...but in the meantime - pausing briefly to bid a fond farewell to Acerbia (off for a meatspace reboot) and East/West (now split into two, amoeba-like) - here are this week's top two bloglinks. Yes, I know I did this last week. No, it's not a new regular feature.

Please also note that both of these pieces require rather more time/attention/concentration than your average hit-and-run blogramble. Yes, I know. It's a killer, isn't it?

1. For the second consecutive week, Diamond Geezer gets to grips with nothing less than The Meaning Of Life, if you please, stunning us all with possibly his best work yet: 20 top ways to fill time and avoid boredom. It's fairly crucial that you start at the bottom and read up through each successive entry, item by item, and no cheating please. Trust me on this. You'll only spoil it for yourselves.

2. Meanwhile, at the visually similar The World, Backwards, noodle vague trounces all that recent haiku/limerick/clerihew/iambic-pentameter malarkey in one fell swoop, with not only...but also...well, good grief, you're all intelligent people, work it out for yourselves. But - and this is important, oh ye of limited attention span - do please note that his hyperlinks are all too easily missed.

Almost finally...UK readers should on no account miss Goldfrapp on Later With Jools Holland. BBC2, tonight, 23:35, first of a brand new series. (Lou Reed, The Vines and Ladysmith Black Mambazzzzzzzzo are on it as well, incidentally.) Find out for yourselves why I got into such a lather about them in Paris on Tuesday night...

Finally finally...now gather close while I whisper this...
radioheadticketsonsaleawholedayearlyviatheirofficialmerchandisesite
...no, you didn't hear it from me. Absolutely not.

Finally finally finally...Googlewhack revival! Yay! Hadn't tried this in ages!

Emotional tailspin, and ensuing mid-air recovery.
Carnet Parisien: encore un fois.
The Godlike Genius That Was Goldfrapp.
Schadenfreude a go-go: the saga of the French transport strike.
Boutique hotels: never say never again.
Plus vast surrounding acres of gratuitous "ooh, me and my big fat glamorous life" off-swankery.

The Madonna thingy is on hold until I get over my ear infection, by the way.

(Oh, and sorry that the Sin/Dwarf caper fizzled out early; I hate not finishing what I've started. Blame the aforementioned emotional tailspin.)

Sun May 18th - BIRMINGHAM Academy 2 - 0870 771 2000
Mon 19th - LONDON Astoria (sold out)
Thu 22nd - PORTSMOUTH Pyramid - 023 9235 8608
Fri 23rd - BRISTOL Colston Hall - 0117 929 9008, 0870 444 4400
Sun 25th - MANCHESTER Academy - 0161 832 1111
Mon 26th - LEEDS Metropolitan University - 0113 244 4600
Wed 28th - GLASGOW QMU - 0870 169 0100

Sun July 13th - LONDON Somerset House - 0871 230 2620, or order online from the venue.

(Actually, the Somerset House concert line-up looks altogether fairly amazing: Royksopp, Beth Gibbons/Sparklehorse, Calexico/Yo La Tengo. Lucky old London.)

After Goldfrapp's stunning show in Paris a couple of nights ago (of which more later when I have the time, hopefully), I simply cannot recommend them too highly. Immaculate stuff. Tell me you'll go!

The bad news: A 24-hour airport strike in France tomorrow means that my return flight from Paris is cancelled.

The good news: There are still spare seats on the return flight the following morning, meaning I get to stay for two nights in Paris rather than one.

The better news: There are also tickets left for Goldfrapp at the Elysée Montmartre tomorrow night. Hoopla! Chouette!

Back on Wednesday, then.