Archives for December 2000
It's 11.30pm on New Year's Eve... (December 31, 2000) It's 11.30pm on New Year's Eve, and I think for the first time in about ten years I am not the slightest bit frantic, worried, depressed or feeling inadequate. This is also the first time in ten years that I...
Does anyone know anything about (December 31, 2000) Does anyone know anything about the technical underpinnings to hushmail? It has been suggested to me as a free, encrypted and relatively secure form of web-based POP3 e-mail....
I stumbled upon something completely (December 31, 2000) I stumbled upon something completely astonishing today - something that I don't really know what I think of. I think you'll be able to gauge your own level of interest from the title alone: "ARTIFICIAL SYNCHRONICITY, language MANIPULATION, KUNDALINI AND...
The BBC does their review (December 31, 2000) The BBC does their review of the year's films: "Hollywood's year of nostalgia". The only parts of the article that I disagree with heavily are the penultimate couple of paragraphs: "But the movie to cap 2000 has to be comedy...
What is the future of (December 30, 2000) What is the future of comic books? For many of you that question will seem laughably redundant. I mean - who cares about comic books? Well you should care - and not just because the rest of the world's media...
I know that the design (December 29, 2000) I know that the design aspect was never their main priority, but I have to say I am delighted that Haddock.org has redesigned. The new look is much clearer and more intuitive to use....
What is appropriate protocol? When (December 29, 2000) What is appropriate protocol? When someone writes something about your site that you think is incorrect - or you think should inspire further conversation - should you e-mail them and talk to them about it. If the original comment is...
The two questions I get (December 29, 2000) The two questions I get asked most regularly about the sites that I run are, "What does barbelith mean?" and, "What is barbelith.com about?" [I've left out the "Where do you get off being so self-indulgent?" one, because the answer...
Invasion of the Blog, starring Meg & Ev... (December 29, 2000) Coming to a cinema near you courtesy of the New York Times (if you can bear to go through the whole registering palaver): "Invasion of the Blog" starring Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan. The crowds go wild. [Addendum: Metafilter discusses...
Spotted: on Oxford Street, a (December 28, 2000) Spotted: on Oxford Street, a teenage boy is hitting the sales with his brother and parents. On his t-shirt, large print, white-on-black, reads "Masturbation is not a crime". Spotted: on the Internet, a weblog: "Masturbation is not a crime". Are...
First thing I notice when (December 28, 2000) First thing I notice when I turn on my computer properly for the first time in a week: kitschbitch has produced her best design to date. Very clean, very clear, and with a defined idea for the look that I...
In London with nothing to do... (December 28, 2000) Thank fucking Christ. I am back in London with four or five days of complete nothing that needs to be done, with full access to a computer and total and absolute independence once more. I can't imagine anything nicer frankly...
Scanning in pictures... (December 27, 2000) For those who have expressed an interest, I'd just like to reassure you that I will indeed be scanning the picture of my bearded father for popular consumption as soon as I am back in London....
The first photo of my father... (December 25, 2000) So what will this Christmas be remembered for in my mind? It won't be the contribution towards the DVD player from my family, it won't be all my stepfather's family coming around for Christmas lunch. It will be remembered by...
I can't stop myself. Three (December 23, 2000) I can't stop myself. Three times. I've seen it three times. This time with my brother who (I think) loved it. Whenever will I get tired of the trash injection that is Charlie's Angels?...
Meg is having trouble getting (December 23, 2000) Meg is having trouble getting up the energy to post to her site during the Christmas break. I know how she feels. The only difference between our feelings on the issue is that much of my inability to post is...
Found via the Underground: Band (December 23, 2000) Found via the Underground: Band w/trem release an MP3 called Barbelith....
So I'm currently excited about (December 23, 2000) So I'm currently excited about two bits of press I've done recently - one for The Big Issue and one for The Bookseller. The former was orchestrated by a friend of mine, who basically wrote a kind of basic primer...
Seti@home reaches the next stage (December 22, 2000) Seti@home reaches the next stage of the search for extra-terrestrial life....
So I'm back in Norfolk (December 22, 2000) So I'm back in Norfolk finally. Yesterday was bloody exhausting. We went for our work Christmas lunch around one, spent £40 each at Belgo Centraal which I now owe my boss (didn't have any money as such). Then there was...
Inquiring minds really need to (December 22, 2000) Inquiring minds really need to know more: Jessica Abbot?...
David Gentle rises to the challenge... (December 22, 2000) David Gentle rises to the challenge!...
Powazek's new revelation... (December 21, 2000) CODE! CODE! CODE! The lovely Derek reveals his sexy new front-end. LIVE HTML SHOWS! [via prolific]...
I'm disgruntled and sharp-fingered... (December 21, 2000) Cool! Turns out that link I couldn't get access to yesterday was a weird embittered attack on blogdom. Not necessarily a bad thing of course. Anything that stirs up the dark pits of our collective trans-conscious is a good thing...
An exchange of Matrices... (December 20, 2000) So I saw Nick today for lunch and I brought him a copy of the Matrix on DVD as a combined Christmas and Birthday present, which was slightly embarrassing as then he decided that in order to get me a...
A head full of bloody murder... (December 20, 2000) I'm supposed to be going to a work-mate's leaving do tonight in Camden. Unfortunately my spirits are at a low (again) and the thought of making cheery conversation while my head is full of bloody murder is not particularly attractive...
Can anyone access this article? (December 20, 2000) Can anyone access this article? I found it in my referrers log and can't seem to get access to it....
I just stumbled upon Derek's (December 20, 2000) I just stumbled upon Derek's new micro-site about the writing and subject of his upcoming book: Design for Community. His first post reads: "Observation number one: writing a book is hard." From personal experience from my doctoral work, all I...
Scroll down the page a (December 19, 2000) Scroll down the page a little way to discover the horror that Katy and I went through at a recent screening of Meet The Parents. She and I have had interminable counselling, but I still have flashbacks. The horror. The...
Thank You For The Days: (December 19, 2000) Thank You For The Days: Kirsty MacColl is hit by a speedboat in Mexico and dies. [Generic plasticbag.org tasteless comment here.]...
"Women might be able to (December 19, 2000) "Women might be able to fake orgasms. But men can fake whole relationships." Sharon Stone...
Kiss my freckled ass bye! (December 19, 2000) There may come a day in your life when you find yourself so sick to death of your job, so overwhelmingly frustrated by the lack of respect that your very presence seems to engender, so totally bored by office politics...
I hope your hell is (December 19, 2000) I hope your hell is filled with magazines And on every page you see a big picture of me. And under every picture a caption should read. Not bad for a girl from the gutter like me....
Finally, after many many months (December 18, 2000) Finally, after many many months of me silently willing it in the background, Mark appears to have read Robert Anton Wilson's The Illuminatus Trilogy. Not only that, but he's put a version of the Principia Discordia on his site as...
I have two projects in (December 17, 2000) I have two projects in the pipeline at the moment, one a small one with Katy that is completely mercenary and about half complete. The other one is completely secret and hopefully very cool and very big. That's all you're...
Thanks to the guys (December 17, 2000) Thanks to the guys at comp.lang.javascript I think I might now have a new cross-browser approach to the random weblog link button. Here it is: Surprise me. Give it a go and let me know if it doesn't work...
I want to do a (December 17, 2000) I want to do a site that's just like fray.com only kept for only really disturbing / sick stories. Nothing heart-warming. Like stories of the first time you felt even slightly sexual in your life or who you've fucked over...
There was a photo a (December 16, 2000) There was a photo a couple of days ago on the front page of the Independent newspaper with the Cambridge Rugby team on it. I don't suppose anyone could scan it and send it to me, could they? I'm trying...
It's a sad, sad day (December 16, 2000) It's a sad, sad day for the weblogging community: beebo.org: Sorry. Sorry--the "Metalog" and "Metalog Ratings" pages are gone, and they won't be back for the foreseeable future....
8pm: I'm taking a quick (December 15, 2000) 8pm: I'm taking a quick break from the party because of some bizarre crushing gut complaint. I'll go up again in about ten minutes. In the meantime, using the "follow a random link" bookmarklet, I decided to do some random...
Tonight is the Time Out (December 15, 2000) Tonight is the Time Out Christmas party. Last year I managed to be savaged by everyone in the advertising department, embarrass myself in front of this bloke whose presence now raises nothing but ire and get frustrated and aggressive while...
"Hello, my name is Tom. (December 15, 2000) "Hello, my name is Tom. I will be your host for this evening. I am so utterly clueless, that I have for the first time today noticed that Nikolai produced an MP3/parody version of "We Didn't Start The Fire" a...
Somewhat unfairly, my fellow (December 15, 2000) Somewhat unfairly, my fellow English webloggers (no names mentioned) consider me obsessed with the size of my stats. This is despite the fact that I decided about six months ago to stop even getting stats for plasticbag.org, a resolution...
Finally someone has capped the (December 14, 2000) Finally someone has capped the whole AmIHotOrNot.com series of parodies. If you are bored with (deep breath) , AmIKottkeOrNot, AmIGeekOrNot, AmIGothOrNot, AmIMonkeyOrNot or AmIPresidentOrNot then now is the time to get down to fairvue.com for Nikolai's epic AmIAGoodParodyOfAmIHotOrNot.com?...
I'm in the middle of (December 14, 2000) I'm in the middle of working on a button that people can come and click on which will just take you to any one of the various links from the last four days of plasticbag.org. At the moment it doesn't...
I have two moods when (December 14, 2000) I have two moods when I'm out with people that I don't know that well. Mood One: Absolute silence and discomfort. Mood Two: Aggressive, over-the-top and vulgar. See if you can guess which one I was in last night? [clue]...
Important news for all right-thinking (December 13, 2000) Important news for all right-thinking people: THE REAL DEALS THE BREEDERS played a secret show in LOS ANGELES last night (December 12), the first time KIM and KELLEY DEAL had played together in over six years, NME.COM can exclusively reveal....
On weblogs and subjectivity... (December 13, 2000) There's an extremely interesting article ["Escribitionists": Web Diaries and Self-Representation] on weblogs and subjectivity that I read this afternoon which has me thinking once more about the nature of this medium that we call blog. I'm not going to go...
On the Blue Posts (Part One)... (December 13, 2000) Blue Posts (1): Despite my almost total exhaustion (a direct result of a combination of going for a drink with David, Matt, Jen and Dean last night, waking up at 3am convinced that someone had climbed up the scaffolding...
Derek Powazek expresses his anger (December 12, 2000) Derek Powazek expresses his anger at Neale's AmIKottkeOrNot site. Then he starts posting to the Discussion part of Neale's weblog (8.12.00). Jason doesn't seem that phased by the whole thing, and frankly I don't blame him - it seems to...
I don't know how many (December 11, 2000) I don't know how many times I have to tell people that at the heart of Buffy is a rigorous and well developed cosmological and philosophical system that (of course) does not leave huge inconsistencies like "Are all Vampires naturally...
[We interrupt the extended Buffy (December 11, 2000) [We interrupt the extended Buffy marathon on plasticbag.org for a brief Disturbing Search Request]...
I'm getting a little frustrated (December 11, 2000) I'm getting a little frustrated with the way that Buffy and Angel videos and DVDs are being released. So I own all the box-sets. I'll come out and say that from the beginning. It's important that you know that. But...
It's Buffy Day at plasticbag.org... (December 11, 2000) OK. Fuck it. In the spirit of Des Esseintes I shall give in to my darkest lusts and declare today to be officially Buffy day at Plasticbag Towers....
I'm not obsessed. Really I'm (December 11, 2000) I'm not obsessed. Really I'm not. But then I'm not sure it is possible to be obsessed about Buffy. You know - just like it's not possible to be arachnophobic, because a phobia is an irrational fear and everyone knows...
Link page mining (1): Kitschbitch.com. (December 10, 2000) Link page mining (1): Kitschbitch.com. What are links pages for? PRIZES? No, foolish child. Links pages are so you can be introduced to sites that you haven't been to before which are recommended in a more permanent fashion than the...
Bizarre search request of the day... (December 10, 2000) Bizarre search request of the day: nude severus snape. I don't know what I find more disturbing - that people should be looking for porny versions of characters from Harry Potter, or that people should be look of porny pictures...
On revisiting flaunt.net... (December 10, 2000) I revisited an old haunt that I used to go to all the time this morning, shauna's flaunt.net. And what had her leading personal site become? A weblog. The weblog macro-meme is colonising web-space across the globe. Until this incident...
Being the first to welcome her back... (December 10, 2000) I wonder if I can be the first to welcome back Katy to the world of weblogging after her first term at Uni. Love the redesign as well, old girl - although I know from bitter experience that people take...
Culture clash at CaptainSoft's Christmas Party... (December 9, 2000) Culture clash at CaptainSoft's Christmas party, as your faithful narrator collides with Rob from the Barbelith Underground. Turns out that his girlfriend knows/works with Meg. I will confess to being a bit of a party pooper at the moment, and...
Hanging by a chad... (December 9, 2000) If one were heavily over-dramatising the importance of America, one might say that it was mildly amusing (in a kind of sick way) that the future of the free world should hang on a "chad"....
It's party time at Meg and Luke's... (December 8, 2000) I'm off to a party at Meg and Luke's place in about fifteen minutes. It's pissing down outside and I can't quite remember where they live, but I'm sure that won't be a problem. I'm a little worried that I'll...
I want the Godfather films on DVD... (December 8, 2000) Does anyone know when the Godfather films are coming out on DVD in the UK? They're not on Amazon.co.uk as far as I can see. I have to confess to never having seen them and I'm afraid I'm not going...
Media Web Logs For Fun and No Profit... (December 8, 2000) An article via Blogger ["Media Web Logs For Fun and No Profit"] asks why more journalists are not maintaining weblogs. I would disagree - I would say that there is more of us out there than you know. I'd put...
The music industry should be kakking themselves... (December 8, 2000) Mac users take note. The few of you that have yet to download the Mac version of Napster should do so immediately, as it is an intelligently designed, revolutionary piece of software. Moral implications aside, anyone serious about the future...
Five minutes with Naomi Klein... (December 8, 2000) The Guardian's Books Unlimited site presents: Five minutes with Naomi Klein. No Logo is up for the Guardian First Book Award 2000. [via linkmachinego]...
Everyone's looking for Massow information... (December 7, 2000) I'm getting about three people a day finding plasticbag.org by typing "Ivan Massow" into Google. As far as I can tell they are clearly serious about finding sites with his name on. I say this because I'm squirrelled away on...
My beloved underground have a (December 7, 2000) My beloved underground have a new project: "Help me hunt down and ritually slaughter this evil, egotistic, doddering old bitch". I love them....
Hey - apparently barbelith got (December 7, 2000) Hey - apparently barbelith got mentioned in Disinformation's regular broadcast e-mail. Here is the piece in full: "Disinfo is the only site I know that will publish the weird juxtapositions like we have today: an adolescent tryst gone wrong, and...
Via Jason I have stumbled (December 7, 2000) Via Jason I have stumbled upon the user pages for Jeff Bezos on Amazon.com. Bizarrely, these pages include his personal wishlist as well as a whole stack of reviews of (amongst other things) the binoculars he likes. And while you...
I have finally gotten around (December 7, 2000) I have finally gotten around to registering plasticbag.org on Yahoo! I've always felt a bit strange about putting my weblog on a directory - but I suppose after over a year of writing it, I should probably accept that it's...
Story begins: So I was (December 7, 2000) Story begins: So I was walking down Old Compton Street last night on the way from a press screening of Lost Souls to meet some people from the Underground when, passing a fish and chip shop, completely involved in my...
An interesting place to get (December 6, 2000) An interesting place to get the inside information on what is going on with Macs is at Apple's own PR section. Unsurprisingly, this little section isn't particularly well flagged on their site's main navigation....
Guns concealed in mobile phones! (December 6, 2000) Everyone in my office has a mobile phone. In the UK at the moment, it's not really particularly surprising - almost everyone I know in London has one - from librarians to film execs, from journalists to lawyers. But is...
Today at work, my esteemed (December 5, 2000) Today at work, my esteemed boss revealed the awesome wonder of a "holiday chart" complete with little stickers, each of which designates a separate worker. My sticker is a pink triangle. Without wishing to sound too sick, the irony of...
We all know about Disturbing (December 5, 2000) We all know about Disturbing Search Requests - the weblog that allows you to post some of the bizarre ways that people have accessed your site. But I was surprised how disturbed I was by Lycos' list of the Top...
Question: How should I react (December 3, 2000) Question: How should I react to this? plasticfag.org [via hoblog] At the moment I'm torn between wry flattery and absolute blind fury. Part of me is getting mighty bored of being gay....
I don't want to go (December 3, 2000) I don't want to go on too much about the Age of Consent issue on this site, because I think everyone knows my opinion on the matter. So instead I will talk about a site which alleges that it wishes...
9am: There are stirrings in (December 2, 2000) 9am: There are stirrings in the flat. Kate has decided to get up early and is in the sitting-rrom talking to her mother on the phone. The acoustics of the flat mean that, despite the fact that the sitting room...
Possibly the most depressing picture (December 1, 2000) Possibly the most depressing picture ever presented of the inhabitants of our fair isle is that, at heart, we are best represented by Swindon. I'm off now, to coiffure my six feet of nasal hair....
Finally it's happened. Britain has (December 1, 2000) Finally it's happened. Britain has finally brought the gay age of consent in line with the straight one. Now, people of either persuasion can sleep with people from the age of 16 without fear of prosecution. In the end the...
I can't even remember the (December 1, 2000) I can't even remember the last time that I read twenty-five pages of a site in one sitting. The internet isn't really designed for articles of that kind of length. But I came upon a site this morning with such...
