fourth edition

And so on the last day of my NaBloPoMoing, some sad news.
Jørn Utzon, the Danish architect who designed the Sydney Opera House, has died. The Opera House is arguably one of the most iconic 20th century building and yet Utzon never visited it himself after falling out with its money men. He continued to design [...]

Sometimes you get lucky.
Before David’s birthday dinner, we went walking around Glasgow’s West End and eventually dipped into our favourite second-hand shop.
Dave spotted a tin filled with old buttons and asked the owner how much they’d be. “Oh, I have plenty more.. haven’t really looked through ‘em. So many, you know. Was going [...]

Other Half celebrates his thirty-something-mumble-mumble birthday today. Happy birthday, David.
I managed to finish a pair of fingerless mitts (a male variation upon these in Artesano Alpaca Aran) last night whilst at the knit-in at Sith Café. I wouldn’t say I was knitting frantically, but I didn’t pet the resident dog as much I usually do. [...]

My old flat in Copenhagen was on the third floor of an old building. Looking back, my life there felt like a big gulp of air waiting to be exhaled. I had finished university and was waiting for the rest of my life to begin. I liked the place, although I couldn’t afford to live [...]

“It’s a shocking piece,” [Miles] Hoffman says. “It’s still startling to us today when we hear it, but it is not a confusing piece. It’s compelling. We’re hearing irregular rhythms, we’re hearing instruments asked to go to the extremes of their capability, but we’re also hearing patterns that we recognize, with pacing, contrast, fascinating harmonies, [...]

It’s been a long day, so I will just point you to some people who do really weird, amazing, and beautiful things with paper and a pair of scissors:
+ Patrick Gannon – he reminds me of the visceral violence of the Brothers Grimm mixed with the Gothic fairytales of Angela Carter and the more outlandish [...]

I have ideas.
PS. I have also had the great pleasure of being referred to as a “filthy-minded dog” by the good Mr Stephen Fry on Twitter. It’s an honour, sir.

As I’m writing this I’m wearing:

underwear
a t-shirt
a sweater
a quilted fleece (Other Half’s)
a pashmina
trousers
two pairs of socks
fleece gloves
fingerless gloves on top
and a hat

And I am still cold. I’m half-tempted to fill our hot water-bottle and sneak it under my clothes so I can find some extra heat somewhere. Also, how do I stop my nose from [...]

One website is really eating into my online time: Geni. It’s a site which will let you generate your own family tree for free. I have an unwieldy and complicated family tree (think Jeremy Kyle or vintage Jerry Springer) which makes it super-fun to figure out how people are actually related to one another. As [...]

Today is the 21st of November 2008. I am one gift away from having completed my Christmas shopping. I know it’s completely and utterly disgusting and I apologise profusely.
If you do not know what to get people, here’s a little list of helpful tips:

Animatronic dinosaurs will please most boys, no matter what age. Some girls [...]