The gaiety of the nation: “adds to the gaiety of the nation” is one of my favourite little phrases. I like it because it makes, quite succinctly, the case for frippery. I was about to invoke it in that notorious talking-shop the k-punk co[…]

YOUR GRAN DOESN’T COME FOR FREE
There is something admirable about Mike Skinner from The Streets. It has been suggested that he is one of my recruits, sent undercover into the garage/hip-hop and whatever other name British dance music is being […]

Where does the cheese go? I made myself some leek and cheese sauce for pasta last night and forgot rule one of making anything from scratch. TASTE IT YOU FOOL. The leeks were nicely sweated in the butter whilst I grated away at some nice strong chedd[…]

FT Top 100 Films
73: HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE
The worst How To… guide ever. It should rather be called “How To Marry For Love Whilst Actually Professing That All You Really Want Is Money”. Monroe, Bacall and Betty Grable are the s[…]

Bits of business: HELLO AGAIN I am back from Glastonbury. Who was best? Basement Jaxx were best, them and Daara J from Senegal.
The track currently on Radio 1 (Kasabian?) is baggy! I have heard this mob described as “Kraftwerk meets Oasis&#8221[…]

I saw a juggler at Glastonbury. He was standing on a bicycle on a big pole, maybe 10 metres up, juggling a flaming torch and a club and I think a toffee apple. He looked like an ordinary sort of fellow, he said he’d been doing this since he was[…]

FT Top 100 Films
74: Final Destination 2
Magnus Anderson says
You’ve seen this film, even if you think you haven’t. Its every fearful build-up, every sudden jump-out-of-your seat moment there’s ever been, from slasher flicks to pub[…]

Getting back from Glastonbury is a tiring ordeal. When you roll in you are torn when it comes to food. You have been eating out of vans for the last five days, you want home cooking. But you also, unsurprisingly, have no shopping in. So its off to th[…]

Philosophy Football – a Euro 2004 sports blog with some of the music/cult-theory blogzone’s prominent members as contributors. Only 3 games to go but you can read back over their previous posts – and maybe they’ll keep it goin[…]

I’m no great fan of Football 365: they so often seem to take the easy, laddish option. Nevertheless, I’ve been impressed with the recent series on their Mediawatch page. They’ve spotted a commentary meme, the classic “…f[…]