How to write
From the Guardian, Ten Rules for Writing Fiction starts off with Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules, and then lists 10 do’s and don’ts from another ten authors. Leonard’s are the most…
Chatroom improv man
This made me laugh: Merton, a guy with a piano improvises songs in realtime about the people who appear in his chatroom window on Chat Roulette. I could sit and…
More sexist crap about ballet
I was looking for a sentence in Rupert Christiansen’s article in last week’s Telegraph (‘The New Recruits to Ballet’s Boot Camp’) that might serve as an example of a new…
Hearing loss & children
Via Rebecca’s Pocket, still my favourite blog on the net, an article about hearing loss and young children from the NY Times. It’s become fashionable to denigrate health & safety…
Krava-hydrates
Breakfast for me is a serious business: it’s got to be slow release, with protein, and low GI. I’m not an ascetic, I just like food too much: I’d no…
Places that are still there #2: The Cosmoba, Bloomsbury
I can’t walk anywhere in Bloomsbury without being wistfully rushed back in time to when I was a student at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies back in…