My first film...

It's horrible, but sort of amusing in its hideousness. I haven't figured out how to use any proper editing software, and though everyone always talks up Mac's great video editing, iMovie sucks. It's like ClarisWorks, if any of you are old school Mac users...

Still, considering I was just screwing around with the camera on my phone (only 2 megapixels!), it could have been worse... Maybe? Hopefully.

I'm working on it. Give me a few months and hopefully I'll have made something I can be proud of...

Why pockets rock and handbags suck

Huzzah for this Guardian article that calls for the rise the pocket and the demise of the handbag.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/13/fashion

Perhaps the most surprising supporter of not lugging around a handbag is the Editor of the magazine most well known for perpetuating the 'It' bag craze: Vogue Magazine.

Anna Wintour never carries a handbag. Never. Despite the fact that part of her job is to sell the damn things. If that isn't a good enough sales pitch to not spend money (or just put up with the hassle) on bags, then I don't know what is...

The lost glamour of travel...

What happened to glamour in travel? Was it the collapse of capitalism? The rise of capitalism? The Metro of St Petersburg is absolutely amazing, and I'd rather have visually stunning stations to keep me calm during rush-hour than the piped in classical music at depressing Brixton station. Or maybe there never was any 'glamour' in travel and it was always the cake box 'Catch Me If You Can' Pan Am advertising fantasy of travel that sucked us into believing in this phantom glamorous, golden age of travel.

I suppose if there was ever a golden age of travel, it has long been associated with trains. And if there ever was romance associated with air travel, if was romance of the post-modern variety, while rail travel is Romantic with a capital 'R' - think of the Grand Tour or for a modern, nostalgia infested version of the Grand Tour, Paul Theroux's 'The Dark Star Safari' (which incidentally is one of my favourite books). Even now, there is last year's restoration of St. Pancras station, which knocks Heathrow's new Terminal 5 out in the first round. As for dining, the legendary Le Train Bleu restaurant at Paris' Gare du Nord station has no airport counterpart (at least not that I'm aware of).

Just compare the photos below. Airplane or train: I know which one I'd rather be on...

The horror that is Ryanair!

Much nicer... First class on the Eurostar.

Even Esquire thinks the new St Pancras station is sexy enough for a fashion spread.

Passenger hell at Heathrow Terminal 3.

The new terminal 5 - a glorified box. Yawn!

The new St Pancras - well sexy!

Le Train Bleu, aka the most amazing train station restaurant ever. It's in Paris, mais bien sûr, Gare du Lyon to be precise.

The Gare de Lyon - not as sexy as St Pancras - but still pretty...

Random Bushism Generator

This is hilarious.

A few choice examples:

"I've been in the Bible every day since I've been the president." 12 November 2008

"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." 29 September 2000

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2009/jan/09/bushism-random-generator

The most expensive restaurant in the world?

I love eating out, but even this is a bit much.

I'm the kind of person who would happily eat out 3 meals a day, every day. I like to cook, but I hate washing up and when push comes to shove, if someone else is making the grub I'm happier. Where most people cringe at an £80 tasting menu, I think that isn't bad value - as long as the food tastes incredible.

With that in mind, it's quite surprising that I've found a restaurant (Alain Ducasse's Plaza Athénée) whose prices shock even me! This menu is absolutely ridiculous! I don't know who eats here, but my guess is you have to show proof at the door that you own a diamond mine in Africa. I mean the food does look delicious and I still want to eat here, but seriously, €135 for some lobster!!! These prices are the most ridiculous I've ever seen (congratulations M. Ducasse). And that's saying something. Makes the Fat Duck look downright cheap!

http://www.alain-ducasse.com/public_us/plaza_athenee/fr_cuisine.htm

This is their 'Winter' menu:

• Black truffle marmalade and Roseval potatoes,
sea salt 125 €

• Roasted blue lobster, gnocchi, young leeks
and truffles 135 €

SPECIALITIES

• Steamed langoustines served cold, Iranian osetra caviar,
reduced stock 175 € 95 € - half portion -

• Bresse chicken glazed in an Albufera sauce,
tartufi di Alba 175 €

PLEASURES OF THE TABLE

• Vegetables and fruits cooked / raw, tomato / truffle chutney 65 €

• Sea scallops and cauliflower cream « grenobloise » style 80 €

• Guinea fowl from Challans and duck liver, truffled dressing 90 €

• Line caught sea bass flavoured with citrus / peppers, caramelized fillet 90 €

• Dover sole, clams and cockles, parsley juice 100 €

• Brittany turbot in matelote 95 €

• Rack and saddle of lamb, artichokes and fresh salad, dry fruits crumbs 95 €

• Venison with winter vegetables, reduced red wine spicy sauce 100 €

• Preserved and smoked pigeon, sweet and sour turnips 90 €

• Cheeses refined for you 25 €

• Three dishes of your choice from our "Specialities" - half portion -, cheeses and dessert 360 €

• Three dishes of your choice from "Pleasures of the table" - half portion -, cheeses and dessert

Mass is Energy

Since The Boy started working in television, I've been making a concentrated effort to learn more about a form of mass communication I previously pretended did not exist. Easy enough to do considering I grew up in a house without TV. Even now in the familial home, la TV is absent.

I came across this programme about the Large Hadron Collider at CERN on BBC's iPlayer, a brilliant thing for me as I still don't watch TV in the traditional sense. One of the things I don't like very much about TV is that is dumbs down information for the masses, to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Admittedly, this programme does the same thing, if only out of a necessity to make incredibly complicated particle physics easily digestible for a laymen audience.

In early 2007, I met presenter Brian Cox at a lecture on dark matter given at the Dana Centre (for those of you who live in London, I highly recommend an investigation into the scientific wonder that is the Dana Centre). He's engaging, very bright, and has the ability to distil the complicated tenets of particle physics into bite-sized and easily digestible pieces. I won't bore you with all the details, but if you're at all interested in physics, cosmology, or geeky science definitely check it out - it's only on the iPlayer until Friday.

Another thing, of slightly less importance perhaps, is that it's beautifully shot and edited. I can't imagine there was a huge budget to make this so it's even more of a miracle that they managed to create an hour long show that looks lovely as well. I took lots of screen captures...

Living with ghosts

I want to live here.

The super-elegant cocktail-party potential quotient is incredibly high. That this is the sort of thing I look for in choosing my domestic accommodation is perhaps alarming, but at least with lots of dead people around, my little soirées would be unlikely to draw complaints from the neighbours...