Selectadisc to close: *LOUD SOBS OF ANGUISH*

Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

This is not good! Nottingham's awesome Selectadisc record store is to close at the end of next month. I accept that this is an inevitable result of changes in music purchasing more than the credit crunch, but this has just not helped make my week better...

Update on life, the universe and a lack of blogging

*sigh* sorry folks, its not been a good month for blogging from me.

Still, I am apparantly better than expected in the Sitting Tennant stakes: which is nice.

Reading and stuff: not really blogging...

Read two Jasper Fforde books this weekend (The Big Over Easy and Something Rotten).

Watched Spearhead from Space. Plastic scares me.

Had a day out in Lincoln.

I seem to have lost the blogging mojo. Bear with me....

I can comment but not much else. Sorry.

Tardy and hampered by time and rubbish systems

The Internet keeps falling over (*hits IE* and wishes she could move to Safari/Firefox/any f&*%ng system that reliably worked on her office computer).

I've been short of time (busy starting to watch S5 of The Wire at last and having a nice Valentine's Day)

Generally, this week I have mostly sucked at blogging.

Apologies.

For those of us who never will: Stu_N reports on The Fat Duck experience

Whatever your opinion of the food and experiences Stu describes of his important birthday visit to The Fat Duck I would merely recommend that you simply revel in the sumptuous way in which he describes the whole experience in magnificent detail.

Best food writing I have read in a long while. Almost makes me wonder if we shouldn't do this sometime. Then again, The Fat Duck isn't exactly local to us... and I'm not sure how long it would take us to save up...

Jeff Vader - lego brilliance

I'm sorry I know this has been around for an age but I am so in need of giggles I have to share:

TV celebrities/characters to be stuck in a lift with: inspired by MediumRob via the Guardian

Anna Pickard started it (though I doubt it's a new meme in itself).

Subsequently, MediumRob has offered up his selections and Dan his own list.

The meme is: which ten TV celebrities (real or fiction) would you like to be stuck in a lift with.

Inevitably, given the sonic screwdriver, The Doctor has hit several people's thoughts. Well, yes. Duh. However, that would surely cover more of the 'people USEFUL to be stuck in a lift with (as they could help you get out)'.

Which frankly, if we're talking Tenth Doctor here, seems something of a wasted opportunity.

So with that in mind, here are my thoughts:

People to be stuck in a lift with:

• The Doctor (because that brain, of any incarnation, with or without sonic screwdriver, would certainly work out some exit strategy; plus, you know, interesting)
• Stephen Fry (smart and experienced in these matters; the go-to guy for the task)>/li>
• Ross Noble (he'd probably have me giggling at the lights)
• Josh Lyman - the West Wing (he'd sigh and rage and just be generally good company in his own peculiar way; plus, ya know, Bradley Whitford... *sigh*)
• Lester Freemon - the Wire (because he'd be calm and methodical under the pressure)
• Willow Rosenberg - from Buffy (because she'd use magic in a good way, right?)
• Paul Merton (he'd help pass the minutes away)
• Kathy Burke (because it would be interesting to see who Cloud would be more pleased to see when he sees us exit after being rescued)

Final thought:

• David Tennant and Dougie Henshall (frankly, don't rush the rescue if I'm stuck with them)

UPDATE: as at 12 Feb, MediumRob has already stirred one of the most active comment threads in ages. Take a look: we've got a little out of hand you could say...

Rullsenberg in new glasses

Yep, my eyes are deteriorating*.

But I do like my new glasses.


*No jokes at the back of the class thank you!

Types of Intelligence Quiz

I really should avoid quizzes but they can be irresistible sometimes.

Your result for Howard Gardner's Eight Types of Intelligence Test...

Linguistic

22% Logical, 35% Spatial, 55% Linguistic, 29% Intrapersonal, 27% Interpersonal, 43% Musical, 4% Bodily-Kinesthetic and 18% Naturalistic!

"Verbal-linguistic intelligence has to do with words, spoken or written. People with verbal-linguistic intelligence display a facility with words and languages. They are typically good at reading, writing, telling stories and memorizing words and dates. They tend to learn best by reading, taking notes, listening to lectures, and via discussion and debate. They are also frequently skilled at explaining, teaching and oration or persuasive speaking. Those with verbal-linguistic intelligence learn foreign languages very easily as they have high verbal memory and recall, and an ability to understand and manipulate syntax and structure.

Careers which suit those with this intelligence include writers, lawyers, philosophers, journalists, politicians and teachers." (Wikipedia)

Take Howard Gardner's Eight Types of Intelligence Test at HelloQuizzy

ITV Saturday drama: sort yourselves out!

Well, Demons is over. Did anyone who was still watching it actually really muster up much caring when watching that finale???

*sigh* so much promise squandered.

But its ending does raise another concern: when the heck is Primeval coming back? The initial expectations were for an early new year start: but then Demons blundered its way in. Now, we seem to be lurching away from that evening slot being drama, back to it being family entertainment with AntOrDec.

We're now counting on the idea that after 6 weeks of A&D we might finally get to see S3 of Primeval. This will just about make it qualify for the Spring launch that ITV seemingly promised for it.

Get your act together ITV.

NOTE: this post has nothing to do with my need for a fix of Scottish loveliness. No sirree...

Tube people by Stu

Stu_N has an occasionally regular slot where he writes vignettes of people encountered in the London transport system.

Not only does he write incredibly eloquently of the behaviour and possible personalities of the people observed, but it's also a lovely and inspiring way to make your own journeys by public transport more interesting.

Who have you recently seen and imagined a life for?

Nottingham makes best use of the snow

Hat tip to Mike at Troubled Diva (and via, via as such things are in blogland) for alerting me to a gem of an image of Nottingham's Old Market Square.

I wonder how many people were aware of it as they walked through the city centre...

Warning: this probably say everything you need to know about Nottingham in the winter weather. We're a really classy bunch.

Torchwood - Children of Earth trailer

Come on then BBC, tell us EXACTLY when you will be screening the five-night spectacular that will be Torchwood: Children of Earth?

Trailer was released today (Thursday 5 February 2009) with a hat-tip to TV Scoop.

New Zealand at Highland Peaks, Dunedin

Whilst we were away in New Zealand, Neil's mum very kindly organised a trip away down to Dunedin (which is even further down the South Island coast of New Zealand). We had a spectacular journey down and great weather during our all-too-brief stay. But mostly we had a great time because we stayed at Highland Peaks. This is a Bed and Breakfast with a difference: hosts that really make you feel welcome, accommodation that is superb and food provisions to make your mouth water. Di and Peter were delightful hosts and Bud has to qualify as one of the most adorable dogs ever to fuss for food.

Highly recommended for a taste of luxury (in every sense!)

Music recommendation: To You - Headless Heroes (cover of an I Am Kloot song)

Headless Heroes' cover of To You (originally by I Am Kloot, apparantly) has been pretty much my favourite song for several weeks now, ever since I finally managed to get hold of the album from which it comes (The Silence of Love). I just can't stop playing it. It's competing with the loop of replaying that is Cressida Cowell's How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse -and that is being played for entirely different reasons...

Anyway, I just can't recommend highly enough the ethereal loveliness of this particular Headless Heroes cover (and I'd also recommend the rest of the album as well, especially the preceeding track Just Like Honey).

Enjoy!

Cross-posted on Music is Our Hot Hot Sex

Quiet week - well kinda...

Cloud's been away so I've had the house to myself mostly (with the cat) and regular injections of Scottish boys (that sounded so much better in my head).

Anyway, I'm looking forward to having him back home. I'll also be glad to see the back of this week at work, especially with the disruption created by the snow.

Not as it doesn't look lovely, but the ice that follows isn't great and it is almost inexcusable that the UK is so inept at dealing with relatively small deliveries of snow from the skies....

Wetlands review - best reference to Musil ever

Cloud just texted me about a review in the Observer for Charlotte Roche's novel Wetlands.

Sophie Hannah's review provides this hilarious line about the book's protagonist:

But mostly, she thinks, in the great German tradition. Where Musil had a Man Without Qualities, Roche brings us a Woman without Pants.

Worth reading the review, even if the book may not be quite as brilliant.

Technical question: external drives, macs and music

Okay, me and my mini-mac are going to anticipate the inevitable problem that will raise up its head sometime over the coming year. Most of my memory is taken up with music and photos. I know from good advice that iPhoto has to stay on my main hard drive (my mini-mac) but that my music COULD be relocated to my external drive. I currently use my external drive for Time Machine* and it is working very well and reassuringly.

QUESTION: can I partition my external drive (LaCIE) to be both the originator of my ITunes library AND simultaneously use it as the external drive for everything (including my iTunes)???

More importantly, I need an idiot's guide as to HOW to do this without making my head explode trying to read forums of know-it-all's telling me how simple it is before launching into incoherent technobabble. Basically I need a step by step guide that reads something like 'press this button here' and 'this button is located in (x) menu which can be found by clicking on the (z) icon on the (y) screen'.

I especially want to know how to get around the issue that though my external drive is large, obviously the backups created so far will be taking up quite a bit of space. SO... I'd prefer to do this partition and potential relocation of iTunes sooner rather than later.

SUB-QUESTION: some of my music was obtained through e-Music and may not be in the iTunes library (frankly I'm just not sure whether everything is where it should be!) How will this affect what I need to do?

I know this action will be obvious and easy to carry out once I get going but what I DON'T want happening is losing what I have got on my mac or drive in the process of creating the partition.

Please do feel able to direct me to helpful forums, but answers from those whom I know will understand my ineptitude with some degree of tolerance would be even more appreciated.


* And yes, I DO giggle every time I think of me having a Time Machine.

In Praise of ... Karrie Fransman

Karrie Fransman must be one of the most under-rated of the Guardian's contributing cartoonists/comic strip artists/writers.

Each week in the Guardian on Fridays, she contributes her own 'peculiar world' comic strip and it's usually a gem on which to end the week. Being away last Friday in Cardiff, Cloud especially kept the Friday 23 Jan 2009 strip for me to read on my return.

Belatedly, I give you Karrie's 'Alarming Thoughts' - aka my life in a comic strip: truly, Karrie must be in side my head!

Needless to say, it's been pinned up on my noticeboard.