some of whom have personalities

Opening Times
Nice idea. One stop shop for finding out if your local chain supermarket/warehouse of goodies is open at the stupid, bizarre, inhuman hours when you want to shop. And where they are.

Chartblog reviews Sugababes - 'Girls'
Gentle evisceration of what could be the worst single from the threesome so far. I''m disappointed too.

Daily Mail publisher to inoculate staff against bird flu
Somehow I can only imagine the Daily Mail speeding some mileage out of this.

I'm a sex worker – don't take away my livelihood
"I am an off-street sex worker. I don't live a Belle de Jour-type existence, but nor am I the trafficked/drug-addled/pimped victim the Big Brothel report would have you believe. The reality of my working life lies somewhere between the two."

Meanwhile, Belle is mentioning Understanding Organizations by Charles Handy ...
... which I spent a whole week reading in 1993 before going undergraduate. What I'm sure he forgot to mention was that organisations fundamentally don't work because their are people involved, some of whom have personalities.

So do you reckon it will rain today?
It did. Buckets and buckets.

Camp Rock? You're Not Kidding...
Much as I hate it when reviewers provide a synopsis instead of an opinion, sometimes it's just necessary.

"How do we tell this from everybody’s side?"
I might have mis-read this, and I've reread that section a couple of times, but Neil LeBute seems to be under the impression that Sam Jackson not Denzel was in Training Day.

15-Minute Tomato Sauce. Really.
Yes, really.

'De-gendered' toilets spark row
My old university, everyone. I think this may be my favourite two minutes of local tv news ever -- it's just a hairsbreadth away from being a Christopher Guest parody. Imagine welfare officer Jennie Killip played by Parker Posey: "I was just quoting you."

When Hardeep Met Les
Just in case you haven't heard this already. It is excruciating and proves that no matter how fluffy you think the interview is going to be, you have to do at least some research and not assume the interviewee will play ball if they suspect you're a moron. I'm surprised Hardeep gives his so long. I think the turning point is when ... oh you'll hear for yourself ...

Charles Platt on Akihabara, the Week Before the Massacre
This is the kind of thing which BoingBoing does so well; it's in the middle of being a Wired piece put has aspects of the kind of tableau you'd find in National Geographic. Given my tirade about fashion the other day, wouldn't this be more fun? The British equivalent would probably to go out dress as Arthur Dent (ie, in a dressing gown and pyjamas) and not have a convention to go to.

Beyond the Trouble, More Trouble
Elizabeth Wurtzel on David Wallace. They were the best of friends.

Wendy and Lisa prepare 'Heroes' score album
Watched the opening double bill tonight and thank goodness it's back on form. I won't spoil the second episode in case you missed it, but Kring & co have certainly got their mojo back. There are revelations in there which, even if they weren't planned ahead, show that their inspiration is working overtime, and the results are rather more exciting than the 'virus on the loose' plot which, according to the season two dvd box set, was originally planned before the writer's strike curtailed the last series. I just wish it was goofier, just now and then.

Model Sanctuary opens again at London Fashion Week
It's a safe house for catwalkers.

Another city, another event, another night alone in another hotel.
This is exactly what it's like being alone in a hotel in strange place. My approach is to simply be there as little as possible. I think those Japanese bed capsules would be perfect for me.

Products Placed: How Companies Pay Artists to Include Brands in Lyrics
"oh lord, won't you buy me a ...."

Exclusive: William Kristol Is Having Trouble Writing His Next Column About Sarah Palin
Gosh some of these articles are old -- but I'm still catching up with my reading after the great reorganisation. Along with Russell T Davies's The Writer's Tale (more on which some other time) this demonstrates that when things like this happen, it's not because I'm rubbish, it's just that sometimes it doesn't happen. Personally, I think the best criticism Kristol could offer, if that's his motive, would be to publish this as it stands, perhaps cutting back on the swearing depending on the journal's policy.

A little something to remind me…
Landmark confusion.

Immendorff: copies, fakes or authorised reproductions?
It's worth asking on the basis of this, what makes a great artist. The work or his life?

In Conversation: Woody Allen
I feel like I've linked to this piece before. I haven't have I? Either way it's about the director's love for New York to celebrate New York Magazine's 40th Birthday and somehow manages to drag up some insights I've never heard before. What he says about the overall degradation of cultural expectation is true and I think suggests why some of his later work has been under appreciated -- audiences are far less forgiving in some ways these days, but undiscerning in others.

Frida Kahlo @ Who Killed Bambi
Oh deer...

Sun sets on 'House That Ruth Built'
Yankee Stadium closes. What is happening to the world? This is.