- 09:28 Roseate sunrise / Up an hour earlier to / Enjoy evening light #
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
- 20:24 Cor - Primeval was ace! #
- 08:02 Glorious blue skies this morning - I feel better already. Time to pootle round the house and change all the clocks. #
- 12:06 Patio doors open to let a bit of air into the house, Frank the cat is sunning himself on the pergola, lovely day! #
- 17:37 Just been out for a walk sans winter coat for the first time this year - lovely! #
Sunday Links
- Bastard of the Old Republic Somebody decides to *really* embrace the dark side of the force in a Star Wars rpg
- (Moar)
- Nom nom nom!
- Nixontapes.org A fascinating archive of the various recordings made of the conversations of Richard Nixon. A good example is Nixon/Reagan which is this phonecall between Nixon and then Governor of California Reagan.
- Top 10 Time-Lapse Videos Show Nature at Work
- DIY compact iPhone stand
- Drum Set
- IKEA - Come into the Closet An utterly bonkers interactive advert for Ikea
Ten Books Meme
I was tagged for this one over on Facebook by Nancy, but I didn't get round to until Mexico Will reminded me. The usual rules apply ...
This can be a quick one. Don't take too long to think about it--Ten books you've read that will always stick with you. First ten you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.
This can be a quick one. Don't take too long to think about it--Ten books you've read that will always stick with you. First ten you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.
- Comet in Moominland - Tove jannson This was the first Moomin book that I read when I was about six or seven, after I was given a copy by a Finnish friend of my mum. I think an important factor in whether a book sticks with you is dependent on how well it conjures a sense of a particular place and time, and Jannson's timeless, magical Moomin Valley is one of those.
- The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R Tolkien I had to get permission to borrow this from the adult section of the library because I was under ten at the time, and I still remember the anxious wait for 'The Return of the King' to come back into stock. Another completely realised world that feels very real to me.
- Sharpe's Sword - Bernard Cornwell This was the first book of the Sharpe series that I picked up, many years before Mr Bean pulled on the cavalry trousers. It's mid way through the series, but the recurring characters and the historical context pulled me in, not to mention the swashbuckling sword play, bloody battles and the odd bit of bodice ripping. I still don't know what Sharpe sees in the heavy cavalry sabre that he favours though ...
- Espedair Street - Iain Banks The rock and roll lifestyle of the 70s writ large and brought to life, and one of the very few books to ever make me cry.
- Wizard and Glass - Stephen King The fourth book in the Dark Tower series breaks with the continuity of the series to delve into the history of the world, making Roland the Gunslinger one of the most intriguing and well rounded characters in any novel that I have ever read.
- Maus - Art Speigelman I only read this book a few months ago, but it is extraordinarily powerful and I don't believe it will ever slip my mind
- Weaveworld - Clive Barker This story of a magical world hidden within a carpet remains with me for one memorable sequence where the protagonist forgets what he has seen, and is left only with a sense of loss and longing
- Mort - Terry Pratchett I DON"T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I COULD MURDER A CURRY. Nuff said.
- God is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens A powerful and unanswerable broadside against the evils of religious belief
- Microserfs - Douglas Coupland The definitive roman a clef for the internet generation of the 90s
- Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry One day I will make that journey north from Texas to Montana. One day.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
The Secret History of Star Wars by Michael Kaminski
The Secret History of Star Wars by Michael KaminskiMy review
rating: 2 of 5 starsThis is an exhaustive (and exhausting) examination of the creation of Star Wars and the other films in the series. The author makes extensive use of contemporary interviews and quotes to show how George Lucas developed the story, what his influences were (notably Kurosawa's 'Hidden Fortress') and most intriguingly how Darth Vader changed from a minor henchman in early drafts into the central focus of the whole saga.
The book's overwhelming detail is its downfall though. The interesting snippets of information contained within are submerged beneath a torrent of quotes, footnotes, digressions and repetitions. It aspires to being an academic study, but it is not a book that I would care to use for a handy reference guide.
View all my reviews.
- 11:51 What happened to the sunshine? Bah! #
- 12:57 Blood Meridian / The western frontier evoked / Savage poetry #
Tempus Fugit
Where does time go, eh?
I come in from work, think about posting something and more often than not nod off before I acquire the necessary circular tuit. It's been strange times at work, with the chap I sit next to getting notice of redundancy this week. Two of the consultants from the division are going as well, unless we pull a sale out of the hat in the next couple of weeks. All I can do is keep my head down and get on with my work as best I can.
It's stressful times with Alicia as well, with the last set of A levels rapidly approaching and looking at universities. Hopefully she'll get the grades she needs for the course at Huddersfield she wants to go to, but it would be nice if I could just fast forward the next couple of months though.
Richard Herring's new show 'The Headmaster's Son' was excellent when we went to see it on Monday, and probably the best thing I've seen him do. He really is a comedian at the top of his game and finally getting the success he deserves, even if he's not on the telly any more. His observations on youth and ageing drawn from his teenage diaries were painfully poignant and very funny.
On a similar note, Emma Kennedy's new book 'The Tent, The Bucket and Me' - a tale of series of disastrous camping holidays in the 1970s - is now out and doing very well, by all accounts. It was also Book of the Week on radio 4 and you can hear an abridged version on iPlayer. Well worth a listen.
GTA:Chinatown Wars has grabbed me in a big way. An astonishing achievement on the DS, with the car chases being as gripping as those in GTAIV and the detail in the city being simply amazing. I've been mainly drug dealing and doing story missions in between. I've always enjoyed open ended trading games from the days of Pirates! and Elite onwards, and this is acomplished as any of those.
I went out to give the grass its first trim of the year this morning, and I now appear to have cursed the weather for the rest of the weekend as the sky has clouded over and the rain is descending. Oh well, back to Liberty to see if I can offload some cheap heroin for a profit without getting busted.
I come in from work, think about posting something and more often than not nod off before I acquire the necessary circular tuit. It's been strange times at work, with the chap I sit next to getting notice of redundancy this week. Two of the consultants from the division are going as well, unless we pull a sale out of the hat in the next couple of weeks. All I can do is keep my head down and get on with my work as best I can.
It's stressful times with Alicia as well, with the last set of A levels rapidly approaching and looking at universities. Hopefully she'll get the grades she needs for the course at Huddersfield she wants to go to, but it would be nice if I could just fast forward the next couple of months though.
Richard Herring's new show 'The Headmaster's Son' was excellent when we went to see it on Monday, and probably the best thing I've seen him do. He really is a comedian at the top of his game and finally getting the success he deserves, even if he's not on the telly any more. His observations on youth and ageing drawn from his teenage diaries were painfully poignant and very funny.
On a similar note, Emma Kennedy's new book 'The Tent, The Bucket and Me' - a tale of series of disastrous camping holidays in the 1970s - is now out and doing very well, by all accounts. It was also Book of the Week on radio 4 and you can hear an abridged version on iPlayer. Well worth a listen.
GTA:Chinatown Wars has grabbed me in a big way. An astonishing achievement on the DS, with the car chases being as gripping as those in GTAIV and the detail in the city being simply amazing. I've been mainly drug dealing and doing story missions in between. I've always enjoyed open ended trading games from the days of Pirates! and Elite onwards, and this is acomplished as any of those.
I went out to give the grass its first trim of the year this morning, and I now appear to have cursed the weather for the rest of the weekend as the sky has clouded over and the rain is descending. Oh well, back to Liberty to see if I can offload some cheap heroin for a profit without getting busted.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy
Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthyMy review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
Based on the activities of notorious Glanton gang, a group of rapacious scalp hunters and mercenaries who terrorized the borderlands of the American West of 1850, this book presents an extraordinarily vivid portrayal of one of the most brutal eras of human history. In it McCarthy deconstructs the mythology of the "Wild West" with language that is both poetic and savage, a contrast embodied in the central character of The Judge - a hairless giant of man who is both erudite and educated, and the catalyst for the blood shed that follows in his wake.
Does the book glorify violence? Not in the least. To coin a biblical metaphor, those who live by the sword will die by the sword. The violence of Blood Meridian is not glorious or heroic, rather it shown as the very worst of human nature.
Highly recommended as one of the very best American novels of the twentieth century.
View all my reviews.
- 12:53 Help desk in tray cleared / Service pack bugs completed / Now time for dev work #
Thursday, March 26, 2009
- 09:22 Astonishing twin rainbows arching over Emley Moor this morning #
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
- 18:38 The dog's just been sick in his basket - yuk. #
- 06:48 It's a bit blustery out there at the moment, but at least the sun is shining #
Monday, March 23, 2009
- 22:45 Just watched 'In Bruges' - very funny, very dark and Colin Farrel's eyebrows were amazing. #
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time by Michael Shermer
Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time by Michael ShermerMy review
rating: 4 of 5 starsCreationists, holocaust deniers, alien abductees, psychic mediums. It's very easy to mock weird beliefs but why do people believe in such things, given the lack of any sort of evidence? More pertinently why do otherwise smart, well educated people believe in weird things?
This book presents a study of different areas of pseudo science and examines how each belief gains credence through a feedback loop of self reinforcement. One particularly interesting chapter looks at how the objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand - surely the last word in coldly rational self interest - turned into a self destructive personality cult in defiance of all logic.
Shermer explains the principles of scientific and sceptical thought, with the important point that scepticism is a method not a position. Another important chapter deals with the confirmation bias - the tendency to look for evidence that supports an existing belief and to ignore anything that contradicts it - which is why the scientific process of peer review and evaluation is so important in rooting out bad science.
I would recommend this book as an excellent introduction to sceptical and critical thinking.
View all my reviews.
His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Book 1) His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi NovikMy review
rating: 4 of 5 starsWhen Captain Will Laurence of His Majesty's Royal Navy captures a French frigate in a sea battle he gets rather more than he bargained for. In the hold of the enemy vessel is a curious egg which soon hatches out and proves to be a dragon, bonding itself to Laurence. As the dragon is a rare and valuable breed and will not accept another handler, Laurence must give up his promising naval career for a life in the Aerial Corps, fighting the threat of invasion by Napoleon's dragons.
This is a ripping good yarn, combining the swash buckling action of a Patrick O'Brien novel with the fantasy of Anne Mc Caffrey's Pern, with the aerial action of Aces High and The Blue Max. The high concept of Napoleonic warfare with dragons is played straight, and the characters of Captain Laurence and his dragon Temeraire are well rounded and believable. I picked this book up as a free ebook download, and it certainly makes me want to buy the rest of the series.
View all my reviews.
Sunday Links
- Songs You Used To Love One song a day - how many do you remember?
- worlds smallest gadgets teeny tiny papercraft gadgets
- The counterintuitive nature of evolution
- Pink elephant is caught on camera No, really
- Tactile illusions: Seven ways to fool your sense of touch
- 10 Greatest Science Fiction TV Show Endings Ever
- OCR Terminal Free online ocr conversion!
- The Photographic Dictionary Words defined with pictures
- In me shed Punk's Not Dad in praise of the humble shed
- Sing an IT Shanty!
- Chrome Experiments Nifty little toys to show off Google Chrome (other browsers are available)
- Browser Ball This is a nifty one
Saturday, March 21, 2009
- 18:40 Hurrah! @MitchBenn for King of Twitter! #
- 09:11 Hotwiring a car / Ten thousand dollars of snow / Busted by the cops #
Thursday, March 19, 2009
- 07:17 A ginger kitteh on my lap and a nice cup tea, not forgetting the lovely weather. A good start to the day! #
- 10:12 Doom talk from divisional director this morning. My job is safe but there is restructuring on the way for the rest of the team. Not good. #
- 11:38 Just had a cheese and onion pastie to steady my nerves. Still no news about the rest of the team ... #
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tweets for Today
- 07:06 Thickest fog I've ever seen out there. Expecting something squamous and tentacled to come looming out of the mist any moment ... #
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The Lost and Damned
It's no secret that GTAIV is one of my all time favourite games, and a true classic both for the technology of bringing an entire city to believable life and the complex and dark story of Niko Bellic's arrival in Liberty. From the moment I finished the main story last year I have been looking forward to the first downloadable content pack, and so I snagged it as soon as it was released.
The Lost and Damned deals with a motorcycle gang called 'The Lost' and the main protagonist is a biker called Johnny Klebitz who has been left in charge whilst the leader Billy has been in prison. When Billy is released, he returns determined to shake things up, starting with getting his old bike back and then starting a war with a rival gang. As the violence escalates each member of the gang is affected in different ways which are revealed though snatches of conversation that are initiated when you ride your bike in formation. The story runs parallel to the events of GTAIV, affording an alternative view on some of that game's iconic missions and characters, and indeed the final post credits movie shows some very familiar events from a soaring aerial perspective whilst the Lost ride past.
There's an awful lot of content included in the pack. Apart from the missions and cut scenes, there are new bikes and cars, some new weapons including a very handy grenade launcher, new websites and tv shows, and more tracks for the rock radio stations. I hadn't really listened to Liberty Rock Radio when playing GTAIV, but it soon became my station of choice when riding my bike around the city. One particularly memorable moment had me setting off in the rain for a confrontation with a particularly nasty Mafia wiseguy whilst 'Five to One' by the Doors played on the radio - no one here gets out alive, baby. Another unexpected treat was an outrageously offensive stand up comedy gig by Frankie Boyle - I wonder how that went down with the Americans, alongside the full frontal male nudity in one scene which no doubt gave some of the uptight conservative fanboys conniptions.
The only faults that I can find with the game are the lack of the moral choices that appeared in GTAIV giving the story a more linear feel and the final mission which turned into a very tricky mass shootout. Also, I found it very difficult to keep any of my gang members alive during the later gang war missions as they seemed determined to run into the line of fire and get themselves killed. Some sort of mechanism to order them to stay in cover might have been useful, but it's only a minor bugbear. The swearing quotient has also been upped rather noticeably - this probably won't be of too much concern to any fan of the series, but you might want to avoid playing if your mother in law is in the room.
On the whole though, The Lost and Damned is an essential purchase for anyone who has played GTAIV. GTA : Chinatown Wars next!
The Lost and Damned deals with a motorcycle gang called 'The Lost' and the main protagonist is a biker called Johnny Klebitz who has been left in charge whilst the leader Billy has been in prison. When Billy is released, he returns determined to shake things up, starting with getting his old bike back and then starting a war with a rival gang. As the violence escalates each member of the gang is affected in different ways which are revealed though snatches of conversation that are initiated when you ride your bike in formation. The story runs parallel to the events of GTAIV, affording an alternative view on some of that game's iconic missions and characters, and indeed the final post credits movie shows some very familiar events from a soaring aerial perspective whilst the Lost ride past.
There's an awful lot of content included in the pack. Apart from the missions and cut scenes, there are new bikes and cars, some new weapons including a very handy grenade launcher, new websites and tv shows, and more tracks for the rock radio stations. I hadn't really listened to Liberty Rock Radio when playing GTAIV, but it soon became my station of choice when riding my bike around the city. One particularly memorable moment had me setting off in the rain for a confrontation with a particularly nasty Mafia wiseguy whilst 'Five to One' by the Doors played on the radio - no one here gets out alive, baby. Another unexpected treat was an outrageously offensive stand up comedy gig by Frankie Boyle - I wonder how that went down with the Americans, alongside the full frontal male nudity in one scene which no doubt gave some of the uptight conservative fanboys conniptions.
The only faults that I can find with the game are the lack of the moral choices that appeared in GTAIV giving the story a more linear feel and the final mission which turned into a very tricky mass shootout. Also, I found it very difficult to keep any of my gang members alive during the later gang war missions as they seemed determined to run into the line of fire and get themselves killed. Some sort of mechanism to order them to stay in cover might have been useful, but it's only a minor bugbear. The swearing quotient has also been upped rather noticeably - this probably won't be of too much concern to any fan of the series, but you might want to avoid playing if your mother in law is in the room.
On the whole though, The Lost and Damned is an essential purchase for anyone who has played GTAIV. GTA : Chinatown Wars next!
Tweets for Today
- 06:27 Stewart Lee was excellent last night. Top marks for featuring an actual comedy vehicle. #
- 07:10 Adam & Joe, Perfect Ten, Coverville and Freethought Radio - it's podcast Tuesday! #
Monday, March 16, 2009
Tweets for Today
- 18:36 Just finished 'The Lost and Damned'. Excellent, and the end credits make me want to replay GTAIV! #
- 19:01 I've only just realised that there's a Frankie Boyle gig at the comedy club in TLAD when it came up in the credits. Outrageously funny! #
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Tweets for Today
- 19:37 Five to one, one in five / The sun sets on Liberty / Wise guys and The Doors #
- 16:19 Pleasant walk around Sheffield looking for some ipod dock speakers. Is it too early to hope that Spring has sprung? #
- 17:28 Just seen a daffodil flowering in the wood. Not exactly what you'd call a host, but it's a start ... #
- 17:32 #LittleGrappengil Welcome fellow villagers! Is anybody watching the twitter feed for this game? #
The Bell by Iris Murdoch
The Bell by Iris MurdochMy review
rating: 5 of 5 starsDora Greenfield is a young woman, married to the bullying, supercilious Paul who is thirteen years her senior. She has been separated from him for six months before deciding to go back to him when he invites her to join him at Imber Abbey where he is working on some ancient manuscripts. The Abbey is home to an order of cloistered nuns and has a small lay religious community attached, living in a stately home. The community has a wide range of members from the self appointed leader Michael, aspirant nun Catherine and her brother Nick, to the young Toby preparing for studying at Oxford. There are many secrets and reasons for wanting to be separated from the world, and behind the scenes the Abbess is pulling strings as the community prepares for the arrival of a new bell for the Abbey.
This is a highly perceptive and entertaining book, initially seeming like a fairly gentle comedy as the somewhat ditzy Dora makes her entrance at the community, but gradually growing darker and more complex as the motivations for each person in the community become clear. Written in 1958, Murdoch has a good insight into the repressed sexuality of the era, particularly where the repression is religious in nature, and the characters are all very believable. The book makes the point that religion does not alter the fundamentals of a person's character, but it covers them up in ways that are ultimately damaging to all concerned.
Well worth reading!
View all my reviews.
Sunday Links
- Free books! look out for Red Mars by Kim Robinson amongst others
- Free music! If you enjoyed the music in the GTA:Chinatown Wars trailer you can download the track and remix here.
- Moar! From the SXSW festival
- One Page Wonders Papercraft folding mini stories
- Wipeout Pure Papercraft Nuff said
- God Hates Figs! It says so in the Bible, so it must be true.
- TinyChat.com Create a free chatroom and invite your twitter buddies
- How to understand risk in 13 clicks What does it actually mean when a newspaper says that something increases your risk of cancer by 20%?
- Victorian Eye Pod Pip pip!
- The Mother of All Funk Chords Superb mash up using random bits of youtube music videos
- 360 degree photo of a coral reef simply stunning.
- Save The Words
- Tetris bento Nom nom nom
- Tetris HD Big screen, small blocks
- Make your own indie games with the minimum of technical know-how. Aleks Krotoski shows you how
- 4K Games More tiny games in just 4k of code
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Tweets for Today
- 22:15 iPod Peggle get / By crikey, it's addictive / I may be some time #
- 11:29 Old climbing frame dismantled and taken to the dump. A productive, or rather destructive, morning's work! #
- 16:54 Time to walk the dog #
- 18:08 #Staningas Interesting that meg, jpob and kevan are voting in harmony. Care to comment? #
- 18:15 #Staningas Oh, and by the way - hello to my fellow werewolf players at www.werewolf359.com! #
- 18:27 Well done to the comic relief folk! It's just a shame that £50 million seems like small change next to all of the money wasted on bankers. #
Friday, March 13, 2009
Tweets for Today
- 09:11 Daughter neglects work / Last minute panic, screeching / Coursework is stressfull #
- 11:07 Spellchecker insists / That I have now resolved the / Parsnip printing bug #
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Tweets for Today
- 18:17 Everyone should go and get a www.digitalrednose.com - it's only a pound and it's for a good cause. What are you waiting for? #
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Tweets for Today
- 08:57 Dreams of Tortuga / Pirates carouse in the night / Spiced rum and cold steel #
Monday, March 09, 2009
Updatey stuff
It strikes me that I haven't written any sort of update for a while, apart from Twitters, book reviews and my regular posts. I feel slightly guilty about not commenting on other people's journals and blogs but hey ho - them's the breaks. I'm still reading though.
The first couple of months of this year have felt like a bit of a slog, with a particularly cold winter and a change of routine that has seen me driving to and from work in the dark, until the last week or so. I've been getting home, walking the dog and then more often than not falling asleep on the sofa with little inclination to do much else. Things seem to be improving as the days lengthen though, and I am very much looking forward to an extra hour of light in the evenings when the clocks go forward at the end of March.
What have I been up to then?
I've been making a point of using my lunch hours to read, rather than just pottering around on the internet or mooching in town. You've probably noticed the increased hit rate of books being completed and reviewed, split evenly between audio books to listen to in the car and during dog walks, e-books of various sorts to read on my phone in odd moments and good old paper books for the rest of the time. I've also consciously been reading out of my usual comfort zone of fantasy and sf fiction, dabbling my toes into different genres as well as some interesting factual stuff. It has certainly been worth the effort and I seem to be well ahead of my notional not-a-resolution goal of a book a week for 2009.
Games wise, I have been mostly concentrating on the Xbox 360 with Fallout 3 giving way to the excellent 'The Lost and Damned' downloadable content for GTA IV. I've really been savouring the storyline, particularly the way it intersects with the events of GTA IV and Nico's story. Riding the GTA equivalent of a Harley Davidson around Liberty City listening to a new rock soundtrack has certainly given the game a very different feel and a new lease of life. The races where you can smash your opponents in the face with a baseball bat are rather enjoyable too, recalling the joys of the old retro game 'Road Rash'. Good fun.
On the DVD front, we've been making use of a Lovefilm subscription to try new things and catch up on films we missed at the cinema. I can recommend a Japanese film called 'Tony Takitani' which is an adaptation of a Haruki Murakami short story and certainly manages to capture some of the strangeness and charm of his style. Wall-E was similarly good, although the best part is probably the first half hour or so with the lonely robot cleaning up a devastated planet Earth whilst listening to show tunes. Charming and moving in equal measure.
The first couple of months of this year have felt like a bit of a slog, with a particularly cold winter and a change of routine that has seen me driving to and from work in the dark, until the last week or so. I've been getting home, walking the dog and then more often than not falling asleep on the sofa with little inclination to do much else. Things seem to be improving as the days lengthen though, and I am very much looking forward to an extra hour of light in the evenings when the clocks go forward at the end of March.
What have I been up to then?
I've been making a point of using my lunch hours to read, rather than just pottering around on the internet or mooching in town. You've probably noticed the increased hit rate of books being completed and reviewed, split evenly between audio books to listen to in the car and during dog walks, e-books of various sorts to read on my phone in odd moments and good old paper books for the rest of the time. I've also consciously been reading out of my usual comfort zone of fantasy and sf fiction, dabbling my toes into different genres as well as some interesting factual stuff. It has certainly been worth the effort and I seem to be well ahead of my notional not-a-resolution goal of a book a week for 2009.
Games wise, I have been mostly concentrating on the Xbox 360 with Fallout 3 giving way to the excellent 'The Lost and Damned' downloadable content for GTA IV. I've really been savouring the storyline, particularly the way it intersects with the events of GTA IV and Nico's story. Riding the GTA equivalent of a Harley Davidson around Liberty City listening to a new rock soundtrack has certainly given the game a very different feel and a new lease of life. The races where you can smash your opponents in the face with a baseball bat are rather enjoyable too, recalling the joys of the old retro game 'Road Rash'. Good fun.
On the DVD front, we've been making use of a Lovefilm subscription to try new things and catch up on films we missed at the cinema. I can recommend a Japanese film called 'Tony Takitani' which is an adaptation of a Haruki Murakami short story and certainly manages to capture some of the strangeness and charm of his style. Wall-E was similarly good, although the best part is probably the first half hour or so with the lonely robot cleaning up a devastated planet Earth whilst listening to show tunes. Charming and moving in equal measure.
Orn by Piers Anthony
Orn by Piers AnthonyMy review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
Orn is the second book in the 'Of Man and Manta' trilogy, following on directly from the first book in which a trio of unlikely human explorers were stranded on a planet with an ecology based on fungoid life forms. In 'Orn' the humans are dispatched through a portal to an apparently primitive, Earth like planet to explore and report on its suitability for colonization. They are accompanied by a group of Mantas - the intelligent fungi from the first book that fulfil the carnivore role in their particular ecology. They quickly realise that the world they are on is either the Earth of 65 million years ago, complete with Palaeolithic creatures and an enclave of Cretaceous era dinosaurs, or stranger still it may be a parallel world. Alternating with their story of exploration and discovery is the tale of Orn, a large, intelligent bird creature and his struggle to survive and breed.
This is a fascinating book, dealing with ecology and evolution in great detail as well as the more esoteric subjects of parallel universes. It will certainly be of interest to anyone wanting to know more about natural selection or Palaeolithic flora and fauna. The flaws lie in the unsubtle and stereotypical characterisations of the three human protagonists and the love triangle between them. The resolution feels a little forced, echoing the events of the first book, but perhaps it is the curse of the second book in a trilogy striking again.
View all my reviews.
Tweets for Today
- 09:16 Weekend power cut / Dev servers need rebooting / Time for a coffee #
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Tweets for Today
- 23:16 I appear to be @emmak67 's only follower so far - come on Twitterverse! #
- 06:45 Just trying out the Mauku client for my Nokia N800 - looks like it does what it says on the tin #
- 11:45 I've just realised / I've twittered five hundred times / Gosh, tempus fugit #
- 11:47 Off to see Watchmen. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Me! #
- 17:12 Watchmen - in a word, excellent. Still not as good as the graphic novel, but seeing as how they are different media that's no surprise. #
- 17:44 The snow is falling / I walk in contemplation / Koyaanisqatsi #
- 18:12 My review of Watchmen (no spoilers) - tinyurl.com/dhpjfp #
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Superheroes are a fundamentally stupid idea.
Dressing up in costumes, playing silly games. What possible difference could a group of people with varying degrees of personality disorders choosing to wear masks make to the world? That, in a nutshell, is the premise of Watchmen, both the original graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Gibbons and the film adaptation by Zack Snyder. It has been described as 'superheroes in the real world', although that is not really true as the world of the Watchmen is fundamentally different to our own, not least because in their world a nuclear accident can turn a man into a superman rather than killing him.
The graphic novel is famously complex and detailed, with a plot heavily reliant on flash backs and a convoluted conspiracy, but the director Snyder has managed to extract the essence of the story to good effect. The cinematography is stunning in places, adapting the iconic images of the printed page. There are several standout performances from the actors, particularly Jackie Earle Haley who is mesmerising as Rorschach and Billy Crudup as Dr Manhatten. The ending is somewhat different to the novel, but wisely so, given the lack of the minor background characters whose fate is so moving in the final chapter.
So, should you go and see it? Absolutely - if you are undecided, go and watch the opening title sequence which is a very good example of the tone and style of the movie, and the density of the source material. Is it as good as the graphic novel? Of course not, but then it is an unfair comparison. There are things that you can do in a nine panel page that you can't do on the silver screen, and vice versa. I think the two media are complementary, rather than being a case of either/or.
See the film, read the novel, and enjoy both.
Dressing up in costumes, playing silly games. What possible difference could a group of people with varying degrees of personality disorders choosing to wear masks make to the world? That, in a nutshell, is the premise of Watchmen, both the original graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Gibbons and the film adaptation by Zack Snyder. It has been described as 'superheroes in the real world', although that is not really true as the world of the Watchmen is fundamentally different to our own, not least because in their world a nuclear accident can turn a man into a superman rather than killing him.
The graphic novel is famously complex and detailed, with a plot heavily reliant on flash backs and a convoluted conspiracy, but the director Snyder has managed to extract the essence of the story to good effect. The cinematography is stunning in places, adapting the iconic images of the printed page. There are several standout performances from the actors, particularly Jackie Earle Haley who is mesmerising as Rorschach and Billy Crudup as Dr Manhatten. The ending is somewhat different to the novel, but wisely so, given the lack of the minor background characters whose fate is so moving in the final chapter.
So, should you go and see it? Absolutely - if you are undecided, go and watch the opening title sequence which is a very good example of the tone and style of the movie, and the density of the source material. Is it as good as the graphic novel? Of course not, but then it is an unfair comparison. There are things that you can do in a nine panel page that you can't do on the silver screen, and vice versa. I think the two media are complementary, rather than being a case of either/or.
See the film, read the novel, and enjoy both.
Sunday Links
- Paper Demon About time we had some more papercraft links
- Font Generator Make Your Own Handwriting Font With Your Fonts
- HotBits Genuine Nuclear Random Numbers
- Free book! Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon
- Strange Humanoid Carp Found in Pond
- Five Brilliant Animations of Sully's Hudson River Landing
- Ten Things You Don’t Know About the Sun
- Ways To Be Cool Sound advice
- What if Woody Allen had directed Watchmen?
- If Watchmen was written by Stan Lee ...
- Saturday Morning Watchmen
- Stabbing pen Do want!
- Great ideas generator
- The Linear RPG Does exactly what it says on the tin.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Tweets for Today
- 09:58 Feel like death warmed up / Lightly toasted and left to / Congeal on the plate #
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Tweets for Today
- 16:00 SQL server lacks / Oracle's decode function / Fracking fracking frack! #
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami
In the Miso Soup by Ryu MurakamiMy review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
Kenji is a nightlife guide, escorting foreign tourists – gaijin – around the Kabuki-cho red light district of Tokyo, with its hostess bars, peep shows, love hotels and other, darker, attractions. It’s not exactly a respectable line of work, but it pays well and after two years he knows most of the touts and club owners of the district, so it’s reasonably safe too. That is, until he meets Frank.
At first sight Frank appears to be a typical American abroad – overweight and loud mouthed, with a tendency towards exaggeration or outright lying, but Kenji has no idea just how depraved Frank will turn out to be, or how much danger he and his 16 year old girlfriend Jun will be placed in.
This book is brief, but highly atmospheric, painting a deft picture of the seedy and lonely side of the Tokyo demi-monde. The tension is ratcheted up to an almost unbearable degree before being released in an inevitably brutal and bloody way. The final third of the book winds down to an unexpectedly poignant conclusion.
Excellent, but extraordinarily gruesome Japanese noir.
View all my reviews.
Tweets for Today
- 18:26 CNPS Gods / Propitiated by blog / 314 spotted #
- 18:27 @giagia Yes - Being Human has been recommissioned for another 8 episodes - hurrah! #
- 18:28 @nadiajane Good luck to Sophie for her kata grading! #
- 19:15 @giagia Happy birthday to Brian! #
- 20:16 Riding a Hexer / Broker bridge in a thunderstorm / Wheels of Steel baby! #
- 20:59 @mitchbenn They've got a picture of you up in the Last Laugh club at the Lescar in Sheffield. #
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Tweets for Today
- 09:16 The Perfect Ten is back! / Phil and Phill surprisingly / still not wanking for lent #
- 09:33 Sore throat, aching bones / Incipient cold symptoms / Could do without this #
Monday, March 02, 2009
Sorry Joss
I really tried to like Dollhouse, I really did, but it just isn't working for me.
The problem lies with the pitch, I think. Buffy could be summed up as 'Cheerleader slays vampires', Firefly as 'Post civil war western in space' but Dollhouse boils down to 'Secret agency brainwashes and reprograms attractive young woman for varied secret missions for rich clients whilst remaining secret enough that the FBI doesn't believe it exists (except for one particularly dogged agent) but not so secret that the rich clients can't get in touch. Oh and one of the former dolls may be a naked psychopath. Or something.'
It's like a stupidly convoluted version of Joe 90 that is trying to get all the back story into the first couple of episodes. Why not just stick with the 'different personality every week' schtick and worry about arc plots in Season 2. Any bets on how long before it gets cancelled? Still, I may be proved wrong and it will run for seven hugely successful seasons, generating a spin off series or two along the way.
The problem lies with the pitch, I think. Buffy could be summed up as 'Cheerleader slays vampires', Firefly as 'Post civil war western in space' but Dollhouse boils down to 'Secret agency brainwashes and reprograms attractive young woman for varied secret missions for rich clients whilst remaining secret enough that the FBI doesn't believe it exists (except for one particularly dogged agent) but not so secret that the rich clients can't get in touch. Oh and one of the former dolls may be a naked psychopath. Or something.'
It's like a stupidly convoluted version of Joe 90 that is trying to get all the back story into the first couple of episodes. Why not just stick with the 'different personality every week' schtick and worry about arc plots in Season 2. Any bets on how long before it gets cancelled? Still, I may be proved wrong and it will run for seven hugely successful seasons, generating a spin off series or two along the way.
Tweets for Today
- 08:42 Dead man's autochop / Bela Lugosi's still dead / Thirty years of Goth #
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Bye Bye Balham by Richard Herring
Bye Bye Balham: v. 1: Warming Up by Richard HerringMy review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
On the 25th of November 2002 the comedian Richard Herring started to write a daily blog. His original intention was to use it as a daily writing exercise to break the writer's block that was stopping him from getting on with his work on writing a book, but it quickly grew beyond that original remit.
You will find entries about the minutiae of life in Balham, drunk people on tube trains, odd hecklers at gigs, the temptation of playing scrabble on a gameboy rather than working, comedic rants and flights of fancy that were to grow into fully fledged routines and musings on life, growing old and mortality. The book also includes the genesis of the game of Consecutive Number Plate Spotting, which I have now been playing for more than five years, reaching a pathetic total of 313 recently.
The original entries have been tidied up a little, with additional comments added with the perspective of hind sight on a failing relationship and a move from a cramped flat in Balham to a much too large house in Shepherd's Bush. Of course, you could always go and read the blog online, but I don't begrudge buying the book as a handy alternative to the computer screen. I wonder if these paper based blogs will ever catch on?
View all my reviews.
Sunday links
- Moon halo
- New York paper plane flight Just how far will a paper plane go when you throw it out of a New York office window?
- Pride and Predator Jane Austin with bite.
- Zamzar Free online file conversion - very handy
- Color Scheme Designer 3 A useful tool for picking complementary colour schemes for your website
- Free book! The Crooked Letter by Sean Williams
- Free graphic novel! Therefore Repent
- Free music! Pop, Spindrift, Monument to Masses and More
- Free movie! Sita Sings the Blues - a charming animated film from India
- 10 Alan Moore Comics You Must Read! (Besides Watchmen) I have original copies of most of these, including a complete run of Swamp Thing, Captain Britain and Warrior ... :-)
- ZooBorns Move over Cute Overload - there's a new cute blog in town!
- Ground Zero Google maps mashup to show the effects of nuking your neighbourhood with everything up to and including an asteroid
- 3D Street Art Scarily realistic street paintings on a grand scale
- 2D Mirror's Edge An excellent flash version of the full game
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