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London Bloggers [Comic Blogs][Other Blogs] | 1 January 2005
[comics] Time Magazine on the Best Comics of 2004 … On Eightball #23: ‘For most comic books, when a nobody teenager discovers super powers and a gun that zaps anything out of existence, it usually results in his getting buff and facing the dilemmas of responsibility in between fist fights with ubervillans. Forget that. This is Clowes’ world.’
2 January 2005
[blogs] Belle de Jour Updates … ‘When I stopped blogging, someone wrote to say that if I was a real blogger I would be back. And here I am.’
3 January 2005
[bdj] Peep Show — Belle de Jour interviewed over IRC by the Guardian. Belle proves she’s a real blogger:
Belle: so, which browser do you use on your mac?
[google] Bypass Google’s Regional Pages — Google has been redirecting requests for google.com to google.co.uk. Very annoying but this page will fix that – just visit it.
4 January 2005
[tech] Life Interrupted — interesting article about how multi-tasking is affecting our lives … ‘Two Harvard professors see evidence of what they call “pseudo-attention deficit disorder” — shorter attention spans influenced by technology and the constant waves of information washing over us. When the brain gets excited over some rapid data and is stimulated, it releases a “dopamine squirt,” they say.’
[documentaries] True Films — a list of documentaries recommended by Kevin Kelly. On The Thin Blue Line: ‘The film hypnotically plays out his alleged murder of a cop over and over, each time according to different witnesses, until the “evidence” of the crime collapses under the tainted weight of so many versions. This was a new form of nonfiction film and it helped free an innocent man from prison. How many films can claim that?’
5 January 2005
[blogs] Six Apart to buy Live Journal … ‘Six Apart, the parent company behind hosted blogging service TypePad, and Moveable Type is about to acquire Live Journal, for an undisclosed amount. The deal is a mix of stock and cash, and could be announced sometime later this month, according to those close to the two companies. If the deal goes through, then Six Apart will become one of the largest weblog companies in the world, with nearly 6.5 million users.’ [via Kottke’s Links]
6 January 2005
[linky] Recent Links culled from my del.icio.us …
7 January 2005
[bdj] Belle de Jour Spotted in Oxford Street …on the shelf at Waterstones.
9 January 2005
[history] Desperate Lucan Dreamt of Fascist Coup — great article looking at Lord Lucan’s fascist tendencies as he cracked-up before murdering his children’s nanny … ‘…One [Lucan] biographer, Patrick Marnham, said: ‘Seen from the Clermont Club [Lucan’s favourite gambling haunt], the country was starting to resemble the less stable years of the Weimar Republic. Sir James Goldsmith began to develop his theory of “the Communist infiltration of the Western media”. Over the smoked salmon and lamb cutlets, the talk turned to the pros and cons of a British military coup.’ It may seem difficult to believe now, nearly eight years into the most secure Labour government in British history, but across the country pockets of the traditional ruling class were preparing for military action.’
[flash] The Duel — Duelling Banjos as performed by a squirel and a penguin. Co-starring some pigs, the Dukes of Hazzard, the RSPCA and a cameo appearance by Burt Reynolds.
10 January 2005
[books] It Pays to Trust Your Gut — Wired reviews Malcolm Gladwell’s new book Blink … ‘[This is] Gladwell’s point: People make instant decisions, and it is possible to learn how to make them good ones. He’s not saying that snap judgments are always good. Instead, he says, when they are backed by experience and knowledge, they can be good.’
[comics] This will be a good comic… good enough? — Metafilter discusses All-Star Batman and Superman … ‘Warren Ellis penned a column in 2000 regarding why Ultimate Marvel was a good idea and the logic holds for All-Star DC. Writers don’t want to be handicapped by decades of backstory. The fans that slavishly want icons frozen in narrative stasis are a miniscule, but loud voice, and they really should be ignored.’ [via Feeling Listless]
12 January 2005
[blogs] Blogger sacked for sounding off — UK Blogger sacked by Waterstones for entries on his blog … ‘On one occasion, he ranted about his “sandal-wearing” manager he nicknamed “Evil Boss”, which he said was a caricature like the “Pointy Haired Boss” in the Dilbert cartoons. In another posting, Mr Gordon joked about “Bastardstone’s”. After he was suspended pending an investigation into his blog, he was called before a formal disciplinary meeting and sacked last week. “The book trade can only exist with freedom of speech and information,” he said last night.’
13 January 2005
[death] Watery Grave — article about dead bodies found in the Thames and some of the stories behind them … ‘I must must have walked along, over and indeed under the River Thames hundreds of times. A bald and astounding police statistic comes back to me every time I look into its steely waters: along the 213-mile long Thames, a body is retrieved from the river on average every week. The majority (39 last year) are found in the London area.’
14 January 2005
[bdj] Belle de Jour Answers your Questions — from the Guardian’s Newsblog …
‘Guardian: Which do you miss more, blogging or your work as a call girl? 15 January 2005
[bdj] Review of Belle de Jour — from the New Statesman … ‘What Belle does best is reveal the scant, prosaic motivations of men who pay for sex; and it is this lack of embellishment that finally convinces you of the authenticity of her strangely banal document. As she asks one client, a bestselling author: “Wasn’t it Dashiell Hammett who said you don’t pay a call girl to do what she does, you pay her to leave afterwards?” Her customers are not losers, and rarely are they kinky. Mostly, they just want the same things all men want, only quickly, effortlessly, without all that risotto and Sauvignon, without any clever talk or gooey eye contact. I suppose what I am saying is that the sex in The Intimate Adventures is – well, of course it is – transactional.’ [thanks Tom]
[linky] “So what’s so cool about del.icio.us? I don’t get it.” — Metafilter discusses del.icio.us … ‘[I] love just watching the main feed. It’s like this waterfall of transient reference needs, online velleities and obsessions.’
16 January 2005
[royalty] Harry’s Crew — The Observer profiles Prince Harry’s social circle … ‘At Cotswold Costumes, Harry had tried on an SS costume only to find it was too small.’ [via Memex 1.1]
[mac] How the Mac was born, and other Tales — interview with Andy Hertzfeld regarding his new book Revolution in the Valley … ‘I had a talk with [Steve Jobs] about a year ago where I was telling him, “Hey, there’s this huge opportunity, things are shifting.” And he kind of said, “No, they’re not. Windows is going to be dominant for at least the next 10 years.” I said something like, “Is it going to be the rest of our lives?” He said, “Depends on how long you live.”‘
17 January 2005
[funny] Some Amusing Classified Ads …
 Update: Sick Children, Genocide and other Funny Stuff — a number of readers have pointed out these ads were created by Jimmy Carr — I got them from a viral email doing the rounds … ‘The “other stuff” section of this year’s show sees Carr read from small ads that he has placed in various unsuspecting buying-and-selling publications. “They’re just quirky little things,” he says. ” ‘For sale: bonsai tree – large.’ There’s another advert in which I’m selling some rubber sheets for £40; £45 clean. Which is quite funny, but I’m doing that in the watersports section of Loot, which I think is a joy.”‘
[books] Digested Read: The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl by Belle de Jour … ‘The first thing you should know is that I am a whore. Prostitution is steady work. I open my legs. And then I close them. It beats working in an office.’
18 January 2005
[comics] Six Degrees of Snapper Carr — I would have guessed that the Kevin Bacon of comics is Rick Jones but what do I know? … ‘You can play the Six Degrees game in comics by linking a character via a chain of acquaintanceship to Snapper Carr. Scrooge McDuck is Donald Duck’s uncle. (Many, many Disney duck stories.) Donald Duck was a partner with Daffy Duck in an entertainment act (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) Daffy Duck has met Batman (Superman v. Bugs Bunny miniseries) Batman knows Snapper Carr.’ [Related: Captain America Wins Superhero Networking Crown]
[support] Blow the Dust out of the Connector — some useful advice for people who do Tech Support from Raymond Chen. ‘…Say “Okay, sometimes the connection gets a little dusty and the connection gets weak. Could you unplug the connector, blow into it to get the dust out, then plug it back in?” They will then crawl under the desk, find that they forgot to plug it in (or plugged it into the wrong port), blow out the dust, plug it in, and reply, “Um, yeah, that fixed it, thanks.”‘
19 January 2005
[words] Cliché Finder … ‘A chain is only as strong as it’s weakest LINK.’ [via linkbunnies.org]
20 January 2005
[speccy] Jet Set Willy Remakes — old-ish page covering new versions of Jet Set Willy for the ZX Spectrum … ‘Jet Set Willy isn’t a matter of life and death. It’s much more important than that.’ [via The Coffee Grounds]
21 January 2005
[bdj] Tracking BDJ — the Book Club Blog is doing a much better job than me at following news about Belle de Jour. Amusing comment from Mil Millington: ‘…Belle De Jour happens to share an editor and a former agent with me, but that is purely because she got in touch with me, and I put her in touch with the two people in London I trusted. We have had email contact, but I have never met Belle in person. Honest! That was a fun moment, having to tell Margret, “Dear, you are going to read something in the newspapers tomorrow about me and a prostitute. Now, put that hammer down…”‘
23 January 2005
[religion] I have an Image of Jesus on my Penis — amusing posting on Craig’s List … ‘My girlfriend is a devout Christian, who, when she first saw this apparition, dropped to her knees, exclaiming, “Jesus Christ”, which I at first arrogantly misinterpreted as an exaggerated compliment on my manhood. Needless to say, I was more than a little disappointed to learn the true reason for her impulsive ejaculation. She has now taken to worshiping daily at this makeshift “shrine”, which is OK, I suppose, but she no longer wants to have sex with me for fear of offending the real Jesus. She even brought her entire womens’ church group over…’
24 January 2005
[wikipedia] Unusual articles in Wikipedia … ‘This page is for Wikipedians to list articles that seem a bit unusual. These articles are valuable contributions to the encyclopedia, but are somewhat odd, whimsical, or… well, something you wouldn’t expect to find in Encyclopedia Britannica.’
25 January 2005
[ebay] eBay People — Steve Bowbrick on buying from eBay … ‘eBay people are people people. Grumpy, impatient people needn’t apply – they can’t be bothered to lovingly package and despatch hundreds of low cost items, manage feedback and handle dozens of trivial customer queries. Only nice people do this, so buying something on eBay is almost always a pleasant experience.’
[mac] Kottke: Video of Jobs introducing the Macintosh in 1984 … ‘Hello, I am Macintosh. It sure is great to get out of that bag! Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking, I’d like to share with you a maxim I thought of the first time I met an IBM mainframe: Never trust a computer that you can’t lift!’
26 January 2005
[blogs] The Law West of Ealing Broadway — anonymous blog from a UK Magistrate. ‘…a colleague, faced with sentencing a Living on Immoral Earnings charge, whispered to the Clerk “How much do you give a ponce?”. “Never more than a tenner, sir” came the deadpan reply.’ [via The Policeman’s Blog]
27 January 2005
[codes] Famous Unsolved Codes and Ciphers … ‘Alexander d’Agapeyeff wrote an elementary book on cryptography in 1939, entitled “Codes and Ciphers.” In the first edition, he included a challenge cipher. Nobody’s solved it, and he embarrassedly admitted later that he no longer knew how he’d encrypted it. It was left out of the second and later editions. Some think it was botched, and many think it could still be solved despite that. It has lots of “phenomena” noted, but nothing close to a crack.’
28 January 2005
[comics] Stewart Lee interviews Alan Moore — on Radio 4’s Chain Reaction … ‘For the working classes British comics were just something you had like Rickets…’ [Update: Alan Moore “Chain Reaction” Interview Transcript … On Swamp Thing: ‘The whole thing that the book hinged upon was there was this tragic individual who is basically like Hamlet covered in snot. (audience laughs) He just walks around feeling sorry for himself. That’s understandable, I mean I would too…’]
29 January 2005
[advert] Gene Kelly Singing in the Rain – the original updated — an quicktime advert for the new VW Golf GTI but amazing nonetheless. [via Ben Hammersley]
31 January 2005
[tv] Trashbat.co.ck — trailers for Charlie Brooker and Chris Morris’s TV comedy Nathan Barley.
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