It proved to be a busy week, so I have not quite finished either Hyperion or Confessions…. However, I would definitely recommend Hyperion. Each section is better than the previous, taking in a great range of genres and telling some very human tales against some excellent worldbuilding.

Confessions is a curiosity, and probably not for everyone, but I am glad to have (almost) read it.

I’d suggest taking a look here.

No - I have worn moccasins around the house, at least in the winter, since I was a kid and make-them-yourself kits were in fashion back in the '70s. No idea how many pairs I have had since then.

Moccasins.

And they have been re-captured

Some useful info on this one here

In real life meeting most of the value is in the informal side chats that you have just before or just after, in my experience. Unfortunately that basically doesn’t happen in virtual meetings, so I join dead on time, or a minute or two in for larger ones.

IMO just as likely that the lush jungle world of Tatooine will be the test site for the planet-killing superweapon du jour.

For the last few years I have doing a ‘big read’ of something over the course of each year - War and Peace, In Search of Lost Time, Finnegans Wake and, in 2024, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. There is some enduringly memorable material in each of those, and reading them has been quite an experience but I have decided to take a break from that format of reading and just have a year of SF in 2025 - catching up on some that I have long meant to read, starting with Dan Simmons’ Hyperion. Just finished the Scholar’s Tale so far and am thoroughly hooked.

Otherwise, I am most of the way through Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner - which I believe was recommended in this community a while back - which is notable if for no other reason than it includes the first use of the term infangthief that I have encountered since reading 1066 And All That in my teens. And also a recent Doctor Who audionovel The Lord of Misrule by Paul Morris, which is an enjoyably nostalgic tale featuring some beloved characters (as read by Jon Culshaw), but overall nothing exceptional so far.

A few that haven’t been mentioned so far:

• Flowers from 2016 - fairly dark.
• Inside No. 9 - from 2014, also fairly dark at times
• Here We Go - a one-off in 2020 and then seasons from 2022
• Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister - from 1980
• Porridge - from 1973
• Red Dwarf - 1988

In my case this would something from the '60s and '70s in the UK then - and I suppose that stop-motion in The Clangers or Bagpuss etc wouldn’t really count, so probably between the gentle, character-based storytelling of Ivor the Engine (and that is a cut-out animation - but I’d think still qualifies) and the surrealism, punning and energy of Roobarb (and Custard).

I’m in East Anglia. The best I can do would be a rain picture - staying that way for the rest of the day, it seems.

The honey went on after.

My SOs homemade pizza this evening with goats cheese, 'nduja and a drizzle of honey.

In my experience, there are three types:

• Alive and well, as here - they are up at 6am, clearing up, making breakfast, rolling other people out of the way to vacuum etc.
• Still hungover, as here - the ones being rolled out of the way etc
• Still partying - arrive at 6:am straight from another party, hoovering up leftover pizza, talking at both the above types and keen not to stop the party until Jan 2nd at the earliest.

Also I believe this is the source:

Ha! Yes, it is. URL now updated.

I think that ‘a posh car’ is ARR, and then ‘carriers’ is H ODS.

We don’t do Christmas, but had friends over for solstice pizzas. My wife announced a ‘no politics’ rule at the outset - not because of likely arguments, but just because it can get very repetitive and depressing.

It was a cosy and enjoyable evening after that - as they usually are.

Back a long way when I was living with my family we didn’t talk about politics anyway: partly since it was widely understood that one didn’t, but mostly since none of them were consciously political anyway. Christmas meals were generally free of arguments in general. The only point of contention was the mysterious presents that appeared for the children that actually came from dad’s side of the family - with whom he had long-since fallen out and dropped all contact - and that consequently had to be disguised or kept under the radar one way or another. That didn’t always work.

I read the original Conan tales a looooong while ago. Loved them and the de Camp ones, and the Bjorn Nyborg novel too. There are a lot of other writers that have added Conan tales, and I read a few at the time, but most were pretty mediocre. I’d stick with the early ones overall. This one was recommended on Lemmy a day or so back as having a good Lovecraftian vibe which is what attracted me. I’ll see how it goes.

I did know about the movie, and did start watching it at one point, but didn’t have chance to finish it. Maybe I will.

I celebrate the solstice, but today is just another day off as far as I am concerned. So just the usual stuff: had a lay in, played a bit of Forge of Empires, did a couple of chores, have just been reading (Confessions of a Justifed Sinner, Hyperion and just started Conan: City of the Dead), and will watch a couple of episodes of TV (Wolf Hall, Agatha All Along and Gatiss’ Ghost Story for Christmas Woman of Stone) with my wife this evening. She has been doing much the same, plus some yoga at the moment.