Ground Trouble Jaw - free!

1:If you haven't yet discovered the awesomeness that is Richard Swift, now's your chance. He's giving away his new EP Ground Trouble Jaw here. It's... different to his earlier stuff, but different is kind of the point with Mr. S. Download. Enjoy. Then go get his earlier albums.

2: I've learned how to add random pages to Facebook. So I've been adding random pages. If, like me, you're a fan of Sleeping, Pies, Regular Expressions or Just walking around and looking at things, jump on and sign up.

3: There's no number three. At least not yet. Expect pictures soon...

Mother chants her litany of boredom and frustration, but we know all her suicides are fake

So on Saturday Liz and I made our way to the racetrack to see The Police. In preparation, I'd made driven Liz crazy watching Everyone Stares and listening to Message In a Box all week. Every time I go to a concert these days I wonder if it's going to be my last: I've own every Police and Sting album and the cost of the tickets pretty much matched the cost of buying them all. Perhaps ticket prices are increasing at a ludicrous rate. Perhaps I'm a parsimonious bastard. Probably a little of both.

"Hang on," I thought as soon as the support act, Fiction Plane started playing, "that bloke sounds almost exactly like Sting." Which made more sense when I learned it was his son. Fiction Plane sounded incredible. Expect them to be big.

The other support act was Fergie. Yeah, I didn't understand that either. See, I'm not opposed to today's popular music per se, but sandwiched between the rock of Fiction Plane and the Rock of The Police... I don't know. They couldn't have put Dave Dobbyn (Th' Dudes would be a good match), or Neil Finn (Or Tim, or Liam) up there? After a couple of her own songs, she started a medley of Black Eyed Peas stuff, then a medley of rock classics. if I'd wanted to hear someone sing "Live and Let Die" really badly I could have stayed home and played singstar. Oooh, aren't I mean. To be fair though, her band and dancers were very entertaining while Fergie was offstage for one of her three costume changes. For those of you keeping track, that's one costume every 20 minutes. I guess an important part of driving the brothers crazy and doing it on the daily is access to a significant wardrobe.

And then The Police. Still got it. Andy seemed in a bit of a foul mood and I'm sure Sting was giving him evils at one point. Steward Copeland- outstanding. I don't know if it really comes through on CD exactly how good a drummer he is. Sting is Sting. Seeing the Police live is totally different to seeing a Sting solo show. But what was missing in audio precision was more than compensated for in energy. Three seconds into Synchronicity II the whole place was on its feet.

And here I save you money. Thanks to the power of YouTube (like the power of Greyskull but with better animation), you can produce the whole thing in the comfort of your own home.

Step 1: give some guy three hundred dollars
Step 2: wait for a drink for an hour (don't actually get the drink because the bar closed while you were waitng)
Step 3: watch the videos below

Fiction Plane: Two Sisters



Fergie Alanis Morissette: My Humps


The Police: Message in a Bottle

Bragg. Bailey. Chips.

Sometimes some Billy Bragg just hits the spot. Other times, a good feed of fish and chips does the same thing. Therefore...

Bill Bailey and Billy Bragg sing 'Unisex Chipshop'


I'd love to be going to see Billy Bragg when he tours next year. But I've already spent all my live music money on The Police. There's probably a joke in there somewhere...

This, that. Also other.

Drive by posting will continue until the end of the year at least. This week's happy meal-sized post:

i: If you haven't subscribed to the Starship Sofa podcast, now is the perfect time to start. With Michael Moorcock's permission, they're podcasting some of his short stories. First up, an absolutely stellar reading of London Bone. Moorcock is something of a hero of mine, and if you haven't read him you're missing out on one of the great authors of our time. If you're already a fan, you'll love Starship Sofa episode 66, where the lads make a pilgrimage to Paris to interview the man himself. Can't wait for the Christmas special, guys!

ii: Last episode of Outrageous Fortune for the year tonight - the only programme worth watching on TV these days. Last week was the final of Conchords and my shameful secret finished a few weeks ago (we're a whole season behind in NZ).

So after tonight, I think I'm done with TV for the year.


iii: This? Is why Kiwis will always win at Movember. Oh, you didn't realise Movember was a competition? We're already organising a pro league...


iv: I kind of did a happy dance upon seeing my piratical buddies and I in Locus. Sure, it's just in the new magazines section, but still. Locus. Phwoar eh?

v: no, I'm not procrastinating by writing on the b0t because the next scene I have to write is violent and I'm scared of where it's going. I'd know if I was procrastinating...

Mailer, Hendrix, The National

Being a drive by post:

There's an excellent interview with Norman Mailer over at Open Source.

Shaun Farrell talks with Howard V. Hendrix, pixel-stained technopeasant coiner at Adventures in Scifi publishing. I still don't buy his argument, but it's an interesting listen.

A review over at Uncut of The National at Shepherds Bush Empire that made me wish I was back in London. And which is more than enough excuse to post Apartment Story:

What to listen to while living vicariously

Discovered via Russell Kirkpatrick's blog, the Conflux 4 podcast series. There's some really good stuff here. I particularly enjoyed the interview with Jonathan Strahan and panel about whether workshops like Clarion really work.

And discovered via the Geek Fu Morning Show, Charlie the Unicorn:


That is all.

Don't forget to turn the sausages

Sure. You could keep on crying about the All Blacks not even making it to the semis. You could whinge about Lloyd Jones missing out on the Booker.

You could do that. Or, you could quit moaning and have a listen to this.

If the Batucada Sound Machine isn't the soundtrack to your entire summer, then I don't know what to tell you - you're obviously going to the wrong barbeques.

Unlike the music I normally rave about here on the 'b0t, this one isn't available on emusic.com - you're going to have to go out to an actual music store and buy an actual CD for once. Actually. Don't panic if you're not in NZ - Marbecks should be able to sort you out.

Here's the first single. Play it loud, then go out and buy the album before it goes all Joshua Tree and there's nothing else on the radio.



And stop whinging about the rugby.

The simple pleasure of fresh cut grass

Various things that made for an excellent weekend:

The weather has improved. Result! Especially since it was Emily's school gala.

The quality of stories on Escape Pod have been a little uneven lately, but the last two have been great: Transcendence Express by Jetse de Vries was excellent. This morning, while mowing the lawn I listened to Jonathon Sullivan's Niels Bohr and the Sleeping Dane. This could be my favorite Escape Pod story so far.


The Howick library now has a section for graphic novels, and they're shelved with the adult books, not the teenage ones. Not that I particularly care where they're shelved, but it sounds like they have big plans for graphic novels.

What's more, the library are now stocking Uncut magazine complete with CDs. Unfortunately, it was this magazine that caused me to spend far too much time out in the sun reading about Fairport Convention. Once I decided it wasn't a good idea to fry myself and inspired by the Uncut review, downloaded Paul Weller's As is now from emusic.com. Smashing.

Had a bit of a breakthrough in some current writing this afternoon. Now slightly less terrified that there's only really three months left in the year.

Right. It's Sunday night and there's still enough time to watch the next episode of Deadwood. Here's a track from my new favorite album. This week.

Drive by blogging for fun and profit

I'm starting to wonder if this blog is becoming the online equivalent of leaning out the car window and shouting at random pedestrians. This week, I will be leaning out of my car window shouting:

Jay Lake has a podcast!

Spider Robinson has a podcast!

If you enjoyed Weaver's Web, be sure to check out Pip's special podcast this month.

emusic.com now sells audiobooks! The selection isn't great right at the moment, but there's no reason to think it won't be as good as their music selection before too long. But the price seems good and like their music it's all DRM-free MP3s. One to watch. Or, listen to, I suppose.

Jaffa Cakes are now in the dictionary! Also in my local Woolworth's, right next to the Hobnobs.

Now I'm hungry. And I think I broke my ! key.

More drive-by blogging

Still too busy reading and writing for serious bloggage, so in the meantime, some more random things:

Space Madness
The SFWA once again demonstrates that, for a bunch of science fiction authors, they're hell-bent on living in the past. I think this is the end of any interest I have in joining their ranks.

There's always room for another five-minute epic
Why was I not informed earlier about The Hold Steady?


The National is growing on me nicely

Obviously, both these albums can be found on the ever-awesome emusic.com

News of the obvious
So I took this test online and it turns out I'm a total nerd. But you already knew that, right? If you don't believe me, ask about how wrote some C# code last week that calls Java code in a Java VM that lives inside the .NET runtime. Well, I thought it was pretty cool, which may explain this result.

General random miscellanea

I won't be blogging for a week or two - too much reading and writing to get done. So this is a post to log a whole bunch of random variousness.

On the imminent destruction of all short fiction
Vector cover the story so far here.
John Klima responds here.
My two cents: Short fiction is not going away, it's evolving. Imagine if the next version of the iPod/iPhone comes with a PDF viewer and Apple come up with a way to sell them through the iTunes store. The short story market will explode.

One major problem with short fiction at the moment is discoverability - how do you find the magazine with stories you like? This is a problem inherent in The Long Tail and not restricted to short fiction. There's no point complaining the magazines aren't available in bookstores any more - nothing much else is either, unless you're one of those lucky people with a Borders or Waterstone's nearby. Last I checked, my local CD store had the top 40 and very little else. I want to say that the solution is some kind of recommendation service: if you like this author, you'll like this magazine, etc. Certainly the recommendation service at emusic has totally changed my listening habits. Exactly how this would work for short fiction, I've no idea.

More things to put in your ears (and eyes)
Some podcasts I've recently discovered that I'm enjoying:
Via boingboing, the Kasper Hauser Podcast. You had me at Impart as much useful knowledge as you can to a resident of the 14th century, in one minute -- GO!

Great music on All Songs Considered from NPR

Strange Horizons now has a podcast!

The Escape Pod fantasy podcast is finally starting to take shape. Which I learned on reading they'd purchased a story by Cat Rambo. Website here.

Right. That's me for a week or so. One last thing before I go: from the Kasper Hauser blokes, Jacobus has a video blog from the 14th century. Here's what he thinks about cats.

December, Summer, Kloot

No news round these parts, except that I have finished The Potter. Also, last night's episode of Outrageous Fortune was even more heartbreaking than the previous week. Things are looking up though - Pascalle's back. Should be more of the comedy and less of the tragedy next Tuesday.

Apart from a couple of albums, my iPod is now entirely full of podcasts and music I've purchased from emusic.com. OK, it's only a 5GB ipod, but still, that's a lot of good music and other content. So to celebrate something that is only meaningful to me (and not that meaningful at that), here's some stuff I've been listening to lately. And yes, these are all available at emusic.com. Obviously.

The Decemberists - Sixteen Military Wives


Summerbirds in the Cellar - Strange Answers


I am Kloot - Morning Rain



update Nearly forgot: Starship Sofa will soon have a two-parter on Michael Moorcock! What's more, he's given them five short stories which they'll be reading leading up to the shows. And if you haven't subscribed to the sofa yet - sort it out!

You little sod I love your eyes

Bunk experiment day 6. Not only are the girls both asleep in their respective bunks, but I got them there by myself - Liz is out tonight. Been a rough week and kind of light on the sleeping, but Abigail's been sick. Actually, all over me, one night. The thing about being vomited over? When it's someone you love, it really doesn't matter. My sweater may have a different opinion, but it's just clothing. And I don't listen to clothing.

Anyway, this one's dedicated to Liz, and the two tiny people who rule our house. It's the first track from Elbow's last album Leaders of the free world. Why yes, as a matter of fact, it is available on emusic.

Nice one, Sir Paul!

Got a few tricks in him yet, hasn't he?
I'd seen the news that iTunes now had the Paul McCartney back catalogue. But then this morning I got an email from emusic.com -they had the new album too. Checked I had enough credit left & 10 minutes later I owned it. Looks like it's a simultaneous worldwide release. Nice.

Official web site is here. Listened to it a few times so far. It's not bad. Quite Beatle-esque. Which, in his case, is perfectly reasonable.

More music

OK, so I know d1sc0r0b0t is at risk of becoming just me drooling at how great emusic is. Nevertheless, here's what I've been listening to recently. Click the links for previews.

Elbow, Leaders of the free world
I've had Elbow's 2001 album Asleep in the back since, well, 2001, I guess. And I like it, but Leaders of the Free World is better. Very possibly epic.

The Decemberists, Castaways and Cutouts
Downloaded this one a while ago. I listened to it a few times and thought meh. But then I had another listen last week, and now the Decemberists are my new favorite band. I don't know. Maybe it's the arcane vocabulary. Maybe it's the accordion. But this is great stuff. Which is why today I got:

The Decemberists, Picaresque
Which I've only listened to once so far and it makes my ears happy. Which is why I also downloaded:

The Decemberists, The Tain
Which I haven't listened to at all yet, but it's only a single download for the whole EP. And the reviews are good.

And that is how I managed to use up nearly my whole month's worth of emusic downloads in a couple of days...

emusic strikes again

Another month, another great collection of music thanks to my emusic subscription. Outside of my iPod, emusic could be the best music purchase I've ever made. Inside of my iPod, it's, etc.

Strangelet is easily the best Grant-Lee Phillips release since Mobilize back in 2001. Sounds a lot like the old Grant Lee Buffalo days, and that's not a bad thing.

I haven't enjoyed Rickie Lee Jones' The Evening of my Best Day as much as Sermon on Exposition Boulevard, but that's my fault. This is a far more conventional-sounding album; most people will enjoy it more than Sermon. But I don't want to damn it with faint praise. I really, really like this album. I just really, really, really, really like Sermon.

Obviously, because I'm a huge Elvis Costello fan, it was just a matter of time before I downloaded Steve Nieve's Windows (Music For Musician(s) & Open Windows). It's good, if quiet, stuff. I think this one's going to grow on me.

Happy Easter!

Sure. You could celebrate the death and resurrection of Our Lord by attempting to kill yourself ingesting huge quantities of sugar and fat while shopping at illegally open garden centres.

Or, you could do yourself a huge favour and buy yourself a copy of Rickie Lee Jones' Sermon on Exposition Boulevard instead. I've had this album a few weeks now and I just can't stop listening to it. Definitely the best thing I've bought from emusic so far, although it's also available on iTunes and probably your local record store, long as it's not a homogenised hyperglobalmegamart. And since it's based on the guy who's not a rabbit, it's just the thing for this time of year.

So go on. Treat yourself to a whole CD of awesome.

Keep on rocking in the free world. Emphasis on free.

I've been holding off writing anything about the news that EMI will offer higher-quality, non-DRM tracks through the iTunes music store. Partially because, with the news arriving on April 1, I wasn't sure it was for real.

But yeah. This is great news, even with the price hike for the unprotected tracks. It's weird that, despite my excitement when the NZ iTunes store opened, I still haven't bought a single track. The catalogue was pretty sparsely populated in the first few weeks, so I started looking around for other options, found emusic and that was that. I'm still an emusic subscriber and still loving it. But I can definitely see myself buying the odd EMI track from iTunes now. Well done, Steve.

And in other good audio news, I learned today that Escape Pod will be starting a new podcast dedicated to fantasy. Between the new one, Escape Pod and the scary Pseudopod, that's a guaranteed three good stories every week. Listened to a particularly good Pseudopod on the way home from work this evening. Seller's Market, by Joel Arnold. Very well written, and read.

Been a good week for ears.

Rice Bowl Tales

The BBC has a great collection of podcasts. This morning while mowing the lawn, I listened to episode one of Rice Bowl Tales, a series that looks at the importance of rice, both as a food and a source of cultural identity. It's really interesting stuff, and it's not a bad thing to know a little about the world's third largest crop.

You can subscribe to the BBC World Service podcast, containing Rice Bowl Tales along with other world service documentaries here.