Thursday, January 17, 2013
No epiphany?
I was walking across the street on Sunday with my little bro when I was hit by a car.
No, nothing serious or exciting. Nothing interesting really, but it did make a pretty meaty sound as it hit my leg and elbow. The sound was most likely amplified tenfold for the poor driver (I once accidentally hit a skateboarder - it was the skateboarder's fault - and I nearly had a heart attack!) but I came out of it without a scratch. OK, the car was only going fast enough to have broken my legs, maybe a hip as well, but what surprised me was that there was no close escape feeling, no flash of light. I did not necessarily expect a Road to Damascus experience, but it would have been cool if I had felt a little more thankful.
What a weird cocktail of emotion, being disappointed that I was not more thankful. Like ingredients that you never thought could go together. This led to me thinking about what I have achieved... Or the rather more impressive list, of what I *have not* achieved.
And I ended up blogging some more. Nice.
No, nothing serious or exciting. Nothing interesting really, but it did make a pretty meaty sound as it hit my leg and elbow. The sound was most likely amplified tenfold for the poor driver (I once accidentally hit a skateboarder - it was the skateboarder's fault - and I nearly had a heart attack!) but I came out of it without a scratch. OK, the car was only going fast enough to have broken my legs, maybe a hip as well, but what surprised me was that there was no close escape feeling, no flash of light. I did not necessarily expect a Road to Damascus experience, but it would have been cool if I had felt a little more thankful.
What a weird cocktail of emotion, being disappointed that I was not more thankful. Like ingredients that you never thought could go together. This led to me thinking about what I have achieved... Or the rather more impressive list, of what I *have not* achieved.
And I ended up blogging some more. Nice.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Premonition
As I sat on the couch thinking about how I hadn't blogged in more than a year (funny how that happens), it struck me how quickly one year goes by. So I looked back at some old posts.
You know the way you think you're pretty clued up now, so you look back at your past self to see how much dumber you were back then - and you realise you were just as smart then...in fact you may even have lost your edge? It's not cool. Realisation has just assailed me. I posted about a year ago regarding my 'new' hobby of watching movies in fast forward as a great time saving measure. Unfortunately the historic blog post I happened to view today was 28 October 2006, and entitled 'On speed'. The subject material was exactly the same, and it had a cooler title. Ushj.
The realisation goes on, but not quite in the same vein. Also on 28 October 2006 I posted a bunch of photos. Take a look at the bottom left photo, circa January 2005 with me underneath a metal alien in the centre of Woking. Talk about premonition! (Not of an alien attack on Earth...yet.) I now work less than 20 metres in the exact direction my right hand is very vaguely indicating! Wow, past Jon was pretty onto it, eh? OK, it's a bit of a stretch, but not an exaggeration. My desk is probably only about 15 metres from the statue, but through a wall of course. I would say that the area has not changed a bit, but that is not quite right; the building with the pillars now houses a great sandwich shop. Very chic and modern, not at all like 2005.
You know the way you think you're pretty clued up now, so you look back at your past self to see how much dumber you were back then - and you realise you were just as smart then...in fact you may even have lost your edge? It's not cool. Realisation has just assailed me. I posted about a year ago regarding my 'new' hobby of watching movies in fast forward as a great time saving measure. Unfortunately the historic blog post I happened to view today was 28 October 2006, and entitled 'On speed'. The subject material was exactly the same, and it had a cooler title. Ushj.
The realisation goes on, but not quite in the same vein. Also on 28 October 2006 I posted a bunch of photos. Take a look at the bottom left photo, circa January 2005 with me underneath a metal alien in the centre of Woking. Talk about premonition! (Not of an alien attack on Earth...yet.) I now work less than 20 metres in the exact direction my right hand is very vaguely indicating! Wow, past Jon was pretty onto it, eh? OK, it's a bit of a stretch, but not an exaggeration. My desk is probably only about 15 metres from the statue, but through a wall of course. I would say that the area has not changed a bit, but that is not quite right; the building with the pillars now houses a great sandwich shop. Very chic and modern, not at all like 2005.
Friday, December 09, 2011
Sally Jessy, Rikki Lake, Jerry Springer, ... Penn and Teller??
So I went to see Penn and Teller last night at the O2. It wasn't quite what I expected. The magic tricks they did were amazing, and they truly are the best magic duo in terms of the way they work together. They even had Paul Daniels make a special guest appearance. BUT... 90% of the show was talking! It felt like something was rather off: rather akin to going to see Gordon Ramsay swim a couple of lengths or booking a night out to watch Sting darn a sock.
Penn is a great talker, sure, but there is a reason that he and Teller are magicians, not politicians. And anyway, people don't pay for an evening out at the O2 to go see politicians speak!
I wasn't the only one in the theatre who felt ripped off - you should have seen my 10 year old cousin! P&T pulled off about 5 tricks; all with the usual "we don't care" schtick. One trick involved the typical cups and balls, carried off brilliantly, but the twist was that they then *repeated* the trick with transparent cups, so you could see exactly what they were doing. Strangely, this didn't ruin it, as they explained exactly what they were doing, albeit very quickly, throughout. This kinda made it cooler. Another trick consisted of fooling only one volunteer who had her eyes closed while rings were interlinked with her arms and round her neck, etc. Again, the audience could see how it was done, and could see that it must have been truly amazing for the volunteer. This was also pulled off very well.
However, all of this was interspersed with Paul Daniels asking Penn and Teller relatively unexciting questions about their history and past TV appearances. You might say the show lost its magic halfway through, ho ho. Towards the end, they even opened up the floor to questions from the audience, which would have been cool, if not for the inane British knobs who got up and asked silly questions to appear clever.
Paul Daniels did no tricks. He just sat there looking OLD.
Penn is a great talker, sure, but there is a reason that he and Teller are magicians, not politicians. And anyway, people don't pay for an evening out at the O2 to go see politicians speak!
I wasn't the only one in the theatre who felt ripped off - you should have seen my 10 year old cousin! P&T pulled off about 5 tricks; all with the usual "we don't care" schtick. One trick involved the typical cups and balls, carried off brilliantly, but the twist was that they then *repeated* the trick with transparent cups, so you could see exactly what they were doing. Strangely, this didn't ruin it, as they explained exactly what they were doing, albeit very quickly, throughout. This kinda made it cooler. Another trick consisted of fooling only one volunteer who had her eyes closed while rings were interlinked with her arms and round her neck, etc. Again, the audience could see how it was done, and could see that it must have been truly amazing for the volunteer. This was also pulled off very well.
However, all of this was interspersed with Paul Daniels asking Penn and Teller relatively unexciting questions about their history and past TV appearances. You might say the show lost its magic halfway through, ho ho. Towards the end, they even opened up the floor to questions from the audience, which would have been cool, if not for the inane British knobs who got up and asked silly questions to appear clever.
Paul Daniels did no tricks. He just sat there looking OLD.
Sunday, December 04, 2011
Single? Go gothic!
Originally I had planned to write about the strangely attractive "bad look" in girls. However, there are always the odd few that would find that kind of comment a little more significant than it actually is. Like Mum would, if she read this blog.
Additionally, while dreads/tattoos/piercings have their own kind of appeal, that's where the appeal ends. Where the alternative look meets the alternative lifestyle, it all goes downhill. Plus there are relatively few of these kind of girls in my circles (unless you count my clients) and few among professionals in general. (I suppose there are also arguably very few well adjusted dreaded pierced tattooed girls that one would rush home to introduce to one's mother, in any event!)
But down to the point - it is usually guaranteed that these types of girls are attached to hippie alternative boyfriends. It kinda makes me wonder if it is a chicken and egg scenario... Did they have the look before they hooked up, or was the look, um, "cultivated," for the purpose of hooking up? My brother told me a few years ago that he knew a rather plain jane who never got a whole lot of attention from guys. But then came her pseudo-gothic sem-hippie makeover, and she had a new guy every week! Well, I guess she lived happily ever after. I had a very similar story about an acquaintance of mine, but I didn't want to cause distaste by describing the made-over girl I knew as a plain jane!
Additionally, while dreads/tattoos/piercings have their own kind of appeal, that's where the appeal ends. Where the alternative look meets the alternative lifestyle, it all goes downhill. Plus there are relatively few of these kind of girls in my circles (unless you count my clients) and few among professionals in general. (I suppose there are also arguably very few well adjusted dreaded pierced tattooed girls that one would rush home to introduce to one's mother, in any event!)
But down to the point - it is usually guaranteed that these types of girls are attached to hippie alternative boyfriends. It kinda makes me wonder if it is a chicken and egg scenario... Did they have the look before they hooked up, or was the look, um, "cultivated," for the purpose of hooking up? My brother told me a few years ago that he knew a rather plain jane who never got a whole lot of attention from guys. But then came her pseudo-gothic sem-hippie makeover, and she had a new guy every week! Well, I guess she lived happily ever after. I had a very similar story about an acquaintance of mine, but I didn't want to cause distaste by describing the made-over girl I knew as a plain jane!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Revisiting my childhood - thank you Adult Swim!
If you know me you know my dislike of all things Saturday-morning-cartoony. Cartoons these days suck. The animation sucks. The storylines suck. They don't seem to teach kids much aside from fart jokes and how to be even more ADHD. What happened to the good old days of cartoons of my youth, like He-Man, and Thundercats, and ...um... Rainbow Brite?
But then I realised the extent of my hypocrisy. What about those cartoons one forgets about because they aren't for children? No, not some sort of Disney porn; I refer to the kind of humour parents don't want their children exposed to because it would mean having to field some awkward questions later. I mean, I recall even Animaniacs being vaguely borderline at times, and Adventure Time with Finn and Jake deals involves the odd surprisingly adult situation.
But to get on with it, there is the Simpsons of course. An old favourite, and a little old hat. There is Futurama, still funny after all these years; they should stop cancelling it. However, the funniest of all has to be Archer. A cartoon mysogynistic alcoholic narcissistic spy, with something of an Oedipus complex. One of the oldest types of parodies in the book, and yet it's laugh out loud funny.
Then there's The Venture Brothers. It could almost be a Saturday morning cartoon! It has the right formula: mad scientist, two adventurous sons, lots of supervillans.... many carnal references and a womanizing bodyguard. Perhaps it does go a little far.
And Frisky Dingo. Who could forget that. It looks like they cooked each episode up in about haldf an hour, but they can be forgiven for that. Strangely enough, it's kind of a mixture of the above two cartoons put together, if that makes sense. Which it does not. You're just gonna have to take my ramblings at face value.
Just remember, not all cartoons are for kids. I remember my mother saying words to that effect about 20 years ago when I wanted to watch the Simpsons! I guess I never really moved on?
But then I realised the extent of my hypocrisy. What about those cartoons one forgets about because they aren't for children? No, not some sort of Disney porn; I refer to the kind of humour parents don't want their children exposed to because it would mean having to field some awkward questions later. I mean, I recall even Animaniacs being vaguely borderline at times, and Adventure Time with Finn and Jake deals involves the odd surprisingly adult situation.
But to get on with it, there is the Simpsons of course. An old favourite, and a little old hat. There is Futurama, still funny after all these years; they should stop cancelling it. However, the funniest of all has to be Archer. A cartoon mysogynistic alcoholic narcissistic spy, with something of an Oedipus complex. One of the oldest types of parodies in the book, and yet it's laugh out loud funny.
Then there's The Venture Brothers. It could almost be a Saturday morning cartoon! It has the right formula: mad scientist, two adventurous sons, lots of supervillans.... many carnal references and a womanizing bodyguard. Perhaps it does go a little far.
And Frisky Dingo. Who could forget that. It looks like they cooked each episode up in about haldf an hour, but they can be forgiven for that. Strangely enough, it's kind of a mixture of the above two cartoons put together, if that makes sense. Which it does not. You're just gonna have to take my ramblings at face value.
Just remember, not all cartoons are for kids. I remember my mother saying words to that effect about 20 years ago when I wanted to watch the Simpsons! I guess I never really moved on?
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Flash Forward
No one else has grasped the concept yet, and my colleagues don't quite understand my enthusiasm for it, but it is only a matter of time before it catches on. Just think of all the time you've wasted watching movies. All the suspenseful scenes that could have moved slightly quicker? All the cringe-worthy moments that you just wished were over?? Now they can be!
With movies in fast forward, everything moves at your pace. Want to fit in a quick movie before you go to work? While you prepare dinner? In a commercial break? Well, you can. It's the super simple combination of subtitles and the fast forward function (best operated on an Xbox 360 or with VLC media player).
I mean, does this really sound that outlandish? What if the movie you rent really sucks? Isn't it better to get it over with in half an hour than it is to waste the rental fee by not watching it? Or what about one of those must-see movies that everyone raves about but you just cannot be bothered with? I tell you, it's quick and painless. Double or even triple fast forward speed means less of your time is consumed, and it increases your speed reading skill to boot.
I've noticed those looks of envy when I've walked into work and asked, "Well, I watched five movies last night; was your Tuesday evening as productive as mine?"
Just think; the time you spend watching movies could be better spent... Watching more movies!
With movies in fast forward, everything moves at your pace. Want to fit in a quick movie before you go to work? While you prepare dinner? In a commercial break? Well, you can. It's the super simple combination of subtitles and the fast forward function (best operated on an Xbox 360 or with VLC media player).
I mean, does this really sound that outlandish? What if the movie you rent really sucks? Isn't it better to get it over with in half an hour than it is to waste the rental fee by not watching it? Or what about one of those must-see movies that everyone raves about but you just cannot be bothered with? I tell you, it's quick and painless. Double or even triple fast forward speed means less of your time is consumed, and it increases your speed reading skill to boot.
I've noticed those looks of envy when I've walked into work and asked, "Well, I watched five movies last night; was your Tuesday evening as productive as mine?"
Just think; the time you spend watching movies could be better spent... Watching more movies!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
One lyric to ruin them all...
It's not a common phenomenon, so it just makes the sporadic instances more galling... I'm talking about that one line of a song that just ruins it for you. Whether it's out of place or out of sync, there is something about it that just grates. Like the 'sha la la la la' in Texas' "Put your arms around me".
Maybe this sounds like the most random of gripes, but my pet peeve came roaring back to me while I was listening to the album "Encounter" by The Green Children. Soaring melodies, cute lyrics, sure, their song "Skies on fire" has the best of it all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DQhSgcrYQU&feature=relmfu
But just what is with the line "How it feels to get close to you.... like a rainbow (!?)" I mean, that's totally incongruous! It's not an imaginative simile, and it's not said ironically, so I suppose they're serious. Perhaps with a name like The Green Children they wish to set the bar low.
Maybe this sounds like the most random of gripes, but my pet peeve came roaring back to me while I was listening to the album "Encounter" by The Green Children. Soaring melodies, cute lyrics, sure, their song "Skies on fire" has the best of it all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DQhSgcrYQU&feature=relmfu
But just what is with the line "How it feels to get close to you.... like a rainbow (!?)" I mean, that's totally incongruous! It's not an imaginative simile, and it's not said ironically, so I suppose they're serious. Perhaps with a name like The Green Children they wish to set the bar low.
