April 2011
19 posts
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-4-24) →
Tom Waits (19)
Steve Earle (15)
TV on the Radio (14)
Bob Dylan (11)
Raphael Saadiq (10)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
3 tags
“Jessie L Weston’s 1920 study of Holy Grail mythology, From Ritual to...”
– Stewart Lee’s insider’s take on William and Kate
4 tags
For Richer, For Poorer: A Love Affair with Poker...
I’d always quite liked the idea of this book. I know little about poker, but I find it intriguing, and I’ve enjoyed Victoria Coren’s writing in the past. Honestly, though, I never expected to enjoy this as much as I did. Her absolute love of the game and its history comes through on every page.
It covers an interesting time for poker, since as the book starts it’s still a...
3 tags
4 tags
Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming
If Fleming’s first Bond book, Casino Royale is regularly and unabashedly sexist, then Live and Let Die slacks back on the sexism in order to make room for lashings of racism. Of course, it’s a book of its time and it shouldn’t be judged by the standards of the 21st Century, indeed beneath the lazy stereotyping and abject terror or patronising disdain with which each black person...
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-4-17) →
Radiohead (36)
The Temptations (31)
The Futureheads (24)
Sam Cooke (21)
The Decemberists (19)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
2 tags
“In general, we’re least aware of what our minds do best.”
– Marvin Minsky, The Society of Mind
7 tags
Incognito: The Secret Lives of The Brain by David...
Another excellent book from David Eagleman (although extremely different from his previous book on various imaginary afterlives, Sum, which is, incidentally, wonderful). Incognito is an up-to-date look at our current knowledge on how our brains operate. If you know little about the current scientific thinking in this area, then there’s a lot to learn here, but even if you know a relatively...
5 tags
Five Chinese Crackers: I can see the Emperor's... →
If ever anyone asks you what’s wrong with the tabloids (and, I guess, the media in general) direct them to this article, because at heart the problem with the tabloids is not just that they’re corrupt moral vacuums, it’s also the fact that they’re undeniably shit.
4 tags
4 tags
4 tags
3 tags
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
I’d never read an Ian Fleming book before, but I rather enjoyed Casino Royale. It’s a gripping story, simply told and Bond himself makes for a more intriguing figure than he generally does in the films. That said, there are strange moments where Fleming’s misogyny shine through (not least the part where Bond expresses his enjoyment of sexual encounters which have the “sweet...
3 tags
“If you’re going to sing ‘Imagine no possessions’, it’s a...”
– Dorian Lynskey, 33 Revolutions Per Minute
3 tags
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-4-3) →
The Decemberists (27)
The Clash (16)
Villagers (12)
The Czars (11)
U2 (11)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
5 tags
WatchEverything The Network Touches by Tom Coates
Great talk from Tom about the ways in which the networking of data can change the world in spectacular ways. They’re not quite so easy to see from the video, but the slides are outstanding as well. You can see them in a bit more details from this version of the talk that he gave at dConstruct in Brighton.