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August 2025
: I find this kind of horrifying: Denmark’s state-run postal service will no longer deliver letters. …
: Books 2025, 18: Glory Road, by Robert A Heinlein I had a sudden hankering to reread this old Heinlein book (even older than me, it turns out, being …
:
The Naked Gun, 2025 - ★★★½
Remakes can be just as much fun as the original, it turns out. I note I gave that four stars, which …
:
The Ballad of Wallis Island, 2025 - ★★★★½
I forgot to write about this when we saw it a couple of weeks back. I went in knowing nothing about …
:
The Ballad of Wallis Island, 2025 - ★★★★½
I forgot to write about this when we saw it a couple of weeks back. I went in knowing nothing about …
: Books 2025, 17: Theophilus North, by Thornton Wilder The roaring twenties, told from the seventies, and read in the… unroaring twenties? Much better than …
July 2025
: I read Doc Searls’s piece, How about ASO, for Attention Surfeit Order?. I was sure I had used …
: Continually making decisions is cognitively taxing. That’s why we gravitate to morality …
: Obviously my last books post should have had ‘Cracked’ not ‘Carcked’ in the …
: The New York Times Connections is getting harder. Or I’m getting worse at it. That’s two …
: Books 2025, 16: The Cracked Mirror, by Chris Brookmyre The new Chris Brookmyre is a detective story in multiple genres, you could say.
: Books 2025, 15: To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf In which I talk whimsically about a modernist masterpiece.
: Books 2025, 14: The Final Empire, by Brandon Sanderson This is the first book in the Mistborn series, and I saw in a bookshop the other day that it’s …
: Wimbledon without line judges: do not appprove. Makes the court look weirdly empty; drains some of …
June 2025
:
Clue, 1985 - ★★★½
This was daft, but quite fun. A film based on a board game. Specifically on Cluedo. Which in …
:
Clue, 1985 - ★★★½
This was daft, but quite fun. A film based on a board game. Specifically on Cluedo. Which in …
: I see, the stand with multiple microphones has both a harmonica attached, and different quality …
: Wait, Neil just has an ordinary stand with a single mike now. Was I hallucinating the great cluster …
: Well they may not be Crazy Horse, but they’re still pretty damn hot. And Neil himself is in …
: Just switched to the Glastonbury live feed. Why have Neil Young’s non-Crazy Horse band got …
:
This must be the latest I’ve set the hammock up since I got it in… oh, 2020?
: Books 2025, 13: No Great Mischief, by Alistair MacLeod This was published in 2000, and my partner’s parents gave it to me that year or the next. I …
: Yes! The Book of Dust volume 3 is out in October! The Rose Field: The Book of Dust Volume Three a …
: Ah, my Letterboxd post finally made it. Just a lag in the feed handling, I suppose.
: My Latest Letterboxd post hasn’t synced to Micro.blog (and hence my blog), and I can’t …
:
Persuasion, 2007 - ★★★
Decent Austen adaptation. I haven’t read the book, which, I understand, many say is her best. I …
:
Persuasion, 2007 - ★★★
Decent Austen adaptation. I haven’t read the book, which, I understand, many say is her best. I …
: A fortnight in Canada, a long weekend camping in Somerset, and a couple of days back at work. Couple …
: Crucial Track for 18 June 2025: How Was it for You? "How Was It for You?" by James Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio …
:
Sneakers, 1992 - ★★★½
Watched this on the return flight from Canada home. I feel like I’ve been hearing about it for …
:
Sneakers, 1992 - ★★★½
Watched this on the return flight from Canada home. I feel like I’ve been hearing about it for …
:
Everything Everywhere All at Once, 2022 - ★★★★½
After watching this in Paris with French subtitles, I finally managed to see it again. This time on …
:
Everything Everywhere All at Once, 2022 - ★★★★½
After watching this in Paris with French subtitles, I finally managed to to see it again. This time …
May 2025
:
Farewell, My Lovely, 1944 - ★★★½
This appears as Murder, My Sweet, on Letterboxd, TMDB, and IMDb, but is actually Farewell, My …
:
Murder, My Sweet, 1944 - ★★★½
This appears as Murder, My Sweet, on Letterboxd, TMDB, and IMDb, but is actually Farewell, My …
: Out of the park, RTD. Out of the fuckin park. I just hope he can bring it home next week.
: Books 2025, 12: The Age of Wire and String, by Ben Marcus This is a strange wee beastie. The edition I have was published in 1998, and I must have bought it …
: Books 2025, 11: Blitzkreig Bops, by Alli Patton I picked this up at a stall at the local market a few weeks ago. It’s a slim volume, taking …
: What is this archaic nonsense? Seems the only way we can vote for Eurovision in the UK is by making …
: Waiting for Yellow Ribbons Bemoaning the state of search-engine results leads, by way of some old songs, to the state of part …
:
Paddington in Peru, 2024 - ★★½
Has its moments, but let's face it. Paddington is inherently funny because he's a bear in London, …
:
Paddington in Peru, 2024 - ★★½
Has its moments, but let's face it. Paddington is inherently funny because he's a bear in London, …
:
London Town, 2016 - ★★½
I'm not, honestly, sure this deserves even the two-and-a-half stars I'm giving it. It's a daft …
:
London Town, 2016 - ★★½
I'm not, honestly, sure this deserves even the two-and-a-half stars I'm giving it. It's a daft …
: Crucial Track for 11 May 2025: Walk on the Wild Side "Walk on the Wild Side" by Lou Reed Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio …
: Books 2025, 10: The White Album, by Joan Didion I read one of the pieces from this, ‘At the Dam’, on my MA course. It didn’t make …
: I wonder what they call VE Day in Germany?
: Crucial Track for 02 May 2025: Sit Down "Sit Down" by James Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. Which …
:
Kind of hard to believe, now, the one on the left would go on to lead Britain’s worst (or maybe …
: Crucial Track for 1 May 2025: Mario Y Maria “Mario Y Maria” by Butch Hancock It’s annoying that the song I want to use for the …
:
Masked and Anonymous, 2003 - ★★★½
I'd give it five stars for the soundtrack: all Dylan songs. The story is also all Dylan. And the …
:
Masked and Anonymous, 2003 - ★★★½
I'd give it five stars for the soundtrack: all Dylan songs. The story is also all Dylan. And the …
April 2025
: Incredible Story About the Smallpox Vaccine Astonishing story in The Atlantic, about the smallpox vaccine: At the heart of history’s most …
: I still don’t understand why AI gives me such a visceral negative reaction. The intellectual …
: Crucial Track for 30 April 2025: Death or Glory "Death or Glory" by The Clash Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. …
: Crucial Track for 29 April 2025: Hungry Heart "Hungry Heart" by Bruce Springsteen Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio …
: Crucial Track for 28 April 2025: The Prince "The Prince" by Madness Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. …
: Crucial Track for 27 April 2025: Ticket to Ride "Ticket to Ride" by The Beatles Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio …
: Wordle 1,407 2/6* 🟨🟨🟩🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I must say, I’d’ve been very disappointed if I hadn’t got this one, …
: Crucial Track for 26 April 2025: I'm So Free "I'm So Free" by Lou Reed Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. Lou …
: Crucial Track for 25 April 2025: Baby, I Love You "Baby, I Love You" by Ramones Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. …
: I’ll allow I might have been overstating the case in last night’s slightly excited post …
: Crucial Track for 24 April 2025: Leonard Cohen "Leonard Cohen" by boygenius Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. …
: I just watched the latest Doctor Who episode, ‘Lux’. It was gloriously meta. Who needs fourth walls? …
: Crucial Track for 23 April 2025: Paradise by the Dashboard Light "Paradise By the Dashboard Light" by Meat Loaf & Ellen Foley Listen on Apple Music Your browser does …
:
One to One: John & Yoko, 2024 - ★★★★★
Oh my god, this film. This film is so, so good. Fantastic footage and sound from a gig that I've …
:
One to One: John & Yoko, 2024 - ★★★★★
Oh my god, this film. This film is so, so good. Fantastic footage and sound from a gig that I've …
: Crucial Track for 22 April 2025: No More Heroes "No More Heroes (1996 Remastered Version)" by The Stranglers Listen on Apple Music Your browser does …
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Operation Mincemeat, 2021 - ★★½
This has a slightly interesting connection to home for me. Just last week we were walking past St …
:
Operation Mincemeat, 2021 - ★★½
This has a slightly interesting connection to home for me. Just last week we were walking past St …
: Crucial Track for 20 April, 2025: Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" by The Beatles Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio …
: Crucial Track for 19 April, 2025: London Calling "London Calling" by The Clash Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. …
: Crucial Track for 18 April, 2025: Another Girl Another Planet "Another Girl Another Planet" by The Only Ones Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support …
: Crucial Track for 17 April, 2025: If I Can't Change Your Mind "If I Can't Change Your Mind" by Sugar Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio …
:
I'm Still Here, 2024 - ★★★★
Outstanding drama based on the true story of a Brazilian family's experiences under the dictatorship …
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I'm Still Here, 2024 - ★★★★
Outstanding drama based on the true story of a Brazilian family's experiences under the dictatorship …
: 📗 Books 2025, 9: The Interpreter, by Brian Aldiss Slim, old-fashioned, good idea, but not that well executed.
: 📗 Books 2025, 8: The History of Rock ‘n‘ Roll in Ten Songs, by Greil Marcus Should I include it if I started it years ago? Yes. Is it beautifully written? Yes. Is it …
:
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat, 2024 - ★★★★½
Absolutely loved this jazz-fueled documentary about the events running up to the assassination of …
:
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat, 2024 - ★★★★½
Absolutely loved this jazz-fueled documentary about the events running up to the assassination of …
: I should note it’s Petroc Trelawny’s last day on the BBC Radio 3 Breakfast show today. …
:
The Ipcress File, 1965 - ★★★★
Great, stylish sixties spy story, with Michael Caine. He's a man who cooks! and makes coffee in — …
:
The Ipcress File, 1965 - ★★★★
Great, stylish sixties spy story, with Michael Caine. He's a man who cooks! and makes coffee in — …
: Radio saying SpaceX’s latest launch will be the first to orbit over the north and south poles. …
March 2025
:
The Philadelphia Story, 1940 - ★★★★
Really fun romcom from 1940. It cleverly keeps you guessing about who's going to get together with …
:
The Philadelphia Story, 1940 - ★★★★
Really fun romcom from 1940. It cleverly keeps you guessing about who's going to get together with …
: Carrot Weather catching the vibe of the day as usual.
: I tried the ‘Hey Siri, what month is it?’ question, since people have being saying it can’t answer …
: When did the 20th of March become the first day of spring? I saw lots of mentions of it yesterday, …
: 📗 Books 2025, 7: The Productions of Time, by John Brunner Notes on an old John Brunner novel.
: Currently reading: Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose 📚 And on page 40, this quote: …
: 📗 Books 2025, 6: The Pale Horse, by Agatha Christie Christie does the supernatural! Or not? And reaches the 60s.
: This isn’t a story so much as a floating mass of jellyfish tendrils with which the viewer …
: The Severed Floor is not the Black Lodge In which I complain about Severance being too slow, not guaranteed to finish, and not Twin Peaks.
: Just heard the first ice-cream van of the year. Whaaaat???
: I wish people wouldn’t post links to videos without warnings. You tap or click through to read …
: Maybe You Can Post Your Way Through Fascism Some thoughts on how that post about posting not being enough might have discouraged some writers.
: 📗 Books 2025, 5: Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer As The Dispossessed starts with a wall, Annihilation starts with a tower. And as LeGuin’s wall …
: I got lucky(?) in a prize draw at work, so tonight I’m going to the Brit Awards finals. Taking my …
February 2025
: It was 30 years ago today, PJ Harvey tells us, that To Bring You My Love was released. Sounds as …
: Looks like Amazon’s deal with Iain Banks’s estate to make a series out of Consider …
: 📗Books 2025, 4: Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen We started watching Miss Austen, the BBC serial about Jane’s sister Cassandra trying to get …
:
Sweet Smell of Success, 1957 - ★★
This film is at number 95 on this Time Out list of the hundred best films of all time that we've …
:
Sweet Smell of Success, 1957 - ★★
This film is at number 95 on this Time Out list of the hundred best films of all time that we've …
: 📗 Books 2025, 3: The Great When, by Alan Moore I think I read somewhere that this ends on a huge cliffhanger. It doesn’t. Or I wouldn’t …
: Fascinating piece about how George Eliot seemingly wrote about AI. I disagree with this assertion, …
: Having the first Creme Egg of the year with my coffee. Actually probably the first I’ve had in …
: Blogging and reading in 2024 A much-delayed summary of last year. I read 26 books in 2024. One less than in 2023, but one every …
: 📗 Books 2025, 2: Vivaldi and the Number 3, by Ron Butlin I read about this some four years ago on Jack Deighton’s blog. It sounded interesting enough …
: Artificial Intelligence is facing a crisis: humans are consuming far too many precious resources …
: Tales From Right Now I haven’t really picked up on blogging properly since this year started. I didn’t, for …
: 📗 Books 2025, 1: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, by Agatha Christie I got this by Agatha Christie for Christmas and started straight after Conclave, so technically last …
: Have switched my blog to the Bayou Theme by Matt Langford, @Mtt. Liking the look. I’ll …
January 2025
:
A Complete Unknown, 2024 - ★★★★★
This is a glorious film. A dramatised version of Bob Dylan's early years on the New York folk scene …
:
A Complete Unknown, 2024 - ★★★★★
This is a glorious film. A dramatised version of Bob Dylan's early years on the New York folk scene …
: Unpleasant Men This morning I read the whole of the Vulture article about Neil Gaiman. That link’s to an …
:
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, 1967 - ★★★½
Surprisingly funny in places, a film about race in America in the sixties. Still relevant today, in …
:
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, 1967 - ★★★½
Surprisingly funny in places, a film about race in America in the sixties. Still relevant today, in …
: 📚 Books 2024, 26: Conclave by Robert Harris After my recent viewing of the film based on this, my daughter got me the book for Christmas. …
: 📚 Books 2024, 25: The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder Finished reading several weeks ago, in fact. I’m way behind with the change of year. Anyway, …
: Happy New Year, everyone. 2025 starts with London’s fireworks, and then, surprisingly, The Boomtown …
December 2024
: 📚 Books 2024, 24: A Jura for Julia by Ken MacLeod Short stories by Ken 📚. I mentioned this in my Nineteen Eighty-Four post, since the first and last …
:
Conclave, 2024 - ★★★½
When I was a kid, brought up in the Roman Catholic Church, my Mum taught me that, when a pope dies, …
:
Conclave, 2024 - ★★★½
When I was a kid, brought up in the Roman Catholic Church, my Mum taught me that, when a pope dies, …
: 📚 Books 2024, 23: Death's End by Cixin Liu, Translated by Ken Liu I laugh gently at my past self, musing that this volume, based on its title, might have a less bleak …
:
It Happened One Night, 1934 - ★★★★
Great screwball comedy. Lots of fun. Don't know why the poster is in colour when it's a black & …
:
It Happened One Night, 1934 - ★★★★
Great screwball comedy. Lots of fun. Don't know why the poster is in colour when it's a black & …
:
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, 1988 - ★★½
Daft film about con men. I think I saw it back when it came out, but didn't really remember it.
I'm …
:
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, 1988 - ★★½
Daft film about con men. I think I saw it back when it came out, but didn't really remember it.
I'm …
: Currently reading (and relatively close to finishing): Death’s End by Cixin Liu 📚
November 2024
: Oh, and Andy Murray’s going to be coaching Novak Djokovic.
: ‘Call a General Election’ is trending, with a parliamentary petition. ‘The country …
:
It’s the middle of November, why is this rose flowering and budding?
: Watching Channel 4’s Unreported World segment on cocaine smuggling into Spain by mini …
: Trumpeting I was shocked, but not exactly surprised, by the US election result. Or no: I was surprised. I think …
: 📚 Books 2024, 22: The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu, Translated by Joel Martinsen This is somehow much less obscure and strange than the first one. I don’t know how much that …
: Oh, America, what have you done? How has this happened?
:
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2000 - ★★★★★
An early showing at the BFI IMAX at 11 am on a Sunday! But the chance to see this incredible film on …
:
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2000 - ★★★★★
An early showing at the BFI IMAX at 11 am on a Sunday! But the chance to see this incredible film on …
:
Persepolis, 2007 - ★★★★
Great animated film about a girl growing up in Iran through the revolution and overthrow of the …
:
Persepolis, 2007 - ★★★★
Great animated film about a girl growing up in Iran through the revolution and overthrow of the …
October 2024
: Memories, Facebook, and The Clash It seems Facebook still has the odd use, apart from keeping in touch with family and friends who …
: Watched the Channel 4 documentary about Hope Not Hate’s undercover investigation: Undercover: …
: Just booked to see Fucked Up on Saturday. I saw them back in 2011. I haven’t paid that much …
: 📚 Books 2024, 21: The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu , Translated by Ken Liu Spoilers below. This is a really strange book. I know it’s probably cultural differences in …
:
The local parakeets basically live in our garden now.
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Spectre, 2015 - ★★
It’s a Bond film. What can I tell you? It’s fine. There’s no real tension, because you know he’s …
:
Spectre, 2015 - ★★
It’s a Bond film. What can I tell you? It’s fine. There’s no real tension, because you know he’s …
: 1984: A Year With Gravity Ministry of Plenty It’s 2024. It’s 40 years since 1984. So I guess that’s why …
: 📚 Books 2024, 20: Julia by Sandra Newman As I said about Nineteen Eighty-Four itself, a bigger post is coming.
: 📚 Books 2024, 19: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell I’m going to write a bigger post about all the Nineteen Eighty-Four -related things I’ve …
:
Adam's Rib, 1949 - ★★½
Moderately amusing Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn film about two lawyers. He's an assistant DA, …
:
Adam's Rib, 1949 - ★★½
Moderately amusing Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn film about two lawyers. He's an assistant DA, …
:
Evil Under the Sun, 1982 - ★★½
After our recent slow binge of the TV Poirot series, which I don't think I've written about here, a …
:
Evil Under the Sun, 1982 - ★★½
After our recent slow binge of the TV Poirot series, which I don't think I've written about here, a …
: I love that today’s Xkcd (probably strictly yesterday’s) celebrates the closure of the …
September 2024
:
California Suite, 1978 - ★★★
This quadripartite tale of four groups (three couples and one pair of couples) at a Los Angeles …
:
California Suite, 1978 - ★★★
This quadripartite tale of four groups (three couples and one pair of couples) at a Los Angeles …
: Let my phone update to iOS 18 overnight, and this morning… it’s hard to see the difference. There …
: Currently reading: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell 📚 So many editions, and none of them with …
: 📚 Books 2024, 18: Nova Scotia Vol 2: New Speculative Fiction from Scotland, Edited by Neil Williamson and Andrew J Wilson If there’s a record for the longest gap between volumes of a series of collections, I think we …
:
What's Up, Doc?, 1972 - ★★★★
Fancied watching a screwball comedy. I remember seeing this with my parents when I was a kid. They …
:
What's Up, Doc?, 1972 - ★★★★
Fancied watching a screwball comedy. I remember seeing this with my parents when I was a kid. They …
: 📚 Books 2024, 17: The Library of the Dead by TL Huchu I saw Tendai (as is his name) interviewed at Worldcon last month. Went along without knowing …
: 📚 Books 2024, 16: Case Histories by Kate Atkinson I mentioned in the last books post that I’ve seen the Jackson Brodie TV series. Well, maybe …
:
The Death of Stalin, 2017 - ★★
It's a comedy, but I have to say, I find very little humour in it. Especially not the first half. …
:
The Death of Stalin, 2017 - ★★
It's a comedy, but I have to say, I find very little humour in it. Especially not the first half. …
: 📚 Books 2024, 15: Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson I’ve read several of Kate Atkinson’s books, but never one of her Jackson Brodie …
: 📚 Books 2024, 14: The Last Dark: The Final Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Book 4 by Stephen Donaldson When the final chronicles were first announced, and indeed on the first two books, it was referred …
August 2024
:
Murder on the Orient Express, 1974 - ★★
We've been watching the old <cite>Poirot</cite> TV series, inspired by me getting the …
:
Murder on the Orient Express, 1974 - ★★
We've been watching the old Poirot TV series, inspired by me getting the book this film is based on …
: 📚 Books 2024, 13: The Legend of Luther Arkwright by Bryan Talbot I didn’t even realise there was a third (and final?) volume in Talbot’s Luther Arkwright …
: Well, I guess that was the last working day of my fifties.
: Big Thief were good, if tending toward the prog at times.
: At Gunnersbury Park for the PJ Harvey gig. Took an age to get here, from East London to a long way …
:
Wicked Little Letters, 2023 - ★★★
Billed as s comedy, and based on a true story. It's good, but unfortunately all the funniest moments …
:
Wicked Little Letters, 2023 - ★★★
Billed as s comedy, and based on a true story. It's good, but unfortunately all the funniest moments …
: 📚 Books 2024, 12: Against All Things Ending: The Final Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Book 3 by Stephen Donaldson Not going to say much about this here, as I’m already well into the next (and final) volume, …
July 2024
: 📚 Books 2024, 11: The Crow Road by Iain Banks You will, I think, be far from surprised to learn that this is a reread. At least the third read, in …
: Great sense of relief this morning. Starmer’s speech makes me feel like it’s the early days of a …
: Well, let’s hope this exit poll is something close to accurate. Labour landslide, as the whole …
: Andy and Jamie walking out to Centre Court, and the BBC are treating like a final. Quite rightly.
: As we settle in for the long night ahead, John O’Farrell’s piece from last weekend is …
:
To the Polls!
And don’t forget your photo ID.
It feels like 97, but I have a niggling fear that we’ve …
June 2024
: One More Week to Hang On I seem to have largely stopped blogging. Certainly, as a general election approaches, I’ve …
: 📚 Books 2024, 10: Beyond the Light Horizon by Ken MacLeod Ken finishes his wonderful Lightspeed Trilogy with a flourish. Not all the problems are solved or …
: I keep thinking I should write about the current state of what we are calling AI. Trouble is, I …
: Currently reading: Beyond the Light Horizon by Ken MacLeod 📚 Not so much currently reading as nearly …
: 📚 Books 2024, 9: Trust by Hernan Diaz Forget I hadn’t posted about this. I finished it almost two weeks ago. The latest book-club …
May 2024
: Doctor Who discussions are going to get confusing. Seems Disney are calling the Christmas special …
:
The Man with Two Brains, 1983 - ★★★
I like Steve Martin movies a lot. Or I did like them back when I watched them years ago. It's been a …
:
The Man with Two Brains, 1983 - ★★★
I like Steve Martin movies a lot. Or I did like them back when I watched them years ago. It's been a …
:
Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical, 2022 - ★★★★
We've seen the stage version, seen the older film, read the book to the kids, and this is probably …
:
Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical, 2022 - ★★★★
We've seen the stage version, seen the older film, read the book to the kids, and this is probably …
:
Spotlight, 2015 - ★★★★
We saw this maybe back when it came out, or not long after. It's really good, stands up incredibly …
:
Spotlight, 2015 - ★★★★
We saw this maybe back when it came out, or not long after. It's really good, stands up incredibly …
: 📚 Books 2024, 8: Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh Actually finished this a few weeks ago, and forgot to write about it. I don’t know why, …
: One of those times when someone is trending on Twitter and it is what you fear. Sad to hear about …
:
Beverly Hills Cop, 1984 - ★★★
Stands up well after all these years. I saw it in the cinema when it first came out. Eddie Murphy is …
:
Beverly Hills Cop, 1984 - ★★★
Stands up well after all these years. I saw it in the cinema when it first came out. Eddie Murphy is …
:
Perfect Days, 2023 - ★★★★½
Wim Wenders's strangely compelling, meditative piece about a man who cleans public toilets in Tokyo. …
:
Perfect Days, 2023 - ★★★★½
Wim Wenders's strangely compelling, meditative piece about a man who cleans public toilets in Tokyo. …
April 2024
: 📚 Books 2024, 7: My Brother by Jamaica Kincaid The latest bookclub book. Kincaid’s brother died in 1996 of AIDS. Kincaid herself was …
:
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, 1988 - ★★★★
This stands up surprisingly well after all these years. A hilarious romp. Some of the worst parking …
:
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, 1988 - ★★★★
This stands up surprisingly well after all these years. A hilarious romp. Some of the worst parking …
:
Game Night, 2018 - ★★★★
A gloriously funny romp. A farce in the best sense. A couple like to have regular game nights. His …
:
Game Night, 2018 - ★★★★
A gloriously funny romp. A farce in the best sense. A couple like to have regular game nights. His …
: Peter Higgs, physicist who proposed Higgs boson, dies aged 94 It’s a good age, as far as that …
:
Society of the Snow, 2023 - ★★★½
A dramatisation of the horrifying experiences of a rugby team from Uruguay whose plane crashed in …
:
Society of the Snow, 2023 - ★★★½
A dramatisation of the horrifying experiences of a rugby team from Uruguay whose plane crashed in …
: 📚 Books 2024, 6: A River Called Time by Courttia Newland I got this as a Christmas present from my beloved. I had no idea who Courttia Newland is. I assumed …
March 2024
:
Somewhere out there, I’m fairly sure, a crime is happening. But Saga will work it out.
:
Dune: Part Two, 2024 - ★★½
To the IMAX at Waterloo last Sunday, with a group of fellow writers from the Spectrum group. <a …
:
Dune: Part Two, 2024 - ★★½
To the IMAX at Waterloo last Sunday, with a group of fellow writers from the Spectrum group. As I …
: 📚 Books 2024, 5: Monument Maker by David Keenan This is a monster, behemoth of a book. At over 800 pages it’s not the longest I’ve read …
:
The Aviator's Wife, 1981 - ★★★★
Yet another in our Eric Rohmer fest. I think this might be my favourite of them so far. A guy …
:
The Aviator’s Wife, 1981 - ★★★★
Yet another in our Eric Rohmer fest. I think this might be my favourite of them so far. A guy …
: BBC 6 Music is playing a live set from their festival, and I turned it on and thought, ‘How …
: Part 3 of the Bucatini Trilogy I didn’t know I was writing a trilogy, but here we are. After finding the mysterious pasta …
February 2024
: 📚 Books 2024, 4: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie The latest book club book for me, and I read it in a day. Short, easy, and supposedly the most …
: 📚 Books 2024, 3: The House at the End of the Sea by Victoria M. Adams First, a disclaimer: the author of this book was on the same Creative Writing MA as me, and I read a …
:
Well this is an exciting turnup: remember early in the pandemic, when there was an article in The …
:
Dune, 2021 - ★★½
I'm joining an outing of my writing group to see part 2 at the BFI IMAX next month, so I thought I'd …
:
Dune, 2021 - ★★½
I'm joining an outing of my writing group to see part 2 at the BFI IMAX next month, so I thought I'd …
: Great, we’ve been paying billions for a nuclear ‘deterrent’ that nobody wants and …
:
Days of the Bagnold Summer, 2019 - ★★★½
Fun wee story about a teenage metal fan and his mum one summer. With music by Belle & Sebastian into …
:
Days of the Bagnold Summer, 2019 - ★★★½
Fun wee story about a teenage metal fan and his mum one summer. With music by Belle & Sebastian into …
:
Boyfriends and Girlfriends, 1987 - ★★★
We watched this on BFI Player, where its English title was the direct translation of the French one: …
:
My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend, 1987 - ★★★
We watched this on BFI Player, where its English title was the direct translation of the French one: …
: Custom and Use In the lone footnote of his latest post, Ian Betteridge bemoans the use of the term …
: 🔗 Introducing Pkl, a programming language for configuration :: Pkl Docs … delighted to announce the …
:
More evidence of comically early spring: daffodils dancing in the sun.
January 2024
: Pending the deal’s publication on Wednesday, it appears that Sunak has offered to keep Great Britain …
:
It’s still January. It’s the northern hemisphere. So why is this rose flowering? …
:
A Good Marriage, 1982 - ★★★
I like these Eric Rohmer films, with their low-key humour. In this one, Sabine breaks up with her …
:
A Good Marriage, 1982 - ★★★
I like these Eric Rohmer films, with their low-key humour. In this one, Sabine breaks up with her …
:
The Harder They Come, 1972 - ★★★
Classic Jamaican film starring reggae singer Jimmy Cliff. I enjoyed it, but it doesn't seem the …
:
The Harder They Come, 1972 - ★★★
Classic Jamaican film starring reggae singer Jimmy Cliff. I enjoyed it, but it doesn't seem the …
: Currently reading: Monument Maker by David Keenan 📚 I’ve read a few of his before, and …
: 📚 Books 2024, 2: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka I can see why this won the Booker last year the year before last. It’s beautifully written, …
: 📚 Books 2024, 1: This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone A Christmas present from my son. I know I read it before, but that was on Kindle, and he …
: I didn’t have China Miéville co-writing a novel with Keanu Reeves on my 2024 bingo card, but …
: Currently reading: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka 📚 My current book-club …
:
Anatomy of a Fall, 2023 - ★★★★½
My god, but this film is good! Courtroom drama, French style, that manages to make you doubt your …
:
Anatomy of a Fall, 2023 - ★★★★½
My god, but this film is good! Courtroom drama, French style, that manages to make you doubt your …
:
Maestro, 2023 - ★★½
We ended last January watching a film about an imaginary conductor, namely Tár. We closed out 2023 …
:
Maestro, 2023 - ★★½
We ended last January watching a film about an imaginary conductor, namely Tár. We closed out 2023 …
: I read 27 books in 2023; just over one a fortnight, which seems faster than it felt at the time. And …
December 2023
: Edinburgh by Alexander Chee (Books 2023, 27) 📚 Back in 2021, when I read Chee’s How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, I expressed an …
:
Saltburn, 2023 - ★★½ (contains spoilers)
This review may contain spoilers.
It's unusual to go in to see a film with essentially no idea of …
:
Saltburn, 2023 - ★★½ (contains spoilers)
This review may contain spoilers.
It's unusual to go in to see a film with essentially no idea of …
: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (Books 2023, 26) 📚 The first Christmas-present book, finished on boxing day. Short, and a page-turner. I’ve never …
:
Nine to Five, 1980 - ★★★★
I don't know why I didn't see this back in the day. It's a mad romp, and a deeply feminist one. Full …
:
Nine to Five, 1980 - ★★★★
I don't know why I didn't see this back in the day. It's a mad romp, and a deeply feminist one. Full …
:
The Holiday, 2006 - ★★★
I've watched this before, but it looks like I forgot to log it on Letterboxd. Fun Christmas romcom. …
: What the hell is this shit? Tried to open a link at CNN and I get this response, in Safari, Firefox …
: Who Do You Think You Both Are? I suppose I should tell you what I thought of the three Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials. They …
: The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith (Books 2023, 25) 📚 A reread so soon? Hell, yes, why not? I think I enjoyed it even more this time. It’s amazing …
: I’m watching Shane MacGowan’s funeral on YouTube, and loving how it seems totally chaotic. Like a …
:
To a first approximation it takes me all day to bake the Christmas cake. To be fair, I had to go out …
: The Affirmation by Christopher Priest (Books 2023, 24) 📚 I’ve had this book for years, and I thought I had read it. Took a look at it a week or two …
November 2023
: … And Took the Road for Heaven in the Morning In a way it was surprising that Shane MacGowan survived this long, considering his noted and …
:
8½, 1963 - ★★★
Fellini's 8½ is a weird, fragmentary, confusing, semi-autobiographical piece about a filmmaker who's …
: Wordle 890 2/6* ⬛🟨⬛⬛🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Extreme rarity of Wordle in 2!
: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Books 2023, 23)📚 Why did nobody ever tell me that this book is funny? I had it in my head as a slightly worthy, if …
:
All About Eve, 1950 - ★★★½
Not dissimilar in themes to the various A Star is Born instances we've been watching, in that it's …
: BBC 6 Music DJ: ‘We’ve set up a deck in the studio so we can play you some vinyl …
: Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler (Books 2023, 22) 📚 There is no evidence in the text of this book that it is SF. Yet here I have a copy, published in …
:
A Star Is Born, 1976 - ★★★
Three stars because this is a bit better than the fifties version that we watched a couple of months …
: 🔗 BLACK DOG, Gazelle Twin – WARREN ELLIS LTD Hell of a record. It’s like immersing yourself in a …
October 2023
:
GoodFellas, 1990 - ★★★½
I somehow wasn't interested in this when it came out in 1990. Gangsters didn't really appeal at that …
: White Riot by Joe Thomas (Books 2023, 21) 📚 I picked this up because of the title, taken as it obviously is from an early song by my favourite …
:
Velvet Goldmine, 1998 - ★★
This is a kind of fake story of some of the singers who inspired and were part of glam rock. There's …
:
The Exorcist, 1973 - ★★½
It’s slightly surprising, perhaps, that I’ve never seen this horror classic, given my …
:
Tenet, 2020 - ★★★½
It’s not Nolan’s best, and I’m not sure it entirely makes sense. But it was …
: Think I might refer this recruitment company to London Zoo, given their requirements.
: In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez (Books 2023, 20) 📚 This isn’t the kind of thing I’d normally think of reading, but I’ve joined a book …
: The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith (Books 2023, 19) 📚 It’s only a few days since I finished — just over a week since the year-long wait was over — …
:
The Net, 1995 - ★★½
I know I’ve heard comments about this over the years, but I can’t remember whether …
September 2023
:
Ceremonial Doom Bar with the new Strike & Ellacott novel. 📚
: Hazel O’Connor trending on Twitter. Mainly because of people saying ‘I saw Hazel …
: Canal Dreams by Iain Banks (Books 2023, 18) 📚 I’ve always considered this the least of Iain Banks’s novels. As, I think, did he. If I …
: Tried Siri’s new slightly more conversational mode in iOS 17. Said ‘Siri, pause’ while a podcast was …
: This is a good piece about the different ways we communicate: Are you a writer or a talker? That is, …
:
A Star Is Born, 1954 - ★★½
The 1954 version of A Star is Born has in it the bones of a great film. It is not, however, the …
: Fatal Revenant: The Final Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Book 2 by Stephen Donaldson (Books 2023, 17) 📚 Wordy, as I mentioned before. Long. Unnecessarily repetitive. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. …
:
In the Heat of the Night, 1967 - ★★★
A Black cop helps a white police chief investigate a murder in a southern (US) town. After first …
: Speaking of ChatGPT, I like Cory Doctorow’s explanation of it and its cousins from his latest piece: …
: Dave Winer (I think he’s still @dave on Micro.blog) talks about using ChatGPT to make calls about a …
:
Straight to Hell, 1987 - ★★
Alex Cox made a spaghetti western, with Joe Strummer, the Pogues, Elis Costello, Courtney Love …
:
Frances Ha, 2012 - ★★★½
It’s as if a French New Wave film had been made in New York in the early 2000s (with a quick visit …
August 2023
: Well, it’s obvious that no one reads this, or they’d have drawn my attention to the …
: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (Books 2023, 16) 📚 Normally speaking I’d claim a novel written in the 1930s and set in the late 40s for science …
: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (Books 2023, 15) 📚 I started reading this a few years back, and stopped after the first chapter or so, because it …
: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (Books 2023, 14) 📚 I’ve been meaning to read this since I read a review of it back when it came out, in 2017. So, …
: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (Books 2023, 13) 📚 Piranesi has always lived in the house; even if that’s not his name, which it may not be. A …
: I’m not sure who the New York Times folks are trolling with today’s Connections, but it’s a good …
: The Runes of the Earth: The Final Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Book 1 by Stephen Donaldson (Books 2023, 12) 📚 Forty years ago it was: towards the end of school, Watty — he of the Number 6 badge, celebrating The …
: The City & the City by China Mieville (Books 2023, 11) 📚 It’s like China wanted to write a police procedural, a detective story. But being China, there was …
:
The Importance of Being Earnest, 1952 - ★★★½
Watched on Monday August 14, 2023.
:
Cléo from 5 to 7, 1962 - ★★★½
Watched on Friday August 11, 2023.
: I think I’ve seen more rain this summer than in all the years I’ve lived in London.
: Oh no, we’ve lost touch with Voyager 2. I feel weirdly sad about this. It’s the …
: This Scottish MP who’s been ousted by the people for breaking Covid rules: I think this is the …
July 2023
: The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling (Books 2023, 10) 📚 To tide me over until the new Strike book comes out (in just under two months) I suddenly decided to …
:
Barbie, 2023 - ★★★★½
Best musical moment for me: ‘Closer to Fine’ by the Indigo Girls, repeatedly. That was unexpected. …
:
Oppenheimer, 2023 - ★★★★
I’ve never seen the Hackney Picturehouse as busy as it was when we arrived last night. A rainy …
:
Falling for Figaro, 2020 - ★★
A woman gives up her high-paid fund-management job in London to try to become an opera singer. You …
: Started reading The City & the City by China Miéville 📚 This is one of only very few of …
: Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (Books 2023, 9) 📚 I mentioned in May, that I had been reading this. It’s taken me till now to finish it. In …
: How do people cope with being full-time sport fans? Watching Murray/Tsitsipas last night was so …
June 2023
:
Chevalier, 2022 - ★★½
Watched on Friday June 16, 2023.
May 2023
:
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, 1997 - ★★
I first heard of Mike Myers in 1985 or so, at the Edinburgh Fringe. Someone was giving out flyers …
: Films, Books, Blogging, and Giving Up I’m realising I need to get back into the habit of putting things on the blog. More than film …
:
The Matrix Resurrections, 2021 - ★★★½
Forgot to log this when I watched it a month or so ago. I know I expressed high enthusiasm for this …
:
Blue Jean, 2022 - ★★½
In the 1980s, under the fear of the Tory government's Clause 28, a teacher has to keep her sexuality …
:
The Green Ray, 1986 - ★★★
Watched on Thursday May 4, 2023.
:
After Love, 2020 - ★★½
Watched on Sunday April 30, 2023.
April 2023
:
Pain and Glory, 2019 - ★★★
Or Dolor y gloria, to give it its Spanish title.
Pedro Almodóvar's latest, and filled with his …
: The Guardian is reporting that people who didn’t get the alert are mostly on the Three …
: Hey, what happened to my government warning? It’s twenty past three and I haven’t …
: Punk Publishing: A DIY Guide, by Andy Conway & David Wake (Books 2023, 8) 📚 I bought this on my recent visit to Eastercon, from one of the authors, David Wake. I hadn’t …
:
Everything Everywhere All at Once, 2022 - ★★★★½
Saw this in Paris on a recent trip. In English, with French subtitles.
The only problem: it's not …
: Beyond the Reach of Earth by Ken McLeod (Books 2023, 7) 📚 The sequel to Beyond the Hallowed Sky, which I read at the start of last year. It’s an …
: Conventions conventionally drink the real-ale bar dry too early. Here at Eastercon, apparently we’ve …
: On my way to Birmingham for Eastercon. Been a few years since I’ve been to a con. It’ll be good to …
: Just after midnight last night I finished my novel, Casino Soul. The first draft, anyway, or maybe …
: A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson (Books 2023, 6) 📚 Atkinson’s Life After Life was the wonderful story of Ursula Todd, who kept repeating her …
March 2023
: Extremely rare software update this morning: Scrivener for Mac updated to version 3.3. A huge number …
: Interzone 294 Edited by Gareth Jelley (Books 2023, 5) 📚 I posted a photo of this when it arrived, to show its new paperback-book format. It’s an issue …
:
The first band I ever saw live, back in (fuck!) 1980, was Stiff Little Fingers.
I’ve seen them a few …
:
Sister Act, 1992 - ★★★
A daft but fun enough romp, in which Whoopi Goldberg is a nightclub singer who has to hide out from …
:
On the Basis of Sex, 2018 - ★★★
Decent film about the early legal career of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As a film it's pretty decent. As a …
February 2023
:
Look at the new Interzone: it’s a paperback book! I like it.
: I’ve written here before about Nick Cave’s newsletter, The Red Hand files, and lately …
: The Rings of Saturn by WG Sebald, Translated by Michael Hulse (Books 2023, 4) 📚 The Rings of Saturn is a very unusual book. My copy has this classification on the back: …
:
Suzanne on the Stage
To Cambridge, on Thursday just past, and to the Corn Exchange, to see Suzanne Vega. My one-word …
: I just crossed the 80,000 word mark on Casino Soul, the novel that I started as part of my creative …
: Penny-Farthings and Paranoia Watty was wearing a badge, one of the big, old kind. Probably two inches across, round. They used to …
:
Gosford Park, 2001 - ★★★½
Another old one that I’d never seen before. Considering it’s by the same guy who wrote Downton …
:
Comfort and Joy, 1984 - ★★★ (contains spoilers)
This review may contain spoilers.
Kind of daft film that somehow I’d never seen. Set at Christmas, …
: When you end the week with a massive merge to master, and then go downstairs to drink wine and …
: A rare trip into the office today. We have the Christmas do for London-based developers and testers …
:
Our Man Flint, 1966 - ★★½
I remember seeing this as a kid and absolutely loving it. We talked about it at school, probably …
:
Tár, 2022 - ★★★★
Tár is a much-discussed, disputed, disagreed-upon tour de force. Not since Moonlight have I read so …
January 2023
: Currently reading: Poems by Iain Banks and Ken MacLeod 📚
: Us old types are told that youngsters don’t like punctuation. Full stops in texts sound angry, …
:
It’s the 31st of January, and daffodils are out.
: The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage by Sydney Padua (Books 2023, 3) 📚 Fantastic graphic novel about the inventor of the Difference and Analytical Engines and the first …
: Bomber Jackson Does Some by Bob Boyton (Books 2023, 2) 📚 First, cards on the table, Bob is a friend of mine. Bomber Jackson Does Some is his first novel, …
:
All Quiet on the Western Front, 2022 - ★★★
Watched on Saturday January 21, 2023.
:
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years, 2016 - ★★★★½
Watched on Tuesday January 17, 2023.
:
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, 2022 - ★★★
The usual Marvel daftness. I enjoyed it, but really, there's just so much of this stuff now that …
:
The first snowdrops are out in London.
:
Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), 2021 - ★★★★
Excellent documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival, an outdoor music festival in 1969. The …
: Together We Will Go by J Michael Straczynski (Books 2023, 1) 📚 Content warning: suicide The first book of the year. JMS of Babylon 5 fame tells the story of a …
: Went for the first swim of the year this morning. And if the app for the pool is to be believed, I …
: A Look Back at my 2022 The Year in Blogging Only 98 posts in 2022, broken down as follows. Month Posts Jan 11 Feb …
:
RRR, 2022 - ★★★½
A mad, wild ride, by turns gruesome and hilarious. It's essentially a superhero bromance set in …
December 2022
: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Books 2022, 33) 📚 Not just another murder mystery, but an undeniably cosy one. OK, the deaths aren’t cosy, …
:
Knives Out, 2019 - ★★★★
Watching the sequel the other day led us to a rewatch of the original. I see I only gave it three …
:
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, 2022 - ★★★★
Fun murder mystery.
: The Perfume Burned His Eyes by Michael Imperioli (Books 2022, 32) 📚 As any fan will realise instantly, the title of this comes from Lou Reed’s ‘Romeo Had …
:
Nothing Compares, 2022 - ★★★½
Great documentary about the wonderful Sinéad O’Connor. A bit light on her music, mainly having …
: 🅦🅞🅡🅓🄸🄿🄻🅈 #6 🌟 Length Score: 78% 🚀 Letter Score: 68 🔗 Play Wordiply: www.wordiply.com 🎬 Today’s …
:
The Grand Budapest Hotel, 2014 - ★★★★
So after downgrading this the last time we watched it as a family, a Boxing Day re-rewatch leads me …
: Rocannon's World by Ursula Le Guin (Books 2022, 31) 📚 I’m quite pleased to have read as many as 31 books this year. Not sure quite how I’ve …
: The Guardian has a new word game, Wordiply: 🅦🅞🅡🅓🄸🄿🄻🅈 #4 🌟 Length Score: 73% 🚀 Letter Score: 46 🔗 …
: Twenty Years Without Joe I missed posting this yesterday, what with one thing and another. Twenty years ago yesterday, the …
: Illuminations by Alan Moore (Books 2022, 30) 📚 It’s amusing, this one coming straight after this year’s behemoth, since the last book I …
:
Falling for Christmas, 2022 - ★★½
Daft but fun Christmas-based romcom. All the ingredients you could want are here.
: I was listening to The Specials yesterday because of the sad death of Terry Hall, of course. I was …
:
This is really weird. ‘Do the Dog’ by The Specials, but Apple Music brings up the lyrics of ‘The …
: At the start of this year, I promised myself I’d finish this novel by the end of the year. I …
: I opened a file where I had made some notes for a possible post. It had a link to something I might …
: Right. Friday night is upon us. The week’s work is done. Hello. @meandering
November 2022
:
The Silencers, 1966 - ★½
When I was a little kid my family used to go on holiday to Millport, on the Isle of Cumbrae, in the …
: Why do Netflix, when nothing’s playing, still include The OA in the shows they tout, when the …
: This is a micropost, sent using the MarsEdit 5 beta’s new ‘Micropost’ feature. …
: The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk, Translated by Jennifer Croft (Books 2022, 29) I am unreasonably happy about having finished this before the end of the year. I started reading it …
: This is disappointing: Apple have removed the delightful page-turn animation from the Books app: …
:
November sky. Days like this are the real reason we have Christmas.
: Saddened to read of the death of Marcus Sedgwick. I don’t know much about him, but I read and …
: If you use Stage Manager on Mac, it seems that Command-backtick (⌘+`) behaves differently. Normally …
: My site is fully switched over to Micro.blog. Everything has changed. Not just the look — I plan to …
: I plan to move my site to Micro.blog. I’ve had enough of running servers and juggling …
: Tax rises expected from the latest Tory PM. What I can’t figure out is why they have to …
October 2022
: Next Songs, Elon Musk, and Joe Strummer Since Musk’s takeover of Twitter has been confirmed, there has been a lot of chatter about …
: The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith (Books 2022, 28) And so I circle back and reread the book I read just over a month ago. This has been a most …
:
The Banshees of Inisherin, 2022 - ★★★★
Martin McDonagh’s latest is sad, hilarious, tragic, and true. Or feels like it could be true, …
: Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith (Books 2022, 27) For some reason this is the one whose title never sticks in my mind. When I try to think of the …
: Lethal White by Robert Galbraith (Books 2022, 26) The rereading continues. It’s actually now a couple of weeks since I read this, this time. …
:
Well, damn. As the only one in my immediate family never to have had it, I really thought I was …
:
Barry Lyndon, 1975 - ★★★½
I had never seen this Kubrick film, and it was a little hard to get my head around it as a comedy. …
September 2022
:
Wednesday Night is Music Night
God, I have missed this so much. Live music FTW.
I get emails from the Joe Strummer Foundation . The …
: Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (Books 2022, 25) This is, by far, the most gruesome book in the Strike series. The crimes, the killings are, that is …
: Also I don’t really like the #NotMyKing hashtag that some republican campaigners have been …
: Did anyone else get heavy Cybermen vibes from the royal funeral parade? All the slow marching with a …
: God Save Your Mad Parade I surprised myself, really. I, an avowed republican and atheist, watched the Queen’s funeral. …
: The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (Books 2022, 24) A satire of literary London wrapped in a murder mystery. Robin gets more to do than in the first …
: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (Books 2022, 23) So we move into a(nother) period of rereading. Reading the new Strike novel immediately made me want …
:
Molly's Game, 2017 - ★★★½
Aaron Sorkin not quite at his best. Decent film, based on the memoir of Molly Bloom. Who is nothing …
: The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith (Books 2022, 22) This may be the best so far of the Strike books. My favourite so far, anyway. Despite being set in …
: The Title of The Smiths' Third Album I’m a republican, but you’ve got to acknowledge that old Queenie had a good run. …
: Excession by Iain M Banks (Books 2022, 21) Yes, I’m only reading Iain Banks at the moment. What of it? Or I was for a brief period up …
August 2022
: Dead Air by Iain Banks (Books 2022, 20) Banksie’s most political book, I think it’s fair to say. In the sense that the …
:
All the President's Men, 1976 - ★★★½
I read the book years ago, and of course knew the broad outlines of the Watergate story. This was a …
: The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M Banks (Books 2022, 19) The last of the Culture books and Banksie’s SF books, both at all, and that I had only read …
: The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick (Books 2022, 18) On my MA course, in the Creative Nonfiction module, we were assigned the first chapter of this as …
: Interzone Issue 292/293 Edited by Andy Cox (Books 2022, 17) Not strictly a book, but a double issue of a short-story magazine seems substantial enough to treat …
:
We're No Angels, 1955 - ★★½
Daft wee film — a Christmas film, I was surprised to realise — from 1955 in which Humphrey Bogart …
July 2022
: The Computer Connection by Alfred Bester (Books 2022, 16) This starts out with the main character escaping from some obscure threat and reaching a …
: The Islanders by Christopher Priest (Books 2022, 15) I’m not sure that I’ve read any of Priest’s ‘Dream Archipelago’ …
: Still Life by Val McDermid (Books 2022, 14) ‘A Karen Pirie thriller,’ the description on the cover says of this. I’m not sure …
: A Theatre for Dreamers by Polly Samson (Books 2022, 13) Greece is probably the best place to read this novel, which is good, because that was where I was …
June 2022
: Software and Wetware by Rudy Rucker (Books 2022, 11 and 12) Or the first two books in the Ware tetralogy, as they now are. I read Software many years ago, and …
: Ubik by Philip K Dick (Books 2022, 10) I had associated this in my head with Dick’s VALIS, which is one of his latest works (written …
: Firefox Rolls Out Total Cookie Protection Starting today, Firefox is rolling out Total Cookie Protection by default to all Firefox users …
: Bloody Ebooks! I read Inverted World on the Kindle. It always annoys me that you’re put at the start of the …
: Inverted World by Christopher Priest (Books 2022, 9) With its fairly famous opening line — ‘I had reached the age of six hundred and fifty …
May 2022
:
V for Vendetta, 2005 - ★★½
Reasonable filmic conversion of the graphic novel. It doesn’t really do a lot with it, but it’s …
:
V for Vendetta, 2005 - ★★½
Reasonable filmic conversion of the graphic novel. It doesn’t really do a lot with it, but it’s …
: The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox (Books 2022, 8) This was prompted by a Guardian article — listicle, you might say, since it’s basically a big …
April 2022
: Musky Times I wasn’t going to write anything about Elon Musk buying Twitter, because I mostly don’t …
: Luckenbooth by Jenni Fagan (Books 2022, 7) This came to me by way of The Guardian’s summer reading recommendations last year. I ended up …
:
Easy A, 2010 - ★★★
Another US high-school comedy. Not a John Hughes 80s one, but one that makes explicit reference …
:
Easy A, 2010 - ★★★
Another US high-school comedy. Not a John Hughes 80s one, but one that makes explicit reference …
: I no longer follow anyone on Twitter that I haven’t met, but I’m thinking of making an …
:
Baby Driver, 2017 - ★★★★
I saw this at the cinema when it came out back in 2017. Loved it then. Loved it even more now. …
:
Baby Driver, 2017 - ★★★★
I saw this at the cinema when it came out back in 2017. Loved it then. Loved it even more now. …
March 2022
: It’s not yet the end of March. I’ve just put the cushions on the outdoor chairs, and put …
: The Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson (Books 2022, 4–6) Yes, all I do is reread. Sometimes it seems that way, anyway. Well, it was the end of 2014 when I …
:
A Room with a View, 1985 - ★★½
It's an old Merchant-Ivory period piece. Pleasant enough, but kind of stilted in places. In part. …
:
A Room with a View, 1986 - ★★½
It's an old Merchant-Ivory period piece. Pleasant enough, but kind of stilted in places. In part. …
:
Pitch Perfect, 2012 - ★★★½
Fun story about competitive acapella singers at a US university.
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:
Miss Sloane, 2016 - ★★★
Decent story about a US lobbyist who takes on the support of a bill to restrict some tiny amount of …
:
Pitch Perfect, 2012 - ★★★½
Fun story about competitive acapella singers at a US university.
:
Miss Sloane, 2016 - ★★★
Decent story about a US lobbyist who takes on the support of a bill to restrict some tiny amount of …
: Propaganda and Suffering I’ve seen a strange set of opinions popping up on Twitter over the last week or so, …
February 2022
:
The Velvet Underground, 2021 - ★★★★
There's a lot to like here if you're already a fan — or at least, have some interest. Probably not …
:
The Velvet Underground, 2021 - ★★★★
There's a lot to like here if you're already a fan — or at least, have some interest. Probably not …
:
Withnail & I, 1987 - ★★★★
Long time since I saw this, so all I remembered really were the quotable bits ('We've gone on …
:
Withnail & I, 1987 - ★★★★
Long time since I saw this, so all I remembered really were the quotable bits ('We've gone on …
:
13th, 2016 - ★★★½
A documentary about the prison-industrial complex, this is a tough watch. The title comes from the …
:
13th, 2016 - ★★★½
A documentary about the prison-industrial complex, this is a tough watch. The title comes from the …
:
Legally Blonde, 2001 - ★★★
We’ve been enjoying the more recent work of Reece Witherspoon lately, in The Morning Show and Big …
:
Legally Blonde, 2001 - ★★★
We’ve been enjoying the more recent work of Reece Witherspoon lately, in The Morning Show and Big …
: Mildly amusing that no one noticed the obvious mistake in my last post/tweet. Or they were too …
: Dateline: 2022-02-22 Just wanted to note the loveliness of today’s date: 2022-02-22 in ISO format, or 22/2/22 or …
: The Kids by Hannah Lowe (Books 2022, 3) I don’t think I’ve ever written about a book of poetry here before. That’s because …
: Wordle on my phone is still at the original site. But my partner’s goes to the NYT. …
: Raw Spirit: In Search of the Perfect Dram by Iain Banks (Books 2022, 2) Posting about books is slow because I’m reading something gigantic. More of that later …
:
On this date of many ‘2’s (but just wait till the 22nd), here’s a nice sunset for …
:
The Word on Wordle
To celebrate the news of Wordle’s sale to the New York Times, here’s my result from …
January 2022
: You Can Call Me Master I should note here that I finished and passed my masters. I now have a Master of Arts in Creative …
: Out, and Into Town I’ve just been into the West End of London, to various shops. Travelled by bus, masked of …
:
The Beatles: Get Back, 2021 - ★★★★★
I wish I could give this six stars or seven. Hell, why not ten? Actually watching it twice in two …
: Cold Winter Morning I was never a huge Meat Loaf fan, but I always liked Bat Out of Hell, and of course enjoyed him in …
:
Nomadland, 2020 - ★★★½
The scenery is bleak, and the setup is sad, but in the end this movie is neither. Frances …
:
So if I run brew install python-tk, which should let me build basic GUI apps on Mac with Python, it …
: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (Books 2022, 1) This extremely short book is only a novella, but it took me some time to get through it because of …
:
Don't Look Up, 2021 - ★★★½
Fun, if bleak, satire about the end of the world. Two astronomers try to get people — though mainly …
: Beyond the Hallowed Sky by Ken MacLeod (Books 2021, 28) Ken posted about this on his blog, along with a link to the first chapter on the publisher’s …
:
Lost at Christmas, 2020 - ★★★
That strangest of things, a Scottish Christmas film. A very low budget, fun enough, story about two …
: Starting the Year (and a Brief Look Back) 2022. That’s a lot of 2s. Though just wait till the 2nd of February. Happy New Year to one and …
December 2021
: This Site Now Has a Dark Theme As you’ll have noticed if you’re looking at this post on a device set to dark mode, …
:
Mary Poppins Returns, 2018 - ★★★½
Fun sequel to a Disney classic. Good songs, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Probably not as memorable as the …
: A Note I'd Like to Send Back Through Time If you’re dealing with family photos back in the seventies, eighties, nineties, it’s …
: Planetfall by Emma Newman (Books 2021, 27) This is a novel about a human colony on an unnamed planet. There are, as we soon learn from the …
: Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots (Books 2021, 26) The title comes from ‘henchman’ — or -woman. We are in a world where superheroes exist, …
: Pour One Out for Joe Or maybe that should be ‘flame one up for Joe’, considering his preferences. It’s …
:
'Spider-Man: No Way Home, 2021 - ★★★★'
Pretty good follow-on from the earlier Spider-Man films. My daughter tells me ‘All the fan theories …
: Comet Weather by Liz Williams (Books 2021, 25) An enjoyable present-day story of magic in Somerset and London. Mostly the country, with Glastonbury …
: A Song Needs Words On What a Song Is It seems like I’m increasingly often hearing people — especially, but not …
: Boosted Just got my booster vaccination. I now have a dose of Moderna sloshing around my veins. So …
: The Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones (Books 2021, 24) I read this because I happened on an article about it on Tor.com: ‘Diana Wynne Jones’ The Time …
November 2021
:
'The Beatles: Get Back, 2021 - ★★★★★'
I already wrote about watching the first part, but the whole thing is just as fantastic. The middle …
:
The French Dispatch, 2021 - ★★★★
Wes Anderson's latest is a wild romp, slightly incoherent at times -- or, not incoherent, exactly …
: The Caledonian Gambit by Dan Moren (Books 2021, 23) Dan Moren writes about Apple stuff over at Six Colours, and at Macworld and so on, but he’s …
: Get Back to Christmas We subscribed to Disney+ last night, so that we could watch Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get …
: The Origin of Angels? I was surprised just over three weeks ago when I learned – from the Saturday Guardian, the …
: Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson (Books 2021, 22) Talk about not remembering books: I’ve got to ask myself whether I ever did read this one. I …
: Songs and Singles You’ve probably heard a song off an album – you’ve heard the album, maybe a few …
:
Adventures in Mac Repairs
I have a 15-inch MacBook Pro from 2017. It’s in perfect working order, except the battery was …
October 2021
: Count Zero by William Gibson (Books 2021, 21) The only thing I remembered about this was its opening line, which is nowhere near as memorable as …
:
No Country for Old Men, 2007 - ★★½
This film is infuriating. It reminded me of Shallow Grave, at least at the start, in this way: if …
:
This is what Hackney Marshes looks like on a Monday morning in October
: Star Ratings Giving star ratings to things I’ve watched, read, etc, is not something I ever did until I started …
:
The Matrix Revolutions, 2003 - ★★★½
If only in the interest of being ready for the new one, it's worth being up to date with this. But …
: Neuromancer by William Gibson (Books 2021, 20) I’m on a bit of a reread thing at the moment, partly because I moved some books around …
September 2021
: Our Last, Best, Hope for TV? You wait years for a beloved three-letter-creator to return to a beloved SF show, and then two …
: Lanark: A Life in 4 Books by Alasdair Gray (Books 2021, 19) I read this a long time ago, and the strange thing now is that everything I remembered of it happens …
:
The Manchurian Candidate, 1962 - ★★★
This is a strange film. I knew the broad outline, or thought I did. An American gets brainwashed and …
: Rusty's Return Well that answers the question I asked in July. At least the bit I described as ‘arguably more …
: First Line of Defence? Dave Winer may be a very smart guy, who effectively invented blogging, RSS, and podcasts, but …
: Dissertation Submitted Just an hour ago I submitted my dissertation for my creative writing MA. This means my course is …
: An American Story by Christopher Priest (Books 2021, 18) It was strangely timely that I decided to start reading this a few days before the 9/11 anniversary, …
: My phone just reminded me that my dissertation is due right now. Which wouldn’t have been a …
: Book me a front-row seat: The Matrix Resurrections in theaters and on HBO Max December 22 …
: Just found a typo in my diss: ‘Jeff the sandman,’ instead of soundman. Should probably …
: One Week Away My dissertation is due in just under a week. I’m seeking an extension, because I’ve been …
: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge (Books 2021, 17) The absence of an apostrophe in the title has disturbed me slightly since I heard of this book. I …
: Today is Irony Day: Wetherspoon’s short on some beers as Brexit affects deliveries. They blame …
: I sent my CV to a recruiter today, for the first time in a long time. Dissertation due in less than …
August 2021
: Big Planet by Jack Vance (Books 2021, 16) I actually read this before the previous one, but forget to write about it. Perhaps that’s …
: Whit by Iain Banks (Books 2021, 15) The human memory is an amazing thing. In this case, it’s amazing what it’s possible not …
: MA Latest I realised the other day that it’s a year ago that I was applying for creative writing MAs, …
:
The Matrix Reloaded, 2003 - ★★★½
Watched on Saturday August 14, 2021.
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: London Centric: Tales of Future London, Edited by Ian Whates (Books 2021, 14) Great collection of stories set in and around London. Or various Londons, depending on how you look …
: The Exes by Pagan Kennedy (Books 2021, 13) Another one suggested by my supervisor. It’s about a band, and the novel I’m working on …
July 2021
:
#WeStandWithRNLI
My parents taught me to always give to the RNLI when they’re collecting, …
: Who's Next? Sorry, that’s, like, the most obvious title in known space. Jodie and Chris are leaving Doctor …
: Dragonfly, or Not? In Dragonflies and The Twisties, Austin Kleon writes about dragonflies.1 He links to a Washington …
:
Passport to Pimlico, 1949 - ★★★★
I think I probably saw this classic Ealing comedy, or part of it, when I was a kid, but it was good …
: Multiple Points Just last month I wrote Single Points, about the Fastly CDN outage. This morning many, many sites …
: Diary of a Film by Niven Govinden (Books 2021, 12) A famous film director arrives in ‘the Italian city of B’ to attend a festival and …
:
Black Widow, 2021 - ★★★★
I was last in a cinema in February 2020, to see Parasite. Today I went to the same cinema to see …
: Have sunk into a tennis stupor. It’s likely to stay until tomorrow.
: Summerwater by Sarah Moss (Books 2021, 11) My other dissertation supervisor, Julia Bell, suggested that I read this. It’s a …
: There was a remarkable sporting event yesterday. We learned that Roger Federer is human, and ageing.
: Hinton by Mark Blacklock (Books 2021, 10) The author is one of my MA supervisors, so take that under advisement, I guess. This is a historical …
: Hit Me Up in the Comments It’s been a long time coming. When I moved my website to Nikola last year, I said: All the …
June 2021
: Not So Quiet Just over a year ago I was posting, in passing, about ‘the quiet of early lockdown.’ …
: Not Killing It We got to the end of The Killing tonight. Don’t read on if you care about spoilers. OK? What a …
: Two Weeks They say the vaccines give maximum resistance ‘two to three weeks’ after the second …
: Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch (Books 2021, 9) The second of Aaronovitch’s series about the division of the Metropolitan Police that deals …
: Single Points I noticed that GitHub was down this morning – or not down, exactly, but its web pages were …
: Jonathan Richman and the Handwritten Interview Great story about interviewing Jonathan Richman, by writing a letter to him and receiving one back. …
:
Friends: The Reunion, 2021 - ★★★
It was fine. Good to see what they're all like now. Some funny bits. Slightly surprised to find that …
: That Summer Feeling I’m sitting in the garden, writing on my iPad, and am wearing shorts for the first time this …
: It's Never Good When a Useful Site Gets Bought News comes out that Stack Overflow is being bought by something called Prosus. I’ve never …
:
Vax 2
Got my second dose of the vaccine today, just about an hour and a half ago. Down to a local …
: Turns out The Killing is a pretty good TV show. Who knew? We’re five episodes in, and …
May 2021
:
Can't Get You Out of My Head, 2021
Convention dictates that I should give a star rating to this. I’m not going to, though, because I’m …
: Mark E Smith (Co-)Wrote a Screenplay A screenplay by Mark E Smith, cowritten with Graham Duff? Sounds like it could have been great: …
: BSAG On Creativity The mysterious long-time blogger known only as ‘But She’s A Girl’ has some wise …
: Winter’s Writing David Mitchell (the novelist, not the comedian) on Italo Calvino’s If On A Winter’s …
:
Sisters with Transistors, 2020 - ★★★★
Great look at some of the women who were the unsung originators of electronic music. Tape loops …
: Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith (Books 2021, 7) I know, JK Rowling is a somewhat troubling figure now. When this book came out, last year, my …
: Pastieland and Getting Sick I’ve not posted here for a while. We managed a week-long trip to Cornwall – yes! Leaving …
: Bernard and the Cloth Monkey by Judith Bryan (Books 2021, 6) This is a story of a family – especially two sisters – and things that brought them …
:
Ocean's Eight, 2018 - ★★★½
A fun heist romp with a slightly flat ending. And you don’t need to have seen any of the other …
April 2021
: A Dead Cat in Downing Street This story about Boris Johnson redecorating in Downing Street is too stupid not to be a deliberate …
: At the Olympic Park Again Cycled down to the Olympic Park today. Took a few photos. I’m writing a story at the moment …
: OffMail I just got an invite/reminder email about a service called OnMail. I must have signed up to be …
:
Emma., 2020 - ★★★
Watched on Saturday March 20, 2021.
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:
This Is England, 2006 - ★★★★
A gritty, realist tale of British skinheads in Thatcher times. We get the good skins — into ska, …
: Heartburn by Nora Ephron (Books 2021, 5) When I wrote about watching When Harry Met Sally… last year, I said that ‘Nora Ephron may be …
:
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, 2020 - ★★★★
A great story about a competition we all grew up with, and then stopped caring about because it was …
: North Star I wrote recently about not enjoying or finishing Claire North’s 84K. In her latest blog post …
: Bookshops are Back Sometimes you don’t even realise what you’ve been missing. Or how much you’ve been …
: Just heard the first ice-cream van of the summer. Well, spring.
:
Good Vibrations, 2012 - ★★★★
Great fun story of Terri Hooley, who ran the eponymous record shop and label in Belfast. Great …
:
Palm Springs, 2020 - ★★★★½
Brilliant time loop film (oh, spoilers, fuck off), let down only slightly by the ending. I’d have …
: ‘New single by Belly': not what you expect to see on your phone in 2021. Thanks, MusicHarbor. …
: We started watching Line of Duty two or three weeks ago, and now we’ve caught up. So …
March 2021
: How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee (Books 2021, 4) Despite the title, this is not a writing ‘how-to’ book, except maybe by example. Nor is …
: Lunch and writing in the garden today, and unlike back in February, it’s not just not cold, …
: On Giving Up On a Book This is not, as you might have guessed from the title, about writing. It’s about reading. How …
: Saw a guy in a shop just now and his ‘face covering’ was a bandana. That was me a year …
: End of Term 2 Here we are at the end of the second term of my masters. In fact, the end of the taught part of the …
:
Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle, 1987 - ★★★½
Watched on Saturday March 20, 2021.
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:
Alphaville, 1965 - ★★★
Watched on Saturday March 13, 2021.
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: They Don't Call it 'Fastmail' for Nothing I was opening a ticket with Fastmail (not a problem, just a query), and when I hit …
: Astral Zen Phase one complete, for me. I’m not long back from the vaccination centre (a vacant unit at …
: This Is A Test A test post from the Taio app.
:
I'm Thinking of Ending Things, 2020 - ★★½
Charlie Kaufman lets us down, by being deliberately, viscerally confusing, to the point of …
: Corona Vu This article was in yesterday’s Independent. I felt like I had travelled back in time to last …
:
The Mystery of Henri Pick, 2019 - ★★★★
Watched on Sunday March 7, 2021.
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:
Education, 2020 - ★★★½
Watched on Friday March 5, 2021.
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: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (Books 2021, 3) This book is infuriating. At times, and in certain ways, at least. Or not the book, but some of the …
: No Project, Plenty of Fear All through the Brexit debate, and after, people warned that it would cause problems in Northern …
February 2021
: After the Money's Gone Robin Rendle raises a concern we should all (who write on the web) have: But if my URL is dead, my …
:
The Tree, the Mayor and the Mediatheque, 1993 - ★★½
After watching Call My Agent! on Netflix, we wanted to watch some French films, and maybe with some …
:
The Tree, the Mayor and the Mediatheque, 1993 - ★★½
After watching Call My Agent! on Netflix, we wanted to watch some French films, and maybe with some …
: A Year Passes Like Nothing It’s exactly a year since I last went out to an event.1 I referred to ‘being out on a …
: Today’s weather report Good morning (just).
: We had our first lunch in the garden of the year, today. I even spent half an hour out there …
:
Pretend It's a City, 2021 - ★★★½
Date is approximate, and anyway we watched the various parts over two or three weeks.
Really good, …
:
Rocks, 2019 - ★★★★
Great, moving film about a teenaged girl whose mother leaves — it’s never stated why, but most …
: I got a reply to the Twitter version of my last post which pointed me to something called the Badger …
:
These days I double-mask -- as well as using tape
: Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (Books 2021, 2) It took me quite a long while to read this. I enjoyed it whenever I read a section, and I read it in …
: It’s reading week again already! Or it will be from Monday. Halfway through the second term …
: The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin (Books 2021, 1) It looks as if I haven’t read anything yet this year. That’s far from true, of course, …
:
Red, White and Blue, 2020 - ★★★★
Watched on Saturday February 6, 2021.
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January 2021
:
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, 2019 - ★★★★½
Brilliant. Not enough full song footage used.
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:
Official Secrets, 2019 - ★★★★
Watched on Saturday January 30, 2021.
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: It's the Wrong Time of Year for Shorts At least in the northern hemisphere. When I watched the film The Big Short last year, I doubted that …
:
Lovers Rock, 2020 - ★★★½
Watched on Tuesday January 26, 2021.
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:
Mangrove, 2020 - ★★★★
Watched on Saturday January 16, 2021.
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:
Rebecca, 2020 - ★★★
Date is approximate.
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:
The Personal History of David Copperfield, 2019 - ★★★½
Watched on Saturday January 23, 2021.
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: Deeply saddened to learn that Mira Furlan, who played Delenn in Babylon 5, has died. Only 65. Over …
: Four Years Gone Four years ago, in a piece called ‘Which is Worse?,’ I wrote that: Brexit is worse than …
: Dave Winer asks: What’s “neo” about neo-Nazis? Why not just call them Nazis? …
: And of course, congratulations Kamala. Her swearing-in was historic. Biden’s speech talks of …
: A new dawn for America. Congratulations, Joe.
: Watching the US presidential inauguration. Somebody sanitises the podium between speakers. Covid …
: We finished Schitt’s Creek last night. Late to the party, but it was worth the wait.
: We also finished the Christmas cake today. The true end of the season.
: Submitted the first assessed pieces for my two modules today.
: Performing Pages Every month Google, or specifically the ‘Google Search Console Team’ sends me an email …
: A Pasta Mystery I’ve never heard of the pasta shape called bucatini before (though the Mac spellchecker has), …
: I could use such short, tweet-like posts as, effectively, paragraphs on a ‘Today Page,’ …
: I have a sort of mental goal of increasing my post-count this year. Ideally I’d like to hit …
: Blog Stats 2020 As convention dictates, a summary of 2020’s posts. 173 in total, which is up on 2019’s …
: And a Happy New Year to all.
December 2020
: The Monsters We Deserve by Marcus Sedgwick (Books 2020, 30) The first of my Christmas books, so I could count it as next year’s; but since I had finished …
: Endings Well, this year of infamy is finally lurching towards its end. I don’t think too many of us …
: Xstabeth by David Keenan (Books 2020, 29) Following on from number 27, then, we have David Keenan’s latest novel. Again we’re in a …
: Honestly, it’s great: I love the fact that I can stream all the albums in the world for one …
: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (Books 2020, 28) Read this for the young adult (YA) section of the Genre module on my course. It’s a powerful …
: The soundtrack for today starts with Earthquake Weather. How can Joe Strummer have been dead for …
: Rees-Mogg and the New Depths Just when you think that this Tory government couldn’t possibly sink any lower, Jacob …
: The Towers The Fields The Transmitters by David Keenan (Books 2020, 27) Strange one, this. I read Keenan’s This is Memorial Device a couple of years ago, so when I …
: Yesterday I tried removing my taped-on mask slowly, and it was actually much better. So I rescind my …
:
Stop Your Glasses Steaming Up by Sticking the Top of Your Mask to Your Face Using Micropore Tape
The problem If, like all sensible people, you wear a mask over your mouth and nose when you go out …
November 2020
: How to Make Sure You See My Posts If you’re reading this, it may not apply to you, but I want to let you know that there are a …
: Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail 72 by Hunter S Thompson (Books 2020, 26) I thought it might be interesting, in this year of a US presidential election, to reread this …
: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Books 2020, 25) Read this for my course. It’s very good, unsurprisingly. Historical fiction isn’t …
: Trump may never concede, but this video shows us he’s at least said all the right words, if …
: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (Books 2020, 24) I wasn’t quite sure about this at first. I know it won awards and all that. It was assigned …
:
Christmas cake cooling on a rack
: The Christmas cake is in the oven. ‘Tis the (start of the) season.
: Masters Update We’re halfway through the first term of my Creative Writing masters course. Those five weeks …
: Lot of fireworks going off in Hackney at the moment. It’s probably just random November …
: When Election Night Went On For Days For the first time in my life (apart from occasional odd minutes in hotels on business trips) …
:
The sky over Hackney, this morning
: Writing About Writing About Typography Robin Rendle writes about writing about typography, but he has lessons for all of us who want to …
: These videos of Americans chanting ‘Stop the count!’ What… why… how…? Trump’s …
: The Secret Place by Tana French (Books 2020, 23) Crime fiction set in Dublin. In a posh boarding school, specifically, which causes it to have …
: In Trump’s fake-news world, ‘counting all the votes’ equals ‘stealing the …
: Why do the polls close so early in the US? Seems to be 6pm. On the other hand, with all the early …
: Good luck today, America. Here’s hoping for a landslide against the guy in office.
: It’s extremely disappointing that yesterday’s UK government announcement of the new …
October 2020
: In the Sky With Diamonds This is stone-cold genius. Making diamonds out of carbon dioxide from the air, solar and wind power, …
: Wheeling the Reinvention Dave Winer has ideas: ideas for rethinking blogs and feeds. I found, as others have, that I need …
:
Lava lamp, processed with Prisma
: OK, I’m just watching S3E1 of Star Trek: Discovery, and a character has just said his name is …
: Colliding Names A few years ago I wrote about how I was notified about the wrong band called (The) Nails. In that …
: Covid Track This is one of our local parks. Look at that desire-line track, fading into the distance (click or …
: Not Discworld, Not Batman Neil Gaiman makes great use of metaphor to criticise BBC America’s The Watch: It’s not Batman …
: When the Going Gets WEIRD In the New York Times Daniel C Dennett reviews a book by Joseph Henrich called The Weirdest People …
: Term started today, technically. Coincidentally, 38 years to the day after my first term at …
September 2020
: Orlando by Virginia Woolf (Books 2020, 22) This is a book about history, biography, gender – and writing. It’s presented as a …
: How I'm Going To Master this Writing Lark Announcing a big life change: I’m going to be starting a masters course in a couple of weeks. …
: Ten days between posts? Good lord. What have I been up to? I hope to tell you soon. Watch this …
: How Johnson’s Lawbreaking Plans Will Harm the UK Here’s a Twitter thread (readable on a single page here) that clearly explains how the prime …
:
Walker, 1987 - ★★★½
I really thought I’d seen this before, but remembered nothing about it. Having watched it now, I …
: If the Prime Minister's a Junkie, the Public Has a Right to Know John Crace, writing his Guardian parliamentary sketch: “If he was a decent man, he would …
: On Devs Just watched the last episode of Devs. Several friends recommended it after I said “What shall …
August 2020
:
Last night’s pizza: the wee tables in the box were triangular! I’ve never seen the like. …
:
This is the least rustic-looking bread I’ve ever baked.
Some …
: Another Superb Nightmare Courtesy of Charlie Kaufman? A new Charlie Kaufman film? Hell, yes! The interesting thing about this four-star Guardian review is …
: Woolf Banks I’m reading Virginia Woolf’s Orlando at the moment, and enjoying it very much. …
:
Arrival, 2016 - ★★★★ (contains spoilers)
This review may contain spoilers.
This is glorious. I'd give it five stars if it wasn't for the fact …
: My Contributions to Nikola A few months ago I wrote that I had switched the way my blog was handled. Not just the blog, the …
: Robin Rendle’s ‘An Astronomical Clunk’ is a great celebration of what the web is, …
: I played Dungeons and Dragons for the first time last night, with the family. My grown-up son plays, …
: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (Books 2020, 21) This short novel feels surprisingly modern. Indeed, maybe it’s modernist. It was written in …
: Ad Subtract Amused by Dave Winer’s comment: “can’t stand podcasts with advertising.” …
: 2020: An Isolation Odyssey You should watch this. It’s only short. Indeed, only as short as the last section and closing …
:
This street sign in Hackney today represents the times we live in.
Electronic street sign showing …
: Another great quote from that piece about libraries: [L]ibraries are a sweet little drop of …
: Nice: Twitter is where nuance goes to die. …
: The Bridge season 4 picked up after the first episode’s shock ending. It led to a good …
: The Guardian Might Stop Being a Printed Paper Colin Morrison, writing at ‘Flashes & Flames’: The Guardian, which has arguably …
: Phil Schiller is now an Apple Fellow. Given the shape of their headquarters, is he part of the …
: Watched season 4, episode 1 of The Bridge last night. I’m not sure I like it any more…
: Do people not know breath comes out through the nose as well as the mouth? And then there’s …
July 2020
:
How I prepare to go out on days like these.
: Still, seems like we’re getting the solar panels up just in time for the hottest day. Or …
: Damned noisy round here today. At the front we’re getting scaffolding put up, for our solar …
: People Still Aren't Getting It I got back on the bike today. First time since I came off back in April. Both because I felt the …
: Annabel Scheme and the Adventure of the New Golden Gate by Robin Sloan (Books 2020, 20) My 2020 reading reaches 20, which is pleasing. And with another novella, which is something of a …
: Why are so many Johnny Cash compilations being released at the moment? Seems like I’ve seen …
: I hope I didn’t fool you with that last title. It had nothing to do with the B-word. That ship …
: HEY, Ho, Let's Not Go This has been sitting around in my drafts folder for about a month, so it’s long past time to …
: The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison (Books 2020, 19) I read about this in a Tor.com article about the use of Jack the Ripper in fiction. It’s a …
: The growth of email newsletters over the last few years has been interesting. But they have a major …
: Surface Detail by Iain M Banks (Books 2020, 18) The second-last Culture book, and a long-delayed return to Mr Banks. This book is ten years old, and …
: The Latest Tory Plan to Attack the NHS This is terrifying: The prime minister has set up a taskforce to devise plans for how ministers can …
: God, what is this wintry July we’re having?
: On a not-unrelated note to my last, Colin Devroe wrote this last month: All pop-ups on page visit …
: More Options… 👇 Reject All 👇 Save and Exit 👇 That’s how I roll on websites these days. …
: We’re currently watching Borgen, or the Danish West Wing, as I like to think of it. It’s …
: The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and Heart of Empire by Bryan Talbot (Books 2020, 16 & 17) I suppose I could have counted this as four books, since the first part is in three volumes. A …
: A Reply From the Masks Petition That’s interesting. I don’t think I’ve had a reply like this from a UK parliament …
June 2020
: The Monster (Wear a Mask!) Dr Sayed Tabatabai writes beautifully about the horror of working in an ICU at the moment. …
: The Cold War Never Ended Charlie Savage, Eric Schmitt and Michael Schwirtz, writing in the New York Times: American …
: Tell Them to Tell Us to Wear a Mask The government has already replied to this petition, but it’s still worth signing if, like me, …
: This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal el-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (Books 2020, 15) This has won all the awards, and rightly so. Or not quite all: it’s a finalist for the Hugo …
: Friday by Robert A Heinlein (Books 2020, 14) Friday Baldwin is genetically engineered ‘artificial person.’ Indistinguishable from a …
: You Are Your Thoughts (I Think) Quiet Thoughts Colin Walker links to a post by Julian Summerhayes1 about silence: You see, …
: Assignment in Eternity vols 1 & 2 by Robert A Heinlein (Books 2020, 12 & 13) I should probably start a special tag for all this Heinlein rereading I’m doing (I have …
: It’s funny when you hear the DJ on BBC 6Music saying, ‘I borrowed some records from the …
: Site Update As you might notice if you look around here, I’ve made some changes to the layout and …
: The Man Who Sold the Moon by Robert A Heinlein (Books 2020, 11) A set of linked short stories, this, all part of Heinlein’s Future History. In these days of …
: What Must Be Said I hope I don’t need to say this. But silence is complicity, so: Black Lives Matter. My …
: Listening to the Bikini Kill Peel Session, and it does have Peel’s intros. So good to hear his …
: How Iceland Beat the Coronavirus Great piece in The New Yorker, by Elizabeth Kolbert, about how Iceland handled the coronavirus. …
: My son is doing university exams in the kitchen. Such is the world we live in now.
: Peel Sessions Warren Ellis draws our attention to this incredible listing of links to Peel Sessions. They’re …
May 2020
: Beyond This Horizon by Robert A Heinlein (Books 2020, 10) I like these short books you can read in a day. A reread, of course. I read most or all of Heinlein …
: Glasgow Fairytale by Alastair D McIver (Books 2020, 9) This is exactly what its title says. Take all the best-known (in Britain, at least) fairytales, mash …
: Boiling a Frog by Christoper Brookmyre (Books 2020, 8) The last Brookmyre I read was Pandaemonium, in 2010. Before that, his first, Quite Ugly One Morning, …
: We Have No Idea How Many of the Deaths Attributed to Covid-19 Really Were Due to the Disease Dr John Lee, writing in The Spectator (paywall, but free access to a few articles), explains what …
: Strange seeing this tweet from the London Cycling Campaign: When it's safe to cycle, people cycle. …
: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (Books 2020, 7) I decided I needed something SF-y that I knew I’d enjoy: a reread, in other words. Something …
: Lying Sack Nice to see the gentle description of Mary Wakefield in Wikipedia this morning: In case you …
: The Beat(les) Generation is Slipping Away Sad to read in The Guardian that Astrid Kirchherr1 has died. She was 81. That’s not a bad age, …
: Tip: How to Snooze iPhone Alarms Using Hardware Buttons I don’t know whether people know about this iOS feature. I discovered it by accident a year or …
: This guy gets it. The start of a 16-tweet thread, and following on from my thoughts the other day. I …
:
Homemade Rolls
Not to blow my own trumpet, but I made these rolls today. They are the closest thing I’ve ever …
: This Is No Time to Unlock Boris Johnson’s update to Britain’s – or in fact, only England’s – …
: To judge by all the the likes I got on Facebook for the last post, as well as the positive comments …
:
When Harry Met Sally..., 1989 - ★★★★
Somehow I’d gone this long without ever seeing this. I’m glad I put it right now. The dialogue is …
: Why is it that all these “challenges” on Facebook say that you should post the things …
: App updates that amuse. Booking.com: “Now you can book taxis…” Thanks, mates. Get …
: Returning Blogs Here’s a reason (another reason) why feed readers are great: Tom Coates of PlasticBag.org has …
: No More... Sad to hear of the death of Dave Greenfield from Covid-19. The Stranglers were not really like other …
: Ayoade On Top by Richard Ayoade (Books 2020, 6) This is Richard Ayoade’s detailed analysis of the 2003 film View From the Top, directed by Bruno …
: Static Leads to Static I’m almost beginning to wish I hadn’t switched my site to static generation. Not really, …
April 2020
: Repairability Is Good It’s good when you can repair things. We had a problem with the switch on the kettle the other …
: Of course (following on from my previous post), I neglected to mention that Little Britain was never …
: Tate and Tennant Killing It I see that, unlike Little Britain, Catherine Tate is still very funny when she brings back old …
:
Misbehaviour, 2020 - ★★★½
Good wee film about the women who protested at the 1970 Miss World show. Based on what actually …
: It strikes me that Richard of York’s battle wasn’t in vain, when I see all these rainbow …
: The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene (Books 2020, 5) I’ve never read Greene before, except for I think one short story, and a chapter or two of his …
:
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, 1988 - ★★★
Well this is a lot funnier than the title would suggest. I think I had always thought it would be …
: Out to the supermarket today, because we were running low on a few things and our next delivery …
:
Sunset Boulevard, 1950 - ★★★½
Good to watch an old movie for a strange. Great example of starting with the end and telling the …
: The only thing about having put my site into a repo in GitHub, which has to be deployed to my …
: If you’re seeing this, then the new static version of my site is successfully running on its …
: Website Changes Abstract/TL;DR I’m changing my site. Everything should go on working, but comments will …
: The Last Bike Ride I came off my bike today. Don’t worry, I’m not hurt, beyond a couple of scrapes. But as …
:
Howl's Moving Castle, 2004 - ★★★★½
I read the book to the kids years ago, but I wasn’t sure whether I’d seen this. Turns out I hadn’t, …
:
Erin Brockovich, 2000 - ★★★★
I wouldn’t have expected that a film about someone fighting an evil corporation that is poisoning …
: Wear a Mask! And Celebrate Your Immune System Yesterday’s XKCD “Pathogen Resistance” turns things round and shows the current crisis from the …
: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk, Translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Books 2020, 4) I like this quote from near the end: The fact that we don’t know what’s going to happen in the …
:
The Big Short, 2015 - ★★½
You might come out of this film with a better understanding of the events that led to the 2008 …
:
Just been for a bike ride. I think I’ve forgotten how my legs work.
Lots of people out, mostly …
March 2020
: Writing News I wrote a screenplay and submitted it to the BBC Writersroom (which they always present that way, …
: Good piece by Margaret Atwood about… what everything’s about, these days. Any child growing up in …
: I wish I hadn’t shared that video earlier. Seems like much of the advice is not so good. …
: This video on how to deal with your food shopping is good. I’m alarmed to hear that some …
: Oh, here’s The Guardian talking about the government’s mass text: UK mobile firms asked to alert …
: I just got a text from the government about the new regime. I assume everyone did. I didn’t know …
:
Crazy Rich Asians, 2018 - ★★★½
In considering how rich families try to control who their progeny marry, I found it interesting to …
:
Venturing Out: A Status Report from Hackney
I had cause to go to Westfield in Stratford the other day. It looked like this at about noon:
The …
:
Bajrangi Bhaijaan, 2015 - ★★★★★
I loved this film more Than I can possibly say. Sure, it’s sentimental as hell, but if you can watch …
:
Booksmart, 2019 - ★★★½
Watched on Friday March 6, 2020.
See in Letterboxd
: Some thoughts on using Instapaper, from Dan J: Doubling Down on Instapaper – Dan J’s IndieWeb …
: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, by Eliezer Yudkowsky (Books 2020, 3) Harry Potter fan fiction, by Merlin’s beard! I heard of this book — HPMOR, as it’s known — from my …
:
The Clash On Display
Paul Simenon’s Smashed Bass My favourite band have become a museum piece.
Or at least, some of …
:
Glen Matlock Remembers How to Rock, but Nearly Forgets the Songs That Put Him Where He Is
Glen Matlock doesn’t seem to have much time for the past, except the past as he sees it. Cover …
February 2020
: It’s filling up a bit. And the DJ’s playing the 101ers, so that’s good.
:
At the Red Lion in Leytonstone, where Glen Matlock is playing tonight. It’s… not busy.
:
Late Night, 2019 - ★★★
Watched on Thursday February 20, 2020.
See in Letterboxd
:
Parasite, 2019 - ★★★★½
A richly deserved Oscar winner, despite what the Leader of the Free World might have to say about …
:
Fighting with My Family, 2019 - ★★★½
I didn't expect to be watching a film about wrestling, much less one made in association with the …
:
The Grand Budapest Hotel, 2014 - ★★★
I note that I gave this three-and-a-half stars when I added it to Letterboxd, some time last year. …
:
The Cabin in the Woods, 2011 - ★★★★★ (contains spoilers)
This review may contain spoilers.
I'm surprised to find this is from 2011. I saw it when it came …
:
Springsteen On Broadway, 2018 - ★★★★
I finished this last night, but actually watched it over the course of several weeks. Not the way …
:
Jojo Rabbit, 2019 - ★★★½
I liked this a lot more than I expected to. When I saw the trailer (I think back in December, when …
: In General Election 2019: the news media failed profoundly — but not in the way you think, Adam …
: The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa (Books 2020, 2) Translated by Stephen Snyder. I asked for this for Christmas, because I saw it reviewed in The …
: The End of the Dream. The Start of the Resistance Ian Dunt, writing at politics.co.uk: What is happening is a tragedy. A betrayal of Britain’s role …
:
FotoFebruary, as some on Micro.blog are calling the February Photoblogging Challenge. Day 1 theme: …
January 2020
: Thing 2: Horsin’ Around The second of the two good things today is that Netflix now has the last few episodes of Bojack …
: Thing 1: How Good is the Place? The first positive thing about today that I was talking about earlier is that tonight brings the …
: In the Departure Lounge Here we are, then, on the last day of the UK’s membership of the EU. We fought, we lost, and now …
: Irony Failure Among Elite Headteachers “Private schools criticise plans to get more poor students into university“. Of course they do. …
: Who, Yes! After my highly negative assessment of episode 3 (“the worst episode of Doctor Who ever“), episode …
:
Little Women, 2019 - ★★★★
Greta Gerwig’s dual-timeline approach makes this more interesting than a straightforward adaptation …
:
Brazil, 1985 - ★★★★★
I first saw Terry Gillian’s weird dystopia at its premier, at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 1985. I …
: Deviate. Hesitate. Repeat. 😟
: JetBrains Mono: Equal or Not I just installed the JetBrains Mono font. We programmers need monospaced fonts, and this is a very …
: I joined the Fabian Society recently, mainly so I’d get a vote in the Labour leadership election …
: I ate the last piece of our Christmas cake today. Christmas is now definitively over. If there was …
: Who the What? You probably want to know what I think of the new series of Doctor Who so far. It got off to a …
: The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa (Books 2020, 1) This is a sweet little story, exactly described by its title. The professor in question is an …
: Enjoying Moffat and Gatiss’s Dracula. The end of episode 2 takes a surprising turn.
: I don’t know if online petitions do much good, really, but with Trump trying to drag America into …
: 2019 in Bloggery Only 130 posts in 2019. That’s disappointing after 261 and 163 in the previous two years. Month …
: Live rickrolling on the Hootenany! Happy New Year, everyone.
December 2019
:
Christmas Day by the Lea (or Lee)
It’s our family custom on Christmas Day to go for a walk down by the River Lea (usually shown on …
: Transition by Iain Banks (Books 2019, 25) This post was written in the new year, but the book was read in the old, and accordingly backdated. …
: Eyes Full of Tinsel and Fire Christmas is the time of year when the devil doesn’t have all the best tunes. The other side gets …
: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Tempest by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill (Books 2019, 24) The final volume of Moore’s League stories, and, he says, his final work in the comics medium. If …
: Jolyon Maugham QC and the Good Law Project are petitioning Johnson to ask the EU to allow us to have …
: Calling From London Forgetting for a minute the slightly-disappointing conclusion of a 42-year-old story that we spoke …
:
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, 2019 - ★★★½
Well, 42 years after seeing the first part of this story (if fourth episode, though it wasn't called …
: At the cinema. The Rise of Skywalker will start any minute.
: The Steep Approach to Garbadale, by Iain Banks (Books 2019, 23) One interesting thing about this book that I don’t recall noticing when I read it twelve years ago …
: From The Guardian‘s piece on what we learned in the election about the media: One Labour MP who …
:
Knives Out, 2019 - ★★★½
Watched on Sunday December 15, 2019.
See in Letterboxd
: OA Going Away I just discovered via a conversation on Micro.blog, that Netflix have cancelled The OA. This is very …
: Broken Glass I’ve been feeling kind of sorry for Jo Swinson today. Also for myself, and the whole country, …
: It’s 4 in the morning and Gove is telling lies on the telly. This has become masochism — actually it …
: Jeez, Jo Swinson loses by 149, in my old stomping grounds. Actually I think the constituency was …
: I think Corbyn’s stepping down (as he should) — or maybe it’s only at the next General Election? …
: Ed Miliband’s still around? And he just scraped back into his seat.
: The Politics We Deserve? Well tonight is a fucking disaster. Even if the reality is lower than the exit poll, it looks like …
: It’s not too late to vote, folks. Half an hour to get down to your polling station, get the Tories …
: Fear and Loathing All Over the Land The time is almost upon us, and I have The Fear. Or at least, I understand The Fear. I understand …
:
Interstellar, 2014 - ★★★★½
I watched this again last night, and it’s really an outstanding film. There are some places where …
: Have reached Watchmen episode 6. Getting strong Babylon 5 vibes.
: You Gev It Away I got Whammed1 in the bakery this afternoon. Walked in, took my earphones out, and, Wham! there it …
: Watchmen on TV I succumbed. As I suggested I might. It felt a little grubby, going to the NowTV site and setting up …
:
The Favourite, 2018 - ★★★
What were they doing with the justified text in the captions and even credits? Made it barely …
November 2019
:
Why is it two different temperatures at the same time in London?
: Labour and Antisemitism I don’t doubt that many Jewish people are put off voting Labour because of the antisemitic actions …
: The Book of Dust vol 2: The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman (Books 2019, 22) You shouldn’t read this book. Yet. I broke a personal rule, that goes back to 1982: Never start …
: Election Debates: Maybe Better Left I watched the election debate between Corbyn and Johnson on ITV. It was unedifying, and not very …
: Kieron's Comic, Brontë's Book One of the comics I read is Kieron Gillen’s1 Die, which is about a group of people who get sucked …
: His Dark Materials on TV Minor spoilers ahead. I am loving what they’re doing with HDM1 in the BBC/HBO adaptation. It has …
:
I, Daniel Blake, 2016 - ★★★★★
Watched on Saturday November 16, 2019.
See in Letterboxd
: Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons (Books 2019, 21) I like to reread this from time to time, and right now I’m considering watching the TV version …
: Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (Books 2019, 18, 19 & 20) His Dark Materials, as I said. Holy hell, this trilogy is good! I think I’d forgotten just how good …
:
8 Women, 2002 - ★★★
Watched on Sunday November 10, 2019.
See in Letterboxd
: Corbyn is saying that Johnson is trying to “hijack” Brexit and turn it into a right-wing project — …
October 2019
: Election Blues I don’t fully understand the rationale of the Lib Dems and SNP pushing for an election at this …
: On Pausing Stories Almost exactly a year ago I started reading a novel, then put it on hold. This year I’ve done the …
:
For Sama, 2019 - ★★★★★
Watched on Saturday October 26, 2019.
See in Letterboxd
: Hannah Green and Her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence by Michael Marshall Smith (Books 2019, 17) No, it’s me, not London Below: this has also faded quickly from my mind, despite the fact that I …
: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (Books 2019, 16) While I was reading this I thought it was probably my favourite of Gaiman’s prose works. And I …
: More on Tarantino Following on from my musings of a few weeks ago, regarding Tarantino’s introducing a slight degree …
:
Otherhood, 2019 - ★★★½
Watched on Sunday October 13, 2019.
See in Letterboxd
:
Inglourious Basterds, 2009 - ★★★★
Watched on Saturday October 12, 2019.
See in Letterboxd
: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (Books 2019, 15) It’s to my shame that I hadn’t read this classic of modern literature before now. And it turns out, …
:
Where, and in what direction, am I meant to slide? Because I can’t get past this screen in the …
September 2019
:
Downton Abbey, 2019 - ★★★★
Watched on Saturday September 28, 2019.
See in Letterboxd
:
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, 2004 - ★★★½
Watched on Thursday September 26, 2019.
See in Letterboxd
: The Seventh Function of Language, by Laurent Binet, Translated by Sam Taylor (Books 2019, 14) I need to start making notes about where I hear about books. This hasn’t been on my Kindle for long, …
: Tempted to register one of the many available domains using “chuntering from a sedentary position.” …
:
Isle of Dogs, 2018 - ★★★★
Watched on Friday September 20, 2019.
See in Letterboxd
: Do you ever listen to the start of Blonde On Blonde and want to know more about the Rainy Day Women …
: The End of Newspaper Delivery We’ve been getting The Guardian delivered on Saturdays for several years. Not any other days, …
: Jason & Dan If you saw my post the other day complaining about typography, you might have been confused. I went …
: Tarantino Thoughts Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is kind of a love story, kind of a biopic, and …
:
Dan Baird & Crimes Against Typography.
:
I’ve been in Parliament Square more times in the last few months than previously in my life. Back …
: Iain Blackford speaking well as usual, but he could bring it to a close now. Leave them wanting …
: The BBC Parliament channel’s sound is disturbingly out of sync at the moment. And at such a critical …
:
Autumn approaching in South London.
August 2019
:
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (Books 2019, 13)
A genuinely chilling, even scary, ghost story, is not something you read that often. Or I don’t, …
: Darn, last post slightly too long for Twitter, and I forgot to tag it. #RevokeA50, as if it needed …
: I see our old friend the Revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU petition now has over 6.1 million …
:
The 392 by Ashley Hickson-Lovence (Books 2019, 12)
The 392, with a flat peach We went to WOMAD a couple of weekends ago, and in the literary tent we …
July 2019
:
What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn (Books 2019, 11)
A Kindle showing Catherine O’Flynn’s What Was Lost next to an origami bird This was recommended to …
:
Milkman by Anna Burns (Books 2019, 10)
Anna Burns’s Milkman alongside a lemon This is not mainly a book about The Troubles; nor about …
:
I’m musing on whether or not to keep the holiday beard. Two weeks in Greece almost over. Home …
:
Rosewater by Tade Thompson (Books 2019, 9)
Nigeria, 2066 (and various years before that). Our hero, Kaaro, is a sensitive. An alien entity …
:
Touch by Claire North (Books 2019, 8)
I enjoyed North's previous novel , with some reservations. This one was similar. I read it in a day …
:
In Dreams: A Unified Interpretation of Twin Peaks & Other Selected Works of David Lynch, by H Perry Horton (Books 2019, 7)
This is an incredible piece of work, about an incredible body of work.
I don’t recall how I heard …
June 2019
: Sometimes you just put on Combat Rock, and you are reminded of how awesome it is.
: Rational? Twitter, Micro.blog and Social Engagement I had vaguely seen references to “ratios,” and was aware it was something to do with engagement on …
: You should be watching Russel T Davies’s Years and Years. This thread nails it: It’s scary because …
: I don’t know when I last sat down to watch a Scotland-England football match. Indeed, I don’t know …
May 2019
: So it’s quite clear: UKIP/Brexit Party on much the same as five years ago. Many switching from …
: Based on the stats they just put up on the BBC, the pro- and anti-Brexit groupings have 35% of the …
: If the Brexit Party are “up 3″ seats, and UKIP down 3 seats: that’s no change, in reality. …
: Hey broadcasters: add up the remain totals and compare that with the Brexit party’s numbers. …
: Europe Elects I hope you’ve been watching Russel T Davies’s new series, Years and Years. It’s really good. But …
:
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (Books 2019, 6)
A re-read of Pratchett & Gaiman’s comedy-horror masterpiece, prior to the forthcoming TV series. …
:
Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassady (Books 2019, 5)
You’ve probably wondered what’s happened to my reading lately. Truth is, I have several things on …
:
Five years ago I tweeted this:
Five fucking years. Back when the F-word national disgrace was just a …
: Two Wheels Good Back when the internet was young — or at least the commercial, available-at-home internet — I sent …
: New Job Obtained Yesterday I started my new job. It all came about very quickly in the end: it’s not even a month …
April 2019
: People in the UK should watch out for dodgy emails pretending to be from “TV Licensing”. I got one …
: Words Matter. Phrasing Matters On the BBC Radio 3 news this morning: As part of the Brexit extension process, Britain is obliged …
: Job Changing I started at SAHSU in Imperial College London in March of last year. I finished there today. Well, …
: Not to make a political point from today’s black-hole news — I would never do a thing like that — …
:
Congratulations to the Event Horizon Telescope team. The first ever picture of a black hole. In this …
:
Parrots! In Hackney!
There were four parrots in the tree across the road. You can see three of them here. Not great photo …
: I hope everyone’s not petitioned out, because we need this: To establish a Public Inquiry into the …
: EU Citizens It’s sad when even pro-European organisations get things wrong about us. Last week I signed up for, …
March 2019
: Marina's on Fire Again Marina Hyde may have written her greatest line (so far): the Commons decision to take the prime …
: Aw man. Ranking Roger has died. Only 56: too young.
:
New passport arrived. The proper, dignified burgundy colour. That’s me set as an EU citizen till …
: The European Parliament’s outreach team (or “institutional, non-partisan communication action”) is …
:
Ah, Carrot. You make checking the weather a joy.
: I’m approximating the colours of the flag today. And my tiny banner is ready to go. Off into town …
: The petition has crossed the three million mark. Rafael Behr has a great piece in The Guardian about …
: About to head out to the school for our last ever parents’ evening.
: Parliamentary petitions, including “Revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU,” have a “Show on a map” …
: As the big “Revoke Article 50″ petition approaches 600,000 signatures: Petitions is down for …
: Good thread from Mitch Benn (@MitchBenn) here, setting out how the conversation around Europe could …
: OK/Cancel The other day I was explaining to my daughter why I thought a second referendum would be right and …
: Off to the cinema and apparently back to the nineties tonight.
: I love Star Trek: Discovery, but the latest episode, ‘Project Daedalus,’ was infuriating, because …
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Partners
Equal Civil Partnerships badge We went to Parliament Square this morning for the passing into law of …
: What's Next for Brexit? Parliament has again voted against May’s deal — the only one on offer. If, as is highly likely, they …
: Finally, some good might come of the Brexit fiasco: From a senior Tory: “Feels like the last rites …
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Carrot Weather on the zeitgeist again.
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The Beats: a Very Short Introduction (Books 2019, 4)
The Beats VSI alongside a heart-shaped pottery gift Since I announced back in October that I’m …
: I hadn’t even seen this story about Morrissey and his politics and collaborators when I made my last …
: “’80s Indie Essentials,” from Apple Music. Really good, and has several things I didn’t know, as …
February 2019
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England's Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock, by Jon Savage (Books 2019, 3)
England’s Dreaming alongside a shaving brush I didn’t start reading this just because I read a book …
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Chile Trip, Part 3: Valparaíso, City of Colour
This port city is a bit rougher than Santiago, but its artwork is more established and more …
: “Tables in Numbers can’t support more than 65,535 rows.” What nonsense is this, Apple?
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The Honest Graffitologist
Nothig to say.
: Brexiters think the BBC is anti-brexit. Remainers think the BBC is pro-Brexit. Does that mean it’s …
: Unhelpful Thoughts On Brexit You could spend a lot of time wondering what makes Theresa May tick. She says she supported remain …
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We Are The Clash by Mark Andersen and Ralph Heibutzki (Books 2019, 2)
We Are The Clash with the Cut the Crap CD
This is the book that I mentioned before Christmas. The …
January 2019
: The Compulsive Pursuit of a Product That Does Us Only Harm Rafel Behr analyses our national condition: It looks like British social awkwardness elevated to …
: Bragging Went to see Billy Bragg in Islington on Friday. A benefit for Hope Not Hate, the anti-fascist …
: Off to see Sir Billiam of Bragg at Islington Assembly Hall. Hoping for A Great Leap Forwards.
: Nick Cave on AI and Songwriting If we have limitless potential then what is there to transcend? Mr Cave’s latest newsletter muses …
: “Why’s it taking so long? We should just leave!” | The Reinvigorated Programmer Good analogy: Suppose your family lives in a flat that’s rented from a housing association. And you …
: Motion of no confidence! Yay!
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Flights by Olga Tokarczuk (Books 2019, 1)
The novel Flights with some elephants I’m pleased to have finished the first book of the year — and …
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We’ve taken down the decorations, but we can’t put the Santas way until the cake is finished.
: Look at the picture at the bottom of this article. Trump seems to have started creating an army of …
: When I was writing that last post I was confused because I couldn’t copy text from the article I was …
: Italian Coffee is the Best This post on someone who’s trying to bring Starbucks-style coffee shops to Italy is kind of …
: Bing Me the Head of the Marketing Team I keep seeing these posters around town saying, “I’m a binger.” And I think, “What’s that, is it …
: “I’ll try for something closer to daily in 2019,” he says, and then misses day 2. Oh well.
: Who's Who? Right, let’s get 2019 off to a start by talking about my favourite TV programme. I haven’t said …
: Happy New Year, everyone. It could be a rough one, so look out for each other.
December 2018
: Blogging the Bitface, 2018 Style Like last year, I present the figures for my blogging in 2018. 163 posts in total, counting this …
: Creative Selection by Ken Kocienda (Books 2018, 31) Hey, I made it to 31, by reading the last chapter of this on the last day of the year. This book, …
: Stormwatch by Warren Ellis, Tom Raney and Bryan Hitch (Books 2018, 30) I don’t always include all comic-type things here. No particular reason why, except maybe that they …
: The Drifters by James A Michener (Books 2018, 29) I think I’ve read this more times than any other book except Illuminatus!, and maybe The Lord of the …
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I’m In A Book About The Clash
Joe Strummer died 16 years ago today. The Joe Strummer Foundation has a good memorial piece.
But for …
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I knew going In to the West End on the Saturday before Christmas was crazy. But first I couldn’t get …
: Today I learned that Nick Cave has a newsletter. I insta-subscribed, obviously, as you can do, and …
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When did Windows get a case-sensitive filesystem?
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Atmosphere
Hackney, this evening.
: EU Figures Rule Out Concessions as May Postpones Brexit Vote Honestly, she has no idea what she’s doing. Plus, she seems to be acting alone. We don’t have a …
: This is more contempt of parliament. It’s bullshit. Delaying the vote is just a ploy to leave less …
: Na? No I expect you’re all wondering what happened with my NaNoWriMo attempt this year. Sadly, after last …
November 2018
: All the congratulations to NASA for another successful landing on Mars. Good to know humanity can …
: Did I hear right on https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive? The principal scientist for Mars Insight is Bruce …
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Installing Ubuntu on Windows 10 on a VM on a Mac. Because why not?
: Rude and Rough I watched Rude Boy for the first time in many years. It is, in case you don’t know, a film from 1980 …
: I just read the phrase “staying under the rule of Brussels” in a foolish article. Instead it should …
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Leaves. (Despite that word, nothing to do with Brexit, for a change.)
: My resignation from Labour has had a bigger impact than I expected: In an email to Labour Party …
: Our Prime Minister is either lying or deranged. From The Guardian’s live updates: Labour’s Phil …
: Stan Lee: Marvel Comics co-creator dies aged 95 – BBC News He had a good run, I guess, and created …
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Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is
I realised after yesterday’s post about Corbyn and Brexit that I’ve said similar things before. So …
: Some Labour MPs are thinking along similar lines to me. Wes Streeting: “Labour cannot sit by and …
: Ex-Corbyn Fan You know what? I’m done with Jeremy Corbyn. This interview in Der Spiegel, in which he says “Brexit …
October 2018
: It’s nearly time… After my success last year, I’m doing NaNoWriMo again this year. I’ve been …
: Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith (Books 2018, 28) I think I’ve read this twice before, but as ever, my memories of it are not strong enough to support …
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March in October
Numbers After the Trump thing earlier in the year, another walk through London on Saturday just …
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Chile Trip, Part 2: Santiago, Street Art, and More
As you’ll recall if you’ve been paying attention, I started what appeared to be a series of posts on …
: Promethea by Alan Moore, JH Williams III, Mick Gray & Todd Klein (Books 2018, 27) This is five volumes of graphic novel that I read over a period of about a month or so, and — OK, …
: Musical Malady This morning I saw a poster for Heathers: The Musical. Err, What? I rewatched Heathers fairly …
: Oh, yes, that will most certainly do. A very strong start for both Chris Chibnall and Jodie …
: The nation hods its breath: five minutes till the new series of Doctor Who starts.
: I just almost died laughing watching a horse puke cotton candy.
: Got an email that told me Clearwater Creedence Revival are playing in London in January. I thought, …
: Lethal White by Robert Galbraith (Books 2018, 26) JK Rowling does it again: Robin and Strike are back, and the pages turn like lighting, as I’ve said …
: Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (Books 2018, 25) I didn’t really know what to expect with this. I knew it was about, or set around, a party — in part …
September 2018
: Hamilton was every bit as amazing and wonderful as I had hoped. A fantastic piece of work. I didn’t …
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Tonight! Hamilton! Just waiting for the family and friends to arrive.
: A week till we see Hamilton. Should I listen to the soundtrack first, or not? I don’t want to spoil …
: The Indieweb, the open web, and now: the “decentralised web, or DWeb.” We used to just call it the …
: This Is Memorial Device by David Keenan (Books 2018, 24) I don’t know where I learned about this. It’s been sitting on my Kindle for a while. I have a …
: Serial‘s Season 3 trailer just dropped. Jumped to the top of my podcast queue… dated 1st July? …
: “iCloud photo sharing limit reached”? What is this madness?
: I’m not at all sure about this new “Gutenberg” editor they’re adding to WordPress. I’ve installed …
: Chile Trip Part 1: There and Back We’re not long back from a family holiday to Chile. I plan to write several posts about it. I’m …
August 2018
: Three weeks on holiday puts you super far behind on podcast listening, doesn’t it?
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Piano steps, Calle Beethoven, Valparaíso.
: Gilded Cage, Tarnished City, and Bright Ruin by Vic James (Books 2018, 21, 22, 23) Also known as the Dark Gifts trilogy. I bought the first while at the recent BSFA meeting where Vic …
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Same Desert, Same Day
Two places we visited in the Atacama Desert, yesterday.
[aesop_gallery id="4950" revealfx="off" …
: Dreams Before the Start of Time, by Anne Charnock (Books 2018, 20) I posted about Anne Charnock’s Clarke win a few weeks back, and I’m pleased for her. But when I was …
: The Algebraist, by Iain M Banks (Books 2018, 19) Funny what you remember. Almost all I could recall about this one was the monstrous figure of the …
: Walking on Glass by Iain Banks (Books 2018, 18) A novel of three parts. Two of them are — probably — tightly linked. By some interpretations, …
July 2018
: This storm feels like it’s been building for weeks. Finally to break just as I’m trying to get to …
: The Great Banksie Reread As you’ll have noticed, I have mainly been reading books by Iain Banks lately. This is all part of …
: Radically Interoperable and Universal In In Praise of Email Dan Cohen writes of how email got things right, long before some of our other …
: REPL Reply Hjertnes talks about the joy of a REPL: A REPL or read eval print loop is what we called an …
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Dreams Before the Start of Time by Anne Charnock wins the 2018 Arthur C Clarke Award.
: The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks (Books 2018, 17) Back where it all began, then: Banksie’s debut. It’s a bit dated, of course. Do you remember pay …
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Trumping Through London
On Friday I went for a walk through central London with a couple of hundred thousand of my closest …
: Expecting leadership challenge, vote of no confidence… we could have a general election within …
: Feels like the major influence on British politics this century — if not in my whole lifetime — has …
: I feel strangely drawn to the idea of watching the World Cup today. It’s particularly odd, since …
: Matter by Iain M Banks (Books 2018, 16) Closer to the Cultural action again, though a lot of this happens on a shellworld, one of thousands …
June 2018
: On @atpfm episode 280 @marcoarment says that playing music from your own library on Sonos is buggy. …
: Orwell would have had something to say about their use of “unanimous”: The judges praised her …
: When you manage your dependencies with Maven, the transitive dependencies mean you can find you’re …
: Inversions by Iain M Banks (Books 2018, 15) Ah, the Culture novel that some still think isn’t. I feel sorry for anyone who ever read this …
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In Clapham for the BSFA/SFF minicon and AGMs. Signal v poor. Are there no cell towers south of the …
: Espedair Street by Iain Banks (Books 2018, 14) This is not a book about an imaginary rock musician: it’s a book about guilt. Of course, it is about …
: I can think of only one reason to take refugee children away from their parents at a border, other …
: Against A Dark Background by Iain M Banks (Books 2018, 13) Back to the great reread. Some thoughts here. This book is 25 years old. Twenty-five! I think I’ve …
: You know those pocket computers we all carry? Will we ever stop calling them “phones,” do you think? …
: They Took Something Very Weird and Made It More Usable Good piece by Paul Ford, writing at Bloomberg on Microsoft buying GitHub: [GitHub] has a …
: Well, London’s Micro.blog meetup was… let’s say, lightly attended. …
: New iPad Keyboard My iPad’s Smart Keyboard broke, and was out of warranty, so I thought I’d try the Logitech (or …
: Microsoft to Buy GitHub? I can’t help but feel concerned about the news that Microsoft may be buying GitHub. I know they’re …
:
A ride in the sky at All Points East.
From Instagram
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Brix & The Extricated at All Points East.
: Looking forward to Nick Cave, Patti Smith, etc at All Points East in Victoria Park today. They’re …
May 2018
: Oh no! Alarming email from “Apple Service”: We have detect some problem with your account …
: So, Micro.blog folk: we’re planning a meetup in London. It’s scheduled to kind of coincide with one …
: We’re having a crazy silent, dry thunderstorm in London tonight.
: Beware of Email Apps Storing Passwords Email apps, especially ones that offer advanced services like “send later,” may be storing our …
: I naively thought that, now that GDPR Day is here, we might see a reduction in annoying cookie …
: This is a form of GDPR email I haven’t seen before (and I’ve seen a lot): With new data protection …
: It's Inconvenient to Talk On Trump’s phone (mis)use: Trump’s call-capable cellphone has a camera and microphone, unlike the …
: The Book of Dust vol 1: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman (Books 2018, 12) The first volume in Pullman’s “equel” trilogy: part prequel, part sequel, to His Dark Materials. …
: Office Foliage (Error loading gallery) At my desk these are attacking from either side. (Error loading gallery) The …
: Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman (Books 2018, 11) Gaiman takes on Thor, Loki, Odin, and the rest. Most of my knowledge of the Norse gods comes from …
: Regarding Eurovision: I sort of understand why you can’t vote for your own country. Though if you …
: It’s been a 24-hour rollercoaster for my daughter (and all of us) as Brooklyn Nine-Nine has now been …
: Duplex Duplicity? In A Little Duplex Skepticism, John Gruber says what I’ve been thinking about the Google Duplex …
: Until his morning I couldn’t have told you the name of Frightened Rabbit’s lead singer, though I …
: My daughter has just told me that Brooklyn Nine-Nine has been cancelled. God damn it. In this golden …
: My Dock came back without me having to do anything. Very strange.
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I’ve never seen this before: my iPhone’s dock is missing this morning. Everything else is working …
: Back to the Minnow theme. One of these days I’ll stop experimenting and settle on a theme.
: Looped It’s six years old, but I finally got round to watching Looper. Interesting. Not sure about it. Some …
: Spring View this post on Instagram A post shared by Martin McCallion (@devilgate)
: Oh, and I suppose I should say something about “may the fourth of May be with you,” right?
: I sometimes forget how easy it is to post to my blog. Then I go into Micro.blog…
: When you’ve got a child who’s on the electoral register, but they’re not yet old enough to vote; and …
April 2018
: Good day today: spent most of it struggling to get Java — running in Tomcat on the Mac — to call …
: Top-Ten Album Lists Two album-related memes have been doing the rounds on Facebook lately. Both involve posting cover …
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Marathon Barbers
The London Marathon playing in the barber’s shop.
: What?!? Commando comics are still a thing? I used to love them when I was a kid. And look at those …
: Today was the first day wearing shorts this year. And also the first time ever wearing shorts to …
: Merlin Mann just said what I thought was “Trump loyal” on the Reconcilable Differences podcast. …
: Injection Vols 1-3 by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, and Jordie Bellaire (Books 2018, 10) This is a great story about how some people have to fix things in the aftermath of something they …
: Bizarre Romance by Audrey Niffenegger and Eddie Campbell (Books 2018, 9) The book that I got at the British Library event last week. It’s short stories by Niffenegger, …
: Why do Americans (or at least American podcasters) say “soddering” for “soldering”? Is it just a …
: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff (Books 2018, 8) I read this reviewed in The Guardian, and immediately bought the Kindle book. Sometimes a review is …
: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson (Books 2018, 7) As I said in the last books post, reading the JAMs’ Illuminatus-inspired attempt made me want to …
: The Audrey and Eddie Show I went to a thing at the British Library. It was an author event with Audrey Niffenegger and Eddie …
: Tab Convert That’s convert, with the stress on the first syllable. The noun, in other words. As in, “I am a tab …
: Ev Williams on the future of reading and writing on the net: Now we can’t stand to sit through ads… …
March 2018
: Stiff Little Fingers were the first band I every saw, back in 1980, at the Glasgow Apollo. Tonight …
: There’s a Blues Brothers quote that seems appropriate here. And it’s not the one about sunglasses. …
: 2023: A Trilogy by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (Books 2018, 6) 📚🎵 This book could have been written for me. Seriously, during the first part it felt like it was …
: Speaking of Spring... Blossom, of course, and… paper boats on the canal? Hmmm. I’m assuming it was a promotion for …
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How the Seasons Change
A beach in Norwich in the middle of February. A London Street at the end of February. It’s …
: Professor Hawking told us to loook up at the stars… he probably didn’t live in London.
: Aw, Stephen Hawking, man. It’s not exactly sad, because he had a good life, especially compared to …
: OK, so I’m watching Stranger Things, and in season 2, episode 8, it gets really weird. You need to …
: Looks Like I Chose the Wrong Week to Start Working in Academia What with the strike on, I wasn’t too keen on the idea of crossing a picket line, but there wasn’t …
: Imperial Adventures Just over a month ago I posted a brief note about job news, saying that more details would be …
: A Special Way of Being Afraid I only know one other of Philip Larkin’s poems; it is about parents and children. This one — …
February 2018
: I should just mention that Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, is brilliant. Best film I’ve …
: Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier by Mark Frost (Books 2018, 5) I watched the new series of Twin Peaks in January, but haven’t got round to writing about it yet. In …
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Once again Carrot Weather shows how it’s tuned in to the Zeitgeist.
: Sourdough by Robin Sloan (Books 2018, 4) Strange one this. I think I learned about it from Warren Ellis, via his newsletter (which is well …
: It’s amusing to see that this article, called ‘Why Decentralization Matters,’ is on Medium. Where’s …
: Oh, well done, Orbit. I salute not just the publication, but the use of weapons language: We’re …
: You can’t leave it there, Star Trek! I mean, you totally can; it’s a great place to leave it. But …
: I’m on an Edinburgh-London train that seemingly has no power sockets (here in coach H, next to the …
: A year ago today I was on a train to Edinburgh. It was snowing at Peterborough. Today I am also on a …
: Marina Hyde has been on fire at the Guardian lately, but this headline is just something else: …
: I’m reminded by last year’s post (though really by Facebook: that’s one thing it’s good at) that Feb …
: Feersum Endjinn by Iain M Banks (Books 2018, 3) The Great Banks Reread picks up again. I was prompted to read this, despite the pile of Christmas …
: I have job news. Or I will, soon, I hope. Just waiting for some paperwork… (OK, Mr Mysterious, …
January 2018
: Why does using psychic powers always cause nosebleeds? (Still watching Stranger Things.) 📺
: I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon by Crystal Zevon (Books 2018, 2) 📚🎵 You know how they say you shouldn’t meet your heroes? Well it turns out that sometimes that includes …
: 12:00:00: Hamilton tickets go on sale. 12:00:01: Ticketmaster site grinds to a halt. (12:10-ish: I …
: I don’t suppose the government will listen, but this Brexit poll is interesting.
: I just heard the harmonica on ‘Garageland’ for the first time. I’ve heard that song thousands of …
: I’m wildly behind the TV curve, in that I’m just watching Stranger Things now. But I’ve got to say …
: They were never quite my favourite band, but were always there or thereabouts In Legend of the …
: The Fallen 2018 is working hard to be the new 2016. First Ursula Le Guin; now Mark E Smith has been taken from …
: The science-fiction community is dispossessed tonight. Ursula K Le Guin RIP.
: Star Doctors It was drawn to my attention a couple of weeks ago that I have not yet expressed (publicly) an …
: Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer (Books 2018, 1) The worst thing about this book is that it tells you, two or three chapters from the end, that it’s …
:
Croydon looking colourful and futuristic, yesterday
: Clarke Kickstarted The Kickstarter for the Arthur C Clarke Award is already fully funded, but now they’re pushing for a …
: Maybe this change to Facebook’s feed will take it back towards just showing what family and friends …
: Lana, What? Turns out Lana Del Rey was… mistaken? about Radiohead having brought a lawsuit against her. After me …
: I love that, on Touch Bar MacBooks, you can set things up so that you use your fingerprint to …
: I Never Thought I'd See the Day... When Gmail launched several years ago offering a free gigantic storage plan of, I think, 1 gigabyte, …
: Crazy Copyright Claim Gotta say I hope Radiohead (or their lawyers) lose this case: Pop star Lana Del Rey says she’s …
: 2017 in Bitface Blogging Well hello. It’s been a while. That daily posting thing didn’t work too well in the …
: Happy New Year from firework-drenched London Town.
December 2017
: Liked: In “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Luke Skywalker Finally Becomes Cool | The New Yorker Luke’s …
: Mouse Takes Fox The news that Murdoch plans to sell 21st Century Fox and Sky TV to Disney is interesting for how it …
: At the cinema. What for, you say? Oh, nothing special: just Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
: You’ll be pleased to know that we got the battery cover off the Fire TV Stick remote. Got Netflix …
: Burn it With Fire (Stick) I bought an Amazon Fire TV Stick in the Black/Cyber/Whatever sales, because I thought it would be a …
: It would be weird if Tony Blair turned out to be the hero of the Brexit hour. But we need all the …
November 2017
: Just saw this winter’s first flurry of snow. Well, hardly flurry: just a few flakes drifting past …
: A Five and Four Zeroes Actually it’s 50,069 words in total, as of a few minutes ago. And the last 5000 or so were not in …
: I’m glad Scrivener 3 is out, but could they have picked a worse month for it? The end of November, …
: Finished I have finished my novel. Hooray! Stats: 121,304 words. 44,107 of them since the 1st of November. …
: Jerusalem by Alan Moore (Books 2017, 5) Yes, it’s halfway through the second-last month of the year and I’ve just finished my fifth book. …
: Look at that, I’ve crossed the line. I’m now above the NaNoWriMo average daily word count.
: Rock and Death I appreciate this piece about AC/DC and Malcolm Young’s legacy. I never really cared for them …
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The trees are afire in Clapton Square. (OK, with a little bit of help from Photos.)
: Just realising that when the Star Trek: Discovery theme music starts, I now want someone to say …
: Just saw a guy cycling along, no hands, hands in pockets. Geez, get some gloves, mon, you’re making …
: 23,600 words in 15 days. I’m on course to make the 50,000. And to finish my novel. If I do that, I …
: Turned out the missing dates was a setting of the theme. Dates are back. I wouldn’t mind if it …
: Missing Dates I’ve just noticed that this WordPress theme I’m using, Independent Publisher, doesn’t show dates and …
: The Ramones were the first band I saw when I came to London, and I’ve seen them several other times. …
: 12,120 words so far. And a sure sign that I’m getting close to finishing this novel: today I started …
: If FaceID comes to the Mac, with its attention detection, will we ever get what I’ve always wanted: …
:
Start at the top: Billy opens with ‘Sexuality’.
: 1200 words today. I’m slipping back a bit. At this rate I’ll finish on 3rd December, it tells me. …
: Off to see Billy Bragg tonight in Islington.
: This Joe Ricketts seems like a right bampot: shutting down publications just because the workers …
: The trouble with NaNoWriMo is obsessing over your word count. As I write, I’m constantly checking …
:
Carrot Weather is hooked into the news today.
: In NanoLand. 462 words before getting out of bed this morning.
October 2017
: To Nano or Not? NaNoWriMo is just around the corner, and I still haven’t quite decided whether to throw myself into …
: I love it when bloggers surprise me. I read Brett Terpstra for Apple-related tech and software …
: Star Trek is really getting back to its sixties roots. Magic mycelium, “A hit of speed…” Groovy …
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Walthamstow Wetlands: London’s newest Park. Just opened.
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Reread the originals first, or dive straight in…?
: Mixed feelings: somebody dies; the reaction makes you check out their work; you find you’ve been …
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On Blade Runner 2049
Spoilers ahead, obviously. Although I don’t go into much detail.
We saw it in the Rio in Dalston, …
: Faces and Feeds I think I might have to develop an app for reading Facebook the way I think it should work. There …
: You ever watch a scene and it shocks you, even though you know what’s going to happen? My Buffy …
: The Kickstarter Corporate Communication Conundrum Today I chanced to see an email in which a manager was asking his staff to work for extra hours. …
: Watched The Last Jedi trailer. Didn’t do a lot for me. Don’t worry, though: I’ve booked my ticket …
: I’m not going to say much about Blade Runner 2049 yet, except: I felt disappointment more than …
: Blades and Running Watched Blade Runner in preparation for tomorrow. Chose the original theatrical cut, voiceover and …
: So why has no-one told me about Milk Kan before? God With an iPod, for example, is brilliant. From …
: Brett Terpstra is offering the chance to win a copy of the new 60 Mac Tips book and the (updated) …
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Citymapper has AR now. Not sure it’s as useful as the rest of the app, but fun.
: Star Trek: Discovery, episode 3, ‘Context is for Kings,’ keeps up the good work, in case you were …
:
I received one of the stranger pieces of spam or phishing I’ve ever seen. Not because of what it’s …
: Trekking Past I can remember when I first saw Star Trek. That’s not so unusual, but if my memory is right — …
September 2017
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Gabi Garbutt & The Illuminations at the Monarch in Camden.
: Twitter going to 280 characters. Clearly emulating Micro.blog. Congratulations …
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Harvest Home
Collected a load of Apples from the garden yesterday. Started to write this post, too, but left it …
: I hate how Amazon Prime Video puts adverts in between episodes. And it always seems to be for The …
: Watching early Seinfeld. If I’m not very much mistaken he just made instant coffee! Yuck. The past …
:
This tree looked amazing as the sun caught it. This morning in Croydon.
: Put on BBC 6 Music this morning. They played ‘The Sound of the Suburbs.’ Excellent. Still stands up …
: Also that ‘easy moving’ trick only works on the iPad, not the iPhone. In fact the strangest thing …
: Ah, wait: they do shake if you hold them long enough. But you can now move them before they start to …
: iOS 11: icons don’t go shaky when you move them any more. I think I’ll miss that.
: This post, in which I said: I just checked, and my current total is 700. I’ll have to go some to …
: Listening to Joe Strummer’s ‘Willesden to Cricklewood’ for the first time in a while, and realising …
:
Rainbow over Dalston tonight. Just visible to the left of the Hackney Peace Mural there.
: Well, so much for my hoping. I don’t think ‘iPhone X’ is a great name, especially when they’re …
: I hope the rumours are false and Apple don’t call the new iPhone the ‘iPhone X.’ That’s a terrible …
: A playlist on Apple Music on the Sonos: “Alternative Hits: 1978.” And man is it good. But as they …
: Universal Harvester by John Darnielle (Books 2017, 4) Yes, the end of August and only my fourth book. What on Earth is happening? In short, Alan Moore’s …
August 2017
: Went for a drink & meal with an old uni friend. Talked of family, health, politics, jobs, and …
: On a long weekend in Cornwall. Drive down on Friday was longest ever, so not looking forward to …
: Yesterday’s mysterious post was not meant to be a post at all. Instead it was a reply to a comment …
: Setting Myself Free of the Bear (and Others) If you work with plain text, as I prefer to, then you probably try out different text editors from …
: Nuts to Dough Just thought I should mention, en passant, that when I referred to misspelled donuts the other day, …
: My site was down for a couple of days. You probably didn’t notice. These things happen when you’re …
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The Rolling Donut, Dublin. Highly recommended. Good to remember how good donuts can be if you don’t …
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A pint of ice-cold Guinness in a pub in Dublin Ice-cold Guinness. I’m reminded of the late Bob …
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At Holyhead, on the ferry for Dublin. It’s taking a while to get going, though.
: Test posting to my site from Quill. I’ve no idea whether this will work.
: Further to this morning’s post, it looks like I’ll be in the City for a while, and only going to the …
: On my way to first day at the new job. This is at the consultancy’s offices in the City, though, for …
: Just realised that ‘Blue Monday’ gets its drum pattern from ‘Get Off of My Cloud.’
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I’m pretty sure that all of these are meant to be autumnal. Yet here it’s early August — high summer …
: New Job As you may know, I’ve been between contracts lately. Had quite a lot of interest from my CV, but not …
: First time anyone has asked me for a more detailed CV. But hey, I can write about myself till the …
: Weird. I go to Ted Leo’s Soundcloud page. A track by someone called Lil Purpp starts playing. …
July 2017
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This is what Virgin Trains calls a window seat now.
: Some Open-Source Software for Your Delectation I have made a thing, and pushed it out into the world. Well, really, this is me pushing it out into …
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Monster sky out my window. And time I tried some photos with this new phone.
: Wait, Now ATP has gone back to the old outro theme. Was last week’s just a one-off? I’m so confused. …
: [@colinwalker](https://micro.blog/colinwalker) Did you know that your blog’s search page for the …
: The Microformats 2 WordPress plugin was causing spurious HTML tags to be visible around my name next …
: Not the Nails I'm Looking For I got an email from Songkick about a forthcoming gig in Camden by Nails. You’ll recall, being the …
: Testing Micro.blog with the new server setup.
: Site Moved This site is now running on a Linux virtual private server (VPS) at Linode. There may be some …
: Jodie Whittaker was amazing in Broadchurch. I’m extremely happy to see her as the new Doctor.
: “Arguably the greatest player ever to pick up a racket.” There’s no argument, Sue.
: I’m shocked, saddened and sickened that Wimbledon can’t spell Garbiñe Muguruza’s name correctly on …
: Wow! ATP has a killer new version of its outro theme on episode 230. No mention of it in-show, …
: Mayday for Human Rights More evidence, as if it were needed, that this government is not just incompetent, but actively …
: Mayhemic Mistake of Two-Year Parliament This is amusing. Turns out that May has shot herself in the foot: May has blundered with the threat …
: Forgot yesterday: worst thing about Apple earbuds is that the control is on the right-hand wire. …
: Great New Phone; All the Wrong Reasons My iPhone 6 was getting slow, and its battery was poor. I have been thinking of replacing it. But …
: Wondering why people recruiting for senior development positions often ask low-level JVM type …
: Subtitles Café on the Balls Pond Road has a sign saying “Best Covfefe in London.”
: Trying to use Maven properly to build and release an open-source project. Was it invented just to …
: In Naples airport waiting to fly back to London. Have charging point, but iPad won’t talk to iPhone …
June 2017
: Micro.blog iOS Going Universal | Manton Reece I’d like to be able to use Micro.blog from the iPad — well, I can, but it’s iPhone sized scaled up …
: OM god! Radiohead are doing ‘Creep’. Somehow I thought they didn’t do that anymore. And no …
: I don’t understand: Glastonbury is on this weekend, but Wimbledon hasn’t started yet? Glastonbury’s …
: A Firefighter's Words On Grenfell Tower This can’t be spread widely enough: the words of a firefighter who attended the Grenfell Tower fire. …
: Interesting that this article about Scotland’s Neolithic rock carvings should appear in The Guardian …
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The Skids in full flow, earlier tonight.
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Jesus, but The Skids are good live.
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Preparing the stage for The Skids.
: DUP leader: “Our United Kingdom — and indeed our very way of life — are under threat from …
: Based on my two-minute walk to the polling station and thirty seconds there, I predict a very high …
:
General Election: Vote!
This is long, and I’ll understand if you don’t want to read it. So, …TL; DR: Vote Against the Tories
: Pleased to see that Ada Palmer’s Too Like the Lightning, which I’ve spoken of before here appears to …
: Right Wing Pirates to Plague the Med This is a disgrace on humanity: Far-right activists are planning a sea campaign this summer to …
: Amusing to see that covfefe.com redirects to Teespring.
: Extreme Pyramid Scheme I didn’t intend to discuss these two episodes of Doctor Who together, but watching the first was …
May 2017
: Disturbing to see a Chinook hovering over the City as I approach Liverpool Street.
: I like the Spark iOS email client, and the new drag & drop between it and the Documents app is …
:
Losing the War on Terror
The front page of today’s Guardian has a picture of what it looks like when you let the terrorists …
: I’ve never installed Google Maps on my iPhone before. So how, on first launching it just now (after …
: BBC Close Their Store Without Explaining Why I got an email from the BBC today, telling me that the BBC Store is closing in November. Oddly, they …
: At Glasgow Airport, heading home after an excellent weekend seeing family and friends.
: You’re probably wondering what has happened to my daily posts. Good question. I’m in Glasgow this …
: Both the BBC and Twitter updating their privacy policies within a couple of days? What can it all …
: The Sound of Audio Formats Amusing that in the same week that I post a criticism of software patents, the final patents on the …
: Landmark European Court Case Could Curtail Freedoms of British Dual Nationals The Home Office refused his application on the grounds that she could not rely on her EU freedom of …
: Space Suits You Back to form, then, with Doctor Who season 10 episode 4, “Oxygen.” Jamie Mathieson has written some …
: The USPTO is ridiculous. And the whole idea of software patents is especially ridiculous. So maybe …
: What’s worse: putting ransonware on NHS computers, or underfunding the NHS so it can’t afford to …
: Just changed Micro.blog to use Wordpress “Status” posts instead of “Asides”. This has meant close to …
: Brooklyn Nine-Nine was on fire tonight. Still managed to be hilarious while treating a very serious …
: No prosecutions to be brought in Tory election misspending case. Coverup by the CPS? Seems unlikely, …
: Wood and Puzzles Well, I suppose they couldn’t sustain the excellence forever. I mean, there’s bound to be the odd …
: New theme on my site. Independent Publisher wasn’t behaving quite how I wanted, especially with …
: Further to my thought the other day about the Clips iPhone app and portrait video: it doesn’t let …
: Protect the Human Rights Act There’s a petition at Change.org to get the parties to commit to protecting the Human Rights Act and …
: Raspberry jam for breakfast leads to both Prince’s and the Hindu Love Gods’ versions of “Raspberry …
: Congratulations to France. Nice to get some good electoral news for a change.
: The Syllogism of Betrayal Earlier today I added a short microblog post in which I called Nigel Farage a traitor. Its a strong …
: Of course @bbcanyquestions has the traitor Farage on again. Of course. (Someone who has spent his …
: The Clips app actually records full-frame video, even through it only shows squares. So I now have …
: If Squarespace, Casper, & Linode stopped advertising on podcasts, the whole podcast industry …
: The Luxury of Outrage The Doctor is a burning sun of outrage, but claims never to have had time for it. Season 10, episode …
April 2017
: At the dentist, she & the nurse were talking about marathons. I said maybe they shouldn’t cos of …
: Perhaps the most annoying feature of Eclipse is that a new workspace always defaults to tabs instead …
: This is posted using the new Micro.blog app and service from Manton Reece. The app is in beta, I …
: Smile, You're on Emoji Camera Episode 2 of Doctor Who Season 10, “Smile,” featured emoji-faced robots (or not strictly robots), as …
: Spout Rolla Back in Balloch in 1981, 82 or so we use to play a Pac-Man clone called Spout Rolla. But there are …
: Scattered Thoughts on the General Election An Election Unlike Any Other This election is going to be completely unique in our lifetime, …
: Everything Rhymes Doctor Who is back! And at Easter, which still feels like the right time of the year. Now, as you’ll …
: So, Entitled In a recent article in the Guardian, this appeared: It is no one’s “destiny” to be a published …
: BSFA Awards 2016 by Various (Books 2017, 3) Interrupting my Alan Moore reading to check on the short-fiction nominees for the BSFA Awards, …
: Margaret Atwood's Uncanny Ancestor This is a horrific quote from The New Yorker‘s interview with Margaret Atwood: Mary Webster, whose …
: You Choose Funny where thoughts of current affairs take you. All the fawning (and, to be fair, condemnatory and …
: Swim, Test, Shop, Film, Sleep Yesterday I kind of wilfully skipped a day. At some point in the evening I realised I wasn’t going …
: Looking Back and Forward My recent and forthcoming live music experiences all involve bands of my youth that have reformed …
: Punk and Hugo I hadn’t come across Garageland London before, though I approve of the name.1 They came across my …
: Big Mac News No, that’s nothing to do with hamburgers. Apple today announced that they’re working on a redesign …
: Broadchurch, man. Still kicking it out of the park.
: Garden and Barbican Spent most of today in the garden, making a start on clearing it up for the summer. Not exactly …
: Homophobia in SF Fandom As well as being in charge of the website of the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA), I also …
: Interesting Lineup Interesting generation-spanning lineup at the British Summer Time festival in Hyde Park: Green Day …
March 2017
: Brexit and Northern Ireland Here’s a great tweetstorm about the effect Brexit will have on Northern Ireland. Worth reading the …
: Another Kind of Town After last night’s post, I listened to the rest of episode 2 this morning. And it quickly became a …
: Some Town There’s a new podcast out from the makers of Serial. Seems like it’s going to be very interesting. …
:
I painted a picture of the City. (OK, it’s #Prisma again).
: The Night Before I couldn’t let this night pass without acknowledging that tomorrow will be the start of us losing …
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This is what rhe trees in Hackney are looking like this spring.
#prisma with the “Thota Vaikuntam” …
: Singles I was thinking about the loss of singles. Not individual tracks released individually: that still …
: Publishers and Sinners Borrowing that title from (what used to be) a regular section in Dave Langford’s Ansible newsletter. …
: Demo Sadly, I couldn’t make it to the anti-Brexit/pro-Europe demo today. I had a work thing that ended up …
: So Many Black Pixels... Never, in the field of political reporting, has so much redaction of falsehoods happened to one …
: Podcast Ads and Pricing Podcast adverts are the least offensive of all types of advertising. Because even though they’re in …
: Laptop Ban Stranger Than I Thought Today’s Washington Post WorldView newsletter throws more light, a lot of shade, and a lot more …
: Stupid Fawning Lapdog Government Apes the US Again Our glorious leaders have seen fit to copy Trump and his cronies with banning laptops and tablets on …
: Mandatory Options Where I’m working at the moment we’re using a tool called Splunk for some log file viewing and …
: Holding Pattern I’ve been working on a more substantial piece about music and gigs and nostalgia and my gig-going …
: Reading Materials You’re probably wondering what’s happened to my books posts. Surely I must have read something since …
: Vanessa Bell and Princess Leia We went to Dulwich Picture Gallery today, to see both the permanent collection and the Vanessa Bell …
: The Return of SonoAir Back in January I wrote about trying to play podcasts through the Sonos. As you’ll recall1 I had …
: Missed Well, yesterday genuinely feels like the first day I’ve missed posting this year. A few …
: Wiretaps and Wipeouts Couple of thoughts about the news, tonight. First of all, CNN reports on Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s …
: Broadchurch Thoughts I hope everyone’s following the new series of Broadchurch. If you thought the second season didn’t …
: And Then it Was All That One of the blogs I follow is called And now it’s all this, by the mysterious Dr Drang. He writes …
: Saved Life In International Clash Day I mentioned a life-changing song: “Wasted Life,” by Stiff Little Fingers. …
: Interrupting-Kids Video and Analysis Thereof The video of the guy being interviewed on the BBC and interrupted by his kids is great, but even …
: Misbehaviour Again I'm sure you all pay great attention to the goings on at this here blog. You'll almost certainly …
: Whether You Want To Or Not Note: If you've seen multiple copies of this post, it's because I had trouble with accidentally …
: Stiff Little Memories I’ve just had two slightly odd experiences while researching Stiff Little Fingers. SLF were the …
: Missed Again: What a Catastrophe OK, so I didn’t post before midnight. But there’s a good reason: we were getting up-to-date with …
: Little, Feat... Many songs these days involve one or more other artists guesting with the main one. Rappers adding a …
: The Writing Process In What Writers Really Do When They Write George Saunders gives a great insight into some parts of …
: Pivoting Around Words I should start a new category here, for word-use. In fact, having written that, I just have: …
: Reassessing I never cared that much for Joe Cocker’s highly-rated cover of “With A Little Help From My Friends,” …
: Footnotes Revisited Having looked again over yesterday’s piece, I’ve had a slight change of heart. As I’m sure you …
: Under the Television Skies In The Colour of Television Jack Deighton questions the worth of the famous opening line of William …
February 2017
: Tory MP Claims Astrology Could Help the NHS This should be enough to disbar someone from public life for good: Astrology could help take …
: Memorials The Quietus reports on a crowdfunding proposal to build a memorial to David Bowie in Brixton. I like …
: Oscar Action Went to see Hidden Figures tonight. I absolutely loved it. It’s a feelgood movie about space, …
: More Network Nonsense More trouble with the home network today. We had a smart electricity meter installed a few days ago. …
: Mac Wishing Those times when you’re typing a document at work on a shonky Windows 7 machine, and longing for …
: Wifi Blues I didn’t write a post tonight because I spent most of the evening struggling with wifi …
: “Ping” Pong When the original Unix designers (or, as it turns out, Mike Muuss) chose ping as the name for the …
: Civil Disappointment I’m disappointed about the ruling on different-sex civil partnerships. But at least there’s hope for …
: Maybe Sometimes you just want to write something. Maybe you have something specific to say, maybe not. …
: Whoops! OK, I missed a day. Obviously it had to happen sooner or later. But yesterday I just totally forgot. …
: Brain Explain Interesting article on psychology wherein Robert Epstein tells us that “Your brain does not process …
: Great Brexit And while we’re considering alternative viewpoints: “Why Brexit is Great“
: Right Message, Wrong Messenger I mean, he’s right, but he’s still fuckin Tony Blair. Tony Blair calls on remainers to ‘rise up in …
: Why Liberals Are Wrong About Trump This is well worth reading. We should all see an alternative view from time to time: Why Liberals …
: It's Not Tomorrow if You Haven't Gone to Sleep yet Yeah, OK, so I missed my deadline: I’m typing this after midnight. But it’s still the same day I got …
: All the Things in the World Do you ever look around and think how amazing everything is? How it all got there? And I’m not …
: Why Are MPs Doing It? This is the burning question of the day: why are our elected representatives in parliament behaving …
: Brexit Hope? A very small hope. Brexit—take back control by the improbably-named Jolyon Maugham, suggests that a …
: Placeholder More travel today, back to London. And feeling under the weather. I wrote part of a post on the …
: Daily Posting Harder When You're Away I may not get to do a proper post today, as I’m in Edinburgh visiting friends. As well, my phone’s …
: No snow after Peterborough. In fact we’ve had some sun since then.
: Ticket Captcha Fail Just tried and failed to book Dylan tickets. Three nights at the London Palladium in April. I got an …
: On a train to Edinburgh. Snowing at Peterborough. What will happen next?
: "Thread" Dread I don’t mind people posting a tweetstorm, wherein they have a lot to say and do so via a series of …
: Optics The word “optics” used to mean the science of light. It still does, of course, but it now also …
: International Clash Day I saw a hashtag on Twitter this evening: #InternationalClashDay. Well, it doesn’t take a lot, and …
: Criticality Escalation Part of any kind of bug or problem reporting system is triage: the act of deciding how severe each …
: Should a Blog Have a Theme? Yes, yes, it’s all very meta: all I ever write about is blogging.1 But that is exactly what I want …
: Some More Bitface Thoughts Something I forgot to mention yesterday was that I thought the “bitface” term was useful not just to …
:
New Year lanterns in Chinatown, London.
: The Origin of the Bitface Things go quicker than you think. This tweet post1 was inspired by a tweet, and I thought it wasn’t …
: Success for Micro.blog Manton Reece’s Kickstarter campaign for Micro.blog, which I wrote about before, was successful. In …
: Beginning of the End A total of 47 Labour MPs voted against the Brexit bill, joining 50 SNP MPs and seven Liberal …
: One Month Gone As you’ll know if you’ve been paying attention, I’ve challenged myself to blog every day this year. …
: Which is Worse? I’ve been saying for a while now that Brexit is worse than Trump, because Trump is only for four …
January 2017
: Things We Can’t See There are certain interesting TV programmes that I’d like to see but I can’t watch for ethical …
: Lost Drafts You may think my last post was late, in that I didn’t post it on Saturday, but rather today, Sunday. …
:
Rezillos Gig
To the 229 venue on London’s Great Portland Street last night, to see the Rezillos, about whose …
: Democracy, Representation, and the Will of the People Further to my letter to Diane Abbot, I saw her last night on Question Time. Disappointingly she was …
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So good. So fuckin good. #Rezillos
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Finally, the Rezillos. “Can’t Stand My Baby” is the opener.
:
Still not the Rezillos. Everyone’s sharing kit tonight, which is very 77. Spizz Energi onstage.
:
Not actually the Rezillos, but the Tuts, my new favourite band.
: Obama in Your Ears I listen to a fair number of podcasts, but I only recently learned that David Axelrod has one now. …
: A Song of Stone by Iain Banks (Books 2017, 2) Started towards the end of last year, interrupted for Christmas and post-Christmas reading, and …
: I Wrote to my MP So the Supreme Court agreed that parliament is sovereign Good for them. Must’ve been a hard …
: A Touching App I’m typing this in MarsEdit, from Red Sweater Software, which has long been considered the best …
: More on The OA I got to the end of The OA. Which didn’t take too long, seeing as it’s only eight episodes. It was …
: Trump, Nixon, and Subjectivity John Gruber reminds us of Hunter S Thompson’s obituary of Richard Nixon, saying it “[f]eels …
: Trumpeting Not a lot to say about today. Trump is president. World War III hasn’t started yet, but presumably …
: Syndication Further on owning your own content, I practise what some call POSSE: Publish on your Own Site, …
: Poetry and Politics It’s hard to believe that this is for real: a poem about Trump written by an American, riffing on …
: Thanks, Obama (for Real) Chelsea Manning, the US army soldier who became one of dthe most prominent whistleblowers in modern …
: The Only Good Brexit is No Brexit 38 Degrees is consulting the public on a “DIY Brexit,” wherein the public can give their opinions on …
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The Strange Case of the Lost Reply
I’ve tried various email clients on iOS, but for quite a while now my favourite has been Dispatch …
: Oh, Eh? I watched the first episode of Netflix’s The OA last night. Very interesting. I’m looking forward to …
: Probably a Good Time to Download Your Twitter Archive This Bloomberg article may not be entirely serious, but it is, you know, Bloomberg: There’s a …
: Just to Make the Numbers Does it count if you write a blog post just so that you’ve written one today? Well, yes, of course …
: Duck(Duck)ing the User Interface It must be well over a year now since I switched my main search engine from Google to DuckDuckGo. I …
:
Surely There's a Better Answer Than That?
For one reason or another we wanted to remind ourselves1 of the Spanish word for “south.” I like to …
: Social Media is Like the Railways? There’s a piece in the Guardian entitled “Why social media is like the railways – and must be saved. …
: Blog Misbehaviour This blog runs, like so many others, on Wordpress. Recently I’ve noticed some strange behaviour. …
: Independent Microblogging Twitter is great in many ways, but it’s far from problem-free. (Thought experiment: if Twitter …
: Content Provider I may not get to write a proper post today, as I haven’t yet and we’re about to go and see Stewart …
: Things That Should be Easy It ought to be easy to install a software package on Linux. I mean, it usually is. All modern …
: Getting Rid of Offensive Publications in Apple News Widget This is not a “How To” article, it’s a “How Do I?” one. I’ve been googling (or duckducking) to try …
: Trump Not Appointing Palin as Scientific Advisor There’s a story doing the rounds on Facebook that Trump has appointed Sarah Palin as Science and …
: The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost (Books 2017, 1) In case it’s not obvious, the reading year starts and ends on Christmas Day. This was a Christmas …
: Recent Events Just in case you think that I haven’t been paying attention to recent events… yeah, I know, how …
: The Year Turns Again New Year’s Day, by all the fates. Another trip round the sun, another twelve months have passed. As …
December 2016
: Complicity and The Business by Iain Banks (Books 2016 16 & 17) The big Banksie reread finally gets under way again. There’s no particular connection between these …
:
Cubana. Service slow but food v nice.
: Classy I just watched the last episode of Class, BBC 3′s web-only1Doctor Who spinoff. It is really, really …
November 2016
: Again, Again A long time ago — a long, long time ago: I can’t have been more than thirteen, maybe younger — I got …
:
That’s Penetration on stage at Brixton Academy, supporting the Damned.
: Screwjack by Hunter S Thompson (Books 2016, 15) Long-time HST readers like me will be familiar with this title. It always appeared on the dust …
: Can We Stick With Labour Now? This story about Labour giving in to Brexit is the latest straw in a… problematic few months. I’m …
October 2016
:
Harry Potter play today! (Also mixing up the fandoms.)
:
From the fierce heat of the autumnal South of Spain, back to properly-autumnal London.
:
A Manhattan in Seville (no 2 in an unplanned series).
: Never Mind the Bollocks: Women Rewrite Rock by Amy Raphael (Books 2016, 14) Been reading this over a period of a year or so, on and off, so it’s not really this year’s book. …
:
They don’t like appearing in photos.
September 2016
: Trump/Schulz If you’re a fan of the Illuminatus trilogy, or the works of Robert Anton Wilson in general, the idea …
: On the Pronunciation of "X" Now that the new version of Apple’s PC operating system has launched, some thoughts on something …
: Huffington Trump I’ve been meaning to note that I love the way that every article in The Huffington Post about Trump …
: Reamde By Neal Stephenson (Books 2016, 13) It’s a page-turner, an engrossing thriller. I got through the 1040 pages in about a week of being on …
: The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman and others (Books 2016, 12) Gaiman returns to the character and story that made him famous (and wins the graphic story Hugo …
August 2016
: Normal by Warren Ellis (Books 2016, 11) I’m not sure this counts as a novel, by length, but never mind. Released as four Kindle-only ebooks …
: Sally Heathcote, Suffragette by Mary M Talbot, Kate Charlesworth and Bryan Talbot (Books 2016, 10) After Mary & Bryan’s biography/autobiography hybrid about Mary herself and James Joyce’s …
: The Sadness of Empty Seats It is very sad to see all the empty seats at the Olympics in Rio — especially remembering how hard …
: Proposed New Cycling Race for the Olympics: the "Commuter Race" This is something that I wrote some notes on around the London 2012 Olympics, and just sitting here …
: Smith & Jones The “other” Labour leadership candidate, as you might say, is called Owen Smith. There is a Guardian …
July 2016
: Jerry Doyle Dead Sorry to hear about this: Jerry Doyle — best known for his role on Babylon 5 — died Wednesday.
: Some Thoughts On Software Development Before the job interview that I mentioned the other day, the company asked me to answer some …
: Brexit Latest Thoughts In today’s "Brexit weekly briefing" from the Guardian, they say that: May is soon going to have to …
: Self-Hosting One very good reason why you should post at your own site, and not necessarily trust big companies …
: Laurie Penny Rules Laurie Penny’s “I’m With the Banned” is the best piece of political journalism I’ve read since …
:
On Corbyn, Electability, and Compromise
The other night we watched Lincoln, Steven Spielberg’s 2012 film about the US president. It covers …
:
Recent Events
It’s been a strange few weeks. There was the referendum, and its immediate aftermath. That’s still …
: The hottest day of the year, and I end up having an interview. Glad to have it, but gladder to be …
: He is not a team player let alone a team leader As I vacillate on the Labour leadership business, and try to decide what's best for party and …
: I'm having trouble with WordPress not wanting make a "Link" format post if I have too much other …
: Pamela Constable on her parents' WASP values Great piece in the Washington Post by one of their correspondents whose Republican parents would …
: After Nice, Don’t Give ISIS What It’s Asking For Good advice from The Intercept: After Nice, Don’t Give ISIS What It’s Asking For
: Putting the "Mental" into Governmental This is beyond insanity: Government axes climate department - BBC News
:
Pokémon Gone
I am so not a gamer. Oh, I loved Asteroids back in the day. I solved Monument Valley, and I got on …
: How in the World are they Making that Sound? OK, so why did no-one tell me that Jonathan Richman -- of whom I am, or used to be, a fan -- …
:
Blinding Larks in the back room of Biddle Bros last night.
: All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders (Books 2016, 9) This is an infuriatingly brilliant book. Or brilliantly infuriating. It’s about the tensions between …
June 2016
:
Last day at work. My computer seems to know. It’s turned back to Windows 95.
: Sixty-Three Percent Future Yesterday was the strangest day. Anger, of course. Sadness. And confusion: how could this …
: The Reinvigorated Programmer on the Referendum The Reinvigorated Programmer has some good thoughts, including blaming Star Wars: Folks: turn on …
: More Referendum Thoughts A few more thoughts to follow on from last night's post: Turnout Turnout is crucial. If the majority …
: Referendum Thoughts I have, of course, been meaning to write about the referendum almost since it was called. And let’s …
: The Apocalypse Codex by Charles Stross (Books 2016, 8) The latest of Charlie's Laundry Files series, and Bob Howard is being considered for promotion. To …
: A Day of Infamy Sometimes rhetoric has consequences. If you spend days, weeks, months, years telling people they are …
: Who Killed Sherlock Holmes? by Paul Cornell (Books 2016, 7 Some books take weeks or even months to read. Others slip down in just a few days. This was the …
:
PJ Harvey at Field Day was SO good. Straight into my top three ever gigs? Oh yes. Most definitely.
:
Polly Harvey speaks onstage!!! Dedicates song to Seamus Murphy.
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Field Day. The stage awaits PJ Harvey.
: The Fractal Prince by Hannu Rajaniemi (Books 2016, 6) I enjoyed it, but I didn't really understand it. I’m sure I should have more to say about it …
May 2016
: Relaunch If you pay attention to URLs and such -- and if you're reading this at all -- you'll be aware that …
April 2016
: I Upgraded my MacBook And it's like having a new machine. I have a 13-inch MacBook Pro, mid 2010 model. I bought it in …
: Awakening You'll have noticed, I'm sure, that after my brief comments on the three Star Wars prequels late …
: Selfie Thoughts Tim Bray speaks wisely on selfies: Somewhere right now there’s a young woman who’ll lead her nation …
: Patience by Daniel Clowes (Books 2016, 5) As I said, I ordered this right off the back of reading the review. I read it almost as soon as it …
: Daily Mail Taking Over Yahoo? Christ, we're gonna have to pull all our photos from Flickr if this goes through: Daily Mail …
: A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge (Books 2016, 4) A rereading, this, but I remembered much less of it than I thought, and enjoyed it even more than I …
: Patience "Would you go anywhere near a book described on its back cover as ‘a cosmic timewarp deathtrip to …
: The Rapture of the Nerds by Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross (Books 2016, 3) I read this about a month and a half ago, and already it has slipped quite far from my memory. …
: The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, by Philip K Dick (Books 2016, 2) Nothing to do with stigmata, really, and the titular differences aren't even mentioned until …
: Three Moments of an Explosion: Stories, by China Miéville (Books 2016, 1) This set of short stories admirably shows why Miéville's work has been called "weird fiction." Most …
February 2016
:
PC
Panel 3 just nails the whole “SJW” nonsense.
Source: Brostitutional Rights - Scenes From …
: January The first month ends and I haven't yet written a proper post: a very poor start to the blogging …
January 2016
: Moffat Leaving Who Doctor Who head writer Steven Moffat is leaving, but his final series won’t run till next year. …
: Java isn't slow So if your Java code is doing something easier than processing 6 million events a second, and it’s …
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At the Hammersmith Apollo for Billy Connolly. Been a long time coming.
December 2015
: Woman Who Shot at Home Depot Shoplifters Vows to Never Help Anyone Again - The New York Times Tatiana Duva-Rodriguez of Michigan, who had been a passerby when she noticed the commotion, lost her …
: Revenge of the Prequels Well, this is more like it. It's far from perfect, but Revenge of the Sith is far and away the best …
: Hell and Heaven We come to the end of what I can now confidently say was my favourite series of new Doctor Who so …
: Memories of 2003 It's only twelve years ago. Twelve years, and it feels like everyone -- the bulk of MPs, at least -- …
: Heaven and Lords I wouldn't have minded if I had guessed it myself. But one little line in the Guardian Guide …
November 2015
: Raven and... What? Well. Well, well well. Well. I have to say (and spoilers here for “Face the Raven”, if …
: Sleep and No Raven? Well, as far as we can tell, this one isn't part one of a two parter. So I guess I should write …
: Invasion and Inversion I thought of a couple of alternative titles for this: "Old Enough to be Your Messiah." (I'll bet …
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This is weird. Package from Amazon correctly arrived… with no address on it.
: Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (Books 2015, 9) The pages, how they turn. I'm sure I've said that before of JK Rowling's work, but not in public, it …
October 2015
: Apprentice and Familiar Out of sequence, but for completeness I should write a piece about the first two-parter in this …
: Attack of the Clowns, or: Send in the Clones Some time in 2002, as I suppose it must have been, I was driving through Hackney with my then-small …
: Died and Lived Some quick thoughts on the "The Girl Who Died"/"The Woman Who LIved" Doctor Who diptych. It’s …
: Lake and Flood Well, I'm not quite sure that Toby Whithouse quite managed to make the second episode as good as the …
: The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, Translated by Ken Liu (Books 2015, 8) I feel that we should be rendering the author’s name in the Chinese way, with the family name first: …
September 2015
: Leadership There has been little in the news lately but the refugee crisis and the Labour leadership election. …
: Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel (Books 2015, 7) I read this under false pretences. Self-inflicted false pretences, to be sure, but nonetheless. It …
August 2015
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Old picture found of strange creature over London… #stackablesapp
: On Djs, Beats 1, and Talking Over Songs I hadn't heard Zane Lowe, as I mentioned before. So when Apple Music launched, with its Beats 1 …
: Mind of My Mind by Octavia E Butler (Books 2015, 6) The next book in the Patternist series after Wild Seed, which I wrote about before. I would describe …
July 2015
: Drive-By Brucellosis The day after I post linking to Patterson Hood's NYT piece, I get an email from Amazon recommending …
: The South’s Heritage Is So Much More Than a Flag Paterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers talks wisely about the southern USA. If we want to truly …
June 2015
: Wild Seed by Octavia E Butler (books, 2015, 5) Halfway through the year and only five books in? This is shocking behaviour! I’m glad I read …
: The Phantom Menace Just who (or what) is the menacing phantom? Following on from my On things never seen post, …
: Test from Editorial A test from the iPhone Editorial app.
May 2015
: Today's xkcd is weirdly compelling Just run your eyes over the names and let the imagined connections form. And look at the hover text; …
: The Tories want to reintroduce the Lord Chamberlain From The Guardian: David Cameron has backed plans to give Ofcom stronger powers to prevent the …
: The night after, and shame Well how the hell did that happen? There are two questions there: How could the opinion polls be so …
: On things never seen There's a programme on Radio 4 from time to time (and it has made the transition to TV) called I've …
April 2015
: Neither tempestuous nor particularly challenging I'm taking the Tempest Challenge. I was somewhere in the middle of the third book I read this year …
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The main reason I won’t be getting an Apple Watch.
March 2015
: Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal (Books 2015, 4) I won this in the raffle at a BSFA meeting several months ago (actually over a year: October 2013), …
: Text Editors in The Lord of the Rings Why have I never seen this before? Excellent. Text Editors in The Lord of the Rings. Do you think he …
: Emotionally Weird by Kate Atkinson (books 2015, 3) This is all very meta. It's a story within a story, with at least one other story within that (the …
: The first time I've probably meant to write about this kind of thing for years: first records, the first bands I …
: URLs and searching URL hiding A while ago, I read a piece called “Improving the URL Bar" (turns out it’s almost a …
: On missing out on Zane I feel strangely that I've missed out on Zane Lowe -- on knowing who he is as a DJ, as an …
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OK, if we’re guessing… What song does this picture represent?
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Name the famous book. #VSCOcam
: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North (Books 2015, 2) There's an old saying by Robert Heinlein (or by one or more of his characters): "It steam-engines …
February 2015
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Sons of Bill, Hoxton.
From Instagram
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Never really expected to get another new Iain Banks book. But here we are.
From Instagram
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Never really expected to get another new Iain Banks book. But here we are.
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At Hackney Downs station.
via Instagram [ift.tt/1D1BfXa](http://ift.tt/1D1BfXa)
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At Hackney Downs station. #stackablesapp
: The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon (Books 2015, 1) This is kind of a frustrating one (and could, like the last one have been considered 2014, as I …
: Newsflash: the Firefly guys were villains Malcolm Reynolds’ twelve-headed hydra wang of hate for the alliance doesn’t come from outrage over …
January 2015
: Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys. by Viv Albertine (Books 2014, 20) A Christmas present: started on Christmas Day and finished just after midnight on the 3rd of …
: Eclipse SVN key bindings not working I often get problems with the key bindings when I create a new Eclipse workspace. The recent ones …
: The Schrödinger's Cat trilogy, by Robert Anton Wilson (Books 2014, 19) A sort-of-sequel to the earlier-discussed Illuminatus trilogy. More sex, more quantum weirdness, and …
: Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey (Books 2014, 18) You know when you hear about a book, or read a recommendation, and you think, “That sounds …
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Some weirdly faded viaduct. #stackablesapp
: The Illuminatus! trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson (Books 2014, 17) A rereading, of course; in fact, this is probably something like the sixth time I’ve read this. I …
December 2014
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Christmas has a slightly musical theme this year.
: The Circle by Dave Eggers (Books 2014, 16) This is interesting. Seems to have got a lot of attention when it came out, but somehow I wasn't …
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What’s the collective noun for Santas? #VSCOcam
: An elective monarchy, again I was reminded of my recent post when I watched Thursday night’s The Big Bang Theory. It was the …
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Queuing out the door at the parcel depot.
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#stackablesapp with the “Frozen Souls” formula. It’s amazing what you can do to a photo.
: Sir Gawain and the Green Night translated by Bernard O'Donoghue (Books 2014, 15) This is an unusual choice. It was a present; I do like poetry, but I probably wouldn’t have chosen …
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The Millennium Bridge with the Shard in the background. #stackablesapp with the “Fill the Sky” …
: How to fix the UK constitution There is a solution to one of the great constitutional questions of our age, and I have it. Not, I …
November 2014
: Netflix: because your DVDS are allll the way over there So true. “Netflix: because your DVDS are allll the way over there”.
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Clapton Square, again. #stackablesapp with the “Nirvana” formula.
: Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale: the Final Chapter by Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook (Books 2014, 14) I read the original version this a few years back, when my sister bought it for my son. It was good, …
: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Books 2014, 13) This is the one that's won them all: BSFA (jointly), Clarke, Nebula, and more recently, the Hugo …
: Thin We used to call this “thin clients”; or just a terminal logged on to a server or mainframe. Jason …
: Hijacked Can anyone explain to me why this is resignation-worthy? Simon Danczuk, Labour MP for Rochdale, ... …
: Dotter of her Father's Eyes by Mary M Talbot and Bryan Talbot (Books 2014, 12) Excellent graphic novel; part Mary’s autobiography, part the biography of Lucia Joyce, who was James …
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Tree near Strathblane, messed around in #stackablesapp.
: EU 'benefit tourism' court ruling is common sense, says Cameron I’m assuming the UK government won’t be bound by this European court ruling. After all, UKIP don’t …
: On Writing by AL Kennedy (Books 2014, 11) Unlike Stephen King’s book of the same title, this isn’t exactly “a manual of the craft.” You won’t …
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More autumn light in Clapton Square of a morning. Looking towards the old Police Station, and messed …
: MPs to escape expenses investigations after paperwork destroyed by Parliament - Telegraph You are fucking kidding me! MPs accused of abusing the unreformed expenses system will escape …
October 2014
: The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (books, 2014, 10) Always good to get a new JK Rowling, of course, whatever name she's using. I sometimes wonder if …
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Just got into a train. There’s a log lying on the floor. No sign of the Lady. The owls are not what …
: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon (Books 2014, 9) In the interest of trying to catch up, I’m not going to say much about this. You probably know all …
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Suzi Q, where are you?
I got a card in the post the other day, from my friends Di and Johnny. Regular readers will know Di …
: BBC Music Greatest Covers This BBC Music "Greatest Covers" poll has some quite good -- and interesting -- choices. It has the …
: The Severed Streets by Paul Cornell (Books 2014, 8) I'm now so far behind in posting these that I'm just going to put very brief notes up for most of …
: The tragedy of the Liberal Democrats It seems like a curious choice for the Liberal Democrats to have their national conference in …
: Space bat angel dragons hatch in their own way Sometimes you're thinking about writing a blog post and then you write a long comment on someone …
September 2014
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Autumn flare. Straight out of #vscocam
: The morning after I wake to disappointment. I had vacillated away from a “Yes” position to some extent in the days …
: Andy's unpunctuated ambiguity “Andy Murray finally reveals views on Scottish independence“, says the headline in the Telegraph. It …
: Awra Best, Scotland I’d just like to wish the people of my homeland well on this most momentous of days.
: Waving Despite my positive-seeming thoughts and comments over the last few days, I can't help but feeling …
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Autumn already? How did that happen, September? #vscocam
: Panic in Westminster A guy could get an over-inflated sense of his own importance, you know. For months the polls have …
: Chatsworth Road Festival, September 2014 We went to our local street festival today. Here are some pictures. [gallery …
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Hackney's latest piece of gentrification: comics
The latest in Hackney's gentrification: we have a comics shop The latest step in Hackney’s …
: Oncoming independence? A Scot abroad For at least a couple of years people have been asking me what I think about the …
August 2014
: The Rum Diary by Hunter S Thompson (Books 2014, 7) I’ve read pretty much everything by HST that’s been published in book form, but I hadn’t read this, …
July 2014
: Pavane by Keith Roberts (Books, 2014, 6) This is considered to be one of the seminal works of alternative history; often mentioned alongside …
: Not-Exactly-Books, 2014, 5: What Has Gone Wrong With Short Stories? Preamble (Is there such a thing as a “postamble”, I wonder?) After reading the previous …
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Clear view all day then these bampots come along and stand in front of us.
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Clear view all day then these bampots come along and stand in front of us.
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Waiting for Lé Tour. Doesn’t look like it’s going to be too crowded here.
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Waiting for Lé Tour. Doesn’t look like it’s going to be too crowded here.
May 2014
: Aye, (Head)Phones I’m not in the market for a new pair of headphones. My venerable Sennheiser HD450s are still doing …
: Kippers for Tea I usually post before elections. This time I didn’t get round to it. The results of the European …
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Spring blossoms in Clapton Square. #vscocam
April 2014
: Religion, Faith Schools, and 'The Great Pumpkin' Another from the "never posted" series. Again, I don't know why I didn't post it. It seems pretty …
: The State of Me, by Nasim Marie Jafry (Books 2014, 4) Well this is an interesting one. Nasim is an old friend. Or it might be more accurate to say she was …
: Secret Diaries Sad to hear of the death of Sue Townsend. I didn’t keep up with the Adrian Mole books after the …
: Why Devilgate? I always expect people to ask me about my use of the handle devilgate, but they almost never do. But …
March 2014
: The First Three Books of the Year The first three books of 2014 were: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman Gaiman’s …
: Link: The One Correct Way to do Dependency Injection | Schauderhaft The One Correct Way to do Dependency Injection | Schauderhaft In the end, "Dependency Injection" …
: Tony Benn This blog raises a fist and a glass and a helping hand in memory of Tony Benn. A true socialist and …
: Some People Left for Heaven Without Warning... Too many people died in 2013. So many, it seems, that when Philip Chevron of The Pogues died, I …
: Weirdest Customer Request? This is one of those unpublished posts I told you about. I don't know why it wasn't published (well, …
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Another Lost Month, and Unpublished Posts
OK, so not content with the last post celebrating the fact that I missed a whole month, I then went …
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Spring morning, low sun & shadows. #vscocam
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This beer goes down too fast.
February 2014
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Pipes and gas meters, Hackney. #vscocam
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A bit early in the year for these. #vscocam
January 2014
: Missing Months I missed all of December. On this blog, that is. No posts at all. V bad. And nearly missed January …
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The Christmas cake nears its end…
December 2013
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Eurostar departures at St Pancras.
November 2013
: Once again I won’t be reaching NaNoWriMo’s 50,000-word mark this year, but I have written over …
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That’s a lot of leaves. You’d think it was autumn.
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Another one from my train journey last weekend, with the iOS7 “Noir” filter applied.
: 3,446 words today for a NaNoWriMo total so far of 15,724. That also completes a 20,000 word novella …
: This “short story” that I was going to knock out before getting back to my novel is growing into a …
October 2013
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Shadows. New carpet on the landing at work, and the morning sun streaming in.
: 2001: The aliens that almost were [W]e could summarize the whole ordeal by saying that Kubrick tried to the last minute not to follow …
: The Summer of Rereading, 3: More Culture I stayed with the Culture books, skipping over the non-Culture SF ones, Against a Dark Background …
: The Summer of Rereading, 2: A Culture of Marvel and Miracles After Iain Banks died I decided it was long past time for a big reread of all his books. Most of the …
: He's really a guitar player but he uses a camera "He's really a guitar player but he uses a camera": Interview at The Quietus with Lou Reed and Mick …
September 2013
: The Summer of Rereading 1: The Magus, by John Fowles A summer of rereading, that's what this one has been for me. Let me tell you about it. Note: …
: Cultural Times On Wednesday I went to The State of the Culture, a symposium on Iain M Banks's "Culture" novels, at …
June 2013
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Hard Rock Calling. Bruce in 30.
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First time I’ve ever been sad on getting the latest Iain Banks novel.
: Forgot the Cry of Gulls It's now a week -- more, by the time I finish and post this -- since we heard about the death of …
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Twenty years of Meltdown and I’ve never been before. But tonight, Yoko Ono POB.
: We Are The Clash: The Last Stand of a Band That Mattered by Mark Andersen & Ralph Heibutzki — Kickstarter A Kickstarter for a book on the last two years of The Clash. I should volunteer to be interviewed, …
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This one’s in memory of Banksie.
May 2013
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The trees are looking lush now.
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London in May. Looks like the church is on fire.
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Waiting to give blood. Is this a healthy option?
: The Third-Person Sanctimonious With The Great Gatsby fever in full swing (to mix a metaphor), I've been thinking about the book a …
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Tulips outside my office in Paddington, yesterday.
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Stoke Newington buggy jam. This is how the pubs are these days.
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Hooray! @Savagesband album and EP.
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This should be the Savages album.
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Well-fired pain au chocolat. Still, they charged me less than usual.
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The long hard winter made everything dormant, but now the bluebells are out in our garden.
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What in all the bells is “Banana Ketchup”???
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Spring springing in Hackney. This seems to happen every year. Eventually. #spring #hackney
April 2013
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The Scented City
We spent a few days in Cologne over Easter. I took lots of photographs. Here are two that have had …
February 2013
: Understanding a Misunderstanding Spotify has always behaved weirdly regarding how you queue tracks up. Today I think I realised why. …
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Hackney Sunset
This is the sky at sunset in Hackney just the other day. Kind of remarkable, don’t you think? …
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Pulp Magazine Covers for All
The …
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Day Trip
We had a wee day trip to Cambridge yesterday (Monday). Lovely city. I took some photographs. They're …
January 2013
: Strange Blog Behaviour For some reason WordPress decided to repost the two posts that currently appear immediately below …
December 2012
: Instagram and Terms I never really got Instagram. I mean, I got the app, I signed up, and I posted a few photos. But I …
: November spawned some words (but not that many) I'm not very good at this NaNoWriMo thing, it turns out (again). This year I declared myself a NaNo …
November 2012
: Warren Ellis on Writing Dialogue When you have a character talking, have two things you know about their lives in your head as you …
October 2012
: Scapple: new from Literature and Latte New Mac app from the makers of Scrivener. Looks good. Mind mapping, but without the requirement to …
September 2012
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New Camera; Also Reviewing Purchases
I finally have a dSLR. No longer do I have to hold my camera up in front of me in that quite …
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Generation: Inspired
So, it's all finally over, and we go back to normal. Or perhaps not. The slogan of London 2012 was …
August 2012
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Olympics: fencing and more Park views
A Flickr set from our first Olympic event: fencing at ExCeL. We went via Stratford, so we stopped …
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Olympics: some photos from the Park
Olympics 1, a set on Flickr; click to see the whole set.
This is a Flickr set of some sights around …
July 2012
: Olympian Achievements Initial scepticism Back in 2004, 2005 or so, when London was bidding to host the Olympics, I was …
: Google is Buying Sparrow, but not Updating the Apps Google buys Sparrow, current apps will not get any new features | The Verge. This is annoying. The …
: A British Court Bans a TV Broadcast BBC lawyers consider formal appeal over court ban on riots drama | Media | guardian.co.uk. The most …
: Tip: using Pandoc to create truly standalone HTML files If you’re using the excellent Pandoc to convert between different document formats, and you: want …
June 2012
: Bash - how to recursively find the latest modified file in a directory Recursively finding the latest modified file in a directory. From the mighty Stack Overflow, some …
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Weekend Warblers
The Radio 1 Hackney Weekend festival was fabulously well organised, loads of fun, and passed off …
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Echotape supporting Cud at The Garage.
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The stage awaits Echotape. At The Garage.
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Sheen supporting Cud at The Garage
May 2012
: A Line, a Loop, a Tangle of Timey-Wimeyness The London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film, or Sci-Fi-London is in its …
: Voting Time Again Time to hit the polling booths again. Doesn't seem that long since the last one. But it's a lot …
April 2012
March 2012
: Weird Law-Enforcement Things There were three slightly weird law-enforcement- or intelligence-related stories in the news today: …
: A Drop of the Hard Stuff ...potential readers are still coming to the genre. Books aren't the entry drug any more. Books are …
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I don’t think they’re being ironic about the Jesus bit either.
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The Felice Brothers at the O2 ABC, Glasgow
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Craig Finn at the O2 ABC in Glasgow. I don’t think this Jesus song is ironic.
: Paul Weller in "Good Album" Shock! Who would have thought, this many years after The Jam, that Paul Weller could still make a decent …
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Desperate sun-seekers
Via Instagram
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Eyelash car
via Instagram [instagr.am/p/ICqWnWl...](http://instagr.am/p/ICqWnWlpeH/)
February 2012
: Penguin Pete's Blog - Using Bash To Solve A Brain Teaser [Great use of Bash scripting to do a maths puzzle, but demonstrating lots of useful …
:
In an astounding example of metaness, this Instagram pic should generate a blog post, using ifttt.com
via Instagram
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In an astounding example of metaness, this Instagram pic should generate a blog post, using …
: Terror, or Not; and Bail I’ve been meaning to write a post about the Abu Qatada situation. But Jack Deighton has said all I …
January 2012
: Pass-By-Reference Problem When Using Websphere Application Server This has been kicking around, nearly finished, for months. It's not going to get any better, or …
:
Your Friendly Olympic Park
This is the view from the banks of the Lea (or Lee) by the Olympic Park: Let’s take a closer …
: Cluttered by Google, Lost by Bing I was reading The Clutter Didn’t Kill the Love by Brent Simmons, about how he was trying Microsoft's …
: The Felice Brothers As if there weren’t enough reasons to love Outnumbered already, we recently saw an old Christmas …
December 2011
: Autumn Roses [gallery link="file" columns="9"] This warm autumn has done some weird things in our garden. The end …
: The Words that Maketh Novels It seems like almost no time at all since I last wrote about not completing NaNoWriMo. But here we …
November 2011
: Smashing Things Up for 35 Years My friend (Wee) John(ny) called a couple of days ago and said, “Do you fancy seeing The Damned at …
: 88 Lines About The End Of Reasons To Leave The Elements Back when John Peel was still with us he played a song called '88 Lines About 44 Women'. I only …
October 2011
: Aliens Among Us I never bothered to watch Alien Resurrection because I didn’t like Alien3 (or Cubed, as I always see …
August 2011
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Hardcore Knows the Score
For the last two months or so, it seems, I've been listening almost exclusively to a single …
: Golden times of British TV comedy It has come to my attention that there are some of you who are not aware of two of the best British …
July 2011
: Intrusive login options I’ve not really had many dealings with the Huffington Post, but I thought I’d drop a comment on this …
: Boycott News International for life? I already did. There's a campaign on Facebook encouraging people to boycott News International papers for life. I'm …
: World of the Newspaper I’m sure we all use the word “disgusted” too easily. But I felt physically sick when I first heard …
June 2011
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Rainy Day Music and SF at the BL
The Saturday before last we went to the [London Feis Festival 2011](http://londonfeis.com/), in …
: [H]is baritone sax tugged at the bottom of the track like taffy on the sole of a sneaker. The quote is from this obituary of Clarence Clemons. Sadly, The Big Man died yesterday. I saw him at …
: Father's Weekend I’m thoroughly looking forward to this weekend. Not only is it the London Feis festival tomorrow, …
: Tell, and Maybe Show as Well Prospective -- or actual -- writers are always given the advice, 'show, don't tell.' It's considered …
May 2011
: Let's All Say "Yes" This morning I heard John Humphrys haul the Prime Minister over the coals regarding the behaviour of …
April 2011
: Moxyland, by Lauren Beukes Lauren Beukes has just won the Clarke Award with her Zoo City. Congratulations to her, and all. I …
March 2011
: Emusic Followup eMusic got back to me. As I said, I emailed them to complain about the disappearance of …
: Emusic and Re-downloading OK, everyone knows about Emusic, right? Good site for downloading mainly independent stuff. You …
: Come Gather Round, People If you're like me, you've never seen Bob Dylan live, and you'd like to, sometime before he dies. So …
February 2011
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Spring springing in Clapton Square
: Thoughts on Business Sectors It occurs to me that software companies, like the one I work for, are probably considered part of …
January 2011
: Link: Writers’ Bloc – a Literary Band Writers’ Bloc – a Literary Band « East Kent Live Lit. Some nice thoughts on what my friends in …
: Republicans: good at theatre, dreadful at governing I've often said that you can't trust right-wingers with the economy. But now Michael Tomasky, in The …
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New Year Activities
The day after New Year's Day we decided to go to the British Museum, to see the mummies. So did half …
: New? I’m desperately rushing to post this before midnight, just so I can have a post on the 1/1/11. Happy …
December 2010
: NoNo Well, this is my [NaNoFail](http://www.nanowrimo.org/user/658975) report. I managed around 15,000 …
November 2010
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Veela in the Bey Blade arena
: Tank-Tops and Dolls On our recent drive south from the Highlands there was a song that briefly seemed to be following …
: The Day After Hallowe'en Well, midnight on the 31st of October is fast rolling round. We're not long back from a week in the …
October 2010
: Maccetty Mac So, I've had this here new MacBook for a couple of weeks, and I've yet to post anything from it. I …
September 2010
: Link: Screenwriting Tip Of The Day by William C. Martell - Romeo to Rambo How good scripts get turned into bad movies: Screenwriting Tip Of The Day by William C. Martell - …
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Summer Reading 2010
I've got out of the habit of writing about everything I read, but I've had such a good run of books …
July 2010
: Youssou N'Dour, Philip Glass, The Kronos Quartet, and Bela Lugosi Most, but not all of them at one event. Jamaica and Senegal Make Music A couple of weeks ago we went …
: Moat Again I spelled Raoul Moat's name wrongly in my last post. Now corrected. I have to say that my sympathy …
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Who Lays Flowers for a Murderer?
When I sent this tweet: .bbpBox18452685226 …
May 2010
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Con/Dem Nation?
Betrayed? My initial reaction to the Liberal Democrats' decision to form a coalition with the Tories …
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Election Tweets 'n' Stuff
Thirteen years ago we had champagne ready for the overall majority (though we opened it when …
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Embedding Tweets
There's a new way to embed tweets in blog posts. Here's one of mine to try it out: My nine-year-old …
: The Big Disappointment The Boundaries of Voting I’ve been boundary-changed, and it’s made it harder to decide …
April 2010
: Link: How to Write a Story, by Robert Jackson Bennett "The first step is waking up." Brilliant: How to Write a Story, by Robert Jackson Bennett
: Link: "Long-standing party loyalties, even in a less tribal world, are not easily suspended" "... But May 2010 offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape politics for the better. It …
: From Easter to Volcano Days I don't get round to these things quickly, but this is, at least in part, a report on my family's …
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Subway Calling
I've worked in Paddington for nearly two years, and had no idea this was here until today. Edgware …
: Easter Time is Here Again Easter rolls around on its mad-god-inspired schedule, and so too does Eastercon, the British …
March 2010
: Magnetism On Monday I took my son to the Barbican to see The Magnetic Fields. It was his first proper gig. And …
January 2010
: Next-Door to a Sequel Last night I finished Living Next-Door to the God of Love, by Justina Robson. I enjoyed much of it, …
: Link: An Awesome Interpretation of Avatar Brilliant analysis of what could have been "really" happening in Avatar. Don't read if you haven't …
: Decade's End This is how we end the first decade of the twenty-first century, then: with Jools on the telly, and …
October 2009
: Link: A Self-Referential Story "Sentient sentences": an astonishing piece of work.: A Self-Referential Story
: A quote from Amanda Palmer: asking for money for your art is not selling out ASKING FOR MONEY FOR YOUR ART IS NOT SELLING OUT. selling out is when you go against your own heart, …
: Link: Do I know where hell is? Hell is in "Hello" God save us from crazy religious nutters. The title is taken from ‘Wandrin’ Star', by …
: Link: A report on FT.com: The man who invented exercise Amazing story. Hard to believe that the benefits of aerobic exercise were unknown as recently as the …
September 2009
: Transitions in Real Life? The new Iain Banks book, Transition, is a science fiction novel. This is despite the fact that it is …
: Live Jello show Yeah, I know, that sounds like something kinky. But I just got this from the Academy mailing list …
: Michael Marshall Smith speaks wisely on opinions on the internet If you can't take the time and trouble to learn how to write a coherent sentence, then why on earth …
June 2009
: I really need to post more But these days, if I try to write a post of more than 140 characters, I get a strange, compressed …
May 2009
: Publication Hi, I'm back. Have you missed me? I have some good news. First Edition is a new magazine publishing …
March 2009
: Without Twitter, how will we know what's happening? [Twitter](http://twitter.com/) seems to be down at the moment - or at least, it's not accepting …
February 2009
: Masks of the Illuminati, by Robert Anton Wilson (Books 2008, 21) If you had asked me a few months ago whether I had read this I'd have said yes. I thought that I had …
: Snow by Orhan Pamuk (Books 2008, 20) Above all, this took me a loooong time to finish. Even when I was reading it steadily and thought I …
: The System of the World, by Neal Stephenson (books 2008, 19) This has been the third year in which I have read a volume of The Baroque Cycle over the summer. I …
: Pattern Recognition, by William Gibson (Books 2008, 18) Cayce Pollard has a strange kind of allergy: certain brands make her ill. Or at least, their logos …
: Transmetropolitan: Back on the Street, by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson (Books 2008, 17) Ellis's Spider Jerusalem is a journalist, based on Hunter S Thompson. At the start he is living in …
January 2009
: A poem So on my OU Creative Writing course, we're currently on the poetry module. After reading the chapter …
: Adverbs, by Daniel Handler (Books 2008, 16) Mr Handler operating under his own name, here, rather than his Snicket nom de plume. As such, this …
: American Flagg episodes 1-30 (and special 1), by Howard Chaykin and others (Books 2008, 15) I came upon these when I was digging out some old comics for my son. These are not for …
: Halting State, by Charles Stross (Books 2008, 13) Posted out of sequence, for reasons unknown even to me. Writing about this novel is kind of …
: Lazarus Churchyard: The Final Cut, by Warren Ellis and D'Israeli (Books 2008, 14) Hmmm, once again I try a Warren Ellis, and find that it's not as good as I expected, or hoped. …
: Veniss Underground, by Jeff Vandermeer (Books 2008, 12) I bought this in a second-hand bookshop, and tucked into the back there was a cutting from The …
December 2008
: I'll stand before the Lord of Song My friend Paul writes about the winner of The X-Factor's shot at the Christmas number one with a …
: Too long gone Man, it's been a long time since I posted. I blame Twitter. You could always follow me there, if you …
November 2008
: Yes you can! Congratulations, America! Great news. Obama’s speech was fantastic, and McCain’s was …
: Queues Long queues at polling places are a sign, surely, of a country recently freed from tyranny, of one …
: Worrier president There's a Warren Zevon song called 'Worrier King'. It contains the line, 'I've been up all night, …
October 2008
: A quote from Warren Ellis Bursts aren't contentless, nor do they denote the end of Attention Span. If attention span was …
: ThiGMOO, by Eugene Byrne (Books 2008, 11) This is, in effect, a [Singularity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity) story, …
: Corporal punishment: not on my watch There was an arse on the ??Today?? programme this morning, calling for the return of corporal …
September 2008
: I phone, you phone So, I've got an iPhone. I walked into the O2 shop near work the other day, and came out half an hour …
: Mad bampot on a rope Went to see Man on Wire last night, the documentary about Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk …
: Exciting times These are exciting times in Hackney. Not only has my son just started secondary school today (where …
:
Watermelon Sculpture
Watermelon Sculpture Originally uploaded by devilgate. My son's first sculpture. Clearly …
August 2008
: A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket (Books, 2008, 10) This is actually thirteen books, not just one. I've been reading it with my son over a period of …
: The London cabbie: good and bad We experienced the best and worst of the London cabbie last night: from not taking a fare because to …
July 2008
: What's that stand for? I remember several years ago when the right answer to this was given wrong on University Challenge; …
: FF3 on Linux Well, "that business with installing Firefox 3 on …
June 2008
: The Gun Club I just listened to The Gun Club's first album, Fire Of Love. They're a band that I heard of all …
: It is _immensely_ annoying that you can't just download and install Firefox 3 on Linux (at least the …
: A Dream of Wessex, by Christopher Priest (Books 2008, 9) This is the motherlode of all brains-in-jars/life-is-a-computer-simulation-type stories. Gibson's …
: Water on Mars Phoenix has "found water on Mars":[phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/,](http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/,) by …
: Fluidity Why does no-one make themes that are fluid anymore? By which I mean ones that re-flow the text when …
: New theme Have just activated a new theme for this site. It's called …
: The Space Machine, by Christopher Priest (Books 2008, 8) What a fine conceit. Take the two great science fiction works by one of the genre's defining …
: 42 referendums and and a resignation I can't decide on this David Davis thing. Is it just a stunt? Is he genuinely concerned enough about …
: Newton's Wake: A Space Opera, by Ken MacLeod (books 2008, 7) A scorching, searing cyberpunk space opera. It has _everything_ in it: FTL starships, uploaded …
: Trying out Drivel I'm trying out an offline blogging client that runs on Linux (these things are not that easy to come …
: Novelist Joanna Kavenna points out that I was wrong Ok, I was wrong when I said that no other genres had disparaging abbreviations. "I don't understand …
: Identity and letdown in The Raw Shark Texts, by Steven Hall (books 2008, 6) Eric Sanderson wakes without his memories. In short order he starts receiving messages apparently …
: The Einstein Intersection, by Samuel R Delany (Books 2008, 5) Or, 'A Fabulous, Formless Darkness', which was Delany's original preferred title, according to Neil …
May 2008
: Floating So the Tories took Crewe and Nantwich in the by-election. I don’t understand (never have) the …
: Looking forward to hearing this My favourite author and a favourite TV writer: together again for the first time! Iain Banks has …
: British Summer Time, by Paul Cornell (Books 2008, 4) Paul Cornell wrote some of my favourite episodes of Doctor Who's recent years: 'Father's Day', and …
April 2008
: Time for writing crosses in booths, folks You know what's coming. It's nearly the 1st of May, and that means elections. An all-too-infrequent …
: That 'reporting back from Eastercon' business I realise that I said I would report back from Eastercon. It already seems like quite a long time …
: Old Man's War, by John Scalzi (Books 2008, 3) I've been reading Scalzi's [blog (Whatever...)](http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/) on and off for a …
March 2008
: Easter Weekend plans Off to the exciting, glamorous Heathrow area tomorrow, for Orbital, the 2008 Eastercon. It'll be the …
: The Hidden Family, by Charles Stross (Books 2008, 2) Volume 2 (or the second half of volume 1, depending on how you look at it) of Charlie's 'Merchant …
: On secondary school selection and the myth of choice My son will be starting secondary school in September this year. So towards the end of last year we …
February 2008
: Matter, by Iain M Banks (Books 2008, 1) So, the latest Banksie. Always a treat, of course, and especially so when it's a novel of The …
:
Eee! PC.
My new Eee PC relaxes on the bed:
A photo of one of my recent technological acquisitions, as taken …
: Messing around with the blog I'm trying out a different theme on here for a while, along with a Wordpress Plugin called QuickPost …
: Human rights and human gains It is a tragedy that a member of the public, when interviewed on the radio, should say, when the …
January 2008
: McQualifications I probably don't need anything more than the title for this one. I mean, who the hell would ever …
: A quote from Ken MacLeod with which to start the year Creation science is a purely destructive enterprise, like comment trolling or wiki vandalism. Its …
December 2007
: Nutters, "Emigration, Death, Regret and Substance Abuse" I see that Tony Blair has become a catholic. No surprise there. But as an ex-catholic atheist …
: Lucky Jim, by Kingsley Amis (Books 2007, 7) I hadn't read any Amis before (either of them), but I've wanted to try Kingsley for a while; mainly …
: Cheerleader Saved, World Saved... ... for now, at least (What, you think that’s a spoiler? You saw the future world when Sylar …
November 2007
: Here's Tae Us I just heard John Bell of the Iona Community on 'Thought for the Day'. He was talking, since it's St …
: The Scar, by China Miéville (Books 2007, 6) .A mindfucking mindfuck of all mindfucks. A great, big, sprawling book, and yet one which can have a …
: What Exactly Does it Mean to Book a Train Ticket, Anyway? I had a slightly weird experience with train bookings a while back. Twice I've booked tickets via …
: A New Low For Cattle Class I flew up to Scotland the other weekend, by RyanAir. On the way back the plane was a 737-800. It was …
: A Bridge Not Far Enough Spoilers ahead. I watched Bridge to Terabithia last weekend. It is probably the saddest film …
October 2007
: The Return Of Some Futurists From The Past It seems that The Rezillos, mighty purveyors of sci-fi (I use the term deliberately, and very …
September 2007
: The Prestige, by Christopher Priest (Books 2007, 5) The most annoying thing about The Prestige is the way it ends; though I can see that there was no …
: The Steep Approach to Garbadale, by Iain Banks (Books 2007, 4) It's not The Crow Road, but then, what is? In my opinion, the quality of Banksie’s non-SF work …
: Rock and No Roll The people who are queuing outside branches of Northern Rock are fooling themselves, and if anything …
: A quote from Charlie Brooker Charlie Brooker's screen burn | The Guide | Guardian Unlimited 'Spirituality' is what cretins have …
: The only 'Transformer' I really like is an album by Lou Reed Took the kids to see the Transformers movie tonight. It's not a franchise that I grew up with, of …
: Ink, by Hal Duncan (Books 2007, 3) So, The Book of All Hours is finished. And fine, fine stuff it is, too. This volume seems somehow …
August 2007
: Twenty Years of Foolin' and They Put You in the Pub At the end of Potter Week we joined the queue in Borders in Islington at about twenty to eleven; we …
July 2007
: We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver (Books 2007, 2) Wow. This is an amazing piece of work. The mother of a high-school killer writes letters to her …
: Potter Week OK, I declare this the start of Potter Week. I'm just on my way to Stratford, where we'll eat at …
June 2007
: Son of a Preacher Man So, Tony has gone, and now Gordon is with us. How will things change? We don't know, of course; but …
: Redemption Song: the Definitive Biography of Joe Strummer, by Chris Salewicz (Books 2007, 1) Ah, Joe. I can hardly believe that it's already four years since we lost him. I started reading this …
: The Last of the 2006 "Book Notes" Posts Nearly halfway through the year and I haven't finished posting last year's Book Notes? Shocking. Oh …
May 2007
: Guardian: "Straw signals rethink on ID cards" Well, well, well. Maybe things will get better after all: Jack Straw, widely expected to replace …
: New Dawn Fades So there we have it: Tony will soon be gone. I had forgotten some of the good things: the minimum …
: Ten Years in an Open-necked Shirt He could have been great, you know. We could be sitting here now, raising a glass to the end of the …
April 2007
: Diplomacy 101, and Cash for Stories Sometimes I write these things and don’t post them immediately, and then they seem wildly out of …
: Book Notes 25: The Family Trade, by Charles Stross Charlie shows that he can write heroic fantasy as well as everything else. Except, of course, it …
March 2007
: Alias Doc and Martha The new __Doctor Who__ episode was butt-kicking excellence! And Martha is a worthy successor to …
: Straight to Elgin Avenue So I ordered the new Banksie from Amazon, and to get free delivery, of course, I had to order one or …
: Apologise, explain? Totally not sure about this one. Someone emails their MP and gets an accidentally-sent response (in …
February 2007
: The Steep Approach to Literary Acceptance A couple of articles (Times, Indy) on Banksie's new novel refer to it being five years since his …
: Not Before Time to the nth power Just heard on the radio that Wimbledon is going to pay women the same as men, at last. Though I see …
: Book Notes 24: Variable Star, by Robert A Heinlein and Spider Robinson These are still the 2006 Book Notes. I'll finish them soon, honest. Heinlein used to be my absolute …
: A Deadline Crash, and a Reading Over the last few weeks I've been trying to write a Doctor Who short story. It was for a competition …
January 2007
: Homophobic Christians I started writing this post while watching This Week again. This time they were talking, inevitably, …
: One Device to Do It All? So, my new phone arrived today. It’s a Sony-Ericsson M600i smartphone. Most excitingly, with …
: Book Notes 23: Quicksilver, by Neal Stephenson So I finally start The Baroque Cycle; or you might say, I finally finish the first volume. I started …
: Dead Zen Master Robert Anton Wilson has died. I read the Illuminatus! trilogy while I was in university, and have …
: Book Notes 22: The Sandman: The Dream Hunters, by Neil Gaiman and Yoshika Amano A retelling of a Japanese folk tale, this. A monk lives alone in a very minor and secluded temple. …
: Book Notes 21: The Sandman Midnight Theatre, by Neil Gaiman and others A collection of some of Neil's shorter comics work. All fine and dandy, but far from essential. The …
: ... And a Happy New Year to All My Reader Well, clearly no blogging happens over the Christmas and New Year period in the Devilgate household. …
December 2006
: Book Notes 20: The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson Another old Moore from the 2000 AD days. I've read it before, as three separate volumes, but I …
: Book Notes 19: Tom Strong's Terrific Tales, by Alan Moore, Steve Moore, and others This is a strange one. Moore (Alan) has,as I understand it, started up his own line of comics, …
: Book Notes 18: Radio Free Albemuth, by Philip K Dick Ah, how we love the paranoid fantasies of our Phil. As does Hollywood, considering how many of his …
: Book Notes 17: Vellum, by Hal Duncan I finally get to read Vellum, then. I'd been waiting for the paperback for a while, as I said back …
: Book Notes 16: The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle, by Catherine Webb Catherine Webb is only 19; she had her first novel published at 14. It makes you sick; though it …
November 2006
: Death-Penalty Blues This Week, BBC1's late-night political discussion programme, had a piece last night from Colonel Tim …
: Book Notes 15: Appleseed, by John Clute This is a very, very strange book. It's strange in the spacefaring future it describes, but it's …
: Book Notes 14: Viriconium, by M John Harrison This is a reissue in the Fantasy Masterworks series, of all - or nearly all - of Harrison's …
October 2006
: On Security at Stansted To Glasgow, then, and a weekend visit to my Mum. The kids and I caught the train to Stansted on …
: Copyright Matters – Pass It On So here I am, all ready to write about my day for the History Matters - Pass It On site's One Day in …
:
Burning Silver Discs for Gold
I’ve …In which I make a CD compilation, and blow whatever vestiges of my credibility remained
September 2006
: Book Notes 13: Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, by JK Rowling This, you won't be surprised to hear, was a re-reading. I started out reading it to my nine-year-old …
August 2006
: My "Big England" piece is up at Temperama The lovely Dave Hill has posted my piece in his Big England series. Such is Dave’s posting frequency …
: This Is England This Knife of Sheffield Steel When you grow up in Scotland (or at least, when I did so during the …
: Book Notes 12: The Last Temptation, by Neil Gaiman and Michael Zulli The last of my three recent graphic borrowings from the library, and the one I expected to like …
: Book Notes 11: The Originals, by Dave Gibbons More graphical stuff from the library. Quadrophenia with hover-bikes and -scooters. It’s beautifully …
: Hackers crack new biometric passports Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | Hackers crack new biometric passports "The whole …
: On Countries, Nationhood, and Being Invited to Write a Guest Spot Dave Hill is a novelist, Guardian writer and prolific blogger. He is running a series of guest …
: Middle-East Madness I've been thinking that I should write about the state of things between Lebanon and Israel, as it …
: Book Notes 10: Skizz, by Alan Moore and Jim Baikie The local library is proving a great source of graphic fiction at the moment. Another early-early …
: Book notes 9: Redemolished, by Alfred Bester I found this in the local library, having never heard of it before. It is a relatively …
: Book notes 8: The Complete DR and Quinch, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons I found this in the local library. I thought I hadn’t read it, but I remember reading the ‘Something …
July 2006
: Heat, streets and beats I was in The City,1 this morning. The client’s offices were at Vintners’ Court; the street sign next …
: WordPress, this blog, and the Google cache I doubt that anybody noticed, but my last entry has been missing a bit — in fact, missing most of …
:
Welcome to Torchwood
Well, Saturday the 1st of July, 2006 will go down in my personal history as something of a special …
June 2006
: Supporters I am somewhat mystified by the talk recently about what team Scottish people, and various MPs, …
: Book Notes 7: Nova Scotia, edited by Neil Williamson and Andrew J Wilson (I haven’t stopped reading, nor writing these notes: I just haven’t got round to posting them, for …
: The Water of Life Or at least a container for it. It’s Bike Week this week, and as I happened to be cycling through …
: It doesn't matter who wins... I found myself feeling curiously left out as my colleagues left work to watch the England match …
: The Official Belief System of the World Cup? I’ve just bought a Mars Bar which is labelled “Believe” instead of “Mars” (though still in the …
May 2006
: Eye Contact, or: Pay Attention to the Web Behind the Curtain. Eyes in the sky There is a strange and mighty power to eye contact, it seems. I’m not talking about …
: Pachyderm Prestidigitation Like much of the rest of the London Blogosphere, I went with the family to see The Sultan’s Elephant …
: Calling all Green Wing fans Would any kind person out there have a copy of last Friday’s Green Wing on video they could lend me? …
: Who the hell do we vote for? It’s my custom prior to elections to write a post giving “voting advice”. Of course, I don’t expect …
: Clarke and the convicts The fact that some of the ex-cons who are foreign nationals have offended again should come as no …
April 2006
: In which Martin meets annoyances at Waterloo I don’t mean to come over all disgruntled again, but on arriving at Waterloo (by bike) this morning, …
: Transport against london I take a couple of weeks off (a week at home with the kids, a week in Dorset: very nice, thanks, …
: Cafe culture Well, I feel like a proper 21st-century blogger at the moment: I’m sitting typing this in a cafe. …
March 2006
: Sleepwalking into a police state I’m thinking of declaring the 29th of March 2006 ‘[tag]Freedom Day[/tag]‘, because it is the day …
: Stanslaw Lem Just heard on Radio 4 that Stanslaw Lem has died. He was 84. I’ve only read Solaris, but I recall it …
:
Book Notes 6: Saturday by Ian McEwan
This is an interesting one: another Booker nominee, if I’m not very much mistaken, and a strange and …
: Reading matters This year I’ve been blogging about the books I read. I started over on my LiveJournal, but I’ll …
: TV roundup: what I've been watching recently Turning away from politics, for a wee while, I’ve been finding things have been pretty good in the …
: Maybe that revolution won't be needed, after all After my, perhaps over-excited, post about that bill, I had some discussion with zotz on this post. …
: Pray the future will never need... I had hoped to be the first to coin the inevitable term, “loangate”, over the recent Labour funding …
: Pray the future will never need... I had hoped to be the first to coin the inevitable term, “loangate” over the recent Labour funding …
: Abolition There is now a deadly danger to British democracy. One that is even worse than the ID cards bill. …
: New website, blog I’ve had the devilgate.org domain for nearly two years, now. But it has taken me this long to …
: Meet the new blog... … same as the old blog. Well, not quite the same. This one is on my own site, for one thing. A new …
: The Many-Angled Pub I went out for a drink with some people from work last night. We went to a place in Covent Garden …
:
Book Notes 5: Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
I read a review of this book in The Guardian years ago (this one, I think). It sounded absolutely …
February 2006
: A discussion of (possibly a rant about) ID But not cards, for a change. I was listening to a programme (essentially a religious one) on Radio 4 …
: Book Notes 4: American Gods by Neil Gaiman I’ve been reading Neil Gaiman’s blog since the time when he was writing this book — as, I’m sure, …
: That about wraps it up for freedom Start saying goodbye, then, to civil liberties in this country. Oh, maybe not now, and maybe not …
: Drink, Sex and Elections How quickly do events overrun the tardy blogger. A few weks ago, when Charles Kennedy went public …
:
Book Notes 3: Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town by Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow’s third novel is his best so far; and it’s strange. Really, really strange. It is the …
January 2006
:
Book Notes 2: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Yes, and only a day after the last one. It took me a bit longer than that to read it, mind you. A …
:
Book Notes 1: A Dance to the Music of Time vol 1, by Anthony Powell
This year I’m going to try to record all the books I read, and write mini-reviews of them. I’m not …
: The Rocky Pogue to Brixton This was written before Christmas, and is only being posted now. Such is… something. My ability to …
December 2005
: Freedom Tickling Went to see Jon Stewart of The Daily Show on Sunday. He was doing one night in London, with, as it …
: Portable gaming/Santa question A quick question for anyone who may know: what’s the best of the handheld game systems for an eight- …
: On the ethics of modifying blog posts blockquote {border-left: 1pt solid; padding-left: 1em;} What, I’m wondering, is the etiquette for …
November 2005
: Literary mind loss I’ve been having a slightly strange, but not entirely unfamiliar, reading experience recently. I’m …
: He was asking for it I’d like you, if you don’t mind, to join me in a thought experiment. Consider for a moment, a man: …
: Resignation day You may not have noticed yet that Blunkett has resigned. Good riddance, obviously: New Labour is bad …
October 2005
: Tears and Laugher in the Bookshop I knew I would buy it, of course. I just didn’t necessarily know I would buy it today. But I popped …
: Post-exam comedown Right then. It’s been a long time. But this morning I sat the exam for my latest Open University …
August 2005
: I claim this blog for Technorati... Or is it that I claim Technorati for this blog? In any case, I’ve just set up a Technorati Profile, …
July 2005
: Today I’m afraid I did what the Commissioner told us not to do: I went in to Central London. See, I live …
: London bombs Ian Blair (Met Police Commissioner) is just being interviewed on R4. He says six bombs, and we …
: Software patents: dead in Europe In other good news, over on BoingBoing, Cory is telling us that Euro software patents are dead: The …
: 2012 So, London gets it. I was against it, but now I feel strangely pleased. I think I was for it at …
May 2005
: The afternoon after the morning after the night before Well. I did it: I went to the polling place and I put my cross in the box… for the LibDem candidate. …
April 2005
: Things can only get... different It seems that my erstwhile MP is more famous since he stepped down than he ever was in action. …
: Digital death masks Politics not getting anybody interested, then? OK, we’ll try religion. I was brought up a Catholic. …
: The Campaign Trail, 2005: the inevitable fear and loathing... … but is that a side order of despair with that, sir? Time to start blogging the election, then. But …
March 2005
: Let's rock again Burn (tickettothewest) are back in action. Yes, after a gap of only just over four months, we have …
: Rounding up the year so far: still here A combination of lack of inspiration, Christmas, and reading for and starting my new Open University …
February 2005
: Gonzo death song God motherfuckin’ damn! It’s like everyone I respect or admire in public life is dying these years. …
December 2004
: Disrespect the Authoritah! I can scarcely believe it. Apparently a film is being made of His Dark Materials; but according to a …
: Writing, identity, and voting I'm not doing too well at the 'regular posting' posting part of this blog lark, am I? Well, I can …
October 2004
: Post-teenage memories are pretty hard to beat, too I've been thinking about Peelie, and I remembered going to see him live, on the John Peel Roadshow. …
: Pack up Radio 1 and dismantle its transmitters... … we won’t be needing it anymore. John Peel is dead. I didn’t listen to him often enough in recent …
: The time has come to rumble, to inject a bit of fun into politics Over the last ten or so years, whenever things have been exceptionally interesting in US politics, I …
September 2004
: On having my life back, and academia OK, so on Monday I posted the final TMA for my OU course, A103: An Introduction to the Humanities. …
: Wake-Up Call Nobody tells me anything. Here I am. slaving away at the bitface, all the world’s information only a …
: Metropolitan Drive-By It’s kind of customary for me to miss out a whole month of posting (in that I missed out on July …
June 2004
: More good US commentary Moby is prone to quoting entire articles from other sources in his blog. I worry that he’ll be …
: [F]rom a low-key lounge groove to a scorched-earth crescendo Good to see that some people in America remember the Reagan years as we experienced them: Reagan’s …
: Post-election injury report Who’d have thought Tony Wilson would have been so sensible? Just watching the election results on …
: Voting decisions It is my custom (or has been at the last two general elections, at least) to broadcast, shortly …
May 2004
:
Lyrics quiz: answers
For what it’s worth.
:
Lyrics quiz by randomness
Oh, go on then. A lyrics quiz based on the first twenty tracks that a randomised playlist turns up. …
: Early-Days motion I wish Ken MacLeod had comments enabled. His Midnight Fathers piece is just genius, and something we …
April 2004
: The post-scarcity tutorial In my OU course we’re studying Rousseau at the moment. So at tonight’s tutorial the tutor asked us …
: Catch-up I have a bunch of partly- or nearly-finished peices sitting in a folder on my Psion. I’ve decided to …
: What a great feeling it was to hear the Defence Procurement Minister come on to the Today program to …
March 2004
: iSeries geekery I just spent half an hour searching IBM’s documentation to remind myself of how to do emphasis in …
: Let fury have the hour, anger can be power The Plaid Adder — of these parts — has written “Anger Management“, a great piece about Richard …
: Remember me, I used to live for music I was going to open this with the old “writing about music is like dancing about architecture” …
January 2004
: Clicking links is for wimps: real surfers type them in manually I am wildly amused by this Microsoft Knowledge Base entry, as linked by BoingBoing. To Microsoft, …
: Warehouse: Posts and (no) Comments Bob Mould has a blog. You probably all knew this already, but I only learned it yesterday. Pop over …
: What's that Smell? … smells like whitewash to me. As I watched the details unfold on the The Guardian‘s website …
December 2003
:
The Whisky Post
Somehow they slipped a new Iain Banks book out without me noticing. Raw Spirit: In search of the …
November 2003
: Blogiversary My LiveJournal is one year old today. Happy Birthday, my LiveJournal. Actually the first entry is …
October 2003
: Microsoft's attempt to break email, and more I woke up this morning (da da-da da DUN) to what sounded like a Microsoft spokesman explaining on …
: Deepest Sender... … is apparently an anagram — though I don’t know of what. More importantly, it’s a LiveJournal …
: Me Tired? Well Boo Hoo Now, more than ever, I realise that we’ve lost one of the greats. We all blogged Warren …
: I thought it was in chamber six has already discussed this in some detail, both in the post and the comments, but I started writing …
September 2003
: A Classical Education I started reading Jane Eyre for the first time the other day. It’s been in my to-read pile for a …
: Pixies to reform? It’s looking increasingly likely that the Pixies are going to reform. BoingBoing link here, MTV …
: Things to do in Hackney when you're still alive Instead of coming home tonight, and, as I expected, listening to Warren Zevon records, I came home …
: Warren finally gets to sleep Zotz breaks the long-expected but sad news of Warren Zevon’s death. See Google News for all the …
: Moby gets it You probably won’t be surprised to hear that the musician Moby has the right attitude about record …
: Go on Martin, do that thing where you make your username be the initials of songs Oh, all right then: Desolation Row (Bob Dylan) Everybody Knows (Leonard Cohen) Venus in Furs (Velvet …
: What are we to do with Emusic? A while back scunner pointed me to Emusic, an online site where, for a monthly fee, you can download …
August 2003
: Open up Maybe it’s a mid-life crisis kind of thing. As my thirty-ninth birthday rolled around the other day …
: Open Source rocks... … as we all knew; but now we can see how it’s helping rock ‘n’ roll. This is a great story about how …
June 2003
: It never sleeps, you know. We had a rehearsal last night, we Burn members. Well, more we Bu members — or should that be ur, or …
: Weapons of Mobile Inflation This article in The Observer tells us that the Iraqi “mobile bioweapons labs” were nothing of the …
: It ROCKS! Saw The Matrix Reloaded the night before last. Arse was seriously kicked. From the few comments I …
May 2003
: With liver tea and just this for all [1] Shortly after I posted it, I realised that my previous post could be taken as a “comedy mishearing” …
: Why has Robert Johnson got methane on his mind? I was listening to The Complete Recordings earlier, and in the first of two versions of ‘Rambling On …
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Home taping was good for music...
… and it still is. (I’ve been drafting this piece for a while, and I’ve done as much as I’m going to …
April 2003
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What I did on my holidays (and off)
Too many people to mention been filling in “what I did n years/days ago” questionnaires (I hesitate …
: You don't Meaney it! This week I’m on a training course: Enterprise Java Beans, at QA Training. On the first day, the …
March 2003
: Non Serviam Wow. Charlie Stross points us to a letter in The Guardian from Iain Banks. Banksie and his wife have …
: Do mention the war So it’s begun. I haven’t posted about the formerly-impending war here before now, not because of any …
: Is there an SF PM in the world? No. When I saw the news, I wondered whether the Zoran Zivkovic who has just been voted the new Serbian …
: A (possibly) interesting blog for writers Somebody called Tom Adelstein has a blog called How to write a book in 10 days. An unambiguous, if …
: Mixing pop and politics, he asks me what the use is? Infrequent posts are me. But I have been scattering comments around various people’s journals, at …
February 2003
: Some ranting nutter with a blog talking about the modern business world See, I like my job. I know this is considered unusual by a large percentage of the population *. But …
: I'm not willing to give it up, even if I don't know what it is The mighty Cory Doctorow of BoingBoing has written a great piece about ‘The Law of Unintended …
: Memetic morphology, or: How I wrote a lyrics quiz You know I said a while back that, though I hadn’t yet done a lyrics quiz, I would? Well, the more …
: Another tube of superglue, another quarter to get through Duct tape. I ask you, when, in this country, did we start calling gaffer (or gaffa, I’m never quite …
: The magazines are gone There’s a new magazine out (here in the UK). It’s called Word and it’s about books and music and …
: Put on a kilt, dye your hair green, and dance to 'Xerox Machine' The other day a flat cardboard box arrived in the post for me when Frances was getting ready to take …
: Plenty more won't work so slow I spent all of Friday afternoon trying to track down (what should be) the last bug in the project …
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Tomorrow I'll be burnt as a witch for playing punk rock
Spent the weekend at
January 2003
: I will upload you, you can download me Ethernet guitars. I ask you. Still, at least they’re not proposing a new type of connector. From …
: All I wanna do is... How crap is that? I was cycling to Waterloo this morning, on my brand-new, four-month old Ridgeback …
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OS of all I survey
I got a terrifyingly cool response to giving honest answers to this survey (seen on ‘s journal). …
: It just works! Further to yesterday’s post, I have to express extreme, pleased surprise and respect at how well the …
: Let me tell you how it will be... It’s the first time I’ve had to fill in a tax return since I was a student, and I decided that, in …
: New Potter!!! Hooray! The new Harry Potter book is out on the 21st of June: …
: Meme lag I’m suffering from (or committing) something that I hereby dub Meme lag. I haven’t done a lyrics …
: Does anyone know how much a carpenter should cost? We’ve just had a quote from a carpenter to build fitted cupboards and shelves into two …
: Picture credits It has occurred to me that, since I started using my picture, I haven’t credited it (or even asked …
: The thief of time, or: Where the hell did those two years go? It’s a truism that time appears to pass faster as we get older. Just how true this is was brought …
December 2002
: The Death of a Hero Joe Strummer died yesterday. For me, the word “hero” is not too strong. The Clash were my favourite …
: Spoof Christian site attacks The Two Towers This is a laugh: http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news1202/twotowers.html Thanks to Arthur for the …
: When do we forgive? Or maybe that should be, “when do we forget?” or, “When do we let it lie?” I was thinking about the …
: Oh, the humiliation I used to go to Edinburgh University. For the first two years I was nominally doing Astrophysics, …
: Burning up the Blogosphere I play in a band called Burn, with . You can see his report of our first gig (in this lineup) here. …
November 2002
: A first entry The waiting emptiness of a new blog is even more intimidating than that of a blank page. Especially …