Richard babbles on about reviews

For nearly 3 years now I've been reviewing comics over at the FPI blog. As far as I can tell it's going very well, I'm making a little name for myself in the oh so small world of UK comic-dom and because of that the comics and books to review keep rolling in.

This is a good and bad thing. It's fantastic to be well thought of, and lovely to get lots of stuff in the post for review. But it has meant that the review shelf has been constantly been overflowing with books that I feel pressured to review.

To that end I've been writing, writing and writing for the last few months to get it down to a manageable number. Ideally I'd love to have it completely clear and just review every new thing as it comes in. Oh, that would be lovely. And the grand plan is to start doing that come 2010.

Which is why I've been writing, writing and writing some more all this month just to get to that point. As long as I've been doing this I've managed about 15-20 reviews in a good month. But the plan for October and November was to do one a day, just to get the review shelf down to a manageable level.

October was a huge fail. But, with one day left in November, I've written 29 reviews and have the 30th and final review 60% finished. Barring calamity tomorrow I should have managed the very first 30 reviews in 30 days month. This means there's just 18 books left on the shelf to be reviewed in December. Yes, there may be some dropping through the post box in December, but it's usually a quiet month, and that should mean I'm clear for January.

I'm ridiculously pleased with myself.

Well, that was a rather meaningless post for anyone that wasn't me.

Oh, what have I been reviewing this week??

These are the comics in review this week at the FPI blog.....

Molly's first Guide camp.....

Molly wandered off to school Monday morning in an absolute haze. Tired out. It was tempting to keep her off school sine she looked so zonked out. But, being a bad parent, I figured she'd do fine.

Monday night she felt really crap. Tuesday morning she felt tired AND crap. Still she went in. Tonight (Tuesday) she felt a bit better.

The reasons for all this tiredness: Molly's first guides camp. Brwnies, as fun as it was for her, was just a bit too sedate for our lovely, little action girl. Molly enjoyed the nature walks, the crafts, the other stuff they did. But Guides has already proved far, far better. Granted, every week she seems to come home with some new request for money for this event or that event, but what the hey, it's all for a good cause etc etc.

This weekend she went off to Paxwold. In many ways it's a perfect first camp. Indoors, in dormitory style bedrooms inside a purpose built Guide outdoor centre. Just one weekend and limited to younger guides only. She was a little nervous before going but had been reassured by the fact that it was only for the weekend and she'd be back home before she knew it.

We dropped her off on Friday evening and spent all night wondering what she was doing, then we spent all Saturday doing the same, and most of Sunday. We needn't have worried though, when we picked up a tired, tired little girl on Sunday around 3, we realised she'd had a great weekend. And most importantly hadn't missed us a bit. Which, as painful as it is to realise, is exactly where she should be right now, moving on, moving away from us. Horrible but necessary.

The weekend was spent doing guide-y things. They headed off to the supermarket on Friday night with lists of things to get. Each group was responsible for one meal during the week - planning it, buying it and cooking it. There were crafts, nature hikes in the mud, and lots and lots and lots of fun over two very, very late nights and packed days. Lights officially went out at 9:30 or 10, but from the tiredness etched into her face on Sunday we reckon it was a little later than that both nights that the girls actually got to sleep.

A fantastic weekend, now all she can talk about is the Guide camp in May when she's away for a whole week.

Thought Bubble - or maybe not.....

Well, Saturday was meant to be a day at Thought Bubble in Leeds, one of the best comic conventions of the year. I went last year and had a great time.

So this year I was all ready to get going, bus and train across nice and early. And then I woke up this morning and felt like death only slightly warmed up. Probably a combination of too little sleep over the last week and the ongoing lurgy I'm unable to shake off. I felt sick and feverish when I woke up, head pounding, throat raspy. Lovely.

By mid afternoon it was a lot better, but I'd missed the event by then. Alas Thought Bubble - I shall have to wait another year.

Propaganda Reviews this week......

During the last week, all of these fine (or maybe not) comics have been reviewed by me at the FPI blog:

This is what all the best dressed kids are wearing....

This is what Molly is wearing for her non-uniform day for Children In Need today.
The most amazing thing about this?

I had NOTHING to do with it. The first I knew about it was last Sunday when Louise and Molly went shopping in York and came back with this. Obviously, Molly's aware of The Cure, it's been played to her fairly regularly since she was born after all. But I was stunned (in a very nice way) when she decided she wanted to buy this.

Molly - making me feel old, one day at a time....

I felt really old the other day. Not that "oh I remember this song, gosh was it really 20 years ago" type old, but real, proper old. Molly had just gone off to school - she walks there and back on her own every day now, called for by her friends - and i went to brush my teeth. Looked in the mirror and didn't really recognise the old face looking back at me.

Horrible thing this having children - evil little reminders of our own mortality that they are.

She's so very horribly grown up now. And it's all happened in the last few months. One moment it seemed she was daddy's little girl and the next, all grown up. The walking to school and back is the major change, but it's in everything she does - whether it's making her own drinks, chatting on the phone, or just not needing to be around us parents as much anymore. Not nice. Well, not nice in that way - the only positive side to seeing her grow up is seeing her grow up so wonderfully well.

Matt Badham interviews Lisa Wood of the wonderful Thought Bubble...

Bah, another week of feeling mah, another week of writing almost non-stop, desperately fighting the good (impossible) fight to clear some of the review shelf off and to top it all off, a week of computer fails at school to put me in a really down mood.

Which is why I forgot, again, to prep this piece..... and why, again I'm grateful to Joe Gordon over at the FPI blog for putting it all together so I can shamelessly copy and paste it.....

This time it's Matthew Badham finishing off his Herculean task of interviewing all of the major players in the UK comic events scene. With Thought Bubble Leeds happening this very weekend, we've rushed this one out midweek, enjoy....

Over the last few months the Forbidden Planet International blog, Down the Tubes and Fictions have been cross-posting Q&As by Matt Badham with the organisers of various British comic conventions. Our aim is to give the conventions themselves some well-deserved publicity and also to, hopefully, spark a wider debate about what’s good and bad about the convention circuit in this country. (Answers have been edited only in terms of spelling, punctuation and grammar, and not for style or content.)

For this ninth instalment of the series, Matt chatted to Lisa Wood of the Thought Bubble comic convention, just head of this year’s Thought Bubble, which kicks off this weekend in Leeds. (NB: this will be the last of these interviews for the foreseeable future)

MB: Please tell us about a little about the history of the Thought Bubble.

Lisa: Thought Bubble started in 2007. I had been toying with the idea of running some kind of comics based exhibition or a series of workshops and the idea grew from there. I was really keen to bring a comics festival to the UK that was in the same vein as some of the European festivals; something that wasn’t just a convention but a celebration of comics on lots of different levels.

I feel really passionately that comics should be recognized as a valid art form like in France, when they are called the ninth art and regarded very highly. The public’s perception of comics and graphic novels is changing at the moment due to the popularity of comics-based movies. We are not only seeing superhero comic movies at the moment but films such as Road to Perdition, Scott Pilgrim and A History of Violence too, which are all based on great graphic novels.

MB: How is the Thought Bubble funded, by ticket sales, the exhibitors, a grant, some other means or a combination of these?

Lisa: Thought Bubble is funded by Ticket sales and exhibitors. We have also just found out that we have Arts Council funding which is amazing! It is great to know serious funding bodies such as The Arts Council are recognizing the benefits of comic books for learning and literacy. Hopefully this is the beginning of something really special.

MB: What are Thought Bubble’s overall aims?

Lisa: Our aim has always been to bring comics and graphic novels to the mainstream, and to show they can be an excellent educational tool to be embraced by libraries, schools and local councils. We want to put on a great show celebrating the amazing art and writing in comics.

MB: Who is Thought Bubble aimed at? What sort of punters do you hope to attract? Are you family-friendly?

Lisa: We are very family-friendly. We pretty much aim the con at everyone! We try and programme events that will appeal to all ages and types. At our Alea event we host panels, screenings and talks, which are for adults. However, we also run lots of workshops and events especially for young people! We recognise the importance of introducing young people to comic books so the art form can keep growing and growing.

(Yishan Li taking the first Thought Bubble workshop of 2009, pic borrowed from the TB blog)

MB: How effective have you been in getting those kind of people to attend?

Lisa: Because we run as part of the Leeds International Film Festival we tend to get a wide range of people attending our events. We also tend to get people coming along who are just curious, which is great for us because we have the chance to introduce newcomers to this wonderful art-form, this is what we always intended to do.

MB: Can you give a projected (or actual) attendance figure for the Thought Bubble?

Lisa: Figures for our festival and one day convention were: first year convention 500, festival as a whole 1100, our second year convention was 1500, festival as a whole 2500 and we are hoping this year will be 2200 for our convention and 3000 for our festival as a whole.

MB: What lessons have you learned during your time running Thought Bubble, in terms of its marketing and advertising?

Lisa: I think we are still learning how best to approach these areas. We will probably concentrate more on online advertising this year rather than printed matter, just because costs can be so high. The way we have approached this in the past is where possible find in-kind sponsorship. We have worked with various magazines to promote ourselves and in return we have helped promote them. We also work with various shops around West Yorkshire to promote our event as much as possible. Getting people on board to help us spread the word and our brand is invaluable.

MB: Do you use emerging technologies to spread the word about Thought Bubble? Do you have a website or blog, or use email mailing lists?

Lisa: We are really into using social networking sites to spread the word. We are also currently setting up a Youtube account, where we can post our favourite clips and hold competitions. We also have a Wordpress blog that is updated daily at the moment and a Twitter. Our next goal is to record all of our workshops and talks to build up an online library of educational information for anyone and everyone to access.

MB: What about print? Do you use print advertising, have a newsletter, anything like that?

Lisa: Because these cost tend to be fairly high we try and avoid buying adverts in magazines and work on in-kind deals as I mentioned before

MB: What’s the mix in terms of exhibitors at your con? Do you even have exhibitors?

Lisa: We have over 170 exhibitors. The mix is usually, small press 50%, guests and pros 20% and retailers 30%. It changes year on year though.

(last year’s over-16s comic art competition winner by and (c) Kristyna Baczynski)

MB: What are your thoughts on the small press comics scene in this country? Does Thought Bubble support the small press and what form does that support take?

Lisa: We absolutely support the small press scene. We love it! We hold weekly small press features on our blog, highlighting some of our favourite small press people.

MB: How much are the tickets for the Thought Bubble? How did you arrive at that price? Please tell us about any concessions.

Lisa: Our tickets are £8 full price this year, half price for cosplayers and under-12s are free. For this price you get to spend the whole day listening to various talks and have the chance to take part in workshops, watch screenings, meet artists and writers and ask for sketches. It is a tough call trying to keep prices low. venue costs can be really high. There are also lots of hidden costs such as insurance and trading licence, the stage, tables. Running a convention can end up being very pricey. When dealing with ticket prices you need to look at your own costs and what your competition is charging.

(Dan Lester and Oliver Lambden at TB, pic from my 2008 report)

MB: How much are exhibitor tables for the Thought Bubble? Again, how did you arrive at that figure?

Lisa: Again we try and keep this low where possible, especially for small press as most of the time they end up losing money attending cons. Our small press and professional tables are £40, retailer and publisher tables are £60.

MB: Do you run workshops/events/panels at the Thought Bubble? Please tell us about those and how they are organised.

Lisa: Most or our programme is full of free workshops for young people and adults, our Arts Council funding helps us to do this. We invite industry professionals to come along and let people know how they write or draw and how to get in to the business. Our workshops have been incredibly successful, with most of them selling out before our brochure comes out. So far workshops have been run on a voluntary basis by industry professionals who are kind enough to give us and the public their time.

MB: As you’ve been kind enough to answer these questions, please fell free to big the Thought Bubble up a bit. Tell us what you do well, what the Thought Bubble’s main attractions are and why our readers should attend the next one.

Lisa: Thought Bubble is a four-day annual event which celebrates sequential art in all its forms, including everything from superheroes to independent small press. We are a non-profit making organisation dedicated to promoting comics and graphic novels as an important cultural art form. Taking place at a variety of venues across the city, our aim is to cater to both long-time comic book fans and those who have never picked up a graphic novel before!

Thought Bubble will take place 19th -- 22nd November 2009 with a centrepiece one-day convention on Saturday 21st. Thought Bubble will include art and writing based workshops for young people and adults, panels and talks lead by industry professionals and a programme of sequential art related film screenings. The special one-day convention includes an incredible line up of leading artists and writers, and over 150 tables selling comics and merchandise. The day will also feature portfolio viewings and competitions. This promises to be one of the best events of its kind in the UK, where you’ll be able to meet some of your favourite comic book creators and browse the huge selection of memorabilia on sale -- brought to you by the biggest and best exhibitors and dealers from across the country. Keep an eye on the website for more updates, or join us on MySpace or Facebook to share your thoughts and ideas.

FPI would like to thank Lisa for taking time out from a busy schedule to talk to us and Matt for a fascinating series of interviews. This year’s Thought Bubble takes place in Leeds from the 19th to the 22nd of December (you can read Richard’s report on last year’s TB here on the blog). You can read the previous Q&As with other British comics con organisers in this series here on the blog: Comica’s Paul Gravett, Patrick Findlay of the UK Web’n’Mini Comix Thing, Jimi Gherkin of the Alternative Fair Press chats with Matt, Matt talks with Bristol’s Mike Allwood, Hi-Ex’s Vicky Stonebridge, BICS’ Shane Chebsey, Caption’s Jay Eales and LUC’s Oli Smith.

Just as we were preparing this interview the Thought Bubble crew updated us on a whole raft of (mostly free) comics classes that will be running during the weekend for children and adults:

Digital Colouring Masterclass with Peter Doherty. 14:00-15:00, Carrigeworks, FREE, 16+. Famous for his work on The Wachowski Brothers’ Shaolin Cowboy, and Judge Death, Peter will take participants through the stages of how to digitally colour line art in photoshop. A basic understanding of photoshop is required. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com

Sequential Art and Literacy Workshop. 14:00-15:30, Leeds Art Gallery, 12-18 year olds, FREE. Award-winning artist, curator, and academic Sarah Lightman, who trained at ‘Slade School of Art’, will go through the stages of creating your very own publication. She will explain how young people can use the comic format to reflect their own feelings and experiences. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com

Yishan Studio Shojo Manga Workshop with Yishan Li. 14:30-15:30, Leeds Central Library, 7-12 year olds, FREE. Yishan Li, a leading manga artist, and creator of the Yishan Studio ‘How To Draw Manga’ books, will run this fun workshop for younger children. Yishan will take them through the steps of how to create characters and figures. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com

Creation of Computer Game Concept Design. 14:50-16:50, Leeds Central Library, 16+, FREE. Steve Beaumont, character design and storyboard artist, will look at how the two are produced within the video games industry. There will be an opportunity to work from a typical client brief to create a gaming character. Steve will also touch on what the gaming industry looks for to give you a heads up in this ever growing field. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com

Manga Character Art Workshop with Emma Vieceli. 14:50-15:50, Leeds Central Library, 12-18 year olds, FREE. Sweatdrop Studios’ Emma, is well known for her presenting on Anime Network, and her fantastic art on the Manga Shakespeare series. In this session, Emma will demonstrate techniques used in manga styled pages and show participants the foundations needed to create their own characters. This workshop will be fun and informal. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com

Frank Quitely Art Masterclass. 15:15-16:45, Carriageworks, 16+, £5 Entry. Thought Bubble is delighted to welcome Frank Quitely, one of the world’s most respected comic book artists, for a special insider look at his art. Frank is best known for his work on Grant Morrison’s New X-Men, Batman and Robin, and We3. Talking to Peter Dohert of 2000AD fame, Frank will reveal the creative process he employs in this fascinating masterclass. For tickets go to www.thoughtbubblefestival.com

Young People’s Comics Writing Masterclass with Adam Lowe. 16:00-17:00, Leeds Central Library, 12-18 year olds, FREE. Local author Adam Lowe’s first novel, Troglodyte Rose, mixes sequential art and prose. In this workshop for young people, he gives tips on writing scripts for comics, including dialogue, pace, and visual cues in this fun and informal masterclass. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com

This week at the FPI blog .... reviews, reviews, reviews....

This week at the FPI blog I have been looking at.....

PROPAGANDA Reviews: Parker: The Hunter by Darwyn Cooke

Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter

by Darwyn Cooke

IDW Publishing.

Bloody hell, this is good.

Darwyn Cooke has taken Richard Stark’s hard boiled criminal novel and perfectly distilled it’s elements into possibly the best crime graphic novel you’ll have read for a long time. The art’s exceptional, as you may have expected from Cooke. But this beats anything he’s done up to this point. Gone are the nostalgic renderings of books like New Frontier, he even goes past his previous best of his glorious Spirit tales. This is Cooke’s artistic idea honed to a fine point and executed with incredible, minimalist noir style across the page. It’s a truly beautiful book.

Richard Stark was the pseudonym for Donald E Westlake. You’ve probably seen one of his Parker tales without even realising it was a Parker tale since Westlake never allowed Parker’s name to be used in the adaptations of his work. Point Blank with lee Marvin – that was Parker. Payback with Mel Gibson – Parker. But tellingly, with Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation Westlake finally gave his permission. Sadly Westlake died in 2008 never knowing what a marvellous job Darwyn Cooke was to make of Parker.

This is real hard boiled noir. Parker is the epitome of the cold hearted bastard. Betrayed on an arms deal by his woman and his partners in crime, he’s left for dead. But he makes his way back, single minded and bent on revenge against those who’ve wronged him and stolen his ill gotten gains. I’m not going to give any of the plot away – it’s one of those books you really need to read and me blowing the story would only spoil it for you. And in truth, it’s hardly revolutionary storytelling. You’ve seen the plot many, many times over. Indeed, if you’ve watched either movie you’ll recognise elements of them here, particularly in Point Blank. But the plot is almost incidental to Parker. It’s an inexorable march towards revenge and retribution, with Parker leaving a trail of dead bodies in his wake, cold, heartless, driven and utterly amoral. Pure hard boiled stuff.

(Parker gets himself together, ready to take back what he considers rightfully his. Darwyn Cooke’s artwork just perfectly encapsulating the sheer will for revenge of the man. From The Hunter.)

Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation must have ditched huge amounts of the source material to have condensed a book into 140 pages, but you won’t notice, such is the perfection of storytelling that Cooke pulls off here. It’s split into four books, each incredibly impressive in it’s own way. There’s a preview of the first few pages at the IDW site and it will give you some idea of just how good Parker is. Those first 20 pages, almost wordless, with Parker making his way back into New York, regaining his life, getting himself ready for the job at hand are quite brilliant examples of how to tell a story on a comics page. After that the tale is told of betrayals and revenge, with Parker single-mindedly working his way through those who have wronged him, stopping at nothing to extract revenge and recover the ill gotten gains he considers rightfully his. If I had to pick a moment though it would be the almost heartstopping scene where Parker finally tracks down the cause of all his ills:

(“That’s when he saw Parker coming through the bedroom window”. Chilling storytelling from Cooke in Parker: The Hunter.)

The one thing that did jar slightly is that cover. Compared with some of the stellar artwork inside the book it’s actually not that good. A minor quibble perhaps. Because once you get inside the art is just sublime; black, white and blue throughout. The purist in me was wondering all the way through what this might have been like in strict noir black and white, but the blue adds something extra, something quite wonderful.

It’s July and this may well be the book of the year. A must for anyone with a penchant for Chandler-esque heroes and hard boiled storytelling. The great news is that this is just the first of four planned Parker graphic novels by Cooke. Book 2 is out in 2010 – I’ve no idea when, but I’ll be eagerly awaiting it. Something this near perfect will no doubt be worth the wait.

Remembrance Day Parade and freedoms.....

Molly paraded with the Guides this year on the annual Remembrance Day Parade. She even got to lay a cross on one of the war memorials in the town. As usual the afternoon is a proud, though solemn occasion with the parade made up of brownies, guides, beaver scouts, cubs, scouts, army cadets, air cadets and veterans. A lot of people turn out to follow the parade and it's good to see all of these people choosing to be here, choosing to remember.

Now Molly's older she's actually questioning the reasons for parading. Which is exactly what she should do. We had a chat the other night about the events and the importance of Remembrance. The simplest way I could say it was that all of these men gave up their lives so that future generations might not have to. My grandfather went to war. Thankfully he came back. But because of him, because of all those who didn't come back, there's a much greater chance that I'll never be forced to fight for my country. Wars should be about freedom, should be fought because there is no choice, should be fought because they are the final recourse and should, when all is done, lead to a better world, a freer world.

And then I start to see all of the news about football teams being coerced into embroidering poppys into their strips and the teams that refuse to submit to public pressure being lambasted in the press. Or rather, the teams that refuse to submit to the hectoring and bullying attitude of the Daily Mail. So perhaps it isn't a case of respecting or disrespecting the soldiers in this case?

I thought one of the things we celebrated on Remembrance Day was the fact our grandparents fought for, and often died for, the right to be free, the right to dissent, the right to think for ourselves.

Wearing the poppy as a choice is a wonderful thing. Wearing the poppy because it's forced upon us is a complete anathema to everything these men fought for. And no amount of baying mobs or stupid facebook groups is going to convince me otherwise.

The weeks reviews at the FPI blog:

This week over at the FPI blog......





Largo Winch Volume 2 - Takeover Bid by Van Hamme & Franq.
Harker: The Book Of Solomon by Gibson & Danks.
Drake's Comprehensive Compendium of Dragonology.
The Chimpanzee Complex Volume 1: Paradox by Richard Marazano & Jean-Michel Ponzio
Lady S: Here's To Suzie by Jean Van Hamme and Philippe Aymond

PROPAGANDA Reviews: Harker Volume 1

Harker Volume 1: The Book Of Solomon

Plot, story, script – Roger Gibson. Plot, art – Vincent Danks

Ariel Press.

Anyone reading the blog over the past 9 months or so will have surely picked up on my great love of Harker. I’ve championed it since issue 1 and every month have delivered positive review after positive review. So with this first collection I’m hardly likely to have completely changed my mind now am I?

Quite simply – no, of course not. Harker’s a fantastic tale, featuring a great set of characters, mixing all of the best elements of classic genre crime fiction and borrowing extensively from so many classic TV series to create something immediately recognisable and immensely enjoyable. Lots of police procedural stuff, the legwork, the investigations, the hunting down of the clues, the gathering of suspects and so much more. It’s all here in Harker.

So here’s what’s going on in Harker, The Book Of Solomon:

“A horribly mutilated body has been discovered on the steps of st George’s Church in london, just around the corner from the British Museum. Detective Chief Inspector Harker, and his assistant Detective Sergeant Critchley, experts in multiple homicides, are on the case. The body is unidentified and appears to be the result of a horrific ritual killing. Harker is skeptical, but book fibres found underneath the victim’s fingernails have led our detectives on the search for an Occult book: The Key Of Solomon“.

Add to this the delightful dialogue, with Harker and Critchley playing off each other as a perfect comedy double act – Harker as the mysterious world-weary straight man to Critchley’s rapid fire, slightly unhinged funny man. The dialogue and characters certainly aren’t real; no-one really speaks like that all of the time. But Harker isn’t about real characters, just perfectly realised idealised versions of characters we’d possibly like to be. The antecedents are everywhere; Holmes & Watson, Regan & Carter, toss in a bit of Life On Mars’ Gene Hunt for Harker perhaps and you have a little idea of what makes Harker so much fun.

(“Er… Guv?” Still cracks me up. Harker’s about to walk into a little Satanist bat-cave. There’s more art in the review here, but if I were you, I’d just buy the book.)

And in all this praise of Harker’s story and characterisation, it would be remiss of me not to mention Vince Danks’ art that simply and effectively adds so much to the book with simple lines, intricate figure work that seamlessly choreographs the comic as his figures flow naturally across the page against backgrounds that are worthy of Gerhard’s finest work on Cerebus.

(Part of the centre-piece of the first volume, Harker and Critchley sit in a pub and Harker tells Critchley how to do this police lark properly; no Satanist nonsense, no pissing about with occult books, just good, old-fashioned police work. And a perfect panel to show off Vince Danks’ stunning artwork on the series.)

Like some bloke says on the back of the book: Harker’s a great detective thriller with intriguing story, wonderful art, cracking dialogue and moments of laugh out loud comedy … an absolute triumph of a comic. This first book really does have everything you could ever want in great genre writing. I’ve recommended it since the start. I’m certainly not stopping now.

and 20 years of Wallace & Gromit.....

Another anniversary, this time everyone's favourite claymation man and his dog. Nick Park's wonderful creations, Wallace and Gromit are 20 years old this week. Just like Sesame Street they got their own Google Doodle, just as they should....

Happy birthday lads, here's to many more.

40 Years Of Sesame Street

40 years of Sesame Street - and multiple Google doodles for one of the most wonderful shows in the world. When she was much younger we spent many wonderful hours with Molly absolutely engrossed with Elmo. Every morning before going to nursery she had to see Elmo's World. And the laughter and giggles she came out with set us both up wonderfully for the day.



The BBC has a special 5 minutes with some of the cast: "In a special edition, Matthew Stadlen travels to Sesame Street to spend Five Minutes with Cookie Monster, Elmo, Big Bird, Grover and Oscar the Grouch". It's great fun to watch the amateur struggle and fail with the professionals, they absolutely wipe the floor with him. Five minutes of funny stuff - Elmo's Wasabi line and Big Bird:
"Can you fly?" "I can if I can get an airline ticket"

To watch the BBC video - click here.

Amanda Palmer's open letter to Robert Smith

Since hearing Girl Anachronism on some late night MTV2 show about a year ago I became a fan of The Dresden Dolls and subsequently Amanda Palmer. And since my discovery of Amanda's blog, I'm increasingly convinced that she's a wonderfully original voice in modern music.

Latest case in pint: This brilliant and impassioned open letter to Robert Smith. Palmer's a big fan, and suffered from just the same loss of faith with the Cure I did a few years ago. We're both pretty much back in the fold now. But reading her words brought it all back to me; the manic adoration, the hunt for information in that pre-Internet time, the T-shirts, the obsessive copying of the logo and applying the writing to every schoolbook, the posters, and the music - more than anything else - the music that filled my life.

And Amanda gets it - you can tell:

On seeing them for the first time, Disintegration tour:

When that music crashed into place (and what a perfect choice, that one, a perfect set opener, and perfect album opener….and god, just a perfect song: the huge major-chord crash of joyfully celebration with lyrics as dark-light, lush and vast and deep and bittersweet as love itself), when that first giant synthesizer belted it’s long, jagged and beautiful wave forms into my ears and meshed with the smash of cymbals and dazzling of lights….in that moment, my heart exploded. I now knew something I didn’t know before. I’ve never forgotten that moment.

Or this, a conversation at a gig;

“WHAT ALBUM IS THIS SONG FROM?” I shouted. “THIS IS FROM 4:13 DREAM” he shouted back. “IS THAT ABOUT TO COME OUT?” I shout-asked. “NO,” he shouted “IT CAME OUT, LIKE, SIX MONTHS AGO.”

And it was then that I realized, without a doubt. It hit me and it hurt.
I abandoned you. I was a Bad Fan.
Along with so much of the other music I listened to, I wandered out of the Church of Fandom in my early twenties and by the time I was in my mid-twenties The Dresden Dolls were in full touring mode. I was spending most of my waking life on the phone or on the computer, trying to make sense of this weird fucking life that I’d so wanted and I was so grateful to have - but at the same time, it destroyed something I cherished, which was the ability to hang out and absorb music, to live IN it.
I wasn’t a fan anymore. I couldn’t be. I was too busy working.

And that's something I share with her. Losing my way, forgetting that The Cure wasn't a band that stopped a few years ago. The new album still doesn't work for me. But I said that about Wild Mood Swings, said it about Bloodflowers, said it about 2004's "The Cure". But one by one, they've found their way into my heart and my head.

"The Cure" finally worked for me just a few weeks ago when I found myself in just the right mood for it, and the lyrics percolated through my head and I was singing through the emotional tears, convinced with all certainty that Robert Smith was writing about my life, knew what I was thinking and was singing to me, about me - just like he always had.

It was a wonderful, emotional and shattering moment and proof that I shouldn't have let myself forget, should have trusted, should have kept the faith. But I didn't. I was wrong. I know that now. But I won't let it happen again and neither will Amanda.

And if you aren't doing so already, go and read Amanda's blog, start with the Robert Smith letter and then look at this and this and just keep going...... And then go off and get yourself copies of Who Killed Amanda Palmer. You'll love it.

Reasoned, intelligent research - only if it supports what they want to hear.....

Wow, twice in one week - this government just can't do anything right. When big business tells them to do something and a lot of smart, informed ask some very pertinant questions - this wonderful government seems to ignore them - or worse......

1. Mandelson's Three Strikes rule of digital copyright infringement
File this under things you never thought they'd do - but then again this Labour government have made a habit of doing things I never thought they'd do.
There are so many reasons why it's a stupid, short-sighted idea. And thankfully Cory Doctorow does a great job of summarising the whole thing over at the Times Online from October 30th. From which:

"It is not the job of government to guarantee that the business model enabled by last year’s technology will go on for ever. If it were, we would have outlawed radio to save vaudeville"

2. Government drug advisor David Nutt sacked
He puts forward the well researched idea that perhaps, just perhaps, we should look at how dangerous drugs are rather than how much they bring in in taxation. Well, he doesn't quite say that, but that's the gist of the thing. More details in the Guardian piece.

Want List - November 2009

All the things I've thought - ooooh, that looks interesting in the coming months.

Nov 2009







Dec 2009



Jan 2010



March 2010




sometime ..... but when? WHEN!!!!?



2010?





And for 2011: