Tube
I've been looking through some more stuff on Youtube (which always makes me laugh because back in Glasgow if someone called you a tube they ain't being nice). Someone has posted a clip of a Star Trek pastiche I'd totally forgotten about from the Scottish sketch show Chewin' the Fat, with Taysiders in Space:
Monday, May 29, 2006
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Can't please everyone
In a perfect example of the old adage that you can't please everyone, my new copy of movie mag Empire (with an excellent 3-D Superman cover!) has a review of one movie and one DVD release, both of which I saw ages ago and both starring one of the best actors around, Daniel Auteil. Empire loves 36 (which was still 36 Quai des Orfevres when Mel and I saw it last year the the Festival) and they thought Cache (Hidden) was also a daringly different and amazing thriller and gave both French flicks many a star in their ratings. Scotland on Sunday also loved 36:
"Based on true events, 36 is a steely thriller that combines the hardboiled attitude of LA Confidential with an elaborate tale of righteous anger and revenge that could have been penned by Alexandre Dumas or Victor Hugo."
Oh dear. Oh deary, deary me. I thought both stunk like a skunk pie with a side serving of armpit souffle. And please don't insult one of my favourite writers, Dumas, by comparing 36 to him, because 36 is an awful, hackneyed, lazy, predictable piece of crap which I suspect is getting more kudos than it deserves because it has two of the best French actors (or best actors full stop) Gerard Depardieu and Daniel Auteil but actually came across to me as the sort of glossy but insubstantial pap you'd expect from mainstream Hollywood. I also strongly suspect that had this been a Hollywood productions most reviewers would be saying similar things to myself, but because it is French it gets more leeway because they want it to be good (so did I - mel and I went to see it knowing almost nothing about it, but since it had Gerard and Daniel in it we were happy to go in blind, which made the disappontment worse).
And Hidden wasn't daring, it was just deadly dull, pointless, boring, aimless, directionless, passionless and worst of all Juliette Binoche didn't take her clothes off. Actually it looked to me to be the sort of European film that comedy shows pastiche because it was so up its own arse. I do appreciate someone trying to do something clever and new with a thriller, as say Chris Nolan did with Memento, but this isn't clever (but I think it believes it is). Still, as with all reviews it is down to taste and I've raved about good books and films and found folk who agreed but also folk who disagreed. At least that makes life more interesting. How boring would it be if we all agreed??? Still, they are bad films :-). And Mel hated them both too, so it ain't just me.
In a perfect example of the old adage that you can't please everyone, my new copy of movie mag Empire (with an excellent 3-D Superman cover!) has a review of one movie and one DVD release, both of which I saw ages ago and both starring one of the best actors around, Daniel Auteil. Empire loves 36 (which was still 36 Quai des Orfevres when Mel and I saw it last year the the Festival) and they thought Cache (Hidden) was also a daringly different and amazing thriller and gave both French flicks many a star in their ratings. Scotland on Sunday also loved 36:
"Based on true events, 36 is a steely thriller that combines the hardboiled attitude of LA Confidential with an elaborate tale of righteous anger and revenge that could have been penned by Alexandre Dumas or Victor Hugo."
Oh dear. Oh deary, deary me. I thought both stunk like a skunk pie with a side serving of armpit souffle. And please don't insult one of my favourite writers, Dumas, by comparing 36 to him, because 36 is an awful, hackneyed, lazy, predictable piece of crap which I suspect is getting more kudos than it deserves because it has two of the best French actors (or best actors full stop) Gerard Depardieu and Daniel Auteil but actually came across to me as the sort of glossy but insubstantial pap you'd expect from mainstream Hollywood. I also strongly suspect that had this been a Hollywood productions most reviewers would be saying similar things to myself, but because it is French it gets more leeway because they want it to be good (so did I - mel and I went to see it knowing almost nothing about it, but since it had Gerard and Daniel in it we were happy to go in blind, which made the disappontment worse).
And Hidden wasn't daring, it was just deadly dull, pointless, boring, aimless, directionless, passionless and worst of all Juliette Binoche didn't take her clothes off. Actually it looked to me to be the sort of European film that comedy shows pastiche because it was so up its own arse. I do appreciate someone trying to do something clever and new with a thriller, as say Chris Nolan did with Memento, but this isn't clever (but I think it believes it is). Still, as with all reviews it is down to taste and I've raved about good books and films and found folk who agreed but also folk who disagreed. At least that makes life more interesting. How boring would it be if we all agreed??? Still, they are bad films :-). And Mel hated them both too, so it ain't just me.
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Bite of the Apple
The EFF have just given Apple Computers a hefty kick up their corporate ass which they so thoroughly deserved. Apple were trying to use the courts to force bloggers who posted leaked information to reveal their sources, rather than actually do their own investigation (easier for a large company to use lawyers to intimidate individual bloggers) and argued that since bloggers were not bona fide news reporters they didn't share the right to protect their sources as journalists did. Although they rather undermined this argument of theirs by then saying even if they were journalists they should have to disclose their sources (because corporate secrecy is more important the freedom of speech obviously).
A couple of things spring to my mind over this - first off, one of the topics millions in and out of the blogosphere have been discussing is the fact that blogs which report news items are essentially turning us into citizen reporters and any IT company should be aware of this by now or they aren't paying attention. Personally I think that is a good thing - although it can be abused or just plain wrong sometimes it also puts many extra eyes, ears and thoughts into monitoring what companies, governments and others are doing and discussing it in the light of day - very democratic and perhaps where once constitutions like that of the US called for the right (and duty) of citizen's to form a militia to protect the nation perhaps today citizen bloggers are the new cyber milita of interactive, grassroots democracy, with the right to keep and to bear blogs. As old Tom Paine might have put it, these are the times that try blogger's souls (you just know if he were around today Tom would be running a kick-ass blog, of course if we were to extend this analogy the EFF would now stand for the Electronic Founding Fathers).
Secondly, I am tired of corporations who seem to think they can trample all over the rights of citizens in democratic nations to express their thoughts freely. Perhaps they are inspired by the sorts of legislation which governments have passed since 9-11 restricting freedoms. Both those who work for these corporations and those who do not suffer from this corporate bullying - we are big, powerful with a closet full of evil lawyers like Monty Burns has in the Simpsons and we can threaten and bully little individuals at will. Except you can't, because unlike you we are connected, interwired and when you treat a few bloggers like this you are going to get your name blackened around the world by bloggers, which will be picked up by news services - that these corporate monoliths don't understand this yet after several high profile examples illustrates their narrow-minded, might-is-right approach perfectly. We're not quite in a William Gibson-esque coprporate dystopia yet and blogs have a role to play in making sure we never are. And if you happen to be a major maker of computing technology it probably is not a good idea to piss off the people who are likely to use your products - that is basic business common sense.
And lastly, do you remember when Apple used to be cool; the hip, designer, easy-to-use underdog facing the faceless masses of Microsoft and PCs? And now, as my patron saint Bill of Hicks would have put it, they are sucking on Satan's cock. Oh, Apple, hast thou now tasted of the forbidden fruit which bears thy name? Except this apple wasn't the apple of knowledge in the Garden of Eden but the apple of corporate hubris. And some of us remember that great movie-style advert many moons ago with the faceless grey drones watching a giant screen of the two minute hate. An athletic young woman races in, pursued by security, past the unthinking drones, swings a hammer and releases it, shattering the giant screen and silencing the ranting figure telling everyone how to think. The tag line was "why 1984 doesn't need to be like 1984." It was a clever and spectacular bit of marketing, pushing the product as a way for individuals to be self-empowered, to take on the Big Guys and express themselves.
The product was for the old Apple Mac. The same company which now tries to sue bloggers who used that technology to do just what that advert promised them it would help them to do. That's as hypocritical as, say, a book company promoting themselves through adverts as being protectors of free speech then firing an employee for exercising the same right. Oh, hold on a minute... Apple, once you were cool, now you look like corporate bully boys and instead of delivering terrific technology that is easy to use and empowers individuals you just sell over-priced designer goods with white wires to style monkeys and sue those who you don't agree with - even when some of the sites involved are sites which generally create an awareness of Apple products and celebrate them for the most part (suing them is a bit like when Fox's lawyers threatened all the fan sites in the 90s who had X-Files and Simpsons stuff up for breaching copyright, even though they were non profit and created free advertising for them - duhhhh). Guess which blogger will never be buying an Apple Ipod?
The EFF have just given Apple Computers a hefty kick up their corporate ass which they so thoroughly deserved. Apple were trying to use the courts to force bloggers who posted leaked information to reveal their sources, rather than actually do their own investigation (easier for a large company to use lawyers to intimidate individual bloggers) and argued that since bloggers were not bona fide news reporters they didn't share the right to protect their sources as journalists did. Although they rather undermined this argument of theirs by then saying even if they were journalists they should have to disclose their sources (because corporate secrecy is more important the freedom of speech obviously).
A couple of things spring to my mind over this - first off, one of the topics millions in and out of the blogosphere have been discussing is the fact that blogs which report news items are essentially turning us into citizen reporters and any IT company should be aware of this by now or they aren't paying attention. Personally I think that is a good thing - although it can be abused or just plain wrong sometimes it also puts many extra eyes, ears and thoughts into monitoring what companies, governments and others are doing and discussing it in the light of day - very democratic and perhaps where once constitutions like that of the US called for the right (and duty) of citizen's to form a militia to protect the nation perhaps today citizen bloggers are the new cyber milita of interactive, grassroots democracy, with the right to keep and to bear blogs. As old Tom Paine might have put it, these are the times that try blogger's souls (you just know if he were around today Tom would be running a kick-ass blog, of course if we were to extend this analogy the EFF would now stand for the Electronic Founding Fathers).
Secondly, I am tired of corporations who seem to think they can trample all over the rights of citizens in democratic nations to express their thoughts freely. Perhaps they are inspired by the sorts of legislation which governments have passed since 9-11 restricting freedoms. Both those who work for these corporations and those who do not suffer from this corporate bullying - we are big, powerful with a closet full of evil lawyers like Monty Burns has in the Simpsons and we can threaten and bully little individuals at will. Except you can't, because unlike you we are connected, interwired and when you treat a few bloggers like this you are going to get your name blackened around the world by bloggers, which will be picked up by news services - that these corporate monoliths don't understand this yet after several high profile examples illustrates their narrow-minded, might-is-right approach perfectly. We're not quite in a William Gibson-esque coprporate dystopia yet and blogs have a role to play in making sure we never are. And if you happen to be a major maker of computing technology it probably is not a good idea to piss off the people who are likely to use your products - that is basic business common sense.
And lastly, do you remember when Apple used to be cool; the hip, designer, easy-to-use underdog facing the faceless masses of Microsoft and PCs? And now, as my patron saint Bill of Hicks would have put it, they are sucking on Satan's cock. Oh, Apple, hast thou now tasted of the forbidden fruit which bears thy name? Except this apple wasn't the apple of knowledge in the Garden of Eden but the apple of corporate hubris. And some of us remember that great movie-style advert many moons ago with the faceless grey drones watching a giant screen of the two minute hate. An athletic young woman races in, pursued by security, past the unthinking drones, swings a hammer and releases it, shattering the giant screen and silencing the ranting figure telling everyone how to think. The tag line was "why 1984 doesn't need to be like 1984." It was a clever and spectacular bit of marketing, pushing the product as a way for individuals to be self-empowered, to take on the Big Guys and express themselves.
The product was for the old Apple Mac. The same company which now tries to sue bloggers who used that technology to do just what that advert promised them it would help them to do. That's as hypocritical as, say, a book company promoting themselves through adverts as being protectors of free speech then firing an employee for exercising the same right. Oh, hold on a minute... Apple, once you were cool, now you look like corporate bully boys and instead of delivering terrific technology that is easy to use and empowers individuals you just sell over-priced designer goods with white wires to style monkeys and sue those who you don't agree with - even when some of the sites involved are sites which generally create an awareness of Apple products and celebrate them for the most part (suing them is a bit like when Fox's lawyers threatened all the fan sites in the 90s who had X-Files and Simpsons stuff up for breaching copyright, even though they were non profit and created free advertising for them - duhhhh). Guess which blogger will never be buying an Apple Ipod?
Good British values
The government has announced recently it wants schools to teach good British values not only to pupils who are immigrants to the country but also to ensure those born here are aware of traditional British qualities and values. But what actually will we be teaching?
Democracy: As the Mother of Parliaments we can, of course, teach our children that we are therefore better than everyone else.
Free debate: Related to our Democracy, this is where we teach school children that in this ancient land we value the freedom of speech and debate over all things. Except when half the population tell the governmen they don't approve of their actions such as the invasion of another country or a young woman attempts to read out the names of casualties as a protest in Whitehall and is arrested. Or if you speak you mind on a blog and get fired, come to that.
Freedom of movement: Another essential of our Great British Democracy, the right to come and go at will, unimpeded. And those biometric passports, biometric ID cards and the ability to track locations of individuals using cell phone signals and satellites ensures that the government makes sure we continue to enjoy this right, as long as we're not going anywhere they don't want us to and know where we are at all times.
Tolerance: A fundamental quality of the fair-minded British is that we are scrupulous in our tolerance of those different from us. As long as they learn to be exactly like us through classes such as those in British values. See also how to homogenise the multi-cultural society and the long-lived tradition of making fun of foreign people.
And let us not forget those other fine traditions of British life we can teach youngsters: how to be incredibly loud and obnoxious abroad, how to work terribly long hours and ruin our family lives, our ability to show how tough we are by drinking more than anyone else, our fine tradition of early heart attacks and our ability to worry about immigrants from places like India and Pakistan coming here and undermining our 'Britishness' and how we debate it as we enjoy a good curry and a pint of Kingfisher. Any other fine British suggestions we can teach our kids, folks?
Although in some fairness, here are a few British values which I don't take the mickey out of: the fact we give a huge amount to international charities every year, the fact millions of us are prepared to march and protest that which we find abhorrent, the fact that we have produced some astonishing writers, artists, film-makers, poets, dancers, musicians and a long list of Nobel Prize winners, the fact that we created some of the engineering and scientific principles and devices that are the basis of our world today and are still doing so (for examples, the British-led team who pretty much saved the Human Genome Project from becoming a privatised money-making machine for one greedy American company) and let's not forget the British ability simply not to give in even in the face of overwhelming odds and terror, without which we would all be speaking German and abusing Poles. And our delightfully weird sense of humour which gave birth to the Goon Show and Monty Python. Oh and we love animals.
Come to think of it, I think I just illustrated one of the most British of qualities - an ambigious feeling to these islands where I find so much to be unfair and hypocritical and yet there is also an enormous amount to be proud of. How very British.
The government has announced recently it wants schools to teach good British values not only to pupils who are immigrants to the country but also to ensure those born here are aware of traditional British qualities and values. But what actually will we be teaching?
Democracy: As the Mother of Parliaments we can, of course, teach our children that we are therefore better than everyone else.
Free debate: Related to our Democracy, this is where we teach school children that in this ancient land we value the freedom of speech and debate over all things. Except when half the population tell the governmen they don't approve of their actions such as the invasion of another country or a young woman attempts to read out the names of casualties as a protest in Whitehall and is arrested. Or if you speak you mind on a blog and get fired, come to that.
Freedom of movement: Another essential of our Great British Democracy, the right to come and go at will, unimpeded. And those biometric passports, biometric ID cards and the ability to track locations of individuals using cell phone signals and satellites ensures that the government makes sure we continue to enjoy this right, as long as we're not going anywhere they don't want us to and know where we are at all times.
Tolerance: A fundamental quality of the fair-minded British is that we are scrupulous in our tolerance of those different from us. As long as they learn to be exactly like us through classes such as those in British values. See also how to homogenise the multi-cultural society and the long-lived tradition of making fun of foreign people.
And let us not forget those other fine traditions of British life we can teach youngsters: how to be incredibly loud and obnoxious abroad, how to work terribly long hours and ruin our family lives, our ability to show how tough we are by drinking more than anyone else, our fine tradition of early heart attacks and our ability to worry about immigrants from places like India and Pakistan coming here and undermining our 'Britishness' and how we debate it as we enjoy a good curry and a pint of Kingfisher. Any other fine British suggestions we can teach our kids, folks?
Although in some fairness, here are a few British values which I don't take the mickey out of: the fact we give a huge amount to international charities every year, the fact millions of us are prepared to march and protest that which we find abhorrent, the fact that we have produced some astonishing writers, artists, film-makers, poets, dancers, musicians and a long list of Nobel Prize winners, the fact that we created some of the engineering and scientific principles and devices that are the basis of our world today and are still doing so (for examples, the British-led team who pretty much saved the Human Genome Project from becoming a privatised money-making machine for one greedy American company) and let's not forget the British ability simply not to give in even in the face of overwhelming odds and terror, without which we would all be speaking German and abusing Poles. And our delightfully weird sense of humour which gave birth to the Goon Show and Monty Python. Oh and we love animals.
Come to think of it, I think I just illustrated one of the most British of qualities - an ambigious feeling to these islands where I find so much to be unfair and hypocritical and yet there is also an enormous amount to be proud of. How very British.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Goodies! Goody goody yum yum!
Superb news today announcing that the Goodies will be reforming for a run at the Assembly Rooms for the Fringe during the Edinburgh Festival!!! Jumps up and down excitedly, does the Funky Gibbon and is chased by giant kid's TV puppets! I can think on several mates who will want to go and see this, although I suspect this is one Fringe show Mel won't go to since she can't stand the Goodies. Or Buster Keaton. Or Monty Python. Or Spike Milligan and the Goons. Or Mel Brooks. Poor thing, just as well she has me to amuse her. Maybe I can teach her the Funky Gibbon.
Superb news today announcing that the Goodies will be reforming for a run at the Assembly Rooms for the Fringe during the Edinburgh Festival!!! Jumps up and down excitedly, does the Funky Gibbon and is chased by giant kid's TV puppets! I can think on several mates who will want to go and see this, although I suspect this is one Fringe show Mel won't go to since she can't stand the Goodies. Or Buster Keaton. Or Monty Python. Or Spike Milligan and the Goons. Or Mel Brooks. Poor thing, just as well she has me to amuse her. Maybe I can teach her the Funky Gibbon.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Save the Caley Sample!
I meant to post on this a few days ago but it was taken off my mind by other events. When my drouthy cronie Gordon and I repaired to the Caledonian Sample Room recently we heard that the Caley Sample (the pub, not the excellent brewery along the road) was in serious danger of closing. This is a huge blow to we beer-bellied real ale drinkers of the Lothians as it is a mecca for us and for me and Gordon it is a really low blow because it also happens to be our favourite drinking hole in this side of the galaxy. If the Caley does go the Gorgie-Dalry-Polwarth triangle in Edinburgh loses a great place. Sure there are other bars nearby, quite a few of which I like drinking in and a couple aren't bad for proper beer (like the Golden Rule) but the Caley Sample is one of the best places to go and enjoy a really well-served pint of Deuchars IPA or Caledonian 80.
I like my favourite local and I like the friendly staff and I like the way they pour the locally-brewed fabulous beer properly and the barmaid will slip out a bowl of dog biccies for Gordon's pooch Bruce and I like the occassional music gig (Thin Lizzy tribute band a couple of weeks ago!! Rock on!). Anyone have a good idea how to save the Caley Sample Room then? Other than regular topless nights, which was my idea but didn't float (yeah, I was slightly drunk at the time but in all honesty I'd probably have suggested that when sober too, so can't blame the ale).
I meant to post on this a few days ago but it was taken off my mind by other events. When my drouthy cronie Gordon and I repaired to the Caledonian Sample Room recently we heard that the Caley Sample (the pub, not the excellent brewery along the road) was in serious danger of closing. This is a huge blow to we beer-bellied real ale drinkers of the Lothians as it is a mecca for us and for me and Gordon it is a really low blow because it also happens to be our favourite drinking hole in this side of the galaxy. If the Caley does go the Gorgie-Dalry-Polwarth triangle in Edinburgh loses a great place. Sure there are other bars nearby, quite a few of which I like drinking in and a couple aren't bad for proper beer (like the Golden Rule) but the Caley Sample is one of the best places to go and enjoy a really well-served pint of Deuchars IPA or Caledonian 80.
I like my favourite local and I like the friendly staff and I like the way they pour the locally-brewed fabulous beer properly and the barmaid will slip out a bowl of dog biccies for Gordon's pooch Bruce and I like the occassional music gig (Thin Lizzy tribute band a couple of weeks ago!! Rock on!). Anyone have a good idea how to save the Caley Sample Room then? Other than regular topless nights, which was my idea but didn't float (yeah, I was slightly drunk at the time but in all honesty I'd probably have suggested that when sober too, so can't blame the ale).
Monday, May 22, 2006
Blair's Middle-East getaway from it all break
Most news agencies reported today on Tony Blair visiting that fine, sun-kissed holiday destination, Baghdad, where he could top up his tan in-between visits to his regular holidays in Italy. However, only we at the Gazette seem to have picked up on a factual error: the red carpet was not rolled out for Mr Blair's visit. In fact it was the dead carpet. Like the more well-known red carpet it is also a scarlet colour, but the dead carpet's hue is because it is stained red with blood and the fabric of the carpet is woven from threads taken from the clothes of the soldiers and civilians killed in the 'liberation' of Iraq. This allows world leaders to walk across the dead with their feet but allows their hands to appear as if they are not soaked in spilled blood.
Okay, maybe it wasn't really a dead carpet woven of slaughtered people's clothes in reality; it's a sarcastic bit of metaphor. But on another level it's absolutely goddam true. That man should be scrubbing his hands more than Lady Macbeth.
Most news agencies reported today on Tony Blair visiting that fine, sun-kissed holiday destination, Baghdad, where he could top up his tan in-between visits to his regular holidays in Italy. However, only we at the Gazette seem to have picked up on a factual error: the red carpet was not rolled out for Mr Blair's visit. In fact it was the dead carpet. Like the more well-known red carpet it is also a scarlet colour, but the dead carpet's hue is because it is stained red with blood and the fabric of the carpet is woven from threads taken from the clothes of the soldiers and civilians killed in the 'liberation' of Iraq. This allows world leaders to walk across the dead with their feet but allows their hands to appear as if they are not soaked in spilled blood.
Okay, maybe it wasn't really a dead carpet woven of slaughtered people's clothes in reality; it's a sarcastic bit of metaphor. But on another level it's absolutely goddam true. That man should be scrubbing his hands more than Lady Macbeth.
The DNA of writers
Write a fiction story and find the campus rentacops, playing at being real big city detectives, demanding your prints and DNA. This story in Boing Boing just reinforces my views that we can't allow increasingly draconian moves regarding the authorities and DNA records. And before you think if you live in the UK this doesn't matter to you think about the Shirley McKie fingerprint fiasco and how even when totally clearned and indeed publically compensated no action has been taken over senior police and forensics people who were involved in that whole sorry mess (which the government also sat upon). And think on how Blair's Labour Party in England is attempting to bring in a national DNA database by the back door and his cronies in the Scottish executive would very much like to but have been forced to pare back their ideas because they only govern in tandem with the Liberal Democrats who told them no. Never give these buggers an inch and never trust them with that sort of power and assume that all of them will only use it for good.
On another political front, I am still waiting on my MP, Alistair Darling to actually reply to the questions I emailed to him way back on the 2nd of April. A full month afterwards, as I noted here, I emailed once more and asked if I was likely to receive a reply to my email regarding his support for biometric ID cards and my concerns over this. I received pretty much the same reply from an assistant along the lines of thanks, this will be passed to your MP who will reply to you soon, which was the same reply I got a month before. Several weeks on from that and I still am waiting for the man who is supposed to be the representative of the voters in my constituency to actually reply to me (not that I expect much from that reply to be honest, probably bland reasons why I shouldn't be concerned). Obviously I don't expect an instant response and am sure he has plenty of things to keep him busy and other people contacting him, as well as comforting colleagues who have been exposed in various scandals, but it is now the 22nd of May and I am still waiting for my MP to bother replying to me.
50-odd days so far. I think that is long enough for him to reply to one of his constituents, don't you? I wonder if anyone knows if there is a website with statistics on how well our so-called representatives deal with their constituents' concerns and problems, which is, after all their actual job, not playing party politics. And politicians wonder why the electorate are so apathetic that many no longer even bothering to vote anymore...
Write a fiction story and find the campus rentacops, playing at being real big city detectives, demanding your prints and DNA. This story in Boing Boing just reinforces my views that we can't allow increasingly draconian moves regarding the authorities and DNA records. And before you think if you live in the UK this doesn't matter to you think about the Shirley McKie fingerprint fiasco and how even when totally clearned and indeed publically compensated no action has been taken over senior police and forensics people who were involved in that whole sorry mess (which the government also sat upon). And think on how Blair's Labour Party in England is attempting to bring in a national DNA database by the back door and his cronies in the Scottish executive would very much like to but have been forced to pare back their ideas because they only govern in tandem with the Liberal Democrats who told them no. Never give these buggers an inch and never trust them with that sort of power and assume that all of them will only use it for good.
On another political front, I am still waiting on my MP, Alistair Darling to actually reply to the questions I emailed to him way back on the 2nd of April. A full month afterwards, as I noted here, I emailed once more and asked if I was likely to receive a reply to my email regarding his support for biometric ID cards and my concerns over this. I received pretty much the same reply from an assistant along the lines of thanks, this will be passed to your MP who will reply to you soon, which was the same reply I got a month before. Several weeks on from that and I still am waiting for the man who is supposed to be the representative of the voters in my constituency to actually reply to me (not that I expect much from that reply to be honest, probably bland reasons why I shouldn't be concerned). Obviously I don't expect an instant response and am sure he has plenty of things to keep him busy and other people contacting him, as well as comforting colleagues who have been exposed in various scandals, but it is now the 22nd of May and I am still waiting for my MP to bother replying to me.
50-odd days so far. I think that is long enough for him to reply to one of his constituents, don't you? I wonder if anyone knows if there is a website with statistics on how well our so-called representatives deal with their constituents' concerns and problems, which is, after all their actual job, not playing party politics. And politicians wonder why the electorate are so apathetic that many no longer even bothering to vote anymore...
Musical interlude
Quite a musical few days recently - checked out the Jazz Bar on Chambers Street, just across from the Royal Musuem and enjoyed some good, smooth jazz in a nice subterranean bar. Much as I love being able to breathe in pubs now the smoking ban is in effect for some reasons an underground jazz hole doesn't quite seem right if it ain't smoky. Perhaps, as Gordon suggested, they should install a dry ice machine so we could still have a smoky-looking, dimly lit jazz venue but without the carcinogenic side-effects.
A good bit of acoustic gigging later on in the weekend as well in Sandy Bell's, a well-known venue for Scottish folk music. I think at one point there were four fiddlers bowing away to the beat of the bhodran, while Mel was very taken with the chap who was playing the double-bass and the way in which his leaning over the instrument meant his bum was sticking out. Women, treating men like they're just a sexual object, tsk, tsk - men have feelings too you know, we're not just sex objects. Sometimes I get tired of being treated just as a sexual object. At least I think I'm being treated as a sex object... Does being called a dick count???
Anyway, the music also took the form of a cool jazz CD by a 50s and 60s trumpet player, a guy I came across after finding him via Google a while back. A lot of his work was import only but I found one which was more easily available and was also one of the first major discs he cut after putting together his own band. The jazz musician is called Joe Gordon :-). Of course I had to hear it! And it is a pretty good bit of jazz, man.
Quite a musical few days recently - checked out the Jazz Bar on Chambers Street, just across from the Royal Musuem and enjoyed some good, smooth jazz in a nice subterranean bar. Much as I love being able to breathe in pubs now the smoking ban is in effect for some reasons an underground jazz hole doesn't quite seem right if it ain't smoky. Perhaps, as Gordon suggested, they should install a dry ice machine so we could still have a smoky-looking, dimly lit jazz venue but without the carcinogenic side-effects.
A good bit of acoustic gigging later on in the weekend as well in Sandy Bell's, a well-known venue for Scottish folk music. I think at one point there were four fiddlers bowing away to the beat of the bhodran, while Mel was very taken with the chap who was playing the double-bass and the way in which his leaning over the instrument meant his bum was sticking out. Women, treating men like they're just a sexual object, tsk, tsk - men have feelings too you know, we're not just sex objects. Sometimes I get tired of being treated just as a sexual object. At least I think I'm being treated as a sex object... Does being called a dick count???
Anyway, the music also took the form of a cool jazz CD by a 50s and 60s trumpet player, a guy I came across after finding him via Google a while back. A lot of his work was import only but I found one which was more easily available and was also one of the first major discs he cut after putting together his own band. The jazz musician is called Joe Gordon :-). Of course I had to hear it! And it is a pretty good bit of jazz, man.
Old friends gone, old friends you meet again, new friends come to visit
This weekend was pretty packed since a friend of Mel's cousin in Norway was over visiting, ahead of actually moving here for a year this summer, so as well as showing him round and taking him out we were also taking him round properties to see what was available to rent, good spots to live, what it costs etc. And as we're having some food in the Filmhouse's cafe-bar I notice a woman looking at me and she seems familiar, she's thinking the same... Yep, its a chum I've hardly seen since college, where she too was in Shiona's classes and all this time later we run into each other in the same building where Shiona had her base.
She had been at Shiona's funeral - she told me that the music was very Shiona (so yes, apparently there was Abba) and that Shiona had arrived in a horse-drawn hearse. Was it one with glass sides, I asked? Yes, it was the one I had photographs of on here a couple of years ago. I was about to half-jokingly, half-earnestly say that they would have replaced the long, black plumes the horses wear with brightly coloured ones when she told me that was exactly what had happened! I wish I'd known about it in time to go along myself, but hearing about this did make me feel a lot better.
This weekend was pretty packed since a friend of Mel's cousin in Norway was over visiting, ahead of actually moving here for a year this summer, so as well as showing him round and taking him out we were also taking him round properties to see what was available to rent, good spots to live, what it costs etc. And as we're having some food in the Filmhouse's cafe-bar I notice a woman looking at me and she seems familiar, she's thinking the same... Yep, its a chum I've hardly seen since college, where she too was in Shiona's classes and all this time later we run into each other in the same building where Shiona had her base.
She had been at Shiona's funeral - she told me that the music was very Shiona (so yes, apparently there was Abba) and that Shiona had arrived in a horse-drawn hearse. Was it one with glass sides, I asked? Yes, it was the one I had photographs of on here a couple of years ago. I was about to half-jokingly, half-earnestly say that they would have replaced the long, black plumes the horses wear with brightly coloured ones when she told me that was exactly what had happened! I wish I'd known about it in time to go along myself, but hearing about this did make me feel a lot better.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Sudden passing
Tonight I went to do something I do often, check the Edinburgh Filmhouse website. A pretty normal thing for any movie lover in this city to be doing, as the Filmhouse is a mecca to us. Except tonight that quick visit to check film times has left me utterly shocked and terribly saddened. On the front page is the news that the incredibly vibrant Shiona Wood, education officer at the Filmhouse for many years, had passed away a few days earlier from cancer, aged only 57. I'm gobsmacked.
Shiona was a movie lover, a person who encouraged others to enjoy and partake in the cinematic arts, brilliant fun to be around in the Filmhouse bar and a friend since my college days. When I was at Queen Margaret studying Shiona became a regular, agreeing to take some of the film classes, especially those dealing with gender topics. Our lecturers were actually a nice lot and we got on well with them, but Shiona was a welcome breath of fresh and colourful air from the regular academic tutors. For starters she didn't have a beard and she didn't favour corduroy. And she loved cinema, culture and she enjoyed getting other people not to see it as a dry, academic study to write an essay on but as something alive, interactive and above all, fun. We hit it off quite quickly and for years afterwards some friends and I would often go along to the film courses at the Filmhouse which Shiona organised, with public screenings followed by lectures and Q&As. We all went as much for the enjoyment of watching and discussing good movies as for the social aspect as we'd all end up in the comfortable environs of the Filmhouse cafe-bar afterwards, Shiona among us.
When I left college and was scraping a basic income as a part-time bookseller Shiona would always stick me down as a student for the film courses (which left more money for the drinking afterwards of course). I hadn't seen her in weeks, not since last bumping into her as she was coming up from the Filmhouse and I was heading down. I was thinking about her as I enjoyed a drink there the other weekend when waiting for Buster Keaton to begin. She was such a wonderfully friendly, colourful, vibrant person and I can't believe that even cancer could take her from us and way before her time. It's just sinking in that I'm not going to bump into her at the Filmhouse bar or a Film Festival event again.
The Film Fest will be a little quieter than usual without her presence this year and I think I will be only one of many people who are going to miss her. Film critic Mark Cousins has written an obituary for her on the Filmhouse site. God, that sentence makes me feel worse - colourful Shiona and the word obituary just don't go together. On Saturday 1st July the Filmhouse will hold a special memorial for Shiona, screening Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce with an introduction by Mark Cousins and profits going to St Columba's Hospice. That little magical moment when the lights go down and the projector's whir is hear in the sudden silence won't be quite the same in the Filmhouse again; I think I'll find myself looking for her out of the corner of my eye in the flickering light. I saw some movies and thought about media in different ways than I may have otherwise if it hadn't been for Shiona and I'm sure I helped finish off more bottles of wine than I would have otherwise because of her too. She made a difference and she was loved.
Shiona and I glamming it up at my graduation ball in the 90s.
Tonight I went to do something I do often, check the Edinburgh Filmhouse website. A pretty normal thing for any movie lover in this city to be doing, as the Filmhouse is a mecca to us. Except tonight that quick visit to check film times has left me utterly shocked and terribly saddened. On the front page is the news that the incredibly vibrant Shiona Wood, education officer at the Filmhouse for many years, had passed away a few days earlier from cancer, aged only 57. I'm gobsmacked.
Shiona was a movie lover, a person who encouraged others to enjoy and partake in the cinematic arts, brilliant fun to be around in the Filmhouse bar and a friend since my college days. When I was at Queen Margaret studying Shiona became a regular, agreeing to take some of the film classes, especially those dealing with gender topics. Our lecturers were actually a nice lot and we got on well with them, but Shiona was a welcome breath of fresh and colourful air from the regular academic tutors. For starters she didn't have a beard and she didn't favour corduroy. And she loved cinema, culture and she enjoyed getting other people not to see it as a dry, academic study to write an essay on but as something alive, interactive and above all, fun. We hit it off quite quickly and for years afterwards some friends and I would often go along to the film courses at the Filmhouse which Shiona organised, with public screenings followed by lectures and Q&As. We all went as much for the enjoyment of watching and discussing good movies as for the social aspect as we'd all end up in the comfortable environs of the Filmhouse cafe-bar afterwards, Shiona among us.
When I left college and was scraping a basic income as a part-time bookseller Shiona would always stick me down as a student for the film courses (which left more money for the drinking afterwards of course). I hadn't seen her in weeks, not since last bumping into her as she was coming up from the Filmhouse and I was heading down. I was thinking about her as I enjoyed a drink there the other weekend when waiting for Buster Keaton to begin. She was such a wonderfully friendly, colourful, vibrant person and I can't believe that even cancer could take her from us and way before her time. It's just sinking in that I'm not going to bump into her at the Filmhouse bar or a Film Festival event again.
The Film Fest will be a little quieter than usual without her presence this year and I think I will be only one of many people who are going to miss her. Film critic Mark Cousins has written an obituary for her on the Filmhouse site. God, that sentence makes me feel worse - colourful Shiona and the word obituary just don't go together. On Saturday 1st July the Filmhouse will hold a special memorial for Shiona, screening Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce with an introduction by Mark Cousins and profits going to St Columba's Hospice. That little magical moment when the lights go down and the projector's whir is hear in the sudden silence won't be quite the same in the Filmhouse again; I think I'll find myself looking for her out of the corner of my eye in the flickering light. I saw some movies and thought about media in different ways than I may have otherwise if it hadn't been for Shiona and I'm sure I helped finish off more bottles of wine than I would have otherwise because of her too. She made a difference and she was loved.
Shiona and I glamming it up at my graduation ball in the 90s.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Cutie pics
Dizzy decides tip-toeing through the tulips isn't as enjoyable as simply cat-napping under them.
Her cousin Pandora finds herself a nice warm sunbeam to repose on. And yes, that white furry bib on her front is as soft to the touch as it looks.
Bruce finds himself something other than other dog's bums to sniff on the beach. For those intersted in aquatic lifeforms I can confidently tell you that this is the kind of fish naturalists normally refer to as a dead fish.
Dizzy decides tip-toeing through the tulips isn't as enjoyable as simply cat-napping under them.
Her cousin Pandora finds herself a nice warm sunbeam to repose on. And yes, that white furry bib on her front is as soft to the touch as it looks.
Bruce finds himself something other than other dog's bums to sniff on the beach. For those intersted in aquatic lifeforms I can confidently tell you that this is the kind of fish naturalists normally refer to as a dead fish.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Movie time
Well, despite the often annoying media profile of Tom Cruise I have to admit he was good in Mission Impossible III. With it coming from JJ Abrams, the man behind Alias and Lost, I was expecting it to be convoluted, but it was a turbo-charged romp through who-is-the-bad-guy-oh-my-god-he-killed-her-or-did-he-yes-no-eek... First half was good, second half floored the warp speed button and never eased off until the end (and it was a long movie, especially by action flick standards). It was utterly relentless and even Mel loved it, despite not being a big fan of big action flicks. Cracking fun and a good start to the summer blockbuster season - roll on X-Men 3 and Superman Returns now! I wasn't too fussed about Supes until I saw the new trailer and they played the John William's theme from Superman: the Movie and I felt the excitement stirring: dum de dee dum de dee, dum de dee dum de dee, dum de dee dum de dee... Urge to rip open shirt to reveal big S almost overwhelming. Although in my case it stands not for Superman but Sarcastic.
Actually that's three very enjoyable films I've seen recently, none of which I had very high expectations of, to be honest, and so was pleasantly surprised. Slither was a terrific romp, pure B movie horror and proud of it, referencing other B movies and horrors right, left and centre (notably the Blob, Slugs and various Romero flicks as well as Heinlein's Puppet Masters, but a lot of others too). And Firefly/Serenity/Buffy's Nathan Fillion was perfectly cast with his deadpan expression and delivery as the local sheriff of the shitkicker town under threat from a nasty alien which arrives in a meteor. Basically like the Tremors movie it was a celebration adn pastiche of the classic B movie horror.
Silent Hill was also a revelation - as a computer game to movie adaptation I wasn't even going to bother checking it out, but even some of the broadsheets not usually well-disposed to horror and SF movies rated it, so I went along. Like the games it mostly avoids out and out gore in favour of a genuinely creepy atmosphere of relentless dread and disturbing imagery (although some seemed to be influenced a lot by early Clive Barker I think). Alice (Borg Queen) Krige's mad, witch-burning pastor was a bonus, although poor old Sean Bean's father was pretty much useless character.
Well, despite the often annoying media profile of Tom Cruise I have to admit he was good in Mission Impossible III. With it coming from JJ Abrams, the man behind Alias and Lost, I was expecting it to be convoluted, but it was a turbo-charged romp through who-is-the-bad-guy-oh-my-god-he-killed-her-or-did-he-yes-no-eek... First half was good, second half floored the warp speed button and never eased off until the end (and it was a long movie, especially by action flick standards). It was utterly relentless and even Mel loved it, despite not being a big fan of big action flicks. Cracking fun and a good start to the summer blockbuster season - roll on X-Men 3 and Superman Returns now! I wasn't too fussed about Supes until I saw the new trailer and they played the John William's theme from Superman: the Movie and I felt the excitement stirring: dum de dee dum de dee, dum de dee dum de dee, dum de dee dum de dee... Urge to rip open shirt to reveal big S almost overwhelming. Although in my case it stands not for Superman but Sarcastic.
Actually that's three very enjoyable films I've seen recently, none of which I had very high expectations of, to be honest, and so was pleasantly surprised. Slither was a terrific romp, pure B movie horror and proud of it, referencing other B movies and horrors right, left and centre (notably the Blob, Slugs and various Romero flicks as well as Heinlein's Puppet Masters, but a lot of others too). And Firefly/Serenity/Buffy's Nathan Fillion was perfectly cast with his deadpan expression and delivery as the local sheriff of the shitkicker town under threat from a nasty alien which arrives in a meteor. Basically like the Tremors movie it was a celebration adn pastiche of the classic B movie horror.
Silent Hill was also a revelation - as a computer game to movie adaptation I wasn't even going to bother checking it out, but even some of the broadsheets not usually well-disposed to horror and SF movies rated it, so I went along. Like the games it mostly avoids out and out gore in favour of a genuinely creepy atmosphere of relentless dread and disturbing imagery (although some seemed to be influenced a lot by early Clive Barker I think). Alice (Borg Queen) Krige's mad, witch-burning pastor was a bonus, although poor old Sean Bean's father was pretty much useless character.
R
Following on from both my mate Padraig (who covered the letter 'S') and author Hal Duncan (who covered the letter 'V') I'm going to do ten words beginning with the letter 'R' - mostly because that's what Hal bestowed upon me. I suggested 'Z' myself and got as far as Zany Zulu Zebras Zig-Zag before running out of steam, but Hal says I have to R, so here we go:
Rock: For my interest in geology and also in screaming guitars and my headbanging in a previous life at Madison's Rock Club in Edinburgh. Party on.
Roll: the foodstuff but mostly the Roll more commonly associated with the above rock. "God gave rock and roll to you, gave rock and roll to you, put it in the hearts of everyone..." So I'm told anyway
Requiem: For A Dream (Pi's Aranofsky directs the luscious Jennifer Connelly in a fascinating and disturbing film); also Requiem Mass, most especiall as in Mozart's great work (even if it is likely he only fully wrote the opening pieces himself before dying, still one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever).
Roger: the homunculus, made by a medieval alchemist and discovered in Mike Mignola's superb Hellboy series in a ruined Eastern European castle. Now a major member of the BPRD (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence) and starring in the BPRD spin-off series from Hellboy, good mate of Hellboy, Liz Sherman and Abe Sapien. Likes statues.
Robin: Batman's sidekick who has moved from being a mere boy wonder and bit of light relief to a much more heavy duty young hero over the years (especially during the Batman War Games series which if you haven't read Bats books for a while are well worth checking out). Also a cute little bird, a representative of which landed right on my window sill the other day (luckily the cats weren't in the room or they have startled the poor thing by leaping at the (closed) window) and sat there looking gorgeous but alas flew off before I could get my camera out.
Rymer: as in James Malcolm Rymer, generally thought to be the author of one of the early popular vampire tales told via the 'penny dreadfuls', Varney the Vampyre or The Feast of Blood which ran in 109 installments from 1845 to 1847, causing many a young maiden to swoon (or that may have been the tight corsets).
Rhyme: poetry. Epic poetry from the Classical period to modern poetry from the incomparable Edwin Morgan. Prose tells us wonderful stories and describes all sorts of scenarios and characters to us; poetry can do this but mostly it plugs directly into our emotions, articulating something we can't quite find the words for but understand on a deep level. At its best poetry is an alchemy of words. A world without rhyme and poetry would be a soulless world.
Ruthven: the main character of Dr John Polidori's The Vampyre (1819). Polidori was the personal physician to my fellow Clan Gordon member Lord Byron and is thought to be based on the fragment of a vampiric poem Byron began on that stormy storytelling night at the Villa Diodati which also gave birth to Frankenstein. After falling out with Byron, Polidori created one of the first major vampire novels in English and set the model for the aristocratic vampire which would culminate in Dracula decades later and is thought to be based on Byron's persona as a public revenge. When first published many assumed it had actually been written by Byron, which didn't improve Polidori's view of him. Tom Holland worked both Byron and Polidori into a quite excellent Gothic horror novel, The Vampyre back in the 90s.
Rice: a staple foodstuff of a large portion of the world population. Also Anne Rice; now before you all start laughing, yes, I don't read her anymore (certainly won't be reading the books she is writing for the Lord now) because her novels became increasingly repetitive and dreadfully overblown and in need of one of those editors she so famously attacked recently. But the original Interview With the Vampire, way back in the mid 70s, is still a superbly lush, erotic novel of vampirism and the cost of immortality. It may seem ordinary or even cliched today, but that is because it inspired and influenced so many later vampire works in much the way Stoker's Dracula did back in 1897. And the tragic character of Claudia the child vampire is one that haunts readers long afterwards.
Revelation Space: Alastair Reynolds' first big space opera published in the UK which introduced a major new SF writer who has gone on to be nominated repeatedly for awards such as the BSFA and Arthur C Clarke. Latest book is Pushing Ice.
Anyone else want a go? Who wants the letter 'P' then? Or if anyone wants to take up the 'Z' gauntlet go ahead.
Following on from both my mate Padraig (who covered the letter 'S') and author Hal Duncan (who covered the letter 'V') I'm going to do ten words beginning with the letter 'R' - mostly because that's what Hal bestowed upon me. I suggested 'Z' myself and got as far as Zany Zulu Zebras Zig-Zag before running out of steam, but Hal says I have to R, so here we go:
Rock: For my interest in geology and also in screaming guitars and my headbanging in a previous life at Madison's Rock Club in Edinburgh. Party on.
Roll: the foodstuff but mostly the Roll more commonly associated with the above rock. "God gave rock and roll to you, gave rock and roll to you, put it in the hearts of everyone..." So I'm told anyway
Requiem: For A Dream (Pi's Aranofsky directs the luscious Jennifer Connelly in a fascinating and disturbing film); also Requiem Mass, most especiall as in Mozart's great work (even if it is likely he only fully wrote the opening pieces himself before dying, still one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever).
Roger: the homunculus, made by a medieval alchemist and discovered in Mike Mignola's superb Hellboy series in a ruined Eastern European castle. Now a major member of the BPRD (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence) and starring in the BPRD spin-off series from Hellboy, good mate of Hellboy, Liz Sherman and Abe Sapien. Likes statues.
Robin: Batman's sidekick who has moved from being a mere boy wonder and bit of light relief to a much more heavy duty young hero over the years (especially during the Batman War Games series which if you haven't read Bats books for a while are well worth checking out). Also a cute little bird, a representative of which landed right on my window sill the other day (luckily the cats weren't in the room or they have startled the poor thing by leaping at the (closed) window) and sat there looking gorgeous but alas flew off before I could get my camera out.
Rymer: as in James Malcolm Rymer, generally thought to be the author of one of the early popular vampire tales told via the 'penny dreadfuls', Varney the Vampyre or The Feast of Blood which ran in 109 installments from 1845 to 1847, causing many a young maiden to swoon (or that may have been the tight corsets).
Rhyme: poetry. Epic poetry from the Classical period to modern poetry from the incomparable Edwin Morgan. Prose tells us wonderful stories and describes all sorts of scenarios and characters to us; poetry can do this but mostly it plugs directly into our emotions, articulating something we can't quite find the words for but understand on a deep level. At its best poetry is an alchemy of words. A world without rhyme and poetry would be a soulless world.
Ruthven: the main character of Dr John Polidori's The Vampyre (1819). Polidori was the personal physician to my fellow Clan Gordon member Lord Byron and is thought to be based on the fragment of a vampiric poem Byron began on that stormy storytelling night at the Villa Diodati which also gave birth to Frankenstein. After falling out with Byron, Polidori created one of the first major vampire novels in English and set the model for the aristocratic vampire which would culminate in Dracula decades later and is thought to be based on Byron's persona as a public revenge. When first published many assumed it had actually been written by Byron, which didn't improve Polidori's view of him. Tom Holland worked both Byron and Polidori into a quite excellent Gothic horror novel, The Vampyre back in the 90s.
Rice: a staple foodstuff of a large portion of the world population. Also Anne Rice; now before you all start laughing, yes, I don't read her anymore (certainly won't be reading the books she is writing for the Lord now) because her novels became increasingly repetitive and dreadfully overblown and in need of one of those editors she so famously attacked recently. But the original Interview With the Vampire, way back in the mid 70s, is still a superbly lush, erotic novel of vampirism and the cost of immortality. It may seem ordinary or even cliched today, but that is because it inspired and influenced so many later vampire works in much the way Stoker's Dracula did back in 1897. And the tragic character of Claudia the child vampire is one that haunts readers long afterwards.
Revelation Space: Alastair Reynolds' first big space opera published in the UK which introduced a major new SF writer who has gone on to be nominated repeatedly for awards such as the BSFA and Arthur C Clarke. Latest book is Pushing Ice.
Anyone else want a go? Who wants the letter 'P' then? Or if anyone wants to take up the 'Z' gauntlet go ahead.
Something Awful
It is the weekend and time for something more enjoyable: Somethin Awful's latest photoshop special saw folk reworking old comics covers into something somewhat different (warning: not suitable for children, the easily offended or stupid people) .
that one was especially for Lili :-)
And still on the comics-piss take theme, they have a good skit based around Commissionaer Gordon getting excited over his new direct line to Batman.
It is the weekend and time for something more enjoyable: Somethin Awful's latest photoshop special saw folk reworking old comics covers into something somewhat different (warning: not suitable for children, the easily offended or stupid people) .
that one was especially for Lili :-)
And still on the comics-piss take theme, they have a good skit based around Commissionaer Gordon getting excited over his new direct line to Batman.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
A certain bookstore online
A certain bookchain, the one we don't like to mention round here anymore, was in the Financial Times today where it announced that W**terstone's were breaking away from their relationship with Amazon and launching their own webstore. Actually this is incorrect - they aren't launching their own webstore, they are re-launching; they had a very good webstore before some idiot axed it and decided to basically have an Amazon store with the 'W' brand over it (with Amazon taking a cut), although perhaps that homogenous look was well suited to how the business was then going. The original webstore was quite good and even had features such as a cool SF&F mag - I used to contribute a large number of reviews to it every month as did other expert booksellers, but some head honcho decided to basically cut a deal with Amazon, because obviously that is how you get ahead in business, by handing some to your rival... Duhhhh.
I wonder how many sales were lost over the years due to that foolish decision, how much it eroded the company's brand online and how much money and time will now need to be expended to get back to where they were several years before some numpty made that stupid mistake (somehow I'm guessing the folks who made that decision retained their jobs unlike me and their huge 'performance-related' salaries they were paid for making them - you all know performance related, its what the big cheeses at large companies use as justification when they double their salary but pay the workers some measely 2 or 3% rise).
However silly the whole mess is, it isn't really my concern anymore of course, but oh how could I resist the rest of the FT article which said:
"The new website will embrace employee blogging, a dramatic reversal for the company that emerged last year as the first British company to sack an employee for blogging.
Oh, mighty Mr Giles, how you wound my poor, tender feelings to the quick! Seriously, a point of information for Alan G (who did award himself a doubled salary one year when I worked there while staff were told the low rise in their already poor wages were the best they could expect. Yes, I remember that Alan - you said it was performance related, but how many books did you sell that year? I sold a lot and so did my colleagues in the stores but we didn't get a huge increase): for starters, I am not surprised you are no rehiring me, although in the interests of accuracy I have to point out that after the successful appeal against the disgraceful way I was treated last year W**erstone's did actually offer me my job back, but I declined it as I had been offered a better one by FPI.
Secondly if you hadn't been so nasty to me you'd find that someone with my book knowledge, blogging and online experience, interviewing and reviewing history and book knowledge and contacts would be perfect for helping to set up a books online business, but too late, I'm enjoying building business elsewhere - and adding features, interviews, reviews, news, previews and other interesting features to that site as well (in fact I added a fascinating piece by an author just this afternoon and one from a terrific cartoonist the other day).
It is nice to see you have learned at least a little though and are embracing blogging (although I wonder what form it will take), shame it is a year and a half after I left and set up a cool blog for a much hipper company. And a podcast too. So glad you realise I am an example worth emulating, shame you were unable to realise what you had at the time - to think you had a resource in your company that had a grasp of online functionality, blogs and a huge knowledge of books and the ability to communicate that to readers and you threw it away (in a fashion that hardly helped the company's image) - does make you wonder why that performance related pay went up rather than down - well, if you were a cynical person, which we all know I'm not :-)
A certain bookchain, the one we don't like to mention round here anymore, was in the Financial Times today where it announced that W**terstone's were breaking away from their relationship with Amazon and launching their own webstore. Actually this is incorrect - they aren't launching their own webstore, they are re-launching; they had a very good webstore before some idiot axed it and decided to basically have an Amazon store with the 'W' brand over it (with Amazon taking a cut), although perhaps that homogenous look was well suited to how the business was then going. The original webstore was quite good and even had features such as a cool SF&F mag - I used to contribute a large number of reviews to it every month as did other expert booksellers, but some head honcho decided to basically cut a deal with Amazon, because obviously that is how you get ahead in business, by handing some to your rival... Duhhhh.
I wonder how many sales were lost over the years due to that foolish decision, how much it eroded the company's brand online and how much money and time will now need to be expended to get back to where they were several years before some numpty made that stupid mistake (somehow I'm guessing the folks who made that decision retained their jobs unlike me and their huge 'performance-related' salaries they were paid for making them - you all know performance related, its what the big cheeses at large companies use as justification when they double their salary but pay the workers some measely 2 or 3% rise).
However silly the whole mess is, it isn't really my concern anymore of course, but oh how could I resist the rest of the FT article which said:
"The new website will embrace employee blogging, a dramatic reversal for the company that emerged last year as the first British company to sack an employee for blogging.
Joe Gordon, 37, who worked for Waterstone's in Edinburgh for 11 years, was dismissed for personal commentary regarding his day-to-day life at the bookstore on his blog.
However, Mr Giles said HMV's new digital approach would not extend to rehiring Mr Gordon."
Oh, mighty Mr Giles, how you wound my poor, tender feelings to the quick! Seriously, a point of information for Alan G (who did award himself a doubled salary one year when I worked there while staff were told the low rise in their already poor wages were the best they could expect. Yes, I remember that Alan - you said it was performance related, but how many books did you sell that year? I sold a lot and so did my colleagues in the stores but we didn't get a huge increase): for starters, I am not surprised you are no rehiring me, although in the interests of accuracy I have to point out that after the successful appeal against the disgraceful way I was treated last year W**erstone's did actually offer me my job back, but I declined it as I had been offered a better one by FPI.
Secondly if you hadn't been so nasty to me you'd find that someone with my book knowledge, blogging and online experience, interviewing and reviewing history and book knowledge and contacts would be perfect for helping to set up a books online business, but too late, I'm enjoying building business elsewhere - and adding features, interviews, reviews, news, previews and other interesting features to that site as well (in fact I added a fascinating piece by an author just this afternoon and one from a terrific cartoonist the other day).
It is nice to see you have learned at least a little though and are embracing blogging (although I wonder what form it will take), shame it is a year and a half after I left and set up a cool blog for a much hipper company. And a podcast too. So glad you realise I am an example worth emulating, shame you were unable to realise what you had at the time - to think you had a resource in your company that had a grasp of online functionality, blogs and a huge knowledge of books and the ability to communicate that to readers and you threw it away (in a fashion that hardly helped the company's image) - does make you wonder why that performance related pay went up rather than down - well, if you were a cynical person, which we all know I'm not :-)
Monday, May 8, 2006
Podcast
My web-colleagues and I at work have been toying with the idea of adding to the new-look FPI blog with a podcast recently and after listening to my mate Chris in Michigan's regular comics podcast at the Collected Comics Library we thought, let's have a bash. It is pretty short and only features my colleague Paul (he of Jet City Rednecks fame) and myself, but we thought it was worth posting up for a start to try out the idea. Paul is our RPG fiend at Forbidden Planet and talks about some upcoming new gaming systems while I talk about, yup, you guessed it, books and graphic novels it's now up here.
I'm now going through that almost instinctive shudder most of us get when we hear our own voice being played back - in my head I think ohhh, that was good, sounds like Frasier Crane mixed with a Scottish Cary Grant. Then I hear it and think oh there's a big dump of Rab C Nesbit in there... But I think most of us hate hearing our own voices played back. Except politicians of course.
My web-colleagues and I at work have been toying with the idea of adding to the new-look FPI blog with a podcast recently and after listening to my mate Chris in Michigan's regular comics podcast at the Collected Comics Library we thought, let's have a bash. It is pretty short and only features my colleague Paul (he of Jet City Rednecks fame) and myself, but we thought it was worth posting up for a start to try out the idea. Paul is our RPG fiend at Forbidden Planet and talks about some upcoming new gaming systems while I talk about, yup, you guessed it, books and graphic novels it's now up here.
I'm now going through that almost instinctive shudder most of us get when we hear our own voice being played back - in my head I think ohhh, that was good, sounds like Frasier Crane mixed with a Scottish Cary Grant. Then I hear it and think oh there's a big dump of Rab C Nesbit in there... But I think most of us hate hearing our own voices played back. Except politicians of course.
Sunday, May 7, 2006
Book lists - Best Time Travel Novels
Inspired by the list (below) that Jeff started off (and some others he has been running recently, such as heroic fiction) I thought I'd take a stab at doing some of my own on a smaller scale. I thought since Doctor Who and Life on Mars have been making me think about the nature of time again I'd start with a list of some of the best books dealing with time travel and I'd very much like folks to suggest other titles they think should go on the list, so these first ones are only a beginning, please do send in ideas.
Basic rule is that any book nominated must contain some method of actual time travel, be it by science, mental powers, magic, accident etc, or temporal exploration/manipulation (as in Clarke and Baxter's Light of Other Days for example) or folks from one period mysteriously given a new life in another (as in Things Unborn) so, regrettably something like Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon or Ken MacLeod's The Sky Ship which have related narratives running in two different time periods would not count because there is no travel between those periods. As with Jeff's list it is open to any work which meets that criteria, regardless of whether most folk consider it to be 'SF' or not, as long as you consider it to be a good read worth recommending (because of the quality of writing or even just because of the imaginative ideas); if you have one you are not sure about then send it in anyway along with why you think it belongs on the list.
So the opening (short) list, which will hopefully grow (in no special order):
The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
The Time Ships, Stephen Baxter
The Light of Other Days, Arthur C Clarke and Stephen Baxter
The Stainless Stee Rat Saves the World, Harry Harrison
The Technicolour Time Machine, Harry Harrison
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain
Behold the Man, Michael Moorcock
Time and Again, Jack Finney
Bring the Jubilee, Ward Moore
Timescape, Gregory Benford
Things Unborn, Eugene Byrne
Kindred, Octavia Butler
The Time Traveller's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
Beauty, Sherri S Tepper
The End of Eternity, Isaac Asimov
Time Enough For Love, Robert Heinlein
The Books of Magic, Neil Gaiman et al
The Guns of the South, Harry Turtledove
Thief of Time, Terry Pratchett
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Douglas Adams
Inspired by the list (below) that Jeff started off (and some others he has been running recently, such as heroic fiction) I thought I'd take a stab at doing some of my own on a smaller scale. I thought since Doctor Who and Life on Mars have been making me think about the nature of time again I'd start with a list of some of the best books dealing with time travel and I'd very much like folks to suggest other titles they think should go on the list, so these first ones are only a beginning, please do send in ideas.
Basic rule is that any book nominated must contain some method of actual time travel, be it by science, mental powers, magic, accident etc, or temporal exploration/manipulation (as in Clarke and Baxter's Light of Other Days for example) or folks from one period mysteriously given a new life in another (as in Things Unborn) so, regrettably something like Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon or Ken MacLeod's The Sky Ship which have related narratives running in two different time periods would not count because there is no travel between those periods. As with Jeff's list it is open to any work which meets that criteria, regardless of whether most folk consider it to be 'SF' or not, as long as you consider it to be a good read worth recommending (because of the quality of writing or even just because of the imaginative ideas); if you have one you are not sure about then send it in anyway along with why you think it belongs on the list.
So the opening (short) list, which will hopefully grow (in no special order):
The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
The Time Ships, Stephen Baxter
The Light of Other Days, Arthur C Clarke and Stephen Baxter
The Stainless Stee Rat Saves the World, Harry Harrison
The Technicolour Time Machine, Harry Harrison
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain
Behold the Man, Michael Moorcock
Time and Again, Jack Finney
Bring the Jubilee, Ward Moore
Timescape, Gregory Benford
Things Unborn, Eugene Byrne
Kindred, Octavia Butler
The Time Traveller's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
Beauty, Sherri S Tepper
The End of Eternity, Isaac Asimov
Time Enough For Love, Robert Heinlein
The Books of Magic, Neil Gaiman et al
The Guns of the South, Harry Turtledove
Thief of Time, Terry Pratchett
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Douglas Adams
Essential fantasy list a la VanderMeer
A friend and one of my favourite writers, Jeff VanderMeer, has been adding to his already considerable workload by playing the old list game. He has a long list of Essential Fantasy works up, which is diverse and eclectic in content and has been attracting plenty of comments and suggestions. The list as he posted it at the moment stands as :
1. Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov
2. The Gormenghast Trilogy, Mervyn Peake
3. Lanark, Alasdair Gray
4. Jerusalem Poker, Edward Whittemore
5. The Chess Garden, Brooks Hansen
6. The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman, Angela Carter
7. Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
8. Ficciones, Jorge Luis Borges
9. Nights at the Circus, Angela Carter
10. Observatory Mansions, Edward Carey
11. Possession, A.S. Byatt
12. In Viriconium, M. John Harrison
13. Arc d'X, Steve Erickson
14. V, Thomas Pynchon
15. Sinai Tapestry, Edward Whittemore
16. Quin’s Shanghai Circus, Edward Whittemore
17. If Upon a Winter's Night a Traveler, Italo Calvino
18. Collected Stories, Franz Kafka
19. The Master & Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
20. Mother London, Michael Moorcock
21. The Collected Stories, J.G. Ballard
22. A Fine and Private Place, Peter S. Beagle
23. The New York Trilogy, Paul Auster
24. Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy
25. The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica, John Calvin Bachelor
26. House of Leaves, Mark Danielewski
27. The Riddle Master trilogy, Patricia McKillip
28. The Baron in the Trees, Italo Calvino
29. The Other Side, Alfred Kubin
30. The Circus of Doctor Lao, Charles Finney
31. A Voyage to Arcturus, David Lindsay
32. The Circus of the Earth & the Air, Brooke Stevens
33. Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift
34. Dictionary of the Khazars, Milorad Pavic
35. At Swim-Two-Birds, Flann O'Brian
36. The Troika, Stepan Chapman
37. The Fan-maker’s Inquisition, Rikki Ducornet
38. Solomon Gursky Was Here, Mordechai Richler
39. Darconville's Cat, Alexander Theroux
40. Don Quixote, Cervantes
41. Poor Things, Alasdair Gray
42. Geek Love, Katherine Dunn
43. The Land of Laughs, Jonathan Carroll
44. The Wizard of Earthsea trilogy, Ursula K. LeGuin
45. The House on the Borderland, William Hope Hodgson
46. Little Big, John Crowley
47. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
48. The General in His Labyrinth, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
49. The Seven Who Fled, Frederick Prokosch
50. Already Dead, Denis Johnson
51. The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque, Jeffrey Ford
52. Phosphor in Dreamland, Rikki Ducornet
53. The Passion of New Eve, Angela Carter
54. Views From the Oldest House, Richard Grant
55. Life During Wartime, Lucius Shepard
56. The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, Barry Hughart
57. The Famished Road, Ben Okri
58. Altmann’s Tongue, Brian Evenson
59. Girl Imagined by Chance, Lance Olsen
60. The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant & Other Stories, Jeffrey Ford
There are some brilliant writers in there, not all of whom some people would classify as fantasy (I've had several arguments over the years when I tell folk Alasdair Gray's Lanark is a work of fantasy for example), but a a list to spark off ideas for future reading I'd commend it to anyone. Comment or suggest others to Jeff and if you are interested in books then you should visit Jeff's site from time to time because not only is he an incredibly gifted writer he spends his time helping to promote good writing with author interviews, reviews and masterclasses. And you should be reading his work as well - even if you are not generally a fantasy fan you will find something to admire in them, with City of Saints and Madmen and Shriek both reminiscent of some of the finest authors such as Kafka and Borges. And looking over this list I have read only about a third of them - and I'm not poorly-read by any stretch of the imagination. So many good books demanding to be read...
A friend and one of my favourite writers, Jeff VanderMeer, has been adding to his already considerable workload by playing the old list game. He has a long list of Essential Fantasy works up, which is diverse and eclectic in content and has been attracting plenty of comments and suggestions. The list as he posted it at the moment stands as :
1. Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov
2. The Gormenghast Trilogy, Mervyn Peake
3. Lanark, Alasdair Gray
4. Jerusalem Poker, Edward Whittemore
5. The Chess Garden, Brooks Hansen
6. The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman, Angela Carter
7. Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
8. Ficciones, Jorge Luis Borges
9. Nights at the Circus, Angela Carter
10. Observatory Mansions, Edward Carey
11. Possession, A.S. Byatt
12. In Viriconium, M. John Harrison
13. Arc d'X, Steve Erickson
14. V, Thomas Pynchon
15. Sinai Tapestry, Edward Whittemore
16. Quin’s Shanghai Circus, Edward Whittemore
17. If Upon a Winter's Night a Traveler, Italo Calvino
18. Collected Stories, Franz Kafka
19. The Master & Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
20. Mother London, Michael Moorcock
21. The Collected Stories, J.G. Ballard
22. A Fine and Private Place, Peter S. Beagle
23. The New York Trilogy, Paul Auster
24. Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy
25. The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica, John Calvin Bachelor
26. House of Leaves, Mark Danielewski
27. The Riddle Master trilogy, Patricia McKillip
28. The Baron in the Trees, Italo Calvino
29. The Other Side, Alfred Kubin
30. The Circus of Doctor Lao, Charles Finney
31. A Voyage to Arcturus, David Lindsay
32. The Circus of the Earth & the Air, Brooke Stevens
33. Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift
34. Dictionary of the Khazars, Milorad Pavic
35. At Swim-Two-Birds, Flann O'Brian
36. The Troika, Stepan Chapman
37. The Fan-maker’s Inquisition, Rikki Ducornet
38. Solomon Gursky Was Here, Mordechai Richler
39. Darconville's Cat, Alexander Theroux
40. Don Quixote, Cervantes
41. Poor Things, Alasdair Gray
42. Geek Love, Katherine Dunn
43. The Land of Laughs, Jonathan Carroll
44. The Wizard of Earthsea trilogy, Ursula K. LeGuin
45. The House on the Borderland, William Hope Hodgson
46. Little Big, John Crowley
47. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
48. The General in His Labyrinth, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
49. The Seven Who Fled, Frederick Prokosch
50. Already Dead, Denis Johnson
51. The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque, Jeffrey Ford
52. Phosphor in Dreamland, Rikki Ducornet
53. The Passion of New Eve, Angela Carter
54. Views From the Oldest House, Richard Grant
55. Life During Wartime, Lucius Shepard
56. The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, Barry Hughart
57. The Famished Road, Ben Okri
58. Altmann’s Tongue, Brian Evenson
59. Girl Imagined by Chance, Lance Olsen
60. The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant & Other Stories, Jeffrey Ford
There are some brilliant writers in there, not all of whom some people would classify as fantasy (I've had several arguments over the years when I tell folk Alasdair Gray's Lanark is a work of fantasy for example), but a a list to spark off ideas for future reading I'd commend it to anyone. Comment or suggest others to Jeff and if you are interested in books then you should visit Jeff's site from time to time because not only is he an incredibly gifted writer he spends his time helping to promote good writing with author interviews, reviews and masterclasses. And you should be reading his work as well - even if you are not generally a fantasy fan you will find something to admire in them, with City of Saints and Madmen and Shriek both reminiscent of some of the finest authors such as Kafka and Borges. And looking over this list I have read only about a third of them - and I'm not poorly-read by any stretch of the imagination. So many good books demanding to be read...
Ad company sues blogger
Warren Kramer Paino Advertising of New York City has decided to sue a blogger who commented negatively on the PR campaign they had been hired to do for tourism for the state of Maine. Personally I can't see how putting forth your own personal view that a particular campaign is a waste of tax-payer's money or badly put together constitutes defamation - it is comment and individual opinion, which are protected by free speech. Are WKPA trying to say that no individual is allowed to say anything about a company or a local government campaign which those bodies may not approve of? On that basis that would mean if any of us commented on, say the fact that Edinburgh City Council ripping up the historic High Street to resurface it only a couple of years after spending vast sums to redo it and now having to do it all over again because they got it wrong showed gross incompetence and financial mis-management of public funds would have to worry about being sued by the council or the sub-contractors who made such an arse of the job in the first place.
Oh dear, perhaps it means I can't comment on the most recent McDonald's TV advert in the UK. The one which features a small child running manically about everywhere with his parents constantly shouting "slow down" to the little tyke. This goes on for the whole ad until they go to McDonald's and the kid is asked what he wants with his Happy Meal and he is befuddled, unable to make a decision and told to "hurry up". I guess now I can't comment that it would be possible to interpret this advert in a way contrary to the company's preferred reading - that perhaps you could read this advert as showing the child is manically hyperactive throughout because his parents feed him a diet of high-sugar fast food and the reason the only time he slows down is when asked a question is because this diet makes his body hyperactive but provides few nutrients necessary for cognitive development, so the child cannot reach a decision when asked because his brain isn't developing due to poor diet.
Of course, I'd hate to be sued by a certain burger company which has been know to issue more than the occasional writ for expressing my own personal reading of that text. Fortunately I know as someone with an honours degree in communcation studies that alternative interpretations against the preferred reading of a text is a well-known phenomenon in academic studies and can use that as precedent to defend my opinion (that came in handy last year when my then employers said I had used a mass medium to defame them - I explained what a mass medium was in academic terms and then added I had a degree in this sort of thing and they could contact my old tutors to find out they were wrong and I was right. I enjoyed that).
Then again, I shouldn't have to since it is my opinion and I, like everyone else, including Lance Dutson, am entitled to express my opinion. And as Neil Gaiman points out, regardless of how the company feels, it should have realised that the negative publicity it would attract by suing a blogger for expressing his views would not only harm their image more than his opinions were perceived to but draw far more attention to his blog than before - in fact as Neil points out if you Google the company now their website comes down well below many other sites discussing the case! Sounds a little familiar to a certain bookstore a year and a half back who complained a certain blogger was destroying their public reputation on a blog only a few people had ever heard of and only succeeded in then having those writings and opinions they disapproved of beamed around the planet in numerous languages.
Since several companies have had this experience now you'd think they would start to try something different, but for a company which supposedly deals with the selling of images and desires to people, such as this advertising agency, not to understand how much damage they can do to their own image... Well, I don't want them suing me so I won't say it smacks of incompetence, but if I were a client I would now look at them and think do these guys really know anything about managing image online when they do this???
As a nice commentary on this here is a cool alternative advertising image for Main Tourism which one of his chums made up:
Warren Kramer Paino Advertising of New York City has decided to sue a blogger who commented negatively on the PR campaign they had been hired to do for tourism for the state of Maine. Personally I can't see how putting forth your own personal view that a particular campaign is a waste of tax-payer's money or badly put together constitutes defamation - it is comment and individual opinion, which are protected by free speech. Are WKPA trying to say that no individual is allowed to say anything about a company or a local government campaign which those bodies may not approve of? On that basis that would mean if any of us commented on, say the fact that Edinburgh City Council ripping up the historic High Street to resurface it only a couple of years after spending vast sums to redo it and now having to do it all over again because they got it wrong showed gross incompetence and financial mis-management of public funds would have to worry about being sued by the council or the sub-contractors who made such an arse of the job in the first place.
Oh dear, perhaps it means I can't comment on the most recent McDonald's TV advert in the UK. The one which features a small child running manically about everywhere with his parents constantly shouting "slow down" to the little tyke. This goes on for the whole ad until they go to McDonald's and the kid is asked what he wants with his Happy Meal and he is befuddled, unable to make a decision and told to "hurry up". I guess now I can't comment that it would be possible to interpret this advert in a way contrary to the company's preferred reading - that perhaps you could read this advert as showing the child is manically hyperactive throughout because his parents feed him a diet of high-sugar fast food and the reason the only time he slows down is when asked a question is because this diet makes his body hyperactive but provides few nutrients necessary for cognitive development, so the child cannot reach a decision when asked because his brain isn't developing due to poor diet.
Of course, I'd hate to be sued by a certain burger company which has been know to issue more than the occasional writ for expressing my own personal reading of that text. Fortunately I know as someone with an honours degree in communcation studies that alternative interpretations against the preferred reading of a text is a well-known phenomenon in academic studies and can use that as precedent to defend my opinion (that came in handy last year when my then employers said I had used a mass medium to defame them - I explained what a mass medium was in academic terms and then added I had a degree in this sort of thing and they could contact my old tutors to find out they were wrong and I was right. I enjoyed that).
Then again, I shouldn't have to since it is my opinion and I, like everyone else, including Lance Dutson, am entitled to express my opinion. And as Neil Gaiman points out, regardless of how the company feels, it should have realised that the negative publicity it would attract by suing a blogger for expressing his views would not only harm their image more than his opinions were perceived to but draw far more attention to his blog than before - in fact as Neil points out if you Google the company now their website comes down well below many other sites discussing the case! Sounds a little familiar to a certain bookstore a year and a half back who complained a certain blogger was destroying their public reputation on a blog only a few people had ever heard of and only succeeded in then having those writings and opinions they disapproved of beamed around the planet in numerous languages.
Since several companies have had this experience now you'd think they would start to try something different, but for a company which supposedly deals with the selling of images and desires to people, such as this advertising agency, not to understand how much damage they can do to their own image... Well, I don't want them suing me so I won't say it smacks of incompetence, but if I were a client I would now look at them and think do these guys really know anything about managing image online when they do this???
As a nice commentary on this here is a cool alternative advertising image for Main Tourism which one of his chums made up:
50 Best book to movie adaptations
The Guardian ran an article listing the result of their panel who selected their 50 best book to movie adaptations. There are some very good films in there, including a few of my favourites, several SF titles and, most remarkably, they picked a graphic novel as well, although since it is Frank Miller's Sin City it is really several books. I was pretty pleased to see this being picked - it was like a few months ago when Time magazine selected some of the best English-language novels since the late 20s and included Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore's Watchmen. Comics and graphic novels are becoming almost respectable :-). Inspired by this my colleagues and I whipped up a special Sin City page on the new FPI main site and I had the overwhelming urge to post a big blog piece on the FPI blogs, so I gave in to it.
The Guardian ran an article listing the result of their panel who selected their 50 best book to movie adaptations. There are some very good films in there, including a few of my favourites, several SF titles and, most remarkably, they picked a graphic novel as well, although since it is Frank Miller's Sin City it is really several books. I was pretty pleased to see this being picked - it was like a few months ago when Time magazine selected some of the best English-language novels since the late 20s and included Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore's Watchmen. Comics and graphic novels are becoming almost respectable :-). Inspired by this my colleagues and I whipped up a special Sin City page on the new FPI main site and I had the overwhelming urge to post a big blog piece on the FPI blogs, so I gave in to it.
Thursday, May 4, 2006
Jet City MP3s
In a cool follow-up to my post the other day about my mate Paul and his band the Jet City Rednecks cutting an EP over the holiday weekend he's sent me this link to the pure volume site which has three hard-rockin' tracks you can listen to. Sex'n'drugs'n'rock'n'roll. Well, beats cuppa tea'n'digestive'n'easy listening...
In a cool follow-up to my post the other day about my mate Paul and his band the Jet City Rednecks cutting an EP over the holiday weekend he's sent me this link to the pure volume site which has three hard-rockin' tracks you can listen to. Sex'n'drugs'n'rock'n'roll. Well, beats cuppa tea'n'digestive'n'easy listening...
Wednesday, May 3, 2006
No comment - yet
You may recall about a month ago on a post about the huge threat to civil liberties posed by the Blair government's ill-advised push on biometric ID cards which they wish to impose on British citizens (how such a scheme is going to work across many government minsitries and departments as well as police and local government when the folk most repsonsible for it at the Home Office have clearly shown they can't even talk to their own departments is beyond me). As part of the blog I posted a copy of the letter I emailed to my MP, Alistair Darling, who is a government minister who strongly supports the scheme. A couple of days later I received an acknowledgment from one of his assistants and an assurance of a response shortly. Several weeks later and still no reply. Perhaps he is busy helping is cabinet colleagues with damage control.
You may recall about a month ago on a post about the huge threat to civil liberties posed by the Blair government's ill-advised push on biometric ID cards which they wish to impose on British citizens (how such a scheme is going to work across many government minsitries and departments as well as police and local government when the folk most repsonsible for it at the Home Office have clearly shown they can't even talk to their own departments is beyond me). As part of the blog I posted a copy of the letter I emailed to my MP, Alistair Darling, who is a government minister who strongly supports the scheme. A couple of days later I received an acknowledgment from one of his assistants and an assurance of a response shortly. Several weeks later and still no reply. Perhaps he is busy helping is cabinet colleagues with damage control.
Buster!
The cinematic treasure that is the Edinburgh Filmhouse, where I must have spent half my student days (but it was a media course so it counted as research, not bunking off, honest), is paying tribute to one of the funniest and most inventive film-makers in cinema history and also one of my personal favourites: Buster Keaton.
I've loved Keaton's silent films since I was a boy - it was clear to me even then that the people who drew the Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry cartoons that I loved had grown up inspired by people like Keaton. I preferred him to Chaplin and rated him up there with the early film comedians like Harold Lloyd and good old Laurel and Hardy. As I got older I came to admire the incredible craft he put into these movies from the very early days of cinema, when men in boater hats turned hand-cranked cameras, and the astonishing stunts he would perform. The fact there were few effects, that most of this was done for real (like the building falling on him in Steamboat Bill Jr) is amazing - cinema has since staged some incredible stunt sequences and yet most of today's stunfolks would still tip their hat to Buster as he performed his stunts, all with his trademark deadpan face.
The Filmhouse is showing The General (with the famous scene where an old Western train goes over a wooden bridge which collapses under it - and like most Keaton stunts this is done for real, no model work here! A real train under steam on a collapsing bridge!) and a number of shorts starting this Friday. I am so there!
Slither
On a more contemporary filmic note though, if you love hoary old creature features, especially those wonderfully hokey 50s ones, then catch Slither. It is a pure B movie horror-SF film which knows what it is and revels in it, drawing on the Blob, Romero, Heinlein and numerous other flicks, like Tremors or Eight Legged Freaks, mixing gross-out scenes with sick humour. Add in Firefly and Buffy's Nathan Fillion with his deadpan expression and voice (he must be a Keaton fan too!) as the local police chief fighting the alien menace which arrives in a meteor to infect a small Southern US town in the time honoured fashion. If you prefer a genuinely creepy horror though, check out Silent Hill - it is one of those rare things, a computer game to movie adaptation which is actually good. It mostly avoids splatter and goes for creepy, brooding Southern Gothic atmosphere, with disturbing imagery, although some of that is clearly drawn from early Clive Barker.
The cinematic treasure that is the Edinburgh Filmhouse, where I must have spent half my student days (but it was a media course so it counted as research, not bunking off, honest), is paying tribute to one of the funniest and most inventive film-makers in cinema history and also one of my personal favourites: Buster Keaton.
I've loved Keaton's silent films since I was a boy - it was clear to me even then that the people who drew the Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry cartoons that I loved had grown up inspired by people like Keaton. I preferred him to Chaplin and rated him up there with the early film comedians like Harold Lloyd and good old Laurel and Hardy. As I got older I came to admire the incredible craft he put into these movies from the very early days of cinema, when men in boater hats turned hand-cranked cameras, and the astonishing stunts he would perform. The fact there were few effects, that most of this was done for real (like the building falling on him in Steamboat Bill Jr) is amazing - cinema has since staged some incredible stunt sequences and yet most of today's stunfolks would still tip their hat to Buster as he performed his stunts, all with his trademark deadpan face.
The Filmhouse is showing The General (with the famous scene where an old Western train goes over a wooden bridge which collapses under it - and like most Keaton stunts this is done for real, no model work here! A real train under steam on a collapsing bridge!) and a number of shorts starting this Friday. I am so there!
Slither
On a more contemporary filmic note though, if you love hoary old creature features, especially those wonderfully hokey 50s ones, then catch Slither. It is a pure B movie horror-SF film which knows what it is and revels in it, drawing on the Blob, Romero, Heinlein and numerous other flicks, like Tremors or Eight Legged Freaks, mixing gross-out scenes with sick humour. Add in Firefly and Buffy's Nathan Fillion with his deadpan expression and voice (he must be a Keaton fan too!) as the local police chief fighting the alien menace which arrives in a meteor to infect a small Southern US town in the time honoured fashion. If you prefer a genuinely creepy horror though, check out Silent Hill - it is one of those rare things, a computer game to movie adaptation which is actually good. It mostly avoids splatter and goes for creepy, brooding Southern Gothic atmosphere, with disturbing imagery, although some of that is clearly drawn from early Clive Barker.
Tuesday, May 2, 2006
Bashing the Bible comic style
A couple of weeks ago writer, Boing Boing favourite and media commentator Douglas Rushkoff kindly wrote a few lines about his current comic series (due to be collected as a graphic novel this June from DC) Testament: Adekah for the FPI blog in which he said he was treating the Bible as "open source code". Well, Doug has just posted a much longer piece on his own site about the comic and also his views on religion in general - it is very interesting stuff and bound to annoy some people, especially in the US where he no doubt has people already annoyed at the comic to begin with. But then most of them probably won't do anything as radical as reading it before condeming it, so who cares what they say. This may damn your immortal soul but it may also lead you to a damned cool graphic novel.
Actually this summer looks like being a good month for mature graphic novels titles. Along with Testament another DC title I am eager to read - especially after reading what Neil Gaiman had to say about it on his blog recently - is Can't Get None, a very unusual angle on 9-11 following a man whose business goes belly-up right before the twin towers are hit, his shattered view of life echoing that of the nation and world. It is a very unusual style as well, mostly captions and pictures rather than dialogue bubbles. According to Neil:
"The combination of image and text has a weird, cumulative effect, a sort of literary synesthesia that gave me the same kind of oneiric reading sensation I normally only associate with novels by, say, Thomas Pynchon or Steve Erickson. I don't think that CAN'T GET NO reinvents the graphic novel – it feels more like Rick is rediscovering the power of the "story in pictures" as he goes, taking everything he knows about comics, everything he learned about dreams doing the Rarebit Fiend comics, and making something new and moving and, as I said, utterly strange."
Along with the last of the post-Palomar Luba books coming from the great Gilbert Hernandez (of Love & Rockets fame) this summer is looking good. If you are someone who normally doesn't read comics because you assume they are all only about superheroes then try checking these out. Or if you are a girl and assume all comics are for boys check out Hernandez, or check out In the Hands of Boys from Melody Nadia Shickley, a Xeric award winner which is picking up some good word-of-mouth. Melody also wrote a short piece about her work for the FPI site here so you can see what she has to say about it in her own words.
A couple of weeks ago writer, Boing Boing favourite and media commentator Douglas Rushkoff kindly wrote a few lines about his current comic series (due to be collected as a graphic novel this June from DC) Testament: Adekah for the FPI blog in which he said he was treating the Bible as "open source code". Well, Doug has just posted a much longer piece on his own site about the comic and also his views on religion in general - it is very interesting stuff and bound to annoy some people, especially in the US where he no doubt has people already annoyed at the comic to begin with. But then most of them probably won't do anything as radical as reading it before condeming it, so who cares what they say. This may damn your immortal soul but it may also lead you to a damned cool graphic novel.
Actually this summer looks like being a good month for mature graphic novels titles. Along with Testament another DC title I am eager to read - especially after reading what Neil Gaiman had to say about it on his blog recently - is Can't Get None, a very unusual angle on 9-11 following a man whose business goes belly-up right before the twin towers are hit, his shattered view of life echoing that of the nation and world. It is a very unusual style as well, mostly captions and pictures rather than dialogue bubbles. According to Neil:
"The combination of image and text has a weird, cumulative effect, a sort of literary synesthesia that gave me the same kind of oneiric reading sensation I normally only associate with novels by, say, Thomas Pynchon or Steve Erickson. I don't think that CAN'T GET NO reinvents the graphic novel – it feels more like Rick is rediscovering the power of the "story in pictures" as he goes, taking everything he knows about comics, everything he learned about dreams doing the Rarebit Fiend comics, and making something new and moving and, as I said, utterly strange."
Along with the last of the post-Palomar Luba books coming from the great Gilbert Hernandez (of Love & Rockets fame) this summer is looking good. If you are someone who normally doesn't read comics because you assume they are all only about superheroes then try checking these out. Or if you are a girl and assume all comics are for boys check out Hernandez, or check out In the Hands of Boys from Melody Nadia Shickley, a Xeric award winner which is picking up some good word-of-mouth. Melody also wrote a short piece about her work for the FPI site here so you can see what she has to say about it in her own words.
Rockin' and rollin'
My mate and colleague Paul and his crew in the rockin' Jet City Rednecks spent the recent bank holiday weekend in the studio cutting their EP White Trash Noise. I heard some of the results today and they were terrific. Okay, obviously I am biased since he's my mate, but I really did enjoy these tracks - it was a deliberate move on their part to make a solid, old-fashioned heavy cock-rock sound with a 70s/early 80s feel (sometimes the guitars reminded me of Thin Lizzy, which isn't a bad thing if you like rock) singing about drinkin' and shaggin' and other important things in life. They were all toe-tapping, head-boppin' tracks to happily rock out to and they are now available on the EP via the group's website. Leicester's answer to rock'n'roll white trailer trash will also be live again in July.
My mate and colleague Paul and his crew in the rockin' Jet City Rednecks spent the recent bank holiday weekend in the studio cutting their EP White Trash Noise. I heard some of the results today and they were terrific. Okay, obviously I am biased since he's my mate, but I really did enjoy these tracks - it was a deliberate move on their part to make a solid, old-fashioned heavy cock-rock sound with a 70s/early 80s feel (sometimes the guitars reminded me of Thin Lizzy, which isn't a bad thing if you like rock) singing about drinkin' and shaggin' and other important things in life. They were all toe-tapping, head-boppin' tracks to happily rock out to and they are now available on the EP via the group's website. Leicester's answer to rock'n'roll white trailer trash will also be live again in July.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)