Let yourself be loved down — ILX greatheart Velveteen Bingo (the latest of his many incarnations) recently offered up a two-disc CDR mix of a collage of songs from the height of New Jack Swing — not just that, though! — called Velve[…]

Mmm tomato sauce I love you — the next step in my continuing adventures with regard to tomato prep involved making my first sauce. The recipe itself (thank ya to Lalitree!) is wonderfully simple:
* Three fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes — d[…]

How Dr Who Made Me A Liberal
“Inside the party, more than a few people know I’m a fan, so when a set of Doctor Who-related questions came in to party HQ from a fan group during the 2001 British General Election campaign, I was given the r[…]

Christianity + Marketing = DOOMSDAY
(I’m assuming they’re Christians.)[…]

Once upon a time New Left Review was in the vanguard of UK film culture, and once in a while it’s still capable of engaging. This piece on cultural tensions in Taiwan includes an interview with Hou Hsiao-Hsien which helps illuminate the backgro[…]

Swallows and Amazons Talking Books
The people who own the rights to make audio versions of the Arthur Ransome books can’t be bothered, despite the lucrative enough trade that exists selling to car-driving tourists in the Lake District. All the […]

To continue my theme of songs on a theme, two particular tunes have been haunting me this week. The first is by the dearly departed ironist Mr Johnny Cash and is called ‘Strawberry Cake’. The second is by a similarly dearly departed heart[…]

Salad for Men
Home yesterday evening, bored of reading about subterranean London excursions and playing Snake 2, I decided to have some supper. It was hot and sticky despite soft rain finally clearing the atmosphere, and lukewarm food like Italian-s[…]

“Mac Nerdery etc” at daringfireball.net
John Gruber – my sort of nerd. Some substantial essays often extolling more sober lines of thought as an antidote to popular badly-thought-through-isms. A prime example being the recent &#8220[…]

Distilled from several years of pop experience, here from the WORST to the BEST are ways to approach a cover version.
The Acoustic Guitar: i.e. “Any good song will sound great on an acoustic guitar”, runs the prized nugget of MOJO wisdom […]