Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category

Glastonbury 2008

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

Cut Copy. The Levellers. The Subways. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. Vampire Weekend. Ben Folds. The Duke Spirit. Edwyn Collins. John Cale. Franz Ferdinand. Kings Of Leon. Fanfarlo. Cruel Folk. Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip. British Sea Power. The Raconteurs. The Last Shadow Puppets. Amy Winehouse. Buddy Guy. The Proclaimers. Mary Bourke. Attila The Stockbroker. Dynamo’s Rhythm Aces. John Mayer. Scouting For Girls. Mark Ronson. Goldfrapp. Leonard Cohen. The National.

D x.

Faking It

Monday, July 16th, 2007

Today I read with some distress that scenes from Gordon Ramsay’s The F Word were edited to make it appear that he caught several fish. He did no such thing. (more…)

Self-hating Scotsman

Monday, June 18th, 2007

Whenever I introduce myself to someone as being from Glasgow, I invariably get one of the following responses:

  • “Oh but I can understand your accent.”
  • “Oh but I thought Scottish people were meant to be thrifty and you’ve clearly just got a round in for everyone.”
  • “Oh but I can’t help noticing you haven’t knifed me to death.”
  • “Is it true about the kilts?”

In the face of such blatant stereotyping, I emit a beleaguered sigh, and launch into the prepared script that I have for just these occasions; I wonder why people cling on to these old-fashioned notions about Scottishness, surely cribbed from an episode of the Russ Abbot show. But then….

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Linky Love

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007

Blimey, it’s been a while since I updated this, hasn’t it? Well, rest assured that I have lots of interesting things to say, and I should be resuming soon. But, for the mean time and in the interests of an intriguing non-linear narrative, let me introduce you to my other website.

It’s Christmas

Monday, December 25th, 2006

As anti-commercial whingers tend to remark, Christmas is starting earlier every year. And I have no reason to disagree, as it seemed this year to have ended by the 7th of December, when I sat down to Christmas dinner for the second and final time that week. In fact, as I’ve spent the rest of the month slogging through overcrowded shopping centres, and watching ancient repeats on TV, I’ve come to the conclusion that Christmas is actually dragging on a bit.

But don’t let such contrivedly-symmetric Scroogery get you down! It’s Christmas Day, and wherever you are, I hope you have a great day.

PS. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll get some slush at the New Year.

Things I am excited about, part IV

Friday, September 15th, 2006

Ignoring a bus tour of the Highlands, two whisky trips and a long weekend in Crawley, it has been five years since I last took a holiday. (We’ll be charitable and assume that the student lifestyle isn’t “just like being on holiday”. For once, it’s far less stressful.) I decided that, after completing my Masters, I would remedy this. I conducted an impromptu census of my international friends, and discovered that the largest single group is the Americans. (Malta scored an honourable second place: maybe next year!) So I called everyone’s bluff and took them up on their kind invitations to come and visit, and now I’m here. Thanks to Jen, Abby, Garth and Nicole, I’m seeing America in the best way possible. Rent-free.

In seriousness, though, I’m halfway through my stay here, and it has been great to see what real life is like in this country. I’ll blog more later about each part of my trip, but a preliminary investigation reveals that it “centers” around beef-eating, binge-drinking and an abject under-reliance on public transport.

So far, I’ve visited Boston, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Nantucket, Cape Cod, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. (I also visited Arlington, VA and passed through Delaware and Maryland, which totally counts.) Tomorrow I travel (intrepidly, by a combination of bus and commuter rail) to New York City, and next week I move on to Chicago and finally Wisconsin.

It’s been great fun so far, and I must give thanks again to Jen and Abby, who have been the most gracious hosts. There’s another near-fortnight to come, and so I think you’ll understand why I’m verily excited!

Things I am excited about, part III

Wednesday, August 30th, 2006

And now for a geeky one.

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Things I am excited about, part II

Thursday, August 24th, 2006

Just twenty minutes ago, I finally handed in the fruits of four months’ labour. Of all the dissertations that I have written (or helped to write), Gathering BLOBs with OGSA-DAI is possibly my favourite, though I’m still glad to have it finished. In fact, I finished 30 days later than planned, but that’s okay, because I planned to finish 31 days early. The deadline is tomorrow, and I’m handing it in today to save the schlep out to KB for the penultimate time. (One more trip next week to give a valedictory presentation, but that’s not too much to worry about.)

Thus its off for a guilt-free weekend of fun (to contrast with all the guilty weekends and weeks of fun that have gone before), with pizzas, parties and popular music.

You may think that was a rather self-satisfied post. Don’t worry: there are more Things I am excited about. It gets worse.

Things I am excited about, part I

Tuesday, August 22nd, 2006

For the first time, I’m living in Edinburgh (well, sort of) during the Fringe. This has made it possible to see even more shows than last year. And it’s also given me the chance to work on my rage control techniques.

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Flag Day

Thursday, June 8th, 2006

Tomorrow marks the start of the first World Cup during which I will have day-to-day business with “English People”. Needless to say, this development puts me in something of a pickle.

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