Ned's Atomic Dustbin are the latest bygone band to announce a reunion, with a single show at London's Astoria this Dec. 6. Much as I love their double-bassed assault, aren't we running out of bands that can reunite during this decade? As far as I can see, the list is composed of The Smiths, Pavement, Uncle Tupelo, and... uh... I mean, I guess Milli Vanilli can't really count... [ NME ]
Carrie Underwood was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry by Garth Brooks on Saturday. [countrystandardtime.com] Speaking of American Idol, David Archuleta’s father Jeff has been banned from the show’s rehearsals. [The Huffington Post] Snoop Dogg collaborated with Willie Nelson on his upcoming “My Medicine” video, and worked with composer Lalo Schifrin on a new album, tentatively titled [...]
The BBC has a feature on my friend, the philosopher Havi Carel, and the way in which philosophy has helped her come to terms with the diagnosis of an incurable disease. Havi has a book Illness (US, UK) forthcoming in September, in which she draws on her own experience and tries to give a philosophical [...]
Doris Lessing complained to the BBC this week that winning the Nobel Prize for Literature has been “a bloody disaster” to her career as a writer. She told Radio 4’s Front Row program that she has effectively stopped writing under the pressure of media attention: “All I do is give interviews and spend [...]
We know this is confusing, but sit tight and we'll try and explain - although DMX was arrested on Wednesday, he's now been arrested for something else entirely. Wednesday's arrest was for speeding, but his time DMX was arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty and drug possession after a SWAT team raided his house on Friday morning and found five pit bull puppies and half a pound of cannabis. So, to...
What's the first thing you should do when you play a concert, other than plug stuff in and check your flies? That's right, you work out which town you're playing. The fastest way to alienate any crowd is to go onstage, mistakenly blurt out a greeting meant for another town located more than 250 miles away and get booed by the crowd because you're obviously a dick. Perhaps someone should have pointed...
The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill received Royal Assent yesterday so the antiquated blasphemy laws have finally been abolished. Good riddance. Religions should not have protection from ridicule that is not afforded to other groups or individuals. While I respect...
There isn't much that moonbats wouldn't place under the control of the State — including which fruits and vegetables we eat: Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay says British restaurants should be fined if they serve fruit and vegetables which are not...
This is a complete fucking disgrace. Words fail me. What is this country becoming? A Filipino man whose wife died after being given an epidural in the arm rather than the spine during childbirth has lost his fight to stay in the UK. Before Mayra Cabrera's death, Arnel Cabrera, 38, was permitted to stay in Swindon because she was a nurse. But Alex Rook, lawyer for Mr Cabrera, confirmed the Home Office...
I’ve just noticed that the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill which got royal asset yesterday (btw, enthusiasts of necrophiliac porn, better hide it under the mattress[1]), contains provisions to make it an offence to incite hatred on grounds of sexual orientation. I am in general in favour of this, in the same qualified way [...]
Joseph Arthur’s fans can download free music from his latest project, Bag is Hot, at the songwriter’s Tumblr site. “Like fresh popcorn for all the kids to grab,” Arthur explains. “Digital hands eating the digital popcorn.” [Billboard.com] Thom Yorke doesn't approve of Radiohead's upcoming Greatest Hits album, which will be issued by the group’s former label, [...]
HarperCollins have just launched their online slushpile site, authonomy.com, in private beta. Authonomy allows budding authors to upload chapters of their work for the rest of the community to read and comment on. There’s been a lot of speculation about how this would be implemented, and at first sight it looks pretty good - HC haven't [...]
Here are two accounts of the same event, which was the Cardinal's Westminster Cathedral lecture. Yet they could almost be describing two different occasions, two different people. One from the BBC, here ; ' Respect atheists', says cardinal' and the other from the Guardian, here . 'Cardinal says Britain must not be a 'God-free zone'. The BBC's approach is, I suppose, predictable—simply bad journalism,...
On April 30th just after 3.30pm, I snatched up my phone and bit the bullet. I called up the journalist that had 'interviewed' me (I say this loosely) and expressed my upset at her not actually stating that she was interviewing me and my concern that I would be included in a feature about revenge, which is not what I, or this blog are about. I told her quite shrilly (I was stressed for fecks sake)
