Unwelcome Movements

Got woken up today by my stomach going into revolt (comparisons to certain areas in the Middle East would be distasteful, I suspect). Initially just felt nauseous, but that passed quite quickly once I'd had a sip of water.

I shan't go into what else passed quickly.

Yeah.

I'm still not feeling quite right, but at least I have been able to leave my seat in the bathroom, and have felt no need to return for a good few hours now. In fact, once the worst was over, I was able to go back to sleep, so I actually haven't been out of bed for very long at this point.

Naturally I'm intending to drink lots of fluids, and eat later... perhaps starting with some Miso soup, just to keep things light.

I was supposed to be going out to dinner tonight - to the 'regular, monthly dinner club' which started last month and has already started hitting rocky patches in the river of real life. Kind of funny that, after the first last month, I felt that I didn't want to go to another... and now, having decided I do want to keep going, I'll be missing the second through being unwell.

On the upside, at least I can try to get a few things done... though, considering what a grim day it is, and that I'm not feeling well, I probably won't actually get anything done.

Interesting Fact...

If one tries to post more than about 50 updates in any 24 hour period in Blogger, it turns on word verification.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work all the time... sometimes it just refuses to save changes to your posts, citing a 'form failure', without displaying the word verification form.

I learned this by attempting to get ahead of myself - or, some might say, merely trying to catch up - in another of my blogs. There are many Photobucket images involved and, in an attempt to get the tedious loading of images out of the way, I made a whole bunch of templated draft posts, so all I need to do is fill in the text that's to go with the images.

Of course, that has actually been the stumbling block all along... but now I have nigh on fifty posts ready to go whenever I have time/inclination to write them up, perhaps I'll be more inclined to do the blasted writing.

It has to be worth a try, right?

Tangled up in Grit

Managed to fit in a couple of movies recently - 3D Disney animated extravaganza Tangled, and Coen Brothers western True Grit... Pretty much opposite ends of the entertainment spectrum...

Tangled is a refreshing take on the Rapunzel story, casting the heroine - voiced by Mandy Moore - as a perpetually grounded teen whose mother uses her magical hair to hold onto her youth. Into this happy home comes roguish Flynn Rider - voiced by Chuck's Zachary Levi - reluctantly taking his new friend out into the world with predictable consequences. It's a fun little tale, with fewer songs than you might expect from this kind of Disney, but all the sickly-sweetness you can handle. It's something of a turnaround for Disney, having broken so many of their own conventions with Enchanted, to go back to the traditional, not to say utterly clichéd approach that Tangled takes... but it was fun, and very nearly got me teary-eyed on a couple of occasions.

Meanwhile, back in the Old West, Jeff Bridges' turn as Rooster Cogburn was brilliant... but somehow not quite enough to stop me nodding off part way through, for about ten minutes. There's nothing wrong with the pacing of the film - the Coens often produce quite plodding narratives, but this is not one of them - and it's actually one of their funniest films. Funny in a way that doesn't have you biting your fist, too. Relative newcomer Hailee Steinfeld is utterly amazing... her smart-mouthed delivery is spot on every time, and she seems to have been born for Westerns... which is a shame, considering how few are made these days. Just about every time she opens her mouth, you know you're in for either a blistering tirade, or the kind of clever negotiation that wins the character few friends. When she finally gets her revenge, the moment is over so swiftly it's almost anticlimactic... but that is just one part of the story... and I'll have to try to see it again, aiming to stay awake for the whole thing.

Not much else going on at the moment... I've been lazing around at home, occasionally reading, more often watching TV, DVDs, or playing games (getting on quite well with Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)... and all too frequently whiling away far too many hours on the interwebs.

On the upside, one of my other blogging projects is gaining momentum in terms of number of visits, if not amount of content... but it's certainly filling up faster than I'd expected.

Dilemma

Many, many years ago, back in the days when a trip to the cinema meant seeing two movies - one short, then the main feature (often with - gasp! - an intermission) - I remember seeing a computer-generated movie short which featured a swinging pendulum and a sequence of giant, robotic space fish, each being consumed by a larger one.

Some brief research on the interwebs confirmed my suspicion that this film was named 'Dilemma', but it wasn't until today that I actually found a viewable form of the movie on the internet... And I have to say... that isn't the movie I remember.

The animation I remember - quite vividly, such was its impact upon my impressionable young mind - was that it was almost entirely black, with sharp, angular, very clearly vector-graphic bits and bobs, and a minimalist soundtrack - little more than the cold, echoing tick-tock as the pendulum swung across the screen between scenes. The only parts I remember, in fact, are the robotic space fish and the pendulum... and neither memory matches the linked animation by Halas & Batchelor, from 1981.

In many ways, if indeed this is the animation I saw as a young child, it seems that my memory of the film has been utterly corrupted by the videogame series Darius, in which all the end-of-level bosses are... giant robotic space fish.

That still doesn't explain my abiding memory of that unrelenting ticking and tocking pendulum, swinging back and forth, filling the screen with each progression. Sure, there's a pendulum in the linked movie... but there's no ticking or tocking, only a jangly, wibbly sound.

Is this the movie I think I remember? Am I imagining the harsher, more angular look? And why don't I remember any of the other sequences?

Oh, and... 500th post! Woot!

I can haz lybree card?

More than a week ago, I finally got my act together enough to take the very short walk down to my local library and attempt to sign up. The list of requirements seemed bewildering as it was explained to me, but it boiled down to proof of address and proof of signature. Harrow, it seems, takes its library services very seriously.

And, as it turns out, membership of any Harrow library gives you access to them all. Borrow from one, return to another. The only caveat that stood out was one which is unlikely to affect me in the least: 2 hours per day of free internet access at any Harrow library means two hours at any one library per day. One cannot, for example, use one's two hours at one library, then move on to the next for another two hours.

So. I have a library card. I now don't have to buy books I'm not sure I'd want to keep (what can I say? I don't like throwing them away or passing them on... once they're in my personal library, they are there to stay), so that probably means I can actually give some Stephen King a go, just to see how he makes things scary...

Spent a good chunk of the day assisting in some web design and, with any luck, should be getting the darned thing uploaded tomorrow... We shall see. Some delicate negotiation may be required between the ISP and the domain registration folks who, for some reason, have expressed some reluctance to allow use of the registered domain name by the ISP for something like 60 days. Not quite sure what that's all about... I had access to the one I bought immediately.

Not much else to report, thusfar...

Avaunt, thee!

So, two episodes in to the BBC's new sci-fi drama, Outcasts, and I'm still wondering what the hell is going on. There's a colony on another planet, because something has gone dreadfully wrong on Earth. There's a shipload of new colonists on the way, and I already don't care about the ones I've met, so I have a hard time giving a damn when the ship crashes and most of the new arrivals are killed. There are clones living in the desert, having been used for experimentation because of an infection that swept the colony when they first arrived. The head of security (Hermione Norris on autopilot) seems to be making a play for 'sympathetic estranged mother', 'cold, hard head of security' and 'colony nymphomaniac', sleeping with a guy she'd only cleared of murder minutes earlier. The colony's President does a nice line in speeches, but otherwise doesn't do a great deal other than suddenly act unreasonable for no discernible reason (must be a very frustrating role for Liam Cunningham). One of the 'stars' of the show got killed off by a clumsy and seemingly unnecessary plot device at the end of the first episode, and a new 'star' joined the cast in the second episode, immediately appearing to be some kind of stereotypically dodgy religious nut.

I have to admit, part of me is waiting for it to turn into Dead Space, or for some Shrike-style monster to turn up on the planet... but then I remember this is the BBC. They don't 'do' sci-fi because they don't 'get' sci-fi. It's going to be EastEnders in space, with lots of funky acronyms to make things sound sinister or futuristic. Probably the daftest thing about it is that virtually everyone is English... how unbelievable is it that, however far in the future, the few surviving members of the human race, living on a distant planet, will be English? American, almost certainly. Chinese would be a good bet. European, tending towards those from former Soviet Union states are in with a chance also. English, though? Come off it. And to have a chirpy Irishman in there as well?

Since I woke up at a reasonable hour this morning (actually first woke up at about ten past six, to the sound of a guttering candle) I decided to get my hair cut. It's been getting warmer but, being February, one can't be sure it'll stay that way... Still, it had to be done. My hair has been getting very awkward lately.

There's a really nice place, just down the road from my flat, which had a refurb the day after I last got my hair cut, so it was interesting to pop back in and get a feel for the new look. They've toned down the overhead lighting, so it doesn't give the impression that my hair is thinning more than it actually is, and looks nice and consistent - all the mirrors and cabinets are identical. The atmosphere is what keeps me going back there, despite the higher cost (£16.50 to take my unruly mop back to 'short and low maintenance', without washing and without any gel/wax/whatever at the end) because it really is nice and friendly there. They offer you tea or coffee, and take your coat the moment you walk in. They're incredibly polite. They'll chat to you as they chop... but not so much that you feel they can't possibly be paying attention to your hair.

I've had a different person taming my mane every time I've been, and today's was brilliant. When I said that I get a mixture of reactions whenever I get my hair cut, from "you look younger" to "you look older", she reckoned it doesn't affect my apparent age, but shorter hair definitely looks "better". She also agreed that the lighting is far less harsh now - the spotlights they had were not reinstalled. Once she'd finished the initial buzz-cut, taking the back and sides right down, she suggested that I could get away with not much more than that... I admitted that I'd been thinking much the same, but had changed my mind and gone back to the original 'short and low maintenance' plan because, upon reflection, it looked a bit too much like Hitler - all it needed was an accident when shaving. Laughing so much she nearly had to stop working, she agreed, but admitted that she hadn't thought of that, and that she'd have been required to take a photo if I'd had the moustache.

That is the sort of thing that makes a good hairdresser...

After a brief spell of shopping, I returned home to find my mortgage statement - great news, because that will serve as 'proof of address' for getting myself signed up at the library. Not much else to report so far... But should be heading out to see Tangled later...

Vouchers

After a weekend of doing almost literally nothing, I was sat at this very computer today (I'd like to say "this morning", but I got out of bed after noon) when I decided to take a long walk into South Harrow and investigate the large branch of Sainsbury's at the end of its high street.

Part of the reason for this is that a certain pie company contacted me via a certain other blogging project of mine in response to my review of one of their products. They asked for my address and - lo and behold - a few days later, I received a voucher in the post, to cover the cost of more of their products.

The other part of the reason is that I wanted to cook something, properly and from scratch, and I wanted to be sure to get good quality ingredients.

The route I took was basically straight down the high street from my home, then through a park. I'd passed the park whenever I've been driven home, either from work or from my folks, but never got round to paying it a visit. It's quite a large area, and I'd imagine it looks pretty darned good in the summer... but on a cold (well, warmer than it has been, but still fairly chilly in the wind), grey wintery day, it looked a bit bare and lifeless.

I was more than a little surprised to find what looked like exercise equipment near one entrance, fairly near the children's playground. Might have to investigate them further, once it warms up a bit... but there's certainly something that looks like one of those ski-walkers.

As I came to the park exit I needed, I passed a group of folks who were clearly filming... something. The oldest guy in the group was lying on the ground, with the camera poised directly above him, while the younger members of the group were milling around discussing... whatever they were doing. Strange.

It was quite a pleasant walk, all told, and I wasn't even cramping that badly by the time I got to Sainsbury's. Must try to either do some more walking, or at least figure out my optimal speed of movement, to reduce the cramping I always seem to get in my left shin.

Sainsbury's... kinda disappointed me. Make no mistake, I got all the ingredients I needed and, in some cases, was spoilt for choice. I picked up far more than I actually needed (foreseeing the need for futher experimentation?)... and, since I was there, I also got myself some more cereal - since I'd run out of Dorset muesli yesterday - bacon, microwave rice... and even a packet of biscuits. What I didn't get was anything I could have used my voucher on. If my local shops let me down by stocking nothing, and the nearest Waitrose has but a paltry selection, then South Harrow's Sainsbury's, despite being of approximately the same size, offers an insultingly small range of one product by this company. I shall have to venture further afield... there are other branches of both Waitrose and Sainsbury's on the way to Uxbridge, so I shall have a look in them when I next get the chance.

Once home, I sat down and watched Chronicles of Riddick on DVD... Now, I know I missed this in the cinema, but I'm also certain I've seen it before. I remember Judi Dench appearing, I remember Thandie Newton wearing a very tight dress, and I remember the run across a burning landscape... but I'd got the order of events mixed up, and had completely forgotten half the film. That said, having watched it earlier today, I still don't remember much about it... really not a great film, and the intended trilogy never materialised because, at a guess, this one didn't make enough at the box offices to warrant two follow-ons. Vin Diesel is always fun to watch, and Riddick is a reasonably compelling character - if a little wishy-washy in this, compared with his first appearance in Pitch Black. I can't think why I thought Jack/Kira was played by Dina Meyer, though... but then Alexa Davalos doesn't look completely unlike her... And Karl Urban seems to have a wackier hairstyle in every film he turns up in...

I only got started on the cooking quite late - later than I'd normally start if I was cooking something ready-made - so it's probably no surprise that it didn't go too well. Since this was an experiment, done largely without referring to any existing recipes or instructions, my 'red onion gravy' was very thin... though it certainly packed a punch. I'll have to practice (or possibly seek advice) to get it just right, but it was a good start, for a novice.

Whilst stuffing my face, I watched the first in the BBC's new sci-fi series, Outcasts, and was underwhelmed. It's all very down-played. You'd barely know it was sci-fi, as opposed to 'edgy soap opera' if it weren't for the improbable devices and nigh-constant use of acronyms for just about everything. Oh, and the crashing space ship - that was a bit of a giveaway.

Whether it's the writers, the directors or just the budgets, I don't know... but the BBC doesn't seem to do good sci-fi.

Two Bites, No Catches... Yet

And so it came to pass that, after little more than a week of exchanges emails, I actually got to meet one of my eHarmony matches. Email had been going well - we had a very similar outlook on life and, where we were different, those differences seemed complementary, rather than contentious - so meeting was an obvious and natural step, right?

Well... I'm honestly not trying to retroactively change what had been going through my head here, but I personally felt that a little more email might have been worthwhile. What basically happened is that she grew concerned that I was mentioning a female friend too frequently in my emails and, having had several exes who ditched her to go out with a female friend who'd had feelings for them, wondered if I had feelings for this friend. I explained that we had been good friends for years and that we had investigated taking the relationship further, but that there had been too many points of incompatibility for it to have worked... And, in that same email, suggested meeting up.

Even then, it felt like a knee-jerk or guilt reaction but, on the whole, we seemed to be communicating well, so why not take it that step further?

So we did... meeting up for coffee, uptown, yesterday.

Conversation went as well in person as it had in email, she was certainly very attractive, physically... but I couldn't help but think she came across younger in person than she had electronically. She'd also been quite cagey about the meeting - naming a station, but leaving it till her arrival to actually let me know where she was in the station, having not quite walked past me to get there (that is, when I joined her, I realised I'd seen her in the distance, arriving moments before). And, not wishing to get overly analytical about it, the geography of the rendezvous wasn't ideal - sat opposite each other on a table just too large to reach across comfortably, for starters, and the coffee shop's equipment was just loud enough that I had to ask her to repeat herself a few times. Sure, I could have shuffled round to be closer to her, but didn't want to invade her personal space too much in such a brief meeting... so that's perhaps one mistake on my part.

The upshot being, for several reasons, I had my doubts about the situation and so wasn't necessarily as engaged as I might have been. Being quite a tactile person, the idea of being in that sort of situation and not touching in any meaningful way was quite alien.

Nevertheless, when we parted, a very short fifty minutes later, I felt confident enough to suggest a 'proper' date, in a different situation that might have allowed for better nonverbal communication. We kissed (cheeks only), she blushed... and I went on with my day with a certain glow about me.

Later on, I dropped her an email further explaining my 'proper' date idea but, just after 11pm, I got an email from her saying that she'd had a good time, but hadn't felt the spark she was looking for... and, based on everything I describe above, I could hardly argue. She was nice... very pretty... but there was a nagging feeling of something not quite gelling. Whether it was due to those circumstances I could have changed or better controlled, I don't know... And I do feel somewhat disappointed.

On the upside, I believe that paths cross in life for a reason... and, if nothing else, she introduced me to the Zen writer, Ezra Bayda, and potentially put another few authors back on my reading list.

One can hardly expect one's first date via a service like eHarmony to be perfect in every way, and it'd be silly to settle for the first one that feels 'okay', when there's bound to be someone who feels 'just right'.

Alternatively, perhaps I should just face the fact that I can be a complete moron when it comes to people (women in particular, it would seem), and that I should probably try to avoid the whole 'first date' scenario in future.