Last night I went into the kitchen and announced: “I really like Tanzania.” My poor, deluded brain had been locked into dream-space whilst I had been battling it out on Puzzle Quest. While my fingers had been busy pairing up gems and fighting wyverns, another part of me had been in Tanzania on a veranda, [...]
Sundays in February can be quite dreary - so why not dash into Mono here in Glasgow on Sunday at 8pm? Famous Scottish writers such as Alasdair Gray(!), Liz Lochhead, and Tom Leonard will be discussing the war in Iraq. As Mono also houses a record shop/informal gig venue, there will also be live music [...]
It’s Valentine’s Day today. I have already my present from my Significant Other: a facsimile of the Kelmscott Chaucer. Aww.
Equally geeky/sweet: Typecaster. “A Flash app [that] lets you drag two fonts from the left side into the stage area… to see how well the two types mix when dating (fonts available are Mistral, Papyrus, Comic [...]
The other day I was watching an interview with Peter Carey on BBC News following the Australian apology to Aborigines. I suspect BBC anticipated an in-depth interview about Australian identity and a smart post-colonial take on Australian history. Instead they got themselves a cagey author who was possibly the worst interviewee I have seen in [...]
Karie by the duck pond, late 1970s
Today is my birthday. I turn thirty-two - it sounds so grown-up to my ears, and yet I still feel like the child feeding the ducks in the midst of winter. Happy birthday to me because today, it really is all about me, hooray!
Okay, it is also a tiny [...]
Having just finished Scarlett Thomas’ “PopCo”, I find myself longing for non-contemporary novels. I have been reading many books recently but all have all been written within the last thirty years. I long for a different sort of prose, a different perspective. And so I have been looking at my book shelves, thought about the [...]
No more polaroids - Polaroid has announced it will stop producing the film that is used to produce its iconic pictures. Apparently stocks will last until 2009.
As a gesture of mourning, my partner has just bought a selection of old polaroids he found in a secondhand shop. I might just scan one..
Why smart songwriting is huge in Sheffield and guitar-pop thrives in Glasgow: You hear where you live? An interesting look at how geography may help shape your taste in music - whether you are aware of it or not.
Meanwhile, it’s nice to note that Hillary Clinton wants to share her political views with the part [...]
Scott Walker sings Jacques Brel
Absolutely irresistible on a cold Friday night.
Heard sung outside on the street at around 9am: I do, I do, I do believe in faeries…
I finished reading Cormac McCarthy’s excellent The Road yesterday. Its sparse, exquisite prose reminded me of Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead as did the preoccupation with love and tenderness. However, while Gilead is about a place and staying there, [...]
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