Review

The Life Pursuit is Belle and Sebastian’s eighth album (counting the faux-soundtrack, Storytelling and last year’s single’s and b-sides collection). It’s amazing to note how prolific they’ve been yet they’re still fairly underrated by the mainstreem. You’re more likely to hear their singles on Radio 2 than 1 and they do make some fairly odd […]

Having spent a weekend dry-slope skiing in Southampton recently, it seemed only appropriate that we should make use of the relatively local Milton Keynes ’snowdome’, Xscape. This huge indoor ski slope contains real snow that is created using some sort of magic blowers. I don’t fully understand exactly how it works but skiing on it […]

Helen and I had a nice lunch at the Hind’s Head Hotel in Bray, near Maidenhead, this afternoon. Owned by the same people who run the no.1 restaurant in the world, The Fat Duck (just over the road), the food was no less extravagant. I had a rabbit and bacon terrine to start followed by […]

We took the long treck to Perth, Scotland to see one of my favourite bands, Belle and Sebastian, play the new Perth Concert Hall and it was well worth it.
As well as being treated to a couple of new numbers, the band did an on-the-fly cover of Elvis Costello’s Oliver’s Army. They played their second […]

The Guardian newspaper revealed a new look, new format today. It’s a smaller size, following the lead of the Independent and Times. However, it’s not quite tabloid size. It’s somewhere between broadsheet and tabloid. I’m not sure of the exact reasoning behind this but I guess it is better than the awkward size in which […]

Is it just me or are the storylines on Sky One’s “Nip/Tuck” getting weirder and weirder as series (season) 2 progresses? Last nights episode was particularly odd as Sean McNamara discovered that his best mate and co-surgeon Christian Troy was actually the father of his son Matt. To pay him back for sleeping with his […]

As my old, grey 400mhz Celeron desktop seems to be grinding ever closer to obsoletion I’ve finally bitten the bullet and decided to upgrade to something more befitting of somebody in my profession.

I’m now the ‘proud’ owner of a funky ‘K’ series Sony Vaio laptop resplendent with DVD playing and burning facilities - a […]

Never a popular choice with the style-pack, often branded as dull and anoymous, the Vauxhall Astra has often been given a raw deal by the motoring press. This inevitably filters down to buyers who like their cars to denote some sort of status. Yet the Mark 4 Astra is a total joy to drive. It’s […]

Having already enjoyed author (and accidental cult leader) Danny Wallace’s previous co-written book “Are you Dave Gorman“, I was eagerly anticipating his latest furore into the world of pulp fact. Join me is the true story of how Danny Wallace got bored and decided to create a “collective” in honour of his deceased relation. He […]

I’m the sort of bloke who’s fairly happy to spend my holiday sitting on the beach with a good book for company. This year we were in a bit of a rush to get ready so I had to make a good choice of reading matter in the five minutes allotted to WHSmith. I don’t […]