the time being.  But I think, as the BBC&#8217;s <a title="BBC - Beijing, over and out - follow that, London!" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/2008/08/beijing_over_and_out_follow_th.html">Matt Slater</a> summed up so eloquently in his blog post:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>The closing ceremony was absolutely in keeping with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/matt-slater/">everything I have seen in Beijing</a> over the last three and a bit weeks: staggering in scale, perfectly choreographed, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/7548773.stm">visually stunning</a> and <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/live_action/7549103.stm">absolutely on time</a>.</em></p></blockquote>
<p>p/s: Some of the other photos we promised at the start of this post from the <strong>Beijing Olympics 2008 Closing Ceremony</strong> including <a title="Official website of Jackie Chan" href="http://www.jackiechan.com/">Jackie Chan</a>, <a title="Wikipedia - Karen Mok" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Mok">Karen Mok</a>, <a title="Wikipedia - Andy Lau" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Lau">Andy Lau</a>, <a title="Wikipedia - Joey Yung" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joey_Yung">Joey Yung</a> and other really big name (old-skool) celebrities  singing <strong><span><span>遠方的客人請你留下來</span></span></strong> or <strong>Please stay, Guests from Afar</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21559858@N00/2796587614/"><img class="alignnone" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3135/2796587614_cfa8d4cb27.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="311" /></a><br />
<em> Photo courtesy of <a title="Link to 赤子之心's photostream" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21559858@N00/">赤子之心</a></em></p>
<p>And some of the 75 acrobats mimicking flames as they performed on the 25-metre tall <strong>Memory Tower</strong>.<em><br />
</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajacied/2794186984/"><img class="alignnone" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3124/2794186984_e8a71ab8ff.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /></a><br />
<em> Photo courtesy of <a title="Link to azzurri_nr1's photostream" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajacied/">azzurri_nr1</a></em></p>
<p>Last but not least, <strong>Placido Domingo</strong> and <strong>宋祖英</strong> (<strong>Song Zuying</strong>) singing the duet of <span><span><strong>愛的火焰</strong> or <strong>Flame</strong></span></span><strong>s of Love</strong> together.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21559858@N00/2794918613/"><img class="alignnone" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3285/2794918613_4935564a3c.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="332" /></a><br />
<em> Photo courtesy of <a title="Link to 赤子之心's photostream" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21559858@N00/">赤子之心</a></em></p>
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		<title>Beijing Olympics 2008 &#8211; Closing Ceremony &#8211; Introduction</title>
		<link>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/beijing-olympics-2008-closing-ceremony-introduction/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/beijing-olympics-2008-closing-ceremony-introduction/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:27:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>flick</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Olympics 2008]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[7 singers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beijing 2008]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[closing ceremony]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[olympics closing ceremony]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[silver bell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[soprano]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the moon is bright tonight]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[traditional folk song]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[zhang yimou]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[And so the Beijing Olympics 2008 have officially drawn to a close with the handover to London for 2012. I&#8217;m sure many many people dropped what they were doing to watch as much of the closing ceremony as possible, I &#8230; <a href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/beijing-olympics-2008-closing-ceremony-introduction/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>And so the <strong>Beijing Olympics 2008</strong> have officially drawn to a close with the handover to London for 2012.  I&#8217;m sure many many people dropped what they were doing to watch as much of the closing ceremony as possible, I know I did.  So, what did you think of the Closing Ceremony?</p>
<p>It wasn&#8217;t quite on the same scale as the <strong><a title="Beijing Olympics 2008 - Opening Ceremony" href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/beijing-olympics-2008-opening-ceremony/">Opening Ceremony</a> </strong>- a mere 200 drum performers and 1,100 silver bell dancer for the first &#8216;Reunion&#8217;-themed part, compared to the 2,008 drummers at the start of the Opening Ceremony. In all, 7,000 performers took part in the Closing Ceremony and they didn&#8217;t even get a chance to rehearse in the stadium in the past few days because of the Athletics.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28554757@N02/2792341847/"><img class="alignnone" title="Beijing Olympics: Closing Ceremony" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3009/2792341847_c25c0ea8b6.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="346" /></a><br />
<em> Photo courtesy of <a title="Link to One Ben K's photostream" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28554757@N02/">One Ben K</a></em></p>
<p>It was also a very modern performance compared to how the Olympics were introduced, and the underlying message was to &#8216;greet and welcome guests&#8217;. The music was <a title="China Daily - Facts and figures about Olympics closing ceremony" href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/2008-08/24/content_6966665.htm">gorgeous</a> &#8211; delicate and upbeat in parts, contemplative the next. The cinematic effect was beautiful, as expected of <a title="Wikipedia - Zhang Yimou" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Yimou">Zhang Yimou</a>, the director.  At this point, I was impressed by the 60 light wheels that &#8216;rolled&#8217; into the darkened stadium, traveling along path of lights formed by the dancers, which reminded me a little of the Wall of China (even if it wasn&#8217;t intended)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardgiles/2792214827/"><img class="alignnone" title="Beijing Olympics: Closing Ceremony - Light Cycle" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3026/2792214827_e6480f7a91.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /></a><br />
<em> Photo courtesy of<strong> </strong><a title="Link to rich115's photostream" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardgiles/">rich115</a></em></p>
<p>As the formation changed, they were joined by followed by 200 bouncing and flying performers, which were supposed to reflect the more modern and extreme sports in the Olympics (according to the on-going BBC commentary)  and finally, the opening of the closing ceremony ended as the dancers formed four passages to greet the incoming flag bearers of each country, and then the athletes.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21559858@N00/2793388334/"><img class="alignnone" title="Beijing Olympics Closing Ceremony - Flag Bearers" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3165/2793388334_d0bda2f6cf.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="332" /></a><br />
<em> Photo courtesy of <a title="Link to 赤子之心's photostream" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21559858@N00/">赤子之心</a></em></p>
<p>In contrast to the formal entrance of the athletes at the <a title="Beijing Olympics 2008 - Opening Ceremony" href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/beijing-olympics-2008-opening-ceremony/">Opening Ceremony</a>, everyone was allowed to run in freely. Needless to say everyone pretty much looked ecstatic and cheered at the camera <img src='http://www.wpsnippets.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' />   This was followed by the award ceremony for the winners of the Men&#8217;s Marathon event (a new world record was set by the gold medalist <strong><a href="http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/6/241346.shtml" target="_blank">WANSIRU Samuel Kamau</a></strong>!) and a big thank you was given to all the representatives of all the volunteers who had worked so hard to support the games.</p>
<p>So much more followed, that I think it would be appropriate to split this post into a few sections and write about the individual performances that really stood out for me, such as the <strong>London Handover</strong> and the musical rendition of <strong>The Moon is Bright Tonight</strong>. Please <a title="Subscribe by email!" href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/subscribe/">stay tuned</a> for the next part of this series! <img src='http://www.wpsnippets.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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		<title>To WordPress and not to WordPress</title>
		<link>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/to-wordpress-and-not-to-wordpress/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/to-wordpress-and-not-to-wordpress/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:48:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>flick</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WordPress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[be kind educate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lorelle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mark ghosh]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[weblog tools collection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wltc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wordpress tips]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Having been overwhelmed with Olympic fever, it&#8217;s been awhile since I&#8217;ve made a post relating to WordPress, but the community is as active as ever, especially with the release of WordPress 2.6.1 and the final round of voting for the &#8230; <a href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/to-wordpress-and-not-to-wordpress/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Having been overwhelmed with Olympic fever, it&#8217;s been awhile since I&#8217;ve made a post relating to WordPress, but the community is as active as ever, especially with the <strong><a title="Wordpress Development Blog - WordPress 2.6.1" href="http://wordpress.org/development/2008/08/wordpress-261/">release of WordPress 2.6.1</a></strong> and the final round of voting for the <strong><a title="WLTC - Have you voted for the Plugin Competition yet?" href="http://weblogtoolscollection.com/archives/2008/08/05/have-you-voted-for-the-plugin-competition-yet/">WordPress Plugin Competition</a></strong>.</p>
<p>This will, fortunately for you all, be a short post with what maybe a catchy title!  The <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">good book</span> &#8216;how to write a good blog post&#8217; sites teach us that a catchy title is very helpful in attracting the attention of browsers.  Whether this will be one of the popular posts as a result remains to be seen, but there is a point to this post and the title: it turns out I have been spelling that special word wrong.</p>
<p>That word, of course, is:</p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #008000;">WordPress</span></h2>
<p>I&#8217;ve always spelt it as <strong>WordPress</strong>, and never thought more of it, so I was <span style="text-decoration: underline;">utterly</span> mortified when I started reading <a title="Lorelle on WordPress" href="http://lorelle.wordpress.com/"><strong>Lorelle</strong></a>&#8216;s excellent article <strong><a title="The Blog Herald - Tips For Writing Good WordPress Tips" href="http://www.blogherald.com/2007/07/09/tips-for-writing-good-wordpress-tips/">Tips on Writing Good WordPress Tips</a></strong>. The first point she made (as convincingly as always) was that:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>WordPress is a trademark and thus must be spelled appropriately.</em></p></blockquote>
<p>That sentence came like a bolt from the heavens (or stepping on a garden rake) and I was left with a sinking feeling in my stomach &#8211; just hours before I had chided someone on the <a title="WordPress Support Forums" href="http://www.wordpress.org/support/">WordPress Forums</a> about getting the name of a plugin wrong, and yet I was already making an even more fundamental mistake about something I read about almost everyday -<strong> WordPress</strong>!</p>
<p>That feeling of guilt happened to coincide with me reading a new post by <strong>Mark Ghosh</strong> on <strong>WLTC </strong>called <a title="WLTC - Be Kind, Educate" href="http://weblogtoolscollection.com/archives/2008/08/18/be-kind-educate/"><strong>Be Kind, Educate</strong></a>,  (which is just as inspirational as <strong>Matt Mullenweg</strong>&#8216;s <strong><a href="http://ma.tt/2007/07/price-of-freedom/">Price of Freedom</a></strong>) where he analyses why there are so many fans of WordPress, and nature of the  WP community. His last point, and the title of his article, credits <strong>Lorelle</strong> as an inspiration for his new pledge:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>to be as kind as I can be &#8230; to educate everyone that cares to listen</em></p></blockquote>
<p>So at the end of this post, not only am I going to spell <strong>WordPress</strong> correctly from now on, I am also going to endeavour to be a lot more patient and polite when I reply on the forums!</p>
<p>p/s: Apologies to anyone I&#8217;ve offended on the forums from before.</p>
<p>p/s2: I think I&#8217;ve patched up this site for <strong>WordPress</strong>, but if you spot any omissions, please let me know!</p>
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		<title>Christine Ohuruogu wins gold in the 400m sprint!</title>
		<link>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/christine-ohuruogu-wins-gold-in-the-400m-sprint/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/christine-ohuruogu-wins-gold-in-the-400m-sprint/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:01:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>flick</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Olympics 2008]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bbc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chris hoy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[christine ohuruogu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[katherine merry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lloyd cowan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[olympic 400m]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paul goodison]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[richard edwards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[richard spencer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sanya richards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tactical]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[telegraph]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[usain bolt]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[I made my daily (frequent) pilgrimages to the BBC news website earlier today, and was delighted to find the headlines that: Christine Ohuruogu won Olympic 400m gold for Britain with a stunning surge down the home straight in Beijing! The &#8230; <a href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/christine-ohuruogu-wins-gold-in-the-400m-sprint/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I made my daily (frequent) pilgrimages to the BBC news website earlier today, and was delighted to find the headlines that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter" title="Christine Ohuruogu with the Union Jack" src="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00385/christine1_385517a.jpg" alt="" width="385" height="254" /></p>
<p><strong>Christine Ohuruogu won Olympic 400m gold for Britain with a stunning surge down the home straight in Beijing!</strong></p></blockquote>
<p>The line, taken from &#8220;<a title="BBC -  Ohuruogu grabs gold for Britain" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/athletics/7569859.stm"> Ohuruogu grabs gold for Britain</a>&#8220;, really summarises the amazing performance by the athlete. I watched the event on the video player (hopefully international readers can also watch the video) that showed the entire finals from the starting blocks to the parade after the sprint, and strangely, although I already knew the result, it didn&#8217;t stop the onset of nervousness that always seem to accompany &#8216;live&#8217; viewing of competitive events that involve team GB.</p>
<p>This is probably because for about the first 300 metres, <a title="Wikipedia -Christine Ohuruogu" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Ohuruogu"><strong>Christine Ohuruogu</strong></a> really didn&#8217;t look as though she was in contention for gold at all. I&#8217;m going to put this down as me being an unseasoned 400m viewer, but after watching America&#8217;s (title favourite) <a title="Sanya Richards" href="http://www.sanyarichards.net/"><strong>Sanya Richards</strong></a> leave her fellow runners behind in the first half of the race, I could barely watch the last stretch. But oh my god, didn&#8217;t <strong>Christine Ohuruogu</strong> impress at the end?</p>
<p>In that very last stretch, her speed suddenly increased and she emerged from the &#8216;pack&#8217; (I mean this) of 400m sprinters to power ahead into gold! It was actually a very surreal experience watching it,  dare I say a bit like watching <strong>Usain Bolt</strong>&#8216;s <a title="BBC - Bolt surges to gold in new record" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/athletics/7565203.stm">captivating Men&#8217;s 100m Final performance</a>, except she didn&#8217;t slow down.</p>
<p>And after reading a few more articles, it is almost for sure that the tactical performance of <strong>Christine Ohuruogu</strong> during this big moment and all of her hard work in training has paid dividends and won her this precious medal. The BBC&#8217;s <strong>Tom Fordyce</strong> called her win &#8216;<a title="BBC - Tom Fordyce - A tactical masterpiece" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/2008/08/a_tactical_masterpiece.html">A Tactical Masterpiece</a>&#8216;, where he mentions her coach, <strong>Lloyd Cowan</strong>, as one of the key players in this campaign; although according to <strong>TF</strong>, <a title="British Olympians - Katherine Merry" href="http://www.britisholympians.com/athlete.aspx?at=2227">Katherine Merry</a> (bronze medalist of the 400m in Sydney)  believes that:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>the victory had its roots in Ohuruogu&#8217;s decision to spend the first half of the year working on her one big weakness&#8230;  &#8230;short sprints.</em></p></blockquote>
<p>What is clear is that this win will go far in taking her away from the doldrums of the past two years, where she was banned for a year due to missing 3 random drug tests.   I didn&#8217;t follow the story very closely, but it was genuinely sad that this could taint an otherwise impeccable record (she has won a medal at every major event that she has attended) from an obviously talented athlete and I am just very very glad that she has taken the top prize of the event. As the Telegraph&#8217;s <strong>Richard Edwards</strong> and <strong>Richard Spencer</strong> so succinctly put it (in their <a title="Christine Ohuruogu's journey of sporting redemption - Beijing Olympics" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/2586411/Christine-Ohuruogus-journey-of-sporting-redemption---Beijing-Olympics.html">excellent article about Christine Ohuruogu</a>):</p>
<blockquote><p><em><strong> From hero, to zero, to hero again.</strong></em></p></blockquote>
<p>So a huge congratulations to <strong>Christine Ohuruogu</strong> and also to all the other Olympic medalists today, such as <strong>Victoria Pendleton</strong> and <strong>Chris Hoy </strong>(both cycling), <strong>Paul Goodison</strong> (sailing) and <strong>Germaine Mason</strong>, <a title=" Mason jumps to silver for Britain" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/athletics/7569774.stm">who took silver on his Olympic debut</a> for the high jump &#8211; a &#8216;wild card&#8217;-esque entry who wasn&#8217;t expected to win any medal. Their combined efforts, along with the rest of the GB team, have shot us to a mind-blowing third on the medals table! <strong>The gold medal tally of 16 is certainly the best that Great Britain have seen in a century!</strong></p>
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		<title>Speedo&#8217;s LZR Racer swimsuits or &#8220;Where are all the breasts?&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/speedos-lzr-racer-swimsuits-or-where-are-all-the-breasts/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/speedos-lzr-racer-swimsuits-or-where-are-all-the-breasts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:55:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>flick</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Olympics 2008]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[janet jackson]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[The article that I&#8217;m about to introduce was originally supposed to be added-on to the end of my previous post dedicated to Michael Phelps, but after being tickled pink by the tongue-in-cheek approach of Simon Barnes, I have decided that &#8230; <a href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/speedos-lzr-racer-swimsuits-or-where-are-all-the-breasts/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: left;">The article that I&#8217;m about to introduce was originally supposed to be added-on to the end of my <a title="WP Snippets - Phelps clinches 11th Olympic Gold to break yet another record" href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/phelps-clinches-11th-olympic-gold-to-break-yet-another-record">previous post</a> dedicated to <strong>Michael Phelps</strong>, but after being tickled pink by the tongue-in-cheek approach of <strong>Simon Barnes</strong>, I have decided that it warrants its very own post!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Although <a title="Times Online - Inevitability of Michael Phelps does not lessen greatness" href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4521060.ece">the article</a> did initially focus (inevitably) on Phelps, The Times&#8217; <strong>Simon Barnes</strong> couldn&#8217;t help but start to wonder: <a title="Times Online - Inevitability of Michael Phelps does not lessen greatness" href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4521060.ece"><strong>Where are all the breasts?</strong></a> I haven&#8217;t watched many of the women&#8217;s swimming events, but no doubt the more dedicated viewers of the sport might have noticed th change in some of the female competitors&#8217; body shapes, as illustrated by the photo below:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="alignnone" title="Where is the femininity?" src="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00382/rice385_382650a.jpg" alt="" width="385" height="185" /><br />
<em> I&#8217;d say she&#8217;s female, judging by the painted fingernails, but then again, you never know &#8230;</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The second half of the article discusses the proven sporting merits (5 new world records!) of the new hydrodynamic <a title="Wikipedia - LZR Racer" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZR_RacerW">Speedo LZR Racer</a> swim suits, which, says <strong>Simon Barnes</strong>, &#8220;<em>increases hydrodynamic efficiency by compressing the body so the muscles don&#8217;t flap about so much</em>&#8221; when you&#8217;re in the water.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Of course, there is always a downside to such wonderful technology (according to Speedo, the new range is ultrasonically bonded so there are no seams); <strong>SB</strong> mentioned &#8216;<em>wardrobe malfunctions</em>&#8216; that could only have been inspired by &#8216;<em>Janet Jackson&#8217;</em> (<a title="AOL - Schipper not a ripper zipper, says Speedo" href="http://www.aol.com.au/sport/story/Schipper-not-a-ripper-zipper-says-Speedo/837691/index.html">it happened twice</a> to the rather unfortunate medal contender Jessica Schipper)  as apparently it breaks quite easily, which has even prompted one swimmer to wear another suit underneath to save herself from baring all.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Given the track record so far (even Phelps wears the <a title="SuperSwimmer - Super suit snagged by zipper" href="http://www.supersport.co.za/aquatics/article.aspx?headline=Super%20suit%20snagged%20by%20zipper&amp;id=265169">legs-only</a> version)  I think the important take-home message for other female athletes from that article is this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: left;"><em>It’s worth looking a bit flat-chested if you want the speed  &#8230;(and) you can always regain your femininity when you have wriggled out of the damn things after the race.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: left;">For more of <strong>Simon Barnes</strong>&#8216; blog posts from Beijing, click on the link below!</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: left;"><a title="Times Online - Simon Barnes at the Olympic Games" href="http://timesonline.typepad.com/olympics/">http://timesonline.typepad.com/olympics/</a></p>
</blockquote>
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		<title>Phelps clinches 11th Olympic Gold to break yet another record</title>
		<link>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/phelps-clinches-11th-olympic-gold-to-break-yet-another-record/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:03:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>flick</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Olympics 2008]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[In what has turned out to be a very fast news day (there are so many events to cover it&#8217;s just too easy to be overwhelmed!) Michael Phelps, the American swimmer, clinched his 11th Olympic gold to become the athlete &#8230; <a href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/phelps-clinches-11th-olympic-gold-to-break-yet-another-record/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In what has turned out to be a very fast news day (there are so many events to cover it&#8217;s just too easy to be overwhelmed!) <strong>Michael Phelps</strong>, the American swimmer, clinched his 11th Olympic gold to become the athlete with the most Olympic golds ever!</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="alignnone" title="Telegraph article: Phelps with gold medal (Getty images)" src="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00789/phelps_789982c.jpg" alt="" width="460" height="288" /><br />
<em>Phelps with his latest gold medal (Credit: Getty Images)</em></p>
<p>The new record surpasses the likes of other <a title="BBC - Phelps cautious over medal record" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/swimming/7559276.stm">top OIympics gold medal holders</a>, such as the frequently mentioned <strong>Mark Spitz</strong> (also a swimmer), <strong>Larysa Latynina</strong>, <strong>Paavo Nurmi</strong>, and <strong>Carl Lewis</strong> who have all won nine Olympic gold medals a-piece.</p>
<p>This achievement is worthy of celebration, and it helps that Phelps is a thoroughly likeable chap really who has not only shown himself to be a dedicated swimmer, but appears to have the additional quality of being humble about his achievement, something I believe that is very endearing to almost everyone but the harshest of critics.</p>
<p>Some reports have called him the greatest Olympian, but I think others were more accurate in saying that this new record makes him the <em>most successful</em> Olympian in terms of gold medals. There was certainly a lot of debate going on the BBC&#8217;s <strong>Tom Fordyce</strong>&#8216;s blog article <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/2008/08/is_phelps_really_the_greatest.html"><strong>Is Phelps really the greatest?</strong></a> which I have found to be a good read, although a number of users seem to have their pet favourite &#8216;great&#8217; Olympian (including <strong>Jesse Owens</strong>). The blog post and subsequent comments continuously asks the question: <span style="text-decoration: underline;">What makes the &#8216;greatest&#8217; Olympian?</span></p>
<p>An Olympian who has scored the most medals? The gymnast <a href="http://www.ighof.com/honorees/honorees_latynina.html">Larissa Latynina</a> (according to <strong>Tom Fordyce</strong>)<strong> </strong>has the biggest medal total ever of 18. Or an Olympian who has scored the most golds in individual events? <strong>Carl Lewis</strong> has a claim here with 7, says <strong>TF. </strong>Or is it the Olympian who has stood the test of time and won gold in consecutive Olympiads,? Cue name drop <strong>Sir Steve Redgrave </strong>who has won 5 golds in 5 Olympic games. <strong>Mark Spitz</strong> still holds the record for the most golds in just one Olympiad (9) and even <strong>Jessie Owens</strong> is still remembered for his achievements. <a title="The Times" href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk">The Times</a>&#8216; <strong>Calvin Shulman</strong> has helpfully produced a list of what he regards to be the <strong><a title="Times Online - Top 100 Olympic athletes" href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4423021.ece">Top 100 Olympics Athletes</a></strong>, the kind of list which is always worth a browse when reading up about such matters.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m going to dodge the question here, and instead move on to an amusing (but probably true, what do I know?) analysis of Phelps by  <strong>Steve Parry</strong>, a former Olympic (swimming) medallist who is currently guest-blogging for the BBC. He talks in more detail about <a title="BBC - What makes Phelps so special?" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/2008/08/can_anyone_spoil_phelps_pool_p.html"><strong>What makes Phelps so special?</strong></a> which was so helpfully summarised by this picture:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="alignnone" title="BBC - What makes Phelps so special?" src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/phelps_438v2.jpg" alt="" width="438" height="318" /><br />
<em> Essential requirements when building your perfect swimming robot&#8230;</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Apparently our &#8216;man-of-the-moment&#8217; has short legs but a long torso, which really helps with the swimming speed since there is &#8220;<em>less drag and more propulsion</em>&#8220;; and according to <strong>Steve Parry</strong>, being a &#8220;6ft 4ins, 83kg man&#8221; generally means you&#8217;re seriously under-weight! Like <strong>Ian Thorpe</strong>, Phelps also has the added advantage of having extremely large paddle-like hands and flipper-like feet (<strong>SP </strong>helpfully points out that Phelps is a size-14) which help propel him even further through the water.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Combine these features with:</p>
<ul>
<li> a longer than average wing-span</li>
<li>low body fat</li>
<li>muscles that produce half the lactic acid of rivals</li>
</ul>
<p>and there you have it, the essential guide on how to become the next swimming world champion&#8230; and possibly another great Olympian!</p>
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		<title>BBC Olympics 2008 Monkey Movie &#8211; A review</title>
		<link>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/bbc-olympics-2008-monkey-movie/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/bbc-olympics-2008-monkey-movie/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:05:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>flick</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Musings]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[The BBC have always produced some excellent promotional videos ahead of big events, such as the Football World Cup and the Rugby World Cup, and I for one always enjoy watching them, as these videos do remind you about the &#8230; <a href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/bbc-olympics-2008-monkey-movie/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The <strong><a title="BBC" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk">BBC</a></strong> have always produced some excellent promotional videos ahead of big events, such as the Football World Cup and the Rugby World Cup, and I for one <em>always </em>enjoy watching them, as these videos do remind you about the key characters in the game, the past greatness and of course, the music choice is usually impeccable, and naturally inspires a flurry of forum posts about &#8216;who composed the music?&#8217;</p>
<p>However, in a change from the usual &#8220;iconic images from the past&#8221; theme, the BBC have taken a big bold step of commissioning a <strong><a title="BBC - Meet Monkey" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/monkey/default.stm">two-minute animated piece called &#8220;Journey to the East&#8221;</a></strong>, with characters from that classic Chinese tale &#8216;<strong><a title="Wikipedia - Journey to the West" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West">Journey to the West</a></strong>&#8216; such as <strong>Sun Wukong</strong> (the Monkey King &#8216;<em>Monkey</em>&#8216; who is also the mascot for the BBC&#8217;s Olympics broadcast), <strong>Zhu Bajie</strong> (<em>Pigsy</em>)  and<strong> Sha Wu Jing</strong> (<em>Sandy</em> ) and even <strong>Guan Yin</strong>, the kind goddess of good fortune who has WuKong&#8217;s best interests at heart.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="alignnone" title="Monkey and Friends" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44710000/jpg/_44710351_group416x300.jpg" alt="" width="416" height="300" /><br />
<em>Monkey and Friends</em></p>
<p>The difference is (as the BBC&#8217;s <a title="BBC - What do you think about Monkey?" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/2008/07/what_do_you_think_about_monkey.html">Ollie William&#8217;s put it so succinctly</a>) that the animated story has twisted the original to become <em>Journey to the East</em> for the <em>Olympics</em>, where the three friends/companions battle their way to the Bird&#8217;s Nest Stadium through some of the Olympic events, such as diving,  throwing the hammer and the javelin, hurdling, pole-vaulting,  &#8216;passing the baton&#8217; (yes, the relay) and taekwando just to name many.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="alignnone" title="Pigsy throwing the hammer" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44672000/jpg/_44672715_pigsyswings416x300.jpg" alt="" width="416" height="300" /><br />
<em>The hammer&#8217;s life was never the same again&#8230;</em></p>
<p>The animation was the brainchild of the people behind the virtual band <strong><a title="Wikipedia - Gorillaz" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorillaz">Gorillaz</a></strong> (namely <a title="Wikipedia - Damon Albarn" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damon_Albarn">Damon Albarn</a> and <a title="Wikipedia - Jamie Hewlett" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Hewlett">Jamie Hewlett</a>) and you can see plenty of pictures of the <a title="BBC - Meet Monkey - Monkey's World" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/monkey/7507054.stm">background scenery</a>, the <a title="BBC - Meet Monkey and Friends" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/7410444.stm">characters</a> and behind-the-scenes just by clicking on the <a title="BBC - Meet Monkey" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/monkey/default.stm">main information page</a> about the mascot and the production on the BBC website.  Watch the animation below!</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. <a href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/2008/08/bbc-olympics-2008-monkey-movie/">Visit the blog entry to see the video.]</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">So what do you think of the video? I&#8217;ve been reading comments posted in response to <strong>Ollie William</strong>&#8216;s BBC <a title="BBC Olympics Blog 2008 - What do you think about Monkey?" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/2008/07/what_do_you_think_about_monkey.html">blog post about this very video</a>, and some comments are literally polar opposites, but there are plenty of others falling in-between, although I&#8217;m personally very happy to say that most are positive responses to what I feel is a highly dynamic, inventive, inspired and all-encompassing production.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Which of course means &#8211; I like it. The music did take me very much by surprise (it switches halfway from a slow and gentle tune with a solo vocal by <strong><a title="BBC Olympics -  Monkey facts and figures" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/monkey/7514376.stm">Jia Ruhan</a> </strong>and traditional Chinese instruments, such as the <a title="Wikipedia - Erhu" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhu">Erhu</a>, to an upbeat electronic track-remix as the action starts) since I was expecting something a bit less &#8216;Chinese&#8217; in style and more techno (as is usually the case for these videos)  but this <a title="Monkey Olympics music" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blast/art/olympic_monkey_movie.shtml">unique piece</a> did actually complement the animation very well!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I think that what has made the video so unforgettable is this: the combination of a classic Chinese novel, traditional Chinese music and &#8216;typical&#8217; Chinese background scenery (with a modern twist) as the backdrop to the story of friends working together towards the Olympics Bird&#8217;s Nest stadium; it so brilliantly sends out the crystal-clear message that this is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">all</span> about the Beijing 2008 Olympics, even if the song lyrics might have lost its meaning through (lack of) <a title="WikiFUR - Gorillaz create 'Journey to the East' for BBC Olympics coverage" href="http://furry.wikia.com/wiki/News:Gorillaz_create_'Journey_to_the_East'_for_BBC_Olympics_coverage">translation</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="alignnone" title="Scenic images that inspired the background" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44831000/jpg/_44831305_manim_story.jpg" alt="" width="416" height="300" /><br />
<em>The &#8220;Journey to the East&#8221; storyboard</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">For those who are wondering about the lyrics, with credit to <strong> <a title="Youtube - marcher233" href="http://youtube.com/user/marcher233">marcher233</a></strong> and <strong><a title="Youtube - dirtyfooty" href="http://youtube.com/user/dirtyfooty">dirtyfooty</a></strong> for the translation, this is what <strong>Guan Yin</strong> is singing:</p>
<blockquote><p>Congratulations Wu Kong, on your pilgrimage<br />
For hope and glory<br />
Kindle the dream, share life and death<br />
Travel the world without pause<br />
Push forth despite difficulties and hardships<br />
Break through the fear, quest for hope and glory<br />
A bright and colorful dream, combining body and soul</p>
<p>For hope&#8230; (x4)</p></blockquote>
<p style="text-align: left;">On a side note, if you would like to find out more information about the classic <strong>Legend of the Monkey King</strong> tale, please take a look at this excellent website by <strong>Yuen</strong> called <strong><a title="Journey to the West" href="http://vbtutor.net/Xiyouji/journeytothewest.htm">Journey to the West &#8211; The Legend of the Monkey King</a></strong>. There is plenty of in-depth commentary on the actual story, the author, the characters, as well as links to related multimedia such as TV series and films.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="alignnone" title="The three stars" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44840000/jpg/_44840429_mobmonk466x200.jpg" alt="" width="466" height="200" /><br />
<em>Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Quite a few readers will have watched one Japanese adaptation called &#8220;<strong><a title="Monkey (Monkey Magic)" href="http://www.monkeyheaven.com/">Monkey</a></strong>&#8221; or (<em>Monkey Magic</em>) (esp. the UK readers) that was <a title="BBC -  What was Monkey Magic all about?" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7520243.stm">broadcast on the BBC</a> back in the late-70s.  One of the more recent TV adaptations by Hong Kong&#8217;s TVB station, in which <span lang="en-gb">Dicky Cheung starred as the main character, is also known as &#8220;<strong><a title="Wikipedia - Journey to the West (TVB)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West_(1996_TV_series)">Journey to the West &#8217;96</a></strong>&#8221; and (a slightly shameless plug here, as I am participating in the project as a translator/editor!) the series is currently being subbed into English and Spanish by a fansub group called <strong><a title="SWK Fansubs" href="http://swkfansubs.wordpress.com">SWK Fansubs</a></strong>.</span></p>
<blockquote>
<pre>[Audio clip: view full post to listen]</pre>
</blockquote>
<p class="download"><strong>UPDATE (23/12/08)</strong>: As the BBC is no longer providing the file for download, I have decided to provide it here since it is a great theme song. Please click to download the <strong><a class="downloadlink" href="http://www.wpsnippets.com/download/BBC+Olympics+Monkey+Theme+Song" title=" downloaded 511 times" >BBC Olympics Monkey Theme Song</a></strong> mp3 in a zip file.</p>
<p class="update"><strong>UPDATE (22/08/08)</strong>: Download the <strong>BBC&#8217;s Olympics &#8216;Monkey&#8217; theme song</strong> <strong>as an mp3</strong> for free directly from the BBC (UK listeners only) for only <span style="text-decoration: underline;">one week</span> starting today by visiting this site: <span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><a title="BBC - Download our Olympics Monkey Theme" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/7577213.stm">BBC &#8211; Download our Olympics &#8216;Monkey&#8217; theme</a></span>. Alternatively, click on the &#8216;play&#8217; button above to listen to the mp3!</p>
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