In honour of Steve’s trip to Amsterdam here is a list of what I remember from my one visit there. We were there for a few hours during a school trip to the Netherlands when I was 14 so, perhaps contrary to your expectations, the lack of firm me[…]

NEXT STOP HAYMARKET!!!
One of the complaints about getting rid of Routemasters in London (I know, bear with me) was that conductors help passengers more, telling them where to get off (in a polite way). Last night, on a brief Twenty Three ride, I cam[…]

Planets = Big Towns. One of the problems with Space Opera style science fiction is that it tends just to scale up normal adventure fiction into the larger sizes of the universe. Therefore we get spaceships that do trips of a few thousand light years […]

International Business Traveler
Steve’s post below skirts round the subject of fear of flying. I never used to be afraid of getting on a plane, then suddenly a couple of years ago I started getting the twinges of unease he talks about. I realis[…]

Total Relaxation Inducer
From the Future Slang website:
Sleep Machine (TRI): Total Relaxation Inducer. Coffin-like machine that compresses a full night’s sleep into ten minutes.
From the BBC website: World’s first sleep center opens in Ne[…]

To delightful Amsterdam – one of my favourite things about the place possibly being it’s relative proximity to where I am now. An hour in the sky and you’re back on the ground, wham bam. My attitude to flying veers haphazardly from […]

Identity Crisis Remixed: DC Comics’ rubbish ‘summer event’ given an unsubtle, but deserved slap. (via I Want A Blog, and speaking of unsubtle, is that the welcome return of Styleman I spy…?)[…]

Is travel writing inherently imperialist?
Chinua Achebe seems to think so. Here’s his take on The Artist Abroad from Home and Exile:

Diverse as their individual situations or predicaments were, these children
of the West roamed the world wi[…]

A Poetics Of Pop
Amateurist asks for more technically informed analysis of music: you can guess the discussion that ensues (at least if you’ve spent any time on ILM). For what it’s worth I’m with Michael Daddino – great idea, […]

“This self-indulgence could kill a boy…”
Here it is! “Unworthy” by Thieves, my almost-nomination for the best tracks of the 90s poll on ILM. Who were Thieves? A duo of David McAlmont (later of Bernard Butler team-up and […]