2026-02-20 18:17:36
Area 11 is fronted by "Diggy Hole II" vocalist, Thomas "Sparkles*" Clarke who sounds so much like Frank Turner I had to check he wasn't. Inspired by anime and J-Rock, this Nottingham hard rock band throw out high octane pop-y inoffensive rock songs that aren't pop-punk, hard rock, British indie, or heavy metal but also all of those things. I can hear Iron Maiden and Babylon Zoo and Million Dead and Fall Out Boy and Dragonforce and Medic Droid and Wombats and Enter Shikari. "Heaven-piercing Giga Drill" is a bloody good introduction!
Not only good advice but a catchy indie song, "Be Gay, Do Drugs, Hail Satan" by Super Cassette deserves repeated plays. In fact, stick it on every party playlist you have. Somewhere in the tiny sliver Venn diagram overlap of Decemberists, Cavetown, and Los Campesinos with a dose of Harley Poe.
When people say punk is dead
they aren't really looking hard. Dropkick Murphys and Haywire just dropped a 1980's British street punk sounding anthem railing against ICE. Nice. "Citizen I.C.E." reminds me of The Exploited and Aglio é Olio.
I'll be honest, I've never heard grungegaze dream indie before but I can't argue with a woman from Wigan! Greater Manchester's TTSSFU blend Nirvana and the Pixies with Cocteau Twins and a heck of a lot of fuzzbox into something incredible. The whole of 2025's "Blown" is well worth a listen.
2026-02-18 05:10:02
I devoured this
said V.E. Schwab in a jacket quote either carefully written or carefully chosen because it references consuming.
There is a secret race of creatures, the eponymous Book Eaters, that look like humans but are nourished by the words and ideas they osmose when they literally eat books. It's a little on-the-nose for this unrepentant bookworm (and, apparently, a certain New York Times bestselling author).
These poor souls live in manor houses dotted around the country like half a dozen vampiric Brontë families shepherding their dwindling number of fertile women around for breeding escorted, in the most fanciful way, by "Knights"; a paramilitary organisation comprised of wayward Family sons and their tame "Dragons" — Mind Eaters, monstrous corruptions of Book Eaters who, instead, feed on the thoughts and dreams of living creatures.
Devon Fairweather is one such bride but, like all good heroines, isn't going to suffer under this dumb patriarchy any longer. Fuelled by a mother's righteous fire, Devon takes control of her own life after discovering her newborn baby is a Mind Eater.
Chock full of references to fairy tales, Sunyi Dean's gothic debut feels like a labour of love; a personal novel of love — for books, for children, for life.
This book feels like it inhabits the Venn diagram intersect of Bridget Collins' The Silence Factory and Holly Black's The Book of Night. There's a timeless out-of-time feeling; as though the real world is happening off stage, mixed with Devon; six foot tall, men's black jeans, buzzcut. Not an anti-hero but not a typical hero either.
Some of the chapters felt they had had a bit more love than others but whether this was Dean's fault or her editor's I couldn't say. Nothing to ruin my enjoyment of the story though. I, like Schwab before me, devoured this book then sat back –satisfied– and thought I wish there was pudding a sequel.
2026-02-16 03:24:02
In the web design sense, "breadcrumbs" are the navigation helpers on many websites that show you where you are in the site — a path from where you currently are, back up the folder/URL structure, to the homepage.
The terminology comes from the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel where the titular children are left to die in the woods but leave a trail of breadcrumbs to find their way home.
So far, so sense. Except, if you remember, Hansel originally leaves a trail of white stones.
These show up well on the forest floor in moonlight and the siblings make it home safely — much to their wicked stepmother's chagrin.
When he leaves the breadcrumb trail the following night (his stepmother having prevented him from sneaking out to collect stones) they are almost immediately eaten by the birds and the children wander lost until they are nearly eaten by a hideous child-eating witch.
I don't feel like breadcrumbs are the most accurate description of the UI element. I'm not sure exactly what is (I'm a developer and, therefore, terrible at naming things) but my initial thought was "Hansel Path".
What do you think? Get in touch by email, hit me up on the Socials™, or elsewhere online.
2026-02-15 16:25:20
My phone vibrates quietly on the desk near my left hand. I put down my tea cup and pick it up. There is a local weather warning for snow. I shrug; there have been warnings like this recently that came to nothing and, besides, I'm warm indoors for the forseeable. I dismiss the notification and put my phone down.
Just then, a wild and tumultuous flurry of snowflakes — each as big as a cat — batter the window pane for five endless minutes then abruptly subside in favour of bright sunshine.
Within minutes it's like the snowstorm never happened.
I bought a tiny wireless keyboard for my phone so I can type better when I'm away from my laptop. Often I'll have time at my desk at work to write a post but, by Jesus, do I hate writing anything long-form on my phone's on-screen keyboard.
Work has been incredibly busy this week.
Tuesday I was out of the office on a training day. It was nice, I learned so many things and got to spend time with my friend, Iain. We used to be in the same team but not any more so we don't get to hang out every day. Sad times.
The down side to that is that I have to do five days of work in three days 🙃
With two important deadlines looming, everyone is in the same boat though. All hands on deck to get two reports finished.
I'm quietly confident this is my best technical audit yet!
I've seen a couple of wrens hanging around the kitchen window; flitting between the hedge and the tree roughly around where the last pair nested last year. I'm hoping we will have some new neighbours — with a happier ending than last time! 😢
She was a princess of the magic line. The gods had sent their shadows to her christening.
Lord Dunsany, The King of Elfland’s Daughter
2026-02-13 20:56:39
Not to get all hipster but I got into Charli XCX from being very tumblr online when she released True Romance. Her new album is the soundtrack from Emerald Fennell's "Wuthering Heights" which feels like a flex but one I'm here for!
Album opener, "House", is my favourite track — it reeks of Kiki Rockwell (affectionate).
The album is cohesive (a given for a soundtrack) and effortlessly blends Charli's vibe with more classical soundtrack elements. Feelings of disquiet compete with elation, swells and valleys and builds aplenty.
2026-02-13 15:25:57
Despite my good intentions, I still spend more time on my phone than I would like to. Actually, that's no surprise considering that it's such a powerful tool.
niqwithq
I have written on this topic before (quoting ava and discussing how smartphones are not the enemy) and my opinions haven't changed.
Niq is completely right; phones are tools and, used correctly, are perfectly safe.
I use mine in much the same way as Niq; it's a productivity tool with very little by way of "entertainment". I communicate, organise, research, and log through my phone.
So, yeah, I'm still not worried about my "screen time".