Stephen Fry in America

I had the pleasure yesterday of being lured into catching up (via BBC iPlayer) with watching the first episode of the extremely entertaining new show "Stephen Fry in America" by first discovering a small excerpt of the accompanying text on Mr Fry's blog...and I actually think it was the right way round to do it...As the episode played, I had the privilege of knowing what was going through his head as each experience unfolded (including being able to chuckle as I recalled the odd "embellishment", shall we say?)...interestingly (and somewhat obviously) the TV show, while highly enjoyable and decidedly educational in it's own charming way, in this case seems like just an executive summary for the rich detail, measured insight and beautifully woven prose in the book - which I have made up my mind to buy...as in this case it's clearly the richer element of the pairing (and not just a limp money spinning ploy as is occasionally the case)...

Oh, and funnily enough, this isn't actually the first "Stephen Fry incident" of the week either...On Tuesday I discovered (via Big Blue), that Mr Fry twitters...so I thought I would add myself to his adoring fan list (as you do) and tune in to his tweets from time to time...it was only when checking my gmail a little later in the day that I noticed the update which had arrived shortly afterwards..."Stephen Fry is now following you on twitter"...wow...

I'd better make an effort to be interesting then...! :0

US Election register - Canary Wharf

Spotted this today, lurking at the foot of the escalators in Cabot place - a registration desk attempting to attract US citizens (those that are hiding in alien territories) to sign up ready to vote (in their "abroad" capacity) and influence the results of the US elections...not that they can have honestly missed the fact that it has been taking place (since about January)...are they *ever* going to get on and actually resolve the matter?

In other news, yesterday the Leehman bank told all their employees they were going to be out of a job, the immediate result was that all the pubs and bars around the Wharf filled up with frantic looking people clutching cardboard boxes full of desk ornaments...and today, sadly, the tube trains did actually feel a little bit emptier...whatever is going on with the world...?  A colleague even spotted someone carrying an empty suitcase who got off at Canary Wharf...

Let's just hope that whoever does end up getting elected to the White House puts stabilizing global economy as priority one...working somewhere like this you can't help but see the very tangible effects, happening just across the road...

Kansas Street after Tornado...

Kansas Street
Originally uploaded by Alternative Energy Solutions.

Hrm, America isn't having much fun at the moment then...puts the Jubilee Line closures into perspective...

Happy Thanksgiving North America ;)

(obviously not my pic btw, not being in America atm)
Just don't forget what you are giving thanks for...(i.e. being taught how to live off the land by the innocent, generous natives, who then became rather inconvenient to the invaders expansion plans and ended up being hunted down, put into camps, having their lands seized etc)...still, the descendants of the ones that survived got their casinos in the end I suppose... ;)

Invasion is a fact of life though, just look at England - we are more Viking/French than we would like to admit after the number of times the Saxons were overrun (just reading up about how King Harlod came to the throne at the moment in my book -Tony Robinson's, "In Search of British Heroes", talk about a chaotic period in British history)...

And quite what Ronald McDonald is up to here I really can't imagine, but he's giving thanks in his own special way -

(this was yesterday in NYC, not my pic either)

UCLA Police - America's finest caught on video

Someone kindly posted this video (recorded on a mobile phone) of the events that unfolded as a student who had forgotten his ID card was asked to leave the library in the Powell Building at the University of California, Los Angeles...

Why would this be of interest, I hear you ask? I, too, would have imagined it would probably have been either "Well, you'd better go fetch it then!" or "Well, I know your face, don't forget next time, that's all I'm sayin'" (depending on how the officer was feeling at the time)...what actually happened simply defies belief...

We hereby redefine "disproportionate force"...