Monthly Archives: October 2013
Things we can learn from our American cousins
1. We should learn to talk more. The streets are better with inane conversation. 2. At the age of sixty, all of us should have plastic surgery. But perhaps not too much… 3. Every hotel bar needs a pianist plucking away into the wee hours. 4. Perhaps we shouldn’t take television too seriously. 5. You […]
The secret society Owl Prowl
I cannot show you pictures of this event. Nor can I reveal its location. And if I had an infra-red camera I might just be able to give you an inkling of what I saw. So instead you’ll just have to believe me when I tell you that sane people go owl spotting at night, […]
Booze, birds and intellectual pursuits
Yale is beautiful, as it should be in the land of hedge funds. As I walk down arcadian streets, a real feeling of intellectualism grabs me by the balls and – suddenly! – I have made it. I guess this is how universities should make you feel (mine never did, but that’s another story). Filled […]
Every so often…
… a puppet’s gotta do what a puppet’s gotta do. From tomorrow – or very soon thereafter – my whinings will be coming all the way from New York. Hear what I think of the current craze for cronuts. Follow me getting my little wooden legs into top speed on Manhattan’s bike hire scheme. Watch […]
Say goodbye to the London you love…
Celebrate its architecture. Wander down its decrepit streets and breathe in that wonderful sense of otherness. Stare wistfully at ancient, gnarled Plane trees and exclaim, Gosh London’s great! – isn’t it wonderful how all this exists within our great, great city? Yet a disease is spreading. And we can stop it because it comes down […]
The master and the apprentice
In advance of his latest novel Grim, Rupert Smith – hi Rupert! – is writing a fantastic list of his favourite horror films. Go read it. This morning, it is Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. It reminds me of the fact that I have only read two Stephen King books. The first, The Shining, is a […]
The power of colour and movement
As an art director, I would be doing myself a disservice if I said graphic design is just fluff on the sofa of life. Sometimes – very often in fact – it is the sofa. Take this example, a lunch spot near Charlotte Street specialising in street food from (mostly) south-east Asia. On a rainy […]
Soho square, that odd little patch of turf
Soho square definitely has an identity crisis. Which other square in London owns a gingerbread house within its fences, and is surrounded by banana trees, eucalyptus, a statue of a man falling off his horse, ping-pong tables and a lawn that constantly needs re-lawning. Sometimes it’s fairytale, other times Bahamas, and yet other times again […]
Your five-point plan to being a Zone 2er
If the sun rises in Dalston and sets in Chelsea then this is the plan for you. 1. Slather your floors in love. That’s real wood. Not engineered – isn’t that what you’ve heard others say? Ancient too, with a real patina of age. You’re impressed by that draught, which provides natural air conditioning. You […]
Examining the London bubble
Sometimes I wonder if the London square was created by writers not architects. Without too much effort, a murder mystery, love triangle, comedy spoof or social critique is conceived. All those eyes aimed at the one spot – or at each other! Methinks it is the perfect spot for a plot. Lloyd Square in Islington […]
Puppetman by Daniel Coupe 