Category Archives: Uncategorized

snap decisions, the perils thereof

So the Killers song turned out to be quite fun in the end. And now I have an even more humbling retraction to make. After repeated exposure, the new My Chemical Romance song turns out to be a big ball of emo bombast which is actually somewhat irresistible. I know, I know, sign me up for a MySpace page and photograph me looking up at the camera. But I can’t resist epic pop, I really can’t. This is why I own a Muse album and consider the last minute of System of a Down’s Chop Suey to be utter genius. It’s all very embarrassing. I have no doubt that Flapjack will taunt me mercilessly upon reading this, but there you go. Sometimes you have to go with your gut.

Now I’m off to write in my LiveJournal about how the only thing that really scares me is myself.

moth is listening to: My Chemical Romance
Mood: ^_^ Kawaii!

It’s the bomb that will bring us together

Americans – and by this I mean inhabitants of the USA – cannot be trusted with anything.  While playing a kangaroo-based version of Hangman recently (it’s called Hangaroo. Do you have a problem with that?  It’s the least of my worries), the category "French cuisine" came up.  The answer was something along the lines of "Crispy cheese puffs".  Okay, not really understanding French cuisine, there.  Then came the category "Indian delicacies".  The answer – the Kangaroo swung for this – was "Banana Raita".

Seriously, this is what they do with food and this country is trusted with thermonuclear explosives.

I am currently listening to

the new My Chemical Romance single (on the radio, I’ve not gone insane and bought it).  No sign of a hook turning up yet.  Heaven help us if they ever discover structure.  Judging by the twiddly guitar, they’ll turn into a sort of emo Iron Maiden.  It’s just noise!  They make me feel old.

Going on outside my office right now

The biggest funeral I have ever seen. I can count 7 black cars with huge flower arrangements on top, but there may be more round the corner. Two hearses, because the flowers wouldn’t fit in just one. Dozens – possibly hundreds – of people. A speaker set up outside to broadcast to the inevitable overspill. I have no idea who the man they’re there for is (I intially wondered if they were re-burying Diana), but he’s “Daddy”, “Uncle” and “Pal”. A woman with a double pushchair went in before everyone else. Details tell a bit of the story…

comment is free

Fuck’s sake. I set the settings, I know I did, so anonymous comments were not allowed. Somehow that setting changed and the fucks spammed my blog. And it’s not like their urls even do anything! Fuckers! Deleting…

no! no I don’t want it!

I don’t want your stupid free newspaper!

They’re like a plague in London right now. Walk 20 yards down any street (this is in the City, not sure about elsewhere, but I imagine it’s similar for most of the centre) and you could theoretically end up clutching 13 papers. Not different papers, mind. 7 copies of London Lite and 6 of thelondonpaper. On Friday they were handing out bits of the Telegraph. Enough! At least give me an alternative to all these right-wing publications (London Lite is produced by Associated Newspapers, fount of all things Daily Mail, thelondonpaper is Murdoch’s News International. The Torygraph hardly needs an introduction).

And they’re so bloody aggressive at the moment. I understand it’s something to do with gaining the distribution right within the stations themselves (as Associated’s Metro does in the mornings), but fuck! Back off, baseball cap-wearing paper-muggers! If I want it, I’ll take it. Don’t shove it at me.

Having said all that, if you need something to wrap your kitchen waste in before putting it in the recycling bin it’s an ideal situation out there…

well, that was an anticlimax

Pete wins. Angels still get their wings. Hurrah for everything and oh god the British public have let me down again. They were doing so well! Nikki came out fifth! Then Aisleyne came out third and, well, then I dunno. Went to another channel.

The end is nigh

if you don’t watch Big Brother, stop reading now.  I’m about to go on about all the finalists one by one and you won’t find it even faintly interesting.  If you do watch it, you’ll find it dull too.  But at least you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Glyn:  I think I’m slightly out there on Glyn, but I hate him quite irrationally.  I just see his eyes staring out from those beetling brows as he pronounces someone boring and posh because they have an English accent, or they refuse to let him play with their boobies, or they don’t like black pudding, or they may have once said that Wales isn’t the best place in the world ever and I find myself wanting to shake him by his shoulders until his supposed big brain rattles its way out of his gormless mouth.  Of course, it’ll be closely followed by a torrent of Welsh, and cider-scented vomit.    His recent pronouncement that he was "fooled" by Aisleyne’s breasts was quite marvellous.  And I had high hopes for him in the early stages, too.  Also, for a man so obsessed with Wales, he is surprisingly ignorant of its famous sons (I’m thinking of David Lloyd George specifically here). Could still win, but unlikely.

Jennie:  She’s a bit nothing, isn’t she?  I’ve tried to have a full opinion on Jennie, but I keep failing.  She’s Scouse, I think that’s as far as I get before I’m distracted by a shiny object.  She’s been very rude for no reason to various people (most recently Ais), but this isn’t really a personality, it’s just a way of passing the time in an obnoxious fashion.  Might be a bit of a thickie.  Has absolutely no chance of winning.

Nikki:  Oh, Nikki.  So much fun for so long, then she lost it and we booted her out.  This gave her a chance to relax, refresh, take in her publicity, get a spin-off show sorted, watch every hour of footage she could then return to the house against the wishes of the general public.  Since then she has been a lazy caricature of herself and a vicious, spiteful little Puck to Richard’s guffawing Oberon.  Has been virtually inseparable from odds-on winner Pete since she returned.  Amazing how the possibility of someone winning £100,000 will make them more attractive, isn’t it?  Sorry, sorry.  They Are For Real.  Yeah, as real as Nikki’s tantrums since she returned.  Not a hope of winning.  We evicted her once – was that not clear?

Richard:  He’s a dick, is our Richard.  He’s actually been quite fun over the 13 weeks, a steady balance of self-help gobbledeook and high-camp diary room bitching justifying his longevity.  But he is a bit nasty sometimes and you do wish he’d shut his trap every so often – his every word is not worth hanging on.  Still.  I wouldn’t mind too much if he won, to be honest.  I’m not rooting for him, but I wouldn’t much care.  His future-autobiography (saccharine though it was) actually made me realise that he was, you know, an outsider.  Plunged into this house of British crazies, I hadn’t previously considered his nationality to be an issue – the Canadians are pretty much like us, right?  But imagine if he was Dutch, or Swedish.  We’d be going "Oh, god, poor Richard in with those weird British people!"  I don’t know exactly what my point is here.

Pete:  Eek.  I said at the start that I liked Pete.  I thought he didn’t deserve to be there, that he was a bit too nice, perhaps.  Lucky I carried on watching!  After the first couple of weeks of fun, there followed 8 weeks of moping, sulking and spineless capitulation to whoever was causing him to sulk or mope.  Oh, and much homemade Gamelan.  Then Nikki went back in!  Hurrah!  Pete came out of his shell!  Oh, no wait..  He just attached his shell, limpet-like, to Nikki.  So the last three weeks of the contest basically invovled the others doing stuff while Nikki and Pete indulged in face-sucking dullitude.  Oh, but wait!  What’s this?  Pete’s had a vision?  His dead friend came down from Heaven and told him he’d win Big Brother?  What on odd thing for a dead person to make the trip down here to tell you.  Still, now we know that if Pete wins Heaven still exists!  Also, if you clap your hands hard enough then the fairies will all come back to life.  The most shamelessly manipulative tactic ever seen on Big Brother.  Terrifying.  Still a lock to win, I fear, but I kind of hope not now.

Aisleyne:  Poor old Aisleyne.  Seems like everyone’s had it in for her from the moment she popped out of her box in week 2.  Late arrivals never tend to fare too well, but when she refused to bow down to King Cock Sezer’s bullying (indirectly getting him kicked out in the process), it was maybe possible that she was a stayer.  Her fighting spirit saw her outlive Grace, Lisa and Lea before she was given a fate worse than eviction – the House Next Door.  This quite broke her spirit, and resulted in the return to the main house of a humbled, weepy Aisleyne who flinched at the very mention of the word "nomination".  At first it looked like she’d be all right; she had her defenders (Imogen, the most wonderful follower a leader could have) and, in those days, Jennie both fought Ais’s corner.  But that support has been whittled away and finally destroyed with the return of Nikki, who had taken in the anti-Ais bias of BB’s satellite shows and had her sighted as the enemy to be ruthlessly hounded (something which I can’t help but feel has been picked up by the twitchily-savvy housemates and turned them against her).  Now on the final stretch, it’s just possible that Aisleyne could win it.  Nailing my colours to the mast – as if you hadn’t guessed – I want her to do it.  And remember, if she loses, A UNICORN WILL DIE.

Cutting edge

Greetings from sunny London, centre of International Terrorism! Very exciting to find that there have been raids by armed officers just minutes (on a bus) from the very spot I’m typing from. Meanwhile, everyone intending to make a flight today is packing their wallet into a clear plastic bag and generally queueueueueing. Still, they all seem very sanguine about it. Good for them! As many have pointed out, it’s this or being blown to bits over Boston. Which would you choose?

In other news, can Big Brother finish now, please? Endemol appear to have broken it.