Friday, 5 June 2009

On the Behaviour of Electronic Devices

There is a universal constant... Well, universal as my life goes... that says "No matter how long you procrastinate, a malfunctioning computer will get worse until such time as you make arrangements to replace it. At this point, the malfunctions cease."

And so it goes that my Dell laptop, having done all kinds of crazy things a few weeks ago, has been behaving very well. It's still slowing down dramatically and being generally cantankerous as only a PC a few years old can be, but it's not blanking its screen, showing me scrolling green bars, resetting, or anything along those lines. It's 'back to normal'.

I'm still getting it replaced, though.

So... Long absence from Blogging. Frankly, I haven't had much time for it and, when I've had time, I just haven't been in the mood. There hasn't been a great deal to say apart from the run-of-the-mill work crap, and a few not-so-run-of-the-mill happenings that I can't really write about without getting too specific. Let's just say it has been decided by the higher-ups that a change in culture is required for the office.

I've had some bloody odd dreams these last couple of nights. One was almost a return to my intermittently-recurring dreams of toy shops stacked with TransFormers. This one, however, was almost bare of everything - picture Woolworths in its last few days - but I found, as I browsed, a few carded G1 Bumblebees right at the back of the shop. Upon closer inspection, however, it turned out that they were not exactly G1 Bumblebee... The head could be switched between the cartoon face (of the TakaraTomy TF Collection reissue) and the original toy face, Movie battlemask-style. The gimmick worked by somehow having the original toy face stored folded away in the helmet, which was made slightly larger (as in sticking out further from the chromed plate it was stuck to) than the real thing. It was a neat gimmick, so I picked one up for my boss, who's still on the Bumblebee-collecting jag she picked up after the first live action movie two years ago. Shame it was a dream.

The next weird dream seemed to be a combination of work and Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. I had discovered a plot to assassinate the Pope by some unknown means. Meanwhile, my employers were doing some work on behalf of the Catholic Church. I was scheduled to have a meeting with their local representative one evening, along with two of my colleagues but, due to some strange, unforseen London Transport failure, the meeting was postponed, and I invited my colleagues to stay at my flat overnight, so we could get to the meeting first thing the next morning.

I should mention, at this point, that when I say "my flat", I don't actually mean the one I'm living in... Oh, no... This dream placed me in an enormous, sprawling central London bachelor pad, high above the city streets.

So I set about finding places for my colleagues to sleep in the many rooms of my luxury flat, when suddenly another person arrived at my door, and was let in by one of my guests.

It was the representative of the Catholic Church who we were due to meet in the morning! One of my colleagues had called her, told her of my plan, and invited her over as well.

It wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't acutely aware that, since I knew of the Pope-murdering-conspiracy, They would be sending an assassin my way... and if my finely-honed dream instincts hadn't identified this new arrival as that very assassin!

So while my colleagues set about making her welcome (in my flat! Humph!), I set about blocking myself in my room to avoid being killed in the night.

I woke up before it got interesting...

Popped off to see Night at the Museum 2 last night, and have to say I was impressed - it built upon the original rather than recycling it. I hadn't recognised Amy Adams from the trailer, but she did an excellent job as the jolly, bantering Amelia Earhart and, bizarrely, Ricky Gervais actually presented a likable performance as the curator of the Natural History museum in New York. Hank Azaria's Karloff-inspired performance as an evil waxwork Egyptian king was reliably funny throughout the film, effortlessly stealing the show.

My cabinets have moved in with me now and, following a mishap that broke the glass in one door, all have been secured to the wall. Now all I need to do is start fillin' 'em up and finish transferring boxes from the house.

Over this weekend, I shall be popping back to the house on Saturday for just this purpose... and to take my folks to see Star Trek and then eat out as a 'Thank You'. Then, on Sunday, I'm meeting up with my old mate Paul and heading off to see Terminator: Salvation. What fun.

Toys from the TransFormers live action movie sequel are appearing in shops everywhere... I have already availed myself of the new Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Soundwave and Starscream. Broadly speaking, I'm impressed. The first Movie Prime was good... but this one is incredible, only let down by the twin sword gimmicks that limit his elbow movement. Bumblebee is only subtly altered, but mostly for the better. Sideswipe - while the wrong type of car and the wrong colours - is bloody impressive, and the new Starscream is a bit of a mixed back. Soundwave..? Kinda blah, to be honest.

I've also managed to bag Universe Darkwind - a repaint of Silverbolt that manages to far surpass the original - and Animated Blurr. Both are pretty darned good... but that shopping spree has cost me well over a hundred quid in a month that I wasn't paid my bonus. Ouch.

Oh well... Supposedly I get a double-bonus this month.
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