A new flatmate

Yesterday I was at my best mate's place for a barbecue. It rained a little but that failed to stop us all from having a good evening. As a flat-warming present she bought me a bonsai tree, the rationale being that if I can take care of that then a woman should be no problem at all.

So at the end of the night I'm quite drunk but not as bad as I have been in the past but it was still quite odd walking home balancing a bonsai tree in one hand. I'm not sure what people who drove past would have made of it (Hey it's a drunk guy with a tree). I'm glad the police didn't stop me or else the conversation might have gone something like this.

Cop: Is that your bonsai Sir?
Me : Yes, honest guvnor (because that's how we talk in London)
Cop: I think you stole that tree.
Me : I didn't steal it, it's a plant.
Cop: I'm arresting you on suspicion of using a bad pun.

Both I and the tree made it home safe and sound. The plant now has it's home beside my bed and is being well looked after. This weekend I'll go out and find the nutrients it needs; until then it'll have to make do with water.

Have I given it a name? Nah, it's just a plant.

Ragdoll 2

Looks like somebody has adapted the ragdoll physic thing I posted some time back

Celebrities & celebs

I'm back!!!

I had a great time in Hungary, Austria and Italy.
My pics can now be found using the link on the left.

In one month's time I'll be in Japan for the next trip. I can't wait.

Enjoy them.

Holiday!!!

Tomorrow I'm off on another coaster trip, this time to Hungary, Austria and Italy. I've not been to any of these countries so am quite excited.

As well as the parks we'll be taking in Budapest, Vienna, Florence and Pisa, so there is some sightseeing opportunities on this trip, which makes it better than a lot of the trips that are just park park park park park all the time, which can become a bit too much after a while.

I think the high point, literally, will be a ride on the longest coaster in the world; 3.5K down the side of a mountain.

I'll be back with lots of pics and reports in a little over a week.

Just pissing about with photoshop

Red Bull Messed Me Up

Last night I was working overnight and left for home at 8am.
It passed itself off with no major issues, other than me getting lost in the midst of some new code I'm helping develop. Says a lot for my technical development, or lack of it perhaps.

The problem I'm having is that I had 4 cans of red bull to keep me going through the night. Usually this isn't a problem. The second I sit on the train I usually fall asleep until I get home at which point I fall asleep pretty much immediately. However today I couldn't fall asleep. I was wanting to yawn on the train but whilst my body wanted to, my muscles wouldn't let me and I was left with a feeble attempt that actually hurt. When I got home I couldn't fall asleep. I've never had a reaction like this before.

It's now midnight and I'm going to force myself to go to bed, I've now been up for 40 hours and I could quite easily stay up longer.

London is at a standstill.

Had a very strange journey into work today; trains were late and as I left the station they closed it. Fire engines and ambulances could be heard all over the place. Only when I got into work did I find out there had been a series of explosions around the city.

Well I'm OK, but I have no idea how I'm going to get home. Hopefully the transport network will be restored. At the moment, the underground and the buses have been stopped.

The news is saying that it's some sort of terrorist attack, Al Qaeda has been mentioned but not confirmed. The emergency plans seem to have been put in place very well and everything is being dealt with.

Mobile networks have either gone down due to the volume of calls and texts, or been brought brought down as part of the emergency plans.

War of the Worlds

I was really in two minds whether to see this or not. I've not been a big fan of Spielberg since Schlinder's List, ever since then he seems to want to clutch at our heart strings all the time, which I'm not interested in. I haven't been a big fan of Tom Cruise, especially with all the publicity games he's playing at the moment and so I expected this to be over schmaltzy and sentimental.

But I came away pleasantly surprised, the effects were very impressive and the story was "quite" faithful to the original. I did make the following observations.

Tom Cruise and kids managed to escape when others couldn't, examples being him running from the first alien, having the only car that worked, managing to get on the ferry, escaping from the aliens in the fields etc etc. The coincidence was just too great.

Could a single line of soldiers really keep hundreds of people from getting onto the ferry, even if those people were pushing for their lives?

Why didn't the alien at the end sneeze.

And what was the ending about; it has to go down as one of the worst in cinema history.

As I said earlier I did expect the film to suck, so came away pleasantly surprised.

Google Earth - Home

If you thought Google maps were good and got very excited at the satellite imagery they then added, you're going to be very very excited when you see what they're up to next.

Google Earth - Home

Oh and if you can't download the exe you can now

Who once said?

"Some people join bands for all the wrong reasons. You don't join a band to save the world, you join a band to save your own ass"

Apparently if you read the book that accompanies "Rattle and Hum" the answer is Bono.

A funny thing happened...

I was out taking a walk in the local park today when I saw this. I'm glad I had my camera with me.

Actually I found it on another discussion board and it made me laugh so much I had to post it.

The Essential Mix

Every Saturday morning Radio1 broadcasts a live mix they call "The Essential Mix". All the top DJs have been on this show at some time.

Well on a discussion board I'm part of someone posted a link to a website that contains a stream of every Essential Mix ever broadcast, and with a little technical jiggerypokery you can get them into a form that lets you put them onto your iPod.

Considering the show has been running since 1993, that's a lot of really good music, for free; just don't tell everyone about it haha!

Mixes

Complaint from seat 29E

Poor chap!

Complaint from seat 29E

Live-8

To all those "pop stars" who took the time out to play their slots today, when you return to your million pound hotels or upmarket hotel suites tonight I hope you sleep well knowing that your album sales are likely to see a slight increase on Monday.

To those of you who haven't had a TV appearance since the last Live Aid, I hope you wake up on Monday morning with invitiations to daytime TV shows and interviews with the press that could mean your career gets the restart you've tried so long trying to achieve.

To Elton John, I hope you continue to spend a small fortune on ornaments and flowers at your home, money that if you genuinely cared could be given to the kids you want us to worry about.

To Bono, thanks for making it clear there are people out there doing what they can to survive whatever the cost. Just remember you're back in court on Monday fighting over who owns a hat and jacket you once wore. I'm sure you'll win, after all the woman isn't anyone important and you're bound to have paid a significant amount in legal fees to make sure you win.

To those bands reforming for one day, if you were passionate about your past you wouldn't need to wait for events like this to get back together. May it trigger more sales of your greatest hits albums that have probably been flatlining for the last few years.

To the Spice Girls, thanks for doing something right for once.

To Sir Bob, May today's venture give you another knighthood. After all you did get to kneel before the queen for the last Live Aid concert, a gig that brought the plight of Africa to the world's attention but did nothing about it. After all if your masterplan had been successful then you wouldn't have needed today's gig, right! So in fact you've been given a knighthood for nothing more than shouting in front of cameras and for doing the same this time you should be commended in the same way.

To the people who marched through Edinburgh, this is how a protest should be done and I applaud your efforts. I only hope the pop stars don't take the media attention away from what you did today. A quarter of a million people making a peaceful protest is something to be proud of.

To Tony Blair and the other members attending the G8, just do the right thing for once.

Sensation - The World's Leading Dance Event

Sensation is the biggest dance event in Holland that takes place over 2 weekends and has two themes. The first is "white" and everybody has to wear white. The second is called "black" and yep, you've guessed it; everyone wears black. 40,000 people dressed alike must look very strange but would help with the unity vibe that these events have.

I saw the trailer to last year's event and loved the concept and if I'd realised it was this weekend I'd have gone. Tonight is "white", "black" is next weekend.

Sensation - The World's Leading Dance Event

Optical Illusions and Visual Phenomena

Some of this stuff is very strange...Optical Illusions and Visual Phenomena

King Kong Trailer

The big ape has been underwraps............until now.King Kong

Trailer looks like it could beat Jurassic Park when it comes to dinosaurs too. A shame we still have 6 months to wait though.

Ragdoll physics

keep on falling

Free Booze

What's the best thing that happens when a Senior Manager leaves work?
He has to open a tab at the bar at his leaving drinks.

Now the plan was to only go for one but I had nothing else planned that night and well, why not take advantage of this.

So countless jack daniels and cokes later, it's closing time and I've made myself known to a few more people at work. I'll find out on Monday if it was in a bad light, but I'm sure it won't be.

Anyway I fell asleep on the tube but was able to get a bus from the last stop, after a drunken visit to KFC for a butchered chicken in a bun covered in MSG based sauces. I managed to spook a drunken couple on the walk from the bus stop. I think the guy had pulled and she was unsure about going in for "coffee", but then getting home would have been a problem for her so late at night.

I woke up this morning with the worst sore throat I've ever had. I'm putting that down to walking around with no jacket but that's what I get for staying out later than envisaged.

Needless to say today will be a very "gentle" day.

You're a jerk!

Poor Tom Cruise, he drops his Mr. Nice demeanour for one moment and then people take the piss.

You're a jerk

Kung Fu Hustle

This film is a lot of fun. I really didn't like Shaolin Soccer but this time round it looks likes Stephen Chow has been given a decent budget with which to make a film. The story sees a war between the residents of Pig Sty Alley and The Axe Gang get into a mass ruck. The effects are great, the story is silly but enjoyable and the martial arts are great too. Definitely a film worth watching and if you shop at playusa.com you can already buy it.

I thought the guy who played the Beast was Bolo Yeung from that Van Damme Classic "Blood Sport" but apparently it was wrong.

Still it's a fun movie, which isn't up its own arse a la Matrix and is fun to watch.