Russell Davies

centre points

I've always liked Centrepoint.  It may be because I have incredibly coarse architectural sensibilities and only ever think something's good if it looks like Gerry Anderson might have had a hand in it. It's looking particularly fine at the moment because it's exposed at the back due to some demolition work.

Apart from the proudly slabby way it looks, and the fact it's one of the few tall buildings in Central London, it's surrounded by pleasing atmos and conspiracy. It was empty for years when it opened, due to a shady/savvy real estate deal, which led to suspicions it doubled as a government nuclear shelter. It sits squat in the middle of St Giles which is the area of central London no-one's ever heard of but which is drenched in virulent and violent history so It's the kind of place yer Sinclairs and Ackroyds are keen on.

And it's fascinating because at street level it's a disaster, a horrible mash of bus-stops, cross-roads, traffic lights and a Thunderbirds-ish 60s sculpture in a litter-magnet pond.  This seems to be a result of the above shady/savvy real estate deal.

And, in the basement, in the nasty subways under the traffic, leading to Tottenham Court Road tube, there's a brilliant snooker club where you can waste away a skiving afternoon.

Whenever we play that game where you fantasise about your dream home, I always mention Centrepoint. I'd dearly love a Tracy Family / James Bond penthouse pad on the top. Perhaps with a helipad. Certainly with a speed elevator down to the snooker club. And with speed-dial to Orbital, Foyles, Flat White and Argos. It seems though that I am to be thwarted; there's going to be a new private member's club called Paramount on the top two floors. I've never seen the point of such clubs, but in this context it makes sense. The perfect location, brilliant views, the right architectural atmospherics for swankery, a good place for a restaurant. I wonder if they'd let me live there. Just occasionally.

the smokes of kilimanjaro

I bought this tankbook at Magma yesterday. Interesting thing. Cigarettes are such nasty and disagreeable things (especially now all the smokers have been forced outside where you can't avoid them) but all the ephemera and packaging is so good. It's one of the iconic highly-designable shapes like the 12-inch record sleeve. I guess it's good because it's relatively cheap, simple and easy to change (some of it at least), it's thoroughly tested in the real world, millions of times a day and the design clearly matters; it has a significant impact on the horrible business of selling the things. Things that really matter to an industry tend to get better.

Tank have got the fetishistic aspects right, the little bits of fiddling you want to do; including the gold strip to remove the cellophane and the foil inside.

The book itself is a little disappointing when you get it out, but I guess they've got to save money somewhere. It's perfectly readable though, which is the important thing.

I like this idea a lot. There's nothing more terrifying than being stuck somewhere with nothing to read so having something with you all the time is a nice backstop. And, since the cigarette pack form is so nicely evolved it's good to see it being used as a force for good. It makes you wonder why other things haven't evolved towards the cigarette pack shape.

Would CD cases or minidisc packs have been more popular if they'd been more like cigarette packs? Could someone learn from the sociability of pack-sharing. Sweets manufacturers maybe? MP3 players have gotten too small to be cigarette-pack substitutes. Maybe they should get bigger again, but have a hard core around a softer exterior. It's not just the shape and size it's also the malleability. I guess that's what we're doing when we put things in MP3 cases. Phones are the obvious parallel, but is there a phone that's very ciggy-pack-like? Not sure.

It's also about what seems natural and right in pockets, they presumably co-evolved with cigarettes. I love pockets. Anyway.

caff eh?

I've been neglecting both eggbaconchipsandbeans and agoodplaceforacupofteaandathink recently. I think because I've been cycling to lots of places. When I walk I find I notice more cafes and pop in more frequently. So I'm going to try and rectify that - it seems an essential first step if I'm going to create any long-tail splurge for the book, and frankly, I miss it. Here's a start then - The Islander in Uttoxeter and Bridge The Gap down Vauxhall/Battersea way.  Picture above is the always glorious Bar Bruno.

too far

You can't change what you can't measure, so, inspired by Roo, and facilitated by the Great Circle Mapper, I had a stab at working how much I flew in 2007.

It adds up to 67,231 miles, which must be substantially less than 2006 and 2005, but is still much too far (from both family-life and carbon points of view). At least one of those European trips was of no benefit to me, my audience, my bank-balance or my carbon-footprint. So I need to be more thoughtful about where I go.

I'm going to try and do Europe by train next year, which will mean more time away but less carbon-burned, less Heathrow-visited and more new things seen. Anyone want to join me in a trip to the lift conference by train? (Assuming I can get my ticket booked.)

I also looked into Atlantic crossings via cargo ship (and scroll down a bit) but I don't think I fancy being away from home that long. (It'd be a great time to start a book though, no distractions, just miles of ocean.)

I suspect the first step in doing something about the energy we use is paying attention to it, and finding useful ways to mark it and understand it. That's part of the genius of dopplr and part of the appeal of these brilliant airport luggage patches on etsy (via Make).

gps question

Forgive the lazywebness of this, but I'm planning on doing some more long urban walks this year and I'd like to track myself in a geeky GPS way. I was just wondering if anyone had any recommendations on handheld GPS doodahs, not too expensive, good for walking about and logging your every move in overly obsessive detail. Thoughts very gratefully received. Or maybe I should try Hoosgot.

speechify

Speechification got a write-up in The Guardian over the holidays which was rather exciting. And there's been some fantastic listening up there recently. I've especially liked Dan's contribution of The Oyster Farmers, Roo's extra Don't Hang Ups,  Bobbie's Stop The World and Steve's To Sing Like Bing. And if you don't listen to anything else you might want to bend an ear to this Chris Watson programme.

be lucky

This must add up to a lot of luck. I hope you have this much in 2008.

happy etc

Have a good one. See you next year.

santa homunculus on a diet

It seems the world really has gotten the message about the importance of diet. This was the Santa in our local paper shop window last year. This year he's slimmed down considerably:

nintendomas

Our Nintendo decorations have arrived and are filling out the collection nicely. I wonder why Nintendo haven't put Mario in a red cloak, he'd make a good Santa. They've more rights to co-opt Christmas than Coke have. And thanks to Alice for the tip.