Category Archives: Uncategorized

Book Notes 2: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

2006-01-25 – 13:43:00

Yes, and only a day after the last one.  It took me a bit longer than that to read it, mind you.A science-fiction book that was nominated for the Booker: amazing. And have no doubt about it: this is a science-fiction book. Just as Nineteen Eighty Four is; and Orwell’s masterpiece is perhaps the best […]

By Martin McCallion | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Book Notes 1: A Dance to the Music of Time vol 1, by Anthony Powell

2006-01-24 – 21:11:00

This year I’m going to try to record all the books I read, and write mini-reviews of them. I’m not quite going for the thing, because I doubt that I can actually manage one a week, what with one thing and another. But I ought to be able to get through a few more than […]

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The Rocky Pogue to Brixton

2006-01-06 – 13:59:00

This was written before Christmas, and is only being posted now.  Such is… something.  My ability to get things done, probably. The Brixton Academy oozes rock ‘n’ roll history from its very walls; and a lot of that history is — or closely mirrors — my own. I saw my first London gig there: The […]

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Freedom Tickling

2005-12-14 – 01:08:00

Went to see Jon Stewart of The Daily Show on Sunday. He was doing one night in London, with, as it turned out, the executive producer and the head writer of the show. It was good, though it could cynically be seen as an extended advert for their book, America: The Book. The largest part […]

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Portable gaming/Santa question

2005-12-09 – 10:48:00

A quick question for anyone who may know: what’s the best of the handheld game systems for an eight- — nearly nine- — year old boy? For values of “best” that include robustness, flexibility and the ability to stop playing it when you’re told. I realise the last requirement may not have been implemented on […]

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On the ethics of modifying blog posts

2005-12-02 – 13:51:00

blockquote {border-left: 1pt solid; padding-left: 1em;}What, I’m wondering, is the etiquette for this?  I looked over my last post, on literary deja vu, and I realised that the second-last paragraph was so scrambled together as to be practically unreadable.  So I’ve just edited it, from the frankly execrable: I did have an experience a bit […]

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Literary mind loss

2005-11-30 – 18:08:00

I’ve been having a slightly strange, but not entirely unfamiliar, reading experience recently.  I’m reading Mindplayers by Pat Cadigan. Now, I read the first chapter of this a long time ago, in the dealers’ room at a convention.  I liked it a lot, and wanted to read on, but the hardback was a bit too […]

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“He was asking for it”

2005-11-22 – 18:42:00

I’d like you, if you don’t mind, to join me in a thought experiment. Consider for a moment, a man: he might be young or old, it doesn’t really matter. Tall or short, dark-haired or fair, dark skin or light; none of this matters. All that matters is one thing: he is feeling vulnerable as […]

By Martin McCallion | Comments (7)

Resignation day

2005-11-02 – 14:03:00

You may not have noticed yet that Blunkett has resigned. Good riddance, obviously: New Labour is bad enough without introducing Tory sleaze into the mix. Director of a DNA-testing company: with his history?

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Tears and Laugher in the Bookshop

2005-10-21 – 15:36:00

I knew I would buy it, of course.  I just didn’t necessarily know I would buy it today.  But I popped into Waterstone’s at lunchtime, and had a look at Margrave of the Marshes, John Peel’s autobiography.  It was posthumously completed by his wife, Sheila (once better known as “The Pig”, fact fans) and their […]

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