Sadly, Klaus Nomi thought this was going to be the beginning of a fruitful collaboration, for for Bowie it was just another Saturday. On the up side, Nomi based his future outfit on what Bowie is wearing in the first song.

I've had Eight Line Poem stuck in my head all day.

I had always assumed his necromancer had it under control. Must have gone out for smokes.

Reminds me of that old joke about roasting carp on a cedar plank, then throwing away the carp and eating the plank.

Yeah I guess they can be strict with the elements because there aren't that many. Applying the same standard to life forms would get stale pretty quickly.

No you're right. I thought they meant scientific names in general.

I'm not sure it's as strict as all that. Some researchers in Brazil named a species of spider after the Caipira songwriters Xangai and (I think) Renato Texeira.

You could not pay me to be under 40 again. Not that you would. I submit that losing the dating app is a good thing and that you were on the right track hanging out in a place you liked where people had no preconceived expectations of you. A few people thrive in a dating atmosphere, but I think you thrive in places…

Holy shit, I'm so glad I didn't read those as a kid. I used to borrow the audio versions to listen to at the gym or on long weaving projects but still couldn't get past four. There were a few threads of that story I would have liked to follow through on. I believe the whole series would have made a decent pair of…

Better late than never.

I remember the big battle scenes kindly enough, but the first thing I think of when I think of Elfstones is the endless stalling over the titular stones.

These were the books that broke my compulsion to finish a series once I'd invested sufficient time in it. I was despondently slogging through Elf Queen of Shannara when some impulse made me heave the book into the fireplace. I might have said "whoops," but I didn't mean it.

That's not a dagger, that's a can opener.

I believe it's "don't give a damn 'cause we done dead already."

It's now 2016 here in the Midlands. Tried waking my kid up to watch fireworks in Victoria Park, but she's not having it. I'm having a mango lassi popsicle.

Here in the UK you need both, due to a quirk of presentation which demands that whatever sticky mess you just ordered be served on top of the napkin you were planning on cleaning up with.

Last time I worked in a restaurant on NYE I was making sushi while the main sushi chef stumbled around drunk making fun of me and eating off people's plates. The customers ate my sushi and praised the drunk chef for it.

I like the Bluebell Gnolls best.

For me as well. I never cared about Cliff Huxtable, but the Cosby who celebrated the smartasses and mischief-makers and loved kids at their most idiotic is an aching loss.

I don't see much profit in confronting him if you have anything better to do. He has to know he's full of shit and in danger of growing up alone, and you sounded pretty vulnerable last week. If you think there's something salvageable in there, he can show it to the next guy.