A bit of an update… and an announcement

Well, it's been a busy few weeks since I last dropped by and no mistake. For a start, I'm very happy indeed to report that the new job is going extremely well. My to-do list went ballistic in week one and doesn't show any signs of letting up - quite possibly for the next couple of years or so - which is all to the good as far as I'm concerned. Life's too short to be bored, especially at work.

Out on the road: Jo and I Had a great weekend in Derby at Alt.Fiction. I managed not to make a complete arse of myself on the 'Writing and the Internet' panel (I hope) and the two of us caught up with a whole load of good friends and causal acquaintances who we don't get to see much more than once or twice a year, which is always the highlight of any convention or genre-related social event.

And speaking of which, I went on down to London for the Arthur C. Clarke Awards last week as well; another chance to catch up with folks, drink a couple of free beers and talk shop. After the Clarkes I followed the crowd to a bar up the road and ended up chatting to Dean Haglund (one of the Lone Gunmen, the geek-trio from the X-Files) for about an hour, about comics, movies, television, comedy, books, you name it. Top bloke.

Anyhow, big congratulations to (ex-client) Richard Morgan on the Arthur C. Clarke win for Black Man. Thoroughly deserved, although officially I was rooting for (Orbit author) Ken MacLeod, of course... :)

Reading-wise: I've been catching up with a few PS Publishing novellas: The Mermaids by Robert Edric, The Lees of Laughter's End by Steven Erikson and No Traveller Returns by Paul Park. My favourite of those was the Erikson: another of his tales of the sinister Bauchelain and Korbal Broach; this time loaded with dark humour as well as his trademark high-action fantasy. I've also read issues twelve and thirteen of PS's Postscripts magazine; the stand-out tale from the two volumes was most definitely Hal Duncan's camp-as-tits buccaneer romp 'The Island of the Pirate Gods', which I wish I'd read before I sent in my recommendations for this year's British Fantasy Awards last week. Never mind. Surely someone else will have nominated it.

I've also read Alan Campbell's Subterranean Press novella Lye Street, which is set before the events of his debut novel Scar Night and had a very Erikson-esque feel to it, now I come to think of it. I finally found time to read a Jonathan Carroll novel that's been on the to-be-read shelf for years: Kissing the Beehive, a pretty intense psychological murder mystery. I've read a couple of Orbit titles that I thoroughly enjoyed: Charlie Huston's latest Joe Pitt novel, Half the Blood of Brooklyn and Marie Brennan's Midnight Never Come; a highly-enjoyable mix of Elizabethan and faerie politics and intrigue.

And I've indulged in a few graphic novels recently as well: David Petersen's Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 is beautifully drawn and tells a simple but compelling tale of warrior mice dealing with a threat to their homeland from a shadowy traitor. Re-visiting the first three collected volumes of Garth Ennis and co.'s Hitman tales was a whole heap of fun; as was the first volume of new indie publisher Ablaze Media's Peckerwood which turned out to be a lot more amusing than I have to confess I was expecting from a gratuitous 24 spoof. And I made a start on all 11 volumes of Mike Carey's Lucifer series, having filled the gaps on the shelf with the help of FPI and a birthday cash donation from the missus (ta, love!)

But the best thing I read recently has to be the Humdrumming volume I bought at Alt.Fiction: PS head-honcho Pete Crowther's collection of four short stories entitled The Land at the End of the Working Day. Now, I happen to count Pete among my very good friends and I worked with him on the website and marketing for PS Publishing for the past few years (until very recently), so you can take the following with as large a pinch of salt as you like... but this really was a rather wonderful collection of stories.

They're set in a New York walk-down bar, the sort of locale that will be familiar to fans of Spider Robinson's Callahan's yarns - and with good reason, as Pete's a huge fan of the series - and these four tales speak to the reader of some of the most essential elements of life: love, loss, pain, pleasure, friendship, good company and good beer, all of which is exactly my pint of stout. As a result, I expect I'll be picking up Arthur C. Clarke's contribution to the bar-story oeuvre, PS Publishing's Tales From the White Hart, before too long. I might even re-visit Callahan's Crosstime Saloon all over again. And Pete tells me that there are two more TLATEOTWD stories in the works; I'll be buying copies of whichever mag puts those out, without fail, or a second Humdrumming volume if that's how they appear. Great stuff.

All of which pretty much brings me bang up to date, I reckon. Oh, apart from that announcement...

I'm going to be moth-balling UK SF Book News in the very near future. It's something I've been thinking about on and off for about six months now. The recent re-design was my attempt to re-ignite my enthusiasm for the project, but alas, whilst tinkering in the belly of the Wordpress beast is always interesting, I'm afraid I didn't manage to over-come the essential problem that's been weighing most heavily on my mid for a while. Which is that spending however many hours per week updating the site just isn't fun any more...

Plus, it's been somewhat superseded in the past couple of years: firstly by a whole number of rather excellent new blogs (run by bloggers with much more free time and enthusiasm for their calling than I can muster these days) and secondly (but perhaps more importantly) by RSS feed aggregators such as Google Reader, Bloglines and co. And what's the point of attempting to gather and present the most current and relevant UK SF Book News when anyone who's interested in the subject matter can subscribe to any number of feeds - by their favourite authors or from the aforementioned super-bloggers - and get a much wider range of news items, discussion topics and humorous Star Wars Fan Videos, delivered straight to their desktop or browser-of-choice?

So, there you go. Time to call time on a ten-year (eleven-year? twelve-year?) hobby, if you include the old fanzine days of 'The Alien Has Landed' back at Waterstone's. Time to get in touch with all the hugely supportive publishers who have been sending in books and news items in for all those years and let them know that the site is going on hiatus. And then it will be time to look around at what else is out there, try my hand at something new. I've already discovered the joys of gardening (if you can believe that) and I'm thinking of finally learning to play the guitar. I might even get me one of those new-fangled games console thingies that the kids today seem to spend so much time on. I'll definitely be reading a few more of the many, many books on the to-be-read shelves. And hey, I might even try my hand at this fiction-writing lark. A bit unlikely, if my track-record in that department is anything to go by, but you never know...

May 7, 2008 | Filed Under Books, Life | 6 Comments

Nearly back on an even keel…

The last few weeks have been a bit intense, both work-wise and otherwise. Following the recent launch of the all-new PS Publishing webstore, as well as the Wordpress-enabled re-launch of John Berylne's Works of Tim Powers fan-site and the re-vamped version of Richard Morgan's homepage, Jo and I promptly jetted off on holiday for a week, to the quite fantastic Mediterranean island of Malta.

We had a fantastic time, but alas, we also received some sad news on our last day there; suffice to say that a family funeral ensued, which we both attended this week just gone. All of which has resulted in something of a backlog - as you'd imagine - although I think I'm pretty much back on top of things now. So much so that I managed to make time today to put together my new, personal blog site at www.darrenturpin.me.uk.

So from now on, that's where I'll be posting all my music, humour, movie and life etc. related posts, leaving The Genre Files free for more bookish material; like the pile of recommended reading that I want to post at some point. I'm also looking at my work schedule in order to free up more time to work on UKSFBN each day, which should result in more regular posts, or at least fewer content gaps. And of course, any work-related material will be posted to www.darrenturpin.co.uk.

Oh, and the eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that I've started signing posts as 'Darren' rather than 'Ariel', both here and over at UKSFBN. The reason? Well, 'Ariel' is an old nick-name from high school that stuck through University and my early days in bookselling. I always liked it, because it was quirky and memorable for folks on the other end of a phone; especially when I rang up busy publicists to blag review copies and author interviews for 'The Alien Has Landed'. But now I'm working freelance I think that using my given name is more professional. And something else happened recently to convince me that 'quirky' isn't always best.

My post on the Long Tail economics of genre fiction got a bit of blogosphere coverage; it was even picked up on by Lou Anders, a US-based editor whose work I have an enormous amount of respect for, which was naturally most gratifying... until Lou made the (not entirely unreasonable) assumption that I was a lady.

Not a problem, easily remedied, and indeed, Paul Cornell actually point out the gender-switch in the comment thread to Lou's post and Lou made the correction. But along the way, he replied to Paul's comment, saying: "next you'll be telling me Ariel doesn't have a tail and live under da sea..."

Ba-dum, tish!

You know what? When someone you respect - and whose opinion of you could potentially be quite important from a work-related point-of-view - makes 'Little Mermaid' jokes about your current nom-de-nick then that's probably a signal that it's time to stop being quite so quirky and focus on the professional instead.

So, 'Ariel' is being phased out, at least on anything that carries a public profile that could reflect on me professionally. Although of course I will still answer to my nick-name when talking to anyone that knows me (Jo won't call me anything else...), and I'll probably still sign emails as 'Ariel' from force of habit. But there you go. A lesson learned.

November 18, 2007 | Filed Under Blogging, Life, Work | 8 Comments

All together now: "Dis place (aaah-ah!) is comin' like a ghost town…"

Hello? Anybody here..? Bit quiet around here lately, I know, but I'm afraid it's a situation that's quite likely to continue for a little while yet...

The thing is, I had a cunning plan, way back when. I was going to finish the new, full content version of Richard Morgan's website (almost done, hopefully it'll be live by the end of the week) and then spend most of September working on a few side-projects of my own, catching up with long overdue blog content, running a few admin tasks that have been on the to-do list for a good while, that sort of thing.

But the Morgan site has been taking a little longer than I planned, if only for all the usual miscellaneous reasons (note to any other would-be or relatively new-start freelancers: when estimating the length of time a job will take, always double it, then add a bit...) And then I got a full schedule data update through from Pete at PS Publishing late last week, which means that I can now crack on with finishing the long-awaited new e-commerce version of the PS website, which is what I've been doing - along with a few other update jobs - pretty much solidly since then.

Having said that, I did manage to get a basic blog setup started for my own work-related info / promo / portfolio site, which is now live at www.darrenturpin.co.uk, although it definitely needs some more work, particularly round about the Portfolio and with regard to contact details etc.

But yes, anyhow, the PS job should take up most of September, which means that my other plans will have to return to the back-burner for a while. October is booked pretty much solid already, and I'm hoping that I'll get chatting about websites to a few folks at Fantasycon the weekend after next, so hopefully I'll end up busy through November. Which means I might have to wait until December to get everything sorted out properly. C'est la vie, and I'm certainly not complaining about being busy.

Although having said that, if I can sneak some schedule space in the meantime, then what I'm hoping to do is: finish DT.co.uk and expand the range of content I'm posting there (marketing, productivity, GTD, freelance working, that sort of thing), then re-template The Genre Files (it's looking a little dark and dingy in here, compared to a few of the cleaner templates I've seen online recently) and re-focus the content on books, bookishness, publishing and related topics, whilst moving out the more general, chatty and / or personal stuff into a new blog. Possibly at darrenturpin.me.uk, possibly at lessordinary.me.uk ("aiming to live a life less ordinary..." yes? no? good? okay? crap?) which I registered a while back on whim and haven't done anything with yet. And of course, I'll be keeping things ticking over on UKSFBN and I will try to pick up the pace again here, pending the re-design...

Phew. Wish me luck!

September 11, 2007 | Filed Under Blogging, Life, Work | 6 Comments

Feed Control: seven highly recommended genre aggregator blogs

The Silence of the Feeds I was forced to take drastic action a couple of weeks ago: having realised that there was just no way I was ever going to be able to keep up with the vast output from the 150+ RSS feeds that I'd merrily subscribed to over the past year or so, I took a deep breath, reached for the 'unsubscribe' check-box, and instigated a full-scale cull.

It was tough, but in the end I managed to unsubscribe from over a hundred. I started with anything just too prolific for me to have a hope in hell of keeping up with (Boing! Boing! was the first to go) and then moved onto the bulk of the expendables: Marketing / Web 2.0 themed blogs that I'd read one or two interesting posts on a while back and had subscribed to out of habit, before I knew any better...

Then there were a few that I was genuinely reluctant to let go: really interesting blogs written by authors, editors and publishers whose work I've read and enjoyed, or whose blogs I know of by their deservedly high repute: Neil Gaiman, Lou Anders, Ken MacLeod, Charlie Stross, John Scalzi, Jeff Vandermeer, Tobias Buckell, to name but a few...

Why did I drop their feeds? Simple time-availability issues: these guys all tend to post regularly on a wide range of topics; too regularly and too widely for me to keep proper tabs on it all. Don't get me wrong, it's the sort of material that's great to sit and read and ponder if you have the time; the sort of material I'd love to be able to keep up with, if I could.

Besides which, it actually occurred to me, about half-way through the process, that if I really wanted to keep a weather-eye on the most pertinent debates of the day, or to be alerted whenever the aforementioned authors, editors and publishers post something particularly fascinating, then it's actually quite easy to arrange. All I really need to do is make sure I was subscribed to the best aggregator sites that I could find; the ones that regularly pull together and present all the best material from around the genre-flavoured bits of the web.

And so here - in no particular order and for the benefit of several readers - is my personal selection of seven highly-recommended genre aggregator blogs; the pick of the crop that I've found to-date. Some of these guys write opinion pieces as well (which is great) but in general, I keep them in a Google Reader tag-group called 'Genre - Essential' because they can be relied upon to aggregate regularly and aggregate well...

Joe Gordon - The Forbidden Planet Blog Log. Joe is a pro-blogger in the truest sense of the phrase; he actually gets paid by his employer, UK genre-specialist retailer Forbidden Planet International, to write entries for the FP Blog. As a result, you can expect several entries per day from Joe, mainly with a general books and comics them, but encompassing a wide range of diverse sf-ish or graphic art -esque sub-topics: everything from previews of the latest Doctor Who merchandise to reports on Iranian political cartooning. He's also usually first out of the traps with the latest press releases from UK publishers, and isn't afraid to speak his mind when the occasion warrants, either.
Niall Harrison - Torque Control. Niall is the current editor of the British Science Fiction Association's Vector magazine. He's often outspoken (he isn't afraid to chuck stones around his own glass house either), always eloquent, and produces regular Links round-ups (complete with pun-based titles).
Iain Emsley - Yatterings. Iain used to run the online bookstore The Aust Gate until he decided to focus his energies on blogging instead. The results are great: Yatterings is regularly updated with interesting news snippets and he regularly takes the time to conduct in-depth author interviews.
Paul Raven - Velcro-City Tourist Board. Velcro-City is definitely one of the most rich and diverse sf / culture / science / tech blogs around. Paul brings all his interests to the table, so there's always a great mix of content, and his 'Fresh from teh intarwebs' round-ups are a great way of catching up.
James Bloomer - Big Dumb Object. James is another regular, nay prolific, poster; he usually manages several updates a day on a wide variety of topics, with plenty of Doctor Who content to explore, if you're a fellow fan. Again, another great site for keeping up to date with the most important news and current events.
JP Frantz and John DeNardo - SF Signal. Online since July 2003, SF Signal is a team-produced blog/zine with regularly updated content that ranges from news snippets and round-ups to book reviews, competitions, readers polls and more. (It's pretty much the sort of thing I always aspired to with The Alien Online, but had to give up on when it all got to be too much on the admin side of things.)
Andrew Wheeler - The Antick Musings of GBH Hornswoggler, Gent. Andrew Wheeler used to blog professionally for The SF Bookclub of America, before they decided (for reasons best known only to themselves) to let him go. At that point he started using Antick Musings as a Blog in Exile, putting out the same extremely regular round-ups of interviews, reviews, podcasts, news and links, until recently when he was taken on by the far more far-sighted ComicMix, so check out his posts there as well. This guy is the uber-blogger's uber-blogger. Seriously, I have no idea where he finds the time...

So, there you have it. My current list of the seven best genre fiction-themed aggregator blogs. Not that these are the only feeds I read, of course. There are several other close-call candidates in the 'Genre - Important' tag folder, including British Fantasy Society News, the aforementioned ComicMix, Irish Sci-Fi News, SFScope, Neth Space and, of course, Locus Online. Then there are a bunch of genre publisher blogs: Orbit, Solaris, Pyr, Subterranean, TTA and some general publisher / book news / bookish blogs as well.

But hey, this is by no means intended to be an exhaustive list and I'm always open to new sources of news and hard fact, so please feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments. If anyone suggests anything I find particularly fascinating, I'll run an update in a week or three.

July 10, 2007 | Filed Under Blogging, Life, Work | 20 Comments

Facebooked

My Facebook Friend... I've finally succumbed and joined that-there Facebook thing, after receiving a friend request from Paul Cornell this morning. Paul's such a lovely chap (as well as writing some of the very best Doctor Who scripts of the last three series) that I just felt it would have been supremely churlish of me to refuse. And besides, he's going to be turning 40 very soon, and I'd hate to upset him this close to the big day... >:)

So, anyhow, I'm on there now - under my nom-de-RL, Darren Turpin (not to be confused with the other Darren Turpin on there, who may or may not be the other other Darren Turpin, the one who writes video game reviews for several publications; he isn't me either, in case you were wondering...) - if anyone wants to, you know, be my friend. Hey, I promise to share my sweets and swap my bestest star wars cards and not tell tales on you and let you use my tree-house, and everything. Can't say fairer than that.

Seriously, though, does anyone know if Facebook has a genuinely practical application, or is it just yet another dangerous, time-consuming, life-sucking fad? No, please, do let me know, I'm genuinely interested in whether or not I ought to be talking to my clients about developing a presence on there...

July 5, 2007 | Filed Under Life, Work | 16 Comments

Recent radio silence…

Spent the best part of last week in the picturesque seaside town of Tenby, down in Pembrokeshire, South Wales. I was there on family business: my Nanna - who'll be 91 years old in just a few weeks - decided a few months back that she probably wasn't going to be able to cope through another winter on her own (my Grandad having passed away a couple of summers ago) so it was high time she relocated to a bungalow in Leeds.

A very good decision, if you ask me: her old house, was horribly inaccessible for someone of her advanced years (halfway up a hill, with steep steps at the front and back) and she's now much closer to most of my family and only an hour from Jo and I in Manchester. And it was a very brave decision, too: leaving the home she's lived in for the past 56 years to start a new life at 91 is just an incredible thing to do (and it was her decision, too; nobody pressured her into it) and I have nothing but admiration for her.

So, being the dutiful type and eager to assist in any way I could, I went on down to help out with the move: packing up the last few boxes, waving Mum, Dad and Nanna off on their car journey back to Leeds, then coordinating with the removal guys at the tail-end of the week, before making my own way back home by train on Friday.

The thing about Tenby: lovely place to visit, nice place to live if you fancy a bit of peace & quiet (except for the summer season, which can get a bit hairy), but not exactly what you'd call a wi-fi hot-spot. Hence my complete lack of T'Internet access all week, and the subsequent mad scramble to sort through my email backlog mountain and catch up with various work-related tasks (and resulting lack of blogging here) since I've been back at the weekend.

Of course, a week to myself with no WWW access - plus a six-hour train journey at the end of it - meant that I was able to read a whole two books (Charlie Huston's second Joe Pitt novel, No Dominion, the second of John Connolly's Charlie Parker novels, Dark Hollow) and make a good start on a third (K.J. Parker's Evil For Evil - finally!). And this, sadly, is something of a personal best since I knocked the daily commute on the head, not counting holiday reading...

And here - just in case you're contemplating a holiday, or even retiring to the coast (I know where you can buy a very nice semi - in need of redecoration, true, but in a great location) - are a few scenic shots of Tenby that I snapped off with my trusty old Fuji Finepix on the Monday evening. This was the last spell of sunshine that I was able to enjoy before the rain-clouds set in for the rest of the week.

The subject matter: St Catherine's Island (complete with largely-derelict C18th fort), the approach to Castle Hill (with a section of the old town walls), and the old lifeboat house (now replaced by a shiny, modern one, from where this last photo was taken).

Back to the regular genre-fiction-stuff next time I find a spare moment to put fingers to keyboard...

June 27, 2007 | Filed Under Books, Life, Photography | 9 Comments

I am Jack's complete lack of blog time…

A wise blogger once ~~said~~ blogged words to the effect of:

1) Don't blog if you're too insanely busy to blog (which I most definitely am - head down on my major project, making good progress though...)

2) Don't blog if you're feeling blue (which I'm not, I'm actually really enjoying being this busy, as odd as that might sound... but it's still sage advice)

3) Don't blog if you haven't got anything worthwhile to say (but I have, I've got loads to stuff to talk about - new arrivals, recommended reading, recommended tunes, links to here, there and everywhere - just no time to talk in... no time dammit!)

Back as soon as I can be...

May 2, 2007 | Filed Under Life | 4 Comments

Busy, y'say..?

Absolutely run off my feet at the moment; mostly with work-related projects, which is absolutely great.

In brief:

Jo and I were guests of Pete and Nicky Crowther (of PS Publishing fame) last weekend, at their absolutely wonderful home on the East Yorkshire coast. Their house is one of our very favourite places on the entire planet: partly because it contains a veritable cornucopia of sf stuff - books, toys, DVDs, memorabilia; decades worth, and it would take a decade to read / watch / play with it all - but mostly because it's home to Pete and Nicky, who are two of our very favourite people (an opinion widely shared in genre fiction circles, I know) and spending time with them is always an absolute joy. We ate, we drank, we laughed. A lot. Of all three. And we watched Hollywoodland, which was... interesting. Dark, and definitely... interesting.

We also thrashed out a last few remaining issues on the PS website re-build, which means I'll now be able to crack on with that project as soon as possible. Got another few jobs to finish as well, all of which are tantalisingly close to completion, as well as a few new ones in the pipeline. Plus, I'm off down to London on Thursday to have lunch with a few of the fine folks from Gollancz Books and meet with a certain Mssr. Lynch, a word-smith whose acquaintance I'm absolutely dying to make. Will tell you all about it later next week, all being well.

Then on Friday afternoon Jo and I are heading down to Derby for Saturday's Alt.Fiction event, which I'm also thoroughly looking forward to. It'll be a great chance for us to catch up with a whole load of fantastic people that we haven't seen since last year's Fantasycon (or perhaps last month's Eastercon, or even last weekend...) and hopefully we'll get a chance to talk to everyone I've been saying "catch you at Alt.Fiction!" to for the past few weeks. Packed panel programme allowing.

So, yes, incredibly hectic schedule just now, absolutely loads going on. And I'm afraid that it does all rather mean that I might not be posting properly until after the weekend. I'll do my best to prep a couple of bookish entries sooner rather than later. Six hours of quite, quite wonderful reading time on the train to and from London on Thursday should help no end with that. Luxury!

April 24, 2007 | Filed Under Life, Work | 3 Comments

In case you were wondering…

A quick progress round-up on a few past blog posts, for anyone whose curiosity has been piqued but not quite satiated (for some strange reason) by what went before...

Jo and I finally got to the New Model Army exhibition back in February. My favourite exhibit was the original (a.f.a.i.k.) hand-written lyrics for one of NMA's signature songs: 'Vagabonds'. I did take a photo, but the glass case caused a double exposure (or something) so it came out blurry, which was a shame...
HBO are still talking about the forthcoming TV adaptation of Preacher but there are no definite details on their website yet.
So far my Year of the Short Story has gotten off to a slow start... too many great new must-read novels coming in, dammit.
The Test-Tube Alien eventually grew to fill its tube, becoming some sort of horrible, twisted, mutant alien in the process. Which is all to the good, I suppose. Eventually the light on its forehead stopped blinking. But that was a long time after I'd stopped caring...
And three months after my team, Bury FC, were kicked out of the F.A. Cup on a paperwork technicality, we're now 19th in League Two - having achieved the dizzy heights of 9th before this all happened - and haven't won a game in our last 16 outings. You tell me, do you think the team's morale was adversely affected by the F.A.'s decision at all? There's lots more I could say on the subject, but I suspect you'd rather not hear it. Maybe James Barclay will give me a guest slot on Barclay Talks Sport and I can vent my spleen there...
But hey, at least we've finally finished the decorating! Well, apart from a bit more snagging. But all the large areas of wall that need painting are painted. So tonight, after the gym, Jo and I will be girding our collective loins for a trip out to buy new bookcases for the dining room. From Ikea. Wish us luck...

March 20, 2007 | Filed Under Life | Leave a Comment

Eastercon after all…

Having spent the last six months telling various folks that Jo and I won't be going to Eastercon this year for one reason or another, we've had a change of heart. Seeing as Chester is just an hour down the road from us on a good day, we've decided that we're going to invest in a day pass each and nip down for the Saturday session.

So if anyone is going to be around on the Saturday who particularly wants to say hello for any reason, do let me know and I'll make a point of keeping an eye out for you and we can sit and have a natter. And I'll be driving there and back on the day, so it would be a perfect time to offer to buy me a drink - should you have the strange urge to do so - safe in the knowledge that the worst I can do is ask for an orange juice...

Edit: Thanks to Eddie C for pointing out (within 20 mins of my posting) that I'd put the link to the old, defunct Eastercon. D'oh! More caffeine needed, I reckon...

March 15, 2007 | Filed Under Life | 5 Comments

Five Reasons Why I Blog

I was semi-tagged with this meme about three weeks ago by Paul Raven of the rather superb Velcro City Tourist Board. Three weeks? I know, I know. My excuse is that I've been gathering my thoughts ever since... <cough>

I realise this is now an Old Meme and there's a lot of it around, so I've made a point of not reading anyone else's answers on the topic so as to avoid picking up any of their threads. Paul's own answers can be found here and I'm sure a Technorati search (or two) on the subject will turn up dozens more (okay, about 471 in total...)

Right then, short version first, if you just want to read 'em and move on:

1) To Win Friends and Influence People - Make contact with like minded people and have conversations with them about the things we find mutually fascinating.

2) To Get Rich Quick - Well, no, but certainly to help sustain and develop my career as a freelance webguy by helping me to provide the best service I can to my existing client roster and hopefully put me in touch with potential new clients.

3) To Practice What I Preach - If I can set a decent blogging example for my author clients then more of them might be inspired to take up the blogging habit, which can only be good for them in the long run...

4) To Learn, and Go On Learning - Life's too short to ever stop learning new things, and the best way to find out about all the relevant interesting new things on offer is to let folks know what I'm interested in, then see what other people have to say about what's out there, and then help to spread the word.

5) I Just Can't Get Enough - I'm a frustrated (read: undisciplined, poorly motivated, lazy) wannabe novelist, but although I probably don't have the stones for the long haul it seems that I really, really have to be writing something and blogging gives me an outlet for the random pulses of creativity that wrack my system from time to time.

Long version, y'say? Well, I'm going to use the 'more' link on this one, because otherwise my entire homepage is going to be one huge wall of text until I find the energy to write and post something else...

So, if you're at all interested in the thought processes behind the answers, then please do read on.

Oh, wait! First I have to tag some other folks, right? Seems that 5 is the most popular number, so here goes... take it away:

Joe Gordon
Brian Ruckley - Brian's 5 here
Paul Cornell - Sorry, nothing from Paul. He's very busy and somewhat meme-averse...
John Jarrold
Iain Emsley

March 9, 2007 | Filed Under Life, Work | 10 Comments

Long weekend in Northern Ireland

Jo and I have spent the last three days in the always wonderful company of our very good friends Paul and Marie, as guests in their lovely home on the east coast of Northern Ireland.

The ancient province of Ulster is where you'll find of the most gloriously wild and unspoilt coastland in the UK. The more commonly tourist-trodden Giant's Causeway has been largely tamed, but is still quite literally breath-taking, particularly on a typically wind-swept spring day. Paul and Marie live a fair bit further south, where there are far fewer tourists, which means fewer cars, car-parks, visitor centres and litter-bins to mar the landscape.

They do get an awful lot of rain and wind though, and both Friday and Sunday were typical for the time of year: grey, lowering skies with squalls sweeping in from the Irish Sea and rattling the roof tiles. So we stayed in, enjoyed home-cooked chiken korma, chilli con carne and bacon & mushroom frittata, drank bottled Guinness and the Whitewater Brewery's Belfast Ale (thanks to Ed for the recommendation, Paul and I really enjoyed it), sipped snifters of Laphroig cask strength and played poker and Uno when we weren't whiling away the hours in conversation.

But on Saturday the weather lifted and the sun shone through, so we took the opportunity to go for a trek up along the coast for a couple of miles, following a short section of the Ulster Way. Here are a few snapshots I took with my old and un-fancy Fuji Finepix A203:

That water is a fair bit colder than it looks

They don't call it the Emerald Isle for nothing...

Quite lovely, no?

And of course, our destination was a fantastic country pub, where I enjoyed a remarkably fine sirloin steak (Jo had the lemon sole), washed down by a couple of delicious pints of Guinness. Have you noticed how they always taste better after a decent amount of exercise? Must be the lower guilt-content...

Ahhhh... Northern Ireland. Highly recommended.

March 5, 2007 | Filed Under Drink, Food, Life, Photography | 2 Comments

Happy Birthday to the missus! Happy Birthday to yoooooo!

The missus: Gorgeous! It's Jo's birthday today. Her tumty-tumth. What? Like I'd ever be so ungentlemanly as to reveal a lady's age! Although I must confess I do take a quiet satisfaction in knowing (and occasionally reminding my beloved) that she's three short - but quite definite - weeks older than me... ;)

Anyhow, we're off out tonight for a food-based celebration of the event, and tomorrow night for a movie-based follow-up, so do excuse me if I don't get a chance to blog much again until the weekend...

And do feel free to join me in a rousing chorus:

"Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday..!"

The Altered Images version, obviously...

February 15, 2007 | Filed Under Life | 1 Comment

Mass-media muppetry and the mediocrity of the mundane masses

They announced the winners of the Brit Awards, the UK music industry's annual self-congratulatory back-slap and circle jerk, last night.

Modern Times by Bob Dylan Normally I wouldn't deign to pay even the slightest bit of attention to this sort of claptrap, but I happened to catch sight of the results of one particular category, and it seemed to me to sum up the essential problem with elevating and celebrating mass-popularity over quality, and encourage the great un-thinking masses (the Brit Awards are decided by a vote of all things, and apparently anyone can join in) to be the arbiters of a nation's supposed 'taste'.

The category in question was 'Best International Male Solo Artist'. The nominees included:

Damien Rice - An Irish singer-songwriter who eschews the sometimes mawkish elements of the Emerald Isle's 'traditional' music in favour of complex, dark, multi-layered compositions that seek to investigate and lay bare the very roots of emotion (well, he sings songs about love and what it means to be human, anyhow). Two albums so far; both of them a lot more interesting than anything by James Blunt, by the way...

Jack Johnson - A modern-day troubadour; a beach-bum folk-singer of great talent and great voice, who strolled onto the music scene a few years ago strumming a collection of cheerful, sunny tunes about life, love and living it up in Hawaii (which, let's face it, ought to make just about anyone sound cheerful) and hit exactly the right note with almost everyone, from old folkies to lovers of melodic, radio-friendly guitar pop.

Beck - A musician and entertainer who for fifteen years has been creating a bewildering array of soundscapes and song structures - everything from mellow ballads to funked-up hip-hop. Sometimes challenging, sometimes not so accessible at first, but always interesting, always worth a second listen. And a third, and a fourth...

Bob Dylan - What can I say that hasn't already been said? A living legend, an inspiration to countless singers, songwriters and strolling balladeers, a modern-day bard of the highest echelon - okay, maybe some of his music is a taste that has to be acquired... but once sampled, it's never forgotten. One of the true, all-time greats.

And who did the award go to?

Justin fucking Timberlake.

A pretty-boy who can dance a bit and occasionally hold a tune; who wouldn't even have crossed the musical radar if he hadn't shacked up with Britney Spears a few years back; a genuinely talentless waste of CD space who couldn't write a song if his bank-balance depended on it (which, luckily for him, it clearly doesn't); beloved of the record label execs mainly because he knows how to grind his hips and make the little girlies go weak at the gusset...

I despair... I really do.

<...End rant>

February 15, 2007 | Filed Under Life, Music | 2 Comments

File under: "Are we done yet..?"

Blimey. Apologies for recent radio silence, but I've been tied up for the last few days and no mistake. Last Wednesday, Mark Chadbourn's forum was hacked by a gang of ~~script kiddies~~ l33t hak0rz. Damn, etc.

Mind you, they were actually surprisingly polite about it - just left a sort of "your forum isn't very secure, you know..." message, and changed the colour scheme. I don't know, maybe they felt a bit guilty because it was such an easy system to break into. Which, whilst obviously rather irritating, actually turned out to be just the kick up the arse I needed to get the forum upgraded to a better software platform; something I've been trying to find time to do for a good six months or so. So I suppose they actually did me a favour, of sorts, when you think about it.

Anyway, net result: shiny new forum.

However, installing the new software did take up the best part of the two afternoons that I had originally ear-marked for clearing out my massively over-stuffed inbox and generally sorting out the office; something else that was long overdue and marked 'urgent' on the to-do list. So there went the weekend...

Won't be sorry to see the back of these things... At least, there went whatever was left of the weekend after Jo and I had spent the bulk of it feverishly slapping paint on the remaining few dozen square metres of upstairs walls and woodwork, in preparation for the remaining carpets being fitted yesterday. Not to mention all the dusting, vacuuming, shifting-of-furniture, rearranging of piles of dusty boxes etc. that went with it.

Still, the Evil Decorating is 95% done now - just the porch and hall to finish off, plus snagging (a builder-standard technical term for going round and doing all the odd bits that are always left at the end of a job, and one that I'm going to adopt for website work henceforth) - and just in time for Jo's folks to visit on Thursday. They're staying for the weekend, which means that I get to cook for Jo's Mum, for a change. Quite daunting, actually...

Oh, and just in case there are any doubters out there who don't believe we've really spent the last two years of our lives planning for, working on and generally living through this extension project - that it's all been an elaborate hoax for me to use as an excuse for not doing tonnes of constructive and productive stuff with my time - here are the before and after shots...

...oh, hang on, no. They're on the old PC. Which reminds me, I'll have to rescue those before it goes to the recyclers... maybe I'll post them another time, unless enough of you beg me not to... but they do exist, honest.

Right, that's that. Something more bookish to follow shortly, I promise - more New Arrivals to tell you about, and the start of a new (maybe even regular) feature: the 'Where Are They Now?' Files.

January 9, 2007 | Filed Under Life, Work | 2 Comments

Still free on January 6th…

Looks like the cynical bastards at the F.A. were merely dangling the possibility of a reprieve for Bury FC in order to escape the pre-Xmas bad publicity after all.

Bury FC Ah, well. We made the blunder, now we've got to take it on the chin. Although it looks like if you do make an honest mistake, then doing the decent thing - 'fessing up and apologising - doesn't hold any water with the bureaucratic types. So let this be a lesson to everyone: next time you think you might get away with a mistake you've made, don't tell! Honesty is punishable! Lie, cheat and steal like everyone else, it's the only way forward... apparently.

What, bitter? Me?

In other news: have just about finished off the last of the Yuletide leftovers, so it's back on the health regime as of Monday. Luckily I already joined a gym last November and have been a few times since, so when I get back down there next week the staff might recognise me and not smirk quite so much.

Oh, and this year's Xmas dinner for two was a triumph, if I do say so myself. Thanks to a set of cooking instructions I found on a website somewhere, the turkey didn't come out dry as the Antarctic(*) and tasting like an old cardboard box, and the assorted roast veggies were done to a 't'.

The seasonal TV highlight for me was definitely the QI Xmas Special (and I also received a copy of QI: The Book of General Ignorance [Amazon] from Jo, which was most welcome, and most enlightening, too). Dracula kinda sucked (sorry, couldn't resist), but The Ruby in the Smoke was watchable, and The Hogfather was quite jolly.

I've solved my coffee-machine quandary - for the short-term at least - with the purchase of a Russell Hobbes filter machine for the not-so bank-breaking price of £17.49, from good old Sainsbury's. Oh, and a jar of Illy ground, just in case those beans turn out to have crumbled away to nothing or something...

Also managed to find a bit more reading time than usual; I finished the charmingly disgraceful Vesuvius Club [Amazon] and have now taken the plunge and started in on Before They Are Hanged [Amazon]; I'm about 55 pages in so far and loving it. I'll be writing a couple more book-ish entries this weekend with any luck, once I've put the finishing touches to the brand new Les Edwards and Edward Miller websites, which will be going live on Monday. Speaking of which, best get on, eh?

So, a Happy New Year to everyone, in case I don't post again before then.

(*) Driest place on Earth. No lie. It's in QI: The Book of General Ignorance and everything...

December 29, 2006 | Filed Under Books, Drink, Food, Life, Sport | 2 Comments

A Joyous Yuletide to you all…

Yeah, it's that time of year again. Shops are full of even more tat than usual and the streets are packed with even more stressed-out, potentially homicidal forced-shoppers, and all the repeats are back on the telly. So I thought I'd dig out this piece I first scribbled down back in December '02 and give it a dusting-off. (New for 2006: Illustrations!)

--
So how will you be celebrating the festive season?

Speaking as a good and devout Pagan Hedonist, I'm going to have to get my backside in gear. After all, it's the solstice festival on the 21st, which is only a couple of weeks away, even though this year's solstice isn't actually occuring until 00.22 (GMT) on the 22nd, astronomically speaking.

And I'm torn between which of the the sun gods traditionally associated with the season (Appolo, Attis, Baal, Dionysus, Helios, Hercules, Horus, Mithra, Osiris, Perseus, Theseus) I should be honouring and persuading not to descend forever into the underworld. Tricky, that. So many to choose from...

Maenads, pre-raphaelite style The Maenads. Fun girls, if you don't get on their bad side...

I could of course follow the Greek model and celebrate the December 21st Lenaea, the "Festival of the Wild Women", which sounds kinda fun and kinky, but seeing as it commemorates poor old Dionysius, or Orpheus as he's known to his mates, being torn apart and eaten by the Meanads, then perhaps I'll pass on that one.

Although obviously the ancient traditions of killing and consuming the flesh and blood of the sacred king once his seven year reign had finished is also rooted very firmly in paganism, but I believe it generally took place round about the time of the feast of the Mother Goddess Eostre, so that's a fair way off yet. And speaking of things druidic, there's always their 'Alban Arthuan' festival, or the traditional wiccan minor sabbat, both of which occur on the 21st as well. Another couple of options there.

Then again, I could just do what the Romans did and roll the whole lot up into a general-purpose Saturnalia / "Feast of the Unconquered Sun" on the 25th. Let me see - deity born of a virgin in a cave or stable? Check. Fathered by a god? Check. Birth predicted by signs and portents - stars and what have you? Check. Yep, they all seem to meet the criteria, so I guess rolling them up into one big happy ball of sunshine would be the easiest thing to do. And the Germans did use this as the basis for their Yule festival after all. Yule meaning "wheel" of course, representing the disc of the sun - which does rather round off my multiple sun gods dilemma quite nicely...

Photo by 'toastycake', via sxc.hu Note the Egyptian influence in the pyramid styling of this traditional festive tree...

Or I could just focus on the Egyptian element this year and celebrate the feast of Isis and Osiris, or the Babylonian feast of the Son of Isis (Horus again, IIRC). Which would mean that I could legitimately use another ancient Egyptian tradition and decorate a tree in their honour. Apparently this was quite popular among the Germans as well - evergreens being sacred to the sun god and symbols of fertility in winter and all. Hey, then I could drape some holly and mistletoe around the place - berries being symbols of fertility too. Maybe even a little light snogging in the interests of appeasing the fertility spirits? Sounds like a good excuse to me.

And there's always the feast of Adam and Eve to celebrate on the 24th. I mean, those guys are about as pagan as you can get, right? The prophet Jeremiah certainly had a go at the practice of bringing a tree into the house and decking it with silver and gold in their honour, so that must boost their credibility no end. I think I'll stop short of burning a yule log, though. I don't have a fireplace to burn it in. Or a druid-blessed axe. Or a sacred oak tree to cut a bough from in the first place, for that matter.

Photo by 'Rob W', via sxc.hu "It's Wild Hunt time again? Dude! Awesome!"

But I will keep an eye out for Wotan and the Wild Hunt, crossing the sky in a sleigh drawn by reindeer... or was it goats..? Either way, those guys are always good for a laugh. Liven up a party no end, they will.

I certainly intend to eat lots and drink lots in the fine traditions of the Roman Bacchanalia. And if any mummers happen to stop by my house whilst - again in the traditional pagan Roman manner - they wander the world between now and the Kalends of January singing songs of praise to Sol Invictus, I might even invite them in for a bite to eat. Small parcels of pastry-covered sweetmeats ought to go down well.

And just to prove that Pagan Hedonism is multi-culturally welcoming and knows no geographical boundaries, I think I'll borrow an old Chinese tradition and hang a sock by the fire for the red-jacketed hearth spirit to fill with presents. That would be nice. And I'll spread the joy a little as well, by giving presents to my family and friends. Borrowing from the Romans again there, but I'm sure they won't mind. Very open-minded, the Romans. Accepted just about anybody - and their religion - as long as they paid their taxes and kept their nose out of other people's business...

Anyway, I expect those of you with Christian leanings will have your own, entirely unique and special holy days to keep and traditions to observe. After all, you've never been all that fond of getting along and joining in with we Pagan Hedonists, have you? Burn us at the stake as soon as look at us, you lot. So, something in keeping with the Jewish origins of your sect, maybe? A quiet hymn or two, perhaps? Something solemn and subdued? None of this debauchery and excess for you lot, right?

Photo by 'dirkf' via sxc.hu "Fertility Symbols! Getcher modest pagan fertility symbols! Snog the missus!"

Come to think of it, you'll probably have exchanged modest gifts and pleasantries already on December 6th, no? What, you missed Saint Nicholas' day? He was one of your lot, wasn't he? Ah, unless you're still following the 350AD dictates of Pope Julius I to observe Christ's Mass on the 25th instead. You are? What, even though the historical Joshua Ben Joseph was probably born in September? Oh, okay. Anyhow, have a nice time in church. At midnight. When the rest of us are down the pub...

--
No, but seriously though, whatever your leanings, superstitions and procilvities at this time of year, a very heartfelt "Bah, humbug!" to the lot of you... ;)

December 8, 2006 | Filed Under Life | 2 Comments

All-England smoking ban confirmed for 01/07/07

I'm so happy.

Okay, I knew I said I was going to steer clear of politics etc. but I was just so completely overjoyed when I read on the BBC website that the government has finally pulled its finger out and named the date that I had to say something.

The pro-smoking lobby in the UK have been making a lot of noise about how the ban will infringe their freedom of choice, how smokers should be allowed to smoke if they want to, that banning them from smoking is just evidence of the nanny-state run wild...

You Know it makes sense, pic by 'msierra' via sxc.hu And I actually agree with the first part. If people want to smoke - to make that adult choice, knowing all the associated health risks, knowing that it heightens their chances of dying early in all sorts of hugely unpleasant ways - then fine, they should be allowed to do that. But in the privacy of their own homes, not in enclosed public spaces where people who have chosen not to smoke cannot possibly avoid inhaling the stuff.

Because that's where the pro-somkers' own argument turns in on itself. How can you have freedom for choice for one group but not another, if their respective choices are diammetrically opposed? In which case, surely at some point you have to draw the line and decide which group to side with: the minority (only about 30% of UK adults are smokers) - whose chosen activity causes proven, physical harm not just to themselves, but to those around them - or the majority, who just want to breathe cleaner air, and enjoy a night out with friends in the pub of their choice without ending up with a rasping throat, a hangover from hell and clothes (and hair, and skin) that smell like the bottom of an ashtray?

An analogy for you: suppose someone really enjoyed the sound of an air-horn being let off right next to their ear? And suppose they decided to sit in a pub for four hours doing just that on a regular basis? Annoying for everyone around them, and eventually it would cause damage to not just their hearing, but that of everyone in ear-shot. Should they, and anyone else who wants to, be allowed to let off air-horns in an enlcosed public place to their heart's content, just because they choose to do so?

So in this particular instance, I applaud the nanny-state for getting it right for once. I just wish the lazy bastards had gotten their act together and introduced the ban a couple of years ago. The very least they could have done is introduce it UK-wide this year, instead of just in Scotland. But still, better late than never, eh?

December 2, 2006 | Filed Under Life | 9 Comments