Another hiatus, hopefully coming to an end

Sometimes writing a blog is akin to being a network programmer. Start something, figure it's not the right time for it, have something better to put on, and the first thing gets put aside for a bit.

In this case, it's been the following:

• Research Degree Board Form, Part 2
  
• DeQuervain's tendinitis
  
• The Night of the Gun
  
• The need for a livably clean house
  
• Small furry animals that like to nuzzle and cuddle now that it's getting cold out
  
• Lots of travel, but going nowhere
  
• Money
  
• Web design work
  
• Weston Arts Festival
  
• Laverne & Shirley's representation of post-War migration
  

Hopefully I'll have a bit of time this week and next, and can write about topics like Breaking Bad and albacore tuna.

I almost did a coffee spit take

Just came across this image in an item on Gawker and almost lost a swig of Ethiopian Sidamo on my HP.

This has to be an editorial joke. Having worked in the biz, as it were, you just don't let this kind of thing through without some intention. I was always checking proximities and potential views of things. (This isn't to say that a few amusing things got by; more that I meant them as a joke that maybe only I found funny.)

Oddly detached

For some reason, I've been feeling very detached from the world lately. I read the news, I listen to the radio, I watch TV (oh, do I watch TV), but there's something that just isn't clicking.

I want to be in a tizzy about Palin, but can't get past the 'meh. Not like I was going to vote for McCain, anyway' stage. I don't care that her teenage daughter is knocked up, or that her email got hacked, or that she's becoming some minor fashion icon.

And I'm worried about the worldwide financial implosion. But I just don't have it in me to sift through everything and figure it all out, or even laugh at all the Stern grads I went to school with.

I'm even getting detached from friends and acquaintances. I just don't feel like engaging in anything right now. If I do go out, I just want to sit back and be the quiet observer, soaking it all up, taking it all in, seeing the details that others hope to hide.

Maybe it's the weather. It's clear and sunny, but cold enough to have the heat on in the morning. Today I could smell that somebody had a fire going. It feels like a Southern California Thanksgiving.

It might also be the chronic pain thing. I'm almost out of my painkillers, so everything is a struggle. I'm still waiting on all the referral appointments, where there might actually be a chance of them figuring out what the hell is actually wrong with me.

Ugh. I can't even be bothered to finish writing what I was going to write. (For this, I blame the same damn dog that got out at 7 am yesterday and the neighbour who is yelling about something seemingly unrelated.)

Absence

I haven't been blogging lately, and I'm not quite sure why. Lots of things have attracted my attention. There have been plenty of shlocky television shows that need some mild internet 'props' (as the kids say).

Maybe it's the de Quervain's tendinitis. Or maybe it's the never-ending issue of money. Or maybe it's that any time I sit down to write something, Shamu jumps on my lap, the phone rings, I remember something else that needs to be urgently completed, or I have to take the bus into town for something.

Whatever the reason, I've been pretty crap at this blogging thing. I'll try to do better this week. Really.

Wrongest picture ever

So much is wrong with this photo, which Adam just pointed me to. (He was searching for bathing suit photos, and birthday suit came up, apparently.)

First... why the suits? Why pose in the suits?

But most importantly, why is the little girl fondling her father's fake cock? And why is everyone so happy about it?

Biden? Really?

First off, I love Barack Obama. I want him to be my President. I think he's the first presidential candidate since I've been alive that I can honestly be completely happy voting for. I've voted for Dems since I was 18, and worked on a few campaigns in my day, but Obama is the first who I seriously like, regardless of party affiliation.

That said... Biden? Really? Don't get me wrong, Joe Biden has had his moments. But considering the huge possibilities that were out there, where Obama could have ended up with an incredibly powerful ticket, it just seems a bit silly to have Biden. The wonks among us will point out that Biden does balance some of Obama's percieved weaknesses -- little foreign policy experience, not being an old white guy from the Northeast, etc. They're right, but they give too much creedence to those 'weaknesses'.

Biden is good about once every three years, and usually when he's in an attack mode. When the Bush administration did something really fucked up (I know... which days didn't they?!?!), Biden could march his way onto one of the many networks, blast them from the comfort of his office, and be a decent voice for the center-left.

But he's just not a proactive candidate, which is probably why his own presidential aspirations were dashed so quickly. He's the guy you want to give the rebuttal after a Republican State of the Union, not the guy you want as second in command.

I'm still voting for Obama-Biden in a few months, but now I'm just a bit disappointed.

Oh... one other thing. Who was the marketing genius who decided to call the customised Barack Obama page you can log into 'MyBO'?? And how did it get through without everyone giggling about BO?

My day out

Highlights:

1. Staples employee who didn't know brown from yellow.
2. Man at pub: 'Do you think I can get in on a pensioner's ticket? I'll wear a flat cap and make myself smell of wee.'
3. KFC is a gross disappointment when you haven't had it in 8 years.
4. Atmosphere's new album is quality. Very different, but very good.
5. Rock Gardens has the same Elvis statue thing that the Market House used to have. It was confirmed, however, that it is not the same statue, just a matching one.
6. Wasps are bastards.
7. Everyone in graphic design likes swirlies.
8. That van did have its back door open, and it was unnecessary.
9. Lots of birds on the football field. Looked like the remnants of a ticker-tape parade, only made out of seagulls and crows.
10. Somebody at the corner of Bideford and Worle High Street has stolen a Stella umbrella. It looks ridiculous.

Update: The G's are here! The G's are here!

I tried to find a suitable photo or video to describe last night's episode, but they don't seem to exist.

It was AWESOME!

The character who made it awesome, a dude calling himself 'Pretty Ricky', seems to have been carefully edited out of all promotional stuff for the show. He flashes on screen in the trailer when all the guys are standing together, but they leave out the best bits.

The Gs were let into the mansion, where they zeroed in on a bar. Pretty Ricky got absolutely shitfaced, then had to go in for an interview. Only, they'd given him more booze by then. He commented on a woman's tits when he was given his blazer. He pissed on a wall. He generally made a giant ass of himself and it was brilliant.

Of course, he was the first to be eliminated. Luckily, a cocksucker calling himself 'The Truth' was also booted.

Looks like it will be a good series, and very funny. You gotta love MTV's ridiculous strain of reality television.

Poster time!

Seriously. If you're in the area, you should come.

He totally stole the idea from Pink Floyd...

Giant dog turd wreaks havoc at Swiss museum

I want this book

Why do I want it? A few reasons.

1. The hype is immense, and I'm a sucker for that shit.
2. I've always liked the idea of journalists investigating themselves.
3. I love over-the-top stories of drugs and general fuck-up-ery.
4. I haven't read a non-TV book in close to a year.

To the point

Through much of my adult life, I've held this song as a brief statement of my goals.

It still applies.

Anyone want to hire me?

Pygmalion, in the Ghetto

TV Review | 'From G’s to Gents'

Being a Thug Ain’t Smart, It Ain’t Chic, It Ain’t Etiquette
By MIKE HALE
Published: August 5, 2008
The evil genius of “From G’s to Gents,” a new reality show on MTV, is that it encourages exactly the kind of behavior it pretends to abhor.

I really wish they'd air this over here. Of course, there was the whole 'Ladette to Lady' thing. Even something like 'Bad Lads Army' has a similar underpinning.

But, oh... I want to hear those discussions wherein they define 'G'-ness.

TV: A WI Lady's Guide to Brothels

This was on last night. Knowing C4, it'll be repeated for the next year or two. There is nothing quite like watching an elderly Hampshire woman ask a guy to tell her more about the 'ass midget', or seeing one say she'll have to try Airforce Amy's world-renown upside-down blow job when she gets home.

Besides all the fun tidbits, it was an interesting look at the UK rules on prostitution (legal) and brothels (illegal). The big finale -- handing in a petition with several hundred signatures -- was a bit sad. They show up at #10, hand over their clipboard to a smiling reception guard, and then walk away. Of course, if it had been a big hullabaloo, it would have been false. After all, most petitions aren't even met with the smile.

Is this the future of music?

Blackout Crew - Put a Donk on It.

Is it a joke? Is it serious? Does it matter?

The other song they have going, Bbbbounce, is pretty much generic crap. But this thing just seems to be so much more than a catchy summer song. Sure, over the weekend, several of us were referring to it at the pub. And it did get stuck in my head for no reason this morning.

At first I thought it was just another video that we'd see on the low-rent end of Sky's music channel selection. But then I started seeing references to it all over the place. It was donks-aplenty in internet land.

I'll know it's gone too far when they start selling stuffed donks at Xmas.