these moments that I've had.

Thursday, June 30, 2005

5 Reasons a Dog is Better Than A Boyfriend (courtesy of Out):

1. A dog can’t disagree with you. Verbally.

2. Few boyfriends can compete with the look of combined adulation and need, perfected by dogs over thousands of years of domestication.

3. The boyfriend doesn’t require you to get some exercise in order to take care of daily toilet needs.

4. If you come home late without calling, the dog may tear up the house, but he (or she) won’t rip into you.

5. Speaking of female dogs, who else can you call a “lovely bitch” and mean it?

posted by Darren | 8:14 PM

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Things we had never done before in New York City:

Walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Walked the streets of D.U.M.B.O., including the iconic "Once Upon a Time in America" Manhattan Bridge street/shot.
Rode the Cyclone at Coney Island.
Had 'Tea for 2' at moby's tea:ny café.
Attended New York Pride, with double-bonus points for seeing (Madame President)Hillary Clinton.
Wore a t-shirt that made lots of Americans laugh* - especially sassy black women. (* - though, who knows, maybe they've been laughing at me for my dress sense all these years behind my back).
Met up with famous New York blogger and friends.
Watched the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, including a New York Doll as King of the Parade.
Walked through a Lenny Kravitz video shoot.
Ate at Grimaldi's("Under the Brooklyn Bridge"), John's, Two Boots and Famous Ray's.
Visited CBGB's.
Found the original Manhattan Portage luggage store.
Visited NYU.
Nearly passed out due to the heat and humidity (a slight exaggeration, but we won't be returning between the months of June and September!).

posted by Darren | 6:48 PM

Monday, June 20, 2005

I've always wanted to visit Derek Jarman's garden and cottage at Dungeness. I did so on Saturday, with a 2-hour drive to the south Kent coastline.

Famous for being in the shadow of Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, as well as being on the largest shingle beach in Europe, the cottage has been sold on privately since Jarman's death in 1994, and has been much modernised inside, as well as the upkeep of the outside of the cottage and the garden itself being maintained. The garden now surrounds the cottage on all sides, something it did not do when Jarman made the eponymous film The Garden in 1990, and is more beautiful now, as the plants have had time to take over the landscaping and become a more focal part of the experience than they were 15 years ago, when driftwood, stones, shingle and old ships iron-workings were the highlight of any viewing.

The beach is hard work if you want to slog along it past the power station, but there are numerous interesting sites(and sights) beyond Jarman's Prospect Cottage. I always thought that Jarman was isolated out there, but there are cottages either side of his, within 30 yards and at least 20 more homes dotted along the small road towards the 2 lighthouses that now occupy the headland near to the power station. There is also the Britannia Inn public house and the Light Railway Café, situated at the station for the Romney, Hythe and Dymnchurch Miniature(narrow guage) Railway, as well as the Old Lighthouse, the newer functioning lighthouse, an old coastguard loudspeaker facing the sea, the other side of which is bare, the 'workings' long since stolen or carted off by the authorities, and the old round fort, now someones home. And of course, dominating proceedings, the Power Station, that somehow does not seem out of place, nor spoils the view. It seems to add to it, to create a unique atmosphere.

posted by Darren | 4:57 PM

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Classy Bird
Footage not shown on Celebrity Love Island: Rebecca Loos coming out of the toilet, wiping Callum Best's spunk off her t-shirt and licking her fingers.

posted by Darren | 3:57 PM

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

The Return of the Train
The new Virgin Trains commercial includes classic train movie scenes in which film stars marvel at Virgin Trains’ 125mph tilting Pendolino train as it speeds through some of Britain’s most stunning scenery. Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, John Mills, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Albert Finney, Margaret Lockwood and other stars appearing in films including Murder on the Orient Express, Some Like it Hot, North By Northwest, The Railway Children and The Lady Vanishes are CGI'd seamlessly into the ad. Marvellous it is too. I just wish there was more elbow room on the actual trains.

posted by Darren | 7:04 PM

On June 14, 1982, Argentine forces surrendered to British troops on the disputed Falkland Islands.

Michael Jackson compares his acquittal to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In Ee mad.

posted by Darren | 6:12 PM

Monday, June 13, 2005

Axe

However, last week Coronation Street writers also joined the argument, complaining after the long-running soap was moved to a later slot in an attempt to attract viewers to Celebrity Love Island.

"It's madness to hobble a tried and tested thoroughbred by tying it to something heading for the knackers' yard," writer John Fay told Broadcast magazine.

Its not just happening over at ITV though. Cheeky-chaps-in-move-to-follow-Ant'n-Dec-to-prime-time failure.

posted by Darren | 7:15 PM

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

How Rock 'n Roll

posted by Darren | 8:29 PM

Monday, June 06, 2005

Davina: "So, Mary, you're psychic, I just wanted to ask you..........."

Out today. Excellent.

Live tonight on BBC Radio 1, and all week on bbc.com.

posted by Darren | 8:47 PM

Sunday, June 05, 2005

I saw Philip Bretherton on Regent Street the other day. He plays Ian Davenport, sleazy, two-timing lothario garage owner, in Coronation Street. Hardly A-List, but still a TV "star".

A few days earlier, someone was commenting how they'd seen a well-known Arsenal footballer shopping in a Peterborough department store. Seemed unlikely to me, but whenever you see a "star" out of their perceived environment, eg. TV, screen or stage, I suppose it always seems unlikely at the time. I've seen Madonna in concert, but if I were to see her turning up at the Kaballah Centre, just off London's Oxford Street, as some of my work colleagues have done, that would be an entirely different kettle of fish.

Out of "their environment", I have seen George Michael, the Duchess of York, Ian McCulloch, Paddy McAloon, Johnny Vaughn, Dale Winton, Eddie Izzard, Brian from Big Brother, Mick Hucknall, Tom Baker, Johann Paulik, Bruce Forsyth, Graham Norton, Germaine Greer, Gary Waldhorn, Ricky Groves, Zammo from Grange Hill, Nigel Havers, Victoria Wood, Martin Clunes, Mark Eccleston, Annette Crosbie, Ian Wright, Aiden Quinn(nice).

Put them all in the Big Brother House, I say.

Wasn't it unfair of Craig to be up against Mary, and for Mary to be evicted? No? Oh. I hope Makosi gets her come-uppance asap.

posted by Darren | 11:46 AM