The Modular Stag Party

I have just returned from chomper99's stag night (for he and caffeine_fairy are soon to wed). I only attended the bit in the oddly (and off-puttingly) named Chuckle Club, which is like a poor person's Comedy Store, and is hidden away deep in the unforgiving '60s modern concreto-gothic sub-Stalinist carbuncle that is the London School of Economics.

I have already forgotten the names of the acts, but at least one was famous. Still, apart from a completely unfunny South African gentleman, the turns were all very good, and I think I must give particular plaudits to the Geordie bloke. Excellent. Beer was cheap, too, being a student watering hole.

chomper99 has invented what may be the world's first modular stag party, and I can recommend the concept. A series of linked events co-ordinated by mobile phone, that you can dip into or out of as personal taste dictates. It's a fine concept and one which he should copyright.

In other news, for reasons that escape even me, I have acquired a Peter Frampton album. I'm not sure that it was £3.99 in a sale is much of an excuse....

The Modular Stag Party

I have just returned from chomper99's stag night (for he and caffeine_fairy are soon to wed). I only attended the bit in the oddly (and off-puttingly) named Chuckle Club, which is like a poor person's Comedy Store, and is hidden away deep in the unforgiving '60s modern concreto-gothic sub-Stalinist carbuncle that is the London School of Economics.

I have already forgotten the names of the acts, but at least one was famous. Still, apart from a completely unfunny South African gentleman, the turns were all very good, and I think I must give particular plaudits to the Geordie bloke. Excellent. Beer was cheap, too, being a student watering hole.

chomper99 has invented what may be the world's first modular stag party, and I can recommend the concept. A series of linked events co-ordinated by mobile phone, that you can dip into or out of as personal taste dictates. It's a fine concept and one which he should copyright.

In other news, for reasons that escape even me, I have acquired a Peter Frampton album. I'm not sure that it was £3.99 in a sale is much of an excuse....

Excuse for pictures of Keira Knightley....

I have never read the King in Yellow although romney has lent me a copy and pax_draconis has explained the mind set behind it to me.

Now this morning, whilst in the Thinking Room, I had occasion to note how all the reading material has slowly transformed from a fair mix of my stuff and the Polish Brigade's ^tm to almost entirely women's fashion magazines, about two thirds of which are in Polish. Seeing the words sex and orgasmje printed on a page otherwise liberally strewn with the higher scoring scrabble letters is very frustrating, believe me.

Anyway, top of the heap currently is the July edition of Tatler, and since it is running an article on Keira Knightly, I thought I'd have a read (and it's in English). Now something occurred to me whilst browsing.

In almost every still photograph of Ms Knightly there is a slightly 'not-quite-right' quality which is somehow indefinable, and which is not apparent when you see her actually acting. (watch Bend It Like Beckham and Pirates of the Caribbean and then compare with any still portrait of her). But somehow it looks as though her face, whilst undeniably pretty (she's 19 and that's pretty; it takes another ten years for a woman to become beautiful, no matter how much slap¹ is applied) there's something just a little bit .... odd.

In the Tatler pictures particularly, it looks as though her face is set marginally forward from the rest of her. Not enough to be freakish or wrong, just a little odd. So here are samples of what I mean:

( bandwidth saving cut )

Now that's Carcosian. Or is it just me?²
.........
¹ Slap - by which I mean make up. I'm not advocating walloping 19 year old (or any other age) women. Most of my readers will know this already, but I'm not sure if the usage is the same across The Pond.

² It occurs to me too, that if she licked her lips and kissed a pane of glass, you'd be hard pressed to peel the glass back off. This is known as the Angelina Jolie Effect.

Excuse for pictures of Keira Knightley....

I have never read the King in Yellow although romney has lent me a copy and pax_draconis has explained the mind set behind it to me.

Now this morning, whilst in the Thinking Room, I had occasion to note how all the reading material has slowly transformed from a fair mix of my stuff and the Polish Brigade's ^tm to almost entirely women's fashion magazines, about two thirds of which are in Polish. Seeing the words sex and orgasmje printed on a page otherwise liberally strewn with the higher scoring scrabble letters is very frustrating, believe me.

Anyway, top of the heap currently is the July edition of Tatler, and since it is running an article on Keira Knightly, I thought I'd have a read (and it's in English). Now something occurred to me whilst browsing.

In almost every still photograph of Ms Knightly there is a slightly 'not-quite-right' quality which is somehow indefinable, and which is not apparent when you see her actually acting. (watch Bend It Like Beckham and Pirates of the Caribbean and then compare with any still portrait of her). But somehow it looks as though her face, whilst undeniably pretty (she's 19 and that's pretty; it takes another ten years for a woman to become beautiful, no matter how much slap¹ is applied) there's something just a little bit .... odd.

In the Tatler pictures particularly, it looks as though her face is set marginally forward from the rest of her. Not enough to be freakish or wrong, just a little odd. So here are samples of what I mean:

( bandwidth saving cut )

Now that's Carcosian. Or is it just me?²
.........
¹ Slap - by which I mean make up. I'm not advocating walloping 19 year old (or any other age) women. Most of my readers will know this already, but I'm not sure if the usage is the same across The Pond.

² It occurs to me too, that if she licked her lips and kissed a pane of glass, you'd be hard pressed to peel the glass back off. This is known as the Angelina Jolie Effect.