tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57789332011-04-22T02:44:32.293+09:00removing the head or destroying the braindannoreply@blogger.comBlogger2331100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-11212644119361704422007-09-26T21:09:00.001+09:002007-09-26T21:10:23.316+09:00

http://www.bugpowderdust.co.uk these days. Action in the loosest sense of the word of course

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1161503911556413432006-10-22T16:52:00.000+09:002006-11-02T09:06:06.780+09:00

It's all over for me and Blogger. I have a new site at www.bugpowderdust.co.uk where there will be more frequent updates than this place has seen recently. It seemed a bit pointless posting here when I knew I had something else in the works. The new site already has an article about a suicide forest and a picture of a ridiculous moustache (mine). Check it out. I am blogging to: the sound of

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1160741048267913072006-10-13T21:04:00.000+09:002006-10-13T21:04:08.630+09:00

Album covers that span the history of rock and roll

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1156855550947502952006-08-29T21:45:00.000+09:002006-10-04T06:49:34.473+09:00

East Japan Railway Company (JR East) has become the world's first railway company to develop a humanoid robot guide. JR East spent two years working with a Japanese robot manufacturer to develop the droid, nicknamed "I" (which stands for "information"), who the company is now grooming for employment at train stations. I stands 120 centimeters (4 ft) tall, weighs 50 kilograms (110 lbs) and is

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1156513210699929872006-08-25T22:37:00.000+09:002006-09-01T04:23:38.416+09:00

Even a brief acquaintance with Japan will show you that despite all the neon and robots it is a nation that cherishes its traditions and is distrustful of change. Many people wiser than I have written about the difficulties of trying to engage with the conservative Japanese mindset and introduce change but, so far as I know, none of them have seen the parallels with Spinal Tap. I'm thinking of

dannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1155732427920546432006-08-16T21:37:00.000+09:002006-08-16T21:47:07.936+09:00

I turned up on Sunday in time to see the last couple of songs She Wants Revenge played. These guys seem to be getting quite a bit of hate from assorted hipsters for being nothing but an Interpol ripoff. I've got to say I find that a bit puzzling, seeing as Interpol are little more than a Joy Division tribute band themselves, but hey, who I am to argue with gobby white belt wearing Americans on

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1155643886335905452006-08-15T21:10:00.000+09:002006-08-15T21:11:26.346+09:00

HARD GAY

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1155551658253416322006-08-14T19:33:00.000+09:002006-08-14T19:38:58.343+09:00

First band we saw was The Rapture. I was looking forward to this after seeing them play a gig in a hugely oversold Dublin venue a few years ago, where the audience was jammed in so tight that dancing, or indeed any movement, was out of the question. With their soon come September album already being talked up in the music press, this should have been really good. Instead it was just okay. The way

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1155206398548511222006-08-10T19:37:00.000+09:002006-08-10T19:43:49.256+09:00

..is a really good blog about things going on here in Japan. Bookmark it here. I particularly recommend the story about the giant robot squid. I am blogging to: Anathema

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1154688084771443652006-08-04T19:34:00.000+09:002006-08-08T22:28:52.650+09:00

OFFSHORE by EARLY DAY MINERS Having listened to altogether too much tasteful Americana of late, last weekend I was in the mood for something different, some new cosmic freakout or experimental rock to blow me away. A chance listening post in Shibuya led me to this record. As the sleeve sticker had it, "a 37 minute epic in six parts". Given my muso nerd tendencies, it had me there and, frankly,

dannoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1154601929376421802006-08-03T19:43:00.000+09:002006-08-03T19:48:23.396+09:00

The cicadas are out in force now. After spending their formative years living underground, they come to the surface at this time of year to reproduce, and don't they let you know it. The male's mating call can reach 100 decibels, and as loads of them emerge together, it's a constant racket. A hundred thousand bugs all shouting "Come here baby! Let's get it on!" at the top of their lungs* to lady

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1154220532718449292006-07-30T09:43:00.000+09:002006-07-30T09:48:52.726+09:00

...died on Friday. In all honesty, I hadn't read one of his books for years, and quite likely will not read any in the foreseeable future, but there was a time in my earlier years that I loved his stuff, and absolutely lapped it up. It was normally pretty straightforward heroic fantasy, but with characters that were often quite interesting and contained more light and shade than the shining

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1153220766646002062006-07-18T20:01:00.000+09:002006-07-18T20:09:36.713+09:00

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } shinagawa aquarium (4), originally uploaded by maggie loves hopey. We went to Shinagawa Aquarium over the weekend, where I found this rather special poster. I don't know what a dolphin horror show is either. I also took

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1153144568912008562006-07-17T22:54:00.000+09:002006-07-17T22:56:08.926+09:00

British ghost in India demands tea and cake

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1152714059738379522006-07-12T23:19:00.000+09:002006-07-21T20:23:22.363+09:00

"An employee of Sanrio Co., Ltd. holds the "Fender Custom Shop Hello Kitty Stratocaster" of Fender Musical Instruments Corp. in Tokyo July 12, 2006. The guitar, priced at 2,520,000 yen, is manufactured by Fender Custom Shop's senior master builder Todd Krause and will be sold between July 25 and July 31 in Japan. (REUTERS)"

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1152437092390759312006-07-09T18:21:00.000+09:002006-07-09T21:01:58.570+09:00

Wednesday, May 26, 2004 Billie Piper is going to be a companion in the new series of Doctor Who. There had had better be a whole army of Cybermen to make up for this. posted by dan at 10:39 AM Rose isn’t going to die, is she? It is being telegraphed way too obviously for that to happen...my theory goes something like this. The trailer for Army Of Ghosts seems to indicate that the parallel world

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1152269567784148772006-07-07T19:52:00.000+09:002006-07-07T19:52:47.806+09:00

"Anti drunk-dialling cellphone. The LP4100 has a built-in breath analyzer that, when blown into by an intoxicated partier, gives a warning and displays a nifty little animation of a car swerving on a road and crashing into traffic cones. (Which should be easy for even the tipsy mind to understand.) The phone can also be programmed to block selected numbers in the address book--bosses, moms,

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1151931138128590912006-07-03T21:48:00.000+09:002006-07-03T21:52:18.173+09:00

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Hiroo sunset (1), originally uploaded by maggie loves hopey.

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1151324631009739892006-06-26T21:09:00.000+09:002006-06-26T21:23:51.070+09:00

I can't stop listening to the song "Acetylene" by Patty Hurst Shifter. It's ten minutes of beautiful minor chord misery, or right up my street.

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1151241101221552762006-06-25T22:10:00.000+09:002006-06-26T21:09:00.263+09:00

"FYI Folks--due to strangeness in the middle of the night 6/23/06, the Punk Planet forums crashed the web server they were on. Three times. In order to ensure the stability of the web server, we have had to close the forums while we figure out what went wrong. There is a chance that all messages will be lost, or that we will push forward with the redesign of the site we've been planning, which

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1151236306108634632006-06-25T20:51:00.000+09:002006-06-25T22:12:22.496+09:00

Puffy Amiyumi do Green Day. Bless.

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1150030683142235672006-06-11T21:28:00.000+09:002006-06-11T22:57:02.766+09:00

Living here the last week has bought home to me that this is really a World Cup. The Japanese have all gone football crazy. There were a load of Japanese watching the England game alongside us in the pub last night. After years of living in Ireland and Wales, it was good to be out somewhere where people actually liked the English. They were all supporting England, especially the girl near us who

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1149858874148675642006-06-09T22:12:00.000+09:002006-06-15T06:11:37.326+09:00

Early 90s crusty dub is where it's at round here. What a band. What a singer.

dannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1149596458734128832006-06-06T21:14:00.001+09:002006-06-16T19:36:24.620+09:00

In preparation for the new look that's coming round here, I've been cheating on Blogger with WordPress. Only the basic wordpress.com model so far - I hope the full version is a lot more user friendly than this, because the lack of flexibility is really annoying, not mention patronising. We'll see. In the meantime, I've used it as a place to chuck up my thoughts on the last few episodes of Doctor

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1149318865942466742006-06-03T16:11:00.000+09:002006-06-03T17:55:44.546+09:00

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } saturday morning walk in Azabujuban (4), originally uploaded by maggie loves hopey.

dannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1148903955633362052006-05-29T20:54:00.000+09:002006-05-29T21:04:49.670+09:00

Nowhere, it seems. The birth rate here is collapsing, hence the bra stunt a couple of posts below. 2000 schools have closed in the last decade because there aren't enough children to fill them. Most sources ascribe it to a changing social reality, where women are breaking free of the pressure to marry young and start breeding, and anyway all the men are killing themselves through overwork and are

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1148803782666835522006-05-28T16:57:00.000+09:002006-05-28T17:09:42.676+09:00

The end of season 2 of Lost has taught us two things: 1) Is there any way these guys are not making it up as they go along? 2) Jim Robinson out of Neighbours is behind it all. Brilliant. 3) This guy has all the answers.

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1148037703232181312006-05-19T20:19:00.000+09:002006-05-19T20:21:43.243+09:00

Aparently this was in The Guardian. At least four of my favourite books on there...but do the likes of Carver and Vonnegut really need to be rediscovered? Monday April 24, 2006 Guardian Unlimited Revenge Of The Lawn by Richard Brautigan What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver Death and The Penguin by Andrey Kurkov The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies The Dark Is Rising

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1147437705034534662006-05-12T21:40:00.001+09:002006-05-12T21:41:45.036+09:00

A model displays Triumph International Japan's bra, called "Stop the birth rate decline", in Tokyo on Wednesday. The bra features embroideries illustrating children supporting elderly women and was created to increase awareness of the issue of serious decline in Japan's population, the company said. (Reuters)

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1146977115886234382006-05-07T13:42:00.000+09:002006-05-07T14:01:47.980+09:00

A new drink has been appearing in vending machines around Tokyo, and I've been eyeing it up for a few days now. A couple of photos of the can should be enough to show you why I found it intriguing: .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } bubbleman, originally

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1146824505197875912006-05-05T19:19:00.000+09:002006-05-05T20:47:37.526+09:00

It was my birthday last week, so after a hard day of buying records, we went to the Park Hyatt Hotel in Shinjuku for the evening. We had a table in the bar on the 42nd floor (same hotel, but not the same bar that Bill Murray did his dirty old man bit on Scarlett Johansson in), and unlimited cocktails. Getting slowly drunk while looking out at a sea of neon far below us that rolled on for miles

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1146374905006974432006-04-30T14:02:00.000+09:002006-04-30T14:29:10.343+09:00

After last year's mystifyingly well received but dreary Prairie Wind album, Neil Young's woken up. His new album Living With War sees the electric guitars back, and the same kind of anger that powered songs like Ohio or Rocking In The Free World. It's blatantly and powerfully anti Bush and his war - one track is simply called "Impeach The President", and another sees him repeatedly singing "Don't

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1145882768585483552006-04-24T21:22:00.003+09:002006-04-29T18:04:20.103+09:00

New Earth... ....hmmm. Not brilliant. There was almost too much stuff jammed in, and I thought it could have been better served as an old school four parter. Nothing was really fleshed out enough, what with strange cat ladies (were there any cat men? where do little cat boys and girls come from?), Cassandra, the Face of Boe, a plague of really ill people (well enough to walk though, weren't they

dannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1145675877367493702006-04-22T12:14:00.000+09:002006-04-22T16:23:07.200+09:00

Yabusame is an old archery competition performed by mounted samurai. There was a reenactment last weekend in Asakusa to mark the coming of spring at the local temple. I took a bit of film on our new camera. I am blogging to: Grant Green

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1145356676181080512006-04-18T19:33:00.000+09:002006-04-18T19:53:35.623+09:00

I didn't really know what to expect from the Nick Hornby & Marah spoken word / rock n roll show in Dingwalls last week. The idea is Hornby reads an essay about a song or a band, and then Marah play the relevant tune. I'd read about these gigs and thought it sounded like a brilliant concept, but had no idea how it was going to work in practice. I'd pestered my friend Marcus into coming over from

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1144742941393967572006-04-11T17:07:00.000+09:002006-04-11T17:09:01.393+09:00

That last design was horrible, wasn't it? I've just reverted to a standard blogger one for the minute, while I investigate some hosting services. Time to do this properly. Watch this space.

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1143977829990928552006-04-02T20:35:00.000+09:002006-04-11T05:16:35.106+09:00

Things might look a bit weird around here for a day or so. I've got the decorators in. I am blogging to: This Bike Is A Pipebomb

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1143636241490495962006-03-29T21:44:00.000+09:002006-03-29T21:44:01.496+09:00

.flickr-photo { border: solid 1px #000000; }.flickr-frame { float: left; text-align: center; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Fight Club, originally uploaded by maggie loves hopey.

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1143380451828562772006-03-26T22:19:00.000+09:002006-03-26T23:09:04.146+09:00

Sorry. This may be connected to my discovery of a cable channel called Samurai TV, which shows nothing but samurai dramas. That, and playing We Love Katamari... The cherry blossom is beginning to appear. The trees at the end of the road by the hospital are almost in full bloom, so yesterday we took a walk to Aoyama cemetary (passing the Ice Bar on the way) to see some more. My not so latent goth

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1142505062591714272006-03-16T19:26:00.000+09:002006-03-16T19:31:02.610+09:00

Highlights of the strange and unusual things we have seen since arriving A toy doll of Osama Bin Laden with his pants down that blew soap bubbles out of his arse. Venus Fort, an indoor shopping mall designed to resemble an eighteenth century Italian town, complete with fake sky projected on the roof that goes through a day/night cycle every couple of hours. Another shopping mall, where one of

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1142337352571395112006-03-14T20:53:00.000+09:002006-03-14T20:55:52.583+09:00

This is the kind of internet social networking site I like. I am blogging to: Richmond Fontaine

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1141911400988041462006-03-09T22:36:00.000+09:002006-03-10T04:14:16.890+09:00

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1141818952304966662006-03-08T20:51:00.000+09:002006-03-08T20:57:16.646+09:00

We started our Japanese lessons. So far, I can't say much more than "My name is Dan" and "I am not an American". You know the theory that Japanese post war cinema was so obsessed with giant dinosaurs smashing up Tokyo because it expressed something in the Japanese psyche that had been formed by enduring millenia of earthquakes and typhoons, and then becoming the only nation to have an atomic bomb

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1141726472668501902006-03-07T19:13:00.000+09:002006-03-07T19:14:32.666+09:00

The Nexus 6 models have escaped I am blogging to:

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1141559881407265812006-03-05T20:55:00.000+09:002006-03-07T19:06:09.133+09:00

(stolen from the Holy Moly mailout) Google Image search for "Tiananmen Square" Google China Image search for "Tiananmen Square"

dannoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1141386368050708222006-03-03T20:44:00.000+09:002006-03-03T21:50:58.096+09:00

When I go out to get a coffee at lunchtime, I walk a narrow path up the hill to Roppongi-dori. Off to one side, just a stone’s throw from the expats, bar girls and neon flash is a small graveyard behind a chain link fence. This isn’t the quiet contemplative charm of an English country churchyard, but a very urban place for death, carved out of the city. The gravestones are packed close together (

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1141219742788205262006-03-01T22:04:00.000+09:002006-03-01T22:29:02.843+09:00

Last weekend we went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum Of Photography, which we pretty much just stumbled across on a wander through Ebisu. It was a good thing we did. The current exhibition is a collection of the award winning works from the 2005 Japan Media Arts Festival, and some of it was just brilliant. The fun part was the Entertainment section, which was a load of last year's best games (

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1140860802189878502006-02-25T18:41:00.000+09:002007-02-14T17:07:59.080+09:00

We saw Flipbook this morning at the Tokyo Media Arts Festival, which I would blog about, but I have become too addicted to drawing stickman animations. Go to the site and search for "dan" or "tokyo", and you can watch my poorly drawn UFOs kidnapping cows and blowing up houses. Have a go yourself. Brilliant fun.

dannoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1140614901851981242006-02-22T22:02:00.000+09:002006-02-22T22:39:13.996+09:00

Okay, we got the broadband sorted out. We've spent the last few days settling into the flat and the new area. We seem to have done alright with the location. It's fairly low level (not that Tokyo is full of skyscrapers anyway) and green. The Arisugawa Park is just around the corner, with plenty of trees, ducks and fish, although a helpfully bilingual sign tells us to be careful of the fish,

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1140521839551703932006-02-21T20:33:00.000+09:002006-05-17T23:48:02.143+09:00

We're back online. Full updates to come, but for now be happy that there are some Tokyo photos up HERE. They include pictures of statues of a giant spider and Godzilla. Get clicking. I am blogging to: The Once Over Twice

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1139576403951896752006-02-10T21:49:00.000+09:002006-02-10T22:02:35.613+09:00

We're moving into our new apartment tomorrow, so I may be offline for a while until I get a new internet connection sorted out. Unless there are any unsecured wireless networks in the area of course. Cackles, rubs hands, strokes Persian cat while laughing maniacally. We're moving into our new apartment tomorrow, so it's time to brave the Tokyo department stores for some Japanese interior

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1139490647193759932006-02-09T21:42:00.001+09:002006-02-10T08:10:36.156+09:00

Spoilers.... Well, I finished it. I'll admit my "second rate Clive Barker" comment was a little wide of the mark, and unfair. [sly wink] It's more like Hellblazer [/sly wink]. I can't really tell you whether I liked it or not. There was some very good stuff in it. I particularly liked the sequence about the expedition to Kur, and the concept of the language tattooed on the bodies of the dead

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1139398747825357372006-02-08T20:14:00.000+09:002006-02-09T06:21:54.096+09:00

So this last weekend, the sky was clear, the air was crisp and we could see all the way to Mount Fuji from our window. We spent some more time in Harajuku, and visited Kiddyland - six floors of Japanese toys, all the saccharine sweetness you could want, but not one single robot monkey. All the Hello Kitty tat in the world though. A lot of the shops in this area are very youth orientated. Crowds

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1139233590278288052006-02-06T22:45:00.000+09:002006-02-06T22:46:31.190+09:00

Four people dead and three embassies burnt, all because someone took the piss out of their invisible friend. Wow.

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1138870071862644252006-02-02T17:34:00.000+09:002006-02-06T05:12:10.960+09:00

Not long after I posted last night's entry the earth moved. It was about 8.30. I was sat in the lounge reading, and I felt the tremor begin. It's hard to describe exactly what went on. I was aware of being moved from side to side and I looked up to see the tall floor lamp lurching in time with me. Esther shouted out "Is this what I think it is?" from the other room, and I shouted back "I think so

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1138791018739084562006-02-01T19:18:00.000+09:002006-02-03T02:34:13.030+09:00

So, the winter weather in Japan can be just as bad as in the UK then. It has chucked it down with rain all day, just as we are beginning to get over the jet lag. We've found an apartment, we think - contracts aren't completed yet, but hopefully that's just a formality. It's in the Motoazabu area, near the Arisugawa park. It's an embassy district - our building is next to the Embassy Of Madagascar

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1138031536160447732006-01-24T00:41:00.000+09:002006-01-26T04:35:56.386+09:00

I'm typing this leaning against the pillar in a bare room. There's nothing left in here except me and my laptop. I suppose this will be the last post for a while. See you in Tokyo for giant robot fun. I am blogging to: Arctic Monkeys

dannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1137700156042263872006-01-20T04:46:00.000+09:002006-01-20T04:53:52.120+09:00

Keeping up today's goth theme this is the best review of the new Neph album I've read so far. FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM - Mourning Sun Written by Mark Reed Thursday, 12 January 2006 It's almost as if you opened the Blue Peter Goth Time Capsule from 1987. A decade ago, Carl McCoy told his constituents that "I AM The Nephilim!", and then promptly scuppered his previously

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1137693438139352042006-01-20T02:51:00.001+09:002006-01-20T02:59:08.733+09:00

Just like Littlejohn, you couldn't make it up... Vicar preaches the word of goth Colin Blackstock Thursday January 19, 2006 The Guardian Clad in black, heavily painted with pale make-up and dark eyeliner, the goth's way of life is not usually associated with a church service unless, that is, it is being conducted by the Rev Marcus Ramshaw. The associate vicar at St Edward King and Martyr

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1137502347554652072006-01-17T21:39:00.000+09:002006-01-17T21:52:47.013+09:00

There was a documentary about Philip K Dick on Radio 4 last night. It was okay, but a bit hamstrung by only being half an hour long which is barely enough time to get to grips with his visions and Exegesis, let alone anything else. What was cool though is that the programme was part narrated by the Philip K Dick Android - a synthetic reconstruction of the dead writer. The robot is designed to

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1137359794771517452006-01-16T06:02:00.000+09:002006-01-16T06:17:44.606+09:00

I'm typing this out on my shiny new laptop, bought to act as our main PC in Japan. It has some ridiculous overpowered specs, but playing HL2 and Farcry on it is amazing :). My main PC has gone into a fit of petulance at the new arrival and is refusing to boot up. Child. Japan is less then two weeks away now. We should be flying on the 26th, and I'm off to the embassy tomorrow to sort my visa. I

dannoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1134679794074077502005-12-16T05:32:00.000+09:002005-12-16T05:49:54.140+09:00

Monday night and I'm walking into the CIA, not knowing what to expect. I've loved The Pogues for longer than I've loved any other artist (with the possible exception of Springsteen - they both hit me around the same time of confused early adolesence), but one way or another I've never seen them play live. And now I'm about to. I always consider If I Should Fall From Grace With God the first

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1133986815832114402005-12-08T05:18:00.000+09:002005-12-08T05:20:15.843+09:00

Worked a twelve hour shift on my nominal day off. Walked home in the pouring rain listening to Joy Division. Let it never be said that I don't know how to enjoy myself.

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1133090336253200352005-11-27T18:51:00.000+09:002005-12-07T05:38:53.973+09:00

I heard a statistic (can't remember where, so bear in mind that this post may be based on nothing more scientific than "this bloke down the pub said") the other day that the average person has heard more new music for the first time before they're 30 then they will hear for the rest of their life. Wow. I know I'm lucky because of my job, but....Like it's not bad enough turning thirty without

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1131912072081688742005-11-14T03:56:00.000+09:002005-11-14T05:01:12.140+09:00

Thanks to Marcus, I have been prompted to blog about Neil Gaiman's latest Anansi Boys. I didn't really like it. Firstly the subject matter is pure Gaiman by numbers. If authors had tribute bands, one of them could have come up with this. Ancient gods walking around in a modern setting again, confused but ultimately succesful hero who knows more than he realises, plucky female comes along and

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1130439087005684482005-10-28T03:16:00.000+09:002005-10-28T03:52:21.823+09:00

Hard to say how much I am looking forward to Shadow Of The Colossus. It's a kind of follow up to Ico - same design team, same aesthetics, but not in plot so far as I know. As Ico is far and away the best PS2 game I have ever played, and possibly the best console game ever, this is no small anticipation. All I know is you ride around on a horse and try to bring down some huge stone ambulatory

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1130232622244264542005-10-25T18:29:00.000+09:002006-05-17T22:57:43.400+09:00

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1129842392405544742005-10-21T05:40:00.000+09:002005-10-21T07:04:54.670+09:00

Once again, a long time goes by with no update. Purely and simply because I got a new graphics card, and could finally play Half Life 2, which promptly ate up pretty much all of my computer time. I know it's a year after everyone else said it, but what a game. I don't think I've got so immersed in a computer game since...well, since the original Half Life. The whole game is great, but I think the

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1128803307739227412005-10-09T05:14:00.000+09:002005-10-09T07:49:27.303+09:00

Looks like I might well be an expat again come January. I've been provisonally offered the job in Japan - still have to sort out a salary and package, but it looks like things are go. Our trip to Tokyo was... well, brief. Only three full days when you factor in the time differences, and I spent a lot of that time involved in work affairs - talking to people in head office and visiting a few

dannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1126724021877700752005-09-15T03:52:00.000+09:002005-09-15T03:53:41.883+09:00

A little Ashes coda...Shane Warne was in my shop today (Hampshire are playing Glamorgan). I was going to talk to him, but came over all funny at the prospect of talking to maybe the best cricketer I'll ever see. I was like a 14 year old girl at a McFly concert. So I found something to do in the office. I am blogging to: The latest New Model Army record

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1126446744409016742005-09-11T22:43:00.000+09:002005-09-11T22:52:33.943+09:00

Back again. We just had a week in the New Forest - a totally quiet, chillout time, which included our wedding anniversary on Wednesday. Here we are then: year 4, day 4. It's not been too shabby so far. We did...well, very little really. We went on a twenty five mile bike ride one day, and spent most of the rest of the time sitting arond reading, drinking or walking through the woods. We stopped

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1125166861880906782005-08-28T03:00:00.000+09:002005-08-28T05:21:05.030+09:00

Back from France and my brother's wedding. The French, it must be said, do not do weddings by halves. We finished eating at about one in the morning, I made my best man's speech whilst very drunk and standing on a chair (with simultaneous translation by Coraline (my new sister in law's sister - what does that make her to me?) at about three. Slunk off to bed closer to six, got up, went back to

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1123707054626758942005-08-11T05:45:00.000+09:002005-08-11T05:50:54.636+09:00

Dan: We should go and see Send More Paramedics tomorrow night Esther: Why do we want to do that? D: They play Zombiecore E: uh-huh D: And they dress up and stuff E: uh-huh D: Come and look at this video finds video on interweb E:You mean he is going to be standing there like that with blood coming out of his mouth? D: Yes, good eh? E: And they're all wearing silly make up? D: Yes, good eh? E:

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1123059109531435782005-08-03T17:38:00.000+09:002005-08-03T17:52:53.813+09:00

Unbelievably, Mark from Page 45 died this past weekend. I owe him a great deal, since he introduced me (and many others) to some wonderful comics I wouldn't have found otherwise. Fifteen years ago I remember going into the basement in the Nottingham Virgin Megastore where Mark and Stephen sold comics before starting their own business. I picked up the normal load of DC Mature Readers tat I was

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1121894476115305822005-07-21T06:12:00.000+09:002005-07-21T06:32:18.806+09:00

I think Russell T Davies might live in the flat downstairs from us - I know he lives in Cardiff Bay. Today I found out that one of the people on the tenants association for the building is called Russell Davies. I might go and knock on the door and ask a few questions. If he fails to provide a convincing explanation for what Bad Wolf was all about, I will know it is indeed him. We saw The

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1121370394272995222005-07-15T04:18:00.000+09:002005-07-15T04:50:22.476+09:00

In a shameless steal from Marcus' blog, I'll mention a couple of books I've read recently. First up was Michael Marshall's Blood Of Angels. Now, I remember him when he was Michael Marshall Smith, writing some really good science fiction at the back end of the 90s, with great ideas thrown away on almost every page (Spares and One Of Us come particularly recommended). These days, he's writing

dannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1121112127152373102005-07-12T05:00:00.000+09:002005-07-12T05:02:07.163+09:00

and I am so goddamned tired that while I logged on with the intent of writing something pithy, right now I just want to finish my wine and fall asleep on the sofa listening to spooky old Neil Young records I am blogging to:Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1120403114541160972005-07-03T23:25:00.000+09:002005-07-04T00:11:50.896+09:00

I'm listening to Television's The Blow Up LP (and it's a real LP, there's a lovely circle of green vinyl revolving thirty three and a third times a minute over there in the corner right now), and I have been struck by the urge to put something down about this music. Because this is it. This is what thirty years (at the time of recording) of rock music's evolution was reaching towards. This is

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1120248433236268182005-07-02T04:40:00.000+09:002005-07-02T05:10:58.666+09:00

Yesterday afternoon I finally got the new Richmond Fontaine album. I don't mean got in the sense of bought it, I mean it just clicked with me after a month or so of baffled listening. I don't know why it took so long - it's very much in the lineage of Springsteen's Nebraska, and Neil Young's On The Beach, two of my favourite records. Just like those it is relentlessly downbeat, with sparse

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1119990982595373582005-06-29T05:36:00.000+09:002005-06-29T06:32:42.943+09:00

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! those images in full MINOR THREAT COMPLETE DISCOGRAPHY "NOTHING BUT RESPECT" also

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1119811904825525802005-06-27T03:48:00.000+09:002005-06-27T03:54:25.976+09:00

I was going to write a lengthy diatribe about just how Glastonbury is the most repellent of music festivals, but I've had a beer and the sun is shining, and I am seized by an unaccountable niceness so I won't. But just put on your TV and look at that odious sea of self-contented smugness and tell me you would like to go camping with just one of those horrible weekend hippies. Let alone 120,000 of

dannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1119037203916857362005-06-18T04:33:00.000+09:002005-06-18T04:56:27.333+09:00

I stole this from jukebox graduate. It says everything I'd like to but can't about one of my favourite bands. Email me and I'll burn you a CD. "So the whole point of this, actually, was to try to explain Marah to the rest of you, to share what I feel like is the biggest secret in the world. So many people have not even bothered or tried once or felt betrayed by a certain album's release (I swear

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1118952925671875022005-06-17T05:02:00.000+09:002005-06-17T05:15:25.676+09:00

Good news for Cornwall. Not so good was the death of Nick Darke earlier this week. I've don't think I've ever enjoyed a play in the theatre as much as I did The King Of Prussia. And somehow Andrew Lloyd Webber can still thrive. I am blogging to: The Jayhawks

dannoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1117979983390171122005-06-05T22:58:00.000+09:002005-06-05T22:59:55.510+09:00

Full blog to come, but for now content yourself in knowing that our new Paris photos are up here I am blogging to:Noir Desir

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1117472423646857412005-05-31T01:47:00.000+09:002005-05-31T02:00:33.470+09:00

My God, did I ache this morning. 33 year old bodies were not supposed to be hurled around moshpits like their younger models. My first NMA gig for almost four years (!), and it was a doozy. Justin seemed particularly fired up and lairy, and the rest of the band matched him. I remember the lights coming up during "No Rest", seeing this seething, roiling mass of flesh in front of me and thinking "

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1117219796245631472005-05-28T03:45:00.000+09:002005-05-28T03:49:56.250+09:00

A beautiful summer's evening. The sun is shining, people are are gathering outside pubs in the early evening light, and a delicious warm breeze is blowing through our windows. I could almost call it a zephyr. If I weren't stuck in a decaying industrial South Walian hole. New Model Army and Turbonegro on Sunday night should be good. I am blogging to: the clue is in the title

dannoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1117101635602154742005-05-26T18:58:00.000+09:002005-05-26T19:02:07.566+09:00

Had to break my blogging silence (look, nothing interesting happens to me anymore, OK?)to share this gem. It is good to know I am not the stupidest person in the country. Two Star Wars fans are in a critical condition in hospital after apparently trying to make light sabres by filling fluorescent light tubes with petrol. A man, aged 20, and a girl of 17 are believed to have been filming a mock

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1115577848599258922005-05-09T03:40:00.000+09:002005-05-09T03:44:08.733+09:00

Well I should be on my way to Bristol now to see The Arcade Fire. Instead, we've got bastard horrible colds and neither of us want to drive so here I am blogging to myself while the latest pop sensations get jiggy 50 minutes down the road. Bah. We went to see the H2G2 film last week.I had mixed feelings about it. I thought it was really nice visually, with a bit more imagination than your average

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1115052558428594952005-05-03T01:46:00.000+09:002005-05-03T01:51:11.806+09:00

Another entry with not much text and a big picture, but so what? It's not like the internet needs another place where you can read someone's opinion of the new Doctor Who series, is it? I like it, for what it's worth, but on with the main event... Beautiful. Just beautiful. Might go and see Weird War tonight, and am definitely going to see Arcade Fire next Sunday.

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1113599947430321382005-04-16T06:18:00.000+09:002006-08-02T08:42:37.550+09:00

Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth has a new book coming out. How much do I want this?

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1113591251608577102005-04-16T03:34:00.000+09:002005-04-16T03:57:54.100+09:00

I have been off work this past week. Just a week's holiday that I had to use before the end of April. Es has been working however, so apart from from our day in Bath, I've been hanging around the flat. Playing computer games (still Resident Evil 4, but also dipping my toes into Doom 3), reading a lot of books and comics, and watching a lot of movies in my own private film festival. Highlights so

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1113423802476037772005-04-14T04:28:00.000+09:002005-04-14T05:28:39.300+09:00

A few weeks with no update. Not because I've been fantastically busy, more like splendidly lazy. A few weekends ago, I went up to Nottingham for the Page 45 10th anniversary birthday party. Page 45 is far and away the best comics shop I know, and Mark and Stephen deserve huge kudos for their unflagging support of independent and self published comics (superheroes do get the odd look in too).

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1112377469642416182005-04-02T02:36:00.000+09:002005-04-02T02:44:29.643+09:00

Watched a couple of films recently of note... Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter...And Spring is a Korean film about a Buddhist temple in the middle of a lake. Not a lot happens, but it doesn't happen in a really beautiful way. Hardly any dialogue, and only about half a dozen different characters in the whole film, but very calming and thought provoking. And Love Me If You Dare was a faintly silly

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1112046549567706662005-03-29T06:49:00.000+09:002005-03-29T06:58:32.726+09:00

We went to a place called Cwmcran yesterday, for an attempt at a day out. It was a pretty spot, up a too high mountain and livened up considerably by some wood carvings dotted about. .flickr-photo { border: solid 1px #000000; }.flickr-frame { float: left; text-align: center; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } 2005_0326Image0124,

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1111353356317556422005-03-21T05:29:00.000+09:002005-03-21T06:21:20.936+09:00

Last week I heard a story about someone I knew in Dublin. When I was working in Henry St (home of the world's finest pavement stalls), I employed an Italian girl called Francesca. She was a good recruit - keen, knew her stuff and worked hard. One unusual thing was that she would never come to the pub after work or join in any kind of social activity. We used to joke that her husband was so

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1109707090511263522005-03-02T04:35:00.000+09:002005-03-02T04:58:10.513+09:00

A weekend that seemed to be pretty much spent on the M4, which may be the dullest stretch of road in the country. Saturday night we were off to Bristol to see Nick Cave and a stripped down Bad Seeds - similiar to the show I saw in Dublin about 18 months ago. That was pretty bloody good but this was if anything better. For a four piece supposedly acoustic show, they kicked up a hell of a lot of

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1109016121050249742005-02-22T04:56:00.000+09:002005-02-22T05:02:01.053+09:00

Can't decide whether Hunter Thompson shooting himself is sad or somehow noble. He went at a time and place of his own choosing, a final rebuttal of the increasingly distaseful world outside. Or maybe he was just an old man who needed help. I prefer the first. If you are playing Everquest II online you can order pizza from within the game so you don't have to leave your little fantasy world

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1108839702333200402005-02-20T03:48:00.001+09:002005-02-20T04:01:42.336+09:00

Reasons to be cheerful, part 56: slow dancing around the living room to The Replacements with your wife.

dannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1108120268546326502005-02-11T19:23:00.000+09:002005-02-11T20:11:23.640+09:00

Avoiding the television right now, due to it being full of horrible royal sycophants. A tasty little bit of media management this, to distract from the news at the weekend that Chas has awarded himself a 300% pay rise over the last few years...paid for at least in part by you and me. I quite honestly could not give two tits about these over rewarded and under educated inbred halfwits getting

dannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778933.post-1106603693278508932005-01-25T06:53:00.000+09:002005-01-25T07:09:24.556+09:00

Jonathan Carroll has started a blog... "My brother - I put this into one of the books - my brother's a Sufi, he's very devout. He's spent most of his life trying to find the way. He's a very peaceful, quiet guy. And one day, we were in a car and I turned to him and I said, don't get pissed off. And he said, okay. And I said, what about Auschwitz? So we're in the car, I'm driving. And he turns

dannoreply@blogger.com2