It’s finishedddd
Jan 26, 2008 Uncategorized
Woohoooo my downstairs bathroom is at last finished. If I didn’t have to wait three months for a godamned cabinet (even if it is lovely) then it would have been finished before Xmas… but at last… the unveiling… *smashes a bottle of champagne on it*
Grayshott Spa
Jan 22, 2008 Uncategorized
Oooh, spa’s! I love em. Last weekend Jen kindly took me to Grayshott Spa in, um, Grayshott. Sometimes when you go away it takes a while to switch off, but here you were detached from the real world, put into a dressing gown (even at dinner) and everything just melted away.
Wow, Pete loved it! you must be thinking….
Yes, the massages were excellent, the dry float thing was fab… there has to be a but though.. and it was that the food was all healthy! Even the food that was technically bad for you seemed healthy! Nice food… but, healthy! I really don’t think I could eat beans and nuts and salad and goddamned butternut squash for more than a week. Partly I don’t think my ass would allow it, but also it kinda just makes you feel like you have a nose bag on and you’re just troughing away at it. I know troughing isn’t a word, but you know what I mean.
If you’ve not had a massage because you think it’s too gay or boring… then you’re wrong and you ought to try it. Message ends!
Urrr
Jan 22, 2008 Uncategorized
Just in case it wasn’t clear… I really loved The Fountain. I’m still thinking about it now, days later, trying to work out wtf was going on. I listen to the soundtrack every day in my car – it’s gorgeous!
So… watch it!
The Fountain
Jan 14, 2008 Uncategorized
Wow! What an amazing film, described by the director as “A love letter to death”. God, how am I going to describe it? I have no idea where to begin. I guess though at a very simple level it’s a film about the Tree of Life which can bestow immortality on anyone who finds it. But really, it’s just not. It’s about being able to understand that death isn’t something that can be defeated, but must be something that you have to accept. The story is purposely vague as to what really happens and what is fictional in the minds of the two main characters. It’s set in the time of the Spanish inquisition, current day and the far future and is so visually beautiful at times you’d be amazed to find out the special effects were filmed in a petri dish!
I can’t really say a lot more about it, except that my views are that all three time lines in the film were real and in the first story neither character would accept death, in the second story they are both reincarnated and with her illness she accepts death but he won’t (therefore he loses the ring) and in the final story he is the last man alive (by eating the tree planted on his wife’s grave, so effectively killing the reincarnation of her) and instead of bringing her back, she dies again and he eventually accepts death and gets to live forever with her!
However there is a massive amount of subtlety going on in the story that I just haven’t got to grips with yet such as the religious links, the tattoes up his arm like rings on a tree and many more! If you liked Donnie Darko, or Eternal Sunshine, or 2001… then watch it!
Two Tings….
Jan 6, 2008 Uncategorized
Not worth a blog posting about each, but I have two things to report, firstly I found a superb set of short and to the point videos about Evolution, the Origins of Life, How the Earth was Created… all those sort of things! They’re witty, simple and they piss all over creationists. Win!
Secondly, new art purchased for the bathroom! It’s called Sleeping Bugs…
I wuv u
Jan 2, 2008 Uncategorized
Well, I’ve had my iPhone for a month or so now and I can safely confirm it’s gorgeoussss. More surprisingly though it’s actually really good to use. Texting is fine (apart from driving, um, I mean when you’re walking and you can’t see the screen), the internet speeds are better than my 3G phone even though Edge access (that’s a network thing, not the U2 guitarist) is extremely patchy. I use google maps and eMail all the time and it fits snugglyyy into my pocket. Although to be honest I’ve probably chunked up so much over Xmas that a piece of tracing paper would fit snuggly into my pocket. Did I mention it’s shiny? And awesome?
My only real complaint is that the speaker is pretty poor for listening to music without headphones. I can’t wait for cell based location and the SDK to launch now!
Shortest Resolution Evar?
Jan 1, 2008 Uncategorized
At 10:19 this morning I blogged of my promise to never drink again. It’s now 14:29 and I’ve just finished drinking 3 glasses of champagne. sighz.
Everything is Illuminated
Jan 1, 2008 Uncategorized
After seeing (and loving) this film last year I was lucky to receive the book for Xmas… and what a great story it is. Before covering the story though we need to spend some time on the vocabulary of the Ukranian characters… here is an example…
“‘If you blunder again,’ Grandfather said while he masticated a sausage, ‘I will stop the car and you will get out with a foot in the backside. It will be my foot. It will be your backside. Is this a thing you understand?’”
So I think you can guess it’s a challenging read at times!
The story covers Jon-Fan (Jonathan) who is visiting the Ukraine to find out the history of the woman who saved his Jewish father from the Nazi’s in WWII. He is guided by the premium Alex, Alex’s blind Grandfather (who is the one driving the car) and Sammy Davis Jr Jr who of course is a mad seeing-eye bitch dog. Clear?
As they journey back through the countryside and time, the story alternates between imaginary histories of the small Jewish village and it’s extremely perculiar history and characters – it’s not a simple read at times and does mess with your head, but it’s beauty is in the simplicity of the characters (for example they meet a woman who’s never been in a car and thinks America is in Poland) and like many war stories it really brings home the bad things that good people are forced to do.
By the end of the story there is some reconciliation with the past, but this comes at a very high price – and only a day or so after finishing reading the book do you realise quite how well the author has woven all of the stories together. Read it!
Never, Ever Drinking Again, Ever
Jan 1, 2008 Uncategorized
This is it, I’m officially not drinking alcohol “for some time”. My hard and fast rules are clear to understand…
- I’m allowed to drink on special events, like having friends round, or my birthday, etc.
- There is no way I’m going to follow this rule 100% for the rest of the time, so I’m allowed random days off
Beer doesn’t count as alcohol- This isn’t forever