:: Burn, Baby, Burn ::

The fact that I've burned and labelled 105 data CDs today gave me an appropriate theme for my blog post. In an Oscars-style acceptence speech, I might have thanked Verity Systems who provided us with a multiple high-speed CD burner. Ripping off 7 discs at a time makes me want to spend more time at the office. I could start a music piracy racket from my desk. So if Wideboy's looking for a distributor for copies of The Grey Album, which he recently downloaded (and "saved for the nation"), he knows where to come.

Other burn-related shavings from Devukha's cyber-workshop floor. (Those allergic to puns should look away now):

  •  Shrove Tuesday with La Gribouilleuse was a great success. I did not have to endure any burnt offerings. Highlight of the meal for me was the hefty Galette Bretonne, made with buckwheat flour, which we enjoyed with bacon, roasted onions and cheese...

  •  Today's Popbitch mailout included the following gem - "Pet Shop Boys and Pete Burns' new single collaboration is called Jack and Jill Party"

  •  This thing called Burn-Up Scramble looks rather interesting. Is it a game or a Manga cartoon? ...which reminds me. Those bastards at Tesco online never sent me a DVD I ordered before Christmas. This was the fantastic sounding Daft Punk collaboration Interstella-5555, in which their album, Discovery, is the soundtrack to a Leiji Matsumoto animation. They sent me the wrong thing (Pirates of the Carribean!) and never sent a replacement after I returned it.

  •  One of my favourite literary works involving combustion is the tale of Matilda(who told lies and was burned to death) by Hilaire Belloc. A mainstay of my childhood, chunks of this poem are still retained in my increasingly lacuna-prone memory. Here is the final stanza, accompanied by one of the original drawings:

"For every time She shouted 'Fire!'
They only answered 'Little Liar!'
And therefore when her Aunt returned,
Matilda, and the House, were burned."

  • Continuing the nostaligia trip, it also occurred to me that in the days of Spuggie et al, Byker Grove's arch-rivals - in everything from football matches to carnival float design - were the kids from Denton Burn. I wonder if that's still the case?

  • And finally... I'm off to meet Popsicle and Wilverine. Also present will be a rather large Glaswegian, a friend we met in Russia, who will no doubt remind us that Burns Night was a month ago yesterday. Or not as the case may be...