Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Guinnesses and hot port with Dan, Eoin, Colum and Angie over at McKevitt's - the walks there & back through nighttime Carlingford

Taking the Enfants Terribles, Joe and Mikey to the cinema (Madagscar 2) in Newry

Talking literature with Bronagh on the bunk bed (after a run around Slieve Foy)

Track of the Day - 25 Dec 08

Way Over Yonder - Carole King - from Tapestry

For Bronagh - listening in the bedroom at Bernadette's with Bronagh, Una and Elizabeth - tears flowing...

Creative Accounting #601

Adem = Coldplay + Damien Rice

TrackOfTheDay

Statuing by Adem from Homesongs (good after a shower when the house is empty & you're contemplating food at Dan's Stonewall Caff)

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Reading Richard Price's Samiritan - reminded he is one of my favourite writers, writes great dialogue, loves story telling

Watching old sitcoms with Bronagh and the Enfants Terribles

Walking around Dundalk with U - Modern Fashions, the stationery/art shop opposite the Court House, etc.

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Saturday 27th Dec:

Watching D laughing at Vicar of Dibley and Only Fools and Horses

Family walk along Shelling Hill strand in late afternoon sunshine

Hanging with the young cousins (Conor McG, Conor McK, Orla, Meabh, Sean)


Sunday 28th Dec:

Giving D his Stylaphone

Running along the harbour, Carlingford

Watching D and Bronagh together in the sitting room at Ceol na Mara

Best of 2008

[Work in progress]



Film:

The Visitor



Actor:

Michael Fassbinder (Hunger)



Actress:

Tbc



Supporting Actor:

Heath Ledger (Dark Knight)



Supporting Actress:

Marie-Anne Duff (Garage)



Director:

Steve McQueen (Hunger)



Script:

Martin McDonagh - In Bruges



Animation:

Wall-e



LP:

Tbc



Single:

Asa - Jailer



Gig:

Schlomo & various guests (Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank)



Book:

Tbc



Art exhibition:

Francis Bacon (Tate Britain)



Play:

Tbc



Sports event:

Saracens vs Newcastle Falcons

TrackOfTheDay

Look Up - Zero 7 (reading Watchmen - memories of running along the dunes in Rush, Co. Dublin)

Christmas Eve Happiness Experiment entry

Jogging around the foot of the mountain in Carlingford in bright winter sunshine



A spontaneous gathering at Dan's caff in the afternoon with Bronagh making an appearance with her friends Theresa and Peter



(Getting some fresh blood on my ipod thanks to Connor McKevitt and having a music tidy-up session just before) Christmas eve wrapping time, always a quiet contemplative time

Science and Religion

"Science is a good system for understanding materials and material things, but there are plenty of things in life that don't fall into that category. Poetry, music, art, the love I have for my grandchild. Even if I could, I wouldn't want to weigh and measure that, or my relationship with my friends, or with the sunset.



But equally I do want the ideas I formulate about God to be consistent with my knowledge of Science. So I've never needed to believe in impossible things."



Prof. Pauline Rudd, biologist, UCD (Dublin)

Pantheism

What separates me from most so-called atheists is a feeling of utter humility toward the unattainable secrets of the harmony of the cosmos

Einstein

Christmas Cracker #3

I just bought the wife a bag for Christmas.
(Hoover's working a treat now.)

Starspots #55

Alexa Chung
Victor Lewis Smith
124 Horseferry Road - last week

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Jogging around the foot of Slieve Foy in a rare burst of sunshine (listening to The Word podcast)

Talking painting with Bronagh and N

Listening to Blood on the Tracks loud alone in Bernadette's place

Newry - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Reading Alan Moore's Watchmen by the fire

Playing Monopoly with the Enfants Terribles on an old Irish set I bought for 10 euros in the junk shop in Carlingford - dates from the Free State (1921-1937), in great nick

Caff lunch with U in downtown Newry

TrackOfTheDay

You're a Big Girl - Bob Dylan

"Love is so simple
To quote a phrase"

TrackOfTheDay

Lola - the Kinks (alumni of the school down our road [Fortismere, back then Muswell Hill something school], as was The Faces' Rod Stewart) heard in caff in Newry

Christmas Cracker #2

Q. What do you get if you cross a centipede with a parrot? A. A walkie-talkie

Christmas Cracker #1

Q. Why did the scientist fit a knocker to his door?

A. Because he wanted to win the No Bell Prize

Gusto - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Watching D deliver his nativity play line with great gusto (coached by his mum?)

Watching the Maccabbean fighters in Defiance with the Enfants Terribles

Sorting cashflow for D's new phase

Track of the Day

When Poets Dreamed of Angels - David Sylvian from Secrets of the Beehive

Oz wizardry - Thursday's Happiness Experiment entry

Watching preview of Australia at 20th Century Fox in Soho Square with U

A haircut which is good from the moment you walk out (by Chris at Concrete)

The boy in 'Australia' (Brandon something) - a wonderful presence

The missing ingredient

Q.

"What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?"

Adam Smith, economist (1723-1790)

A. Love

Living in Fear

"A life lived in fear is a life half lived." from Baz Luhrman's Strictly Ballroom - the line is now carried on the logo of his production company - spotted last night at the start of Australia

Thought of School - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

D's excitement at the prospect of his new school - using a saw was a highlight of his trial days there

Talking London history with D as we walked along the Albert Embankment

Moderating animations on 4mations

close to home - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

low winter afternoon sun - illuminating purposeful stroll around our high street with N, including coffee from Amici

buying sports gear with N - tracksuit, etc. with style advice from a 12 year old

watching Mama Mia en famille round the fire

Track of the Day

Moonriver performed by Morrissey

Track of the Day (yesterday)

Moonriver performed by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's

Henry Mancini said of Audrey H: "'Moon River' was written for her. No one else had ever understood it so completely. There have been more than a thousand versions of 'Moon River', but hers is unquestionably the greatest".

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Breakfast overlooking a canal corner with Mirjam Winkelman, friends now for 25 years

A wander around the canals

Beetroot soup

A'dam - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Very happy memories of my trip to Amsterdam this summer (the only really hot days) with the Enfants Terribles - the spirits of the Enfants Terribles roam far & wide across this beautiful city

View down onto the sea and Dutch coast from a little propellor plane out of City Airport in the Docklands

Italian dinner with Adam Dorrell

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Fresh snow on my face

Reading The Spectator - echoes of the much mourned The Listener

Doing maths with D

Creative Accounting #214

Hunger + Garage + In Bruges / Irish = Filmfour + WAITING

Track of the Day

Leaving Me Behind - Nick Drake (a rarity not on the studio albums)

Reminds me of this photo I just bought a print of - Nick Drake moving at a different pace from the day-to-day world, not quite of it - which in turn reminds me of my friend Steve who was also not cut out for this world - greetings Steve (and while I'm at it Ian Harris whose birthday has just passed) - miss you both...

The world humes on at its breakneck pace
People fly in their life-long race
For them there's a future to find
But I think they're leaving me behind.

The chances they come, but the chances have been lost
Success can be gained, but at too great a cost
For some there's a future to find
But I think they're leaving me behind.

Uncanny, you wonder whether he had this picture (by Keith Morris from Five Leaves Left) in mind.

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Life drawing at the Angel with Andy DCruz



Heinz tomato soup when the weather's cold



A jog in the cold winter sunshine - round St Pancras & Islington cemetery

Star Spot #54

13.XI.08
Melvyn Bragg (Broadcasting House reception)
Tony Blackburn (Broadcasting House reception)
Ian Hislop (Portland Place)

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Walking through Fitzrovia - on the way to Broadcasting House

Meeting Tony Blackburn and talking about pirate radio/Radio Caroline

Thinking about Mitch Mitchell GIP

Spark - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

The annual bonfire party on the allotments

Picking up Eddie Wagland, our old neighbour from Carleton Road, and bringing him to chat with Maurice from the allotments

Hanging with N on a Saturday afternoon - desultory shopping, hot drinks, a bookshop browse

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

N's awesome interception and run for the line against Teddington at the Met Police rugby ground, East Molesey

Late lunch at Blooms with N - chicken soup to counter the cold and combat illness

Watching docs about the making of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid

Creative Accounting #213

Ron Perlman / Israel = Al Pacino / Italy

Dublin day - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Kilmainham Gaol in the late afternoon autumn sun

Speaking on the subject of the future of documentary at Screen Training Ireland event at Odessa, Dame Court, Dublin

The goose-down pillow at No. 31, Leeson Close, Dublin

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Cooley peninsula under a bright, bright blue sky

Jogging around autumnal St Stephen's Green, Dublin

Kilwerra Cemetery in the crisp sunshine

Donegal bound - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Driving through the rolling hills of Armagh at sunset

Hearing of Spurs long-awaited victory while pulled up at Aughnacloy

Gig at the Bridge Bar, Ramelton - punctuated by the old faces - Anita, Don, Tricia (sister of Gerry Gallagher), Noel (singer in the band), Kenny, Brid, Marcel - 16 years of coming to Ramelton, music at The Bridge, the magic of North Donegal

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

The smell of peat fires through the Streets of Carlingford

A family gathering marking our arrival up at Bernadette's with Bronagh at its centre

A rainy walk with the Enfants Terribles in search of an old telescope

Autumn vibe - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Morning jog round St Pancras & Islington cemetery with glimpses of blue behind the clouds

Lunch at Rugoletta with the Little One (strachiatella, tonno e fagioli)

Checking the Embarrassing Teenage Bodies site

Creative Accounting #886

Bobby McFerrin + Kate Bush = Camille
(who played a cracker at the Roundhouse last night)

The Orange

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave —
They got quarters and I had a half.

And that orange it made me so happy,
As ordinary things often do
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park
This is peace and contentment. It’s new.

The rest of the day was quite easy.
I did all my jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I’m glad I exist.


The Orange by Wendy Cope

Party boyz - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Hearing an amazing sermon by a charismatic and warm religious leader (Jonathan W)

Seeing some second cousins and other relatives for the first time in many years at Clive + Jeanie's

Late night Brick Lane bagels with the Enfants Terribles

Cannes Do - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

A good performance on stage at Mipcom with Bebo, MySpace, YouTube and Orange - was proud of the progressiveness of our work at C4

A beautiful thigh on the beach at Cannes - observed from an afternoon table de vin with Matt and Mark

Sea spray (Med) on my face - as I worked on the beach (hoorah for mobile working)

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Hooking up with the Marble Media boys from Toronto and the Aardman crew from 4mations on board the Decode boat in Cannes - remarkably high quality karaoke singing for entertainment

Walking along the promenade at night

Thinking about social spaces in preparation for my talk at Mipcom with Bebo MD the lovely Kate Burns

BarbiCan Do - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Listening to Steven Johnson and Danah Boyd at the Handheld Learning conference at The Brewery, Barbican

Lunch at Knipferl in Long Lane, Barbican - Austrian sausages, sauerkraut and apple cake washed down with Neil Young

A bit of design work with Mark Limb and Stephen Hardingham

Storytelling

"If you can tell a good story, it's the best chance you have of affecting people".

Writer/Director Thomas McCarthy on his film 'The Visitor' which puts a human face on the issues of immigration and detention, encouraging compassion and the questioning of the status quo.

Living life

"It is a small part of life we really live. Indeed, all the rest is not life but merely time."



From 'On the shortness of life' by Seneca (49 ad), cited in the epilogue of Engleby by Sebastian Faulks

High spirits - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

The high spirits of the Enfants Terribles after rugby in the rain - Chingford 7: Finchley 19

Making a compilation based on Beggin' (Frankie Valli redone by Madcon)

Chilled out Sunday lunch - catching up after a long while with old friends Sean and Siobhan

Thought for the Day

"One should count each day a separate life."

Lucius Annaeus Seneca - philosopher (3 BC - 65 AD)

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Again, the evening walk home - especially my street

A tough work-out

Lunch on the C4 terrace with Holmes and Darren

Track of the Day

La Belle et Le Bad Boy - MC Solaar - from Cinquieme As

Dedicated to the Enfants Terribles who love French wrap

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Initial publicity for 4mations



Coming home



Sunshine at lunchtime

Starspots #336

Joan Rivers - Channel 4 Reception 18.9.08



Stephen Woolley (director of Stoned) - Channel 4 caff 17.9.08
Nik Powell (producer of Scandal with Stephen Woolley) - BSAC event in the City 2.10.08

Track of the Day

Some Velvet Morning - Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood

Some velvet morning when I'm straight
I'm gonna open up your gate

45rpm - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Tortilla and tapas galore at El Parador with Farrah and Masood and the Minties



Homemade cards from the Enfants Terribles



Lunch on a park bench (St James's) with Henry Warren and a strange woman and a man who lets squirrels climb on him

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Helping N with his new school tie

N getting through his rugby trial

Going through the positive comments about The Sex Education Show on the Daily Mail online

Track of the Day

I Shall Be Released - Nina Simone

Starspots #45

Bryan Ferry, Fiona Shaw, Chris Smith, Nicholas Serota, Alan Rusbridger, Michael Nyman

9.9.08 Preview of Francis Bacon at Tate Britain

Running free - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

going to the World Freerun Championship at the Roundhouse with all the Gee boys

lunch at the Regency caff with Paul Carr (Bringing Nothing to the Party) plus walky-talky around back of Pimlico

lovely chat outside cafe with Rachel O'Connell of Bebo

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Walking up the hill from Sheffield station past the Andrew Motion poem building to the Millennium Square (St Paul's Hotel) - the whole place has been transformed since I was last here at the DocFest in Nov 06

An evening swim

Lucy Wurstlin's amusing presentation style MCing the Melt event at the showroon cinema

yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

fighting for the integrity of a creative project (Sexperience)

finding the package had arrived after all containing the Stones' first record England's Newest Hitmakers (Japanese import in class packaging via Berwick Street)

Making some more Paper Scissors Rock of Ages

Track of the Day

Not Fade Away - The Rolling Stones from England's Newest Hit Makers

Just watched Stephen Woolley's 'Stoned' - not so immaculate - but Brian Jones' musical talent is compelling

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Sardines on toast



Working from home



Reading Paul Carr's new book Bringing Nothing to the Party - the true confessions of a new media whore (plopped on the doormat from Paul's publishers Orion while I was on hols - good remedy to the back-to-skool blues)

Track of the Day

Asa - Jailer (totally into this one at the moment, heard it on French radio - Nigerian singer, I gather, recorded in Paris)

Recent Happiness Experiment entries

Tues 19th:

Tapas and rioja (with Agustin and Arithelli in Santander)

An afternoon promenade from Sandineras along the Santander sea front

Watching the olympics late at night in the hotel basement with N

Wed 20th:

Fancy tapas in San Sebastian old town

A farewell beach morning with Agustin, Arithelli, Gonzalo and family - N boogie-boarding like there's no tomorrow (he gave the board to Gonzalo)

Listening to George Benson & Al Jarreau while driving along the coast road from Santander in the sunshine and summer breeze

Landes of plenty - recent Happiness Experiment entries

Monday 18th:

Two butterflies gambolling along the riverside path - a perfect Wind in the Willows walk along the Boudigau near Ondres

A cool dip after a hot walk - azure water, rustling palms

Reading Ice Cold in Alex after the cool dip

Sunday 17th:

A long walk through the pine forest along sandy paths

Watching the tide rise on Ondres Plage

Siesta

Saturday 16th:

Catching a glimpse of GB's Olympic medal haul from the terrace of a cafe in Bayonne - one of the cycling golds on Super Saturday which brought us to No. 3 on the medal table

Watching healthcarers at work in Hopital St Leon in Bayonne

Buying bandes desinees in a Bayonne side street - and a rugby ball for N next door

Friday 15th:

Watching the Olympics at the beach cafe at Plage de Digue

Planting seeds with Dylan on the drift-wood beach at Plage de Digue

Getting soaked with rain in shorts - at Plage de Digue

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Revelling in Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union

Listening to The Secret Garden book recording in the car to St Jean de Luz - D's joy in it

N taking my hand leaving the restaurant at St Jean de Luz - thought he'd have stopped that by 12 but he still does it which says a lot about his inner beauty

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Cycling along a tranquil river (like in that Henri Bosco book I never finished)

The beach at La Pointe - the distant waves and shore shrouded in silver-white spray

Cycling home with the Enfants Terribles after a 20km ride - amazing energy for such little legs

Beer Ritz - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Reading the paper and my Michael Chabon novel under a tree on a rock overlooking a cove in Biarritz

Watching pelota with the Enfants Terribles in Ondres

Watching the Olympics en famille in a cafe in Biarritz - with diabolas and vin rose

Monday's Happiness Experiment entry

The cloisters of Bayonne cathedral

Spiced ice-cream

A quiet moment at the war memorial in Bayonne

Creative Accounting #331

Earth Wind and Fire - Doobie Brothers = Steely Dan

Wave Hallo - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Swimming at la plage de la digue in Tarnos, what seems like a locals' beach, by the mouth of the river

Jogging among the pine trees along sandy paths

Buying fruit and veg with the Enfants Terribles at the market in Ondres (get the L out of Londres and you end up in Ondres)

Landing in Les Landes - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Listening to Beer Ritz, the compilation I made in the wee small hours for our holiday in Les Landes

Seeing the pine trees and sandy ground known to me only through Therese Desqueyroux

Snoozing by the evening pool

Track of the Day

Breezin' - Al Jarreau & George Benson (perfect for the coast of Les Landes)

One World, One Nightmare

I dreamt I saw thousands of people moving in unison in circles. I dreamt they were so numerous that the incredible speactacle looked as ultimately unconvincing as CGI. I dreamt I saw children singing songs so simple (so not made up by children) they were bland and charmless - We plant trees, we sow seeds, the land turns green. The air turns brown. We wear masks. I dreamt I saw teenage girls swaying for hour after hour as country after country filed past, filming the filmers on their made in China handycams. Getting tired? Keep swaying happily girls or it's the labour camp for you. Meanwhile back in the labour camp, some months earlier: OK, lads, here's the choice - break rocks or learn this little dance. I dreamt I saw some other lads goose-stepping in black boots. Tanks filing past, missile launchers, fly-bys. One world, one dream. One tank, one student. Meanwhile, some miles away: 150 tanks roll into Georgia. Georgian army 11,320 - Russian army 395,000. Georgian population 4.63m - Russian population 140.7m (though due to halve by 2050). Georgian military expenditure $380m - Russian military expenditure $59,100m. How much did this spectacle cost? How much does China spend on education per year? I dreamt I saw no flag from Tibet. I dreamt I saw unison not unity. I dreamt I saw bird cages in a bird's nest. People moving in small circles. I dreamt of the Mordillo cartoon I cut out as a kid. "We're all different!" shout out the identical looking mass of people. "I'm not!" shouts out one of them. One party, one line. I dreamt I saw something which sub-consciously summarised what others fear.

In 2012 to follow these people making a spectacle of themselves, partying to the tune of the Party, London must be itself, tune in to its idiocyncratic, eccentric, spirited creativity (one thing that cannot be manufactured); its rich mix of cultures and peoples; its unique, particular, genuine handmade in Britain talent; its individual dreams which thread the tapestry of its Jerusalem spirit.

Embarrassing Bodies

Today's Happiness Experiment entry (thurs)

Walking through St James's Park at dusk - end of a summer's day vibe

Watching the Embarrassing Bodies awards dvd

Meeting a female vicar and a sex writer coming out of Paul Carr's book launch

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Seeing my little bro (after too long)

A gift of Moo stickers from Noam

An evening cinema outting with the the Enfants Terribles to see the new Mummy film on its first day of release (we all enjoyed watching the first one in Dublin last weekend)

I like this game

Top 5 famous one word lines from the movies

Here's my suggestion:
“Shiiiittttt!!!!!!!” from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when Butch and Sundance jump over the cliff down in to the river to escape the posse

And here's my first Five List:

Top 5 Firsts (as this is my first Five list)

Make your own Top 5 list on 5alist

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Fish and chips and the paper at Poseidon

Dusk in the garden (with a coffee) - light breeze, distant train

Starting to read 'Ice Cold in Alex'

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Jogging along the near pier

Contemplating Capt. James' grave in the shadow of Carlingford mountain - 1.1.11 - cemetery sunday

Hanging with Des, Orla, Elizabeth, Sean and Bronagh in Linn Beag - watching the Gaelic football and drinking tea

Son of a Beach - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Eating blackberries behind the dunes in Rush, Co. Dublin

Watching movies with the the Enfants Terribles (Bridget Jones' Diary [Carlingford, Bernadette's], The Mummy [Rush, Elizabeth's])

Jogging along the beach in Rush opposite Lambey Island - caught in a rain shower, watching birds flying low over the sea, lying on the strand listening to the sea

Track of the Day (yesterday)

Look Up by Zero 7 (jogging through the dunes in Rush, Co. Dublin)

Formula for now - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Initial meeting with Hans Ulrich Oberist of the Serpentine Gallery about Formulas for Now project (on back terrace at Channel 4 in bright sunlight)

Dinner at BAFTA to celebrate nominations with Alfie Dennen and his mum and my mum

Evening walk through St James's Park and St James's in light summer rain

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Heading for Dublin with the the Enfants Terribles

Visiting artist Tom Phillips' studio in Peckham with Ma

Clearing the name 'Sexperience' for my next project - with Mint Digital and Cheetah TV

A'dam - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Reading Anne Frank's diary after visiting her house with my own two children who have Amsterdam Jewish in their rich mix

Pedalo from Anne Frank huis - a major expedition under the sun involving getting well lost

Siesta in Vondelpark by the river among the strapping Dutch lasses

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

The canals of Amsterdam - with guidance from my old friend Adam Dorrell

Meeting the Prime Minister - at the UK Catalyst Awards for which Big Art Mob was nominated

Travelling with the Enfants Terribles - in our room now on the Bloemgracht with the sound of boats below and church bells

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

News of The Sun double-page spread for Osama Loves (let's hope there's nothing much doing in the world tonight)

The end of a summer day feel in my manor

Talking sex with the Lambent gals

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Anti-fascist Footprints walk around the East End to Cable Street under the guidance of David Rosenberg with U, Orla and N

Sleeping in the garden by the Crocosmias (echoes of Donegal)

Walking home from evening tennis down the suburban backstreets with N & D

Creative Accounting #30

tiger tank / battle of the bulge = dalek / dr who

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Chatting online to Farrah as she sat in a hotel lobby in Kano, Nigeria on her quest for 500 Osamas

Reading Philip Kerr's Hitler's Peace in the peace of the East Wing

Working closely with Stuart Cosgrove, international man of passions

Friday's Happiness Experiment entry

Chewing the fat with Bill Thompson in the Arts Picture House, Cambridge (formerly the ABC where I once saw an audience breaking out in scuffles out of boredom during Goldcrest's Revolution)

Standing under a chestnut tree in the rain opposite St John's on the Backs

Walking over the Bridge of Sighs under cover as a suspiciously old student

Lewes nay moore - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

View of Firle Beacon from Ant OBE's barn at sundown

Two silver birches in the garden against a lowering sky

Movie (Battle of the Bulge) with the Enfants Terribles at Mariner's - "Crawl, you dummy, crawl!" [Telly Savalas]

A day of firsts - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

My first ride on a scooter - got a lift from Jan Younghusband on her Vespa to Ivo Gormley's cutting room - another first, my first visit to a floating edit suite (on HMS President moored on the Thames opposite the OXO Tower)

A brief convo with Tim Berners-Lee who says with a straight face "when I made the Web" (at Nesta)

A tour with Will Gompertz of Tate Media around the (as yet undeveloped) new bit of Tate Modern, three underground oil tanks beneath the old Bankside power station, an out of bounds, secret space - with Ekow Eshun, Felix Barrett & Kate Vogel

4mations test 2

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Reading in the corner of the garden by the hebes in the late afternoon on the blue blanket (Salman Rushdie's The Enchantress of Florence)

Walking along the Grand Union Canal north from Great Lindford with Danny & N in the summer breeze

Walking down to the Phoenix, East Finchley at sunset for a Sunday evening film (Female Agents)

T-shirt

On a Titanic centre T-shirt from Belfast:

It was fine when it left us

Track of the Day

The Creator has a Master Plan - Brooklyn Funk Essentials

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Playing table tennis with N

Playing tennis with N in Waterlow Park

Watching Bill Murray in Stripes with N

Creative Accounting #29

Bill Murray / John Belushi = Harold Ramis + Ivan Reitman


BM: Night before military graduation troop rousing speech (Stripes)
JB: Bluto's call to arms (Animal House)

Track of the Day

She is So Beautiful - Mike Scott (of The Waterboys) - from Bring 'Em All In

For she is like a song
She is like a ray of light
She is like children praying
Like harps and bells and cymbals playing
And she is like a wind
Moving, soothing, bringing joy
And here am I
destroyed

Pine Ridge, Findhorn December 1992

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Evening sun and summer shower - can't see a rainbow yet



Hitting 91 again



Reading Learning to love you more on the way home - with musical accompaniment - as recommended by Louise Brown

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Playing tennis with N at Waterlow Park - he's gotten the knack - trying out a new raquet

Sunday evening film at the Phoenix with U - Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone

Chatting to allotment Maurice in the garden - back after 6 months

Tuesday's Happiness Experiment entry

A dip in the Banff springs - 39 degrees in the outdoor water, with snowy peaks all around - with Jane Mote of UKTV

Working/writing with jazz (Miles and Trane)

An evening moment down by the Bow river falls

Rocky Raod from Banff - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Jogging beside the Bow river falls

Doing a speaking session at Banff TV Festival which went down well

Photowalk down by the confluence of the Bow river and the Spray, with spectacular luminous snowy mountain backdrop

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Bike ride with Mike up the Humber River and along Lake Ontario

A black squirrel, a chipmunk, a black and gosssamer dragonfly and various colourful bird spotted jogging and cycling

Mike's family - a gathering for Francesca's birthday

Downtown - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Jogging under a shower of helicopter seeds near High Park, Toronto

A slow lunch at La Palette in Kensington Market, Toronto's answer to Camden Town - un petit coin de Belgique beneath rustling trees and bordered by yellow flowers

Getting another message from Maura Logue

Star spots #365

David Morrison (at BAFTA 28/5)

Alan Parker (at Dorchester hotel 11/5) - he liked the story about D watching The Commitments with me a couple of Fridays before - he disappeared upstairs and came back with his stopwatch, a few minutes later: "That's 4 minutes 35 without an F word"

Childvision

Nick Pearson asked his young nephew if he knew what a watch is - "yes, sure, a clock with a belt"

Westwards Ho! - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

View down on the sunlit sea and some last islands off of Ireland on the way over to Canada - and of ice-lattice islands on the other side of the ocean

Hitting 92

Chatting in the back yard on Constance with Mike Stewart - a year since we were last together

Domestic Interior - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry.

D lying on my belly during storytime (read by U) just like in that poster I used to have, Il Sonno Profondo

Walking home at twilight

Seeing the near finished designs for Osama Loves - the same colours as the Lure of the East poster

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

The yellow stone of Cheltenham (and Bath)

Filming Richard Dawkins on Darwin at the Cheltenham Science Festival

The Science Heroes & Zeroes debate - part of my Cheltenham/FameLab commission - Galileo a worthy winner

British Orientalism notes

William Simpson 1823-99
Al-Bahr al-Kabir or the Great Sea - rock-cut cistern under the site of Soloman's temple (1870)

Holman Hunt became a campaigner for a Jewish state in Palestine

Arthur Melville 1855-1904 (Scottish)
An Arab Interior 1881 ***
Red (hat) - browns cf Osama Loves design
Nat Gal Scot

Leighton
The Music Lesson **
1877
Guildhall art gal
Square composition
Intimate warmth

Frank Dicksee
Leila 1892
Cf Klimt gold/red

Bomberg
Jerusalem, looking to Mount Scopus 25
Tate

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Loads of pictures flowing into Big Art Mob - including mine from the Cans Festival in Leake St

Taking the the Enfants Terribles to the James Bond 'For Your Eyes Only' exhibition at the Imperial War Museum

Having my second oldest friend round for a roast chicken dinner

Bruce Gigs

30 May 2008
London (Stu, Martin B, Mark J)
Emirates Stadium

Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Radio Nowhere
The Ties That Bind
Lonesome Day
The Promised Land
Magic
Atlantic City
Reason To Believe
Candy's Room
Prove It All Night
Because The Night
Working On The Highway
Cadillac Ranch
Livin' In The Future
Mary's Place
Waitin' On A Sunny Day
Point Blank
Devil's Arcade **
The Rising
Last To Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands

Thunder Road
Born To Run
Glory Days
Rosalita
Dancing In The Dark
American Land *


19 December 2007
London (Jacqueline, Stu)
O2 Arena

Radio Nowhere
No Surrender
Night
Lonesome Day
Gypsy Biker
Magic
Reason To Believe
Because The Night
She's The One
Livin' In The Future
The Promised Land
Waitin' On A Sunny Day
Working On The Highway
Racing In The Street
Devil's Arcade
The Rising
Last To Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands

Girls In Their Summer Clothes
Jungleland
Born To Run
Dancing In The Dark
American Land
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town


31 May 2003
Dublin, Ireland (Una, Stu, Greta)
RDS Showground

1. Born in the U.S.A. (acoustic)
2. The Rising
3. Lonesome Day
4. Candy's Room
5. My Love Will Not Let You Down
6. Atlantic CIty
7. Empty Sky
8. You're Missing
9. Waitin' on a Sunny Day
10. The Promised Land
11. Worlds Apart
12. Badlands
13. Out in the Street
14. Mary's Place
15. Meeting Across the River
16. Jungleland
17. Into the Fire
18. Thunder Road

19. Kitty's Back
20. Ramrod
21. Born to Run
22. Seven Nights to Rock
23. Glory Days

24. My City of Ruins ***
25. Land of Hope and Dreams
26. Dancing in the Dark



27 October 2002
London (Stu, Carol)
Wembley Arena

1. The Rising
2. Lonesome Day
3. No Surrender
4. The Fuse
5. Jackson Cage
6. Empty Sky
7. You're Missing
8. Waitin' on a Sunny Day
9. Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street
10. Worlds Apart
11. Badlands
12. She's the One
13. Night
14. Mary's Place
15. Counting on a Miracle
16. The River (solo acoustic)
17. Incident on 57th Street (solo piano)
18. Into the Fire

19. Dancing in the Dark
20. Ramrod
21. Born to Run

22. My City of Ruins
23. Born in the U.S.A.
24. Land of Hope and Dreams
25. Thunder Road

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Talking to a burn-out on the tube about the new James Bond novel (which I bought and started yesterday on its day of release)

Working from home for the morning from an empty, sunny, quiet house

Dropping the the Enfants Terribles at tennis

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Fresh orange juice - having picked the fruit off the tree

Sleeping in the shade

Cold beer in hot sunshine

Andalusian mad dogs - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

A bright sun walk along the valley by Nigueras - with Matteo, Neil and Paul

Eating cherries off the tree

A run through citrus groves - at Beznar

Friday's Happiness Experiment entry

First sea swim of the year - near Motril, Andalusia - with Paul, Neil and Matteo

Tapas as lead-up to late nite drinking - reunion with Eileen & Matteo in Beznar

The excitement of travel - even at 04:45 in the morning

Fear and Sex

An oldie but goldie I cited when first reflecting on this subject on SP4:

Q: What comes between Fear and Sex?

A: Funf

One for the cunning linguists among us, nein?

So the subject is Fear. From day-to-day personal development to the realm of global politics it's a big driver - and very destructive.

I thought it would be interesting to try this experiment - take a newspaper at random (in this case the copy of the Daily Mail for Wed 21 May I was given getting on the plane to Glasgow that afternoon) and analyse it in terms of how big a role Fear plays in its headlines. I reckoned Fear's main rival would be Sex.
I worked my way through the first 25 pages (the news pages) recording every headline without exception. From page 26 to the Sports pages at the end I kept just a selection (though still the majority). Here's the results:

Fear

Fathers not required (gender roles, redundancy)
IVF vote sidelines fathers
The girl crushed to death by a tree in freak bus crash (random death)
Pupils aged five get a spell in the sin bin (youth delinquancy)
The prickly prince (decline of monarchy/social order)
Spend-it-all parents give their children a bad heir day (where money meets death) Party leaders at war on abortion (death before you're even born)
10p tax debacle could still cost families £150 a year
With no friend, I really am a Solitary Man says Diamond (loneliness)
Let us strike say police (social disorder, crime)
Our editors have total freedom says Mail chief (lies, misinformation)
15 beers, 20 vicious punches... and 6 months in jail for England footballer
Soaring oil prices push diesel near £6 a gallon
The power bills stitch-up
Police car that killed girl of 16 'didn't have blue lights or siren on' (random death meets social disorder)
The micro-particles that could pose the same risk as asbestos
1M more Britons in just 3 years (immigration, foreigners)
We moved to escape the FEAR of crime
Beware scentists who insist they know best (science)
Sorry Fergie, I can't stomach you or your porky pies (social disorder)
Where did all the real men go?
Why this horror makes me FEAR for the future of South Africa
Care home chief is jailed over death of Alzheimer's patient (disease meets social disorder, distrust)
Suicide note in star's pocket
Why do clever women fall for second-rate men?
Bosses 'picked on' registrar opposed to gay marriages
Tax payers will fund Sky 'propaganda' show
Labour's pledge on farm cash in tatters
Milk float mobsters

Sex

Vicar's war on 'wicked' Playboy (moral decline)
Gwyneth's hitting the heights again
The real battle for Moscow (Wags)

Beyond p25

Bad parents are the villains of the age says Cameron
Crooked dentist put a dog on his list of patients
Heroic undercover soldier Robert Nairac was savagely tortured by the IRA
Exchange trip girl was killed jogging with iPod
Long-term care: a national disgrace
Insurers pocketing your pension
Don't fall for this card trick
Fuming over BT cold call (anger)
Our care system? chaotic
So furious he's lost for words
Will new stem cell research create monsters?
We work hard, but Britain doesn't repay us
Yell cries out as £3.8bn debts pile on the pressure
House price crash could jeopardise Rock's recovery
ICAP takes a dive
The mining prop begins to creak
Oil-rich Russian economy ready to takes off (money meets foreigners)
Shaw future in doubt
Make sure greed does not wreck 20Plenty
Horne is braced for long lay-off
It's over for Faldo as he gives Open a miss (aging, mortality)
Essien won't risk penalty pain
Why is it we can't love Rooney?
Usmanov's knives out for Gunners
Moscow's hell, Michel
Guns, concrete and football's new power base

What surprised me most was how little competition from Sex there was. Scary!

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Around Glasgow art school at night

8th floor night view of Glasgow from Marks Hotel split-level spacey room

A fluent 90 minute speech (though not quite Bob Geldof) at Cross Creative

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Reading Bulldog Drummond

Hitting 92.4

Kicking off Sea Me public art project with Ben at MovingBrands

Sunday's Happiness Experiment entry

Wearing my wedding suit (made by John Pearse) for the first time in over a decade

Gerard O'Hare's version of I'll Tell Me Ma - both camp and rebel rousing

The singing and music at D's party - Patmo, Adie Dunbar and Gerard O'Hare

What's New? - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Hearing Bob Geldof and Tim Berners-Lee speaking at The Innovation Edge at the Festival Hall - the former is a fine, fluid speaker and the latter the epitome of British genius modesty

Meeting Farrah, star of my next project, for the first time in Fleet Street

Walk from Festival Hall to Fleet Street in the sunshine

Monday's Happiness Experiment entry

An outdoor coffee in Smithfield - with Axel Chaldecott of JWT

A warm chat with David Puttnam in the Channel 4 caff about URM8 and Embarrassing Bodies - Oli Barrett was suitably impressed as the Lord approached me ;-)

Reviewing the photos from yesterday's party - Patmo, Adie Dunbar and Gerard O' Hare singing

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Chicken soup (at Harry Morgan, established 1947)

Saturday lunch with Big Son

Ralph Steadman's drawings in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - which I finished today

Embarrassing Bodies (test embed)

When I grow up...

...I want to be...

D: Top Gear Presenter or Zoo Keeper or Driving Instructor

N: Rugby Player or Photographer

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Reaching my lowest weight so far this year - don't even find the jogging boring any more

A moment of Jimi Hendrix at sundown

The covers of two old Biggles books in the window of Black Gull

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Hooking up with Matt and Mark from Marble Media, Toronto - first time since Banff TV Festival last June

Psychedelia at psunset

Good piece in Broadcast about The Radio Play's The Thing

Creative Accounting #154

Phil Oakey ÷ Mark Almond = voice of Yorkshire

(PO: double-tracked vocals on Human)

Creative Accounting #153

Van Morrison = James Brown + Sean Nos

(VM: A Night in San Francisco; JB: Georgia on my Mind)

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

The smell of cut grass [the very first entry in the predecessor of Simple Pleasures written the year Reasons to Be Cheerful part 3 came out (1979)] - the difference is today I was mowing my own lawn and played on it with my son

Reading with the balcony door open when it's raining outside

Seeing my neighbour Maurice after him being away a long time in hospital - D alerted us all to his arrival with child enthusiasm

Embarrassing Bodies

Anyone Watchin Embarrassing Bodies C4?
By Amber26(vBulletin)
Is anyone else watching Embarrassing Bodies on Channel 4? They were all talking about it at work today, but im guessing they'll be a little quieter about it tomorrow seen as tonight is about men!
Cambridge Dieters - http://www.cambridgedieters.com/forums

Creative Accounting #28

Road / The Commitments = Try a Little Tenderness

Came up twice today:
(1) Noreen Kershaw (Shameless director), who I met on location at To The Broad Shore (first radio drama for Channel 4 Radio), just directed Road in Bolton - which has a scene centred on the Otis Redding original
(2) Watched The Commitments with the Enfants Terribles - the Andrew Strong take on it

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Nice piece in The Guardian about Embarrassing Bodies' success online



Twilight



Showing the Enfants Terribles how voting is done (at Martin School for the London mayoral election)

Track of the Day

After the Love has gone - Earth Wind and Fire (on Italian radio in a Florentine taxi)

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Jogging along the Arno in the sunshine

Reading Michael Chabon (Yiddish Policemen's Union) in the Giardino di Boboli

The view across Firenze

Thursday's Happiness Experiment entry

Talking 4IP in the Old Laundry, Marylebone

Having a late night drink in T-shirt at an Irish pub in Florence with Steve Moore, Tony Apollo et al

The excitement of travel - in this case to Florence with U

Going with the Flo - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

A long, slow Italian lunch hosted by James Bradburne, director of the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence

Getting a positive reaction to Lost & Found, including buy-in from Palazzo Strozzi (an international dimension)

Walking a deux to&from dinner at Caffe Cibreo, Florence

Whole Nut

N was telling me about the teachers' strike at his school yesterday, explaining how come they got so much free play: "Most of our teachers belong to the Nut union"

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Dexy's Midnight Runners (Dance Stance) walking home at twilight

Michael Chabon's Yiddish Policeman's Union on the tube home

Successfully casting Searching doc - all systems go

The Shelf of Honour

Ulysses - James Joyce
Tom Jones - Henry Fielding
Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens

Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
Riddle of the Sands - Erskine Childers
The Mystery of Edwin Drood - Charles Dickens
Kalooki Nights - Howard Jacobson
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
The Wanderers - Richard Price
Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

Bye to Brighton - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Having the whole of the Volks Electric Railway to ourselves (me and the Enfants Terribles) - from Blackrock to Brighton Aquarium

Buying books at Sussex Stationers with the Enfants Terribles

Reframing the Roy Lichstenstein poster (prop from Live & Learn) for the children's bedroom in Mariners

Starspots #44

17.iv.08
Donal McIntyre (TV journo)
Jon Plowman (BBC comedy producer)
Canada House, Banff TV festival reception

Track of the Day

The Great Curve by Talking Heads from Remain in the Light

Rocky 1 - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

My first visit to Canada House/Maison du Canada, Trafalgar Square - for announcement of nominations for Banff World TV Festival Awards aka The Rockies - Big Art Mob was nominated

Walking along the meandering, reed-lined River Arun into Arundel under an azure sky

Walking through St James's in the evening sun

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

The sound of rigging against masts in the wind (echoes of Lac du Bourget with Marco and Cherry) - after reading on West Pier beach

Fresh sardines and fish soup from Jack Mill's place on the Brighton beachfront

N saying he would not feel right or be able to hit/hurt anyone - a good soul

Golden sea - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

The tame and wild gardens at Bateman's, Rudyard Kipling's house in Burwash, East Sussex

Walking along Brighton beach from the Marina to the Pier at sunset en famille

Jogging along the harbour wall at Brighton Marina looking at the golden sea (listening to some eggheads talking about Greek mythology on a Radio 4 podcast)

Creative Accounting #554

The Greek Myths = The Jazz of Storytelling

Been listening to an excellent In Our Time (Radio 4 podcast) on these myths

Creative Accounting #553

The Island = Logan's Run + AI?

Track of the Day (belated)

Thou Shalt Always Kill - Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip - as performed live at the Media Guardian Innovation Awards a few weeks ago, and as first heard in Rough Trade in Brick Lane on an afternoon out with the Enfants Terribles

"The Clash - just a band"

Nature boy - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Springtime view over the allotments - backdrop with azure sky to street trees in blossom

Listening to 45s - as I convert them to MP3s on my new dancette

Hailstone storm out of nowhere

4mations test

On Pantheism

"Nothing is more humbling than to look with a strong magnifying glass at an
insect so tiny that the naked eye sees only the barest speck and to
discover that nevertheless it is sculpted and articulated and striped with
the same care and imagination as a zebra. Apparently it does not occur to
nature whether or not a creature is within our range of vision, and the
suspicion arises that even the zebra was not designed for our benefit."

Rudolf Arnheim (psychologist and author 1904-2007)

Skinful - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Raspberry daquiris - with Alfie before BAFTA Nominees party



Micro-blogging from a live event - the launch of the Public Service Broadcasting Review (2) transmitted via Twitter



Hooking up with Chloe Moss and the Skins crew (Maxie, Jal et al knocking around)

The Club

Me

John Martyn

Mick Talbot (Style Council/Young Disciples)

New York Fire Dept.

Herbert Lom

DH Lawrence

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

U getting a special new job at the BBC - family celebration at the Rouge in Highgate

Lunchtime reading in the sun (The Three Hostages)

A steady, chilled day of work

Track of the Day

Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield

Creative Accounting #27

Dave Gorman = Ewen Bremner + sideburns

I notice me and Dave have a love of Reasons to be Cheerful in common

First met Ewen back in Melrose days when he was playing a retarded youth in a John Mole drama opposite Ursula Jones - many years before I first entered the Choose Life doors of Channel 4's Glasgow office.

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Lunch with the charming and eclectic John Newbigin

Hampstead Garden Suburb and Temple Fortune (with U)

Asking a difficult question boldly

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Walking home at dusk

The Thames (on my way to Ofcom)

Thinking about learning (at a Niace independent commission on lifelong learning and new technologies)

Notes: The Phoenix Cinema, East Finchley

Became Phoenix in 1975 when bought by Contemporary Films (owned Phoenix in Jericho, Oxford too)
Was Rex til then
Was The Picture House 1910-1930

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Having a massage

Late afternoon on a sunny day

Having a haircut

Track of the Day

She is So Beautiful - Mike Scott - from Bring 'Em All In

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Looking at naked breasts (for purely professional purposes - forthcoming Channel 4 series)

Playing with Twitter (still think it's the Tower of Babel)

The red E-type Jag in Smith Square

on Politics

"The politics of youth are, by definition, the politics of ignorance."
Howard Jacobson - If you say you want a revolution...

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Birdsong at night

Scent of flowers

Going out for a coffee

Starspot #331

Lenny Henry (today, Channel 4)

On Documentary

"If Documentary is just about fact, you may as well get the police to take down witness statements."



Lee Kern

on The Edgware Walker

www.twinklebum.co.uk

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Wallk on the Heath with U on first Summer Time afternoon of the year

Reading in the back garden

Chatting to allotment neighbours

Creative Accounting #65

Things We Lost in the Fire:

Benicio Del Toro = Brad Pitt but darker

David Duchovny = Richard Gere but less distinctive

Track of the Day

Atlantic City - Bruce Springsteen - Live in NYC

Come on and meet me... Come on and meet me... Come on and meet me...

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Getting my backlog of expenses cleared - seem to have been cashflowing Channel 4 for a couple of months ;-)

(Blast from the past) Watching a woman's long hair blowing in the slipstream of the tube, unbeknown to her right out the window towards my carriage

The tranquility of my street as I approach home - wet, sodium light, breeze

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Walking and talking with Holmes around the backstreets of Victoria



The backstreets of Westminster at dusk



Edwardian thrillers - reading John Buchan (Three Hostages)

Simple Pleasures

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."

Cicero

Know yourself

"We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we
become disguised to ourselves."

La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680)

Religion

"When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion."

Abraham Lincoln

Creative Accounting #65

Christopher Jones (Ryan's Daughter) = Peter O'Toole + Tom Courtney

Hair play

Lunatic Fringe (Liffey St, Dublin)
Klassique Kuts (Rostrevor, Co. Down)

Friday's Happiness Experiment entry

Seeing Sean, Orla and Meabh and sisters-in-law

Visiting the Memorial Gardens in Parnell Square, Dublin commemorating the Easter Rising with N

Finding all the Julian Opie artworks making up Walking in O'Connell Street with N

Today's Happiness Experiment entry (Sat)

Visiting the little visited Goward Dolmen near Hilltown, Co. Down with Cormaic Murnion and boys

Walking in the Mournes near Hilltown

Jogging from pier to pier in Carlingford, Co. Louth

Drama bums - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Meeting up again with Jason Isaacs after twenty years, at the RTS Programme Awards

Chatting with Matthew Macfadyen, star of Secret Life (Channel 4), whose superb performance won the best actor award

Getting the go-ahead for Searching for Osama which I'm really looking forward to doing

The Boys are Back in Town - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Walking back with N through Dublin past the GPO in the run up to the Easter Rising commemoration, talking about that history as if recounting the Exodus, passing on cultural heritage

Checking out the Phil Lynott statue just off of Grafton Street with N

Sharing the flight over to Ireland with D - looking out over the coast together on descent

Track of the Day - Hot off the Press

for Paddy's Day a brand new arrival...

How can a Poor Boy? from Van's new record out today Keep It Simple

Broached on the couch with N

Creative Accounting #26

Paul Brady + Christie Moore + Roxy Music = Damien Dempsey

(in the wake of Folk Hibernia, last night on BBC4)

Track of the Day - new stuff

Archangel by Burial from Untrue

Human Footprint

Track of the Day

I'm Still Waiting - Diana Ross

Moving Pictures of the Day

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Wandering around Brussels (Q. Why did the Belgian chicken cross the road? A. Because there's fuck all else to do in Brussels)

Late night barflying with Jan (Younghusband) and Tabitha (Jackson)

Watching James Marsh's 'Man on Wire' at the Discovery Campus documentary event - chatted with James about the behind-the-scenes over dinner (where were the famous Belgian thin chips?)

Creative Accounting #22

Paul Klee - Cubism = Keith Haring

See Tiere spielen Komoedie (1937)

Bringing home the silverware - Today's Happiness Experiment entry (Thurs)

Winning one of the inaugural Media Guardian Innovation Awards alongside the likes of Skins and Radiohead (the Cadbury's gorilla was robbed) - with my Mrs and my dear ol' mum present

A nightboat down the Thames to the Millennium Dome

A surprise live appearance by whatever that rapper with the book who sings "Radiohead - just a band" is called - first heard that choon the other week in Rough Trade down Brick Lane

Creative Accounting #21

Jack Johnson = Michael Franks + sun + muscle

Skin deep - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Watching Skins



Reading The 6th Lamentation - historical thrillers



The Regency - Spurs caff (with Christian Ahlert of Open Business)

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

The children's enthusiasm at the First Light Awards presented by Kevin Spacey, Ian McKellan et al, hosted with her usual brilliance by Davina McCall

The calm late evening tube journey home

Finding out N has got in to his school of choice

Track of the Day

Tainted Love by Soft Cell



Must find my Gloria Jones single this weekend...

lyrics scroller test

- Van Morrison Lyrics

Today's Happiness Experiment entry (fri)

Hanging out at the James Joyce Foundation - looking at Thom's 1904

Hanging out with little bro

An evening snooze (before a posh dinner)

Track of the Day

High & Dry by Radiohead from The Bends

Soundtrack for fraternal time

Today's Happiness Experiment entry (thurs)

Walking in the streets behind Blackfriars/Fleet Street and stumbling upon a variety of public art

Coming up with the eccentric British amateur voice for 4mations

Reading The 6th Lamentation by William Brodrick - a class thriller stumbled upon in Greenwich Village (Felony & Mayhem)

Tracks of the Days (wed + thurs + fri)

W
Head and Heart by John Martyn from Bless the Weather

My secret brother

Th
Glory Box by Portishead from Dummy

F
Cracklin' Rosy by Neil Diamond

Memories of drumming lessons at the Fender Sound House

Track of the Day

New World Order by Curtis Mayfield from the LP New World Order



Bought on my first day as a freelancer in 1987 - a new world order for me

Recent Happiness Experiment entries

(Sun)

Being perched on the paragliding cliff-top above West Beach, Newhaven, East Sussex watching the Adam's Family trying to fly their new kite

Spurs winning the League Cup - enjoyed among a load of Chelsea fans in the White Horse, Rottingdean

The sea

(Mon)

Watching Skins on E4

Lunch chat with Steve Moore

Doing homework with the Enfants Terribles - Roman roads and old-style school reports

(Today)

A while before sunset

Walking half-way to skool with N

Making progress on the design of 4mations

Choe Creation

Here's an interesting arrival in London and Newcastle (simultaneously) this week. Peripatetic (LA born) David Choe has a new show opening this Friday night at the Lazarides Galleries. Here's a sneak preview of the new work...



Picture courtesy David Choe and Lazarides Gallery
Copyright: David Choe 2008

Today's Happiness Experiment entry (Sat)

Ronan O'Gara's one-handed pass - plus a great performance from England in Paris

A traditional north Laines mooch en famille

Barnstorming: A chilled out afternoon of rugby, kite-flying and chat at the new Lilley Villas in Laughton, East Sussex

Track of the Day (Sat)

The Whole of the Moon by The Waterboys

On the road home from Lewes

Up in the Downs - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Playing the story chain game with N D and U- a rolling stone makes its way to a shanty town overlooking Seoul, birthplace of a dictatorial general, when a sudden earthquake sweeps us from the caves beneath Jamaica to a Chinese mountain peak where there lies the dead body of a gold-bearded old man.

Walking through the downs near Woodingdean, East Sussex - the curves of chalk

Siesta in Mariners Quay, overlooking the cliff canal

a single lovely action

"Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the
world weigh less than a single lovely action."

James Russell Lowell
poet, editor and diplomat (1819-1891)

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Walking along Brighton Beach at sunset en famille

Taking D to his swimming lesson

Mariners Quay

Quote of the day

"Cornflakes, I'm gonna take you down!"

N (age 11) portraying a cereal killer

Principles

"These are my principles. If you don't like them ...I have others."
(Groucho Marx)

courtesy of Zoe Margolis (Girl with a One Track Mind)

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Duchamp's Nu Descendant un Escalier at private view of Tate Modern's new exhibition - Duchamp . Man Ray . Picabia (someone should make it in wood)

Nightwalk from Horseferry Road to Tate Modern, especially the stretch near Gabriel's Wharf

Discovering U & I had listened to the same countryside programme on Radio 4 on early Saturday morning about the South Downs and Weald of Kent and picked up on the same stuff

Starspots #43 - arty smarties

Andrew Marr, BBC journalist - Tate Britain (Modern Painters: the Camden Town Group) 11.ii.08

Michael Nyman, composer - Tate Modern (Duchamp . Man Ray . Picabia) 19.ii.08
Joan Bakewell - ditto