I find this normally happens when reading something that is very internal. By which I mean that you're reading a book which drags you – sometimes unwillingly, though in a good way – inside the head of the narrator/protagonist.

James Kelman does this brilliantly, particularly in A Disaffection and How Late It Was, How Late. Another brilliant exponent of the same is David Peace; his is an acquired taste, maybe, but the intensity of his writing – the squalor of human... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 4:40 PM on March 24, 2008 marked best answer

An addendum to scody's point, from Victoria Finlay's Colour: Travels Through the Paintbox:


Within a few years of Napoleon Bonaparte's death in 1821 (at the age of 51) locks labelled 'Bonaparte's hair' (which his doctor incidentally reported at the time of his death as 'thin, fine and silky') commanded quite a price on the open market. But it was not until 140 years later that one of them caused a mild sensation. After being bought at auction in 1960 it was... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 1:02 PM on March 22, 2008

Hot Fuzz is British, but given that the entire thing is an (only slightly tongue-in-cheek) homage to cop buddy flicks, and Bad Boys II and Point Break specifically, it ought to appeal to American kids, as long as you don't mind subjecting them to some particularly colourful swearing. It's a reworking (of sorts) of Dead Right, a film made by Hot Fuzz's director/co-writer, Edgar Wright, when he was 18 and still at school.

Dead Right (included on this DVD of Hot Fuzz) is,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 9:02 AM on January 15, 2008

Ok, upgrading to 10.4.10 seems to have helped. (It was only laziness that prevented me doing so earlier.) It's still not brilliant, but it's workable enough to live with, and far better than it was before. Thanks everyone.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 9:28 AM on June 26, 2007

Is it one of these (list taken, after a bit of googling, from here)?

I Want Candy - Bow Wow Wow
Ladies Night - Kool & The Gang
Our Lips Are Sealed - The GoGo's
Lady - The Commodores
Pump It Up - Elvis Costello
Get Down On It - Kool & The Gang
Who Does Lisa Like - Rachel Sweet
Cruel To Be Kind - Nick Lowe
Rapture - Blondie
Just What I Needed - The... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 9:17 AM on November 14, 2006

I'm in the middle of reading Five Points by Tyler Anbinder, which is fantastic; unlike Herbert Asbury's Gangs Of New York – which is a mishmash of myth, supposition and sensationalism, but is still definitely worth reading – it's meticulously researched, scholarly and all that jazz, but still completely readable to the layman. (It also looks like Amazon will do you a discount if you get them both at once.)

Since you asked for "evocative fiction" you could do... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 7:56 AM on October 10, 2006

still it bugs me that some very popular music gets labeled as indie

But that's because it is indie, in the traditional sense of the term – i.e. it's music being released on independently distributed labels. It's also "indie" in the sense that it's not – say – Beyonce, or Girls Aloud, but rather "alternative" (God, how I hate that word) guitar rock of some sort or another.

Franz Ferdinand,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 5:16 PM on October 9, 2006

Andrew Weatherall and Tom Middleton might be interesting if you were into 90s electronica (the orb and global communication, respectively).

You're right about Tom Middleton/Global Communication, but Weatherall never had anything to do with The Orb, bar maybe a couple of remixes (think there's a Sabres Of Paradise remix of Oxbow Laxes). And he isn't just into playing "90s electronica" – I've seen him play stripped-down minimal techno, obscure... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 7:49 AM on August 14, 2006

4. chrismear, interesting that this is a geographic issue. How is mail delivered in apartment buildings in the UK?

Well, I'm not chrismear, but anyway ...

It depends on the individual buildings. There are buildings where there's a mailbox in the front hallway, with a slot for each individual flat (generally, they're new(er) buildings). In some, there's no mailbox, and the postman buzzes one of the flats to be let in, identifies... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 8:22 AM on July 18, 2006

It's not the most reliable of confirmations, being a badly written Amazon.co.uk customer review (by Phill "thanewdanger", no less), but scroll down this page and there's information about the numerous remixes, featuring Missy, Rah Digga, DMX, Mary J Blige and her rapping alter ego, and a few others. The fact that he says "they all come together for the video" seems to indicate that this is what you're after.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 4:45 AM on July 17, 2006

You could have googled the (completely intelligible on YouTube) lyrics, you know.

(And to actually be of help, rather than just coming in and pissing and moaning ...) The "punky jam" after Death Letter starts with a speeded-up version of the riff and drums from Let's Build A Home (also on De Stijl); the rest of the performance seems to be just White taking that and running with it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 7:39 AM on July 4, 2006

Okay. They're a band about to release their debut album on an "underground" label. This means they have no money. They're probably playing with beaten-up instruments, and touring in the back of a Ford Transit (or American equivalent). That said, find out if there is a budget, and if so what it might be.

If you're just starting out as a photographer (which it sounds like you are) you're probably going to have to do it for either nothing, or nothing plus travel... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 6:43 AM on July 4, 2006

Well, if we're talking about The Who, Tommy has already been mentioned, but there's also Quadrophenia. Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade probably qualifies, as does Sufjan Stevens' Come On Feel The Illinoise. I'm sure there are still plenty more, too ...
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 9:57 AM on June 27, 2006

I'd have thought you could listen in to the streaming coverage on BBC Radio Five Live, but from perusing their site, it looks like only UK listeners can hear commentary, which seems odd, given that you can listen to any other BBC radio station no matter where you are in the world. (Althoughy it might be the case that you can listen live if you're outside the UK, but aren't allowed to access the streams afterwards ...)

BTW, this is always how I watch Wimbledon – match on... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 4:04 PM on June 12, 2006

Plenty of people that I went to school with used to do this, and for no particular reason – it used to drive me up the wall because it just seemed, well, a bit daft. (schmoo, you might be right about being too young; I'm from the UK and 28, and it was fairly common a few years ago.)

I never subscribed to this, but at the quaint, suburban, high school I attended, guys would give their "lucky" to the girl they wanted to, ahem, get lucky with. However,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 3:43 PM on May 31, 2006

Strictly speaking it's more about the financing of terrorism, but Terrorism Incorporated, which I'm reading at the moment, has lots on the financial intricacies of the small arms trade, especially the illegal/criminal side.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 6:08 AM on May 20, 2006

I've never heard the phrase "based off of" before, but the insertion of "of" seems to be an American thing (see also: "not that big of a deal", rather than "not that big a deal", which jars to my British ear).

That said, there's an increasingly common – it crops up on radio all the time, particularly from the mouth of Radio 1's Scott Mills – use of "off of" to mean "from"*. For example, Mills will identify a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 5:05 AM on May 17, 2006

Oh, and in answer to advil's request to have a look at baklavabaklava's examples:

And I've heard British tell about something they saw "in the High Street". How "based off of" makes any less sense than living on 15th Street while cars drive down or on the street but a dog was running in the street... well...

"[I]n the High Street" is a little more coded than it first looks; here, the "High... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 5:39 AM on May 17, 2006

Pretty much everything that klangklangston said.

(I do this for a living as well.) Being ingratiating is unfortunately important, unless you actually want an argument, in which case feel free to go hard on them, though it does run the risk of the interviewee walking out. Or trying to hit you.

Research? Their website, fan forums, poring over lyrics, reading other interviews (pay attention to what kind of things they like/don't like to talk about)... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 8:00 AM on April 25, 2006

The Pixies don't do stops and starts, or tempo changes? Is this a different Pixies to the band the rest of us knows?

I'd agree with dame on this one – it's not so much big guitars, which seem too chunky, in sound terms, to really be angular. If something sounds "angular" I'd take that to mean (and this is depending, of course, on any other adjectives being employed) spare, jagged chords or hooks; melodies which jerk up and down the musical scale, or which... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 10:08 AM on April 17, 2006

Heh. It's just they aren't what I think of when I think "angular." Hence, "I" and "probably."

Oh, I was more talking about ludwig_van's reasons for describing the Pixies as angular.

On the other hand: some of Joey Santiago's guitar playing could be angular – all those clipped chords, the abrupt jumps in pitch. Nirvana angular, though? Nah. Like you say, the sounds too big, too... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 11:21 AM on April 17, 2006

The Stars Of The Lid are definitely a good recommendation, as are the (wonderful) Dirty Three.

p3t3, if you're getting excited about new Arthur Russell releases (thanks for the tip-off, btw; didn't know about it, and that stuff looks ace), have you heard the collaboration between Russell and Peter Zummo? 20 minute cello/trombone drone masterpiece, it's on Zummo's album Zummo With An X. Can't vouch for the rest of the album, but that track is beautiful. (If you can't get... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 6:10 PM on March 31, 2006

Irk the Purists by Half Man Half Biscuit. (Lyrics for which aren't online, sadly.)

Altogether now ...

"Hüsker Dü Dü Dü, Captain Beefheart, ELO
Chris De burgh, Sun Ra, Del Amitri John Coltrane

Irk the purists
Irk the purists
It's a right good laugh"
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 11:18 AM on March 6, 2006

Edinburgh suggestions are good, but I'd say go to Glasgow instead (I'm biased, because that's where I live, but hear me out): you get the fantastic architecture (brief summary, but by no means all of it, here), you get the Cathedral, the museums (13 of them), the parks, as well as the nightlife (if that's your thing), concert venues, theatres, etc etc. And if you want the countryside, you can jump on the train and be in the highlands in an hour. Alternatively, half an hour on the bus takes you... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 4:50 PM on February 22, 2006

Accents have fascinated me for years. There's a friend of mine who spent his entire life, until arriving in Glasgow to study, in Dundee. The Dundonian accent, for those who don't know, being one of the broadest and most distinctive in Scotland (They don't say "pie" or "Aye" in Dundee. They say "peh" or "eh".) Despite this, and despite him going to high school in a particularly scary bit of Dundee called Kirkton, where being from the next estate over would... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 10:16 AM on February 21, 2006

If theredpen upthread is right, in that this New England brown/canned bread is in any way similar to the kind of malt loaf we get in Britain, then all I have to say is ...

YOU SICK FUCKS.

Baked beans are for toast. Proper toast. Using white bread or wholemeal or some variant thereof. Preferably with Worcestershire sauce, or some salt and pepper. And maybe, according to your regional variations, melted cheese upon said toast.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 7:15 PM on February 8, 2006

Primal Scream: Movin' On Up
Spiritualized: plenty, especially on Let it Come Down
Electrelane: The Valleys, which really needs to be heard to be believed
Smog: Hit The Ground Running (choir of kids, yes, but still a choir)
Cat Power: Good Woman (more kids)
Parts of Björk's Medúlla

There are loads more, I'm sure, but those were the first few that sprang to mind ...
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 8:58 AM on January 30, 2006

During a Christmas slump-on-the-sofa booze-a-thon, I watched some "100 Greatest Christmas Moments" thing on Channel 4, which included Malcolm McLaren's The Ghosts Of Oxford Street. One of the clips showed a former Eastender running about in the basement of (i think) Selfridges, where he discovered a still-intact street that had been built over. Further Googling reveals this.

I just wish I could track down a copy of McLaren's film; I'd never seen or heard of it... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 6:07 PM on January 5, 2006 marked best answer

Since nobody's mentioned them yet:
Prince Buster (get "Fabulous: Greatest Hits", and work backwards from there).
Dr Alimantado (Best Dressed Chicken in Town and Born For A Purpose are both brilliant).
Frontline Records, set up by Virgin as a rival to Island in the late 1970s, with, among others, John Lydon acting as A&R, has loads of great stuff: Mighty Diamonds, Big Youth, Prince Far I, and a whole load of others (ace box set here).... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 6:40 AM on January 5, 2006

Could be a variation on Old Maid, with one Jack removed rather than one Queen. We called it Scabby Queen, when we played it on the school bus. (chrominance seems to be thinking of something similar). Wikipedia on Old Maid/Scabby Queen. It was pretty bloody; particularly when people went out of their way to find the stiffest cards possible.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 4:51 AM on January 4, 2006 marked best answer

Last time I got a new phone (Sony Ericsson, replacing a Sony Ericsson, though it wouldn't have made a difference if I was changing brands) with Orange (UK network) they offered to transfer all my numbers over in the shop; they've got a machine which reads everything on your SIM card, and can transfer it to a new one. (In the end, though, I didn't do it; I've got Bluetooth on my computer, so it was easy to transfer everything over that way, using iSync. If you're not on a Mac, I'm sure there must... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 6:22 PM on November 21, 2005

Sluggo's correct. Same thing happened to mine, and Apple fixed it for nothing; only took about a week for it to be shipped to Amsterdam (from Glasgow), get fixed and returned. Works fine now.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 10:41 AM on November 10, 2005

Yes, it is Cavern, scroll down this page to hear a sample. Good luck on finding a copy that isn't at a phenomenal price though; the vinyl and CD of their collected stuff has been out of print since Grand Royal went bust. You can get a 12" of it here, though ...
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 9:34 AM on October 17, 2005

Cool, thanks for all the advice/recommendations. Wish I was going for longer than three days now :(
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 11:21 AM on October 6, 2005

Sound advice all round. And – like I said back in March – if you're visiting Glasgow, give me and fellow MeFite bonaldi a shout, so we can buy you a beer ...
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 4:50 PM on October 5, 2005

It's called The Child, and it's by Alex Gopher. (Crappy still here.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 5:12 AM on September 27, 2005 marked best answer

After a bit more hunting, streaming, embedded video here. (I'd find a direct link to the .rm file if I could, but my skills in this department are sadly lacking ...)
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 5:18 AM on September 27, 2005 marked best answer

Ah, it was Orange. I was driving myself mental trying to remember who it was had ripped off the video, so cheers.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 5:55 AM on September 27, 2005

(speaking as a freelance hack)

Who owns the transcript? You do.

Unless you sign something to the contrary, the copyright in all your work (and in all the interviews you do) resides with you. Thus, you are absolutely free to do whatever you want with the transcript of any interview you do. You might want to hold back publishing an interview transcript online, out of courtesy to the publication you've sold the final article to, but you are under no... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 4:36 PM on September 26, 2005

You should see Decasia. (Village Voice review; scroll down to reach it.)


Also: Goatdog, wow. I have to see that.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 8:58 AM on September 7, 2005 marked best answer

Not sure if it's entirely relevant, but I saw the touring show Scandinavian Design: Behind The Myth when it came through Glasgow recently. There's an exhaustive catalogue that came with it, which goes into great illustrative and historical detail, and poking about on the exhibition site gives you a link to the publishers, who are selling it direct. [Scroll down to the bottom for the book in question.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 8:48 AM on August 24, 2005

Almost anything from London Is The Place For Me would work perfectly, particularly Lord Kitchener's track of the same name. If London-based Trinidadian calypso seems like a bit of a curve-ball, then listen to the clips on the Amazon page. Oh, and buy the album too; it's wonderful.

Other things: Waterloo Sunset, correcftly identified above as the best London song. Maybe some of the more accessible end of grime, which sprung from London's east end – Lady Sovereign's 9 To 5... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 8:20 AM on August 24, 2005

On The Hour, Chris Morris's radio precursor to The Day Today is great (be careful, though; the linked site got a bit pissed off last time someone linked to them from MeFi, so don't swamp their bandwidth all at once).

I'd also recommend the brilliant Dead Ringers, though it may require a working knowledge of Radio 4 personalities/quirks. If you can handle I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, though, I'd guess you'll be fine with that. (Another word of advice: don't go anywhere... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 8:33 AM on August 17, 2005

Jesus, I should read questions more thoroughly. You asked for panel shows, and I've given you a load of sketch shows, plus something that was already recommended. Ah well. At least you know that Just A Minute is really good; that's enough for me ...
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 8:36 AM on August 17, 2005

I'd second CunningLinguist's advice for newspapers. Also, are there any papers in your area who have been covering education in depth? Anywhere nearby where the schools are having a recruiting crisis thanks to terrible conditions/bad management/awful pay/in-school violence etc.?

Basically, you need a hook on which to hang it. Find out not just who edits the Op-Ed pages, but the Education pages, and find out who your area's papers' education correspondents are, and get in... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 7:55 AM on August 17, 2005

I've got something rougly similar to the Radio Shack device mentioned above. I do a lot of phone interviews (I'm a journalist); I used to record them with a standard dictaphone; then a minidisc, when I got one. These days, I plug the audio jack straight into my iRiver, which records direct to MP3, which means I've then got a copy on my iBook as well. The quality (using any recording device) isn't great, since you're dealing with standard phone line sound quality, but all three are fine for... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 4:29 PM on July 1, 2005 marked best answer

Tried restarting; made no difference. When connected, the ls /Volumes/ command just list's my computer's hard drive, and nowt else ...
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 3:24 AM on June 1, 2005

mds35, I'd do that, but I'm extremely wary of doing so. I know that the hard reset shouldn't clear anything on the iRiver's HD, but I have audio files on there I need for work. I'll have to get them off there first, but I'll do that then give the hard reset a go. Cheers for the advice.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 10:05 AM on June 1, 2005

stuartmm:

Not necessarily. The fact that 13 seats are disappearing, and the redistricting going on, means that Labour will probably try and minimise their losses as much as they can. (There's a neat summation from the BBC here.) That said, yes, they'll probably lose some of their majority. Thing is, even if that happens, they're going to benefit from the fact that 5 or 6 seats which they don't hold already will disappear, which would cut their losses to maybe 5 or 6... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 7:14 PM on April 5, 2005

Can't offer too much advice about rail travel, other than what's already been said. Though I will second the assertions about the incredibly expensive nature of booking last minute/next day travel on the UK rail network; I've got to go from Glasgow to London tomorrow for work, which was arranged last minute, and the fare was £160 (just over US$300) return, compared to ~£50 ($90) if I'd booked a week or so back. I'd also say, if you're travelling from London to Scotland, go up the east coast with... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Len at 4:32 PM on March 29, 2005