the camera makes everyone a tourist in other people’s reality

Right, out of sympathy for y’all having to read a 2,500 word post *1* I have held off blogging for the last couple of days. Also, I had nothing to say. The afore mentioned rant kinda sapped my desire to write for a while. Which sucks when you think of the thesis I should be writing.

But it is now Sunday, I don’t want to read about wikis any more, so here are a few of the things that have been accumulating in my ‘random’ bookmarks folder.

I enjoy am obsessed by cups of tea. I am not joking when I say that without them I would not be able to function. It is a well documented phenomenon. A good portion of the month we were in Malaysia was spent trying to find me a decent cup of tea*2*. So when I stumbled across the H2G2 entry for tea written by (among others, Douglas Adams himself) in the course of my research, I was rather chuffed. The animation is rather groovy, if annoyingly looped to infinity. NB – I do not share DNA’s belief that Earl Grey is the best tea that money can buy. The man was wrong. But he is sadly dead now, and wrote some truly wonderful radio shows, books, articles, and films, so I won’t hold it against him. Much. George Orwell also had some strong views on tea. If you are interested, I subscribe to the milk-first school. Just tastes better as far as I am concerned.

Sleep is good. Sleep is my friend. I have been known to sleep through all manner of things that would wake most mere mortals. My father’s snoring for one! The reverberations that can be set up when inside a 50ft long, 6ft 6inch wide metal hulled boat by a 58 y ear old man have to be experienced to be believed. I have also broken a fair few alarm clocks in my time in an effort to shut them up and get more sleep, so the idea of an alarm clock that runs away from you is just supreme! And furry to boot.

No idea why you would need the ultimate guide to shooting rubber bands, but it kept me amused for a while. This is one classroom skill I never quite got the hang off, and I have to admit that I never thought so much went into it! Perhaps that is where I have been going wrong all these years. Now I have longer hair again, be warned – I am going to be supplied with hairbands within easy reach – AMMO!!!!!

Free science fiction is always good, but is normally in the form of slightly dog-earred books you’ve got from the library. I am a fan of libraries. Libraries are great. But they always seem to only ever have the middle two books in a series. Or books one, two, three, but not four where everything goes down. Very annoying. Which is why the Baen Free Library is such a good idea. Liking it, liking it alot. I would always recommend buying the physical copy of a book, but this is a good service if you want to see if you like a series, can’t get hold of book one any other way, or just live somewhere where you don’t have access to a library with a large SF section.

Dan Brown is getting everywhere these days, like a nasty persistent rash that nothing your GP does can cure. He even looks slimy. And his evil influence has even affected Kathy Reichs in her new book! Oh, the humanity!

You might remember that the other week I threatened my SLR with the repair-man and it started to work, so I finally managed to finish the film that was in it and go get it developed. Well, I got the pictures back, and it turns out that most of them were of the trip the Crazy Canalman and myself took into Little Venice a couple of years ago in order to see “We Will Rock You” (amazing show!) It was an odd trip. Have a look at some of the better pictures (I spent £7 getting the bloody things developed, so I’m going to share!) Flickr Photo Set of Little Venice Trip

And ending on a sad note, Robin Cook dies. Whilst not supporting all of his political and personal decisions, I feel on balance he was one of the good ones.

*edit*
Added some reviews over at Dark Meadow

Endnotes:
*1*Which I hadn’t realised quite how long it was till Moose admitted that she hasn’t got through it yet, and if Moose has given up, it must be a little excessive. This is the girl who chooses to read documents detailing the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki, after all!Back
*2*The best of which was actually found in a tiny village somewhere on the edge of the South China Sea, at the far NE tip of Sabah, called Kudat. Population about 50, taste of tea, divineBack