The good news is, I’m hopefully writing something again. I mean writing as in it being published somewhere other than this Web site. More details when it seems appropriate.
As to my latest project idea: this is maybe my fifth in two years! All dead ducks. Maybe this will be different, but I’m gonna keep it purely speculative. My ability to ‘realise’ ideas has taken one or three knocks.
Read More »The Poison Pen Returns
Should I mention I have another project idea? It might be tempting fate, since in recent years, every idea I’ve had has either been unfeasible or has stalled irrevocably!
But I’m toying with ideas, and again, being drawn to the online PDF format. It’s not a format I prefer, but it’s a question of money. I’ve done small press stuff in the past on a shoe-string, but I like to feel a sense of progression—and printed material is a high-cost kind of progression.
Read More »This Week’s Brainstorm
What can be affirming on a day when you’re feeling just a little bit insecure? To me, Thursday provided it in the form of a phone call that made me feel a lot more positive… and getting thanked by someone for making a hopefully useful suggestion (you’re welcome, Matthew!)… and best of all, getting an e-mail from a very good friend that had been delayed for several days due to ISP problems—just a little note saying they’re out of town for a while.
Read More »Small Things
As noted in the previous comments thingy, I made the decision Monday that I’d had enough of the endless New Deal harassments (it’s been going on in some form or other since March). I had two appointments in one day: I neglected to attend both of them.
The government will, of course, suspend my benefit almost immediately. Well, tough! I almost took this route four months ago, but someone out there (not a Jobcentre person, I hasten to add) decided to treat me with a bit of understanding. Fine. But enough’s enough. Their tiny handouts just aren’t worth the stress. Sunday, I had a recurrence of IBS, which hasn’t bothered me for a year or so. By Monday, it was crippling me. Funnily enough, it’s mostly subsided now. I might be in deep shit as far as money goes, but I feel a lot less stressed out.
Oh, I haven’t a clue what to do. Broadly speaking, I think I have to consider myself self-employed at the moment and figure out if I can make money from something for once in my life.
Read More »Moving On
I guess the house move is the dominant thing in my mind at the moment. It’s now approximately 34.5 hours before the removal van arrives… Read More »The Final Countdown
Our official moving date now is 12 days from today. Well, at least it’s definite. The flat is currently being decorated. Not had much to… Read More »Sooner or Later
I might not have been posting, but somehow, the temptation to fiddle around with the site has persisted. I don’t think I’ll ever be as happy with the design of this thing as with other, less personal ones I’ve done.
I’ve removed the short-lived dropdown menus, anyway. I don’t know how to make them validate as XHTML strict, and while I’m using ‘transitional’ right now, I want to feel able to switch if it suddenly seems like a good idea.
I need a new photo, too. The current one is kind of crap, but it’s the most recent I have (last January). I think I’ll wait until I get a haircut, which ought to be soon, because I have a feeling the Ozzy Osbourne style isn’t all that flattering…
Read More »A Smart Title Eludes Me Today
Following the last miserable entry, I guess I decided a slight redesign of the site was in order, to justify its existence. Call it therapy.… Read More »Justification
Well, I’m tempted to go and see it. We just watched a documentary about it on Five, which was fairly interesting. Oh, that green guy above? It’s Hulk. I bet you didn’t know that.
I have mixed feelings about the CGI. In order to make a creature that even vaguely resembles the comic book version, special effects are obviously necessary. From the scenes I’ve seen, it looks incredibly good in parts—but not so good in others. You know, I think the colour is partly the problem. The CGI Hulk looks best in scenes where there’s a lot of shadowing and the colour is subdued… but where the lighting is strong, it’s just too vivid. That shade can work in the comics, but it adds to the unreality of things on film. I think I might have gone for a more olive shade of green.
Read More »Don’t Make Me Angry, Etc.
I’ve just finished reading Doug Warren’s official James Cagney biography. After the Orson one, I was in a biog mood (actually, a mood to read more on Orson, but that’ll have to wait), and mom recommended this, which she’d read and enjoyed some time ago.
I’m not a big Cagney fan, really. I think he was a great personality and a fine actor, but many of the films he appeared in were not to my taste. (Reading this book, ironically, I find they often weren’t to Cagney’s taste either.) With Cagney being a rather private person, and this book being authorised, it’s a pretty slim volume, and eschews a lot of in-depth probing… but there’s still some interesting insight.
Read More »Just a Job, Honest