Category Archives: News

I Thought Turkey Was The In-Flight Meal

A family who were bound for a week’s holiday in Lanzarote are back home after a check-in desk mix-up meant they caught a flight to Turkey instead. (..) Mr Coray said they had not realised their mistake because their boarding pass stated only Bodrum airport and not that it was in Turkey.
(source)

On a vaguely […]

The Big Issues

Worryingly I watch the chatterbox a great deal more than I would like - but there is something about the format which suits my scattered brain. I get interested in something and just as I’m beginning to lose the thread, it’s commercial time or time for the weather forecast (both strike me as similar in […]

Brief Interlude on Language

Watching the Austrian cellar abuse scandal unfold, I could not help but wonder one thing. How had the imprisoned children’s linguistic skills developed? I learned from the BBC that some of the children communicated with each other in ways that did not adhere to standard German linguistic structures. The Austrian news story is horrifying, of […]

Sonic Strikes Back

Sometimes I just effin’ love New Zealand. They do things differently there.
NZ man ‘used hedgehog as weapon’: “The police spokesman said the suspect was arrested “for assault with a weapon, namely the hedgehog.”
Poor hedgehog, though.

R.I.P.

Alain Robbe-Grillet has died.
P.S. Surely it is also time to announce that the postmodern novel passed away some time ago?

Our Protagonist Wonders..

Two questions: How do you say “I would like to buy six live chicken, please” in German? And if I were to say to you: “You look like a one-eyed pirate except you have two eyes,” how would you interpret that?
I try to keep track of news in my erstwhile home country of Denmark. The […]

Words Against War

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 […]

Words, Language and Politics, oh my!

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 […]

The End of an Era

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..

Saturday Linkage

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 […]