yes, no, stay, go

Don't you just hate it when the hype is right? I mean, I have a certified weakness for pop-punk that I keep forgetting to be ashamed about, but still. I've been seeing The Buck Brothers' name around and about for a while, but having finally listened to some of the songs, they sound - well - fun. In a way that makes me think seeing them live will either kill off any interest I have entirely, or amp it up to eleven.



I'm somewhat miffed that they're playing a free gig at Fopp, Tottenham Court Road, tonight, when I'll be helping one of my best friends prepare to move house tomorrow...



Next Monday's world-record-attempting gigathon, though, that kind of sounds like a plan, even though it's clearly a promotional gimic of massively cheeky proportions. If they can pull it off ....



website / myspace

on the streets of London

I just want to put these two things side by side:

Benjamin Zephaniah reading The London Breed

and a podcast made by one of our students, just before they went back to the USA at the end of last year.

I think they both get it.

It's a weird and wonderful world out there, but I wouldn't choose to live anywhere else.

You say "I ordered you a pancake"

Pancake day!

I'm a little too far away to get over to Brick Lane for the Great Spitalfields Pancake Race but I'll be celebrating later by cooking lots of pancakes for lots of friends.

And I've finally learned my lesson - it doesnt matter how many fancy toppings you offer, the average bear wants lemon and sugar at least half the time - so I've cut the menu to two kinds of sugar (dark brown for flavour, granulated for texture), lemon juice, lime juice, chocolate spread, maple syrup, and cooked apple and blackberry.

While foraging for supplies at the supermarket last night, though, I was momentarily heartened that, amongst all the mixes and packets, they'd actualy put out flour on the 'don't forget pancake day' display. And then my hopes were crushed, because it was self raising flour. The mixes and packets frustrate me, as pancakes are ridiculously simple (and cheap). But self raising flour is just wrong.

For ten or twelve pancakes you need

4oz / 110g plain flour.
2 large eggs.
10fl oz / 275ml semi skimmed milk. (Delia Smith, original source of this recipie, faffs about with whole milk and water, but really - life's too short!)
+
butter or oil for cooking. (Delia says butter, I use oil, which gets hotter without burning, but in any case she's right about the amount - you only need the slightest sugestion of either - the pan needs to be greased, but the pancakes must not fry in fat.)

Break eggs into flour, beat, and then gradually add the milk, whisking all along.

Just accept that your first pancake will probably be a mess, and make sure the pan's hotter and you use less batter for the second, and then - away you go!

And forever your gonna regret that

You know something?

Having more armed police patrolling my city? Does not make me feel safer. Having any armed police officers routinely patrolling the streets does not make me feel safer.

It makes me feel anxious and uncomfortable and distinctly unsafe, in ways that are pretty much entirely unrelated to the incidents that the police are currently responding to(1).

More armed police on standby, yes. More police on foot patrol, yes. But more guns on the streets? Regardless of who's (however carefully selected, well trained) hands they're in? Not so much.

My gut reaction is more or less: 'Gun-totting cops in Stockwell? 'cos that's worked really well in the past …' and my more considered one is to ask 'but how, exactly, is that going to help?

I don't, to be honest, understand the idea that somehow guns on one side neutralise guns on the other – the police are carrying magic guns that shoot a protective force field? No, I didn't think so…

My heart goes out to the families and friends of these three boys. And those of the two? three? other boys who have been stabbed in the same area over the same period and who are equally dead, but rather less all over the papers.

I hope that these murders are solved, and no more are commited.

And I pray that those armed officers never have to fire a bullet at someone to do it.

(Mind you, Cameron's suggestion that somehow tax credits are the answer is just bizarre. "I think we should split up." "But honey – think of the tax breaks!" ??)

(1) partly that it triggers vivid memories of visiting East Berlin when the wall was still very much up.

I can mash-potato / And I can do the twist

Thanks to Londonist's recommendation, dinner last night was at Mother Mash, just off Carnaby Street, and very yummy it was too.

The menu's delightfully simple, but the mix-and-match style means that there's a fair amount of choice, and even us veggies had several options to pick from. Most of my favourite eating spots are oriental, but sometimes you're not in the mood for sushi, and a big plate of sausage and mash is just the ticket - and this was *good* sausage and mash. (The pie and mash was pretty fab too, according to my dining partner.)

And the service? Was great.

When we squelched in out of the rain they were full, but not only were we made to feel really welcome, and looked after while we waited for a table, they even offered to come and fetch us if we'd rather pop into the pub next door for a pint while we waited. As it happens a table came free within a couple of minutes, but the offer was appreciated.

Definitely a candidate for a repeat visit at some point.

no sir, no dancing tonight

So : Sadler's Wells Sampled : a pick-and-mix selection of dance bits for a fiver. Was it as good a deal as that sounds? Oh yeah!

Although I've had no spare time to write it up properly, and I'm almost certainly not going to, but thanks to the Sony sponsorship, lots of the pieces have film up online I can link you to.
(although they seem to have stripped out the audience's reactions which has done odd things to the audio in places, and does not represent the atmosphere at all...)

Of the pieces we saw on Friday, my top three were:

Random Dance Nemesis duet
Hofesh Shechter Uprising
and my favourite of the night, Vagabond Crew Aliens which would have been worth the price of admission on it's own and then some. If they're going to be back over for Breakin' Convention this year, I will be there.

The Clash? Just a band

My day was being marred by people inflicting Lily Allen* on me, and then this turned up and made me smile, earning my mental 'myspace band of the day' award : Thou Shalt

*I don't buy the 'but she's from London' argument. There are countless bands and singers from London who are just less *expletive* annoying.