Now THAT was a weird dream

Totally bizzare dream last night.  I dreamt one of the lecturers cam into my office with a 2 hole paper punch in his hand and asked me if I had the driver disk for it.

Now, yes, it's a bit weird, BUT, what's weirder is that the academic in particular is very IT literate.  If it had been certain other academics, it would still have been weird, but not quite as weird.

9

Finally got round to seeing 9 last night.  I'd got a loan of it from a neighbour, but I think this is one that might get picked up, as it really is worthy of repeat viewing.
Superb animation, a great story, just really really good.  You could totally empathise with these little rag dolls struggling to survive in a a world destroyed by man.

Can't recommend this highly enough.

Fulci-fest

Last night's Lucio Fulci double bill at the GFT was outstanding.  Sold-out audience was there to see the spaghetti-gore classics The Beyond, and The City of the Living Dead.
There was a Q&A session after each movie, with the stars of the films, Catriona MacCall and Giovani Lombardo Radici.  David Hess, star of the original Last Houuse on the Left, was also in attendance (Last House had been screened on Friday), and he and Giovani had also stared together in The House by the Park.

There was some givaaways, including a dvd signed by Dario Argento, which was won by a girl who managed to list all of Argento's movies in order of  release, with only one error.  No one else even got all the movies! 

Zombie-fest

Lucio Fulci double bill at the GFT tonight.  Seen both movies before, but never on a big screen.  Should be fun.

Kilt query

I'm off to Eastercon in Heathrow over the Easter weekend.  As they're having a ceidlih, I'm thinking of taking my kilt.  When you're travelling with a rucksack, the easiest way to carry a kilt is to wear it for the flight.  Question is, will the kilt pin be a "terrorist" item, will it be classed an offensive weapon just like nail scissors, and have to go in the hold in the rucksack, or will it simply be part of an item of clothing and I'll be able to keep it on the kilt for the flight?

See what you've done Osama!!!  Wearing a kilt used to be simple.  You've partly criminalised my national dress.

Next on the reading list

I tend to multitask when it comes to reading books.  One by the bed, one for the commute (if I'm not cycling), and one in work to read at lunch.

The books being consumed at the moment are only two (I've just finished the bedside book and need to start a new one), and they are :-

Commuting book - The Tao Te Ching
Work book - The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K Dick.

There's also a selection of Byrons poems in a pocket of the courier bag, that can get dug out if the mood takes me.

Tonight I'm off to karate in about an hour, and then home to veg.  Tomorrow night there's a Lucio Fulci double bill at the GFT (Glasgow arthouse/independant cinema), so I'm off there with a couple of friends while K goes to a classical concert I got free tickets for.

Trout and about

Last night I took myself along to the Ressurgence of Trout, the Glasgow city centre SF fan meet-up.  This is on the 2nd Thursday of every month, and is currently at home in the Edward Wylie on Bothwell St.

It was a fun night.  Food was eaten, ale was quaffed, and talk was talked.  Some of it even related to SF !
 There was an announcement of the launch of  Satellite 3 (the successor to Satellites 1 & 2), in the Central hotel in 2012.  If you like conventions and want to come to Glasgow, watch this space for more details.

Aching muscles adn cheesey grins

Was down at the local climbing wall last night, and apart from one OMG! moment when a hold spun as I had all my weight on it (I managed to stay on the wall btw), it was a great night.  Lots of tiring fun.
Managed some more level 6 routes, but weirdly came a cropper on a couple of 5+'s.  I suppose it depends on who has set the route, and the difficulty is reletive I suppose.  Anyway, loads of fun.

Shhh it was a secret gig

On Wednesday night, myself adn three others boldly headed out to deepest darkest Kirkintilloch to see GUN playing a secret warm up gig prior to supporting Lynyrd Skynyrd at the SECC, and the start of their Popkiller 2010 tour.

The gig was in a pub slightly bigger than a postage stamp, and there was about 90 people there by my guess. It was packed solid.  The band put on a brilliant show, and played as if it WAS the SECC they were playing to.  After the gig, the guys came into the crowd and happily mingled, chatted and posed for photos.  It was the first time I'd met them, and they're all really frinedly and happy to chat.

Great gig by a fantastic band.  They're heading out on tour now, so try and catch them if you can.  You won't regret it.

Dan Reed 20 years on

On Monday I went to a small club in Glasgow to see Dan Reed.  This was the first time in about 20 years, as the last time I'd seen him was the last time he played in Glasgow with the Dan Reed Network. 
It was a great show.  Although there was a full - and extremely talented - band with him, there was still an acoutsticy feel to the proceedings.  This was a good thing.  The older DRN songs sound great stripped back like this, especially I'm So Sorry, which while a great song in the original form, is now an extremely poigniant song about a tragic suicide.

This was a really good, gig in an intimate setting.  If you get the chance to check him out, then I really recommend you do.  An extrememly talented guy with a superb backing band.

Ok, so I've included AdSense

But WTF?!  I mean seriously, an ad for Indian Sex!!!  I say again, WTF!?

Do something new every year Part 2

In an addendum to the previous post, it looks like I might have stumbled across this years' new thing quite by accident, at work.  I had to do a wee (extremely wee) bit of html for someone, and quite enjoyed it even though it was extremely basic.  There's an Intro to HTML course running in the work at the end of the month, so I've signed up for it.  As long as they get enough people to sign up - 6 - it's a go-er. 

Here we go again, time to feed the grey matter and stave off senility.

Do something new every year

I like the idea that you should try something new every year.  Karen got back from yoga yesterday and told me about kendo classes in the local sports centre.  Now, this looks great, BUT, they practise Tuesday, Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings.  Tuesday and Sunday are out, as that's climbing wall days.  At the moment, Thursday IS ok, but the karate club I'm in is a Wednesday lunchtime and Friday night, and run by a researcher, who only has 8 months left.  If she leaves, then she wouldn't be able to run the Wednesday, and if she has to move for work then the Friday night could be over, meaning......that I'd have to go to the Whiteinch club we're affiliated with, and it's on.....a Thursday.

So, I'll leave it this year, see how things pan out with the karate club, and possibly give it a go next year.

There's a part of me that is screaming out to me to de-clutter.  I find this incredibly hard to do so, as I am a hoarder.  I used to have a bag full of old tour shirts from the 80's when I started going to gigs.  Now, these t-shirts were pretty much all medium.  My build means I now wear XL.  I could wear L, but I find them a little tight under the arms.  Anyway I struggled with myself for months before getting rid of them, but the charity shops benifited at least.

The problem now is that I've a pile of football shirts from countries I've visited (Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal), and I don't even like football.  Every country seems to be a bit footie daft, and it's a cheap (usually) souvenir of a trip, but - and here's the rub - I don't think I've ever worn any of them, so they are jsut lying un a drawer takin gup space.

My head says "Charity shop" but I've having a real problem letting go.  There's more than the footie shirts, but that's the best example.

Pretty much accepting the new level of suck that is work.  On a cheerier note, I'm of to the theatre tonight to see Fiddler on the Roof.  Before that we're going for some Japanese, and before THAT, I've been instructed to sit in the pub until K arrives.  Doesn't get much better than that :-)

I'm toying with the idea of having a teetotal March.  I want to raise my fitness level and lose a little gut, so it can't hurt, although, it might not make any significant difference as I don't really drink much anyway.  I can but see.

Had an enoyable weekend doing nothing.  I jsut basically vegged out and caught up on the last of Season 1 of True Blood, which was pretty cool.

While it's good to get away from work and do something else, it's also good to occasionally do absolutely nothing but veg out.

Just heard a song on the radio that I've not heard in ages.  The lyrics just resonate so much with me. Marillions' Script for a Jester's Tear will always give me goosebumps and make me maudlin.

Today was the complete opposite of yesterday.  Just before lunch I get an email from my line managed sent to myself and a collegue asking for a plan for a new layout and new furniture for my room.  The furniture in here is about a year old, so I asked him why new furniture was being bought and he said for the new people coming into the room !  Now, I'm only the person occupying the room, a little warning that the occupancy was going to go past the three it's currently laid out for would be nice. 

Oh, and BTW, where exactly are you going to put them, as the last remaining wall is a glass partition.  How exactly are you going to put the trunking for the power and network cables along a glass partition?

I've said I want moved out.

I was on the recieving end of a random act of kindness today, when one of the lecturers in work, who was in front of me in the queue for coffee, waited till I'd ordered, told the girl to make it large, and paid for it.

Things like that restores my faith in humanity.

SIXTY-ONE NAILS

There's a quote on the cover of Sixty-One Nails by Mike Shevedon, calling it the "Neverwhere for the new generation."  This is true, but the book is oh so much more than a mere Neverwhere clone.

The story follows the exploits of Naill.  Divorced and living a crummy life of work, home, sleep, work, his life is thrown into turmoil when he "dies" on the platform while waiting for a tube, and is rescucitated by an old woman who turns out to be one of the Fayre.  She explains to Naill that he is in fact a half-breed, part fayre, part human, and that there are seven fayre courts.  Six of which bred with humans to continue the bloodline, and the seventh - the Untainted - which refused to, and withdrew, promising to return and restore the land to the way it was before humans.

When he "died" one of the Untainted tried to enter his body, and she managed to prevent it.  Unfortunately they were now aware of his existance and the fact he's a mongrel.

With the Untainted trying to kill him, and also cross back into this world, Naill and his saviour discover that the only thing keeping the barrier up that prevents the Untainted from carrying out their wish is an ancient ritual, that is carried out once a year.

The battle is on for Naill to stay alive and with the help of his saviour - Blackbird - to ensure the ritual takes place and the barrier held intact.

Sixty-On Nails is an absolute page turner.  It's one of those books you really don't want to end.

The comparison to Neverwhere is only accurate in that it IS and urban fantasy, and it IS taking place in a world hidden beneath/behind our own, that we might just glimpse, but never see.

Highly recommended.