Thursday, November 13
Snakebites Are Bad, Bad Things
They really are.
Not actual snake bites, of course, but the drink Snakebite. For those who are currently unaware, you make a Snakebite by mixing half a pint of lager with half a pint of cider and a splash of blackcurrant. It's very (sort of ) palatable, and it gets you well fucked-up.
Especially if you do it with Stella and Strongbow Super. Big mistake. I only had 3 pints of it last night, and I was feeling fairly merry. I felt pretty bad when I got up this morning, or at least I did until I had a shower, which always sets me right. I've drank a shedload of water all day, so I'm not feeling too bad. Good stuff.
Why did we drink a fair few last night? No particular reason; first Wednesday of the week, perhaps. Pete's (one of my housemates) friend Lucy came back to ours for the evening, and they had had a bit of a headstart on the rest of us, so we probably decided to try and catch up... Lucy's cool, I knew her already (she lived with a few of my mates last year), and it was a pretty good laugh. We even watched the new Peter Kay DVD, which is fucking hilarious. He's a funny, funny man.
Re-entering The Matrix
Yes, I've been getting back into my Matrix obsession again. I'm not a geek, honestly.
Today's articles worth reading include:
- B1-66-ER Trial Bits and Pieces from the Zion Archives at the Official Matrix site. There's loads of random snippets of information here, based on the trial of B1-66-ER in The Second Renaissance from the Animatrix.
- The Matrix Character Database. Exhaustive list of every character from the films and the Animatrix. There's also a section about all of Zion's ships as well as bios of the different machines, and finally a database of the characters from the Matrix Comics. Hours and hours of reading.
- Speaking of the Matrix Comics, the Official Site for that is worth visiting. Most of the comic books are available to view online, and there's some cool little stories in there that add to the flavour of the entire Matrix universe. Very cool indeed.
- Hack The Matrix is a blog by a fan of the films, and has a load of random thoughts on various theories behind The Matrix. There isn't a huge amount on Revolutions yet (it's only been out a week...), but I'm pretty sure that it'll be full of thoughts on the trilogy as a whole pretty soon.
I'm such a geek.
Wednesday, November 12
The Weekend Starts Here
Or at least it now starts on a Wednesday, apparently. I bumped into a friend of mine whilst I nipped out from the library to get some lunch just now, and the last thing she said as we went our seperate ways was "Have a good weekend." Just how early do you want the weekend to start?!
In other news, it's now just 7 days until my birthday. Hurrah.
English Weather
Stupid bloody English weather. Now it's really sunny and getting quite warm. And I'm out in it wearing a t-shirt, a jumper and a fleece. Grrr.
Rush Hour + Rain = Rage
I fucking hate rush hour when it's raining.
I absolutely fucking hate rush hour when it's raining.
The tube always smells of warm water, and it always seems fuller because everybody is wearing at least one extra layer of clothes. It's nigh-on impossible to walk down the streets without being hit by an umbrella, even when you're carrying one yourself.
While on the subject of umbrellas, the following is an impassioned plea to all of those who ever walk on the streets when it's raining. DON'T CARRY A GOLF UMBRELLA. Yes, you're a great man with a huge penis. Yes, you may have a very large car, and also a very large house. Why the fuck do you need to carry a fucking huge golf umbrella for walking between the tube station and you're office. Can you not make do with an ordinary-sized one? Fucking scumbags.
I almost got clattered by one just a minute ago. I'd just left the tube station at Temple, and was walking behind a random guy with an enormous golf umbrella. We passed between a phone box and a lamppost, and his umbrella got stuck. I was pretty close behind him, and was about an inch away from getting a spike in my face. Stupid prick. Grrrrr, makes me so friggin' angry.
And another thing: what is it about the first rain in ages that makes all buildings switch on their heating systems? You wrap up extra-warm because it's cold and wet out, then as soon as you enter a building (in this case my uni library) you break out in a sweat because it's so goddamn hot and you've got more clothes on than usual! Fucking whole world is against me, I swear.
And I'm not in a particularly bad mood, as the above might suggest, just a little exasperated and irritated... Thankfully, the Curly Wurly chocolate bar I found in my bag a minute ago has helped soothe my ire.
Tuesday, November 11
Re-Hash
I know I've done this sort of thing before at some point, but this time it's a little different. This time I'm checking the number of films I've seen from IMDB's Top Worldwide Grossing Movies list. Previously, I did it for the top 250 rated films, so let's see how much more I am of a mass-consumer rather than a discerning viewer.
And having spent 2 minutes going through the list, I am in fact a slave to mass-marketing. I've seen 70 of the top 100 grossing films of all time, and a total of 155 from the 236 listed. Dammit. Added to this is the fact that around 6 or 7 are being released on DVD fairly soon, which means I will probably see them at some time in the next 6 months (these include 2 Fast 2 Furious, Terminator 3, Pirates of the Caribbean, Hulk, Bruce Almighty and Finding Nemo). I am such a consumer. 155 from 236 is ever-so-slightly under two-thirds, and 70 from 100 is over two-thirds. Dammit. this is very hard to take when I've only seen 33 of the 100 top-rated films, which is only one-third. Dammit, dammit and dammit again. I need to watch some more 'great' films.
Speaking of which, I have a choice between Westworld and Rules of Engagement tonight on TV. God bless British terrestrial television... Think I might get a DVD out...
Not Much To Say
Hmm, fuck all to say today, which I guess makes up for the rambling post that I did yesterday. Jeez, that was all over the shop. Meh.
I should be doing some work at the moment, seeing as I'm in the library, but I really can't be arsed. Especially considering just how lively the board over at RAGE is. Busiest I've seen it in a little while, and full of the usual spite / gentle mocking that is always present. Hurrah!
I think Xsi has sorted itself out again, but if you can't see any images, leave a comment so I know to fix it...
Oh, and is it just me, or is See No Evil, Hear No Evil a truly shocking film? The one with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder playing (respectively) a blind man and a deaf man. For some reason I sat and watched it in its entirety last night. Stupid boy Pike.
Anyways, time to go get on with some work. At least it's Criminology and Adavanced Criminal, which I find particularly interesting... Proportionality in Sentencing and Mens Rea II - Recklessness, here I come.
Monday, November 10
Not As Promised
OK, so I haven't got round to writing the promised essay / rambling thoughts on The Matrix: Revolutions yet. I had a go at starting it, but it turned into a pile of crap, so I left it for a while. I might go see the film again before I write it, just to be sure that I didn't miss anything spectacularly glaring. Incidentally, of the two of my housemates who have now also seen it, one hated it, and the other merely enjoyed it. The one who hated it (Phil) isn't a huge fan of The Matrix anyway, but shame on him for not liking this film. I now get laughed at whenever I even dare mention The Matrix. Pah! What do they know?!
You may have noticed that the images have once again disappeared from the site. This is due to my host at Xsi.co.za changing hands and becoming an email server. Boo. Thankfully, I've now signed up at Brinkster, and I will upload the images ASAP, probably tomorrow. And dammit, this site looks horrible without the images.
What else has been happening this weekend? Hmm, we (me and my housemates) sat up till a stupidly late hour watching The Office last night. There was nothing on TV, so we watched 3 episodes from the Series 1 DVD one of us owns, and then decided that we should go rent out Series 2 from the local Choices video shop. Which we did, promptly followed by 3 (3!!!) hours of watching the entire second series. It is without doubt the funniest programme of the last few years, but even I was getting a little tired of it by the time we were nearing the end of the 6th episode. Saying that, I'm sure we'll watch a couple of episodes again tonight...
Around the house, I think I'm getting a reputation for saying patently ridiculous things. I think it's because I try to be funny, but always misjudge the tone, or go into too much depth about certain things... I seem to be outdoing myself each time, as Phil is constantly noting. Ahh well, I can play the jester's role for a while at least.
My German class(es) are getting a whole lot better. I was in my German Law class this morning, and we were going through the essays that the teacher set us over Reading Week. I was fairly pleased with mine when I handed it in, especially considering the fact that I'd wrote it all in one afternoon. Anyway, I got it back today, and I got a 2:1! That's the second highest level in university parlance. I should explain. University grading goes as follows: A First, an Upper Second (2:1), a Lower Second (2:2), a Third, a Pass and a Fail. To get a first, you need 70% or above, and to pass 40% of the marks are required. My mark today was somewhere around 63, which I'm very, very happy about. My German language was not too hot, but at least my meaning got put across, which is I guess what matters. Things are looking up.
I'm sure there was something else I wanted to mention. Oh yeah, I've got a new link to my site, from the lovely lady over at BoysAreTurds. Hurrah, my fame is (eventually) spreading.
One final point. It's my birthday in 9 days... Not expecting much, although I know that from my parents I've got this super-duper, ultra-great set of clippers and attachments, so I can style my beard as much as I like. My beard is incidentally looking pretty fucking cool right now. I've let the whole thing grow for about 6 weeks, and it's very thick now. I reckon it's gone beyond "rugged" into "hairy." I almost shaved it off this weekend, but I was talked out of it by my housemates. It will have to wait until next week then.
Right now I'm off to Regent St, to buy myself a couple of new fleeces from Uniqlo with the money that my lovely Mum has put into my bank account as part of my Birthday present. Mmmmm, new reversible fleeces. (Picture me drooling a la Homer to get the full effect).
Saying Homer has made me think for one second. What book should I read next? I haven't started a new book since I finished Branded last week, and I can't decide what to read. I've got Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis on my bookshelf, crying out to be read, but there's also Darwin's Origin of Species there too. Plus I want to re-read Draussen vor der Tur by Borchert, a German play which is absolutely brilliant. Decisions, decisions.
