Crawling through technology, life and love

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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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Oh good. More John Barrowman on TV tonight. No doubt I'll watch it though. Hadrian looks interesting too.
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Last night Darren, Stu and I went to see Chaka Khan at the IndigO2.

Chaka Khan is as mad as a box of frogs but has a great voice and packs a punch on stage. I actually enjoyed it way more than I thought I would - in no small part due to the excellent seats Darren had secured for us.

Dismissing I Feel For You and Ain’t Nobody as the two opening numbers we weren't quite sure where she was going next but she wowed us with a ninety minute set of new stuff and classics. Great voice and great show.

There was some criticism later that she sings along to her songs rather than actually sings them - but, hey, that's what see does. And she does it really well!

The full set list was:
Once You Get Started (instrumental by the band), I Feel For You, Ain’t Nobody, Stay, Do You Love What You Feel, Whatchu Gonna Do For Me, You’ve Got The Love, One For All Time, Hollywood, Tell Me Something Good, Sweet Thing, Angel, Please Pardon Me, Through The Fire, What’s Going On and two encores, I'm Every Woman and Stop On By.
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Estelle Getty (Sophia from The Golden Girls) sadly has died. Shame. The Golden Girls was one of my favourite shows, was must-see viewing at it's peak and introduced me to the equally fabulous Maude.
[Thanks Darren]
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Batman has been arrested by the police and there was a plague of flying ants in London today. The world is turned upsidedown.
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Of course you can (if it's not too runny that is). Custard is a non-Newtonian fluid.
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Paris was fun. For sightseeing we went to some of Stu hotspots to see; Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame and did a Grande Tour on the open-top bus.

On Friday evening we did some of the early evening gay bars and ended up in the Bears' Den (dodgy stairwell 'n'all).

Unfortunately Stu fell ill on the Saturday with an upset tummy so we spent much of the day in our hotel room. I'm happy to take any questions about French Big Brother variant Secret Story at this point. More pix here.
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Stu and I are off on the Eurostar to Paris this morning for three days. A belated birthday present for my beloved. The plan is to take Stu to his favourite places in Paris, take in a few new sights he's not been to before and perhaps indulge in a spot of schmoozing avec les parisiennes.
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Top 10 Dance Records as voted by the listeners to BBC Radio 2.
1. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson (1983)
2. I Feel Love - Donna Summer (1977)
3. Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine - James Brown (1970)
4. Strings Of Life - Rhythim Is Rhythim (1987)
5. Where Love Lives - Alison Limerick (1994)
6. Keep On Movin' - Soul II Soul (1989)
7. Can You Feel It - Fingers Inc. (1988)
8. Big Fun - Inner City (1988)
9. Theme From S'Express - S'Express (1988)
10. Key To My Happiness - The Charades (1966)
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It's a print free day today in the office. No printing, no photocopying. Transgressors have to put money in the charity box.
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Latest acts just announced for the Electric Picnic: Grace Jones, Joan as Policewoman, Dan Deacon, Booka Shade, Deadmau5. Yay!
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Hmmm.
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I don't know if you've read Prayers for Bobby: A Mother's Coming to Terms with the Suicide of Her Gay Son. It's a very powerful and life affirming book. It draws on the diaries of Bobby Griffith, a gay youth who committed suicide, and traces his mother's struggle to face her son's sexuality. She was a devout Christian, as was he, and they believed he could be cured through the power of prayer. Sadly that was not what happened and after much self-examination she has since become a vocal gay-rights advocate. It's also being made into a film with Sigourney Weaver
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Kath and Kim American version commercial. God, it looks awful.
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Last night Andy organised some tickets for us go and see Jonathan Hellyer's new creation Livinia Slutford perform a show called Slutty Livin' at the Pleasance Theatre above the notorious Shillibeers Bar in Islington.

Livinia Slutford is a vile creation not too dissimilar to Jonathan's alter-ego The Dame Edna Experience. Self proclaimed voice of an angel / language of the devil Slutford is a transexual porn star who has started to break into the cabaret circuit. So we were treated to a heady mix of standup wit, gross-out gags and pitch perfect song mimicry. All good stuff. She knows her audience too - it was well written and topical material. One or two shades of both Tina C and Pam Ann in places perhaps but that's no bad thing. The crowd loved it.

For those expecting The Same Edna Experience weren't disappointed. For those hoping for something new have perhaps seen the start of something big in slutty Slutford.
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It's official. Pringles are not crisps. They are "potato flour, corn flour, wheat starch and rice flour together with fat and emulsifier, salt and seasoning, with a potato content of only 42%." So not strictly crisps. So will now be exempt from VAT. Stuart will be pleased.
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Still ill.
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I managed to get to my GP this morning. She has doubled my amoxicillin anti biotics dose to 500mg as this infection isn't shifting. Hope it works.
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It started to come on last Friday. The tickly cough. Then by Saturday I had the beginings of a sore throat and was feeling tired. Saturday night I lost my voice completely. By Sunday morning I had a bunged up nose. And by Sunday night I was coughing up green chunks (sorry Guy if your eating you breakfast). So it's been two days in bed so far with nothing but amoxicillin, Lemsip Max Cold & Flu, Kleenex for Men, Boots Ibuprofen and Honey & Lemon Strepsils for company. That's two infections in two weeks, first ear then throat. What next? Nose? Bah!
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Last Saturday Sparky, Paul, Stu, I (and 2000 other people) headed down to The Coronet in Elephant and Castle to Duckie's Gay Shame 2008. It was a night of masculinity and butchness. Hot, sweaty and great fun. The only downside of the night was a drag king at the truckstop who got a bit carried away.

A few snaps below. More snaps here.


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So it's offciial. David Gray's music is torture.
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In the film industry, Guttenberg's law states that quality of sequel = (quality of original)/(number of sequel*2). Check out this fab site for some films and a test of how many sequels you think they have had.
[Thanks b3ta]
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Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday, dear Stuart,
Happy Birthday to you.


PS: There's something about that photo that always makes me laugh. Foxy!

PPS: We'll be in Comptons from 7:30pm tonight if you fancy joining us for a jar.
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The Annual Festival of Masculinity will be held on Saturday 5 July 2008 9pm – 4am at The Coronet 28 New Kent Road, SE1 Elephant & Castle tube.

Duckie Gets Macho

7 rooms - 30 stalls - 50 artists - 2,000 punters

On Gay Pride night 2008 it’s time to make men pay. Collect your wad of ‘nine bob notes’ on the door and spend them in the market place as Duckie turns consumers into real men.

Featuring dozens of interactive installations that test your masculinity.

Effeminate homosexuals will be barred and women vaguely tolerated as designer Robin Whitmore turns The Coronet into an interactive nightclub-theatre with the aesthetics of a giant mini-cab office: sticky, brown, stained, a bit pongy and distinctly lacking a feminine touch.

Tickets £15 on the door on the night or in advance in person from The Retro Bar (2 George Court, off The Strand, WC2)

Starring Amy Lamé, Justin Bond, Christopher Green, Marisa Carnesky, Scottee, Helen Plewis, Bearlesque, Timberlina, Jack, Susannah Hewlett, Hannah Eaton, Russell Harris, Charlie Pulford, Laura Bridgeman, Paola Cavallin, Dominic Johnson, Owen Parry, Andrew Mitchelson, Matthew Robins, Tim Spooner, Anthony Schrag, Pau Ros, Tom McLeod, Dicky Eton, Daniel Martin, Steven Whinnery, Brian Lobel, David Iriarte, Rachel Parry, Howard Hardiman, Nicholas Immaculate, Sue Frumin, Ella Simpson, Thom Shaw, Ryan Ormonde, Roy Kerr, Lucille Power, The Lauderettas and Miss High Leg Kick.

DJs Readers Wifes, Lush and Father Cloth play dadrock and other masculinist anthems

Dress code: Butch lesbians, straight blokes, fat darts players. No pink, no heels, no floral patterns, no humanity.
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Last night I developed an excruciating ear ache in my left ear. And I couldn't hear out of it properly either.

The pain was so bad it woke me up at 3am exactly and I just couldn't get back to sleep. A couple of ibuprofen helped with the pain but still didn't let me nod off again.

I'm the first to admit I do the wrong thing with my ears. I stick all sorts of things in there when I've got an itch to scratch; pencils, phone sticks, cocktail sticks, you name it. It's just the wrong thing to do of course. Sticking things in your ears compacts ear wax, can damage the ear drums, introduces foreign objects that get stuck and can, as has probably been the case with me, introduce infection. Infection leads to swelling. And I guess the swelling causes the pain.

As I was lying in bed in this what had become skull cracking pain I briefly thought about going to A&E (drama queen). Then I thought maybe I wait until the morning and bowl up at the doctors' surgery. By 5am I'd scaled back my ambitions to a simple trip to Boots the chemist on the way into work.

Eventually I dragged myself out of bed feeling dog tired and proceeded to do the one thing I really shouldn't have done. My only defence is that I was really tired. I stupidly decided to poke around my painful ear with a cotton bud. My thinking being I couldn't make things worse and I might actually get the infection out (ok I was really tired so not thinking straight). How wrong I was. As soon as I stuck the cotton bud in I howled with pain and hopped around the bathroom. What an idiot. That really hurt. My ear was now throbbing. Throbbing and angry. Waiting for me to make my next move.

As I was throwing the cotton bud away I noticed it was soaked in an aqueous black gunge. Yuk. So there was something in my ear I thought. Against all reason I decided I has to get it out by hook or by crook. Excruciating pain or no.

So I hopped in the shower and unscrewed the shower head. To the end of the shower hose I attached an empty syringe barrel. You mean you don't have syringe barrels lying around your bathroom? Once the water was turned on this produced a single small jet of water with the thrust of a small space rocket. I steadied myself. This was either deafness or bust.

I didn't want to go in all guns blazing as my painful ear was still smarting from the cotton bud folly. So gingerly I tried it out of my 'good' right ear first. And it seemed to do the trick. It blasted away all the ear wax, the crud, the whatever from my 'good' ear just fine. I shook the water out and I could hear out of my 'good ear' clear as a bell.

Right. In for a penny, in for a pound. I stuck the jet of luke-warm water into my painful, swollen, black aqueous crud-filled left ear and hoped for the best.

To my amazement it felt really good. Lots of crap came out and it tickled a bit right inside my head. But afterwards my ear felt way better. Sure the swelling was still there and a bit of pain but nothing like what it was. I shook my head. Finished showering and tried not to focus too much on what damage I might have caused.

That was about two hours ago and so far so good. My ear initially swelled up a little bit then calmed down. It's really painful now just aching a bit. It may just be a brief respite as the infection can't have been completely washed away. So I waiting to see what happens next. I might take a trip to Boots and see it they've got any drops to reduce the swelling.

Update: upon the advice of friends and work colleagues I agreed to see a doctor. Unfortunately my own surgery couldn't see me until next Monday (six days hence) so I went to the Soho NHS Walk-in Centre. They saw me within forty-five minutes and prescribed some ear drops called Locorten-Vioform to be taken twice a day for a week. I also got a stern warning about poking things in my ears in future!
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This being gay pride week I thought I'd reference a study carrier out recently at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. It has provided strong evidence that sexuality is a biologically fixed trait demonstrated in physical brain differences. Specifically, key brain structures in homosexuals which govern "mood, anxiety and aggressiveness" resemble those in heterosexuals of the opposite sex - something likely to have been "forged" in the womb and not the result of later learning processes. In particular gay men demonstrated symmetrical brains, in common with straight women. But we knew that didn't we girls?
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I like the BBC iPlayer. It's a sort of one-stop shop for watching BBC TV programs over the past 7 days if you live in the UK. It comes as either a PC-only download service or an on-demand service using Flash. Well, now it has just got alot better. It's got radio (according to a BBC press release). In fact there are a raft of other updates to the on-demand service including the ability to rewind the new music radio stations online and a new Last Played feature which will remember where the session left off in case of computer crash or you have to stop watching/listening half way through. Also the Flash video window is boosted on the new iPlayer site to 640 pixels wide. The new on-demand radio streams will be 128Kbit/s MP3s, replacing the current Real and Windows Media Listen Again offerings. And live radio is coming soon apparently. Cool.
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Here are the answers from last week's pop quiz.

01. Forever In Blue Jeans
02. Sweet Caroline
03. I am... I said
04. The Stranglers
05. The Mobiles
06. Haircut 100
07. Olivia Newton-John
08. Visage
09. 1982
10. Kate Bush
11. Charles and Eddie
12. The Shamen
13. Usura
14. 2Unlimited
15. 1993
16. Meck and Leo Sayer
17. Sugababes
18. Kelly Clarkson
19. Dirty Pretty Things
20. Christina Aguilera
21. 2006
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On Sunday afternoon Stuart and I were invited over to Sheila and Martin's on Hornchurch. Kerry and Fergal were there too. We sat in the garden and ate a lovely feast with the meat prepared on the barbecue while we kept on eye on the nippers. Great to catch with everyone again.



More snaps here.
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Last Saturday night Stuart, Jane, Mark, Drew, Amanda, Kirsty and I went to Duckie for a bit of a kneesup.

We'd not been to Duckie in ages and flushed from our fun at the V&A earlier we thought it might fun.

The music was great the acts suitably left-field and a great time was had by all. In fact one of the act was so left-field it drew more than a few gasps. A guy putting hooks through his forehead and swinging weights. And the blood that dripped down his face after he took the hooks out seemed pretty real from where we were standing.

More snaps here.

Roll on Gay Shame at the Coronet in a couple of weeks time.


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Last Saturday afternoon Stuart, Darren, Mark, Jane, Bruce, Tracy and I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum to see an exhibition called The Story of The Supremes From The Mary Wilson Collection.

The display is open until October and features performance costumes of The Supremes, the group’s music, album covers and archive performance footage. Stuart, Darren and Bruce could stop smiling throughout.

Here are some snaps I took while we were there.
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The lovely Andy called me yesterday lunchtime, "I know you saw them last night but I've got a spare ticket for Yazoo tonight if you fancy coming." "Yes, please", say I.

So there I was watching Yazoo all over again at the Hammersmith Apollo. And it was just as great night as the previous night but being their last night of the UK tour Alison was way more chatty.

She hugged Vince two or three times too. She danced way more. And just before Only You she shook her fist saying "Flying Pickets! Bastards!" Yes, dear reader she was acting like a right Basildon girl. And we loved her for it.

Still no The Other Side Of Love though. And sadly the much promised Hercules and Love Affair cancelled so we were stuck with Merz again.
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Last night Stu, Paul, Mark, Darren, David, Andy, Kev, Tom and I (along with about 2000 other people) went to see Yazoo at the Hammersmith Apollo. And what a great night it was.

Alison and Vince have reformed for a tour and to promote In Your Room, a four-disc box set featuring the stereo remasters and 5.1 mixes of the albums Upstairs at Eric's and You and Me Both next to a disc with B-sides and remixes. Some of those remixes were in evidence last night with reworkings of classic hits such as Nobody's Diary, Situation, the you-could-hear-a-pin-drop Winter Kills, Don't Go and of course the sublime Only You. The remixes have given a fresh feel to these sounds (well, fresh for a band that split up 26 years ago). So there were quite a few audio pleasure on offer - especially satisfying for me when it strayed into Erasure territory.

Alf's voice was magnificent throughout. She sang. We sang. She danced (no, really). We danced. And the much reported stage frostiness between her and Vince was in little evidence.

The only song missing (thanks for pointing this out Mike) was The Other Side Of Love.
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Last night's Retro Bar teaser pop quiz was great fun. The excuse to go was that Daveo was over from NZ and jumping at the chance was David, Ian, Luca, Paul, Simon et al.

The winners got twenty and a half out of twenty-one. We 'came second' with eighteen. See how you do...

01. What Neil Diamond song starts with "Money talks But it don't sing and dance And it don't walk"?
02. What Neil Diamond song starts with "Where it began I can't begin to knowin' But then I know it's growing strong"?
03. What Neil Diamond song starts with "L.A.'s fine, the sun shines most the time And the feeling is 'lay back' Palm trees grow, and rents are low But you know I keep thinkin' about Making my way back"?
04. Who had a 1980s hit with Golden Brown?
05. Who had a 1980s hit with Drowning In Berlin?
06. Who had a 1980s hit with Love Plus One?
07. Who had a 1980s hit with Landslide? (Hint:Oz)
08. Who had a 1980s hit with The Damned Don't Cry?
09. What year were the above five songs all hits?
10. Who had a 1990s hit with Rubber Band Girl?
11. Who had a 1990s hit with Would I Lie To You? (Hint:American duo)
12. Who had a 1990s hit with Forever People?
13. Who had a 1990s hit with Open Your Mind?
14. Who had a 1990s hit with No Limits?
15. What year were the above five songs all hits?
16. Who had a 00s hit with Thunder in My Heart (both artists involved)?
17. Who had a 00s hit with Ugly? (Hint:a trio)
18. Who had a 00s hit with Because Of You? (Hint:a winner)
19. Who had a 00s hit with Bang Bang You're Dead?
20. Who had a 00s hit with Ain't No Other Man?
21. What year were the above five songs all hits?
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From: 10 Downing Street
Date: 17 Jun 2008 11:10
Subject: Government response to petition 'SaveOurSoho'
To: e-petition signatories

You recently signed a petition asking the Prime Minister to "resist the ban on outside drinking and maintain the liberal culture of Soho." A formal response to the petition will be sent to you, and posted online, once the petition has closed. In the meantime, you may wish to know that Westminster Council has released a statement on the subject of the petition as follows:

Contrary to internet rumours, Westminster has no plans to ban outside drinking in Soho or in the city as a whole. This is an inaccurate and misleading rumour. Indeed, the council is actively trying to promote responsible alfresco-style dining and drinking in certain parts of the city by creating calm oases away from the hustle and bustle of the main streets. We are, however, reviewing the licence for The Endurance pub in Berwick Street following a long history of complaints from nearby residents about noise from drinkers outside the premises. The Council has previously tried to work with this pub to resolve this problem and we regret that this review is now necessary. The review by the council's licensing committee is due to take place on June 26, 2008. We want everyone to be able to come to Westminster and have a good time, but we need to ensure that the interests of residents are protected and licensees must work with us to this end.

Petition information - http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/SaveOurSoho/
[Thanks Mark]

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We're really looking forward to this now as Santogold and Hercules & Love Affair will be playing too. Here's the press release:

The ever-colourful line up for Electric Picnic continues to blossom and fascinate as more of the most happening acts on the planet hop on board the magic bus to Stradbally this year. From some of the brightest young acts of 2008 such as Santogold, Crystal Castles and Hercules and Love Affair to emotional artrock stalwarts Elbow and the electro elite of Chromeo, Cut Copy and Tiga and the incredible 14- piece afrobeat orchestra Antibalas. From rock right through to dance electro, funk, world, and reggae these acts will provide something to suit all picnickers musical tastes at Stradbally Hall this August.

ACTS JUST ADDED:
Santogold
Crystal Castles
Chromeo
Elbow
Cut Copy
Digital Mystikz
Tiga
Hercules & Love Affair
Antibalas
Gomez
Gemma Hayes
Giveamanakick
Super Extra Bonus Party
The Black Lips
Carbon/Silicon
The Faint
The Presets
Digitalism
The Congos
The Herbaliser

BODYTONIC ACTS ALSO JUST ANNOUNCED:
Modeselektor
Roni Size presents Reprazent Live
The Count & Sinden Live
Rob Hood
Diplo
Toddla T
Trusme Live
Charles Webster Live featuring AtJazz, Emily Chick & Tera Deva
Kerri Chandler Live
Redshape
Sambatuc 20-30 Piece Samba Band
Benga
Prins Thomas & Lindstrom
Aaron Jerome Live
Bodytonic Soundsystem

For more details check www.electricpicnic.ie

This adds to the existing line-up:
Sex Pistols, Sigur Ros, My Bloody Valentine, Franz Ferdinand, George Clinton & The P-Funk Allstars, Grinderman, Goldfrapp, Christy Moore, Wilco, The Gossip, Duffy, Underworld, Tinariwen, CSS, Tindersticks, Duffy, New Young Pony Club, Josh Ritter, Lisa Hannigan, Cathy Davey, That Petrol Emotion, The Breeders, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Sinead O'Connor, The Waterboys, The Roots, Kila, Micah P Hinson, Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Hayseed Dixie, Candi Staton, Juana Molina, Turin Brakes, Faust, Midnight Juggernauts, Tartit, Hadouken!, Silver Apples, Mark Geary, Teitur, Blitzen Trapper, Absentee, Balanescu Quartet, Lou Rhodes, Adrian Crowley, One Day International, The Yard Dogs, Tobias Froberg, Boss Volenti, Dawn Landes, Constantines, Yacht, Lionheart Brothers, Large Mound, Emmy the Great, Foals, Kormac (live show), Jape, Noisettes, Dublin Gospel Choir?plus many more to be announced.
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