Waiting on Tenterhooks

Not going to the protest tomorrow. As Matt rightly says, the march is going to be kept firmly away from the President and his entourage, so there’s little point. The niggling feeling that people are looking for an excuse to re-enact Chicago 1968 didn’t help, but the main reason I suppose I’m not going is because the protest itself seems flawed somehow. Is it just so people can say “Go away, we don’t like you”? Isn’t it a bit late to protest against the War in Iraq? Can’t we have something a little more constructive?

I also remembered that I didn't have the best of times at the protests in Raleigh or Washington DC (to clarify — the people and the marches themselves were fine, but most of the speakers decided that they'd rather indulge in conspiracy theories and outrageous claims than actually talking about the war itself), so I'd probably come back feeling depressed about my contribution to the world at large. Instead, I shall stay at home and work on my world domination plans… (I have a no-gnome policy already fleshed out)

Fortress London!

See how long the traffic cams stay up!

It's Christmas on Mars!

The Flaming Lips could never be accused of being grounded, could they?

To celebrate President Bush's visit to the UK, here's a speech Al Gore made last week, lambasting the current Administration for un-American behaviour (I'm a dirty liberal hippie and proud of it, dagnamit!)

The Vatican has to go and spoil all the mystery.

Guys, I really think you're spending far too much time trying to explain away the flaws in a below-average sci-fi film 8-).

Oops

It’s been brought to my attention that I’d already posted that Cat Power version of Wonderwall. Apologies. To make up for it, have a Red House Painters song:

Red House Painters — Have You Forgotten?

The question for this week - as I'm a shiftless layabout who can make time, should I go to the Bush protest in London this Thursday, or should I just stay home and do something more useful instead? Leave your thoughts in the helpfully-provided comment section…

Flying Machines On The Ground

Feel the vibrations
Underneath your feet
An onground flight
begins tonight
Before you learn to walk
Before you learn to rock

You learn to rollerskate
You learn to rollerskate
You learn to rollerskate

Your forward momentum slows
And you travel straight lines
You gotta know how to stop
When you do the bunny-hop
Before you learn to walk
Before you learn to rock

You learn to rollerskate
You learn to rollerskate
You learn to rollerskate

Loop-de-loop
Around the rink let's go I go
Loop-de-loop
Around the rink let's go I go
Loop-de-loop
Around the rink let's go I go
Loop-de-loop
Around the rink lets go I go
I go I go I go I go I go I go
Before you learn to walk
Before you learn to rock

You learn to rollerskate
You learn to rollerskate
You learn to rollerskate

You learn to rollerskate
You learn to rollerskate
You learn to rollerskate

Links and More Links

The answer to one of the ancient questions of the Universe: just how do they make lego bricks?

The Guardian tries to find out just who invited George Bush to next week's Riot In London.

I invoke Godwin's Law on the "What **** Are You?" meme.

"I'm gonna sing the DOOM song now!"

Oasis heading back to the studio with Death In Vegas's producers.

Something to think about when people rant on about how superior our TV is to America.

The greatest intro in music?

And finally, in case you actually want to use the information in my article, be aware that the dvdauthor team changed the syntax two weeks ago. Ho hum. On the bright side, the changes do make it simpler to use…

To Those Nice Nice Nights

Buy My Words!

Out now:

I'm on page 50. US readers can pop along to their local bookstore and get hold of a copy. The magazine's distribution in the UK is rather limited, but I often manage to find issues in Borders (yeah, I know, Laura, worrying globalization, but they carry a wider selection of periodicals and journals than any shop outside of London, so there are times when there's no other option ;-)), so you might be able to pick one up there.

It's very much a technical article (it's about making DVDs in Linux, so there's a bit of code, discussion about how DVDs work and other interesting things), but nevertheless: my first published work!

"I accidentally grew a beard"

First, an explanation, because I’ve mentioned what I was doing tonight to a few people over the weekend, and their response was: “who’s Neil Gaiman?” If you’re thinking the same thing, then have a look at his website. In short, he’s a writer, most famous for The Sandman comic and the novel ‘Good Omens’, which he wrote with Terry Pratchett.

He's also rather funny in person. Always a plus. He's on a book tour promoting two new children's books, a picture book, 'The Wolves In The Walls', and a book aimed at a slightly older audience, 'Coraline'. There weren't too many children present tonight (although enough for Neil to be embarrassed when he started swearing during the Q&A session); instead it was mostly teenagers and people in their twenties (like myself and Richard).

Neil read The Wolves In The Walls to us (it's a fun children's book with helpful instructions on how to deal with wolves, silly parents who don't understand the abilities of puppets, and the magical properties of McDonald's apple pies), and then opened the floor to questions. A little boy got the first question in:

"Where do you get your ideas?"

Serious credit to Gaiman here; He told the boy why some of the audience had laughed at the question, that authors always get asked that, but he was going to answer it for him, talking about weird combinations of ideas and ending up creating a story idea for the Evil Were-Chairs that Time Forgot. He then went on to say that he stole the idea for Wolves from his four-year-old daughter, which got a big laugh.

He talked for about half-an-hour, on subjects as diverse as his Babylon 5 episode, the dream he had the night before where he ran around a cartoon world disguised as a dinosaur biting the heads off dinosaurs disguised as humans, sharing a hotel with Terry Pratchett, and meeting Rip Torn in Wilmington, NC ("BEASTMASTER!"). He was as informative and witty as you could have hoped for, plus we got to see the limited-edition beard (he promises it'll be gone by Friday).

We didn't hang around for the signing, mainly because I didn't bring any of my books with me (I wasn't sure whether Borders would allow it - turns out that they would have), and the shop helpfully took all the Neil Gaiman books off the shelves and stuck them on the table where he was signing. Which, of course, had a huge group of people clamouring around it, all trying to get Neil's signature. Sigh. Nonetheless, it was a fun night, and thanks must go out to Richard for coming along (and providing the lift to Oxford and back)…

What could possibly go wrong?

Seeing Neil Gaiman tomorrow! Woo!