Yearly Archives: 2004

I can’t stand it

Posted on April 23, 2004 by acb

The sun is bright and my book is dull. It’s much too bright for fish, in fact, but I don’t care. If you want me for the rest of the afternoon, I won’t be hard to find. Just walk down … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Trouty things | 4 Comments

The British Press (2)

Posted on April 23, 2004 by acb

Just for the record … I mean, the Richard Desmond story is so wonderful that Felix rang me up to say he wet himself with laughter reading it in the Guardian on the tube, so I assume any English readers … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | Comments Off on The British Press (2)

The British press (1)

Posted on April 23, 2004 by acb

There are, apparently, papers in the USA which refuse to run the Doonesbury strip this week because BD, when he finds his lower left leg blown off, cries ‘ Son of a bitch’. Compare and contrast the Guardian’s op-ed cartoon … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Romantic fiction

Posted on April 22, 2004 by acb

LIfe is hard for the sensitive soul in Essex, so everyone who lives here adopts a protective colouration. Simon Heffer sits down in his tutu to write for the Daily Mail, Francis Wheen promotes bare-knuckle boxing in his village hall, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blather | Comments Off on Romantic fiction

nerdy help request

Posted on April 22, 2004 by acb

do any readers understand javascript? I have an irritating problem with the bookmarklet for Furl, which looks like a pretty useful service: it does two things that Opera’s notes don’t do — makes whole saved pages searchable, and makes them … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Software | Comments Off on nerdy help request

where I went wrong

Posted on April 21, 2004 by acb

All these years, and I have never understood what creative writers do. Instead of shambling down to the kitchen and scrawling urgent, indecipherable notes on the shopping pad while the coffee brews, I could be preparing to work like the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Literature | 1 Comment

Smashing stereotypes

Posted on April 20, 2004 by acb

%(loony)”Christians would be against this if the Continue reading →

Posted in God | 10 Comments

Feedback

Posted on April 18, 2004 by acb

Dan Dennett writes — and I wrote back that I would publish this here, since the Guardian is unlikely to correct every one of his niggles. I should say at once that the errors he complains of are largely my … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | Comments Off on Feedback

Ithaca

Posted on April 18, 2004 by acb

Nowhere in Europe is really isolated any more, but Ithaca remains hard to reach. The boat from Patras takes 4 hours. Patras itself has no airport and is four hours by road from Athens, or fourteen hours by ferry from … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Travel notes | 4 Comments

Good news

Posted on April 18, 2004 by acb

I’ve only just discovered this, but the worm book has been long-listed for the Aventis Prize. It won’t win, of course, but it would be nice to make the shortlist alongside the likes of Dan Dennett, Matt Ridley, Francis Spufford … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Worms | 1 Comment