Personal

Lying to MORI

"You're my last hope," he said as I answered the door. "I'm looking for a male, 25-35 who works less than 30 hours a week." Technically I work 42 hours a week... "Will two out of three do?" (It's sad to admit I had no better offers on a Saturday night).

Forty minutes later this stranger knows I'm a keen walker, that the War on Iraq gets my back up, that I think healthcare needs urgent attention in the UK, that I believe I'm influenced by advertisements and that I think it's OK to advertise soap powder any time of the day or night.

What he doesn't know is that I don't have a TV.

Arts

Gig: Kate Rusby

Last time I was at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, the stage had twenty-two Texans crowded onto it. Tonight it was a Barnsley lass and five mates.

Tech

Further Vows of Silence

Just before tonight's gig I popped into Tescos in Cambridge. Armed with my Coke for the way home, my Lemsip for an ever increasing headache and my obligatory chocolate I headed for the tills. And here's the difference: four of the tills were 'self-service' - not a human in sight; scan your purchases, pack, pay and depart.

Personal

Life without RI:SE

Back then I disagreed with the majority. "What we should all do," said Mike Yaconelli, "is once we get back home, we should all throw away our TVs."

He was being interviewed at Greenbelt, trying to enthuse people to play more and consume less. It felt like I was the only person in the tent who disagreed with the proposed action. Sure, I agreed with the concept but it was going to take more than that to make me give up television.

Personal

Plush Velvet

Try it on an inconspicuous area first is always good advice. And much as I hate to disappoint, Plush Velvet isn't a new make-up I'm testing out; it's the colour of paint I bought over two years ago for my bedroom.

There are three dominant colours in the room at the moment: the pine doors, the dark oak beams and the undefinable green carpet. I managed to find the one place in the room where the three come together; what do you think?

What I think is that twenty-four hours after painting up the test I'm not sure what I was thinking two years back, but I've put it off long enough and if I left it, it'd be 1) a waste of paint, and more importantly 2) another two years before I made up my mind about alternative colours.

So it looks like this week will be spent painting the bedroom. And then perhaps next week will be spent repainting it (Magnolia anyone?).

Personal

Infrequently Asked Questions

Every website has a FAQ these days, but sometimes I wonder whether the authors understand the meaning of the word frequently. And then on other occasions I stumble across entries like this, and I realise there are far more important things to worry about.

"In Jewish literature, it is stated that with the advent of the Messiah a banquet will be given by God to the righteous which the flesh of the giant fish, leviathan, will be served. Isn't this inconsistent with the idea that the Messianic period will be vegetarian?"

(If you're worried, the answer's here.)

Arts

London Film Festival

So the London Film Festival programme for this year has been announced. I've been only once before, in 2000 when I saw the UK premiere of Requiem for a Dream. Back then the LFF would send you a printed festival guide for free; now you have to struggle to find your way through their website.

But fear not, I have found the most useful page: a list of all films showing at the festival, with brief summaries.

Personal

Solving all your Transport Problems

Teleporters.

I'm seriously considering jacking in my job to dedicate the rest of my days commercialising teleporters.I was just chatting with someone who was involved in a multi-car collision on the M6 last night, and it came to me in a flash: this could be the answer to everyone's problems. He didn't take me too seriously, but how else are we going to get the freight off our roads?

Tech

Rdnieag Sbramlecd Wrods

An interesting side-story on slashdot says:

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

I'd be inclined to disagree were it not for the fact that I found it alarmingly easy to read that paragraph. The more I find out, the more amazed I am at the workings of the brain.

Arts

Film: Calendar Girls

I saw Calendar Girls at my local cinema last night. (It's been a while since we've had a film at The Riverside Theatre on the date of national release! I hope this is a sign of things to come.)

I began to feel a little intimidated as the usually empty auditorium filled up... with women. So as a guy, as a guy surrounded by girls, watching a tale of inhibitions, did I have a good evening? Of course I did.

It's not a perfect film, but it's a perfect British comedy. On many occasions dialogue was drowned out by the laughing in the theatre. And two or three times my laughter was blocked by a welling in the eyes; the film certainly drags you through the emotions.

At times it's a little misguided; at times you feel a bit used, but it's not your standard Hollywood fare. This film dares prod the fringes of the story; it looks at how friends and family react to The Calendar, though admittedly only really glancing in that direction rather than focussing on their reactions.

What impressed me most though, was the use of the Yorkshire landscape. Maybe I'm only just beginning to understand how beautiful the Dales are, but it was wonderful to see the rolling hills, the big beautiful skies, and I was thrilled to spot the Cow and Calf where I stood this time last week.

A good film. Gentle, not too challenging. Affirming. A film to take your mum to.

Arts

Album: Over the Rhine - OHIO

The first note on the second disk of this double-album is my favourite. It's a tentative piano chord, repeated a second or so later with more conviction as the opening to the next song. It's hesitant; uncertain whether the listener's ready to move on after the powerful close to disk one (Changes Come, in a way Over the Rhine's interpretation and reworking of U2's Wake Up Dead Man).

Many people have commented on the length of Over the Rhine's new album. Isn't it a bit over-indulgent? Couldn't they lose a couple of songs and drop it down to a single disk? Sure they could - Suitcase, Professional Daydreamer and How Long Have You Been Stoned don't do it for me; Anything At All and Bothered are available elsewhere - but by being a double album, you're drawn to interact more with OHIO. You have to change disks halfway through, and if you have the vinyl edition you have to flip sides twice more. You're fed twenty-five minutes of music at a time, then forced to take a breath before diving in for more.

For a long time, Over the Rhine's Good Dog Bad Dog was my all-time favourite album; surprising for a record that on first listen I didn't rate at all. And with repeated listenings I'm finding the same change happening in my attitudes towards OHIO. I was initially underwhelmed by the opening lyrics and laid-back pace but now I'm coming round.

All the trademarks of Over the Rhine are there, the piano-led arrangements providing an understated backdrop to Karin's vocals and exquisit lyrics ("meet me on the back streets of heaven").

It's an album that fits snugly into the Over the Rhine repertoire, an album to be savoured late at night with the candles burning. More quiet music that needs to be played loud.

(This entry was originally posted on the Greenbelt Blog.)

Arts , Personal

Discovering your Influences

I watched Heathers again tonight. As a teenager it was my favourite film, a dark, sharp study of high-school life and the quest for popularity.

I suspect what attracted me most to the film (besides its quirkiness, its sarcasm and its punchy dialogue) was a smug knowledge that I was above this peer approval. All the more surprising then, to discover on tonight's viewing (first time in maybe five years) that my everyday vocabulary reflects that of the lead anti-heros: jealous, much?; later; I'm feeling a little superior tonight; turbo meals; greetings and salutations.

I can however thankfully report that I don't go round describing everything as very.

Personal

A Cultural Weekend

Last weekend remains a blur.

Two weeks after Greenbelt, another weekend of arts, friendship and debate. But this time, it was home-grown. I went to see Nicola in Leeds, and we managed to roll in:

• Hamlet, in the open-air at Kirkstall Abbey,
• a walk on Ilkley Moor,
• Bruce Cockburn play an intimate gig in Manchester,
• talks on politics, art, religion and personal backgrounds,
• a meander through a gallery of Hockneys, and
• good meals from wherever was closest at the time.

A fine way to spend a weekend, so many ways like Greenbelt, but a Greenbelt where it's OK to take insane timid pets.