Monthly Archives: November 2002

I Want A Career (And I Want It Now)

I wonder which of the Celebrity Big Brother contestants (who all go into the house later today) is not trying to kick-start their career?

And Mark Owen is a Rufus Wainwright fan – now that’s a departure from Take That.

On this day…

2006: Children In Need Is Britain’s version of Thanksgiving
2005: Modern Life Is Rubbish
2004: Another Grid Lock
2003: Movable Type Pro, Soon?

This Is How A Thriller Should Read

The Bourne Identity book coverThere is a cliché that says a book is a real page turner and it certainly applies to this book. I picked it up because I loved the film and I imagined the book would be just as good. The novel, however, leaves the film standing. Don’t expect a movie tie-in because this is certainly not that. Jason Bourne is found floating in the ocean and that’s about where the similarity starts and finishes. Some great scenes in Zurich and Paris are the only other resemblances to the film.

I’d never read a Robert Ludlum book before but this has me searching for the next. It’s written at a pace that keeps you hooked, the story is much more complex than the film and the characterisation and plot is a joy to read. I was hooked to the very last page.

On the downside, if you have seen the film one of the crucial story twists is known to you. If you haven’t seen the movie, read the book first for this is how a thriller should read. [More at Amazon]

On this day…

2005: Tracking The World
2004: Grid Lock
2003: Last Orders at the Liars’ Bar

Things That Make You Go “Huum”

Members of The Fire Brigade’s Union are going on strike as I type this. As a result, some London Underground stations are closing this evening – but not all. London Underground has an interesting piece on safety on the tube:

Under normal circumstances, with full fire service cover, the risk of death to a daily traveller on the Underground from all causes is around 1 in 150,000 per year. The risk from fire is only a small contributor (about 2.5%) to this overall risk. [Source: London Underground]

On this day…

2005: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
2004: links for 2004-11-13
2003: Thoughts on Helsinki

Fly Accipiter, Fly

Accipiter LogoI am happy today! My ex-colleagues at Engage AdManager have bought the company from Engage to re-form Accipiter – the company Engage acquired in 1998 (or thereabouts).

Engage has slowly been moving out of the online space. When I worked for them they owned a large number of online companies. The selling of AdManger to its management seems to leave them with no pure-play online offerings.

I just want to wish the new AdManager management all the luck in the world they are a fantastic group of people and if you’re in the market for an online advertising solution, you’ll find best of breed at www.accipiter.com.

They are a fantastic group of people and if you’re in the market for an online advertising solution, you’ll find best of breed at www.accipiter.com.

On this day…

2005: Regent Street Lights 2005
2004: Great London Food Market Revisited
2003: Heavenly?
2003: Do I Hear Fi?
2003: Another Month Another Man
2003: Bring A Smile

Give Us Our Daily Blog

In common with any page of links, many of the pages noted below have long since moved, closed or cease to be updated in any regular kind of way. Facebook and Twitter have meant some of those who I used to read have moved on to the next way to communicate their thoughts. I keep this here as a nice reminder of the early days of blogging! I’ve tried to link to archived versions of many of the sites.

As I started redeveloping this site, it became apparent that I wanted to link to my collection of daily blog reads and this became the place to keep them.

The first, almost daily, read is Jase Wells. I guess I have been something of an invisible online stalker to this site for years. I have watched it move, change and develop since sometime in 1994 when I first came across it. It still remains one of the best personal homepages on the web – and I am very pleased to see that he has turned it into a blog.

Next on the list is Tom Coates’ plasticbag.org – which must be one of the best around and, if I am honest, I miss it if he doesn’t post. You will find notsosoft linked from there which, I think, contains some of the best writing on the web.

trabaca, posterboy, eric and contrasts.net provide additional regular reading from the US, while Adam’s photoblog provides stunning pictures on a regular basis. overyourhead is a UK take, while prolific is based in Amsterdam. Haddock blogs is a collection of well-known UK internet names.

Of course, blogsphere is represented well by Metafilter which I try and check out most days.

Other’s of note include Nick Denton and Brendan O’neill for opinions; Scott Andrew, Ben Hammersley and Jason Kottke for web-related stuff and Stuart Towns for his travelogue.

Finally, if you’re not interested in reading the ramblings of people you may never have heard of, then click along to Will Wheaton’s blog which is a fascinating take on the world of celebrity.

On this day…

2004: Reading The TV News Headlines
2003: In Mark Owen’s Time

Donnie Darko

Possibly the strangest and most compelling film I have seen all year and it’s not had a great deal of coverage. Donnie Darko’s website is very wierd and I am not sure you’ll get much from that. Tom, on the other hand, raves about it. You can read more reviews here or at The Guardian. I can’t explain it. Go see it.

On this day…

2004: Forgotten Projects?
2003: Return of the King

The Ultimate Boy Band CD (2) Aka The I Am Shallow Project

The Ultimate Boy Band CD Project is starting to depress me for several reasons:

  1. Because compiling a CD takes time (how do those guys select for Now 195? (Update: They get paid to do it all day, of course)
  2. It’s also much harder than I imagined to come up with a CD full of songs that I would actually say is the best Boy Band CD ever (wonder if the Best … Ever people have done this, maybe I should look)
  3. Nobody else seems to think this is a fun idea
  4. Some people seem to think all I care about (musically) is boy bands
  5. Almost everybody thinks boy bands are crap
  6. Almost everybody seems to think this makes me shallow, which is amusing. I think this shows that I am much shallower than you imagine

I know there is more to life than this! I was having a bit of fun. Lighten up. Please.

And so, on with the project:

  1. N’Sync – Pop
  2. Take That – Relight My Fire
  3. Take That – Could It Be Magic
  4. F5ive – If Ya Gettin’ Down
  5. Backstreet Boys – Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)
  6. A1 – Same Old Brand New You
  7. NEW A1 – Caught In The Middle
  8. NEW Blue – All Rise

I guess I really am shallow!

On this day…

2004: The Whispering Years
2004: links for 2004-11-01