Two in One Day (And Brace Yourself for More!)

The Ministry was beginning to worry a bit that our statistic of "roughly once every two weeks someone mentions D.V.D.'s accent in the press" wouldn't hold through the winter. (We had a white paper prepared, blaming global warming.) However, fortune smiled, and after a drought lasting a whopping 23 days, our favorite cliché came through twice today, and our statistic held -- at least on the average.

If we assume that D.V.D.'s accent has been mentioned in the press fortnightly for the last 43 years, that's 26 times per year for a grand total of 1,118 mentions.

Hang on; there would be ten or eleven leap years in that four decades (and change), and that's another week and a half, so there may have been 1,119 mentions.

Onward to today's whinging.

We suspect that as the movie Fred Claus gains wide release in Britain, we'll see more D.V.D. comparisons. On the other hand, the film will probably die a deserving death before it spreads too far.

Reading Evening Post, December 6th, 2007, "Film is Claus for Concern"

Vince Vaughn looks embarrassed and awkward throughout, particularly when he is forced to dance in front of the elves, while Oscar-winner Rachel Weisz is sidelined with an unimportant and unnecessary role that she still manages to make a hash of, struggling with a broad London accent that is more Dick Van Dyke than Mo Slater.

Elsewhere...

Metro, December 6th, 2007, "Kate Nash tells fans to listen up" by Andrew Williams

Q: "Your singing voice has been compared to Dick Van Dyke’s in Mary Poppins. Are you bothered?"

A: "Isn’t he the chimney sweep? I love him. What’s wrong with him? I’d like to be compared to Nancy from Oliver Twist. She’s my favourite."

Time elapsed since premiere of Mary Poppins:

15,805 days.

Time elapsed since someone mentioned D.V.D.'s accent:

23 days