The disordered mad of a brain man

I borrowed Oh Lucky Man! from a library recently. It's flawed, in particular it's too long, but it's also utterly wonderful with images that have stayed in my mind from the first time I saw it 30+ years ago. It's one reason why I was never tempted by medical research money – the reveal of the delicious Professor Millar's work is more chilling than anything Hammer ever did. Plus there's Alan Price's songs, the chocolate sandwich party, the British-to-the-core scene of a tea-lady coming in during a torture session, how to get a job as an assistant to a businessman with no morals, and what happens when you do…

Today's Pepys diary entry contains a reference to something not unlike the latter. As the notes explain using someone else's telling of the story, in the reign of Edward VI, a seditious outbreak at Bodmin was put down but not everyone who had taken part wanted to suffer the consequences:

At the same time, and neare the same place [Bodmin], dwelled a miller, that had beene a greate dooer in that rebellion, for whom also Sir Anthonie Kingston sought: but the miller being thereof warned, called a good tall fellow that he had to his servant, and said unto him, 'I have business to go from home; if anie therefore come to ask for me, saie thou art the owner of the mill, and the man for whom they shall so aske, and that thou hast kept this mill for the space of three yeares; but in no wise name me.' The servant promised his maister so to doo. And shortlie after, came Sir Anthonie Kingston to the miller's house, and calling for the miller, the servant came forth, and answered that he was the miller. 'How long,' quoth Sir Anthonie, 'hast thou kept this mill?' He answered, 'Three years.' — 'Well, then,' said he, 'come on: thou must go with me;' and caused his men to laie hands on him, and to bring him to the next tree, saieing to him, 'Thou hast been a busie knave, and therefore here shalt thou hang.' Then cried the fellow out, and saide that he was not the miller, but the miller's man. 'Well, then,' said Sir Anthonie, 'thou art a false knave to be in two tales: therefore,' said he, 'hang him up;' and so incontinentlie hanged he was indeed. After he was dead, one that was present told Sir Anthonie, 'Surelie, sir, this was but the miller's man.' — `What then!' said he, 'could he ever have done his maister better service than to hang for him?'"

If I were a theatrical producer – and every time I see the Producers, I am tempted – then I'd put on Sir Martin Mar-all, or The Feign'd Innocence, John Dryden's adaptation of a Molière play, and have this as a quote on the posters:

It is the most entire piece of mirth, a complete farce from one end to the other, that certainly was ever writ. I never laughed so in all my life. I laughed till my head [ached] all the evening and night with the laughing – Samuel Pepys

Yes, it's the World Snooker Championships, apparently the second longest annual sporting event.

Also apparently, there are people who dispute that Stephen Hendry is the greatest ever player of the game. Yes, he's no longer as good as he was, but just how good was that?

The first World Championship at their current venue, the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, was in 1977. Stephen Hendry didn't play a game there until 1986, when he lost a fascinating first round game to Willie Thorne.

Despite that, he's scored more century breaks there than most players make in their entire careers. Of all the centuries ever scored at the Crucible, he's scored more than one in ten of them…

This morning, we visited a mortgage adviser so this contains mortgage horrors

.. says the IKEA website, in red.

IKEA is closely monitoring the situation in Japan after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear incidents and taking action accordingly.

Coo. And what might that be? I've seen IKEA stuff say it's made in Austria to Vietnam (and I may have missed out anything later in the alphabet) but not, I think, Japan.

Still, there's the option to "Read more". Click.

Sorry, an error has occurred. Please take one of the following actions: 1. If this page is being displayed whilst paying for a Shop Online order DO NOT click 'back' and place your order again. [..] 2. If you are viewing this error whilst generally browsing the site, please click the link below and return to the home page. Thank you for your patience.

(All in red)

The home page is where I came from.

Looking at the Japanese site (in English), I see the message from Mikael Palmquist, Country Manager IKEA Japan:

We would like to convey our deepest condolences for the people affected by the 3.11 Earthquake and Tsunami.

IKEA stores have been built according to the highest safety standards. Fortunately, there was no customer injury, and the safety of all our store buildings has already been confirmed by the construction companies.

We IKEA, however, have decided to voluntarily and temporarily refrain from opening our three Kanto stores…

Perhaps that was what the UK site wanted to say: in case you were thinking of shopping there, we're closing our three of our five stores in Japan for a bit.

In other news, they're still selling what I was looking for on the site. At least in the UK.

(But you knew that anyway.)

Tate Modern currently has an exhibition of Gabriel Orozco. No, I'd never heard of him. He's done some photo series, some diagrams and some sculpture. The latter varies between the silly (toilet paper on a ceiling fan) to the more impressive (a Citroën car made much slimmer and an undersized lift).

It also includes an empty shoe box. Now, the other pieces have lines around them, with words like 'don't touch' on the floor.

Guess who kicked the shoe box when passing?

Apparently, it's called 'Empty Shoe Box' and it is supposed to be in that exact location.

I am tempted to ask for the cctv footage and sell it as Art.