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I was appalled by the ornate appearance of this brand new strip of beach huts waiting to be snapped up. They just look so Disneyesque – all pastel colours and frills – yuck!

I heard these three Kiwi comedians called Tripod singing this song on BBC Radio 7’s coverage of the Edinburgh Festival recently. It completely took me by surprise and really had me laughing out loud. Enjoy!

This is a web-only sitcom, the plot is decided by the audience via their wiki and the story starts in London and then travels around Europe. It is a mockumentary style comedy, owing a lot to The Office, and you really don’t need to know anymore but just that you must go and watch it now! It’s bloody brilliant!

I have an anti-facebook post brewing – I’m not sure I will even post it – as most of my thoughts are covered in the comments on this Guardian blog post: Facebook: I don’t get it.

I might just leave it at this: www.isolatr.com/ – have a look at the FAQs page too.

I went to see Cat Power playing with her new ensemble, the Dirty Delta Blues, at The Forum at the beginning of May. Cat Power AKA Chan Marshall has ditched her trademark heavy fringe for a completely different look, bizarrely, kinda like Sporty Spice or Lady Sovereign: hair pulled hard back from her face into a high ponytail (see photo on Flickr). She played a fantastic set, and then some, but I have to confess I was not as moved as I had hoped to be. From the spine-tingling music I have heard by Cat Power in session or on album, I came expecting a night covered in goose bumps, but found instead that I was warmly impressed at her musical skill rather than shivering at the passionate beauty of it all.

More photos from Cat Power at The Forum on May 1st

This simple recipe has become a regular feature in our household recently – it just perfect for when you’re in a rush/can’t be bothered to spend long cooking and want some comfort food – its very naughty! It comes from a famous Brit chef who I won’t mention here else I get done for copyright, but I was just asked by a houseguest for the recipe and figured if I’m going to write it down I might as well share it with y’all. So here it is from memory, in my own words.

Ingredients (for 2)

200g Spaghetti
4 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 egg yolk + 1 whole egg
4 tbsp vermouth
2 tsp olive oil
100g pancetta, cubed
1 tbsp butter
freshly grated black pepper and nutmeg

Whisk the eggs, parmesan, black pepper and nutmeg together. I buy pancetta from my local Italian deli already cubed and ready to go – if you can’t find pancetta you can use a good quality smoked bacon and chop it into small pieces. Measure out the vermouth and butter as this dish takes no time to cook so you need everything ready.

Boil a medium saucepan of salted water and add the spaghetti. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the pancetta for 5 mins until getting crispy. Add the vermouth to the pan and let it cook down to a nice syrupy consistency then turn off the heat. The pasta should be about ready now – just al dente. Drain the spaghetti and put it back in the pan. Add the butter to the pancetta and vermouth mix and then stir this into the pasta. Then stir in the egg mixture (keeping it off the heat – you don’t want the egg to get scrambled!). The result is that the spaghetti is just coated in a delicious creamy sauce, flecked with pancetta bits – but without any actual cream.

The spaghetti carbonara is now ready to serve. I would have a green salad on the side if I have time/inclination. Enjoy!

The insane (and ever increasing) amount of money that our Government is going to spend on the Olympics is going to mean that 35% of (the ever dwindling) Arts Council funding will be cut. This is going to impact our arts community in a massively detrimental way as I’m sure you would agree…

So here is a petition to the Prime Minister to Stop the Chancellor from using lottery money to fund the olympics in 2012 which I urge all UK residents to sign… If you think that signing petitions is pointless please consider this:

It has already gathered 1000 signatures and closes on 16 September 2007. If it gets to 40,000 signatures it would make it into the top 5 most popular petitions on the site! Currently, the petition in the number 4 spot is ‘Continue funding for the Royal Air Force Aerobatics Team’. Surely in the arts world we are able to gather a similar if, not larger number, of supporters? Also, very popular petitions seem to generate responses from the Prime Minister prior to the petition closing.

Please sign up and tell your friends and peers to do the same!

Christian Kuras (AKA North) has some art work on exhibition right now in a group show called The Adventurous Type at the Hyde Park Art Centre in Chicago. He made the piece in collaboration with Duncan MacKenzie, and it’s being shown alongside another of their pieces, The Vindicator. Happy Hydrogen Bomb is a 5ft rainbow coloured model of a hydrogen bomb explosion looming up out of the the centre of a city. I think it is pretty cool, if a little twisted! Take a look at the work in more detail on their website: http://bathosphere.org/kurasmackenzie/

Yes, I do mean hours... I just heard a brilliant podcast from this year’s SXSW interactive festival by a guy called Tim Ferriss, talking about how to maximise on fun and minimise on work. Now I don’t necessarily buy the whole 4 hour work week, I don’t think I even want it, but there is so much to be gleened from his talk that could help you reconfigure your approach to managing work (and play for that matter). He talks about only checking your email twice a day so as to save time and get more work done – the more I think about this, the more it makes sense; but trying to put it into practice I realise how much more organised I’d need to be to make it work.

It’s really interesting to consider though, how many times you go to check your email just out of boredom over the task you should be doing… and the amount of time then wasted all round. Some of his points just won’t work unless you’re the CEO of a company, and there’s some questionnable approaches to outsourcing work to MBA’s in India (more on his response to my question about that coming soon…) but aside from this it is well worth the listen: check it out, and please, share what you think by commenting on this blog.

The 4-Hour Workweek: Secrets of Doing More with Less in a Digital World

South By South West is an interactive, film and music festival that takes place in Texas every year.

If you want to read more inspirational words about time management and work ethic check out another article I posted about titled The Four Day Week Challenge here

This recipe is a variation of Rasa’s beetroot curry and it accompanied the huge beetroot we got in our Growing Communities veg box this week. Its something different to do with your beetroot and an unusual vegetable for currying. I’ve made it twice now – it is really delicious, but don’t try cutting any corners with the process; do push the pureed spring onion tops and pistachios through a sieve, and do cut the beetroot into matchsticks; I skipped this the first time round and the texture just wasn’t quite right.

Ingredients

• 500g Beetroot
• 50g shelled pistaschios
• 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
• 6 cardamom pods
• 1tsp fennel seeds
• 3 fresh chillies
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 2 bunches spring onions
• 100g fresh coconut, grated
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 200ml plain yoghurt

Method

Boil the beetroots until tender and peel them under cold running water, then chop them into thick matchsticks. Toast the pistachios in the oven or on the hob. Crack the cardamom seeds and remove the seeds, discarding the pods. Slice the white ends of the spring onions and chop them finely. Drop the green ends into a pan of boiling water for a few seconds then plunge them into cold water. Chop them carsely and put them into a food processor with the pistachios, cardamom seeds and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and blend, adding a little cold water in a slow stream until you get a thick butsmooth puree. Pass this through a sieve, fine enough to take out any coarse pieces of scallian – into a small pan. Hlave the chillies lengthways, and chop them into slices. Heat another tablespoon of olive oil in a shallow pan and cook the sping onion white bits, the chillies, ginger, mustard and fennel seeds over a medium heat, stirring for 5 minutes, then add the beetroot and coconut and the pistachio and green onions paste, and cook for 5 more minutes. Season with salt and stir in the yoghurt just before you serve.

Rasa is a vegetarian South Indian restaurant on Stoke Newington Church street, Hackney, London N16