Archive for the ‘Distractions’ Category

Play.com has begun selling DRM-free MP3 music downloads! This has to be a big step forward to widespread availabilty of DRM-free downloads which is looking like the only way copyright owners are ever going to prevent (or at least reduce) illegal downloading on their work.

Tracks are available for £0.65 which is competitive to say the least and they claim to have a library of millions of tracks. While there is a lot of stuff in there I haven’t heard of, that may just be because I’m getting old – just looking down the list of top sellers I notice Arctic Moneys, Queen, Phil Collins, Stereophonics and plenty of others so there are plenty of big labels on board with this.

Watching season 18 of The Simpsons it is rewinding me why I love the show so much. It’s still fresh and original, it’s still laugh out load funny, indeed while I love the old episodes I could see how the kids could easily make a case that it is now better than ever. Well worth a watch.

Clearing out a lot of old content on the Worfolk Online network I’ve come across a lot of random crap, especially when it comes to the CassieNet Wiki. Amist the random stories and half finished articles I found the long lost Sarann’s bad influence diary detailing how Sarann corrupted people. I present it now for your consideration.

Unfortunately some of the records have been lost and it was only maintained for a short period but just look at the destruction caused :p.

Monday 13rd February 2006
* Sarann destroy’s Anthony’s self esteem

Wednesday 15th February 2006
* Got Michelle drinking
* Got Liz eating meat

Tuesday 21st February 2006
* Encouraged Chris to steal the SE15 register

Tuesday 28th February 2006
* Got Michelle drunk and got her smoking

Friday 3rd March 2006
* Incouraging Andrew to fight at Rock Soc social

Tuesday 14th March 2006
* Getting Michelle to slip out of a CS12 lecture

Looking back it really makes me think about how much we have changed. I mean, do you remember when it used to be an achievement to get Michelle drinking? It seems like so long ago.

I ended up on the Wikipedia page for Brass Eye which just presents a brilliant picture of what a show it was.

The Capital Radio DJ “Doctor” Neil Fox, for example, informed viewers that “paedophiles have more genes in common with crabs than they do with you and me”, before qualifying his remarks with “Now that is scientific fact – there’s no real evidence for it – but it is scientific fact”. Viewers were also told by the then Labour MP Syd Rapson that paedophiles were using “an area of Internet the size of Ireland”, and by Richard Blackwood that internet paedophiles can make computer keyboards emit noxious fumes in order to subdue children (Blackwood even sniffed a keyboard and claimed to be able to smell the fumes, which he said made him feel “suggestible”); Blackwood also warned watching parents that exposure to the fumes would make their children “smell like hammers”.

You just couldn’t make it up :D. Have a read for yourself. Although if you really want to experience the brilliance of Brass Eye you need to watch it. And remember – cake is a made up drug ;).

Last night, at midnight, the Christmukkah WoW marathon ended. Out of the 72 hours of time in the period, 6 hours was a maintenance window resulting in a total playable hours of 66. I managed Just over 30 which is slightly less than half. Not amazing but given I had to get some sleep (this is the first time I’ve had more than one consecutive day off in months so I want some sleeping time :D) and given I attended events on both Wednesday and Thursday night I don’t think it was too bad.

Progress wasn’t quite as fast as expected, we ended up with myself and Norm on level 20, Michelle on level 18 and George on level 17. I was gutted we never managed to complete The Deadmines but it was fun none the less. We ended the night by getting blind drunk (literally) in the Blue Recluse and heading down to the canal between the Trade District and the Mage Quarter for some good old-fashioned drunken skinny dipping.

So guys, same against next year? 😀

For the past few days, a group of us have been engaged in the Chrismukka WoW marathon. Starting at midnight at the end of Tuesday and finishing on midnight at the end of Friday it is 72 hours of non-stop hardcore World of Warcraft gaming to see what level we can reach. While we’ve had to take some time out to attend various events and even sleep once in a while it’s been fun to get away from reality for a while.

My room is slowly filling with crap as drinks bottles and takeaway line the table tops while clothes and general crap line the floor as well as my to-do list building ever more but right now I feel like I can ignore it and take some time off. At least until Saturday when reality comes crashing back in again. But that is over 24 hours away yet!

I have no money. I actually have way less than no money. And my credit card bill has to come out with that.

So I’m confused. Does that mean I can justify spending £60 on the complete series of Jonathan Creek on DVD?

Having seen a recent episode is the new series of QI I was hugely disappointed. It just wasn’t QI. It was jazzed up, garish and just generally not up to the usual standard. That said having just seen another episode, perhaps it was a one off. Not that the standard hasn’t dropped because I still believe it has but there is at least some hope for it yet.

Disney have closed down ABC1. Having been flicking around for it last night and failed to find it I checked their website this morning to find the following message…

We regretfully announce that Walt Disney Television will no longer be transmitting abc1 on any of the UK TV platforms (Freeview, cable or satellite) after September 2007. Walt Disney Television would like to thank its viewers for watching the channel and interacting with the website. It’s been a great few years and we appreciate your viewership.

According to the company the reason it closed down was because they were unable to generate enough advertising revenue. ABC1 broadcasts 24/7 on cable and sky but could not get any of the limited broadcast space during primetime on Freeview so only broadcasted 6am-6pm.

There has been very little news on the next Trek film but Comic Con saw some big news – the film will not only feature Spock but will also include Leonard Nimoy! Zachary Quinto will take on the main role while Nimoy will also take on the role for the more aged Spock (whether that is flashbacks, disturbance in the timeline or what remains to be seen). It will also feature Kirk apparently (but then, who really cares ;)).

It’s subject is now a little more cloudy now though, the early rumours of it revolving around Star Fleet Academy seem to have disappeared of the net and Wikipedia‘s page on it talks about how the idea of a film between Enterprise and TOS about the Earth-Romulan War have also been quashed. So I guess we’ll just have to wait for a little more detail to be leaked.