February 2010
62 posts
WatchSunset Rubdown: Dragon’s Lair - “So this one’s for the critics and their disappointed mothers, and for the cupid and the hunter shooting arrows at each other: Ain’t no such thing as a saint, ain’t no such thing as a sinner. But there’s a swan among the pigeons of Barcelona’s floor. There’s a Samson with Delilahs lining up outside the door. If you are...
Urban Dictionary: Best-Behavio(u)r Friend →
“Also known as ‘BBF’; a friend whom you have very little in common with and you act on your best-behavio(u)r when you’re with.” I find it shocking that people can maintain friendships like this - on the basis of omitting certain unsavoury details of their true character - and I’m glad that I’ve never been such a person. Ahem.
“9. Heighten the emotional impact by making sure a kitten/puppy/baby is injured...”
– 21 writing tips by Laura Ellen Scott
“I love editing … if I had the time, I’d erase everything I’ve ever done”
– Kristin Hersh [via fireland]
WatchCaribou: Odessa - Gratuitous blood, a naggingly infectious bassline, and a strange squeaky noise that sounds like a kitten being tickled (or possibly strangled). Really, what’s not to like?
"I'm sorry, the public are wrong. It's for... →
Ladies, gentlemen and voters, from a Parliament that is bursting at the seams with MPs who are clearly out of touch with the public mood, meet the most out of touch of them all: a man who can’t possibly travel standard class on the train because there could be children, noise and activity, and he might not get a seat. I almost feel sorry for him, having to suffer like normal people using...
Watch
“We also know that in return for their huge bonuses, those investment bankers...”
– Not all bankers are fat cats - a city banker, writing under an assumed name in The Guardian, tries to convince us that wheeler-dealer investment bankers shouldn’t be labelled as public enemy number one.
Me? I’m not convinced.
“BE MINE. Wait. That has six letters. Six letters is so unlucky. It’s like...”
– McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: Obsessive-Compulsive Valentines [indirectly via Crashingly Beautiful]
WatchThe Antlers: Bear - “There’s a bear inside your stomach, a cub’s been kicking from within. He’s loud, though without vocal cords - we’ll put an end to him. We’ll make all the right appointments, no one ever has to know, and then tomorrow I’ll turn twenty-one, we’ll script another show …”
Bankers fixing votes against 'Robin Hood tax' →
Here’s a tip: if you’re going to vote online 5,000 times in 20 minutes, don’t do it from the same computer server - and make sure that computer server isn’t situated in the investment bank, Goldman Sachs. So they’re not only overpaid, greedy, money-hoarding bastards, but they’re stupid too.
“I realised by the time I was about seventeen that studying literature was a bad...”
– Will Self, speaking in a fascinating interview for The Literateur Magazine. I think many people would do well to have the above quote etched into their forehead with a blunt pencil.
Adam Curtis: Do people heckle? →
The always fascinating Adam Curtis asks why the British public no longer seem to heckle their politicians: is it because we no longer believe in politics, or because we no longer believe in themselves? The article includes a forty-minute BBC documentary from 1966, showing heckling in action during that year’s general election. I sincerely hope it makes a return to the political stage at the...
“When they close one Thames bridge, they do it for roadworks. When they close two...”
– Boris Johnson is waging war on our city’s subversive south [via hydragenic]
And my journey to and from work is about to become sheer murderous hell. On wheels. For at least the next eighteen months. Can I retire now, please?
russell davies: digital campaigning →
A fascinating look at the mydavidcameron poster phenomenon, what it means for political advertising, and how the ad agencies are jumping on the idea as we head towards that election.
A message to the producers of TV’s Grumpy Old Men. I am eighteen months away from reaching the age of 40. I am reassuringly, some might say dependably, grumpy. The vast majority of what is happening in the world irritates me. I’m firmly of the opinion that nothing in art, culture, media, politics or society has been any good since I departed my twenties. And, best of all for you, I...
“The Tories want to bring in big changes at the BBC, and no doubt they will. But...”
– Simon Hoggart in The Guardian
I can’t quite decide whether this is a display of genuine feelings, or merely an artful and skilled approximation of emotion from a man who is, after all, infamous for his role in stage managing media performances from public figures. I suspect the latter.
Spam email of the day #12
“Drive her hot and wet,” it says. To which I reply: “No, sorry, I can’t. I suggested an off-road driving holiday in a Land Rover, venturing deep into the humid surroundings of the Amazonian rainforest, but she just wasn’t interested”.
