Messages

That's a tough one, Jayzus. Fingers crossed you at least get the all-clear yourself.

I've been the gobshite with the seemingly-very-convenient family emergencies at various points, and I really wasn't taking the piss (one memorable week a few years ago I was accompanying different elderly relatives in A&E day on 3 separate occasions), but I could well have been and no-one would have known the difference. I suspect you have to go with your gut feeling about the guy, as Funt says the "truth" can be too hard to winkle out to be worth the effort.

Tempted to use this thread to do modern-day voting (or, y'know, do the three likes one dislike on the relevant prog/meg threads).

This sounds like fun. I'll try to include my voting coupon in my weekly musings!

(Data point: never sent in the coupon, although noty out of archival concerns - I did mutilate my progs almost every week for posters, covers to become posters (every original prog I own with an O'Neill or Bellardinelli Sláíne cover is missing same), paper dolls, micro-progs, you name it: even logos to paste on my school folder).

[Brett 4 : Paul 1]

Marshall drew one of the all-time greatest strips in Firekind, and brings clarity, design and class to everything he works on. A storytelling machine, often at his best when his work just exudes fun (Ulysses Sweet, for example).

However no single artist better defines my early engagement with, and mental image of, the prog than Brett Ewins. From Rogue through Dredd and Anderson to the glorious Bad Company, his vibrantly graphic style, unique chunky tech and cheeky bricolage approach was exactly what my brain craved. O'Neill, McMahon, Eqzquerra, Bellardinelli, they were the artistic behemoths that took my breath away, but Brett (and Ron Smith, and Steve Dillon) were of the '80s moment, and could be neatly homaged in the margins of a Maths copy.

So I'm afraid it's Brett 4 : Paul 1.

The Corinthian was asking that we not conflate by association someone's views, however completely we might disagree with them, with the disgusting actions of the specific subject of this thread. Not to minimise the significance of the former,  I think we should respect that request and, if people want to continue, take this (important) discussion of trans issues and/or JKR elsewhere.

Although note I AM NOT A MOD, so you've no reason to pay me any heed, but I do feel responsible for leading us down this path.

[Mr Owl 4 : Dr Trips 1.]

Mr Owl 4 : Dr Trips 1.

Rowling's involvement in the thread arises from the idea of being a vocal fan of a public figure/creator who turns out to be, at very best, a disappointment to you. I agree JKR is in no way Rolf Harris, nor Noel Clarke, but many people have found her public position (no mind reading required) on gender issues and self-identification in particular to be the antithesis of their own. Not everyone, I freely grant you.

That leaves one feeling a fool, and while I agree there's a enormous gulf between opinion on a difficult subject and committing criminal acts, the former have real-world consequences for real people too. Disclosure:  I'm a Potter fan, and I find her various remarks disappointing, because they run counter to my position on Trans rights.

But I agree, JKR is a distraction from the direction the thread has taken (although that itself is the opposite of how it started)  and one I may be responsible for.

I've put off reading this thread for reasons, but I dove in this morning.

What a tribute to an inspiring man this is. You are all magnificent.

[Intergalactic]

Intergalactic. Nu-Who does Blakes-7 with unnecessary swearing. I've seen worse, will watch more as it comes out. Nothing here that would out of place in tea-time telly except for an f-word thrown in every 5 minutes. You have to wonder.

Video technical peeps, what is the deal with the style of lighting and/or recording medium that makes current UK SF shows look exactly like Casualty? A lot of love and time has obviously gone into the sets and backdrops here, but the way they're filmed/lit somehow transforms them into, well, sets.

Blimey, an endorsement from a genuine cineaste like Hawkie ups my anticipation even further!  My brother-in-law worked on this what seems like years ago now, and it's the film project I've seen him the most enthusiastic about in 25 years.

...just kidding they're murdering children again.

The benefits of a world-beating vaccination roll-out: life's back to normal. You can barely hear the missiles over all the public health media frottaging that's been going on. A solid response to a pandemic could have saved Botha a lot of international hassle. 

Have to hand it to the judges, that is the one. Incredible work in so many of the others, particularly relevant team shots, but everything about that, from colours to comedy legs akimbo, is perfect. I want a t-shirt.

Just to be clear, and then yield Edwin Poots the floor of his Flat Earth,  I don't give a flying shit for Stalin or Mao (or Pol Pot or George W Bush)  or the ideological smokescreen of any other mass-murdering prick, my point is solely that capitalism is in  charge and has been for several centuries now, has murdered and degraded countless millions just like the other guys, but perhaps more significantly is systematically working on killing us ALL to line the pockets of a statistically insignificant number of greedy pricks. On that basis the final scoreline doesn't look great. 

*This must have been Pat's corporate revenge.  I'm doing an episode-a-day slow thoughtful re-read of Nemesis** at the moment, and holy shit Games Workshop, you were naughty naughty boys. Have some of your own medicine,  care of Kevin.

**It's a sublime work, since you ask, maybe 2000AD's single best long-running strip.

Certainly is - Book III began around the time I started reading 2000AD and it's influence has kept me on board for thirty eight years and counting...


Which episode are you up to so far?

I fell into this via scratching a Hicklenton itch, and reading The Two Torquemadas, which was fantastic, then had to look at Torquemada the God, and.so ended up reading Book V,  then Talbot and the ABCs led me back to Book IV, where I got to musing on the fantastical order of its creation, and decided I'd take a shot at reading it carefully in the order it was created - IE jumping from Killer Watt to the O'Neill bit of Gothic Empire, then back to (I believe) Sir Osric from the SciFi Special and finally on to Book I. So now I'm working my way on forward, and am at the climax of Feast of Zamarkand.

And it's all been brilliant, every panel. Particularly looking forward to Book II again next week some time.

(Don't want to derail the voting thread, so follow me over to What's Everyone Reading for an answer).

Castro? A weekend in Iraq in 2003 courtesy of "the world's largest economies" would put his lifetime total to shame. With none of the benefits.

And again, I'd point out that capitalism, as the only game in town, is in the possibly-unstoppable process of wiping out most of the animal life on this planet, including us. Its mantra of unending "growth", by which it means "accumulation", without any consequences is analogous to carving up your own legs for your dinner when you're not even hungry The Musks of this world are betting it's actually someone else's thigh rashers on the buffet plate, because that's how it looks in the short term, but they're wrong.