An inspirational interview in Salon that has me eyeing the disused planters at the end of a neighbouring street. Here’s an excerpt but reading the whole thing, which includes a Q&A with ‘guerilla gardener’ Richard Reynolds, is very much recommended.

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This is one for anyone who has ever felt that a certain film starring Jim Carrey has a particular resonance for them: two Canadian psychiatrists have identified a new syndrome – people who believe their lives are a reality TV show.

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Here’s a cautionary tale about how a life of crime can be turned to the good. This forger of letters by Noel Coward, Dorothy Parker and even Humphrey Bogart has now found success with an original work telling her story.

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A few years ago, the process of reclaiming the Carry On oeuvre was launched in fine fashion. No less an institution than The Barbican Cinema in London decided to have a retrospective of the full 30 films.

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It’s a fine moment when cult TV from your childhood and cult comics artists from your teens and 20s come together. It’s just regrettable that the Beijing Olympics are also involved.

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On the subject of crazy, illegal art projects.. you’d have to go some way to beat the one detailed in the new documentary Man on Wire. But this film reveals a pathos completely unintended by the artist at the point of creation.

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Artists Michael Townsend and Adriana Yoto, and six of their friends, noticed an architectural anomaly in the giant shopping mall being built in their town – Providence, Rhode Island, USA. As the project progressed, it became clear that this added up to “750 square feet of underutilized space inside of the mall.”

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It’s very hard to understand why parents would saddle their child with a ridiculous name. And, in New Zealand, a judge agrees. Read this and boggle.

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This, from Rebecca Traister in Salon, is just the latest in a series of articles reminding us why what it was about the wonderful Dana Scully that made us all get in touch with our sceptical side. And with the X-Files movie upcoming, we’re about to get her back, even if it’s just for a brief couple of hours.

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The price of scrap metal is rising in the US as well as the UK. Over here it’s church roofs and railways being targeted. Even a Henry Moore sculpture is thought to have been melted down.

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A ‘goats in a tree’ lolcat for your delectation.

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Bournemouth has decided that it would like to be a surf resort, according to The Guardian, and attract all those surfing tourists for who Cornwall is just too inconveniently western. What a distance to travel! To that end it is building an artificial reef out of specially-designed sandbags in Poole Bay in order to take the area’s natural swell and turn it into breaking waves.

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This blog and its management have always been extremely interested in the conspiracy theory phenomenon. Here’s an interesting link to an article by Frank Furedi on Spiked Online analysing the subject. In it he claims that the whole thing stems from anti-intellectualism and a return to primitive beliefs in evil forces beyond the control of humanity but still able to control their fate.

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Here’s a very sad tale from BBC News – and a salutary one for all of us that have rolled our eyes on receiving yet another 419 scam email. It’s a story of how Nigerian fraudsters are preying on the hopes of young African footballers with largely unrealistic dreams of making it big:

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Ever had an urge to visit Svalbard? Perhaps after reading Philip Pullman, or seeing pictures of its beautiful location? Just make sure you’re in good health when you go.

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Whoever wrote this article on the nude climbing craze isn’t taking account of the British climate. Or, as anyone engaged in outdoor activities at this time of year knows but too well, the British stinging nettle. Ouch…

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Here’s an abject piece of ridiculousness – from no less a person than the Prime Minister. Who would have thought it?

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This video in the New York Times looks at Disney’s new Innoventions Dream Home attraction – and finds it sorely wanting.

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Here’s an anniversary this blog really couldn’t ignore – Tunguska, the unexplained event a century ago that caused a massive explosion in Siberia, turned the skies dark and broke windows hundreds of miles away.

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