Does your school look this good?
Click on the pics to see larger versions.
Tag Meme
The blurb: "How this memetic works is that you leave a comment on this post, and Ill assign you a letter. Then you write about ten things you love that begin with your assigned letter, and post it at your place. When people comment on your list, you give them a letter, and the chain continues on and on."I commented on Twisty's post, and she did give me the letter W (and there was I thinking she was going to make it difficult...). So, in no particular order, these are my ten W things:
1. Writing
This used to say 'weekends', but a quick visit to Wixie's blog reminded me of this most important of Ws! I love writing. I love creating stories and characters to inhabit them. From shorts to novels, every project is a joyful new undertaking, even if that joy is sometimes difficult to grasp in the beginning.
2. Whiskey/Whisky
So good, they named it twice. Well, several times, in fact, but here we're only concerned with the above two names. I LOVE whiskey. I have done for many years. It's warm, it's comforting, it's tasty and it gets me a cosy sort of drunk where I still appear to be in full control of my faculties, despite feeling like I'm floating ever so slightly. The perfect end to any night (when your options are as limited as mine).
3. Wee Free Men
Terry Pratchett's introduction to some of the best characters he's created in a long time. Tiffany Aching and The Nac Mac Feegle are up there with any literary character you can name, and with her third sight, mature attitude, over-sized boots, army of little blue critters and stare that can even make Granny Weatherwax have to put some effort into it, Tiffany will make them curl up and cry.
4. Watchmen
Alan Moore's seminal work was not only a masterpiece in comic-book terms, but has been held aloft as one of the greatest works of literature in modern times. A stunning story of loss, betrayal, intrigue and the end of the world, it kicked the super-hero genre in the nuts, beat it over the head with a lead pipe and set its favourite shirts on fire while it lay bleeding. I cannot wait for the 6th of March!
5. Wikipedia
As well as some of the comical entries people have made when abusing its open editing system over the years, as a student, I've also found Wiki to be a handy source of research. Lecturers balk at the idea of us using it, given how inaccurate it can so often be, but it makes for a fantastic short-cut to research if you use it right. I even got a B for arguing such in an assignment last semester.
6. World of Warcraft
I miss it so...
7. With or Without You
8. Withnail & I
A prerequisite of any students DVD collection, it is hilarious, endlessly quotable and the perfect Sunday afternoon/hangover movie.
9. Winter
The season of Christmas, New Year, my birthday, hot-chocolate, whisky by a roaring fire, snow and all the joy it comes with.
10. Winstead, Mary Elizabeth
Of Die Hard 4 and Death Proof fame:
Yummy :)
Since I haven't posted in a while...
001. Real name Michael Adam Brockbanks002. Nickname(s) - Bebbet
003. Status Seated
004. Zodiac sign Capricorn
005. Male or female Male
006. Religion - *snigger*
007. Elementary ...my dear Watson...?
008. Middle School - The same disatnce from the top, bottom, back, front, left and right of school
009. High School What my American friends call a secondary school
010. Hair color dark brown
011. Eye color blue
012. Loud or Quiet - depends on what I'm singing
013. Sweats or Jeans - Jeans
014. Phone or Camera - One and the same
015. Health freak - Hah!
016. Favorite Physical Quality Eyes
017. Do you have a crush on someone? - Yes
019. Piercing None
020. Tattoos - None
021. Water or Fire depends on the occasion
022. Love of your life or 4 Billion Dollars - Given the value of the dollar, I'd say love (as if the pound is fairing any better)
023. First fear Don't remember that far back
024. First best friend As above
025. First award Can a birthday cake be classed as an award?
026. First crush How good do you people think my memory is?
027. First pet Never had one
028. Car trip - Not right now. I have a seminar this afternoon
029. First big birthday Yes, the first is pretty big
030. Siblings - Sister
033. Favorite Dessert - Cheesecake
034. Favorite toy in your house 360 :)
035. Ring? - You'd have to give me your number first (who wrote this thing?!)
036. Favorite Season - Winter
037. Favorite Flower(s) Self-raising
038. Favorite Spice - Sporty (at least she could kinda sing)
039. Pancakes or Waffles Waffles
040. Left or Right-handed - Right
041. Virgin? - Depends: Can it reset if left too long?
042. How many relationships have you been in? - barely one
043. Silver or Gold? - Silver
044. Checkers or Chess? - Chess
045. Desktop or laptop? - Laptop
046. Ever been Out of the country? - Yes
047. Where? - Several places
048. Big City or Small town? - Big cities and small towns
049. Favorite Food type - Steak
050. Favorite Drink Coffe/whiskey (if I ever find a place locally that does a good Irish Coffee, I shall be a happy man)
051. Dogs or Cats Cats
052. I'm about to ...what? If you're trying to build suspense, you'd first have to be interesting...
053. Listening to The extractor fan in my bathroom
054. Plans for today Buy swim-shorts, go to seminar, go swimming
055. Waiting for - final question
056. Your Height - about 5'10"
057. Contacts or Glasses - Shades
058. Want kids? - some day...perhaps...
059. Want to get married? - I'm flatered, but I already have a busy day ahead
060. Careers in mind Nope, just the one
061. Rain or Snow - Snow!
062. Gloves or Mittens - Gloves
063. Favorite Girl's Name Charlotte
064. Favorite Boy's Name Happy with my own
065. Believe in Magic? - No
066. Soda, Pop, or Coke? - Coke
067. Brain or Brawn? - Brain
068. Prefer Lips or eyes Eyes
069. Great body or great Personality? - Personality
070. Do you want to be Shorter or taller? - No
071. Do you want to initiate the relationship or him/her? - depends on how things develop
072. Romantic or spontaneous - You can't be spontaneously romantic?
073. Nice stomach or nice arms stomach
074. Sensitive or loud Sensitive
075. Hook-up or relationship relationship
076. Should you be friends first or date first? - depends on how things develop
077. Troublemaker or hesitant troublemaker
078. Chivalry or not? - Chivalry
079. Favorite Board Game Trivial Pursuit
080. Lost glasses/contacts Yes
081. Ran away from home No
082. Held a gun/knife for defense? - No
083. Killed someone? - Not until I find whoever wrote these questions...
084. Heartbroken Yes
085. Been arrested No
086. Done anything illegal - Yes
087. Cried when someone died yes
088. Cried by yourself yes
089. Laughed till you cried? - yes
090. Believe in Miracles? no
091. Believe in Love at first sight? - no
092. Heaven The club? I've heard of it.
093. Santa Claus - The real one or the robot one?
094. Say 'I Love you' on the first date Then you're a nutter
095. Sex on the first date - depends on how things develop...
096. Hold hands on the first date What are we, twelve?
097. Is there one person you want to be with right now Yes
098. Are you seriously happy with where you are in life Kinda
099. Do you believe in God? - No
100. Is anybody going to take this from you? - Who knows...?
Best Roll Ever!
Ode to Joy
YouTube's been acting a bit funny recently when it comes to trying to watch a playlist. It used to play the videos one after the other automatically, or at least bring up the next video on the list as the first of the related options. Tonight, I was thrown a handful of completely random vids with nothing at all to do with what I was watching.Naturally, I clicked one, just to see what I'd get:
I shall be doing that more often :)
Ouch
It takes a lot of coordination. They only threw four or five moves at us, but you have to do something called the 'jinga' the whole time, which is sweeping one leg back, with other bent beneath you for balance and your arms in the opposite position for defence. Every move flows from that and are relatively simple in themselves, but stringing them all together is hard work.I also got blisters on both big toes, one of which burst.
Ouch.
Will definitely be back next week :)
Guess what I'm trying tonight...
Here's a hint:Twocked from Elentari
2008 IS ALMOST OVER, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?Stayed single the whole year?
Not exactly
Kissed someone new?
Two someones
Done something you've regretted?
Yes
Lost someone?
Not that I recall
Cut class?
Um... :/
Were involved in something you'll never forget?
Yes. Not a staggering event, but eventful for me, anyway.
Visited a different country?
No
Cooked a gross meal?
I can't cook, so probably
Lost something important to you?
Yes, but the insurance money got me through it :)
Got a gift you adore?
My new lappy
Tripped over a coffee table?
Don't think so...
Dyed your hair?
Nope
Came close to losing your life?
Nope
Went to a party?
Yes
Read a great book?
A few
Saw one of your favorite bands/artists live?
No
Did you meet any new friends this year?
Plenty
Did you dislike anyone?
Yes, but he got over himself
Did you grow apart from anyone?
No
Do you have any regrets when it comes to your friendships?
Yes, but they sustain, so it's not biggy.
2008: Your BIRTHDAY!
Did you have a cake?
Yes, but not a birthday cake
Did you have a party?
No
Did you get any presents?
Yes
Name some and who'd you get them from?
Lappy and cash from dad
Whiskey, smellies and chocs from Matt and Nina
2008: All about YOU
Did you change at all this year?
Yes
Did you change your style?
Style?
Were you in school?
Still am
Did you get good grades?
Surprisingly, yes
Did you drive?
Until my car was hit by a bus
Did you own a car?
See above
Did anyone close to you give birth?
No. I don;t tend to hang around maternity wards
Did you move at all?
From Sunderland to Cheltenham :)
Did you go on any vacations?
No
Would you change anything about yourself now?
I'm thinking it's possibly about time to get a haircut
2008 WRAP UP:
Was 2008 a good year?
All-in-all, yes
Do you think 2009 will be better then 2008?
Don't you mean 'than'?
I hope so.
I confess that in 2008 I...
() kissed in the snow
(x) celebrated Halloween
() had your heart broken
() went over the minutes on your cell phone
() someone questioned your sexual orientation
() came out of the closet
() gotten pregnant
() had an abortion
(x) done something you've regretted
OTHER
() painted a picture
() wrote a poem
() ran a mile
() shopped at Hollister or Abercrombie and Fitch
() posted a blog on MySpace
() visited a foreign country
(x) cut in a line of waiting people
(x) told someone you were busy when you weren't
() partied to celebrate the new year
() cooked a disastrous meal
() lied about how old you were
() prank called someone
In 2008 I...
[] broke a promise
[] fell out of love
[x] told a little white lie
[x] lied
[] cried over a broken heart
[x] disappointed someone close
[x] hid a secret
[x] pretended to be happy
[] slept under the stars
[] kept your new years resolution
[x] forgot your new years resolution
[x] met someone who changed your life
[] met one of your idols
[] changed your outlook on life
[x] sat home all day doing nothing
[] pretended to be sick
[] left the country
[] almost died
[] given up on something/someone important to you
[] lost something expensive
[x] learned something new about yourself
[x] tried something you normally wouldn't try and liked it
[x] made a change in your life
[] found out who your true friends were
[x] met great people
[x] stayed up til sunrise
[] cried over the silliest thing
[] had friends who were drifting away from you
[] had a high cell phone bill
[x] spent most of your money on food
[] had a fist fight
[] went to the beach with your best friend(s)
[x] gotten sick
[x] liked more than 5 people at the same time
[x] became closer with a lot of people
Friend of a Friend
Nicked from little-P (Pixie, that is):1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
1. IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
For Whom The Bell Tolls (Metallica)
2. WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Atomic (Blondie)
3. WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Coconut Skins (Damien Rice)
4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Little Thoughts (Bloc Party)
5. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
R-Evolve (30 Seconds To Mars)
6. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Country House (Blur)
7. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Pencil Skirt (Pulp)
8.WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Cup of Coffee (Garbage) - eerie
9. WHAT IS 2 + 2?
Isobel (Dido)
10 WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
You're My Best Friend (Queen) - seriously, I did not cheat!
11.WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE/LOVE?
If We Never Go Inside (Alkaline Trio)
12. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Virgin State of Mind (K's Choice) - *ahem*
13. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Delicate (Damien Rice)
14 WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE/LOVE?
It Ends Tonight (The All American Rejects)
15 WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
It's Gonna Go Away (Korn)
16. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Soul Finder (The Blues Brothers)
17 What will they play at your funeral?
Too Tough To Die (The Ramones)
18. WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
I Like Dirt (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
19 WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Guitar Flute and String (Moby)
20. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Promised Land (Cast)
21. WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Guilty Conscience (Eminem)
22. HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Garden of Serenity (The Ramones)
23. WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET
White Shadows (Coldplay)
24. WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Long Way South (JJ72)
25. WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
The Circle (Ocean Colour Scene)
26 WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
Plug In Baby (Muse) - again, *ahem*
27.DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Prison Song (System of a Down)
28 IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Messin With the Kid (The Blues Brothers) - some of these don't exactly show me in a good light...
29 WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Drain the Blood (The Distillers)
30 WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Friend of a Friend (Foo Fighters)
Just Another Reason Why I Love New York
New Yorkers showing solidarity for the bankers on Wall Street (as seen on last night's Have I Got News for You):
The Wearable Motorcycle
Want one!Check out the details: http://uk.gear.ign.com/articles/900/...257p1.html
While We Were Gone
Since we came back, I've been intending to copy over a few posts from blogger to keep everything up to date, but, as usual, procrastination got in the way, and so I've decided to make a highlights post...The Rights of Men
Steven Moffat showing that he can do more than just great Doctor Who episodes:
More From Mirror's Edge
The new trailer from what looks to be a stunning game:
Incidentally, was anyone ele aware that Rhianna Pratchett - daughter of the great man himself - was an award-winning video-game writer? The above will add to her already impressive credits, which include Heavenly Sword and Overlord.
Max Payne
The latest game to get the Hollywood treatment:
I'm intrigued, but my hopes are low. I'm expecting more of the usual vapid sub-John Woo crap American movie makers tend to spit out.
Hell Ride
This, however, looks a lot more promising:
Terminator 4
Many thought a third film was a step too far, and this one isn't helped by the fact it's being made by McG, whose track record is less than glowing. However, the surprisingly wise decision has been made to approach the saga from a different angle, and it has a pretty strong cast list, so just maybe...
Watchmen
I've been uming and ahing over whether or not to buy the book. This made the decision for me:
It also reintroduced me to a stunning song (whatever Twisty might think of Billy Corgen's voice ;p ):
There were also pics of my weekends away to London and Birmingham, but they went straight up on blogger instead of my Flickr account, and efx doesn't seem to like urls, so links it is.
The "I haven't Done One of these in Ages" Meme
Rules:1. Use no more, or less, than two words to answer each question.
2. Try not to copy any answers from the person you stole this meme from... in my case, le Twist
1. Where is your cell phone? ..................bedside table
2. Your significant other?.........................lacking one :(
3. Your hair? ...........................................messy curls
4. Your mother? ......................................the afterlife
5. Your father?.........................................living room
6. Your favorite thing?..............................great stories
7. Your dream last night?.........................don't remember
8. Your favorite drink? .............................Souther Comfort
9. Your dream/goal?.................................Successful Author
10. The room you're in?............................Front bedroom
11. Your ex?..............................................see '2'
12. Your fear?...........................................losing people
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years?..not here
14. Where were you last night?.................at home
15. What you're not?.................................mentally sound
16. Muffins?...............................................yes please
17. One of your wish list items?.................Manhattan apartment
18. Where you grew up?...........................right here
19. The last thing you did?........................blog comment
20. What are you wearing?.......................khaki pants
21. Your TV?............................................portable LCD
22. Your pet(s)?........................................don't exist
23. Your computer? .................................ageing lappy
24. Your life?............................................getting there
25. Your mood?........................................nicely chilled
26. Missing someone?..............................alas, often
27. Your car?............................................written off
28. Something you're not wearing?...........cowboy hat
29. Favorite Store?...................................Grangier Games
30. Your summer?....................................too long
31. Like someone?...................................I do
32. Your favorite color?............................black, obviously
33. Last time you laughed........................this afternoon
34. Last time you cried?...........................can't remember
Is This Supposed to be a Remake?
From what I can tell from the trailer, this has nothing whatsoever to do with Death Race 2000, which it's supposed to be based on, but it does still look like a giggle :)
Elsewhere in the world of me: I got two shots of happiness in the post today; the first being a DVD box-set of Silence of the Lambs, The Usual Suspects and Fargo that I found online for £4.20. The second was a letter from Gloucestershire uni telling me I hadn't gotten a place in the on-campus halls of residence I applied for, but I had gotten a place in the halls of residence two streets away.
And the good news keeps on coming. I just got an email saying my copy of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII has been posted. Hurrah!
*sings* Aaall byy myy seeeeeelf...
I don't think I've ever been here all on my lonesome before.Hello?! Hello?! Hello?! Hello?!
*looks around for things to steal/wreck/play with*
The Greatest Thing in the World, Ever
For less than £2,000!
Artistic Littering
Saw this on my way to college the other day, and it made me smile:
The Future's So Bright...
Following a short conversation about fashion, Lil' pd asked - nay; demanded - to see pics of our favourite items of clothing, so here be mine:
I've got four pairs of shades: One similar to the above, but rounder; one rounder still and a little bigger (they make me look like a bug); one round, but narrower and smaller that I got off friends for my 26th birthday. Those I wear when I wanna be more dressy.
But the above is my favourite pair. They wrap around slightly to protect my eyes better, they're blue tinted, which I've always found works best for filtering glare and, or course, they look the best 8-)
Shoop-shoop-shooby-do-wah
Over on pd's blog, I was just reminded of this:(I've never heard the uncensored version before)
Then, on listening to this, I was reminded of this:
In other news, several weeks (possibly months) ago, Sarai mentioned a little program on her blog called Pushing Daisies, in which a guy brings people back from the dead for a minute so he can find out what happened to them and collect the reward money. I shrugged it off for baring a striking resemblance to the pilot episode of Torchwood (in which an alien glove is used to bring the dead back to life for two minutes to find out what happened to them).
However, that one parallel aside, the shows couldn't be more different. I'd best describe Pushing Daisies as Amelie meets Six-Feet Under as seen through the eyes of Roald Dahl (and possibly a touch of Tim Burton, though it stars neither Johnny Depp or Helena Bonham-Carter). Witty, whimsical and hugely inventive, it plays out like nothing else on TV at the moment, and kudos to ITV for snapping it up. Over the past five years they've been sticking to the same old format of showing only tried and tested home-grown shows that were getting more dull and more monotonous as time went on. If ever they did buy up anything new from across the pond, it tended to be relegated to ITV2 (their half-arsed digital channel) and bounced around the schedule so no-one could keep track of it.
However, now that they have both Dexter and Pushing Daisies, and are showing them in regular prime-time (well, late-prime in the case of Dexter, but that's to be expected) slots on their flag-ship channel, it seems they're putting some effort into making themselves interesting.
Bionic Woman was also something of a coup for them, though I can see why it failed in the states. The scatter-shot writing and clumsy and repetitive action sequences make the semi-intriguing premise difficult to follow, and the only thing that made it stand out from all the other reluctant-hero shows around was the lead character's attitude and her interaction with the organisation she's compelled to work for (for example, at the start of one episode, while out with her sister, she's ordered by her boss to keep tabs on somebody and make sure they stay where they are for at least five minutes till they can be picked up. Torn between her sister and her job, she asks the man out-right if he wouldn't mind staying-put until he's arrested. Of course he tries to drive away, so she sighs and casually smacks his head off his stearing wheel, knocking him out cold, and returns to her sister).
Former Eastender Michelle Ryan and Battlestar's Katee Sarkhoff are both pleasing eye-candy, but overall the show was simply too amateurish to last.
While on the subject of State-side failures; as many of you will know from Twist's blog, Grindhouse finally got a limited release over here, and on Thursday I finally got to see. I'm very pleased I never got around to buying the individual films on DVD, not because they're not worth owning, but because it made the double-feature all the more special. Planet Terror is, by far, the superior of the two. Every single character is a joy in their own right, the plot is wonderfully ridiculous and the action, with its excessive gore, random explosions and guns with blatantly limitless ammo, is superb.
Death Proof is very different. I got the impression that Tarantino took his film to heart and was more reluctant than Rodriguez to go all out and make something patently ridiculous, then mess around with it in the editing room. The result is very unbalanced. The first act is full of choppy scenes and scratched celluloid. The majority of it is taken up with some very tedious character development aimed at increasing the impact of the final scene, but is so dull, the end of the act is more of a relief than a shock (that said, it is grin-inducingly gruesome).
The second act, though grainy, is otherwise cleanly shot. Again it starts out with some character development, but the second bunch are far more interesting than the first (except for Mary-Elisabeth Winstead, who's purely there as a tasty-looking plot-device). A ten-minute diner scene, which could have been nerve-shreddingly boring, is made entertaining by the performances, the script and the fact that the whole thing is done in a single shot, and a bunch of other Tarantino-esque techniques come into play throughout. The act then ends with about half-an-hour straight of brilliant edge-of-the seat action, the end of which is particularly superb (and hilarious).
Mention also must be made of the spoof trailers. Between the two features, there are trailers made by Eli Roth (Hostel), Rob Zombie and Edgar Wright (Spaced,Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) all truly inspired and all featuring some surprising and big cameos (I wept when I saw Fu Manchu). However, the best of them all comes right at the beginning from Rodriguez and Tarantino. Machete could potentially be the greatest film of all time.
Hmm... Over the past week I've also watched Shaolin Soccer and Futurama: Bender's Big Score, but seeing as how it's past midday, I'm still in my jammies and I only intended on posting the Afroman vid before ranting on about other stuffs, I'll leave them for later (I imagine the majority of you have already seen Shaolin Soccer anyway).
Thanks, Deej!
Woke to this this morning:
Hurrah! :D
An 'Unfortunate' Write-Off
A few weeks ago I posted a classic from Ocean Colour Scene. As much as I love The Day We Caught the Train, I was disappointed not to find my favourite track on YouTube. Then, of course, I discovered imeem:News on my poor little car that, a week ago, was given a funky new paintjob by a bus: It's a write-off! A little surprising considering the only visible damage was a few scrapes and a missing tail-light, but the isurance company called yesterday to say the whole panel would need replacing at a cost of just over £300. Alas the car's re-sale value currently stands at only £250, so repair is not a viable option. The insurance company will, therefore, be sending me a cheque for the car's list-price, which is somewhere in the region of £1,000.
To say I was upset by the news would be, let's face it, a lie. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to miss my car. I enjoy driving and I hate public transport, but, looking at it from a studen't point of view, I'm saving £50 a month on insurance, £40 a month on petrol and I'll actually have money in the bank before I go to uni (assuming I don't do something stupid, like go out and buy a PS3...hmmm... No! Naughty imagination! Not happening!).
Actually, I'll probably stick half of it in my savings account and let it build a little interest.
Another track I always wanted to post, but could never find, is an old Bowie cover. It's kinda scary to think it's now 40 years since he recorded this:
In other news, it's Friday and, dear god, I'm bored! I really should have been doing some work today, but I've been too bored to get myself motivated, Instead I've played some Spider-Man 2, read some Dracula and channel-hopped through the shit Good Friday TV. Argh!!
Finally, this being Friday, I couldn't go without posting something noisy >:)
(There are two videos for this on YouTube, but one doesn't embed and the other is of crap audio quality)
Going to have some dinner now and try to waste some time till The Now Show comes on.
I Wants!
Blissed Off My Chonk
Someone just used this phrase on the radio and I felt the need to share :)Wave Goodbye
The Sky At Twilight
The buildings look almost like the night sky; black and dotted with small pools of light; their rooftops breaking the hazy horizon along with the skeletal silhouettes of sparse winter trees. A dull mist rises from the black, softening to a silver-grey and sepia tones where the land meets the sky beyond the veil. The sky above is the palest of blues, like the thinning skin on an old mans brow, caught somewhere between light and dark. And in the centre of it all, the sun sets the horizon ablaze; a rich orange glow clinging desperately to the day, that will soon inevitably lose out to the night.Thats a pretty hackneyed interpretation of the view outside our landing window this evening. I opened the blinds thinking a nearby building must have been on fire, but theres mist outside, thick enough to mostly block the setting sun, but just thin enough so that theres the richest, most brilliant orange glow on the horizon.
Unfortunately, the only camera I have to hand is the 2.0meg one of my phone, which doesn't come close to capture the brilliance of the scene:
Arthur
Chapter 11 of Terry Pratchetts A Hat Full of Sky, in which he describes what a human is and its relative place in the universe, is one of the greatest pieces of writing I have ever read.I am sooo far behind with my alerts it isn't even funny. Last week I jumped from 3 post alerts to 11 in less than hour, thought Sod it; I'll wait till tomorrow, and logged in the next day to find I had 22 :/ Damn you, procrastination!
Also, I suck at chess. I'm currently involved in a pitched battle with Dante over on RedHotPawn and he's kicking my ass 13 games to 4 (and two of those were through him making silly mistakes with his Queen)!
Okay, not so much a pitched battle as a shameful drubbing...
Made a few purchases last week that I'm rather pleased with. Two weeks ago I got the first volume of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and it was fantastic! 10 minutes of dialogue; 55 minutes of mental action >:) Last week I picked up the second volume. There's a lot more story in it - tying in directly with Episode III - and the action is, again, fantastic and massively over the top, but it's simply not as fun as the first. I'm looking forward to the CGI movie/series that's on its way...
After over a year of waiting, I finally got hold of the live-action version of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather. Book adaptations are tricky things. The director and screenwriter (more often than not, it seems, one and the same person) are always walking that fine line of staying true to the story while still making a fluid, well paced film. Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings is an example of someone getting it very right. Yes, the ending floundered and I know at least one person who was pissed at the omission of Tom Bombadil (personally I always found that particular scene in the novel a bit dull), but it was otherwise a very faithful adaptation and a truly brilliant trilogy. At the other end of the scale, Chris Weitz's The Golden Compass was pathetic. Not only did he mess around far too much with story, but the film itself was jumpy, inconsistent and managed to be both far too short and extremely dull.
The problem with Hogfather (as with the animated adaptations of Witches Abroad and Soul Music) is director and screenwriter Vadim Jean (you see the pattern?) has stayed absolutely faithful to the novel without understanding what would and wouldn't work on film. The timing for many of gags is way off, interspersed scenes jump around far too much and the pace is often flat. Given that the story is also the fourth in a series (Mort, Reaper Man, Soul Music, Hogfather, Thief of Time - all of which I highly recomend reading) there are also a lot of in-gags that could go right over the head of anyone who hasn't read the prior three novels.
However, that's not to say the film isn't any good. Despite it's flaws, it's still funny, inventive, well shot, well played and enjoyable. Michelle Dockery plays Susan (and, strangely, Death of Rats) - one of my favourite Pratchett characters - perfectly (though she might come across as a bit wooden and/or flat to anyone not familiar witht the character (not that she's a flat or wooden character; just very deadpan (no pun intended))) and Marc Warren, who I've never really rated as an actor, is brilliant as Teatime. My one problem with cast was the late Ian Richardson (to whom the film is dedicated) as Death. There's nothing really wrong with him other than, in the animations, Death is played by Christopher Lee, and there really is no bettering that.
Finally there's Bloc Party's A Weekend in the City. It's kinda difficult to place Bloc Party, genre-wise. They're a blend of indie, rock and techno, using some unusual timings, rythms and ideas without being so experimental as to be inaccessible...kinda Radiohead with a lot less melancholy, or perhaps even a modern-day The Cure.
This is their most recent track, which finally pushed my into buying the album (gotta love those dancing monsters):
(incidentally, if you are going to buy the album, make sure it's the most recent version, as the original doesn't contain Flux)
...but this is my favourite:
O-oh Say Can You See...?
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