The blog of the traveller, observer and writer, Woz.
Happiness is the man with rhythm. Copyright © 2003-2021, Woz

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Ouch, ouch, cough, splutter

Week one comes to a close. No sooner had 'Tarquin' and I flown to Taipei that we caught their local brand of cold - shivering and coughing for the entire week. A bit of a drag, given that we landed on Monday night, flew out to HK on Wednesday, Shanghai on Thursday, with Tarquin going back to London today and me flying back to HK tomorrow for a couple of days. I have slept and sweated out the fever, but while the coughing has slowed down, my voice is getting extra gravelly, as it begins to wane - just what I need for another week of meetings in HK, Shenzhen, Guangzhou & Beijing before I return to London. Arse.

Watching: Thomas Keneally interviewed by Michael Peschardt on BBC World

Writing: '1700 & Rising' and editing some of the back catalogue

Restaurant recommendations in Shanghai: Jade Garden in Pudong, and the excellent Crystal Jade in Xintiandi. I'll take 'Shaggy' there when I return on the 22nd.

Shanghai bars: tried Bar Rouge - a bit dead on a Friday night compared with our usual haunt, the Glamour Bar.

Lamenting: the fact that Shanghai has few voluptuous women wearing the qipao (maybe I have been watching too many Wong-Kar Wei films recently), even though it has to be said that the stick-slim women of Shanghai still look damn attractive.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Yesterday...

...all my stomach troubles seemed so far away ♫

Well, not quite. Yesterday the iPOD Perv and myself checked out Roast in Borough Street Market. Nice interior, slightly pretentious clientele, but a decent British menu. However, we came away with the impression that you really paid a premium for the location, so in that sense, it is not really on par with our current favourite, the Marquess Tavern in Islington, where you really get your money's worth.

We didn't get a chance to check out the Design Museum, the day getting off to a late start thanks to traffic jams on the North Circular & M25.

We popped into Wright Brothers Oyster and Porter House - it was ok, then bounded towards Camden to try the curry goat at Cottons. Very good, but not on par with Ealing's long-lost Tyme. Mind you, Cotton's do a good jerk chicken.

As for the Jazz Cafe - Dubwiser opened with an excellent set. Natty was alright, the DJing so-so, but then the Upsetter entered...the 71yo Lee Scratch Perry, reggae legend. Amazing. Shame the venue was so packed we couldn't breath.

Had to decamp as I felt like crap, so missed the last half of Professor Perry's set. F*ck. Then the stomach flutters commenced, after dropping the mashed-up iPOD Perv at home.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

There's a fine, fine line...

...between writing for children and writing psychedelica. It didn't occur to me until I was thinking of having another stab at writing for children, and I was struck by the presence of orange elephants and lilac zebras in both hippy trips and kiddie flicks.

I chickened out of sending a concotion of my own to my youngest niece, opting to send her some Spike Milligan instead. But it's a long flight to Hong-Kong, so...

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

A string of words masquerading as comment

From McJobs to McBollox (especially 'UnicycleFascist').

Sunday, March 18, 2007

The black hole of productivity

Thanks to SoftCorePornStalker™ for giving me the heads up on this review of the shlocky '300'.

Weekend writing result: 'Desert Hallucination' now edited to the point where it is now about something entirely different.

Looking for: a good desk

Decisions: MBA, MSc or do nothing?

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Last night at Mossy's Immobile Disco








Thursday, March 15, 2007

It made me laugh...

'When Mr Wright was researching his book, he took a job at the Saudi Gazette in Jeddah, Osama bin Laden's home town, mentoring a group of reporters—young Muslims whose lives were completely cut off from music, art, films, politics and intellectual life, not to mention the opposite sex. While shopping one day at a mall in Jeddah, Mr Wright and a few of his fellow male reporters spotted two women. Both were wearing the niqab, fully covered except for their eyes. (Saudi men call such women BMOs or “black moving objects”.) Pointing to them, his companions whispered, without any sense of irony, “Check 'em out!”'

From The Economist

Before I forget. Adam Curtis, maker of the documentary 'The Power of Nightmares', introducing us to Sayyid Qutb, who begat Zawahiri (who first came to infamy with supposed linkage Anwar Sadat's assassination), has got a new documentary coming to our screens - 'The Trap', on BBC2 this Sunday at 9pm.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Progress

I edited (actually rewrote) 'Creole', from 2004. It's now about something totally different, but I like it. I think my run-rate needs to increase.

Well done Blondie!

Chapman played out on Good Morning Sunday on BBC Radio 2 as the show's featured artist. You can listen to the show again, and if you wanna hear more of Chapman, email gms@bbc.co.uk.

Please, please, please...get up off yer arses and mail Radio 2 to tell them you want more Chapman.

He's also looking for a manager, so if you have any hints, contact him via his blog.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

'Hot Fuzz'

No, this is not a new way of acheiving a Brazilian. This is the 'British Comedy' that received excellent reviews, which meant that it was moderately funny, but could have been so much better. The director, making a reference to the Gene Wilder & Richard Pryor movies of the 1980s, said that if 'Shaun of the Dead' was 'Silver Streak', then 'Hot Fuzz' would be their 'Stir Crazy' (I won't mention that after 'Stir Crazy', the Pryor/Wilder films could suck the sweat off a dead man's balls).

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Pen Porn...

Spilling ink over my blotting paper in excitement. I saw the Parker Duofold Cloisonne in a Hong-Kong pen shop in the shopping mall across the road from the Star Ferry terminal in Kowloon.

It's gorgeous and is beautifully packaged. I especially like the design of the ink bottle. I also like the design of Visconti's ink bottles.



Yes, I know its all rather sad.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Twat!

The episode in David Cameron's life that he'd rather forget.



The Bullingdon Club


Alex and the Droogs (Kubrick's 'Clockwork Orange')
Yes, Boris Johnson does indeed appear in both photos.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

It's coming...

The Cinema China festival trundles into several cities across the UK.