Colbert on Obama’s Foreign Trip
Posted on July 22, 2008 - Filed Under American Politics, Funny, Media, Obama | Leave a Comment
\o/ He’s funny again! \o/
Eye See You
Posted on July 21, 2008 - Filed Under Personal | Leave a Comment
Batman Begins
Posted on July 21, 2008 - Filed Under Film | 5 Comments
I saw this film earlier tonight on Sky One, and I swear it will be the last time I ever try to watch a movie on that channel. The ad-breaks are about 10 minutes long, and just when you think that you’ve seen the last idiotic commercial for their dreadful programming, along comes an advert for Weetabix, followed by more dreary ads.
Anyhow, I found the movie itself quite disappointing. I tend to dislike superhero films in general, but I had moderately high hopes for this one, given all the hype surrounding its sequel, and because I think Christian Bale is a rather good actor. Nevertheless, it wasn’t altogether bad, and I think that it’s at least better than any other superhero film I’ve seen (unless you count Robocop as a superhero).
The main problem with the film (and this is pretty obvious when watching it for the first time and on the verge of its sequel’s release) is that it spends a very long time establishing the foundations of the Batman story. This is all necessary, of course, but by the time that the films has explained how an orphaned billionaire has become a man who fight crime by night in a Batsuit then there is not much time left to craft a very meaningful plot for the film itself. This results in a rather weak and hurried story in which Batman lacks a strong antagonist, since neither Liam Neeson nor Cillian Murphy’s characters are sufficiently developed (although Murphy does manage to turn in a delightfully deranged performance in the limited time afforded to him).
While Batman Begins is only a middling film, there is good reason to hope that the sequel, unencumbered by the necessity of constructing an entire back-story, will be better. However, on the basis of this film, with its clumsily shot fight scenes, trite dialogue and dull, instantly forgettable set-pieces, I’m not terribly optimistic. Heath Ledger’s Joker better be as good as people claim…
Help Me Video
Posted on July 20, 2008 - Filed Under Music | 1 Comment
I posted this a while ago, but the YouTube clip was subsequently taken down. It’s getting harder and harder to find embeddable music videos on the site, which makes it harder to promote bands that you like, and so I don’t see how this policy of disabling embeds benefits the music industry in anyway.
Guitar Buying
Posted on July 18, 2008 - Filed Under Music | 1 Comment
Is it foolish to buy a guitar online, especially if it’s an Epiphone, since their guitars can be a little hit and miss? I want to play heavy, detuned stuff more often, but my Strat can really handle lower tunings because of how it’s set up at present, and anyway Strats aren’t really metal guitars, so I’m thinking of getting a cheap enough Goth Les Paul and having it adjusted so it’s set up for playing about two steps down from standard tuning. They’re available online for less than $300.
More BFMV
Posted on July 18, 2008 - Filed Under Music | Leave a Comment
They don’t sound like an emo band to me…
(If there are ads attached to this video, then you are doing it wrong and must not have Adblock Plus for Firefox. Google it.)
Traitorous Hleb Jumps Ship
Posted on July 17, 2008 - Filed Under Football | Leave a Comment
Alexander Hleb has left Arsenal for Barcelona for £11.8 million. At 27, this makes him the best bargain for years in my estimation. Barcelona clearly think more of him than Arsenal did, since his buy-out clause has been set at over £70 million. While it’s true that he wanted to leave, surely Arsenal could have got more money for a player of his calibre.
Hleb’s departure leaves the Arsenal midfield in tatters, given that Flamini has already left for AC Milan on a bosman (a free transfer enabled by a player’s contract expiring with his club). There will still be hope for the team as long as Cesc Fabregas remains at the club, but him and Rosicky are pretty much the only decent midfielders now left in the side. Eboué is a constant disaster and liable to get sent off every second game, Diaby is promising but Wenger doesn’t seem prepared to play him in most games, Nasri is untested in a major league, and Denilson is still probably too young for a regular position in the first team.
Given the club’s notorious reluctance to spend money on highly-rated experienced players, I have no idea how Wenger plans to fix this problem before the season begins. Fabregas may be outstanding, but he can’t do everything by himself. Hopefully AC Milan will follow through on their bizarre interest in Emmanuel Adebayor and pay something like £20 million for him, even though that’s more than twice what I think he’s worth. Then the club can try and bring in somebody decent to bolster their midfield, which already looked shaky last season, before half of it left the club.
£11.8 million… Jesus Christ. That’s robbery. Whatever knave left him go for that price ought to be strung up…
Hezbollah-Israel Prisoner Swap
Posted on July 17, 2008 - Filed Under International Politics | Leave a Comment
Long-time readers will know that I tend to be rather critical of Israel’s interactions with its neighbours, especially the Palestinians (who, I know, are not technically neighbours, since they don’t have a proper state of their own at present), but I really feel sorry for Israel on this matter. Five live prisoners for two dead soldiers is not a fair exchange, especially when one of the prisoners, Samir Qantar, is the unrepentant murderer of a 4 year old girl. Shame on Hezbollah supporters for celebrating this swine’s release. Five dead bodies for two dead soldiers would have been a fairer deal…
Acoustic Versions
Posted on July 16, 2008 - Filed Under Music | 1 Comment
Why is it that I nearly always prefer acoustic versions of songs I like, even though I generally hate ’singer-songwriter’ type acoustic music? It makes no sense…
Bullet For My Valentine
Posted on July 14, 2008 - Filed Under Music | Leave a Comment
I usually hate metal, but this band are really good. Plus, when I play their music in my car on high volume the whole car shakes along with the drums, which is pretty cool.
The song is called ‘Hearts Burst Into Fire’.
Too Much Blood in my Alcohol
Posted on July 13, 2008 - Filed Under Life-In-General | Leave a Comment
If anybody has some information on how my night was, don’t hesitate to share with me…
Allies Sought
Posted on July 11, 2008 - Filed Under Career, Travel | 5 Comments
I plan to drive to Galway on Monday evening in order to hand in some college documents to the CAO on Tuesday, which is the last day they will accept them. If anyone wants to accompany me on this trip then they are more than welcome.
Update: Change of plan. I had decided instead to drive up early on Tuesday morning, but then I bought a road map and decided against it. Now I think I’ll take an early train. Does anybody want to join me?
Rabbit Killings in Germany
Posted on July 9, 2008 - Filed Under Animals | 1 Comment
“I looked inside and saw Rocco just lying there. His head was missing. A little later I found Felina in the bushes. She’d been killed, too. I just cannot understand why.”
Rocco and Felina are among the 30 pet rabbits killed in the towns of Witten and Dortmund since last summer.
Many of the rabbits have been decapitated and the blood drained from their bodies.
What kind of sick fuck gets his kicks from killing rabbits, especially caged rabbits? I don’t know if it’s a crime to kill rabbits in Germany, but presumably this case falls under animal cruelty statues, so hopefully they’ll catch this loon and put him away for a while. It’s a good thing I don’t have to worry about Samwise and Beamish, my own pets, fallen victim to such sadism, since they’re more than capable of defending themselves (Sam’s breed was formerly used for hunting lions, and Beamish looks more like a black bear than a dog).
I Love Plants
Posted on July 9, 2008 - Filed Under Environment/Conservation | 2 Comments
It occurred to me today that I really like plants. Not only do they provide me with 99.999% of everything I eat (fungi making up the rest), but I also like looking at them, tending to them and planting them. There’s something altogether relaxing about their nature. So while I’m not going to start hugging trees all the time, I now think that I’d like to have a big garden wherever I end up living, because the more I toil in my parents’ one the more I appreciate it and its occupants.
My favourite plant, the Japanese Maple, which also goes by the rather awesome name Acer Palmatum.
Religion Motivator
Posted on July 8, 2008 - Filed Under Religion | Leave a Comment
I’ve posted this before, but I think you’ll agree that it bears reposting. It’s probably a little too kind to religion though. I wouldn’t despise it so much if religion was limited to just worshiping imaginary gods, but instead they almost all contain prescriptions (or, more usually, proscriptions) on how to live your life, because the all-powerful being that created the universe is obviously deeply concerned with the minutiae of everyone’s life, right down to your diet and your dick. I’d rather worship McDonald’s, and I don’t even like their food.
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