“Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a landmine. The landmine is me. After the explosion, I spend the rest of the day putting the pieces together.” - Ray Bradbury
My good friend and talented author Jon has just had his latest magnum opus, The Night of Knives, released in paperback in the UK. It’s another swash-buckling tale of epic travels, technological wizardry and global subterfuge, and a damn fine read. This time the backdrop is Africa, the technology is mostly mobile phones and the subterfuge… well, you’ll have to read that to find out as Jon plots a fine sequence of twists and turns that will keep you guessing and happily sitting on the edge of your seat – whether that seat is on the tube or on a sunny beach somewhere. Hopefully a beach somewhere safer than Jon’s African idyll…
Go buy it now so Jon can fund his next epic trip and bring back tales for us all to enjoy through his eyes.
Yesterday we headed up to Primrose Hill for a picnic with Olwen, Sarah and friends, on a grey but thankfully un-rainy Sunday. It was, unsurprisingly, Miette’s first trip to the hill to see the dramatic views of the London skyline. More surprisingly it was also my first trip, which having sat there for a while I found pretty outrageous as it is a most splendid view. We were lucky in that the grey weather seemed to be keeping the place relatively un-crazy from fellow picnicing Londoners, just the odd hip hop possee having their photos taken.
Thanks to Olwen for giving us the excuse to head up there, and to bringing along plenty of good company to hang out with. Some photos will appear once I have a chance to upload them, as right now we’re un-interneted at home (I’m in a local pub) due to our O2 broadband not yet being installed, and our 3 broadband currently on the fritz since yesterday… come on 3, sort it out!
The ever lovely Spoon River featuring the ever lovely Jason Kent played last night at Club Lambi. I’ll post up a few more videos soon, but in the meantime here’s the first.
My Canadian drinking buddy and part time yoga studio sweeper Jason Kent has released his splendid eponymous album for your delight and enjoyment. I think it’s only out in Canada right now, so those non-Canadians out there will have to fly over here and buy it. Off you go now…
In the meantime, here’s Jason demonstrating his musical talents by running through the entire album in one go (with Jen, owner of the best yoga studio in Montreal, on camera):
My pal Alex has released a new limited edition range of cool Album Catalogue Number T-shirts over at Bathroom Wall. They’re pretty spiffing, and with only 200 of each get ‘em while they’re hot.
A quick plug for my friend Amy’s music blog. Amy’s a dedicated muso currently in LA, when not visiting her true loves London & New York. She also came up with the splendid quote on the top of this post. Classic. So go read the blog now!
My talented writer friend Jon popped over to Iraq a while back for Wired. While he was there he wrote some of his own dispatches from the ‘peaceful occupation’ that are a fascinating glimpse into the military complex.
My good pal Matt (the other one) has decided to turn his planet-sized brain to blogging interesting stuff when he’s not off making gazillions of dollars with his various inspired ventures. Go find out what’s on that mind at Deliver us from Swedish Furniture. And yes – ladies, he is currently single so get him while he’s hot.
Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Now we enter the year of the pig, apparently a very prosperous year for all – especially for people who are little piggies themselves. And a big thanks to the Huang clan for another lovely communal soup-bowl cooking experience. Putting vegetables and meats from your plate into the boiling soup, then fishing it out, or possibly someone else’s food, a bit later is a great way to eat and share good times.
