Reports of Zombies invading Reading Library, ’s journal; hope everyone still alive makes it out of there.
In other, and the rest of the committee deserve praise for both organising the Freshers week RocSoc event in exeter and getting as many to turn up at the Cavern, was good to see a full dance floor even right at the end of the evening, even if ’s first two songs in his set did scare a few of the more innocent off. Actually, that may have been the sight of me and Dot dancing…
Totally exhausted today, got to work a little late and spent most of it half asleep, might be to do with the late hour I finally got home. Still, boss insisted I take some hours back tomorrow, so I can have a lie in. Paid the Council Tax bill (for the year). I may be a little skint for a bit. Next year, fill in the direct debit forms…
Oh, almsot forgot, meme from and ; “When you see this on your flist, quote Firefly.”
Thing is, they’ve already done most of the good ones I can think of off the top of my head. So, in the meantime.
Take my love. Take my land.
Take me where I cannot stand.
I don’t care, I’m still free.
You can’t take the sky from me.
Take me out to the black.
Tell ‘em I ain’t comin’ back.
Burn the land And boil the sea.
You can’t take the sky from me.
Have no place I can be since I found Serenity.
But you can’t take the sky from me.
Serenity (15) UIP (UK) 07.10.05
Last note, a question. When is The Corpse Bride coming to a cinema I’ve got a vague chance of getting to?
September 29th, 2005
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OK, the moral of this story is…
I have 1000 free minutes evening and weekend to landline and other Orange phones. This is good. Except that, well, people who know me know I don’t tend to ring people that often, and when I do, it tends to be a fairly brief “I’m on my way”, or “I got your email, I’ll get back to you” or “No, I’m not out of bed yet, I’ll be there after I’ve had time for coffee”. That’s normally the length of my phone conversations. My August bill says I used 9.32 minutes out of those 1000 available.
I also get 25 minutes free to any other network. Good job really. When offering to ring someone regularly, check that the Orange handset they have also has an Orange SIM card? Oops.
So, I think I need to a) start using my minutes up a bit on occasions (yes, I know I should ring my mother more often), and b) keep track of who I can ring for free.
Besides, it’s an excuse to put up a text entry poll and see how they work.
Results only seen by me, it was either that or screen comments, bit pointless really.
September 27th, 2005
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Clipped from ’s picture, she has the full version on her entry here.
September 26th, 2005
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It’s been ages since I last listened to music for most of the evening. Radio 4 all the way for me thank you very much. Except today, when the Archers came on (yeah, 30 minutes of each day when I listen to something else), I put a CD on. Well, I hit play anyway. Ministry’s Greatest Fits. I’m not really into Industrial, but I do likes me Ministry. So good, I played it twice. Then I decided on a change. So I grabbed an old Senser album. Anyone out there know what ‘category’ of music Stacked Up is? If any? Not the hugest of shifts, but they’re at least similar. When that was done, I, um, put on some Wagner; the Orchestral highlights of The Ring. Damn fine music. It just finished. Eclectic? Yup, but very cool as well.
Anyway, link time. First of all, my favourite from the Dictionary of Biography I linked to earlier Political Refugees in Britain. Interesting to read how long our tradition of taking all comers in has been about. You’ll need to register to read it, but do it, the whole site is so damn cool it’s worth it. Next up, Boing Boing gives us a plastic Bunny! That should cheer some people up. Last up, we have some very cool, if slightly insane, lego. Serenity. Film is out soon, properly. I think that’s my 3rd or possibly even 4th “must see” films this year, there weren’t any last year that I recall. Maybe I’m getting back into cinema as well.
And so, to bed… (it’s bugging me, what kids show was that line from?)
September 24th, 2005
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From
Via The Virtual Stoa and Early Modern Notes, for today, tomorrow and Sunday only the Oxford University Press are offering free online access to the Dictionary of National Biography, one of the finest academic achievements of all time. Truly superb stuff - I don’t think I can over-emphasise just how damn good the DNB is - register for free access and indulge. You won’t regret it.
Forget about tidying, the DNB is very very cool.
Oh, I’m still going to the zoo tomorrow. I just might not do much else…
September 24th, 2005
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I love London, I love visiting it, and I use the tube all the time while I’m there. But I also carry a bag a lot, have a non-standard appearance, tend to carry gadgets and frequently check my phone. Does this mean I’ll get arrested as well?
By way of and , I gave up on the Guardian online when I set the Independent up.
September 23rd, 2005
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Decided to read a full thread on , which is unusual. Glad I did.
Name the hurricanes after the gods! That’s a link to the funny thread, which I only opened as it looked vaguely good…
I’m all for going with the classics!
“Tropical Depression Orpheus has turned back in its path and is now dissipating, but Hurricane Oedipus is still headed for the coast and looks like it’s gonna be one motherf$#er of a storm!”
September 23rd, 2005
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A discussion with has reminded me. Book plug time.
Saturday, when walking back to the train station, we passed a Waterstones. Three bibliophiles and an open bookstore. Impressively, I managed to not buy anything, that’s the first time I’d left a bookshop without getting the wallet out in a long time. It may be because I talked her into buying what was undoubtedly the best book I’ve read in the last year.
Susanna Clarke, Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell. It’s now out in paperback (my sister got me the hardback for Christmas), and Waterstones has it as number one in their paperback chart (nice red cover, although I prefer the black of the hardback), and it’s on 3 for 2. Do yourself a huge favour, go buy the book.
A bit of history, a bit of fantasy, a bit of English gentlemen’s club mystery, a bit of war story and a lot of great stuff. The language is exceptionally good and for a first novel it’s amazing, I look forward to reading her next.
Go on, go buy it. Honest, you won’t regret it.
September 22nd, 2005
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For those not on , you’ve got to love :
For the Harry Potter fans and those who loath it, capping the ‘dore, and Da Big Snape Dogg.
There are probably some spoilers in there somewhere, but I wouldn’t know. Besides, if you’re a fan and haven’t finished reading it already, WTF are you doing online? It’s been out for ages.
September 21st, 2005
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From both and , and she even saved me the effort of looking up Purple.
Poetry Meme
When you see this, post a poem you like in your LJ.
Warning: When I am an Old Woman I shall Wear Purple
When I am an old woman
I shall wear purple,
With a red hat which doesn’t go and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and
summer gloves. And satin sandals, and say we’ve
no money for butter. I shall sit down on the pavement
when I’m tired. And gobble up samples in shops and
press alarm bells. And run my stick along public
railings. And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain. And pick
flowers in other people’s gardens. And learn to
spit…
But, maybe I ought to practice a little now? So
people who know me are not too shocked or surprised
when suddenly I am old and start to wear
purple.
by Jenny Joseph
Always loved this poem.
Upon Westminster Bridge
Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning: silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky,
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour valley, rock, or hill;
Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!
Whenever I’m in London, I end up on the bridge. Still not been on the Eye, which is daft really. Shame about the boards up blocking the view on one side last Saturday.
Xanadu - Kubla Khan
a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail:
And ‘mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And ‘mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight ‘twould win me
That with music loud and long
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Because, let’s face it, it’s the greatest unfinished poem of all time, and Fanthorpe wrote a great send up of his excuses for not finishing it. Still, in this case, the drugs do work, right?
Oh, also first seen on but I didn’t have time to do it last night so half the rest of you have done it now…
LJ Interests meme results
- caffeine:
This needs explaining? I wake up. I demand caffeine. After application of at least 2 cups worth, I may be able to function. Unlike others I could mention, drinking lots (or even just one cup) does not make me nuts; not drinking it makes me morose.
- democracy:
Worst system of govt ever, excepting all the others that have been tried.
If a Liberal can’t misquote Churchill on a regular basis, what’s the point of being one?
- events:
Events dear boy, events! Without them, life would be dull. Doesn’t matter if they’re local, national or international, events make life interesting and provide us with challenges and entertainment. Oh, they sometimes kill people.
- independent bookstores:
Well, y’know, books are good, places that sell them are good. That is all.
- long hair:
I’ve tried making it short. It’s just not me. I hate it. So my hair is long. Weirdly, I seem to prefer shorter hair on some women, but, well, that’s me being contrary. And on some it looks awful anyway.
- paignton:
I was born there, I work there, I spend a lot of my time there. Doesn’t always interest me, but it’s a good way of searching on LJ, right? Tis a nice place, and the Zoo is huge…
- punk:
Oh, I dunno. How do you explain an interest in something that is both a musical genre and a social movement? I just like it, OK? Oh, we’re talking real punk here, none of this modern “punk sound” stuff made by pretty young things signed to big labels.
- sci-fi:
Ideas. What will the future be like? Can we do stuff to shape the future? What are the threats, what are the dreams? SF has helped shape the modern world, it will undoubtedly help shape the future world.
- the west wing:
I like quality TV shows. I like politics. I’m an instinctive liberal. Why wouldn’t I love this show? Besides, occasionally they let Sheen loose with a nice long rant scene, and that’s always worth watching. Really must get around to buying the DVDs.
- wagner:
Blame Apocalypse Now! I was already interested in orchestral music, but just watching that film and listening to the soundtrack sold me on Wagner. Don’t listen to it enough though, but you can say that about most of the music I like.
Enter your LJ user name, and 10 interests will be selected from your interest list.
September 21st, 2005
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