For no other reason than that I’ve always loved his work and spoke to him over the twitters briefly earlier this evening: Lustmord, "Immersion."

At my internet spiderhole tonight:

* CHINESE WHISPERS UCHRONAL COVER REMODEL: Superman #1 – a change from the usual REMAKE/REMODEL art challenge threads. If you make pictures, you’re welcome to play along.

* What Were The Best Comics Covers Of 2009?

* Eliza Gauger’s SWEATSHOP.TV

* Comics on Sale This Week (mar 3)

* CAPTAIN SWING #1 – conversation thread

• Nanotube Thermocells Hold Promise as Energy Source
  "A study published in the American Chemical Society's journal Nano Letters reveals that thermocells based on carbon nanotube electrodes might eventually be used for generating electrical energy from heat discarded by chemical plants, automobiles and solar cell farms. Dr. Ray Baughman, director of the Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute, collaborated with an international team of researchers on the findings."
  (tags:energy )
• Slow sales of Pre force Palm to cut forecast
  "Palm is back on the ropes. The smartphone pioneer slashed revenue forecasts Thursday because sales of its Pre handsets have been slow." Why didn't I buy a Pre? I don't trust Palm not to orphan the device, or to manage their apps ecosystem sanely.
  (tags:comms )

It just feels like it should be, having lost a couple of days to admin and a couple of days to being in and out of London for a Project Drill meeting (which I sort of want to describe as "meating" because we broke for dinner at an Argentinian steakhouse that has stretched cowhide on its walls instead of, you know, wallpaper). More phone conferences next week, rescheduling a meeting, doing a first pass on Project V when they send me the notes I need… this cloud of potentiality and unannounced work seems to extend and extend. And, of course, even though it’s all necessary business and nothing happens without admin and meetings and all… none of it ever feels like writing. I’m still old-fashioned about writing. Talking project on the phone, spitballing in email, beating down a fourth act face-to-face… to me, it’s never writing. Writing is what happens when I’m alone in a small room with a keyboard, caffeine and a bottle. There was a writer who once said that his job was to punch out typewriters until they spat out the story he wanted, and I’m kind of in that camp.

Pretty picture of a sea monster by Cassandra Melena.

Templesmith is on the road, touring CHOKER #1, but he has FELL #10 pages in hand. He is enjoying snow.

And now I have caffeine and a bottle, and am going to punch out a laptop until it spits out the story I want.

• The Ivory Bangle Lady | Beyond The Beyond
  "One of the richest inhabitants of fourth century Roman York, buried in a stone sarcophagus with luxury imports including jewellery made of elephant ivory, a mirror and a blue glass perfume jar, was a woman of black African ancestry, a re-examination of her skeleton has shown."
  (tags:history culture )
• ASBOrometer – Measure UK anti-social behaviour on iPhone and Android
  "ASBOrometer is a mobile application that measures levels of anti-social behaviour at your current location (within England and Wales) and gives you access to key local ASB statistics."
  (tags:app social crime culture )

I actually thought this was a joke when I saw Kristen Merveilleuse link to it. But no. This is actually Shane MacGowan, Nick Cave, Johnny Depp, Chrissie Hynde, Glen Matlock and a shitload of others covering "I Put A Spell On You" as a benefit record to aid Haiti reconstruction. Pre-order it here.

Back at work today, mostly. Wednesday was one long meeting in London in re Project Drill, which will be going to contract soon: we’ve nailed down all five acts and will spend most of March writing it. Thursday was wandering Spitalfields in a state of sleeplessness, dealing with shitloads of admin all night (including stuff on Project Vend, which has snuck up on me) and then bailing out early. Today is writing the end of FREAKANGELS vol 4 and some X-men pages.

Soon I will be able to rest. Hopefully, by the time I can,it will be warm here again. The wind chill is trapping me inside the pub today.

(excuse shit typing, I banged the above out on the phone)

Live and free.

For the first time in years, I want letterheaded paper. Via Letterheady (more details at link):

Eliza Gauger:

In the internet broadcasting system, art-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In the SWEATSHOP, the dedicated artists who perpetuate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the SWEATY VICTIMS UNIT.

These are their t-shirts.

The first issue of CAPTAIN SWING AND THE ELECTRICAL PIRATES OF CINDERY ISLAND is out in North America today, the UK tomorrow. And you can find a preview of it here.

We used to have "interludes" on British tv, which (for instance) filled gaps in live transmissions that ran short, or plugged intervals in big productions.

I’m off to London. Here’s a classic (by which I mean ancient) BBC interlude.

"Obsolete, Part 8":

The new US embassy to the Court of St James’s has been designed, says the US state department, to "reflect the values of the American people".

As reported by the Guardian, the new US Embassy in London is intended to be "a 12-storey cube clad in a blastproof glass and plastic façade" surrounded by a 30-metre blast zone. In the proof image above, it looks not unlike a high-end bunker has been simply dropped from space on London, an impregnable and isolated chunk of America. And while security is an obvious and present concern, I think perhaps this building says a little more than it was intended to.

In fact, let’s admit it. IT’S A FORTRESS WITH A FUCKING MOAT. It doesn’t say "welcome to a little piece of America, one of the best ideas the world ever had and a country that welcomes the tired and poor and afraid." It says "if you even look at us funny we’ll pour boiling oil on you from the roof. Raise the drawbridge! Release the Mongolian Terror Trout!"

It’s pretty funny, really.

• Cassandra Melena:Tumblr
  Photographer Cassandra: work, and explanation of method
  (tags:photography peopleiknow )
• Gobekli Tepe: The World?s First Temple? | History & Archaeology | Smithsonian Magazine
  "Predating Stonehenge by 6,000 years, Turkey's stunning Gobekli Tepe upends the conventional view of the rise of civilization"
  (tags:history )

Steve Bunche was shown the following by another editor, back when he was on staff at DC Comics. Mildly worried to see myself namechecked…

Bleeding Cool reports that Grant Morrison is writing a tv series for BBC Scotland to star Stephen Fry and presumably being produced/directed by Paul McGuigan.

It’s seven episodes. It takes place over seven days around an event that happens in Scotland. It’s a modern take on an old fable or fairy story. If you know Grant’s work you might have an idea of what it will be like. It’s like Twin Peaks meets Brigadoon! It’s off the wall and smart but in a watchable commercial way. It’s still in the early stages but I’m very excited about it.

That’s the kind of news I like to get on a cold and rainy day. Go get ’em, Grant.