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Thursday 20 November 2008
The Buffy Wrap Party
Courtesy of a Millarworld thread on the subject of Buffy and Angel, I found a link to some photos from the Buffy wrap party.
Warning - it's a long page with some *big* photos on it - depending on your connection, it could take a while.
Misheard
So I mentioned this evening that Matthew Perry is guest-starring in the episode of The West Wing that premieres in the U.S. tomorrow. And I got this stunned look which seemed inexplicable to me until I realised that what had actually been heard was "Matthew Kelly is guest-starring in The West Wing tomorrow."
That Political Drama
As I haven't talked about The West Wing in, ooh, it must be almost two weeks, I thought it was time. (Minor spoilers ahead.)
I was avoiding comment because I was feeling rather unhappy with the plot - but now, looking back at the arc represented by Bartlet For America, H.Con - 172 and 100,000 Airplanes, I have a slightly better perspective on it.
At the time of the first of these three episodes, I thought that Sorkin had painted himself into a pretty nasty corner. The flashbacks to the campaign seemed to damage the Bartlet credibility uncompromisingly and in a way that made it difficult to see past - the scene where Jed and Abby tell Hoynes about the MS in particular made them seem to be exactly the manipulative and devious pair that they were being painted by their enemies. Then in H.Con - 172 the rabbit was pulled out of the hat with Bartlet's insistence that he should accept censure, not just to spare Leo, but also because he knew he'd done something wrong. That "No one takes responsibility anymore" speech was great precisely because it's what so many people think of politicians anyway. It's perhaps a little convenient in plot terms, but it's not out of keeping with the previously-established character.
And so to last night's Channel 4 episode, 100,000 Airplanes - The State Of The Union is an annual West Wing feature (obviously), and this one couldn't possibly have been more useful to the series. I've remarked before how at the time the first half of Season Three was originally mapped out (pre 11th September 2001), the world was a very different place than it was by the time the episodes were broadcast. It clearly took a while to re-orientate everything to focus away from the MS disclosure plot and onto something meatier and less clearly partisan, to match the feeling of the US public at the time. The State Of The Union provides, I think, the pivot point for the season. It's a way of taking the focus off Bartlet The Man, where it's been for a while, and onto Bartlet The President, and brilliantly, it's a way of doing so both in the series' narrative, as referenced during the episode, and also for the viewer. "We're done with dwelling on that now," seems to be the message, "here's the bigger picture."
Neatly done - once again, I own that I'm impressed.
A Perfect Fit
When I set up the categories for posts here that I mention occasionally, I set up one that gets the odd use, but not very much - 'Just Plain Weird'. I thought it might come in handy for those odd links that one occasionally finds or is pointed towards.
Tonight, I offer, for your delectation and delight, the site for which the 'Just Plain Weird' category may very well have been created: Boobah Zone.
Well That Was Quick
Just before I crashed last night I heard a news item about an art theft from the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester, which is a very good gallery, by the way, should you ever find yourself with some free time in that part of town.
Anyway - as of about twenty minutes ago, the BBC are reporting that the three most significant of the stolen items have been retrieved from behind a public toilet. Lovely.
Travelled Man
What a great weekend.
Chris, Alison and I set off yesterday morning for the South coast. We were aiming for Bournemouth as a starting point, slightly worried about the weather forcast that said it was going to chuck down. In the event, apart from a brief shower late yesterday evening, the weather couldn't have been nicer. In fact, my head's a bit red solely on the basis of sitting out in the sun for lunch yesterday and walking on some beaches today.
Bournemouth gets a bit of a bad rep for being one big old folks' home, and while I'm sure there are any number of OAPs there, it was also full of a very wide range of people. We walked along the seafront and took the cliff lift up to walk down through the town centre, lunched, shopped, walked, crashed for a bit then headed out for some drinks and food. And here's where two contrasting facets of the Bournemouth Saturday evening come out. The town has a thriving gay scene, which we dipped into, and very friendly it is too. Also very mixed - again there were all ages and both genders mixing very happily together. At the other end of the scale, we wondered why everywhere we went past seemed to have bouncers, not just the gay places, bars, restaurants, everywhere. And then we realised. The reason is that the whole town had been overrun by stag and hen dos. Everywhere we turned some new group of themed outfits were passing by - on every street corner some hapless groom was being ridiculed in drag. It's a weird juxtaposition.
But again with the friendly. Even down to the police officers saying "Evening" in passing.
Today we set off along the Dorset coast, explored around Poole Harbour, and took the ferry over to Swanage before turning inland to visit Corfe Castle, which presents quite the view. After all that we were all knackered, but managed to fit in a stop at Arundel along the way home.
Excellent trip.
And now I'm knackered. I know I should have done some linking to relevant info along the way here, but I'm just too tired. Maybe tomorrow. G'night.
Travellin' Man
Gosh - I don't get out of South East London for weeks and weeks, and suddenly I'm planning multiple excursions.
Heading down to the south coast tomorrow - though I gather the weather's going to be crap. We may stay over if a suitable opportunity arises.
And the week after next I'm going to Italy for the week! It's all a bit last minute, but it has several advantages - the primary one being: It's going to be cheap as I don't have to pay for accomodation or travel.
So there you go. I'm travellin' man.
X2 Reviews
I notice that they're starting to hit.
The Guardian doesn't rate it very much.
Empire rates it very highly.
Harsh But Fair
"Flying with Ryanair is a geography lesson. They go to places you can't spell and have never heard of, and certainly don't bear any resemblance to the destination advertised."
I've commented before on the propensity for Ryanair flights I've taken not to land in the city most prominently advertised (Lübeck, not Hamburg, or Forli not Bologna, for instance), but this is Easyjet having a go. The Guardian reports that the Ryanair Easter seat sale turned out to be a bit of a flop.
Who On Earth Lives In Leamington Spa?
So, I'm just settling down to dinner when my phone rings - the number is one that I don't recognise at all, so I leave it to go onto the voicemail. When I check after eating, however, whoever it is hasn't left a message. Doing a quick check on the area code, I find that my caller is in Leamington Spa (No, I didn't know either - it's in Warwickshire, apparently.)
Intrigued by this, and with the recognition that the countless market research and sales calls I get invariably withhold their number, I call the caller back. A woman answers, and I explain what happened. She insists that I must have the wrong number (which I didn't, as I subsequently checked), as she hasn't called me. "Is it possible you misdialled and got me when you were calling someone else?" I ask, not unreasonably.
At which point she says that no, it's not; she hasn't called anyone at all since whe got home two hours ago, and there's no one else in the house who could have done so either. Goodbye.
So now I'm *very* intrigued.
Battle Commences
I've been meaning to mention this for a week or more:
Tokyopop, a company which has made a bit of a reputation for itself publishing English language versions of shojo manga, is branching out into more mature source material.
Next month, they'll begin publishing an English version of one of the most adult of them all - Battle Royale. Based on the novel which also inspired the (excellent) film, the plot involves a future(ish) society which sends random groups of schoolchildren to an otherwise uninhabited island to take part in a fight to the death, broadcast on TV. The action is uncompromisingly grim, and very much not for the faint-hearted; the themes are handled very seriously.
The series is being adapted by well-known artist and writer Keith Giffen - note that he's adapting it, not translating it - he's trying to transfer the spirit of the original for a non-Japanese mindset, rather than deliver a word-for-word equivalent.
I've seen a couple of issues in the original Japanese, and am *really* interested in seeing how this new version turns out.
There's a Newsarama item on it here.
The Joy Of Comments
If you're one who doesn't keep an eye on the 'Recently commented on' box over on the left, you may have missed out on one of those glowing additions to the sparkling More a way of life.... dialogue which has grown on my post from two weeks ago, "Though I will say", and really, you shouldn't miss out - it's a cracker.
The reason I was thinking about it is that Gert's mention of her 'recent comments' space triggered a mental reminder to make sure people weren't missing it.
Popular Fallacies - The Bank Draft
Okay, so I'm going to have a *bit* of a rant.
You know bank drafts? Did you, like me, and most other people I've spoken to on the subject, have the impression that a bank draft is "as good as cash"? That once deposited in your account, it would be credited and available to draw on the same day?
Completely wrong, apparently.
"All it does is guarantee that the funds are available. It still takes three and a half days actually to clear."
This is what I mean by the banking industry's utterly arcane and archaic mechanisms. The cash is debited from the issuing account immediately, so in that sense, it's certainly as good as cash (though with a charge applied for the privilege of having it made out), but the receiving bank then has to put it through a paper system to reconcile it that takes days. It's like these people are still working by means of abacus and carrier pigeon. Really and truly, why not just take out the cash and travel between banks with a couple of hefty mates?
What, to reduce matters to their finest, is the fucking point?
Categories Again
About a month ago, I did a review of the way my postings had broken down by the categories I've got going on behind the scenes, and I thought it was about time I checked to see whether the ballance had changed. So here's the latest break-down - detail in brackets shows what the change is from last time.
Blogs and Blogging: 30 Entries (up 9)
Comics: 6 Entries (up 4)
Just Plain Weird: 3 Entries (no move)
Life: 59 Entries (up 17)
Links: 19 Entries (up 5)
News: 18 Entries (up 7)
Politics: 23 Entries (up 4)
TV and Film: 20 Entries (up 7)
I have no idea what this means....
No, I Won't Rant....
....It's not good for my blood pressure.
But I could have had a right go about the iniquitous behaviour of banks. No-good, archaic, grasping, unreasonable tossers that they are. And yes, I'm even including my usually beloved own bank in among the rest of the arseholes on this occasion.
But I won't rant - it's not good for my blood pressure.
George Clooney's Arse
There you go - that should spike my search results.
In case you don't get the reference, I should indicate that I haven't entirely taken leave of my senses, but have in fact been to see Solaris this evening. And very good it was too. I *will* do a proper review of it when I'm not so tired. (So, summer 2005 looks a bit likely.)
Apologies to anyone who's been trying to mail me this evening, after a long time of being excellent, my formerly-beloved hosts are having trouble *again*. Reading their support forum is an interesting experience. After a couple of years of "we love you guys - you provide such a great service", suddenly it's more "Problems *again*? You guys promised us such great service, and now it's crap. You suck!" (I exaggerate. A little.)
George Galloway Revisited
I mentioned the current assault on the reputation of Labour MP George Galloway a couple of weeks ago, but of course, it doesn't go away.
The Telegraph has 'uncovered proof' that he was in the pay of Baghdad, and The Sun has leapt on board with the headline "Galloway 'Paid By Saddam'".
Galloway denies the claims, which were based on file allegedly found miraculously undamaged in the Iraqi foreign ministry. The BBC outlines the claims and counterclaims involved here.
No New Ideas
A couple of weeks ago, Charles mentioned an idea of setting up a site that would allow people to match their views with a range of religions, to give an introduction to some potentially compatible belief system.
Gert, as it turns out, has already found it (or somethingrather like it) at BeliefNet.
Having had a go, my own results are as follows:
1. Secular Humanism (100%)
2. Unitarian Universalism (98%)
3. Liberal Quakers (83%)
4. Nontheist (82%)
5. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (79%)
6. Theravada Buddhism (67%)
7. Neo-Pagan (61%)
8. Taoism (52%)
9. Bahá'í Faith (50%)
10. New Age (48%)
11. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (43%)
12. Reform Judaism (43%)
13. Mahayana Buddhism (37%)
14. New Thought (37%)
15. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (36%)
16. Orthodox Quaker (35%)
17. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (32%)
18. Scientology (32%)
19. Sikhism (23%)
20. Jainism (22%)
21. Jehovah's Witness (20%)
22. Islam (17%)
23. Orthodox Judaism (17%)
24. Seventh Day Adventist (12%)
25. Eastern Orthodox (8%)
26. Roman Catholic (8%)
27. Hinduism (5%)
I don't much mind any of this, since I'm not interested in any of them except in the sense of intellectually, and as long as no one's suggesting I ought to be believing in some kind of god-type-thing.
UPDATE - edited Monday morning because Dave spotted my hilarious typo :-P
In Praise Of Magic Jane
I caught up with this week's (Sky One transmission of) Buffy and Angel last night - two very high-quality examples of The House of Whedon's art indeed.
I won't dwell on the Angel here, except to say that Faith is back, and in a pretty major way.
What I want to write about is First Date, Jane Espenson's brilliant Buffy episode, or more specifically, about the writer's work. I read recently a description of her as "the best Buffy writer not called Joss Whedon", and I want to support that description 100%. In his excellent series guide Slayer, Keith Topping took to referring to her as 'Magic Jane', which I love - it brilliantly sums up the deftness and quality of her work. She's known as a writer of the lighter episodes,, and she certainly does humour superbly well, but she mixes in the action, the drama and the suspense right in alongside it, and turns out the whole that puts her leagues ahead of the other writers on the series, most of whom are excellent in any case. Jane Espenson herself has gone on record as saying that because Whedon has a close overview of the writers' work, that it doesn't make much sense to single out any one of them as being better than any of the others at any specific type of story, but it surely can't be coincidence that there isn't a single duff episode with her name on it.
And she's not just 'the comedy writer' either. As Keith Topping points out, her first contribution to Season Six, After Life is among her best work, and there's "not a joke in it worthy of the name".
As Buffy nears its end, and so much attention is inevitably focused on the cast and on Whedon himself, I think it's worth drawing some attention to the others who've made the series the phenomenon it's been.
Magic Jane, we salute you.
The Art Of Long Lunching
So - today I was invited, with various others, for lunch at Annette's. She'd decided to have a lunch party, and as I'm recently fond of the Sunday lunchtime entertaining myself, I can see the attraction.
We all arrived at 2pm, and I was the first to leave, just before 10pm. That's quite a long lunch. And quite a lot of alcohol was consumed too, from cocktails on arrival to copious quantities of wine, and a very fine armagnac. The food was fab, and also copious - I may not need to eat for a couple of days....
And....Rest
Well, in a startling illustration of what days off are actually supposed to be for, I've done absolutely nothing of consequence today. I took a walk up to the river and along to Tower Bridge, where I sat out with a pint and a book, and that was about the extent of my effort. Tomorrow I'll launch myself into standard weekend domestic stuff, but now I'm going to watch X-Men. After all, it's only two weeks to X2.
And on the subject of X2, Ain't It Cool News has a page of reviews following this week's preview screening here in London, and John at Sore Eyes followed an AICN link and found the film's absolutely lovely new poster.
Discretion
When I got home yesterday evening, I wrote a long (very long) posting about some stuff that's been exercising my mind lately. It was angry stuff, verging on what might be called the emotionally violent, relating to some family history and some issues that have their origins well over thirty years ago and which influence me still. I wrote it, and rewrote it. Then I read and reread it.
And then I deleted it.
I'm annoyed that I did in many ways. Nothing I wrote was inaccurate either in a factual, historical sense or in its description of my emotional state at the time I wrote it. But it, I suppose the word is 'implicated' someone else, who I still haven't properly addressed all this with, and even though I know they'll never read this, it nevertheless felt somehow disloyal. But every time I've tried to deal with it, I've been blocked, and that makes me angrier than the original situation ever does.
I must deal with this stuff. And I must do so in the very short term. I'm thirty-seven years old, and it's gone on too long. Enough is enough.
Questions, Questions
Today's Independent has a full front page article under the opening "The war is over; now these questions must be answered" and then lists a range of questions about both the prosecution of the war and the management of its aftermath. Some answers are also provided, as is some speculation. Interesting stuff though:
"Did the allies stick to the Geneva conventions?
The Geneva Conventions specifically refer to pillage and the rights of "protected persons". The ban on "pillage" even occurs in the 1907 Hague Convention. "Protected" persons include those in the presence of warring parties – so bombing civilians at the restaurant in Mansur is a clear breach of the Conventions. The US admitted it knew Mansur was a residential area and that an attack would not be a "risk-free venture". But it bombed anyway."
How Falling Are....
Grief! I see American Airlines are perilously close to having to declare bankruptcy. The world's largest airline potentially being brought low by its cabin crew - who'd ever have thought it?
Psst - Wanna Buy Some Hosting?
Warm, this evening, isn't it?
So here's the thing - even before yessterday's hosting issues, I was contemplating a move. I'm potentially looking at a managed, dedicated machine for this site and some of my other online projects. But potentially there'd be space for some other sites too, so I just thought I'd see if anyone was interested in taking some of it. Costs would be low - certainly less than a tenner a month, and if enough people joined in, potentially significantly less. Fast connections, highly-serviced kit and lots of redundancy. Root access wouldn't be available, so this isn't a useful option for anyone who wants to play around in the nuts and bolts, but FTP access will be available, so if someone wanted just to run Movable Type or Blogger on a personal site and get a certain amount of reliability then it might be an option.
Let me know if it's of interest.
Quoted Without Comment
"Parents fuck their children up. It's what most parents do. It doesn't make them bad parents; it just makes them parents. It's up to the kids to make sure they don't spend their lives defined by how fucked-up their parents made them."
Yes, there's a story behind it, but I thought I'd let it stand context-free for now.
Interruption Of Service
Many apologies to anyone who has been trying to get here today - there's been no end of trouble with hosting. I think the time has come to find a more stable host.
Marathon 2003
I know I say this every year, but one of the things that the London Marathon always brings home to me is the fact that there's a real community round where I live. This morning I went up the road to watch the runners go by, and found myself standing next to a woman who was cheering for 'Jane'. Jane went by, giving her a grin and a wave, then a second later the woman was cheering for 'Pete', who went by with a similar smile. She was, of course, choosing people who looked like they needed a boost and calling out the names on their shirt. I'd thought she knew Jame and Pete. But everyone around me was doing the same sort of thing; just spotting people and giving them a bit of encouragement.
I've been known to make comments about the unfriendliness of people in the South compared to back home where it's grim, but every now and then, there's a community spirit in parts of London that really makes me proud of my adopted town.
Anyway, apart from the marathon, it's been an odd sort of day. Quiet and also reflective. I've been trying to get my head around some personal stuff, and not making much progress, while at the same time generally catching up on some things that needed attention round the flat.
Oh look - it's a short week this week.....
Saturdays
They're a bit odd these days. I seem largely to do domestic things and not much else, which means I tend not to have much to add here.
Though in discussion with Alison, Chris and Philippa, we've come to the conclusion that some weekends away are called for. We're looking at one in Belgium next month to start with.
Ah - Season Two
It's been five days since the first box set of The West Wing Season Two was released on DVD and incredibly, I didn't pick it up until today. The reason is that I knew I'd want to watch it as soon as I got it home, and with my living room once again occupied by guests, I wasn't going to have the chance. But this evening I've watched In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen Parts One and Two, and I could easily have run straight on to The Midterms and In This White House, but I need to spread my treats.
But oh, that opening two-parter is superb. From the chaos immediately following the shooting to the wondeful flashbacks (Donna and CJ's additions to the campaign especially), to the sense that Aaron Sorkin is a truly incredible storyteller, gifted with a stunning cast, it's all outstanding. I gush about TWW, I know, but these two episodes alone justify it.
And Speaking Of Blog Parents....
...as I was a couple of hours ago, such has been the week I've been having that I managed totally to miss that Wednesday (9th) was the second anniversary of the day they bore More a way of life.... into the world.
Doesn't it fly?
(PS - Average postings, 1.86 a day, by the way.)
Speaking Of Single....
When you spot a blog called 'GayDatingBlog', you've just got to take a look, really. There might be tips and stuff. There might even be tales of licencious behaviour that could vicariously entertain.
Tragically (yet also intriguingly), when you get there, you find.....
A Blog Of Choice
Blogadoon's turn.
One of the blogs I read before I blogged (and listed as one of my 'parents' at BlogTree, Ian's site is one of the few I can say hasn't changed its desgn at all along he way, retaining a classic consistency that puts me to shame.
His postings do likewise, bringing wit and intelligence to his summaries of real world events, and much entertainment to the various events of his life. There's a nice line in highlights from The London Review of Books, too.
Sad And Single
Well, that was annoying.
I've been out for a catch-up with my mate Liz, who I haven't seen for a while, and while sitting in my favourite tapas bar, I suddenly noticed that I was being noticed. If you see what I mean.
A more-than-slightly-attractive guy at a nearby table seemed to be paying me quite a lot of attention. I paid some back, and a number of looks were exchanged. I wasn't sure how I could realistically have progressed things, short of walking up and giving him my number, but I was starting to consider even that.
And then suddenly, he wasn't looking anymore. And didn't again. Even when we coincided near the doorway, he caught my eye in what appeared to be an unintentional way, then looked away.
I really thought I was in with some strange sort of a chance there. And then I wasn't. So now I'm very confused.
Though I Will Say....
....That it's no wonder there are so many gay Catholic priests.
The frocks are fabulous.
Funeral, Revisited
Well, I'm just back from the second funeral in three weeks, and there's a real sense of one extreme to the other. Last time round it was a deeply personal, non-religious event with cremation. This time - a full-scale Catholic do, with Mass and trip to the cemetary.
I'm sure it did good for the people who subsribe to it, but I found that all of my antagonism towards religion was only being fed. It all gets in the way of what should really be the focus. I don't think more than a quarter of the whole thing was actually about Mabel. The rest was about the church and about the religion. At one point, blessings were being asked for the entire Catholic church, starting at the Pope and working down, taking in the local Bishop and his assistants (each individually named), all the way down the the priest, deacon and regular congregation of the church itself.
But as I said, I'm sure it did something for the believers there, so I won't have quite the rant I could.
West Winged
"We're going to be at war with them though, one day. You know we are. And when we are, we'll know what weapons they have, because we'll have sold them to them."
(Minor spoilers ahead.)
Season Three of The West Wing took a hit as a consequence of real world events (it started in the autumn of 2001), and by the time the episode Channel 4 aired last night (The Women Of Qumar) came round, they'd only just started to see their way clear to shifting into the storyline that would dominate the latter part of the season. So here we have the first reference to the country that will become significant, and some indication of the politics that define it, wrapped up in a frankly ridiculous CJ plot that (not for the first time) paints her as an emotionally overwrought type, running alongside a terribly contrived subplot of Josh getting involved with a feminist activist. All of which combines to make what I sadly have to report was the first episode of this fantastic series that I think was unsuccessful on every level.
Dissent Is Good
"The real traitors are those who recklessly abandoned our European heartland and Labour's natural friends like Gerhard Schröder, Nelson Mandela and Jimmy Carter and subordinated our interests to an extreme rightwing faction of a foreign power; George Bush's USA. History will judge New Labour more harshly than their fans at Wapping have done so far."
Following on from my posting about the detestable David Blunkett's anti-media rant last week, I wanted to discuss dissent, and most specifically the stifling of it in relation to the war in Iraq. One of the most remarkable things about the situation we find ourselves in is the sheer vitriol which is reserved for any and all who fail to toe the acceptable line 100%: The entire French nation, for instance; or the so-called 'appeasers' of the domestic anti-war movement; or any elected representative who voices a personal concern that this war is a bad idea, undertaken for the wrong reasons, and with arrogant disregard for the range of feeling among the British people on the subject.
Which brings us to George Galloway, MP (Labour - Glasgow Kelvin). Mr Galloway has been steadfast in making the case for his conscientious objection to the war for a long time now. Last week, the pro-war UK press generally, and the News International wing of it specifically, launched an assault of quite astonishing bile in his direction. Among other suggestions made by these Champions of Democracy (for Iraq, but not the UK, apparently) was that their readership should actually send him hate mail en masse. And according to Mr Galloway (quoted above), this campaign was instigated by his own party, the one which all of those publications have traditionally opposed on ideological grounds, at least until Tony Blair demonstrated that you could be a Conservative and still lead the Labour Party.
Setting aside for a moment one's individual feelings about the rightness or otherwise of the current action, consider this simply as an attack on free speech.
What state (in both senses) have we reached when it's acceptable to promote this kind of attack against someone who simply, conscientiously voices their legitimate concerns regarding the policies and actions that are being pursued in all of our names, whether we like it or not? If he is not accurately representing the wishes of his constituents, then those constituents will be able to make their feelings known at the ballot box.
I hope that, whether the party withdraw the whip from him or not, he will continue to speak out as he feels morally required to do. And the obligation we share as human beings, should require us all to do no less.
How To Write Like A Wanker
Well, I think I can safely say that I've come across all of the items on this checklist at one time or another. Not entirely original, but worth a glance.
That's Entertainment
Whoever thought up the idea of the late lunch/early supper was a sheer genius.
I've just had Alison, Chris, and Philippa over for just such a repast, and having been for a long walk round the ecology park, sat and eaten, reclined with tea and chocolate and then seen them off, I've now also done all the washing up and it's barely 9pm. Usually I get very stressy when entertaining, but this was all blissfully stress free.
And by the way - for dessert I made individual banoffee crumbles with creme fraiche, and though I says it as shouldn't, they were a total triumph.
Buffy Bits - First Time In A While
Just a couple of things:
The Ain't It Cool News Coaxial team are holding a huge screening and party for the broadcast of the last ever Buffy on the 20th May. They've been talking about this for a while, but now seem to have identified the perfect location, so it looks like it's all systems go. How tempting is it to get to LA for it?
Former 'Best Character in Buffy (Series 4 through 6)' actor Amber Benson has been writing various things in the last year or so, including some Buffy comics. With one of her co-writers, Christopher Golden, she's recently begun something quite different - Ghosts Of Albion is an animated online supernatural thriller for the BBC. The first two acts are already available, with 3 to 5 coming later in the month. Definitely one to check out.
Meanwhile, Over At Millarworld....
....there's a thread about the best album to have sex to. Which got me wondering what my own esteemed readership would consider the best.
Any thoughts?
What A Disappointment
I was at Alison's for dinner on Thursday, and towards the end of the evening, the subject of hot chocolate (the drink, not the band) came up. Alison's not a fan, but she'd had some samples of Suchard's version dropped through her letterbox, and gave me one.
I've just had it, and I can safely say it was the least impressive hot, chocolatey bedtime beverage I've ever tried. Thin, slightly bitter, not warmly comforting at all.
Bleurgh. And I was hoping it would help me sleep....
"In Theatre"
Well, a few more details about my brother's imminent posting have come my way. And I can't honestly say it's making me any happier about the situation. There's no easy way to deal with this sort of situation, for all that I mentally prepared for something like it the day he signed-up. Still, the specific things he'll be doing are pretty impressive - if nothing else he'll have some unique experiences in the coming months.
While I'm Making Use Of Other People's Knowledge
Has anyone been to Bologna? If so, what's good to see? And does anyone know of a good place to stay?
Media Surface Help Needed
Don't know if there's any good asking about this, but there's no harm in trying.
I need to have a conversation with someone who has experience working with MediaSurface, initially with a view to working out some details on a project scope, and potentially to work on said project as a contractor. No one I would usually talk to about it is available at the moment.
If you are such a person, or know of one, can you drop me a line as soon as possible?
Ta.
TrackPoints? *Shudder*
The Ask Jack section of today's Guardian Online section contains a letter asking Jack whether he can recommend a solution to the problem of accidentally brushing a laptop trackpad while typing, resulting in cursor movements and the like. I'm familiar with this problem myself from when I was first using a laptop, so I know it can be irritating. Having addressed some possible physical and software solutions, 'Jack' then offers the following ridiculous observation: "However, I would never buy a notebook PC with a touchpad. I think the TrackPoint miniature joystick invented by IBM is far superior, and you can get these mainly in IBM ThinkPad and Toshiba notebooks."
So here's my Dear Jack in response:
Dear Jack,
While I recognise your right to voice an opinion on the superiority of the TrackPoint, I'm afraid I have to beg to differ. I find them unwieldy and irritating to use, so much so that during my enforced time using a ThinkPad while an employee of their manufacturer, I actually provided my own mouse as a means of avoiding use of the annoying little thing. I think I can safely say that everyone I worked with took a similar position, and that you're the only person I've ever heard actually express a claim for superiority for them.
I wonder, if the concept and execution are really as significantly superior to a touchpad as you suggest, why more manufacturers haven't taken them on as a design feature?
Also, as a piece of advice to someone who's having trouble using their touchpad, "Don't buy a machine with a touchpad." (which is what you're essentially saying), is pretty pointless advice, and simply looks like an attempt to plug a technology that you happen to like.
Still, as long as someone's keeping the highly-specialist TrackPoint moulders of the world in gainful employment, there's room for differing opinions.
Yours,
The Phantom Touchpad User Of Olde London Towne
By The Way
If you missed the announcement of the new police powers I mentioned in my last posting, you may also have missed the announcements:
Of a public fund bail-out of the MP's pension fund, despite everyone else's collapsing pension being their own problem;
Of new figures showing that stop-and-search figures for black and asian people are up, but have actually fallen for white people;
Of proposals to send asylum seekers to processing centres outside the EU; and
Of a benefit shortfall meaning that the UK's most-deserving citizens are missing out of £5billion a year in benefits.
All these and more bits of news we've been distracted from by means of the incessant reporting of that thing going on in Iraq, are neatly summarised by The Independent. Good job someone's keeping track.
Blunkett Strikes Again
Yes, I know - I've made my distaste for Home Secretary David Blunkett clear on previous occasions, but I can't help it - the man's a traitor to the principles of the party he belongs to. (The ones that involve tolerance, fairness, concern for others, justice and some small sense of morality, if you're wondering. Probably others.)
And here we go again - this time he's having a go at UK media organisations whose reporters are filing from Baghdad; claiming that they're doing so as if there was moral equivalence between that and reporting only what our Whitehall overlords would like to be reported. (I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that it's articles like this one - in which The Guardian's Suzanne Goldenberg reports on the (literal) impact of the US/UK assault on some of the city's poverty-striken civilians - that he'd really rather we didn't see.) God forbid that any effort should be made to show us all the sides of the story of a war being prosecuted in our name and with our money.
Blunkett (who just recently introduced laws to allow the police to take fingerprints and DNA samples from *anyone* arrested, which, by the way, can now be kept on record indefinitely, even if no charge ever results from the arrest) also attempts a pretty shallow bit of playing to his New York audience by using the word 'liberal' as if it's pejorative, the way that US politicians do.
Not to put too fine a point on it, David Blunkett makes me sick.
In fact, I'd go so far as to say he's one of the most deserving living examples of someone who should be described by that word I will not use.
UPDATE (11:30am): The Guardian's coverage of Blunkett's speech also includes a quotation from him suggesting that Saddam is exploiting "the weaknesses of our democracy, the weaknesses of our media systems". Would that be the weakness in our democracy that allows us to question the way our leaders behave in our name, then?
oderint dum metuant*
Among the resignations from our own parliament during the build-up to war, a couple of American departures were generally unremarked, at least as far as I've seen. It seems that they were so underreported that they've taken on the reputation of rumour or urban myth, because good old Snopes feels the need to confirm that they really happened.
John Brady Kiesling was Political Counselor at the US Embassy in Athens until he resigned after around 20 years with the State Department and a career that had taken in periods at a number of different embassies.
Mary Wright was a Deputy Chief of Mission at the end of a 15 year diplomatic career, which followed 26 years in the Army and Army Reserves, where she reached the rank of Colonel.
* "Let them hate us, so long as they fear us." - see Kiesling's letter of resignation
Not A Living Room To Call My Own
Well, courtesy of my houseguest for the next few days, I probably won't be able to do much around here in the evenings, which means I really need to make more of an effort to post stuff during the day.
I will try, I promise....