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Been mentioned all over the place, but VERY good indeed. Pong. The Movie.

A new mailing list for the UK SubGenius massive has just started. I say massive. There’s just me Pope Phil Monty so far, but it’s new. Spread the word. Reclaim Bob from Jesus (or so I hear…)

Toptastic wireframe skelital dancing boogfest, though like most of these things I wish I knew just what what I’m doing actually means… (from nss)

Thanks to my good mate Dave, who worked on the special effects for the film, we saw Harry Potter today for free at an exclusive private screening in Leicester Square. Okay, it was at the small Odeon on Leicester Square and it was at 9.30 am, and it was two weeks after the premier, but it was still exclusive and private. And free. So nuurrr to you.

Thoroughly enjoyable stuff all round, but, no, it’s not a patch on the books. In fact we reckon you need to know the books pretty well to really appreciate it. And given that the book is a competently written engaging romp of 225 pages… It was a homage film, an illustrated guide, if you like. A load of scenes lifted verbatim from the books and placed in the correct order. Not that that’s a bad thing. Like I said, thoroughly enjoyable, very good fun and well worth a watch.

For those who know, or have known, Dave Early, I was impressed to see his credit is on it’s own line, with space above and below. Last time I saw his credit it was mixed in with a load of other people in his team. Now it’s

which was pretty impressive since ten years ago he was the YTS kid in an advertising agency in Winchester. Boy done good.

I’ve always been rather skeptical about these Amazon wishlists, but then I thought, fuck it. If someone wants to buy me something I’m not going to stop them. My wishlist in progress…

Remind me to investigate Stick Figure Death Theatre when I have more time. I was first introduced to this by Damien Cugley back in 1998-ish when there were four animations all under 10k each. Now there’s hundreds of the things and look, there’s that rather neat XiaoXiao thing at the top of the Flash list. How things have changed!

Found through The Wayback Machine which was brought to my attention by Tom who’s weblog I thought I’d check after he spammed me with some Secret Santa stuff…

My viral cold thing has cleared up, but now Kate has it. Poor dear.

Ah, Betty Page. Over on the quite wonderful fp I noticed a movie with the title Betty Page Bondage.mov which I imediately downloaded. It’s quite a wonderful little piece and the first Page movie I’ve ever seen. The music is what makes it. Have a looksee for yourself. I was reminded of a time down the pub a few years back when Faye arrived with a wee choker around her neck. Both Jez and myself both immediately recognised the tiny photos set in the studs as centimetre high representations of the mighty Miss Page from a not inconsiderable distance. We came to the conclusion that comic fans of a certain ilk become acutely aware of Betty. Perhaps this could be the great divider that defines the form, I dunno. Whatever, somehow the conversation turned to action figures, which as anyone who frequents a comic shop these days will know are not sold to kids these days but to adult collectors and as such and not always as child friendly as they were in our day. Either someone said there was a Betty Page action figure or someone said there should be one, to which Jez burst out “What, does it come with a little chair you can tie it to and a small whip?” The mind sure did boggle.

Utterly unique and wonderful site, full of zen-like nastiness in the spirit of Max Cannon’s Red Meat and early David Lynch. hoogerbrugge is a Flash site full of little experiments in stuff (most of which are under 100k). Work your way through the Square Pig In A Round Hole episodes and then once you’re prepared, delve into the Neurotica series. Quite special indeed.

Just had my first real eBay battle. Grassmarket32 sets his maximum bid early in the game and after feeling around I guess he’s going for a fiver. I jump in with £5.01 and head the pack. Probaby feeling miffed by this, he sits and bides him time, waiting for the last minute before coming back with a £5.51 bid. But I know he’s probably miffed so I’m waiting and with 30 seconds to go I fly in from the side nd take the booty. Oh, this is sad but it’s so much fun!

The weird thing is the seller is Tim Brown who I’ve known for years through comics (he does Part Time Lights and Talamander) and I sold Grassmarket some books the other week. Small world this global marketplace.

Bin surfin with this annoying cold which won’t go away and started wondering if one of the first websites I ever saw which showed me the true purpose of the internet was still there. It is. The Flaming Pop-Tart Experiment. It’s kinda quaint now, but at the time it was pretty hardcore. Remember, best viewed with Netscape v.2.0 or better!

Off work today with a cold. Given that I’m no longer an essential part of the workplace it was inevitable my adrenalin would fall and my body would decide it needs a good day lying in bed reading The Comics Journal and building Roman cities while filling tissues with snot. It’s a hard life.

I’m not sure how new this’ll be to people because I don’t normally play this game, but this is not the dull Star Wars trailer from the official site. It’s the next one. Woo. Woo. Woo.

Yes, I have downloaded it, and yes, it is actually worth it. Whether the film will be any good, quite frankly the burden of proof is on them after the last pile of poo.

Kate’s site of the week: Swear-o-tron

The Onion’s Holy Fucking Shit - Attack On America issue of September 26th was a mighty fine piece of work. Since then they’ve been rather hit and miss but this week there’s one hell of a hit. This is the funniest and more levelheaded piece of journalism I’ve read in a long long time. Spot-fucking-on.

Meg’s talking about the “where do you come from” quandry when you’re not actually from anywhere. My short answer - most recently Birmingham. My long answer…

Born in Chertsy Hospital, which is near London. Or at least near Walton on Thames where my parents lived. When I was One, Dad got a job with BP in Singapore, so we emigrated. We lived in three houses in Singapore and then my parents split. Dad went to Texas and Mum went back to England with us in tow (and that’s another story for another day). We lived with an Uncle in Evesham (Midlands) for 6 months before moving to Weston in Gordano, a small village near Portishead, which in turn is near Bristol.

That’s 6 homes so far. By this stage I’m 9 years old. It’s something like 1980 or thereabouts.

Junior school completed and Secondary school started, Mum meets Stepdad-to-be. The cottage is sold and we move to Dartford for the summer while house hunting in Croydon, of all places. Finding a house in Shirley (with the perfect garden for a teenage boy - 130ft long, the last 20ft being mine to destroy) we move into it and manage to stay there for four years. GCSE’s completed (2nd generation guineapig), Mum gets a job teaching in Winchester, so we move there. Unfortunately, this is the arse-end of Thatcherism so we can’t sell the house. Renting it out we in turn rent one in Winchester in which we live for about a year, give or take. Then, finally we sell the Croydon residence and move into the house my mother still lives in to this day. Given how this tale STILL isn’t over, I wonder how much effect I had on us moving so much.

We’re now up to 10 homes. I’m 19 and John Major is suddenly prime minister.

So, I’m now failing my A levels and am about to leave home. First I move in with my mate Dave and his mum in Eastleigh - his sister has left home so they have a room. It’s a stop-gap measure, albeit a very pleasant one. After about 6 months or so Dave starts dropping hints and I start looking for somewhere more permanent to live. I find somewhere in Eastleigh - a shit hole of a town but it’s cheap and near to Southampton and Winchester where I worked in various bookshops and generally socialised - a stayed there for three years, which wasn’t a bad start. Then it just gets silly.

Deciding to try the academia thing again, I do an Access course at Eastleigh college and, on passing with flying colours, decide on Birmingham to be my university of choice. In Birmingham we have one flat/house per year (three), plus another two afterwards with me good friend Jim. By this stage I’ve failed my degree and decided that maybe I’m not that academically minded and I’m back working in a bookshop again. On meeting Kate in the bookshop (as the legend goes, she sold children’s books, I ran the pornographic fiction) we decide to move in together and do the long-term-dance. Only in London. Two flats down (Finchely and currently Mile End) and here we are.

So that’s 19 homes in 29 years. I’m from Walton on Thames, Singapore, Evesham, Portishead, Dartford, Croydon, Winchester, Eastleigh, Birmingham, Finchley and Mile End.

I’m very good at helping people move house and I can’t get my head around people who’ve lived in the same house in the same town for all their lives. Now that’s weird!

This is our first Bonfire month (and let’s face it, it goes on for about a month) in the middle of the big city. For the record, we live in Zone 2, a few minutes from Mile End tube station, about five miles or less from the centre of London. We also live on the fourth floor of a block of flats overlooking Mile End Road, a duel carriageway. We therefore have a pretty good view of North East and Central London.

I’m not complaining about the fireworks. I think fireworks are cool things. I’m a bit iffy about celebrating the failure to blow up parliament and all that, but I like the bangs and the lights. In fact, I’m not complaining at all. No “But, this is getting silly” type lines here.

Last night a firework exploded outside the window. I saw the cardboard blow apart as the flash went off about ten feet away. Cool. Looking out of the window I have seen at least 8 large firework displays going on in the space of a few minutes. Neat.

But coolest of all is our bathroom. It’s the quietest room of the flat, what with not having any external walls. Yet currently you can hear pops and bangs in it. Coming through the air vent in the ceiling. Top-tastic.

Insert pondering point about Kabul here.

In addition to the boy Lawrenson’s HP report, you’ll be pleased to know sales of Harry Potter bookmarks have increased many-fold today. These pieces of plastic have the added feature of changing images as you move them from left to right. They retail for £2.00 each. I joyfully suspect we paid a pittence for them.

A weird thing today. I’ve been at the Leadenhall branch for 6 working days now and, while it is very busy (we’re taking 25% more money than this time last year) I’ve come through the day quite calm and relaxed. As I said before, nobody panics in that branch. There are no headless chickens. Everything works and when it doesn’t work it gets put right quickly. It’s really odd and I’ve only just got used to it.

The tense feeling I often get in my head after a day at work is not there. I feel like I’ve done a full say but I’m not suffering for it. I kinda like this.

Bought a Tai Chi book at the weekend. Just a basic Teach Yourself jobby chosen because it’s got useful illustrations rather than pointless photos. The plan is to read through it between now and Xmas and learn the first few moves, then in the New Year find a class or teacher and take it from there. Slow is the new fast. Calm is the new hectic. All is good.

It’s a Zen thing. (Or is it a Chi thing?)

Actually, the only downside is I’m not able to bond with my new workmates over strife and adversity. I find I’m waiting for a crisis so I can dive in and impress them all with my bookselling knowledge and skills, yet no crisis is occurring. Looks like it’s to the pub then.