First of all Antony & the Johnsons. Antony is an androgynous singer very much in the tradition of Nina Simone, Brian Ferry, Scott Walker and the like. His songs are about the blurring of gender , relationships , love, passing and hope . None of which will prepare you for his unique voice and the beauty of the songs. These are songs that keep drawing me back over and over again. Utterly sublime.
The other good thing is a bit more annoying. Charlie Stross has started a fantasy series, apparently originally in order to keep up his release schedule. This blog entry about writing it is worth a read. I've just read the first book and I have to say its brilliant. Its really nice to have a main character who is not utterly naive about what they are getting themselves into or selective in what they are intelligent about. Stross has not made it easy for himself but does a brilliant job. What is annoying though is that I have just read the brilliant and exciting first book in an unpublished series and I am going to have to wait patiently for all the rest to come out. Bugger.
The government is increasingly treating ID cards as a done deal in the UK. They claim that they are desperately needed to combat fraud, terrorism and identity theft. This despite the fact that there is no evidence they will make much, if any, impact on fraud or terrorism and could possibly make identity theft easier. If you live in the UK you really should read this.