Category: Random

Yesterday on Barbelith (so sue me, I’m stressed): Grant Morrison (Part One) – “In the first part of this archived interview from 1999, Grant Morrison talks about the Justice League, Animal Man, Alan Moore and 2000AD.”

Possibly the most useful thing in the world: images.google.com – and not just for porn!

Thanks to Luke for finding me a news story about the soon-to-be-released Pixies DVD retrospective. I’m awed, and a little scared by how excited I am.

My life has been saved several times by the kindnesses of young Davo. At this precise moment, however, I am unable to buy him a gift for his birthday (tomorrow). So I’m going to send all of you guys off to make his day special and cool (you can buy him shit too if you like) and then I’ll get him something when my finances are perkier.

I’m not the Tom Coates that likes curling, swimming or hunting (although he’s kinda cute), nor am I the Tom Coates that is married to Judith. The most spooky part of this whole process is that I’ve seen both of these sites before. And it wasn’t on a vanity hunt for mentions of myself on the net.

My mother and father split when I was two years old for a variety of reasons. The last time I saw him was when I was four, and I don’t really remember much about him, except him buying me a present and giving it to me on the doorstep. I haven’t heard from him since that time, although my mother was contacted by him when I was six or seven. But since then, nothing. Not a word. His name was Thomas John Coates, and he’d be in his early sixties now. He worked in computers, and every so often I go online and try to see if I can figure out where he might be, if indeed he’s still alive. I don’t know that I want to meet him, but I’d be interested in knowing more about him. So if you get bored, look around for other Tom Coateses – and if you find him, let me know.

Today on Barbelith: Echelon (3) Protecting yourself – “So what is the threat to privacy that Echelon poses, and what can we do about it. In the third part of out Echelon series, Frances Farmer get practical.”

I hereby declare Ralph to be stroppy guardian of my soul and well-being and agree in principle to being ‘his project’.

Hey look kids: barbelith is an ‘online publication’ according to plastic.com – the metafilter that it’s only just about ok to like, even when they link you. I’m chuffed, nonetheless. Now I need more bloody articles, so stop sitting on your fucking arses and write something.

Temping thrills (1) Arrive at assignment. Sit down. Start computer. Start Outlook. The first e-mail is being displayed in the preview pane. It reads, “Why doesn’t Michael Barrymore use ashtrays? Because he puts his fags out in the pool“. 9.35am – the bile is rising.

And the vote is in, and yes – the answer we were all dreading – temping is the dark lord Satan’s way of making humanity’s life even more of a godawful fucking living hell than we ever thought possible. Swear to god. I’m doing this a week. And then they’re sure as fuck had better be some other work for me to do, otherwise I’m going to fucking kill someone.