Recently updated blogs

It's been 10 years since the last Darkspace album and we almost forgot about them. In the meantime, we did get Paysage d'Hiver full length albums from Wintherr though, which is pretty groundbreaking for people aware of the specific project.I have to say, the case of Darkspace is one of a kind and if you get behind it, you don't dislike anything from them, as the direction and the concept …

These Oscar Nominee reviews often group themselves into pairs; today we have two love stories. Maestro A lot of the press about this film has focused more on Bradley Cooper himself than on the rest of the film; how he was snubbed for a Best Director nomination, how his use of prosthetics to change his nose shape was controversial, and such. And it’s hard not to feel a little sorry …

This is the church of St. Andrew, Holborn, photographed in the low sun of a bright winter’s afternoon: I will be exploring the church later in the post, but to start, let’s look at the location of St. Andrew, because I suspect the church is here due to its proximity to the River Fleet, and it is one of a number of London’s churches that are located at key boundaries, …

this week arts council england updated some of their policy wording1 to threaten organisations which host artists or artworks that could pose ‘reputational risk’, warning those that chose to go ahead with hosting these risky political statements that they might be stripped of their National Portfolio Organisation (read: funded) status. with this move, ACE made explicit something which a lot of us had felt creeping in under the door (and …

Subscribe WordPress Facebook Twitter Instagram If you enjoy reading please consider “buying me a pint”, this will help to cover my hosting and image hosting and help to ensure further trips can go ahead!BUY ME A PINT A re-visit to the areas of Ilkeston, Heanor and Langley Mill in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Visited here at the start of November 2023 following near the same route with two extra pub additions. …

I wrote here, critically, about the recent IMF report on the impact of AI and jobs. I was doing some research for a report I was writing recently which required me to go back into the same area, and found an article by David Autor that has a different view. Not more cheerful, necessarily, but maybe more honest about the radical uncertainty that pervades this whole area. Autor is a …

Hi everyone! Hope you’re having a lovely weekend! I’m not sure where I heard it first, but someone once said that in the first two weeks after releasing an anticipated game, it gets played more often than during all of the months and years of playtesting combined. It’s shocking to hear at first but makes a lot of sense when you think about it. Maybe that’s one of the reasons …

The Owd Tatts, Chadderton, Lancashire A white-painted pub with an unusual name on a back road on the south-west side of Oldham. There are now plans to demolish it and build a convenience store on the site.

In celebration of this weekend’s Bookworm Retreat and my birthday this week, I am offering Victorian Fancy Work In Detail. This compilation will be available all week in my Etsy shop for $20, a monumental savings over buying seven separate In Details. I will decide at the end of the week whether to continue to […]

One of the blue roundels came loose on our dalek, and we had to dismantle it to repair it.not so tough now, are you?Once all the spider webs had been cleaned out, the roundel could be reattached, and the dalek re-mantled.

On 13 February 1989, at least if Amazon is to be believed, The Utterly, Utterly Amusing and Pretty Damn Definitive Comic Relief Revue Book was released into the world, collecting sketches and songs from the last 30 years of comedy. Song lyrics from Spitting Image rub shoulders with transcripts from At Last the 1948 Show and Fry and Laurie's days in the Footlights. Grant Naylor, the Goodies, Bob Newhart, Victoria …

The World OpenAI releases a new tool to generate "realistic"-looking video from text prompts. Russian opposition figure Navalny has died in prison. Donald Trump ordered to pay almost half a billion dollars in his NY fraud trial. Madame Web is terrible and nobody is surprised. I still have no idea what Sony was thinking with this entire slate of films. Maybe I'll wait til Kraven comes out then marathon all …

Welly, welly, well. Another jam-packed week! Writing this one on trains to and from Nottingham. Where to start? Where we left off… Things that happened When Airbnbs attack! We defied death by carbon monoxide poisoning last Sunday evening. The alarm went off in our Airbnb (in Lancs) and we got the heck out fast. ☠️ Luckily the landlord had another one around the corner. Even luckier, it was way nicer. …

Public Health etc in Witham, in the 19th century Summary by Janet Gyford, adapted from one first written for Dated Buildings Survey in 1992, re Faragon Terrace, 59-67 Bridge Street. Retyped October 2002. See also notes on PRO MH 13/209, read since this was written. Edward Cresy made a report to the General Board of Health in 1850 about Witham. About Bridge Street he said that ‘the stagnant open drains, …

Label: DeccaYear of Release: 1971Say hello to the only group (to the best of my knowledge) ever to emerge from the Ford manufacturing line - unless, of course, we're counting Ford Timelord of The Timelords. Back in the sixties, Ford were seemingly keen to make their cars seem sexy, zingy and a little bit more rock and roll; less "any colour you want, so long as it's black", and more …