“Purple is the international colour of equality”
Hein?? Clearly it’s been taken up by some groups as such, and this lot seem, well, harmless enough – but the choice of purple still seems odd. Until the 19th century and the dev[…]

Glad to see that deranged Narnia site getting wider linkage. Like a lot of crackpot Interweb sites it’s taken a small nugget of insight into the books and magnified and spun it in all sorts of crazed directions. In other words it’s mad bu[…]

SWAPSIES
There are few purer ways to waste money than Panini sticker albums. Devoid of free gum or trading-card game status or any kind of real-world use they represent the collector impulse at its simplest. According to the website there is not even[…]

BRITNEY SPEARS – “Autumn Goodbye”
Twinned quaintness: a B-Side, and a Britney tune carried mostly by its sung melody. It’s A-Side was “…Baby One More Time”, which may not be the best of her records but is sti[…]

BRITNEY SPEARS – “Anticipating (Alan Braxe Mix)”
The Britney/Daft Punk link-up never got beyond a delicious rumour but this 2002 remix gives you an idea of what might have been. Halfway between Madonna’s “Music” an[…]

FICTIONAL FOOD EATEN IN CHILDRENS BOOKS #2: Toffee Trees
In The Magician’s Nephew, Digory plants a toffee which in the enchanted soil of Narnia grows overnight into a toffee-tree. “The fruit was delicious; not exactly like toffee?softer f[…]

Blogpulse promises much but I’m not sure how well it delivers. “The one-click answer to the question ‘What’s the buzz?’” says Blogpulse’s trends page. I am not sure that a blog aggregator is needed to tell you that[…]

When is a game not a game? I flicked through the new Edge on the way home yesterday with growing unease. EyeToy up for an award – fair do’s, it’s a great idea and well executed. Glowing review for karaoke game Singstar? Hmmm. News i[…]

The only relevant news item in this week’s Marketing was the sad decision of Bodyform to finally discard the “Whoa Bodyform” music from their adverts, which will apparently be speech-based in future. One research study claimed it to[…]

FOODS EATEN IN CHILDRENS’ BOOKS #2: Pine Needles
Pine needles seem to work as a kind of Moomin hay – they form their hibernation beds as well as serving as the staple diet. The preferred Mooomin drink – raspberry juice – lives[…]