I've Been Here the Whole Time
What happens after the big bad is defeated and the quest is over? It's not a new question, but Frieren: Beyond Journey's End answers it beautifully. Frieren...
Challenge Accepted
“I do not need a Macbook Neo.” I chant the mantra under my breath. The desire abates, slightly. I chant it again. “I do not need a Macbook Neo.” Maybe it’s...
The Terror of Flight
Some months ago the President of the United States of America posted an AI-generated video showing himself flying a fighter jet labeled “King Trump” and...
Black boxes and cloud serfs
I'm not a Mastermind, but I've played the game.
What's social media anyway?
Human beings are social, by nature. We live complicated, fairly long lives (compared, say, to a bee) and we enjoy hanging out with other human beings and...
2026: Rawdogging Reality
The battle between screens and wellbeing.
On being kind to Locus, and why I can't
I am thrilled to report that I started 2026 on a good note, with a new three-year subscription to EdX (which will hopefully help me learn lots of things but...
No, not Takeaway
I have become one of those nasty old guys. No, really, I have. Lunchtime one weekend, wandered out of the house, went to the noodle shop, to have some...
Has no one ever made a Blade Runner joke about Android phones?
on getting to one piece of nerd homework late
Thunderbolts* (a review with spoilers)
Ham-handed metaphors for mental illness aside, I rather enjoyed Thunderbolts* - the asterisk is part of the title, a bit of unnecessary cleverness which...
That one's infernal.
The video was enchanting. A crystal cube sits in the middle of a darkened bedroom, soft mood music playing as it glows softly and somehow casts a moving...
Horror is Part of (the) Fantasy
Gentle Reader, I’m not savvy enough to curate and control my online presence, so I sometimes worry that people who know me mostly from the ‘net have an...
Stop, Look and Listen?
So I’m in the park, yeah, got a thermos full of pu-erh tea, got my Kobe Libra Colour, found a comfy bench, settled down to read. It’s not a big park, some...
How Expensive is Your Umbrella?
Passing the newish general hospital on my way home and I can’t help noticing (again!) how much it looks like a condominium from the outside - modern lines,...
Always Carry A Book
Take a car. It’ll be easier than taking public transport. Okay, so it costs money. Cheaper than a taxi, right? Ride-sharing. What could go wrong? You work...
Saturday Morning Disappointment
It’s Saturday morning as I write this, and I am feeling somewhat bereft. Only after I picked up my tablet (it spends the night next to my pillow) and tapped...
No Case Too Small
If children were influenced by every book they read, I would have grown up to be a detective. Actually, I might not have waited - I would have been a kid...
Return to Facebook
The drawback to taking a break from posting on social media is that I don't have a place to moan and groan about the thousand and one paper cut annoyances...