Don't play with your food unless you've eaten all your toys already

So I'm taking 100 days to make myself a better person! I can't remember where I saw mention of Josie Long's project but took a peek yesterday and joined up. As part of the London Word Festival she and various friends and artists decided to do something every day for 100 days that will make them a better person. And now they have 863 people signed up, including myself. It's day 53 for the project but latecomers are welcome, so my 100 days starts today.

My pledge is to take a photo of what's around me, and put it up on Flickr with a few words. I'm not sure I'll be able to put the picture up every day, there will be a few days I know I'll be away from the net. But I will take the picture every day and put it up as soon as possible. There's a Flickr group for the project which I'll also add to.

The discipline of doing something for 100 days is no bad thing. Making the effort, not breaking a promise and being related to a bunch of unrelated folks for no other reason than an idea that looked like fun. That's betterment in itself surely. And I don't take enough pictures in general, and I certainly don't focus enough on grabbing those odd moments. So this is an excuse to do that a little more.

When I started using Flickr all those years ago I never really expected that anyone other than friends and contacts would bother looking at my shots. So it's always a pleasant surprise when an unknown comment appears or I get a spike in the view stats with some more band pics. Of course there's a touch of pleased ego thinking they're my pics! But over and above that I'm fascinated by being able to share a moment with a bunch of complete strangers and bring back a memory of a great show or just a provide an image that pleases. That's the beauty of the old internet, a bunch of connections making a connection.

I hadn't looked at my page since last year and so decided to pop in last night. Which is when I caught a bizarre spike in views around Christmas. All on a shot of a snow dalek that was built down by the bridge moorings in last February's snow. Then I noticed that it's had over twenty four thousand views in total. Outstanding! I've made sure the guys who built it know that their efforts have raised a little smile or a chuckle to a whole bunch of folks theyll never know. It's like that little Japanese girl with the pizza. It's kinda cool really.

Halfway through series 4 of The Wire

White on top of white

I can't remember the name of my 3c English teacher. I do remember his face. That makes him no different to most folks I encounter these days. However he did have a resounding impact on me which was to bury an aversion to bad spelling and dodgy grammar deep inside; although some might argue that I'm still fighting the latter to this day.

Most times it doesn't worry me too much in the day to day but I'm exceptionally unforgiving when it comes to people who should know better: managers and anyone in any official capacity whatsoever.

An email appeared in work the other day that caused some amusement. It's for a training course at Disneyland Paris and you can read all about it at this location. The email offered an exciting opportunity for edutainment and imagineering! I'd like to offer those that wrote this drivel an opportunity to swim in the undertow. But wait, its a money can't buy offer for a truly amazing price (495 + VAT). Perhaps it's 495 worth of potatoes then. Plus VAT of course. These people must have taken all the mirrors down in their homes.

If you take a glance at the website, and you don't have to really, then it offers you the chance to LEARN a number of things. Some of these are things you can learn, like Leadership Management, some things that you can pretend to learn like Business Magic and some are really things that you experience, or would want to at 495 + VAT, like Thrilling Rides, Fine Dining and Complimentary VIP Access to the Park. But NOT FUCKING LEARN YOU CRETINS.

Listening to the Jarvis Cocker show on 6 Music

All bands secretly wish they were metal bands

The title comes from Dan. I think it says all that needs to be said about music. So all the music journalists can go home now and do something useful. Thank you.


I am a geek.

Here are the lists:

My 10 favourite films of 2009 in no discernible order have been:
The Wrestler
Gran Torino
Not Quite Hollywood
Star Trek
Crank 2
The Hangover
Let The Right One In
Zombieland
The Hurt Locker
Moon

My 10 favourite albums of 2009 in no discernible order have been:
Crippled Black Phoenix - 200 Tons of Bad Luck
Walkenhorst and Porter - No Abandon
Lightning Dust - Infinite Light
The Low Anthem - Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
Pearl Jam - Backspacer
The Yellow Moon Band - Travels Into Several Remote Nations Of The World
Kiss - Sonic Boom
R.E.M. - Live At The Olympia
Willard Grant Conspiracy - Paper Covers Stone
Hush Arbors - Yankee Reality

My 10 favourite gigs of 2009 in no discernible order have been:
Metallica - Nottingham Ice Rink
Faith No More - Reading Festival
The Low Anthem - The Tabernacle
ZZ Top - Wolverhampton City Hall
Massive Atack - Brixton Academy
Blur - Hyde Park
Snuff - Reading Festival
Radiohead - Reading Festival
Okkervil River - The Scala
Neil Young - Hyde Park