BACONWOLF

BIKES: Lethal Lorries

2011-09-21T13:05:00.001+01:00

I have just sent an email to my MP regarding the proposed increase in lorry length. It took me most of the morning to write, in between bouts of work, and I thought I'd share it here…

The proposed legislation to allow an extra seven feet of space to be added to lorries appears to be entirely misguided.
There is currently no guarantee that this extra space would be filled. As it is, one in four lorries on our roads are empty and most others are nowhere near full capacity. Perhaps tightening up legislation around this area first would be wiser and more efficient before we rush to make them bigger?
And if we are going to modify lorries, lower cabs, larger windows, improved mirror positions and barriers designed to keep people from getting chewed up by the wheels would all be infinitely better places to start. Less polluting engines would be nicer too. These are things that will actually improve the life of every road user. And indeed anyone else who ventures outside their front door.
Sharing space on the road with a lorry can be nerve wracking when you’re in a car. It becomes even more frightening when you have nothing encasing you at all. Making HGVs bigger will only make their lumbering manoeuvres around London’s archaic horse-and-cart road system even more awkward and dangerous.
Fear of motor traffic is what keeps people off bicycles. But bicycles are actually the most practical way for most Londoners to traverse the city. How can we expect to see more people travelling short distances, which most journeys in the city are, on ecologically and economically efficient bicycles when our roads become less and less hospitable to human life? We’d be losing a healthier, happier, more mobile population and making it harder for people to get to and from their places of work, restaurants, cinemas and parks efficiently.
Longer lorries will mean even slower traffic in our city centres, greater damage to road surfaces, increased danger to all road users, especially the most vulnerable, and even if we choose to ignore all these very practical issues which affect us all, they will still make our roads a less pleasant place to live on account of noise, pollution and their general appearance. If this is law could guarantee a sizeable reduction of lorries, that might mean something, but as it stands this proposition is completely untenable for those of us who intend to enjoy living and working in less stressful, less polluted, safer and more pleasant surroundings. People will be more inclined to drive their cars, and as Noam Chomsky says, sitting in a Hummer in the middle of a traffic jam for hours of end is probably not the apex of human achievement.
Are we really willing to trade sizeable negative externalities, which affect all of us, in exchange for a policy whose economic impact is likely to be imperceptible? Isn’t that just incredibly short sighted, and worse, self destructive?
Yours sincerely,
Jonathan

Click here to send an email to your MP.

EVENTS: Creative Everyone

2011-07-14T15:56:00.000+01:00

A "creative-oriented events guide".
Sounds wanky, but it seems to have some good things listed.

GRAPHICS: This Isn't Happiness

2011-07-14T14:09:00.002+01:00

Another one of those cool picture blogs.

ARTICLE: BP's Olympian Carbon Footprint

2011-07-14T09:54:00.001+01:00

Wonderfully worded indignation at BP's crass advertising practices and our thirst for oil.

BIKE: Rules

2011-07-12T00:20:00.001+01:00

Lawrence posted a couple of links to Velominati and Rapha's rules of road cycling.

I'm not a member of the "roadie" sub-culture, nor do I particularly wish to be (some of the rules are funny, some are sage, many are totally ridiculous), but it made me realize that I have formed my own set of rules after several years of cycling in London. Some of my own, some are adapted from the advice of others and some are stolen. Here are the ones that spring immediately to mind:

The daily commute is not a race. If I overtake you it's not a challenge, it's because I'm faster than you, so don't feel compelled to start mashing your pedals furiously, wheezing and causing havoc in my general area. Likewise, if I'm riding slowly it's because I'm enjoying the lazy pace or I've had a heavy one the night before. Looking over your shoulder with a shit eating grin as you "leave me for dust" just confirms that to me that your partner and ambitions are unfulfilled and you make up for it by pedaling furiously to a job you hate. The other possibility is that you're an abject wanker.
The only vehicles that have any place on a pavement are children's bikes and mobility scooters. If you're riding a bicycle on the pavement and you're older than twelve you should contemplate the series of unfortunate events that have led you to behave like a water-brained sociopath and might even consider seeking professional help.
It is good to have a slow friendly bike with paniers and a bell to keep you from taking the business of cycling too seriously. The bell should be loud, clear and desperately cheerful so people are inclined to hop out of your path with a smile and a wave. However, when you are taking the sleek and speedy road bike, fixed gear or single speed (none of which should have a bell) this all changes. As zombie commuters step blindly into your path without warning, a short and sharp – but inoffensive – vocal command should be issued to remind them that not everyone inhabits a vacuously swirling world of Starbucks muffins and smart phones filled to bursting point with anodyne bullshit.
Hero worship is for spods and nonce-cakes. Fantasizing about licking Bradley Wiggins' rippling calves is fine if that's your thing, but don't confuse those feelings with the joy of riding for the thrill of it.
It's not shameful to wait in a queue of traffic if the only other option is ending up as a streak of tarmac jam. If you are unable to anticipate the likely outcome of coasting between busses or carving up criminally negligent nose-pickers in Porsche Cayennes then you should consider cycle training or trading in your bike for a Super-Deluxe Platinum Oyster card.
Everyone in or on a motorized vehicle is a fuckhead unless proven otherwise. So are most pedestrians and cyclists. However, those who drive, cycle or walk with care, skill and grace should be met with an appreciative smile and a nod. And a reacharound if you have the time.

NB. These rules were written on whiskey, as all rules should be.

TYPOGRAPHY: Legacy of Defeat

2011-05-31T14:02:00.000+01:00

Some heavy metal, graffiti and tattoo inspired fonts by Hydro74.
I find these sorts of things can occasionally be useful.

BIKE: Ecyclista

2011-05-26T17:44:00.000+01:00

Is a good blog. You know. If you're into that sort of thing.

VIDEO: Thought Maybe

2011-05-24T23:13:00.000+01:00

Spurred on by the start of the ever brilliant Adam Curtis' new documentary last night, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace I went in search of more socially minded, intelligent and probing documentaries that investigate why humans are in the various situations they find themselves in today.

One of the places I found was Thought Maybe, which has a collection of promising looking films, included some of Curtis' older documentaries.

Curtis is one of those voices and minds that I think is obsessed with truth and integrity, traits that are lacking not only on television but in most governmental, institutional and cultural bodies.

BIKE: Atomic 22

2011-05-18T13:43:00.000+01:00

This is well sad and geeky, but I'm honestly quaking with joy at the idea of being able to get some infiniti3D security track nuts for my fixed gear.

Aside from the fact that they can be used with solid axle hubs and that they've got a wider selection of fittings, they're also better than Pitlocks because each tool is totally bespoke.

GRAPHICS: Wild Thing

2011-04-27T12:16:00.000+01:00

Blog with some strong images.

BIKE: Velocino

2011-04-26T18:16:00.000+01:00

One of the highlights of this year's Tweed Run was the Velocino ridden by this fellow:

I've managed to track down a place you can buy them. If only I had 500 quid going spare. They look like serious fun to ride. Probably not so handy for the daily commute.

QUOTE: David Simon on Being Angry

2011-04-26T09:37:00.001+01:00

David Simon, creator of The Wire, on being named "The Angriest Man in Television":

It doesn’t really mean much. The second-angriest guy is, you know, by a kidney-shaped pool in L.A. screaming into his cell phone because his DVD points aren’t enough. But I don’t mind being called that. I just don’t think it means anything. How can you have lived through the last ten years in American culture and not be? How can you not look at what happened on Wall Street, at this gamesmanship that was the mortgage bubble, that was just selling crap and calling it gold? Or watch a city school system suffer for twenty, twenty-five years? Isn’t anger the appropriate response? What is the appropriate response? Ennui? Alienation? Buying into the great-man theory of history—that if we only elect the right guy? This stuff is systemic. This is how an empire is eaten from within.

Found via The Casual Optimist.

ARCHITECTURE: Yugoslavian Socialist Structures

2011-04-15T17:35:00.000+01:00

These Yugoslavian structures built in the 1960s and 1970s on WWII sites are incredible.
Click link for more.

GRAPHICS: Zebra Chinese Brush Pens

2011-04-06T17:38:00.000+01:00

Sexiest pens on earth.

BIKE: Rusty – An Update

2011-04-04T15:00:00.001+01:00

More than a year on from this post, I am indeed enrolled on the 2011 Tweed Run. Very exciting indeed.

My new old ride has all the parts it needs to run. I just need to put it together. The original bottom bracket is currently being serviced and the chainset installed (cottered, naturally) by the mechanics at Push as I type this. It was Rob Sargent who sorted me out with the chainset and calliper brakes. His shop is truly stunning.

Naturally, I’ve put everything off until the final week. I may end up without hoods for the brake levers, without the shiny mudguards I was hankering for, and with a less than comfortable saddle but it’s looking highly likely that the old girl will be ready to ride by Saturday for her maiden voyage. Tune ups can come later.

I’ll try to get some pictures online some point this week.

OBJECT: Remade in Switzerland

2011-03-30T18:34:00.000+01:00

I stumbled upon these new designs for Victorinox a little while ago and thought they looked great.

Only later did I find out that the Christopher Raeburn, the designer, was the guy who had the room in my flat before me.

Small world. And lovely clothes.

MUSIC: Underground Resistance

2011-03-17T13:09:00.000Z

Inspired by Dan, I decided to go on the hunt for a UR mix and found this one by the one and only Black Dog.
Listen and learn…

VIDEO: The Beauty of Books

2011-03-01T13:51:00.000Z

The fourth episode of BBC 4's The Beauty of Books series is about paperback design and features interviews with David Pearson, Jon Gray and my father.

Available to watch here for one week.

GRAPHICS: Pelham

2011-02-28T11:40:00.000Z

Typeface with my surname.

Traditional and perfectly proportioned.

Not at all like me, then.

MUSIC: Nine Tracks

2011-02-21T13:24:00.000Z

Get my new EP here.

RUBBISH: NES Ringtone Pack

2011-02-10T20:28:00.000Z

Selection of music and sound effects from classic NES games for use as mobile ringtones.

RUBBISH: Sexy Execs

2011-02-09T19:45:00.000Z

And hot on the heels of the bizarro book covers I posted below, here's a link to a collection of photographs of executives.

BOOKS: Bizarro Fiction

2011-02-09T19:21:00.004Z

Dan P has been posting some of his weird fiction finds from Amazon.co.uk.

Titles include Shatnerquake, Ass Goblins of Auschwitz and Rampaging Fuckers of Everything on the Crazy Shitting Planet of the Vomit Atmosphere!

Utterly gobsmacking.

Click link below for cover art.

MUSIC: Nine Tracks

2011-02-07T20:04:00.001Z

EP available as a free download on the Bearfaced netlabel due for release once the new site is finished.

It's a collection of melodic, acidy, listen-at-home sort of stuff from 2004-Present. Since I don't really ever stick to one style, this is how long it takes me to collect enough tracks I'm proud of that fit together well. These are some of my favourite tunes I've done.

Also check out the Susan Lam and Annie Chung releases if you like nutty homemade synth music.

GRAPHICS: &

2011-02-02T20:06:00.001Z

I can't enough of this collection of ampersands.

OTHER: Normal in Shoreditch

2011-02-01T10:45:00.000Z

Where to buy normal things in the interminably wacky Shoreditch.

GRAPHICS: The Illiad

2011-01-31T17:59:00.000Z

Homer's Illiad in its entirety on one poster set in 3.25pt type.
Dense!

GRAPHICS: A2 Type

2011-01-31T15:09:00.000Z

CPH Tram by A2 Type is damned nice.
As is their Zadie Smith typeface.

BIKE: Bishop's Bicycles

2011-01-25T09:51:00.001Z

Lovely collection of path-racers here.

BIKE: Gallery of Oldies

2011-01-10T19:33:00.000Z

Some lovely old bikes in this Flickr set.

EPHEMERA: Alternative St John Menu

2011-01-10T12:09:00.000Z

I don't normally post these sorts of things here, but this menu left in St John by an 11 year old last night is nothing short of genius.

Click image for bigger version.

ILLUSTRATION: Nothing is Forgotten

2011-01-06T13:08:00.001Z

A wonderful silent comic in seven parts by Ryan A.

GRAPHICS: Ceveritt

2010-12-27T13:50:00.001Z

Some nice work from Ceveritt of Austin, TX.

BOOKS: The World's Wife

2010-12-16T15:57:00.002Z

I’ve just sent the new cover for Carol Ann Duffy’s The World’s Wife for proofing. Thought it’d be fun to collect the rejected 54 colourways in one image as a bit of a visual melee.

It was a job I inherited from Katie Tooke who had already commissioned the illustration from Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini and had done every other cover for the backlist, so this was basically just a case of me moving the bits about and trying different colours. It’s nice to have worked on a project that involves three very gifted women.

VIDEO: I've a Horse Outside

2010-12-16T13:48:00.001Z

Been ages since I posted a video. This one's far too good to pass up.

GRAPHICS: Typography Zeitgeist

2010-12-15T12:08:00.000Z

Wood type still seems to be the big thing at the moment. I’ve noticed lots of promotional graphics using Poplar recently. Chunky Clarendons and gothics, the occasional Baskerville Italic ampersand and slab serifs like Rockwell and Lubalin Graph are also rather ubiquitous.

Not so long ago the modern geometric typefaces Avant Garde, Gotham and Neutraface were hip ‘n trendy. And obviously before that, the film Helvetica turned hundreds of lazy designers onto the International Typographic Style.

It’s nice that people are exploring the past, but I hope 2011 brings innovation.

illUSTRATION: Vladimir Zimakov

2010-12-08T15:11:00.001Z

Really strong linocut illustrations.

GRAPHICS: Music Genres

2010-12-06T14:06:00.003Z

Classy and witty prints.

GRAPHICS: What Type are You

2010-12-01T18:08:00.000Z

Pentagram's little online quiz.
I am Baskerville Italic.
Lovely!

ILLUSTRATION: Kevin Waldron

2010-11-30T14:13:00.000Z

Does some lovely illustrations. He also has a good blog filled with inspirational bits.

GRAPHICS: Getting to First Base

2010-11-30T09:58:00.000Z

Frank and honest advice from Hofstede Design for young graphic designers looking for work.

GRAPHICS: Keep Calm Poster

2010-11-26T13:56:00.002Z

Painfully overdue.

GRAPHICS: Andy Gilmore

2010-11-24T18:41:00.000Z

Lord of the Spirograph?

GRAPHICS: Prop-a-Ganda Fonts

2010-11-23T17:34:00.000Z

Huge Art Deco display fonts.

GRAPHICS: Luggage Labels

2010-11-23T15:29:00.001Z

Some lovely old style graphics.

PHOTOS: Hilary Walker

2010-11-17T17:42:00.001Z

She takes nice photos.

MUSIC: SHSK'H

2010-11-12T13:15:00.000Z

A netlabel with a great user interface and some really exciting improv music.

BIKE: The Bike Show

2010-11-12T12:39:00.000Z

I thought The Bike Show was pulled a while ago, but it still seems to be going.
Good news!

OBJECT: Lamp (redux)

2010-11-11T13:14:00.000Z

A groovy hipster artisan faux-retro concept lamp.
And naturally it's outrageously expensive.

GRAPHICS: Eight Logo

2010-11-09T17:28:00.000Z

Really clever logo design by Stylo.

GRAPHICS: Good Fucking Design Advice

2010-11-05T13:43:00.000Z

Fucking great.

GRAPHICS: David Ope

2010-11-04T10:37:00.001Z

Black and white animated GIFs from the void.

GRAPHICS: Max Lamb booklet

2010-11-01T18:26:00.001Z

Pentagram have made a booklet for a bench by a man called Max Lamb.
I'm not overly keen on the bench, but the design of the catalogue is rather nice.

MUSIC: Speed Dealer Moms

2010-10-28T09:36:00.000+01:00

Aaron Funk (Venetian Snares), John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Chris McDonald (The Alison Project) are releasing a 12" on Snares' new imprint Timesig as Speed Dealer Moms. These are live jams with synths and drum machines with no edits or overdubs.

GRAPHICS: Fourteen Nineteen

2010-10-27T14:59:00.002+01:00

Photography by people between the ages of 14 and 19. Surprisingly good.

GRAPHICS: Luggage Labels

2010-10-22T13:48:00.001+01:00

More nicely illustrated ephemera.

GRAPHICS: Brock Davis

2010-10-21T09:41:00.000+01:00

His Make Something Cool Every Day project is brilliant.

GRAPHICS: Goudy Forum Pro

2010-10-20T18:59:00.002+01:00

This is a beautiful font.

GRAPHICS: Dom Nokes

2010-10-20T12:11:00.000+01:00

Dom Nokes makes some interesting glitchy looking fonts.

ILLUSTRATION: Shout

2010-10-07T10:24:00.000+01:00

Shout has a new book.

GRAPHICS: Matchboxes

2010-10-05T10:07:00.000+01:00

I collected matchbooks when I was a child, but hardly any of them were as wonderfully designed or illustrated as these.

BIKE: Bertelli

2010-10-01T14:08:00.000+01:00

Bertelli make sexy bikes in NYC.

OBJECT: Lamp

2010-10-01T14:07:00.002+01:00

I love lamp.

Found here.

PHOTOS: Documerica

2010-10-01T13:15:00.000+01:00

Collection of photography from 1971-77 commissioned by the US Environmental Protection Agency for a series called Documerica.
There is no known copyright and they're all high resolution.

GRAPHICS: Sexy Badges

2010-09-29T19:10:00.000+01:00

Fuck
yes
thank
you
kindly.

Found through – the suitibly titled – Ffffound! website.

BIKE: LBS

2010-09-29T12:35:00.002+01:00

Local Bike Shops in London.

DESIGN: Knife & Saw

2010-09-26T22:07:00.000+01:00

An American man who makes lovely furniture.
Bike shelf and scrap table are my favourites.

BLOG: Nominal Commune

2010-09-26T15:45:00.000+01:00

A pleasing blog.

IMAGES: Jacob Whibley

2010-09-19T23:03:00.002+01:00

Some nice collages.

BIKE: Eastfenders

2010-09-13T13:23:00.000+01:00

Some lovely handmade wooden fenders with ornate brackets.

VIDEO: Martin Rowson

2010-09-03T17:35:00.000+01:00

A sweary and inspiring lecture by Martin Rowson on the power of the political cartoon for the RSA.

BOOKS: F Scott Fitzgerald

2010-08-30T14:50:00.000+01:00

New Penguin hardbacks to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Fitzgerald's death.
Series designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith.
Stunning.

GRAPHICS: Mihail Mihaylov

2010-08-10T09:22:00.003+01:00

Some really strong stuff. I particularly like the Eastside Bookshop logo.

OTHER: Teux Deux

2010-08-03T13:04:00.002+01:00

During the past week I've started to use Teux Deux, an online 'to do' list. The name is dreadful but it's really nicely designed and insanely easy to use. It is now my homepage on both my home and work Macs and has effectively become my diary. It doesn't seem to work on my fairly basic mobile phone, but I'm not too fussed about that.

GRAPHICS: You Work For Them

2010-08-03T12:49:00.000+01:00

Some good typefaces here.

OBJECT: Gonçalo Campos

2010-07-31T12:47:00.000+01:00

Some great objects here including printable paper jewelry.

GRAPHICS: Wim Crouwel

2010-07-29T14:11:00.003+01:00

Huge collection of Wim Crouwel's designs.

VIDEO: Rich Hall's Dirty South

2010-07-15T14:04:00.001+01:00

I watched this on Monday.
It's a fairly illuminating documentary exploring the deep South of America through its portrayal in films. And naturally it's mordantly funny. Hall's diatribe against the biopic in Hollywood made me laugh, cheer at the screen and hit bits of furniture.
Watch it here.

RIP: Harvey Pekar

2010-07-15T13:53:00.001+01:00

Harvey Pekar, professional American everyman and comic book writer, died on Monday.
He really knew how to tell stories, and I can think of few better pairings than Pekar’s words and Crumb’s drawings.
If comics aren't your thing, the film American Splendor which tells the story of his life is great and Pekar is brilliantly acted by Paul Giamatti.

GRAPHICS: Daniel Eatock

2010-06-28T13:32:00.000+01:00

Saw Daniel Eatock's cover design for his own book on The Book Cover Archive and subsequently found his website; snapshots of street scenes that incorporate visual puns, bizarre juxtapositions and other witty bits and bobs.

GRAPHICS: Peter Nencini

2010-06-19T18:31:00.002+01:00

More lovely graphics.
Especially like the Hell's Kitchen illustrations.

ARCHITECTURE: Luis Barragán

2010-06-19T18:24:00.000+01:00

Discovered the work of Mexican architect Luis Barragán. Incredible use of space.

Found via the sublime and faintly cryptic blog, 2 or 3 Things I Know, which I've posted here before.

GRAPHICS: Mark Weaver

2010-06-18T14:26:00.001+01:00

Lush design and illustration.

GRAPHICS: AceJet170

2010-06-13T18:08:00.001+01:00

Inspiring bits.

GRAPHICS: Neutura

2010-06-09T17:37:00.000+01:00

Lovely typefaces.

BOOKS: Milimbo

2010-05-24T09:44:00.000+01:00

Lovely picture books by a small Spanish press.

RADIO: Jon Ronson

2010-05-21T17:34:00.000+01:00

All of the episodes of BBC Radio 4's Jon Ronson On… available as MP3s here.

MUSIC: More Machines

2010-05-05T01:09:00.000+01:00

I think I might have a problem.

Since the arrival of my SH-101 and TR-606 over the Easter weekend I have bought a x0xb0x and a TS-303 Acid Screamer distortion unit. On top of all that, I'm waiting for a Korg Monotron to be delivered (it has the same filter as an MS-20) and tomorrow I'm picking up a Roland R8 drum machine.

I've already run out of power sockets.

VIDEO: Sunday Dump #3

2010-05-02T23:55:00.000+01:00

Cassette Boy v The One Show

Dan the Man

Edgard Varese – Ionisation

David Cameron sings Common People

MUSIC: Cheapmachines

2010-04-25T22:41:00.001+01:00

Had a bad hangover day so walked from Finsbury Park to Highgate on the abandoned railway and discovered Second Layer Records. You have to be buzzed in by the guy behind the counter, presumably to keep anyone who isn't a chinstroking enthusiast from clogging up the place with impertinent questions like "do you have the latest Little Boots album".

Pretension levels are through the roof. The shop assistant and another man were having a conversation which wasn't audible over the distorted single-note synth solo coming from the shop's speakers. When the track ended, the assistant filled the brief silence with "…was that the gig Condom played at?"

I was excited to see they had a tape section though, each roughly £4 a pop and mostly DIY releases. I'm enjoying rediscovering my tape deck. The bewildering lack of information on the tapes and not one with an artist name I recognised meant I bought one based purely on the xeroxed cover. Turns out it's a split C90 by Cheapmachines and Culver, and it's rather good.

I'm considering starting a new personal tradition. Every Sunday I will cycle to the shop and buy another tape. I get a rush when I buy music without knowing what it will sound like, especially when it comes from the "no-audience underground".

EVENT: Kitchen – London, 17/06/10

2010-04-20T19:22:00.002+01:00

Kitchen – £5 – Thursday 17th June 2010, 9pm-2am
The Gramaphone [sic], 60-62 Commercial St, East London
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I'll be appearing as Alan Titmash.
Breakcore/Gabber/Jungle/Noise.
Also playing are Ladyscraper and Resinate.

MUSIC: Roland Machines

2010-04-05T18:09:00.002+01:00

I've spent my Easter weekend playing about with my new toys: an SH-101 and a TR-606.

I haven't managed to make a proper track with them yet, but here's a noodley experiment I recorded onto tape yesterday.

Din Sync has some useful bits on it for x0x owners and Matrix Synth has some interesting bits for vintage synth enthusiasts.

VIDEO: Dawn Chorus

2010-03-25T21:57:00.000Z

Dawn Chorus is a video installation. Birdsong was slowed down and played to people who then mimicked the sounds on video. The film was then sped up and the results are almost identical to birdsong. When it comes to sound, birds have a higher temporal resolution than humans.

In a similar vein, something that's quite fun to do is:
1) Record yourself saying something, then reverse it.
2) Memorise how it sounds in reverse, then record it.
3) Reverse the sound of you speaking backwards.
It tends to give quite alarming results. It's generally coherent, but sounds rather spooky (see Twin Peaks for proof of this!)

MUSIC: Destro – Zod Mix.01

2010-03-24T22:18:00.000Z

Impeccably constructed mixtape of grass-roots breakcore from 2001.
Download from Archive.org
Tracklist on Discogs.com

???: Bad Craziness

2010-03-23T19:41:00.000Z

I've just witnessed a gunfight.

This morning I couldn't face riding my bike to work because I've got a sore throat, so I took the tube and read my book. On my return journey I got the tube back to Highbury and Islington but decided to take a quieter route home so I could walk and read at the same time without bumping into people.

As I was meandering slowly down Calabria Road, past the quiet, middle class houses, I looked up from my book to see a silver saloon car swoop to a stop, in front of a white estate parked next to the curb, not more than two or three metres from where I was standing. The doors of the saloon flew open, police jumped out clutching sub machine guns and I heard a loud bang. More police got out of a silver people carrier, which had pulled up next to white estate and I heard lots of shouting: Drop the fucking gun! Don't fucking move! Stay where you are! The shouting was momentarily interrupted by another bang before the armed policemen wrestled someone – I couldn't see who – out of the car.

For some reason I was almost as taken aback by the viciously barked swearwords and orders as I was by the mayhem itself. By this time I had positioned myself behind a parked car for safety, and I could smell sulphur. Two other people gingerly emerged from their front doors and one of the armed policemen broke off from the fray and ordered everyone (politely, it has to be said) to go back into their houses. I've seen police in various states of frenzy before and had just been reading Bertrand Russell, so I wasn't much in the mood for getting involved and decided to walk slowly away. I didn't see much else. I hope that whatever happened was for the best.

Needless to say, the incident put paid to my reading for the rest of the walk home.

MUSIC: Techno Mix

2010-03-20T01:33:00.001Z

Here's a mix I did last summer. A selection of tweaky, crazy techno. Lots of bangers and screwy effects:

DOWNLOAD

Tracklist (from memory… Sorry about the blanks)
Baby Ford – Normal (Helston Flora Remix by AFX)
Chaos AD – Generation Shit
Elektroids – Stun Gun
Speedy J – Planetary Departure (Bootleg)
Monolith – Phekter Gleeson's Walking on the Moon (Unreleased)
Chris Clark
Universal Indicator
Kosmik Kommando & Peter Green – Cornucopian 105
Brothomstates – Mr. Kitschock
Squarepusher – Snake Pass
Luke Vibert – Sci-Fi Staircase (AFX Remix)
TEP – Yeah
Randomoidz – Raggage Baggage
Spac Hand Luke – Like a Machine
Drexcyia – ?
Dyspraxia – ?
Universal Indicator – ?
Mark Acardipane – ?
Photek – Aleph 1
Hellfish – ?
Hellfish – ?

BIKE: Personal Best

2010-03-17T18:01:00.000Z

Did the commute in 8 minutes. Didn't have to put my foot on the ground once and on a couple of quiet stretches of road I was actually overtaking cars.

The downside is my t-shirt now feels like it's just come out of a hot wash.

BOOKS: Goodbye Independents, Hello Soulless Chainstores

2010-03-16T12:49:00.001Z

Unbearably depressing and undeniably truthful article by Simon-Peter Trimarco, an independent bookseller based in Kilburn, North London, who's been forced to close his shop.

VIDEO: Reggie Watts

2010-03-15T14:12:00.002Z

Fuck Shit Stack

GRAPHICS: IOGraph

2010-03-11T17:46:00.005Z

IOGraph tracks your mouse movements.
The image above was generated today at work over the course of roughly 40 minutes. Black dots are where the pointer rests. If you look closely you might be able to see that during an idle moment I tried to write the word BUMS using the mouse.