Friday 9am

Thursday

What proofreading looks like

Or do I mean "proof reading"? Anyway, this is it. Because "finishing" a manuscript really means "not having to think up any more stuff, but still having to check what's in it." And by "checking" I mean, "checking that it's in the right place" and "saying the right thing." And by "saying the right thing" I mean, sometimes having to rewrite that. Or make up something new to go where the wrong thing was. Which is different from originating material. Honest.

In movie productions it's called "shooting pick ups." Which is different from shooting at flat bed trucks, but about as much fun, because you're improving on the work you've "finished" rather than going through the whole Oh God Is It Any Good palaver. I promised the ms would be ready at the end of January but it will be the end of February now. Still, only a month late - that's not too bad. And it was finished at the end of January insofar as it was "finished."

Did Jacques Derrida ever use air quotes? That would have been "funny."

Next big thing #2

Bye bye, Twitter...

Next big thing #1

Yeasayer who hail from NY, I think. They sound Ladyflash-ish / post-Merriweather Animal Collective.

Still proofing. Nips and tucks.

Allo

Smokin'

There has been some debate in the Muse Lounge about the new anti-smoking laws. Basically Gretchen and Cedric still smoke like chimneys and none of the bar staff are going to be telling them to put it out. Recreational drugs tend to find their way into the Muse Lounge regardless of external fashions for or against. This permissive attitude is a natural product of the Hooves' European heritage and has caused problems in the past, most famously with the Lounge's accountant, Hugo Galvis. Cedric himself hired Hugo to work on the business's books after a two-day night on the town in the early 90s. Tellingly, even after 48 hours of socialising and hijinks the older Cedric remained unaware that Hugo came from San Cristobel let alone spoke not one word of English. "The time we spend together, she had flown by," Hugo told translators. "The old man - he see a little of himself in me, I think, with the fire in the eyes." In another piece of bad news, Hugo's luck with numbers has turned out to be inversely proportional to his success with the ladies, resulting in the Inland Revenue imposing full tax audits on the Muse Lounge following the break-ups of his first and second marriages. His third - to controversial Italian women's hockey star Annamaria Raffo - has seemed to take, however, and projections for the second half of 2003 are looking good, delivered as always in Hugo's crabbed handwriting on chunks of plasterboard borrowed from the painters and workmen permanently renovating the couple's ninth-floor Herne Bay apartment. "Annamarie, she is life to me," Hugo explained, wiping the sweat from his face. "Aiyee - see how my face burns? Hayfever all the time from your stinking Pacific island - hayfever! I leave you all one day!" His departure however has been delayed by inquiries from various United States agencies and a late night telephone caller identifying himself only as "El pez grande".

– Apr 19, 2003