dear reader,


merry christmas and a happy new year.

i'll see you soon, and call you sooner,

lots of love,

grilly

xx

quote of the week

"We're not in the business of predicting the future, but we do need to explore the broadest range of different possibilities to help ensure government is prepared in the long-term and considers issues across the spectrum in its planning," said Sir David King, the government's chief scientific adviser.

'in other words', sir david might have continued, 'we need to say these things before they happen - to use latin terminology, we need to 'pre-dict' them, if you will'.

further more:

It also warns that the rise of robots could put a strain on resources and the environment.

and also gamesmaster, when they 'accidentally' give it 95% before they actaully play it, just like they did with daikatana.

dumb fuck. what does it take to become a sir these days? i've read 2000ad. give me a mbe too.

see also: komodo dragons can reproduce asexually, if needs be, which is actually quite interesting (despite the 'virgin births' cheese) and not full of lies. why does the bbc feel the need to pass shit like 'robots may soon - er, i mean, one day - demand rights' off as news (remember 'human race may split in two')? to para-quote my lecturer at uni, if a com-puter was ever built that was going to take over the world, they would turn it off. like we'd give robots rights before animals.

Guardian stuff

2006: the bumper news quiz | Quiz | Guardian Unlimited

i did this, got 19 out of 50. when i looked at my breakdown, it had got almost all of my (wrong) answers wrong. i feel burnt; it got all of my right answers right, so that takes the piss even more. but the questions are fun.

my new favourite column in the guardian is larry elliott's ecomonics editorial. it fits exactly with my view on economics - he has an informed conscience. his article on where brown goes wrong (again) and his article on the bae scandle show how news stories should be written, and show up other writers who value free market capitalism as an end in itself to be what they really are - conspiratorial liars.

also monbiot's recent column on how brown is completely taking the piss with the heathrow and stanstead runway extension is excellent, as expected.

and i very much enjoyed this spat: roy hattersley writing about his experience of anne atkins, which she then replies to. her response starts with

"Oh dear! I realised Roy Hattersley was annoyed by a comment I made on a television programme we were on recently, but I didn't realise it would disturb his sleep for a fortnight"

so right from the word go we know she's an idiot. and just look at all those comments.

on a related note, i realised recently that i don't agree with anything the labour party pronounces any more. every new suggestion for society boils my blood. last week was hilarious for blair - questioned by police on the same day that he blocked the bae inquiry and another civil servant came out, claiming they knew saddam was no threat (i can't remember the context), and about two other things i forget now.. it's all gone a bit berlesconi, hasn't it? and then the photos of his holiday in iraq come back, in all of which he's grinning his face off - maybe that's just the ones the guardian showed. but then it seems like the only paper that's got any news in it anymore..

i meant to go to sleep about an hour ago.

my face hurts, i feel like i'm turning into a ferenghi. i don't know whether this is a old just starting or just passing through. i'm lying in bed, typing with my left hand, my right wrapped around rothko and belvedere. i'm kind of in the mood where one feels an enoumous amount of affection for someone, then they go away, and the affection remans but has no direction, and you end up being quite sad, but weirdly in love with everything.

i've had a lovely few days which i'm probably paying for now. damn me for trying to enjoy london. on friday night, i was in a terrible, foul mood - fell asleep after work and waking up was even worse. of course like an idiot i'd agreed to meet up with debbie at xford cirus, when all i wanted to do was sleep. but we wnt to the glass house stores, where i noticed a small sign - 'none of the soft drinks or alcoholic beverages for sale in this pub are media advertised.' some people just don't appeciate shit like that.

the next morning, i did the washing up, and finally decided that, poor as i was, i couldn't afford to not go to brighton. i just had to get out of town. and it was i went round rach and robin's, just caught robin before he went the other way, played with their arrogant, standoffish cat, and went and had a lvoely time. oh, it was bliss. that's wish fullfillment for you.

hardcored it back into town for the berzerker. i'd brought cds, but no covers or deluxe editions, so i didn't mind not trying to meet him after the show. i'll write him a proper letter, that's what i'll do, like andy. as a concession to debbie, i went to an free electro night with her a couple of songs before the end, although i got the impression she really didn't dislike that much , otherwise she would have left already - or was she just waiting around because the night didn't start 'til 11 anyway? i was off dancing alone all night anayway (wrong sheos of course - or can i just not move my legs as fast as i remember? maybe i need more than one pint to think i'm a good dancer), so she needn't have hung around for me. so we got to the elctro night - meeting someone she met at my old school pal adam green's party, who i met in the street a couple of weeks back - and rach's pat was there too! oh the coincidences. i wasn't sure if that boded well or not - i normally hate most of the music associated with 'that scene', but he makes quite good music too, under the name 'spatstik'. in the end it seemed like fairly rudimentry 80's style stuff. i was in danger of falling asleep on the sofa and so legged it with a nascent headache. from one pint.

the next day i got nothinbg done except make latkes with dan, which seemed to take all day. then i went to the sorted recordings album launch, of which of course i am a vital part, and for the first time ever introduced myself as 'dj gallow slutt'. the bobby mcgess were excellent, down to a two-piece again, mj hibbet and two of his validators were GRATE (to use his terminolgy) and the last lot, lazarus clamp, were fascinating, the kind of band i love and hate and can't make up my mind about. firstly - they were incredibly tight. the music was fascintating - beefhearty, bwyd time-y, but perhaps slightly too doorsy for my tastes. i think i'm just jealous. they should make me want to be in a band more, but sometimes i see bands and think, oh what's the point? i don't need to be in a band now, because there's a perfectly good one right there.

excuse me whlie i tangetalise on an ego trip with some reviews here:

Next up the Bobby McGees who some of you may recall also featured on that recent and
rather smart ‘A very cherry Christmas’ compilation, this time they stump up the wired as fuck systems overloading hectic sounding banjo meets drum ‘n’ bass rout of ‘Ivor Cutler is Dead’ which wouldn’t have come across as sounding so different from their usual stuff had you shipped in by coach a load of kindergarten ASBO holders into a studio and told them to do their worst.

there's a drowned in sound review too, but no releveant quotes about it. they do the the compilation 9/10 though, so i can't wait to stick it on. it's really nice to be part of something. they've asked to do some more, so i might just do the whole e.p... things could be worse. now, where did i put my stack of demos to mail out?

last night i went round ruth and ian's (nee jo's) for christams dinner. there was a moemnt there when the jam got out of control and people hadn't realised it yet.. the moment when we weren't thinking about it, it was beautfiul. good food too. i stayed over and made it to work only a handful of minutes late. and then i left early and came and made chana and played 'gun' which is like a zombie game but instead of zombies you have retards and native americans. a less offensive/stupid game is hard to imagine. you talk to this woman, a whore, andthe man she was warming up attacks you. at which point i thin k about 80 - a fair estimate - people rush up and try and burn down the saloon. it's like grand theft auto set in a one horse town. and the tutorial, where you have to shoot wolves, ducks, elk and a bear, and then get on your and trample a herd of buffalo to death, beggars belife.

billi oddie's suicide watch

a full and unabridged review of london:

today i woke up and thought, well at lesat it's nearly the end of the week.

getting to work, i figured the only way to get through the day was start off with a coffee. this coffee was made up of nescafe gold blend, white tate and lyle sugar, tesco uht milk, and hot water.

togs

lying in bed under three layers, with my teddies, in utter comfort, i wondered if love could be measured in togs.

and then went on to wonder the significance of a 'four season' love.

who says george lucas has no respect for continuity and cannon?

Star Wars: Databank | Drumheller, Thorn

that is some odd shit, and you have to read it, all of it.

i can't believe they didn't go the whole way and claim that wicket was actually a reincarnation of willow.
what do you mean you don't know what i'm talking about? didn't you read the fucking link?


so the eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed i've not been writing much recently. i keep meaning to do the definitive review of london after having spent a month.. no, two months.. more... the deadlines slip by and it never gets done, and nor do the minor posts.

for london, all you need to know is that there's not an awful lot of smiling going on. even southall, which i love, mainly because of it's several veggie curry/sweet houses (and also a double bass shop - one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen), is pretty smile-free. sitting waiting for the bus is remarkable - it's just a long line of cars, mostly with a single occupant, slowly rolling by, and no-one's smiling. face after face, car after car... i do have more to say, but i spent all tonight playing half life 2, and it was a heavy weekend. iooh, i supopse i ocould write up that, or the last month which seems to have largely unreported. i really miss having a diary. i keep getting the urge to write somrething down as i go to sleep, even if it's totally rudimentry. ooh, how meta-rudimentry.

i put the 'antenna' in 'antenatal'

do you know, peadophiles can now get children on the nhs?
what's the world coming to...

extinct

Giant panda - David Suchet
Polar bear - Anneka Rice
Hyacinth macaw - Michael Portillo
Orang-utan - Sadie Frost
Mountain gorilla - Graeme Le Saux
Asian elephant - Miranda Richardson
Bengal tiger - Pauline Collins
Leatherback turtle - Dermot O'Leary