tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36760762024-03-13T17:28:57.753+00:00are the stars out tonight?life and stuffUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger345125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-62935426829725805972008-02-23T10:29:00.004+00:002008-02-23T11:03:12.941+00:00paranoia<b>getting around this city is getting harder and harder, particularly at the weekend</b> - this morning I took a bus, another bus, a tube (with a change) and then two more buses, for a journey that I could do with one overground and one tube on a weekday (in about half the time). <br /><br />serves me right for attempting to get to work on a saturday morning, i suppose, but with all the station and line closures around town, it seems almost like a concerted effort to stop people travelling about.<br /><br />i doubt there's a quango in whitehall scheming up ways to annoy londoners (and tourists), but occasionally it's not that difficult to imagine a bureaucrat, with an office in <a href="http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/city_hall/index.jsp">city hall</a> dedicated to making my life harder.<br /><br />"yes," he would say, "definitely close shepherd's bush central line station for eight months. excellent. the next matter on the agenda is what to do about the victoria line, she's been taking that a lot recently." <br /><br />his cowering subordinate offers a suggestion: "what about if we shut it at 10 in the evenings and completely at the weekends?"<br /><br />"brilliant!" he shrieks with a note of glee in his voice, "let's go to her favourite pub. gather up 30 of your closest colleagues, we're making sure she won't get a drink tonight!"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-12895020168508261132007-08-17T10:29:00.000+01:002007-08-17T10:41:47.516+01:00what a strange question<b>so last night, someone asked me,</b> "are you on email?". i mean how very 1997. <br /><br />isn't asking somene if they have an email address a bit like asking them if they have fingernails? at this point, don't we just assume everyone has at least one email address?<br /><br />i've actually lost track of the number of email addresses i have/have had, but i'm pretty sure it's in double digits.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-46119540142818101332007-08-02T15:28:00.001+01:002007-08-02T15:38:38.981+01:00closet-tastic<p><b>just in time for his court date</b>, here's a re-cap and a preview for r kelly's work of genius trapped in the closet. made. of. awesome. in the loosest possible sense. strong language etc, probably not really safe for work.<br /><br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='313' width='380'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/0IzRCrUWAw0' name='movie'/><embed height='313' width='380' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/0IzRCrUWAw0'/> </object></p></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-20274398610622443372007-08-01T22:50:00.000+01:002007-08-01T22:58:32.169+01:005 years gone<b>so ATSOT is now 5 years old</b>, happy birthday blog. i feel like a neglectful parent, my offspring - unable to take care of itself - left to languish in a corner while i live the high life, throwing it scraps occasionally.<br /><br />it's not that i don't think about blogging anymore, just that i don't actually, y'know, get down to doing it. there's something instantly stultifying about the blogger interface these days that somehow depresses me, or at least supresses my urge to communicate.<br /><br />and i've become more secretive in my old age. sometimes i want to write something, but the urge to obfuscate it leaves me frustrated and my writing seems to be more abstract than the average horoscope.<br /><br />but i will not abandon you, blog, you're still a weird part of me, and much beloved.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-24068742406329052162007-06-08T10:28:00.000+01:002007-06-08T11:15:36.944+01:00the amazing adventures of<b>I may have mentioned my incredible love for the author <a href="http://www.sugarbombs.com/kavalier/">michael chabon</a> <a href="http://featherboa.blogspot.com/2003_05_01_archive.html#94538759">once</a>, <a href="http://featherboa.blogspot.com/2003_08_01_archive.html#106027256488329870">twice</a>, or <a href="http://featherboa.blogspot.com/2004_07_01_archive.html#108957815130684069">three times</a></b>. since I first read the mysteries of pittsburgh, aged 14, i've wanted to see him speak - there are a few <a href="http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200705/20070511_chabon.html">videos</a>, and <A href="http://www.nextbook.org/cultural/feature.html?id=606">podcasts</a> around, but it's never quite the same as actually seeing the author in the flesh.<br /><br />it seemed incredible that he hadn't come over to this country in all that time - true, his books have a kind of classic americana feel to them, but that didn't have to mean that he was a pariah in this country. so when i spotted that he was going to appear at <a href="http://www.foyles.co.uk/foyles/events.asp">foyles</a>, i was pretty fucking excited.<br /><br />and last night stu and i went to see him read from his newest novel <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yiddish-Policemens-Union-Michael-Chabon/dp/0007150393/">the yiddish policemen's union</a>. and it turned out i was exactly right that he hadn't been over to the uk in 12 years. he very kindly signed my copies of the new novel, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Amazing-Adventures-Kavalier-Clay/dp/1841154938/">kavalier and clay</a> and his debut <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mysteries-Pittsburgh-Sceptre-21s/dp/0340936266/">the mysteries of pittsburgh</a> (mine has the original, much less attractive cover), and posed with me for a photo (in which i look like i'm about to burst with joy). he is such a nice man.<br /><br />i am slightly disappointed to see that the mysteries of pittsburgh has been made into a <a href="http://imdb.com/title/tt0768218/">film</a> with sienna miller. what the heck is it with <a href="http://featherboa.blogspot.com/2005_05_01_archive.html#111704047928671796">that woman</a>, turning up in films i would like to enjoy. also i think mena suvari is too old to be playing phlox. and they've cut out arthur.... i think i feel an an aneurysm coming on...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-67992364772446349062007-05-25T10:12:00.000+01:002007-05-25T10:28:08.600+01:00all shall be well<b>frankly, i'm pretty surprised that in nearly five years of blogging</b>, i have never mentioned <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwich">julian of norwich</a>, whose <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/julian/revelations.html">revelation of divine love</a> was the only book i actually vaguely enjoying on my middle english course.<br /><br />julian (not her real name) was an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchorite">anchorite</a> at the church of st julian in norwich, she was born in around 1342. during a bad illness, she had visions of God, and wrote them down in her 'revelation'.<br /><br />actually, that's not what i remember, i've got all of that from wikipedia just now. what i remember is one line: "all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well".<br /><br />regardless of whether you believe what julian did (that she had received this revelation from god), a fantastic optimism just radiates from the statement.<br /><br />and it makes such a fantastic motto that i have been using it in stressful situations ever since. although julian, perhaps, might have had a different revelation had she too been on a fixed term contract.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-9649297201889801842007-05-20T12:23:00.000+01:002007-05-20T12:51:07.157+01:00twitterpated<b>like <a href="http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/12/httpwww37signal.html">every</a> <a href="http://www.kottke.org/07/05/twitter-vs-blogger-redux">blogger</a> in the world</b> (or so it seems), i've been thinking about <a href="http://www.twitter.com">twitter</a> lately. <br /><br />twitter was founded by <a href="http://www.evhead.com">evan williams</a>, who was a co-founder of blogger. it is "a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) via SMS, instant messaging [and] the Twitter website" (from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter">wikipedia entry</a>. Those updates can also be sent to 'friends' (in that great web 2.0 sense) as text messages, and you can recieve the updates of the people you 'friend'.<br /><br />i've had a <a href="http://www.twitter.com/featherboa">twitter stream</a> (log? page?) since january, but i'm yet to really see a point to it. honestly, it mostly seems like a pretty good way to stalk someone. and with stuff like <a href="http://twittervision.com/">twittervision</a> (which is strangely mesmerising), it feels like just another way to see into the minutiae of strangers' lives (much like Blogger).<br /><br />nonetheless, i suspect that if more of my (real-life) friends were using twitter, i might be more interested in it. certainly, one of the most appealing features of <a href="http://www.facebook.com">facebook</a> is seeing people's updated statuses. if facebook made it possible to update your status by text - that would be great, and a twitter/facebook mashup (where your status updates were archived on a particular page) would be pretty fantastic.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-35827036602159702142007-05-18T17:45:00.000+01:002007-05-18T17:56:54.304+01:00metametameta<b>the worst thing about not posting, is that the longer it goes on, the harder it gets to post.</b> i can't imagine any of you thought that i was in some way 'striking' in honour of alan johnston (who still hasn't been released/found), but i definitely wasn't, that would have required an ego the size of a large country.<br /><br />so i read a quote from <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/05/14/070514fa_fact_collins?currentPage=all">this article on banksy</a> from the new yorker, on <a href="http://www.kottke.org/remainder/07/05/13407.html">kottke.org</a> of all places:<br />"The graffitist's impulse is akin to a blogger's: write some stuff, quickly, which people may or may not read." and it really hit home that my blogger's impulse has been definitely mis-aligned recently - i'm so concerned about writing something amazing or somehow insightful that people will enjoy that actually i'm not posting at all.<br /><br />actually blogs are (and should be) by their nature ephemeral - nothing i write here will every be worthy of elevation to the pantheon of literature, and i should be celebrating that by posting about anything that comes into my head, rather than worrying about how what i write will be perceived.<br /><br />in future: shorter, more frequent postage, less angsting.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-14120853458585527282007-04-18T11:45:00.000+01:002007-04-18T12:07:16.329+01:00awfulness<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/world/2007/alan_johnston/default.stm"><br /><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;" alt="Alan Johnston banner" src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/alan_johnston.gif" width="150" height="90"></a><b>the bbc's gaza correspondent alan johnston has been missing presumed abducted for 37 days</b>, on sunday, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6557779.stm">a previously unheard of group claimed responsiblity for his murder</a>, on monday, the director general claimed that this was <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6559619.stm">unverified</a>, but that the bbc was highly concerned for johnston's safety.<br /><br />this followed last week's day of action - marking a month since his disappearance - which included mark thompson meeting with the palestinian president. palestian journalists have been striking on and off to mark their respect for him, and there have been regular vigils at television centre and at bbc locations around the globe.<br /><br />on monday, the author <a href="http://www.hanifkureishi.com/">hanif kureishi</a> accused the bbc of <a href="http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,2058727,00.html">"censorship"</a> for postponing the planned airing of his short story 'weddings and beheadings' on radio 4 tomorrow. kureishi stated that "There are journalists and newspapers in peril all the time around the world. We support them by supporting freedom of speech rather than by censoring ourselves."<br /><br />he appeared on the bbc's <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/">today programme</a> this morning, and appeared to argue that the feelings of johnston's friends and family were irrelevant when it came to kureishi's work being broadcast.<br /><br />to me, this seems like the work of an idiot. his story is probably excellent - it takes the perspective of a would-be filmmaker who is coerced into filming the executions performed by a jihad group - the buddha of suburbia is a terrific book - in fact, i <a href="http://featherboa.blogspot.com/2002_12_01_archive.html#85592229">blogged</a> when i first read it. but kureishi has done himself no favours here.<br /><br />this really doesn't feel like an argument for free speech. it feels like the argument of a self-obsessive who finds it hard to consider the emotions of others - hardly an asset in a novelist.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-66195522743171510182007-03-29T10:16:00.000+01:002007-03-29T10:39:08.223+01:00timewatching<b>the trouble with not having a commute to work</b> is that i barely get any reading time anymore. sure i miss out on delayed trains and buses stuck in traffic, but conversely i never get to just sit and read and listen to my ipod (my poor ipod has had very little use since i started this job).<br /><br />i just updated my <a href="http://del.icio.us/mediaaddict/">media addict del.icio.us account</a>, after seeing <a href="http://imdb.com/title/tt0455590/">the last king of scotland</a> last night. and i realised that i have been reading the same book since the beginning of the year (philip roth's <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/American-Pastoral-Philip-Roth/dp/0099771810/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/203-3527918-2799141?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175160334&sr=8-1">american pastoral</a>). there was a time when i could have finished that book in a day, and it's left me wondering where the time's gone.<br /><br />of course, working 8/9 hours a day is a big part of it, especially when i'm also occasionally working in the evenings and on a saturday and i've been having 4 hours of driving lessons a week for the last few months. that's still only around 50 hours of a possible 168, though. allowing another 9 hours a day for sleeping (and daily ablutions - washing etc) leaves 55 hours a week of free time - about 7 hours and 50 minutes a day. <br /><br />wtf? how on earth am i wasting nearly 8 hours of free time a day? my guess is that it's watching television and pissing about on the intarwebs. perhaps, as i haven't given anything up for lent this year (my plan was fizzy drinks but i failed miserably the first time i had a hangover) i should do a week without my laptop in the run up to easter... i'll let you know how that goes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-38759913407137574912007-03-16T10:26:00.000+00:002007-03-16T10:42:07.868+00:00shilling<b>yes it has been rather quiet round here, i know.</b><br /><a href="http://www.shaggyblogstories.co.uk"><img src="http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/1545/sbsnc9.jpg" border="0" alt="shaggy blog stories" align=left /></a> i wanted to draw your attention to the rather excellent looking <a href="http://www.shaggyblogstories.co.uk">shaggy blog stories</a>, which has been put together by <a href="http://www.troubled-diva.com">mike troubled-diva</a> in aid of <a href="http://www.comicrelief.com/">comic relief</a>. it features pieces from some of my all-time favourite bloggers, including <a href="http://www.littleredboat.co.uk">anna little red boat</a>, <a href="http://www.petiteanglaise.com">petite anglaise</a> and <a href="http://www.richardherring.com/warmingup">richard herring</a>.<br /><br />this book has been put together from submissions in just a week, which is indicative of just how much effort mike and his team have put in. i've been watching from afar (i'm just not funny enough for this sort of thing), and i've been very impressed. <br /><br />it's all for a good cause. of course. and it definitely beats the old bath of baked beans as a means of raising cash.<br /><br />i've just purchased my copy from <a href="http://www.shaggyblogstories.co.uk/">shaggyblogstories.co.uk</a>, and i highly recommend you do too.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-65598814639501038302007-02-05T16:41:00.000+00:002007-02-05T17:07:51.365+00:00coughs and sneezes...<b>it seems like everyone around me is getting colds at the moment</b> - i haven't been properly poorly since august, which is actually quite unusual. i was expecting to get sick over christmas, when i had three weeks off - i treated every sneeze as a sign of impending mucus overdrive - but it never came. i didn't even have a flu jab this year (which i'm totally entitled to have).<br /><br />i'm vaguely putting it down to growing up in london - because you're exposed to more germs in cities - viruses come in from foreign climes and you just get over them. the only time i've had the flu - to the best of my knowlege - was <a href="http://featherboa.blogspot.com/2003_10_01_archive.html#106605532886764332">october aught three</a> when i caught york fresher's flu just as i was starting at lcp. (incidentally, re-reading that month's posts, i'm struck by the <A href="http://featherboa.blogspot.com/2003_10_01_archive.html#106571141674970457">legwarmers on her arms</a> comment, strangely i knitted myself a pair of arm warmers just after christmas (although i'm calling them gauntlets). fashion really has come a long way in two and half years. or maybe i was just sheltered from it, being up in york. <br /><br />work is, um, winding down in a way that is not terribly encouraging. i have a bad feeling that if i don't put my arse into serious gear i could end up getting dropped like a hot potato from the integrated multimedia content house. not that i don't have plans up my sleeve, but i like it here. le sigh.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-34233710459199083402007-01-08T19:41:00.000+00:002007-01-08T20:34:52.439+00:00six from '06<b>part the fourth: books</b><br /><br />yet again, i utterly failed to complete the 52 book challenge. i didn't even manage to document my readings in the <a href="http://del.icio.us/mediaaddict/books">del.icio.us account</a> i set up entirely for that purpose. i'm placing the blame squarely on <a href="http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth03A30M451712634910">david mitchell</a>, whose <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0340822783/qid=1149424944/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-7341721-5592442">cloud atlas</a> pretty much left me cold - or at least what little of it i did manage to read left me cold. but on the plus side, i read an awful lot of really good fiction last year.<br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/American-Gods-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0755322819/">american gods</a> by <a href="http://www.neilgaiman.com/">neil gaiman</a> - was astonishingly (considering his status among sf/fantasy geeks and bloggers) the first solo work by Gaiman that i'd read. and it is awesome. mixing ancient and modern myths with a modern but nostalgic view of America, it's simply a fantastic novel. i really didn't want it to end.</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0141019018/">freakonomics</a> by <a href="http://www.freakonomics.com/blog/">Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner</a> is probably the only book on economics most people will read, and certainly the only one they will enjoy. it really is fascinating, and full of fantastic tit-bits (which are often expanded on in their terrific blog), such that as on an hourly rate, selling crack pays less well than flipping burgers.</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blankets-Craig-Ringwalt-Thompson/dp/1891830430/">blankets</a> by <a href="http://www.dootdootgarden.com/">craig thompson</a> was recommended to me by <a href="http://www.ventedspleen.com/">tom</a> and also, less directly, by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Cohen">seth cohen</a>. ooh, it's good. just beautiful. you should read it.</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Art-Keeping-Secrets/dp/0755325508/">the lost art of keeping secrets</a> by eva rice (who is website-less), is a lovely bit of fifties-style froth, in the manner of nancy mitford. it's a nice easy read, and fun for all the family (i have literally passed it round every female relative i have).</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Frost-May-Virago-Modern-Classics/dp/1844083780/">frost in may</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonia_White">antonia white</a> is a really astonishingly good novel about a little girl who is sent to a convent boarding school. of course, it is in fact a barely fictionalised account of the author's own experiences, and is all the more brilliant for it.</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Over-Easy-Nursery-Crime-Adventures/dp/0340897104/">the big over easy</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fourth-Bear-Jasper-Fforde/dp/0340835710/">the fourth bear</a> by <a href="http://www.jasperfforde.com/">jasper fforde</a> are the first two books in his <a href="http://www.nurserycrime.co.uk/index.html">nursery crimes</a> series, and they are great. fforde's sense of humour matches mine perfectly, and i'm quite often laughing over his puns several pages later. he's also an hilarious public speaker, so if you get the chance to see him at a book signing, i highly recommend it. </li></ul>and then there's lemony snicket's the end and the beatrice letters, which i enjoyed, but i'm so sad to see the end of the series that i can't bear to include them in my list; wrong about japan which was interesting but ultimately a bit weird; bee season which i flat out loved and which should have been in this list if i hadn't already filled all the slots; er, the da vinci code, which is really terrible; and labyrinth which is like the da vinci code with a degree (and better than i just made it sound).Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-4002604247302119092007-01-04T14:12:00.000+00:002007-01-04T20:47:45.452+00:00six from '06<b>part the third: telly</b><br /><br />i doubt that i have ever watched as much television as i did last year. and not just for work, either, there was an awful lot of irrelevant american drama in there. but when i'm after escapism, i fear <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/strictlycomedancing/">strictly come dancing</a> just doesn't cut it.<br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/">heroes</a> is really the ultimate in escapist television - a group of surprisingly attractive people who suddenly discover they have superpowers. including a pair of brothers so hot and touchy-feely that it's impossible to believe that they're not somehow actually lovers (no really, look at <a href="http://piratesdaughter.livejournal.com/208369.html">these pics</a> for proof. sexy, sexy proof). The fact that one of the brothers is the freakishly gorgeous <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0893257/">milo ventimiglia</a> of whom i've been a fan since his days on <a href="http://televisionwithoutpity.com/show.cgi?show=25">gilmore girls</a> certainly helps my enjoyment of the show, but the show is also awesomely fun and incredibly suspenseful - it knocks lost into a cocked hat!</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show.cgi?show=112">the oc</a>'s third season was a huge disappointment to me. but the tragically truncated season four has been just perfect so far, and has honestly made up for anything that went before. they've just <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/01/04/tv.the.oc.canceled.ap/">announced</a> that the last episode will air in the States on February 22nd, which really does break my heart. but at least we got to see the, uh, <span style="color:silver;">cage fighting </span>, which was worth everything if you ask me!</li><br /><li> <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/">doctor who</a> and its spin-off series <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood/">torchwood</a> were both excellent, i was slightly worried about david tennant as the new doctor, but from the moment he put on his <a href="http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c228/tennant05/sfx1.jpg">specs</a> i was totally sold. and as for captain jack... i'm just completely head over heels for him, and, of course, he was also in...</li></ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/maria/">how do you solve a problem like maria</a> might not be the coolest show i watched last year, but it's certainly among the ones i enjoyed the most. the best reality tv has that capacity to involve you emotionally, and maria completely absorbed me. i was completely thrilled that <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/maria/marias/connie_index.shtml">connie</a> won. she totally deserved it.</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.marsinvestigations.net/">veronica mars</a> veronica mars had a really solid second season finale last year, and the first half of the third season looked good too, i'm optimistic about the rest of the season, although i have to admit that the thought of weekly mysteries as opposed to an over-arching storyline is a bit of a turn-off, but it works well enough for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_%28TV_series%29">house</a>, so maybe i'll be wrong!</li></ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/lifeonmars/">life on mars</a>, meanwhile, proved that a show doesn't have to have 22 episodes to have an impact. in just eight episodes, they told the fantastic story of sam tyler, who appears to have travelled back to 1973 after a car accident. in fact, i liked it so much, i <a href="http://featherboa.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_archive.html#113805533261000720">blogged</a> about it last year. i'm so very excited about the second series, which is due to go out at some point this year, but sad that there won't be another one after that (the creators have decided they need some closure). </li></ul>(and six shows i've enjoyed on dvd: house, gilmore girls, smallville (oh, so much), supernatural, curb your enthusiasm, eerie indiana.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-46516939214838847342007-01-01T13:25:00.000+00:002007-01-01T20:15:51.259+00:00six from '06<b>part the second: gigs</b><br /><br />about half-way through the year i had a strange and unpleasant feeling that i had gone off gig-going. this, i thought, was the beginning of my decline. pretty soon i'd stop buying records and start thinking about dull things. but fortunately it was a blip, and it didn't take long to realise that i'd actually just been to a couple of duff shows (death cab at the astoria and the wireless festival). that said, i didn't make it to a lot of great gigs this year, here are the ones i enjoyed the most. and weirdly, several of these were at venues i'd never been to before, and venues that were slightly unusual. i suppose that's what keeps it fresh.<br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.deathcabforcutie.com/">death cab for cutie</a> at brixton academy, 28-6-06 - having not massively enjoyed the astoria show in february, a few of us decided to book for brixton anyway, and i'm so glad we did. it was a much better gig, and completely re-kindled my interest in live music.</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.thehiddencameras.com/">the hidden cameras</a> at the union chapel, 29-10-06 - hidden cameras are one of the best live bands i've seen, and they were supported by my latest novel, and it was in a church. fantastic stuff.</li><br /><li><a href="http://myspace.com/jarvspace">jarvis</a> at koko, 15-11-06 - even though a really tall bloke stood in front of me about half-way through (damn the tall, they should be forced to wait until all the shortarses have got to the front before they're allowed in the venue), this was still a great set. and included, rather spectacularly, a cover of space oddity, prefaced with this: jarvis: "do you want to hear an old song?", crowd: "yessss", jarvis: "alright. i didn't say it would be one of mine though." great.</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.atpfestival.com/events/united-sounds-2/">all tomorrow's parties</a> at pontins camber sands, 19 to 21-5-06 - just brilliant. the shins day was the one i was particularly looking forward to and it really didn't disappoint. for me the highlight of the three days was definitely <a href="http://www.decemberists.com/">the decemberists</a>, who are amazing, but it was great to see <a href="http://www.gossipyouth.net/">the gossip</a>, <a href="http://www.dragcity.com/bands/newsom.html">joanna newsom</a> (a bit anyway), <a href="http://www.theshins.com/">the shins</a> themselves and <a href="http://sleater-kinney.com/">sleater-kinney</a> (who were on the verge of breaking up).</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.brightonlife.com/news/index.php?news_id=1583">fort rox</a> at newhaven fort, 12-8-06 - not the greatest gig i've ever been to, but one of the best venues - a former napoleonic fort in sussex that i used to go to as a kid, it hosted its own mini-festival curated by locals <a href="http://www.britishseapower.co.uk/">british sea power</a>. <a href="http://www.dukespirit.com/">the duke spirit</a> were great, but as ever, my latest novel were let down by the sound. and it was a bit cold and rainy!</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.tillyandthewall.com/">tilly and the wall</a> at the buffalo bar, 25-8-06 - i had somehow avoided t&tw, which meant that the tapdancing was a complete surprise. and bloody brilliant too. i mean how awesome is it to have a tapdancer as percussion! and the support act <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thegravearchitects">the grave architects</a> were great fun too.</li></ul>(and some shows i enjoyed at <a href="http://www.bushhallmusic.co.uk">bh</a>: euros childs 11-3, the boy least likely to 28-2, my latest novel 28-3, yo la tengo 5-9, isobel campbell 21-2, and for emo reasons be your own pet 1-2 and panic! at the disco 23-8)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-27635298295750709002007-01-01T12:28:00.000+00:002007-01-01T20:56:39.355+00:00six from '06<b>Part the first: records</b><br /><br />weirdly, considering that a couple of my all-time favourite bands released albums this year, neither of them make my top six. this is also an unusally female-vocalist heavy list, <a href="http://featherboa.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_archive.html#113615868524651249">last year</a> it was all blokes.<br /><ul> <li><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Begin-Hope-Regina-Spektor/dp/B000FFJ80I/">begin to hope</a> - <a href="http://www.reginaspektor.com/">regina spektor</a> is a record that i honestly didn't think i would enjoy, because i've always found her voice just a tiny bit too strange. but i kept hearing 'on the radio', um, on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music">the radio</a>, and i fell in love with it. and, oh god, it's an amazing record. it's very quickly become a total desert island disk.</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/o/ASIN/B000F4MP9A/">let's get out of this country</a> - <a href="http://www.camera-obscura.net/">camera obscura</a>. if, last year, you'd said that b&s and camera obscura were both releasing albums in the same year and that i'd prefer camera obscura's, i would have been pretty damn surprised, but you'd have been right. because bloody hell let's get out of this country is terrific. i mean i've been sort of a fan of theirs for a while (in fact this blog was named for one of their lyrics), but i never thought they'd actually release a song better than eighties fan. and they did.</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rabbit-Jenny-Lewis-Watson-Twins/dp/B000CBEWM4/">rabbit fur coat</a> - <a href="http://www.jennylewis.com/">jenny lewis and the watson twins</a>. jenny lewis' voice is gorgeous - low and sweet, which just enough of a country twang. gospel-tinged country-blues plus a fantastic cover of the travelling wilburys' 'handle with care', featuring <a href="http://www.saddle-creek.com/bands/brighteyes/">conor</a>, <a href="http://www.deathcabforcutie.com/">ben</a> and <a href="http://www.mwardmusic.com/">m ward</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jarvis-Cocker/dp/B000JMKCU2/">jarvis</a> - <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/myspace.com/jarvspace">jarvis cocker</a>, was really a no-brainer for this list - i mean it's <i>jarvis</i>, who has been my hero for the last ten or so years. he could have put out a record of him reading the phone book and i'd have loved it (actually he has been putting out podcasts on his myspace page of him reading short stories, and they're fantastic, i do so love his voice). fortunately jarvis is also a great album, it's nice to see that time and settling haven't mellowed him at all.</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/o/ASIN/B000DZV6EG/">wolves</a> - <a href="http://www.mylatestnovel.com/">my latest novel</a>. this album absolutely soundtracked the beginning of the year for me. they're one of those bands for whom the live sound can never quite capture how great they are on record, but i did find the glockenspiel playing quite inspiring! i'm listening to 'the job mr kurtz done', and it's just reminded me of pulp's 'david's last summer', so definitely a good thing!</li><br /><li><a href="http://www.buyolympia.com/killrockstars/Item=KRS435">omnibus</a> - <a href="http://www.killrockstars.com/bands/factsheets/tarkio/">tarkio</a>, was really a compilation of old stuff by colin "the decemberists" meloy, but it had some great tracks on it, and i do love colin's voice.</li></ul> (and the also rans - belle and sebastian's life pursuit just didn't grab me though there were some good tunes on it, the decemberists' crane wife hasn't really been listened to enough for me to pass judgement on it - i feel like i need to put some time into it, and the same goes for joanna newsom's ys, the pipettes record didn't really capture how much fun they are live and sounded strangely thin to me, i did enjoy the tragic treasury, but it's not a 'classic' album, and sufjan stevens' the avalanche which is fantastic but i think sufjan gets enough adulation from bloggers without us also praising his cast-offs!)<br /><br /><i>edited 20:55 to fix links because amazon is annoying</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-1164968824158787002006-12-01T10:19:00.000+00:002006-12-01T10:27:04.173+00:00just say no<b>this has not been my best week ever</b>, in classic fashion, i have bitten off way more than i can chew and am suffering the consequences. this is mainly due to my ongoing issues with the word no. which i seem completely incapable of pronouncing at key moments. <br /><br />thus, since last saturday in addition to my regular 9.30-6 type job, i've had three driving lessons, taken (and passed woo) my theory test, worked two late-ish bar shifts, and filmed late on tuesday, and i'm working tomorrow as well.<br /><br />what this means is that i'm utterly, utterly shattered, and i've had to put all kinds of things on hold - including <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">nanowrimo</a>, which i had such high hopes for at the beginning of the month.<br /><br />so that's why things have maybe been a little quiet around here.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-1163071260424531562006-11-09T08:11:00.000+00:002006-11-09T11:21:00.443+00:00up the wall<b>i am learning to drive,</b> which is really something i never thought would happen. years of terrifying 'clunk click every trip' and 'kill your speed not a child' ads scared me to a point where i didn't even want to be a passenger in a car for several years. and for a long time, my nightmares revolved around crashing or stalling cars.<br /><br />fortunately, my desire to continue to be employed massively outweighs my fear of driving. and it has become very necessary for me to learn. it does feel pretty ridiculous to have got to 25 and not to be able to drive. it is one of those skills that i suspect everyone ought to have.<br /><br />so here i am, two lessons in, and quite enjoying it. it still freaks me out a bit every time i think about it, but when i'm actually behind the wheel, i feel ok. remarkably ok.<br /><br />and my instructor asked me if i'd just turned 17. which was nice.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-1162728057906607232006-11-05T11:46:00.000+00:002006-11-05T12:00:57.923+00:00nostalgiafest '06<b>in a weirdly retro style,</b> i am blogging (hungover) from langwith computer room. the very room in which i used to regularly post (hungover/drunk/whatever), when i was at uni. i'm in york for a flying visit, and i couldn't resist the urge to re-create my misspent youth.<br /><br />coming back to york is terrific, actually. it's funny because coming in on the train i felt exactly the way i used to when i got into king's cross when i was living up here. it does feel like coming home in a wonderful sort of way, and i'm sorry i've not been up for so long, and that it was really only chance that brought me back here in the first place.<br /><br />i was in sheffield for the <a href="https://sheffdocfest.com/">sheffield doc fest</a>, which was, um, thought provoking. i managed to see seven documentaries in total, over a day and a half. they ranged from the <a href="https://sheffdocfest.com/films/view/3825" title="what remains - about the photographer sally mann">sublime</a>, to the <a href="https://sheffdocfest.com/films/view/4428" title="the armstrongs: the movie - about a couple who run a double glazing firm">ridiculous</a>, but i don't feel like i saw a dud. perhaps the most disappointing film was <a hre="http://blackgoldmovie.com/">black gold</a>, which i wanted to be more of a polemic, than a rather straight depiction of the coffee industry. <br /><br />more when i get back to london, i should think...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-1161344915195200612006-10-20T12:23:00.000+01:002006-10-20T12:48:35.213+01:00crafty minx<b>lately, at work, we've been looking at craft.</b> since i got into knitting a couple of years ago (and cross-stitch just at the end of uni), this has been sheer bliss. i like hanging around the <a href="http://www.craftster.org/forum/">craftster forums</a>, and looking for inspiration from the <a href="http://www.craftzine.com/blog">craftzine blog</a>. i've found plenty, though none of it's really for my, y'know, actual job. <br /><br />i sent off for <a href="http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com/wee_wonderfuls/store/">put together book one</a> from wee wonderfuls - just because i've never actually made a toy doesn't mean i can't try it! and i bought the yarn yesterday for this cute <A href="http://lupinbunny.blogspot.com/2006/10/invisible-stripe-scarf.html">invisible stripe scarf</a>. i can't, of course, start either of those, before i've finished my <A href="http://knit.atypically.net/scarves/azkaban/pattern.shtml">ravenclaw scarf</a> - which i've slightly changed from this pattern, because 27 rounds of the same colour was just too boring - it's looking pretty awesome, if i do say so myself.<br /><br />and last week, we went on a works outing to <A href="http://www.craftsonline.org.uk/">origin</a>, which was amazing. it's really striking how crafting can transcend its women's institute/granny associations and become something really exciting. <br /><br />we met a very nice girl from <a href="http://www.fredbare.co.uk/">fred bare</a> in york, and it reminded me of how great york was for that sort of thing - especially lovely <a href="http://www.duttonsforbuttons.co.uk/">duttons for buttons</a>. i miss the frozen north. just as well i'll be up there soon!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-1159449849072639972006-09-28T14:10:00.000+01:002006-09-28T14:24:53.406+01:00hiatus? what hiatus?<b>so <a href="http://karentravelling.blogspot.com">k</a>, and i and a couple of others are looking for somwehere to move to.</b> we've looked at some houses, and the thing that has struck me, really, is how incredibly <i>weird</i> other people's houses are.<br /><br />i mean it's something that you don't really notice visit people, but when you're actually looking at their house, and imagining it to be your own, that's the point at which you start thinking, mmm, this is a bit strange.<br /><br />the house yesterday was particularly odd - the downstairs bedroom had a sort of bunk bed and then two single beds pushed together underneath. there were three full-length sofas in a room that would have been much more comfortable with only one. one of the bedrooms looked like a wedding cake. is it just something to do with rented houses? are the sort of people who rent cheapish places generally weird with the decorating?<br /><br />of course, i lived in a pretty strange house myself in my second year at uni. there was a sort of concrete 'shower block' that could only be reached by going through the kitchen and the living room. there was a plastic hanging basket on the landing by my bedroom, with fake plastic plants in it. i slept on a mattress on a sort of futon on the floor. this was the house where the 'handyman' had nailed. the curtains. to. the. walls.<br /><br />but even more wierd is the fact that i really loved that house, or my room anyway. it was strange but it definitely had character.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-1155724298485250522006-08-31T20:00:00.000+01:002006-08-31T23:14:00.436+01:00autumn almanack<b>autumn's already upon us</b> the weather is definitely cooler than it has been, and i've now had a cold for a week and a half.<br /><br />both my birthday and the beginning of the academic year are in september, so i've always felt like september marks the new year - in a way that january doesn't really. the demarcation between december and january isn't particularly strong, whereas august to september usually feels like a leap.<br /><br />even this year - which should feel different because of the weather and because it's my first year of working full-time - it still seems like the beginning of a new stage of my life.<br /><br />i started this blog to document the transitions in my life, and this feels like another to add to the list - turning 21, leaving university, starting my first job and my second job. i'm going to turn 25 tomorrow, and i'm excited about it. there are a lot of things i want to accomplish this year, and i'm glad the blog's going to be here to help me make sense of it all.<br /><br />this is my last post before i reach my quarter century, which is a bit scary if you look at it like that. still, there are worse ages than 25 (15 for one).Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-1156189692306183542006-08-21T20:41:00.000+01:002006-08-21T20:48:12.316+01:00paeon<b>i'm sick - like cough-cough sick,</b> it's horrible. i hate being ill, it makes me grumpy and grrr. but what makes up for it slightly is listening to the new <a href="http://www.reginaspektor.com/">regina spektor</a> album, which i picked up the weekend before last. i was never sure if i actually liked her - she's got an amazing voice, and she writes great songs, but i think the last album was just a little bit too weird for me. begin to hope, though, is fantastic, easily my favourite album of the year, though i think the camera obscura record comes not far off.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-1155724863444801922006-08-16T11:31:00.000+01:002006-08-16T11:41:03.446+01:00ink polaroid<b>i actually just wrote another post,</b> but it didn't feel quite timely, so i'm going to save it for a couple of weeks. i'd intended to post photos this week, but i've been a bit lax about taking my camera out, and i always feel a bit weird taking pictures on my phone.<br /><br />so here, instead, is an <a href="http://www.inkpolaroids.com/">ink polaroid</a>:<br /><br />this is a picture of four passport photos i saw last night on the ground on my way home from work. it had been raining in the day and the asphalt was wet, there were already orange leaves on the ground. the man in the photos (they're the new-style passport photos, all the same on a white background and arranged in a square) looks weirdly familiar. but he's shaven-headed and tough-seeming. i bet he's pissed off to have dropped the photos, but in the pictures, he looks strangely serene, lying there surrounded by wet leaves.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3676076.post-1155247473388186812006-08-10T21:48:00.000+01:002006-08-10T23:04:33.486+01:00vinyl fantasy IV<b>listening to late night radio in my teens,</b> i picked up all kinds of weird taste in music. this is a song that i first heard on the mark and lard show, when they were still on the graveyard shift (which co-incidentally is the first place i heard b&s too).<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sweet">the sweet</a> were a glam rock band from the seventies, and that's, er, pretty much all i know about them. <br /><br />but this is an absolute stormer of a track. and the opening makes me want to laugh like an insane person - there's just something resolutely un-glam about the names steve, andy and mick. <br /><br />it mightn't seem like it really fits with my taste in music, but this is good fun. evidently, i liked it enough to buy it for £1 from the record and tape exchange (hmm bit of a theme there).<br /><br /><a href="http://feather.boa.googlepages.com/01TheBallroomBlitz.mp3">the sweet - the ballroom blitz</a> [windows users - right click the link and "save as"; mac users ctrl-click and choose "download linked file as"]<br /><br />and also i <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/53762">posted</a> to mefi this morning. the thread has gone, ahem, completely batshitinsane in the interim. should have prolly thought out the consequences of that one.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com