September 29, 2005
DISASTER!
OH GOD My iPod broke a day before I leave, bloody typical. Well I spoke to the Apple Store at the Bullring and they said if they couldn't fix it instore (I'd be suprised if they can as the drive fails all the diagnostics and appears corrupt) they will replace it, which would be nice as I'd have no scratches then.
I have just returned from a trip into Hanley. For the uneducated this is the epicentre of the shopping experience for members of the Stoke On Trent community. JESUS CHRIST IT'S A SHITHOLE. I have never before been to such a backwards town, everyone manages to look like they've been struck with not only downs syndrome but also obesity, all the while screeching in this cross breed Liverpudlian/Mancunian accent about "having a nice day, duck". Yep, everyone is referred to as a duck. It really made me appreciate the aforementioned Westgate Centre in Oxford as a comparatively upper class hang-out.
Should anyone be in the market for new skiwear, TkMaxx has a bunch of stuff in cheap, there was a lovely Nike AEG coat formerly £399 now £99. Much better than the Oakley one I purchased at the same price.
Pray that I don't get in a car accident on the way to Birmingham tomorrow please.
Posted by Mark at 11:57 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Adrift
Woah episode 2 Lost spoilers coming up...
Not quite as good as the first, the focus on Michaels kid was boring, repeating half of the first episode so it was less dramatic and more story-telling, and Sawyer and Michael on the boat but I suppose it was to build up to the final scene. Anyway, here's the only interesting point I managed to pick up on this episode: the shark has the Dharma (corporation?) stamped on it (part of the island defences?).
Thanks to whoever encoded the episode, as they left the credits on so next week we get to see Michael put in a dug-out prison with the girl Jack spoke to at the airport. I'm just waiting for the cinematic scene of Hurley walking into that food supply room. Bit cheap using the same courtroom for Michael & Walt as for Claire and her sprog. :-/
What did one snowman say to the other snowman?
Do you smell carrots?
Incidently, only 2 days until I leave now, let's hope I don't get in a plane crash. I have part packed my bag and almost managed to put in enough clothes to last me a week. Joy.
Posted by Mark at 7:16 AM | TrackBack
September 23, 2005
Lost
Holy christ the season 2 premiere of Lost was spectacular. There's probably some spoilers coming up so skip by if you're not up with the series.
As a whole, unless you read up on, or are incredibly observant, it's possible to miss out on a huge amount of clever writing within the show. A couple of things came to my mind while watching episode 1: Desmond had a strange symbol on his shirt in the arena. The number "108" written on the wall in the bunker is the sum of all "the numbers". There was bunks in the bunker so someone else must have been there at some time. Quarantine was written on the inside of the hatch because Desmond thought he was quarantining himself from the world? Finally the stuff Desmond injected had "the numbers" printed on the side of the bottle.
After skimming over an epic 34 page thread on SA note the above and someone further suggests that everyone on the island has been given some sort of wish and their time on the island maybe payment for such. Jack got his missus walking, Locke got back use of his legs, Kate got free, Michael got his kid back, where Sun, Jin, Claire and Charlie come into it is anyones guess. Someone also raises the point that bunker had been there a while, the computer was an Apple II (from the 80s) and Jack had obviously met Desmond later than that...
Anyway I am going to call that they introduce a bunch of new characters this season, we're a bit limited with the 4 or 5 we focused on before. Maybe they'll fish up some survivors of the Black Rock?
Posted by Mark at 6:02 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 22, 2005
Music feature
It's only recently come to my attention quite how much I listen to music. I VERY rarely sit at my PC without having something on, I listen(ed) in the car to and from work, even sat at work. Often a week will go by when I have 5 or more new albums to listen to. Out of those usually come 1 or 2 gems.
Therefore for the people I usually force my music upon I thought I'd make a regular feature of albums worth checking out. Also this means if I don't have anything interesting to write ordinarily I can just talk about music.
Here's the top EPs/albums for week beginning 19th September:
Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson - Unnoticable In A Tiny Town, Invisible In The City.
Beautiful Norweigen Post-rock EITS-esque but with very catchy riffs and tune.
Bell Orchestre - Bell Orchestre
From the people behind The Arcade Fire, or at least some of them, this is how the London Philharmonic Orchestra should sound.
Other albums worthy of a note in this little catch-up entry: Sigur Ros - Takk, American Analog Set - Set Free, Magnetophone - The man who ate the man.
Posted by Mark at 7:05 AM | TrackBack
September 20, 2005
Oxford
I just took what is likely to be my last daytime trip into Oxford to cover most of the ground of a pleasant visit into the town. This consists of the following:
Modern Art Oxford (despite the fact it was showing a bunch of kids scribbles)
The Covered Market
Gap
George and Danver Ice Cream
A fleeting glance at some stunning architecture
Bonus points to the fact that it looks like Brookes students started back this week and memories of University "POSTER SALE" and those first nervous weeks came fondly flooding back.
Any trip into Oxford isn't complete without trying to also dodge the following:
The Westgate Centre
George Street
Sitting by a grossly overweight chav and their child on the bus home
Next time I live here remind me to avoid Headington.
Posted by Mark at 10:38 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 16, 2005
Free!
Woo, as of 2 hours I am officially unemployed. Where others may be in a natural state of worry and aprehension, I am going to side with glee.
2 years is enough to start falling into a depressing routine, and while moving to Oxford shook things up momentarily, there's still the horrible weekly cycle of monotony. I am soon free of it's shackles, blessed with the ability to slip into what I call "University/Internet Timezone", this alllows the user to move into more of an American style routine where you go to bed at ~4am GMT and get up at midday. However, to truly experience U/IT you have to stay up surfing the net or watching early morning TV until you can't honestly go on any longer and you feel like you're going to implode with boredom. Its amazing how quickly you can waste an entire week.
BUT of course I don't have a week to waste. For my first week off work I have an incredibly wild schedule lined up, one to rival that of a circus performer. In no apparent order:
Car MOT, work leaving lunch, book some accomodation, complete my self-assessment, clean my flat (including the oven damnit), entertain the mysterious carpet cleaning man and spend excessive amounts of time trying to save £1 on some bits I need off Ebay.
Anyway, back to being one of the nations statistical unemployed, I had a good deal of fun at SecureHosting and certainly appreciate the work environment was one that I'll probably never match. I should give them their laptop back really...