Keep the snack bar open.

Yeah, I know there's a whole heap of blogs out there in blogland but no matter how many you read there's only a few that you read regularly and, of those, fewer still that get linked.

Some of you will know where I'm going with this.

Get your little blogging fingers over to a non-stop cavalcade of fun - hell, if you've big stubby evil fingers shaped like pork sausages get those typing over there too.

For some bizarre reason the one known as Retarius is liable, at any moment, to close the shutters and drive the van away. Go and shake him by the hand (read him), engage in idle chit-chat (post comments) and otherwise convince him to keep writing (er, get him to keep writing).

For the three of you yet to visit there just imagine a mix of fiction, poetry, book reviews, comment and the like BUT all coming from about 17% across from where you'd normally expect it. The disjointed titles are worth the (free) entry alone.

Go now, shoo - off you go and work your magic..........

(....then come back)

Cool cat has paws for thought.......

My blog has been given Shades paw of approval - has yours ?

See the moment over here.

Down in the hood (with fries please)

McDonalds have announced that they are sponsoring rap artists to use the phrase “Big Mac” in their songs and, for each time they do, they’ll receive the equivalent of £2.80 a use. “We’re letting them creatively bring to life the product in their song” said a spokesman in a rather badly worded statement.

Hmmm.

This brings a few things to mind:-

1) For pities sake don’t encourage more people to rap.

2) Any rapper willing to soil themselves for so little money is probably beneath contempt already.

3) Just how many things CAN you rhyme ‘Big Mac’ with in a rap lyric ? “Gun attack” ??

4) Do I get £5.60 for this blog then ? Seem's only fair as I’ve used ‘Big Mac’ twice. Oops, strike three - that’s another £2.80 right there.

5) Have the Golden Arses, sorry, arches sunk so low now as to have to pay people to mention them at all ?

Terrible, really.

Wild Porsches wouldn't drag sponsors names from my (minty) mouth (wash).

Kiss Kiss. Honk Honk.

I'd love to know where random ideas come from.

Some songwriters have described lyrics as being all around them and it's just a case of grabbing a good one as it flies by. Other writers say that good ideas are worked at through blood, sweat and tears.

I seem to have them queuing to get in, though I fear quality control may have something to say abouit their suitability to enter the Towers pages.

From nowhere this morning I decided that the sound of a lone gunshot is really passe and cliched these days. TV docu-drama's, American mini-series or sprawling war/crime/ganster movies - they're all as guilty as the rest.

You know the scene - gun raised, world falls silent, single shot, reverb around location, cut away.

Well, in order to bring people back to enjoying this fine setup I propose replacing the gunshot sound with that of the horn from a clowns car. Simple. Effective. Still grabs the attention but puts a grin on your face.

Imagine your favourite bullet-bound moment in film history. Picture the close-up of the finger squeezing the trigger oh-so-gently before.....

HONK-HONK

See ?

You're smiling already, aren't you ?

Next time I'll be theorising over replacing Bond-level explosions with the sound of party-poppers.

(not so) Sharp Dressed (old) (guitar) Man.....

Just watching the 45 minute DVD that comes with the latest Queens Of The Stone Age album "Lullabies To Paralyze" - there's an interview and a video, but mostly a 'making of' filmed in the studio for the sessions recording the album itself.

Guesting, amongst others, is Billy Gibbons - one time guitar-twirling, beard-raising sharp dressed man from ZZ Top.

Shit, does the guy look old now. I mean, the beard always added a year or five but he's there doing some backing vocals etc and hanging out and he's got this green woolley hat on, slightly hunched like Gandalfs older brother. He's still got "The Cool" (tm) and effortlessly drops into press photo poses that would simply look trite if done by other band members but, sheesh, thinking how he looked when I saw the ZZ Top vids first time round, and seeing him now.....

{shakes head}

It's making me feel damn ancient.

The thing with appearances though....when he picks up a guitar to throw down some scorching leads for one of the tracks - wow. He's still on fire like the old days. 55 years old (going on 400) and firing hard on all rock-fuelled cylinders at 4am in the studio - now that IS cool.

Jack Black stamps on the floor to provide some rhythm for one track. He has a beard too but, well, he really isn't any competition.

;O)

Business in graphical form.

Today, just a picture.

I decided to model how I was feeling whilst rushing round using Easter to get a few chores done that I've been putting off for a while. Having got no modelling clay, pastel crayons or easel I thought I'd use the 'puter - so here it is:-




Have you ever felt like this ? ;o)

Really virtually real.

I'll keep it simple and short tonight. My brain is deciding to malfunction a little and, as a result, I'm fighting off a headache.

To show I'm nothing but fair I'll leave you with enough info to give you one too. See, caring and sharing as ever.

If you've ever been interested in computer graphics, film special effects, simulation of the real world, light or making things photorealistic, then this is for you.

I'd especially advise to start with the "Fiat Lux" film simply because it's quite extraordinary and one of the things that kept my interest in computer graphics in the first place. It's worth the large download if you can - I'm sure it'll make an impact.

There's lots of fascinating stuff scattered in, and outwards from, here:-

Paul Debevec Home Page

Suitably inspired, here's my messing with HDRI (read the site, you'll see) - the same object lit purely by it's surroundings and with no other fake lighting. All made on my lovely black PC. Note the way the same object takes on the effect of the colour, angle and intensity of the surroundings.


Courtyard attempt.



Outdoor closeup.



St Peters version.



Final version.

Yeah, it's geeky, that I'll grant you, but I bet you've seen a film where this sort of thing has been used......

I get Easter mice, not bunnies.

I'm running out of chocolate raisins and can't think of mouse names for those little critters they help catch.

I added one more to the list today and I'm therefore going to have to just call it 'Bob'. I think I'm going to have to find their entrance, rather than just cause their exit, don't you ?

{sigh}

Woks cooking, Carpy ?

Isn't it funny how you learn really obvious things at the most unexpected moments.

For a change, partly because I know that I've been becoming lazy in this respect recently, I decided to buy some ingredients and try my hand at cooking a rough approximation of a nice Rogan Josh curry.

I used to cook a lot for myself though it's very easy to get out of the habit. Much against the type I find myself cast, I really enjoy standing over a wok and watching colours change and flavours mix. Look, I realise that you can't see them mix - it's a phrase, ok ?

It's actually very theraputic after a day at work to simply be concentrating on that one thing. Not to be dragged away by a phone or a fax but to be able to just let the heat melt away the remnants of the hours before. I'll be honest, even the chopping of things like peppers, onions or the like can be quite enjoyed for that zen like concentration on a single simple act.

Now, in order to preserve my modesty in these matters, I have to admit that I'm not a great cook. I'm ok, don't get me wrong, but I'm no chef. My moments of culinary invention do come round from time to time, including my current favourite Salt & Pepper Chilli Crayfish Tails. See how foodie I can be - I even gave them capital letters. ;o)

So, anyway, I digress a little.

Stood there tonight, ushering in the four day Easter break from work, just in the mood for making something. Out of the fridge came some small cubes of steak, some spring onions, yellow peppers, some base curry sauce and some extra Indian spices, fresh black pepper and even some sea salt.

Things got chopped, fried, softened, infused and otherwise altered around in a reasonably controlled manner, sauce added and the lid put on. Some 25mins later, in a sweltering kitchen, I'm there.

"Ok, Carpy", I hear you plead, "enough of the Delia Smith nonsense - what's the lesson ?"

Ah, I was coming to that.

The sauce was a little hotter than expected, the steak (as it turns out) was about as good as I paid for (a little tough) but otherwise it was ok for a first go. Realistically though it was dearer than buying a takeaway and nowhere near as good BUT this is where the lesson comes in.

Even having said that, I actually enjoyed it more - for all the faults with it on this first go it was the faults I'd put into it.

So next time you try something - writing, painting, cooking or whatever - and it turns out not quite how you hoped, just remember that this is at least something you've done and, as such, has something distinctly you about it.

Whilst I'm being all mystical and hippie-like there is one other thing - what's the "yang" for this "ying", for there must of course be one.

Well, that's sitting waiting to be washed up - you don't have that hassle with a takeaway.

Long rant about small words.

Maybe it's just because I'm a little tired this morning. Possibly it's just my usual lop-sided take on things. Either way it's bugging me so I'm going to have a little mini-rant about it.

Actually, you're most likely going to think I've lost it completely. "There's that Carpy again, rambling on about nothing in particular", I can hear you thinking. Hell, you're right, I'm the first to admit it.

It's the little things that bug you though. Not at the time, or the third or fourth occasion. When you've been spotting a trend for something over a number of years it really burrows home - chinese water torture "drip...drip....drip..." style.

So, what is this thing winding me up today ?

Two little words, hiding away on nearly every product label you'll see:-

"Serving Suggestion"

For two small unassuming words they're pretty insulting when you think about it. As you can tell, I have thought about it. Probably far too much.

Take something as simple as soup. Just normal Tomato soup, for example. They show it put in a bowl and underneath put, in tiny letters, "serving suggestion".

It's just as well, isn't it. After all, it saves me from trying to eat the soup out of a wooden basket or maybe a small slipper. I see the label and am intended to go "Ah, a bowl ! That's what I should have been using all along !!"

As a second bonus it saves me seeing the bowl on the front and then being let down when there's no bowl in my can of soup. I've obviously not got the brain power to realise that it wouldn't fit without having it pointed out that it's just an illustration.

To be fair, that latter one has caught me out many times. No roast dinners in my gravy granules jar, no cheese and salad filling in my loaf of bread and especially no large portion of curry hidden under my sachet of rice. If I'd realised all along that these were just made up pictures I'd have saved myself time hunting.

Yes, I was being sarcastic, albeit with a sigh in my voice.

The thing this leads to though is why they ever had to put it one there in the first place ?

I'm sure that, as with many things, small print is only put on because there's a legal need to. Which, in turn, means that at some point a poor unsuspecting company has been taken to caught as somebody has, in their infinite wisdom, sought to complain at a legal level that their packet of parsely sauce didn't contain a large succulent cod.

The final straw that broke the back of this niggle-laden Carpathian was this whole thing taken to the n'th degree on the side of a loaf of bread.

There, on the side of the loaf wrapper, sat a picture of a bowl of salad. Just a bowl of salad.

Underneath were written the tiny words:-

"Serving Suggestion. Just add bread"

You'll understand.....maybe.

Would've posted something exciting this evening but had fun in a hovercraft on the way to Black Mesa. Ended up playing "ball" with "dog".

Alyx is cute - she's so her fathers daughter. Almost forgot about the Combine for a short time.....

Still puzzled ?

How about something with a little less spam ?

Dear Spam email senders,

Just a quick note to let you know that your standards are slipping and you've obviously begun to sit on your laurels. It used to be tough to spot one of your little gifts in my inbox but now, well, you're just being silly.

Thanks in advance,

Carpathian


My reason for this rather pointed pretend letter ?

I've received two spam emails this morning and they're addressed as if they've come from:-

Marshmallows V. Sufism

Paisleys E. Psychoanalyzes

I mean, it's just plain lazy if you're trying to pretend they're from real live people, isn't it. The only people with names like that would be either rock stars or hippie drop-outs and I can't see it being either of them. Maybe I'm wrong - it would be very cool to be introduced as "Mr Psychoanalyzes".

Standards eh ? Awful to see sectors of industry becoming so complacement ;o)

Around the world in 80 clicks.

Having recently got myself a shiny (well, ok, it's matt black) PC I've been realising that my view on the speed and stability of broadband was a little wrong. It seems, from recent results, that my old PC was simply too slow to decode the sheer amount of info flowing at it - and here was me thinking that the quality I was, or to some extent wasn't, getting had been purely down to my router or ISP.

So, with this new found power I thought I'd revisit something I'd tried without success before - streaming internet TV stations.

Over the last 20mins I've crooned along to Mexican music channel VideoRola, been seeing the headlines on South Africa's SABC news and even being whisked to far-flung shores on JAL-TV, Japan Airlines TV channel !

If you fancy seeing what's on then two good starting points are Smart Streams or wwiTV

UPDATE:
If you fancy something a little different then try SpecialRadio, an alternative/punk/metal/goth/industrial/weird stuff TV channel from the Russian Federation - I've had it on for the last hour and it's certainly, erm, different in a good way...you'll find it over HERE

Round, shiny and really, REALLY loud......

Ok - 98% of you just won't get this, and another 1% will...but hate it... but I guess that's the joy of doing a blog. Sometimes it's nice to be direct, serious and change the world - person by person. Other times it's nice to just be uber personal and write stuff for yourself.

This is the latter, and then some.

Got the new Strapping Young Lad album "Alien" this morning and I'm currently restraining myself from running round the room like a lunatic with it blaring out of the speakers. The neighbours downstairs (hell, half the street) must be hating the noise coming from here right now.

You must all know how much music means to me and this is one of the bands featuring Devin Townsend, the Canadian maniac who is the zenith of what makes me tick sonically. Ha, I used 'zenith' in a post - god, I'm becoming so pretentious !

Ain't that just bloody great though ?

I'm 37 years old and insanely loud, ludicrus slabs of metal music STILL really get to me. That magic moment when a new album plays is, even in this day of leaked MP3's and the like, still just the biggest buzz ever.

Lucretia, you'll know the feeling when Al's last platter hit the shelves, yeah ? That's where I am right now - only at twice the noise and triple the bpm.

For those of you more than a little puzzled (ie virtually all of you) about this random act of music-related praise go and see the Strapping site or the Devin Townsend site, or just go a little crazy in your own way to this track - shitstorm - from the album.

You'll all be thanking me tomorrow - or deaf, obviously ;o)

When words go wild.......

As ever, like somebody who's taxi has delivered them late to a party, I feel I've chanced upon something that everybody knew about already.

The new (or, for all I know, ancient) art of BookCrossing

Simply put, you read a book, like the book, mark the book up with an i.d. and....just leave it to be found.

The finder then reads it, logs where they leave it (if they play along) and this continues with people chancing upon books that hopefully pleasantly surprise them. Kind of a cross between a free book shop and an easter egg hunt.

This idea I like and, if I can be bothered (hey, I'm being realistic), I'll be digging a few out to "release into the wild".

There are also hints as to where they've been released so check **here** to see if one is liable to be near you......

If a picture paints a thousand turds......

First annual CarpathianTowers award for journalistic creativity in the field of reviewing.

Awarded to John Doran for this choice nugget during his 0 out of 10 review of an album by "I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody's Business":-


"...they're probably under the delusion that what they are doing is some sort of crazy unplugged emo that metallers can listen to when they want something mellow. Well, they can fuck right off, frankly; we didn't wear Extreme or Mr Big at the time - we certainly aren't going to settle for this steaming bowl of runny bum gravy."

Make no bones about it: This is a sleeper.......

Went to see The Machinist last along with Ray and the Natural Brunette.

As we walked out of the cinema we seemed to be mixed between having really enjoyed it and needing a think about it. Judging by Ray's blog this morning I guess he's come down on the side of 'thumbs up'. Myself, well I'm easily pleased (as documented far too many times on this blog) and was quietly chuffed with it. Having slept on it overnight I've come to the conclusion that it was actually rather good indeed.

As ever with these things I'm struggling to decide how much to actually say about the content of it, due to spoilers being damn annoying if you've yet to see the film. I think this is one case where if you see the storyline coming or hear things about the twist(s) then you'll still enjoy this.

It's probably safe to say (mainly because it's pretty much on anything you read for this) that Christian Bale plays Trevor Reznik, a man seemingly unable to sleep. Why he finds it impossible to, and what the people around him have to do with this is the simple premise to the film itself.

The storyline, in a strange way, seems almost secondary to this Carpathian. To paraphrase a relevant lyric, it's not what they do but the way that they do it.

I don't think I blinked through the 90mins of the film - that's how it felt anyway. Bale is outstanding and owns every scene he's in, which amounts to most of the running time. He's painfully thin yet seems the only person either side of the screen who isn't phased by this. When I say thin, I mean rib-showing, bone-defining thin. I've seen people suffer for their art but this isn't only the zenith of that so far but also a wonderful use towards really building a character you can believe in.

The film is slow, though deliberately so. Pans, tracks, shots held - all bring you into traverse world and trap you in there with him. You find yourself spotting the small details like grimy hand-cleaner dispensers of bleach bottle labels, things you'd miss at the sort of pace everyday life would have you see them.

Aside from one or two items (which, when realised, ring true of a certain other films twist clues) the palette is almost entirely washed out and subdued, bathed in greys and blues, almost faded with age.

Fincher comes to mind in this, to an extent, and also in the style of some of the supporting characters. Of these Jennifer Jason Leigh plays it from just three acting cue-cards: "Breasts", "Grunge" and "Surpressed indignance". Not amazing but she helps Bale shine all the more by contrast so no bad thing.

Don't go looking for "The Big Ending" (tm) or being the next Mr Original, complete with surprising clothes, and enjoy this for what it is. A story of one man and his journey, where the journey is more important than the destination.

Ironically, this has sleeper written all over it.........

Making a (ro)dent in my sleeping patterns.

I guess it had to happen sometime.

I really don't know whether it was down to drinking Absinthe on a fairly empty stomach, the Ghoul Detail tracks I was listening too or maybe just having had a long day at work. Which ever the reason was, I know one thing for certain:

The dream I had last night scared the living daylights out of me.

I remember 'waking' (if, indeed, I did) with a sense of confusion at a noise somewhere nearby but couldn't get a grasp on what it was. A sort of beeping, like a distant fire or burglar alarm, but all over the place note wise. As I concentrated on it I realised it was actually in my room and even lent over to see if my clock radio had come on for some reason - nope, nothing doing that end. The noise got louder and seemed closer, almost around me but with no obvious source. Bloody scary.

Then, as quickly as it had started it stopped again. I wish at that point I'd realised it wasn't the worst bit.

I recall going to the kitchen at that point though I can tell in the morning that I hadn't got up. I opened the cupboard door to get something - just something, no real thought what - and there in front of me was a very large rat. Caught in the mousetraps I have in there it just sat there and looked at me before baring it's teeth.

I slammed the door of the cupboard at that point and I'm sure the bang it made in my head is what woke me up for real. 3:30am and I'm freaked.

How scary was it ?

Well, it must have taken about a minute before I got the courage up to open the kitchen cupboard door this morning and, of course, there were just three empty traps in there - just as there most obviously had been all night.

I don't normally have nightmares of any sort - in fact I couldn't think when the last I had was at all. It may even be back as far as my childhood days. I dream, very often in fact, but never anything like this. It was so vivid that I can still see the rodent in my head if I think of it now - even the strands of fur and the eyes looking back at me.

This was not a good night at the Towers.

Ten Miles Beyond The City: The Challenge

Oh, come on, as if I could resist a writing challenge on a blog.

Saw the "15min challenge" over at Ten Miles Beyond The City and the picture was so strange, so puzzling, that I was hooked from the off.

So, in some 14min and 50secs, I put this together and was surprised at the outcome. Ok, so the photo led itself to something dark and ambiguous, but it was unexpected for it to turn into something like this. Maybe the 15min limit forces a distillation of sorts ?

Either way it was quite enjoyable and when the entries die down over there I may well start one over here.



What do I say, when he returns ?

Do I open my mouth to speak and hear my silence break the air or allow the words to fall free yet be ignored as if muted.

Do I listen for the slightest sound, the slightest giveaway ? Do I make noise and block out the real world.

She sits there, by my side, blindly trusting whilst I sit here the same yet different. We both rely on those we love.

I can feel the air on my legs. Though I can't see my skin I can map every inch of it as the draught passes over it. It reminds me I'm alive.

The ties hold me, loving me with the embrace of an unconditional love. Not too tight but there, always there. Even when I'm elsewhere in my head they are still there, faithful in their task.

When he returns I'll love him.

As the hood is removed I'll see him focus in my sight, see him form into the figure I already know by inch.

For he trusts me enough to go with me, to slide the hood and leave me, no question as to why.

One day he'll realise why I do this, why I allow my mind to run unhindered.

On that day he'll sit and take the blindfold in turn, and he will love me all the more.

Who'd have thought it......

Running about, witty one-liners, moments of drama and aliens that always seem a bit rubbish...

Yes, Dr Who is well and truly back.

I'm not a crazed fan, before you wonder. I loved it as a child - some would say the required age so as to be able to suspend cynicism and allow belief to carry the story through. I've no long scarf or cardboard cutouts, no posters or old DVD's - but when it's mentioned my ears still perk up to listen. Growing up at the right age it was required viewing and somehow avoided the geek tag it would have had if it had started now.

I'll grant you that it may mean a lot less to you if you are younger than a certain age or if you live somewhere that never picked up on it back in it's prime. Recent incarnations of the Timelords adventures were, by pretty overwhelming agreement, a nice attempt but little more than that. All the pieces but not assembled in the right order. A pastiche of a copy of a version.

This time, based on the first of the 13 episode new run, it's got it nailed back to the days of being a kid and a Dr Who mattering to those who hid behind the sofa when the cybermen, daleks or whatever came on.

It's not Shakespeare, there's holes in the plot the size of the inside of the Tardis, some of the music jars a little but, underneath it all, there's the same heart that classic Who had but with recent fat trimmed out to leave a 'just the meat' 45min run. Too short to allow filler, long enough to fit enough in.

Prime reason I've just really enjoyed watching the leaked first episode (some couple of weeks or so before launch) is for the truly inspired casting of Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor.



He has that air of fun, that ability to really know what he's in and to play to it's strengths. He's a great deliverer of a one-liner (even a groan inducing one) and can still turn out a serious line for full effect when needed. Let's face it, in a first episode featuring living plastic in the form of shop dummies with built-in shotguns and wheelie bins that kill you, an actor could flounder so badly if played with the wrong feeling. Stand there delivering lines like Apocalyse Now and you're going to look very silly indeed.

Billie Piper (yes, that pop muppet of years gone by) seems like she may just be shaking her past off nicely. Again, it's only on the back of one episode, but she seems to be a good foil for Eccleston's northern quips and total lack of empathy for "the backward apes" on earth - she's strong, from the 'sarf' of London and seemingly able to actually help things rather than just fall over and/or out of her dress. Maybe her recent well received work in the TV adaptation of a modern day 'Canterbury Tales' was no one-off - bigger shocks have happened, I guess.



If the Beeb can get this right it may well bring the series back into the current age with a subtle nod or two back at it's creaky past. By all reports, some of the other stories in this run are by turns sillier and darker - again something classic Who had.

You may laugh at the note of excitment in my voice but I make no bones about it - I'm glad they seem to have got this back on track. This is now series 27 (yes, that's twenty seven !) and it's a nice thought that a second wind can occur this far down the line.

I'm 37 years old and if it can make me feel like a kid of 8 for around an hour on a cold and rather dull Sunday afternoon then I'm all for it. I'm off to have some fun with my one piece of merchandise - the almost blog-famous foot tall Dalek.

Reading this back before posting it puts one thought in my head.

I can say "enjoy" and "Dr Who" in the same sentence without a single note of irony or sarcasm and that in itself should be applauded.

The Snooze Headlines.

It's surprising where a day or two can go when you're not paying attention.

I've just realised that, for the first time since starting this blog, I've missed a day. The thing is though that I've got mixed feelings on this.

On one hand it's a shame to break the habit having found something to post about at least once every 24 hours - it's kept a nice even flow to things and provided some form of continuity.

The other side of things, and the one I'm liable to come down on, is that in a way I'm glad to have missed one - at least now any pressure to keep posting and to keep the run up has now passed. I'll almost certainly liable to keep blogging virtually every day (sometimes more than once if the day warrants it) but if a slow, boring day does now rear it's head I'll not feel the pressure to have to blog.

I've really had nothing to post about that's outside of the ordinary - though I realise they're sometimes the interesting things. After all, if I can get comments on my kitchen taps or my hat from you on here then maybe the small things have a place too ?

"So what have you been doing then, Carpy ?", I hear you ask.

I'm glad you ask at times like this - it gives me a chance to ramble on. You'll learn one day and remember not to ask.

On the geeky front I've been updating the drivers for my video card (second time in the three days I've had it !), installing and testing a new DVD-RW drive (+/- and dual layer formats), grabbing a new anti-virus client, messing with the new Half Life 2 demo, playing against Moooosey and co online on the Xbox....you know, just normal average day to day rubbish.

Aside from this there's been cup football on the telly, a copy of the first episode of the Christopher Ecclestone Dr Who to watch and finally watching the third Harry Potter movie (don't laugh, I've seen the first two so thought I'd give it a shot)....again, nothing earth shattering but it all takes time.

There, that's me caught up for now, I feel better that I've posted and I can now settle into frittering away the rest of my Sunday before the cycle starts again for another week.

It's an exciting life..... ;o)

It's a bouncing baby.........bit.

Had the very pleasant surprise of my new black arrivals bionic sight transplant arriving some 4 days early.

Took him apart and fitted the new aid, carefully ensuring that he didn't reject it and, after a couple of very dicey hours with no sight at all, the operation has now been declared a complete success.

He can watch videos faster and clearer and his ability to play Halflife 2 has gone from a jerky mess to a smooth and scarily pleasurable experience.

I'm sure some of his other limbs have also perked up now that he's not bumping into things and the panic I felt without life on the monitor during the op proved very worthwhile.

Confused ?

Shows you don't read regularly then ;o)

At least Lucretia will understand - she's had a casualty in the same vein so my thoughts are with her.........

Sadako novel sequel finally hair ....

Some good news on the book front this morning.

Koji Suzuki, writer of the original “Ring” (or, for those pedants among you, ”Ringu”), has finally released an English language translation into the world of the second part of the trilogy – “Spiral”. The final part, “Loop”, is also out later this year.

It’s easy to forget after the original film, the sequel, the prequel AND the two Hollywood remakes, that this is the first real sequel to the original story.

Picking up exactly where the first film left off, the horror of Sadako’s curse and the death count from it starts to spiral (sorry, couldn’t resist it) out of control. Some clues as to the reasons are slowly revealed and a clearer look back at the happenings in the first story starts to make itself known.

Interestingly, it also features a somewhat ironic nugget in that it mentions the real book and film of the first story, suggesting that those who’ve seen it may be in trouble. Seems the postmodern, self-referential western horror style are filtering back over to Asia - cross pollenation of sorts.

Consider me pushing this as my next main read.

When Boring Days Attack.......

I'm sure I've used the phrase "Be careful what you wish for" in here, but if I haven't then now would be the time to start.

Whilst walking home from work today I was wondering what to blog about. It's been a pretty nondescript day and apart from the usual hilarious banter (well, you know what I mean) there really hasn't been much to write about.

Reached the Metro station to find a crowd of people outside looking a bit fed-up and a Metro employee waving people back if they got within a short range of the entrance. Turns out there's been a fire in one of the tunnels. Not the best thing to hear when you're about to try and use the damn thing.

After shuffling my feet side-to-side for 47 times (no, I didn't count but that's how tedious it was) we were told that although the Metro wouldn't be stopping at that station they were now able to pass through and, if we caught a bus from the terminus next door, we could get a train from a station either side and carry on the journey.

Wandered over to the bus station and was scanning the signs to try and work out where on earth to stand and we were then shuffled out of there too as "there was a fire alert in place still". Not the best coordination between the services but, more by luck than judgment, managed to find the right place.

Stood there, exchanging random meaningless chat with the other people forced to find another way home, in the way that only the English can. Deep, meaningful fluff. After about 15mins noticed that people were starting to just walk through the inside of the terminus without being stopped so made a break for it, just in case.

Yep, there were people wandering into the Metro quite happily and not a fireman or Metro staff member to be seen. Jumped on a packed Metro (actually the third one to come as they were so full) and started the few stops home.

Found myself exchanging glances with a rather cute raven haired passenger. Stupidly beautiful eyes and some serious curves. Rather a pleasant diversion and more than unexpected. The odd glance I can put down to random chance but this was repeated and spontaneous on both sides. Just deciding whether to open my mouth and say something unadvised and stupid (let's be honest, that's how it would have turned out) and realised my stop had come round. First time I'd have killed for a longer journey home.

Wandered in, dropped off my jacket and went to put the shopping I'd got into the cupboard.

So, there it was, my third surprise of the day.

Mickey (or, at least, a close relation) has returned. Cold and dead, lying in a metal trap.

Some of you may remember around Christmas that Mickey, Minnie, Jerry, Pixie and Dixie had come to stay without first arranging boarding fees or some sort of agreed fee. I'd tried all sorts of non-lethal methods but in the end had to resort old wooden traps - not pleasant but unless you've had mice in your house you really won't realise how it affects the way you view your place.

Every slight move of something or the tiniest noise makes the senses go into overdrive, just in case, food gets moved, routines for which doors can be left open get messed around and small but vital other things which destroy ordinary life.

That's not to mention having to de-trap mouse corpses - a singularly unpleasant thing, and the next thing I'll have to do after posting this.

Tonight is now dedicated to retrapping in the kitchen, blocking under doors etc and ensuring bolt-holes etc are still sealed up. It's going to be a rather shite and uncertain few days again until I know if the rest of the family had come along as well.

So, dear blog readers, think twice before you wonder what to write about and hope that something comes along.

I did and was late home, left wondering what might have been AND invaded in my own home.

Maybe skipping a day's blog wouldn't have been so bad after all.........

Computer: tell me a story based on the current weather in Paris.

Sometimes, when watching a film set in the "future" it's hard to see the links from where we are now to that point - things always still seem to never be moving fast enough to reach that sort of imagined idea. This seems even less likely in the time frame people tend to adhere to.

Every so often, however, a few things surface in the relevant press that make you realise that we are heading the right way - probably more quickly than we realise. It's just that to the main populace the first known of it is when sales start to come into the equation and we'll hear of nothing but the new idea involved.

"Carpy, what sparked this little thought off ?", I hear you wonder.

Well, thanks for asking.

It's only a little acorn at the moment but it's easy to imagine the oak growing from it and the other mental seedlings it'll germinate in the minds of those bright souls that dictate, sorry aid, our day to day lives.

Of all things it's the craze for "desktop search engines", something that didn't really exist until a few months ago. The idea is to extend the internet style web search to include the documents on your own physical hard drive - your Word documents or IM transcripts etc.

That, in itself, is a clever idea - to be able to not only see if people out there know about a certain thing but also to remind yourself of where your previous files would point to that too. Simple but logical as an idea extension goes.

It's in a move from there that things get interesting.

A third-party developer is already creating a plug-in that, using speech-to-text technology, will allow the search agent to transcribe the content of audio and video files on your machine and make that searchable too, thus deepening the indexing capabilities of those files beyond the basic metadata attached to the multimedia file.

Just think of the far fetched ideas you've seen in films - the main actor wakes up and asks the house computer if there is anything interesting in the press about "Big Co Ltd" that day and it reels off snippets from papers, news broadcasts and the emails unopended from that morning on the persons own PC.

The point to this is that each strand from text indexing, speech recognition, artificial intelligence, the ability to understand speech in recorded form pulled direct from live sources and now the links between them are already falling into place.

Ok, I'll grant that something that you may see in Bladerunner or Minority Report isn't exactly going to appear in the chain store tomorrow but slowly, and quietly, it does seem to be on the way.

Personally, where my "future imagined in the past" interest lies is in the first real-world succesor to Willy Wonka.

Oh, and I won't need their flavour-changing chocolate to answer back either......

Everything but Pearl and Dean.

If you love films, have an eye for trying things outside the current and feel like putting your broadband to good use, you could do a lot worse than heading over to MovieFlix.com.

Ok, all the best stuff is on their 'Plus' side which, as ever in this world, entails a cost but that still leaves a big chunk of some 3000 items that you can view.

In amongst the adverts, trailers, cooking, animation etc are a good number of classic films from the 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's.

Sitting full screen in the corner of the room, inside that PC of yours, is a potential cinema of nostalgia and I'd heartily recommend you to sign up and have a look. Totally free and many hours of enjoyment.

A good place to start ?

Try Impact, a 1949 film noir - cracking stuff.

"What I am isn't important. WHY is important.": Words from an Oldboy.

Good grief.

What the fuck was that......?!

I've the horrible feeling that film is going to be in my head for quite a while.

Dark as fuck moments to make you squirm and that's really squirm too. Hand over mouth in uncertainty at what you just saw or the twist you've just been steamrollered by. While you're recoiling, you're hit by a beautiful pan or a wonderful piece of dialogue and you're thrown back into balance again.

You want an example ? After I've just said that ? Are you quite mad ?

Follow some great down-beat dialogue with an odd request. A request for something to eat. Combine that with a live baby squid. A real one. You work out the rest and you'll probably be right. All the more shocking when you realise that the actor is a vegetarian and had to film it three times.

It's a weird feel to it - almost like 60% Korean new-wave genius, 20% French art-house quirk and 20% Fincher-esque flair. I think thats why east and west alike seems to 'get' this and embrace it. It's got limbs in many camps but all equally at home.

The film ?

2003's Park Chan-Wook cinematic tour-de-force 'Oldboy'

The tagline for it is that 'After being kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years, Oh Dae-Su is released, only to find that he has to work out why, and find this out in 5 days - whether he does or not, one person will die either way'.

This really doesn't capture how it's going to grip you from the first minute and keep you until the end some 2 hours later. There are bits you'll be dying to find out and others you'll wish you hadn't.

Oh, and the twist is an absolute blinder - I never saw it coming in the slightest.

Watch this film if you get the chance....just don't say I didn't warn you.



(Oh and yes, Ray, I'll bring it in for you to borrow)

Barkeep, one more of those little drinkies please......

People kept mentioning drink last night and, as with many things, I caved in and ended up joining the virtual lock-in.

I remember starting to drink Absinthe at midnight and this morning I feel like 14 different people all fighting for one brain. Cavemen had it right when they once said "Ug".

That's a phrase I totally sympathise with at the moment......

The Carrots relations enjoy a drink too many ?

From TheRegister:-

Astronomers identify mysterious 'burper'

US astronomers reckon they may have identified a previously unknown type of space object after recording an unusual and potent burst of radio waves from the centre of our galaxy.

Scientists have nicknamed object GCRT J1745-3009 a "burper", Reuters reports. Lead boffin Scott Hyman explained: "An image of the Galactic center, made by collecting radio waves of about 1 meter (3 feet) in wavelength, revealed multiple bursts from the source during a seven-hour period from Sept. 30 to Oct. 1, 2002 - five bursts in fact, and repeating at remarkably constant intervals."
Click Here

The mystery object is estimated to lie between 300 and 24,000 light-years from Earth. Astronomers say GCRT J1745-3009 cannot be a pulsar, but could be a brown dwarf or magnetar - an "exotic star with an extremely powerful magnetic field". It was discovered following analysis of data collected by the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array radio telescope in New Mexico.



Hmmm......?



The Carrot tells us she has other colleagues out there, she enjoyed a drink last night due to the storms and this strange new intergalactic object is described as "exotic".

Methinks they're onto you, Lucretia.

Also, I loved the way that TheRegister couldn't get through a news story like this without using the word 'boffin'.....

;o)

Keeping things totally PC

Got my new PC last night.

{purring noise}

I've gone from a PII 450 to a P4 2.8 and whilst some of you may be saying "What, only a 2.8 ?" to me it's like some kind of voodoo and it's going to take my soul.

To quantify how much difference this is going to make at the Towers I tried rendering a 1024x768 mountain range on Terragen. Before, with all the settings pumped up to "stupidly ambitious", it would take in the region of a couple of hours.

Now it completed before I'd finished boiling the kettle.

I think I'm going to like this ;o)

Sharp as Flint, notes as it's Bond.

As much as I'm a huge fan of music and, if truth be told, an equally big supporter of all things gaming, I'm probably the first to admit that when soundtracks for games are conceived they're usually a case of 2 + 2 = 2

No, come back, don't be put off by the videogame mention so early in the post - as much as it's to do with that, the end result is so far removed as to really exist stupidly easily on it's own.

You have two distinct styles in general use.

One is to find lots of tracks that are currently "hip" (or "thigh" or whatever the in phrase is) and pile them together with no thought for melding any sort of aural experience together - it's messy and mass-market and that suits them fine.

The other is to get a "name" in to add a few touches to something pretty generic - then banking the project on people picking up on this and only afterwards realising the sound is far less of that person than they'd expected.

It seems though, if this one inventive swallow can be deemed a musical summer, that the time may be a-changing.

The start of April will see the release of Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory - a game with stealth, guns, gadgets and bad guys - you know the score on that front by now. If you love that sort of thing this is set to be a cracker and if not,well, you'll really not care.

I digress though. This is about the music.

Amon Tobin

Ahead of the game (as it turns out, a spot-on phrase in more ways than one) they're releasing Amon Tobin's Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory OST

To use a fairly standard ploy of mine, imagine the bastard offspring of David Holmes and Photek, with the swagger of Sabers of Paradise in their prime. If those references don't mean much to you and, due to the musical anorak I am, they probably won't then think of 50 minutes of prime suspense, rattling chases, ambient builds and twisted basslines. Some of the drum beats are speed-fuelled lunacy, yet somehow always never straying too far from moody atmosphere.

There are a good few readers of this motley Blog that would get a kick out of this I think - this would work on the slopes as much as in the city. No matter how enigmatic and cinematic it gets there's never a time that it doesn't still have you gripped by the lapels, threatening to get it's mate round.

Imagine Michael Caine as Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File, only with optic fibre spy camera or radio jamming cuban-heel. Think of Bond, but with him having a home studio he jams on whilst waiting for MoneyPenny to bring round the latest white labels.

Flint in a Ninja suit ? Probably.

This is some seriously sharp stuff and, as an instrumental album, probably one of the best I've heard in a long, long time for creating an atmosphere and holding it over it's entire length without being repetitive or losing the plot at some point.

As a videogame soundtrack it's a revelation.........

Still unsure ?

Try this review over at inthemix.com.au for a few more words than I'm managed.

Wording as she is wrote.

Ok, I gave in.

You've all been doing it and I'm just too nerdy when it comes to words to resist having a go as well. Does it count against me that some of the wrong word options actually made me chuckle out loud ? God, I'm almost ashamed of myself to admit that - what a girly swot.

I must have made some simple errors though - it's the only way to explain a higher 'Advanced' score than the 'Beginner' and 'Intermediate' ones !

Advanced

You scored 93% Beginner, 86% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 66% Expert!

You have an extremely good understanding of beginner, intermediate, and advanced level commonly confused English words, getting at least 75% of each of these three levels' questions correct. This is an exceptional score. Remember, these are commonly confused English words, which means most people don't use them properly. You got an extremely respectable score.

Curious ?? Try it yourself at:- The Commonly Confused Words Test

Perry, Perry good.

Just had an email from Suzi Perry, the BBC's motorbike presenter and CH5's Gadget Show queen - nice to see a fellow Wolves fan not afraid to show her colours.

That won't mean much to many of you so feel free to click the links in the line above. I'm very happy to receive it though, so that's all that matters. ;o)

Lists are a valid form of blog post device.

Right, as mentioned below I've just finished watching "The Top 100 Cartoons of All Time" and have now added the following information to my brain:-

Jamie used to play with his magic torch under the bedclothes.

A seagull in the animated film of "Watership Down" tells one of the rabbits to 'Piss Off'.

Kenny Everett did the voice for Charlie the cat in the "Charlie Says..." infotoons.

Dumbo is the only Disney movie where the lead character never speaks.

Herge dropped all anti-Nazi references from "The Adventures of Tintin" when the Nazi's invaded Belgium.

Aled Jones did not sing "Walking in the air" in The Snowman because he didn't have an agent.

"Seaman Staines" and "Master Bates" were never characters in Captain Pugwash.

Top Cat = Bilko, Dibble = The colonel.

Some of the scenes of woodland creatures and forest fire in Bambi are unused footage from Pinocchio.

Princess, from Japanese anime 'Battle of the Planets', used to flash her knickers.

Disney's 'Snow White' made $9million in 1937 and 8 minutes of the film is simply a sequence of the dwarves washing their faces.

Almost every line from the 'Meet the Beet-Alls' episode of The Powerpuff Girls is an original line from Beatles songs.

Agnes Poirier, a critic with French newspaper Liberation, is really rather sexy. (allow me one off-topic comment, ok ?)

Fantasia was the first feature film of ANY kind to use stereo sound.

Only 13 episodes of Bod were ever made but they were shown through most of the 1970's

Nancy 'Bart Simpson' Cartwright is also the voice of Rugrat Chucky.

Spongebob Squarepants has so far made $3billion in product sales alone.

When the Popeye cartoon began spinach became childrens third favourite food, behind ham and icecream.

Wilma Flintstone asks of Betty Rubble how their husbands always "manage to bollocks things up" (no, it's true, they showed the clip)

The 1957 Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Opera, Doc?" managed to compress all 14hrs of Wagners "Der Ring des Niberlungen" into 6 minutes and 32 seconds.

Mufasa's death in The Lion King is the only time Disney has had a character die on screen


...and yes, of course the Simpsons came top of the poll. Did you really have to ask ?



So, that's four hours well spent then.......

From drippy to Droopy.

Finally some progress on older stories here at the Towers.

For those of you who are regular readers (I know you exist, however much you deny it) you may recall I was having kitchen tap and central heating issues. These have both been fixed this morning and I can consign them to the 'done' pile. For once that pile seems higher than the 'to do' one. A strange feeling.

Just for a short time I thought just the opposite was going to be the case - Tony (plumbing/gas man) took one look at said taps and said "Oh, they're unusual - I've never seen any like that before".

Not a phrase to inspire confidence.

Actually, in case you were wondering:-



Anyway, now that and the boiler timer are fixed it's time for some caramel flavoured hot chocolate, I think. Warm mug in hand I'll then get back to watching the "Top 100 Cartoons of All Time".

Chance to finish the post I'm writing about odd or interesting information I'd never heard before watching it - surprisingly for a 'talking heads and clips' show it's actually rather watcheable.

Cartoons, though, are usually more interesting than real life - they don't have problems with their taps, for example.