Baby Gods

On a cold and rainy October morning when I was off sick with a flu, the postman got me out of my sickbed and presented me with a big box at the door. I had forgotten what it could possibly contain but when I opened it I was pleasantly surprised to have received a Berocca Blogger Relief Pack.

• some really powerful vitamins (which I really needed at the time)
• a smiley squidgy ball
• a tall glass to drink my vitamins from
• a "stress" button
• and electronic bubble wrap clicker
• a drop dead fred pen holder
• a pen
• and some ‘real’ bubble wrap

I think that was pretty much covers it.

I think that is a package well worth signing up for - since its free - so if you have a blog go get your blogger relief pack http://berocca.co.uk/bloggerrelief/

I hope you don’t have to be a retro gamer to enjoy this film but I can’t really say that since I love retro games. But this great film shows the dedication it takes to hit the top scores on these video games. Billy Mitchell does not come out of the film very well although the additional footage makes him come out much better. But regardless the film really does work like a real-life Rocky most especially the closing moments on the film (which I won’t ruin for you).

Best documentary I have seen and the "Billy Mitchell Styling" or "Mr Awesome" bonus features count as pure Spinal Tap, but they are real (aren’t they?).

And if you ever thought of yourself as a good gamer (on any game) you have to view this film.

[amazon.co.uk] [amazon.com]

So who wouldn’t want to get a six figure income from their blog? Well this book promises you the secrets. More specifically Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett offer this to the reader.

So the book takes the reader through the journey of each of the authors, with lessons interspersed. Many of which you will already have known if you have followed Darren Rowse’s blog or a while:

• blogging for income takes time
• build up gradually
• expect to take hard work and discipline

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com

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Anyone who has set themselves the challenge of trying to make a film using a linear editing process i.e. your only editing process is the rewind and record buttons, can relate to this film

After Jack Black manages to magnetise himself and then erase all the films in the video store. He and Mos De have to remake all the films to order.

DVD @ [amazon.co.uk] [amazon.com]

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I went to a seminar tonight. What a waste of time that was. But the most annoying thing for me? Those free ballpoint pens they give out to everyone. Why would anyone with any ounce of sanity choose to give clicky ball point pens out to people. Half the idiots in the hall spend their time clickclickclickclickclicking their way through the evening, and the rest of us idiots stick it out and wanting to stab our pens into the throats of the other idiots. Burroughs was right - this is a planet of war.

Phil Hine’s classic book on Chaos Magic - who knew Cthulhu could prove such fun?

I read this book many moons ago so I re-read it for fun and then again for this review and I had forgotten how good this jolly little text reads.

Let no-one fool you into thinking that this book’s depth comes from the page count - for at 64 pages I consider this ‘teeny’. The value comes from Phil Hine’s description of the mental attitude generated, invoked and lived with by a magician following a Cthulhu mythos.

[amazon.co.uk] [amazon.com]

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Although the author claims to have tried very hard to remove the writing style of the PHD this formed the thesis for. It didn’t work completely.

[amazon.com][amazon.co.uk]

I felt let down by the first half of the book, as a very slow summary of magic and lots of exposition of whys and wherefores. This all felt very academic.

I really enjoyed the 2nd half of the book where the author discusses Amado Crowley, Kenneth Grant, Austin Osman Spare, and Chaos magic.

Such a shame the author didn’t write a historical overview of Chaos magic because even if the field appears too new to write a history of it, I think Dave Evans could write a very credible overview and incorporate a lot of the information received during interviews with Lionel Snell, Phil Hine, Peter Carroll and others.

Unfortunately I can’t recommend a purchase of the book because of the slow first half - but do certainly get it out of the library.

• Dave Evans Bio
• Society for the Academic Study of Magic
• Occult eBooks.com
• amazon.com
• amazon.co.uk

Ok, so I spot something wrong here. Had I made this the first Chris Ryan novel I read, I would never read another one. And yet this gets 4.5/5 on Amazon. Yet Strikeback, which I thoroughly enjoyed gets 3/5. who can I trust to decide which Chris Ryan novel to read next?

[amazon.com][amazon.co.uk]

Problems I had with Zero Option - a first person narrative on this did not help create a dynamic tension between the kidnap and the ongoing missions that the hero takes part in. And I found the final situation so tiresom, easily dealt with and lacking in tension.

I assume that in the 11 years between writing Zero Option and Strikeback that Chris Ryan has improved dramatically as a writer. So I shall try to work backwards through his catalogue and stop when I hit something turgid.

So my recommendation on Zero Option - avoid.

I had so much trouble trying to reinstall Windows XP on my IBMX23 that I thought I’d see how I get on with PCLinux.

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If you like your detectives to have hunched backs and reek of descriptive text with plenty of historical observations, then you should buy this book.

Sadly I don’t.