The Null Device
2007/3/5
A team of six specialists assembled by the BBC has discovered the ten steps to true happiness:
The team, which consists of a psychologist, a psychotherapist, two "workplace specialists", a "social entrepreneur" and "Richard Reeves, whose expertise spans philosophy, public policy and economics", has been given the task of increasing the levels of happiness in Slough, a town whose name has stood as a byword for post-industrial alienation and the dehumanising effects of modernity since John Betjeman penned his famous ode to the place in 1937.
- Plant something and nurture it
- Count your blessings - at least five - at the end of each day
- Take time to talk - have an hour-long conversation with a loved one each week
- Phone a friend whom you have not spoken to for a while and arrange to meet up
- Give yourself a treat every day and take the time to really enjoy it
- Have a good laugh at least once a day
- Get physical - exercise for half an hour three times a week
- Smile at and/or say hello to a stranger at least once each day
- Cut your TV viewing by half
- Spread some kindness - do a good turn for someone every day
MP3Hugger has a roundup of what happened to the various members of Slowdive after the band broke up, along with MP3s from their various projects. It seems that their bass player, Nick Chaplin, has disappeared without a trace, while the other ex-members are continuing various projects.
Also via No Rock&Roll Fun, the Bluffer's Guide to Sophisti-pop. Everything you need to know about a genre of ultra-smooth, aspirational Thatcherite synth-jazz-pop, spawned from the New Pop begotten by post-punk/new-wave, that flourished in the mid-1980s, and is nonetheless a whole lot less aurally offensive than most things labelled "smooth jazz". And here is an article about sophisti-pop and what fits into it.