Frustrations are endemic in this modern world, ranging from trouble with trains, crashing game consoles, losses at sport to more important things, like over eating on olives. What we do about these things is what is important. Karate Party choses to attempt to write biting humour, the kind that makes you sweat tears of blood while laughing. We think this more productive than cutting ourselves or entering into a cycle of recrimination.

The links of the week are twofold this week giving you twice the lols at half the price:

• White Nights – another great film from the genre of slightly weird sports and Soviet thriller films.

• The other is the start of a book by Norman Spinrad, a reasonably readable sci-fi author who is having trouble getting his latest book published.   He has provided a large chunk of it as freeware in order to publicise his troubles. Make up your own opinion!