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Crawling through technology, life and love Contact me: hotmail gmail home 
Listening: 
Playing: Mario Kart - Wii iTuning: Podcasts - Russell Brand, Chris Moyles and Mark Kermode Reading: Then We Come To The End - Joshua Ferris 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: 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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Friday, August 31, 2007
Holiday...
Overyourhead is off on it's hols today; Sitges for a week. So if you see me on the beach say hi.
It's all happening up the Arse...
So we're in Group H of the Champions League with teams we've never met before; Steau Bucharest, Slavia Prague and either Sevilla or AEK Athens. It remains to be seen what they're like. And in unrelated news David Dein has sold his 14.5% to a russian, Alisher Usmanov. Hmmm. Thursday, August 30, 2007
Arsenal 3-0 Sparta Prague (5-0) ...
Paul and I went to the game last night. It was fun but a bit of a walk in the park. So now we're through to the Champions League group stages. Yay!
Brain Teaser Answer...
The two sons rowed to safety first, one son rowed back. John rowed to safety and the other son rowed back to the island. The two sons rowed to safety first, one son rowed back again. John's wife rowed to safety and the other son rowed back. Finally, the two sons rowed to safety. Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Brain Teaser...
Last week John and his wife found themselves stranded on an island. Unfortunately, they were also stranded with their two sons, with no clear means of rescue. Luckily, John came across an old rickety boat which he knew could carry either one adult or two children. How did he rescue his family? Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Bearforce 1...
I don't whether to laugh or to cry. I Feel Love, You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real), Boys Boys Boys (Summertime Love), Showing Out, Don't Go, You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) and a bit of KLF, Frankie et al. Oh yes, they murder all the 'classics'. One wonders whose tongue is in whose or which cheek. They are Dutch though so we can perhaps forgive them much. [Thanks Rog] Monday, August 27, 2007
Madonna - The Beat Goes On...
You heard Madge's new single yet? A co-lab with Pharrell Williams. I'm not very impressed. Maybe it'll be a grower. On and on the beat goes, on and on the beat goes etc etc. I hear we can expect her next LP to be an R&B album featuring Felix da Housecat, Timbaland and Timberlake. UPDATE: Oh dear. I dreamed about this song last night. So looks like it's in my brain already. Curses! Sunday, August 26, 2007
Arsenal 1-0 Man City ...
Yesterday Paul and I went to the game. "Top of the league? You're having a laugh. Top of the league? You're having a laugh." Not after Fabregas's late winner they weren't. We went bonkers. Naturally a trip to Duckie was in order. Friday, August 24, 2007
My Daemon...
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Sparky...
Last night the lovely Sparky and I met up for a coffee and a bite to eat. It was good to catch up, hear his plans for staying in the UK and, I confess, to spend time with someone who is "dorkier than me by half". And hey, I now know what a glyph is (think 'hieroglyph' with less of the sacred 'hiero'). We bumped into Guy and Cesar too. And why not go marvel at Sparky's new typeface, Gina.
Brain Teaser Answer...
Name Current pet Previous pet Becky hamster hamster Kevin dog cat James mouse dog Rebecca cat mouse Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Brain Teaser...
At a recent Pets Anonymous reunion, the attendees were discussing which pets they had recently owned. James used to have a dog. The person who used to own a mouse now owns a cat, but the person who used to have a cat does not have a mouse. Kevin has now or used to have a dog, I can't remember which. Becky has never owned a mouse. Only one person now owns the pet they previously had. Rebecca said very little throughout the meeting and nobody mentioned the hamster. Can you determine who owns which pet and what they used to own? Tuesday, August 21, 2007
George Michael - The Road to Wembley...
The other night I watched something I'd recorded from last Sunday night, a documentary called George Michael - The Road to Wembley. It was basically an interview with the man himself, some behind the scenes footage in the build up to the show and a number of songs from the live concert itself. The stage looked amazing. How did they do that stage / projection? He sounded great too. But the jaw dropping moment came during the interview conducted by that idiot Chris Evans. When taking about the previous times George had performed at Wembley - Live Aid, Wham The Final, Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, Nelson Mandela's 70th Birthday Tribute concert in 1988 - Evans questioned him about the Mandela concert in more detail. "Did you meet Mr Mandela. On the day?" asks Evans. George completely dead pan says, "Well, he was still in prison." Evans smiles weakly, "Oh, was he? So he wasn't there..." Squirm along 2m 30s in to the video. Monday, August 20, 2007
Cork...
This weekend just gone Stu and I went to Cork to see the lovely Clodagh. The equally lovely Heather was also over from the States from Kansas City (that's Kansas City, Missouri not Kansas City, Kansas as she pointedly pointed out). We had a great time sampling the local ale in the odd Irish snug bar by night and wandering around the shops in Cork's fair city by day. We also found time for some great meals out and a tour of the Jameson distillery at Midleton. Luckily Helen was back in time from her Croatian cruising to join us on the Saturday night which was great. Below are a few snaps of the trip. You can see more by clicking here.    Friday, August 17, 2007
Radio 1's New Covers' Album...
Anyone who knows knows I'm partial to a cover version. So it is with some delight I see that Radio 1 is releasing a covers' album to celebrate its 40 years on the air. The idea was that each band had to pick a hit from each of the past 40 years. So for instance Robbie Williams got 1970 and decided to record Lola by the Kinks - doing it with Guy Chambers too which is nice. Album's out in October I think. Here's the full track listing: 1967 Flowers In The Rain (The Move) covered by The Kaiser Chiefs 1968 All Along The Watchtower (Jimi Hendrix Experience) covered by The Fratellis 1969 Cupid (Johnny Nash) covered by Amy Winehouse 1970 Lola (The Kinks) covered by Robbie Williams 1971 Your Song (Elton John) covered by The Streets 1972 Betcha By Golly Wow (The Stylistics) covered by Sugababes 1973 Youre So Vain (Carly Simon) covered by The Feeling 1974 Band On The Run (Wings) covered by Foo Fighters 1975 Love Is The Drug (Roxy Music) covered by Kylie 1976 Lets Stick Together (Bryan Ferry) covered by KT Tunstall 1977 Sound & Vision (David Bowie) covered by Franz Ferdinand 1978 Teenage Kicks (The Undertones) covered by The Raconteurs 1979 Cant Stand Losing You (The Police) covered by Mika 1980 Too Much Too Young (The Specials) covered by Kasabian 1981 Under Pressure (Queen & David Bowie) covered by Keane 1982 Town Called Malice (The Jam) covered by McFly 1983 Come Back And Stay (Paul Young) covered by James Morrison 1984 Careless Whisper (George Michael) covered by The Gossip 1985 The Power Of Love (Huey Lewis & The News) covered by Pigeon Detectives 1986 Dont Get Me Wrong (The Pretenders) covered by Lily Allen 1987 You Sexy Thing (Hot Chocolate) covered by Stereophonics 1988 Fast Car (Tracy Chapman) covered by Mutya Buena 1989 Lullaby (the Cure) covered by Editors 1990 Englishman In New York (Sting) covered by Razorlight 1991 Crazy For You (Madonna) covered by Groove Armada 1992 It Must Be Love (Madness) covered by Paolo Nutini 1993 All That She Wants (Ace Of Base) covered by The Kooks 1994 Youre All I Need To Get By (Mary J Blige) covered by Mark Ronson 1995 Stillness In Time (Jamiroquai) covered by Calvin Harris 1996 No Diggity (Blackstreet) covered by Klaxons 1997 Love Fool (The Cardigans) covered by Just Jack 1998 Ray Of Light (Madonna) covered by Natasha Bedingfield 1999 Drinking in LA (Bran Van 3000) covered by The Twang 2000 The Great Beyond (REM) covered by The Fray 2001 Teenage Dirtbag (Wheatus) covered by Girls Aloud 2002 Like I Love You (Justin Timberlake) covered by Maximo Park 2003 Dont Look Back Into The Sun (The Libertines) covered by The View 2004 Toxic (Britney Spears) covered by Hard-Fi 2005 Father & Son (Yusuf & Ronan Keating) covered by The Enemy 2006 Steady As She Goes (The Raconteurs) covered by Corinne Bailey Rae
Brain Teaser Answer...
Thundercloud Thursday, August 16, 2007
Mock the Week...
My mate Ben is on Mock the Week tonight. BBC2 9pm: "Dara O'Briain serves up another topical buffet for Frankie Boyle, Hugh Dennis, Russell Howard, Andy Parsons and guests (Ben Norris and Ed Byrne) to fill their satirical plates. Adult humour." And guess what? Ben is on IMDB! Yay!
Peru capital rocked by earthquake...
Oh blimey. My just turned seventeen nephew is in Lima at the moment about to fly back to the UK. Hope he's OK. Update: Just heard. He's quite safe. There were two quakes apparently. It might delay return flight home though.
Brain Teaser...
What is represented by these letters? CLOUD TH Wednesday, August 15, 2007
The Simpsons Movie...
We watched The Simpsons Movie over the weekend. The 'overheard on the tube' section in Time Out got it about right: It's like two good Simpsons episodes and one crap one. 28 Weeks Later... And we watched 28 Weeks Later too. Nah. Preferred the first one. Transformers... And also I found time to watch Transformers. Total crap. Hairspray... And to round the weekend of film watching off we went to see Hairspray. Not as good as the stage show but we laughed and laughed and sang along. Travolta was the worst thing in it! Shame they had all but cut the best song Mama, I'm A Big Girl Now too. Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Lunch in the Garden...
Sheila and Marrtin bought their lovely four month old daughter Lily over on Saturday afternoon. Stu cooked lunch and we went for a walk in Southwalk Park. Lovely.    More snaps here. Monday, August 13, 2007
Arsenal 2-1 Fulham ...
 Just fifty seconds in to the first game of the season and Jens Lehmann's dreadful error left us one nil down. Paul and I were in despair. Still, we pulled a couple back in the end to get a much deserved win.Paul and I have moved seats - we were up in the Gods - now we're behind the goal at the clock end and a very exciting place to More snaps here. Friday, August 10, 2007
The Good Doctor Life...
Tom! Barbara! Oh Toooom! Barbara! Margot! Jerry! Tom! Barbara! Jerry! Doctor!
Brain Teaser Answer...
Newsagent, crocodile, collision, classroom, encourage, hairbrush, otherwise, closeness, lightning, margarine. Thursday, August 09, 2007
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Brain Teaser...
Below, 10 nine letter words have been broken into chunks of three letters. These chunks have been mixed up, no chunk is used twice and all chunks are used. Can you determine what the 10 words are? ent sen oom ush ile cro cla rbr ise lis ssr lig hai mar htn age ess new sag clo gar ion ing oth enc ine col our erw cod Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Brighton Pride: the good bits...
The hotel saga aside we did have a fab weekend. Spending time with Tim and Andy and Michael and Andrew and Gary and Nau and Fabio and David was great. We had nice meals out, great fun bar hopping and of course the parade was simply brilliant. Naturally I took loads of snaps so feel free to browse here or watch a slide show of them all here.        Monday, August 06, 2007
Brighton Pride: The hotel saga...
This weekend just gone Stu and I went down to Brighton Pride. We had a lovely time all told but it wasn't without it's ups and downs. More later about the ups but first let me tell you about the main down. Our hotel. The afternoon journey down to Brighton started with only a slight niggle. We missed our train from London Victoria. No biggy really. We just took the next fast train, got off at Hove and walked along the front to our hotel in Brighton proper. Well, I say 'hotel'. The place was without doubt the shittiest place I had ever set foot in. Yes, I name and shame you The Brighton Charter Hotel. It was run down, there were no staff that we could find. "Call in at the bar next door" the sign said. We did. Rude dismissive barman called over some woman who proceeded to fleece us for the full room rate up-front (one hundred and forty eight pounds if you please) and take a fifty pound (yes, fifty pounds) deposit for the key. Well, really! They didn't actually show us up to the room. We found it on the first floor overlooking the street. Small. Miserable. Dirty. Smelly. Noisy. Rusty metalwork in sink and shower. Television held together with sellotape. Mouldy wall paper coming off the walls. Missing light bulbs. Twin beds that had all their springs poking through. A Yale lock on the door that had just a single loose screw in it so the door could be pushed open even when it was 'locked'. We almost turned on our heels and left. Almost. We debated long and hard and decided that we would give it a chance. God knows why we did. Maybe we're just not born complainers.    More pix here. Anyway later that night when we returned to our room we had steeled ourselves for the worst. We had a few drinks, we both look a Valium and some painkillers and tried to settle down for the night. Needless to say, neither of us slept. To say the beds were uncomfortable is an insult to the word 'uncomfortable'. Needless to say we checked out first thing the very next day. Saturday morning we found a lovely hotel just opposite; The Queens Hotel. OK, it was one hundred and seventy quid for just the one night but it was worth it. Polite staff, sea view and everything. My advice: look before you book. Thursday, August 02, 2007
Brighton Pride...
We are heading down to Brighton later on today to stay for the weekend. Because it's Brighton Pride. Yay!
Do Elephants Really Have Long Memories?
In 1986, Mkele Mbembe was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University. On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Mbembe approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Mbembe worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments. Mbembe stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away. Mbembe never forgot that elephant or the events of that day. Twenty years later, Mbembe was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Mbembe and his son Tapu were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Mbembe, lifted its front foot off the ground, and then put it down. The elephant did this several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man. Remembering the encounter in 1986, Mbembe couldn't help wonder if this was the same elephant. Mbembe summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Mbembe's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly. Probably wasn't the same elephant. [Thanks for this heart warming story Simon] Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Jonny Woo's Night of a Thousand Jay Astons...
Last night Andy got us tickets at the Soho Theatre to go see Jonny Woo's Night of a Thousand Jay Astons a drag lip synch musical about the alleged slutty one from Bucks Fizz (quite some title I think you'll agree). JWNOATJAADLSMATASOFBZ has been around since last year and though it started as a straight musical about all of Bucks Fizz it soon found it's natural centre - femme fatale Jay Aston. As drag performance artist Jonny Woo says himself, "Jay wrote the book on how to pout. She didn't smile in a single Bucks Fizz photograph." Although the show is based on fact it takes quite a few liberties along the way. Best though are the dance moves and all those Bucks Fizz classics; Run For Your Life, Land Of Make Believe, If You Can't Stand The Heat, Now Those Days Are Gone, When We Were Young and of course the fabulous Making Your Mind Up (complete with skirt ripping). A great, but at fifty minutes let's not forget short, night out. < -5 BoyLOGS +5 ? > < webloggers > < # Blogging Brits ? >
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