Well, well, well, tempers boiled over during the Australian Open third round match between Novak Djokovic and Amer Dilic. Bosnian and Serbian fans clashed in scenes usually reserved for international football matches and police were forced to make a number of arrests.
What gets me, is that I find it hard enough to stay awake if tennis is on the TV - let alone get heated enough to start fisticuffs. What on Earth is so exciting about two blokes knocking a ball back and forth that drives people to behave like this? Next thing you know, you'll have flares being set off at the snooker, or shots being fired at the bowls. Some people eh?
Agnetha Faltskog - not found lurking under my duvet.
There I am, just about to get in bed. I pull back the duvet and there's some swede sat there on the bottom sheet. Before you get too excited, we aren't talking Britt Eckland, Lena Olin, or (for those who like your swedes male and well oiled) Dolph Lundgren. The fact is that I'd been peeling some veg earlier in the day and Huckleberry had helped himself to a piece of swede. I should know now, with the ham bones hidden under my pillow (giving me "bacon dreams") or the bonio on the sofa that this shouldn't come as any surprise. It did though. He never ceases to amaze me.
The poor lad has had a rough week, having picked up a bug of some description. After having a few days where he has been listless, wouldn't eat or drink, the hiding of swede in my bed is at least some sign of a return to normality.
The dog is eating, drinking and hiding root vegetables under my duvet, so all must be well with the world.
Here I was, thinking things couldn't get worse and I see news today suggesting that playing golf is bad for your hearing. Apparently the sound of the club hitting the ball is such, that it damages the sensitive parts of the ear. Well, let me tell you, all parts of my ears are sensitive and let's face it, golfers deserve everything they get. Elsewhere, we read that Morris Dancing could become extinct in twenty years, because young people are too embarrassed to take part. Just when you thought the fabric of society was coming apart at its seams, it's reassuring to hear that the youth of today still have some common sense, well you wouldn't hear it if you've been playing golf I suppose. Anyway, with the Morris dancers gone, Saturday shopping in Bury St Edmunds town centre should become more tolerable. Maybe we could also do something about toddlers in Starbucks. Ahhhh...... who said January was boring?
I'm not the biggest fan of this time of year. After the excesses and hype around Christmas, January isn't so much a "chill out" room to December's "rave", rather a bucket load of Mogadon with some cold weather thrown in. Anyway, at this time of the year I always like to see which bands may be the ones to watch. This young lady may seem slightly odd, but given how much I like Devendra Banhart, Joanne Newsom and their like, I think her album, when released, would fit right in with those.
In Stowmarket last night for BURPS and stopped off at the Stowmartian branch of Tesco for refreshments. There we were confronted by this handsome chap. I should have bought him on the spot, but I seem to remember that the eating of pomegranates is one of those tasks that's tricky in the way that setting up a base on the moon, discovering the elixir of life, or taking Cambridge United to a European Cup final is tricky.
I've spent at least half of today playing Eve Online. For those in the know, I'm playing a Minmatar character. The new PC really handles all the graphics and such, plus email and all the usual stuff I have running in the background without even climbing out of bed. Will I be playing it tonight with the lack of Bridge going on? Quite probably. Anyway, I had a wildlife moment this evening. Out with the dog in the fading light and murk, there were at least half a dozen bats going about their batty business; flying only a couple of feet from my head on occasion - quite special it was. There aren't any pictures though - you know with it being dark, bats being pretty quick and the camera being at home and all.
Finally, I'm really getting into the new Isobel Campbell/Mark Lanegan offering. I wanted to get a live performance from the album to post here, but the best I could do was an audio stream. If you haven't heard - please feel free :)
I was lucky enough to take in the 10am showing of the new Bond film: Quantum of Solace last Friday. Before I go on, I must say I was really surprised at the number of under tens in the theatre. When I was queueing behind a family of five with one girl who couldn't have been more than seven years old, I wrongly assumed they were going in to see the new High School Musical movie, or something suchlike. I was so wrong. They were going to watch Bond. I know QoS is a 12A which I believe is a little like the old PG, where parents are given the choice. I also know that the filmmakers made an effort to squeeze within a 12A, but this is the same classification given to Casino Royale. Given the extent of the torture scenes in the previous film (which to be fair, were true to the novel), I'm surprised that any sane parent would even consider taking a child to the new movie. I don't know what the driving force behind the BBFC is, but more alarming to me, despite their advice, is the thought that taking a seven-year-old into that screening is considered sound parenting.
Rant over.
The new harder edged Bond of Daniel Craig owes a lot to the Bourne movies. The close combat scenes, the more serious approach and fast pace are something which were alien to the franchise in the days of Pierce Brosnan and it doesn't really come as any surprise that some of the crew from the Bourne series appear behind the camera on QoS. The film has a very sparse, raw feel and at times seemingly moves at a million miles an hour. If you blink, or are content to dive into a two gallon tub of cola then you might just miss something crucial. It has the dark feel of Dalton era movies and will definitely not make comfortable family viewing. That said, I loved it. I've always enjoyed the Bond movies and none as much as the Daniel Craig movies. I know reviews are mixed, but the fact is that this is probably the closest the Broccolis have got to the Fleming's original creation. Bond is cold, ruthless and flawed and I think Craig has this off to a tee. It's a fast paced adventure and for the first time in the franchise's 46 year history, one film follows on from the next. It's an action movie, yes, but with the usual Bond elements. It does owe an awful lot to the Bourne series though. The nonsense you may hear about the title not being referenced is just ridiculous. Yes, "Quantum" has it's own meaning within the film, but the title is just to do with what Bond is trying to achieve. Seriously guys, it's not that complicated.
I don't want to spoil it for anyone who is thinking of going to see it, just two tips:
If you're thinking of taking a young child to see it - don't. It's far too violent.
It's been a good while since I posted here. Well given what I said about seasons in my last post, it feels as though I've jumped an entire year, since we've quite obviously had Autumn, Winter and Spring, so today's Peacock butterflies suggest that Summer can be only just be around the corner.... yes? Oh well, maybe not. Let's just say that this post marks my return.
To be honest, these last few weeks have found my mind elsewhere with Huckleberry suffering a serious health scare that not only taxed the bank balance, but also left me guessing as to whether he'd pull through. Add to that some family issues and the construction of the German navy's finest battleship has had to take a back seat. Let's hope Herr Hitler decides to postpone his Atlantic ambitions for the time being.
As an aside to this, I hadn't managed to make it to my usual roleplaying meet for I think three weeks, so it could be said that I've been something of a social hermit for nigh on a month. Despite that, I've kept up with some work on my campaign, but also trying to hone my cardplay skills on BCL for Bridge next Tuesday these last few days. Thankfully things have got better and despite everything, life is getting back to normal, so I should be here more regularly. "Hoorah", I hear you cry!
Anyway, if you're able to, check out the BBC iPlayer for the latest season of Later with Jools and The Wrong Door a brand new sketch show that callenges the Fast Show formula that has been adopted by every sketch show for the last ten years. For now, I'm off to make some falafel, so if you're down-wind of me for the next 24 hours, take heed. Incidentally, the vid is a rare acoustic number by Amy Turnnidge also known as Theoretical Girl. See, not everything from Southend makes you want to eat your own spleen.
You have to love the BBC's promo video for their Beijing Olympics coverage. Apparently those animators for Gorillaz are behind it. Anyone that remembers the Monkey series from the early eighties will particularly enjoy it.
With John away for the week I took over running the game last night.
I haven't regularly run for a couple of years, so it was interesting and possibly a little nerve wracking particularly as I didn't have the assistance a glass of something strong to build me up (hint). The game took place in a low-ish fantasy world that I've had ideas for, for some time. With Fractal Mapper, I was able to quickly knock up a regional map that didn't instantly provoke derision and turned out ok. The game went well and with it being Tom's last night I really wanted to be something I could conclude in the one night. It's not something I'm entirely used to as I like to let my campaign run at its own pace, for example, if the party want to go bear hunting, well the structured part of the scenario can take a back seat. With it being a one-nighter, it had to be more a case of "ok you've gone hunting and you've caught....". Still, I thought it worked as a reasonable introduction to the campaign world and it's something I'll ready to revisit as and when.
I used the D&D 4e rules last night - well sort of. All the dice rolling involved skill checks and while there was no actual combat taking place, it was good for everyone to have pre-gen characters (thanks Tom!) that they could at least use as a visual reference. I'm still not entirely convinced which rules system I want to bastardize and ignore, though if I was to choose an alternative to 4e, I could choose between Cthulhu, 3.5e or maybe even the AD&D 1e rules. I'm steering away from Runequest, probably because it's not a system I've been overly taken with, but we'll see. In the meantime, Tom's back home for the summer and may in the future make his way back to Bury St Edmunds, so best wishes to him and the rest of his course. Next week, we're back in John's Gaslight Cthulhu game, so that'll be good. We may even have someone new to play with us, who knows :)
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