A notebook impression of Berlin:

“… a place where construction, demolition and renovation are constants. Apparently this is less the case now than it was, say, a decade ago. But still, almost everywhere you go, something old is being knocked down or scrubbed up, or something new is being built.

I kind of enjoy seeing buildings in these transitional states; there’s a peculiar vulnerability and nakedness to them that makes you look anew at their finished neighbours, trying to X-ray them with the mind’s eye to discern their articulation, the way their skeletons support the skin… ”

Pretentious? Moi?

Writing about music

Busy busy busy. For an assortment of reasons it’s just been me on scribbler duties this week, so I’ve been knocking out one review per day in between loads of other gubbins. Business as usual at The Dreaded Press, wot?

Album of the week

A last-minute bid for the crown from a band I’d never heard of before takes the prize this week; the last taboo of america by drill is a grimly political wrestling match between industrial and post-metal, and I like it very much indeed.

Writing about books

Little critical work other than notetaking this week (for all the usual reasons), though I have enjoyed reading the bulk of the latest issue of Interzone, which has some fine stories in it. And hey - now I’m no longer staff I can write reviews of it again if I want to. Hmmm…

Finally finished reading the most recent script, and am currently writing the report on it. The report already threatens to equal the script in length; maybe I’m pulling the punches a bit too much? Or not enough?

Freelance

Hectic week for the old administrivia, what with reaching the end of my second quarter as a freelance with a client list[1]. It’s still very satisfying to send out invoices… though I’d like to be able to put bigger numbers on a lot of them, naturally. Other business rolls on with nothing major or exciting to share as of the moment. We’ll keep you posted…

Futurismic

As mentioned before, we had a super new story at Futurismic this week and we got BoingBoing’d for it too, which is great news both in terms of temporary traffic spiking and general visibility beyond the sf blogosphere. Now I just need to work out how to pull that off every month!

Books and magazines seen

It never ceases to depress me that Orbit can sometimes mail me close to ten books in a week without sending one I’m even remotely interested in. Which isn’t a dig at their output[2] so much as at what seems to be a very wasteful procedure. When they put me on the list I suggested adding me to the ’science fiction only’ list… turns out there isn’t one. Selah.

So, that means the only title to plug this week is the latest edition of South poetry magazine:

Mmm, windmills.

Coda

Last night was the grand final of the local BOTB analogue, Showcase 2008. I’ve been judging and attending these for seven years now, and I can’t remember another final as having such a diverse line-up or good crowd vibe; no fights or hissy-fits, and all the bands were super cool to each other… Aeroplane Attack’s drummer’s other band didn’t win, but you can’t have everything. Still, nothing marks the end of summer in Velcro City for me quite so strongly; as far as my brain is concerned, we’re now battening down the mental hatches for the long cold ride through winter.

On the subject of Aeroplane Attack, it’s our first proper rehearsal on Sunday, and I’m really looking forward to it. Despite having buggered about with guitars since 1991, this will be the first time I’ve gone to a studio to practice actual original songs at full volume. How exactly we’re going to tote our arsenal of amps, drums and obscure stomp boxes uptown remains to be confirmed, but we’ll find a way. The power of rock compels us.

It’s also the first time in ages that there’s no major gig on the horizon for the next week, though I expect some local shindig will crop up and demand attendance. Last weekend’s This Ain’t No Picnic festival was a great laugh, though, and comes highly recommended[3]. We have a nebulous plan to blag our way onto the bill next year…

And here’s a shocking bit of news for you all - this will be the first Friday night at home in hell knows how long that I won’t be partaking in The Friday Curry. So if the Earth spins off its axis as Sarah Palin ushers in the second coming of Jeebus later this evening, we’ll know that I was doing something important… but this month is all about seeing where I can save money[4].

But hey, the weekend is the weekend, and while there’s work to do there’s also people to hang out with and fun to be had. So I’d best get the task list polished off, hadn’t I? Have a good weekend yourselves - auf weidersehn!

[ 1 - I know, I know, it's flown by. It's quite scary actually. ]

[ 2 - After all, it's my taste that causes the problem. A hundred thousand Laurell k Hamilton fans can't be wrong, right? ]

[ 3 - You owe it to yourself to check out Polysics, a band from Tokyo who come across like some high-energy acid-drenched hard-rock version of Devo. Their cover of "My Sharona" has to be heard to be believed. ]

[ 4 - Not to mention hopefully slow (if not halt) my alarming rush into the territory of Porky-bastardville; I really have to accept I can't just eat crap every week and expect to still shoehorn myself into 32" jeans without restricting my breathing. ]

If you think London’s graffiti is ubiquitous, then you’ve probably never been to Berlin - or indeed Germany in general^[1].

In addition to the visual noise of tags and scribblings, punctuated by everything from swift throw-ups to full-blown burner pieces, there’s a strong current of stencil and poster graffiti, all resonating with Berlin’s understandably unique take on politics and ideology:

“No revolution today”… There was a lengthy spraycan scrawl elsewhere (that I forgot to take a picture of) which read “run - the old world is right behind you”. *sigh*

Writing about music

The Dreaded Press rolls on neatly, with Duncan well settled and a few new writers in the pipeline. Unfortunately I have eleven CDs with a release date of 6th October waiting in the pile; with the best will in the world, they’re not all going to be reviewed before release date. I do wish the labels wouldn’t cluster releases like that. Bloody inconsiderate of them.

Album of the week

With absolutely no hesitation at all, the thirteen-minute seven-track fun-splurge of Think by Lovvers gets the crown this week. A joyous crazy racket; this is what the word pop should really refer to. They’re playing with a friend’s band in a local pub next week…

Writing about books

Last week’s head-cold (now mostly shifted, thankfully) put me on the back foot schedule-wise, so little concrete book reviewing work was accomplished. Plus I’ve been trying my best to rattle my way though my current script-review assignment… which is, to be diplomatic, a tough and slow read^[2].

Freelance

Mostly administrivia and final bits of catch-up this week, although Tuesday evening was totally consumed by the server migration of a couple of client sites. Or, more accurately, one of them…

A bit of advice for you, if you ever have to migrate a MySQL database for a PHPbb installation, be sure to backup the data *without* including the search result tables^[3], and to install a search table re-builder plugin as soon as you get the files moved. That little tip should save you about three hours of trial and error (and panic)… I’d provide links, but the software version in question is quite dated; just search the PHPbb community docs, they’re pretty comprehensive.

Futurismic

All seems pretty well over at Futurismic, though it’s getting very close to the next new fiction date and we still don’t have a definite story to run with next month. Chris (F’mic Fiction Ed) is being more picky these days - by his own admission, and rightly so - but that means we don’t have a pile of pre-bought material ready to roll out at the moment. It’ll all work out, I’m sure… but I can’t help getting a little nervous.

Aeroplane Attack

Some of you may remember me joining a band a while back; those of you who remember and are curious about what’s happening in that department may be intrigued to hear we’ve booked our first session in a proper rehearsal space, which we’re considering a first landmark on the route to gigworthiness. Really looking forward to being able to crank out the songs at high decibel levels… because that’s how they’re supposed to be played^[4].

Books and magazines seen

No books of note this week; however, one of the Little Brown subsidiaries sent out a huge showy package for what, to judge by the blurb, is the opener to yet another YA horror series. Talk about an anticlimax…

However, the latest Interzone turned up, with what is probably my favourite cover art of recent times:

Plus it’s a Chris Beckett special. If you don’t know why that’s a good thing, I recommend you buy this copy of Interzone and find out. Beckett is one of my favourite British short sf writers, and I’m not alone in that assessment; his work deserves your attention.

Coda

So, yeah, remember how I said last week that I’d be going to gigs less in future? Well, changing my life is like pulling a U-turn in an oil tanker - there’s a lot of planning involved, current momentum has to be taken into account, and the changes take a long time to express themselves in a tangible manner.

Which is why tonight I’ll be reviewing Swedish punk stalwarts Millencolin at The Wedgewood Rooms, and why I’ll be hopping on a on train Saturday morning to King’s College, London to attend this weekend’s This Ain’t No Picnic mini-festival^[5]… because they’ve both been booked for ages, basically.

And looking ahead at the next few months, there’s a fair few more such advanced bookings in the pipeline, too. So maybe I’d best stop saying “yes” every time news of a tempting show passes through, hmmm^[6]?

Anyway, a weekend away means I have stuff that needs to be done before I depart, so I’d best get my arse in gear and go fetch The Friday Curry, hadn’t I? Have yourselves the best weekend mathematically possible, and try not to watch the news - no point in getting depressed about stuff we can’t do anything to change, after all. Take care, folks - auf weidersehn!

[ ¹ - On the Deutsche Bahn train network, the approach seems to be "leave it there, it'll just come back if you paint it over, so why waste time and money?", a stark contrast to the UK attitude of fastidiously covering over these terrible social blasphemies on a monthly basis. Funnily enough, the trains in Germany are affordable, comfortable and run on time. I can't help but feel there's a connection between these things. ]

[ ⁶ - Like that's gonna happen. ]

FPB will be fairly brisk this week, as I’m still stuffed up with a nasty head-cold and very much wishing I was still in Berlin, mooching about the place and checking out the scenery. With that in mind, here’s a snap from my recent travels:

A sunny day, a new city to explore, a quiet outdoor bar in the mid-afternoon^[1], a beer, a pen and a notebook - what more does a man really need? Well, an income, obviously - which is why I came back. Selah. You’re not rid of me yet.

Writing about music

The Dreaded Press chunters along as always, though the start of student season means there’s lots of new stuff being released, and I’m a trifle behind as a result. But - having discovered that it’s much easier to write for TDP when I’m not stressing about it - I’m successfully not worrying too much. The realisation that it’s me doing the PR people a favour (and not the other way round) was a useful epiphany.

Album of the week

Lake Toba by Lukestar, by a hefty margin. Glacial post-hardcore meets post-rock-pop; a super album, and a breath of fresh air.

Writing about books

Still playing catch-up to some degree, so reviewing has been on the back-burner for the week. I have, however, started reading The New Utopian Politics of Ursula K Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. That sound you’ve been hearing? That’s the sound of a boot-strap novel reviewer who may possibly have bitten off more than he can adequately chew…

Futurismic

A quiet week on the comments front, but otherwise all seems well over at Futurismic. Looks like it’ll be another good month for ad income, too; fingers crossed.

Freelance

As announced earlier this week, I’ve finished and delivered Gareth L Powell’s site, which he seems very pleased with (and which other people have said nice things about as well).

Of course, I look at it now and feel it looks terribly derivative and pedestrian, and that I could doubtless have made more effort to give it some real zing… but I’m consoling myself by saying that’s a manifestation of the desire to improve, which can’t be a bad thing for a creative worker to have, AMIRITE?

Plenty more projects queueing up, as well, so the opportunity to raise my game is never far away…

Books and magazines seen

The latest issue (#82) of the poetry mag Iota arrived early in the week. There’s no scan of it online, but it comes (as always) with abstract monochrome photography for the cover art… gives them a recognisable and coherent image, but does little to assuage the conception of poetry as old-fashioned and self-indulgent. Which is a shame, because Iota’s content is usually pretty strong and vivid.

And a book, too - Pan Macmillan have punted over Peter F Hamilton’s The Temporal Void, which should come in handy should I ever need to ballast my airship or bludgeon an intruder to death - it’s very weighty at 746 pages^[2].

Coda

First week back in the day-job saddle, and it’s been predictably hectic, which may explain why I’ve caught this cold. Still, I got to see the mighty Swervedriver on Tuesday night, which was well worth the time and money. That said, it’s been a crazy few weeks for gigs, and looking at the bank balance I think I’ll be attending a lot less in the coming months. Still, what’s summer for if not having a bit of fun, eh?

Being unable to breathe through my nose (and, incidentally, unable to hear through my right ear) isn’t much fun, though, so I’ll be trundling off to request a double helping of extra chillies in The Friday Curry in the hope of napalming the bugs out of my system. It may not work, but it’s the only way I’ll be able to taste anything…

Here’s hoping you have yourself a good weekend. Auf weidersehn, meinen freunden!

[ 1 - The bar in question is out back of Tacheles, a quasi-legal artist's squat / gallery / club / venue on Oranienburgerstrasse. Well worth checking out if you're in the area; historians of underground art movements may be intrigued to know that this is where such UK-born techno crews such as Mutoid Waste Company and Spiral Tribe first ended up after the Criminal Justice Bill killed the free festival circuit. ]

[ 2 - It bills Hamilton as "Britain's number one science fiction writer" - not to dispute that title, but I wonder whether it's based on sales figures or some other metric, as I can think of a number of other potential claimants to the throne in question. ]

When looking for somewhere to stay for my trip to Berlin, I decided to go with the place I did for two reasons. Firstly, the single rooms were very affordable (twenty Euros a night, which is comparable to most dormitory slots); secondly, it advertised itself as being very gay-friendly, which struck me as a great way to minimise the risk of ending up sharing space with a lot of beered-up laddish backpackers.

The actual gay-friendliness is not something I can adequately assess, obviously, but it manifested itself in certain small ways beyond the lifestyle and outlook of the staff. As an example, this is what I found in the toilet next to my room:

That’s Berlin for ya^[1]! Awesome town, and I had tons of fun. I did not at any juncture wear a lacy thong, however.

Writing about music

There was quite a binge of reviewing before I left, and there’s been quite a bit since I got back - isn’t that always the way with holidays? Still, Duncan Harris seems to be settling in as a reviewer^[2], and I have a few more victims volunteers about to come on board, so The Dreaded Press is rolling along pretty well, despite my temporary absence.

Album(s) of the fortnight

Well, it’s a mini-album, but close enough. The cumbersomely-titled Seven Months and a Fire Blanket by Proceed by is everything that young British post-hardcore bands usually fail to produce, and marks them out as one worth keeping an eye out for.

Close second goes to Lost in the Sound of Separation by Underoath - Christian metalcore that isn’t a load of unlistenable shouty bollocks. Hoodathunkit?

Writing about books

Surprise surprise, I was far too busy enjoying myself to do much formal writing while I was away, and I’ve been far too busy playing catch-up since I got back. However, I did read all of Paul McAuley’s forthcoming novel The Quiet War and the VanderMeers’ Steampunk anthology, and took plenty of notes on both. So, another two titles to add to the ever-growing list of “books I should have reviewed months ago”.

Speaking of my doings in lit-crit, though: in case it passed you by, my long-anticipated long-awaited essay on Snow Crash was published at SF Site while I was away^[3], and I cropped up in an SF Signal Mind Meld on media tie-in novels. Go, me!

Freelance

This week’s catch-up has mostly been freelance stuff, taking full advantage of the time off from the day-job. If all goes according to plan, we’ll be launching a new author website early next week - watch this space for an announcement! But a week of XHTML and CSS has been pretty hard on my brain, to be honest. I think I need a holiday…

Futurismic

My great team of blogging types kept Futurismic ticking over nicely while I was away, and the new story from David McGillveray - “The Plastic Elf of Extrusion Valley“ - appeared right on schedule. Hurrah for post-dated publishing in Wordpress!

Books and magazines seen

Arriving just before I left for Berlin, the latest Electric Velocipede plonked into the letterbox, which has stepped up from stapled A4 to proper digest format and looks very pretty (though I rather liked the cod-steampunkisms of the old black’n'white covers, too).

I actually took it with me, but never got round to attacking it.

I got a second copy of Foundation #102 (my contributor copy, don’tcha know), which I think I might send to my mum. She seems inexplicably proud of my ability to pontificate about books at great length without saying anything original, which I guess is what mothers are for.

And finally the nice people at Tor (the Stateside branch, no less) have sent me a hardback version of Tobias Buckell’s third novel, Sly Mongoose.

I’m very fond of Tobias, as Futurismic readers will be aware, and I’m glad to see him doing so well for himself. I should really read the second in the series before this one, though…

Coda

So, between all the catch-up work and a hefty handful of gigs, this last week of my holiday has been anything but relaxed. I saw Swedish punk’n'rollers Backyard Babies on Wednesday night, judged at the local BOTB play-offs last night, and tonight I’m off to see the quirky musical legend that is Bob Log III.

Tomorrow afternoon sees me reading some of my poetry at people as part of the Southsea Fest^[4], as well, so it’s not over yet. In some ways it’ll be a relief to get back to a regular schedule… though I imagine the relief will fade after about 2pm on Monday.

Anyway, enough of my yakkin’ - I have things to do, and I expect you have as well, so I’ll bid you farewell and roll out for The Friday Curry before preparing myself for a train trip to Southampton. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend! Hasta luego, amigos!

[ 2 - He calls it how he sees it, though, which has led to some rather heated responses from fans of the bands in question. Heh. ]

[ 3 - Even without being near a computer I knew when it went live; there was a disturbance in the Force, as if a billion sf fans cried out in boredom, and then suddenly fell silent. Presumed asleep. ]

[ 4 - The irritating frames-based website means I can't link directly, but if you look under 'Venues' and scroll down to The Wine Vaults, you'll see yours truly amid a roster of far superior poets and musos. As I'm vastly outgunned on talent in this instance, I'm going to just aim for leftfield and try out the 'potted space opera' I wrote last year. Six sections, six different poetic forms, one story of an orbital habitat after the environmental collapse of Earth, one accidental and ham-fisted tribute to science fiction as possibly written by Gilbert and Sullivan. Erm, yes. ]

… and keeping me pretty busy, what with street wandering, sight-seeing, and Czech metal bands playing gigs in huge graffiti-daubed squats (SRSLY). So, more when I get back, I guess.

Oh, and if I owe you email, I´m attacking that mountian when I get back on Saturday. Hang in there!

Peace…

It’s random blog pimping time again! This time, I’m going to suggest you go take a look at a post on Subtopia, which bills itself as ‘A Field Guide to Military Urbanism’. Don’t be put off - it’s not full of pictures of people who take Neighbourhood Watch too seriously. Instead, it’s about the incursion of military thinking and architecture into urban spaces.

The post you should go and see is all about bunker touring in Berlin, complete with photos from exploratory trips into the old Nazi bunkers under the German capital:

[Image copied from Subtopia post, in turn borrowed from Berlin Underworlds Assn. Please contact if you require take-down.]

“I wonder, how much volumetric space is taken up in underground bunkers, how much air capacity exists trapped in these concrete structures? I’ve asked this before, but could we estimate exactly how much real estate, or in this case, air space, is devoted around the world to the underground?”

There’s plenty more like that, too, plus lots of other fascinating material, all wrapped up speculative musings and philosophy that has a similar flavour to BLDGBLOG.

And talking of BLDGBLOG, I may as well give it another plug, because there’s a new post about the solar observatories of ancient cultures - a subject I’m a real sucker for, much like BLDGBLOG’s author:

“Meanwhile, I’m a genuine sucker for solar-alignment theories involving landscapes and architecture; in fact, I was just talking to someone about this the other day. Yet I’m even more of a sucker for unintentional examples of such things – like houses with pitched gable roofs that accidentally line-up with the sun every summer solstice…”

Good stuff. Take a break from the writer blogs for five minutes; you’ll not regret it.

I love the library where I work, but to tell the truth it’s an ugly late sixties concrete monstrosity that’s about as eco-friendly as a petrol-powered breezeblock. Continue reading “Energy-efficient Library”