And sadly, I think an extra boost comes from the fact that my brain associates the taste of wine with enjoyment, thus lifting the mood of depression which tends to settle over a non-existant essay.

Have a glass of cider/white wine. A large glass. Always slows my brain down a little, stops me from obsessively cycling through my procrastination sites, gives me a touch of confidence in my words.

I'm a sucker for classic movie GIFs, so Tumblr trawling is sort of my life.

It's hard to say without more details, but the article referred to her as a prostitute, not an alleged prostitute, and never claimed that the accusation she was going to use to room to work from was false, so I guess it was somehow obvious.

I don't want my business to get a reputation as some sleazy hooker joint! Maybe a few high-class call girls would give the place a touch of class, though .... I suspect I'm thinking too much about my fictional motel business.

Ah, so it is merely a case of good old-fashioned prudishness, then. Can't quite bestir myself to work up any ire about it (probs wouldn't want prostitutes in my motel either), but if it's legal I guess there shouldn't be anything stopping this lady rent a room to ply her trade in.

Surely the morality of this rests upon whether prostitution is legal or not in Queensland? It isn't about judging, it's about not being obliged to aid and abet someone breaking the law. I wouldn't expect them to let someone hire a room to sell pirate DVDs from either.

Until I went round Europe (I'm from the UK), I never thought I liked beer! Like you, I'd still take a glass of wine first in general, but the beer in Central Europe is delish. Anything with Pilsner in the name is generally a good bet, but the big one in Prague is Staropramen and I loved that one too.

I can only speak about Prague, but if you do visit there you should absolutely go to the Jewish Quarter and buy the pass that gives you access to 4 synagogues and the Jewish cemetery. If you have a student/concessions card, bring it because the concession entry is way cheaper. The synagogues are amazing, filled with…

When listening to cassette tapes in her parents' car as a child, my best friend used to cover her teddy bear's ears when the Leader of the Pack died in the song. True story. That's all I have here.

Fuck yeah, too right. These guys are certainly not the true creators of rock and roll, no matter how very talented they were in their own right. Try Muddy Waters, Big Mama Thornton, Leroy Carr, Sister Rosetta Tharpe or Little Walter for starters. Or even Charley Patton, Memphis Minnie, Blind Blake or Bukka White if…

Young American women of a certain class and lifestyle seem to spend an awful lot of time analysing their feelings and not an awful lot of time a) having fun or b) trying to be useful human beings.

While Call the Midwife is nowhere near as technically accomplished as Downton, it does have Miranda Hart as Chummy and that makes it all okay.

"it's more like, a chaste farmer quietly and seriously woos a rural schoolteacher for twenty years and then, at the end of the book, they get together and have sex with Jesus"

Pretty sure I'm more familiar with Paz's bajingo than my own at this point...

Pithy or paltry? (Sorry to be that jerk.)

I find Louis CK pretty funny, but I can't stand the inexplicable fan-worshipping he seems to get here, and the attempt this article makes to exonerate him (so we can all return to idolising him on schedule) smacks a tad of desperation. What it boils down to is him telling both sides to chill out. Great for him that he…

That was my first thought, too! She must have been re-reading her Mark Twain and thought "Hey - people are just as dumb now as they were in the 19th century! Jackpot!"

She was outstanding in Gentlemen's Agreement, an underrated film on the whole IMO. She has a wonderful, sharp, '1940s lady journalist' role that lights up what is otherwise a pretty heavy, worthy drama. I always wanted Peck's character to get with her, rather than stuck-up Dorothy McGuire...

Thank you! I was starting to think I was the only one. It speaks volumes about a) how sheltered my life apparently is and b) my own disgusting self-obsession that my first thought after "Ugh, what an awful things to happen to you" was "So, am I really repulsive or something?". It's NOT (x1,0000000) that I want to be…