February 2008 Archives

This really doesn't bode well for the summer. If it's 90° in February, July and August are going to be pleasant.

[Moozik: The Cure - Cold (Live)]

Last night's Lost was the best hour of teevee I've seen in a long time. Since, well, the last time or er, the time before that ;-) Who knew Henry Ian Cusick could act? A really good performance I thought. This season as a whole has been really good so far and I'm just as addicted as ever. You couldn't tell right?

[Moozik: The Birthday Massacre - Falling Down]

This afternoon I tracked an entertaining bug down to the following code humorously commented as "encode nasty entities".

# encode nasty entities...
$string =~ s/&/&/;

Yipes. First off that code is not doing anything with any entity other than an ampersand. Secondly there's a missing /g modifier so that regex will only change the first ampersand found in the string and ignore any others. What happens when we encounter 'J&D Guns & Ammo'? Yuck.

That's not encoding, so don't do that. Use HTML::Entities instead and take the worry out.

$string = encode_entities($string);

And so ends my Perl public service announcement for today.

[Moozik: Emilie Autumn - Liar]

The Flickr Song Chart Meme has some pretty amusing entries. I did like this one.

[Moozik: The Cure - Maybe Someday (Hedges Remix)]

I've watched a few DVDs this month most of which are but a faint memory. So this won't be a review, just a quick thumbs up, thumbs down.

Seal Of Approval:

Michael Clayton
The Brave One
King Of California
Dragonfly
Resident Evil: Extinction
Resident Evil: Apocolypse
Don't Say A Word
White Noise

Pile O' Poo:

White Noise 2

Underwhelmed:

The Invasion

[Moozik: The Cure - The Big Hand]

Oh yes, how happy am I? For June 4th is the official Arizona Cure Day.

Tickets go on sale this Friday. I've managed to miss seeing them every time they tour. Not this time ;-)

Still all very interested in how they sound without keyboards since a lot of their songs have a good amount of synth parts.

Regardless, I absolutely cannot wait. Is it June yet?

[Moozik: Ladytron - Soft Power]

I must be living in a cave as I totally missed the announcement a few years ago of Freebass.

Freebass is a project featuring three British bass players: Andy Rourke (of The Smiths fame), Peter Hook (from New Order and Joy Division) and Gary "Mani" Mounfield (formerly of The Stone Roses and currently in Primal Scream). The indie outfit has been "under construction" since early 2004 and has reputedly written an album's worth of material. Mojo magazine has written of the possibility that former Stone Roses drummer Reni will play drums in the band.

The idea to form a band centralised around three bass players came out on a drunken night and was started by Hook and Mani as "as a reaction because our groups New Order and Primals had been stalled".

In a late 2005 interview with NME Peter Hook stated that all of the songs have three basses; "Mani does the low part, Andy Rourke in the middle and I do the high bit ... it works out quite well".

[Moozik: Nitzer Ebb - All Over]

I originally posted my incomprehension of guest blogging back in 2003 in things that make you go hmmm. Last year I said some more in on guest blogging. So today, I'm not going to say much more other than it's been close to 5 years now, and I still don't get why you think your readers want to read posts by anyone other than you. And again, as I did last year, I'm looking at you Andrew Sullivan.

So I think after three posts on the subject I'll consider this topic well and truly dead, I won't waffle on about it anymore.

[Moozik: Nitzer Ebb - Control I'm Here]

I was reading the list of things we used to know that are of no use anymore and came across one that made me grin. I so used to do this in arcades in my youth. Stacking a quarter on an arcade game to indicate you have next. Well, they were 10p coins not quarters obviously ;-)

Stacking coins on an arcade game was the defacto way to say 'The next game is mine'. It was also an easy way to reserve a machine for your own exclusive play. By placing a coin on the machine you are effectively saying 'I have an active interest in playing this and I'm going to as soon as its free', this is in contrast to the many viewers that would gather around units to watch with no interest in actually playing. By using the coins you eliminate having to work out who's go is next or who wants to play.

It should be noted that any touching of the coins "whatsoever" was a severe breach of arcade etiquette. It's also not unknown for the current player to get annoyed or put off by an aggressive coin stacking. You are effectively saying "hurry up and die, I'm up".

[Moozik: Nitzer Ebb - The Way You Live]

So my first visit to the Dentist in 14 years went well. Where "well" in this case means x-rays, numbing injection, drilling, and filling. "Yeah, you've got a decent cavity in that tooth. Luckily you just missed needing a root canal. But you'll need a filling today". He then surprised me by saying that for someone who hasn't been to the Dentist in a while, my teeth are surprisingly good.

I go back next week for a cleaning and to discuss a couple of other things he found. Blimey, I don't go for over a decade and then twice in two weeks. Go me!

[Moozik: Pixies - Oh My Golly!]

I wouldn't really consider myself a strict follower of dental hygiene. Don't get me wrong, I brush twice a day, use Listerine etc so that part of my dental health regimen is ok. The part where I actually go to the Dentist for regular checkups? Not so much. In fact the last time I remember stepping inside the hallowed grounds of dental wizardry was probably late 1994 back in England.

This will change tomorrow as I've actually made an appointment. The toothache I've had for the past couple of days does not want to magically get better by itself. I'm a little worried about going to be honest. For America is the land of blindingly white super perfect teeth. They're obsessed by them in fact. While my teeth aren't bad by any means, they're just not American. And this being my first visit to an American Dentist, who knows what kinds of things they'll find.

I can already hear the drill.

[Moozik: Front 242 - Headhunter (live)]

[Moozik: Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch]

[Moozik: Curve - Chinese Burn]

The other week I bought some Young's Oatmeal Stout from my favorite shop but it managed to find its way to the back of the fridge and got hidden. I found it last night.

It was, quite simply, delicious.

The description on the back of the bottle sums it up quite nicely. They're not fibbing about the aftertaste of toast and I heartily recommend it if you're into this kind of thing.

"A dark, ruby coloured stout almost black from a distance, with a beautiful, creamy head. Brewed with roasted malts, it has an exceptionally smooth palate and fruity aroma with a short but distinctive finish reminiscent of toast."

[Moozik: Edge Of Dawn - Chamber Six]

Last night's Lost was amazing and I must say, this season is really good.

But here I am calling myself a Lost fan and I totally missed this orientation video from the Orchid Station. Released last year at Comic-con.

The significance of the two bunnies might lean towards some of the time travel and teleportation theories I've been getting into on the Lost forums. Yes, I'm that sad.

[Moozik: The Smiths - Oscillate Wildly]

Neil Gaiman is now scrobbling his recently listened tracks to last.fm. I wonder if there are other famous last.fm users?

[Moozik: Editors - Lights]

Boots is back home from the Hospital. He's feeling much better, just have to keep an eye on the poor bloke. When I picked him up I had a chance to speak to the Doctor who had been dealing with him. The young technicians working in the Hospital all had stethoscopes hanging around their necks and were wearing medical gear so when she came out into the waiting room, I assumed she was one of them.

She walked up to me and asked if I was there for Boots. She mentioned that she was the one I had spoken to on the phone the night before and introduced herself as Dr Turner. From that moment on, I knew I was getting old as all I could think of was what are you, 19 years old?, you're the Doctor?

[Moozik: Hocico - Tales From The Third World]

Ever since I heard that the writer's strike was over, I've been itching to know what that means for the rest of this season's Lost. Seems that Damon Lindelof is trying to figure it out too.

Damon Lindelof is eager for some answers. An executive producer of ABC's mystery serial "Lost," he should learn this week what his show's future holds as it closes out its fourth season.

"But we very much want to come back and do as many episodes as possible," said Lindelof, who then listed a few issues that first need to be settled.

"How many episodes can best serve our story? And what are the production realities?" He noted that the shooting facility in Hawaii, 2,500 miles from his Los Angeles office, had been shuttered since Thanksgiving. The crew has dispersed, the huge cast has scattered.

The first new post-strike episode of "Lost" could possibly be ready for broadcast the week after episode eight appears, he said. There likely would be three or four more after that.

Could there be even more?

"I'd be surprised if the network wanted to air episodes deep into the summer," he said. But if all the pieces fell into place, "Lost" fans would be blessed: "I don't see why we couldn't deliver all eight remaining episodes."

Just got back from spending an evening at the Emergency Animal Hospital. But before I say any more, let's recap the day's events.

Boots went to the Vet earlier because he was showing all the signs of FLUTD. Poor bloke, in his litterbox just straining and straining. Told he's been caught in the early stages, nothing too serious, need to change his diet and he'll be ok. Fast forward a few hours, in his litterbox, in pain, straining and straining. Won't eat or drink, every time he tried, he just ran back to the litterbox.

So having been told it's not too serious I'm quite worried about him. By now it's after hours so the only place he could go is the 24 hour Emergency Animal Hospital. Got there, was told he was blocked and it was serious because if he doesn't get unblocked, he'll have kidney failure within 24 hours which would obviously be fatal. Lovely, just what you want to hear.

He was admitted, anesthetized, and put on intense IV fluids to clear the blockage. He has to stay overnight, hooked to an IV and has a catheter. Poor bloke. But I'm so relieved that he's ok and in the best place for observation.

So, not cheap obviously but what are you gonna do? The things we do for our animals ;-)

[Moozik: The Doors - The End]

Arizona state law states that city and county law enforcement agencies are required to notify the community when certain sex offenders move into their jurisdiction. So yesterday the community notification arrived in the mail. For a level 3 sex offender no less.

Level 3 Offender: High risk to the community. The offender has a history of predatory sex crimes, has been convicted of a dangerous crime, or is diagnosed as a serial predator. Community notification required.

Which is then followed by a kind of ...but don't panic... paragraph.

The person who appears in this notification is not wanted by any law enforcement agency at this time. This notification is not intended to increase fear; rather it is our belief that an informed public is a safer public.

Not intended to increase fear? Yeah I'm sure the old couple down the street and those with kids are just jumping for joy at the news.

The flyer then has the bloke's name, address, and photo. He lives one street over. Nice.

[Moozik: Assemblage 23 - Awake]

One of the DVDs that Netflix said they sent to me hasn't arrived. So onto the site I went to figure out how to contact them about it. Couldn't have been easier. I navigated to my queue, clicked on the movie they said I should have, then clicked the report a problem link. They already had I didn't receive the DVD as a possible choice. Clicked that.

Was taken to a screen where they told me they were awfully sorry that my DVD hadn't arrived and they will mark it as lost. Then they asked if I'd like another copy sent out. I did, so clicked yes. It will be sent out today. Oh, and if that second DVD ever does show up, I just send it back to them.

And that's it. Took less than 1 minute. Painless. Easy. I dunno, maybe I've had so many bad customer service experiences with other companies that I'm amazed when I come across something easy that "just works".

[Moozik: Seabound - Digital]

Grange Hill is no more.

The BBC is to axe children's drama Grange Hill after 30 years.

The long-running show, set in a fictional London school, broke numerous children's television boundaries over the years, dealing with child abuse, racism, teenage pregnancy and drugs.

The BBC has decided not to recommission the show and the final episodes will air at the end of this year.

[Moozik: The Frozen Autumn - Static Cold]

One Englishman's view of American Football. Not mine you understand, even if I did grow up playing Rugby myself. Well, the shiny spandex has always seemed a little questionable but whatever bakes your noodle I suppose.

American football is, basically, rugby for a legalistic, health and safety obsessed nation. It also seems rather girly in that teams dress up in shoulder pads and shiny, skin-tight trousers and compete for some kind of bowl. Never mind, it seems to make them happy and they are showing no sign of getting a grip a cricket.

[Moozik: The Cure - Babble]

Personally I never have nor ever will care what product/candidate a celebrity endorses. I'll no more buy a Pepsi because insert-celebrity-here does than I will vote for any candidate because insert-celebrity-here will. I wonder how many people voting today in "Super Tuesday" have actually been swayed into voting for a candidate just because they heard Chuck Norris or Robert De Niro endorsing someone. Actually I don't think I want to know. That would be scary.

[Moozik: KMFDM - Inane]

...that we're all doomed. Doomed I say. My homeland offers some decent evidence.

LONDON (AFP) - Britons are losing their grip on reality, according to a poll out Monday which showed that nearly a quarter think Winston Churchill was a myth while the majority reckon Sherlock Holmes was real.

The survey found that 47 percent thought the 12th century English king Richard the Lionheart was a myth.

And 23 percent thought World War II prime minister Churchill was made up. The same percentage thought Crimean War nurse Florence Nightingale did not actually exist.

Three percent thought Charles Dickens, one of Britain's most famous writers, is a work of fiction himself.

Indian political leader Mahatma Gandhi and Battle of Waterloo victor the Duke of Wellington also appeared in the top 10 of people thought to be myths.

Meanwhile, 58 percent thought Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Holmes actually existed; 33 percent thought the same of W. E. Johns' fictional pilot and adventurer Biggles.

[Moozik: Interpol - The Heinrich Maneuver]

As expected, it would appear that there are some Flickr users none too happy with the prospect of being bought by Microsoft. Evidence of this can be seen on the MICROSOFT: KEEP YOUR EVIL GRUBBY HANDS OFF OUR FLICKR pool.

Personally I've heard two or three Flickr users say they'll run for the hills if Yahoo is acquired by Microsoft. I think it's a little early for that. Now, if the deal does go through and they turn Flickr into a big pile o' poo, then I'll start looking elsewhere. Which would be a shame. I like Flickr. A lot.

Pic credit: xenolon.

[Moozik: Cocteau Twins - Iceblink Luck]

Seabound are coming to the US this year. Hooray.

Mar 12 Philadelphia, PA
Mar 13 Washington, DC
Mar 14 New Haven, CT
Mar 15 New York, NY
Mar 16 Rochester, NY
Mar 18 Cleveland, OH
Mar 19 Detroit, MI
Mar 20 Chicago, IL
Mar 22 Austin, TX
Mar 23 Houston, TX
Mar 24 Dallas, TX
Mar 26 Seattle, WA
Mar 27 Portland, OR
Mar 29 San Francisco, CA
Mar 30 Los Angeles, CA

[Moozik: Fields Of The Nephilim - The Tower]

So another year has come and gone which means I watched my annual American Football game. A mostly boring game I thought except for the ending minutes of the last quarter. Which, I might add, I almost missed due to a moment of DVR comedy gold. This year's commercials were also disappointing. I think I liked the two Pepsi commercials and that's about it. In fact I think the best part of this year's game was Tom Petty at halftime. Well, that and the fact that the game was in my neck of the woods was quite the novelty.

For yesterday was Glendale's big day. The stadium itself is in walking distance from my house and for the past 4 or 5 days our neighborhood has been barricaded meaning you have to show your residence pass to get through. You know, to thwart those pesky out-of-towner's parking their cars where we don't want them ;-) Traffic has been a nightmare since Friday. We've had more helicopters & planes fly overhead than I can remember and the other night the Goodyear Blimp decided to hover over my house for a while. Went over to Westgate on Friday night to see how popular the NFL Experience and other pre-Superbowly activities were. There were so many people, the bars and restaurants were packed and everyone seemed to be having a great time.

I'll probably never live this close to a major sporting event again and it would have been nice to experience the atmosphere of being at a Superbowl. It's just a shame the face value of the tickets were so high. Paying $500+ each to see two teams I didn't really care about play a sport I only have a passing interest in is a little hard to justify. To put it in football terms, it's like an American paying 250 quid per ticket to go watch Bristol play Exeter in the FA Cup Final I suppose ;-)

[Moozik: The Cure - The Big Hand]

After a few days of feeling under the weather and not sleeping very well, it all caught up with me last night. So, Captain Lightweight went to bed at 8:30pm and woke up around 8:45am. I haven't had that much sleep in a loooong time. And I feel a new person for it. Sleep, I recommend it ;-)