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In central Brixton, near the library and facing the Town Hall, there is a huge ghostsign advertising Bovril*, a beef extract product that is still available today. Bovril was created by John Lawston Johnson in 1897 – its popularity and success enabled him move into and adapt a house that can be found a few stops along the railway line from Brixton, at Kingswood House, Sydenham Hill. Indeed the house …

Believe it or not, I’ve only read one Georgette Heyer before – I listened to April Lady and really enjoyed it. In the three years since, I’ve bought quite a few Heyer novels but haven’t actually got around to reading any of them. A little while ago, I thought I’d see if any of the Heyer titles on my shelves matched gaps on A Century of Books – and landed …

David Smith joins Tim Worthington for a chat about Eddie Brock failing to maintain a consistent pair of shoes in Venom: The Last Dance.

A view from my studio window over Hastings’ West Hill. Photograph by the author. This is my monthly link dump, a regular monthly series containing a mix of links to interesting blog posts I’ve read from the past month covering arts & culture, myth, folklore, landscape punk, hauntology, anarchism, utopianism, the gothic, neo-fabulism, and the Weird. From Joe Crawford at ArtLung - Dune and Colonialism: I notice that Al has …

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959)’s father had been a Universal­ist preacher. With their emphasis on a loving God, Universalists were early advocates of endling slavery and the first church to ordain women. In 1886 Univ­ers­alist Aug­usta Chapin bec­ame minister of the Oak Park Unity Church Chicago, attr­acting new members to the assembly including Lloyd Wright’s mother Anna. Frank’s maternal family were Welsh Unitarians; his uncle Jenkin Lloyd Jones was a noted …

From Secret Cars by François Mercier (via)

Crystal Eye Centre were first out the gate to say “come see us!” when I started this series of buying one thing from every shop on the Crystal Palace triangle, a year ago today. They also said I don’t have to buy anything but excuse me I think you’ll find I do, it’s all clearly documented in the rules. So I’ve been waiting for my eyes to deteriorate some more …

I guess something has changed with the Joe Rogan / Spotify deal and now all the old episodes are on YouTube again, which means the gems from the archives can now pop up. I was alerted to this conversation between Joe Rogan and John Carmack, and it’s pure gold. I know I’m five years late in watching this, but that makes it even better because it’s so prescient. Joe asks …

A year ago today I was in Seville at the end of a fantastic trip with my eldest son. These are some of the notes I put down on the hoof in my pocket notebook. (video at the end of this post) 23rd November 2023The smell of jasmine draped over an old sandstone wall near the cathedral, cascading into a narrow street. The beautiful garlands with the giant fig tree, …

A guide for Debian and Ubuntu on how to install PHP 8.4 on a new server or how to upgrade an existing PHP setup to PHP 8.4.

Why would you want to unitize your portfolio? I mean life is short – and there’s a lot of good stuff on Netflix. Well… maybe you’re a stock picker who wonders whether you’re beating the market? Or perhaps you’re a passive investor keen to see how the returns from your DIY ETF portfolio compares to Vanguard’s LifeStrategy fund? Whatever the motivation, you’ll need to track your performance versus active and …

Today's links Bossware is unfair (in the legal sense, too): Neotaylorists wielding digital calipers, breaking the law. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2009, 2014, 2019, 2023 Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. Bossware is unfair (in …

After playing Kebab Chefs! for a few days, I can honestly say this game is a mix of pure chaos and unexpected fun. It’s a co-op cooking and restaurant management game where up to four players can team up, design their own restaurant, and try to run the biggest kebab place in town. But don’t be fooled—it’s not as simple as flipping meat and serving happy customers. This game throws …

In this instalment of my monthly listening tips, I’d like to share a few podcasts and radio programmes on the subject of Norse mythology. If you don’t know much about it, some of them will serve as a good introduction to the topic, while others go deeper into very specific aspects of the Norse culture.