“They’re just trying to shock.” This seems to be a bogus criticism of art in the first place (can you tell its Turner season again?) – shock is an exciting reaction to have, it leads to thought and discourse more directly than[…]

Pop’s Romo Roots!: this fansite to production and songwriting team Xenomania (Sugababes, Girls Aloud, Dannii, Abs, assorted others) has a couple of very intriguing entries – Xenomania started off as remixers of choice to the Romo ‘a[…]

Fantastic though his mishearing is, the word Mark’s looking for is “countline”. But what does “countline” mean? (It refers to pretty much all bar-type or tube-type chocolate and sweets) I’ve vaguely assumed the &#8[…]

At the party to celebrate my upcoming wedding a couple of Fridays ago, we finished the night with Mr. Acker Bilk’s “Stranger On The Shore”. After some frenzied numbers it was a signal to wind things up, turn the lights back on, put […]

Worst Guardian Pop Music Story EVER!: Yes, quite a claim I know, but go and check it out yourselves and gawp at i) the staggering idiocy of the ‘researchers’ and ii) the desperation and gullibility of the ‘newspaper’ recycling[…]

A Reader’s Life: straightforward and cleanly designed weblog detailing an individual’s reading, with commentary. Noted in passing on my way to writing another Blog entry, so I have no idea how good the site is, but I like the idea.[…]

Inspired by tipsiness and a number of ILE threads I took advantage of Fopp’s ‘SF Masterworks’ remainder sale and snapped up a few sci-fi novels. The first of these, THE STARS MY DESTINATION by Alfred Bester, I wolfed down overnight.[…]

“The scarf awarded for playing is known as a pussy.”: I did not play rugby at school. I played this. (NB I cannot remember 60% of these rules – at some later date I will write up my memories of what it was actually like.)[…]

Tom’s Top 12: with marriage impending my life has become (surprise!) a bit hectic, so less time to think about or write about pop music. A quick rundown of the sidebar tunes, then:
BUSTED – “Crashed The Wedding”: But of course[…]

Leaves on the Line: excuse for slow-running trains which has become a classic tabloid joke at the expense of “bureaucrats” and “bunglers” – this sensible article unpicks the science behind the gags and explains that, yes[…]