Consuming · 6 November 2003
Stainless Steel Rasp
Lee Valley Tools
Turns garlic to liquid, parmesan to fluffy cheese snow, citrus rind to orderly zest and ginger to mud. You’ll wonder how you lived without it, unless of course you’re occupied with other, larger matters.
Belle & Sebastian – Gigantic
MP3 bootleg, found on the usual networks
Not ordinarily a fan of these agents of Scots wimp-rock, but strongly endorse this recording from a May 2002 concert in which an audience member named Rachel came onstage to make a go of the Pixies song: she doesn’t remember the words (except for hey Paul hey Paul, etc.), but manages to work in that she loves her boyfriend Josh.
Acquisition X
David Watanabe
A very good (Mac OSX only) filesharing application. Intuitively organised in an elegant Cocoa layout. Works seamlessly with iTunes, and only fifteen bucks.
Potatoes
Starchy tuber
Highly flexible foodstuff. Can be baked, boiled, fried, mashed, stuffed. Good with cheese, but not for the Atkins adherent. Will keep for like ever in the cupboard.
Walkydog
Bice S.R.L.
Clever device for safely taking the dog for a bicycle ride. Works, despite the name. Perhaps bikeydog.com was taken.
Être et Avoir
Nicolas Philibert
A thousand miles from the scattershot manipulative bombast of some documentaries, this quiet year filmed in a one-room schoolhouse in Auvergne manages somehow to catalogue vast tracts of human experience and weave narrative both tragic and heroic. One of the most pleasing films of recent memory. NB: no tits or shit blowing up.
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