plasticbag.org

I survived my first day in the new job. I can’t say that it was exactly what I had in mind, but it could have considerable potential. I’ll let you know in a few days. The quest to find out what my job title is and when I get paid begins today. Wish me luck.

A little quote from the official British government’s Millennial survival guide: “What is the Millennium Bug? It’s not a virus and you certainly can’t catch it.” I have decided to pretend that it is not the most facile comment ever made and instead make believe that they are simply lying, and that the Millenium Bug is the first computer problem to jump species.

I found this wonderful story at The Onion the other day. You go girls.

I went to the launch party for the new Neonlit book, where my friend Rhonda won £500 which she has to spend in two weeks with nothing to show for it. Turns out part of my job at Time Out is to help run the Neonlit site. I think it could be time to talk to Derek and Shauna at the fray and ember.org – two of my favourite online writing sites.

Today I start work at timeout.com. More information on what I am up to when I have it. In the meantime, any suggestions on how to improve the site? *spark online is an interesting site which explores the frontiers of thought on technology. Get involved in their electronic consciousness. The propoganda section of Infinite Race has some wonderful nuggets of resistance. Abuse of power comes as no surprise. Holodeck 73 describes itself as an inspirational launchpad. Good design and a thousand interesting links. Read my epinion of Cube.

British television at the moment is dripping with advertisements that parody or exploit the ethics of revolutionaries or non-capitalist states. There is something extremely unsettling about a Chinese gentlemen with a dodgy accent in Communist uniform stating that a brand of Chinese food represents “a Chinese Revolution”. An advert for Twix recently claimed that the Russian cosmonaut in the advert had “less spine than this capitalist snack”. But the most bizarre of all has to be the new Financial Times advert which has Lenin talking about share portfolios and “not Karl Marx, but Deutschmarks”.

I feel slightly as if anti-capitalist memes are being raped in front of me – is it the equivalent of Roman soldiers sodomising their enemies after military victories? Fight back. Pollute the advertising meme-stream with adbusters.

The Bomb has been given a wonderfully flattering review by Comics International.

Read my epinion on Chasing Amy.

Britain’s Millennium Map – is it a historic achievement or an infringement of our privacy?

It has appalled the religious right in America, enthralled and amused reviewers and is generally considered to be Kevin Smith’s most accomplished movie. And Dogma isn’t even out yet.

The question in the air at the moment amongst my friends seems to be what to do for New Year’s Eve. I’ve looked at various helpful sites but it hasn’t really helped. Where shall we be when our lives are upgraded to version Y2K.1? Nick seems concerned that the Millenium bug will cause cars and planes to crash into mobs of similarly destructive Millennial cults and has suggested getting some people together somewhere in the west of England. I think it’s an ark thing. Toby is determined to take polaroid pictures of people in the dome in Greenwich. What can be said.

My friend Michael is trying to finish his doctorate in Bristol at the moment. I fear it is a project doomed to failure but he has surprised me in the past (to put it mildly). He’s asked me to send him a mixer minidisc so that he has something to listen to. I’ve been checking out the selection of ideas at red balloon and have come to the conclusion that they urgently need your help.

Occasionally, during the summer, when it got really hot and the air conditioning wasn’t working at work, I used to sneak away from my desk on the second floor of the Time Out building and clamber from the balconies on the seventh floor up the service ladders and onto the roof. You can see all of London from up there – the Houses of Parliament, Canary Wharf, the Post Office Tower… I’m pretty sure I am not supposed to have done it. If I’d taken some photos, perhaps I could have sent them to Infiltration.

There was an Invisibles site called Target One a while back, and now the guy who built it runs Attack Force D, which is another weblog. I’m not entirely sure I knew what I was getting into when I started this – there seems to be this strange, hallucinatory cult of webloggers in the world. It’s … nice somehow.