Good Afternoon (Page 2)

Bug

This piece of fanfic is definitely an entry in my Echo Park anthology where the song and the story have pretty much nothing to do with each other. To be fair, lyrically it didn’t give me much to work with, so it seemed a good opportunity to plug in

Fanfic

Turn

This post contains spoilers for Life is Strange. So, today’s fanfic is another case of the title song providing inspiration for the story; actually, it's one of the songs that inspired the entire Echo Park anthology. The lyric in question is “I wish that I could turn the clocks

Food

Kitchen Piracy

I like to cook. Not in a “creating fancy five-course dinners” kind of way, more “it’s nice to enjoy home-cooked food that required more effort than popping a ready meal in the microwave”. This probably comes from having parents who both cooked (and wouldn’t touch a ready meal

Fanfic

Just a Day

This post contains spoilers for Life is Strange. I’ve been writing an anthology of Life is Strange fanfics based on an album (Echo Park by Feeder) but I've been studiously avoiding writing any actual songfic. The story I posted today is about as close as I’m going to

Fanfic

XXIV

This fanfic was originally begun back in the summer of 2002, when there’d only been one season of 24, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was the most recent book in that series. I had the idea to write, if not a crossover, than a story in

Fanfic

Choke

Unlike the first story in my Echo Park anthology, the second one does actually take at least some inspiration from the song it’s named for. The lyrics talk about a girl with expensive tastes, so clearly Victoria as the lead (although I somehow doubt she ever worked at Sainsbury’

Fanfic

Realisations

The reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise was probably my favourite game from 2015, not least because it appealed to my inner femslasher. So much so, that it inspired my to do my first bit of writing since the glory days of the Harry Potter fandom. The core idea was

Fanfic

Echo Park

This post contains spoilers for Life is Strange. Artwork by the fabulous @starsonherwheels. It was almost immediately after I finished my first playthrough of Life is Strange that I started writing fanfic based on the game. When the first few paragraphs seemed like they were actually from two different stories

Fanfic

Purple

So, it turns out that today is International Fanworks day 2017; somehow I missed the memo. I read an awful lot of fanfic, but when it comes to writing it I’m more of a dabbler – at least until lately. Since I played Life is Strange last year, I’ve

Blog

Wherefore art thou Zorac?

I often get people asking me why I chose the pseudonym “zorac”. Actually, that’s a lie; people very rarely ask me that, but I’m going to tell you anyway. It’s nothing to do with Space Ghost (that’s Zorak) and there’s definitely no connection to the

Games

Not quite the Neverending Story

I recently played through The Longest Journey – an entry of that oft-neglected genre of computer games, the point-and-click adventure. Following on from the purely text-based games which have been around for decades, the point-and-click games had their heyday in the 90s, most notably in the hands of LucasArts, with the

Movies

Movie misdirection…

This post contains spoilers for Bridge to Terabithia. And the “totally misleading trailer of the week” award goes to Bridge to Terabithia. Given the current cinematic drought, I was happy to catch a preview of something which showed every sign of being a cheap Narnia rip off. What I actually

Movies

Warm and fuzzy…

So, I went to see Hot Fuzz today, another excellent piece of it’s-not-quite-a-spoof-it’s-just-really-funny cinema from the team behind Shaun of the Dead and the ultimate fanboy sitcom, Spaced. The gentle comedy of the first half does a great job of setting up the full-on (albeit slightly silly) action

Food

Chocolate Chestnut Cake

Here’s a recipe for you, stolen borrowed from my mother. A rather fine pudding henceforth to be known as Chocolate Chestnut Coronary[1] Cake: 8oz dark cooking chocolate 8oz unsalted butter 8oz caster sugar 8oz chestnut purée 4 large eggs Preheat the oven to 170°C and line a

Theatre

Spamalot

Spamalot was, quite frankly, a disappointment. Yes, it was good fun, but… Well, for starters, it didn’t help that our seats in the gods were terrible – cramped, and with an obstructed view of the front of the stage (and guess where most of the action takes place). There are

Movies

No, Mister Bond, I expect you to die!

This evening I donned my dinner jacket (de rigueur for Bond premières in Oxford) and headed out to Casino Royale. James Bond is back – and how. It is a reboot of the franchise (although Judi Dench’s M remains), even if it’s not quite as “back to basics” as

Movies

In which Zorac lambasts a Miyazaki film

This post contains spoilers for Howl's Moving Castle. So, I saw Howl’s Moving Castle yesterday. Speaking as someone who first read the book many, many years ago and has read it many times since, I would have to say that this was probably the worst mutilation of a book

Movies

Revenge of the Sith

This post contains spoilers for Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith Well, it was better than the last two, but still suffered from many of the same problems – most prominently, of course, is the quality of Lucas’ dialogue (or lack thereof). The acting was certainly better – and

Music

The Wildest Times in the World

Yesterday really didn’t get off to the best of starts, due to a severe lack of sleep, and that was followed up by public transport working against me. Still, it was all in a good cause – I was going to the Jazz Cafe to see Vonda Shepard (most famous

Drink

House Gin & Tonic

This is one I reached after a few variations. As served at various fandom meetups. Zorac's House Special G&T 1½oz Bombay Sapphire ½oz Gordon's Sloe Gin 1 dash Angostura Bitters 1 dash Lemon Juice 1 dash Lime Juice Shake and pour into a long glass, top up

Drink

Three Colours Orange

Inventing cocktails can be fun, and it's hard to go wrong with lots of rum and citrus juice... Three Colours Orange 1oz Navy Rum 1oz Morgan's Spiced 1oz Malibu ½oz Lemon Juice ½oz Lime Juice Shake and pour into a long glass, top up with Orange Juice.

Music

Pyjamarama

On Saturday evening I went to see Bryan Ferry. There was some amount of concern as regards the weather, and also his recent troubles with laryngitis which lead to some earlier tour dates being cancelled. Certainly the rain was out in force mid-to-late afternoon, but it cleared up by the

Games

What is the Secret of Monkey Island™?

It’s many, many years since I first played The Secret of Monkey Island™, back in my Amiga days, but I’ve been a fan ever since. For my mind, this series of games is the crowning glory of the graphic adventure genre. The first game sees you playing Guybrush

Food

Mmmm. Cookies…

I like cookies. Especially freshly baked ones that are still warm and gooey. Alas, pre-made cookie dough is ruinously expensive in this country. So, after a few tubs of that, I felt ready to make my own and did some Googling for recipies. Alas, somewhere along the line I got

Movies

Movie Revue

A quick review post for some movies I saw over the weekend: Love Actually: This a first class romantic comedy – the intertwining of the multiple love stories is a really nifty idea, and there’s plenty comedy, and some quieter, sadder moments too. Watching it as the sole Brit in