I saw Transformers 2 today.
I did not enjoy it
( Spoilers under the cut ) |
Well mainly it's confusing and dull at the moment. Mind you, that said I've had a good week so far. Thought it'd be really shit being back at work but no, good so far.
Still waiting to hear what I'll be doing with my job after 'The Change' (i.e. the restructuring). Nervous and stressed is how I feel about this whole thing. I'm sure it'll be fine but I'm a worrier, it's my raison d'etre.
What else have I been up to? Had a brilliant night out on Tuesday. Spent the first part of the night up at Rue du Butte-aux-Cailles, which is a magical little street. Filled with shabby old bars, it's a place where the insides of the bar can't be contained, and all the patrons bustle about on the street, talking and laughing and drinking the night away. Couldn't do it in a UK city, there'd be someone shoved and a bottle thrown and before you know it people are being sick down the side of the pub and there's a fight going on. It's like having a small village in the middle of one of the largest cities in Europe. I shall visit there again very soon.
We've also discovered a bar that is open late and has live rock every night. Not always exceptional, but there's something charming about sitting and listening to a pub rock band play the Cranberries in a strong French accent. Good times.
Overall I'm pretty ok right now. My job is the only thing I'm worried about, but there's nothing I can do about that right now. I just hate limbo, hate waiting. But ah well.
/al out |
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Kings
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Jun. 21st, 2009 @ 07:43 am
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There's a show that's been binned by its network, and I would go so far as to say it is one of the best shows of recent years.
Its name is Kings.
Set in an alternate world, where the ever wonderful Ian McShane barely keeps his rule over a country, it's a programme made of Machiavellian turns, Biblical references and almost Battlestar Galactica-esque military sequences. (And to any non-sci-fi lovers out there, shame on you. Battlestar Galactica deserves your attention. It demands it.)
In short, it's a disgrace that this has been cancelled whereas shit like Big Brother or Smallville (FUCKING SMALLVILLE!) rolls on, year after year.
There's only a few episodes left. But I would recommend that anyone interested in quality television, anyone who believes that after series such as Deadwood, Carvnivale, The Sopranos or The Wire, television that can equal or on occasion outshine any other artistic medium, you need to at least look at this programme.
It's that good.
This post is brought to you by the letters A and Q and by the fact I've just learned that there's been no second season ordered for Kings. |
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Great.
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Jun. 8th, 2009 @ 01:35 am
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People from my home area have voted an ex-Nazi to the European parliament.
I wish I were joking, but he was a member of the National Socialist Movement, a pro-Nazi group. He's still a member of the British National Party, a party that says they're not racist but are opposed to anyone who isn't a 3rd generation Briton staying in the country. I'm not one of that number.
Great. Nice one chaps! It's times like this that make me want to go home, just to shout at people. Or give them stern talking to's.
Edit: And on the 65th anniversary of D-Day too. 65 years after fighting to get rid of this sort of thing, and we're now voting them in. Unimaginable. |
Yep a week and a bit after the last breakdown, I did it again. Couple of days sitting at home, lovely. Managed to get in touch with work though, so I don't think I'm fired. At least I made it in today (well I pretty much had to make it in)
Found out that some of my friends have been...conspiring. In a good way though. They've managed to find an English speaking psychiatrist in Paris, so I think I'll be going along to that. I don't deserve friends like these, I really don't. I think if they knew what I was really like, they'd abandon me (as well they should) but they don't and it perplexes me no end.
I think I want to get better now, I've always been torn between getting better (which requires work) and just saying 'fuck it' and revelling in being shit. But I think I need to get help now, because if I don't I'm a bit scared about how fucked up I'll let things get. I can't go back to how I was in 2005, I just can't. That year I did things I still feel bad about. I'd give almost anything to go back a few years and not make the same mistakes. Anything.
Well melodramatic post over. I'm sorry. |
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Bugger
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May. 19th, 2009 @ 12:18 pm
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Oh well, knew it was coming but didn't realise so soon.
Brain-spack over the weekend. Lots of locked doors, phones off, no checking emails, lights off, missing work for no reason for a couple of days. Didn't get out of bed for 3 days but barely slept. Nice.
Thought I was over this. Shouldn't have got so complacent.
Oh well. |
Two hundred grammes of cheddar cheese
Two hundred grammes of olives with chili
A punnet of strawberries
One melon
Two Golden Delicious apples
One bottle of red wine
One mango
Half a roast chicken
Eight potatoes roasted in the chicken's juices
A panama hat
A lemon
Twelve oysters
A slice of proper cheesecake.
...
...
Let's never go to the market whilst slightly inebriated again. |
OK since I'm a MASSIVE IDIOT who deletes things when he's drunk and upset (don't ask) I've lost my Twitter account.
My new one can be found here. Ikebox is another name folks have for me round these parts.
Again, I'm fucking stupid for the deletey stuff. IDIOT ALEX.
Follow me if you wish, I dunno. I'll only post dull shit anyway. |
When preparing a meal where one of the ingredients is chorizo, do not cut the chorizo prior to browning the onions. This is because you're a peckish bastard and you'll end up eating most of the bloody chorizo before it's time to add it to the pan.
And don't get me started on opening a bottle of wine before starting to cook... |
Once again, my finger hovers over the delete button.
Do I do it? I don't need the space, but I do like a tidy hard drive. It's only 200mb, I can leave it.
But no, I should free up any space I'm not using. It's stupid to keep something there when I don't use it regularly.
Well.
Let's fire it up and see.
Give it a quick run through and see.
...
...
...
Oh god I can't ever delete this!
Of course what I'm talking about is Gravitybone
It's a tiny game, made using the Quake II engine, but my god it's one of the most wonderful small gaming experiences I've had in my life.
I would recommend anyone to play it. It'll run on anything and it's fucking well worth your time.
( Spoilerific discussion below: I WOULD REALLY RECOMMEND PLAYING IT BEFORE READING WHAT'S UNDER HERE )
So I'd recommend everyone spare some time in their day, download it, play it, enjoy. It'll run on almost anything bought in the last ten years. Give it a go!
Yes I'm stealing liberally from Rock, Paper, Shotgun when I write this, but fuck it. Best gaming site on the web. Plagiarism is a complement. |
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Gym3
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Mar. 25th, 2009 @ 01:49 pm
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Just back from the gym. Oh man I'm knackered. Slightly disappointed that I couldn't do as much as I did back when I used to be a member of a gym, but a largely sedentary lifestyle for the last 3 years has really made me incredibly unfit.
Still ended up a massive sweatball though.
Happy overall. |
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Gym2
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Mar. 24th, 2009 @ 07:15 pm
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Well it appears the gym is allowing us entry early. Tomorrow in fact. See here for news on how I end up wheezing in a crumpled pile on the floor, and how I drip my own bodyweight out in sweat.
mmm. Sexy. |
At 1300 hours today, I will be entering a building along with two of my colleagues to undertake an operation.
We will be joining a gym.
More updates LIVE as these exciting developments occur.
Alex out.
UPDATE: I have joined the gym I REPEAT I have joined the gym. I will be allowed access to the facility from the 1st of April, 2009. ALEX OUT |
Stopped by the Carrefour at the end of the road on the way home.
What did I come home with?
Gin, tonic, limes, clementines and a Vienetta.
Oh yeah, I'm livin' the dream. |
This weekend I am planning zero pub visits.
I'll just say that again. I am not planning on going to the pub this weekend.
...
No it still doesn't look right.
Everyone's either away or doing grownup things (like having children, living in quiet towns) at the moment so I foresee a very quiet weekend ahead, and to be honest I could use that. I quite fancy pottering around the apartment, giving it a good clean and opening the windows for the first time in an age. Also I'll get some time to play piano which I don't do enough even though it's within reach most of the time.
I'm not good at doing *stuff*.
I could take the time to do some cookery again, make another curry or do a paprikas krumpli for the first time since I got that oven (which I love but has meant that everything I've eaten for the last two months has been baked or grilled).
Having said that, I know exactly what'll happen if I don't go to the pub or something similar. I'll sit around watching telly and then playing computer games for hours on end, until I get bored and decide to start drinking.
Ho hum. The life of a man with little to do. |
Is it wrong to be completely annoyed by the fact that, if one puts the letters 'GTA' into the search bar in Wikipedia that the search option for 'GTA 1V' comes before the search option for 'GTA IV'
I know that's only a minor thing and isn't going to affect my life in any meaningful way. Yet here I sit, annoyed.
(Never mind that Wikipedia isn't called Wikipaedia.) |
Now c'mon Alex, you've lived in the same apartment for two years. Is 7am in the morning whilst you're on the toilet really the time to notice you've left your front door open all night?
The dash to shut that door wasn't pleasant by anyone's standards. But necessary, if you consider where my toilet is...
What a week this is turning out to be. |
You've lived in Paris for over two and a half years, you know the metros, you know the trains.
So why oh why do you think that the Japanese tourists in front of you know where you should go?
Following them onto the wrong train isn't the best way to get home.
They just looked so confident. |
I tried to watch the new Punisher film the other day.
*click*
It goes on.
OK, the guy is making bullets. There's some news story on.
Oh he's the Punisher, got it.
Right there's a party, detectives are waiting outside.
Oh look! Jimmy McNulty from the Wire! He's aweso..what's that? What's that accent? Is that supposed to be Italian American?
OK maybe it'll get better.
They've gone upstairs. Some mob guys are shouting at each other.
Now everyone's at a meal.
DARK
Oh the Punisher is there and he's...cut the head off the mob boss....with a small knife...
No, no this is shit.
*off*
That's my experience of it. I think I was a whole 10 minutes in before I deleted it.
In other news, I've only just started watching Deadwood. Seeing Lovejoy swear is still something I don't think I will ever get used to, but anything with lines like:
"Be brief!"
"BE FUCKED!"
In it gets the Alex Seal of Approval.
/Al out. |
Well in a short answer, not much. I'm planning a visit home in March (the first time I'll have been home in over two years now) because it's my Father's 50th birthday, so that's a milestone I really *need* to be there for.
Of course I still need to sort out my passport, which I seem to have developed a block about. Two years since it ran out (to the month) and I still haven't summoned enough strength of will to actually go into town and hand in a form, or send a letter. Odd that. Shit, but odd.
But anyway; finally getting around to cleaning my apartment. Maybe not such a big thing, but you haven't seen the state it's in. I've not really thrown any rubbish out since the party I held there in December. I'll take a moment here for you to retch. All done? Good; let's continue.
My good friend Michael J. Graham is working a couple of shifts in The Thistle, a bar in the centre of Paris, so I'll be popping along for 'moral support' (read: drinking at him with a view to descending into insulting the other drinkers), and if it goes well, then he may be taking up a permanent position there, which I fully believe will be good for him and probably bad for me, because it will mean more time spent in the pub.
However, there are tentative ideas floating around of us both finding somewhere to live in Paris itself. Living on the periphery is nice enough but it's quiet, too quiet. We'd both prefer to be in town somewhere, making it easier to go out for a drink casually, take a wander down the Seine, etc. Life in Boulogne-Billancourt makes all of that just that little bit harder and require planning, which I've never been good at.
So we're going to start looking for a larger place (obviously with a couple of bedrooms) in town which should be possible with a bit of effort. We'll see how this pans out.
So all's quiet on the Western front right now, but the murmurings of plans afoot are rumbling in the distance.
/al out. |
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