olympic fashion watch - prequel

during the 2006 winter olympics in turin i developed an overweening and somewhat embarrassing crush on tempestuous skateuse IRINA SLUTSKAYA—she of the apple cheeks, mousy hair and how shall i put this—pleasing thickness that one does not normally associate with ice skaters.

something else one doesn’t normally associate with ice skaters is clothes you might actually want to wear yourself. but in 2006 russia had it goin on. their motif was a kind of cross between a paisley shape and a garland (or a zapf dingbat), and when applied to a straight-up indie gas-station attendant vibe i found the russian outfits almost as irresistable as a certain ice skater who wore them. (they also had their own twee mascot, the venerable cheburashka, who may have contributed to a new Olympic trend.)

it’s unnecessary to detail the hours i spent trying to track down the hoodie in the above photo. oh i was desperate, had taken leave of my senses. 1/2-inch enamel souvenir pins on ebay with the above garland/paisley design were enough to start me salivating. in the end i forgot about it. but here come the olympics again, taunting me with their inaccessible vestments, reminding me of the ones that got away. it appears that the company which made those russian outfits still have a web site and it’s being revamped. a dormant spark of hope flares up. are you out there, boscosport? do you do trackbacks? i’m an easy mark.

Foiled again! etc etc

Unlike, say, sailing, fencing is a naturally telegenic sport. Violent and shrouded in darkness with dramatically spot-lit little runways for the fencers to jab at each other, each point of a bout will take up at most a few seconds of one’s precious, attention-deficit-addled time. In fact, bouts at this highest of levels are like that old nature film of the grizzly bear swiping salmon from a stream - the crucial action simply takes place faster than a human can see it. Like chess players, fencers are always several moves ahead of what’s actually happening. But with the camera and playback technology available today, every bind, circle-parry and change of engagement can be slowed down, isolated, remarked upon and put into the context of the bout. And like the other combat sports, fencing requires ingenuity, creativity and grace yet thankfully doesn’t depend on a judge somewhere. You either hit somebody or you don’t. … read on …

Who Aggregates the Aggregator Aggregators?

And perhaps more importantly - who cares? If the impending closure of the obnoxiously “Web 2.0″ BBC Sound Index this Friday is any guide, the answer is pretty clear.

Oh sure, the site boasts more than 22 million “comments, posts, plays and views”, but those comments and posts are all from OTHER sites like YouTube, last.fm, iTunes, myspace, and the like. Sound Index sent automated “robot” scripts to these sites looking for the names of bands, fed what it found into some kind of magic algorithm, and produced a constantly updated list of the 1000 buzziest bands on the planet. Or well, the English-speaking planet. Probably. Slap some shiny, gumdrop-like buttons on the results, organise things with a direct rip-off of the iTunes “Coverflow” feature and hey presto.. well, what exactly? … read on …

A Bite of Stars, a Slug of Time, and Thou - Episode 8

Kat Stevens joins Mark Sinker and Elisha Sessions to talk about Choose Your Own Adventure books, speaking with animals, and “Build Up Logically”, an unclassifiable short story written in 1950 by Howard Schoenfeld. It’s about two men who can summon the entire universe from thin air but spend most of their time at parties. Elisha reads the story in case you haven’t.

wedding season again

it’s the time for tying up loose ends, setting projects on the shelf, letting bygones be bygones and preparing to go meet the world. school’s out, but not forever — who’d want that? the promise of this escape relies on being secretly ready for the reassuring itchiness of our return.

in the meanwhile we may just allow a blitheness to unsettle our hearts and carry us away to someplace Else. for a space. but before THAT there’s the concluding episode of the slug of time radioshow, airing this tuesday on resonance FM at 10pm but quite possibly available as a sneak peek here first, as a thank you to our listener(s).

bon voyage, bon vivants!

A Bite of Stars, a Slug of Time, and Thou - Episode 7

Ken Hollings joins Mark Sinker and Elisha Sessions to talk about “The Tactful Saboteur”, a tale of civil servants and their multi-phase sexual life cycles. Written by Frank Herbert in 1964, it’s read by Elisha at the front of the programme. Music this week is “Funiculaire” by Readymade.

Next - “Build Up Logically” by Howard Schoenfeld

A Bite of Stars, a Slug of Time, and Thou - Episode 6

Al Ewing joins Mark Sinker and Elisha Sessions to talk about “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury, the famed 1952 story about a dinosaur safari gone wrong. Lots of other Bradbury and time travel tales get a look in, and Elisha reads the story at the front of the programme in case you haven’t.

Next - “The Tactful Saboteur” by Frank Herbert

A Bite of Stars, a Slug of Time, and Thou - Episode 5

Dave Queen joins Mark Sinker and Elisha Sessions to talk about the outrageous 1927 short story “The Red Brain”, written by Donald Wandrei when he was supposedly 16 years old. Elisha reads the story at the front of the programme and music comes courtesy of Budgie, Rush and Bad Brains.

Next - “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury

because nothing says cosmic horror like a kitty in a flower

omg - best book cover ever designed??

i mean, aside from the fact that dashiell hammett never wrote a story called “the red brain”. a little misleading, that! anyhow, tonight’s episode of slugs and stars features the 1927 title story - which was already WELL retro by the time this book came out (1965)

via this excellent, high quality collection of old paperback covers: http://www.flickr.com/photos/calenture/

A Bite of Stars, a Slug of Time, and Thou - Episode 4

Martin Skidmore joins Mark Sinker and Elisha Sessions to discuss the first space-travel story of the series, and the first truly obscure find, “Beyond the Reach of Storms” by Donald Malcolm. As always, Elisha reads excerpts at the front of the programme. Music includes “Firekeeper” by Red Planet.

Next - “The Red Brain” by Donald Wandrei