Journal

Saturday, May 03, 2003

"Where you going?" "Barcelona." "Oh." "Don't get up."

Neil,
Don't you ever have qualms about scribbling on books? I mean, I've got to the stage where I'll allow the author of a book to write in it, but I'd never think of letting anyone else (including myself) do such a thing!
And following up to your request for "strange-but-cool" web places, here is the coolest digital clock ever.

Cathy


I sort of love the idea of making delicate pencil notes in the margin of whatever I'm reading, but almost never ever would. (The almost is because I'll occasionally mark things that aren't true in non-fiction books.) When I collected the quotes in Ghastly Beyond Belief, back when I was young, I would read books and mark passages in pencil. I don't think the books mind. Lionel Fanthorpe books put up with all kinds of indignities.

Thinks... is there a Fanthorpe place on the web?

Googles. Ah, of course there is, with a quote from me of all people on the banner. It's http://www.peltorro.com/ And if you click on the examples page and then click next in the Fanthorpe Quote box, you'll get treasures like The space in which they found themselves at present was a large open-looking chamber with a very high ceiling. It gave an impression of tragic grandeur which would have reminded Vir of old Vienna, except for the fact that he had never been there.

and

Everywhere was dark, dark darkness. Blackness. Black. Black blackness.


There's also an official Fanthorpe page at http://www.lionel-fanthorpe.com/

And that is a marvellous digital clock indeed. The sort of thing Dave McKean would do.

And news for Douglas Adams fans...

Episode 1 of the "Shada" webcast is now available at www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho . They've added a new "prelude" scene to fit this new version into the existing series' continuity. Also, the first proper "Shada" scene has been reworked as it was purely visual in the original script. So, it's a few minutes before it switches into Douglas' dialog, but then stays there for the duration (bar another scene that was all-visual later on). They say the later episodes didn't need as much tinkering. I think it's very good, and I hope you'll like it too. :)


I'll post it without looking at it, and hope that I've got a faster connection at a hotel at some point in the next few weeks...

FYI, the link you recently posted puts your journal margins too wide to be read without scrolling left to right on a 19" monitor at the highest resolution.

You might want to turn it into a hyperlink with different text.


I'll repost it fixed, hoping the repost doesn't confuse too many people who are reading this thing on RSS feed...

Leaving Portugal tomorrow for Barcelona, like in the Stephen Sondheim song. I'd post an interesting account of my day, but I think I'll go to sleep instead, mostly because when I get up I have to pack, and I am a rotten packer even when I've had enough sleep. I can walk around a hotel room obsessively a dozen times, and still leave my shampoo behind when I leave, along with a telephone cord, multi-region plug adapter and a dozen postcards. Really, it's a knack.