2007-07-30 20:12:00
Lucky Star isn't the only currently airing TV series from Japan that I'm following. Recently I've also gotten hooked on Hanazakari no kimitachi e (For you in full blossom, or Hana-Kimi for short). However, unlike a lot of the stuff I watch, Hana-Kimi isn't an animated series! No, it's a live action drama/comedy! And a great one at that ^_^
In short, Hana-Kimi tells the story of Ashiya Mizaki a Japanese girl who's moved back to Japan to inspire her idol. You see, back in America, her idol Sano Izumi sustained an injury that has kept him from competing in the high jump ever since. Feeling that she -must- help Sano get back on his feet, Ashiya enrolls at his school.
But there's the catch! Sano is one of the dozens of students at Osaka High, an all-boys school! :D
Not about to be discouraged, Ashiya assumes a male role and joins Sano and his classmates. They party together, the have competitions, the share dormitories... Oy vey, there are hundreds of opportunities for things to go wrong! Especially since most of Ashiya's fellow students, hot as they may be, are a little nuts in the head. Cue dozens of over-the-top comedy moments and a whole bunch of almost-caught moments for Ashiya ^_^;
The recipe:
* Take two pounds of over-the-top humor.
* Add two scoops of romance.
* Add a dash of drama.
* Stir in two squirts of shounen ai.
And presto! It's Hanazakari no kimitachi e!
Here's a snippet of the second episode.
View or add comments (curr. 5)
2007-07-27 10:55:00
It's the last Friday of July and you know what that means. It's Sysadmin Day, an international holiday on which end-users thank their admins for all their hard work! Or it would be, if anyone actually cared... *sigh* All I ever wanted was an STFU mug.
To all the sysadmins who -do- get some appreciation from their customers today: good on you! Enjoy your brief period in the lime light! ^_^
kilala.nl tags: geeky, internet, work,
View or add comments (curr. 2)
2007-07-26 22:51:00
While my colleagues can't stop praising Mac OS X for its cleverness and ease of use, I'm thanking the $DEITIES on my knees for iLife. iLife and the Core2 Duo processor.
Back in 2004 I edited our wedding film using Final Cut Express on my Powermac G5. I was rather pleased with how it all went and I was well impressed by all the features FCE came with. I will not claim that I knew what everything did and I'll admit that I was just bolocksing about a bit. Still, things came out rather nicely, although it took me quite some time.
When I was asked to compose the wedding DVD for my in-laws I gladly accepted, although I wasn't looking forward to all the waiting and the crunching and the schlepping.
Well, I needn't have worried! Enter my Macbook! Hero of the day, andsoforth.
I can't believe how incredibly speedy all of iLife runs on the Core2 Duo, though I'm sure the 2GB of RAM also helps ;) Switching from FCE to iMovie '06 I may have lost a few features, but I gained a lot of comfort. Things were just so damn easy! Frying everything into a DVD with nice menus was also damn easy with iDVD. Finish everything off with a slideshow from iPhoto and we're all set.
I'm quite happy with the end result! I hope Elke and Peter will enjoy their DVD.
kilala.nl tags: apple, family,
View or add comments (curr. 4)
2007-07-26 17:41:00
This afternoon my buddy Edmond came up to me with an interesting predicament. He runs Mac OS X on his Macbook and would like to:
A) have a password-less screen saver
B) have the ability to lock his screen with a password
Usually one simply uses screen saver passwords to achieve goal B, but Ed was adamant that he wanted A as well. Not something you often see, right? Initially I thought it wouldn't be possible, but then I had a flash of insight. It's possible! Here's how...
1. Open "System Preferences". Go into "Security".
2. Uncheck the box marked "Require password to wake...".
3. Open "Keychain Access". Open its preferences window.
4. Check the box marked "Show status in menu bar".
5. A padlock appears in your menu bar.
From now on you can lock your screen by clicking on the padlock and selecting "Lock screen". And you can still use your screen saver and go back into the OS without a password. The only downside to this is that one can also wake up your system from sleep without a password. Not something I'd like to have if my laptop was ever stolen.
kilala.nl tags: apple, other tech, sysadmin,
View or add comments (curr. 0)
2007-07-26 10:55:00
One of the benefits I reap from my move to DreamHost is the fact that I can now host multiple websites in parallel. This allows me to run both the production website and the work in progress on the same system, without one affecting the other.
For this overhaul of the site I've got two major changes planned:
1. The whole look and feel of the website.
2. Programming like I should, not like I can.
The first goal is easy to describe. My website has had the same look for over four years now, with only minor changes being made to banners and logos. This may make it recognizable, but it's also become a bit boring. Understated may be good, but dull never is. I'll still be using the same basic elelments, but they'll be arranged differently. The menu structure is going to change quite a lot and hopefully things will look just a bit more spiffy(tm).
The second goal is going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of deep thought. I recently read an article that suggested that one should keep all content in the backend database, as opposed to in the code. This may sound logical, but how many people fall for same trap?
For example, the menu in the Archives contains a list of months for each year with a month being a link to the list of relevant posts. If there aren't any posts for that month, there are no links. In theory that sounds great, but in reality it's all hard coded :( While it would be relatively simple to write the code to automatically generate the menu structure, I've written out all <a href> lines by hand. Yuck!
The menus in general are a good example as well! Instead of generating the contents of the menu automatically, I've created a bunch of HTML files with all the links that get included by PHP. Nasty. The same goes for all the articles I've written so far: all included HTML files.
But all of that is going to change! I've already redesigned the database backend and implemented the requisite changes. The picture above is a model of how things connect. When compared to other websites it's definitely not rocket science, but it's still a nice learning experience for me. For example, all the yellow tables are supporting tables that contain lists of types. Types of items, types of wishes, types of beliefs, types of links. E.g. wish X is of type 3, which in table wishtypes relates to the type book. I'm sill pondering whether I should just pile all types into one big table, thus saving a bit on complexity...
Some of the more intricate stuff that I'm looking at regards the sections of my site. Currently the division is made with file system directories. With my new approach I'll be using a new database table (sections) for the same purpose, although I'm not entirely sure if I'll completely drop the use of directories. The sections also have a great impact on the menus, since this time around I'll be using the titles and section numbers for articles to build the menus. This left me with one quandary: how to properly sort the menu listings. For now I've opted for an approach similar to a tree (the programming structure, not the foliage) where each article has the below characteristic that contains the ID number for the article above it.
Ah well... Loads of work to be done! :) Let's get crackin'!
kilala.nl tags: website,
View or add comments (curr. 2)
2007-07-25 12:41:00
$ grep -i "Order total" ./iTunes.mbx | grep -v FONT | grep -v "=.." > Totals.txt
$ for NUM in `cat Totals.txt | awk '{print $4}' | tr , . | tr -d =`
do
TOTAL=`echo "$TOTAL + $NUM" | bc`
done
$ echo $TOTAL
1076
$ echo "Ouch..."
Ouch...
kilala.nl tags: holy shit, music,
View or add comments (curr. 1)
2007-07-24 07:05:00
We've already ascertained that I love steampunk settings. I love the
And now, I'll also love the watches!
I don't even remember how I originally found the article (it was probably through Reddit), but there it was! Chief Mag's interview with Haruo Suekichi, Japanese watch maker extraordinaire. Putting aside the garish looks of their website, the interview is really rather good.
Suekichi-san has been making rather interesting watches for over ten years now, starting off as the understudy to another watch maker. Soon his works became too outlandish and his Master sent him on his way. How can a watch be too outlandish? Well, it'd be enough to tell you that Suekichi-san never sticks to how things were meant to be. As a kid he'd get model kits for ships and such, but then he'd throw out the instructions, and put it together the way he saw fit, including parts from other kits and even from Gundam!
His individualistic approach now shines through his watches. They all have a very industrial, or steampunk, look about them. Lots of leather, copper, pointy bits and dials. Freaky curves and impractical designs, they're all there! And the best thing is that they're not even fiendishly expensive!
On my upcoming trip to Japan I will most definitely be paying Suekichi-san a visit. I'd love to meet the man behind these works of art and to view the whole collection in person. I've heard that he lives up in Aomori, which is way in the north of the main island Hokkaido. Since we'll be staying in the southern end of Hokkaido (in Osaka) I'd need to make a seven and half hour trip by shinkansen (bullet train). But to be honest I think that crossing 1300 km's more, just to meet Haruo Suekichi, would be damn well worth it. I've already crossed the world to come to Japan anyway!
A few interesting links:
* See many more of Haruo Suekichi's watches.
* Hyperdia is a system developed by Hitachi in order to help you plan your train/plane trip across Japan.
* Japan Railways has a helpful website for the foreign traveller.
kilala.nl tags: haruo suekichi, japan,
View or add comments (curr. 2)
2007-07-24 06:39:00
Let's hope this isn't indicative of what is to come in the next two years... Today I've run into my first major downtime with DreamHost. My site's down, the discussions fora are down and because my Web Panel is also down I cannot send in a service request. Great... Let's hope they fix things quickly. Unfortunately I think they've all gone home, since their DreamHost Status blog isn't showing anything either.
I really hope this won't be happening too often. I -want- to stick with DreamHost, but I wont if things get too hairy.
View or add comments (curr. 12)
2007-07-20 22:56:00
I've always been of the opinion that I'm a level headed and open minded fellow. I certainly hope that my list of beliefs reflects upon said opinion. Most notably the ones about all being and religions being equal. Thus I choose not to consider a person by his/her background, but by their actions.
Well, tonight I ran into a rather interesting quandary... It's all fair and fun to proclaim that I consider all religions equal and that I believe that all opinions should be heard. But what happens if I happen to run into something that really goes against my own beliefs? Is it closed minded of me to discount the other's beliefs because they are contrary to mine?
I think that these contrary opinions could be split two ways: beliefs that are generally considered to be atrocious and beliefs that are generally unpopular.
The first category would contain such beliefs as racism, racial supremacy, nepotism and the need for war or violence. Most people in this world have come to the conclusion that these things are really kind of bad and that they offer no positive contribution to our world. I have no qualms whatsoever discounting these beliefs as stupid/awful/not good.
The second category however becomes tricky. It contains such things as oddball religions and other unpopular beliefs, like conspiracy theories. People who follow unlikely religions get my vote! Do you follow the Jedi religion? Then may the force be with you! If there's even one true follower of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, then more power to him! In my early twenties I followed a pagan religion for a few years. At one point in time I even exchanged the Norse pantheon for that of Meerclar Allmother. To me it doesn't matter which face you stick onto your religion, as long as you feel comfortable with it.
So why is it that I have problems with the church of Scientology? Aside from religions worshipping people still alive (think "small cults worshipping their leader"), I can honestly say that Scientology is the only religion I'd steer my kids away from with a stern hand.
Is it their beliefs about Xenu and his galactic empire, 75 million years ago? No... Did you catch the part earlier where I said I once held a pantheon consisting of cats?! If that's what the Scientologists choose to believe, then that's fine by me.
Is it because they contribute nothing to this world? No... I've been checking around the web and I was startled to find that they have set up a rather large network of volunteers. These volunteers seem to honestly want to help out where they are needed.
So what is it? Well, I just can't get myself over all of the hub-bub that surrounds the religion/church. There's thousands of people bickering back and forth across the Internet about Scientology. Proponents claim that the religion's helped their lives and has brought happiness and wisdom. Detractors claim that the church uses brainwashing, extortion and harassment.
The old proverb tells that when two parties fight, both parties usually are at fault. My own added wisdom tells me to steer clear of the whole darn mess and to stick to my own path. In this case I'll advocate worshipping outside of church. Fine if you believe what they believe, but do it outside the group...
kilala.nl tags: life,
View or add comments (curr. 12)
2007-07-19 18:38:00
One of the added benefits of migrating our web hosting to DreamHost is the fact that they allow secured WebDAV. Using this feature, I've created what will soon become our iCal repository, which will contain all of our shared calendars. Both Marli's and my copy of iCal have been configured to share our personal .ICS files and to subscribe to updates from the other. It's a snap to set up and will allow us to remain up to date on the other's coming and going.
For those new to all of this, here's the quick list:
1. Create a special WebDAV directory with your hosting provider.
2. Create an iCal calendar, or use another tool that allows you to share through WebDAV.
3. Publish your personal calendar using the WebDAV settings for your website.
4. Subscribe to your SO's calendar's by opening the URL to their .ICS file in the same WebDAV space.
Once all of that is set up you can configure each calendar to either push or fetch updates automatically.
EDIT:
Running Windows or Linux? You may want to take a look at Mozilla's calendar projects Sunbird and Lighting. These also support .ICS and WebDAV.
EDIT2:
To explain things just a -little- bit more for the non-techy readers...
This is not about making our calendars available to the general public. They'll be password protected to only me and Marli can read and update the calendars. It would be really dumb to just tell everyone when we're away on our holidays :/
Also, this is not about making appointments with each other :D Yes, miss... I would like to schedule dinner at eight, some kissing at night and we'd go to sleep around 2300. Is that alright?. ^_^ It's my intention to keep each other posted on all of the appointments we have. I often forget to tell Marli about planned overtime, dinner dates or stand-by duty. This is my way of making sure she can always know what I'm up to :)
Of course, as Menno pointed out in the comments, all of this is no substitute for a nice, long talk ^_^
kilala.nl tags: apple, other tech,
View or add comments (curr. 15)
2007-07-19 08:30:00
Having worked for Planet Internet at one point in time I have absolutely no love for the company. I know what goes down in their server rooms and often wonder how they can still be in business. So why is it that the company's I hate the most always come up with the best commercials?
In their often lauded commercial from 2005, PI showed people getting confused by modern tech (like a driver crashing into a hedge after her SatNav told her to turn right). In their new advert Planet poke fun at people's misunderstandings about modern web applications.
Josh Bancroft! Pay attention! Here's the transcript in english...
===
A: Say, are you on Hyves? (*1)
B: Uhm, no... I play badminton.
===
A: I'm, uhm, looking for the latest CD of the, uhm, Podcasts?
===
A: Did you see last night's show?
B: Yea, on Uitzending Gemist. (*2)
A: Aw, shame! It was a good episode!
===
A: I just can't get him away from his computer...
B: When -my- husband gets up in the morning, he'll start off by blogging for an hour!
A: Oh gross!
===
*1: Hyves is a dutch clone of MySpace.
*2: Uitzending Gemist allows the dutch to rewatch TV shows online. Literally translated it's name means Missed an episode.
kilala.nl tags: internet, fun, geeky,
View or add comments (curr. 0)
2007-07-18 22:53:00
Finally! Thank $DEITY. All of the archived blog posts are now in the MySQL database. I've entered the full years 2002 and 2003 in one blow tonight. *phew*
That should help me settle into the Dreamhost account.
kilala.nl tags: website,
View or add comments (curr. 0)
2007-07-18 15:53:00
I've finally decided which web hoster I'll be moving my site and domain to. In the end all of DreamHost's features have tipped the scales and I just signed up with them this afternoon. I used Clint's coupon code, since I'm rather grateful for him hosting the Ars Lounge.
The money I paid got me:
* 200 GB web space
* 1.4 TB bandwidth each month
* Unlimited amount of mailboxen
* 75 UNIX shell accounts
* Access via SSH and SCP/SFTP (I like encryption!)
Speaking of... If you're interested in signing up with DreamHost, there are two nice discounts waiting for you! You can enter "COUPONS" to get a $97 discount. Or you can click this link (or enter "CAILINSENTME") to get a $50 discount. The difference being that with the second option I get a bit of discount on my hosting plan as a kick-back.
Let's see how this works out! I'll keep you guys posted about my experiences with DreamHost and with moving my website and e-mail.
kilala.nl tags: website,
View or add comments (curr. 9)
2007-07-18 06:49:00
Most men never give their libido much thought, let alone about their hormones.They have no clue to what extent these two important parts of your person define yourself. Author (and doctor) Ivan Wolffers has found all of this out, because he had to. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer back in 2003 and was immediately given hormone treatment. Among these was chemical castration, since the male hormone testosteron plays a crucial role in prostate cancer. For about one and a half years, Ivan went through life as an emotional wreck, with mood swings and depression. His body changed (no body hair, sensitive breasts) and his libido was all gone.
I cannot imagine what it would be like, to live like that. My libido has a slow sinus rhythm, so at least I know how frustrating it is to have low periods for weeks on end. But all of that comes and goes! I'm not stuck like that for over a year! And being stuck like that Ivan was forced to ask himself: is it better to live, than it is to survive?
Weekly diaries. Heimwee naar de lust (Longing for lust) describes years two through five of his cancer. Just like its predecessor Walvis spelen (covers the first year) it's a book written week-by-week. This results in chapters that, on average, last about two pages. Each week Ivan tells you what's on his mind. How's his treatment going? How's his work going? What is his body up to? How are things with his wife and family? Sometimes a chapter is just brought on by something that's sparked Ivan's poetic mind. It makes for easy reading, knowing that you can quickly snap off another chapter or two.
Writing style. Ivan's style changes from time to time. Most of the weeks his writing's very easy on the brain, with short sentences and a friendly tone. Other weeks he becomes rather loquacious with sentences running over thirty words. In general though, it's a very easy book to read through, putting aside the subject that may make you think a few times :)
Cancer. Luckily the book isn't just about Ivan and his cancer, else it would've been a rather depressing and short book. Ivan's goal was never to teach the reader something, he just wants to write about his frustration to get rid of it. Which is why he tells us all about his travels (he goes around the world -a-lot-), about his newly born grand child, about his Iranian urologist, about his wife's work for asylum seekers and so on.
I'm very happy to have bought this book and I've never sped through a book this quickly. I actually intended to finish it last night (reading about 200 pages in one day), but unfortunately I fell asleep on the couch ^_^ Since I haven't finished the book just yet I'm still to learn what Ivan decides to do: take his medicins or take his libido. In his situation, I think I'd go for the second option...
To finish up, here's a few quotes. I've translated them into english to my best ability, but unfortunately I'm not much of a writer. Hence, some of the oomph to the writing's gotten lost.
Week 23 2004. It never gets easier, even when you've been together for thirty-three years. We used to fight because my hormones were so reliable, but these days it's because they've left me altogether. Us men are fools with, yet soulless husks without our testosteron. [...] Despite all of the unrest they create, hormones are the wood in the hearth of a long standing relationship. I'm sad that I had to make that discovery.
Week 31 2005. Will I be reasonable, prolonging my life a few years to survive longer than [my father] did? Despite of the crying, the hot flushes and a body devoid of male hormones that provides me no pleasure. Or shall we keep things short yet powerful, fucking as much as we can, and saying my farewells in time like a young hero grown too old, now being called to the gods by an unavoidable destiny?
kilala.nl tags: reading, life,
View or add comments (curr. 12)
2007-07-17 10:12:00
Oy vey! One of the folks on the Sun Fire V890 must've been mesjoge! Why else would you decided to make such a weird design decision?!
What's up? I'll tell you what's up!
For some reason the design team decided to throw out the RJ45 console port that's been a Sun standard for nigh on ten years. And what did they replace it with? A DB25 port commonly seen in the Mesozoic Era! Good lord! This left me stranded without the proper cable for this morning's installation (thankfully I could borrow one). However, it also requires us to get completely new and different cables for our Cyclades console server!
Bad Sun! How could you make such a silly decision?!
kilala.nl tags: unix, work, meh, sysadmin,
View or add comments (curr. 5)
2007-07-16 21:32:00
Sunday was a day well spent :)
Aside from having a great time with Kaiju and donating him Marli's older laptop, we also got to watch some nice anime. Aside from watching an episode of Planetes (which surprisingly Marli claimed to enjoy!) we also watched the full Gunbuster OVA. Kaiju had invited me to come and watch this series after I'd gotten excited seeing an AMV for Diebuster. Diebuster, in essence, is Gunbuster 2.
Watching that classic anime on the big screen in Kaiju's living room was something else! The series may be from 1988, but it looks awesome nonetheless!
The show definitely has its faults. The story feels rushed, is -full- of cliches and definitely has too much fan service for my taste. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the nude female form as much as the next guy, especially when it's drawn as nicely as in this show. But enough is enough, alright? ^_^;
But putting that aside it has so many good things as well! I love the visual effects and the choice in colours Gainax made. Seriously, the colours are amazing, especially on the alien attackers. It's also rather cool that Gainax dared to take on the subject of time dilation in a serious manner, analysing the effects it has on both the people undergoing the effects and on those left behind.
To sum it up: it ain't no master piece, but it's a damn fine pass-time anywho!
kilala.nl tags: anime, movies,
View or add comments (curr. 0)
2007-07-16 16:49:00
Lordy, it's unbearable at the office! Hot and humid are two words that certainly apply to our working environment. It almost makes me long for the server rooms with their uber-strong air conditioning. It's ironic that this building's stair well is the coolest place to be. I reckon we ought to put up that Wifi AP we've been talking about and just move over there. *pant* *breathe*
kilala.nl tags: summer,
View or add comments (curr. 0)
2007-07-16 14:56:00
When using SVM I've always been told to nicely match up meta device names with their corresponding slices on the hard disk. So a mirror called D0 would consist of meta devices d10 and d20 and would exists to mirror slice 0 of your main disk. Sounds logical right? Why would you needlessly confuse the matter?
Right now I'm working on a server whose boot disk should be rearranged due to space constraints. Looking at the SVM setup really makes me wonder what the person who built this box was drinking.
d0 -m d10 d20 1
d10 1 1 c1t0d0s0
d20 1 1 c1t1d0s0
d1 -m d11 d21 1
d11 1 1 c1t0d0s6
d21 1 1 c1t1d0s6
d2 -m d12 d22 1
d12 1 1 c1t0d0s1
d22 1 1 c1t1d0s1
d3 -m d13 d23 1
d13 1 1 c1t0d0s5
d23 1 1 c1t1d0s5
d4 -m d14 d24 1
d14 1 1 c1t0d0s7
d24 1 1 c1t1d0s7
d5 -m d15 d25 1
d15 1 1 c1t0d0s3
d25 1 1 c1t1d0s3
Ugh! *groan*
kilala.nl tags: unix, work, sysadmin,
View or add comments (curr. 5)
2007-07-16 14:23:00
As part of the preparations for my pending return to college I've talked to a few of my colleague's who're in the same boat. Either they're currently in college, have dropped out, or are presently entertaining the option of going to school.
All of them agreed that working part-time is the best option I have. Combining a part-time college course with a full-time job is nigh impossible if you enjoy having a private life. They also stressed the importance of proper time management. It came highly recommended to make a weekly schedule that dictates when I study, when I work, when I do household stuff and very importantly: when I make time for my wife. The general opinion was that combining work and school is definitely possible, but that it will also impose a lot of stress on your personal life.
kilala.nl tags: career,
View or add comments (curr. 2)
2007-07-14 20:45:00
Wow, this is a flashback! I Googled the random line "Hey is for horses" after reading it in the short story Hey Hopey from that Love and rockets book. I've know that line as Hey is voor paarden ever since I was about twelve or thirteen after reading it in (what I now realize was) another L&R short. Back then it was feature in a dutch, underground comic mag called zone 5300.
Anywho... The flashback part got bigger with this Google result. The song featured on that page is completely constructed from programmed tunes built into a Casio keyboard. The very same Casio keyboard that I owned when I was twelve! o_O What a great coincidink!
Mistoffelees ought to recognize the horrible melodies, as should Menno...
kilala.nl tags: comics, childhood,
View or add comments (curr. 1)
2007-07-14 19:32:00
*makes notch in table* Scratch another book from my reading list! ^_^
Today I finished Maggie the mechanic by Jaime Hernandez. MtM contains the first set of Maggie and Hopey stories every created by the Hernandez brothers, with stories ranging from one to over fifty pages. While the subject matter differs, you could class these comics among other underground works like Ghostworld or Robert Crumb's stuff.
It takes a while to get stuck in the book. The first few stories are a bit slow, but once I hit the first long story things got good! Mechanics takes Maggie and her colleagues to far and distant places where they end up fixing a crashed space ship in the middle of a dinosaur-filled jungle. If that doesn't sound like Cadillacs and Dinosaurs I don't know what does! Since the story line appealed to me Jaime also persuaded me to invest more interest in the characters. With time I feel myself starting to care for Maggie, Hope en Rena.
After Mechanics, Jaime takes us back and forth between farfetched sci-fi arcs and down-to-earth plots back in California. Like last time, let's dig into a few of the characteristics of the book.
Artwork. Jaime's character designs may not be attractive to everyone. While I'm not made about all of the designs, I do enjoy the fifties/sixties advertisement look of some of the characters. I'm well impressed by Jaime's consequent drawing as, in my eyes, there's no real progression in quality over the years: the drawings are great from the get-go! Since everything's done in black and white and Jaime does not make use of any rastering tools, shadows and inking are -very- important. I'm glad to say that both are spot on! Some panels are just damn impressive.
Big women. I was originally brought to Love and rockets by an article in Big is beautiful magazine. Said article discussed comic artists who'd specialised in drawing big or strong women in a positive fashion. And indeed, Jaime does not shun larger women in both leading or supporting roles! Rena Tetanon (at one time the world chamion of women's wrestling) plays a rather important role and a few years into the narrative Maggie also takes a turn for the Rubenesque. It's great to read a book where large women (or men for that matter) are not simply portrayed as slow or dimwitted overeaters.
Characters. Most of the main characters have well-developed back stories, glimpses of which are shared through flashbacks and such. The lovers' relationship between Maggie and Hopey is taken through twists and turns, delving nicely into subjects as infatuation, love, jealousy, rage and grief. I was very pleased that Jaime saw fit to throw in rather random characters as well! While horned millionaires, Mexican pro-wrestlers and odd demons and robots may detract from realism, they certainly do add colour!
80's culture. Through Jaime's pen we are allowed to relive part of the 80's in California. Sure, a lot of it comes filtered through caricatural glasses, but still. Seeing love and sci-fi stories interspersed with professional wrestling, the punk-rock scene and Latin-American culture was a joy to me.
Seriously... The Love and rockets stories aren't for everyone. Some will be turned off by the artwork and some will definitely be turned off by the story telling itself. Me, I'm quite pleased having bought the book and believe it to be a worthy addition to my book shelves :)
kilala.nl tags: reading, comics,
View or add comments (curr. 0)
2007-07-14 18:52:00
I realise it's a bit late for a blog post, but hey! ^_^
Last wednesday Marli and I went to see the new Harry Potter flick! I'd read the book only once and that was years ago, so I went in there a blank slate. Let's just say I was not disappointed! While it's plainly obvious that the movie is a sort of abridged version of real story it didn't take away much of my viewing pleasure. The pacing was excellent and I think they left in most of the important parts of the story. The visuals were pretty good and the big fight at the end was just awesome! That's what a wizarding battle's supposed to look like!
I was kind of irked by some of the acting on Harry's and Hermione's parts, but all of that was set right by the appearance of a new character. Luna (played by Evanna Lynch) was absolutely brilliant, as was the appearance of my favourite mad-woman of cinema Helene Bonham Carter
Order of the Phoenix might not be the best HP movie out there, but it certainly is the one I've enjoyed most. As opposed to the botch job that was The goblet of fire.
kilala.nl tags: movies,
View or add comments (curr. 2)
2007-07-14 18:38:00
Man! I'm still knackered from yesterday's party =_=
On the joyous day of Friday the 13th, Marli's brother Peter got married to his lovely fiance Elke. I'm still trying to get to grips with the whole concept. For some reason it's still not sunk in ^_^
It really was a wonderful day, with the ceremony being held in the historic town hall of Arcen (a town down in Limburg, close to where Elke's live her whole life). It was great to see how many relatives, friends and colleagues had shown up for the occasion! The room was too small to fit everyone :)
After that the party moved to galerie De Hoeve. A beautiful and quiet location to have a party, with rather helpful staff. The food was a bit bland for my tastes, but everything was taken care of beautifully. The party itself lasted 'till around one and was a great success.
This morning, waking up was hell though, what with us only turning in around 0300. *groan* Breakfast consisted solely of coffee, just to get us all going again (and not a single drop of alcohol was consumed all evening/night). It didn't help that I'd gotten up around 0500, horrible nauseous.
Speaking of alcohol... I did have two glasses of a sparkling wine that afternoon, knows as a Clairette de Die. I now know that it isn't a champagne, but BOY! is it tasty! I was really surprised by that wine! :3
kilala.nl tags: family,
View or add comments (curr. 0)
2007-07-12 08:14:00
I haven't quite finished reading The witches of Chiswick yet, but nonetheless I thought of recommending it to you guys. The book really is that good, that I'd plug it before even reading the ending. It may not have me all excited, bouncing up and down in my seat, but I do indeed have a hard time putting it down each time I have to ^_^
I guess it's down to Rankin's experience (with about thirty books to his name), but he's one of the few authors who seems to get time travelling right without much of a problem. At no point in time (haha) was I thinking to myself such things as Aw this is crap! That's not how it would work!. So that's cool :) Let's touch upon a few of the other recurring themes in the book...
Steampunk. In this book's reality the Victorian age knew high technology. Tesla and Babbage and their likes were even more of a genius than we know them to be, supplying their world with wireless electricity, computers, automatons and all manner of interesting weaponry. It all seems to fall right into place in the book, although I feel that some small technological advances should've been left. Automatons, zeppelins and space craft? I can totally see that. But hover-cars? Even though there are extremely rare in the book I still feel that Robert'd been better off leaving them out.
Cameo appearances. I love these! Travelling through time, Will meets up with a lot of famous Brit's, fictional or not. It's not far-fetched for Will to stomp the Brentford streets with Sherlock Holmes, to have breakfast with Oscar Wilde, only to end up in a courtroom with a certain blushing ms. Poppins. All of these cameos are played exceptionally well!
Comedy. The object of the book seems to bring amazement and laughter. It succeeds pretty damn well on both accounts. Humour can be a hit-or-miss affair and I'd say Rankin has a success ratio of about 95%. Most of the word play is executed quite well, with only a minimal amount of groaners*.
All of that put together spells: pretty damn good book!
Let's finish up with a quote, shall we? Near the final chapters of the book Will is fighting an automaton sent by the witches. Compare it to the agents from The matrix, but clockwork and without the suits and shades, but with black eyes and the murderous disposition.
'I have been programmed to destroy you,' said the evil automaton. 'And I have been programmed with the entire Dimac manual. And also those of Karate, Ninjitsu, Kung Fu and Baritso'.
Will spun once more upon his heel and kicked it once more in the face, and the black-eyed monster once more repositioned his jaw.
'And macrame,' it added.
'That's not a martial art,' said Will.
'It's a hobby,' the thing replied. 'I will knit a plant pot holder from your beard, as soon as I have torn your head from your shoulders.'
* Groaner: things that make you go "aww man" *shakes head*...
kilala.nl tags: reading,
View or add comments (curr. 3)
2007-07-11 13:26:00
My apologies to the folks on Ars Lounge and the subscribers to my RSS feed. I didn't mean to unleash so many updates on you in one blow ^_^
I had a need to keep on writing about the whole "career change" matter, but didn't want everything out in the open just yet (what with me only telling my boss an hour ago). Now that the cat's out of the bag I've opened up all the relevant posts though. No longer do I need to hide my motivations ;)
kilala.nl tags: website,
View or add comments (curr. 13)
2007-07-11 13:14:00
I've bitten the bullet and had my talk with my employer, or more specifically the CTO of our company. He was already aware of my doubts about working in IT (I told him during our latest review meeting), but was still surprised by the suddenness of my change of heart. He also was surprised by my choice of direction. I guess he was expecting me to stick around IT.
Anywho... We had a good talk and it was a big relief to finally get it of my chest and tell the people paying my monthly cheque. Such a relief that it even triggered some reactions in my throat and eyes ;) *cough*
Luckily the boss was rather supportive of my choice, opting to help me get where I want to go rather than sending me away. He told me it shouldn't be a problem to let me work 32 hours a week (or even 24 if the need arise), given my record with the company. And finally he gave me some names of colleagues who went through the same process, which adds another group to my list of people to talk to: fellow part-time students.
All in all that was a very positive outcome.
kilala.nl tags: career, part-time,
View or add comments (curr. 2)
2007-07-11 09:16:00
So far I've talked to the people in the field, the folks I should end up working with. Now, in order to get there I've started talking with the college I'm eyeing.
First off, here's the pages for the two courses that I need to decide between:
* Second degree teacher in English
* Second degree teacher in Math
I've talked to the secretariate of the english course. They told me I'd be able to enroll until the end of August, so that seems fine to me. They also suggested that I e-mail the course's coorinator to pose specific questions and to arrange for an intake meeting. At said meeting we'd discuss my curricilum and how it can be adjusted to fit my prior experience.
So. Off to send an e-mail I am!
kilala.nl tags: career, school,
View or add comments (curr. 0)
2007-07-10 23:47:00
I can heartily recommend anyone considering a career switch to go and have a chat with people who work in their aspired field.
I made a little visit to my old high school this morning, to talk to their HR guy. He gave me a lot of valuable tips and suggested that a part-time study would indeed be the best and safest option for me. He indicated that it would be nigh on impossible for me to get a zij-instroom position, due to my lack of experience.
He also suggested that I go have a talk with the CWI (Centrum voor Werk en Inkomen), the part of the dutch government charged with work and job security. He reckoned that I might strike a lucky deal with them, getting a subsidy for hours I didn't spend working for Snow. In order to make time for my education I'd need to cut back on my working hours (and thus my monthly wages) by about 40%. This grant might help cover for at least part of the money I'd miss out on.
Tomorrow I'll also make a phone call with the CO of another high school. His number was given to me by my father's girlfriend who happens to work with the fellow. I'm curious if he has some other useful tips for me :)
kilala.nl tags: career, life, money, school,
View or add comments (curr. 1)
2007-07-10 23:34:00
Now that I'd decided to become a teacher, it left me with even more questions (duh). Which subject would I teach? At what kind of school? What kind of education do I need? Where do I study? How will this fit in with my job? Will I even be able to keep my job? OMG, will we be able to pay our mortgage and still have food on the table?! ONOZ!
Stuff like that.
Well... I quickly decided that I'd like to teach english or math at a high school level. I can wax lyrically about both subjects and both fields offer me with loads of new stuff to learn and explore.
So... How do you go from having a completely unrelated job, to being a teacher? Here's how... (mind you, all of this applies to the Netherlands).
You start out with two options:
1. You take up a part-time or full-time college education. (deeltijd or voltijd in dutch).
2. You take up a part-time teaching position and follow additional classes to become a real teacher.
This second option is called zij-instroom in dutch and really is only an option if your ambitions lie in teaching the same field you worked in. So for example, I could get a zij-instroom position teaching Comp Sci at high schools, whereas a biologist could start teaching Biology. Zij-instroom however requires you to have real and provable experience in said field, including the degrees that come with it. You will also need to take an entrance exam because they won't let just everybody start teaching. Should you be accepted for zij-instroom, then you'll get a two-year teaching permit, which is directly connected to a contract between you and the school in question.
Anywho... What with zij-instroom not being an option for my two chosen fields (I have neither a degree, nor work experience in english or math) I have to opt for the longer path. Getting into a full-time education (voltijd) really isn't an option for me anymore: I wouldn't have any income, I'd be bored stiff and I'd be in a class full of eighteen year olds. Which automatically guides me towards a part-time education.
Luckily every college in the Netherlands offers deeltijd educations for professionals looking for a career switch, or an upgrade to their knowledge. The Hogeschool Utrecht offers teachers educations that are actually reputable and it's close to my home as well! Now all that remains is to convince my employer to let me work either three or four days a week. *gulp*
kilala.nl tags: career, life, school,
View or add comments (curr. 2)
2007-07-10 23:25:00
This blog post was made invisible initially. It has now been made available to the Internet at large. Sorry for breaking continuity :D
Actually... I didn't decide to go into education right from the get-go.
On the 27th of June I first had that breakdown, followed by a lot of talking with Marlijne. After that came a lot of soul searching of what I'd like to do and what I -could- do. While I wanted to do something radically different, I also needed to stay realistic.
So I started reading up on career switches, visiting the Ars Openfora and various dutch websites dedicated to the subject. And then I started to think of career options... I'd repeatedly expressed interest in becoming a craftsman, building furniture or getting into metalwork. Big, mechanical machines turn me on. I enjoy gardening and being outside. I considered becoming an office assistant. I even thought about joining the military!
And then, one evening, Marli reminded me of aspirations I'd harbored a few years ago. Back then I'd thought of getting a part-time teaching job at the local college, educating the next generation of sysadmins. This little nudge made me remember that, yes indeed, I do enjoy teaching! I love explaining stuff to people, making sure they understand all they need to and want to about the subject. This made me browse the Gathering of Tweakers fora, to search for stories about IT folks studying to become teachers. Well, I found these stories and they enticed me even more.
So the decision was made: I'll become a teacher!
kilala.nl tags: career, teaching, life,
View or add comments (curr. 1)
2007-07-10 22:52:00
I have absolutely no fscking clue what's going on here, but Boy! if this trailer doesn't get me interested?!
Some horror, science fiction, monster flick? I don't know, but I know I want to see it already! Shame that it's not about Gojira or something like that... The guy directing the flick (J.J. Abrams) was also responsible for Lost, so it's bound to have at least some mind fscks. Wikipedia has already gathered some info.
Thanks to Daring Fireball for the heads-up.
kilala.nl tags: weird, awesome, movies,
View or add comments (curr. 1)
2007-07-10 22:25:00
This blog post was made invisible initially. It has now been made available to the Internet at large. Sorry for breaking continuity :D
Back in April, I felt like crap. Then, in June, it came back. Now, with the start of July I've made my decision:
I'm getting out of IT.
That day in June something snapped inside of me and I decided that I could no longer carry on working as a sysadmin. The work no longer motivates me, nor does it offer me some shine of glamour. I know that, while there are still endless, uncharted seas for me to discover, this field no longer holds a challenge for me. I know that whatever I'll need to learn, I'll be able to do so in a few days. Lather, rinse, repeat, until I grow old.
No thank you.
No longer will I be shifting bits and bytes around, being a faceless peon in a huge corporation. No longer will I be burning midnight oil at the altar of Unix.
Instead I will make difference in this world and I will be of use to the general public. I will try to educate this world's children, nudging them into directions they might otherwise ignore.
I have decided to go into education and become a high school teacher.
kilala.nl tags: career, life, school,
View or add comments (curr. 3)
2007-07-09 19:55:00
Gawd! Blackie is a frigging drama queen! =_=
It was time for her annual check up at the vet and she made a scene again, just like every other year. On the way there she's well behaved, relaxing in her travelling cage. In the waiting room she catches on where she is, so she ducks into a corner, preparing for what's to come. And then! Le moment supreme! The roof of the cage lifts, she's pushed flat in her corner and the fighting begins! The growling, the snarling, the screeching! Oh and she'll bite your fscking hand of! Growl!! So all she got was her injection and off she went. And once we're back in the car she's all sweet and relaxed again.
What a ham!
That leaves me to cut her nails and to give her her anti-worm drops. The next time Menno or Peter come by we'll take care of her! She may be royalty, but even kings and queens need a smack up the ass at times!
kilala.nl tags: cat,
View or add comments (curr. 12)
2007-07-09 16:19:00
After reading a review of some new keyboard I found a nice, little website in the comments section. Typera.tk lets you test your own typing speed in various languages. If you create a useraccount it'll even let you keep track of your high scores ^_^
I actually scored pretty well, although I do often make typos.
Game over
Your score: 374 keys per minute ~ 74 words per minute
Language/mode: en
Ranking: That was fast - you can still improve, though.
Comparison: 17% of registered TyperA users using this language have typed a better result; 83% have a lower or equal result.
...
Mistakes: Thera(They), re(are), anhd(and), thousdands(thousands), centersa(centers), ia(is), paper(paper,), bujt(but), this(This), not(Not), scann(scan), dreams(Dreams)
In dutch my typing speed is the same, so I guess english comes just as natural to me as dutch. That's a good sign in my book :)
kilala.nl tags: other tech, internet,
View or add comments (curr. 7)
2007-07-09 09:02:00
When I'm not busy doing my best to ignore the world I actually enjoy digging a bit deeper into the scary stuff that's going on around us. Reading gathered news posts from here and there it does once more become clear that George Orwell wasn't far off. A lot of the horrors he described about communist countries decades ago are now becoming apparent in our oh-so-free western world.
If you have the time for some nice conspiracy theories, start your digging at:
* 1984 Comic. Combines a comic book rendition of 1984 with news gathered from around the Internet.
* Thought Criminal. Gathers news on the government, the military and the snoops.
* Students for an Orwellian Society. More gathered news.
And this is just something cool I found as well: Post Secret. People who have a secret create an artsy postcard about it and send it in to be posted on the web. There's some really touching stuff in there.
EDIT:
I've had that INGSOC logo as a background on my laptop for ages and last Saturday was the first time someone knew what it was. Naturally it was Robert who's rather well versed in english lit. We shared the Shiranai booth at Chibi Con and he noticed the background while I was switching slide shows.
kilala.nl tags: life, reading,
View or add comments (curr. 0)
2007-07-09 08:07:00
Saturday was the last of a long string of very busy Saturdays for me. In this final, hectic weekend I visited Chibi Con 2007 as a dealer. Chibi Con, as some of you may know, is the Netherlands' latest addition to the anime convention scene, following in the footsteps of our own Anime 200x and our competitors Abunai. I for one welcome the Chibis: they're a young and ambitious lot.
As a courtesy among competitors it's been tradition to offer the other festivals a free table at your own convention. Hence us and Abunai came to Chibi Con to promote our own show. However, since it'd only been a month since Anime 2007 we filled our booth with Shiranai Travel stuff instead. In short: we were trying to get as many people as possible enthused about going with us to Japan.
I was amazed by the amount of interest we got, especially considering the lackluster reactions at Abunai 2006. Back then it was a struggle to even get people to take the flyer, but this time around they were going like hot cakes. All in all we gave out around 45 flyers for our 1400 euro trip to Japan. I am not sure what this success can be attributed to, but I'm thinking about a number of possibilities.
* More people want to travel to Japan.
* Chibi Con drew more people who want to travel to Japan.
* More people have become affluent.
* Chibi Con drew more affluent people.
* Chibi Con draws a different crowd than the other two festivals.
* Our sales pitch and enthusiasm was infectious and got people on board.
I doubt whether the crowd at Chibi Con is much different from the other two festivals, demographically speaking. Geographically, yes. Demographically, not much so. So I like to think that our enthusiasm drew in lots of folks :)
Now, about Chibi Con itself. I wasn't looking forward to the festival much, expecting a rather amateurish setup. As Viviana put it: Now that I'm on board with the most professional festival I can't help but notice all the atrocities at the other festivals. In the end though, I was rather surprised to find that I found the whole environment rather enjoyable. I did realize that you shouldn't think of CC as a full-blown festival, but instead you should think of it as a fair or bazaar. The whole event looked like it was setup by a group of friends, to enjoy themselves along with six hundred other people. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that and I have to say that the Chibis succeeded wonderfully!
Do I think that Chibi Con is a real competitor to Abunai and Anime 200x? No.
Do I think that they make a fine addition to the dutch anime scene? Absolutely!
EDIT:
My apologies to the folks at Ars Lounge. An unclosed <i> tag borked the layout for all the posts below mine. Sorry ^_^;
kilala.nl tags: chibicon, anime 200x,
View or add comments (curr. 6)
2007-07-07 07:04:00
Wow... T-Mobile sure makes it easy to be dishones, or even a thief.
By accident they sent my wife a second Samsung U600 (lovely phone by the way!), due to some administrative muck-up. Naturally we called their customer support line to tell them about their mistake and to ask whether they could come and pick it up.
The lady on the other side was very impressed by our honesty and promised us two things:
1. As a reward for our honesty we were allowed to keep the Bluetooth earpiece that came with the phone.
2. She'd make arrangements for the phone to be picked up. We would be called back later to make an appointment.
That phone call was two weeks ago ^_^;
kilala.nl tags: awesome, weird,
View or add comments (curr. 1)
2007-07-06 23:42:00
Everyone has one favourite song that they love to play as loud as they can. When you're angry, when you're aggressive, when you're looking for adrenaline: there's that one song you keep turning back to.
Now my collection is rife with timeless classics. Songs that get my blood pumping or that rev my ol' noggin's engine. But among them, there's only one that never fails to bring a maniacal grin to my face. Not only because of the music itself, but also because of the story and the memories that are linked to it.
This song is key in the Cowboy Bebop episode Heavy Metal Queen. I present to you: LIVE in Baghdad, by The Seatbelts.
kilala.nl tags: music, awesome,
View or add comments (curr. 0)
2007-07-05 02:00:00
After being awoken by some weird weather and loud thunder I thought I'd surf the web just a little. Just to wear myself out so I can go back to sleep.
Well, that didn't work :D Because I found an article (in dutch) on the upcoming game Rock Band over at Erik's games.blog.nl. His article also contains a YouTube clip of the game in action. Man, that looks so totally, fscking sweet!
Mind you, I have no illusions whatsoever that games like Rock Band or Guitar Hero come close to the real thing, ie "playing in a band". Of course not... But having experienced the genius that is Guitar Hero I know that Rock Band will... well... ROCK! <3
Imagine playing that with three of your closest friends!
EDIT:
To explain, for those unfamiliar with the game, on-screen you see four frets that represent the four "instruments" in the game. From left to right there's the lead guitar, the drums and the bass. Up on top are the vocals. The object of the game is for each player to follow the patterns that appear on the frets, using the buttons on his instrument. Or in the case of the drummer, to strike the pad in question. Or in case of the singer, to hit the appropriate note. You score points by getting the timing right. The longer you make it without mistakes, the more points you score.
kilala.nl tags: games,
View or add comments (curr. 6)
2007-07-04 14:01:00
Man! The weather has been el mucho loco here for the past week. I've no clue what's going on, but it's freaking me out.
Hot. Cold. Warm. Freezing. Drizzle. Sun. Downpour. Bright sunshine. And all of that in the course of a few hours. It's been quite common for us to walk in a nice, warm sun when going from one office building to another only to see a huge torrent when we reach our desk. Really, really weird...
And then there's the thunder! I rarely notice any thunder over here in the NL, but it's been noisy almost every evening this week. Incredible!
I'm thinking that God's fallen asleep on the keyboard of his weather machine...
kilala.nl tags: weird,
View or add comments (curr. 3)
2007-07-01 21:12:00
Long ago my best friend Menno suggested that I watch a movie called What the bleep do we know?! (official website). He did so, knowing that I enjoy scientific and spiritual discussions. Today we happened to stumble upon the DVD, so I finally had my evening of pseudo-science.
I say "pseudo-science" because a lot of the facts portrayed in the movie seem dodgy at best and nonsensical at their worst. A number of their specialists come off as incredibly pretentious (although others are totally cool). Two parts of the movie are stretched beyond interest: the horrible comedy, CGI part with the singing and dancing peptides and the last twenty minutes where they try to reach some point of conclusion.
The thing that irks me the most about this flick that all of the presented information is just one big jumble of things. Everything is remotely connected, but by getting so many different subject into one story it's become a mess. There is no clear message in the end.
Unfortunately I cannot share Menno's enthusiasm about the whole movie, although I will concede that I agree with at least some of the topics discussed. As a matter of fact, most of those points were already on list of beliefs even before I saw the movie.
* We are all connected and thus part of a greater whole, as we ourselves are also built up from many smaller facets.
* There is a world of possibilities, with reality being created at every step and decision.
* Emotions and thoughts can directly affect the body.
I also found the explanation of how the brain stores and associates information to be very informative. The same goes for the part about peptides and receptors and such. I've no doubt that this part of the movie wasn't far from the truth.
Let me end this mini-review-rant with a quote from IMDB forum member Kegbot1, which I can only agree with.
But what many are missing is what makes this film revolutionary -- that filmmakers were able to present these concepts in the medium of film in a way that was at least entertaining and most, thought provoking.
...
That this film was even made at all is a mini-miracle, especially in our current intellectual and cultural climate.
View or add comments (curr. 6)
2007-07-01 17:19:00
Read this on a t-shirt, worn by a Hudson Soft employee:
Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don't make sense
Refrigerator
^_^
View or add comments (curr. 3)
2007-07-01 16:02:00
Ever since February I've been steadily adding books to my wish list. The list's grown rather large and it was about time we did something about that! Which is why I've asked people to use the list for my birthday should they desire to grace me with pressies (yay pressies!) ^_^
So anyway... This afternoon, Marli and I paid our local, huge-ass bookstore a visit. And this is the first time in months (years?) that I've bought fiction or normal books! We left with exactly zero books about Apple, computers or work. :)
Here's my reading list for the next few weeks.
Robert Rankin - The witches of Chiswick.
Science-fiction. Involves time travel, victorian England, witches, a global conspiracy and steam punk science. Niels recommended me this book in February and my mom and her husband sent me the book from Finland :)
Charles Schultz - Peanuts 1950 - 1954.
Ever since I was young I've enjoyed the Peanuts comics as they are simple, friendly and funny. My mother had two books from the later years lying around the house because (I've been told) they used those books for English class in high school. This book covers the first four years of the comic and it's obvious that Schultz was still getting a feel for the cast. It's also funny to see how some of the faces remind me of Calvin, from Calvin and Hobbes.
Ivan Wolffers - Heimwee naar de lust.
This books title can be roughly translated as Longing for lust. In 2002 Ivan learns that he has prostate cancer. Initially he's absolutely sure that he'll do anything to just keep on living. However, after a few months of hormone treatment he realized that he was no longer the virile man that he had known, but that he'd changed into a soft, hairless eunuch. Ivan was posed with a very hairy conundrum: is it more important to live, than to survive? I've been wanting to read this book for a long while. Originally to see what it would be like to be in such a situation and these days because my libido hasn't been what it used to be.
Oscar Wilde - The picture of Dorian Gray.
A timeless classic. I saw the movie on TCM one day and now I really want to read the book. So here it is ^_^
Nick Griffiths - Dalek I loved you, a memoir.
Nick Griffiths has had a long standing love affair with the Doctor Who stories. He grew up as a wee lad, cowering behind his dad's chair (because the sofa was up against the wall), amazed by his hero The Doctor. In his memoirs, Nick describes how Doctor Who has been a part of his life, all of his life. As a youngster in school, as a young professional writing for the Radio Times and these days... still writing for the Radio Times.
Jaime Hernandez - Maggie the mechanic
I'd only ever seen one drawing from the Hernandez brothers' series Love and rockets before and that made me kind of curious. Like their colleague R. Crumb (who's work I love, even if he comes off as a sexist and racist dick) they have no qualms portraying strong women. Let's see what all of this is about... So far it reminds me of the other, angry, seventies underground comics I've read. Hmm :/
kilala.nl tags: reading,
View or add comments (curr. 0)
All content, with exception of "borrowed" blogpost images, or unless otherwise indicated, is copyright of Thomas Sluyter. The character Kilala the cat-demon is copyright of Rumiko Takahashi and used here without permission.
