Ominously, The Cat Leaped Out Of The Bag

I've been hinting about it for a while, but now the news is official. I'm contributing to an anthology of stories based on and around Martin Eden's excellent comic The O Men, to be released in October.

And, to be perfectly honest, I'm terrified.

I've had work published before. I drew a story for the first issue of The Girly Comic, which was well-received, but wasn't my best work. I've also contributed pieces to the odd fanzine here and there. So it's not the act of publishing that's got me all nervous. I think it's more to do with the fact that The O Men is a popular and relatively well-known title, and there are popular and relatively well-known people working on the other stories. The Girly Comic was new and untested, and had little to prove. If it had failed, no one would have batted an eyelid. That's not the case now, of course, as it's become a popular part of the British small press scene. Just like The O Men, in fact. Were I to return to the pages of The Girly Comic now, I might be similarly nervous.

So I'll try my best, and see what happens. Hopefully I won't embarrass myself.

Oh, and Liam will be pleased to know that the anthology is named after one of his favourite porn films...

If You're Fond Of Sand Dunes And Salty Air...

There's a really strong smell of the sea blowing in on the breeze. You know, that mild salty scent that you get just before you round that last hill and see the beach there before you. It keeps making me have flashbacks to all the times I've been to the seaside.
The funny thing is that I'm thousands of miles inland...

Oh, and I've added syndication to the blog, because Rob moaned at me to do so. Never let it be said that Brainsplurge! does not heed its readers' requests. Unless you start demanding that I post nude pictures of myself or something. Then all you get is abuse. Anyway, I'm not sure how it all works, but it has something to do with that Atom link you should see on the right there.

Bugger That For A Game Of Soldiers

I got my selective service registration card the other day. Bollocks to that. Now, I don't think there'll be a draft anytime soon, for a number of reasons, not least that Bush wouldn't dare try it before an election. If he gets in for a second term though, I wouldn't be surprised if he calls for conscription. And he'd get it too, because this "government" is a bunch of cowards and won't stand against Bush if he has "public opinion" (or vote-rigging) behind him.
So I'm especially glad that I'm just a "resident alien" here, and not an actual citizen, as I can just bugger off home if conscription comes up. I doubt I'd fight a war for my own country (although I do see the benefits of military service, as long as there's no killing involved, which is only slightly paradoxical...), so I'm certainly not going to fight for someone else's. I think I'd be ineligible anyway on the basis that I have flat feet, but you can't be too careful with these things.

This is a great little site, which I found while looking for a copy of the BBC's "Rush Hour" ident. And why was I looking for that? Firstly, because it's brilliant, and secondly because I've just got hold of (and read) all twelve issues of Global Frequency, which is handy, because it's going to be a television show soon. I hope they adapt issue six at some point, because it would look amazing (even if they don't set it in London, which is likely). A lot like that BBC spot actually...

Saw Dodgeball today, and I haven't laughed so much in ages, even though I saw it in one of those cinemas that thinks it's a jolly good idea to make people's ears bleed. There's some great jokes in there, and there's a surprising amount of subtlety to the film. Is it a good film? Probably not. Is it funny? Too bloody right it is.

Oh, and you can read the first two pages of my hijacking of Brad The Vampire right now. They're numbered as #316 and #317. They don't make much sense if you haven't read the first 315 pages, and probably don't make much sense even if you have, but the latter is sort of the point...

Only In America

See if you can spot what's so odd about this drive-through cash machine...

Liberal Bias In The Media

Of course there is. That's why a bloke whose main contribution to the world was starving thousands of Russians to death gets his funeral televised on every channel for three days running. If such a thing was done for a Democratic president, they'd be going on about that "liberal bias" until they were blue in the face.
And don't get me started on Bush using this as a re-election boost. Tosser.

Two Sides Of America

Here's one horrible story that just makes me want to pack up and go home, and here's something that makes me smile and give a little quizzical frown. Quite clearly, this country is insane, but it's not always a bad thing, it seems.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I can't stand Harry Potter in either print form or on the cinema screen. So I've obviously not been to see the new film, even if it's all dark and gritty. Normally, I respond to the Potterites by telling them to go and read Roald Dahl and then come back and tell me that the Potter books are good kids' books. But that's a bit like comparing oranges and apples. Dahl's books are much, much better, but they're not the same kind of thing. Rob introduced me to The Bartimaeus Trilogy, the first book of which is a much better attempt at a Harry Potter style kids' book than any of the Potters themselves. I love Northern Lights/The Golden Compass and it's sequel, although I'm not as fond of the third book. But the one I'd forgotten about, because I hadn't read it for years, is Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising. A great little story, with lots of depth, my only real criticism is that its setting is rather restrictive, being based around a couple of small locations. That said, since it features time travel quite heavily, it really has more than two or three locations. It's a wonderfully atmospheric book with some great ideas, mostly drawn from "British" mythology.

Remember, Remember, the...er...31st of May? (or Long Films and Furniture Sales)

As millions of Americans remembered the lost and the fallen* by...um...having barbecues, Meg and I decided to instead spend the day as if we were back in Blighty. Seeing as it was a Bank Holiday back there, we did the proper thing and slapped Lawrence Of Arabia into the dvd player (disappointed to note that it wasn't on back home; plenty of Bank Holidays to go though, and there's always Christmas!) as we tucked into steak and Guinness pies.
We didn't to go to a sale at a furniture superstore, however, and due to the fact that the rather dull Tomorrow Never Dies was on last night, we won't be finishing off our British Bank Holiday with the traditional Bond movie. Still, it was a nice lazy day, exactly as a Bank Holiday should be.

* This site has some excellent historical information on Memorial Day, then goes a bit loony and right-wing towards the end. Oh well.