random thoughts of an idiot

Dumb fucking luck

2006-05-22T19:57:00.000Z

And this from the "massively obscure and going to make sense to maybe one person if I'm lucky" corner ...

Apparently there is a god, and he just loves him the irony

Away From The Sun

2006-04-02T12:10:00.000Z

Last night Claire & I went to see 3 Doors Down at the ABC in Glasgow and it was all kinds of awesome. It was the first gig I've been to since I went crazy, and I was a little apprehensive to be honest, but I needn't have worried - I sang along, I moshed, and I even threw up the horns. I have a sneaking suspicion that Claire may have taken some photos of me doing these things, but I don't even care - it was that much fun.

Who me Officer Krupkey?

2006-03-26T17:20:00.000Z

Yesterday the O-Dawg, the K-dizzle and I went to see an amateur production of West Side Story at the King's theatre. Based on the quality of the dancing during the overture I was really quite concerned about how the rest of the production was going to pan out, but was pleasantly surprised by how well things picked up. Both the acting and singer were much stronger across the board, and the leads were by a large all good - with Tony and Anita being especially note worthy.

Probably the most interesting thing to come out of the afternoon however was the fact that whilst watching the people on stage I was for the most part thinking "I could do this" and have in fact gotten hold of the contact details for both the Lyric Opera Company (who were responsible for yesterday's production) and the Edinugh G&S society. Whether or not anything will actually come of this remains to be seen, but these are at least steps in an encouraging direction ...

You will believe a man can fly

2006-01-24T11:44:00.000Z

On Sunday night the LA Lakers beat the Toronto Raptors by 122 points to 104. Of those 122 points Kobe Bryant scored 81. In the second half Kobe scored 55 points, 14 more than all of the Raptors put together. To add a little more context, on the same night the Washington Wizards scored 82 points. That's right - the entire team of the Wizards only scored 1 more point than Kobe did on his own ...

Please don't take this as rejection

2005-07-10T20:13:00.000Z

Last year was, by and large, a really good year for films. Not only did we have top quality blockbusters like Spider-Man II & Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban but we also had some fine off-beat films like Garden State & Before Sunset. This year whilst we've had plenty of the former we've had rather less of the latter. I was thus heartened this morning to come across the trailer for Elizabethtown which seems to fit the bill quite nicely ...

In other news, Danny Way front-side 360'd the Great Wall of China yesterday. As you do.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

2005-06-06T17:58:00.000Z

I just happened to be idly checking the usage logs for my site this morning, and I discovered that during the first 5 days of June I experienced a vastly inflated amount of traffic - during the entirety of May my total data transfer came to around 30Mb, whereas I'm already at 200Mb for June. Strange things are most definitely afoot at the Circle K ...

As such I've pretty much wiped the old site clean, and moved this over to the backup site as provided by the helpful chaps at Blogger. Will have to talk to the people who run my hosting and see if I can't get them to freeze my account before I end up having to pay them hundreds of pounds at the end of the month for going quite so wildly over my account limits. Bet that'll be fun ...

Stevie G is my hero

2005-05-25T21:38:00.000Z

Champions of Europe sir? That'll do nicely.

So this is it - we're going to die.

2005-04-28T20:11:00.000Z

Just back from watching The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and it rocked. The cast was unanimously excellent (Mos Def - I stand corrected), especially Sam Rockwell who pretty much stole the show. I also apparently now need to go and watch everything Zooey Deschanel has ever been in. Whilst it wasn't in anyway a faithful translation of the book (just as the book wasn't a faithful translation of the radio series) I think Douglas Adams would have approved. And anything that includes the Great Green Arkelseizure and the coming of the great white handkerchief is okay by me ...

Resurrect Now - Accept?

2005-04-02T11:55:00.000Z

If a picture speaks a thousand words, then this should better describe why I haven't been blogging much recently than I have either the time or the inclination to ...

... of course that's not going to stop me waxing lyrical about quite how good World of Warcraft is. It really is very good indeed. I've been playing for over 120 hours now, and have barely scratched the surface. And should the unthinkable happen and I actually get bored of playing with my Human Paladin, I can just make a new character of a different class & race and have an entirely different game experience. There is a very real possibility that I might never have to buy another RPG again ...

Apathy

2005-03-02T21:43:00.000Z

It would appear that having a job, whilst being good for the purposes of keeping both my bank manager and my landlord happy, is bad for my doing things other than working. In the whole of February I only managed to go to the cinema twice (meaning that I barely broke even on the cost of my Unlimited card) and blogged even less frequently than that.

Of course the fact that I picked up World of Warcraft probably hasn't helped. Still must make more of an effort to do stuff methinks ...

Mmm bop, ba duba dop ...

2005-02-05T10:05:00.000Z

Last night I was making myself a little food with half an eye on Top of the Pops, wandering back and forth between the livingroom and the kitchen as is my wont. At one point I ambled into the livingroom to find a three-piece indie outfit rocking out a reasonable little tune. Okay, so the lead singer was kinda pretentious with his long floppy hair and artistically ripped jeans, but he could certainly wail, and the guitarist did this cool thing where he swung his electric to the side and played an acoustic on a stand during the middle eight. The more I listened the more I liked, only to be dumb-struck by the discovery that this band were in fact Hanson. Now that's just wrong ...

... Apparently they're playing the Carling Academy in March. Any takers?

In other music related news, the most recent episode of The OC ended with a performance by Rachael Yamagata who is apparently the "first lady of acoustic emo" - kinda like a depressive version of Norah Jones. How was I not going to like that?

Fisherman's Woman

2005-01-24T21:40:00.000Z

I stopped by Ripping on my way home this evening, more out of idle curiosity than firmness of purpose, only to discover that Emiliana Torrini is going to be playing in Glasgow on the 8th of April for the bargain price of £7. I'm slightly concerned by the fact that she's playing at a place called King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, but I figure beggars can't be choosers.

Not only this, but she apparently has a new album out at the end of the month called Fisherman's Woman. Now given that her last album came out back in 1999 it's probably about time ... still, colour me happy.

Yeah, yeah I know - long time no blog. My bad ...

Wish me luck

2005-01-13T01:22:00.000Z

I'm going back to work tomorrow ...

Moses and Jesus they both had beards

2004-12-18T01:47:00.000Z

Whilst I'm obviously all in favour of possessing the ability to torrent episodes of the new seasons of TV series as soon as they air in the states, I have discovered one slight draw back - it does make it rather difficult to talk to people about them. Given that I'm not watching them on any set day at any set time, it means that they is very little scope for discussion about the various merits of the latest episode (especially when your housemate is a philistine who doesn't understand the glory that is The OC). Thus "The Chrismukkah That Almost Wasn't" may very well be, the Best. Episode. Ever, but I have no-one to share this knowledge with.

Oy humbug.

I caught you a delicious bass

2004-12-17T17:22:00.000Z

I was going to talk about Napoleon Dynamite, but I'm not entirely sure how since it's a film which largely defies classification and is so off-beat that it can only really be experienced rather than explained. Distributed by the current darlings of independent cinema Fox Searchlight (Garden State, I ♥ Huckabees, Sideways) it ostensibly tells the story of the titular character's life in rural Idaho. Napoleon Dynamite is a surely one of the strangest lead characters to ever grace the silver screen, stuck as he is halfway between über-geek and anti-hero, going through his life in a state of borderline catatonia punctuated only by his occasional exasperation at the inequities of his existence. The characters orbiting around Napoleon are only slightly less surreal - both his friends (from his "best friend" Pedro who shaves off his hair to cool his head and then wears a wig for the rest of the film, to Debb the female interest who sports a side ponytail and runs a backstreet "glamour shot" studio) and his family (from his older brother Kip who spends his days trying to pick up women online whilst not training to be a cage fighter, to his uncle Rico who sells Tupperware and wants to turn back time to 1982) all have their own vast array of personality quirks. Then there's the setting - it seems that Uncle Rico isn't the only one living in the 1980s given that for large parts the film plays out like some kind of twisted homage to John Hughes right down to the playing of Forever Young at the school dance. Bottom line - it's all really quite bizarre. That said it's worth seeing just for the dance sequence ...

Hello, my name is "Fuck You"

2004-12-13T01:31:00.000Z

By any of the usual standards, Blade Trinity is not a great film. The plot is wafer thin and deeply ropey, the screen writing ham fisted, the character development non-existent and the whole thing is completely riddled with cliché. However, if you're going to see a Blade film then let's face it, you probably aren't going to be applying the usual standards. Let us therefore apply some new ones ...

Ridiculously over the top fight-scenes? Check. Wesley Snipes posing up a storm at every possible opportunity? Check. More fight sequences? Check. Apocalyptic vampire based scenario? Check. Even more fight sequences? Check. What's not to love :o)

The main problem, and indeed the problem with all of the blade films, is the lack of a decent bad guy. Stephen Dorff? Please ... Luke Goss? I mean really ... and now added to those luminaries we have Parker Posy as surely the most petulant super villain in the history of cinema, Triple H (enough said) and some posing pretty boy with a thing against Goths. The one-sidedness of things is further exacerbated by the addition to Blade's side of the lovely Jessica Biel (+ ipod) and Ryan Reynold's comic sidekick who steals pretty much every scene he's in "So should I just go right ahead and sign you up for one of our Nightstalker secret decoder rings?". Rarely has a film been quite so unequally weighted ...

Oh no you didn't

2004-12-08T15:34:00.000Z

According to an article on the BBC website the screenwriter of His Dark Materials is to remove references to God and the church from the film version. Now forgive me if I'm overstating the matter here, but aren't God and the church the entire fucking point of the books? Weren't they described as containing "the most impassioned cry to accept the death of God since Nietzsche."? Apparently New Line are concerned that any anti-religiosity in the film would make the project "unviable financially" given the current climate in Bush's USA. Hurrah for the freedom of speech that Americans are so proud of eh?

Where's Jonathan Miller when you need him ...

Damn you Zach Braff

2004-12-06T23:16:00.000Z

This evening I went to see a preview showing of the 3rd of the films I'd list as being the 3 that got me really excited and desperately wanting to see this year. Firstly there was Eternal Sunshine, then Before Sunset and now finally Garden State. Apparently 2004 is a good year for lovingly crafted indie gems.

As for Garden State, there are just so many things to like about this film. As the main character, Zach Braff puts in a fine performance, growing less detached and more animated as the film progresses and he gets back in touch with himself and his life, but it's the supporting cast of Natalie Portman and in particular Peter Sarsgaard who bring the film to life. The script and screenwriting are top notch, with wonderful idiosyncrasies and quirks offset against a poignant yet beautifully understated core. And then of course there's the glorious soundtrack (which was apparently hand picked by Zach Braff himself) which ties the whole thing together.

On any kind of level Garden State is a damn fine film, but when you take into account that it's Braff's debut feature it's stupidly impressive. Damn you Zach Braff, damn you and your being annoyingly talented.

Ruminations

2004-12-04T13:10:00.000Z

(with apologies if this all goes a bit livejournaly)

I was lying awake in bed last night thinking about things (mostly about how fine the girl on Body Hits had been earlier in the evening - but not in that way) and it occurred to me that I was missing living in London, which seemed an odd thing to be thinking at the best of times. So I thought about it some more, and realised that what I missed wasn't the reality of living in London which had been an overcrowded, overpriced and largely soulless experience, but the idea of what living in London should have been like. And if you think that's gone all a bit existential I took it even further and decided that meant what I was missing was what my life should have been (which is palpably bizarre - I mean how can you miss something which you never had, and which doesn't even exist in any meaningful sense?).

In conclusion I think it's safe to say that:

a) I need to get out more, and
b) When it's 3am I need to spend more time sleeping, and less time thinking bollocks ...

This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.

2004-12-02T01:48:00.000Z

Perhaps unsurprisingly NaNoWriMo was pretty much a complete bust, as I managed to get nowhere near the total of 50,000 words. Arguably even less surprising, given my generally contrary nature, is the fact that I probably wrote more today than I did on any given day during the month of November. Go figure.

November Megapost

2004-11-30T15:34:00.000Z

In a feat of staggering incomprehensibility, a French court has ruled that Jean-Pierre Jeunet's new film Un Long Dimanche de Fiançailles (starring the lovely Audrey Tatou) is not sufficiently French to qualify for government subsidies since some of the funding came from the French division of Warner Brothers. This despite the fact that it's based on a French novel, filmed on location in France in French with French actors and a French crew. On the other hand, Oliver Stone's Alexander which was filmed all over the shop in English with a British and American cast and crew is sufficiently French because his mother is French and he did the post production in Paris. Madness.

Continuing my OC inspired quest for quality EMO I got hold of some Dashboard Confessional and they're great. I mean really really great. Neil's new favourite band great. If anyone wants to get me Bicycle T-shirt for Christmas please feel free :o)

Fran 'Travis' Healey has apparently rounded on criticism of the new Band Aid single calling it "disgraceful" (the criticism that is, not the single). Apparently he feels that people are judging it against nostalgia rather than treating it fairly and anyway "... it's not about the song - it was never about the song in the beginning". Whilst I agree with him on the second point, the problem here is that it was never actually a good song in the first place, but at least it was a bad 80's song released in the 80's. Now it's rubbish cover of a bad 80's song released 20 years out of time. Don't get me wrong - I applaud the idea, and anything which gets people giving to good causes is just fine and dandy by me, but I think expecting everyone to like it just because it's for charidee is asking too much. On a related topic, Justin Hawkins did nothing to change my already low opinions of The Darkness by bitching about the fact that they ditched his version of "Well tonight thank God it's them ..." in favour of Bono's new version, thus proving that he really didn't get that it's not about the song ...

Shaolin Soccer is one of the silliest films ever made. Let's face it, any film whereby the bad guys are actually called "Team Evil" really can't be taking itself all that seriously. Hurrah for the Bruce Lee impersonating goal keeper.

Playing Madden 2K5 has reignited my interest in the NFL as a whole and apparently just at the right. It appears that Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts is on fire and looking to break Dan Marino's all time record of 48 TD passes in a regular season. He already has 41 with 5 games still left to play and given that he just set a separate record for throwing 4 or more TDs in 5 consecutive games (beating another mark previously held by Marino) you'd be a foolish man to bet against him. In the Thanksgiving game at Detroit he threw 6 TDs in less than 3 quarters on the field finishing with stats of 23-for-28 for 236 yards and zero interceptions - meaning that he threw more TDs than incompletes. Now that's just plan ridiculous ... if only I could get Channel 5 working so I could watch the Monday night games I’d be a happy man.

Where is my Super Suit?

2004-11-22T18:49:00.000Z

Caught a preview showing of The Incredibles yesterday evening and was just completely blown away.

Best. Pixar film. Ever.

How do they do it? They just keep getting better and better. The fact that it was written and directed by Brad Bird obviously helped. (The Iron Giant needs more love - it might not have much to do with the original Ted Hughes story, but it's undeniably great). I may even go so far as to declare it the best Superhero film ever, pushing the mighty Spiderman 2 into second place. Top quality entertainment.

The future is (almost) now

2004-11-18T20:37:00.000Z

There I was, listening to Music from The O.C. Mix 1, and thinking to myself "This is really quite good." The "This" in question was in a song called Just a Ride by a Welsh lass by the name of Jem who peddles a rather unique brand of folk/hip hop/electronica fusion that pushes pretty much all of my musical buttons.

Her website had the entire album available for download for the bargain price of $9.95, so that's precisely what I did. This is the way things should work in a technologically adept society - music direct from the artist to the consumer. Of course now all I need is some form of portable music device on which to load the mp3s and I'm laughing ...

I regret that I have but one life to waste in front of video games

2004-11-14T01:43:00.000Z

Yesterday was a good day for games. I picked up a copy of Halo 2 for the bargain price of -£0.01, and Ian got himself a copy of GTA: San Andreas.

I never really played the first Halo, given that First Person Shooters aren't really my kind of thing, but I have to admit I'm really enjoying playing through the sequel. We're playing the campaign in co-op which makes for multiplayer fun without having to continually kick each other ass (that's what NHL 2005 is for), the only draw back of which is that it split-screen really brings home fact that we need a bigger TV. In fact, more games should have a multiplayer co-op mode - social gaming is officially fun.

As far as I can tell San Andreas is GTA taken to the limits of ridiculousness and then beyond. My personal favourite mission so far has to be "make your low rider bounce up and down to the rhythm in a DDR stylee". I mean really ...

I'm loving it

2004-11-11T01:59:00.000Z

Possibly the finest (read strangest) thing I've come across recently - Japanese McDonald's adverts for the new "Tomato McGrand". Not quite up to the standard of the legendary dancing cast of Zelda, but entertaining nevertheless. Certainly isn't the Ronald McDonald I remember ...

The land of the free and the home of the brave

2004-11-10T17:53:00.000Z

So, as the dust settles from last weeks shenanigans what have we learnt? Well, we've learnt that apparently Moral Values are more important than say, the economy, or the war in Iraq, or indeed even terrorists. We've learnt that more votes were cast in Ohio than people actually live in Ohio. We've learnt that lots of people are very sorry.

Oh, and Fuck the South

Twelve is the new Eleven

2004-11-08T17:19:00.000Z

Apparently Ocean's Eleven was recently voted one of the 10 worst remakes of all time. Now that's just patently nonsense since not only is the original brat pack movie a largely forgettable effort, being as it is poorly plotted, badly executed and fundamentally just an excuse for Frank and Co. to do their shtick on the big screen but the sequel, by comparison, is a tightly wound tour de force which cemented both Brad Pitt and George Clooney as viable film stars. The above aside, the trailer for the sequel is now available, and looks like pretty much more of the same, which is fine and dandy by me.

In other news the rich vein of independent American films seems to be continuing with I ♥ Huckabees and Imaginary Heroes both looking rather splendid. Maybe cinema isn't dead after all ...

Are you giggling? On my ship? Giggling?

2004-11-01T13:56:00.000Z

I saw Finding Neverland last night, and it's bloody marvellous.

October Megapost

2004-10-31T11:48:00.000Z

I spent some quality time last night reading through my archives, and several thoughts occurred to me. First off, I've now been blogging (admittedly with varying degrees of regularity) for over 3 years. Gosh. looking back over the earlier stuff, from a personal point of view at least, even the shorter random posts that I have shied away from recently are interesting in retrospect, so I think we'll be having more of those in the future. However, probably over 50% of my links don't work anymore, so the posts that read "this is great" with a link embedded in the word "this" perhaps don't make as much sense as they might. Overall I've come to the conclusion that when I put my mind to it I do have a certain way with words and a nice turn of phrase, which I should maybe be using to greater effect than just writing my blog (more on this below).

By and large, the months where there was more to read were more interesting than those where there was less (hardly surprising news, but I've always maintained that I'm a bear of little brain) hence the inaugural End of Month Megapost to collate those things I was thinking of blogging about but never got around to ... that said, my favourite month in the archives is probably June 2004 which is solely comprised of a huge arsed review of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. On with the rounding up -

National Novel Writing Month: in a vague attempt to encourage myself to actually do some constructive writing I have signed up for the above, the aim of which is to write 50,000 words during the month of November. Never let it be said that I set myself ridiculously difficult tasks specifically designed to allow me to fail ...

AVP: first things first - this is not a great film. It probably isn't even a good film. That said however, it also is probably undeserving of quite the level of vitriol which has been sent its way. The bottom line is it was a bad idea for a comic, and making it into a film didn’t magically make it a better concept. And as far as the claim that it ruined both franchises goes, have these people not seen Predator 2 or Alien Resurrection? Much like Ronseal quick drying wood stain it did exactly what it said on the tin featuring as it did some Aliens and some Predators whaling on each other. All in all not a terrible film, nor a good one - merely reasonably diverting use of 90 minutes, and arguably more entertaining the RE: Apocalypse.

The OC: once again I find myself partaking of something for which I have previously mocked my brother and quite enjoying it. In fact I'm sufficiently hooked that I've gone back and gotten a hold of the episodes that I missed at the beginning of the series which I'm now watching with an almost religious fervour. Damn you Iain, damn you and your being right.

Lucie Silvas: after arguably 4 years of waiting Lucie Silvas finally got around to releasing her album, and it's really not too shabby. By and large it's your run of the mill singer/songwriter stuff in the McLachlan/Branch/Vega style (which obviously I'm not in any way complaining about) except for one track which is, bizarrely, a cover of an old Metallica number. It occurred to me to wonder how many people upon hearing it for the first time would actually recognise it as such, being that the cross-over market between the two can't be all that large. It's not a bad version actually ... "So close no matter how far, Couldn't be much more from the heart ..."

Fable: in traditional fashion I bought a new RPG, played it for a few hours and then inexplicably stopped. I don't know why I do this, but it's just the way it works. It's not even that I wasn't particularly enjoying myself - I really was. I know that at some point in the future I'll come back to it, load up my save and play it through to the finish (spending at least the first couple of hours being incredibly confused as to what's going on) but just not yet. Maybe it's a defence mechanism to stop me from completing games too quickly that I've just spent £40 on. Whatever it is it's becoming pandemic - taking a quick look at the RPGs I currently own, no fewer than 5 of them (Dark Chronicle, FFX-2, Disgaea, Crystal Chronicles & Fable) have saved games at between 5 & 10 hours in which I racked up within the first week of purchase and haven't touched since. The same thing happened with both FFX and KOTOR which each took me around 8 months to get back to and finish. Now what's that all about?

Damn you Sid Meier

2004-10-30T21:20:00.000Z

Some time last week (I forget quite when or where) I came across a throw away reference to Civilization II still being one of the 3 greatest games ever made. Having always been a huge fan of the series but never having really gotten to grips with Civilization III I decided to reinstall Civ II to see if it does indeed still hold up. Several nights worth of staying up till 5am playing the bugger have successfully proven that not only is it a damn fine game, but it still has the capacity to suck my life away (a bit like the machine in The Princess Bride but less painful and more entertaining). This got me to thinking how much time in total I must have spent playing Sid Meier games, and it must be a scarily large number. I mean I've easily spent more than 150 hours playing Final Fantasy VII, and more than 350 hours playing Final Fantasy games all told, but that's chicken feed when compared to the time I've spent just on Civ II ... we're probably therefore talking entire months of my life spent playing Sid Meier games. Dang.

Far from the Madden(ing) Crowd

2004-10-13T23:26:00.000Z

Please note: the following post refers to an American Football console game, and as such is unlikely to be of much interest to ... well anyone really.

My brother gave me Madden 2K5 for my birthday, and by and large I am finding much fun there. There is however one entirely maddening (if you'll excuse the pun) feature in that I seem to be almost incapable of hanging onto punts. 9 times out of 10 when my opponents punt, my receiver will catch the ball and then get immediately munched by the opposition with sufficient venom that he fumbles and the bad guys turn the ball over. For example, this evening I was playing against Miami, and lost by 24 points to 21. Of their 24 points 14 were scored directly from punt fumbles. It's really beginning to annoy ...

Update - I have now found the 'Fair Catch' button. A winner is me.

We now return you to our regular scheduled broadcast.

Needs more Zombies

2004-10-10T17:02:00.000Z

After having been briefly entertained by the first film, and lured by the promise of more of the same with added Sienna Guillory, Ian and I wandered along to see Resident Evil: Apocalypse on Friday night. On reflection, maybe we should just have watched Sky Captain again ...

It's not a bad film per se ... okay, so actually it is a bad film, but it does at least have some redeeming features. Sienna kicking ass and taking names in a ridiculous Jill Valentine costume for one. A comedy side kick in the form of Mike Epps "Motherfucker please - my shit is custom" for another. However what's missing is any kind of suspense or tension and … well … zombies. The whole appeal of the games is the relentless onslaught of the shambling morons, tied in with the claustrophobic atmosphere and a real sense of danger. These sadly are entirely missing from the film and have instead been replaced with overblown set pieces, nonsense conspiracy theories and fundamentally too many characters. The few occasions on which the characters split up offer fleeting glimpses of tension but are all too quickly glossed over in favour of exploding motorcycles and gladiatorial fist fights with the Tyrant (sadly I’m not even joking).

Still, it did make me look out and replay my old copy of Nemesis, so it's not all bad then.

Calling Sky Captain - come in Sky Captain

2004-10-07T14:06:00.000Z

Some thoughts on Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow:

- First things first - stylistically it's a triumphant marvel perfectly evoking the look and feel of the 50's dramas that are its inspiration. At heart it's a rip roaring good yarn of a kind that you just don't get anymore.

- With regard to the all encompassing use of the blue screen, there are definite limits to what the technology can and can't currently do. Interaction with objects is still a problem, as is panning around something.

- No matter how shiny your film may look, if the plot has holes the size of small nations and the script is a clunky as a bag of wrenches these things will still be noticed. Even if you get Gwyneth Paltrow to rip the hem of her skirt and dress Angelina Jolie up in black leather and an eyepatch.

- Speaking of the plot, there was distinctly more than a passing resemblance to the plot of Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, even down to the bad guy being a mad scientist with a German sounding name.

- Michael Gambon could apparently add gravitas and respectability to a shopping list.

This video cost $150,000

2004-09-29T14:28:00.000Z

Hurrah for Sarah McLachlan. Her new video cost nearly $150,000 dollars to make, but rather than spending it on the usual stuff (director's fees, post production and editing, film stock, etc ...) she spent $15 dollars on making the video and donated the other $148,270 to charities around the world to pay for things like schools and ambulances and hospitals and cinemas. You can see the video here.

The Force is strong with this one.

2004-09-27T18:37:00.000Z

Top 5 things I have learnt from watching my shiny new Star Wars Trilogy DVDs:

1. Han Solo was originally supposed to be a big green monster with no nose.
2. The sound effects for the lightsabres were made at least in part by a guy waving a vacum cleaner in front of an amp in time with the action on screen.
3. Yes that's lightsabre and not lightsaber.
4. Whilst R2-D2 [Whilst Beep Blip] and Chewbacca [Gwaaar Rarrr] get subtitles, not everyone is so lucky [Speaking Alien Language].
5. Episode VI was originally called Revenge of the Jedi. So would that make Episode III Return of the Sith?

Of Cabbages & Kings

2004-09-19T11:07:00.000Z

It's been quite some time since I last blogged - my bad. Fundamentally this has to do with the fact that very little happens in my life currently which is noteworthy. Of course what I should probably do is just turn this into a film review site since that's pretty much all I even talk about anyway.

In vaguely interesting news, I asked the lovely Lisa to a surprise preview screening at the UGC (as part of the "UGC Recommends" thing that they run with unlimited card holders). The film in question was The Life & Death of Peter Sellers which I thought was fantastic, but which sadly Lisa hated every minute of. So that went well ...

I also finished off my season of tragedies at the RSC with King Lear which was marvellous. Of the 4 I'd say that it was probably the strongest all round with special mention for Corin Redgrave as Lear and Mathew Rhys (again) as Edmund. I have to say that I've really enjoyed the occasional trip down to Stratford, and may try and make it a more permanent feature in the future ... of course next year I'm in all sorts of trouble however as those lovely people at the RSC have decided to run every single play in the course of a season. So, who's all up for the Two Gentlemen of Verona then?

"I will do such things - what they are yet I know not; but they shall be the terrors of the earth."

Everybody wants to be like Mike

2004-08-22T10:52:00.000Z

I did a bad thing and bought myself some new shoes with money I obviously don't have. In my defence they are authentic Chuck Taylor Converse All Stars in black, and thus immensely cool.

This purchase is entirely unrelated to I, Robot ...

... honest.

More like Alone In The Editing Suite, am I rite?

2004-08-11T15:35:00.001Z

I discovered this through the auspices of Metafilter under the heading "Worst. Trailer. Ever." and I find it hard to disagree.

For those of you unfamiliar with Uwe Boll, he appears to be on a one man mission to prove that making films from video games is a bad idea. His rather unique approach to achieving this goal is to buy up the rights to as many as he can, and then make them into staggeringly dreadful films that make Super Mario Bros look like American Beauty. I would continue, but as is often the case Gabe & Tycho have already said all that needs saying on this matter ...

A tale told by an idiot

2004-08-10T11:23:00.000Z

So there I was, sitting on the sofa merrily killing Sith and generally minding by own business when I got a phone call from Alex, asking me if I fancied going to see Hamlet. Fair enough, I thought, you can never have too much of the finest play ever written in the English language, and it’ll be an interesting exercise in compare and contrast with the RSC version I saw a couple of weeks ago. We get to the theatre (The Gateway on Leith Walk) and all of the promotional stuff in the lobby is for Macbeth. Nothing too strange about that – maybe they’re doing a Shakespearian season. The stage itself was covered with swords attached to wires which were obviously going to feature as set dressing and by this point I’m thinking “that’s odd – I don’t remember Hamlet starting with a fight scene …”. Then Alex gave me my ticket which said “MACBETH” on it in big letters and everything made a lot more sense.

It was an interesting production – and I mean that in the sense that it genuinely made you think about the source material and its application. It was short (even for Macbeth) running at less than an hour and 40 minutes, and used a relatively tiny cast of only 10 people only 1 of whom doubled up. This meant that all of the ancillary characters (Ross, Lenox, Donalbain, et.al.) were cut entirely and their most important lines given over to one of the leads, which lead to a very compact and tightly wound production. The one person who played several roles was used most effectively, staying in the background as a brooding malicious presence somehow overseeing the entire proceedings. Visually it was superb all round, with the aforementioned swords starting off as a field of blades, then hanging damoclean above the proceedings and finally providing a “forest” of swords. My only quibble would be that there was a tendency for monologues to be declaimed to the audience whilst standing stock still centre stage, but this is a minor point.

All in all, not too shabby. Not too shabby at all …

There is nothing new under the sun

2004-08-06T13:54:00.000Z

Several websites are today reporting about this portable palmPSone wherein a guy with too much time on his hands has made a portable Playstation. It's very nice and all (although the 1½ hours playtime makes the PSP look good) but it's hardly anything new - this chap made what he called a PSp (foreshadowing anyone :o) way back in 2001 (as reported by my good self here).

Obviously the thing to do is to make a portable Xbox - now there's a challenge ...

Hurrah & Huzzah

2004-08-03T12:19:00.000Z

After several years of fruitless searching, I am now the proud owner of the missing Minidisc section of my stereo. Not only this, but I managed to pick it up from ebay for the bargain price of £60, a sum which I have more than covered in the past few weeks by selling off some old games and DVDs on the self-same site.

Of course there's a reasonably persuasive argument that says Minidisc is a dying (if not already dead) format, and I would have been better off saving my money and putting it towards some form of MP3 playing device. However, given that I am sadly in no sort of position to buy a 40Gb ipod at the moment, it looks very much like I'll be sticking with my SJ-MJ88 as a portable music player for the foreseeable future, and thus having a deck on which I can record and edit discs is A Good Thing™.

Plus it looks really cool :o)

Drink up me hearties, yo ho ...

2004-07-29T13:20:00.000Z

I've been playing through Galleon on der Xenboxen and I've been largely very impressed, with a few notable caveats.

It's main selling point is the "ground breaking" control system, whereby rather than controlling the lead character directly, you control the camera - you point the camera in the direction that you want Rhama to move, and then push the thumbstick into the screen so to speak to make him do so. It is with this control system that the game stands or falls, and it succeeds and fails in roughly equal measures. For basic movement it works surprisingly well for the majority of the time, allowing Rhama to perform remarkable feats of acrobatics such as scaling sheer walls, and hanging from overhangs by his fingertips Tom Cruise stylee … however, during combat sequences, and especially boss fights, it can become incredibly frustrating given that you can only move quickly either directly forwards or backwards, and positioning yourself directly behind enemies (a prerequisite for several of the bosses) proves both fiddly and tiresome.

Aside from the control system, the game itself is obviously very well constructed, as you might expect from Toby Gard (the chap behind the original Tomb Raider) and features that rarest of things in modern video-gaming, competent voice acting. It’s also one of only two games in a long time to make me laugh out loud (the other being Disgaea) – truly the spirit of Guybrush Threepwood is alive and well.

Finally, playing through Galleon has also taught me how over-reliant I have become on the auspices of gamefaqs.com – given that it is yet to receive a US release, there isn’t a single walk through available. Having to play a game without being able to look up what I’m supposed to be doing next was both challenging and refreshing …

And where ... and where ... is the Batman?

2004-07-29T00:58:00.000Z

Batman Begins - yes, yes Darren Jay ...

Before Sunset (reprise)

2004-07-24T23:28:00.000Z

I went to see Before Sunset again, and if possible I'm even more in love with it than I was after the first viewing. I bumped into Alex earlier in the day and we arranged to go and see it in the evening and so, being the uber geek that I am, I spent the afternoon not only rewatching Before Sunrise, but also Waking Life for the dream sequence featuring Celine & Jesse in order to be as conversant as possible with the existing source material as possible. Thus I was in an even better position to fully appreciate the ways in which Sunset plays to and references the original than I was on my first viewing. For example, the last shots of Sunrise track backwards through the locations where Celine & Jesse have been through the course of the night until finally arriving back at the train station. The opening shots of Sunset in contrast track backwards through the places that Celine & Jesse are going to be, finally alighting on the bookstore where it all starts. And of course let us not forget the line "okay, jump forward 10, 20 years. You're married, but maybe your marriage doesn't quite have that spark it used to, so you start to think back about all those people you could have hooked up with" ...

I'm somewhat surprised at the level of attention Sunset is receiving, given from my own experience how relatively unknown Sunrise is (you spend several years claiming that it's your favourite film of all time and see how many blank faces you get). However, it's all good when the general consensus of opinion is as positive as this: Rotten Tomatoes has it currenty being 96% fresh (with 120 reviews) and it's currently rated as 8.6 on imdb (which would place it firmly in the top 20 of the greatest 250 if it weren't for that fact that it doesn't have enough total votes cast yet). Woo and indeed hoo.

Did I mention I love this film :o)

Comments

2004-07-24T10:14:00.000Z

The old comment system that I rigged up wasn't functioning too well, so I decided to take it out. Handily in their fairly recent upgrade extravaganza blogger included a comments feature that apparently works out of the box so to speak, so I've gone with that to see how it works. I may or may not endeavour to move across the old comments depending on a) how difficult it seems, and b) whether or not I can really be bothered ...

Sadly the new system appears to only allow comments to be signed by blogger users or as "anonymous", so I guess people will just have to add their names in the comments box. Either that or we'll all just have to guess.

Before Sunset

2004-07-23T15:36:00.000Z

Just back from watching a film which arguably I've been waiting to see for 9 years, and which at the very least has been at the top of my list of films I most want to see since February - you can see my response to discovering it's existence here.

As the sequel to the film I most regularly claim is my favourite film of all time (Before Sunrise) it certainly had a great deal to live up to, and I'm happy to say that it delivered in spades. I will confess I was slightly worried how it would compare but it does a wonderful job of recapturing the mood and feel of the original - which is obviously key, as those are the main reasons for its appeal. Right from the very start it felt completely right, and more like I was catching up with old friends than watching actors on a screen. The beauty of the original is that it acts as a window onto a single moment of time shared between two people, and the sequel once again allows you to feel as if you are privy to the very real interactions of actual people, a feeling which is helped by the practically real time nature of the unfolding story.

In some ways it in fact surpasses the original - the first film is very much a picture of undiluted romanticism as the young couple still largely unsullied by the world fall for each other. In the second film, the years in-between have left their mark and the realities of life and of love have asserted themselves on both protagonists. Whereas the first film operates very much within its own microcosmic bubble, here outside influences and characters have a palpable effect on the proceedings. This is not to say however that this isn't still an unashamedly romantic film, it merely recognises its place within the greater truths of the world, and is all the better for it.

Anyone who's ever been in love, anyone who's ever wondered about the one who got away and anyone who still believes in romance should go and see this film. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

So Good They Named It Twice

2004-07-16T00:11:00.000Z

I saw 2 films today which to varying degrees deal with New York:

Fahrenheit 9/11 - Michael Moore has always been something of an enigma to me. His, for want of a better word, "populist" approach to film making undoubtedly has the effect of making his work more palatable to the common man than your average documentary, but at the same time manages to somehow trivialise his subject matter. Which isn't to say that I don't approve of what he's trying to do - I used to watch TV Nation almost religiously and own a first pressing hardback copy of Downsize This. I just feel that somewhere along the line he's become more concerned with the way in which he gets his message across than the message itself. The bottom line is that this is an incredibly important film and one that everyone should watch - the thing is to try and focus on the content and not the delivery ...

Spider-Man 2 - How do you follow the finest superhero film ever made? Apparently if you're Sam Raimi by making an even better one. This is an almost perfect film, the only fault I can think of being the lack of Chad on the closing credits :o) Having covered the basic setup in the first film Raimi is free here to expand and improve in virtually every department. The webslinging is better, the fight sequences awe-inspiring, the humour pitch-perfect and the development of the trials and tribulations of Peter Parker versus his secret identity wonderfully handled. Oh, and there's lots and lots of Mary Jane Watson, which is certainly no bad thing in my opinion. Two thumbs way up.

Don't call us and we won't call you

2004-07-14T12:01:00.000Z

I finally heard back from my interview the Law Society, and sadly their correspondence was of the "Thanks, but no thanks" variety, complete with the traditional "very difficult decision" & "exceptionally high standard of candidates" plaudits. However, it appears that the spur to them sending this was my calling them up and saying that I was yet to hear back from them, and that had I not done so, they would have merely let me infer from their continuing silence that I had been unsuccessful. I call poor form.

On a happier note, today the programme for the Film Festival was announced, and contains a number of things I'm really quite tempted by. 2046 which is a sequel of sorts to the wonderful In The Mood For Love; Old Boy which is the latest from the director of Sympathy For Mr Vengeance; Tokyo Godfathers by Satoshi Kon; Stage Beauty which is apparently "like Shakespeare in Love, only better". Sadly no mention of Garden State so I'm obviously off to the Surprise Movie with my fingers firmly crossed. A word to the wise however - tickets this year are £7.95 a pop, so whilst I'm strangely tempted by the documentary about the Icelandic version of Romeo & Juliet at the National, my wallet says otherwise ...

Anyway, back to Angus and these sheep ...

2004-07-11T22:51:00.000Z

So like my brother is all married and stuff ... scary, huh?

Something Wicked This Way Comes

2004-06-01T15:47:00.000Z

I went to see the new Potter film yesterday and was really very impressed indeed. It's demonstrably the strongest of the three films so far, and in the hands of Alfonso Cuaron departs quite markedly from the style of the first two. A lot has been made of the fact that it's darker and scarier, but it also manages to feel a lot more real. Whereas the first two films were largely all about spectacle and focused on the magical and mythical elements, this one focuses more on the human elements and takes time to bring the characters and the settings alive. For example, there's a wonderful scene set in the Gryffindor dormitory which serves nothing to further the plot, but speaks volumes as to showing Harry, Ron, Neville & co. as typical teenage schoolboys. In addition to this, gone are the bright and fantastical colours, replaced by a much more muted palette, most effectively highlighted in the Quidditch scene, which again furthers the feeling of realism. Cuaron has a wonderful touch which can be seen throughout the film, from the little vignettes of the Whomping Willow that show the passage of the seasons, through to the use of the building itself as an integral part of the narrative. Indeed it is the little touches which set the film apart - the fact that the kids uniforms are no longer perfectly tucked in, the note that Malfoy passes in class by making a working origami crane, the creeping cold which precedes the arrival of the dementors. The design team were obviously working at the top of their game, and the dementors especially are top notch - suitably unearthly and ethereal. The castle also seems to have undergone an expansion since the last film, with some wonderful additions in the form of a rickety bridge and a huge and elaborate clock, with the whole thing seeming more gothic and menacing.

As far as the actors themselves are concerned, I must confess I had some concerns going into the film - first and foremost was how Michael Gambon would handle the transition of Dumbledore from Richard Harris, and secondly how the pairing of David Thewlis and Gary Oldman would handle the roles of Lupin and Black. Happily my fears were allayed on all counts. Gambon does a sterling job, managing to both ensure a reasonable continuity and make the character his own. Indeed the differences in the role of Dumbledore are almost a reflection of the alterations to the film as a whole - whereas Harris' Dumbledore was an all-knowing, all-powerful character of almost mythical proportions, Gambon focuses more on his human side, and on the humour of the role. This is not to say that the role of Dumbledore has been in any way diminished, merely subtly altered. Thewlis handles the role of Lupin with a suitable air of nonchalance and just a hint of devilry, his scenes Alan Rickman being specific highlights. Of the three, Oldman is afforded the least screen time, but his presence looms over the film from almost the opening scenes. The use of the wanted posters with his maniacally laughing face is exceptionally effective. Once he actually arrives on the scene, there isn't much time for him to make an impact, but he certainly carries his own, and it all bodes rather well for his participation in the later books. As far as new people go, an honourable mention should also go out to Emma Thompson who puts in a wonderful cameo as Professor Trelawney.

The three main kids have all grown since the last film, not only in height but also in their abilities, and Radcliffe puts in what is undoubtedly his best performance so far. Grint suffers slightly from the fact that by this stage in the proceedings Ron is fast become comedic light relief (think Gimli in The Two Towers), but manages not to mug to camera quite as badly as in The Chamber of Secrets. However once again Watson is the star of the show, which is fitting since Hermione is obviously Rowling's favourite character. I read a review of The Order of the Phoenix which said that Hermione was by far the most interesting and well written character and suggested that the only reason Harry Potter was the main focus of attention was that boys won't read books with a female heroine. Emma Watson certainly seems to be going about redressing the balance by making her the main focus of the films - in fact for large parts of the denouement Harry seems to be merely along for the ride as he trails in her wake. Much has been made recently of whether or not the three of them will last out the entire series. Given that The Goblet of Fire is already filming, and The Order of the Phoenix is penciled in for a 2007 release (meaning filming in 2006 when they’ll still only be 16 or 17), surely the only problem with keeping the same cast is how soon JK Rowling finishes books 6 & 7. Certainly with the actors growing into their roles so effectively, it would be a crying shame were any of them to be lost.

Finally a word about stuff which has been left out. Yes, there is a lot in the book that doesn't make it onto screen, including in fact some of my favourite moments. That's what happens when you try and condense an entire book into a 2½ hour film. And yes, a lot of what is missing is in the way of character development and motivational exposition. But here's the thing. I've read the books. Me and several hundred million other people. This means that I know all about the development of the characters and the reasons why they do what they do, so I don't need to be shown it on the screen. And if I hadn't read the books, then I wouldn't know what I was missing. Deal.

I weep for the future

2004-05-25T23:14:00.000Z

We've all read The Handmaid's Tale right? Apparently Margaret Atwood's dystopian future of a seceded fundamentalist Christian territory in the American heartland might not be all that far away if these boys have anything to do with it ...

Of such conundrums is life made

2004-05-19T19:05:00.000Z

I have a habit, picked up back in my days spent in pre-broadband Redditch, of reading the gaming pages on Ceefax. The news, previews and reviews pages are actually surprisingly well done, but surely the jewel in GameCentral's crown is the letters page. This little beauty comes, verbatim, from today’s page:

"How come I can finish Tony Hawk's Underground on hard but I can't get a girlfriend? IT JUST DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!"

I should have croqueted the Queen's hedgehog just now, only it ran away when it saw mine coming

2004-05-18T23:30:00.000Z

This evening I played Croquet for the first time in about 10 years, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I still knew what I was doing. There is a Croquet club not 15 minutes walk away in the meadows, and this evening was the first session of their new coaching course. I was initially a little dismayed to discover that not only was I the youngest person in attendance by about a factor of 2, but I was also the only person who had ever played before. However, it all came out in the wash, and I ended up playing a game with some club members. It seems that from next week there will be some other people around on a Tuesday at about my level (the chap I spoke to thought I was probably playing off about 12, which sounds right to me) and they're quite happy for me to turn up and pay £5 a pop, rather than having to fork out £20 for the course that I won't really be making much use of. Not only that, but any money which I spend in said fashion can then be deducted from my membership fee should I choose to join. Which is nice.

After that I wander over to the pub quiz which we proceeded to win by a comfortable margin. A good night all round really.

The Wonders of Modern Technology

2004-05-17T17:07:00.000Z

Partially for Neel because he's lazy, and partially just to see if I could, this blog is now available for syndication through the site feed link at the top of the page. Isn't that nice?

When the going gets rough just shop with someone tough

2004-05-14T12:35:00.000Z

The problem with living in Edinburgh is that there are too many shops that are full of stuff that I want to buy. I picked up the books 4, 5 & 6 of the Series Unfortunate Events in Ottakars 3 for 2 deal, and the new Hundred Reasons album from Fopp for the all too reasonable price of £10.

Shatterproof is not a Challenge is fantastic, and very much an example of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school of second albums. This is fine and dandy by me, as I thought Ideas Above Our Station was one of the best albums of 2002. Props to the boy Chewie for dragging me along to see them at The Astoria back in the day ...

EDIT: Apparently Hundred Reasons were playing in Barcelona the night I was there for Iain’s Stag. Admittedly I was kinda busy at the time, but dang! …

The past is another country - they do things differently there

2004-05-13T14:58:00.000Z

I was talking with a friend about how the person at the top of my freebie list is the lovely Rachael Leigh Cook, and in doing so described her as my "definition of sublime womanhood". Apparently this came as somewhat of a surprise, and so I asked who they would have be down as lusting after. The response was as follows:

"someone small and petite and a little vulnerable, but also very beautiful and blonde."

which, let's face it, is an almost exact definition of Deena. 10 years down the line, and I'm still hung up over the same girl. I suppose that in some sort of perverse way that at least shows commitment :o)

In other less depressing news, I apparently need to go down to London sometime soon as not one but two of the other ladies to grace my list are currently appearing in the West End. Not only that, but they are appearing in plays by two of my favourite writers - Firstly Julia Stiles is appearing in David Mamet's Oleanna at the Garrick, and secondly Sienna Guillory is in Neil Labute's The Shape of Things at the New Ambassadors.

So ... many ... toys

2004-05-13T00:04:00.000Z

I have come to the conclusion that I should never attend E3 as this would probably caused my head to explode. As it is I'm getting worryingly over-excited just sitting at my computer finding out about things which are being shown. Of course the major news has been from Sony regarding the PSP, and from Nintendo regarding the DS. Apparently handheld gaming is the future ;o)

Now according to Nintendo, the DS is not supposed to be in direct competition with the PSP, and from what I've seen so far that's a good thing, as it would get it's ass handed to it. Not only does the PSP look entirely shiny, but it's specs aren't too shabby either. Throw in the additional facility to play video and audio files and it's all over bar the shouting.

That said, the DS does have a couple of features (namely backwards compatibility with the GBA and a touch sensitive screen) that are appealing. And it does look just like an old skool Game & Watch which wins it retro points. Of course given that buying and hording consoles is what I do, I'm likely to end up with both, but the PSP definitely looks the far greater of the two at the moment.

With regard to software for existing machines Nintendo have been showing off their latest Zelda title which looks completely gorgeous. Me, I liked the way that The Wind Waker looked, but I know that my fondness for cell shading is not universally shared. I defy anyone to say they dislike the way Link looks here. However for me the surprise announcement so far goes to Square Enix for Musashi Samurai Legend, a sequel of sorts to the sorely under-rated Brave Fencer Musashi, which looks, well ... a little odd.

Best. Film. Ever.

2004-05-06T12:35:00.000Z

I've been re-watching the trailer for Garden State and it's really very good indeed. As Brad said, there's something quite mesmerising about the juxtaposition of the visuals and the music. Sufficiently so in fact, that I'm currently bidding on the Frou Frou album on ebay ... and that's just the trailer - the film is supposed to be really quite good too. Damn that Zach Braff and his being stupidly talented.

Garden State however is not currently top of my list of films I really want to see - that accolade of course goes to Before Sunset, the previously mentioned sequel to my favourite film of all time. Warner have just released a trailer which can currently be found at the apple site. Hurrah!

Mr. Blue Sky please tell us why you had to hide away for so long ...

2004-04-26T16:29:00.000Z

When I told people that I was going to be moving to Edinburgh there was a general consensus of opinion that I would be needing lots of warm clothes and some form of all over weatherproofing. In light of that, I would just like to take a moment to mention how absolutely glorious the weather has been for the past couple of days. Of course what I haven't mentioned is that pretty much the first thing I bought after moving here was a bigger umbrella ...

Your Kung Fu only so-so

2004-04-23T00:23:00.000Z

Just back from seeing Kill Bill Vol. 2 and I'm currently struggling to put my thoughts on it into any sort of coherent order. I think maybe I should have watched Vol. 1 again beforehand, a fact which merely goes to further my belief that it never should have been cut into 2 separate entities in the first place.

Firstly it's not really a film per se, but a series of loosely interlocking vignettes, a situation which is exacerbated by Mr. Tarantino's seeming pathological hatred of following a chronological order. This in itself is somewhat of a disappointment as Jackie Brown seemed like such a step forward in terms of cogency and flow of a single narrative thread. That said, there is certainly much more here in terms of plot, character and indeed dialogue than was present in Vol. 1. Also, whereas Vol. 1 was largely confused and forgettable up to the Bride's arrival in Okinawa, here there is much less that seems unnecessary or out of place, with the notable exceptions of a bizarre flashback scene featuring the least ruthless assassin in the world, and an exposition scene featuring Michael Madsen that doesn't tell us anything we couldn't have worked out for ourselves.

On the plus side, the training sequence is a glorious homage/pastiche of 70's Kung Fu films, complete with grainy picture, questionable subtitles and unnecessary close ups which finds Gordon Liu in terrific form as Sifu Pai Mei. David Carradine is also excellent as the eponymous Bill, providing a surprisingly mellow counterpoint to the furious energy of The Bride and is responsible for many of the films best moments. It probably helps that he is given the best dialogue to work with, but he certainly makes the most of it. In addition, with the exception of the Jackass-inspired caravan brawl between Uma Thurman and Daryl Hannah, the fight scenes in Vol. 2 are of a much less frenetic nature, contrasting nicely with the frenzied attack of the Crazy 88s. The final showdown between Bill and The Bride for instance is especially well done.

On the flip side, the dialogue although improved from the original (the conversation between Uma Thurman and Vivica A. Fox being a particular low point) is still not quite up to the high standard set by Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction. Also, there is really nothing here to dispute the theory that this is one film cut into 2 for purely financial reasons. Yes it is stylistically very different from the first film, but given Mr. Tarantino's penchant for rearranging scenes at will, this is hardly an insurmountable obstacle. Indeed some of the contrasts may well have benefited from being in a closer proximity. Without wishing to dwell too long on the sordid topic of money, the fact remains that were I to have paid for 2 separate tickets to see what is essentially one film, I might be currently somewhat disgruntled, and indeed the idea of having to purchase 2 separate DVDs is a galling one. Some judicious editing here and there, and voila; one utterly glorious 2 and a half to 3 hour film about which I have no doubt that I would currently be waxing lyrical.

In summary - good, but could have been great. Damn you Harvey Weinstein ...

You can't fight in here - this is the war room ...

2004-04-20T16:54:00.000Z

Inescapable proof that the world has officially gone mad. And people wonder why I weep for the future ...

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned for Sega

2004-04-19T22:37:00.000Z

For reasons past understanding, I decided to make a list of games currently available in this country that I want to buy. The list goes a little bit like this:

Gamecube - Ikaruga, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Mario Kart Double Dash, Super Monkey Ball 2, Harvest Moon

Xbox - Crimson Skies, Top Spin Tennis, Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow, Otogi

PS2 - Amplitude, Unlimited Saga, Eyetoy:Play, Jak II, Malice, R-Type Final, Zone of the Enders 2

Multi-platform - Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 2, R:Racing

So that's 18 games at a conservative estimate of around £500. And that's just games that are currently available, not to mention such forthcoming gems as Paper Mario, Gran Turismo 4, Driv3r, Final Fantasy XI (& XII), Galleon, Zelda: Four Swords, Dot Hack (volumes 2-4), Ninja Gaiden, Pro Evo 3, Nico ... man do I ever need a job ... or maybe a life ...

God I'm good

2004-04-17T15:51:00.000Z

I just spent the best part of the last hour and a half attempting to achieve a gold medal on the Coupe series cone challenge in Project Gotham II. The number of tries it took must be well into three figures. It was incredibly infuriating to have to drive around the same corner time and time again in an effort to carry my combo that little further, or to shave an extra few tenths of a second off here or there. So why would I choose to spend my time in such a fashion? This is certainly a question I have often asked myself. However, it has to be said that the feeling of euphoria which accompanied my final execution of the task at hand (Kudos required 3'700, Total achieved 6'665) was of itself incredibly invigorating, and arguably worth the earlier annoyance and frustration. I guess it comes down to the fact that doing something difficult is always more rewarding than doing something easy.

Coming Attractions

2004-04-17T12:51:00.000Z

I've been checking out some trailers on the Apple site, as is my wont, and have come across a few things which might otherwise have passed me by. Firstly there's Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring) a Korean film about the life of a Buddhist monk and the cyclical nature of existence which looks utterly mesmerising. Then there's Garden State the debut feature from Zach Braff which apparently went down a storm at Sundance. Finally there's Jeux d'enfants a french romantic comedy very much in the style of Amelie ...

... in a related point, Jeux d'enfants is being released under the title of Love Me If You Dare ... now I realise that my French is a little rusty, but even I can see that's hardly a precise translation from the original. It works both ways 'though - in France Kevin Smith's debut feature went under the title Crazy Menial Workers.

Can you see my nipples through this shirt?

2004-04-16T14:20:00.000Z

So yesterday I finally took the first steps towards getting off my ass and returning to the work place. It was somewhat odd to put my suit back on after quite so long, but reassuring to know that I still scrub up quite well when needed. Whilst the stated plan has always been to move slowly back into work, I feel reasonable confident that I could cope with jumping straight back in. To that end I've gone about registering with several agencies to secure me temporary work while I try and figure out a more long term plan. I'm currently leaning towards something with the Executive ... either that or Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House :o)

Slow news day

2004-04-14T10:27:00.000Z

Today is apparently a slow news day in which we learn things that we really already knew. A study in Canada has proven that it's harder to concentrate when listening to loud music. Well that certainly comes as a huge shock to me. Even better than that is this study by the Disability Rights Commission that says that blind people find it hard to use the internet. No shit Sherlock.

You ugly, green source of all evil

2004-04-14T01:16:00.000Z

So whilst I obviously still hate the Xbox in an official capacity, I have to say that Project Gotham II really is an awfully large amount of fun. There's just something about going toe-to-toe down Princes Street with an Enzo Ferrari that's just utterly compelling. So much for standing up for my convictions, huh?

In other news, we won the pub quiz again this week. That means that in the four weeks I've been going, we've come second on a tie break twice and won twice. Apparently we rule ...

Something Wicked This Way Comes

2004-04-12T10:53:00.000Z

In a good week for trailers, Apple now have a longer Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban trailer. Whilst not being quite as shiny as the teaser trailer it's still really quite funky. Roll on June ...

Hurrah for independent cinema

2004-04-11T22:32:00.000Z

Just back from watching The Station Agent, and am currently having warm fuzzy feelings towards independent cinema as a whole, and this film in particular. By turns funny, sad, touching and thought provoking, and wonderfully composed and shot. Hurrah for independent cinema!

On a related note, "Gondry Gondry Gondry!"

Who am I? You sure you wanna know?

2004-04-10T11:20:00.000Z

Once more with feeling ...

Spiderman trailer, Spiderman trailer, Spiderman trailer, Spiderman trailer ... oh, you get the general idea :o)

Kensin-ago-go Baby!

2004-04-10T11:03:00.000Z

Adam lent me his copy of Viewtiful Joe, which I've been merrily playing for the past couple of days ... and I have to say that it is possibly the strangest game I've ever played. And this coming from a man who used to own Vib Ribbon ... it is also very silly, and very much fun. Yay for Capcom. This is very definitely the kind of game we should be championing, along with games such as ICO and Harvest Moon, games which set out to do something different and innovative, rather than merely trying to be the next GTA clone ...

I drink from the keg of glory - bring me the finest bagels and muffins in all the land

2004-04-09T23:38:00.000Z

Been feeling a bit under the weather today, so I spent most of it curled up on the sofa watching Season One of the West Wing on DVD. Had forgotten quite how great a series it is. As the quality of television in general seems on an ever downward spiral towards the lowest common denominator, it is cheering to be presented with a show of such intelligence and class. Yay for Aaron Sorkin. Also, having recently watched The American President, it is entertaining to note quite how many of the plot threads from the first few episodes appear to have been lifted directly from this cinematic predecessor :o)

Well arse ...

2004-04-07T00:14:00.000Z

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time, and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle. Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying ... nothing

Father forgive me - it's been 5 weeks since my last blog ...

2004-04-06T11:10:00.000Z

So, long time no blog. My bad. Some edited highlights of the interim:

Anthony Stewart Head flying across the stage on wires .... (almost) paying for theatre tickets by rolling dice ... driving a car that actually accelerates in 5th gear ... a room full of fan girls singing "Badger badger badger badger badger" ... Niea_7 ... something wicked this way comes ... Snopp Dogg as Huggy Bear ... the colour blue ... Andy Lau being stupidly cool ... "who's a rock star?" ... Spaced with added zombies ... a reunion of the SYFFITF ... finally putting it on the line.

Oh, and I moved to Edinburgh. Yay for that.

Advent Children

2004-03-01T23:07:00.000Z

Just downloaded the trailer for FFVII: Advent Children (on the recommendation of Ian and through the auspices of animesuki). I think on the whole my reaction was something along the lines of "Oh. Yeah. Baby." I think I'll definitely be having me some of that thank you very much ...

Oscars

2004-03-01T05:34:00.000Z

It's very early in the morning, so I'll be keeping this brief.

Good things:
Return of the King sweeping all 11 awards for which it was nominated. Yay for that. Whilst this obviously smacks of the academy making up for ignoring the other 2 flms, let us not look gifts horses in the mouth.
Sofia Coppola picking up the Best Original Screenplay award for Lost in Translation

Bad things:
Bill Murray being criminally overlooked in favour of Sean Penn for Best Actor. Bah and indeed Humbug. Seemingly once again a case of the academy recognising the actor rather than the performance.
Jonathan Ross and his "panel" rabbiting on during the ad breaks. Come back Barry Norman, all is forgiven.

Sidenote - this might be just the fact that it's currently half past five, but is it me, or is Sofia Coppola actually quite fine?

This is a public service annoucement

2004-02-29T20:48:00.000Z

Do not under any circumstances go and see Scary Movie 3. Really, just don't. This is all.

If I could go back in time I want to meet snoopy

2004-02-25T12:10:00.000Z

When they were auditioning the part of JD in Scrubs, do you think they sold Zack Braff on quite how fine all of his love interests were going to be? Straight off the bat there was the not unattractive Sarah Chalke as Eliott, followed by the positively lovely Amy Smart as Tasty Coma Wife, and now there's the officially gorgeous Tara Reid as Jordan's little sister. Talk about your perks of the job ...

Now watch me segue -

Amy Smart was in Varsity Blues, a coming-of-age American Football film starring Forehead Van Der Beek, for which I have an inexplicable soft spot (note I said for which, not for whom :o). Varsity Blues was directed by Brian Robbins, who also directed the upcoming The Perfect Score in which a disparate group of teenagers come together to try and steal the answers to their SATs. Now on the face of it, that sounds like the kind of run of the mill nonsense that I would steer well clear of. However, I have a horrible feeling that I'm going to end up seeing it almost purely on the basis that it stars the wonderful Scarlett Johansson. Ah well.

Alarmingly, Brian Robbins also appears to be directing an Americanized version of Fever Pitch in which the main character is a Red Sox fan ... oh dear, oh dear, oh dear ...

This is her story

2004-02-24T13:13:00.000Z

So I'm about 10 hours in, time for some thoughts on FFX-2. First and foremost it is very, very, very, silly. Silly in a good way, but silly nevertheless. It seems that Square decided to make a game with the sole purpose of entertaining fan boys (which is obviously fine by me). The active battle system from VII is back, which is all well and good, along with a take on the job system from Tactics which means that the clothes each character wears determine the abilities they can use. Obviously given the overriding ethos of the game as mentioned above, this comes complete with in battle transformation scenes changing from one skimpy outfit to another. My personal favourite "dress sphere" so far is that of Songstress which involves one of your characters (Yuna for preference) singing and dancing away to herself in the corner of the battle field (complete with microphone) causing blanket battle effects whilst the other two get on with the serious business of hitting things. One effect of this battle system is that it's relatively easy to get things very wrong, and thus get schooled in boss battles because you're too busy having fun trying to access the special spheres (a cross between summons and overdrives) - I've probably died more times in the first 10 hours of X-2 than in the entirety of VII, VIII & IX put together ... still, I'm having lots of fun and that surely is the point.

Lightning is My Girl

2004-02-23T13:32:00.000Z

Let me tell you a little story. A girl, an aspiring bass player, and her friend go to a gig - the girl thinks that the band are the best thing she's ever seen, her friend is somewhat less enthused and gets into a fight with the band. After the gig the girl goes backstage to apologises to the band's lead singer, and the two become friends. A few years later the lead singer calls her and says "How would you like to be in my friend's band?". The girl joins the friend's band and plays with them for a few years until the band breaks up. A not too unusual story until you start filling in some of the blanks. The girl is called Melissa Auf Der Maur, and the band she went to see was no other than The Smashing Pumpkins. Billy Corgan's friend was Courtney Love, and thus Melissa ended up being the base player for Hole. Not only that, but she also later played with the Pumpkins on their last album and farewell tour. I guess it really isn't what you know, it's who you know after all ...

... the reason I recount the above story is that I've recently gotten hold of Melissa's first solo album, called Auf Der Maur and it's a cracker. Apparently she played the Academy in Birmingham at the beginning of the month and I missed her, which is somewhat annoying ...

... oh, and the fact that's she's a leggy redhead who plays bass has nothing to do with her appeal. No really :o)

There's one born every minute

2004-02-22T11:47:00.000Z

Okay, so I realise that I have a tendency to enthuse about a reported UK release date only to have my hopes cruelly dashed at a later date. You might therefore think that armed with this knowledge I would be somewhat cautious about embracing such news in the future. Well, you'd think that anyway ...

... Yay! Disgaea, largely viewed as the finest turn based strategy game since the original Final Fantasy Tactics and unashamedly targeted at RPG aficionados has been slated for a May release. Yay! What with this, and the first part of .dot//hack being released (supposedly at the end of March) you'd almost think that there was a market for RPGs in this country ...

... of course I still need to get my PS2 chipped so I can play Russell’s copy of Xenosaga (which apparently is doomed never to see a UK release). Grr and quite possibly argh ...

Second suitor: if we were making whoopee, what sounds would you make?

2004-02-19T22:29:00.000Z

Back in the day, the people behind thespark made a variation of their personality test and turned it into a matchmaking service. It gave you a Briggs/Meyer-esc four letter personality type (eg RGLD) and then a percentage match with all the other people who had taken the test. It was fun for a while, but then it went away, and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. However, they're back again with a whole new site located here which does exactly the same thing, only better (allegedly). And with a whole bunch of new features. So yay for that. I am apparently a Random Gentle Love Dreamer, aka The Boy Next Door. The following is an excerpt from the description of a RGLD:

"Kind, yearning, playful, you are The Boy Next Door. You're looking for real Love, a lot like girls do. It might not be manly, but it's sweet. On paper, most girls would name the Boy Next Door as their ideal mate. In the real world, however, you're often passed over for more dangerous or masculine men. You're the typical "nice guy": without just a touch of cockiness, you're doomed with girls. A shoulder to cry on? Okay, sure. But never a penis to hold."

So reasonably accurate then ...

Sadly for me, the only 2 people I have yet come across worth talking to are variously 3½ thousand and 10½ thousand miles away. So yay for me then.

Psalm 23 (remix)

2004-02-19T00:18:00.000Z

⁴ Yea, though I walk
.......through the valley of
...........the shadow of wisdom teeth removal
..I shall fear no complications;
.......for people do this kind of thing all the time
...........and bad things rarely happen to them. No really.

And this from the cry for help corner

2004-02-17T00:41:00.000Z

So I was making one of my regular sojourns through the list of referral links and search strings. Nothing too unusual this month really - links from Blogger, Ian and Alex ... searches for Janet Jackson (surprise me some more), Jeremy Sumpter and Kate Bekcinsale's shiny bottom (don't ask). And then it hits me. At number 18 on the list was the following search string:

"make love to me jed"

... now what's that all about?

And the award goes to ...

2004-02-16T22:01:00.000Z

Some thoughts on the BAFTAs - good to see Bill Murray repeat his Golden Globe success and pick up Best Actor. Even better to see Scarlett Johansson pick up Best Actress, since their performances really only work because of the way they play so well off each other, and thus to award only one seems somehow not to get the point. Emphasises even further how outrageous the fact that she wasn't even nominated for an Oscar is. Entertaining to see that for the third year running the most recent Lord of the Rings film won the Orange award for Best Film. Apparently we know what we're doing, even if the academy doesn't. Good also to see Return of the King pick up Best Film, although once again I am confused as to how you can award Best Film and Best Director to two separate films, given how inexorably interwoven they should be. That said, I'm not too upset that Peter Jackson didn't win, since he picked up the Best Director award two years ago for Fellowship, and 2 in 3 years for what is ostensibly the same film (just a really, really long one) seems a little cheeky. If, however he doesn't pick up the Best Director Oscar come February 29th, an award for which both Fellowship and the Two Towers were overlooked, then the Academy will once and for all have proven how entirely irrelevant they truly are. Finally, I was reading an article in today's Independent about how the BAFTAs have gone all Hollywoodian, and that they should award to British films more often - seems a bit rich in light of Bill Nighy picking up Best Supporting Actor really doesn't it?

The One With The Additional Material

2004-02-15T18:15:00.000Z

I finally got around to watching some of the Friends DVDs that I picked up a while back from play and was quite surprised whilst watching the very first episode to come across material which I'm reasonably sure I'd never seen before. Now given my practically encyclopedic knowledge of early seasons of Friends I'm almost positive that it isn't the case that I had merely forgotten these lines or indeed in one case entire extra scene, especially since this didn't occur with any of the other episodes I watched. This leads me to suppose that the version of this episode that is usually shown is a cut version, and I now have the uncut version. Which is nice.

Random Friends Trivia Fact No. 1 - The opening credits for the first two episodes do not feature any clips, but merely show the cast dancing in the fountain. The clips were added in after this because, and I quote the dancing "looked like they were having too much fun and not letting the audience in on it."

Is this some kind of Zeitgeist thing?

2004-02-14T23:37:00.000Z

On the basis of quite how good the current single, Run, is I picked up a copy of Final Straw by Snow Patrol and have to say that I'm mightily impressed. I was however somewhat surprised to discover that not only is this a re-release for the album which was previously released in August last year, but it is also their third album. Now this brings me to a larger point, which I have struggled with for a while. How is it that bands can be doing pretty much the same thing, and then suddenly make it big without actually changing what they're doing? Equally, how do bands then fade away again, similarly without changing? Take The Offspring for example. Now I'm sure Joolz will disagree with me, but they've been making pretty much exactly the same music for as long as they've been going, yet suddenly Americana comes out and everyone loves them, and then equally as suddenly they disappear again. What gives?

Greed is good

2004-02-12T23:01:00.000Z

So Sky One have the rights to the new series of 24, and have decided to milk their new toy for all she's worth ... the whole "events happen in real time" was slightly skewed when shown on BBC2 since there were no ad breaks but surely, I thought, now that Sky has stepped up, an hour will actually take an hour - more fool me. Sky stuffed so many ads into the course of the first episode that an hour took an hour and ten minutes instead. Not really get the point here are we people ...

Went to see School of Rock this evening, and am a little confused as to how the man who made possibly one the finest films ever made, Mr. Richard Linklater, managed to end up behind the helm of this Jack Black vehicle. It's not bad by any means, but hardly wonderfully either. There's generally too much Jack Black, and not a lot of anything else, although it does get much better (and much cheesier) towards then end.

OH MY GOD - having just visited imdb to procure the links for the above, I have discover that there is a sequel to the referenced cinematic wonder. How can there be a sequel to the film I regularly reference as my favourite film of all time, and I not know about it? According to imdb, it's due for a US release in June, although it doesn't have a UK release listed. So who's all up for New York in Summertime then? This is now officially the film I most want to see™

We now return you to our regular broadcast day - whilst in the cinema, I was treated to a ludicrously overblown anti-piracy advert from the lovely people at FACT which featured the line - "Piracy funds terrorism and will destroy our future." Which is nice ...

Finally, whilst I like to think I am reasonable clued up at the world of celluloid, it's always nice to be surprised once in a while. One of the trailers this evening was for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which I'm reasonable sure is something I would remember having heard of. And dang did it intrigue ... Jim Carrey pays to have his memories of his relationship with Kate Winslet erased, and the film takes place mostly within his head as these memories are viewed and then erased. As well as Carrey and Winslet, it also features Tom Wilkinson, Mr. Frodo Baggins and the divine Kristen Dunst. No release date for this either at imdb, but I'm certainly hoping quite soon ...

We make our own choices, we pay our own prices

2004-02-11T22:25:00.000Z

As my man Martin Blank once said, "Dumb fucking luck!"

The worst idea since Greedo shooting first ...

2004-02-11T12:24:00.000Z

Yay - the original Star Wars trilogy is getting a DVD release come September

Boo - it's likely to be the Special Edition versions ...

We all have strength enough to endure the misfortunes of others

2004-02-10T17:51:00.000Z

I was in Birmingham city centre this afternoon shopping for Saturday when I was greeted by the sight of a large police presence, several forensic types, two news vans and reams of "Police Line: Do Not Cross" tape. Evidently something had kicked off over night. Now despite having lived in both Hackney (one of only 4 London boroughs where currently bullet and stab proof vests are worn at all times) and Croydon ('nuff said) I've never actually seen any such tape in real life before, and I have to admit I found it somewhat disquietening. However, even more alarming were the crowds of people gathered around simply to gawk at the police as the went about their task, much like the people who slow down on Motorways to get a better look at a car crash. I'm sure it says something about the state of society that we have become such voyeurs of our own misfortune, and I'm also sure that it can't be good.

In other news the Counting Crows are a bunch of bastards, having released a 16 track "Best of" album, featuring 4 tracks unavailable elsewhere. Damn them. Damn them and all their kind ...

Of cabbages and Kings

2004-02-09T12:53:00.000Z

Something's Gotta Give - against my better judgment, but with the blessing of the boy Woss, I wandered off to see this yesterday. Whilst there was nothing inherently wrong, the whole thing just didn't impress very much. Have we (whisper it) had enough of Jack playing Jack? On the plus side, Diane Keaton was very good, but not sufficiently good that she deserved her Golden Globe (and Oscar nomination) ahead of Scarlett Johannson. The whole thing was about half an hour too long, and the ending appallingly schmaltzy. And any film that ends up making me feel sorry for Keanu Reeves can never be a good thing ...

Angels in America - on the back of incredible hype from the States with no fewer than 5 Golden Globes (winning in every category that it was eligible for) this was shown over the weekend on channel 4. The first thing that sprang to mind was "does this place have a never ending supply of weird stuff?". Part social political commentary on the Reagan years, part documentary on the ravages of AIDS, part fantasy adventure, all weird. The acting however was top notch, with stand out performances from both Jeffrey Wright and Mary Louise Parker. And the fact that I sat through all 7 hours of it, even in the face of my increasing incredulity is surely testament to something ...

In other news, it looks like my copy of Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis is soon to have a companion in the form of an Ancient Greek translation.

Blatant advertisment time

2004-02-07T16:12:00.000Z

I was sorting through some of my old stuff in preparation for the Big Move™ to the land of my forefathers, and came across my old Amiga 500 ... now the machine itself was broken beyond repair, but given the kind of person I am, I still had most of the boxes and manuals for the games so I stuck them on ebay in the hope that someone might fancy them. Sadly, despite being listed at a mere £1.00, which works out at 5p per game (or if you include the extra disks less than 1p per disk) no one is yet to display sufficient interest to make a bid. Alas and alack and all that ...

A collection of shambling morons

2004-02-07T15:59:00.000Z

I've been playing quite a lot of Gunbound in the past 10 days and whilst it is lots of fun, the shambling morons are starting to get to me. Point in case: I just played 2 games in a row in which I performed largely the same. During the first game I was berated for being a "noob" (despite being the highest ranked player in the game) and kicked out of the room after the first game. In the second game I was accused of being a "pro" using a lower ranked account to get easy kills, with the same eventual outcome. Now the insane ramblings during the game I can ignore, but when it starts to prevent me from playing the game, that's obviously going to start annoying me ...

Get thee to a Nunnery

2004-02-05T14:20:00.000Z

Okay, so the whole furore about Janet Jackson's breast is reaching stupid proportions. In my opinion it was insufficiently meritorious that I didn't even include it in my Superbowl report. However, the rest of the world (well okay, mostly the Americans, but doesn't that amount to the same thing these days?) have just gone crazy about it. Some quotes:

"... the most disgusting thing I have ever seen at a sports spectacle."
"... classless, crass and deplorable stunt."
"... offensive, inappropriate and embarrassing to us and our fans."

In the wake of this obviously "pornographic" act, the Federal Regulatory Commission have launched an investigation as to whether broadcast decency standards were breached and plans to fine CBS up to $500,000, the Oscars and the Grammys are to be shown with a 5 second delay to "avoid further controversy" and an episode of ER has cut a scene featuring a woman's breast since "the atmosphere created by this week's events has made it too difficult for many of our affiliates to air this shot". I realise that the founding fathers were Puritans and all, but you’d think some form of enlightenment or liberalisation would have occurred in the past several hundred years.

The irony here of course is that the alternate pay-per-view halftime show was the inaugural "Lingerie Bowl" which featured models in lingerie playing tackle football. Unbelievable ...

Of shoes and ships and sealing wax

2004-02-02T23:53:00.000Z

A few things of note from the weekend:

Sci-Fi London 3 - when your film festival makes an anime convention look like not only a well run machine but also the cutting edge of audio-visual presentation, then you know you're in all sorts of trouble. Of the 3 films I was supposed to watch, one appeared to be shown from a VCD with dubbing translations from the people who brought us "someday we must gargle together", another was sufficiently delayed that I had to miss it, since by the time it would have finished the tubes would have stopped running, and the less said about the third the better. When I describe something as "simply the weirdest thing I've ever seen" then you know that's some freaky shit going on ...

Superbowl XXXVIII - given that this was supposed to be a dull non-event between two defence based sides, it turned out to be a complete cracker. Okay, so it took a while to get going, but once it did it was certainly worth the wait. Adam Vinateri's 41 yard field goal with a mere 4 seconds left on the clock was the stuff of legend, especially since he did practically the same thing 2 years ago (with no seconds left on the clock) to win Superbowl XXXVI ... Johnny Wilkinson eat your heart out ... oh, and (two-time Superbowl MVP) Tom Brady's all time post season record now reads 6-0 ... which is nice ...

Buffy - finally got around to watching the last 3 episodes of season 7, and I have to say that as ways to end it go, they made a pretty damn good fist of it. I was especially keen on the way that as many things stayed the same as changed. So we get plenty of old skool scooby moments for the fanboys, mixed in with new and exciting stuff to keep it fresh. Definitely an example of going out at the top of your game. Also, having the last line ever being "Yeah Buffy, what do we do now?" gets my vote.

Shadowmancer - not good. Not good at all. The plot is shaky, the narrative voice hackneyed, the characters mono-dimensional and that's before we even get started on the religious overtones. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against religion, or indeed more specifically Christianity, in children's books. Lets face it, The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, one of the finest children's books ever written, is largely an allegory for the death of Christ. This however, is not one of the finest children's books ever written. This is merely an expression of a belief system dressed up in fancy new clothes and repackaged to appeal to the Potter generation. In fact, it is so tied down to the concepts of belief that where exposition is desperately needed to maintain plot coherence there is none, since proof denies faith. Bah, and quite possibly humbug ...

... in other news - no, I didn't say anything, and yes, I am a muppet.

Geek reference of the day

2004-02-02T21:12:00.000Z

Ian is Freefall ...

So long and thanks for all the fish

2004-01-29T12:09:00.000Z

There I was getting all excited about the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film, what with the fantastic concept art for Marvin, the script at least partly co-written by Adams himself and some reasonable casting with Bill Nighy as Slartibarfast and Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent. And then the go and cast Mos Def as Ford Prefect ... now what's all that about, eh?

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

2004-01-28T17:40:00.000Z

Yay for snow. After the warnings of snow on the horizon, I was somewhat disappointed to find that this mornings snow had all gone by lunchtime. However, after another shower this afternoon we now have a reasonable covering. Of course given that traditionally there needs to be "enough snow to make a snowman" then we're still quite a long way short of proper snow. The last time we had a sensible amount of snow here was in 1982, so I feel it's well past due. This of course is all written bearing in mind that I have nothing to do and nowhere to go - I realise that other less sedentary people may disagree ...

OMG WTF?

2004-01-28T01:39:00.000Z

At Tycho's suggestion I have been playing some Gunbound and it is indeed quite japesome. However the truly alarming thing is that my ever so delightful fellow devotees all really do talk like the cast of Little Gamers (for those not in the know, this is not a good thing. Trust me on this one). The chat dialogue for every game is almost entirely devoted with people proclaiming everyone else to be "noobs" or declaiming that they are "teh 0wnzor", interrupted only by the guy in the corner with his constant stream of "omg" & "wtf" ... and we wonder why the general public has such a low opinion of gamers ...