Monthly archives: January 2005


Weekend matinee

DVDs watched over the weekend-

Texas Chainsaw Massacre A movie can get no higher recommendation than the Daily Mail calling for it to be banned. Dark humour and psychological horror are the thing here rather than gore. I’m going to watch the documentary backup to find out whether this was another Ed Gein inspired movie or the “True Events” it’s based upon are something else.

Ginger Snaps. A more contemporary, and supernatural, horror. The connection between menstruation and the werewolf myth is made quite clear here, and the old silver bullet solution is given a coherent explanation. (There’s a sequel Ginger Snaps Unleashed and a prequel Ginger Snaps Back.)

Memento. Very clever and very well done, the twist ending has elements that you saw coming and ones you didn’t but which fit perfectly. There’s a hidden feature allowing you to watch the film in chronological order, but that seems a bit redundant to me.

Queen of the Damned. I haven’t watched Interview with the Vampire yet, but I imagine it’s far better than this. Not quite Catwoman bad, but not very good either.

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What goes around….

The hypocrisy of the pro war camp is fairly obvious. Back when people like Mark Thomas were telling us that the Iraqi sanctions were only harming Iraqi civilians politicians and pundits were quick to defend them. Now that the UN is deemed too willful and independent of the US the Right of the blogosphere can’t shut up about corruption within the Oil for Food programme.

Will the news that 40% of the revenue to be used in rebuilding Iraq since the invasion has been lost, stolen or squandered register with them?

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I'm a celebrity, pass the salt

Before Christmas I enjoyed (no, really, I did) a night collecting at a Here and Now concert. You can now enjoy the whole Cheesey 80’s nostalgia thing in your own dining room thanks to Supper with the Stars.

….an exciting new service to make your party sparkle with an elusive touch of Hollywood glamour. Imagine having your favourite friends round for dinner. What would really make you party go with a bang? All your guests have arrived, now imagine their surprise when a top TV personality walks in and joins the party!

The stars have little icons to show what they will and won’t do. A mouth doesn’t mean they are willing to perform oral sex (though Limahl looks like he might be up for it, if you ask nicely) but that they are great talkers. An acorn , meanwhile, denotes a potentially fatal nut allergy. A well aimed walnut or almond could take out some of ABC, one or more Hamiltons (Result!) and Nik Kershaw.

This could be a money spinner. I think it’s time to announce Spinneyhead Suppers. For �50 I’ll come round your house and entertain you with anecdotes whilst trying not to mention sheep in humorous ways. For �100 I’ll even help cook.

There’ll be no oral sex though, you’ll have to settle for Limahl if you want that.

via BoingBoing

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History Repeating

A potted history of Iraq, all the way back to 3100BC. Of particular interest-

1914: As a part of World War 1, British forces invade southern Iraq.

1917: British occupation of Baghdad begins.

1920: Arabs of southern Iraq starts military actions towards the British, who did not fulfill their promises to leave the area to the locals after the Turks were defeated. The British responded military in the beginning, but soon realized that it would be impossible to control the area.

1921: Prince Faisal of Hijaz (now: southwestern Saudi Arabia) wins a popular election, with 96% of the ballots, and is declared king of Iraq August 23

and for all on the right claiming that Sunday is the country’s first taste of democracy-

1953: Direct parliamentary elections. King Faisal 2 assumes throne, as he was only 3 when his father died.

1954: Political instability, as USA tries to enhance its influence in Iraq.

Certainly those elections would have been far from the representative ideal, but no more so than the ones being held this week.

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"Yiff?" "No, thanks, I don't quite feel like this right now."

To: Oxford University Press

We, the undersigned, believe that the slang term �yiff� (The Word) should be added into the Oxford English Dictionary. An entire community, the furry community, uses The Word in just about every aspect of such. All that we ask is that The Word be added into the next convenient edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. The Word is defined as followed:

1) (Noun) Sound made by mating foxes.

2) (Noun) More or less sexual act. Commonly used by furries, usually denotes standard intercourse but may denote any kind of sexual behavior between any type and number of parties (imaginary anthropomorphic creatures, humans, animals, even inanimate objects like plush toys).

3) (Verb) Like in meaning 2, “to yiff”.

4) Furry (or otherwise) artwork depicting yiff as in meaning 3.

5) Expression of joy (by furries)

6) Non-invasive question about sexual feelings/will to mate.

Note in all sexual meanings this has a very specific emotional background: It’s neither considered vulgar (like “fuck” or technical (like “have intercourse”) or emotion-less (like “make love”). It’s playful, considering the act like something fun, nice, pleasant and not very important – without any special obligations attached to it. “Let’s yiff” has about the same emotional background as “Let’s play”.

1) I heard foxes making the “yiff” noises.

2) Are you into yiff, or just cuddles?

3) Let’s yiff.

4) It’s hard to find good yiff on VCL nowadays.

7) I did it! Yiff-yiff-yiff-yiff-yiff!

8) “Yiff?” “No, thanks, I don’t quite feel like this right now.”

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

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Holy questionable merchandise Batman!

Warren Ellis has a picture of a Batman squirt gun from a more innocent age. Whilst it’s technically work safe I wouldn’t recommend clicking in the office. Ten minutes after seeing it I still can’t look at the image without cracking up. Favorite comment: “Funny, I always pictured Bats as being more of a top.”


And this here's a government experiment and we're driving like Hell

The Wyoming and White House links were found whilst doing rough (very rough) research for the latest Cycling on the Pavement- Wyoming.

I’ve decided, with the Chimp back in the White House, that it’s time to start working on my technothriller satire again. I’m going to put out a few little pieces, throwing together ideas I’d like to use in the novel. Some, like this piece, will be snippets and others will be more self contained. Hopefully over time it’ll all begin to coalesce.

Feedback appreciated.

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