Those Big Russian Novels
 
I’ve had both of Tolstoys big novels on my bookshelves for some years. I’ve used them as bookends, doorstops and once threw War & Peace at an ex-girlfriend. The only thing I haven’t done is read t[…]

Slink
The new pop revival – ITS REAL! (via Popjustice)
Music for the impatient (via Wisdom Goof) – reminds me of Marc Gascoigne’s classic “90 Songs In 90 Minutes” tape, though with more Blink 182 and less Zoviet France.
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The fashionable thing to say about The Ladykillers is that the Ealing version isn’t that funny either.  (The either is optional depending on whether you found the Coen’s version funny. I’m leaving the either in.) I think that k[…]

I like detective fiction, but I’ve got to say I am not quite so keen on straight down the line mystery novels. It strikes me that what I like about my detective fiction is finding out about the detective, his/her methods and the lure of a stron[…]

Playlist Ghosts: I have played the four tracks from D-Generation’s first (only?) EP a handful of times. I have heard them far, far more often. There they were again when I scrolled down a folder of MP3s this morning – this is the fourth c[…]

Early life resembles 5th form Computer Studies project. Complexity formed through simple fractal patterns seen in Ediacaran period fossils.[…]

Small joy
 
one of the upsides of this job is that, late at night, when the last customers have left grumbling about taxis, and all the staff have gone home, I have a catering standard kitchen to play with, so tomight I fried off some duck with […]

Who wants it?
For some strange reason, a strand of political, social and cultural critique has always been fascinated with (working-class) violence. It’s real: these guys aren’t faking it.
Sadly, I suspect Acarine might be. If so, they&[…]

What I have learned from roasting three chickens this week:
1: Spreading a little bit of mayonnaise — enough to make it glossy, wiping away any excess that shows up as white — on the skin of the chicken, instead of butter, crisps the skin[…]

Ancient Grannies…
There was an interesting article in New Scientist last week (print version only). Researchers have analysed the age at which ancient humans died, and plotted a graph of life expectancy over the last few million years. It shows[…]