Invasion of the Plante of the Anti-Poets

And so we return to the subject of man's inhumanity to man or it may merely be the sheer insensitivity and selfishness that I feel is on display daily on the streets of Dublin. As usual, I blame the lat lamented Celtic Tiger for all our ills. This is simply because I felt Ireland was a nicer place before it and we were a nicer people. We have lost sight of the important things in life. I held a door open for a woman a while ago and she sort of shouldered me out of the way so I wouldn't let it slam on her boyfriend. I guess I'm an idiot to expect at least a thank you.

Priorities
Oh my goodness you're having a heart attack.
Hold on a moment my cellphone's ringing.

Paddling My Own Canoe

I guess the time has come to give up on the Art's Council. I still haven't heard anything from them bar the perfunctory and substantially ill-informed email they sent me. So I will now pursue the EU all on my lonesome.
Also, regarding a foreign language Hugo, if there is anyone out there who is a member of this year's Worldcon in Montreal and would like to discuss the idea, I suggest that you suggest it as a panel item - as a member of the con you have that facility. If nothing elase I think it could make for an interesting panel discussion, which is surely what the con should want.

Return to the Planet of the Anti-Poets

It's been a while since I did any poet-bashing. In fact, I've been very soft on the buggers for a while. So it's time for another episode in Why I'm an Anti-Poet (with apologies to any real people who are poets, including Sex W. Johnston).
A while ago I was at a literary event in the wilds of Galway which I may have mentioned in passing before. Sitting in a room full of pets, reading their poems aloud, everyone politely clapping each reading as it would be in no-one's interest to bring a critical spotlight to bear on the affair, I struggled to stay awake despite the endless provocation of the poetry.
I chatted with a really nice poet whosat nervously waiting to read. The reading was appalling and the poetry beyond awful but the applause was the same as for the headlining act - who actually seemed to be a real poet with a real book to his name.
And once again I was inspired to scribble a few lines on the back of a beer mat for the sake of posterity.

A Death in the Family?

Drone on, you bastards.
I'm only sleeping.

Star Trek - At Last

I finally got to see the new Star trek film. I was never a big fan of any of the series (plural) or particularly of the previous run of movies, but I have to say that this one is excellent. It is as much what you would want from a Trek movie as the First LOTR film was to that fan base. Does JJ Abrams have a magic touch? you can bet that the hype and hoopla around his next project will be immense. If he delivers next time he might genuinely be The Next Big Thing.

Albedo One

I saw the proof of the next issue of Albedo One on Saturday. The cover looks great. And we have a wonderful cover lined up for the following issue, which we hope to bring to Worldcon. Any of you artists out there fancy a shot at the cover of a Quality magazine, give us a shout.