nixsight

• I love watching seagulls dance for worms. It’s comical, them dancing for food like that. #
• When did they start selling own-brand viagra out of pub condom machines? #
• @josiefraser That… THAT… Is a very good point! And danced for more, besides. But I’ve never sung for my supper. I draw the line at that! in reply to josiefraser #
• @erikamoen – Was enjoying your show, but had to turn in – will catch up on it later. But what was Sarah Oleksyk’s Twitter again? in reply to erikamoen #

This Christmas, I have, of course, been watching lots of TV. The most important thing about the TV I have been watching is, of course, that Rachel Stevens was robbed.

Girl One was away for a few days, so I blitzed through a bunch of shows that she doesn’t watch, or at least, doesn’t want to watch all that much.

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• @spongbros Nu-uh… I’m with you & @steevbishop on that. I’m a big hulk fan anyway, but think Ang Lee’s only real letdown was the end. in reply to spongbros #

• @steevbishop Noted. Also, notice how Zavvi’s “almost closing down” Sale isn’t actually any better than their usual mandatory monthly sale? in reply to steevbishop #
• @Sulman @steevbishop Hah. A fair point. Wii still gets a lot of play, but considering it’s current, it’s the same 2 games we keep playing… in reply to steevbishop #
• … really not enough new & killer games on it to be acceptable, to be sure. #

Okay, I’m off somewhere eating too much food and turning even rounder than I ever was. Also, maybe playing on a new XBox 360? Hope hope?

Okay, that last thing isn’t going to happen. But I will have awesome gifts and stuff. Girl One is great at that sort of thing.

So, anyway, if for some peculiar reason you are on the internet today, and have wandered over here, I guess I should provide something for you.

How about some festive songs? That sounds good, huh?

Sleighride To Heck – James Kochalka

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I love the chaos of this one as it all starts to fall apart. One of those voices in the background is Moby, by the way. See, he isn’t a completely humourless fuck.

Christmas Time In Hell – Satan from South Park

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Because the South Park guys actually write damn good songs. The attention to detail in this one is the thing. Also, how damn jaunty it is, considering.

I’ve Got A Boner For X-Mas – Nerf Herder

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Okay, so “Fairytale Of New York” IS Christmas, but this is my hands down favourite song that isn’t about New York. Or Fairytales. This song is how I feel about Christmas right flipping now.

• @steevbishop Well, that’s good news on the cough front, sir. Now, what to do about this peculiar headache? On it’s 4th day, now! in reply to steevbishop #
• @quirkybird I have a theory that the sexuality of my age group was wholly informed by Labyrinth, & the young viewer’s reaction to DB or … in reply to quirkybird #
• @quirkybird … or both. My present day love of Jennifer Connelly is all about my response to the film. Tho Bowie’s bulge is a bit WOW! #
• & THAT’S why I shouldn’t watch wildlife documentaries. That poor bloody Emperor penguin. Sigh. #
• @BeaucoupKevin Is there a link for that Team 9 vs Stereogum album? in reply to BeaucoupKevin #
• @steevbishop Dangit! Just got remotely told off by Girl One for forgetting to watch it. You will be glad to know I finished Torchwood tho… in reply to steevbishop #
• Going to be really good and not check through my Twitters for now – time for bed. Tomorrow, Girl One returns and Christmas-proper starts… #

“The Dark Is Rising” by Susan Cooper was a sequence of books that I read as a child that I absolutely loved when I read them as library lends, but then lost track of. In recent years, I had come to think that I was the only person who ever read and enjoyed the things, until the late 90s when the books were re-published in one volume, I suspect because suddenly childhood fantasy adventure was back in fashion.

Yes, yes, thankyou JK Rowling.

I hadn’t had a chance to re-read the books when a movie was first announced, so I didn’t have the chance to get outraged in advance, and instead was quite excited at the prospect of a darker outing than the Narnia franchise promised, with personal favourites Christopher Eccleston as a deliciously evil baddie, and Ian McShane as a deliciously cantankerous mentor. It only seemed loosely based on the books, and had the shrewd move of naming itself after a Rowling sports figure, but it looked fun all the same.

Course, then the film dissappeared without trace, and I forgot about it.

But it was on the other night, fortuitiously appearing on the screen shortly after a long rambling conversation that I had with the friend whose house I was at about how badly mishandled “The Golden Compass” movie was, and how good it could have been – she hadn’t read the Pullman books.

We sat down to watch it, and were instantly hooked.

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“The Cute Manifesto” is a collection of reflective works by James Kochalka.

Kochalka is an artist who is used to sharing his life and process with his audience – for years now he has been posting and publishing daily diary strips, sharing the most intimate details of his life with his wife, cat and kids, as well as his personal – and often not particularly flattering – personal musings.

As well as this, it’s fair to say that the majority of his other output has been keyed in to Kochalka’s own real world, with fictionalised extrapolations of his relationships, friendships and even existential personal crises making up the core of many of his books.

It’s fair to say that this isn’t a guy who makes comics to make a living – he makes comics because he has to, and has found that he can make a living doing it almost incidentally. Even when he’s making stuff up, you get the feeling that it’s still happening for him, at some level.

So then there’s this book. Which is, I suppose, an even more open examination of what Kochalka’s relationship to his work is, disguised as a mixture of journal pieces that are a little longer than his daily strips and editorial/manifesto pieces.

The name of the collection is a bit misleading – the book itself seems more defined by the contrast between the definitive and proclamatory nature of his two “Craft” essays, and the more expansive and meditative “Reinventing Everything” stories. The “Cute Manifesto” itself, more than anything, seems to give the book it’s aesthetic product design – in which Kochalka allocates each story with an image of his son. The tract that takes the name, also included, is worthwhile, but doesn’t carry the same weight as the previously mentioned items.

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Everything is a bit bewildering these last couple of weeks – so it’s going to be a bit tough trying to remember everything I’ve watched over the last week. It’s likely to get a bit worse over the next few days, too – Christmas, eh?

Still, I’ll give it a go.

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• This is the hangover that refused to die. Which after three days probably means it’s a tumour. #
• Oh, also, what was left of season 2 of Life was truly ace, & the pilot for Sarah Jane Adventures was more unreserved pleasure than DW or TW. #