Ian Watson
Ian Watson
bad christmas john lennon merry wishing
It's bad enough being conned into singing an anti-war message by John Lennon when you think you're just wishing everyone a merry Christmas.
compare diesel petrol quote station
My wife will automatically quote and compare the price of diesel at every petrol station we drive by, like she's got oil-based Tourette's.
biggest companies global
My father-in-law just happens to be a global procurement guru. Now retired, he was the global head of procurement for some of the biggest companies in the world as well as our very own treasury.
business buying dare money parking paying people spaces throwing worth
People with a lot of money aren't in the business of throwing it away, and those paying footballers' wages, organising parking spaces for dead sharks, and even, dare I say it, buying iPads, are doing it because, for them, it's worth the money.
cost few hundred ipad pounds several somebody
That iPad you just bought. Do you care that it cost a few pence to manufacture? No. It's cost you several hundred pounds because somebody else was willing to pay that much for it. If they weren't... it wouldn't.
cultural fiction future japanese late science seemed tokyo
Tokyo in the late 1960s seemed to be like one of the futures that science fiction presents. Here was the proto- super-technology of the future, electronically, robotically, blahblahblah, intercut with traditional Japanese cultural patterns, Shinto patterns.
assumed bit common emphasis
I think it's safe to say that 'manliness' was a common theme in my upbringing. It was an assumed status, but - and here's the important bit - it was the Rudyard Kipling kind. The emphasis was on gentlemanly conduct, sportsmanship, fairness and stoicism.
almost develop fairy future inspired kubrick myth project robot scientific screen stanley tale trying worked year
I worked with Stanley Kubrick for almost a year back in 1990, trying to develop the screen story for his project 'Artificial Intelligence,' which is about a robot boy who wishes to become a real boy, a future scientific fairy tale inspired in the myth of Pinocchio.
cried hardly joke
Every joke in 'The Office' was unexpected. I cringed; I could hardly look. I cried with laughter.
funny life technique
I'm going to do the old 'plaster removal' technique and just get the pain over with in one go: 'Life's Too Short' isn't funny to me.