August 2003

Wahey! Woohoo!! Yippee!!!

August 26, 2003

My weblog reached 10,000 hits at some point overnight. For reasons inexplicable, this makes me kinda happy.

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Kitten troubles

August 26, 2003

Seems that Neil Gaiman is having kitten nasal self-insertion problems. I sympathise. Although he should be grateful that it's a small kitten with stripes attempting to climb into his nostril, and not Fflwff.

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1602

August 26, 2003

I can’t remember the last time I looked forward to a new comic as much as I’ve been looking forward to 1602. I’ve been avoiding Forbidden Planet for years, too frightened of maxing out my credit cards to dare step foot in there, but today I braved it in order to get my hands on […]

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That's the garden done

August 25, 2003

With the help of a couple of my neighbours, I've managed now to get the garden sorted out. Don't think it's ever looked quite so… er, “good” just isn't the right word. That garden has never looked good. Now it looks tidy, and that's about the best I can say for it. However, it's one […]

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A few minor questions

August 25, 2003

Ok… Here's what I don't get. Why do some men think… – muscle shirts are attractive – being drunk makes up for not being attractive – the fact that I'm nice enough to be polite means that I'm also stupid enough to put up with your shit – an aroma of stale sweat, fags and […]

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Yo ho! Yo ho! A pirate's life for me!

August 25, 2003

What is it about big, swooping orchestral scores, with rip-roaring rabble-rousing anthems that makes me want to swish my fingers around in the air as if I were some sort of demented John Barry? Klaus Badelt's score for Pirates of the Caribbean is as marvellous as the film. Particularly The Black Pearl, a track with […]

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So, what are you doing with the long weekend?

August 24, 2003

8pm on a Sunday. The sky is blue, the balmy summer evenings not yet behind us. Across town, 55,000 people are drinking too much Bacardi Breezer, discovering that their mobile phone has no signal just when they need it most, and fervently hoping that the crunchy bit in the baked potato they’ve just eaten won’t […]

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Hm, maybe a good time to leave

August 23, 2003

I happened to be awake at 5am this morning. Now, Reading is a fairly peaceful place, but it does have the very occasional problem with violence – stabbings and such. I guess any town does. I live in a fairly dodgy area – Newtown – but I've never seen any problems here at all. Mandela […]

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Absolution – revision

August 23, 2003

I would like to revise my opinion of Muse's Absolution. Upwards. Right… I'm going to go meet K from the station, then we shall start to pack up my house, eat pizza and go watch Pirates of the Caribbean once again. Then tomorrow we shall pack some more, make lewd comments about Johnny Depp, and […]

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Not too pleasant

August 23, 2003

Well, local grapevine tells me that this morning, a few hundred yards upstream, a man was found in the river. He died later in hospital. I'm not saying that incident was related to this morning's loud bang. But it is a somewhat uncomfortable event to have happened so close to home.

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Just to say…

August 22, 2003

Ralph is a very nice man and There Is No Cat is a very good blog. And I'm not just saying that.

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Omg, omg, omg, omg, omg, omg…

August 22, 2003

I just got the script of Pirates of the Caribbean through the email from Terry Rossio. For those that don't know, Mr Rossio wrote the script along with Ted Elliott and kindly via their web site, WordPlay, offered a copy to anyone who wanted it and was quick enough off the mark to email and […]

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As good a read as I thought it was going to be

August 22, 2003

That was a deeply, deeply satisfying read. The script is a mid-production draft, and is as well written as it is filmed. Interesting to see the number of deleted scenes which are sadly only indicated by the scene number and the word 'omitted', except for one exchange between Norrington and Elizabeth that never made the […]

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A couple of minor points

August 21, 2003

1. I've just got my sound card working. Yay!! Yipee!! And hoorah!! This means that I am now listening to the dulcet tones of Mr Matt Bellamy, which are sending shivers up and down my spine, making me catch my breath and generally turning me into a weak-kneed, swooning wreck. The way he sings 'Oooh […]

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The cursed disease of nostalgia

August 21, 2003

Now that I’m packing, it’s making a dent on my psyche and I’ve discovered that I’m having a lot of lasts at the moment. The last walk along the Thames to Tescos. The last of the year’s ducklings. The last of the first ripening chestnuts. The last patch of white and grey feathers where some […]

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