Raven

I think Kaspersky is supposed to be one of the best pieces of AV software around at the moment, it is the software that a lot of other companies build their own products on.

Yoiks! So many posts to reply to! (and I shall do shortly!). But in the meantime, thanks for the warm welcome folks!

Surely that should be subtitled "A Christian's Response to The God Delusion" - unless, of course, Wilson is claiming to speak for all Christians?

Rather than being yet another poster who joined, said hello and then made three posts before disappearing never to be seen again, I thought I would wait awhile to get to know the forum a little before I introduced myself properly. My name is Paul, and I live in the UK in the charming county of West Sussex. Once - long ago - I went to University to study electronic engineering and now, for my sins, my working life is a fair approximation of the IT Crowd and I get to spend most of my day telling people how to find the Start button in Windows. Outside of work I have a number of interests, apart from reading, but the main one is helping to run a web site for the acclaimed comedy series Spaced. (I also seem to spend quite a bit of time on various forum boards posting vitriolic tirades on why George Lucas should be flayed alive for having foisted the Star Wars prequels upon an unsuspecting public, and trying to work out if Russell T. Davis is the best or worst thing that has happened to Doctor Who, but I'll try to reign in my inner geek on here!). I have also been playing World of Warcraft since May 2005, and have a level 70 Mage (that may impress some, puzzle others, but will probably bore or confuse most!). Reading wise I'd like to think I have a fairly varied palate (although that's probably not the case!). I started out as a teenager reading Star Trek novels and Terry Pratchett, but I have widened my reading since then and over the last decade have read books as varied as Catch-22, Cold Comfort Farm, High Fidelity, Flashman, Vernon God Little, all of Mike Gayle's novels (I still can't work out if they are male confessionals, or chick-lit) and more recently I've discovered Douglas Coupland and Haruki Murakami. I'm not the fastest reader in the world, but I've been quite pleased this year because I have managed to average a book every two weeks (go me!). So that's me, in part – hullo!

The BBC have announced that they are working on a new version of John Wyndham's science fiction classic, The Day of the Triffids. The new version will be shown in two feature length instalments next year, and it will be set in London and the South East in the year 2011. You can read more about this here: Triffids returning to television. I'm in two minds about this, part of me is really excited, but another part is worried by the "fast-paced, futuristic and electrifying take" line in the above article. Triffids just isn't an action story, and the plants themselves aren't really the focus, they are there as a plot device to help facilitate the breakdown of society story. Also, it's going to have to be good to beat the 1981 adaptation!

Well last night's episode was better than I was expecting it to be, but it's still not firing on all cylinders by a long way. There are a few of things I found puzzling last night: 1) If they have a group of armed thugs on their doorstep, why not just move? 2) Why are none of them planning for the future - why aren't they looking for a suitable farm or similar? 3) Why did Joseph's character just accept that the chap with the broken leg had died? (and why didn't he initially offer to take him back to the group as well?!). And there is another pretty women - what a brilliantly selective virus!

ZOMBIE!! Grrr-Argh!

I hope not, she burned the corpse! Yeah, it was a bit confusing the way they treated the main character's illness and recovery, it left you wondering who else was going to suddenly revive (which was no one, so it seems . . .). As a friend of mine pointed out, it's nice that the virus only left the pretty people alive!

The reader comments on Amazon back that up as well, but I like it (especially the wonderfully laid-back character of Takahashi). Personally, I've found his books inetersting precisely because things aren't explained, and that it is left to the reader to make of the story what they will.

I do that as well, but not having written a book, that's just paranoia on my part!

Funnily enough, I almost went to see the Hitchcock version at my local cinema this afternoon. The '35 and '78 versions are both very good, but as much as I like Kenneth Moore, his version is the worst by a long way. Another book, in a seemingly endless list, that I really should read one day!

I thought it was a free DVD of the film? (from the ads on TV!).

I ended up reading After Dark by chance, after I picked it up as the third book in one of Waterstone's 3 for 2 offers. The synopsis sounded interesting, so I thought I'd give it a try, and once I started I couldn't put it down. As I have already said in another thread, his characters are very well written, but he also has a knack for vividly describing locations, without labouring the detail (as some authors do). I've also read Sputnik Sweetheart, and found both this and After Dark to be engaging and interesting reads. I am looking forward to reading more!

True, though I believe that some are more accessible than others - I've heard Norwegian Wood is pretty main stream, for example. I started with After Dark, and enjoyed it, even though I'm still not sure what was going on some of the time! The characters he writes are so well defined; they just walk straight off the page.

I don't think Tron is going to be a remake, I think it is a sequel, of sorts. And on the retro theme, the trailer went up today for the new Star Trek film - looks good, I just hope the story is up to it!

Trailer for the Half Blood Prince I'd recommend downloading it rather than running it directly. Not my favourite book, but it looks good - I like the humour in it!

Both excellent books - Fever Pitch is a master class in obsession, High Fidelity in being completely self-absorbed! I've read a couple of Murakami's books this year (After Dark and Sputnik Sweetheart) and have really enjoyed them. I also have South of the Boarder and Norwegian Wood in my "to-read" pile.

I wouldn't have thought reading forum board posts would be particularly good for the ole self confidence. There are those who will obviously say kind things and pass honest praise, but I tend to find forum boards are more negative in tone than positive - doesn't it ever get demoralising?

George Takei?! Oh my! The list is up, some surprising names on there.

Fish fingers, chips and peas - I don't think I've had it since I was twelve!

There aren't any Foyle's War novels, that I am aware of, it was just a TV series.

I think that might be Ken Follett!

I have a copy of Pandora's Star on my "to-read" pile, and I've heard a lot of good things about Hamilton's books.