Poor Gramsci
Well, the time has come for our poor baby kitten, rapidly working his way towards manhood, to be unmanned. Yes, he's going to be having a small operation this week in order that the horror of territorialism doesn't intrude upon the family home.
I feel horrible having it done - we both do - we don't want him to change, though he inevitably will, even if it's only calming down some.
But needs must. Poor unsuspecting kitten.
Long Weekend?
Was it?
I'm having difficulty working out what we did with it.
I know there was a quick get-together with my mate Liz on Saturday, followed by possibly the best episode yet of new Doctor Who.
I know that Sunday was effectively wasted (though in a very pleasant way) playing World of Warcraft. David's started a new character so I was helping him with a bit of high-level support to get to a higher level more quickly.
And part of Monday was spent very profitably getting the fixings for, and setting up, a window box for David's flat, which being on the first floor is the nearest thing to a garden we'll have for a while.
But somehow, it doesn't feel like I've done seventy two hours worth of stuff in the last seventy two hours....
Big Brother
So I was in the office until late and didn't see anything of the initial programme of Big Brother '05, but I did catch up with the repeat on Saturday. Dear oh dear oh dear.
I won't get into what I think of the individual contestants, but I will make the observation that one of them appears to have Victoria Wood as a script writer. Discussion on Friday night when they're all getting to know each other: On the subject of sexuality, Makosi says that she doesn't think anyone can really call themselves heterosexual unless they've tried the alternative. After all, you can't say you don't like chicken if you've never tried it. To which Leslie(?), channelling Ms Wood, says "That's right. It's like; I've never had mushrooms. I've got a phobia."
That she has a voice just like a Victoria Wood character only makes the effect better.
It’s Another World
Just to illustrate the kind of neighbourhood in which I work, as distinct from the one in which I live, and how I will *never* live in the work 'hood:
The little local shops of my usual acquaintance might stock little plastic lunchbox-style snacks like Tuna and Sweetcorn Mayo.
The little plastic lunchbox-style products the shop downstairs from the office stocks, and this is totally serious, are 'Crab Chinoise' and 'Crevettes Provencales'.
Fer fuck's sake.
Out For A Constitutional
The world is full of discussions about constitutions. The Tories are changing theirs, the EU wants to have one (but a lot of people don't want it to), and Egypt have been having a referendum on changing theirs to allow for contested Presidential Elections.
I'm interested, for different reasons, in all of these to one extent or another, so I'm taking it as a comment on the quality of reportage on the subjects that the thing which stood out in it all for me this morning was this:
That a Dutch politician being interviewed on the EU question in English used the word referenda as the plural of referendum. She's absolutely right to do so of course, but all I could take in was that I don't think I know a single native English speaker except myself who would do the same.
Ever Decreasing Circles
I think it's possible that the Today programme has finally become so self-referential that it may never actually be able to extract its head from up its own arse.
In yesterday's programme, the unbearably smug John Humphreys was discussing something with some academic or other and became confused because of the way the man was using tenses. JH asked for clarification, which was fothcoming, and the matter moved on.
This morning, they managed to turn the event into an item all of its own, by getting some other academic on the line to discuss whether JH was right to be confused.
"Today programme in 'thinks it's as important as the new it reports' shock!"
Episode Three
I suppose I should get this out of the way.
We went to see Star Wars Episode Three last night.
So that's 140 minutes of my life I'm never getting back.
What a load of crap. Apart from the special effects, which were absolutely outstanding, I can't remember the last time I felt a trip to the cinema was so wasted. I almost fell asleep at a couple of points, and okay so I was tired, but that shouldn't have happened in a Star Wars film!
What was so bad?
The plot.
The direction.
The characterisation.
The acting (almost to a man and a woman but especially Hayden C).
The unbelievable waste of Natalie Portman.
The plot.
The dialogue ("He's been deceived by a lie!").
The shallow contrivance masquerading as sophisticated political intrigue (again).
"Nooooooooo!!!!!!"
The Malcolm X Thing
I missed the start of all this, when The Guardian published Peter Tatchell's article about reports that Malcolm X was gay (or at least had gay experiences). But I heard some reports that the Nation of Islam were condemning the claims as an attempt to 'undermine the morality' of their organisation. They want to see the claims withdrawn,
Now see, what I want is the Nation of Islam to stop equating gay with immoral, but as I can't see that happening anytime soon, I guess we'll all just have to learn to live with our disappointment.
You Might Want To Sit Down….
..... I agree with Iain Duncan Smith.
His comments in today's Telegraph about the danger of only Tory MPs selecting the new Conservative Party leader are spot on. Based on their current spread, one single Scot and three Welsh people would have a say, and on top of which, no one representing some of the largest cities in the country would be available.
I mean, I'd like to the next Tory leader to be an unelectable muppet as much as the next man, but I'd also like to see all of the people s/he will lead having a say in the selection.
Blogging Aloft IV – Technical Matters
A quick word of apology - since I upgraded to Movable Type 3.16 last week, I''m having a nightmare trying to change some settings, specifically those around comments. Despite having set it repeatedly not to require comments to be moderated, moderated they remain. So if there's a delay in your comments appearing, apologies for that - I'll keep trying to make my changes 'take'.