Recently updated blogs

My relationship with David Edgar's plays has been mixed: I think my still-strong memories of enjoying Pentecost in the '90s make me always want to give his new work a try, but the RSC's most-commissioned modern writer was also responsible for the notoriously dreary Written on the Heart, and after last week's meh Here In America I felt a bit of trepidation towards the second of his premieres this autumn. …

On this week’s episode of WeeklyTrek — TrekCore’s news podcast — host Alex Perry is joined by Infinite Diversity co-host Thad Hait to discuss all the latest Star Trek news. This week, Alex and his guest discuss the following stories from TrekCore and around the web: TrekCore: Watch the New STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS Season 5 Trailer (06:55) TrekCore: Fans Can Visit STAR TREK: PICARD’s Enterprise-D Bridge Set as Part …

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I'll be moving at the end of the month, which means I've been going through the dark, dusty, forgotten corners of my apartment, looking for things that I'll be taking with me and things that can maybe be recycled and thrown away.I recently found a pile of DC Comics promotional stuff, originally sent to me in big envelopes along with review copies, which …

Cabel Sasser’s XOXO talk is required watching for all inhabitants of earth. Put the 19 minutes aside and watch this.

Continuing the narrative surrounding a cycling holiday in the Cotswolds, 40 years ago, you left the previous Mrs PBT’s and I sheltering in our tent, away from the cold north wind. We were waiting for the pubs to reopen because, unlike in these more enlightened times, licensed premises were forced, by law, to close each afternoon, for a two-and-a-half-hour period. This bizarre practice was a hangover from the Defence of …

Through much of U.S. restaurant history, smells were a problem. Partly this was because of a lack of ventilation that caused the build up of odors of all kinds blended together in a miasma. Then there was also the ideal of the smell-free middle-class dining room where even delicious kitchen aromas were frowned upon. All this kept numbers of people out of restaurants. Eventually this began to change. Better ventilation …

The original form of radio broadcast was amplitude modulation (AM). With AM radio, the changes in the amplitude of the carrier wave carries the signal you want to broadcast. Frequency modulation (FM) came later. With FM radio, changes to the frequency of the carrier wave carry the signal. I go into the mathematical details of AM radio here and of FM radio here. Pinter [1] gives a clear explanation of …

Hono Natsuna’s Pupposites Attract volume 2 continues to be cute. (I reviewed volume 1 previously.) The new character this volume intrigues me. Chako dresses very hip and modern, but her job is very traditional. She has a Shiba Inu that wears a cute kimono-like wrap, and she calls him Aniki, which means “big brother” but can also mean, in a way, “mentor”. She listens to his guidance, too, which is …

In October 2014 I posted an item on this blog about a trip my wife Dianne, daughter Becca and I made to Capitol Park in Tuscaloosa, the site of Alabama's state government from 1826 until 1846. Naturally I included many photographs taken on that bright sunny day. In January 2023 my son Amos and I made a trip to T-town primarily to visit the Paul W. Bryant Museum. I'll be …

We walked through Brighton Pavilion Gardens today. I was trying to avoid it because I knew there was a pro-Palestine meeting happening there. Last time E and I intersected with one of those people were shouting “stop killing children!” and I was extremely moved by it but also unprepared for the questions E had. But C could hear a din and so we went in. The protest was wrapping up, …

There is currently a new Doctor Who Magazine special out, fresh onto the shelves, and I'm pleased to say that I was asked to contribute to it. It's a particularly nice one to be a part of, as it's a bit of a mammoth effort - the first complete episode guide to the show which DWM has done for a very long time. The idea is that with almost the …

Borogravia is a minor but bellicose country, with a long history of invading its neighbours under the pretext of religious commands given by the deity Nuggan. With Nuggan's commands becoming more unhinged (banning ginger hair, garlic, cats, jigsaw puzzles and the colour blue), the reasons for war become increasingly random as well. Its neighbours, finally fed up by its constant aggression, have joined with the regional superpower of Ankh-Morpork to …

♫ Dreams, Aurora

This is a break from my usual topics to let you know that my friend Hannah Gersen recently published her second novel. I am about a third of the way in, and I can already tell you that you should read it. The story concerns the US military’s surprising interest in new age medicine. The narrator (like the author) shares my climate despair. Hannah has a straightforward and undemonstrative prose …

A little bit late, but four new projects have come to my attention and it didn't make sense waiting another month to give them a push. So please check them out, they're all worth taking a look. 1. Data Vampires (Limited podcast series) (Twitter) 2. Galaxy Burn, a 40k Podcast (YouTube channel) (Twitter) 3. Marx's Dream Journal (Substack) (Twitter) 4. Red Bird (Bulletin) (Twitter) If you know of any new(ish) …