January 2001 Archives

It all sounds very gloomy.

UK Blogger Phil Gyfford offers Chronicler to the world: 'With Chronicler it's simple to create, update and maintain your own archive of web pages such as a personal diary or journal, or even a daily magazine'. I haven't tried it yet, but you might. Update: tried it. Fairly simple to install but not as intuitive (or sophisticated) as Greymatter. Instructions are good but perhaps more details on file/directory permissions would be helpful.

Eddie Izzard interviewed by The Onion AV club: You know, people in England say that Americans have no sense of irony, which just isn't true. Middle Americans have no sense of irony, just as middle Englanders and middle Canadians have no sense of irony. It's not so much location as it is a mindset. Hmm. I guess we get to deal with Middle Americans a lot? Eddie's goal: Yes, it's my manifest destiny to wear a skirt in all countries.

I'm here for a chat.

There's a Jah Wobble track to listen to on the BBCArtZone. And, somehow related though I'm not sure how, Howie B's new album will feature a cover of the soul classic 'Satisfied' (originally by Babs & Ernie) sung by Gavin Friday and 'Carmen'. This duet may even be released as a single. It'll be out in April/May.

Ha. The first and probably the last time I'll EVER feature on k10k. Thanks, Kylie!

{ citystories } coming soon

Excuse while we stay off line to watch the rest of the entire Angel first series. Ah, bliss. [ update - I watched epis from the minute I came home till now. I think that's 7 or more. ]

Oooooh: Marc Almond and Dave Ball will reform as Soft Cell to perform live on March 16th 2001. (view source for more info) tainted love.... wish I could go. In fact... I think I might.

Happy 100th issue, k10k.

Why not pre-order Mr Z's book. Taking Your Talent to the Web : Making the Transition? I did.

It's like a virus! Luke just informed me he's starting TorontoStories.com. 3000 words and more... all in our own time.

Three things make me happy today: I have an extra HD (thanks to him), and I was off line for most of the evening drinking wine and watching multiple episodes of 'Angel' that my friend recorded.

Anyone know who this is: Da****az@gurlmail.com ? Fess up, who registered caz.iscute.com and made it point to U2log.com ?

Thanks to Matt's tutorial, I'm now using includes & templates on AmsterdamStories.com. That was my accomplishment this weekend and I'm quite proud of it. Eventhough I didn't have a clue what I was doing and only followed instructions.

1 AM. There was a long rant here about what went wrong with the site, but what's the point now that it's back up and I'm sure nobody is interested anyway.

Matt Donnelly writes: By my account, Weblogs have been put to best use to follow musicians. U2log, a site that follows the stories of U2 through tour and album productions, allows the casual fan to check in on a community of hardcore fans and catch up on what the band is doing, without having to deal with hardcore U2 fans in person. For some bands the community is stronger than others.

Luke sent me this quote from McSweeney's (that site I don't 'get') What I loved in our talk about Dylan was the notion we began to isolate — the classic fan/critical impulse to choose a period in Dylan's work as "the only good part" and then to bemoan all the rest in one sweeping denunciation — as though Dylan ought to be ashamed of his continued productivity, as though the bulk of his work was a sort of crime or disease which threatens the listener and his or her relationship to the admired albums. And as you pointed out, behind the presumption of that kind of dismissal always hides — poignantly — a kind of raw, fearful confusion at the artist's continued searching, his dogged practice of his art, his willingness to experiment, grow and fail. As though a switch is flipped when an artist is too prolific, too generous, and it suddenly becomes an affront to the audience. I guess I am not a classic fan. I like the journey and happily go along for the rollercoaster ride. You can't be prolific enough.

NYLPM responds to my 'simple lyrics' posts and manages to get a dig in about old Mr B. Well, Tom... He may be a pompous arse... but he's OUR pompous arse. By the way, is it my imagination, or is NYLPM starting to resemble I Hate Music a bit? Um... hello to my London friends in Nu or Ould Meeja... if there's any U2 tickets (feb 7) floating your way, think of sweet prol, would ya?

It's Sunday. I have to clean the house. Meanwhile, on IRC...

Maria McKee posts a new letter to her website, talking about her family and spring water. Wonderful bit of Americana. Don't remember Maria? 'Show me Heaven' was her greatest hit, though not penned by her. The biggest hit she had that she did pen was Feargal Sharkey's 'A Good Heart.' Made her affluent at 21. 'Real Gone Kid' was written about her when she was still in Lone Justice. Check Napster for her.

Matt, who doesn't seem to sleep, has expanded the 'profile' function on Metafilter. Here's mine. (Oooh, I'm user 138, amn't I an old hand!) I actually can't remember joining, and I can't remember what made me join, and I can't remember how/when I saw Metafilter for the first time or how I heard about it. I wonder if Matt mentioned it on Babble or webdesign-l?

Birdwell (small hint... permanent links?) writes: I would be asking Bono what happened to the poet i knew from Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby...even Boy has more concrete meaningful lyrics than ATYCLB does. Does literary and obscure and ambiguous naturally mean more meaningful? What's more meaningful than the truth? What's more meaningful than life and how we live it? If the words are more see through, does it make the song more shallow? I think I prefer to hear 'I'm still enchanted by the light you brought to me' than to have to ponder about 'sliding down the surface of things' or that horrible 'wild horses' song. I don't want to be agist, but I really do think ATYCLB has probably more to offer to the over 30s. Mortality probably isn't something the young wish to address. You see this in lyricists... they tend to go from romantic drivel in their 20s (and I mean that in the best sense) towards painful simplicity past 30. Check Nick Cave, check Gav. See, they're all trying to be Bob Dylan. It works for some, and though I must admit I prefer Gavin's impossible lyricism on say, Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves, to any move to simplicity that I believe he is making or aspires to make, I do appreciate the change and desire to get down to the essence of things.

Um, no, "porches" or "potchess" doesn't sound right. It's "poe-chuss". (pootjes, dutch for 'little paws')

Ferry's got the looks... Eno the brain.

This is the Amsterdam 'bruggenletter', the type used to create nameplates on bridges in Amsterdam since the 30's. I'd really love to have this as a True Type so I can use it on Amsterdam Stories. Anyone out there clever with the old Fontographer? I know someone's already done this because Theatergroup Amsterdam use it for their posters. The designer apparently worked for Studio Anthon Beeke. But I don't think it's commercially available. Heh, while searching I found this: the erotics of type.

I think I've got the look. Happy with the new splash for AmsterdamStories.com. Unfortunately, my body is giving in. My back hurts, I have RSI symptoms and I'm just plain knackered. It'll have to wait. (though others are more knackered!)

Soothing: Blogvoices is coming back, thanks to Matt, Pyra, and Chris of course. I was looking into a php solution but couldn't figure it out. (I have no brain) Now U2log.com will get back on track on becoming a community.

Just got the sad news U2log.com was not selected for the SXSW website competition. I entered it as a weblog. I can't go anyway. (Grumble, grumble... v. succesful blog, it's got humour, it's got style, it's got news, it's got spoofs, it's got good writing... it's got PAGEVIEWS, darling... 2500 unique hosts a day, what more do ya want? *pout*)

Over to the soothing news that Tom Waits is busy working on several new projects. Seeing Waits play Holland in 1999 is still one of the highlights of my concertgoing years.

You just can't say too often how much you hate Yahoo. Today I had to face up to Egroups switching to ugly, unusable, impractical, fucked up, shitty Yahoo groups. I hate Yahoo and their stupid Yahoo ID, Yahoo wallet and what have you. I hope they get bought up and obliterated by some other mogul.

I've installed Greymatter to drive the Amsterdam Stories site. Having this kind of focus helps. I now find it ridiculously easy to configure. So I spoke too soon last week.

Two Radiohead tracks ("Pyramid Song" and "You And Whose Army.") that will be on the upcoming 'Amnesiac' album (talk about being prolific!) are available from this beautiful site: Kinetic.

Derek gets into the swing of things: { citystories } coming soon

Ding dong.... This happens to me a lot. When I'm just waking up, or falling asleep, I'll hear a loud bell, or a buzzer. It's frightening and it takes a few seconds to realise the sound was in my head, not real. I have no explanation for it. Maybe you do?

Great link via Lance's 'Memo': PSEUDOdictionary, a different type of dictionary. And it looks fabulous too. I submitted the only word I ever coined: 'uglet'. The site was designed by twothirty media. [ update: my word has been accepted! ]

Play the vibraphone. (Flash) By Experimental Jetset. It looks like Dutch webdesign is catching up. Viernulvier (404), a k10k type designer's get together, was set up recently, [ link via Alt0169 ] by some people at Default Office. I tried the site on my Mac last night and it didn't seem to work that well. But it's fine on the PC. One suggestion: find a (native English speaking) copy editor too ("receipe for hapiness"). Or why not just do the entire site in Dutch? By the way, is that FOUR brothers involved in the site? (check 'inside')

I get most of this, I think: 'I would like to say thanks to those people who nominated me for the 'best European blog' . Though I write in English most of the time, I speak several European languages - Castellian, a bit of French, a bit of German. If I were more confident to just write in them, believe me I would. Is that right, Meg? Bugger. If I can READ a bit of Spanish... why can't I bloody speak it?

If the mountain will not come to Mohammed... let the leaders of the world know how you feel about things: Use the HelloMrPresident.com site to send messages that will be projected on the moutain side overlooking Davos, location of the World Economic Forum's annual conference. [ via MF ]

The Eighties Lyrics Quiz. Do I spot two Bowie tracks in the first ten songs? [ via popbitch ]

It's a strange thing, blogging in my own language. I have not written in my own language in many, many years. I learnt to speak English from age 7, and started writing it regulary in my teens. I kept a diary through high school which is almost exclusively in English. All 3000 pages of it. I find that I have other stories to tell in Dutch. Things I've hardly ever written about in English, probably because it would take some effort to 'translate' them in my head. In a way I'd prefer to write them in English, so everybody can read them, but it seems it'll have to be in Dutch. Today I wrote about my dog, and growing up a city girl planted in a backward village. If I wrote about it in English, the story would have been angrier. As it's written now, it's more touching. Interesting how different languages mean different personalities.

Look Derek, it's working! UtrechtStories.com, set up by Martijn of Bonga.nu.

Led by their penis, seduced by erotic desire, they often end up in relationships with partners with whom they share no common interests or values. from buffy: shadowy musings.

Amsterdam and Rotterdam are redeveloping old quays & wharfs. RNW reports for CNN. If you've never heard Dutch people speak English, here's your chance. [ real video ]

It's Wednesday, so bloggers will meet on IRC: Time 8:30 PM Eastern / 5:30 PM Pacific / 1:30 AM GMT Server irc.turlyming.net at port 6667 Channel #BlogIRC BUT: 1:30 GMT is too late for me. Euros... anyone want to meet, say... 9 GMT? Let's know. In the meantime, I'm here.

Meg launches strangelyfamiliar.org - 'random encounters from everyday life' today. I knew about this and thought of something to write but couldn't think of anything. Am I that self obsessed I don't notice people around me?

Sad news. Blogvoices is closing. But Chris'll release the source code and save the database. [ update: there's hope for Blogvoices. Yay. ]

Vote for me, baby. And uh... why not cast a vote for some other good blogs when you're at it. Like Not So Soft or Plasticbag, or Lines and Splines? But not if they're in competition with prol, natch. Oh... U2log.com is nominated too.

4:25 AM. I'm wide awake.

Danke caroline, daß du dich in unseren flotten Newsletter eingetragen hast.... Netzministerium looks interesting... so I joined their mailing list. Toll! [ via MiloV ]

I threw another design on vodb.com cause I was sick of the javascript errors (some funky dhtml stuff). So this is plain and simple, a beginner's blog type blog-look. It is SO not me. I did take the picture. Oh... it's 'made on a mac'. That's a first. It was also made in bed. Applause!

I spent hours trying to fix my Dutch blog, and got nowhere. Halfway through I realised I was uploading to the wrong server, thereby fucking up another site. I managed to repair the latter, but gave up on the first. Don't design or redesign when you're tired and grumpy or sad. Don't do anything. Hide. Get in bed. Under the covers.

I'm hungry and could do with all of this lovely Roast Dinner

Looks like I'm going to have to learn XSLT for my job. What IS it?

I'm finally going to be blogging in Dutch. Blogger powered. Natch. (ignore the script errors... blogger ate my ampersands, will fix tonight) Anyone else have accounts both at Pair.com and Dreamhost? Anyone else notice publishing (Blogger) to Pair is twice as fast? How to manage your site with Blogger, PHP and XML. Nifty tutorial by Matt Kingston. Also, Anil Dash runs a Blogger Pro information page. (fyi, prolific.org is powered by the Blogger Pro beta)

Interconnected's brand new. Very pretty, Matt. Text is a bit hard to read - but I can always skin it.

Media.org: is an online collective of artists/netizens concerned about preserving and creating quality online content. With the exception of updating links, the site is preserved in its original state Very cool. I'm sure everybody knows about this already.

Can't keep things 'secret' anyway. Here's what we're (myself and vandenb.) going to be working at: Amsterdam Stories, following Derek's lead over at SFstories.com. We have his blessing. (Now hopefully this'll take off and we'll have tons of city story sites in a few years time? Rotterdam Stories, anyone? Den Bosch? London, New York, Paris, Munich?)

You'd think having a three day weekend I'd actually do something worth while. But other than fruitlessly (I say fruitlessly because I do not expct takings to be worth while) setting up two Cafepress stores I didn't get up to much. Friday came, Saturday went, now it's Sunday and I'm playing music LOUDLY. It's supposed to drive the demons away. Here's what's currently blasting through the appartment: Stay This week dragged past me so slowly The days fell on their knees Maybe I'll take something to help me Hope someone takes after me I guess there's always some change in the weather This time I know we could get it together If I did casually mention tonight That would be crazy tonight Stay - that's what I meant to say or do something But what I never say is stay this time I really meant to so bad this time 'Cause you can never really tell when somebody Wants something you want too Heartwrecker, heartwrecker, make me delight Right is so vague when it brings someone new This time tomorrow I'll know what to do I know it's happened to you Stay - that's what I meant to say or do something But what I never say is stay this time I really meant to so bad this time 'Cause you can never really tell when somebody Wants something or wants to stay That's what I meant to say or do something But what I never say is stay this time I really meant to so bad this time 'cause you can never really tell when somebody Wants something you want too (Bowie)

It took me five hours to set up a store on CafePress. It's an incredibly slow site, or perhaps it's slow to get to where I'm at.

i2design's Type City. First up: type in New York.

With the arrival of my VISA card, despite the wrong name, I've been able to set up a Paypal account. Which means I will now be able to sell my book (although there aren't too many copies left) from my website. Hopefully they'll get their international 'web accept' set up soon too, making it even easier.

Clinton quiz. I scored 7 out of 8 so it must be too easy.

David Bowie in his diary, January 17: While debating why I put eyeliner on in the first place it struck me that as much as wanting to change things round a bit, 'Glam' (not my word) was also a rejection of the imperial, of the seriousness of intent of what had gone before (the earnest late '60's). Right. It also makes you look a lot sexier in the lights on stage, now, doesn't it, darling?

So I redid my 'business card' site today. Not happy with it. It looks like something I've done before. It should work in um, lots of browsers and platforms. Let me know if it doesn't.

Hello readers from ALA. I know some of you are looking for jobs in Europe. I'm not really sure how to go about it, but perhaps you can check Monster.co.uk for European jobs. Here's some info on working in Europe. Colin O'Brien (working in Belgium) wrote in to say: Tell your readers to go to www.jobserve.com - more jobs in Europe than you can shake a stick at!

I just went to see Ordinary Decent Criminal. There is nothing even remotely Irish about Kevin Spacey. He makes a brave attempt at the accent, gets all the vowels wrong, but that isn't the problem. Though a pleasure to watch (and I mean that in every sense, sigh) he's just not... Dub. Amazingly, Linda Fiorentino looks like she was born there. ODC is 1. a rip off of John Boorman's superior 'The General'. 2. Entertaining, but superfluous. Mind you, they get a lot right. The clothes. The blokes. The scenery. The gardai's culchie accents. But where's the craic?

Bye Bill. Everybody I talked with in my country liked you. 'Why can't he stay another four years?' people said. You had your flaws. Don't we all?

... A golden key to open the door Behind which the answer lies You sinned in dreams Now awake in deeper, deeper dreams "Take a dream and fly away" she will call They won't wait for you not I, they will wait for you not I See me crawl, she will fly far away. Decline and fall... Never return... Die... Die... {The Virgin Prunes, 'Decline and Fall'... pre-empting A List Apart, special issue}

Credit cards. I got my two new cards yesterday. Visa and Amex. I had to get them because Mastercard has stopped supporting most on line transactions. It's easy to get a credit card. Fill in a form. Fill in another form. Prove you have a job. My two new cards both have my name spelt wrong. Both have it spelt the same way. Hyphenated. Do I want to go around the world with double barreled credit cards? No. So today, my day off, will be spent hassling Visa and Amex. I would like to ask them: 'Can't you bloody read? Did I hyphenate my name? No. Then why did you add a hyphen. Eh? EH???'

That's our Tanya they're not getting. 'I hate music' is one of the funniest, more eloquent series of pisstakes I've ever read. It cheers me up every time. I love seeing my favourite bands slagged off. I do it all the time.

I'm happy to say I am working on 'Secret Project 2001'. Always wanted to say that.

So you know the Buffy trailer for the 4th series? There's the scene where Willow sitting in a circle of fire? Well, she's wearing MY jammies. My red tartan jammies. M&S. Streuth!

On Russell Crowe's official website, you can send e-cards of his shoulder operation. Um... why?

Garnock Valley Burnouts: Hi, my name's Robert McEwan (age 11) and this is where I store my collection of photographs of burned-out motor vehicles.

BoschUniverse, very pretty site documenting the life and work of Dutch painter Jheronimus Bosch. Check out their 'lock' function. Click the lock icon to lock a page. Any other links clicked will open in the opposite panel. By Zapp Werk. (Some people complain the images are too small. They haven't realised you can zoom in and see them quite large. I think a lot of people aren't going to 'get' the many options and functions in this site. Shame. If you have a Mac you're not going to get anything because it isn't likely to work at all. Shamer!)

I never thought I'd ever thank a gossip rag. But thank you, Popbitch. Thank you. You just made my day.

Swiss design house 'Nothing' have a nice little font give away. Screenfox is made to be used at 9px.

The 'Merkins don't know about wet toilet paper. It's funny what seems to freak people out the most. Different types of food, different ways of wiping your bum, different approaches in educating your kids. Simple cultural differences and people are 'groced out'?

Advertising URLs on cars, posters, billboards doesn't work for me. I forget them even if I make a mental note. But this one I remembered... perhaps because it's about food: Urbanbite. The food order site. Just what I needed, food delivery in Amsterdam. Good variety. I'm probably going to use this a lot.

Jason just pointed Spinning Today out to me. Daily -short- music reviews.

Leonardo, nekkid bollocks.

Time to highlight sites by the people behind san630.com: dreamfusion.nl, popupgirl.com, suspiciousminds.com and kristoffbertram.com. Why? Because I haven't seen anyone else do it.

Got mail from [type01][V/02]: they're open. Which leads of the Designers Playground. Click around and you'll find lots of links to pretty sites.

Now THAT is a redesign, one of those 'make you happy' looks.

I have an account at cjb.net. It's a redirect service with extras, and one of the extras is web/java access to an irc server (irc.cjb.net). If you use the URL prolific.cjb.net, you'll get a little chat window at the bottom of your browser. This morning I put the link up and ended up chatting a large part of the day away (I was doing work at the same time, honest) with Stargazer, Shauny, Hoppy, Meg, Dave and various 'guestxxxxx'. The groovy thing about cjb.net is that it's a real IRC server, so the room is accessible to proper IRC clients. (irc.cjb.net #prolific.cjb.net) See you tomorrow?

Look mum, no tables, no single pixel gifs! (No work in Win IE yet).

It's so cold in my house (100 years old, single glazing, east wind, a single gas heater) it's too uncomfortable to work/play in the living room. So I've taken to early nights under the covers, tapping away on the iBook. It's wreaking havoc on my back. Last night I chatted with an old friend, one of the few people I take music advice from. (Though a musical omnivore, I'm very particular about what I listen to and what I like and I'm usually off kilter) So he rattled off songs he'd been listening to, while I downloaded them, commenting back on his choices. Kelis (Mafia - great!), a new American deep south punk rock band I've now forgotten the name of, Tindersticks' I know that lovin', JJ72's October Swimmer. I've been on line for years now and still get excited by the wealth I have at my fingertips.

Sleep, sleep tonight and may your dreams, be realised. If the thunder cloud passes rain, so let it rain, let it rain, rain on him.

Two new REM tracks available from this fan site. The songs are called 'She just wants to be' and 'The Lifting' and were recorded at the Rock in Rio festival. REM's website has been redesigned to promote the new album. Guess what... bloody Flash in a bloody pop up. Check out the wonderful way the news items are presented with a handy scrollbar, making it a delight for any fan to read. We especially adore the fuzzy text.

Wrongwaygomag.

Ah, I'm proud as Puck. 'Disco Pigs', the fillum Gavin's just written the score for, has been accepted into the Berlin Film Festival. It's all about exposure, baby.

An bhfuill íonléitheoir agat? I hadn't heard that browser software company Opera had made a version of its software available in four Celtic languages: Breton, Welsh, Scots and Gaelic. Maith thu!

U2log.com readers get into the spirit of things (via our Blogvoices feature): More Head Room is needed at a U2 show. A seperate section is needed for head\'s only. The heads should be attached from the ceiling down using dangling fishing wire. This way the heads can bop to and fro with the rhythm of the music without having any obstructing appendiges that are associated with people who have complete bodies. I think we're finally getting the audience we deserve.

There's no such thing as a free lunch. Well, there was. But there won't be. Let the SMS frenzy begin. Meanwhile on MF, a discussion touching upon the success of mobile phones/SMS in Europe vs America is discussed. Someone claims: In Italy, which has similar conditions to other European countries, regular telephone calls are very expensive, hence dialing up with a traditional modem to check e-mail, surf the net, etc. is very expensive. So they have found that using cell phones is way cheaper. That doesn't sound right to me (I don't think the one thing has much to do with the other), and there must be a better explanation. Are mobile phones cheaper in Europe, do we get better reception, are the networks more stable... has there been more advertising?

Cor blimey, Eastenders four times a week? I'll never have to leave the house again.

Winnie The Pooh's Piglet was a seriously troubled individual. Are you ill or not?

The Lord of the Rings website has redesigned. Complete with superfluous Flash navigation. The interactive map of Middle Earth could be cool if it weren't so damned slow and unresponsive.

Peace. For the first time in months I seem to be reasonably content in my work situation. I learn new stuff, and get to show off what I already know. It's not too taxing and it's not too simple. The people are kind. I've settled in. It ain't perfect, but it's better than it has been for a long long time. Think I'll be able to stick '2000' where it belongs, in the trashcan. And on another level, things have been gezellig.

Begijn le bleu: Tante Tiet geeft het beste van zichzelf. An on line friend presents his theatershow... I haven't seen him perform yet, but perhaps some of my Belgian readers can let me know?

Fascinating account of a high school reunion: "Don't worry about her," said Zhenya. "She's been going to a shrink and now she thinks she has to make amends to everyone she's ever met."

I spent most of today a conspicuous singleton amongst a host of smugmarrieds and their, I must admit, remarkably wellbehaved offspring. Two of the smugmarriedgirls having seen me at birthday parties years in a row finally asked: 'So who are you?'. Perhaps I don't give off negative vibes anymore, I joined their conversation and listened to the trials and tribulations of competitive motherhood. For the first time in what must be twenty or more years I held a baby, my friend's newly born. (Pictures were taken to immortalise this unique occasion) I must be mellowing because I rather enjoyed the sensation. The little critter didn't even smell bad.

[ Dutch rant, apologies ] Van mij mag Giel gaan. En ver ook. Ik heb het so wie so niet zo op 'Deejays'. ('Ja en dan komt hier de eerste vraag, pas op, het is een beetje een moeilijk woord, en jij, luisteraar, bent nog dommer dan ik, dus als ik het niet begrijp dan bak jij er helemaal niks van') Ik zal dus wel oud zijn, of worden. Ik keek vanavond naar Theo Maassen, 'cabaretier'. De stijve pikken en suffe wijven vliegen je om de oren. Ja, lachen. Ik durf het bijna niet te zeggen, maar 'tegenwoordig' lijkt het wel of alles maar harder, platter, grover moet. Als het in godsnaam maar niet 'p.c.' is, want dat mag niet meer. De jaren 90 waren hard, en dat gaan we lekker voortzetten want het suf gebeukte publiek is nog maar moeilijk warm te krijgen. Hoezee. Spel zonder grenzen. En ondertussen staat er zo'n doorgeschoten puber bij de CD-winkel achter de toonbank, vast een fan van Maassen denk ik dan nog, die op mijn vraag 'kan je het inpakken, het is een cadeautje' rustig en met een glimlach de schijf vol ouderwetse Franse chansons in een bruine zak propt, daarbij de prominente rol glimmend INPAKPAPIER bewust negerend. Was ik maar assertief genoeg om hem daarop aan te spreken. Helaas, prol is slechts een held op papier.

A realidade é que sem ele Não há paz não há beleza É só tristeza e a melancolia Que não sai de mim Não sai de mim (name that song)

Bop till ya drop.

Dutch peanutbutter is the best in the world. Skippy? Ha! Sad. Ever tried to make peanutbutter sauce out of that? Doesn't work. (And that recipe doesn't work either... add some plain vinegar or tamarind to taste) No, the best peanutbutter is Dutch and the best variety is AH's own. Oh, ok, here's an English link: Avoid getting peanut butter in your keyboard, there's 2000 uses for the stuff.

The 80's were crap. All the 70s heads say that. But although I'm technically a 70s person, I never really got into pop culture till the 80s. The BBC is airing a 10 part series called 'I love the 80s' about the decade, presented by Larry Hagman (Who shot J.R....). I'm thoroughly enjoying it eventhough it's slightly off from my own experience. For example... the British 'Kickers' fad started a bit later than on the continent, where the shoes were made. I equate 'Kickers' with the 70s (I had a creme and a blue pair and they cut into my heels badly). I'm also enjoying the music.. which reached us a little later: OMD, and the fabulous Human League. I really should get myself their compilation album. I love the 80s. Despite the fact that I never got the gear you were supposed to wear: Kappa, O'Neill, Pringle, Lacoste, Tacchini, Fila...

Milko Music Machine. [ via VPRO tv guide ] Moo.

Greymatter 1.2 is out. (Great new feature: Built-In File Uploading & Easy Image Handling... i.e. easy image pop ups!) I have been trying out the last version for a few days now. It's really simple to set up, but it takes a bit of work to make all the different templates look pretty. Unfortunately for lazy sods like me, Dreamweaver mangles up the templates so it's all text editor work. But that's okay, I'm using it for something that I'm not in any hurry to finish. [update: correction, Dreamweaver only eats one of the Greymatter placeholders. Thanks to Raoul for pointing that out.]

U-Troopers, courtesy of my esteemed colleague at U2log.com. It would be great if the wardrobe had instruments.

Does that make me lusciously lukelustre?

And just to be clear, you should know that you can't actually play a game of chess here yet. Mr Costello's coding an on line chess thing.

Threadnaught's BlogTrooper page is just getting cooler and cooler. Somehow it's making me all warm and fuzzy. Which is good, because it's bloody freezing.

In search of 'Duende'. A word I've heard often but did not know the meaning of. Finally looked it up. It turns out to be something I know very very well. It cannot be described or defined. The poet Federico García Lorca described it as "a mysterious indefinable power summoned up by the black sounds of flamenco". I'll store my own definition... it's that thing that happens when art becomes a religious experience. Have you ever been there? Perhaps you could call it Elevation.

Happy Birthday, Mr Z.

Note to self: keep eye on Ecritures. (Dutch)

00.15. In bed. Freezing. Heater warming. Smelly. Read Glamorous. Warm human touch. Not smelly.

Have a website? This is useful info about .htaccess files.

Nirvana, Soundgarden, grunge, blah blah blah. Give me Take That, or even Britney anytime over your bloody awful whiny guitars.