jeudi 21 août 2003

A dull day-in-a-life mishmash. By request Tony's stuck with the cricket again or his books, telly or Mac. Especially stuck since bloghero Yang had to pay him a visit this morning -- with one knee seized up and painful, a stroll to the surgery was out of the question. I'm stuck too. Nausea still there, this morning's mighty headache vanquished, the insides back under control. That, I regret to tell Natalie and everybody else, particularly Carole and others asking for a more detailed update, is "The Condition" today. Tony and I each got as far as our respective pharmacies and no further. Wonderful, isn't it? But at least I can blog. Catherine, my former spouse, thinks that if T. and I can find n° 3, we could re-enact a well-known French comic strip of her youth (her earlier youth, I mean of course) which recounted the adventures of three incurables... Post-holiday Yang no longer has pouches under his eyes. We decided not to swap horses (specialists), once he'd studied all the latest results and we discussed them at length. The upshot is that a tanned backside or two will be kicked, with a September 7 deadline for a diagnosis. The doctor hasn't ruled out the bone marrow probe his partner suggested in his absence, but is more interested in exactly what's happening in the small intestine. It could mean a longer trip to hospital than the last day-visit to find out. I have yet more tests to do between now and then, but I'm glad the ball is rolling again after a fortnight's hiatus. No news from 'The Canteen'. It was safer to skip lunch. Still, I've got a word for that bloghero. When I returned to the chemists' to fetch the medicines I'd abandoned, such was my need to get back to a loo, people were waiting for a man who really needed a bucket. To put his stock in. He'd been prescribed enough to last him a year in the Sahara. That's what I thought it might be until my turn came. Eight boxes of 20 painkillers? Eight more of anti-nausea pills! I gave more than half that lot straight back, remarking that "I'm not the entire French Foreign Legion, you know." As for 'The Kid', she's happy again, after behaving too much like an addict short of a fix for her own good while her new Mac was seen to by Apple. She's of an age to have kept a slightly embarrassed distance yesterday when I had to get off the Métro, one stop after we got on with the repaired machine, as a matter of urgency. Should anyone else have the same problem at Courcelles station, be warned that the area is a café-less, toilet-free zone. A merciful RATP woman let me use their private one next to the ticket-office. Marianne pretended she had nothing to do with me for the duration. While I'm stuck, so is she to some extent, but was able today to rent and watch her first DVD, now that part of her machine works. She came back with 'The Animatrix'. Nice of her. Now I can see 'The Final Flight of the Osiris', not one of the four free downloads on the site. Tony and I have spoken of accompanying Marianne to see what many French people will insist on calling 'Tomb Rider' if mobility coincides imminently. That he'd even consider this is an indication either of desperation or a most proper and gentlemanly desire to make sure I wasn't telling fibs the day I explained how I gave Angelina her nipples back. The woman was already worried about them in 2001. "...something for those hardcore game fans. Lara has those big breasts in the game. We didn't want to make them as big as in the game, but at the same time we didn't want to take away from her the things that are, you know, her trademarks. But I don't know what all this fixation is about anyway," she told NY Rock in what sounds suspiciously like a little fib of her own. "[S]he finally found true love in the August issue of CosmoGirl!," which is not the first place I'd have thought of looking. It was less kind of Tony to give me his view on acting: "Yes, acting. D'you remember that? It's what people used to do on stage and in the movies before special effects and you didn't know what's real and what's gadgetry." Angelina, on whom I am not fixated, has explained in an interview I've mislaid that in Lara Croft 2, she wanted to round out the whole character, not just the boobs. Instead, here she is talking to Sci-Fi.com. We'll see. That cricket is robbing Tony, again, of Radio 4 (LW). He may have to think "broadband", the way the BBC's online choice is growing. It includes a very moving programme aired this morning. "The story of British tommies sent 'over the top' to fight the Germans in the trenches of the First World War is one of the most vivid emblems of powerlessness in the face of military discipline and social pressures that required young men to join up and do their duty." 'Voices of the Powerless': a highly recommended half-hour. Far less moving were the current Labour Pains brought on by the Hutton probe (Yahoo! News-wrap) into the death of David Kelly. The Hutton Inquiry site will henceforth be publishing what James Naughtie presented as a "bag of gems": "all the documentary evidence relating to the enquiry." Contemporary historian Anthony Seldon (Amazon UK picks) and Iain Dale of 'Politico's Bookshop gave Naughtie a thought-provoking eight-minute Today interview (direct link to RealPlayer clip) about this unprecedented development. Though fascinated by the e-mails and "the workings of government," Seldon pleas for more oral records. "Are the e-mails going to be kept in future?" he asks. I know I've left out 'The Wildcat'. But she must have gone to ground. Not even a miaow. I'm not surprised. Last time we spoke, she was: - plotting a murder (acceptable); - thinking of taking a teenage lover (no threat there); - showing interest in somebody older (that switched on the warning light). So, no flower today. Just a kiss. And now, Natalie, they all go back into lower case. 9:44:59 PM  link   your views? [] What they've said about me (don't you love reader's letters?) Chipstah! has posted sweet Fanny Adams since 'Claudette plays hard to get' on July 17. I'd worry about him if it weren't for his appalling Republican politics. His home page still bears a tribute from me among reviews he's put there. "The eagle's unloaded its a**hole!" I didn't put the asterisks in the entry he pinched that from during "that War", but he's a model of restraint and decorum. The fellow came to mind because I was wondering what my reviews and e-mails down the months would say if I wanted them on my home page. 'Merde in France' also posts reviews. But they make some of them up. This is where some of the loyal 3¾ get to shake hands. Or kiss each other. Dive beneath the sheets if they must. I really don't mind. Just one of the following quotes -- a selection of direct responses to posts here -- is made up by me. But which one? "I appreciate your writing. Sometimes I don't know if anyone but the random right-winger reads my stuff (since they always post a rabid complaint/comment). Nice to have the evidence of being heard." (Brian, film-maker, blogger, temporary candidate to govern California) "Very sad, important, informative and thoughtful, Nick, thanks." (Eric, editor, Blogcritics) "I enjoyed reading your websitelog, but J. thought it a bit self-indulgent (...) T. didn't comment. I suspect he would have preferred a proper present (...) I believe that would have been nicer, too. (...) What an uncaring family I have." (My mother, on a postcard) "The thing I like about your blog is that it's personal and yet not self-absorbed. There's enough detachment and awareness to lift it out of the confessional bog (blog bog) (...) I shall keep up with the threads of your various sagas - the Wildcat, the Kid, the Condition, the Canteen, etc. - almost sound like chapter headings of that unwritten novel?" Natalie d'A, London cartoonist, alter ego) "Of course you tried all the orthodox things already?" (Rainer B., software developer, Brazil-based website baron) "Made me smile. Thanks for this cool review. And, yes, it's all about the quirky sense of humor." (Lyda M., American novelist and critic) "God, Nick! People are going to guess who I am!" (The Wildcat) "If you put that in your blog, I'm going to put pictures of the inside of your bowels in mine." (The Kid) "I think that as a journalist you have the right to express yourself in citing the real facts; transformed or interpreted, [they] can be damaging to people who are perhaps not necessarily the cause of your problems. But it's the job and I can't rebuke you. "For my part I don't adhere to this kind of criticism (...)" (Patrice G., Executive Relations, Apple France) "Apple was kind enough to replace one of my PowerBook G4s after a negligent Airborne delivery man left it out in the pouring rain so it was soaked through. Sometimes I've had to ask to speak with a supervisor to get real action, but eventually Apple usually comes through." (Mac Diva, pantry-keeper, critic) "You write like a cross between Monty Python and Jeanne d'Arc. More of the porno pictures, please..." (Heather F, self-professed "houseslave", Perth, Australia) "As you probably know, under French law you can purely and simply be sacked for such things..." (David S., colleague, prudent chum, union activist) "Always nice to find an office conversation piece, yes? ;)" (Franklin in Florida, self-professed "whore") "How is it you've usually managed to avoid falling over the edge of the limits you've pushed? (...) That was risky." (Julie V., Bristol, England, no longer a Mac newbie, painter, movie-maniac) "That's a very nice review, now I've read it." (Justina R., British novelist) "Good review, but you mixed up Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp. (...) Huge difference..." (Ryan, musician, blogger, critic) "I took a look at your blog. It is interesting reading." (Alan, "Z", "a pretty ugly mass of organized chaos (...) a lot like you," traveller) "Yes, I liked it. But I've got a couple of quibbles..." (Gina D., news editor, colleague, reporter, on what I did with her Algeria photolog) " Mr Barrett (is that better?) (...) Don't DARE install Movable Type on your own." (Lee, round a few Parisian corners, student, blogger) "When are you going to write about me again?" (André B., literary lion, artist) "However, it is not easy for me to understand what [is] the purpose of your web site" (John, "in Seoul, Korea", photographer) "can't read you every day but catch up when I can. we have two power cuts a day now" (Protected identity, friend in Zimbabwe) "Wow! Quite a review--intimidating, in fact. I'm not sure anything else I do is going to measure up to your expectations now. :-)" (Karl S. novelist, founder member of SF Canada) "No biggy, I just pass um along........" (Mark aka "Sandbox", fellow founder of TS, blog tipster) "Many, many thanks for sharing Beatrice's pix with us ... brought back fun memories of Nigeria (including Beatrice and myself truly wading thru filthy waterlogged Lagos streets" (Abhik K.-C., AFP journalist in Abidjan, Ivory Coast) "Woooow, i noticed you mentioned me at your blog :D. Gosh, i'm honored..." (Marcel D., TechSurvivor in Belgium) "Rejoice with me: I've just achieved my first dry fart in a fortnight" (A.N. Other, complete content of an e-mail headed 'Not for blog') By the way, you're welcome to be as nice or as nasty as you like in the "comments" box, rather than e-mail. I can't do anything about the fact that it appears not to work when you send something. It does. 4:31:20 PM  link   your views? [] The apple and the crossbow bolt CHANGED MY MIND. I'm removing this story. Not from the Internet, but here. Not because Apple has asked me to (they wouldn't dare), but because it bogs down the 'blog. When I saw how long I posted it late last night, it gave me the shivers. So now it's sitting at the place it was really intended for, currently still on the front page at Blogcritics. Among other fine pieces... "After Apple's icebath, I warned that another article was imminent, even sent a draft and a chance to respond to three unanswered questions." In fact, cordial relations have resumed with Apple France, but the responses I naïvely plan to obtain from Cupertino are still absent. Thus a dart fired across the Pond. Like William Tell in the land of the cloud-cuckoo clock. 2:01:48 AM  link   your views? []

nick b. 2007 do share, don't steal, please credit under artistic licence terms; contributing friends (pix, other work) retain their rights.