Monthly Archives: July 2015

Fabulous Star Trek fanvid for Shatner’s “Common People” You’re welcome.(tags: video funny sf ) Jailed Azeri Reporter Ismayilova Wins Press Freedom Award I hope that this will accelerate her release.(tags: azerbaijan humanrights ) In Memoriam, Professor Stephen Ellis, 1953-2015 Sad … Continue reading →

As promised, I'm squeezing in a final survey of bloggers in the last 24 hours before Hugo voting closes. This final snapshot doesn't change the picture much; the three front-runners for Best Novel remain close to each other, and No … Continue reading →

Current Watership Down, by Richard Adams (a chapter a week) Lord Valentine’s Castle, by Robert Silverberg Divorcing Jack, by Colin Bateman Last books finished Gulp, by Mary Roach The King's Speech, by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi Doctor Who – … Continue reading →

There is a lizard sex satellite floating in space and Russia no longer has it under control – The Washington Post Actually they do.(tags: space biology ) The secret lives of the priests in Father Ted You needed to know … Continue reading →

Why the Greek Deal Will Work An upbeat analysis.(tags: eu greece ) How to Beer Eurocrat Exploring all 28 EU countries, one beer at a time.(tags: eu beer ) Flemish government announces new foreign ministry Not as dramatic as it … Continue reading →

An excellent conclusion to the second trilogy of Carey’s sequence of alternate history books, in which Imriel, the narrator, and his lover Sidonie, the heiress to the throne which his mother attempted to subvert, must deal with identity-changing sorcery and … Continue reading →

I’m a Muslim woman, Mr Cameron: here’s what your radicalisation speech means to me Heartfelt.(tags: ukpolitics islam ) True Cost of ‘Skopje 2014’ Revealed A lot.(tags: macedonia ) Colin Baker and Doctor Who Magazine A statement from the editor.(tags: doctorwho … Continue reading →

A 1989 book about the size and shape of a Doctor Who annual, about everyone’s favourite 17-episode cult TV show (apart of course from Here Come The Double Deckers). It’s a bit of a missed opportunity. The front few pages … Continue reading →

Grand Theft Moldova More on the epic money laundering scandal.(tags: moldova russia crime ) Britons “not prejudiced, just thick” Close to the bone!(tags: ukpolitics ) The key lesson from Syriza’s defeat? A different Europe requires both ideology *and* competence A … Continue reading →

Following up from the Talbots’ brilliant biography of Lucia Joyce, this excellent graphic story takes a close look at the suffragette movement, through the person of Sally Heathcote, a red-haired Northern girl who moves to London and becomes a core … Continue reading →

Who’s an MEP? I got 5/10.(tags: eu games ) Portlander Ursula K. Le Guin is Breathing Fire to Save American Literature Another brilliant interview.(tags: sf ) New Horizons Discovers Flowing Ices on Pluto Awesome!(tags: astronomy ) The Obsessively Detailed Map … Continue reading →

I had forgotten how raw and tragic this book is, with Dick’s classic themes of confused identity and paranois merging in the story of the disintegration of Bob Arctor / Fred in the California drugs scene of the mid 1970s. … Continue reading →

This were the two Solo-Play Adventure Game books published by FASA in 1986 to tie in with their Doctor Who role-playing game. Having read the six British choose-your-own-adventure Who books from the same year, I have to say my expectations … Continue reading →

Current Watership Down, by Richard Adams (a chapter a week) Gulp, by Mary Roach Last books finished The Sorrows of an American, by Siri Hustvedt Doctor Who and the Vortex Crystal by William H. Keith, Jr. City at the End … Continue reading →

Women Having A Terrible Time At Parties In Art Ow!(tags: art funny sexandgenderandsexuality ) How to Rage Quit Your Media Job Look at the rhetoric.(tags: uspolitics media ) Would the SNP win votes in the North East? Wishful thinking, I … Continue reading →

I picked this up one day in a bookshop under the mistaken impression that the writer was a Nobel Prize winner (I think I mixed her up with Elfried Jelinek). It’s pretty awful. The narrator is a New York psychiatrist … Continue reading →

Bullish Marshall Islands aim high with UN climate plan Go @MinisterTdB!(tags: climatechange marshallislands ) Alexis Tsipras Transforms Himself The last man standing.(tags: greece eu ) 10 Ways to Fix America’s Ailing State Department Some with wider relevance.(tags: uspolitics ) Hillary … Continue reading →

Another short book by Jansson, this time an unnerving novel set in a small Swedish community where a writer is exploited by one of her neighbours; lots of unpacking of memories and stories and relationships. Very intense, and very convincing, … Continue reading →

Back in 2011-12, we had prolonged discussions about the knock-on effects for Northern Ireland of the previous government’s proposals to cut the number of MPs in the House of Commons down to 600, which in Northern Ireland’s case would have … Continue reading →

Danger Mouse is back! Hurrah!(tags: tv ) Livejournal Survey Worth doing if you care about LJ.(tags: livejournal ) The ambassador’s tale When what happens in Belgium gets warped by the U.S. political scene.(tags: uspolitics belgium ) ‘The North Korean posters … Continue reading →

I had read this many many years ago, on a train from Tuscany to Calais in the days before the Channel Tunnel (either in 1989 or in 1990). Since then I've got much more into modernist literature, which I think … Continue reading →

The curious truth about belly button fluff In case you were wondering.(tags: biology )

We're now at the halfway point between my previous survey of bloggers' voting intentions for the Hugo fiction categories, and the actual deadline for votes on 31 July. Quite a lot more prople have come forward to say how they … Continue reading →

Estonia 100 square kilometers larger than thought Where’s my country? Oh, there it is.(tags: estonia maps )

#ThisWasNotACoup Perspective.(tags: eu greece ) A Greek Farce, Then Gloom Ivan is not optimistic.(tags: eu greece )

Current Watership Down, by Richard Adams (a chapter a week) The Sorrows of an American, by Siri Hustvedt Kushiel’s Mercy, by Jacqueline Carey Doctor Who and the Vortex Crystal by William H. Keith, Jr. Last books finished The True Deceiver, … Continue reading →

The Egg Master Hee! Also, yuck.(tags: cooking funny )

The Winning Serve: What Not To Do at a Summer ‘Networking Event’ Also, what *to* do.(tags: networking ) Lego Tries to Build a Better Brick Switching from fossil fuels.(tags: climatechange )

Flieger’s Tolkien analysis was recommended to me last year, and this is her most popular book (also seems to be the only one available in ebook format). I found it very interesting. I was less convinced by her strong thesis, … Continue reading →

The Wetsuitman Extraordinary story of British migration policy killing people.(tags: norway death netherlands migration ) This is What We’ve Learned About Pluto in the Past 24 Hours Wow.(tags: astronomy ) The most powerful person you’ve never heard of Secreta of … Continue reading →