Ankh-Morpork! Ankh-Morpork! So Good They Named it Ankh-Morpork

This news makes me very sad. It seems particularly cruel for a writer, a man so known and loved for his mind, to be diagnosed with Alzheimers.

I'd always kind of visualised him marching on through time, rolled up in an ever-growing cloud of Headology experience with all sorts of odd facts and observations getting trapped and absorbed, and it's desperately sad that, high-end experts in brain chemistry notwithstanding, that suddenly seems a lot less likely.

When I was fifteen, I wrote my GCSE English Literature coursework(1) comparing the first three Discworld novels with the first three of Robert Asprin's Myth novels - back when Pratchett was more firmly relegated to the corner marked 'fantasy genre' (and, in fairness, back when his books were closer to straight genre-satire than they have been for a long while). Sorry, Mr Asprin, I stand by my conclusion at the time - Terry kind of wins on all counts. (at the time, I also wrote him a fan letter, to which he replied. This impressed me a very great deal.)

Everytime since, when we've crossed paths at signings and such, he's blown me away with how unfailingly lovely he is to his fans - he was my first ever book signing, and many authors have suffered by comparison to that early experience. The thing I most remember about the interview for my first job is enthusing about Pratchett with the head of the Central Library - I like to think that he got me the job. The annual exchange of his books is a family tradition with my mother in law. (I still remember being really thrown the first Christmas it wasn't a Josh Kirby cover, in fact.) I can't count the hours I've spent in the company of this characters.

But, as he says, he Aten't Dead, and if the man says there's time for a few more books, well - that's something to hope on.




(1) - if there are non-Brit's reading who need a translation of this, drop me a comment and I'll try and explain.

Deck the halls

Unless you're one of the super-organised few, you probably still have pressies to hunt down and decorations to organise - check out Covent Garden's Christmas Deluxe programme. The 12 Days food market's got to be good for gourmet gifts (I need to see if I can find reindeer pate for my dad again) and the decorations exchange sounds like all the fun of picking out new shinies, without any of the costs.

Firsts @ The Royal Opera House / Bassline Circus

In a fit of pragmatism, I realise that the entry I was planning to go with this link isn't going to happen any time soon, so while it's still timely enough to be useful:

http://esales.roh.org.uk/tickets/production.aspx?pid=3641

Three sets of pick-n-mix contemporary British dance at the ROH's Lindbury Studio, starting tomorrow, for the princely sum of £5 a head. There are still a few tickets available. You should take advantage of that before someone else does.

Also : Bassline Circus, at Kings Cross on Friday, which is FREE.

(http://www.basslinecircus.org/ for info about them, www.arrivals2007.org.uk about Friday)

time keeps slipping

Between being busy and being ill I have totally failed to blog in a timely manner about

: two author talks, incl Ackroyd.
: Wellcome series on medicine and the written word.
: Fireworks Night
: Remembrance Day and conversations with Poppy People
: upcoming Lord Mayor's Show
: continuing 2012 stuff
: New 'empty plinth' statue (in brief - hated it three years ago, not much keener now, although it's kind of cool after dark)

Still, onwards, ever onwards, and I'm not too late to wish everyone Happy Diwali!

the carpet weren't rolled out

Dance Umbrella's 2007 season started yesterday, with a blend of pay-for and free contemporary dance events around the capital over the rest of the month.

http://www.danceumbrella.co.uk/festival.html

(Whether you’re a dance fanatic or a Bob the Builder fan, this one is for you. may just be the ultimate tagline. How can anyone not want to know what the piece that refers to is like?)

Only last night I found myself lost by the station called King's Cross

In the middle of November, the Eurostar switches from Waterloo to St Pancras station (and soon there will be Stratford International making it even easier still for me to get to France - hurrah!) To celebrate there's ten day's worth of pick-and-mix arts events based around the Kings Cross area - performances, exhibitions, films, walking tours - and most of them look to be a) interesting and b) free. The festival's called 'Arrivals' - worth a look, methinks.

(Also, re the lyrics that title this post, new Pet Shop Boys video, Integral - one of the blue background blurs is me, and that's Senate House looming behind the double helix. If there are any of 'my' students reading this, they should recognise the underground tunnels and a particular CCTV shot as well.)

oh no he didn't!

There's something quintessentially English about Punch and Judy (foundations in Commedia dell Arte not withstanding), and while it ought to be appreciated in it' natural habitat, aka the seaside, Covent Garden's not a bad spot either.

The Punch and Judy Fellowship's annual festival takes place on Sunday 30th September In the North Piazza of Covent Garden Market, London WC2 From 10.00am until approx. 5.00pm.

oh so intricate

Advance Warning - London Film Festival

London Film Festival - 17th October to 1st November - opens for public ticket bookings on the 29th September. With showings for so many acclaimed films, some that would not otherwise get a UK screening , and many of them attended by the people involved in making them, from actors and directors, to producers and stuntmen it's o surprise that events during the festival sell out quickly. If you see something that appeals amongst the hundreds of films and events on offer - don't hang about!

There are also a number of more public events, including screenings in Trafalgar Square on the 18th and 19th October, including a screening of Hitchcock's ‘Blackmail’ as well as archive footage showing 100 years of London, from top-hatted Edwardians through swingers in 60s Soho up to nearly-now, all set to piano accompaniment.

he doesn't look a thing like Jesus.

Having fallen over it on Monday, and then had another quick skim on Tuesday, I still went and spent my lunch break taking another stroll around the Lomographers WorldWall that's currently taking centre stage in Trafalgar Square.

I first heard of the lomo phenomenon about five years ago, and I still think it sounds basically groovy. Not quite groovy enough for me to rush out and buy one of their cameras, unfortunately, although the fantastic colour saturation that even the most basic of snapshots takes on is very tempting.

But they're right - just holding a camera makes you look differently. My current project is a 365 - a photo a day for a year. I haven't had time to upload them in months, but I have been taking them. Every day. And I'm not bored yet. The world's full of so many moments that can be beautiful if you look at them from the right angle.

The LomoWorldWall is in situ till Saturday - both the images and the display are great, and well worth detouring to visit.

He drinks a lager drink, he drinks a cider drink

This came up in conversation * over the weekend : SIRC's Passport to the Pub. It's a little dated now - pre smoking ban and extended hours - but the core material's not far off the mark. (I've worked bar jobs - yes, the invisible queue really does work.)

NB. This piece forms the foundation of the (obvious) chapter of Kate Fox's Watching the English, which has equally been lapped by legal changes, but is equally light reading and, I think, basically right more often than it's basically wrong.

* in the pub, as it happens ...

our house

As always, London Open House is a cruel temptress - there's far more that I want to do than the laws of time and space will allow, and as I will mostly be spending the weekend helping people *move* house, I've had to restrict myself to only pre-booking one thing (a guided tour of the main Stratford Olympic site).

Still, the Flikr riches that will no doubt bloom after the fact may cushion the blow.

it's not the end of the world

Imperial Wharf Jazz Festival - I'm going to be at a wedding the other side of London, probably listening to the bestman's speech right around the time Babyhead are playing... Other people should clearly go and enjoy them for me.

(While I try and re-arrange my Friday night so I can fit this into it. The Tate Modern people have such very nifty ideas sometimes.)

we could be heroes

Earlier this week, one of my students asked me to recommend a film that I thought was the most accurate representation of contemporary London.

This is the point when I realised that my first answer was going to be Shaun of the Dead, and the second one was Dr Who. Given that zombies and aliens do not play a major part in my daily life, this may say more about the sort of films and tv I watch than the city in which I live...

Previous conversations about London-ish films have brought up:

Notting Hill (Hugh Grant et al clearly inhabit some sub-set of London which I do not)
Sliding Doors (ditto)
Alfie (fails the contemporary clause)
Snatch (fails the accurate clause)
Four Weddings (fails both the contemporary and the Hugh Grant clauses, although it's the best of the RomComs that are not RomComZoms.)
Clockwork Orange (fails the contemporary clause)
28 Days Later - (potential future, so fails the contemporary clause)
Children of Men - (ditto - although it is brilliant)

So I turn the question over to you. What film do you think is the most accurate representation of contemporary London?

But down in the underground

Tube Strikes. Again. Although, actually, this time I kind of support the cause - PPP always was a horribly bad idea, and I'm all in favour of bringing the contracts back in-house. Just not of this course of action. Bob Crow is a thoroughly obnoxious guy, and since the whole round where they were striking in support of people who were drinking on the job, the RMT's reputation is far from shining. (It may be a different matter if the other TfL unions come out as well - the TSSA especially, and they are threating too, if the pensions thing isn't resolved.)

Still, I'm fairly sure the RMT aren't going to accomplish anything with this apart from making several thousand people's commutes nightmarish, confusing tourists, and denting the retail industry. Most of us have travelcards so TfL already have our money, and it's not like coming in by other routes is any *cheaper*.

My usual 50 minute journey was well over the two hour mark this morning, and I'm in the deeply irritating position of needing to renew my annual travelcard this week, which means queueing up to pay TfL well over a grand for a service that's not currently running ....

in the middle of our street

Thanks to my friends and relations getting themselves hitched at a prodigious rate this autumn, I don't have any free time this week to go and enjoy / take part in the E17 Art Trail. (runs from now till the 9th), and I think I'll have about half a day free over the Open House weekend (15 &16th Sept), which is nowhere near enough time to take advantage of their generous offerings...

Good job I adore the friends and relations involved, really :D