The dwarf plays pool to prove his height People play games when they lose at life

* To Hell With Poverty: an interview of Martin Bramah, a look at the beginning of The Fall. an excerpt:

"Way back in 1976 four characters were blazing a strange trail around the pubs and clubs of Manchester, experimenting with life, the way you do when you're a teenager. They were into listening to music by the likes of the Stooges, Velvet Underground, N Y Dolls, Can and Captain Beefheart which tended to set them apart somewhat from their contempararies. They were Martin Bramah, Una Baines, Tony Friel and Mark Smith. They had already started writing songs together, practising in the attic room of Mark Smith's flat, when the Sex Pistols played Manchester for the first time at the Lesser Free Trade Hall. Knowing very little about the Sex Pistols other than they were a group with short hair that covered Stooges songs, the embryonic Fall attended and were completely bowled over. Realising that the time was nigh they advertised for a drummer and a later, chance encounter with Pete Shelley led to the group's first gig. The Fall had come into existence, and as the old cliche goes, nothing would be quite the same again..."

Two early records by The Fall will be released tomorrow.

* Tequlia Mockingbird posted a wonderful story about growing up.

* An article on my homestate, New Jersey, and its current contributions to film. [via freakgirl]