Sunday 9th September
It's 4:40pm on Thursday afternoon and I have to write this column.
But I'm in one of those moods today where I really don't feel like it. In fact, I don't feel like anything. My brain's gone all scrunchy and I have a nasty mosquito bite on my left eyelid, which isn't very attractive.
I have 53 words, only another 950 to go, or 947 to be exact.
It's hard being a columnist because you what you write has to warrant being written. No matter how trivial the subject, there has to be a level of conviction, and also, somehow, usefulness.
I know to some this column may come across as really self-indulgent but I always hope that somehow I can convey a message. Not some kind of righteous, moral, biblical stand, but at the least I have to stand by my thoughts.
But the problem that's arisen this week is that I don't actually have any thoughts. Today I feel minus of conviction.
I feel a numbness as though I'm just floating around in some grey, middle area.
- Tracey Emin beginning her Independent column this week by speaking for us all (or all bloggers at least) and filling out 180 words in doing so (thus allowing all bloggers - well me at least - to do the same).
Saturday 8th September
Kew Gardens, Spring 2007
Friday 7th September
The downfall of Senator Larry Craig is a positive chuckle-fest: ostensibly homophobic law-maker, falling foul of the police when accused of trying to initiate sexual contact in a public restroom by playing footsie beneath the stalls' partition, refutes accusations by claiming that "he has a wide stance when going to the bathroom".
(My own particular favourite moment is when the arresting officer reveals himself - by placing his police badge on the floor. Cue dramatic film music.)
Happily, more than one commentator has seen beyond this low comedy to ask the more pertinent questions: do the police really have nothing better to do with their time? and in this day and age, is being gay really a resigning matter?
Thursday 6th September
London Bridge, Summer 2007
Wednesday 5th September
Prolonged exposure to David Hoyle has already ruined me for most gay cabaret (if you don't know what I'm on about, check out the - somewhat over-enthusiastic - review in today's Guardian).
Over-critical though I am of Hoyle's under-investment in analysis, he has certainly raised the bar when it comes to performance-value; with the notable exception of some very fine moments at the late-lamented Dorian Gray, I can't remember the last time I've been so gripped by something I've seen in a gay bar (insert low-pun here).
But then again, I've never seen Tandi Iman Dupree...
Tuesday 4th September
Isle of Dogs, Summer 2007
Monday 3rd September
Did any of you quite enjoy, as I did, the first series of Weeds when it aired on Channel Four a couple of years ago?
The second series went to Sky One, so I missed it. But I've recently tracked it down - via the usual unusual channels - and enjoyed it quite a bit.
And now I discover that the third series is already on air: jolly good.
......previous week
