Alan Baxter's Blog, page 105

Reign Of Death – short film

I picked this up over at S F Signal. Written and directed by Matthew Savage and called Reign Of Death it's a kind of noir style detective thing with a cool, dark sci-fi edge. Apparently the idea is to turn the concept into a full length film, which would probably be pretty good. It stars Noel Clarke, the guy who plays Mickey in Doctor Who.

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In defence of swearing

I swear a lot. I'll be the first to admit it. I'm the worst person to have around your kids because I swear so casually that I don't notice I'm doing it. I do try to remember when kids are around, but even that bothers me to some degree. They're just words. Though I do understand that little Sally turning up in a schoolyard and telling her teacher to go fuck herself is a potential parent/teacher-relation nightmare.

But they are just words. Of course, they're words with a certain power. All...

So you want to see pictures?

A few people have asked if I took many photos on the recent trip and if they can see them. Well, yes I did. I'm a bit of a photography nerd. That doesn't mean I'm any good, but I really enjoy photography. I took over 1,800 photos. I've strimmed that down to a more reasonable 251 and you can see those on my Flickr page here.

The pictures are from all over Scotland, then the West Country of England, then Rome. You can figure out for yourselves which bits are where, I'm sure. Enjoy.

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Dark Pages preview #3

In the ongoing series of previews from the Dark Pages anthology from Blade Red Press, here's an excerpt from the third story in the collection:

Neptune's Garden

by Lisa A. Koosis

Jacob opened his eyes to find moonlight had silvered a wedge of the bedroom wall, and her moon-shadow hovered within it. Her voice drifted in through the open French doors. "I'm planting. Go back to sleep."

"Planting?" Propping himself up onto his elbows, Jacob squinted at the bedside clock.

She didn't answer. Jacob...

Conan 2011

I recently found out from my good friend Jason Fischer that there's a reboot of the whole Conan franchise coming to movie theatres. I know I'm rather behind on this, but I've been busy. So shut up.

I'm a huge fan of Conan. The original Robert E Howard stories are awesome and I'm also a big fan of the Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. Those movies were a bit removed from the stories they were based on and Arnold as Conan wasn't really very good casting, but they were still classics. The are still c...

One more plane film

I know I said I'd stop going on about plane films but there's actually one more. I completely forgot to mention this one, which is surprising because it was truly excellent. Temple Grandin.

It's a film all about the life of Temple Grandin. She has a funny name but she is a remarkable woman. She's autistic but made it through high school and then university and subsequently became an animal behaviourist and author. She even speaks publically about autism. For anyone with any knowledge of...

Safely back at home

Twenty seven hours in transit and we finally made it home. Vegemite on toast and a cup of tea, followed by a shower, and we were pretty much human again. Now I've had a decent sleep and life can begin to return to normal.

Just to follow up on my last post I did watch a few more movies on the last leg of the trip. I watched Paranormal Activity, which should have been good, had lots of potential, but was actually boring as batshit.

Then I watched The Book Of Eli. I was suspicious from the outset ...

The plane home

The trip home has begun. The looooong trip home. We've got to Dubai and are killing time before the last leg into Sydney. Free wifi at the transit lounge is a good distraction (although Metal As Fuck is a blocked site!)

On the first leg of the trip I watched Clash Of The Titans. Mindless eye candy but most entertaining. Then I watched Ondine. It's a selkie tale with Colin Farrell and was absolutely brilliant. I highly recommend it. I had one major issue with it but I'm prepared to let that...

Busy, busy, busy

So I was hoping to update things here a bit more often, but I haven't. No excuses. I've been too busy enjoying my holiday and catching up with old friends and family, so I'm sure you all understand.

The trip around Scotland was truly awesome, especially as my wife had never been before. Cornwall and Devon as beautiful as ever, and the company superb. My old hometown has been excellent, seeing so many old faces and carrying on like no time at all has passed. That, as far as I'm concerned, is...

New theme and radio silence

My thanks again to James for helping me get this website sorted out after the horrible crash of two weeks ago. You'll see there's a new theme in place. Rather swanky too, I think. We'll be working on customising this over the next few weeks, so I hope you like it.

Our travels around Scotland have been fantastic and we're moving on again today. I'll probably be out of net coverage for a few days now, so don't be surprised by an unusual online silence from me until around Monday. Be good!

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