Recently updated blogs

I have barely made any progress on writing (other than blogging) this year. Something I need to address PDQ.I got a tax rebate. Quite a large one. Basically in the 2023-24 tax year I only worked for five months, and then spent seven months taking a bit of a break and trying to work out what I was doing with my life. For that five months, I was on higher …

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Olivia Darnley, Mimî M Khayisa, Sifiso Mazibuko, Scott Sparrow in A Good House, Royal Court Theatre. Photo: Camilla Greenwell Thought-provoking, challenging and funny in a play is a difficult combination to get right, but the production of Amy Jeptha's play A Good House at the Royal Court Theatre does just...

Ridgeline subscribers — Hello from amidst the Toyama rush of media requests. I’ve had to say no to most of them, mainly because I’ve been finishing the final final final final set of edits on the Random House edition of Things Become Other Thing. Those edits are in. The book can be pre-ordered from all the usual places. I’m running a pre-order campaign whereby if you forward your pre-order coupon …

Long cold day fishing for perch - blank! Glad I chucked a lure about on the way home - got to love a jack blank-saver. A pike added to the challenge - but the target of 20 might be slipping away...

The following reviews are the 31st and 32nd installments of my series searching for “SF short stories that are critical in some capacity of space agencies, astronauts, and the culture which produced them.” Some stories I’ll review in this series might not fit. And that is okay. I relish the act of literary archaeology. Philip K. Dick’s “Explorers We” (1959) reframes the triumphant astronaut’s return home as the ultimate horror. …

A thing I had forgotten: I received a square of… knitting? Crochet? from Bill Drummond in the post at the top of the year. Torn between framing it and enlisting my mother in law to make it part of something. First session of NHS physio started on Tuesday. I now have exercises to do in sets, which feels so formal my mind rebels at it. But I’d also like to …

These notes are a tool I use for reflecting, remembering (because I can't), networking and public accountability. Read more here. Hello. It’s term time so I’m back to drafting these notes in Michael’s caff, over breakfast instead of lunch now that Joel’s joined an older group at BRIT Kids. Joy’s gone north to her mum’s. Dylan’s still in bed, afaik. Meanwhile in Whitehall, GovCamp 2025 is happening without me, because …

Knitting words and letters is today's topic. In a world on fire, banners have historically announced one's view on things, and, fair warning! I'm stating my political beliefs below. Obviously, politics aren't strictly necessary: a common example of banner-knitting is putting names on Christmas stockings. However, you have been warned! The top part of this post is technical,

I had the second sitting of my root canal last tuesday, and while the procedure itself went pretty well, I developed some pain after a few hours had passed. I asked the dentist and also read that it can be “normal” to feel pain for a few days, so I waited it out. Now it has been five days after, and I am sitting here with a swollen upper lip …

Cleanly breaking weeks with travel seems to work great for me: It creates a neat time-bounded window, or a context if you will. But long-distance travel — which can span days — are a lot fuzzier. These journeys can form their own chapters. This week in data: Leon wraps consumed: 0 Hours slept: Not enough. :( In my case, a chapter involving some extremely pointy elbows and my rib-cage on …

MattoF has tagged me for the Blog Question Challenge which asks bloggers questions about their background and motivations, tools, and workflows. It is a variation by Kev Quirk of a challenge originally created by Ava at Bear Blog. I have accepted this fun challenge and this is my entry. Why did you start blogging in the first place? I started in 2004 in the golden era of blogging. I enjoyed …

From sitting at the feet of her grandmother and the turntable as a toddler in Osaka to jazz mecca New York and the international stage, organist Akiko Tsuraga has come a long way, still thriving on the inspiration from mentors Lou Donaldson and Dr. Lonnie Smith. “I’m trying to do as they did as much as I can, which is playing for the people first and foremost.” She keeps staring …

The radiometric quantities introduced in part 1 of this series are completely color-blind. That is an obvious drawback for rendering. Thus far, our notion is that radiance is a single number, not a color. A fairly common practice in rendering is to have separate radiance values for red, green and blue. If your scene happens to be lit exclusively by light sources with only three wavelengths and does not exhibit …

It is a happy accident that I have ended up reviewing Cooper’s Tea on Sunday, on a Sunday, but the point amused me nevertheless when I realised it. The title of today’s read is the kind that my mum would like, for the same reason that she remains fond of James Anderson’s mystery The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy (1975), and why she still can’t stand looking at my …