You know you’re a successful DJ when nightclubs you’re not booked for put you down as a headliner on their New Year’s Eve party advertisements. This has happened to one of my oldest friends this year. I just got the clarification mail and was deeply entertained. Happy New Year, everyone! 새해 복 많? 받으세요!
Read more →When I ran across this little red book in a used bookshop in Saskatoon last summer, I snapped it up for one reason and one reason alone: because I remembered the title from this post by Adrian over at mssv.net. Now, if you look at the post I just linked above, you’ll see that...
Read more →Award-winning author Philip Pullman used to be a teacher, I discovered in this interview. And he said something very interesting about classroom dynamics: It took him a while to work out how to tame a class. ‘You mustn’t try to be the most popular. That’s not your role. The way to control a class...
Read more →That’s what Jodi’s reporting. And I say, good riddance. It’s not just that TOIEC doesn’t test real ability; it’s also that TOEIC sidetracks people from trying to learn to understand English, into memorizing ridiculous obscure grammar points and, worse, memorizing methodologies designed to maximize correct answers on TOEIC tests through absolutely inane grammatical analysis...
Read more →I sit down alone with myself and think over the things I should have done, the things I have done, the things I wish I hadn’t done, the things I want to do. I do this around this time every year, a cup of coffee in one hand, a pencil for doodling in the...
Read more →Dear Psycho Who Lives Upstairs in Apartment 601, Please stop yelling at the woman you live with. You sound mentally ill, and it’s obviously not changing her mind anyway. Seriously, sometimes in the hall I hear your voice and without pause a straitjacket comes to mind. Please stop stomping around. It’s really, really annoying...
Read more →I’ve decided I simply must get all of the Hamiet Bluiett Baritone Nation albums. This page has some audio samples that finally convinced me that I need CDs in which the majority of the band is playing baritone saxes. (More samples of another Baritone Nation CD here.) This is some heavy stuff. I like...
Read more →For those who’ve read Greg Egan‘s marvellous short story “Mitochondrial Eve”, I’ve got an old news report for you! Check this out: it seems that studies apparently show a high level of correlation between patrilineal surnames and patrilineal Y-chromosomes, meaning that at least in Britain, marital infidelity resulting in illegitemate conceptions may have been...
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