Working from home can be a monotonous task. Unless the project is amazingly compelling, I find it hard to keep motivated on any design task. There is however one method that usually keeps me going and that is having some kitsch TV show running in the background. A lot of people work to music; I use bad television to do the trick. This technique allows me to zone-out during most of the program and stay focused on my work, while at the same time being distracted periodically with some tasteless entertainment (thus breaking the monotony previously mentioned). CSI Miami is pretty good; Walker, Texas Ranger is even better; I foolishly tried Law & Order: Special Victims Unit but could never get any work done; but for the last couple of months I've been totally fixated on a French program called Intervilles. > continue reading

It's not everyday that someone of my socioeconomic stature spends over £200 on a meal. And it's not everyday that one waits 3 years to finally sample the fruits of one of the most original restaurants the world has to offer. So after dining at Heston Blumenthal's internationally renowned The Fat Duck, I thought a few culinary notes were in order. > continue reading

Embarrassingly, I'm currently well into season 3 of this abomination of a science fiction series. Yes I know, Lost (as it is aptly named) absolutely bites - plot holes like Swiss cheese, painfully excessive melodrama, stupid characters, deception on tap and unashamed devices to reel you into the next episode. Like any other person of reasonable intelligence, I really should just stop watching this 'shite' and do something more constructive with my time. And this may happen in the not too distant future as the show spirals downwards into a haze of obscurity. But until then I think I'll just have a little rant. > continue reading

Here we go again. I recently started playing DotA-Allstars, a highly addictive mod for Blizzard's popular RTS Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne. After my 2 initial sessions I started to get that incredible itch which I'm only too familiar with. Damn this addictive personality. Some three days later and I find myself contemplating the things I was meant to do and those that I had actually done. My conclusion: Bone Clinz has awesome range and attack spells, max out his agility and he becomes almost unstoppable. > continue reading

Finally, we have a new album. After a long and drawn out absence, Tool have finally returned to the music scene with their eagerly anticipated 10,000 Days. Eagerly anticipated could be a bit of an understatement. Die-hard fans have been scratching themselves silly, waiting some 5 years for this album to come out. I have been pretty eager too. So, after the back-to-back brilliance of Ænima and Lateralus, how does Tool's latest offering compare? > continue reading

C'est juste à la fin de mon sejour que je commence à découvrir Carluccio's, une chaine de restaurants italiens actualisée par Antonio Carluccio. La cuisine est fraîche, délicieuse est pour sa qualité, incroyablement bon marché. Si vous êtes à Londres vous devez vister l'un de ses restaurants. > continue reading

I don't know if many people have heard about this rather oddly named cheese. It recently made the news after having a brief appearance in the claymation film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Since then, it's sales have surprisingly quadrupled, emptying out some fromageries of this once little known cheese. I too had been strangely hypnotised by this elusive cheese ever since seeing it in the final scenes of the movie. All it took was the word "Stinking Bishop" to flash on the screen for a mere second, and I knew I had to try it. > continue reading

There really should have been some minor warning about the public transport here in Morocco - especially with regard to the overnight coach service. Lets just say that their safety standards are a little lax. Unfortunately, being the ignorant travellers as we are, Andrea and I presumed that there would be some decent standards in place. We opted against any form of organised tour and so chose to travel as the locals do. After all, we wanted to get the full Moroccan experience. > continue reading

After months of trying bland stir fried dishes and soups loaded with nerve-numbing quantities of MSG, I have finally discovered a decent Chinese restaurant in London. It's called Young Cheng and the food is right up there in the good cheap-eat Asian meals category. I can't describe the simultaneous joy and relief that overcame me when I first tried their Fukin (pronounced Fu-ken not Fuk-in) fried rice. It felt something like home. This is definitely not your white tablecloth dining experience, but everyone needs a basic cafe-style Chinese restaurant for those mid-week cravings or after-drink meals. And this is that. > continue reading