Another one of those scheduled year-end posts so it doesn’t interrupt my post-Christmas haze… here are my favourite reads of 2010:
- Zeitoun, Dave Eggers
Such an important book that tells us about the kind of world we live in, even though it made me so angry.
- This is How, MJ Hyland
We’re plunged into the mind of a very disturbed young man. Riveting.
- One Day, David Nicholls
It made me cry. In a good way.
- Caribou Island, David Vann
The second gem from the man who brought you Legend of a Suicide. Stunning stuff.
- Young Hearts Crying, Richard Yates
Slightly more amusing than the other Yates books I’ve read. The melancholy is still there, but this one caused me to crack a wry smile.
A Downton Abbey marathon — I did it yesterday. I saw the entire thing in one sitting, with a break for three episodes of Yes, Minister while we had dinner. My former colleague Catriona highly recommended it, and yes, it is indeed an excellent period drama.
The actors were so convincing and I was completely drawn in. And those costumes! Oh my. Aside from modern dentistry and health care, the Internet, full voting rights, and a decent education, I’m convinced I was definitely born in the wrong era.
First off: there is no chance in hell that an iPhone will have been on standby and held a charge for 16 years. It doesn’t even last a week!
I enjoyed it, although I don’t remember finding Dirk Gently quite that dickish. Then again, I did read the novels a long time ago. It was kind of amusing and pretty much the right amount of crazy. And leagues better than The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (the film, I mean).
A proper series would be overkill. Just occasional one-offs would be perfect.
Jamrach’s Menagerie is a novel about Jaf, a young boy who becomes employed by Jamrach — a procurer and trader of exotic animals — after a rather unusual encounter with one of Jamrach’s creatures.
The bulk of the novel revolves around the live capture of a dragon-like creature in Indonesia (i.e. the Komodo dragon), and what happens when the ship wrecks. Jaf and the other survivors drift along, waiting and hoping for rescue, when their food runs out.
Uh huh. You know what happens next (this is not for the easily nauseous). It did start to drag a little bit for me at this point — there were quite a few survivors — but I still enjoyed the story, especially the plot post-shipwreck.
I’ve never been a fan of the avian species (Jamrach has quite a few), but I’ll make an exception for this story. They sounded delightful.
(Jamrach’s Menagerie will be published in February, and now I’m no longer employed by the publisher I feel okay about reviewing it.)
ZOMG! How excited am I? Dirk Gently is coming to the BBC tonight! It’s been years since I read about the famed holistic detective agency, so it’ll be pretty much brand new, no expectations except warm feelings for the madness that is Douglas Adams.
Better this than someone from The X Factor getting yet another Christmas number one.
It’s a measly 79p on Amazon and profits from the single go to charity (The Soldiers’ Charity and Combat Stress).
Alternatively, there’s John Cage’s 4’33″ — profits will be donated to charity too.
Listen Up Buffy by John Fluevog — these are slightly kinky, but oh so right.
I’ll never be able to stand in them, let alone walk, but don’t they look cool as? It’s the straps, that’s what does it for me.
In the nightmare fantasy world where I actually wear heels with regularity and buy them too, I would do the demure knee-length pencil skirt and shirt thing. So it’ll only hint at the kink. And that’s what I like.
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Wah lau eh, si peh pai say.
I’m obsessed with Dexter and am watching season three just now.
Absolutely everything — in terms of television entertainment — has taken a back seat to my unending appetite for more stories with the serial killer antihero. Do I want to read the book? Hell yes!
This was all sparked by my friend Jerry posting a picture of one of my top *squee*s, Jonny Lee Miller, on my Facebook Wall. He’s in season five, so I’ll have to make my way there. Eventually.
Since it’s bloody cold and icy out, it’s a good time to be watching episode after episode, all rugged up at home. I have less than a week to finish watching season 3. Not a problem!
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Julian Assange just sounds like a bit of a dickhead. I’m not sure that should make him a criminal, though. The hackers crusading for him in an ‘infowar‘ makes me feel like we’re living in a cyberpunk novel.
This has made the rounds: Save the Assembly Rooms. I do agree that converting it to yet more retail and F&B space is probably not the best idea (unless the goal is to bring those commercial real estate prices down), but doing minimal renovation and keeping it as-is isn’t a great idea either when it comes to actually having it pay for itself to some extent.
I’ve never actually been in the Assembly Rooms, but everyone seems to agree that it needs to be renovated / restored in some way, shape, or form. Perhaps it just needs to be a flexible space. So it can be converted temporarily into retail, performance, or exhibition spaces… surely this is possible? If it’s run professionally, it could retain its ‘cultural cachet’ but also be a decent commercial venture and be fun because it’s always different.
Or more accurately, Sir Patrick Stewart (aka Cool Old Guy™ #1) as Macbeth.
We saw a production of the play at the (now closed) Roxy Art House and it wasn’t bad, but there is no better actor to take the role than Patrick Stewart.
He was on BBC Breakfast this morning. The production looks good, very dark. I’m told it’s pretty gory as well — fantastic.
Ooh. Dad Crush.
Apparently, Virgin Mobile’s call centre finds it needs to explain to customers who ‘don’t understand’ that their unlimited mobile phone data plan runs out at 1GB per month. Perhaps they ‘don’t understand’ what the word ‘unlimited’ means.
I know it’s not wrong, but it’s so wrong. If it’s a debut album, leave it the fuck alone.
I saw a bit of the music video and got so bored I had to switch channels. I think I was waiting for Any Human Heart anyway, which is so good.
Anyway, is it just me, or does this seem like such a transparent money grab?
Hat tip to my cousin Michelle for passing on this hilarious video:
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Britons will be familiar with Premium Bonds from NS&I. We’ve got some because we decided it was more fun to have an infinitesimal chance of winning a million pounds rather than have the money sit in a savings account, earning bugger-all (taxable) interest. America seems to be discovering the joys of what they call Prize-Linked Savings.
