The Haunting

I was lying in bed last night and I heard someone snoring.
Not, you might think, anything unusual. Except that I live alone. And my neighbours don’t sleep anywhere within earshot.
Alright, so I do watch a lot of Supernatural, and I had just listened to the podcast for the Doctor Who episode “Blink” before [...]

Free Alan Johnston

I’ve just seen Alan Johnston’s latest video on the news. The poor guy had explosives strapped around his waist and was reading out a speech written for him by his captors. Creepily, he delivered the words as though presenting a news report for the BBC: calm and unhurried, with only the tiniest edge of fear [...]

The London Philharmonic vs Saturday Night Fever

I’m supposed to be making good use of my free ticket to the Hyde Park Calling festival this afternoon and watching Crowded House live. Sadly, I’m not there. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: having a bad back sucks. It sucks at the best of times, but having my most painful day [...]

No words required

All Sorts Of Bobbins (And An Explanation For A Moving Column)

So I finally got my MRI scan results today and discovered that, as suspected, one of the discs in my back is bulging and pressing on the main nerve running down my left leg, hence the excruciating pain every time I stand up. I’m seeing a consultant at the start of July (after my physiotherapist [...]

Talkin’ To The Animals

See the fluffy kitty sitting on the wall in this picture? Her name is Spud. She belongs to my neighbour and she’s lovely. (She’s also the spitting image of a cat I had named Fred while growing up, which means every time I see her I feel a bit sad.) Anyway, I just [...]

Exorcism Through iTunes

I’ve spent the last two days working on Metal Hammer magazine and loving it. The team were great and the stuff they write is so out of the realm of my experience that every word’s a surprise. I mean, who knew there was a band out there called Rotting Christ?
Whole new world, I’m tellin’ ya.
Of [...]

Damn You, Who!

I watched the latest episode of Doctor Who yesterday. Consequently I slept for about 45 minutes last night because every time I closed my eyes I thought, “Uh-oh… STATUES!”
What am I, twelve?
I can only imagine what the kids of Britain are going to be like this week. There’ll be about four hours of sleep between [...]

The Spirit Of The Stairs

Last night I had a fun evening out with Mark Millar (Marvel comics scribbler extraordinaire), an assemblage of his slightly tipsy friends and my mate Jon, currently News Editor on Men’s Health magazine (who gets more muscly every time I see him – can’t think why). It was raucous and geeky and hugely entertaining, even [...]

Stardust And A Sarcophagus

So on Monday I did two interesting things:
In the afternoon I had an MRI scan on my lower back, which involved me squeezing into a long metal tube and listening to The Four Tops on West Middlesex Hospital’s headphones while the machine clanged and twanged and wobbled around me for 15 minutes. It was [...]

Weekend Of The Living Dead

It’s like clockwork. Every time my friends Anny and Matt drive all the way from Bath to visit me in London, our time together is spoiled because one (or more) of us is unwell. This weekend was no exception, for they were both sporting the kind of colds that have you wanting to sterilise door [...]

IT’S OFFICIAL: I Am The Saddest Saddo In Sadsville.

I blame my Aunty Mary.
It’s all her bloody fault.
When I was a kid – a wee, corruptible, EASY TO INFLUENCE kid – my Aunty Mary lent me an album which, I’ve come to realise, is to blame for the fact that I have absolutely no musical street cred whatsoever. I may be 35, [...]