The latest thing in spam emails seems to be to create subject lines and body text culled from news headlines and artfully jumbled. Not likely to fool many people, but it does generate some interesting results, such as that below:

"High-Profile Male Hooker forced to Step Down after Sex with Sleazy Evangelist."

Well, it made me laugh...

Edit: And for further fun, I came across the following court case during work today - United States v. Approximately 64,695 Pounds of Shark Fins. If you feel like googling it, it's apparently a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals case.

Look: So very shiny and sleek. Picks up fingerprints, of course, but not to the point of spoiling it, and a polishing cloth is, of course, supplied.

Feel: Pleasantly solid in the hand. Heavier yet slimmer than my old phone, and the plastic back doesn't spoil the overall effect. Doesn't feel cheap by any means.

Interface: Just well put together, with plenty of delightful touches. Plain fun to mess around with and easy to figure out. Has chugged a little when starting up, but otherwise fine.

Sound: Clear and crisp when talking on the phone and better in terms of quality than my old iPod. Nice to be able to use a normal pair of headphones too.

Speed: That interface is nippy enough, and the wifi is a revelation. In fact, the 3G has been pretty impressive too, in terms of downloading email and using the map function.

Battery: Difficult to judge at the moment. Not as good as my old phone, but apparently one of the better smartphones around. I suspect it'll improve when I stop playing with it every five minutes.

Buying: Pre-ordered it from Carphone Warehouse, so I didn't have to queue, but I did anyhow. Not a huge number of people, and the staff were pretty helpful overall. Buying wasn't a problem, but...

Registering: was. Apple seemed to have bitten off more than it could chew. Couldn't activate it until I got home (spoiling the purpose of getting it early) and then spent three hours trying to log into iTunes. All happy now, but still having problems with MobileMe, which was launched at the same time.

App Store: Loads of fun things to play with here. Some of the free ones were immediate grabs, though I'd appreciate utilities to post to LiveJournal and WordPress blogs. However . . . no games! Sigh. Was really looking forward to Super Monkey Ball.

Writing Report: Was supposed to get back to writing at the start of the month but have failed to do so thus far. Can't really being blame being busy, as I've had enough spare time. Must rebuild the habit.

New Stories: Despite the lack of notification, I've continued to post new chapters of Malq on a weekly basis. You can get them here, and I'll be more diligent in noting them here in future.

Well, courtesy of the wisdom of pre-ordering and a willingness to wait in line, I now have an iPhone 3G. Not that it's doing very much right now - I have to wait until I get access to an Internet connection to activate it - but it sure is shiny. In fact, my first thought on taking it out of the box was one of regret: "It's never going to be this shiny again."

Only two days now to go before the iPhone 3G is unleashed upon a very suspecting world. Quite a few people are somewhat excited by this and, after a long wait, I'm one of them. I've held out for a year since the release of the original, put off more by the expense than the lack of 3G. Well, the expense has been cut somewhat, and the 3G has been provided, but the real draw is the extra functionality and software that is, or will be, available. I could wait a bit longer - I'm guessing higher capacity models and versions from Vodafone will appear around the end of the year - but there's no real need to any more. Time to take the plunge.

I'm not hugely surprised to hear that shortages of the new iPhone are expected on this side of the Atlantic. Whereas 3G is not a big thing in the U.S., the carriers over here have been touting it as the second coming for so long that any high-end phone without it is inevitably going to be viewed as somewhat lacking. That and the high upfront cost have probably choked off sales in Ireland and the U.K. Both obstacles having been removed, everyone who was holding off will now be looking to join in the rush. It should be fun to get to play around with one at last and see just what I can do with it.

A hundred years ago today, something happened in the skies over Siberia. "The Tunguska Event," as it became known, still stirs controversy in some circles, but the most widely accepted theory is that a meteorite exploded around 6-10 miles above the forests and tundra. Not an overly large meteorite either. Just a few tens of metres across, but still enough to light up the skies thousands of miles away, knock people off their feet hundreds of miles away and lay waste to a vast swathe of landscape, so that the toppled trees were still clearly visible two decades later.

All of this occurred over one of the most desolate landscapes on Earth. Had it happened over Western Europe, the deaths would likely have numbered in the hundreds of thousands, at least. And then, as now, there would have been nothing we could have done about it.

Tunguska and its ilk - moments when the universe about us reminds us just how small we are, and how fortunate to have emerged and survived on this lump of dirty rock - have always fascinated me. One of my first clear memories of a TV program was another hundredth anniversary: that of the eruption of Krakatoa, which took place in 1883. In that case, thousands of people did die. Just as they've died over the last few millennia, any time that people live too close to a volcano, fault line or (more rarely) impact site. Or when the weather patterns change and drought and famine follow in tow. Ours is a remarkably fragile existence, with an emphasis on the "remarkable."

There are two basic reactions to this, I think. The first is to refuse to accept it - whether out of fear or a lack of willingness or ability to comprehend. Such a refusal may make living day to day easier, but it has precious few other benefits. The second is fascination, which is my personal choice. I love to find out how things work, and it's through cataclysms like this that the Earth and the Universe reveal the principles that underpin their operation. Sadly, I didn't follow a scientific path through academia, so such events are, to me, mostly grist for my story mill, but I can appreciate the awe and wonder they generate, and applaud all those who stare into the brightest flame and don't content themselves with the easiest answers.

Edit: This is a pretty comprehensive rundown of everything about Tunguska. Including, delightfully, the "Tunguska Blast" energy drink. Needless to say, I want to try it. I wonder if it tastes like space rocks...

...but I don't like asparagus.

Just how many DeLoreans are there still on the streets? Can't imagine there are that many. Still, there can be few cars that provoke such a thrill when they motor past your bus in the early morning, that engine growling sweetly.

Sadly, Dublin rush-hour traffic being what it is, there was never any chance of burning tyre marks...

There's something very Irish about being forced, due to the weather, to buy an umbrella on midsummer's day...

I seem to have been offering up a lot of reviews lately. Perhaps that speaks of a certain amount of free time that's allowed me to catch up on some of my media watching. Or maybe I just feel the need to be opinionated occasionally.

( BSG: Few Spoilers, But Safely Under the Cut Anyhow )

Got home from the cinema at 11.30 PM tonight. One quarter of the sky was still glowing with a yellow light; in another, a full moon was shimmering over an almost mirror-still Dundrum Bay. In between, the Mournes were a dark, humped silhouette against the last light of sunset. I guess this really is midsummer. Night has almost been banished.

The film? Well, it was good.

( Hulk-Sized Spoilers )

Well, it's been a good past 24 hours in general. Getting back to softball in the sunshine, and actually managing three runs as the team ran out 20-10 winners. Good performances all round and well deserved.

But how did those predictions of mine work out?

( The Final Verdict )

Just watched the latest episode of Doctor Who, "Forest of the Dead." It's the second part of a two-parter, following "Silence in the Library," and it may just be the best thing I've ever seen on television.

No, seriously.

I've seen a lot of good TV (though admittedly I haven't watched all of The Sopranos or The Wire, which are supposed to be quite good) but I don't think I've enjoyed any single episode this much. Writer Steven Moffat has delivered some of the best episodes of the new series, including my previous favourite Blink, but he's outdone himself this time. The last twenty minutes are a series of moments of genius, aided and abetted by a cast working to the best of their abilities. I could rant and rave about this some more, but just watch it if you get the chance.

Seriously.

Next Monday, at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference, Steve Jobs is going to make yet another of his keynote speeches. I won't be following it live, as I'll be playing softball at the time, but I have a very vested interest in this one. And seeing as I made some predictions last time out, why not do so again?*

( What Steve Did Next )

*Main reason for not doing so: avoiding having people point at me and say "hah-hah." Bit too late now, really...

Shifting from lots of writing to no writing has caused problems. I work better with deadlines, and it took a lot of anguish before I decided to give them up for a while. One of the problems that has resulted is that my postings to Cerandor Stories have been spotty lately. In an effort to catch up, then, I've uploaded the second part of chapter 13 and all of chapter 14 today. We're thoroughly into the second act of the tale here, and Daevrys is about to begin a very long journey.

Which is not to say that I'm just posting stuff. Removing the need to write has cleared my brain a bit, and a few ideas are starting to flow. Over the last few days, I've put together the basic shape of a short story called "The Ornithomancer" that I'm looking forward to writing. Either I'll use it to slowly work back up to writing, or I'll kick off my new deadline-following period (set to begin once June is over) with it. No pressure, as yet.

Passing by the starting area of yesterday's Ladies' Mini-Marathon, I noted something that reassured me as to the general nature of the Irish public. Large groups of women only half an hour away from running/jogging/walking ten kilometers were clustered outside every nearby pub, smoking and grabbing a quick pint. Not only that, but my boss, who did the run, reports passing numerous groups of women who paused their efforts to duck into a local shop for a packet of smokes and an ice cream. In their defence, it was a very warm day.

And, being a warm day, I of course spent the warmest part of it indoors, playing a boardgame. "Puerto Rico," to be exact, which turned out to be a lot of fun. Easy to pick up but tactically deep, and offering plenty of opportunities for screwing over your opponents without getting nasty about it. Will definitely play again

One of my favourite writers, Warren Ellis, posted this on his site today.

So, yeah, go take a look at FreakAngels. It's an interesting weekly web comic, utterly free, telling the story of a strange community of young people in a future London. The link to the older episodes is on the right side of the page.

Some pieces of art grow on you. They either don't quite work, or don't wholly reveal themselves on first viewing. There are a few books I could say that of (Lord of the Rings, for example, is a prime advertisement for the value of rereading). The example I'm thinking of at the moment though, is Kingdom of Heaven, Ridley Scott's tale of the Crusades. It's not generally seen as one of the director's best, but it's definitely growing on me.

( Thoughts on a Movie )

I've just returned from holiday (about which more later) and may be in need of some healthy living for a while. England's West Country, it seems, is ground zero for a gastronomic form of extreme sports - albeit in a more polite, refined way than sampling strange foreign novelties or merely piling the plate with artery-clogging monstrosities. No, in Somerset they kill you with kindness, sugar and saturated fats.

Over the last few days, I've succumbed to the lure of Cornish Pasties, cream teas, boiled sweets (except butterballs, sadly), numerous fried breakfasts, fish and chips and fudge. I came away from Bath with a box of four slabs of the latter item, but in a last-ditch attempt to save my svelte (ahem) figure, it's currently being enjoyed by my workmates. Not that I'm not going to carve myself off a few chunks though. And the boiled sweets are still mine. Mine, I tell you!

Anyway... A moratorium of some kind is required. No more buying of sweets, chocolates or biscuits until I've finished what I already have. My kitchen cabinets and fridge already resemble an explosion in a confectioners. Self-control is the watchword.

Well . . . maybe just one more.

My enforced break from writing (which is also encompassing a brief break from my Pendragon campaign at the moment) has certainly managed to lower my levels of stress and frustration. Not having to meet deadlines or have material ready for a particular game evening is an enjoyable form of freedom. But as yet, there hasn’t been the burst of creativity I was hoping for, and I think I know why.

Long before I began setting myself weekly word-total targets, I was in the habit of keeping a notepad close by myself most of the time. Either on my desk at work or in my bag, it was a handy repository for any ideas I needed to scribble down and keep. Those notes eventually morphed into more detailed notes on computers, and in the longer run, short stories and novels. However, as I wrote more and more, I got out of the habit of scribbling. I still kept it up, here and there, but the effort wasn’t contributing much.

No matter how much software like Microsoft Word (and more user-friendly offerings) make life convenient for the writer, the freedom of a blank piece of paper and a(t least one) pen is superior for giving abstract ideas in the brain a concrete reality. Even for someone as artistically challenged as I am, the ability to add sketches, diagrams and doodles is a godsend in terms of organising my thoughts. The brain can change tack as quickly as the hand can cross out one odd-sounding name and write in another. Lists can be drawn up and important points circled (twice, in red). The various building blocks that make up a story and its characters can inform one another as they’re formed, and new elements can be dropped in where needed.

Where the computer comes in handy is taking this jumble of ideas and giving it organised structure. Cutting and pasting so that there’s a linear flow, rather than random jumping from one interesting notion to the other. But for creating ideas, pen and paper works best for me. Over the past couple of years, I think I’ve narrowed the field of my creativity down to the space between my eyeballs and the computer screen. Time to give my fingertips something more to do than just tapping on a keyboard, I think.

This is a good evening: the achievement of clearing out the minor items in my to-do pile and a few hours spent catching up on my reading and watching, to the accompaniment of a little ice cream. (Well, we don't know how long this weather is going to last, do we?)

Fun stuff seems to be building up on the horizon, in fact. Next week, I'll be heading abroad for an actual holiday to the U.K., rather than my recent one-day trips. Sport will still be on the agenda, though in the form of rugby rather than football. To wit: tickets for the Heineken Final have been acquired, as well as some for the Ireland-Barbarians match a few days later. Sure, I'm not the world's biggest rugby fan, though I am going out with one of them, and that's excuse enough.

In other news, there now seems to be a better than even chance that I'm going to be back on TV in a while. My dad has been putting together a team for Eggheads, one of the few quizzes that can be found on BBC these days. I've been on a few quizzes in the past, and this one looks fun, tough and potentially lucrative. But I'll settle for fun at the moment.

Lastly, most importantly and, as yet, furthest away, I'm going to be an uncle for the first time. Not until late in the year, but still. Good news. And my granny, who recently passed 90, gets to be a great-grandmother for the first time. So - fun all round.