I ordered from Amazon’s UK division recently Naomi Novik‘s debut novel, Temeraire, the first book in an alternate history series that posits that alongside Nelson’s Navy and Wellingon’s Army Britain fought the Napoleonic Wars with a dragon Aerial Corps. I was impatient. I could have waited and bought the novel’s American paperback, entitled His Majesty’sContinue reading “On Temeraire”
On Being an Honorary Brit
Snagged from Lisa: Honorary Brit. You scored 86 Diversity, 82 Convenience, and 68 Humour! Well done, full marks in all catagories, just how high of an accolade this title is is entirely up to you. My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 65%Continue reading “On Being an Honorary Brit”
On Doctor Who and the Sci-Fi Channel
It’s taken long enough, but the new Doctor Who is finally coming to American television–the Sci-Fi Channel beginning in March. The DVD release, originally planned for a month hence on Valentine’s Day, has now been moved to July, about the same time as the season finale, “The Parting of the Ways” would be broadcast onContinue reading “On Doctor Who and the Sci-Fi Channel”
On the Cubs and the Nationals
While I’ve been a fan of the Chicago Cubs for a very long time, I’ve never actually seen the Cubs. At least, not in person. Last year my sister suggested that, perhaps, I could go and catch a Nationals-Cubs game in Washington. Of course, she suggested that the day after the Cubs had a three-gameContinue reading “On the Cubs and the Nationals”
More on Bush and al-Jazeera
David Keogh and Leo O’Connor go on trial in London on January 24th. Their crime? Violating Britain’s Official Secrets Act by passing around a top secret memo about a meeting between Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George Bush. This is a story that has received very little traction in the American press–first, because theContinue reading “More on Bush and al-Jazeera”
On Sam Raimi's Discworld
According to this blurb in the Guardian, director Sam Raimi of Evil Dead and Spider-Man fame, will be directing an adaptation of one of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books, The Wee Free Men: Sam Raimi, currently hard at work on Spider-Man 3, has been tapped to direct an adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s The Wee Free MenContinue reading “On Sam Raimi's Discworld”
On Tonight's Boston Legal
If James Spader doesn’t win a third consecutive Best Actor Emmy on the basis on tonight’s episode of Boston Legal there’s no justice in the universe. It’s that simple. Tonight was one of the more dramatic outings for Boston Legal. The partnership selection. The legal wranglings in the case of a cancer drug test. AndContinue reading “On Tonight's Boston Legal”
On Photographing Area 51
Doubtless this will be of no interest to anyone but myself, but I found this article interesting. In 1974 astronauts aboard the Skylab space station, in taking photographs of Earth from orbit, photographed something they should not have photographed — the Air Force base at Groom Lake, Nevada, better known to conspiracy nuts as AreaContinue reading “On Photographing Area 51”
On Customers and Entitlement
Sometimes, only sometimes, customers annoy me. A guy had bought, for his son for Christmas, a Nintendo DS, the special red Mario Kart edition. It was a limited edition, like the teal blue Nintendogs edition, and once it was gone it was gone. We offer a replacement warranty on the systems we sell, though weContinue reading “On Customers and Entitlement”
On Regrets
I regret ever saying anything about Anakin Skywalker’s parentage. Seven months onward, and I’m still getting replies. Sigh.