rebel sanctuary

Last weekend I journeyed into the Peak District with my father. We stayed for two nights in an extremely attractive apartment opposite Ladybower Reservoir. The apartment is in what used to be the headquarters of reservoir officials, now converted into luxury furnished accommodation available to rent or to buy:

On the Saturday morning we had a guided walk with Peak District park rangers. This lasted from 9.45 am until 2.30 pm and is highly recommended; there was a lot of interesting information given on the maintenance of the moorland, of the farm dwellings, fences, dry-stone walls and on the various fauna growing on the Peaks. For instance, we learnt that heather has a lifespan of around 60 years and that young heather is essential food for many animals, but that older heather is also necessary to provide nesting areas and shelter for grouse. In order to maintain a healthy mix of both young and old heather, patches are periodically marked out and burned allowing the plants to replenish.

Unfortunately it was extremely overcast and hazy for most of the weekend, resulting in bad light for taking photographs. The views, however, were still spectacular.

Starting out on the journey!

Sheep were commonplace throughout the walk. The two here are relaxing amongst the heather.

A tree overhanging the stream which Cut-throat bridge crosses. The bridge is named, logically enough, after a body of a man with his throat cut was found there in the 16th Century.

Views from the Peaks overlooking Ladybower Reservoir and the Derwent Valley.

Pausing for a rest!

Walking down towards Ladybower Reservoir. The three farm barns have been recently restored using traditional, locally-sourced materials.

Various animals and creatures can be seen on the banks of Ladybower Reservoir.

Our walk ended with a very welcome hot roast beef sandwich at Ladybower Inn.

In the afternoon we decided to visit the extremely picturesque village of Castleton. Our first port of call was the cavern named The Devil’s Arse.

The name ‘The Devil’s Arse’ originates from Anglo-Saxon times. Occasionally in wet weather the cavern (which is entirely natural) floods, and as the water recedes the suction through a large hole in the floor creates a loud flatulent noise.

Making our way to The Devil’s Arse.

The rocks around the mouth of the cavern show a great variety in colour.

The first chamber of the cavern housed a large rope-making business in the 17th and 18th Centuries. The equipment still stands today, and a couple of the small cottages that families in the business slept in have been excavated. The guided tour includes a demonstration of how the rope was made, and lengths of rope can be purchased from the shop.

With all the walking that we had done we did not feel like visiting Peveril Castle, which is on the edge of a cliff overlooking Castleton. We made our way back through the village, spying some ducks and stopping for a delicious cream tea.

The next day we took a brief stroll along Ladybower dam:

On the right is one of the reservoir’s giant ‘plugholes’.

Afterwards we took the car and drove back to Sheffield, stopping at Hook’s Car along the way. We were fortunate enough to see some paragliding - it looked to be tremendous fun!

A few of these photos were requested as wallpapers, so here are those larger versions:

I’ve been wishing to write a report on Comic-con ‘06 and travels in Italy, but unfortunately I have very few photos to accompany them - and the photos that I do have I didn’t take. Assuming that Alex and my father don’t mind, I’ll post the snapshots that I do have.

We arrived in San Diego on the evening of Wednesday 19th July. After booking into the Motel 6 which lay close to the airport (aeroplanes flew very low overhead, but fortunately the walls were well-insulated, and it was difficult to hear anything over the sound of the air conditioning anyway), we made our way to the convention centre in order to collect our passes.

The Motel 6

I’d advise anyone considering visiting the convention in the future to pre-register to avoid the enormous queues that form every morning. Whilst others were left standing outside in the heat for up to several hours, we were able to walk straight in. Collecting our passes was fortunately extremely simple and stress-free. Comic-con is a huge event; far larger than I’d anticipated. It’s impossible to convey the size and scale of the convention centre and the number of people who attend (over 100,000) unless you have actually been there yourself. Out of necessity the convention is extremely well organised - at no point during the five days that we attended was there any problem finding the booth or room we desired.

View from the roof of the convention centre

Next year I would certainly make more of an effort to attend the various panels that the convention organises and hosts. Numerous authors, actors, artists and game developers attend the convention, and the few panels that I did attend I really enjoyed.

The meeting place for my friends and I this year was the Penny Arcade booth, which coincidentally also happened to be on the edge of the food court, so there was plenty of space for us to gather.

On the Thursday and Friday we woke up early, ate breakfast and then walked the mile or so to the convention centre. San Diego was hot but our walk led us along the Pacific coast, where a pleasant sea breeze kept us cool. During the day we wandered round the convention centre, which was kept marvellously cold, visiting the various booths and speaking to some of the artists and authors around. There were many things to do; for example:

1. The Nintendo DS booth had several Lites loaded with upcoming games to try out. I tried my hand at Elite Beat Agents, which looks set to be just as good as Ouendan (although I must admit to preferring the Japanese pop songs over the two songs that have so far been announced for E.B.A.)
2. Quite a few upcoming films had interactive exhibits. Snakes on a Plane, for example, had a huge crafted snake’s head that you could walk through with models posing as flight attendants giving away badges and promotional materials.
3. Many online stores had representative booths in the convention centre, with various goods for sale. I was able to acquire some anime and games for much cheaper than can be found elsewhere.
4. Perhaps one of my favourite areas was the Small Press area. Here were many stalls run by self-published authors and artists. As they didn’t attract quite so many fans as the more famous authors and artists attending the convention they had more time to chat with the people who passed by, and were more willing to sign their books and maybe include a free drawing. One artist in particular, Daniel Cooney of Red Eye Press, was very friendly and I have some fabulous signed art prints of his.

I am trusting that Sarah won’t mind if I display her photos of the Snakes on a Plane exhibition here:

On the Friday I attended the web comic panel, which was dominated by Scott Kurtz of PVP fame. Of course Mike and Jerry of Penny Arcade were also in attendance. Scott Kurtz is an excellent public speaker.

On the Friday, after eating at Hooter’s, we held a party in our hotel room, which was eventually taken to the roof by request of the manager. This meant that unfortunately I missed the Snakes on a Plane panel in the evening (which was apparently very well attended - what else can you expect when Samuel L. Jackson is present?) and the Lost panel (accompanied by the actors who play Jin and Hurley) on the Saturday morning. A pity, but I didn’t regret getting to mingle with so many friends.

The convention closed at 5pm on Sunday 23rd July. The last hour is a great time to make a last dash around the centre; many items are being sold at ridiculously cheap prices as the sellers attempt to rid themselves of extraneous stock. A few of us also managed to attend the Neverwinter Nights 2 panel in the afternoon - it is looking extremely good and should run well even on a low-specification system. I was pleased to hear that, in comparison to the first game, the single player story is fully-realised and around 30 hours in length. I spoke very briefly to Feargus Urquhart who is a lovely man.

During the convention I met up with many people, all of whom were extremely friendly, courteous and fun to be around. I have a few snapshots of some of those people:

Kiyo and Andy, who shared the hotel room with me

Joe, Favvles and Alex, who also shared the hotel room with me

Nick, Marshall, and (left to right) Sarah (just out of view!), Nathan, Josh, Joe, Andy and Alex

The two Pauls and the second Alex

White Ninja Comics!

Limed for the Truth is now being hosted by Rebel Sanctuary (note that this is a delayed announcement!). It is a collective blog discussing many of the issues that arise in debate forums. I have yet to contribute anything myself (I am a little overawed by some of the articles that have been written) but you may find some interesting opinion pieces written there.

Meanwhile I am still debating the future of this site. Whilst I enjoy having webspace (it is especially useful for hosting images and organising my files and screenshots!) I feel I have nothing of any particular interest to offer to the internet at large. So far it has been little more than a personal repository. It transpires that most people search my site for anime screenshots, so I may endeavour to complete a few more reviews.