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)