alexsarll | LJ + Boredom = time for a meme

10 things i've done that you probably haven't, without even the aid of filth:

1. Accidentally got a plenary indulgence, making me innocent in the eyes of the Catholic Church for all sins committed prior to autumn 2002.
2. Suffered sleep-deprivation hallucinations while watching a talk by Ken Clarke MP.
3. Thrown a paper aeroplane from the roof of Leith Hill Tower.
4. Been briefly visible in Sex: the Annabel Chong Story. Clothed.
5. Swum a width of an Olympic-size swimming pool underwater, in a lotus position, upside-down.
6. Been traduced on the website of a pro-Cuban communist group.
7. Been told to "stop being such a fvcking Romo" by

simon_price.
8. Got stuck in a loop-the-loop while piloting a Chipmunk.
9. Killed a spider with each hand simultaneously, as though I were being directed by John Woo.
10. Read the whole of My Magic Life, the autobiography of the original David Devant.

The BBC has an overview of gonzo journalism, which features a quote from Julian Maclaren-Ross:
"Only beware of Fitzrovia," Tambi said... "It's a dangerous place, you must be careful."
"Fights with knives?"
"No, a worse danger. You might get Sohoitis you know."
"No I don't. What is it?"
"If you get Sohoitis," Tambi said very seriously, "you will stay there always day and night and get no work done ever. You have been warned."
Now, why the blazes would the condition be called Sohoitis when it applies to the other side of Oxford Street?

Woken Furies by Richard Morgan

After the near-future corporate satire Market Forces, Richard Morgan has returned to the Protectorate worlds he delineated in Altered Carbon and Broken Angels, a future where humanity has used the technology of the vanished Martians to colonise the galaxy, and consciousness is recorded on a spinal 'stack'. The benefit of this is that most forms of death become survivable, if you can afford another body; the drawback is that if you can be recorded, you can also be copied. Morgan's protagonist, Takeshi Kovacs, is the cynical veteran of an elite military unit. Returning to his home planet, he learns that he has made some powerful enemies - and they've enlisted the services of a younger copy of Kovacs.
As in Alan Moore's A Small Killing, Morgan uses a non-realistic genre as the ideal space in which to explore an eminently human concern: the worry as to what your younger self would think of you, and vice versa. Similarly, the backdrop against which Kovacs' story is set is one ripe with modern resonances but free of preachiness, as a planet simmers in angry resignation; Morgan can write passionately enough to convey revolutionary fervour, but is also smart enough to be aware of its drawbacks. It’s a familiar situation where it seems “as if politics was some kind of massive, capricious weather system you couldn’t do anything about”; the difference with the frustrated protestors of our own world is that Kovacs finds something which may just alter that. This convincing grip on the big picture is complemented by a rich and fantastical imagination, and a style which can appeal to both thriller and science fiction fans, without ever seeming compromised. This is a terrific book; the only problem is that it’s hard to know quite what Morgan can do for an encore.

Current Mood: Lee Cross
Current Music: there's a freakout brewing at my house, at my house...