Project Alniro #1

There are some questions in life that fascinate me. Questions that split opinion. That leave grown men genuinely undecided. That make you give one answer, then wake up the next day and give the other. Questions such as:

• Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal?
• The Office or Phoenix Nights?
• David Dickinson or Tim Wonnacott?
• How are babies made?

In answer to those - Federer. Phoenix Nights. Tim Wonnacott (OBVIOUSLY). No idea.

One of these questions that has puzzled mankind for many a year is, of course, the classic - Marmite or Bovril? Long-term readers of my blog will remember this, but for those of you who have joined in the fun and games here in the past 12 months, let me recap for you:

In August, 2009, Dan and I decided one night to think up a question and send it to Kristen Bell on Twitter. You know Kristen Bell, right? Veronica Mars? Heroes? Forgetting Sarah Marshall? So I tweeted her a stupid question, and then sighed - she wouldn't answer, and even if she did, it would probably be about a week later.

She replied 15 minutes later. And that got us thinking - because if Kristen Bell, a Hollywood starlet, could reply to a stupid question within minutes from a mere mortal like me, how much more fun could we have with Twitter? So we decided to put out the legendary "Marmite or Bovril" question to as many celebrities as we could. We had a decent response, amazingly - Jonathan Ross, Katherine Jenkins, Dave Gorman, Andi fucking Peters amongst others. To see all the responses, please do see here.

Fast forward 12 months, to right now, August 2010. The boredom of the university summer break has yet again set in, and so we decided to give another Twitter project a whirl. But this time, bigger. Better. More intense. You see, what I've noticed is that in the past 12 months, Twitter has really taken off. So much so, that when Dan and I went through the lists of who we follow, we ended up with just over 200 "celebrities". How about that for a nice, big sample size?

And so we needed a suitable question. Last year, we tweeted William Shatner the Marmite/Bovril conundrum. He didn't reply, the cunt, but that may be because as a North American, living in North America, he didn't understand what we were going on about. So this time around, we realised that our question had to be one that men and women of all ages, and all nationalities, could wrestle with. And then one night it came to me:

Al Pacino or Robert De Niro?

It's a very tough one, as I love both. It's probably De Niro, but in my mind he loses points for those dreadful comedy films he did with Ben Stiller and Barbra Streisand. Not cool, Bobby! Al Pacino is amazingly consistent - there aren't many bad Pacino films/performances, but perhaps he lacks the sheer number of all-time outstanding movies that De Niro has appeared in.

Al Pacino:

• Scarface
• Carlito's Way
• The Godfather I and II
• Scent of a Woman
• The Devil's Advocate
• Any Given Sunday

Robert De Niro:

• Mean Streets
• The Godfather II
• Taxi Driver
• The Deer Hunter
• Raging Bull
• Once Upon A Time in America

As I said, it's probably De Niro, but it's well worth asking the question. Which is what, over the next few days/weeks, we're going to do. On our list we have 203 celebrities - not all of them will reply, sadly, but we're hoping for a healthy return and a close run contest.

In my next blog post I'll be posting all the replies from the celebrities who have been kind enough to reply. If however you do want to follow the project as we go along, you can follow the madness over at the Twitter page we've set up for it: http://www.twitter.com/ProjectAlniro

We're starting today, and we're starting with A. First up is Chris Addison. Let the great debate begin!

The Final Word

It looks like the replies from the celebs to our "Marmite or Bovril" teaser have finally dried up, so instead of updating the previous post with the rest of the responses (I've edited my last post now accordingly), I thought I would collate our findings here and then wrap all of this nonsense up with a nice little bow on top. So, without further ado, here are some celebrities, declaring whether they prefer Bovril or Marmite (or vegemite):

Alexander Armstrong - "oh it's probably bovril but we don't usually have any in the house so I make do with marmite"

Andi Peters - "Marmite for me."

Angellica Bell - "my friend it has to be MARMITE over bovril all the way!"

Caitlin Moran - "absofuckinglutely Marmite, my friend"

Chris Addison - "The answer is Yes! I do!"

Dave Gorman - "Marmite. Obviously."

Dawn Porter - "marmite. Bovril manufacturers should be locked up!"

Francesca Sandford - "marmite till I die!! marmite till I die!!"

Jonathan Ross - "Marmite for sandwiches and toast, bovril to drink."

Katherine Jenkins - "Neither really! If I had to say one it would be Bovril x"

(You can see quite clearly at the end there that Katherine Jenkins sent me a kiss. I think that conclusively proves that this has not been one massive, pathetic waste of time.)

Krishnan Guru-Murphy - "marmite"

Miranda Hart - "Bovril over Marmite every time."

Mitch Benn - "Marmite, cos it gives me an excuse to eat toast, & I love toast. Regard it as more a butter delivery system than anything else"

Peter Serafinowicz - "I don't really like either of them. Plese both send me £20."

Phil Tufnell - "marmite all day long."

Sam Matterface - "marmite everytime! I hate bovril"

Sarah Cawood - "bovril to drink, marmite to spread!!"

Simon Mayo - "obviously, Marmite is sooooo much better. Does that help?"

Suzi Perry - "marmite but love both"

Tim Minchin - "marmite, if i must choose. vegemite is obviously the preferred option."

And finally, our very own Cynical Ben - "Marmite on toast. Bovril in a flask on a windswept mountain. Both sit happily in the pantheon of world's greatest foods."

So, there we have it. Even though I would choose Bovril, I have to accept that Marmite has stormed away with the victory. Congratulations Marmite. So, what has all this proved? Well, not a lot, except I've saved all the replies and it will raise a smile sometime in the future, and it just confirmed to me how much I love Twitter, where someone famous will gladly answer the most banal of questions.

They won't read this, but I wish to thank the 20 celebrities who took a moment to reply. All just a bit of fun, but I now look upon them favourably compared to others who couldn't be bothered. Yeah I'm looking at you, William Shatner. You and your cereal! Also much kudos to Kristen Bell, who got this madness underway. That's the end of the matter now, I promise!

I'm Back!

I wanted to come back from my blogging holiday with a bit of a bang, and here's what I can offer up...see what you think.

So, last night, much like every night, I was talking shit on MSN with my great buddy, Merciless Public. I had just told him about someone sending a 'tweet' on Twitter to a celeb, when a plan beginned to form in our minds. Before I go any further, you need to understand that A) We are both incredibly sad B) We both love Twitter and C) I think Merciless had had a bit to drink.

We were forming a plan, but we needed to see if it worked or not. Consider this the test run, if you will. My eyes flicked down the list of celebrities I 'follow' and my eyes rested on Kristen Bell.

Kristen Bell (once described by another friend as being "as cute as a button") is an American actress - you'll probably know her for playing Veronica Mars, although she's also been in Heroes, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Gossip Girl and The Shield.

I had found my celebrity. I had thought up a test question. Now all I had to do was ask her:

@IMKristenBell Hey Kristen! Having a bet with a friend - can you help? What would Veronica Mars love more - a squid or an octopus? Thanks!

I sent it, and sighed. A) She wouldn't reply and B) Even if she did, it could be in a few days. Ten minutes later, I got a reply.

IMKristenBell an octopus...because that is the mascot of the detroit redwings. yeah. believe it or not, it isn't a red wing.

I've no idea what she's going on about there, but the speed of her response and her cordiality confirmed to us that our plan could work. Thankyou Kristen -not only are you as cute as a button, but apparently you are a really nice person as well, or so I've heard on the grapevine. Anyway, Merciless and I then hatched our plan. We would 'tweet' lots of celebrities, asking them a question, just one small question:

Bovril or Marmite?

We started this nonsense about midnight Monday evening/Tuesday morning. At the time of writing this, it's now 4:30pm, Wednesday. To see ALL the responses we've had (and there's a few) please scroll on up the page, and indulge in the banal-ness. Thankyou please!