Zorac's LiveJournal

Last night we drank many cocktails. We then had fish and chips back here and dealt with some bad cases of Shrek virginity. Today, some of us arrived at the pub later than others - but lunch was better than at the Eagle and Child. After that, there was punting and Pimms. Nobody won the leiabelle Memorial Sweepstake - owlman fled after lunch, muttering something about work. In the end, I was the one who made a rather half-arsed attempt at falling in the river. Doh. Anyway, time for me to head back into town to meet up with the rest of the t00bs for PoA,

Just a quick reminder to all you British folk (and possibly some Continental Europeans too) to go out and vote tomorrow (Thursday). I'm not going to tell you who to vote for (feel free to ignore the subliminal advertising), although if you're leaning towards the BNP, please go ahead and defriend me.

In related news, I've just done another stint of spamming delivering targeted election communications to a chunk of Kidlington. I was rather distressed to find that two of my addressees have passed on - 2 out of 200+, but also 2 out of 3 times I actually talked to someone. Not so good.

At airport. Was worried about the ATC delays. Have been called to the gate 20 minutes early. W00t!

Horrid keyboard on this internet kiosk, though...

Today's most amusing spam (spammer's name and email addresses changed to protect the guilty, the rest is exactly as is):

From: Spammer Name <spammer@spam.com>
To: Postmaster <postmaster@example.com>
Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 14:19:08 -0100
Subject: Message subject

Hi Postmaster,

%RND_AD_1

%RND_AD_2

Plus: %RND_ALL_OTHER_MEDS

%RND_AD_3

%RND_BUY_TAG www.%DOMAIN_FOR_MAILING.

Best Regards,

Spammer Name

Hmm. Methinks you need some new spamming software, there...

Today I've been mostly watching a new sci-fi show - new to me at least. I watched the first three or four episodes last night and was sufficiently hooked to spend today watching through the remaining eleven. Right now, I'm just managing to restrain myself from hunting down the Fox execs who cancelled Firefly and cutting their hearts out with a rusty spork.

Yes, all shows end sooner or later - indeed, another Joss Whedon show reaches its conclusion later this week - but for something that was already so good and with such great promise... It's more than a little annoying. But, apparently what the studio execs think we want is a constant diet of "reality TV". Heaven forbid they produce some quality genre drama.

For now, I'll just have to hope that the theatrical movie does make it all the way to the big screen, and is enough of a success to get the show back on the road...

Random thoughts:

1. On the subject of my political aspirations (or, more correctly, somebody else's political aspirations for me), I decided after due consideration not to have any. Thanks to everyone who commented - if you're interested in the whys and wherefores, you might find them in the update and comments on the original post.
2. I've been busily sorting and clearing out the junk in my attic (most of which has been there since before I moved in). Alas, no lost Rembrandts or the like - mostly old paint tins and curtains. One missed opportunity was a T-shirt draped over one of the joists - I am now resolved that when I move on, I shall leave in the attic a garment emblazoned with the slogan "I cleared out the junk in my new attic and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt", and I encourage all of you to do likewise. One day, the new occupant will find this Item and think "Wow, whoever used to live here thought he was a real funny guy!".
3. The incentive for the above is so I can get more plumbing work done to resolve my ongoing issues with hot water pressure (or lack thereof). This may be of interest to some of you as it means that there should be shower facilities available to future visitors to the t00blerone. Oh, and I really ought to get that window fixed...
4. Van Helsing - somebody really needs to tell Stephen Sommers that while you can do just about anything with special effects these days, just because you can doesn't mean that you should. Plus, if he was trying to get in a pissing contest with Peter Jackson, he lost badly. It's not just that they were horribly overdone (ooh! entirely CG environment! I can do really insane camera moves!), but in some places (mostly when doing a CG stunt double) looked downright fake. Way more over-the-top than The Mummy Returns, but without the redeeming features that allowed that to still somehow be a great movie. On the plus side, new PoA trailer.
5. WTF happened to the weather? It was a real scorcher today. Apparently this is the same bizarre weather that hermorrine has been reporting in Chicago.

I'm sure I had more to say, but it can wait until ... er ... I remember what it is...

Greetings, t00bs! Summer is fast approaching (not that you'd know from the weather), and this year's Punt00bage in Oxford is only five weeks away. The exact dates for those without a calendar handy are Friday 11th June through Sunday 13th June. Hopefully most people will be able to stay over Saturday night, and Friday night is open house too - Sunday is more 'if you need to stay'. I know this is in the middle of exams for some of you, but unfortunately it was the only weekend possible - although there are plans afoot for a mini!punt00bage some time in August.

As usual, this t00bage is open to anyone, but bear in mind that lately they've been more friends-based than fandom based, so if you don't know any of the usual suspects and are coming in expectation of deep discussions of HP, you may be out of luck. The August t00bage will be an invite-only thing.

Tentative plan of action (subject to change pending outcome of poll): Friday night happy hour at Hollywood Cocktails followed by general t00bing chez moi. Meet for lunch at a pub in town, then go punting. Evening plans are a little more vague, but from past experience probably involve copious amounts of alcohol (and possibly an EUD if we can get Cyg drunk enough). Sunday we can probably just make up as we go along. If people are interested, we can go to see PoA at some point, and I have PS and CoS on DVD, so there's the option of MST3King them earlier in the weekend. If you have any other ideas for what we could do, where we could eat, etc, please leave a comment!

Sweepstake rules: Whoever posts a name first gets it. No voting for yourself. No deliberate pushing people in. Judge's decision is final. Prize probably won't be worth winning anyway. FALLING IN THE RIVER MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH.

This weekend saw me jetting off once more to the windy city to spend time with the lovely hermorrine. I managed to flee the office in a timely manner this time, and the trip was uneventful, although lunch was a disappointment - I needed to grab a bite after checking in and having a bit more time, I decided to hike over to the Wendy's in arrivals. Alas, this was a big mistake - apparently they were closing down in a week or so and were not running on their usual supplies (the burgers weren't even square!). I was extremely unimpressed (although not as much so as the gentleman who came up and demanded a refund while I was waiting for my burger to arrive).

We were staying at the same hotel we were in the very first time we met, but alas the room we had wasn't quite as nice as that time (no couch, alas). On the plus side, it does have all mod cons and there's free breakfast. The Breakfast Buffet Circus O'Doom, that is. On Saturday morning we had to cope with people who couldn't make waffles properly (leaving them all stuck to the iron - grrr), milk that wouldn't flow and strange staring children. So much fun. We ate our fill and retreated back to our room.

We spent much of the day watching movies, starting with Disney's Aladdin, which we've been trying (and failing) to watch for the last few trips - I'm sure that our sudden success has absolutely nothing to do with the recently announced DVD release. Next up, HBO brought us Ice Age, which we watched a few months back - not quite up to that standards of Pixar or PDI Dreamworks, but still good fun. After that was How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which was actually more entertaining than expected, although rather hide-behind-the-sofa cringeworthy in places. Oh, and we somehow managed to catch most of a JKR biography which was interesting.

Dinner was supposed to be at Cheeseburger in Paradise, but we got there to discover it was a 90 minute wait for a table - rather longer than our stomachs were going to allow. It was the same story at a place across the road (we're not quite sure what sort of food they did, but it certainly smelled good). After driving up and down the road, we eventually ended up at a place we went to a couple of trips back, where they do some very nice burgers. After that, we watched the brain-melting Identity and most of SNL before heading to bed.

Breakfast on Sunday morning was slightly less of an ordeal - it seemed that people had figured out how to use the waffle irons properly - as Weird Lady (who was the worst culprit on Saturday, and who insisted on helping the staff fix the milk machine) felt the need to tell us. After that, it was off to the S00per Sekrit again for the afternoon, and then on to our Sunday-night hotel right by the airport.

For dinner, we went to Carlucci's - also the choice of the victorious Apprentice, as every news outlet later let us know. Thankfully, he was at the location we went to for Valentine's, so we didn't have to fight our way past the news crews. Alas, all too soon, morning came around and it was time for me to catch my flight home, but it should be only a few weeks until I'm off again...

It's many, many years since I first played The Secret of Monkey Island™, back in my Amiga days, but I've been a fan ever since. For my mind, this series of games is the crowning glory of the graphic adventure genre. The first game sees you playing Guybrush Threepwood, washed up on the shores of Mêlée Island™ with dreams of becoming a mighty pirate, and from there you swashbuckle your way around the Caribbean solving quirky puzzles, doing battle with the evil undead pirate LeChuck and trying to win the heart of fair Elaine.

The creators have made no secret of the fact that they were inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean, so it's no great surprise that it has much the same feel as last summer's blockbuster movie (and indeed some more blatant similarities). What the games really have in buckets is humour - both constant running gags and silliness, and plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. Combine that with wonderful characters and interesting storylines and you have a sure-fire winner.

Naturally the graphics are somewhat dated (the earliest game came out in 1990), in particular the first two are fairly blocky and lacking a huge palette, and the move into 3D for the fourth game is not up to today's standards (plus they dropped the pointy-clicky interface). The sound, however, is pretty good even for the earlier games - the music is fabulous even in its MIDI incarnations - although it's not until the third game that we actually get to hear the characters speak.

Happily, the games have a thriving fan community, possibly the best part of which is SCUMMVM - an emulator which allows you to load up your copies of the older games on your Windows PC rather than trying to get them to run in DOS mode (it also runs on a whole bunch of other systems, including Macs and even Palm hand-helds). It also does nifty stuff like scaling up and smoothing the graphics for that Maximum Monkey Experience.

What makes these games classics is the need to experience them again and again - like the books I've read every year for decades, or the movies I've watched a dozen times or more. I don't know how many times I've played Secret over the years - certainly I know my way through all the puzzles by now - but it's still tremendous fun to play. Having played through all four over the last few weeks, I thoroughly enjoyed the lot - perhaps the later games don't quite recapture the glory days of the first two, put perhaps that's just a case of rose-tinted spectacles. Certainly the final game concludes with a level of glorious silliness that even I can't match.

Here's hoping that LucasArts produce Monkey 5 before too much longer. In the mean time, y'all should go and play the ones that are already out!

Greetings, t00bs! This is a pre-announcement for this year's Punt00bage - I'll do a proper one on t00bage some time after folk are back on LJ after the Easter break. Due to having to fit it in after exams finish but before the end of term, this has ended up as the weekend after the release of PoA - Friday 11th - Sunday 13th June - which co-incidentally is exactly one year after the original punt!t00bage.

The current vague plan is much the same as last year - Friday night at the T00blerone, meeting somewhere for lunch on Saturday (but not the Eagle and Child this time, on account of their food being teh crap) followed by punting and Pimms, then more random t00bing for the rest of the weekend. There's at least an outside chance that some people may want to watch Prisoner of Azkaban. Update: Oh, and I'm sure that G&D's and Hollywood Cocktails will also feature. Random unofficial poll follows:

DISCLAIMER: Falling in the Cherwell may be dangerous to your health. Do not attempt to insert punt pole into ear. Results of this poll may be ignored. Offer not valid to employees of T00bage Enterprises, Inc, or its affiliates. This entry features a Gratuitous Icon Post. Spending an exteded amount of time in the company of numerous t00bs may lead to extreme silliness.