Recently updated blogs

After Glasgow, York. This was a place we had both previously visited and loved, but not for well over a decade and not together. So we were curious to see if we would enjoy it as much now. Folly? Yes, but that's not important right now. It did in fact take us a little while to find our way back into loving York again, as it all felt a bit …

Last time in our look at Keeping Up Appearances, we saw Harold Snoad making a load of fake films for Onslow’s telly. But Onslow doesn’t just enjoy watching the offcuts of Snoad’s location shoots. He also likes a bit of sport. Real, actual clips of motor racing and horse racing, not fake stuff. But we get a little more specific than than that, surely? Motor Racing Let’s take a look …

As I have surely said on this blog plenty of times over the years, I will never go to any holiday or short trip without at least one meal booked that stands a better than average chance of being decent. This is partly just for the sheer joy of eating out (how sad must your life be if you don't like eating out) but particularly in the case of European …

Always sideways these days I totally tilted last week at news of a new Cure album and listening to the released first single threw me into darkIt's not that it sucks (though it isn't good), it's that it smackingly reminds me of me, old, hopeless, bemoaning my lost fecundity through new stale creation (though my self-imposed painting ban now in week two with no plans to end or not end …

Luscious 10-Minute Mentaiko Pasta with a creamy sauce of spicy salted cod roe is a quick, easy pasta that you can make in an electric cooker. READ: 10 Minute Meal – Mentaiko Pasta

The R Mysteries/ Barney Mysteries of Enid Blyton Fellow-blogger Invisible Event and I share an interest in prolific children’s author Enid Blyton, though we come to her from different angles. I read huge amounts of Blyton when I was a child, whereas I think Jim is solely an adult reader. Jim is very much keyed to Blyton as a mystery/crime author, whereas I liked them all – eg very keen …

Written by MichaelWay back when, in 1992, Westwood Studios tried something a little different. They had been known as competent designers of games, in all sorts of genres, but they hadn’t really had a big hit yet, and they were only ever credited as a designer while another company’s logo graced the box. But their acquisition by Virgin Entertainment opened a door for them. Now, they were able to distribute …

New film magazine Monochromator sets out to contextualize films in such a bold manner that even its editor-in-chief Alex Heeyeon Kil wonders whether it should be described as a film magazine. Alex is a writer and researcher who splits her time between Berlin and Seoul. She explains more about her beautiful new magazine Monochromator as she shares her influences and working week. What are you doing this Monday morning?Mornings are …

The Ware for September 2024 is shown below: This ware was a gift, but I won’t credit the donor until the solution is revealed, because the credit itself might give a clue about the ware. My first reaction to seeing this board is: “this thing has a high BOM cost”. My second thought is the engineers who put it together (hopefully) got a lot of free lunches and design advice …

Dirty old river, must you keep rolling, rolling into the night / People so busy, make me feel dizzy, taxi light shines so bright / But I don’t, need no friends / As long as I gaze on Waterloo Sunset, I am in paradise. Ray Davies (b.1944), Waterloo Sunset

An article I wrote for the Conversation on the release of the UN’s final report on governing AI for humanity. Read here

Guten Tag! Guten Tag! 👋Do you know that we might be able to transition to height: auto soon? Or what web features are now safe to use with the recent Safari 18 release? Ooooor… do you think the new QUERY HTTP method is a good idea? Turn on the Web Weekly tune and find all the answers below. Enjoy! Dariusz listens to "RAZ DWA TRZY - Trudno nie wierzyć w …

Back on September 10, ABC preempted its entire Sunday prime-time lineup for Africa, a four-hour documentary that combined a look at the many new countries born from the end of colonialism with segments on African history and culture, featuring music by Alex North and performances from Miriam Makeba. The documentary was not only a critical success, going on to win a Peabody award, it was also a surprise ratings success, …

Portrait of Marthine Cappelen Hjort, b. Kiær, by Asta Nørregaard, pastel on canvas; roughly 48 x 33 inches (122 x 85 cm); link is to Wikimedia Commons; original is in the collection of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo Norway, which has a zoomable and downloadable version of the image. This wonderful portrait by late 19th, early 20th century Norwegian artist Asta Nørregaard is one of those …

Blue Line, Chicago, IL