A wonderful idea for a book, my girlfriend picked it up in the local library as she has an interest in this sort of thing. I volunteered to read it to her in the evening and discovered, to my horror, that this intriguing concept was ruined by a tedious repetitive writing style that meant that reading a chapter felt torturous. It certain put my girlfriend to sleep. I kept having to check that I hadn’t nodded off myself and slipped back a page the writer repeated details so much.

Suffice to say I didn’t get beyond the second chapter and the book has since gone back to the library to waste the time of some other unwitting victim.

I’d be interested in any similar books with a more seductive writing style that people might be able to recommended.

I’m trying to learn Finnish. I like the Moomins. I’m approaching a finnish reading age of 6 years old (kuusi vuosi). My girlfriend was proud of me and gave me a bun. I am happy. etc.

Girlfriend loves this game. I’m crap at it. We only have one joypad and since I’m the old Sinclair Spectrum gamer I get to use the keys. Still… it’s fun. A more frantic and quickly played game than the old Worms game. Less strategy and more frantic button smashing.

Hmmm, I wonder if the laptop’s insurance will cover that..?

Not a particularly bad low prince wine in my opinion. I’ve had a few lately that tasted like methylated spirits. It went well with three day old chili…

My girlfriend bought me this. It’s one of her favourite stories and apparently quite famous, though I’d never heard of it. I read it to her over the course of a week and we both enjoyed it. Though it is rather strange and not a little bit sad. I’m not sure if this story is written for children or former children.

...or perhaps it’s a book for all children, young or old.

I remembered The Moomins from my childhood. The creepy yet enchanting “fuzzy felt” animated TV show from the late-70s/early-80s was a staple after-school experience for me.

They have come returned to my life recently, partially through the usual 20-something nostalgia that pervades the net that has also reawakened my interest in Battle of the Planets and old episodes of Doctor Who and partially through the acquisition of a lovely Finnish girlfriend who is a big fan of the books.

The aforementioned girlfriend bought me some a couple of the novels as a gift and after quickly working my way through those (Moominpappa at Sea and Moominvalley in November respectively) I desired more and a friend lent me this. I had a vague recollection of Moomintroll’s adventures in the strange world of winter from the TV show and wished to read the book. While this is a popular Moomin novel and I found it charming and enjoyable while reading it on a nightly basis to my sweetheart, it didn’t touch me quite as much as the other two later books which possessed a level of character depth rarely found in “children’s stories”.

I will definitely be tracking down more of Ms Jansson novels for my inner child and that of my girlfriend… and possibly buying the DVDs of that classic TV series.

I’m not really sure why Christopher Walken makes these movies. He never really struck me as a “straight to video horror sequel” kind of guy. The first Prophecy movie I kinda liked. It was an interesting story. Not one that I felt really needed a sequel though so I was surprised when I found out there had been two and Chris Walken had signed up for both.

This weekend I finally got around to renting the first of them and though it killed 90 minutes and I don’t begrudge it that time I still found the movie fairly unremarkable and kinda naff in places. The story was a bit of an unnecessary rehash of the first with extra elements thrown in. Scene locations were fairly dull as was much of the characterisation. Chris Walken was outstanding as usual which makes me wonder why he bothers with these movies. I’m guessing he has an involvement somehow, is contracted to do them, or does it for the laugh.

I find myself curious about the third. I’ve always had a soft spot for b-movie horror and tend to end up watching the infinite sequels out of some grotesque sense of curiosity that almost always leaves me disappointed.

Pity they couldn’t get Viggo Mortensen back to play Satan again. It was one of his best roles…

Havoc was a short lived project featuring Portion Controls then stable boy Ian Hicks and Sean Bailey. Both had been in the also short lived Johnson Engineering Company project from the end of the previous decade. Havoc appeared in 1990 with a spate of 12” singles that got some European club play. 319 was the full album they released the following year. Information is sparse but the music is Portion Control-esque and I’m guessing the 319 of the title refers to PC’s headquarters at 319 Kennington Road, London.

The album, as previously mentioned is later 80s PC-esque Electronic dance music, with some EBM and synth-pop exploration going on. There are a few vocal tracks with new wave style crooning. Something to give early Information Society a run for their money…

Overall the album isn’t outstanding but pleasant enough in it’s style. It lies somewhere between the later Portion Control sound and the Solar Enemy releases. It just doesn’t offer anything other than some good heavy electro pop.

Ian Hicks went on to maker harder electronic dance music as Deadlock and joined the reformed Portion Control in 2001. He has also recently been associated with the intriguing Mordant Music.

The “Cabs” have made many releases in a long and varied career. The early triumvarate of Mix Up, Voice of America and Red Mecca, the later Crackdown and Microphonies Virgin classisc… but for some reason I always seem to come back to 2×45. Originally released in 1982 as a double twelve inch (hence the name) the disc marked a change in the Cabs lineup and methodology. Disc one was the tape-loop bugger of the Kirk/Mallinder/Watson era from the end of 1981. Disc two contained tracks made in 1982 after Chris Watson left to explore his own aventues with The Hafler Trio etc. The tracks were more dynamic and organic. Live versions appeared on the Pressure Company live charity release later that year.

This “album” gives a great selection of early Cabaret Voltaire flavour and is something I reccomend to anyone interested in the early Cabaret Voltaire sound. Akin to the Eight Crepuscle Tracks compilation but much more well defined as an album, rather than a compilation of related tracks.

This album also features Yashar. One of the best tracks the Cabs ever recorded.

I was looking forward to this following the rather excellent “Lil’ Beethoven”, sadly it’s turned out to be weaker explorations of what they did on that album. The humour in the lyrics is lazier and less inspired than usually and the repetitive nature of the music is less dramatic than it was on Lil’ Beethoven and just dull and a little tedious on some of the tracks.

My attention span seemed to wander on most tracks and it took three attempts to just get through this album. Overall it frankly just felt like a waste of my time.

I miss the pop songs.