Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 375

When Is Art Worthless Instead Of Priceless?

When it's not actually art at all, according to Julian Spalding, the head of some of Britain's top public galleries. He reckons the bubble will soon burst for zillionaire Damien Hirst and other "con artists" – that's "conceptual artists", the art of ideas wherein you think of something and pay someone else to create it [...]

What'll You Have?

I'm not entirely sure whether she's a real barmaid, but she's definitely not from around here. This is apparently the modern equivalent to the traditional 'busty barmaid' of yore, now slimmed down and underdressed for modern tastes.

Like her predecessor she does, however, have a bewildering array of drinks to serve. And just when you think [...]

Some People Are Barmy – Get Over It

Every day on my way to work I had to pass the Protein Man, Stanley Green. Remember him? He used to walk up and down London's Oxford Street booming out in a sonorous voice 'Buy my book', and carried a sign proclaiming the dangers of proteins, saying that they caused lust. His solution was "protein [...]

Great Double Bills: Apartment Movies

Here's another entry in the series I started a while back…

This is a great double bill about the terrors of apartment living. In 'Penumbra', a Barcelona businesswoman arranges to meet an estate agent in her mother's apartment, but her client offers her far too much money, which arouses her suspicions. Pushy and impatient, she's in [...]

Street Stories

I have a very nice neighbour – the Guardian newspaper people live opposite my living room, close enough to make me remember to put pants on in the morning, and they do a lot of good local reporting – or maybe they're too lazy to go anywhere else. Anyway, they've put out a local app [...]

Collectors' Compo Time!

Here's a new competition for all you Fowler completists – that's both of you, Mr and Mrs Stalky, although I have to say there are a couple of other nutters fans coming up fast behind you…

WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO:
Listen to this sound and tell me exactly where I recorded it in London. Sorry to [...]

Jack's Back

In 1948, with Britain still enduring ration books (they would for another five years), the GB Olympics team had to bring their own sandwiches if they wanted lunch during the games, and sports kits were of the itchy school gym variety. Now we have a fashion show just for the unveiling of Stella McCartney's futuristic [...]

Farewell Peculiar Crimes Unit

Well, last night we closed down the PCU for good.

The Peculiar Crimes Unit website, that is. It had been targeted by spammers with such hammering frequency that it also managed to crash this site a number of times. The main culprits, Russian hackers and a some kind of shoe company in Texas that hit me [...]

Boris Or Ken or Brian?

With the mayoral elections coming up, let's take a quick look at the candidates. Boris has a mad middle name (de Pfeffel), is charismatic because he knows how to work the press, and swiped all Ken's credit for getting London cycling. Nothing sticks to the old Etonian and he's notable by his absence as much [...]

The London Awards Pt 1

There are so many awards ceremonies out there that I have decided to instigate my own. With any luck it should prove as popular as, oh I don't know, the East Midlands Hardware Shop Of The Year Awards. My unique selling point will be the utter, outrageous randomness of the nominations, which will change categories [...]