Zone Doubt, a.k.a. 'Surreal Я Us'...

Joules, trusted by... dozens... to make a drama out of your crisis...

Other sites:

:: JAT :: WaveWrights :: Publications ::

I live to write. It's not wise to get in my way.

... I'd write my autobiography, but no-one would believe it....


If you come across any words you don't recognise in this blog, take a look at the Taylorspeke Glossary in the left-hand infopane, you'll usually find a definition there.


The Poppy Tales

(Transformers fanfiction!)

Transformers mini-comics here.




Adventures in Orchids

Apparently I am now collecting them...

There's room for one - or maybe two, at a pinch - more on that bedroom windowsill (the only one in the house that's ideal for them). Let's see what I find. Well, that didn't last long...


EO - Everlasting orchid. Phalaenopsis. I've had this orchid since 2007 and it just keeps flowering...







AO - Alien face orchid. Phalaenopsis . Bought 2018 - lovely little flowers, all different patterns!





RO - Rescued orchid photo to come when it flowers. Phalaenopsis. Rescued from a bin up the road in 2019. Classic!






TO - Tiny orchid. Phalaenopsis. Bought at Tesco 21.8.20. It just begged to come home with me. How could I say no?





CO - Crimson orchid. Cambria. Another Tesco find. This one may be going to live in Ken's room once we've redecorated and put up the new shelving; it prefers a cooler, less sunny windowsill. If so, I'll need to find another cambrian to keep it company.






GO - Golden orchid. Phalaenopsis. Saw this one when I bought CO and left it behind - then immediately regretted it as soon as I got home. Never seen one like it before. Ken, bless him, went back over to Tesco in the rain and bought it for me...





DO - Dendrobium Orchid. Smells of wisteria, so beautiful...











RO2 - Rescued orchid no 2. Phalaenopsis. This is the one I rescued from the wall along the road middle of 2021.








PO. Pink orchid. Phalaenopsis. This is the one I bought at Cabury Garden Centre on special, late 2021. It's much happier here!










TWO. Teeny weeny orchid, Phalaenopsis. Rescued from Tesco end 2021 (I think).




















My IMDb ep summaries

(completed)
Arthur of the Britons
Sky
Star Maidens
The Starlost
Space Rangers
The Sentinel (part: seasons 2 and 3)
Swamp Thing (part: season 3)
Gravedale High
Transformers: Armada
Transformers: Energon
Transformers: Cybertron (part)
Misfits of Science (four eps)
Zoo Gang
Zodiac
Jupiter Moon
Transformers: Beast Wars (part: seasons 2 and 3)
Transformers: Beast Machines (part)
Vampire Princess Miyu
Starhyke
Nathan Barley
No Heroics
Undermind (3 eps)
Will Shakespeare (Tim Curry version)
Nightwalker
12 Kingdoms
Trigun (ep 8)
Rayearth
Hyperdrive (season 2 ep 3)
The Café

For later:

Missing Earthian ep
Missing Haibane Renme eps


Silver birch at Eastwood 

Farm

"Autumnal - nothing to do with leaves. It is to do with a certain brownness at the edges of the day... Brown is creeping up on us, take my word for it... Russets and tangerine shades of old gold flushing the very outside edge of the senses... deep shining ochres, burnt umber and parchments of baked earth - reflecting on itself and through itself, filtering the light. At such times, perhaps, coincidentally, the leaves might fall, somewhere..."

(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Act 2: Tom Stoppard)

Autumn...

I love this time of year. I love the colours, the sharp slant of sunlight on the trees, mosaics of acid-yellow and harts- blood, velvet and darkness and a haze of mist-grey over the hills. I love its immanence, its mellowness, the tang of frost just around the corner of the year...

Watching the little birds in the goat-willow in my garden, I realised something more.

I love this land with a fierce, possessive love, deep-rooted in two thousand years of history. From the frosted beaches and cloud-brushing peaks of the north to the wind-haunted meanderings of the rivers of the east, from the sensuous rolling patchworked hills of the south to the demanding dark moors of the west, this land seeps into bone and blood and synapse, mother of motley nobility, culture, individual freedoms. It can be known. It can be understood. It can be felt deep inside.

I love its effortless eccentricities, its vigour and vibrancy, its flawed perfections, its silent strength and tenacious resilience, its hard-won tolerances and intense and variable beauty, the profound energy in its sacred mythical landscape.

Home and more-than-home, the forces that shape and protect and bind, in me, as I am in the land. Love returning love in the stillness for those who'll only take the time to listen...

(Joules, Autumn 2004)


All photographs taken by Joules unless otherwise specified. All photographs © Joules A Taylor or other specified individual.


In Memoriam

17.03.09 - Argent

25.07.08 - Raptor

18.12.07 - Quyn

02.12.06 - Ryme


Currently enjoying:
Muse
Transformers - IDW, Prime, Animated, Rescue Bots, Earthspark.

Currently reading:
Cixin Liu - newest favourite author.
Ben Miller. wow. Just, wow...


Currently working on:
Haadri
Dystopic novel starring Devon from Dystopia

Currently chuffed with:
My garden

Currently miffed at:
Effing BND (you know who I mean)
Nestlé, TFG Tinyhands Fart, Toadface Farage

Currently maintaining:
Wavewrights, on and off...
BCHS
BCW


Blog Pics
I've gathered some of my pages of photos together: the page of links is here. I'll be adding more as time goes by!




Evil Squid
A Little Glossary of Taylorspeke
(in no particular order)

plit popints - n. Typo for 'plot points' typed on a keyboard with more than half the characters worn off...

[PING] (alt [ping]) - n. A brainwave. The text equivalent of a lightbulb going on blindingly over someone's head. Usually mine. And usually at the most inconvenient of times. [sigh]

TPTB - The Powers That Be.

wulmet - n. A person of little or no talent who somehow inveigles himself into a position where he is in power over other, far more talented people and uses his position to downplay them in order to try to make himself feel superior.

biteable - referring to an anatomical part vb, tasty.

Flatterfed - vb. 27.02.08: my typo for flattered, but since it's so cutely apt I thought it would fit nicely here. Lutra defined it as "the lovely warm feeling of satisfaction resulting from enthusiastic reviews..." (which I've been getting for my MB fics).

Composted - vb, 'compos mentis', mentally capable of working. Contrast with uncomposted or non- composted, not 'compos mentis', not capable of working, hungover...

Cumbles - n, cucumbers.

Kewp - how Ken says 'thank you'. We rather like Lutra's 'nanx', too...

Musekick - noun, music, without which I cannot work.

'feinne - noun, caffeine, essential for correct mental functioning, especially first thing in the morning. I prefer mine in the form of SodaStream Diet Coke. And on that subject...

Skoosh - verb, noun. To skoosh - to add CO2 to a sodastream bottle filled with water to make it fizzy, prior to adding Diet Coke syrup (or just drinking as sparkling water). A skoosh - a bottle of water that has been skooshed. Skooshy - something that has been skooshed, water, or that whipped cream that comes in tins you have to shake then upend and press the nozzle...

Shoogle - verb. To shake gently, for example, of roast potatoes in a roasting tin to ensure they're covered with oil. I have vague memories of this being a real Scottish colloquialism...

Stegasaurus - n, spider of the genus tegenaria. Why? No idea. I just find it easier, that's all...
Edit 08.09.07: Lutra thinks that Brian is a good name for a mini-stegasaurus. From now on, any 'Brian's in the posts may be assumed to be a tegenaria. Except where otherwise specified.

Viterals - noun, vitamins + minerals. Also a pun on victuals.

Splish - verb. A combination of slosh and splash.

Parrots - noun, paracetemol (from the old joke "Why are there no aspirin tablets in the jungle? Because the parrots eat 'em all...")

Maggles - noun, magpies. As opposed to non-magical people.

Flamewings - noun. Swifts. So called because the first time we became aware of them was an early summer evening when they were flying high, the light from the setting sun seemingly turning their wings to flames. Lovely little birds. We always know summer's arrived when we hear their high-pitched squeeing.

Murfs - noun, moths.

Peasant cut - noun, roughly cut up into big chunks, e.g. vegetables chopped in a hurry for a hearty stew or soup. By extension, anything prepared in a hurry - haircut, material, even a first draft of a story...

Giraffe - noun, a carafe (of wine, coffee or water, for example).

Shrumps - noun, mushrooms.

Splings - noun, Kai's spelling homework: by extension, any spelling.

Tyops - noun, typos. var toyps, typso, psyto, psoyt, etc. Usual result of a dose of the fingerials (see next entry).

Fingerials - (pr. fin GEEE ree yalls) noun, fingers that will not type what you want them to.

Haddock - noun, time, of which I never have enough. (Origin of this term here.)

Sleep - noun? vb? a.k.a. sheeeeeeeeep.... I used to know what this word meant...


The Updates Blog

The place to stay notified of WaveWrights' Fiction updates: Zone, Darkside, DarkRealm, Matrix, Vault, Safehouse 13...




my computer gremlin Butch. click the pic to see the larger image

Butch, my computer gremlin. Click the pic for larger version, and read his adventures here...

Butch by the talented 

Sylverthorne

A gift for me! Butch by the very talented Sylverthorne. Click pic for larger image.

Joules' 

Haddock

This is MY haddock. It was caught exclusively for me by Talon. No, you can't have any. I need all the haddock I can get!!



A'lestrel by Valkyrie.

A'lestrel - a gift for me from Valkyrie...



Albino Alsatian Benten (c) MEBird 

2004

Another gorgeous Valkyrie gift for me - Benten the Albino Alsatian! Click thumbnail for larger image.

Radittsu, an oekaki for my birthday 04 

by 

Onna

Oekai by Bakayaro Onna - Radittsu at his sexiest...



The Zone Plant from
The Zone 

blog 

plant

OrganicHTML (which alas no longer seems to exist...)
[::..My Regular Reads..::]
:: Astronomical Pic of the Day [>]
:: What is Space... [>]
:: Dark Roasted Blend [>]
:: BLDG [>]
:: Watchismo Times [>]
[::..Fun Places..::]
::HubbleSite
Stunning...
::PALEOMAP Project
Absolutely fascinating.
:: Skymap
Check out the night sky where you are!
[::..Useful Sites..::]
:: GreenNet
First stop for environmental matters
:: The Forest of Avon
Our local community forest and places to visit
:: The Guardian
Online Guardian Newspaper.
:: Symbols
Exactly what it says
:: World Timeserver
For checking the current time around this world
:: Universal Currency Converter
Actually it's just a terran-global currency converter, not universal, but it's still useful...

So what is it with the haddock? Am I some kind of fish freak?

I'll leave that to others to decide.

The tale (or tail if you prefer) harks back to October 2000, when my GoodTwin and I, ably assisted by Sue, ran the first UK Professionals convention...
It's common knowledge that I never have enough time, and I was determined not to bewail the fact that weekend: hence I promised not to use the 'T' word...
Of course, that didn't really work (if nothing else I had to let the trainees know what times things were supposed to be happening!) so we decided a substitute word would be employed instead. There were several suggestions. Banana came very close to being chosen. However, I eventually decided that 'haddock' fitted the bill nicely. Ever since, haddock=time. Hence the title of my forthcoming autobiography,
My Half-Life in the Haddock Space Continuum....


Normally I wouldn't, but these were just irresistible...

How could I resist?

Just too adorable...

and to complete the rainbow...

These Too-Kawaii Kitties
were adopted from
Ghost's Anime Page (which appears to have disappeared, alas...)

[::..Anime/Manga..::]
Useful sites:

BBTS -
Fabulous anime figures

Anime Lyrics
A huge selection... evil popups

Anime still needed to complete series' I'm collecting... Many thanks to everyone who has helped me acquire the collection!
Ai no Kusabi

Owned:
   DVD
   Dj: June Special
   CD: Ambivalence

Cyber City Oedo 808

Owned:
   DVD
   All 3 eps on Video, dubbed
   Dj: Cyberage 1-3
   Illustrated Book 2 (Benten's) in Japanese

From Eroica with Love

Owned:
   Manga Vols 1, 9, 11

Mirage of Blaze

Owned:
   DVD Vol 1 (eps 1-4)

R.G. Veda

Owned:
   English Manga: Vol 1
   Japanese Manga: Vol 1-7 complete
   Tarot Pack
   R.G.Veda video

Twelve Kingdoms

Owned:
   Anime Vol 1-12: complete

Under the Glass Moon

Owned:
   Manga Vol 1, 2
Vol 3 needed

Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust

Owned:
   DVD

   Vampire Hunter D Book 1



New Vampire Miyu

Owned:
   (Studio Ironcat) Manga Vols 1 -5 (complete)


Yami no Matsuei

Owned:
   Viz Manga: English translation, Vols 1 - 11 (complete: I believe vol 12 is only available online)
   Japanese 3-DVD set
   Central Park Media: Descendants of Darkness Vol. 1, English/Japanese subbed.
   Sketchbook


[::..Joules SP fied..::]


... this is Terra? How the hell'd I end up here...?

(Thanks, Lutra, for the quote!)

[::..archive..::]
07/01/2002 - 07/31/2002
08/01/2002 - 08/31/2002
09/01/2002 - 09/30/2002
10/01/2002 - 10/31/2002
11/01/2002 - 11/30/2002
12/01/2002 - 12/31/2002
01/01/2003 - 01/31/2003
02/01/2003 - 02/28/2003
03/01/2003 - 03/31/2003
04/01/2003 - 04/30/2003
05/01/2003 - 05/31/2003
06/01/2003 - 06/30/2003
07/01/2003 - 07/31/2003
08/01/2003 - 08/31/2003
09/01/2003 - 09/30/2003
10/01/2003 - 10/31/2003
11/01/2003 - 11/30/2003
12/01/2003 - 12/31/2003
01/01/2004 - 01/31/2004
02/01/2004 - 02/29/2004
03/01/2004 - 03/31/2004
04/01/2004 - 04/30/2004
05/01/2004 - 05/31/2004
06/01/2004 - 06/30/2004
07/01/2004 - 07/31/2004
08/01/2004 - 08/31/2004
09/01/2004 - 09/30/2004
10/01/2004 - 10/31/2004
11/01/2004 - 11/30/2004
12/01/2004 - 12/31/2004
01/01/2005 - 01/31/2005
02/01/2005 - 02/28/2005
03/01/2005 - 03/31/2005
04/01/2005 - 04/30/2005
05/01/2005 - 05/31/2005
06/01/2005 - 06/30/2005
07/01/2005 - 07/31/2005
08/01/2005 - 08/31/2005
09/01/2005 - 09/30/2005
10/01/2005 - 10/31/2005
11/01/2005 - 11/30/2005
12/01/2005 - 12/31/2005
01/01/2006 - 01/31/2006
02/01/2006 - 02/28/2006
03/01/2006 - 03/31/2006
04/01/2006 - 04/30/2006
05/01/2006 - 05/31/2006
06/01/2006 - 06/30/2006
07/01/2006 - 07/31/2006
08/01/2006 - 08/31/2006
09/01/2006 - 09/30/2006
10/01/2006 - 10/31/2006
11/01/2006 - 11/30/2006
12/01/2006 - 12/31/2006
01/01/2007 - 01/31/2007
02/01/2007 - 02/28/2007
03/01/2007 - 03/31/2007
04/01/2007 - 04/30/2007
05/01/2007 - 05/31/2007
06/01/2007 - 06/30/2007
07/01/2007 - 07/31/2007
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10/01/2007 - 10/31/2007
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12/01/2007 - 12/31/2007
01/01/2008 - 31/01/2008
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01/01/2019 - 31/01/2019
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01/01/2020 - 31/01/2020
01/02/2020 - 29/02/2020
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01/04/2020 - 31/04/2020
01/05/2020 - 31/05/2020
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01/12/2020 - 31/12/2020
01/01/2021 - 31/01/2021
01/02/2021 - 28/02/2021
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01/10/2021 - 31/10/2021
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01/12/2021 - 31/12/2021
01/01/2022 - 31/01/2022
01/02/2022 - 28/02/2022
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01/04/2022 - 30/04/2022
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01/10/2022 - 31/10/2022
01/11/2021 - 31/11/2021
01/12/2022 - 31/12/2022
01/01/2023 - 31/01/2023
01/02/2023 - 28/02/2023
01/03/2023 - 31/03/2023
01/04/2023 - 30/04/2023
01/08/2023 - 31/08/2023
01/11/2023 - 31/11/2023

Monday, January 25, 2021

It's been a very strange start to 2021! Update starting from today and working backwards... 

Yesterday morning... (OK, starting from yesterday and working backwards!)


Last night I thought to myself - it's about time you reported Luke Jones (of Fixit) to the gov dept responsible for tax (after all, we paid the costs of the work to build our drive into his personal bank account, which I believe is somewhat illegal if, as we assumed, he planned to not declare it), so logged into google to check on the status of the so-called company...

I found this...

Rogue traders imprisoned for fraudulent home improvement work.

I read it - jaw dropping further and further open and eyes widening as I did so. I had to read it twice. And then - imagine me pogoing around the house fist-pumping the air and singing Justified and Ancient as loud as I could - all virtually, of course, it was 2 a.m. and although Ken's on two days annual leave he's not sleeping all that well atm, didn't want to wake him.

These are the relevant bits. (The site is public and I've provided the link so I don't think this is illegal).

David (69) and Luke Jones (30), both of Bank Road, Pilning, appeared at Bristol Crown Court on 25 June after pleading guilty in February to a single charge of participating in a fraudulent business. The pair were imprisoned and made subject to a largely indefinite Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) banning them from cold calling at properties and delivering leaflets and fliers to them.

The court heard that the case involved a total of 18 victims of the pair's tactics from which they generated in excess of £70,000, but attempted to gain much more. However, where costs of rectification works were known, the losses to victims were put at £90,000.

The case was taken by South Gloucestershire Council's Trading Standards team who first started investigating the pair four years ago when they looked into a business called Fix It Roofing which had targeted two elderly residents in Warmley by cold calling them.

It was established that the pair had approached a recently bereaved 81-year-old resident and initially made a verbal agreement with her to clean her UPVC porch for just £70. However, once she had given her agreement David Jones, who used the false name of 'Johnny', and his son Luke became intimidating towards her and demanded more payment, as well as doing additional work not agreed to. They drove her to the bank for payment twice and took a total of £4,618 from her which basically wiped out her life savings.

Further investigations revealed that the pair used other business names such as Fix It Building & Landscaping, B&C Building and Landscaping and Fix It Landscaping and Driveway Contractors, and not only cold called victims, but also approached people advertising for building work to be done on various online platforms [[that includes us]]. Several other victims were also discovered, including a number traced through banking records in the name of Luke Jones who accepted payments for jobs by bank transfer.

Trading Standards officers worked closely with the Council's Anti-Social Behaviour team during the investigation, particularly regarding the CBOs. The CBO is indefinite in the case of David Jones and, in addition to banning him from cold calling and leaflet dropping, he is indefinitely banned from working on behalf of himself or another regarding building maintenance work without first having specific written approval from Trading Standards.

Luke Jones is subject to the same CBO regarding cold calling and leafleting, but in his case Trading Standards' approval of his involvement in building maintenance work is only required for 10 years from date of sentence.


We probably didn't start the ball rolling, but my complaints to Citizen's Advice, their referrral to Trading Standards, and my CCJ against them must all have helped. We may never see the money we're due, but the sacks of shit won't be able to scam anyone else - for at least 10 years in the case of Luke, and never for that vile little bully his father!

I've been grinning fit to burst all day.

And I used the first saffron (all six threads) I picked from my crocuses - back in the summer, even though they shouldn't really start producing until next autumn - in the rice for tonight's teriyaki chicken, and it worked beautifully! Lovely yellow colour and a subtle but very pleasant taste. A good investment, it appears. Chuffed about that!

Muse had a new album out (back in 2018. Why we only find out about these two years after I will never know...) So I bought it... Simulation Theory (which I keep calling Simulation Therapy...) You know how much I love Muse, and this is the best yet. When it arrived I played it three times straight through (seriously, usually once is enough!) and had to resist playing it a fourth time. I've played it again, pretty much every day, usually more than once. I'm addicted. It's fabulous! I think Thought Contagion is my favourite...

Although... Algorithm is bloody good too...

Ah, of course! I keep thinking it's Simulation Therapy because that's what it is for me - therapy. The whole album makes me me feel GREAT!

So, having got that sorted out... It's been a month of making mental connections. Not sure I've ever mentioned how much I absolutely loathe those hideous more than life-sized nutcracker soldiers that seem to be in every xmas decoration and tableau in the US for the last few years. I can't stand the things! But I couldn't work out why. Well, they're pretty ugly, but my reaction was a lot more than simple dislike.

Then I remembered.

Waaaaaaay back, when dinosaurs ruled the earth and I was just a wee kiddie, we watched a Doctor Who episode that scared me rigid. All I could remember was toy soldiers chasing the Dr and his companions through a wood made of letters. A couple of years ago I found a Dr Who twitter channel, and described it, asking if it really existed or if I'd had a nightmare. The owner said no, it's a real episode, part of The Mind Robber. It was good to know I hadn't dreamed it, but then I left it - until, with a Christmas24 channel film on the background, I realised that OF COURSE those hideous nutcrackers reminded me of the toy soldiers in the episode! Why it hadn't clicked before I don't know - but anyway, I found the DVD on ebay and bought it, and we watched it a couple of weeks ago. It's actually not bad, as ancient Doctor Who series' go. And the toy soldiers are still really creepy!

This is fantastic news!. Swimming is the thing I've missed most of all with the lockdowns. My health has suffered too - normal exercise just doesn't do the same... I shall be back three weeks after I've had my first Covid-19 jab.

We've been catching up with the watching stuff, of course...

Johnny Mnemonic was released in 1995 - Kai's birthyear - and the film starts on Jan 17th (or 15th? I though the screen said 15 but everyone else says 17...) January 2021. Kai had never seen it, so we watched it on the 17th. Rollicking good fun, if very violent, and it's aged quite well.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse... wow... just wow. I was expecting something fun, but this is extraordinary. Really good.

Unfortunately the same can't be said for Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie - which is absolutely dire. Such an embarrassment (for everyone who was in it too...)

We watched Avengers: Endgame in preparation for Spider-Man: Far from Home. Which is... OK. Not brilliant, though quite a bit of fun.

The Planets is an amazing watch. It strikes a really nice balance between the science and comprehensibility for the masses. (Muse's The Void, which is on Simulation Theory, is the intro music too. Nice choice!) I could have done with a tiny bit more science, to be honest, but it's still beautiful and compelling.

We followed that up with Planetary Traveler, which I picked up years ago but which we'd never quite managed to watch. The whole thing is here: Planetary Traveller

And it's gorgeous!

I picked up Pokémon Detective Pikachu because Ryan Reynolds is in it, not expecting much - but it's another surprise, really good and gorgeously made (although you do need to be familiar with Pokemon for it to make sense - we are because Kai went through the craze when he was little).

Voyage of Time: Life's Journey was a xmas present from (ach! Sue? GoodTwin? really sorry, I can't remember!) It's a fascinating film, nothing actually new in it, but beautifully made and quite haunting. Prospect - xmas presesent from (again, Sue or GoodTwin) is very good, obviously low budget but extremely effective regardless. I'd recommend both!

Another one I picked up ages ago is Kick-Ass 2, but I've been put off watching it because it stars Jim Carrey, and I can't stand him. Ken and I decided to watch it, just to get it over with, and... it's... exceptionally violent, and the gutter humour is off-putting, although fitting in-film... and... OK, I didn't even recognise Jim Carrey, and he was rather good, so looks like he's aged well... Can't really say I enjoyed it, but I'll probably watch it again at some point - it's kind of compelling...

I bought Mune: Guardian of the Moon for Kai for Yule and it's utterly sublime. Stunning. Went straight onto the Best of the Best shelf. It's like nothing I've ever seen, completely original (as far as I can tell), and gob-smackingly beautiful. LOVE it.

Kai decided to get himself Netflix back before Yule. I mentioned that I'd read about Love, Death and Robots and that it sounded good...

GOOD?? Wow, I sometimes amaze myself with understatement. It is absolutely brilliant. And clever. And uproariously funny - in places - and viciously satirical - in places - and tear-jerkingly distressing - in places - and overall... wow. Worth getting Netflix just for this. Really hope a second season materialises.

Way back just after the dinosaurs extinction, I watched a thing called Search. Well, I watched a couple of eps of it, anyway. I remembered liking Doug McClure. So I hunted through the IMDb and then amazon and found both the original pilot, Probe, and the SEARCH series, and in a fit of nostalgia bought both from mum T for me for Yule.

Ken and I are currently hauling through it, but it's aged horribly. The rampant sexism is teeth-gritting cringeworthy - which does at least make it a somewhat interesting social document. But I can't recommend it to anyone.

I'm about half way through Guns, Germs and Steel (another pressie from Sue/GoodTwin... it's no good, you're going to have to sign your names on presents!). It's very good, if very depressing, but excellent for world-building background info. Also inspires questions, always a good thing!

And I think that's probably it for the moment. I've been busy, of course - we have a new book proposal to go to Chelsea tomorrow (details if it gets taken up) - Ken (who was eligible for a free flu jab so finally got one on the 9th) is still working from home, but trying to go out for walks for exercise with Kai as often as time and weather allow. Kai is currently fending off a cold, so not at his best, but is still busy with online friends and his own projects. Can't do much in the garden until the weather improves, but then we have all the planting planned out. I should have a bit more time to devote to the veg this year, we have no major house-thingie things planned!

And finally - this is my Ryuk mask. Ai lubs it!!


Later, everyone. Please stay safe and well.

... off to listen to Simulation Theory again...

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2 Comments:

Blogger Sue said...

What excellent news about those bastards! I get so angry when hear about elderly people being ripped off by these evil gits!
That mask is rather alarming :-)

5:04 pm  
Blogger Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor said...

ROFL! It's good, innit? Thinking I might wear it next Hallowe'en...
As for Fixit - oh yes. Hugely satisfying good news. Feel so sorry for their victims though (not us so much, as I fight back). Hopefully they can get some retribution.

7:20 pm  





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