Prince Chuck

Great tribute to the late John Hughes last night at the Prince Charles Cinema. "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" followed by "Ferris Beuller's Day Off"... Thanks, Gretchen, for the tickets!

Newspapers as non-profits?

Lots of debate recently about the future of the publishing industry - this is another take, suggesting that newspapers become non-profits to take advantage of tax breaks and donations. Interestingly, this comes hot on the heels of the Financial Times' declaration of a possible "pay-per-article" scheme.

Great, great, great grandparents

I took this photo on a trip home to Ireland last week, when we went down to Omeath in County Louth where the O'Hanlon's are originally from.

It lists my great, great, great grandparents, Rose and Patrick O'Hanlon, who died in 1866 and 1867, and their son Owen and grandson, James.

Amazing to be able to come and pay our respects!

Theatre Yobs

Slightly disturbing story about how bouncers are now needed at theatres in the West End.

And it is the theatre-goers themselves who are rampaging out of control, as well as being located so close to the horrors of Leicester Square. I'm all for art provoking strong reactions, but I think an overindulgence in over-priced interval g&ts might have more to do with it in this case...

Carnaval del Pueblo

Sadly I only have one photo from the Carnaval del Pueblo in Southwark earlier this month.

But it was loads of fun, with my friend Harry's brilliantly enthusiastic dancing leading to a stint in the spotlight, encircled by a group of very lovely and friendly, singing Brazilians.

Perfect for a sunny Sunday afternoon south of the river!

Confessions of a First-Time Opera Goer

I really love this initiative by Seattle Opera. They had a reality tv-style, online voting competition to find a host to spend the summer documenting all sorts of behind-the-scenes aspects of their production of Wagner's Ring Cycle.

From backstage tours to interviews with the artists, crew and directors - the twist was that the winner had to be completely new to opera, hence the "first-time" aspect.

19 year-old student Cassidy Quinn Brettle’s chronicles have been shared on the Seattle Opera blog, Facebook and Twitter. And she's just seen her first two operas!