Categories
Television

Vile Stick-Insect Ally McBeal…

Today’s briefing is brought to you through the tremendous power of absolute and total denial. The day has been filled with all the activities that help me distract myself from bad stuff around me. These include: Chocolate, Random Sex, Music, Daydreaming and The Gym. I am now going to finish the day off with a considerable bout of Pimms drinking outside in the sun.

Which brings me to that appalling harpy Ally McBeal and the stick insect that plays her. You can decide for yourself which of the two I find most reprehensible – but let’s just say the actress plays ‘whining drivel-monger’ with such consummate skill that I can only assume that she was born for the role. And I won’t even get started on the whole “this is just a piece of right wing propoganda disguised as a women’s issues program” speech that I normally give at these points, because everyone always looks at me funny when I rant, and I’m frankly getting bored of it.

Anyway – back to the point. On this, the hottest day of the year in the UK, with the most glorious sunshine and the most ridiculous (if pleasant) proliferation of half naked people, I have to read the that the insane Calista (SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE: eat more pies woman!) has declared that, “England makes me stink because it rains all the time“.

I doubt the link will stay valid for long, so I quote in full the article in question:

Calista Flockhart: “Britain Makes Me Stink”

Ally McBeal star Calista Flockhart doesn’t like visiting Britain because the rainy weather leaves her smelling like a wet dog. The waif-like actress discovered the uncomfortable truth when stranded in a storm on a recent trip to London. She told talk show host David Letterman that although she liked London, the weather put a real damper on things. She said, “It was great but it rained every day that I was there.” When Letterman asked, “It’s supposed to rain in London, was it misty and romantic?”, Flockhart replied, “It was cold and damp. Do you know what happens in London when it rains? You start to smell. It’s true – you start to smell like a wet dog because what happens is you go out and you’re all happy because you’re in London, then it rains. And you don’t have an umbrella, because I’m an American, so then it’s sunny but you’re wet and you smell.”

Categories
Random

On Anti-Advertising…

I’m really keen on anti-advertising. I wonder occasionally if I should try to persuade my boss to run banners for really creative sites as house ads instead of some of the dubiously designed ones that we currently run. I wonder if that would increase general click-thru rates?

Categories
Random

I feel cold, cruel, hollow, vengeful and partially dead…

I have written and rewritten this post about thirty times, and every time it sounds too flippant. So I’m not going to bother writing anything detailed or in depth. Fuck it. I feel like someone slid the hook from “I Know What You Did Last Summer” into my stomach and with superhuman strength forced it towards my throat. Or I feel crazed and in control of a passenger jet. But mostly I just feel cold, and cruel, and hollow, and vengeful and actually partially dead. There will be no more posting tonight.

Categories
Random

PC Format feature on weblogging…

Thanks to Dan at Daily Doozer, who has scanned all of the PCFormat feature on weblogging. Read away…

Categories
Personal Publishing

Webloggers in PC Format…

Wise up, UK webloggers, and get yourself a copy of PCFormat. Picture the scene – I’m sitting at my desk, pretending to do work and sending my boss cartoons involving kiwi birds being chopped up into little bits and stuck in fruit salads, when suddenly said boss shouts fuck! and raises his eyebrows skywards. Summoning me over, he slowly opens up the pages of PCFormat to reveal a two page spread on Weblogs. Blogger is featured prominently, and there are detailed walk-throughs of setting up your own weblog.

All very interesting, I think, and slowly and carefully read through the article. It’s a fun piece, which mentions a good number of weblog related sites, from groksoup to eatonweb. And then there is a section on British weblogs…

This looks like it could be interesting, particularly as many of the British webloggers met up last weekend for a couple of drinks. perfect.co.uk is mentioned, as is Need to Know and haddock.org. And then right at the bottom is this little tiny throwaway comment, almost completely lost on the page:

“Our own favourite is Barbelith (www.barbelith.com) for its great design.”

This is obviously completely delightful, and has brought a real spark into my day (which was relatively sparkful already, if I’m honest). But it only gets better. There are also two panels with slightly longer reviews of weblogs, including screenshots. Barbelith is there as well. As are: Zannah, eatonweb, slashdot.org, Ooine, robotwisdom, Daily Doozer, metafilter, mutability and Rebecca’s Pocket. Yay us, guys. We rock…

Categories
Random

Beautiful design found through referral logs…

Finally, a piece of beautiful design found through my referrers log: rupture.co.uk

Categories
Radio & Music

My 100 Favourite Albums Ever…

Having thought about it carefully, I have decided that lists like “the best albums of the 90s” are mildly pointless (if endlessly diverting). But that doesn’t matter surely? They are interesting exercises, and so without apology or explanation here is an extremely long list of names – which frankly is easier than a proper post about “World Hunger” or “Macs Versus PCs (Which One Will I Buy?)”. I call this phallogocentric/anal classification: “My 100 Favourite Albums Ever”:

  1. Belle and Sebastian – Tigermilk
  2. Tricky – Maxinquaye
  3. David Bowie – Hunky Dory
  4. Moby – Play
  5. The Smiths – Strangeways Here We Come
  6. PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love
  7. Morrissey – Bona Drag
  8. Pixies – Surfer Rosa
  9. Belly – Star
  10. Pixies – Doolittle
  11. Pixies – Bossanova
  12. Portishead – Dummy
  13. The Bangles – Different Light
  14. Jeff Buckley – Grace
  15. Kristin Hersh – Hips and Makers
  16. Elastica – Elastica
  17. The Beatles – Abbey Road
  18. Pixies – Trompe Le Monde
  19. Beck – Mutations
  20. David Bowie – Heroes
  21. Morcheeba – Big Calm
  22. Madonna – Ray of Light
  23. Julian Cope – Floored Genius (The Best Of)
  24. Leonard Cohen – The Future
  25. The Breeders – Pod
  26. Hole – Live Through This
  27. Nirvana – Unplugged in New York
  28. Eg and Alice – 24 Years of Hunger
  29. Air – Moon Safari
  30. Eurythmics – Savage
  31. Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man
  32. Tracy Chapman – Tracy Chapman
  33. Suzanne Vega – 99.9F
  34. Throwing Muses – The Real Ramona
  35. The Smiths – Meat is Murder
  36. Depeche Mode – Violator
  37. Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes
  38. Sean Lennon – Into the Sun
  39. Beck – Midnite Vultures
  40. The Cardigans – Gran Turismo
  41. Jeff Buckley – Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk
  42. Fight Club – Sound Track
  43. Frank Black – Frank Black
  44. Morrissey – Viva Hate
  45. Morrissey – Vauxhall and I
  46. Radiohead – The Bends
  47. The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
  48. Paul Simon – Graceland
  49. Rolling Stones – Hot Rocks
  50. Nirvana – In Utero
  51. Drugstore – White Magic For Lovers
  52. Mazzy Star – She Hangs Brightly
  53. Pixies – at the BBC
  54. The Bangles – Everything
  55. Curve – Doppelganger
  56. Nirvana – Nevermind
  57. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong – Ella and Louis Again
  58. Sneaker Pimps – Becoming X
  59. The Breeders – Last Splash
  60. David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust
  61. Leftfield – Leftism
  62. Radiohead – OK Computer
  63. David Bowie – Diamond Dogs
  64. Juliana Hatfield – Hey Babe
  65. Sly and the Family Stone – Best Of
  66. Out of Sight – Soundtrack
  67. The Smiths – The Queen is Dead
  68. The Rebirth of Cool – Phive
  69. The Smiths – Hatful of Hollow
  70. David Arnold – The James Bond Project
  71. The Smiths – The Smiths
  72. Fat Boy Slim – You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby
  73. South Park – Bigger Longer Uncut – Soundtrack
  74. Leonard Cohen – Various Positions
  75. Reservoir Dogs – Soundtrack
  76. The Smiths – The World Won’t Listen
  77. Jeff Buckley – Mystery White Boy
  78. Throwing Muses – University
  79. Blur – Modern Life is Rubbish
  80. Cocteau Twins – Heaven or Las Vegas
  81. Afghan Whigs – Black Love
  82. David Bowie – Station to Station
  83. Blur – Parklife
  84. Morcheeba – Who Can You Trust?
  85. Suede – Coming Up
  86. Eels – Beautiful Freak
  87. Julian Cope – Peggy Suicide
  88. Morrissey – Kill Uncle
  89. Super Furry Animals – Guerrilla
  90. Filth and the Fury – Soundtrack
  91. Cowboy Junkies – The Caution Horses
  92. Suede – Suede
  93. Primal Scream – Exterminator
  94. Placebo – Placebo
  95. Blondie – The Best of Blondie
  96. David Bowie – The Man Who Sold The World
  97. Belle and Sebastian – Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant
  98. Bjork – Homogenic
  99. Belle and Sebastian – If You’re Feeling Sinister
  100. Beck – Odelay
Categories
Random

Metafilter madness…

Wow. People can get really heated about stuff can’t they? Metafilter madness.

Categories
Personal Publishing

The evolving role of weblogs…

I am going to respond to Jason Kottke’s comments about weblogs in full shortly. In the meantime here are a few thoughts on the matter:

  • Jason Kottke has inspired me to work on the web more than anyone except perhaps Derek Powazek.
  • Unfortunately, the “weblogs are dead” discussion is as old as the content of weblogs themselves. The most obvious response that I can think to this argument is that people have found a medium and they are damn well going to use it. Not everyone is going to want to push the envelope – for most people, the web is a way of writing a diary or commentary for more people than just themselves. The journal was basically written in two or three different ways for hundreds of years, and I am not in the slightest bit surprised that the format and content of web journals and logs are following suit.
  • And then there is the age old battle – personal content, versus web content, versus commentary, versus self-indulgence. Everyone has a position. Everyone tries to do their own thing. No one can really be right, except in a matter of degrees. If you write it, then they will come…
  • That’s not to say that there isn’t room for a bit of dynamism and forward thrusting. I’m in a bit of a downer about weblogging myself at the moment. What happens when you don’t have any more to say?
  • The one thing about Jason’s commentary that I have real trouble with is its uncharacteristic harshness. A couple of examples of the unnecessary slamming of other people’s work: “I almost never talk about weblogs here (mainly because everyone else does and it sickens me)”, “It’s just more of what you’re used to; if Swallowing Tacks is a medium Dr. Pepper (hold the ice), Zippyblog is just a refill.” Incitement to change is crucial on the web, but at the end of the day what people decide to say is completely up to themselves. There will be an audience for whatever is written, even if that audience is small. The old web truism stands here: If you don’t like what you are reading, then read something else…
Categories
Random

Some current design favourites…

Current weblogging design favourites: wetlog, public weblog, magnetbox, keithbrown.com, tame.net, Web Therapy, Confessions of a Wannabe Actor, underachievers.com.