One of my aims with our reading clubs is always to try to get in as many different kinds of writing as I can; in some of our years, it would be so easy to just read e.g. Golden Age Crime all week, but I do like to stretch myself if I can! Mention on another blog (I can’t recall which) of the author James Baldwin reminded me that as well as fiction, he had also written essays (I read some of these as part of my Penguin Moderns reading project). And another blogger nudged my memory with respect…

I remember playing this back when it was new, although all I can truly recall about that experience is it being a real pain in the arse to run and not having a good time with it. Thankfully my personal tech’s and personality’s moved on a long way since 2006, so I thought it was about time I revisited a fully patched up (official patches only) Neverwinter Nights 2 with a better PC and fresh eyes. Or not. Within seconds I’m staring in disbelief at the dialogue before me, wondering if perhaps I…

The 2024 Korean horror movie Exhuma was described to me as "a detective procedural starring ghost busters," and it's exactly that. It even feels a bit like a season of a detective procedural edited down into a cinema release - it's long, divided into chapters, and it goes places. The degree to which it goes places is pretty crazy. The beginning of the movie makes you think you're about to see a very specific kind of horror movie... and that's absolutely not the same horror movie you're watching…

Another week in the books so let’s see what the world of metal has to offer this week. Hails! Carnation - death - BelgiumSépulcre - death - FranceLeadbelcher - death - IrelandMinefield - death - GermanyGlutton for Punishment - death - USADoomscroller - death - GermanyMorgue - death/grind - FranceMortify - death/grind - JapanFate Unburied - death/groove - ItalyMaster - death/thrash - USAWorm Altar - death/doom - USAShores of Null - melodeath - ItalyInsomnium - melodeath - FinlandIapetus -…

I was listening to a podcast yesterday on what’s happening in Russia and Ukraine, how Trump has completely sold out Ukraine again and that it’s all for trying to unfuck his dumpster fire of endlessly poor decisions that have led him to scramble about trying to pretend like he gives a shit about his country before the midterms, but at the same time there’s endless backroom deals going on this-and-that oil companies, some billionaires from here, some from there, all these fucking people just…

If AI is so great, why aren’t we seeing an explosion of new, amazing software products? If anyone can turn their idea into working software with coding agents, where is all that software? People have been asking this question for years. As far as I can tell, the answer is that it’s spread out over a lot of modestly successful projects: Somewhere between 2x and 20x new software is being created, depending on where you look There’s no real growth in massively successful software projects (not…

This is so well put and ever since having kids, I have described it exactly the same: Your heart now lives outside your body. The hardest part of being a parent is that you have to trust these awkward, gangly, brave, but ultimately reckless little humans with keeping your heart safe, while also letting them be awkward, gangly, brave, and ultimately reckless. Because that is how growing up happens. It’s stupid. Mike Monteiro’s Good News

Okay, so, on Tuesday evening I was with a group of Ukraine writers and ended up recounting two or three times that I had felt so vulnerable in writing that I made poor decisions or I was led the wrong way. That suddenly sounds so much more dramatic than it really was. Nobody has led me into a dark life of crime and scandal, although there may yet be hope. What I meant was, for example, the way that my school careers teacher laughed at me for wanting to write and how that sent me off down the…

Welcome to Friday and another update on things here in North Wales in my little workshop that despite the autumnal weather remains comfortable at present. Get yourself comfortable, and let me give you a guided tour...It's rather lovely to be testing the 16mm rails in the garden! This build has been something of a slow burn, but very much on the home straight now with most of the paintwork and assembly fitted. The final stage is to add some weathering to breathe a little life into this cute…

The sword in the stone: Here's a 12th century relic from the Abbey of San Galgano. In 1180 Galgano Guidotti decided to renouce violence and warfare and thrust his sword into the rock as sign of his conversion to a life of peace and piety. "According to legend, while on the road near Siena, Galgano's horse threw him into the dust. An invisible angel, the archangel Saint Michael, lifted him to his feet and led him to Monte Siepi, a rugged hill close to his home town of Chiusdino.""In a vision, he…

I’m sure this will age like fine wine, but the title is obviously an allusion to Epic’s statement “programming is hard”, with which they justified their decision to fully vibe code a cross-platform Epic Games Store app. But it goes further than that even. In my life, I’ve so often heard people say “programming is hard”, “computers are hard”, “math is hard”, “physics is hard”. These are specific to my life’s choices, but I’m sure you’ve heard something similar. “Drawing is hard” or “knitting is…

He gets to the essence. Hiroshi Yoshida Wiki entry.

The back page of Dandy Comic Library #53 (published around early 1985) advertised the next two issues that would be on sale the following month, one of which was scheduled to be Violent Elizabeth in "Very Cross Country Runner".If you remember my look at Plug, you'll probably recall Violent Elizabeth was one of the stars of that comic; the Dandy Comic Libraries often featured interlopers from other titles, even ones that had been defunct for quite some time. However, when Comic Library #56 was…

Reading Time: 37 minutes While I appreciate you are all REELING from the latest revelations suggesting that Reform UK’s membership might in fact comprise SOME ACTUAL RACISTS, I had quite a weird experience this week which I am going to share with you instead of Doing Commentary (you’re welcome!). So as a result of Google’s slightly odd mechanics, I occasionally get emails meant for Other Matt Muirs around the world – this is how I have learned that there are lots of Muirs in New Zealand, for…

There is one event I've kept out of the record for a year, and I kept it out because of a word. The word is Christ. It splits a room faster than greys do, and where I live it lands on a reflex before it lands on a mind. I've stopped caring who flinches.

A surprise gaming extra on the blog. I’ve been recently mostly writing about them in my digital garden but this one I wanted to share here. I recently picked up Ultrapool and have been playing it on my computer and phone a bit ever since. It’s a Balatro-esque pool game where each round, you need to reach a certain level of points, then you get money to buy upgrades and repeat until you win a run. How much money you get to spend? That depends on how well you’ve done. Video is a 4 second clip of…

Who lives here? What kind of life do they live? That’s what I wonder. The post Everybody Needs a Place to Spend Winter first appeared on Correr Es Mi Destino.

Last Friday for the first time in + a year, we went into our post-town for the Friday artisanal market: it is small but perfickly formed: Peter the veg; Cormac the cheese; scones, pies & cakes; fresh fish. We came away with a cheese selection; spuds and fractal brocolli. Food fit for comp'ny - a bit too expensive for everyday. Then we repaired across the street to the pub-undertaker for coffee and viennoiserie from Seamus the Plúr, who was previously up the way when Fərmεntary was a thing. The…

In Miss Silver’s 15th outing, she just happens to be staying with a school friend when a murder takes place. Does she have precognition? I couldn’t help wondering what her fave, Alfred, Lord Tennyson would say about this. In Locksley Hall, his narrator says:“For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be . . .”Read more »

There is something wonderfully satisfying about making your own granola at home, especially when it is packed with wholesome ingredients and sweetened naturally with honey and maple syrup. This Nutty Honey & Maple Granola is crisp, crunchy, and loaded with toasted nuts, creating the perfect balance of flavour and texture in every bite.Whether sprinkled over yogurt, served with milk, or enjoyed straight from the jar as a snack, this homemade granola is a delicious way to start the day. Easy to…

We’ve all been beginners one day. And we’ve all been criticised for creating cliché photographs. The implication is that clichés shows a failure of originality, something to get rid of as quickly as possible because it’s not interesting, it’s already done to death. The implication is wrong. Cliché but I learned from creating it When I learned photography, I had no plan because I knew nothing. I didn’t even know what aperture was. I looked at a lot of photos and decided on a number of things I…

THE UNLOST RIVERS OF LONDON Sudbrook Richmond Park → Ham → Petersham (2 miles) [Sudbrook → Thames] Most of Richmond Park drains to the east towards the Beverley Brook. The watery channels in the Isabella Plantation and the Pen Ponds, for example, all end up flowing that way. But the corner of the park closest to Kingston instead drains north, direct into the Thames, along channels you can initially see if you know where to look. At Ham Gate they're joined by a suburban tributary we'll get to…

TrumpWatch 2026: Democrats Have a Rich Bounty from Which to Choose Another day, another pollster announcing that Donald Trump has hit a record low for their poll. The latest is Fox, where the President is at 36% approval against 64% disapproval, putting him 28 points underwater. Click here for full story

journey into night

As I mentioned before, it takes me way too long to edit a single video. So I am releasing it in chunks. If I never finish it, well then at least I'll have a few videos out. What is the video about? Well, it is about the future we were promised, versus the one we are actually living in. It's not dystopian, but it seems like the goal of tech is supposedly to automate the tedious and mundane, so we can have more time to do the things we love. But along the way came the word productivity. The goal…

Everyone posts lists ranking random items in the hope of fanning enough controversy that their bad opinions become viral (see: TasteAtlas). Yet, even though I am mostly immune to bad culinary hot takes (see again: TasteAtlas), I could not help … Continue reading →

More previews of Reykjavík to get me in the mood for my upcoming trip: Lost glove in the hedge by Fríkirkjan: Airwaves attendees in Fríkirkjan: My grocery store: Hardy outdoor drinkers at Den Danske Kro: 13 Days until Iceland!

“I know, for both of us, the dead world’s much too crowded.” Live long enough and all, reluctantly, must agree. Most of our relatives and oldest friends are dead – the unhappy price paid for longevity. As Dr. Johnson describes grief in The Idler (January 27, 1759): “The loss of a friend upon whom the heart was fixed, to whom every wish and endeavour was tended, is a state of dreary desolation, in which the mind looks abroad impatient of itself, and finds nothing but emptiness and horror. The…

Two Bridges Up Sidings (OO) is close to home – somewhere on the Brighton main line near Three Bridges, I assume. Usually lots of third-rail EMUs to be seen, but today there was an impressive lineup of diesel traction. Wolfstatt (HO) is set in the Austrian Alps. Well presented OO9 on Hexworthy. And larger (O-16.5) narrow gauge on Bowaters Paper Mill. Lochty (EM), a model of the goods only terminus operated by the North British Railway. Smalldale Quarry (N). Part of the Buntingford branch (GER)…