Why Am I Me?

Franz Kafka

Lawyers open cache of unpublished Kafka manuscripts

Franz Kafka wanted all his manuscripts to be burned after his death, but his friend Max Brod disregarded the request, seeding a complex legal battle over thousands of manuscripts that has the literary world agog. That legal tussle takes a new twist today as four safety deposit boxes in a Zurich bank containing the manuscripts are opened.

The boxes are believed to contain thousands of manuscripts by Kafka and Brod, including letters, journals, sketches and drawings, some of which have never been published and could provide literary detetectives an insight into one of the 20th century’s greatest writers.

Franz Kafka is one of my favourite writers, shame this looks like turning into a shit fight about ‘ownership’, I’d be really excited if some new Kafka work was to be published.

Nigel De Jong taking out Xabi Alonso, Kung Fu style

Not the greatest World Cup I can remember, especially so as an England supporter, being spanked 4-1 by the Germans was an absolute shocker and we were utterly diabolical in general.

There was still plenty of drama and incident. What happened to the French is anyones guess, in particular how badly they played, but also how mad their coach is and what a farce the whole campaign was for them. Maybe a bit of karma for that handball against Ireland. It’s pretty amazing to think the two finalists from the last World Cup, France and Italy, both finished bottom of their groups.

I was disappointed to see Ghana lose to Uruguay with a missed penalty in the last minute after a goal line handball, no justice there. I thought Germany played really impressively, scoring a load of goals in the process.

The Spanish played some brilliant football despite never really taking any game by the scruff of the neck. I thought they deserved to win the final, not nice to see the Dutch resort to such cynical tactics, that De Jong tackle was particularly bad.

Olympic Mascots Wenlock and Mandeville

London 2012 unveils Games mascots Wenlock & Mandeville

London 2012 organisers have unveiled cartoon animations named Wenlock and Mandeville as the mascots for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Focus groups of children and families helped form the designs and children’s author Michael Morpurgo added a story concept for an animated series.

“We’ve created our mascots for children,” said Locog chair Lord Coe.

“They will connect young people with sport, and tell the story of our proud Olympic and Paralympic history.”

The characters are named after the village of Much Wenlock in Shropshire – which hosted a precursor to the modern Olympic Games in the 19th Century – and the birthplace of the Paralympic Games, Stoke Mandeville hospital in Buckinghamshire.

Mascots often seem like a lame side-thought to me, created  for the purposes of selling tacky merchandise. However I do quite like these ones, especially the concept behind them and the idea of having a story behind their existence.

David Cameron and Nick Clegg

After a hung Parliament in the 2010 UK Parliamentary General Election the Liberal Democrats have got into bed with the Conservative Party to form a coalition government.

Essentially this looks like a marriage of convenience to me, couldn’t resist a bit of Photoshop action on this one.

Eyjafjallajökull Volcano Erupting

It’s not been much fun for people stranded at airports across Europe and elsewhere, but some of the images of the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland I’ve seen recently are truly spectacular. This photo  during a lightning strike is a pretty awesome reminder of the power of nature.

I have no idea how to pronounce that name though.

Shuan White at the Olympics

It’s not very often these days that someone ups the ante in skateboarding or snowboarding with regards to how many revolutions they can perform in an air trick. I can barely even comprehend the figure 1260 so the fact that Shaun White did a double McTwist, yes that’s 1260 degrees of revolution, in the final of the Olympic Half Pipe contest in Vancouver seems pretty extraordinary.
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Burj Tower

World’s tallest building opens in Dubai

The world’s tallest building has been opened with a dramatic fireworks ceremony in the Gulf emirate of Dubai.

The Burj Khalifa was revealed to be 828m (2,716ft) high, far taller than the previous record holder, Taipei 101.

Known as the Burj Dubai during construction, the tower has been renamed after the leader of Dubai’s oil-rich neighbour, Abu Dhabi.

Last month, Abu Dhabi gave Dubai a handout of $10bn (£6.13bn) to help it pay off its debts.

Construction of the Burj Dubai began in 2004, at the height of an economic boom.

Clad in 28,000 glass panels, the tower has 160 floors and more than 500,000 sq m of space for offices and flats.

Holy shit that is insane in the membrane, 828 meters! That’s over 3 times the size of Canary Wharf Tower which is the tallest building here in London.

I love a tall building, the biggest I’ve seen are the old Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) in Chicago at 442 m (1,451 ft) and the Two International Finance Centre in Hong Kong at 416 m (1,362 ft). They look pretty effin tall so this thing must look colossal.

Drinking Fountain Sign

London’s new drinking fountains a challenge to bottled water industry

London may soon follow in the footsteps of Bundanoon, the Australian town that last week banned bottled water and set up drinking fountains for thirsty locals.

The capital’s first water stations will be set up this month in a move that could have serious repercussions for the £1.5bn-a-year bottled water industry, with companies finding it increasingly difficult to justify their carbon footprint as the quality of tap water improves.
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I was bemoaning the lack of drinking fountains yesterday and remembering an article I read about the ban on bottles water in Bundanoon and then saw this article on the very subject in the Observer a few hours later.
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It’s been just over a year since I started this blog, was away in Ancona without net access to write this sooner, enjoying the last bit of summer sun. Happy first birthday to me.

The Anzac Bridge During the recent dust storm in Sydey

I wonder how many photos were taken in Australia last week? Definitely a lot, that dust storm was some crazy weather.

Huge dust storm blankets eastern Australia

The worst dust storm in decades hit Australia on Wednesday, blanketing Sydney in red dust, and snarling up the transport system as earthquakes, giant hailstones and even a tornado swept the east of the country.

Gale-force winds dumped thousands of tonnes of red desert dust on Australia’s biggest city, shrouding it in an eerie orange haze and coating the iconic Sydney Opera House in a fine layer of powder.