The occasional scrivener

Technically this is October but I didn’t have anything else from GC…

New iPhone 5S.

If I hadn’t already read World War Z I’d probably enjoy this book a lot more. However, the parallells between the two books are so close it’s not really funny. While Robopocalypse starts up well and has some chilling early chapters, it soon becomes clear that Wilson lacks the energy or the imagination to draw the conclusions about the world he’s created that Brooks does in WWZ.

This is the first novel by Baxter I’ve read and I was impressed by it. It’s classic sensawunda SF but is also well-written and gripping. There’s also a refreshingly view of future realpolitik that is both plausible and chilling. Recommended.

Images from Rockfoto.nu are here

I’m a huge Lloyd Cole fan, ever since those heady days of my early 20s when his songs seemingly spoke directly to my experiences.

It’s obvious he realizes that his fans discovered him in those heady times and they’re now, like him, graying and slightly pudgy.

It was an acoustic set, even though his latest album Standards is his rockiest in a long while. He joked that while on his last show here he’d seen grown men weep, this time he’d see them sleep instead. While there were some slow numbers I at least was captivated throughout.

I tried keeping track of the songs in the set but a kindly person sitting behind me thought I was tweeting and tapped me on the shoulder. So I will have to rely on scattered memories.

A highlight was the back to back playing of “Blue Like Mars” from the latest album, and “No Blue Skies” from his self-titled solo debut in 1990 “No Blue Skies” is my favorite song and, if it weren’t a bitter lament over a bad breakup, a good candidate to be played at my funeral. “Blue Like Mars” is similar in structure, sure, but I think he should be allowed to revisit songs after 23 years.

Another great moment was a song from the Commotions album Easy Pieces called “Perfect Blue” (yeah, he likes “blue” apparently) which never really gripped me as a fully arranged pop song but absolutely captivating with just a guitar.

The show was apparently sold out so I’m happy I got a ticket. He’s hoping to return in a year with a backing band, and I’ll sure try to catch him again if he does!

A sort of hipster Dan Brown, this is nevertheless an entertaining novel, if you can get over the idolization of Google within its pages.

An entertaining look on the human digestive system. Roach has a breezy style - sometimes too breezy, her one-liners aren’t really as funny as she seems to think - but most of all a serious approach to science writing. What sticks with you after having read the book is not all the gross facts, but a deep appreciation of the men and women working with a fascinating area of research.