Category Archives: arts

blowing up a star, and afterward

(This post was previously part of another one, severed for what now seems to me greater convenience.) Charlie Stross‘s recent novel Iron Sunrise has a surprising number of minor errors. The distance between Moscow Prime and Old Newfie is stated … Continue reading

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scifi

The last book I finished was Charlie Stross’s The Family Trade. Spoilers:

Posted in prose | 3 Comments

Studio Gibberish

Miyazaki’s film (ハウルの動く城) of Diana Wynne Jones’s novel Howl’s Moving Castle is pretty, of course, but the story got lost somewhere. The royal sorceress has an unexplained grudge against Howl, an eccentric but kind young wizard with an unexplained reputation … Continue reading

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Why can’t the English learn to speak?

Got an idea just now that might sell a few copies: Monty Python Annotated for Americans, containing answers to such questions as “What dialect is Palin doing in this bit?” This thought was prompted by watching My Fair Lady. In … Continue reading

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what’s up at Keenspace?

Most (according to casual sample) of the comic strips hosted at Keenspace have had their archives disappear, in whole or in part, this week; as if Keenspace had been taken over by Blogspot.

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cinema 1949

Three Ealing comedies recently became available that I had long wanted to see. Evidently I’m not alone: I waited several weeks for these on Netflix. Alas that the sound on these discs is not as clear as one might hope. … Continue reading

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this and that

I’m sneezing up a storm today, and the good old allergy pill hasn’t helped. I do hope it’s not the same virus that afflicted my housemate for two weeks last month. Who is the center of the movie universe? Kevin … Continue reading

Posted in cinema, history, me!me!me!, race | 1 Comment