January 2012
19 posts
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Jan 26th
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Literary Map of Edinburgh →
This is cool - various books mapped onto Edinburgh based on references to the city in the books. Includes some Scottish SF authors such as Iain Banks, Ken Macleod and Charles Stross.
Jan 26th
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Jan 23rd
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Radio Reviews
Here is another post reviewing some radio comedies that I have been listening to. Because of course my reviews of obscure radio programmes are always so popular! </sarcasm> The Castle is a radio sitcom which describes itself as, ‘a comedy set in the filth, stench and grime of the middle ages, with some nice music’. It was quite funny, and there were a few great jokes here and...
Jan 22nd
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Jan 20th
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Jan 17th
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Jan 13th
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Jan 12th
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Twilight if it had been written by Iain M. Banks →
Edward is an agent of the Culture, a galaxy-spanning post-human civilization run by smart-ass AIs. Against the backdrop of the Idrian War, Edward’s been sent on a mission to a non-Culture world, as part of a war strategy only understandable by an AI. On that world, he meets Bella, who is awed by his super human strength and sparkling skin (all part and parcel of the wacky post-human...
Jan 10th
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Jan 9th
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Brief Update
I have been a bit busy the past few days getting things sorted for the start of the new semester. Having been home for just over a month, I am now back in my flat at university. It is actually a lot warmer and nicer here than I had remembered, and I have spent the afternoon getting all my things sorted out and tidied away. The main downside is my noisy neighbours, who tormented me last semester...
Jan 8th
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Doctor Who Timeline →
Complete timeline of Doctor Who from 1963 to present, including episodes, seasons, companions, villains, and more.
Jan 7th
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Jan 5th
2 notes
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Jan 5th
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Jan 3rd
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Jan 2nd
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Jan 2nd
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I've joined Goodreads... →
I’ve been using LibraryThing to track my books and my reading habits for the past few years and I love it. But I am reluctant to give out the details of my account there because it is linked to my real name (if you are one of the people who knows me well enough and you’re interested then let me know and I’ll give you the relevant information). A while ago I decided to try...
Jan 1st
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Jan 1st
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December 2011
34 posts
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2011 in Review: Books
This year I read 70 books (complete list here). I know that compared to some of you that is not much, but I am very pleased, because it is more than I’ve read in the past two or three years, and I’ve read some great books this year. (The links take you to my reviews.) Sixteen of the books that I read this year were new ones, published in 2011. Most of the books I read (new and old) were fiction,...
Dec 31st
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2011 in Review: Film
This year I’ve been to the cinema 23 times, which is not bad. It only pales in comparison to a couple of years ago when I saw almost 60 films at the cinema. Another big difference is that this year I only saw a handful of films on DVD (and didn’t really bother to review many of them) whereas a couple of years ago I rented tons of movies and saw three or four a week. I’m not sure exactly why I’ve...
Dec 31st
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2011 in Review: Television
I watched quite a lot of television this year, both shows that were new (including continuing shows that were airing new episodes) and also older shows that I watched on DVD. I’m won’t go into too much detail here, just some brief observations. (The links take you to my reviews.) Of the new/current shows that I watched, I particularly loved Doctor Who, the second series of Rev., the new show...
Dec 31st
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2011 in Review: Music
Compared with previous years, I haven’t actually listened to much new music in 2011. Of the relatively small number of albums I did buy this year, only a few were newly released in 2011, the rest were older releases but new to me. Instead I spent a lot of time listening to old favourites, things I’ve been listening to for awhile now: Wolf Parade, Placebo, the Smiths, Queen, Bloc Party,...
Dec 31st
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2011 in Review
It’s that time of year again! Snobs complain about all the tedious end-of-year lists that crop up, while nerds like me rejoice in the opportunity to reflect on the past year in an orderly manner. Yup, I love my lists! That being said, I’ve actually haven’t compiled lists, but rather written rambling summations of what I’ve listened to, watched and read this year. This is...
Dec 31st
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Sherlock Dubbed →
This is a clip from Sherlock, dubbed into various foreign languages. I found it disproportionately hilarious!
Dec 30th
3 notes
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Dec 30th
1 note
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Dec 29th
2 notes
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Dec 28th
8 notes
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Dec 28th
5 notes
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Dec 26th
5 notes
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Happy Xmas, Xmas People!
Dec 25th
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Dec 24th
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Dec 23rd
7 notes
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Dec 22nd
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Movie Trailers
I’ve been quite pleased about the release of two movie trailers over the past few days: The Dark Knight Rises - the long-awaited trailer for the final instalment in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Many nerds of my acquaintance have been going crazy over this. I’m not as hugely excited as that, and I think my enthusiasm for superhero-type movies in general has waned since...
Dec 21st
6 notes
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Christmas Telly
‘Tis the season of Christmas television. Here is what I am looking forward to over the next week in chronological order (and mostly for my own reference!): The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff (19/12, BBC2, 8.30pm) Dickensian parody, set in the same universe as the wonderful radio comedy Bleak Expectations, and starring Robert Webb and lots of other funny people. Rev. (20/12, BBC2, 9.30pm) ...
Dec 19th
7 notes
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Dec 19th
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Dec 18th
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USS Enterprise Ambient Noise →
One of my favorite things about the Star Trek franchise are all the great ambient sounds that represent the engine noise on the various ships. My favorite ambient noise from the whole series is the engine idling noise in TNG. I have cleaned up a sample from the show and then looped it for 24 hours. Great for ambiance and imagining that you’re in deep space. 24 hours of the USS...
Dec 17th
4 notes
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Dec 17th
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Dec 16th
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Dec 15th
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Dec 14th
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Dec 13th
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Dec 13th
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The Symbolism Survey →
This is rather cool… In the 60s a high school student wrote to over a hundred different authors with a survey about symbolism in writing. About 75 of them responded to his questions. This blog has scanned several of the responses from authors such as Ray Bradbury, Ayn Rand, Jack Kerouac, John Updike and many others. Some of the responses are really quite interesting.
Dec 13th
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Dec 11th
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Dec 8th
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Dec 8th
22 notes
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The New YA →
This is an interesting piece about YA and idea that it constitutes a whole genre rather than just being fiction aimed at younger readers. It makes some interesting points about various aspects of YA fiction. But for me, the best bit comes right at the end, where the author is discussing the idea of the age-appropriateness of books: One final thought: Shakespeare is taught in, I’d venture...
Dec 7th