I’m currently slightly peeved at the depiction of artificial gravity in science fiction, particularly in novels. I’m prepared to forgive a lot in telly and movies, because they have the perfectly valid excuse that everything they film is done in 1g, and that wire work and effects are expensive. So I’m prepared to give TV and movies a Get Out OF ( Read more... )

Okay, I'm adding these rules for TV to my manifesto ( Read more... )

Just returned from a weekend at Armadacon in Plymouth. The usual suspects were there (though a few familiar faces were missing), plus some newcomers. Attendance was about 60 to 70 in total - which makes the fact that the con raised over £1000 for Talking Books for the Blind all the more remarkable ( Read more... )

I've been trying to pin down what it is that attracts me to science fiction and various other genre fiction, such as crime and westerns, whereas my interest in mainstream is minimal. I think it boils down to the following ( Read more... )

Recent genre stuff I've been watching on the telly ( Read more... )

The BBC has recently been repeating their 80s version of Day of the Triffids, which probably means that the new version will imminently be arriving on our screens. And that reminded me of my re-reading of The Kraken Wakes a couple of months ago, and how it is a book just crying out to be made into a BBC series. For starters it is a good, old ( Read more... )

My television (or possibly the freeview box) appears to have converted to Christianity. American evangelical Christianity, to be specific. Quite often I'd be watching a channel, switch off the telly and then when I switch it back on again the next day, it has mysteriously changed itself to a digital radio channel (the Prayer Channel or somesuch) ( Read more... )

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic and alien; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, except on days when I've been possessed by an alien entity, ascended to a higher state of being, or discover that I'm in a parallel universe. ( Read more... )

Apparently, because I'm a TV producer, my house insurance will be increased if I ever have famous people coming to stay. Thus I'll need you all to promise not to win the Nobel prize, get a gold medal at the Olympics, have a hit record or appear on Big Brother ( Read more... )

I was at the 50th anniversary party for the BBC Natural History Unit yesterdays evening, which was quite fun. Lots of faces that I hadn't seen for years, lots of gossiping with workmates, lots and lots and lots of sausages in honey glaze, and a chance to wander round Bristol Zoo after hours ( Read more... )