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Showing posts from February, 2006

TV Karma-coma

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The last episode of Life on Mars turned out to be another viewer torture, broadcaster-money spinner just like Lost . As soon as the penultimate scene came on I was satisfied of guessing how it was going to end i.e. as soon as Sam Tyler 's father shot him he would wake up from the coma - but that didn't happen so slightly annoyed we'd have to wait until next year to know how it ends. Let's hope they don't spin it out for multiple series' with more repressed memories to explain. At least there'll be more Gene Hunt , what a character! Spotted a classic scenery clanger - Whilst the Sam was waiting in the car for his father, the reflection in the window saw the house opposite with a satellite dish. Recorded Snuffbox last night and watched the first few minutes. Wasn't that impressed but not willing to write it off just yet.

Happy Birthday Trev

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Feeling like I look like Popeye today after a trip to the dentist. Two fillings and two painful injections (plus £140 shorter) with an hour in the seat. As well as the pain from the needle, the other annoying thing was the sprinkler system created from the water pipe for lubricating the drill. Freezing water went everywhere over my face and neck. It was Trev's birthday on Saturday plus Karol 's, Kev's and Sarah's around the same time so it was a good excuse for a party. I've been busy finding new tunes from DJDownload and borrowing tracks from recent CD purchases such the Glimmer Twins mix CD and the recent Mixmag Album by Soulwax , all for my DJ stint. Must have only used a handful of vinyl that night for classic moments. Not quite sure why my mixing wasn't quite up to scratch. Monitors weren't quite set up loud enough and my concentration levels had disappeared with mates happily chatting to me then letting the tune run out. Justice - Let the...

Sickboy and Tom Nook

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Blog slacker's back. Just had two days of feeling crap with a king sized Cold or Diet Flu. Felt like a leather belt had wrapped itself around my head whilst an army of ants were alpine skiing with sandpaper skis around my throat. Nearly gave in to guilt to look at my work email and do some work but Animal Crossing demanded me to find more fossils, pay off Tom Nook's debt or write letters to Cupcake and Olivia hoping they'd stay in my town. It beats the quality of daytime TV anyday though couldn't switch off Bargain Hunt for some reason (reminiscence of my student days maybe).

Student stand-up comedy

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Weekend was a bit of chore with a builder friend coming into to doing our hall and stairs wall plastering. Bless him for taking on the job but making us get up to let him in for a 8am start on Saturday morning then pissing off at 1:30pm, then promising to arrive at 9am, then turning up at 9:30am and then going at 3pm didn't put him high on the popular list. Still, he did a great job. Problem now is the condensation dripping everywhere until the walls dry properly - no wonder I'm feeling rough around the gills today. With the early starts that weekend we resorted to TV based entertainment and rented the DVD of Sky Blue . I'd read reviews for this awhile ago, all praising the artwork but slating the story and pace of the film. Shame really as 7 years to produce 90 minutes of classy animation to be failed by a storyline so basic it made all the long brooding scenes of directed emotion drag into snoozeville. It either needed more violence and character building or made ...

Wiki meets twiki relatives

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Just had a proper look at the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia and I'm quite impressed. One of my first searches was AIBO robots and found a link to Beck's website who used 4 humanoid robots, the QRIO for his latest video, My Hell. Go to Videos and there's 2 versions with the robots dancing. The second video has more close-ups of the robots. Found the ASIMO website as well here seen above doing something useful as office tea-boy. Other notable entries on Wikipedia are Norfolk and my home town Dereham . Been having some random dreams lately. Last night Dick and Dom turned up to do a practical joke on me then took me to Radio 2 studios where we hassled Jonathan Ross and the other night my double turned up causing havoc like crashing cars and pushing people out of windows killing them. I'm a bit behind with this news story but still worthy - Banksy does West Bank .

Burton ballet

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Saturday was getting ready for Kerry's family night out in London. Unfortunately, the careful planning of Kerry's day went straight out of the window thanks to Railtrack. She was supposed to have her haircut in London just before the meal whilst I would drive up there later. No trains from the South Coast could reach Waterloo. Reached Leicester Square in good time before the others and had a few drinks in the restaurant, Palais du Jardin in Convent Garden. I'm always a bit hesitant with fancy restaurants especially fish based ones as my taste buds are as adventurous as a panda. The other worry was the expense. Across the bar from us sat Jane from Rod, Jane and Freddy which was totally bizarre and most of the diners had an air of luvee-ness and a hint of fame-connected recognition. I took a bit of a gamble with the main course going for Sea Bass with parsnips in vanilla cream sauce which amazingly paid off. Previously, cod, scampi and scallops were the only fish I woul...

Pirate name

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My pirate name is: Bloody Morty Kidd Every pirate lives for something different. For some, it's the open sea. For others (the masochists), it's the food. For you, it's definitely the fighting. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr! Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Happy Boosh day

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Some call me... Originally uploaded by Ginger DJ . What a night! Arrived early to get some merchandise to find only one person serving. Between Kerry and I, we racked up an impressive £46 on 2 mugs (no jokes please), 2 t-shirts and a programme. Later at both the half-time break and at the end, the merchandise stall was so busy with at least 3 people deep buying stuff as if there was a famine of comedy sized proportions going on. No support came during that time for the poor single stall holder. As I've been bragging, we really did have the best seats in the house and a few times had eye contact with the Boosh getting some quality photos. Next to us were the most dedicated fans I've ever seen making Rocky Horror show look like a fancy dress cop-out. The detail of their costumes was impressive. Both were dressed in the Zoonivese green jackets with the Vince Noir character played by electro-girl and Howard Moon by a lanky fella who I couldn't look at without cr...

Boosh Eve

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Getting a great bargain from Ebay really puts you in a good mood. Our 5 year old Amstrad Sky box had been on its last legs for a few months and the constant beating it received from Kerry's fist meant we had to get another one. £26 got us a like-new Panasonic from a guy in Portsmouth. It works like a satellite dream with the interactive shifting like a turbo. Damn my body clock! As well as Kerry reminding me that we're seeing the Mighty Boosh on stage just before going to sleep therefore exciting my mind like its Christmas tomorrow, my body-clock thinks I need to wake up at 4am. Managed to get back to some sort of shut-eye state but dreamt of being a game-keeper after watching 'Who do you think you are?'. According to my Dad, my great grandfather was a game-keeper. Quite interestingly, Coleman was a popular name around Norfolk in 1881 and Kerry's pre-wedded name was Bartlett which was popular down in Devon and Dorset in 1881. Try this link to find out where ...

Bin man evils

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Not much sleep last night as poor Kerry suffered with some weird virus thing. Bin men came at the most inconvenient moment at breakfast so had to scramble the wheelie bin out to the collectors. Couldn't get over the evil look the bin man gave me. From the look of him he could only communicate in facial expressions from 'feeling angry, gonna murder your pet dog' to 'feeling psychotic, gonna cut you up good with Mr. Bleed-machine then eat my lips'. Matt from work passed on a cool link for anyone who remembers Street Fighter 2 . Without Glastonbury this year, I've been keeping my eye out for anything festive. Found this alternative called Earthwise but won't even measure up to even 1% of Glastonbury. Still at least it's sort of local.

Asteroids

We definately love Katamari

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Friday (and all last week) we've been revisiting Animal Crossing (Gamecube) with the DS wireless version released recently. Forgotten how cute it can be. Have read recent stories of people selling virtual items on Ebay which has reached a new height of strangeness. I.T. Crowd on Channel 4 didn't really live up to my expectations. Quite an obvious idea about nerdy office geeks though can't quite think if anyone had done it before. It had Father Ted humour all over it (obviously with Graham Linehan writing, directing, producing and making the tea for everyone). Chris Morris ( Brass Eye ) did the best performance and the Irish guy did cut close to some people I work with (including myself), though the usually brilliant Richard Ayoade's (Garth Merenghi) character was just annoying. The 3 central character formula just seemed a little tired and done too many times before. Other highlights for me were the mangled feet joke in the second episode. C- = must do better. ...

Oh La La! Goldfrapp at Guildhall

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Goldfrapp8 Originally uploaded by Ginger DJ . Went to see Goldfrapp at the Southampton Guildhall last night. Phoned earlier in the day to find out when they would appear on stage and avoid any ropey support as well as having to stand about making small talk. Drinks were scandalously high priced. Saw the tail-end of some folky-durge band who seemed to get everyone in a bad mood then went to find a decent place to stand whilst those thirsty people went to spend their taxi fares on more booze. Goldfrapp came on at 9:20pm each carrying a big flashlight though it wasn't really that dark. Alison came on last with a quite ordinary black outfit covered with a shocking pink, pleated cape with sleeves. The crowd warmed to their entrance with what seemed a couple of people clapping. I guess they were still pissed off at the support. A few tracks in, the Nun loving vocalist even mentioned it was quiet out there. Shame on you Southampton - either get drunk quicker, take more drugs or get camper...

Bad day for toilets

Started the day in a bad mood after last night's karate lesson. Carman, who normally takes the class, decided to be ill leaving me to organise a lesson plan. Being a sempai (teacher's assistant) has its pitfalls even though I don't have to pay. A couple of things pissed me off about the class. First, the short notice to do the lesson plus my crap confidence in teaching. Secondly, another sempai interupting me whilst I try giving out directions. This got to a point when I lost my rag and told him to stop pissing me off and shut up under hushed breath. I'm not quite sure the class heard me but about two parents of karate students standing right near us did. Felt crap afterwards but must have done the trick as he admitted giving it verbal and bought me a drink afterwards. Back to today, as well as trying to cheer myself up reminding myself what I've got to look forward to ( Goldfrapp this Thursday, Mighty Boosh next week and New York in April), I took a weird pleasur...