This is that fifteen albums that changed your life thing. It's making the rounds and I am shameless, watch me ( Read more... )

These days I only seem to be alive for half of the week. From Sunday morning to Thursday evening - that's me, and this is what I do. Now, let me show you what I can do for you. I never seem to stop. I'm always doing something. I write a lot, obviously, and talk a lot about writing and books I read and things I want to write and I seem to meet lots ( Read more... )

Finally some concrete summer plans ( Read more... )

I caught a Blighty ( Read more... )

Why do I always allow myself to get so worked up about the snobbish negativity of music journalism? A lot has riled me over the past few days. In particular, the school of criticism which sees the need to praise something at the expense of something else (or vice versa). What is the point? Why? Why? Why ( Read more... )

I'm a bit worried about my coursework. They advised against submitting work which hasn't been "workshopped" - that is, work that hasn't been dissected and combed and groomed in class. One of the pieces I had workshopped was entitled "Grey Squares". It was about a journalist who calls himself Gulliver Deutschland investigating a society known as the ( Read more... )

"Steak. Liver. Liver. Bacon. Chops. Steak ( Read more... )

I've spent the past few days in Derby. That's what I've been doing of late, before term starts: I've been working from Thursday to Sunday and then visiting Liverpool/Bolton/Derby from the Sunday evening (I now do nine 'til five!) to the Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. Why not? Once an academic routine kicks in, I won't have much time at all ( Read more... )

Mystery can be found anywhere. Work was very, very boring. I was rooting through a little cupboard looking for some polish which I could use to at least LOOK busy when - taped to the floor of the cupboard: a tiny tiny computer printout which read ( Read more... )

FIRST POSTS OF EACH AND EVERY MONTH ( Read more... )