Archive for May, 2006

Back!

May 26th, 2006 Comments Off
Yes indeedy!
 
I’m back from Egypt (which was excellent) and back from Holland (which was less so).
 
Updates to come:
  • Helping Penny set up her own Flickr account
  • Uploading both of our pictures to our respective Flickr accounts
  • Blogging the Egypt cruise. I did actually take notes every day and, whether you like it or not, I’m going to share it with you.
  • Back to the old schedule of random comments, rants, links and I’m sure I can find something about ID cards, just in case anybody thinks I’ve been replaced by a pod person.

So angry!

May 12th, 2006 1 Comment »
I’ve just experienced such a mood change. Going from being elated that tomorrow I fly to Egypt, to mad enough to spit feathers. The Powers That Be have decreed that since I refuse to fly to Holland on the same evening as I arrive back from Egypt, they’ve booked me on the first flight out on the next morning.
So I get to fly back, unpack, repack, sleep a few hours and head back out to Eindhoven. Furious doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Anyway, it’s nearly the end of my working day, assuming I can get everything finished. I’ll be back in the country late evening of the 22nd and then back out of the country the next morning. I’ll be incommunicado for some time then, but hopefully in a better mood than right now.

Germany consider school uniforms to combat burka problem

May 9th, 2006 Comments Off

“Critics argue that school uniforms suppress individualism and are typical of authoritarian regimes such as the Third Reich.”

Wow. I always thought the justification was that school uniforms a) looked stupid and b) suppressed individualism but that they were a ‘leveling’ factor amongst the kids.

Germany is going to agonise over this. They won’t want school uniforms, but they (okay, fine, Bavaria) won’t tolerate the French-style banning of religious clothing and symbols in schools. The uber-Catholic Bavaria would have a fit.

So, we’re going to have a massive stalemate that will result in more issues as bureaucratic workarounds are sought.

tag:


Weekend Round-up

May 8th, 2006 Comments Off
Friday night, I met up with Kev & Lynsey at the, by now infamous, Tattershall Castle. The drinks are expensive, but the view is good. However it’s also very popular on warm sunny evenings like Friday, when it was rammed to the port holes. A good evening though, resulting in me feeling exceedingly fragile on Saturday. However I had a quiet day to myself to nurse my hangover and generally do very little else.
One actual productive point of Saturday was going sofa-shopping. Sure, I’ve bought a sofa before, but never actually gone shopping for one; walking around, comparing size, covering, comfort, colour etc. And we’ve finally settled on one which should be delivered while I’m in Germany. So, we’re ready for the house-warming party in July!
Sunday was spent shopping in Basingstoke. Boring, but necessary as we had to pick up the last few things before we leave for Egypt on Saturday.
Tonight I leave for Eindhoven, back on Wednesday night.
On an unrelated note, I found the following quote by the director of “All in the game”, a new football based movie starring Ray Winstone:
“People don’t want to sell their soul, but they’re prepared to lease it out, put it on a mortgage. They hope to get it back, but it doesn’t work like that.”

Still not Beer O’Clock!

May 5th, 2006 Comments Off
But nearly…

Recently I’ve been mostly reading…

May 5th, 2006 2 Comments »
… far too much rubbish. The problem with suddenly deciding at the airport that you need a new book is that you’re pretty much stuck with what WH Smith has stuck on the so-called bestseller list that week, thereby making it a self-fulfilling prophecy. One thing’s for sure, Dan Brown has a lot to answer for. Practically every publishing house on the planet has suddenly decided that people will read books like that and so are churning them out at a silly rate. And there is considerably more quantity than there is quality. The only book that really stands out from the crowd so far has been ‘ ‘ by John Twelve Hawks. Still flawed, it’s paranoia levels are a little high and there is some resultant preaching, but by en large it’s a good book. It’s supposed to be a trilogy and I, for one, am looking forward to the sequels. Basically imagine 1984, crossed with Barker’s ‘Imagica’.

I’ve also recently read a fair bit of Greg Bear, though not intentionally. The books I’ve read were ‘ ‘, it’s sequel ‘ ‘ and the entirely unrelated ‘ ‘. ‘Darwin’s Children’ was very good with a certain amount of emphasis on the science fiction.The novel is set in the modern day and the topic, if you hadn’t guessed is evolution. A good strong book. And he should have left the ending open instead of writing a weak, contrived sequel. Read Radio and pretend you’ve never heard there was a sequel. ‘Darwin’s Children’ is an utter waste of time unless you really don’t like loose ends in your mind.
‘Vitals’ is an interesting book, the topics being immortality and control, though the linking of the two is also somewhat contrived. Fairly good though and worth reading. Another pleasantly open end. Let’s hope the Gregster doesn’t ruin it by trying to tie them up.

I’ve been using Amazon Marketplace a lot recently, and picked up a stack of graphic novels really cheap. These days I think the Ebay auctioneers are trying to cream as much profit out of people as possible. Add in sniping, the use of buying tools and more traders than there are private sellers and Ebay is basically a very unattractive option for books unless what you’re after is very rare.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve picked up recently:

– The first one, written by Neil Gaiman. Definitely as good as I remember it. And I did have to check, but yes Tim Hunter does predate Harry Potter by at least three years.
– I’ve read this before too. Just as well really, as my significant other swiped this one as soon as she heard what it’s about and her sharp eyes spotted those deadly words… Dave McKean. Incorrigible…
– I love the works of chaote Grant Morrison and The Invisibles ever since I picked it up at the library.
– My favourite so far. Very nicely written, good art and the character is just as charming and manipulative, humanistic and inhuman, as I would have desired. Very recommended.

And what’s next on my list? A bit of nostalgia in the shape of the .