The arrival of a new Doctor is always a bit harrowing. I can remember each regeneration since Tom Baker turned into Peter Davison (admittedly dimly) and as a result can remember occasions when the next Doctor wasn’t equal or better to his predecessor. But Matt Smith seems like an excellent choice and it’s just a …
Last year I started what I suspect will become a bit of a tradition. I named my 5 favourite new songs of 2007. I was loose in my definition of new. This year, ‘new’ means new: all but one of the songs was published in 2008. So here you go: my top five new songs …
I’m posting this graph for illustrative purposes only (I’ve stripped off numbers and dates). It’s my blog traffic for the year 2008. What do you notice? The peak is my post on Max Gogarty, which really caused a storm back in March. It was great to be part of that conversation. And then later in …
A fellow Brightonian read my previous post on Brighton and asked me why I like the old place, in a bit a more detail. We had a long conversation that ranged from the general to the specific and the arcane to the absurd. So, why do I like it in Brighton? Here are some incomplete …
I had to rummage through an old notebook earlier and found an old to do list. Most of it had been completed, but some line items from a year ago are on my current to do list. Sort out iPod/iTunes This I haven’t done. I’m constantly annoyed by the way that music is catalogued in …
3 things that have been on my to do list for more than a year Read More »
If you rattle around the web long enough, or frankly even just your local boozer, you get involved in a few discussions here and there. Whilst there is an awful lot of good stuff out there, often discussions are low quality and arguments pathetic. I love reason based argument with examples and supporting evidence. With …
On a cold saturday after Christmas, a little excursion is in order. Where better than the Booth Museum of Natural History in Brighton? Thankfully very little has changed since I used to visit frequently as a child. Founded by Edward Thomas Booth in the 19th century, it was very much a personal passion and Booth …
I made some tasty ginger beer the other week and I’ve been totally thrilled with the results. All you need is some sugar, ginger, water, yeast, lemons, tartaric acid and a few bits of equipment. It was great to use the demi-john gathering dust in the cupboard for once. Anyway, I’ve posted the method on …
When I was at dConstruct earlier this year (and as I write this I realise that I never published the post I wrote in my papery notebook, which is probably just as well as I wasn’t entirely positive), I was struck by how white it was: there were very few black, asian or ‘other’ (as …
Happy Christmas everyone. This is my favourite Christmas song.
Inspired by Sue Bailey’s love of Victorian Porn, I must confess a love for vintage innuendo. Maybe I’ll dust off some more of my old saucy postcards but one confuses me. I bought this on eBay a while back. It made me titter. But I don’t really get the gag. Do you? It’s dated 1909.
File this post under ‘career limiting moves’. The problem with recruiters isn’t just a general lack of imagination, it’s the overly serious and humourless way they undertake their job (I can think of only one tremendous exception). Very few seem to have a maverick streak of human understanding, an instinctive feel for company culture or …
Can it be a year already? Well, it isn’t really, but a year ago today I signed the papers and took a flat in my hometown of Brighton and even though I didn’t completely relocate until after Christmas, it’s pretty much one whole year. Wow. No regrets. I can hardly imagine moving back to the …
Someone said I look like Robert Scoble today. Not sure. But I know for a fact that noone has ever seen Robert Scoble, Boris Johnson, Philip Seymour Hoffman and me in the same room. I think we should be told.