Receding Hairline

Dog(s) of the Week: Bacardi and Flora

chris@recedinghairline.co.uk — 2009-06-14T18:42:52+01:00

Jamie came to visit us from that London place this weekend. Many and varied japes were had, including a visit to the Bath Cat and Dogs Home this morning to walk a sweet-natured lurcher called Flora and a young German Shepherd who rejoiced in the world’s chavviest name, Bacardi. Here is young Mr Malcolm displaying his dog mastery.

We also went out to Lacock; it’s only half an hour’s drive west of Bath, and it’s utterly entrancing. We’d been to the village before – where at the moment filming for Cranford is taking place – but never to the abbey. If the cloisters below look familiar somehow, it’s because it’s where many scenes for the Harry Potter franchise are shot. Lovely place, and if you’re local and haven’t yet been, floor tiger judges you.

Gymnast ≟ superhero

chris@recedinghairline.co.uk — 2009-06-05T21:46:25+01:00

One would assume that, before I even wrote this, some Hollywood bigwig spat out his cigar and told his seckitery to get this guy in pronto.

This being the internet, I’m assuming that some folks will want to tell me that what he does is in no way remarkable. You, you poor, joyless and bitter person, may have a point, and there’s no doubting the music and ’tude on display here is a bit knob, but damn that boy can do things that appear to defy physics. [via]

Dog of the Week: Oxo

chris@recedinghairline.co.uk — 2009-05-31T16:51:06+01:00

Last week, we walked an arthritic Rottweiler called Kizzie, and a mental Staffie cross called Oxo. I forgot my camera. This week, I walked Oxo again, and forgot my camera again. So instead of photographs, Oxo will today be represented by an audio recording made on my iPhone of him as he snuffled around in the undergrowth. Click here to listen to him – we’re not sure if his obsession with spending minutes at a time sniffing an apparently insignificant patch of grass means his nose is hypersensitive or dulled beyond use. We just know that it takes twice as long to cover a set distance with him. (What is Dog of the Week?)

International food parcels

chris@recedinghairline.co.uk — 2009-05-18T22:12:32+01:00

Chatting to one of my colleagues from our sister magazine, Mac|Life, the idea of The MacFormat Cultural Outreach Programme was born. I bought and packaged up a selection of the finest comestibles this great nation of ours has ever produced, and mailed them off to the peeps in San Francisco.

The journey wasn’t kind to the box; when we sent it, it looked like this:

...but when it arrived in the US of A – after a baffling detour to Germany, apparently – it looked like this:

More photos from the American end here, and if you’d like to know what was in the box o’ treats, you can read Wife’s PDF commentary here. Now, we wait; American deliciousnessnessness will be here before long.

Gizza job

chris@recedinghairline.co.uk — 2009-05-03T17:18:34+01:00

I may be a technology journalist, but I trained as a graphic designer. I was always a geek, and when, a few weeks after graduating, I saw an ad for a Labs Assistant for MacUser, I applied. I got the job and the rest, as people have an egotistical habit of saying, is history. I was planning on applying for design jobs, though, and had even got as far as designing and prototyping the little bit of direct mail I had intended to send. I found it the other day:

Wife insists that this was originally her idea; this may be* technically true.

*is

Dog of the Week: Stig (again)

chris@recedinghairline.co.uk — 2009-05-03T13:26:23+01:00

Stig may be the daftest dog ever born. When he found this stick, he couldn’t decide if he wanted to chew it or carry it, so opted for walking along, head tilted back, attempting to eat the stick at the same time. This was, it scarcely needs saying, doomed to failure, and the stick was frequently dropped. He would also, adorably, throw the stick for himself, tossing it away with a flick of the head then bounding the two strides to where it had landed before gumming it up again.

This is Stig on a log, trying to walk in seven directions at once, and chew his own lead. Like I said: daftest dog ever born. More pictures on Flickr. (What is Dog of the Week?)