Daily archives: April 28, 2003

Arkwright

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The Adventures of Luther Arkwright is set to be turned into a film. The only picture I have on my wall at the moment is a print of ‘The Battle of London’ signed by Bryan Talbot, depicting a climactic moment in the story. This is a very important comic, at least as much so as Watchmen or Dark Knight Returns, though it never got the attention it deserved.

With enough care and attention, the movie could work as a dark SF thriller/ action movie with a couple of scenes calling for Matrix style fight sequences and bullet time. Without it it could turn into Bulletproof Monk, fun but inconsequential, or- even worse- a Jean Claude Van Damme vehicle.

Soldier Bot

This entry was posted in Uncategorized on by

120 robotic soldiers, using behaviour modelled upon insect swarms, are to be tested by the US military. Another of the elements I was going to put into Sounds of Soldiers were swarms like this that had been given too complex behaviours and a too high desire to survive, which basically would revolt and desert when asked to go into battle for real.

via GeekPress

Art for Art's Sake

This entry was posted in art Manchester on by

I was in the Whitworh gallery last week, and I have to admit I did wonder how firmly attached some of the paintings were to the walls. But it wasn’t me who nicked a few modern masters and then left them behind a nearby public toilet.

I haven’t been to too many really bad concerts, but I can honestly say I wouldn’t sue a band for being crap at a performance. A sensible person would just stop buying their records, but in litigation land everyone’s out to make some money from it all.

Signing On

This entry was posted in work on by

It’s good to see the Jobcentre people are just as incompetent as ever. I went to the Rusholme jobcentre last Tuesday to arrange a new claim, only to be told I had to do that through the new call centre- go and use one of those phones over there. So I used the phone, in the jobcentre, to call the call centre. “Oh no,” they said, “you’ve got to go to the jobcentre to arrange a new claim.” So I walked back over to reception and told the man there. He was pissed off about this, in a slightly camp way, and called the call centre to make them take my call. I talked to a very apologetic man on the other end of the line and he arranged my interview for today. Problem solved.

Or so I thought. I received two packs of signing on paperwork. Ignoring the second one, I filled everything out last night. When I turned up this morning and handed over the covering letter (which I admit I had only skim read for the time) it turned out to say my interview wasn’t until the 6th of May. I wandered back and ripped open the second envelope. The cover letter in this one said my interview was today. Back to the JC and hand this one over. “Your name’s not on the list.” why am I not surprised? “And you’ve been booked in with the single parent adviser.” !!!!?????

Credit to the people in the Jobcentre, they made time for me- and didn’t once ask about my children, and were very apologetic about it all.

I’m off to see a recruitment consultant this afternoon. Hopefully I can have a job again before my next signing date.