| The idiot bus |
[Jun. 23rd, 2008|11:07 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  irritated | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire | ] |
If you know London buses, you know that they turn your commute into a sort of vehicular morse code, a staccato dot-dot, dash-dash across the capital, their uncomfortable limping dictated by the detritus that speckles the roads. There are no straight lines and no simple journeys, because pedestrians cyclists and cars alike will cut in whenever and wherever they can, looping and squeezing around the roadworks, ignoring the traffic lights and lane markings, all of which causes a small part of a bus driver's brain to go "IMMEDIATELY HIT THE BRAKES WITH MAXIMUM FORCE." I don't enjoy my bus journeys, because they are slow and uncomfortable, but they are a necessary evil (unless I want to spend two hours of my day walking back and forth through London, which I tried for a while, but which makes me very badly depressed and even upset) that is cheaper than Tube travel. ( I take buses to university and also to and from my work as a teaching assistant at a library. ) |
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| "Paedotrolling" |
[Jun. 21st, 2008|10:57 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Europe - The Final Countdown | ] |
( Paedotrolling: ) |
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| It's to do with you |
[Jun. 20th, 2008|11:29 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  pleased | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Living In A Box - Living In A Box | ] |
I'm not quite sure why Anonymous are the lead feature in what has been classified, online at least, as the women's section of The Times but, once again, this seems like another very positive piece. The press have had a lot of good things to say about Anonymous, which perhaps seems a little one-sided, but then I guess the protests themselves go off very well. The more questionable things... wait, that's not right, the more offensive behaviour happens online. It's not necessarily centered around the same people, either. Then again, that's the very nature/makeup of Anonymous. Who is it? Everyone. ( No-one. ) |
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| Maybe I should go back to reviewing things for a job |
[Jun. 18th, 2008|11:55 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  accomplished | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Genesis - Land of Confusion | ] |
I recently remembered that it's possible to download films from the internet. I am also now remembering that, if I do so, I seem to forget to watch them. This is not good. ( My hard disk is not large. ) |
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| Trilogy |
[Jun. 11th, 2008|02:50 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | content | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Bloodhound Gang - The Bad Touch.mp3 | ] |
So, I have been visiting Edinburgh once again, making it now my most visited holiday destination. It has changed a little since last time, as some of the roads are being torn up to install a network of tram tracks. This will apparently take some time. ( Hopefully the trams will then prove to be worthwhile. ) |
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| I guess I forgot to mention |
[Jun. 7th, 2008|01:51 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | irritated | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Jonathan Coulton - Code Monkey | ] |
Also this week: God damnit Hilary, act one way toward me, or another, but don't flit between two modes of operation because such inconsistency gives me nothing at all to work with. |
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| I am presently wasting my time too much |
[Jun. 5th, 2008|11:22 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  tired | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Foo Fighters - Baker Street | ] |
I am a little worried that "rediscovering" Laura means that I will never dream of her again. Ten years of not seeing her, yet the dreams kept coming, but now I haven't had one for quite some time. Perhaps I broke the magic.
Last night I dreamt of another chap I haven't seen for about as long, a fellow school student called Stephen. I was introduced to him by Nav at some bar, but had to interrupt this to explain that we'd already met before. There was pool. There were some large open fields by my house. I forget what truly large open spaces look like, especially ones devoid of people.
I am now a DJ for Anonymous, running regular internet shoutcasts to tiny audiences. For a moment or so, it was scary. Now, it's just fine.
The Company of Wolves: I'm aware of the (deeply ingrained and occasionally rich) allegory, yes. Now, let's get back to the comedy decapitations, the giant, groping teddy bear and the animatronic paedowolves. 5/10. |
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| Books and cleverness |
[Jun. 2nd, 2008|11:34 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | busy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Ani Difranco - Not a Pretty Girl | ] |
This week I started a new part-time teaching job, although I suppose it's a stretch to even call it "part time", since I'll only be doing two evenings a week maximum, so that's a grand total of four hours. What's more, if those hours pass as quickly as they did today, it really won't feel like much time at all.
( I work in a library as a homework helper. ) |
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| Going Underground |
[Jun. 1st, 2008|07:44 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | busy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Black Keys - So He Won't Break | ] |
Okay, this entry has been updated a little late, so it's perhaps not quite as relevant to current affairs as it would otherwise have been, but I don't seem to organise my time very well lately. ( This is the best I can do right now. ) |
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| The Moment of Truth |
[May. 29th, 2008|11:16 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | irritated | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Evanescence - My Immortal | ] |
I feel like a miserable old conservative when I complain about television and about the kind of programs that some networks are commissioning and broadcasting. It's traditionally the conservatives who we hear protesting children's shows, complaining that there is too much sex on television or claiming that the violence we see is both desensitising us and being further reflected in our own behaviour. However, conservatives are almost always focused on sex, violence and child corruption* and you are not likely to see them ever addressing the issue of exploitation.
People who know me know that I often have issues with the standards and practices of journalists and of television networks. ( I take journalism, broadcasting and the media, along with the sharing and spreading of information, very seriously, because it can and does have enormous repercussions. ) |
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| Still catching up; maybe looking ahead |
[May. 21st, 2008|07:08 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | nostalgic | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Black Keys - Oceans & Streams | ] |
So, another thing I haven't been writing down lately is my dreams, such as the one the other day where I dreamt of James, the guitarist in my band from way back, dressed in a cape and wearing a strange mask, a black flag with a white saltire. He mounted a horse which then galloped off into the sky, as well as cartwheeling out of a tree as tall as a four storey house, before jumping to his feet and running out of a window.
I was convinced that a black flag with a white saltire had some sort of meaning either as a naval jack or perhaps as some signalling device, but it turns out it only seems to be used as a disqualification flag in a few forms of American racing. Beyond that it's not very well known at all.
Then there was what I can only refer to as The Sunrise Dream. This is vague, but somehow almost overpowering. I remember only that it was dark and, stood on a hillside, I watched a slow, gentle, glorious and golden sunrise wash away the gloom of the night. The horizon, a line of trees and hills, was so perfectly defined against the coming dawn that I could pick out almost every detail. Then, calmly, carefully, confidently, the warm, and brilliant disc of the sun climbed upward, filling the world about me with colour and life. There were houses on the hillside, and though they all appeared empty, they were also serene. I don't know where I found someone to ask, for all these white-walled, red-roofed buildings were empty and silent, but somehow, after revealing I was lost, I was told that I was in Ohio.
The dawn was gorgeous. |
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| Shitted off |
[May. 17th, 2008|08:40 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Pretenders - Brass in Pocket | ] |
I have recently discovered that Forbidden Planet has an entire section of its print collection devoted to the "Paranormal Romance" category. ( I am still trying to process this in my head. ) |
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| In Soviet Russia, plot dislikes you |
[May. 12th, 2008|06:06 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | blank | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Kenny Loggins - Highway to the Danger Zone | ] |
"I was beginning to understand her, not just as a professional target and a potential victim of a Dark Magician, not just as the unwitting cause of a catastrophe, but as a person. An introverted, bookish child, with a mass of complexes and her head full of crazy ideals and a childish faith in the beautiful prince who was searching for her and would surely find her. Work as a doctor, a few girlfriends, a few male friends and lots and lots of loneliness. Conscientious work almost in the spirit of a builder of communism, infrequent visits to the café and occasional loves. And each evening like every other one, on the sofa, with a boo, with the phone lying beside her, with the television muttering something soapy and comforting.
How many of you there still are, girls and boys of various ages, raised by naive parents in the seventies. How many of you there are, so unhappy, not knowing how to be happy. How I long to take pity on you, how I long to help you. To touch you through the Twilight - gently, with no force at all. To give you just a little confidence in yourself, just a bit of optimism, a gram of willpower, a crumb of irony. To help you, so that you can help others."
I'm currently reading The Night Watch, which is a bit of a slog to get through, either because the translation is bad or simply because the plot is a plodding, fitful narrative based around one man's constant and rather unconvincing moralisation and self-analysis, with far too many lines and paragraphs ending in a question mark. Sure, things happen, some are quite good, but I'm not sure it's necessary for everything to be second- and third-guessed. |
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| A triumph |
[May. 11th, 2008|07:47 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | impressed | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up | ] |
( Yesterday was interesting. ) |
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