Protect yourself with fire
Mar. 9th, 2005 10:51 amWhy do people I know see stories about mallard r@pe and think 'Hey, I know, I'll send that to Alex?"
Since Thursday my life has been a booze-fuelled rollercoaster ride. It was all great fun, but it was also a delight to step off the rollercoaster last night and be in my pyjamas by eight. Rushmore was pleasant enough but confirmed my suspicion that there's a certain disconnect between my sensibility and Wes Anderson's. I think I can see why some people are so fond of him but for my tastes he just tries a little too hard to be quirky while making films which, underneath the surface, are really rather conventional. I mean, I'll probably still see The Life Aquatic once, but I doubt I'll ever own one of his DVDs.
Most of the ads during the Shameless season finale were for albums by this year's fashionable bands*, but one of the exceptions is my new favourite ad. It's for one of those housewife magazines called Full House, and is soundtracked by what sounds like Madness, reprising 'Our House'. This is not why I love it. I love it because while the housewife is reading Full House, her husband gets beaten up by a guinea pig. Quality TV. Great Shameless too, though I was puzzled to see what looked very much like a Rammstein poster in Kev and Veronica's house.
There was an article in Saturday's Guardian about naturism (online version sans pictures, hence probably worksafe) which, in its accounts of attempts to build utopia just outside St Alban's, was very reminiscent of England's Lost Eden. It may surprise some people but I'm really not keen on the idea of naturism; it's difficult enough reading the signals as to whether someone's interested, so it must get really confusing when a sentence beginning "Let's get butt naked and..." can end "weed the allotment".
"Londoners could face water shortages within the next 10 years if Thames Water fails to tackle leakage and increasing demand.
In a report1 published today, the London Assembly’s Environment Committee reveals that the capital’s water loss through leakage is the highest in the country. Nearly 1,000 million litres of water per day were lost in 2003/042 - enough to fill 17 Olympic sized swimming pools every hour."
I can well believe it. Between the House Beautiful and the Tube there has been a water leak on a road junction for about a week now. In the middle of the road there's effectively a spring bubbling up through what was once tarmac, but now looks more like the under-pavement beach.
When Great Things Combine: Suicide Girls has a Grant Morrison interview.
Penny Broadhurst aka
myfirstkitchen's poetry CD may not have been intended to confirm me in Friday's thoughts on poetry, but that's the effect it had. Most of the tracks have some instrumentation or production applied to bolster her voice; just as ancient poets accompanied themselves on the lyre, so Penny's accompanied on the studio, the instrument of this age. The observational stuff is good, but it's good within its genre; the real standouts are 'Rhythm Rebel' and in particular '8 Mile High', a track which seems to be even angrier than I am about how marginal poetry has allowed itself to become. In another piece Penny suggests teaming up with Simon Cowell to raise the standard of pop lyrics; it's certainly something I'd love to see attempted.
*And while I'm still not sold on the Kaiser Chiefs, their singer is rather hott.
Since Thursday my life has been a booze-fuelled rollercoaster ride. It was all great fun, but it was also a delight to step off the rollercoaster last night and be in my pyjamas by eight. Rushmore was pleasant enough but confirmed my suspicion that there's a certain disconnect between my sensibility and Wes Anderson's. I think I can see why some people are so fond of him but for my tastes he just tries a little too hard to be quirky while making films which, underneath the surface, are really rather conventional. I mean, I'll probably still see The Life Aquatic once, but I doubt I'll ever own one of his DVDs.
Most of the ads during the Shameless season finale were for albums by this year's fashionable bands*, but one of the exceptions is my new favourite ad. It's for one of those housewife magazines called Full House, and is soundtracked by what sounds like Madness, reprising 'Our House'. This is not why I love it. I love it because while the housewife is reading Full House, her husband gets beaten up by a guinea pig. Quality TV. Great Shameless too, though I was puzzled to see what looked very much like a Rammstein poster in Kev and Veronica's house.
There was an article in Saturday's Guardian about naturism (online version sans pictures, hence probably worksafe) which, in its accounts of attempts to build utopia just outside St Alban's, was very reminiscent of England's Lost Eden. It may surprise some people but I'm really not keen on the idea of naturism; it's difficult enough reading the signals as to whether someone's interested, so it must get really confusing when a sentence beginning "Let's get butt naked and..." can end "weed the allotment".
"Londoners could face water shortages within the next 10 years if Thames Water fails to tackle leakage and increasing demand.
In a report1 published today, the London Assembly’s Environment Committee reveals that the capital’s water loss through leakage is the highest in the country. Nearly 1,000 million litres of water per day were lost in 2003/042 - enough to fill 17 Olympic sized swimming pools every hour."
I can well believe it. Between the House Beautiful and the Tube there has been a water leak on a road junction for about a week now. In the middle of the road there's effectively a spring bubbling up through what was once tarmac, but now looks more like the under-pavement beach.
When Great Things Combine: Suicide Girls has a Grant Morrison interview.
Penny Broadhurst aka
*And while I'm still not sold on the Kaiser Chiefs, their singer is rather hott.