I love my iPod as much as the next man, but if you click the link above, you will see something totally ridiculous.
As my friend Oz once said, "this is a sign of an over-developed society"
Monday, September 27, 2004
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
The power of a smile
Anyone who knows me knows that a great deal of my happiness is invested in my relationships with the opposite sex. The following description of what happened to me a couple of days ago will therefore probably seem hopelessly naive, so please don't read on if you're going to misunderstand or mischaracterise an over-idealistic romantic outlook:
Okay, so it's Monday night and i've just played a gig with my band. I'm taking the relatively-difficult journey back from Aldgate East to Kilburn, and i have reached Moorgate where i hope to change for a better underground train to get me as far as Baker St. As I step off the tube, I can't help but notice an attractive girl getting off at the same time as me (I should add that the way she's dressed is really cute, in a jade green top, a little black pleated skirt and black tights; a slightly quirky look that definitely works for me). She meanders off in a way that suggests she doesn't quite know where she's going, and by the time she has it figured out, i've been on the escalator for a good few seconds. She rushes up the escalator steps, passing me on my left, then about 10 steps ahead of me she staggers and falls over a bit. I feel a bit guilty that i can't help her up, but she's too far up, ahead of me for me to play the Good Samaritan, or even the self-interested young guy trying to score some points with a pretty girl. At the top of the escalator our paths diverge, and I don't really think any more of it. You see good-looking people like this round and about London every day.
Then when I climb the stairs to the Westbound platform, it turns out that she's standing facing me on the Eastbound platform opposite, about 20 metres away. Uncharacteristically, I overcome my shyness, and smile at her. She smiles back really sweetly. For a second it feels electric. Then her tube arrives. I'm still looking at her through the glass windows of the tube as she boards the tube, and I can see that she's still looking right at me, and she breaks into a smile for a second time. Wow. I'm thinking to myself that this is really great, but then she sits down on a seat with her back to me, and actually turns her head right over her left shoulder to look straight at me, continuing to smile broadly until her face disappears under the arch of the tube tunnel. Needless to say, it pretty much made my night.
I'm quite interested in the paradoxical nature of this situation. It's both primal and quite innocent at the same time, and makes me wonder about whether I believe that all such situations of attraction are driven by chance, or whether there is such a thing as fate that makes some come to fruition. Subjectivity has always clouded my ability to rationalise and fully explore fate, free will, and all of the shades of grey in between, to date. I think I need to do some reading on this subject.
Okay, so it's Monday night and i've just played a gig with my band. I'm taking the relatively-difficult journey back from Aldgate East to Kilburn, and i have reached Moorgate where i hope to change for a better underground train to get me as far as Baker St. As I step off the tube, I can't help but notice an attractive girl getting off at the same time as me (I should add that the way she's dressed is really cute, in a jade green top, a little black pleated skirt and black tights; a slightly quirky look that definitely works for me). She meanders off in a way that suggests she doesn't quite know where she's going, and by the time she has it figured out, i've been on the escalator for a good few seconds. She rushes up the escalator steps, passing me on my left, then about 10 steps ahead of me she staggers and falls over a bit. I feel a bit guilty that i can't help her up, but she's too far up, ahead of me for me to play the Good Samaritan, or even the self-interested young guy trying to score some points with a pretty girl. At the top of the escalator our paths diverge, and I don't really think any more of it. You see good-looking people like this round and about London every day.
Then when I climb the stairs to the Westbound platform, it turns out that she's standing facing me on the Eastbound platform opposite, about 20 metres away. Uncharacteristically, I overcome my shyness, and smile at her. She smiles back really sweetly. For a second it feels electric. Then her tube arrives. I'm still looking at her through the glass windows of the tube as she boards the tube, and I can see that she's still looking right at me, and she breaks into a smile for a second time. Wow. I'm thinking to myself that this is really great, but then she sits down on a seat with her back to me, and actually turns her head right over her left shoulder to look straight at me, continuing to smile broadly until her face disappears under the arch of the tube tunnel. Needless to say, it pretty much made my night.
I'm quite interested in the paradoxical nature of this situation. It's both primal and quite innocent at the same time, and makes me wonder about whether I believe that all such situations of attraction are driven by chance, or whether there is such a thing as fate that makes some come to fruition. Subjectivity has always clouded my ability to rationalise and fully explore fate, free will, and all of the shades of grey in between, to date. I think I need to do some reading on this subject.
Friday, September 17, 2004
Salad Fingers
Salad Fingers is a disturbing little cartoon doing the rounds on the interweb at the moment, based around a character who is both naive and charming and potentially evil, all at the same time. Watch his wierd adventures to an Aphex Twin musical backdrop. Salad Fingers has a charming northern (Lancaster?) accent that adds a strange regional flavour to the whole thing.
If you like Episode 1 (click the title above to view it), then go to www.fat-pie.com for another three episodes of Salad Fingers.
Thursday, September 16, 2004
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Freedom!
Hooray! My arm is now free of its plastic tomb (pictured). I went to the hospital in Paddington this morning, and the same sarcastic South African bloke as dealt with me last time was there on hand to help remove the caste.
Interestingly, they used a small, lethal-looking circular saw to cut the plastic. I mentioned that I thought it looked quite dangerous, then he told me that it couldn't harm me. 2 minutes later he was boasting that it could cut into the bone very easily to a nurse he was helping to train. So much for patient reassurance!
Anyway, the main thing is that I can now shower without having to wrap my arm up in a towel, which will be great. I don't have that much movement in it yet, and I've been told I shouldn't lift any weights at the gym for about a month, but I'm still pretty happy. Well, apart from having hardly enough money to get through to pay-day on Monday and having quite important work-pressure until the end of Thursday....
Interestingly, they used a small, lethal-looking circular saw to cut the plastic. I mentioned that I thought it looked quite dangerous, then he told me that it couldn't harm me. 2 minutes later he was boasting that it could cut into the bone very easily to a nurse he was helping to train. So much for patient reassurance!
Anyway, the main thing is that I can now shower without having to wrap my arm up in a towel, which will be great. I don't have that much movement in it yet, and I've been told I shouldn't lift any weights at the gym for about a month, but I'm still pretty happy. Well, apart from having hardly enough money to get through to pay-day on Monday and having quite important work-pressure until the end of Thursday....
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
One of my favourite interweb sites of all time
I have been enjoying the humourous work of a man who calls himself Drew for some years now. He has an interweb site called http://www.toothpastefordinner.com and used to have a site at http://drew.corrupt.net, until 2002. I think both sites are pretty damn funny. He is now also writing for a site called .net - you can see his worryingly-sane discussion of the UNEMPLOYMENT BEARD by clicking the title of this post. Go check it out.
Friday, September 10, 2004
Devolution x Nationalism = great councillors
Click the link above.
"The independent member for Fife Council said he did not like the English because of the Battle of Culloden more than 250 years ago."
Give me a break. Scots, Welsh, English & Cornish (!) nationalism is laughable. Believe it or not, most people in this country are pretty much over hating the Germans for World War II, so why is there such a noticable recent growth in this kind of resentment against people who share the same landmass as you? When I go home, you also hear people in the pub saying they hate the English, but where the hell did this narrow-minded xenophobia come from?
"The independent member for Fife Council said he did not like the English because of the Battle of Culloden more than 250 years ago."
Give me a break. Scots, Welsh, English & Cornish (!) nationalism is laughable. Believe it or not, most people in this country are pretty much over hating the Germans for World War II, so why is there such a noticable recent growth in this kind of resentment against people who share the same landmass as you? When I go home, you also hear people in the pub saying they hate the English, but where the hell did this narrow-minded xenophobia come from?
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
Foiling the Oyster Card
For some time now I've been a bit concerned about the potential for the Transport For London Oyster card to be used to track (or, as with any electronic device, falsify) people's whereabouts at certain times or locations.
It turns out that our equally-paranoid friends at www.spy.org.uk have done their own investigation of this, and there are some interesting ramifications (such as getting over-charged by the ticket barrier machine if you are fat and using a different paper ticket for a particular journey - I kid you not), but while the card only stores your last 10 journeys, there must be some massive multi-terrabyte hard disk array somewhere, storing a full record of usage of each and every Oyster card, and probably indexing them to relevant CCTV footage. For Londoners, at least, identity cards are here already. Click on the title of this post to go to Spy Blog and find out more.
It turns out that our equally-paranoid friends at www.spy.org.uk have done their own investigation of this, and there are some interesting ramifications (such as getting over-charged by the ticket barrier machine if you are fat and using a different paper ticket for a particular journey - I kid you not), but while the card only stores your last 10 journeys, there must be some massive multi-terrabyte hard disk array somewhere, storing a full record of usage of each and every Oyster card, and probably indexing them to relevant CCTV footage. For Londoners, at least, identity cards are here already. Click on the title of this post to go to Spy Blog and find out more.
Monday, September 06, 2004
maastricht
Me and my bro Dominic in Maastricht, as taken by my younger brother James. I like this photo because the sky came out really nicely.
Thursday, September 02, 2004
On Holidaz
Hi everzone and anzone who maz be reading mz blog. Iäm currentlz in Bonn, in Germanz, and have decided to stick to a normal quertz lazout, ignoring this retarded German kezboard and the fact that several characters are in the wrong place. Itäs not that Iäve suddentlz started using some teen-text-speak or anzthing, God forbid.
Itäs been prettz good so far - we went to Maastricht the daz before zesterdaz, which is a surprisinglz lovelz citz. The people were reallz welcoming, and the food was excellent. I recommend it as a holidaz destination. Mz zoungest brother also delighted the bar-goers at the hotel we were stazing at bz plazing them some cheexz lounge piano. Alwazs goes down well, that.
Will post some pictures when I return to the UK.
Am
Itäs been prettz good so far - we went to Maastricht the daz before zesterdaz, which is a surprisinglz lovelz citz. The people were reallz welcoming, and the food was excellent. I recommend it as a holidaz destination. Mz zoungest brother also delighted the bar-goers at the hotel we were stazing at bz plazing them some cheexz lounge piano. Alwazs goes down well, that.
Will post some pictures when I return to the UK.
Am
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