Upon reflection, deciding to start my day before it was time for work by finishing my watch of HBO/Sky TV’s Chernobyl might have been a mistake. There’s lots to praise about the miniseries itself – a very well acted piece which didn’t skimp on showing just how drastic the consequences of the accident were for… Continue reading Chernobyl
Author: John
In an emergency
Rosecrans Baldwin, remembering his experience of volunteering at the drive-through COVID testing centre at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles: To live in Los Angeles is to exist in a selfish place full of self-helping people: the cliché persists partly because it’s true. But the Southland is also so vast, so diverse, it repels single stories.… Continue reading In an emergency
Sleep well
The Financial Times moves firmly into Black Mirror territory with We know what you did during lockdown: Just in case you were planning to rest easy tonight… [Via swissmiss]
Chinese Typewriting
Thomas S. Mullaney tells us the story of How Lois Lew mastered IBM’s 1940s Chinese typewriter (and of how he eventually met Lois Lew, to reveal the backstory of the woman who demonstrated the system as part of IBM’s attempt to market a Chinese-language typewriter in the late 1940s): The IBM Chinese typewriter was a… Continue reading Chinese Typewriting
COVID: The Experience
Word comes to us from M.G. Siegler of one cinema’s … gutsy… approach to what we hope is the beginning of the end of the pandemic: Taking cues from amusement-park rides, blocks of seats have motion effects that pitch, twist, vibrate, and roll in coordination with action happening on screen. And, there are “atmospherics” that… Continue reading COVID: The Experience
Ian Betteridge on the Surface Duo in the UK
I continue to be fascinated at the cack-handed way Microsoft have launched the Surface Duo. I’ve just spotted Ian Betteridge’s thoughts on the Surface Duo from March 2021: Yes, the cost here is ridiculous – £1300 at a time when the price has been reduced to $999 in the US – but I’ve always loved… Continue reading Ian Betteridge on the Surface Duo in the UK
The Soundtrack Of Their Census
Turns out that Canada’s 2021 Census has a soundtrack: 2021 Census soundtrack As Canada’s statistical portrait, the census is a reflection of who we are and what makes us Canadian. Listen to our Spotify and YouTube playlists while you complete your 2021 Census questionnaire to experience the different facets of Canadian culture through the sounds… Continue reading The Soundtrack Of Their Census
GCU Negotiations Were Short
I realise this is thoroughly immature of me, but I adored Listen, Strange Space Wizards Sitting In Temples Distributing Laser Swords Is No Basis For A System Of Government, a fanfic depicting just how capably Palpatine’s Empire would have dealt with Ian M Banks’ Culture. Before the Death Star can begin its campaign of terror… Continue reading GCU Negotiations Were Short
Sepinwall on For All Mankind Season 2
An interesting take from Alan Sepinwall on what a nice job the writers did in season 2 of For All Mankind of bringing together various storylines come the season’s climax: “I started jogging again.” This sentence is uttered by astronaut Gordo Stevens (Michael Dornan) midway through the Season Two finale of For All Mankind, the… Continue reading Sepinwall on For All Mankind Season 2
What’s Italian for ‘Chairman Bruce’?
So, Cory Doctorow tells us that Bruce Sterling has a sideline as Bruno Argento, producing work in Italian set in and around his adopted city, Turin: I am no expert on fantascienza, so I don’t know if these are representative of the field, but I am here to tell you that they are completely different… Continue reading What’s Italian for ‘Chairman Bruce’?