Over the last two months or so before Ridley Scott's American Gangster was released, when asked by customers at work whether we had any books on Frank Lucas, my reply would be something along the lines of "Lucas? Lucas? Who the fuck is Lucas?"

Now I know my yank crime from Bumpy to Nitti but I couldn't for the life of me recall who the flip the ( Read more... )

I've been asked to pick a book for the staff choices shelf in Borders. An employee can select any book so long as (a) you can write a paragraph of about forty words praising it and (b) it's something we have a fair few copies of in stock; so I chose the new Love and Rockets release (well, rerelease) as it's in my section and I'm fond of L&R. Of the ( Read more... )

There's been little to report on the home front as of late with the notable exception that two weeks ago some slag stole half a grand straight out of the jaws of my bank account ( Read more... )

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INT. A LOCAL PHARMACIST IN NORTH-WEST LONDON - DAYTIME
A young man enters the store and addresses the shop assistant.

YOUNG MAN: Toothpaste, motherfucker. Do you sell it?
ASSISTANT: Yes. (a five-minute Pinter-esque pause) We do ( Read more... )

A brief summary of the last fortnight ( Read more... )

At 5:55 today (that's 1755 hours in army time), five minutes before the store closes for the night, a family of well-to-do Italians plonked a whopping thirty-seven items at my checkout point just as I was shutting up shop. Most of these items were vast tomes and board games piled in ziggurats, which I then had to scan (or would've, had not most of ( Read more... )

I suppose I should really begin by quickly informing you how my recent work experience on a London newspaper went. Y'see, they wanted me to write a gripping exposé for them and whilst I couldn't do that, I did manage to come up with this instead:

DRAFT #1: Carlos the Jackal is Lord Lucan: The Untold Story
(Rejected due to lack of evidence)

DRAFT ( Read more... )

When I’m not working (or learning how to work, as was the case today), you can usually find me watching The Wire, and if I’m not watching The Wire, you can usually find me watching something which, sadly more often than not, doesn’t involve cops, heroin or Baltimore. If I’m not watching either of the above, you can probably find me in my bedroom at ( Read more... )

And I’m back.

Now, to answer your questions:

1. Where have you been over the last two months?I’ve been in London since the middle of July and have spent the last two months without any domestic internet access. As a result of this catastrophe, I’m now fitter, happier, more productive and better off than I’ve ever been before. I even go out ( Read more... )