Freyburg

So after approximately a day and a half in the air and cooling our heels at airports, Mel and I arrived in Cairo yesterday in the wee hours of the morning. After sleeping until mid-afternoon, we awoke to chaos outside our downtown hotel. Chaos to us, everyday life to the average Cairene. After wandering around our neighourhood for a while, we decided to call it an early night, but jet lag had other plans and we spent most of our time vainly trying to sleep whiel our bodies insisted we were still in Vancouver.

Today, however, we made our way downtown to check out true chaos. After a bit of wandering around the Corniche (the walkway on the Nile) and being harassed by boat and taxi hucksters the whole way, we gradually forged onward to Abu Tarek, a famous cafe that specializes in koshary, which is a blend of spaghetti, garlic, lentils, and spiciness. It’s a big hit with locals and is often crowded (as seen in Anthony Bourdain’s show, No Reservations) but we lucked out and got to tuck in in relative peace. 

We then made our way to Coptic Cairo, the old Christian section of the city. Some of the churches date from the last millenium, and the Roman gates at the front are from 98 AD. We also got to see a goat getting its neck cut open, a definite first for Mel and myself. 

Tomorrow we hope to check out Islamic Cairo, and after that our tour begins.

At least, according to the latest obituary for the book business in the NY Metro. It seems a tsunami of problems, including the fact that the publishing world is beginning to resemble Hollywood with its reliance on a few overly expensive mega-hits instead of a solid midlist. Not good for a book lover such as myself.

I walked into Dark Knight expecting a decent Batman film, but I walked out amazed. All through the film I was asking myself “is a superhero movie this good? Really?” Let’s start with the best thing about the movie, the late Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker. Ledger’s villain is all menace, venom and insanity, and he owns the role in a way that makes you look at Jack Nicholson’s take on the Joker and wince. That’s not to say Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman don’t all step up to the plate, because there isn’t a bad performance in this movie. And they’re all helped by an amazing script, that takes the usual superhero good vs. evil tropes and turn them on their head. It’s the writing, the acting and the staging that make this movie a masterpiece of the genre and easily the best film of the year. Highly recommended.

Bruce “smart as hell, still relevant despite cyberpunk roots” Sterling gave a talk recently at the (here comes a mouthful) Innovationsforum Interaktionsdesign conference in Germany. His speech covered mobile phone tech, why sci-fi writers are obsessed with talking computers and a host of other topics. Check out his speech below.

Bruce Sterling from Innovationsforum on Vimeo.

Doctor Who’s fourth season premiered, Torchwood wrapped up its second season, and the Radio Free Skaro crew was reunited, as once again the Third Guy mixed a potent stew of fact checking and invective with Warren and Steven. Much banter was passed back and forth, as well as heaping spoonfuls of abuse, as the crew hashed over the mysteries of “Partners in Crime” and digressed as ever.

 

 Radio Free Skaro #77 - Full Frontal Skaro: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1252)

The news landscape this week was as barren as a Welsh quarry, and about as interesting, and yet the RFS malcontents managed to blither out a substantial amount of analysis on the newest episode of Torchwood, as well as wax nostalgically about such classics as the Horns of Nimon and the Nightmare of Eden, as well as denigrate the good name of most of the countries in Europe in the name of comedy.

 

 Radio Free Skaro #74 - Attac of the Lack (of News): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (150)

Warren Frey - Web Directions North 2008

Originally uploaded by kk+

Including this one of me at Northern Voice, looking much better than I do normally. Let’s hear it for SLR cameras, filters, and the photographic skills of KK.

Radio Free Skaro returns after a small holiday break with our thoughts on “Voyage of the Damned,” this year’s Xmas special, as well as our usual roundup of the latest Who news and various other sundry matters. Thrill to Warren’s new “Doctor Who in your Pocket” noisemaker! Cheer as Warren and Steven chastise the Third Guy for not attending a curry dinner featuring many luminaries of the classic series! Grit your teeth as we chew up over an hour of your time and bandwidth with our off-color meanderings! (feed, web, direct download)

With the recent decision by the federal government to earmark 40 MHz of spectrum to a fourth telco, Canada might finally see something approaching competition in the mobile space. It’s about time, as Canada has terrible wireless rates and is always behind the curve when it comes to new phone technology (cough*iPhone*cough). The Globe and Mail explains how the Big Three (Telus, Bell and Rogers) are smarting from this victory for the consumer. Oh, and check out the post at Techvibes, too.

The 44th anniversary of Doctor Who was marked by two sad occasions with the passing Peter Haining, the author of Doctor Who: A Celebration (the bible of the show in our formative years), and Verity Lambert, the co-creator of the program. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom, as we delved into how we celebrated the show’s birthday, the conclusion of the first season of the Sarah Jane Adventures, and other bits and pieces. Enjoy! (feed, web, direct download)