Takako Araki

I still get very frustrated by the web sometimes. I guess if I weren’t the kind of person who desperately wants to know more about a particular modern Japanese ceramic artist, and would stick with porn and Lord Of The Rings, I&#82[…]

Day 20: New Jersey
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 LOUSY TUNES
After my random act of arson the night before, I managed to bed down in a church which kept open all night in Harlem. Pews are not all that comfortable, but it was the rude awakening I got the nex[…]

The Lord Palmerston is a solid gastropub. Usual fayre, spartan look. It did however have a good line in locals and banter, which became evident when the various rugby types were barred from the pub for supporting the wrong team, and roundly abused ac[…]

THE FT TOP 100 SONGS
89. REEL 2 REEL feat THE MAD STUNTMAN – “I Like To Move It”
This had a previous life as “Jazz It Up” by the Erick Morillo Project, a funky disco-house number which no doubt kept many a party rollin&#[…]

Where have all the good themes gone?
In the pub on Friday night a question was posed – what was the last really good TV theme? It sparked plenty of discussion. We took a rockist position on the subject, dismissing the two most prevalent trends […]

When random acts of kindness GO BAD: a heartwarming tale of charity, neighbourliness, and litigation.[…]

Hardcore, but they don’t know the score
Midnight. Berlin. You want to go a club. You see the sign:

It looks the part. Reassuringly brusque bouncer. Cool Berliners moving to German art-rock sounds.
And then you here a cheer go up.
A song start[…]

I Heart Germany
In Club Bastard in Berlin this weekend, I spotted and advert for the International Football Film Festival.

Brilliant – a festival packed with football films, and I’ll miss it. All those debates about whether football can […]

When Michael Moore was making Fahrenheit 9/11, and whinging on about the Patriot Act, he managed to miss one of the most insidious aspects of this rushed piece of law. The fact that The Patriot Act is so protectionist and anti-competition that it act[…]

PopNose MP3 of the Week
1. Pipkins – “Gimme Dat Ding”
Welcome one and all to the slight return of PopNose, an MP3 each week (at least initially) which will build over time into a De’Agostini style partwork celebrating the uniq[…]