Quotation #101

"Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about wine." - Fran Lebowitz

Horror in 2008...

Here's a quote from page 38 of editor Stephen Jones’ introduction to The Mammoth Book Of Best New Horror 20th anniversary edition (Robinson)...

"After an uneven start with its first two issues, Andy Cox’s Black Static finally began to find its own identity...
Although it did not reach the standard of The 3rd Alternative... the magazine presented some impressive short fiction...
However, the periodical’s best bits remained the regular columns by Christopher Fowler, Stephen Volk, Mike O’Driscoll, Peter Tennant and, especially, Tony Lee’s insightful DVD reviews.

Lee also provided DVD reviews to Black Static’s attractive sister publication, Interzone."

Very chuffed - but, oh dear! I’m going to be unbearably smug this afternoon, and probably for the rest of this week...

Favicons, or...

Yes, favicons...
Or, how I learned to stop writing and faff about (even more than usual) on the Internet

While making progress with re-designing The ZONE website for a 'new look' based on the page template created by Lawrence Dyer (Traffic Folder), I actually managed to learn something, including how to add favicons to my other websites.

A favicon is a tiny logo (B for blogger.com, F for facebook, etc) which appears in your browser's address bar, and in bookmarked lists of your favourite sites.

Already got a logo? Then it's simple to make a favicon.
Your image can be in any format, JPEG, GIFF, PNG, etc... but it must be a square and of a typical size: 16 x 16, 32 x 32 pixels, or larger.

I created my simple favicons in Paint Shop Pro 5, but any popular graphics program should be able to produce a suitable image.

Go to http://www.enetplace.com/create-favicon/ upload the image from your computer, and save the favicon.ico file that's generated.

If you haven't got a logo, or a suitable graphics program, you can draw one (16 x 16 pixels only) using this site -
http://www.favicon.cc/
- which displays a handy preview of your artistry before you download the completed favicon.ico file.

You then need to upload this icon (via FTP) to your website's root directory (not your graphics or images folder!).

Although some favicon-making guides sites do suggest adding a bit of code to the header tags of your web-pages, it does not seem to be necessary if you're using a recent or the latest version common browsers: Internet Explorer 8, or Firefox 3 (or later).

If the favicon does not appear, as expected, try refreshing your browser's cache (CTRL + F5).

Have a go...
It's fun, it's free, and it - usually - adds 'identity' and professionalism to your site's image.

BS #12

The 'innards' of Black Static magazine #12 include my latest Blood Spectrum column, reviewing great or simply gory new horrors - Embodiment Of Evil, Tokyo Gore Police, Fox Family, Killing Room, Infestation, Grotesque, Dead Snow, Let The Right One In, Passengers, Goth: Love Of Death, Hellraiser, House By The Cemetery, Macabre, Sleepless, and Cradle Will Fall.

A masterpiece?

"By a curious confusion, many modern critics have passed from the proposition that a masterpiece may be unpopular to the other proposition that unless it is unpopular it cannot be a masterpiece." - G.K. Chesterton