nixsight

• @laineyw Already I’m liking her more. As I said on Nixsight, more with each listen! Odd, I’d never heard of her, but her profile is big! #
• @laineyw Girl One is quite stressed about Fogle, too. But she was already a confirmed fan. Of his personality, I think. Not his pesky shows! #
• @steevbishop Sing it, brother. #
• Well, irritating work of fidgetting the .xls report card to fit my needs for 08 all done. So I guess I’m doing Nanowrimo this year. Oh dear. #
• @laineyw Thanks for the headsup on Amy LaVere. On her MySpace page now – sounds good. Plus, think Girl One’ll like it, so that’s a bonus… #
• God, I still can’t get over how pretty this newer iTunes visualiser is. It even makes “You Look Nice Today” look nicer & that’s discussion. #
• @bremxjones That IS rubbish. Have you had the requisite frustrating journey to a doctor about it? In unrelated news, just listening to RPS4. #
• @steevbishop Oh, thankyou, thankyou! There’s groovy! #
• @steevbishop Agreed. Reviewing, I’m annoyed with how often I mention a lack of restraint in creative work. But I feel it’s important. #
• Daylight Savings Time is killing the environment. As I understand it, that extra hour of sun every day is messing everything up. #
• @bremxjones “28 Days Later” had the same flaw. I think Garland thinks he’s smarter than the genre he’s writing, but then falters at payoff. #
• @BeaucoupKevin … & I think the awesomeness of it is all down to Boyle’s direction. A close look at the story finds it derivative & daft. #
• @steevbishop Of course, I’ve decided that your recent tweet is a better angst for the era – Looking for first signs of end of year regret! #
• http://is.gd/5dOK – Bruce Schneier on why we are all terrorists now… #
• I dislike Brand, but stuff like THIS is why the UK’s complaint culture makes me sick – http://is.gd/5kQi – BBC in gay-bashing nontroversy. #
• @davidbaillie I see that as “Win”… In fact, that you had to take part in physical exercise to get to pizza is the only thing wrong here… #
• @steevbishop It’s 360 degree wrong, is what it is. We could have an all-new horror archetype – Swap out “the infected” for “the offended”… #
• @steevbishop The form of mindlessness & dangerous cannibalistic urges that the populace brings on itself… #
• @kmellon That… uh… doesn’t sound THAT MUCH like a dream. I’m pretty sure I saw footage of you doing that on YouTube… #
• @jensaltmann Personally, I’d sooner vote for a soldier that managed to NOT get caught. Uh. It’s probably just as well I’m not in the US. #
• @joshhechinger Ah, I didn’t know that. Are they still around to verify? I am picturing an escape attempt that maybe he bungled for them. #
• @joshhechinger … But then, I’m the guy with the “Guantanamo Bay” sitcom – kinda like Hogan’s Heroes… I have maybe watched too much TV. #
• @joshhechinger I kind of WANNA go further down the ‘nam sitcom route, but this has taken me over – http://is.gd/5lbs PREDATOR SPOILERS RAP! #
• “Before triggering a timer to set off a bomb, cos they’re all bad losers where the predator comes from” – Full of awesome! http://is.gd/5lbs #
• @joshhechinger Isn’t it? & no I didn’t. I have TRIED not to pay too much attention to US election stuff – all picked up through osmosis. #
• @jensaltmann Oop, I told Josh I hadn’t read that, when I meant to tell you! Sorry about that… #
• @steevbishop Heh, damn straight. We talking about the UK culture show idea? @sulman & I already did brainstorming on Gitmo Bay sitcom… #

This week I seem to be suffering the brain-wrongs, as does my computer. Also, the index finger on my right hand is paining me at the knuckle… I ACHES! So I thought I’d try to listen to some pretty, new music – or at least, music that was new to me.

It hasn’t worked out exactly right. These female singer-songwriters were a lot more perplexing than I’d have expected.

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• @McKelvie It took me ages to work out that she was the girl from “Nathan Barley”, n’all. For what it’s worth, agreed. She is the hotness. #
• Oh, there’s lovely, iTunes… Exactly what I needed first thing… ♫ http://blip.fm/~lk6j #
• @richjohnston re: Ross/Brand/Dr Who, Heh… a perfect thing to read, first thing in the mornin’. Made me chuckle, it did! #
• Oh, awesome, it’s started already… #
• I have SUCH a soft spot for Laurel and Hardy – they make me happy. Didn’t used to, but I love the songs… ♫ http://blip.fm/~lk7o #
• @steevbishop You know, if I was a cynical man, I might wonder whether the BBC aren’t hoping this Dr News will douche the Brand/Ross stuff. #
• I love songs about being a crappy band. Come to think of it, I can’t think of any others. But I love THIS song. ♫ http://blip.fm/~lk98 #
• Ah, well I remember seeing Perry Farrell simulate wanking into the audience at Reading. The crowd despaired, but… ♫ http://blip.fm/~lk9p #
• “I don’t know where to begin, living in sin… How can we talk? Look where we’ve been.” I listened the HELL out … ♫ http://blip.fm/~lkc3 #
• Guuuh… feel nauseous… #
• I have become comfortably numb. I mean, seriously, in my tummy. No metaphor. Though it isn’t actually that comfortable, thinking about it. #
• @ostephens Oh, wow, STILL love Lalla Ward – despite her marriage to increasingly fundamentalist Dawkins. Think Romana was formative for me. #
• @marcellerby I doubt that. I find that it just THINKS it’s smarter than me. Because it’s stupid. I still hate the new image uploads… #
• @baillie That was a comedy drama with a twist, all wrapped up in one tweet. You are the future of word writing people types! #
• Bollocks, that was, of course, aimed at @davidbaillie. Having that dreadful girl on all the news boggled me, and now I have the headbads. #
• @davidbaillie That dried-up evil old bitch. She has hounded my heels – my arch enemy since the Antigon Agenda Scenario in ‘76. #
• @davidbaillie Whichwhat upset? My tummy one, the Dr Who one, or the Brand/Ross/Your Half-Sister one? #
• @davidbaillie … Oh, uh, sorry, yeah, that was me. I was trying to fix it. You know, make it better? I broked it. #
• @davidbaillie Ah… that explains the webcam. Thank goodness. I thought something VERY dodgy was going on. #
• Dammit, this day is just endlessly grim. I wish I could have just one single, solitary quantum of solace. Heh. See what I did there? #
• @davidbaillie … Oh thank goodness. Hm, ghostwritten… does that explain why sometimes your pieces are really good? #
• @davidbaillie … #
• @davidbaillie Joking! #
• @davidbaillie (Goodness, don’t want to get myself wrapped up in a controversy with a Baillie…That’d be a disaster.) #
• @davidbaillie But… but that’s where I do all my best work. If I can’t host another season of my topical, humourous panel show, I’m fucked. #
• @davidbaillie What will I do if I have to learn a non-arbitrary scoring system. Plus, without license money, how will I pay for whores? #
• @davidbaillie I didn’t mean it. I could tell the awesome was really all you. I’ve got a genuine piece of your writing. On that banana. #
• @warrenellis Dang those fundamentalists, they ruin EVERYTHING. Apparently I wasn’t an atheist the right way & now you aren’t a proper Twit? #
• That’s enough for one day. Will get back online at home. Stupid headwrongs. Girl One already en route, Dog One ready – hugs waiting at home! #
• @davidbaillie http://flickr.com/photos/nixsight/2750896013/ – http://flickr.com/photos/nixsight/2751731026/ – Am sure I’ll regret this… #
• @BeaucoupKevin You can live without knowing, sir. My whole country has turned into idiot city. It’s like Janet Jackson’s tit or something. #
• @soullastylianou The debate rages, but personally, I think there are female Gallifreyans & male Gallifreyans, so a female would be stunty. #
• Oh dear @steevbishop. At this point, there couldn’t be more of a fuss if Brand has had sex with Baillie when she was twelve or so… #
• … & then throw her in front of the car carrying Lady Diana, causing it to crash and kill almost everyone inside. Uh. @steevbishop #
• Hm. My head still doesn’t feel right. I either need a new glasses prescription, or I’ve got a brain tuna. Hope it’s not the tuna. #
• @VanessaY Sorry to hear about your delivery stupid. Sheesh, was that a whole day wasted? #
• Srsly? Well, happy birthday, but that totally sucks. You should UTTERLY stink-palm the delivery guy. Actually, don’t. That’s gross. Sorry! #
• Ooop, that was, of course, aimed at @vanessaY. Well, not OF COURSE, of course. But. Uh. Happy Birthday Vanessa! You’re awesome! #

Hello, all. I left the Monday post till tonight to do, so unfortunately I need to get this one done before bedtime. I’m going to try to do all four films I saw in forty five minutes. As you know, me and brevity = arch-enemies.

Luckily they weren’t particularly complicated films…

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This week, I took the opportunity to catch up on some of Warren Ellis’ work at Avatar. I’ve been terribly lax at reading the individual issues as they’ve mounted up, but I had some time, and found myself falling in love with “Freakangels” all over again, so it seemed like a good idea.

Ellis has had an apparently good working relationship with the publisher for a few years now, having found them receptive to his more excessive work, and he has produced a lot of creator-owned work through them.

I’m fairly certain that he was one of the first respected creators to work with the company, at a time when they almost exclusively published pornographic or explicitly gory comics, and they have certainly benefited from the collaboration. Since Ellis took the leap, Avatar have found themselves working with people like Garth Ennis and, by association Alan Moore, and have found themselves occupying shelf-space that previously they wouldn’t have been able to touch.

However, Ellis’ work for Avatar has always been a little hit and miss for me, never awful, but often falling shy of the other work I’ve read by him, or worse, only derivative of it. There have been high-points, like “Crecy”, but otherwise it’s felt like the writer had been allowing himself to indulge in the lack of restraint the publisher allowed.

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• @steevbishop … Is New Year self-recrimination the new “Xmas Music In Shops, Toy adverts on the telly?” God, how seasonal. & fitting! #
• @steevbishop … it gets earlier every year, dunnit? #
• Okay, @davidbaillie, now this is getting worrying. I take it back, I didn’t take the jumpers. Please don’t hyperthermulate! #
• Trying out Twitkit. Its nice enough, but I suspect browser-specificity will conflict with my way of working… #
• Okay, experiment over. Too much browser real-estate given over to TwitKit. I need a desktop app that doesn’t hurt brain. Twhirl for now #
• Aw, yeah, sounds like rock-o’clock in @laineyw City! Same here, btw. Are you about at 12:30ish? Need hot drink and/or food, & good company. #
• @josiefraser For me, it’s Watership Down. The thought of it still freaks me. It’s either the dying rabbits or the omnipresent rabbit ghost! #
• @SoullaStylianou I can’t help feeling that it’s a bit of a lapse in judgement on Ross’ part. His career rests on SEEMING controversial… #
• @SoullaStylianou … but seldom actually BEING it. Maybe just a middle-aged man acting-up to the cool kid? No excuse, but curious. #
• Man and hey-Zeus alive, I feel brain-dead. Absolutely certain I’m going down on… uh… coming down with something… #
• @SoullaStylianou What, where? What is zivania? Where did this query come from? And, yeah… I don’t get the Brand thing AT ALL… #
• INTERNET, STOP TALKING ABOUT BACON! I am far too hungry for this shit… And refectory bacon is never as nice as you think it will be… #
• @joshhechinger Your head is mashup. Oh, god, and now Mash as well as Bacon. I need to go get some food. #
• @joshhechinger GAH! Shutupshutupshutup!! Although actually… Mmm… That’s it. I’m going to lunch. #
• @richjohnston RE. Daily Mail whipping… well, now, that seems unlikely, doesn’t it? The Mail, geeing up a story about moral values? Nu-UH. #
• @bremxjones You know, if I’d actually bet on which hot young comic creator would be bottling his bodily fluids first, I’d be a rich man now. #
• @bremxjones … The smart money was always on @zdarsky, but I do tend to favour the outsider. #
• @steevbishop Personally, I resent that we’re kind of forced into a comparison. Brand is needy for this sort of attention – & he’s no Morris. #
• These earphones hurt my ears, but I’m enjoying listening to One Life Left too dang much… #
• @groonk A pair of Logitech ones that work got. They have great sound insulation, but they are held in place by the ears & gravity! #
• @groonk No, no, they don’t go IN the ear… they hang OFF them. Big old sound bins of ear hurtie… #
• It certainly is, @groonk. It certainly is. I’d take a photo, but I’m a hairy bastard, so you wouldn’t see them, despite their size. #
• I’m dang tired, and it’s only hometime. Now, Sainsburys. Soon, home. Later, Nixsight stuff. Will I be ready for Nanowrimo? Who knows… #
• It isn’t the last time anyone saw you alive until, you know, they notice that you’re missing. #
• @richjohnston It’s incredible, isnt it? @steevbishop, @sulman Brand’s all gone. You know, I figure he can afford it. #
• @sulman … In fact, I have a horrible feeling that it won’t hurt his career very much at all. #
• @swashford I blame the Romans. It’s almost DEFINITELY something to do with them. Those Romans were notorious cheese lovers. #
• Oh, dear. Thanks to Georgina Baillie, & The Mail, I now don’t like Andrew Sachs very much. I already didn’t like the Brand, or the Ross. #
• Brand will go on to trade with his puerile naughty-boy image, his fanbase only bolstered by this. Baillie’s burlesque career will skyrocket. #
• And a new generation of fans will learn to love Sachs for his long & proud career of portraying a hilarious & idiotic national stereotype. #
• God love this ridiculous country… #
• @SoullaStylianou … That is a bet one would almost certainly win. At the very least, a place on “I’m A Celebrity…” should be imminent. #
• Oh, noes, seriously? Tennant resigning? Bah, I hate the internet. And television. And Dr Who. I bet stupid Barrowman is staying… #
• @warrenellis Oh, god, you know, you might be onto something there. I wouldn’t have even considered Elba, but he’s good and versatile. #
• @steevbishop I wasn’t entirely expecting it TONIGHT. It’s still nicer to be surprised by these things, you know, actually IN the narrative! #
• @SoullaStylianou You shouldn’t be worried. I’m sure your son will turn out FABULOUSLY. I like Barrowman as a celeb. Just not in drama. #
• @SoullaStylianou Sheesh. The poor boy stands no chance, if you’re quoting Doris Day around him on a daily basis. #
• @SoullaStylianou It’s a tragic irony – Greek women & their musicals, Greek dads & their desire for hetero sons. One of life’s quandaries… #
• @steevbishop Yeah, exactly. There was a bit of grace, there, because I think we all expected it at the close of last series. #
• @steevbishop … When it didn’t happen, I think it was like “well, if they didn’t tell us, then, maybe we don’t have to worry for a while.” #
• Oh, @BeaucoupKevin , how right you are. RENO 911 is one of the unsung greats of US comedy, in this country. This country = England, BTW> #

• @davidbaillie I am wearing ALL of them. And I’m going COMMANDO! Mm-Mmm, feel those woolly nipples… #
• @davidbaillie I’m REALLY not sure that you want these ones back. I gots da sweat. Also, I appear to have fallen in some Wonton soup. #
• My brain feels wrong… #
• Hmm. @sulman That seems to have helped. Still, it’s rubbish here. There are hardly any girls, and my keyboard feels funny… #
• @josiefraser He might be onto something. I’m a BIG fan of Yo! Sushi. Though it is a bit TOO attuned to my baser impulses for my liking… #

• Some days, my socks go on easy. Others, they take ages. THIS IS NOT A METAPHOR; IT IS DOCUMENTED FACT. #
• So apparently this morning we are redefining what the word “lucky” means! #
• Digging @steevbishop’s new icon – he’s moving on up, coming out of the darkness, to steal your eyes and eat your soul… #
• @laineyw Stupid DD. Feel better, poppet. #
• @steevbishop Sweet! I like that typography – both classic & something altogether new, all at once. #
• Oh, @zdarsky, don’t ever change! So much funny in this piece on Sept 11th that I don’t know where to start! http://is.gd/4Uon #
• If we had some ham, we could have ham and eggs. If we had some eggs. #
• Teehee – I find this infinitely funnier than the original ads… http://blip.tv/play/AdW3e4aKUA #
• @groonk I believe the proper term is “precociously irritating”! Certainly, nobody seemed to THINK I was all that smart when I was a kid! #
• James Kochalka has been doing American Elf for 10 years! http://blip.tv/play/AdT5bImdPQ This makes me feel both happy & old, all at once! #
• Via @joshhechinger: Rolling Bomber Special. Wow. Just, wow. This is awesome, crazy fun. http://is.gd/4bXl #
• I’m uncertain how real these are – Wonder Showzen has ruined me for life. But they are still awesome. Kids on Marriage. http://is.gd/4V3N #
• “…Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming.” #
• @steevbishop Oh, no, @sulman & I watched those at your place years back. My point is, now I can’t tell when something is genuine kidness! #
• @steevbishop Not unlike The Day Today did for me and the news… #
• Adam & Joe’s Awesome “Quantum Of Solace” theme songs – http://snurl.com/4qxns #
• Double-Yew Tee Eff is up with my home broadband tonight? Thing is funked up beyond all reconnoitering. Also, SuperJail won’t work in UK. #

I recently spoke to a group of students about writing fiction online. Because I’d been asked, I felt I should work out something to say about why someone might do it.

Course, I’d never really thought about why I do it myself, and, you know, I’m no expert, but once I’d come up with three things to say, I was actually pretty pleased with them. I share them here with you, so that you can either agree, or tell me I’m an idiot.

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Lots of catching up for us, this week, after a spoiler-heavy episode of Heroes was forced upon us, and we decided once again that our world didn’t have enough patriotic shootin’ n’ ’splodin’.

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