July 2004

Some things in life are more reliable than a Volkswagen

July 22, 2004

And one of those things is Robert Smith's hair: UPDATE: There used to be a picture of Robert Smith here, but some muppet linked to it from their signature on some The Rasmus forum, thereby thrashing my bandwidth to within an inch of its life. Small photo, but way too many downloads. So until Muppetfeatures […]

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William Shatner does something unspeakable to Pulp's Common People

July 22, 2004

You remember James T Kirk… er, I mean, William Shatner's last foray into musical endeavour? His stunning – and that's 'stunning' in the same way that a sharp blow to the head is stunning – rendition of The Beatles' Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds? Think that's the depths of JT Hooker… er, I mean, […]

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Listen to the flip side

July 22, 2004

Finally, my article for The Guardian sees the light of day! W00t!! Thanks to everyone who helped me out with it, particularly Jaime, whom I owe a really big drink next time I am in London. Right, better go out and buy up all the copies from the local newsagent then! UPDATE: My feature is […]

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Small village changes its name

July 21, 2004

A small village in Wales has changed its name from Llanfynydd to Llanhyfryddawelllehynafolybarcudprindanfygythiadtrienusyrhafnauole in protest against a wind farm which is planned for a nearby hill. They need to be careful – Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch got its full name when a tailor from Menai decided that they needed more tourists. Perhaps Llanhyfryddawelllehynafolybarcudprindanfygythiadtrienusyrhafnauole will stick. (Llanhyfryddawelllehynafolybarcudprindanfygythiadtrienusyrhafnauole means “quiet […]

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Enw newydd am bentref bach

July 21, 2004

Mae pentref bach yn Nghymru wedi newid ei enw o Lanfynydd i Lanhyfryddawelllehynafolybarcudprindanfygythiadtrienusyrhafnauole mewn protest yn erbyn fferm wynt newydd sydd wedi cael ei blanio am fryn gerllaw. Rhaid iddyn nhw fod yn ofalus – ces Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch ei enw llawn pan roedd teiliwr o Fenai'n penderfynu roedd angen am fwy o dwristwyr. Efallai bydd Llanhyfryddawelllehynafolybarcudprindanfygythiadtrienusyrhafnauole […]

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Have the RAB really lost it?

July 20, 2004

I was listening to the rather wonderful XFM today when I was suddenly arrested by the aural equivalent of a wet haddock in the face. The Radio Advertising Bureau do a lot of advertising on XFM for some reason. They have a series of adverts which are amusing the first time you hear them and […]

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Coming soon to a newsagent/browser near you

July 20, 2004

I've had an email today to tell me that my article will be in The Guardian's Online section this Thursday, both in the paper and on the website. Yay! At last!

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Small annoyance

July 20, 2004

Radio edits. Why do they do it? You get used to hearing a song on the radio a certain way, and then when you get the album it turns out to be completely different because what you've been listening to, and falling in love with, is the radio edit. Can I express quite how annoying […]

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There just isn't a word for it

July 19, 2004

Kevin Marks and I have been having an ongoing on-and-off conversation for several months now about the role played by Jeanniecool (and sometimes me) in Joi's IRC channel, #joiito. It's something Kevin has thought about already, once or twice, but neither he nor I can pin it down properly. What Jeannie and I do, Kevin […]

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Wrong end of the learning curve

July 18, 2004

Just had another Python lesson with Sean in which I think the key thing learnt was 'For god's sakes, revise!'. We did a lot of stuff we've already done with regexps, and I had almost totally forgotten all the metacharacters and stuff. Gah. It's frustrating, thinking 'I know this… I know this… I knew this…' […]

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Curious

July 17, 2004

From Dragon's Fandango: Ever have one of those days when you catch sight of your nose out the corner of your eye and then you suddenly can't ignore the fact your nose is always there, impinging on the edge of your vision? Um, well I hadn't, thanks.

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"The time has come," the Walrus said, "to talk of many things. Of shoes and ships and stealing Macs…"

July 16, 2004

Ok, so maybe not stealing one, but certainly buying one. I’ve suffered Mac-lust since I saw my very first, in the Marine Geology post-grad office at Cardiff Uni some 14 years ago. I used it to edit the department newsletter, and lusted over it in the same way that I lusted after Dyson vacuum cleaners: […]

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Whoo!, with additional Hoo!

July 16, 2004

It’s funny how things work out sometimes. No more than a couple of weeks ago I was sitting on a plane on my way to Vienna when the steward announced that if there was a Mr Lee Bryant on board he should raise his hand. Knowing we had mutual friends and were both heading to […]

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Aaaand back up to London again

July 15, 2004

It would be so much simpler if I just lived there. Unfortunately, I'm committed to spending two months looking after my parents' house and cats whilst they bugger off to Australia on holiday. Alright for some. Me? Bitter? No… Anyway, back tomorrow, if I can figure out how to get from Ringwood to here without […]

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Euan Semple just scared the whassits out of me…

July 14, 2004

By saying that Doc's plane crashed. But it's ok, it was on the runway. No one was hurt. Phew!

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