I captured a white pawn earlier this month, quite by accident. The piece was appropriated from my cousin’s living room. It must have been swept indiscriminately from the floor when my daughter’s Lego bricks were tidied into a travel tub on departure. Earlier that afternoon, she had played a game of ‘Chess’ against a relative, […]
The title was based on a receptionist’s phone greeting. The business was Nasty Little Man, a New York PR firm representing high-profile musical acts. But for me, the phrase “Hello, Nasty” – or Hello Nasty, as it was rendered for Beastie Boys’ 1998 album – represented salvation. It was the sound of my emergency call
Hello Nasty, my old friend Read More »
Investigating the ramshackle and retro contents of a bizarre waiting area, I finally uncover an incredible secret: nothing is real I am on the cusp of incredible discovery. In personal terms, it feels a bit like decoding the Rosetta Stone or landing on the moon. I am about to confirm whether I am lucid dreaming.
Judgment Day – my first lucid dream Read More »
After a near-death experience, a chase through the fog uncovers preparations for World War 3 and the making of a new Star Wars movie. We begin in a picturesque village. I’m walking among tourists and locals next to a road. The road isn’t too busy, but cars are passing by regularly. I see a small
Dream diary: lucky escape, nuclear bunker, filming Star Wars Read More »
Long ago, in a simpler, more innocent age (alright, in 2014), a bubble of excitement briefly formed in the tech world, centred on the launch of an app called Yo. Business Insider explained succinctly, that it was “a one-tap notification app that sends a one-word message —“Yo” — to other users.” It added, “There’s no
Car horns are the worst one-tap app ever Read More »
It’s late at night and I’m sitting up in bed. The torchlight on my phone casts shadows on the rolling hills of the duvet before me. The room is quiet but for the insistent ticking of my bedside alarm clock and the occasional whistling inhalation of my wife sleeping beside me. Without warning, a distant
Hunting an Earworm in Negative Space Read More »
There is a world of difference between a bookshop and a bookstore. Here’s why Americans do bookselling better and why I still mourn the long-lost playground of Borders… I’ve always preferred books from the USA. By this, I mean not only American literature but also American book design. Maybe this is down to novelty, or
The lost adult playground of Borders bookstore Read More »
One of the many unsettling experiences of ageing is watching your artistic heroes age with you. But stranger still is how your relationship to their art changes over time. You mature physically and mentally but (with a few exceptions) the content of the songs, the movies and books largely stays frozen in time. In your
First you’re the singer, then the subject Read More »
From a dusty AOL account to an audiobook to the depths of my own subconscious, I’ve built another playlist that makes no sense to anyone but me Another year, another weird catalogue of tunes I’ve collected and catalogued, like a mad naturalist sharing a crumbling mansion with his specimens. Some I stumbled upon by more
Building a playlist from sitcoms and dead email accounts Read More »
Brief observations from a holiday in northwest Crete – the home of kalitsounia, daredevil pilots and herds of cats Crete is the birthplace of Zeus, the god of sky, lightning and thunder. (His birth was a clandestine affair, and took place in a cave to avoid the attention of his paranoid and infanticidal father, Kronos).
Crete: gods, fighter pilots and cheese parcels Read More »
