Sensible advice for the Magnificent traveller

The new Magnificent Performance T-Shirts have arrived just in the nick of time for our trip to Derry.  

And they have some very sensible safety notices for any of the blokes who become "lost boys" during their time away from their normal stomping ground.

Let's hope there won't be someone still wearing this if it has to be put in the post!

Where were you when? Millennium Stadium Magnificence

Another entry from our glorious ChoirMeister, who at this rate is going to need two T-Shirts next year the amount of wear he is getting out of this year's collection.  And another valiant entry, much like his plucky lads from across the Severn.

Apparently this was snapped before the game when hopes were still high (you can see a few Welsh players warming up in the background) - and well before Wales had contrived to pull off their most impressive ever 'snatching defeat from the jaws of victory' routine (and it's a pretty long list to choose from).

Your boys done good (mutter, mutter).

Anyway, the scores are in

1. The Location - 3.5 (Good visible signage although technically it doesn't say where he is to a technical fault or that).

2. The Pose - 3.5 (A reasonable degree of pointless grandeur, although it is tempting to say made all the more poignant given the eventual result).

3. The X-Factor - 3.5 (Whilst it is always good to see an All Black shirt at a rugby match for the sheer quality of the performer inside, it would possibly be wrong of us to mention the England versus New Zealand result on the same afternoon as the contrast could not be greater, but we should not dwell on the success of the glorious English team in one of their historic victories at the expense of belittling the achievements of the Welsh team, no, that would be beneath us and so we won't, mention it again that is, not even once more, stopping mentioning it NOW).

Making that a total of 10.5 - Given the usually very high standard of pose from this particular entrant perhaps not quite up to his usual quality and dropping away at the very end of his immense cumulative endeavours on this front over the past year, much like the Welsh Rugby Team themselves. . .  isn't it odd how art mirrors sport?  

More please.

Where were you when? Dent de la Rancune

We have recently received a very interesting entry from a "friend" sent on behalf of Mike Putnam whose computer operating skills are apparently far inferior to his crazy climbing ability.  As you can see on photo there is a red circle half way up this precipitous piece of rock and then there is an inset of Mike at the top.  As his friend comments "it is impossible on a small scale to convey the context of his ascent and the final summit pose in the one snap, so I've included two."

The submitter continues "signage is also a perennial problem in places where only the seriously ill-informed or congenitally bewildered would dream of going", so "I presume that the signage criterion is required to minimise fabricated claims to location by means of Photoshop, back projection and actual set assemblages in sheds and cellars. We can only offer Mike's assurance that this rock formation is the original and not a mock-up, images of the original abound on the internet and can be compared with the attached snaps".
 
"About the snaps:

The main snap shows TMAK47er, Mike P, scaling 'Dent de la Rancune' (The Rancorous Tooth) in the Auvergne region of France  on 9th September 2012. The lower circle shows him halfway up the climb. The upper circles show the pose (inset) and its location at the summit.

The second snap (left) shows Mike mustering magnificence at 1493m on a lump of volcanic rock estimated to be 333,000 years old.

Technical details for climbers: Voie normal. grade 6a (English E.1. ) Auvergne France". 

As you know we take things very seriously in this competition and have done extensive background research to verify these claims and have indeed found many other references to this piece of rock.  Apparently it is a great example of "a volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic landform created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When forming, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of pressure if volatile-charged magma is trapped beneath it, and this can sometimes lead to an explosive eruption" - see good old Wikipedia.

Well, one thing you can claim for this series of blog posts, they are educational!

Anyway, the scores are in.

1. The Location - 3.5 (Quite impressive although we have had hill tops before and for sheer daftness of things to do when not singing, this is right up there, but there is unfortunately visible signage, so docked a mark).

2. The Pose - 4.0 (Difficult to tell from the main photo as Mike is reduced to a few pixels, but pretty good on the supplementary photo, so higher marks).

3. The X-Factor - 4.0 - (Scored more on the craziness of the photos and what they represent, the extreme triumph of sheer physicality over any semblance of sanity).

Making that a total of 11.5 - by far the highest score from an entry from anyone with a rope dangling from his midrift!  PLEASE do be careful taking these photos.

 ;-)

Where were you when? Only Nelson Mandela Square

In somewhat contrast, yet continued theme to the last entry for the T-Shirt competition, a photo from another country where unfortunately the phrase The Magnificent AK47 does not immediately conjure up the image of a bunch of slightly middle aged singers in a variety of strange headgear unleashing their inner minstrels.

As our entrant wrote when submitting this item "given the AK47’s major role in the apartheid struggle, the t-shirt did attract a few strange looks from the crowds in Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton, Johannesburg. And who could be more symbolic of that struggle than Nelson Mandela? While the signage is slightly obscured, the location is echoed in the glass doors."

And so there we have it, yet another cultural icon is snapped next to a TMAK47 T-Shirt in some far flung part of the world, adding to the quite amazing range of locations that have been entered.

Anyway, the scores have arrived and they are as follow:

1. The Location - 4.5 (The Judges are relieved that for once there is very good evidence of visible signage.  Also we must applaud Chris A's bravery in wearing the shirt and coping with the stares he received.  A member of our humble troupe next to a 6 metre high statue of a world icon - good shot.)

2. The Pose - 4.5  (By clever usage of zoom one can see a very good pose of pointless grandeur especially considering the proximity of such a legend and also being somewhat dwarfed by that legend.)

3. The X-Factor - 4.5 - (Given the location, the significance, the signage, the pose and everything else a pretty high score.)

Giving a total of 13.5 - by far the highest scoring entry from anyone dwarfed by an international icon and a very good score indeed.

Bemused but looking great

Looking suitably bemused in places, a motly collection of some of Those Magnificent Men in their lovely new T-Shirts.



Thanks to the Working Party & "Do we want a Camel or a Horse" Design Committee, plus Chris A for sorting things out and taking the final executive decisions.