Time to go.

What I like most is how he corrects Boulton with exactly the same quotation that Boulton just read out; essentially he agrees that he misquoted Osbourne but says that what he said was right all the same.

Then he says he wanted a market solution over Northern Rock; a market solution he knocked back twice when it was presented to him. At least he learnt his lesson when it came to HBOS, but should HM Government really be run by trial and error?

Uncommon Knowledge - Revisionism

The discussion about opposing Fascist methods with comparably ruthless tactics reminded me of Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff's contemporary arguments in Powell and Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.

Ayo Technology

When 50 Cent wrote his definitive lament on the perils of pornography addiction back in 2007, he could hardly have expected this Belgian cover to come just a year later; a truly genre-bending work. (h/t Kanye West).

The Archive

Paul Mawhinney owns the largest private record collection in the world: 3 million records and 300,000 CDs totalling more than 6 million song titles dating back to the first flat record from 1881. Since his health has deteriorated, he's closed down his shop and has been trying to sell the collection and pass on the torch to someone else. However he's yet to find someone who “gives a damn“ or at least enough of a damn to pay $3,000,000 for it. (h/t music like dirt).

All it needs is a better title.

I've been a huge fan of Martin Campbell's work from (the original) Edge of Darkness through to Casino Royale - and, of course, Goldeneye - but I think this next instalment of Daniel Craig's Bond may well surpass the last (if only visually...). All credit to Marc Forster if he manages to pull it off.

I want one.

I really bloody want one.

Auto Skooter - Lakeside Park, Denver

Auto Skooter - Lakeside Park - Denver, Colorado
Originally uploaded by Roberto41144

I love Art Deco; the lettering above the shop is so bold and has such beautiful proportions.

Faber Finds

The Ministry of Type has a post up about a new imprint from Faber & Faber called Faber Finds which brings out of print books back from oblivion. This is only possible with Print on Demand so books are only published once they've been ordered, but more intriguingly, this allows each Faber Finds book to sport a unique computer-generated cover design; PostSpectacular details the process of creating a “design machine” capable of generating the infinite "number of unique designs, one for each single book ever printed in this range." Everything about this venture is fascinating and the way Marian Bantjes' border designs are assembled is remarkable.

Society & Its Outcasts

"Prisons, mental hospitals, and other institutions are a thermometer that measures the sickness of the larger society. The treatment society affords its outcasts reveals the way in which its members view one another - and themselves." Thomas O. Murton in Accomplices to the Crime (1969)

"Against Racism"

Pascal Bruckner has written a good article about the obscene spectacle that was the Durban conference and about what our reaction should be to its repeat next year:

Europe must take a firm stand against this buffoonery: boycott it, plain and simple. Just as Canada has done. Perhaps we should also think about dissolving the Human Rights Commission or only letting truly democratic countries in. It is intolerable that in the year 2008 - like in the thirties - nations which recognise justice, the multi-party state and freedom of expression are being brought before the tribunal of history by the lobbies of fanatics and tyrants.