Monthly Archives: December 2019

I read 234 books this year, the fourth lowest of fifteen years that I have been keeping count. (Full numbers: 262 in 2018, 238 in 2017, 212 in 2016, 290 in 2015, 291 in 2014, 237 in 2013, 259 in … Continue reading →

Current Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman Exhalation, by Ted Chiang Last books finished The Widows of Malabar Hill, by Sujata Massey Doctor Who: The Target Storybook, ed. Steve Cole Dragonworld, by Byron Preiss (did not finish) The Story of the Trapp … Continue reading →

Mon, 12:56: 12 ways that life in Brussels has changed in 10 years https://t.co/pgZWPeQy1s Had you noticed? (Actually, most of t… https://t.co/zME79EcNrI Mon, 15:47: July 2004 books https://t.co/IdZj9zapuM Mon, 16:05: Children’s fantasy literature of the Oxford School must be read … Continue reading →

July 2004 began and ended with travels for me – beginning with an epic journey by train to Paris, then flying to Berlin, and then Belgrade, then driving from Belgrade to Pristina and Skopje before flying home again via Budapest, … Continue reading →

Sun, 12:56: Alan Bennett’s 2019 Diary https://t.co/5Xa1TFwS0Q Glorious as ever. Sun, 14:48: Obituary: Fleet Street veteran Paul Eccleston, 1951-2019 https://t.co/AdQAXiJnns Christopher Eccleston’s uncle, who… https://t.co/dDDilHyjJv Sun, 16:05: RT @andrewteale: I much enjoyed this review of The Sound of Music, which … Continue reading →

Sat, 15:39: The Sound of Music (1964) and The Story of the Trapp Family Singers (1949) https://t.co/HWzryENJvZ Sat, 15:50: The Three Musketeers, by Alexander Dumas https://t.co/9fjM70puxa Sat, 16:14: RT @ChuckTingle: folks say they know chuck. part of this is making … Continue reading →

Third para of "She Was Good-She Was Funny": In the meantime there was plenty to do. Walt hauled water uphill by sled from a hole he had chopped in the lake. He split and stacked firewood. He shoveled snow from … Continue reading →

Second and third paragraphs of third chapter: — Athos ! Porthos ! Aramis ! Les deux mousquetaires avec lesquels nous avons déjà fait connaissance et qui répondaient aux deux derniers de ces trois noms, quittèrent aussitôt les groupes dont ils … Continue reading →

Fri, 15:27: The monuments of Laeken cemetery, especially those by Ernest Salu https://t.co/nf1v4n4n1c Fri, 18:11: Revelation of the Daleks: novelisations by Eric Saward and Jon Preddle https://t.co/V1r8pvUT5A Fri, 18:54: RT @kateheartfield: Overall I find Wikipedia really useful for a historical … Continue reading →

Second to fifth paragraphs of third chapter of Eric Saward's novelisation: 'You were mistaken,' said Grigory. Natasha tugged at the body-bag. 'Unwrap him.' 'Are you sure you want to see this?' 'There is no other way of proving he's actually … Continue reading →

The other half of yesterday's trip was to inspect Laeken cemetery in northwestern Brussels. There is a cluster of spectacular monuments close to the church by one or other of the three generations of sculptor who shared the name Ernest … Continue reading →

Thu, 13:04: How to say Merry Christmas in 41 languages, mapped https://t.co/fPe7MFqjrv Thu, 13:41: A tale of two cities – a lunch in Brussels, and a dinner in Belfast. About a month ago I was having lunch on Place… https://t.co/FlncPWQ0pZ … Continue reading →

So, I went to the "Superheroes Never Die. Comics and Jewish Memories" exhibition at the Jewish Museum of Belgium yesterday. It was as good as I had hoped, linking the origins of the American comics tradition with the authors' experience … Continue reading →

Wed, 21:21: When Salvador Dal� Created Christmas Cards That Were Too Avant Garde for Hallmark (1960) | Open Culture https://t.co/gHw1b9iGPJ Thu, 10:45: RT @johnb78: If the courts had declared me to be a massive bigot, I would simply spend Christmas … Continue reading →

Tue, 12:56: RT @chriscurtis94: So I have finally got around to releasing my post election research on why voters left Labour in the election. Much of… Tue, 13:42: RT @Julian__West: @nwbrux Still relevant today and still as an effective a … Continue reading →

I’ll do a reading roundup next Tuesday, but it will be for twelve months, not seven days! Current The Widows of Malabar Hill, by Sujata Massey Doctor Who: The Target Storybook, ed. Steve Cole Last books finished Being Human: Bad … Continue reading →

Mon, 12:56: You know, if the polls had been completely wrong, this might have been a good strategy. But the polls weren’t comp… https://t.co/w445TOULIj Mon, 14:09: RT @DavidJonesSky: I’m so sorry to have spoiled what was such an important discussion … Continue reading →

June 2004 was the month I switched from my old explorers@whyte.com email address, which I'd had since 1997, to my Gmail address, which I've had ever since. Ronald Reagan died; the new European Parliament was elected. Those were more innocent … Continue reading →

Sun, 12:12: Once again at the windswept, dangerous Perron 14, where @delijn asks us to dodge bikes and remain standing. (@ Perr… https://t.co/zxDWsLi3m6 Sun, 12:56: RT @sciborgue: counterfactuals, what would we do without them Sun, 15:28: My media in 2019 … Continue reading →

As the deafening noise of tumbleweed grows, here are the three LJ posts that got five or more comments this year. 2 June: a post about objets d’art in Utrecht and Leuven. 5 comments. 1 December: Dr Strangelove, the book … Continue reading →

I’ve been fiddling around with the methodology of rating top tweets using the analytics that Twitter provides, and I’ve finally come up with a solution that satisfies me – rank them all, by all the rankings available; and add together … Continue reading →

I had a couple of Facebook posts that went viral this year. The best performing was one where I didn't actually write the material myself, but shared it from a screenshot, and it got picked up by the two linguistic … Continue reading →

It's not all that easy to measure Instagram impact (and they are going to make it more difficult). These two videos both got between 300 and 400 views. https://instagram.com/p/B5NEMf1gTld https://instagram.com/p/B0lzMlvAUks My top five Instagram photo posts were: https://instagram.com/p/ByvCULPI-AH (A visit … Continue reading →

My biggest media appearances were the BBC election broadcasts for the three elections in Northern Ireland, with my long-term sparring partner Mark Devenport. Not much of it is online, but I am in 2:49-3:35 here: Some viewers' responses were a … Continue reading →

Sat, 12:56: Paul McGann Doctor Who series would have brought back old Doctors https://t.co/TDZnhVyVS1 Alternate Who. Sat, 20:01: My week on Twitter : 147 Mentions, 53.2K Mention Reach, 455 Likes, 155 Retweets, 574K Retweet Reach. See yours wit… https://t.co/UGWxD7ew0K Sat, … Continue reading →

Today is the anniversary of the last episode of Blake's 7 being first shown on TV, and we hardcore fans refer to 21 December as Gauda Prime Day after the planet on which that last episode was set. It's the … Continue reading →

Fri, 12:56: The Strange Death of Social-Democratic�England https://t.co/uyWHafGZHt Long read on how far Labour has to travel. Fri, 13:48: RT @hayward_katy: What do people in N.Ireland need to know about the #WithdrawalAgreementBill? (for reasons obvs to folk in NI, I … Continue reading →

Thu, 12:56: Cats review – a purr-fectly dreadful hairball of woe | Peter Bradshaw’s film of the week https://t.co/FdjpMEarqS Me… https://t.co/dVNyJRyg57 Thu, 16:05: Labour shouldn’t have fought this election, but chose the only strategy it could despite getting its tactics … Continue reading →