Being an internet refuge for Graeme McMillan
From the Guardian’s Photo Blog:
A baby is given nebulizer therapy at Beijing Children’s Hospital due to excessive levels of air pollution hit in the capital in the past several days. Photograph: Li Wen/Xinhua Press/Corbis
We are already living in our own dystopian science fiction future.
From the Guardian’s Photo Blog:
Snow lies across the landscape of the Peak District. Forecasters predict the cold spell will last for a month. Photograph: Tom Hughes/Rex Features
Just look at that sky.
Well, today was an interesting day. Hopefully good interesting, but definitely things that I find myself excited about, and also a sign of getting my professional self in gear just a little better than I was doing before. It’s also been a day that kind of knocked me sideways in terms of getting work done – That’s how these things tend to go, after all – and so it’s almost 6pm and I’m pretty much where I’d have wanted to be an hour ago at the very least. And yet… Yes. Good news, today, albeit news that I don’t think that I can properly reveal for awhile yet.
From the Guardian’s Photo Blog:
Richard and Samantha Stretton from Newcastle looking a bit like the Start-rite kids, enjoy a walk past the Angel of the North near Gateshead, after the heavy snowfall. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA
When I think to myself that it’s too cold here in Portland, I shall try to remember just how freezing things look here and feel lucky in comparison.
From the Guardian’s Photo Blog:
This photo, taken on January 9, shows a towering red-dust storm over the ocean, ahead of a cyclone approaching Onslow on the coast of western Australian. Tug boat worker Brett Martin, who captured the fearsome pictures 25 nautical miles offshore, reported conditions were glassy and flat before the storm hit. Photograph: Brett Martin/AFP/Getty Images
Just look at that. That’s both terrifying and beautiful. Mostly terrifying.
From the Guardian’s Photo Blog:
Alannah Weston, Creative Director of Selfridges, officially opens the ‘Silence Room’ as part of ‘No Noise’. The Silence Room was first created by Harry Gordon Selfridge, the founder of the store in 1909 at Selfridges on January 10, 2013 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart Wilson/Getty Images for Selfridges)
The idea of a “Silence Room” in the center of a massive store is kind of wonderful, and kind of ridiculous at the same time. I love it for that very dichotomy.
It’s the kind of week that’s just full of stuff – entirely work-related – which leaves me forgetting things like, Hey! It’s Wednesday, and I should link to my Time Entertainment essay! It’s all aboutChoose Your Own Adventure making a comeback in pop culture, because that’s the kind of thing that I think about. Go read.
From the Guardian’s Photo Blog:
Buddhist monks release paper lanterns into the sky in Suphan Buri province, Thailand. The lanterns were released during a traditional pilgrimage to pay homage to Lord Buddha and bless Thailand as it enters the new year. Photograph: Sukree Sukplang/Reuters
Fly, fly, fly.
So, I spent part of this weekend trying to catch up with Misfits, inspired and shamed in equal parts by Jeff Lester during a Wait, What recording last week; I made it through five episodes of season three in one sitting, and the opening of season four, before I realized that I’d stopped caring about the show. It’s not that the series had dipped in quality so much between seasons three and four as much as it was that season three had, to all intents and purposes, finished the show altogether. Characters died, arcs were completed, and the thread started in the first episode was pretty much cut quite cleanly.
I started watching the first episode of the fourth season with the strange feeling of “How are they even going to try and convince people that this is viable as a continuing property?” only to discover that – seemingly, they were just going to ignore that altogether and continue as if nothing was any different. It’s odd, when you realize that the only reason you’re going to continue to watch something is through skeptical eyes, waiting to see it wake up and wonder what has gone wrong.
From the Guardian’s Photo Blog:
A cold snap has created a layer of thick pancake ice in Bohai bay, China. Photograph: ZUMA/Rex Features
I have never heard of “pancake ice” before, but now I want to know more. For one thing, why pancake ice? It looks more like pizza dough ice to me.