St James’s Street. On my way home. About 11pm. A tall transvestite in a ginger wig with a thick belt round a long jumper is strutting along. She looks like Donna Noble. A group of three twittering, bickering discobunny gay lads are walking the other way, towards her. One of them spots her and smirks …
… Visited Chicago. A beautiful, relaxed and entertaining city. The weakness of the dollar made things so pleasingly affordable. … Seen Kaki King and, also, The Tigerlillies. She was a bit dull, if worthy. They were hysterically anarchic and rude. Guess which one I preferred. … Travelled in an Austin 7 to Dorset. All good …
Every now and again I’ll get some questions from a journalist: they want a talking head for an article and I’m usually happy to oblige. Typically, I’ll provide quite a lot of material and a few sentences will be used. I sent these responses to a journo last week, so I thought I’d puiblish my …
Tonight on the train home. I sit down next to a man I don’t know, who’s already jabbering away on his mobile telephone to someone else I don’t know, about things that don’t interest me. Then something piques my interest. I pause my iPod and listen in. And remember, I only have one side of …
A links miscellany. Here’s some stuff I’ve been reading on the web and liked. From the New York Times, Luis Suarez of IBM explains how he has unshackled himself from his email inbox using social tools and the blower. The Mail has over taken the Guardian and the Telegraph as the highest circulating UK newspaper …
(The bravado and sheer cheek of this ‘marketing’ staggers me… and inspires not a little admiration.)
… become an enthusiastic, if not expert, gardener. The sweet peas, rocket, herbs, tomatoes, spinach and lettuces are coming along. The petunias, lupins and marigolds have been savaged by cats and snails. Grr. … Enjoyed Vampire Weekend in Camden (but not at the Great Escape in Brighton). Still loving the Kings of PrepPop. … Started …
For about a month I’ve been scribbling a post about eBay feedback and the recent changes. But it was getting long and convoluted and rather like one of my university history essays. How to make it digestable? Then I remembered one history essay I wrote about the League of Nations…. and Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points. …
Esser braves the Saturday afternoon rain at Jubilee Square, but I miss it. I’m girding my loins for a struggle to see Santogold and a possible 2am gig if we miss her at Digital earlier in the evening. But all bets are off when she cancels both gigs. So we head for the nearest venue: …
We go in search of afternoon entertainment. Soweto Kinch and Mr Hudson play an impromptu pretty fun mini-set on the Theatre Royal Balcony. Energetic and entertaining, it gets the juices flowing. And I see another band (I don’t catch the name) at the Water Margin. It’s probably just as well that I don’t know the …
I’m down at the Great Escape Festival in Brighton and, so far, not an auspicious start. Team attempt to see the majestic Vampire Weekend fell at the first hurdle with the impossibly huge queue snaking out of Concorde 2 and although some of our merry band persisted and watched ’em though a side door. A …
Ever since Rose Tyler left Doctor Who at the end of Series 2, Saturday night’s highlight show had lost a bit of its sheen. Freema was pretty good. Blink was superb. Paul Cornell’s episodes were a tour de force. But The Shakespeare Code was terrible, the Daleks in Manhatten disappointed and 42 was formulaic. Even …
Here are some other places I’ve been contributing online, of late: vzaar: Why negative feedback + bad sellers = unhappy buyers On the vzaar blog, the case for abolishing the right for sellers to leave negative feedback on eBay. Based on a personal experience. Auctionbytes: Why is QXL Closing in the UK? A comment (scroll …
In the hope of saving a bit of time the next time Boris Johnson, the new Mayor of London, opens his mouth to change feet, I have taken the liberty of preparing him a ready-made apology sheet. ‘Comments I made on my recent visit to a mosque/temple/old peoples’ home/school for the blind/gay community group* have …