15/9/01 - Nice website for the HATology record label.

15/9/01 - My first hit from Daypop, a new current events search engine.

15/9/01 - John's Children return with Rolan Bolan in place of his father Marc.  Whither the spirit of the '60s now:

"As diffident as his late father used to be, LA-based Rolan is sponsored by Tommy Hilfiger and attempting to carve out his own brand of "futuristic rock soul"."

"[Governor] Johnson also said the federal effort to seize drugs being smuggled over the nation's borders are "pissing in the wind."

"I believe that if the government were not involved at all, the problem wouldn't be any worse. In fact, you might see more consistency in the quantity and quality of the drugs and reduce deaths (from overdoses)."

[DEA Chief] Hutchinson, while admitting agents only seize a fraction of the drugs being smuggled across the nation's borders, said drugs would enter "unimpededly" if the government didn't increase the risk to drug traffickers.

Johnson said he favors regulating marijuana like cigarettes. Hutchinson responded, "If you like what the tobacco companies did in marketing to our teens and marketing to adults in selling their product, wait till they get hold of marijuana cigarettes.""

A couple of stories did pique my interest.  From the New York Times a quote from a passenger on what happened when the police boarded an aircraft at JFK.  This was Wednesday I think:

"The officers scrutinized the identifications of the passengers, who were detained for at least two hours. "Anyone with dark skin or who spoke with an accent was taken aside and searched," said the passenger, Mike Glass, 43, of Seattle. "And then they went to any male with too much facial hair.""

"Airports scrupulously apply the same laughably ineffective airport harassment to Suzy Chapstick as to Muslim hijackers. It is preposterous to assume every passenger is a potential crazed homicidal maniac. We know who the homicidal maniacs are. They are the ones cheering and dancing right now.

We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war."

I put that last one up and I was going to take quotes from it but then I realised I might be doing what I have not liked about other weblogs, reporting and commentating on stories from dubious sources, that turn out to be false.  So take it with a pinch of salt.

10/9/01 - Well this is a very special anniversary, The View From Here is two years old today.  And they said it would never last.  My first proper entry was 10th September 1999, oh how young and foolish I was.  And look how things have changed.  I now have a title graphic and a different colour scheme and er, that's it.  Please write me for a list of suitable gifts.

9/9/01 - Artwork from the Crumb family, Robert, Charles, Aline, Jesse, Sophie and Max.

9/9/01 - A fascinating article on British exploitation movies.  Who knew we made The Four Dimensions of Greta, described thus:

"... a rare British 3-D sex film, [that] has to be seen to be believed."

"Tacky British sleaze at its most glorious and dubious. Featuring possibly the worst German accent ever commited to film, enough pubic hair to stuff two sofas and some of the worst acting and limb contortions ever seen."

"FARMERS are being told to "turbocharge" their cows with special feeds to help to prevent an impending milk crisis...

Owners of many of the remaining herds are trying to fill the gap and avoid large-scale imports by giving their animals huge boosts in protein and carbohydrates. This can increase the output of a dairy cow from 28 pints to almost 50 pints per day."

9/9/01 - Anarchists too scared to stage protest in China.

Running through this entire article is the implicit wish that we had China's repressive attitude to protesters and that then they'd shut up.

8/9/01 - I think the Grauniad should subject its writing to the same standards as the New York Times crossword: [warning: NYT registration]

"After I check and edit every New York Times puzzle, I send it to three people to test, one of whom rechecks the accuracy of every word and fact again. I make further changes based on the testers' comments. Finally, each puzzle is tested by yet one more person. Not many mistakes make it through this gantlet (not ''gauntlet,'' which is a glove)."

This site has the advert in RealPlayer format, and this features several photographs of billboard ads.

If you just want to drool over Simpsons merchandise visit the Simpsons Store.

8/9/01 - Jim Davidson and Ian Duncan-Smith - a match made in heaven.

Now if Labour could just deliver on one of their promises:

8/9/01 - The first pig bites the dust at Pig Brother:

"Beckett, described as a minxy little piggy by the site's producers, was a clear loser with only 12 percent of voters wanting her to stay."

"Lady Penry-Davey, 56, a retired teacher and mother of three, put up a furious struggle, being pulled across a parked car as she held on to the strap. Her shouts of "you bastard" alerted neighbours."

8/9/01 - Shows Americans won't be seeing as part of the new TV season:

"Another show, "Bev," caught my eye, mainly because it was described in a news article as "Bev, formerly known as Town Slut." Yep, you guessed it. This one was planned for Fox, but you won't be seeing it.

I have to blame the name change for this. Obviously, someone must have thought that the original title was a little too risqué, but why change it? After all, who wants to watch "Bev"? But "Town Slut"? Now that's appointment viewing."

Also from Addicted To Noise, the Strange Recordings of Negativland.

8/9/01 - In the Amazon customer reviews for 42 Up - one of the original participants:

"I am one of the people in this video - so I have strong feelings of various kinds about it. There's no denying it is powerful stuff - Roger Ebert lists this series among `The Great Movies' on his web site (right after `2001, a Space Odyssey' - which amazed me!)"

8/9/01 - A few of the 60s cartoons included in the latest issue of Private Eye:

8/9/01 - Would I bother putting an award on my website if my only award was Macclesfield Net site of the Month - June 2000?

8/9/01 - Never went to Topsham - went Brixham instead.