Happy anniversary!
To myself and
Alice. I shan't gush on here, as I'm not sure anyone wants to read that (including, I suspect, Alice. Never mind, she shall just endure it later), but I shall merely say that the last two years have been my happiest. Which is pretty good. And in two weeks time we are going to begin living together, which is yet another step forward, and perhaps the best anniversary celebration we could muster. Sadly she's not here at the moment, so we cannot celebrate today together, but we've got a whole year to make up for that.
andie mcdowell
I like to imagine that in the future the technology will become so advanced that we can get Groundhog Day and Four Weddings and a Funeral and replace Andie Mcdowell in each and every scene with someone who can act. How awesome would that be?
Be Kind, Rewind
This actually looks pretty nifty....
A-level results
The A-level results were out today, with weeping and cheering across the country, and predicatable stories about them becoming easier. It's actually a cliched story in whcih the government can do nothing right- if the pass mark is up, it's easier, if it's down, pupils are getting worse, if theres no difference, well then theres been no progress!
I've always thought this call must always be harshest on those students who've failed A-levels- I mean, you've flunked out and failed whatever exam, and now someone is saying that the exams are really easy? They're basically comparing your level of intellect to that of a crustaceans. Harsh.
Minesweeper the movie
Is hilarious!
Dick Cheney explains why war in Iraq is bad
An eloquent description of what he helped brought about...
Home Insurance
Just sorted out home insurance for the flat I'm moving into next month. Sometimes when I do these forms online, I feel like they seem to be unaware my demographic exists. Ever single company seems to assume that you are getting insurance for a property you are currently living at, but considering it's my legal responsibility to obtain contents insurance for my flat, I need to have it in place when I move in. Also, cause I've been using my parents insurance away from home to cover me while at university, I don't have a policy under my name, but I have never made an insurance claim.... it's a confusing position to be in, and one that would have been resolved more easily by doing a quote over the phone, but thats just crazy talk.
The internet is such a wonderful invention as it allows me to disconnect myself from real people, even to my disadvantage. Many people are disappointed when they get an electronic voice answering the phone- I am secretly pleased. The electronic voice does not judge me, and it even gives me easy options to put in. It's brilliant.
My secret wish is for all these phone calls to become so smart that I'll never have to speak to someone else on the end of the phone! It will be bitchin. Of course this doesn't apply to people I know, who I'm more than happy to talk to on the phone (briefly).
Tom Bombadil
I like to imagine there are three types of people in the world. Those that hate Bombadil and his freaking forest, those who inexplicably love the freak... and those who have never heard of him. The latter are probably better off, to be honest....
You tube commenters
It's a curious thing that I'm more likely to post frequently when I'm busy. I guess I want to distract myself, while when I have time on my hands I'm happy to spend it killing the undead. Virtually, that is. I don't spend much time in graveyards.
Anyways, as I'm sure you've noticed if you've spent any time at you tube, commenters there are not nice people, putting it rather more politely than they probably deserve. This comes out especially on some videos done by mere teenagers, where they inarticulately express their opinions... only to suffer a wave of abuse few stand up comedians have had to put up with. Yes, the video is bad, and if you feel that strongly, you might give it a poor rating, might even express why you did not like the video, but the wave of insults? It's not like any of these instances involve truly objectionable content- if someone was doing a neo-nazi rally (as I discovered disturbing examples of after the Virginia shootings), the most objectionable content I've seen with these comments attached is a girl talking about checking one's facts, and saying that religion is a lie. It's not a terribly good or funny video, but the level of bile given out makes you think she was advocating putting babies on spikes!
This isn't really confined to you tube- it's a clear trend that people on the web are much nastier than they would be in real life, which makes me think that people need to be schooled in web ettiquette just as they get schooled in real life ettiquette. Not that you'd think you'd need ettiquette classes to realise that addressing hateful and disgusting comments at feminist bloggers, for example, is plain wrong....
