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I love a car booty, me.  This week, along with Golden Earring and Groundhogs vinyl, and a good copy of the War of the Worlds album for 50p, I picked up two Love & Rockets GNs for a quid apiece.  I remember reading odd episodes over the years - did it run in a Brit publication for a bit?  Anyway, the collected editions are a joy.  Alan Moore says on the cover "one of my favourite comics of all time", and there's certainly resonances with Halo Jones - which came first?  Not that it matters, they're both great.

First pics back from Titan, kind of makes me want to reread The Sirens Of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut since it's long enough ago since I read it that I've forgotten what happened...

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4175099.stm" target="_blank">Huygens pics & story

Anyone else seen this?!

Voices by Mark 'n' Lard, Liza Goddard, Ingrid Pitt and others, based on a story created by Alan Grant...If you can get past the incredibly shonky Max Headroom style animation it's actually a bit of a laugh.  I'd never heard of it till my girlfriend brought the DVD home from the charity shop she manages.

Link: http://www.rengamedia.com/dominator2.html" target="_blank">It's a bit of a laugh...

OK Tharg, you got me.  
My sub lapsed a few weeks ago, but I continued to recieve progs through the mail.  I guiltily wondered if I should notify subs and offer them some money or something - of course I did no such thing and continued to furtively consume my free thrill-power.  Then I got a letter yesterday gently reminding me to renew my sub - I was wondering whether to or not, I mean I'm a bit *old* for comics, then this morning a SECOND free prog 1400 came through the door.  Surely this is a sign from The Mighty One himself.  I shall renew my sub forthwith, pass on the free prog to a lapsed squaxx and never again question the wisdom of Tharg.

Humbled Zeep

How there froods,
Just a wee plug-ette for the WickerMan Festival, near Kircudbright in the Cal-Hab, coming up this July 23-24th and featuring Spiritualized and the Buzzcocks on the main stage, the Capt.Zeep band (aka Stig) on the acoustic stage and loads more besides.  Check out the link.  It was loads of fun last year, and they burn a huge wicker (well, straw) man on the saturday night - sadly containing no foolish king-like virgins who came to the island of their own free will.

Link: http://www.thewickermanfestival.co.uk/index.php" target="_blank">"Oh Jesus Christ Noooooo!"

This made me laugh...

Link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4146756343#ebayphotohosting" target="_blank">worth scrolling down for his comments...

On opening my local paper yesterday I was pleased to see that Galashiels' finest have reformed, have a new album out in a couple of weeks and look set to do some live work.

Hurrah for Borders indie weirdness at its best!

Link: http://www.dawnofthereplicants.com/" target="_blank">Hogwash Farm

I'm sure I'm very slow and everyone else has worked it out already, but Mr. Sullivan who does Droid Life for the prog also does some of the more bizarre and funny stuff for Viz.

He has a rather surreal webpage that can be found by clicking on the following link:

Link: http://www.justadequate.com/cat/" target="_blank">What sort of name's that for a bloke?

I've just read Charlie Brooker's occasional very funny column "Screen Burn" in the grauniad Guide.

Much larfter as he takes the piss out of "Celebrity..." in a spot-on way.

Then, a bit later on, as he's laying in to the new series of 24 he says "such is the pile up of unlikely developments, it might as well open with an animated sequence in which Kiefer Sutherland literally jumps over a shark to piss in the viewers face."

Once I'd stopped laughing I realised that "Jumping the Shark" is an expression I've previously seen on this message board, and nowhere else, referring to moments when plots go tits-up.

Also I remembered that CB was on about Judge Death a while ago.

My question, thus, is twofold:

Who is this Brooker fellow, and is he somehow connected with 2000ad and/or this site?

What is the origin of the phrase "Jumping the Shark"?

Cheers,
Captain Z.

Just read Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban.
Wow!
What a book!
I won't say too much about it, except if you see it, definitely read it.
Any other fans?

I was wondering what happened to the promising looking piratically oriented Dante tale that kicked off in prog 2004.  Then it suddenly struck me that with Red Seas in full swing, perhaps there was some kind of maximum amount of yar-har haaaaaar me heartiness allowed in any one prog at any one time.  

That was it, really.

Here's the thing.

Zeepstress bought me Dredd vs Death for my birthday, for which I was hugely grateful especially since she probably paid high street price.

BUT it won't run properly on my PC, I've only got 112 mb of RAM and it would appear I need 128.

Is there any way I can get more RAM or doI need to replace my processor?  And if I do, is this something I can safely attempt myself?  (don't trust my local computer-monger since he charged me ?60 to de-virus my machine).

I've got an AMD 1.19 Ghz duron processor, and oodles of hard drive space.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Z

...but sadly, not discernibly much the wiser.  Yep, it's my birthday today.  Tonight I shall throw open the doors of Zeep Acres (in reality an artisan's hovel in a godforsaken, if beautiful, corner of the Debatable Lands) and welcome the assorted dandys, fops, guttersnipes and colourful urchins I call my friends to a mighty paaarr-tay, where I shall subject them to minidisc compilations of my favourite "pop" music, whilst copious amounts of alchohol and grub are heartily consumed.  You lot are all invited of course, in a virtual kind of way!

Right now I should be sorting the music out, but I've had too much strong coffeee and can't concentrate on what I'm supposed to be doing.

oooh I feel a bit strange...

Z

Snecking BBC.

I wait months and months for the new series of Buffy, (I only have old-fashioned Earth TV with 5 channels)not even discouraged by the massively spoilery thread on this very site (glares briefly at Rac). I manage even to pre-empt BBC Cal-Habs annoying habit of starting the series unannoounced a day ahead of England.  Great, you would think.

But what the sklarking bunk is this?  Having waited all that time, BBC seemingly can hardly wait to get shot of it, screening 3 episodes a week, so in Scotland at least we're now up to episode 6 and it's only the second week!  A trifle rushed methinks.  But, worse still, they're cut to vuck rendering them almost incomprehensible, with no immediate plans to show late night uncut Buffster action!  Snecking plankers!  I am irate and irked beyond measure. Ha-fuckin-rumph.  OOps.

So I'm probably goinmg to have to shell out the groats and buy the DVDs after all (Admittedly disguised as Zeepstress's Christmas prezzy)

Any thoughts on this monumental act of arsegikery by the Beeb?  Spoiler- free if at all possible....

Disgruntled Zeepster

Anyone see pt.1 of the Robert Carlyle Hitler thing?
Wee Jock's death must have hit him harder than we thought!

More hitler fun below - scroll down to the reader reviews

Link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0738851337/104-8114953-0683167>" target="_blank">Slightly rude but funny

No spoilers as I haven't seen it!  It looks fantastic though.  It's the third in the loose "Mariachi Trilogy", the first two being "El Mariachi" and the second "Desperado" as I'm sure you all know.  I've just read an interview with Robert Rodriguez (director of all the above), and was amazed to learn that the fantastic "El Mariachi" was shot for ?7000 dollars with one camera and the cast of family and friends doubling as runners, props people etc...I mean i'd heard it was low budget, but that's practically for nowt - oh and he raised most of the money by subjecting himself to medical experiments...can that really be true?

Anyhoo greatly looking forward to it, it's got the big budget and star cast (Depp, Banderas et al), but hopefully it will retain that lunatic spark and maverick spirit that made "Mariachi" so great.

Any other Rodriguez fans out there?  Silly question?

I've succumbed and bought one, mostly because it was ?37.49 and I needed a new CD player anyway.  BUT it won't play my copied audio CDs! Does anyone know if they can be "Chipped" like playstations to play pirate CDs?  And if so is it quite easy to do?
Cheers

Shifty-looking Zeep

Well I normally watch it and it's normally shite,bar the odd gem, but tonight's show featured Metallica, and Gary Numan,neither of whom I particularly adored at the height of their fame but who tonight were rocking like bastrds and challenged only by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs who were also fantastic (but I'm not sure about this trendy not-having-a-bass stuff).  Anyway. Pop music.  Isn't it?

Sod that for a lark!

If I wanted to recreate the authentic Pilton experience, I would:
Go and lie in the field opposite my house with a load of sheep, watching the BBC coverage of the Pyramid Stage action through my house window on a portable tv some 30 meters distant, with 2 different radios tuned to different stations going at the same time.
Every few hours I would sell myself an undercooked cackburger for ?3.50.  I would consider employing a picturesque young urchin from the village to steal my boots and sell me cellophane wrapped lumps of plasticine and "wraps" of baking powder.
To complete the experience, I would empty my dustbin just near where I was sitting, and leave the lid off the septic tank all weekend (into which I'd earlier casually tossed ?120 or so).  

But I probably won't.

Zeep

Hearty greetings one and all, on this our midsummer e'en.  Or is that tomorrow?  
So what yez all doin' (if anything) for solstice?
I shall of course be skyclad and adorned with woad (well...blue Quink), chasing the beautiful Zeepulina (disguised as a young Britt Ekland) around the sculpted lawns and lewd topiary of Hellfire Hall, in a highly priapic state...Yowsa!

Blessings of Belenos on you all,
Archdruid Zeep