In an effort to, you know, draw more comics and stop whining about wanting to draw more comics... I drew a comic.

For a blog run by one Julia Scheele entitled How Fucking Romantic - 69 Love Songs, Illustrated no less. The concept is beautiful in it's simplicity, choose a song from The Magnetic Fields' 1999 album 69 Love Songs, and draw it as a comic. There's some really beautiful work on there already, so it's very exciting to be alongside them.

I chose "I Don't Believe In The Sun", and I'm not really sure why.


( +5 more )

I have another in the pipeline, because drawing comics is actually addictive.

Now, back to scanning Bunny pages.

Right, does anyone any of my old VHS collection? Complete range of films, fair bit of martial arts, action films, strange foreign arthouse, anime - any interest? If not, it's going to a charity shop or a bin!

Today is St Thomas's day-- Thomas the Doubter, not any of the other saints who bear that name. Here is the sonnet I wrote earlier this year for Thomas Cantilupe.

I have no patron saint. But if I should
I doubt that Doubting Thomas would be him.
Though well he worked with what he understood,
I cannot emulate my eponym:
too squeamish still to press your bloody palms,
too cowardly to bear the cross you bore.
too blind to fall and sing believing psalms.
With other saints called Thomas, all the more.
But then there's Thomas Cantilupe's career,
So concrete: he was born in 1218,
was chancellor of Oxford for a year,
gave countless counsellings to king and queen
and years of selfless service to his see;
and lives today recalled by God, and me.

http://www.applegeeks.com/comics/viewcomic.php?issue=554

http://applegeeks.com/lite/index.php?aglitecomic=2009-12-21

I was talked into staying in Sheffield a little bit longer.

Please watch us in our nativity play.

We've got enough roast dinner you're welcome to stay.

And so on.

Then it started to snow and the nativity play was too far away. It snowed some more and we made snowballs and built snow dinosaurs. It snowed some more and we went sledging down the street.

When there's enough snow that you can sledge down the road there's too much snow for driving. Especially when driving is across the peaks.

The weather forecast isn't promising any kind of thaw any time soon so I'm in Sheffield until driving doesn't seem a little like madness. Hopefully that will only be until tomorrow. I doubt I'll still be welcome here for Christmas.

I don't know why anyone would bother to go and see Avatar. It's all just a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap.

Only kidding. Avatar is made of pure awesomeness and is very, very, very, very, very shiny. When can I see it again? :o)

The plot, such as it is, sees paraplegic marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) assigned to the alien moon of Pandora, where his mind is uploaded to an 'avatar' body so he can infiltrate the indigenous Na'vi. The humans want to mine the area inhabited by the Na'vi and Jake's mission is to persuade them to relocate. But then Jake meets hot Na'vi girl Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), takes a fancy to her, and starts to turn native. The tensions between humans and Na'vi gradually spiral out of control towards outright war, with Jake caught in the middle.

I've read varying estimates about how much this film cost, all of them expensive, and you can certainly see where the money went. Pandora is an incredible creation, an alien world fleshed out in every beautiful and deadly detail. Basking in the glow of a blue gas giant, its dense jungles and floating mountains are home to glowing plants, hammerhead beasts, psychic horses, and lots more besides.

The human marine base is everything you'd expect from the Jim Cameron who brought us Aliens: Sigourney Weaver on form as a no-nonsense science adviser? Check. Evil corporation putting money before lives? Check. Badass female marine? Check. Lots of guns, armoured vehicles and big alien-killing robot suits? Oh yeah.

The 3-D is immersive rather than full of in-your-face gimmicks, drawing the audience deeply into the soaring vistas, vertiginous clifftops and thick foliage. It's cheesy to say, "It feels like you're really there!" but this really is an amazing treat for the eyes. The bar has definitely been raised. (Also, unlike so many other action directors, Cameron knows how to point a camera!)

On the downside, apart from the avatar concept itself, the story is far less innovative than the FX, full of clichés and bits that practically scream at you, "This is a plot hook! It'll be important in about an hour!" Occasionally this become irksome. For example, at one point a major character is killed off, and it's clear while you're watching it that the only reason is to set up a similar thing for another character later on. The running time (well over two and a half hours) is also a tad over-indulgent, and could easily stand to lose half an hour or more.

For the most part, however, these shortcomings don't matter in the slightest. You'll be too lost in the visuals and the action to care. The characters are engaging enough; you feel for the Na'vi's plight; and there's enough events going on to keep things moving. It feels like a great big adventure should and it's fun too. And the payoff of all the obvious set-ups is a final battle so big and so packed full of mind-boggling ideas that the word 'epic' seems pathetically inadequate.

Did I say the running time was too long? Nah, it'd be a shame to cut a film shorter when it looks as good as this. Frankly I could quite happily spend all day watching blue cat people on flying wyvern-things battling it out with marines in assault choppers :o)

Did I mention the shiny?

That was a fun drive home! Drove into town to sort out a few odds and sods, got some pictures in town, then on the way back had to drive (very slowly) around 10-15 abandoned cars on Fox Hill road.

We cleared the path and the driveway, and by the time Gethin got back, we had to do it again. Good fun!

This story rather reminded me of chess. A US school district threatened suspension to all students who say the word "meep".

www.travelsouthyorkshire.com/News/Reported+Service+Alterations.htm

2A. Part of it's a turning body (6)

SATURN, guessed by many people. This is a very traditional sort of clue. "Part of" indicates a substring search. "itSATURNing" contains the substring. "Body" is the surface clue: Saturn is a heavenly body.

SUBTITLE, guessed by a few people. The operetta's full name is "The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu". I like this because it leads people up the garden path: they spend hours trying to figure out the proper term for a city ruled by an emperor, and how to fit it in eight letters.

TAKE SILK. Nobody got this. It's a pun on "stuff", which also means the substance that entry-level gowns are made from. Lawyers in the UK (and some other Commonwealth countries) wear stuff gowns until they reach the exalted heights of Queen's Counsel, when (in the same way that PhDs do) they exchange their stuff gown for a silk one. This is known as "taking silk". Again, garden path: you are supposed to think of some contraband substance which you must "get rid of legally", but that's not what it means at all.

I have three sites currently running Project Wonderful ads. One of them is Joule; another is shavian.org.uk.

Joule has a "skyscraper"-size (160x600) sidebar on every chart page. It gets about 800 hits a day.
shavian.org.uk has a "button"-size (117x30) image at the top left. It gets about 50 hits a day.

Consistently, the shavian.org.uk ads have been selling for 20¢/day and the Joule ads for around 1¢/day.

I don't get why people are willing to pay twenty times as much for the shavian.org.uk ads. In fact, of course, the bids are mostly placed by bots which are given a certain sum of money and told to go and spend it, but that doesn't decrease the mystery.

If I had a lot of spare time I would try running control experiments. Is it the fact that the lack of available space makes people want it more (i.e. in general people are more likely to bid higher for buttons than skyscrapers?) That seems strange. Is it that shavian.org.uk is a site under "books and writing", whereas Joule is about "blogging tools"? Is it just coincidence? I don't know, but I'd like to.

making the festive table settings - miniature pirate chests. that's a lot of foil covered chocolate.


can anyone recommend a good free ftp client (or whatever the more secure/preferred method is these days)?

So I'm currently reading The Secret Garden to Rio. In the first scene, the protagonist is rescued from her house by the army after having slept through a cholera epidemic that killed everyone she knows:

"I fell asleep when everyone had the cholera and I have only just wakened up. Why does nobody come?"

"It is the child no one ever saw!" exclaimed the man, turning to his companions. "She has actually been forgotten!"

"Why was I forgotten?" Mary said, stamping her foot. "Why does nobody come?"

The young man whose name was Barney looked at her very sadly. Mary even thought she saw him wink his eyes as if to wink tears away.

"Poor little kid!" he said. "There is nobody left to come."

http://applegeeks.com/lite/index.php?aglitecomic=2009-12-18

These are some of my favourite crossword clues I have set.

1A. Get rid of the stuff legally (4, 4)
2A. Part of it's a turning body (6)
3A. What the town of Titipu was to the Mikado (8)

Want to guess? If you don't get them I'll tell you tomorrow. In case you are totally befuddled by what this might mean, I will also explain why. :)

When the snow started, all the lights dimmed, there was a great cry of "Oooooooh!" and the reindeer went away.

I just fed lichen moss to a reindeer that happened by.

click on image to see more

click on image to see more

8 more sleeps said the radio this morning.

5 more sleeps, I say.
Then the darkness will start to recede.


I bought Rage Against the Machine : Killing in the Name last night. Not because I like the single, but because I miss the romance of the Christmas Number 1 uncertainty. Nothing against XFactor Joe, but really, there are fewer new Christmas songs every year and Simon Cowell doesn't even have the decency to give his Christmas candidate a Christmas tune.

Tweets copied by twittinesis.com

I'm somewhat confused - just ordered 'Killing in the Name of' single mp3 for download off Amazon - went through checkout, got the download, then took a look at the invoice. It shows:

Item(s) Subtotal: £0.29
Postage & Packing: £0.00
-----
Total: £0.29
Promotion Applied: -£0.29
-----
Total for this Delivery: £0.00
-----

Now, either I've really missed the point here (it's possible, sleep is required), or I just got that mp3 for free....? I didn't have to put any payment details in!

On a side note, happy birthday nigelh!

...so says The Daily Mash. So who's up for seeing Avatar in 3D this Saturday afternoon?

I was thinking one of these showings: 14:00 15:20 16:25 17:35

Any preferences for times? Does anyone know which of these is on Screen 7?

Edit: As the website, helpline and box office are all useless, I will go in tomorrow morning to check (I want to go to Toys R Us anyway). I'll pick a suitable big screen showing. Check back here or ring me about noon to confirm which one.

Edit 2: Okay, let's go for the 15:20 showing. That's on Screen 8 (bizarrely St Trinian's is on Screen 7). If that's no good, the 16:25 showing is on Screen 6, but let me know quickly otherwise I'll assume the 15:20.

Time for a silly poll. Human perception is a fascinating thing.

Poll #1499898 Thinking of...
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None, participants: 15

If you mentioned me and someone asked you who I am, what would you say?

How do you think of me?

How do you think I think of you?

http://applegeeks.com/lite/index.php?aglitecomic=2009-12-16

The Creation of Patriarchy by Gerda Lerner

Caveats to this review: firstly, it takes evidence from Mesopotamian civilisations that I don't have much background knowledge on; secondly, it was published in 1986, so one suspects there's stuff arguing back at it, but I haven't read anything beyond this book.

The book offers an interesting thesis of women being party to the creation of patriarchy, linking it to creation of a class system (yeah, it's a bit Marxist). Women identify with the interests of class, and privileged women help to put in place (and benefit from) the hierarchical systems that then are used to take power from their female descendants. So while slaves, or conquered nations have a group identity that can be used versus the powerful, women identify with the patriarchal kin system - so you get things like women being part of violence towards a woman who had 'shamed' the family.

One bit to highlight is that in Middle Assyrian law infanticide was legal, abortion illegal; specific punishment was meted out to the woman who had been pregnant. The author suggests that this was because infanticide was a male decision, abortion a female one - yep, abortion control has always been about controlling women.

Random bits: an early Mesopotamian queen called Shagshag. Transvestite knife-throwers as part of the cult of Ishtar.

So - interesting, but I don't have much to contextualise it with to know whether her use of the evidence is sound or stretching.

Behind my advent calendar door today was the following unexpected message:

"10 sleeps until Christmas Day!"

This made me smile. And also slightly terrified me.

BTW, we're supposed to get heavy snow on Friday - Think there's any chance of a white Christmas??? :o)

I've just bought my first ever Christmas single. Its Rage against the Machine's Killing in the Name. Which I bought on from play.com for 65p. I love the internet.

I've been told that trying to get this track to be Christmas no. 1 is silly, childish and scrooge-like. As opposed to the X Factor, which has had no 1 at Christmas for the last 4 years, and hasn't had a decent tune for any of them. Is it unfair to Joe McElderry? Should we let him have his moment? No. If he wants a hit record thats fine, but first he's got to release a decent tune. As it stands I'd quite like to listen to something good at Christmas, and if its a choice between RATM and a Miley Cyrus cover, I know which way I'm going

new game: standing behind doors and waiting for people to open them with a greeting of 'human advent calendar!'. shame the pilot user was my boss's boss. :'(

Don't forget, the public meeting on the parking scheme is being held on Wednesday 16th December at 6pm, at the Hillsborough Sports Arena.

I would urge anyone with an interest in the parking permit scheme to come along and make their voice heard.

I'm against any sort of scheme like this at all - but if you're in favour, you need to make sure that the council answer your questions and take account of your requirements - for example confirming that only people that live on your street will be able to park on it. It would be bad for everyone if something was imposed on us that didn't meet our needs.

In any event, this parking permit scheme is contentious - so please try to attend.

http://applegeeks.com/lite/index.php?aglitecomic=2009-12-14

So last summer I was working a night shift and feeling kinda tired. Anyway, I get a call from downstairs telling me that they need me to install a hearing device in one of the theaters. So I walk over and I open the port glass and start hooking up the stuff. In the back row there's a group of "bros" that notice me so they say hello, and I say hi back at them and then one of them looks up at me and says:

"hey man, is it cool up there?"

So I look down at him and I say:

"Yeah we've got air conditioning."

I close the glass, and I go back to work and that night when I got off I was still vaguely haunted by that kid's question. "Is it cool up there?" What? I mean is that like a personal attack? Was it some quick barb that I missed? Like a lonely old man living on the top of some forbidden mountain. Like some hermit who shows movies on snow capped peaks?

I found myself laying in bed staring at the ceiling at 3am "Hey man, is it cool up there?"

until finally it sank in. He meant: "Hey man, is it cool TO BE up there?"

Suddenly I felt very stupid. Something beyond the normal stupid. Like some kind of robot that just responds off a prearranged script.

And more than that, I sounded so lame. Like really lame. I really hope that kid doesn't think I was being sarcastic. No, I was just having a temporary lapse in mental function. I mean, it was the dead of summer. Hot city all around. But seriously? Who asks a projectionist about the air conditioning? Did I really think he was asking about the heat? Well, it's not too far fetched, he might have dreams of becoming an air conditioner repair man. Who am I to judge? Maybe that's what he really wanted.

I think about this now and I feel really lame. Mostly because it was really lame. But on the bright side it might seem like I was trying to be witty...

Maybe if it was the 1950's and I had a cigar in my teeth and said it, or at least if I looked like I was from the 1950's and had a cigar in my teeth and said it... Maybe with more old projectionist pizazz, like: "Yeah it's AIR CONDITIONED BABY" as I blow smoke rings on him and his friends.

Anyway, that's my story for tonight.

[still need source - likely secondary source is wikipedia]

About 80% of breast cancers, once established, rely on supplies of the hormone estrogen to grow: they are known as hormone-sensitive or hormone-receptor-positive cancers. Suppression of production in the body of estrogen is a treatment for these cancers.

Recently researchers have discovered that the common table mushroom has anti-aromatase[21] properties and therefore possible anti-estrogen activity. Clinical trials have begun in the United States looking into whether the table mushroom can prevent breast cancer in people.[22] A recent study has highlighted the importance of this research. In 2009, a case-control study of the eating habits of 2,018 women, revealed that women who consumed mushrooms had an approximately 50% lower incidence of breast cancer. Women who consumed mushrooms and green tea had a 90% lower incidence of breast cancer.[23]

Contraceptives and copper levels.

click on image to see more

So, is http://joule.marnanel.org working for you? If it isn't, tell me. If it is, tell your friends.

A few reports are coming in of Twitter/identi.ca support reporting that valid accounts don't exist. I'll be investigating.

Updates:

- There's definitely a problem with Twitter. Looking into it.

- We'd love some signal-boosting. Could you post and tell your friends that Joule is back?

- Some folk have asked whether they can give money towards hosting fees. I know nobody has much spare money at this time of year, but if you'd still like to paypal us a few dollars, here's the button: