plasticbag.org

In assembling odds and ends of my portfolio online, so that I have something to show potential employers, I’ve stumbled upon my little done-in-two-days from beginning to end Time Out: Festivals 2000 site.

I have a friend who is a Mason. In fact, if I think about it for a moment, I probably have a great many friends who are Masons. Or indeed perhaps I should say that I have a great many friends of friends who are Masons, because after all aren’t the Masons just one large group of friends, albeit with a rather more advanced sense of ritual?

I also have a number of friends who are not Masons, although when I say that they are not Masons, of course I could be completely mistaken. They could in fact merely be pretending not to be Masons. How would I tell? I have conversations with these ‘possibly-not-Masons’ in which we ponder the kind of person that would join them, what possible consequences membership would entail, whether it is a moral decision. One of my friends thinks that if you are a Mason you should certainly declare it. But then he might be a Mason and just be saying that to distract me. They could all be laughing about it behind my back, giggling about Enoch’s Royal Arch, Jah-Bul-On, and points of the compass pressed firmly into breasts.

I myself am not a Mason. A friend mentioned that I might like to be one once. I can’t remember what I said. Maybe I said ‘yes’, although that seems unlikely somehow.

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | PR to improve the freemason’s image
So what is the essence of freemasonry? Material self-advancement and sinister secrecy, say its critics. Fun, fellowship and a moral code, masons counter. Dewar, who hopes to reverse the decline that has seen membership in England and Wales fall to 320,000, intends to present them as “good, solid citizens with the right moral values who support all that is good in society”. But there are two other factors which must surely be considered – food and stamp collecting.

Here’s an interesting fact for you: Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip are both Great-Great Grandchildren of Queen Victoria. [Family Tree PDF]

Billy Dare: Boy Adventurer: “Isn’t your obsession with Mordu a convenient way of covering for your … latent homosexuality?

Jesus Christ. Does absolutely everyone in the world have to have an online diary?

In an ironic piece of news, it seems that Ivan Massow is to take on the beast of Time Out by investing heavily in a free competitor. He’s been interested in magazine publishing for a while now, as far as I can tell. I’m not sure he’s had much luck with it though. Here’s the quote from the Media Guardian:

“Massow targets listings market: Financier Ivan Massow has taken a 10% stake in CapitalLive, the free listings magazine taking on Time Out in London. Mr Massow, who built his financial services business targeting the gay community into a top 10 financial advisor, will become chairman of the title.”

Whatever Meg might say to the contrary [what Meg said], she is my wife, I am very masculine, I can carry shelves and it is true that withholding sex is the only way to keep them in line. If she says any different it is because she is hysterical and needs to have a baby. What can I say?

Why did no one tell me that Derek has started logging again? I’ve missed it terribly. It’s nice to have him back.

A piece of contract work that I was semi-relying on has just fallen through, leaving me frustrated and having to fall back upon freelance writing, which – although fun – pays ridiculously badly.

Matt reveals his fetishes: “The subtle interplay of media and peer pressure, the slow progression into adulthood, quiet sexual play through the teens — all of this is dwarfed completely by televised pornography, dirty magazines found in skips, and pissed fumblings in the park (or, in the case of Americans: MTV, a box of Kleenex, and massive sublimated guilt that is liable to explode at any time in a shower of bullets).”