fictionalcities

12.5.2008 Location porn is a new phrase on me, but an article in the film supplement of The Observer last week was all about a love of films for their locations. It mostly mentions films set in parts Mediterranean, leaving a pervy obsession in films which revel in Venice, Florence and London to these here parts.
7.5.2008 Longer term readers of these posts will know that I'm usually a positive and optimistic sorta guy but it's hard to look on the bright side after last week's election of Boris Johnson as London's new mayor. He's a buffoon, you see, who was only voted in because his predecessor, Ken Livingstone, had the temerity to try to make central London a bit less of a smoggy and congested drivers' paradise, and make the place better for pedestrians. He had had some success but powerful business interests and the newspapers they control put their corrosive might behind the idiot Boris and now we have a wacky cartoon character running our city. My only bright thought is hoping that he'll soon be forced to resign over some new and spectacular examples of the gaffs and incompetence he's famous for. 26.4.2008 And regarding them links I mentioned last time - we now have an answer to the question of the number of bridges in Venice. Contradictory totals have reigned so far, but it turns out that some engineers from the Worcester Poly have been out to Venice, counted them, numbered them, and made a map. Go engineers! The total number? 473, including private bridges and the Ponte di Calatrava, the new one. 21.4.2008 An email today presents a fascinating flurry of links, and some ambitious projects. The source is the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts and the impressive Venice-related projects that their students have undertaken. But the fingers and pies radiate out from here, and include a Wiki (online encyclopaedia) devoted solely to Venice, starting here, and a project/site setting out to identify and preserve Venice's street art - all the impressive stone plaques and statues and such that are such a joy to find on Venetian rambles. There's also talk of some fruitful collaboration between me and my sites and them and theirs - I'll keep you posted. A highlight of last week, and my life so far, was starting to read the third book in a series and finding a review of mine of a previous volume quoted on the back (see right) - a first! Reading: Linda Proud The Rebirth of Venus The third book in the Botticelli trilogy with the gritty details of renaissance philosophy presented as digestibly and enjoyably as before, with art and intrigue and a good story too. Watching: Cloverfield Don't believe the reviews - gripping and exciting and impressive. Listening: New CDs by the B-52s and Was (Not Was) A sudden and surprising 1980's wacky-funk revival.
4.4.2008 I write today of the Garden of Eden. Back in 2003, after discovering it on my trip of 2002, I made one of my digression pages (here it is) devoted to this fascinating place. It's fascinating because it's the biggest private garden in Venice, has a reputation for dilapidated splendour, and yet remains an inaccessible mystery. I was reminded of the place last week by an e-mail from Polly Higgins, who is visiting Venice this week and had also stumbled upon the place and been fascinated. The years since I created the page have not seen any news slip out as to the place's fate or owners - if you Google garden eden venice my small page is your first and best option. Some feelers have been sent out this week, though, and so let's hope. Reading: James Meek We are now beginning our descent If you loved The people's act of love you'll certainly want to read this, the new one, but be prepared for something very unlike - much less strange, but just as compulsive. Watching: Blowup What a weird film! Listening: Elbow The seldom seen kid Reviewers are sounding all surprised at how good this one is. Where have they been? 28.3.2008 Poking around Amazon for future Venice-set fiction I've come up with a few. Firstly a promising-looking first novel called A Stopover in Venice by Kathryn Walker which is due in August. Then there's another novel concerning our favourite baroque composer The Four Seasons: A novel of Vivaldi's Venice by the interestingly named Laurel Corona and set for publication in November. Sooner, in April, we have Steven Carroll's Twilight in Venice, which concerns itself with Venice and cellists. Ingratiating e-mails are already on their way to publishers. 26.3.2008 Who dreamed of a White Easter? Things pretty quiet around here, so thoughts turn to odd coincidences. Three of the last four books I've read for the site (including my current read) have taken around a 100 pages to get to the place/reason for which I was reading them. Strange and interesting, or more than a bit boring? Reading: Grace Brophy A deadly paradise Commissario Cenni comes from Umbria but goes to Venice on page 115. As gripping as Donna L. but more muscular. Watching: In A Lonely Place and Kiss Me Deadly Two more film noir treats - both weird and wonderful, but in very different ways Listening: R.E.M. Accelerate Sounding revitalised and jangly after a depressing run of rubbish releases.	In the Google Earth satellite image above you can see the extent of the Garden of Eden (bottom right) with the church of the Redentore (top left) included so that you can place it. My local tourist attraction.
12.3.2008 An interesting new interview with Edward Sklepowich, a fave and friend of this site, has just gone up on Italian-Mysteries.com. And through my letterbox this week have dropped A Deadly Paradise by Grace Brophy and The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie. Reviews soon. Reading: Ann & Jeff VanderMeer (eds) The new weird If you know what to expect from the likes of VanderMeer, Miéville, and M.John Harrison then you'll know the kind of stuff you'll be getting here. Like Gormenghast, only much shorter and occasionally weirder. Watching: Juno Very funny and touching and very far from being the pro-life propaganda flick that some have suggested. Listening: Dirtmusic Sounds like unspecial strummy Americana at first, but soon begins to snag and grow. 9.3.2008 Brigitte over at the German Venice blog writes and recommends a Venice-set novel by Carlo Fruttero & Franco Lucentini called L'amante senza fissa dimora which translates into English as The Lover of no fixed abode. Poking around a bit I can find no firm information about it ever having been translated into English, and it seems very unavailable if it ever was. But some mentions of a novel by them called No fixed abode are sprinkled around other sites. A bit of a mystery. 6.3.2008 Today is my birthday! And not only that, but World Book Day too! Pardon my paranoia but I don't think that this is a coincidence - some shadowy presence is sending a message I think. Anyway, I implore you, my people, to celebrate my day with observance of the primary tenet of my personal philosophy, The Central Guiding Principles: Read more books, eat more cake, stroke more cats. Go in peace. 3.3.2008 Yet more Vivaldi stuff. My knowledge of Ezra Pound and Olga Rudge is pretty much confined to the story about the sordid tussle over their letters as told in John Bernedt's City of Falling Angels. But now I read about how Rudge, a famed violinist whose reputation overshadowed her lover's initially, was a leading figure in the 20th Century rediscovery of Vivaldi. Her transcribing, promotion and performances contributing much, with Pound's help, to the composer's current reputation. She also dyed her hair red in his honour. Let's remember her this way. And it seems that Antonio Vivaldi the motion picture, with Joseph Fiennes as Vivaldi, has not been cancelled. There's a website and it has a trailer. But said trailer is bizarrely made up of clips from other Venice-set films and scenes featuring the actors in other period films - wearing facial hair and floppy white shirts without buttons, basically - except for Malcolm McDowell, who's in a modern suit. 25.2.2008 Yet another fictionalised account of life in the Pieta, featuring Vivaldi and the girls, comes my way. This follows Vivaldi's Virgins and Hidden harmonies, and comes just ahead of a promised DVD of The Red Priest of Venice, the play put on in San Francisco I mentioned last month. This time it's a radio play, broadcast by the BBC a couple of weeks back, called Daughters of Venice by Don Taylor. So far - I'm about half way through - it's pretty much your standard tale of girls-with-limited-choices, with some added broad humour provided by a naive and smitten English milord and his cynical valet. In fact there's an attractive streak of cynicism running through the play that's making me much more likely to return for part two. I'll keep you posted. And then there's luggage labels - here's a link to a page with photos of 867 of the lovely little buggers, quite a few featuring Venice. There's few on the right. Reading: Iain Crichton Smith Consider the lilies Just the story of an old woman during the Highland Clearances being told she has to move, and how she reacts and her life changes. But just wonderful Watching: The Killers and The Blue Dahlia Two of the best film noirs (films noir?) and I'd not seen either of them before! Listening: Margareds Kingdom Of Patience Proving that Poles can do trip-hop (as well as doughnuts) better than most. 14.2.2008 Overheard in the National Gallery in London today, as I'm walking past a school class getting a talk on Titian's Bacchus and Ariadne, the teacher saying: 'Yes, but can anyone tell me why there wouldn't be a motor boat..?' 9.2.2008 How many bridges are there in Venice? This is the hot question of the day. In Edward Sklepowich's novel Frail Barrier, which I've just read, Urbino says that there are around 400. Yet Venice is a fish, which I'm currently reading, says 500, which is a bit of a big discrepancy. In an e-mail exchange Mr S himself says that as far as he knows there are 395, including the new glass one, and suggests that a higher figure might include the small private bridges to palazzo entrances, and such like. Puzzling. Does anyone out there have a copy of Campi e Campielli (Venice's A-Z) and a lot of patience? 06.2.2008 I find it fascinating to monitor the terms which web-searchers put in which then lead them to this site. By far the most popular is courtesan. I imagine that most of the people who find themselves here after putting that one in don't stay very long, although I shouldn't assume that such searchers aren't looking for info on Veronica Franco, of course. However I pass on, without comment, a search term which, I know not why, lead to a visit to my site last Saturday - clitoris in uk. Reading: Robert Louis Stevenson Kidnapped Having loved New Arabian Nights I thought I'd try something else. I'm not exactly gripped, but also not giving up yet. It's just so Scottish! Watching: Laurel & Hardy A fine big box of 21 DVDs is available in the UK. It's giving me much joy, and will for many months yet. Listening: k.d.lang Watershed She's got it back - the best since Ingenue. 23.1.2008 Two books slip wetly through my letterbox this morning: one is the Venice volume of The Liquid Continent trilogy mentioned below, the other is called Venice is a Fish. Expect reviews soonish. I say -ish because the fish one has a review embargo slapped on it until the 14th February, which I presume applies to me as well as print media. Reading: Steve Erickson Zeroville The best novel about the mystic mysteries of filmmaking since Flicker Watching: No country for old men The first 100% classic Coen brothers film in so so long Listening: Emmylou Harris Songbird: Rare Tracks & Forgotten Gems The gems and the sweepings, and all damn good. 16.1.2008 More Vivaldi news: my last news item scared up an e-mail from Lisa Murphy in San Francisco who recently premiered a play about the composer's relationship with Anna Giro and Paolina Trevisana. Read more about the play (with some interesting background material) at redpriestofvenice.com or watch it on youtube. Lisa also mentions that the film with Joseph Fiennes has been delayed so much now that the omens are that it may never appear. To finish with good news...my mention earlier this month of my lack of luck getting a review copy of Frail Barrier from Edward Sklepowich has resulted in an e-mail from the man himself, who's going to send me a copy. Result! Reading: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Half of a Yellow Sun Every bit as good as they've been saying, if not better. Watching: Sense and Sensibility BBC 2008 Proof that it WAS worth doing it again. Listening: The Very Best of Ethiopiques If you think that you've heard it all, after listening to all those African music reissues of the 80s, you're wrong. 7.1.2008 Reading (and loving) the Vivaldi novel mentioned below I had a poke around fact-checking and found out about two films about the composer, one just out and one in pre-production. The one in pre-prod is said to be due later this year and is to star Joseph Fiennes as the man himself. So it seems that the little chap gets to play Shakespeare and Vivaldi! The one that came out last year is French, called Antonio Vivaldi, un Prince à Venise and, judging by the cast list, seems to play the Anna Giro card - the famous 'secret mistress' conjecture. Vivaldi fans might also be interested to know that there's a site where you can download pdf files of a couple of good biographies for free. It's here.
3.1.2008 The small swarm of new Venice-set novels I mentioned in December has begun to slip through my letterbox, including one dealing with The Secret Life of Vivaldi. But if you're looking for a review of Frail Barrier by Edward Sklepowich then breath-holding is not advised. The publisher has refused my request for a review copy and unhelpfully supplied a pdf file for reading on my computer. Now I have many odd habits, but taking my computer to bed is not one of them. Also on the horizon is a reprint of The Venetian Mask by Rosalind Laker which is due in March, as is The Troubles of Janice 4: Voyage to Venice, an erotic graphic novel. If your heart is not faint check it out here. And Nicholas Woodsworth has written something called The Liquid Continent - A Mediterranean Trilogy, of which volume two is about Venice and its relationship with the briny stuff. Reading: Michael Chabon Gentlemen of the Road A rollicking respite from seriouser tomes. Watching: Civilisation - Save Our Souls Matthew Collings on the continuing influence and importance of 'visionary British art guru' John Ruskin - mighty clever and stimulating stuff. Listening: The Radio Dept Pet Grief Not sure why I've taken so long to discover this bunch of Swedes but I love them now, as they obviously love the Pet Shop Boys and Prefab Sprout. Giving shoegazing a very good name. 28.12.2007 We're well into that post-festive quiet stretch, with very few people working (although I was yesterday) and with nothing much going on but a lot of TV to catch up on. So let's look forward to the return of real life, and the weekend of the 19th/20th of January when The Temple in London, one of my favourite places for Sunday-walk seclusion and the reek of history, is having an open day. It's part of a year of events (details here) to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the place's founding. Reading: Thomas Quinn The Sword of Venice Watching: Love soup Listening: Tom Middleton Lifetracks 20.12.2007 But when I do look back over this year I can't help but see it as one of my best. For a chap who has previously gone years without trips to Venice and Florence it seems nothing short of miraculous to me to have had three trips in one year. A trip to Venice in March warmly celebrated my half-century, and was swiftly followed in April by my first visit to Florence in 13 years. Another week in Venice in October was mostly spent taking photographs for my Churches of Venice website - another very good thing about this year. And as the year ends I seem to be getting more review copies, author contact, and encouraging e-mails than ever, so I enter 2008 contented and with high hopes. I hope that you do too. 15.12.2007 At a time of year when the media are full of articles looking back over the best this, the worst that, and the most embarrassing examples of the other, it's good to look forward, and 2008 is looking good for Venice fiction. Early in January there's a new Urbino Macintyre mystery called Frail Barrier by Edward Sklepowich, and you don't get one of these every year. Grace Brophy is a new name on me, but A Deadly Paradise has a Venice setting, as does Elizabeth Adler's Meet Me in Venice. Then there's a new Donna Leon in the spring, called The Girl of His Dreams and for Florence fans there's the last Magdalen Nabb, called Vita Nuova. 10.12.2007 This year will not go down as one of the most sparkling for Venice-set fiction, so it's good to get news of the immanent publication of the sequel to one of my (surprise) faves of a couple of years back. Thomas Quinn's Lion of St Mark gripped me like nautically-themed books rarely do, and now there's The Sword of Venice. He's kindly sending me a copy, so expect a review early in 2008. London had by far the better books written set in it this year, but then again it usually does. Reading: Philip Pullman The Northern Lights (re-reading and re-loving it) Watching: Cranford Listening: A Whisper In The Noise Dry land	My Books of 2007 Michael Chabon The Yiddish policeman’s union Clare Clark The nature of monsters Arnaud Delalande The Dante Trap Charlie Fletcher Stone heart A. M. Homes This book will change your life Giulio Leoni The Third Heaven conspiracy Cormac McCarthy The road Haruki Murakami After dark Belinda Starling The Journal of Dora Damage Robert Louis Stevenson New Arabian Nights Anne Tyler Digging to America My CDs of 2007 The Antlers In the Attic of the Universe Amy Cook The Sky Observer's Guide Feist The Reminder A Fine Frenzy One Cell in the Sea Kate Havnevik Melankton Modest Mouse We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank Radiohead In Rainbows Sissy Wish Beauties Never Die Susanna sonata mix dwarf cosmos Underworld Oblivion with Bells
6.12.2007 Call me shallow, if you must, but my attitude to any so-called 'wave' of immigrants to the UK is best summed up by the greeting: 'Welcome to my country - I hope that you brought tasty treats.' In which spirit I've just added some yummy Polish cakes to my surprisingly popular London Cakes page. I've also just been made aware of Capitan Venezia a very Venetian superhero, whose web-site and comics seem to speak only in Italian at the moment. Reading: Anton Chekhov The complete short novels Watching: X-Files series 1 Listening: Timber Timbre Medicinals 27.11.2007 Travellers on the London Underground will know about the in-train announcements warning them about the next station, and to do things like 'Mind the gap'. The woman who reads them is colloquially called Sonya, because she gets on ya' nerves. But it turns out she's actually called Emma Clarke and she's just been sacked for posting mp3s of spoof announcements like "We would like to remind our American tourist friends that you are almost certainly talking too loudly" on her website. The news item is here and the spoof announcements are on www.emmaclarke.com although the site seems to be currently groaning under the strain of demand. Reading: Alan Bennett The uncommon reader Watching: At The Height Of Summer Listening: A Number of Small Things: A Collection of Morr Music Singles 19.11.2007 An interesting article in the UK Guardian newspaper last week about the representation of cities in films. Nothing about Venice or Florence, but a bit about London. Read it here. Reading: Margaret Atwood Oryx and Crake Watching: Ratatouille Listening: Radiohead In Rainbows 11.11.2007 In Memory of Me is an Italian film released last week in London which is set in San Giorgio Maggiore and features other Venetian locations. Stately and dour are a couple of the more complementary words used in reviews, slow and implausible are a pair of the less encouraging. It is on at one of my favourite comfy London cinemas, though, so I might give it a go next week. See a trailer here. Reading: David Peace Tokyo Year Zero Watching: The lives of others Listening: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss Raising sand 2.11.2007 A surprise Florence fix in the shape of a new version of A Room With a View on ITV1 in the UK this Sunday night. Comparison with the Merchant/Ivory version is inevitable, but the new adaptation is by Andrew Davies and seems to be more faithful to the concerns of the book. We'll see. Details here. 31.10.2007 A bit of a site redesign going on - I hope that you lot like it. I'm gradually phasing out the pseudo-calligraphy font in favour of that chunky olde-printe look. Regular pavement-pounders around town will be well aware of the phenomenon of stopped clocks - old clocks in public places and on buildings that have stopped and have never been repaired or rewound. Well, now there's a website, campaigning to restart them, with photos, although you have to take it on trust that the clocks in the photos are stopped because, well, you know. Reading: P.G.Wodehouse Uncle Dynamite Watching: Tell no one (and a flipping wonderful film it is too) Listening: Canon Blue Colonies 20.10.2007 I went, I did it, I came back with just over four hundred photographs on my memory card. No, I can't believe it either. Thanks to all who commented, encouraged and passed on weird fruit and cool Venetian ska band recommendations. Reading: An Accademia gallery catalogue Watching: New season Heroes and Simpsons Listening: Band of Horses Cease to begin 9.10.2007 I'm off to Venice early tomorrow morning and, technology willing, should be doing daily updates to my October 2007 Trip Report 3.10.2007 This time next week I'm off to Venice and, well, you remember what it was like waiting for Christmas as a kid? I'm hoping to do a daily bloggish thing, so fans of cats, cakes and churches should stay tuned. Reading: Christi Phillips The Rossetti letter Playing: Halo 3 Listening: Jim White Transnormal Skiperoo 21.9.2007 If the world is divided into pigeon-haters and pigeon-feeders I suppose I'm with the feeders. The authorities in Venice, though, like city authorities everywhere, look upon the flying rats as a big problem, and have now banned the throwing of rice at weddings in the city as it encourages scavenging flocks. They say that the birds are also damaging buildings by pecking for bits of food that blow into cracks, which sounds very like a self-justifying exaggeration to me. Not sure where all this leaves me and my chucking little bits of my lunchtime panini to them from church steps when I'm there. I'm a man who likes to feel solid pavement under his feet, but the presence of contrasting flashes of chaotic nature is good too. Reading: Sarah Waters The night watch for the 2nd time Watching: Pushing the daisies Listening: Mùm Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy 16.9.2007 Open House Weekend Day 2 Less luck with the pot-luck method this morning, and the churches were all closed for services. But we'd booked to visit the Government Art Collection, where they store and administer the art that's used to decorate embassies abroad and other UK government buildings. Pretty darn fascinating. It's near Tottenham Court Road but only after I'd booked was it's exact whereabouts revealed, and I can't reveal this secret location because if I did I'd have to...etc. 15.9.2007 Open House Weekend Day 1 Some city churches were visited which can't help but be a little dour when compared to Venetian Churches full of Bellini and Titian, but they can be handsome nonetheless, and very calming places it must be said. We also had a look around the Vintners' Hall, admiring it's wood panelling and chandeliers, and using its very plush toilets. Then on to the Unilever Building (the curved building at the North end of Blackfriars Bridge) recently gutted and rebuilt inside and now called 100 Victoria Embankment, or l00ve for short. Views from the roof terrace were really spectacular (see above right). It's still owned by Unilever, though, and the very generous free cup of tea and Walls ice cream for each visitor are both their products. But still...better than a box of washing powder. 14.9.2007 Open House Weekend looms, and neither of us are working or on holiday, so a full weekend of pavement pounding and door darkening is in prospect. This year the weekend also features trips by tube train down Brunel's Thames Tunnel. The increased popularity of the event and the increasing need to pre-book weeks in advance is making the event less fun with each passing year I think. But hey, I'm an old misery! Reading: Jim Crace The Pesthouse Watching: Californication Listening: Valgeir Sigurðsson Ekvílibríum
31.8.2007 You would think that receiving for review yet another novel featuring a 17th Century Venetian courtesan as the heroine (The Rossetti letter) might fill me with, well, not exactly keen anticipation and joy. But you might be surprised to learn - I was - that the most popular search term input in August by people who end up at this site is 'courtesan'. So every time I mention the word courtesan, I'm increasing my hit rate. And that's three times in this paragraph so far. Reading: Arnaud Delalande The Dante Trap Watching: The IT crowd series 2 Listening: Oakley Hall I'll Follow You 26.8.2007 Sad news of the death of Magdalen Nabb, writer of the Marshall Guarnaccia mysteries without which fictional Florence would be a very much poorer place. She was just 60 when she died of a stroke whilst out riding. At her funeral last Monday carabinieri in full ceremonial dress formed a guard of honour. She had just finished a new Marshall mystery called Vita Nuova which will be published next year. There was a fine obit in The Guardian. 25.8.2007 A lean year for Venice-set fiction seems to be perking up a bit. I've managed to cadge a copy of The Dante Trap by Arnaud Delalande out of the publisher, and am hoping to also get a review copy of The Rossetti letter by Christi Phillips. It's good to see titles still subtly trying to sound a bit like The Da Vinci Code, even after having decided to drop the somewhat obvious use of the word Code. There's also The Love Academy by Belinda Jones which is chick-lit and hence, ahem, beyond my remit. 23.8.2007 A new interview with Donna Leon here (with a somewhat strange photograph) which you can even listen to. And there are links to a map and a list of location to guide you to Brunetti-related spots. Also a German Venice blog by a new friend has some rather good photos of the new Calatrava Bridge. Reading: Scarlett Thomas The end of Mr Y Watching: The Claim Listening: Seventeen Evergreen 13.8.2007 The talk on the Venice sites is all about the new bridge over the Grand Canal - the forth, and first new one in 73 years. It's all red and spindly and modern and so is causing a bit of a ruckus, but it's up by Piazzale Roma bus station where the competition for the description 'eyesore' is pretty fierce. It looks more like eye balm in the photos and there's a good one with the report in the New York Times. Reading: Rupert Thompson Death of a murderer Watching: Carnivale Season 1 Listening: Amy Cook The Sky Observer's Guide 5.8.2007 I've just started the new and last Michael Dibdin and it is, as reported, very full of food. In chapter two Zen unenthusiastically tucks into a southern pasta dish which he describes using the word 'gloggy' - a new word on me and an unappetising word. But when you're describing pasta cooked in mutton fat unappetising is really the most you can hope for. Reading: Michael Dibdin End games Watching: The Simpsons Movie Listening: Miracle Fortress Five roses
26.7.2007 As the nation catches its breath after finishing ...the Deathly Hallows, attempts to dry out, hopes for some summer soon, and waits for The Simpsons film one can only say: interesting times. To the right is me as a Simpsons character, courtesy of simpsonizeme.com. I'm not convinced. Reading: Michele Giuttari A Florentine Death Watching: Dexter Listening: The Antlers In The Attic Of The Universe 20.7.2007 OK, so maybe a grown man shouldn't really be looking forward so much to the new Harry Potter (tomorrow!), but it's a big deal for lots of people, a big event involving a book, and that's not a common occurrence, especially for a work of fiction. And I can't see it happening again, soon or maybe ever, except maybe for the sequel to The Da Vinci Code and how depressing a thought is that? 15.7.2007 The tally of new novels set in Venice published in any given year usually easily outstrips those set in Florence, but as the second new novel set in Florence published this year plops onto my doormat the Tuscan town easily pulls ahead. It's called A Florentine Death by Michele Giuttari, who's a former police-chief in Florence. I'll be reading and reviewing it soon, but I've a reading group book to finish first, and the new Harry Potter of course. Reading: A.M.Homes This book will save your life Watching: 30 Rock Listening: Scott Walker Scott 1, 2, 3 & 4 9.7.2007 Well what do you know - there's a PC computer game called Venice Deluxe. It's a bit like Breakout, as you control a gondola at the bottom of the screen and shoot pieces of treasure up to be caught by wheels and see-saws, and you also catch stuff coming down. The idea is to stop Venice sinking. The Venice styling is bit vague and mostly just olde and stony looking, with lions, but let's not carp. You can download a free trial here. Reading: Michael Chabon The Yiddish Policemen's Union Watching: Buffy Season 1 - starting again! Listening: Cherry Ghost Thirst For Romance 5.7.2007 It happened in February last year, and now it's happened again - all the chocolate machines on the London Underground have been taken out of service, and have been so for a few weeks now. Why? Also Adam and Eve - should they have belly buttons as they weren't born in the usual way? 1.7.2007 This site has been smoke-free from the beginning, but from today smoking is banned in all enclosed public spaces in England. I cannot think of a law that I have been waiting for more avidly, or one which makes me happier. No more will I have my meals out spoiled by noxious fumes from selfish smokers, and no more will I come home from an evening out and have to put every item of clothing in the wash before I go to bed. And then get out of bed to wash the smoky smell from my upper chest hair before sleep. In other and sadder news - the final Aurelio Zen novel from Michael Dibdin is published this week. There was a fine piece about him in Saturday's London Guardian. Reading: Frederick Rolfe The desire and pursuit of the whole Watching: The shining Listening: Josh Haden Devoted 18.6.2007 Readers of my self-indulgent and cake-infested trip reports will know how much time I spend in Venetian churches - they being the places to find peace, the best art and some of the most impressive architecture in Venice. But I've long been disappointed at the lack of good books on the subject and the poor quality of the information available on the subject on the internet. So, I thought, why not plug that latter gap, with the help of someone I know who knows more than me? We are now in the process of making something fine, comprehensive and entertaining. More news soon. Reading: William Faulkner As I lay dying Watching: Hot fuzz Listening: Lavender Diamond Imagine Our Love 13.6.2007 Reading around the Venice blogs - I really must make a links page one of these days - I note that there are plans to allow discrete advertising on the sides of vaporettos for the first time, and also on scaffolding on buildings on the Grand Canal. This last idea could fall flat methinks, as most scaffolding on buildings in Venice is up so long the average product would be long superseded by the time it comes down! Reading: Robert Louis Stevenson New Arabian Nights Watching: Doctor in the house Listening: Sissy Wish Beauties Never Die 6.6.2007 I've recently been getting a lot of pleasure poking around this web site. It has interactive maps of Venice with little arrows that you click on to see the photographic view in that direction and some good suggested walks. It's a joy to explore favourites spots and find new views. And the photos are excellent too. Also over at Slow Travel a Google map has been made of Venetian churches. Reading: Alan Campbell Scar night Watching: The Green Man Listening: Candie Payne I Wish I Could Have Loved You More 31.5.2007 I've been adding bits of text and screen captures over on the Venice films page, mostly brought about by rewatching Dangerous Beauty and Who saw her die? The latter's memorable chase through a misty derelict warehouse turns out to have been filmed in the Molino Stucky, which was then derelict, and had been for ages, but which is now - following a suspicious fire, of course - a luxury hotel, which opened this week Reading: Haruki Murakami After dark Watching: Old Open University TV programmes on renaissance art Listening: Kate Havnevik Melankton 25.5.2007 To coincide with an Anthony Gormley exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London statues of the man himself have been placed on many nearby roofs, and several far-off ones. It's a weird pleasure spotting them and there are rumours that some people have thought that the statues are real chaps about to jump. A couple of pics I took yesterday are to the right. 23.5.2007 In March I went to the Canaletto exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London and saw an exhibition of artists' self-portraits from the Uffizi in Venice, and raved and ranted about it. And now, by spooky coincidence, the Uffizi exhibition has come to the Dulwich. Go see them if you can - they'll probably be better-presented than in Venice, and there'll maybe be a better audioguide. Reading: Don Delillo White noise Watching: End of season Scrubs, Simpsons, Lost, Heroes, and Brothers & Sisters. Listening: Girlyman Joyful Sign 14.5.2007 Reading Darkside by Tom Becker makes we ponder, and not for the first time, why the Brit tendency is to write such stories of lone heroes with very few living (or well) parents (see also Harry Potter, Philip Pullman, Dr Who, Frodo, etc.) and the parents are also almost always not what the seemed; while the American way is usually strong on the family unit (see Steven Spielberg, Six Feet Under, The Simpsons, The Sopranos, 24, Alias, and most recent 'serious' US fiction). Reading: Patrick Hamilton The slaves of solitude Watching: Scrubs Listening: Modest Mouse We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank

9.3.2007 You wait ages for a novel for young adults set in an alternative London, and then three come along. After Stone heart I noticed Darkside by Tom Becker and I've just managed to blag a review copy of Un Lun Dun by China Miéville. So, I'm off to Venice on Sunday, and I'll be checking out the feral cat situation, as reported on the cats page and doing all the usual stuff - churches, art, cakes, gelati, blisters - but I'm not doing the day-to-day blog thing this time, as a certain amount of off-lineness seems an attractive and relaxing prospect, as does not lugging my laptop. I'll report back after, though, have no fear. Reading: Barry Unsworth Stone Virgin Watching: Casino Royale Listening: Dolorean You can't win 6.3.2007 Happy Birthday to me! Today I'm being taken to the exhibition of Canaletto paintings of London at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, and then on Sunday I'm being taken to Venice for a week, which takes a fair bit of the edge off the old aging angst I can tell you. UPDATE: The exhibition was a treat: small but well-chosen, and with a bonus selection of Venice views painted whilst in London, and two big walls of his architectural capriccios (right) which are special faves of mine. The big difference between his Venice and his London paintings being that the London you see is long-gone and sometimes barely recognisable. 1.3.2007 Life's currently a little chaotic here at fictionalcities HQ as we have Hungarian builders in demolishing our kitchen prior to building us a bigger one. So dust, disruption, and traumatised cats, but it will be great when it's finished, hopefully by Easter. Anyway, on a more relevant topic, Linda Proud, the author of A tabernacle for the sun one of my most favourite Florence/Medici/art novels has been in touch offering me it's sequel, Pallas and the Centaur the existence of which is (good) news to me. Reading: Charlie Fletcher Stone heart Watching: Flushed away Listening: Bat for Lashes - Fur and gold 19.2.2007 A kind reader of this site writes with some suggestions for the Venice film page, a request for my Top 10 Venice Reads, and the idea of covering spoken-word versions. Useful suggestions all. Also a link to a piece about Venice by Muriel Spark from 1981. He also reminds me about The Books of Venice: A Conference on the Book in Venice being held in Venice, March 9th-10th. If anyone out there can pass on any knowledge of what the discussion of the topic Fictional Venice throws up I'd be grateful. 14.2.2007 A couple of fascinating-looking sites, courtesy of this week's Time Out magazine, and both pretty much self-explanatory: workhouses.org victorianturkishbath.org Reading: G. W. Dahlquist The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters Watching: The Best of youth Listening: Beneath the surface vol.3 - a Bella Union sampler 7.2.2007 If you're in London, living or visiting, you might be wondering where you can download an operatic walking tour of London. Well go to andwhilelondonburn.com I've not tried it myself yet, but it looks like it might be something. Reading: Donna Leon Suffer the little children Watching: The comfort of strangers Listening: Sophia Technology won't save us 2.2.2007 Hello Librarians! A ten-fold increase in my hits yesterday seems to be almost solely down to a mention on a librarians' board called Fiction_L - you're all very welcome. Maybe you could do some shelving while you're here. And today's post brought a proof review copy of the new Donna Leon. Happy days! 31.1.2007 This year's Donna Leon has been announced, called Suffer the children and out in April, as ever. I've also just noticed that DL's earlier Brunetti books are being republished in the UK using the (very different) American titles, thereby sneakily confusing many people into buying new novels which aren't. Tut-tut. Check out the Venice novels list on this very site to prevent unwanted purchases. What a service! And in yet more double-title mayhem I've just found out that the novel The Third Heaven Conspiracy, which I've just reviewed, is called The Mosaic Crimes in the US. This is a direct translation of its original Italian title, but lacks that Da Vinci Code touch. Reading: Justina Robson Keeping it real Watching: The Prestige Listening: Robert Gomez Brand new towns	I'm trying to come up with an idea for a postcard to publicise my site, and this is one try.
28.1.2007 A bit of a book backlog at the bedside currently, including a Pullmanesque fantasy of Venice under the Pharaohs by Kai Meyer, reviewed somewhat sniffily, but interest-tweakingly, in this weekend's Guardian and leant me by a friend. Sent me by kind publishers are David Hewson's The Lizard's Bite and the book I'm reading at the moment, a tale of Dante solving the strange murder of a mosaicist in medieval Florence. Reviews to follow. The backlog caused by my having to plough through Emma for my reading group. I know that the divine Jane A. is rarely spoken of in the same breath as the word plough, but I just found it too pompous and spun out this time around, with the snobbery more annoying than amusing. Reading: Giulio Leoni The Third Heaven Conspiracy Watching: Little Miss Sunshine Listening: Eddi Reader Peacetime 24.1.2007 SNOW!? In defiance of global warming it actually snowed, and it settled, in London last night. It was mostly melted away by midday, but not before I managed to get some pics of our confused white cat Oscar in the garden. A couple are over on my Cats Page - you'll know if you want to go there. Nicely killing two of this site's birds with one exhibition, as it were, is Canaletto in England: A Venetian Artist Abroad which is, by all accounts, only a few paintings shy of being better titled Canaletto in London. Reading: Jane Austen Emma Watching: The host Listening: Babel soundtrack 12.1.2007 The past few days have been made spooky by e-mail contact with another chap with my name, who also makes web-sites, is the same age as me - his birthday being within a few weeks of mine - and whose favourite place is also Venice. Reading: Alan Bennett Untold stories Watching: The Simpsons Season 9 DVD Listening: The Album Leaf Into the blue again 8.1.2007 Pausing only to wish a Happy New Year to all my readers, a little late I admit, I move on to...the Venice and Cats page, which has been updated, and photos added. And I'd like to mention the Divan Fumoir Bohémien, a very tasteful blog which has mentioned me warmly and which is a visual feast such that it more than makes up for my only having schoolboy French. The blogmistress also gives space to a spiffy-looking graphic novel with a Venetian setting called Les Voyages d'Anna by Emmanuel Lepage (image right) which I really must try to get hold of. Reading: Cormac McCarthy The road Watching: The last kiss Listening: Marisa Monte Infinito particular 21.12.2006 Happy Holidays! As everyone and their granny's cat are producing Best of 2006 lists I feel I have to tell you that my favourite book I read this year was The people’s act of love by James Meek - a moving and compulsive read that was modern and strange, but old and Russian at the same time. My favourite CDs are to the right - they're not what the site's about, but are all pretty wonderful nonetheless. I lost a much-loved cat in March, but there were highlights later, in the shape of The Sultan's Elephant in May, my Venice trip in September, and those new cats in October, all of which featured on this site, which got even more popular and visited, and generated more head-swelling links and e-mails. For all of which I thank each and every one of you. I also started making websites for authors in 2006, and have just started on number 4 - may these stimulating endeavours prosper, and make for even more trips to Italy in 2007! And may you prosper and have happiness too. Reading: Miranda Innes Cinnamon city Watching: The Hogfather Listening: Aimee Mann Another Drifter in the Snow 17.12.2006 The Great Disappearing Venetian Cats Mystery deepens. There's no reason to doubt the story that most of the strays were indeed shipped out to an island exile in the late 1990s, but they seem to be returning. A sweet report reaches us from Anne from North Carolina, just back from a trip, in which she made the happy discovery of a sanctuary consisting of a collection of little houses by the church of San Lorenzo in Castello. She returned with some cat biscuits and made some furry friends, and so sounds like a girl after our own heart. She also passes on reports of other sanctuaries in Cannaregio and by Piazzale Rome. Further investigation is called for. Also I thought that a Venice and Cats page was called for, to bring some of these strands together, and as an excuse for some more cute cat pics. Reading: Alice Munro The View from Castle Rock Watching: Futurama series one Listening: Margot & the Nuclear So and So's The Dust Of Retreat 10.12.2006 Weeks pass, the weather gets colder, a freak tornado blows houses down in North London, the Christmas decorations go up, and I'm still reading the same book! Only 100 pages to go. Reading: Charles Dickens The Pickwick Papers Watching: Miami Vice 2006 Listening: Devotchka How it ends 27.11.2006 I was reading The Pickwick Papers on the tube into town today and I'd just read the fragrant description of the White Hart Inn in the Borough as real life spookily intruded in the shape of the automated announcer saying 'The next station is Borough'. I was on my way to London: a Life in Maps at the British Library, which I mentioned last week. It is indeed a fascinating exhibition with not just maps to squint at, and find your houses and birthplace on, but drawings, panoramas, prints and books. It shows the growth, of course, especially fierce in the last hundred years, but also how maps have helped in social reform and swaying opinion. Reading: Charles Dickens The Pickwick Papers Watching: Alias final season Listening: Sufjan Stevens Songs for Christmas 21.11.2006 Yet another fascinating-looking exhibition London: a Life in Maps at the British Library from Friday. There's also a book of the same name and a related web site www.mapmylondon.org 18.11.2006 The news that the new James Bond film, Casino Royale, has scenes filmed in Venice is not particularly earth-shattering as there have been plenty of previous visits to Venice by 007. It turns out, however, that Venice features in the spectacular finale during which a palazzo is blown up. Now that is uncommon. Reading: Zadie Smith On beauty Watching: The IT crowd Listening: The Dears Gang of losers 08.11.2006 My jury duty finally finished today, and I'm pretty happy to be returning to real life and not having murder on my mind. A gruelling but also reassuring experience because it's a system which seems to work, and all my jury colleagues took it very seriously and cared. During this period I also took on another web-site creating job, and sold one of my photos from this site. So all is pretty good. Reading: Charles Dickens A tale of two cities Watching: The honey pot Listening: Duke Special Songs from the deep forest	House bling in Tooting, 25th December 2006 My Top 10 CDs of 2006 Holden Chevrotine The Knife Silent Shout Howling Bells Howling Bells Joan As Police Woman Real Life Charlotte Gainsbourg 5:55 The Pernice Brothers Live a little Destroyer Destroyer's Rubies Vienna Tang Dreaming through the noise Shearwater Palo Santo Midlake The Trials of Van Occupanther An odd year, in which none of my favourite artists (except The Pernice Brothers) came up with the goods, and so most of my choices are by people I hadn't even heard of as the year began. And a lot of mighty fine trip-hop - who'd'a thought it?
03.11.2006 I've been a bit off-line this week, in more ways than one, due to having been called upon to do jury duty at the Old Bailey, which is proving fascinating but emotionally draining. It's been nice, though, walking past an autumn-sun-drenched St Paul's on a daily basis (right). Reading: P.G.Wodehouse A gentleman of leisure Watching: Weeds Season 2 finale Listening: Joanna Newsom Ys 28.10.2006 Went to the At Home in Renaissance Italy exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum yesterday, and it was fascinating, in the way that their usual room displays are, with a lot of the art and artefacts displayed as they would be in real rooms, rather than in glass cases. The example rooms were both Tuscan and Venetian, and the exhibits taken from the V&A's and other collections, so not an opportunity to be repeated totally, when the exhibition finishes in January, even when the new Renaissance galleries open. So go see it, if you can.
23.10.2006 I've just discovered that there's a band called Venice is Sinking. They sound a bit like the Mojave 3 tinged with the sound of Low. Click on the link to hear some tempting samples. Lots of must-see art exhibitions in London at the moment, including the Renaissance home, Leonardo, and photos taken at dusk at the V & A, as well as Velasquez, Holbein and 20th Century photography elsewhere. I must get out more. Reading: Henry James Italian tales Watching: Lost Season 3 Listening: The Isles Perfumed lands 11.10.2006 Some control-freak inflexibility over at the Wikipedia - the man 'in charge' of the Venice page has decided that the link to this site is 'inappropriate' and has deleted it. He says that the site's rules dictate this, but I can't see it myself. He also accuses my link of being 'linkspam', like I'm selling viagra or something. Sigh! I remember when the internet was a place where...etc. The whole sorry discussion is here, but I'm stopping now as the whole thing's making me a bit snitty, as you can see. 09.10.2006 An interesting new exhibition and website addressing the issue of the signage that 'helps' us pedestrians find our way around London. There are two new cats in our house and, flush with the Venice Trip blog's success, I'm making a new-cat blog. A bit off-topic, I admit, but if you like cats... Reading: Haruki Murakami Kafka on the beach Watching: the new Jane Eyre on the BBC Listening: The Pernice Brothers Live a little
2.10.2006 Back home and catching up on the news. Another article about the plans for Battersea Power Station, by Stephen Bayley in The Observer this time. And Hawksmoor's St George's Church in Bloomsbury has been renovated as reported in The Guardian. I went and photographed the recarved lion and the unicorn for you (right). Reading: James Meek The people's act of love Watching: new Weeds and Nip/Tuck Listening: Lindsey Buckingham Under the skin 24.9.2006 - 1.10.2006 Gone to Venice! See Venice Trip 2006 page for (fingers crossed) daily updates. 21.9.2006 The Battersea Power Station is a symbol of London and its continued state of dilapidation is a national disgrace. It's been half-demolished and crumbling since 1983 and its development limbo looks set to continue. An article in this week's London Time Out magazine tells the sorry story and mentions an art show that'll let us visit the poor hulk from October 8th to November 5th. And ironically the building also features in a new film out this week, Children of men, which is set in the year 2027, where all is grim and distopian, but Battersea Power Station has been refurbished! Reading: James Meek The people's act of love Watching: Dark passage Listening: My Brightest Diamond Bring me the workhorse 17.9.2006 The Open House weekend - where Londoners get to see inside usually-closed buildings - is one of the big events on the cultural calendar on the wall in this house, but I was working yesterday and my partner-in-poking-around is holidaying in Berlin, so I had a day of solo exploration today. It took in a fascinating tour of an architectural practice, some churches, the Daily Express building, and the ornate Gothick building which used to be the Public Record Office but which is now (who knew?) the huge library block of King's College. A strange experience following the arrows around a huge and empty and tastefully-converted building. And the rather lovely small round reading room was mentioned in The Da Vinci Code, evidently. Reading: Neil Gaiman Anansi boys Watching: Fantastic Planet Listening: The Future Sound of London Teachings from the Electronic Brain 11.9.2006 Last Sunday's Observer travel supplement had a nice two-page piece about how to avoid tourist traps in Venice. And in an interview promoting his new novel Peter Ackroyd revealed that his next book will be about the Thames, to be followed by oneabout Venice - a rare departure from his usual London-centric subject matter, and a most mouth-watering prospect. Reading: Khaled Hosseini The kite runner Starts out so well, but the sloppy coincidences and unconvincing plotting of the second half drag it down disappointingly. Watching: Weeds season 2 episode 4 Rarely has drug-dealing and masturbation been so downright amusing. Listening: R.E.M. And I Feel Fine...The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987 The same old stuff (with bonus rarities disc) but still sounding SO good. 1.9.2006 So, it's September and my Venice trip is only a few weeks off. This year I'll be taking my laptop and I'm hoping to be posting to my 2006 Trip Page each evening, which'll be exciting, for me anyway. I'm planning a Venetian Cake of the Day feature too. What I suffer for you... Reading: Marina Lewycka A short history of tractors in Ukrainian Watching: Battlestar Galactica season 2 Listening: Charlotte Gainsbourg 5:55 16.8.2006 The recent harsh restrictions on hand luggage on planes out of England following the 'alleged' terrorist plottings introduced the concept of not taking a camera on your trip because it wouldn't be covered by your insurance. The cold sweat this induced in me at the prospect of being in Venice with no camera made me think that maybe I need to wean myself off this need, but contemplating even one day there without a camera...sorry I need a lie down. Reading: Michael Moorcock The dancers at the end of time Watching: Tony Takitani Listening: Tom Petty 04.8.2006 I occasionally get e-mails from you lot out there suggesting books I might include, but not that often. Imagine my surprise, then, at getting two e-mails suggesting CAKES I might have missed, in one day! The London bun (a spicier and fruitier Swiss finger) and the Chorley cake (a bit like an Eccles) were mentioned, but I'm mouth-wateringly sceptical about the first one. A bit of a new-page blizzard this week too, with the addition of London Abandoned Buildings and some favourite photos of Venetian Doors and Windows. Reading: Jonathan Keates The Siege of Venice Playing: Prey Listening: Metric Live it out	Three photos taken on Open House Sunday 17th September 2006. Above is the Hop Exchange near Borough Market (like a real photographer I waited for the sun to come back out). Above is a statue of Hodge, Dr Johnson's cat, in Gough Square opposite Dr J's house. Below is the staircase in King's College's Library and Information Centre in the old Public Record Office building.
31.7.2006 Went to an unusual little exhibition at the Photographers Gallery today of photos taken by official Fire Brigade photographers recording the scenes of fires and accidents. You know how strange those lifeless scenes of crimes look? Added oddness provided by the exhib being in the gallery cafe - looking at scenes of death and charring with people chomping on tuna baguettes behind you is not exactly conducive I find. 24.7.2006 Salley Vickers' Miss Garnet's Angel was a pretty special novel from a few years back which almost instantly established itself in the Venetian novels pantheon. The author's recent is similarly moving, if not similar in many other ways. So, my fanship renewed, I thought that I'd search out her website salleyvickers.com and I commend it to you warmly - it gives very good Venetian content, including a piece about Venice-set fiction and an interactive map relating to events in Miss Garnett's Angel. Reading: Scott Lynch The lies of Locke Lamora Watching: Match Point Listening: Underworld The Riverrun Project 19.7.2006 As London hots up to temperatures in access of the previous highest for July, set in 1911, all we can do is thank our lucky stars we don't have to put up with this heat wearing all those Edwardian layers, and drink lots of water. Reading: Julian Barnes Arthur & George Watching: On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate Listening: The Buddha Machine 12.7.2006 If you find melancholy pleasure in ruins and abandoned buildings you'll likely care to check out this site, which promotes a book called Left London which features photos of 'derelict spaces' like hospitals and warehouses. I've ordered the book and will let you know if it lives up to its promise. Reading: Haruki Murakami Blind willow, sleeping woman Watching: The Simpsons season 15 Listening: The Guillemots Through the Window Pane 06.7.2006 The flow of new novels set in Florence is a slow one so The Third Heaven Conspiracy by Giulio Leoni, which features a young Dante investigating dark and satanic goings-on in pre-Renaissance Florence, is an embellishment to the Florence page worth looking forward too, although there is some confusion as to whether it comes out this October or in January 2007. Reading: Richard Morgan Altered Carbon Watching: The piano teacher Listening: Howling Bells 26.6.2006 Repaying link favours to other spiffy sites that have mentioned us - Reading Matters is a recommended reading site and marginalia gives this boy that singular buzz you only get from seeing your site name in amongst Japanese text. And here's another interesting Venice blog. Reading: Granta 94 On the road again Watching: Murder my sweet Listening: Midlake The Trials of Van Occupanther 14.6.2006 Just down the road from me is the Colliers Wood Tower, one of the worst eyesore buildings anywhere, long loathed by locals. Gratifyingly it featured in last year's Channel 4 Demolition series as one of the 12 worst buildings in Britain and this month BBC London featured it as one of it's 5 most hated buildings in London, with a chance to vote for the worst; and it won, with over 50% of the total vote! And while we're talking blights on the urban landscape, there's a site for all us haters of stupid big cars run by the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s. Check out the mock parking tickets tailored to the designs of the London Boroughs - very clever. Reading: Philip Roth The Plot Against America Watching: Battlestar Galactica Season 2 Listening: Paolo Conti 4.6.2006 In a strange example of exaggerating the problem in order to solve it, or something, an economist has suggested that running Venice like Disneyland is the answer to its problems. The suggestion comes in support of the motion at the Venice in Peril annual debate on the 12th June, the subject of which is Enough money has been spent on Venice. Reading: David Mitchell Black Swan Green Watching: Supernatural (the OK TV series) Listening: Holden Chevrotine 22.5.2006 Inspired, no doubt, by my section devoted to The 2004 Henry James biographical novel glut David Lodge, an author of one of the glut, has written a fascinating piece about this coincidence which features in a forthcoming book of essays and which was in The Guardian over the weekend and is available online by clicking here. And another one of the glut, Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty, has been very well dramatised for TV. Reading: Kazuo Ishiguro Never let me go Watching: The Simpsons and Lost Listening: Pet Shop Boys Fundamental 14.5.2006 The Sultan's Elephant was a big thing in town last weekend (see below and right) attracting crowds of open-mouthed admirers and creating traffic jams and joy. If you missed it it's in Antwerp in July, Calais in September, and Le Havre in October. There's also a TV documentary about it on BBC 4 this Thursday at 7.00pm 10.5.2006 I realise that I'm reaching out to very few of you when I say this but - great news for UK-based simnel cake lovers! On a more, but not truly, universal note, it's Spring! In London temperatures are rising nicely, Winter coats are being put away and more flesh is being exposed, some of it attractive. (Does the season of sap rising give me an excuse to be a bit sexist? No? Sorry.) Reading: Michelle Lovric The floating book Watching: The Double Life of Veronique on DVD, at last Listening: I'm not a Gun We think as instruments 5.5.2006 Strange goings-on in London town today - a crashed space ship in Waterloo Place and a mechanical elephant 3 storeys high in Horse Guards parade. Some pictures right and an explanation here.	Been messing around with a new program to make photos look all arty and watercoloury. Nice eh? Wandering around London Sunday 16th July 2006. Above is the Chartered Accountant's Hall, below is a back gate in the Guildhall. Below that is Leadenhall Market
29.4.2006 Last week: 208! I've just got the DVD of the recent Casanova film, so expect a review soon. I'm not expecting much so may well not be too disappointed. I've just begun a London Films page, which has been a bit of a large lack for a while now. It's not much yet, but bear with me as it grows. Reading: Anne Tyler The amateur marriage Watching: I'm not scared Listening: The Last Town Chorus Wire waltz 21.4.2006 I've come close, but never yet managed, 100 hits to this page in any one week, so imagine how warm my heart became...last week...171! This feat is due in no small part to some kind words in a thread over at the Slow Travel Talk forum that generated a swarm of hits. Thanks to all. 12.4.2006 I'm happy to have a big up to announce, to counter my big downer of last week. I've been helping site-friend and author Michelle Lovric to create her web presence and it's finished and a treat for all fans of her books and of Venice. Go to www.michellelovric.com immediately! And I've just been sent a copy of a Venice-set novel called The Man who was Loved to read and review. It's a first novel, and also the first novel I've seen with a warm recommendation on the cover by the lead singer of Led Zeppelin! Some early-Spring wandering in the City last Sunday resulted in some odd pics - see right. Reading: Granta 93 God's own countries Watching: Six Feet Under the final season Listening: Gotan Project Lunatico