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Mon, 31 Dec 2007
Stardust
Argh! Was writing the review of Beowulf, when I realised I hadn't blogged this! So, my review;
Great
OK, slightly more verbose; A great adaption of the book (there've been a lot of them recently!), with some nice solid performances (DeNiro and Pfeiffer especially). A great, fun film.Posted at: [] permanent link
Beowulf
Just realised I hadn't blogged this, so my review;
Meh.
I mean the technology was impressive, and some of the implications in the original were teased out quite nicely, but ultimately it was quite gory and a little silly (naked fight anyone?). I was a bit dissapointed, given the excelent Stardust.Posted at: [] permanent link
Best of 2007: Podcasts
I love my podcasts. Driving to work, cooking, running, performing chores I consume somewhere in the region of ten hours of spoken work content a week.
Like with the books, I'm going to have to split this category. Probably one of the reasons that I've not read much non-fiction this year is that I get a lot of what I need from the podcasts.
My picks for this year then;
Non-fiction
No 1: The today show. Worth the license fee in itself. Nuff said
No 2: In Our Time. Variable, but almost always more interesting than you think.
No 3: Your Mac Life. Feeds my Mac geekery while being very entertaining. More on the photography/image than I'm interested in, but I suspect that this has subliminally informed my photography, as the advent calender I did for the family this year (I'll post a flikr feed) got positive reviews.
Fiction
Its been a good year for fiction podcasts, as the 'movement' is really getting off the ground.
No 1: Playing for Keeps. Mur Lafferty is doing a very good job of promoting her Creative Commons superhero novel. She's one of the leading lights of podcasting, and it shows in the production of this, from the audio quality, to the quality of the fiction itself, to the supporting podcasts, vlog's and PDF's.
No 2: Decoder Ring Theatre. These guys produce 'Black Jack Justice' (a noir detective series with some very sharp dialog) and 'Red Panda Adventures' (superhero stories in the style of The Phantom). Great production values, great dialog and stories.
No 3: Escape Pod. A weekly new short science fiction story. They also run Pseudopod for Horror, and keep promising a Fantasy one. I shouldn't really put them as three, as its from Escape Pod that I've learned about the previous two, but the other two I do prefer, probably because Escape Pod flits around subjects so much, and there is a continuing theme in the previous two. Escape Pod is consistently good, though, and there are few stories I didn't want to listen to - in fact, I always give a story a try, as I've found stuff that I didn't think I'd like thanks to their selections
I have an admission to make, however - all of the three above ask for donations, and I haven't so far. Consider this 'pimping' as some payback, and I'll do so in the new year, honest!
Posted at: [] permanent link
Best Of 2007: Music
Out of the 28 Albums I purchased this year (is that all?), the following really stand out;
KT Tunstall - Drastic Fantastic
Moshie's Bagel - Salt
Oi Va Voi - Oi Va Voi
On the subject of that album, it contains her version of "Fairy Tale of New York", from which its clear that both KT and Shane McGowan chose the wrong partners for their retakes. KT does an excellent performance - her vocals can stand up to the rollicking standard that Kirsty Macoll set, unlike Katie Melua (who I did not purchase her latest album this year - just didn't call me enough). The male singer that KT had on her version, though, had nowhere near the oomph needed for Shane's role. He would have been a perfect match for Katie's version though. Talking of which - was Katie Melua out of sync on the record, or was Shane even more gone than I expected? the timing between the two seemed to be off, and I can't work out who'se it was.
Anyway, its nice that the top albums are all people I've seen (or are going to see, in KT's case (yes, I got tickets at the Corn Exchange!)) live this year.
Posted at: [/music] permanent link
Best of 2007: Books
In my annual 'Best of' awards, its a usual tricky situation. I'll start with the non-fiction, as thats easiest (I didn't read much non-fiction this year);
Non Fiction Best of 2007
Managing Humans
Fiction Best of 2007
It turns out that most of my selections weren't published this year, but thats when I read them, so it counts as far as I'm concerned..
No 1: War for the Oaks
No 2: Temeraire
Tied for No 3: The Fencing Master
&
The Vesuvius Club
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Shadow In The North
Talking of cracking adaptions of Philip Pullmans work, did anyone see 'The Shadow In The North' the TV adaption of his Young Adult novel, carrying on from 'The Ruby In The Smoke'? Cracking stuff. Bearing in mind that he's writing for the YA market, he manages to write in a way that doesn't talk down, but covers all kinds of subjects. If you haven't see it, go do so (especially as you can do so for the next week via the flash based iPlayer).
Posted at: [/tv] permanent link
The Golden Compass
A and I went to see this a few weeks ago, but I hadn't got around to blogging it yet. We've both read the Philip Pullman books, more than once, so were looking forward to this. Happily, it didn't dissapoint - I'd go so far as to say that it was as well adapted from the book as the Lord Of The Rings sequence was. I don't have any great desire to go and see it again, or even to buy it on DVD at the moment, but I will certianly be going to see the second film when it is brought out.
Posted at: [] permanent link
Sun, 30 Dec 2007
Yet Another Social Networking Site
This time, I've signed up with
Goodreads
a book review/reading social networking site. 5 mins with a csv export from
Delicious Library,
and all the books I'd imported into that are now in my bookshelf there. Interested?
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Wed, 26 Dec 2007
Temeraire
By Naomi Novik
Bit of a win, this one. I was browsing Borders a few weeks ago, and happened to come across a whole selection of works that looked interesting, which has been so rarely the case that these days I get my recommendations from friends or online (mostly Gaiman or Scalzi's blogs). This one had passed me by, though, and was out in paperback, as was three sequels. As I was waiting for Xmas with some hope (my list was mostly of books), I decided to get this in my last amazon purchase of gifts for others. The problem was, I got in on about thursday of last week, and then had to spend the next few days forcing myself not to just gulp it all down. Simply splendid. Where to start...
The book features Captain Lawrence, a seagoing captain, of His Majesty's Navy. The worked-his-way-up-from cabin boy kind, as his father expected him to go into the church. In a successful engagement against a French vessel, he captures a Dragon egg. Now, the British arial forces can do with all the shoring up they can get, so naturally, when it becomes obvious the the egg is about to hatch - and therefore must bond with someone immediately, or become Feral, he organises al his officers to attend, to ensure the Crown does not lose a valuable Dragon. Needless to say, the Dragon chooses him.
What follows is a wonderfully crafted mix of high seas adventure, alternate history, fantasy (hello, Dragons!), and general derring-do. Novik manages a great verisimilitude, along with believable characters and a plot that cracks along, revealing the world of the Aerial corps as through the eyes of an experienced Sea Captain. She gets the pacing just right, as well - in one scene, where French and English Dragons clash over the channel (yes, she gets elements of Battle of Britain in there, too), Temeraire is 'boarded' by the crew from a hostile dragon. In other works, and by other authors, a long fight scene would be written, but here, she simply puts 'It was then frantic sword-work' and still manages to convey the battle.
I've now got a lot of reading to catch up on, but I will be buying the next installment of Novik's work with great anticipation.
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Fri, 30 Nov 2007
Moishe's Bagel
A and I went to see this band last night. It was something of a gamble, because I'd hadn't heard of them beforehand, but the ticket's weren't too expensive, and I like Oi Va Voi and Sophie Solomon, so we took a chance.
They were very good - very tight as a band. I'd not had much exposure to Klesmer music (its a bit above my skill level on the violin!), and my only real exposure to eastern european (their other big influence) music is via Oi Va Voi. No idea how authentic it was (not very, judging from the band's comments!).
Unfortunately, I misread the tickets, and didn't realise that they started at 8 - after turning up to Oi Va Voi and Fun Lovin Criminals at the Junction's larger (and much nastier, but with better acoustics, I'm given to understand) venue, much too early, and waiting around forver, we took our time turning up to this - only to realise that it did start exactly as stated on the ticket and we'd missed the first half!
I took advantage of sitting in the front row (only seats remaining) to shoot a couple of snaps of the
set
while the band were on interval. The Piano and Accordion players sat on chairs, but the rest stood, apart from the percussionist (he played a lot more things than a traditional drummer, so that description didn't seem fair), who was cross legged on the ground surrounded by his drum set and assorted items, which made for a very intimate and casual performance.
A very lively performance, with the Violinist drawing both A. and I's attention the most (for different reasons, you might say!). Based on his performance, I know I have a while to get yet before I'm ready to either attempt Klesmer at anything like traditional speed, or perform in general.
Overall, a group of very accomplished musicians playing together - a very positive experience. We'll certainly be keeping a close eye on the Junction from now on, and booking a lot more events there. it would be nce to go with others, too, so if you see something you're interested in going to, let me know!
The band's webpage is
here,
including a quicktime video so you can see the band in action. Unlike a lot of bands, they don't appear to have a MySpace page. Unlike a lot of those bands, though, they do have an on-line ordering page. No way of keeping up with their tours through anything but checking the webpage, however. We bought a copy of their latest album, 'Salt', and it was only because I didn't have enough money they we didn't buy both their albums. Listening to it this morning they covered a lot of the tracks in the second half that we caught, so it was nice to listen again and see the band members performing it in my minds eye.
I'll probably listen this album 'out' before I buy the other one, but at least I'll be able to!
.
..
update, it seems they're availabe on DRM free iTunes Plus! Ooh. The temptation..
Yes, I have a day off today. Its glorious..
Posted at: [/live] permanent link
Ghost Stories at the Leper Chapel anyone?
Robert Lloyd Parry is doing a one night performance of an M.R. James Ghost Story at the Leper Chapel on wed 19th Dec, according to
this..
Alas, that's also the night of the work Xmas party. If only I'd have known, as I'd much rather attend this..
However, there are other performances at Corpus Christi Playroom, St Edward’s Passage, from 11th-15th Dec. 12-15th are good for me. Anyone else interested? We need to book fast - the previous ones got sold out.
Posted at: [/live] permanent link
Sun, 25 Nov 2007
Milton Jones
A and I saw him live on thursday. Side splittingly funny one liner comedian, that Andrea encountered via Radio 4. His
Wikipedia page
has some of his jokes.
Next time we find out he's coming to Cambridge, I think it might be time to phone round and gather a posse..
Posted at: [/live] permanent link
OiVaVoi
A. and I saw them last week, in what turns out to be the start of thier western european tour. We didn't get to see more than half of the set, alas, and the photos from my camera and iPhone didn't come out. However, the band have a far better one, and a writeup of the gig on their
MySpace page.
Great band, the only problem was the sound engineers at the Junction had the volume a little high for the people there, and the high notes on the Clarinet and Violin were a little..piercing. On the plus side, my recounting this led to a fascinating discussion of sound engineering with some colleagues. It appears that as well as a haunt of bikers, my workplace is full of musicians and sound engineers..
Posted at: [/live] permanent link
Making Money
By Terry Pratchett
I was lent this rather than bought it, which is just as well - I gave up buying Pratchett in hardback a while back. Its a good read, romping along in its own amusing fasion. Its not changed my intention to buy in hardback, but was a great tonic after 'Black Man'!
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Black Man
By Richard Morgan
I've read several of Morgan's previous works, Altered Carbon and Woken Furies being the ones that come to mind quickly, so I ask for this for my Birthday.
Richard Morgan has a quote attributed to him on Wikipedia, which is so good I'll quote it here;
I also listened to a podcast from the 'IT Conversations' podcast with the author, talking about this book, his research and so on. Personable, clever chap, but he made a claim in the podcast that he intended the reader to have reassessed the motivations of all the characters b the end of the book. Perhaps its my lack of active reading skills, but I had no such experience.
Its odd, and something we remarked on at our first or second book club, that a book we disliked engendered much more discussion. I guess this is no exception!
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Wed, 21 Nov 2007Posted at: [/gadgets] permanent link
Sun, 11 Nov 2007
I call it a garage, they call it a one stop shop.
Anyone know any good, cheap garage door saleman(person :-) or companies? Our garage has been broken into AGAIN. Nothing taken, looks like, and no damage that I can see. I reckon they couldn't get past the car to the bikes. I'm not a subscriber to the 'the shed is my castle' approach of Real Man(tm) thinking, but I was pretty sure I'd fixed the way they'd got in last time. Oh well.
Posted at: [] permanent link
Sat, 10 Nov 2007
iPhone Thoughts
Been playing
with it for the afternoon, on and off.
Interesting to see that they seem to have taken a page out of Microsoft's book in the licensing agreement (yes, I read it. I'm new to 02, and I've gotten in the habit anyway from work..);
e) THE IPHONE SOFTWARE AND IPHONE SOFTWARE UPDATES ARE NOT INTENDED FOR USE IN THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION OR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS, LIFE SUPPORT MACHINES OR OTHER EQUIPMENT IN WHICH THE FAILURE OF THE IPHONE SOFTWARE OR IPHONE SOFTWARE UPDATES COULD LEAD TO DEATH, PERSONAL INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE.
Fortunately, I'm not planning to do any of that..
...
It seems that Cambridge has an Edge network. I specifically didn't associate with the wireless access point at home to test usability 'on the road' and was surprised at how usable it was, given the godawful experience I've had trying to use other mobile browsers.
...
While switching between apps is easy with the home key, it seems its not rue switching and doesn't keep the apps open when you change, so any websites get reloaded in safari, for instance. Not a major pain, but worth knowing.
...
The YouTube application, which i had down as a waste of space, has lead me to digging up all kinds of music videos for KT, Amy, Ronson and Sophie. Amazing what can be found on there, and even more amazing that people buy the music videos!
...
Battery life has been good. Most of the video watching and music playing went on on the sofa, and no measurable effect on the battery..
...
Browsing websites and photos on it is a real pleasure with the finger gestures. I'm still not sure about the on-screen keyboard, but its growing on me. Not sure I'd want to o lengthy emails on it, but then, I never did on the Blackberry, and that has a full qwerty keyboard..
...
Yes, I have a new (or rather personal, since I keep the work phone) mobile number. You should get an email from me tomorrow if you know me. If you don't get an email, drop me a line. If you don't know me, why are you reading this? I can't be that interesting!
Posted at: [/gadgets] permanent link
Tue, 06 Nov 2007
First Problem with Leopard
Just tried to print, only to find that while MacOS X detects my printer (using the gimp-print gutenburg driver, interestingly), it doesn't actually, you know, print to it. Sigh. Leopard has the latest versions of the Gutenburg version (5.1.13) as part of the OS, which haven't been updated since June 5th 2007. There are some encouraging posts on Apple's website from an HP developer pointing at beta drivers, and talking about rolling out support for more as soon as they can. Given its not been out long, thats a quick response from such a mamoth corporate, so here's hoping. I really dont want to have to buy a new printer (or downgrade to 10.4)..
Posted at: [/gadgets] permanent link
Sat, 03 Nov 2007
I don't want one of these
..but as my work bag normally has a leatherman and an multi-bit torque screwdriver, perhaps I should get a
Giant Swiss Army Knife. This monster "contains all 85 tools currently produced by Wenger". Then again, its $999, so I might be better off with my £60 (8 years ago) leatherman and £2 (halfords, two weeks ago) screwdriver..
Posted at: [/gadgets] permanent link
Wimpole Hall Fireworks
Good display, but favorite experience is on leaving, as hundreds of people swoosh through the autumn leaves under one of the huge trees on the estate on the path to the car parks and walks home. The resulting sound was a low noise not unlike wind through the trees, or waves on a beach. Very atmospheric, especially after the bombasic nature of the fireworks..
Posted at: [] permanent link
Sat, 27 Oct 2007
On iPod Touches, iPhones and PDA's
So... I'm hankering for a new PDA. The Blackberry that work provide is all well and good, but it doesn't work too well as a diary, and I keep missing SMS messages from friends because they get swallowed by the volume of email I get on the device. I'm also considering splitting my work diary and contacts from personal ones. All of this leads me to a separate home PDA.
I've been fortunate to be able to spend a fair amount of time (and a little money) investigating such things for work, so I'm familiar with the Nokia BB equivalents, the E series, and the Windows Mobile devices. Then Apple came along with the iPod Touch and iPhone.
My first thought was that I'd get an iPod Touch, as this does web surfing, Contacts and iCal. Alas, Apple have locked out the ability to edit & enter appointments into iCal. This appears to be deliberate, because the touch sensitive interface allows typing and new entries in all the other apps. Once the Touch was cracked, however, it turns out that changing an entry in an XML file (which Apple use for all their config files) from user editable=No to Yes, allows entry. However, its likely that Apple will 'fix' this on their next software update. You might suggest just not applying any future updates, but smart money is on the Touch/iPhone being the big push/portal for Apple, so, given my gadget proclivities, this isn't a workable strategy for me, long term. It look the Wily hackers several weeks to break into the Touch, and I'd rather not have an unuseable PDA for that period. Also, no mail client.
Those of you knowledgeable in the gadget world, may then suggest I go for a Nokia Internet Tablet, especially since they've just revved them, and the older model (the N800) is
available at a steep discount. The appeal of this device is further enhanced by the fact it runs Linux, and can be easily improved (in fact, it runs a cut down X11, and so most s/w can be recompiled for it. Indeed, there is quite the repository. Everything a techie could want in terms of email, web browsing, GPS, even bluetooth access to your mobile for when you can't find a Wifi point. Unfortunately, no calender and no way to sync the pitiful contacts app with anything. Yes, I probably could write my own, but I've
done this
before, and it never works as well as you'd like. Thanks to a seriously non-scriptable (I'm not learning windows development just to use ActiveSync or similar, thank you) interface, its always a hack to get your diary and contacts out and back in again.
Which brings me to the iPhone. Seamlessly integrates with my MacBook, ubiquitous internet access through EDGE (no 3G, but I've had spotty success with that even when I've had a capable device) and Wifi (especially since O2 will be bundling access to a wifi hotspot called 'the cloud' in with it, and I have access to the T-Mobile hotspot system via work) camera phone etc etc. The downside, 18 month non-trivial contract, and no outside applications.
The last option really killed it for me. When I was using the Nokia's, the range of applications available, tied with the features of the device was outstanding (I'm still wowed by the combination of apache and python running on the e70 that alllowed me to use the built in camera as a webcam from the internet, not to mention the althetics training application that integrates route monitoring and GPS, all available free from Nokia).
However, recent announcements have changed this somewhat; Apple are being forced by French Law to make unlocked iPhones available in France, and they announced an SDK for the iPhone, to be available to developers in February. The potential for the all the beautiful, useful Mac apps to get tied into the iPhone just make me drool. The idea of
Delicious Library having an iPhone extension that allowed me to scan the barcodes of books from the phone's camera, and then input the details either over the air (wifi/bluetooth, whatever) or on the next sync, while allowing you to note books you'd like to buy, and lend books out without firing up the mac, is just super (and as I follow Will Shipley's blog, I know he's thinking about what he can do with this), not to mention the RSS reading App,
Net News Wire having an iPhone client, and I don't need my mac with me for 90% of my trips. Plus, its an ipod (and have you used the touch interface? So spendid - I went from not wanting an Ipod Touch, to really wanting one within 5 minutes of playing with a friends (under the guise of showing him what it did, you understand..).
So its probably obvious where I'm going with this. Come the 9th November, I'll be in the o2 shop, singing up to a contract with O2. I know this makes me a Mac Fanboy, but I think I've got good reasons, and I'm in good
company...
Posted at: [/gadgets] permanent link
MAC OS X 10.5(Leopard) First Thoughts
Yes, of course I bought and installed it, but at least I waited until the saturday, rather than wait outside the shop on friday night! Mind you, I was coming back through London around the release time, and I have to confess that it was tempting to divert my journey..
Anyway, so far, the 'upgrade in place' install option (I had a good backup, just to be sure), went fine, and I spent time playing with the new features (as those who follow my facebook profile will know). My initial impression is that it is actually faster on my 2GB RAM 2GHz core duo MacBook than Tiger was. Coming from using Vista at work (another blog post, if I can summon the energy, at another time), this is even more of a pleasant surprise. I confess, I'm looking forward to seeing what the third party guys make of the new under the hood features. So far, though it just works which is all I ask of my Mac.
Posted at: [/gadgets] permanent link
My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time
By Liz Jensen
A. recommended this to me. Not my normal choice, but as she has better taste than me, and its good to read outside your comfort zone every now and again, I finally got round to it on my monthly trip to Southampton.
Its quality chick lit, this - when I started it, the use of language really impressed me, and her writing style is very tight. Its an enjoyable tale of Charlotte, part time prostitute and her alleged mother, as they discover, while cleaning the house of a woman (as a cover for stealing from her), a time machine, and are thrown forward into the modern day. The plot bounces on and around, being terribly endearing and witty. The plot is well worked, not telegraphed or predictable, and Jensen really has you rooting for the characters. There's an excellent review on Amazon by a
Lee Robson that says it better than I am. A great pick me up read, but if you're the puritanical type, probably not for you. Super!
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Wed, 24 Oct 2007
War for the Oaks
By Emma Bull
I'm not sure how I came across the recommendation for this - I think it must have been Scalzi or Gaiman's weblog, and I'm leaning towards the latter.
War For The Oaks is a modern day fairy story, about a clash between the Unseelie and Seelie courts, where a Mortal is brought into the battle for then at each fight the deaths are permanent. The main character, Eddie, is a singer in a rock band that's spiraling downward. She is 'volunteered' to the side of the Seelie court by the Phooka, an fay who shifts between the forms of man and dog, and has his own agenda of the role she will play in the conflict.
Its a new (to me, it was written 20 years go!) take on the Fay, as well as the protagonist - most the the conflict and plot takes place around music and the bands, and the life of a professional musician. Emma Bull is a professional musician, and apparently got most of her experience after the book was written, which you wouldn't tell from the prose. I'm surprised I haven't heard of it before because it was so consistent and well written, but I suspect I just don't read widely enough..
I'm on the search for more Emma Bull stuff now.
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Oi Va Voi
..Coming to The Junction on the 13th November, and I have two tickets. Oh my yes..
Posted at: [/music] permanent link
Sat, 20 Oct 2007
Alopecia
I now count amongst my heroes and mentors Lex Luthor, Patrick Stewart and
Joe
Before
After
A. says my Yoda is coming on nicely..
Posted at: [] permanent link
Changeling
Booked by A. around the same time we went to see Changeling, we saw this at the Arts Theatre on wednesday night.
The beautiful Beatrice is betrothed to one man, but finds she is in love with another. She persuades her father's servant Deflores, who she despises as much as he lusts after her, to kill her betrothed, thinking that he will have to flee and she will be rid of both. Needless to say, it does not work out as she planned..
A more traditional production than Stockholm, this is apparently 'the best tragedy not written by Shakespeare', although I can't verify that assertion.. The play is a story of murder, lust and revenge in Spain. Some very powerful performances by the cast, especially the ugly, twisted DeFlores.
The Arts theatre was almost empty for this performance. We had seats at the back in the circle, but could have sat anywhere, after it started. Good venue, but oh my god, the prices of the drinks etc in the auditorium! I thought the cinemas were ripping us off, but it turns out they have nothing on the Theatre. Oh, and they don't do tea, luvie.
Posted at: [/live] permanent link
Stockholm
A. asked for tickets to this theatre production for her birthday, so with some trepidation, I booked them. Its an avant-garde, new theatre kind of production, held at the Junction's 'The Shed'. Most of this was new to me, so I was a little nervous of what it would be like come the night (a week last thursday). I was slightly mollified by it being 'THE thing to see in Cambridge' according to the Guardian. Of course, cambridge being what it is, it prbobaly was only thing to see..
It turned out to be extremely good. It charted a relationship, if not the breakdown of one. A cast of two, with a very imaginative revolving stage, the play incorporated dancing, cooking, fights and partial nudity. Plus a sex scene 10 feet in the air.
All in all, a pretty bold and intense piece.
Posted at: [/live] permanent link
Sun, 14 Oct 2007
The Fencing Master
By Arturo Perez-Reverte
His first book, and in it are the seeds of the Captain Alatriste books. Where Captain Alatriste has a flair for the dramatic, this book concentrates on personalities and FENCING! I don't know if the author fences, but I suspect as much, as a love of the art permeates the book. The characters and plot are well developed, with none being a caricature or simple plot device. I particularly enjoyed his portrayal of the fencing master as a man left behind by time and society, with only his 'sense of style', as he puts it, but you could also say morality or ethics, differentiating himself from others in the book.
A well written novel, that echoes the work he would later do on 'Captain Alatriste', but has a more melancholy feel. Don't be put off by the politics and name dropping on Spanish politicians and other worthies; its al explained in the text!
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Precious Dragon
By Liz Williams
The next in the series of Inspector Chen novels. Unlike the previous one, this one feels less muddled. Williams obviously has a clear sense of where she is going and the universe, which was not entirely clear in the second book. While no deep insights into the psyche of the human character, this is a enjoyable book, with gorgeous cover art. Not as much Chen as I'd like, as Irzh again steals the show, but good nonetheless.
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Old Man's War
By John Scalzi
I came to John Scalzi via BoingBoing and Cory Doctorow. To be honest, this book didn't grab me at first, and I must have left it in my Amazon wish list for months. With the holiday to Marrakech, however, I thought this might be a good time to try it out - it was in paperback, after all. Mr Scalzi is a prolific blogger (not as much as Cory, but who is), and I'd been following his website for a bit (mainly because his interviews with other authors are always worth reading, and often lead me to purchasing other books -Grey was found via this, for example).
Old Man's war, is an updating and twist on the Heinlin 'Starship Troopers', and well done. The main problem I have with it is that the main character is also called John, and the characters voice is identical to the author's on his blog. This was slightly weird to read. Enjoyable stuff, though, if not earth shattering.
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Sun, 23 Sep 2007
Chariots Of Fire 2007
We ran under Convergys c team as our application had gone walkies. We made a very respectable 1 hour 15 mins and some seconds as a team, and I did 12 mins 16 seconds - not bad considering I'd been up until 2 and had eaten much delicous fondue the night before. Not my personal best, though..
restrospective sponsorship appreciated..
Posted at: [] permanent link
Sun, 09 Sep 2007
The Devil In Amber
By Mark Gatiss
The second in the (hopefully long running) Lucifer Box series. This one finds an older (if not wiser) Box facing threats of retirement, and dealing with the after effects of his work in The Great War. As delightful as its predecessor, Gatiss managing (unlike Stross, one might say) to transition his hero from one shot inspiration to an viable series. I say, rather. Good show, fellow, what!
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Sun, 02 Sep 2007
The Knight
By Gene Wolfe
I'd never read any Wolfe, and with the holiday in Marrakech coming up, together with a fancy for some fantasy fiction, I picked up a copy of his latest. It has a glowing quote from neil Gaiman on the front, too which didn't hurt. Now, at the end of the several hundred pages, I'm a bit nonplussed. I like some of the narrative devices - the way he skips over the boring bits of the story by just not including them, then referring to them later in the narrative. I like the unreliable narrator (is he really as brave a knight as he claims?), but there are several dodgy areas. The main idea of the boy being transformed into a man by a fey princess (so she can have her way with him, basically), is handled oddly, and I can't decide if thats by design or not. There were the damnedest emphasis in the text, as wel. A battle with a dragon, at the end of the book (surely a climax of the novel?) is narrated almost half heartedly. The book finishes abruptly, as if the publisher had said. "Right cut it here and we'll put the rest in the next book". Overall, I'd prefer a Jim Butcher novel.
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Grey is being Podcast
The creator of
Grey,
Jon Williams, is
podcasting
his novel. Not sue I'd want to listen to it again, so soon after reading it, but otherwise...
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
My Kung Fu Is Superior!
It looks like the eternal question (Who would win; Shaolin Monk or Ninja) has just
been answered
Although, between you and me, the word on the street is that neither side actually exist anymore in any kind of historically authentic context..
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Mon, 27 Aug 2007
Blindsight
By Peter Watts
I can't remember how I came to buy this - I think I was recommended it via John Scalzi's
weblog
but it might have been an Amazon recommendation. I held of from starting it initially, as it looked Hard Sci Fi, and its a rare species of that genre that has anything more than basic character development. This has better than most, but the first contact story makes up for that.
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Managing Humans
by Micheal Lopp
I bought this after reading his website
Rands in Repose,
where he talks about being a software engineering manager (Madhatter, that management blog you wanted to read, BTW - this is it). Basically, he took the blog and edited and wrote some new stuff and compiled it into this book. The Blog was good enough to make me want to reward him for the effort and have something on hand to refer to.
Basically, Lopp talks about management, but in a very techie way, far from the management courses and books I've read so far - I'm part of the way through Burkum's 'The Art of Project Management', but had to stop as I bought it early on in my management career, and the situation at the time kept coming back to me as I read it and I had to stop or I'd never have switched off after work. This book avoids that pitfall by having short engaging chapters (blog posts), and a very irreverent, engaging style.
Its basically about people management in technical companies, both beneath and above you, and a lot of it applies even if you're not in a management position. he advocates a lot of people facing skills, but not in the way the management course I did talks about them, in a very dry, hands off kind of way. I think, moving from technical to management, that there are a lot of skills that you need to pick up, and most of them involve dealing with people (some involve powerpoint and excel, but you can buy books on that), that you only learn the hard way or with a good mentor. I've had some good managers (and some bad ones!), which gives me a place to start, but it wasn't until this book that I thought of reading around the whole people skills area. Granted, a book will not give you the practice, but then, neither will a course or a seminar, and at least it gives you the chance to do some research without people knowing you've been on a course, and hence expecting you to come back with shiny new ideas and initiatives to generally screw with the team (or your boss) as you experiment. No one, after all, wants a manager who is experimenting, least of all when its on you..
So anyway, good book, go read the blog, then buy the book if you think its appropriate.. :-)
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The Vesuvius Club
by Mark Gatiss
This might be the best book I've read all year (I'm offline as I write this, so can't dig through my blog archives and check). Mark Gatiss takes the Edwardian novel, and the spy novel (and probably the science fiction, gay and romance genres as well) and creates a pastiche that is just, just wonderful. If you liked Neil Gaiman's pastiche
"A study in Emerald",
then I think you'll like this. I'm honestly wondering how I managed to miss this when it came out. The good news is that the follow up "The Devil In Amber" is out (and A. is reading it as I type, so me next..), in what looks to be the start of a series.
Gatiss, in case you don't recognise the name, is one of the "League of Gentlemen", and a sometime writer of recent Doctor Who episodes (damn the lack of internet, can't google which ones!). The book oozes the kind of style, panache, flair and originality that you get from first time authors who have been waiting their lives to write just this book.
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Sun, 26 Aug 2007
Freakenomics
by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
I finally gave in and bought the book thats been doing the rounds of the blogosphere for a while. Very entertaining - using the tools of economics to look at assorted topics, from drug dealing to racial stereotyping, to cheating. I suspect Levitt has a thing about cheaters, actually. Thought provoking and an entertaining read. Makes me think about digging out my old statistics notes from Uni before I remember I passed that by the skin of my teeth. God I hated Regression. Jolly useful, It seems. Yet again, I wish I'd had a better Maths education. Not a pure maths, but the kind of stuff thats useful, geometry, trigonometry, statistics, game theory. Unsurprisingly given my vocation, Algebra I was always OK at. Could do with a refresher now, though.
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JPod
by Douglas Copeland
Talk about trying too hard. Copeland is trying to be awfully edgy and knowing and referential. In JPod he's basically rewriting Microserfs and Generation X, but in a way that he's saying to the reader; "Look, you're in on the joke too! See how clever I'm being?". For gods sake, he even puts himself in the novel, none too flatteringly. The ending, well, it reminds me of the joke about conclusions from when I was writing my dissertation; "A conclusion is just the place where you got tired of thinking". Frankly, I'm amazed his editor let him get away with some of the padding crap he put in there - at one point the characters have a competition to find the first non prime number in a list another of then makes, and Copeland includes the entire list in the book - pages and pages of it. I understand the reason why, the conceit behind it explained towards the end of the book, but frankly, its just lazy.
Wow. I guess I didn't like it much, huh? I didn't even realise until I started writing the review.
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Spook Country
By William Gibson
I have been awaiting this book since Gibson first announced it on his
weblog.
Gibson again has a female character as his main (but not only) protagonist. Hollis is a once famous punk rock star from the 80's (I envisaged her as the lead singer of Garbage, but thats me), trying to get started in journalism, that a startup magazine has sent to interview artists involved in locatative art - a clever twist on geohacking, flicker and VR, thus shadowing Gibson's second (loose) trilogy of books. Of course, when the other protagonists are a prescription drug abuser held hostage by someone who may or may not be working for the government, and a chinese/cuban who speaks russian and is some kind of espionage expert, as are his entire extended family, you can guess that that is not where the story progresses.
I was looking forward to this so much, after
Pattern Recognition,
that it would be hard for it to live up to the expectations, and it doesn't. However, I believe this is my problem not the books. It demands a second read, and I expect that I will get a lot more out of it then. It has Gibson's style, however, and even if it didn't invoke the same feelings for me that Pattern Recognition did, this doesn't make it any worse a book. The writing is a as tight and lyrical as ever - Gibson is one of the few Authors I've read who can write prose like its poetry, and not make it self conscious or pretentious.
I'm looking forward to the re-read already, to be honest. Actually, as I write this review (on a sun dappled balcony in Morocco, if you must know - yes, its lovely, and yes, I took my laptop with me like a saddo. No, however, I have not paid for the internet connection), it makes me want to go back and reread all of Gibson's work again. The man writes quality.
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Sun, 29 Jul 2007
Fun Loving Criminals
I went to see them at the Junction week or so ago. Not being 'hip' to the ways of live music, I turned up at 7pm as it said on the tickets..and promptly waited an hour and a half to get in, for the warm up band, and finally the feature act. I was also unaare that it was OK to bring in camera's, so all I had was my crappy Blackberry Camera. You can see the photo's
here.
They were a great band, very warm on stage, and good entertainers as well as musicans. Definately be booking again if they come near Cambridge.
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Reboot back?
Glitch! Export to Movie!
Come on, you konw you want to say "I don't think so.."
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Sat, 28 Jul 2007
Cambridge Summer Recitals
This Thursday, I went to one of these events with Madhatter. This one featured Alison Balsom on trumpet and David Goode on organ in the Kings College Chapel. Not (as far as I can recall) having been in there before, both it and the grounds really made an impact. As the recital went on, the light slowly faded, making the stained glass windows even more luminous.
I wasn't sure what to expect from the music, but what I did get was a better understanding of the capabilities of the Organ and Trumpet. I can safely say that I won't be seeking out more organ works, but I won't be passing them up, either. The trumpet was another matter, though - it was a lot sweeter and smoother than I was expecting. Alison Balsom played a haunting peice as the encore, - Andante (Gammel Fabodpsalm Fran dalarna) from her "Caprice" Album (located thanks to some research on iTunes).
There is a podcast put out by EMI to promote the CD, which can be found on iTunes. I tried to provide the direct link, but EMI have a godawful flash website, and another which is coded for IE only, and I can't extract the podcast URL from iTunes, so you'll have to make do with that. If you want the files, though, let me know...
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Sun, 22 Jul 2007
Harry Potter and the Price Conscious Shopper
Asda - £5 but sold out
Tesco - £5 but £10 if you don't spend £50 instore
Amazon - £8.99 but delivery on top, and they messed up my previous order and didn't ship it, so no.
Sainsburys - £8.50. Oh, go on then.
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Sun, 08 Jul 2007
Grey
By Jon Armstrong
If Jon Armstrong didn't (or doesn't!) write for fashion magazines, I'll be surprised. This book uses fashion, taste and art to describe personalities, culture and other things that other authors might have used music, or styles of language. I'd describe Armstrong's style somewhere between Jeff Veen, William Gibson and Candance Bushell (author of the original sex and the city books, I think). He's not as accomplished as Gibson, but they way he uses fashion in his writing echoed the way Gibson writes, to me, and I don't mean this to denigrate him, or to say he's as good as Gibson. Its a book that reaches for a literary stand it can't quite reach in my opinion - but for what I believe is a first novel, thats nothing to be sneezed at - I'll be watching his career with interest, thats for sure. Interestingly, its published by NightSide Press - the same people who published the Inspector Chen books.
The book could be classed as cyberpunk, or distopian, but Armstrong has very cleverly hidden all the world building behind the story and characters - something Doctorow is very good at, and I wish more SF authors would do. I came across it reading
John Scalzi's weblog (I can't find it on his lame MT search engine, but it appears
here,
where he interviews some of the new talents in SF, and points the reader towards the book website, which invariably has the first chapter online. In this case it was the first chapter that got me to put the book in my amazon wishlist, which I use for keeping track of books I want to buy when I run through my 'stock'. The first chapter in fact, could stand alone as a short story (you can read it
here). Checking his website, it appears he is writing is a trilogy, and the second part is about the tailor in the books - Mr Cedar. Lovely.
The book is about Michael Rivers, the perfect heir to a corporate empire based on identity management. He dresses only in immaculate grey or black hand crafted suits (by a tailor who could have been written by Neil Stevenson), and quotes extensively from the fashion Magazine 'Pure H'. When you've read it, talk to me about the ending.
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New Inspector Chen book!
Research for my previous blog post revealed there's a new
Inspector Chen book out. Hurrah!
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Sat, 30 Jun 2007
Twilight Watch
By Sergi Lukyanenko
The next instalation in the Night Watch series finds Anton Gorodetsky hunting a powerfull witch while supposedly on holiday with his wife and 2 year old child (destined to be the next Great-Great One). The plot deepends when the witch is found to have in her posession Faerun, an ancient text telling how to make any normal human into an Other.
This is the probably the best of the series to date - the transation is excelent, and the prose is relaxed and confident. Lukyanenko has done away with the three-books-in-a-book format, and the result is much more readable. In Twilight watch, he discurses more on the nature of magic, what gives Others thier power, and delves into the reasons an Other might join the Inquistion, as well as the true purpose of the Inquisition and Watches. As I type this, it comes to me that there is a lot packed into this book, but it doesn't feel it - it just cracks along with the story, and things bubble to the surface as it goes. This is particularly true for the ending, which I not only didn't see coming (although I should have done, as it seems inspired by the Shadowrun RPG), but didn't figure out the twist until the last few pages.
The authors background in science fiction really shows in this book - in a good way - the world is internally consistent as are the reasons for Others.
I just want to go back and read it again, to be honest. I believe the next one in the series is being translated and will be available Real Soon Now. I hope they use the same translator!
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Fri, 29 Jun 2007
Right. Thats it.
Thunderbird has just lost two 'send later' emails, and not saved folders offline that I had told it to. Its done this to me repeatedly throughout assorted versions. Apple Mail doesn't work with the IMAP server until the V1 release. can anyone recommend a decent offline capable IMAP client for the Mac? I'm desperate enough to try Entourage at this point, and friends don't let friends use Microsoft Softare. Do they?
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Fri, 22 Jun 2007
Its too late for me..
But you can stil save yourself..
When Does Technolust Become An Addiction?
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Sun, 17 Jun 2007
Never The Bride
By Paul Magr
The book is the story of Brenda, a B&B owner in Whitby, and the strangeness she encounters. I borrowed this from Joe after a review on his bog. Its a mixed bag - wonderfully inventive and lots of new takes on things. Unfortunately, I think I missed about half of the literature in-jokes, and I confused Lovecraft with Wells, although I suspect that could be deliberate on the part of the author. I DID guess Alucard, however, but then, the book is set in whitby, so he was due an appearance. I wish I got the reference to Effie and to Mr Danby, not to mention The Chrismas Hotel though..
I found the ending a bit abrupt - perhaps ready for a sequel. Its a perfect paperback book, but not quite good enough for buying as soon as it comes out in hardback I thought. Thanks Joe!
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Geek Mafia
By Rick Dakan
I bought this from a recommendation on Cory Doctorow's blog, as part f my must-have-enough-books-for-india splurge (not that I should have worried, I got through only two!).
The story is about a man who, drowning his sorrows, meets a woman who promises to help him get even with his former business partners, and precedes to do so in a very techie, sting/mission impossible (the series, not the films) kinda way. From then on, the book is a rollercoaster of stings, doubt, mistrust and techie goings on. Dakan does a very good job of keeping the reader guessing about the two main characters, and in the motives of them.
Dakan has a
blog
about the book etc. Apparently he has a sequel in the works..
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Sat, 09 Jun 2007
The Fun Lovin Criminals are coming to the Junction!
..and I have a ticket. Woohoo!
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Them
By Jon Ronson
A. read this first, and passed it onto me, and I finished it up on my trip to India (blog post forthcoming!). I found it entertaining and depressing. depressing that most of the people he talked to were either excentric, mentally disturbed or both and harmless, and undoubtably its on people like that that Blair took the country to an illegal war. So, some amusement - he's a very perceptive interviewer and amusing writer, but also some depression and unease upon reading it. I'm afraid, I was just glad to finish and get onto something lighter..
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Mac Software Highlight
In my recent trips abroad, or indeed anytime I'm away from home, I find
Aurora a real boon. Its a little aarm app, which starts an itunes playlist at a said time, and also allows you to set iTunes playing, and then turn off in X mins - perfect for listening to music or podcasts while you drift off to sleep, and just fantastic for waking up. You can also control it with the apple remote that comes free with the MacBook.
This time, I had my collection of Violin music playing to wake me up - I'm hoping that this will keep my 'ear' in for my lesson tomorrow after a weeks lack of practice!
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A Bad Knight on the Town?
At least you're not nailed to a post;
If you want to see the day's events then I took a photo of the agenda
here
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The Hard Way
By Lee Child
The latest paperback in Child's crime/adventure novels featuring Jack Reacher, ex army cop. This one features him being roped into finding a kidnapped woman and daughter. I liked this one less than previous ones. I think its because he's in danger of making the character a caricature of the hard man action hero. Reacher is rarely wrong, and doesn't lose, and while Child usually does a good job of writing his hero into dangerous situations that you feel he's actually threatened, I didn't get that at all in this book. I'm beginning to wonder, if, especially in this last book, Reacher is a Psychopath. Not in the raving manic sense, but in the psychology determination of being less able to relate to people and feeling no remorse in killing. Its a fine line between hard man and psychopath, and I have a feeling that Lee Child crossed the line in this book.
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Sat, 19 May 2007
Charlie Siem, Catherine Myerscough and Alison Rhind at the West Road Concert Hall
My Violin teacher attended a performance of Charlie Siem's, and spoke highly of him, so I made my way to the
West Road Concert Hall
to attend a performance last night, where the above artists were performing.
Apparently
Cambridge University Music Club run a series of concerts from October to May (term time, I'm guessing ;-). It was all very civilised. Apparently, the hall could hold five hundred people, but there were no more than thirty, I thought. Mind you, I'm pretty bad at judging numbers (and ages, and character and.. ;-), so it could be more. I'd definitely go again (anyone up for it?). Of course, with my luck, it was the last performance of this academic year.
Charlie Siem opened with what I believe was Bach's 'Chaconne', and followed with YsaŸe's Violin Sonata No 2, which absolutely blew me away. The piece uses every possible trick and sound the Violin could make (quite a few I had no idea about, but then I'm only up to three scales..), and he gave an amazing performance, playing without accompaniment, amplification or even sheet music. I'm not doing the performance justice with my description, but I guess you had to be there. He apparently has a recording contract, and has played with the Royal and Russian Philharmonic orchestras (did I mention he's 22?), so if its the kind of things that interests you, and you hear of a performance, I'd go see now before he gets 'big'.
Myerscough and Rhind had an almost grandstanding performance to follow. They were very good however, playing Ravel and Debussey on Violin and Piano as a duet (is that the right term?). Neither of the pieces captured my imagination the way Siem's Violin Sonata no 2 had, however. My loss, I imagine!
I'd had a none too great week, but I left the concert feeling refreshed and energised - worth the £7 entry fee if nothing else!
Posted at: [/live] permanent link
Mon, 14 May 2007
On GPS Systems
I've had a GPS for about a year in the form of a cheap but excellent Bluetooth no-name GPS (via
MobileFun.co.uk)
that charges via USB and uses a mobile phone battery, connected to Wayfinder on my mobile. On the Nokia Series 60 2nd ed platform (E61, E70), it was rock solid, but basic - no points of interest or waypoints. Crashed once while receiving a call, but never repeated it.
I then switched back to a Blackberry (8100 pearl), and as Wayfinder make a client for that as well, and allow you to use any client you like for your purchase, put it on that. Slightly more features, but considerably more buggy. Often wouldn't connect to the GPS (nothing else had this problem, other phones, laptops, all worked fine), and would often lose connection in the middle of a journey and refuse to connect, even after a reboot of phone and GPS (not fun while driving!). As I have to take a couple of drives this month for work, I bit the bullet and bought myself a
GPS is fairly good, but I've not used it in anger, only tried it out going home where it took me a long way home. I'd got used to the Wayfinder shaving travel time off my journey, so we will have to see how the garmin does. Its much more responsive than the Wayfinder, though, recalculating quickly and locking onto satellites much faster. Its speed camera database is much better as well.
More thoughts when its been used in anger a few times.
37signals have a review on thier
blog it seems, with more details than mine, all of which I agree with.
It seems there is both a Mac and Windows client for updating the device. No linux, though. I wonder if they'd open source the box?
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Sat, 12 May 2007
Dracula
By Bram Stoker
Yes, the Dracula! I bought this from Waterstones on a whim, when they had a selection of the Penguin classics range (the ones printed on recycled paper, for £2).
It is a cracking read! It really moves along, building the tension, and switching between different characters views, all in first person, as its in letter and journal style. I was amazed at how timeless it was - it could have been written recently and be just as good and contemporary. I was also amazed at the mail service of edwardian england related in the book - letters made it across the country in hours! Nor was this just poetic license by the author - this is borne out, I found, by historical fact. What really blew me away was that you could change the method of communication to be emails and blogs and it would lose none of its character. I so want this to be filmed faithfully - unlike all the movie adaptations I've seen, the book is well thought out, reasoned with a cunning and calculating villain, with every move carefully justified.
If you haven't read this, and are at all interested in Horror, Science fiction, victorian literature, or just a damn good read - get a copy!
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Wagamamma
New restaurant in Cambridge, near the Picturehouse cinema. One word review? Terrible.
Slightly longer review; same price as KymMoy's or Dojo or Yippee, and NOWHERE near their quality. Curry sauce like you'd get in a chip shop. Chicken like it had been sliced from a reconstituted block. Pretentious staff. Customers jammed in like cattle, and not in a way that manages to be Ok, like Yippee and Dojo. If you're ever near, go to MacDonald's instead.
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Spiderman 3
A and I saw this last weekend. Many people have disparaged it, but if you liked Spidey 2, you'll like this. Its very true to the comic milieu, and generally enjoyable. I wouldn't buy it on DVD, but I enjoyed it at the cinema. I can forgive all the issues with the film simply on the nature of it being a comic. Hurrah!
Unlike, I should note, adaptations of Graphic novels, and yes, I know the line is blurred. Let us not speak of Batman returns (once Batman: Year One), and Constantine. Word on the street ('yo') is that there is a good Hulk film on the way, and an Iron man film. I really must catch up on my comics.
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Sun, 29 Apr 2007
The Sun Over Breda
By Arturo Perez-Reverte
The next book in the Captain Alatriste sees the Captain and Inigo enlisted in the war in Holland. Its a grittier book than normal, and I got the sense that the author's real life war correspondent experience wouldn't let him make it as entertaining as the others. There's one particular end of chapter where he talks about those who kill from afar, with such contempt and loathing that I suspect this was the author speaking, not just the view of Inigo.
So, this was very much a meditation on war, and those who actually carry it out, divorced from the actual politics of the situation. One thing that Perez-Reverte does well is bring the sense of Spanish patriotism to both the characters and the history. Not having much knowledge of Spanish History (or indeed, much european history, for that matter), its interesting. Being an excellent writer, he is able to do all of this in an entertaining and engaging manner. Overall, not as purely entertaining a romp as the previous two books in the series, but very readable and enjoyable none the less. Perez-Reverte is now firmly on my must-perorder-in-hardback from Amazon list, which includes him in the company of William Gibson, (usually) Neal Stephenson, Sergei Lukyanenko, J.K. Rowling and (I admit, but only the Dresden Series) Jim Butcher.
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Sun, 22 Apr 2007
The Phantom Of The Temple
By Robert Van Gulik
Another installment in the Judge Dee series. In this edition; gold theft, murder most horrid, foul buddhist Tartar sorcery (oh yes indeed, buddhist!), intrigue, love gained and lost and a glimpse into the home life of the renowned Judge Dee. Hurrah!
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Sat, 21 Apr 2007
There Is a Light That Never Goes Out, The Smiths
After a long hiatus, following on from
Joe's Meme
Putting iTunes on shuffle, then ask it a series of questions..
What does next year have in store for you?
All Possibilitie, Badly Drawn Boy
What does your love life look like next year?
Sleeping Jiva, Kula Shaker
What do you say when life gets hard?
Roadhouse Blues, The Doors
Song that reminds you of good times?
We Wish You a Merry Xmas
What do you think when you get up in the morning?
Vervaceous, James
What song will you dance to at your wedding?
You're a Lucky Guy, Billie Holiday (of course, it was actually Sail Away by David Grey)
Song that reminds you of your first kiss?
Lay Down, Meredith Brooks
Your favourite saying?
Dancing Barefoot, U2
Favourite place?
Argue, Fuss'n'Fight, 'Big' George Jackson
Most Missed Memory?
Eleven Years, New Model Army
What song describes your best friend?
Fates Warning, Iron Maiden
What song describes your partner/ex-partner?
Blade Runner Blues, Vangellis
Where would you go on a first date?
Walk Away, Sisters Of Mercy
Drug of choice?
Music Is My Radar, Blur
What song describes yourself?
Something to Talk About, Badly Drawn Boy
What is the thing you like doing most?
Rhapsody in Blue, Gershwin
The song that best describes the president?
Magic Theatre, Kula Shaker
Where will you be in 10 years?
The Boatman, The Levellers
Your love life right now?
Summertime, Sarah Vaughan
What is your state of mind like at the moment?
5.15, The Who
How will you die?
Sally Can't Dance, Lou Reed
The song you'll put as the subject?
There Is a Light That Never Goes Out, The Smiths
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Sat, 07 Apr 2007
Mexico Trip
I finally got around to uploading the photo's from my trip to mexico to
Flikr
Don't be fooled, The entire set was taken in a day and a half, the rest was spent working. IIRC I logged sixty hours that trip. Without the 1.5 hours round taxi trip each day.
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Home Improvements
I love having a cameraphone..
This is my Flikr subset
of the installation of the long needed window in the kitchen. its not complete yet because the builders, good though they are and decent work though they did, planned badly and ended up not having the time to come back this morning and plaster and tile. Booked for next saturday, though. Mind you, it took them a failed attempt and several months of cajoling to get them to turn up this time, so maybe I should wait for the finished article...
Grrr... or not. the free Flikr account only lets me create three sets. I was meaning to pay for it anyway, but...
So, anyway, check the Flikr feed on the left side of the Blog.
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Brick
Film Noir set in a high school, with its own lingo. It takes the school movie, the hard boiled detective movie, the noir genre and blends them superbly. Bought cheap in Adsa on a whim and the memory of a glowing review. Just fantastic.
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My Christmas present
Taken me a while to blog this..
The family chipped in, and after a year of learning, (and saving!), I took the plunge and went to the excellent
Pianoforte Centre
in Kings Hedges and spent several hours with the helpful staff (and in a true display of love, my wife, who had to endure my playing scales and one reference piece over and over), going through different violins and bows. So without further ado;
Apologies for the quality of the phot. I'm not a very good photographer.. Its an Roderich Paesold 803 hand varnished violin with a Schroetter bow. it came down to a two hundred year old french violin, or a newly manufactured Paesold, and I went for the new one so that I could imprint my playing on it (the poor instrument)..
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Toast
By Charles Stross
His first short story collection. It contains all the short stories he sold before he had major publishing contracts. A mixed bag, as you would expect, it contains themes from his published novels, forshadowing them. Some really good stuff, some not great, but overall, I came away thinking that the short story was his best medium - some of the stuff was simpky the kind of writing I come to stross expecting - fast, witty, insightful, and witha a twist on whatever genre. His 'atomic fiction' rewriting of Cthulu and the cold war is great, for example. If this was your first introduction to Stross, you'd probably be wanting more.
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Sun, 18 Mar 2007
Watch Slut
..No, I'm not a watch slut (I am a bag slut, though..), but I could seriously get one
of these. Pity there are only 11 being made.
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Sun, 11 Mar 2007
The Prestige
By Christopher Priest
This had been recommended around the the intarweb, so I picked up a copy a while back. Didn't get a chance to read it til Mexico. Its a good thriller, competently written. Didn't fully engage me, despite some clever literary devices, but I think that was due to the pick up put down method I seemed to read it by. I didn't guess the Big Mystery - I had fixed notions of something even more fantastical - until near the end, despite it being well telegraphed. Its a book that i feel would benefit from several reads, to stitch the opposing view points together (its written as two diaries).
The plot, briefly, is a conflict between two stage magicians. Its a as much a character book as it is a plot book, and the motivations of each of the major protagonists are both well detailed and maddeningly mysterious at times.
Recommended? Yes.
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Fragile Things
By Neil Gaiman
I got this just after Xmas. A was going to get it for me, but a trawl of bookshops, online stores etc found that they were out of stock. After Xmas, of course, they had all restocked..
I took it with me to mexico ("You travel light" a colleague remarked at my backpack and small wheeled suitcase. I didn't have the heart to tell him that half the suitcase was books, and that I had two laptops in my backpack, otherwise I would have travelled even lighter..). I have a Horror of being stuck on a plane with nothing to do, OK? it nearly happened, too. The cattle class seats are too small to work on a laptop without blowing out your wrists with RSI, or risking it getting smashed when the oik in front of you reclines his chair again, so my plans of working and getting caught up with RSS feeds offline wasn't going to happen. I went through two and a half books on the flight out, only one and a film on the way back (sleeeping, don't cha know). Thanks $DIETY for iPods..
So, is it any good? Well, duh.. I wasn't keen on some of the poerty, but thats me. I liked the 'Monarch of the Glen', not to mention the ghost stories. Its tinged towards horror and general Gothic-ness, but thats no surprise.
Recommend it? Yes. Buy it in hardback? Mmmmm. Maybe - depends what else is out and if you need to budget. I've got a soft spot for hardbacks, so I'm a little biased. Willing to loan it? Once A. as finished with it, yes.. :-)
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Fri, 09 Mar 2007
GrabRSSEnclosures3.pl
useage: GrabRSSEnclosures3.pl <RSS URL> Takes a RSS feed url, downloads it and searches for enclosure tags, extracts the url, and attempts to download each. If it does sucessfully download the file, it adds it to a MLDB hash (saved with the same name as the feed's name), so that it doesn't try to download it again. Written by john@kript.net. Licensed under the GPL. Check for updates at http://cgi.kript.net/blosxom.cgi/code/
Download the latest version; http://www.kript.net/perl/GrabRSSEnclosures3.pl
As I blogged
So, without further ado;
Posted at: [/code] permanent link
Mon, 26 Feb 2007
Whats in My Gadget Bag?
I'm in Guadalajara, Mexico this week for work.
While getting my bag ready in the hotel for the week, I thought it might be a good time to do a
Gadget Bag post. Not shown was my 60GB 5th gen iPod (I was listening to it, and forgot..), my HP Phtotsmart E217 (used to take the picture), and my Airport Express (not used because the Wifi is SO GOOD at the hotel). Also not shown is my IBM Thinkpad and power adaptor, because, unlike the Mac, it doesn't want to work out here.. :-)
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Sat, 17 Feb 2007
Hot Fuzz
A new film from the creators of 'Shaun Of The Dead'. This time focussing on cop movies and Middle England. Inspired, and better than the the Zombie movie. can you spot Edward Woodward? How about the cast of much of british comedy and film? Go watch, and report back on the subtelties of the subplots. Wheels within wheels, I tell you... :-)
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The Willow Pattern
By Robert Van Gulik
In this installment - the Judge, now promoted to the Imperial Court - has to deal with a plague outbreak in the capital, murder of some prominent citizens, acrobats, weighted sleeves (I want some), and a Popular Curse. He never drinks anything but tea while doing so!
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
The God Delusion
by Richard Dawkins
Dawkins protests several times in his book at being labelled an 'militant athiest' but to be honest, you can see people's point, epecially at the sometime smug tone he takes a pointing out the historical and socialogical foibles of organised religeons. I feel that while he makes a very good case for the harm that comes from organised religeon, he leaves very little room in his discussion for the role of personal faith. I expect he would argue that faith, teaching as it often (must?) does to choose faith over investigation, history and independent intelectual enquiry is more damaging overall, but I feel there is a place for personal faith, I just can't articulate it well enough yet. I suppose part of if is finding evangelism - of any kind - distasteful. Does this weblog post count? I hope not.
Having said all of that, I am very glad I read the book. I've tended towards an athiest vewpoint for many years, and it was refreshing to read the arguments I've gone through in my head and with others expressed so coherently and precisely, often delevoping them with input and counter arguments. I've also seen snatches of him debating atheism with religeous figures. Debating in the proper term of the word - reasoned argument, not shouting, name calling or demeaning. In fact, I'm thinking of watching 'The Root of All Evil?" his TV programes, via archive.org which features this as well.
Thought provoking stuff, if in all likelyhood just preaching to the converted, if you'll excuse the expression!
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Thu, 01 Feb 2007
The Day Watch
By Sergei Lukyanenko
A follow on from The Day Watch,
this was less heavy on the existential reasoning, and more on the plot.
Lukyanenko continues to challenge the assumptions about Light and Dark,
and the stories (three books within the book, as before), seemed better interwoven.
Gripping at times, and managing some romantic scees well, others, slightly stilted.
If you liked the first one, then you should definately read this.
So it turns out the the next two books in the series; Dusk Watch and
Twilight Watch are available for preorder, according to Amazon. June and July, allegedly.
Oh yes, it had to be mine. Its going to be good for books mid-year, what with this and the recent
announcement of the release date of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". Just after my birthday!
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Venus
A. and I watched this at the Arts Picturehouse last weekend. A
great movie - definately feelgood, but also ucompromising on old age.
Lovely performances all round though.
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Mon, 01 Jan 2007
The Chinese Nail Murders
By Robert Van Gulik
Another in the Judge Dee series. I'm not sure of the sequence - I think this was the next one he wrote, not that it really matters. In this installment; domestic bliss, martial arts masters, murder most foul (evidently), sorcery and vamparism. Well, kinda. Enjoyable stuff!
Posted at: [/books] permanent link
Do You Want To Play A Game?
I've updated my
Xmas Flikr Set with a couple of photos of the USB controlled device I got from Santa. The windows interface is pretty crummy, but the Mac one is
much better Not only is it open source, but its got more options than the windows one. I'm looking forward to the option where you can program a 'route'.. :-)
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Little Miss Sunshine
Looks like I hadn't blogged this, either.. it would make a good runner up for film of the year for me.
So, first off, I didn't want to go and see this. Cute kid. Family road trip. Kiddie pageant. Nothing that drew me. It was A's turn to choose, though, so we went. Fortunately, it was very good! (You may have noticed this is a trend with films A. chooses. There is a reason for this. she's the one with taste. :-) Definately worth getting out on DVD when you want an evenings entertainment, although perhaps not with children. Probably slightly more resonant for a US audience, but doesn't suffer any for that in the UK. On a final note. Kiddie Pageants? Eew, OK?
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Software of the Year
In the 'it saved me writing it myself, and goes toward making the commute bearable catagory;
Podcastamatic
Otherwise...
Ahem.. :-)
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TV of The Year
Best one off:
Ruby in the smoke
Best series:
The I.T. Crowd
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Film Of The Year
Candidates;
A Scanner Darkly
Pan's Labyrinth
V for Vendetta
Tsotsi
Winner......
Has to be Tsotsi, but it was a good list..
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A Scanner Darkly
Gosh, had I really not blogged this? Right, well, here goes.
As with all Philip K Dick books, this deals with the subjective nature of reality and perception. The story appears to be about Keanu Reeves character, and discusses what it might be to live in a perpetual surveillance society, well before Bush and Blair. A little odd, but makes a lot more sense at the end. Glad I saw it, and when it comes to your local Netflicks queue (or whatever), get it if you want a reflective couple of hours.
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DVD Of The Year
Not a good year, this year, for me. In my reviews, the nearest I can get is one not done this year, but I received this year;
Mind Body and Kick Ass moves
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CD of the Year
Easy one this.
Poison Sweet Maderia by Sophie Solomon.
I know I'm biased. Not only is it unusual Violin music, but she's not hard on the eyes, either.
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Book of the Year
Tricky. So I'm going to cheat.
Best Short Story Collection:
The Ladies Of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke.
It would have won outright had it not been for;
Best Book: The Jennifer Morgue By Charles Stross
Honourable mentions (they weren't even written this year);
A Study in Emerald, by Neil Gaiman
Captain Alatriste By Arturo Perez-Reverte
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