Archive for the ‘Distractions’ Category

With the exam period underway this Tuesday’s Atheist Society meeting was designed to let people switch off and relax from the constrant headache of revision. As such we screened Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

Every time I watch the film I remember just how much of an amazing film it is. Even the one liners are complex, brilliant dialog that makes you laugh. What a film.

Went for another trip to the park today to try and find some of the sights I had already observed on Google Earth. Normally I would simply be content with this but given they were in the middle of the park rather than by the side of the road I couldn’t get an image on Street View 😉 .

While having a dig around to try and get Leanne out of the whole she had got herself into I found an interesting trick I can do with my laptop (and perhaps with my desktop but I don’t want to try it because I’ve got a dual monitor setup and all my applications positioned just as I like them).

If I hit Ctrl+Alt and an arrow key it will change the orientation of my screen so I can turn my laptop screen on it’s side. While this is fairly common with the new crazy swirly screen laptops and indeed fancy flat screen monitors, I had no idea I could do it with such a wide range of machines includng my laptop.

Of course, being a geek, the fact that this had virtually no practical value and nor would I ever really find it useful or want to do it is irrelevant – it’s just, because I can 😉 .

Does anyone else remember the Jonathon Creek episode where Adam Klaus is doing that reality TV show in which he has to live like a pig?

It was called “Animal Farm” and appeared in the episode “Gorgons Wood”, originally broadcast in February 2004.

I don’t know about you but I found it very amusing. The parody of reality TV, imagining our television programming would ever stoop so low was simply hilarious. I mean who would even make, let alone watch, such a ridiculous and interlectually bankrupt programme?

Anyway, it starts next Thursday on BBC Three.

With a last minute lack of turnout on Monday night, I headed down to Club 360 at HiFi with Chris T to check out Subculture who had invited me down to watch them play.

There are quite a number of bands playing, each with their own unique style shall we say 😉 . I was impressed by Subculture, they got the crowd going and the music was good which is all you can really ask for from a gig.

I was somewhat suprised the other day when my housemates and guests began discussing the Christmas special episode of Jonathan Creek. Namely because I had no idea such an episode had been made, after all the show has been gone for five years. Gone though not forgotten apparently, wiping out it’s competition to take a 36% market share and rightly so too!

Jonathan Creek is an amazing show and news of it’s report, albeit it for only one episode was most welcome indeed. Though having read over the news articles surrounding it, perhaps there will be further specials, though not a new series, based on the warm reception this special received.

As usual the mystery was a good one, though I will admit not to the standard of brilliance that the original episodes reached. I got as far as working out that the attic room they were looking at outside was not in fact the attic room they were in while inside but that is almost a given, given it’s JC and that is as far as I got.

Fingers crossed when that there will be more specials though in any case I think I am going to have to re-watch some of the original episodes and once again bask in the splendor that is Jonathan Creek’s mind at work, even if he is a fictional character.

Having spent Monday in bed recovering I managed to make it to the outside world on Tuesday which worked out quite well with A-Soc’s end of term no-brainer meeting, a screening of Evan Almighty.

I hadn’t seen it before but it turned out to be a good movie, it wasn’t quite as funny as Bruce Almighty but certainly had it’s moments. It really got me thinking how much I appreciate non-Hollywood movies these days, a break from the standard feature film format really has become something of a treat in this day and age but adds so much to the movie.

Having arrived late to the pub quiz due to technical difficulties I will later elaborate on, we headed up for some food and ended up sitting around in the car park when someone pulls out a rugby ball.

I’m going to be honest, playing rugby at half 11 on a Sunday night in a cark park isn’t were I thought my weekend would end up. Not that I’m complaining. We also got a game of football in and by the end of it, well, sport and computer scientists don’t mix. But it makes me feel slightly better about the amount of junk I eat so it all works out for the best in the end I guess.

As I previously mentioned, I am now fully caught up with the latest adventures of Doctor Who.

I originally had a rant about the series finale, which I stand by though having talked to Rich last Tuesday I think he nailed it when he said it’s just generally a celebration, especially given it is the last series to be masterminded by Russell T Davis and you just have to talk it with a pinch of salt, sit back and enjoy it.

It’s been a good return for the show. I think the first few series really nailed it as they had consistently good episodes which I was less true of the later series though they never the less featured some very good episodes.

End of the day, it’s good to see we still produce good cult television. Only two months to the Christmas special, that’s something to look forward to in the holiday season at least.