Here You

Just popping in to say hello 'cos I'm 34 today. Promise I'll get back to blogging in the fullness of time. Still in the States, still very much in love with Kara, and still telling bad jokes when I'm not ranting about obscure ultra-left politics.

He's a bit special.

The Telegraph Is Required Reading Anyway . . .

. . . but I actually nicked this funny piece from Pooter Geek

Of course he was small beer - or should that be small Pimms? - but I would hate an article on posho post stars to go past without any mention of Chris Dean of The Redskins fame. The fake Yorkshire accent, coupled with the membership of the SWP means that he ticks all the requisite boxes, but unlike the likes of Dido and the rest, The Redskins did put out some absolutely brilliant singles.

"We've had fashion and music, so now throw in some politics as an afterthought."

As Jim bought me a drink last Sunday, the least I can do is give a plug for his political webpage.

From sitting in on the business meeting of the New York Branch of the IWW that same day, it does like that they are doing more than just celebrating their hundredth anniversary this year. Fair play to them.

The Listening Post

Coming out of San Antonio, Texas, Girls In A Coma are my required listening at the moment. 

The name is a giveaway for The Smiths/Morrissey influence but if you check out songs such as Consider and Their Cell, you will see that they amount to something much more than this year's Echobelly or Gene.

More details and downloads about Girls In A Coma are available at their MySpace Page.

So Hip It Hurts

On the New York subway* the other night, and I think I spotted my first hipster.** Wearing the tattiest jeans and trainers you've ever seen in your life outside of a Lancaster Branch meeting, what sealed the deal for identification purposes was the so hip it hurts haircut and an Adam Ant Friend or Foe T shirt that looked so washed out and old that you just knew that the bloke had to sell a kidney to put a down payment down on buying it outright.

More snotty outsider observations about New York at a later date.

*Similar to the London Underground, only grottier.

**I don't think the person I spotted a few days previously, wearing a Stranglers T shirt, qualifies. Surely that qualifies as a subtle protest against hipsterism?

Bloggers Block

OK, so technically the image is not about the travails of finding stuff to blog about but I thought the image was apt . . . and now that I think about, it is a true depiction of May Day 2000 - that weekend when Winston got his makeover - and when I tried to write a 10,000 word essay in the space of 12 hours.

Of course, I fell on my arse.