Word of the Day

Rotter

Weekend's Happiness Experiment entry

Sun

Watching 'It' (1927) with Clara Bow at the Phoenix introduced by Kevin Brownlow and accompanied by Stephen Horne

Sunday afternoon purchase at Black Gull - Hitchcock's Blonde by John Hamilton

Running easily through St Pancras cemetery

Sat

Breakfast with the Enfants Terribles after my run

Going to see Life of Pi with D after reading it together

Chatting to N about rap and music whilst sorting out my CDs

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Reading Time Out

Listening to In Our Time on The Wasteland

Chatting to Keiichi M about the future

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Watching beginning of Lincoln with D and discussing the politics and history

Chat with John at the garage

SIG for NYC trip

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Annual photographic portrait competition exhibition at National Portrait Gallery

Haircut with Keiko and GQ

JAG's birthday gig at Jazz Caff (Yolanda Brown and Go Jazz) - 30th anniversary of our friendship

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Lunch with N at Rugoletta

Dinner at Leafy's with Bella, Tessa and Bernard

Working side by side with N

Delight quote

Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it. If change is of the essence of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophy.

W. Somerset Maugham

2013

No resolution(s) this year - just a focus
on Service
in broad terms
and in the context of relationships

‘His service is perfect freedom’ (from the Book of Common Prayer)
"O God, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom;"
 ‘Whom to serve is perfect freedom’ (St Augustine)

But I don't mean this in this kind of religious sense - I'm thinking in a more Human or Humanist sense.

New Year's Happiness Experiment entries

Thurs 3rd Jan 2013

1. Chips and ketchup on the walk home in the glow of the Christmas lights
2. Brainstorming sesh with Gill about Photography
3. Working on analysis of The Space

Wed 2nd 

1. Long afternoon chat with JRT in dark, rainy Hampstead
2. Watching Restless with U & N
3. Reading The Yellow Birds

Tues 1st Jan 2013

1. Walk along Hertford Union Canal with Alfie & Ella, U & D from Broadway Market to Fish Island
2. First run of the year
3. The light at sunset - by Lower Bottom Lock

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

D's friends at his 13th birthday party

D waving on every lap and taking on his bro at the go-karting in Aylesbury

Getting drawn into Zero Dark Thirty

Thursday's Happiness Experiment entry

Reading O Jerusalem at boating pond on Hampstead Heath after walking down the country lane in the late afternoon light

Getting on top of my diary

Reading Uncut and Mojo

Birthday - Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Birthday trip into town for D en famille

Bumping into people at random in the city - from Amanda White to Tony Gallagher - small world

Getting a new coat from Jean-Pierre at the Savoy Tailors Guild (including laying a bit of Racine on him)

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Chat about Design with Lydia and N in East Finchley

Finale of Homeland Season 2 with U

Snoozing to Flamenco Sketches

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Lunch at Rugoletta with the Enfants Terribles

Immersing myself in Arts multimedia

Rewatching Silver Linings Playbook

Thursday's Happiness Experiment entry

Quotalicious got full pilot and target TX date

Leisurely Christmas drunkage with Fact Ent at The Orange Tree, Pimlico

Good MPC sesh with Jay

Pete - Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Final journey in dear old Pete, our faithful (but no longer trusty) PT Cruiser

Chat about marraige with Noam in Holburn

Writing Xmas cards with D

Starspots #413

December

18/12/12
Gurinder Chada
Covent Garden Hotel

Starbrush:
1/12/12
Javier Bardem
Apollo, Regent St

Quentin Tarantino
Empire, Leicester Square

Starencounter:
18/12/12
Bradley Cooper
Covent Garden Hotel

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Reading book group book about Free Press

Gregory Porter's voice

Walking to work with N

Creative Accounting #852

David Bailey - 40 years = Dudley Moore as Arthur

Creative Accounting #355 - Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino = John Wayne + Stephen Fry

This weekend's Happiness Experiment entries

Sat 1st:

Taking Finn to see Skyfall and meet Xavier Bardem - XB's charming reply to Finn's endearing question

Frith St on Saturday afternoon with Shuckie, Liam and Oran - like a neon-lit film set outside Bar Italia (in the week I finished reading Absolute Beginners)

Vegging stretched on the front room couch

Sun 2nd:

Watching Evelyn Glennie playing at the Not So Silent Movies session around Harold Lloyd's Speedy

The canal at King's Cross with Liam from Cally Road to St Pancras Lock under winter blue skies

First proper drive for iKia

Friday's Happiness Experiment entry

23 Oct 2012

Octopussy, You Only Live Twice and Moonraker palyed by an orchestra (Philharmonia conducted by Carl Davis at the 50th anniversary Bond concert)

Finding a new modest black car

Friday lunch at La Rugoletta

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Visiting Chris W in his new pad in Maida Vale with N, sharing music along the way on the new iPhone-compatible car stereo

Reading Elizabethan love poems to help N

Using my new Mac Air

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Reading World War One poetry to help Alfie out with his exam - especially Dulce et Decorum Est

Talking to N about Nero

Pitching Muff March

Starspots #412

November

Starbrush:
Sam Rockwell
Martin McDonagh
Cineworld, Haymarket

Helen Mirren
James D'Arcy
Fox, Soho Square

Starencounter:
Anthony Hopkins
Fox, Soho Square

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Preraphaelite exhibition at Tate Britain - after reading William Gaunt's Preraphaelite Tragedy

Eating fallafel with N

Giving Shuckie, Liam and Oran a walking tour of Soho

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Chat over lunch with Gia about apocalypse, zombies and stuff

Breakfast with Lydia after both coming from EF by coincidence - talked about creativity, design and stuff

Meeting pushing Quotalicious along

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Watching Exodus with N on a rainy afternoon

Seeing Eileen

Going for a run after a gap of a few days

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Watching Grand Designs in bed with D

A bath with new bath salts

Porridge with cinnamon

Yes Yes Yes

“He likes the country life.”

On the summit of Howth Head this afternoon I read the last page of Ulysses which is in my pocket (thanks to these new phones). It ends with the Yes of Molly taking Bloom’s hand in marriage. When I took Una’s hand I rejoiced in gaining four sisters. I’m down to three now and just (an hour ago) took my leave of another one – for ever.

The sea from Ben of Howth was crystalline green, a perfect palette with the blue-grey hills beyond and the grey-tinged-with-purple rain clouds. The rain had crept up behind me from the city like a dark desert storm as I drove round and up the Head but by the time I parked up it had passed over and left a fresh sheen along the track. I speculated where Molly and Bloom may have left the main path and found their private space among the rhododendrons – I came up with a convincing hypothesis overlooking the golf course. The winbushes were still tinged with a hanging-on-in-there yellow and the odd other bloom punctuated the classic Irish countryside.

“He likes the country life” she tells her two friends, both Dubs from the hospital where she worked. I left the hill with my heart soaring like the seagulls down on Howth pier, which come in for landing like a Harrier, perfect control in the strong sea breeze as they land on the concrete edge. When I got to the end of the pier I came across the plaque commemorating the landing of The Asgard. Strange to have received a Tweet recently from Erskine Childers (the great-grandson). His great-grandfather’s exploits at Howth Head fused with The Riddle of the Sands which struck a Romantic chord with me is another facet of loving this old country I married into.

Talking to her friends she returns to her old self – Feisty is the word that springs to mind, Spirited, her own self. As I look at her profile there’s something so distinctive and endearing in that lower lip, and heart-breaking. If I hadn’t ended up with Una, Bernadette always struck me as the next best thing, closest in looks, also beautiful red hair, though hers darkened over time. She’s got the same dark masculine eyebrows, even more so, which capture her strength and determination.

She’s over in Raheny now, a couple of miles down the road. I’m in her own manor, Clontarf. A couple of the longest miles ever. She’s been very patient with me over the years, way more than I’ve been. I liked just being around her. She’s a force of Yes.

Clontarf, 2^nd November 2012

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Run down by the Liffey at Clontarf with the sun just breaking through

Lunch with the Enfants Terribles at Dan's Cafe, Carlingford

Dinner at Clontarf Castle with U, Elizabeth & Deirdre

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Bat for Lashes' dancing in her black and white striped backless long dress (The Forum, Kentish Town with Farrah)

Watching Homeland on the couch with U (plot back on track in Season 2)

Chatting with Ma at the kitchen table

Creative Accounting #142

PJ Harvey + Bjork + Kate Bush + 1/2 Lisa Hannigan = Bat for Lashes

Bat for Lashes (The Forum)

The Forum, Kentish Town

New third LP and Two Suns incl.
(Crystal towers)
The Haunted Man
Rest Your Head
...
Daniel **

With Farrah

2nd
1st was Round House

Leipzig - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Walking to the hospital where my Dad was born in the autumnal sunshine

Drinking fresh quince tea in Leipzig airport

Reading about the Beat writers whilst listening to John Martyn - media joy

Leipzigzag - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Finishing my poem Leipzigzag started two years ago after my first trip to my father's native city and now drawn to a conclusion back here

Sitting towards the back of what used to be the Leipzig synagogue - now just 140 metal chairs on a concrete rectangle

Long chat with Irja, Berlin-based documentary-maker, about all kinds of stuff from Nazis to marriage - and Mark about his film about Veronika and Cost of Living

Bonus Happiness:
Pilgrimage to 16 Promenaden Strasse and 1 Nordplatz on behalf of Nathan und Dora Gewurtz und Else

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Lunch at Rugoletta with N - lovely chat

Taking the 1938 Leipzig map out for a second trip to the Vaterland

Helping prepare the Paralympic site for the awards season

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Watching Grand Designs - an environmentally-friendly house in Brittany made of tyres - with U & N

Yellow autumnal sunlight in North Greenwich by Ravensbourne

Breaking in the Mac Eire at work

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

The last part of A Love Supreme

Coming up with ideas for sex season - group idea generation

Walking from home to bus-stop with D

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Anniversary dinner at the Bull & Last complete with lock decor

Revisiting the Odeon Holloway Road complete with magnificent art deco atrium (for Ruby Sparkes)

Investigating the origins of a quotation

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Listening to Ray Davies talk about Fortis Green on Robert Elms - and an autistic fella talk about the beauty of numbers

Chance encounters and chats on the tube - tonight, Lisa R; yesterday, Clive S

An afternoon getting the ball rolling on new projects

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Watching Bake-off final with U & D

Finishing On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Ian Flemming in sun-dappled Christchurch Gardens where death and equality of the sexes meet

Colouring in with D - a spiral staircase pattern

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

The sound of church bells over Tottenham

Getting the Air fully up&running

Watching the greatest skyfall of all-time

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Cruising around Sunday London on buses

Reading an old Pan edition of On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Two beigels and one cheese cake from Beigel Bake, Brick Lane outdoors in the hood

Thursday's Happiness Experiment entry

Chatting with Dr Pixie & Dr Dawn at drinks event with fuckall food leading to arrival home drunk (which shed a new light on The Nazis: A Warning from History)

Lovely chat with Hilary P at said boozeup

Strange Korean TV women encounter in Lambeth

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Helping a filmmaker in LA making her film multiplatform

Chicken Tikka Masala with two hungry boys

Watching Bond with D

On The Road - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Catching On The Road at the Phoenix with Ritva - captures the It of the book

Taking N to his English GCSE with last minute revision in the car which is beat like the Hudson

Getting my new Remmington in the form of a MacBook Air 11" 800HP - looking forward to taking it on the road

Starspot #663

Kevin McCloud - Horseferry Road 10/10/12

Starspot #662

Colin Jackson, Horseferry Road 10/10/12

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Reading On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Sitting out on the balcony in Ledbury Road

Eating fish and chips while reading the paper outdoors on Endell St

One of the best gigs of my life (and there have been many) - Van at Ronnie's 2/9/12

1 Brown Eyed Girl
2 Street?
3 Leaves are falling
4 Open your heart
5 Mystic East
6 Close to Jazz
7 (Jazz Blues and Funk)
8 Days Like This
9 Maybe Tomorrow?
10 Born to Sing
11 Enlightenment
12 All in the Game medley/Burning Ground ***
13 Walk??
14 Moondance

Very special trombonist and great tenor sax

Neil + Joan

Jamaican Martinis

The Easter pose

Patti Smith v Sitting Bull

top by Annie Liebowitz

Georgia O'Keeffe v Patti Smith

by Alfred Steiglitz & Lynn Goldsmith

Eric Gill

The Four Gospels of the Lord
Golden Cockerel
1931
With Robert Gibbings at Golden Cockerel Press
Typeface: Golden Cockerel

See Then

Pusherman

Pusherman
Pill Sugarer

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Mint tea at Yalla Yalla with U & D

Chance encounter with a chrome Bugatti Veyron

Meeting at Twitter London about Hotel GB

Saturday's Happiness Experiment entry

Listening to old 12"s including Like a Prayer (for Bronagh)

Taking Sean to Wembley to watch Sarries with N

Snoozing in the Indian summer sun (whilst reading Buchan)

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Walk through Coldfall Woods with Ja and Sean

Buying anniversary stuff for U on East Finchley high street including a ginger cake

Reading John McNab at sundown in a deckchair swathed in a leopard skin blanket

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Reading on the village green at Waterbeach in the autumnal sunshine

Marvellous bedroom mirror view

Chatting to N about taekwondo and the like

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Patti Smith railing against the injustices in Putin's Russia in her high energy poetic way - at the Troxy, Limehouse with Sue

The Thames at sunset from dinner at the Narrow, Limehouse

Chat on the back upper terrace in the Indian Summer sunshine with Andy Bell

Birthday Monday's Happiness Experiment entry

Watching Dexy's from 15' away at Cambridge Corn Exchange with U

Returning to Cambridge on an autumn day with U 26 years on, starting in the Orchard, Granchester

Revisiting Kettle's Yard with U, the spiral of grey pebbles in the white

Patti Smith at the Troxy, Limehouse 13/9/12

1 Dancing barefoot
2 Redondo Beach
3 (Come) Bangra
4 (something) for you
5 Ghost dance
6 Southern Cross*
7 This? Girl
8 Pissing in the River **
9 Because the Night
10 Jesus died for somebody's sins - Gloria
___
11 People have the Power
12 Rock'n'roll Nigger

Patti Smith
Lenny Kaye
Jackson Smith

With Sue Millard

Prayer, churches and the Pussycat Dolls

Bangra tour

"Thanks, I had a great time"

Dexy's at the Corn Exchange, Cambridge 11/9/12

Some Day I'm Going to Soar
__

1 (just only)
2 Greenlight *
3 Fire
4 Come On Eileen
5 What's She Like?

Mick Talbot's birthday and mine
Soar band

With Una

Soar Tour - first night

Indian Summer - Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Reading and watching rugby from my new picnic blanket - in Radlett (Tabards RFC) under a bright blue country sky

Reading John McNab on my old picnic blanket in the back garden

Sunday night cinema with U (Lawless)

Parade's End - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Seeing David Weir beside St James's Park and trying to keep up with him to take a photo

Catching sight of Jess Ennis and Anthony Joshua among an unexpected stream of GB Olympians and Paralympians

Photographing fellow Gamesmakers in the special area they set aside for us at the top of the Mall for the Athletes' Parade

Indian Summer - Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Perfect Indian Summer weather strong sun with a cool breeze

Sundown walk with D through Coldfall Woods with a magical low evening light (following a lovely Rugoletta lunch with him)

Reading Toby's Room in my deckchair at lunchbreak from Paralympics site

The Best Games Ever - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

The penultimate night of Athletics in the London 2012 Olympic Stadium including:
* Jason Smyth winning his second Gold for Ireland in the 200m
* Oskar Pistorius running an elegant 400m heat
* A Canadian visually impaired 5000m runner waving heart-warmingly from the podium [he just walked past the train queue just now as I'm writing and got a big cheer]
* The Angolan, French and Brazilian pairs of visually impaired and sighted runners jumping and dancing on the podium together

A spontaneous gathering of singalong Parklife on the way out

Policemen doing the lightening bolt, soldiers being congratulated and Gamesmakers joshing through loudspeakers on the way out to round off the friendliest and best Olympic and Paralympic Games of all time

Berlin - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Exploring Daniel Libeskind's conceptual Jewish Museum building on Jason's recommendation

Being chauffeur driven and practising mein Deutsch ein bisschen in the car, thinking about Der Hauptmann von Kopenick

Doing a keynote in a 70s building about multiplatform storytelling

Berlin: Symphony of a City - Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Catching up with Jule Ebert over a bratwurst and beer

Catching up with Sean de Burca on a leafy corner prior to a wander around Berlin Mitte

Immersing myself in the Memorial to Europe's Murdered Jews at twilight

1938

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Creative Accounting #451

Berlin = city of architecture

Berlin

Emigration prohibited Oct 41
276k escaped by then
200k GerJews murdered

Schalechet = Fallen Leaves = Gefallenes Laub

Mantras

I will enjoy my day

? Service and compassion through Family and Friendship

Olympic last blast - Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Watching Darragh McDonald storm to victory for Ireland and Ellie Simmonds edge it for Team GB at the Paralympics swimming with U N D

My last view of the Olympic Stadium in action complemented by the Orbit

Looking at the flowers at the Olympic Park with U

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Floating in the sea at Es Dolc at sundown

Reading On the Road most of the day, on the beach and at our pad

Late night swim with D

Creative Accounting #312

Kimbra / New Zealand = Camille / France

Majorca with the Enfants Terribles Part 2 of 2

Thurs 23 Aug:

Ses Salines beach

Fri 24:
Cuevas del Drach (Porto Cristo)
Colonia de Sant Pere
Alcudia (beach, towards Punta Sabate)

Sat 25:
Es Dolc beach

Sun 26:
Colonia de Sant Jordi - Palma - London Luton

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

The caves at Drach near Porto Christi - being rowed along the underground lake, everywhere where the water reflected

Listening to a guitarman in the lobby after dinner with On the Road at hand

Breasts of all shapes and sizes

Colonia - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Picking up On The Road again and digging it

The salt pools at sundown, complete with ducks and other birds

Speaking with U, Bernadette and Elizabeth by Skype on the Emerald Isle

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

The leaf-shaded main street of Esporles, my favourite town on Majorca, where we had a serene lunch

A rincon cafe under a plane tree and a fig tree at Soller

The autumnal roads along the west coast of Majorca, with browning leaves and filtered sunlight

Majorca with the Enfants Terribles Part 1

Saturday 18th August:
London Luton - Palma Majorca
Palma - Colonia de Sant Jordi

Sunday 19:
Ses Salines beach

Mon 20:
Palma

Tues 21:
El Donc beach

Wed:
Sant Elm
Esporles*
Deia - Robert Graves' house
Soller
El Trenc beach

...Part 2

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Laughing with D about EArs (outside the Hard Rock Cafe, Palma - the first time I've been in one since I was his age, in London, where it was founded in 1971 - our neck of the woods represented by Dave Davies guitar)

The beautiful, hidden courtyards of Palma

Sunset run and swim combo

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Reading John Buchan (The Power-house) on the beach at Colonia de Sant Jordi in the late afternoon light after spotting fish with D

24 swift lanes in the pool at sundown followed by more Power-house

Listening carefully to One Day I'm Going to Soar and relishing the prospect of seeing Dexys again on Sept 11

Creative Accounting #236

Gotye = Peter Gabriel + Crowded House

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Chatting with the Enfants Terribles beside the pool at night over cocktails

Reading the last ever issue of The Word

Seeing Majorca from the air, the Mediterranean browns

Thursday's Happiness Experiment entry

Chat on the back terrace of Horseferry with Hannah Girasol

Evening walk through Kenwood with U

Writing copy for the Channel 4 Paralympics website

Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Listening to John Coltrane through our new computer speakers, with the lovely acoustics of the corner

Brainstorming in a logical way around Skype-type programming, chatting through ideas with Noora

Jogging along with Inheritance Tracks

Creative Accounting #255

Wilko Johnson / Essex = David Byrne / NYC

Friday's Happiness Experiment entry

Getting Jesse Owens onto the homepage of the London 2012 website on the anniversary of his first gold medal win at Berlin 1936

Taking out Nat Gee's Olympia books from Berlin 1936 and finding an inscription from Else Gewurtz

Working on the Sports team and improving the photographs

Super Saturday - Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Collecting my Stella McCartney Team GB top from the High St and associated Saturday morning mooching

The sight of Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah switching on the after-burners at the end of their races (800m and 10,000m)

Wandering to the corner of the Olympic Park behind the Stadium beside the river

Golden Olympics Day: Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry (Thurs)

Seeing a Canadian female athlete up-close in front of me in the court-side seats at thrilling Brasil v Russia basketball won in last 2 seconds

The journey home walking through the Olympic Park at dusk, then cycling along the River Lea canal

Getting totally absorbed in my London2012.com work - in the social media team as the pace of the action hots up

Creative Accounting No. 411

Bane = Churchill + Kendo Nagasaki

[The Dark Knight Rises]

Update 4/8/12:

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Helen&Heather winning Britain's first Gold in style

The red square, blue circle and yellow triangle questionnaire by Kandinsky at the Bauhaus - guided tour of Bauhaus: Art of Life exhibition

Cat woman's bum on Batman's motorbike (and her teary eyes) as played by Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises at the Odeon Leicester Square

Creativity quote

Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things.

Steve Jobs

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

End of summer's day yellow light

Writing the Commissioner's Q&A piece for Broadcast

A lively Features routine with Jay

Olympia - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

The Moment in the Olympic Opening Ceremony - among the first to enjoy it at the technical dress rehearsal

Reading about Olympia (Victorine Meurent) in a novel whose name I can't recall by a woman whose name I can't recall

John Martyn's voice

Paris - This weekend's Happiness Experiment entries

Saturday

Lunch outdoors on a corner of Rue Vielle du Temple 3e in the Marais

Reading, photographing and snoozing (D) in the park behind the Musee Picasso

Seeing M Le President cruise by in advance of the 'Blue Arrows' at the Bastille Day parade

Sunday

Seeing Dejeuner sur l'Herbe with D

Walking along the Canal St Martin in pace with the Mathilda through locks and turning bridges

Laughing with D at the Gare du Nord

We'll always have Paris - Yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Spotting the French 'blue arrows' by mistake above the Musee d'Orsay - part of the Bastille Day celebrations

Chatting with strangers at Chartier's over dinner

The Eiffel Tower at night in the rain from Trocadero

Oblique

You get at the true meaning of things sideways.

— Alexei Sayle in 2010

Talking about Elvis Costello/Clive Langer/Robert Wyatt's Shipbuilding. A key to great art and writing, and an explanation why most of the bad stuff is bad.