You wrote a novel using AI? Cool. It's like that time I ran a marathon using a Ford Focus.

Snacking on Dashiell Hammett’s Continental Op stories, courtesy of @standardebooks.org. These feel so modern it’s hard to remember they’re literally 100 years old. Then you Google what the cars must have looked like, or look up a reference to Union Suits and discover the Op wore long underwear.

Hyper-specific power-up of the day, courtesy of Soul Blazer on SNES.

I didn’t realise this was back in print! Absolutely essential artefact from an artist who was tragically ahead of her time. Had she come ten years later, she’d have been the toast of New York. Go and stream it. Then buy a physical copy, so it can’t disappear again.

It's a Sayonara Wild Hearts OST morning. A pretty essential synth-pop album regardless of whether you've played the game. Vastly better in the in-game order rather than the official OST order, which frontloads all the vocal tracks. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjGa...

This is such a great account.

My new toy, the MiSTer Multisystem 2, a properly consolised MiSTer. The killer functionality for me is the SNAC cartridges, combined with internal Zaparoo NFC. Lag free original controllers via SNAC with no bare boards or level shifters. NFC lets you boot straight into games, no menus or mapping.

Picked up a remarkably fresh N64 controller for use with my MMS2. Really great stick and generally good nick, but it had some silver paint on the face. Crowdsourced some solutions, and after IPA, Naphtha and Mr Sheen all failed, a Magic Eraser did the job! Now to get an N64 SNAC adapter.

The kicker of all these “Ha ha, Europlatformers” posts by Americans is that they gulped down steaming hot bowlfuls of Donkey Kong Country, which was the nothing more than 10 years of Europlatformer evolution gussied up with a Silicon Graphics workstation. And they get *so* mad if you criticise it.

Saw Jens Lekman in Leeds last night, great gig. A performance/reading of the new album/book combo in the first half (“the ceremony”) followed by a hits set in the second half (“the party”), then a solo acoustic encore. I was not expecting the strut or the musical tightness! A man in his element.

WE’LL BE LESS ACTIVIST IF YOU BE LESS SHIT

Somewhat scattergun listening so far today. Off to see Jens Lekman tonight, so should hopefully pick up his latest. #cdFriday

I once did some contract Python UI stuff using wxWidgets, which was originally developed at Edinburgh Uni. I greatly enjoyed using the wxColour class, and imagining all the US programmers constantly being berated by their code hinting for spelling it wrong. For once, feel our pain!

What if deer also Jack Russell?

Rounded out my UK Stones collection this week, with a Japanese import of the debut album. This is my stopping point! Late to the band, largely due to their naff cultural presence in my childhood. But there’s a lot of (problematic) fun to be had here. Satanic Majesties in mono is great. #cdFriday

My phone sticks a USB-C cable up its arse when it's low on energy, why can't I?

Standard E-Books, who are a kind of FOSS Penguin Classics for out-of-copyright material, have put together a comprehensive volume of all Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op short stories, something that has historically been pretty hard to get hold of. standardebooks.org/ebooks/dashi...

This is hilarious, in every aspect.

I have learned with the deepest concern the news about Firstname Surname. Let me state clearly: I will at no point mention my relationship to Mr Surname. I conclude this statement with a pointed reference to my family, duty and service, from which Mr Surname is implicitly excluded.

Sources tell me the Windscribe VPN Chrome plugin does the job here. If you already have a Humble account, check out as guest rather than logging in. Works fine with a UK Kobo account. Be sure to customise the donation, by default the charity gets $0.80 of the $16 price. You can up that to $11+.

Walking from the women’s to men’s clothing sections in my local Next is like watching The Wizard of Oz in reverse. All the colour just drains from the world, leaving only sepia tones.

love a bit of continvouclous morging

Went a bit nuts on eBay last week. The Mobleys were a long standing saved search that finally fired. The Silver and all the Monk were grabbed as I was already buying from those sellers. The Mobleys are peak Cuscuna, with the original tracklists rejigged into chronological sessions. #cdFriday

Can confirm this activity is a York cultural pillar. Extremely flood prone river + buildings with ground-floor carparks = sweet, sweet schadenfreude.

Making a tinned soup lunch, and I just realised that Mulligatawny has the same meter as My Little Pony. That’s going to play in my head every time… 🎵 Mul-lig-a-tawny! I used to wonder: can soup be curry? 🎶

A bit of portable listening to end the week, as not to interfere with the concert my wife is watching on TV. Disintegration by The Cure, old West German Fiction disc found at the car boot last year. Little Aiwa cranked to the max as per the instructions! #cdFriday

icebreaker (26 mins) www.noncanon.com/comics/2026-...

Sad news about Martin Carthy’s health and retirement from touring. Triggered me to dig out my favourite of his early albums for a spin. The gradual building vocal dynamics on Brave Wolfe are incredible. Also realised I was missing a copy of Landfall, so quickly remedied that on Discogs! #cdFriday

Six years of working from home has honed my leftover lunch formula. - Whatever is left over from yesterday’s dinner. - Pad with toast if required. - Slap a fried or poached egg on top. - Finish with black pepper and/or chilli crisp. WFH is far from perfect, but I don’t miss the Meal Deals.

Moderately unusual haul from an few hours of crate digging this afternoon. Total spend £17.50. Particularly chuffed with the Wire, Pip Blom and Aldous Harding.

I was lucky enough to catch and exhibition of Ponting’s photographs, and those of Frank Hurley, who accompanied Shackleton on the Endurance, when I lived in Christchurch NZ. The level of detail on the glass negatives is absolutely incredible, and the landscapes are unbelievably stark.

Finally managed to liberate my Kindle library so I can read it on my Kobo. That was non-trivial (I won’t be recommending my mum does it) but sets me up nicely to go Zero Amazon in 2026. Google, you’re next.

Kicked the day off with the Nausicaä OST, for those post-apocalyptic vibes. From the big box I found cheap on eBay years ago. For those more familiar with Hisaishi’s orchestral works, this is surprisingly full of synth-driven bangers, and was clearly very influential on 80s/90s VGM. #cdFriday

Toolump's complete evolution, which diverges depending on what degree of sophistication your fighting style is. #cowtools #farside #pokemon

This year’s New Year’s Resolution - having finally put together a full set of Asterix books, to read the original 24 Goscinny & Uderzo works. Got the ball rolling last night with Asterix The Gaul. Plenty of early weirdness here, mostly in the art, but also in the characters. Strong start, though!

Man, I picked a hell of a day to play my first game of Twilight Struggle this decade.

Of interest to anyone trying to achieve Amaz-Off in 2026, I recently picked up a Kobo Clara BW as a Kindle alternative. Delighted to say that it’s a far better e-reader than my Kindle was, with a vastly more responsive, higher resolution screen. It also has integration with my local (UK) library.

Went to Leeds on Tuesday, and delved into the fire-hazard-nightmare hoarders basement that is the Wall Of Sound second hand record/CD shop. The standout for me was their very decent selection of reasonably priced jazz, mostly my preferred early pressings. Grabbed this lot for £21 all in. #cdFriday

“Buy our home security package named after someone who was utterly destroyed by a back door break-in he didn’t see coming because he was focused solely on the front door.”

Feeling the phone addiction of late, so I’m going to remove all my social media for a while. I’ll still be around, but from a computer that I’m consciously choosing to use, rather than a phone that I’m staring at out of habit.

I do my best thinking in the shower. This is a magical property of my shower and not related the new kind of dementia my phone seems to be giving me.

Stumbled on a freshly opened used record shop in York yesterday, Record Plant. Nice airy space with a great sound system. All vinyl, barring a shelf of 4-for-£10 CDs. The Lemonheads album wasn’t strictly necessary, but it’s a first US press without Mrs Robinson, very unusual for the UK. #cdFriday

Howlin' at this bit from Collected Works of Charles Cecil in the latest issue of Edge.

We're super excited to be returning to the Bagpuss Universe for Yaffle Origins. As mega fans of the Oliver Postbox multiverse, we always dreamed of telling the story of Assistant Professor Yaffle getting his first pair of glasses or whatever. Join us on this barren sphere, in this living death.

Totted up my annual CD purchases yesterday and realised it was circa 150 😬. Anyway, of that haul here’s my #cdFridayUnwrapped - the 9 new-to-me CDs I’ve enjoyed the most. Nine makes a nice square! There is almost certainly recency bias going on here, but who cares, this isn’t my job. #cdFriday

I'm picturing Daffy Duck sawing through the girder, just out of frame to the right.

Just did an end of year tot-up, and I think I bought at least 140 CDs this year (not counting double-disc sets), so probably about 150 with the accounting errors. I think I have a problem... and that problem is inadequate shelving.

It may look like I'm eating my kid's packed lunch crisps, but they're actually Emotional Support Monster Munch.