Haven’t been out with the camera, so no new snaps. Hence digging in the Mexico crates again; I may even have used this one in FPB before. Frankly I’m that tired that I don’t really give a damn. So: ruined columns at Chichen Itza, Mexico.

Lovely. If I was there now it would be warm. I would also not be living downstairs from a mentally unstable man who is currently (quite unintentionally) wrecking my bodyclock and making my life an unliveable catalogue of tension and misery. It’s been a long week; signs suggest it will be an even longer month.

Rant over.

Writing about music

The TDP slowdown is almost complete; I have a scant handful albums waiting to be reviewed, and most of those have January release dates. This is a good thing.

Album of the week

This week’s favourite wasn’t reviewed by me, but I took a copy of it before sending it off to Duncan, and I’m very glad I did. So, if you fancy a vaguely Anglicised tongue-in-cheek adaptation of late-career Kyuss with additional slide guitar and a vague obsession with amphibians, you’ll want to be checking out 2 by The Kings of Frog Island. Terrible name, great band.

Writing about books

No, not really; spare time in which I’ve had the ability to concentrate has not been forthcoming, thanks to the aforementioned environmental conditions. I have, however, been reading some books; this is progress of a sort.

Freelance

Lots of little jobs this week, various adjustments or additions or uploads for various client sites. Nothing very exciting, but hey – it’s all billable stuff.

The Pretty Big Project now awaits final aesthetics’n'features feedback before I add the final touches, but I’m hoping that’ll be done and dusted some time next week (all bar the inevitable and planned-for post-launch tweaks, natch).

Lack of time and mental coherence has prevented me from making as much progress on T’other Project this week, but I’m hopeful for good results from a lengthy work binge over the weekend.

Futurismic

Things are trundling on much as always over at Futurismic. The hot thread of the moment is probably Jonathan’s latest column about the successful marketing of sf-nal classics (or lack thereof), so feel free to pitch in if you’ve not already.

Books and magazines seen

The folks at Pyr have once again dispatched me an ARC over the waters; this time it’s Kay Kenyon’s City Without End:

Never read anything by Kenyon before (except a few short stories), but I’ve seen people speak highly of her work. Have to see when we can squeeze this one in… though it’s the third of a trilogy, so maybe not the best place to start.

Coda

Yeah, so, this week has been pretty rubbish, but that’s just how it goes sometimes. Statistically speaking, next week should be better; it is rare that I’m as hopeful of finding truth in statistics as I am right now.

But enough – the weekend is here, and I have things to do. First and foremost among those things is the purchase and consumption of The Friday Curry; I shouldn’t have one really, but I need something to cheer me up a bit. Here’s hoping everyone’s weekend is better than the preceding week – take care, ladies and gents.

You know how everyone describes Paolo Bacigalupi’s fiction as bleak, and darkly pessimistic about humanity in general? Well, take a look at his recent writing-music playlist – that explains a lot, I’m thinking^[1].

Personally, I can’t have music on when I’m writing fiction or poetry, because I’m still that unpracticed at it that I require complete sensory focus on what I’m doing. Then again, maybe that’s the problem I’ve been having all along…

While we’re on the subject of music, BoingBoingTV has a video of an interview and live performance by Cafe Tacvba, who Xeni describes quite accurately as “sort of like the Radiohead of Mexico” – though she refers to their approach to music rather than their actual sound.

I saw Cafe Tacvba play live on my travels in 2003; they performed in the baseball diamond at Guanajuato^[2], and I was dancing around like a loon with about five thousand cheerily grinning Mexicans, despite the savage wind that was quite literally tearing parts of the stage dressing off the scaffolds… but enough of my reminiscences. Spare five minutes and check this out, then hit YouTube for more Latino goodness.

[ ¹ - Note for Mr Bacigalupi and everyone else; this is snark, nothing more. Most people want to hang themselves after just reading the spines of my music collection, let alone hearing it. ]

[ ² - Still in my top-three list of places to flee to when this country finally drives me completely Hunter Thompson. ]

So, hah, yes. No photography got done this week. I’ll add the craptastic weather to my traditional temporal excuses, and dig in the archives from Mexico again … of which I have very few left, because the majority never made it off my old hard-drive and onto Flickr before the recent Hardware Death Incident.

But hey, I still have the memories, and a few gems like this:

A ruined mine-building tower out in the hinterlands beyond the faded former silver town of Real de Catorce*.

If I get rained on again (or wake up to another overcast morning or two) in the next week, I will seriously consider immigrating to Mexico and going on the run. Velcro City is not the cheeriest of places when it’s raining.

And besides, I can’t get a decent taco anywhere.

Writing about music

Ten album reviews in one week. That’s some sort of personal record – quite possibly the sort that gets made with a crayon by your psychiatric practitioner as he furrows his brow slightly.

So, I’ve started recruiting willing victims reviewers for TDP; lots of people seem keen, but I know from prior experience that I may not receive as many sample reviews as I get expressions of interest. We shall see.

Album of the week

It’s a shoo-in: Bulbul 6 by Austrian oddballs, er, Bulbul. Imagine The Melvins locked in a European disco with a few analogue synths and a collection of surrealist cinema classics. They’re weirder than that.

Honourable mention goes to grunge progenitors Mudhoney for re-releasing the classic Superfuzz Bigmuff with loads of extras in the same week as The Lucky Ones, a brand new album that’s just as good, twenty years into their career.

Noisy garage rock’n’roll will never die, kids.

Writing about books

Concrete output is lacking, but there’s a first draft of the oft-delayed Implied Space review … and a lot of irate scribblings being collated re: the Love And Sex With Robots book, which is disturbing me not by its speculations but by the root assumptions that lead to them. Should be a lively review, let’s say.

Rumours abound that the issue of Foundation containing my epic Brasyl review may be in the wild fairly soon, for those who remember the tortuous and protracted birthing of that particular piece**.

Futurismic

Those of you who follow Futurismic (which is all of you, naturally – amirite?) may have noticed another new blogger poke their head over the parapet yesterday. Well, keep watching – there are three more to come! Once Tomas and Edward return from the land of Having Other Important Stuff To Do, we’re going to have quite the output level over there, I’m thinking. Yes, sir.

Oh yes, and it’s nearly the start of another month – which means another new piece of fiction is imminent! Keep ‘em peeled, future-fans. Arf!

Freelance

Things are motoring on fairly well with PS Publishing; this week has been a little calmer, thanks to a lack of newsletters to format and send (those things take longer than you’d think). I get to send off my first invoice tomorrow, too!

Cheerfully blocking out other freelance webby tasks for the months ahead; thinking conservatively, I’ve probably got enough to keep me busy until the end of August already. Then again, I may have overestimated how long things will take me to do them; if I have, that’ll be great, but I figure safety margins are a good thing to have right now.

Books and magazines seen

None. Not a sausage. There’s some things on their way from various places (or so I believe) but nothing has materialised as yet.

Speaking of books, though, I need to get myself on the Del Rey mailing list sooner rather than later. Charlie Stross has got an ARC of the forthcoming Bruce Sterling novel, and that’s a book I need to possess as soon as is practically possible …

BSFA AGM

Acronym-tastic! Yeah, it’s the BSFA AGM next weekend, and I’m trying to determine whether I can afford the time and the train fare, seeing as it’s in the same month as the Foundation Masterclass (which I still haven’t so much as broached the reading list for) and my mother’s birthday.

I should probably make a showing, though. Any VCTB readers heading up from the South coast?

Coda

For want of anything particularly exciting to say (and in the interests of – perhaps and just for a change – not sitting at a computer keyboard until 9pm on a Friday evening, I’m going to keep it brief and forgo the usual “bloody hell, another week just flew past” stuff. I’m not expecting any complaints – though if you have them, do pipe up, won’t you***?

In the interim, I’ll bid you a good weekend before I trundle off to fetch The Most Righteous Friday Curry Of Great Justice, Valour and Haberdashery****. Hasta luego, amigos.

[ *** Seriously, you need to get out more. And if I'm telling you that, you've surely got a problem. ]

[ **** I know; it's just one of those great words that doesn't get used enough. ]

Digging in the crates yet again, I’m afraid.

Here’s four foot of iguana watching the sunrise over the Caribbean at Tulum in Mexico, where I’d much rather have been based for most of this chilly week*:

I don’t even need to explain, do I? That lizard knew the score, I tell you. I could see it in his eyes, and his disdainful demeanour.

Writing about music:

Plenty of music hackery has taken place, though nothing of particularly majestic note in the last seven days; I assume those of you with a keen interest in such things are already subscribed to The Dreaded Press**!

With the exception of the Munroe Effect show last Friday (which was a rare gig-for-pleasure), I’ve not been out reviewing or interviewing this week.

However, this Sunday sees me off the Brighton to review The Dillinger Escape Plan, and next week Gallows and F*cked Up (and others) are playing just down the road from me. Busy, busy, busy!

Writing about books:

My critical facilities (as concerned with literature) remain unexercised.

Futurismic:

This has been the main time drain once again, though things are starting to settle – watch out for the brand new site layout and theme to come over the weekend! The first new piece of fiction is ready to roll out of the door, and things are shaping up on the non-fiction front as well.

I will (as I keep threatening) talk more about my plans for Futurismic, but at the moment time is of the essence, and I at the moment feel it’s better to execute plans rather than talk about them***.

Books and magazines seen:

A care package came from Orbit with a bunch of fantasy titles and the paperback edition of Ken MacLeod’s The Execution Channel; I have no need of the latter, as I already have the hardback (and an A4 typescript from when I was sent it to review for Interzone ages back).

I may think up some crafty contest in which I can give it away to some lucky reader. Hmmm …

PicoCon!

For them what ain’t aware, ’tis PicoCon at Imperial College London all day tomorrow. Guests of honour are the legendary Cory Doctorow, the charming and erudite Liz Williams and the endearingly geeky Paul Cornell – further details at the ICLU website.

The most it’ll cost you to get in is £8, and there promises to be a good showing from the Third Row Fandom crew and certain of their auxiliary and ancillary members (including myself), so if you’re at a loose end you could do far worse than turn up.

If you are already going (or decide to after reading this verbose yet highly persuasive exhortation), please look out for me and say hello. I’ll be easily identified as the tall shabby hippie who tries to force a flyer for Futurismic into your hand**** …

Completely unrelated-to-anything announcement:

I’m very seriously contemplating selling my laptop and getting an ASUS Eee instead, as the latter can do everything I use my laptop for in a smaller and more efficient package. That is all.

Coda:

Another swift and sweet FPB this week. As I have to be up and about at ZOMFG o’clock tomorrow to catch a train, and will have little time for writing-type work during the day, I’ve got lots to sort out this evening – including (but not limited to) an interview for TDP, and Friday Free Fiction at Futurismic.

And of course there is the Sacred And Virtuous Curry Of Fridayness to be crammed into the schedule (and my stomach) … so I’ll thank you all for reading and bid you a good weekend.

Hasta luego, amigos y amigas. Suerte!

[ * That said, the place I stayed in when I was there was a terrible sh*thole full of drunk Italian teenagers, but there are some awesome beach huts for hire. ]

[ ** When VCTB's subscriber count is matched by TDP's, I promise to stop hustling like this. In other words, subscribe and save yourself the agony. Capiche? ]

[ *** Those who have known me for a long time will probably find this sentence hilariously funny. ]

[ **** Or possibly Cory Doctorow's hand. Most likely both, though. ]

Digging in the vaults for Mexico photos again, because I’ve not been out with the camera. This is the view eastwards over Mexico City*, as taken from the observation deck of El Torre Latinoamericana, right in the heart of the city. When it was first built it was the tallest building in the Latin Americas, but it lost that title some time ago. It’s still pretty damned tall though.

And Mexico City (more correctly referred to as ‘El Distrito Federale’, or ‘El D.F.’) is vast**. You get up in that tower, and whichever direction you look in, it’s just city … all the way to the horizon. Mindbending stuff – especially to someone who’s still reeling from altitude adjustment and culture shock, as I was on the first day of my travels when this was taken. Possibly the most intense place I’ve ever been in my entire life.

[* If you recognised it as being the image from which VCTB's header is cropped, well done. Have a tequila on me.]

[** Population according to official census in 2005 was near nine million, but it is claimed by various charities and other organisations that the black economy of unregistered economic migrants may add anything up to half that number again.]

***

Well. Today I am damp, and in less than the best of moods – had you caught me at 12:30 when I got to work, however, you’d have seen me at high-peak rage. Suffice to say that Portsmouth received a week’s worth of rainfall within the space of about twenty minutes today … with the twenty minutes in question falling within the timeframe of me leaving my home and me arriving at work. I’m still trying to figure out a way to make my shoes dry effectively without making them stink.

But hey, things could be worse. It’s not been a bad week, all told, although very little has occurred that’s worth reporting. In other words: no one has decided to offer me money for writing for them yet. Hmph. Gotta keep hustlin’.

However, I have received a cheque for my Strange Horizons review of Extended Play, and while it may not be for very much money, it’s symbolically heartening nonetheless. Only thing is I don’t think I can pay it into my account directly, because it’s in US dollars … which is ironic, because it arrived about a week after I got a PayPal account set up for business purposes. It’s all fun and games, this freelance lark!

Oh yeah – I went to see Electric Six at short notice on Wednesday night for reviewing purposes. Put it this way: if you’ve heard the well-known singles, you’ve already heard the best they have to offer. Selah.

***

Incoming materials for the week are as follows:

• Postsingular by Rudy Rucker (Tor US ARC) – the privileges of being part of the reviews editorial team at Interzone include being able to cherrypick anything I especially want to cover myself, and I love Rucker’s writing to bits. This new novel has been described as ‘especially weird’; when you consider how odd Rucker’s material is usually, this should be quite something.
• Electric Velocipede #12 – the extra-nice thing about the small press quarterlies is that you tend to forget about them until the new one arrives in the letterbox. I have fond memories of the last EV, so I’m looking forward to reading this one … when I can find the time.

***

Of course, next week sees me up in Liverpool for the SF Foundation Criticism Masterclass … and seeing that (as far as I can tell) I’m not going to have internet access on tap, I should get a lot of reading done. The twelve hours of train travel alone should see to that! I’ll need to spend most of it going through the reading list for the course, though – most of which has been very kindly emailed to me in PDF form by one of the course administrators, who also took the however-many hours necessary to scan them. Thanks, Fatima, if you’re reading!

A week off work – wow. Doesn’t happen often. Doesn’t happen often enough, for that matter! I’m looking forward to it – it’ll be nice to get out of town for a while, meet some new people and learn some new things. I’m just trying not to think of the state of my bank balance, which has already suffered unexpected damage through having had to replace my broken cooker … oh well. You can’t take it with you, as the saying goes. And worrying about it won’t do any good either, so I’m determined to ignore it as much as possible and have a good time.

As mentioned above, I have no idea how easy it will be for me to get online while I’m away, so blogging here may be thin to non-existant. I may try to set up the reposting of some gems from the archives just to tide you over, and there’s probably a few reviews that I could shove up as well … we’ll see what happens.

***

Well, that’s your lot for FPB this week. Time for me to engage in The Culinary Ritual Of Friday Curry Justice before hacking out the daily bloggage for Futurismic, and then I can settle down to the weekend. I hope you all have a good weekend, too, whatever it is you end up doing. Adios, amigos!

Well, talk about sychronicity. Mere days after I post a picture from my jaunt around Mexico, I hear that I can wander the ruins of Chichen Itza once again … without even having to leave my swivel-chair, let alone the country.

Oh yes! The Mexico Tourism Board has just finished a scale reproduction of the the ancient Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza in Second Life … another sim to add to my growing list of places to visit.

You should come too – drop me a line. I’d be happy to show people around in Second Life, and there are parts of it that really are worth seeing, you know …

Yet another image from the vaults, I’m afraid; my camera is away having its sensor cleaned*. So, let’s travel to Mexico again:

That is the view over the centre of Guanajuato, a former silver town and currently thriving cultural hotbed, located in the state with the same name. A beautiful and unique location; plenty to see, and always something happening. I saw Cafe Tacuba play a gig at the city’s baseball park while I was there, which I can safely say was one of the most extraordinary gigs of my life.

[* Yeah, I know; I haven't had it very long at all. Apparently this is one of the curses of low-end dSLRs; the first shot taken with them may loosen up some small shred of plastic left over from the manufacturing process, which then lodges itself on the sensor and puts a noticable smudge on every image. I know it wasn't a sloppy lens change on my part, because I've not changed the lens since I bought it. Selah.] Continue reading “Friday Photo Blogging: Guanajuato City, Mexico”

Digging in the Mexico archives this week; major shortage of time has prevented interesting photographic excursions. So instead you can enjoy these shots of a major street in San Luis Potosi, about half an hour after dawn:

Ah, Mexico. I’d go back if I could. Hell, if I could have found a way to work legally over there, I’d probably never have come back at all. Lucky for you lot that a gringo can’t work over there on a tourist visa, eh? Continue reading “Friday Photo Blogging: San Luis Potosi at dawn”

I’m digging in the crates for this Friday’s photos:

Continue reading “Friday Photo Blogging! Mexico dreaming”

Those of you reading via RSS will probably not have noticed, but I’ve had the virtual paint-rollers and stencils out over the weekend. Continue reading “Home improvements”