| The Men Who Stare at Goats |
[Nov. 28th, 2009|04:53 pm] |
I can see how this book provided material for an amusing film, but I was very disappointed in the book itself. I read it because my son said the film was funny, so I wanted to read the book before watching the film, which I still intend doing. The book, however, is no more than a string of magazine article level chapters full of hearsay and conjecture.
No structure to the book and no evidence of rigour. It presented a collection of stories about the US military's attempts to use paranormal and psychic weapons/tools. At times it seemed to confuse psychic and psychological.
Not a book I would recommend people waste time reading. Just go and watch the film. (I may, of course, change my mind about watching the film after I've seen it.)
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| The Birds |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|08:50 pm] |
8:00 am. I was driving to work along the Dublin quays. It was gray, overcast and a gale was blowing down river, from the west.
The Lord of the Rings CD was playing.
I noticed gulls flying up river; a constant stream of gulls. They were battling against the wind and were ducking and weaving over and under the Liffey bridges. Traffic was bumper to bumper and it took me ten minutes to cover the mile length of quays. Birds kept coming up the river.
With the sound of the Orc music in the background, the strong winds, and turbulent clouds, it felt like there was an invading horde of gulls swarming into Dublin.
Eerie stuff!
Did I tell you I went to see "The Birds" last month? |
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| Murder mystery |
[Nov. 3rd, 2009|09:51 pm] |
We had a murder mystery dinner on Saturday night. It was at Sarah Palin's house.
Sarah welcomed all her guests:
( GUESTS ) |
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| Drunken post |
[Oct. 31st, 2009|10:39 pm] |
Ok! Armagnac is powerful. I have a belly full of Merlot and a head full of Armagnac. I have photos that I am too drunk to post, but will post 2moro (oops! Textspeak filters in) and we have had a great time.
It was the CSI detective, my son, both in this universe and in the parallel fictional universe, that killed the victim.
I have drunk wine ( Merlot) and listened to brilliant music by Sky, and drunk Armagnac with my son and his friend, and I am happy.
Mein Got, de weld is wonderbar! No! It's fucking brilliant.
Oh! I'm so pissed, but I love the world. |
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| Proud dad! |
[Oct. 26th, 2009|06:03 pm] |
Hey! My daughter ran the Dublin marathon today.
As you can see, she is now flaked out on the couch.
Her boyfriend ran it with her. He's about to flake out. |
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| Birthday dinner |
[Oct. 24th, 2009|11:51 pm] |
I had a lovely evening having dinner with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) slovobooks and friends to celebrate his 50th Birthday. Happy Birthday slovobooks! (That's him in the middle of the picture.)
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 24th, 2009|01:09 am] |
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The problem with LJ: We all think we are so close, but really we know nothing about one another. So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away. Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you. |
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| First GN from Irish Publisher |
[Oct. 2nd, 2009|12:55 am] |
Today I bought what I was informed is the first graphic novel published by an Irish publishing company. There have been other graphic novels produced in Ireland by individuals, but this is from O'Brien Press.
It is called "Blood Upon the Rose" and was created by Gerry Hunt.
It is about the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, head quartered in the General Post Office (GPO).
I happen to work in the GPO and was sitting in my office this evening reading "Blood Upon the Rose" . It was awesome to be sitting in the building reading a book about all the events that happened in and around where I was sitting and that led to the foundation of the state. |
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| St.John Ambulance |
[Sep. 13th, 2009|07:22 pm] |
At Phoenix Convention VI, in March, we held a charity auction in aid of the St.John Ambulance Brigade. On Friday last, I was delighted to be in attendance as the proceeds from the auction were handed over to the Walkinstown branch of the brigade.
The nominated charity for Phoenix Convention 7, in March 2010, is The Simon Community, who work to prevent and address homelessness. |
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| Unexpected pleasure. |
[Aug. 17th, 2009|08:19 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  pleased | ] |
I was leaving work this evening and bumped into irishkate and natural20. We went for coffee and I for one passed a pleasant 40 minutes listening to good conversation and news of fantasy and games. |
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| War of the Worlds |
[Jun. 9th, 2009|08:54 pm] |
Six of us went to "The O2" on Sunday night to see Jeff Wayne's live performance of War of the Worlds. I was the only member of the group familiar with the work. There were three twenty-somethings and a 12 year old in my company. They all enjoyed the evening.
It was quite spectacular, with all the musicians on stage, some big screen images, and the wonderful music.
Being of an age to be fond of the piece from its original incarnation as a conept album over 30 years ago (and owning a vinyl copy) I was delighted to be at the event.
The negatives were the less than ideal sound quality; Richard Burton's narration was a bit fuzzy and difficult to make out at times; the Parson's wife was clear and distinct in her singing and the artillery man did a fine job; the diction of the other singers was not great; in general the music was a bit too loud for the the singers.
On the positive side, the music was great; there were a number of clever elements to the performance that I will not give away here; they used Richard Burton's original narration; it was War of the Worlds!
All in all it was a very enjoyable night. Given its iconic status was was great to be present at a live performance. I was not, however, tempted to get a CD of the evening's performance. I will stick to my original for listening pleasure.
It was my first time in the O2 since it was renovated. It is a great improvement and was well managed on the night. A good venue. |
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| Boasting & Bragging |
[Jun. 6th, 2009|07:31 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | books | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | happy | ] |
I just bought a 1st Edition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World".
It cost me the sum total of 10euros.
:-) |
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| The Tear by Ian McDonald |
[May. 23rd, 2009|06:20 pm] |
The Tear by Ian McDonald, (Galactic Empires edited by Gardner Dozois)
I have just finished The Tear by Ian McDonald. It has been nominated in the Best Novella category of the Hugo Awards and justly deserves its place on the shortlist.
For a novella, it covers vast expanses of space, time, emotion and life. Coming of age; multiple stages of life; first love; lost love; moving on; political unrest; xenophobia; evolution; space opera; and life in general are all there; whether Ian meant them to be or not.
I won’t spoil the story by giving away detail, but will say that a few hours taken to read this 75 page tale will be hours well spent. I still have another of the Hugo nominated novellas to read, but The Tear will be hard to beat in relation to getting my vote.
Next on my Hugo Nominees reading list is Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross, which is nominated in the Best Novel category.
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| BETRAYED! |
[May. 18th, 2009|11:21 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  depressed | ] |
Today I discovered, to my horror, that The Oxford Dictionary of English includes:-
Incentiviz(s)e.
I give up! |
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| Hugo Voters Pack |
[Apr. 26th, 2009|11:00 pm] |
I have received my Hugo Voters' Pack of electronic copies of almost all the Hugo nominated works. This is 178mb of great value, including:
6 novels,
4 novellas,
4 novellettes,
5 short stories,
3 non-fiction books,
Art work
and more; and more; and more...
All this for a mere €35 (55 Canadian Dollars), the price of a Supporting Membership, which also gives me the right to vote, which I will definitely be doing.
One can sign up for Anticipation here and can read about the Hugo Voters' Pack here.
A list of the Hugo Nominated works can be viewed here.
I strongly recommend anyone interested in Science Fiction to take advantage of this offer and to vote in the Hugo Awards. Better still, go one better than me and take out a full membership and attend WorldCon in Montreal this August.
Now to start reading the nominations. |
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| Yiddish Policemen's Union |
[Apr. 22nd, 2009|07:48 pm] |
The "Yiddish Policemen's Union" is a murder mystery set in an alternate reality in which Jews were unable to occupy Palestine in 1948 and were settled temporarily in part of Alaska. Religion and chess play a large part in this book, as does the diversity of the people making up the population of the Jewish district.
Apart from being in an alternate reality, I do not see how this book warranted nomination for the 2007 Hugo and Nebula awards. Having found it to be a moderate to mediocre murder mystery I am surprised it won both awards.
Unless you are an avid murder mystery reader you are not likely to find the story of great interest. |
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| Congratulations Ken |
[Apr. 14th, 2009|06:12 pm] |
Congratulations to Ken MacLeod for winning the BSFA Award for Best Novel for Night Sessions.
I have read Night Sessions and can recommend it strongly. |
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| Convention Open |
[Mar. 28th, 2009|05:03 am] |
Well, we're up and running. There was a great turnout for the first evening of the convention, with the main room packed. |
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