The one who denied it supplied it

When you were a child, did you ever make a trail for a sibling or friend to follow by chalking arrows on footpaths, fences, gutters, telegraph poles and other natural canvases? What was at the end of it? A chocolate biscuit on a plate? An unoccupied trampoline? Or did you play the mean trick of having the trail lead the person right back to where they began? Was the final arrow perhaps pointing to a chalked message of - to your childish mind - great significance? What did it say?

Crodlu meat

From the review of "Shikabane Hime: Corpse Princess Part 1" by David West in "The Ultimate Guide To Anime":

"One odd quirk - when a Shikabane is injured in battle, they need to be held by their contracted monk to heal, proving what mums everywhere have always known - a hug makes everything better."

You don't have to be a teacher to appreciate this

Merely male...


"He returns the crossword, now a single square of blackness, to the table, and leans back Byronically on the couch. 'This isn't how I imagined the teaching life, Howard. I saw myself naming the planets for apple-cheeked sixteen-year-old girls. Watching their hearts awaken, taking them aside and gently talking them out of the crushes they have on me. "The boys my age are such dorks, Mr Farley." "I know it seems like that now. But you're young and you're going to meet some wonderful, wonderful men." Finding poems on my desk every morning. And underwear. Poems and underwear. That's what I thought life was all about. Look at me now. A failed kidult'"

- p63, "Skippy Dies" (2010) by Paul Murray


Thinking about it, at least three mates who peruse this prattle are or have been edumacators, so maybe they'll appreciate it more ;-)

Candace And The Cockroaches

"Why have you just booked two nights' accommodation in Parramatta for late September, Addster?"

"Because I will be attending Soundwave Revolution there and know I'll enjoy it much more if I don't have to travel to or from the venue on that day."

"But you always say you're too old for music festivals."

"I do, don't I? The difference is that the line-up for this one includes The Sisters Of Mercy, a band I've dreamt of seeing live for 20+ years."

"They're not really the same group now, though. Andrew Eldritch, the current 'Doktor Avalanche' and some hired guns..."

"Eldritch *is* The Sisters. Next question."

"Who else are you keen to catch at SR?"

"In This Moment, definitely. Maybe Alice Cooper, depending on the crowd. Everybody I know raves about the Devin Townsend Project. Steel Panther could be amusing. To be honest, I need to research a bunch of the acts on YouTube."

"Do you think there's any chance Candace And The Cockroaches might be a last-minute addition to the bill?"

"Unlikely."

Promo sapien

My p/review copy of PS3 game "Infamous 2" came with a replica of protagonist Cole MacGrath's wallet, containing:

* Driver's licence
* Credit card
* Banknotes
* Restaurant receipt
* Newspaper clippings
* Strip club business card

The bits were all relatively lifelike and fun to extract and examine. Whoever thought up the idea should be commended.

Consummate amateur

[Unfinished musing found on my work computer:]

My favourite Smiths song at the moment is "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others". At face value, it appears to be about breast size, especially when taking into account the extra verse introduced by Morrissey on the lone occasion it was performed live, which begins "On the shop floor/There's a calendar". But it doesn't require much Googling to realise that opinions vary. While most commenters agree it is about literal rather than figurative women, many argue that the boobular interpretation is overly simplistic. Some contend that the "bigger" refers to body weight or perhaps social status, which may explain the "Some girls' mothers" part. Others claim it's "bigger" in the sense of magnanimity or the capacity to love.

[Where was I going with this? I don't remember.]

Unfortunate waterfowl

I'd vowed not to touch Eoin Colfer's "And Another Thing" - billed as "Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Part Six Of Three" - but curiousity and a bargain bin conspired to make a liar of me. It's clever, bordering on bloody clever. It's respectful in the sense that Colfer clearly knows the absurd source material backwards. It's also kinda tedious, especially in the latter stages, and there were times I thought about tossing it aside. The reason why is that it reads too much like an author trying to be clever and respectful on his way to an inevitable neat resolution. What it doesn't feel like is a proper story. There's certainly no sense of the endless possibility embodied in the concept of the Guide itself. Indeed, the abundant - some would say over-abundant - "H2G2" entries suffer from the same feeling of souless contrivance, however skilful. Don't bother with this novel, even if it's remaindered and you're itching to discover what happens next. I shouldn't have.