can I catch a chocolate addiction?

With the chocolate egg season upon us, I thought it would be interesting to investigate the mood enhancing chemicals associated with chocolate.

Strictly in the interests of science, of course.

The biggie that most people have heard about is the caffeine relative called theobromine, which is the one usually shown on "I heart chocolate" tee-shirts, so that's a good place to start, with its trippy endorphins to create a pleasant buzz.

It's said that the brain chemicals that chocolate enhances are relatives of opium. It works because one of the brain's receptors that flips is the same one that responds to marijuana, but instead of responding to THC (the cannabis chemical tetrahydrocannabinol), the brain produces anadamide and is happy to let chocolate slow down its dispersal to create similar but more localised receptor effect to cannabis.

Then there's the love drug component.

That's because chocolate also contains phenylethylamine, which is a chemical related to amphetamines. Like uppers, this chemical raises blood pressure and blood-sugar level creating a state that has been likened to a feeling of being in love.

So if we see plenty of blissed out people this week, the combination of self produced opiates and feelings of love may be partly driven from their levels of chocolate consumption.

Pass the Creme Eggs.

set the controls for the heart of the sun

Am I mistaken, or is the Director General of CERN in Japan on the day that the most significant CERN experiment in ages is taking place in Geneva? Could that be the other side of the planet, by any chance?

The biggie is the switch-on of the Large Hadron Collider filled with protons stripped from Hydrogen and ramped up to a 'back to the future' style voltage of 3.5 Trillion electron volts (TeV).

Quite powerful.

Then the ikkle protons buzz around and get excited until they are deflected to collide creating all manner of new and otherworldly sparks.

1000 million times hotter than the sun. In a tiny space.

My guess is that the beings from distant planets will spot this sign of galactic level science and decide to point their telescopes and time-travel devices our way.

Earth. Mostly Harmless. As the hitch-hikers guide says.

Nanoo-Nanoo.

the few moments

MARCH 3 from Jake Lodwick on Vimeo.

An interesting project by Jake Lodwick who facilitated the music of Michael McQuilken as The Few Moments.

Enjoy this 45 minute music album played on a one-man musical contraption, accompanied by continuous images from Ira Marcks.

Twittered by @amandapalmer.

Run it full screen for best effect.

Late at night.

gone shopping

Great plans to be ahead of the curve today, although I am suspicious that this will work.

Shopping on a Sunday the weekend after most peoples' pay days and just before a major public holiday has challenges, as well as the need to drop off a car before even getting to the main destination.

athlete of the spirit

"It'll be fine", someone said, as we dinged a front door bell sometime after midnight, to see whether we could get some coffee and a chatter.

A gang of us had been to the opera, and then on for a very lively Italian supper.

Let's rewind.

Six thirty at Trafalgar Square on the way to the Coliseum, for the last night of Satyagraha, by the English National Opera. It's the recent revival of the piece by Philip Glass about Ghandi's non-violent protests in South Africa. Waiting outside for part of our ensemble, there were glimpses of other well-known people entering for the performance, including Rufus Wainwright, who is about to put on his own opera "Prima-Donna" close by in Clerkenwell at Sadlers Wells.

A three act piece, developing the Philip Glass score which used woodwinds and strings alone, to provide a progressive and meditative score telling part of Ghandi's story, from three perspectives involving Leo Tolstoy, Indian poet Ravindranath Tagore, and Martin Luther King.

Dramatic staging across an arced and corrugated steel stage, fabulous precise singing from the lead performers, bold use of imagery and a contemporary and fresh feel to the score created an evening event of impressions and emotion. The lyrical context was also back projected as the piece unfolded, with the lyrics (libretto?) mainly in Sanscrit.

Enjoy a sample of the work here, whilst browsing the music.

The Coliseum is a fine venue for such a performance, although the manners and inefficiencies of staff in the Dress Circle kingdom are at odds with general London hospitality.

Afterwards, we made a very direct route to a marvellously hospitable Italian restaurant, where we enjoyed simple later supper and chatted over the positive experience of the evening, before 'the lost and then found' bag episode and the route to the late doorbell.

another sign of spring

A bit of a surprise as I awoke this morning.

I was still in bed when I heard the sound. A low pitched murmur and very close.

I sometimes open one eye at a time when I wake up. Today it was both together and a synchronised placement of both feet on the floor.

A pretty bee had decided to take a look around. Somewhere to settle down and raise the bee-lets. I had to make a quick decision about whether this could all become rather high maintenance. One look from her told me it would.

Instead I've had to let her go. She really did fly out through the bedroom window. I'll expect to see some of her kids hanging around the lavender later.

christina nott returns

I see Christina Nott has been busy since the last rashbre / christina collaboration and the new website in bubbleandsqueek.co.uk has appeared along with a facebook page.

Flattering that 'remember me' is the track on the site. A rashbre / christina collaboration.

tindersticks at the O2 shepherds bush

A short excursion to the massive high-tech car park under Westfield shopping centre today, before heading to Shepherd's Bush Green.

The shopping mall looms large over an area of victorian terraced housing mixed with small shops specialising in unblocking phones and others as KFC look-alikes selling all manner of al-Halal chicken specialities.

Then past the Green which has survived the huge giratory systems of Shepherd's Bush, now made even more complex since the arrival of the mega mall like some District 9 spacecraft.

I was heading for a music concert at the still ornate Empire theatre, now renamed as the O2 Empire Academy but was slightly early for the pre-arranged pizza rendezvous. I stopped for a swift drink at the dimly lit and sofa laden Defector's Weld, before passing a group of very loud cider drinkers on the way to the restaurant on Rockley Road.

Later our group moved back to the Empire, deftly bypassing the queue by waving our O2 phones and arriving in time to see part of the set by the Villagers. A brief stop at the bar to buy a coca-cola and then into the crowd in preparation for the main event.

Our group contained fans of the band, whilst my knowledge was more based upon some recent revision of their most recent album and a small collection of other tracks.

I should explain that my impression of Tinderstick's music is of a somewhat deliberately crafted form of morose and downbeat descriptions of the sorrows of love.

In the right mood this can work very well.

Their latest album added some more upbeat edges to some of their work, but the swelling rhythm guitar and minor chord based ballads were certainly in evidence within the set performed this evening.

This gave me something of a challenge during the evening.

It was obvious that there were many people around me totally enjoying the evening and applauding loudly and recognising every song (bar maybe one or two).

This was more difficult for me and the mix of the lead singer's quite baritone vocals was a little unclear on the sound system.

So I found this more as music with a wash of sound rather than with good lyrics to admire.

It was probably my loss, but the impression therefore became one of listening to the instrumentation which was somewhat levelled out by the style of the singing. It was also difficult to see the band's connection with the audience. When it's live, I prefer it to be acknowledged that we've bothered to turn up, just as I'll always try to signal a thank you to a small musician playing in a bar.

To me, this concert was more 'run on rails' than 'engaged with the audience' and it did make me wonder whether something had happened before they all came on stage. Certainly at the end they clapped to the audience and waved as they left the stage, but during the show, the frontman really only engaged with his own rhythm section.

So this one leaves me confused. I wanted to be impressed but felt slightly disappointed. I spotted the clever time signatures on some of the parts and the mischief in the arpeggiated keyboards. The wave like chord progressions. For sure, there were some stand out tracks.

But I'm still not sure. I think I need to check the records again.

structural deficit

Complicated short distance travel plans today zig-zagging around Whitehall and Parliament Street and then later across into Berkshire.

Being so close to the areas frequented by politicians, there was some gallows humour in conversations about the latest round of political suspensions mixed with speculation about the new buzz phrases in tomorrow's budget.

But earlier, before most of the trains, cars, walks and taxis, a calm few minutes gave me a chance to watch Trafalgar Square waking for another day.

Alas, I cannot watch

Out late for a Chinese meal tonight, with some of the gang. We had one of those big round tables with a huge turntable.

Inevitably some of the plum sauce had a mishap.

Home late to find a little package containing the new Laura Marling album, complete with the DVD.

Which doesn't play. Grrr.

Anyway, I found the recording of "Alas, I Cannot Swim", from the concert we attended at St James Church, when the then blonde haired Laura was 18 years old.

Gun Wharf

Time to celebrate the start of Spring today, as the weather flipped from yesterday's grey rain to today's crisp sunshine.

There may have been a chill edge to the air but it was still fine to head to the waterfront, browse amongst the boats before a few of us enjoyed a late lunch together.

Then back to the creek where we watched the tide turn and a few swans fighting for their territories.

A lazy Sunday before a busy week.

i can hear the grass grow

A groggy Saturday morning as I've been stumbling through newspapers and drinking coffee before we hit the road to visit friends for the weekend. The rain has turned to a 45 degree sleet and everything is looking grey rather than the sort of bright rain of April showers and Spring.

Nonetheless, the grass, snowdrops and daffodils will enjoy it.

From looking outwards, my attention is then drawn back to the kitchen and the small coffee maker which has just recovered from its broken glass.

I can't help noticing that a once minimalist item now sports two A4 pages worth of warning notices in multiple languages about handling it and that it may contain hot liquids.

What? Why? It's a glass coffee maker.

Does anyone read all of this small print etched onto the glass? I think not. It's there because some lawyers have decided its necessary to comply with regulations and liability. A form of industrial graffiti. Set it in CAPITALS and it will be fine.

The last one broke because it was made of glass and we dropped it.

It didn't say anything about that in the small print.