Monthly Archives: June 2007

Caitlin Moran, in The Times, puts it well. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♩. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♩. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♩. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♩.

Well, this brings me to the end of the First Doctor stories, and almost to the end of the Second Doctor (just The Wheel In Space and The Seeds of Death to go; and strictly I saw The Seeds of … Continue reading →

15) Doctor Who: The Scripts: The Masters of Luxor, by Anthony Coburn, edited by John McElroy Well, here is an oddity, the rejected script for the second ever Doctor Who story, written by the same guy who wrote the first, … Continue reading →

When you see this post, quote from Doctor Who (classic or new series) on your LJ. Nothing in the world can stop me now!!!!! Oh, was it meant to be a line spoken by the Doctor? Who said you’re not … Continue reading →

14) Seeker, by Jack McDevitt This year’s Nebula winner, which I bought expecting not to enjoy much – the Nebulas have been as much miss as hit for me in recent years, and I had read autopope ‘s brief critiques. … Continue reading →

13) Reflections on the Cyprus Problem: A Compilation of Recent Academic Contributions, published by the Cyprus Policy Center A selection of papers by Turkish Cypriot academics on the Cyprus issue, all supportive or at least sympathetic to their current government’s … Continue reading →

I wasn’t there myself, so this may be a vicious rumour, but apparently there was a session earlier today at the European Parliament on the proposed missile defence shield, where a presenter from the US Department of Defense, trying to … Continue reading →

burkesworks  got it right, though sbisson  was thinking on the right lines and girfan  was linguistically close. The extra language on display in the Adria airlines plane yesterday was Ukrainian, as the plane itself was rented by the Slovenian company … Continue reading →

The day Tony Blair came to office, 2 May 1997, I returned home from a business trip by way of Slovenia. The day Tony Blair left office, 27 June 2007, I returned home from a business trip by way of … Continue reading →

12) Decalog 3: Consequences, edited by Justin Richards and Andy Lane One of the early collections of “authorised” Doctor Who short stories from Virgin Publishing. I bought it because two of the ten stories had been flagged up to me … Continue reading →

11) Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, by Jung Chang Gosh, I’m glad I finally read this, the story of the lives of Chang’s grandmother, her mother and herself, during the final collapse of the Chinese Empire, the second world … Continue reading →

The signs in the famous Adria plane on which I have spent much of today are in English, Slovenian, and one other language. A Special Prize for the first person to guess what the third language is.

So, on an afternoon when I am being bumped around by a peculiarly named small airline, wondering if I will reach my destination, I happen to be listening to The Faceless Ones, a 1967 Doctor Who story about people disappearing … Continue reading →

The bad news: Brussels flight due to take off from Ljubljana at 1830; my incoming flight landed at 1838. The good news: Adria being a rather small airline, it is the same plane going to Brussels as got me here; … Continue reading →

My flight was supposed to take off twenty minutes ago, but we are still in the airport lounge. I have just seen the incoming flight touch down, so we should at least have a plane to take off in. However … Continue reading →

Is there a livejournal version of this?

10) McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, edited by Michael Chabon Decent collection of new stories in various genres; the editor’s introduction makes it clear that he is trying to make some kind of point, but it is less clear … Continue reading →

I was meeting a friend in a Brussels cafe on Friday afternoon, and we were joined by an diplomat from one of the smaller EU member states, stretching his legs during a break in proceedings in the summit. At that … Continue reading →

I need say no more on that particular subject, mainly because has already said it. See also paratti, uktechgirl, helen_keeble, snapesbabe, white_hart, tijsmans, ajshepherd, a dissenting view from andrewducker, calapine, and clanwilliam. In the last half hour. Also polls from … Continue reading →

Memo to self: I shall try and remember to pronounce “Georges Simenon” correctly, especially if there is £200,700 riding on the answer.

I have slipped behind in noting these, partly due to my long trip ending after 24 hours rather than six days last week. So this will be a fairly short set of reviews. Big Finish brought Elisabeth Sladen back as … Continue reading →

I bumped this up my “to watch” list after reading ‘s review, and really enjoyed the first episode last weekend. warned me that it rather falls apart after a good start, and having now watched the following three episodes I … Continue reading →

♪ ♪ ♪ ♩. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♩. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♩. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♩.

If you have an address book on one of the webmail services (ie Gmail, hotmail, AOL or Yahoo), www.upscoop.com will search it and see who among your contacts is using any of the following: Aim, Bebo, Classmates, Ecademy, Facebook, Flickr, … Continue reading →

Lists of prize-winners, bolded if I’ve read them. Carnegie Medal 2007 Meg Rosoff, Just in Case, Penguin 2005 Mal Peet, Tamar, Walker Books 2004 Frank Cottrell Boyce, Millions, Macmillan 2003 Jennifer Donnelly, A Gathering Light, Bloomsbury Children’s Books 2002 Sharon … Continue reading →

As previously noted, I work right on the Rondpoint Schuman in the heart of the European quarter (hence, indeed, the name of this blog, though that actually dates from my previous job which was further away). For once all the … Continue reading →

Two six-part Doctor Who stories from the distant past to review. I mentioned a while back that I had bought the video of Frontier in Space, a Third Doctor story with Jo and the Master from 1973, about ten years … Continue reading →

Next year’s presidential election will probably be the first since 1952, and the second since 1928, where neither the incumbent President nor the incumbent Vice-President will be a candidate (unless of course Bush and Cheney are successfully impeached and convicted, … Continue reading →

Thursday, 21 June 2007 is an initial Day of Private Reflection. People from Northern Ireland, Great Britain, Republic of Ireland and further a field are invited to reflect, individually and privately, upon the conflict in and about Northern Ireland and … Continue reading →

…that James Marsters will be in the next series of Torchwood?