Thursday, March 31, 2005
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Herbie Goes Bananas
Found the Bank of Scotland in Leicester today. I only nearly caused a car crash, avoided 2 more and scared a few pedestrians and myself. My flat is now paid up, I need to collect the keys tomorrow.
Yay - I'm not homeless come Friday!
Note to self: Walk to the bank! It's only a mile!
Yay - I'm not homeless come Friday!
Note to self: Walk to the bank! It's only a mile!
Dr Stu on Dr Who
I don't like Doctor Who.
Period.
Ok, I did when I was 5 and it came on TV. Mainly the bit where the smiling face appeared on the screen and the pretty colours came on. I remember a really scary episode involving vampires called the Curse of Fenrus and some weird one where King Arthur came back only to be destroyed in 5 minutes of an episode (or maybe that was another show). But then I realised it was yet another BBC cheap-skate sci-fi series and lost interest. Having said that I watched some Blake's 7 recently and thought it was ok.
I liked the McGann pilot that never got a series, the Gothic Tardis was pretty cool, though the show was American, showing the BBC's inadequacies that it can't make sci-fi without supplementing our license fees with American money and in doing so selling out to the vacuous style of American TV.
Er... rant over... anyway so I decided given the fuss the Beeb was making to watch this as well.
I liked it.
Damn it!
Eccleston is pretty damn cool as the Doctor. He's smug, weird, and generally a good actor anyway. Billy Piper I wasn't so sure of.
In true cheapskate Dr Who tradition rather than choose one of the other infinite possibilities of time and space the Doctor wound up at the centre of the universe, London, England, Earth convienently in the early 21st century. That must have lowered the budget for the first episode, and allowed him to pick up Billy Piper, who it turns out can act.
The episode was really quick - 45 minutes that seemed to involve running everywhere with latex dummies chasing the goodies. The dummies were ok and I understand there is meant to be some big overarcing reason for all this if you've been watching for the past 25 years or so, but there was also some dodgy CGI including a wheely bin. I thought the effects looked like the kind out of Red Dwarf VII, like someone'd been playing with their old Amiga for a couple of months. Additionally there was a totally unconvincing "dummy" replica for Billy's boyfriend which she was completely fooled by despite the fact it looked mega-odd.
Overall good. Not stellar. Not set the world on fire. It's no Babylon 5 or Battlestar Galactica v2.0 but it's watchable. I'll be watching next week I suppose.
Period.
Ok, I did when I was 5 and it came on TV. Mainly the bit where the smiling face appeared on the screen and the pretty colours came on. I remember a really scary episode involving vampires called the Curse of Fenrus and some weird one where King Arthur came back only to be destroyed in 5 minutes of an episode (or maybe that was another show). But then I realised it was yet another BBC cheap-skate sci-fi series and lost interest. Having said that I watched some Blake's 7 recently and thought it was ok.
I liked the McGann pilot that never got a series, the Gothic Tardis was pretty cool, though the show was American, showing the BBC's inadequacies that it can't make sci-fi without supplementing our license fees with American money and in doing so selling out to the vacuous style of American TV.
Er... rant over... anyway so I decided given the fuss the Beeb was making to watch this as well.
I liked it.
Damn it!
Eccleston is pretty damn cool as the Doctor. He's smug, weird, and generally a good actor anyway. Billy Piper I wasn't so sure of.
In true cheapskate Dr Who tradition rather than choose one of the other infinite possibilities of time and space the Doctor wound up at the centre of the universe, London, England, Earth convienently in the early 21st century. That must have lowered the budget for the first episode, and allowed him to pick up Billy Piper, who it turns out can act.
The episode was really quick - 45 minutes that seemed to involve running everywhere with latex dummies chasing the goodies. The dummies were ok and I understand there is meant to be some big overarcing reason for all this if you've been watching for the past 25 years or so, but there was also some dodgy CGI including a wheely bin. I thought the effects looked like the kind out of Red Dwarf VII, like someone'd been playing with their old Amiga for a couple of months. Additionally there was a totally unconvincing "dummy" replica for Billy's boyfriend which she was completely fooled by despite the fact it looked mega-odd.
Overall good. Not stellar. Not set the world on fire. It's no Babylon 5 or Battlestar Galactica v2.0 but it's watchable. I'll be watching next week I suppose.
Return of the Dude
Yet another witty post title...
Good times in Dundee just hanging out and seeing everyone. I actually felt a bit of a mook being up after only 10 days away, but hopefully I should be back up in April to submit the "one true thesis".
Saw lots of some folk and curiously little of others and discovered hell's waiting room while catching a taxi at 3am in Dundee. Just when you think you're almost there it turns out the guy in front has 20 mates that seem to be push in front. But that is the price of a good calzone isn't it.
For those of you not educated in the ways of fine cuisine like myself a calzone is in fact a folded pizza with the delicious pepperoni (or whatever's your poison) topping kept fresh in a layer of hot tomatoy goodness. Who says this blog isn't educational?
It was also good having a TV to watch. Caught the new Doctor Who and a detailed and intelligent commentary will follow since everyone seems to be reviewing it.
Loaded the car up with essentials such as my DVD player, a spare TV and so forth in preparation for the coming move this week. It took me 10 hours to get home but about 1 hour of this was spent frantically trying to find Oadby or the City Centre, neither of which are particularly well sign-posted. Finally unpacked collapsed around 9ish to order some fish and chips.
A little survival tip in England - never ask for a large portion of chips. What I got was HUGE. A meal for 2-3 in itself.
Today's ordeal involves getting to the bank (I don't know where it is so I guess it will take roughly 2-3 hours to find) and paying my deposit on the flat. Try not to mug me today, I'll only be carrying a small fortune in cash.
Good times in Dundee just hanging out and seeing everyone. I actually felt a bit of a mook being up after only 10 days away, but hopefully I should be back up in April to submit the "one true thesis".
Saw lots of some folk and curiously little of others and discovered hell's waiting room while catching a taxi at 3am in Dundee. Just when you think you're almost there it turns out the guy in front has 20 mates that seem to be push in front. But that is the price of a good calzone isn't it.
For those of you not educated in the ways of fine cuisine like myself a calzone is in fact a folded pizza with the delicious pepperoni (or whatever's your poison) topping kept fresh in a layer of hot tomatoy goodness. Who says this blog isn't educational?
It was also good having a TV to watch. Caught the new Doctor Who and a detailed and intelligent commentary will follow since everyone seems to be reviewing it.
Loaded the car up with essentials such as my DVD player, a spare TV and so forth in preparation for the coming move this week. It took me 10 hours to get home but about 1 hour of this was spent frantically trying to find Oadby or the City Centre, neither of which are particularly well sign-posted. Finally unpacked collapsed around 9ish to order some fish and chips.
A little survival tip in England - never ask for a large portion of chips. What I got was HUGE. A meal for 2-3 in itself.
Today's ordeal involves getting to the bank (I don't know where it is so I guess it will take roughly 2-3 hours to find) and paying my deposit on the flat. Try not to mug me today, I'll only be carrying a small fortune in cash.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
By Their Command!
They've release brief summaries of the second season of Battlestar Galactica. Episode 2.2 sounds frackin' ace!
The Scourging of Dundee
A gruelling 9+ hour drive later, with seemingly every truck/car transport/tractor on the single carrigeway of the A1 delaying me, and a stop at Mussleborough service station, the most inhospitable service station at 9pm, saw me return to Dundee.
It seems someone has hidden Tayport and Fife behind a shroud of mist, dug up the Nethergate roundabouts and more annoyingly dumped another set of traffic cones where I usually park in the Blackness estate.
I've come into my office at Dundee. Someone's deactivated my admin access to my PC, locked me out, disabled my storage space and not allowed me access to burn a backup DVD of all my stuff. Bummer! It's going to take me another 30 mins to burn my DVD. At least they found my acetabular cup...
All I need now is for Christopher Lee and Brad Dourif to be behind it all...
It seems someone has hidden Tayport and Fife behind a shroud of mist, dug up the Nethergate roundabouts and more annoyingly dumped another set of traffic cones where I usually park in the Blackness estate.
I've come into my office at Dundee. Someone's deactivated my admin access to my PC, locked me out, disabled my storage space and not allowed me access to burn a backup DVD of all my stuff. Bummer! It's going to take me another 30 mins to burn my DVD. At least they found my acetabular cup...
All I need now is for Christopher Lee and Brad Dourif to be behind it all...
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
So Long Suckas!
Well, in about 25 minutes I will be beginning the long drive to Dundee and the search for a petrol station (not in that order or I won't get there) and my internet access might be a bit patchy unless I bother to dig out the old laptop. Expect excitement, adventure and so forth to resume at some point in the future.
Thanks to the chaps from work for letting me leave early. Wait a minute - they've all buggered off!
Thanks to the chaps from work for letting me leave early. Wait a minute - they've all buggered off!
High Scorer
What, are you a first generation gamer? Did you own the brown box?! Whatever you do in your spare time, gaming seems to be your job. Either you looked up the answers or you're the best of the best, the type that makes other gamers strive to know more. Just don't let the knowledge overwhelm the newbies, it tends to push them from the hobby. We all bow before you. You are the living nat 20, congradulations. I'm going to flee the scene now ;)
From the The Real Gamers use Dice Test written by luminasita on Ok Cupid
My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 93% on dice
From the The Real Gamers use Dice Test written by luminasita on Ok Cupid
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Paying Yer Dues
Well that felt odd. Despite leaving at 5:10pm I barely caught the Lettings Company before they closed. In fact I reckon I would've been easier walking than driving there, after 2 circuits of Queen's Road I was getting a little worried when the clock said 5:45pm.
Anyway they're always happy to get dosh I suppose so I handed them a suspiciously thick wad of cash, got a classy A4 receipt for my records, went over my form with the chap. What was a little weird was the way he and his assistant both counted the £100 or so in a rather comic-book fashion. At least we know they won't be saying I diddled them any time soon.
So, there goes another chunk of my slush fund. Roll on pay-day...
Anyway they're always happy to get dosh I suppose so I handed them a suspiciously thick wad of cash, got a classy A4 receipt for my records, went over my form with the chap. What was a little weird was the way he and his assistant both counted the £100 or so in a rather comic-book fashion. At least we know they won't be saying I diddled them any time soon.
So, there goes another chunk of my slush fund. Roll on pay-day...
Call of Stuthulu
I went to the student's union again, with some trepadation after the Baywatch incident. As it's holiday time the gangsta rap dude has decided to give his, and my, eardrums a rest and go back to the ghetto that spawned him. In its place is a relatively chilled jazz spilling from the speakers. They've a CD and DVD sale on, being the kind of "5 Films for £9.99" junk that beer and bad movie nights come from, but amongst such great movies I found a copy of Dagon for £4. As I am apparently loaded with cash I've bought this to watch either tonight or when back in Dundee.
A little disturbingly he's wrapped it in a brown paper bag so it does look like I've bought a porn DVD and sat it on my desk. Oh well...
Anyroads I thoroughly expect this to be a bad movie. This adaption of Call of Cthulu looks to be a lot more promising however, and the trailer is well worth a look.
A little disturbingly he's wrapped it in a brown paper bag so it does look like I've bought a porn DVD and sat it on my desk. Oh well...
Anyroads I thoroughly expect this to be a bad movie. This adaption of Call of Cthulu looks to be a lot more promising however, and the trailer is well worth a look.
Could You Turn Right at the Next Junction
I've just filled in a form to be made an invigilator at ECDL (European Computer Driving License) tests. I suspect none of the other demonstrators wanted the job, but if I get my foot in with ECDL it might prove interesting. Failing that teaching word processing and spreadsheets might be a good start to the job rather than teaching, oh, say, advanced C++ data structures with one day's notice.
Given ECDL is going to be lurking around for at least 10 years as it rolls through the NHS with the speed we know and expect this might be interesting.
Given ECDL is going to be lurking around for at least 10 years as it rolls through the NHS with the speed we know and expect this might be interesting.
How Much Cash?
Went to see about getting the flat. Apparently the need a £117.50 referencing fee, £300 deposit and £300 rent. And if I want to move in by April then I need to pay it in cash as cheque won't cash in time. Still it's better than Leicester Halls of Residence who don't take cash, debit card or credit card, only cheque.
Did I mention I left my cheque book at home?
Did I mention I left my cheque book at home?
Monday, March 21, 2005
A Fine Upstanding Citizen
Saw this guy while out walking through Leicester's City Centre at the weekend.
Dumbest Question I've Been Asked All Week
"So had you ever visited England before you came to Leicester?"
'Nuff said really.
'Nuff said really.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)