In the week the results of a study announced that small talk made you unhappy. Yes, I know that summary doesn't really cover the whole study but it's the headline every news agency has been using so I thought I would too. In superficially more depth the study says talking makes you happy and that happier people will have more involved conversations whilst the depressed engage in chit chat.

I'm midway through reading Quentin Crisp's The Naked Civil Servant just now. Bizarrely picking the book up made me realise that I know of Quentin Crisp, but very little about him.

In amongst everything else in recent weeks it seems I've become a dangerous person to know. Just before Christmas someone I knew took their own life, just after Christmas someone I know told me they were waiting on results over their latest cancer tests (after umpteen surgeries over Christmas), and just now I received the news that someone I knew through work passed away.

With the release of Avatar movies using computer generated effects have had another little flurry of interest in recent weeks; apparently the movie is 60% CGI and 40% live action. I've not seen it, I'll believe the trivia. The trailers certainly suggest the effects are good. But I'm taking you back further in time. Over Christmas I watched The Polar Express for the first time.

Last night saw West Ham and Millwall playing a pretty tough game of football. And their supporters having even tougher fights. Now given a rather consistent history here involving both clubs, and especially between both clubs, I can't exactly feign surprise at last nights events.

Sunday news is always a good time for pondering, rambling opinion pieces, and if the author knows the subject they discuss it's a bonus. Which is why I choose today to post about a book I've not read; "Free: The Future of a Radical Price: The Economics of Abundance and Why Zero Pricing Is Changing the Face of Business". Well, maybe I should clarify that so I don't sound completely stupid, this morning the BBC offered an interesting summary of various reviews and opinions from people who have read the book. And having clicked on the link fest (incidentally at time of writing the rather pivotal New Yorker link is broken, correct link here) and digested the many thoughts of these people I now feel qualified for an opinion myself. This is the internet after all.

Apparently the government (and the National Union of Students) are suggesting graduates leave the country, the argument given apparently to avoid the woes of the recession. This puzzles me as the government are also frequently telling me that Britain is coping with the recession very well, better than the majority of the world in fact. If we're doing so well why will these people avoid the worst by moving elsewhere? Surely, if we're doing so well graduates from other countries should be coming to the UK.

Today I undertook a right of passage - I got my very own barbecue! Sure, I've cooked on them before, even had a few disposable ones, but now I have my very own. I am a real man now.

Now I have to say I get all cynical and weary when people say things like Formula 1 isn't as exciting as the old days. Different it's true, but to dismiss the current era so easily ignores all the good qualities that exists. However the BBC have taken to showing highlights of "classic" Grand Prixs as part of their build up to each race. I've not bothered yet this year but I noticed for Monaco this weekend they had the 1961 race which appealed to me greatly. A nostalgic look back at an era full of romanticism. However clicking through to that story revealed a gem even more precious, 1992's race.

The problem with the Telegraph's report on MP expenses is two-fold. Firstly, this story is now getting a little tired. We're getting less and less shocked by these claims as the story drags on and soon we won't really care about these abuses. Secondly, like every other story these days, they're trying too hard to grab headlines. The story is big enough by itself, why flog it?