Listening to the realaudio version ofCNN, waiting for a final result in a presidential race. Clearly, the gods are making up for an otherwise dull campaign by giving us a final stretch that is the very definition of nail-biting.
Category: General Blogging
Reading Material
Morning, folks. Today, I am telling you what to read, because in the space of five minutes on the WEF, I have discovered that several fine pieces of writing that are hard to get hold of in the shops are currently available for free, on-line. So, first off, Steven Shaviro’s excellent Doom Patrols a “theoretical fiction about postmodernism”. Available here, along with some of his other works.
Secondly, read Bare Faced Messiah, because liars, fraudsters and scum need to be exposed.
Lastly, Richard Kadrey’s Metrophage, one of the finest cyberpunk novels of it’s time, now out of print, but available on the web, here.
Please note: in every case listed, the works are available for free, with the permission of the author. I wouldn’t be recommending them if they weren’t availble with the author’s blessing.
The Start Of The Proliferation
Vaguely contemplating half a dozen new domain names, but I have no idea what I’d do with them. I bought roadofhate knowing that I’d get tired of it fairly quickly, mostly as an experiment to see if have a proper domain name changed my attitude to my web pages. The answer appears to be no, but when I re-launch me personal site over at rain-street, I want to see how that goes, since I’m actually focusing it into being something useful and interesting, as opposed to a repository for everything.
I dunno. Getting the domains I want now might not be a bad idea, but I can’t really think of anything to do with them that would justify the expense. Perhaps I’ll wait to the new year, see how things pan out and what I’m doing.
Hex Induction
Oklahoma high school suspends student for placing a hex on her teacher. As someone else pointed out: is this an admission by those in power that they believe that sympathetic magic works? Probably not, since these are the sort of people that don’t believe in evolution, but y’know it’d be funny, if it weren’t for the poor girl caught in the middle of it.
Housebound
My flatmates are out at a halloween bash tonight. Me, I’m such a deeply thrilling individual, I stayed in to write. My evening of work is now over, slightly after midnight. To relax: Baileys, Buffy and candles. Cocteau Twins on the stereo. Witness my awesome 24/7 party lifestyle, eh?
Mah heid
It’s halfway through the afternoon, and I still have the tail end of a hangover. Also, I can’t afford any of the groovy stuff I want to buy at the moment. This is all a bit of a pain. Busy weekend of work coming up, too. What worries me most is that I feel really good about it…
They Fight Crime volume 1
Fight crime! Go on, I dare you. Andrew came up with this as a spreadsheet, and I built a javascript randomiser for it. It makes me laugh very much. It will make you laugh, too.
Randomalia
Acquisitions this weekend: The Beautiful South album and “Hawksmoor” arrived, which was nice. The new Frost novel, borrowed from Dad. And Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn. Just when I hit a really busy patch, too. How clever of me. Yes. So much for my evenings and weekends, at any rate.
Got Andrew’s computer more or less sorted, too. Don’t know if it actually has a modem (I can’t be arsed to crawl around and look, because the daft sod has left in such an awkward spot), but I’ve managed to convince it that it does, so we’ll find out at some point, I have no doubt. He’s currently playing this Sims, which I find incomprehensible. Boring, boring game.
Blogger
I appear to have become my brother’s blogger consultant. He’s just set up his own blog at automatic smile, and he was having trouble making it go. Five minutes of logging into blogger with his Uid and password, and it’s sorted. And he’s the one doing the multimedia degree. Sad, really.
Autumn
Round the house at night
Never keep you from your sleep
May they all sleep tight
Down in hell tonight
Or wherever they may be”
–The Pogues, “Lullaby of London”
There is no reason for this, other than the time of year. I define my time by music. Pick a period of my life, I can tell you what I was listening to. Pick an experience, I can tell you the tune that fits it. And for me, this is the autumn song. Oh, there are others, but this is the music of rain-slick streets and early winter magic, the one that I always come back to, year after year. I love this time of year.