h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

So, the last few pages of June 1992's Bella. I even read the story. Pity they don't do fiction in magazines these days, that's often what I used to look for first.

I tried the chicken salad recipe. Jolly good, if not at all seasonal. Other recipes later on also included wintery fare such as a "sausage and pasta hotpot"

A travel item describes little villages along the coast in the Boston (Mass) area. Saying how like "Old England" they are rather than New England, such as Plymouth, where the Pilgrim Fathers landed. If I was going abroad, I would surely look for somewhere that is different from home, not identical to it! Although it does sound interesting with the Salem Witch Museum and, this being 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus' arrival, regattas and events in Boston harbour. Damn. Missed them!

----

In the bin it goes.

-----

Next stop: Marie Claire July 2004 with Victoria Beckham on the cover.

Can't imagine why I bought this - there are 16 pages of "Celebrity watching" and articles about freezing your eggs and "Other people's sex lives". Total fluff.

Some women on the street give their comments as to whether they would have cosmetic surgery. The ones they asked all seemed to have had something done (boobs, noses, facelifts) and none of them were against it. Mind you, it doesn't say how many people they actually asked. And the survey *was* done in Brighton!

Natasha Bedingfield wishes she were Audrey Hepburn.

It all seems to be about hair straighteners. What a faff they must be!

There is a photo shoot of Serena Williams. They have really made her look stunning, I must say. In the interview (which I confess I only skimmed) she says that she lives with her sisters - "We're always going to live together" - she says. I wonder if they still do.

Perhaps I am a bit celebrity-struck after all. Perhaps that's why I bought the mag.

Ooh - what's this? "Pamela Anderson on Marital bliss".
Eddie Izzard suddenly appearing in Hollywood films (short interview with him).

"Girl with a Pearl Earring" comes out on video (ah - and DVD!, they've finally arrived!) I still haven't seen it. Nor have I read the book. Maybe on holiday this year....

Stella Rimington's first novel is published, and well-reviewed. I didn't even know she wrote books!

Pages and pages of unwearable fashion in ghastly prints.

The new generation of mobile phones is still led by Nokia.

Is that Kate Moss advertising Rimmel?

Yet another "Never diet again"-diet.

Bright pinks and yellows for the home - would look dated nowadays.

A digital camera can cost 299.99 pounds.

Travel covers Tunisia and there's a page on San Francisco, which on closer inspection just describes where they went for a fashion shoot, mentioning bars and shops. Probably no use to me when I go there next October.

Right at the back a couple of interesting pieces, which I'll read later. One on Sid Vicious and one on Nigerian child trafficking.

All together not much content of value for a thick, heavy, glossy magazine which cost three pounds, over ten years ago.

What a long time ago you remind us it is!

Kate Moss still advertises Rimmel, afaik

"Pages and pages of unwearable fashion in ghastly prints." [TC]



Here's a reality check: I often go walking in indoor shopping malls, and I note the huge disparity between what the shoppers are wearing and what's in the windows of the fancy shops. Exactly when would anyone wear the stuff that's for sale? Probably enough people buy the stuff to keep the shops in business, but still....

Girl with a pearl earring is worth reading. But it's not really a story, just a description of two people and the interaction between them. It doesn't really go anywhere.

I like the way it brings Seventeenth Century Delft to life, and especially the inner workings of Vermeer's household. Scarlet Johansen is frosting on the cake, but very nice frosting indeed .

>>But it's not really a story, just a description of two people and the interaction between them.<< I'm fine with that. And I didn't know it took place in Delft. I've been there. We did a tour of a china factory. Maybe The China Factory. And, before you ask: Yes, there is a connection between the blue-and-white Meissen china and the blue-and-white Delft china, but I'd have to rummage around in the internet to remind me what it was.

Oh - and Paul, I thought you might comment on the idyllic villages in your area.

The film is very beautifully visualised but I found Colin Firth unconvincing as Vermeer. Scarlett on the other hand is very.

"Paul, I thought you might comment on the idyllic villages in your area." [TC]

I have friends who think Bolton, Massachusetts -- the town I grew up in -- is very idyllic, but when you're too familiar with a place you don't notice the charms that strangers see. Bolton is on the world's map ion only two ways:

1. The town was considered [though not seriously] as a site for the exile of Napoleon.

2. Boltonite, a form of igneous rock, can only be found in Bolton and on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius.

I've characterized Bolton, humorously, as a large swamp punctuated with occasional hills.

It's also Notlob backwards.

Now what comedy programme does that scintillating fact come from?

... still waiting to hear what Scarlet very is...

"It's also Notlob backwards. Now what comedy programme does that scintillating fact come from?"

Probably Monty Python which had a skit that was about a shop in Bolton, England.

Yes indeed, the Dead Parrot Sketch, no less.

And Scarlett was very convincing.