Month: July 2004

– Vote John Kerry. Best of a bad lot or not, anyone but Bush has to take priority here. I read his speech this morning, it’s not bad at all. Better than I was expecting

– The Pixies’ Into the White is a damn fine track

– A quiet weekend is planned. There are free drinks after work tonight for a couple of leaving dos. Not planning on staying around too long. Aside from the fact that I have to get home to Hebe, I don’t want to start tomorrow hungover. Then tomorrow night appears to be V in Ben Crouch, not free there unfortunately but certainly going to try to take it easy.

– I want to level both my chars in CoH at least twice over the weekend. One of the I’m hoping for 2 or 4 times but I really can’t see myself getting my main one past 19. Couple of TF may be worth a try.

– I also need to clean up a bit. Hoovering has to be done and a small amount of dishes. Last weekend of freedom before the flat mate gets back wandering around doing as I like.

– Tickets for Modest Mouse all booked. Looking forward to it quite a bit. Should be good stuff.

– Shatner’s cover of Common People is actually one of the best things I have heard in years, seriously. I really can see myself buying the album off the back of it. I really hope it gets released as a single. It deserves a video of the highest quality and a number 1 spot for a few weeks. I don’t buy many singles, I’d be out for this one like a shot.

– 15 more minutes till I can get out of here. I’m hoping that next week will bring some documents and some information to let me get out of this rut here. It really had better.

-Dave’s gone off on holiday for couple of weeks which means no chess at lunch. Of late, we’ve had some really good matches and several unexpected checkmates on both sides. I’ve actually given some small thought to finding a chess club in London and playing there for a while. I’m not a very good player but I’d like to improve.

– I’m reading Stasiland by Anna Funder. The subtitle is Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall and it’s pretty fascinating. I picked it up to read yesterday as I didn’t want to be carrying a hardback on the tube. I keep getting called to go and read one of the new books, books I have been waiting for but I can’t drag myself away from this. I hate reading two books at a time so I’m sticking with (and enjoying) this one till the end. It really is astounding how some things can still happen in this modern world of ours.

– Monday evening I took Hebe out for her night’s walk fairly late. Fairly close on 1 I’d guess. It was a lovely warm evening and she found an old burst football which of course she was quite happy to chase around for a few minutes. I was lying down looking up at the sky for a while. Some more stars would have been nice, but there was a lovely red moon. It was fairly quiet, just the background hum of the city to match my thoughts.

– Michael Chiklis sounds perfect as The Thing. I don’t think I can get excited about this movie, but if I could that would do it.

If I start writing here I’m just going to post lyrics after lyrics. Instead I’m going to go to bed and read a book that I don’t want to read but am hooked on.

A messy messy weekend. Friday night started off quiet. I did some shopping in town and was home about 7. All set for a nice quiet night in when I got a call that some of the lads were down in Camden. 3AM rolls around and we are at a private MTV party in Islington. Oh and we were on the guest list…

Yeah I’ll let you know when I figure that one out too.

Saturday morning was mundo hungover.

Met up with Cobweb in the Tup and had a pint. Felt so much better after that…and the lot of Neurofen I had started the day with. Wandered around Camden for a little while and got my hair cut. Then off into the Ben Crouch for Culchie’s birthday drinks. It was agreed by all but anw that Tayto were fine fine crisps and they were indeed very nice. It all ended pretty early when everyone fucked off to Slimelight shortly after 10. However Neil/Dave and I went onto a party in Archway and were still drinking (and singing and dancing) there at 3AM.

Sunday morning was mundo hungover.

Some CoH to get through the afternoon and then a call from Pat lead to a dinner in TGI Fridays before he heads off to the US. Decent food, their JD sauce is heaven and a few good laughs. Not so much beer which was good. No hangover this morning which was better.

Friday being pay day lead to some splurging this weekend. Quite a bit actually.Intermission had to be bought on sight and I’m looking forward to watching it again sometime this week. Books went a little overboard. New books by Mark Billingham, P.J. Tracy and most importantly Boston Teran were all purchased in hardback along with three sets of 3 in Border’s 3 for 2 sale. Some decent reads. I’ve enjoyed Dan Brown’s stuff. It’s quick and easy to read and entertaining. Reading Digital Fortress at the moment and it’s good fun, nothing special but good fun.

A few comics too, picked up Arrowsmith: So Smart In Their Fine Uniforms. I have all of it in singles but it really was one of the most enjoyable series I’ve read in a good while so I wanted it in a cover too. In fact a nice hardcover would have been good. Other than that, the latest collection of Mark Waid’s Fantastic Four was fun and I want to re-read all of 100 Bullets now with a new 7th trade to look forward to. DareDevil was good and The Pulse was excellent. Loved the conversation with Ben Ulrich and Spider-Man.

Listening to some U2 at the moment. Been quite a bit of discussion about their current troubles in the office recently. The general feeling is to please don’t release the album. Finish it off and then release it, as it should be. Hail to the Thief being on the net early didn’t seem to hurt it much and people who had downloaded it went straight out and bought the album. Given the chance, I’d certainly listen to the rough cuts but I’d still be out there buying the album on the day of release.

I’ve only just realised how much I use Google. Not just as a search but as a spell checker and a way of navigation. Instead of going to the Beeb and looking for U2, I would have just googled it and gotten the link there a few seconds faster.

DON’T PANIC

Yes, it’s true. As I type this, the end times appear to be upon us.

Google is down.

Don’t panic. Normal service will resume shortly. I suggest ducking and covering under your desk.

It will pass.

David Hasselhoff, the man, the legend, the Hoff.

Back in the heady day of the WEF one of the regular images thrown up in a thread was of David Hasselhoff. Naked, some puppies positioned across him. And trust me the image is far far worse than you just imagined.

A while ago in work one of the lads on the team annoyed me about something and for some reason we had been taking about Knight Rider earlier in the day. So after much painful googling I found the picture. I renamed it to be toolbar error or something like that and sent it to him asking him to check out the error and let me know what he thought.

He screams like a big girl. I was actually in tears laughing so hard at him. I couldn’t speak for a good couple of minutes. He saw the picture and while screaming, pushed himself away from his desk, got a good 6 feet before hitting the cabinet behind him.

Since then, we’ve made it a point to keep an eye on the Hoff’s events. Metro seems to cover him quite a bit (I have no idea why) and one of use would always remember to bring it in. Popbitch seems to be a big fan too so there is often a laugh in that. It’s spread throughout the team and everyone’s in on it. It makes us laugh. Most of the lads around know about it too and just laugh at us (and rightly so) whenever we mention it. It’s a team meme.

When we heard about the rap album being recorded by Ice T and Hassle the Hoff, there was even more merriment and he’s been the Hoff ever since.

Now he’s in Chicago down the West End. I came close to falling down an escalator when I saw the first poster promoting it on the tube a week or so ago. What’s even sadder than all of this (and yes it gets worse). We are all off to see him. Gonna get some cheap tickets, have a beer or 4 and go and have a laugh. It could be quite good fun.

So, last night, I was the in the Porterhouse in Covent Garden. Leaving do for a friend, whole load of people out and we are standing out the front drinking and chatting. All of a sudden there is a commotion on the street, a bit of a bang and a loud crash. Turn around to see one of those taxi bike things has just hit the back of a car. The car had stopped suddenly to let it’s passenger out. As it turns out the stage entrance for the Adelphi is the building next door.

It was, the one and only Hoff. A group of fairly drunken lads walking down the street noticed him and ran over to say hello. He dashed off pretty quick with just a look to the side we were at. I wonder what he must have thought to see a large group of people almost in hysterics.

The very first thing I heard from the guy I sent the photo to in the first place, before even a good morning, before I got to turn my computer on. “Did you really see him?”.

So that’s a very long explanation of why I paused all my downloads when someone put a copy of best of up. Tomorrow I burn cds and present them to my team.

I’ve spent 20 minutes on the top of Primrose Hill talking to my dog. Not a conversation just me sitting there talking to her.