Welcome to my little blog, where I'm trying to keep you guys up to date with my London life (with the emphasis on trying as don't think I've written anything substantial in months - except for reviews of course). Oh, and if you want to read everything in Dutch, than this is an option.

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A little help

via @jackschofield

A week in pictures

Spot the fox on the station

Entry to QI granted

QI Christmas episode (yes they record this in May)

For those of you who are interested: the guest on the show were Sean Lock, Ross Noble and Brian Blessed

There was a surprising amount of talk about bestiality which will probably not make the final cut

Stephen Fry's hands outside the ITV studios

Have I Got News for You set 

I sat all the way on the right in this picture and could only see Ian Hislop and Paul Merton's receding hairline

And lastly Sufjan Stevens at Royal Festival Hall

Above picture is what I was expecting from this folk singer (he has been likened to Bob Dylan for those of you who don't know him)

It got a bit crazier during Chicago with a monkey for a hat

However, Sufjan only sported the 'plain' monkey hat look during the encore

The rest of the show featured costumes such as these full size angel wings...
(but banjo - thus still folk)

...the more plain fluorescent tape costume...

...a diamond alien costume with disco ball...
 (and lots of talk of star people)

...and an adapted version of his eagle wings for the 25 minute 'Impossible Soul' finale

(that link isn't the entire track - surprisingly it's to big for the internet)

 Also, there was confetti

And balloons
(and hip hop dancing, but that's a bit hard to photograph)

Overall, it was on of the best gigs I've ever seen and the sheer the diversity, chaos and multitude of things happening on stage have made it absolutely impossible to review. Hence, pictures. 

More pictures (and in better resolution) on Flicker (1) and (2)

Also, a video of Vesuvius (from a gig last year - so the show elements present yesterday are mostly missing) which was by far the best song in the set - apart from Chicago of course

And while I'm at it, a video of Chicago



If you would happen to think he's a bit weird: his parents thought they were star people (aliens basically), he plays 51 different instruments, likes to knit, makes all the costumes himself, once planned to write an album for each state in America (he managed Michigan and Illinois), is responsible for the only double EP in history, releases a Christmas album each year and has brother (Marzuki) who is really good marathon runner. Now you have reason to think of him as 'weird'. But in a wonderful way.

Finally...

Despite all the bank holidays lately messing publication schedules up, my paper has finally made it to the internet. It's available here, though I'm not sure whether it has open access - but you will at the very least be able to read the abstract (again). If you want to read the whole thing, you can try the 'Download PDF' application in the upper right corner. If you're denied access but keen to read the paper (one can never know), I can send you the PDF myself - it's only 8 pages of scientific gobbledegook.

Scary...

xkcd.com

#twitterjoketrial

This:

Lead to this:


(As seen at the #twitterjoketrial gig, which functioned as a fundraiser for an idiot who joked on Twitter that he was going to blow up an airport but got taken too seriously and has now evolved into a cause Stephen Fry would go to jail for)

My First Paper©

 

The full thing will be online next Tuesday for everyone to enjoy (I'll link it up then), but for now, you can enjoy the abstract and be baffled by the number of initials in my name.

Goals

I've got a list of things that would be very nice if I would achieve them at some point but wouldn't mind very much if I didn't. One could call them 'goals' - which I have done in the title of this post in the sake of brevity - but I'm not getting all worked up about them. I would view my life as complete though if I were to make (one of) them reality.
The list comprises:

• Publishing in the BMJ (I like their font)
• Publishing in the Guardian (I like their font and their interview style)
• Owning a dishwasher

I would be especially pleased to achieve the latter, though I now seem to have a shot at achieving the second one in a 'future science writers prize' organised by the Wellcome Trust, the Guardian and the Observer, which are three of my favourite entities in this world. The prize includes publication in the Guardian and £1000 which ought to be enough for a dishwasher. I think I'm entering.

Cold Cave @ The Lexington 5 April 2011

Even Charlie Brooker on a bad-hair day wouldn't be able to muster the amount of vitriol needed to review opening act Drum Cunt (...), so we'll just leave you with a warning.

Cold Cave seem to expand further everything time I see them: this time there's five of them. Or rather, four of 'them' and Wesley Eisold who has decided to become David Bowie. Last time he seemed to not even notice there were any people in the same room, and now he seems to be on the way to become an extravagant frontman - he's got the flashy rings and goth shirt to show it. The photographers apparently were in the know about this change in appearence as they gathered en masse in front of the stage in an attempt to blind the entire audience with an abundance of bright flashes not seen since the last supernova (which is not an awful lot better than the deafening effect that usually ensues after seeing Cold Cave).
Once control over some of the senses is regained, confusion reigns. Is this camp band really the same Cold Cave as before, though with added guitar player? Is Wesley Eisold really making all those Brett Anderson-like poses on stage? Okay, he is supposed to be a poet, so he's allowed to be weird, but this seems like 180 degree turn in the opposite direction. Hell! One song even sounds like a 'Love is a Battlefield' cover (if it was: kudos to you, Sir, my ears weren't cooperating enough to actually make the words out)!
Eisold still can't really sing, but we've got whole hordes of tv shows just to tell us that it isn't about the singing, but the songwriting, so yeah, that's okay. Or is it? On the first album, the songs were loud enough to hide the fact that most of the lyrics were just shouted into the mic, now that he seems to be flirting with disco, his lack in holding a tune kinda shows. 'The Great Pan is Dead' is still a loud enough song to make for it, but other than it Cold Cave seem to be this year's Foals, which is sad as I really enjoyed their first album (and might have already ordered the new one on a whim - any takers?)

Sea shanties and the Humane Genome Project in 1 show: only on IKRS

Ikrs 23rd March by Ikrs on Mixcloud