Russell Davies

i am pedant, hear me roar

I know this is a real old sore. And I know this isn't the most grammatically correct, or well-spelled blog in the world. But I still get occasional delight from a bit of pedantry, especially spotting inappropriate quotation marks. Because they're always so undermining. Like this great example from the music shop in the Royal Festival Hall in the South Bank. Which you'd have thought would have pretentions to being quite a literate place. But no, they seem to be telling us that they're special offers aren't so great after all.

(and no, that incorrect 'they're' was not ironic. it was a mistake. i'm an idiot.)

more words

once upon a time all you had to say was this...

now, it seems, you have to say all this...

the opposite of invisible

it's the strangest thing...

...people are starting to read this. And not just people I already know. It's a very nice feeling. But weird. And other, brilliant blogs like i like and things, have linked to me and said lovely things. Which is like being on TOTP or something. What's odd is the funny truths it forces you to acknowledge. You pretend that you're just writing it for yourself. But obviously you're not. You're writing it to be read by people; with a funny mixture of arrogance and showing-off; but when people start to find it you begin to feel nervous. Ah, bollocks, whatever.

modest retail

this is my favourite electrical shop. on cleveland street, in london. I don't know why it's called 'THE B ELECTRICAL CO'. But I like to think it's because the owner thought 'THE A ELECTRICAL CO' was too arogant. And they sell tin soldiers too.

new ideas about new ideas

Just tried to read New Ideas About New Ideas. It may contain some new ideas, but it was so densely written and badly laid-out that I couldn't really persevere with it.

Found a couple of interesting quotes though:

'Our beliefs determine our measurements' - Einstein

'We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are' - Anais Nin

'Reality is nothing but a collective hunch' - Lily Tomlin (The Search For Intelligent Life in The Universe

'

bless you paul middlewick

This is magnificent. Millions of people stare at the tube map everyday; and then one day, one bloke (Paul Middlewick to be precise) notices that there's an elephant hidden in it. And now there are a load more. And you can buy t-shirts and stuff.

threat from home taping greatly exaggerated

I saw this posted on a wall this morning. It looks so fresh and new. I presume the MU are still saying this, but are they still issuing these iconic stickers? I can't find any evidence on their website. And there's not a lot of discussion of what exactly constitutes live music. I presume a DJ isn't a musician in their world, but is she if she does enough 'turntablism'? and what about karaoke? is that live music?

google under threat

I always get an odd pleasure from being too literal about signs. But what if this was actually true? What if their business model was similar to Google's or Askjeeves's? What if they wanted you to phone them with all your enquiries? That would be interesting.

pedestrian pushbutton paranoia

Don't you suspect this is true in London too? It seems that, in New York, more than 2,500 of the 3,250 pedestrian crossing pushbuttons have been disconnected by the city. The crossing lights are computer controlled, they just have a placebo effect. It's a good effect though. I'm glad the buttons are there. Read more at the New York Times, (requires you to login)