Now I need to finish watching my DVDs. Phil was very kind and got me the second series of Futurama for my birthday. Only 2 more series to go, until they make the new ones. (In 2008 or something!).
It's kind of what you want from a DVD of a TV series. Just the programmes and a few little extras. Not loads of extra rubbish. Haven't listened to the commentaries yet, but if they're like the first series, they should be entertaining. And of course, the actual programmes themselves are incredibly entertaining. Funnier than The Simpsons, and with actual plots that make sense. (Well...)
But not too many extras. Which is possibly good. But possibly not. Sometimes it's nice to have lots of extras. Sometimes they're not good, and you can't be arsed to sit through them all. For TV series, I think Red Dwarf got it right. Mostly interesting extras. And I did sit through all 6 discs of extras on the Lord of the Rings extended DVDs. (Possibly too much detail there though, but mostly interesting stuff).
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
We Love Katamari
Yes. We do. We love it. Whatever it is. It's possibly because of the King's magnificent chin. We want to stroke it.
Or possibly because it was going cheap on Amazon, and it was my birthday, and I felt like something different to play. And it's a wonderful game. A weird little guy (or one of his numerous cousins, for some reason) must roll a little ball around. And stuff sticks to it. Pencils and biscuits and small toys. And then it gets bigger. And bigger things stick to it. So you end up rolling it outside and rolling up small puppies and buckets and children. And so on. Elephants and cars. And small houses. And bigger houses. And the Eiffel tower. And Godzilla. And ships. And small islands. And bigger things.
Until eventually you roll up countries. And planets. And the sun.
The game has nothing remotely approaching a sensible plot, but it doesn't need one. It's cute. And silly. And far too much fun. And has some of the most annoying, catchy and wonderful music in a game. Ever.
But still makes no sense at all. As if that's any sort of problem. It's fun watching people run off screaming as a giant ball made out of all sorts of crap comes rolling towards them. And once you finish it (which isn't hard), you want to keep playing. Just make the Katamari a little bit bigger. Ok, maybe I can do better than that. Oh dear, is it tomorrow now?
Or possibly because it was going cheap on Amazon, and it was my birthday, and I felt like something different to play. And it's a wonderful game. A weird little guy (or one of his numerous cousins, for some reason) must roll a little ball around. And stuff sticks to it. Pencils and biscuits and small toys. And then it gets bigger. And bigger things stick to it. So you end up rolling it outside and rolling up small puppies and buckets and children. And so on. Elephants and cars. And small houses. And bigger houses. And the Eiffel tower. And Godzilla. And ships. And small islands. And bigger things.
Until eventually you roll up countries. And planets. And the sun.
The game has nothing remotely approaching a sensible plot, but it doesn't need one. It's cute. And silly. And far too much fun. And has some of the most annoying, catchy and wonderful music in a game. Ever.
But still makes no sense at all. As if that's any sort of problem. It's fun watching people run off screaming as a giant ball made out of all sorts of crap comes rolling towards them. And once you finish it (which isn't hard), you want to keep playing. Just make the Katamari a little bit bigger. Ok, maybe I can do better than that. Oh dear, is it tomorrow now?
Kingdom Hearts 2
Well, that sort of kept me going for a while (until Final Fantasy 12 eventually appears, I guess). Not as good as the first one, and far too easy. But kind of fun. Assorted Final Fantasy characters combined with Disney characters. And a plot that makes very little sense.
But you do get to visit all sorts of Disney places. Which possibly isn't that much of a bonus. Halloween Town is fun (from Tim Burton's wonderful Nightmare Before Christmas). But I've still got the tune stuck in my head. And you get to do the motorbike racing thing from Tron. And there's too many famous people providing voices.
Apart from that, it's fun, but too easy and short and fairly pointless. But worth playing. And you get a big fight where you have to kill 1000 of the Heartless (one of the groups of bad guys). With a giant key. And if you want to do all the extra bits, it gets better. Of course, you just know that when you find Sephiroth (from FF7), and the music starts up, you're about to die. At least the first couple of times.
But you do get to visit all sorts of Disney places. Which possibly isn't that much of a bonus. Halloween Town is fun (from Tim Burton's wonderful Nightmare Before Christmas). But I've still got the tune stuck in my head. And you get to do the motorbike racing thing from Tron. And there's too many famous people providing voices.
Apart from that, it's fun, but too easy and short and fairly pointless. But worth playing. And you get a big fight where you have to kill 1000 of the Heartless (one of the groups of bad guys). With a giant key. And if you want to do all the extra bits, it gets better. Of course, you just know that when you find Sephiroth (from FF7), and the music starts up, you're about to die. At least the first couple of times.
2 months and some stuff
So why haven't I posted anything for 2 months? Because I'm a lazy bugger? Probably.
Well, first I started building a website for my own personal use. I was fed up with having so many channels and not knowing what was on. And it turns out you can download TV listings from the Radio Times. Which is useful. Then all you need to do is write something to display them all in a useful way. Which nobody seems to have done yet. (Well, they've tried, but they've all got assorted problems that make them annoying at best, and totally useless at worst).
Of course, with so many channels, that's a lot of programme data to work with. Close to 50000 programmes in the database at any one time. So quickly knocking up something to display them then turned into ages spent fiddling with SQL trying to optimise the queries so pages didn't take 5 minutes to load. All of which stopped me doing anything else of an evening, like writing anything in this.
And there was also a camping trip to the New Forest. Which was fun. Got to see a couple of people we haven't seen for a couple of years, which is always good. (And now they can't get out of coming to my camping event in May).
And finally, there was my birthday. 35. Eep! Still, it gave me an excuse to get some games and DVDs and stuff. Which explains why I haven't done anything to this for ages even more. I'm just rubbish, I guess.
Well, first I started building a website for my own personal use. I was fed up with having so many channels and not knowing what was on. And it turns out you can download TV listings from the Radio Times. Which is useful. Then all you need to do is write something to display them all in a useful way. Which nobody seems to have done yet. (Well, they've tried, but they've all got assorted problems that make them annoying at best, and totally useless at worst).
Of course, with so many channels, that's a lot of programme data to work with. Close to 50000 programmes in the database at any one time. So quickly knocking up something to display them then turned into ages spent fiddling with SQL trying to optimise the queries so pages didn't take 5 minutes to load. All of which stopped me doing anything else of an evening, like writing anything in this.
And there was also a camping trip to the New Forest. Which was fun. Got to see a couple of people we haven't seen for a couple of years, which is always good. (And now they can't get out of coming to my camping event in May).
And finally, there was my birthday. 35. Eep! Still, it gave me an excuse to get some games and DVDs and stuff. Which explains why I haven't done anything to this for ages even more. I'm just rubbish, I guess.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
8 months to organise camping?
Oh well, I guess it has to be done. Organising my next camping event. In May. And it's only just September. Other people embarassed me into doing it by starting to organise their next one the day after this year's finished.
Apart from that, the reason I've not done this for a month is, erm, I'm crap. But at least I can use the new, upgraded beta version of this now. Which is nice. And set up another blog for my camping event.
Oh, and I've been learning new things. Never bothered to properly learn PHP before, so I have now. Using that, and Apache and MySQL running on my PC (which the outside world can't reach), I've been doing something useful. Well, to me anyway. With so many TV channels to choose from these days, you'd think there'd be a TV guide progam you can download which is (a) easy to use, (b) works, (c) doesn't look rubbish, and (d) is free. But there isn't, so I've been building a web based thing to do it. Using freely available listings. Which solves b,c and d. But installing Apache with PHP and MySQL just for that doesn't really count as easy to use. Oh well. 75% isn't bad.
Apart from that, the reason I've not done this for a month is, erm, I'm crap. But at least I can use the new, upgraded beta version of this now. Which is nice. And set up another blog for my camping event.
Oh, and I've been learning new things. Never bothered to properly learn PHP before, so I have now. Using that, and Apache and MySQL running on my PC (which the outside world can't reach), I've been doing something useful. Well, to me anyway. With so many TV channels to choose from these days, you'd think there'd be a TV guide progam you can download which is (a) easy to use, (b) works, (c) doesn't look rubbish, and (d) is free. But there isn't, so I've been building a web based thing to do it. Using freely available listings. Which solves b,c and d. But installing Apache with PHP and MySQL just for that doesn't really count as easy to use. Oh well. 75% isn't bad.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
It's a video. Of a cat.
You can tell I was bored. OUT has a new feature where you can add videos. Which seems to involve linking to clips of your favourite thing that everyone's seen 100 times before. Or someone sat in front of their PC talking crap in a nervous manner.
So I made a video of a cat doing nothing. Add a caption, some cheesy filters to make it look old (I was going for a Bagpuss effect, really), and 17 seconds of music (which actually took me about 17 seconds to "compose"). Well, I thought it was a fun way to spend 5 minutes.
So I made a video of a cat doing nothing. Add a caption, some cheesy filters to make it look old (I was going for a Bagpuss effect, really), and 17 seconds of music (which actually took me about 17 seconds to "compose"). Well, I thought it was a fun way to spend 5 minutes.
Rockets, volcanos and small children
You'd think that was possibly not the best combination, but I've never let things like that bother me before. The niece was here for a week, on her own, without the boys. So lots of finding things to do to keep her amused, including a compulsory visit from Uncle Phil (who would have been in trouble if he hadn't come).
So, a trip to a zoo to see some animals (no sweary parrot though!). Then we had to rush home to make a cake. Which had to be pink. (Made up for the fact that I didn't get around to making a "big pink gay cake" for Phil's birthday).
Then rocket time. Coke bottle, 1/3 full of water. Car tyre valve with a couple of balloons wrapped around it to plug up the neck of the bottle. Careful balance it on a stand made of bent coat hangers. Pump air into bottle. Watch as it flies 50 foot in the air, soaking anyone standing nearby. Repeat until small child is amused enough. I was enjoying it a bit too much, I think.
Oh, and volcanos involve vinegar, baking soda and washing up liquid. And some food colouring. Never did quite get the recipe right.
So, a trip to a zoo to see some animals (no sweary parrot though!). Then we had to rush home to make a cake. Which had to be pink. (Made up for the fact that I didn't get around to making a "big pink gay cake" for Phil's birthday).
Then rocket time. Coke bottle, 1/3 full of water. Car tyre valve with a couple of balloons wrapped around it to plug up the neck of the bottle. Careful balance it on a stand made of bent coat hangers. Pump air into bottle. Watch as it flies 50 foot in the air, soaking anyone standing nearby. Repeat until small child is amused enough. I was enjoying it a bit too much, I think.
Oh, and volcanos involve vinegar, baking soda and washing up liquid. And some food colouring. Never did quite get the recipe right.
6 weeks of stuff? Let's start with camping.
As good a place as any to start, I guess.
Camping in Wales. That was fun. Very nice campsite, with a nice view of the sea. And a little lane that goes down to the beach. And then it started raining (that annoying sort that gets you a bit wet but doesn't bother absolutely soaking you). And getting windy. The entire tent was leaning over about 45 degrees at various points during the night. Just enough to hit me in the side of the head, and then spring back up by the time I was awake enough to wonder what was going on. Phil didn't suffer from this because he was sleeping on the other side of the bedroom, away from the wind.
But still a good weekend. Found a nice little NT house to go and look around. And a nice waterfall. Took about an hour to walk down about 300 feet to the bottom, then back up the other side. But worth it. And all the roads in Wales are horrible. Big plummety drops at the side, and all windy and twisty. Luckily the sat nav got us to the campsite, but I'm sure it was taking us the most dangerous route possible.
Camping in Wales. That was fun. Very nice campsite, with a nice view of the sea. And a little lane that goes down to the beach. And then it started raining (that annoying sort that gets you a bit wet but doesn't bother absolutely soaking you). And getting windy. The entire tent was leaning over about 45 degrees at various points during the night. Just enough to hit me in the side of the head, and then spring back up by the time I was awake enough to wonder what was going on. Phil didn't suffer from this because he was sleeping on the other side of the bedroom, away from the wind.
But still a good weekend. Found a nice little NT house to go and look around. And a nice waterfall. Took about an hour to walk down about 300 feet to the bottom, then back up the other side. But worth it. And all the roads in Wales are horrible. Big plummety drops at the side, and all windy and twisty. Luckily the sat nav got us to the campsite, but I'm sure it was taking us the most dangerous route possible.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Gravy fountain?
Now this is also VERY STUPID
Ok, so chocolate fountains are a bit of a stupid idea anyway. But why would anyone want to make a gravy fountain instead? And make it look so crap? The fact that someone obviously put a lot of effort into making something so pointless and rubbish looking makes it all worthwhile.
Ok, so chocolate fountains are a bit of a stupid idea anyway. But why would anyone want to make a gravy fountain instead? And make it look so crap? The fact that someone obviously put a lot of effort into making something so pointless and rubbish looking makes it all worthwhile.
Things I really musn't do next time I'm camping.
| It would be so wrong. Putting some sweets in diet coke. Ok, so you wouldn't want to drink the diet coke anyway. May work with normal coke, but then again it might not. And possibly works with all sorts of sweets. (I suspect not Werther's Originals). So tempting to try it in a field somewhere, and what better place than a campsite? I'll remember it next time we go camping. Then again, maybe not. Could be an expensive experiment, the amount of coke it seems to involve. And yes, I found it amusing and so used it as a way to test Google's new "post videos to your blog and see if anyone else finds it as amusing" feature. At least I posted something. I could have posted something about the other campings (Norfolk: cold and wet, but fun. Cheddar: hot and noisy, but still fun). | |
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
16 days?
Really should just give up. Nobody reads it anyway. And I don't write it. Oh well.
Having recovered from my camping shennanigans (which people seemed to enjoy and want to do again), it's now time to relax and enjoy someone elses. In Norfolk. Except it's probably going to be wet. And cold. Or possibly I might suffer horribly from hayfever, which I seem to be doing lately.
And rather stupidly, I've said we'll stop in at my sister's on the way home. To see The Little Treasures. The horror of trying to be an uncle to 3 of the little buggers after a weekend spent in a field, probably being cold and wet and definitely not sleeping enough. Should be fun, I'm sure.
Having recovered from my camping shennanigans (which people seemed to enjoy and want to do again), it's now time to relax and enjoy someone elses. In Norfolk. Except it's probably going to be wet. And cold. Or possibly I might suffer horribly from hayfever, which I seem to be doing lately.
And rather stupidly, I've said we'll stop in at my sister's on the way home. To see The Little Treasures. The horror of trying to be an uncle to 3 of the little buggers after a weekend spent in a field, probably being cold and wet and definitely not sleeping enough. Should be fun, I'm sure.
Monday, May 08, 2006
That's that over with then
Camping. All over and done with. Turned out rather good in the end. 21 people turned up (counting myself there). Wonderful weather on Friday, got nice and red before 5 of us headed off for a nice spot of afternoon tea.
Then it got cold. Very cold. Something to do with a combination of no cloud and it being dark. But barbecues are reasonably warm to sit around.
Then the rain started on Saturday, which lead to some less impressive than they should be pictures. After the long trek across a field to see the white horse. Which you can't really see when you're up close. Failed to completely overwhelm a pub for lunch afterwards, as they seemed to cope quite well with a dozen people turning up unexpectedly.
Then Lydiard House, which is cheap and small but made for a nice little visit in the afternoon. And we played the children's "spot the teddy bears" game.
Then more barbecuing, though the evening was a bit warmer this time. And then it was time to pack stuff up and go for Sunday lunch. The pub did very well in coping with 21 of turning up for lunch. They had been warned in advance, so we had a nice little room at the back of the pub. And quite a large lunch. I kept finding bits of lamb hiding under Yorkshire puddings and the like. Nobody wanted any of Annie's Spotted Dick though. Which was probably just as well.
So a great weekend, some wonderful people, and the weather was as good as can be expected in early May. And there were some other young people camping in the corner of the field and running around shirtless. Some people couldn't resist getting the cameras out for that.
Then it got cold. Very cold. Something to do with a combination of no cloud and it being dark. But barbecues are reasonably warm to sit around.
Then the rain started on Saturday, which lead to some less impressive than they should be pictures. After the long trek across a field to see the white horse. Which you can't really see when you're up close. Failed to completely overwhelm a pub for lunch afterwards, as they seemed to cope quite well with a dozen people turning up unexpectedly.
Then Lydiard House, which is cheap and small but made for a nice little visit in the afternoon. And we played the children's "spot the teddy bears" game.
Then more barbecuing, though the evening was a bit warmer this time. And then it was time to pack stuff up and go for Sunday lunch. The pub did very well in coping with 21 of turning up for lunch. They had been warned in advance, so we had a nice little room at the back of the pub. And quite a large lunch. I kept finding bits of lamb hiding under Yorkshire puddings and the like. Nobody wanted any of Annie's Spotted Dick though. Which was probably just as well.
So a great weekend, some wonderful people, and the weather was as good as can be expected in early May. And there were some other young people camping in the corner of the field and running around shirtless. Some people couldn't resist getting the cameras out for that.
Friday, April 21, 2006
And so, I forget to do this again.
I was going so well too. But then nothing started happening, so there wasn't anything to write.
All I've been doing this week is watching TV, mostly downloaded because I don't want to wait until someone decides to show things here. Shouldn't have bothered watching Dr Who (because it was crap), but 24 is still being excellent and South Park was silly. Bring back stupid non-human characters after a few years. I thought there'd been a towlie-ban anyway.
And organising the camping, with only 2 weeks to go. Sending out a big message to everyone who might be coming. And finding a pub that can cope with probably 15-20 people for Sunday lunch. Luckily, there's a nice little pub we can get to after a 10 minute walk down the Thames. (Well, next to the Thames. Walking on the Thames would be scary). And the nice woman I spoke to (presumably the landlady) was very helpful. No problem, just have to remember to tell her exact numbers the day before so they can set the table. And she did want to join us camping. Must have been having a bad day and wanted to get away from it all.
All I've been doing this week is watching TV, mostly downloaded because I don't want to wait until someone decides to show things here. Shouldn't have bothered watching Dr Who (because it was crap), but 24 is still being excellent and South Park was silly. Bring back stupid non-human characters after a few years. I thought there'd been a towlie-ban anyway.
And organising the camping, with only 2 weeks to go. Sending out a big message to everyone who might be coming. And finding a pub that can cope with probably 15-20 people for Sunday lunch. Luckily, there's a nice little pub we can get to after a 10 minute walk down the Thames. (Well, next to the Thames. Walking on the Thames would be scary). And the nice woman I spoke to (presumably the landlady) was very helpful. No problem, just have to remember to tell her exact numbers the day before so they can set the table. And she did want to join us camping. Must have been having a bad day and wanted to get away from it all.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Easter and stuff
A completely pointless holiday, really. A time for not very good chocolate. Oh well. And the shops all open at weird times.
I did, however, destroy a tree. Well, the remains of a tree. A tree in Phil's garden fell over. Not sure how, really. It's a very sheltered garden, not usually subject to strong winds. Plus there haven't been any strong winds anyway. I suspect a freak tornado. Or possibly the tree died of old age and suddenly just gave up and fell over. We discovered that a tree takes up a lot less space when it's standing upright than it does when it's fallen over and been cut up into lots of bits. One tree can cover most of the garden that way. And it's a bugger to try and cut them up with just a rusty saw to work with. Didn't lose any limbs, so that's a good thing. And avoided the common mistake of standing in the tree and cutting bits off below foot height. That tends to be either fatal or seriously embarassing.
And then we went for a little wander in some more trees yesterday, mainly to try and take some interesting pictures. Phil feels the need to experiment with his fancy new expensive camera. Took about 50 pictures and got half a dozen really good ones. Of course, the ones that should have turned out good didn't, and the good ones were actually surprising. I took about 5 and got 1 good one. So this means I'm better at taking pictures. Possibly.
The less said about the picture of me where I appear to be passing through a spooky portal into another dimension, the better.
I did, however, destroy a tree. Well, the remains of a tree. A tree in Phil's garden fell over. Not sure how, really. It's a very sheltered garden, not usually subject to strong winds. Plus there haven't been any strong winds anyway. I suspect a freak tornado. Or possibly the tree died of old age and suddenly just gave up and fell over. We discovered that a tree takes up a lot less space when it's standing upright than it does when it's fallen over and been cut up into lots of bits. One tree can cover most of the garden that way. And it's a bugger to try and cut them up with just a rusty saw to work with. Didn't lose any limbs, so that's a good thing. And avoided the common mistake of standing in the tree and cutting bits off below foot height. That tends to be either fatal or seriously embarassing.
And then we went for a little wander in some more trees yesterday, mainly to try and take some interesting pictures. Phil feels the need to experiment with his fancy new expensive camera. Took about 50 pictures and got half a dozen really good ones. Of course, the ones that should have turned out good didn't, and the good ones were actually surprising. I took about 5 and got 1 good one. So this means I'm better at taking pictures. Possibly.
The less said about the picture of me where I appear to be passing through a spooky portal into another dimension, the better.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Google must be running out of things to do
They now have a rather nice calendar thing. To go with the recent Google Pages thing (nice, if you can't build your own website), the maps (incredibly useful), Google Earth (good way to spend a long time looking for odd things), and all the other bits they do.
I'm fairly sure it could be useful. If you want to keep track of lots of things you need to do and when, and get at them from anywhere else. But it's almost too clever, and I don't like that. So I'm trying to break it. Which isn't really that hard, what with it being a beta and everyone trying it all at once today. Quite neat the way I could type "dinner with Phil next thursday at 8pm" and it would add "dinner with Phil" at 8pm the next Thursday. But that's easy. I could work out when the next Thursday is myself. It gets confused if I wanted "Dinner with Phil on the second Friday in June". That sets up dinner for me and Phil, with someone called June. Last Friday. Who's June? Will she get annoyed if I don't turn up for dinner last Friday?
But then again, that would be very clever, and it's only a beta, so I might forgive them. And at least I've broken something. It didn't even fall over when slashdot got hold of it.
I'm fairly sure it could be useful. If you want to keep track of lots of things you need to do and when, and get at them from anywhere else. But it's almost too clever, and I don't like that. So I'm trying to break it. Which isn't really that hard, what with it being a beta and everyone trying it all at once today. Quite neat the way I could type "dinner with Phil next thursday at 8pm" and it would add "dinner with Phil" at 8pm the next Thursday. But that's easy. I could work out when the next Thursday is myself. It gets confused if I wanted "Dinner with Phil on the second Friday in June". That sets up dinner for me and Phil, with someone called June. Last Friday. Who's June? Will she get annoyed if I don't turn up for dinner last Friday?
But then again, that would be very clever, and it's only a beta, so I might forgive them. And at least I've broken something. It didn't even fall over when slashdot got hold of it.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Old houses are fun. Long waits for food aren't.
Saturday night with Phil. Go out for dinner we think. And wait an hour for the food. Very nice food eventually, but a long wait. Table next to us with a young child couldn't wait for there's and walked out. 30 seconds before it turned up. Which probably serves them right after being told there'd be a long wait for the food, and being offered free drinks when the wait turned out to be longer than expected.
Old houses don't involve a long wait. They don't usually involve hail either, which put paid to a look around the gardens. Dyrham Park. Nice house, with some unusual things. Like leather wallpaper. And the usual friendly National Trust Ladies. It's certainly given me one potential place to take people in May when we want to do something for the day away from the campsite.
And a man with a shiny new camera and a large memory card is never a good thing. But at least there's a decent picture of me. In a tree. Not up a tree, but inside a tree. Or it would be a decent picture if it didn't look like it was just a head in a tree. Which is sort of creepy.
Old houses don't involve a long wait. They don't usually involve hail either, which put paid to a look around the gardens. Dyrham Park. Nice house, with some unusual things. Like leather wallpaper. And the usual friendly National Trust Ladies. It's certainly given me one potential place to take people in May when we want to do something for the day away from the campsite.
And a man with a shiny new camera and a large memory card is never a good thing. But at least there's a decent picture of me. In a tree. Not up a tree, but inside a tree. Or it would be a decent picture if it didn't look like it was just a head in a tree. Which is sort of creepy.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Stupid Google Maps!!
Well, it's more like "Stupid me!!" really.
Things not to do when cleaning up files on your harddrive...
Things not to do when cleaning up files on your harddrive...
- Delete important files
- Not notice and spend an hour trying to work out why your website is now broken
- Forget the format for the important deleted file
- Remember the file format, and then forget to put all the bits in while recreating the file
- Forget to take out all the debugging bits you put in while trying to work out what you'd done
Thursday, April 06, 2006
More free stuff?
I like getting free stuff from the internets. It would appear that many people value my opinion on a wide range of things. This is obviously stupid, but I'm not going to tell them that.
And in this case, they were paying quite well for it. Just 5 minutes a day for a week telling them what I'd been drinking. And as the week in question was one where I didn't drink anything but coffee, and some water, this was a particularly easy task. And they awarded me with 2000 of their points. Which then turn into Nectar points. Which, when added to some others I'd collected, easily took care of buying a DVD. So the final series of Red Dwarf should be on it's way soon. (Ok, it's not the best one, but it's still good and it'd be silly to not have all 8 series).
Half a dozen DVDs, a couple of CDs, and a pair of PS2 games in the past year, all for doing very little. And people think the internet is just full of porn and friendly men from Africa needing your assistance in large financial matters.
And in this case, they were paying quite well for it. Just 5 minutes a day for a week telling them what I'd been drinking. And as the week in question was one where I didn't drink anything but coffee, and some water, this was a particularly easy task. And they awarded me with 2000 of their points. Which then turn into Nectar points. Which, when added to some others I'd collected, easily took care of buying a DVD. So the final series of Red Dwarf should be on it's way soon. (Ok, it's not the best one, but it's still good and it'd be silly to not have all 8 series).
Half a dozen DVDs, a couple of CDs, and a pair of PS2 games in the past year, all for doing very little. And people think the internet is just full of porn and friendly men from Africa needing your assistance in large financial matters.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
No more Tonberries! Yay!
Still trying to finish off FF12-x2 tonight. And I got past all those bloody Tonberries. Reached level 100 of the evil secret dungeon. And then died, obviously.
Several hours later, after lots of fiddling about to find the best strategy, the evil Paragon was no match for my tactic of repeatedly shooting it until it's dead. Ok, so as strategies go, it's not the most complex one. But it worked. After a few attempts and some luck.
And then, with no chance to recover, a mad old bloke pops up. Same strategy, and Trema (for it is he) kills me. Arse. Back to Paragon again, the shoot him lots and hope for the best strategy is working well now. Mr Trema again. Ok, that didn't work. Repeat several times, adapting the strategy to include desperately trying to keep everyone alive while 1 of the ladies keeps shooting like mad. And it worked. Not too difficult, really. It was getting there that caused trouble.
So now I think I've done everything. Except about 21% of the game, apparently. Hmm. I might finish it in time for FF12. So another year probably. At least.
Several hours later, after lots of fiddling about to find the best strategy, the evil Paragon was no match for my tactic of repeatedly shooting it until it's dead. Ok, so as strategies go, it's not the most complex one. But it worked. After a few attempts and some luck.
And then, with no chance to recover, a mad old bloke pops up. Same strategy, and Trema (for it is he) kills me. Arse. Back to Paragon again, the shoot him lots and hope for the best strategy is working well now. Mr Trema again. Ok, that didn't work. Repeat several times, adapting the strategy to include desperately trying to keep everyone alive while 1 of the ladies keeps shooting like mad. And it worked. Not too difficult, really. It was getting there that caused trouble.
So now I think I've done everything. Except about 21% of the game, apparently. Hmm. I might finish it in time for FF12. So another year probably. At least.
Monday, April 03, 2006
But isn't it the middle of the night over there?
So, the little treasures that are my niece and nephews are in need of new toys. To match the existing ones that came from New Zealand. And the nice woman next door is down there now. And would possibly be able to find some and bring them home with her, saving on the slightly excessive postage.
After finally finding the correct name for the company that makes them (after many Google results that are totally inappropriate for small children), mum asks me to send an email and ask if the neighbour could find them and bring some back with her. And then asks "But isn't it the middle of the night over there?".
Emails are not telephones!!!
After finally finding the correct name for the company that makes them (after many Google results that are totally inappropriate for small children), mum asks me to send an email and ask if the neighbour could find them and bring some back with her. And then asks "But isn't it the middle of the night over there?".
Emails are not telephones!!!
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Tonberries! Grrr!
So, a nice quiet Sunday afternoon playing old games. Final Fantasy X-2. The really gay one. Thought I'd do a couple of the bits I never got around to doing before. Did a whole extra dungeon in record time (it's not the hardest game ever).
Then I tried to do the last 20 levels of the really annoying secret dungeon. Via Infinito. Or whatever it's called. 80 levels of it fairly easy, then it starts getting harder. And I died at the hands of a bloody Tonberry!!!
These things are evil. They might look all cute and cuddly, pottering about with their little lantern. Sometimes falling over. But they are always evil. Always! It's the way the innocently stroll up to you and then stab you viciously. If FF12 (whenever it's released) doesn't feature Tonberries, I'll be happy.
Now, back to those last 20 levels.
Then I tried to do the last 20 levels of the really annoying secret dungeon. Via Infinito. Or whatever it's called. 80 levels of it fairly easy, then it starts getting harder. And I died at the hands of a bloody Tonberry!!!
These things are evil. They might look all cute and cuddly, pottering about with their little lantern. Sometimes falling over. But they are always evil. Always! It's the way the innocently stroll up to you and then stab you viciously. If FF12 (whenever it's released) doesn't feature Tonberries, I'll be happy.
Now, back to those last 20 levels.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Never organise a camping trip
Just realised it's only 5 weeks to go before my big camping experience. Not good.
Way back in September, I had the strange idea to organise things so a bunch of people can come here and we'll freeze to death in a field. Or not. Depends on the weather, really. Actually, I had the idea earlier, but officially started sorting it out in September. It was only fair that I organised one, after having been to other people's events in Cornwall, Norfolk, the New Forest and having some others on my list of things to do this year.
So I picked May 5th as a good date. It's a Friday, which is a good day to start a weekend of camping. Much better than starting on, say, a Sunday. That would be stupid. And it was also 9 months away. Sounds like a long time.
Ask some people if they want to go, officially set it up so people can put themselves on the list. (This is on OUT, a website I spend too much time on!). And then check with the campsite owner. Or was it the other way around? Anyway, he says "no problem". (Might change his mind in 5 weeks ;). Doesn't matter about the numbers, should have most of the field available that weekend. Talk to him again in January. Still no problem.
Now I've just got to finish off organising it. Got a bit carried away to start with, huge 10 page PDF document with lots of useful information for anyone that wants to come. Got 11 people definitely coming (as of today), and 26 probables. And a couple of others not on the list. And I'm sure someone will just drag random people along. I'm guessing at 15-20 people in all will eventually turn up.
So it should be a good weekend. Just lots of things to still organise. A barbecue should be sorted now. A wide selection have been left behind at the campsite by previous visitors. This is good, because I'd wanted to borrow one from the local school. But it was destroyed in the Great Shed Fire of 2004.
And then there's the messaging people. I could send out a message to everyone all at once. And I have done. And I will do again in 2 or 3 weeks. But I like to do things differently, which is usually my fatal mistake. Takes a long time to send individual messages to 35+ people, each saying something different. Some people probably think I'm mad. Or will do when it gets to the stage where all I can manage is "Camping! Come! Or I'll tell the king of the potato people!". Which is probably around next Tuesday.
Then there's the "what might people like to do?" question. Ok, so that's mostly a case of making them a map showing the location of the shops and the nearest pub. Also thought it would be good if we could all drive off somewhere nearby. So we (or some of us at least) will head off to a nearby hill to realise the big white chalk horse we were looking for is where we're standing. Then to a pub for lunch. And then to some suitable interesting old house. But that's where I'm running into problems. Need to go and have a look at somewhere soon, make sure it's of a high enough quality. One for next weekend when Phil's here, I think.
Oh, and the mobile phone issue. It might be useful for me to have a phone at the campsite. So anyone that gets lost can phone me and get directions. This is a disastrous problem, because of the lack of phone, and the fact that my directions are apparently rubbish. (Though I still insist that's Phil's ability to follow my directions that's the problem). But I think mobile phones are evil. But give in and liberate one of Phil's old ones. It works. People can talk to me on it. What more do I want? A battery that doesn't die after 3 hours and then beep annoyingly loudly at 6am would be useful, possibly.
Not even started on what happens next. After all the messages. And getting a phone. And finding places to take people. And pestering people to try and decide if they're going to come or not. And then getting there and putting the tent up. And tying special orange balloons to something handy so people can see the entrance to the campsite which is on a main road but not entirely obvious. And then arranging for someone to go and pick people up from Swindon station because they don't drive and neither do I. And remembering to get something to burn, because a barbecue isn't much use otherwise. And greeting people as they turn up and trying to work out who they are, because they don't look like their picture online and I don't know what their real name is. And then finally hopefully sitting down and having a nice pleasant weekend.
It's all mad and a bit scary. But I'm sure it's going to be a fun weekend. Some of the people who are coming are really nice people to spend a weekend with. Many a night spent sat in a field trying to keep warm with them. And some people I've never met, but I'm sure they're just as much fun. I just hope nothing bad happens. The campsite is next to the Thames, so it'll probably flood or something.
And I really shouldn't drink so much coffee. It's taken me about 30 seconds to type all this. Well, 10 minutes. I'd have stopped after 3 words if I'd not been drinking coffee constantly all day. Oh well.
Way back in September, I had the strange idea to organise things so a bunch of people can come here and we'll freeze to death in a field. Or not. Depends on the weather, really. Actually, I had the idea earlier, but officially started sorting it out in September. It was only fair that I organised one, after having been to other people's events in Cornwall, Norfolk, the New Forest and having some others on my list of things to do this year.
So I picked May 5th as a good date. It's a Friday, which is a good day to start a weekend of camping. Much better than starting on, say, a Sunday. That would be stupid. And it was also 9 months away. Sounds like a long time.
Ask some people if they want to go, officially set it up so people can put themselves on the list. (This is on OUT, a website I spend too much time on!). And then check with the campsite owner. Or was it the other way around? Anyway, he says "no problem". (Might change his mind in 5 weeks ;). Doesn't matter about the numbers, should have most of the field available that weekend. Talk to him again in January. Still no problem.
Now I've just got to finish off organising it. Got a bit carried away to start with, huge 10 page PDF document with lots of useful information for anyone that wants to come. Got 11 people definitely coming (as of today), and 26 probables. And a couple of others not on the list. And I'm sure someone will just drag random people along. I'm guessing at 15-20 people in all will eventually turn up.
So it should be a good weekend. Just lots of things to still organise. A barbecue should be sorted now. A wide selection have been left behind at the campsite by previous visitors. This is good, because I'd wanted to borrow one from the local school. But it was destroyed in the Great Shed Fire of 2004.
And then there's the messaging people. I could send out a message to everyone all at once. And I have done. And I will do again in 2 or 3 weeks. But I like to do things differently, which is usually my fatal mistake. Takes a long time to send individual messages to 35+ people, each saying something different. Some people probably think I'm mad. Or will do when it gets to the stage where all I can manage is "Camping! Come! Or I'll tell the king of the potato people!". Which is probably around next Tuesday.
Then there's the "what might people like to do?" question. Ok, so that's mostly a case of making them a map showing the location of the shops and the nearest pub. Also thought it would be good if we could all drive off somewhere nearby. So we (or some of us at least) will head off to a nearby hill to realise the big white chalk horse we were looking for is where we're standing. Then to a pub for lunch. And then to some suitable interesting old house. But that's where I'm running into problems. Need to go and have a look at somewhere soon, make sure it's of a high enough quality. One for next weekend when Phil's here, I think.
Oh, and the mobile phone issue. It might be useful for me to have a phone at the campsite. So anyone that gets lost can phone me and get directions. This is a disastrous problem, because of the lack of phone, and the fact that my directions are apparently rubbish. (Though I still insist that's Phil's ability to follow my directions that's the problem). But I think mobile phones are evil. But give in and liberate one of Phil's old ones. It works. People can talk to me on it. What more do I want? A battery that doesn't die after 3 hours and then beep annoyingly loudly at 6am would be useful, possibly.
Not even started on what happens next. After all the messages. And getting a phone. And finding places to take people. And pestering people to try and decide if they're going to come or not. And then getting there and putting the tent up. And tying special orange balloons to something handy so people can see the entrance to the campsite which is on a main road but not entirely obvious. And then arranging for someone to go and pick people up from Swindon station because they don't drive and neither do I. And remembering to get something to burn, because a barbecue isn't much use otherwise. And greeting people as they turn up and trying to work out who they are, because they don't look like their picture online and I don't know what their real name is. And then finally hopefully sitting down and having a nice pleasant weekend.
It's all mad and a bit scary. But I'm sure it's going to be a fun weekend. Some of the people who are coming are really nice people to spend a weekend with. Many a night spent sat in a field trying to keep warm with them. And some people I've never met, but I'm sure they're just as much fun. I just hope nothing bad happens. The campsite is next to the Thames, so it'll probably flood or something.
And I really shouldn't drink so much coffee. It's taken me about 30 seconds to type all this. Well, 10 minutes. I'd have stopped after 3 words if I'd not been drinking coffee constantly all day. Oh well.
Amazon, DVDs and lies
Oh, I hate it when this happens. Ten quid Amazon voucher (if you can call a code sent by email a voucher) to spend. Check Amazon. Ah, a DVD I quite fancy. It's The Mission, providing hours of entertainment of a comedy G*** / quite good music variety. A pair of old videos re-released on shiny DVD format, with nice surround sound. DTS5.1, no less.
Order DVD on Thursday evening. Arrives this morning. That's good. Turn up all the speakers, put DVD in to play. Oh. It's the same problem I had with the Pixies live DVD. It's all coming out in black and white. Despite claiming to be PAL format on Amazon, it's quite obviously not. Hence the black and white thing. It does claim to be region 0, which probably should have made me suspicious. It will now. Just means that you can play it on any DVD player anywhere, and that includes NTSC regions. So it's obviously in that format.
I really need a new TV. One that can cope with it. Still, it'll play on the PC, I guess. In colour, but not with surround sound. Then again, is that really much of a problem? All those sounds surrounding you are good for films, but not really necessary for music. Don't need a guitar wandering off round the back scaring the cats.
Still, the DVD is good. If you like The Mission. Or other dodgy 80s G***s. A 60 minute "documentary" thing, and a nice 12 track live experience. And a special "jukebox" feature that lets you rearrange the order of the 12 live tracks. Or play the same song 12 times in a row. Useful, I'm sure.
Order DVD on Thursday evening. Arrives this morning. That's good. Turn up all the speakers, put DVD in to play. Oh. It's the same problem I had with the Pixies live DVD. It's all coming out in black and white. Despite claiming to be PAL format on Amazon, it's quite obviously not. Hence the black and white thing. It does claim to be region 0, which probably should have made me suspicious. It will now. Just means that you can play it on any DVD player anywhere, and that includes NTSC regions. So it's obviously in that format.
I really need a new TV. One that can cope with it. Still, it'll play on the PC, I guess. In colour, but not with surround sound. Then again, is that really much of a problem? All those sounds surrounding you are good for films, but not really necessary for music. Don't need a guitar wandering off round the back scaring the cats.
Still, the DVD is good. If you like The Mission. Or other dodgy 80s G***s. A 60 minute "documentary" thing, and a nice 12 track live experience. And a special "jukebox" feature that lets you rearrange the order of the 12 live tracks. Or play the same song 12 times in a row. Useful, I'm sure.
Friday, March 31, 2006
A new homepage? Yeah, right.
For ages (almost a couple of years), my homepage has consisted of a map of places I've been, linking to pictures. Very exciting, I'm sure.
So now I decide I need to do something with it. But I don't really know what. So I moved the map to another page, added a front page, put a little header at the top of every page, and that's about it, really. And I don't like the colour. So I might change that later, or I might not.
I suppose I could dig out the charming tale of Mr Brian Hover and put that on there. I must have a copy around somewhere, from about 6 websites back. He invented the hovercraft. No, really. He did.
So now I decide I need to do something with it. But I don't really know what. So I moved the map to another page, added a front page, put a little header at the top of every page, and that's about it, really. And I don't like the colour. So I might change that later, or I might not.
I suppose I could dig out the charming tale of Mr Brian Hover and put that on there. I must have a copy around somewhere, from about 6 websites back. He invented the hovercraft. No, really. He did.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Final Fantasy silliness
Now, that's wonderful. All the little bits that you know and love from the Final Fantasy games. 3 people following 1 person straight into a wall. And some idiots bouncing about in a field pretending to fight. Completely pointless, but amusing for 11 minutes or so. Click the little link below to be amused.
And can we please have Final Fantasy 12 now? I know it's out in Japan, but (a) I'm not in Japan, (b) it wouldn't work on my PS2, and (c) I wouldn't understand a word of it. Oh, and Kingdom Hearts 2 as well, while you're at it.
And can we please have Final Fantasy 12 now? I know it's out in Japan, but (a) I'm not in Japan, (b) it wouldn't work on my PS2, and (c) I wouldn't understand a word of it. Oh, and Kingdom Hearts 2 as well, while you're at it.
Bored of this rain now. Plus, free DVDs
The rain is annoying. More than it's rained all year. Or possibly more than it's rained for years.
Now, in my continuing quest to get free stuff from the internets, I've just got a nice 10 quid Amazon voucher. Handy when there's DVDs you want to buy. Just by putting adverts on my website. The one at http://www.wanless.co.uk
Just a little banner on 3 pages, and I get 5 quid a month and 10 quid just for starting it. Well, I got the 10 quid, so at least that bit works. Can't remember how I found them in the first place, but anyone wanting 10 quid can go to http://www.betterthanbanners.com
Hardly proper professional advertising, with all that messing about trying to make as much as possible. But a useful little bonus.
Now, in my continuing quest to get free stuff from the internets, I've just got a nice 10 quid Amazon voucher. Handy when there's DVDs you want to buy. Just by putting adverts on my website. The one at http://www.wanless.co.uk
Just a little banner on 3 pages, and I get 5 quid a month and 10 quid just for starting it. Well, I got the 10 quid, so at least that bit works. Can't remember how I found them in the first place, but anyone wanting 10 quid can go to http://www.betterthanbanners.com
Hardly proper professional advertising, with all that messing about trying to make as much as possible. But a useful little bonus.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
24, rain and possibly my birthday, I'm not sure.
That's it. 24 is officially the best thing on TV at the moment. Even if it technically wasn't on TV. Well, it is, but Sky are a few weeks behind. (Not much though). There's not been anything wrong with it at all this series, really. Nerve gas, lots of shootings and big explosions this week. And the Robocop bloke.
And it's wet and windy. Which, after the clocks went forward to mark the official start of summer, is probably about what we should expect. Snow next week, I'm sure.
It may be my birthday. Or grandparents like giving money to for no obvious reason. It'll buy my fags for a while anyway. Maybe I'm like the queen and have an official birthday as well as a real one. That could be useful.
And it's wet and windy. Which, after the clocks went forward to mark the official start of summer, is probably about what we should expect. Snow next week, I'm sure.
It may be my birthday. Or grandparents like giving money to for no obvious reason. It'll buy my fags for a while anyway. Maybe I'm like the queen and have an official birthday as well as a real one. That could be useful.
Monday, March 27, 2006
How bad can The Simpsons get?
This is, of course, completely wrong, but I just downloaded and watched the latest episode of The Simpsons, thanks to the joys of Bittorrents. Who decided to let Ricky Gervais have anything to do with it? Possibly the worst, least funny episode in a long, long time. Possibly ever.
And to make it worse, they used the annoying live action version of the title sequence. The one that Sky have been showing at least 400 times a day for the past couple of weeks.
Still, at least South Park has started again. Have to download that this week to get rid of the memory of a truly awful Simpsons.
And 24 to download tomorrow. If I can cope with it. The best series of that in a while. As good as the first series was, I think. But it's going to cause a massive heart attack from the shock at the end of each episode. They've forgotten to get a bit boring in the middle few episodes this year.
And to make it worse, they used the annoying live action version of the title sequence. The one that Sky have been showing at least 400 times a day for the past couple of weeks.
Still, at least South Park has started again. Have to download that this week to get rid of the memory of a truly awful Simpsons.
And 24 to download tomorrow. If I can cope with it. The best series of that in a while. As good as the first series was, I think. But it's going to cause a massive heart attack from the shock at the end of each episode. They've forgotten to get a bit boring in the middle few episodes this year.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Bloody useless G***s
So, thanks to a boring and wet Sunday afternoon and the wonders of the internet, I'm listening to a dubious quality bootleg of The Sisters of Mercy, recorded at some obscure place in the US last weekend. Their last proper album was released in 1990. So in the past 15 and a bit years, they seem to have managed the following things, most of which are just plain wrong...
- Record 1 new song and re-record 2 old songs when they should have been recording a new album.
- Write half a dozen new songs, only a couple of which are any good. Forget to record them due to record company shennanigans, or something.
- Continually play live at smaller and smaller venues. Currently playing in venues about 5% of the size they were 15 years ago.
- Forget how to sing. Shouting a bit and applying lots of echo to the vocals does not disguise the fact that Mr Eldritch has forgotten a fairly important part of the whole experience.
- Discovered how to add annoying squealy guitars to songs that didn't previously have annoying squealy guitars.
- Decided not to cover completely inappropriate songs any more. But then, after "He's got the whole world in his hands" at the Reading festival (in 91?), what could he pick next?
- Go blond and then shave all his hair off. And wear dubious shirts.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
And the highlight of my Saturday night is...
Rubbish films. Thankyou, Sky Movies. That's 90 minutes of my life I'll never get back. Alien vs Predator. A truly awful film. But I hate watching half a film, in case it gets better. So I stuck with it.
Well, the Predators looked cool. And the Aliens are very well done. So it all looks good, but if anyone can find the plot, please let me know. Plus a stupid ending with pointless "twist" I last saw in that stupid Freddy vs Jason nonsense. At least that had some comedy violence and men in pants. Is it too much to ask for one of these films to settle one of the "who'd win a fight between X and Y?" questions without it being "well, X would win this battle, but Y could come back to win the war".
On the plus side (completely unrelated, I hope), Phil has bought some new and interesting foreign KitKats. I'll look forward to trying those.
Well, the Predators looked cool. And the Aliens are very well done. So it all looks good, but if anyone can find the plot, please let me know. Plus a stupid ending with pointless "twist" I last saw in that stupid Freddy vs Jason nonsense. At least that had some comedy violence and men in pants. Is it too much to ask for one of these films to settle one of the "who'd win a fight between X and Y?" questions without it being "well, X would win this battle, but Y could come back to win the war".
On the plus side (completely unrelated, I hope), Phil has bought some new and interesting foreign KitKats. I'll look forward to trying those.
You know, I've always wanted one of these
Which is a cunning way of pretending I didn't have one, get bored of it, and delete everything because I hadn't done anything for weeks. And by weeks, I do, of course, mean months. Or possibly years. Oh, I don't know.
So now I'll try it all again. And bore people with details of an exciting Saturday. So far, it's consisted of reading the paper. And messaging a few people on OUT to try and persuade them to go camping. Which resulted in 1 of the people who was down as definitely going marking themselves as not going. This is especially strange, because he wasn't one of the people I messaged today.
Oh well, 6 weeks to go and I've got 10 people definitely going. And 27 probably going. Plus a couple of extras, I think. Now would be the appropriate time to think about checking all the camping equipment. It's not been used since September, and some of it could have fallen apart. Or exploded for no obvious reason. Or been sucked into another dimension through one of those weird swirly portally things. They must exist, because I've seen them on TV.
Sadly, it's more likely that everything will just be covered in cat piss. Nice.
So now I'll try it all again. And bore people with details of an exciting Saturday. So far, it's consisted of reading the paper. And messaging a few people on OUT to try and persuade them to go camping. Which resulted in 1 of the people who was down as definitely going marking themselves as not going. This is especially strange, because he wasn't one of the people I messaged today.
Oh well, 6 weeks to go and I've got 10 people definitely going. And 27 probably going. Plus a couple of extras, I think. Now would be the appropriate time to think about checking all the camping equipment. It's not been used since September, and some of it could have fallen apart. Or exploded for no obvious reason. Or been sucked into another dimension through one of those weird swirly portally things. They must exist, because I've seen them on TV.
Sadly, it's more likely that everything will just be covered in cat piss. Nice.
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