Notes

Just sampled The Menu which was deliciously dark, and very moreish.

Unfollowing connections on LinkedIn is my new jam.

Not even Monza curses can stop Verstappen and Red Bull. Invincible.

Passed over, under and through the Alps having departed Como to arrive here in Zürich, the penultimate stop of my trip. Lots more to say about my travels through just a small part of Italy, and maybe I’ll write about them soon. But once again, as soon as I find myself in a German-speaking part of the world, I feel like I’m with my people. I’m already home.

Reading about the new identity for BBC Cricket, realise that I now much prefer the newer blocks logo to the old one. I didn’t take to it originally, but thought best to reserve judgement. Not only is it bolder and more balanced, it’s also wiped away the unsightly stain of Gill, which is no bad thing either.

This Sunday has been vastly improved by having actual Steps perform in my back garden. Kinda. I could hear the band rehearsing this morning, and can hear them performing now, all the way from Preston Park. Brighton Pride clearly has a great sound system! 🌈🎶

Watched Barbie and wow! Brilliantly bonkers and self-referential, if not dark and uncomfortable in places. Great music and choreography, plenty of unexpected cameos for British viewers, and enough commentary about capitalism and the patriarchy to keep Guardian journalists gainfully employed all summer long.

One from the archive: Flipping the bird

Watched James Graham’s new play Dear England at the National Theatre this evening. This is a story about Gareth Southgate giving the national men’s football team the freedom to win, and the country a lesson on how best to lose. When our political leaders are so easy to lampoon, it’s these young men who provide the moral leadership now.

Engine failure for Max, and a maiden win for Lando at his home Grand Prix? Yes please.

I don’t often recommend hotels, or make return visits, but just checked out of Hotel Casa in Amsterdam for the third time. I love staying here; it’s modern and stylish with a lovely cafe, restaurant and rooftop terrace. Located outside the canal ring, it’s relatively peaceful, too. I’ll be back!

Do billionaires dream of spatially augmented sheep?

This latest Black Mirror episode is totally fucked up.

Can’t wait to see what courageous new e-waste Apple is about to unleash onto an undeserving planet. Silicon Valley’s inability to solve real-world problems seemingly has no limits; book a restaurant table in San Francisco, but now with a bit of glass stuck to your face? Cool.

Watched all 8 episodes of Colin from Accounts yesterday evening. Brilliantly written with crude humour in places, the story grabs your attention and doesn’t let go. Plus it has a Border Terrier in a leading role. Reminded me a little bit of Catastrophe, which is no bad thing.

If you had told my 16-year-old self that I would end up more excited by Eurovision than the coronation, I’m not sure he would have believed you. But here we are.

Lovely evening over at Lewes Depot to watch The Big Lebowski again, but this time on the big screen. Such a fun story with crazy characters, backed up by a brilliant cast with superb direction. Also, and only just realised this, Roger Deakin’s cinematography, too. The perfect movie? The Dude abides.

Back in Birmingham, and for the first time since the redevelopment of Paradise Circus and Centenary Square. This area is now completely unrecognisable, but undoubtedly for the better.

Everything old shall become new again.

Woke up feeling nauseous. Stumbling around in the dark, walked into a wall, nose first. Blood everywhere.

Pinch and a punch, first of the month. No returns.

Controversial opinion but: I like Mastodon’s official clients! All that’s missing from the official iOS app is an edit function, otherwise it’s easy to use and far less fussier than Ivory, for one. As ever, I’m here for the default option.

Over the last few years, I’ve started following several channels on YouTube. I don’t subscribe to them. Instead, I manually search for each channel because I don’t want to sign into Google. The other day I wondered if I could subscribe to channels using RSS. It turns out that yes, you can! It’s not easy, but thankfully NetNewsWire does the hard work, so I only need to give it a channel’s URL. Perfect!

Is Tailwind not a euphemism for farting?

Have updated the introduction to Indiekit, detailing how it can be used to authorise applications, publish content and syndicate it to third-party websites.

Also works as a useful illustration as to why syndication remains the hardest part to get working faultlessly.

Open my front door to discover that something (or somebody?) has pooed on my doorstep.

Happy Monday!

Fond memories of travelling on Network SouthEast’s ‘slam-door’ trains in the late 80s and early 90s.

Now available for just £3 per square meter.

Not sure what to make of Empire of Light, but that my chief criticism is that the train seat moquette shown in one of the final scenes was not introduced until 1986, 5 years after the film was set, is probably a good indication.

ABBA Voyage. No smoke but plenty of mirrors… lasers, LEDs, LCDs, 3D, ray-traced CGI, mixed reality and every other conceivable trick to manipulate 16 million colours, all in service of creating the best disco on Earth. I loved every luminescent, iridescent, psychedelic minute!

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

Fun start to the week: somebody tried to break into my flat, while I was home.

I watched Licorice Pizza at the cinema twice (and then had HAIM on repeat for the rest of the year). Such a funny and uplifting movie; The Guardian has it as number 5 for its best films of 2022, but it’s my favourite film of the year.

Disgraceful hosts, but a delightful final. Congratulations Argentina!

Today’s the day. 😬

Brighton’s London Road is rapidly going downhill: they’re opening a Starbucks. 🤮

Just read that there’s another Motherland Christmas special this year, airing 23 December on BBC One. This is truly excellent news!

Inspired by @danielpunkass, I too am committing myself to shipping this side of Christmas. The first feature complete beta of Indiekit v1.0 will be released on 17 December - 10 days time!