Hi. I still use LJ, follow my friends and similar, but I've moved my main host to Dreamwidth now, and am crossposting everything to here, but asking people to comment there.

Mat Bowles.

It's still fully interoperative, the OpenID comment functions there are good and improving, and I can follow everything from both sites easily.

I said:

Loads of politics posts in a row. Time for some frivolity methinks...

The problem being that I've had a bit of a 'meh' day and can't summon the inclination to be frivolous; folder full of fun links but can't be arsed to sort them. Had a quick drink with nadriel earlier but even that and the walk there & back wasn't working. Then, to top it all, Jennie posted an entry entitled Woe!:

I have teh pain. I have never had appendicitis, but this is what I would imagine appendicitis to feel like, and it's in the right place... [info]ginasketch, however, assures me that I am not, in fact, dying of appendicitis, so if I DO die you can all blame her. Stupid hurty innards. :(

Which naturaly got me all worried in a caring boyfriend kinda way, and got many people to comment with various medical suggestions. Then she commented to tell me to check the edit...

( cut to save the blushes )

Laugh? I surely did. Darlin? Love you, you seem to be able to cheer me up in many different ways.

I'm in a good mood again now. Not a good enough mood to figure out whether I loved or hated Doctor Who, but still, the meh funk has gone...

Jennie asks:

What Does one do when one is missing one's BF terribly?

It's a fair question; her response is to make this massively spoilery Jacobi in Dr Who desktop wallpaper that you probably don't want to look at if you haven't seen Utopia yet.

My response is of course to set it as my desktop, because,w ell, I needed a new one anyway, and this one'll make me smile. Back home safe, knackered, may or may not get through my friends list this evening, doubt it. Oh yeah, news:

New job starting Monday!

Got the phonecall this morning; celebration of said news may have delayed our getting out of bed a bit but, well, y'know. Woo hoo!

Oh yeah, best bit? After I'm trained, I can work from anywhere with a wireless connection (or an ethernet plug), and the walk to work will be fun, it's 5 minutes down the road from here, around the corner from nadriel's flat. So that'll be me going to Yorkshire more often then...

Very (very) very cool. A few clunkers, a few wastes of time, some awesome silliness (Big Trouble in Little China on the big screen anyone?), 300 in an IMAX.

Countess Dracula. Ah well, can't all be good. Short films varied from fun and silly, to thought provoking to downright weirdness. Might manage a coherent revue, or at least summary, when I've got some functioning brain cells left, but, um, we left the house at 10.30am this morning, having started watching Doctor Who last night at about 2.30am. Oops. Jacobi interesting, end of the universe heat death interesting, "post humans" badly explained plot monsters, the rest, well, like an old school report; Could Do Better. If I'm coherent I might manage a poll thingy but odds are small.

So, right then, never did get around to that 'what I've been up to' post that LJ kept eating during the DDOS thing did I. So, a summary post, but first, a poll!
Poll #1003180 Fixing things
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 51

You switch on a light in your new(ish) house and all the lights go out

Visiting your (smarter than you?) girlfriend in her new house to be told the fuse has gone and her Dad is coming around later you...

When Jennie gets home from work and reads this, Mat is...

( Thursday May 31st - Last day at work, lunch in Portcullis House, the Houses of Parliament )
( Friday 1st June - Jennie visits, the Tate Late panel discussion ) ( Adrian Searle on State Britain - very luvvy )( Pubs and wandering late around Soho )
( Saturday 2nd June - Pirates, Disney and comic fangirls )
( Sunday 3rd - Wednesday 6th - Relax + job hunting )
( Thursday 7th June - Book signing at Waterstones with )( Jon Courtenay Grimwood,  )( Steph Swainston  )( and a BBC camera crew )
( Wondering home chatting, and putting names to usernames )
( Friday 8th June - A family visit and a meeting with friends )
( Saturday 9th June - Ballet - the Three Musketeers )
( Sunday June 10th - Wandering Wimbledon )
( Tuesday June 12th - Hyde Park with a friend )
( Wednesday June 13th - Yorkshire bound and zombie avoidance )( Rik Mayall - The New Statesman )
( Today? )
( Upcoming )

Did I say summary? That's a summary? Oops, probably good job I didn't go for the long version isn't it...

tyrell gives us an interesting quote:

When asked about the quality of television today he made a comment that "Nothing on TV has ever been as good as (the new) Battlestar Galactica."!

Who said that, you ask? Joss Whedon. The guy who made Buffy, Angel, Firefly. The one that Uncle Rusty is trying to copy, rather than learn from and build upon.

Joss Whedon thinks BSG is better than anything he's ever done for TV. And I agree with him. Re watched a fnumber of episodes over the weekend with miss_s_b, and it was great to remember how good some of them really are.

Back home from Yorkshire, knackered, had a great weekend, spending time with miss_s_b is of course going to be good, meeting burkesworks was cool, trying many many beers at the beer festival was interesting, and I even found a few I actually liked as well, although disappointingly, the cider named Strawberry Fields was far too sweet. Finished reading Macleod's Newton's Wake on the bus up, and am now about half way through steph_swainston's The Modern World, loved the former, any Charles Stross fans not already reading Ken should do so, and the latter is proving to be interesting up unitl this point.

Have backread my "people I actually have met" filter, but not really commenting much, far too knackered and incoherent, so I shall simply turn in, work tomorrow.

Everyone remember back when I said I really fancy Sue Perkins?. Well, it's been a great week on that front; she was on Heresy on Tuesday (from which this post gets its headline - anyone else get the reference?), and then she was on The News Quiz tonight as well (both on Listen Again at the moment, can't find the MP3 downloads on a quick search). Memorable quote on Ruth Kelly:

She's not fit for any century ... she's walked towards a load of jobs she's no good at.

We repeat, Ruth Kelly: she's rubbish and should resign.

If I get time over the weekend, I might put up a poll of the current cabinet and ask for people to vote for those likely to make it through to Brown's cabinet. Reid's already gone, Hodge has to go, as does Hewitt, others I'm not so sure of; Gordo'll need to do a clean sweep in many respects. Ah well.

In other news, had the crappiest megabus driver ever today, but apart from traffic and his inability to stop effectively, was OK. Then I managed to not get off the train at Brighouse. D'oh! So instead of getting to Elland just about now for a nice drink in Jennie's pub, I missed the last bus and am waiting for her here; I'm actually about to take the dog fora walk. Ouch...

Right, last Thursday, on the way home, I went into the Wimbledon branch of Lush to buy some shaving cream. Shaving cream, deodorant and a bath bomb later, I left, wondering if the manageress was really flirting that blatently happy.

Now, having had a whole weekend bimbling around the house, I finally remembered it was there, and am having one of those bath type things. And we all know how well they usually go. Given LJ seems to be not sending me emails, it doesn't look like I'm missing much. In the meantime, given that a chunk of people are complaining about some crappy new fanfic site this evening, how about Cory Doctorow: In Praise of Fanfic? Yeah, thought you'd like that one. Cory gets ever hgher on my 'list of authors I ought to be reading' every time I see an article he's written. Some people, it seems, are less impresses. Mr Yngve? Asked, and answered, they do that as well. Silly fule. (both via

Bonus! Extra! Cory! How To Keep Hostile Jerks From Taking Over Your Online Community. Because I just discovered he doesn't just blog at boingboing, but his own site is craphound_rss.

Ah, stuff it, spurious_logic gives us picspam:
( Cut for large, wide image of a pretty lady's mouth )

The rest are amusing as well.

So, steph_swainston's new book is out today. And I'm tying to save money. Given that there are three books out this month I really want, well, patience is a virtue, I'd decided to switch to paperbacks only way before I ran out of money. Then she posted a link to a really good interview and a follow uppost about modern fantasy / New Weird writing. Got me all excited it did (plus, faeriecween had texted me to say she'd bought her copy and I was all jealous, I'm supposed to be the one that gets the books first). And Steph had also posted a link to the Amazon page. So I went to look. Y'see that bit that says "nearly half price", and the bit that says "free delivery for orders over X". Yeah, I thought I'd see if I could find something. So a little bit further down the page? A "Perfect Partner". At the top of the post, I mention there are three books I'm excited about them coming out? Swainston, Reynolds and, well, Miéville's Un Lun Dun. The Reynolds will wait, but those two came to £16.77.

They're, um, in the post now. Oops. So much for waiting for the paperbacks.

On the subject of Miéville's Un Lun Dun, podcast of him doing a reading from it, so very cool. Many thanks to Iain of tsitsoss_rss (formerly daweaver of this parish) for mailing me that link.

Um, yeah. Life = very busy. Job = fun, well, dull, but great atmosphere and company. Location = Westminster, I'm still loving it. Mat = busy little bee. Need to sort out my friends list and viewing filters soon, but in the meantime, time to turn in, another long day tomorrow.

I'm sat eating the pizza (standard on offer Sainsbury 4-cheeses plus some quorn slices I added myself), the phone beeps.

Megabus vouchers paid for by a certain someone. I'm off to Yorksher (again) for trhe bank holiday weekend. I go to post. I hit the WiFi. I log into deepestsender. I hit the WiFi (again). I type this. I hit the WiFi, pull the connector out and hope this'll help. I hit post, happy, despite the damn WiFi.

Pizza. Is that fattening enough for you m'dear?

I did not go out on my lunch break and buy a big chocolate doughnut. It is not sat in front of me on the desk to eat after the sandwiches. To do such a thing would be wrong.

Hmmm... Doughnuts...

ETA: Nice doughnut. Not the best ever, but, y'know. Ah well, back to work.

I reckon my worthy friends list could take that test and bump the avarages up a bit, right? Good good.

Went to oldharrysgame recording last night after work, was good, weirdly, episodes 4 & 6 were recorded, not 3&4, cast availability or something (Gina's full report here. Day off today, have a job interview for a permanent job later, looks good on paper. Might write full report for last night on the community this afternoon/evening. Or I might just do something else, not sure.

I, am knackered. Utterly exhausted. Coherent thought may follow later, or tomorrow, or something. In the meantime, here's a silly meme nicked from rowanberries :

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want - good, bad, neutral, random, or whatever. When you've finished, post this paragraph on your blog and be surprised about what people remember.

Because, y'know, when you're exhausted, comments = cool.

First full week in the job, enjoyed it, have pictures of the neighbourhood to follow (and we all know that means they'll never get uploaded), but am listening to Any Questions and trying to backread a very swamped friends list...

Oh yeah; happy birthday Mr mapp!

Rah! OK, after matryx sent me an invite on Facebook, I decided to go along to Trafalgar Square after work to take part ina world record attempt. Because, dude, it's St George's Day, and, well, it's a daft thing to do. Asked pinkshifter at work if she was going, and we met up with mooism and geekaboo and rushed over there. Of course, finishing work at 6pm in Westminster and having to rush to the other end of Whitehall meant we got there after a huge crowd had formed, and they were nearly out of coconuts. pinkshifter used her secret ninja fu to push through the crowd to the last desk with with coconuts, and grabbed two sets. For four of us. So geekaboo had one, and I decided to try to record as much as possible with my phone.

Did find out that if my phone is in my pocket and I'm in a crowd, I won't hear it ring, but finding matryx was easy. He rand, I looked across the square, I saw a nut stood up on the edge of the fountain with bright red hair down to his arse. Lots of people around his general vicinity were using him as a landmark. Meh, enough explanation, you want the video, don't you. I've got clips from the run up, I'll probably upload the 3gp files in a bit to my server, but the main bit is here:
It opens with the guy from Guinness explaining the rules, then we get Gilliam being cool, then we all start singing. The sound quality and picture quality isn't great, but, well, it's Monty Python being sung in Trafalgar Square by 4382 people, who cares. It is a bit lud though. Also? The guys dressed up in tabards stood next to Greg on the fountain edge had no idea about teh thing, they were just dressed up for a pub crawl, and were rather impressed, if amusingly drunk.

New York: 1785. London: 4382

London rocks, and this is exactly the sort of thing I moved up here to do.

(feel free to repost or link around, because, y'know, it's my first ever YouTube upload, don't I feel special)

It's a bright sunny day and I haven't sneezed once. I spent the night with a beautiful girl who I've fallen for big time. I've spent the afternoon walking Hyde Park taking pictures and listening to music. I've had a nice coffee on a park bench with a bag of spicy Nik Naks. I start my new job on Monday. Life is GOOD.

Sure, my feet are killing me and I won't see Jennie again for over a week, but those are down sides I can live with. Time to head back home, might be able to catch Dr Who if I'm lucky.

---

ETA: tidied up and tagged from home

Righty-Ho. synth_culture was fun last night, met up with nearly_everyone in the Doric Arches, then went on the the Egg to meet up with everyone else. Was good. Am still recovering from the hugely long bus journey home, in which the TFL timetables with set times made no sense at all ever. Still, was good to use my bus-fu and get us back via circuitous routes successfully...

Bah, you don't want to hear about my boring life, you want links! Yay links! Not many of them, because, y'know, not spending much time online *looks at SB* yes, well, *ahem*

A very cool flash based clock with pretty coloured spirals (via). ETA: Paul in the comments also points out there's downloadable screensaver as well. While I'm currently sticking to my Life on Mars clock, timekeeping screensavers rule.

Also, for those of you that regularly post IM conversations onto your LJ, this nice little IM LJ-ifier would make reading the darn conversations actually, y'know, do-able...

Oh yeah, last nights Now Show is now available to download (MP3) and being the BBC they even have it as a podcast as well. Go, listen, hear me laugh in the audience. OK, I'm one of many may, but, y'know...

Righty ho; quick update, went with miss_s_b to a recording of The now_show last night, have written up a report here for those interested, was a great show, and will be worth listening to at 18.30 this evening or lunchtime tomorrow. I did decide during the recording that I really fancy Sue Perkins, but, regrettably, appears I'm not her type.

Beyond that, happy, relaxed, and about to go cook lunch. And for those on her friends list, no, she still hasn't put any clothes on. I, naturally, am not complaining...

rho has an episode of Songs of Praise, with subtitles. Um, yeah, very well done. Songs of praise, subtitled

ETA: Extra külness: Monoculture, video by draxar using words by warren_ellis and a voiceover by dainul. So very cool.

Our internet went down yesterday, has just come back up, but I've got to be off in half an hourNOW (oops) to meet a certain person at the MegaBus stop. So skimming back on the friends page, don't be expecting comments for a bit...

So, two Who geeks, a new house and a TV that only receives BBC 1. What were we doing when 3.3 was on? What do you think? Yup. We were walking the dog. Oops.

One Who geek, a broken down MegaBus, and an internet ready mobile phone. What does he do?

Read the Dr Who spoilers of course!

( Read more... )So, oh wise and worthy readers, is it worth catching the repeat for anything more than Martha?

I agree with sexygoldfish_uk, this really is a really stupid idea:

Right, 22 overpaid players kicking around a synthetic pigs bladder and we get could Dr Who postponed. Bah, that's all wrong. It's a silly game but I don't mind people having their interests as long as they don't conflict with mine. This decision would appear to there to upset my nice, calm, tolerant and understanding outlook on life.

Not sure I agree with him on the 'overpaid' bit;they get paid that much because too many idiots give money to the big name teams and the high ratings means more sponsorship, but definitely agree postponing the schedule completely if there's an overrun is daft. Let the sports fans switch to BBC3 or similar, leave the scheduled for months entertainment where it is thankee muchly.

This friendly PSA brought to you by someone who has no objection to people watching the football. If they go to the stadium and support their local team. Anything else just makes it beer and circuses...

What never (ever) made any sense to me though was when they used to move Children's TV from BBC1 to BBC2 during sporting events like Wimbledon. Why not just put the sports event on BBC2 in the first place? Why disrupt two sets of schedules? Ah well. This'll be weird though, despite not having a TV of my own, it's likely I'll be seeing the first three episodes of the run of this series sat in front of a TV set. Although it could be argued going to Yorkshire for the weekend is perhaps a little excessive to acheive this. Admittedly, the company will be good, but, y'know.