Karsa Orlong

It's the 64-bit version of Firefox. My security software automatically sorted itself out and came up with a message that it had been optimised for Windows 10. Quite impressed with that.

It's the end of the world as we know it

I upgraded to Windows 10 at the weekend. The only problem(s) I had was that it didn't hold onto the drivers for my graphics card (easily rectified) and I had to get the latest version of iTunes before it would recognise my iPod (more a problem with iTunes than Windows 10, I think). Apart from that it went smooth as silk and, touch wood, my pc seems to be running faster than ever. Microsoft Edge is a piece of shhhhhhh, though I used it for five minutes then immediately switched to Waterfox

Agreed, Lyth is on borrowed time. He has had a couple of decent knocks but he doesn't seem to have settled well, and I get the feeling it's affecting Cook a bit, not having someone solid as an opening partner - which he hasn't had for quite a long time now. I think we need to keep Bell there for a while yet, though, just for his experience if nothing else. I'm sure his form will return.

Typically English reaction - never happy! I think we've got the beginnings of something very good with this core of young, exciting players. Considering where we were just a few months ago I think it's been a pretty remarkable turn around. The Aussies are a very good team and we've done it with some style. Kevin who? ETA: I do think limited over/T20 cricket is having an adverse effect on test matches, though. The art of seeing off the new ball and settling in for the day seems to have been lost somewhere along the way.

Great review! But . . . you and bobbly agreeing about a book . . .

See - they always come with weapons

Well this has to be the best Ashes series ever for me - mainly because I was out of the country for the Lords test and had no idea we'd been thrashed All I've seen is us doing the same to the Aussies Really happy for Alastair Cook, kind of sad for Michael Clarke. Could've done without both of them getting emotional in their post-match interviews, nearly had me going, too

Hope they're taking their umbrellas and body armour with them

Thanks Kylie The rodeo was something we kind of felt we had to do, as the Calgary Stampede is the city's major event each year and we just happened to get there for its last couple of days. I really didn't like it, though. We ended up leaving about halfway through. Thanks! I had to take a day away from reading to recover from it It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it hit all the right buttons for me. Definitely one to 'try before you buy', I think. I read the short story, The Colonel, yesterday - which is a linking story between the two novels - and have now started the sequel, Echopraxia

^^ Riverside are fantastic, one of my favourite bands Looking forward to Love, Fear and the Time Machine

Not surprised - dreadful book! I've just finished Blindsight. Best SF novel I've read in, well, possibly forever. Reviewed it here.

Removed.

Aw. Arthur Daley was one of the great tv characters. 'Er indoors will miss him greatly. RIP George

Sitting here watching it in a state of disbelief I wouldn't be too quick to gloat, though - we've till got to bat

Watched Graeme Swann's Ashes Roadshow via the red button last night. Guests Jeff Thomson, Ian Healy and Allan Lamb. Great fun. I particularly liked Swann's tale about receiving his first England cap from Ian Botham

Just over 100 pages into Blindsight. This book is, like, blowing my mind, man

Defiance 3x06. Cracking! Ray Donovan 3x03 Vikings 3x02

Same here, especially those on Amazon.

That's another word I could've used to describe it

I watched some of that, too (but had to stop myself as I only recently bought the blu-ray boxed set, and I'd rather watch that! ). I did comment whilst watching it that it made me realise how lucky I was to be growing up during the late 70s/early 80s and see the Indy films, the original Star Wars trilogy, E.T. Close Encounters, Jaws, Alien, The Terminator, all those great movies the first time around. Compared to the majority of today's blockbusters it feels like it was a golden age.

Just making a start on Blindsight by Peter Watts. I've had this for ages but been scared off by the reviews . . . until now

Annihilation (The Southern Reach Trilogy Book 1) by Jeff Vandermeer 2014 - Fourth Estate ebook - 209 pages Winner of the 2015 Nebula Award. Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition died in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer. This is the story of the twelfth expedition. A couple of years ago I read a book called Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. It was about 'zones' containing artefacts left behind by a mysterious alien presence. It was an oddly disjointed book, I found, but there was no way of knowing if it was down to the writing, the translation, or the fact that Russian censors had banned or edited the book for long periods of time, viewing it as a criticism of communism. The only reason I mention this is because, on the face of it, Annihilation follows the basic pattern of that story. What we have here is the story of four women who make up the twelfth expedition to be sent into the mysterious Area X by the clandestine government agency known as Southern Reach. Their mission is to explore, map, and get samples and evidence from the area. Nobody quite knows what Area X is, or how it and its invisible barrier came to be. These four characters are never given names: they are known simply as the psychologist, the surveyor, the anthropologist, and the biologist, who is the narrator of the story, which is told in the form of a journal. The psychologist is also a hypnotist, and they pass through the barrier in a hypnotised state, and none of the other three knows quite what happened during the transition. On the other side they find wildlife that is not quite . . . right, swamps, deserted, half-sunken and decaying villages, an ominous structure buried in the ground that most call a 'tunnel' but the biologist is sure is a sunken tower, and a fortified lighthouse guarding a bleak shoreline. As darkness descends a chilling, continuous moan from the swamp is their constant companion. In the morning, they descend into the tower. I found Annihilation to be many things. It is haunting, disturbing, thought-provoking, imbued with a sense of other-worldliness, always creepy, effortlessly hypnotic, and frequently unsettling. It's not thrilling or action-packed - it's not meant to be. It is an absorbing exercise in atmosphere where each word seems to have been chosen with utmost care. It is short and to the point and yet verbose and full of vivid description. It confuses by never giving away any character's name, and yet succeeds in building character from words and action alone. It's not perfect. As the first in a trilogy, it is not a book for people who want to be spoon-fed all the answers. It's a book that teases until its final page. If you went on a date with it you'd think twice before going on a second. But there's something so enticing about it, you probably would. It's a triumph of style over content. Vandermeer's writing is beguiling and frustrating in equal measure. It's touch and go whether or not he can make you care who makes it to the end - and who doesn't. At 209 pages it is refreshingly, pleasingly concise and left me wanting more. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Oh yes, very true. I thought I'd seen them for the last time in the mid-90s, when Neil was struck with so much tragedy, so to have had the chance to see them on five more tours since then has been a real bonus