mindracer

“I have never seen much point in getting heavy with stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I... And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know t...

Well it's been a while since I wrote anything on here, the short reviews of books have dried up even though I'm reading even more than usual. My goal for this year is to hit 30,000 pages, I thought number of pages was a better target than books. Books can be 100-1500+ pages long. Reading 100 books doesn't really mean anything. So instead I'm aiming for 30k pages, I'm ahead of the curve according to Storygraph. Probably due to the lockdown the UK had for the first half of the year. Last year I re...

Well this was a real slog, the first 50 or so pages I really enjoyed but after that I really struggled to work my way through it. There's a lot of repeated material, boxes of soils and the Winchester rifle that keep getting mentioned. I think it would have flowed a lot better with out keep going over the same things. I would have enjoyed it a lot. Overall I'm glad I read it, its a classic that started it all but I won't be rushing back to it ...

I sprung for a Nikkor 85mm f1.8D AF the other day from Gray's of Westminster, I've always preferred prime lenses over over zoom which isn't unusual by any means but given how adverse I am to changing lenses when I'm out and about it would make more sense for me to buy a zoom. Yet here we are. It hasn't arrived yet, should turn up next week sometime and I can't wait to try it out. Unfortunately with COVID going on large parts of the UK are back under lockdown so I'm not sure how much use I'll get...

This is my favourite book by my favourite author, I try and re-read this every year. A high power orgy of drugs, drink and excess behaviour, right from the opening sentence its nonstop chaos. Fast paced and easy to read, its easy to read this in a few hours. A failed experiment in gonzo journalism, its hard to know how much is real and what is fabricated. Given Hunter's legendary in take of drugs and alcohol it seems likely that more of it is real than not. The book is entirely quotable and had ...

Interesting concept, exploring the flood tunnels under Las Vegas and speaking to the people that inhabit them but ultimately left a little flat and repetitive. Nearly all the people meet in the book have the same issues drugs\gambling which is fairly standard for Vegas and homeless people. But the author never gets to really know them, as far as the reader is concerned they're just another face in a tunnel. Any chapter could be any other chapter. Its a shame as its a great idea but poorly execut...

What the fuck is this book about??? I know Chuck Palahniuk is mostly weird and strange but this? A collection of short stories about a number of people trapped\enlisted to stay in a bunker for 3 months to spur their creativity. The sheer number of characters in the book make it difficult to follow and the overall story arc I muddled and boring. The short stories in the book are the most interesting thing aobu the novel and while I found most fell flat, there were a few that grabbed me. Gore and ...

For a long time I've wanted to find something online to track my reading, Good Reads is the obvious choice but apart from being owned by Amazon the site is terrible. The UI is awful, the ratings are gamed and the Then I stumbled on Library Thing, which has a terrible UI and is partly owned by Amazon. So I deleted my account. Then I found Storygraph, its still early days but it has a nice UI, renders nicely on mobile and isn't full of bollox yet :) ...

Lovely short and creepy book for children that I really enjoyed. I've only just discovered Neil Gaiman but I'll be making ever effort to read more of his work. ...

I've been working flat out all through the pandemic implementing Microsoft Intune for a customer. The days have been long and often worked weekends to resolve issues and make deadlines. So with everything that has been going on this year I've decided to take some time off and have a break in South Wales. There's supposed to be some good weather coming and seems like a perfect time to pack the tent and do some camping in Pembrokeshire. Just me a stack of book, my camera and some lazy days. The we...

This is a strange book, I knew nothing of it before reading it and if I didn't know of Haruki's other novel were different I'd probably never pick a book of his again. The main character is an honest, righteous and thoroughly decent guy with no backbone but is for some reason friends with a complete asshole. Treats his girlfriend awfully, belittles her and openly sleeps with other women and excuses this by saying I've never lied to her. Midori is some fantasy woman, who's an awesome cook, sexy, ...

I should add I don't really need any more cameras... I have 7: Canon 750D Canon AF7 Canon Sure Shot Nikon F90x Olympus 35RC Olympus XA2 Ricoh FF-9S Date The Canon Sure Shot doesn't currently work, turning it on doesn't cause the lens to move out of the body. Not sure what the problem is, I can hear the motor trying to move the lens. Taking it apart and manually cranking the cogs cause the lens to move and turning it off will fire the motor to retract the lens. I might take it into the repair...

Centres around a group of 4 ordinary women who are work the night shift at a boxed lunch factory. They all have problems in their personal lives, mountains of debt, failing marriages, gambling husbands. When one of them snaps and murders her husband, her group of friends agree to help disposed of the body. This leads to the police, yakuza and loan sharks and a nightclub owner with nothing less to lose poking around. There's no mystery involved, you know right from the word go who committed the ...

I've serious gear acquisition syndrome at the moment, I've been hankering after a Nikon SLR. Either a FE2 or F4. Reading the review on casualphotophile for the F4 tilted the balance towards it but then I discovered its over a kilo!!! Thats without a lens and could well not include batteries. Which is insane. I don't want to be lugging that up mountains with all the other stuff. But.... but..... its seem ideal. And you can pick one up for a little under 350 quid. I've been lusting after an FE2 o...

It was my birthday back in February so I decided to buy myself a book subscription from Mr B's Emporium. Not the cheapest out there but I fell for the brown paper wrapped parcels with a wax seal. Unfortunately with the COVID-19 outbreak all book subscriptions were placed on hold for a couple of months. Deliveries resumed a couple of weeks back and I got my first book through, although it was missing the frills packaging because of the outbreak. I guess they're running on a skeleton staff which i...

Since being in lockdown my personal routine has gone completely fallen apart. I'm still going to bed at 10.30-11 but getting up in the morning is proving very difficult. I used to wake up at 5.30-6 without needing an alarm now I don't wake till 9-10 which is a problem when I'm supposed to be working. Thankfully work is quiet at the moment so it hasn't caused a problem. So I want to get a morning routine set, wake and out of bed for 6 coffee and blog go for a walk shower\shave start work ...

Yet again I'm starting a blog and while I don't think I'll keep up with posting on here with the frequency that I want it will at least stay up only because it's linked to my Standard Notes. It's been a very odd year, first WW3 is about to start with North Korea, Australia suffers with unprecidented fires and then COVID-19 kicks off. The 20s has started badly. Luckily\Thankfully I've still got a job, working in IT has its advantages espically when its all cloud based. I've been at home since ...