Month: January 2003

I want to be able to write, fuck I want to be able to write. I’ve just watched Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous. I bought the dvd when it came out because I had heard good things about it and when I finally watched it, I loved it. I’ve been in the mood to watch it again recently and when Iain brought it back today, that was my plan for the night sealed.

It is an awesome movie, it won an Oscar for writing and the quality is obvious throughout. See I can’t even tell you what it is about the movie that is so great. It is very frustrating not being able to put down on paper (its an expression!) the thoughts going through my head. It’s something that I spent a large part of this afternoon struggling with aswell and more than half of that was fucking ticking boxes. It shouldn’t be so hard to take a thought or a feeling and express it clearly and concisely (and hopefully coolly) on paper. I just can’t do it. I know I’m really bad at it and I’m surrounded by people who are not just able to do it, they are really fucking good at it. I shudder to think at what I actually submitted today. It’s kinda like this blog. I said what I want to say, I don’t know how else to say it so just fuck it publish the bastard. (Just a note at this point that I am being ever so flippant and I took the paperwork a lot more seriously than I imply.)

On a whole other note, I have a new found respect for my sister. She rang my…what am I saying…our parents earlier today and said she wanted to go to Korea for a weeks holidays. She has a chance to go cheaply with some friends. As you more than likely know, Korea has been in the news a little lately Well this follows on from asking if she could go to Bali a couple of weeks after the bombing, then asking if she could spend the end of the year in the Philippines a couple of days after the Foreign Office issues a warning about Irish tourists going there and indeed there was one other place that she rang and asked to go to on the very day the Irish Foreign Office issues a warning about.
I’m just talking to my Dad about it over im and as soon as he tells me about her plans for Korea, the thought stuck me and I started laughing, It’s deliberate, it has to be. There is no way it could not be…well no its not, its just my sister. But its funny, she couldn’t possibly find a worse possible way to make Mom worry. It has to be respected. I’m half expecting to hear she has rung to ask permission to go to Iraq for a few days break. Saying all that, if I had the chance to spend 7 nights in Korea for a total cost of 150 Euro, I certainly would not have asked if I could have gone, I would have booked and sent a postcard!

Jumping back to the original topic; if you were to count the instances of the word ‘dig’ in Kerouac’s On the Road, I suspect it would total more than any other word in the book. It’s a good word. It is such a small world and it conveys so very much, appreciation and understanding. Pretty big things to be summed up in 3 letters. I dig Almost Famous. It makes me smile, it makes me laugh, it makes me sad and it makes me happy. I’ve left wanting to be maybe not more than I am now, but certainly better than I am now and that is not a by any means a bad goal.

fuck it, time to sleep.

William Gibson blogs.

That my friends is the sound of my head and my desk having a little one-on-one meeting.
I hate this shit. I don’t know how to do it. I can’t sit back and just type about stuff. I don’t know what to write and when I do know what to right, I don’t know how to write it.
bang bang bang.

So not that there is a trend around here or anything but… I saw Star Trek with 2 people I work with on Saturday night, and by 10:30 this morning I had had not one, but two seperate conversations with two other people who had also seen it on Saturday night. Not bad for opening weekend, and the day is still early.

I’ve just watched Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The Directors Edition with the full commentary on. Just a little geeky. It’s not bad I didn’t notice all that much in the new edition, a few bits and pieces here and there but nothing really major. Commentary was ok, I would have rather that they actually have the 5 people or so in one room talking. Cutting the tracks together leads to very disjointed listening. Still some interesting stuff on it and well worth the time.

I had some paperwork I meant to look over before tomorrow. I never got around to it. I shall have to do that sometime early tomorrow. The rest of my team are back from holidays, so tomorrow morning will be just catch-up stuff I guess.

Found out that the HST book I planned on reading; The Great Shark Hunt is a collection of short pieces and extracts. This works well in this case as it means I can read something else alongside it. I can’t read two books at once. Finish (or rarely give up) one and then move on. I don’t know why but I was reading some late 90’s Superman reboot alongside it and umm well.
I’ve had an urge to read some more Cerebus, I’m not certain I ever finished book 2 and it is calling out to me. I also plan on giving the first two volumes of Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles a final shot and see if it does anything for me this time around.

This week shall be a quiet week. I think I’m going to see a gig on Wednesday with a few of the guys from work. Other than that, I have nothing planned. This month is shaping up to be majorly budget month so that’s one added bonus to take it easy. I spent more last night than I had planned to. Dinner, drinks and a movie with popcorn, etc. is not cheap.

Internet connection appears to be well fucked tonight, I’ve had to disconnect and reconnect several times so far and it really doesn’t seem to like bringing up websites which I know are not offline. Fucker, I know your lying to me about sites being not found.

So infatuation. I saw something on the web recently which got me thinking. Perhaps this is a better word:
crush
2 informal a brief but intense infatuation for someone, especially someone unattainable or inappropriate: she did have a crush on Dr Russell.

Except in this case, the idea was not limited to people. It was everything. You can have a crush on a book, a cd, a song, a tv show or a film, etc., etc. The listing goes on. It did get me to thinking that I do that a lot. I see a movie, hear a song (or album) or read a book (or comic) and it has that certain something which makes me fall for it. At the moment, Bjork’s Greatest Hits has been in my cd player pretty much constantly for over a week and track two Hyperballad has been played more than anything else. In a weeks time however, something else will have taken its place.

It’s just something, crushes come and go (well some stay and will always stay) but it is a good word to apply to passing fancies I guess. I get a new cd and I love it and I overplay it, I crush on it. I get a new Bendis book (shit I think that is actually out now) and I read it and love it: I crush on it. It is a thought I think I shall hold on to.

And yes of course there are girls too, but ya know thats just a whole other story.

—
Now Corporations Claim The “Right To Lie”
This is um…interesting. It would appear that Nike are due in the US Supreme Court this month to argue that as a company they are entitled to free speech including the right to decieve.
The very concept is out there and I certainly hope to see some sense coming out of America on this one…it would be a nice change.

infatuate:
t verb (be infatuated with) be inspired with an intense but short-lived passion or admiration for: she is infatuated with a handsome police chief.
—DERIVATIVES
infatuation noun.
—ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: from Latin infatuat- ‘made foolish’, from the verb infatuare, from in- ‘into’ + fatuus ‘foolish’.

Actually this is just a note to myself to go off on a tangent later today, after some sleep. Now I have to decide what to start reading, I suspect Hunter S. Thompson will win out but I may temper this with some comic re-reading.

There are so many song lyrics jumping out at me for posts at the moment. I’m thinking about what I can say about one and something else comes along and is so much more important and inspirational that I have to go with that. Then I listen to the cd again and the circle goes around and around and around.

…was surprisingly not bad. Certainly nothing like as bad as it has been made out to be and some genuinely good moments. The wedding at the start could have done with a lot more cameos, Wil Wheaton was actually spotted a couple of times and Whoopi Goldberg did get a funny line. The guest cast was pretty strong but completely underused; Dina Meyer almost unrecognisable under makeup and Ron Perlman completely unrecognisable.
Overall I enjoyed it and will pick up the dvd, but I really hope to see the more than 50 minutes cut from the movie hit the dvd, preferably in a directors cut.

Oh and I finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay on the bus on the way into town. Have to say overall I really enjoyed it and at moments it hit me. It is something that I think I want to leave for a while and read again.

I have had the strangest dreams lately, last nights was really strange and really fucked up but at the same time really stranage and fucked up.

Interesting reading: Top Ten Conspiracy Theories of 2002

Steve Job’s Mac keynote speech is this coming Tuesday. Sounds like there are already some price announcements on the way. I must try and remember to stream this, it could be interesting and effect things in the real world..

I’ve wanted to blog a lot recently, but I have not had the words.

I had the words last night to get into what was described as a “vociferous argument” down the pub. So that was good. Couple of other things hammered home last night too, neither of which being particularly good but what the fuck, neither is life.

My sleeping pattern is still really fucked up. I use to sleep about 7 hours a night max. Ever since I went to Japan I can sleep for 14 hours straight no problem. It really has been since I go back and I can’t figure out what it is. I was in bed well before 12 last night and I slept until just before 2 this afternoon. I don’t get it.

I have to get some batteries today. I only have one set now and when it comes to a choice between using them in my camera and my discman, well the music always wins out. I want to take some more photos today, so I have to go and get some. I’m meeting Nick in town later tonight and the general plan is to be sad and go and see Star Trek: Nemesis. Not expecting much, but I have to go and see it. Looks like Iain might be joining us too

User Not Found: The Ways Communities Remember.
I’m surprised I haven’t seen something like this before. I have to admit it is something I have given some thought to before. If someone suddenly disappears from the web, there are many cases where that would be that and you may never know what has happened

This entry on Evhead’s blog contains most of the main information about the stories going around to do with AOL and blogs. This is something I look forward to following with interest over the coming months. Perhaps this is a really good time to actually write that bloody document.

The Diary of Samuel Pepys is onto its third entry and the man behind it all talks to BBC News: ‘Why I turned Pepys’ diary into a weblog’

“It’s obvious that they (The RIAA) don’t get the Web, and they don’t get technology, or they’d understand how to protect their own website,” said Wall Street systems administrator Anthony Negil.

“The flaws that people are exploiting to access their site are elementary security issues, and there’s no excuse for an organization that purports to understand the dark side of the Internet to leave such gaping holes in their own network infrastructure.”
From a nice little Wired article: Why RIAA Keeps Getting Hacked.

The World’s First Photograph (via Herr Ellis)