23 Jan 2007

On New York

I'll be in New York City this weekend if anyone I happen to know is as well...pictures, madcap antics and more to come.

22 Jan 2007

On intersections

'People who live in the intersection of social worlds are at higher risk of having good ideas.' Ronald S. Burt, on where ideas come from.

16 Jan 2007

On Later Life

Later Life, by Christina Rossetti

Something this foggy day, a something which
Is neither of this fog nor of today,
Has set me dreaming of the winds that play
Past certain cliffs, along one certain beach,
And turn the topmost edge of waves to spray:
Ah pleasant pebbly strand so far away,
So out of reach while quite within my reach,
As out of reach as India or Cathay!
I am sick of where I am and where I am not,
I am sick of foresight and of memory,
I am sick of all I have and all I see,
I am sick of self, and there is nothing new;
Oh weary impatient patience of my lot!
Thus with myself: how fares it, Friends, with you?

15 Jan 2007

On the word of the day...

Nerdgasm.

Best response to the iPhone announcement I've heard. I'm not commenting on much else because it's going to be ages before we get the iPhone in the UK.

On Roller Girls

My friend, the truly delicious Melissa 'Melicious' Joulwan, has written a book about her experiences in roller derby. Roller Girl, the book, is published in February. Not only that, Mel is the first friend (that I know of) to be featured in Penthouse magazine (sorry boys, her clothes stayed on.)

On earphones

So ignore what I said about the Sennheiser earphones (which fell apart and lodged a metal splinter under my thumb that was painfully difficult to fish out.) The Shure E series earphones are brilliant. I started at the bottom of the range although the salesperson very kindly let me list to the top of the range which had celestial sound (and a $600 price tag.)

On politics 2.0

The first Congressional interview has taken place in Second Life.

14 Jan 2007

On Onoe

This is the japanese print I bought in Vienna of the kabuki actor Onoe Eizaburo I. Dated 1803, it's by far the oldest thing I own.

12 Jan 2007

On habitual sightings

Most mornings I see a man on the Jubilee line. He's tall, lean, early 40s, and always well dressed but in colours that are never one or another, greyish-blue, blueish-grey, beigish-brown, brownish-grey. He carries a half-drunk litre of milk and a tiny bible at which he squints. At Baker Street and Bond Street stations he stands in the doorway. When the train stops and door opens he steps out, waits for the trainlight to go green then steps back into the closing doors and continues reading while carrying his litre of milk. No one looks, but everyone notices him.

11 Jan 2007

On America

Happy new year. I've been putting off trying to write about my holiday until I had time to be thoughful, but time and thoughtfulness are in short supply and unwilling to cooperate, so I'll do the best I can now.

It was a wonderful trip. Full of sunshine, friends and family in equal and much appreciated doses. It was, in turns, busy and lazy with lots to do and plenty of time to do nothing at all. So here it is, best of my collection

15th - arrive. Dinner with Andy and Kelly. 'Big beers for a big Friday' said the waiter at that fantastic Chinatown restaurant. What was it, Andy?
16th - Crab eggs benedict at the Beach Chalet with K and Robert. Shopping. A stunning Pinot noir with John at the Redwood Room. Party at Robert's.
17th - Breakfast the hotel. Drinks at the Lone Star alone. Yes, for shame, alone.
18th - Squat and Gobble (yes, seriously) with John and Jason. Grace Cathedral, shopping, gorgeous dinner at Range with Andy, Anthony and Robert.
19th - Los Gatos with mum (and from here it gets blurry. Shopping, lazing, eating.)

Interlude: There are very few people I could spend two weeks doing very little, but my mum, mom, mother is one of them. I enjoy her company and hospitality. The conversations over a bottle of wine, the cooking and home/garden shows, the peanut brittle challenge, the coffee, the theatre, everything. I teach her how to be lazy and she teaches me how to live a life healthy in mind and body.

24th - My Aunt comes to stay. She's in her 80s, but somehow exactly as I always remember her. My poor mum has to work from 7am until well after midnight.
25th - cooking for my mum and dad, aunt and brother. I make a feast: prime rib, potatoes dauphinoise, crepes with pumpkin mousse. My brother brings a salad. I drink a bottle of champage on my own wondering how I came to be descended from non-champagne drinkers.
26th - I get the great idea that we can just swap the dead tv in the beautiful cabinet with the new one. My dad and brother spend the afternoon carefully demolishing it was every tool known to man (I would've used a hammer, but that's me.) I stay out of the way.
27th - To San Francisco for a matinee at the theatre and sushi dinner with mum and Robert.

5 Jan 2007

Is Pomo the new black?

Interesting article from the Economist on the link between post-modern philosophy and shopping.

'More surprising, perhaps, than the pomos' influence on the way business presents itself was the accuracy of their predictions and the perspicacity of their perceptions.'