Monthly Archives: August 2006

My "Big England" piece is up at Temperama

2006-08-22 – 13:59:01

The lovely Dave Hill has posted my piece in his Big England series. Such is Dave’s posting frequency that it has already rolled off his front page. But such is his site’s popularity that it went straight in at number 10 on a Google search for my name; and it has now risen to number […]

By Martin McCallion | Posted in blogging, lj, musings, politics | Comments (0)

Book Notes 12: The Last Temptation, by Neil Gaiman and Michael Zulli

2006-08-09 – 23:09:12

The last of my three recent graphic borrowings from the library, and the one I expected to like most. But it’s a bit lightweight for Gaiman’s work, and for my taste. It’s based on work that Gaiman did with Alice Cooper for a concept album that the latter released in 1994. I didn’t know that [...]

By Martin McCallion | Posted in books, lj | Comments (0)

Book Notes 11: The Originals, by Dave Gibbons

2006-08-08 – 15:59:53

More graphical stuff from the library. Quadrophenia with hover-bikes and -scooters. It’s beautifully drawn, and well-enough told, but really, why? There is literally no other technological change. Oh, there might be differences in the materials of the clothes, of the contents of the pills: but the look is pure 1965 - or 1965-as-remade-in-1979. I really […]

By Martin McCallion | Posted in books, lj, sf | Comments (0)

"Hackers crack new biometric passports"

2006-08-07 – 16:36:31

Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | Hackers crack new biometric passports “The whole passport design is totally brain damaged,” Mr Grunwald told Wired.com. “From my point of view all of these [biometric] passports are a huge waste of money – they’re not increasing security at all.” No surprises there, then. Except maybe how quickly it’s [...]

By Martin McCallion | Posted in lj, politics | Comments (0)

On Countries, Nationhood, and Being Invited to Write a Guest Spot

2006-08-04 – 13:59:49

Dave Hill is a novelist, Guardian writer and prolific blogger. He is running a series of guest pieces on his blog. They’re on the theme of “What I Like About England (or not, as the case may be).” He was inspired to do this mainly by all the flag-waving furore during the World Cup (with [...]

By Martin McCallion | Posted in blogging, lj, writing | Comments Off

Middle-East Madness

2006-08-03 – 23:55:55

I’ve been thinking that I should write about the state of things between Lebanon and Israel, as it is the most profoundly dangerous ongoing event in the world at the moment. But I would have found it hard to express what I wanted to say without coming over as anti-Israel, and so running the risk […]

By Martin McCallion | Posted in lj, politics | Comments (0)

Book Notes 10: Skizz, by Alan Moore and Jim Baikie

2006-08-02 – 17:18:24

The local library is proving a great source of graphic fiction at the moment. Another early-early Moore, one of which I had heard, but had definitely not read. It is Moore’s interpretation of a theme that was then very common, the alien lost on Earth. It wears its debt to ET quite openly: one of […]

By Martin McCallion | Posted in books, comics, lj, sf | Comments (0)

Book notes 9: Redemolished, by Alfred Bester

2006-08-01 – 00:44:27

I found this in the local library, having never heard of it before. It is a relatively recently-published (2000) collection containing some of his short fiction, some essays, and some interviews he did with people as diverse as Isaac Asimov and Woody Allen. The title is, of course, a reference to his famous novel The […]

By Martin McCallion | Posted in books, lj, sf | Comments (0)

Book notes 8: The Complete DR and Quinch, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

2006-08-01 – 00:28:53

I found this in the local library. I thought I hadn’t read it, but I remember reading the ‘Something something, oranges something’ episode (AKA ‘DR and Quinch go to Hollywood’) back when I was at university in the 80s. I expect they were reprinted by one of the American companies (possibly coloured in?) and I […]

By Martin McCallion | Posted in books, comics, lj | Comments (0)