larsmagne23

My mission: To watch films from all around the world. My problem: Many films are only available on Amazon Prime (US Edition). My solution: Errr… In this part of this (seemingly never-ending series) I’ve reached the point where I’m able to watch Amazon Prime videos, but taking screenshots while doing so (AND I HAVE TO … Continue reading The Tangled Webs We Weave…

WFC Afghanistan: سنگ صبور

(April 28, 2017)

So for this film I watched it via Amazon Prime on the Ipad via an HDMI dongle. It works kinda OK, but there’s general jerkiness that appears irregularly. It’s like it drops a couple of frames every so often. It’s not very pleasant to watch, so I’, not using this method again, I think… Perhaps … Continue reading WFC Afghanistan: سنگ صبور

My New Concert Blog

(April 26, 2017)

(April 7, 2017)

I think the filmmakers tried to make a “cool” movie like, say, Trainspotting. Only in Trinidad (and/or Tobago). I’m not big fan of that film, but it did have certain undeniable charms (it’s certainly the high point of Danny Boyle’s horrid carreer). This film does not. It’s tedious. The only thing that saves it from … Continue reading WFC Trinidad and Tobago: God Loves the Fighter

WFC Guatemala: Ixcanul

(April 7, 2017)

After a few not very good films from Central America, I wasn’t expecting much from this film, but it’s really good! Wonderful cinematography; great actors (well, probably non-professionals, but they’re convincing) and a plot I had no idea where was going. Oh, it won a prize at the Berlin film festival, the only film festival … Continue reading WFC Guatemala: Ixcanul

I’m pretty sure I haven’t ordered powdered peanut butter

(April 7, 2017)

New Music

(April 5, 2017)

Music I’ve bought and/or resampled this week. And that concludes The Great Resampling.

WFC Guinea-Bissau: A batalha de Tabatô

(April 3, 2017)

This is a visually arresting film. Some seemingly very strange choices have been made, but it works. I first thought that the actors (and their line readings) we uncomfortably stiff, but then I realised that that’s what the director was going for (a la Robert Bresson). Mesmerising. The Battle of Tabato. João Viana. 2013. Guinea-Bissau. … Continue reading WFC Guinea-Bissau: A batalha de Tabatô

WFC Iraq: Curse of Mesopotamia

(April 3, 2017)

Man, modern life is complicated. I was going to watch this on my big Ipad, but it turns out that you can’t screenshot this film there, even though the previous film let itself be screenshot. So I had to scramble (since the cocktail was already made) and watched the film on my 10″ Android tablet. … Continue reading WFC Iraq: Curse of Mesopotamia

WFC Lesotho: The Forgotten Kingdom

(April 1, 2017)

After a very pleasurable experience watching The Cave of the Yellow Dog, this was a bit of a downer. It’s all so… paint by numbers. Daddy issues and people talking and talking and talkin to each other about deep, deep stuff. It’s like, zzz. It’s not offensively bad or anything: It’s competent, which is the … Continue reading WFC Lesotho: The Forgotten Kingdom

WFC Mongolia: Шар нохойн там

(April 1, 2017)

The children in this film are wonderful. The adult actors are more variable, but they’re fine. Lots of beautiful scenery and a very vague storyline makes this a very endearing film. It’s such an unassuming film: Nothing very dramatic happens, but it’s so enjoyable to watch. While it isn’t a masterpiece or anything, it’s kinda … Continue reading WFC Mongolia: Шар нохойн там

WFC Guinea: Dakan

(March 31, 2017)

I… was not prepared for this film! So many great and weird shots. Coupled with the sheer amateurishness of the acting, the lines and… well, everything, it’s just mind-bogglingly fun to watch. Part of the charm is host the aesthetics resemble 60s no-budget films coupled with a storyline about a gay relationship makes this seem … Continue reading WFC Guinea: Dakan

WFC Haiti: Meurtre à Pacot

(March 31, 2017)

The DVD transfer is kinda odd and choppy. It’s like every seventh frame two frames have been dropped or something. As usual, Alex Descas is absolutely amazing in the lead role (as l’homme). The rest of the actors are variable, but fine. This film is about the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and … Continue reading WFC Haiti: Meurtre à Pacot

New Music

(March 29, 2017)

Music I’ve bought and/or resampled this week.

BD80: Tendre Violette

(March 26, 2017)

Tendre Violette by Servais & Dewamme (1981) Both Jean-Claude Servais (the artist) and Gérard Dewamme (the writer) are Belgian, which makes a first for this week’s little trip through Franco-Belgian comics, I think? All the other ones have been French. Very French. These stories were originally serialised in the Belgian (À suivre) magazine. I’m not … Continue reading BD80: Tendre Violette

WFC Fiji: Kya Dilli Kya Lahore

(March 26, 2017)

It’s another one of those anti war satires! But this is rather amusing. I think, though, that it’s not a very Fijian film, so, er, foiled again. It’s rather incomprehensible. The lines are like “That’s why you also gave him two roses” which I take is referring to something, somewhere in the India/Pakistan war history, … Continue reading WFC Fiji: Kya Dilli Kya Lahore

Ipad, Screenshots and Linux

(March 25, 2017)

It’s become increasingly clear over the past few months that many recent, fun-sounding films from countries with smaller film industries will never get a physical DVD release. The only way to see these films is via Amazon Prime, and since Amazon Prime isn’t conveniently available on Linux machines, I’m having to use an Ipad to … Continue reading Ipad, Screenshots and Linux

WFC North Korea: A State of Mind

(March 24, 2017)

This isn’t really a North Korean film, because those don’t seem to exists outside of North Korea? But it’s a film about North Korea, so… This is a documentary about some gymnasts. And their parents and teachers and stuff. The filmmaker is sympathetic towards the people he portrays, I think, but the things these people … Continue reading WFC North Korea: A State of Mind

WFC Laos: ນ້ອງຮັກ

(March 24, 2017)

This is my first attempt at watching a film via Amazon Prime. So many films these days never get a DVD release. Instead, the only way to watch these films seem to be via Amazon. You can’t even find them via dar torrentzes. In an additional twist, films are only licensed for US viewers, so … Continue reading WFC Laos: ນ້ອງຮັກ

BD80: Gotlib

(March 24, 2017)

Rhââ Lovely 1 by Gotlib (1976) Gotlib was a prolific cartoonist, working from the mid-sixties until his recent death. He started out doing comics for the French Pilote magazine before co-founding two magazines, l’Echo des savanes and Fluide Glacial. Out of his dozens of albums, c. nothing has been translated to other languages. Runepress made … Continue reading BD80: Gotlib

BD80: Le génie des Alpages

(March 23, 2017)

Le génie des Alpages by F’Murr (1976) Comme des bêtes by F’Murr (1977) Le génie des Alpages is a series started by F’Murr(r) in 1973. It was originally serialised in the French Pilote magazine and then collected in albums from 1976 on. The Norwegian editions I have seem to (unusually enough) to track the French … Continue reading BD80: Le génie des Alpages

BD80: Caza

(March 22, 2017)

Scènes de la vie de banlieue by Caza (1979) Caza is a prolific French artist (real name Philippe Cazaumayou) who has been doing comics since the early 70s (and continues to publish to this day). However, very little has been translated into any language I can read. (Except various stuff in various issues of Heavy … Continue reading BD80: Caza

New Music

(March 22, 2017)

Music I’ve bought and/or resampled this week.

BD80: Rebecca

(March 21, 2017)

Rebecca by Brandoli & Queirolo (1985) Neither Anna Brandoli (artist) nor Renato Queirolo (writer) are prolific comics makers. Together, they’ve published five albums, and Brandoli has made one additional book without Queirolo. Rebecca remains their most well-known work. Rebecca began publication in the Italian monthly magazine linus (all in lower case, for some reason) in … Continue reading BD80: Rebecca

BD80: Simon du Fleuve

(March 20, 2017)

The first batch of French(ish) comics I wrote a bit about a year and a half ago were mostly all comics that I had read many, many times as a teenager. This time out, I remember even less about these comics than I did the last time. First we have Simon du Fleuve (which means … Continue reading BD80: Simon du Fleuve

BD80 Reloaded

(March 20, 2017)

Almost two years ago, I did a small series of posts on a bunch of Franco/Belgian comics. The urge to write about another small stack of them hit me all of a sudden, so: As with the previous series, I’ll be covering works that aren’t well-known these days. There’s not that much point in writing … Continue reading BD80 Reloaded

WFC Pakistan: دختر‎

(March 18, 2017)

Hey! Clever film-making. I thought this film was totally going one way, but then it swerved a completely different way. Me like. It’s very exciting (in parts), has great cinematography (although the scenery is sometimes so pretty you might suspect it’s been sponsored by The Tourist Council of Northern Pakistan) and the actors are somewhere … Continue reading WFC Pakistan: دختر‎

WFC Dominican Republic: Guaguasi

(March 18, 2017)

It turns out that Batista’s police weren’t very nice. This film has its charms, but it’s really oddly paced. It’s a satirical look at the Cuban revolution with an, er, simple? (OK, developmentally challenged) “hick” at the center of the story. Horror ensues. It’s a comedy of the “scathing satire” kind, which means that there … Continue reading WFC Dominican Republic: Guaguasi

WFC Kyrgyzstan: Beshkempir

(March 17, 2017)

Quite Felliniesque. Man, the director put his young actors through a lot of really embarrasing scenes. And they do them very convincingly. For the most part. Sometimes when they have to emote too much it breaks down. I love the quiet scenes where the grandmothers are just working at some task or other, like spinning … Continue reading WFC Kyrgyzstan: Beshkempir

WFC Cuba: ¡Vampiros en La Habana!

(March 17, 2017)

Some jokes I just didn’t get. Other jokes are easier. Until… Well, it’s like nothing else I’ve ever seen (vampires and mobsters and revolutionaries and oh my), and the madcap pace it’s going at is charming. But it didn’t make me laugh. It’s amusing. Vampires in Havana. Juan Padrón. 1985. Cuba. Cuban Old Fashioned sugar … Continue reading WFC Cuba: ¡Vampiros en La Habana!

New Music

(March 15, 2017)

Music I’ve bought and/or resampled this week.

My New Concert Blog vs Useful Consumer Review

(March 14, 2017)

I’ve been using a Panasonic GH4 camera for a couple of years to do concerts. It’s a very nice camera, but it has a few problems. 1) When recording video, it splits the video into 4GB chunks that I then have to piece together. It’s not a biggie, but it’s annoying. 2) More seriously, the … Continue reading My New Concert Blog vs Useful Consumer Review

Hard Boiled Monster Comics

(March 12, 2017)

When I started the Fantagraphics re-reading project, I wasn’t really aware of the Monster and Hard-Boiled imprints. So when I bought a bunch of these comics and had a peek at them, I quickly decided to limit the project to “main-line Fantagraphics” only. It was spiralling out of control, anyway, so any way of limiting … Continue reading Hard Boiled Monster Comics

Groovy

(March 12, 2017)

I’m resampling a lot of vinyl these days (because I got a spiffy record player and the earliest albums I sampled back in the 90s I only have in mp3 (and crappy mp3 at that), and I have to have everything in flac). You know. It makes sense. So the other day I was sampling … Continue reading Groovy

Twitter Translates

(March 12, 2017)

I just noticed that Twitter helpfully offers to translate twitterers: Well, that’s reasonable… That’s… a guess, I guess? !?!?!1? To conclude: The AI revolution isn’t going to happen any time soon.

WFC Honduras: The Zwickys

(March 11, 2017)

Some of the actors here are quite good, but the film doesn’t quite gel. And the hand-held camera is a bit on the annoying side. It’s an odd plot, and it grows weirder as the film progresses. But not in a good way. The Zwickys. Andres Valle, Carlos Valle. 2014. Honduras. Monkey La La 1 … Continue reading WFC Honduras: The Zwickys

WFC Liechtenstein: Der heiße Tod

(March 11, 2017)

While researching films from Liechtenstein, I was intrigued by the extreme number of porn-sounding late sixties/early seventies films marked as being “from” Liechtenstein. I have no idea what’s that’s all about: Did Liechtenstein have looser porn laws back then? So I picked this one because it had a pretty high rating (4.8, ahem) among this … Continue reading WFC Liechtenstein: Der heiße Tod

House of Women

(March 8, 2017)

After being exhausted by the Fantagraphics marathon I’ve somewhat avoided comics, but all exhaustion must come to an end, so I bought House of Women by Sophie Goldstein. I don’t really want to review it (it’s a sci-fi gothic horror story, I guess), because I don’t really have much to say other than “I liked … Continue reading House of Women

One Thing Leads To Another

(March 8, 2017)

In the previous installment, I got a new monitor for my stereo computer. I thought everything was fine, but then I started noticing stuttering on flac playback. After some investigation, it seems as if X is on (and displaying stuff on this new, bigger monitor), and there’s network traffic, then the flac123 process is starved … Continue reading One Thing Leads To Another

New Music

(March 8, 2017)

Music I’ve bought and/or resampled this week.

Mystery Object

(March 3, 2017)

I’ve been a bit under the weather the past few days, but today I finally made my way to the post office and collected various packages. Among these was a package from a store I had ordered a bunch of LED lighting strips for the kitchen. Included was this pink mystery USB object, not mentioned … Continue reading Mystery Object

New Music

(March 1, 2017)

Music I’ve bought and/or resampled this week.

WFC New Zealand: 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous

(February 25, 2017)

Is that… Donald!? Uhm… it would have been nice if this had been subtitled. But I got the gist! This film has 5.8 (of 10) on imdb, and I think that’s as low as the scale goes. That’s harsh! As Wikipedia says, “The film opened in 2005 to negative reviews and had little success at … Continue reading WFC New Zealand: 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous

WFC Peru: La teta asustada

(February 25, 2017)

This film won “best film” at the Berlin film festival, and as film prizes go, that’s the one to win, I think. (I mean, if something wins the a major award, it’s usually drek.) And this is absolutely riveting and very strange and funny. And heartbreaking. I’m not going to spoil the, er, plot, but … Continue reading WFC Peru: La teta asustada

It’s Xmas Again

(February 25, 2017)

CEC HDMI ETLA

(February 25, 2017)

I’m extremely lazy, so using a remote control to switch the TV on or off is just out of the question. The remote is just languishing in a cupboard somewhere, and the TV is always on. Which seems like a waste, since I only use it (like) a couple of days a week or something. … Continue reading CEC HDMI ETLA

WFC Croatia: Ta divna splitska noć

(February 24, 2017)

Hm… This sort of playful artsy fartsy film is right up my alley, but I just didn’t feel it. So I instead spent most of the time wondering why the scenes just didn’t connect (for me). Some of the actors are really good (the mother and the boy) and some are kinda meh (that scraggly-bearded … Continue reading WFC Croatia: Ta divna splitska noć

WFC Morocco: L’armée du salut

(February 24, 2017)

It’s a captivating and bewildering film. Very original from a storytelling and structural point of view. And very nicely shot. I can’t quite make out whether the actors are meant to be this stylised and stiff or whether they’re just not, er, all that good, but it kinda works anyway. The mother’s great. The film … Continue reading WFC Morocco: L’armée du salut

New Music

(February 22, 2017)

Music I’ve bought and/or resampled this week. I found the “box of not very interesting albums” in the basement (I think that must have been my criterion when sorting records into the box), but I’ve gotta resample them all. Plus some new stuff.

My New Concert Blog

(February 15, 2017)

Oops. And then I deleted the next set while trying to copy it from the SD card…

New Music

(February 15, 2017)

Music I’ve bought and/or resampled this week.

I ❤ The Paris Review

(February 15, 2017)

My favourite thing to read while travelling is The Paris Review. It has like full-spectrum literature that’s perfect for reading while getting slightly drunk on airplanes. So I just bought a whole stack of old issues from the sixties, seventies and eighties. You can still get them pretty cheap from sources on the interwebs. Man, … Continue reading I ❤ The Paris Review

WFC Ecuador: Feriado

(February 11, 2017)

Very metal. I finally went through the curiosly divisioned (is that a word?) “Spanish/South American/African” shelves at the video store. As suspected, it was 87% Spanish, 22% Mexican and 13% “other”. (Lots of copro-ductions.) I only found two films from countries previously not covered (of which this is one), so it’s getting really difficult to … Continue reading WFC Ecuador: Feriado

WFC Norway: Reprise

(February 11, 2017)

*gasp* Norway! Such a frustrating film. There are long stretches here of pure bewildering genius where I’m going THIS IS THE BEST FILM EVER. And then there are scenes where it all falls flat and I’m all “perhaps this would have worked with better actors or lines or a better director or SOMETHING”. It’s written … Continue reading WFC Norway: Reprise

WFC Central African Republic: Song from the Forest

(February 10, 2017)

This is a documentary (I think… or is it!?) filmed in the Central African Republic, but it’s really more a US/German film than anything else. Most of the dialogue is in English, but the DVD is subtitled in German only. So when the people who are speaking the language people in Ködörösêse tî Bêafrîka use, … Continue reading WFC Central African Republic: Song from the Forest

WFC Cabo Verde: O Testamento do Senhor Napumoceno

(February 10, 2017)

I guess Cabo Verde is too small to show up on the map there… Google! Be better! We’re getting to smaller countries now in this blog series (size-wise or film industry wise (we’re nearly half way)), so the question “is this really a film from ?” is getting slightly more iffy. IMDB lists this one … Continue reading WFC Cabo Verde: O Testamento do Senhor Napumoceno

New Music

(February 7, 2017)

Music I’ve bought and/or resampled this week.

Blackest Night

(February 7, 2017)

Previously: I bought an HDMI OLED screen and determined that its black pixels emitted light. This made me start wondering: Do all OLED screens emit light from “black” pixels? So I did the simplest thing possible to test this: I made a little app that displays a black screen. It’s on Google Play and everything. … Continue reading Blackest Night

WFC Cameroon: Aristotle’s Plot

(February 4, 2017)

Wow. Such a fresh film. I can see some Godard influences, perhaps, but it’s quite unlike anything I’ve seen. It’s like… Michel Gondry ten years before Michel Gondry. Very meta and quite funny. I found their dialect sometimes hard to follow, though. *concentrate* I switched on the French subtitles to help understanding, and I don’t … Continue reading WFC Cameroon: Aristotle’s Plot

WFC Côte d’Ivoire: La Victoire en chantant

(February 4, 2017)

Uh-oh. That’s not a good sign. I guess that this film is really rather more French than Cote de Ivoirean? (That’s probably not a word.) And it’s a “satire”, which is usually code word for “not actually funny”. MUCH BITE SATIRE An it is, indeed, a bit eye-rolling-ey at times. But it’s not bad. Black … Continue reading WFC Côte d’Ivoire: La Victoire en chantant

WFC Cambodia: នៅកម្លោះដល់ណាខ្ញុំ

(February 3, 2017)

Ahh! A lighthearted goofy comedy. Somehow those aren’t the films that are usually exported from non-major-film-producing countries. It’s always the serious or artsy films. And I love serious artsy films, but c’mon. Unfortunately, this film also illustrates why these films aren’t exported. There’s just not very much about this film that’s memorable. It’s amusing. Staying … Continue reading WFC Cambodia: នៅកម្លោះដល់ណាខ្ញុំ

WFC Palestine: عمر

(February 3, 2017)

Hm… I can’t see the pixels on that map… There’s lots of stuff here to like. The courtship scenes are really sweet, lots of amusing and real-sounding dialogue, some of the actors are good, and all the parkour is invigorating. But. Everything is so damn obvious. I was shouting at the screen when the al-Aqsa … Continue reading WFC Palestine: عمر

Blacker than Black? A Small Monitor Review

(February 2, 2017)

I’ve been using an Emacs-based alarm clock for almost a decade through various hardware incarnations. The main issue is the screen: It’s difficult to find a small screen that has a good black level. The last version used this USB IPS screen from MIMO, and it’s just about as good as you can get with … Continue reading Blacker than Black? A Small Monitor Review

My New Concert Blog

(February 1, 2017)

Obelisk: A Monitor Review

(January 30, 2017)

I’ve had the same monitor in my stereo control system for many years. It’s a 20″ Dell that’s OK. It’s got an appropriate size for the living room. But lately it’s started having a high-pitched whine. If I play only punk music I can’t hear it at all, but otherwise it’s slightly annoying. So I … Continue reading Obelisk: A Monitor Review

WFC Great Britain: Ex Machina

(January 29, 2017)

Look! Now we can save money on the special effects budget! I thought I was going to enjoy this one, despite the many positive reviews it’s gotten. But it’s totally snoozeville with most plot developments signalled several hours before the movie even starts. The ending was fun, though. Ex Machina. Alex Garland. 2015. Great Britain. … Continue reading WFC Great Britain: Ex Machina

WFC Thailand: สุดเสน่หา

(January 28, 2017)

Long takes with a mostly distant, mostly stationary camera. It’s kinda hypnotic. Nothing much happens for minutes on end, just people talking about inconsequential things. Very stylish in its non-stylishness. Plot-wise, nothing is explained, and all the people seem to be telling half-truths to each other, and doing very odd things. But gradually things come … Continue reading WFC Thailand: สุดเสน่หา

WFC Georgia: გრძელი ნათელი დღეები

(January 28, 2017)

Very lively camera without being actually shakycam. It’s a fascinating film, although it becomes very apparent early on (in a Chekhovian sense) what’s going to happen. I had a hard time telling the characters apart. It would have helped if one of the girls had an eye patch or a wooden leg or something. In … Continue reading WFC Georgia: გრძელი ნათელი დღეები

My New Concert Blog

(January 18, 2017)

Half Page BD: An RT Investigation

(January 16, 2017)

A while ago I read the following in an article on Hooded Utilitarian: […] the revolution that really drove Heavy Metal was very distinctly French and had a lot more to do with the format of how French comics were serialized than with any kind of musical aesthetic, something that is largely transparent to Anglophones. … Continue reading Half Page BD: An RT Investigation

All Ears 2017: Day Three

(January 15, 2017)

All Ears 2017: Day Two

(January 14, 2017)

I’ve always loved the sound of a steam iron.

All Ears 2017: Day One

(January 13, 2017)

WFC Czech Republic: Transport z ráje

(January 9, 2017)

We spend so much time with the Nazi madmen that they turn into more interesting characters than the suffering and/or bemused Jews, which is perhaps not the effect the director was after. The actors are, in general, not very compelling, but the director is probably not going for naturalism, anyway? The mixture of interesting stylisation … Continue reading WFC Czech Republic: Transport z ráje

WFC Serbia: Otac na službenom putu

(January 7, 2017)

OK, the cocktail isn’t Serbian (but I googled for half an hour and didn’t find any recipes), and the film is Yugoslavian and is set in Sarajevo, but… Kinda quirky film. It won a Cannes award and is apparently well-regarded, but I was just bored silly. I didn’t find the performances very convincing, and the … Continue reading WFC Serbia: Otac na službenom putu

Fantagraphics Floppies Redux

(January 6, 2017)

Done! Perhaps I should just leave it at that, but I feel like bloviating a bit. (“NO! REALLY?”) But at the end of this post, there’ll be an index. Feel free to skip to it if you’re the index reading kind of person. (The following should probably be read in the voice of Comic Book … Continue reading Fantagraphics Floppies Redux

FF2016: Love and Rockets

(January 5, 2017)

Love and Rockets volume 4 #1 by Jaime Hernandez and Gilbert Hernandez. So here we are: The final post in this blog series about Fantagraphics comic book comics. And eerily enough, we end with the same series we started with: Love and Rockets. I didn’t plan this, but the first issue in the new series … Continue reading FF2016: Love and Rockets

Vinyl Noise

(January 4, 2017)

I’m still buying a lot of music on vinyl. Not because it’s hip: I was buying vinyl long before hipsters did. (That’s code for “old”.) I had one record player for decades that was cheap, but pretty OK. But it had one major problem: There was a lot of deep rumble. Not horrible-sounding, but still… … Continue reading Vinyl Noise

FF1990: Fringe/Fauna

(January 4, 2017)

The Fauna Rebellion #1-3, Adventures on the Fringe #1-5 by R. L. Crabb. Fantagraphics had previously published The Natural Enquirer by 70s underground veteran R. L. Crabb. The Fauna Rebellion was apparently created in the mid-80s, but not published until 1990. It’s about animals staging a rebellion against humans. The joke above is typical for … Continue reading FF1990: Fringe/Fauna

FF2001: Fuzz & Pluck in Splitsville

(January 3, 2017)

Fuzz & Pluck in Splitsville #1-5 by Ted Stearn. The physical format of this series is reminiscent of La Perdida, published a few years earlier: It’s slightly smaller than standard US comic book size, is thick (most issues are 48 pages) and has stiff covers. We last saw our plucky pair in the Zero Zero … Continue reading FF2001: Fuzz & Pluck in Splitsville

FF1991: Perramus: Escape from the Past

(January 2, 2017)

Perramus: Escape from the Past by Alberto Breccia and Juan Sasturain. Hi! I had hoped to end this blog series about Fantagraphics last year, but having the scheduling slide is so very Fantagraphics, isn’t it? Only three more posts to go, though. Very early-90s Fantagraphics design courtesy of Dale Yarger. Anyway, strangely enough, I did … Continue reading FF1991: Perramus: Escape from the Past

More Fun With Google Geocharts

(January 1, 2017)

I’ve been using Google Geocharts to create nice world maps for my World of Films and Cocktail blogging project. It’s a pretty good service, but it doesn’t really have all the bells and whistles I need to customize the interactive version the way I want. But today I’m hung over, and I got down to … Continue reading More Fun With Google Geocharts

FF1996: Coventry

(December 24, 2016)

Coventry #1-3 by Bill Willingham. Willingham is known these days for writing Fables, the Vertigo series re-appropriating fairy tale figures, but in the 90s he was doing things like Ironwood and Time Wankers for Eros Comix, the Fantagraphics imprint. I think I assumed at the time that Coventry was more of the same, but it … Continue reading FF1996: Coventry

FF1992: Trailer Trash

(December 23, 2016)

Trailer Trash #1-9 by Roy Tompkins. If you were to rifle through Trailer Trash, you would probably assume that this was going to be a book of nihilist violent gross-out fun like, say, Angry Youth Comics. The internal monologues from the viewpoint characters keeps on coming, which seems rather outdated these days, I guess: Every … Continue reading FF1992: Trailer Trash

FF1993: Idiotland

(December 22, 2016)

Idiotland #1-7 by Doug Allen and Gary Leib. Doug Allen is best known for Steven, I think, while Leib has appeared in a number of anthologies. Idiotland was a shared series: They both do solo pieces, but the majority of the work seems to be collaborative. This is a humour anthology with about half a … Continue reading FF1993: Idiotland

The Best Comics of 2016

(December 21, 2016)

Another year gone, and another group of comics that migrated to the “hm, that was interesting” little bookshelf thing in my living room after I’d read them. Let’s have a look, first at the books that were actually published in 2016. Since that’s the name of this blog post. Logical, right? I’m very logical. Late … Continue reading The Best Comics of 2016

My New Concert Blog

(December 21, 2016)

FF1993: Palestine

(December 21, 2016)

Palestine #1-9 by Joe Sacco. Last time we visited Sacco (which was with Yahoo), we saw that he had gotten a burgeoning interest in journalism, war and Palestinians. So doing an extended reportage tour to Palestine (and Israel) and a comic book series was the logical progression from that. Tackling a serious subject doesn’t mean … Continue reading FF1993: Palestine

FF1996: Villa of the Mysteries

(December 20, 2016)

Villa of the Mysteries #1-3 by Mack White. My goal for this blog series was to (re-)read all Fantagraphics comic book comics, but, dear reader, I have to let you know that I failed! Failed, I tell you! I have been unable to acquire the third issue of this comic, even going so far as … Continue reading FF1996: Villa of the Mysteries

FF1991: A Couple of Winos

(December 19, 2016)

A Couple of Winos by Matthias Schultheiss from a story by Charles Bukowski. Fantagraphics’ early attempts at publishing European comics was often rather awkward, trying to fit material made for different formats into something they could entice an American audience to buy. But this time it kinda works. Schultheiss’ artwork here looks like a mash-up … Continue reading FF1991: A Couple of Winos

FF1991: Check-Up/Unseen

(December 18, 2016)

Check-Up #1, Sight Unseen by James Sturm. We last saw James Sturm just a few days ago in this blog series with his Cereal Killings comic book. Check-Up seem to be going for a classic Fantagraphics single author anthology vibe: It’s even published in magazine size, just like Neat Stuff and Lloyd Llewellyn. So you … Continue reading FF1991: Check-Up/Unseen

WFC Slovakia: Obrazy starého sveta

(December 17, 2016)

Utterly entrancing. I’m not sure how much of it is real, though. It seems to present itself as a documentary of sorts, and some of the people (or characters) we see seem rather, uhm, unlikely. If it’s all real, the film-makers are kinda cruel with their subjects. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the … Continue reading WFC Slovakia: Obrazy starého sveta

WFC Bosnia and Herzegovina: Go West

(December 17, 2016)

This DVD edition was pretty unsatisfactory. It’s windowboxed and interlaced, so it’s pretty low resolution, which makes everything… ugly. This film is exactly like Some Like It Hot, but with atrocities and ethnic cleansing. It veers wildly between sincere horror and absurd comedy. And sometimes tender comedy. I appreciate what they were trying to do … Continue reading WFC Bosnia and Herzegovina: Go West

FF1991: Loose Teeth

(December 17, 2016)

Loose Teeth #1-3 by Scott Musgrove and Brian Sendelbach. Both Musgrove and Sendelbach had appeared in various anthologies before doing Loose Teeth together. This series has solo pieces from both of them, but they also collaborate on a number of stories. The first issue opens with a competition of sorts: Readers are invited to send … Continue reading FF1991: Loose Teeth

WFC Colombia: El abrazo de la serpiente

(December 16, 2016)

How delightfully perverse to do a black-and-white film set in the Amazon. And there should be an expression for “road movie” that takes place on a river. But all throughout this film (which is mostly pretty amazing), I was thinking “they’re going to do the ‘insane in the jungle’ cliche complete with atrocities”, and they … Continue reading WFC Colombia: El abrazo de la serpiente

WFC Chad: Daratt

(December 16, 2016)

This is a fascinating and original film. The confusing thing is that we don’t see them selling any bread whatsoever. Is it all charity? Dry Season. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun. 2006. Chad. Karkanji half a liter of water a small handful of dried hibiscus flowers some slices of ginger root 1 cinnamon stick 3 cloves sugar to … Continue reading WFC Chad: Daratt

FF2004: The Mystery of Woolverine Woo-Bait

(December 16, 2016)

The Mystery of Woolverine Woo-Bait by Joe Coleman. This is the third and final internet-acquired comic for this blog series (sorry!): Some books are just impossible to find. I can perhaps understand the scarcity of copies in this case. Joe Coleman is a pretty famous artist, and this is his only published comic book. That … Continue reading FF2004: The Mystery of Woolverine Woo-Bait

FF1992: The Cereal Killings

(December 15, 2016)

The Cereal Killings #1-8 by James Sturm. This series passed my completely by when it was released in the 90s. I’ve read most of his later stuff, like Market Day and The Golem’s Mighty Swing, which are both very earnest, so I was curious what a book with such a punny name would read like… … Continue reading FF1992: The Cereal Killings

The Best Albums of 2016

(December 14, 2016)

Once again, Emacs has tallied up what albums I’ve listened to most this year, and must therefore be the best music released in 2016. Grumbling Fur Preternaturals Dani Siciliano Dani Siciliano Anohni Hopelessness Babyfather Meditation PJ Harvey The Hope Six Demolition Project Copeland & Gast Sisters of Control DJ Nigga Fox Noite e dia Lolina … Continue reading The Best Albums of 2016

FF1988: Yahoo/Spotlight

(December 14, 2016)

Yahoo #1-6, Spotlight on the Genius That Is Joe Sacco by Joe Sacco. We last saw Sacco in this blog series in Centrifugal Bumple-Puppy (by emacs! When was that? This summer? Feels like several years ago…). Sacco was the editor of this quite successful humour anthology (well, artistically, not commercially, I guess), and he went … Continue reading FF1988: Yahoo/Spotlight

FF1996: Art & Beauty Magazine

(December 13, 2016)

Art & Beauty Magazine #1-2 by Robert Crumb. I should have covered this series in the other Crumb blog post, but I just couldn’t find the second issue anywhere. I still haven’t, so, er, a copy fell off a truck. On the internet. And landed in my tablet. That’s my story and I’m sticking to … Continue reading FF1996: Art & Beauty Magazine

FF1995: Schizo

(December 12, 2016)

Schizo #1-4 by Ivan Brunetti. I remember reading the first two issues in the mid-90s and being really impressed by their intensity. In my mind, the books were like a midway point between Scott Russo’s Jizz and Johnny Ryan’s Angry Youth Comix. That is, on the continuum from pure misanthropic rant (Jizz) to pure misanthropic … Continue reading FF1995: Schizo

FF1991: Playgrounds

(December 11, 2016)

Playgrounds #1 by Peter Rees. In the Obscure Fantagraphics Publications Derby, I think this probably takes the prize: I can’t find any reviews of it on the web or in The Comics Journal, but a mention in a comments page tells me that this was originally published in New Zealand, and then republished by Fantagraphics. … Continue reading FF1991: Playgrounds

WFC South Africa: Skoonheid

(December 11, 2016)

What the fuck did I just watch? OK, the actors are great, as is the cinematography, but this is the creepiest film ever. I guess it’s a tale of literally literally insane lust. I loved the scene where he was sitting in the cafeteria staring at the couple, though. Most memorable line: “No faggots, no … Continue reading WFC South Africa: Skoonheid

WFC Netherlands: De vierde man

(December 10, 2016)

This is a very inventive and somewhat amateurish early from Paul Verhoven. I have a sneaking suspicion that he’d seen films from both Davids Lynch and Cronenberg at this point. Such a strange film. There are bits I like enormously, but the pacing just seems… off. And most of the actors are pretty dire. I … Continue reading WFC Netherlands: De vierde man

WFC The Democratic Republic of the Congo: Viva Riva!

(December 10, 2016)

Love the cinematography and the colours, the actors are pretty good, and it’s an intriguing story line. But there’s something awkward about the way it’s been edited. Still, a really pleasant surprise. But, man, those Angolan villains were eeevil. And I didn’t understand why the commander didn’t just shoot them when she met them. I … Continue reading WFC The Democratic Republic of the Congo: Viva Riva!

FF1998: Evil Eye

(December 10, 2016)

Evil Eye #1-12 by Richard Sala. Sala is one of the more distinctive stylists in American comics. Like Charles Burns, he appeared on the scene in the early 80s, fully formed, with an art style like nobody else, and with a narrow range of subjects for his comics. Burns was mostly about growing up and … Continue reading FF1998: Evil Eye

WFC Bhutan: Phörpa

(December 9, 2016)

This is a very original film. The actors (presumably non-professional) are a bit stiff and awkward, but it’s weirdly appropriate. The plot sounds very high concept (it’s about football mad Tibetan monks (in India)), but it’s also about Tibet and China and exile and recurring jokes. It’s both fun and really interesting. The Cup. Khyentse … Continue reading WFC Bhutan: Phörpa

FF2004: Trucker Fags in Denial

(December 9, 2016)

Trucker Fags in Denial by Jim Blanchard and Jim Goad. This is a collection of a monthly single page comic that was originally serialised in Exotic magazine. Jim Blanchard is perhaps still most famous as the inker for Peter Bagge’s Hate in the 90s, but he’s also released a number of solo collections. This comic … Continue reading FF2004: Trucker Fags in Denial

FF1994: Pressed/Weasel

(December 8, 2016)

Pressed Tongue #1-3, Weasel #1-7 by Dave Cooper. In my mind, Dave Cooper was part of a movement towards “body horror” in 90s comics, as exemplified by Renée French, Al Columbia and (somewhat earlier) Jim Woodring. All these artists are technically proficient and create dark, “squishy” pages that straddle the line, uneasily, between horror and … Continue reading FF1994: Pressed/Weasel

FF1982: Hugo

(December 7, 2016)

Hugo #1, Hugo (second series) #1-3 by Milton Knight, jr. Hugo was, I think, Fantagraphics third comic book (after, ahem, Flames of Gyro and Love and Rockets). It’s been a while since I’ve read these comics. I can’t imagine I’ve looked at them since they were published, so that’s 30 years? Let’s re-read. The first … Continue reading FF1982: Hugo

FF1986: Anything Goes!

(December 6, 2016)

Anything Goes! edited by Gary Groth. I just realised that the end was in sight for this blog series, so my enthusiasm returned. There may be some slight pauses before we get to the end, as I’m waiting for some issues to arrive to complete some runs… Anyway! Anything Goes! is, perhaps, not formally a … Continue reading FF1986: Anything Goes!

FF1989: The Natural Inquirer

(December 5, 2016)

The Natural Inquirer by R. L. Crabb. Crabb is mainly known for his underground series Tales of the Jackalope. This book has a few pages of jackalope lore, but most of the pages concern other species like: The is not a comic book per se, but is just a series of these drawings and descriptions. … Continue reading FF1989: The Natural Inquirer

FF2006: Uptight

(December 4, 2016)

Uptight #1-5 by Jordan Crane. This is one the very last floppies Fantagraphics has published, and it doesn’t look much like Fantagraphics comic book comics usually look. There’s no verbose indicia (“any similarities to etc”), no UPC code, it’s cheap, the cover stock is the same as the interior stock, and the first three issues … Continue reading FF2006: Uptight

FF2003: The Pogostick

(December 3, 2016)

The Pogostick #1-2 by Al Columbia and Ethan Persoff. We’ve seen both Al Columbia and Ethan Persoff before in this article series, and here they turn up with a collaboration. This book has an unusual format, being smaller than standard-size comics and printed “sideways”. Sort of. Based on the indicia and guessing, this was probably … Continue reading FF2003: The Pogostick

FF2001: Angry Youth Comix

(December 2, 2016)

Angry Youth Comix #1-14 by Johnny Ryan. I guess Ryan works in the gross-out humour comics tradition exemplified by people like Sam Henderson, but he’s most similar to Ivan Brunetti in his most deranged moods. Or perhaps there’s a Mike Diana influence going on here, although I think Ryan probably doesn’t really mean it the … Continue reading FF2001: Angry Youth Comix

FF1994: Omaha the Cat Dancer

(December 1, 2016)

Omaha the Cat Dancer #1-20, vol 2 #1-4 by Reed Waller and Kate Worley. Reed Waller started Omaha in the mid-70s, and the earliest instalments were published in underground anthologies like Snarf and Bizarre Sex by Kitchen Sink. It’s an anthropomorphic tale of sex, politics and corruption that focuses on Chuck Katt (real name Tabey … Continue reading FF1994: Omaha the Cat Dancer

“Muting” Pictures With Pure CSS

(November 30, 2016)

I’ve been somewhat wary about posting some of the images from some of the more extreme Fantagraphics comics I’ve written about (I’m thinking of you, Grit Bath). Not everybody appreciates being flashed images of bitten-off ears or penises while scrolling down a blog. On the other hand, I want to represent these comics honestly, so … Continue reading “Muting” Pictures With Pure CSS

FF1993: Grit Bath

(November 30, 2016)

Grit Bath #1-3 by Renée French. Renée French always felt to me like a part of a mini-movement within alternative comics that upped the body horror stakes beyond what was, perhaps, reasonable. I’m thinking of artists like Al Colombia and Dave Cooper, that all mix childish whimsy with horrible, horrible squishy horror. They’re all sort … Continue reading FF1993: Grit Bath

FF2006: Swamp Preacher

(November 29, 2016)

Swamp Preacher #1 by David Sandlin. Sandlin is an artist who’s only done a handful of comics, I think. He’s had a few pieces in Blab, I seem to recall. This magazine sized book is strikingly printed in burgundy and green (and no black ink), giving the pages a muddy, swampy look very apposite for … Continue reading FF2006: Swamp Preacher

FF1990: Amazons

(November 28, 2016)

Amazons by Frank Stack. Frank Stack is a first-generation underground artist: His first underground comic was published in 1962 (The Adventures of Jesus), but he hasn’t published that many books. Amazons is one of his rare 80s/90s solo floppies, and I don’t know whether it’s an original work, or whether it’s a collection of pieces … Continue reading FF1990: Amazons

FF1993: Sleepy/Whotnot

(November 27, 2016)

Whotnot #1-4, Sleepy: The Early Daze by Jeremy Eaton. Eaton is probably most well-known for his alternative weekly strip “A Sleepyhead Tale” from the late 80s/early 90s. Fantagraphics released a handful of collections of that series, but only one of them are in floppy format, so I get to skip the rest for this blog … Continue reading FF1993: Sleepy/Whotnot

Time To Defrost The Fridge?

(November 27, 2016)

WFC Canada: Whole New Thing

(November 26, 2016)

And this film sort of marks the end of my randomnly-aquired films for this project (at the 25% mark, even). Up until (and including this one) I’ve just been visiting video stores, looking at films and going “huh! this is from a country that lacks coverage!” and then buying it without any consideration for the … Continue reading WFC Canada: Whole New Thing

WFC Armenia: Նռան գույնը

(November 26, 2016)

This is officially the 224th best film ever. The philosophical question is, of course, “it this film from Armenia”? It was created during the Soviet era, so it’s a bit iffy, I guess, but, you know: Anyway, this is a (sorta) non-narrative film, and consists of static tableaux. This may sound kinda portentous and pretentious, … Continue reading WFC Armenia: Նռան գույնը

FF1986: Usagi Yojimbo

(November 26, 2016)

Usagi Yojimbo Summer Special #1, Usagi Yojimbo #1-38, Usagi Yojimbo Color Special #1-4 by Stan Sakai. There aren’t many Fantagraphics series that has had more issues than Usagi Yojimbo (uhm, Love & Rockets and Naughty Bits), but they were all published over a long time period. Usagi Yojimbo is the only character focused Fantagraphics publication … Continue reading FF1986: Usagi Yojimbo

WFC Bangladesh: তিতাস একটি নদীর নাম

(November 25, 2016)

What a strange film. It this had been directed by somebody like Robert Bresson, I would have assumed that the stilted dialogue, oblique plot and very stylized acting was a conscious choice, but here I’m not so sure. And then suddenly it turns into a farce for half an hour. And then there’s a boat … Continue reading WFC Bangladesh: তিতাস একটি নদীর নাম

WFC Romania: Marţi, după Crăciun

(November 25, 2016)

The actors are fantastic, and it’s a very stylish film, and there are some very powerful scenes in here. Tuesday, After Christmas. Radu Muntean. 2010. Romania. Temptation 2 parts Limoncello 1 part lemon vodka 1 part lime juice brown sugar to taste Shake with ice, and pour into a glass rimmed with brown sugar. This … Continue reading WFC Romania: Marţi, după Crăciun

FF1995: Mystic/Loathing

(November 25, 2016)

Self-Loathing Comics #1-2 by Aline Kominsky-Crumb and Robert Crumb. Mystic Funnies #1-3 by Robert Crumb. Fantagraphics has published a large number of Crumbian books, most notably the Complete Crumb Collection in the 80s, and the Love That Bunch collection in 1990. But they haven’t really published a lot of their original comics, just various collections. … Continue reading FF1995: Mystic/Loathing

FF1993: An Accidental Death

(November 24, 2016)

An Accidental Death by Eric Shanower and Ed Brubaker. On the face of it, this seems like a rather unlikely thing for Fantagraphics to have published: A standalone story about a psycho teenager murdering a girl on Guantanamo, and then his non-psycho friend helping him, created by two people well ensconced within mainstream US comics. … Continue reading FF1993: An Accidental Death

FF2003: Storylines: An Anthology of Emerging Cartoonists

(November 23, 2016)

Storylines: An Anthology of Emerging Cartoonists #1 edited by James Sturm. As anthologies go, this is unassuming physically: Standard size comic book, thin paper, a slightly vague cover. Most of the pieces are obviously not drawn with a comic book format in mind: Most leave a wide border at the top and the bottom, which … Continue reading FF2003: Storylines: An Anthology of Emerging Cartoonists

FF2003: Ape

(November 22, 2016)

Ape by Theodoros Nikos Jouflas. Jouflas appeared in various anthologies (like Pictopia) throughout the 90s, and published two books, both of which I vaguely remember as being collections of shorter pieces (Scary and Filthy). But I may be misremembering; it’s a long time since I’ve read those. This 32 page magazine (with stiff covers) is … Continue reading FF2003: Ape

FF1990: 3 Fox Comics

(November 21, 2016)

Tattoo Man Special #1 by Dave Hodson and Greg Gates. Walking Wounded #1, True Confusions #1 by Dave Hodson. These comics were part of the attempt by the Australian Fox Comics to get wider distribution by co-publishing with Fantagraphics. The Fox Comics anthology was being published somewhat concurrently with these comics. Tattoo Man reprints the … Continue reading FF1990: 3 Fox Comics

FF1999: Steven

(November 20, 2016)

Steven Presents Dumpy, Steven Comix #2: Steven at Sea by Doug Allen. Steven is a long-running weekly strip that’s mostly featured in alternative magazines and newspapers. While these two comics have titles that seem to hint at more focussed tales, they turn out to just reprint a bunch of Steven strips. Eight issues had previously … Continue reading FF1999: Steven

FF1998: Pop Life

(November 19, 2016)

Pop Life #1-5 by Ho Che Anderson and Wilfred Santiago. I’m running out of Fantagraphics pamphlets to write articles about here. (Was that a sigh of relief I heard?) But that’s not because I’ve done them all. No, it’s just that I’m stalled since I’m waiting for a bunch of comics to arrive in the … Continue reading FF1998: Pop Life

WFC Lithuania: Nesamasis laikas

(November 18, 2016)

This is one of those “big reveal” films, and the reveal is surprising. However, it felt like it was going to reveal something completely different through most of the middle bit, and that was annoying. It was like the filmmaker was taunting us with “yeah, you’re clever, you’ve already figured out that “. Which isn’t … Continue reading WFC Lithuania: Nesamasis laikas

FF1998: Top Notch Comics

(November 18, 2016)

Top Notch Comics #1 by Ethan Persoff. I remember this comic being somehow controversial, but I can’t quite remember why. There are some very Chris Ware-esque things about it. It has an unusual size, it’s printed in duo-tone, and it uses blurred backgrounds. There are things to cut out and assemble. There’s a fake ad. … Continue reading FF1998: Top Notch Comics

FF2004: Noire Orange

(November 17, 2016)

Blood Orange #1-4, Bête Noire: The International Comic Art Quarterly #1 edited by Chris Polkki. Since Bête Noire is termed an “international” quarterly, and Blood Orange isn’t, and they have the same format and editor, I assumed that Blood Orange would be an all-American feast. But, nope, the Orange has got plenty of foreigners, too. … Continue reading FF2004: Noire Orange

FF1993: Meat Cake

(November 16, 2016)

Meat Cake #0-17 by Dame Darcy. I’m going to try to write this blog article without using the word “quirky”. Oops! I remember getting these comics about once a year throughout the 90s, and every time I was all “yay!”. It’s an utterly original comic book, filled with strange adventures and loopy, obsessive artwork. There … Continue reading FF1993: Meat Cake

FF2005: Tales Designed to Thrizzle

(November 15, 2016)

Tales Designed to Thrizzle #1-8 by Michael Kupperman. I’m a bit exhausted. Laughing so hard your eyes are streaming for two or three hours takes a toll. Kupperman used to work under the pen name “P. Revess”, and published pieces in various anthologies throughout the 90s, I think. His method hasn’t really changed much: He … Continue reading FF2005: Tales Designed to Thrizzle

FF1995: Minimum Wage

(November 14, 2016)

Minimum Wage #1-10, Monkey Jank by Bob Fingerman. Fantagraphics had published an introductory Minimal Wage graphic novel before starting this series, which is perhaps an unusual publishing strategy. Fingerman had also published a number of porn comics through Eros before this series. Minimum Wage is about a guy who’s a comic book artist, living in … Continue reading FF1995: Minimum Wage

FF1993: The ACME Novelty Library

(November 13, 2016)

The ACME Novelty Library #1-15 by Chris Ware. Yikes. Or… finally? Chris Ware? If you asked me drunkenly at a bar sometime “Say, Lars, who’s your favourite comic book artist?”, I’d sputter and be all “er, uhm”, but if you limited it to “favourite American comic book artist that started in the 90s and is … Continue reading FF1993: The ACME Novelty Library

FF2002: Belly Button Comix

(November 12, 2016)

Belly Button Comix #1-2 by Sophie Crumb. It’s fun to see how Crumb’s artwork evolves over these two issues, created while she was between 19 and 22, I think. Crumb’s trying out a lot of styles, like this very late-60s underground bigfoot style. And then a very worked-at realistic illustration. And then washes. Anyway, the … Continue reading FF2002: Belly Button Comix

FF2003: Funny Friends

(November 11, 2016)

Mabel Normand and Her Funny Friends, Fatty Arbuckle and His Funny Friends edited by Marilyn Slater. These two magazine sized comics collects pieces of a British publication from 1921, now in the public domain. Each issue includes a brief biography of the movie star in question. But the meat of each issue is the reprinting … Continue reading FF2003: Funny Friends

FF2004: Holy Moly

(November 10, 2016)

Holy Moly by Leah Hayes. Fantagraphics doesn’t work a lot with the materiality of their books: The vast majority of them are unremarkable as physical objects. This is quite different from some of their smaller peers, where they often have unique sizes, papers or printing methods. This is one of those rare unique floppies from … Continue reading FF2004: Holy Moly

FF2005: Grenuord

(November 9, 2016)

Grenuord #1-3 by Francesca Ghermandi. I am not a comics publishing genius, but serialising a translation of an Italian graphic novel as a series of $5-6 comic books, in 2005, published with a four-month interval between each issue, does not seem like the plan most likely to succeed. It’s told in a decompressed style: Big … Continue reading FF2005: Grenuord

Well, That’s Depressing

(November 9, 2016)

So here’s a picture of a cat drinking milk.

My New Concert Blog

(November 9, 2016)

FF1996: Primitive Cretin

(November 8, 2016)

Primitive Cretin by Henriette Valium. This is an oversized collection of Henriette Valium’s work from the early 90s. It’s slightly wider than a magazine, and quite a bit taller. Kim Thompson hadpublished Valium earlier in Zero Zero, but the smaller size of that anthology meant that most of Valium’s drawings were somewhat difficult to make … Continue reading FF1996: Primitive Cretin

FF1994: Way Out Strips

(November 7, 2016)

Way Out Strips volume 3 #1-4 by Carol Swain. I’ve been a massive fan of Carol Swain ever since I happened onto one of her short, oblique, beautifully drawn stories in an issue of Chris Reynold’s Mauretania magazine. After that, she self-published four issues of the first Way Out Strips series, but I’ve never been … Continue reading FF1994: Way Out Strips

FF1990: Art/Leather/Knuckle/Zoot!

(November 6, 2016)

Art d’Ecco #1-4, Zoot! #1-6 by Andrew and Roger Langridge. Leather Underwear, Knuckles the Malevolent Nun #1-2 by Cornelius Stone and Roger Langridge. I had read the first issue of Art d’Ecco before, but that had apparently not inspired me to buy the rest of the issues at the time. How exciting! Is it going … Continue reading FF1990: Art/Leather/Knuckle/Zoot!

WFC Burkina Faso: La nuit de la vérité

(November 5, 2016)

Some scenes work really well, especially with the children and the women in the village. But a lot of the actors are, like, declaiming at the camera, and it’s a more than a bit awkward. So I kinda like it, and I admire it, and there’s good stuff in here. But. The climactic scene was … Continue reading WFC Burkina Faso: La nuit de la vérité

FF1994: Different Beat Comics

(November 5, 2016)

Different Beat Comics #1 edited by Kim Thompson. This book features a bunch of short (mostly two page) pieces that either are previously unpublished or are very obscure. It’s meant as both a way to read those obscure pieces and as a promotional tool: All artists featured had regular series going at Fantagraphics at the … Continue reading FF1994: Different Beat Comics

WFC Germany: Aber das Wort Hund bellt ja nicht

(November 4, 2016)

A very unusual “tour” film, but it really gets to the heart of the matter. Long, long takes of the musicians playing or listening to the others playing, interspersed with tales of the routine of touring. Who knew there were so many ways of making duck with red cabbage? (Oh, featured in the film are … Continue reading WFC Germany: Aber das Wort Hund bellt ja nicht

WFC Hungary: Egymásra nézve

(November 4, 2016)

It’s an interesting little film. It must have been difficult to make this in the early 80s. I love the actors. The story is… uhm… Well, you won’t be surprised by how it ends. NORMALITY RESTORED in the usual way in these films. Another Way. Károly Makk. 1982. Hungary. 1 part white wine 1 part … Continue reading WFC Hungary: Egymásra nézve

FF1991: I Before E

(November 4, 2016)

I Before E #1-2 by Sam Kieth. These two issues reprint a lot of Sam Kieth’s early work; Kieth had become a hot artist over the past few years. I like how “Fantagraphics” isn’t mentioned at all on the covers. Perhaps keeping that fact a secret would entice Sandman fans to buy them? The most … Continue reading FF1991: I Before E

FF1991: Guttersnipe D

(November 3, 2016)

Avenue D, Guttersnipe Comics #1-2 by Glenn Head. I guess you could call Glenn Head a third generation underground comix artist. His comics seem to belong to that lineage even if he started working in the 80s. Avenue D collects various bits and pieces into a 48 page magazine sized single author anthology. About half … Continue reading FF1991: Guttersnipe D

FF1989: Stinz

(November 2, 2016)

Stinz #1-4 by Donna Barr. Stinz had been running in the Dreamery anthology by Eclipse Comics for a while, but the Fantagraphics title is his first solo comic. Stinz is a half-horse living in an alternate reality Austria in the early 1900s. Rather high concept, eh? But it’s fun. Barr has a lively drawing style … Continue reading FF1989: Stinz

FF1992: Not Love & Rockets

(November 1, 2016)

Ten Years of Love and Rockets, Tales from Shock City #1, Blubber #1-3 by Beto Hernandez with Mario Hernandez and Jaime Hernandez. These are comics that I should have covered in the Love and Rockets blog post, perhaps. At least the first one. Probably not the last one. It’s a bit of a mish-mash, but … Continue reading FF1992: Not Love & Rockets

FF1992: Crap

(October 31, 2016)

Bummer #1, Completely Bad Boys, Crap #1-7, Damnation! #1 by J. R. Williams. I covered Bad Comics, oh, months ago (how much further to go!!!), and should probably have done these ones at the same time, but I forgot. So you get two J. R. Williams posts. I have the Cat-Head Comics edition of Bummer … Continue reading FF1992: Crap

FF1992: Suburban Voodoo Comics

(October 30, 2016)

Suburban Voodoo Comics by Matthew Guest. This is a 48 page one-shot (edited by Robert Boyd) with three stories that all seem like they might be autobiographical. They’re tales of normal teenage life… … and Christian damage. The artwork is rather appealing, but I can’t help wonder whether something has gone wrong in the printing … Continue reading FF1992: Suburban Voodoo Comics

FF1989: Waldo

(October 29, 2016)

Shadowland #1-2, Stuff of Dreams #1-3 by Kim Deitch. The Mishkin File, The Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Waldo World #1-3 by Kim and Simon Deitch. Kim Deitch (sometimes in collaboration with his brother Simon) has spun this long interconnected tale for decades, spread out over a number of titles and collections. One part of this … Continue reading FF1989: Waldo

Emacs Non-Flickering Patch

(October 29, 2016)

Earlier today, Daniel Colascione merged his double-buffering Emacs display patch, and I was interested in seeing whether it reduced flickering when viewing animated GIFs on my problematic main machine. And it sure does: First you see an Emacs from five hours ago displaying a GIF, and it is flicker-o-rama. Then I switch to a brand … Continue reading Emacs Non-Flickering Patch

FF1992: Sap Tunes

(October 28, 2016)

Sap Tunes #1-2 by Granger Davis and Steve Kongsle. I’m finding out now that Fantagraphics sure released a lot of, er, very short series by artists I’ve never heard of. Here’s another one. Davis does a pair of pieces about this guy… … who works in retail, is slightly disgruntled with stupid customers (see above), … Continue reading FF1992: Sap Tunes

WFC Bulgaria: Урок

(October 28, 2016)

There are things about this film I like enormously. It’s a taut, tense film about nightmarish desperation. But it seems like there are always options out of the problems that seem to be avoided just for the sake of plot. So my main feeling here is of “but why doesn’t she…?” just about all the … Continue reading WFC Bulgaria: Урок

FF1992: WildB.R.A.T.S: Bad Redundant Art Teams

(October 28, 2016)

WildB.R.A.T.S: Bad Redundant Art Teams #1 by Dean Williams and Aaron McClellan. Dean Williams… where have I seen that name before? Oh, we wrote the execrable Butt Biscuit series from Fantagraphics. *gulp* Well, Fantagraphics has published a few parody comics over the years, but they usually make fun of things that are considered interesting by … Continue reading FF1992: WildB.R.A.T.S: Bad Redundant Art Teams

FF1992: S.O.S.

(October 27, 2016)

S.O.S. by Mark Kalesniko. This is brief, mostly wordless story about surviving on your own in the big, bad world. So allegory. But while somewhat hokey, it’s attractively drawn and somewhat touching. Here we see our hero take a bite out of the nasty shark. See? Allegory! I think this may be the first Kalesniko … Continue reading FF1992: S.O.S.

Excerpt from What Paper? The Printing Aficionado Magazine, Issue 15, Volume XXIV, 2015

(October 27, 2016)

Review of the printing of the Dover edition of The Puma Blues (by Stephen Murphy and Michael Zulli) printed by RR Donnelley in China. Paper stock unknown. When Dover announced a collected edition of the 80s series The Puma Blues, we here at What Paper? anxiously examined the press release for phrases like “shot from … Continue reading Excerpt from What Paper? The Printing Aficionado Magazine, Issue 15, Volume XXIV, 2015

FF1989: Kafka: The Execution

(October 26, 2016)

Kafka: The Execution by Leopoldo Durañona. Fantagraphics were publishing fellow South Americans Muñoz & Sampaya in a similar format to this (magazine size with cardboard covers) at the time (as well as anthologising Francisco Solano Lopez). I’m not familiar with Durañona’s work, but this is kinda interesting. The artwork is a bit reminiscent of Moebius. … Continue reading FF1989: Kafka: The Execution

My New Concert Blog

(October 26, 2016)

My camera’s microphone freaked out completely on the Agnes Hvizdalek piece, so I haven’t included that one. But it seems to have survived on this:

FF1989: The Eye of Mongombo

(October 25, 2016)

The Eye of Mongombo #1-7 by Doug Gray. Before this series, Doug Gray had a couple of appearances in Critters, I think. The Eye of Mongombo is a pretty funny comic book about that archaeologist up there (transformed into a duck) who looks for a treasure in South America. Hijinx ensue. A lot. I find … Continue reading FF1989: The Eye of Mongombo

On a Roll

(October 24, 2016)

I bought these comics by CF a few months back, but they, er, rolled behind a stack of comics, so I forgot about them until tonight. They’re printed on thermal receipt paper, so they’re monochromatic, but CF has customized them a bit with various stamps at the start and end of each roll. Winding them … Continue reading On a Roll

FF1999: Neatish Stuff

(October 24, 2016)

The Bradleys #1-6, Junior #1-5 by Peter Bagge. Martini Baton by Dave Carrino and Peter Bagge. These are all reprints, and since I’ve read the books these were sourced from (Neat Stuff and Weirdo), I considered skipping them. But then my CDO fired (it’s like OCD, but with the letters in the proper order), and … Continue reading FF1999: Neatish Stuff

FF1988: Stickboy

(October 23, 2016)

Stickboy #1-3 by Dennis Worden. Stickboy had been published by a different publisher before Fantagraphics stepped in, and it would continue to be published by various publishers after Fantagraphics bowed out. I haven’t read any of those incarnations, though. The first Fantagraphics issue starts off like a normal pre-slacker comic book, what with Stickboy looking … Continue reading FF1988: Stickboy

The Comics Journal Search Engine

(October 22, 2016)

In connection with my grand Fantagraphics re-reading project, I took out a subscription to the Comics Journal archives so that I could look up older reviews for these old comics. That turned out to be easier said than done, because the TCJ archive consists of one scanned JPEG per Comics Journal page, and there’s no … Continue reading The Comics Journal Search Engine

FF1997: La Artbabe

(October 22, 2016)

Artbabe volume 2 #1-4, La Perdida #1-5 by Jessica Abel. Artbabe started out as a self-published mini-comic, and then Abel got a Xeric grant and published the final issue of Volume 1 as a standard-size US comic book (with real distribution). I haven’t got the first four issues (although I may have the collection here … Continue reading FF1997: La Artbabe

WFC Albania: Falja e Gjakut

(October 22, 2016)

This is a fascinating film. It’s perhaps the most exotic story I’ve seen so far in this film series, and it’s from a European country. It’s a simple little film about a fucked up situation, but it’s pitch perfect emotionally. The sitch is so exotically fucked up that I’m almost tempted to give a plot … Continue reading WFC Albania: Falja e Gjakut

FF1991: Kid Anarchy

(October 21, 2016)

Kid Anarchy #1-3 by George Cole and Mike McCarthy. Picking up a comic book with from a writer/artist pair always makes me sceptical. Statistically speaking, single author comics are better. But perhaps this one is the one that will convince me once and for all that that’s a stupid prejudice! Yes! Oh, deer. Gander at … Continue reading FF1991: Kid Anarchy

FF1983: Don Rosa’s Comics and Stories

(October 20, 2016)

Don Rosa’s Comics and Stories #1-2 by Don Rosa. This may have been something like the third comic series that Fantagraphics published (after Love & Rockets and Hugo). It was apparently planned as an ongoing series, but was axed after two issues. This magazine sized comic book reprints The Pertwillaby Papers, which had previously been … Continue reading FF1983: Don Rosa’s Comics and Stories

FF1995: Zero Zero

(October 19, 2016)

Zero Zero #1-27 edited by Kim Thompson. There have been a few anthologies that have defined generations. These things seem to happen when there’s a happy confluence between an editor (or editors) and a new, burgeoning scene: There are artists that people sum up as “Raw artists”, for instance, because Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman … Continue reading FF1995: Zero Zero

FF2014: DKW: Ditko Kirby Wood

(October 18, 2016)

DKW: Ditko Kirby Wood by Sergio Ponchione. This comic book (colour, slick pages) is a translation of material previously published in Italy, which is a pretty unusual thing to do in 2014 (since alternative pamphlets don’t seem to sell much). It’s dedicated to the recently deceased Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson. Anyway, there’s a framing story … Continue reading FF2014: DKW: Ditko Kirby Wood

FF2006: Monster Parade

(October 18, 2016)

Monster Parade #1 by Ben Catmull. Apparently meant to be a series, only one issue was published. It’s a quirkily amusing book. Here we have a winter storm… And here we learn how certain kinds of perfume are made, and it does explain a lot. The stories are rather oblique. They set a mood, and … Continue reading FF2006: Monster Parade

FF2006: Runaway Comics

(October 17, 2016)

Runaway Comics #1-3 by Mark Martin. Mark Martin is not a very prolific artist and is probably most famous for his Gnatrat series (or his duo comic book with Jim Woodring, Tantalizing Stories). So a new solo series from him was exciting. Martin is an excellent cartoonist. The stories in Runaway Comics mostly feature his … Continue reading FF2006: Runaway Comics

FF2013: 3 New Comics

(October 16, 2016)

3 New Stories, Cosplayers #1-2 by Dash Shaw. The major alternative publishers have all but stopped publishing comic book comics, so it was quite a surprise when Fantagraphics dropped 3 New Stories on an unsuspecting public in 2013. According to the comics database and my notes here, Fantagraphics had published no new pamphlet series since … Continue reading FF2013: 3 New Comics

FF1999: Death & Candy

(October 15, 2016)

Death & Candy #1-4 by Max Andersson. Max Andersson is a Swedish cartoonist who make nightmarish stream of consciousness comics. Andersson’s style takes me back to early 80s New York newave comics: Macabre and funny stuff in a blender. Here’s Car Boy, one of Andersson’s more recognisable characters. The print quality of the first issue … Continue reading FF1999: Death & Candy

WFC Viet Nam: Xích Lô

(October 15, 2016)

It’s a very moist film. Sure, it’s aestheticizing poverty and stuff. Inscrutable film, great actors and cinematography. Cyclo. Tran Anh Hung. 1995. Viet Nam. Ginger Kaffir Limeade limes sugar 1 part ginger syrup 1 part cointreau 3 parts vodka Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. This post is part of the World … Continue reading WFC Viet Nam: Xích Lô

FF1999: Spicecapades

(October 14, 2016)

Spicecapades edited by Queen Itchie. By 1999, I would have thought that Spice Mania had subsided? So it was probably too late publish this to cash in, but perhaps that wasn’t the point, anyway… So what’s up here? If not a cash grab, is it an honest appreciation or ironic appropriation? “No thanks to all … Continue reading FF1999: Spicecapades

FF1997: Poot

(October 13, 2016)

Poot #1-4 by Walt Holcombe. The last three issues of this series are in a format that’s a bit smaller than standard-size US comics, while this first one is very small indeed. Around this time, there seemed to be a lot of comics in vaguely this style: Slick, cartoony, anthropomorphic and wistful tales of love … Continue reading FF1997: Poot

FF1996: Rollercoaster

(October 12, 2016)

Rollercoaster #1-2 by Rich Tomasso. Tomasso had previously published the Clover Honey graphic novel at Fantagraphics (and the Cannibal Romance series at Eros), but Rollercoaster seems like an attempt at creating one of those single author anthologies that Fantagraphics published so many of. The major story in the first issue is about a girl who … Continue reading FF1996: Rollercoaster

FF2004: Worn Tuff Elbow

(October 12, 2016)

Worn Tuff Elbow #1 by Marc Bell. This magazine sized book was apparently planned as a series, but only one issue was published. Since the cover says “Theatre Absurd-O”, I thought that this was going to be weirder than it is. I’ve gotta get me some 250% moisturisation, too. Anyway, most of the issue is … Continue reading FF2004: Worn Tuff Elbow

Rocktober Day 6: The Cure

(October 12, 2016)

Concerts in Oslo today.

FF1994: Raisin Doofus

(October 11, 2016)

Doofus #1-2, Raisin Pie #1-5 by Rick Altergott and Ariel Bordeaux. Doofus had been running in various anthologies, but must prominently as a backup feature in Hate. So spinning it off into its own title probably seemed quite natural. I’ve never enjoyed reading Doofus, but haven’t really examined why. It’s obvious why people would find … Continue reading FF1994: Raisin Doofus

Rocktober Day 5: Oranssi Pazuzu

(October 10, 2016)

Concerts in Oslo today. That was the most disappointing din-din at Arakataka ever. Ooo! Psyche-a-delic! Stamped, but faintly.

FF1997: Steve Ditko’s Strange Avenging Tales

(October 10, 2016)

Steve Ditko’s Strange Avenging Tales #1 by Steve Ditko. After leaving Marvel in the early 70s, Ditko has been publishing a stream of Ayn Rand-inspired comics at any publisher that would let him do whatever he wanted without any interference. Strange Avenging Tales was apparently an attempt at doing one of these comics at Fantagraphics, … Continue reading FF1997: Steve Ditko’s Strange Avenging Tales

FF1996: Empty Skull Comics

(October 10, 2016)

Empty Skull Comics by Gerald Jablonski. Mm, yes… Jim Woodring provides an introduction and offers the idea that Jablonski is possibly insane. The first half of this collection doesn’t seem particularly crazy. The humour is off-kilter, but the silliness is within normal parameters, I would say. This sort of humour is just my thing. You … Continue reading FF1996: Empty Skull Comics

Rocktober Day 4: Vollen Odd Size United

(October 9, 2016)

Reindeer pizza at Tranen. That may be the best white pizza I’ve had. Concerts in Oslo today.

FF1994: Nurture the Devil

(October 9, 2016)

Nurture the Devil #1-3 by Jeff Johnson. There seemed to be a micro-movement towards body horror going on at Fantagraphics in the mid-90s. Renée French, Dave Cooper and Jeff Johnson all did violent, visceral, sexually charged comics around this time, with squishy, ink-soaked artwork. Nice introduction, but I really wanted to highlight a typical Fantagraphics … Continue reading FF1994: Nurture the Devil

Rocktober Day 3: Sofa Label Night

(October 8, 2016)

Food at Xích Lô. The rack of lamb was simply amahzing. You know that fatty thing over those round bit of meat? They had done something to it so that it tasted like a cross between bone marrow and foie de gras, but really charred, and with bright spices. It was like nothing I’ve tasted … Continue reading Rocktober Day 3: Sofa Label Night

FF1992: (You and Your) Big Mouth

(October 8, 2016)

(You and Your) Big Mouth #1-7 by Pat Moriarity and various. There are several series that feature a single writer and a wide cast of artists (Real Stuff, Duplex Planet Illustrated, American Splendor), but this is one of the very few series that has one single artist, and a wide roster of writers. A comics … Continue reading FF1992: (You and Your) Big Mouth

FF1995: Prick Comix

(October 8, 2016)

Prick Comix by Sean Brennan and Tom Giansante. This comic reminds me a bit of those random underground comix that were published in the early 70s. Just goofing around (while high, most likely) without much ambition to do much beyond that. That’s the Dalai Lama fighting against some kidnappers by playing a Kenny G tune. … Continue reading FF1995: Prick Comix

Rocktober Day 2: Death in June

(October 7, 2016)

Interesting mixture of audience members… I mean, since Death in June are what some people consider to be nazis. Some were punching the air during the “the west is at war” moments while other were looking frantically around with the “WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!?” expression on their faces. Concerts in Oslo today.

FF1991: Cultural Jet Lag

(October 7, 2016)

Cultural Jet Lag #1 by Tom Robert and Jim Siergey. Cultural Jet Lag was apparently a weekly strip, and this might be a collection of some of those strips. However, the format varies wildly, and some of the longer stories don’t really seem like weekly strips, so perhaps it’s a mixture of reprints and new … Continue reading FF1991: Cultural Jet Lag

Bordering on Insanity

(October 7, 2016)

I use Borderlinx to bounce packages via when I buy stuff from ebay, since so many American ebay sellers don’t want to ship cheap items abroad. And it gives me greater control on when packages arrive, and it’s cheaper. So everything went well for months, and then two packages were stopped because they apparently contained … Continue reading Bordering on Insanity

FF1993: Griffith Observatory

(October 7, 2016)

Griffith Observatory by Bill Griffith. Bill Griffith’s most famous creation is Zippy the Pinhead, of course, which is still running today. These days, I mostly read them via Arnold Zwicky’s blog, where he explains all the references. (They can be pretty obscure.) I’ve always enjoyed Zippy, but reading it in collections (which has been my … Continue reading FF1993: Griffith Observatory

Rocktober Day 1: Pain Jerk

(October 6, 2016)

Concerts today.

FF1994: Life Under Sanctions

(October 6, 2016)

Life Under Sanctions, Psychonaut #1-2 by Aleksandar Zograf. These comics were written during (and after) the ex-Yugoslavian wars in the early to mid nineties, and are like despatches that try to explain what’s going on. Jim Woodring provides the introduction, which you might think is an odd choice for a book about war. But Zograf … Continue reading FF1994: Life Under Sanctions

FF1993: Verbatim

(October 6, 2016)

Verbatim #1-2 by Carl Belfast. Autobio comics is one of the major genres in art comics now, and it’s difficult to recall just how controversial they were in some circles in the early 90s. This is yet another parody of the genre, and it’s not completely successful, I think. Gaze into his navel… Belfast’s art … Continue reading FF1993: Verbatim

FF1994: Insomnia

(October 5, 2016)

Insomnia by Andrew Moran. This is a rather odd tale (an insomniac drives to Ohio to attend a sleep clinic) drawn in a rather original fashion, rather. Hm… slightly early 80s-ish New York scratchy style? Yeah, New Jersey. As you know, here at the Paper Quality Blog, what we’re most concerned about is the paper … Continue reading FF1994: Insomnia

FF1990: Laundryland

(October 5, 2016)

Laundryland by Forg & Jeans. A rather mysterious comic book. There’s no introduction, no editorial text: Just the comics themselves. Is this a translated comic? Where are Forg & Jeans from? What’s going on? It’s about a woman who runs a laundry, and her friends. The first issue is very laid back. What happens is … Continue reading FF1990: Laundryland

Useful Consumer Review

(October 4, 2016)

WIFI doesn’t work, but some wireless solutions work less than others. After years of searching, I’ve been using an ASUS AC87 wireless access point (what other people for inexplicable reasons call “a router”, even if you’re just running it as a bridge), and it’s almost worked, most of the time. That is, even with a … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

FF1993: Duplex Planet Illustrated

(October 4, 2016)

Duplex Planet Illustrated #1-15, A Vast Knowledge of General Subjects by David Greenberger and various. This is one of those early-90s Fantagraphics comics that I don’t recall all that well, other than I liked it fine at the time. I wasn’t really very enthusiastic about re-reading it, so I wondered whether I had suppressed some … Continue reading FF1993: Duplex Planet Illustrated

FF1993: Black Dogs

(October 3, 2016)

Black Dogs by Ho Che Anderson. This book is a short (14-page) introduction to the Martin Luther King, jr. series of graphic novels Ho Che Anderson would publish later. It’s set in the present day, and Anderson kinda explains why it exists: So it’s set in the present, and it discusses whether it’s appropriate to … Continue reading FF1993: Black Dogs

FF1991: Jizz

(October 3, 2016)

Jizz #1-10 by Scott Russo. There was an double entendre epidemic going around at the time: Colin Upton’s Big Thing, Roberta Gregory’s Naughty Bits… and Scott Russo’s Jizz, which is, perhaps, only half as entendrey. A single entendre. I didn’t remember much of this series, only that it was outrageous and somewhat controversial, but I … Continue reading FF1991: Jizz

FF1983: Journey

(October 2, 2016)

Journey #1-27, Journey: Wardrums #1-2 by William Messner-Loebs. The first fourteen issues of Journey were published by Aardvark-Vanaheim. While this blog series is supposed to be about Fantagraphics, I just had to re-read them all. I was about 14 when Journey started, and I remember being really enthusiastic about it. I’ve re-read the first handfuls … Continue reading FF1983: Journey

FF1992: The Librarian

(October 2, 2016)

The Librarian by Penny Moran Van Horn. Is that Steve Jobs? Penny Moran Van Horn had earlier published short pieces in Weirdo and Twisted Sisters, but this was her first (and only, I think) solo publication (except the Recipe for Disaster and Other Stories compilation published later). The story is about a slum lord librarian … Continue reading FF1992: The Librarian

FF1992: Doofer: Pathway to McEarth

(October 1, 2016)

Doofer: Pathway to McEarth by Paul Ollswang, Taft Chatham and James Carpenter. This magazine reprints a few of the Ollswang pieces from Graphic Story Monthly and Prime Cuts, the two earliest “general” Fantagraphics anthologies. In addition, there’s a framing story of sorts… … because this magazine was meant as an introduction to a graphic novel … Continue reading FF1992: Doofer: Pathway to McEarth

FF1992: Crucial Fiction

(October 1, 2016)

Crucial Fiction by Julian Lawrence and Mark Yuill. Despite the name, I thought that perhaps this was an autobio series, just based on the intensity of the start of the first issue. That certainly looks and reads like a confessional religious outsider autobiographical piece, but since it ends with the protagonist building a new Christ … Continue reading FF1992: Crucial Fiction

FF1992: Butt Biscuit

(September 30, 2016)

Butt Biscuit by Dean Williams and Ted Couldron. What a thoroughly unpleasant comic book. The plot is about a kid with Down’s who’s kidnapped by a producer of speciality porn. I guess the idea is to be as offensive as possible, and then it’ll automatically be funny? So it’s a papery version of 4chan. The … Continue reading FF1992: Butt Biscuit

FF1992: Test Dirt

(September 30, 2016)

Test Dirt #1 by Tony Fitzgerald. As we get to the 90s, my “collection” of Fantagraphics comics grows spottier. I bought all the major long running comic books at the time, but the less known stuff passed me by: I was a poor student. And had to pay attention to other things. Like getting started … Continue reading FF1992: Test Dirt

FF1987: Frazetta

(September 29, 2016)

Thun’da Tales #1 Untamed Love #1 By Frank Frazetta and various. There’s no text in these comics to explain why they exist beyond what’s on the covers: “finally presented in a quality full-color edition!” So my guess is that these are comics from the early 50s that had somehow fallen into the public domain, and … Continue reading FF1987: Frazetta

FF1982: Gil Kane’s Savage!

(September 29, 2016)

Gil Kane’s Savage! by Gil Kane and Archie Goodwin. I think this is Fantagraphics’ third comic book, after The Flames of Gyro and Love and Rockets, so it’s historically interesting. It’s a reprint of a magazine published in 1968, and RC Harvey gives some context in an opening essay: He then goes on to talk … Continue reading FF1982: Gil Kane’s Savage!

FF1990: Hate

(September 28, 2016)

Hate #1-30, Hate Jamboree, Hate Annual #1-10 by Peter Bagge. Hate is Peter Bagge’s smash success series after winding up Neat Stuff. (Which wasn’t, I guess. A smash success.) It’s also the last of the, er, “institutional indie” comics that Fantagraphics published in the 80s/90s in this blog series, after Love and Rockets, Eightball and … Continue reading FF1990: Hate

FF1990: Lust of the Nazi Weasel Women

(September 27, 2016)

Lust of the Nazi Weasel Women #1-4 by Mitch Manzer. Manzer had previously done the very amusing Rory Randall, the Singing Cowboy serial, but Lust of the Nazi Weasel Women is his first (and only, I think) solo series. As with the Rory Randall series, what we have here is a number of really silly … Continue reading FF1990: Lust of the Nazi Weasel Women

FF1990: Kuper

(September 26, 2016)

It’s Only a Matter of Life and Death Bleeding Heart #1-5 Wild Life #1-2 By Peter Kuper. Around this time, Fantagraphics published a number of magazine-sized single creator collections of work previously published in various anthologies: Mostly Fantagraphics anthologies like Prime Cuts and Graphic Story Monthly. It’s Only a Matter of Life and Death is … Continue reading FF1990: Kuper

FF1990: Har Har Comics

(September 25, 2016)

Har Har Comics #1-2 by Mike Kazaleh. After Captain Jack was cancelled, Fantagraphics gave Kazaleh another go with this very short-lived series: One issue in 1990, and another in 1992. (The indicia in the latter issue lists it as being published “bi-annually”, which I guess is right in some jurisdictions.) The two issues mostly consist … Continue reading FF1990: Har Har Comics

FF1990: Fission Chicken

(September 25, 2016)

Fission Chicken #1-4 by JP Morgan and Kyle Rothweiler. Fission Chicken ran in Critters for most of that magazine’s run. I think I mentioned in that blog article that I wasn’t much fond of Fission Chicken when I read it in Critters as a teenager, so I didn’t buy this series when it came out. … Continue reading FF1990: Fission Chicken

FF1989: Grootlore

(September 24, 2016)

Grootlore #1-2 Grootlore volume 2 #1-3 By Peter Gullerud. I’ve always known that Kim Thompson was the one of the two Fantagraphics owners who’s into anthropomorphics, but I wasn’t aware that it was so clear-cut: Anything funny-animal (Critters) or European(ish) (Sinner) is edited by Kim Thompson, and anything sci-fi-ish (Threat) or art (Flash Marks) is … Continue reading FF1989: Grootlore

FF1989: Teaser and the Blacksmith

(September 24, 2016)

Teaser and the Blacksmith by Timothy H. Glass. This is a very strange comic book by a New Zealander called Timothy H. Glass. I don’t know whether that’s his real name: I could well understand it if whoever created this would want to do so under a pseudonym. It seems to genuinely be from Australia … Continue reading FF1989: Teaser and the Blacksmith

FF1989: Fox Comics

(September 23, 2016)

Fox Comics Special Fox Comics #24-27 Edited by David Vodicka. The first twenty-three issues of Fox Comics were published in Australia, but they apparently wanted to get wider distribution by publishing through Fantagraphics. And that worked: Just see, I bought those issues. I’ve been trying to find the Aussie-only issues over the years, and here’s … Continue reading FF1989: Fox Comics

FF1988: Christmas with Superswine

(September 23, 2016)

Christmas with Superswine by Gary Fields. This is rather weird. It sounds like a special edition of a running series, but Superswine wasn’t published as its own series until three years later. But perhaps the point was just to publish something seasonal. The indicia says that it was published in February, which sounds typical for … Continue reading FF1988: Christmas with Superswine

FF1988: Flash Marks

(September 22, 2016)

Flash Marks by Carel Moiseiwitsch. This is a collection of short pieces that have previously appeared in various anthologies in the 80s. It is, unfortunately, the only major collection of her work, and it isn’t very major. I mean, it’s bigly excellent, as the vernacular goes, but it’s just 32 pages. Magazine size, though. The … Continue reading FF1988: Flash Marks

FF1988: The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Stories

(September 22, 2016)

The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Stories by Edgar Allen Poe. From what fetid hell did this magazine arise? It reprints three Edgar Allen Poe stories (that you’ve probably read before), illustrated in this fashion: The borders are repeated throughout each story, so this magazine has three borders, one cover and twelve illustrations (by Daryl and … Continue reading FF1988: The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Stories

FF1987: Jim

(September 21, 2016)

Jim #1-4 Jim vol 2 #1-6 Jim Special: Frank’s Real Pa Frank #1-4 By Jim Woodring. Jim (the series, not the author) started off as a collection of material that Jim (the author, not the series) had published in the 1982-86 period. The first four issues are magazine sized… and very strange. The dedication in … Continue reading FF1987: Jim

FF1987: The Wandering Stars

(September 21, 2016)

The Wandering Stars #1 by Stuart Hopen and Sam Kieth. Another entry in the “Fantagraphics sci-fi cancelled mysteriously” series, this one lasted only one issue and ends with the words “to be continued…” And it’s a very nice issue indeed. Kieth would later switch to a more decompressed art style, but here he crams a … Continue reading FF1987: The Wandering Stars

FF1987: Dinosaur Rex

(September 20, 2016)

Dinosaur Rex #1-3 by Jan Strnad and Henry Mayo. What a fun series. This is another one of the comics from the Upshot imprint, edited by Jan Strnad. The imprint was supposed to be action oriented entertainment, I think. They only managed to publish three series before cancellation (Dalgoda: Flesh and Bones, The Miracle Squad … Continue reading FF1987: Dinosaur Rex

Gwene Is Up Again, Too

(September 19, 2016)

After a month-long hiatus after the troubles, Gmane’s sister web site, Gwene, is back up again, too. Gwene allows you to sign up RSS feeds via the web site, and then you can read those feeds by pointing your news reader at news.gwene.org. Gwene also used to have a web-based interface to browse the contents, … Continue reading Gwene Is Up Again, Too

FF1987: Dog Boy

(September 19, 2016)

Dog Boy #1-10 by Steve Lafler. Lafler had (self-published, I think?) Dog Boy under the Cat-Head Comics moniker for a few years, but moved to Fantagraphics in 1987, and restarted the numbering. I didn’t read Dog Boy back in the 80s. That is, I had the first issue, and I vaguely remember being vaguely puzzled. … Continue reading FF1987: Dog Boy

FF1986: The Miracle Squad

(September 18, 2016)

The Miracle Squad #1-4 by John Wooley and Terry Tidwell. This comic book was part of the Jan Strnad-edited Upshot line of comics, which didn’t last very long. And this was, I think, the only one that Strnad didn’t write himself. It’s in colour, which I guess means that Fantagraphics thought that this 30s B-movie … Continue reading FF1986: The Miracle Squad

FF1988: Itchy Planet

(September 17, 2016)

Itchy Planet #1-3 edited by Leonard Rifas. Leonard Rifas published a number of comics in the 70s under the Edu Comics banner, and Itchy Planet continues pretty much in that vein: Informative pieces and political agitation. There’s even a motto. So you have reviews, text pieces and things like this page: A survey of comics … Continue reading FF1988: Itchy Planet

FF2006: Castle Waiting

(September 16, 2016)

Castle Waiting #1-18 by Linda Medley I haven’t done this series of postings in anything resembling chronological order, but I did decide to try to do the remaining ones in an orderly… order… But then I flipped past Castle Waiting in the boxes once again, and I just had to re-read it. Again. Castle Waiting … Continue reading FF2006: Castle Waiting

FF1986: Threat!

(September 15, 2016)

Threat! #1-10 Anthologies usually do not have a set roster of contributors. There are some, like Zap Comix, but it’s usually a revolving door sort of thing. Threat! was a 32 page, magazine size, monthly anthology with four running serials, each taking up eight (or fewer) pages, and didn’t deviate (much) from that format until … Continue reading FF1986: Threat!

FF1986: Doomsday Squad

(September 14, 2016)

Doomsday Squad #1-7 by Joe Gill and John Byrne. This series was supposed to be called “John Byrne Classics” and reprints the old Charlton Comics series Doomsday +1. Apparently Byrne protested and it ended up being called Doomsday Squad instead. He was also apparently supposed to supply the covers, but only did two, while most … Continue reading FF1986: Doomsday Squad

FF1991: Aesop’s Fables

(September 14, 2016)

Aesop’s Fables #1-3 adapted by Charles Santino. This series has a slightly odd motivation for its existence: So the project wasn’t started by somebody with a passion for fables, but just somebody looking around for something to adapt. You’d think that this would result in some pretty shoddy comics, but they’re quite amusing. The majority … Continue reading FF1991: Aesop’s Fables

FF1988: Critters Special

(September 13, 2016)

Critters Special #1 by Stan Sakai. I should have covered this one in the Critters article, but I forgot. Anyway, the series lasted only one issue, and featured Nilson Groundthumper (and Hermy), characters developed for the Critters series, I think. Sakai would, of course, go on to do Usagi Yojimbo (which he’s still doing), but … Continue reading FF1988: Critters Special

FF1994: Alex

(September 12, 2016)

Alex #1-6 by Mark Kalesniko. This is a quite unusual Fantagraphics floppy series: 1) It’s not a single-author anthology, but a proper story that 2) seems to be designed to last for six issues and 3) wasn’t cancelled before it was completed and 4) was published on a strict bi-monthly schedule (which may be a … Continue reading FF1994: Alex

FF1998: The Nimrod

(September 11, 2016)

The Nimrod #1-7 by Lewis Trondheim. This series is a collection of various of the more “indie” Trondheim works: Autobio, a McConey story, and several shorter pieces, so I can see why it looked like it might make sense to publish this stuff in English in pamphlet format. It’s like US indie comics, so publishing … Continue reading FF1998: The Nimrod

WFC United States: Deadpool

(September 10, 2016)

Since I did France, I might as well do the US. There are really funny, exciting scenes here, and the dialogue is mostly on fleek. But the mixture of exciting and funny with slow and heartfelt makes the film kinda limp along for stretches. There’s a lack of rhythm… The funny bits are really funny, … Continue reading WFC United States: Deadpool

WFC France: Made in USA

(September 10, 2016)

I’ve kinda consciously postponed watching films from the major film-producing countries (from my point of view, of course: people in India may disagree): France, The United States of America and Britain. (And I couldn’t quite make up my mind whether to treat the UK as four contries or not.) Like, where’s the challenge in finding … Continue reading WFC France: Made in USA

FF1992: Collier’s

(September 10, 2016)

Collier’s #1-4 by David Collier. This series was published in a variety of sizes (two standard comic book, one standard magazine, and one in the middle somewhere) at a glacial pace between 1992 and 1998. I think I remember seeing work from David Collier popping up in various anthologies around that time, but I would … Continue reading FF1992: Collier’s

WFC Belarus: Ідзі і глядзі

(September 9, 2016)

Oops. This isn’t a very Belarussian film: It’s from the Soviet era. And this DVD is just ridiculous. It looks like it’s been recorded off the TV and then somebody has blurred the English subtitles, and then added new Korean and English subtitles on top. But I’ve made krambambulya! It’s too late to back our … Continue reading WFC Belarus: Ідзі і глядзі

WFC Senegal: Touki Bouki

(September 9, 2016)

What an odd film. It’s kinda nouvelle vague, but insane. Me like! I suspect the RSPCA wasn’t present at the filming. Paree, paree, paree… Touki Bouki. Djibril Diop Mambéty. 1973. Senegal. Bissap Shake 1 cup of dried hibiscus flowers 1 cup of sugar quarter cup of orange juice mint sprigs cucubmber slices vodka Heat two … Continue reading WFC Senegal: Touki Bouki

FF1987: Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy

(September 9, 2016)

Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy #1-8 edited by Joe Sacco. Sacco announced in the last issue of the Honk! magazine that it’d be changing its name to Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy, but it did more than that. The page count dropped from 48 to 32, the interviews disappeared and the text features mostly disappeared, and a new roster of regular … Continue reading FF1987: Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy

FF1993: Frederick & Eloise: A Love Story

(September 8, 2016)

Frederick & Eloise: A Love Story by Brian Biggs. Here’s another pretty odd one, both in format (slightly wider than high) and content. There’s two panels per page and not too many words, so it’s a very quick read. The plot, as it is, doesn’t really go the way you think it’s going, which is … Continue reading FF1993: Frederick & Eloise: A Love Story

FF1993: Holy Cross

(September 7, 2016)

Holy Cross #1-3 written by Malachy Coney. Well, this is an odd series. It’s written by Malachy Coney and drawn by three different people; it’s set in Belfast during the troubles; every issue is of a different size; and it’s three separate but somewhat interconnected stories. Let’s take a look. The first issue, shorter and … Continue reading FF1993: Holy Cross

Gmane Alive!

(September 6, 2016)

A few weeks back, a DDoS was the final straw that broke this Gmane camel’s back, and I took my marbles (as they were) and went home. I mean, I shut down the web interface of gmane.org. But now it’s back, and under new management: Yomura Corporation. Not all things are up yet, but it’s … Continue reading Gmane Alive!

FF1993: In the Days of the Ace Rock ‘n’ Roll Club

(September 6, 2016)

In the Days of the Ace Rock ‘n’ Roll Club by Eddie Campbell. I totally forgot about this one when I did the blog article on the other Fantagraphics Eddie Campbell comics… but since this one is from before the “Alec” period, and I called that article “Alic(ish)”, let’s just say I had this planned … Continue reading FF1993: In the Days of the Ace Rock ‘n’ Roll Club

FF1995: Black Hole

(September 5, 2016)

Black Hole #1-12 by Charles Burns. This book is Charles Burns magnum opus on being a teenager, doing drugs and having sex. And, of course, having horrible mutating diseases. He’d been doing work in this area pretty much from the beginning, but only scratching the surface. So to speak. He finally went all out here, … Continue reading FF1995: Black Hole

FF1986: Honk!

(September 4, 2016)

Honk #1-5 edited by Tom Mason and then Joe Sacco. Hey! Comics aren’t just about serious stuff any more! Honk! was Fantagraphics’ first humour magazine. It’s a mixture of comics, interviews and features: It sometimes reads a bit like a version of The Comics Journal that somebody has stuck a lot of comics pages in. … Continue reading FF1986: Honk!

WFC Zimbabwe: Neria

(September 3, 2016)

“Oh, look! Diplomats!” Well, of course this is a very low budget film, and it looks like it. Was it filmed on video? In the early 90s? (imdb says that it’s from 1993, but the DVD cover says that it won awards in Egypt in 1991 and South Africa in 1992, so it’s all very … Continue reading WFC Zimbabwe: Neria

WFC Israel: למלא את החלל‎‎

(September 3, 2016)

It’s an interesting film, and I like the funny bits. There’s also squirmy embarassing bits that are very… squirmy. Yeah, squirmy. I’ll go with squirmy. Where’s my thesaurus… Anyway, while there are really good scenes in here, I feel like large parts of the film are fairly pedestrian. Good actors, though. Fill the Void. Rama … Continue reading WFC Israel: למלא את החלל‎‎

FF1993: Brain Capers

(September 3, 2016)

Brain Capers #1 by Mario Hernandez. This book mainly collects various comics Hernandez had published in other Fantagraphics books (I think). I recognise pieces from Real Girl and Street Music, at least… The original pieces are pretty light on story, but they’re interesting graphically. Here we seem to be going off in a slightly more … Continue reading FF1993: Brain Capers

WFC Mauritania: Timbuktu

(September 2, 2016)

This is a very pretty film, and the way it portrays ISIS as buffoons is very amusing. And then it isn’t amusing any more. Some of the actors are compelling, but most of them are really, really stiff. I assume they’re not-professionals, but still… Timbuktu. Abderrahmane Sissako. 2014. Mauritania. Mauretania Mauritania peppermint tea mint leaves … Continue reading WFC Mauritania: Timbuktu

TSP2015: Dreams Rewired

(September 2, 2016)

Dreams Rewired was released on DVD recently.

FF1992: Cud

(September 2, 2016)

Cud #1-8 by Terry Laban. Cud was Terry Laban’s more explicitly underground comics series after the relationship dramedy series Unsupervised Existence. Confusingly enough, the main serial is about a gross performance artist named Bob Cudd, but it’s a different character than the gross performance artist named Bob in Unsupervised Existence. Reuse before recycle. Slight digression … Continue reading FF1992: Cud

Funniest Comic Book of 2016

(September 1, 2016)

The funniest comic book of 2016 must be Lisa Hanawalt’s Hot Dog Taste Test. It’s got everything, like thoughtful ideas on time travel… Helpful slogan reinventions… Practical how-to pages on how to do incredible food photography… And then sudden beauty. Not nearly as many hot dogs as you might surmise from the title, though.

FF1989: Eightball

(September 1, 2016)

Eightball #1-23 by Daniel Clowes. I was very curious about how re-reading Eightball would feel like. I read Clowes’ latest (very acclaimed) book Patience a few months back, and I thought it was crap. (There. I’ve now statistically alienated about 97% of potential readers of this blog article.) It was so bad that it started … Continue reading FF1989: Eightball

FF1988: Lloyd Llewellyn Special

(August 31, 2016)

Lloyd Llewellyn Special #1 by Daniel Clowes. When I did the post on Lloyd Llewellyn earlier, I didn’t know that this special (published about a year after the original series) existed. But it arrived now, so… Let’s… er… discuss. Apparently this special was supposed to be in colour, but due to low demand (from the … Continue reading FF1988: Lloyd Llewellyn Special

My New Concert Blog

Festival

(August 12, 2016)

I went to a rainy and cold festival today. Got dressed up in total rain gear, but when leaving the flat I apparently blanked completely:

The End of Gmane?

(July 28, 2016)

In 2002, I grew annoyed with not finding the obscure technical information I was looking for, so I started Gmane, the mailing list archive. All technical discussion took place on mailing lists those days, and archiving those were, at best, spotty and with horrible web interfaces. The past few weeks, the Gmane machines (and more … Continue reading The End of Gmane?

FF1991: Big Thing

(July 26, 2016)

Big Thing #1-4 by Colin Upton. This series is probably called Colin Upton’s Other Big Thing (Upton had self-published more that 60 mini-comics by this time, and one larger one, which was called Big Thing, so this name makes sense), and then Colin Upton’s Other Slightly Smaller Big Thing (when it went to a smaller … Continue reading FF1991: Big Thing

FF1994: Bad Comics

(July 25, 2016)

Bad Comics #1 by JR Williams. A previous #1 had been published a few years earlier by Cat-Head Comics, and if I remember correctly, it was much like this one: A random collection of funny comics by JR Williams. Like Sam Henderson, he’s someone who seems to know the mechanics of telling a joke well, … Continue reading FF1994: Bad Comics

FF1990: Graphic Story Monthly

(July 24, 2016)

Graphic Story Monthly #1-7 edited by Gary Groth. Graphic Story Monthly was Fantagraphics’ second attempt at a “general” comics anthology, following hot on the heels of Prime Cuts. In some ways, it’s just a continuation of that series under a new name. Many of the same contributors and features continue on from the first series, … Continue reading FF1990: Graphic Story Monthly

WFC Chile: La Nana

(July 23, 2016)

This wasn’t what I expected at all. Judging by the the DVD cover it looks like some sort of screwball comedy. And it is funny, but it’s really a complex, intense drama. Nerve-wracking. I love the actors, but I’m not sure the really grainy natural-light (I’m guessing here) film (I mean digital) is a net … Continue reading WFC Chile: La Nana

FF1979: The Flames of Gyro

(July 23, 2016)

The Flames of Gyro by Jay Disbrow. I don’t have a complete set of all floppies Fantagraphics have ever published, so while writing this series I’ve started to buy the stuff I’m missing. This is one of them. The Flames of Gyro (featuring Valgar Gunnar) is the first comic book that Fantagraphics published, and it’s… … Continue reading FF1979: The Flames of Gyro

FF1995: Girltalk

(July 22, 2016)

Girltalk #1-4 The cover of the first issue says “1st full issue”, but that’s because a sort of “preview” issue was included with issue seven of Real Girl. No editor is listed, but Isabella Bannerman and Sabrina Jones seem to be the central people here, perhaps. This anthology sprang out of the venerable World War … Continue reading FF1995: Girltalk

WFC Venezuela: Pelo malo

(July 21, 2016)

This is really good! I love all the actors, especially the mother. And the cinematography is both fantastic and real at the same time. Everything’s so tense. Bad Hair. Mariana Rondón. 2013. Venezuela. Playero 2 parts coconot flavoured rum 1 part lemon juice 1 part gin 1 part lemon soda 1 part coconut water Mix … Continue reading WFC Venezuela: Pelo malo

WFC United Arab Emirates: ذيب‎‎

(July 20, 2016)

There are good scenes in here, but mostly the actors are pretty hopeless, even for non-professional actors. And it fails the Bechdel test. Theeb. Naji Abu Nowar. 2014. United Arab Emirates. Detox Mule 3 parts ginger beer 3 parts vodka 1 part peppermint syrup (1:1 sugar and peppermint tea) 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar … Continue reading WFC United Arab Emirates: ذيب‎‎

2d cloud

(July 19, 2016)

2d cloud is a publisher from Minneapolis who’s been publishing a lot of interesting comics and comics-adjacent stuff the past few years. Their financing strategy seems to be to do pre-sales via Kickstarter for each “collection”. Nothing much is being… kickstartered… but you send them some money and they send you all these neat comics … Continue reading 2d cloud

FF1991: Tales from the Outer Boroughs

(July 18, 2016)

Tales from the Outer Boroughs #1-5 by Douglas Michael. This is a pretty odd series, even as odd series go. I guess I can see the inspiration here from people like Rick Geary, Ben Katchor and Chris Reynolds, but the artwork isn’t as distinctive as any of those, really. He does have the oblique weirdness … Continue reading FF1991: Tales from the Outer Boroughs

Automatically Mount exfat File Systems in Linux

(July 16, 2016)

I do quite a bit of video on my camera, and the easiest way to transfer these rather large files to my computer is to insert the SD card into an SD card connected to my computer. I wanted this to be as painless as possible, so I want the computer to auto mount anything … Continue reading Automatically Mount exfat File Systems in Linux

FF1991: Naughty Bits

(July 14, 2016)

Naughty Bits #1-40 by Roberta Gregory. I’d been a fan of Roberta Gregory since way before Naughty Bits started in 1991. I’d gotten a hand on Dynamite Damsels when I was, like, 14, and I really loved her somewhat gentle style and pretty whimsical subject matter (like in Winging It). Unicorns and aliens and mysteries … Continue reading FF1991: Naughty Bits

My New Concert Blog; Festival Edition

(July 11, 2016)

FF1985: Neat Stuff

(July 7, 2016)

Neat Stuff #1-15 by Peter Bagge. I don’t quite recall how I felt about Peter Bagge’s comics when I was a teenager. I certainly wasn’t obsessing about it like I was with, say, Chester Brown or Moebius. That the first issue of Neat Stuff that I have is a third printing from the mid-90s is … Continue reading FF1985: Neat Stuff

My New Concert Blog

(July 7, 2016)

This time it’s the Motvind festival, day one, which is all about protesting other festivals being sponsored by big oil and weapons and stuff.

FF1990: Pedestrian Vulgarity

(July 4, 2016)

Pedestrian Vulgarity #1 by Dennis Worden. Another one of those one-off magazines that Fantagraphics published at random during the late 80s and early 90s. This time it’s a collection of mostly one-page funny strips by Dennis Worden, who is best known for doing Stickboy for quite a while. There’s only one page of stick persons … Continue reading FF1990: Pedestrian Vulgarity

FF1988: Street Music

(July 3, 2016)

Street Music #1-6 edited by Mark Burbey. Street Music is a somewhat unusual anthology. It’s mainly the vehicle for the “Street Music” serial, which takes up something between a third and a half of each issue, and which is written by the editor, Mark Burbey, and drawn by Bili Turner. Neither of them could be … Continue reading FF1988: Street Music

WFC Hong Kong: 詠春

(July 2, 2016)

This is the goofiest film I’ve seen ever. Love it! So good natured. A classic comedy of errors. But with Kung Fu. Wing Chun. Woo-Ping Yuen. 1994. Hong Kong. Chelsea Flower Show 3 parts sherry 3 parts Lillet Blanc 3 parts St Germain 1 part egg white 1 part aromatic bitters Shake with ice and … Continue reading WFC Hong Kong: 詠春

WFC Macedonia: Пред дождот

(July 2, 2016)

I didn’t quite understand this bit. It’s the same actor, but is it the same character? PLZ EXPLAIN I don’t think this film was approved by the Macedonian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It’s a structurally interesting film, with all that mirroring and stuff, and the spiralling timelines that don’t resolve (in … Continue reading WFC Macedonia: Пред дождот

FF1990: Kaktus Valley

(July 2, 2016)

Kaktus Valley #1 edited by John Carlin and Gary Panter. This is another one of those one-off magazines Fantagraphics used to publish that seemed to arrive without any context. Reading it, it seems like the idea is to gather a lot of people from the more punkey end of the Raw generation together and have … Continue reading FF1990: Kaktus Valley

WFC Italy: Il Vangelo secondo Matteo

(July 1, 2016)

The higher the hat, the closer to god. Hey, is that Flea? Hm… Oops! Spoilers! I may somehow accidentally never have seen any Pasolini films before, so I didn’t quite know what to expect. I’m not sure, but I think this is a savage parody of the tale of Jesus? Without changing any of the … Continue reading WFC Italy: Il Vangelo secondo Matteo

FF1990: Real Girl

(June 30, 2016)

Real Girl #1-9 edited by Angela Bocage. I had forgotten how many anthologies Fantagraphics used to publish. Anthologies are still a thing, but I don’t think there’s much being published in something resembling this format: An editor who wants to explore a specific theme, and then invites contributors to participate. (Perhaps Island by Brandon Graham … Continue reading FF1990: Real Girl

FF1986: Lloyd Llewellyn

(June 29, 2016)

Lloyd Llewellyn #1-6 by Daniel Clowes. Daniel Clowes is one of the most celebrated comics artists working today, but back in 1986 (when he was 25), he created his first comic book series: Lloyd Llewellyn. To say that it was an overwhelming success would probably to be overwhelmingly generous. Before doing this series, he had … Continue reading FF1986: Lloyd Llewellyn

Emacs Imgur Interface

(June 29, 2016)

It was suggested on github that the Emacs meme creator should offer uploading images to imgur (and return the resulting URL) for max magic. That seems extremely true. There is already an imgur.el on github, but it’s doesn’t seem ideal (it does much more than just uploading; it seems to be using an older API; … Continue reading Emacs Imgur Interface

EMACS CAN HAZ FANCY MEME

(June 28, 2016)

After pondering this weighty functionality some more (while I should have been sleeping), I decided there weren’t enough features. I didn’t graduate university as an Over Engineer for nothing, you know. The updated code is available on Github.

An Emacs Meme Generator

(June 27, 2016)

I got an idea tonight: Emacs must have a meme generator. Using a web browser seems so jejune. After pondering a few minutes and then typing a few hours, here it is. And here’s how it looks in action: It basically just manipulates an SVG image, so it’s less work than you’d expect. If you want … Continue reading An Emacs Meme Generator

FF1995: Filibusting Comics

(June 26, 2016)

Filibusting Comics #1 by Dylan Sisson. This book is a parody of Scott McCloud’s seminal “Understanding Comics” book. I mean, that’s a pretty sticky book. McCloud’s career is an unusual one. He made a fondly remembered book back in the 80s, Zot, that wasn’t a major commercial success. It was sweet and fun, but not … Continue reading FF1995: Filibusting Comics

WFC Japan: 宇宙海賊キャプテンハーロック

(June 25, 2016)

The Blu-Ray turns out not to have any languages that I understand, so I had to use the online Internet film caches to get a copy I could watch. (Well, actually two copies, since the first one (as can be seen in the first screenshots) was very artifacty.) This is a vert un-nerdy un-science fictioney … Continue reading WFC Japan: 宇宙海賊キャプテンハーロック

Useful Consumer Review

(June 25, 2016)

What with all these cocktails, I was getting tired of carrying bags of ice cubes from the store. So I bought an ice cube machine today: Logik L12IM14E. It’s not connected to the water mains, so it can be placed anywhere, but it’s on the kitchen counter for now. And it’s kinda noisy. I guess … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

WFC Egypt: عمارة يعقوبيان

(June 25, 2016)

That’s a lot of comedy false beards. I mean… That beard on the guy to the right… *sigh* That’s the most efficient way to drive police vans down the street, I’m sure. … !!! I don’t think this is a very good film… but I may not be completely in the mood for this type … Continue reading WFC Egypt: عمارة يعقوبيان

Useful Consumer Review

(June 24, 2016)

I got some of these Duralex Provence glasses last year because they’re the prettiest glasses ever: But I was putting some of them away just now, and I er dropped one of them onto another a stack of them: The glass broke and totally disintegrated! Into a gazillion teensy bits! I’ve never seen a glass … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

WFC South Korea: 싸이보그지만 괜찮아

(June 24, 2016)

That’s what you’d call an insane wig. Long time no film. Uhm… I haven’t seen any of the more well-known Park Chan-wook films, but this one is kinda weird. Probably made even weirder by me scaling the cocktail after how much juice two thirds of a cucumber gives (in the juicer). Which is quite a … Continue reading WFC South Korea: 싸이보그지만 괜찮아

FF1984: Dalgoda

(June 24, 2016)

Dalgoda #1-8 Flesh & Bones #1-4 By Jan Strnad and Dennis Fujitake. I think this may be Fantagraphic’s first colour comic book. They’d released a couple of albums (“graphic novels”) in colour, but every comic book comic was in black and white. According to the editorial by Gary Groth, it was something of a financial … Continue reading FF1984: Dalgoda

FF1990: Real Life

(June 23, 2016)

Real Life #1 by Mark Zingarelli. Autobiographical comics are often written by shy introverts (or so the cliché goes), but there’s also a tradition of manly men making the stuff (perhaps beginning with Spain). The most prolific manly man in the field is the writer Dennis Eichhorn. He just writes the stuff and gets a … Continue reading FF1990: Real Life

FF1987: Good Girls

(June 22, 2016)

Good Girls #1-6 by Carol Lay. There are two serials in Good Girls. The first one is about a journalist who handles the “lonely hearts” column and gets into wacky adventures, as with these slightly oedipal superhero enthusiasts. The second feature is a romance parody about a billionaire who’s been brought up in Africa and … Continue reading FF1987: Good Girls

FF1986: Critters

(June 21, 2016)

Critters #1-50 edited by Kim Thompson. Ah, funny animals… It’s such a strange genre, if that’s the name for it. Perhaps “stylistic convention” is better. You have anthropomorphic characters in basically any genre (humour, science fiction, mysteries, anything), and there are fans that are really into reading stories in all these genres as long as … Continue reading FF1986: Critters

FF1987: Prime Cuts

(June 12, 2016)

Prime Cuts #1-10 edited by Gary Groth. There are some storied American comics anthologies: Arcade, Raw, Weirdo… (Well, and the ones that started popping up since the turn of the century.) Prime Cuts isn’t one that you hear mentioned much these days. It was (I think) Fantagraphics’ first major “serious” anthology. They had already published … Continue reading FF1987: Prime Cuts

FF1994: The Biologic Show

(June 11, 2016)

The Biologic show #0-1 by Al Columbia. This is a pretty odd… series. The first issue (#0) is magazine sized and is mostly shorter pieces. The second issue (#1) is announced as being quarterly, and then there are no more issues. Anyway, I assume everybody knows Columbia’s story (Bill Sienkiewicz’s assistant on Alan Moore’s Big … Continue reading FF1994: The Biologic Show

FF1986: Captain Jack

(June 9, 2016)

The Adventures of Captain Jack #1-12 A*K*Q*J #1 By Mike Kazaleh. Back in the 80s, Fantagraphics published a number of funny animal titles. This one is one of the funnier funny animal titles. Kazaleh’s day job is as a storyboarder for animated films. It’s kinda obvious looking at some of the scenes, but it’s not … Continue reading FF1986: Captain Jack

My New Concert Blog

(June 9, 2016)

FF1989: The Adventures of Mr. Pyridine

(June 8, 2016)

The Adventures of Mr. Pyridine #1 by M. Singh Fantagraphics published a large number of what you might perhaps call “aspirational series”. That is, they aspired to be series, but I think everybody involved could guess that there would most likely be no more than one issue. Perhaps I should gather a few up in … Continue reading FF1989: The Adventures of Mr. Pyridine

FF1986: Keif Llama

(June 6, 2016)

Particle Dreams #1-6 Keif Llama: Xenotech #1-6 By Matt Howarth. Matt Howarth is best known for his The Annoying Post Bros series. The protagonists there run around different universes killing people and having fun. I never quite warmed up to that concept, although I’ve probably read most of the issues by now. These comics, on … Continue reading FF1986: Keif Llama

FF1987: Sinner

(June 5, 2016)

Sinner #1-5 by José Muñoz and Carlos Sampayo. After the previous post which literally killed me, I (in a ghostly incarnation) decided to do a very small series today. Sinner is one of the earliest attempts by Fantagraphics at bringing French-ey comics to the US. (The creators are Argentinian, but live in Europe and publishes … Continue reading FF1987: Sinner

FF1982: Love and Rockets

(June 1, 2016)

Created by Jaime Hernandez, Beto Hernandez and Mario Hernandez. Love and Rockets #1-50, Mechanics #1-3, Love and Rockets Bonanza , Whoa, Nellie #1-3, New Love #1-6, Maggie and Hopey Color Special, Penny Century #1-7, Luba #1-10, Luba’s Comics and Stories #1-8, Love and Rockets vol II #1-20, Love and Rockets: New stories #1-8, New Tales … Continue reading FF1982: Love and Rockets

Reading Fantagraphics

(June 1, 2016)

I’ve been meaning to re-read all of Love and Rockets for years and years. But I’ve never found the time, because all my comics reading time has been occupied by reading new comics. *sniff* I’ve paused my avaracious comics acquisition onslaught slightly and rooted out all the Love and Rockets issues. But doing so, I … Continue reading Reading Fantagraphics

Innovations in DVD Case Technology

(May 28, 2016)

I’ve got quite a few DVD cases that have four DVDs inside a normal size DVD case. Arranged like this: Now the Australians have innovated: Look! Six DVDs in one single normal size DVD case! I’m amaze!

The Horror!

(May 28, 2016)

This house had new doors put in a year or so ago, and I finally got around to getting a new (internal) doorbell. (We’re apparently supposed to have them for safety reasons or something.) So I got this wireless one: It works, which is unusual for something that’s wireless. But listen to it: It plays … Continue reading The Horror!

WFC Sweden: En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron

(May 27, 2016)

Brilliant! Funny and moving. It’s kinda like… Ben Katchor’s Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer. Only Swedish. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence. Roy Andersson. 2014. Sweden. Swedish Snowball 2 parts lemonade 1 part Advocaat 1 part vodka A dash of lime Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. This post … Continue reading WFC Sweden: En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron

WFC Poland: Ida

(May 27, 2016)

The DVD is interlaced (i.e., half vertical resolution). Which is weird for a film this short. They kept the length down to one layer. Probably saved a fraction of a cent. Oh, the film! It’s about Poland and jews and WWII and stuff. It’s good. I adore the “Wanda” character. She’s so blunt. On a … Continue reading WFC Poland: Ida

WFC Belgium: Le tout nouveau testament

(May 27, 2016)

This is what it looks like at the Arctic Circle. This film is such a shameless crowd pleaser. I can easily see how some people would find it just unbearable. But I really enjoyed it. Forced whimsy and all. I haven’t seen Forrest Gump, but this is how I would imagine a French version would … Continue reading WFC Belgium: Le tout nouveau testament

My New Concert Blog

(May 25, 2016)

My New Concert Blog

(May 25, 2016)

I put the SD card into my Ubuntu laptop, copied some files over, and then unplugged the SD card without ejecting it. I thought it would be safe because I hadn’t altered anything. But when I replugged the card, it was invalid. And fsck.exfat on Linux knows nothing. It’s worse than John Snow. I plugged … Continue reading My New Concert Blog

WFC Turkey: Kış Uykusu

(May 21, 2016)

Excellent actors. It’s almost annoyingly real. The (many, many, many) discussions and arguments are just like being there. Aydın is such a reasonable monster. This is a very good film. Almost every scene is a pleasant surprise. The scene with the money, though, was so clearly signalled I could read it from space. So not … Continue reading WFC Turkey: Kış Uykusu

WFC Portugal: Cavalo Dinheiro

(May 20, 2016)

This is a very original film. If it reminds me of anything, it’s the films of Marguerite Duras from the 70s. Somehow. But I’m not quite feeling it. Sorree. Horse Money. Pedro Costa. 2014. Portugal. Portuguese Daisy recipe 12 parts port 6 parts brandy 6 parts lemon juice 1 part caster sugar 1 part grenadine … Continue reading WFC Portugal: Cavalo Dinheiro

I Bought Something

(May 20, 2016)

After watching Prisoner Queen the other month, I started thinking about maybe perhaps watching Prisoner: Cell Block H again. In like, 20 years or so. When I’m feeling poorly. And I’ve gotten old timers’ disease. So I started idly looking for it… Didn’t seem to be any active torrents going for the whole series… And … Continue reading I Bought Something

An Image From A Superhero Comic Posted Without Comment

(May 11, 2016)

Bonus Image

(May 6, 2016)

WFC Ethiopia: Crumbs

(May 6, 2016)

Wow! That was unexpected. A post-apocalyptic sci-fi film set in Ethiopia. It’s funny, it’s scary, it’s pretty, and it’s original. Crumbs. Miguel Llansó. 2015. Ethiopia. Ethiopian Espresso Martini 2 parts vodka 1 part creme de cacao 4 parts coffe Shake with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass and sprinkle with caramom. This post is part … Continue reading WFC Ethiopia: Crumbs

WFC Philippines: Independencia

(May 6, 2016)

Manila-Acapulco Grog 8 parts coconut water 4 parts rum 1 part Kahlua 1 part lime juice 1 part simple syrup Garnish with a mangosteen. It was supposed to be kalamansi instead of lime, but I couldn’t find any. This is a very strange film. Independencia. Raya Martin. 2009. Philippines. This post is part of the … Continue reading WFC Philippines: Independencia

Emacs Bug Trends

(May 3, 2016)

I had cold recently (well, I still have), so I amused myself by going through the Emacs bugs database and fixing documentation related bug reports. Should be safe enough to do even with a fever. Anyway, I started wondering: Are things getting better or are things getting worse? The Emacs bug statistics charts aren’t really … Continue reading Emacs Bug Trends

My New Concert Blog

(April 27, 2016)

Eek. The SD card mysteriously ran out of space, even though du said it was empty. And it happened in the pretty part at the end…

WFC Mexico: Japón

(April 23, 2016)

I like the grainy film. 8mm? 16mm? Lots of ISOs? But even though I really like it visually, I’m afraid the film kinda lost me. Perhaps I’m just not in the mood for the languidity? (That’s a word!) And I guess you could see the film as a series of deliberate provocations? There’s somebody killing … Continue reading WFC Mexico: Japón

WFC Mali: Bamako

(April 23, 2016)

This is a very unusual film. It starts off with a trial of sorts that turns out to be more of a hearing into African debt, globalism and migration. And it takes place in the backyard of a private house, so there are children and animals running around amongst the judges and witnesses. Very interesting. … Continue reading WFC Mali: Bamako

WFC Taiwan: 最好的時光

(April 22, 2016)

This is yet another very languid film. I mean, very little happens. But the actors here are very good, so it’s enjoyable to watch. And it’s cute and playful. The second part (which is a “silent film” from 1910-ish) is a bit of a drag, though. Three Times. Hsiao-Hsien Hou. 2005. Taiwan. Zegroni 10 parts … Continue reading WFC Taiwan: 最好的時光

WFC Greece: Τριλογία: Το λιβάδι που δακρύζει

(April 22, 2016)

Stella! STELLA!!! Geez. An interlaced DVD. That reduces the vertical resolution to a half. But I guess I can see why they did it — it’s 6GB as it (it’s quite long), and they’d have to go to double sided to get it over 9GB… Which I would have preferred. Anyway! It’s a very languid … Continue reading WFC Greece: Τριλογία: Το λιβάδι που δακρύζει

Google GeoChart

(April 21, 2016)

I wanted to have some maps in my World of Films and Cocktails series. Like this: I tried various mapping services, but nothing was flexible enought to do what I wanted. I wanted more recently “visited” countries to be brighter, I wanted it to be scriptable, I wanted it to be easy to take unassisted … Continue reading Google GeoChart

WFC Australia: Prisoner Queen: Mindless Music & Mirrorballs

(April 20, 2016)

This is a very low budget film. It does have charm and an insane plot going for it, but it’s so, so awkward. A million kudos for casting Noeline Bourke (Jude Kuring) from Prisoner: Cell Block H, my favourite soap ever. (And all the other actors from that series.) Well. The only soap worth watching. … Continue reading WFC Australia: Prisoner Queen: Mindless Music & Mirrorballs

WFC Algeria: معركة الجزائر

(April 20, 2016)

I had planned on watching a diffent, more Algerian film, but it turned out to only have French subtitles. (Two different French subtitles and dubbed into French two different ways.) So I went with this one instead, which is perhaps more Italian than Algerian, but The Battle of Algiers. Gillo Pontecorvo. 1966. Algeria. Algeria Cocktail … Continue reading WFC Algeria: معركة الجزائر

Everything Is Horrible: Headphone Edition

(April 17, 2016)

There are many minor problems in the world. Global warming. The refugee crises. ISIS. But there’s one problem so serious, so controversial, so all-encompassing that nobody has dared discuss it before: The bad user interfaces on wireless headphones. This may seem like a minor problem in comparison to other problems, like the fact that most … Continue reading Everything Is Horrible: Headphone Edition

WFC Ireland: The Irish Pub

(April 16, 2016)

Oops! It’s a documentary about an Irish bar. I thought it was gonna be a feel good comedy or something. Fudging Irish. “This bar serves the best Guinnes in Dublin!” Whaa… As it went on and on I started hating it more and more. And I started out hating it quite a lot! Sentimental twaddle. … Continue reading WFC Ireland: The Irish Pub

WFC China: 三峡好人

(April 16, 2016)

Oo. I quite like this film. It’s very languid. And it seems straightforward, but things sort of keep happening on the margins that … probably aren’t. It’s a serious, but whimsical film. So it’s very nice. But it’s not without its problems. Tao Zhao is great, but many of the minor characters are played by … Continue reading WFC China: 三峡好人

WFC Ukraine: Плем’я

(April 15, 2016)

Gimmicky as fuck, this film is entirely in Ukrainian sign language (without subtitles) and has the requisite amount of sex and violence to make it “serious”. It’s the standard “spiral into despair” plot so beloved of a certain class of directors. It’s not badly made, though. And some of the actors are really great. I … Continue reading WFC Ukraine: Плем’я

“I had to airbrush a hot chick on the back of my truck”

(April 15, 2016)

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is back for a second season. This post in not part of my Tilda Swinton project.

WFC Angola: Na cidade vazia

(April 15, 2016)

I bought the DVD used, but it didn’t work, so I, er, downloaded a backup copy off of the interwebs. Yeah, that’s the ticket. It looks kinda like the interwebby copy is from a VHS, but it’s quite nice, anyway. I enjoyed this film. The acting is kinda all over the place, but there are … Continue reading WFC Angola: Na cidade vazia

WFC Finland: Kovasikajuttu

(April 13, 2016)

Hey! It’s a documentary of a variously abled band. Kinda fun. The Punk Syndrome. Jukka Kärkkäinen. 2012. Finland. Cloudberry/Apple Cocktail 1 part sugar syrup 2 parts cold pressed apple juice 1 part cloudberry liqueur 1 part white rum Some splashes of Angostura bitters Shake with ice and pour into a cocktail glass. I had to … Continue reading WFC Finland: Kovasikajuttu

WFC Estonia: Mandariinid

(April 13, 2016)

And is this really more of a Georgian film than an Estonian film? I did not know that there was an Estonian village in Georgia, though. The Soviet Union was funny. But perhaps not in a “ha ha” way. This film is very on the nose. War is awful. I appreciate the sentiment. It’s heart … Continue reading WFC Estonia: Mandariinid

WFC Malaysia: The Red Kebaya

(April 13, 2016)

Oh, man. This is so amateurish. But it’s kinda atmospheric, and the central conceit of the film is kinda cute. And the actor playing Azizah is pretty good. And it won the prize for Best Poster (WON). So I’m being oh so generous and rolling: The Red Kebaya. Oliver Knott. 2006. Malaysia. Sing Sing 2 … Continue reading WFC Malaysia: The Red Kebaya

WFC Spain: Carne Trémula

(April 8, 2016)

This started off kinda wonky, but then it got better. Almodovar is Almodovar, of course, but sometimes he goes off the rails. This is quite different from his usual themes, though. I quite enjoyed parts of it, but it does drag a bit… Live Flesh. Pedro Almodovar. 1997. Spain. Aquavit 43 3 parts Licor 43 … Continue reading WFC Spain: Carne Trémula

WFC Saudi Arabia: وجدة‎

(April 8, 2016)

Hey! It’s a comedy about a spunky girl in Saudi Arabia. Not what I expected at all. It plays with the constant trivial, petty and extreme repression of Saudi society vs trying to have a normal childhood very effectively. Funny and enraging at the same time. And the girl playing the lead is just amazing. … Continue reading WFC Saudi Arabia: وجدة‎

WFC India: द लंच बॉक्स

(April 6, 2016)

Hm… this might not be totally genuinly Indian. Lots of European financing going on… // From the cover of the DVD I thought it was going to be a Bollywood film with lots of dancing and singing, and… it isn’t. Boo! But this film has a very silly premise, anyway. Me like! Marrying that great … Continue reading WFC India: द लंच बॉक्स

WFC Iran: کلوزآپ ، نمای نزدیک‎

(April 6, 2016)

This is a totally fascinating film. It’s mostly a documentary, but the film-maker didn’t arrive until a bit into the proceedings, so he had the people involved re-enact what happened before he arrived. And the story being told isn’t a super-duper mega-important one, but a really weird one. It’s so bizarre structurally. I had to … Continue reading WFC Iran: کلوزآپ ، نمای نزدیک‎

WFC Denmark: Idealisten

(April 5, 2016)

This film veered between being almost a parody of a serious documentary about a brave journalist and… er… Hm. Perhaps it didn’t veer that much. It wasn’t a good film, but it was occasionally exciting. The Idealist. Christina Rosendahl. 2015. Denmark. Complement Cocktail 2 parts gin 1 part aquavit a few dashes of maraschino liqueur … Continue reading WFC Denmark: Idealisten

WFC Brazil: Orfeu Negro

(April 5, 2016)

So much drama. I’m not feeling it. Looks and sounds great, though. Black Orpheus. Marcel Camus. 1959. Brazil. 2 parts mango 1 part cachaça some suger ice cubes Run in a blender until smooth. This should have been really good, but the mangoes weren’t really… that good… so… This post is part of the World … Continue reading WFC Brazil: Orfeu Negro

WFC Argentina: La mujer sin cabeza

(April 1, 2016)

The Headless Woman. Lucrecia Martel. 2008. Argentina. Hey. This was rather excellent. I bought the film at random in a used DVD shop. I should do that more, but do used DVD shops even exist any more? Bison TT I couldn’t find ginger syrup anywhere, so I had to make it myself. 1 part water … Continue reading WFC Argentina: La mujer sin cabeza

WFC Russia: Зеркало

(April 1, 2016)

This is officially Tarkovskij’s best film. It’s like he extended the mood of the final scenes in Solaris and Stalker into an entire film. Or the other way around. It is, indeed, pretty fab. Mirror. Andrej Tarkovsky. 1957. Russia. Yorsh 10 parts beer 1 part vodka Blend gently. This post is part of the World … Continue reading WFC Russia: Зеркало

The World of Films & Cocktails

(March 31, 2016)

After my 1968-1922 film project somebody suggested that I should try to watch a film from each country next. “Hmm. And what about a cocktail, too?” So I spent a few hours googling just to see whether it’s at all feasible. Are there films from Togo? Are there cocktails from Yemen? Yes! There are films … Continue reading The World of Films & Cocktails

My New Concert Blog

(March 30, 2016)

Bootiful! Jazzy!

Down the Rabbit Hole

(March 24, 2016)

Aaargh! I was going to do a simple switcharoo. The tiny firewall machine at home had shown itself to be slightly unstable. Not egregiously, but it seems like it’ll die every four months or so. That’s kinda annoying. So I got a new, spiffier tiny machine. Copying over the setup from the old machine should … Continue reading Down the Rabbit Hole

USWTF

(March 23, 2016)

I think that’s 15 different USB-As to USB-WTFs.

This is a Thing That Exists

(March 23, 2016)

(I’m tidying my cable storage.)

Comics in Melbourne

(March 20, 2016)

While visiting Australia in February, I took a little trip to Melbourne and visited the All Star Comics store. It’s mainly a super hero store, but they had this one huge wall filled with local(ish) comics. Next to the door, even. So I bought a stack, and now I read them all. Here’s a few … Continue reading Comics in Melbourne

My New Concert Blog

(March 16, 2016)

Cookin’

(March 12, 2016)

Finally! A stylish apron!

“EXTERNALIZE REALITY”

(March 5, 2016)

Every pair of pants should have a manifesto.

Holiday’s End

(March 4, 2016)

I thought this stuff was supposed to be over when my summer holiday had finished. Weather! You’re doing it wrong!

Bugs in the Skies

(March 2, 2016)

I was wondering how hard it would be to make the Emacs interface to the Emacs bug tracker offline capable. And it turns out it’s not very hard at all to create a half-assed solution here. Basically you just have to download the bug list, and then all the bugs (which are just mbox files), … Continue reading Bugs in the Skies

A Big Patch For Emacs, A Small Step For eww

(February 22, 2016)

During my summer holiday I’ve mainly been working on making the Emacs networking layer more asynchronous. To set up a connection, you first have to do DNS resolution, then the TCP three way handshake to set up a socket, and then (if you’re setting up a TLS connection) do the TLS negotiation. Then you can … Continue reading A Big Patch For Emacs, A Small Step For eww

Memorabilia (Melbourne Remix)

(February 21, 2016)

The Saddest Thing About Hotel Rooms

(February 17, 2016)

Touchy Emacs

(February 5, 2016)

I use Emacs as a music playing interface, and I thought it would be nice try to create a pure touch screen interface, just … because. The only OS that would install on my old Surface Pro 2 was the prerelease version of Ubuntu 16.04, Xenial Xerus. Apparently kernels between 2013 and a couple of … Continue reading Touchy Emacs

Beau Travail

(February 5, 2016)

It’s nice that the Earth has two sides, I think. Also:

libre.fm

(January 18, 2016)

After the last last.fm redesign, it’s been speculated that last.fm probably isn’t going to survive much longer. It’s sad, but it’s difficult to see what the business idea with last.fm is these day. And the way they’re chopping the useful features is weird. For instance, I’ve been using the events page for years to time … Continue reading libre.fm

Even More Ears 2016

(January 17, 2016)

All Ears 2016

(January 16, 2016)

last.fm scrobbling problems

(January 15, 2016)

The past few months, I’ve noticed that only a fraction of the music I’ve been playing has been scrobbling on last.fm. But I just put this down to general last.fm flakiness — I think everybody pretty much assumes that they’re closing any time soon after the last disasterous redesign (where all the useful functionality disappeared … Continue reading last.fm scrobbling problems

TSP1986: Zastrozzi: A Romance

(January 10, 2016)

I’m apparently part of the Tilda Swinton Underground now, where we swap rare, unavailable Tilda Swinton TV series and shorts. Or something. In any case, I got a copy of this 1986 British TV series from a kind reader. It’s rather good. Bits of it are brilliant. And some bits, er, aren’t. Have a peek … Continue reading TSP1986: Zastrozzi: A Romance

The Continued Effect of Version Control Systems on Emacs Developers

(January 10, 2016)

I did some stats on the effect of the number of contributors after Emacs switched to git last May. I think I summed it up as “meh”, but that was only after a handful of months, after all. It’s now been more than a year, so I redid the experiment: (The red line is the … Continue reading The Continued Effect of Version Control Systems on Emacs Developers

Storage Cubed

(January 9, 2016)

I wanted more storage for comics, but I just couldn’t find anything that really fit the only vacant wall space I had in the office. So I bought 21 of these small Ikea bookshelf box things. In November. And today I finally completed the project by making one of the boxes into a computer… cabinet… … Continue reading Storage Cubed

Glitchmash ’16

(January 9, 2016)

My video player wasn’t able to play this tv show. And my record player wasn’t able to play this flexi by Crosby (included in the Post York comic book). Enjoy these digital/analogue failures together.

NBM: What’s Up With Them?

(January 4, 2016)

My interest in reading comics really took off last year after many years of taking a back seat to, well, everything else. So I’ve been trolling the web for things I’ve missed. And then I happened upon the NBM web site. NBM has been around since the 70s, and I’ve bought oodles of stuff from … Continue reading NBM: What’s Up With Them?

It’s About Ethics in Gnus Development

(January 1, 2016)

I mean maintainability. Yeah. This is long and meandering, so here’s the summary: Gnus (and a couple of other Emacs packages) are dropping XEmacs support. Meanwhile, here’s a GIF of a cat: When I took over Gnus, the Emacs newsreader, in the mid-90s, it seemed natural to do the development outside of Emacs. Emacs was … Continue reading It’s About Ethics in Gnus Development

F&C1922: Foolish Wives

(December 31, 2015)

It’s funny how Erich von Stroheim looks just like his name sounds. Bloopers! Now he’s got an arm band… Now he doesn’t! Oh the humanity! I wish people would stop making interlaced DVDs. I mean, mplayer de-interlaces them just fine, but it means that the vertical resolution is, in effect, half of what it should … Continue reading F&C1922: Foolish Wives

F&C1923: Souls for Sale

(December 30, 2015)

I can’t think why… Er… I guess standards changed… That’s the beauty in question. Even crossing the street was almost heroic. I listened to Wrong Eye instead of the alternatingly jaunty and maudlin soundtrack. It’s a very bowdlerised “behind the scenes” look at Hollywood. Kinda fun. Souls for Sale. Rupert Hughes. 1923. Mojito This post … Continue reading F&C1923: Souls for Sale

Useful Consumer Review

(December 20, 2015)

I’m travelling next month, so I thought it would be nice to have a really lightweight disk to carry movies around with. On. In. After. Under. <PREPOSITION>. So I got this rather spiffy-looking USB3 SSD: It shows up in Linux as [30759.597367] scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access Samsung Portable SSD T1 0 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6 but … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

F&C1924: Greed

(December 19, 2015)

Like… he was there?! On the set!? Man. Hey, this one doesn’t have an overly jaunty soundtrack… It’s more like a… er… slightly modernist jazzist thing… Who am I to criticise this classic? I don’t know anything about nothing. But I still think this film sucked. And I doubt the original eight hour version was … Continue reading F&C1924: Greed

F&C1925: The Lost World

(December 19, 2015)

That has to be the worst blackface in the history of blackface. I listened to Thighpaulsandra instead of the overly jaunty soundtrack. Well… I kinda liked this film. It’s really quite wonky in places, and it seems to be edited by someone who doesn’t mind repetitious scenes. (This is a “restored” versjon created by adding … Continue reading F&C1925: The Lost World

F&C1926: The Black Pirate

(December 19, 2015)

Instead of listening to the overly merry soundtrack I listened to Woodslippercounterclatter by Susan Howe & David Grubbs. The Black Pirate. Albert Parker. 1926. Paloma This post is part of the F&C series.

F&C1927: It

(December 19, 2015)

This DVD had a soundtrack, but it was kinda annoying, so I switched to Coil again. I’ve heard Clara Bow’s name, of course, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in a film before. She’s rather smashing, eh? The film is rather nonsensical. It. Clarence G. Badger. 1927. This post is part of the … Continue reading F&C1927: It

F&C1928: Jeanne d’Arc’s lidelse og død

(December 18, 2015)

This is amazing and utterly riveting. All those close-ups and the rapid editing… I had no idea that this was going on in the 20s. I watched the completely silent “newly discovered” complete version, so I had to supply my own soundtrack. I chose the Hellraiser Themes by Coil. The Passion of Joan of Arc. … Continue reading F&C1928: Jeanne d’Arc’s lidelse og død

F&C1929: Cocoanuts

(December 18, 2015)

Hey! We’re getting pretty close to the silent age… If I were to guess, I would guess that all the dancing scenes and the general “overview” scenes were filmed without sound. But when they talk, they talk. Mostly. And it’s funny. Some of the jokes are kinda, er, dated. Radius – WJZ? I mean… (Yes, … Continue reading F&C1929: Cocoanuts

Useful Consumer Review

(December 18, 2015)

I have several small USB-powered monitors for various things. They’re all from Mimo Monitors, and they work very well. Haven’t had a problem with any of them over the years. The only problem is that the displays suck. The viewing angle is horrible on them, and the contrast is worse than you can imagine. That … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

The Best Comics Of The Rest Of 2015

(December 15, 2015)

I started chronicling particularly interesting comics this summer, so I might as well continue? Sure. Once again, the shelf of comics that makes me go “hmmm” and “that’s pretty good” is full. Let’s start with the new stuff. (I’m not going to, er, give an in-depth critique about anything here. Just jut down some short … Continue reading The Best Comics Of The Rest Of 2015

F&C1930: The Divorcee

(December 12, 2015)

This starts off pretty swell, but then it turns into a Moral Drama. The Divorcee. Robert Z. Leonard. 1930. Rosehip tea I don’t think the cocktail thing really agrees with me when I’ve got a cold. You got to have a certain level of not-illness to enjoy drinks, even if they are quite light on … Continue reading F&C1930: The Divorcee

F&C1931: Monkey Business

(December 11, 2015)

So humour. Perhaps Duck Soup is better in some ways? But this feels very well-balanced. And some nice cinematography in the barn. Monkey Business. Norman Mcleod. 1931. Blueberry Tea This post is part of the F&C series.

F&C1932: Horse Feathers

(December 11, 2015)

I’ve still got a cold, so I’m pretty slow on the uptake. So by the time I’ve understood a joke, it’s too late to laugh because there’s been three new jokes arriving in the meantime. It’s so deliciously silly throughout. Not a very… well-plotted… film, perhaps, but inspired, nonetheless. Horse Feathers. Norman Mcleod. 1932. Autumn … Continue reading F&C1932: Horse Feathers

F&C1933: Duck Soup

(December 10, 2015)

So amuse. Duck Soup. Fred Guiol. 1933. Hot Lumumba This post is part of the F&C series.

F&C1934: L’Atalante

(December 10, 2015)

Lolkittens! I can certainly see why this is a classic. I haven’t seen anything from this time period quite like this. But… is this another case of the “more interesting than good” syndrome? Possibly… I’ve god a cold and am not so good with the thinking thing. L’Atalante. Jean Vigo. 1934. El Diablo I’ve got … Continue reading F&C1934: L’Atalante

The Best Albums of 2015

(December 6, 2015)

This list has been scientifically created by making Emacs list what albums I listened most frequently to this year. You can’t argue with facts, so you’ll just have to admit that this is the best music released this year. Róisin Murphy Hairless Toys Baby Dee I Am A Stick Dat Politics No Void Hauntologists Hauntologists … Continue reading The Best Albums of 2015

My New Concert Blog

(December 3, 2015)

Going Underground

(November 29, 2015)

I’ve long been curious about whether there’s a large treasure trove of lost underground comix from the 70s. All the major artists are reprinted all the time, of course: R. Crumb, Spain, Gilbert Sheldon, Aline Kominsky, etc. But what about the rest? Underground comix was a big thing for a while… The other week I … Continue reading Going Underground

F&C1935: Dangerous

(November 29, 2015)

“Why don’t you lay off that stuff!” “Because I’d rather be drunk than sober!” I love 30s dialogue. That Betty Davis kid is pretty swell. She’ll go far! I might just be a bit drunk, but I really like this film on a scene-to-scene basis. The storyline is somewhat funky, but who cares. Dangerous. Alfred … Continue reading F&C1935: Dangerous

F&C1936: Things to Come

(November 28, 2015)

What are the odds. Two anti-war films in a row. I guess it was on people’s minds in the late 30s. This film doesn’t really have much of a narrative structure… or a plot… or much of anything. It has scenes that are kinda fun to watch, but… Things to Come. William Cameron Menzies. 1936. … Continue reading F&C1936: Things to Come

F&C1937: La Grande Illusion

(November 28, 2015)

Hey, this Renoir kid is pretty good. He’ll go far. La Grande Illusion. Jean Renoir. 1937. Retreat This post is part of the F&C series.

F&C1938: Room Service

(November 27, 2015)

For a Marx Bros film, this has a lot of plot. And it’s really slow paced. Of course there are hilarious scenes here, but it just seems to lack that spark? Where everything gets funnier and funnier? There are too many pauses between the funny. It’s totally OK, though. Room Service. William A. Seiter. 1938. … Continue reading F&C1938: Room Service

F&C1939: Only Angels Have Wings

(November 27, 2015)

I seem to be having a kinda unfortunate streak here. None of the last few films have been as good as they should have been. I thought that this would be a sure bet, but there’s a lot here that really grates. It’s very pretty, though. Only Angels Have Wings. Howard Hawks. 1939. Pink Gin … Continue reading F&C1939: Only Angels Have Wings

F&C1940: Juninatten

(November 22, 2015)

It starts off as a Swedish Noir film! I didn’t know that that was a thing. This is a very peculiar film. It careens between overly tautly cut scenes and longer, pensive scenes. I’m not quite sure whether this is because the director and editor want that effect or it’s accidental. I’m utterly charmed by … Continue reading F&C1940: Juninatten

F&C1941: Mr and Mrs Smith

(November 21, 2015)

This is quite funny. I had forgotten that Hitchcock could be this amusing. The joke goes on for far too long, though. Mr and Mrs Smith. Alfred Hitchcock. 1941. One Of Those Things That’s the problem with getting cocktail recipes off of the net. Most of them aren’t very good. And this one looks gruesome … Continue reading F&C1941: Mr and Mrs Smith

F&C1942: The Magnificent Ambersons

(November 21, 2015)

This is officially the 174th best film ever. I think it seems rather self-indulgent and melodramatic. I don’t find the “George” character very convincing. Yes, yes, he’s an annoying twit, but can anybody really be as annoyingly twittish (that’s a word) as this? Perhaps it would have resolved itself in the last hour, but I … Continue reading F&C1942: The Magnificent Ambersons

F&C1943: The More the Merrier

(November 21, 2015)

Hey! Jean Arthur! I like her. They’re aiming for screwball comedy, but it goes kinda embarrassing at times. Eek. It’s really funny. It’s also amusing how they (as is common in these war time films) weave in “inconspicuous” propaganda scenes about how union busting is patriotic and so on. The More the Merrier. George Stevens. … Continue reading F&C1943: The More the Merrier

F&C1944: Laura

(November 20, 2015)

Much floppy. Again with the floppy! Wow! Very noir. Laura. Otto Preminger. 1944. Parisian This post is part of the F&C series.

F&C1945: The Thin Man Goes Home

(November 20, 2015)

This is rarely laugh out LOL, but it’s plenty witty. The Thin Man Goes Home. Richard Thorpe. 1945. This post is part of the F&C series.

F&C1946: Night and Day

(November 20, 2015)

Eek! Colour again! Techni! The film is allegedly (very!) based on Cole Porter’s life, so there’s lots and lots of Cole Porter songs. In 40s close-harmony sentimental versions. Which is totally fine by me. Somebody should bring back that singing style. It may not be high art or anything, but it’s a quite enjoyable film, … Continue reading F&C1946: Night and Day

F&C1947: Song of the Thin Man

(November 17, 2015)

Two Myrna Loy films in a row! Yay! She’s great. The first Thin Man film is brilliant, of course. I think this is the last one? I’ve just seen the first two. Anyway, this is plenty amusing, but it’s not much like that first film. That film had witty repartee coming out of its ass. … Continue reading F&C1947: Song of the Thin Man

F&C1948: Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House

(November 17, 2015)

It’s very enjoyable, of course. I can’t really point to anything annoying about the film. However, for some reason or other it didn’t seem as swell as it should have been… Perhaps I was just distracted or something. Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House. HC Potter. 1948. Morris Cocktail Nacíonal This post is part of … Continue reading F&C1948: Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House

F&C1949: On the Town

(November 15, 2015)

By Emacs! There’s something strange happening on my TV! The pixels! Instead of just showing luminicity, they’re also showing… Hue! How is that possible!? What strange innovation is this!!! Was New York really smoggy in the 40s? I mean… See? Smog? Or just foggy? For the entire shoot? Whenever I see Frank Sinatra in one … Continue reading F&C1949: On the Town

F&C1950: Stage Fright

(November 14, 2015)

“I’m dead common, I am.” Heavy flow. I was going to see Rio Bravo, but I had apparently mistagged the year. (It’s from 1959, not 1950.) So another Hitchcock film. Yay? But this is much weirder than the last two Hitchcock films I saw. Way more interesting actors, too. Stage Fright. Alfred Hitchcock. 1950. Pink … Continue reading F&C1950: Stage Fright

F&C1951: Strangers on a Train

(November 14, 2015)

Well, this is a pretty tense thriller, but it’s a bit mechanical. I mean, there are lots of fine touches, but I found myself being impatient with it all. I’ve probably seen it before, though, so that might explain my dissatisfaction… Or it might be the pretty, and pretty non-descript, actors. The only interesting actor … Continue reading F&C1951: Strangers on a Train

F&C1952: A Girl In Every Port

(November 14, 2015)

Ok, it’s not exactly the funniest Marx Brothers film (it’s more of a Marx Brother film), but it’s amusing. There’s only a few bits I LOL-ed out loud to, but it’s pleasantly silly throughout. And I kinda loved the two rather dim characters at the center of the shenanigans (Jane and Bert). A Girl In … Continue reading F&C1952: A Girl In Every Port

F&C1953: Madame de…

(November 13, 2015)

Max Ophüls is another director I’m unfamiliar with. And I’m not sure whether it’s the cocktail confusing me or the film being kinda odd, but I’m not totally tracking what’s going on here! So I’m throwing this die mostly based on how it looks and whether I liked the dialogue: Madame de…. Max Ophüls. 1953. … Continue reading F&C1953: Madame de…

F&C1954: Viaggio in Italia

(November 13, 2015)

I haven’t seen many of Rossellini’s films… Has he been somewhat forgotten? Based on this film, he’s good, but he’s not as distinctive as, say, Fellini, or as commercial as, say, Vincente Minnelli. So I could see how he’s not mentioned that often any more. Although I could just be hanging out in the wrong … Continue reading F&C1954: Viaggio in Italia

F&C1955: Ordet

(November 13, 2015)

“I think my character is supposed to be a bit insane?” “Slightly?” It’s a film about religious woes in the Danish countryside! Yay! My favourite! But it manages to be quite fascinating and touching, anyway. And sometimes even funny. I give this film a three hanky rating. Ordet. Carl Theodor Dreyer. 1955. (The DVD cover … Continue reading F&C1955: Ordet

F&C1956: The Wrong Man

(November 13, 2015)

Heh heh. Henry Fonda just said he was thirty-eight. This was supposed to be all taut and tense and nightmarish, but initially I found it kinda boring. Then it became quite touching, and then I was strangely interested. And then I was bored again. It’s not Hitchcock’s best. I think the moral is supposed to … Continue reading F&C1956: The Wrong Man

F&C1957: Battle Hymn

(November 13, 2015)

I’m a great fan of Sirk’s 50s melodramas. I mean, All That Heaven Allows… Written on the Wind… Imitation of Life… They’re great films. They’re also kinda preachey. (In a good way!) The politics of this film are slightly bit more difficult to parse. It’s not Sirk’s usual pinko commie setting: I mean, the Korean … Continue reading F&C1957: Battle Hymn

F&C1958: Touch of Evil

(November 12, 2015)

It’s a self bronzer catastrophe! Much tense! I can see why the studio weren’t quite happy with this film. The tense maelstrom into depravity is difficult to parse — does the film really mean it (man), or is it a parody? Were the actors rolling around laughing while coming up with the “reefer” lines? But … Continue reading F&C1958: Touch of Evil

F&C1959: 浮草

(November 12, 2015)

Oh, this is from the same director as 東京物語, which is officially the best film ever. I really like his style. He puts the camera almost in the line-of-sight of the characters while they’re speaking to each other. So you feel like you’re in the middle. It’s very odd, but quite effective. It’s funny, … Continue reading F&C1959: 浮草

Couture: Dark

(November 12, 2015)

I forgot that I printed a shirt with luminescent paint earlier this summer. I just went into the darkest of dark rooms, flashed it, and took some photos.

F&C1960: The Apartment

(November 11, 2015)

The DVD transfer is among the worst I’ve seen. Is this an upsampled VHS thing? Everyhing is all moire and stuff… It might just be me, but I just didn’t find this to be very funny. And I usually like Billy Wilder films. Perhaps I’m just in a lousy mood tonight. Or perhaps it’s the … Continue reading F&C1960: The Apartment

Useful Consumer Review

(November 11, 2015)

I bought a bluetooth numpad today. It’s a fresh and exciting experience: Fresh! Scandinavian design! Thor! Is that you!? Sure… Or perhaps they mean the packaging? Perhaps not. Anyway, I can’t get it to pair with my Ubuntu laptop, so I guess it doesn’t work under Linux. Oh, well. It it’s wireless, it doesn’t really … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

F&C1961: Breakfast at Tiffany’s

(November 11, 2015)

I read the book last year, I think? I don’t actually recall it, but I think it must have been better than this film? The guy in “Jap-face” is really cringe-worthy. But I guess it’s… fine… I thought I was going to enjoy this film, but I kinda didn’t. I am disappoint! Breakfast at Tiffany’s. … Continue reading F&C1961: Breakfast at Tiffany’s

F&C1962: Cléo de 5 a 7

(November 11, 2015)

This is dead good. I didn’t realise that Robert Alman got his style from Agnès Varda. Even the DVD documentary, where Varda interviews the actors, designers and some gardeners, is great. I should watch all her films. Cléo de 5 a 7. Agnès Varda. 1962. Harrington Harvard I had to dump this. It tasted like … Continue reading F&C1962: Cléo de 5 a 7

F&C1963: Les Mepris

(November 10, 2015)

I don’t know… I’m just not feeling this. I can’t really point to anything specific, but this just doesn’t seem to be very engaging. It might be the swelling soundtrack. Or the meta-ness of it all. Les Mepris. Jean-Luc Godard. 1963. Grasshopper This post is part of the F&C series.

F&C1964: Une femme mariée

(November 10, 2015)

Even for a nouvelle vague film, this is pretty weird. Me like! Une femme mariée. Jean-Luc Godard. 1964. Dehsler Governor’s

F&C1965: Help!

(November 9, 2015)

This is dead silly, this is. Hard Day’s Night was funnier. Less encumbered with plot. I laughed a lot here, too, but there are long stretches where nothing funny happens. I want this to be better than it is. And I’m not really that fond of the music. Help!. Richard Lester. 1965. Derby

F&C1966: Au hasard Balthazar

(November 9, 2015)

Uh-oh. A French film about livestock. This isn’t going to have a happy ending. Or middle, or beginning. I love the stilted human actors, but having several very different-looking donkeys play Balthazar was kinda odd. Au hasard Balthazar. Robert Bresson. 1966. Crux This post is part of the F&C series.

F&C1967: Wait Until Dark

(November 8, 2015)

Err… mplayer doesn’t want to do screenshots of this fillum? Weird. Well, I’ll just use my camera. This post is part of the F&C series. This is a kinda sadistic film, bur it takes a kinda empowering turn. And everything happens in one small apartment. Mostly in the same room. I kinda like that. It … Continue reading F&C1967: Wait Until Dark

F&C1968: The Thomas Crown Affair

(November 8, 2015)

This film is so 70s! If I didn’t know that it was from 1968 and by Norman Jewison I would have guessed that it was from 1974 and by a very, very restrained Robert Altman. It’s like six years before its time. The start, at least. The rest is more ordinary. It could have been … Continue reading F&C1968: The Thomas Crown Affair

F&C

(November 8, 2015)

Earlier this year I watched one film per year since I was born until now. Then it occurred to me that I’m the same age now that my father was when I was born. That’s just too conceptual! Could I watch one film per year from 1968 back to 1922? Yes! It’s possible! Although finding … Continue reading F&C

A Simpler Previews Interface

(October 22, 2015)

tldr: New web site: Goshenite. I’ve been reading American comics since the 80s. To put that into perspective for you youngsters: That was before Snapchat even existed. Think about that for a moment. Anyway, back in those days, Mile High Comics sent out a condensed list of everything all the comics distributors would be selling … Continue reading A Simpler Previews Interface

The Tilda Swinton Checklist

(October 15, 2015)

After a pretty random decision to see all films Tilda Swinton had appeared in, and a basic run-through and then a mopping-up weekend, I’ve basically seen all the Swinton films that are kinda available. (In some form or other.) This post is a place-holder article I’ll just be editing to keep track of what films … Continue reading The Tilda Swinton Checklist

Filtering Out Pingbacks From A WordPress.com-Hosted “Recent Comments” Box

(October 12, 2015)

If you self-host your WordPress blog, you can do whatever you want. If your blog is hosted at WordPress.com, you’re very limited in what you can customize. For instance, for years I have wanted to get rid of pingbacks from myself in the “Recent Comments” box on the pages. When I link to older messages, … Continue reading Filtering Out Pingbacks From A WordPress.com-Hosted “Recent Comments” Box

Linux, Wifi Hardware and Tethering

(October 11, 2015)

I thought it might be convenient to set up the laptop as a wifi access point sometimes (especially when copying images off of the Flashair SD card in the cameras, since they have very short range). There’s apparently no built-in method in any Linux distribution to have a wifi card be both an AP and … Continue reading Linux, Wifi Hardware and Tethering

Mini Comics Extravaganza

(October 11, 2015)

I’ve been going on a small press shopping spree these past weeks. So are the comics any good? Yes! I have a tendency to read the smaller comics first. Here’s some of the ones I found to be particularly interesting from among the stacks I’ve gotten so far: Runner Runner (Tugboat Press) The first story … Continue reading Mini Comics Extravaganza

NCSI SUV: CSID

(October 10, 2015)

Look, I’m a Windows developer: Actually, I just pushed the Concerts in Oslo Cordova app to the Windows Phone store to debug the submission process. At work I’ve tried to push an app several times to the store, but Microsoft just says “it doesn’t work”. When I ask “er, what doesn’t work?” their response is … Continue reading NCSI SUV: CSID

TSP1989: Play Me Something

(October 9, 2015)

A reader pointed me towards where I could find a copy of Play Me Something.

Comix Berlin

(October 3, 2015)

I visited Berlin recently, and as always, I tried to find some comic book stores with interesting comics. Which is always a problem. But after binging for several minutes, I visited Modern Graphics. It’s a warren of a store with crowded shelves and connected rooms, but it has a large selection of comics created by … Continue reading Comix Berlin

TSP2015: Dreams Rewired

(October 3, 2015)

Dreams Rewired. Manu Luksch. 2015. Hey, it’s a documentary. Sort of. It’s mostly old film clips with Swinton reciting a text over the images, but now and then they play longer bits and Swinton plays the characters, giving them preposterous lines. It’s funny and scary and edjumacational. This post is part of The Tilda Swinton … Continue reading TSP2015: Dreams Rewired

Incubate 2015

My New Concert Blog

(September 9, 2015)

I got a new camera! The Blackmagick one was just too pro for me — no white balance detection, and a 40 minute battery life. So I got a Panasonic GH4, which is less pro and has a longer battery life: So what does Mir look like with this camera? Mir is still as yellow … Continue reading My New Concert Blog

Disappoint!

(September 8, 2015)

Couture: The End

(September 6, 2015)

I’m done experimenting with printing t-shirts for this year, at least. Certain rooms of the apt. are kinda chaotic while I’m printing, so it gets kinda frustrating as the months pass… And I’ve been busy with other stuff this time, so it’s taken quite a while. (MST3K is very important when printing t-shirts.) Cheese, too. … Continue reading Couture: The End

Couture: Mariscal

(September 5, 2015)

Yup. Mariscal. Very cozy. But I wanted to experiment with mixing colours on the screen… Hm… I dunno… That’s not a good colour combination. It does look a bit better in person than on the picture, though. I saw a video of somebody using this technique, but with a thinner paint so that the border … Continue reading Couture: Mariscal

CSID: App

(September 3, 2015)

I made a web page for concerts in Oslo because reasons a couple years ago. An evening this week, it occurred to me that perhaps I could make the page “responsive”; i.e., more cell phone friendly. That was quite easy, but one thing led to another, and before I knew what was happening, there were … Continue reading CSID: App

Couture: Caro Again

(September 2, 2015)

I found this scan from last year that I hadn’t used yet. It’s by Caro, and (again) it’s from an early issue of Raw Magazine. Hey! Another perfect exposure! I seem to have cracked the code, at least on smaller screens. For larger screens, I’m still getting uneven exposures and wash-off at the edges… Yay. … Continue reading Couture: Caro Again

Couture: Alpha

(September 2, 2015)

After doing so many printing experiments based on comics, I thought it might be nice to do one based on a film. Like Alphaville. Eh. The screen for the lamp turned out … not very good. The eye was kinda successful, but kinda more creepy than I expected. Yeesh. Oh well.

Couture: Burns Agains

(August 31, 2015)

I wanted to do a print that would end at the neck, so when I saw this Charles Burns image, I just went with it. And it just worked. I used a pretty soft squeegee. But I got a pretty heavy paint deposit around the collar: Looks quite punk, though, so I don’t mind. But … Continue reading Couture: Burns Agains

Couture: Panter Mash

(August 26, 2015)

I wanted to try more over-printing to see whether anything exciting happens. So I took one of the Jimbo t-shirts I did a couple of weeks ago and made one final Daltokyo logo print. Nothing weird happened, but that looks kinda nice! (Both the Jimbo image and the Daltokyo logo are by Gary Panter.)

Couture: Fury Duplicate

(August 26, 2015)

This one went well until I got to the black layer: I forgot to clean the squeegee after the gold layer, so the black one got a bit muddled. Which isn’t a good thing if you’re doing this kind of print. If it isn’t crisp it looks like a mistake. Which it is. I usually … Continue reading Couture: Fury Duplicate

Couture: Daltokyo

(August 26, 2015)

The very first print I made (before I had anything proper to print on) was the Daltokyo logo. So I wanted to print it properly. Oops! That didn’t really go too well… Let’s try again with gold ink for max bling. Eek! The screen has been improperly washed, and that’s the problem. Oh, well. (Daltokyo … Continue reading Couture: Daltokyo

Gutvik Ukentlig 2015

(August 26, 2015)

The Best Comics of 2015 (so far)

(August 23, 2015)

I’ve read a huge number of comics this year, and mostly old stuff. But I’m also keeping up with newer comics, and whenever one of them strikes me as particularly interesting, it ends up in this little bookshelf instead of disappearing into the larger bookshelves. If it’s not a floppy pamphlet. Or too big. So … Continue reading The Best Comics of 2015 (so far)

Couture: Fury

(August 23, 2015)

I thought it might be fun to try to do overlapping prints, so I chose an image from Mark Newgarden’s “Love’s Savage Fury”. I knew I was using the wrong tool to apply the photo-sensitive emulsion to the screen: It got all thick and bubbly and … wrong. I wanted to do some smaller prints … Continue reading Couture: Fury

Couture: Jack Again

(August 23, 2015)

I did a Jerry Moriarty t-shirt last week, but then I went through the transparencies I printed last summer and found another one. So I had to do another print. For this shirt, I did without any pins or anything to line up the different bits of the print. (The bar vs the rest of … Continue reading Couture: Jack Again

Blow Out 2015 Day Three

(August 22, 2015)

I bought a CD from those peeps: And those, too, but it doesn’t look as funny.

(July 31, 2015)

The Limits of Control. Jim Jarmusch. 2009. I didn’t mean to re-watch this film (I saw it last summer), but it was just too good. That Jarmusch guy, man. And Isaach De Bankolé! He’s so enjoyable to watch. I think all films I’ve seen with him in have been great? Chocolat, White Material, Coffee and … Continue reading TSP2009: The Limits of Control

TSP2008: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

(July 31, 2015)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. David Fincher. 2008. If some director were to design a movie purely culculated to be nominated in all Oscar categories, it would look just like this turd. Whaddayouknow. This post is part of The Tilda Swinton Project.

My New Concert Blog

Young Adam. David Mackenzie. 2003. This post is part of The Tilda Swinton Project.

(July 10, 2015)

The Beach. Danny Boyle. 2000. This was excruciating. This post is part of The Tilda Swinton Project.

(June 27, 2015)

Man to Man: Another Night of Rubbish on the Telly. John Maybury. 1992. I was unable to locate this tv episode anywhere for my Tilda Swinton project. If somebody knows where it can be found (either in some physical format or online), please let me know.

TSP1991: The Party: Nature Morte

(June 27, 2015)

The Party: Nature Morte. Cynthia Beatt. 1991. I was unable to locate this film anywhere for my Tilda Swinton project. If somebody knows where it can be found (either in some physical format or online), please let me know.

TSP1991: Edward II

(June 27, 2015)

Edward II. Derek Jarman. 1991. This post is part of The Tilda Swinton Project.

Instructions

(June 27, 2015)

TSP1990: Your Cheatin’ Heart

(June 27, 2015)

Your Cheatin’ Heart. Michael Whyte. 1990. There were lots of weird British TV series during the 80s. This was one of them. I have no idea what it’s about, and I watched all six episodes. This post is part of The Tilda Swinton Project.

TSP1990: The Garden

(June 26, 2015)

The Garden. Derek Jarman. 1990. It has more of a narrative arc than The Last of England, and the imagery is wonderful (as you can see above), but it’s just not as compelling. The actors who play the protagonist pair might be the main problem… This post is part of The Tilda Swinton Project.

TSP1989: Play Me Something

(June 26, 2015)

Play Me Something. Timothy Neat. 1989. This post is part of The Tilda Swinton Project.

TSP1989: War Requiem

(June 26, 2015)

War Requiem. Derek Jarman. 1989. There should have been subtitles on the DVD. I was straining to understand what they were singing, and sometimes I wouldn’t understand what they were singing at all. So I went on teh interwebs, and some parts of the libretto were in Latin, not English. Har de har. Anyway, the … Continue reading TSP1989: War Requiem

My New “Trends in Packaging” Blog

(June 26, 2015)

So how do the kids pack 7″ singles these days? Reuse before recycling!

Further Adventures in Storage

(June 22, 2015)

In the last installment in this series, I had made a 4x 8TB eSATA RAID5 set, and performance was slow, and it was unstable. The disks went AWOL all the time with messages like May 14 20:52:25 big-tex kernel: [ 3189.112594] ata5.03: hard resetting link … May 14 20:53:32 big-tex kernel: [ 3255.728753] ata5.03: … Continue reading Further Adventures in Storage

TSP1988: Das andere Ende der Welt

(June 21, 2015)

Das andere Ende der Welt. Imogen Kimmel. 1988. I was unable to locate this film anywhere for my Tilda Swinton project. If somebody knows where it can be found (either in some physical format or online), please let me know.

TSP1988: Degrees of Blindness

(June 21, 2015)

Degrees of Blindness. Cerith Wyn Evans. 1988. I bought this short film from Distrify, which is apparently kinda legit? I hope? I paid via Paypal, so it should be safe-ish, anyway. This post is part of The Tilda Swinton Project.

TSP1988: L’ispirazione

(June 20, 2015)

L’ispirazione. Derek Jarman. 1988. I was unable to locate this film anywhere for my Tilda Swinton project. If somebody knows where it can be found (either in some physical format or online), please let me know.

TSP1988: The Last of England

(June 20, 2015)

The Last of England. Derek Jarman. 1988. What a tour de France. I mean force. I did see this back in the 80s, and it’s still as powerful as back then. I still don’t get the cauliflower scene. This post is part of The Tilda Swinton Project.

TSP1987: Friendship’s Death

(June 20, 2015)

Friendship’s Death. Peter Wollen. 1987. I feel a bit bad about the dice up there, but I just don’t think this piece is that good. I mean, it’s interesting (it’s about the Palestinian conflict reemagined as an alien robot conflict thing (sort of)), but… This film isn’t available on DVD, but it’s available from the … Continue reading TSP1987: Friendship’s Death

TSP1987: Aria

(June 20, 2015)

Aria. Various directors. 1987. It’s an anthology film, so some bits were good and some were… less good? This post is part of The Tilda Swinton Project.

TSP1986: Egomania

(June 19, 2015)

Egomania. Christoph Schlingensief. 1986. This post is part of The Tilda Swinton Project.

TSP1986: Zastrozzi: A Romance

(June 19, 2015)

This is quite mad, this is. There are several scenes I found riveting, but for long stretches (especially the scenes with Verezzi), I kinda lost interest. I enjoyed the langudity of it all, though. Zastrozzi: A Romance. David G. Hopkins. 1986. This post is part of the Tilda Swinton Project series.

TSP1986: Caravaggio

(June 19, 2015)

Caravaggio. Derek Jarman. 1986.

The Tilda Swinton Project

(June 19, 2015)

You know? You think there’s some actors who have better taste than others? This can be a false impression sometimes. Any movie with Nicholas Cage makes me go “hmm” for a few microseconds because he started out kinda strong (Raising Arizona, Wild at Heart, etc), but he really has a pretty unerring ability to pick … Continue reading The Tilda Swinton Project

My New Concert Blog

(June 17, 2015)

Jazz!!! And my veins are now finally the exact same colour as the stamp at Mir!

Fauna

(June 15, 2015)

The other day I noticed some teensy bugs on the balcony. I first thought they were ants or something, but looking at them more closely, I guess not? They’re so small that it’s difficult to get them in focus… Kill them with fire? I’ll buy some more poison tomorrow, I think.

Scott McCloud’s The Sculptor: A Reappraisal

(June 10, 2015)

The Sculptor is the long-awaited graphic novel (published by First Second) that has been reviewed a lot. It’s a spellbinding urban fable about a childhood wish, a deal with Death, the price of art, the value of life, and a desperate love. It says so right there. But it’s been months since it’s been published … Continue reading Scott McCloud’s The Sculptor: A Reappraisal

My New Concert Blog

(June 3, 2015)

The light was even more difficult than normally…

My New Furniture Blog

(May 24, 2015)

It’s some sort of christian holiday here this long weekend (Presumption? Assumption?), and it’s kinda almost spring-like, so I’ve been getting the balcony into shape. Which inevitably means that I ended up at the garden center. This time to buy a new chair-ey/table-ish thing. I just had to buy this one: It’s so nautical. Which … Continue reading My New Furniture Blog

Useful Consumer Review

Chirp Chirp

(May 1, 2015)

The bird from last year (which might be a fieldfare) moved from outside my bedroom window to outside the living room window. So it’s now chirping its little head off on the other side of the apartment. Which means more sleep for me. Yay! But, man, it’s loud…

Mystery Object

(April 30, 2015)

When I bought some hair wax at the hair dresser the other week, this weird thing was included in the package: I thought it might be a suction cup or something, but it doesn’t really work well as that. So… er… What? WAHT!!?!?ONE!!!

Useful Consumer Review

(April 28, 2015)

I’ve been filming some concerts the last year or so. I’ve been using mostly normal compact cameras, and they work quite well. The Sony RX 100 II is probably the best one of the bunch. However, they either stop filming after 30 minutes because of tax reasons (apparently, in the EU there’s an additional tax … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

Useful Consumer Review: A Correction

(April 27, 2015)

After discovering that Logitech wireless things work much better if I don’t plug the receiver directly into the computer (because science), it reminded me of another Logitech device that I’d dismissed earlier: The Logitech Cube. And by using an USB extension cord, it, too, has an acceptable range, so I could actually use it for … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review: A Correction

Linux, X and Logitech

(April 27, 2015)

I’ve had a Logitech diNovo Mini as my TV computer keyboard for a few years. It works as well as you’d suspect a wireless keyboard to work: It loses contact with the receiver a couple of times a month and needs to be switched off and then on again, but otherwise it’s OK. Doesn’t lose … Continue reading Linux, X and Logitech

Youtube and “unsupported device” redux

(April 25, 2015)

I posted yesterday about my extremely useful Youtube-based weather monitor not working properly any more. I thought Google had changed the video format or something — refusing to play videos when using mplayer. After adding more debugging to the script that runs the monitor, that turned out to be incorrect. Here’s the search result for … Continue reading Youtube and “unsupported device” redux

mplayer, Youtube and “unsupported device”

(April 24, 2015)

I’ve been using youtube for really useful things for a few years. On April 20th, the following video started to appear instead of the ones I wanted: I get this for about one third of the videos — the rest play fine, as before. So it’s saying that I’m viewing Yotube with an unsupported device. … Continue reading mplayer, Youtube and “unsupported device”

The Effect of Version Control Systems on Emacs Developers

(April 23, 2015)

In November 2014, Emacs switched version control systems from Bazaar (aka bzr) to git. There were two main reasons: 1) bzr has kinda stopped development, and 2) using a version control system that more people are familiar with might attract more developers. On the other hand, git is really, really finicky, and bzr is arguably … Continue reading The Effect of Version Control Systems on Emacs Developers

Emacs and id3

(April 22, 2015)

I rip all CDs, vinyl and cassettes to flac for easier listening, but I also convert the files to mp3 for listening in the car, which has an mp3 CD player. This is what the display normally looks like: But all the files that I’ve ripped from vinyl are displayed like this: I’ve been assuming … Continue reading Emacs and id3

Corto Maltese: Under the Sign of Capricorn

(April 20, 2015)

IDW announced last year that they were going to translate and publish a complete set of Hugo Pratt’s Corto Maltese (in English translation). There was much rejoicing across the land. I haven’t read those comics for decades, since they were stuck at my parent’s house up in the North, so I thought “what they hey” … Continue reading Corto Maltese: Under the Sign of Capricorn

Perhaps I should reboot

(April 18, 2015)

F&B Redux

(April 11, 2015)

g_monte hasn’t made any lists after 2012, so that’s where this series of blog posts ends. It’s been interesting for me, at least. Watching films picked by somebody else has led me to see some good ones that I wouldn’t otherwise have seen, like Jeanne Dielman. 23, quai du Commerce. 1080 Bruxelles and Au revoir les enfants. … Continue reading F&B Redux

F&B2012: Amour

(April 11, 2015)

I saw Funny Games on TV some… decades? ago, and I thought it was vile. I switched it off after about half an hour. I switched back to the channel more than an hour later, thinking it would be safe, and caught the final boating scene. Aaargh. I’ve hated Haneke ever since for putting me … Continue reading F&B2012: Amour

F&B2010: Black Swan

(April 11, 2015)

I liked the digital effects… Black Swan. Darren Aronofsky. 2010.

F&B2009: A Single Man

(April 11, 2015)

This film was so boring I died, was resurrected, and then I died again. From boredom. But the suicide scene was funny. A Single Man. Tom Ford. 2009.

F&B2008: Synecdoche, New York

(April 10, 2015)

I quite liked the metafictional tomfoolery in the last half of the film, but the first half was incredibly dull, and it just wasn’t that interesting. Perhaps having other people direct his scripts is a good idea after all. Synecdoche, New York. Charlie Kaufman. 2008.

F&B2007: Du levande

(April 10, 2015)

Du levande. Roy Andersson. 2007.

F&B2006: Little Miss Sunshine

(April 10, 2015)

Little Miss Sunshine. Jonathan Dayton. 2006.

F&B2005: Brokeback Mountain

(April 10, 2015)

I read the short story more than a decade ago, and don’t remember that much about it, but I was still puzzled when (I think) three quarters of the short story was over, and there was still 90 minutes to go. What were they going to fill the rest of the time with? But they … Continue reading F&B2005: Brokeback Mountain

F&B2004: Yes

(April 9, 2015)

It started off really well, but then we went off into a really boring romance, and then an excruciating nine hours about religion. At least that’s what it seemed like. Yes. Sally Potter. 2004.

F&B2003: American Splendor

(April 9, 2015)

I love the comic book, though. American Splendor. Shari Springer Berman. 2003.

F&B2002: Sweet Sixteen

(April 9, 2015)

Sweet Sixteen. Ken Loach. 2002.

F&B2001: The Royal Tenenbaums

(April 8, 2015)

The Royal Tenenbaums. Wes Anderson. 2001.

F&B2000: I’m The One That I Want

(April 8, 2015)

It’s funny, but it’s not hilarious. The extras are cringe-worthy. I’m The One That I Want. Lionel Coleman. 2000.

F&B1999: Being John Malkovich

(April 8, 2015)

Being John Malkovich. Spike Jonze. 1999.

F&B1998: A Simple Plan

(April 7, 2015)

This film had some really, really tense scenes. But there were lots of boredom between the moments of excitement. A Simple Plan. Sam Raimi. 1998.

F&B1997: Boogie Nights

(April 7, 2015)

I was so bored during this film (except for a couple of early scenes) that I literally died. I literally died, Coral. Boogie Nights. Paul Thomas Anderson. 1997.

F&B1996: Irma Vep

(April 7, 2015)

Irma Vep. Olivier Assayas. 1996.

F&B1995: Safe

(April 6, 2015)

First I thought this was going to be a sci-fi movie. And then I thought it was going to be a Todd Solondz film. I guess I’ll have to see all of Todd Haynes’ films. Safe. Todd Haynes. 1995.

F&B1994: Trois Couleurs Rouge

(April 6, 2015)

– Trois Couleurs Rouge. Krzysztof Kieslowski. 1994.

F&B1993: Naked

(April 6, 2015)

Naked. Mike Leigh. 1993.

F&B1992: The Player

(April 6, 2015)

|| The Player. Robert Altman. 1992.

F&B1991: The Man in the Moon

(April 6, 2015)

This film is surprisingly engaging, despite being saddled with a plot (FSVO plot) that goes through some pretty groan-inducing moves. (A ten minute third act opener that does the birth/sex/death thing? The pregnant mother falling while running through the woods during a rain storm? C’mon. Just. C’mon.) But it’s not bad. The Man in the … Continue reading F&B1991: The Man in the Moon

F&B1990: The Grifters

(April 5, 2015)

The Grifters. Stephen Frears. 1990.

F&B1989: Last Exit to Brooklyn

(April 5, 2015)

The plot was kinda loathsome (a basic combination of the “all gays must die” and the “all promiscuous women must die” tropes, so that wholesome Ricki Lake and Some Guy could have a baby (hakuna matata)), but it’s not badly made. I mean, not that badly. A bit sweaty, perhaps, and So Much Drama. This … Continue reading F&B1989: Last Exit to Brooklyn

F&B1988: Distant Voices, Still Lives

(April 5, 2015)

After they started singing, I remembered that I’ve seen this before. Probably back in the 80s. It’s still good. Distant Voices, Still Lives. Terence Davies. 1988.

F&B1987: Au revoir les enfants

(April 5, 2015)

Au revoir les enfants. Louis Malle. 1987.

F&B1986: Peggy Sue Got Married

(April 5, 2015)

I was so confused watching this, until I realised that I thought that this was going to be a different Coppola film. I was thinking about “One from the Heart”, which I remember seeing during a vacation in Oslo in… 82? With one of my sisters. I must have been 13 or 14. I remember … Continue reading F&B1986: Peggy Sue Got Married

F&B1985: Sans toit ni loi

(April 4, 2015)

Sans toit ni loi. Agnès Varda. 1985.

F&B1984: Stranger than Paradise

(April 4, 2015)

Stranger than Paradise. Jim Jarmusch. 1984.

F&B1983: The Terence Davies Trilogy

(April 4, 2015)

Perhaps it’s not all that bad, but my antipathy towards “religious themes” borders on the ridiculous. Like, get over it! The Terence Davies Trilogy. Terence Davies. 1983.

F&B1982: Blade Runner

(April 4, 2015)

I was going to see Der Stand des Dinge by Wim Wenders, but the DVD I have turns out to only have German subtitles. Why! WHYYYY!!! It’s like Germans don’t like other people watching their films or something… So I, er, quickly acquired the “final cut” version of Blade Runner instead. It’s also on g_monte’s … Continue reading F&B1982: Blade Runner

F&B1981: Polyester

(April 3, 2015)

“But I’ve discovered macrame!” This is another substitution from g_monte’s list. 1981 was going to be “Reds”, but it didn’t arrive in time. So I substituted with Polyester, which I’ve seen before, of course. Polyester. John Waters. 1981.

F&B1980: Mon oncle d’Amérique

(April 3, 2015)

Mon oncle d’Amérique. Alain Resnais. 1980.

F&B1979: Saint Jack

(April 3, 2015)

Saint Jack. Peter Bogdanovich. 1979. I think they import British beer according to how “fancy” the label is. This one has gradients, cutouts and silver ink.

F&B1978: Deutschland im Herbst

(April 3, 2015)

Deutschland In Herbst. Alf Brustellin. 1978.

Useful Consumer Review

(April 3, 2015)

I had to buy a new laptop. I thought Lenovos were out of the question since they had eliminated the physical mouse buttons to become all modern and stuff. But this year they’ve rolled back that horrible decision without announcing anything. Perhaps it was too embarrassing? Anyway: Physical buttons! That work! Yay! Lenovo Thinkpad Carbon … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

F&B1977: 3 Women

(April 3, 2015)

3 Women. Robert Altman. 1977. For some values of “beer adjacent”.

F&B1976: The Outlaw Josey Wales

(April 3, 2015)

*twirls moustache* Representative dialogue: “Dammit senator, you promised me that these men would be decently treated!” “They were! They were decently fed, and then they were decently shot!” The bad thing is that Cleastwood didn’t seem to think that was a funny line. Where did the DVD cover go? Hm. The Outlaw Josey Wales. Clint … Continue reading F&B1976: The Outlaw Josey Wales

F&B1975: Jeanne Dielman. 23, quai du Commerce. 1080 Bruxelles

(April 2, 2015)

Well, this was a difficult one. For the first two hours I had problems paying attention to the film — the most exciting thing that seemed to be happening was the she overcooked some potatoes. But then I started paying attention, and the last hour and a half were kinda brilliant. So perhaps the entire … Continue reading F&B1975: Jeanne Dielman. 23, quai du Commerce. 1080 Bruxelles

F&B1974: It’s Alive

(April 2, 2015)

This is not a film from g_monte‘s list of the best movies of 1974. The one I had ordered, The Conversation hasn’t arrived yet, so I had to make a substitution. And this was the only one from 1974 I hadn’t seen yet. And it was better than I expected. But a bit … boring… … Continue reading F&B1974: It’s Alive

F&B1973: O Lucky Man

(April 2, 2015)

Another British political comedy that I wish was funnier… O Lucky Man. Lindsay Anderson. 1973.

Useful Consumer Review

(April 2, 2015)

I’ve got a man bag made only from felt (and steel and a leather strap (it’s quite impractical, since there’s no stitching, so small things just fall out between the steel rivets, but it’s conceptual, I guess)). I bought it years ago, and (like all woollen things) it’s developed some… er… whatchamacall it… “bumps”? That’s … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

F&B1972: Nathalie Granger

(April 2, 2015)

Nathalie Granger. Marguerite Duras. 1972.

Further Legal Developments

(April 2, 2015)

As part of running the mailing list archive Gmane, I’m asked to remove messages from the archive from time to time, which I do. (Although not extremely promptly, since I’m lazy.) That’s fine, but some people seem to think that having a lawyer send the message to me is more effective than just sending an … Continue reading Further Legal Developments

F&B1971: Walkabout

(April 1, 2015)

Walkabout. Nicolas Roeg. 1971.

F&B1970: Le boucher

(April 1, 2015)

Le boucher. Claude Chabrol. 1970.

F&B1969: The Bed Sitting Room

(April 1, 2015)

It looks amazing, but the jaunty music got to me in the end. The Bed Sitting Room. Richard Lester. 1969.

F&B1968: Baisers volés

(April 1, 2015)

Baisers volés. François Truffaut. 1968.

F&B

(April 1, 2015)

I’ve been watching a lot of movies since the end of the CM&C project, but I thought it was time for another… structured series of movies. So I’ve decided to watch one movie per year since I was born, as picked from the ‘best of’ lists compiled by the imdb user g_monte. Conceptual! Those lists … Continue reading F&B

Sci Fi

(March 22, 2015)

Those keyboards are so sci fi. I mean, these keyboards are so sci fi These are less sci fi, I guess. But props to the… props dept.

Useful Consumer Review

(March 12, 2015)

The disk in my old kitchen computer broke. Finally! The machine was the only one in my apartment with a fan, so I was kinda hoping something in it would break so that I could get an excuse to buy a new fanless all-in-one machine. After binging around on the internet a bit, I found … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

Yoga

(February 20, 2015)

Zoo

(February 13, 2015)

eww: Now With Fonts

(February 10, 2015)

I’ve now pushed the font-related shr changed to the Emacs trunk. Use the `F’ eww command to toggle whether to using variable-pitch fonts. Here’s some results: Kinda looks like Mosaic in 1992, eh? Now I just need to implement CSS3 3D animation transforms…

eww not can haz different line pitch

(February 9, 2015)

The version of eww with variable-width fonts is basically usable now, but here’s the problem: Notice the weird line heights in the column to the left where it says “We commit to shine the light on our obsessive stalking of Wikimedia employees”? That’s because there’s a <h1> in the middle column, and those characters are … Continue reading eww not can haz different line pitch

Australian Comics

(February 6, 2015)

Whenever in a new city where I can read the language, I try to visit interesting comics shops. This can be rather difficult, since what’s interesting to me isn’t really what comics shops make a living off of. I’m looking for stuff I can’t get anywhere else, which means small press and local books, and … Continue reading Australian Comics

Critters

(February 5, 2015)

(January 28, 2015)

After some help from Eli, I now have a proof of concept of rendering HTML with proportional fonts in Emacs. The main difficulty is, of course, doing line folding on a pixel basis instead of a word basis, and lining stuff up in tables. Here’s how my test page looked before these changes: And now … Continue reading eww can haz font

Programming Is Hard

(January 25, 2015)

Partial Opera House View

(January 23, 2015)

The End of an Ear

(January 7, 2015)

I moved to a bigger apartment like five years ago. “Hey! Finally I can have access to all my precious belongings! Preciouses!!!” But time passes, and I tend to accrue more precious belongings, so I have to start putting stuff down into the basement storage room thingie. And I settled on the CDs. Since I … Continue reading The End of an Ear

End! User!

(December 11, 2014)

The latest Nadja album, from the latest mega-package from Norman Records.

One Touch Maintainin’

(December 9, 2014)

Emacs gets a lot of very nice, but quite simple patches that take quite a lot of keystrokes to process. It’s hard on the fingers, and you always forget various bits. So I wondered how simple it could be, and hacked up this workflow tonight. You start in the debbugs-gnu buffer, as always, narrowed down … Continue reading One Touch Maintainin’

The Best Albums of 2014

(December 7, 2014)

It’s that time of year, and Emacs has decreed (based on how many times I played each album) what the best ones are. I’ve played a lot of old, old music this year, so the recent purchases haven’t gotten that much play… But these are the 15 bestest albums released in 2014. Neneh Cherry Blank … Continue reading The Best Albums of 2014

My New Home Decorating Blog

(December 6, 2014)

I’ve got a lot of thingamabobs that need charging now and then. But rooting out the adapters and finding a vacant wall socket is boring, so I thought I’d make a permanent charging station. Finding a power strip that you can plug in all those wall warts is a bit of a challenge, because the … Continue reading My New Home Decorating Blog

Jazzember

(December 6, 2014)

Jazzember

(December 3, 2014)

The Emacs Network Security Manager

(December 1, 2014)

Emacs 25 will have a network security manager. You know — the thing that nags you when you visit https pages with invalid certificates and annoys all y’all so much. Yay. Designing a thing like that is a minefield. On one hand, you have professional security professionals who seem to insist that the sky is … Continue reading The Emacs Network Security Manager

Aliens is the grittiest movie ever

(November 28, 2014)

I mean grainiest

Making SVG images in Emacs

(November 25, 2014)

While working on the Emacs Network Security Manager, it was suggested that Emacs implement a visual hash for certificates. It turned out to be a not-unproblematic idea, so I didn’t do that, but by then I had already written an SVG library. While staring at it, it occurred to me that it would be kinda … Continue reading Making SVG images in Emacs

Today’s Best Email Confidentiality Signature

(November 25, 2014)

Isn’t it fascinating that people thing they can send you things and attach a “confidentiality signature”, and that supposed to be binding for the recipient? Fascinating, but deeply deluded. NOTICE OF CONFIDENTIALITY: The information contained in or attached to this email is private and confidential, is protected from disclosure and is intended only for the … Continue reading Today’s Best Email Confidentiality Signature

Make Free Money Now

(November 16, 2014)

I was rooting through the Cupboard Of Mysterious Odds’n’Ends a month back, and I found a major stash of pre-Euro money. It must have been in there for years and years. I vaguely remember thinking that I should, perhaps, bring it with me to an airport sometime to put into those “spare change” charity things, … Continue reading Make Free Money Now

Rockvember

(November 15, 2014)

I like used this camera. It’s all action and stuff Here’s Deathcrush and TBA. I love Deathcrush.

Rockvember

(November 13, 2014)

I twiddled the settings of the Sony HDR-MVI (I switched the “Low Lux” off) and recorded bits of another concert. Looks a bit better, eh? But so far away…

Welcome, New Emacs Developers

(November 13, 2014)

Emacs switched the version control system from Bazaar to git yesterday, so now is the time to start hacking away at Emacs. Emacs: The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread If It Wasn’t For The Fact That Emacs Was Actually Invented Before Sliced Bread. This is a very short how-to guide on building and then contributing … Continue reading Welcome, New Emacs Developers

What I See Is At The Store

(November 12, 2014)

In this “consumerism” series of posts, I usually feature unusual music packaging. This one isn’t that unusual. It’s just three albums of two vinyls each, some of which are oddly coloured. But it’s a really nice set of albums. snd made an album in 1999 called makesnd cassette, part of the then-current glitch/clicks & cuts … Continue reading What I See Is At The Store

I Am The End User

(November 12, 2014)

A CD by Maps and Diagrams from the Handstitched record label… But is it really? Enhance! That stitching is way to regular to be hand-stitched! They’ve sown this paper on a machine! The outrage!

Useful Consumer Review (feat. Rockvember)

(November 8, 2014)

I decided I didn’t want to go to a concert every day, after all. But I did see Cat Power on Tuesday and The Thing on Thursday and Cloroform yesterday. Anyway, I gave the weird audio-recorder-with-a-camera thing a go at the The Thing concert. The video quality is, not surprisingly, pretty awful. This is what … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review (feat. Rockvember)

Bookvember Redux

(October 31, 2014)

A month ago, I was watching too many movies, so I decided to read too many books instead: At least one per day. So short books, then. So there you go. Normally, I’d be reading sf, sf, sf, sf, literature, sf, sf, sf, sf. But I don’t really have a lot of unread shorter sf … Continue reading Bookvember Redux

Bookvember 31st: Spring and All by William Carlos Williams

(October 31, 2014)

Rockvember

(October 30, 2014)

I was looking at the list of concerts for November, and there seemed to be a show I wanted to see, like, every other day. So I thought, well, why not see a show every day for a month? Oslo isn’t London or New York, but it’s somehow one of the best cities in the … Continue reading Rockvember

Bookvember 30th: Med støv på hjernen by Eva Ramm

(October 30, 2014)

“Og så var vi plutselig midt oppe i en slik intim situasjon som det heter. Det var i grunnen ganske hyggelig. Jeg mener, det er jo et slikt tiltak, men når man først er kommet igang, er det helt all right.”

Bookvember 29th: Love Goes To Buildings On Fire by Will Hermes

(October 29, 2014)

(October 23, 2014)

Another very funny book. I’m on a roll here.

Bookvember Paused

(October 23, 2014)

Toft & Joe McPhee & Chris Corsano & My my my

Bookvember 21st: Stiløvingar by Raymond Queneau

(October 21, 2014)

Very funny. Translated by Ragnar Hovland who is just the perfect person for this sort of thing.

Bookvember 21st: Fire Watch by Connie Willis

(October 21, 2014)

Bookvember 20th: Kammermusikk by James Joyce

(October 20, 2014)

Bookvember 19th: I kjølvannet by Per Petterson

(October 19, 2014)

Mystery Object

(October 18, 2014)

I’ve been sorting out the Closet of Various Things tonight, getting rid of duplicate cables and moving stuff I’m not using to colder storage. But I found this thing. Like, WTF?

Bookvember 17th: The Jib Door by Marlen Haushofer

(October 17, 2014)

Reblog

(October 16, 2014)

From Liartown.

Bookvember 16th: God jul med Gertrude Stein by Jan Erik Vold

(October 16, 2014)

Bookvember 16th: Hard Words by Ursula K. Le Guin

(October 15, 2014)

Bookvember 15th: Doorways in the Sand by Roger Zelazny

(October 15, 2014)

(October 11, 2014)

Clarity

(October 11, 2014)

A house nearby has been renovated, and they’ve put in these rather nice (and huge) things over the entrance doors. Design is a nice idea.

Films 4 Ever

(October 11, 2014)

I’ve sort of stumbled into another CDO project that has even less utility than most of the other ones. I’ve been ripping DVD and BluRay films with makemkv before viewing, because 1) mplayer under Linux doesn’t really do BluRay, and 2) mplayer fails to play an ever increasing number of DVDs. The joys of Digital … Continue reading Films 4 Ever

Bookvember 11th: Etter skjelvet by Haruki Murakami

(October 11, 2014)

Bookvember, Paused

(October 11, 2014)

Bookvember 8th: Burn Lake by Carrie Fountain

(October 8, 2014)

Bookvember 8th: Dark Reflections by Samuel R. Delany

(October 8, 2014)

Bookvember 7th: On Strike Against God by Joanna Russ

(October 7, 2014)

(October 2, 2014)

(July 25, 2014)

Today’s experiment was to wash the emulsion off the screen with cold water, but with higher pressure. (But putting my thumb over the hose. Hi-tech.) It worked very well. I got no wash-off of the exposed areas, which has been a problem before, when I used luke-warm water. The only problem is that water was … Continue reading Couture: Mass

Useful Consumer Review

(July 24, 2014)

When doing screen printing, the only timing sensitive thing is really the emulsion exposure time. I keep forgetting, so I bought a physical timer to remind me. I wanted something really simple, but something that didn’t make a tick… tick… noise, so I got this Jacob Jensen thing. And the user interface is quite nice. … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

Wheel at the End of the Horizon

(July 23, 2014)

Couture: Colourful

(July 23, 2014)

I’m still not doing registered multi-prints, because that’s like hard and stuff, but there are other ways to do colour. Like: OK, that’s cheating. But how about this? Of course, the problem with just squishing lots of colours down on the screen and squeegeeing is that you can’t do two strokes, so the colours get … Continue reading Couture: Colourful

Couture: Fans

(July 22, 2014)

For each screen, I’m trying to vary things to see whether I can get the turnover time down. I’m kinda impatient. This time, I put a fan into the “dark room” toilet where I’m drying the emulsion. The screens have to be dried horizontally to avoid the emulsion running, so I lifted it up a … Continue reading Couture: Fans

Couture: White

(July 21, 2014)

I’ve only printed onto black shirts so far. And now I’m out, so I’m doing a white shirt. I’m using a new can of emulsion, and that clears up all the problems I was having with peeling. The main difference between printing on lighter fabrics (as opposed to black fabrics) is that you have to … Continue reading Couture: White

Couture: Yolö

(July 20, 2014)

Even though the screen printing is going swimmingly, I thought it might be fun to try a transfer thingie again. But this time in A3 instead of A4. I googled a bit, and a store strangely called yolö seemed like a likely supplier. So I got a 25-pack of transfers, and printed out an image. … Continue reading Couture: Yolö

Couture: Colours

(July 19, 2014)

I don’t really have the set-up to do multi-coloured prints where things are in perfect register. But I thought that since this screen had clearly separated areas, then I could just mask stuff off, and print each thing separately (or “separately”) with different inks. The colours in the logo aren’t printed perfectly, because of the … Continue reading Couture: Colours

Couture: Expired

(July 19, 2014)

I’ve been having serious problems getting the emulsion to expose properly the last couple of days. I’ve had four screens ruined — peeling and stuff. I tried varying the drying period, the exposure length, and the heat of the water I use to wash the emulsion off with. Then I remembered the emulsion can saying … Continue reading Couture: Expired

Useful Consumer Review

(July 6, 2014)

I bought an HP Officejet 7110 (which is an A3 inkjet printer) to print stuff for screenprinting and the like. It prints out nicely onto normal paper, but whenever I tried printing onto any type of plastic (transparencies for screenprinting or vinyl for t-shirt transfers) it creates these annoying lighter horizontal lines: After trying all … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

Couture: Plastics

(June 27, 2014)

I’m still still still waiting for the right squeegee (the squeegee shop owners apparently went to France for the summer) for doing screen printing, but I got a shipment of t-shirt blanks. So I had to make something. I bought a different make of iron-on transfers — this time for black shirts. Sigel Foil T-Shirt … Continue reading Couture: Plastics

I Am Consumer

(June 25, 2014)

Look at how nice the latest album from Peter Christopherson (from Coil) is. (Although he died a few years ago.) It’s called Time Machines II, and it comes on a wooden USB stick inside a pewter box wrapped in a leather bag. And the music is high-class, too. AIFF with lots of bits and stuff. … Continue reading I Am Consumer

My New Horticulture Blog

(June 22, 2014)

The seeds I planted a couple of weeks ago are growing pretty well. Probably because I’ve almost never forgotten to water them. It’s an achievement! But it’s very windy on my balcony, so I thought it might make sense to shield the plants a bit from the incessant wind. I bought some plexiglas (i.e. plastic) … Continue reading My New Horticulture Blog

Couture: Transparent

(June 12, 2014)

While waiting for the screen printing equipment to arrive, I’ve been experimenting a bit more with Inkodye. Because of reasons. Here’s an extreme close-up of a shirt exposed with a “normal” over-head projector (OHP) transparency: The white area with pebbled red spots is supposed to be totally white, but because the OHP transparency is so … Continue reading Couture: Transparent

My New Horticultural Blog

(June 10, 2014)

I decided that I should grow my own food, so I planted some radishes and peas and carrots and stuff. I need to start thinning out in a couple of days… In other horticultural news, everything’s coming up roses: After the previous post, a kind reader identified the bugs as aphids, and I went out … Continue reading My New Horticultural Blog

Couture: Inkodye Too

(June 8, 2014)

I couldn’t make sense of my problems with screen printing the shirts. Either too much ink or way too little ink. So I watched a couple of youtube howtos. I’ve been using the wrong type of squeegee! There’s one with hard-ish edges for printing onto paper, and there’s one with rounded edges for printing onto … Continue reading Couture: Inkodye Too

Couture: Ink Twice

(June 7, 2014)

For my second attempt, I tried using less ink, but that made it necessary to squeegee over the silk several times before I pressed it onto the fabric to give it a last squeeg. And that obviously pushed too much ink through the screen, so things filled in too much. So: More ink, and just … Continue reading Couture: Ink Twice

The Sony NWZ-W273 Walkman Isn’t Very Well Made

(June 7, 2014)

I bought a new Walkman the other week. I was quite impressed, and I remained impressed until I started to use them. After wearing them for half an hour, the volume in the right speaker dropped down to almost nothing. It kinda varies, but it’s very very low. I binged, and apparently this happens a … Continue reading The Sony NWZ-W273 Walkman Isn’t Very Well Made

Couture: Dye Once

(June 7, 2014)

Even though the screen wasn’t exposed well, I thought I could make an attempt to print something, just to see how that goes. I put a backing board into the shirt to have firm to print onto. And then I put the shirt onto a frame to raise it from the floor, because I’m printing … Continue reading Couture: Dye Once

Couture: Exposure

(June 7, 2014)

Despite not having the proper light, I’m attempting to do some screen printing. I have to practice, right? So dissolve the sensitiser and pour it into the emulsion. It turns green! Squeegee the emulsion onto the staple side of the screen in a dark-ish room, and let it dry for three hours in a very … Continue reading Couture: Exposure

Couture: Ironing

(June 6, 2014)

While waiting for the screen to dry, I remembered that I had bought some iron-on transfers when I bought the printer, so I printed out a Gary Panter image on one of them. I had bought transfers for white fabric (instead of black fabric) by accident, so I got out an old white t-shirt. Peeel. … Continue reading Couture: Ironing

Couture: Supplies

(June 6, 2014)

I went to an art supplies store and got screen printing supplies. Very nice shop. The thing I’m missing now is 1) better transparencies and or a better printer and 2) a light source to do the exposure of the photo emulsion. I’ve ordered some “digital negative” transparencies from the interwebs, so I’ll have to … Continue reading Couture: Supplies

Couture: Walt

(June 6, 2014)

TO BE CONTINUED

Couture: 7110

(June 5, 2014)

I’ve been meaning to get started with screen printing t-shirts. Because of reasons. I have done some experiments with Inkodye, but that didn’t seem all that exciting. But in any case, you need a printer to print out transparent negatives (for Inkodye) or positives (for screen printing). So I got an HP Officejet 7110, because … Continue reading Couture: 7110

My New Horticultural Blog

(June 2, 2014)

No horrors today. I bought some poison to spray over the rose bushes, which should take care of the critters living on them. Or it’ll give them resistance and they’ll kill me in my sleep. But I bought a Sansevieria Victoria. There are a lot of weird sansevierias, and this is one of them. It’s … Continue reading My New Horticultural Blog

Snowman

(June 2, 2014)

I bought a “snowman” mains cable. Can you tell which one is the correct one? No, they aren’t interchangeable.

Useful Consumer Review

(May 31, 2014)

Sony has a newish version of their “sporty” headphones branded “Walkman” (or “NWZ-W273”). They have a built-in mp3 player. I’ve got big headphones with built-in mp3 players, but it would be nice to have a pair in a more convenient form factor. I bought the previous Sony iteration, but they were huge and fell out … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

My New Horticultural Blog

(May 31, 2014)

Due to the exceptionally warm winter, or exceptionally studly plants, the roses on my balcony survived. But one of the bushes looks kinda… odd… See? There’s a white powder thing going on, and there seems to be a lot of spider web action going on, too. But mainly around the buds. So is this a … Continue reading My New Horticultural Blog

Summer Workwear

(May 30, 2014)

When being handy around the house, I prefer using professional workwear, because they have straps to hand the hammer off of, and lots of pockets for tools and screws and stuff. And now it’s summer, so I went to buy some shorts. See? Super practical. But at the Blåkläder store they also had workwear kilts. … Continue reading Summer Workwear

CM&C Redux

(May 29, 2014)

Hey, that didn’t take long at all. What I’ve learned from watching 100 movies and making 100+ cocktails is: 1) There are a lot of bad cocktail recipes out there. 2) New movies suck. 3) The WordPress spell checker doesn’t think that “movie” is a word. But I swore to never use the word “film”. … Continue reading CM&C Redux

CM&C:C The Red Shoes

(May 29, 2014)

The Red Shoes. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger. 1948. ★★★★☆☆ Bailey’s Banana Split: 😃

Monitor losing HDMI connection whenever xscreensaver runs: It’s a thing

(May 29, 2014)

After upgrading my TV machine (the old one wasn’t powerful enough to play BluRay media), whenever xscreensaver runs, the TV would claim to have no inputs. I know. After trying various things, I started looking at the DPMS stuff, because that’s, like, power handling and seemed like something that might be relevant. Perhaps Linux/xorg/whatever turns … Continue reading Monitor losing HDMI connection whenever xscreensaver runs: It’s a thing

CM&C:XCIX Foreign Correspondent

(May 29, 2014)

Foreign Correspondent. Alfred Hitchcock. 1940. ★★★★☆☆ I think I’ve seen most of Hitchcock’s post WWII movies, but very few of the earlier ones. I had forgotten I had bought a couple of box sets of the early ones, but I found them today. Just in time for the penultimate CM&C. But it was a bit … Continue reading CM&C:XCIX Foreign Correspondent

CM&C:XCVIII Small Town Gay Bar

(May 28, 2014)

Small Town Gay Bar. Malcolm Ingram. 2006. ★★★★☆☆ I really liked this. A heartwarming documentary. Bridal: 😃

CM&C:XCVII Blue Valentine

(May 28, 2014)

Blue Valentine. Derek Cianfrance. 2010. ★★★☆☆☆ Brandy Smash: 😃

CM&C:XCVI A History of Violence

(May 27, 2014)

A History of Violence. David Cronenberg. 2005. ★★★☆☆☆ Look at this list of movies: Scanners, Videodrome, The Dead Zone, The Fly, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, M. Butterfly, Crash, eXistenZ. Not only are they all excellent and fascinating — they’re also thematically consistent, sort of. Cronenberg had some obsessions, and he wasn’t shy about putting them … Continue reading CM&C:XCVI A History of Violence

CM&C:XCV Inglorious Basterds

(May 27, 2014)

Inglorious Basterds. Quentin Tarantino. 2009. ★★★☆☆☆ Not so much a movie as a collection of “cool scenes”. If the scenes that didn’t work (the cellar scene, for instance, which went on for 253 minutes (I timed it!)) had been edited out, it might have been a good movie. But how many “does the Nazi know!11!!ONE!!!” … Continue reading CM&C:XCV Inglorious Basterds

CM&C:XCIV La règle du jeu

(May 26, 2014)

The Rules of the Game. Jean Renoir. 1939. ★★★★☆☆ Bordeaux: 😃

CM&C:XCIII Theodora Goes Wild

(May 26, 2014)

Theodora Goes Wild. Richard Boleslawski. 1936. ★★★☆☆☆ This movie follows the standard “(happy-go-lucky) man persistently wooing a (repressed) woman” plot, but the “wooing” sometimes tips over into stalking. With a different sound track, some of the scenes could have been from a horror movie instead of a comedy. “He’s inside the yard… and he won’t … Continue reading CM&C:XCIII Theodora Goes Wild

CM&C:XCII CBGB

(May 25, 2014)

CBGB. Randall Miller. 2013. ★★☆☆☆☆ I liked bits of this movie. That era in music was fascinating, but this movie makes bizarre choices. What’s up with using studio versions of the songs the actors are miming to? What’s up with the comic book thing? Why try to fit history like this into a three act … Continue reading CM&C:XCII CBGB

CM&C:XCI To Be Or Not To Be

(May 25, 2014)

To Be Or Not To Be. Ernst Lubitsch. 1942. ★★★★★☆ White Jamaican: 😃

CM&C:XC La nuit américaine

(May 24, 2014)

Day For Night. François Truffaut. 1973. ★★★★☆☆ It’s amusing, but it seems self-mythologising. 8½ avoided this problem by being more obviously a fantasy. And Day For Night is too long. T1000: 😃

Useful Consumer Review

(May 24, 2014)

The interwebs have been all abuzz with a funky new Ikea lamp (IKEA PS 2014, designed by D Wahl). But I bought one anyway. I love Lego, so putting this lamp together was fun. It’s over 50 parts. It made of plastic, so it feels very cheap. It expands/contracts in a very plastic-ey way. Doesn’t … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

CM&C:LXXXIX Ladri di biciclette

(May 23, 2014)

Bicycle Thieves. Vittorio De Sica. 1948. ★★★★★★ I started crying before the movie even started. Rusty Fogg Cocktail: 😃

CM&C:LXXXVIII Limelight

(May 22, 2014)

Limelight. Billy Corben. 2011. ★★★★☆☆ Mexican Mule: 😒

CM&C:LXXXVII The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

(May 22, 2014)

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Francis Lawrence. 2013. ★★★☆☆☆ The first movie had some rough, but charming edges. The Hunger Games Colon Catching Fire, however, has been polished and is more of a normal Hollywood big budget movie. I found it to be a snooze fest. The Legend of Jack Sparrow: 😃

CM&C:LXXXVI À bout de souffle

(May 21, 2014)

Breathless. Jean-Luc Godard. 1960. ★★★★★☆ Schuylkill Punch: 😃

CM&C:LXXXV You Again

(May 21, 2014)

You Again. Andy Fickman. 2010. ★★★☆☆☆ Strawberry Prosecco Float: 😒

CM&C:LXXXIV Adoration

(May 20, 2014)

Adoration. Atom Egoyan. 2008. ★★★★☆☆ I liked parts of this movie a lot. I’m a sucker for non-linear storytelling. Confusion roolz. Bellini: 😃

Bolts

(May 20, 2014)

I think what this balcony renovation firm is trying to express with this logo is that bolts through your head makes you wobbly.

CM&C:LXXXIII Promised Land

(May 20, 2014)

Promised Land. Gus Van Sant. 2012. ★★☆☆☆☆ Gus! What are you doing! Amaretto Sour with Prosecco: 😃

CM&C:LXXXII White Material

(May 19, 2014)

White Material. Claire Denis. 2009. ★★★★★☆ Basil Prosecco and Limoncello: 😒

CM&C:LXXXI Top Hat

(May 19, 2014)

It’s just like The Lido from the Death in Venice movie. Top Hat. Mark Sandrich. 1935. ★★★★★☆ Champagne Bowler: 😃

CM&C:LXXX Gravity

(May 18, 2014)

I laughed out loud at this shot. Like “HA HA HA HA”. And this isn’t a satire. When the actors shut up, it’s almost unbearably exiting. Whenever they talk — dialogue or monologue — I wanted to skip the rest of the scene. The talk only in hackneyed cliches. Someone should remix this movie without … Continue reading CM&C:LXXX Gravity

CM&C:LXXIX Prêt-à-Porter

(May 18, 2014)

Prêt-à-Porter. . . ★★★★☆☆ The “Milo” scenes made me subtract a star. They were loathsome. The movie worked best when there was no plot going on, but it was mostly hugely enjoyable. The Robert Altman scatterbrained movie thing is very attractive. Champagne Antoine: 😒

CM&C:LXXVIII G.B.F.

(May 17, 2014)

G.B.F.. Darren Stein. 2013. ★★★★★☆ I think that concludes the “quirky high school” series within CM&C: Heathers, Jawbreaker, Mean Girls, G.B.F.. And this movie is the funniest one! I laughed a lot. It also kinda illustrates how much smoother lower-budget movies look now compared to 1988. Digital cameras in 2013 look good, and movies can … Continue reading CM&C:LXXVIII G.B.F.

CM&C:LXXVII Heathers

(May 17, 2014)

Isn’t that the other woman from Charmed? Heathers. Michael Lehmann. 1988. ★★★★☆☆ The mother of all quirky high school movies. It’s not perfect, but there’s so much to like. Añejo MANhattan: 😃

CM&C:LXXVI Simple Men

(May 16, 2014)

Hey… isn’t that that woman from Charmed? It is! Hey, it’s a Bande à part tribute scene! I love that scene. Simple Men. Hal Hartley. 1992. ★★★★☆☆ Alexander: 😃

CM&C:LXXV La flor de mi secreto

(May 16, 2014)

The Flower of My Secret. Pedro Almodóvar. 1995. ★★★☆☆☆ Easy Bourbon Tea: 😒

CM&C:LXXIV The Serpent’s Egg

(May 15, 2014)

The Serpent’s Egg. Ingmar Bergman. 1977. ★★★☆☆☆ This was the only Bergman movie I hadn’t seen. It turned out to be the worst one he’s made, I think. Yellow Fairy: 😒

CM&C:LXXIII Out of Rosenheim

(May 15, 2014)

Out of Rosenheim. Percy Adlon. 1987. ★★★★★☆ This is such a lovely movie. I loved it when I saw it 20 years ago, and I loved it even more this time. Percy Adlon is a pretty unique director. I tried shopping for his early movies earlier this year, and they’re all basically just available in … Continue reading CM&C:LXXIII Out of Rosenheim

CM&C:LXXII Destination Tokyo

(May 14, 2014)

Smoking in submarines… Those were the days… Destination Tokyo. Delmer Daves. 1943. ★★★★☆☆ This is a vicious anti-Japanese propaganda movie. But it’s well made. I liked it quite a bit. It focused on the sailors to a surprising (and some may say boring) degree. But it’s quite exciting. Lemon Highlander: 😃

CM&C:LXXI Death in Venice

(May 14, 2014)

Death in Venice. Tony Palmer. 1981. ★★★★★☆ I had to keep the libretto open to understand the chorus, though. Fantastic music. Limoncello Sunrise: 😃

CM&C:LXX Midnight in Paris

(May 13, 2014)

Midnight in Paris. Woody Allen. 2011. ★★★★☆☆ Zaza: 😃

CM&C:LXIX The Day The Earth Stood Still

(May 13, 2014)

The Day The Earth Stood Still. Scott Derrickson. 2008. ★★☆☆☆☆ X. Y. Z.: 😃

CM&C:LXVIII Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

(May 12, 2014)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Michel Gondry. 2004. ★★★★★☆ White Lady: 😒

CM&C:LXVII Animal Crackers

(May 12, 2014)

Animal Crackers. Victor Heerman. 1930. ★★★★☆☆ Vesper: ☠ Ward 8: 😧

CM&C:LXVI Trois couleurs: Bleu

(May 11, 2014)

Three Colours: Blue. Krzysztof Kieslowski. 1993. ★★★☆☆☆ Hey, I’m back! Had a little prolonged stomach flu thing going there… No movies or cocktails for me… Anyway. The movie. I mean, I liked The Dekalog and stuff. And this movie was very, very pretty. But. I mean. The dialogue. The plot. The excruciatingly schmaltzy “great” music. … Continue reading CM&C:LXVI Trois couleurs: Bleu

CM&C:LXV Sound of Noise

(April 24, 2014)

Sound of Noise. Ola Simonsson, Johannes Stjärne Nilsson. 2010. ★★★★★☆ Wonderfully inventive and hilarious. Twenty-First Century: 😃

CM&C:LXIV Hunger Games

(April 23, 2014)

Hunger Games. Gary Ross. 2012. ★★★★★☆ Kiwi Caipirinha: 😃

CM&C:LXIII Husbands

(April 23, 2014)

Husbands. John Cassavetes. 1970. ★☆☆☆☆☆ Ok, my loathing for this movie might not make me totally objective. Sorree!!! Twentieth Century: 😃

CM&C:LXII Cry-Baby

(April 22, 2014)

Cry-Baby. John Waters. 1990. ★★★★★☆ Tip Top: ☠ Tom Collins: 😧

CM&C:LXI Inland Empire

(April 22, 2014)

Inland Empire. David Lynch. 2006. ★★★★★★ Fantastic movie. But can someone tell me what happened? Kiwi Mojito: 😃

CM&C:LX Jawbreaker

(April 21, 2014)

Jawbreaker. Darren Stein. 1999. ★★★☆☆☆ Ti Punch: 😃

CM&C:LIX 2046

(April 21, 2014)

2046. Kar Wai Wong. 2004. ★★★☆☆☆ Wow! Much bokeh! Such colour! As you can see, the cinematography is excellent. And the story is framed originally. Unfortunately, it’s a pretty boring melodrama. With schmaltzy music underlying every single beat. I mean, beautiful classical schmaltz. I mean music. Oops. I can see how people would think that … Continue reading CM&C:LIX 2046

CM&C:LVIII 東京物語

(April 20, 2014)

“Isn’t life dissapointing?” “”Yes, nothing but disappointment.” Tokyo Story. Yasujirô Ozu. 1953. ★★★★★☆ This is officially the best movie in the world ever, apparently. Even so, it’s pretty good. The ending was all boo-hoo. Manga Colada: 😧

CM&C:LVII The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

(April 20, 2014)

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Garth Jennings. 2005. ★★★★☆☆ Lychee Margarita: 😧

CM&C:LVI Resident Evil

(April 19, 2014)

Resident Evil. Paul W.S. Anderson. 2002. ★★★☆☆☆ There’s a lot to like about this movie. It has a certain charming, mawkish amateurishness. But… Batida de Mamao: 😃

CM&C:LV Pierrot le fou

(April 19, 2014)

Pierrot le fou. Jean-Luc Godard. 1965. ★★★★★★ Mango Margarita: 😃

CM&C:LIV The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

(April 18, 2014)

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Peter Jackson. 2013. ★★★★☆☆ I tried ripping this 3D Bluray with makemkv. After duckducking for hours, I determined that makemkv makes a “stereoscopic” full resolution file — just like what’s on the Bluray. Which makes sense. But there’s no software to convert that to something that anything can play … Continue reading CM&C:LIV The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

CM&C:LIII Of Human Bondage

(April 18, 2014)

Of Human Bondage. John Cromwell. 1934. ★★☆☆☆☆ Between the Sheets: 😧

CM&C:LII Two-Lane Blacktop

(April 17, 2014)

Two-Lane Blacktop. Monte Hellman. 1971. ★★★☆☆☆ Stinger: 😒

CM&C:LI The Rules of Attraction

(April 16, 2014)

The Rules of Attraction. Roger Avary. 2002. ★★★★☆☆ Caucasian: 😃

CM&C:L Solaris

(April 16, 2014)

Mmm… space-age beds look so comfy… So comfy… Solaris. Steven Soderbergh. 2002. ★★★☆☆☆ Stork Club: 😧

CM&C:XLIX Berlin Alexanderplatz

(April 15, 2014)

Berlin Alexanderplatz. Rainer Werner Fassbinder. 1980. ★★★★★☆ To celebrate the 49th movie in the CM&C series, I decided to watch Berlin Alexanderplatz (a film in thirteen parts with an epilogue which runs for 15½ hours) in one day. I planned it all out: Get up earlyish on a Saturday; start watching while eating breakfast; install … Continue reading CM&C:XLIX Berlin Alexanderplatz

CM&C:XLVIII Subway

(April 15, 2014)

Hm. Perhaps Besson and Bresson are different people? Subway. Luc Besson. 1985. ★★★☆☆☆ Watermelon Cucumber Cooler: 😒

CM&C:XLVII New York Doll

(April 14, 2014)

New York Doll. Greg Whiteley. 2005. ★★★☆☆☆ Passion Fruit Daiquiri: 😃

CM&C:XLVI Eastern Promises

(April 14, 2014)

Eastern Promises. David Cronenberg. 2007. ★★★★☆☆ Southside: 😃

CM&C:XLV L’Argent

(April 13, 2014)

L’Argent. Robert Bresson. 1983. ★★★★★★ Silk Stockings: 😃

CM&C:XLIV Paranoid Park

(April 13, 2014)

Paranoid Park. Gus van Sant. 2007. ★★★★★★ It might be excessive, but I think my rating here can be defended. The sequencing of events; the (I’m assuming) somewhat improvised dialogue; the (I’m assuming) non-professional actors; the sound editing: It all feels so fresh and original. And it results in an utterly engrossing experience. Saettle Manhattan: … Continue reading CM&C:XLIV Paranoid Park

CM&C:XLIII Pacific Rim

(April 12, 2014)

Cap’n! The movie canna take any more cliches! But here’s the kick-ass sciencey action woman. And the two nerdy science geeks. The dog. The grizzled older hero. The manic technobabble. The sciencey bickering. Oh, well. Could there be romance? What does the stern commander think about it all? You guess. Boo. Weird science. Grunt grunt. … Continue reading CM&C:XLIII Pacific Rim

CM&C:XLII Woyzeck

(April 12, 2014)

Woyzeck. Werner Herzog. 1979. ★★★★★★ Satan’s Whiskers: 😃

CM&C:XLI Scream 4

(April 11, 2014)

Scream 4. Wes Craven. 2011. ★★★☆☆☆ There’s a lot to like about this movie. The meta-meta-ness is amusing, and the dialogue (mostly centered on women interacting) feels fresh. I just wish it were better. Saratoga: 😒

CM&C:XL Brief Encounter

(April 10, 2014)

Brief Encounter. David Lean. 1945. ★★★★★☆ The second version of the opening scene was heartstoppingly brilliant, but it’s not a perfect movie. The scenes with the waitron were genius, though. Rosalita: 😒

CM&C:XXXIX Shock Corridor

(April 10, 2014)

Nymphos! Shock Corridor. Samuel Fuller. 1963. ★★★★☆☆ Scofflaw: 😒

CM&C:XXXVIII Winter’s Bone

(April 9, 2014)

Winter’s Bone. Debra Granik. 2010. ★★★★★☆ Robert Burns: 😒

CM&C:XXXVII Chocolat

(April 9, 2014)

Chocolat. Claire Denis. 1988. ★★★★★☆ Red Snapper: 😒

CM&C:XXXVI Fa yeung nin wa

(April 8, 2014)

Hmm…. For a Kai War Wong movie, this looks kinda… different… Would I be paranoid if I started thinking that they put the wrong DVD in the cover? Still not sure. Oh, I don’t care. This is awesome. In The Mood For Love. Kar Wai Wong. 2000. ★★★★★☆ Planter’s Punch: 😃

CM&C:XXXV Shall We Dance

(April 8, 2014)

There are many things I love about 30s musical comedies. Their verisimilitude is astounding. What you see here is the engine room of an ocean liner. But you have to wonder whether the casting choice for the machine room is a commentary on something. Wow. So machinery. Much technical. Shall We Dance. Mark Sandrich. 1937. … Continue reading CM&C:XXXV Shall We Dance

CM&C:XXXIV Bottle Rocket

(April 7, 2014)

Bottle Rocket. Wes Anderson. 1996. ★★★☆☆☆ Perhaps I’m just generally down on the entire “hapless young-ish men fumble around” genre. Perhaps it’s just fatigue from seeing yet another Bechdel-test-failing movie. Perhaps this movie is good. But I don’t see it. Pisco Sour: 😃

CM&C:XXXIII Menschen am Sonntag

(April 6, 2014)

Kids with their ghetto blasters at the beach. Tsk. Menschen am Sonntag. Kurt Siodmak, Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, Fred Zinnemann & Rochus Gliese. 1930. ★★★☆☆☆ Batida de maracujá: 😃

CM&C:XXXII Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

(April 5, 2014)

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Michael Bay. 2009. ★★★★☆☆ I liked this movie. It was entertaining and surprisingly funny. However, it had the obligatory boring infodump scenes, and the So Much Drama scenes, and went on far too long. If they’d cut an hour, it would have been a good movie. Batida Mango: 😃

CM&C:XXXI Blue

(April 4, 2014)

Blue. Derek Jarman. 1993. ★★★★★☆ Mango Daiquiri: 😒

CM&C:XXX Superbad

(April 4, 2014)

He’s in high school. They’re both in high school. It’s the most annoying guy from Saturday Night Live? It is. Superbad. Greg Mottola. 2007. ★★☆☆☆☆ It started off pretty funny, but the last three hours were a PSA about how you’re not supposed to have sex when you’re drunk. Which is just wrong. In addition … Continue reading CM&C:XXX Superbad

CM&C:XXIX Los amantes pasajeros

(April 3, 2014)

I’m So Excited. Pedro Almodovar. 2013. ★★★★★☆ East India House: 😃

CM&C:XXVIII Elysium

(April 3, 2014)

Elysium. Neill Blomkamp. 2013. ★★★☆☆☆ It’s funny (but not in a ha-ha way) how this movie fails in pretty much the same way as the director’s previous movie, District 9. They both start out really well, but then turn into boring heist movies when the director has made his point. I like the ending of … Continue reading CM&C:XXVIII Elysium

CM&C:XXVII L. A. Zombie

(April 2, 2014)

L. A. Zombie. Bruce LaBruce. 2010. ★★★☆☆☆ I did see the “edited” version, though. The hardcore one may be better or worse. Kentucky Maid: 😃

CM&C:XXVI India Song

(April 2, 2014)

India Song. Marguerite Duras. 1975. ★★★★★★ Hendricks Ellison: 😃 (But I made it with Beefeater.)

CM&C:XXV The Limits of Control

(April 1, 2014)

The Limits of Control. Jim Jarmusch. 2009. ★★★★★☆ Delmonico: 😒

CM&C:XXIV Rude Boy

(April 1, 2014)

Rude Boy. Jack Hazan, David Mingay. 1980. ★★☆☆☆☆ Corpse Reviver #2: 😃

CM&C:XXIII The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

(March 31, 2014)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Peter Jackson. 2012. ★★★★★★ That’s on a “fantasy movie” scale, though. Commodore: 😃

CM&C:XXII Mean Girls

(March 31, 2014)

Mean Girls. Mark Waters. 2004. ★★★★★☆ Clover Leaf: 😒

CM&C:XXI Hiroshima, mon amour

(March 30, 2014)

Hiroshima, mon amour. Alain Resnais. 1959. ★★★★★☆ Champs-Elysées: 😧

CM&C:XX Like Crazy

(March 30, 2014)

Like Crazy. Drake Doremus. 2011. ★★☆☆☆☆ Caipirinha: 😒

CM&C:XIX Κυνόδοντας

(March 29, 2014)

Dogtooth. Yorgos Lanthimos. 2009. ★★★★★☆ HOWEVER: On the “this is seriously fucked up, dude” scale of one to ten, this one gets a fourteen. I wouldn’t recommend this movie to anyone. The cinematographer did Blind. It’s very pretty. So there you go. Bronx: 😒

CM&C:XVIII Be Kind Rewind

(March 29, 2014)

Be Kind Rewind. Michel Gondry. 2008. ★★☆☆☆☆ Black Feather: 😒

CM&C:XVII Rachel, Rachel

(March 28, 2014)

Rachel, Rachel. Paul Newman. 1968. ★★★☆☆☆ Between the Sheets: 😒

The Book Review Club

(March 28, 2014)

I started off doing the cocktail thing basically off of Wikipedia, but I soon got The Essential Bartender’s Guide. It’s not a guide to essential bartenders, as you might have guessed, but a guide to making cocktails. I really like it. It’s very opinionated. It describes frozen margaritas as an “abomination”, if I remember correctly. … Continue reading The Book Review Club

CM&C:XVI Tron: Legacy

(March 28, 2014)

Tron: Legacy. Joseph Kosinski. 2010. ★★★☆☆☆ Algonquin: 😒

CM&C:XV Palindromes

(March 27, 2014)

Palindromes. Todd Solondz. 2004. ★★★★☆☆ Cosmopolitan: 😒

CM&C:XIV 8½

(March 26, 2014)

8½. Federico Fellini. 1963. ★★★★★★ Sidecar: 😃

CM&C:XIII Me and You and Everyone We Know

(March 26, 2014)

Me and You and Everyone We Know. Miranda July. 2005. ★★★★☆☆ Mint Julep: 😃

CM&C:XII Red Eye

(March 25, 2014)

Red Eye. Wes Craven. 2005. ★★☆☆☆☆ Captain’s Blood: 😒

CM&C:XI Beasts of the Southern Wild

(March 25, 2014)

Beasts of the Southern Wild. Benh Zeitlin. 2012. ★★☆☆☆☆ Daiquiri: 😃

CM&C:X Nénette et Boni

(March 24, 2014)

Nenette and Boni. Claire Denis. 1996. ★★★★★★ Manhattan : 😧

CM&C:IX The Dark Knight

(March 23, 2014)

The Dark Knight. Christopher Nolan. 2008. ★★★☆☆☆ I gotta stop using auto-focus. Margarita: 😃

CM&C:VIII Bande à part

(March 22, 2014)

Band of Outsiders. Jean-Luc Godard. 1964. ★★★★★★ Old Fashioned: 😃

CM&C:VII Bringing Up Baby

(March 21, 2014)

Bringing Up Baby. Howard Hawks. 1938. ★★★★★☆ Gin Fizz: 😃

CM&C:VI Batman Begins

(March 20, 2014)

Batman Begins. Christopher Nolan. 2005. ★☆☆☆☆☆ Bloody Mary: 😃

CM&C:V Black Narcissus

(March 19, 2014)

Black Narcissus. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger. 1947. ★★★★★☆ Mojito : 😃

Useful Consumer Review

(March 19, 2014)

I need a wireless USB HID button (to take movie snapshots, of course), so I bought this Logitech Cube “presenter”. I need a range of about five meters, so all wireless input devices are kinda chancy. Epic unboxing sequence: So… does it work in Linux? Yes, but no. It generates a Prior event if you … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

CM&C:IV District 9

(March 18, 2014)

District 9. 2009. Neill Blomkamp. ★★☆☆☆☆ Dark’n’Spicy: 😃

CM&C:III The Pee-Wee Herman Show

(March 17, 2014)

The Pee-Wee Herman Show. Marty Callner. 1981. ★★★★☆☆ Black Russian: 😧 White Russian: 😒

CM&C:II Солярис

(March 16, 2014)

Solaris. Andrei Tarkovsky. 1972. ★★★★★☆ Cuba Libre: 😒

CM&C:I Jubilee

(March 15, 2014)

Jubilee. Derek Jarman. 1978. ★★★★☆☆ Whiskey Sour: 😒

Useful Consumer Review

(March 15, 2014)

My old tv machine worked ok, but it was too slow to play the files MakeMKV ripped from BluRay disks. So I bought a new one from QuietPC. I’ve bought a couple from them before, and they seem to make reliable, fanless machines. So here are the notes on problems getting the video working under … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

One! Hundred! Movies!

(March 15, 2014)

I used to be a major movie nerd. Watched a couple a day. Went to the Cinemateque regularly. And then I stopped. It was probably a combination of things. First of all, starting a movie meant turning the music that’s playing off, and I hate doing that. And I feel that you have to pay … Continue reading One! Hundred! Movies!

Art Comic Book Store Finder Wanted

(March 12, 2014)

I’ve been travelling a fair bit the last couple of months. One of my favourite things to do in furrin cities is to visit comic book stores. However, finding the interesting stores isn’t trivial. If you’re reading the comics blogs religiously, and you travel to the conventions, and you know a lot of other people … Continue reading Art Comic Book Store Finder Wanted

Offensive Code

(March 10, 2014)

While writing code to format Roman Numerals, I was made aware of the Rosetta Stone collection of code snippets to do the same. I read the code, and after looking at it for a few minutes, I found myself oddly offended. By the code. Here it is: (defun ar2ro (AN) “translate from arabic number AN … Continue reading Offensive Code

Romans, Countrymen

(March 8, 2014)

I needed to format some Roman numerals, and to my shock and disgust (actually, delight), I couldn’t find anything in Emacs to do that. So I whipped one up. Enjoy. A helpful comment pointed me to this after I had implemented it. I think my code is more understandable. Recursion! Yuck!

Posting to WordPress from Emacs

(March 6, 2014)

I’ve grown increasingly annoyed (I annoy easily) with the HTML editor at WordPress.com. Not that the HTML editor at Blogger was any better. Editing blog entries is just fiddly when you have images and stuff. And you have to upload the images. Boooring. WordPress has a “post by email” feature, so I wondered what would … Continue reading Posting to WordPress from Emacs

My New Concert Blog

(February 24, 2014)

PAINJERK at CafeWatch this video on YouTube Multipletap at Cafe Oto was a lovely two-day festival featuring a butt-load of great Japanese peeps. Mostly noise stuff, but Ko Ishikawa played a lovely flute set, and Yumiko Tanaka did a very intense string-based thing. Day one was good, and on day two they fixed everything that … Continue reading My New Concert Blog

New Gmane SSDs

(February 22, 2014)

The Gmane news spool is 97% full, so I either had to delete some Gwene stuff, or buy more SSDs. I bought more SSDs. The current setup is 5x 512GB Samsungs in RAID5. I bought 5x 1TB while in the US, so that gives us 2x the current size in RAID5, which should be enough … Continue reading New Gmane SSDs

My New Concert Blog: Reconnaissance Fly

(February 14, 2014)

My New Concert Blog: Oneohtrix Point Never

(February 7, 2014)

Asshole Wanker Standing Behind Me Who Just Wouldn’t Shut Up Quote Of The Day: “A lot of people see this shirt, and…. but then they see the back and they know I’m not fucking around.” I stalked him and had a look at the back. It was a Mr Bungle shirt.

Emacs Cloud

(February 1, 2014)

I’m taking a vacation from my programming day job to fix Gnus/Emacs stuff. As well as going to Utah. But that’s finally over, and I’m back on a couch in San Francisco. I think I’ve covered the outstanding bugs now, so it’s time for new features. Mah favourite. First off: I’ve been meaning to implement … Continue reading Emacs Cloud

The Internet Isn’t For Porn Anymore

(January 30, 2014)

Colorado Versus Utah: A Comparison

(January 29, 2014)

New Menu Fad Detected

(January 28, 2014)

Here in Utah, I have detected a new menu fad. I think. At least I can’t recall seeing this before anywhere: So basically, they’re warning us that undercooked meat is dangerous. (And please no personal checks). Ok… But I’m at a restaurant. I don’t want them to undercook my meat. But there’s an asterisk. And … Continue reading New Menu Fad Detected

Snowed Out In Vail!

(January 28, 2014)

Driving from Moab to Denver, it started snowing just past Vail. Going up a mountain pass. When renting the car, I asked whether it had winter tires. He said “Sure! All-year radials!” That apparently is rental car guy speak for “no”, and our car had like no traction and we stalled. So: We were towed … Continue reading Snowed Out In Vail!

Sightseeing in Utah

(January 27, 2014)

Very moo. Much free range.

Local Drinks

(January 27, 2014)

Hotel Bed With A View

(January 26, 2014)

Sightseeing in Utah

(January 26, 2014)

Wow. So design. But very alcohol.

Sundance

(January 24, 2014)

Sundance turned out to be really nice. Well organised, friendly, good movies. Oh, and Blind is fantastic. It’s really funny and smart and interesting, and all those kinds of good things. Nine thumbs up.

Last of the Mohicans, or: Diminishing Returns

(January 14, 2014)

I bought a lot of stuff from the PictureBox sale. I kind of thought that I had most of their stuff already, but I ended up with like eight kilos of excellent comics. Then there’s Last of the Mohicans by Shigeru Sugiura, edited by Ryan Holmberg. As always, I just skipped past the introduction and … Continue reading Last of the Mohicans, or: Diminishing Returns

More Fire! Orchestra

(January 8, 2014)

Fire! Orchestra

(January 7, 2014)

28 Swedes… One stage…

IT”S ALIVE!!1!ONE?!

(January 6, 2014)

As I’m sure you all remember, in the last terrifying chapter of this story, I found that the white fluff had spread to another room. During the Xmas holidays, I visited my mother. She’s brilliant with all kinds of plants and stuff, so I showed her the pictures of the aloe armageddon. She said: “Are … Continue reading IT”S ALIVE!!1!ONE?!

Blind at Sundance

(January 6, 2014)

The movie that was partially shot in my apartment is being shown at Sundance! By coincidence, I’m “vacationing” in San Francisco (i.e., implementing new Gnus stuff) around that time, so I’ll try to get a ticket to one of the screenings. I’ve never been to Utah before, I think. Better pack warmer clothes.

Books

(January 5, 2014)

I rather like reading books, but I have this absurd sense of accomplishment whenever I finish something. Anything. “Wow, I managed to finish eating that hamburger! USA! USA!” Finishing something you like doing isn’t really something to brag about, but that’s the way I feel. So a couple of years ago I started putting books … Continue reading Books

Funniest Comic Book of 2013

(January 4, 2014)

The funniest comic book of 2013 must be Lisa Hanawalt’s My Dirty Dumb Eyes. It covers all of life, like movies: Fashion: Movie reviews. She points of that the sign language in the latest Planet Of The Apes looks oddly obscene: Actually, this is a test post to see how WordPress works. I’ve moved … Continue reading Funniest Comic Book of 2013

Night of the Cleaning Dead

(December 22, 2013)

Detecting Youtube Movies

(December 18, 2013)

I play Youtube movies as background noise on a small USB monitor in the hall. However, there seems to be no way to determine whether a Youtube clip is a “still image” thing or a real moving clip. Lots of people just show a still image of an album cover and put some music on … Continue reading Detecting Youtube Movies

Clairvoyancy

(December 16, 2013)

Last night I dreamt that I was mentioned in the index of Martin Aston’s 4AD biography “Facing the Other Way”. Which I bought a couple of weeks ago, but haven’t looked at yet. So I just checked… … and I’m not. But it turns out that I’m on the akwnowledgement page. (With a mention of … Continue reading Clairvoyancy

Meh. Amazon.

(December 15, 2013)

I was reading yet another story about how Amazon working conditions totally suck, so I thought it was about time to ditch Amazon. And I’m someone who orders stuff from Amazon like every other day. But the question remains, as ever: Why do all non-Amazon web shops suck? Badly? For books I’ve now used bookstore.co.uk … Continue reading Meh. Amazon.

IT”S SPREADING!!1!

(December 15, 2013)

As all y’all remember clearly, some kinda weird white fungus attacked a pretty big aloe and killified it totally. But look! This plant was totally OK just a couple weeks ago: It’s spread! To a different room! But it’s still only attacking aloes. And, eww. It’s leaving this grey residue on the sill: I think … Continue reading IT”S SPREADING!!1!

Best Albums of 2013

(December 11, 2013)

According to Emacs, these are the albums I bought this year and listened the most to: Pet Shop Boys Electric Adult. The Way Things Fall The Knife Shaking The Habitual Dead Can Dance Anastasis In Concert Scout Niblett It’s Up To Emma Gretchen Phillips Do you ever wish for more? Grouper The Man Who Died … Continue reading Best Albums of 2013

Useful Consumer Review

(December 6, 2013)

I buy quite a few DVDs, and I’m even able to play some of them under Linux, even though I’ve paid for them. (DRM is all about keeping people who pay for your stuff from watching your stuff. Pirates find away around that stuff anyway.) But I’m going away on a holiday next month, and … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

I Heart Japan

(December 4, 2013)

I ordered an album by Tujiko Noriko and Nobukazu Takemura (two of my favourite artists) the other week and forgot all about it. Today I got this in the mail: What’s that purple thing? It’s a bird!!! This is already my favourite album, and I haven’t even heard it yet.

My New Concert Review Blog

(November 23, 2013)

Instead of just posting pictures and footage from random concerts, I thought I’d try to do a review instead. So it’s the Rune Grammofon label night. First off was a band that was called…. Something. It was kinda prog rock jazzish. They were quite good. Then Maja Ratkje: It was fantastic, as usual. Although she … Continue reading My New Concert Review Blog

My New Horticulturalist Blog

(November 16, 2013)

Well, I had to replace the aloe that the fungus ate. I think that’s an aloe, another aloe, and a sansevieria. I have no idea what the grassy swampy thing in the back is. So you can lead a horticulturalist to water…

My New Fashion Designer Blog

(November 10, 2013)

I like making t-shirts (i.e., having professionals screenprint them), but it would be fun making some one-offs, too. And learning how to do screen printing is kinda a project. Then somebody linked to Inkodye, and it seemed almost perfect. The process is simple: You apply the ink to the t-shirt and mask off the bits … Continue reading My New Fashion Designer Blog

rbl.maps.vix.com finally gone awol?

(November 3, 2013)

According to this, vix.com shut down the service in 2007. Now vix.com redirects to domainnamesales, which I assume aren’t nice people. The reason I noticed is this: I tried to submit something to freedb.org, and it bounced because of maps.vix.com. So perhaps somebody … not very nice … finally decided to start answering in the … Continue reading rbl.maps.vix.com finally gone awol?

Epic Unboxing

(October 26, 2013)

I got chocolates from Demarquette today. He makes the best chocolate in the world, probably. And just look at this packaging. Nom, nom, nom.

Mercantilism

(October 25, 2013)

As usual, I was more delayed than warranted with the No Gnus t-shirts. But today! It’s packing time. Carrying the shirts up to the fourth floor was kinda invigorating. I.e., woe is me. Using magical Japanese folding techniques… Quality entertainment. (Jeepers Creepers 1 & 2, which I bought because Joss Whedon said they were great … Continue reading Mercantilism

My New Concert Blog

(October 22, 2013)

Ick pt II

(October 20, 2013)

In the previous part of this series, we learned that a couple of plants had been invaded by white dust, which is probably a fungus. Of some kind. I threw out the main offender, cleaned the area, sprayed anti-fungal stuff on the other plants nearby, and scrubbed down like in one of those horror movies. … Continue reading Ick pt II

My New Concert Blog vs Useful Consumer Review

(October 17, 2013)

So I wanted to test the camera again. I mean, filming. I decreased the HD-ness to perhaps save some battery life. There’s apparently no way to shut the screen off while filming. That’s annoying, because a bright screen sitting on a table at the front is kinda annoying. The camera shut itself off every 20 … Continue reading My New Concert Blog vs Useful Consumer Review

My New Concert Blog

(October 15, 2013)

I forgot my camera, but here’s a Damo Suzuki picture from my Nokia E7 phone: It might be Symbian, but at least it’s not Google, Apple or Microsoft. Evil free!

Useful Consomer Review vs My New Concert Blog

(October 13, 2013)

I got a Canon S120 the other day, because I thought it’d be nice to have a camera small enough to actually schlep around again. So I went to the Deciders concert: After sixteen minutes the “I’m dying!!!” battery symbol started flashing in red, so I switched the camera off. I switched it on during … Continue reading Useful Consomer Review vs My New Concert Blog

Importing Type1 Fonts Into LaTeX

(October 8, 2013)

Using “foreign” Type1 fonts in X is pretty easy — you just drop them somewhere and tell X about it. Importing fonts for use in LaTeX/xdvi/dvips isn’t that difficult, either, but requires that you know just what files to alter. I’ve been using this script for years. It takes Type1 font files, runs them through … Continue reading Importing Type1 Fonts Into LaTeX

My New Concert Blog

(October 5, 2013)

I’ve been carrying around a Lumia phone the last week, so I recorded a couple of shows. Getting the videos off of the phone proved to be challenging. Google has sabotaged the Microsoft Youtube app, so you can’t upload directly from the phone. And using normal HTTP uploads is disabled in the phone, apparently. So … Continue reading My New Concert Blog

Lyrical

(September 29, 2013)

I was out at a show on Friday, and had a few beers, and then suddenly I was home, and I was listening to Xiu Xiu’s version of Fast Car, and I really had to know what the lyrics were. And before you know it, I had won around fifteen new iPhone 5s from various … Continue reading Lyrical

Crowdsourcing Is Dead

(September 22, 2013)

For a brief, shiny moment back around 2007, it seemed like crowdsourcing would really take off. However, by now it’s become pretty obvious that we just saw an enormous influx of Can Do people as (pretty much) the entire Western world got reliable Interweb connections at all at once. Then most of these people grew … Continue reading Crowdsourcing Is Dead

Mercantilism

(September 14, 2013)

The September t-shirts were finally ready yesterday, so I picked them up today, along with stamps, envelopes, rum, ginger beer, DVDs and other things necessary for packing stuff. The number of shirts wasn’t enormous (just 30 or 40 or something), so carrying them up the stairs was no problem. The Norwegian postage system changed since … Continue reading Mercantilism

Dear Interwebs

(August 25, 2013)

I’m not really the most observant person in the world. However, having this escaping my attention is a pretty big achievement. But today, while watering the plants, I noticed something odd on one of the aloes: Some white fluffy things on the leaves. Hm. Then I looked further down: Lots more! And the soil! More … Continue reading Dear Interwebs

One Weird Trick

(August 24, 2013)

A cow-orker taught me this awesome trick: Instead of putting all cables and stuff into a box and letting them get all tangled, put them into transparent plastic bags. See? And it’s not like I have OCD, so it’s not a sign of mental problems or anything. It saves time in the long run! It … Continue reading One Weird Trick

Guest Blog: Pearls. Before: Swine

(August 22, 2013)

By guest blogger Bjørn Konestabo In the world of candy, there is chocolate. There is liquorice. And then there is gummy. The gelatin based candy from the wondrous animal that just keeps on giving. Among the producers of such delights, the German based Haribo is the original G, molding the first gummy candy in the … Continue reading Guest Blog: Pearls. Before: Swine

The Gimp: A Complaint

(August 18, 2013)

With free software, you can’t really complain. It’s free. The people who made it don’t owe you anything. On the other side, I try to make software as least annoying as possible. I try, I fail. But I try. Today’s sermon is about The Gimp. It’s a good program. It doesn’t crash, and you can … Continue reading The Gimp: A Complaint

The Internet Help Desk

(August 17, 2013)

About once a month, I get really drunk and answer the Gmane email. 90% is “please remove my message”, which I do. If it’s from the person who asks to have it removed. The other 10% are kinda … assorted. I think this is of interest to you. All of you. So here I present … Continue reading The Internet Help Desk

Displaying Animated Images With ImageMagick

(August 15, 2013)

The Internet Is Made For Cats I’ve spent the day adding support for animated GIFs to Emacs via ImageMagick. Emacs can display animated GIFs already, of course, but not via ImageMagick, so we couldn’t scale animated images. Which is awkward. An animated GIF is (basically) just a bunch of images in one blob. However, the … Continue reading Displaying Animated Images With ImageMagick

Twenty Years Of September

(August 5, 2013)

Just a decade since the previous edition of the shirt After I had announced the No Gnus t-shirts, it was brought to my attention that this September is the 20th anniversary of Eternal September. That, surely, deserves a celebration. Or a wake. In any case, you need this t-shirt to participate fully, wherever you may … Continue reading Twenty Years Of September

No Gnus T-Shirts!

(July 31, 2013)

After procrastinating for a few years (I’m getting better and better at procrastinating), I’ve finally gotten some No Gnus t-shirts organised. With fancy silver print and all. Head on over to the shop to buy some. Buy a lot, buy a few.

New Chart Version

(July 30, 2013)

Back in 1999 (or something) I released the PHP library we use to generate charts and stuff. It’s been updated somewhat since then, but I hadn’t pushed the update to PHP5 for some reason. So I took the opportunity to push it to github. Enjoy.

Livin’ in the 1980s

(July 28, 2013)

I got a new tape deck! Now that newspapers have started reporting on how all the hipsters have moved from vinyl to tape (because vinyl got too popular), hipsters have probably stopped buying tape decks. (Too mainstream now.) So I was finally able to pick up a good one today, after looking for a month. … Continue reading Livin’ in the 1980s

Monetising

(July 26, 2013)

Ever since Google Adwords dumped Gmane for reasons, Gmane hasn’t had any income. It doesn’t really matter that much, but I find it annoying. The Gmane web site has some traffic. About half a million page views per day. Surely there’s $$$ in that. Not that I like ads. I think ads are yucky. I … Continue reading Monetising

1995: The Novellas of Martha Gellhorn

(July 25, 2013)

1995 is over, and this is perhaps the essence of books-that-I-didn’t-read: It’s a short story collection; it’s an omnibus; it’s really long; I bought it on sale; it’s by an author I had grown disenchanted with. I first read Martha Gellhorn’s The Face of War, and was completely blown away. Then I bought The View … Continue reading 1995: The Novellas of Martha Gellhorn

I’ve Looked At Clouds

(July 24, 2013)

The Neighbour Is An Avid Bird Watcher

(July 23, 2013)

1995: Slik talte Zarathustra

(July 21, 2013)

1995 is almost at an end! After Friedrich Nietzsche has been vanquished, nothing stands between me and the super-human effort that is finishing something! So I say: Hah! This book is most amusing! Just watch! I am laughing! Hah! Hah! Hah! – Also sprach Lars Rating: Moustacheriffic

1995: Sol, stå stille

(July 17, 2013)

I got this book in 1995. It’s another of my grandfather’s books. It’s about Israel, and was written in Denmark in 1950, so it’s written while things were still going on in Israel. On the other hand, when weren’t they? Poul Borchsenius doesn’t make much of an effort to tell a balanced tale, but he … Continue reading 1995: Sol, stå stille

I Forgot How To Plier

(July 16, 2013)

Home Renovations

(July 15, 2013)

The balcony floor has been flaking ever since I bought this apartment. This week, Oslo has finally seen some slightly summerish weather, so I decided to do something about it. The normal thing (for me) to do would be to call somebody competent, but I thought that surely this was something to do myself. And … Continue reading Home Renovations

1995: Both Right and Left Handed

(July 13, 2013)

I bought this book by Bouthaina Shaaban in 1995. More because I had a tendency to buy all books I happened upon published by The Woman’s Press (they have a very neat logo) than because I wanted to read a book subtitled “Arab Women Talk About Their Lives”. I know. I know. Anyway. Shaaban writes … Continue reading 1995: Both Right and Left Handed

Function Over Form

(July 9, 2013)

But it’s comfy!

Useful Consumer Review

(July 7, 2013)

I’ve got a computer in the kitchen (as one does), but it’s very difficult to get Ethernet cabling to where it’s at. So I’ve been using a Devolo dLAN Highspeed Ethernet II home plug network-via-powerline plug. And it totally sucks. Sure, it’s slow, but worse is the latency and unreliability. I’m using it for NFS … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

The Eyes Have It

(July 5, 2013)

I was looking at the “acknowledgement” page of Big Feminist But (because I thought my name would be there, since I participated in the Kickstarter). I looked for like three seconds, and I found my name: Which just seems either 1) extremely lucky or 2) I’ve trained my eyes to pick out my name, fast, … Continue reading The Eyes Have It

Book!

(July 3, 2013)

I have literally no idea why I might have ordered this book, but I’m unpacking stuff. And just look at this cover: That’s just totally fabulous. And the book feels fantastic. I want to read it right now! But I’m not going to. Probably next week.

Note To Self

(July 3, 2013)

This is how you set up the digitemp device the next time the SSD breaks down and you’ve forgotten to back up the /etc directory: [larsi@stories ~]$ cat /etc/udev/rules.d/20-digitemp.rulesATTRS{idVendor}==”0403″, ATTRS{idProduct}==”6001″, MODE=”0666″, NAME=”digitemp” It’s “ATTRS” now, not “ATTR”. Or “SYSFS”. Thanks a lot, udev people. Changing the names to be used in the conf files all … Continue reading Note To Self

Useful Consumer Review

(July 2, 2013)

I’m going to the Kongsberg Jazz Festival this weekend, but the schedule on Saturday is the weakest it’s been in years. So we thought we’d do a micro-hackathon. And then I needed a laptop with functioning built-in 3G. And I needed a new one for work purposes, anyway. I’d never use it for anything but … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

Chirp

(July 1, 2013)

Every night at 2AM this bird starts chirping outside my window: After a while, it realises that just because it’s getting lighter, it’s not actually morning yet, so it goes back to sleep, and doesn’t get up until 7. But what kind of bird is it? It makes a lot of varied sounds, and I … Continue reading Chirp

Fluttering Back To The 20s

(June 29, 2013)

I’ve been running Youtube clips sourced from whatever is playing on the stereo as the background to my hallway weather monitor for quite some time now, and I kinda like it. Except when having guests over being slightly er puzzled about what’s running on the screen when the band Sex Worker is playing, for instance. … Continue reading Fluttering Back To The 20s

1995: New Writing 4

(June 28, 2013)

This is an anthology of (mainly) British writing (edited by A. S. Byatt and Alan Hollinghurst) that I bought at a sale in 1995, and didn’t read. For obvious reasons. I mean, it’s an anthology of (mainly) British writing. Give me a break! This isn’t a “best of” anthology, or anything. Apparently the editors just … Continue reading 1995: New Writing 4

My New Tea Blog

(June 27, 2013)

I bought some fancee tea yesterday. It said “golden” on the label, so I assumed it would be the normal black tea, only slightly paler. But look: It’s yellow! Or “golden”. Truth in advertising. Very disappointing. It tasted quite nice, though.

Evolution

(June 26, 2013)

See how cleverly this butterfly, er, moth, er, something has evolved to camouflage itself in the cracks on my floors. It’s just amazing.

1995: Bingo!

(June 24, 2013)

Ketil Bjørnstad is a musician and an author, and this book is about a musician who’s also an author. And then there’s a Hardy Boys plot about terrorism and the Steiner School. The bits about being a musician are better than the terrorism bit. There’s a sort of vigorous charm in the writing, and there … Continue reading 1995: Bingo!

eww… improvements

(June 19, 2013)

I’ve spent a bit of time making shr faster, and making eww render forms prettier. The latter entailed implementing all the widgets myself instead of trying to shoe-horn widget.el into eww. shr is still slow, but it’s 4x faster now rendering typical Wikipedia pages than it was a few days ago. I find comparing … Continue reading eww… improvements

eww

(June 16, 2013)

A couple of years ago I wrote an HTML rendering library for Emacs so that I could read blogs in Gnus. And because I thought that Emacs should have a built-in method to display HTML. I mean, it was only about 20 years over-due. Simple HTML Renderer (or shr, as the cool kids call it) … Continue reading eww

1995: Longer Views

(June 15, 2013)

I had read most of Susan Sontag’s non-fiction, and then I didn’t read her novel, so it makes sense that I would read all of Samuel Delany’s fiction, but then not read his essay collection “Longer Views”. Don’t you think? It demonstrates the mirror image stage in specifying the signifiers signified by m/othering the other. … Continue reading 1995: Longer Views

Soot Happens

(June 13, 2013)

The Teensiest Script

(June 12, 2013)

For decades I’ve wanted to be able to open an xterm and run a command in there as if I had just entered the command manually on the command line. That is, when the command exits, I don’t want the xterm to exit, and I want “arrow up” to show me the command that was … Continue reading The Teensiest Script

1995: The Volcano Lover

(June 3, 2013)

I read virtually everything of Susan Sontag’s while in my 20s, and felt very clever indeed. I seem to recall buying this book on one of my first trips to London, in 1995. What was the name of the bookstore… Blue Moon? No. Silver Moon. I bought a bunch of Angela Carter books there, too. … Continue reading 1995: The Volcano Lover

I Can Haz Rose Garden?

(June 1, 2013)

Another winter over. Unfortunately, I kinda forgot to wrap the rose bushes in December, so there was a mass die-off. The green bit is a weed. More weed. The dry dead thing over there is Heidi Klum. Ba-dish. Yeah, that’s the name of the rose. And it’s dead. Boo-hoo. Anyway, I’m giving it another go, … Continue reading I Can Haz Rose Garden?

Not Art

(April 25, 2013)

Libraries and Frameworks

(April 21, 2013)

The past few weeks I’ve been implementing a stock trading interface for cell phones. I thought I’d give jQuery Mobile a whirl. It looked quite nice in the demos, at least, and I was curious. jQuery Mobile promises that the pages will look app-ey, and will work on iPhones, Androids and Windows Phone 8 devices. … Continue reading Libraries and Frameworks

Further Non-Legal Developments

(April 5, 2013)

I didn’t really pay attention, but I think this is about “lies” being told about something called “WorldComp”? Anyway, I’m apparently being sewed again because of somebody wanting to have stuff removed, but not being willing to ask the list admins to ask me to have it removed. So much drama. I’m swooning all over … Continue reading Further Non-Legal Developments

I Got Tapes!

(April 4, 2013)

That’s the best music ever!

Pixels

(March 30, 2013)

Haworthia Is The New Black

(March 21, 2013)

1995: Den store sledereisen

(March 20, 2013)

Or “The Big Sled Ride”, by Knud Rasmussen. My mother gave me this book in 1995. It had been one of her father’s favourite books. My grandfather lived even more way to the north of Norway than I did. He was a fisherman, going out on the northern seas in his boat. Fishing… some kind … Continue reading 1995: Den store sledereisen

Baked

(March 2, 2013)

Fantasy Reality

Why Does First Second Suck?

(February 25, 2013)

So badly? Welcome to my new comics reviewing blog. For years I’ve wondered why the everything First Second publishes sucks. Or it’s by a really good artist, it doesn’t quite suck, but it’s definitely the worst work that that artist has done in his or her life. When First Second was new and shiny, I … Continue reading Why Does First Second Suck?

Youth in Asia

(February 25, 2013)

The funny thing being that Amazon apparently mistakenly sends enough stuff to Thailand that somebody felt the need to make a stamp. Well, I thought it was funny. So there.

Years and Years

(February 23, 2013)

I was reading this article and thinking “gee, 1980 sure was a good year for music”. So I wanted to list all the albums I had from 1980. And then I discovered that I lacked the release year for about 1300 of mah records. Fortunately, discogs.com has a nice API, so I wrote a tiny, … Continue reading Years and Years

The Liquorice Diaries

(February 22, 2013)

It has been suggested that the new Hockeypucker candy is simply a way to eat Hockeypulver without looking like a moran. I, on the other hand, maintain that Hockeypucker is nothing more than a new name for Lakrisal, and tastes nothing like Hockeypulver. So for today’s experiment, I ground up both these and compared them … Continue reading The Liquorice Diaries

1995: En glad gutt

(February 19, 2013)

I haven’t read many of the Norwegian classics. I’m pretty sure I’ve never read anything by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (his name translates to Bear Star Bear Son — like wow) before. This book, called perhaps “A Jolly Lad”, is a slender volume on young love across the class barriers, as well as a society getting progressively … Continue reading 1995: En glad gutt

Breaking The Law

(February 18, 2013)

Package With Another Package Inside I Did It Anyway. Hah!

CDO Jukebox

(February 17, 2013)

I buy a lot of albums, and I have since I had enough money to buy a lot of albums. Since the late 80s, my listening methodology hasn’t changed much. I buy an album, and I put it in the “new” stack, and those are mainly the albums that I play. I delve into older … Continue reading CDO Jukebox

1995: Sataniske vers

(February 14, 2013)

My sister used to work for a book publisher, so she got tons of free books. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie was probably one of them, which explains why I’ve got it. It’s better than I expected. It’s written in a very late-80s coke-fuelled wide-eye manic way, with one tableaux after another. Quite entertaining, … Continue reading 1995: Sataniske vers

20 Years of Free Software

(February 7, 2013)

It’s 2013. It’s cold outside. I’ve had a couple of drinks. It’s the perfect time to sum up my career in free software. I think it was yonder in 1992. That them there old days. I’d started using GNUS (the Emacs newreader) to read Usenet news. My most pressing concern was how to read the, … Continue reading 20 Years of Free Software

1995: Till Damaskus/Ett drömspel

(February 5, 2013)

I couldn’t remember buying this, and it turns out that I didn’t. It was forgotten by somebody at my apt, and he’s since gone onto become a theater instructor. How appropriate, since this is a collection of two plays by August Strindberg. I probably get a more abstract impression of the plays than originally intended. … Continue reading 1995: Till Damaskus/Ett drömspel

4AD in the Early 90s

(February 2, 2013)

I used to be a 4AD fan and kept a discography going back in the 80s. Or 90s, I guess. I also used to buy lots of British music papers. Rooting through the basement storage here today, I found a cache of snipped 4AD-related articles and reviews that I had apparently collected back then, but … Continue reading 4AD in the Early 90s

1995: The Woman in the Dunes

(January 31, 2013)

Continuing the stooory of 1995, for some reason or other I had bought this book by Kobo (The Meat) Abé. Probably because it was on sale. Which also explains why I didn’t read it. It turns out to be a fantastically written punch in the stomach. It’s a sandy, moist and claustrophobic horror show. And … Continue reading 1995: The Woman in the Dunes

Boom

(January 30, 2013)

I’ve just seen what may be the best movie ever. Boom, with a screenplay by Tennessee Williams, with Elizabeth Taylor and Whatisface playing the leads. I mean, just look at it. Look at it!

Pet Peeve #942: Amazon Packaging

(January 29, 2013)

If you order a book or two from Amazon, they know how to pack them. If you order more than that, they just throw everything into a thin cardboard box, and if the books are heavy, they then sometimes throw that box into a mail bag. Exhibit A: Thin cardboard boxes with heavy books inside … Continue reading Pet Peeve #942: Amazon Packaging

1995: Forsøk i kjærlighet

(January 28, 2013)

I hadn’t kept up with the 1995 project in a while, so I pounced on Essays in Love: A Novel by Alain de Botton yesterday. It’s a somewhat unusual novel. As it says on the cover, it’s sort of an essay collection, and it’s sort of a novel. So very avantey. But not really. It’s … Continue reading 1995: Forsøk i kjærlighet

Review of The Enduring Flame part 3: The Phoenix Transformed by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory

(January 19, 2013)

Books, Emacs, and ISBN APIs

(January 18, 2013)

I have the worst memory. But even so, I pretty much manage to remember what books I’ve read. If I’ve read Anagrams by Lorrie Moore, I remember that. The problem is with the less (how to put it?) good books. I read a lot of crap. Crap that I like, but it’s crap. Book after … Continue reading Books, Emacs, and ISBN APIs

Input Device Routing

(January 12, 2013)

Lots of different (USB) devices come up as HID devices in Linux. That is, they appear to the system as if they are keybords and mice. You plug them in, and X deals with them the normal way. When they output stuff, X will receive the events and characters will appear in whatever program has … Continue reading Input Device Routing

Slightly More Useful Fluttering

(December 30, 2012)

Some weeks back I wondered whether I could use Youtube as a screen saver. It turned out that I could. That wasn’t, strictly speaking, very useful, but now I had a small USB monitor sitting in the hall, so I might as well make it display something practical in addition to the music videos. Hence: … Continue reading Slightly More Useful Fluttering

Brr

(December 24, 2012)

Conspicuous Youtube Consumption

(December 17, 2012)

Stina Nordenstam rockin’ in the USB I’ve been sleeping in even odder patterns than usual lately (I suspect that I’m coming down with microencephaly, SAD and “the hypo”), so I found myself staring at the stereo computer thinking that there should be movement. I normally hate computer screens that have pulsing lights and stuff, but … Continue reading Conspicuous Youtube Consumption

This Is It

(December 16, 2012)

Apparently.

1995: Dagbøker i stein

(December 15, 2012)

Or “The Stone Diaries” as it was called in English. The reason this one never got read is probably that I suspected it to be respectable and stuff. And it is. It’s very respectable. Initially I thought it was a fictional (auto-)biography of sorts. Then when I reached the middle, I found all these pictures … Continue reading 1995: Dagbøker i stein

Useful Consumer Review

(December 12, 2012)

Whenever I’m out flying around, I needs my music. Sony NWZ-A845. Nice mp3 player! I’ve been using this Sony Walkman NWZ-A845 for years. It’s fine. It boots up pretty fast, and the controls are nice. No yucky touch-screen interface, but nice buttons that do what you expect them to do. It’s nice. But it only … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

Top 2012 Records

(December 9, 2012)

Hey, I wrote that thing that would pick out what albums I play the most. Perhaps if I point it at 2012, it’ll just list all the best music that I’ve bought this year? Cat Power Sun Deerhoof Breakup Song Django Django Django Django Björk Biophilia Remixes Part Six Neneh Cherry & The Thing The … Continue reading Top 2012 Records

Liquorice Controversy

(December 3, 2012)

It has generally been considered that Malaco Dark Shots is the best candy ever. So when Malaco started replacing those delicious treats with Malaco Viva Lakris, a nation felt betrayed and peckish. But are they really so different? The ingredients look to be pretty much the same… And they look similar… Even when you cut … Continue reading Liquorice Controversy

Dry

(November 19, 2012)

Since the beginning of time, man has yearned to dry his clothes. This yearning made the last owners of this apartment put up a standard Ikea clothes cabinet in the bathroom with a heater in a cage at the bottom. Which is ok. But. Look at these … thingies I’m supposed to hang the clothes … Continue reading Dry

1995: The Zanzibar Cat

(November 13, 2012)

I’m not a fan of short story collections, but I’m a fan of a number of authors who write one short story collection after another, so I read them anyway. But that explains why this book went unread. I really like Joanna Russ. She’s very funny and she’s quite angry, which makes for an enjoyable … Continue reading 1995: The Zanzibar Cat

Tumblr is on Acid

(November 10, 2012)

I was reading this story on Hacker News about how awesome Tumblr is. It’s kinda fascinating. It seems like lots of people on Tumblr is extremely rah rah about Tumblr itself. You don’t really see people on Blogger or WordPress yattering on about the platform. But I created a tumblr myself a while back to … Continue reading Tumblr is on Acid

1995: The Mark of Merlin

(October 17, 2012)

I bought this book at an SF auction thing at the University. I remember a bidding war broke out between me and some woman over this book. I’m not sure why. I was just caught up in the excitement. And then it sat on the bookshelf until now. I used to read a lot of … Continue reading 1995: The Mark of Merlin

Papp László Budapest Sportarénában

(October 17, 2012)

Who knew that Dead Can Dance had so many fans in Hungary that they had to play a sports arena? I thought the sound was gonna be pretty iffy, but it was the last place in Europe that had tickets available. The sound wasn’t iffy — it was horrible. As Concert Goer Guy would say: … Continue reading Papp László Budapest Sportarénában

1995: Tourists

(October 14, 2012)

I do remember why I haven’t read this one. I thought it was a short story collection. I hate short story collections. No, that’s not quite true. I love short stories. It’s just that they take more energy than novels. They’re so compressed. You have to start caring about these characters in a couple of … Continue reading 1995: Tourists

1995: Homo Falsus

(October 12, 2012)

Do you remember back in the mid-80s where all books dealt with writers who were writing the book you were reading, or were they? The post-modernity of this book is pretty staggering. And perhaps not in a good way. But that’s just what virtually all literature was like in 1984. This one has not just … Continue reading 1995: Homo Falsus

1995: Ring of Swords

(October 10, 2012)

Getting the festival of 1995 underway, I picked the book I knew absolutely the least about first. It seemed like a pretty nice hard-ish SF novel, so why hadn’t I read it already? Now I remember… I had bought it along with a swarm of other touchy feely SF books, and I had kinda gotten … Continue reading 1995: Ring of Swords

Ghost in the Alarm Clock

(October 9, 2012)

Yesterday my alarm clock started doing this: Er… a timing issue? It’s freaky!

Itsy Bitsy Sad Keanu Pair Programming

(October 4, 2012)

Ghosts in the Speakers

(September 28, 2012)

I’ve got two sets of D’Feldt Audioengine 5 “active” speakers (i.e., with built-in amplifiers). Yesterday one of the sets (in the office) started making a thunder-ish noise, but only in the “sattellite” speaker. So I disconnected it. This morning I was awoken by an insane noise. It sounded like someone were putting asphalt down in … Continue reading Ghosts in the Speakers

Filmin’ Finish’d

(September 26, 2012)

Peeps decided to film (bits of) a movie in my apt. So I went away to various parts of the world and wrote the Gwene web interface. I came back on Friday and had to like (eww!) work and stuff, but now I’ve gotten the apartment wired back up again so that I can listen … Continue reading Filmin’ Finish’d

JavaScript Is Fun

(September 24, 2012)

In this blog post I ramble on about how writing stuff in JavaScript is fun. Bonus conclusion: Node.js doesn’t suck, either! But first: Context. After some discussion, I decided that it might be nice to allow comments on Gwene. However, if people make public comments, there should be a way to display these comments to … Continue reading JavaScript Is Fun

Not Movin’

(September 1, 2012)

I’m not moving out, but there are a lot of moving boxes here. And they have these checkboxes to allow you to say what the contents are. Most of them seem reasonable. “Winter clothes”, “Glass”, “Shoes”… And then there’s “80s Clothes”.

Futher further further legal proceedings

(August 25, 2012)

A year or so I got a heroic amount of paperwork from India apparently making me co-defendant in a libel case. I think the court wanted be to remove something posted on Gmane or something, but it was kinda hard to tell. Anyway, this week I got some new paperwork from India. Just 50 pages … Continue reading Futher further further legal proceedings

Oops. I’m doing London. Again.

(August 5, 2012)

Just beachy electronic music Laurie Anderson is doing a tour! I had no way of getting away from work until one of the last dates on the tour: Performing at Antony’s Meltdown thing in London. Which was fine by me. Lots of other shows at that thing that I’d like to see, like Matmos. And … Continue reading Oops. I’m doing London. Again.

Filmin’

(August 1, 2012)

So, a couple months back I got a call from somebody who presented himself as a “location manager” for a Norwegian movie producer. I know, but they exist. He said they were looking for an apt. with a view, so they’d been scouting and thought that my apt. looked like a possible candidate. I said … Continue reading Filmin’

More Beer Blogging

(July 29, 2012)

I still haven’t finished with all the email, so I have to keep beering it up. Eww! One for the sink. Golden-coloured beer with a big fresh fruity citrus nose and taste. Refreshing hoppy finish. Perfect for a Spring day. Hm. Why is the focus now to the left of the viewfinder? Nice golden peachy color. … Continue reading More Beer Blogging

My New Beer Blog

(July 27, 2012)

I’ve decided that there aren’t enough beer blogs in the world, so I’m turning this one into one. But as a special variation, I’m going to be beer blogging while I’m handling Gmane deletion requests. Which I haven’t done for a couple of months. This one is quite good. Yum. “i am a user who … Continue reading My New Beer Blog

Flowerin’

(July 18, 2012)

It’s summertime, so all the flowers are in bloom! Just look at these bountiful aloes and haworthias! Ok, not very impressive. But the roses are doing well, at least.

Readin’

(July 15, 2012)

I’ve always bought more books than I can possibly read. It’s under control, though. Just a fraction more. But it means that the section of the bookcase(s) that contain the unread books grows, slowly but inevitably. That’s fine. I put the books I read at the top of the bookcase, and the unread ones sort … Continue reading Readin’

Special CD

(July 11, 2012)

I was ripping CDs tonight, and one was giving me more problems than usual. It was a cd by the band called disc, which is a Matmos offshoot. I took the CD out of the drive and stared at it a bit. Oops. I think it might be one of those conceptual non-playable CDs. And … Continue reading Special CD

Software Sucks

(July 10, 2012)

The machine that runs my stereo is a seven year old Hush machine. The last time I rebooted it, it kinda didn’t want to boot at all, except then it did anyway. So I’m thinking that it’s probably going off for the fjords one of these days. To avoid some horrible music-less days I’ve bought … Continue reading Software Sucks

Kongsberg Jazz Festival

(July 9, 2012)

I’ve been to the Kongsberg Jazz Festival this weekend. It’s mostly a blur. I think we saw like a dozen free jazz concerts. Most of them excellent. Some stand out in particular. Like the very quiet and magical John Tilbury concert. And the very inventive Augstí Fernández thing. Oh, and the surprising Selvhenter concert. And … Continue reading Kongsberg Jazz Festival

Summertime

(July 1, 2012)

John Waters

(June 29, 2012)

I’m watching the entire John Waters oeuvre. Well, the bits that are available on DVD. I’ve reached his last movie, “A Dirty Shame”, from 2004. The picture is from the point in the DVD “making-of” documentary where Waters says the following: “It stars Johnny Knoxville, it’s about sex addicts. It’s not explicit and it’s a … Continue reading John Waters

Hardware Sucks

(June 23, 2012)

Once upon a time, I had a nice Hush machine with a PCI slot. It had a SATA Multilane card in it, connected to an external box with three SATA CD-ROMs installed. I used it to rip the CDs I bought so that I could listen to them. It was perfect. It was rock solid. … Continue reading Hardware Sucks

Pot

(June 18, 2012)

I’ve been repotting this evening. I just noticed the subtle difference between old pots and new pots. Can you spot which pots are the new ones?

Mmm… blueberry

(June 18, 2012)

Euro Crisis

(June 17, 2012)

Today I bought a used CD from Greece. Don’t say I don’t do my part to fix the European economic crisis.

I’m Still Not Promising Myself A Rose Garden

(June 16, 2012)

It hasn’t really been warm enough this year to spend any time on the balcony, but I have been keeping an eye out for the roses I planted last summer, seeing how they were getting on. Through the window. Once in a while. Being proud that they survived the winter. Then the other day I … Continue reading I’m Still Not Promising Myself A Rose Garden

London Review of Chocolate

(June 16, 2012)

I was in London the other week. When in London, I always try to visit a snobby chocolate store. The Brits make the best chocolate, for some reason or other. My favourites are Artisan du Chocolat and Demarquette. They make the most tasty box of chocolates ever. But featured here in this photo feature we … Continue reading London Review of Chocolate

Useful Consumer Review

(June 15, 2012)

Micro SD playing headphones I have a love/hate affair with wiring. I love that stuff works. That’s why I love ethernet cables. Because wifi doesn’t work. But I hate getting tangled in cables. And I love music. So walking around is a conundrum. Micro SD card Fortunately, some geniuses came up with the idea of … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

It Waits

(June 15, 2012)

Some day… Some day…

Wrong Scale

(May 18, 2012)

Fun-sized?

There. I Fixed It.

(May 16, 2012)

I really like the fanless machines from Aleutia. They have a nice form factor, they’re really silent, and they have kinda amusing web pages. I’ve got three of the Sandy Bridge machines now, and they just like work and stuff. Nine thumbs up. However! These are Sandy Brigde machines. That means built-in Intel graphics. Built-in … Continue reading There. I Fixed It.

CDO

(May 13, 2012)

I’m going to the I’ll Be Your Mirror thing next weekend. They’re doing a tape swap thing. I probably won’t be participating, because I’m lazy, but I did start thinking about what such a tape would consist of. Fortunately, Emacs has kept track of all the albums I’ve played over the last decade, so I … Continue reading CDO

Cheapskates Revealed!

(April 30, 2012)

In the previous installment, we saw that Penguin had done weird stuff typographically. And now I understand why. In the back of the book is a “List of Variants”, which details minutely what manuscripts have been used. I mean, important stuff like “La” vs “la”. And they list these variants based on page and line … Continue reading Cheapskates Revealed!

Cheapskates

(April 29, 2012)

I was reading Tender is the Night and was puzzling over the typesetting. The foreword and the index is set in a very clear, narrow typeface, while the text itself looks old and worn. This is unfortunately an annotated edition, which I loathe. I wouldn’t have bought it if I’d known. But that doesn’t make … Continue reading Cheapskates

Linkblogging

(April 8, 2012)

This seems to explain the weird tendency Linux has to swap out huge processes, even when there’s plenty of free memory. I’ve always wondered why that happens. Short answer: ccNUMA. Long answer here. And also this.

Useful Consumer Review

(April 1, 2012)

I bought this catch-and-release fly catcher… gun… a few weeks back. But, despite the warmest March ever (or something), I hadn’t seen a single fly since getting the device. Until today. It works! I caught the fly and released it out the window. I didn’t really think it would work, because the suction kinda sucks. … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

Explain This

(March 27, 2012)

The seam just doesn’t seem to be functional.

Springtime

(March 24, 2012)

A decade ago I decided to buy lots of plants. I don’t know what this is… I’d always had a couple of plants, but they’d always die on me. Since I’m basically enthusiasm-driven, I realized that the only way I’d ever be able to have any non-dead plants on my windows was to buy lots … Continue reading Springtime

They Live!

(March 24, 2012)

I wrapped up my rose bushes for the winter, but I didn’t really expect them to survive. And I just unwrapped them now. But look! New leaves! This has been a kinda warm winter, though. And it’s the hottest March ever, according to… somebody… Anyway. Exciting!

Hair Today

(March 23, 2012)

According to experts, apparently long hair can get trapped in pipes leading to a less than optimal drainage situation. The solution here, according to the same experts, is to pour a liquid called “Mudin” down the drains twice a year. Or, as the experts said, “or, for you, every three months”. I’m just reporting what … Continue reading Hair Today

Computers Can Remember Things

(March 20, 2012)

One feature that I’ve been missing from mplayer for years and years is the ability to remember how far you’ve watched a movie. Like, if I’ve been watching a movie, but then I stop the movie because I want to watch a TV show, then mplayer doesn’t helpfully remember where you left off. So I’ve … Continue reading Computers Can Remember Things

Lighting Out for the Territories

(March 17, 2012)

I’m pretty sure there’s no air raid going on.

Plastic Bags Considered Arty

(March 17, 2012)

The Floor What is that lovely expressionistic piece of art on the right, you say? Let me tell you a story. I went shopping for groceries at ICA today. I left the bags on the floor in the kitchen. The kitchen floor has heating cables. The cables switched themselves on. The red text on the … Continue reading Plastic Bags Considered Arty

Compositing Text Over Images

(March 17, 2012)

8 Inch USB Screen With Composited Text I have a number of small USB-powered screens scattered across the apartment that displays various stuff that I find myself wanting to know. In particular, I always want to know what music is playing. And I sometimes want to know what temperature it is outside. (And I can … Continue reading Compositing Text Over Images

March 9th, 2012

(March 9, 2012)

Dear Diary, I’ve switched the SSD disks back to the LSI MegaRAID SAS 9260-8i controller again, and did some final benchmarks. I’m comparing reading bits of the Gmane spool in semi-random (i.e. ext4 directory) order, name order (which is also the same order as the files were created), and finally, just reading a big hunking … Continue reading March 9th, 2012

March 7th, 2012

(March 7, 2012)

Brace yourselves.Winter is coming back Dear Diary, I’ve now found some time to do further speed testing of the SSD machine that’s going to replace the Gmane news server. I know that you remember everything, Diary, but let me give you a brief recap. I got a bunch of 512GB Samsung 830 SATA3 SSDs that … Continue reading March 7th, 2012

Tentacle Mystery

(February 17, 2012)

I ordered… something… as the appetizer at the restaurant tonight. I’m pretty sure I didn’t expect this tentacle plate to appear, though. Did I order it? Was the waiter just having fun? Anyway, what it is? It kinda looks like octopus, but not quite. The tentacles don’t quite look octopussey enough. And the texture wasn’t … Continue reading Tentacle Mystery

Baffled Pizza

(February 7, 2012)

Take your backpacks off! There’s a pizzeria just down the street here that almost always has a long queue outside. Pizzeria da Baffetto. Naturally, if there’s a long line, I want to be there, too. Or perhaps not. But I was thinking that that might be the reason that all these people were standing out … Continue reading Baffled Pizza

Lethal Eatin’

(January 30, 2012)

After doing intense research, I’m able to confirm that the lethal Kinder Eggs are still availble in Italy. And furthermore, they contain amusing stuff like the construction set and the paper thing on the right, and not just boring figurines. Let the touristing commence!

Roma

(January 29, 2012)

Roma

(January 26, 2012)

January 20th, 2012

(January 26, 2012)

The magical key! Dear Diary, today the IOPS-unlocking FastPath key arrived for the LSI MegaRAID 9265-8i card arrivied! I was so excited, until I opened the box an found what’s basically something that short-circuits two headers on the RAID card. What a rip-off. It probably disables some sleep(1) calls in the firmware on the card. … Continue reading January 20th, 2012

January 15th, 2012

(January 16, 2012)

Dear Diary, after the rather disappointing random read benchmarks (I mean, 4K files a second? It’s pitiful) I almost went into a severe depression and started thinking about using vi. Again. But then I went back to the hardware pusher’s web site and noticed something strange. They’re selling something that’s supposed to make their LSI … Continue reading January 15th, 2012

January 14th, 2012

(January 14, 2012)

Dear Diary, today I’ve written a small benchmark utility to try to emulate NNTP server performance. A one-file-per-article spool has somewhat unusual performance characteristics, totally dominated by stat-ing and stuff. So my little utility is a C program that recursively reads a real news spool, and then just discards the result. It’s extremely single-threaded, which … Continue reading January 14th, 2012

January 13th, 2012

(January 14, 2012)

Dear diary, today is the most joyful day of my entire life. The Samsung 830s for my new server arrived! Sort of out of the blue! The web shop insisted upon them not arriving until the end of the month, and then they sent them anyway. Look at how pretty they are. One might even … Continue reading January 13th, 2012

January 4th, 2012

(January 11, 2012)

Dear Diary, today the RAID card arrived for my new server. I had apparently only ordered a single SATA cable instead of the six I had meant to order. But it turned out that the card didn’t use normal SATA cables at all, but a weird one-to-four connector. It’s a big connector on one side, … Continue reading January 4th, 2012

December 29th, 2011

(January 6, 2012)

Dear Diary, arghh! Now the shipment date of the Samsungs has been pushed back to January 31st! “Tentatively.” Can I really wait that long to test the new server? (Continue reading my secret diary.)

December 23rd, 2011

(January 6, 2012)

Dear Diary, today I was rummaging through the drawers in the office, and I happened upon an SSD there. It was a Corsair Force 3, which is a SATA 3.0 disk! Yay! I can finally do some benchmarking, I thought. I put the SSD into the server and switched it on, but it came up … Continue reading December 23rd, 2011

December 22nd, 2011

(January 5, 2012)

Dear Diary, the Samsungs haven’t arrived yet, but they’re supposed to arrive any day now. I’m starting to wonder whether they actually exist out there, or if they are a phantom product that’s announced, but not actually shipped. But I just looked on Newegg, for instance, and they claim to have them in stock, so … Continue reading December 22nd, 2011

December 19th, 2011

(January 4, 2012)

Dear diary, Sinking Heat today I got the heat sink and the RAM for the new server. I installed them and hit the power switch. It’s alive! I haven’t built a server in ever so long, so I’m happy and kinda surprised that it works. The Samsung 830s I ordered haven’t arrived yet, but they’re … Continue reading December 19th, 2011

December 16th, 2011

(January 2, 2012)

Dear Diary, There’s only one 8-pin header on the motherboard today I got the motherboard I ordered for the new server! I yanked the old motherboard out and put the new one in. And it fit! I got all the power cables, the SATA cables, and the fan cables fitted without any major problem, despite … Continue reading December 16th, 2011

Useful Consumer Review

(January 2, 2012)

Ugly OS This year, I’m finally actually really (this time) learn to read French. So I needed a dictionary by the couch, so I bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, which is the tablet with the longest battery life, allegedly. (Apart from the tablets from The Company That Shall Not Be Mentioned.) The most immediately … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

December 12th, 2011

(January 1, 2012)

Dear Diary, since the beginning of time, Man has yearned to have their news spools on solid state disks instead of those pesky spinning ones. The load on the Gmane news server frequently tips over the 16 point (which means that access is denied) purely from people and bots hammering the web and news interfaces … Continue reading December 12th, 2011

Tube on the Tube

(December 20, 2011)

Puny Weakling Laptop I’ve wanted to be able to display YouTube stuff on my TV for a long time. If somebody mentions a link on IRC, it would be nice to display that on the big screen instead of my minuscule sofa laptop. (Which isn’t powerful enough to show most YouTube videos, anyway. Poor Sony … Continue reading Tube on the Tube

Fancy!

(December 17, 2011)

New Camera

Inscrutability. We haz it.

(December 10, 2011)

Gnomic I’ve got a form to fill out about fire readiness in the apartment. Which is OK. But the questions are kinda inscrutable. I’m supposed to tick either “OK” or “Divergence” (or something. It’s a kinda odd word choice in Norwegian, too). So it starts out fine. “Is there at least one functioning smoke detector … Continue reading Inscrutability. We haz it.

The Carpenters

(December 10, 2011)

Fancy Machine! A few months ago I bought some new shelves to get my shoes organisized. The shoes were all jumbled up in my closet. Today, after the mandatory procrastinating period I found myself actually awake on a Saturday morning. So today is the day! Then I spent an hour looking for the saws that … Continue reading The Carpenters

Yes Concert

(December 7, 2011)

Yes Concert

Useful Consumer Review

(December 1, 2011)

I bought these tipping tea cups… They actually work. I mean, they tip and the tea leaves don’t fall out when I drink the tea. However, the cups are made out of a kind of nasty plastic that feels just wrong. And they taste like plastic, too. So my rating here is: Unusable. But the … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

Oldey Timey Mickey

(November 28, 2011)

I don’t think he eats worms any more.

Reuse Before Recycle

(November 25, 2011)

I got a package from Amazon today — delivered in a mail bag. Which isn’t unusual. This is, though: But a veteran of what?

More Further Legal Proceedings

(November 22, 2011)

As you recall from the first episode of this series, I received several kilos of paperwork from India about… something. The gist of it was — somebody had allegedly committed libel against somebody else, and they had put a law firm onto the case. The law firm got it all firmly in hand, but neglected … Continue reading More Further Legal Proceedings

More Legal Proceedings

(November 21, 2011)

My boss got the letter below today. As I don’t speak French, I’m not totally sure what it’s asking me to do, but I’ll assume that it wants me to remove the links in question. The fascinating thing about this very geniune-looking (ahem) official letter is that it doesn’t mention who’s sending it. Who is … Continue reading More Legal Proceedings

Music Distribution

(November 12, 2011)

The main issue when I moved to the new flat, oh, three-ish years ago? I think, was how to listen to music. I want to be able to walk between rooms, listening to the same music. This means that there has to be some kind of way to distribute music between the rooms. I looked … Continue reading Music Distribution

Lars Animal Rescue

(November 11, 2011)

Bird When I came home today, I found a magpie (Pica Pica) sitting on top of my outlet box. That’s on the fourth floor, so it had flown up the stairs. Confused bird. Anyway, I thought could just open the window and let it fly out, but it flew on up to the top floor … Continue reading Lars Animal Rescue

Emacs Light Switches

(November 11, 2011)

Tellstick Duo Telldus launched a new version of their nifty USB-based “home automation” thingy a couple of months ago. It’s mostly the same as the last version, but this one can receive signals as well as send signals. This means that you can buy stuff like this switch, glue it onto a wall somewhere, and … Continue reading Emacs Light Switches

Will This Do?

(November 9, 2011)

I was reading an MC Siegler post linked to from HackerNews, where he rants about the iOS Gmail client and Google products in general: And all of this is the M.O. of pretty much all Google iOS apps. They’re half-ass, buggy, and generally ugly to boot. The obvious retort is “yeah, and Apple never released … Continue reading Will This Do?

flac123 tweaks

(November 8, 2011)

I’ve altered flac123 slightly to allow setting the output buffer size, as well as cleaning up the STDOUT/STDERR interaction and put it on github. Not extremely exciting. So here’s a picture of a bowl: Bowl

Artifacts

(November 7, 2011)

Cartridge

(November 1, 2011)

Gem I bought a new pick-up for the record player (I know, how au courant) today. They didn’t have the one I wanted so I bought this one instead. Look at the pretty packaging!

Legal Proceedings

(October 31, 2011)

The last time I handled Gmane emails (I do that about once a month. Drunk.) I got a stranger than usual threat from India. I’m used to being told that I’m so sowed because of something some moron once posted on a mailing list, but this seemed to actually be from a lawyer. As is … Continue reading Legal Proceedings

Dawn

(September 10, 2011)

Oh, Brando

(September 9, 2011)

I bought some USB3->SATA adapters from Brando. They came with US->Euro plug adapters. (Yes, the adapters had adapters with adapters. Geez.) See if you can spot the problem. In addition, the speed I get when ripping CDs via these adapters is, as they say, teh sux. Oh, well. It’s not as if I actually expected … Continue reading Oh, Brando

Remedies

(July 15, 2011)

Do I have a sufficient number of throat lozenges? Do I? I’m so bored. Bored!

Shoes On Couches

(July 15, 2011)

Extreme Couching It’s always fascinated me that on American TV shows, people seem to put their feet up on furniture, even though they are wearing shoes. After spending some time in the US, I realised that TV was only reporting fact. It’s so shocking, I’m sure. I’ve got a cold now, so I’m watching episodes … Continue reading Shoes On Couches

Kongsberg Jazz

(July 15, 2011)

Jazz? Jazz Not Jazz

Stupid xorg.conf Tricks

(July 7, 2011)

Mimo Monitor I’m getting addicted to small USB monitors. They’re so practical for displaying “extra” information that I don’t want to clutter up my main screen. These monitors just require one single cable to the computer, and they typically have a touch screen interface, too. So you can pretty much use them for any small … Continue reading Stupid xorg.conf Tricks

You can lead a horticulturalist

(July 6, 2011)

This is a rose Either Pink Fairy or Viking. Who can tell? While waiting for the fallout of the default change of send-mail-function, I’m snapping flash pictures of the roses in the middle of the night. As one does. Look! They are roses!

I never promised myself a rose garden

(May 22, 2011)

Viking to the left, Pink Fairy to the right But now I have a rose balcony. I wanted to have something growing on the balcony (in addition to the dirt), so I went to buy a rose bush. I got a bit carried away, as usual, and got three of them. A (I’m not kidding) … Continue reading I never promised myself a rose garden

RAID Fun Redux

(May 18, 2011)

Addonics Mini Storage Tower You will remember me getting a new eSATA box with the crappiest thermal design ever. To recap, there’s a big fan situated a few millimeters from an almost totally non-holey wall, Batman. When fans are that close to an obstruction, the air flow makes a lot of noise. So I unplugged … Continue reading RAID Fun Redux

It’s like the 4th of July

(May 17, 2011)

I’ve been celebrating the Norwegian constitutional day (I think it’s celebrating that we were rid of the tyrannical rule of the Danes, or the Swedes, or somebody equally tyrannical and heinous) by putting up more book shelves. I’m not digital at all in the book dept. It’s still all papery stuff. It takes a lot … Continue reading It’s like the 4th of July

Is Amazon Insane or Just Deranged?

(May 4, 2011)

So, I stumbled onto Suddenly, Tammy! having their third album (which was recorded in 1997, but held (and not released) by Warner’s (they fired the band, but refused to give back the music to the band (record labels are scum)) finally seeing the light of day yesterday. (You can untangle the tenses, I think.) So … Continue reading Is Amazon Insane or Just Deranged?

The Curious Case of the Box Fan

(April 30, 2011)

I bought an ESATA box to replace the crappy Synology RAID thing. It’s a very simple external enclosure with no brains whatsoever, so I can just string four ESATA cables out of the computer in the cupboard to the enclosure, and run standard Linux soft raid. I installed four 5900RPM Seagate Green disks into the … Continue reading The Curious Case of the Box Fan

Funny Looking Chocolate Not Actually Amusing

(April 26, 2011)

Look! Exciting! As a rule of thumb, chocolate that looks all fancified often isn’t very good. (There are a number of exceptions to this rule.) But this one looked too intriguing for me to pass up. As you can see, it’s blueberries and lingonberries suspended in white chocolate. I was wondering how they did that. … Continue reading Funny Looking Chocolate Not Actually Amusing

More Input Devices

(April 24, 2011)

Targus Wireless Presenter and Emacs Volume Control Finding wireless input devices (for controlling the stereo) that are 1) not too ugly and2) works reliably and3) has a range over a few meters isn’t trivial. I’ve experimented with a few thingamabobs, and one device I’m pretty satisfied with is the Targus … er… I can’t find … Continue reading More Input Devices

Live TV!

(April 23, 2011)

Still can’t get my camera to focus on the TV I haven’t really missed having live TV for a decade, but it would be practical if guests wanted to watch the news or something. So it just occurred to me that doing live TV would be trivial with the current infrastructure. I have an Emacs … Continue reading Live TV!

Digital Audio Extraction from Emacs

(April 21, 2011)

Triple Threat SATA Multilane Connector So my CD ripping situation is that I put a CD into the CD reading thing there (more about that in a thrilling later blog article), hit a key in Emacs, slap a CD cover onto the scanner, hit another key in Emacs to say that the format is (usually … Continue reading Digital Audio Extraction from Emacs

Useful Consumer Review

(April 19, 2011)

I got a new phone today. The Nokia E7. And look! It’s perfect! It runs Gnus under ssh! Look how pretty Gnus is on the phone! (The only thing that would have been perfecter would be if it actually ran Emacs on the phone itself, but I guess that’ll have to wait until somebody produces … Continue reading Useful Consumer Review

Scanning Record Sleeves

(April 19, 2011)

A CD Rippin’ Cupboard with an A3 Scanner In the continuing story of bits and pieces related to my music playing Emacs@Home installation, here’s the sleeve scanning function. It’s basically just a tiny data base of common CD/LP/tape sleeve sizes. There’s a lot of sizes, unfortunately. But what I really wanted to have was something … Continue reading Scanning Record Sleeves

Editing Sound Files in Emacs

(April 17, 2011)

Emacs PCM Editing I buy quite a lot of vinyl still. And the hipsterish hipsters have started releasing things on tape, since vinyl is obviously too mainstream. (I’m wondering when 78s will be making a comeback.) So to listen to this music I need to sample it and then convert it to flac. That’s trivial … Continue reading Editing Sound Files in Emacs

Greylisting Considered Annoying

(April 16, 2011)

Nobody likes spam. So to avoid spam they either inflict pain on others, like with challenge/response systems that send endless challenges to me since “I” have sent them spam (From headers are so hard to fake? (I know this guy who automatically responds to all challenge/response systems (evil, but understandable))), or they use “greylisting”, which … Continue reading Greylisting Considered Annoying

My Favourite Shop

(April 16, 2011)

I buy tons of music, and most of it I buy from Norman Records. One of the many things I like about them is how some of their reviews are both concrete and abstract at the same time.

Emacs Can Haz Brainz?

(April 15, 2011)

Adam mentioned MusicBrainz in the comments of the last article. I took that as a challenge, of course. I only implemented the query bits, though. I’m selfish. (Oh, OK, the only reason I didn’t do the submission part, too, is that I can’t make up my mind whether cddb.el and musicbrainz.el should share the same … Continue reading Emacs Can Haz Brainz?

Editing freedb/cddb entries

(April 15, 2011)

The new album New Album from the folk band Boris When ripping large quantities of CDs, you really have to have an efficient way to query and edit CDDB entries. So here’s an Emacs library for doing that. It includes a bunch of convenience functions for fixing up other people’s bad entries, and you also … Continue reading Editing freedb/cddb entries

Musical Beats & Pieces

(April 14, 2011)

The music player The last hoard of Emacs-related code I’ve written over the years is part of my Emacs-based music player. It started off (in 1997) as a way to rip my CDs and play mp3s (as well as swap out the mp3s to CD since I didn’t have enough disc space to store all … Continue reading Musical Beats & Pieces

Emacs Movie Browser

(April 12, 2011)

See Emacs. See Emacs play movie In the continuing story of Emacs@Home (don’t worry, I think there’s only one part left now), we’ve now come to the part where I watch TV. I know, it’s something most people manage quite perfectly without resorting to Emacs, but why would you? Well, actually, I think that the … Continue reading Emacs Movie Browser

Sennheiser HDR 180

(April 11, 2011)

Headphones cradled on the charging cradle Most hardware seems to have been created in a “will this do?” mind set. They have a bit of technology, and they have some economic restraints, and then they rush it to market. It makes perfect sense, and I can’t envision that it’ll ever change, but it’s somewhat depressing. … Continue reading Sennheiser HDR 180

Hardcore Food

(April 11, 2011)

I was looking through my cookery books for meatball recipes, and this was one of them. It just seems too hardcore for me. It starts with “half a kilo of meat from ox, calf, sheep, horse, moose, whale”. And then you add blubber or lard or whatever “spekk” is. And half a liter of milk. … Continue reading Hardcore Food

Quimby Upgrade

(April 10, 2011)

The old Quimby Quimby (the machine doing everything at *.gnus.org) has been unstable lately. (It’s died mysteriously two times.) So instead of investigating what’s going on, I just installed Debian Squeeze on a new machine and rsynced over all the pertinent parts. The old Debian installation was too stale, anyway, and 32-bit, so it was … Continue reading Quimby Upgrade

Alarm Clock

(April 10, 2011)

The alarm clock before I started writing this article Most alarm clocks have somewhat awkward interfaces, which may be why so many people have switched to using their mobile phones instead. Most mophos have alarm clocks that are easy to use — just open the clock app, choose a menu item and type in the … Continue reading Alarm Clock

Adding Commands to mplayer

(April 7, 2011)

The computer I use to watch DVDs (and other stuff) with has three sound outputs: via HDMI to the TV, via the built-in analogue sound port to my wireless headphones, and via a USB sound card to external stereo speakers. Which one I use depends on what I’m watching and what time of day it … Continue reading Adding Commands to mplayer

An Emacs-based PVR

(April 5, 2011)

In the continuing story of me trying to push a few of the odds and ends of the code I’ve written for my own use, we’ve now come to the Emacs-based PVR. As usual, it may not actually be very useful code for, like, normal human beans, but why not push it out there? Perhaps … Continue reading An Emacs-based PVR

Synology DS409 RAID is Crap

(April 3, 2011)

Do you see that thing over there? The Synology Disk Station DS409? It’s crap. It’s not the usual hardware RAID problems that make it so crappy. Yes, it’s slow. Painfully slow. Yes, it has a weird Linux kernel that, somehow, manages to do put all NFS clients into df: `/mirror’: Permission denied if you change … Continue reading Synology DS409 RAID is Crap

Running an RSS to NNTP Gateway

(April 2, 2011)

If I knew that doing an RSS to NNTP gateway was so easy, I would have done it years ago. I was just waiting for somebody else to pick up this obviously useful idea, but apparently nobody else wanted to. In comparison to doing the Gwene gateway, the (almost) ten-year-old Gmane mail-to-news project is pretty … Continue reading Running an RSS to NNTP Gateway

Tellstick Redux

(April 1, 2011)

I was whinging a lot about the terrible Tellstick range in my last post on the issue. Deservedly so. It’s terrible! However, the Telldus people have released a new version of the device: The revolutionary new invention is the antenna! Who would ever have thought that an antenna would give greater range? Kids these days. … Continue reading Tellstick Redux

Make RSS feeds from last.fm Shoutbox Pages

(March 31, 2011)

I was somewhat interested in seeing what people were saying about the new Boris albums on last.fm, but reloading that page is so 1993. I wanted to read it through Gwene, but there’s no RSS feeds on last.fm. So I whipped one up (in Perl! *sob*) and put the service on Quimby. Feel free to … Continue reading Make RSS feeds from last.fm Shoutbox Pages

(January 8, 2011)

IT people are as subject to fads as anybody else. It’s perhaps more interesting to being able to pin-point the moment that they’re over than anything else. Perhaps we can learn from other industries. Like fashion. This picture captures the exact instant when the no socks thing was over.