Friday 26 May 2006
You know you're getting old when ...
... the leader of the Tory party - the TORY party - cites 'This Charming Man' as one of his favourite songs.
Right. I'm off to buy some slippers.
Might as well grab a pipe and cardie while you're at it, dear. x
Tuesday 23 May 2006
Brunswick Square
Out wandering in London yesterday evening, and I resolved to take more pictures as I found things of interest. This is Brunswick Square, which is in the centre of town and was originally the site of the first hospital for treating children, particularly the poor and orphaned. At that time, it was on the edge of the city, with only fields separating it from the villages of Highgate and Hampstead. Now of course it's slap bang in the centre of town, but still represents one of those fabulous oasis' of calm that you regularly stumble across in the middle of London.
(Is it me, or does "Brunswick Square" sound like a 1930's Double Bass player?)
Wednesday 17 May 2006
Hold Your Nose
You know how some news stories smell a bit fishy? Like a crazy mysterious news story is dreamed up by a PR firm to draw attention to something, or indirectly promote something? U.S. universities seem to regularly come out with a discovery or piece of research that coincidentally backs up a far-out theory used in the sci-fi blockbuster that's in cinemas from Friday, for example.
Well, this one honks of kippers.
I just can't work out what it is that's being promoted.
That's funny because we regularly get reports that "British researchers" have discovered great things like the amount of alchol imbibed by a person is directly proportional to how said drunk person will perceive someone's attractiveness level.
I don't think they're trying to sell anything, unless they need a tourist rush of hikers? Also, for this silly American, what is a kipper, anyway? LOL
As the wise Rose Tyler would surely agree, it must have been students... xx
Wednesday 17 May 2006
Registering a complaint
I've always found The Register to be a fine source of information on all things technical. Where, for instance, would I be without the insight provided through their story about Deloitte's eerie view into the future, detailing how we'll live in 2010? I shudder to think how we'll cope with the change. No, scratch that. I shudder to think how much money Deloitte makes churning out idiocy like that. I can say that. Some of my best friends are Deloittes.
Anyway. I think editing standards may have slipped slightly - they missed the subheading on this story about BT's worthy attempts to introduce more Wi-Fi City zones around the UK.
Tuesday 16 May 2006
Confused.com
Can anyone explain this to me?.
For the avoidance of doubt, the URL is i-am-asian.com and appears to mean Asian in the sense of continent of origin rather than the usually applied American Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Vietnamese definition of origin. I only say that because of the reference to Diwali and a couple of the featured staff. No idea what I'm talking about? Well, I'm not sure either.
:: blinks::
What the...?
I have not the words for how utterly, utterly bizarre this is, and that's me speaking as an Asian!
I can't decide if this is insulting.
Um...I think it's a website for McD's because (at least in California), they re-released their Chinese Chicken Salad. Could this be part of that? Just a thought.
Sunday 14 May 2006
Baishaki Mela
Today was the annual Baishaki Mela, to celebrate Bangladeshi New Year. Because their day starts at Sunrise, it's impossible to say exactly when New Year's Day is, but (according to Wikipedia) it's more or less 14th April. So this celebration was about a month late. The day was grey, but coloured by the kids in the procession.
To be honest, it all felt a bit limp, especially as the usual food stalls on Brick Lane had been banned this year on "health and safety" grounds.
Personally, I blame the lacklustre biryani. Make sure you skip 'Saffron' on your Grand Tour of Brick Lane Curry Houses. Oooh, bet they try to sue me for that; well, tough luck 'cos it was fair comment!
*puffs up with legal righteousness (although the puffing up could also be a byproduct of the bad biryani - I shall leave it to you to decide)*
Sunday 14 May 2006
Nepal
I've finally got around to uploading a select few of the photos I took in Nepal and Calcutta - there aren't many, because I hardly took any. I was too busy enjoying myself.
Ooooh, these bring back some wonderful memories! (She says, as though we went to Nepal and India 8 years ago rather than 8 weeks ago!) xx
...see how much I miss when I wait for you to update your OD? !!!
:D Nepal, huh?
(thinking about often... hope all is well)
xxoo,
Saturday 13 May 2006
Duck Soup
I'm not sure how long these ducks will survive in the chorine-treated waters of the west fountain of Trafalgar Square, but they were there today, and I thought I should record it.
Ah well, the chlorine-saturated water never managed to kill off any of those pesky pigeons, so I reckon the ducks will be alright! xx
Thursday 11 May 2006
Browser Crapness
I am aware that this site doesn't look quite right in any browser - but it's less not quite right in Internet Exploder 6. (I did try to get it to work with the first release of IE7 but gave up totally.) In Firefox, the margins are weird, and in Opera the 'sidelines' section is half-way across the page. But while it's all more or less readable, I'm going to have to give up before my brain does.
It looks fine to me (I'm using Mozilla Forefox)...or, at least, it did until I tried to leave a comment - had to scroll down for miles to find the comments box. Otherwise, though, looks good.
See you at the opera tomorrow, gorgeous. xx
Hey, Dan! You keep running from me! I'm glad your site is up and running again. I'm on IE 5.2 (ancient), and this site is working nicely. No trouble, here. :) Miss you, y'know... :)
Looks fine to me and I'm on the latest Firefox. Have fun at the opera, kids.
Wednesday 3 May 2006
The Exonerated
This play takes the subject of death row detainees in the US, and tells the story of 6 of them, subsequently (and obviously, given the title) released. It's an interesting staging, with just the actors sitting in a line in front of the audience, reading from the script. This opens up two opportunities:
1) You hear the voices - really hear the voices - and notice the actors minor movements, their faces and gestures. Only once, to my recollection, does one of them stand up. But this lack of movement does nothing to detract from the sheer power of the words, and in fact acts like a television or film close up - emphasising the minutae for 90 minutes or more, and ultimately packing a very effective punch.
2) The actors don't need to remember their lines. So they can concentrate harder on making the characterisation believable - and they can come in at short notice. As a result, a wide variety of stellar actors have been involved. The night I went, we saw Martin Freeman, Kate Mulgrew and Mike McShane, amongst others, giving in my opinion the strongest performances of their careers.
It's not a story - it's a combination of actual statements made by those imprisoned, and the associated characters - wives, police officers, lawyers, judges. And it closely scrutinises the concept of state execution. It's breathtaking.
That sounds utterly fascinating. What's the chance it will make it across the Pond? Not high. Sigh.
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