Used to be weekly-ish but now likely to be occasional musings
8th May 08
Another couple of busy weeks in the office and hence no real chance to hit the gym unfortunately. My woeful attempts at cutting back on the food intake during the week came falling apart on the Friday with a KFC for lunch and then fish’n’chips that evening. Watched Malice on the TV which is a great film. Brother had never seen it and thus enjoyed the twists and turns. All the main characters put in good performances but Alec Baldwin as the arrogant doctor is awesome and never more so than when delivering his ‘I am god’ tirade at the hearing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g2dkDh4ov4
It’s almost as impressive, but not quite, as his speech in Glengarry Glen Ross.
Decided on the Saturday night that we would check out the famous School Disco. I’ve known about it for many a year now but never seemed to get round to going. One always got the impression that it is full of tight white shirt, black bra wearing babes. The three of us decided to make an effort and I pulled out my shorts and blazer. Got a short sleeved white shirt from Asda for £3, yes £3 (how can they make any money on it what with all the packaging and stuff?) and a school looking tie.
As the sun was out I decided to forgo the gym and hit the park with my brother to throw the American Football around. It was nice to be out in the fresh air and feel the warmth of the sun on my back. Even better was how after a few throws I managed to ‘get my arm in’ and was pulling out some impressive throws. Little did I realise that for the next couple of days my arm and legs would ache in a way that they don’t normally do.
Got ready for the night out by donning said outfit, slapping some brylcream in my hair to plaster it to my head and popping a couple of packets of love hearts into the fluffy pencil case. We decided that I would drink as well and kip round at my mates, further adding to the hoped for good night.
It was shit.
The event had recently changed venue and we realised this was because attendance numbers were clearly falling. The place could only have been a third full and was utterly devoid of any kind of atmosphere. Sometimes you can still salvage something for dancing and drinking but the bar was a rip off with virtually no drinks (they didn’t know what Archers was) and the DJ was a fucking joke. I’m sorry to swear but really he was. He had not concept of continuity, generating a buzz or keeping people on the dance floor. In one of the most shocking DJ decisions that I’ve ever witnessed he dropped Billie Jean which is always guaranteed to get people up and moving to then follow it with……..Hotel California!!! Need I say anymore to articulate what kind of stalling effect that would have on a dance floor.
I couldn’t wait to leave when the pre-booked cab arrived. What a shit night. All that effort for nothing and I don’t just mean from a girlie point of view. A late night KFC quelled a little of the rage and disappointment but not by much.
I’ve been catching up on some more Shark and after a mid season dip where the makers got a little carried away with themselves and killed a character off that I really liked the show has continued to impress me. One episode even contained the woman who has been my dream girl for the last couple of years Diora Baird. Christ, what a babe. We finished the series a few nights ago and it ended on a real high. Shark seemed to have been getting softer and developing a conscious but for the final he flat out broke the rules to put someone away and it was damn impressive.
The hype machine for the new Grand Theft Auto game had been building for the previous few weeks and my brother and I have been looking forward to it’s arrival. My brother is slightly more into the GTA series whereas I am more into Halo but its nice sometimes to feel the excitement of something new. I’ve not had a chance to get really stuck into it but you can’t help but be impressed by the game’s scale and size. The design of the booklet and map are excellent as well. It’s almost like the game is so immersive that I feel that I really need to be able to devote some major hours to it to really get sucked in.
My brother also recently went Xbox live and got broadband. It still never ceases to amaze me that you can be playing against someone halfway round the world in real time. All those people either in their bedrooms or in the living room. It boggles the mind.
We did the voting count again this year and it was fun as always. Ok it was hardly a laugh riot but it’s something different to do. No delectable voters to ogle but the predictable selection of amusements. The polls opened at 7.00am and by the very third voter we had our first ‘you might need to fold the voting slip to slide it through the slot in the ballot box’. It seems a fairly obvious thing doesn’t it? As you approach the box you’d think ‘oh that isn’t going to go in, maybe I should fold it’.
The amount of people that even when you suggest folding it desperately try to force it in is even more amazing. Add to this almost every fourth person had to say when they entered the church hall. “wow, have to fight my way through the crowds” I realise they were just trying to be funny and friendly but the polite laughter can get a little forced by 10.00pm that same evening! We did the counting after this meaning it was quite a late night.
Saw Iron Man over the weekend and I’ve got to say that I was a little disappointed. The actual suit is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a long time but it just felt so predictable and formulaic. His background story was good and trying to improve and create better versions of the suit was interesting but you just knew where it was going. Robert Downey Jnr did a commendable job but it just had that superhero big fight at the end inevitability about it. I know they always say that they develop the hero character in the first film and that after that you can get straight into the action with the sequels but that never happens. Come the sequels, they forget the main character and spend all the time setting up the new bad guy to then kill off or not depending on how well he is received!
On the Sunday me, my brother and step dad drove down to
You always worry with these things that it’s so dependant on the mood of the main man so seeing them get on made me hope that maybe he’d give them a little bit longer or go a little bit faster. Over an hour and half later and the boat returned with them both beaming smiles. My fears that it would not be fast enough were immediately disproved by their hairstyles which had been styled by the force of the wind straight up. I enjoyed listening to their excited tales of ‘maxing it’ down the
On a final note I did receive an interesting email recently from a woman who had taken a look at my site and felt compelled to write to me about a t-shirt I was wearing in one of the galleries. She said
“I'd be disgusted and wouldn't even THINK of speaking with you. Don't you realize that is an insult? Do you really expect girls to approach you when you're wearing that?”
Now first off I have to commend her for taking the time to write and also being bold enough to leave an email address so I could respond. Many don’t, so bravo to her. We had an interesting little chat though I don’t think she picked up on:
a. The fact that the t-shirt had in fact worked by making her speak to me
b. That if she was offended by the t-shirt she would probably have been mortified by some of the content on my site had she bothered to read it.
Still it was nice of her to drop me a line and let me know that some people still read the site.
Finally to finish up, I know how much you loved my Klaus Wunderlich recommendation. Well just so you don’t think I have completely descended into cheese hell take the time to download the mix ‘Manuel Le Saux - Top Twenty Tunes 213 [07-Apr-08]’ that you can find here
http://www.crystalclouds.com/forum/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=50#cat
if you scroll down the page. It’s a two hour mix of some of the best trance I’ve heard in a long time.
Hope you enjoy and hi to MG if you ever read this.
23rd April 08
It was a long week. A few clients at work have got some big jobs going through, or fast approaching ones, and it’s been pretty manic. I had some stuff blow up in my private life which I won’t discuss here but once again my brother and two closest friends helped me through it with a combination of advice, support and listening. By the very end of the week things felt a little better than they had at the beginning.
In the blog world, after my petulant grumble in the last entry, one of the women actually responded to my email. Despite her blog name being Ginormous Boobs and her lead image, an impressive cleavage shot, she seems at least from two emails to be an actual person, with feelings and shit. Her blog has only been going since the beginning of the year but the number of comments per entry has been increasing exponentially and with the aforementioned ‘highly searchable’ blog title and image, I think it won’t be long before she’s totally swamped with commenter’s, emailers and suitors.
Like a stunner at a party, you might be able to catch her eye or even mumble a few words in the first hour but after that you are going to be at the back of a long queue. Fair play to her. There’s no point in having a blog if no one is going to read it (I might as well shut mine down then!)
Some of the blogs in her blog circle have proved very entertaining. When I comment on two of them I do feel that they actually read it and that I am making some form of connection with a real person. Granted I have this with Kentucky Girl and Kim in
In other news I’ve been trying to haul my arse back to the gym and swimming pool. It was fun to be back to the permanently ‘fogged up’ goggles situation. I tried everything. Not doing anything, rinsing them in the pool, spitting in them but it made no difference. Three strokes in and I could just about make out the colourful lane dividers. Still at least it made me concentrate on the swimming rather than attempting to look around.
I’ve also decided that when I go to the gym, as I did on the Saturday, that I’m just going to wear my big ear covering headphones and to hell with it. They produce far better sound and bass than my considerably ‘cooler’ Senheiser in-ear headphones. Maybe I look a chump, ok I look a chump, but in my few years of going to the gym nobody has ever taken a blind bit of notice of me, so why not?
People don’t chat other people up in the gym, unless they are complete arseholes, so I might as well have the better sound to lose myself in when I’m trying to allay the boredom of the cycle, treadmill or cross trainer. Hell, I can’t look any worse than I did when I first started going to the gym and had to run holding a Sony Discman level because I hadn’t bought an iPod.
I also tried, at the beginning of the week that is, to cut down a little on the food intake. This meant that for a few nights I had boiled egg and soldiers. Man, sometimes you need to revisit the simple basics (beans on toast, scrambled eggs on toast etc) to remind you that you don’t always need the fancy stuff. Ok you’ve got to get the timing just right, and an old mobile phone ended up having the screen caved in with a wooden spoon in a moment of panic rage when I realised it didn’t have a stopwatch, but when you do everything in the garden is wonderful.
It’s got it all. You’ve got the ‘puncture’ moment when you first bash the head. The nervous anticipation of whether it’s properly cooked or you are just going to get a pool of clear liquid at the top. Another moment of puncture when your first soldier is plunged into the yolk. The scouting round at the bottom of the egg to spoon the more solid yolk onto a soldier as if it’s caviar or expensive pate and then the final proud moment when you’ve completely emptied the shell. You almost feel like a native US Indian that’s used every piece of a recently killed Bison.
I re-discovered during the week, Klaus Wunderlich, the German king of electric organ covers. The guy is brilliant. So cheesy and yet so brilliant. He spits in the face of all those chin rubbing, music snobs and I love him for it.
My mum had one of his albums (Wunderlich Pop 7) when I was younger and I always used to listen to it. I think the horrendously tacky album cover pulled me in (Blonde wearing a gold foil jump suit unzipped to the navel) and I loved it. Just as Hooked on Classics literally got me hooked into classics, this album certainly helped me discover electronica. Indeed I think it was his cover of Jean Michel Jarres’ Oxygene 4 that brought the French genius to my attention. If for nothing else, I owe Klaus for getting me into Jarre for my formative years.
If you give him a go I’m sure you will think it dreadfully bad but you know what? In the sphere of good/bad his current form of really bad isn't actually that far from tipping over the edge into super cool or uber chic. He’s not like pan pipes, it’s something more and I think you either get it or you don’t.
I’d love to win the lottery and drive around in a Lambo Gallardo, which for me is the height of cool, and have some Klaus playing. I’m sure I’d be ridiculed by many but the odd one or two might get the irony and for them, it would be worth it.
I’m confident that few will agree with me but hey you heard it from me first and in a few years when someone pulls up at the lights in a swanky car and his cover of The girl from Ipanema (available on iTunes) is playing, you'll know where it started.
Listen to Tico Tico on his myspace tribute page and you’ll either see the light or you won’t.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=205227320
Just my little gift to you, don't mention it.
15th April 08
I did a lot of eating last week, even for me. We'd been challenged by one of our clients to an eating fest after some Christmas entertaining that we had done with them. Taking inspiration from the Edwardian Supersize me programme that had been on the BBC a few months ago we had decided to meet at the Simpson’s Tavern. http://www.simpsonstavern.co.uk/
It's the embodiment of old school eating having been serving food for over 250 years! Our client was running a little late and we managed to get in there with about 20 minutes until it officially closes. It was all bench seats, bottle served condiments, pin striped suits and lots of loud talking because everyone there is so important. To fulfil the promise of big eating we ordered two main courses each along with a starter and then a desert. I went for leek & potato soup followed by roast beef and Yorkshire pudding plus a steak and kidney pie. Sides were roast potatoes, chips, cauliflower cheese and mushrooms. Desert was jam roly poly and custard.
It was funny when the waiter brought the order to the table. He momentarily hesitated and said
"Oh, we've made a mistake"
"No mistake buddy, just set them down here"
It was a lot of food and I did hit the wall as I neared the end of the steak & kidney pie. Thankfully the jam roly poly was a completely different taste and I polished that off pronto. We all gave a good account of ourselves and bar a few bits of the sides and some kidney and pastry on my plate, we finished everything. When we stood up, we all felt it. For me it was pressure, high up in the chest which thankfully and eventually passed.
Our client had to get some salopettes for a skiing holiday and then he headed off. We stayed up town for a few drinks but even though it was a Friday night and we were in one of the capital cities of the world it was amazingly quiet. Granted I wasn't feeling good enough to pull any crazy moves on any dance floors but I thought I could at least sit down and people watch, ok, honey watch.
On Saturday after looking for cars for my brother, we had possibly the best pizza we've ever eaten. Usually we go for a Pizza Hut, large deep pan meatfeast with extra pepperoni and mushroom. Thing is we seem to get screwed and never get that extra serving of pepperoni. Earth shatteringly tragic I think you'll agree. This time we tried a different tactic and went for a deep pan pepperoni feast with mushroom and beef. I explained this to the telephone girl who said 'why not order a margarita and then add the toppings'. Through chatting with her she constructed the order and it seemed added some extras. Hence once we'd got it home after collecting it, I could review the receipt and see that she had added 2 double pepperoni's, 2 double mushrooms, ham, cheese and beef. Man it was just fantastic. So meaty, so juicy. After we'd finished I had to call her back up and thank her for providing us with one of the best pizzas we'd ever tasted. With the amount of complaining calls they probaly get I think it was a nice change for her to receive a call from a satisfied customer. Credit where credit due in my book.
I was emailing a friend recently and talking about how sometimes the internet can make you feel pretty lonely and these last few days have proved a great example of this. I do this site to have a presence on the web and to connect with people but sometimes you feel like a TV playing to an empty room.
I found a blog of someone with my exact name a fortnight ago. I read his blog, found it amusing and dropped him a line. It wasn't written in crayon or proclaimed 'will you be my friend' but was jokey and tried to make reference to some of the topics he'd raised.
During the middle of the week we were quite quiet in the office and I discovered a couple of new blogs. The two female authors had humourous blogs and seemed to respond to their comments, which was encouraging. I did the same as my namesake and sent them a nice email. Again I tried to keep it light-hearted but alluded to details in the blog to show that I had actually read it.
Did I hear anything back? Of course not.
You'd think when writing a blog that you'd want people to make contact and let you know that you'd discovered their rambles. Apparently not. I think maybe my contact is considered weak, stalky or treated with derision. Almost like the contact massages their ego and that's all they want, for anything else is considered creepy or over-friendly. I appreciate I'm probably being over sensitive and will laugh at myself in a few days but when your sending out some genuine emails and getting nothing, it kinda knocks you back.
To end on a happier note Condemned 2 has been at least keeping the rage in check. You might get a pang of loneliness but introducing a graphic characters face to your left fist, then a baseball bat and finally a TV screen for the coup de grace certainly helps.
Oh and one more thing. I’ve managed to catch the TV show The Big Bang Theory which is excellent fun. I love the geeky characters and relate so much with the things they do and say. I love Sheldon and his talk in one episode about how Penny couldn’t play Halo because it was a tactical battlefield simulation was brilliant. Check it out if you get a chance.
Thanks for stopping by.
7th April 08
So what's new? I've been tinkering with the site a little, combining a few of the sections, losing one of the galleries and even adding a few pics to the very front page. Hardly cutting edge in the world of blog design but hey, every little helps!
A few weekends back I was glued to the TV to watch the British Cycling team competing at the World Championships. We done incredibly at the previous Worlds getting 7 Gold medals and I hoped for a similar level of world performance. We were truly amazing and ended up getting 9 Golds and 2 Silvers. The team was incredible with a depth of talent, support and organisation that surpassed anything I've ever seen before. It was very heart-warming to see us actually excelling at something and to see other nations looking at us, Great Britain, as the country to beat. There were 18 golds up for grabs in total so getting 9 is quite incredible.
Bradley Wiggins got 3 golds, Chris Roy and Victoria Pendleton got 2 golds and 1 silver each and Rebecca Romero got 2 golds. Her story (Rebecca's) has to be the most amazing as she was a former rower who won a silver at the Sydney Olympics and a gold at the following world championships before sustaining an injury that made her look for another discipline. She decided on cycling and two years later she was hammering, and I mean hammering, the current two time world champion in the pursuit event. It was great entertainment and made all the moreso by how refreshingly ordinary and non polished our team was in the interviews. I don't say that in derision but more how it made them look normal and almost attainable.
I imagine that for someone wanting to make it into the team you could look at it and think I don't have to be the perfect PR ready machine to get in the team but rather just be exeptional at what I do. I think the most exciting race of the championship was the madison. This is a 200 lap, 50km race involving two riders in each team who take it in turns to compete. Sounds a little complex so you might want to check Wikipedia if remotely interested (unlikely I know!). Anyway it was exhilerating stuff. To cut a long story short we were basically behind and every time we tried to make a break were followed by the pack. With only 30 laps or so to go our two boys, Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish, made a final huge push to break free of the pack. The local Manchester crowd roared on their efforts as I did from the comfort of my sofa and we managed to do it. It was so cool to see some British athletes kicking arse and taking names and I'll be certain to monitor our teams progress in Beijing.
Went out on the last Saturday of March and our normal haunt was the busiest I have ever seen it. There were people everywhere. From constantly wondering when everyone is and isn't out, how holidays or pay days affect people going out, it seems the March pay day is the one when the shackles are cast off and people head out. Things were so busy that we didn't even bother going downstairs to dance. Driving home though and we decided to really push the boat out at the drive thru McDonalds close to where my mate lives. In an order that would have had Mr Spurlock worrying we went for three double quarter pounder with cheese meals, three single quarter pounders with cheese and 40, yes 40, chicken mcnuggets. And this was between the three of us. It was an awe inspiring display of eating and I guess if we can't end the evening in the company of girls then how better than a face buried in a McDonalds bag!
Saw Mr Brooks recently with Kevin Costner which was surprisingly good. I'd kinda discounted it as I find serial killer films all very similar. I especially don't like films when they show a visible character to represent someones split persona or alter ego. This though was surprisingly well handled and you came to like Mr Brooks for his coolness and methodical planning, despite him being a monster.
I decided one night when I couldn't be arsed to head home to look for some stand up comedy on Youtube. I saw quite a bit of stuff including some frankly dire Jamie Foxx, some disappointing Chris Rock who seems to make a good point and then spend the next 10 minutes hammering said point to death and some entertaining Lee Evans. Best of the bunch though was an American comedian called Richard Jeni. I'd seen him before one late night on TV and really identify with his brand of observational humour. Unfortunately it seems depression caused him to take his own life which is a real shame but he's one of his killer routines.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-O4mJKEEqQ
The end of April approaches and with it the release of GTA IV which I think will easily surpass the hoopla that Halo 3 generated. Being cross platform means it will have an even bigger release and I think i'm going to get it. I got GTA III on the PS2 and thought it a great game but it was my brother who seemed more into it than myself. Although we both like each respective game it always seems that I'm more the Halo one and he is the GTA one. Anyways I think I'll succumb to the hype (though I believe it will deliver on said hype) and pick it up at the end of the month. In the meantime I've been enjoying Condemned 2 which certainly has it's moments of barbaric violence and is good fun.
I also recently watched a film called In the Shadow of the Moon, which is all about the Apollo missions to land on the moon. It features interviews with all of the astronauts, bar Neil Armstrong who is a bit of recluse and said he didn't want the film being about him, which I think is an honourable response. It's a great film with some wonderful imagery and a lovely accompanying score by Philip Shepherd. You really get a sense of the enormity of what NASA achieved and what the actual men who went are like. I pretty much watched the film with a smile on my face all the way. Very uplifting and inspirational. I'm proud to have such a good record of that event in Mankinds history in my collection. That sounded a bit grandiose but I think you understand my sentiment.
Thanks for stopping by. Talk soon.
26th March 08
Yes I'm still alive dear reader. Still plodding along through March.
So what have I been up to? I tried to have a busy weekend a few weeks back. On the Friday night my brother and I headed up to Heaven, the nightclub underneath Charing Cross station for a night of trance. The night was called Supernature and featured some big name trance DJ's that I really liked. Guiseppe Ottoviani and Aly & Fila. I decided that I would wear my orange NASA flightsuit as this was probably one of the few places that I could wear it and people might not freak out.
We got to the place a little early and as we waited my brother reminded me that we were going to enter a legendary gay nightclub (Friday wasn't gay night) and I was dressed like one of the missing Village People. It was a good point that made me laugh but what the hell. It all depended on what the first few reactions were. If they were good then my confidence would be buoyed and I'd feel great. Even walking to the place I got a double take from some girls in a bar and the female ticket attendant commented on how cool I looked. I must admit I did. It's tailored in at the waist so makes me look a little slimmer and with the orange silenced dog tags and shades it look all right.
Some other people commented on how it looked and one girl described me as having "cool threads". I did have a gay and his fag hag tell me how cool I looked and asked whether they could dance with me. Being trance and assuming that the female was 'with' the guy (she wasn't shaved headed or wearing a bomber jacket) I thought we'd just dance normally or at least as normally as trance dancing is. Oh no they started to step in to me and I had to push them back and say 'er no, not that kind of dancing'. He then asked about my friend who I said was my brother and my bro responded with the blokest, most manly 'alright mate'. He skulked off throwing his hand in the air with a whatever gesture and I had to laugh.
The music was ok but not really condusive to dancing. It's great to listen to when driving or surfing the web but every tune has a melodic break down that puts a real damper on your energetic dancing. Having a breakdown every 3rd or 4th song is one thing but on every track means you just can't find your rhythmn. Frustratingly the place was only like a quarter full. I don't know what it is with me and clubbing. Even when I just reserve it to the big name DJ's I still manage to score the poorly attended events. Aly & Fila were meant to come on at 3.00 but the place seemed to be getting even emptier and so we left so we didn't feel their embarassment. Had a double quarterpounder from our favourite McDonalds near Canary Wharf which tried to go some way to alleviate the evening. Still I did look damn good and maybe I'll get to wear it again soon.
One of the reasons for leaving early-ish was due to having a reasonably early start the next day to go and see a car for my brother. It was in North London and the guy had said on Friday when my brother booked the appointment that he'd had no interest yet. We were due to see it at 12.00 and at 11.51 he called my brother on the mobile to tell him that the car had been sold and gone. He then hung up. We were already so close and I was so furious that we continued to drive to the address and managed to see the new owners getting into the car and driving. Unfortunately we must have just missed the seller, Tony, which was a shame as I'd least wanted to call him a c**t and thank him for his last minute call. I know it's tricky when trying to sell something but a little consideration wouldn't have hurt.
Stopped in at P's as she was on the route home. Sometimes it helps to discuss it when someone has wronged you. The tea turned into a chance to eat some lunch and then watch a film on Sky movies. We saw 1408 which I thought was good. It had some good twists and turn and I though Cusack was very good. I think the stand out image was when he is holding his daughter who then crumbled into ash in his hands.
Bro and I went out that night locally as our mate was away on hols. Got a cab up there, hit a couple of pubs to binge drink before hitting our fave bar. It was an ok night and it was good to be out drinking but we could have done with a little female interaction.
Sunday and we watched the actual film Air Guitar Nation. It was excellent and probably the best way to sum it up is in the email that I sent to one of the main characters - C-Diddy
" Hey C-diddy
I’m sure you must be tired of getting so many emails but I just wanted to drop you a quick line after watching Air Guitar Nation on DVD this weekend.
I have been aware of Air Guitar for a couple of years now. I attended the 2006
a. To actually see the film which really helped publicise the craze
b. See the mini documentary on the special features of the UK DVD that was recorded at the 2007
What a cracking film Air Guitar Nation is. It really explains the whole phenomenon and paints refreshingly real and human portraits of the main individuals. You don’t feel it’s judging anyone or trying to make anyone look silly. One of the moments of genuine drama within the film that had my brother and myself cheering at the screen was the West Coast championship final.
We felt it a tad unfair that you had to compete on hostile territory with strong competition and an unfavourable crowd but what a performance you’d pulled out. I know the film showed snippets of your routine in the East coast championship but this time it had way more punch. Awesome, outstanding and wildly entertaining. I’ve not seen an audience turned like that since Rocky 4. There was no question that you were the worthy winner although I confess that I did like Krye Tuff as well.
Your domination in
I thought you were incredibly magnanimous in referring to Bjorn as your nemesis. I admire his tenacity in continuing to try but do think he could have been a little more humble in admitting his failings. I know to do something well you have to take it seriously but I think some were guilty of blurring the line between art and entertainment.
The film talked about how good it was that the
I know that when I performed as The Hooded Fingerer, and no way am I in your league, I was more concerned with putting on a good show and getting across what we hoped was a slightly different take on the whole Air Guitar thing. In my performance I started as a robed, hooded figure playing Cavatina on the classical air guitar before exploding out to reveal a red leotarded, headscarf wearing, root vegetable packing figure playing She sells Sanctuary by the Cult and then Free Bird on the electric.
Anyway this was meant to be a short message and I’ve managed to ramble on haven’t I? I thought you came across really well on the film compared to some others and someone with a genuine sense of fun. I’m delighted to see from IMDB that you’ve had some acting work and hope things are going well with the family business.
All the very best"
As if there wasn't enough of a reason for getting the DVD (ie seeing me) the actual film makes it a definite purchase. Great entertainment.
I have done more but I need to shoot off home for the weekend. So I'll try and catch up with some more riveting news soon.
The following Saturday we went to another local bar that we hadn't been to in an age. It always seemed to have a strict age restriction of +25, meaning my brother wouldn't get in. We thought we'd give a try anyway and it appears the age has been reduced. God knows why we ever bothered thinking we needed to check the place out. I've never seen a greater collection of weird, chav looking, low IQ'd fuckwits. The place could only have been about 1/4 full yet they wheeled an very poor live PA called 'Out of office' who proceeded to walk amongst the crowd whilst she covered two dance tracks. She could have done with heading outside to drum up some trade because performing in front of such a miniscule crowd was laughable.
There were a bunch of married girls in there, obviously out for their one night out in the year. We recognised one of them and hence made an effort to chat to them. I couldn't really be arsed as I knew that all I was doing would be massaging their ego's. I could already see them heading home and relaying to their husbands or long term boyfriends how they still 'had it' and could still get chatted up at a moments notice by a host of guys. Due to this, and as I was simply being polite, I raised both the topics of indoor fireworks and the worlds tallest building as a change from the normal shite.
Easter was early this year and thus we had four days of supposed relaxation. I went out on the Friday and my mate drove for once meaning my brother and I could get drunk. I did. Not drinking as frequently means I certainly feel it when I have a tipple and this night was no different. I felt my rosy 'aunt sally' cheeks and a burst of confidence meaning I felt capable of talking to any female. This was helped in that I was wearing my yellow t-shirt with 'Obsessed by movies, breasts and spag bol' on it. It was going down a storm and everyone seem to have a opinion. It gave me a way in to tell them about my awesome spag, question them on their favourite films and at least imply that I was only interested if they had a large racks! - what a shallow bastard.
We also started watching the programme Shark this week. It's got James Woods in it who plays the title character who was a former hot shot defense lawyer who then swaps sides and join the DA's office. The writing on the show is excellent. Fast paced, intelligent and humorous. Check it out if you can.
6th March 08
Well Sly certainly delivered the mustard with Rambo. The Chinese meal that we had before the film was disappointing but the film was fantastic. So good in fact that we went and saw it again on the Sunday.
Ok, it isn't Shakespeare and if you are looking for a touching piece of intimate human drama set against a backdrop of social housing this won't be your bag. If however you enjoyed the trilogy (as I did) and are a fan, stop what you are doing and go and check it out now.
I thought the film was fantastic. Sly gets a lot of stick but he co-wrote, starred in and directed this film. He has managed to wrestle the title of most visceral battle scene from the likes of Steven Spielberg no less, yet will he get any credit? No of course not. Nothing but sneering contempt from a bunch of chin rubbing liberals who find a comedy about teenage pregnancy far more entertaining.
Stallone showed courage in steadfastedly gunning for an R/18 rating and disregarding the impact on box office dollar, for giving his fans what they wanted (something George Lucas wasn't capable of doing) and delivering a refreshing shot in the arm of action films that were stagnating in their own pomposity.
Sly has done for the action film what Tony Jaa/Ong Bak did for martial arts films. There are action scenes in this which are gritty, visceral, bloody and exhilarating. Seriously, this doesn't pull its punches in showing how a .50 calibre machine gun can tear up a battlefield. I thoroughly enjoyed it and even though I know admitting it makes me out to be some kind of psychotic, I don't care. It's a kick arse, balls out action film that left me charged in the same way Ong Bak had. Nice work Sly, we still love you big guy.
I even found myself going on a Rambo campaign by posting more topics and replies on the Rambo IMDB page than I have for any other film. Oh and I ordered the film soundtrack as well. Are you worried than I'm going to start fashioning a knife and wearing a head band?
Sticking with films for the moment, two excellent items appeared on one of my favourite movie websites. The first is the trailer for
http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/02/28/another-full-iron-man-trailer-launches-holy-sht/
The second item that only appeared recently is an alternate ending for I am Legend. I kind of enjoyed the film when it was released but the last twenty minutes ruined it.
Spoilers ahead.
I didn't like the girl turning up and felt it started to head downhill. His death felt forced and unnecessary as if they had to tag it on to make it like the book. The monsters were also portrayed one minute as capable of rational thoughts and planning, yet the next mindless animals. This new ending although sugar coated right at the very end goes a long way to change the whole tone of the film. It brings more into play a theme from the book that Neville is the odd one out. The inhabitants of the planet have moved on and it is he who is the outsider. Giving the vampires (if they can be called this) human traits adds a far greater dimension to the reasons for what they do and is certainly more thought provoking that the original 'blow up the bad guys' ending.
http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/03/05/must-watch-i-am-legends-original-ending-this-is-amazing/
Had a Lost fest round our friends which was ok. Maybe it's my fault for not remembering the third series as well but I confess to being a little confused with everything that was going on. I'll continue watching no doubt but you are aware at how blatantly you are being set up for some new plot themes to come in that might or might not get resolved. To add to the confusion not only do we get things played out in the current timeline we also get flashbacks and flash-forward’s!
I must also say that although we record and watch like 5 or 6 in a row the adverts on Sky One are so annoying. What is with this showing a little snippet, then the Lost title coming into the screen and then cutting to the ads? It's like the final one they pull when there is literally like 2 or 3 minutes of footage to go and they cut for a break.
The highlight of the day though was eating a couple pieces of steak that we'd got. The steak was great but the real coup de grace was the sauce we created. Using a healthy dash of white wine we de-glazed the frying pan then added a carton of double cream topped off with the steak juices from where it had been 'resting' on a plate as we finished the other items. My god the sauce was incredible. I can almost taste it now as I write this and remember soaking a large steak chip in it!
Nothing to report on the lady front. We've been out a couple of Saturdays and chatted to girls, which is certainly positive but as usual I'm fine chatting to the ones I don't really fancy. We went up town one Saturday and got chatting to a bunch of Irish girls. One of them was such a miserable bitch who seemed totally incapable of smiling. I don't know what her problem was but she sat there all night with her arms crossed and a face like thunder. Why even bother coming out when you are going to act like that?
On another Saturday I was recognised by a girl we'd chatted to about a year ago. I remembered her quite well primarily because we spent the night chatting and then she just left with a goodbye to my mate and complete blank of me. I don't know why she did it but my pride doesn't forget things like that and although I was happy to chat to her again that will remain at the back of my mind. We actually have a lot of things in common and she has a killer rack but an attitude capable of pulling the stunt she did isn't something I find attractive.
Air Guitar Nation was released on DVD this week. I don't know if you remember but when I performed last year at the
I've not yet watched the actual film but the documentary 'Out for the Count' is excellent and gives a real flavour of the event. Count Rockula himself is very personable and puts a humourous spin on everything. I'm trying to be modest but I have to say that I feature quite a bit in it. There's the pre performance chat that I gave, a 1 on 1 with Rockula which shows we had a little 'chemistry', a healthy element of my performance, a major crowd shot which basically figures all of the people who came along to see me and my final piece backstage for the post performance thoughts. They've even included by Danny Glover - Predator 2 slap down to the audience.
I was pretty damn chuffed. I think I managed to come over quite well if I'm honest. Self deprecating, not taking it too seriously and wanting to have some fun. I couldn't really have asked for more when way back in August 2007 I thought maybe I might get an appearance on the featurette. I'm sorry if I've come across as big headed but every dog has it's day and it's 15 seconds of fame and this could well be mine.
For those that can't wait to own a little part of me see below
http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/3513392/Air-Guitar-Nation/Product.html
Other than that, I think that is about it. I've been hitting the gym every Saturday for a good few weeks now but am fighting a bit of losing battle against the tum. I'm not obese but maybe a little softer than I'd like. I just need to get to a point where I am so disgusted with my frame that I kick into a proper regime of cutting back on the food and increasing the gym visits.
For this coming weekend I intend to hit Heaven, the nightclub underneath
Thanks for stopping. Take care.
22th February 08
Two characters have been at the forefront of my mind over the last couple of weeks. First offf is Barack Hussein Obama. I'd first become aware of him a good few months back when I'd seen him on the Daily Show with John Stewart. They were reporting how a news crew had screwed up reporting his name and has called him Osama. I was impressed with how he didn't make a fuss about it and laughed it off. He seemed personable and wasn' t trying to score childish points.
When I heard he was running for President I thought good on him and how impressed I would be if America chose a black president. Then over the last few weeks I read a really informative interview about him in Vanity Fair which stoked my interest in him further. That night I went into internet sponge mode and tracked down videos of him on the Tonight show, with Letterman, doing 60 minutes, an interview with Google, some other televised chat shows and even his keynote address to the Democratic convention in 2004 when he gave an attention grabbing speech.
To get over the cynicism that many have about presidents being in the pocket of lobbyists who have funded their campaign Obama set out to finance his campaign less on the reliance of 'pacts' and more on the public. He has got to a point where 90% of his funds come from individuals pledging a $100 dollars or less. I dropped his website a line to wish him luck and offer support and before you tell me, Yes I know that he won't read it and someone else will but I still wanted to do my bit. I like the guy. I like his style, I like his common sense and I like his friendly, easy manner. I wish we had a leader over here with his charm. If he gets the nomination to run against John McCain I'm tempted to make a small, token donation. It's crazy really but it's me all over.
I'm usually as cynical as hell and assume everyone is out to screw you over or not very nice but get someone that I like, respect or impresses me and I'll defend them and 'big them up' to the hilt ie Michael Jackson, Sly Stallone, Maggie Thatcher, Tom Cruise etc
The other character over this time is John J Rambo. A great character but one that comes in for an unhealthy amount of ridicule, similarly in fact to the actor that plays him. I've always liked Sly. He seems to have a great personality and is very self effacing. People dismiss him as this bumbling, over exercised fool yet he's a self made man and deserves respect. He wrote Rocky himself and made the Rambo character his own. The new Rambo film is coming out and thus he's been doing the interview circuit to help promote it. In a way it's kind of annoying to hear so many people say 'I always thought he was a fool but he comes across really well'.
He never seems to take himself too seriously and I never forget how when he made Demolition Man (which is a great film) he said 'you know I tried comedy and it didn't work so I thought I'd go back to action'. How many other stars would ever admit that? Anyway he was on Jonathan Ross and gave some great tales but as usual wasn't on for long enough. He really is a star that I'd love to just hang with if he had the time. I think once he could see you were a genuine person and fan he could tell some fantastic stories. I'd also love to talk through the things in his films that I so enjoyed.
And so we come to Rambo coming out at the pictures. It has been coming for some time. I think we saw the trailer last May and after the disappointment of Rocky Balboa we are trying to keep our expectations in check. Still, getting excited and the anticipation of a big film is half the fun and we've been fuelling this by watching the three films over consecutive nights. They are still great entertainment.
First Blood is an excellent film with a serious message and some corking lines from John's former commanding officer, Colonel Trautman. You get a real taste for his character, and I'm sure many miss it, right at the beginning of the film when he's chatting to the mum of one of his former unit friends. His character doesn't say a lot but in this scene he shows a lot more depth. You even get to see on film the moment where Sly breaks three ribs as he falls through a tree.
First Blood: Part II is another great film. Yes it's more action based but still has some killer stuff in it. Johns description of 'what means expendable' is brilliant and you really (well I did) want him to find some romance with the female Co Bao. When she dies, after coming back to rescue John from his torture in the camp you want John to kill absolutely everyone.
First Blood: Part III is not quite as good but still has some great moments. John stick fighting, Trautmans 'coming full circle' speech, the music when John has said No to Trautman, the moment when he cauterises a wound with the powder from a bullet and the finale when the helicopter and tank collide.
I booked the tickets at the beginning of the week and we intend to grab something to eat from the China Diner beforehand to get us in the mood as the film is set in Burma.
What else. I discovered, or at least made the connection, that Sainsburys Bacon Frazzles (bacon maize snacks for those not in the know) are considerably better than Tescos. It's like they have a stronger, furrier taste brought about no doubt by additional chemicals and flavourings. Either way it's an important finding and worth bearing in mind next time you fancy a bacon snack.
Went out on one of the Saturday nights and we had some fun. No real female interaction though I did catch two girls blatantly about to walk off with two of our drinks. I wouldn't mind but I was standing right next to them. Their sheepish faces when I asked what they were doing was priceless and I knew they were on the defensive when they complimented my shirt, which no women seem to like!
12th February 08
Well the tooth pain has effectively gone though I managed to forget a couple of tablets if I'm honest. Recent Saturdays have been ok. Met a couple of girls when we went to Blackheath a few weeks ago. I got chatting to them well enough and we managed to keep one of them entertained. The other one liked receiving drinks but was happy to spend her night chatting to anyone regardless of who did and didn't buy her a drink. That was fine. None of us expect someone to remain chatting to us if we buy them a drink. We just make sure we only buy them one!
The following Saturday and we headed down to
It was fun and great to be having my ego stroked by being able to keep some new people entertained but you know me, and I'm not being arrogant, but they didn't float my boat. The point I'm making though is that once I come across someone I do like the look of I'm sure I won't be able to be as confident or easy going. That's life I guess.
During this time my brother managed to pass his driving test. First time. I'm so proud of him. He's done it all on his own, paid for the lessons himself, passed the theory and took the test. I tried to insure him on my car to help with the lessons but my insurance company wouldn't put him on. I'd tried to tell him the night before the test that it didn't matter if he didn't pass 1st time and that it wasn't the be all and end all of things. Of course it is and when he called to say that he had passed I was over the moon. You only get one chance to pass first time and he did it and gets to join that special club. Now he gets to experience the joys, frustrations, freedoms etc of owning his first car.
Brother and I helped our friend put up her LCD and wire in her new home cinema set up. Had some initial frustrations on putting up the wall bracket when the instructions asked you to drill a certain width hole (10mm) and then provide concrete anchors for the bolts to go in that were basically smaller in width than the drilled holes. Hence as you screwed in the bolt that would normally expand the anchor it simply just turned around in the hole. There was a little anger and harsh language I can assure you. My resourceful brother having far more patience and ingenuity than me fashioned a means of keeping the anchor in utilising some other raw plugs and we managed to get the thing up.
Unfortunately we couldn't then get the system to work properly which really deflated me. We had also gone over to check out the new season of Lost but as the TV wasn't working properly P recorded it on Sky+ and we will have a couple of multiple episode Lost viewing sessions on another day.
Went back a few days later when my brother did a days DIY round her house and we'd got some more leads and managed to get it working properly. It was a great picture, a great set up and makes the room look very cool. After some poor results we both felt better for having pushed the notion of her getting a better TV.
From an entertainment point of view treated myself to a few DVD's. The Kingdom - an excellent action/thriller set in the middle east with Jamie Foxx and also the classic Mousehunt. Great little film this. I heard the music on streaming soundtracks which reminded me of how much I liked the film and a quick Amazon search revealed I could get it for £4-5. I've nice memories of how the first time I watched this it was with my brother and step dad and how much it made us all laugh. Some have described it as being Home Alone with a mouse but I think that description is doing it a dis-service. It's a lot sweeter than that, funnier and doesn't feature an annoying kid.
Also went to the pictures to check out the first big film of the year, Cloverfield. I liked it if I'm honest. It offered a new and interesting take on doing a film and was a good horror movie to boot. I would like to have seen more of the monster, the destruction that it was doing and the action scenes with the military. Being all from the point of view of a bunch of 30 something New Yorkers meant time didn't need to be spent explaining where it was from which was kinda cool and the perspective of being through the hand held camera added massively to the realism. I think because of this you always wanted to see more but isn't that what a good film is meant to do. Anyway I really enjoyed it.
25th January 08
Not much to report I'm afraid. January is always pretty poor (though checking back through the journal reveals it's never that bad) and I've ended up staying in the last two weekends.
You know the score: late nights, ridiculous lay ins, weak contemplations of visiting the gym, psych analysis of whether anyone would actually be out bearing in mind how January is always tight on the coffers, eating way too much, co-ordinating which items are most demanding of being washed - the norm.
I did buy some new bed linen a few weeks ago which for me is new. My bed is still a knackered, single cabin bed that I initially had when a lot younger, then gave to my brother and then managed to get back again. It's white, the doors underneath have come off the railings and the mattress is as lumpy as a sack full of potatoes. Hardly inviting for some girlie action is it?
You see when I initially moved in with my step dad and the small second bedroom, it served a few purposes. It kept him company immediately following his and my mums separation and it gave me somewhere to stay so I could invest the money I'd been saving to get my own place on the estate agents in Sevenoaks. To cut a long story short, that went tits up, I lost nearly £18,000 and had to start rebuilding a deposit as well as my self confidence. My current job, which I love and makes going through all that shit worthwhile, has helped with both of those tasks.
Anyway the reason my bed is so small is that a double would be quite a squeeze and in a way depriving myself of a big bed will make the time when I get my own place and the inevitable huge, leopard skin covered, shag platform all the more sweeter.
What I went for was a buy one, get one free mocha/light blue reversible duvet set. It goes wonderfully well with the grey carpet, light purple walls, white chest of drawers, blue metal shelving unit, pine/blue wardrobe and womble lightshade. You could say 'well no wonder so few women come back' but lets face they never get that far to see it!
When I bought the fitted sheets from BHS I had a moment of whether to be a good citizen. They were £20, which I gave the guy in cash and he rang in £50. I've worked in retail and that's the oldest trick in the book for stealing from the till. It could have been an honest mistake but when the till flashes up that you have to give £30 in change and your face shows no sign or inclination to do it I think there is something dodgy. I didn't take it up with him but as I travelled downstairs on the escalator I thought about what to do. Should I take the hand washing attitude of 'it's nothing to do with me' or actually do something when faced with a potential example of stealing. My better instincts took over, and I'm glad they did, and I found a sales person downstairs and explained what had happened to them. They referred to their manager and I explained it again. I admitted that I could be wrong and it be a harmless mistake but I thought they should be made aware of it, especially if the inbalance of money was discovered and everyone using that till was under suspicion.
Whether this is an example of me turning into a miserable old bastard I don't know but I'm not someone who really admires crime (bar maybe my speeding fines, which yes I know are a form of crime) and believes we should do our bit rather than turning a blind eye.
Had a tooth ache for over a week that I manage to subdue with regular Anadin but realised that it wasn't going and that I would need to go the dentists eventually. I concede that I don't really like the dentist. My teeth aren't brilliant and I do have a slightly discoloured one at the front which I have considered getting done. The thing is a proper crown is £500 and I'm not sure if it's worth it. Is the tooth really holding me back from all the girls, would £500 spent on something else bring me more pleasure? I am aware of it, especially when smiling or looking at myself in photographs and it just so happened that it is the discoloured tooth that was hurting.
I met the dentist who surprisingly remembered me from about two years back and still remembered my tooth. She was very good and although we discussed a crown for that tooth and another lower molar she didn't make me feel like some kind of rotting toothed, Deliverance hick who needed immediate remedy. We had a chat, she took an x-ray and I headed off for her to review later. Apparently it didn't come out properly and I had to go back today for another x-ray. As fate would have it although the pressure was still above the tooth when biting the throbbing pain had gone over the weekend. To prove this, the dentist couldn't see anything wrong on the x-ray and simply presribed me some penicilin. A potential bill to resolve it that could have stretched into the hundreds might hopefully be resolved with a course of tablets costing £6.80.
It doesn't resolve the discolouration and maybe once the pressure/pain has cleared 2008 is the year to get it done and reap the rewards of a killer smile.
Haven't been to the cinema but seen a couple of lousy films on DVD. Death Proof was Quentin Tarantino's latest film and was pretensious, self indulgent bullshit of the highest order. Like Kill Bill before it was full of 'clever' film scratches, choppy edits and audio drop outs to be reminiscent of the 70's films he was paying homage to. They did it then because they couldn't afford better but him doing just looks silly. It's an idea that should have been entertained for 5 minutes in the first creative meeting and then dropped. Of course no one would say that to QT because they are all chin rubbing, brown nosers who want to taste some his 'coolness'.
Also saw Mr Woodcock which is about a guy returning to see his mum and discovers she is dating his old PE teacher who was a bullying arsehole. It reminded me of Meet the Parents and how cross I got with that film when I first saw it. Ben Stillers character tried everything to get along yet was greeted with unfairness at every turn and it bugged the shit out of me. In the end I wanted him to just tell his fiance and her family to fuck off. Nothing is worth tolerating that level of shit eating. Mr Woodcock was the same as the teacher was a complete wanker but seemed to be getting ahead all the time.
The only other highlight was after two years of steady pressure convincing my work colleague that she needs to upgrade her 21' TV to something bigger and better, she has finally succumbed and is buying a 32" Samsung LCD. Excellent news.
Well as you can see, it's hardly been exhilerating, rip-roaring stuff has it? Why I even bothered to put it all down to bore the crap out of you is beyond me but I did have some rather excellent trance music playing on the internet which helped push me forward.
Thanks for reading and I hope your two weeks have been a little more entertaining.
11th January 08
I've had some sweet responses to my last journal entry where I think some thought I was going to bring my site to a close. I know there are thousands, nay millions, who wait with baited breath to see what may happen but rest assured I'm not closing it down.
The point I was trying to make was that I'd been reasonably regular in my weekly entries for about two years but was finding it increasingly difficult to keep that up to date. You then fall behind and mean to update but the notion of doing so becomes a chore rather than a desire. Hence this is why I'm going to try to add bits and bobs when I feel the need but not to impose on myself the pressure of weekly updates.
As I said I look at my site as like a larger, more extended profile of myself. Instead of being a blog it is meant to be my repository, a place where I can dump all my thoughts, pics, tales and rambles. A place where if somebody wanted to find out more about me they could come to, read, digest and walk away in disgust. A weekly blog is a kind of tool to allow others to see into your normal humdrum life and I think two years of archival material should be enough if anyone was insane enough to think "Ok I know about his films, music, prejudices and what he likes in women but what is his average week like?"
Easing up on the journal might also free me up to flesh out some of the other sections a little more and maybe get round to writing up the
Went up to Strawberry Moons in the
Brother and I decided that we would go back there on the Saturday before Christmas ie the 21st as we thought it would be rammed. Christmas Eve is always a strange night with some people out and others seemingly doing the couple thing or going to midnight mass. Hence the Saturday before should be mucho busy. We decided we would go in fancy dress as I wanted to wear my Nasa flight suit. Upon looking on eBay for a proper
So I got two pucker uniforms (one Royal Artillery, one Royal Logistics Corp) off this lady along with the khaki shirt and ties, medal ribbons, white belt and gloves and the two of us headed up to
It should have been busy. All the psychology of people being out pointed to this being the best night to be out but not for us. It didn't take long for it to have effect though and we were getting major eyes. A couple of people came over to ask what unit we were in and we told them it was fancy dress but they acted like they hadn't heard and continued to ask questions. We had a group of drunken girls come over and start taking photos and introducing themselves but we weren't interested and moved away.
It was weird that for once in my life (and I realise it was purely and only the uniform making this happen) I was the top of the food chain. Granted there wasn't that much competition but it was evident that more people would have meant even more eyes on me. I'm not being arrogant. I know what they were looking at but it was very powerful and almost a little frightening. It made me feel what maybe it's like to be a stunning looking girl or a large chested girl wearing a revealing top as you feel eyes on you all the time and are aware that anyone might stop you and start chatting to you. Seeing the women making the first move it also showed how lame some of them are in their approaches, and in turn the lameness that women must see from men all the time.
There wasn't anyone that took either of our eyes in the club even though it did fill up a little bit more and we headed off around 11.00ish. The downside of them being so pucker is that people did genuinely think we were in the Army though clearly none of them thought 'why would two soldiers be out in full ceremonial dress'. On a normal night, with maybe a smattering of others in fancy dress it would have been great but it was interesting to see that the theory was most definitely true and that it was a potent force.
The poor turnout on Saturday in town kind of deflated us a little for Christmas Eve and with M forced from coming out due to illness and my brother knackered after work we found ourselves staying in on Chrimbo Eve to watch a few DVD's.
I got all the things that I wanted for Christmas (DVD's, games, CD's, socks etc) and had two big Christmas dinners. One on the day round my Aunts and the other on Boxing Day at my mums. From an entertainment standpoint I got myself the Transformers DVD and after finishing the highly enjoyable Call of Duty 4 game started on Mass Effect.
Mass Effect is a huge sci fi, space opera RPG. The graphics, story and music are fabulous and the chance to mould your character through facial configuration and conversation is incredible. It's like the computer equivalent of all those Fighting Fantasy books I used to read when younger. You know the 'If you turn left go to page 23, if you turn right go to page 152'. You can travel around the universe exploring new worlds, interact with your team members and slowly discover a breathtakingly clever storyline. It had me hooked over Christmas and the final story arc, reveal and last two hours were mesmerising game play.
Seemed to play this and go to bed increasingly later for the duration of my time off which was naturally great. The advantage of not having a partner and being dragged to the sales, relatives etc I guess.
Brother and I headed out on New Years Eve to our usual haunt but weren't expecting a great deal. We'd necked a few before heading off and tried to pace ourselves when we got in the place. The DJ downstairs started to drop some good tunes including the two that we associated with
We seemed to start entertaining these two lovely blondes at some point. I was just doing my normal dancing, which I concede can be a little attention grabbing, and from then we got talking. It was all very good spirited and not like 'pulling'. I seemed to be making them laugh to the point of them wetting themselves which was nice and we shared a few drinks, dances and laughs. They made a nice impact on our evening. They were friendly, attractive, were being sought after by other guys in the club yet still wanted to remain with us. They even bought us a drink which is unheard of.
It was great to have that magic that I always talk about. That feeling that something could happen and also the feeling that we were having an impact on their evening. We weren't trying it on or trying to maul them which made everyone enjoy themselves more. When we left they did the usual in saying what a great night they'd had and how much of a difference we had made to it which is always lovely to hear. They asked for my mobile number and you never like to dwell on it or go to town on swapping contact details as you don't want to give the impression that that is all you are interested in. They took my mobile number and promised to text that night but unsurprisingly didn't.
I love women who say that guys entertaining and making them laugh are really important but then aren't really bothered when they meet them. I sound bitter don't I? I wasn't het up on them but after such a nice evening it would have been refreshing to see my weary cynicism proved wrong right at he beginning of the year.
What else? We also saw I am Legend which was disappointing. Will Smith couldn't have done more or acted better but unfortunately the material he was given was very poor and the end of the film descended into almost mummy-esque silliness. Hardly surprising since the writers (not Richard Matheson the author) did Batman & Robin and Poseidon before.
Well for a quick update this had turned into a long ramble hasn't it? I think it's caused by the afterglow of having at last got the photos up and I'm sure it will pass. Have a good one and thanks again for the kind words.