Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Uhhhh...

So I was away for a while- I was off visiting friends in Durham, which was fun. We got up to crazy, crazy stuff, including watching a lot of anime. Yes, it was THAT crazy.


I had things to talk about but they've kind of slipped my mind a little. I think mostly I want to mention that while we are all so focused on the pathetic threat of terrorism, thousands are dying every day from preventable diseases, and just starvation, because of our neglect. We could do so much to help people.... but we don't. I know I don't do as much as I could, and when I'm older I intend to change that. Sure one should look after oneself, but I think we all have a little left over to help others. It really doesn't hurt.

Thursday, September 16, 2004

Hattrick

Ahhh, you gotta love www.hattrick.org. Its a sort of fantasy football game, you can look me up "paulmademedoit", an English team, top of my league (although its the bottom league... I only joined a while back). Now don't get me wrong- I hate football. Hate playing it, hate watching it, I find it a dull game and find the nations obsession with it tiresome. But... this is fun. It takes a while to get into mind- you need to read the guides to work out whats what, and set up your team appropriately, but once you've done the major setting up you don't have to fiddle that much and you can watch your team excel. My team is currently unbeaten this season. i'm hoping for promotion, although I don't know how I'll fare once I'm up a notch... probably go straight back down again I suspect.

I've been playing through FF9 again. Man thats a mean game. Most FF's, if you take your time before each sectio of story, levelling up and everything, it makes your life easy, which is always pleasent, and means you have less work to do before you get to the bit just before the final boss where you stroll around in an airship. However, in FF9 its like it punishes you for doing well. Honestly, the bad guys, if anything, are meaner, and use attacks I didn't get to see until I was level 30 when I played through the first time. I reckon Square just decided to f*ck with people on this one. Its a good game though, a better plot than MGs2, but that wouldn't be hard, would it?

One of these days I'll have a new game to talk about. Then excitement will be had.


Wednesday, September 15, 2004

royal rumble

Urgh, wouldn't it be plain awful if the terrorists attacked a royal? I mean first of all, any loss of life is horrifying, of course, but second of all.... the country was pathetically morbid for ages after Diana tragically died, I can only imagine what the death of a royal would do. Probably lose Labour the election if it could be shown it was their fault.

Of course, a guy dressed as batman... and a guy wearing a turban are two completely different things, but maybe the palace security could be a little higher. Although you have to be amused that people are blaming this on David Blunkett. I am no fan of the man- I do not like the too harsh immigration laws and the knee jerk policy making, but, to be fair, the guy is currently-

A-dealing with immigration- a tabloid buzzword
B-Dealing with crime- an everyone buzzword
C-Fighting against terrorism- not even a buzzword- far too important for that.

So he's quite busy dealing with actual threats on the country, and oh, surprise, he makes a mistake and misses this one thing. I guess you could say its vital, but then you're imagining the royals perform a function over here other than to spend money and attract tourists. I'm not exactly anti-royalist in that its more trouble than its worth to be rid of em, but I'm hardly pro, I must admit.

Honestly though, theres still bombs going off in Iraq, and people starving in the Sudan... and this is what they ask about in parliament.... but those are things happening elswhere, I guess, and people who aren't British don't count when they die.

Friday, September 10, 2004

Celebriy colourist james brown

Is it me, or does the music to this advert sound like a porn movie? Honestly though.....

Well whatever. I love those ads for tescos for cheap clothing. Basically because its saying "Buy our clothes, and forever be in fear of others finding out that you are a cheapskate!" Its quite bizzare really. I mean, cheap, good looking clothes are great, but from that ad the idea that they are cheap is treated as evil... not really selling the concept there are you?

Its like an ad for alchohol showing people collapsed and throwing up on the sidewalk, or people becoming short sighted from reading. Its bizzare really, I thought ads were meant to focus on the positive? Clearly I could never work in advertising.

Thursday, September 09, 2004

"We're Off"

Aww Ranma, you have pleased me. I have completed both Ranma (reading it), and MGS2 (replaying it). MGS2 has such a poor ending.... the cliffhanger from MGS1 was cool, this one is just plain stupid. Again, I don't wanna spoil it, but the plot just goes silly towards the end.

While Ranma's ending... well actually I would have liked it to be a bit loner, but it was very good, and quite touching. So I can't complain. Well I can. And I have. But not much.

I did one of these test the nation things the other day- on musical knowledge. I didn't score well (37/70, oh the shame!) but I did get to watch an hour and a half program to answer questions that take about 15 minutes to do. Honestly, I don't think I'll be doing them anymore- theyre frankly tiresome and long winded, AND hosted by Anne Robinson. Is there a soul in the country who actually likes her? Well, obviously at BBC there is as she keeps getting put on these kind of awful programs. I wouldn't be surprised if she was on the national lottery. Not that I've ever watched it. If I feel the need to get rid of a pound I'll give it to a charity. Its easy to prove the national lottery is a waste of time, just by considering whether you'd pick your numbers as "1,2,3,4,5,6". Probably not. Yet they are equally likely to come up as any other combination.

Gambling is a con. Otherwise they wouldn't make profit, would they? Its a nice idea that you could make a profit out of it, but you CAN'T. Same with insurance actually. Insurance companies couldn't exist if insurance was good value for money. If, proportionally, the money going into the insurance companies equalled the money coming out, which is what would be happening if insurance was worth it, then insurance companies wouldn't exist. But they do. Odd that.....

People don't really get probability. As a mathematician I have a fairly good understanding of it. In fact, theres a reasonable chance I'll end up working in it, ironically. *shudder*.

Of course, I don't know what I want to do with my life- not many mathematicians I know do. So far, as a I know a lot of my friends have done, I've just been avoiding commiting to any set cause in life- I hate the idea that at age 19, perhaps a quarter into my life, I should have planned my cause for the rest of it. That doesn't sound mature to me- that sounds stupid. Of course I will change, and change my mind about what I want to do. I shall do my best to work out what that is before I settle firmly on any particular course. Or at least, thats what I claim. Most of the time I spend simply not thinking about it.....

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Metal Gear Solid 2.

I, having a lack of things to do right now, have been playing it again. I now remember why I prefered it to MGS1. First of all, the cut scenes really are too long, 15 minutes at one point in which the most I could do nothing but zoom in heads. Second of all, a ludicrous, really stupid plot. Honestly, I can accept a character who can dodge bullets, but... well I don't wanna spoil it for those who still haven't played it, but there are some really, really stupid twists in this game.

Add to that the water section. Water is what put me off Tomb Raider. The sections are never fun. I hate doing things to a time limit in a game, so when you throw in awful controls, which ALWAYS hamper every single game with swimming in, you get a painful gaming experience. And MGS2 loves it so much it throws in fricking mines in the middle of it all! where the hell did they come from, you might ask? Well.... no-one knows.

And of course theres the bits where you both go to nano communication. More secure, apparently. Theres only one small problem with that.... YOU HAVE TO TALK TO USE NANO COMMUNICATION... you'll have people right next to each other doing it. Its really quite silly.

Sigh, but its something to do. I'm also reading the Ranma mangas. In case you haven't heard of it, Ranma is a Japenese cartoon, both in manga (comic) and anime (tv program) form, about a martial artist who gets turned into a girl when water hits him. And hes engaged to like, 5 people. Its all amusing stuff- the mangas get very funny past a point, I'd probably reccomend them over the anime. The anime is a good way to start yourself into the entire world of anime though.


oh the horror

GBV are splitting up. Well, to be fair thats old news. But if you haven't heard of gbv, or Guided By Voices to give them their full title you really should have. Check out www.gbv.com for a collection of mp3s. They're the kings of indie rock. And soon they will be no more..... they have so many great songs behind them. Sigh....


So, yeah, for doin' your bit for mankind go to www.thehungersite.com every day and click. And you donate a cup of food. No catches. Thats all you have to do. No spyware, no emails, just donate some food to help the hundreds, even thousands starving now. See, while the tragedy in Russia is horrifying, in Dafur right now people are dying, and a fair amount of them are children. But it escapes media coverage because theres... well because if people cared about this then the governments might have to do something about it, I guess. Honestly, theres so much death going on around us, it saddens me the way the media obsesses over the republican conference while mentionning briefly that nothing at all is right in the Sudan. You can't make a huge difference... but you can make a little. Oxfam has a fund specifically set up to help those there. Why not donate some spare change next time you're passing by a shop? It won't hurt you. Honest.



Tuesday, September 07, 2004

heh, hallucinating

The autocomplete came up while I was deciding on this title, suggesting that I call it "Big Cook little Cock DVD".

Unfortunately, I have never written that, although I wish I had. My sister did.

Well, more accurately my sister wrote "Big cook little cook DVD". But its much funnier with the late night craziness. Whats big cook little cook, you ask? Why, its a childrens program on BBC. Thats really quite poor. But amusing in its poorness.

Anyways. Went to see Hellboy today. Its...another super hero film. Theres some good characters, but, you know, I think I'm almost burnt out on the whole super hero front. There is a limit to it. I think hollywood is really getting carried away with it. I mean, super heroes are mindless fun but you can't just keep making them and keep thinking we'll go. Some new ideas would be pleasent.

The best film I've seen recently, other than the motorcycle diaries would be the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I loved that film, this is the best Charlie Kaufman penned film I've ever seen, and certainly the best Jim Carrey, although I don't like him when hes not acting (ie, in most of his roles apart from the Truman show). Its a brilliant look at love and memories, and the genius of the concept, the idea that you learn of this character only through the way another character perceives her is.... remarkable.

Sunday, September 05, 2004

Kicking back

Went to see the Motorcycle diaries today. Would very much recommend going to see it- its very good, moving, amusing, and interesting. It paints a very positive picture of Che, but thats really understandable, and it does it in a way that doesn't stink of propoganda (apart from maybe the black and white photo things. Those felt a tiny bit pretentious). Its a really enjoyable film that is definitely worth seeing.

Forums on the internet entertain me. For anyone who regularly posts online, or checks out websites of any kind, you soon learn that any forum that isn't just degenerate spam has, to a lesser or a greater extent, its l33t members, so to speak. They don't necessarily have to have a lot of posts, but they average at about 1,000, and they often hold some kind of position of power. And they are INCREDIBLY hostile to new people to their forum. Honestly, its really quite intimidating. I mean, I'm an admin at www.uff9.net/forums, and people who spam, or post in l33t speak, or post in the wrong forum, irritate me. I'll delete the topic or post and pm them. Some forums, however, they flame them. At one, they actually banned one guy for posting what they decided was a "bad thread". The thing is, is some people are helpless, but a few have never really been to a forum before, so don't really understand it all. I mean, fer crying out loud, no-one reads the fricking rules! You do your best to make people pay attention but when you get down to it no-one can be bothered.

There is this culture of snobbery on the internet. If someone posts something on a topic, whatever the subject may be, that you consider yourself knowledgable in, and you disagree with them, and they make the foolish mistake of not making their argument absolutely water tight, they get taken to pieces! I'm not talking about people posting "INUYASHA SUCKS!" Or something, I'm talking about a post like "I don't really like Inuyasha because its really boring and the animation is kind of poor." The way people defend it you'd imagine they'd written the anime.

Or, rather, they were related to the guy who wrote the anime, and then he died tragically..... Its a little sad really.

Of course, internet debates are the best. The most important thing in a heated internet debate is links. Somehow, your argument isn't credible until you can find some shitty website agreeing with you that you post the link for. Then you're water tight. Of course, if everyone agrees with you on that particular forum, then it is suddenly an accepted argument to simply question your opponents sexuality.

Hmm, this could be partially to do that the average age on forums is below 16, let alone 18. While there are indeed some intelligent teenagers out there, they hide themselves well, prefering to act like snotty know it all shits.


Of course, when I post in a forum, I am perfect.

Update every day he claims....

Heh, well yeah. I'm a very busy man. I mean, last night I had to go to the pub with my friends in the evening.... and that was it.

Well, yes, fine, I have failed but I imagine my readership is literally non existant so its no big deal really.

But yeah, not much is happening to me, not of interest, so I don't have much to write about. My sister keeps stealing my socks. Its actually really annoying, because it makes it virtually impossible to find a pair. Somehow, despite having about 50 pairs, all of similar colouring and design, they all mange to be just different enough so if you were to look it would be very noticable.

I usually resolve the dilemma by not wearing socks most of the time, but going out unfortunately does require socks. I did wear trainers without socks one holiday, which led to them smelling so much they had to be put OUTSIDE THE HOUSE. So I try and wear socks with trainers now.

Course, I could wear sandals, but I think thats more holiday wear. Not that I am really a trendy one in fashion terms. If one asks me what I'll be wearing at any given occasion it will be jeans and a t-shirt. I have one nice shirt, saved for those occasional formal situations where it might be required. But still, I pay vague attention to what people think about me (as everyone but the mentally impaired do. It irritates me when friends pretend they don't care what people think about them. Its ALWAYS a lie. Sorry, but you change yourself to suit others- thats the way a human being is), so I try and not look too stupid.

Its like how I'm subtly geekish. I will discuss things like magic the gathering to friends who do it as well, but I won't interrupt a conversation at a party to mention it. It just isn't cool, and I, like all other people should be ashamed. And those "funny" t-shirts proclaiming painful things like "2+2=5 for extremely high values of 2"... not only is it nonsense (2 is 2 damnit. That just irritaes me), its not very funny, but very embarrasing nonsense.

Well, I'm not THAT subtly geekish. But I'm better than some.

Thursday, September 02, 2004

Pulp Fiction

Today I watched Pulp Fiction while thinking about my ex sleeping with other people. Which was fun. Well, other person in Wales. Probably having sex right now actually.

I know, I have all the best thoughts. But anyway, if you haven't seen Tarantino's films you really should. I'll have to wait and see the cut of both Kill Bill's together, as really they are MEANT to be one film, before I judge, but resevoir dogs is probably his best.

Pulp Fiction is a good film. There isn't an essential point to Pulp Fiction. No real resolution, its just the telling of some stories. Interesting stories, true, exciting stories certainly, but no more than that. But despite that it fascinates, thanks to Quentin's gift for dialogue and direction, as well as some A-grade acting from its cast. Its very enjoyable, and worth a watch.

Binge Drinking

I read today in new scientist ( a weeks old new scientist, I'll add) that apparently binge drinking is bad for you. This came as quite a surprise to me, because I thought throwing up all the contents of your stomach at the end of the evening was a pleasent way to get in shape.

Hmm. It proclaimed that most young people do not know the dangers of binge drinking. Um. No. Generally, the reason people do things is we don't care what the dangers are, we're too busy living in the moment. I have friends, articulate, intelligent friends who smoke. Its something they enjoy, although I have no reason to do so myself. They know the dangers, as do we all, and while, yes, you should throw in our faces every now and then the idea that these things are gonna kill us, you'll have to do more than that. Money, I would suggest. If the government really wanted to do something about the problem of binge drinking, it would raise taxes on drink. Because I will drink less if drink costs more. Personally, I do binge drink, and I will continue to do so- its a thing I do with friends every now and then, and while getting drunk is not the target normally, it will undoubtedly happen. I hardly need to mention the beneficial effects of alchohol, as most have experienced them, but I cannot imagine a party without them. I mean, boring, low alchohol parties last the maximum of 3 hours. They have to, because no-one sodding talks. Well, they might talk, but theyll only talk to their friends. The loosening of tongues that alchohol guarentees means a party can go to the late hours as you meet and talk to new and different people.


Now I know its unhealthy to binge drink, and I know some people do not take their drink well, but honeslty the media have recently acted as if this is the worst problem to confront mankind. The problems tend to become problems only when there is a report in the tabloids about them, then we can stir up a bit of media obsession with the issue, and its suddenly the only one people care about. I admit that binge drinking IS a problem, but I refuse to feel bad for doing it myself.

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Stuff

Of course, while promising to say something every day, I kind of needed something to actually happen to me every day. Right now, however, I'm mostly moping round the house doing as close to nothing as can be imagined.

However on the plus side I do have a ridiculous amount of free time to do things like tidy my room, which has really needed it. Also, I've had time to play on Spiderman 2, which is ridiculous fun.

Honestly, anyone with an appropriate console should buy it. Its quite short admittedly, and frustrating at parts (whoever invented the water parts was a big loser), but..... swinging round the whole of manhattan at ridiculous speeds, then climing up the empire state building, then jumping off and swinging at the very last second before you hit the ground is the most fun you can have without leaving the house,assuming you are the only person in the house at the time. And you can kick people's arse! And throw them off buildings! With amazing web powers! And too many exclimation marks! And bad spelling!

I'll stop. Also a friend of mine linked me to the Excel Saga rpg http//www.w4jdh.net/~brasington/excelrpg.zip

bear in mind you will need RPG maker 2000 and the RTP files to run this, but its worth the effort. If you haven't seen Excel Saga yet, you really should. While it is intended as a spoof of anime, it spoofs pretty much everything under the sun, and I watched it before watching much anime and adored it. Coming out pretty soon is the Imperfect collection, with the whole series in one box set. It is very much worth your money to get it.