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Wednesday, 30 December 2009
The Big Sleep
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Tuesday, 29 December 2009
The Willows at Christmas
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Mr. Mole is dismayed to discover that the spirit of Christmas has been lost by the riverbankers and the nearby village. He sets out to try to rediscover it. The early scenes with Mole investigating the causes of the lack of festivity are the best. Miss Bugle's sad little Christmas witnessed by the ever lovable Mole almost had me reaching for the handkerchief and for a mind boggling moment had me hoping for a little inter-species romance. The later sections of the book slide more into the sorts of situations that Mr. Toad's foolishness often resulted in the original. The threat of incarceration and execution should surely be familiar to Mr. Toad. Patrick Benson's rustic little line drawings and beautiful coloured plates complement the writing perfectly. Very good but never really replaces the original book in your heart but for those wishing to spend time with such beloved characters for a little bit longer you really can't go far wrong with this book and the three that preceded it.
Monday, 28 December 2009
A Thin Ghost
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Sunday, 27 December 2009
Sea Holly
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Thursday, 24 December 2009
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
The faux tree
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Monday, 21 December 2009
Snow prints
Saturday, 19 December 2009
Hedgehog fun
Obviously this hedgehog is from the summer as they are all hibernating at the moment.
The funniest joke at the Edinburgh Fringe according to a panel of comedy critics was by Dan Antopolski.
The funniest joke at the Edinburgh Fringe according to a panel of comedy critics was by Dan Antopolski.
"Hedgehogs - why can't they just share the hedge?"
I suppose you had to be there.
Friday, 18 December 2009
Another world
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Thursday, 17 December 2009
Miles, Mystery & Mayhem
These three installments in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga are something of a mixed bag. Although they follow on from each other in the general chronology the publication order was quite different and were published over the span of a decade or so. They all use the field of genetics to fuel the plot and themes.
In Cetaganda Miles tries his hand at another bit of detective work. He's on a diplomatic mission to Cetaganda with his 'a bit thick but handsome' cousin. He's not even off the shuttle before he's knee deep in intrigue, and murder, dodging potentially fatal traps as he goes. Spending time in Miles head is always enjoyable and fun. I also enjoyed trying to imagine how beautiful the Cetagandan Haut women were. Probably similar to trying to imagine what Galadriel looked like - an enjoyable exercise but ultimately a futile one.
Don't start this one thinking Miles is in it. You'll only be disappointed. The little guy is mentioned quite a bit though and one of the major characters is Elli Quinn, some might remember her from The Warrior's Apprentice. The main protagonist is this chap Ethan. He lives on a male only planet inhabited by blokes who live in superstitious dread of women (otherwise known as uterine replicators with legs). The fun starts when he has to leave his home planet in search or a replacement supply of ov...more
Don't start Ethan of Athos thinking Miles is in it. You'll only be disappointed. The little guy is mentioned quite a bit though and one of the major characters is Elli Quinn, some might remember her from The Warrior's Apprentice. The main protagonist is this chap Ethan. He lives on a male only planet inhabited by blokes who live in superstitious dread of women (otherwise known as uterine replicators with legs). The fun starts when he has to leave his home planet in search of a replacement supply of ovarian cultures to replace the failing existing cultures, without which his society can't reproduce. Massive culture shock ensues (women everywhere). Ethan soon gets up to his neck in problems he's not really equipped to deal with, problems that he's going to have to rely on a woman to overcome. Enter Elli Quinn. It's all quite light hearted but very amusing.
Labyrinth is a novella which features Miles back at the helm of the Dendarii cruiser Ariel. Before too long everything goes pear-shaped and Miles finds himself in big trouble. And if being trapped in a dungeon with a sex mad teenage werewolf doesn't qualify as big trouble I don't know what does. As fun as ever but still finds time to ask a few questions about what it is to be different.
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Don't start this one thinking Miles is in it. You'll only be disappointed. The little guy is mentioned quite a bit though and one of the major characters is Elli Quinn, some might remember her from The Warrior's Apprentice. The main protagonist is this chap Ethan. He lives on a male only planet inhabited by blokes who live in superstitious dread of women (otherwise known as uterine replicators with legs). The fun starts when he has to leave his home planet in search or a replacement supply of ov...more
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Wednesday, 16 December 2009
The Long-tail crew
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The Long-tailed Tits don't hang around for long though. They fly in in a flurry of feathers and tweets, grab a quick bite and then they're off to the next target.
Monday, 14 December 2009
Shopping for Harry Part 2
Sunday, 13 December 2009
Shopping for Harry
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Friday, 11 December 2009
The Merrybegot
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Thursday, 10 December 2009
Grand Turk
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Here we have a picture of The Grand Turk, currently at anchor at Whitby Harbour. Here I'm
photographing the ship's reflection as much as the ship itself. This was taken during a trip into Whitby last October as detailed here. The ship has appeared on several tv/film dramas most notably Hornblower. If you have a spare £1,575,000 burning a hole in your pocket you could add it to your fleet. And here is the promised figurehead.
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Wednesday, 9 December 2009
The Castle of Otranto
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The Castle of Otranto was written in 1764 by Horace Walpole. So many times I have heard the name of this book being dropped by literary historians citing its place as the forerunner to the gothic novel, works that would include author's such as Poe, Stoker and Du Maurier. In fact the book is little more than fluff that just happens to contain a castle and a penchant for the romantic, the unlikely and the plain ridiculous.
Monday, 7 December 2009
Scraperboards
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Saturday, 5 December 2009
Friday, 4 December 2009
Relics of the Dead
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Tuesday, 1 December 2009
That was us
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Sunday, 29 November 2009
Andy iz Magiik
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Saturday, 28 November 2009
Cunning moss
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
The metal tree
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This metal tree even seems hard pressed to escape connections to the steel producers that our town is also famed for, with its plane polished surfaces, its riveted on leaves and pipe trunk and
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Monday, 23 November 2009
Monkey puzzler
Friday, 20 November 2009
View from a bridge
This is another shot of the Raithwaite lake. Railings, parapets, balustrades etc are often something of a hindrance to photography from wheelchair level. In this instance I tried holding the camera up above the barrier and shooting blind. I clicked away for a minute, hoping for the best. Only one was worth keeping - see below. I took the above picture by shooting lower than my usual viewpoint, well at least I could see the viewfinder to frame and focus. I think it turned out ok. The stone pillars actually seem to add something to the shot and the reflection was an unintended bonus.
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Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Woodpecker Hilton
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Friday, 13 November 2009
Barry Letts
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I would like to pay tribute to Barry Letts who died last month at the age of 84. Barry was producer of Doctor Who during the Jon Pertwee years and was responsible for casting Tom Baker in the role of the 4th Doctor. Without Barry Letts' shaping of the show that I've adored since my first memories my life would have been a lot emptier. He was a practicing Buddhist and was one of the first tv producer's to introduce ecology as a major theme in a tv story in The Green Death in 1973. He was a real gentleman. I can still hear his voice in my head from all the stories and anecdotes that he contributed to the classic DVD commentaries.
Other tributes:
BBC
Telegraph
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Wolf Hall
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It's a question that Anne Boleyn ponders in the book and I suppose it is the question the reader is also posed with. The book is very well researched by the author Hilary Mantel. There is a huge cast of characters involved here, threading their strands into the tangled weave of politics, intrigue and ambition that surrounds the court of King Henry VIII during his courtship and marriage to Anne Boleyn. At the end of it all I didn't feel I knew Thomas Cromwell any better than I did before. There is no doubt that he was a most remarkable and deeply complex man. History is a very slippery thing to write about but compared to trying to get to the heart of an individual, to get inside his mind with any accuracy, it is almost impossible. It's not that easy to achieve face to face, never mind separated by half a millennium through the dusty filter of historian opinions.
The present tense, third person delivery, from the point of view of Cromwell was sometimes a bit of a clunky style for the author to use so rigidly. I lost his stand point on numerous occasions, mostly confusing him for Wolsey. Some conversations were quite hard to follow. Others stand out, crackling with personality and atmosphere e.g. Cromwell's meeting with the King's daughter Mary. The King is pretty much as I would have expected as is Anne Boleyn. I didn't feel we got to grips with Thomas More fully but perhaps this is because we are seeing him from Cromwell's perspective.
All in all, a well written, thoroughly researched book, sometimes let down by its style and the scope of its ambition.
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Frog encore
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I snapped this picture of one of the frogs that got washed onto my patio last month. This is a wider shot than the pictures I posted at the time, showing some of the floodwater still pooled about. Half the hillside seemed to come down with the deluge. The frogs were happy enough though.
Winter's rime
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