Looper very enjoyable... plot holes aside. Chiastic character development very well done. @BobEaglestone @theNHJ

My thoughts on DT Max's biography of DFW http://bit.ly/PPwxU1 #DFW #Literature

Hmmm. That sounded far dodgier than I intended. It was meant to sound a big dodgy, but still.

Re-reading some Russell Hoban for a session I'm running for A-Level students on Friday. Will definitely discuss "Unnatural practices, yes!"

Vicky Lebeau, Prof. of Lit. at Sussex, has said some nice things about @AlluviumJournal: now on our endorsements page! http://bit.ly/VaJKtJ

Resource: Open Monograph Press from the Public Knowledge Project - http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalHumanitiesNow/~3/gIut0MJLiec/

Iran's News Agency Picks Up Onion Story - http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/lJfouLmzrjQ/irans-news-agency-picks-up-onion-story

My "big questions" for the @GdnHigherEd live chat on university "mission groups". Where's the solidarity? http://bit.ly/S5AcRw

Rigging of Libor by banks should be a criminal offence, says FSA regulator - http://gu.com/p/3am96

Metallurgy - http://xkcd.com/1114/

Penguin sues authors over 'failing to deliver books' http://gu.com/p/3aymc

Woo! Yeah! Go Osborne. UK! UK! UK! Britain in the red by record £20.8bn http://gu.com/p/3ayjk

Nice coffee with @afrayn this morning, now on with book work!

US Military Designates Julian Assange an "Enemy of State" - http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/kKVO9IGRDO4/us-military-designates-julian-assange-an-enemy-of-state < did you donate at any time?

California Legalizes Self Driving Cars - http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/vX0ds6A6J64/california-legalizes-self-driving-cars

“@berfrois More on Open Access: http://www.berfrois.com/2012/08/peter-suber-opening-access-to-research/ @petersuber”

Trying to think how I can integrate Khan's citation of Milton in the original Star Trek into next week's seminar.

Written a response to the "How Open Is It?" doc.: some consideration of policies & exclusion via APCs would be good. http://bit.ly/S2n61J

“@HallyMk1 some questions on academic identity and the crisis http://www.richard-hall.org/2012/09/26/some-questions-on-academic-identity-and-the-crisis/” < as ever, from @HallyMk1, this is excellent, if grim.

Documentary: Gerhard Richter Painting - http://www.apieceofmonologue.com/2012/09/gerhard-richter-documentary-corinna-belz.html

Had an excellent time discussing monograph production and labour context with OAPEN-UK today. Thanks @carenmilloy and @ellenscollins.

Wonder how long it will be before advertisers insist on longer platform waits (fewer, less frequent trains) on the Tube to increase exposure

Heading to JISC OAPEN-UK meeting today, which should be good. Then will head back to bed to kill my germs, which won't.

Amy Bishop sentenced to life without parole for fatal shootings in university faculty meeting http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19708376

Microsoft Pollutes To Avoid Fines - http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/xFLYBoHbDDk/microsoft-pollutes-to-avoid-fines

"Kafka's novel was a warning, not a manual" http://gu.com/p/3aktb

“@briancroxall Looking for digital humanities projects in the field of philosophy. Tips?”

“@dancohen Speaking of responses to the AHA's open access statement, @micahvandegrift has a good one: http://micahvandegrift.posterous.com/dear-american-historical-association”

I definitely dispute some of the assertions (and assumptions) in that last retweet, but at least they're thinking about it seriously.

Announcement when just left: "this train is not in service. There should not be any passengers on this train." Nervous laughs. #traintweet

I survived the 6 hour teaching day, despite having no voice. 2 of the seminars I'd class as fantastic :P. I've turned them on to DFW!

I'm pleased to report that there's now a muted posthorn on my office door.

Mitt Romney and the myth of self-created millionaires http://gu.com/p/3ajm6

Talking of Plebs, here's the New College of the Humanities - http://plashingvole.blogspot.com/2012/09/talking-of-plebs-heres-new-college-of.html

Despite feeling pretty unwell, really enjoyed my teaching today. Engaged groups, Genre theory.

The digested read of the Edwina Currie diaries is fantastic! http://bit.ly/OVDjos

Just seen that I only have 8 students in my seminar this afternoon. If they all turn up.

Direct download page for Weird Council papers here: http://www.sas.ac.uk/support-research/events/videos-and-podcasts/cat/culture-language-literature (thanks, @NUCTutor)

Off to teach first seminars of term: on Genre Theory. Would feel start of term nerves, but feel too coldified to worry!

The internet in pieces http://gu.com/p/3aj3t

"In the time it takes me to write a covering letter for a job application, Mitt Romney makes $20,813.95" - http://www.romneymakes.com #romneymakes

We're doing "about literature" in week 1 of my 1st year course this term. They're getting some DFW to think about (post-)metafiction.

Wish I could skip weeks 1 & 2 of my Texts in Time course and skip straight to John Donne. I love teaching Donne's Holy Sonnets.

The terrible deaths that make us ask: should women serve on the frontline? http://gu.com/p/3athe/tw < why? Gender didn't determine outcome.

Judge in late abortion case linked to conservative Christian charity http://gu.com/p/3ateg/tw via @guardian

Just seen that I scored a consistent 4/5 on all aspects of teaching evaluation last term. That's alleviating the usual pre-term nerves a bit

On the Impurity of the Humanities and Critical University Studies http://bit.ly/Q4OiQM #OA

The drugs don't work: a modern medical scandal. On biases in published academic lit. http://gu.com/p/3ag4c/tw via @guardian

“Keeping it real” on the academic job market: Harvard & Colorado State by @qui_oui - http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SpeculativeDiction/~3/ywlStVOdLPg/

Budapest Open Access Initiative Launches New Recommendations for the Next 10 Years of Open Access - https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/09/BOAI-10th-anniversary-new-recommendations

The Only Way is Lemsip

Permission has been gained, from my colleague with whom I share an office, to put a Pynchon muted posthorn on the door. Excellent.

I usually avoid tweeting #ff, for fear of offensively excluding interesting, likable people. Just check my following list :)

Oh dear. Hadn't seen that re Guardian.

I wonder when (or *if*) the HSS (particularly the "H") are going to even acknowledge that OA is necessarily coming?

There's a meeting about the RCUK OA provisions next Thursday. Well, I say RCUK, but it's "SciComm" and no AHRC mention http://bit.ly/QqVWlL

This was Nick Clegg's chance to save his skin. He failed. http://gu.com/p/3ahpv

Tory treasurer wants UK to become more like a tax haven - http://gu.com/p/3ahzq

Would love to stick around to hear Maud Ellman this evening at Sussex. Just too tired and coldified though :(

Have you just arrived at Sussex University? - http://gu.com/p/3af3h

Why Philip Roth needs a secondary source - http://gu.com/p/3agkb < there's also a digital preservation story in here

Ace piece on the Guardian about #mieville2012: The weird deserves recognition as a major literary movement - http://gu.com/p/3ah6z

Gove's new exam-based qualification sets us back 30 years by @NUCTutor  - http://nuctutor.blogspot.com/2012/09/goves-new-exam-based-qualification-sets.html

Now this is a good start to term at Sussex!

Apple's Secret Plan To Join iPhones With Airport Security - http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/S8oaroKsGWc/apples-secret-plan-to-join-iphones-with-airport-security

Paper for Pynchon panel at @contemporaryfic going well; I love it when, after a day of not-so-fun teaching prep, I can sit down & write.

"I don't think a gun ... would have helped us ... having a gun could make an officer feel over-confident." http://bbc.in/QZ0xhu

University Requires Students To Pay $180 For 'Art History' Text That Has No Photos Due To Copyright Problems http://bit.ly/U5l7Q6

Turns out the "e" in Apple stands for "empathy". The "a" and "p" must stand for "always" "pay". http://bit.ly/NB6Dju

An apology: I'm sorry for acting in opposition to my promise. Clegg: I'm not sorry about how I acted, I'm sorry I promised the opposite.

Nick Clegg: I will never again commit myself to a "policy" -- it only ever leads to trouble.

Lonely in freshers week? You're not the only one http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/sep/19/lonely-in-freshers-week

Halfwit Tebbit calling for death penalty reinstatement again. Much evidence to suggest no deterrent effect. http://bit.ly/b46Qbg

Best summary line on a Paradise Lost website of Book 2, lines 988-1009: "Satan asks for directions".

Feds Add 9 Felony Charges Against Swartz For JSTOR Hack - http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/tboP9WhF7nQ/feds-add-9-felony-charges-against-swartz-for-jstor-hack

Having my own transit of Venus now. The start of term appears but a speck passing in front of the massive sore throat I've contracted.

Conference paper: ‘Opening children’s eyes’: Overloaded Forms and the Didactic Function (Westminster University) http://bit.ly/Ob6WIa

Just about to go off now, but wanted to say hi to #ecrbook! I've been proposaling this week as well as structurally tweaking.

Many happy looking new students at Sussex today. Those behind the desk at the Conservative society didn't look so pleased, but hey.

“@ahrcpress New appointment to the Arts and Humanities Research Council http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News-and-Events/News/Pages/New-appointment-to-the-Arts-and-Humanities-Research-Council---.aspx”

“@cr_daley Complete schedule for research seminars now online. Featuring @martin_eve, @leggetti, Zara Dinnen and me! http://seminarserieswmin.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/this-semesters-schedule/”

[REMINDER] International Pynchon Week 2013: 5-8 August 2013 - http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/47906

New IE Zero-Day Being Exploited In the Wild - http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/Hs211z6BuQE/new-ie-zero-day-being-exploited-in-the-wild

Mitt Romney stands by gaffe in which he said that 47% of Americans don't pay tax and are government dependent http://gu.com/p/3affa

Read 2.5 books, job app, sent #ecrbook proposal to external for comment, written conf abstract, planned teaching #ecrchat #goodday

Item added to todo list, crucial for all those about to begin a term/semester: "acquire" board marker pen.

I'd missed this in Feb., but too good not to share. The odious Gina Rinehart pens "universe's worst poem" http://bit.ly/yxEvuk

Unemployed deliberately held in call centre queues to promote website http://gu.com/p/3aejj

I can defer reading Christopher Ricks on Paradise Lost no longer. Term heaves into view.

"Impugned by a Peasant" is also very fine! (especially for Death In Venice fans) http://bit.ly/PvWKou

Those yet to encounter the writings of Mr. Frank Key could do worse than to read "Meetings with Remarkable Owls" http://bit.ly/PvWh5S

Any recommended starting points for César Aira?

Weird Council: The first international conference on the works of China Miéville #mieville2012 (storify) http://bit.ly/Po8vyO

Scaling governmentality: Museums, co-production and re-calibrations of the ‘logic of culture’ (2012) - http://foucaultnews.com/2012/09/16/scaling-governmentality/

Just had the most wonderful post-PhD party. Such a nice evening with great people.

There's an Althusser joke in Un Lun Dun! #mieville2012

X11 Window System Turns 25 Years Old - http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/MfCxiVzkyng/x11-window-system-turns-25-years-old

And now, the man himself! China Mieville! @TheProfRog thanking @the_blochian and @contemporaryfic for their ace organisation! #mieville2012

Rieder reframes his critique of Suvin in a generous way; an attempt to include his valued objects #mieville2012

I guess, in line with grammar and linguistics, we could call these descriptive and prescriptive genre theories. #mieville2012

Texts use genres. Agency is central, says Rieder. #mieville2012

Truth and authority are the crucial aspects of constructed genre upon which genre theory should focus, says Rieder #mieville2012

Genres are historical, mutable constructions - entwined with social - says Rieder. Stakes much greater this way. #mieville2012

Problem is that genre theory trivialises own stakes as "science of forms". Rieder saying it's about more than categorisation #mieville2012

“@damiengwalter Darko Suvin is taking a beating here. #mieville2012”

Rieder not going down traditional critique of Suvin's identification of SF, but rather at what is at stake in genre theory #mieville2012

Last in this panel, before China Mieville himself, is John Rieder on the stakes in genre theory. #mieville2012

Mieville subverts quest narratives, says Williams. Linked to undermining ideological structures. #mieville2012

Williams looking at salvage, linking back to opening keynote - not re-, or nostalgia #mieville2012

Williams outlining model of cognition as process-based. Aligning with Suvin's model. #mieville2012

Conventions for Bas-Lag novels set in first and generic expectations established. Iron Council defies these and is "punished" #mieville2012

Sangster now showing Peake as correlate for trilogy and satisfaction drop off. #mieville2012

Sangster re-sorting various GoodReads stats and giving interpretations of data and reasons for ratings/adds (eg trilogy) #mieville2012

Sangster cites the awesome xkcd on star ratings. He's giving an analysis of GoodReads. #mieville2012

Argh. I'm having Twitter problems now.

Last panel before China Mieville speaks. Genres. Matthew Sangster on generic expectations in Iron Council. #mieville2012

Interesting critique of that ethical/moralising divide there from @effjayem #mieville2012

"You'll never unsee again", Ashil's statement in C&C, purports to give unmediated view; we know is impossible says Easterbrook #mieville2012

“@MarkKohut “@jimmy_wales Attention journalists: worth reading. Philip Roth and Wikipedia. http://ow.ly/dJHDg”” < read this

Easterbrook says point of this conference is so he can steal our ideas! Ha ha! Seriously, though: no. Ha! #mieville2012

Mieville has deep commitment to equality. Marxism emerges as social, rather than economic. Politics as ethics. #mieville2012

Mieville's work is not dogmatic or politically didactic says Easterbrook #mieville2012

Mieville shows collapse of bodies from private to public domains, says Easterbrook #mieville2012

"body without organs" #deleuzebingo #mieville2012

Last in this panel is Neil Easterbrook, paper read by Sherryl Vint, on Mieville and the body of ethics #mieville2012

“@jasonHoyt Knowledge cartels. Boom http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2012/09/the-battle-for-open-access/”

Most of my "knowledge" of Robin Hood is mediated through Disney. Thus this paper is causing me mental strain. #mieville2012

More De Certeau being brought out by Noone - discourse invested with authority #mieville2012

Now Kristin Noone is on, speaking on Robin Hood and Mieville #mieville2012

Haug showing us Lovecraft's combinatorial teratology in Call of Cthulu. #mieville2012

Haug managed to sneak one of those "bad taxidermy" meme pics into his presentation! #mieville2012

One of the monsters Haug is showing us! #mieville2012

“@DrMobs Wow, @martin_eve . Are there people there that actually answer "What do you do?" with "I'm a combinatorial teratologist." ?”

Haug approaching Mieville through Borges - combinatorial approach to monsters. #mieville2012

Haug speaks of thrill and disjunctive combinations in the monster #mieville2012

Teratology: the study of monsters! #mieville2012

Hallvard Haug up first in the "bodies" panel - combinatorial teratology. Not as theoretical as it sounds! #mieville2012

Some pretty rigorous interrogation of Sanders' genealogy going on in the Q&A. #mieville2012

Sanders: Children's fantasy part of broader arbitrary social separation of childhood and adulthood. It fetishes the boundary #mieville2012

Sanders' paper is truly hilarious, by the way! Thoroughly entertaining! #mieville2012

Sanders now invoking @neilhimself's Graveyard Book in his history of child separation in children's fantasy #mieville2012

Arbitrariness of rules at end of His Dark Materials retained; "it sort of thinks it should", says Sanders, paraphrasing Deeba #mieville2012

Ha ha, now Pullman. #iamaprophet #mieville2012

Oh yep, there's "everyone's favourite punching bag": Narnia. #mieville2012

Sanders: Familiar move of tragic child return to mundane world having gained power in magical realm (Narnia, Pullman?) #mieville2012

Now Joe Sutcliffe Saunders on children's fantasy form and Mieville #mieville2012

MacNeil: Iron Council shows repetition & difference of utopian systems rather than assigning static identity to moving concept #mieville2012

MacNeil now bringing Massumi on movement and prior inhibition into contact with Iron Council #mieville2012

*failure of (in last tweet, not failure or) #mieville2012

MacNeil says that, for Mieville, revolution is unrepresentable. The revolution will not be represented. #mieville2012

Failure or collective and of other utopian impulses in Iron Council should not be surprising, says MacNeil... #mieville2012

In fact, more Deleuzian terms emerging in this paper than I can tweet: lines of flight, difference and repetition... #mieville2012

MacNeil articulating a revolutionary mode similar to Deleuze and Guattarri's rhizomatic assemblage #mieville2012

Resonance with Lenin's image of revolutionary as mountaineer at start of Iron Council, says MacNeil. #mieville2012

“@MinxMarple the tweetstream emanating from #mieville2012 is electric.”

Gordon McNeil kicks off the afternoon starting with Jameson on enslaved utopias #mieville2012

Polysemic term Breach as interstitial and abstracted location occupied by authority, among other readings #mieville2012

“@damiengwalter theory of genre here which could describe all fantastic genres as approaches to the idea of the 4th dimension” #mieville2012

Blacklock says that Lovecraft does a nifty linguistic dodge by fusing multiple incongruent Euclidean structures #mieville2012

Ballard of course, also. #mieville2012

Blacklock tracing history of higher space fiction; Conrad, Hueffer, Lovecraft. Let me also plug Pynchon's Against the Day. #mieville2012

Mieville's "manchmal" from Germany "sometimes". Mieville re-purposes to describe lived space in Embassytown #mieville2012

Cubist & Futurist multiple perspectives, & influence from non-Euclidean geometry, also relevant for Mieville, says Blacklock #mieville2012

Mieville's use of term "aether" in PSS links directly to 19C theories of science and light transmission, says Blacklock #mieville2012

Blacklock usually gives us excellent stuff on mind-bending 4th dimensional topography. Today looks to be no exception. #mieville2012

Now Mark Blacklock is up! Continues riffing on @theprofrog's keynote! #mieville2012

Awesome feedback cycle. Ab-sonics indeed. @contemporaryfic #mieville2012

Williams looking at ab-surd in Embassytown; rational numbers, voicings and ab-. #mieville2012

Ab-natural in Embassytown takes form of alt-realities such as Immer #mieville2012

Note to those wanting to do Skype conference papers. Might be better to pre-record then do live Q&A.

Mieville's ab-natural can be retroactively applied to his canon, says Williams #mieville2012

Mark Williams will be talking about ab-natural resources. Skype connection a little flaky but not bad. #mieville2012

Owen Hatherley, the panel's chair has now arrived now... And Skype is working for Mark P. Williams. #mieville2012

Maps are not institutionalised in PSS; not a tool of power says Zahringer. Contrast with Pynchon's Mason & Dixon, says Eve. #mieville2012

“@MsAMR25 This is brilliant :) The David Foster Wallace Endnote Generator http://hudsonhongo.com/dfw/ thanks @sarahemilyduff”

Difference between immanent walker & map-reading voyeur; tour vs map. Map in PSS just 1 perspective & "useless" says Zahringer #mieville2012

"The map is not the territory" #mieville2012 #mapbingo

Perdido Street Station presents itself as a mediation on cartography, says Zahringer. #mieville2012

Isn't Language in Embassytown a little problematic: how can the hosts conceive of what they want to stage beforehand? #mieville2012

I wonder if Vint's term fractal is problematic? She doesn't seem to be implying infinite recursion... #mieville2012

Utopian trace. Now @the_blochian will be pleased. #mieville2012

Abrealism multiplies, fractally, our understanding of the real and realism, says Vint. #mieville2012

Mimetic realism never enough to capture reality, says Vint. Adorno on objects, concepts and remainders in ND? #mieville2012

To answer own question, seems to be something to do with fractal narrative logic, says Vint. #mieville2012

Moles have been mentioned. @galoot will be pleased. #mieville2012

Not sure how this ab-realist formation differs from DFW's ONAN in IJ, or Pynchon's alternate histories... #mieville2012

Vint classifies Mieville as an ab-realist. Fuses utopianism with sub-capitalist estrangement. #mieville2012

Mieville's work not mimetic and spurns realist tradition says Vint, questioning Suvin. #mieville2012

Sherryl Vint up first today on metaphor and language in Mieville's work #mieville2012

A quick warning to all that I'll be posting again today on the #mieville2012 conference. If that's not your cup of tea, mute in your client.

I made a small tech contribution and am also hosting it :) http://www.russellhoban.org/about

Other exciting news today: the new Russell Hoban website is live! Many thanks to @thoughtcat for doing all the work! http://www.russellhoban.org

Afraid I scarpered from #mieville2012 a little early, crying off with various tasks to do. Great day, though!

Lang doesn't have time to explore connotations of term "Ambassadors" in Embassytown, but I'm curious! #mieville2012

Colonial structure underpinning International Law, says Lang - definitely works for Embassytown #mieville2012

International Law doesn't always work, says Lang, and Embassytown is emblematic: EzRa as intervention? #mieville2012

Enforcement is a problem in International Law, says Lang. Breach in City&City could be lawyers' fantasy. #mieville2012

Anthony Lang now speaking on international law in Mieville's work. His 12-year-old kid thinks it's cool he's speaking! #mieville2012

Cautionary Ghost - http://xkcd.com/1108/

Why WikiLeaks' Spinoff OpenLeaks Failed - http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/AHfJFJyDxSY/why-wikileaks-spinoff-openleaks-failed

McNeil says that diegetetic structuring of Iron Council is pre-Adorno's missed moment. Optimism, not philosophy, lives on? #mieville2012

Lots of Modernist anchors at #mieville2012 today; definitely one for David James' project of Contemporary-Modernist interlink #mieville2012

Revolution is always untimely, says McNeil, but Iron Council re-inscribes importance of historical agency #mieville2012

McNeil quoting the excellent Fire Alarm for a historical materialism sensitive to magical cultures #mieville2012

Dougal McNeil is talking at the moment on Iron Council and revolution. #mieville2012

A great conversation with @19thC4d gave me a great idea for one of my Chaucer sessions this term. They're now getting some Riddley Walker.

Korsika looking at historical examples of scapegoats for abstract crisis of capital - Nazism and anti-Semitism #mieville2012

Korsika using examples of abstraction from King Rat then moves to Breach on emancipatory projects. #mieville2012

Marx's critique of economic policy goes back to abstract categories, like commodity form, says Korsika #mieville2012

Anej Korsika (really this time) on abstractions and Mieville. Kicks off with Hegel and logics historical immanence. #mieville2012

“@Phil_Baty Figures reveal huge drop in students starting university http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=421152#.UFNCg0TtJzI.twitter via @timeshighered”

Colebrook looking only at short story, "Looking for Jake" #mieville2012

Now Martyn Colebrook is on, talking about Mieville's "New World Entropy" #mieville2012

Idea of uncanny valley, while riffing on the theme, might work with the autom in Embassytown #mieville2012

Butler shows interesting framing of the law in City&City - ideas of externality especially considering Breach #mieville2012

Most of active police characters in City&City are male. Most victims are female, points out Butler. Agency? #mieville2012

Butler on police function. Reminds me of Foucault's description: dual function of repression & creation of productive subject #mieville2012

(on that, see also Tom McCarthy's C) #mieville2012

Butler points out that Ul Quoma associated with wolf. Mentioned Derrida... But given context, what about Freud's Wolf Man? #mieville2012

Butler citing Freud on the Uncanny: horror, dread, undefinability. Often used badly so term itself is uncanny. #mieville2012

Andrew Butler now, on Mieville's uncanny cities - terminology conflicts somewhat with @theprofrog's keynote... #mieville2012

My apologies... It's Clare Wall speaking now, but on the topic I said #mieville2012

Now on to Anej Korsika on Peake and Mieville, looking at the living city #mieville2012

Just noticed that we have a paper being delivered over Skype tomorrow at #mieville2012. #whatcouldpossiblygowrong #tech

A quick recommendation for all at #mieville2012 who also like/are curious in Schulz: read David Grossman's See Under: Love. Incredible.

Robert Duggan now speaking on The City & The City in relation to Bruno Scholz. #mieville2012

Scholz talking on our complicity and self-recognition as monsters. I'm thinking of Borlu joining Breach - coerced complicity #mieville2012

(says Scholz - re last tweet) #mieville2012

Mieville inverts Lovecraft's "weird" - can side with monsters, against Lovecraft's ingrained social anxieties (miscegeny etc) #mieville2012

Weird fiction, says Scholz, is always a representation of war and its monsters have always been so #mieville2012

“@epiktistes When I teach it, I hope my students will see it in their own small college-dominated city.” #mieville2012

Christina Scholz now up to speak on Mieville's re-working of "weird" and Lovecraft #mieville2012

I agree with March-Russell that straight allegory of Jerusalem isn't good enough - explicitly spurned by text. #mieville2012

Metafictional aspects of City & the City are done with light touch, says March-Russell. I'm not so sure; intra-dietetic book.. #mieville2012

In Mieville, invisibility instrument of state power, says March-Russell. Worth contrasting w/ Sam Thomas' Pynchon & Political #mieville2012

Language pre-determining consciousness also applicable to notions of unseeing in The City & The City, says March-Russell #mieville2012

Paul March-Russell on now, speaking on invisibility in Mieville #mieville2012

The cloud. You mean: distributed networks of always-on servers? Or "the internet", as we call it? #mieville2012

I haven't read their book, but I'm not taken with their theorisation of the cloud, mostly because I think the term meaningless #mieville2012

Lockwood now on to McCarthy's C. History of communications tech in telegraphy. #mieville2012

Interesting to consider how various theories of historical employment interact w/ notion of contemporary reality proposed here #mieville2012

Cole explication Deleuze on language - impersonality #mieville2012

“@thecityhermit So does translation sometimes require bodily transformation? #mieville2012” < Embassytown implies so

Cole kicks off with Nietzsche - our world as a fiction. Transient, truth is passing. #mieville2012

Finally in this panel we have Rob Cole and Dean Lockwood on reading as fabulatory infection. We have Deleuze. #mieville2012

Mieville does not offer us a utopian vision of multiculturalism, says Pont, but rather a querying of the challenges therein. #mieville2012

Names notably absent thus far from language panel (bingo?): Wittgenstein, Austin and Habermas. #mieville2012

Pont quotes Kraken with the "shit title" Ph.D. thesis... But, apparently, it's untranslatable into French #mieville2012

Pont is looking at historical parallels with the outlawing of Catalan alongside Iron Council. Communication breakdown. #ledzep #mieville2012

Xavier Marco del Pont, my fellow Pynchonite, is up now looking at language and communication #mieville2012

Question in the novel, says Bassett, relates to persistence of identity. Which forms of identity can persist? #mieville2012

My question so far, given Bassett's signposting, is how Erhsul's pre-use of language is dissembling: multiple "best friends"? #mieville2012

Mieville has argued that SF can't be judged by its import of "real" science, so shouldn't it hold for linguistics asks Bassett #mieville2012

Bassett points out that we need to know how seriously we should take sociolinguistic formations in these novels. #mieville2012

Bassett asks which 'Ricoeur' is being referred to. I'd phrase it as: which Ricoeur does the text interpellate. #mieville2012

Shift in Embassytown is towards Paul Ricoeur's mode of metaphor says Bassett #mieville2012

Caroline Bassett, my Sussex colleague, is up now, looking at the autom in Embassytown. #mieville2012

Salvage as an anti-nostalgic operation. #mieville2012

Luckhurst now ending his jokey, yet serious, keynote with Benjamin's "octopus of history". #mieville2012

Hmmm. Luckhurst says octopi is wrong plural. Not true. Octopuses and octopi both acceptable as far as I know. #mieville2012

Slide reading "insert obligatory quotation from Bruno LaTour on hybrid objects here". Then we get Pynchon's octopus Grigori! #mieville2012

Luckhurst's fictional konvolut places Freud under erasure. Precisely not this. #mieville2012

"Sometimes, novels are actually footnotes to pre-existent scholarship, reversing the usual order of things" #mieville2012

Now @theprofrog is veering toward Lovecraft as reference point #mieville2012

Yashmeen Halfcourt in Pynchon's Against the Day also works on the Riemann hypothesis. No knitting involved, though. #mieville2012

I bet @19thc4d is pretty pleased with this opening plenary ;) #mieville2012

That earlier tweet should have been Benjamin's fetishised archive, not his fetishism archive! #mieville2012

Claims there's 4th dimensional text in Arcades Proj. I feel @TheProfRog may be making a point with humour #academicconference #mieville2012

Walter Benjamin's fetishism archive is Luckhurst's starting point #mieville2012

A Pynchon joke in first sentence! #mieville2012

Roger Luckhurst up first at #mieville2012

Phew. Finished EmbassyTown with 15 mins to spare!

re. that last RT, but surely the CC-BY license means that deposit is possible anyway, even without that clause.... cc. @brembs

Are you paying attention? On capital's normalisation of fiscal returns in HE, by @HallyMk1 http://bit.ly/P751k4

Right. I've found time to get through King Rat and The City & The City and reckon I can jam one more in before #mieville2012. Embassytown?

....another piece of mine just out on the LSE Impact blog: we need terminology to distinguish between OA funding models http://bit.ly/Qe72gE

Amusing Quora question: "Why is there this belief that the USA is a conservative country?" NB 'this belief' phrasing http://b.qr.ae/Sf1WgS

Relativize and Historicize: Open Access, Article Processing Charges and Transparency http://bit.ly/RNMNT8 #OA

My piece on the value of edited book collections is now on the LSE Impact Blog, by the way! http://bit.ly/OVTqo8

I left a few important questions for a new OA Journal startup. If you charge APCs, I expect reviewers to receive fees. http://bit.ly/QGmGkq

Boris Johnson is no laughing matter | Suzanne Moore http://gu.com/p/3acph/tw via @guardian

Spent a long time reworking #ecrbook proposal today for specific publisher. Preliminary inquiry: they've just commissioned in my area. #damn

Is interviewing playwrights always a good idea? http://gu.com/p/3ache/tw via @guardian

Squatters reopen Friern Barnet library after council closes service http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/sep/11/squatters-reopen-friern-barnet-library

Good piece on hysterical anti-Union discourse http://gu.com/p/3ac4g

Sports Cheat Sheet - http://xkcd.com/1107/

Sadly I won't make the Thursday wine reception opening of the China Miéville conference (with @Gylphi), but looking forward to the rest!

"Week 2: Gravity's Rainbow". Somebody is getting a laugh out of syllabus design, at least.

Amid all the viva fun yesterday, my piece came out for @GdnHigherEd on philanthropy, in case you haven't read it yet... http://bit.ly/THVi6V

The Viva http://bit.ly/QHR1M7 #academia #PhDchat

Exam board 'pressed by Ofqual to alter GCSE grades' - http://gu.com/p/3ab8v < yet ofqual conducted inquiry into this...

Today is all about further work on #ecrbook proposal #ecrchat

I think it's probably pretentious to put my new title in my Twitter name field, but that's tough. I'm going to be pretentious for a bit.

... And also, massive congratulations to @DaintyBallerina, who also aced the Ph.D. today!

For those who know their Joe Orton, one of my FB congratulations read: "well done, Dr. Rance". The sane appear as mad to the insane.

“@chriskeene @martin_eve well well well. At last. Dr Evil. Shit. Eve. I meant Eve.”

Ph.D. viva: done. Straight pass, no corrections! Call me Dr. Eve! #phdchat #ecrchat

By the time you read this, I will be... http://bit.ly/SxyVTT #ecrchat #PhDchat

Karl Popper, the enemy of certainty, part 1: a rejection of empiricism http://gu.com/p/3a9ke

TUC backs public sector strikes over pay - http://gu.com/p/3aam8

Sussex cafe playing Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "Relax" #thanksforthat

Mieville and the monstrous by @19thC4d - http://kulchermulcher.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/mieville-and-the-monstrous/

“@HallyMk1 @martin_eve is today the day, buddy? If so you know the rules, IMPACT LOLS! ;-) Good luck.”

I just voted for @DrTomCrick's blog in the "Wales Blog Awards". You should too! http://bit.ly/Qedf9K

“@spencro Damning with faint praise - "not entirely unsuccessful": Cloud Atlas - review | Film | http://guardian.co.uk http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/sep/09/cloud-atlas-review-toronto”

MT @VC_UEL: Watching Paralympics Closing Ceremony tonight mostly ̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶e̶a̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶o̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶ to assess the mood of UK to AtoS.

“@berniefolan What role will Academic Libraries play in moving towards an open access future? http://bit.ly/OZA6WW”

“@melissaterras THIS RT @jjn1 Blog post: Why public universities matter http://tinyurl.com/9b38ywp”

Found this sneaky Leftfield remix of which I was previously unaware. It's powering my energised reading/prep today. http://bit.ly/UC1P2u

"[We] agree [...] that physical reality is all [...] but [...] have different levels of optimism about [...] science." http://bit.ly/QrUUdt

Right. Spent last hour writing induction document for tomorrow's new workshop tutors at Sussex. Rest of the day is final viva prep.

Gerald Howard, first editor for both DFW and BEE, on the spat: http://bit.ly/TwskGX

Violation of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle - http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/3D8QGbzLibo/violation-of-heisenbergs-uncertainty-principle

Maeve Binchy on meeting Samuel Beckett - http://www.apieceofmonologue.com/2012/09/maeve-binchy-interview-samuel-beckett.html

Where to Find The Best CFP by @MsFloraPoste - http://florapostewrites.wordpress.com/2012/09/08/where-to-find-the-best-cfp/

What will the Humanities do Post-Finch? (or: where are the OA venues?) http://bit.ly/QoeA1V #AHRC #Finch #OA

Making an index of annotations to my thesis so that I can quickly reference in viva if needed.

I've chipped for a huge newspaper ad to tell @Jeremy_Hunt he's under close observation! #SaveOurNHS http://38d.gs/huntNHS @38_Degrees

“@Ajprescott Pale Fire recreated as John Shade's index cards: http://bit.ly/ePf72t #dhcshef”

It’s Official: The Ubuntu LiveCD is Dead - http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/d0od/~3/A56fWOgif1k/its-official-the-ubuntu-livecd-is-dead

SwiftKey just suggested "Kanye" for "Kant". I don't rate Kanye's Critique of Pure Reason.

Governmentality and State Theory: Reinventing the Reinvented Wheel? (2012) - http://foucaultnews.com/2012/09/08/governmentality-and-state-theory-reinventing-the-reinvented-wheel-2012/

Internet Brands Sues People For Forking Under CC BY-SA - http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/rg-nCheQO7A/internet-brands-sues-people-for-forking-under-cc-by-sa

Interestingly, my supervisor is internal examiner on ANOTHER Pynchon Ph.D. on the same day. No pressure/competition then.

Travelled down to Sussex for viva pep-talk with supervisor. Lovely meetups with @lizith, @jharvell, @chriskeene and @SFD85.

“@LSEImpactBlog Today's Post from @martin_eve: The undervalued book collection and peer review http://bit.ly/NY0vCc”

“@socscispace Why Open Access will Stifle Innovation: Blog by Robert Dingwall http://ow.ly/dx557 #socsci #HE #OA” < totally disagree

Damn. Missed Brighton train by 30 seconds. 1/2 hour wait.

NHS pay cuts will lead to exodus of health workers, say nurses - http://gu.com/p/3a99a

“@greenlitcrit The DFW biography apparently reveals his work was influenced by his life experience. What a surprise.”

Those thinking about different career paths might want to watch @rewalls' blog Researcher Transitions http://bit.ly/Nes8v0 #ecrchat #phdchat

“@mannymadriaga The Paralympic Legacy - A New Dawn or a False Dawn for Disabled People? http://wp.me/ptoDk-bW ” < excellent piece

“@natematias @martin_eve Clearly, to qualify for the title "digital humanities,' you have to snark about digital humanities on twitter ;-)”

Any of the Sussex cohort around between 12-2 tomorrow? I'll be down for a bit... @SarahR_H @lizith @jharvell

Bret Easton Ellis launches broadside against David Foster Wallace (to which no sensible person should give credence) http://gu.com/p/3a8nt

The Daily Express begins realising those fears I RTed about paralympic backlash a week or so ago. Via @frances__ryan http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/344254/The-Paralympics-show-up-a-corrupt-benefits-system

Conference Panel: Pynchon Now (Contemporary Fiction Research Seminar) http://bit.ly/Uun2LO #academia #Literature #Pynchon

Can't receive emails from Hotmail: fixing their buggy DNS process http://bit.ly/PL1VRS #DNS #Google_Apps #Microsoft

Astrid and Producteev http://bit.ly/UtAfnV #GTD #Productivity

Twitter just discontinued support for Atom and RSS in their API: https://dev.twitter.com/docs/api/1.1/overview

New Pet Shop Boys album is pretty enjoyable. http://bit.ly/NQqLOE

“@GuardianEdu “@gdnstudents Students base choice of university on prestige http://gu.com/p/3a86t/tw via @guardian”” < who'd have thought it?!

Sighberspace by @PlashingVole - http://plashingvole.blogspot.com/2012/09/sighberspace.html

There is a plus side to that 1992 naive article from the Sun. They didn't conflated the Internet and the Web.

Peter Bazalgette and Maria Miller face the arts at a crossroads - http://gu.com/p/3a7md

Right. Off to interview clinicians for Arthritis Research UK funding panel.

Just uploaded Orbit metadata into DOAJ, so filtering down to SFX library catalogues in not-too-distant-future.

Keeping up with Research (in response to @PlashingVole) http://bit.ly/RK1vdX #academia #ecrchat #Literature

Playing email whack-a-mole.

I signed a letter to @Jeremy_Hunt telling him why I love the NHS. Sign the @38_degrees letter http://38d.gs/huntletter #saveourNHS

Updated my post on Pynchon, Marx and racism with input from @Julian1649, @dannysuma and @epiktistes. Thanks all. http://bit.ly/Q2D78D

Sussex Police are harassing protesters by visiting their homes and grilling demonstrators http://bit.ly/OP2zgz http://bit.ly/Q2C5JJ

"Karl Marx, that sly old racist" http://bit.ly/NJCkgF #academia #Literature #Marx

“@SaneandAble The Sun reporting on 'The Internet' in the 90's. http://p.twimg.com/A176VdFCcAA5bGc.jpg” < amazing!

The Final Week http://bit.ly/RCdxdA #PhD #PhDchat #viva

Gove stays. You lucky lucky people. Sigh.

Seems that Salem publishers have cancelled the contracted DFW book.

These angry Tories can't see what 'no alternative' means http://gu.com/p/3a6pe

If you're broadcasting the paper.li "The Daily 'whogivesatoss' is out" stuff, could you please stop now? Thank you.

It's regularly skewed in my discipline, but this is more than usual/I'm used to.

Odd gender imbalance in my teaching this year. Judging from names, I have no more than 3 males in any class. 2 more common. Class size 14-16

Conference on China Miéville: Weird Council http://bit.ly/NLRWtZ #academia #China_Miéville #Conference

Big worry for contemporary sousveillance practice if the tech gets locked down http://bit.ly/Q4UQOF

Frustrating when publications like the LRB don't get things right, digitally http://bit.ly/RdnpWs

I have to confess, I've never seen "The Thick of It". @liannedemello has lent me boxset. Am I going to like it? (or is it like The Office?)

“@RhysTranter Audio: Michel Foucault: Free Lectures on Truth, Discourse & The Self http://www.apieceofmonologue.com/2012/09/michel-foucault-audio-lectures-truth-discourse-self.html#.UETAJhpMyWs.twitter”

David Davis tells Cameron: impose cuts faster - http://gu.com/p/3a6h5 < today was going so well and all

Tour de la Gym complete, despite my use of [prescription!] performance reducing drugs.

Introducing Qubes 1.0! - http://theinvisiblethings.blogspot.com/2012/09/introducing-qubes-10.html

Alluvium journal, issue 4, is now out! http://bit.ly/LiaL7I @alluviumjournal

“@amcgettigan New College of Humanities Ltd becomes Tertiary Education Services Ltd and vice versa http://andrewmcgettigan.org/2012/09/01/nch-new-company-structure/”

Quibbling with the LRB over "Hackers" http://bit.ly/O68cvG #InfoSec #LRB

Torvalds Takes Issue With De Icaza's Linux Desktop Claims - http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/FQqHetuQdlw/torvalds-takes-issue-with-de-icazas-linux-desktop-claims

On fetishised MOOCs and the neoliberal cooption of network power structures. Great read by @HallyMk1 http://www.richard-hall.org/2012/09/02/networks-the-rate-of-profit-and-institutionalising-moocs/ #mooc #lovehe

Re-Decentralizing the Web http://bit.ly/RAcy9z #Hardt #Negri #Technology

Professor John Tulloch (also a 7/7 survivor) faces deportation from Britain. Totally ridiculous. http://bit.ly/RzhHTn

Residents at R.D. Laing's anti-psychiatry centre recall their experiences. http://bit.ly/OHIIzT

Website re-design (in my revisions breaks) looking pretty good to me! Thoughts welcome. http://bit.ly/laCp5R cc. @the_blochian

Publication: ‘Whose line is it anyway?: enlightenment, revolution, and ipseic ethics in the works of Thomas Pynchon’, http://bit.ly/NFcM4h

David Cameron prepares economic growth plan http://bbc.in/PAB2QD < oh dear. We're in trouble.

For a minute there, I wondered if Twitter was broken. Then I remembered that it's 7am on a Sunday.

Tony Blair should face trial over Iraq war, says Desmond Tutu http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/sep/02/tony-blair-iraq-war-desmond-tutu

British far-right extremists voice support for Anders Breivik http://gu.com/p/3a5zq/tw via @guardian

Right, Twitter off. No spoilers ;)

Must avoid referring to Adorno as a hipster in viva. But he did like Schoenberg before it was cool.

Term looms

Getting hankerings to re-do my website theme. In reality, I must start viva revision today!

*tries to think of paper for Will Self conference*... "On Selfishness: All His Books Are a Third Too Long"? http://bit.ly/OEIbi0

"I'm of the view that what we call children's books are interventions in society's debate about bringing up children" http://bit.ly/Rx15vC