[Book] A Crisis of Brilliance, by David Haycock, courtesy of a review in the Guardian: “The particular cauldron of intensity into which Haycock plunges is the Slade School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture… and the students who experience this ‘crisis of brilliance’ – a phrase coined by their bristly, austere professor of drawing, Henry TonksContinue reading “Added to the wishlist: A Crisis of Brilliance”
Author Archives: Alex
The Rolling Stones and The Brussels Affair
The Rolling Stones have released several live albums, and the recording from their peak period, 1970’s Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!, has recently undergone a deluxe re-release. In the original review for Rolling Stone, Lester Bangs said that “I have no doubt that it’s the best rock concert ever put on record.” He might have beenContinue reading “The Rolling Stones and The Brussels Affair”
The best DVD commentaries
When it comes to books, games and music I’m often happiest away from the bright lights of the charts, exploring dark, dusty corners of the catalogue. Film, though… I never seem to enjoy going beyond big budget megahits. I’ve fallen asleep in every single one of Pedro Almodovar’s films. These three threads (one, two, three)Continue reading “The best DVD commentaries”
The difference between a Latte and a Flat White
A Flat White is an excellent coffee to start the day with – and just as you can identify a typography geek if they can tell the difference between Arial and Helvetica, it’s the real coffee geeks who know the difference between a Flat White and the more common Caffe Latte. Lokesh Dhakar put togetherContinue reading “The difference between a Latte and a Flat White”
Who would win in a fight? The Mummy or the Wolf-Man?
“In the future, if your children ask you, “Who would win in a fight? The Mummy or the Wolf-Man?” please refer them to this list, as it will save a lot of time…. Monsters are rated according to how dangerous they are against each other, and then according to how dangerous they are to allContinue reading “Who would win in a fight? The Mummy or the Wolf-Man?”
Grmmr advice from Twitter
You might not think Twitter is a great place to go for grammar advice, given that every message has a maximum character count of 140, but you say that before laying eyes on FakeAPStylebook: “Always capitalize ‘Bible.’ You don’t want to get letters from those people.” “‘Arglebargle’ should only be used in the non-hyphenated form.Continue reading “Grmmr advice from Twitter”
Novels written by dictators
By definition, dictators can do anything they like, so why wouldn’t the mad, bad and crazy men at the top of tinpot regimes want to write novels? “Some recent examples have been Saddam Husseins’s last publication, Be Gone Demons!, sales of which suffered due to bomb damage, despite the author’s previous million-selling form; and Radovan Karadžić’s The MiraculousContinue reading “Novels written by dictators”
8-bit trip: Lego bricks as pixels
This video comprises “1,500 hours of moving Lego bricks and taking photos of them.” It’s not particularly coherent in terms of theme, unless you call “8-bit games and music rule” a theme. Which maybe we should. Worth it for the chiptune soundtrack, the use of Lego as pixels and the particularly nice Pacman shots, whichContinue reading “8-bit trip: Lego bricks as pixels”
Utility Pole T-Shirt
Been a while since I posted a new t-shirt design, but this Japanese design is clever and certainly deserves a mention. The wires of the utility poles are both printed and stitched onto the shirt. (One thing I found surprising when I first visited Japan – a place you mentally associate with clean, minimal designContinue reading “Utility Pole T-Shirt”
Stop Safari always opening new tabs
I’ve moved away from using FireFox as my browser – it’s too slow to start, too fond of updating – and now have Google Chrome on my PCs. It’s not properly available for the Mac yet, so I’ve switched to Safari, which is reasonably quick to start, and gives you more of the web toContinue reading “Stop Safari always opening new tabs”
The Wired Jester 