I Hate Huckabees

After an extremely pleasant couple of hours in the pub watching Everton beat Liverpool on Saturday afternoon (rising to the dizzy heights of second in the table in the process), Sal and I decided to pop to the Screen on the Green for an early evening film. If you’ve yet to experience the, um, “pleasures” of David O. Russell’s I Heart Huckabees, my advice would be this: don’t. It wasn’t quite the worst film I…

Continue reading

Christmas Party Dilemma

It being the time of year for that sort of thing, tomorrow night is my work Christmas party. Unfortunately, for some inexplicable reason, the people that plan these things have decided to take us to this. Bearing in mind my recent run of bad restaurant experiences, and the fact that categorically the worst meal out I have had this year (and one of the worst meals I’ve ever had, for that matter) was on our…

Continue reading

Kill A Man For His Biro Today

Yesterday, Sal and I joined Rob and Claire for an afternoon of Indie fun in Hammersmith at XFM’s Christmas charity gig, the Winter Wonderland, in aid of Shelter. After a few drinks, and a roast lunch, in the Old Ship by the river, we strolled over to the venue just after 5, in time to catch the first band, the winners of the breakfast show’s “School Rock” competition. They were only allowed to play the…

Continue reading

Seasonal Post

I’d like to be able to report that my inability to begin Christmas shopping on Saturday was a result of my passionate support for international Buy Nothing Day, but sadly the reality was the rather more prosaic combination of laziness and hangover, following what might be termed “a big night out” on Friday. Not that there was anything particularly blog-worthy about that particular evening, but I feel bound to mention it if only to demonstrate…

Continue reading

Seriously. Anyone Would Think I’m Deliberately Starting Arguments In Restaurants Just To Have Something To Blog About…

Last night Sal and I were both struck by a sudden desire for some good fish, so we met after work outside the tube at Angel and wandered down to the lovely looking fish restaurant just down St John’s Street that we had passed a number of times and always intended to visit: The Fish Shop on St John’s Street. Unfortunately, we encountered yet more shabby service, and this time we didn’t even get as…

Continue reading

A Short Map of Nearly Everything

Just a quick one to say that I have finally got round to starting to read Bill Bryson’s excellent A Short History of Nearly Everything, which I was actually bought as a birthday present last year. Anyway, it is very good and I can’t believe it has taken me so long to get round to cracking the spine. I mention it here, though, because I was wondering if I’m the only person to have noticed…

Continue reading

The Rules of Rock and Roll: #247

I saw a classic example of the rules of rock in effect this week. There’s a pretty standard trick that bands tend to pull when arranging tours. The logic goes something along the lines that, if you can probably fill a venue three times, you book it for just two nights, thus ensuring that demand for tickets comfortably outstrips supply. To create even more demand, and galvanise your fans into getting in quick for tickets,…

Continue reading