The Blog In Review…

I’m going to make what will most likely be my final post for 2007 into an opportunity to sum up this blog for the year. The highs, the lows, the bad spelling and grammar. In essence: The good, the bad and the ugly.

Here goes:

“I babbled frequently and meaninglessly on a vast number of topics that ultimately only interested a few very deluded individuals.”

Continue reading “The Blog In Review…”

Year’s Best

I know that earlier in the week I said that there was a chance that I’d spew forth more of my unwanted opinions on the year’s best media but as I’m sitting here on a grey and cold Friday night, with snow lazily drifting down outside, I’ve decided I really just can’t be bothered.

I’m sure I could rifle through twelve months worth of memories and come up with a list of books and movies that I liked during the past year if I so desired but I just really dont’ want to. The movies that I truly liked, can be counted on two fingers and the books I liked couldn’t be counted on ten hands.

The only two movies that I truly and passionately enjoyed this past year were simple, well made and, for anyone that knows me well, obviously appealed to my very nature. While I’m certain I could find three more to fill in the other “top five” spots with relative ease, I just don’t really want to. That would spoil the joy of the other two now wouldn’t it.

Stardust will remain my favourite movie for the year, and for quite some time to come. A perfect fairy tale story filled with all the wonder and mystery that such stories should contain. It wasn’t a verbatim adaptation of the novel by any means and there were points where I sighed regrettably at the “hollywoodization” of the story, but regardless of the changes it still measured up well. I’ve recently watched the DVD and managed to see some of the extra footage with the ghosts and wished that a) there had been more included on the disc and b) that they had been given a little more screen time in the movie. Still, the whole thing makes me happy and that’s what matters in the end.

The only other movie that I really, really enjoyed this year was The Bourne Ultimatum. I loved how the story meshed almost seamlessly with it’s immediate predecessor, The Bourne Supremacy, and how the main character was still focused, engaging and viable after three movies. It was a hard task to accomplish but I believe Matt Damon managed to pull it off well. The shaky hand-held digital camera action was still there adding to the frenetic pace and intensity of the film that really never let’s up. The franchise has veered pretty far from Ludlum’s original novels but in the end I think that’s a good thing as the novels are somewhat dated in the modern world and this new take works much better than a story about Carlos The Jackal ever would. I believe that there is so much more to tell about the character. I’d love to see a fourth movie. Here’s hoping it becomes a reality.

As for books, I’ve really read too many this past year, and not all of them were published recently so I’m not even going to bother with even a list. It just wouldn’t do them all justice.

The only book that I wanted to read this year wasn’t released and until it is, I’m going to wait somewhat patiently and hope it will be soon™. (Ahem… Mr. Martin, Get a bloody move on already!) Until then, I shall remain tight-lipped on the subject.

On that note, good night for now and may the fleas of a thousand reindeer nest in your genitalia.

Site Update

Those of you that may have run into the maintenance frontpage over the past week or so will be happy to know that I wasn’t in fact just pissing around or amusing myself by showing it off (again). I was actually quietly fiddling about with the website, working on the backend and trying to get a few ornery plugins up and running properly. Now that I’m finally comfortable that they’re working at least somewhat correctly, I figured I should go ahead and mention them.

I’ve added a little random image generator to the right showing a few images from the new Gallery page that you can now get to via the navbar at the top of the page or immediately to the right.

I’m not 100% satisfied with the theme integration between the Gallery and the Site but I’m not really going to worry about it too much at this point. It works well enough for now and once have the time, I’m go snoop around in the code and see what I can tweak (read: break horrendously) in the hopes that I’ll make it look better. In the meantime, if you stumble across any problems in the layout or whatever just let me know and I’ll try to fix it.

At this point I don’t have that many pictures uploaded namely because I’m a lazy bugger, but also because most of my pics are all trapped on a “failed” hard drive that I need to see if I can recover without reformatting it. I’ll update what I can, when I can. Until then you can suffer with pics of my dog.

Other than that, I’ve also added a couple of different stats programs just because I’m a nosy bugger and like to know where you lot come from. You can see the results from one of them on the far right hand side. The rest are only visible on the backend so there’s no point in mentioning them.

There are more changes as well, but everything else that I’ve been fiddling with is going to remain undisclosed until such time as I have something useful to say about them. Mainly I need to get everything properly integrated into the site with a working theme that I like and that is consistent across the board. There are a few other things they need as well, but there’s no point in me talking about them if you can’t see them. Check back later if you’re not one of my “Test victims” helping me out.

Hrrm, since I’m in a fiddling mood I might as well ask. Is there any additions or plugins to the site that I don’t have that you guys think that I should have? I’m curious.

On that note… G’night for now.

RPG Motivations

I’m phoning this one in.

I’m feeling rather bemused today and so all you get this time around is this link to some rather amusing RPG themed motivational posters. You may or may not have seen them already, but like I said, I’m phoning this one in and being a lazy arse.

Enjoy.

And if this doesn’t amuse you, then perhaps you should try the LoLCat or LoLDog sites for a laugh before Christmas.

All I Want…

… for Christmas is:

  1. A new job. One that preferably doesn’t suck balls, pays well enough that I can support myself and doesn’t require me to work with half-wits (I know the last one is pushing it…)
  2. A new computer… specifically, a new motherboard, processor, ram hard drive and video card(s). At the very least, I’d accept financial donations towards the aforementioned.
  3. The following DVDs: Doctor Who Series 3, The Bourne Ultimatum, Heroes Series 1, Torchwood Series 1, Battlestar Galactica Series 3
  4. Absolute Sandman Vol – 2

Now I know I said  in a previous entry that I wasn’t going to be participating in Christmas this year due to my finances… but a man can still dream can’t he? After all, a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what is heaven for?

Top Five

Since I ended the last entry with a comment about music I figure I might as well follow through on it.

It’s that time of year again. Time for every anal-retentive, list-obsessed person with a blog to compile their top X favorite lists for the year (be it albums, movies, books, tantric sex positions, cattle mutilation photographs or whatever).

Far be it for me to ignore this tradition despite my self-assertion that I’m neither anal, nor list obsessed — I may not even be a person but that’s a discussion for another time. I’m just going to stick with music this time around and if I’m feeling up to it I will follow through with more banality over the weekend.

Here’s my list (in no particular order)

Personal Five Favourite Albums of 2007

(Heh. Typing that makes me feel just like Rob Fleming from High Fidelity. Now if I only had John Cusack’s style and savoir-faire (and possibly his paycheque) while doing it, then life would truly be grand)

Arctic MonkeysFavourite Worst Nightmare
I love this album. It’s witty and brilliant and the lyrics are pure working class teenage Britain. I love hearing the lead singer’s Yorkshire accent come through when he sings. The colloquialisms, odd phrasings and 80s pop references are all part of the charm for me. I’m partial to the songs D is for Dangerous and Fluorescent Adolescent. After all I don’t think you can go wrong with a song that contains the lyric “you used to get it in your fishnets, now you only get it in your nightdress”
Foo Fighters Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
I’ve always been a big fan of Dave Grohl and the Foos, ever since they released their first album back in ’95. They’ve always managed to incorporate lyrical integrity with melodic rock and this latest album is no exception. I’ve had the lead track off the album, The Pretender, on loop for quite some time now and it still hasn’t got old. Plus the album’s title itself evokes something and strikes a chord deep within me. Hrrm, I wonder if I can find anyone interested in going to their concert in March.
Rilo KileyUnder The Blacklight
I was introduced to this fine group by a friend and was pretty much instantly hooked by their folk/rock/pop gems (Plus the lead singer, Jenny Lewis, isn’t half bad to look at which is always a bonus… What? Sex sells. Sheesh! Deal with it already!). This album is a bit of a sidestep from their earlier releases and I really like it because of that. It’s more rock-like and less folky and I love how they’ve stretched and challenged themselves musically. At times it reminds me very much of an early Fleetwood Mac album and at others it’s it’s own beast. If I were to pick, I’d probably have to go with either The Moneymaker or Dejalo as my favourite tracks.
Bad ReligionNew Maps of Hell
I’ve always been a big fan of BR, ever since I harassed my sister about buying “the devil’s music” despite the fact that I had all their albums to date at the time (hypocrisy is a grand thing when sibling harassment is involved isn’t it?). I’m glad Gurewitz is back with the band as I felt their work was sub-par during his absence. Now that he’s back, they’re capable of some damned good music. Sure, this isn’t as punk as some of their earlier works, but the songs are all well crafted and still very lyrically relevant. New Dark Ages would have to be my favourite, though Germs of Perfection runs a close second.
Modest MouseWe Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
My first exposure to Modest Mouse came after hearing their song Dashboard on the radio. At the time I bobbed my head at the melodically quirky song and moved on. Then I found the video for the same song on Youtube and I was intrigued. It was totally surreal and the more I listened to the lyrics the more discordant the video’s images became. Needless to say I was hooked. Dashboard‘s video is probably my favourite, but I can’t say that I have a favourite song off the album… yet.

I’m sure you can all play this game at home yourselves. Have fun creating your own lists.

If you’re interested in any of the above artists, feel free to search either YouTube and MySpace for their music. You won’t be disappointed.

How To Tell If You’re Nocturnal

I stumbled on this the other night and thought it was rather appropriate.

For those of you who don’t know any better, here are a couple of definitions to use as a primer for this entry.

Nocturnal – active and feels better at night
Diurnal – active and feels better during the day
Repuscular – active and feels better primarily during twilight, i.e., at dusk and dawn (freaks)

A Guide to Telling if you are Nocturnal

  1. You feel half alive until close to 7:00 p.m.
  2. You believe that ‘morning people’ should be lined up and summarily executed
  3. You know all the places in town to get a burger (decent or otherwise) after 2:00 a.m.
  4. Music sounds better, and should be played louder, at night
  5. You’re :
    1. a musician
    2. a police officer
    3. a graveyard shift worker and you LIKE the hours
  6. The cat gets more sleep at night than you do
  7. Going to bed a 2:00 am seems too damned early
  8. Waking up to sunshine and birds singing makes you want to vomit
  9. Even prescription sleeping pills have little or no effect
  10. You’re sick of being told that you have a ’sleep disorder’
  11. Your great tan during the summer months confuses your friends. This amuses you and you continue to visit the tanning salon. After dark.
  12. Your best work is done at night.
  13. When you do try to sleep you’re constantly thinking of ideas, getting out of bed, and typing them into Word or writing them down on scraps of paper.
  14. Your sunglasses cost more than your first car
  15. It’s not insomnia asshat! It’s my period of waking hours.
  16. You know every free porn site on the net

Being Nocturnal does have some benefits after all. Such as finding lots of new music and webcomics while searching through all of that porn.

What Tarot Card Are You?

Yeah, I suspect it’s going to be one of those weeks where I make a bunch of posts each filled to the brim with useless crap and links. You can assume that I’m just phoning in these posts. It’s the Holiday Season. It’s not like anyone reads this damn blog anyway. Deal with it.

(Of course my suspicions have nothing to do with the fact that I’ve written these entries earlier in the week and am just post-dating them so as it appears that I blog 24/7. Honest!)

You are The Magician

Skill, wisdom, adaptation. Craft, cunning, depending on dignity.

Eleoquent and charismatic both verbally and in writing,
you are clever, witty, inventive and persuasive.

The Magician is the male power of creation, creation by willpower and desire. In that ancient sense, it is the ability to make things so just by speaking them aloud. Reflecting this is the fact that the Magician is represented by Mercury. He represents the gift of tongues, a smooth talker, a salesman. Also clever with the slight of hand and a medicine man – either a real doctor or someone trying to sell you snake oil.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

A Hurrah & A WTF!?!?

Okay. So according to this article, Peter Jackson will be involved in The Hobbit after all. Sounds like he’ll be a producer though and not a director, but I suspect he’ll get his hands dirty at some point in the production. This is something I’m happy about.

As for the WTF?!?! Reading the article I came across something passing strange. Let me quote the passage for you and see if you catch it.

A press release has been issued with regards to the long-anticipated big-screen adaptation of The Hobbit, and it looks like Peter Jackson will indeed be involved as an executive producer on both The Hobbit and a sequel.

Did you catch it?

Here. Let’s look at it again and this time I’ll highlight the part that made my mind boggle.

A press release has been issued with regards to the long-anticipated big-screen adaptation of The Hobbit, and it looks like Peter Jackson will indeed be involved as an executive producer on both The Hobbit and a sequel.

Last I checked, the sequel to The Hobbit was called The Lord of The Rings and they already made those movies. Honestly. What the living hell are they talking about? Okay. I could possibly see them splitting the book into two seperate movies but then again it’s not that big of a book to begin with. It’s half the size of Fellowship and they managed to fit that into a single movie (albeit a 3hr one).

While I’m happy enough to just wait and see how this pans out, there’s part of me that’s filled with righteous indignation at all the money grubbing bastards at New Line. I suppose I should wander over to The One Ring.net and see what they have to say about this.

As you were.