Holborn Freebies
One of the nice things about working in Holborn again is fun urban moments like this:
QotD: Only in My Dreams
What life dream or goal have you given up on?
Oooh! Good one.
I've given up on my dream of being a magazine editor.
Why? Well, I did achieve it briefly, when I was editor of a short-lived magazine called GRID. It was shut down when a new publisher decided to cut a lot of new projects.
However, about the same time, I realised that the whole world was changing, and the arrival of blogs and other early forms of social media were completely reshaping the media landscape. The energy I was putting into GRID got pushed into my personal blogging projects instead, thereby setting the scene for the last three years of my career…
Time overtook the dream, and I don't miss it.
Knitted Horrors of 1970
Ah, knitting patterns of the 1970s:
Knitted Horrors of 1970
Ah, knitting patterns of the 1970s:
I found this "two in one" pattern for his'n'hers ponchos and an attractive beret and scarf combo amongst my Mum's old possessions. I don't think Mum and Dad ever wore matching ponchos. At least, I really, really hope they didn't.
Faces From The Past
I've been doing some more sorting of old stuff from Mum's and I came across this photo tucked into one of her books:
I've no idea who they were, or when the picture was from. Another bit of mystery from the past.
QotD: One Day. $100,000.
If you had one day to spend $100,000 - and you had to spend it totally selfishly - what would you buy?
It would be a consumer electronics frenzy, I suspect: flat-screen TV, AppleTV, top end Canon digital SLR, new iMac, new MacBook Pro. And then, I'd see how much change I had, and start thinking frantically...
Life is Short
So, last Thursday I went to Suffolk. I haven't felt like writing about it until now, because I was visiting my parents' grave on the first anniversary of my Mum's death.
It has been a tough year. We cleared Mum's house and sold it within three months, but I'm still dealing with some of the stuff that came from it. But, more importantly, I'm slowly adapting to living without the reassurance of my parents being there. OK, I'm a grown man in my 30s, but somehow the thought that, if everything went wrong, I could retreat to my parents', regroup and start again gave me a sense of a safety net.
That net is gone.
The year of mourning is gone. Time to face the rest of my life.
UnTrendy TV: Last of the Summer Wine
It's not cutting-edge, it's not fashionable and it's certainly not innovative, but I'm not afraid to admit that I love Last of the Summer Wine. In a bizarre mix of modern and old, I recently used our BTVision PVR to record the whole of the most recent series of the gentle comedy - its 30th.
Yes, for over 30 years, the misadventures of a bunch of elderly folks who seem to have reverted to childhood in the Yorkshire dales have been entertaining people. And I've been enjoying it ever since, as a child, I watched it with my father. He dreamed of a retirement in the Last of the Summer Wine mould. He never got that chance - cancer took him in his mid-60s - but the programme endures, and I still enjoy it.
Most of the original cast are gone now - an inevitable consequence of a show featuring the elderly. Clegg and Ivy are still around, but there's a new trio of Entwhistle, Alvin and Hobbo, roughly taking the roles of Compo, Clegg and Foggy from the classic trio of old. But, on the whole, the show hasn't changed that much. It's still an ensemble piece around a central trio, and the humour is just an exaggerated version of the mishaps of ordinary life. There was a period about 20 years ago when the stunts got more and more extravagant, but then the original cast got older and older, and the jokes slowly returned to the more conversational, situational humour in which it excels.
Yes, it's slow, childish and fundamentally unimportant. But that's the point. It's tried and tested humour, performed by actors with more comedy experience each than many TV comedies have amongst the whole cast. It's cosy, predictable and familiar. And that's why I love it. There's a place in live for both trendy urban design and an old blanket.
UnTrendy TV: Last of the Summer Wine
It's not cutting-edge, it's not fashionable and it's certainly not innovative, but I'm not afraid to admit that I love Last of the Summer Wine. In a bizarre mix of modern and old, I recently used our BTVision PVR to record the whole of the most recent series of the gentle comedy - its 30th.
Yes, for over 30 years, the misadventures of a bunch of elderly folks who seem to have reverted to childhood in the Yorkshire dales have been entertaining people. And I've been enjoying it ever since, as a child, I watched it with my father. He dreamed of a retirement in the Last of the Summer Wine mold. He never got that chance - cancer took him in his mid-60s - but the programme endures, and I still enjoy it.
Most of the original cast are gone now - an inevitable consequence of a show featuring the elderly. Clegg and Ivy are still around, but there's a new trio of Entwistle, Alvin and Hobbo, roughly taking the roles of Compo, Clegg and Foggy from the classic trio of old. But, on the whole, the show hasn't changed that much. It's still an ensemble piece around a central trio, and the humour is just an exaggerated version of the mishaps of ordinary life. There was a period about 20 years ago when the stunts got more and more extravagant, but then the original cast got older and older, and the jokes slowly returned to the more conversational, situational humour in which it excels.
Yes, it's slow, childish and fundamentally unimportant. But that's the point. It's tried and tested humour, performed by actors with more comedy experience each than many TV comedies have amongst the whole cast. It's cosy, predictable and familiar. And that's why I love it. There's a place in life for both trendy urban design and an old blanket.
Creationists: Their Dirty Secret
A scientist visits the Creationism museum in the US:
Daryl Domning, professor of anatomy at Howard University, held his chin and shook his head at several points during the tour. "This bothers me as a scientist and as a Christian, because it's just as much a distortion and misrepresentation of Christianity as it is of science," he said.
Amen.
QotD: RIP MJ
What's your favorite Michael Jackson song? Bonus points if you share the video.
Too many sad retro club nights in my 20s, I guess…
QotD: Everywhere Has Its Problems
What prevents your city/town from being the best place in the country to live?
Submitted by Cherney.
Too much of this city is an unkemot, un-cared for stinking shithole.
Rev Stan showed us one side of London. This is the other side.
Rev Stan showed us one side of London. This is the other side.
QotD: Environmental Confession
'Fess up: What do you do that's bad for the environment?
Sponsored by One Million Acts of Green brought to you by Cisco.
In all honesty: drive. I commute to work by car two or three times a week, and often drive to family. I could take the train, but don't.
That said, I'm about to get a new car, which is a whole world greener than the old one. Moving in the right direction, but maybe not as fast as I should be.
The Girl in the Lego Earrings
Finally met a Vox friend in the flesh at the weekend. CupCate was at TweetCamp over the weekend, and she managed to bag these cool Lego earrings:
Tacky Tissues
Spotted, to my mingled disbelief and amazement in my local supermarket: Hannah Montana tissues.
For the fannish teenage girl... or the teenage boy in need of, uh, inspiration?