Announcing Sadie

Here's the puppy that's been taking up a lot of my time lately. She loves to play with her new brother Caesar, chew on her stuffed gorilla doll, and bite every finger/toe within a 50 foot radius. Sometimes she gets a bit wild, so I fondly refer to her as "Satan." She's not really evil, but she does have a Hitler mustache.

Did I mention she's cute as a button?

I want a puppy of my own now.

Sunday Morning Giggles

I knew that there was some seriously bad television on cable, but S found what has to be the absolute worst yesterday morning; some Jesusified kiddie-tv show about Grandma's House.

When watching her grandson walk in a stream in his tennis shoes, S commented that he'd have a nasty "boy smell." We then realized "boy smell" sounds almost exactly like "voice mail." Next time I hear someone say they need to check their voice mail, I know I'm going to giggle like a little girl at Grandma's House.

12-7-06 Comics

Thanks to Rui, I am now officially a Nerd. I hope he feels good about himself. It's not bad enough that I really did have taped together glasses in 3rd grade, but now he's got me into comics again. However, since I realize I will be a nerd, I might as well use up some blog space and devote a weekly rundown to the comics.

I had thought one of the comic shop guys looked rather familiar, but couldn't quite place him. I finally heard his name yesterday, and realized he's my second cousin. Seems nerdiness is in the genes.

The Escapists: #1 Okay, the only reason I even sparked interest in this comic was because of the $1 price tag. I kind of figured I could cut it up later and use it in an art project, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised. This comic is based on a make-believe comic character created by fictional comic creators, based on a fiction novel by Michael Chambon. Confused yet? Yeah, me too. It's kind of like that movie Adaptation except there's no masturbating Nic Cage.

Hell, I can't explain it. Just buy it and read it your damn self. It's worth all 100 pennies.

100 Bullets #74 I've jumped into this comic extremely late (especially since there are only supposed to be 100 issues) but I'm really enjoying it already. Last month, I jumped into part 3 of a 4 part story arc, and was incredibly confused. Suddenly, at the end of this issue, so many things made sense. I'm falling in love with the gritty story telling, and the just as gritty art work.

I'm also collecting these for the cover art. I love the covers on this series, and would love to have prints in my apartment. And yes, I realize how lame that sounds.

Ghost Rider #1 Once again, the flame-headed biker of death is back, due to fans bitching and moaning. Well, that's what they try to tell us, but we all know it's really because there's a movie coming out next summer, starring Nic Cage. Ack! He's all over this entry!

This issue was pretty good, and featured incredible artwork. My only complaint is that Satan looks just like the Tim Curry evil guy in Legend. I'd have officially burned my copy if there had been a Tom Cruise look alike though.

Leaving the Ice Age

The AC is out at work today. This should be fun, since it's supposed to reach at least 90 degrees today. (32.2 C)

In recent weeks, I've been known to wear a sweater at work, because the AC is set to 60, and can't be changed here. I could cut glass with my nipples on a good day. Today, it's only 8am, and my pelt is becoming moist with sweat. It's going to be a long day.

Update: the AC kicked back in full force a while ago, and I'm now ready to go steal a large diamond from a museum, if you catch my meaning.

Fun Videos

I just saw a link for this fun video starring George W. Bush doing a cover of U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday. I'm amazed at the amount of editing work somebody went through, including the fact that they had to at least watch one of his boring speeches.



Note: in other sad news, I have now officially YouTubed my blog. *sigh*

The second video is Sexy Results (MSTRKRFT Version) by Death From Above 1979. This one's NSFW.

Movie Reviews

My 16-year-old niece called to let me know Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Blah Blah Overly Long Title was the best movie she'd seen in "forever."

Knowing that the last two films she loved were the bile-on-celluloid X-Men 3: Half-Assed Script and The Chronicles of Blah-nia, I had my doubts. Then, I saw actual reviews yesterday, including the best one from Michael Hartney:

$132,000,000

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest can take a big hot suck of my asshole.

Yeah, I'm waiting for the dollar theatre, or DVD.

I really need to get to SLC and start dragging her out to indie films again. This is appalling.

Foxxxy the Brave

Being a sound sleeper can have drawbacks, such as missing early morning hyjinks in the back yard.

Yesterday, at around 5 am, a baby skunk snuck into my parents' back yard looking for dog/cat food. My parents have been hounded by skunks all spring, but both the city animal control department and Idaho Fish and Game have refused to help with the situation. They were nice enough to offer traps to my father, as long as he brought them back smelling skunk free. How nice of them.

When the skunk snuck into the yard, it woke up my parents' foofoo pomeranian, Foxxxy. Okay, okay, the name is actually just Foxy (or just Fox, if you ask my dad) but it's so much more fun to make it pornographic in nature. Foxxxy actually looks remarkably like a super-sappy fox, and thus, the name stuck. Anyway, Foxxxy woke up, and started barking. This woke my parents, who decided to spray the skunk down the sidewalk with a hose. Hey, I don't understand their logic on that one either. As my father was hosing the baby skunk down the walk, Foxxxy got surprisingly butch, grabbed the skunk by the neck, and went Outkast on it (you know, shook it like a Polaroid picture.) Apparently, skunks weren't made for getting krunk, and it died.

I spent the afternoon trying to convince my parents that we should deliver the dead skunk to the mayor, but to no avail. Apparently, they don't find the beauty to passive-aggressive guerilla tactics that I do. We'll see if they change their tune when the next skunk sneaks into the yard.

Les Bois

It started Friday night, when I traveled to Boise with S & W. I'd forgotten how amazingly boring and ugly the trip to Boise is from Pocatello. If watching farms, rocks, and sagebrush is your idea of exciting, then I guess you'll enjoy the trip, but if you're like me, you'll be bored to tears. My "amazing" mix disc for the trip actually ended up being pretty crappy too. That's what I get for randomly grabbing songs for a playlist in iTunes.

Friday night was actually a lot of fun. We met up with some of S & W's friends in the Boise area, and went out for a bit. One interesting trend I've seen the past two weekends though, is that we keep meeting people with money, who have to emphasize how much money they have, and how much all of their possessions cost. I was also reminded that having money does not equal having class. The nouveau riche in Idaho and Utah just don't seem to realize that.

On Saturday morning, we were supposed to go see Superman Returns on the IMAX screen, but our plans got curtailed. One of the dogs at the house we stayed in decided it needed to attend with us, but got confused and ran away. Perhaps it was jonesing for Pirates of the Caribbean 2 instead. Either way, by the time we caught the dog and returned him to suburban entrapment, it was too late for super Supes. Damn.

The rest of the day was spent at the Farmers' Market in the city centre, eating incredible pizza, sipping a Starbucks, and picking up Sadie, aka "Cutest Puppy in the World." Sadie's a two-month-old beagle puppy with large, sad eyes, who enjoys snuggling and long walks in the grass. Then again, at her size, 20 feet (6.1 meters) is a long walk. If permitted, I'll try to get a pic of Sadie up on the blog.

Happy Kylie Minogue Workday Friday

Okay, it's not a real holiday, but I have half of my office convinced it is. I've been blasting Ultimate Kylie all morning. Yes, I really do work with people dumb enough to believe it. I just told them it was a UK holiday, and I was choosing to celebrate here.

In other news, I had an almond soy latte this morning. It was astoundingly awful. I'm not sure if it was because they only had the sugar-free/carb-free almond flavouring, or the fact that soy milk tastes like ass over here in the US. Either way, it was nasty. However, being the caffeine junkie I am, I slurped up every last drop.

I'm off to Boise for part of this weekend to see Superman on the IMAX, and to get S & W's new puppy. She's a little beagle, and one of the cutest things I've seen. I'm sure my impression will greatly change after 3 hours in a car with her, but for now, I'll still maintain that she's cute.

Digital Superstition

My sister just emailed me one of those superstition emails that I thought had gone out of vogue about 10 years ago. This one promised that if I didn't read the incredibly awful poem at the end, then email it to 10 friends in the next three hours, something awful would happen to someone I love. Since I only barely love my mother (hey, she makes it really hard) I'll skip the forwards and hope the awful karma smacks her.

This kind of digital superstition only appeals to me when it features a video that looks like it came from a David Lynch acid trip and Naomi Watts. But only in the first form. The sequal was crap.

Reversal of Fortune

I posted a blog entry over at So Cosmopolitan of Me about my experiences with reverse culture shock so far.

It hasn't been easy being back. Living with my folks hasn't made things any better. I desperately need to find a new flat soon, but prices have skyrocketed to metropolitan prices here for some reason. I seriously saw a studio in the paper for $600/month. This isn't Seattle, this is podunk Pocatello. I'm also trying to figure out what to do, since a previous offer for a roommate was more-or-less revoked recently. I hate when people talk about stuff like that, and then act like it was never discussed a short time later.

I'm only back a short time, and I'm already tired of being here.

Thievery

I had some stuff stolen from my Jeep this weekend. It was parked in a fairly safe neighborhood, and I thought I had the doors all locked, but apparently I missed one.

I'm guessing it was younger kids, judging from what was taken. They made off with my small courrier bag from England (which chafes me like wet leather trousers) that had some new comics in it. I don't care so much about the comics, but the bag was a fond memory of Plymouth. They also took off with two CDs that were handy. For some reason though, I'm having a hard time seeing thiefs in Pocatello appreciating DFA Remixes Volume 1 or Bloc Party to their full extent. The CD player and other major things were all left alone.

I'm trying to not let this get to me. I learned a lesson, and there weren't any major losses. I just hope some punk kid's getting their media horizons expanded right now, and enjoying my loss.

Wankers.

Scotland: A Synopsis

Let me just start by saying that Scotland was amazing. The people, geography, and atmosphere combine to make one of the most incredible places I’ve ever been. I could honestly see myself living in some part of Scotland in the future, and being very happy indeed.

Since there was so much to the trip, I’ll just stick to listing highlights in a brief manner.

Edinburgh: Amazing city offering the best of modern delights (like Starbucks) next to ancient ones (like the castles.) It was also the first time in 9 months that someone heard my American accent and was glad I was a Yank. Hooray!
Isles of Staffa and Iona: The Scottish end of the Giant’s Causeway and the former religious centre of the Celtic peoples. It almost felt like you were removed from time. We were just disappointed we didn’t see the promised puffins on Staffa.
Corrour Youth Hostel: The one we feared was the best one. It’s in the middle of nowhere, next to a lake, and the most environmentally friendly hostel in the UK. I highly recommend it. It’s only a short train trip to Fort William and Ben Nevis from here.
Train from Fort William towards Skye: We rode over the Harry Potter Bridge on the train. I just had to fight old people for prime picture taking window space.
Isle of Skye: We opted to miss the Talisker distillery, but instead spent time in Portree. While there, we bought hand-milled soaps, ate amazing seafood, and encountered midges. I still had welts two weeks later. The Museum of the Isles in Armadale is well worth the money, and highly informative.
Inverness: Another fantastic city. I still think it’s incredible that that the City Council is housed in the castle, and I finally learned how to say Joao’s name correctly in Portuguese.
Drumnadrochit/Loch Ness: Yes, we rocked it in Drumnadrochit. Where else can you have your picture taken with an awful looking Nessie monster made of concrete and shop for a new kilt? We were supposed to go to dinner with Nessie, but she opted to get pissed on McEwans before we got there. I was highly disappointed with her antics.
Stirling: The castle, Holyrude cathedral, and William Wallace tribute made this one of my favorite places in Scotland. Even the drunks were very friendly.
Glasgow: The City Centre is amazing, and felt more urban than Edinburgh. Anywhere outside of the City Centre had me nearly pissing myself in fear. Oh yeah, you really can find deep fried pizza here.

All in all, it was one of the most amazing trips I’ve ever had. If I ever get around to it, I’ll throw some pictures from the trip online.

A Quick Note

And I really mean quick...

I'm back in the US, but don't have internet right now. I'm sitting in a coffee shop for a few minutes before I have to go and typing this entry out.

I'll be back to my old job on Monday morning, and back to the wonderful world of internet connections. In the meantime, I'll try to type up a few posts about Scotland, wrapping up things in Plymouth, my trip home, and life back here in the US, so that I can get them posted next week.

Cheers!

The Hogwarts Express

I'm working on cleaning up my iTunes library right now. I need to get some new stuff on my iPod for my trip on the Hogwarts Express this Monday morning.

Hogwarts Express? Huh?

Rui and I leave at noon on Monday for Scotland. We'll be there for two weeks, so don't expect any blogging while I'm gone (especially since most internet cafes are expensive, and I'm officially skint now.)

We're going to Edinburgh for a few days, then over to the west coast, up to Isle of Skye, over to Inverness and Loch Ness (Drumnadrochit!), then down to Stirling, and finally back to Edinburgh. Because we're students, we're able to do it for fairly cheap, staying at hostels and riding on trains and ferries. However, it also means that we'll have an 8 hour train trip on Monday, and another 10 hour train trip back two weeks later. Blech! Luckily, we're riding on the much nicer Virgin trains, which have electrical outlets and are decidedly less ghetto than First Great Western.

After I return on the fifth of June, it's hurried packing and tieing up of loose ends, since my sister got me a free ticket home on the 9th. It's about 5 days sooner than I wanted, but you don't look a gift horse in the mouth, and all that.

Joy in the Little Things

I found a can of A&W Root Beer this morning, and I swooned.

I didn't know a can of crap soda could make me so damn happy. See, the thing is, I haven't had a root beer since I got here to the UK. It just doesn't exist over here, as far as I can tell. The soda selection is seriously lacking, and to be honest, it doesn't taste all that great over here. I think it's because they put aspartame (aka Nutrasweet, aka shite) in almost every drink here, and aspertame is nasty.

Anyway, I was wandering around the Barbican when Rui suggested we check out a little Asian market we'd never been to before. I think they've put in about 5 new stores since I was down there a few weeks ago. Stores here change as often as most people change underwear. Inside the store all sorts of exotic goodies and bad smelling things could be found, and there in the very small refridgerator section... *cue angel music* Root Beer!

I thought Rui would be really impressed with a divine product of American consumerism when he tried it. Instead he just said it tasted like a Portuguese nasal medicine. Bummer. I think too much Six Feet Under is turning him into a nihilist. He wasn't even very impressed with Nutter Butters, and I'd wrestle a lion to the death for a Nutter Butter. And hell yes, I would win.

Super Busy

Sorry I haven't posted a whole lot this last week. I've been really busy working on my big end of the year video project that I have to present on Thursday night. I've spent the last few days doing some filming, but mainly working on getting the mountain of paperwork for this course finished.
One thing I did for my school work was to use scanned comics to help me "document" workshops from back in October. It's a long story. Anyway, in the process of finding comic scans, I came across this great scan of Superman's past powers that he doesn't use much anymore. Apparently, at one time, he had the ability to shoot rainbows from his hands. It's even freakier that he has to do "spirit fingers" a la Bring It On to shoot out the rainbows. I'd love to say I made the above picture up, but it's real, minus the words I added in Photoshop.

If you think that's really crazy, you should see this BBC News report about the US Military developing "Gay Bombs." Wow... that's just nutty!

Bristol History

While in Bristol, I got a free "graphic novel" at the comic shop. I was all excited, until I saw that it was some uber-shite infotainment gimmick about the inventor of the steam engine, Isambard Brunel. Saying I was unimpressed doesn't even begin to cover it. The only time infotainment has been good was when that little dog Wishbone did representations of classic novels on PBS. I loved that dog. His version of Ivanhoe was sublime.

Fast forward to tonight, where I needed some toilet time entertainment. The Crapic Novel was handy, so I took it in with me.

Here's what I learned:

Brunel smoked a cigar all the time. The authors didn't feel that they should censor this, but instead devote two pages to the evils of tobacco, and how it will kill you (much like booze, McDonalds, and loose women.) Okay... I added the last part.

Slavery was evil, but it's not so bad, because those damn Yanks did it for an extra 30 years after the UK did. Smug moralism is even better in 20/20 hindsight.

Apparently, some worm that looked remarkably like a flacid penis was eating the wood used in ships, and this lead to the invention of the steam engine somehow. One would have to actually read, and not skim, to find out the logistics. And yes, I did just say "flacid penis" and "eating wood" in the same sentence. Kudos to me.

The Brits called the French "frogs" because they used to eat frogs all the time. Just like the French called the Brits "rosbifs" (roast beefs). Kind of like Idahoans call Utahans "carrot snappers" or "Utards" or "Jowly McJowlyJowls" I guess.

This was the worst free item I've ever been given. I demand my money back!

Feeling Kinda Blue

I'm not sure why, but I woke up in a marginally depressed mood today. Actually, I know exactly why I feel that way, but confessing that my lazy ass has come back to bite me on the ass (and you thought that wasn't possible) isn't nearly as fun.

Looking for a reprieve from my conscience, I go to a comedian's site for a little pick me up. I'd seen it linked from another site I trust, so I thought a little peek couldn't hurt. Then what to my wondering eyes should appear... but pictures of animals in casts, making me want to drown my sorrows in beer.

Cute, yes. Cure for mental lethargy, no. Even when I try to convince myself that the puppy just read my entry about beach parties, and wanted to be a Solid Gold Dancer (complete with leg warmers, natch) I still want to attempt to breast feed it back to proper health. And not cry. Because dammit, those eyes make me sad. Sad like the first time I tasted peanut butter here in England, and realized something so beautiful could go so wrong.

Sacrificing For Art

Yesterday, while my flatmates stressed over major exams they have in the following weeks, I slaved away on some homework. Here’s the rundown on what can be considered homework for a media arts student.

1) Updated my new workbook/sketch book, after the old one was ruined in the Great Coffee Escape of ‘06.

2) Bought 4 identical dog masks.

3) Purchased handcuffs from a fetish shop.

4) Researched video de-interlacing techniques.

5) Practiced VJing to the Chemical Brother’s Push the Button album, using new clips from Analog Recycling via archive.org.

I know, I know. I sometimes marvel that I’m able to get through all the hard work myself.

My Beach Party

If Annette Funicello taught me anything, it's the importance of a good old fashioned beach party. While I technically don't have a beach nearby, I do have a hankering for a clam bake.

What inspired this insanity? The song Solid Gold by Eagles of Death Metal. It's not exactly Swedish death metal, but more like Queens of the Stone Age, Elvis, and T. Rex somehow managed some freakish love child. A freaky-hip love child, that is.

The only thing that would make listening to this song at a beach party any better is if the Solid Gold Dancers randomly showed up to bust a move. Yeah, that would be the epitome of cool. Leg warmers and all.

Dear Diary

This morning, I woke up and went with Rui to the Mannamead Weatherspoons on Mutley for breakfast. I used to hate the traditional English breakfast, but I love the sausage, beans, tomato and other items now. You also can't beat 1pound99 for a full traditional fry up either.

Not this morning though. No sausage, just an extra rasher of bacon that was saltier than cat food (or so I've heard... um....) and my beans were overcooked. My hash browns also tasted mysteriously of fish, which is never good. Never.

The Mannamead Weatherspoons gets a little worse every time we go there. I think it's officially dead to me. The food is always better at the Gog and Magog Weatherspoons in the Barbican anyway.

The afternoon commenced with a cappuccino at the Canadian Muffin Store. That's really the name, and I'm still weirded out that they are befuddled by my American accent. Aren't we like kissing cousins, or something? I then sat outside, ate a delicious muffin, drank my coffee, smoked my pipe, shooed off pigeons, and watched freaks... er... people walk past. I was also showered in small flowers from the blossoming tree behind me when the wind would blow, reminding me of the time I was a geisha in feudal Japan.

I then came home, where time mysteriously disappeared for a few hours. Ate a tuna/sweetcorn/chili sandwich, and chatted with Rui about comics for a long time. I think we crossed the line from quasi-nerd to uber-nerd somewhere in Cardiff or Bristol.

Now, to seal the fact that I'm a total nerd and have no life, I'm going to watch "Batman Begins" and go to bed.

Mini Reviews

Here are three little mini-reviews, since I'm much too lazy to write out long entries, especially good ones.

1) Silent Hill: Like I was assuming, people are stupid. This movie is great! It was one of the best horror films I've seen in a long time. I was tense and on edge the entire time. It is long, but it doesn't feel long. And there's a lot of dialogue that could have been cut, but it was necessary for the story at the same time. Basically, I just think a lot of reviewers didn't quite understand it, and weren't willing to think during a horror film, so they just wrote it off. Christophe Gans did an amazing job once again, though I could have maybe done without every shot needing to be panned, zoomed, or dollied in some manner. Stationary shots aren't a bad thing.

Judgement: Rui and I are talking about going to see it again on Wednesday. That should say it all.

2) The Streets - Some Crap Album: While I haven't officially listened to the new album, I've heard it for nearly 72 hours straight through my right wall. I've also been subjected to the new single in nearly every store in Plymouth. It's awful. Mike Skinner can't rap, and makes some of the worst music I've ever heard.

Judgement: Nearly as appealing as death by dyssentary.

3) Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere: I'm disappointed as hell. While "Crazy" is one of the coolest songs I've heard this year, the rest of the album is a huge disappointment. There are only three other songs on the album I can listen to, and I still haven't listened all the way through an entire song except for Crazy.

Judgement: Save your pennies. Download it if you absolutely must.

Flora and Fauna

Either a bird was building a nest in the shower, or one of my flatmates decided to trim their bush.

Morning officially ruined.

Musical Magic 8 Ball

I found this while perusing MEK's archives this morning. There's a set of questions, which will be magically answered by the shuffle setting on iTunes. Since Syndie refuses to acknowledge the glory of iTunes, she is not allowed to play. Okay, maybe she can with Wincrap... er... amp, but there's no guarantee to the validity of her answers.

Here's what to do. Ask iTunes the question, and see what mystical answer iTunes plays from your complete Library when put on shuffle play. No playlists here! Like the original author stated, no use of the same artist twice, or I'd have them all end up Ryan Adams. Then, interpret at will.

1. How does the world see you?
St. Patrick's Day - John Mayer
Must have been as close to St. Rick that iTunes could manage at the time. Does this mean I have to cozy up to Ratzi? Yuck.

2.Will I have a happy life?
Sure Shot - Beastie Boys
This answer is made even better by a dog saying "I love you" at the beginning of the song. Double happiness points!

3. What do my friends really think of me?
Especially For You - Kylie Minogue
I knew their worlds revolved around mine, but now I have divine proof!

4. Do people secretly lust after me?
Makes Me Wanna Die - Tricky
I'm not sure if this is a yes, or a no. Either I'm repulsive as hell, or Tom Cruise secretly wants me, and is going to kill me. He'll probably do it dressed as a clown too, because he's all messed up like that.

5. How can I make myself happy?
Be-In - The Dandy Warhols
The song's about drugs and being alone in my room. Guess I'll give it a shot.

6. What should I do with my life?
Biological - Air
Nice. Really nice. Rub it in that I changed my major from Biology a long time ago, iTunes Powers That Be!

7. Will I ever have children?
Factory Girls - Flogging Molly
Not only a resounding yes, but with much destiny described too. Looks like my family's going back to their roots.

8. What is some good advice for me?
Live Again - Better Than Ezra
Damnit. I gotta go check my karma.

9. How will I be remembered?
Save Your Day - Jose Gonzalez
I hope this ties in with the St. Rick thing, and I'm getting a national holiday.

10. What is my signature dancing song?
Ooh La La - Goldfrapp
I swear it's still on shuffle! The iTunes is all powerful!

11. What do I think my current theme song is?
Chemical Party - Gavin DeGraw
Well, looks as if I have some drug issues I didn't know about. Or, I secretly harbor desires of becoming a druggie. I'd prefer to be a Kate Moss coke-nose than a Whitney Houstan crack-whore though.

12. What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
Anything But Down - Sheryl Crow
I can live with that.

13. What song will play at my funeral?
If I Am (Acoustic Version) - Nine Days
Not exactly what I would have chosen, which leaves me wondering who's in charge of the arrangements. At least it's not some dopey hymn though.

14 What type of lover do I like?
Your Sweet Voice - The Reindeer Section
Well, there go my chances with James Blunt. Drat. If only there was a "Your Nasal Voice" song out there somewhere.

15. What is my day going to be like?
The Kiss - The Cure
Hopefully that's in reference to the action, not the band. I don't want to dress like Gene Simmons.

Well, I'm fairly satisfied with the answers, if for no other reason than no completely embarassing songs showed up on shuffle.

Two Great Sites

I love snarky blogs, unless they're being snarky about me. When that's the case, they suck. However, since nobody actually writes snarky blogs about me, happening across one would be pretty cool, in a sucky-cool sort of way. Sort of like when I found out today that they're making a sequal to the Hulk movie, except that there was absolutely no cool associated with that one.

Until such time as someone makes a sucky-cool snarky blog about me, I leave you with one about films, and one about celebrities. Enjoy!

I Watch Stuff

The Superficial

I (h) Skype.

4/29/06 11:02 PM
Rick
This is hot.
4/29/06 11:03 PM
...
http://www.iwatchstuff.com/images/2006/02/silenthillbig.jpg
4/29/06 11:04 PM
Syndie
what the hell?!
4/29/06 11:04 PM
...
is that??
4/29/06 11:04 PM
Rick
it's from Silent Hill, but it wasn't in the film
4/29/06 11:04 PM
Syndie
ack!
4/29/06 11:04 PM
Rick
I think there's going to be an incredible Director's Cut
4/29/06 11:04 PM
Syndie
what exactly am i looking at?!
4/29/06 11:04 PM
Rick
It's a demon called Pyramid Head
4/29/06 11:04 PM
...
carrying a skinless body
4/29/06 11:04 PM
Syndie
oh.. i remember you telling me about him
4/29/06 11:04 PM
...
okay.. that's freaky
4/29/06 11:05 PM
...
i was thinking more cartoony
4/29/06 11:05 PM
Rick
I've been looking for that photo for a while, and finally found it
4/29/06 11:05 PM
Syndie
but that's definately not a cartoon
4/29/06 11:05 PM
Rick
nope
4/29/06 11:05 PM
Syndie
blech
4/29/06 11:06 PM
...
that's nasty
4/29/06 11:06 PM
Rick
Yeah. It's fantastic!
4/29/06 11:06 PM
Syndie
is that a skin apron?!
4/29/06 11:06 PM
Rick
yup
4/29/06 11:06 PM
Syndie
or skirt...whatever
4/29/06 11:06 PM
...
ick
4/29/06 11:06 PM
...
ick
4/29/06 11:06 PM
...
ick
4/29/06 11:06 PM
Rick
we should get you one. They're totally in right now.
4/29/06 11:06 PM
Syndie
note to self:
4/29/06 11:06 PM
...
no slient hill
4/29/06 11:06 PM
...
ever
4/29/06 11:06 PM
Rick
with uggs
4/29/06 11:06 PM
Syndie
hahaha
4/29/06 11:07 PM
Rick
Aw... never?
4/29/06 11:07 PM
Syndie
gotta raise the hem a bit though
4/29/06 11:07 PM
Rick
Yeah. Mini-skins are totally hot.
4/29/06 11:08 PM
Syndie
ew!
4/29/06 11:08 PM
...
lol
4/29/06 11:08 PM
Rick
I saw some fat-assed 40 year old woman wearing this mini skirt and fuzzy boots today.
4/29/06 11:09 PM
...
it was awful. Worse than that pic I just showed you
4/29/06 11:09 PM
Syndie
AHHHHH!!!
4/29/06 11:09 PM
...
dont freak me out like that!
4/29/06 11:09 PM
Rick
She was by the dairy case in Somerfield, which was ironic because she had a crate of cottage cheese in her thighs

Adventures in Papersitting

Sometimes favours end up being much more than you ever thought they would be. Case in point, delivering a paper for Syndie this morning at the Faculty of Arts office.

I've encountered a lot of Britarded things here at UOP, but the fact that you can't turn your work in to your professor is one of them that chafes like wet leather trousers. Instead of giving any work to your professor in class, you have to turn them in at the faculty office by noon of the day they're due. One minute after noon, and you get a zero for any items being turned in.You also have to fill out paperwork to turn in with any assignments you may have. It's a huge hassle, and it drives me crazy. So yes, it's totally beurocratic, silly, and completely Britarded.

Anyway, I offered to turn in a paper for Syndie at the office this morning. I made sure that I was at the library at 11 this morning, so that I could have plenty of time to print, stand in line, and turn the paper in with a little breathing space.

Unfortunately, Syndie and I didn't notice that OpenOffice saves their files in an odd format, rather than as a Word or Rich Text document. I realized this after I'd been trying to open the document for 15 minutes at the uni to no avail. I soon realized I'd need OpenOffice on the computer to open it. But, since the computers there are AWFUL, and set up on the most ridiculous system I've ever seen, I couldn't do this. I asked the computer people, and they refused to help me. Not their problem. Wankers.

At this point, it's 11:20, and the only option was to run to my flat and pray that I could print it on my Mac. I've got OpenOffice on my Mac, but it's some weird program called NeoOffice (because nothing Mac is ever simple. Always better, just not simple.) Problem is, campus is a good 10 minute walk from campus at a brisk pace. So, I took off running the whole way, holding up my trousers that are falling off my butt since I lost all the weight here. When I got home, I hoped and prayed it would work, and happily it did. I printed the document, and ran out the door. (It's a long story why I didn't just print it at my flat in the first place. Just bear with me.)

I ran downstairs to the housing office, demanded they let me use the stapler, and ran out the door. As I neared the campus, I saw the stupid charity people. Here, they hire people to beg money for charities. One of their favorite places to do so is the major walkway to the campus. It drives me crazy. This morning, one overzealous bloke was deliberately getting in people's ways, and stopping them while he asked for money. I was on an island in the middle of the street when our eyes met. I knew he was going to block me. Without hesitation, I yelled across the street that I'd knock him out if he got in my way in my most menacing American voice. He conceeded.

Run, run, run. I get to the office with a little time to spare, but there's a really long queue of people waiting to turn stuff in. Even though there's this oversight with the policy, they'll still flunk people if they were waiting in line to turn stuff in. Like I said before, Britarded.

I quickly realized that people didn't have the proper paperwork yet, let alone filled out. Since Syndie had already done this, I stormed to the front of the queue, and turned in the paperwork with a few minutes to spare. Hooray! Against all odds, I had succeeded.

Walking past the long queue of icy glares, I felt elated. My morning adventure had been better than anything from the DaVinci Code, and I didn't have to look all jowly and bloated like Tom Hanks to participate.

How to Make Techno Music in Your Head

1) Read a news article about French President Jacques Chirac.

2) Repeat the name "Jacques Chirac" over and over in a monotone voice at approximately 120 beats per minute.

3) Lay an imaginary bass groove over the mantra.

4) Mental percussion should randomly kick in soon.

5) For that DFA feel, add mental cowbell to the mix. Change the "Jacques Chirac" mantra's monotone to James's Murphy's trademark howl.

6) Sit back and groove to the music in your head.

7) (Optional) Use a banana or two as glow sticks to drive Rui crazy.

Ah, if only Apple's GarageBand was that easy.

Silent Hill

I'm off to see Silent Hill in a little bit. I'm really stoked to see it, because I have a feeling that this film will go back to what horror movies should be, rather than the mind-numbing toned-down rubbish that seems to have saturated the film industry lately.

It's getting awful reviews. I'm excited about this. Mainly, because I trust director Christophe Gans. While his film "Brotherhood of the Wolf" got horrible reviews, its become one of my favorites. Second, I think that your average person is a nincompoop, and will automatically reject and abhorr anything they don't quite understand. Cross reference the last 3 efforts of the Washowski Brothers here. And finally, when I saw the pictures of Pyramid Head a few months ago, I knew that we were back to bone-chilling freak you out horror. Huzzah!

If nothing else, it can't be as bad as the gory-lameness that was Hostel. I was so disappointed. Gore does not equal good. Didn't the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake teach us anything? Massacre, hardly. Dessecration, for sure.

I'll give a review later, and let you know what I think. I'm just amazed a movie is actually opening at the same time here in the UK as the US, rather than opening here the same week it debuts on DVD there. *sigh*

I Hate Myspace

I'll probably be attacked for saying this, but I hate Myspace. I'd rather die of herpessyphilghonnoraids than even start a myspace account. I had a friend say he wouldn't speak to me unless I started a myspace page. I told him I'd never speak to him if he had one, and probably kill him. We've since decided to agree to disagree.

Here are my main reasons for hating Myspace:

1) The early-adopters in the myspace craze were not the type of people I want to cozy up to. Namely, doofy high schoolers and vapid college students. You know, the ones who consider RaNDomiZed CaPITolS 2 B HoT!! I won't even go into leet speek and other atrocities against the English language at this point. I know language evolves and all, but conforming to stupidity because American pop culture needs to be dictated by 16-year-olds? No thanks.

2) My eyes! My freakin' eyes! The average myspace page makes my eyes melt in my head, gives me an anyeurism, and makes me break out in shingles. That's even before the stupid YouTube videos start playing and hogging up bandwidth.

Note: If you must create a Myspace page, please follow these tips on making it aesthetically pleasing. And by "must" I mean "socialists are going to murder and eat your family live on television if you don't conceed." Oh, and never ask me to visit or become one of your tacky online friends. I'll stab your eyes out with a shrimp fork, which brings us to...

3) The freakish online popularity contests that happen with the friends option. I thought it was laughable in high school, but now it's pushed over into the cyber world. If you don't have at least 30 friends, you're a complete loser. And let's face it, maybe only two or three are actually friends. The rest of you are just link-whoring to each other for false popularity. I've even seen blog entries begging people to go sign up as their friends on myspace.

Maybe I'm just old, maybe I'm just cranky, maybe I need to just lighten up. Either way, at the end of the day, I still hate Myspace.

Civil War - Marvel

After reading The New Avengers: Illuminati and Amazing Spiderman recently, Rui and I are trying to figure out Tony Stark's intentions towards Peter Parker?

I think he's just making Spidey choose sides before he even knows there will be a war, and Rui thinks that Stark's planning something even more sinister, like making Spidey reveal his identity publicly. Ack!

Any ideas?

Organized Anarchy?

On my walk home this morning, I noticed that little white stickers had been placed on all of the lightposts. Curious, I was graced with sheer stupidity.

Don't fight for the rich!
Fight the rich!

- Anarchy Federation

Um, doesn't organized anarchy pretty much go against the tenants of anarchy? Why should they be in authority, when there shouldn't be any authority, according to most of their mission statements?

Perhaps if I'd ever met an anarchist that wasn't more than a whiney child looking for a way to legalize drugs or for even more selfish gains, I'd have a better view on anarchy in general. As is, I just scoff.

Lather, Reload, Repeat

I'm hating Blogger right now. I've been trying to log in to write a post for a long time now. Connection kept being reset, and needed reloaded. Ok? Confirm Post Data? Reload? Back? Reload? Stop? Repeat? Lag, lag, lag...

I don't even know if this will post. Something popped up at the bottom about "connection failure - test connection." I guess I'm supposed to try it again. *sigh*

I had a great entry about the weekend in mind. No more. If Blogger wasn't the right price I'd say a lot of nasty things about it. Instead, I'm off to read my new comics.

Come On Ride the Train...

I'm going on a weekend trip to Bristol and Cardiff (Wales) in a few hours. Rui and I will take the train to Bristol for tonight, and go to Cardiff tomorrow, then back to Bristol for Sunday. It should be a good weekend.

Bristol is where a lot of innovative music came from, like Massive Attack, Tricky, and Roni Size. Hopefully we'll get a taste of the greatness.

Cardiff is the capitol of Wales, and we're planning on going to the castle, St. John's cathedral, the Welsh Tartan Centre (kilts) and the comic store. Yeah, we're nerds.

I'll try to post a few pics after we get back.

Further Adventures in Inbred Land

We went to dinner at one of the Spanish restaurants last Monday night. It's odd, because the Spanish place is more Mexican, and the Mexican place is more like food from my toilet. Yes, that's digested food.

A bottle of cheap red wine later, we half stumbled out the door to go home. On our way, we met a very jolly English lass. She was mystified by GaZpar's latin looks. I was mystified by her hellishly mistreated hair. Doesn't Amnesty International care that she's torturing her hair like that? Is there a sudden lack of conditioner I should be warned about? Then again, the fact that her hair looked like burnt egg noodles was less of a worry than the fact that she was certifiably PSYCHO!! She wouldn't leave us alone, even to the point of running out in the road in front of a taxi to get to us. Trust me, you don't mess with taxi drivers here. Vehicular manslaughter is a badge of courage in these parts. After finding out GaZpar was Portuguese, she told us all about how her father was from Portugal. Maybe her mom slept with a glass of Port wine, and this poor girl got all confused. Who knows. The Iraq war makes more sense than this girl ever will. We only got rid of her, after she followed us like a lost puppy, by GaZpar pretending to be Spanish. Apparently, girlfriend has major issues with the Spanish. Hmmm... maybe she really is Portuguese after all. All I know is that she was about 30 seconds from getting a one-way trip on the Fist Express to Lisbon.

About five minutes later, we walk by a guy in front of the Heine Gerick motorcycle shop. I'm not sure what he was tripping on, but all you could see of this guy was pupils, and his upper jaw about to gnaw off the lower one. Imagine for a second that Gollum was the prettiest one in the family, and his fugly cousin came to visit, after doing some crack cocaine that he smoked out of a dead hooker's skull. But first, he has to stop in front of the Heine Gerick store to scare drunks. Obviously, this guy won't be winning any beauty contests any time soon.

Phew! We're almost home now. Surely we're safe. But no! Here comes a younger guy talking loudly into his mobile phone, except for the important part of not having a mobile phone!! Oh yeah, and he's not actually talking to another person, but he's sure as hell having a full conversation with himself. Yeah, that conversation was not being charged by Orange, nor would he get 2 for 1 tickets at the cinema on Wednesday, unless it was at an insane asylum.

The scariest part of this whole walk home was the fact that we were drunk, but we seemed to be the only normal people about. You've got to love Plymouth.

Today's Embarassing Moment

I made me a big plate of chips (that's "Freedumb" fries to you Yanks) and a lovely veggie burger for lunch.

Seeing as how I'm particularly ravished at this meal, I didn't even think when I shoved a hot chip in my eager gob. Holy Buddah! That's hot! Hotter even than Eminem holding a set of twin babies. Yeah... that's hot.

As I spit half-chewed ball of potato napalm onto my plate, I realize my flatmate is standing behind me. Yes, looking at me like I'd just defecated on my plate.

Lunch was then served in the safety of my private room. *sigh*

So Cultured

On my "Amazing Adventures!" today, I went to the Virgin Megastore and found more books for really cheap. Because they were only a quid each, I was able to buy them, knowing it's not a huge loss when I give them away in a few months.

Wanting to be cultured, I opted for books about tortured lesbians, and tortured animals. Sometimes the two can be confused, but the one novel is about lipstick lesbians, versus the neolithic wonders that roam Idaho.

Books of the day: "The Hours" and George Orwell's "Animal Farm."

Does this make me cultured like a pearl, or just a pig with fancy pearl earrings? (Yeah, I was NOT going to say necklace... pervert Syndie.)

I'll Take You To the Coffee Shop

... I'll let you lick the latte pop. Man, you can do just about anything with that song by 50 Cent.

I'm off to the coffee shop to get some swill. There are only a few coffee shops here, and none of them are particularly great. Even bad ones in Pocatello are better than the stellar ones here. O'Brien's isn't too bad, but you have to pay in cash, and Costa is overpriced and mediocre, but you can use a card and they don't mind as much if you just hang out. It's kind of like choosing between Bush and Kerry (well, if you were sent back in time and didn't know all the illegal crap Bush was going to do.)

I'm going to write a few emails that need to be written, work on some VJ stuff (just to show off when people are being nosey and staring at my monitor, which always happens here), and listen to some Fisherspooner.

I might even make it to Boots and buy some more shampoo, if I want an my Sunday to go from just simply amazing to Amazing and Astounding!! Whoo!

Blog Entry Warning: Stupid Blonde Bitches!

I thought I should post a warning on the entry below titled Stupid Blonde Bitches. It's higly political, vulgar, and mean. If you're easily offended, consider yourself warned. If you're shocked and outraged, don't say I didn't warn you. If you're mad at me, good. It's about time people started to think.

I don't make any excuses for what I posted, except that I didn't write it a month ago.

Stupid Blonde Bitches

I remember my friend Kasey telling me that on his farm growing up, sometimes the cows would get this weird stomach bloating, and the easiest solution was to pierce the cow with a pitchfork to let the air out. I'm sure the story was a lie, but you have to give him points for creativity.

So why do I make mention of this? No, there's no need to call PETA yet. Instead, I make mention of this because there's a certain SBB (Stupid Blonde Bitch) I'd love to stab with a pitchfork. No, it's not Cameron Diaz, or even uber-whore Tara Reid. Although I certainly despise those two walking VD containment fields, this blog entry is reserved for a very special bitch. If Dante had written about the various circles of SBBs, as opposed to Hell (though the two tend to run hand in hand,) this one would be at the centre, sucking on Satan's teat.

Who's the lucky lady? Miss Brandi Swindell of Boise, Idaho! (Ooh! Spelled with an "i"! How SBB!) Brandi, like most SBBs is uppity, opinionated, and thinks she's Gawd's gift to mankind. Yes, she's the self-agrandizing twat we've witnessed in all of it's various SBB forms. So, what's so special about this SBB? She think's she's Gawd's new right hand of justice. Sort of like the Count of Monte Cristo, minus Guy Pierce's emaciated skeleton face. But most importantly, as Gawd's new appointed Right Hand, she's out to sanitize life for everyone in Idaho, and then on to the world! Hoo-ray!

Brandi first went SBB attention whoring during the Salt Lake olympics. She was a lone voice of sanity fighting that condoms NOT be distributed to the athletes. As Gawd's Right Hand (GRH), Brandi knew better than everyone else that athletes would not have sex if there were no condoms available. Instead, they would spend all of their free time reading the Word of Gawd and evangelising each other. Yeah, right. Unfortunately for Brandi, this was the WINTER olympics, where people only give a crap about ice skating. Male ice skater = GAY!!! Don't worry honey, there wouldn't have been any unwanted pregnancies anyway. Maybe a miscarried butt baby or two, but that's it.

Fresh from the rush of this self-congratulatory act that amounted to performing fellatio on Gawd (hmm... still not struck by lightning yet) Brandi went on to run for City Council in Boise. Because cerainly, if things worked out for Elle Woods in Legally Blonde 2, they must work for Brandi as GRH. Honestly, I don't know if she won or not. I hate Boise, so I could care less. A pox on Boise and their new GRH of the moment! Sheesh, that city and their religious martyrs! Where are some lions and a colliseum when you need to show them what a martyr really is. Seriously, read some Fox's Book of Martyrs, you whiney twats. Oops! I digress.

Lately, Brandi has not only been GRH in general life, but is now a special lobbyist for Gawd himself. As GRH, she has fought for Women's Rights. Well, for Brandi's right to tell women what to do, and how to do it, anyway. I'm sure the last thing she's done for female minorities like hispanic women was buy some potatoes at Albertsons, or got a new cleaning lady at the condo her parents pay for. I somehow doubt she's going to adopt any unwanted children soon, although she might in the future to avoid unsightly stretch marks. Then again, I'm sure Gawd wouldnt' allow GRH to get stretch marks. He might knock her up right before she gets married, and demand the child be named Jesus or something, but certainly not stretch marks. That would be ludicrous!

She's also been fighting those dastardly homos from getting married by fighting for a constitutional amendment in Idaho. Picking on ice skaters again? What's this girl's issue? Does Gawd think ice rinks are "unnatural" too? Ice + Summer = Certain Evil.

Another of Brandi's pet projects is the Constitutional Restoration Act of Idaho. While it may sound all summertime feel good with an urban redevelopment twist, it's a scary act. It's being propogated through the state as an act of preserving Relgious Freedom, which to a point it is. As long as you're white, privileged, and CHRISTIAN... your religion will be protected. Phew! Here's what the Idaho ACLU has to say about the proposed bill. If even 1/200th of it is true, it should send shivers down your spine. Unless you aline with the current Reich Wing Christofacists, in which case, you'll probably need a moist towelette to go cleanse yourself (although you have no idea what I'm talking about.)

o The Constitution Restoration Act of 2005, introduced in March 2005 and co-sponsored by Senator Larry Craig and Representative Butch Otter, would deny ALL federal courts - INCLUDING the U.S. Supreme Court - of any jurisdiction to review cases challenging a government official acknowledgment of "God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government."
o Specifically, the Act would slam shut the federal court house doors to religious minorities, parents, schoolchildren and others who seek nothing more than to have their religious and free speech claims heard before the courts most uniquely suited to entertain such claims.
o The Constitution Restoration Act also serves as a punitive measure, providing for the impeachment of judges for fulfilling their constitutional duties to review laws that potentially violate the Constitution itself.
o Additionally, the Constitution Restoration Act states that no federal court, including the U.S. Supreme Court, may rely upon international law, except that from English constitutional and common law prior to the adoption of the U.S. Constitution.
o By preventing individuals from addressing their constitutional grievances in federal court, the Act inevitably violates principles of separation of powers, equal protection, and due process.
o It also undermines public confidence in the federal courts by expressing outright hostility toward them, threatens the legitimacy of future congressional action by removing the federal courts as a neutral arbiter, and rejects the unifying function of the federal judiciary by denying federal courts the opportunity to interpret the law. This would potentially create a situation where we could have as many as 50 different interpretations of any relevant federal constitutional question.
o This bill is dangerous and reactionary pieces of legislation in response to unpopular court decisions.

Great idea Idaho. Let's follow this SBB as GRH and make this a law. Then, when the federal government realizes that we just commited an act that's tatamount to treason, we can all giggle together and say "just kidding!" Right.

I hate politics, despise them actually, but I hate uppity SBBs even more. I'm pissed that I just lost an hour of my life complaining about this Reich Winger. Brandi, if I see you when I get back to Idaho, expect a pitchfork to the head. Consider it payment for all of your hard work.

Electrofunk Lesbians

Why yes, I have been blogging... but not here. Teehee. I needed to take a short break with Blandella and work on some other stuff that needed to be commited to cyberspace (since paper doesn't exactly happen anymore.) I needed a less visible (er... known) venue to conduct my publishing.

I was recently saddened by iTunes not offering the DFA Remixes: Chapter 1 and was forced to go to my local HMV and purchase it today. After two store employees and I scoured the store for 20 minutes trying to find the 6 copies they had, I found that the store price was higher than the internet store price. Over here, the online stores are ususally separate entities from the brick-n-mortar stores, though both housed under the parent company, so they can set their own prices. Odd, I know. Anyway, I used my NUS student discount and got it for the same price. I know I could have waited and got it in the US... but why wait? A bird in the hand, and all that. I quickly ran home, ripped it to iTunes, put it on the iPod, and went running at the iGym. I've been remiss about attending the gym over the last month, and thought this was a good time to get back into the flow. Worked the legs too hard, and have jello thighs tonight. Grrrr....

While I was out shopping, I found the coolest present for Rui. Since he's probably going to read this, I won't say what I got for his return from Lisbon. We'll just say that it was marked down incredibly, and he'll most likely wet himself like those submissive dogs that wee everywhere when you go to pet them.

I've been in a depressed funk yesterday and today, since Syndie left (Whaaah!!!) and Rui is out of town for a week (Whaaaah!!!) I was looking in a store and found a copy of the book The Hours that the movie was based off of. It was only 99p, so it was tempting. I didn't watch the film for a long time, because I was in my stolid good-boy phase (some know what I'm talking about.) After I watched it, I really enjoyed it. I just couldn't get the book today. Reading about depressed lesbians would probably set me over the edge today. Maybe tomorrow.

Domains

I decided that Blogger was probably frustrated when they wanted to set up their original domain name. It had to be infuriating that they couldn't get the blogger.crap domain that they wanted. Wankers.

Arrrgh! Sorry, I'm just a bit frustrated. I tried to blog the last two days, only to find error messages all throughout Blogger. I can't even remember what I was going to blog about now.

Oh yeah... looking for a good new song? I suggest "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley (get it?!?) It's a great song from the new collaboration between Cee-lo of Goodie Mob and DJ Dangermouse. Ah... that silly mouse. He just gets better all the time.

VJ Update

I've been working with the Neuromixer AV MixerPro software that was suggested to me here by a random commenter. It's been an amazingly great program, and I've learned a lot from it in a short amount of time.

To date, I've done two very short VJ sets using AV MixerPro. One was at the bar Cuba here in Plymouth, where I did a short set for the OpenReel demo night. It would have been nice if they'd given me more than two songs for a set, but then again, my compression rates were all wrong and kept shutting down the program.

Getting the compression rates fixed (for the most part - I'm still fine tuning) I then did a VJ set for my Independent Film class. I was working with the film Moolaade and amping it up a bit to turn it into a propaganda piece against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). I used short clips from the film, as well as short film facts that I created in Flash and iMovie titles, and other animations created in Flash. I tried to tell the overall story of Moolaade in 10 minutes, but make it really impactful. I'm not totally sure if I succeeded in my quest, but the colleagues were impressed. This was a stressful operation, doing it all live and on the fly, and trying to insert all of the appropriate information in sync to the music and visuals. Just goes to show that VJing can be used more powerfully than it often is, but much forethought needs to go into the operation.

Backfire

Well, that last post just blew up in my face! LOL Looks like I have some precious time to spend with GMail. *sigh* Great... just great....

Travel Update

Amsterdam and London = Awesome!

(Wanna know more details? How about you email me a story or two about your life, and we'll get all quid pro quo. Or, better yet... get off your lazy ass and visit them yourself.)

Jenny from the Block

I lost your address, and the email I had for you keeps bouncing back to me. Could you email me at blandella(at)gmail.com and let me know your contact info please?

Off On an Adventure

Syndie and I leave early tomorrow morning for our big trip to Stonehenge, London, and Amsterdam. I'm really excited, and hope that the trip will help give me some drive to do some work when I get back. I'm also hoping I can get some more concrete ideas for my Experimental Project by the time I get back. I've got a rough skeleton of my film, but it really needs to be fleshed out in the near future in order to get going.

I'll be back next Wednesday, and will let everyone know how the trip was, as well as post a picture or two (or link to Syndie, who will surely post a pic or two.)

I feel powerless

I'm attempting to move down the hall. I figure that since I spend more of my time over there than I do in my own flat anyway, it's probably not a bad idea. Also, since there will be an impending homocide if I don't leave this flat, I think it's time to go.

But today, I find out that the flat I want to move into is a "girls only" flat. Apparently they're set up that way for people with "religious regions" why they can't live in mixed company. I wish a few of my flatmates held those convictions currently.

Anyway, I clearly (and forcefully) stated that this was sexual discrimination. She just looked at me blandly and said that it didn't matter... the religious issue trumped my discrimination. Arrgh! If I was in the US, I'd just bitch and moan until I got what I wanted. Over here, the more you bitch and moan, the more they enjoy being their beurocratic-stick-up-the-ass selves and not helping you.

Now, I have to get all of the girls that live in that flat to go to the housing office on campus, and say that it's okay for me to live there. I don't think I can properly explain to the Spanish girl what's going on, or why she needs to go there. Yet again, another lesson on British futility is thrown my way.

VJ update

Andy did show me some interesting websites and programs today for VJing. Hopefully I can figure out some stuff in the near future, and get to work on my project. Hopefully that part is worth all of the effort too.

Oh, and because some people tend to take too literal of a stance in life, disregard that entry about crazy dust. It was just random thoughts that were streaming real time out of my brain's RSS feed.

Crazy Dust

I hear her. Down the hall. Screeching like a howler monkey, and chances are she's flinging her own feces at the wall... or eating them. Not that it would look much different than her "baked sausages" experiment the other day. I'm tired of her. I abhor her. I while away my time thinking of ways to kill her and get away with it. Self-defense plea would probably work much better than the "she's a waste of skin" defense, unless they'd ever met her. If they had, they'd award me with a big shiny medal and hold a ticker-tape parade in my honour, for doing what God's too cowardly to do Himself.

Yeah. Crazy dust. It must be in the air. I feel it slowly finding its way past the follicles in my nose, and working its way into my lungs. They burn with insanity, each breath making them burn hotter and brighter. All of me burns with insanity. I feel as if I will be consumed. Flames lick at my insides as they search for a way to escape. Flames start to find the cracks in my skin, the pores, the flaws... it has to escape. I can't contain it any longer.

Then I will fade. Become as one I am surrounded by. In my insanity I will find my sanity, and tread upon the oceanside of Bacchus's home. I will revel in the excesses, and shimmer like the maenad of old.

VJing made simple

Er... no, it's not! I don't get it. There are a million different software options (all expensive as hell) and I can't tell what any of them do. Lots of faux knobs and faders, but what do they do? I want to do it, but don't understand it. And do you think you can find a decent starter explaination? Oh hell no!!

Maybe Andy can help me tomorrow in our tutorial. Otherwise, it's scrapped from the project.

Update: January

So, once again I've got nearly a one month lapse in the old blogeroo. So, here's a mini update to tide people over until I get a real entry done in the (hopefully) near future:

Started classes again. Realized that they're all pointless and assanine wastes of my time. Seriously. I sit in lectures and realize that I could be teaching the same thing, only much better and with an actual bearing on the education of those involved. With this in mind, I've started completely zoning out in classes, or not atttending at all.

Start a small war with my flatmate after she goes crazy on booze and drugs for the umpteenth time. Tried to get her kicked out of the flat, only to find out that by the time anything could be done, I'd be back in America. I seeth.

After 10 years, I stop being a chicken and get a Prince Albert. Google it if you're unsure. Syndie filmed the entire process, but in a tasteful manner.

Syndie and I trek to ASDA twice now on foot. Remarkable not because we went to ASDA, but because we walked at least 6 miles to get there. We did ride the bus back though. Read more about the adventures here.

I attend my first Burns Night/Portuguese Night party. Probably the first BN/PN ever in recorded history. I see the haggis be addressed, then violently stabbed. I partake of haggis and bacalhau. Because of weight loss, the kilt would not stay up, and was not deemed socially appropriate.

Charlie comes back from London after being 3 weeks late for school, only to inform us that she got married over Christmas break. She then leaves the following Saturday to return to her new hubby. In a drunken stupor, I bawl like a baby in the toilet of flat 103. However, there is now a chance I can move to Charlie's old room, which is much more quiet than my current hell hole.

This next weekend, I will go to see Stonehenge, London, and Amsterdam. Yes, all three in one weekend. No, I am not doing amphetamines.

I will go to Bath in two weeks to see the Roman baths (dur!) Whilst there, I will imagine that I am not surrounded by tacky tourists, but rather surrounded by the suave and genteel characters Jane Austen wrote about there.

I hope this tides you over for a bit. I'll hopefully blog again in the next few days, but heck... who am I kidding?

Archenemies

When I was in Lisbon, I was known as the superhero Bacalhau. I used the powers of Baixa Chiado and Marques de Pombol to defeat the evil Rato, also known as the dog Doug.

Now that I'm back in Plymouth, a new archenemy has risen to defy me. This one is known as Whittard of Chelsea, purveyor of fine teas and coffees from around the world. It's like kryptonite to this man. I feel weak in the knees every time I pass.

Today, I was defeated. Whittard of Chelsea made me concede to pull out my debit card and purchase a stove-top espresso maker. Yeah... old school.

God grant me the strenth to not purchase anything there for at least another month.

3-Day Weekends

Finally, after *mumble* years of college, I finally have a three day weekend every weekend! It only took me *grumble* years, and moving thousands of miles away to be able to do it.

I was supposed to have Tuesdays off, but I switched things around in order to A) have Fridays off, and B) avoid having class with Tiana. Yikes... that woman's a wretch. I'm sure she has a stout dram of Piss-n-Vinegar every morning. I know you're thinking that I'm just exaggerating, but I'm actually giving the lady some credit. You should ask my flatmate about her.

Anyway, these three day weekends should theoretically allow me to galivant around the countryside and see the sights. It should also allow me to work on homework and accomplish goals. Realistically, however, it will probably allow me to sleep in late, and sit around in my underwear while I surf for nifty stuff on Amazon or watch episodes of "Wonderfalls." Ahhh... life is grand.

Gym Pass

I bought a gym pass to the Uni's gym this morning. Yeah... isn't it lame that I have to pay extra money to use the gym here? Suddenly Reed Gym looks like a killer asset back home.

I also ran out and bought new running shoes. Oddly enough, Vans aren't made for running. I found a pair of cheap Diadoras for 10 pounds. Rock on!

So, hopefully the weight loss trend that I've seen so far will continue, and I'll come back looking a little better than when I left.

PS - Kilt guys: My USA Kilt barely stays on these days. Hopefully when my sister sends my formal kilt (long story) it won't be too big either.

On Proposals

No silly, not wedding proposals (although I have received one since I got here... but that's another story.)

I'm supposed to be working on a proposal for my Experimental project. Only 500 words, outlining what I want to do for my big project, and how I plan to set about doing it. It's mainly so that I can get assigned a tutor that will best be able to aid me in the endeavor. However, this stupid proposal is driving me nuts. Every time I think I've got an idea hammered out, I come up with something new, and scrap the old idea. Seriously, the idea for the project has changed about 30 times now, if not more. Some have been rather lavish productions, until reality encroached, and other have been extreme minimalist productions. I'm uncertain what to do. This is the main focus of my time here (at least for me) with education, so I want to make this project worth while. I want a show piece that I can take back to Idaho and be proud to show people. Not some goofy semi-funny 10 minute piece that looks like any old person off the street did it. I want something that will wow the crowds. Maybe I'm just thinking too grand scale, and putting too much pressure on myself. I don't know.

Hopefully I can decide on something in the next few days. I think I've got a main idea worked out, but some of it's going to be complicated. I also want my Panasonic DVX-100 camera back. I want to film on a DV camera worth my time and effort. Whaah!

A Week Off

I'm now back in Plymouth, after my great trip to Portugal. Plans in London were a bust, so I had to come back to Plymouth sooner than planned. While that was a bit of a bummer, it wasn't such a bad thing due to tube strikes in London and a lack of money. So, in the mean time, I've just been wasting a large amount of time with Syndie this last week. So, here are some of the things that we've been doing to fill our time.

Smallville Drinking Game: After watching numerous episodes of the show Smallville we were able to notice certain trends that happen in EVERY episode. After you have an extensive list of trends, it's just natural that you'd start a drinking game. Every time they do something on the list, you take a shot of cheap Chardalusco wine. 3 episodes in, and you're totally plastered. Whoohoo! Syndie wants dibs on blogging game details, so I'll refer you to her blog.

Children's Art: When you're walking around the City Centre, and you see a wall plastered in artwork by children, what do you do? If you're me, you get the twisted idea to draw things and write things left handed, so that it looks like a kid did it. For instance, draw a dog's head with foam all over the mouth. Then write underneath, "Sandie looked like she ate ice cream. Now she lives with Jesus." Then, go to the City Centre late at night, and hang your artwork with the other drawings. Yes, I do realize I have issues.

Stare At the Window of Chelsea of Whittard: This is one of my favorite stores. A whole store devoted to coffee, tea, and chocolate. It's like Jesus made this store just for me! The reason that I stare at the window display all the time is because there's a gorgeous Gaggia espresso machine in the window, and it's been reduced from 300 Pounds to 150! A great price, but still a little too steep for me, when I can't take it back with me, and can't drop that much money for a few months of espresso. So, in the meantime, I'm just forced to stare and lust at the window display.

School starts anew next week, but I don't want it to. I still have assignments I was supposed to do over the break to complete (er... start) and I just can't be bothered. I also need to figure out my new schedule for this term. Hopefully it's not as messed up as it was last term... but I'm sure it will be. Arrrgh!

Chronicles of Blah-nia

I'm disappointed. That's the best way to state my feelings after watching Chronicles of Narnia last night. It should have been an incredible movie that followed in the same vein as Lord of the Rings. I should have walked from the theatre feeling like taking up a sword against the legions of the White Witch. Instead, I just wanted to take up a sword against the director. So, because I was forced to see one of my favorite books be mangled horribly on film, here is a list of my complaints:

1) Just because you directed the two Shrek films does not mean that you're ready to direct a live-action film, and especially not one on such a grand scale. Direct a little indie... where you learn to actually DIRECT human beings... and then try a large scale film. I was amazed to see that the human actors looked more wooden and fake than the CG actors did around them.

2) Ray Winstone's the shiznit, but let's not make him read lines of dialogue written by a mentally retarded chav somewhere in London. Referring to Aslan as a "geezer?" Sheesh! They should be abashed!!!

3) Here's some other UK slang for you: minger. It means "one who is ugly as hell," such as the girl that played Lucy. Damn! Seriously, who picked these ugly ass kids? I know for certain that there are better looking people in the UK, and they obviously weren't picked for their fine acting skills. Nor at any time did I identify with these kids, or not want them to die harshly and severly at the hands of the White Witch. I just wanted to go to Narnia to slap Susan around for a good twenty minutes, letting her know that no one likes an uppity whiney-ass bitch. *whack!*

4) Why the hell did the White Witch have nasty dreadlocks? Dear UK: please stop this ridiculous trend of white people with dreadlocks!!!! Actually, Dear World: dreadlocks are disgusting. Please knock it off.

5) Obviously WETA Workshop does their best work under the watchful eye of Peter Jackson. Then again, his best people were a little preoccupied with King Kong, so Chronicles of Narnia probably got the digital effects sloppy seconds.

So, was there anything that you maybe did like, Rick?

1) Tilda Swinton: what a great actress! Even with what was obviously some of the worst directing in Hollywood today, she still shines and manages to steal every scene that she's in. Despite having to wear horrible costumes that made her shoulders look like they'd been borrowed from a linebacker, she still looked good. Tilda Swinton made the White Witch the cold hard bitch she needed to be.

2) None of the gawd-awful Contemporary Christian Music on the soundtrack actually made it into the film. And the crowds issued a mighty "hallelujah!" However, it should be noted that the pimping of Jesus will have a mighty upswing in the near future with the release of a CS Lewis film... even if it was very poorly done.

Lisbians, Lisbians Everywhere

This weekend has been a fun-filled adventure here in Portugal. Since I last blogged, I've dined at hip Lisboa restauruants, drank a lot of straight espresso shots, traveled to the center of Portugal, ate blood sausage, ate fat sausage, drank liquor made from manure (seriously!), walked in a monastery built by the Knights Templar, and watched a movie in Lisbon. Oh, and to top it off, I didn't have a bowel movement for almost a week. Ack!

All in all, it's been an incredible time here in Lisbon so far. I've seen things I never thought I would, and ate things I never thought I would. Am I actually learning to have an adventurous spirit? Now pass me the blood sausage... I'm hungry!

On being poor white trash...

Iºve never felt like poor white trash as much as I did wandering the trendy shopping district of Lisbon yesterday. As I wandered by Hugo Boss, Louis Vuitton, and other trendy shops Iºve never heard of (but certainly looked comparable) I suddenly felt like an absolute nobody. Suddenly my Gap shirt and trousers just werenºt very nice. My new Vans have cool factor galore, but certainly not in those shops. I was so embarassed that I didnºt even go into the shops. I just looked in the window and drooled at the black pinstripe wool driving coat, and gasped aloud at the 700 Euro price tag.

Then, thankfully, I found H & M, who has nice clothes at reasonable prices. I might go back there and get a sweater I was looking at. It was only 20 Euros, and dammit, even this white trash can afford that.

PS I am typing this on Ruiºs laptop, and thus the use of a degree sign instead of an apostrophe.

Picture This

I'm posting a few random photos, just because I haven't for a while.

This photo was taken at the City Centre market. The sign had Syndie and I in stitches. The weird thing is, it has the same inuendo over here, but we were the only ones laughing. Oh well.

This is Charlie and I on my birthday. Charlie gave me a hilarious card, and the fun purple fluffy "R" pen.

This is the Plymouth Hoe's lighthouse at sunset one afternoon. I'd say night, but the sun sets about 4pm over here. Watching the sun set at the Hoe over the ocean has a very cathartic effect on my heart. Suddenly, I can go to the City Centre and not feel the excessive need to hockey check the chavs that walk directly into me. I can shrug it off and go on my merry way.

Christmas and New Years

I just want to wish everyone a good Holiday season (Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, Kwanzaa, whatever else you may subscribe to) and a Happy New Year!

I'll be leaving Monday morning at 3am on a train to London, and then hopping on a plane for sunny Lisbon, Portugal. I'll be spending Christmas with Rui and his family, and then bumming around Lisbon for about a week. I'm excited for the trip, and think it will be a lot of fun. If nothing else, I can now say that I've been to continental Europe, and not feel like a complete waste for not seeing much of the world while I've been here so far.

I'll then be leaving the Lisbians (teehee) on the 31st to arrive in London. I'll be hanging out with Syndie and Lady Charlie for New Years shenanigans. We've decided that even if we're just wandering the streets doing nothing, we can say that we spent New Years Eve in London. That's hot. Chances are, we'll be looking down the entire time, avoiding stepping in vomit, since the British seem to have a penchant for spraying vomit all over the streets, and just leaving it. Gross, I know. I look at the ground a lot at night now.

I'm excited to have this break (though not from work... that's another long story.) I can sleep without Sarah's drunk ass waking me at 3am, and no crappy thumpa-thumpa trance from Laura's room all hours of the day. Hooray!! Now, if only I could find some quality time to sit on a couch alone in my underwear, watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I'd be a very happy man.

On turning 29

My life isn't where I thought it would be at this age. I figured I'd have made more of it by now. And while I don't really regret being where I'm at, during this stage of life, I do look back at my time here on earth and wonder if it could have been better served. Ah... such is life.

My friends here in Plymouth surprised me with a fantastic birthday full of activities. I'll do a minute breakdown of the events for you, because I know everyone loves the minute details of my life as much as I do. Ha!

Dinner: Rui and I went to an early dinner at the Ganges. The Ganges is an Indian place not too far from my flat that gives you 50% off the price of food if you dine in. I don't get it... it should be the other way around. However, not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I dine and appreciate my hearty discount.

Concert: After dinner, Rui surprised me with tickets to see the Chemical Brothers. I'd not gotten tickets to the show, because I figured it would just be two guys twirling knobs to a pre-recorded track. I was pleasantly surprised by the most amazing video display that I've ever seen. I was awestruck by some of the video scenes that they used, and just stood with my mouth open while people raved around me. At one point, the video was so incredibly moving, I started feeling that teary tingling around the edges of my eyes. Yeah... I'm a huge dork.

Party: After the concert, I came back to a surprise party that my friends here were nice enough to throw for me. It's the first surprise party I've ever had. It was also the first birthday party I've had since I turned 21. It just made the whole day that much more special. Syndie's blogged a great entry about the birthday party here.

All in all, it was a great day. I'm now teetering on the edge of 30, still not knowing what I'm going to do with my life, but for one great day, it didn't matter at all.

League of Gentlemen

Rui clued me in to the League of Gentlemen a few weeks ago. It was a British dark-comedy that aired over here a few years ago. I remember hearing about it in the US, but never caught it on BBCAmerica, becuase my sister dumped her satellite before it was aired in the US.

Anyway, last night, Rui surprised me by taking me to see the live performance they did here at the Plymouth Pavillions. The show was pretty good, and was definitely funny, but unfortunately the sound wasn't all that great.

If you have the chance to see the show, it's definitely worth it. Just be warned that it's a very dark comedy... very dark. It's also kind of like X-files with comedy mixed in, so that may throw some people off. I need to see more than just the first series though.

Stayin' Alive!

Hey everyone. I know that some of you are probably wondering if I'm still alive, and what the hell's happened to me in the last month. Time just seems to have been flying lately. Last thing I knew, it was the middle of October, and then I blinked, and it's the end of November! I can't believe I turn 29 in a little over a week! EEKS!!

Halloween consisted of two separate events here. The night before Halloween, Syndie and I dressed up and went to Sing-A-Long Rocky Horror Picture Show, which was incredibly fun. I'd never been to a showing of RHPS where people went all-out before. This one had the squirt guns, screaming, dressing up, etc... it had it all. The next night, we went to a small party at my Portuguese friend Rui's home. The pic above is Rui and I dressed up. I went as BabyDaddy from the Scissor Sisters, and yes, I did buy that hat...and do continue to wear it...thank you very much.

Since then, time has been flying. I've been keeping up with school and keeping up with life in general. Because of a Visa problem, my bank account got locked up over here for a long time, and I had to get that sorted out. Basically, Heathrow wrote the wrong date, and messed things up big time. I had to get them to acknowledge said mistake and put it in writing. Hopefully rude customs lady got in big trouble over her mistake.

I'm currently trying to make plans for Christmas. I might go to Portugal to stay with Rui, or may go on a trip to Scotland. Money's the big deciding issue right now. New Years will be spent with Syndie and Charlie in London. Whooo!

I've got more to share, but I have to run for now. Just thought people might like to know that they didnt' fish my dead body out of the Barbican here in Plymouth.

Cheers!
Rick

National Aquarium Trip

I joined the International Student Society here at UP a week ago. I mainly did it because there were promises of discounted trips around the area for sight seeing.

So, yesterday, the ISS gave us the opportunity to visit the National Aquarium in Plymouth for 1/2 price! I of course jumped at the opportunity, despite the fact it would seriouly cut into my afternoon kip time.

The National Aquarium was a lot of fun, and pretty cool. Admittedly, I've been ruined by the Seattle Aquarium, which is huge, and a trip to Sea World a few years ago. There were some incredibly interesting things, like a huge shark that kept swimming directly over Syndie and I, and a pickled giant squid! (See Picture Above) This is the only giant squid to have washed onto land in the UK, and I got to see it. The thing was huge! Counting the tentacles, it was about 8 feet long, and this was a smaller giant squid!

Here's a picture of Plymouth from the Barbican District outside the Aquarium. The Barbican is the posh historic district, with lots of interesting shops and expensive eateries. Anyway, you get to see how pretty Plymouth is, and get a better idea of how big the city is too.

Dear Sweet McKitten!

Another thing that made this week good was the demise of the pink sheets and the arrival of a mysterious package! Hooray!!

I checked my Yahoo IM last Sunday to find that McKitten had wrote saying she had sent me a care package! I anxiously awaited the package to arrive. When I got in on Monday, I saw a package from the US in the main office. Sadly, the package was held hostage in said office until Tuesday morning when I could rescue it from the clutches of the hoarding bandits (or is that whoreding? I don't like them much.)

I tore into the package, and to my surprise, it was the BEST CARE PACKAGE EVER!!! Inside were all manner of bedding for me to replace the pink sheets! New sheets, duvet covers, an incredibly soft blanket, throw pillows, world's smallest kite(!), some great DVDs, and Peanut Butter!!! God Bless the USA!!!

McKitten way outdid herself in showering me in all that love. Seriously, I've never felt so loved as I did when I opened that box and saw all of the amazing stuff inside. And the card...ah, the card! Made this bear's heart melt and his eyes mist up.

So, a huge THANK YOU to McKitten for taking such good care of me, and rescuing me from the horrors of the pink sheets!

Idaho Squared

I know I've been a little remiss in my blogging duties lately. I've been so busy with school, life, fighting with my new bank, and other things, that I haven't even thought of the blog until today!

This last week has been really fun. It started Monday afternoon when our doorbell rang. I opened the door to someone with an American voice saying, "I heard there's someone from Idaho here! Is that true?" I told her it was me, and discovered that she, Syndie, is from Idaho Falls! She's also an ISU student, here on an exchange. Then, it gets crazier. Not only have we been living literally right down the hall from each other for almost a month now, and never bumped into each other, but we discovered that she dated my cousin for a while!!! We used to hang out at a lot of the same places, but never met until we got here.

It's been great hanging out with Syndie this week. It's comforting to talk of things back home, speak American, and experience culture shock together. It's been interesting how we've both experienced all of our insecurities in life being thrown in our face the last week or so. I'm glad we've got each other to talk these things through.

Friday night, we went to the club to go dancing. Syndie and I danced for 3 hours straight. It's a good thing I have to walk everywhere now, or I'd have collapsed from exhaustion! We snapped the picture before we were covered in sweat, which definitely happened. This humidity thing is weird!

So, it's been great making a new friendship this week, that is both new and exciting, but comfortable and reasuring at the same time.

Excited about classes

I'm excited about a few things I'll get to do in my classes this year. I'll have a couple of opportunities that I would never have gotten if I'd stayed at ISU this semester.

First, I get a full year to work on my documentary, rather than just one semester. And actually, I think I would have just made a 3 minute short video for FilmStyle production back at ISU. Having the full year will give me the time to do quality research, get quality interviews, and really make this a showpiece worthy work of art.

Second, I'll get the opportunity to really shoot something on film. Not just DV, but actual film. Processed, developed, and projected film! I'm so excited! Film is so different than DV, and having this in my resume looks so good. Besides, no matter how good the Panasonic DVX series gets, it won't look 100% like film.

Third, I'll get to be trained in Adobe AfterEffects. I've whined at the Mass Comm department for not teaching us this software, and how it sets us at a disadvantage in the work field. A lot of people are using AfterEffects, and I'll get hands on training to know how to do something with it.

Fourth, I have a class where we just watch movies, talk about them afterwards, and write a few papers now and then. Does it get any better than that? Today we watched the French film "Breathless" from the 50's. It was pretty good, but due to a lot of circumstances, I was sleep deprived/sick, so I kept nodding off.

So, overall it looks like I made a very important educational decision.

Awww... it breaks my heart

BritBrat got her mid-terms on Friday- 7 As and one B-. I was really glad, especially since one of the As is in her AP Biology class. I think she misses you the most out of everyone in the entire family, and we all miss you lots.

It's funny. Your 15-year-old niece isn't supposed to be one of your closest friends. She's not supposed to tell you that you're the older brother she never had right before you leave for the airport. You're not supposed to hate Sunday afternoons because you can't call and talk to her like usual.

I miss my BritBrat!!

iTunes Tracker

Darn iTunes. It can be too helpful sometimes. I just noticed that I've listened to Travis's "Love Will Come Through" 35 times in the 48 hours since I found it on the internet on Saturday.

I heard a rumor the song can be found here. Pure speculation, of course.

I'm the Firestarter, Twisted Firestarter

I missed out on Saturday night. I didn't quite understand what was going on in the Student Union. Everone was cramming in the Illusion to watch three girls singing, talking about what was going to happen in a little bit. I didn't care. I was too cool. I missed out.

It was last night that I talked to Laura and found out what happened in the SU. The Prodigy played a free concert. Remember "Firestarter" from about 10 years ago? Yeah, those guys. I missed it. AAArrrgh!

"Developmentally Disabled" Shopping

I went on a major grocery shopping trip on Saturday. Well, as major as you can allow yourself when you remember that you have to carry the groceries home the mile and a half to your flat. I didn't have any food at that point though, so I desperately needed to make some purchases. You can only eat toasted bagette sandwiches so many times at Jake's before your bank account feels it.

As I was shopping in the large grocery store (we finally found where it was), I felt like I'd been struck with a "developmental disability." That's mentally retarded for anyone that grew up before the horror of political correctness in the 90s. I was looking at the food, but nothing looked right. I'd see similar packages, but instead of saying Lay's Chips, it said Walker's Crisps. The Mexican food section consisted of one type of enchilada sauce, and one type of refried beans. I'd find something I wanted, such as some cheese, but the cheddar was white and scared me. I was on sensory overload, and I couldn't handle it after a while. Anyone that's ever gone grocery shopping with me can attest that it's almost an ordeal for me anyway, but doing it in a foreign country was almost enough to send me into an epileptic seizure. I don't want to go grocery shopping again.