Scottish Political News

Killed in Iraq, this US soldier has his pals post his final blog from beyond the grave . . . very touching and quite funny. Click here.
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10 awesome standout guitar solos picked by someone who wasted a great deal of his teenage years in a tiny bedroom in Portsmouth with a Washburn Les Paul copy trying and failing to learn most of ‘em.

This is not a definitive list of the 10 best in the world and I’m aware it’s only rock guitar that features. And neither Jimmy Page nor Jimi Hendrix are represented here — you’ll see why.

I welcome all arguments/comments/flames/praise. (more…)

Fans of the English language check out this from an Iraqi blogger . . . very insightful:

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese?

It’s hard not to have some liking for Andrei Lugovoi. The affable — and unflappable - ex KGB agent cuts quite a figure with his perma-tan and pistol-toting antics the news networks so love to repeat. Add to this a bored insouciance - often approaching but just stopping short of belligerence — concerning the poisoning case which made him famous, and you have just the sort of snook the British love to see snooked at authority. A degree of respect somewhere closer to grudging than unconditional is, I feel, surreptitiously paid him by many in this isle. (more…)

I like reading John Pilger. There’s no denying he’s a big name columnist and when he appeared on World Have Your Say last year it was a big thrill. When the New Statesman comes round every week I always check to see if the Pilge is in there and turn to his column. You don’t have to agree with someone’s politics to enjoy a well-written polemic and JP used to be the best. Alas, with this week’s attack on yet another BBC journo (here’s John last year having a go at Jeremy Paxman, Evan Davis and others for going to the bi-annual piss-up that is the BAP) he’s starting to sound like a stuck record. Poor old Justin Webb gets it in the neck for using the term ‘dizzying’ to describe the US election campaigns, this is evidence, according to Pilger, of Justin Webb’s collusion in the vast BushHitlerHalliburton-conspiracy that runs the world. Justin Webb then gets another kicking for suggesting that president Bush runs the world . . . a view espoused by none other than . . . John Pilger.

I was getting a cab home early one morning and my African driver was talking about the global stock slump, I asked him if Africans would be affected by the billion-dollar losses felt by the likes of Merril Lynch. His response was immediate:

“When you’re not dining, you don’t care if the table is overturned.”

Classy.

The World Service has a slightly stuffy reputation for being the last bastion of the traditional cut-glass BBC presenter voice of old. There do exist those voices on air and personally I luv ‘em and a lot of listeners depend on them and associate them with a sense of authority, although if you listen a lot these days you’ll hear sooner or later some choice accents especially during the news bulletins at the top of each hour.

Yer a bawbag

Mibbe ah is

Old habits do die hard I guess. Just two days ago I was asked to do a voiceover for a programme. Upon hearing my (vastly reduced from what it was) Scottish accent my colleague asked if it could be made to sound ‘as English as possible’.

Lip biting is an art form when you’re a Scot in London and I’m an expert at it, but it was tough going into that recording booth and not delivering those two sentences in a style reminiscent of David Moyes having a drunken conversation with Kenny Daglish. The things we do in the line of duty . . .

As the big studios and their behemoth partners in Hollywood battle it out to see who triumphs between Blu-ray and HD DVD it’s worth remembering some of the brutal consequences of the BETAMAX v VHS war of the 70s. (more…)

 . . . for the big labels that is. Hat Tip to Mark Steyn for this excellent Economist article. Here’s the headshot:

IN 2006 EMI, the world’s fourth-biggest recorded-music company, invited some teenagers into its headquarters in London to talk to its top managers about their listening habits. At the end of the session the EMI bosses thanked them for their comments and told them to help themselves to a big pile of CDs sitting on a table. But none of the teens took any of the CDs, even though they were free. “That was the moment we realised the game was completely up,” says a person who was there.

 . . . for the big labels that is. Hat Tip to Mark Steyn for this excellent Economist article. Here’s the headshot:

IN 2006 EMI, the world’s fourth-biggest recorded-music company, invited some teenagers into its headquarters in London to talk to its top managers about their listening habits. At the end of the session the EMI bosses thanked them for their comments and told them to help themselves to a big pile of CDs sitting on a table. But none of the teens took any of the CDs, even though they were free. “That was the moment we realised the game was completely up,” says a person who was there.

I’ve always shied away from posting book recommendations or reviews on my blog. Along with ‘my wine of the moment’, ‘this is what my pets are doing now’ and ‘CD of the week’ I find such information more than a little twee and avoid it when I see it on other sites. Alas, if I was going to succumb it was always going to be to the Aussie master of dry wit. I’ve been reading, listening to and generally enjoying Mr. James since the mid eighties when I read ‘The Crystal Bucket’ as a kid. His latest book, Cultural Amnesia, is a corker and for today’s lazy readers (like myself) it’s easy to dip in and out of consisting as it does of 106 bite-sized chapters on various historical figures from Charlie Chaplin to Margaret Thatcher. Kudos to The Times for getting the man himself of post online film versions of abridged selected chapters. Here’s a taster: “Somewhere under the quiff and eventually the rug. Tony Curtis weighed a line for its rhythm and melody, and said it as if it could be said in one way only, and no uddah.”

If that’s not your bag then tuck in to Scar Tissue. You don’t have to be a Red Hot Chili Peppers fan to enjoy this. The fact that Anthony Kiedis’ upbringing is gratifyingly exactly as you imagine it to be doesn’t make the revelations any less fascinating.

Somewhere off the coast of Stradbroke island, QLD, there is a leopard shark who was completely non-plussed by my appearance in his living room . . . (more…)

Dopplr is now open to everyone. Obviously it’s time for the bleeding edgers to move to the next closed-beta (hello Hulu), but if you’re still totally on the curve and decide to join Dopplr, please add me.

This year’s Adventi calendar is online and the games have begun. Today’s question had me stumped for a wee while until I used the gift of google and thought about roads…

Orange have announced the 2008 range, so now I’m just waiting for my local dealer to get an Evo8 for me. Looks like it’s going to be next year before Orange start filling the sales channel, so I’m learning patience for the time being.

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Covet is now open for business. The shop looks great! Go and have a look, at 20 Thistle Street in Edinburgh.

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After not managing to make Ken’s recommended visit to Mahabalipuram last time I was here, I made it this time.

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It’s been a packed weekend of sightseeing around Chennai. This picture is from Kanchipuram, where we stopped for tea on the way home on Saturday. Lots more pictures here.

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Mmmmmm dosa!

The Mighty Deerstalker is back for 2008. Get your entry in now. I’ve got my place, and this year I’m planning to camp over, possiby with my beautiful girlfriend if she can be persuaded.

Next year’s Edinburgh Half is on March 16th, which makes doing both events much more feasible.  No camping at the end of it, just a nice run around Musselburgh Racecourse.

One of the most popular ways of getting around Chennai, and other Indian cities, is by auto. These are like motorised trikes, and the drivers are masters of weaving in and out the traffic. It looks quite good fun when you’re in a big car, but it gets quite interesting when you’re in one, with the driver on some kind of mission … which they generally are.

Here are two videos of racing around Chennai in the evening rushour, on our way to see a film. All the horn tooting is just the way traffic goes, and is more like a conversation than anger at other road users. Video 1 (10MB) and video 2 (5MB), both in 3GP format, so needing Quicktime to view. Enjoy!

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Photos from Bangalore are now online.

I’ve also got some videos of the crazy traffic. They’re in 3gp format, so you will need something like Quicktime to view them. Each video is over 1MB, so give it a minute for downloading. Here’s the links: video 1, video 2 and video 3.

Bloggers with an ‘I-told-you-so’ attitude are smug and annoying but I can’t help but link Madonna’s latest deal with Live Nation with my post of March 2007. Mrs Ritchie has done almost exactly what I predicted.

She’s signed up for a monster touring, merchandise and album deal with the very people I had so much trouble speaking to on the phone, the funny thing is that I was told back then that “this is not a story” . . . I guess it’s a story now. 

Furthermore, she says in the above interview: “Who knows how my albums will be distributed in the future?”

Like this perhaps?

RIP record labels.

Gawking at celebs is a national pastime in London. An occasional series updated whenever I spot a celebrity in London and If I ever get a phone from this millenium then I’ll post pics here too . . . unless of course the 3AM girls demand an exclusive.

Chris Eubank, 24th August 2007:
Driving down Brook street past Claridges in his huge juggernaut cab tooting his horn and grinning at everyone who looked up. This is the second time I’ve seen this behemoth . . . does he drive it because it’s unclampable? Anyway, Chris parked up (quite expertly considering) got out and had his pic taken with a few people before climbing back in and driving off down Bond Street. The purpose of this fleeting visit? Haven’t a scooby . . . . . suggestions please. I could still hear the horn in the distance twenty minutes later. Must be tough driving that thing in and out of Brighton.

Michael Palin, 25th September 2007:

Walking along the south Bank heading north to the Waterloo bridge steps over the BFI. The former Python and now professional globetrottoer had that unkempt-but-fashionable look that celebs seem to do so well.