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Crawling through technology, life and love Contact me: hotmail home 
Listening: Playing: Pool Paradise - GC on Wii iTuning: Podcasts - Chris Moyles, Mark Kermode and Stephen Fry Reading: All Bits and Bobs: Wish List Gerry's Lyrics Pop Quiz Minipops Quiz Sites I like: Marc Almond Top 40 Singles News IMdb The Register Hacks Recent GBlogs Arsenal FC Some blogs I enjoy: bboyblues2000 bitful blogadoon brainsluice chig groc minkered scally sparky troubled diva Books recently read: Time Out Guide to Havana (and Cuba) And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks - William S Burroughs and Jack Kerouac At My Mother's Knee ... and Other Low Joints: The Autobiography - Paul O'Grady Star Maker - Olaf Stapledon My Booky Wook - Russell Brand When You Are Engulfed in Flames - David Sedaris Then We Come To The End - Joshua Ferris A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon The End of Mr. Y - Scarlett Thomas I Never Knew That About London - Christopher Winn The Arsenal Miscellany - Adam Gold Young Hearts Run Free: The Real Story of the 1970s - Dave Haslam Magical Thinking - Augusten Burroughs Veronika Decides To Die - Paulo Coelho Time Out Guide - Amsterdam Lillian's Story - Kate Grenville The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins Schott's Original Miscellany - Ben Schott Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J K Rowling A Gay History Of Britain - Matt Cook Time Out Guide to Madrid Time Out Guide to New York Kingdom Come - J. G. Ballard The Hours - Michael Cunningham Mutants - Aramand Marie Leroi A Young Man's Passage - Julian Clary Growing Pains - Billie Piper The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath Wild Swans - Jung Chang Highbury: The Story of Arsenal N.5 - Jon Spurling Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins - Rupert Everett Affinity - Sarah Waters Lighthousekeeping - Jeanette Winterson Tipping The Velvet - Sarah Waters The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini Of Human Bondage - W Somerset Maugham Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier Lucky Man - Michael J Fox Labyrinth - Kate Mosse Fingersmith - Sarah Waters The Night Watch - Sarah Waters The Pedant's Revolt - Andrea Barham The Republic Of Trees - Sam Taylor Written On tbe Body - Jeanette Winterson Untold Stories - Alan Bennett The Plot Against America - Philip Roth Read All About It - Max Clifford The Folding Star - Alan Hollinghurst Thursbitch - Alan Garner Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris Staying Alive - Matt Beaumont The Bookseller Of Kabul - Asne Seierstad Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince - J K Rowling A Short History Of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson Count Karlstein - Philip Pullman The Shadow Of The Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood The Spell - Alan Hollinghurst The Double Life Of Daniel Glick - Maurice Caldera The Smoking Diaries - Simon Gray Straight- Boy George Digital Fortress - Dan Brown Deception Point - Dan Brown The Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith Angels and Demons - Dan Brown Sydney - Time Out Guide Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood Eleanor Rigby - Douglas Coupland The Scarecrow and His Servant - Philip Pullman Tha Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown The Perks Of Being A Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky Planet Simpson - Chris Turner The Line Of Beauty - Alan Hollinghurst Barcelona - Time Out Guide The Closed Circle - Jonathan Coe The Clerkenwell Tales - Peter Ackroyd Copenhagen - TimeOut Guide The Butterfly Tattoo - Philip Pullman The Broken Bridge - Philip Pullman In Search of the Pleasure Palace - Marc Almond Brick Lane - Monica Ali Vernon God Little - DBC Pierre Last Exit To Brooklyn - Hubert Selby Jr You Shall Know Our Velocity - Dave Eggers Touching The Void - Joe Simpson Life Of Pi - Yann Martel Istanbul - Time Out Guide Millennium People - J G Ballard The Duchess Who Wouldn't Sit Down - Jesse Browner Hey Nostradamus! - Douglas Coupland Eats, Shoots and Leaves - Lynne Truss The Wind-up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami Our Man In Havana - Graham Greene The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon Lyra's Oxford - Philip Pullman Doran - Will Self Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides the book, the film, the t-shirt - matt beaumont High Society - Ben Elton Man And Wife - Tony Parsons I Was A Rat - Philip Pullman Harry Potter: The Order of the Phoenix - J R Rowling Great Apes - Will Self Barrel Fever - David Sedaris Round Ireland With A Fridge - Tony Hawkes Close Range - Annie Proux The Third Way - Anthony Giddens dot.con - John Cassidy The Salmon of Doubt - Douglas Adams One Hit Wonderland - Tony Hawkes The Thief Lord - Cornelia Funke The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen The Cloud Sketcher - Richard Rayner Keane: the Autobiography - Roy Keane A Wasteland of Strangers - Bill Pronzini The English - Jeremy Paxman How to Lose Friends and Alienate People - Toby Young Dead Famous - Ben Elton The Amber Spyglass - Phillip Pullman (again) The Subtle Knife - Phillip Pullman (again) Northern Lights - Phillip Pullman (again) The Bear and The Dragon - Tom Clancy 101 Reykjavik - Hallgrimur Helgason Forward The Foundation - Isaac Asimov Carter Beats The Devil - Glen David Gold The Tin Princess - Philip Pullman Atonement - Ian McEwan The Tiger In The Well - Philip Pullman The Rotters Club - Jonathan Coe Generation X - Douglas Copeland Perfume - Patrick Suskind All Families Are Psychotic - Douglas Coupland The Shadow In The North - Phillip Pullman No Logon - Naomi Klein The Dirt - Motley Crue Miss Wyoming - Douglas Coupland The Amber Spyglass - Phillip Pullman The Subtle Knife - Phillip Pullman Northern Lights - Phillip Pullman The Ruby in the Smoke - Phillip Pullman The Sandman - Miles Gibson Blood and Gold: The Vampire Marius - Anne Rice The Actrocity Exhibition - J G Ballard Shameless - Paul Burston Sing Out! - Boze Hadleigh Brilliant Orange - David Winner New Boy - William Sutcliffe London - Peter Ackroyd Wonder Boys - Michael Chabon One For My Baby - Tony Parsons How To Be Good - Nick Hornby White Teeth - Zadie Smith Lust - Geoff Ryman Tulip Fever - Deborah Moggach Dead Souls - Ian Rankin The House Of Sleep - Jonathan Coe A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers What a carve up! - Jonathan Coe The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon The Grapes Of Wrath - John Steinbeck Heartwood - James Lee Burke Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson Man and Boy - Tony Parsons The Map Of Love - Ahdaf Soueif e - Matt Beaumont The e Before Christmas - Matt Beaumont  
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Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Happy Hallowe'en... Arsenal 1-1 Everton ...Sarah and I went to see the game on Saturday. Great to show Sarah the Emirates Stadium. Shame we were so frustrated on the pitch though. Oh well. Next time. Monday, October 30, 2006
Rijswijk......I'm back in Rijswijk now for four days this week on business. Bah! Wicked...Stu took me to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre last Friday. Wicked it wasn't. Technically impressive but just lame. Shame. Friday, October 27, 2006
Hallowe'en...Hey, do you dress up your pet all funny for Hallowe'en? No, I thought not. So pity these poor kits and mutts. I have to say I did spit my tea out with laughter at some of them though. See all of them by clicking here.      [Thanks Andrew] Thursday, October 26, 2006
BT Digital Vault...BT have finally launched their digital vault service. I had been testing their business version a couple of years back and they had promised a consumer one was to come. The vault is basically a free hosted storage service (2Gb for free or 20Gb for £4.99 a month) with a web interface for uploading files in the free version and a backup program (for PC only so far) for the paid-for version. It's a great way of storing/backing up files/music/photos off site in case your PC crashes. Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Mad About the Boys...On Saturday Stu, Sparky and I went to see the film of Alan Bennett's The History Boys. Part school days nostalgia trip, part gay-themed drama. And boy did it bring back memories; being at a boys school, A-level results, gay teachers, 7th term Oxbridge entrance study, the pressure from the Head, the exam and the Oxbridge interview. It's a great film and definitely recommended viewing. Hey, if a film can pull off a scene entirely in French, challenge you to sympathise with casual paedophilia, make you think and make you laugh it gets my vote. Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Sparky...I got a call from Sparky on Friday, he was coming up to London so of course I invited him to stay over. We spent the day together on Saturday roaming around book stores and "new" Brunswick Centre (lick of paint, anyone?). He also joined Stu and me for dinner and a trip to the movies. Lovely to see him and he's looking very well.   Monday, October 23, 2006
Torchwood...Not without it's faults, but as you can tell I loved it. Here's some blurb about the series for those unacquainted: Torchwood is a British television science fiction and crime drama created by Russell T. Davies and starring John Barrowman and Eve Myles dealing with the machinations and activities of the fictional Torchwood Institute. An initial 13-part series was commissioned by the BBC as a spin-off from the long-running science fiction series Doctor Who. An in-house BBC Wales production for digital television station BBC Three, it is the first television spin-off of Doctor Who since the unsuccessful pilot of K-9 and Company in 1981 and the first to be commissioned for a full series. The Canadian network CBC is co-producer of the series, with exclusive rights to broadcast the North American premiere of the show. The title "Torchwood" is an anagram of "Doctor Who". (The name was used as the "codename" for the new series of Who while filming its first few episodes, and the name was subsequently used in the series, leading to this spin-off.) BBC Wales Head of Drama Julie Gardner serves as executive producer alongside Davies. Torchwood premiered on October 22, 2006 at 9pm BST on BBC Three and was followed immediately by episode two. According to the website of John Barrowman, who plays Jack, the series is to be repeated on BBC Two every Wednesday at 9pm BST. This is confirmed by the Radio Times. Friday, October 20, 2006
Lost and Found on Sky One...So Sky have bought seasons three and four of Lost in the UK. Like 24 before it, that'll probably kill it. The "previously on Lost" videos for season three on the Lost web site do look good though... Hey ho. Roll on Ugly Betty. Thursday, October 19, 2006
Monty Python's Spamalot... Last night Stuart, Paul, Ian and I went to see Monty Python's Spamalot at the Palace Theatre in London's glitzy West End.It was bit like going to see a late night Rocky Horror Picture Show screening; there was Tim Curry on there on stage, we had people dressed as Monty Python character's sitting behind us (a knight, a man in a white rabbit suit, a peasant etc) and many of the audience shouted out the lines of the more famous sketches before the actors did. It all had the feeling of a (very expensive) end of term show. With drunks in the audience. A sort of pantomime. But don't get me wrong. It was fun. Fun and funny. Silly, fun and funny. But it wasn't quite the brilliance we had hoped for. For example some of the songs didn't travel too well from New York (You Won't Succeed On Broadway with the lyric changed to West End jarred a bit and the rather bizarre song called something like Get a Jew was a little lost on a UK audience I fear). And rewriting the script to include (un)cultural asides about Jade Goody will soon wear thin I suspect. But having said all of that it is a rather fun piss take of all the musicals you've ever seen - with some oblique and some not so oblique references to Andrew Lloyd Weber, West Side Story, Camelot, Fiddler On The Roof, Les Miserables etc. And the Monty Python humour does shine through if some of the targets are a little broad. Now if it hadn't been for the inherent sexism of the Python's original material (did they actually write any parts for women that weren't just big bosomed non-speaking roles?) I'd have said it was a fun night out for all to enjoy. Sadly even having a 'gay element' couldn't quite save it from the PC crowd’s frown. But we did laugh though. A lot. And it will no doubt run and run. As they say (and sing at the beginning of Act Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Footballer's Wife's revenge...Be careful what you send people. If you later split you can't unsend it. And it may just find it's way onto the Interwebnet. As Middlesbrough defender Matthew Bates found out to his cost. Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Rijswijk...Yesterday I found myself traveling to Rijswijk - a suburb of The Hague in The Netherlands - on a business trip. I'm here doing a reckie for a couple of days sorting out IT and hotel services for a more extensive work trip in a couple of weeks time. I can't really recommend the place as a holiday destination to be honest. Bit of a desolate place. But the hotel is nice and it's got a well stocked bar. Hurrah! Monday, October 16, 2006
Myrtle's 70th Birthday Party...It was my mother's seventieth birthday on Sunday so we had a family get together for her thrown by my sister Joanna and her husband Martin at their place out in Benington. It was so lovely to see so many of my cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles together. And I think my mother had a good time judging by her big smile she had on her face all day. And in case you were wondering, our nickname for her is Myrtle (although her name is actually Kathleen). I took loads of pictures most of which you can see here.    Friday, October 13, 2006
New York, New York...Moby's new single New York, New York is released in the UK on the 30th October and features the wonderful Debbie Harry on vocals. It's a promo single for Go - The Very Best of Moby. View the rather fine video in Windows Media or Real Media. It's a sort of Scissor Sisters-esque disco stomper. I quite like it. Brain Teaser Answers...1. 12 hours. Rate is 1/18 + 1/18 - 1/36 = 3/16 = 1/12. So time is 1/rate = 12 hours. 2. Border becomes boarder. Thursday, October 12, 2006
The Queen...The other night Stu and I went to see The Queen. Great fun. We were amused. It was all about the seven days following Diana's death in 1997 and the Queen's reaction to it. Royal week, Royal weak. Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Brain Teasers...1 James and Steve were busily emptying their book shelves from one room to another. James on his own could have cleared the room in 18 hours. Steve also would take 18 hours. Unfortunately, John was moving the books back into the first room from the second. He could fill the first room in 36 hours. How long will it take the three of them to complete the task? 2. Can you find a word that means perimeter and by adding a letter A another word is formed that means a lodger? Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Google gobbles up YouTube...As Google has gobbled up YouTube for £883m I thought I'd link to two of my favourite YouTube videos: Male Restroom Etiquette and Evolution Of Dance - the second of which I understand is to be made into a film. Monday, October 09, 2006
Ljungberg Denies Gay Slur...Arsenal's Fredrik Ljungberg has laughed off reports in the Swedish tabloid newspapers that he is a gay homosexual. Ljungberg has stated that despite the fact he is not in a steady relationship at the moment, he is still 100% heterosexual. The stories are believed to have eminated from the internet. 'Gay Slur'? 'Eminated from the internet'? Is this 1996? Friday, October 06, 2006
Triplets...On Tuesday I went over to see Ben, Sarah and the triplets; Dylan, Eve and Lola. And they were all looking fantastic.    You can look at the full set of pix I took here. Thursday, October 05, 2006
Jocelyn Brown...Last night Stu and I went to see Jocelyn Brown at the Jazz Cafe. Perhaps most famous for her 1984 hit Somebody Else's Guy Brown is a belter in the old school mode. She has a pair of lungs that could power a wind farm. Brown has had a diverse career being used as a backing vocalist on John Lennon's Mind Games, touring with Luther Vandross and working with Todd Terry on a number of dance tracks including Keep on Jumpin'. Indeed it was this hit that she opened her set with last night. And it was a trifle indulgent set list to be honest. In the first half hour we had just four songs. Eight minute versions of classics can be fun but it does give you time to hear the song, go for a wazz, get a pint and fight your way back to your spot for the final five minutes. I'm sad to report that Brown has actually lost some of her power. Her voice was good, but not that good. She seemed to be struggling with some of her trademark vocal gymnastics. As Stu put it, "that song should have made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It didn't." But we had a good time. We sang along. We danced. Highlight was probably her belting out No More Tears (Enough is Enough) "for the girls out there... and the boys". Lowlight was a song called Always There - was that an unrecognisable version of Always There (her hit with Incognito)? I was secretly hoping Right Said Fred might pop out for the encore of Don't Talk Just Kiss but it was not to be. Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Brain Teaser Answers...1. 44. Twice each hour equals 48, less one between 2:00 and 4:00 and one between 8:00 and 10:00 for both a.m. and p.m. Or thinking of it another way - the hour hand caches up with the minute hand once every 12 hours so you lose 2 right angles every 12 hours. So losing 4 right angles in 24 hours. 48 - 4 = 44. 2. Look before you leap. Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Brain Teasers...1. How many times per day do the hour and minute hands of a clock form a right angle? 2. What is represented by these letters? lookbebebebeuleap Monday, October 02, 2006
Sitges...I took Stu to Sitges for the weekend just gone - his first time - and we had great fun. Gary had very kindly agreed to let us stay in his place so we just had to pay for the flights. Ostensibly we were going to welcome Paul and Simon's move back from Valencia to Sitges. They now have a new pad even more central than before. Below are a couple of shots from the weekend. Click here to see them all.   < -5 BoyLOGS +5 ? > < webloggers > < # Blogging Brits ? >
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