Thursday, February 28, 2002

This is a complete joke, and a lie. (c/o Mat)

Why won't the so-called record industry just admit that its purely a business and doesn't give a flying fuck about artistic integrity? For just one argument, what about the indie labels that have benefitted from the international distribution of their artists' work which would have been unthinkable without the Internet? I know that K Records of Olympia, Washington, for example, have no problem with their records being freely distributed as mp3s as long as they're sent a note about it. Have they lost any money over it? Nope. In fact, they - and hundreds of labels like them - have probably made more.

Home taping never killed music. Neither will mp3s. If anybody is killing music, it's the Big Five (or Four, or Three, or whatever the hell it is now).

.....

I was gonna go out tonight, after the 6pm film in Theatre P, but I just couldn't face going back out to campus, and the thoughts of trying to get back to town before the last bus gave me shivers.

So I'm gonna have an early night tonight, and make some grovelling apologies tomorrow.

Call me an anti-social loser if you must, but I'm feeling quite introverted at the moment.

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Do you have the gastronomical fortitude of this man? I know I don't.

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Wednesday, February 27, 2002

I've changed the appearance of the web page just a tad. I had been toying with the idea of doing an all-CSS layout, to test myself, but it's just not supported well enough yet. I may tinker with the code a bit more over teh next few weeks, but nothing too major, just to help things run more smoothly.

Incidentally, the site has been loading really slow for me. It may just be my shitty connection, but if it's a problem with my site I apologise for frustrating you.

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Regarding this situation, in my view The World Wrestling Federation was correct in its arguments - there is no mistaking a professional wrestling promotion for an animal welfare charity. And besides, the World Wide Fund for Nature is more recognisable for the panda logo rather than the initials (which, incidently, should be WWFN).

I know there's a principle at stake, but surely they conceded that principle by changing their name (and therefore their acronym).

I must also point out that this report hasn't been fact-checked. I mean, the Ultimate Warrior? He left the WWF five years ago!

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Spike Milligan has passed away. Here's hoping he's gone to a much better place.

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Tuesday, February 26, 2002

Bloggers are the minutemen of the digital revolution.

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np: Shipping News 'Quiet Victories'

I really love this Shipping News album, Very Soon, And In Pleasant Company. Somebody at HMV ordered in a pocketful (that's six copies, for you outsiders) last summer. They sat there untouched for a few weeks till I decided to buy one. One of my better purchase decisions.

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Regarding this situation: instead of asking how, shouldn't we be asking why? A reactionary attitude never solves anything. People don't abuse themselves just because they can - there's always a reason.

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The creator of 'The West Wing' tells it like it is.

Martin Sheen for President, anybody?

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This is the 10 millionth post to a Blogger-powered website. It's actually quite funny too.

This post is probably quite redundant, since everyone and their mother is gonna link to it, but the layout caught my eye. Orange on black. That was the same colour scheme of this site when I launched it back in the day. *sniff*

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Monday, February 25, 2002

Today just kinda slipped by.

I got up early to finish typing my essay, headed off to college and almost got caught in a horrendous downpour on O'Connell St. at bus changeover time. Got my books back to the library and only had to pay a 30 cent fine. Nice. Went to a lecture that I completely lost interest in after twenty minutes. Handed in my essay. Left campus for town. Popped into Tower at Eason's to pass the time before the bus home - they had feck all in stock; it's like nobody knows how to order. Went home. Ate soup. Watched telly.

And here I am now. Going to bed. G'night.

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Now this is interesting.

I knew that information studies and philosophy would compliment each other. My degree might actually prove useful.

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Sunday, February 24, 2002

Canada wins! 5-2! Brilliant game, just brilliant.

Now back to my essay.

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Just read an excellent, and quite frank, interview with Scott Hall. I don't think Shane Douglas will be popping round to shake his hand anytime soon, but the man is at least more honest than Kevin Nash.

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This is one of those things - like the Owen Hart incident - that you just don't see coming. Things like this just happen, but it's hard to deal with them wen they do.

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I thought this sort of thing ended in the 70's.

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The new ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead album should be out by now over here. I might pop into HMV tomorrow to get it.

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I've just been talking with Dave for a while. I got some stuff off my chest. I feel good now. I also feel good vicariously through him.

But now I think it's time for bed. Oh, I'm still gonna stay up and watch telly - They Think It's All Over will be on in an hour or less - but it's cold and my feet are going numb.

Seven days till the Icarus Line show, and counting.

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Saturday, February 23, 2002

Ocean's Eleven was pretty damn good. It just oozed coolness. Oh sure, I could be critical and point out a lot of faults I found in it, but that would be beside the point. It did what it set out to do: entertain.

But why did you guys have to embarrass me on the way home? Maybe you wanted to show off, I dunno, but I didn't appreciate it.

And by the way, as long as I still have motor functions, I will never set foot in Mono. Don't get me started on the Palace.

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Chuck Jones has died, aged 89.

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Hey... my PageRank went back down to 3 again. What's going on?

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A moving column today from Dave Pell and NextDraft.

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Friday, February 22, 2002

Personally, I would prefer the Millennium Bridge in London if it still wobbled.

The Eiffel Tower wobbles; it sways quite considerably at the top in high winds - I should know, I was there.

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My Google PageRank just went up to 5/10! Excellent!

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Friday Five number six:

1. Hey, baby, what's your sign? Do you think it fits you pretty well?

I'm a Gemini. I think I fit the sign very well, rather than the sign fitting me.

2. What's the worst birthday gift you've ever received?

I dunno, probably every year when I was a kid and I used to get clothes (which were practical, in hindsight) rather than toys (which I wanted).

3. What's the best birthday gift you've ever received?

That would probably be the bass guitar I got last year.

4. What's the best way you've celebrated your birthday thus far?

Oh gosh I dunno... none of them thus far stand out in my mind. But I'm still young.

5. What are your plans for this weekend?

Going to see Ocean's Eleven (no, not that one, this one) tonight, then essay writing tomorrow and hopefully Sunday will be a day of rest.

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Thursday, February 21, 2002

I got the new Abaddon Incarnate album today. I remember talking with Olan about it before they headed over to Sweden to record - must have been last June - he was happy that they were moving in a more grindcore direction and was pretty excited to be working with Mieszko from Nasum. Olan introduced me to Nasum a few months before and I will be eternally grateful for that. I have to say, they did a pretty good job over there. It's fast, it's brutal, and the production is pretty punchy, it doesn't muddy everything up.

And Olan is a fuckin' demon on the drums! Haven't seen him in ages; I hope he finds (or has found) a new band to break some boundaries with.

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Wednesday, February 20, 2002

Hall not being very reliable?

We should all know whose fault that is. When Scott Hall toured with New Japan last year, alone, he was on his best behaviour. He could have been downing the sake all night long but no, he was a professional. Then as soon as he's back with his nWo 'buddies', he starts hitting the booze again. The man has problems, and I don't think being around Nash and company is helping.

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Thanks to subterrane.com for the link to Columba, a free e-mail client that looks pretty damn cool. I need something like that on this crappy computer.

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The WWF website has an interview with Kevin Nash. It's quite funny really, coming from a person who didn't bother his arse to turn up for work the night of the last ever Monday Nitro.

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I've just sent an e-mail to my alma mater, just to say hello. Maybe some of the people who taught me there are still around. I know one of them is anyway - Pat Dunne, my art teacher, I met him when I was working at HMV sometime last year if I recall correctly.

It's a pity their website is a bit on the crappy side. The navigation is too confusing, they've used frames when they don't need them, the code is pretty shoddy, and don't get me started on the spelling. I mean, I would overhaul their site in a weekend. For free. I mean it. It'd look good on my CV.

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Tuesday, February 19, 2002

Talk about over-reacting.

It appears that the Fox Network has decided not to commission further series of Futurama. To be honest I can't really blame them as, with all cult shows, it has a niche audience of hardcore fans and, well, no-one else was that interested. Hell, the only reason The Simpsons is still going is because it long ago transcended the status of being merely a TV show - much like Seinfeld, Friends, etc. etc., even though, ultimately, that's all it is, merely a TV show.

Futurama was just never that good. Oh sure, there were were some excellent nuggets of writing there, but most of it was mired in cliche. And it couldn't really do surreality - Homer and co. have that covered, and most of the time it's very hit-and-miss anyway, and only Family Guy can get away with what it gets away with (although considering its current status this is a bad example).

But, of course, the fan-boys do have to over-react. I mean 'slashed... into bloody pieces'? 'Gruesome attack'? All they did was decide not to buy any more episodes. Geez, please people, get a clue.

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I am so bored.

I just wanna go home, read a book, watch TV, anything.

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I wish I had something more interesting to post on Mat's blog yesterday. But sometimes I get like that.

It's just before 10am now, class will be starting soon. I think I've basically done everything I can, so I dunno what I'm going to be doing for the next hour.

It seems that the WrestleMania predictions were right: The Rock got tagged by the nWo on Raw last night, so Hollywood Hogan Vs. The Rock is going to happen. And I'm gonna be there!

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Monday, February 18, 2002

I'm blogging at Mat Honan's site today. Go there. It's great.

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Sunday, February 17, 2002

I read about these (c/o NextDraft) earlier this week. First they had green ketchup, now they've got blue chips. I seriously doubt that any of these products will be available over here. European children just aren't that weird.

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Ah! Finally found out where The Icarus Line are playing! It took me a while, trapsing through info for every rock venue in the city, till I found the POD website. The POD is a nightclub, you see, so I overlooked it at first. I've been to gigs at a venue joined to it, the Red Box, but I just wasn't thinking about it. But, according to the listings for the POD itself, The Icarus Line will be playing there with support from The Redneck Manifesto on the 2nd of March. Excellent news!

It also seems that my old acquaintance Goodtime John is playing there the following week.

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No, I didn't post anything yesterday, because I had a prolonged, dull headache from my arrival home from town yesterday afternoon till sometime after midnight. I hate those.

The headache must have done something bad to my brain, because I have no substantial thoughts in my head other than what I am typing right now. I guess I better go take some notes for my Derrida essay for the afternoon. I'm not planning to write it till the end of the week, but if I have all my notes by then, writing it will take no time at all (writing, in this case, could be definned as the assembly of modular notes into a cohesive narrative structure with a wash of rhetorical flourish to cover the seams, or something technical like that).

Five minutes have passed. Head still empty. I must have hit the zen switch by accident.

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Friday, February 15, 2002

The Friday Five:

1. What was the first thing you ever cooked?

Honestly I have no idea, but it was probably a toasted cheese sandwich. I used to cook them all the time when I was a young 'un.

2. What's your signature dish?

I don't really have one since I only cook for myself. I've been cooking a lot of 'pasta solo' recently, just tagliatelle or vermicelli, and adding a stir-in sauce after (with a little extra, like chilli sauce, tabasco, oregano, maybe some worcester sauce - I even used teriyaki sauce once and it wasn't bad, a bit too smoky maybe).

3. Ever had a cooking disaster? (tasted like crap, didn't work, etc.) Describe.

Well, being frugal, I've always been careful in choosing what I want to cook, so I haven't had the opportunity to really fuck up on a grand scale yet. But I have burned the odd thing on the grill.

4. If skill and money were no object, what would make for your dream meal?

Mmmm right off the top of my head, right now I'd have a huge burger with all the trimmings (hold the tomato) and a side of cheese fries with a garlic or salsa dip (hell, I'll have both!), and maybe a Mississippi mud pie for dessert. Somewhere like Captain America's, Thunder Road or Eddie Rocket's (only on Sth. Anne St, the first and the best) should be able to sort me out on that one.

5. What are you doing this weekend?

I dunno, a fair bit of reading and writing is on the cards, as is a trip into town tomorrow afternoon, and No Way Out is on late Sunday night. I haven't really given the weekend that much thought.

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Thursday, February 14, 2002

I need to change the photo banner thingy at the top of the page there, but I don't really have anything to replace it with. Maybe I'll take an interesting photo or few in Toronto next month that'll work.

While I'm here, Blogger doesn't seem to be publishing well at the moment. Screw it, I'm tired, I'm off to bed.

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I was gonna post something about the abortion referendum that we'll be having here early next month, but to be honest I don't know anything about it. Oh yes, I've seen all the posters, with the 'Yes's and the 'No's, but no information. What exactly would I be doing if I tick one box or the other on the voting slip? And really, is this situation simply a matter of 'yes' or 'no'? I'd like to be able to make an informed decision, not a coerced one. But with stuff like this going on, is it any wonder that I feel bamboozled?

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Wednesday, February 13, 2002

Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday, or as most people actually know it, Pancake Tuesday! Of course, it was only Pancake Tuesday in this part of the world. You yanks have pancakes all the time, and your pancakes are too small. You would call our pancakes crepes, but crepes are thinner. I've eaten crepes. In Belgium. With hot chocloate sauce. Mmmmmm.

But onto other, more coherent matters: this Monday, I will be a guest blogger on Mat's site, joining a rag-tag band of misfits housesitting, if you will, for Mr. Honan as he lives it up in Mejico for a week. It should make for an intermeresting experience.

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Tuesday, February 12, 2002

I just read a cool interview with ex-Hüsker Dü guitar god Bob Mould (c/o Mat), where he talks about his appreciation for professional wrestling, and his job working as a writer for WCW a few years ago (although the promotion is never mentioned by name).

Incidentally, I was quite surprised to learn recently that WWF Entertainment purchased the WCW brand, its related trademarks, and its entire videotape library (that's at the very least 12 years worth of weekly television) from AOL Time Warner for a mere $2 million. Surely it was worth more than that. That's less than a three-year guaranteed contract for a top-level wrestler. Shocking.

Oh yeah, and while I'm here, I must protest that the NY Times registration page is very invasive in its questioning. I'd copy and paste the interview into a new HTML file, but I fear a lawsuit. I suggest you lie on the form. It's not like they're gonna know, or care.

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Did I seem a bit stressed out this morning? What with the expletives and all? It all seems rather silly in hindsight, oh yes it does. Even if I did mean every single word of it.

I don't know what to do with myself now. Crime and Punishment isn't on till 9pm.

.....

I had a serious case of the Rage this morning. I wasn't off to a good start anyway since I didn't get home till after 2:30am last night, didn't get to bed until 3am, and didn't get to sleep till nearly 4am 'cause the Crocodile Hunter was on Discovery and he was in Madagascar swinging through trees with lemurs and I just couldn't miss that.

Anywho, this morning an empty 10, which must have been afraid of passengers since I know for a fact that the driver could see me running in the side mirror if he bothered to look, sailed away from the bus stop before I could get there (and I wasn't the only one running - I fucking hate bus drivers, the whine about pay and they go on strike but they hardly never do their job so fuck 'em). So I stood for 15 minutes at the TOP of the queue, I must emphasise, for fifteen minutes. Another bus finally shows up, but what happens? The bastard stops short of the stop, allowing a horde of fucking ignorant students to rush up, block my path, and sneak on ahead of me. This isn't Lord of the Flies, you fucks. It's not every-man-for-himself. Whatever happened to common fucking courtesy??

After that I decided I just can't deal with a five-hour block of classes. I'll probably go home after my tutorial. I've got reading to do anyway. At least my XML skills are improving. My document validates, my DTD works, and now even my CSS file is coming along. I feel good.

But not good enough.

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Monday, February 11, 2002

I actually went into college early this morning. AND I contributed to the class (one of four, people seem so afraid of saying something wrong and being laughed at or something). But then I decided I definitely couldn't spend the day there. After a detour to the library, I headed home, ate, watched TV, went to the post box by the library in the freezing rain (which was weird since it was summery warm and bright this morning), had a shower to warm myself up, read up on Derrida some more, and woke up just before Wrestling Challenge started. Man, the Ultimate Warrior was really shit back then.

Before I got home I popped into Hodges Figgis and made a couple of excellent purchases: a concise guide to Wittgenstein and the Philosophical Investigations (which I will definitely need before I actually read him), and a neat impulse buy - Pooh and the Philosophers (the link is to a hardback edition, I have a British-edition paperback). They should keep me going.

I'm off to Dave's in a minute, then we're off to Eoin's, and then I dunno what's gonna happen. Whatever it is, it won't involve me injesting alcheehol. Not tonight, pally.

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Sunday, February 10, 2002

I am putting my new-found skills into practice: I have decided to catalogue my CD collection in XML and eventually stick up here for the world to see. So far I have finished A through B, that's 69 CDs. To answer the inevitable question, yes, I am insane.

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The new episode of the Simpsons tonight was shit. I mean, the whole corporate religion thing has been done before (methinks the scriptwriters have been listening to Jello Biafra spoken word albums, and then dumbing them down for public consumption), but plagiarising their own material? The 'short shorts' thing was bad enough once, and oh guys, Devo wrote more songs than 'Whip It'.

Memo to the producers: Must. Try. Harder.

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Enemy of the State last night was actually quite good, for a Simpson/Bruckheimer production. It made me think.

The storyline though, I must say, makes it quite s sensitive movie for the current climate. I doubt, for example, that it would be broadcast on US TV without complaints. That's just one of the plus-points of living over this side of the pond, I guess. We understand.

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If you happen to be wondering about the tag line up there on the top of the screen, just wait and see..... the Happy Squirrel is on his way.....

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Mat's got his own clothing line now. I like the hoodie. I may even buy one if it's possible.

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Saturday, February 09, 2002

The WWF has finally put up a website for the nWo (you'll need Flash to view it).

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I'm taking a break from Derrida for a while.

Update on last night: watched most of Kentucky Fried Movie last night. It was okay, it started off pretty well, but then dragged with the whole 'A Fistful of Yen' thing (well, they got the currency - or the country - wrong so I wasn't expecting much). It would have been much funnier if they just made the whole thing a series of news bulletins, game shows and commercial slots. Maybe someone else will do it better, not that it really needs to be done again. Onto wrestling: don't remember much, except for Goldust beating up Rob Van Dam (now that's a 'feud' that's going nowhere fast), and a couple of videos of the nWo. Next week, they'll be here! Oh yeah, and there was something else about Stephanie being pregnant but that's a bit of a pointless storyline considering everything else that's going on.

Tonight: More Derrida, then Enemy of the State is on BBC 1. I've never seen it, so I might as well take a break and watch it.

On another note, I suddenly got some inspiration for a short story. I made a deal with a friend that I'll have a completed short story collection by the end of the year. I'm on my way there. This is something I should have done years ago.

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Yay me.

I've got a weekend of Derrida ahead of me. The essay is pretty straight forward ('What is deconstructive reading, and what difficulties are associated with it?). Basically I can see what Derrida is trying to get at - after much tutorial discussion, which was extremely helpful since I hadn't a fucking clue a month ago - but he's such an asshole that I just can't agree with him. Now, to expand this notion into 1700 words....

Meanwhile, it's Friday night, now Saturday morning, and I have to keep myself occupied for a while till Thumb Bandits starts on Channel 4, then it's Kentucky Fried Movie and two hours of WWF wrestling. Excellent. If I'm really lucky, I'll fall asleep just as Raw finishes and wake up at 11am when SmackDown! starts.

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Friday, February 08, 2002

There's something wrong with Blogger. It's painfully slow, the update page isn't loading, and I'm pissed off. Alls I wanna do is update my HTML. Why is such a simple task rendered so difficult?

It just dawned on me that I probably won't be able to post this. Ahh damn it all to hell!!! (Update: Obviously it's working now, 'cause I can read this)

In other news, I'm skipping this week's Friday Five 'cause it'd be too depressing for me to answer. Plus, whatever answers I might have are none of your beeswax. So there.

np: Dæmien Frost 'Corpus Dæmo'

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Thursday, February 07, 2002

The Icarus Line are coming! The Icarus Line are coming! Don't know where they're playing yet, but The Icarus Line are coming! The 2nd of March is free on my calendar!

In other news, it seems the Dead Kennedys are also coming. I, for one, will not be going to see them.

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Wednesday, February 06, 2002

There are rumours abound that Shellac of North America may be making an appearance on these shores within the next few months. They're gonna be at Camber Sands anyway, so it shouldn't be too much trouble to hop across the water when they're done curating. Fingers crossed.

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Tuesday, February 05, 2002

Regarding this so-called 'axis of evil':

Berlin's deputy foreign minister, Ludger Vollmer, said: "We Europeans warn against it. There is no indication, no proof that Iraq is involved in the terrorism we have been talking about for the last few months... this terror argument cannot be used to legitimise old enmities."

My sentiments exactly. This isn't 1991 anymore.

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A band named Kepler will be the guests of Godspeed You Black Emperor! at their show here next month. I haven't really heard their stuff - hey, I only found out they existed this evening - but from what I have heard, they seem quite reminiscent of Mogwai in their quieter moments, which is a good thing. I'm looking forward to seeing them play, even though they'll be at the Ambassador, which is a bad thing.

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Shout out to Dave, Eoin, and/or John:

Did I miss Monday Night Beer last night? I completely forgot about it, I was fiddling about with my XML stuff for class today, and I remembered at 10:30pm, which was a bit too late.

Do you guys even read this? I know Eoin's an avid reader, and Groves...

I feel so lonely.....

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I can't parse my XML document since IE is messed up, so I've basically done all I can do in my class now. I didn't think I'd be able to catch up this quickly, after missing a whole week of classes and all. I'll finish this off at home tonight.

Twenty five minutes left... dum dee dum....

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Why is this university so behind the times? I have to use Netscape Navigator 4.6 on this terminal, since the copy of IE accessible from here is fucked, but because this is such an old version of Netscape, it won't render my tables properly, and it won't recognise my logical tags.

Very annoying indeed.

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At college again. My eyes are sore. I hate Tuesdays. Five hours straight is too much.

Just got an e-mail from Cat, but she sent it this day last week (oops!). I better text her later. Haven't seen her in ages, since Meadhbh left HMV I think. That was months ago.

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Monday, February 04, 2002

All this talk of wrestling reminds me of last night, while watching the Superbowl, Sky showed some of the Budweiser 'Real Men of Genius' commercials, which I have to say are the best adverts they've ever commissioned. Particularly the pro wrestling costume designer. They're so good, I can almost forgive them for the whole 'wasssup' thing.

T'is a pity, therefore, that I can't find anything substantial about them on Google. What is it with you Americans? Don't you know a good thing when you see it??

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It's like 1987 all over again; next week's Wrestling Challenge on Sky Sports 1 will have the debut of the Ultimate Warrior - now that is something I've gotta see! Especially considering we didn't get WWF shows over here until 1989, and I didn't really start watching it till 1990 (ahh, SummerSlam '90..... when the Warrior was the champ.... and Earthquake was a top-level heel.... and the Legion of Doom rushed the ring to help the Hart Foundation win the belts from Demolition.... and the Texas Tornado hitting Mr. Perfect with that discus punch.... ahhh those were the days).

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The label is true. This truly is the best picture ever (c/o Ober Dicta).

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Sunday, February 03, 2002

Channel 4 are releasing a CD to tie in with the Andy Warhol series, reflecting 'the sounds and mood of the Warhol Era', which actually looks pretty good to me.

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Something interesting (c/o Lot 49):

News coverage immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks was based on solid sources and "just the facts," but media standards have since slipped, a journalism think tank says.

Well, I coulda told you that.

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There's a three-part series about the art and life (well, mostly art) of Andy Warhol on Sunday nights on Channel 4 at the moment. Last week was the first part, I didn't see all of it - I was doing my essay, but I have it on tape - but what I did see was somewhat enlightening, I must say. I've never really given Warhol much time, we skimmed over his stuff back in school, in art class (oh, so many years ago.... well, yeah, three years... but oh so many!), but I just didn't get it. I do now.

The series ties in with a forthcoming exhibition of Warhol's work at the Tate Modern in London. That's something I would love to go to (just a pity it doesn't say when it is).

I've always been jealous of Groves seeing Dali at the Guggenheim in New York. Well, not actually seeing Salvador Dali... you know what I mean.... that would be weird, though, if they had the body of Dali there, preserved like Lenin.....

And I missed my chance to go to the Tate Modern when I was in London last summer. I will be there again.

Something has reminded me about the impromptu Internet art exhibition thing I was going to do every week. Well, I kinda forgot about it, or making it a regular thing, seeing as it wasn't really my idea anyway. But I might do it every now and again, and to make it less rip-offish, I shall dub the concept - for my own purposes - GoogleArt. And for my second GoogleArt exhibit, I present 'Andy Warhol'.

While I'm here, here's another cool Warhol link.

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Saturday, February 02, 2002

Why am I blogging on a Saturday night? Because I'm home and bored out of my tree.

I'm deadly serious about the Andre thing, though.

.....

Next year, on the 29th of January, will be the tenth anniversary of the passing of Andre the Giant. I want to mark this day somehow, with a big event of some description. Maybe a party somewhere, with videos of his greatest matches, or someting like that.

If anybody reading this has any ideas, please let me know. If I happen to know you personally, we could work on something together.

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Oh boy.

Me thinks the South Korean authorities have never seen a real English hooligan riot. God help them.

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I might finally get around to seeing ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead this year, they're playing in Toronto the night before WrestleMania, tickets are only $15, so I might be popping along with Ethan and Ryan if they're so inclined.

That reminds me.... I wanna go to Niagara Falls as well.... I better work out how much that's gonna cost me.

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£400 for a four-berth chalet and a whole weekend of music at All Tomorrow's Parties is not bad at all. Hell, I'd pay that much just to go by myself. Which is something I'm thinking about, for next year.

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Whoops! Just found - and fixed - a major link bug in my blog. I can't believe I didn't find it sooner!

np: The White Stripes 'White Blood Cells'

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Friday, February 01, 2002

The Friday Five:

1. Have you ever had braces? Any other teeth trauma?

When I was 7 (I'm sure I was 7, it was before I went to St. Brigid's, when I was 8, and after my holiday to Nottingham when I was 6), I was running across the playground after school to meet my mum. It had been raining that day, the ground - which consisted of a matrix of badly-laid concrete slabs - was quite slick. At least I think it had been raining, I have no exact memory. I ran across that yard a lot. Anywho, as I approached the covered bench area acorss the yard, I must have tripped on one of the slabs, for the next thing I remember I was sliding face-first along the ground, grinding my left front tooth into dust. The look on my mum's face when she saw me wasn't very comforting (thank goodness I don't remember it well). The next thing I know I'm at the dentist, some stuff happened (a big light shone in my face, probing with one of those mirror thingies, the usual), I think we went back again some other day, and I ended up eventually with a cap on my tooth, looking basically as it did before, except slightly more translucent. Since then, I've had a small chip or two come off the cap, nothing significant though. It's still holding solid. They did a good job.

I also had braces. I lost all of my baby teeth at quite an early age, but as a result there was some overcrowding, so I had a palette-stretcher for a few months (I think I was 11 when I had that), and then when I was 12 I had train-tracks installed for 8 months, if memory serves me, across the top row. I think I had a retainer as well, but I don't remember so it mustn't have scarred me emotionally that much. They didn't really work as intended, I have a bit of a wave thing going on, and my front teeth stick out a little, but it isn't really noticeable unless you concentrate. The braces weren't the trauma I expected them to be. The palette-stretcher was worse since it reduced the area of the inside of my mouth by a third.

And they made lots of casts of my gob, at least two anyway. They stuffed my face with pink clay stuff to make the mould, and I remember the second time I was stuffed up so I couldn't breathe through my nose and I started to choke. Not good.

2. Ever broken any bones?

Never. I've stubbed my toes a thousand times, caught my fingers on doors, the works, but I've never broken a bone. I'm blessed.

3. Ever had stitches?

Never, I've never had a cut bad enough to need stitches.

4. What are the stories behind some of your (physical) scars?

I have had three definite scars, but they were so small that they've faded into obscurity.

The first, a small blotch on left arm, was when a guy at my old art class stabbed me (by accident..... I think) with a pencil. It was quite deep, went through a few layers. I know I saw white before I saw blood, but I assume it was just an inner layer of skin rather than bone. It heeled quickly, but the skin on top stayed milky white for years, with a slight tint of grey that I attributed to residue from the pencil graphite. The scar has faded by now, just looks like a weird freckle if I study the spot.

The others, they were on my left hand, one on the palm and one on the other side, directly opposite. My dog bit me, years ago. They must have faded a while ago, I remember seeing them last year, but they're gone now.

Right now, I have the remnants of a bad scratch on my right arm. I scaped my arm off the corner of my computer desk, by the time I realised what I was doing it was too late. I hate those. They close up in minutes but take ages to heal properly.

5. How do you plan to spend your weekend?

I dunno..... I'm going into town shopping tomorrow.... I might go see a movie on Sunday..... it's one of those weekends when I don't have any work that needs doing, no deadlines or anything like that, but I have nothing else much worth doing either.

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