Planet Jedimoose

Prime Minister's Questions – or Quibbles – from a semi-independent viewpoint. Who wins? It's the new PMQs punch-tracker.

Independence, independence, independence. Lots of talk about it, but it's not coming from the SNP…

Today, in a fit of pique, I’ve been working on the long overdue edit of The Spires At Midnight.  I also have a notepad that’s beginning to fill with proposed endings for a load of other projects that need to get cleared off the tabletop.

The Bandstand?  Railman?  These ring any bells?

Lol.  Yeah, I’ve been a bad boy with letting a lot of writing duties slide.

Now, let’s not get carried away that by posting on the the 1st of January about this that I’ve made any bold New Year resolutions.  I have every belief that i’ll get caught up in ‘life’ just as I always do.

But I have been writing, doing a fair bit of work away from the blog.

Just keeping you in the loop. 

Got an e-mail from Remote Push about Flurb, ‘a webzine of astonishing tales’.

http://www.flurb.net

Looks like they’re looking for submissions for issue #13.  The submission window is Feb 1st to 28th of next year.  Stories between one and six thousand words with strong characters and an actual story.  Fancy that.

Time to hunt though my yWriter files and see if I have anything appropriate.

Do you often get stopped by people wanting your money? Struggle to avoid them? Read on… I work in Glasgow city centre. I often walk along Buchanan Street, one of Britain’s busiest shopping streets, during my lunch break, or after work, going from place to place. Often, my walk is thwarted – or interrupted momentarily [...]

So it (almost) begins…

Other than this post I’ll not be thinking of NaNoWriMo.  Tomorrow is when all the fun begins and despite not having a proper coherent story I’m refusing to fret.

I discovered over the weekend that the ending I wanted doesn’t remotely fit the beginning I was planning.  I have a few scenes in mind for the start, an almost clear picture for the first two or three days and beyond that I’m in full “bluffing it” mode.

Oooh, this’ll be fun.

And if it all grinds to a halt too quickly I have another daft idea for a novel, something that Ruth and I were talking about at the weekend.  It’ll serve as a backup if the first crashes and burns!

And if NaNo goes so well then there’s no reason not to try to write both of them at once…    (this, of course, is madness talking…)

Today, at some point, I’ll be planning the NaNoWriMo for this year.  Was going to do it earlier in the week but loads of distractions got in the way.

I’ve been giving it a lot of thought and I’ll not be writing anything completely new this year.  A few years ago I wrote a pulp sci-fi/horror called Planet of Snakes, the first and only time i finished a NaNoWriMo, which was a sequel to the story I attempted the previous year called Desert of Zin.  Thing is, i never finished Desert of Zin…

So, Planet of Snakes was the sequel to an unfinished novel?  Yep.  And it depended on the ending of Desert of Zin to work.

My thinking is that I’ll use Snakes and other works to write a space adventure.

It’s not strictly just an editing process.  The setting works, after a fashion, and I’ll only need to change the characters, the dialogue, most of the plot and anything else that springs to mind.

But that’s not all.  Oh, no.

It’s not about writing a 50k story this time.  It’s about writing something that actually works, that’s actually readable and is actually complete.  Planet of Snakes was a mess filled with quick fixes.  But my writing has come on in bounds.  I don’t fall into the same repetitious traps.  (Or not as much.)

Nothing quite like setting the sights high, eh?

David Clipston writes a guest post looking at Facebook's recent "news ticker" feature.

Well, the first run of Spires at Midnight has been finished!  Man, I happy about that.    Despite it being patchy as hell… 

And it doesn’t have many spires and it’s not set at midnight.

I’m sure I’ll fix that in the edit, and that begins tonight. 

I’ve been looking through my archives for inspiration.  Looking for a story that jumps out, crying ‘look at me!’  And Spires At Midnight responded.

Looking through the blog it seems that I started this all the way back in September/October 2009 and was dropped for not having enough ‘spark’.  Reading though it again and there’s spark there, just needing a bit of work and an ending.

This is a sequel, of sorts, to Living On Reputation and a story I’ll be sending out into the wild.  Have to make it supergood!

As a big H.P. Lovecraft fan it’s my first serious attempt at writing a Lovecraftian creeping-evil styled tale.  I don’t really know if that’s how it’s going to end up but that’s my intention certainly!

I’m away now – words to write – and I’ll update later.

Err, yeah.  Desert of Zin is back online.  Whoo.  I can almost feel the ripples of excitement coming through the ether…

Seriously though, I’ve brought the blog back to life.  I’ve been working hard on my writing – not having the distraction of a blog worked wonders for my output for a while – and…  Well, and.  Obviously it makes sense to have a further distraction to my writing, especially the very one I stopped before for that very reason…

Actually there are a few reasons why I dropped the blog.  It was getting cluttered.  It was becoming a hassle to maintain.  It wasn’t about writing fiction any more.

Bingo.  That’s why I set Desert Of Zin up in the first place, as a dedicated writing blog away from Jedimoose.org, a site I ran with Ben.  And I haven’t posted there in a long, long time.

So, plans for Zin?  I’m not sure it’ll be a personal blog space.  I’ll not have any gaming or prog rock posts.  And previous posts I’ll archive somewhere.  Writing, writing, writing.  And NaNoWriMo is coming soon.

More to come…

On Friday morning, it was announced that the BBC and Sky will share the UK F1 coverage rights from 2012. Here are my thoughts… The response to this deal has been overwhelmingly negative, rather naive and, quite frankly, full of bollocks from people who think they know what they are talking about when they don’t. [...]

I started using a new Windows Phone 7 app today: Marathon. Finally I can map out my bike rides with ease! I know there are GPS apps for iOS and Android, but I must confess, I’ve never used any of them. Over the weekend, I came across Marathon, and given that it only costs £0.79, [...]

 

perfect

 

 

Jamie in his Huck Finn Pants

 

Following my previous review of Windows Phone 7, I review some of my favourite apps to while away the day!

I’ve been a little alarmed of late by attacks on Britain’s spending on foreign aid. Aid is good. Opposition to it is merely self-interested. Admission I must confess, I very rarely listen to or watch the news now, so I rarely know much of what is going on, but I have noticed a steady stream [...]

Last Friday, “Senna” was finally released in Britain. Here are my thoughts on the film. After a brief introduction and archive footage of Ayrton Senna in the lower ranks, the film covers  Senna’s rise through the ranks of Formula 1, from his days at Toleman, to Lotus, to McLaren, and then the ill-rated relationship with [...]

Attention all GridBids competitors! Results from the 2011 Monaco Grand Prix are now up on the GridBids pages of the website! Take a look and see how you fared. Make sure you get your picks in the the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend. Remember you can change them as many times as you like, until [...]

I've had a little time to recover now, so here it is, what you've been waiting for... the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest review!

So, it’s the evening before the Eurovision final. Time for one final preview of the songs entered for tomorrow night! Take a look… Here is my final rankings table: Please be aware, this is not a prediction, it’s my favourites! I’ll be there, waving my Swedish (redundant) Norwegian and British flags, hoping Jedward don’t win. [...]

Eurovision Semi Final 2 has been and gone, and so here is a copy of the live blog from the evening, just so there is a record of it somewhere. Once again, thanks to everyone who dropped in, much appreciated! Live Blog 2350: Welcome to Noelinho.org, Live! Unfortunately, we’re not live right now… 2351: Come [...]

Eurovision Semi Final 1 has been and gone, and so here is a copy of the live blog from the evening, just so there is a record of it somewhere. Thanks to everyone who visited – it wasn’t a swarm, but I didn’t really want it to be, but you were all good company for [...]

In case it has escaped your attention, this week is a busy week for me. No, I’m not talking work – I’m talking Eurovision. So, I have a little present for you all… “So, what is that present?”, I hear you ask. And now, you have your answer; it is, wait for it… Noelinho.org, Live! [...]

Yeah, let’s talk today about Premiata Forneria Marconi, specifically their album Per Un Amico.  It’s a rare bag of Italian prog brilliance.

Five tracks, all in Italian (they released two English language albums that had new lyrics by Pete Sinfield, is why I mention that…)

PFM are one of the greatest of the classic prog bands.  I had only heard their 70′s content and of that Per Un Amico is by far their best.

It’s like Rammstein, in that I can’t speak or understand German.  The same with PFM.  I don’t have the first idea of Italian but it seems to fit the music.  Blame Jon anderson for that.  Yes tracks have nonsensical lyrics but you don’t tend to listen to the lyrics alone.  Otherwise you’d go, ‘what is he on about?’   But as songs, with all instruments together, it seems to fit.  I’m used to hearing the vocal arrangement as an extra instrument.  Different to a lot of bands/songs where the music serves the singer.  Does that make any sense?  Hmm, maybe.

Per Un Amico has a heavy use of synth across the album (and I’ve always been a sucker for good synth), in what are quite folky songs.  A good combination.

(Quick note, before I forget.  PFM reformed in the late ’90s.  I’d very much like to see them live one day.  I’ll have to keep any eye out for that.)

- Alistair

Aphrodite’s Child.  Heh, where am I going to start with this?

A 60s/70s band from Greece with Vangelis and Greek crooner Demis Roussos among the members.  Released three albums of which I have the third and final: 666 (The Apocalypse of John, 13/18).

Let’s not kid ourselves on, this is an exercise in absolute madness.  I heard the opening tracks “The System” and “Babylon” on a Prog Rock compilation cd the year before i found it in Stereo One in Paisley.  For the life of me I don’t know what compelled me to buy it at the time.  Oh, that’s right, I bought all manner of dodgy prog at the time…

(What’s this “at the time” nonsense?  Dodgy prog is always being bought… )

Anyone with any sense of adventure, or bloody-mindedness, has to source a copy for themselves.

It’s a difficult album to describe.  There are heavy psychedelic influences all over the shop.  But don’t let that put you off.    I have this odd idea of walking to work tomorrow, weather holding out, and if I do i’ll give whole two disc suite a try.  That might just fry what’s left of my fragile mind…

- Alistair

By now, you've all had a chance to look through my Eurovision 2011 preview and my best of the rest too. But as we approach the event, it's time to revisit those rankings!

So, I've reviewed all forty-three songs that will be in Düsseldorf, but what about the ones that didn't make it? The best of the rest are here!

On Friday 13th May, I’ll be mixing it up with my fellow Prog Crusaders, capes a-flowing for Progressive Rock masters Pallas.  So, I thought I’d bang on for the next 13 days about all the things I like about the genre.  Talk about defending the indefensible…  Although I’ll enthuse about the mighty Pallas one of these next days, today I’ll have to start with my first true love of Prog: Yes!  (The exclamation mark is optional…)

I’m sure I was aware of the ’80 classic Owner of a Lonely Heart, I must have been, but the first time I actually chose to listen to them was finding a copy of Classic Yes on vinyl in Glenburn Library.  It was the cover that caught my eye (of course it was…) and as a young teen I was totally overwhelmed by what I heard.  The record went back to the library and nothing more was said.

It was a few years later when I was coming out of my intensive teenage heavy metal phase when I happened upon a vinyl copy of Close to the Edge.  I bought it for £1.50 and ferried it home.  It was astonishing.  The opening of the title track was like nothing I had ever heard, the steady build-up of environmental effects then the guitar kicks in…

From there it was a downhill road to ruin, or getting in to Yes…

The studio albums are all sheer class with two notable exceptions.  Tales of Topographic Oceans is to be avoided at all costs.  And then there’s Open Your Eyes, which Neil and I like to refer to as Open Your Arse (or variations thereof).  Make your own mind up how I feel about those two. 

Their mid-eighties work was a lot more rock than prog, Owner is a prime example, but special mention has to be given to Union, or ‘Onion’ as I’ve called it.  Union was released during a period when Jon Anderson was a member of yes and part of a group of ex-members called Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe.  Can you guess why?  (And look at this.  It’s from a pay-per-view gig.  This is how it starts.  I want to die inside.)  For years I never liked Union.  You had members of both groups on it, a feeling of too many cooks…  It was like you had to peel the layers away and all that happened was it made you cry…

I’ve relaxed since then.  There’s some good stuff there.  Not the best of Yes by far but a good album.

Where to start?  Hell, give Close To The Edge a start.  Nothing like jumping in at the deep end… 

- Alistair

I’ve been trawling the internet this afternoon looking at who is running locally in the elections this week (may 5th for those who have forgotten).

Normally I’m none to bothered about politics.  i don’t like it, I don’t trust it so i tend to stay away from political discussions.  Most of it involves bad rhetoric, time that can be spent doing something more worthwhile, like scratching my bum.

But at work this morning the conversation veered onto the topic of the upcoming elections.  One fellow worker, scunnered for years by the bullshit system, hasn’t voted for a time and has no intention of doing so this time round.  Another opinion was that, after seeing members of the Communist Party Scottish Committee in the street handing out leaflets, one of the ladies there was rather attractive, sporting “sizable chest puppies”.  A safe vote there for the Communist Party Scottish Committee.  This fills me with confidence.

I realised that I’m still undecided.  In the past I’ve held no allegiance to any particular party, tending to mistrust them all but voting as my conscience dictated all the same.  Each time I’ve dodged two different groups.  Nationalists and niche, singe-issue parties.  A third group is on my no-fly list.  Christian Parties.  There are two in Scotland at the moment. The Scottish Christian Party and the Christian Peoples Alliance.

So, as a good Christian (There are no ‘good’ Christians, only Christians, but that’s a rant for another time), will I be voting Christian?  I certainly will not.  I’ve seen what happens when ‘good’ Christians are in positions of power over others, and that’s just over other Christians.  I’d not like to imagine what they’d be like exercising power over a largely secular nation.

Then there are the interesting policies.  All suitably vague including my personal favourite, Respect for the Human Person, which among the usual wild promises are the expected ‘no marriage for non-heterosexuals’ and ‘Your foetus has more rights then you’.  The thing with rights is that once you grant them you don’t really have the right to take them away…  (actually George Carlin had a great routine on rights.  His opinion was that either you have all the rights or no rights at all.  There’s something about that I can’t really disagree with.)

Anyway, enough of this nonsense.  Talking politics and Christianity (or political Christianity) always winds me up no end.  Calming prog beckons.

- Alistair

Since my last post, I received two kind offers to pick up / pay for the domain so that I could continue churning out my special brand of second-rate fiction… 

I’ve not accepted them and this is why.

I’d happily spend the money, my own money, on the domain, but only if I thought I’d be getting use out of it.  I’d have to have some kind of plan.  And actual content.  That’s it, a plan of actual content.

Now I’m not saying I have that plan, or actual content, but I did go ahead and renew the domain.  I really appreciated the offers of support but perhaps the renewal date approaching was enough of a spark to ignite some kind of dedication to writing again.  Certainly this week has seen an overall increase in output, which is no bad thing.  I’m making much more of my time that I’ve done in months, years even.

Will this result in a number of completed first drafts?  Hey, that’s far too early to say.  But I’ve been working on two older projects again and that can’t be any bad thing.

- Alistair

I’ve been gaming, in one form or another, for as long as I can remember.

Commodore Vic 20, ZX Spectrum, Choose Your Own Adventure and Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, copious boardgames, table-top wargames (40k, WFB and Battletech), role-playing games (Warhammer Fantasy, Call Of Cthulhu, D&D), CCG’s (Star Wars, Middle earth, Mythos, Call of Cthulhu), PC gaming and now the PS3.  I think that’s covers a lot of them.  Bound to have missed some.

I can’t say I’m a brilliant gamer, especially these days.  I’m losing more than otherwise but I can’t say I mind much.  For me if it’s a game I like, then it’s playing the game with good folks that I enjoy the most.  Of course, winning has it’s own joy… 

Recently I’ve been tanked a lot at Warhammer 40K by Graeme and his Chaos Space Marines.  I’m telling myself it’s because I’m biding my time.    more accurately I’ve been working on different tactics using different units.  Each defeat teaches me a different lesson, a different way to try to play the game.  Mostly I’ve been changing weapon load-outs and unit composition and sending them back into the fray.  (The guy over at Yes The Truth Hurts has a good attitude that losses can only make the player stronger.  Has a lot of good articles too.)

I’ve been using my Grey Knights.  I’m sure I’ve banged on about them plenty before.  We have a new codex (the army book for that force) and with it comes a whole new list of changes.  New units, new technology and new rules.  And getting used to that (and remembering the changes) has been a slow process.  I’ve not had a game for a few weeks, work hasn’t allowed it, but I might see if I can get something organised for this Thursday.  (I’m feeling lucky. )

- Alistair

Attention all GridBids competitors! Results from the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix are now up on the GridBids pages of the website! See how you fared… Also, make sure you make you make your picks for the Turkish Grand Prix, which is next weekend. You can re-pick as often as you like, so pick early and [...]

Prince William and some girl called Kate are getting married in minutes.  Now, I’m not a royalist or a republican.  I’m one of the great unrepresented.  I just don’t care much.

But how do we ever get to celebrate as a country?  That’s something.  When London got the Olympic bid there was a call for the country as a whole to come together.  And the country went, ‘meh’.  Of course, I’m not celebrating either.

It’s a Royal Wedding today and I say good for them.  I’m actually watching the coverage as I type this, not that I planned to but I’ve got something in my head.  I’m thinking all i want to see is the first look on his face when William first see Kate walking down the ailse.  And that’ll be me.  (Ruth wants to see the dress.  )

The thing is with William and Harry is that they have grown up under different circumstances to previous Royal children, previous heirs to the throne, with all the coverage (and hate) they’ve recieved through the years.  And I feel sorry for them.  They’ve been born into a family who will always be derised and they’ve been at a disadvantage ever since birth.  People’ll hate them just for who they are.

But today let’s put the hate down, eh?  Give them their wedding at least.  I remember my wedding day fondly.  It was perfect, just for who it was I saw walking down that aisle.  Let’s give them that.

I’ve heard that in my home town of Paisley there’s a demo by the local Socialists to protest and this afternoon the Orange Order are out to march in support.  For the first time in my life I’m actually impressed by a move from the Orange Order.  Don’t tell anyone I said that though. 

Moments to go.  And off to something else? 

- Alistair

On the back of buying the Saboteur and Ruthy and I talking about the nude content, leading onto a lament for the way our society and the media sexualise nudity (look, boobs!), we had been thinking about acceptable levels of content to subject Aurora to.

Certainly, before she was born, we had moved all the horror films and anything else with disturbing imagery onto the top shelf.  In her presence we don’t watch anything with excessive swearing or violence, but some scenes do fall though gaps in the net.  The Saboteur definitely has some fruity language amid all the Nazi killing.

Then there is the nudity.  She’s seen both of us in the buff as we leave the shower and as we get dressed, and that’s fine.  It’s just part of growing up.  We’re bombarded with this imagery every day and it’s always of the ‘Ccoooooooorr’ variety.  Go into any newsagent and you’ll find the porn on the top shelf and all the rest of the not-quite-porn at eye-level or lower.

In other countries, nudity is more normal.  There’s an acceptance of it that isn’t smutty.  Girls and boys should be encouraged to have a positive body-image.  They won’t get it if the only nude bodies they ever see are porn-boobed, pec-enhanced or scrawny.  As she grows, we can’t restrict Aurora from seeing this stuff, but we can help her understand that these images exist in a context she doesn’t have to accept.  That these images don’t reflect reality.

- Alistair (and Ruth)

Having a smartphone has completely changed my phone usage. In particular, my phone has now become my primary game platform (although I’m very enamoured with the work’s Barnes and Noble Nook Color I have running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)). One type of game I always seem to come back to consistently is that of the football simulator, and I thought it would be interesting to compare the 2 big hitters – FIFA10 and PES 2011.

FIFA10
FIFA10 has been around for a lot longer than PES, so I’ve played it an awful lot more. It’s also had some updates, which did resolve some of it’s initial niggling problems (like not multi-tasking properly). I’ve played a about 7 seasons worth of manager mode, and most of a season in Be A Pro mode. I’ve played in Amateur, Semi-Pro and Pro levels, too.

Pros
– Manager Mode and Be a Pro are excellent additions to the game, increasing it’s longevity and playability
– The variety of button combinations makes for a very in-depth (albeit complex at times) control system
– The game play is fast
– Menu system is responsive
– Good “training” subsystem

Cons
– Mis-hitting controls is easy to do, and it seems to misregister at lot of the time (this is possibly a problem with multi-touch on the HTC Desire – I am investigating further at this point)
– Some moves which should be simple aren’t – double-tap for a cross is very hard to get right.
– “Manager” mode doesn’t really involve much management beyond formation. You can’t see health or fitness levels from the team screen, so you can’t make tactical decisions based on player’s suitability
– Free kicks seem overly complicated to get right – scoring from a free-kick should be an art form, not black magic.
– The change in difficulty between amateur and semi-pro is _huge_; it was bad enough I almost gave up. Semi-pro to pro has been easier to handle.
– You basically run everywhere because the slower option is much harder to achieve

PES2011
PES I have played mostly on the Nook, which has a much bigger screen, which shows off the graphics nicely. I’ve been playing in Regular and Professional levels. I’ve played a European club competition, an international cup and most of a league season.

Pros
– Quick-game – auto-picks the teams and just jumps straight in. Perfect
– Controls are big and simple. Complex passing manouvers are simple
– Scoring overhead kicks! It’s easy, and it’s fun
– Replay system is excellent, and offers saving your replays to a gallery

Cons
– Sometimes it’s hard to select items on the menu.
– No manager mode, despite having better team management system – you play 1 season on a league, and that’s it. No cups, or anything
– Not the real teams – usually find, but surely “Merseyside Red” should at least have a red team strip, not blue…..?
– Player selection is mostly automatic, which can be frustrating
– Penalty kicks are too hard to take (IMO)
– Menu system with slide-then-press is awkward – often it slides when you’re trying to tap; “Tap Anywhere” splash screen is pointless
– Training system only offers free-play and penalties

So – which one do I play the most? Well – it depends on a number of other factors. PES is more “arcadey” – easy to pickup and play a game. FIFA feels more in-depth, but it does require an investment of time to get used to the controls and difficulty level. If PES had a better “manager” mode (seasons, transfers, etc) then it would win outright.

mrBen

When I was working my way out of my depression, way back over a year ago, Ruth had me on her Task Centred Therapy, which (and I’m simplifying things here) involved picking a task and dedicating all your mind to it.  Didn’t matter if you finished it or not, purely working on the task was enough.

Being a parent and working a full-time week as shifts means that usable, personal time is more difficult to obtain.  The temptation to veg out at the end of the day, after Aurora goes down for the night, is a compelling one.

Recently though I’ve been a lot more determined.

And just to be clear, i’m not suffering from depression.  Sure, I’ve been feeling down recently, a bit out of sorts, but having other things to do is a good cure-all.

- Alistair

I have his other website, Cold Head Press (Don’t check it out, there’s no content there at the moment).  When I first bought the domain and set up the site it was in the pre-Aurora haze of ‘I have the time to do anything!’  The problem with having all that time is the tendency not to spend it wisely.

Anyway, the domain is up for renewal at the weekend and finances are tight enough that keeping an unused domain just isn’t the way forward.

So, what to do?  I had a range of ideas for the site, from only sightly vague to actually incredibly vague, but the first one that had me reaching for the bank card was that it was to be a home for my fiction (and eventually of the writing buddies if they wanted), independant of the Desert Of Zin site, selling some pieces and giving others away.  The Bandstand already saw two chapters available through CHP and I had a notion of collecting the Railman scenes in a prettier format.

Of course, the eternal enemy of all these ideas is time.

So it looks like, unless I have sudden insight or a spark of inspiration, the domain will have to go the way of the dodo.

But I do have a few days still to come up with some kind of plan.  Time will tell, eh?

- Alistair

I picked up this game midweek – The Saboteur, by Pandemic Games – and I’ve already trawled through a quarter of it.   Good game.  And there’s a patch to download called The Midnight Show which, other than providing some useful game extras, makes the clothing of the dancers even skimpier then usual.  Use your imagination.  But there’s a lot more to the game than ‘look, titties!’

First off, it’s a cross between Grand Theft Auto and Assassin’s Creed.  Well, that’s what a review I read said.    I’d compare it more to Infamous as that’s the game I have the most experience of.

It’s epic.  It’s a open world game, as in you can go anywhere (anywhere that has been unlocked but there are ways around that) and that includes all the climbing, and running and jumping you can handle.  It’s set during the Nazi occupation of France, most of the gameplay centred in and around Paris.

It’s brilliant, one of the best games i’ve played yet for the PS3.  I’ve spent a few days unlocking areas of the game, sniping German officers form afar and blowing zeppelins out of the sky.  There have been lots of late nights this week. 

Despite Pandemic Games being no more the game is still widely available.  i’m sure the industrious among you could easily find a copy for less than a tenner.

My only complaint is not being able to steal a tank yet.  I’ve been assured it can happen…

- Alistair

A new charity shop in Partick.  A new one?  As if we need any more, but there it is – Save The Children – around the corner from Partick Underground on Dumbarton Road.  And books, for the time being at least, are £1 each…

Okay, there’s the usual collection of mainstream fiction and trashy romance.  (I haven’t found the fortitude to work through a bad romance.  Perhaps I’m missing a trick.  Maybe i’d be better writing bad romance than bad S.F.)

And three books are hardly a frenzy.  But it was a better title for a post than ‘I bought three books for three pounds!  Whoo!  Go me!’  Added to the current reading list are: James Herbert – Sepulchre, Franz Kafka – The Metamorphosis and Other Stories, and an anthology called Tales of Horror and Mystery.

James Herbert I read when I was a teenager when some of my friends were banging on about Stephen King.  (Recently I’ve picked up some of King’s work.  These books join The Tommyknockers and The Stand on the reading stack.)  I really liked Herbert’s work at the time.  I wonder how I’ll like it now.

Kafka is one who I always meant to pick up but never remembered to when I was trawling through the bookshops.  (Quite like a number of books/authors I keep thinking to read.)  I know we have the wonders of Amazon and Waterstones but books i should read only ever occur to me when I’m away from the desktop.  Ho hum.  Looking forward to The Metamorphosis.

The anthology, Tales of Horror and Mystery, is exactly my cup of tea.  Roald Dahl, Ambrose Bierce, H.G. Wells and Oscar Wilde are just a few of the names in there.  When I was younger I used to have a handful of collections just the same as this.  It’s like a snow blindness; in a bookshop sometimes it’s all I can see.  ‘Oh wait, is that an old horror/mystery anthology?  I’m sure there’s space on my shelf for that.’  I am, if nothing else, a creature of habit.

So that’s the current roundup.  Sooner I get these finished, the sooner I can pop back and see if they have anything new.  (Not that I need to finish these to get more.  I can justify anything given time…)

- Alistair

Given the choice I’ll always take cake, thanks all the same.  It’s Easter Sunday.  He has risen, He has risen indeed.  A wee bit of free liturgy for you there.  No extra cost.  I’m good like that.

I was working this morning – no church for me – and I’ll be working this evening – no church for me.  Not that it’s a huge problem, It’s been a few months since I’ve been to church and, to be honest, I’ve not missed it.  I’ve been feeling this way for a while and the gradual lessening of any belief in God has got me to a state of shrugging my shoulders and saying ‘meh’.

Not that Harvest aren’t a good mob.  In many ways they’ve been everything that Whiteinch weren’t.  Harvest have been friendly, non-judgemental, supportive and the Pastor even phoned us on the evening of our first day there to see if there was anything the church or he could do for us.  Wow, just wow.

In saying that, there’s a good chance we’ll not stay there.  Their small groups, the only real way to build relationships in the church, are either on nights we can’t do or in locations that are awkward to get to without childcare.  Nothing handy and local.  Of course, with me looking for a new job there’s every chance we’ll up sticks and move away.  Who knows?  Might find the church we’re looking for further afield.

Anyway, whether you celebrate Easter for the risen God, enough chocolate to put you into shock or the Old Firm match, have a good one.

- Alistair

Not sure which way to vote in the AV referendum? Have no fear, Noelinho's here, and telling you to vote "No".

This was sent to me via Mr Push.  Apparently it has been doing the rounds on Twitter and the like.

“BBC attacked by authors for ‘sneering tone’ in book shows” from telegraph.co.uk.

Read it and come back.  I’m not going to do the actual article much justice by repeating it here.

But my long held gripe is this:  I’ve had shit for years for reading the types of books I read and listening to a particular kind of music.  It’s always from people who somehow think they’re better.  Quite frankly they can fuck right off.

I once had dogs abuse from a Church of Scotland Minister, of all people, who soundly ripped the pish out of my interests.  Of course, his idea of good music was U2…

Joking about U2′s contribution to music, benevolent deeds and tax dodging aside, people should be able to like what they like and enjoy it based on its own merits.

Later in May myself, Neil and Bruce will be attending the Cathouse in Glasgow, wearing our majestic capes of prog, to see Pallas, a premier prog band.  Neither Pallas or cape wearing are widely popular (which is a crime) but we enjoy it.  I’m a huge fan of H.P. Lovecraft – not everyone’s cup of tea.

I’m a big fan of Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror, among other things.  I like Prog Rock.  Is this a reason for abuse?  I wouldn’t think so.

Eastercon is this weekend.  A lot of folks I know will be there.  Good people.  And they’re meeting to champion Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.  Good for them.

Anyway, there’s wine still to drink and it’s getting late.  See you later.

- Alistair

The Chinese Grand Prix is the third round of the 2011 Grand Prix season. If the first two rounds are anything to go by, we could have a runaway champion… Unfortunately, Red Bull do seem to be the fastest team and Mark Webber doesn’t look like matching team-mate Vettel. Vettel is looking in dominating form, [...]

In about 6 weeks time the classicyak.org domain name will expire. We will not be renewing it. Classic Yak has run it’s course. We will continue to make the archives available (somewhere, somehow), but this, essentially, is it.

Thank you Classic Yak. You will be missed.

I only watched the first half of the first series and the odd episode of further series.  Then Ruth only started working through the sixth and final season.  I can’t say there’s much chance of me fully understanding everything that’s going on.

However, it’s Ruth who is working through the series, not me.  I tend to get caught up with it, like tonight for instance.  After a worryingly sub-standard Chinese take-away, I’ve been working through a story and idly paying attention to Lost playing in the background.

I’ve discovered something.  In an episode of Lost a weird thing happens.  There’s sometimes a lot of story, with surprisingly little happening.  I don’t know about later series but in series six there’s a change.  Loads happens every episode and, what’s more, it doesn’t matter if you’re following it or not.  I can watch an episode and have no idea how it relates to the rest of the overall story.  The important thing here is that I don’t care what happens before or after.  ‘Oh, look’, say I.  ‘Sawyer’s a cop.’  Who cares?  He’ll find a way to spend most of the episode half naked.  They had ratings to worry about.  These things matter.

Earlier in the evening a particular character was on screen.  ‘That’s Charlie’s brother,’ Ruth says.  Good for him, I think.  My only vague frame of reference is that Charlie used to be a Hobbit.  He’s come a long way since Hetty Wainthropp Investigates.

- Alistair

Today, according to the logo-meisters at Google, is the 50th anniversary of the first manned spaceflight.

Good old Yuri Gagarin.  He was the first.  And that was 50 years ago.  Years later we made it to the moon and… that’s it.  I find it sad that in 50 years that’s as far as we’ve got.

(don’t get me started on our failed dreams of the future – I’m still waiting for the fecking hover tanks, plasma rifles and the jet packs.  2001 came and went.  Monoliths anyone?  Wow, talk about disappointment.  Okay, they may still be under the lunar surface waiting for us to start digging…  Then there’s 2012.  A worldwide natural catastrophe?  That’s going to mess up future plans.)

In the I.T. class at work the anniversary was brought up and the resounding attitude was ‘who cares?’  I’m not surprised.  For a group who are only interested in the going-ons in Hollyoaks, and with the likes of Katie Price and Kerry Katona, and how they think Call of Duty is just ‘it’.  So much for pinnacles of human achievement when you have so much more in your life.

Anyway, it’s late and late blogging tends to deteriorate.  Three cheers for Yuri Gagarin.  He reached the heavens.  Lucky bugger. 

- Alistair

Attention all GridBids competitors! Results from the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix are now up on the GridBids pages of the website! See how you fared… Also, make sure you make you make your picks for the Chinese Grand Prix quickly, as the race is this weekend! You can re-pick as often as you like, so [...]

After the first round in Australia, the team went to the Sepang International Circuit for round two of the 2011 Formula 1 calendar – and it was a pretty good race! Thankfully, it was bright and sunny outside on Sunday morning, which made the 8am start much easier than it otherwise would have been. The [...]

This morning, my tickets arrived for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest. Fitting, because last night, I delved into all forty-three entries for Düsseldorf! Just read on… My Top Ten Haven’t got time to read my snippets of all forty-three songs? Shame on you! Well, here are the ten you really should check out if you [...]

After the late start to the F1 season in Australia, we stay over on the far side of the globe for the Malaysian Grand Prix in Kuala Lumpar. The first Grand Prix of the season, in Melbourne, was not a thriller, but did show us that Red Bull have the fastest car. McLaren showed a [...]

In case it has escaped your notice, we are currently in the middle of Lent, part of the Christian calendar. But I have a slight admission on this front… I should, before I start, say that this is as much a series of observations and questions as it is anything else. It certainly doesn’t contain [...]

I was, this week, asked what my favourite ever Eurovision song is. Put on the spot, it was very difficult to answer, so I said I would answer by way of a website post instead. Note: This was previously published without mention of a certain Israeli entry in Stockholm… Given that we have up to [...]

You may have noticed I didn’t play an April Fools’ joke this year. I’m sorry. But if you haven’t got a corker, don’t play one. Which reminds me… In my time, I have played a few good jokes. Here are four of my favourites – the last one in the list being quite possibly one [...]

I am asking this question here because it has bugged me for months and I simply can’t find what I’m looking for! If you can help, please do! At home, I have bags of ground coffee, as any decent person would do. Unfortunately, I don’t tend to drink very much coffee and I do not [...]

Just so everyone is aware, the Noelinho.org GridBids group results are now online! Check them out to see how you fared! Also, make sure you make your Malaysian Grand Prix picks before the deadline. Remember, you re-pick as many times as you like, so get them in early and then if you don’t like them, [...]

So, I have finally managed to get round to watching the Australian Grand Prix, having spent four days trying to avoid the results – a hard task, let me tell you! It wasn’t the most exciting Australian Grand Prix ever seen, but that was mainly because it was dry and there were no safety cars. [...]

I wanted to add decorations for an Easter tree, and until we moved I had a beautiful lilac branch that I had painted with irridescent acrylic and used for all holiday occasions – but it didn’t really survive the move. So I have a new branch that was pruned from the crab apple tree at my folks and I wanted some new eggs to hang on it for Easter.

 

 

I have been using my decopatch and tissue paper collection, just some finishing to do.

 

 

Making a baby hat for my friends little girl, in Paton’s DK and Rowan Cotton Glace. I was told by a woman in a yarn shop in York that the yarns were not exactly the same in guage but they are as near as you can get and the two colour ranges work together so brilliantly, I think you would be hard pushed to notice it really.

 

 

And cupcakes, Nigella’s with a little lime zest added and lime creamcheese icing. Yum!

I watched Julie and Julia recently, food can be so much more than I ever thought, family memories that last forever…

yWriter has long been my weapon of choice.  It’s lightweight, straightforward and has a host of additional features.  It’s one of the better author tools out there.  But on Linux and running on Mono it’s buggy as hell.

So, for one story, i’ll be giving LyX a go.

It’s a WYSIWYM (or what you see is what you mean) system thats meant to take the associated hassle out of word processing.  No having to faff about with fonts and layout and any other distractions.  It just allows you to write, keeping the formatting to a minimum.  Of course, there’s a lot more to it or why wouldn’t I just use a simple text editor like vi or gedit.

You can check it out here.  It runs on Windows, Mac OS X and many flavours of Linux.

I’ll give it a go for the duration of this story, or until I can find the time to dig through the problems I’m having with yWriter/mono.

- Alistair

In January my sister and I popped out to the John Lewis Haberdashery because of another makeover, the sofabed.  I love to have a good rummage through the clearance baskets, but there was no yarn so I wandered about the Debbie Bliss, and half heartedly fished about in the fabric remnants. And these were at the bottom!

 

 

Now I was a bit put off by the picture, until I realised the hens were totally blank so I could do whatever I wanted, and I knew it would be better than this! Suddenly I was seeing them in my favourite pink and blue, with quirky eyes, so I rushed home for my tester pots…

 

 

…and here they are. Kissing! They still have to get spots painted on them, but they have cheered me and everyone who sees them up, and I will use the stencil on some tables I think, so no waste there. The planter behind them I got from Sainsburys, I am not supposed to be impulse spending, but the deed is done.

I grew up with hens, and we had a couple of pet hens that came into the house for snacks, one called Chicken Chicken (I know) and one called Biscuit. They were very sweet and so soft to touch, they had lovely low chirrups and sadly I think the foxes may have got them – the foxes usually got most of the hens.

My job was collecting eggs, and I still remember the proud day when I found 32 hidden under the hay baler  -  a big deal when you might only get six or eight in a day. More on eggs as Easter is coming up… eggciting!

Well, it’s been a good week.  Other than a few bangers at work that seem intent on ruining it for everyone, I’ve been in a remarkably chipper mood.

And from the title of the post, can you guess why?

Yours truly has been given the nod (unofficially, from my assessor) that all my work has been passed and I’ve achieved my SVQ Level 3 in Health and Social Care.  I’ll be waiting for my certificate to arrive but in the meantime I’m looking for new work.  Something of a senior care/support worker role would do nicely.

And i dropped in my college books back to Cardonald College library this morning and I’m no longer a part-time student from midnight tonight.  Not that I did much with my studentness.

The future’s pretty exciting and I can’t wait (although i’ll have to) for a chance to move on.  Even in our ropey economic times there are still jobs out there in care.  In fact, care is one of the few sectors which is still in growth.  But that’s hardly surprising.

The job-hunting continues in earnest. 

- Alistair