Category Archives: Books

There are only 7 plots…

June 9, 2009 – 4:51 am

… And all of ‘em are in Homer.
Well, that’s the story, anyway. Sometimes the magic number is eleven. Sometimes the magic number is three. Sometimes it’s something else. Sometimes Virgil gets a look-in, but usually Homer gets the blame for the sum total of basic plotlines in Western Literature. I used to think this assertion [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Fark!, Literature, Popular culture | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (50)

What crime? They were just breaking the Ramadan fast with a BBQ! (or Things to do in Ramadan when you’re dense…)

May 16, 2009 – 5:58 am

A radical Muslim who dressed his baby daughter in a hat with “I love al-Qaeda” on it tried to firebomb the home of the publisher of a controversial novel about the Prophet Mohammed.
Ali Beheshti, 40, along with Abrar Mirza, 22, have admitted conspiracy to recklessly damage property and endanger life after they poured diesel through [...]

By DeusExMacintosh | Also posted in England, Free Speech, Funnies, Law, Literature, Personal liberty, Politics, Religion, Terrorism | Tagged , , | Comments (49)

Need to know about cheese?

March 28, 2009 – 8:27 am

Every year, British magazine The Bookseller runs a competition for the oddest book title. The winner for 2008 is “The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais”. It costs $795 on Amazon.
I was wondering how there could possibly be a market for a book like this, or why anyone would write it?  The [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Fark!, Literature | Tagged | Comments (16)

R.I.P Kilmeny Niland

March 1, 2009 – 6:17 am

Those of you with any interest in Australian children’s literature would be aware of illustrator Kilmeny Niland. Like her mother Ruth Park, she played a significant and ongoing role in Australian literature, and in my appreciation of the various books she illustrated. I’ve long thought her beautiful artwork ensured that some books meant more to [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Art, Blogging, Literature, Skeptics | Tagged , , , | Comments (6)

On the top shelf with all the other porn…

February 18, 2009 – 10:25 pm

Muslims have complained that the Koran is often displayed on the lower shelves, which is deemed offensive as many believe the holy book should be placed above “commonplace things”.
Now officials at one library have recommended keeping all holy books, including the Bible, on the top shelves.
The move has come despite concern from Christian charities that [...]

By DeusExMacintosh | Also posted in England, Funnies, Religion | Tagged | Comments (20)

How to spot bad sci-fi/fantasy writing

February 10, 2009 – 7:39 am

Kim at LP links to a post at Feminist SF - The Blog! which gives tips on how to spot if you’re reading bad sci-fi/fantasy:

Are the characters’ names impossible to pronounce? Alternatively, when you pronounce them, do you realize that they are actually homonyms for scary-sounding English words? If the book is not written by [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Feminism, Literature, Science | Comments (12)

The Obstacle Course

January 17, 2009 – 11:30 pm

Sometimes, politics is like dodgems. I’ve just had to thread the pushbike through what is rapidly becoming the Broad Street obstacle course. This started with the usual bunch of Animal Libbers (attempting to disrupt a graduation), and was followed by a large and somewhat pushy Gaza/Palestine/Hamas protest. The Oxfordshire constabulary are fond of using mounted [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Law | Comments (5)

Rowling wins copyright case

September 10, 2008 – 10:20 am

J.K. Rowling has succeeded at first instance in her copyright infringement case against RDR publishers and Stephen Vander Ark for their proposed Harry Potter Lexicon. I have mentioned this case earlier. Obviously the trial judge managed to get his head around the plotlines which he initially described as “gibberish”, as the judgment shows quite a [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Intellectual property, Law, Popular culture | Comments (12)

Harry Krishna?

August 26, 2008 – 9:17 pm

I’m fascinated by the Harry Potter industry. We’ve already seen Warner Bros and J.K. Rowling take on a New York librarian and lexicon author for copyright infringement. Now they are taking on the might of Bollywood… The Indian movie is called Hari Puttar - A Comedy of Terrors. The Hollywood Reporter tells us:

The case is [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Intellectual property, Law, Media, Popular culture | Comments (27)

Distilling the fear

August 4, 2008 – 6:58 am

Illiberal, grumpy, explosive with the nationalist bombast but nonetheless truly great, Alexander Solzhenitsyn is dead. The author of one of the two great short novels I have ever read - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - he distilled the fear of totalitarianism better even than Orwell (although my other favourite short novel [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Literature | Comments (5)