What’s this? A new album by Wire?
Released a day ago, City, is the second… maybe third album by Wire in the last year or so. It seems like an album of electronic music. There goes my evening…
Read MoreDecember, 2020
Micronauts #7 (July 1979)
Micronauts vol 1 #7 July 1979“Adventure into Fear!”by Bill Mantlo, Michael Golden and Joe Rubenstein CoverMan-Thing is “Guest-Starring” in this issue. He is standing in water holding unconscious Marionette and Rann while the remaining Micronauts are positioned about his feet. While Microtron and Biotron appear to flee, Acroyear wields his energy sword. PAGES 1-2: The Micronauts and Steve Coffin spend time at Ray Coffin’s fishing cottage in the Everglades. This issue takes place in the Everglades. Bug and Acroyear spend time with Steve Coffin. Bug is revolted by the idea of fish living in water. They are fishing for food…
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Micronauts #6 (June 1979)
Micronauts vol 1 #6 June 1979“The Great Escapes”by Bill Mantlo, Michael Golden and Joe Rubenstein CoverThe Micronauts are attacking a Folorida Highway Patrol car. Bug is using his lance to melt through the windshield, Acroyear swings a piece of wreckage, Marionette points a gun at the cop. PAGES 1-6 (1-3, 5-7): The Micronauts and Steve Coffin escape from H.E.L.L. Rann refers to Prometheus’ robots as humanoids. They only appear to operate in Prometheus’ inner lab. The rest of H.E.L.L. is operated by humans. Bug reminds us that his homeworld is Kaliklak. Rann is unable to communicate with Biotron because a…
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More Joycon Surgery
Replaced the right joystick but somehow managed to damage the cable to the connector light on the side of the joycon. It all works fine and has sorted the controller drift.
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Michael Moorcock’s “The Dreaming City” (1961)
Moorcock’s The Dreaming City is the first short story featuring Elric, his silver-skinned Melnibonean hero. The story appeared in the wake of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (published between 1954 and 1955) as well as the renaissance of interest in Howard’s Conan tales (from 1932), Leiber’s Fahfrd & Grey Mouser series (from 1939) and Peake’s Gormenghast series (1950 – 1959). Moorcock insists that he was studying Freud, Jung and the gothic novel at the time and incorporated those elements into this tale. The setting of The Dreaming City is Melnibone, a once-great empire now in terrible decline. Its noble…
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Micronauts #5 (May 1979)
Micronauts vol 1 #5 May 1979“The Prometheus Pit”by Bill Mantlo, Michael Golden and Joe Rubenstein CoverTiny Micronauts – plus Muffin the dog – defending Steve from a Deathlok-type cyborg at the edge of a circular Prometheus Pit. (It’s a great cover!) PAGES 1-2: The Micronauts arrive at H.E.L.L. The Astrostation has an “ultimate flight-ceiling”: it can’t fly over a wire fence. It does seem that Astrostation isn’t the most appropriate name for the vehicle. Acroyear is impervious to electricity as he’s able to rip through an electrified fence. PAGE 3: Biotron has almost repaired the Endeavor. Biotron’s constructed an adaptor…
Read MoreReading, That Strange and Uniquely Human Thing
In Reading, That Strange and Uniquely Human Thing, Lydia Wilson, a researcher at the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory, presents investigations into the origins of writing and proceeds to point out that we use a mixture of phonetic, pictographic and classifier elements to read. She goes on: ” If non-dyslexic readers of phonetic scripts, which are usually taught initially through sound-based learning, were also encouraged to learn the word shapes from the start; if those learning pictographic characters chanted them out loud as well as copying them out to memorize them; who knows what new creativity would be unleashed?“
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Joycon Surgery
Sometimes there’s no other choice but to use a screwdriver and sort out joycon issues! Poor connection fixed.
Read MoreBlow the Bloody Doors Off
Reading the papers’ reporting on the Brexit negotiations today – eapecially The Guardian’s – I half-expected someone to report that Michael Caine was involved in the negotiations and drove off in a Union Jack-decorated mini, fingers up in a V. Chipper Brit underdogs outmanoeuvred grim Euro goliaths seems to be the narrative. If it wasn’t a deadly pandemic and Christmas, doubtlessly we’d be instructed to hold street parties.
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Micronauts #4 (April 1979)
Micronauts vol 1 #4 April 1979“A Hunting We Will Go!”Bill Mantlo (writer), Michael Golden (artist) and Joe Rubenstein (embellisher) CoverKarza facing the reader, blasting rebels. In the background dog soldiers are shooting down unarmed people who are running from them PAGES 1-6 (1-3, 6-7, 10): Dog soldiers raid the underground and round up the survivors as resources for the Body Banks. One of the rebel leaders, Slug, is taken to the Body Banks. The underground resistance to Karza is supplying rebels with LASER-SONICS, according to a dog soldier. The dog soldiers are under orders to kill anyone carrying a weapon…
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