The Algebraist, by Iain M. Banks

A standalone science fiction novel

In the past I've found Iain Banks' Culture novels a bit too weird for my taste, but The Algebraist (not a Culture novel) is excellent. It is set in a far future, and with plenty of history behind it to drive the plot (billions of years of it, in fact). Humans are one of the few races allowed to communicate with the extraordinarily long-lifed Dwellers (one of the "slow"). This is the story of a triangular clash between the Dwellers and several "quick" cultures, eager for technology that the Dwellers may or may not have.

Highly recommended.

Misspent Youth, by Peter F. Hamilton

A short (for PFH) novel of the near future.

Unlike his other sprawling novels, this is a fairly brief exploration of the effects regeneration (essentially, rebuilding the body) have on society and in particular the family of the first man to have the procedure. Also has some pointed comments about the future of England and Europe.

A good read.

Trip to Sydney to see the Lord of the Rings exhibition and the Lion King

Sat-Sun March 12-13 2005

A group of me and my friends went up to Sydney to see the Lord of the Rings exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum and the Lion King musical at the Capitol Theatre.

Firstly, the LotR exhibition: this was pretty cool, with lots of costumes, armour, jewellery, drawings, photos, and models that were used in the film trilogy. An astounding amount of work went into this stuff, amazing. Peter Jackson was there while we were there, which was pretty weird (I didn't see him, but a couple of my friends did; apparently he's lost a lot of weight).

While the exhibition was great, unfortunately, the merchandise was utterly crap. Really, really crap. Full of badly made models, cheap jigsaws and children's games. Not even a good t-shirt among it.

The Lion King show (based on the Disney film, and pretty much exactly the same plot line) was fantastic. In particular the costuming (including an excellent puppet cheetah) was great. A lot of fun, and highly recommended.

Unlike the LotR exhibition, the merchandise was pretty good too (unfortunately that's a Flash-only site, so I don't know what it has on it).

The Goodies, (Still A)Live on Stage

9:30 pm, Thursday March 10 2005

The Goodies came out to Australia for just a few shows, and I was lucky enough to go to the second Canberra show (the first was at 7 pm!).

The show consisted of the Goodies presenting a "question" that they had been asked, and them answering it in various funny ways.

This was a great fun show, the boys are looking much older but they sound just the same.

My smile muscles still hurt the next day, that's how funny it was!

The Trinity Trilogy, by Fiona McIntosh

Betrayal, Revenge, Destiny

Fiona McIntosh is an Australian author of fantasy, I hadn't read any of her books before.

This is reasonably well written fairly standard fantasy.

The plotting in the first book screams "first novel" to me: for example, there's not enough background, and the main character gets a new best friend in a day or two.

The other two books are much better, with some interesting plot twists.

Entertaining.

The Orphans Trilogy, by Sean Williams and Shane Dix

Echoes of Earth, Orphans of Earth, Heirs of Earth

Sean Williams and Shane Dix re-unite after their excellent Evergence trilogy.

Like the Evergence trilogy, this is set in a "real" future, where there are Powers (with a capital P) beyond the ken of man.

The series is full of flawed characters (seriously flawed in many cases, since they're essentially buggy programs) trying to overcame major adversity (ok, the destruction of Earth and almost all real humans is pretty adverse).

Highly recommended.