World Called Catastrophe

One Year Later...

2007-02-23T12:55:00.000Z

I've just realised that this time last year I was trying to set up a blog.

For anyone interested here is the Matthew Good song that I got my title from. Everyone should have a Matthew Good album in their collection. It should be a law or an old charter or something.

zzz

2007-02-22T23:01:00.000Z

I've been far too tired and busy to blog about anything lately, so once I can get some sleep I'll have some catching up to do.

I already owe Aliemalie a 'weird' post so I shall have to apologise to her if I should run in to her any time soon and set about getting it done in the meantime.
If you should happen to be in the area at all, just keep an eye out for the tower...

Early morning wake up calls

2007-02-11T15:33:00.000Z

We've been up since 2 o' clock this morning and not because of the children.
Two words:

Outlaws.
Alcohol.

Currently feeling ever so slightly shattered.

The Vault

2007-02-10T08:28:00.000Z

Do they know something we don't?

I saw this...

2007-01-27T21:44:00.000Z

...and couldn't help but think of Korova.

It's a chinese ferret badger.
I don't think I need to say anything else.

And if that has whet your appetite, K- there is a whole world of possibility for you here.

Somehow I don't think posting this picture will get me as many comments as that Alyson Hannigan one...

Which Firefly/Serenity character are you?

2007-01-27T20:59:00.000Z

While I'm chuffed to get the result I did, I can't help but hope I don't end up like him...

Your results:

You are Wash (Ship Pilot)

Wash (Ship Pilot)		70%
Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)		60%
Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)		60%
Jayne Cobb (Mercenary)		55%
Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic)		55%
Derrial Book (Shepherd)		55%
Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic)		50%
Inara Serra (Companion)		25%
A Reaver (Cannibal)		25%
Alliance		20%
River (Stowaway)		15%

You are a pilot with a good
if not silly sense of humor.
You take pride in your collection of toys.
You love your significant other.

Click here to take the Serenity Firefly Personality Test

Reader Quiz

2007-01-22T23:40:00.000Z

Taken from Hageltoast-

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

The RPG Class Test

2007-01-15T00:05:00.000Z

Mystic Theurge
25% Combativeness, 36% Sneakiness, 79% Intellect, 52% Spirituality

Brilliant and spiritual! You are a Mystic Theurge!
Score! You have a prestige class. A prestige class can only be taken after you’ve fulfilled certain requirements. This may mean that you’re an exceptionally talented person, but it probably doesn't.
The Mystic Theurge is a combination of a cleric and a mage. They can cast both arcane and divine spells, and are good at both, making them pretty terrifying on the battlefield. They have more raw spellpower than just about any other class.
You're both intelligent and faithful, but not violent or deceitful. I guess that makes you a pretty good person.

Link: The RPG Class Test written by MFlowers

Is that good?

NF

2007-01-14T23:53:00.000Z

If you make me wear this hat I swear on my next nappy I'll make you pay.

GF

2007-01-14T23:48:00.000Z

The best way to get the presents was going to be the Christmas tree disguise.

From todays 'Times' newspaper

2007-01-10T23:20:00.000Z

Smell 'explained'

New York. A mysterious gas- like odour that covered Manhattan and worried residents has been blamed on neighbouring New Jersey.

Poor New Jersey. It seems to get the blame for most of America's ills.

Tired/Tyres

2007-01-10T22:01:00.000Z

Not much to blog about at the moment as I'm sure you don't want to hear about the lack of sleep we are all currently suffering from or the conveyor belt of nappies. Oh god, the nappies.

...

Funnily enough (well, I say 'funnily' but you know what I mean) just as I typed that last bit I had to pause to change yet another nappy. Obviously I need to be carefull what I say/type at the moment. A day or two ago I happened to mention to MC that not being at work for the last three weeks was going to save me just under £100 in petrol costs. Today I go and get a puncture which costs me £92.50 for a new tyre. And yet strangely there is still no sign of Alyson Hannigan.
We had just parked in the street outside my parents house and as we got out of the car I can hear this really loud hissing noise. Assuming that I hadn't just run over an incredibly large snake I ended up having to drive to a nearby tyre centre to get a replacement, with one moment of panic when a dustcart pulled out in front my car and started crawling up the road. Luckily it soon went off in the opposite direction to me and I got the car to the garage before any wheels dropped off.

Alyson Hannigan in rubber

2007-01-03T22:14:00.000Z

Especially for Hageltoast & Avenger.

2007

2007-01-01T21:29:00.000Z

Happy New Year to you all! I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas/time off work/relevant festival.

I discovered that some people do actually read my blog. Back in August I made this post after discovering a Transformer that was a robotic Han Solo and Chewbacca that could combine to change in to the Millenium Falcon. Then in November I posted a piece on Adam Adamant which you can see here.
For Christmas my brother Rhub not only got me the Adam Adamant dvd boxset but also the very cool Falcon Transformer (and yes it is just as cool as it looks. I'm currently looking for somewhere I can install the shrine).
Clearly this is the place to start leaving hints about things I want people to get me...

Bring me the head of Santa Claus

2006-12-24T16:08:00.000Z

Sorry kids, it doesn't look like Santa's coming this year.

Just kidding. I thought I would demonstrate my outlaws appalling lack of taste when it comes to buying us Christmas ornaments. Way to scar the grandchildren. I'll leave you for now with a little festive interspecies erotica. Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-24T15:59:00.000Z

Here are some traditional Christmas Carols for you to enjoy-

O tidings of comfort and Neath,
Comfort and Neath.

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
from the Christmas Song Generator.

This carol seems to be about the most disappointing Christmas holiday ever-

O come all ye faithful,
Joyful and triumphant;
O come ye, o come ye
To Neath.

O Come All Ye Faithful
from the Christmas Song Generator.

And this one is pretty close to the truth-

Oh the Neath outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
And since we've no place to go,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Let It Snow
from the Christmas Song Generator.

Monster

2006-12-23T21:37:00.000Z

With three weeks off over Christmas the only thing I'm going to miss about work is driving in with this blaring on the car radio.
Probably Keiths favourite song, although I can't think why.

The Automatic- 'Monster'

All change

2006-12-23T00:26:00.000Z

There seems to be a sudden trend for some of the bloggers I read to spruce up their sites. Aliemalie started it and Wes and Korova have followed suit. Now I can't help but think my site is looking a bit shabby but I like the classic black. Besides I'll just look like I'm copying the others now (which, fair enough, I would be).
I asked Korova why he had changed his blog address from the slightly disturbing yet unintentionaly amusing 'anal ternative reality' and he told me that it was partly because he fancied a change and partly because I had "been taking the piss out of the name, you bastard (I'm paraphrasing a bit here, but that was the general gist of it)."
So now Korova can be found at www.theresnocode.blogspot.com.
For anyone that might be wondering 'The Resno Code' is a little bit like 'The Da Vinci Code' but far more interesting. Instead of covering up the shocking revelation that someone a few thousand years ago might have got married and had kids, 'The Resno Code' concerns the incredible truth that Jesus loved to play the trumpet. Possibly.

A Resno- Tempered Bell Trumpet, such as the one Jesus may have used when playing with popular jazz troupe 'The Disciples'

My Hideous Pet

2006-12-22T23:56:00.000Z

Paradogatle
You are 40% ferocious, 36% speedy, 45% curious

You're a strong-willed individual who isn't afraid of seeming normal. You're not up for glory, you're not up for power. So just what are you up for? The parakeet is smart, but sometimes loses track of what it wants. Maybe you should take some time to figure that out, because while you are a nice, charming character, (that'd be the dog in you) you might want to add a little spice to your personality. And since you've got some turtle in there, pick up the pace a bit, capice??

Link: The Hideous Pet Personality Test written by ragamuffyn

Walkies

2006-12-20T12:37:00.000Z

Touching wood, life seems to be fairly quiet in the library today. Let's hope it's not the calm before the storm.
On the down side with nothing going on here I haven't got anything to talk about. I think I'll just take Keith out for a walk instead.

Quote of the Day

2006-12-15T23:59:00.000Z

"It might sound funny to others, but suddenly thinking you are French is terrifying."

I can only imagine.

The (Un)dead of night

2006-12-15T00:00:00.000Z

So I was wandering the blogs at night, a dangerous occupation at the best of times, when I foolishly strayed from the path and got this:

Graaaagh!
nutter4 attempted to eat your brains, but was violently repelled by someone with a shotgun.
nutter4 has eaten 102 other brains.

Damn zombies.
A big groovy thank you to whoever that was with the shotgun but it is impossible for me to let something like this go so please click here if you want to get your brain eaten.

Those of you who lean more towards vampire chic can click here to get your neck bitten. Then if you decide to sign up to play the game you can wonder around aimlessly giving love bites and drinking peoples blood for a laugh (or just to upset them).

Job Application

2006-12-14T22:35:00.000Z

Things you don't want to hear when enquiring about a job you were thinking about applying for:

"The last person in the post died of course."

"Put a sock in it"

2006-12-14T22:29:00.000Z

Go on. You know you want to. Touch my sock. You filthy bunnies.

I say, I say, I say, my lava lamp has no nose...

2006-12-14T12:24:00.000Z

MC decided to move baby N's cot in to our bedroom for now and in doing so discovered that for some bizarre reason her parents had left their shoes in there.

Just to make her even angrier, when she was getting the baby ready for bed she discovered her parents had moved the shoes she had taken out of the cot, on top of the baby clothes she had put aside.

Anyway, let's put that behind us and move swiftly on to my own misfortunes which some people seem to think are far more amusing.

I went in to my bedroom the other day and noticed that the top was missing off my lava lamp. Assuming that an incredibly specialist thief hadn't been in our flat, I was left to wonder what could cause the spontaneous disappearance of a lava lamp lid. On closer inspection it actually looked as if the lamp had been moved and put back as it was now standing on its own lead. Curious.

To give you a clue, the lava lamp is sat on top of my bedside cabinet. The lead stretches across the drawers so that if you don't open them carefully you will end up sending the lamp flying (not the greatest booby trap in the world but I try to make the best of the materials provided). There were also some socks on the floor which suggested there had indeed been a raid on my bedside cabinet. The lava lamp had clearly been knocked over as I can see where the top of it is, behind the tv, where it had rolled.

But who could the culprit be?

Long time readers of my blog will be aware that the Welsh consider my underwear a holy relic (or possibly a delicacy, there is still some debate) and with MC's dad down I think I know where the finger of blame might lie.
New readers looking for a little background on this story of Welsh eccentricity should look no further than the (slightly angrier) post I made here.

Maybe I should be flattered? I just don't know.

Early one morning...

2006-12-10T23:00:00.000Z

And you thought I was joking about the late nights with MC's parents being down.

They went out with their friends last night so MC and I had some time alone with the children. As you would expect NF kept us up most of the night but we did manage to nod off in the early hours of the morning.

-Until MC's parents returned at 4.45am, stomping around, turning on all the lights and generally waking everyone up.

Gah. Need sleep.

Distractions: Lost

2006-12-10T00:28:00.000Z

Taken from Sarah.

'Lost' is a student project looking at how people connect all over the world.

If you fancy joining in go to www.lost.eu/eb14

Who Needs Sleep?

2006-12-09T16:10:00.000Z

Here we are again back to sleepless nights and neverending nappies.

Yes, that's right MC's parents are visiting once more.

I was back at work on Friday and had to go through the mind numbing task of working my way through the hundred odd emails I had been sent while I had been away, as well as the hundred odd other emails that had been sent to tell me my account was over its size limit. Yes, perhaps if you hadn't sent me all of those I wouldn't be quite as over my email limit as I was. At least it felt good to delete them all.

But, enough about work- Thank you for all of the congratulations.
We spent Tuesday ringing up the hospital to see when a bed was going to be free for MC to go in to be induced. Eventually we went in at about 4pm and settled ourselves in to our little corner of the room where you have to wait before you go on to the birthing suite.
There were four beds in total in the room and the only thing that seperates you all is a rather tasteful orange curtain so if you're not carefull everybody can hear what you're saying.
There was a lady in the bed on the other side of the room who was telling the nurse about the first time she had given birth when the baby had broken her pelvis and left her in traction. Ouch. Not what you want to hear. Her partner had some sort of quiz book or something with him (at least I assume so. Otherwise it means he kept suddenly asking random questions out loud which is just be odd). One of the questions he came out with was something along the lines of 'Which prog-rock group took their name from Tolkiens "Silmarillion"?' to which he answered himself 'It must be Genesis.'
You see, what you've done there is confused epic fantasy with the bible. Easy mistake to make, but I think you'll find the actual answer is, more obviously, Marillion. At least that's what I wanted to say but I just giggled and hid behind my orange curtain. And this was before the nitrous oxide had been brought out.

From what we could hear the woman in the bed next to us had already been in once to try and induce the baby and today was her second day without any luck. To help deal with the obvious stress this must be causing her and her partner kept nipping out every two minutes for a cigarrette. Not sure that was the best plan but each to there own. Every time they walked by you got a nice whiff of ash that not even a curtain could protect you from.

There was also the comedy moment when one woman (clearly enjoying the happy gas) was heard to shout out 'It was you trying to get my knickers off that got me in to this mess in the first place!'
I wonder how embarrased that poor guy was (not much actually, I had the curtain to keep my anonymity. Maybe that is what the curtains are actually for).

MC had been having contractions off and on for a few days and once they started to induce these started to become stronger and more frequent. We still had to wait a good few hours for the next stage, so it wasn't until about 11.45pm that they decided MC was ready. Once this had been done they wanted to hook her up to the machine again that they use to measure the babies heartbeat and the rate of the contractions to make sure everything was okay. It turned out that the baby had decided this slightly crucial moment was the ideal time for a nap so MC had to move around a bit to try and wake him. MC managed to convince the midwife that the baby was definately ready to arrive so the midwife decided to take us down to the delivery suite, bringing the machine with her as she intended to hook MC up to the monitor again once we were there. MC (possibly because she was determined not to go on the uncomfortable monitor again) has to stop in the corridor because the baby decides that finally, after two weeks of waiting, the game is up and he might as well surrender and come out. We managed to get MC in to the delivery room and up on to the bed then out pops NF at 12.30am Wednesday with the midwife only just managing to get ready in time.
And if you think I made that sound ridiculously easy- believe me, that was the way MC made it look.

MC and NF were eventually able to come home later that evening. My mum collected us from the hospital and then my whole family came over with our 2 year old daughter to meet her new brother. NF was sat in his little car seat with a teddy next to him to give to his sister as a present. GF came in, made an exclamation of surprise, grabbed the teddy and then in a moment of exceptional cuteness started to tuck the teddy in with her baby brother, under his little blanket.

We Interrupt Our Regular Programming For A Special Announcement

2006-12-06T21:23:00.000Z

NF arrived at 00.30 this morning. He weighs 7lbs 12oz and is about 50cm in length.

Mother and baby are both well, but tired.

Meet Mr Lhu

2006-12-03T14:09:00.000Z

This is Keith. Keith enjoys cooking, candlelight, beautiful moonlit walks and ripping the hearts out of kittens.

GSOH a must.

aww, bless

Please Pledge Your Support

2006-11-30T09:53:00.000Z

Hello Cthulhu

2006-11-29T20:58:00.000Z

The midwife came over today to tell us that if MC does need to be induced, they won't be able to get her in to the hospital until Tuesday. MC is obviously hoping he will arrive before that but on the bright side at least the outlaws aren't down until next weekend now.

I was browsing some other blogs when I found Hageltoast's excellent site (well, there were some Neil Gaiman books listed in the sidebar so I'm being biased). However what was even better was the link she had to the twisted genius of the 'Hello Cthulhu' website. It's well worth a look, especially if you have read HP Lovecraft. I particularly reccomend this cartoon, but you should work your way through them because they are very funny. How long they can continue running a site that has a bunny offering the elder god cthulhu cookies as its running gag remains to be seen but then again how can giving cookies to cthulhu ever get old?
I'll have to take a photo of the stuffed cthulhu that sits in our hallway. I had hoped he would scare people away but for an elder god he is suspiciously cute. I'm beginning to question his authenticity.

For those of you who prefer to take your Lovecraft a little more seriously then you should check out The HP Lovecraft Historical Society Sanitest where you can find out just how insane you actually are. Apparently I'm psychasthenic which is an improvement on my result when I originally did this about 5 years ago. I vaguely remember it telling me I had distemper.

Here is what it had to say:
INSANITY INDEX 5.76- Thank you for taking the SaniTest(TM). Your score suggests that you are psychasthenic. A very interesting condition, it means you lack the capacity to resolve uncertainties, or resist phobias or compulsions even though you know they're irrational. You may have trouble making decisions, or you may find yourself engaging in self-sabotaging behavior. Others who scored at this level include millionaire Howard Hughes and occultist/heretic Giordano Bruno.

Antichrist Britain

2006-11-29T10:17:00.000Z

Sitting twiddling my thumbs waiting for a baby to arrive I thought I would make this for Korova-

Korova's Amazing Mental Ability ...

You can arouse any given badger, at any given time, anywhere on the planet

(Remember ... with great power comes great responsibility!)

'What is your Amazing Mental Ability?' at QuizGalaxy.com

- but I don't know if he would appreciate it so maybe I'll just keep it to myself.

Instead I shall bring to your attention a debate that began when Xulub, Spider and myself were flicking the music channels when Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People" came on. Suddenly we were obsessed with the fact that Marilyn Manson is a skinny lookalike of 'Little Britain's' Matt Lucas.
Maybe it was the hair. Dammit, it made sense at the time.

Matt Lucas: Antichrist Superstar

Marilyn Manson: The Only Gay In The Village

Of insults & injuries

2006-11-28T21:56:00.001Z

I was trying to convince MC last night that 'The Crow' was a horror film. We had been having a discussion about what makes a good horror film and what place romance has, if any, in that genre after an argument on the merits of the Dracula film starring Gary Oldman. My argument was based on the fact that 'The Crow' is a gothic horror story, in that it doesn't rely on gore and has themes of love and redemption running through it. Oh, and a lot of the action takes place at night. However I managed to fall in to her admittedly impressive trap when I said something like "It's gothic horror because you have the horror of what happened to them and his need to come back for revenge."

"So," she said, "You think 'Ghost' is a horror film."

She knows how to hurt me.

Walk Like An... Egyptian Zodiac Sign

2006-11-28T21:41:00.000Z

Taken from Sarah-

Sekhmet

Observant, authoritative, indulgent, moral and witty.

Colors: male: green, female: turquoise
Compatible Signs: Bastet, Geb
Dates: July 29 - Aug 11, Oct 30 - Nov 7

Role: Goddess of war and vengeance
Appearance: Lion-headed woman with the sun over her head
Sacred Animal: lion

What is Your Egyptian Zodiac Sign?
Designed by CyberWarlock of Warlock's Quizzles and Quandaries

That is just like me. But authoritative and witty.

To Induce or Not to Induce

2006-11-28T21:09:00.000Z

The baby is still staunchly refusing to put in an appearance. He is clearly a great believer in being fashionably late- or he takes after me and is just going to be late-as-usual.
Of course it may well be that he is refusing to come out because the dreaded outlaws are coming down this weekend. Originally they had said that they would pop down once he was born, to say hello then go back home, book some leave and come down for a week after I had gone back to work so that we had some time alone with the new baby and MC wouldn't be left on her own to cope with two lots of nappies once my leave was up.
All of a sudden that changed this week when they rang up and announced that they were coming down on Friday, staying over then going home Sunday. All well and good, but if the baby doesn't arrive they try to induce ten days after the due date. Ten days would take us to this Saturday, so if they induce then he won't be born until Sunday which of course is when they are going back. Spot the deliberate error? While MC was talking to her mum on the phone she was explaining about the procedure they go through to induce a baby as GF had needed to be induced when she was born. However MC's mum started to insist that GF had not needed to be induced and had come along normally. Now MC, having been there, giving birth etc, could quite clearly remember the fact that GF needed to be induced, as can I, so you would think that that alone would be enough to convince MC's mum that she might be wrong about this- but no.
What makes it even stranger is the fact that MC's mum was there too, as she was staying with us at the time.

Obligatory blurred ufo shot

2006-11-28T11:31:00.000Z

We come in peace

2006-11-28T11:30:00.000Z

Take me to your leader

2006-11-28T11:29:00.000Z

Colour to arms

2006-11-22T20:42:00.000Z

My colour cell has got to number 1!!!

You can click here to see it's statistics...

Or here to see the complete ranking for all of the colour cells. As you can see the cell at number 2 is just a few points behind me so I don't know how long I'll stay at the top.

If you want to help me out click here to go to the cell select page. If I stay at number 1 for ten days my little cell goes off to the Hall of Fame. I don't want number 2 to beat me with his drab greys and browns (yes, this site has turned me in to a colour snob). My autumnal colours are much nicer, especially at this time of year.

Baby Update

2006-11-22T18:43:00.000Z

Here we are on November 22nd and we have no signs of an immediate arrival. It looks like he is going to take after his sister and be a little late. MC is feeling "fat and pregnant" and probably can't wait, more than anyone, for the new baby to appear.
This is currently my fault, as my mum was telling her today that both myself and my brother were born late (an ability I maintain to this day), so the lateness runs on my side of the family. MC and her brother were both born on time.
Luckily he was fairly settled last night so MC was able to get a full nights sleep. We were hoping this might be because he was saving his strength for the great escape (not that I'm expecting a Steve McQueenesque departure on a motorbike... but it would be a talking point) which has meant I've spent the day looking concernedly over at MC every time she has so much as breathed funny, much to her amusement.

With these powers...

2006-11-20T22:44:00.000Z

Neath's Amazing Mental Ability ...

You can tell exactly what any given walrus is feeling, at any given time, anywhere on the planet

(Remember ... with great power comes great responsibility!)

'What is your Amazing Mental Ability?' at QuizGalaxy.com

So there.

Showmanship

2006-11-20T22:30:00.000Z

I am currently reading the highly amusing 'Tricks of the Mind' by Derren Brown.

In this book he writes about some of the techniques he uses to perform his particular brand of magic, which if you have ever seen it, is something truly impressive.

I actually had to stop reading it last night because the paragraph I was reading was really laugh out loud funny and I was keeping everyone awake.

If you haven't had a chance to see any of his acts here are a few clips gleaned from youtube.
First up is the highly impressive 'Obi- Wan' act-
Part 1:

and Part 2:

Followed by 'Losing your train of thought...'

And the art of the gentle mugging...

I went with some friends to see him perform live not too long ago, which was amazing to see. I'll leave you for now with a quote from his book which demonstrates the delicate technique of accepting the praise of any friends you may impress with a few tricks. After taking you through the process of performing a succesful card trick to your friends in a pub he says:

"Climb on to the table and roar for applause before triumphantly urinating on the group."

So now you know. If you ever run in to him in a pub DON'T ask him to perform any tricks. You have been warned.

Adam Adamant Lives!

2006-11-15T19:10:00.000Z

I had planned to find something interesting to blog about last night but that was before I discovered BBC4's 'Science Fiction Britannia' season had started and was showing 'Adam Adamant Lives!' so that plan went right out the window. Instead I'm watching the fantasticly titled pilot episode: A Vintage Year for Scoundrels.

Adam Adamant is where Austin Powers took its core idea from.
Adam Llewellyn De Vere Adamant is an Edwardian adventurer in the year 1902. He saves the king from an assassin only to be betrayed by the woman he loves to his arch enemy, known only as 'The Face (no, not the guy from The A- Team),' who hilariously wears a gimp mask, thus proudly wearing his villian credentials on his sleeve (or in this case his head).
The Face injects Adamant with a serum that causes longevity (don't you just hate it when your enemies do that to you?) and then encases him in a block of ice (because killing him just wouldn't be sporting. Oh no. But making your nemesis live longer? That's the mark of a gentleman. Albeit a gentleman in a leather gimp mask).
Fast forward to 1966 where Adam's icy tomb is uncovered and he's carted off to hospital to be thawed out.
Adam is delirious when he awakes and convinced that he is still in the hands of his enemies so he makes good his escape. Clothed in his Edwardian garb (which you hope they washed for him at the hospital because if not, he's been wearing it for over 60 years and must by now be a little ripe) he takes to the streets where, with typical Victorian aplomb, he wonders in to a red light district where he is accosted by prostitutes.
Here he is found by Georgina Jones who recognises the once famous adventurer and takes him back to her flat. Adamant goes with her because in his delirious state he mistakes Miss Jones for a boy (no comment) due to her (to his eye) mannish clothes.
Awakening the next morning Adam is horrified to learn he has spent the night unchaperoned in a ladies bedroom (i'm sure we've all been there).
The rest of the episode sees Georgina witness a murder with Adam protecting her from the killers when they come after the one witness to the crime.
In spite of his old fashioned attitudes Adamant is quite happy to bump off any villians that cross his path with his trusty sword stick. Exactly how these bodies are explained away to the police is never really gone in to in any detail but hey, it was the sixties. He went on to acquire a servant and a Mini Cooper which while it was no Batmobile you can forgive him- as I have just said- it was the sixties.

You have probably worked out by now that a lot of the humour comes from the clash of his upright Victorian sensibilities against the background of the swinging sixties more outgoing attitudes. The show was surprisingly violent but then this was at a time when tv executives were turning Mary Whitehouse baiting in to a sport. For those who don't know Mary Whitehouse campaigned heavily for better morality on television which partly inspired Adamants creator Sydney Newman when he came up with the idea for the 1900/1960 culture clash.

If you get the chance to see it, do so (try not to let the awful dodgy Bond sounding theme tune put you off). It might be a little cheesey now but it's good fun (although to be frank I want to be Adam Adamant so I am a little biased. Rather unfairly some people who have known me a while would say I am already there if they saw this clip directed by Ridley Scott of all people).
Personally I think it's about time they remade this. It would be perfect to do today and has so much potential to be a fantastic show. It is a shame that David Tennant is currently playing Doctor Who (thought up by the same creative team) because he would be perfect for the role.

Tower of Infamy

2006-11-10T23:33:00.000Z

The tower at work where we keep all of the secret books unsuitable for public consumption is now bloody freezing. It doesn't matter how cold it is outside, inside the tower it will be colder. Much, much colder, getting worse the higher up you go. I still can't understand how anyone could have had an affair in there.

I accidently discovered one way of dealing with the cold yesterday when the maintenance guy turned up to service the lift. Five minutes after he arrived a customer came up wanting a book that happened to be on the tenth floor.

10 Floors!

I just kept telling myself as I went up the stairs that at least it wasn't floor 11.

Above: Early attempts at a book tower weren't always
a success

And even though I had warmed up by the time I got up there I couldn't help but admire anyone who had done this all those years before me and still managed to have sex. A heart attack is a hard thing to ignore.

Torn

2006-11-08T22:47:00.000Z

Apologies for the complete lack of any consistency with my blog lately but with baby preperations well under way anything after 8pm is too late a night for me. For now I'll keep posting whenever I can think straight and don't get distracted with online Christmas shopping.

Anyway, on with the show- here is something I caught on tv recently from this years 'Secret Policeman's Ball.'
I thought this was probably the funniest part of the night. I guess it just appealed to my immature sense of humour.

Genius.

November 1st

2006-11-01T09:25:00.000Z

As it's my birthday today ~~you should all bring me lots of presents~~ here are some events and births taken from wikipedia f0r November 1st:

Events:

1512 - The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time.

1611 - William Shakespeare's romantic comedy The Tempest is presented for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London.

1896 - A picture showing the unclad (bare) breasts of a woman appears in National Geographic magazine for the first time.

1914 - World War I: the first British Royal Navy defeat of the war with Germany, the Battle of Coronel, is fought off of the western coast of Chile, in the Pacific Ocean.

1938 - Seabiscuit defeats War Admiral in an upset victory during a match race deemed "the match of the century" in horse racing.

1939 - The first rabbit born after artificial insemination is exhibited to the world.

1950 - Pope Pius XII witnesses "The Miracle of the Sun" while at the Vatican

1951 - American soldiers are exposed to an atomic explosion for training purposes in Desert Rock, Nevada. Participation was not voluntary.

1969 - After seven years off the top position on the music sales charts, Elvis Presley hits number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with his song "Suspicious Minds."

1993 - The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union.

And the winner of the 'Really Wish They Hadn't Bothered' Category is:

1994 - George Lucas leaves the day-to-day operations of his film-making business, and he starts a sabbatical. While on sabbatical, he writes the prequel section of the Star Wars movies.

Births:

1887 - L. S. Lowry, British painter of industrial scenes (d. 1976)

1942 - Larry Flynt, American magazine publisher

1946 - Dennis Muren, American special effects artist

1948 - James Richard Steinman American songwriter

1962 - Anthony Kiedis, American singer (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

And continuing the National Geographic/Larry Flynt theme...

1972 - Jenny McCarthy, American "Playmate of the Year" and TV actress

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T22:32:00.000Z

Have a good one.

A Gorey End

2006-10-31T21:50:00.000Z

What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?

You will be smothered under a rug. You're a little anti-social, and may want to start gaining new social skills by making prank phone calls.
Take this quiz!

Appallingly Bad Pic of the Day

2006-10-30T13:56:00.000Z

Hunting Nemo

2006-10-29T13:37:00.000Z

Faster Than A Speeding Shark

2006-10-29T13:30:00.000Z

A Cowfish

2006-10-29T13:23:00.000Z

Yes, really. A cowfish.

Yellow Fish

2006-10-29T11:15:00.000Z

Just when you thought it was safe...

2006-10-29T11:08:00.000Z

... to go back in the water.

Here are some more pics from our trip to Hastings.

This puffer fish was moving way too fast. I spent ages trying to get a good photo of it but this was the best I could manage in the end.

Coming Soon

2006-10-25T08:35:00.000+01:00

It's Wednesday today, which means that it's one week until my birthday. Anybody out there who happens to be wondering what they could get me can click here for a clue.
No harm in asking... and it would save a lot of my parking problems.

In four weeks time the new baby is due. This has come around so quickly. The bump is currently keeping everyone awake by jumping up and down all night long. We think he is getting more and more impatient to be out. GF was nearly two weeks late when she was born but this one could come along a little earlier at the rate he is going. Although I have been reliably informed that boys are generally more violent in the womb than girls.

I feel like I'm sleep walking through work at the moment but thankfully I have all of next week off. Halloween, birthday, fireworks; should be a good week. With a little bit of luck I might even get a lie in. I'll also try and get some Christmas shopping done next week as I doubt I'll have much time once the new arrival gets here, so if anyone wants to drop any hints, now is the time to do it.

Splattt!!!

2006-10-23T22:25:00.000+01:00

A Fish-Eye-View

2006-10-22T16:22:00.000+01:00

Weird Fish

2006-10-22T16:19:00.000+01:00

They come for you out of the light...

2006-10-22T16:10:00.000+01:00

Grumpy Fish

2006-10-22T16:06:00.000+01:00

Lobster

2006-10-22T15:58:00.000+01:00

You could only view this lobster through some bowl shaped glass that magnified everything.
It was probably tiny.
Bless.

Starfish

2006-10-22T15:46:00.000+01:00

Rays

2006-10-22T15:42:00.000+01:00

You might need to clean your glasses before viewing these...

Fishy, fishy, fishy, fish.

2006-10-22T15:26:00.000+01:00

That went wherever I did go.

Is It In The Cupboard?

2006-10-22T15:25:00.000+01:00

Wouldn't you like to know!

It is a most elusive fish.

Hastings Fish

2006-10-22T14:58:00.000+01:00

As promised here are some inconclusively blurry photos of fish from our recent visit to the Underwater World at Hastings.

It was very dark and the fish were moving way too fast. I guess they're not very photogenic creatures.

Cow Quest

2006-10-17T20:26:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post to respond to an entry on Korova's alternative reality.

Does this count?

Skeletons

2006-10-17T20:09:00.000+01:00

"You can't walk for more than 100m without finding a skeleton. That's amazing anywhere in the world."

Thank goodness.

Blog Quiz

2006-10-11T17:45:00.000+01:00

Taken from Aliemalie and Wes.

1) Are you happy/satisfied with your blog's content and look?
Well, it's black which is always good. Otherwise I'm a little ashamed of some of the nonsense I actually put on here compared to some of the other blogs I read. Never mind, I might as well start as I mean to go on. There is a lot of stuff I would like to put on but can't for various reasons so every now and then I consider setting up a more anonymous blog specifically for that. The only problem is it's hard enough finding the time to keep one blog running. Maybe one day.

I do like my sidebar though.

2) Does your family know about your blog?
Yes. I was grassed up.

3) Do you feel embarrassed to let your friends know about your blog?
No, the whole point of my blog was just to provide a bit of mindless entertainment to my friends. Most of them have since started blogging themselves (those that weren't already).

4) Did blogging cause positive changes in your thoughts?
It's always good to read other peoples opinions when they are intelligent or thoughtful...

Once again I apologise for my blog.

5) Do you only open the blogs of those who comment on your blog or do you love to go and discover more by yourself?
Both. I always go to the site of anyone who leaves a comment (except spammers of course) and every so often I hit 'Next Blog' to find something new.

6) What does a visitor counter mean to you? Do you like having one on your blog?
Some of the information my stat counter throws up can be interesting. I go through phases where I pay more attention to it than at other times but, yes I do like having one. As Wes has said, comments are more important to me.

7) Did you try to imagine your fellow bloggers and give them real pictures?
No, I don't really. A lot of the blogs I regularly read I already know the people so I don't have to imagine what they look like. The others have put photos up so I know what they look like too.
For some reason I always imagine korova as a cow. This is weird because I work with him. Maybe I'm trying to mentally blot out his hair. At least he's got some though.

8) Admit it. Do you think there is any real benefit in blogging?
Yes. It's fun, interesting and you can 'meet' some great people.

9) Do you think that Blogger's society is isolated from the real world or interaction with events?
Not at all. If anything it's incredibly in touch because it can be so much more personal.

10) Does criticism annoy you or do you feel it is a normal thing?
It can annoy me if it's just rude.

11) Do you fear some political blogs and avoid them?
Some of the more intelligently written political blogs can make for good reading but there are a lot of ill informed sites out there that I try to stay away from. I'll even warn other people to stay away from them sometimes when I see them getting stressed with a blog.

12) Were you shocked by the arrest of some bloggers?
I thought some of my friends hadn't posted in a while...

13) What do you think will happen to your blog after you die?
Mysterious posts will continue to appear. Or not. Probably not.

14) What song do you like to hear? What song would you like to link to on your blog?
I suppose Matt Good's 'In a World Called Catastrophe' would be the obvious choice. At the moment I prefer a (jay &) silent blog. It's so much easier to read at work when you're at lunch without anyone wanting to know where the music is coming from, so for now it shall remain silent. And black. Like a ninja.

15) The next "victims?"
Help yourselves.

I wonder if Jughead knew...?

2006-10-10T21:36:00.000+01:00

I can't believe this got by the Comics Code Authority. It certainly answers a lot of peoples questions about Archie. To think that they used to hound Batman and Robin for far less. Batman is clearly one of the ruggedest manliest men in comics. What were they thinking?

Batman #84, June 1954

Ah. That'll be it then.

Although that picture actually looks like they have two single beds side by side in their bedroom. The only other people I can think of living like that are Father Ted and Father Dougal. I'll certainly never read Batman in the same light again.

Balance Problems

2006-10-09T21:06:00.001+01:00

I decided to amuse myself at lunchtime by taking this 'Elemental Balance Test' I found on Sarah's LJ page. All well and good, but what do I end up with? Gust. Really. Gust. I don't know if I'm supposed to be insulted.

Gust
~ 59% Water ~ 74% Wind ~ 51% Earth ~ 55% Fire ~

I want to live where the sky is big

Simple and free...

Let’s see... your personality reminds me of the...

...cool Sapphire, the non-red corundum, or its little brother, the Blue Topaz. Your colours are azure, indigo, and a bright yellow or gold.

Interpretation:

Out of the seven chakras, the Throat Chakra, which is associated with the element of wind and represents our desire to learn and communicate, seems to be predominant in you. Though this means you are probably the smartest one among your friends, it may result in feeling stressed or nervous or becoming too much of a perfectionist.

You can balance it by wearing a Rose Quartz; its soothing attributes help unwind, enable you to "love thyself", and accept limitations.

A Tarot references concerning your predominant element:

If you are a young lass or lad and still unmarried your card is the Page of Swords. Young women, especially married ones, identify with the Queen of Swords, also known as the Queen of Spades. If you are a young, unmarried man, you are the Knight of Swords, and married or “mature” males are identified with the King of Sword, commonly known as the King of Spades. Ladies and gentlemen, here is your intelligent man you’ve been looking for.

These are the results you will get if you score highly on...

None of the four elements: Balance Wind: Gust Fire: Blaze Water: River Earth: Valley Wind & Fire: Thunder Wind & Water: Clouds Wind & Earth: Canyon Fire & Earth: Lava Fire & Water: Tornado Water & Earth: Trees Wind, Fire & Earth: Storm Wind, Fire & Water: Stars Wind, Water & Earth: Forest Fire, Water & Earth: Avalanche All four elements: Harmony

Link: The Elemental Balance Test written by Nitsuki

Well, it's true that being the smartest one amongst my friends does leave me feeling stressed and nervous.

You never know when you will get caught out for faking it for a start.

As for the "love thyself" thing, I think we'll just gloss over that thankyouverymuch.

Gust! Pah!

Blessed Action

2006-10-09T07:15:00.000+01:00

In case anyone wanted proof... click here.

What would Brian Blessed do, if he were here today?

2006-10-08T15:41:00.000+01:00

He'd shout at all the scurvy knaves

and scare them all away.

From The Brian Blessed Song

That was the genuine advice given to me this week and in a way I feel it's a good guideline for life in any situation. But enough philosophy, on with the blog.

GF has become obsessed with fish lately so we took her down to Hastings to visit the Underwater World attraction, which she loved. She has obviously heard the stories about fish having terrible memories as every time she sees one she feels the need to point at it and shout 'Fish!' presumably to remind it of just what exactly it is.
She also does this with aeroplanes which is a bit worrying. If an aeroplane needs somebody to shout 'Plane!' at it to remind it of just what it is, at however many thousands of feet then you really are in trouble.

I'll pop some photos from Hastings on here soon so yes, you have lots of blurred pictures of fish to look forward to. All I have to look forward to tomorrow is work, so I need cheering up.

Bring on the dancing monkeys!
...on treadmills..?

Ok Go- Here It Goes Again

1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a Star Thumb War

2006-09-27T22:23:00.000+01:00

I'm glad Lucas has finally decided to release the original cuts of Star Wars on dvd. I still love these films even now and seeing them again only highlights just how badly he went wrong with the prequels.
They also demonstrate brilliantly that sometimes once a film has been released it should be left alone. His constant tampering with the original trilogy hasn't always been to their benefit.
Having said that it's funny how the mind plays tricks because I didn't remember the originals being quite like this...

Crystal Maze

2006-09-26T08:40:00.000+01:00

Anyone remember the good wholesome cheesey fun that was 'The Crystal Maze?'

For those of you that have missed out on this here is the basic premise: A team of people would go in to the maze which featured four zones (originally Aztec, Industrial, Medieval and Futuristic). In each zone they would have to complete a couple of tasks to win crystals. These challenges were classed as 'physical,' 'mental,' 'skill,' or 'mystery.'
If a contestant failed a challenge and didn't get out of the room within the time limit then they would be locked in. If they actually managed to win one of the crystals this could be used to buy more time in the Crystal Dome at the end of the show. In the Crystal Dome they would have to try and collect gold tickets to win a final prize. With me so far?

A few years ago there was a tv show called 'The Adam & Joe Show' where they had sketches that were acted out by toys. One episode featured some Star Wars toys taking part in an episode of 'Crystal Maze.' Myself, Xulub and Rhub all managed to see it but ever since then I've had trouble convincing people that this was real if we've ever been discussing comedy shows. Luckily for me I now have proof. Adam Buxton, of 'Adam & Joe' fame has put it up on YouTube unleashing it on the world once more.
The first time I saw it I thought it was hilarious, partly because of the 'Star Wars/Crystal Maze' combination but mainly because mouths superimposed on inaminate objects are always funny.
Enjoy.

Now I wonder if they have 'Thumb Wars' anywhere on YouTube...?

All Change

2006-09-25T21:55:00.000+01:00

Today was my first proper day at the new place of work for the next year.

On my arrival I was greeted by the sight of the rather impressively smashed window. Let's hope that this is not a sign of things to come.

They had been having trouble with a gang of local teens at this library and had had to get the police involved. Since then it had all quitened down but it seems that they returned on Saturday and started causing trouble again until the police came to remove them. Whether this incident had anything to do with the window that was smashed later that night remains to be seen but if I had to guess...

MC had an appointment with the midwife last week, who told her that it looks like the baby is going to be coming along a little bit earlier so the new date is now November 22nd. How they work this out is beyond me. All I know is that I thought this due date was coming around quickly and now it seems to be getting even quicker. Scary.
GF was allowed to listen to the babies heartbeat while she was there. When I got home that night she started rubbing MC's tummy, pointing and saying 'Baby.' Way too cute.

Batman: Dead End

2006-09-22T22:30:00.000+01:00

This was pointed out to me by Rhub, a fellow Batman fan. It's a pretty slick looking fan made film. God knows what the budget was for it but I bet it was a lot less than what it actually looks like.

And you thought you had bad days at work...

If you want to know more about it go here.

I always wanted to be a poet...

2006-09-20T10:35:00.000+01:00

... when I found out how they get paid.

Continuing the recent poetry theme here is the video for 'Poets' by The Tragically Hip. It's one of my favourite Hip videos and not just because it features a load of cats in the audience.

AHOY, ME HEARTIES!

2006-09-19T12:32:00.000+01:00

pic from wikipedia

Sometimes you learn something new that makes the whole day worthwhile. Today is one of those days. For those of you who don't know I found out this morning that September 19th is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. If you don't believe me just click on the link. How awsome is that?
So get out there now and start shivering timbers.

Yarrrrr!

The Angel's Lament: A Poem

2006-09-18T23:32:00.000+01:00

The Angel's Lament

I searched all day and every night,
But couldn't get the answers right-
And though I tried, I tried in vain,
With questions that brought only pain.
So on I ran amongst the shades,
Where heartache followed darkened days.
I call her name;
The angel cries;
My valentine has hollow eyes.

On Poetry

2006-09-18T07:02:00.000+01:00

For some reason poetry has been cropping up in several unrelated conversations recently.

This has got me thinking about how much I used to enjoy poetry and yet how little I either read or write it these days. I think if there is one thing guarenteed to put you off poetry it's education. Poetry works much better when you go out and discover it for yourself. You can take it at face value or attribute any meaning to it you may want it to have. If it says something personally to you then you know you've found something you can enjoy. It's exactly the same with music. How would you feel if you were forced to study a song? Slowly dissecting it until no word remained unturned. Eventually that song could end up having less meaning to you because you've scrutinized it so thoroughly and been given all of these theories as to it's possible meaning. If a song has any meaning to you it's probably because it's linked to a memory. This might be the first time you heard it, an event that happened while it was playing in the background, or just a memory that the words triggered and then became inseperable from.
Poetry shouldn't be taught in a way that explains everything. If a magic trick is explained it no longer becomes magical. Why should poetry be treated so coldly? If poetry is not dead, as a lot of teachers will insist, then why give it an autopsy?
I had one tutor while I was studying for my A-levels who was obsessed with one thing and one thing only when it came to poetry. Don't get me wrong, ordinarily he was a very good teacher, but show him a poem and in kicked the one track mind to the point of ridiculousness. Whatever a poem said, whatever had been written about it, whatever you may have thought, the poem we were looking at would always turn out to be a metaphor for the penis. Always.
Now I've studied enough literature to know that phallic or sexual imagery is a consistent theme in a great many texts. The strawberry scene in 'Tess of the D' Urbervilles' between Angel and Tess springs to mind (and I think I've just worked out why korova likes Thomas Hardy so much...) . However this teacher would attribute this theme to anything he could think of. I remember one poem we studied was about a fighter plane that had crashed in a village during WW2. I forget the name of the poem or who wrote it now, but there was a rather grissly description of the airmans corpse. A particular detail was how one of his slightly melty eyeballs had popped out and was resting on his cheek.
'What do you think this represents?' the teacher asked.
We offered up a few suggestions, each of which were casually batted away or treated with the contempt of the well educated man about town with a phallus obsession.
'Don't you think the author is referring to the penis?' he said.
'No!' we all cried, incredulously. 'It's an eyeball. It says it's an eyeball. It's fallen out of his eyesocket. Why in God's name would anyone think it's a penis?'
Believe it or not even though we had studied enough poems with this man to completely accept and even joke about his singlemindedness, none of us had seen it coming (pardon the pun).
'Well obviously it's a metaphor.' he said, refusing to back down.
'You can only take metaphor so far, surely? This is a poem about a dead airman with a melty eyeball. Is there room for metaphorical knobs? Wouldn't that be overdoing it?'
Apparently not was the answer we left with in our scarred little minds. From that day on none of us would ever trust anything ever again, just in case it was a penis in disguise.

Still, the point of all this phallic rambling (sounds painfull) is I want some suggestions for poetry to read. I've always tended to stay away from anything fairly modern, but I'll give it a try if it's reccomended. I like Keats, Poe, Blake, Wilde and Coleridge to name a few and a lot of the war poets, if that helps with any suggestions.

In the meantime I've dug out a short poem that I wrote well over ten years ago now. Looking back on it I was really proud of it at the time but it seems so... (as much as I hate the word) quaint now. I'll post it up for your appreciation, or amusement as you feel appropriate.

That Friday

2006-09-17T22:01:00.000+01:00

If anybody wants to know what the other members of staff were up to while I was lording about like a ruddy great ponce, go here to read Rhubs true tale of terror (& tots). Not everybody had such a great day...

If that doesn't cheer you up then try heading over to Redrawn's blog where he has found the legendary tale of Chad Vader.

The Weekend

2006-09-16T12:12:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was an awsome day at work because absolutely nothing went wrong!

Through sheer luck I ended up with enough staff to keep the whole building open and nobody called in sick so all of the branches stayed open as well.
I did start to get a bit cocky at one point, declaring that nothing had gone wrong before the day was over. This did scare some of the staff who were worried I would jinx it but then (cue evil laughter) it's important to keep them on their toes. I did make sure I touched wood after saying it as well. You can never be overly cocky when you're as superstitious as me.

Of course it never would have gone as smoothly as it did without the team of people I had working with me on Friday, so a huge 'Thank You' to all of them. I'm really going to miss them when I move up the road in just over a weeks time.

For now though it's the weekend so I'm off to do some colouring in with my daughter before she starts on the walls.

Cell child

2006-09-14T23:17:00.000+01:00

Blimey, my colour cell has already had a child.
Click here to see.

Why we will never be invaded by posh aliens

2006-09-14T00:05:00.000+01:00

"Earth-like planets may be common

Earth-like planets orbiting other stars may be far more common than had once been thought, a study suggests."

This is a rather disapointing news story. I'd always hoped that when we were eventually invaded by aliens it would be in a stereotypical British tourist kind of way.

Posh Alien: Hallo? Do you speak alien? Awfully pleased to meet you. What's the local cuisine like? Really? I'll just have chips.

You know, just to see how we would like it.

The idea of other planets being common is quite scary. Who would want to be invaded by a bunch of chavs?
Then again it may be too late to worry about. They're aleady here...

pic from wikipedia

Thunderbolts & Lightning

2006-09-13T23:10:00.000+01:00

There is a place where Bond villians go to die and it's name is A********.

The little known town of A*s*h*l*s is fast becoming the bane of my life. Lorded over by a brutish menopausal fruitbat they seem determined to make my life a misery by playing strange and unnecessary mind games with anyone they come in to contact with. So far I've managed to outwit them at every opportunity which has made me increasingly unpopular. Unfortunately it seems to have made them even more determined.
Bearing in mind I'm never at my best between the hours of 10pm and, well- let's say 9pm the following day, I've been doing pretty well to stay ahead of them so far. Sadly they are now attempting to get other members of staff in to trouble so there is the danger of things turning ugly (or should that be uglier) pretty soon. The laughable thing is that while this particular group are quick to point the finger of blame for all the worlds woes at whoever happens to be a convenient target, the moment they get caught out in one of their wacky schemes they are so quick to turn on each other.
Ah well, c'est la vi(l)e.
After a crap couple of days we had a massive storm tonight with torrential rain. I love this kind of weather (especially if I am watching it from indoors) so this cheered me up no end. At least it will be the weekend soon and I can get two days away from work. Here are some pics hot off the press from tonight:

DARK

DARKER

BRIGHTEST

I love storms.

Where The World Drops Off

2006-09-10T23:18:00.000+01:00

Magic Bean

2006-09-10T23:15:00.000+01:00

Star Trekkin'

2006-09-08T21:36:00.000+01:00

Star Trek celebrates its 40th birthday today which makes me happy, mainly because it's older than me.
For my money the original crew was the best. None of the other casts came close to the interaction you got between Kirk, Spock and Bones.
The Next Generation was watchable for a while but eventually I got bored by it- I still haven't seen the final few episodes. 'DS9' just never really grabbed my attention. Again some of the blandness that seems to plague much of Trek put me off, the same way it did with 'Enterprise.'
As for Voyager, don't get me started. I fell asleep watching the first episode and never looked back.
I think the original series was just too hard an act to follow. Captain Kirk was a velour clad Shaft, McCoy was a grumbly old curmudgeon (something we can all aspire to) and Spock was the kid you picked on at school for having sticky out ears and a bowl cut. Picard was okay as a captain in a believably commanding type prescence sort of way but I still believe Kirk could have kicked his arse, torn shirt and all. DS9's most exciting character was a shapeshifter who could turn in to furniture and Captain Janeway sounded like she had swallowed a kazoo.
Let's face it- none of the later Trek spin offs could hold a candle to Babylon 5, but that's probably a post for another time.
Something that is quite worrying is the news that they are making a new Star Trek film that goes back to the original series. How they can hope to replace the original actors is beyond me. While there must be generations of people now that haven't seen it, would these people really be interested in any Star Trek movie? The long term Trekkers (or is it Trekkies, I can never remember) are probably going to hate anything that tries to rewrite the characters they know and love. Having said that some of those fans have gone out and done the very same thing themselves. Take a look here if you don't believe me.

I suppose only time will tell if this new film works or not but I for one think it's about time they let Trek rest for a bit.

Captain Kirk enjoys the latest of his alien lovers.

Hello Karma

2006-09-07T23:41:00.000+01:00

So it's a trade off you want is it?

With the possibility of Matt Good playing some venues in England looking slightly more likely now he is hunting for places to live over here I was beginning to wonder if this was too good to be true.
Now it seems that this news has to be tempered with the fact that I am completely broke at the moment. The reason I mention this is because 3, that's THREE, of my favourite authors are doing a signing session in London within days of each other and I can't afford to go.
Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett and Alan Moore. I've been to see Gaiman the past 3 years when he has come to London and I've been to see Pratchett once, many years ago now, but for Alan Moore to do a signing is a huge rarity. To make things worse Moore is being interviewed by Stewart Lee before the signing- one of my favourite comedians.
So if you are fortunate enough to be going to any of the above, think of me having to stay in and read my *sob* unsigned books ...and please bare in mind that it is my birthday soon (Oh come on, it's worth a try).

Karma- If you are listening- I better get a Matt Good gig out of this.

The Flat Hunting Tour '06

2006-09-04T00:07:00.000+01:00

Could it finally be that I might yet get a chance to see Matthew Good perform live?

He had this to say in a recent post: "...I’m going to England to house/flat hunt..."

Now I have no idea why anyone would choose England over Canada but who am I to complain. The chances are he still wouldn't get any air time on the radio over here. Most of the UK radio stations are more concerned with current trends rather than anything that's new and interesting but I know there are a few Matt Good fans about in England so here's hoping.

It's Scary Because It's True

2006-09-04T00:02:00.000+01:00

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Captain Beaky

2006-09-03T22:05:00.000+01:00

I impressed Avenger at work recently while she was flicking through an Edgar Allan Poe book by quoting a line from 'Alone,' one of his poems. I'm a big fan of Poe and could easily have gone on to impress everyone even more by launching in to a rendition of 'The Raven'. Instead I decided to blow all my street cred while still proving that I can quote from more than one poem by reciting the opening verse of 'Captain Beaky.'
I have no shame.
I'm not sure what my thought process was. 'Hmmm, what poem would wow everyone now? What about 'The Raven?' That's a poem about a bird. I wonder if there are any other poems about birds... Wait just a minute...! Captain Beaky!'
I used to love Captain Beaky when I was much, much smaller to the point that I used to know the whole thing off by heart.
However the only other person in the room who was able to join in, in fact probably the only other person in the room who had even heard of Captain Beaky was my brother (the artist formerly known as Rhub). I've decided that it's time this sorry situation changed (as well as proving to Avenger that we weren't making it up as we went along) so I urge you all to click here for the complete lyrics to 'Captain Beaky & His Band.'

Enjoy. When I said that I used to love it when I was much, much smaller I should add that I still love it now.

Natuarally with something this good there was the inevitable sequel which you can read here.

I even get a reference in the penultimate line.
:)

Mummy Do Cheese!

2006-09-03T21:00:00.000+01:00

After a looooong week at work (in spite of a Bank Holiday) I've just had a nice relaxing weekend doing very little.

On Thursday after I got home from work, I walked through the door to find GF in her highchair. As soon as she saw me she started pointing at her mum and shouting "Mummy do cheese!" at the top of her voice. Neither of us had a clue what she was on about other than the fact that mummy had apparently been doing cheese, but she kept insisting and wouldn't settle down until I had given MC a telling off and told her not to do cheese anymore. Nobody had had any cheese to eat that day so we were pretty much in the dark.

Naturally this became a running joke for the last couple of days. If MC was up to anything and someone turned to GF and said "What's mummy doing?" they would be greeted by a chorus of "Mummy do cheese!"

Finally today we actually found out what she meant.

MC was getting dressed. As she put some deodorant on GF pointed and shouted "Cheese!" as she tried to immitate the noise the can of deodorant was making.
MC remembered that she had put some on just before I had got in the other day and the mystery of the cheese was finally solved. I think it may last a while longer as a catchphrase though.

In the Pink

2006-08-30T23:00:00.000+01:00

I took this photo yesterday when we had a great view of this brilliant pink skyline.

Red Sky At Night

2006-08-30T22:52:00.000+01:00

Thin White Dupe

2006-08-30T22:04:00.000+01:00

Isn't it strange how much can change in a couple of years? If you've ever sat at home wondering 'If I was David Bowie, then which David Bowie would I be?'- and let's face it who hasn't- then click here to find out.
I did this quiz once before and was told I was the Thin White Duke. Three years and a child later and even this quiz is telling me I'm a boring family man.

Which David Bowie are you?

(Edit: If that link isn't working try clicking here for my result)

That's right I have no social life, no money and no free time. How I long for my microwave meal days of bachelorhood when I had... er, no social life, no money and no free time. Come to think of it at least the foods better now.

Unable to grow his hair out Neath was forced to try and relive his glory days as the Thin White Duke.

Jingly Bear Chills Out

2006-08-30T07:08:00.000+01:00