Stay safe. Stay in
The other night I nearly lost my eyebrows lighting a barbecue; today, I managed to blow up a strimmer. They say trouble comes in threes, so I’m staying indoors for the forseeable future. Going outside is too damn dangerous.
Archive for July, 2006
On the radio again
Blather alert: I’ll be on Karen Dunbar’s show (BBC Radio Scotland) this morning at 10.40ish to wibble on about mobile phones. And, er, that’s it.
Little thoughts
…none of which justifies an entire blog post:
* I traded in a bunch of 360 games at the weekend: PDZ (because it sucks), Ghost Recon (because it’s too difficult) and Far Cry: Predator (because I’ve already played it on Xbox and can’t be bothered with the new mission). Result? Nearly sixty quid, which I put to use by buying two pre-owned games. In the shiny, DRM-protected download future, I won’t be able to do that.
* Pirates of the Caribbean 2 is an hour too long, like every sodding film seems to be these days. At two and a half hours films stop being entertainment and become bladder abuse, with added numb-arse syndrome (and if you’re a smoker, thoughts of murder). As for the film itself, I was mildly entertained but can’t really remember anything about it. But – sad internet type that I am – I had to restrain myself from punching the air when the trailer for Snakes on a Plane appeared.
* There weren’t any anti-online-piracy ads before Pirates… a missed opportunity, not least because it would have been the first time I could have shouted “Yarrrrr” without being out of context.
* There were anti-fake-DVD ads though. At last they seem to have abandoned the “if you buy these, you’re funding Osama Bin Laden” approach and started stating the bleedin’ obvious: fake DVDs suck.
* Red Eye (Cillian Murphy film) is ace. And the DVD’s cheap.
* The new Thom Yorke and Muse albums are really rather good.
* Every time I hear Snow Patrol’s “Run”, I get really angry. I’ll come back to this soon.
* Prey (the game) is all right. If you like that sort of thing, it’s the sort of thing you’ll like.
* British men – me included – really can’t do summer clothes.
* Tim Dorsey has a new book out, The Big Bamboo. I’m halfway through it and it’s as demented as his other stuff.
Firefox 2 beta 1 is out
…and you can get it from this link. Nice integrated spellchecker (which can save new words), seems very stable, but on my Mac at least the combination of close buttons and favicons on the tabs is a bit messy.
So you want to be a book cover artist?
One for the artistic types: a good look at the do’s and don’ts of creating artwork for SF and Fantasy books. It seems that spherical breasts and mullets are no-nos.
[Via MetaFilter]
The Internet is for porn
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One for the “surely this has been done before?” file: Heatseek is a new browser that’s designed specifically for browsing, ahem, specialist sites.
[Via TechCrunch]
Only in America?
…”What we’re seeing is a political trend in which the fetuses are coming first, and the rights of women… are coming last,” said Lynn Paltrow, executive director of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women.
“I think 30 years of anti-abortion rhetoric –’women killing their babies’ — has led to a moral vilification that doesn’t just stick to those who seek to terminate a pregnancy. It’s spreading to all pregnant women.”
Pimp my email
Today’s unfortunately named Web service is…
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[Via Digg, again]
“I just know it’s going to be the best non-anesthetized invasive uterine surgery ever!”
Pro-life blogger gets very upset about a pro-choice article. Doesn’t spot that it’s from The Onion.
Here are some of the bits quoted in the blog:
“I am totally psyched for this abortion!”
“Those pro-life activists made it pretty clear that, unlike me, they actually think abortion is bad and to be avoided. Are they nuts? Abortion is the best!”
“I realize there are people who will criticize me, calling me selfish and immature because I took “the easy way out.” I realize there are those who will condemn me to hell for what I’m about to do. Well, I don’t care what they say: It’s worth it for all the fun and laughs I’m going to have at the clinic.”
[Via Digg]
Update, 13 July
The blogger in question now claims that it was all a big joke. Uh-huh.
MacFormat has a blog
MacFormat magazine has a new blog.
Er, that’s it.
Sorry for the lack of updates recently – I’m busy proofing books and trying to stop Megan from eating my arms.
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