Monthly Archives: June 2005

6) With Stars In My Eyes: My Adventures in British Fandom, by Peter Weston I had been trying to get this as it was a Hugo nominee; already cast my vote by the time the book arrived, but thought it … Continue reading →

Belgian taxes are an annual nightmare, but I smiled at one part of the instructions on the form: Waar 2 kolommen zijn voorzien, moeten personen die alleen een aangifte indienen, steeds de linkerkolom invullen. Where two columns are provided, persons … Continue reading →

With all the recent discussion of reviews, I spent an uneasy few minutes early this morning to check if any of the authors whose novels I have panned are likely to be at WorldCon. To my relief, only Stephen Baxter … Continue reading →

Thursday 6:00pm The Digital Divide Christopher Rowe Don Sakers Renee Sieber (M) Are we rushing to build a web-enabled society that disenfranchises those unable or unwilling to adopt the online lifestyle? Governments justify the push for e-services on the basis … Continue reading →

My flight to Glasgow from Belfast for Worldcon costs nothing at all! (Plus £43.48 in taxes, so actually a little more than nothing.)

…blessed rain, cleansing the muggy weather of the last week or so. I’ve been pretty comatose all day. I was at two liberal parties last night, with Liberal International holding a farewell reception for departing staff – great fun, Count … Continue reading →

Thanks, thanks and thanks again to : The archive of Doctor Who theme tune arrangements.

Turns out this is quite an old ending to an older story, dating from 1993 and with many repetitions on the web, but it completely convinces me that the urban legend is wrong: An actual resident of Berlin would say, … Continue reading →

From : I think it’s a reference to his Nebula award winning story ‘The Engine At HeartSpring’s Center’, about a suicidal cyborg and a literally femme-fatale death-counsellor. Same year as Silverberg’s ‘Born With the Dead’ took best novella. Good year … Continue reading →

The weekend started with a cool beer with on the way home from work on Friday. Sweltering hot weekend has basically been spent reading Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun and Olivia Manning’s Balkan Trilogy. The children have all … Continue reading →

Well, I’ve spent many happy hours this weekend and last adding tags to all my old livejournal entries, also completing the process of importing entries from two earlier attempts at blogging from late 2001 onwards; also exported the media stories … Continue reading →

I’ve been tagged for this by , and it’s fairly timely – some people tell me that I appear to be a generally stressed and tense individual, which worries me as my own self-image is of someone who is often … Continue reading →

We’ve finally started to watch the Buffy Season 7 DVD’s we got ourselves for Christmas. Good marks so far; here are notes on the individual episodes. 7.1: Lessons – one of two episodes we managed to catch first time round, … Continue reading →

Thanks to .

Representative Peter King rethinks his position. Once a vocal and frequent House champion for the IRA’s political wing, Sinn Fein, and its leader, Gerry Adams, the 60-year-old, Queens-born Mr. King has said nothing about either on the House floor in … Continue reading →

KOFI ANNAN (UN secretary-general): Since we came here, I have noticed that you’ve all been absorbed by recent events in Europe. If it is any reassurance, let me assure our EU friends that there are many regions that would love … Continue reading →

My prospective lunch date for today is nine months pregnant, or at least was when I saw her last week. She’s not answering her phone, and when I called her office they said they hadn’t seen her yet this morning. … Continue reading →

Having giggled a bit about the Onion’s sf horoscopes earlier, I’m now pondering the one about Roger Zelazny: Even if you do find their unique combination of style, universal competence, ennui, and raw ambition strangely exhilarating, you’d probably be a … Continue reading →

Following ‘s instructions: Top 25 interests of poeple on my f-list: science fiction (83), writing (64), reading (60), books (58), fantasy (43), history (34), music (33), cats (32), sf (31), terry pratchett (29), ireland (27), chocolate (25), literature (25), sci-fi … Continue reading →

…reports back from the future. The Horoscopes section is clearly directed at certain science fiction authors: Aries: (March 21—April 19) You will be thrilled to encounter a science so highly advanced that it is indistinguishable from magic—a science primarily concerned … Continue reading →

“I truly enjoyed it“.

Sat for two hours in a conference this morning and listed eleven tasks that I should try and do today. Haven’t done any of them. Ooogh.

I’m gradually shifting all the mentions of me in the media over to . Including today’s.

I’ve just seen the OSCE assessment report for the elections in Azerbaijan and it seems they want to deploy 500 short term observers, plus another couple of dozen long-term ones. Details of how to apply here. Really, anyone who is … Continue reading →

Sitting in very hot restaurant on the Grand’ Place, listening to an MEP’s speech, sweating profusely.

Fantastic. Little else need be said, and most of it has been said by .

Sunday was B’s eighth birthday. It doesn’t mean an awful lot to her, but she definitely appreciated the cake (though less so the presents): For her birthday treat we all went to the nearby town of Tielt-Winge where there is … Continue reading →

4) The Assassin’s Edge, by Juliet E. McKenna The fifth in Juliet McKenna’s Einarinn series, of which I am a moderate fan (see third and fourth books previously). Once again, competently done, and most of the threads from the first … Continue reading →

…because I’m in Dublin airport waiting for my plane. Book spoils from Belfast: Eamonn Mallie and David McKittrick, Endgame in Ireland Plato, The Republic Chris Bird, To Catch A Tartar: Notes from the Caucasus Olivia Manning, The Balkan Trilogy Last … Continue reading →

Well, I’m still working on the paper that I have to deliver tomorrow morning. Struggled through at my desk in the Institute of Governance for most of the afternoon, though took a very pleasant break in the form of a … Continue reading →