nick manho

the recession is biting hard. are you feeling it? well, there are ways of surviving. you have to cover all the bases. get all the angles worked out, leave no stone unturned.

take a look at the london eaterie in the photo (cafe rimini, 47 cranbourn street). originally it was a fish and chip shop. then a trendy islington guy happened by and asked for a baguette with brie and a rocket salad on the side. so what did the owner do? he phoned out for the order and the next day he also had it on the menu. it's called covering the bases. a few weeks later madonna came through the door and she wanted a veggie felafal - what with being jewish and also a pathetic believer in alternative lifestyles. quick phone call and the first lady of dreck was happily munching on her ersatz snack.

then they got luigi the plumber to pipe in a gaggia and started picking up disaffected starbucks clients. it's called working out the angles. then it was pizza for the hordes of italian students during study-holiday hell. then it was the all day breakfast and beer-bar for fat slob alcoholics (remember, they have money too). chicken and chips, sushi on a stick, halal burgers, coke, pepsi, sprite, dr peppers, tomarchio chinotto, red bull, blue ray, tizer, plj, ribena, lucozade, gatorade... it's called leaving no stone unturned.

there's a recession on but remember, capitalism isn't finished till the fat lady farts.

look at the above scene from the dumb waiter. check it out if you can. scorsese and tarantino owe everything to this guy. harold was certainly the greatest english playwright of the 20th century. and maybe even the greatest english writer. not as good as sam or joycey but they were irish, not english. then again harold was jewish. does that count as english?

"popped his clogs" is something harold himself would have written, right?

or maybe not.

not a week passes without a new soundbite from ratzinger. today it's "I am not a rock star." it's driving me crazy. luckily he's 83. should only be around for another twenty or thirty years.

someone threw a shoe at george and strangely, he ducked. after all these years he's finally learning. he didn't put his foot in it this time.

silvio ha fatto un po' di jogging oggi. mi viene in mente la famosa foto di mao facendo il bagno nel fiume yangtse:




mao era già morto da qualche mese quando hanno "fatto" la foto.