things that are good

1. Janet Cardiff's Whitechapel Walk. As experienced by Sophie Robinson & Rosheen Brennan on this very cold afternoon. Dark, intimate experience of the brutal loneliness and ugly perfection of London. Originally intended to be loaned out on a walkman from the Whitechapel Library and commencing there. Unfortunately the Whitechapel Library has given way to an ideas store able to contain a dance therapy section but not this amazing piece of work...BUT I have it on mp3 so if you email me I can send it to you, so you can transfer it to an mp3 player or burn it onto cd and do it that way. I can't stress how amazing this work is, unfortunately I lack vocabulary to do it justice right now.

2. archive of the now, an expansive site put together by Andrea Brady, containing many of the best poets working in the UK today. The site contains bios, recordings and examples of work from the poets, events happening in the near future, visual/digital work and more. Makes me tired just thinking about how much work went into this site, very cool. ALSO Andrea Brady gave a great reading at Openned tonight, as did Ian Hunt, who is reading at the archive of the now launch on Nov 9th, see site for more details.

3. Which brings me to....Openned. Their 5th night was tonight. I think it's a great event with a nice unpretentious atmosphere at the foundry, which manages to avoid the event traps of old man pub, sterile art gallery and stuffy academic seminar room well. Space for lots of writers, snippets of their work which leave you wanting more rather than expansive showcases, which also have their place. I like it. The next one is on November 29th, more nearer the time.

4. Caitlin Fisher's hypermedia novella these waves of girls. Although it looks a little bit dated, it's a very cool piece. You have to double click the image to get the laughing to stop. Girls, girls girls.

5. The band Xiu Xiu (pronounced 'shu shu'). Queering the desperate emo lovesong, dirupting the 'alternative rock'/'post-punk' guitar standard with glimpses of the abyss filtered through computers. My favourite songs are Bunny Gamer b, sad pony girl, i love the valley OH, & dangerous you shouldnt be here. You can get them on itunes or amazon but probably not from a shop, or maybe from some shops I'm not sure.

6. The film Time of the Wolf directed by Michael Haneke and starring Isabelle Huppert, who I am in love with a litle bit. It's really uncompromisingly bleak, and probably an honest look at the future. Gritty futile doom. Maybe watch it on buy nothing day, or on Christmas day.