Sha Crawford's Blog

Get Into the Name That Film 2010 Calendar

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:53:44 GMT

What better way to please your loved ones that by giving them a calendar with you in it?

Want to be in the Name That Film 2010 calendar? Here's what to do:

1. Take a photo of yourself (either alone or with friends) re-enacting a famous scene or poster from a movie.

2. Upload it to the Name That Film Facebook group.

The best 12 pictures will be included in the calendar.

Calendars will cost about £7 and be available in December.

Happy snapping!

Upstaged by a Giant Wire

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:36:19 GMT

Left: Vicky zipping through a play area; right: Jamil preparing to zip 500m through Peruvian mountains.

A candle-lit zip-line was one of my more original birthday celebration ideas. When I turned 28, a group of us went to the park for a bit of aerial runway action, after The Chester Arms closed for the night.

However, as I zipped through the Meadow Lane play area, I had no idea that a 500m zip-line would soon be set up 150m above ground in Santa Teresa, near Cusco, Peru. The zip-line is one of a network of canopies which takes you on an adventure through the mountains.

You can watch a video of the fun on the Inka Magik youTube channel.

Scared - You should be, it's a mugshot

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:04:26 GMT

We have a poster of the above image on the wall at work. It really annoys me because the C.R.E. deliberately present the face in a really hostile fashion, then try to make you feel racist for feeling off-put by the face.

What do you think?

Science or Scam - Anti-jellyfish lotion

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:32:32 GMT

The appearance of a Portuguese Man O' War at a local beach, lead me to look into ways of protecting against this venomous sea creature and stinging jellyfish. I found a product called Safe Sea Lotion which claims to guard against stings. However the website looks rather dubious and I don't know enough about biology to know whether or not their claims are plausable. What do you think?

"Jellyfish sting by coming into contact with your skin, which triggers the firing of "nematocysts," which are like tiny little harpoons that inject jellyfish venom into your skin... Safesea has ingredients to prevent the nematocysts from firing when they touch your skin."

Fact or fantasy?

And if it does work, would it also guard against a Portuguese Man O' War? Despite their wobbly appearance, they are not actually a jellyfish.

Photo by Jessica Mansford

Summary only: Speed Dating - Should you try it? Yes. Will you find love? Questionable.

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:00:29 GMT

I'd always been intrigued by Speed Dating - thirty or so grown adults essentially playing a sophisticated game of musical chairs...

Full post can be viewed by members at

http://www.sha-crawford.co.uk/blog/919/summary-only-speed-dating-should-you-try-it-yes-will-you-find.html

Pointless Email Subject Headers

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:47:59 GMT

Have you ever noticed how rubbish people are at constructing informative email subject headers? Below are some of the most pointless ones I've seen so far:

1. Hello

2. Email

3. Your email

4. Newsletter (sent to an account newsletter@...)

5. Yesterday

6. Important

7. Your newspaper (sent to The Times)

8. He did a thing again

Speech Recognition - My Favourite Mistakes

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:23:26 GMT

You can always count on speech recognition software to give you a giggle, which is why I was surprised to find myself excited by the Google iPhone application. In theory you speak your query and it shows you all the relevant search results.

In practice, it rarely understands what you're trying to say and isn't even consistent in its errors.

Some of my favourite mistakes:

(I said) - (It heard)

Google Latitude - nasty teans

Key cutting - sea kayaking

Vodafone put me on hold - check if i'm pregnant files

How to have sex like in the movies - how to have sex like in a manger / how to have sex iq meetings

It's always bloody greensleeves - ugly betty green screen

Always bathe in six inches of strategically places bubbles - Polish baby fits into hospital complaints apples

Give me that pen - give me back pain

I'm not going to work today - cannot find a way to die

Buying Assorted Rubber Ducks - The Pros and Cons

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:07:42 GMT

Advantages to buying 12 rubber ducks in assorted colours of the rainbow for £1:

- a bit of company while you soak

- gives your bath accessories a gay pride theme

- very pretty

Disadvantages to buying 12 rubber ducks in assorted colours of the rainbow for £1:

- By the time you persuade the 12th duck to float upright, three earlier ones have already sunk, so that after not to long you find yourself sitting in a bowl of luke-warm water, surrounded by dead pond life.

How to have sex like in The Movies

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:41:57 GMT

A short film, by yours truly, about the principles of sex in the film industry.

It's the result of a cloudy Sunday afternoon and was created using input from Facebook users, who commented on my status asking for suggestions.

Oxford's Most Likely

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:04:29 GMT

Having finally escaped Oxford to breathe the sea air, I've had a chance to reflect on the many people who made Oxford a worthy home for me for nine years.

Check out: Oxford's Most Likely

It is password protected so you will need to get a username and password from me to view it, if you haven't already.

Further Observations About Exeter

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:21:31 GMT

1. The climate is destroying my hairstyle.

2. You can get served in the supermarkets really quickly.

3. Crepes from a stall are half the price charged in Oxford.

4. The air is fresh.

5. The birds sing really, really loudly.

6. Laundry takes ages to dry.

On hold - Vodafone wastes 671 lives every year

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:27:57 GMT

671 lifetimes worth of minutes are wasted on hold to Vodafone, per year (according to my estimation.)

And here's why:

Vodafone has an estimated 260 million customers, spanning across five continents (wikipedia.)

During a typical year a Vodafone customer will need to ring Vodafone Customer Services an average of 3 times (my estimate.)

The average time spent on hold seems to be 30 minutes. Therefore per year each Vodafone user wastes 90 minutes on hold.

The average global life expectancy is 66.26 (wikipedia.)

So their 260,000,000 customers waste a total of 390,000,000 hours on hold each year.

The average life lasts for 580835.16 hours.

So divide the hours wasted by the hours in a life and you get 671.45 lifetimes worth of time wasted on hold.

Initial Observations About Exeter

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:28:07 GMT

1. It's pretty.

2. People serving in shops are friendly.

3. Most things are cheaper than in Oxford.

4. Locals seem to like tattoos of stars and words.

I can't believe I'm actually going to leave Oxford in five days.

Mon, 25 May 2009 11:58:29 GMT

Mototaxi Junket 2009

Mon, 25 May 2009 11:37:50 GMT

At first it was just one friend, Gavin, planning to cross South America in a Mototaxi, but then the madness spread, and now Phil and Simon are involved too.

The three aforementioned ~~idiots~~ adventurers are friends I made in Cornwall, before going to university.

The plan: To travel 4000km from Peru to Paraguay in just two weeks in a Mototaxi - a 124.01cc three-wheeler, not known for its ease of steering.

They are raising money for Operation Smile, a charity focussed on providing free reconstructive surgery for children and young adults afflicted with facial deformities.

To find out more about their adventure, or to sponsor them, view their team websites: Pirate's Rest and Mental Militia.

Cold Water Swimming - Clear Evidence

Tue, 05 May 2009 21:18:47 GMT

You'd have thought that after this escapade I would have stopped entrusting important tasks such as cataloguing proof of my cold water swimming activities, with the maternal members of my family.

However I was to learn the price of giving someone a second chance the hard way, when I left my mum in charge of proving that I swam in the sea this Easter.

Above: Pure portrait photography class.

Things People Do That Are Truly Evil

Tue, 05 May 2009 21:02:47 GMT

1. Murder

2. Assault

3. Finishing the chocolate biscuit that somebody else was half way through eating.

The Isis is so shallow right now I can see copies of FHM on its bed.

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:19:05 GMT

The Susan Boyle Phenomenon - AKA "In yer face you rude hecklers!"

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:04:10 GMT

Susan Boyle - looks like your gran, sings like a goddess. The public are crazy about her. And why? Well a glimpse at the news suggests total amazement that such a beautiful sound could come from someone who looks so different from the conventional idea of beauty.

It's sick. Rather than an indication that the public are ready to stop judging books by their covers, the Susan Boyle phenomenon just reinforces the fact that society is obsessed with appearances and self-presentation.

Whilst Susan with her fluffy black tufts of hair, broad chin and heavy eyebrows, certainly wouldn't make FHM's hundred sexiest women, her appearance does have a certain charm. I love faces which are charismatic and her Scottish accent and brazen comments gave her further appeal.

As soon as Susan took to the stage, in ITV's Britain's Got Talent, the audience started mocking her, pulling faces to each other and laughing out loud. Finally they braced themselves for her performance, many wincing with anticipated distaste. Do people not realise how hurtful it is to be that rude, and how badly it reflects on us as a society?

But nothing said "In your face!" louder than when Susan started to sing I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables. From the very first line it was clear that she had incredible talent and the audience watched, aghast. Their mouths were open wide and it looked as though their eyes were going to pop out of their sockets.

How beautiful to see judgemental and insulting people put in their place.

I hope she wins, she looks a bit like a Crawford.

Above: Some Crawfords.