The Cheery Digest

Accentuate the positive ...

While we're away, here's a video of our favourite song being sung back in '58 by Perry Como - watch it, love it and enjoy, in particular, the operatic upstaging of one of the backing singers.

There's always one!

Happy holidays ...

Cheery holidays ..

We are, as the headline suggests, going on a cheery holiday now, so keep spreading the cheer until we're back ! (and obviously carry on afterwards too).

Big hugs x

Time Out makes nice!

We are so chuffed with Time Out's current issue 'It's Nice To Be Nice', which sees the fabulous rag encouraging Londoners to be kinder to each other - something we're all for and right behind.

They've been hugging people, being friendly, feeding the tourists, giving red roses to elderly ladies, and have even gone back to basics and included a beginners' guide to manners...

And they have rightly raised a cheer for James Battison, founder member of the Optimist's Society, who meet monthly for a 'Happy Wednesday' and discuss the promotion of positivity including activities such as office chair jousting.

Where do we sign?!

The Banana Splits are back! Back! BACK!

Lalalaa! La-lalalaa! Lalala - leLalalalaaaaa! Ok it's not quite the same if you can't hear it, but it brings us joy to know that the Banana Splits are returning!

Yes, Bingo, Drooper, Fleegle and Snorky can be seen on the Cartoon Network and Boomerang in the US next month in a series of more than 130 comedy shorts. Yahoo!

And that's not all, they're releasing a DVD and CD of their hits thru Universal, no less. Good grief.

"Everything that made The Banana Splits hugely popular in the 1960s is back, including the group's terrific humor and hit music," says a Warners bigwig.

"We take great pride in having carefully updated the look and feel of the original show for today's kids while retaining all of the elements that made the original Banana Splits such a hit."

Happy days ...

Vintage car serendipity ...

Our esteemed Cheery Correspondent Jo Street has reported back with this little serendipitous nugget ...

Mrs Street: "Yesterday on Southern News there was a thing about a man who'd sold his beloved little vintage car 50 yrs ago.

"He never stopped thinking about it then one day recently he saw an ad in the paper for an old car for £50. He went along and you guessed it, it was his old car complete with log book with his name in there etc..

"He was well pleased."

Brrm brrm! We like things like that.

The madness of moggies ...

We love a good cat video at the Cheery Digest (we had to watch about nine of them on YouTube last night to get over the trauma of watching Babel on DVD).

Our favourite of the moment has to be this - it's not enough to say it's a moggy who likes watching TV but gets very embarrassed when it realises it's being observed ... you have to watch it. It's very short and it's definitely doing the job here ...

Miaowzers!

Brown trousers

It's not what you think.

You may well be able to get the above garment - in chocolate form - and more from the Museum of Chocolate in Brussels, according to Cheery chocolate correspondent (European branch) Jemma Streetington.

Apparently said musee is “a stonethrough (sic) from the Grand Place, the Museum of cocoa and chocolate found a wonderful place : the 'Falcon house', located in RUE DE LA TETE D'OR.”

“Also to discover, the solid chocolate sculptures and the chocolate clothes.”

And it's all thanks to founder Mrs Draps.

Mais oui!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPHY COLBERT!

It is with great pleasure we would like to announce and celebrate the birthday of loyal Cheery Digest reader and all round good egg Sophy Colbert!

Happy Birthday Sophy! Click on this for a very appropriate video and song from Altered Images (we hadn't seen the vid in ages, it's blooomin' grand!)

Enjoyez vous :)

All eyes are on China so ...

...despite not being particularly sporty we thought we'd join in the Olympic fun by celebrating some rather amusing signs and adverts in the Orient which boast the best kind of English we've ever seen written.

Where else would you find an art shop called 'Free Yourself from the Misery of Existence', or see a sign which, while meaning to say 'Keep Off The Grass', in fact tells you:'I like your smile, but unlike you put your shoes in my face'?

Click here to visit our favourite site devoted to this fine subject - and discover bar snacks which go by the name of 'High Grade Puke' and boutiques going by the charming monicker of 'Make yourself ... Fucking Lovely'. (sorry about the swearing, Mam.)

Wise words from Solzhenitsyn

As we bade farewell to the legendary writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn this month, we thought it would be nice to post up some of his words about being a cheery personage...

"A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy."