Zorac's LiveJournal

GAH! WHY DO THEY HAVE TO KEEP MESSING WITH THE START TIME OF DOCTOR WHO?!?

Honestly, is it too much to have it start at the same time every week. Or maybe even approximately the same time. Especially when it's the second half of a two-parter. I bet I'm not the only person who's been caught out by the 6:35 start this evening; I imagine that there are a fair number of people tuning in around now expecting the closing stages of Strictly Dance Fever before Doctor Who starts some time just after seven. I do at least have a Sky box so I can get BBC3 for the repeat - except that there's no chance of me being home from London by seven tomorrow, so that's something of a moot point. Raaaaa!

Thank God for BitTorrent...

So, I saw Howl's Moving Castle yesterday. Speaking as someone who first read the book many, many years ago and has read it many times since, I would have to say that this was probably the worst mutilation of a book on its way to the screen that I've ever seen. The result was a plotless mess - good looking, to be sure, but nonetheless a plotless mess.

The vast majority of the original story has been thrown away and replaced with what seem to be little more than recycled plot elements from earlier Studo Ghibli productions, and what scenes have been kept have either been distorted or just seem out-of-place within the new order. Virtually the entire cast have gone through complete character assassinations, including a number of 180° flips on what I would loosely term the good/evil axis.

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In short, if you've read the book, don't go and see the film unless you're prepared to accept most of what you like about it being gone. If you haven't read the book, I'm less well positioned to judge what you'll make of the film, but I suggest that you read the book instead...

Well, this has been an Interesting week. As regards interesting item one, I will say no more than to quote Morpheus: "Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony." As regards interesting item two, I will say more tomorrow. (See, I can make vague and mysterious posts too!)

I managed to survive my birthday yesterday - having holiday I needed to take before the end of the year meant that I had the day off, so I graciously allowed my parents to take me out for lunch - a rather fine meal at Pierre Victoire. Alas, the shopping for birthday presents didn't go quite so well - failing miserably to get anything at all. Ah, well...

This year, I've sent virtually no holiday cards, so thanks to those who did send me birthday/Christmas wishes, and apologies to those I haven't sent anything to.

Re: hate memes: Those of you who participated in these know who you are. I'm sure you're remaining anonymous because you don't want the rest of us that you're pathetic, despicable, bigoted, untrustworthy, nasty little people. Perhaps you should consider the old saying "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" before launching your disgusting and unwarranted attacks on fabulous people like hermorrine and others of my friends, all of whose boots you have proved yourselves utterly unworthy to lick.

Random rant of the day: Supermarket checkouts

1. Why is it that whichever queue I choose, it's always the wrong one. I get the person with a duff credit card, or whose items won't scan, or who stops for a nice chat with the cashier, or who didn't buy enough to use a whole Retward voucher and disappears back into the store for a couple of minutes to find something else (I kid you not).
2. I'm entirely capable of packing my own bags. No, really. When did this go from "I'm just here to scan items." to "Can I help you pack, sir?" to "I'm going to pack whether you like it or not!"? I wouldn't mind so much if they weren't so completely hopeless at it - large multipacks of fruit juce which have their own carrying handles go into bags regardless, often accompanied by a couple of heavy bottles - while the few remaining (light) items half-fill a second bag.
3. The "Ten Items or Less" checkout:

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Here endeth the rant.

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...

As many of you have probably already read on hermorrine's journal, I was over in Chicago again last weekend. ( Collapse )

Thanks to the undocumented challenge, on this trip I achieved my AAdvantage Gold status - more miles and other benefits for me, huzzah!

In related news, I really ought to talk about what happened at New Year's. ( Collapse )

BBC: Microsoft creator to be knighted

I heard rumors about this yesterday, but now it's been confirmed. Apparently Gordon Brown has realised that I didn't dislike him enough for him to take over from Tony later in the week. This little gem is most certainly a good start. Honestly, what has Bill Gates done for 'enterprise in the UK' - other than screwing vast amounts of money out of them for sub-standard software, of course. I'm sure it has absolutely nothing to do with the government getting better licensing terms on their copies of Window, Office and the like...

Short-haul flights are so much fun. Not. As mentioned earlier, my flight out was delayed a little. The one back was worse - pretty much as soon as I got to the gate, they flashed up "delayed 45 minutes...". Three quarters of an hour after the scheduled departure time, we were still sitting in the departure lounge, and the message said the same (and that pisses me off as much as the delay itself - I can understand how bad weather and striking baggage handlers can cause delays and there's not a huge amount that the airline can do about it, but how much effort does it take to update a sign or make an announcement so that we, the cattlepassengers know what's going on?). Eventually we were bussed out to the 'plane (propellers - how quaint!) and I noted its registration code was G-JEDL - certainly the force is not strong with this one. We finally arrived in Birmingham over an hour and a half late (and without so much as a complimentary drink), by which point it was too late to catch a train to anywhere useful (my admittedly poor initial planning did allow for up to an hour of delayage), and rather than trying to find a taxi willing to take me to Oxford (doubtless at vast expense) I ended up checking into a hotel for a few hours before catching an early train this morning. As I'm sure my fellow Brits have guessed, the railway companies jumped at this opportunity to prove that they can be every bit as useless as the airlines - the direct train to Oxford wasn't, and the one to Coventry was late, then later, finally arrived, sat around for a few minutes after I boarded before expiring completely. Fortunately the second attempt was more successful, and the second-leg train failed to deliver the coup-de-grace by being sufficiently late that I still managed to catch it.

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...except that in parts of The Matrix Revolutions, that end just couldn't come soon enough.
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Dear Mr. Sainsbury,
I frequently purchase from your supermarkets small packets of minced beef with which to make my exciting cuisine. Alas, of late, said item appears to be all to often out of stock, reducing me to the lazy-man's option of a ready meal. On the subject of ready meals, You seem to be making more and more of them that are for two people. Isn't that defeating the object of the exercise? Not to mention discriminating against those of us with only one mouth to feed.
Yours Unimpressedly,
zorac

Dear Sandwich Vendors,
Lettuce belongs in salad, and even then requires a nice vinaigrette dressing. It is not nice in sandwiches. Please stop putting lettuce in virtually every sandwich you make, just for the hell of it. And don't tell me to pick it out if I don't like it - even if I do, that limp lettuce taste remains. And don't even get me started on lettuce in with burgers or other hot things...
Yours Frustratedly,
zorac

Dear Apple,
Panther has the best (and most useful) eye candy ever. You rock.
Yours Fanboyishly,
zorac