Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 303

Bryant & May’s Vanished London No.1

This is from a rare book published in 1935 called ‘The Spirit of London’ by Paul Cohen-Portheim:

‘The Adelphi was not unlike Bloomsbury on a small scale.What is left of it is situated between the West End and the City, dates from about the same period and is equally connected with literature. Its situation between the [...]

The Tattoo Falls From Fashion

The Summer Solstice is upon us, and you know what that means – every tattooed ‘magician’ in the land will be descending on Stonehenge.

It was Joan Collins who once commented; ‘In my day, if you wanted to see the fat lady and the tattooed man, you had to go to the circus.’ But at some [...]

It’s Your Choice!

You have to make a choice from two books today – one that’s brand-new and not out until July 15th from lovely Solaris Press, the other I found down the back of my voluminous shelves.

I’ll print an excerpt from one of them below, so what’s it to be, Christopher Fowler’s bizarre comedy-thriller ‘Plastic’ or Alice [...]

A City Of Shopkeepers 2

No sooner was the ink drying on the piece below when the argument for and against sightlines in London cropped up on America’s NPR. This time Paul Finch, a critic at Architects’ Journal, is concerned by what he says is the implication that instead of just preserving views of the Tower of London, UNESCO is [...]

A City Of Shopkeepers

In the last few years we’ve seen every last square metre of London commoditised and accounted for – they’re done away with the odd bits of greenery and strangely shaped spare spaces left behind for so many years by bombers and developers. One of Londn’s greatest pleasures has always been to be able to turn [...]

Are We Subjected To Literary Skeuomorphism?

Skeuomorphic design, from the Greek words for a tool (skeuos) and shape (morph), means designing a tool in a new medium that incorporates some of the features of its antecedents. These no long perform any necessary function but forge an intuitive link with the past.

On phones and computers skeuomorphism is everywhere, from the fake leather [...]

The Mystery Man of Science Fiction

I just read the final interview Iain Banks gave and felt very said, especially at his modesty and grace about having carved a career in what a friend of his called ‘made-up space shit’. Writers are generally apologetic about writing in genres anyway, and I usually dread having to explain/ justify what I do to [...]

And You Hoped The Computer Age Would Bring New Intelligence

This from Japan, where extreme body modifiers inject saline into their foreheads (really – look it up). This device is less invasive, but I’d kind of hoped there would be better uses for technology by now.

Instead the internet age means that Ed Snowden will be waterboarded for revealing human rights infringements and Japanese girls will [...]

When New York Does An English Accent

Do we have any sports fans in?

We do? Out, the lot of you. Go on, shoo. And you. You in the corner. No, don’t look at your friend. Go on, hop it.

Right, the Tonys.

So ‘Kinky Boots’ beat ‘Mathilda’, which New Yorkers thought was too dark. Excuse me? We Londoners thought it was a light-hearted romp. [...]

What People Do To Avoid Their Spouses in Great Britain

David Lifton’s shed in Little Benton, Newcastle, won the Tardis category in Shed of the Year, on account of it looking like, erm…

I remember a story a couple of years ago about a boy who built a perfect mock-up of the Palace at Versailles in his shed. He won a design award. When he got [...]