More buttons than a shirt factory
Yep, that's what my new Logitech MX desktop keyboard/mouse combo has got! There's eight buttons on the mouse, and a host of extra gizmos on the keyboard - including an extra mousewheel! And does it rock? Verily it does-eth!

Currently rotating, jumping and involuntarily repeating on my increasingly erratic CD player:
Lucinda Williams: Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Super Furry Animals: Phantom Power
Radiohead: Hail to the the Thief
Linton Kwesi Johnson: LKJ Dub
Flaming Lips: Pink Robots
Tom Waits: Rain Dogs
Gemma Hayes: Night on my Side
And on my obscure band playlist:
Liberty Horses: Joyland
Boo Hewerdine: Baptist Hospital
Innocence Mission: Birds of my Neighborhood
Caravan: Land of Grey and Pink

Photographic quandary
I'm currently flogging off a load of bits'n'bobs around the flat so that I can afford a new digital camera - but which one to go for? Here's the current contenders (all 5 megapixel beasts w/zoom and manual controls galore).
First up is the Sony DSC V1. Advantages: tiny size, fast as a slippery eel on a greasy slide, uses memory stick (I've already got lots of them), fab night modes
Disadvantages: no swivelling viewfinder, no second curtain flash, duff battery life
Next contender is Nikon Coolpix 5400.
Advantages: wide angle zoom lens, quite small, rotating viewfinder
Disadvantages: tiny LCD panel, fiddly operation, not so fast
And the final option is the Canon PowerShot G5 .
Advantages: great resolution, stuffed full of features, swivelling viewfinder, big battery life
Disadvantages: the clunkiest, chunkiest mutha of the three. Expensive

And here's the rub: none of the cameras have everything I need - if only I could bolt on a swivelling viewfinder onto Sony's camera and add Canon's features I'd be a well chuffed photo-bunny. Ho hum...

An outside contender is the Sony DSC-F717 which would be absolutely perfect if it wasn't for that bazooka-sized lens bolted on to the front...

What to do?!

Skankin' around the room...
Currently glued to the office CD player is the mighty fine Linton Kwesi Johnson, "LKJ in Dub" 1980 CD. 'Nuff respect!

A quick update to what's been going down: on Saturday I went back to the Millennium Dome for the respect Festival. Sadly, the Dome's been stripped of almost all its internal fittings, leaving a dirty great big empty tent. Inside, the noise of sound systems, bands and funfair rides all combined into an horrendous cacophony while the acres of asphalt and rubbish swirling around in the wind meant that it wasn't what you'd call the ideal picnic spot. It's a shame, because I like the Dome and in its current stripped-down form, it's a rubbish venue for a festival.

The evening saw a mad dash to the excellent
People's Republic of Disco in the Windmill, Brixton, where industrial strength quaffing took place. It's one of the best nights to be found in London, but keep it to yourself - the promoters don't want it overrun with scoot-stick toting, three quarter trew-wearing, Hoxton-fin toting fuckwits.

And the weekend was rounded off in fine fashion by a visit to the superlative Lambeth Country Show, which as to be the best one day urban festival in the UK - where else can you listen to hip hop, admire prize winning winning turnips, watch medieval battle enactments, motorcycle displays and chariot racing and see goats, sheep, owls, horses, ducks and turkeys?

I want! I want! I want!
Check out this incredibly cute new PDA from Sony

Weird moment of the day
BBC London's Jon Gaunt radio show were broadcasting from Brixton yesterday and I thought I'd take a look on my way to do some shopping. I'd expected there to be a big radio van and loads of meedja people milling about but it was most strange - I walked along a near empty arcade to find Jon Gaunt broadcasting from what looked like a cheap trestle table stuck by the side of the arcade. 'Understated' would be a, err, understatement. As I got closer I suddenly heard, booming out from a nearby radio, "and here comes Mike Slocombe from urban75...!"
T'was quite surreal!

King of the hangovers!
That's how my head feels today after some industrial strength quaffing last night. First stop was the New Statesman New Media Awards which were, frankly, a little dull. Then my chum Dave Wilby (editor of Internet Magazine) suggested we check out the nearby American Bar in the super-posh Savoy on the Strand. I was convinced that a scruffy oik like me wouldn't get past the doorman, but we had no problems getting in. The bar was opened in the late 1890s and 'Dry Martini' and 'White Lady' drinks were invented there in the 1920s. In the bar, Maurice the a pianist crooned away, but turned out to be a cheeky scamp with a great sense of humour. As soon as he saw us he broke into a lounge version of 'Anarchy in the UK'!

Several phenomenally fab cocktails later, we were suitably hammered, but sadly, much lighter of pocket.

See how Dave's getting on with his hangover on the Internet Mag webcam

Brixton Rocks!
It's all happening in Brixton at the moment as the
Destination Brixton Expo is in town for the week.
On Friday we checked out some local art in Lambeth Town Hall before moving on the the refurbished Ritzy Bar (where I proceeded to thrash Em and Tim at table football).
Next stop was the trusty Albert for a few beers.
Saturday we checked out the African drummers in Windrush Gardens and in the evening went up to the Brixton Windmill for a superb Acid Country night with a fabulous authentic C&W band...

Now, back to the writing....

It's too chuffin' hot!
Another day, another hot'n'sticky battle with the keyboard as the writing deadline looms even larger.
Naturally, I've found an endless source of trivial, yet strangely fascinating, distractions to stop me getting on with my work.
I've discovered a few silverfish scuttling around in the bathroom, so what better time to look them up on the internet?
I've now learnt that they like to eat starch, glue, paste, sizing in fabrics and dead animals.
So there you go.
Right... about that deadline....

Battling with a deadline... again
Once again, yours truly is suffering the (occasional) agonies of life as a freelance writer; i.e. sitting inside when the weather's lovely, a deadline's looming and the house is full of distractions.
In time honoured fashion, I've found a whole slew of pointless activities to distract me from actually getting on with my work, thus silently increasing the pressure by the hour.
Today I have:
1. Tidied up the flowers on my balcony
2. Installed the google bar on my browser (it's quite good, but I turned off the stuff that reports back on my browsing habits)
3. Tided up one of my drawers, taking time to read any ancient pieces of paper inside
4. Argued passionately on my bulletin boards on subjects I'm not really interested in.
5. Looked at the fabulous Logitech Optical MX Desktop and tried to justify spending £80+ on a funky cordless keyboard/mouse combo. But look at all those mouse buttons! And it's got a light!

I'm now off to have some dinner. No doubt cleaning the stove may prove more compelling that getting on with my pressing deadline (aaargh!!)

Acupuncture: a cynic writes...
I've been getting a bit of gip from my back recently so made oe of my (thankfully) very rare trips to my local GP.
I was informed that an osteopath would cost big buck$$$ or I could take a course of anti-inflammatory pills. I didn't fancy either so I was told that the surgery offered free acupuncture on the NHS.

I was kind of surprised that you could get acupuncture om the NHS but decided to give it a go.
The next day I was back in the surgery with this dude slapping needles in my back like there was no tomorrow. It didn't particularly hurt, but it sure felt weird. The things were only in my back for a few minutes before I was sent packing and I have to say.. respect!

My back has definitely feels better already, so I guess 1,000 years of Chinese medicine can't be wrong.
And big up my local docs for their progressive attitude - I'd much rather have a few pins shoved in my back than swallow a pile of chemicals...