You Wouldn’t Buy a Toaster Drunk

Dylan Moran at the Hammersmith ApolloLast night we went to see Dylan Moran do stand-up comedy at the Hammersmith Apollo here in London.

Here in the UK he is probably most famous for his role in the sit-com Black Books where he plays, well, pretty much himself it turns out. It’s a version of Moran who works in a book store with Manny (Bill Bailey).

It’s difficult to say much about his show as he doesn’t really tell jokes as such, more a stream of observations. A couple of years ago when I first saw him live his most memorable line was “Children are just small drunks.” This time it was about relationships: “The first time you meet your partner you are generally drunk. Why would you do that? You wouldn’t buy a toaster drunk. It’s too important a decision.”

We were impressed. If you get the chance, he’s well worth seeing.

Hard Disks 50th Birthday

Today marks the 50th anniverary of IBM’s introduction of the first hard disk.

Of course things have moved on since then. Not only are they physically smaller, cheaper and more reliable, but, according to Steven Levy, their capacity has increased considerably:

The total amount of information stored [was] not quite enough to hold two MP3 copies of Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog.”

Would Apple’s iPod adverts have been quite so successful if it had only been “nearly two songs in your pocket”?

A Very Civil Partnership

Phil and IhsanIt turns out that 2006 is a big year for weddings. I got married in April, a friend of my wife got married in May and my friends P and I had a Civil Partnership Ceremony yesterday.

Despite the poor weather, it was a great day for everyone. They tied the knot in Wandsworth Registry Office with nearly twenty people present. It was a short but touching ceremony. They said their vows and exchanged rings.

As I’s Best Man said, in general they’ve had a fairly private relationship which made such a public occasion all the more special. It was great to see so many people there in the evening helping to celebrate their commitment to one another.

Congratulations to both of them!

Oh, we were slightly amused (or is that bemused?) to see a sign behind the registrar defining that a wedding is between a man and a woman. We weren’t sure whether some people in the council objected to same-sex marriages or that they’ve just not moved it since it became legal last year.

Photography, opinions and other random ramblings by Stephen Darlington