PabloCheesecake vs the Bookshop of Woe

Posted on December 29, 2010 by paul

Strap yourself in. Things could get bumpy.

Unfortunately since just after Christmas Day Mrs Cheesecake has been feeling under the weather. Today in order to give her some peace and quiet I decided I would pootle of to town and spend some book vouchers I still had lying around.

I arrived at my local book emporium, not naming any names but it rhymes with Otterstones, to discover the Sci Fi and Fantasy section was closed. Arrrrggghhhh not the chuffing Dark Fantasy/Dark Romance ohh no. Nor the Erotica section which seemed to be doing a brisk trade. Nope my old fav was in accessible do to some sort of flooding?

Now I should stress this isn’t a moan about the staff. They are all very friendly and very helpful. My problem is that there were shelves and shelves given over to things like soft porn but they couldn’t have just moved that out the back for a bit? Seriously is Erotica selling better than Sci FI and Fantasy? (No not that kind of Fantasy you dirty sod) I just wanted to browse a little but I was denied. I ended up in the diminutive horror section. For reference this is stuck between Dark Fantasy and Erotica so I was getting the full on dirty mac stare from other patrons (which was nice obviously).

Later I stood and watched a while as various other geeks wandered up to the closed section looked around in a slightly lost/distracted fashion and then shuffled off in a irritated manner.

Damn but genre peoples are given short shrift aren’t we?

Twas the Thursday before the Thursday before Christmas

Posted on December 16, 2010 by paul

Only got one more day of work left in 2010 so I’m starting to get excited at the prospect of two weeks out of the office. When it comes to Christmas I’m a big kid at heart. I look forward to falling asleep in front of old films on the TV, admittedly the low level narcolepsy probably helps with that.

I also like preparing food for Christmas dinner. This year I am going to engineer a monster trifle. It’s been a while since the incident so I reckon it will be ok….Ohh sorry you want to no what the incident was do you? Ok I’ll spill A few years ago in a fit of pique I purchased a family size trifle from the local supermarket. In a case of eyes bigger than belly, which I know is hard to believe, I demolished the entire thing. Turns out this was not a good idea. I don’t think I have had trifle since. This year however I’m gonna get back on that horse.

I am also considering attempting to tackle one of my great white whales. Game of Thrones will be on TV next year and it seems sensible to read the books. I’ve got my posts for The Eloquent Page in hand so I think the time is nigh.

Judging a book by it’s cover

Posted on May 17, 2010 by paul

One of my greatest pleasures in life is getting lost in a good book. I read a lot and enjoy seeking out my next purchase almost as much as the reading itself. Last weekend I shuffled off into town and found myself in my local bookshop with a crisp tenner burning a hole in my pocket.

At this point I’ll pause briefly to explain one thing. I am a creature of habit and tend to stick with authors I know and trust. If I read a title from an author and enjoy it then they can be pretty much guaranteed my continued support for life, what can I say I am nothing if not loyal.

I do, however, occasionally like to dabble in the unknown territory of a NEW AUTHOR – please note when I say new author they could have been around for donkey’s years it’s just that I’ve never read any of their work. I guess I mean a new author to me. (Just so you know.)

After much rummaging and lots of uumms and aahhs I ended up picking up The Age of Zeus by James Lovegrove. Why? Check out the cover below and the answer becomes clear.

It’s got fucking Anthony Hopkins on it! With added lighting coming out his chuffing head. How cool is that? If that’s not enough we have some military types and a helicopter flying near a mountain. Also a review of the author on the back by someone called Saxon Bullock. Saxon Bullock FFS what an absolutely epic name. Cha-ching I’m sold. (On a side note I can’t believe I just wrote cha-ching in a blog. I feel like I’ve just jumped the blogging shark)

I had never realised before how much sway an interesting cover has on my book buying, When I buy anything from an unproven author the cover has got to grab hold of my brain. Here’s another perfect example.

How could you not want to read this. I just oozes mysteriousity. Loving the art deco retro 1920/30s feel and it’s just a little bit creepy. I am so buying this.

Now some of you may consider my new book buying policy a trifle devil may care and I suppose your right. It is entirely possible instead of ending up with an exciting new author to enjoy I purchase something incredibly shit just because I was taken in by the shiny promise of the cover. Well so far so good. I’ll live with the risk. It’s a chance I’m just gonna have to take. That’s the kind of extreme bibliophile I am!

Now ssssshhhhhh! I’m reading

Mr Cheesecake

Undefined Randomness from the Cheesecake of Darkness

Posted on May 10, 2010 by paul

Spies and Vikings

Its been an age since I purchased any new books. My e-reader is pretty full and I am slowly working my way through the backlog. There are however a couple of upcoming titles which I am very keen to get my hands on and will have to go old school a buy paper copies of both.

Mark Chadbourn‘s The Sword of Albion will hit the shelves soon and as I’ve got all his other books it seems likely I’ll buy this one as well. Spies in Elizabethan England – oh yes I think so.

I am also really looking forward to Wolfsangel by MD Lachlan. I’ve heard lots of good things and so will be rushing out to buy once it is released into the wild. Vikings! Yeah I’ll have me some of that. Hmmm when it comes to Vikings you do have to go some to top this though……

Consider the gauntlet well and truly laid down Mr Lachlan, good luck sir! Full Led Zepplin inspired goodness can be located here.

B-Movieathon

Even shite movies deserve some love. When I was a teenager I amassed a vast collection of B-Movies. I went though a phase where the longer or sillier the movie title the more interested I was in viewing it. How could you not love Class of Nuke’Em High Part II: Subhumanoid Meltdown?

Not long ago I realized a lot of the so called ‘mainstream’ stream films I’ve been watching were missing the sense of silly fun that comes with a good B-Movie. I decided it was time to get back in touch with my B-movie roots. I’ve purchased the following from Amazon and I await it’s arrival in the next couple of weeks.

B-Movie
That’s right peoples a 12 disc B-Movie boxed set. Hell Comes to Frogtown, The Stuff (come on who wouldn’t love a film about a rampaging yogurt?) Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, Night of the Living Dead. The list just keeps throwing out gems. Return of the Killer Tomatoes – you have to appreciate the joy of this. People need to know that one of George Clooney‘s first movie roles is about killer fruit.

‘But Pablo’ you cry ‘B-Movies are laughably bad’. You are essentially right but lets not forget the heartwarming story of Mr P Jackson. I’m sure some of you may have seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy but would that exist, or indeed be as good, without the bugnuts insane delights of his earlier work? I demand you go now and seek out Bad Taste, Braindead and Meet the Feebles. Once you’ve viewed all three then we’ll talk.

Gadget Envy

Mrs Cheesecake got a new phone recently. She is not a great fan of touchscreen tech so instead got herself a Crackberry 8900. I have to admit that even though it’s not the smart phone I would buy for myself I do find it quite a neat little bit of techno-wizardry. I still have 12 months to go before I can get a new phone so I must gaze on enviously as she tweets and msgs effortlessly.

Till next time. Don’t you go changin.

Cheesecake Out

Only Forward…What’s occurring 2010

Posted on January 3, 2010 by paul

Recently I blogged about my highlights for 2009. I was thinking about it earlier and it seemed only sensible to take a look at what is on the horizons for the next 12 months.

Film

There are quite a few movies I am looking forward to this year. In fact the list is so long I am going to go with just a top 4. As usual no particular order on this.

The Road – Now I haven’t read the book, which I admit is unusual for me it being post apocalyptic and all, but I really like the look of the film. I am a big fan of The Vigg and the film looks really fucking dark so should be right up my street. It’s on release in the UK real soon so I will scribble down a review at a later date.

Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll -To clarify Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick was the first vinyl I ever bought at the tender age of 4 years old. The B-side was a track called There Ain’t Half been some Clever Bastards. Ian Dury and the Blockheads music had a profound effect growing up. Looking forward to seeing Andy Serkis take on the role.

The A-Team – Is an explanation really required? Hopefully this will be like watching an episode of the show. Tell you what there better be a fucking montage where they make a fully functioning tank out of a milkfloat, two weasels and some blue tac.

Tron 2, Tron Legacy, Tr2n, Tron 2.0 – Whatever the fuck they are calling it this week. It’s about computers and software and sci-fi and all things fucking geeky. I am so there.

As I said there are many more but I don’t want to go on about them to much, not yet anyway.

books

The Five Greatest Warriors – Matthew Reilly does great action novels. The pace is always breathtaking and the conclusion always leaves you wanting more (in a good way).

The Silver Skull – A new novel by Mark Chadbourn is always a reason for celebration. Those lucky blighters out in the colonies already have it damn them *shakes fist*

Blood Royal and Dark Side – Not one but two new Pax Britannia novels from Jonathan Green. How very splendid.

health

This year I have set myself the task of cycling 500 kilometres. This is around the distance from where I live to Paris. Hopefully I should be able to manage this feet of endurance as long as my back holds out. Should also improve my general health as well.

Anywho on that bombshell I’m off to begin the trek. Wish me luck

Avanti

Pablo Cheesecake – A Year in Review – Part 2

Posted on December 17, 2009 by paul

I decided to review the highlights of my year recently. The first part of which can be found here. Without to much in the way of preamble here is part two.

Books

I’ve said before I read a lot. Last Xmas I got a Sony eReader and that has only increased the amount of books I get through. One thing I did notice however was that I thought I would never buy another paperback again. I was wrong. Though electronic books are cool there is a certain something about a proper paper book. The tactile sense of the pages? Who knows.

I have read some fucking corkers this year. Mark Chadbourn completed the Kingdom of the Serpent series with Destroyer of Worlds. This brings to a close a cycle of novels started 10 years ago with World’s End. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again Mr Chadbourn is an excellent author. Turns out also a top bloke and he thinks I’m an uber-geek which, to my mind, is the ultimate compliment.

The publisher Abaddon Books is publishing some great stuff as well. Their Pax Britannia and Afterblight Chronicles are worthy of your attention and your pennies. If you would like to know more check out here and here.

Andy Remic has moved away from sci-fi and has tried his hand at fantasy. Kell’s Legend is a real page turner and left me hungry for more. I should point out his sci-fi is fuckin cracking as well. The Combat K novels rock as do those that came before. I’ve been reading Remic’s work since Spiral and will continue to devour it whenever possible.

Final entry into this year’s good reads. The Descent and Deeper, both by Jeff Long. These books have been around for a couple of years now but I only just discovered them. One word…..brilliant. I read The Descent and almost immediately re-read it. Deeper, the sequel, continues in the same vein. If you’ve read the books that last sentence maybe a shitty pun for which I apologise profusely.

Again I fear time has managed to get the better of me and I’m still not done yet. I promise I will be back to complete my review of 2009 soon…promise.

Until then please remember to tip your waiters and waitresses. You’ve been a wonderful crowd. I’m here all week.

Mr Cheese

The Eloquent Page returns…

Posted on December 4, 2009 by paul

I recently wrote a blog about how good the Pax Britannia novels produced by Abaddon Books are. The post can be found here. I mentioned at the time I had also picked up another couple of novels by the same publishers but from a different series called The Afterblight Chronicles.

By way of an explanation I relish the opportunity to read post apocalyptic fiction. I can’t really explain why these stories are my favourite form of genre fiction but I read as many as I can get my hands on. From Stephen King’s The Stand to Robert McCammon’s Swan Song. Add a dash of Simon Clark’s King Blood and Blood Crazy and you’ll get the idea.

Anyway I’ve finished both now and I thought I would take a minute or two and pass on my thoughts.

The books are called Arrowhead and Broken Arrow. Both are written by Paul Kane. Set in the aftermath of an apocalypse that has decimated the world’s population these books take elements from Robin Hood mythology and interweave this with the tale of the survivors.

Excellent stuff going on here. I live in Nottingham and I found myself enjoying every minute. The author is great a describing surroundings and as I knew exactly where he was talking about for some of the key scenes it made the experience of reading the books all the better.

A shout out the the artist that illustrates the covers. The first book has a splendid picture of Nottingham’s Market Square. The trashed tram is a bonus!

I look forward to more and urge people to seek these novels out.

Till next time
Mr Cheesecake

The Eloquent Page (an infrequent book related blog)

Posted on November 16, 2009 by paul

For a bit of a change of pace I thought I would write a blog about books rather than film.

I’m a genre addict. I love sci-fi, fantasy, horror and the occasional thriller thrown in for good measure. There are so many excellent authors out there that deserve more recognition than I think they get.

In September I had to opportunity to go to FantasyCon 2009. It’s right on my doorstep (so to speak) and I have to admit I quickly found myself in the dealer hall wandering from table to table trying to decide what to spend my hard earned cash on.

In the end I went for some novels from Abaddon Books. This publisher has a number of series that caught my eye. Specifically I was interested in Pax Britannia and The Afterblight Chronicles.

Pax Britannia is just great. Set in an alternate timeline where the Victorian era never ended. I believe the phrase du jour is ‘steampunk’ ? There are characters with splendidly evocative names like Uriah Wormwood and Devlin Valentine. The main character is dandy adventurer, Ulysses Quicksilver. Forever accompanied by his faithful man servant, Nimrod, Mr Quicksilver is thrown from adventure to adventure as the series unfolds.

The most recent book is Evolution Expects. Like the majority of the series it’s written by Jonathan Green. Top stuff all round. Nods to The Fly, green issues and even a certain ‘caped crusader’.
I strongly recommend picking these book up. There is a new one on the horizon in December and I’ll be added it to my Xmas list. I do hope Mrs Cheesecake takes note.

Till next time
Toddle pip

PS – I should stress just because I didn’t mention anything else about The Afterblight Chronicles doesn’t mean I didn’t like. I did it’s just I’ve still got one to read so will reserve my comments to some later blog.

Pablo Cheesecake and the Sony eReader

Posted on March 14, 2009 by paul

For Christmas I convinced the vast majority of my relatives to get my book tokens. I am an avid reader to everyone knew that they would be appreciated. Rather than buying a book however I decided to take a leap into the twenty first century and purchase one of the new eReader’s from Sony

I have to say, after using it for three months now, that I am impressed for the most part. Over the next few paragraphs I’ll give you my impressions of this interesting little bit of kit.

The Reader – Same size as your average paperback. Thinking about it probably weighs about the same as well. I’ve found that when reading though there are number of buttons to access the various menus and search functions I tend just to use forward and back.

The Software – The goods news is that Sony seem to have learned from previous mistakes on this one. I have had mp3 players from Sony in the past and the big let down for me has been the software package used to manage tracks. The eReader can handle multiple file formats as well as audio and pictures so the eLibrary needed to be simple yet robust enough to copy. Now I’m not saying that it’s attractive link the sort of stuff you get from Apple but the software does do the job. So far no gripes.

The Verdict – I suppose the I only have two minor complaints with the reader. One is that the tactile sensation when turning a page is missing. Now I know that might sound a bit wanky but I have also enjoyed that as part of reading. Secondly no wi-fi capability. Unfortunately I think this second point will direct a lot of potential users towards the Kindle when it is launched in the UK. Its a shame because overall the eReader is a nice little bit of tech.

What Next? – Well if i was Sony I would look into colour in a big way. If you are going to include the capacity for pics then there has to be a colour option. I think increasing the internal hard disk to 4-8GB rather than 200MB might be an idea as well. If they want people to use this to replace their mp3 player as well as traditional books then more storage is required as standard.

Until next time

Laters

Random Mutterings…

Posted on January 31, 2009 by paul

Ok I know I have been extremley lazy AGAIN regarding the upkeep of my blog. I promised myself that I would try to post on a regular basis but almost immediatley that I made this particular resolution real life got in the way and I haven’t even thought of posting for months. This evening however I find myself at a bit of a loose end so I reckon it is the perfect time to let my fingers do the talking. At least for a bit anyway 🙂

So how is 2009 treating you? In my case so far so good.

The items that were stolen when we were robbed last year are almost all replaced. Not that you would know that but I thought you night be curious.

We have actually started working on decorating the living room which made me feel good to be finally doing some work on the house.

I managed to wangle a Sony eReader for Xmas. What a magnificent little bit of kit it is. There are loads of wesites out there you can buy ebooks from and the reader comes with 100 classics you can load up straight away. The way things are going I won’t be buying many traditonal paper books anymore. If I had one gripe I would say that the internal memory is only 200MB which ain’t great. In saying that however there are slots for expansion cards.

Work continues to go well. I was suprised recently when I realised that I have been at my new job for a year already. Time truly does fly. It is good to do something you actually like.

I’ve seen a few films already this year – The Wrestler , Underworld:Rise of the Lycans . Both were pretty good. I have loads of new movies to look forward to later on this year. A few that spring to mind are Watchmen, Wolverine: Origins, Star Trek, Terminator: Salvation, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and 9

There are some interesting new books to look forward to this year as well. Mark Chadbourn’s latest Destroyer of Worlds is due out…huzzah. Also we have the latest from Scott Lynch, Jim Butcher and Peter F Hamilton.

I’m tired now so I think I’ll call it a day.

Till the next time