Quite a long time ago, when we lived in the big old house that has since been on the telly because someone who was on the telly rents it, Pa kept an ornate cabinet against the wall on one side of his office. It was opposite a big metal-enamelled thing that was called 'The Potez' and which emitted warmth and a pong of burning oil ( Read more... )

One one day or another during the week, I returned home to discover that the street smelled faintly of coal fires and rather more strongly of fish and chip shops. Since there was also an overlay of salt air from the Bristol Channel, it all worked rather nicely. It also reminded me of visiting The Aunts. They weren't my aunts, they were mum's, which ( Read more... )

Ancillary Justice - Sorry. I just failed to give a bugger about, er, anyone in it ( Read more... )

There's a Whovian book out there - eleven short stories, one for each Doctor. They all appear in silhouette at the start of each story, and the one that is allegedly Hartnell is actually JG Ballard.

Which of course makes perfect sense in a universe run for the benefit of sensible people.

You know those weeks where you get to Thursday and say 'Well, at least nothing else can break', and then something else breaks? Very much like that ( Read more... )

Bloody bloody bloody I bunked off work early so as to go and view sword-botherer and geek icon Neal Stephenson at that there Watershed. And indeed there was water shed all over me and my bike. Belt home swap clothes look at phone oh fuck some useless bollix has left a something-or-other and the entirety of Carboot Circus is cordoned off while they ( Read more... )

I'm becoming more and more convinced that there's some magic at work within the combination of Poweramp (MP3 player) and the Last.FM client that is able to generate things I'd rather like to hear.

I mean, I don't actually remember copying any Wah! tracks to the thing, yet there it is, following along from Gina G and A Place to Bury Strangers ( Read more... )

Since I've used the phrases 'And also with you' and 'Brethren; be sober, be vigilant' in the last couple of days...

... Actually, I don't have a point. Funny business, unconscious cultural signifiers.

Way back when everything was brown, apart from the telly which was black and white, we were small children in command of a pile of Lego. Most of the time we built agricultural things and load-carrying hovercraft because those were normal and sensible things ( Read more... )

Actually not, but I liked the cut of that title, so...

... Just before the dawn of the internets (Gloucestershire version), the nearest I got to Chicago were Big Black sleevenotes and the Mid-West Auto Club show at Cheltenham racecourse.

This thing from the BBC reminds me of why I wanted to go visit the place. It's odd, but many of those views ( Read more... )