links clearout

Time for a bit of a links clearout, as there are lots of things I've been meaning to point to for a while.

Well, actually, I just saw this today, but it's really irritating, no?

"Two leading publishers have hit on the idea of boiling down classic novels for modern audiences who are too busy/stupid to read the real thing. Orion was first off the blocks with its Compact Classics, which will appear in May - Anna Karenina, Vanity Fair, Moby-Dick, The Mill on the Floss, David Copperfield and Wives and Daughters, all reduced to not more than 400 pages for "less confident readers". Soon after come Bleak House, North and South, Middlemarch, Jane Eyre, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Portrait of a Lady, similarly straitjacketed."

You're abridging Middlemarch? Oh you fucking cretins.

You can read the whole (quite funny) article on the Guardian site, here.

Next up, a trio of very interesting links from the always good value Gromblog: the first might prove useful for any new bloggers out there (I know a few at the moment) who are looking to tie colours and images together to good effect on their ever-adapting blogger templates; it's a tool called Pic2color, which is "a very handy web design tool which lets you input the URL of an image and it'll return a colour palette for the image and produce the HEX number for the colours used". That's actually quite useful. Infuriating missing 'u', though, yeah... (via)

Secondly, the same blog has a link to 'A trip to North Korea', a site which details exactly that. Fascinating reading and worth a few minutes of your time. That's here, and here is a shared memory: JennyCide points to the youtube home of Snub TV, which seasoned indie-kids will remember as a fabulous late eighties televison programme.

"If you want to see old footage of many awesome bands from 1988-1989 then click and enjoy The Fall, New Order, Cocteau Twins, The KLF, Fugazi, Pixies, Manic Street Preachers (from the same time that the b*stard drummer stole my girlfriend, but that's another story) and Ultra Vivid Scene's version of 'Mercy Seat'. Even more clips here including Galaxie 500 - one of my all-time favourite bands for purely sentimental reasons."

Ah, I like Galaxie 500 too.

Here's that website that Alan Milburn and Charles Clarke have set up, the little scamps. I really hate Alan Milburn. I saw Stephen Byers on the TV tonight, as well. I hate him too.

OK, moving on, or moving East, rather, a bunch of other links which caught my attention this week:

The first is an interesting post from Jadi, who runs the fascinating Inside Iran blog. Jadi is truly the friend of open minded westerners who want to understand Iran, and spends a lot of time answering questions about his country. But he's most interesting when he's relating the kind of information we just don't get in the UK; and this entry on taxis in Iran is incredibly interesting:

We are at the destination now. Everybody says goodbye. I mention that if we want a change, WE should make it. Most of them agree. The driver says "We did a revolution 30 years ago and the KING left the country but these people became the new KINGS, yes! WE have to change".

Second link is related: I never got round to blogging about Rageh Omar's documentary about Iran, but I couldn't do it justice anyway - it was a brilliant, brilliant documentary, with taxi car chase scenes which rival the end of Blues Brothers, if you continuity. Anyway, you can watch it in its entirety here - do so, it's a lovely film.

Lastly, a link from another site which concentrates on the Middle East, but, in this instance - the link is unrelated; but still a good one. The Arabist points to a lovely science fiction short story on the New Yorker site - by Primo Levi, no less. Good stuff.

That lot should keep you occupied for a bit.