Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Kitchen Conversation Cafés

On Saturday, we had the first Kitchen Conversation - see kitchenconversation.blogspot.com. It was a great way to spend a couple of hours. We talked about freedom - including the freedom to voice opinions that go against what seems to be 'general' view, based on who's shouting loudest, which in the UK often seems to be people writing in the Daily Mail or The Sun, deliberately trying to wind people up. We also talked about the morality of operating in countries where speech is very expicitly not free.

I just came across this, which looks like a good idea.

Support Adopt a Blog Thanks to meilah.blogspot.com for that link - her title went scrolling by as I was logging into Blogger - she's taken some gorgeous pictures in China.

Friday, February 17, 2006

This is not my...

Some cool, wacky, eco-friendly goings on here, by the look of it:
www.thisisnotmy.co.uk

No cavil 'ere

In everyday reading, I don't often come across totally unfamiliar words. T'other day, I found a new one - Charles Clarke in the Observer kept talking about having warned Gordon Brown about appearing to 'cavil' his cabinet colleagues. After spending my life without ever knowingly come across this word, I then found it again last night in How Mumbo Jumbo conquered the World by Francis Wheen, somewhere in chapter 4 'The Demolition Merchants of Reality'.

This is a profound chapter of an enormously entertaining book. It's all about the intellectual myth which is 'post modernism' and how it masquerades as serious philosophy. In reading it, I realise that when I was an undergraduate in the late 80s, I allowed myself to believe that somehow I must be wanting in the grey matter department, because whenever I stumbled
across any of this stuff, by the likes of Derrida or Foucault, I found it utterly incomprehensible. Maybe I'm not so dumb after all. It covers an hilarious 'hoax' on a (supposedly) academic journal by physicist Alan Sokal. I think he may have just become my second favourite physicist after Richard Feynman.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Caracass Sincronica

Just discovered a new venue in London - the Bolivar Hall, 54 Grafton Way. It's owned by the Embassy of Venezuela, and its 300ish seats were full of very cool looking south american tipos this evening, there to see the Venezuelan Quartet http://www.caracassincronica.com. They were absolutely stunning. The drummer in particular, with his cajon doubling as bass drum, playing mostly with brushes or splash sticks - making a drum kit really work as an acoustic chamber music instrument; gorgeous stuff. They performed a group from Manchester (I think) - http://www.psappha.com/ - 3 very 'classical' guys, on vibes, clarinet and guitar. I'm afraid the swing factor on stage dropped through the floor when these guys joined in - and after loads of great chat from the Venezuelans about how pleased they were to be there, not a word from any of the British musicians - two of them had faces like they were playing at the worst kind of 'function' where nobody gives a shit that you're there - barely a glance at the audience, never mind a smile. The encore was a relief - back to the Sincronica for some more Caracassonian flair, so we left feeling happy.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

One of life's paradoxes

If you're in a vey loud situation, at a gig, or a heaving party, and want to have a conversation - just whisper in the other person's ear. I guarantee they'll hear you better than if you SHOUT TO MAKE YOURSELF HEARD!

They'll also thank you for not deafening them. I wish I'd learned this years ago.