"It was Christmas Eve, babe"

Time for one final entry before I disappear for Christmas.

Today's theme is, well, "all the junk I meant to post and would forget if I didn't do it now".

All Girl Summer Fun BandMillion Things

Rumours from Apple's Shiny Things Department.

I discovered yesterday that Tolkien started work on a sequel to The Lord of The Rings. He only managed a chapter or two before he abandoned it, but you can read it in the last history of Middle-Earth book, The Peoples of Middle-Earth, if you're interested. (It does sound rather dodgy, to be honest)

A website showcasing the work of a Japanese design company, with lots of fun images and free fonts.

The Onion is on a roll, with the Least Essential Albums of 2003, and a feature on toys your kids don't want.

Christmas music generated from old 8-bit computers.

Santacon!

Lauren LaverneIan

Happy Christmas everybody!

currently playing: The Pretenders — 2000 Miles

Best of 2003: Belle & Sebastian — Dear Catastrophe Waitress

"Step Into My Office, Baby" steals the drums from Adam Ant and Bow Wow Wow; "Stay Loose" is New Romanticism writ large. Apart from that, though, Trevor Horn's production is less intrusive than some people had feared (and the aforementioned songs are great anyway), just making the band sound tighter and louder than ever before. "If She Wants Me" is my favourite track from the album, with its lament of "If I could do just one near perfect thing I'd be happy" and the dismissal of such melancholy thinking with "On second thoughs, I'd rather hang about and be there with my best friend". "I'm A Cuckoo" is pretty good as well, even if it does rhyme Thin Lizzy with Tokyo…