Send lawyers, guns and money there's plagiarism in the Blogosphere: Tequilamockingbird was a victim.

From the BDSM university: Stern's guide to Slave Training. (Includes some material NSFW). Some weird and kinky stuff here; I mean whats the big deal about keeping the mouth open? :- "While in your presence your slave should never close the fists, the legs or the lips, in private or in the vanilla world. Teach your slave to keep her lips from touching (the mouth doesn't have to be gaping open, of course), to think about the position of her hands (in public, she may not be able to place them palms-up, but they can be relaxed and loose) and, if she has to cross her legs, to do it at the ankles rather than the knees. (This is manageable, even in a skirt. Allow your slave to practice in front of you until she can do this without drawing attention to herself.)".

New adventures in music criticism? Pitchfork's Nick Slyvester reviews the Daft Punk re-mix album with the aid of some natty drawings.

Instant msg conversation I've just had...

Mick: What d'ya make of this...
Smoke: Bloody hell. What kind of leech would fancy a meal of silicone?
Mick: The two legged variety!

From the country that gave us Rasputin, we now have Natasha - a girl with X-Ray vision.

I appears that the Gardai got a bit carried away with themselves over the excitement of having real live EU 'dignitaries' in town last week. A local activist is alledging he was seriously assaulted by Gardai after his 'arrest' on Saturday morning. If true, this is highly disturbing and coming on top of a slew of bad of bad press for the boys in blue, can only add to calls to have the force reformed. Whatever you may think of the EU or globalisation or 'fortress Europe' or the war in Iraq etc. etc. it seem to me that that the biggest threat to our society, it's freedoms and liberties lies with corruption in the very organisations tasked with protecting them.

Microsoft idiocy #30043: It appears their lawyers are suing 17 year old Mike Rowe over ownership of his domain name MikeRoweSoft.com.

A cool music blog out of LA: Burned By The Sun.

Ex Husker Du and Sugar vocalist Bob Mould's blog. You know, "Makes No Sense at All" was one of my favourite songs of the Eighties.

Are you a single guy? Well, this pretty girl is looking for a boyfriend. (N.B. Link not safe for work - but not hardcore either).

The Decline of Fashion Photography - An argument in pictures. By Karen Lehrman.

New survey reveals truth about sex and the city. Interesting. Via Dave's Picks.

Here's a very impressive page from a guy who made a resolution last year to get himself into shape and, unlike most of us, stuck with it. Good for him; this year however, I'm going to spend the €500 I spent on gym membership last year on something I might actually use.

Via Fimoculous. A photographic tour of the Replacements hometown. Which reminds me; I must get that new Paul Westerberg album.

So what exactly does civet cat taste like?

On Monday, I received as a belated but awesome Christmas gift from my dearest friend, the new Johnny Cash Box Set. If you admired the music Johnny recorded for his four American Recordings' albums then 'Unearthed' is highly recommended. It's is beautifully packaged and includes 5 CDs, 4 of which contain unreleased work from sessions recorded over the last decade. Although I have yet to fully digest this monumental work, highlights from disc 3 alone, include duets with Nick Cave and Joe Strummer on 'Cindy' and 'Redemption Songs' respectively and a great version of a (to me unfamiliar) song called 'Singer of Songs' as well as a splintering take of old standard 'Salty Dog'. This set is a brilliant epitaph for one of the true giants of rock n'roll.

If you're interested in ancient mythologies and the like, then the Internet Sacred Text Archive is well worth checking out. It features an extensive collection of Celtic myths and tales translated into English, including the beautiful and popular story of the Children of Lir.

Roots music radio show host and recording engineer, George Graham's 2003 Year end essay. If you're into the folkier end of things then check out his site - most of the album reviews are taken from his radio show and are very handily posted as real audio files.

Hmm, this may well be the first gig I go to this year: Spiritualized play Galway next week, on Wednesday 14th.

So here we are on the other side. Happy new year loyal readers...