Hark, Hark, It's Arthur C. Clarke

Anyone Asking "Who?" - 
 - will be sent to the organ banks immediately once I take over.  I won't accept willful ignorance as an excuse either.  So, if you wisely refrained from asking "Who?" but remain puzzled, get along to your local library.
     Ol' Art's best-known work is probably "2001: A Space Odyssey", which we'll come back to, and one of his better-known sayings is along the lines of "Any sufficiently advanced science will look like magic to the uninitiated."
     Hold that thought.  Meanwhile, we need to talk about -
     - Variable Rate Mortgages!
     No, sorry, I meant freezers.  We need to talk about freezers.  Not because they're intrinsically cool or anything*, it's just that we got a new one today.

A Disturbance In The Force
When I say "The Force" what I mean, of course, is Conrad's routine.  Your humble scribe is a creature of habit and was cross enough about not having a lie-in, just in case the freezer delivery people came early.
     "How difficult and inconveniencing can it be?" I hear you query.  
     Quite a bit.  Look at the evidence.  Art?

The horror, the horror!

     We <since I provided moral support**> had to move the old freezer out, then the storage unit, then had to empty the cupboard as the plug sockets were at the back in a recess, before sliding the new freezer into place.  Wonder Wifey compared it to the Obelisk in "2001" and you can see her point.  Art?

Our new freezer

     Of course it wasn't that simple and WW then had to unplug the extension socket used, as the fridge instructions sternly warned not to use an extension cord, as this would cause the Sun to blow up, something dramatic like that.
     The Sun has not blown up; WW switched plugs in time.  Now,about Ol' Art again -

The Monolith.  No - hang on -

     There's your first reference to Mr. Clarke.

Right, I just have to go and blend the leeks and potatoes.  The leeks were going cheap so I'm making Vichyssoise, although maybe not a cold version thereof.

The Haul
The result of a trawl through various charity shops in Royton.  I'm sure you'll be fascinated to know about my purchases.  Art?

     I wasn't completely sure that I didn't already have that Encyclopedia, but at 50p it wasn't much of a risk.  And look, a book that isn't military history or a murder mystery!  You might call this a broadening of interests.  The films are all stereotypically mine - bang-bang shooty-shooty stuff.  It's a verrry long time since I watched Tora3, and this has a Director's Commentary, which is not bad for 33p.

"Pushing Ice" By Alastair Reynolds
Another charity shop purchase.  This starts off as unabashedly hard sci-fi, involving a whacking big 50,000 ton spaceship intended to steer icy comets into Earth's orbit, so they can - well, we never actually find out what they do with them.

There's ice, see?  And they push it.

     It jumps around about half-way through, proceeding from hard sci-fi to what is, essentially, magic.  Black magic at that - bringing the dead back to life.  The fools!  The meddling fools!  Didn't they realise that there are some things Man Is Not Meant To Know?
     Which, I suppose, brings us back to Ol' Art and his saying about magic.
     Although I do remember Sam Delaney criticising Larry Niven's creation and explanation for his "Ringworld" megastructures, saying that you might as well have Gandalf come in and wave a wand to create them.  Magic again, possibly not in the way Ol' Art intended.

Just so you know what I'm talking about

I Have Some Good News -
 - and some bad.  No!  The robots will not rise in revolt tonight, nor will the zombie apocalypse hit, so you'd better still set your alarm and get up to go to work tomorrow.  Whether either or both of those is good news or bad depends on your point of view, I suppose.
     The good news is, Public Service Broadcasting have a new album out.  Hooray!
     The bad news is, not until July.  Booh!  No touring until October, either.

Manchester Academy?

     Not been to that venue before, it looks like a long bus ride from Royton.
     Oh well.
     
Finally -
Did you know that there is a museum of Sorcery and Witchcraft in Iceland?  Meet the tour guide ...

*  Did you see what - O you do.
**  Invaluable moral support.