The expert speaks, and you can hear it too

Only a few days ago I mentioned the amazing Dr Matthew McLendon and his Warhol expertise. Now you can hear the man himself explain the fab work he's done at the Cornell Fine Arts Museum, courtesy of 89.9 WUCF-FM. Scroll down this page to find the link to the audio clips.

I haven't pined for Florida in my almost-15 years of living abroad, but I would love to attend some of these Warhol Wednesdays...

The O2 on a beautiful Sunday evening

Simon and I headed to the O2 on Sunday night, so Simon could enjoy his 40th birthday present of tickets to see the 30th anniversary production of The War of the Worlds. Supporters of the Hewitt-Storms household will immediately see this event as a gesture of pure love on my part; this was not my kind of thang but I was happy to visit the O2, have an evening out in a fun part of town, and hang with The Beard. I also got to see an Antony Gormley sculpture, Quantum Cloud, I hadn't yet seen; always a plus.

To my surprise, the show was OK. I was jazzed (and surprised too since I had no idea what this show was all about) to see Justin Hayward, looking snazzy as well in a suit and looking quite fit (and tall...he's 6 ft 1 in). The musicians were very good and looked like they were enjoying the evening, although I thought the entire production was completely over-amped. Not too loud, but it was hard to hear the different instruments within the blast of sound. Anyway, there was some serious ham (including fake blood...always an indicator that overacting is coming) in the show but it moved along and the visuals helped keep it interesting.

Oh, I also got to see several men sans trousers because one drunk man didn't see the "ladies" sign on the restroom door. I went in with women, but came one to a gang of drunk men, well, urinating with the stall doors wide open (men, is this what really happens in the mens' room?). All I could do was laugh, at them not with them on this one.

One of the best

Shouts & Murmurs has been a friend to me for many a year now. I've got lots of favourites, often judged by how many laughter tears I shed whilst reading the column, but this is one of the best. Enjoy.

Thursday and all is well

Yesterday I was at John Moores University in Liverpool for a conference. The day combined two of my favourite things; visiting the great north and getting to attend professional development events. Although all the speakers were in great form, Russell Prue was fab fab fab. I wish even 5% of his enthusiasm and clarity of purpose could be applied to our work team. The results would be awesome.

Working within education allows for something different every day. Today has already offered two out-of-the-ordinary sites, and it's barely 10:00AM. The first was one of our frequent library users working hard whilst wearing crazy huge NHS-style specs (also known as 1980s Morrissey glasses). Being a glasses wearer myself I never judge but these clearly were being worn without lenses. Hmmm.

The other site for today's Huh? file is one of our students wearing a Rush t-shirt. This student was pretty young and it didn't look like an ironic wearing of a t-shirt, but it was rather strange that I haven't heard anything of Rush since I was about 8 years old and had to listen to them blasting out of my brother's bedroom. Admittedly, I probably haven't seen one of their t-shirts since then, and hadn't thought of that naked guy walking towards the light decades.

Bailey's next challenge

Bailey is raising money for the British Heart Foundation by participating in a Jump Rope For Heart sponsored skip at her school. Please give her a little support, using her JustGiving page. Thanks!

The expert speaks

My lovely friend Matthew McLendon has been interviewed in the Orlando Sentinel. He's an expert on many things, and he's the hot source for Warhol isights. I so wish I could the show Matthew has created for his museum.

Find of the day

Browsing the charity shops is an enjoyed Saturday outing in our little family. We've been doing it for years and over time have come up with a game we call "find of the day". It's all about coming across the tackiest, funniest, strangest, et cetera (you get the point) item for sale and showing it to the others in the shopping party. Although Alda still holds the title for finding a 2 x 3 foot framed poster of a woman tennis player sans undergarments for sale in a Windsor-area Oxfam, on Saturday we found a pretty good bargain as well. It's pictured here, a set of prize-winning horse head shot glasses.