The Year Zero

Another from the archive for Halloween.

Click for full size

D50 – ISO200 – 35mm – f5.6 – 1/60th
Scar added in Photoshop using scar brush from Deviantart.com

I’d wanted to do a ‘circle of bloggery’ post for a while (well, that’s my term for it) but haven’t got round to it yet.

It’s nothing more than a little extra info on the people whose blogs I follow. This isn’t everyone on the Blogroll I’m afraid (some of them are new, for example). But it’s most of those on that list. These days I tend to refer to them simply as the dearly beloved.

They are an eclectic and quite eccentric group of individuals who have been crazy kind enough to follow me through my various blogging iterations over the years.

If you haven’t checked them all out – do. I consider myself quite discerning and wouldn’t read them if they weren’t good.

The list below is, generally speaking, the order in which I first became acquainted with each blogger.

Suburban Mum (aka Hen)
http://suburbanmum.me.uk/

I have known Hen (in person) since sometime in 2000 when I joined the firm she worked at.

Hen left London, moving to ‘the north’. Roll over celebrity blogger ‘Wife in The North’, Hen’s blog (especially after the move) was a warts and all account of what leaving behind your roots is like and settling somewhere new. There is a big difference between ‘north and south’ in the UK and she has talked a lot about it.

Currently job hunting (and touch wood the end could be very close), her blog carries everything from recipes to travelogues to photography. She has a large following these days and blogs with honesty about food and parenting issues. She is also a blog/tech queen and knows a thing or too about blogging (as dear old Sven found out when she rescued his blog!)

Through Hen I now regularly blog Mumof4 and Vic. Hen also recommended Puntabulous through whom I then met 14giants. Through me she found Pete, Lula, Sven and others.

A Million Pieces (aka Pete)
http://amillionpieces.20six.co.uk/

Pete and I began blogging each other way back in 2003 when we were on 20six (Pete is now on the staff there so still hosts his blog on that site). Pete’s blog has always covered a broad of subjects from sport through to current events, music and arts reviews, etc. Pete lives up north near Newcastle and he is a committed Christian. We are liberals but he (like me) gets wound up by a lot of the crap that takes place in society – dumbing down of standards, increasingly anti-social behaviour, 3rd rate television, lax and incompetent government policy, etc, so we’re quite happy to rant on one another’s blogs.

Pete loves writing (and has a self-published novel). He also does NaNoWriMo each year which he is trying to get me to do!

We began blogging one another back in 2003.

Puntabulous (aka Craig)
http://puntabulous.com/

Puntabulous.com, owned and run by Craig, is probably the most ’successful’ of all the blogs I read if one uses the criteria of page hits (he’s almost at 500,000) and some of his posts have several hundred comments. He has a committed and very loyal following.

What can I say about Craig? Lives in New York, he’s tall, he is – like me – ‘desperately seeking stephen’ – among other things! I think he has the best avatar (blog profile picture) of my commentators as it’s cartoonish and makes me laugh. He’s also the author/creator of ‘Super Viagra’ which is a superhero cartoon series with a big following! Check it out.

I found Craig through a recommendation of Hen. He and 14giants also blog one another, as does Sven.

Ryan Edward Miller
http://ryanedwardmiller.com/

What can I tell you about Ryan? Probably one of the most eccentric bloggers I follow. He has a fondness for prescription drugs, gambling, lomography (a type of photography) and is the number 1 fan bar none of The Darcys (a Canadian Indie band). Just check out his blog and you’ll see what I mean.

Ryan lives in Vancouver and works in academia.

I found 14giants through an intermediary of Craig’s.

Lula Bites
http://lulabites.blogspot.com/

Lula found my blog when I went through a phase of writing up Nigella Bites reviews which had been on the TV. She’s the original ‘domestic Goddess’ and should be referred to if you want food or recipe suggestions! A gay woman these days living with her American partner in Antwerp, Belgium, she is also a mother so blogs with honesty about bringing up a child and the trials and tribulations of lesbian parenting.

She’s in the process of moving blogs (I’m suggesting she moves to wordpress.com!) so the address may change soon.

Very into the arts (her partner is a professional photographer), her blog is an eclectic scrapbook of arty finds and musings.

These days Lula is now hooked up with Hen, Mumof4, Vic and Sven.

Sven’s Guide To…
http://svensguide.com/

The biggest thing to say about Sven is that he’s imminently moving to Sydney, Australia. A 20 something Brit who lives in Bristol where he works in academia, Sven and his boyfriend are leaving the UK for pastures new – an exciting proposition!

As bloggers go, Sven isn’t what you’d call ‘prolific’. If he can manage one a week that’s considered good going. Instead, he’s very into ‘micro blogging’ which of course is another word for saying Twitter and Tweeting. You can stay fully up to speed with what he’s up to via twitter.

What else is there to say about Sven? He’s adept at sign language, enjoys trampolining to stay fit, loves outrageous fancy dress parties and is something of a hard drinker and ‘life and soul of the party’ type.

I’m going to admit that I can’t remember when Sven and I first found one another. These days he’s also hooked in to Hen, Mumof4, Craig, Mike, Paul and Lula, among others.

Big Yellow Taxi (aka Mike)
http://bigyellowtaxi.wordpress.com/

Mike does not blog a massive amount these days but he’s been around a long time and his blog is not far off 300,000 hits! Mike’s blog is a combination of musings on current affairs and one man’s perspective on life in general (he’s gay but it’s by no means a single issue blog).

Mike lives in Leeds and is about to start a new job so it’s exciting times for him. He goes to Miami every year for a 2 week holiday and has a long-term partner. He’s into writing and new media in general and is an all round good egg.

Mike and I have blogged one another from very early on, can’t remember exact date.

Yarraville Paul (aka Paul)
http://yarravillepaul.blogspot.com/

Paul lives in Sydney, Australia and we’ve blogged one another for quite some time. Paul doesn’t give too much away about his private life but he’s a gay man who nods naturally in the direction of the arts so his blogging is quite eclectic, like Lula’s. Oh, he’s also an Apple-man so is into iPhones and Macs.

I can’t recall off-hand when Paul and I started blogging one another but it’s been quite a long time now.

My Dad’s a Communist (aka Daphne)
http://mydadsacommunist.blogspot.com/

Daphne came to me via Mike’s blog. When she first arrived I remember surfing onto her blog and as the title is in capitals, I read it as: “I’m a columnist”. Was quite some time before the penny dropped and I realised it actually said “My dad’s a communist”! That’ll teach me to read properly!

Daphne is an indefatigable blogger who posts at least once a day. She has an interesting job managing an actors’ agency but she also works in a dramatic capacity herself, training young doctors on the ’softer’ side of their skills, i.e. she teaches empathy and social skills through role-play.

With quick and often quite dry wit, Daphne’s blog is varied and includes everything from anecdotes on friends and family through to musings on current affairs. She – like me – often turns to remembrances of things past for inspiration. An old photo, an old item of something or other – triggers memories and stories. She also blogs with candour about the NHS and nursing homes (her father – the Communist – lost his leg a few years ago, for example, and is in a nursing home).

She seems to be going to Paris a lot with work at the moment but she is based in Leeds. She says herself she’s not much of a global traveller, but she’s heading Stateside this autumn to visit Silverback, a friend she made via blogging. Something tells me she’ll have a fantastic time!

Daphne found me via Mike’s blog.

Globewriter (aka Vern)
http://globewriter.wordpress.com/

Vern has yet to leave a comment for me on my new blog but this is primarily because he’s having big PC problems with Tinkerbelle (his laptop) and Sybil (his desktop). Yes, before you ask. Vern is a bona fide eccentric in the best sense of the word!

Vern grew up in Canada but now lives in Trinidad. He is a news presenter on television and he also writes for Fodor’s (the travel guide).

Vern is quite a quiet, reflective type and it takes a while to get to know him. He’s a decent and interesting person when you do. He’s not a massive blogger so don’t expect ’serial blogging’, but what he does write is thoughtful and interesting, especially as he has an inside-view of the politics and machinations of that part of the world.

I can’t remember off-hand how Vern and I found one another.

Mumof4 (Betty aka Birdie)
http://mumof4.vox.com/

I call her Betty because we both love Mad Men and know all the characters. Betty is on the ‘prolific’ side of blogging (like I’ve been this month) and her blog is often a stream of consciousness. Betty is British but she and her British husband have lived for many years in the US, having lived all over. These days she lives in Colorado where she brings up 4 children.

How would I sum up Mumof4’s daily life??? Hmm, think ‘Simpsons meets Desperate Housewives’ and that’ll give you a pretty good idea! (I hope she doesn’t mind that description!!!!). She blogs with humour about the highs, lows and in betweens of life in America, bringing up 4 children, married life, etc, and the variety and frequency of her blog posts make it a lucid and interesting read.

I found Mumof4 through Hen.

Glowstars (aka Vic)
http://glowstars.net/wpb/

Vic is one of the few other bloggers I follow who lives in London. She works at a major City firm I almost got a job at, but fate decided otherwise.

Vic is married to a UrbanVox (who is Brazilian, he’s in the blogroll) and she blogs with humour and honesty about the balancing act required to live in this huge and expensive city (London), bringing up a young son, etc. She’s very into writing (has always written poetry) and is now planning to do NaNoWriMo. To that end, I’ve hooked her up with Pete who is also doing it!

She is an all round good-egg.

Vic found me via Hen.

Retirement Rocks (aka Silverback)
http://retirement-rocks.blogspot.com/

Silverback is a relatively recent find (via Daphne). A 56 year old Brit who spends 49.9% of the year at his home in Florida (the rest of the year in Leeds, UK) – he’s an enigmatic so-and-so and his blog is well worth reading. Whilst I enjoy all of the blogs I read, very few set out to make you laugh but Silverback’s often does and laugh I have done! I remember him blogging about the Olympics (and I was feeling particularly depressed about my last job) but he really put a smile on my face.

He’s had 2 heart attacks so as his followers we hopes he takes it easy. He’s into photography, socialising and eating, i.e. all the best things in life!

Silverback found me via Daphne.

That’s a pretty good recommendation isn’t it? Now go forth and blog!

PS Yes, this blog entry is 2,000 words and did take a long time to write and format! Worth it though.

I’ve settled, I think, on the Samsung NC10. It’s not out yet, but UK e-tailers indicate it being on sale from the beginning of November.

I’m buying it (why does one need to justify these things!?) partly because:

• my only other PC (which is a desktop) is having major problems (especially at boot-up) and I worry the end is close. The data is backed up on an external HD, so that’s not a problem.
• I want to blog and surf with freedom, instead of always being stuck in my ’study’ (spare room), instead being able to blog and surf from the living room or even from bed (!)
• I had a significant ‘overtime’ payment from my last employer in my final pay cheque and I want to spend some of it
• I need to treat myself after the 4 months of hell I went through. The only good thing about that last job was the salary.

I will get it in black.

Review here.

Unboxing video here.

Spec:

Processor

* Intel® Atom^TM Processor N270 (1.6GHz)
* 533MHz FSB with 512KB Cache
* Chipset: Intel 945GSE + ICH7M

Memory

* 1GB (1 x 1GB) DDR2 667MHz
* Memory Slot 1 x Slot SODIMM

Hard Drive

* 160GB SATA

Software

* Operating System: Genuine Windows® XP Home (SP3)
* Samsung Magic Doctor
* Samsung Update Plus
* Easy Display Manger
* Easy Battery Manager
* Easy Network Manager
* Easy Speed Up Manager
* Adobe Acrobat Reader

Display

* 10.2″ WSVGA (1024 x 600) SuperBright© Gloss LED Display

Graphics

* Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
* 128MB Integrated Graphics

Audio

* HD (High Definition) Audio
* Multimedia Player
* EDS (Enhanced Digital Sound) Effect
* 2 Watts Stereo Speakers (1W x 2)

Input Devices

* 84 Key with Silver Nano technology (Anti-Bacterial Keyboard)
* Touch Pad (Scroll Scope, Flat Type)

Networking

* Wired Ethernet LAN (RJ45)
* 10/100
* Wireless LAN
* Atheros® Wifi 802.11b.g
* Bluetooth 2.0+EDR

Dimensions

* 261mm (W)
* 185.5mm (D)
* 30.3mm (H)
* Weight: 1.33kg

Power Supply

* 60 Watt AC Adapter
* 6 Cell Lithium ion Battery

Interfaces

* 1 x VGA
* 1 x Headphone-out
* 1 x Mic In
* 1 x Internal Mic
* 3 x USB 2.0
* 3 in 1 Card Reader (SD, SDHC, MMC)

Warranty/Miscellaneous

* 1 Year Warranty
* Samsung Recovery Solution III
* McAfee Virus Scan
* BIOS Boot Up Password / HDD Password
* Kensington Lock Port

R.I.P. Adam Carter

Episode 2 begins ‘8 hours’ after episode 1, in the wake of Adam’s death.

Ros wastes no time asking Harry to give her ’section D’; she wants to assume Adam’s role as head of the division. She goes back to her flat and tears it up, throwing the flat screen television across the room in a fit of rage. She’s in mourning.

Harry is adamant that they will avenge Adam’s death through Arkaday Kachimov, the FSB (formerly known as KGB) bureau chief in London, who was responsible for Adam’s death.

The main plot line involves a Russian submarine that is in British waters. It transpires the sub is on a mission to launch a ‘cyber attack’ by intercepting the cable linking Europe with North America and launching a denial of service attack which would bring down every computer in the United Kingdom.

JIC (the Joint Intelligence Council) refuse to allow Harry to target Kachimov. They also refuse to ‘turn off the internet’ which Harry asks them to do, as a safety measure.

Lucas North (the Mi5 agent not long out of 8 years in a Russian jail) appears to be a double agent as he’s liaising with Kachimov. It also turns out that his ex-wife (who is Russian) is now his handler.

There is a Russian oil tycoon who Ros intercepts in the changing room of a City gym. Grabbing him by the *cough* testicles, she encourages him to spill the beans which is to confirm that there is a submarine in British waters.

A somewhat confusing episode. Lucas shows his true loyalty to Five having been tasered by Ros when she suspects him of actually working for the Russians. He’s interrogated by Harry and the rest of the team and says he’s playing Kachimov at his own game.

The Russian sub is now poised to launch its attack. Lucas intercepts Kachimov and tells him that they can set him up to look like a double-agent meaning his handlers in Russia would want him dead. The only way he can extricate himself from the situation is if he gives Mi5 the codes for the submarine. Kachimov takes him into the Russian embassy and they get the codes off the computers. Ben dials in a bomb alert and the embassy is evacuated. Lucas and Kachimov leave during the evacuation with the computer disk.

They get in a car driven by Ros and the team and the disk is handed over and put into a laptop. The data is sent directly to Malcolm back at Thames House who has just seconds left to prevent the cyber attack mounted by the submarine. He breaches all 3 firewalls of the sub’s defences and the sub loses all control.

The end result is that the attack is foiled. You then see a BBC report on the tv with a story about a Russian ‘oceanographic vessel’ that ran into difficulty, that was saved by the British Navy. This is the cover-up.

Kachimov is now effectively ‘turned’ to the British side. The final scene is him awaiting pick up to be taken to an Mi5 safe house. Ros and Harry are there. In a derelict part of London. Kachmimov shows no remorse for the death of Mi5’s star agent – Adam, calling him a disposable resource.

In the final scene, as he awaits his pick up, Harry calmly turns around and shoots Kachimov through the heart in cold blood.

The sub plot is Lucas and his Russian wife who is now FSB. At the end he has infiltrated her house and tells her that unless he joins him and works for Mi5 – she will lose everything she has.

A good episode, though not quite as dramatic as episode 1.

Re-run on BBC iPlayer.

Reviews of Spooks Series 7

• Review of Episode 1
• Review of Episode 2
• Review of Episode 3
• Review of Episode 4
• Review of Episode 5
• Review of Episode 6
• Review of Episode 7
• Review of Episode 8

An enjoyable seat-of-your-pants first episode as series 7 premiered on BBC1 last night. Look away if you don’t want to see spoilers contained within this entry.

It started with a flashback to series 6, episode 10. You may recall that Adam and Jo had been captured and their death was imminent. Jo had begged Adam to kill her as she knew she would be tortured.

So it started where the last series left off. It turns out Jo feigned her own death and she did not in fact die as they were liberated by Special Forces. So they got out alive. However, Jo was was heavily traumatized afterwards and doesn’t restart work.

The main plot line in episode 1 of series 7 is focused on Russia. Ros is in Moscow (codename: RANGEFINDER). With things hotting up in London, she is recalled but refuses to bail out as she is moments away from picking up something she’s worked 6 months on getting (she’s acquiring Russian secrets of course).

The main plot line is a British army private who had been serving in Afghanistan. His face had been on a BBC news broadcast saying he was looking forward to coming home, etc. Anyway, on leaving the pub with his friends, he was captured by Al-Qaeda operatives. They show a video of him on youtube saying they will behead him if HMG (Her Majesty’s Government) does not cancel the Remembrance Sunday events, at the cenotaph, etc.

So the thrust of this episode was them desperately trying to find this captured squaddie who is somewhere in London. Ros had brought an encrypted piece of data back from Moscow and they finally manage to unencrypt it. It links them to Al-Qaeda operatives in London who will link them to the hostage takers.

Oh, I almost completely forgot. The BIG new plot line is Lucas, an Mi5 agent who has been released by Moscow in a ‘tit for tat’ exchange. He’d been languishing in a Moscow prison for 8 years. He comes back to Thames House and is warmly received by those colleague that remember him – Harry, Malcolm, Connie, etc. He’s looked on warily by Adam who had not worked with him, however.

Anyway, they manage to free the captured squaddie, only to realise that this was a diversion for the main Al-Qaeda atrocity which is a planned bombing of a remembrance Sunday service in a part of East London. Adam, Lucas and Ben race to the scene. Ros (who hasn’t seen Adam since her own ‘death’ (staged by Mi5 to protect her from the Americans)) sees Adam who has intercepted the car bomb. They greet very briefly. That she loved him cannot really be in doubt.

Ben and Lucas are chasing the Russian agent (codename: TRANQUILITY) who had driven the car to the site. They valiantly try to get her to give them the code and Lucas fights her to the ground but she crushes a cyanide tablet in her mouth (starts foaming at the mouth) and dies instantly.

Adam has jumped into the car and is racing out of the area before the bomb goes off. Martin back at HQ has identified a derelict part of London with a large enough exclusion zone for the bomb to go off. They’re out of time, seconds until the bomb is due to go off!

Adam manages to get the car into the exclusion zone and just as he opens the door to leap out… the enormous car bomb detonates and he is killed in a gigantic fireball.

All the agents are in a state of profound shock. Ros will probably never get over it. The only positive is that Jo decides to return to work as a way of honouring his life (they had worked very closely through series 6 and he was her mentor).

Harry and Ros swear on their lives that they will get their revenge on the Russian bureau chief in London (I forget his name) who knew about the imminent attack, who was introduced as a new character earlier in the episode.

All in all – great drama and very much up to the usual quality we would expect from Spooks. Rather shocking to see that Adam has been killed off, but they kill someone off every series so it can’t come as too much of a surprise. Lucas looks to be a very interesting character. Less cocky than Adam. We assume he is partially ‘broken’ after 8 years in a Russian prison and his naked torso revealed some very interesting tattoos he got during this time. The Radio Times attempts to decipher them.

If you are a UK resident you can see episode 1 / series 7 online using BBC iPlayer.

Episode 2 is on tonight on BBC1 at 9pm (preview on Radio Times).
Reviews of Spooks Series 7

• Review of Episode 1
• Review of Episode 2
• Review of Episode 3
• Review of Episode 4
• Review of Episode 5
• Review of Episode 6
• Review of Episode 7
• Review of Episode 8

I almost didn’t notice this, what with everything else that’s been going on!

The seventh series of Spooks premiers tonight at 9pm on BBC1. It’s a two-parter with the second part on tomorrow night. Yes, I will definitely be watching it!

Spooks
Highlight

Monday 27 October
9:00pm – 10:00pm
BBC1 London & South East

Believe it or not, we’ve reached the seventh series of Spooks, yet its standards are still toweringly high and, if anything, it gets better with age. The opening two-part story (concluding tomorrow and at 10.30pm tonight on BBC3) is an absolute corker that doesn’t waste a second, piling on action sequences, snappy dialogue and a shock that might just leave you poleaxed at the end of the episode. First, welcome back to the Grid and its personnel, who are still coming to terms with the consequences of the previous series’ stunning cliffhanger, where Adam and Jo were faced with a terrible predicament. But life goes on; the threat from international terrorists is omnipresent when a soldier is kidnapped and threatened with beheading, and the team unearths a plot to wreak havoc on Remembrance Day. Into the mayhem steps a new spook, Lucas North (Richard Armitage) released in a spy-swap after eight years in a Russian prison. Can he be trusted?

Source: Radio Times

More photos and Spooks Guide on Radio Times also.

Having not long ago done a somewhat upbeat post as I was feeling bright and in a good mood, I suddenly have a bout of last minute jitters. About the new job. Namely – that I’ve still not signed the contract and the woman I’m due to be reporting into hasn’t contacted me yet today. I emailed her this morning ahead of a big meeting she had at lunchtime with an external company. It’s a meeting I would have run or at the very least fully inputted on as it would come under my remit in the new role. I haven’t heard from her before or since the meeting. I’d emailed her – as discussed with her last week – with tips on how she should handle the meeting, what questions to ask, etc.

I’m sure it’s fine, but… I suddenly got it into my mind – what if this company they had coming in today wooed them and persuaded them to outsource (the role I do) saying they wouldn’t need one of me! Could that be why, when I tried to reach this woman a little earlier, the receptionist tried and then came back to me saying “sorry, she’s in a meeting can I get her to call you back”.

I’m sure I’m just being paranoid. They have verbally offered. I have verbally accepted. They KNOW I turned down another role to take this job. Plus, my ex-colleague works there. He has a high up role. He wouldn’t allow me to be screwed over. Anyway, if this woman hasn’t called me by 6pm, I’m calling my ex-colleague who introduced me to the firm.

To say I would be incandescent if this fell through at this late stage would be the understatement of the decade.

I’m sure it will all be fine…

PS To top this off, I got a really sweet email today from the lady I WOULD have been working with at the firm I’ve turned down (the fall back job), saying how “very sorry” she had been to hear that I was no longer taking their job. Hmmm.

*Sigh*.

UPDATE

She called me around 6.45pm and it’s all fine. I’m meeting her on Wednesday to go through contract and job description and I’m starting the following Monday.