Blogwatch

(As officially endorsed by Troubled Diva!)

Belated birthday wishes to Musings From Middle England, now firmly established as one of my daily must-reads. Apparently we had been spared a post about "the day I was in the supermarket at 7.30 am and stumbled on a man and woman engaged in what used to be called 'heavy petting' next to the Dairy Products" - well, no longer.

Meanwhile...

Vaughan contemplates the ins and outs of taking revenge - "I never used to understand that particular proverb - 'revenge is a dish best served cold' - until I discovered how people plan their revenge meticulously, down to the last detail. Then it began to make sense. Revenge isn't a dish BEST served cold - it just happens to have gone cold because it's been standing around in the kitchen too long being fussed over and having a ridiculous array of garnish added to it".

Elsewhere...

Mike of Troubled Diva transcribes his mother's account of her childhood, which is full of fascinating detail - "I was born in Harrogate because my mother's parents were living there at the time and the Blitz was causing havoc in London. My father's Chambers were at 5 Crown Office Row, which had probably been damaged when a bomb had fallen on Crown Office Row on 25th September 1940. Another bomb fell on the day of my birth, putting Chambers out of action completely, and his barrister's wig, still in its metal box but squashed flat, was rescued from the ruins: when the box was prised open, the wig sprang back into its original shape".

Alex reviews Instal '05, a festival of experimental music held in Glasgow - "Instal is always a great, horizon expanding experience, which I would recommend so long as you're not of a nervous disposition or think that music has to have a tune or anything. It does leave you craving sunny melodic pop songs for about a week afterwards, though".

Swiss Toni is none too impressed by the Observer Music Monthly's cover story on Pete Doherty - "Doherty seems to have been completely swept up with the glamour and the fame that his notoriety is bringing him (not to mention the supermodel girlfriend). He is no doubt fascinated by the romantic notion of himself as the latest in a long line of doomed artistic geniuses, and is revelling in the attention. For their part, the press (and I include broadsheets like The Observer here) are just waiting for the perfect end to the story: Doherty dying of an overdose. When that happens they can then cover the candlelit vigils that will be held by his devastated young fans. It's like watching a car crash"

Kenny presents us with a bumper Album Review Compendium - Part One (The White Stripes, Idlewild, Saint Etienne, The Magic Numbers, Emiliana Torrini, Engineers, Barbara Morgenstern & Robert Lippok) is here and Part Two (Editors, Clor, Malcolm Middleton, Jill Sobule, The Havenots, The Rakes, Stars) here.

Betty offers us some facts about herself - Part One is here, Part Two here and Part Three here. My favourite? "I was born on July 2nd, the day Marlon Brando died, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones' corpse was found floating in a swimming pool in mysterious circumstances and Ernest Hemingway committed suicide. How many bad omens do you want?".

And finally...

JonnyB chronicles his refreshing break with the LTLP and in so doing pens the finest sentence of the week (and quite possibly any week) - "From some unspecified overseas location, she had the air of one who had been promised an interesting and lucrative job in the sex industry only to find herself being forcibly trafficked into the provincial hotel reception business". THAT's what we miss, and THAT's why he shouldn't leave us on our own again.