Swords and Sorcery

When I was about half way through my time in junior school, my class was given several books to read - perhaps half a dozen in total. I can still remember what several of these were - Born Free, The Sundowners, and Treasure Island, but the one I enjoyed the most was "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin.

This was a fantasy tale of wizards and witches and good against evil, somewhat in the style of The Lord of The Rings or, more recently Harry Potter, and I enjoyed it so much that soon after I invested my pocket money in a copy of my own, together with the two sequels. I've read them may times and they're still part of my library.

A couple of months ago I was delighted to read that the first two books had been adapted for TV by the Sci-Fi Channel and, better still I could buy the DVD now, rather than wait for the series to air. I've just sat down and watched it and whilst I'd be the first to admit that there are some major liberties with the original works, I still found it all rather enjoyable.

If you like a bit of swords and sorcery fantasy, why not give it a whirl? Better yet - go read the books, which I've only just discovered are now four in number.

Not a Kind of Magic

When announcements were made that Brian May, Roger Taylor and Paul Rodgers would tour as Queen, I hoped that it would work out and very seriously considered buying tickets for one of the gigs. In the end I didn't do so and I'm afraid that it looks as if this was the right choice.

I've just "found" on the web some MP3s of four tracks they played at an AIDS benefit yesterday in South Africa and I'm afraid that it just didn't work. Obviously, Freddie Mercury is an impossible act to follow and no Freddie = no Queen.

Why?

Apparently yesterday the local mosque in my town was set alight. Fortunately it was discovered in time for the fire to be extinguished and the building's still intact.

Inevitably, there's been plenty of speculation as to why this happened, but there seems to be a possibilty that it may have been more arson/vandalism than racially motivated. I totally and completely deplore this crime and can't help hoping that it was "just" mindless vandalism. I happen to know some of the town's moslems - Islam is the religion of my ex-wife's former employer - and I really hope that they aren't being targetted by any bigotted nutters.

Sit!

As a confessed dog-lover, I sat down last night and watched the first night's TV coverage of Crufts. I'm actually getting quite bemused by the whole idea of dog shows - what point is there to them - does it really matter how tall a particular breed is, or what colour of fur they have, or even the shape of their ears?

My dog Rolo is a crossbreed - half labrador/half golden retriever so I imagine that he'd be anathema to the "pot-hunters" who infest these shows. However, he looks lovely - not just my opinion because people have been known to stop me in the street and say so - and he has a very appealing nature. Now that we've done some training, he's also starting to behave very well. As a friend of mine pointed out this morning, some of the show dogs were pulling on the lead...

If this sounds like a rant against show dogs, it's not. In fact Rolo is descended from a show line, his great grandad was a champion labrador. My problem is with the idea of dogs as "objects", not forgetting the damage caused to so many of them by the chronic inbreeding their lines have suffered.

Dogs are for enjoying the company of, not for display as some kind of furry artwork!

To View or Not to View, that is the question

The Formula 1 season kicks off this weekend with the Australian Grand Prix. If the season's going to be anything like the last few, ie mostly a succession of Michael Schumacher parading round at the front of the race for lap after lap, I can't really be bothered to watch - certainly I won't be getting up at 01:55 to see it live!

On the other hand, maybe this could be the year that Ferrari cease to dominate the sport? It's rumoured that Montoya has settled in very well with MacLaren, so perhaps the Prancing Horse may stumble...

Brrrr

The cold snap's continuing and, apart from yesterday, which offered the unlovely combination of being both cold and wet, I really haven't minded it. About the biggest problem I've faced has been the radiator in my office, which doesn't actually appear to be working...

This being the case, I was more than slightly nonplussed when I popped up to the canteen, bought a bar of chocolate, unwrapped it, and promptly found that it had melted! Shame some of the excess heat up ther couldn't be directed to the are of my poor cold toes!

Religion Again

I'm still much preoccupied with matters religious. This time, this is due to a court decision supporting the right of a muslim schoolgirl to wear a jilbab gown.

It now seems to me that all religion is does in this country is to cause strife and division and I feel we've reached the point where it's out of control.

It seems to me that we'd be much better off if Britain took the plunge and became a secular state. Ideally, I'd welcome a situation whereby you could believe in anything you like, but could not expect any state support in doing so - for example, no state supported faith schools. Surely then we could see a person's private beliefs become a matter for them and a concern of nobody else.