Book Conventions – Fan event or Industry Circle-jerk?
September 24th, 2013 
madnad
I shall be attending World Fantasy Convention 2013 in October, in Brighton, and despite looking forward to it enormously - especially seeing Joe Hill (SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE!!) - I think that this will be my last con for a while. Why? Because its seems the business of books stopped being about reading and readers.
I have been to several cons now, and always go there bright eyed and bushy tailed, but by the end of it I leave there feeling slightly inferior, unnoticed, and unimportant. I am fed up of going Read more [...]
Maine… the way life should be
September 14th, 2013 madnad
Those that know me, know that I have a long standing love of all things pertaining to Maine. You would think that it would have waned over the years, but no. Its only gotten worse with each passing year. What people really find surprising when they discover my love for the state is, that I have never been there.
'How can you be obsessed with somewhere you've never been?' they ask. May I direct you towards the millions of fans of Tolkien's Middle Earth for example. The Lord Of The Rings' mythical Read more [...]
The Twelfth Doctor
August 5th, 2013 madnad
On Sunday 4th August, at around 7:30pm GMT, the internet exploded.
The reason for this was the announcement, on a rather lame excuse for a show, that Peter Capaldi was to take over the iconic role of Doctor Who as his twelfth incarnation.
I have to say, when I heard his name pop up last week amongst all the other dozens rumoured, I immediately thought YES! He would be perfect. Which of course meant it was never going to happen. I can't say how pleased I am that I was wrong.
I first saw Capaldi Read more [...]
DOMA
June 26th, 2013 madnad
It as been announced in the U.S today that DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act), the Federal law allowing same-sex marriage discrimination, was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Why is this a good thing? Well, this is good news for already married same-sex couples, as they have until now been discriminated against when it comes to matters of federal benefits. For example, a New York same-sex couple married in Canada. When one of the couple died, she left her estate to her partner, who Read more [...]
Why I won’t apologise for being an atheist
June 22nd, 2013 madnad
Religion. It's like a penis - it is great if you have one, but it is not appropriate to wave it about in public.
It's a funny old thing. If asked what religion you are, how do you define that? Some people unthinkingly will fill out a census form, and list themselves as Christian, simply because they were christened as a baby, yet haven't set a foot inside a church since they were a baby.
I want to take an opportunity to answer some of the questions posed to me in the past by theists who seem Read more [...]
Why the Prometheus plot holes don’t bother me
June 11th, 2012 madnad
There has been a lot of chatter on my timeline on twitter over the past week or so regarding the merits of the Prometheus movie. A staggering amount of vitriol and claims of 'Don't go see it dude, its full of plot holes' has echoed across my feed.
I have mostly kept my mouth shut on the topic, mainly because I felt it would be difficult to fully illustrate my feelings in 140 characters without being misunderstood. Silly me - I slipped up this morning by joining in on a conversation, and was Read more [...]
Why Werewolves are more McAWESOME than Vampires
October 7th, 2011 madnad
This afternoon, I had an argument on twitter with the fabulous Lou Morgan about which is more awesome - Vampires or Werewolves. She is absolutely lovely, so this was all completely good natured, and not an argument really - more of a discussion.
Let me just get this clear right now - NEITHER of us were talking about the sparkly vamps or native shapeshifters from Twilight. We are both true fans of the horror genre, and so if you haplessly stumbled upon this blog and are a fan of that particular Read more [...]
The Silver Bullet (1985) – a review
June 30th, 2010 madnad
As part of a 80’s horror revival I am currently working through, I ordered Silver Bullet on DVD. I found it on Amazon, and it was only available on PAL as a Dutch import, so although the sound was in English, there were annoying subtitles but I tried to ignore them.
My husband, Pablocheesecake to his viewers, regularly reviews our cinema viewings and while I don’t often blog, never mind review, he urged me to give it a go this time.
In case you are unfamiliar, the basic premise of the story Read more [...]
I know I am not perfect but…
March 21st, 2010 madnad
... I am so close, it scares me.
That was the quote that was on a t-shirt I bought on holiday once when I was a kid. In truth, I know I am not perfect - but then who is? No one I guess, yet some people, while perhaps acknowledging their own imperfections, seem unwilling to accept that others may be less than perfect. Alexander Pope said 'To err is human.' Now, he would probably say 'it's human to fuck up'. I fucked up. How? Well, trusting an 'ex' friend would go their own way, allow me to Read more [...]
The BAFTAs; or London and Back Again part 2
February 24th, 2010 madnad
Continued from Part 1
As the sky started to get darker, the lights seemed to get brighter. All the other spectators were looking as anxious and excited as I was when the first limo pulled up. Men and women walked up the red carpet to the waiting horde of PAs/Assistants that seemed to be milling around the red carpet aimlessly. I had no idea who they were unfortunately, but I believe they were the technical guys, producers, writers etc.... all the guys that make the actors look and sound good.
The Read more [...]
