Sometimes I write my thoughts down.

Every time you close your eyes...

2007-03-15T11:35:00.000Z

Last night Al and myself went up to London Village to celebrate his birthday in the honourable presence of Arcade Fire (look, Al, no definite article! :p) at Brixton Academy.

Supporting was Patrick Wolf, whom I'd heard of but didn't know all that much about. His voice reminded me of Jarvis Cocker, and his music isn't a million miles away either, except with more violins (his lead violinist made all sorts of crazy guitarry noises), but the man himself is a lot more of a spectacle -- some might say too much of one. He came onstage in a medieval nobleman's jacket thing, a shirt and skinny tie, braces, and unnervingly short shorts, with glitter both in his hair and on his legs. Various of these items were shed during his set (thankfully not the shorts!). I quite liked his music, and he's clearly got presence, but he came across as being possibly a little too outrageous for his own good... but maybe that's just the stuffy English male in me talking :)

The Fire themselves were as awesome as we'd been led to believe. Even more so than on record, each of their songs builds into an overwhelming wall of noise... but instead of being created by 3 guys with guitars turned up to 11, the 10 musicians each contribute a small amount to the whole. Three or four of them constantly changed instruments and stage positions, and at different times there was a double bass, a church organ, a hurdy-gurdy, a xylophone, an accordion... all sorts. The only downside was that between songs there needed to be a couple of minutes' gap while they prepared for the next song, during which the cheering would, understandably, gradually subside... but instead of bantering with the audience in these gaps, the lead singer tended to admonish us for not being loud enough. Maybe they're just used to crazy North Americans :p During the songs was a different matter, though -- there was some full-on jumping, moshing and crowd-surfing going on, especially towards the end when "Power Out" and "Rebellion" were played back-to-back!

All in all, a fantastic evening. Cheers, Al! Chal.

They are all noblemen who have gone wrong.

2007-03-13T12:51:00.000Z

I really must write a bit about Pirates of Penzance before the experience fades, but this post is going to have to be written fragmentally, in odd moments, as I'm ridiculously busy this week. So much for recovery! I even for-went (forgoed?) my planned evening off yesterday to go to the pub quiz... but we did come second, so it was worth it.

So, anyway, this weekend just gone saw the first, and quite possibly only, sightings of the PGD on stage (not counting the usual high school nonsense, that is). It wasn't as scary an experience as I feared it might be, but then I did spend a lot of the time hiding at the back! Also, the audience is in darkness, of course, so although you're aware of them, it's only dimly... and perhaps most importantly, you can't make out their faces. And as a chorus member, I always had chorus-mates nearby for support. Overall, it was a fantastic experience, and I'm extremely glad I stuck with it, so I guess thanks go to Jon and Dave for dragging me along in the first place!

The show itself went better than I think some of us were expecting ... in fact, it couldn't have gone much better at all. Almost-full-houses every night (apart from the matinee, which was a little bit pointless!), good audience reactions, principals all on top form, and all the "veterans" said it was one of the best LOpSoc shows for ages. Whoop!

The final night was utterly crazy. After the show, which finished at around 10pm, we had to immediately clear out the entire stage and set, and put everything away in various locations around campus. All that took the best part of four hours... only then did we finally get to party. Myself and James (who had very kindly come to support me, as had Rae the evening before) took a detour back to my flat to get booze, where my housemate Bob and friends were just about to conk out after their own evening shenanigans. This was gone 2am. If we'd sat down at that point, it would've been all over; but we resisted, and headed back out into the night, to the after-show party. And there we stayed, all night, getting steadily drunker, sleepier and sillier; which was, of course, excellent fun!

I now really must try to stop making Gilbert & Sullivan-based responses to anything anyone says....

(Pic courtesy of my Dad -- thanks, Dad!)

A pair of ducks, a pair of ducks, a most ingenious pair of ducks

2007-02-26T19:47:00.000Z

Phew! What a weekend. Up at normal worky time on Saturday morning for an all-day rehearsal, by the end of which I was swaying about from tiredness and my throat ached. I'd previously agreed to go along to the final night of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown that evening, and at the time all I really wanted to do was have a nap... but I'm glad I went along because it was damn good. It's basically a series of set-pieces based on the Peanuts comic strips, with a few musical numbers mixed in. All very random, but very funny. After that, I finally went to bed. Sunday I had a bit of a lie-in before heading off to help with set-building for the show. This involved lots of noisy power tools, which was aces, obviously, but again pretty tiring! As my boss is off ill today, I've rewarded myself by not doing terribly much.

Going back a bit now, Thursday was pretty cool, too. Myself, Bob and his office-mates went to see The Science Of Sleep, the new film from Michel Gondry (who directed the excellent Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind). Science Of Sleep is a lot less mainstream, and I'm not sure I quite liked how it ended, but it's very imaginative and the animation sequences are fabulous. It's one of those films where you've just got to go along with it and not worry too much. Anyway, on the way back, we walk past a bar called The Platform Tavern. I mention to Bob that I've never been in there and really must sometime because it looks interesting... and we slow down and glance at each other, then towards the bar, then back at each other...

A thoroughly enjoyable couple of pints and a folk band later, we continue on our way home. A little later we pass The Red Lion, which claims to be the oldest pub in Southampton. "I've never been in here either", say I. So we do. It wasn't quite as fun, and my beer tasted distinctly off, but it's a grand old building -- you can just imagine the medieval revelry -- and they had a pet parrot too!

Finally I should just mention Kombat Opera Presents, a new series for Sunday evenings on BBC2, nicely sandwiched between Top Gear and MOTD2. Bob demanded we watch it, and it was ace. It's from the same people who did Jerry Springer: The Opera, and each week they spoof a different TV show in the style of an opera. Last night it was The Apprentice, with John Thompson as Sir Alan Sugar (he doesn't sing though, unfortunately!). Very silly, in the best possible way.

Children of the sun, see your time has just begun

2007-02-22T00:01:00.000Z

Myself and Bob have just finished watching the final episode of possibly the best kids' cartoon series ever made, The Mysterious Cities Of Gold, which my brother gave me on DVD(*) for Christmas. It was one of the few programmes from the 80s that really stuck in my mind... not coherently, just a few odd images (mostly the golden condor, obv) and a sense that it was something out of the ordinary. It was definitely worth seeing again -- clunky lost-in-translation dialogue, dodgy synth soundtrack and all. And the best part was, the DVD included footage of Philip Schofield presenting the final epsiode from the Broom Cupboard on Children's BBC and singing along to the end credits! How ace is that. How shall we entertain ourselves post-Hollyoaks now? We might have to start talking to each other or something. Imagine that. :p

* unofficial, of course... no commercial English-language version has ever been licensed!

Chinese New Year

2007-02-19T12:51:00.000Z

On Sunday morning, myself and Bob wandered into town to see the Chinese New Year celebrations. As he says on his blog, we saw first of all a "junior" dragon dance, done (and done well!) by kids; then some martial arts displays, lion and unicorn dances, and finally a huge, 120ft-long dragon that eventually escaped out of the Civic Centre and down the high street!

Unfortunately, after the first dance, the batteries in my camera ran out. I had some spares, but due to me being a thicko and not realising that rechargeables don't come fully charged, they didn't work. Arse. Fortunately, Bob took a load more (here).

(and yes, I realise that neither of the kids are Chinese...)

Meet me on my vast verandah, my sweet untouched Miranda

2007-02-11T12:21:00.000Z

Well, hello there. I'm a little bored. I have been most of this weekend, to be honest... it's been a bit of a nothingy one. I suppose I shouldn't complain; my "school nights" have been rather fun recently, what with pub quizzes, rehearsals (8th to 10th of March, people... put it in your diaries :p), playing with Flickr's geotagging system (check it out, Flickr types; it's pretty awesome) and seeing bands. Unfortunately, on the down-side, my laptop is very unwell -- both the keyboard and mouse have decided they can't be arsed responding anymore. In the meantime I've taken my work laptop home instead.

Back to the bands, though: on Wednesday myself and Al saw the Bluetones and partied like it was 1996. I was a big fan of theirs back in the day (hell, I still am!), so I was pleased to see they've still got it, both as a live act and as songwriters -- their new stuff, while nothing spectacular, is still very catchy and hook-laden. Mark Morriss seemed a bit annoyed with the crowd's lack of enthusiasm, though!

Then on Friday, and on a whim really (although to be fair some people I knew were going anyway) I saw the fantastic Decemberists. I knew very little about them before the gig, and it was the first time in ages that I felt I'd "discovered" a great new band. They have shades of the Arcade Fire, Belle and Sebastian and Sufjan Stevens, among others; but a little less serious then the first and a little louder than either of the latter two. Live, in addition to the usual guitars and keyboards, they use an accordion, a double bass, a violin, and even a hurdy-gurdy, which I'd heard of but never seen before. Check 'em out if you've not come across them... and if you have, why didn't you tell me? :p

I woke up on Saturday morning feeling slightly dull-headed but fairly relaxed, and thought I'd put the radio on. But hang on -- where have all the Radio 4 Saturday morning/lunchtime comedy panel shows gone?! It was all politics and documentaries... interesting stuff, I'm sure, but I was in the mood for something a little more light-hearted. So what's good to listen to on weekend mornings these days, radio-wise? Cheers!

Ooh, I've just been invited along to the pub for a Sunday roast. Things are looking up!

Ramblin' Man

2007-02-06T00:15:00.000Z

On Sunday, as it was a nice day, I went for a walk in the New Forest. And very nice it was too, as ever. However, doing this particular walk (4½ miles through woods and somewhat muddy fields following the Lymington River from Brockenhurst down to, er, Lymington) meant that I have now walked a connected path all the way from Bournemouth to the other side of Winchester - over 50 miles in total. Over two or three years, I mean, and not always in the same direction; but still.

I've been going for walks around the area ever since I moved down here, but was only last year that it occurred to me to try to link them up. When I thought about it, I'd done most of it already without even trying, primarily because I have to get the train and walk between stations. The most obvious gap was between Ashurst and my house, which would mean walking along busy roads through Totton and Millbrook (lovely! not) ... or getting the ferry across from Hythe. Much nicer. The walk I did on Sunday I left til last as it looked to have a few too many roads and not enough forest for my liking; but it, too, turned out to be very pleasant. Click the map for Flickr pics :)

Küba

2007-02-04T17:08:00.000Z

Last weekend Bob posted about Küba, an art installation currently on show at the Guildhall. To repeat what he already said, it consists of forty TV sets, each showing a different resident of the eponymous Istanbul ghetto telling their life story and giving an idea of what it's like to live there. This Saturday I decided to go myself. Aside from the fascinating stories, often shocking and all so openly told, what made the installation interesting was the fact that it is located in one of the old courtrooms, and the TV sets sit atop the original furnishings. It was quite a strange feeling to enter an empty room, especially such a formal one, and hear the constant murmurs of conversation all around you.

Anyway, apparently the old courtroom had not been open to the public in some time, and since it was an interesting room, I asked the invigilator if I could take a few pictures. He not only said I could, he also told me that there was a viewing gallery upstairs, and would I like him to ask the security guard to take me up there? The security guard agreed, and it would've been rude to turn him down, so up we went. He was very nice and chatty (glad of someone to talk to, I guess!), and said what a shame it was that the room hardly gets used these days. He also pointed out a rather cool feature, which was that the dock is accessed exclusively by a flight of stairs from the police station, conveniently located directly below!

L-R: The judge's chair; the dock (click pics for Flickr link)

Snowboarding!

2007-01-14T18:20:00.000Z

Well, I'm back! And happily (if slightly unexcitingly for the rest of you, I suppose) in one piece :)

We left Southampton at 3am last Saturday, and about 13 hours later (including a 3-hour coach trip from Geneva airport) we arrived in Tignes. It's basically a small, self-contained tourist village -- just hotels, bars, restaurants and ski equipment shops. It's nice enough in its own way, I suppose, but the thick covering of snow made it a bit more special. At one point around Christmas time, it was touch-and-go whether there'd be enough of it to go round, but luckily the white stuff had arrived by the time we did!

Because it's winter, the days are short, so you need to be out early to make the most of your time. The lifts open at 9am and close at 4:30pm. Hardcore types can party until 5am or whenever if they wish, but I don't think we stayed up much past 11pm all week. We slept a lot in the early evening, too -- it's pretty knackering stuff. Our non-'boarding life was fairly dull, in fact: mostly sleeping, eating, drinking and playing "shithead".

For the first 3 mornings, us n00bs had lessons. Some picked it up quicker than others, but I think 3 lessons is about right for anyone, for snowboarding at least. It's just long enough to be shown the most critical part: how to turn. Once you've mastered that, you can go just about anywhere in the resort (though some slopes are much trickier than others, of course!). I found it pretty tough, I have to admit. You have to get used to the idea of putting your weight forward as you're going downhill, when your instinct is to lean back, i.e. uphill. I spent most of Tues and Wed going down the n00b-slope again and again, falling repeatedly on my arse, face and arms, and getting pretty fed up. Thankfully, the others had a bit of an off-day on Wed, too, so we decided to take the afternoon off and take the funicular up to the highest part of the resort, at the base of La Grande Motte, at which point you're over 11,000ft up! It was damned windy, but great fun.

The next day, I did what I probably should've done a day or so earlier -- come down a proper piste with the other guys. Although it was just the same level of difficulty as the one I'd been struggling on all week, it was longer and less repetitive, with some steeper and some shallower parts; and being out of the valley, the scenery was absolutely magnificent. And suddenly I found myself being able to turn. Not expertly, and not on the steep bits (there's a more basic technique you can use for coming down these); but with much more confidence and consistency -- and it was a real buzz. From starting to feel like I just wanted to come home, I realised why people love skiing and 'boarding so much. I'd love to do it again. The only question is whether I try skiing next time, or stick to what I (sort of) know! It was good to go in such a large group, too, as it allowed those of similar ability to stick together and do their own thing.

Anyway, click the pic below for photos! (log in if you're a friend, I've made pics of people private)

A belated "happy new year!" to all...

2007-01-05T11:02:00.000Z

...although 2007 hasn't been too promising so far. I've just had one of my worst weeks ever what with being sniffly and bunged-up and worky-stressy and being winded and rained on and whatnot. Plus I had to come back to work the day after Boxing Day, as I said before; and as soon as I'm back from skiing, a week from now, I'll have yet another load of work to get going on, marked "urgent". Gah!

Still, New Years' Eve itself was fantastic. Last year it all went a bit pear-shaped and I ended up paying silly money for a ticket to a mediocre, half-empty club in Cheltenham (don't ask), but this year a number of old friends (including me!) gathered at a friend's house in the Docklands where we spent a very pleasant evening eating and drinking and catching up with each other's lives. And when we all came to, the first morning of 2007 was as bright, sunny and optimistic as the last evening of 2006 had been wet, windy and miserable. I walked back to Waterloo along the Thames feeling very content.

And early tomorrow morning (or late tonight, depending on how you see it), I'm off to the Alps with Al and various others, to lose my winter sports virginity. The stress of this week was almost making me wish I didn't have to bother so soon, but now I'm starting to look forward to it. I just hope I remember everything I need!

Big Chill and my week off

2005-08-21T18:03:00.000Z

First of all, I'd like to point out that I'm typing this in my bedroom at my flat, and will upload it using our brand spanking new broadband connection! Yay! We're still having some teething problems, namely MSN chucking us offline and our local network not working, but hey. Still pretty damn cool! Also damn cool is that by "us" I mean myself and Bob, as he has now moved in. It's going to be great :)

So last week was Seeing Lig And Courtney Week, which is always a pleasure. We kicked off with the Big Chill, which I felt more comfortable with this year, knowing what to expect. We sat on a picnic blanket, drank wine, ate all sorts of good food, and saw all sorts of bands and DJs, some good (Kate Rusby, Ukelele Orchestra and an a capella group I can't remember the name of), some less so (Lunz (sp?), anyone? ;-) Alex and Harry came along again, and we also had Ben and Ros. Lots of lovely people I don't see often enough :)

After a short interlude in Southampton to get the contract on my flat sorted, Lig, Courtney, James and myself could begin our week of adventure. A plan to hike a part of Offa's Dyke fell through in the end, but we did manage to go wine-tasting and visit the Stiperstones in Shropshire. This is the name given to a particular ridge in the hills of the Welsh borders which is purple from the heather and has many curious angular, light grey rocks - some in piles, some forming huge battlement-like structures, and some just getting in the way on the path! The ridge seems to be unique - the other hills around were green, with no more rocks than anywhere else. There are pictures here.

Also, we went to Alton Towers for the first time in years! Great fun, and we managed to get on all the big rides at least once. It was surprisingly quiet for a Friday in the summer holidays.

And finally:
Catholic professor attempts to prove existance of the Resurrection; only succeeds in proving his complete ignorance of the basics of probability.

REM in Hyde Park

2005-07-18T13:31:00.000Z

Well, I finally got to see one of my all-time favourite bands :D
It's been a good year for that, really - after seeing Idlewild, Ben Folds, Tori Amos and now REM, I can't think of any still-functioning bands that I'm particularly desparate to see. The Pixies, perhaps?

Or maybe REM again, because they were bloody fantastic!
Ben, Lucy and I met up in central London in the early afternoon and slowly meandered our way over to Hyde Park, stopping for food & drink on the way. We got there just in time for Idlewild's support set, and quickly realised that things were far from perfect (and this is without even mentioning the prospect of Feeder as the second support act! ;). As with Radiohead in Oxford's South Park a few years ago, there was a "gold" area in front of the stage for special ticket-holders, with the majority of ticket-holders kept behind another barrier further back. But whereas the Radiohead "gold" area was fairly small and didn't really detract from the experience, the one at REM was huge! Even stood as far forward as you could in the "standard" area, you were still miles from the stage and could only just make out who was who. Very disappointing. Lucy said afterwards that she almost started crying near the start of the set, because the show was so good but we couldn't experience it properly. I knew what she meant, but we also agreed that after the first few songs we got over it and just enjoyed ourselves.

Mike Stipe was on excellent form, doing crazy dances and jumping about the set. And his voice was superb. So many live acts are spoiled by the realisation that the singer can't actually sing, but Stipe's voice sounded just as powerful and controlled as it does on record. The sound in general was pretty good for an outdoor gig, and combined with crazy graphics and edited camerawork on the big screens made for a riveting experience. The only thing letting the side down early-on (apart from our distance from the stage) was the audience, who just stood there and occasionally clapped along but weren't really getting into it. There were a lot of older (for music fans, anyway) people there, so maybe that explains it.

By the end, though, it was just getting better and better. The crowd had loosened up, and as the encore progressed it became clear that the band were in a celebratory and quite possibly alcohol-enhanced mood. It was the last night of a year-long global tour, after all! Stipe became even more energetic, sitting atop Mike Mills' piano during "Nightswimming" (which Mills had already messed up at the start!) and ending it by stamping his feet on the keys. Then there was a lot of end-of-tour speeches (though oddly no reflections on the recent bombings, given Stipe's outspokenness against the Iraq war) and a couple more songs before some extremely protracted goodbyes and Stipe being carried offstage by his bandmates. Rock n' roll.

The evening ended with a lovely walk back to Waterloo through the parks, past Big Ben and over the Thames. A happy day :)

Setlist: Bad Day; What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?; The One I Love; Drive; The Outsiders; Sitting Still; Wanderlust; Animal; Leaving New York; Everybody Hurts; Electron Blue; Me In Honey; Electrolite; So Fast So Numb; E-Bow The Letter (with Patti Smith); Final Straw; Orange Crush; Walk Unafraid; Losing My Religion

Encore 1: Imitation Of Life; The Great Beyond; Nightswimming

Encore 2: It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine); I’m Gonna DJ; Man On The Moon

Glasto pics!!

2005-07-01T11:16:00.000Z

Online now at Flickr. Click below. The quality isn't too bad considering they're digitised images from a past-best-before-date disposable camera! Hopefully the other guys will upload theirs soon.

Yes, ok, ok, I'll blog about Glasto! Jeez! ;-)

2005-06-30T12:58:00.000Z

Hello all.

Well I suppose it would be rude of me not to write a bit about possibly my best weekend of 2005 so far!

My friends have already written loads about it and they overlap quite a bit, especially Pear Cider being far too tasty, Bright Eyes being unpleasantly wierd, the Killers being far better than Ben thought they'd be, and Jack White being utterly possessed by the spirit of the blues!

I also loved the Futureheads for their children's TV-style banter (in Geordie accents, plus one of them's called Barry so it reminded me of the Chuckle Brothers!) and was also impressed by the Kaiser Chiefs and the Zutons. Plus on Sunday night I stayed up to watch the sun rise at the Stone Circle, apparently one of the things you Must Do At Glastonbury :)

Read my friends' accounts here, here and here.

However, I think I must write more fully about an act we saw on the Sunday. It wasn't a band, more like performance art. Wandering around one of the Circus Fields we ended up in the Belle Epoque tent, where on stage was a man wearing full powder and blusher make-up, a ridiculous wig and a long, flowing magician-like gown. He overexaggerated his "actor's" voice, facial expressions and movements in a thoroughly comical way, and was apparently trying to persuade two complete strangers to kiss each other on stage. He was encouraging the audience to go "oooh", starting quietly but building into an orgasmic crescendo as the couple approached each other, accompanied by our rising to our feet and raising our arms in the air. Very silly. This is just to set the scene, by the way.

At first we were bemused, and wondered what the hell we were doing there, but he was very good at getting the audience on his side and participating, and it soon became quite fun. He got us to make suggestions as to what we could do, such as sing a song (Al suggested "The Sun Has Got Its Hat On", which was eventually taken up) or act like an animal (our suggestion of "badger" was sadly overruled by "ostrich"). This was all well and good, but before we knew what was happening, we were on our feet, acting like ostriches (hand looks to left, looks to right, jump forward a few steps whilst going "dik dik dik dik", and repeat) and then walking out of the tent into the field as a crowd of 100 or so. We then proceeded to surround innocent bystanders and sing to them or persuade them to take their shirts off or whatever. One poor guy was on the phone to his mum at the time, so we sang her happy birthday (even though it wasn't). It was quite a wonderful feeling to be part of "something" -- even though I guess it was really just the in-crowd, the mob, something I'm generally against. It was very surreal and funny though!

Going to collect my photos after work today. I've asked for them to be put on CD, so I'm intrigued to see how good they are. I'll post some tomorrow hopefully. One last thing: no, we didn't get flooded out, I'm sure you'll be relieved (or secretly disappointed ;-) to hear. We were on some of the highest ground (more by luck than judgment, but there you go!)

So yes, another excellent Glasto. See you there in 2007 hopefully!

Blog fatigue

2005-06-10T13:24:00.000Z

I haven't blogged for ages. Again. I'm just feeling very apathetic towards it at the moment. Also I've been quite busy at work and haven't really had the time. Ho hum.

Anyway, the list of Things Of Note In Pgd's Life runs as follows:

Went to Reading last weekend for my friend Rachel's 20th birthday. She'd just finished her 2nd year exams, too, so obviously the only sensible thing to do was to have an almightly piss-up. Her friends organised a not-so-secret birthday picnic (with only a couple of days to go, they let it slip - to her face!) in Henley-on-Thames, which is a beautiful place and so well-to-do that its charity shops are rumoured to stock designer clothes on a regular basis (Edit: and furthermore, I have just been informed, is the constituency of bumblingly affable Tory MP Boris Johnson. Hurrah!). In the evening we went to Reading Uni's student union club, which is huge and very very cool except for the fact that queueing for the bar is a nightmare. One bar only sold shots (i.e. no mixers), and whilst the queues were smaller, it did have the disadvantage of, well, persuading you to buy shots! The next day we spent happily wandering around the campus's huge areas of lakes, woodland and grasses, and then ambling in the general direction of the town and the train station, stopping regularly for liquid refreshment and once for Japanese noodles. Mmmm!
Some pics of all this can be found here.

This week has so far seen barbecues, a trip to Rhinos, a meal at an Indian restuarant paid for by my boss, and karaoke night at the Union. Tonight it will also take in a long-postponed gig by Ben Folds. Which is nice :)

One last thing: as some of you may know, my Mum has for a while now been researching our family history. She has now put her work online in the form of a series of chapters documenting local history, each drawing on the experiences of a different generation of the family. It's not finished yet, but please feel free to have a look around and make (constructive) comments! The site is here.

Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart...

2005-05-27T12:34:00.000Z

Just a quickie!

First of all: wow. What an amazing match. I remember saying back in March that "if you weren't absolutely gripped by [the] Chelsea-Barcelona game then you must be dead inside" ... well, Liverpool-Milan blew that one away. Such a range of emotions, the whole game changing in the blink of an eye, and finishing with a courageous and fully-deserved win on penalties (fully-deserved winners of the shootout, I mean. You can't really say who deserved to win the game, it was all so surreal!). Walking back home and hearing people shouting and singing all around put a huge smile on my face. It was a magical night; literally, in that you felt like you were in a bubble and that it wasn't quite real.

I'm actually off work today. Don't ask me why, I didn't ask for it. And no, I haven't been sacked before anyone asks. My work just has a couple of random days off every year. It's a lovely day, so I've been wandering aimlessly around the common taking pics. I will flickr some more soon, promise.

Finally, the very best of luck to anyone who's doing exams at the moment. See you on the other side! :)

Adventures with Flickr

2005-05-18T16:08:00.000Z

Right, well, everyone seems to be using Flickr for their online photos these days, so I've joined in. I've uploaded my pics from Cornwall last week. They are here. Enjoy :)

More pics will appear in due course!

Also, I recently treated myself to a gadget. It rocks!

The Über-Update!

2005-05-16T08:54:00.000Z

Well, it’s always heartening when you get badgered for not updating your blog for ages. So here, after an annoyingly long time (I’ve been very busy I’m afraid), is what I’ve been doing and thinking recently, presented in a handy bullet-point style. Hurrah!

- Poker and Politics night (5th May). After attending the Union’s fortnightly poker evening and being knocked out predictably but not wholly embarrassingly early, I joined Jon, Rob, Hannah, Rach & Hallam watching the general election coverage round Bob’s house. The BBC didn’t disappoint on the ludicrously overblown graphics front! I was pleased with the result, too – Labour remain in power but with a much-reduced majority, the people having clearly told them to watch their step from now on. Blair says he will listen; let’s hope he does. In particular, and much as I distrust him, George Galloway’s victory sends an un-ignorable anti-war message. Blair won’t try anything like that again in a hurry.
Keeping Al Happy Edit: Al was joint winner of the poker and got £90. Woo!

- Chemistry Ball (6th May). An amusing start to the evening as I arrive back from work to find I’d forgotten my keys and locked myself out. After an agonising wait for one of my housemates to turn up, I throw on my suit and leg it up the road to Jon’s, where our taxis are already waiting. Thereafter it was a pleasant but not particularly exciting evening. Always good to get suited up and ogle girls in posh dresses, though ;-)

- Generator (7th May). The Union’s new Saturday night indie event, complete with live bands. I thought I’d better check it out, as people had held mixed opinions. I can see why, too – it wasn’t awful, but it could’ve been better. In particular, the attendance was pitiful. There was a fair crowd for the headline band (a worthy but not-particularly-special Joy Division-esque crew by the name of The Editors), but afterwards people drifted off, leaving the dancefloor disappointingly sparse.

- Rock Lite (9th May). Take note, Union officials: this is how you run a rock/indie night! But then, maybe I’m slightly biased, seeing as my friends run it ;-) All the same, twas a damn good evening. Strongroom and Envy & Other Sins, the subject of a previous blog entry of mine, again teamed up to provide the live entertainment. I’d gone round telling all my friends to come and see E&OS as they were so good last time, and they were just as good this. Someone chuck them a contract, sharpish! The one downside to the evening: after the bands, Bob was left DJing till 2am, mostly just to us lot. He played a blinding set, and we were as enthusiastic as we could be, but it was a bit sad. I guess it’s just the coursework and revision season :-(

- Trip to Cornwall (10th to 13th May). My folks were spending the week on a caravan site by the sea in the middle of nowhere. How could I refuse? It was extremely windy, but I did get to re-visit the Eden Project (I last went in the summer of 2002 to see Beth Orton and Spiritualized with my good friends James and Maz) and go for a tramp along the cliff-top paths (not sure the tramp liked it, but he had it coming). Photos coming soon :-)

- Saturday Nexus (14th May). I love Indie Fridays at Nexus, but I’d not been to a Saturday rock/emo/punk/ska/metal night since the first year. Surprisingly perhaps, I really quite enjoyed it, though I suspect the good company had something to do with it. Thanks guys!

- ‘Survival Sunday’ (15th May). As Ben said at half-time: “Well, I’ve survived so far!” ;-) Together with Bob, Manchester Jon and Al, we headed to the Mitre to await Saints’ fate. More on this in the post below.

Oh when the Saints…

2005-05-16T08:52:00.000Z

...go marching in...to the Championship...

Well, it was always going to be close, and in the end it just wasn’t to be. After 27 years in the top flight, my adopted club, Southampton, have been relegated.

It all started out rather well. An early Man Utd own-goal was followed a little later by goals against both Norwich and Crystal Palace, and at half-time, though Man U had equalised, we were still in pole position. Most of the drama was reserved for the second half, however. Man U and West Brom scored in quick succession, and from then on it got increasingly desperate. I feel I must apologise to Bob, in that he was the only one really affected by the result. The rest of us were disappointed but didn’t really share his pain as we possibly should. I guess it found me out as someone for whom football is a big interest, but not a passion.

What an occasion, though: a last-day four-way battle to the death, with only one winner. The closest relegation scrap in Premiership history, and it lived up to expectations. Unfortunately, in my opinion the worst possible result ensued. Apart from Southampton I have a soft spot for both Norwich, with their crazy lurid strip and Delia Smith, and Palace, with their consistently amusing manager Ian Dowie and a team that were bordering on the Championship relegation places half-way through last season. West Brom are just dull. I feel particularly bad for Liam and his fellow Canaries fans – from being in the (tediously proverbial) driving seat at the beginning of the day, they contrived to lose 6-0. Let’s be havin’ you lot back in a year’s time ;-)

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

2005-04-29T08:17:00.000Z

So, last night I went to see Hitch-hiker's Guide To The Galaxy. I've read the books several times over the years, and love them, but never heard the radio show or seen the TV series.

The film is absolutely superb, though :)
Al got there first this morning, and has already written a good long review, but I had to say something myself too!

Firstly, the casting is excellent. Martin Freeman reprises his put-upon Tim From The Office role and looks suitably bewildered as Arthur, Alan Rickman provides the despondent drawl of Marvin the Paranoid Android, and Jim Henson's Creature Workshop and the League Of Gentlemen combine forces to create the thoroughly unpleasant but comically officious Vogons.

There are many differences from the book, some more important than others. I always imagined Zaphod having two heads side-by-side, but in the film his second head pops out from under his chin (as a continuation of his first) when the more manic elements of his personality manifest themselves. (Otherwise, I have to say, Zaphod's charisma, hair, clothes and whiter-than-white cheesy grin are perfect.)

More important are the plot amendments - but don't worry, they were mostly the work of Douglas Adams himself, who always wanted a film version to be made. If the book were followed to the letter, I don't think the resulting film would have worked - certainly it would appeal to hardcore fans only. The actual film is tidier, with a nice neat Hollywood ending and with many of the book's verbal gags replaced with different visual ones, often quite Pythonesque in nature. The opening song is brilliantly cheesy, too.

Small quibbles: the speed of the plot is variable - sometimes it lurches about very quickly and without warning, possibly leaving the uninitiated bewildered; and sometimes it drags a bit (oddly, these places are often those where the book is followed the most closely - and this includes some of Stephen Fry's narrative asides, well-animated though they are). Also, I thought the planet maker Slartibartfast (played by Bill Nighy) was a bit dull (although the visual sequences inside the planet factory are pretty astounding!).

But anyway. To summarise: GO SEE! Now!

It's a Slightly Less Pointless Than Usual online questionnaire!

2005-04-27T09:18:00.000Z

Well, in that it's political, anyway.
I'm sure everyone has already seen the Political Compass - but here's a much simpler political questionnaire that focusses on the coming General Election.

As admitted on its main page, it does not cover all the issues, concentrating instead on those where the main parties differ most. Anyway, it would seem that I'm a loony leftie hippy Green first, closely followed by the Lib Dems, with Labour quite some way behind. In reality I'm certainly Green in some ways, and certainly Liberal in others, but probably not enough of either to swing my vote.

Who should I vote for?

Your expected outcome:

Labour

Your actual outcome:

	Labour 15
Conservative -20
	Liberal Democrat 57
UK Independence Party -24
	Green 59

You should vote: Green

The Green Party, which is of course strong on environmental issues, takes a strong position on welfare issues, but was firmly against the war in Iraq. Other key concerns are cannabis, where the party takes a liberal line, and foxhunting, which unsurprisingly the Greens are firmly against.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For

Argh! A big long philosophical rant! Turn back while you still can!

2005-04-22T09:17:00.000Z

Following on from Bob's recent post about absolutism versus relativism - currently a hot topic following the pope-ification (what's the correct term here?) of avowed absolutist Benedict XVI - I would like to add my own nominal amount of US currency.

Yesterday the Guardian published an "in his own words" feature on various issues on religion, marriage, homosexuality, abortion and so on, most of which were regrettably predictable. The one that caught my eye, though, was the following quote:

"The church teaches that abortion or euthanasia is a grave sin... the Evangelium Vitae [a Vatican edict] states that there is a "grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection ... In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to take part in a propaganda campaign in favour of such a law or vote for it"."

In other words, if a state law exists that conflicts with Catholic dogma, then Catholics are obliged to disobey that law. This really surprised me. Clearly in the case of abortion or euthanasia there is no conflict - a good Catholic wouldn't want to make use of these laws anyway. But the implications of this are that Catholics are not obliged to obey state laws, and presumably would be obliged to condemn them wherever possible.

A similar situation may exist within Islam, in that some adherents claim to put their religion before their nationality, though I don't know whether this is a formal edict or not and so won't comment further. But my point is: by acting in this way, organised religions (whether of East or West) can become disruptive influences on society and democracy, and in my opinion this is precisely why religion should have no place on politics whatever. I would never vote for a politician that condemned or oppressed religious adherency - I am a liberal. But at the same time, to say that godless states and societies are corrosive and flawed is pretty hypocritical when you are actively encouraging your followers to corrode them.

Personal beliefs are fine - I believe people should be able to live how they like as long as it doesn't harm those around them. Also, at a personal level religion has got a lot going for it - all the Christians I know are gentle, kind people, and I love the peaceful atmosphere of churches. But absolutism is fundamentally incompatible with democracy. I guess it comes down to change. Change and progress are human, and therefore permanence and stasis are godly. But change is not only human, it is also natural, and nature is also presumed to be godly. I'm going to end up tying myself in philosophical knots if I'm not careful, so I think I'll stop there. I hope I've made at least some kind of intelligent point! ;)

Edit: Just realised that I've missed out something important! Where does the unchanging, godly authority for Catholic dogma come from? Nowhere in the Bible are issues such as euthanasia, contraception/abortion and homosexuality laid bare in an unambiguous, Ten Commandments type way (oh, and Leviticus, schmeviticus!). It's all down to interpretation, which can never be static.

We are the champignons!

2005-04-19T08:22:00.000Z

Ben, keeper of the Southampton Pub Quiz Diary, noticed that the Varsity was starting a pub quiz on Mondays, so we went and checked out the first night.

It's an unusual but good set-up: the winners of each round get £20, the overall winners get £50, and there are a couple of other bonus prizes like "best team name".

At the end of the first round (general knowledge) we thought we'd done really badly (and indeed we kinda had), but in fact we were joint first - whether this reflects on the average intelligence of Varsity's patrons I couldn't possibly say. In any case, we went on to win one of the rounds and the overall title, netting us £70. A good evening's work, all in all! :)

To celebrate, here is a picture of a BIG POTATO! (taken at a barbecue round at Ben's house in March - I think I mentioned it in passing at the time)

A trip to the Zoo!

2005-04-18T12:53:00.000Z

Click here for more photos!

So yesterday (Sunday) I went up to London to meet some family (and some family-to-be) and go to the Zoo, as described in my previous post. Things didn't start off well. We were meant to meet at the entrance at 11am, and sure enough at 11am prompt my bro texted me to say he'd arrived ("LONDON BABY! Yeah! I win" may have been his exact words). Unfortunately, I was still at Clapham Junction and Hannah and Crispin were "nearly there but a bit lost". I sympathised with them soon enough when I also got lost between the Tube station and the entrance and ended up in a random Camden council estate. Since Andy, my bro, is renowned for his lack of direction or geographical knowledge, it seemed just a tad unfair that he apparently found it so easy. Eventually, at about 12pm and nearer 1pm respectively, Hannah & Crispin and myself staggered in.

After that, however, it was great. A gorgeous day, good company and ALL teh animals. Granted, a lot of them were asleep or not to be seen (maybe Sunday is a day of rest in the animal kingdom, too), but we still saw a lot.

Best bits: the giraffes, penguin feeding time, the walk-through monkey enclosure, some not-particularly-large snakes swallowing mice whole (took them about 5 mins each), a snail bigger than your hand, and various odd-looking lizards. I particularly loved the elephant shrews, which are almost entirely round balls of fluff with little shrewy noses. Their legs seem too close together, adding to their rounded appearance but making you fearful of them falling head-over-heels! They were behind glass in quite a dark room so I couldn't take a photo, but here's one I found on t'internet. Sooo cute!

2005-04-15T08:49:00.000Z

It's funny how these things work. After posting my last, er, post, I read my friends' blogs to find Mary also lamenting her blog's lack of "seriousness", and Elly, chuffed with the response to her 'serious' post, proposing more of the same, only to find Rach stating a preference for posts about the simpler things in life. I guess it is a bit foolish to feel pressured by something like blogging - after all, in general I'm quite content knowing that certain people have more journalistic skill than me :)