Word!

So bad about blogging this month, but so excellently crafty in other respects (post coming up)

In the meantime, here is another excellent meme I'm stealing from Boz ~ a wordle pic of what I've been wittering on about here recently:


Cripes I'm obsessed with trivia! *hides in shame*

Hitting the Road: Gorillaz and Lady Gaga pay homage to Thelma and Louise

Ridley Scott is by any measure one of the great filmmakers of our time. I suppose one yardstick of a great film is its enduring impact on popular culture. It is therefore very notable that two great video pop stars should both launch videos almost simultaneously that reference the iconic ending of Ridley Scott’s Thelma and Louise, which was released almost 20 years ago in 1991.

Here’s a clip of Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis as the heroines in that climactic scene (SPOILERS):

;

Stylo, the new single from Gorillaz, references the Thelma and Louise ending while mashing it up with Mad Max and possibly even a little James Bond in there too . . .

You can watch the video on YouTube - embedding disabled on request, boringly.

Mr Bruce Willis, I salute you! Bruce does a great car chase.

Lady Gaga camps it up to the max - the Thelma and Louise references in her new video for Telephone (featuring Beyoncé) are very specific (even down to the clasped hands). Her choice of mash is the pussy wagon from Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill:



I am a major fan of the Gaga’s outrageous creativity and lush video work but have a few qualms about this one. She’s corrupting Beyoncé! ~ and what to make of mass murder played cartoon style? Not to mention the grossly blatant product placement. However, one cannot deny the video is compellingly watchable and the single is another great pop tune; another worthy stepping stone in her quest to out-Madonna Madonna.

the competition shapes up

Greece and Sweden also chose their Eurovision Song Contest entries this weekend. Interestingly, both countries seem to be deviating from their usual ESC parameters.

Greece usually sends in an über-sexy glamour hunk, all white teeth and pecs, pumping away to a hi-energy beat. Surprisingly they have gone folksy-modern this year with George Alkeos & Friends (OPA)



This is a brave choice and it works for me. It’s kind-of an updated Zorba’s dance for the 2010s, and it just might have the crossover appeal of the original. Nicely played Greece.

Sweden has also been wedded to a high-energy disco beat in recent years (the delectable Malena Ernman’s opera-meets-trance La Voix probably represented the end of the road for this line of attack ). This year they’ve gone all geeky girl ballad with the lovely Anna Bergendahl singing This is my Life, complete with now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t geeky guitar.



Many commentators have noted the preponderance of ballads in ESC this year, and I wonder if this is the influence of the UK’s entry last year? Were we tragically one year too early with our ballad? Anna’s song is actually almost a paraphrase of Jade’s This is My Time.

But Anna has a beautiful and distinctive voice, and will appeal to both genders (that geek girl vibe cleverly taking the edge off the potentially intimidating Swedish physical perfection).

Anna gives the song her all - a performance incandescent with authentic emotion, taking the ballad into a whole new dimension. This is what Josh desperately needs to do with the UK entry.

Even at this early stage Sweden has captured my heart and I think Anna is the one to beat.

Your country needs you

Never in the field of human tweeting has there been such unanimity. Eurovision fans in the UK hate our entry to the Eurovision Song Contest this year, as a quick perusal of the #ycny hash tag on twitter reveals.

David Schneider’s tweet said it all:

@davidschneider: Just tuned in to Your Country Needs You To Stop Singing Now. Oh dear. #ycny

In the last couple of years, the BBC has pursued a policy of getting major stars to write the song, and letting the public vote on who the performer is. It’s actually quite patronising, as it implies the public can’t recognise a good song when they hear it - our overlords at the BBC have to choose the ‘great’ song for us, and us plebs get to choose the pretty face who sings it.

Last year’s entry by Andrew Lloyd Webber sung by Jade Ewan seemed to justify this approach, with the UK getting its highest placing for years in Moscow.

But last night showed the downside - Pete Waterman was huge in his day but that day is not today (and frankly, does he really have the name recognition of Lloyd Webber in Euroland anyway?) Unfortunately both the song and its musical arrangement sound like they were B-side rejects for some Stock Aiken and Waterman act back in the late 80s. I truly feel sorry for Josh Dubovie, the talented 19-year old who has to perform it in Oslo.



It would be great if the BBC could recognise its mistake and drop the song, but that isn’t going to happen. What they need to do to mitigate damage is the following:

1) Let some hip musical maestro loose on the arrangement to make it more credible (calling you, Mark Ronson).

2) Work on Josh’s delivery - he’s a good singer and a truly innovative attack on the vocalisation of this tune might make a difference.

3) Teach Josh to dance - or failing that, even move gracefully. It’s his weak spot.

4) Josh is an appealing chap with a great smile. They have to get that microphone out of his face.

They have to capitalise on Josh as far as they are able and blatantly pander to the teenybopper Euro girl demographic because he’s the best thing about the UK entry, and might possibly save us from total annihilation.

But total annihilation is what I predict.

life hacks - clothing

The internet is so educational! I've been rocking the folded looped scarf thing for a while now - it keeps your scarf nicely secured and your neck extra warm - but lately have been getting a bit bored with it. Also, the knot is quite bulky on the neck. So it was great to see on the wonderful Sartorialist site a new scarf knot, complete with instruction video, and I only had to watch it about 5 times before I could do it too (I'm severely challenged co-ordination wise):



The great thing about this knot is that it lies flat against your neck - it's far more elegant and much less bulky, but I imagine still as warm and your scarf won't unravel and fly away.

For some reason it reminded me of this classic Japanese video showing you how to fold a t-shirt in 2 seconds. So fantastic - it's turned me into a laundry ninja:

Birthday Cake: Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

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The time of year to think about birthday cakes has rolled around again. I know cupcakes have been all the rage ever since Sarah Jessica Parker visited the Magnolia Bakery in NYC in an episode of Sex and the City almost ten years ago - cupcake boutique bakeries have been springing up in every major city the world over - so I though I'd better embrace this trend before it was over (bound to be any day soon now).

In my internet researches I had bookmarked this recipe for Chocolate Mint Cupcakes - it looked fairly straightforward yet utterly tempting so I thought I'd give it a bash. Chocolate and mint are two of my favourite things. And I love combining them.

Here are the ingredients. All impeccably free range, organic, fair trade etc etc etc. I decided to take Nigella's advice on using 00 grade flour and I think it did make a big difference.



Basically, you sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. In another bowl, you whisk the eggs, sugar and peppermint extract. Melt the chocolate, butter and mix with cocoa. Then combine all the ingredients and spoon into cupcake cases.




The cake dough seemed far more fudgy in texture than I'm used to (but tasted divine). It was difficult to get an even loading in the cases, so I left the blobs pretty au naturel. But they rose spectacularly well - I would class this as the best result I have had from this oven (for some reason i really battle with baking in my oven - roasting meats though it takes in its stride, so I don't quite understand the problem. It may well lie on the other side of the apron).

Before:

After:


Cupcake display is crucial to achieve the right elegantly twee retro 50's teatime effect. Alas, storage considerations in Hedgie Towers preclude the use of a cake stand, but last winter I spotted a brilliantly improvised one in the windows of Zeitgeist on the Pavement, Clapham Old Town. You balance plates on wineglasses - and I have just the right decoratively shaped glasses! Hoorah!




I frosted the cakes with ordinary buttercream icing flavoured with peppermint extract. This was delicious. Prue Leith has a recipe for Crème au beurre meringue icing, where you beat egg whites with icing sugar over a simmering pan before adding soft butter and the flavourings. This icing gives a superlative result and if I made these again and I would try that.

I do recommend these cakes as they are easy, slightly unusual and very good. Lesley said they reminded her of eating an After Eight mint chocolate, so if you like those, you're bound to love these!

Last year's birthday cake: Chocolate Nemesis.

The PCC's Jan Moir FAIL

Jan Moir’s notorious Stephen Gately piece, published in the Daily Mail the day before his funeral, attracted 25,000 individual complaints from the public. Those complaints came in so fast they crashed the PCC website. Mainstream advertisers like Marks & Spencer demanded their ads were pulled from the article. Eventually the Mail pulled all advertising from the article.

Stephen Gately’s husband filed an official complaint as well. This was crucial, because despite the scale of public outrage, only those directly affected are allowed to make a complaint under PCC rules.

The PCC has now ruled that the article was just fine: within the standards we should expect of our free Press here in the UK.

Compare and contrast with the results of the public hysteria whipped up by the Daily Mail against the BBC, Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand over the Andrew Sachs incident: a BBC executive was forced out, Brand resigned, Ross, the BBC's biggest star, was suspended without pay for three months and now his contract has not been renewed.

But Jan Moir and the Daily Mail have got off scott free. Depressingly, this means we can probably expect more of this genre of homophobic writing to emerge from the gutter press in the future, especially as the PCC seems to feel that they can say whatever they like as long as they avoid words like fag, queer, poof, bender etc.

PCC: "While many complainants considered that there was an underlying tone of negativity towards Mr Gately and the complainant on account of the fact that they were gay, it was not possible to identify any direct uses of pejorative or prejudicial language in the article."

Yes, it is indeed true Ms Moir did not use the specific and traditional homophobic epithets in her article. What she did use was offensive innuendo ramped up to the maximum. It has been described as “dog whistle” journalism - but in this case it’s for dogs of a particularly deaf and stupid nature, in case they don’t quite get it:

“Another real sadness about Gately's death is that it strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships.

Gay activists are always calling for tolerance and understanding about same-sex relationships, arguing that they are just the same as heterosexual marriages. Not everyone, they say, is like George Michael.

Of course, in many cases this may be true. Yet the recent death of Kevin McGee, the former husband of Little Britain star Matt Lucas, and now the dubious events of Gately's last night raise troubling questions about what happened.
It is important that the truth comes out about the exact circumstances of his strange and lonely death.

As a gay rights champion, I am sure he would want to set an example to any impressionable young men who may want to emulate what they might see as his glamorous routine.

For once again, under the carapace of glittering, hedonistic celebrity, the ooze of a very different and more dangerous lifestyle has seeped out for all to see.”

Even if one accepts the PCC’s highly restrictive definition of homophobic journalism, her factual inaccuracy is surely just grounds for complaint:

"Whatever the cause of death is, it is not, by any yardstick, a natural one. Let us be absolutely clear about this." (emphasis mine)

The Spanish coroner ruled that Gately died on the 10th October 2009 of natural causes, due to pulmonary oedema. Clearly Jan was highly inaccurate, not so, PCC?

PCC: Moir's claim that Gately's death had not been "natural", while controversial and speculative, "could not be established as accurate or otherwise".

I’m sorry, but in this ruling the PCC comes across as a Society for the Preservation and Justification of the Gutter Press.

Peter Tatchell has it absolutely right:

"If Jan Moir had made similar comments about a black or Jewish person, and disparaged their race and community, the PCC would have ruled against her.

"She may well have been arrested and charged with inciting racial hatred. Why is the PCC adopting double standards on homophobia?

"This ruling brings the PCC into disrepute. It's another nail in the coffin of this discredited, feeble institution. The PCC is past its sell-by date. It should be replaced by an independent statutory body with real power and principles."

Quote London

"The best seat in any theater in the world is the front seat on the upper deck of a London Omnibus."

- Henry James

I'm a Photographer, not a terrorist

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Yesterday the campaigning group I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! held a mass photographic gathering in Trafalgar Square in defence of street photography.

Over the last several years both professional and amateur photographers have become aware of what appears to be a semi-official campaign of intimidation against photographers in public spaces. Section 44 of the Terrorism Act allows police to stop and search photographers if they have reasonable suspicion that the photographic activity might be reconnaissance for terrorist activity.

The difficulty with the legislation is that it is vague and ambiguous, leaving individual policemen on the ground confused. The natural tendency is then to take no chances and apply the law to its fullest extent, regardless of common sense. The police work closely with private security guards, who are even more likely to act aggressively. Unfortunately, once they call the police a train is set in motion which cannot be stopped and the incident escalates into a very frightening, humiliating and time-consuming experience for the innocent photographer. 36,000 photographers were stopped and searched last year. It would be interesting to know how many of these turned out to be actual reconnoitering terrorists.

Last year we’ve had reports of a BBC photographer being stopped photographing the sunset over St Paul’s Cathedral (from across the river); a Guardian journalist being stopped photographing London’s iconic Gherkin building (30 St Mary Axe); an Austrian tourist and his son being arrested taking photos at Vauxhall bus station; an arrest of someone taking a snap of a fish-and-chips shop in Kent; someone stopped for taking photographs of Brighton’s Christmas lights; and tourists having their cameras confiscated for taking pictures of the Royal family at Sandringham. As laughable as these incidents are, it is more worrying that press photographers have actually been arrested for doing their jobs. The implications for civil liberties and the rule of law are even more highlighted by the fact that the public photographic evidence of police hitting Ian Tomlinson during the G20 protests (the head of the IPCC reported on Channel 4 news that “none” of the CCTV in the area was operational) could be regarded as illegal under Section 44, which forbids photographing the police.

Even celebrities get stopped - take a look at what happened to Dave Gorman when he took a photograph of the derelict Battersea Power Station.

One of my professional photographer friends has called London the most photographically unfriendly city in the world. Pyonyang take note.

There have always been issues with London because so much of the city is only notionally public. Photography in Trafalgar Square for example - seemingly the very epitome of public space - is strictly controlled. If you have what a PCSO regards as a professional camera (basically, any DSLR camera) you may be challenged.

My experience with the security guards at the Gherkin fell into this category - I was challenged (and stopped) the moment I stepped across the pavement’s line of bollards. I was then on private property, you see. I accepted the guard’s prohibition and continued shooting the building from the pavement - luckily for me the police weren’t called.

Photography on the tube is allowed (without flash or tripod) for personal use and I’ve never had trouble on the tube itself - just recently however I was challenged by a tube security person for taking a photo of Clapham South tube station from the street. I held my ground and remained polite and the incident ended in stalemate. He did tell me I shouldn’t do it because the police don’t like it.

The irony is, even a tube station like Clapham South - a suburban London station of likely interest only to tube geeks and/or architecture geeks - is still very well represented in Google images, so official injunctions against photography bring to mind Canute lecturing the incoming tide.

So, so far I haven’t had any contact with the police but I fully expect to in the future, as one of my interests is architectural photography and anyone taking photos of London’s iconic landmarks is now classed as suspicious.

I was very keen to become a fan of I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! on facebook and attend the gathering in Trafalgar Square yesterday. It was a gathering rather than an official protest. The police were aware of the event but kept a very low key presence.

It was a cold miserable January day in London, so it was great that so many made the effort to come. The atmosphere was friendly but people were obviously concerned and angry about the state’s attack on civil liberties. I estimate that there were slightly in excess of 2,000 photographers present.

My view is that as a society we need to be aware of the terrorist threat. But London has faced terrorism since the 70s. We should be able to do this in an intelligent and effective manner. This war on photography is just going to make the police look ridiculous, create a wedge between the police and state and the citizenry, and possibly affect London’s competitiveness in the international tourism market if word spreads. It won’t catch or deter terrorists.

There were so many different types at the gathering - pros and amateurs, old and young, men and women. Just quietly determined that we should continue to exercise our rights in a peaceful and lawful manner. Interesting that photo geeks are pretty savvy to the new media and connected - twitter, facebook, flickr, blogging, etc. This gives me heart that we can effectively campaign to get the state to see sense.



Links
Facebook campaign: I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist!

The British Journal of Photography supports the gathering

Press Reports: BBC News; The Guardian, Sky News, Amateur Photographer; CNN

LibDem Voice: MEP Sarah Ludford and photographer Grant Smith interviewed at the gathering

Blogger report: Pink Sauce

My photos of the Mass Photographic Gathering on flickr

flickr Mass Photographic Gathering collective

Related - Amateur Photographer: Met Police Watchdog oversees complaints

Brrrrrr

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The photos of our garden above compare the snowfall of last February (top) with that of this week (bottom). Not impressed! Although it is definitely colder than last year (and the cold is lasting longer), we haven't had nearly as much snow. I am very disappointed.

However, the whole of Britain is covered with the stuff, as the magnificent Nasa satellite picture below shows. Apparently, our Gulf Stream has diverted to Greenland and the Jet Stream is too far south, hence the freeze. Actually, despite all the "Global warming! Ha!" comments this is exactly what was predicted by the man-made climate change model. Thank goodness for the massive extension of wind farms off our coasts - when they all come on stream they'll generate 25% of the UK's electricity needs.

This has been all over the internet and was actually trending on twitter yesterday, but it's so special I'm posting it too. Hopefully this icy scenario won't be repeating too frequently.

Refrigerate . . . Refrigerate . . .

Strange weather, huh?

Why now, though? Climate change? Ha! The unusual weather conditions have allowed the infiltration into our midst of our most terrible foes - the daleks, in cunning snow disguise!

The sneaky so-and-sos are taking advantage of the interregnum between Doctors, no doubt. Matt Smith can't arrive too soon.

Sightings have been popping up all over the intermawebs:

dalek by Doktor Watson
photo by Ian Applegate, dalek by Doktor Watson
photo by Rob Gough

photos and dalek by johntk256
photo: Warrington Guardian


uploaded by sophiethevegetarian @ flickr

Luckily, I think a spot of central heating (in addition to the usual stairs) will take care of these chancers.

tweets of the year

This has been the year of twitter for me. I joined in January and rapidly succumbed to a severe addiction. Twitter informed me of breaking news faster than anything else, made me more politically aware and involved, made all my hobbies and interests much more interesting, turbo-charged the entertainment factor of television a thousand-fold, and helped me meet some great people. Here is a selection of my favourite tweets from 2009 - the good, bad, ugly, witty, profound, frivolous, and controversial: *

diamondgeezer RT @ElizabethRex2 : Dearest Charles, could you pop into the drawing room and explain how Twittering works? One needs to network...

jkottke How many innocent blogs have died so that Twitter may live?

jkottke I am now a locavore. I will only eat food located within an arm's reach of my mouth.

susanorlean No matter how many books you've written, if you're a writer your parents will always wonder when you're going to get a job.

susanorlean Mother's Day gift from 4 yr old son: I got to choose whether to watch Jurrasic Park 1 or 3 during breakfast. It's the thought that counts.

miketd It's my time. It's my time. My moah-ment. I'm not gonna let go of it

rolytaylor RT@DarkPianoIt took the universe billions of years to produce the moment you call "now." Strive to see the perfection in it! :)

edwardclarke It's heartbreaking in this day and age that at the funeral of a gay man there is zero acknowledgement of that fact.

thoroughlygood Is Patricia's dress "under construction" ? #eurovision

Wossy #eurovision I am with Peter Tatchell. Figuratively. Go on Graham, say it ! They are backward fascists. Dumb ass russians.

kvinnesland #eurovision UK has entered the wrong contest. Beautiful song, but do they expect to win without a stupid show and silly pants?

style_therapy The UK putting in a halfway decent showing at Eurovision? That's just not on. I feel kind of cheated.

davidschneider: The Norwegian boy might lose his virginity tonight. The Albanian dwarves have their eyes on him

owenblacker OMG Sookie. You have eight kittens upstairs, still blind. No, I am not gonna let you out so you can find more cock!

adventuresofboz Up in your spot like a tasty pastry treat, world!

edwardclarke Horrifying ENO surtitle fail - used 'discrete' when meant 'discreet'. We are truly living in decadent times.

frala_fontaine really need to stop opening Twitter and Facebook first thing. Though I did get distracted by some work..

AndrewOrange New life-as-a-writer progress report: Haven't actually written anything yet but at least I now have a printer in case I ever do. Baby steps.

AlextheFly @YHBW The 456 want our children. Are we sure it's not Madonna in there? #Torchwood

edwardclarke@sarahbrown10 RT @RedMummy: @edwardclarke Am bad person - I like veal. Ask SB to save her unwanted portions for me.

robfahey Every bit of pent-up nastiness from years of writing a show that's forced to pander to a kiddy audience came pouring out. #torchwood

dzhimbo Emphasis on medium draws attention to the structure of the piece, however, creating metadiagetic commentary on its meaning(s). #artchat

RedMummy@edwardclarke To Flybe I promised I'd always be true, but Virgin don't charge me for using the loo.

Shoq: We need public media; a BBC or CBC, or you can kiss the American experiment goodbye. Nice concept but the rat died. Sorry!

samuelpepys Sir W. Pen and I did dig another pit, and put our wine in it; and I my Parmazan cheese, as well as my wine and some other things.

stigblog Weather outside too horrible. Weather in bed too lovely.

mrjohnwilkes: My warm Congratulations to Mr. Van RUMPOY. I can't recall voting for you, Sir, but I may have been PISSED.

jenblower hurrah! You're all void of class, baileys coffee from the tester bottle it is then! :D

karmachord The world is so painfully beautiful. Every single atom is poised on the edge...ready to implode or explode with blissful agony.

stigblog@JamesMW78 hmm. Chocolate + alcohol are only two of your 3 food groups. Takeaway is 3rd. You need all 3 to survive and thrive properly!

jonreed #frankieboylecrackermottos we're all highly evolved monkeys clinging to a piece of rock falling through space, and the rock itself is dying

edwardclarke Well, according to wikipedia Portillo is still up to his neck in oil http://is.gd/5iPi2 Come clean, #thisweek?

zefrog: am with @Hampstead_Heath (who should know!): Vote George at #xfactor! (or have we got it wrong?)

AJ_Scroxton: How can this final be two hours long? Even accounting for 72 minutes of commercials it just doesn't add up. #xfactor

CherylKerl Joa's takin te bein a stah leika duck te woata! Ah cudden get inte his dressin room te congratalate im coza aall his mindaz.

tomsimnett: A sperm has 37.5MB of DNA information in it. That means that a normal ejaculation represents a data transfer of 1,587.5TB

jonreed actually, I am panicking slightly. one week to go and I still haven't gilded my pears (what would @KirstieMAllsopp say?)

jonreed oh the weather outside is frightful/& the planet so igniteful/but since #cop15 won't learn/let it burn let it burn let it burn!

EvilKimau "All those moments lost like tears in the rain... time.. to die" SO sad but so true... I love that moment #bladerunner

jonreed and Hamlet on Boxing Day? BBC, you are spoiling us with the Twelve Days of Tennant!

edwardclarke BBC headline: "Eurostar train leaves Paris"

edwardclarke RT @themanwhofell: I'm very pleased that Lady Gaga was Chanukah No.1

adamfishpoet@edwardclarke I too am pleased for Milady GAGA, Master CLARKE; but reserve my strongest sympathy for Mr MORELLO's band of BRIGANDS.

themanwhofell The worst thing about yesterday was that it struck another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of heterosexual marriages.

owenblacker:D RT @homotweets: When it comes to exploring the sea of love, I prefer buoys.

jonreed one can only hope that I shall be visited by three spirits in the night (gin, vodka and tequila pliz)

jonreed experiencing Tennant fatigue. God I hope he's not in the Celebrity Big Brother house...

* Tweets of the year © and ™ boz

photos of the year

A selection of my best pics of 2009, mostly taken from my flickr stream.

culture










night






eat and drink







nature






portrait

Merry Christmas

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Salt dough goodness inspired by Kirsty Allsopp's homemade Christmas! I used satin finish white spray paint from Paperchase to coat them. Was going to finish them off with silver doodlings, but felt they look quite good as they are!


More homemade Christmas - Nigella's iced Christmas tree decoration biscuits and a festive batch of Christmas fudge!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Carols

I went with my twitter friend @banerji1 to the GLA’s Christmas Carol service at Southwark cathedral last night. The guest choir was the London Gay Men’s Choir, and our friend @zefrog was singing.

I’m not religious at all but I still like church ceremonial and choir services are such happy occasions. I realised that this one was actually the first I’ve attended since coming to London over 20 years ago!


The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson was attending the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen so we didn’t see him. However, there were lots of London worthies, especially from the emergency services. In fact, the theme of the event was 'Service to Londoners', in recognition of the work of the police, the fire service, ambulance and nursing staff, as well as the armed forces – all of whom were represented at the service.


Those Gothic builders really knew their acoustics - the choir was on great form and sounded and looked absolutely fantastic in the space.