July 2009
69 posts
“Bobby Robson is one of those people who never die, not so much for what he did...”
– Jose Mourinho (Football honours Sir Bobby Robson). Terribly sad news today, a real legend of the game and a genuinely wonderful character. Rest in peace Bobby.
2 tags
Frizzante @ Hackney City Farm
Countless times we’ve walked past Hackney City Farm and pondered checking out their Thursday evening suppers. Despite it’s position slap bang in the middle of Hackney, there’s something almost Mediterranean about the place, and as the cafe is run by three Italian chefs (Armando, Eddy and Mauro — known collectively as Frizzante) it’s not surprising.
Having succumbed...
Couldn’t agree more with anaisescobar,...
“He spent two years in concentration, slave labour and deportation camps in...”
– The obituary of Michel Thomas (Moniek Kroskof, 1914—2005), he of the ‘No books, No writing’ language courses. Never knew he had led such an eventful life.
Dr Beaurieux's report →
The report is written by Dr Beaurieux, who under perfect circumstances experimented with the head of Languille, guillotined at 5.30 a.m. on June 28th, 1905. Fascinating. (via Kottke)
Listen, and learn
Just a couple of weeks after Henry Allingham’s passing at 113, Harry Patch, Britain’s last surviving soldier of the Great War, dies at 111.
So there are no-longer any former British soldiers who can relay the horrors of the Great War. Books, movies, photographs and interviews can tell some of the story, but there’s nothing like the experience of hearing stories told directly by...
“Those are the kind of windows faces look in at.”
– Withnail
Rum n' ting
Cocktail of the month at The Big Chill bar. Ingredients?
Wray & Nephew (rum),
lime,
passionfruit
& ting.
Heh.
“The way to show you care: do not request a meeting with me; take one away...”
– Liz Danzico (bobulate) on Twitter
Venomous mammals →
What do the Cuban and Haitian Solenodon, Platypus, Eurasian water shrew, Northern Short-tailed Shrew, Southern Short-tailed Shrew, European Mole and Slow lorises have in common?
Oh no, I gave it away in the title didn’t I?
Venomous mammals are in fact very rare, possibly because mammals are generally smart and effective enough to kill their prey without needing a slow acting poison.
Sagrario's Room Escape →
Step away from the game, do not approach, do not begin playing, do not even begin to be intrigued by this fiendishly difficult but compelling little puzzle game.
Track of the week: Discovery — It’s...
Watch650 Million Years In 1:20 Min — showing the movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates from over 400 million years ago to beyond 150 million years into the future.
2 tags
Moon
Directed by Duncan Jones (2009)
I was lucky enough to not just see Moon in the lovely Screen on the Green cinema yesterday, but to also enjoy an Q&A session with director Duncan Jones, so where I can remember I’ll try and slip in a few interesting titbits.
The first thing to say, I suppose, is that Moon is a really wonderful film. Evoking the spirit of some of my favourite science...
“Keeping within your capacity is vital. I’ve had two major breakdowns, one...”
– WWI veteran Henry Allingham, the world’s oldest man (who has died aged 113), when asked what his ‘secret’ was. Amazing to think he was 73 when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon.
BBC - Mihir Bose: Stately Perez defends big... →
Excuse me while I vomit into my special bag reserved for the bilious excretions that manifest themselves when I read this pathetic excuse for a journalist wax-sycophantic about someone who provided a very expensive lunch.
Let’s get this straight: on license payers money, Bose, a cameraman, and if I know the BBC, about fourteen other ‘essential personnel’ all went on a jolly to...
“Carlos Tevez [Unattached - Man City] £25m”
– Am I the only one that sees something fundamentally wrong with that information? £25m to who? (via BBC SPORT | Football | Transfers - July 2009)
Big blobs of mystery goo floating off Alaska coast →
[Video] Though unsurprisingly (but boringly) it turns out it’s just algae.
Ireland passes blasphemy law →
Well, it’s been nice knowing you Ireland, but I think you’re all about to arrest yourselves. Utterly, utterly mental in the most ridiculous way. Doing anything that a large number of people claim to be outraged about is now illegal. Note those two cast iron legal terms there — ‘large’ and ‘outraged’ — they’re actually the words used in the...
“Human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished...”
– Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (via fuckyeahexistentialism)
2 tags
Romance & Cigarettes
Directed by John Turturro (2006)
I’ve had this review in draft for a very long time. Perhaps because I find it extremely difficult to say that I really enjoyed a musical. There, I said it.
I hate musicals, in all their forms — and there’s no doubting that the narrative, along with Turturro’s direction, is a little uneven — but that couldn’t spoil a...
Twitter and teens: Challenging the idea of the... →
Interesting piece on the age profile of Twitter users. Teens seem to be terribly sensible and prefer the security of Facebook, although you may want to replace ‘terribly sensible’ with ‘terribly afraid of their parents finding out what they’re up to’….
What is your ninja name?
This is awesome, my Ninja name is ZU-MO-SHI-TE-KA-TO, Zumoshitekato.
Via ahli (or Katakimikika).
A- ka B- zu C- mi D- te E- ku F- lu G- ji H- ri I- ki J- zu K- me L- ta M- rin N- to O- mo P- no Q- ke R- shi S- ari T- chi U- do V- ru W- mei X- na Y- fu Z- zi
“Stupid is predictable; predictable is learnable; learnable is usable.”
– Wolfram Alpha and hubristic user interfaces via (37s)
The 50 Greatest Trailers of All Time →
I love lists, I love movies, I’m a bit of a trailer freak. I like this.
“Michael is a good salesman, he’s great in meetings. And he has great hair.”
– Anonymous publicist on why Michael Bay gets hired. (via March of the turkeys - Ravi Somaiya on why schlockbusters are so dire, despite the millions that are spent on them)
“Poor quality is remembered long after low prices are forgotten.”
– Jason Fried