The tram debacle

The mess caused by the imposition of a tram line in Edinburgh (and it is an imposition - citizens were not consulted, there was no referendum, probably because the last major city transport referendum - congestion charges - the citizens voted against the council's wishes and they don't want that again) is even more of a joke this week. Last week the main contractors walked off the job just as they closed Princes Street, the busiest main street of the capital, supposedly for almost a year. Which doesn't help the struggling shops and other businesses on Princes St now buses have to be laboriously diverted (adding longer to journeys - especially for those of us who have more than one set of major tram works holding us up every sodding day) and also makes a mess of a busy street and putting off tourists. Just what's needed in a rough economic climate.

Bus journeys into town were already down as folks avoided coming in because of the tram chaos, now this. And although the council and the contractors are blaming each other while trying to negotiate a resumption of the work the bloody useless eejits in the council have left the diversions in place all bloody week so we're all being shoved through more sodding long diversions even although there is no work being carried out and no good reason to put us to this extra hassle every day. I think that shows the attitude the planners actually have to the people of Edinburgh and how little they care about the stress and hassle they are putting citizens and businesses to.

Happy 4th birthday, Forbidden Planet blog

The Forbidden Planet International blog I set up a few days after starting work there turned four years old today.

Happy 4th birthday, Forbidden Planet blog

The Forbidden Planet International blog I set up a few days after starting work there turned four years old today. Its vastly jumped up the Technorati rankings since it started, had some nice things said about it by a lot of folks, we've posted a ton of reviews on all sorts of comics, graphic novels and SF&F books, news and interviews with authors and artists from those who create in their spare time at home right up to the giants of the medium like Alan Moore, and hopefully we've done something I've always enjoyed doing and that's introducing readers to books and graphic novels they might not have picked up otherwise. I've been a bookseller for years and written about books and comics (and movies for that matter) for about as long but that's still one of the best feelings, when someone tells you they picked up something new that they might not have read because the saw it mentioned and as a result they found something new that they discovered they loved. I still get a buzz from that.

Paris by night

This time last year I was getting all excited about going to Paris and feeling the beat and rhythm of the City of Lights, the air, the language, the buzz on the busy, historic streets. And I was happy :

horses on the beach

Down on the beach near Yellowcraig by the Fidra Lighthouse, walking along the long shore towards North Berwick, it brightened up as a couple of riders on horseback came along the beach:

Watchmen - the Keene Act

Readers of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons seminal Watchmen graphic novel will already be aware of the Keene Act, legislation passed in the alternative America of the Watchmen to outlaw the superheroes as vigilantes. New Frontiersman (named for one of the magazines which crops up throughout the graphic novel) is a marketing site which has been slowly releasing bits and pieces of pics, info and viral videos ahead of the film version of the Watchmen coming out in March, including this latest one, done in the style of a really bad 70s public information film (incidentally, there's a possibility I may be back on the BBC radio again to talk about the movie next month too, more if and when its settled):



(link via the FPI blog)

The Diagram Prize

Each year the Bookseller magazine runs the Diagram Award which is for the book published in the last year with the oddest title; these are real published books, submitted by booksellers - last year's winner was If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs. This year's final shortlist contender are:

• Baboon Metaphysics by Dorothy L Cheney and Robert M Seyfarth

• Curbside Consultation of the Colon by Brooks D Cash

• The Large Sieve and its Applications by Emmanuel Kowalski

• Strip and Knit with Style by Mark Hordyszynski

• Techniques for Corrosion Monitoring by Lietai Yang

• The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais by Professor Philip M Parker

The award will be announced on March 27th and is an annual event enjoyed by British booksellers. Personally I've always loved it, its a bit of fun and it appeals to my sense and love of the Absurd that these are the real titles of actual books (it also nicely reinforces the commonly held perception that we in Britain, especially among the literary fraternity, are, to put it politely, 'eccentric', which is no bad thing in my opinion. Booksellers, librarians and bookshops should be a little eccentric and individual). Link via the BBC