Call me a pessimist but after looking at all the proposed major developments suggested for Brighton I think we’ll be lucky if we even see one of them actually be built. Falmer Stadium, The i-360, Frank Gehry’s Buildings and the Marina Developments should all be built. Brighton has always prided itself on it’s progressive architecture. All the moaners should clear off to Eastbourne where they belong.

If only the controversy created by the Gehry Buildings could be mirroredby more important issues. The letters to The Argus around this issue always make me laugh. And for once I agree with the council and developers views.

The latest idea is of The Wireless City. “The city council is considering installing a WiFi network covering central Brighton next year which would be extended later across the entire city.” Another nice idea but I can’t see it happening. Almost free phone calls around town would be nice though.

Unfortunatly, one of the most spectacular scenes in the whole of Sussex is slowly being eradicated. Last October there were around 30% of the Starlings that have normally appeared on The West Pier. I think the council should blow a few quid on making this Victorian relic a bit more Starling friendly. I’m sure you could sort that out for £100K.

In other news I saw this advertsing slogan for a new games exhibition:
Lets hope nobody gets the wrong idea about that!

No, this isn’t a post about Allo Allo, just a collection of some rants I’ve seen on the net recently. We all love a good moan and here are some of the latest.

Warren Ellis took a well deserved shot at the inane celebrations of St Patrick’s Day by people who are not Irish. His Annual St Patrick’s Day Message is well worth a read.

Charlie Brooker loves a good moan too but in this article he stops for a moment just to watch the wonderful The Trap documentary by Adam Curtis. I’ve enjoyed the last two episodes and I hope he can knit it all together for Sunday’s final one.

I saw Casino Royale this week and though that Daniel Craig was a superb choice for James Bond. There are some people that disagree … a year before they saw the film. Their site is the imaginatively titled www.danielcraigisnotbond.com.

Julie Burchill has a good rant about my local council in Brighton & Hove. “Brighton Women’s Centre was shocked to find its modest annual funding had been slashed from £6,000 to a big fat zero. This at a time when the council could pocket £2m in parking fines in a six-month period without breaking sweat.” All this from her new book, Made In Brighton, coming soon.

What would make me moan? Possibly seeing this as I opened my door in the morning.

Here’s a chance to win some prizes in the Big Brighton Quiz run by Visit Brighton. Visit Brighton is run by the council and probably costs around a million pounds a year to run. That’s £4 from every resident ploughed in to making all the restaurant and beach pub owners’ pockets that much heavier and the congestion and pollution that much worse. The least we can do is try to win a few prizes off them!

Sticking to local items I came across the great VisitSouthDowns.com site. I’m hoping to cycle the whole lot later this Spring if possible but for starters how about the Dyke Railway Trail. Full map PDF downloads available at the site.

Here’s a PDF of all the cycle routes in Brighton, supplied by the local council. It’s quite detailed when you zoom in.

I’m looking forward to Adam Curtis’ new series of documentaries starting tonight (Sun) at 9 on BBC2. This latest documentary is called The Trap and looks at the idea of freedom in our new democratic world.

The Trap: “In this series of three films, Bafta-winning producer Adam Curtis (Power of Nightmares) examines the notion of freedom. He demonstrates how a simplistic model of human beings as self-seeking, almost robotic, creatures has led to today’s idea of freedom. Examining the government, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and terrorist attacks in Britain, Curtis shows how we’re in a trap of our own making. A trap that controls us and causes chaos abroad.”

I loved The Power of Nightmares and I hope that The Trap is just as thought provoking.

It was also great to see a trailer for the new series of BBC3’s IDEAL. This has been my favourite comedy of the last two years and I really hope they can keep the quality up.

A Brighton man who runs a message in a bottle service has been asked to “investigate some of the many other ways to send messages overseas.” I just don’t think email is as romantic as that.

Gah! My eyes! I hope I’m nvere asked to make a website as cutesy as this Japanese website I discovered. Here’s Pet Salon Angela.

Science. An article about Superconductors at BBC Science. I remember watching Tomorrow’s World when I was young, seeing the levitating sheets of metal and thinking there would be skateboards like that one day. Seems like there’s still going to be a bit of a wait.

PDF Mags. A brilliant collection of downloadable design magazines from across the world. I’m hoping I get some inspiration from these.

A good video about the future of Net Neutrality.

My latest site. Simple one-page website for a new female plumbing business in Brighton. Introducing Girlz On Tap.

Colorstrology. A really good looking Flash website which will tell you the colours associated with your day of birth. I may start using this for clients!

Seminars about Long Term Thinking. It’s always good to have an idea of what the future holds. This site has a collection of audio seminar mp3s to listen to all based around what the future holds.