Alan Baxter's Blog, page 105

The Nightmare Ball at Aussiecon 4

Aussiecon 4, better known as Worldcon, is fast approaching. Looks like I'll be doing a few bits and pieces there in the way of panels and workshops as well as having a top time with friends and colleagues. I'll write more about that stuff later. In the meantime, check this out. I'll be going and it should be quite a laugh.

The Nightmare Ball

The Nightmare Ball is a way to pursue your wildest dreams and face your deepest fears in the best possible way: behind a mask!

Staged by the Australian...

Murdoch University are out of their freaking minds

This situation has suddenly cropped up all over the web, with lots of my friends (and plenty of people I don't know) justifiably furious. It is, in a word, fuckingridiculous.

Via Chris Creagh- Murdoch University have told Grant Stone that his services are no longer required. He has been given 10 days to respond. He was told that SCIENCE FICTION and POPULAR CULTURE are no longer core to the librarys activities! More news on what we might be able to do about this on Monday. Please post this as...

Friday Flash – Idle Chatter

It's been a while since I posted a Friday Flash piece so I thought I'd offer up this one today. It's a nasty little piece, so brace yourself if you're of a sensitive disposition. Then again, I don't imagine you'd frequent this site if you were of a sensitive disposition. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

Idle Chatter

by Alan Baxter

Incident Report: Sgt Greg Moran

Thursday, 18th March 2010, 21.45 hours

Apartment 14/4 Broughton Street

Response to repeated calls from multiple callers re: home...

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 ...