books

After decades teaching the nation how to cook, first lady of Norfolk Delia Smith seemed to be heading into a very comfortable retirement focused far more on football than flour. In the new millenium the modern breed of celebrity chef which has stepped up cuts an altogether more dashing figure next to Delia's rather worthy home economics textbooks for grown-ups. But who could have predicted what a can of worms (or tinned mince, to be precise) Delia would open up with her recent return to the cookery writing fray? read more...

books

The Elysee-Montmartre in Paris is a hot and sweaty old ballroom that currently plays host to a variety of concerts and club events, but it seems like things haven't really changed all that much there since the 1880s, when French writer Guy de Maupassant selected the venue as the setting for his short story The Mask (nothing to do with the Jim Carrey film). "The loud call of the orchestra, bursting like a storm of sound, shook the rafters, swelled through the whole neighborhood and awoke, in the streets and in the depths of the houses, an irresistible desire to jump, to get warm, to have fun, which slumbers within each human animal."

The music nowadays may be less orchestral in tone, but otherwise this could be a description of any Saturday night. Indeed, Maupassant's whole story could serve as a cautionary tale for aging ravers and superstar DJs alike, illuminating the reasons behind that strange reluctance to hang up their dancing shoes in a manner so spot on that he could well be talking about today's breed of oldtimer DJs themselves.

Every weekend, the old man at the centre of the piece straps on a varnished mask which enables him to dance amongst the much younger crowd almost undetected, until he gets carried away and passes out on the floor. A doctor tends to him, eventually manages to remove the mask to reveal the face of a worn out old man, then delivers the man home to his wife.

It is the strangely doting attitude of the wife fully aware of her husbands past extra-marital conquests which continue to lure her husband out to dance (he even insists on telling her all the gory details) that brings to mind the bizarre relations surrounding the typical rockstar-wife-groupie love triangle. "Since I myself am crazy about that man, why should not others be the same?"

And the moral of the story is: age and grey hair comes to us all, and since masked balls are no longer de rigeur, your philandering ways must come to an end one day too.

books

You may have received a leaflet from Transport For London through your door this morning, containing a very generous invitation to send off for up to three of their free local area guides.

Containing full details of bus routes - both day and night - and the Tube and National Rail services they link up with, the guides encourage you to actually use some of the bus services which often come right past your door and avoid the smelly old tube wherever you can. BBC London have also provided mini-entertainment guides for each area, featuring a selection of shops, bars, restaurants and cinemas, also on your doorstep or thereabouts.

If you weren't one of the chosen ones who got this mornings leaflet, you can still order your copies online at the TFL website. If you look carefully, you can also sometimes spot them stashed amongst the other leaflets at your local station.

books

Clear a space on your coffee table for Swiss magazine Finger, a collection of charts and lists by your favourite musicians, writers, artists and even a porn queen.

The evolved form of the DJ Top Tens which fill the pages of dance magazines everywhere, Finger works on the solid premise that readers are probably a lot more interested in what their favourite artists would recommend than some faceless journalist.

Erol Alkan, Bloc Party, Annie, Tiga and Cornelius suggest the soundtrack to a typical day in their life, porn star Sierra introduces you to her favourite things, Irvine Welsh, Chromeo and James Holden give us their "songs to remember", whilst the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Colder, Chuck Palahniuk and Malcolm McClaren give us a bunch of Top Tens with a difference, Frankee plays Desert Island Discs, and Jimi Tenor and Manuel Göttsching give us five.

Part in English, part in German, the highly collectable magazine should also keep occupied any visiting Germans you might be expecting, and can be ordered directly from the Finger website for a reasonable 8 Euros.

books

Reading magazines concerned with global justice like New Internationalist elicits a response in me which is part despondency, part "yeah i know - lots of terrible things happen in the world". Living your life in a responsible and ethical manner could easily become a full-time job, and just reading about all the terrible things doesn't really help anyone.

Helping make that ethical lifestyle that little bit more attainable to us all is the Rough Guide to a Better World, a collaboration between the Department for International Development and Rough Guides. Fair trade, fundraising and campaigning, ethical investment, ethical tourism and gift aid are all explained within the free book's 96 pages.

Pick up a free copy from a UK post office, order online, or even better, save trees and read online or download the e-book.

books

For those of you that are old enough to remember - and to know better - the wierd and wonderful world of moomintroll has been brought back to life with a recent reprint of all his adventures. Written by loony Finn Tove Jansson, who lived on an island all on her own, the books chart the adventures of a group of forest creatures.

Containing leaps of logic understandable only to the criminally insane and Robert Crumb (and according to the cover - Phillip Pullman), they are tripped out adventures that feel like you are dreaming half asleep, or have been awake for 17 days. They will also bring back long lost memories of childhood, like barley lemonade in the park with pater, or that comforting spreading of warmth over your plastic sheets and pyjamas at bedtime.....

books

A lot has happened to art terrorist Banksy since 'Existencilism', his last compendium of photos of long since erased self-penned stencil graffiti.

The anonymous urban warrior has gained international renown with his latest series of stunts, written about in The Guardian, the Independent, the Evening Standard and the Daily Mail alike, and even featured on Crimewatch. Jamie Oliver has declared himself a fan, whilst Blur plonked a Banksy drawing on the cover of their 'Think Tank' album.

In his third book 'Cut it Out' we now get Banksy's own inimitable take on this new-found celebrity status. read more...

books

The link between music and graphic design is celebrated in Radical Album Cover Art: Sampler 3, compiled by design agency Intro. With 150 pages of cover art illustrations from labels like Lo Recordings and Morr Music, artists like Bjork and Primal Scream, and creatives like designer-cum-Output-mainman Trevor Jackson and usual suspects the Designers Republic, the book lays down in colour just what the iPod generation is in danger of missing out on.

Some of the albums you might own, others you will never have heard of, but whether you are seeking a mere coffee table adornment, inspiration for a few more experimental music purchases or to put a face to your mp3s, the book - like most of the albums pictured within - has desirable written all over it. But at £25 a shot, you need a very nice coffee table or a vested interest in graphic design to justify buying it.