Back from holiday...

...to droppage from Amazon. French zombie flick Horde, Big Bang Theory Season 4, and a box set of classic 50's SF B movie gems (including Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Tarantula and This Island Earth).  These wee gems should keep me going for a bit :-)

Things in work are getting....interesting.  Some things changing for the better, but with the merger, there's also been a decided step back in a certain area, pretty much because that's the way some people have "always done it", and they don't seem to want to get up to date with the everyone else.  But hey, it's makes my life easier, even if it creates more work for others.

Currently rocking out to.....

Alex Harvey live at the BBC. And rather excellent it is too.

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Ignorant arse

Got off the train this morning, and when I was walking across the concourse, a guy in front of me just blatantly stopped reading his Metro, and dropped it on the concourse.  I hat idiots like this.  Where the hell were the litter wardens with their £50 fines?   Too busy fining women who's kids in a pushchair have spilt a pack of crisps on the ground (I HAVE seen this happen on more than one occasion).

Aaaargh.

Monsters

Yesterday, after an in-line skating session (fun fun fun), we stuck on the latest movie from LoveFilm, Monsters. It's brilliant.  A sort of SF road movie.  NASA probe crashes with samples of alien life, which then grow, resulting in what's called the "Infected Zone", a huge swathe of land between America and Mexico, which is pretty much a no-go area.

Cue rich American girl who's father is determined that she's getting home, and who tells a photographer who works for his magazine, to make sure she gets home safe.  After missing the last ferry of the season to leave for the US, and having their passports stolen, the only option left is to travel overland through the Infected Zone.

It's a cool movie, and there's a quite touching scene when two of the creatures encounter each other at a gas station our couple are sheltering in.

Monsters is genuinely different to other movies, and is well worth checking out.

Dammit...

.....I'm knackered.  TFIF :D

Plan for tonight - laze in front of telly.
Plan for tomorrow - take Rosie to vet to get weighed.  Grand Ole Opry at night
Sunday - in-line skating.

But for now, I'm outa here.

WIDATW

Friday after work, fellow zombie nut Ed came over to drop off a stack of dvds he'd borrowed.  Think he might have pulled a girl at work, as she was constantly texting him.  He's worse than me at picking up on signs.

On Saturday morning, there was an extra karate class which was good fun.  Especially as there was bo and jo staffs involved, and we were going over basai dai, which is a kata I've just started learning.  So there was plenty to take in.  Really need to pick up staffs for me and K.

On Sunday, we went in-line skating.  There's a class at the gym at my work on a Sunday morning, and it was a blast.  The instructor managed to get me to do things that I couldn't do when I was ice skating, so I was really chuffed.

Good fun weekend.  Only two weeks now till the holiday :-)

That was awesome

As you may or may not know, I'm a huge horror fan.  I'm especially a fan of all things Lovecraftian and zombie.  For a fan of zombies, the last week and a bit has been amazing, as I was working as an extra on WWZ.  The experience of spending a week working on a film was incredible, but the cherry on the cake was the fact it was not only a horror, but a zombie flick.

I'm so happy I got the oppertunity, and I'm gutted it's over.  I'm also relieved it's over, as I don't have to get up at 5am every morning now, so there's a silver lining.

Really looking forward to seeing the movie when it comes out.

Plugging the gaps in the dvd collection

Got given a gift card for HMV, so at lunchtime, I picked up a couple of movies I've meant to get for some time.  The latest Romero zombie flick, Survival of the Dead, the latest Resident Evil, Afterlife, and one I missed at the cinema, Scott Pilgrim.  That should keep me going for a bit.

Sunshine

I know a lot of people hate this movie, but me, well, I love it.  I don't really care about the dodgy science that everyone goes on about, I just really enjoy this film.  It looks good and it's a good story.

I was supposed to be doing something else today but it's been delayed, so it's sunshine, then lunchtime karate for me.

My take on the London riots

Ok, there was an interview with one of the rioters on tv this morning.  It's easy to assume from the way he was talking that he's not exactly educated, so he probably didn't attend school, so got no qualifications, so can't get a job, so has no money.  Now, ultimately this is HIS fault, but does he see that?  Like hell, it's the government's fault.  It's them to blame for his total unemployability.
Cause and effect.  You thought it was fun to arse about in school, and now you've no job/cash, but it's "society's" fault?  That's the level of genius that's rioting.

And another thing, how does burning down houses in the area you live in help your social situation?

Arsewipes the lot of them.  This is not a politically motivated riot.  This is a mob jumping on the bandwagon of a protest at a man being shot, and using their "anger" to loot shops.  They couldn't care less about the guy who died, all they care about is the nicking the biggest plasma in the shop.

What have I been up to lately?

Well, I went to the costume fitting and didn't have to buy any new t-shirts or anything for it, so that was good.  Other than that, I'm off to see Maiden Scotland only a couple of weeks after seeing Iron Maiden.  One month the real band, the next, the best tribute doing the rounds.

We've got a holiday booked for next month, so I can't wait for that, and there's a karate course this Saturday, which should mean I'm suitably knackered before heading out to the Maiden Scotland gig.

I'm really getting into reading on the kindle, it's possibly the best gadget I've got.  So far I've bought River of Gods by Ian McDonald, World War Z by Max Brooks, and a few ARCs from Angry Robot.  So, that should keep me going for a bit.

The long term plan is to fill the kindle with all the Pratchett books, as every time I've had to have a clear out, it's the Pratchett books that have gone.  This was basically because I don't think there's any danger of them EVER going out of print, making them the easiest to replace.

WWZ

So, I've got an email with a list of colours of clothes to take along to the WWZ fitting tomorrow.  No white, no black and no large logos.  Can you tell I'll pretty much stuffed then.  I pretty much live in black tour shirts.

Oh well, maybe a wee trip to ASDA for a couple of cheap tshirts.

Kindle update

I got my replacement Kindle yesterday, and OMG what a cool piece of kit.  Never again will I have to have a book clearout as I don't have shelf space.

I don't think it's going to stop me ever buying another dead tree book, but the vast majority of my purchase will now be ebooks.

Corporate buzz words

Is it just me?  Am I weird?  I HATE corporate buzz words.  You know the kind of thing, "are we all up to speed?" or "think outside the box", phrases that actually mean nothing, and are usually said by people trying to sound important.

Well, I just heard one that nearly gave me the boak.  "touch bases".  Seriously, wtf!  It's crap.  Say what you mean.  Say "get together and discuss this" not "We should touch bases".  Do you have any idea just how wanky that sounds?

Aaaaargh!

Dead kindle

Yesterday, the Kindle K bought me for my birthday arrived, and it's dead.  It charges, the laptop can see the contents, but the screen is not working.  3 calls to Amazon's Kindle support (which is on an 0800 number, so well done Amazon), and various attempts at kickstarting the bugger, all with no success.  They're sending out a replacement today, and the gubbed one is going back by courier tomorrow.

I'm pretty impressed with the tech support, and the speed of the replacement process (it should arrive within 2 days), but K is a bit peeved that her pressie didn't work.  It's electronics, it can't be helped.

Cycling rant (pt2)

A while back I did a wee rant about the state of the roads in Glasgow being a danger to cyclists, and that the money the council spends promoting cycling was basically being pissed up against the wall, as people would be reluctant to take up cycling considering the state of the roads. Well, here's part 2, which justifies my initial rant.

Someone I know in work who also cycles in daily, and is in fact cycling daft (his idea if a relaxing weekend usually involves about 60 miles on the bike).  On Sunday he was out on a bike run with another work mate, and on the way back into Glasgow, coming down the Switchback, his front wheel hit a pothole.  He went over the bars, hitting the other cyclist, who somehow managed to stay on his bike.  Being clipped in, when he went over the bars, the bike came with him.  He's now in the hospital with a double skull fracture.

The guy who was with him thought he was a gonner, as he was making a "death rattle" sound in his throat.  Fortunately, he's still alive.

After accompanying him to the hospital, his mate headed back up to the site of the accident to take a photo of the pothole, but guess what, it had been filled in.  Funny that.  The police apparently have photos though, as if he had died they would have been needed for a fatal accident inquiry.

Just shows, someone is almost killed and the pothole gets filled just like that.  Would it have been filled if he hadn't crashed on Sunday?  Call me cynical, but I doubt it.

Weekend stuff

Well, on Friday after work me, Fi & Pete, headed for a pint after work for a couple of drinks.
On Saturday, me and K headed over to Silverburn for a bit, then pretty much spent the rest of the day vegging in the garden and getting slightly sunburnt.

Today, we went to Saltcoats, which I've not been to since I was a kid.  The town was pretty much closed, with only a couple of shops open (hey, it was Sunday), and the odd pub (we hit Weatherspoons, as they were having a cider festival).  We also took in a walk along the beach and grabbed an ice cream.  The beach and the seafront are really nice, but it's not got as much to do as Troon, and there's the feeling that it's been allowed to run down a bit.

 Sunny Saltcoats

 Karen on the beach

 Arty shot of shadow and toe

 On the beach

 Obligatory self portrait

 Wish you were here

 Man and double nougat in perfect harmony

Screeeeaam for me Glasgow

And lo, Glasgow DID scream for him.  Yes, Bruce, Janick, Adrian, Dave, Nico and (last but not least) Steve totally blew the roof off the SECC last night.  There was a decent mix of the new album and some total classics, so that should have kept everyone happy.  The new stuff actually works really well live.

Yeah, that was an awesome gig.

Update thingy

So, after a hectic weekend involving a ceilidh, my wedding anniversary, and a friends daughters' wedding, followed by a bank holiday to recover, only we spent it gutting the house, I finally got to veg last night.  The only problem being, that vegging meant missing the Queensryche/Judas Priest gig at the SEC.  Ah well.....

Anyway, tonight it's the Maiden gig at the SEC, and it'll be Karen's first time seeing them.  Should be a good one, Airbourne are supporting.

Wedding bells.

Just back from the wedding, and what a do it was.  The food was good the drink was good, the venue was excellent.  Oh sod it, here's some pics.

The happy couple

Man with a pint

Me and Karen

Yeah, great night, and all the best to Tegan and James.