Available as a poll over on Live Journal (you don’t need an LJ account to vote, just an OpenID account which means an account from WordPress.com, Google, Yahoo, Blogger, etc.)

Graphic Novels

• The Boys Volume 6: The Self-Preservation Society by Garth Ennis
• The Boys Volume 7: The Innocents by Garth Ennis
• The Boys Volume 8: Highland Laddie by Garth Ennis
• The Boys Volume 9: The Big Ride by Garth Ennis
• Dark Entries by Ian Rankin
• John Constantine, Hellblazer: Pandemonium by Jamie Delano
• John Constantine: Hellblazer: Bloody Carnations by Peter Milligan
• Angel: After the Fall Volume 3 by Brian Lynch and Joss Whedon
• Angel: After the Fall Volume 4 by Brian Lynch and Joss Whedon
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 8: Last Gleaming by Joss Whedon
• League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1969 by Alan Moore
• Tom Strong Volume 1 by Alan Moore
• Eternals by Neil Gaiman
• Fables Volume 15: Rose Red by Bill Willingham

Doctor Who

• Doctor Who: Dragon’s Claw by Steve Moore, Steve Parkhouse and Dave Gibbons
• Doctor Who: The Eyeless by Lance Parkin
• Doctor Who: The Indestructible Man by Simon Messingham
• Doctor Who: Wolfsbane by Jacqueline Rayner
• Elisabeth Sladen: The Autobiography by Elisabeth Sladen
• Running Through Corridors: Rob and Toby’s Marathon Watch of Doctor Who (Volume 1: The 60s) by Robert Shearman and Toby Hadoke
• Time, Unincorporated 3: The Doctor Who Fanzine Archives: (Vol. 3: Writings on the New Series) edited by Graeme Burk and Robert Smith?

Science Fiction and Fantasy

• Never the Bride by Paul Magrs
• Something Borrowed by Paul Magrs
• Enter Wildthyme by Paul Magrs
• I Shall Wear Midnight: A Story of Discworld by Terry Pratchett
• Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
• Transition by Iain Banks
• Surface Detail by Iain Banks
• The City and the City by China Mieville
• Looking for Jake and Other Stories by China Mieville
• The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
• Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
• Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch

Other Fiction

• Flash for Freedom! by George MacDonald Fraser
• Flashman and the Mountain of Light by George MacDonald Fraser
• Flashman and the Redskins by George MacDonald Fraser
• Flashman at the Charge by George MacDonald Fraser
• Flashman in the Great Game by George MacDonald Fraser
• The Fort by Bernard Cornwell
• The Kingdom of Light by Giulio Leoni

Non-Fiction

• God Collar by Marcus Brigstocke
• Map Addict: A Tale of Obsession, Fudge & the Ordnance Survey by Mike Parker
• Millennium: The End of the World and the Forging of Christendom by Tom Holland
• Robin Ince’s Bad Book Club: One Man’s Quest to Uncover the Books That Taste Forgot by Robin Ince
• Seven Million Years: The Story of Human Evolution by Douglas Palmer
• The Story of English: How the English Language Conquered the World by Philip Gooden

• Remove the Sociable plugin – every upgrade breaks my layout. Done
• As a replacement for the above add Twitter, Facebook and Google+ buttons directly in the theme template.
• Exclude the Weekly Twitter posts from the front page – having a backup of my tweets is a good thing, displaying them on the homepage of this blog isn’t.
• Rethink syndication – how exactly do I want to share posts with Live Journal, Facebook, Google+, etc.?
• A new design?
• Most importantly – more content

Last Thursday evening I attended the launch of the Out of this World science fiction exhibition at the British Library. I’ve blogged about the exhibition for work.

The launch night was fun in a peculiarly geeky way as I got to play spot the author/critic/BNF. Some people (Kim Newman to give the obvious example) are easy to spot but far too many fall into the general category of middle aged men with greying beards. In fact I could easily have been looking at the crowd at Salute or @media instead.

At the same time that I was listening to China Miéville give a speech to open the show, Lettice was at a different exhibition launch with Cilla Black and Ringo Star. There’s probably something profound in that contrast but I’m really not sure what.

Well done me.

I’m late to the party as usual, but here’s my summary and opinions of the recent fuss over what is and isn’t HTML5.

HTML5 means two things:

1. A standard published by the W3C
2. A label (analogous to DHTML or Web 2.0) for a group of new web technologies, including the standard referred to above but also CSS3, SVG and other technologies.

So that’s one precise, technical meaning, and one vague, fuzzy meaning. If you’re talking to developers, web designers, browser manufacturers or CTOs you use the first meaning; if you’re talking to marketing types or CEOs you use the second. If you’re talking to a mixed audience you need to clarify what you mean. It’s not ideal but it’s not the end of the world.

The W3C produced a new logo as part of their effort to promote HTML5. This was marketing activity and the usage seemed to be close to the second meaning above. However, this is the W3C and their core audience is technical and hence expected the first meaning. Some fuss and a few edits to the FAQs later and the situation was clarified.

Meanwhile the WHATWG have decided that from now on they are working on the living standard of HTML and that version numbers are passé.

This actually makes a lot of sense. Browsers don’t implement versions of HTML, they implement a hodge podge of features that appeal to them. Most web sites are thus created based on what works on browsers. When we say that we’re building a site in XHTML 1 and CSS 2.1 we mean the subset of those features that are both useful for the site in question and supported by IE7, etc.

But developing (a site, an API or a browser) to a moving target is difficult and troublesome. Having a standardised version of the spec is useful, it means that my example site using that subset of XHTML 1 can be checked against that standard today, tomorrow and five years from now.

The good news is that there’s no longer two HTML5 standards to cause confusion. Now there’s HTML at WHATWG – an iterative, ever evolving specification that acts as an ideas generator and prototype for the future of the web, and there’s also HTML5 (and maybe one day 6, 7, etc.) at the W3C – a slice of the living standard, reviewed, refined and eventually set in stone as a standard.

I’ve been using parts of HTML5 for over a year now – I’m using a fairly safe subset of features (and <hgroup> which some people seem to have a problem with and want to remove or change) and can refer to the W3C spec for details whilst keeping one eye on the WHATWG for future developments. This seems like a sane approach for most front end developers – there’s a lot of exciting changes coming out and only a few people will have the time and resources to keep on top of all of them.

Still, we’ve got a logo now.

How many of my 2010 books have you read?

Available as a poll over on Live Journal (you don’t need an LJ account to vote, just an OpenID account which means an account from WordPress.com, Google, Yahoo, Blogger, etc.)

Fiction

• Alexandria by Lindsey Davis
• Saturnalia by Lindsey Davis
• Scandal Takes a Holiday by Lindsey Davis
• The Accusers by Lindsey Davis
• The Jupiter Myth by Lindsey Davis
• And Another Thing …: Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Part Six of Three by Eoin Colfer
• Holy Warrior by Angus Donald

Non-Fiction

• Extinct by Anton Gill
• Millennium: The End of the World and the Forging of Christendom by Tom Holland
• The Glorious Revolution: 1688 – Britain’s Fight for Liberty by Edward Vallance
• The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century by Ian Mortimer
• Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History by David Aaronovitch

Doctor Who and Torchwood

• Doctor Who: Coming of the Terraphiles by Michael Moorcock
• Time, Unincorporated 2: The Doctor Who Fanzine Archives: (Vol. 2: Writings on the Classic Series)
• Torchwood: Almost Perfect by James Goss
• Torchwood: Pack Animals by Peter Anghelides
• Torchwood: Slow Decay by Andy Lane
• Torchwood: SkyPoint by Phil Ford

Other TV spinoffs

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 6: Retreat by Jane Espenson
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 7: Twilight by Brad Meltzer
• Angel: After the Fall, Volume 2: First Night by Joss Whedon
• Spike: After the Fall by Brian Lynch
• Star Trek New Frontier: Stone and Anvil by Peter David
• Star Trek New Frontier: After the Fall by Peter David
• Star Trek New Frontier: Missing in Action by Peter David
• Star Trek New Frontier: Treason by Peter David
• The Big Book of “Top Gear” 2011

Superheroes

• The Boys Volume 5: Herogasm by Garth Ennis
• Bullseye: Greatest Hits by Daniel Way
• Cable Volume 1: Messiah War by Duane Swierczynski
• Cable Volume 2: Waiting For The End Of The World by Duane Swierczynski
• Civil War by Mark Millar
• Brit Volume 2 AWOL by Robert Kirkman
• Alias Vol. 1 by Brian Michael Bendis
• House Of M: World Of M Featuring Wolverine by Brian Michael Bendis
• New Avengers: Revolution by Brian Michael Bendis
• Mighty Avengers: The Ultron Initiative by Brian Michael Bendis
• Punisher MAX: In the Beginning by Garth Ennis
• Punisher MAX: Kitchen Irish by Garth Ennis
• Punisher MAX: Long Cold Dark by Garth Ennis
• Punisher MAX: Mother Russia by Garth Ennis
• Punisher MAX: The Slavers by Garth Ennis
• Punisher Max: Up Is Down And Black Is White by Garth Ennis
• NYX X-23: Innocence Lost by Zeb Wells
• Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Two by Alan Moore
• WildC.A.T.S: Homecoming by Alan Moore
• Wildstorm: Armageddon by Christos Gage
• Wolverine: Enemy of the State by Mark Millar
• X-Force Volume 1: Angels And Demons by Craig Kyle
• X-Force Volume 3: Not Forgotten by Craig Kyle
• X-Men: Endangered Species by Mike Carey
• X-Men: Legacy – Sins Of The Father by Mike Carey
• Uncanny X-Men: Manifest Destiny by Ed Brubaker
• Supreme Power: Hyperion by J. Michael Straczynski

Other Graphic Novels

• Elephantmen: Wounded Animals by Richard Starkings
• Grandville by Bryan Talbot
• Fables: 1,001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham
• Fables: Great Fables Crossover by Bill Willingham
• Fables: Witches by Bill Willingham
• Jack of Fables: Americana by Bill Willingham
• Jack of Fables: Bad Prince by Bill Willingham
• Jack of Fables: The (Nearly) Great Escape by Bill Willingham
• Jack of Fables: The Big Book of War by Bill Willingham
• John Constantine Hellblazer: Hooked by Peter Milligan
• John Constantine Hellblazer: India by Peter Milligan
• We3 by Grant Morrison
• The Umbrella Academy: Dallas by Gerard Way

Work

• HTML5: Up and Running by Mark Pilgrim
• Introducing HTML5 by Bruce Lawson and Remy Sharp
• jQuery Cookbook
• jQuery: Novice to Ninja by Earle Castledine
• Pro JavaScript Techniques by John Resig
• Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja by John Resig
• Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson

There are dinosaurs to talk about. Adventures with HTML5 and microformats/microdata to discuss. A Doctor Who Christmas special to look forward to.

I will do better.

Very True Mood:  sad

Much of the functionality in the latest release is good or at least inoffensive (pingbacks, cross-post posts to Twitter and Facebook, add Facebook Connect alongside OpenID for non-LJ users to log in and post comments). But one item, the ability to cross-post comments to Facebook and Twitter has caused a bit of a fuss (understatement, this is LiveJournal so toys have been ejected from perambulators with great vigour).

It seems like a dumb idea, badly implemented.

1. Context
   Why cross-post a comment out of context from the post it is commenting on (and indeed out of context of an any comments it may be in reply to, LJ having a decent threading system for comments unlike some other blogging systems)? It seems pointless.
2. Privacy
   The fact that the choice to cross-post is entirely at the hands of the commenter and ignores the privacy settings of the original post has caused the biggest fuss and rightly so. If someone posts a friends only post to their blog, then should their friends be able to share their (out of context) comments on that post with everyone on Twitter or Facebook? Well, at least you’ll find out who your real friends aren’t…
3. Poor User Interface
   The positioning of the checkboxes for cross-posting between the comments field and the comments submit button is likely to lead to accidents. And considering the context and privacy issues such accidents will be at best nonsensical and at worst deeply intrusive.

I would never have gotten beyond the context issue if someone had brought this up in a brain storm with me. The sheer pointlessness of this function means it should never have been developed, and now that people have expressed almost entirely unfavourable opinions because of the privacy and UI issues, should mean that it gets removed rather than “fixed”.

I hope that the cross-posting of comments, and only the cross-posting of comments, is removed soon, as it threatens to overshadow the other features in this release which offer useful functionality that can enrich the LiveJournal experience for users who use it as a general blogging platform rather than a private, anonymous, slash-fiction, walled garden.

BTW, this post was created in the WordPress blog on my personal site; cross-posted to LiveJournal; syndicated via RSS; a notification tweeted; and Facebook notes will pick it up from the RSS in a couple of days. Your comments and replies will only appear in the place they were made however, unless you use (on purpose or by accident) this misguided feature on the LiveJournal version of this site.

Very True Mood:  contemplative

1. Reply to this post and I’ll assign you a letter.
2. List (and upload, if you feel like it) five songs that start with that letter.
3. Post them to your journal with these instructions.

ggreig gave me the letter “W”, well he gave me “Z” first but with only eight Z-tracks in my iTunes that would have been somewhat limited so we mutually agreed to go with the second choice.

• Weekend Without Makeup – The Long Blondes
• What Do I Get? – Buzzcocks
• We Almost Got It Together – Tanita Tikaram
• We’re Going To Be Friends – The White Stripes
• When I Grow Up – Garbage

Argh! That was hard. I had a long list of about 25 and a short list of ten but getting it down to five took all evening.

Or if they’ve fixed it by the time you read this:

Very True Mood:  amused