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Recommended Viewing

• 300†
  Does exactly what it says on the (comic book) tin. Loved it.
• Little Miss Sunshine†
  Very funny, disturbing (the beauty pageant) and completely messed up -- but in a good way.
• Laputa: Castle in the Sky†
  Story great, characterization a little on the weak side -- though the big robots are cool.
• Porco Rosso†
  Stylish, funny, exciting.
• Grave of the Fireflies†
  Very sad, which was a little unexpected since I didn't know much about it before watching it. Can be a little too slow in places though, otherwise it's very good.
• Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind†
  The story can get a little dense at times what with the various factions, but still really enjoyable, inventive and engaging.
• X-Men: The Last Stand†
  Opportunity, talent, money - all blown. Over 3 films X-Men has hinted of something great that could have been, this last one says "No, sorry - not going to happen". Bah.

flickr.com

Three Horse Power

If I may say so, there is far too much of this DDOS and SYN Flood nonsense going on:
>Looking up www.stray-toaster.co.uk
>www.stray-toaster.co.uk
>Making HTTP connection to www.stray-toaster.co.uk
>Alert!: Unable to connect to remote host.
And I am still being rained with bounced spam too, gah, how irksome.

0 CommentsNovember 26, 2003

wireless

I hope to get broadband soon, so I was looking into the things I might need or want with such a beast. A wireless game adaptor is by far the biggest bonus to this whole ADSL lark, for my PS2.

My digital IQ is 185. I freely admit to lying in a lot of the answers I gave.

I was almost made into a bicycle-tarmac burger again on Saturday. Fat man in van wasn't paying attention and nearly finished me. I swore (a lot) and threatened to cut off a part of fat man's anatomy, but he, being in a machine powered by the trusty internal combustion engine, was able to flee the scene before I did anything rash.

Do not go and see the Matrix Revolutions. Closure is not a reason to see this film. Brian from Westlife was in the Odessey too (though, wisely, not to see the Matrix) (why him? Why couldn't I have bumped into somone from Girls Aloud?); he waved, girls screamed and ran like their 10 year old lives depended on it. Pop mania loses that specific cool when it comes in a Belfast Milly accent, and gains almost an implication of threat or at least imminent danger.

Something I forgot:
The Rugby World Cup final was fantastic, and since I supported England I'm very happy they won. (I was also rooting for Ireland, Wales, Scotland and New Zealand at various times too.)

8 CommentsNovember 23, 2003

frost

The house had gone to bring again
To the midnight sky a sunset glow.
Now the chimney was all of the house that stood,
Like a pistil after the petals go.

The barn opposed across the way,
That would have joined the house in flame
Had it been the will of the wind, was left
To bear forsaken the place's name.

No more it opened with all one end
For teams that came by the stony road
To drum on the floor with scurrying hoofs
And brush the mow with the summer load.

The birds that came to it through the air
At broken windows flew out and in,
Their murmur more like the sigh we sigh
From too much dwelling on what has been.

Yet for them the lilac renewed its leaf,
And the aged elm, though touched with fire;
And the dry pump flung up an akward arm;
And the fence post carried a strand of wire.

For them there really was nothing sad.
But though they rejoiced in the nest they kept,
One had to be versed in country things
Not to believe the phoebes wept.

The Need of Being Versed in Country Things from New Hampshire by Robert Frost.

0 CommentsNovember 15, 2003

storm

We have severe weather warnings for most of the UK. According to the Met. Office "Gusts will reach 70-80mph in places, and tonight perhaps as high as 90mph in exposed coastal areas around the Irish Sea." brought about by this deep depression:

70% risk of disruption in Northern Ireland, localised flooding, risk to motorists and chances of uprooted trees. It's ok though - I have my Hayley Westenra CD to listen too while Kansas goes bye-bye. MWK wants to lend me some of his music in some vain hope that I'll develop musical taste by osmosis, not going to happen though; my musical taste is happily beyond redemption.

Kim du Toit's essay, The Pussification Of The Western Male, made me laugh and appealed to the chauvinist in me. Mostly it made me laugh.

Popular Science picked the Specialized Epic as it's 2003 Grand Design Winner in the recreation category - specifically the new inertia valve on the rear shock. Cool. I want one.

Oh yes, I saw Intolerable Cruelty yesterday. I though Clooney was good and CZJ was quite sexy, but the story was not up too much, actually the writing wasn't up too much either - Clooney had the best lines, the other characters were barely functional. No it stank actually, Clooney was good but the film basically stank - it almost has promise at the start but by the end you're wondering if you remembered to post your electoral registration form. The Coens should stay (very far) away from mainstream (but not Man Who Wasn't There far away).

2 CommentsNovember 14, 2003

spam

If you have arrived here trying to find out why I am spamming you I apologise, it isn't me, it's someone using this domain without my permission. I'm afraid there isn't much I can do about that at the moment, but if I know anything more I'll post it here as soon as I can.

Just to reiterate, I am not sending you spam. It's some skanky ne'er-do-well who just used 'carisenda.com' as the sender's address on his latest spam run.

It appears Round 2 has begun, they send spam in stages too then...

4 CommentsNovember 13, 2003

etienne

He said her skin smelled just like petals, he said stupid things he knew she'd like. She said her life was like a motorway: dull, grey, and long 'til he came along. -- Like a Motorway, Saint Etienne

Mid 90's playlists - do we have anything finer on this earth? This earth with it's 106,456,367,669 births since the people started giving birth. Well, women started giving birth.

Among those 106 billion are these nice people, Spirit of Place, who have me in their links under 'leaning to the political'. I'm not sure I lean towards the political, I think I get sucked in by the political and then frantically windmill my arms in an attempt to get de-sucked. Never works though.

1 CommentsNovember 12, 2003

iapetus

The photo below is of the Irish Sea, seen from a little patch of wasteland on the edge of Donagahdee. Here, on this little patch of grass and whim bush, we used to race our BMX's as youngsters; we'd built a ramp and used to near kill ourselves flying over it, it was great fun.

Later, I would study the rocks around here as part of my failed quest to become a geologist. They tell a story, or at least they told me one, about Iapetus, Avalonia and Laurentia; about accretionary prisms, the curves and sweeps of these beautifully deformed rocks and the microscopic signs of the forces to which they have been subjected. I like these rocks, I have soft spot for them. Yes, I know I am soft in the head.

Today kids use this place as a test ground for their graphitti skills. "UFF", "UVF", and "Kill all taigs".

*sigh*

0 CommentsNovember 10, 2003

remember

Remembrance Sunday, a day to remember those have suffered and died in the service of thier country and those who mourn them. Remembrance Sunday, or any ceremony of remembrance, is not a glorification of war - it's a glorification of ordinary people who gave all they had for something they believed in. War cannot be glorified, it's seed is the degenerate son of every little thing that's wrong with us humans, and until the day comes when we are made better by some act of revelation or evolution we have to accept that the seeds of war are everywhere mankind is.

It is to me though a great irony that while the seeds lie in our weakness, the germanation may lie in our greatness. We could just choose to lie down. We could surrender our freedoms, our ways of life, our identities - no war would ever have been fought if the other side had just capitulated. But surely there lies the glory, that ordinary men and women are prepared to give up their lives for ours. That they believe that what makes this little community, this village, town, city, country so great is worth dying for - when ordinary people make such a sacrifice to protect their way of life, the ties of family, the past, the present, the future - that becomes something to be glorified, something to remember.

We don't glorify war, we remember war as the great beast it is - but those who died for and served us, we certainly glorify. It's all we can do.

1 CommentsNovember 9, 2003

explosions

It wasn't long before I realised the fancy clouds I had up there stank, I just didn't have time to change them. SSX3 has taken it's toll you see. That and monkey nuts, for which I have a unhealthy appetite for. Which reminds me, have you seen that Hugh Fernly-Whittingstall fella on TV, that River Cottage show. The other day he has his bull castrated, then proceded to fry up the beast's testicles in a little garlic and butter and ate them. He cooked and ate them in front of said bull. That's cold.

In other news my bike has lost pressure in the front forks, which is a bummer because I don't have a pump that'll get me the 190PSI needed - and I can't get to the shop - so I'm waiting for a package from London town, but leftie postal workers have gone and had a strike so it's delayed. Boo!

You get one link in this missive, via Kottke, 15 Trends Taking Shape In Logo Design.

Finally, anyone who every argues that anything other than software is responsible for the blogging explosion hasn't tried doing it by hand.

0 CommentsNovember 8, 2003