The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else. Umberto Eco

Mark Titchner (2003)

Tonight's Daily is a bit dedicated to artist Mark Titchner. I've just discovered his work on the Interweb and I feel the need to buy an empty house, paint the walls white and cover the entire place in his images. I'm extreme. Sometimes. I like to think I'm filled with the Divine Feminine.

I've been preparing to make a birthday dinner for the lovely Glenn tonight, who has been dealing with my notorious unreliability since Christmas with no complaints. With a little help from the ever-delightful Richard at the Ministry yesterday - whose advice I would share with you if it didn't involve giving away the secret of, I hope, tonight's success - I spent the day only peripherally engaged in the preparation of dinner.

After a relaxing evening with the lovely Bean last night, which ended in me hooking him on House, I woke up this morning refreshed and ready to go. Bean and I headed into town, bought the food, went for a cooked breakfast in Albert Road and still had time to browse for an hour or so in an old favourite haunt of hours - the Holy Grail of Second Hand Bookshops.

Mark Titchner

This afternoon, after a long, hot bath spent reading a biography of Harry Houdini (I've decided to pursue a secondary career in magic), things got a little more hurried and I am literally, I'm afraid, cramming the blog into the space between preparing the soup and waiting for the oven to heat for the vegetables.

For our dip into the cultural foray today, I want to reproduce a bookmark that I 'acquired' (this means it is in my possession but I can't recall how it got here), which hangs on the wall next to my desk. It's written by Mark Titchner, who you can find out more about here, courtesy of the Turner Prize 2006 and Tate Modern. I love the words on the bookmark, but I understand that his work is a combination of words and images, slogans and banners and much more.

We want mutual loyalty
and
we want to realise potential
and
we want to improve the human condition
and
we want unyielding integrity
and
we want to shape the world's future
and
we want to make dreams a reality
and
we want your contribution
and
we want continuous improvement
and
we want to be open and transparent

It reminds me of the infamous 'because' statement of the feminist movement, which hangs on my bedroom wall.

And speaking of feminists, many apologies to Shonagh for the incomprehensibility of my Google Reader ravings last week. I love Google Reader - Shonagh, I had posted about it previously, and the paragraph of instructions that were incomprehensible to you followed a post about Google one or two days previous. Basically, for anyone still not following, if you read a lot of blogs, check out Google Reader. Just do a Google search for it and check it out for yourself. Now I sound as though I'm sponsored by Google. Bugger.

Mark Titchner

On the Menu

1. Buttersquash soup with red pepper harissa

2. Breast of chicken stuffed with portobello mushrooms, wrapped in parma ham, served with roast potatoes, parsnips in a honey and mustard dressing and greens sprinkled with parmesan

3. Fresh strawberry tarts with cream (and a lot of chianti)