Sites I like
Tuesday 29th July
Britain's highest circulation newspapers must make an obscene amount of money to be able to pay people for their stories, but are they really doing this "in the public interest"? The Mirror's reported six-figure-sum deal with convicted criminal Tony Martin is claimed to be one such story that the public really needs to know about. I suppose all the publicity generated won't bump up their sales at all then and they're just being nice. Still, the Press Complaints Commission is looking into it and The Guardian is getting all uppity about it, so I suspect I won't need to even buy a red top to hear more on this one.
Posted on July 29, 2003 | Comments (4)
Monday 28th July
DISCLAIMER: It's Monday... no brain power exists for an intellectual post.
After writing recently about the ten cars I would have in my fantasy garage, I then came up with an idea that's a little more 'Cosmo' than 'Top Gear' - who would I have in my fantasy bedroom? It was again a tricky list to compile and practically no one else will agree with my choices, but here's my current favourites anyway (split into two distinct sub-lists) for you to peruse: Kylie, Justin Timberlake, Nicole Kidman, Brad Pitt, Halle Berry, Dermot O'Leary, June Sarpong, Richard Hammond, Tamzin Sylvester, David Oyelowo. If you disagree, just tell me who you'd have instead.
Posted on July 28, 2003 | Comments (6)
Saturday 26th July
Cameron? Cameron? Can anyone explain this to me? Mind you, I haven't really watched Big Brother since Jon left the house so I'm no expert or anything but... Cameron? However, what I'm really going to miss about this whole TV marathon is my daily dose of Dermot O'Leary. I think I need to get myself a life.
Posted on July 26, 2003 | Comments (6)
Friday 25th July
Yet more assumptions that everyone on the planet wants children. They say I'll change my mind but, if anything, I'm only becoming more adamant that I'd much rather play with someone else's kids than look after my own. No one seems to take me seriously at the moment but once I'm the other side of thirty I'll need to prepare myself for the worst. I don't mind living in a child friendly society (after all, I'm just a big kid at heart anyway), but this obsession with parenthood is quite frightening to me. I have yet to be convinced that there are any good points to raising a child that I won't get anyway from being an auntie.
Posted on July 25, 2003 | Comments (10)
Wednesday 23rd July
Rarely does one motoring issue unite people in the way that speed bumps have. Practically everyone I know hates them, and by the looks of this BBCi report, only RoSPA are supporting these vile things. I know traffic does need to slow down on certain roads but isn't there another way to do it? I still maintain that if pedestrians were more aware of the Green Cross Code then that would seriously affect the number of people killed on Britain's roads. Have you noticed how TV adverts telling motorists to slow down in case they hit someone usually involve a car hitting a kid who has run out into the street without looking?
Posted on July 23, 2003 | Comments (8)
Monday 21st July
If I were to cobble together a list of amusing quotes from the previous week like so many tedious magazines do, I would be compelled to included this little gem from yesterday's Observer Magazine: "They are paid more than men, and guys are only there so that women can sit on something". On a similar theme, here's a review I wrote for another site... and for those of you who came here from the f-word having just read that piece, perhaps you can help me solve the mystery of why women's magazines are so awful. Were they always this bad and it's simply me that has changed? I spent a small chunk of my day browsing the entire selection that a reasonably large branch of WH Smith had to offer earlier today and came out with something that has the look of a fashion mag, but is filled with cars. Zero is the second car 'lifestyle' magazine I've come across this year but it's still not managing to plug the nasty void that appeared the second I began to hate all women's magazines with a vengeance. What's a girl to do if she wants something that covers a variety of subjects and doesn't focus on sex or shopping to the exclusion of virtually everything else? Now I know why I stick to weekend broadsheet supplements.
Posted on July 21, 2003 | Comments (8)
Thursday 17th July
It was quiet in the office this morning and so I put the radio on. I don't really have a favourite station at the moment but chose Century FM because, like their advert says, it's the station everyone can agree on at work. I was almost singing along with most of their morning selection too just like the advert which claims they play "music to sing along to", and that reminded me of a recent TV spot by another local station. Galaxy FM had a commercial for dance music you salute, and I have to admit to saluting certain tunes by whacking the volume up in my car and annoying grannies. Another radio station that some other people in the office listen to is Radio 2. What would their catchphrase be? Radio 2 - "It's better than an awkward silence", "Because your boss chooses the station", or "Music that blends into the background"?
Posted on July 17, 2003 | Comments (7)
Wednesday 16th July
When I'm sat in my hot little car on the brief journey to work, dreaming of air conditioning, I sometimes spare a thought for my colleagues in London who have to suffer the cramped conditions and unbearable heat of the London Underground. No one can come up with a practical way to cool the Tube, it seems, and so Ken Livingstone has offered a 10k reward for anyone who comes up with an idea that gets used. Some of the suggestions on BBCi so far are rather entertaining, if a little impractical. Maybe they'll fix it one day.
In other news... I completely forgot to send off a letter to The Guardian or Daily Hell, and it's even too late to send an email now. Oh well, they probably wouldn't have published it anyway. The last one was a fluke. Will have to check the letters pages tomorrow and see if I recognise any names as we'll have both papers in the office.
Posted on July 16, 2003 | Comments (1)
Monday 14th July
I watched Top Gear again last night on BBC2 and now have another addition to my fantasy garage. I don't know what I'd kick out to make room for it (perhaps the PT Cruiser), but it looks like it would be worth the sacrifice. OK, so it's impractical and a tad expensive but, if I had a spare £22,500, I really would like to splash out on a Carver. Made by a Dutch company, it has three wheels but is in no way like a Reliant Robin... this is like a bike-car hybrid! It leans into corners if you take them at speed and, apparently makes you feel like a fighter pilot. Your passenger will have to sit behind you and I have no idea if it can take any luggage at all, but I really really want one. Anyone feeling generous?
Posted on July 14, 2003 | Comments (2)
Sunday 13th July
I was in the Trafford Centre the other day and came across a L'Oréal 'roadshow' style promotion for skin care products. I love things like this as there's no pressure to buy because it's mainly about brand and product awareness. This one wasn't giving out free samples, however, and the thing that tempted me was not the free skin consultation but the chance to have your photo taken with a UV camera. I've seen it in magazines before where women view a spooky looking photograph of themselves showing exactly how the sun has tortured their skin, so I was keen to have a go myself. Although I prefer to keep in the shade these days, my photo shows quite a few dark patches where there is some sun damage. I can see where this is heading... soon, like so many women out there, I'll be petrified of wrinkles and addicted to moisturiser like Sally from Coupling. I bet they don't get many men coming along for a skin consultation. Damn this social conditioning!
Posted on July 13, 2003 | Comments (3)
Thursday 10th July
I was amazed to read that the country's first digital speed camera is only now being introduced. That took a bit longer than I expected as you'd think they'd have worked out by now that they'd catch far more people if they didn't have to keep putting film in the things every now and again. A spokesman for RoSPA said the new camera would save lives. I wonder if the driver of the minibus that crashed on the M56 this morning, killing seven, was exceeding the speed limit. I still maintain that it is inappropriate speed and reckless driving that kills more often than simply exceeding the limit, but Gatsos cannot capture that kind of behaviour. Without more traffic police I fear we are fighting a losing battle on UK roads.
UPDATE: It appears I have succeeded in 'dummifying' my site. Click here to find out why. I did think about re-naming the blog 'Sex Tips for Dummies' in honour of my only TV appearance, but figured it wasn't really relevant. Still, it'd be a great name for a new site...
Posted on July 10, 2003 | Comments (12)
Wednesday 9th July
Yesterday I gave in to the power of advertising and I still feel awful for it. You know those TV adverts with the hip young people and an oh so 90s soundtrack showing you just how yummy McDonalds "New Tastes" menu is? Well, aliens took over my brain and I decided to give it a go for lunch. I had one of those chicken burgers in the focaccia bread and a Strawberries & Cadbury Dream McFlurry which, I have to admit, were both rather tasty. Not just by McDonalds' standards either; by any standards. The icky feeling still won't go away though. Was it because I felt obliged to order a meal when I didn't want fries and only needed a sip of drink? Was it the severe lack of change I received from a fiver? Was it the nasty kiddie themed 'restaurant' I then had to sit and eat my food in? No, I think it was just the realisation that I'd contributed to another evil empire and knew I was also going to feel hungry again in an hour or so. I should have succumbed to marketing in another way and gone to Boots to get more Advantage Card points with my lunch. At least that way my food would have been a tad more healthy and satisfying.
Posted on July 09, 2003 | Comments (7)
Sunday 6th July
After enjoying Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle last night and reviewing it this afternoon for the Lipstick Girls, I was thrilled to see another woman go full throttle on the small screen. I sat back to enjoy Top Gear (yes, I remembered it this week, Lyle), and was surprised to see the lovely Jodie Kidd on the show looking even more radiant, and tall, than ever. Turns out that she loves cars, particularly fast ones, and has taken part in the Gumball Rally a couple of times too. I was still stunned to discover that she got a faster lap time in that silly Suzuki Liana than Jay Kay. Faster than Jay Kay?! I think I have a new hero.
Posted on July 06, 2003 | Comments (4)
Saturday 5th July
I was sad to hear today that Barry White has died. It's always awful to hear when someone was suffering terribly before their death, but to hear that such a performer was "almost completely incapacitated" made me feel glad that he is now out of his misery. I'm not sure whether it is good that his music is still known by many people too young to have known him in his heyday, or whether it is bad because our memories of him will be from TV appearances in Ally McBeal (singing You're My First, My Last, My Everything) and The Simpsons (singing Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe). I'm sure he'd find it funny that my lasting image of his music will be Calista Flockhart, Peter MacNicol, Greg Germann, Lucy Liu and Jane Krakowski dancing in front of the 'restroom' mirrors. Now where's that 70s CD of mine...
Posted on July 05, 2003 | Comments (1)
Friday 4th July
BBCi is harping on, once again, about the great north-south divide in the UK. They use house prices as an indicator that the south is enjoying more of a boom than the north, but there are many other ways in which the north is actually better than the south. Before you just assume that I'm a typical northerner harping on about how cheap the beer is oop 'ere, I'd like to point out that I'm from the home counties and hadn't been to Manchester (where I now live) before a visit for a university open day in 1993. Apart from visits to Ayr (via Blackpool), Edinburgh and Perth, I hadn't really been anywhere north of Norwich until then and now there is no turning back! In the north west we have plenty of money, a buoyant property market, lots of regeneration and events. Everywhere else in the north of England are beautiful friendly cities that are on the up. There are deprived areas all over the country, but the BBC would have you believe they were all north of Watford. Don't listen to them - the south east is not the centre of the universe! My list of places in the UK I might like to move to extends from Edinburgh down to Brighton via York, but nowhere does it mention London. The job prospects may not be as good as they would be in the capital but we take more sickies to make up for it!
Posted on July 04, 2003 | Comments (16)
Wednesday 2nd July
If any of you were considering purchasing anything from the lomography.com shop, today is the day to do it! No, it's not a half price sale, but I've been chosen as today's OSCM Expert. This means that, if the shop makes more profit today than yesterday, I get a small share of it to go towards my next purchase. So, if you've been considering an LC-A, mulling over an action sampler, or are even just in need of more film, pop over to the shop today and spend some of your hard earned with those lovely lomography people. You know it makes sense.
Posted on July 02, 2003 | Comments (3)
Tuesday 1st July
A study in the Netherlands has shown that eggs from an aborted foetus could be used to help infertile couples and, predictably, the world is horrified. Anti-abortion campaigners have described the idea as "grotesque" and fertility experts have claimed it's unnecessary, but the thing that amazes me about the story is that it was suggested as a solution to the worldwide shortage of women prepared to donate their eggs. There's a much more simple solution to that problem - pay us! I can't be the only one who'd be tempted to donate eggs that don't (and probably won't ever) get used if I was offered money for my time and trouble. Currently, in this country women can only be given their expenses for donating eggs, while a sperm donor gets the same amount for far less trauma. Fifteen pounds for 2 weeks of hormone injections and a forty minute surgical procedure seems laughable. No wonder there's a shortage of donors.
Of course, there wouldn't be a problem if the world stopped viewing infertility and childlessness as a disease to be cured. I will never understand fully as I have never been in the situation where I desperately want children and am told I cannot have any, but I do wonder why adoption no longer seems to be considered as an option for most couples. Children desperate for a new family are shunned and childless couples regarded as freaks, while every last snippet of information on IVF treatment is headline news and mothers are praised at having multiple kiddies to feed and clothe after their fertility treatment. The world is becoming a stranger place by the day.
Posted on July 01, 2003 | Comments (4)