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March 31, 2005
The Familial Expression of Civil Disobedience
I'm sure, or I would have thought, that people would have notices the irony of something. That Bulimia is about control, often a reaction, probably from early on, to family, and their desire for control, for dominion - such that I've ever written about it as the familial expression of civil disobedience. And the irony therein.
Posted by subtitles at 5:51 PM | TrackBack | News
If you saw some silly fucker in Burger King pissing himself
If you saw some silly fucker in Burger King pissing himself, that was because after playing Britney's 'Do Something', the silly woman on the radio couldn't help but unconsciously follow the inflection of the song when saying the title. So yes, pissing himself.
Posted by subtitles at 1:21 PM | TrackBack | News
Brideshead - the House of Blind Justice Sticks
There's always something special about watching the beginning of Brideshead. I think I don't even quite remember the novel quite as well as I do the series. Regardless, it does well, as far as I'm concerned, or at least I think so, watching the beginning again. It's now available where you'd expect it to be, or not. But regardless, here.
I wish I could talk about them at length every week, but I like Blind Justice and House. House in particular of course, but Blind Justice is doing well, and as always, I'm even more well corrected into liking Rena Sofer. So it's only with peroxo-boy that striking looks gets in the way of talent. I really need to do a real search for some talent when it comes to making up titles.
Oh, and Life on a Stick is still a bit too gaggy, but all in all still pretty funny, sticking with it.
Posted by subtitles at 12:19 PM | TrackBack | Television
March 30, 2005
La Forza Del Destino
How much more wrenchingly awful can the diegesis that Shameless presents get? Which is to say that it's a wonderful series, and moving. Unfortunately RealWorld doesn't have the best rips, for that you'll have to get lucky with UKNova. The performers, and their performances, are wonderful.
I really can't quite get over how subtly and joyfully moving it is, just the montage of Lip in his newfound sanctuary of his own improvement, and Debbie's little shop and evasion. I can't believe I held off for this long. I suppose I just expected it to not be as good. Apparently some people know better.
Posted by subtitles at 2:12 PM | TrackBack | Television
Tree-Hugging Hippie Crap
Well, for starters, you don't live in a country where there is no meaningful sense of civil liberties. At least you have a democratically elected government that won an election that was vigorously contested. You are a Republic, you elect the people who make the laws, if you're not happy with the laws, then there's actually a chance that you can elect people who can change them, or persuade those people, or people who have influence upon them, to change their minds.
Personal disagreement does not abdicate your responsibility in upholding the rule of law, so you can apologise up your own ass. I can't be the only one to find people apologising for things they're enforcing but don't disagree with annoying, can I? In all likelihood, the people who are most likely to get the law changed are not going to be you. You have no vested self-interest in the thing itself. Spunk. There are however, people for whom this means money - it means money because fewer people are applying, fewer qualified applicants are bothering, and fewer outstanding graduates are entering the markets that require them.
It’s a problem for me that satire is effective through being distancing, but that it seems to be evinced by anything but. And also that to be effective, satire necessarily relieves itself of a certain level of sincerity, or inquiry, or intelligence.
The will towards democratic empowerment does not divorce you from the requirements of access - the baseline of which is validation. Flash, and Frames, are a bane upon the Interweb.
Posted by subtitles at 1:40 PM | TrackBack | Personal
March 29, 2005
It's the Static, not the Waves
I keep thinking I need to remember to even just mention it, so that people on the way to Coventry can step the fuck off. The leader (subscription) and the article (not).
Posted by subtitles at 7:34 PM | TrackBack | News
the great romance of the 20th century
The feeling of things happening while you're not there, after you come back. And this is so important, I feel can't stress it enough, and I'm clinging not to forget. It's peculiar, people looking at you 'you're back', and going off. Newfound confidence all round, place not having burnt to the ground. It's disappointing. It makes you wish you were all alone in the world unhappy. I'm resentful, for we're strangers when we meet. TV warming up in the cold.
I'm watching comedy connections now, and the goodness gracious me, and there's something tremendously sad about it, but then so many thing are when you wake up at midnight. In a sense in seems that you never quite got to glimpse at all the incredibly intellectual and eloquent people that participated, if only because the discourse they were stuck in precluded that - made it middle-brow. In the way you never quite got with the public school boys doing comedy. And perhaps as much if not more so than the Beatles, Monty Python is the great romance of the 20th century.
Posted by subtitles at 6:12 PM | TrackBack | Television
March 28, 2005
Grey's Anatomy Pilot
The drama doesn't help. Funny-guy is funny. Katherine Heigl is fun. For a pilot, it's not bad. Central character isn't as bad as she looked she would be. Oh, ok, now you get that they should have just stuck to the comedy - the drama sucks ass. And annoying woman who wasn't being so annoying? Annoying again. If not for Katherine Heigl and funny guy, this would really suck. And bitchy chinese one - it's nice they're trying something original. So yes, stick to the funny. You'd think it'd only get better.
Posted by subtitles at 12:31 PM | TrackBack | Television
March 27, 2005
Swansong - LAX, Medical Investigation - Life On A Stick and Sucking
It's a bit wrong, but watching the swansong episodes of LAX is making me miss it a bit. It really wasn't as bad as it initially allowed itself to be - I'm hoping I didn't just summarily delete them all, though I probably did. If it comes to that I could always get it here. Louis is sentimental that way.
Which explains the twinge (slight) at the end (pretty much) of Medical Investigation. I'm not sure if Susanna Thompson quite made up for Peroxo-boy being dissolute *yet* again. But I've always liked Sasha Barese, and still to this day hold out hope that I'll be able to find Run of the House.
Life on a Stick isn't awful - the unaired pilot was leaked as Related by Family, and it's supposedly by Mel Gibson's production company. Thankfully the change of title might mean they reconsidered putting too much emphasis on the family bits. Step-sister is quite comely though. Evil boss is pretty wrong, as are so many other things. We'll see how things go.
Posted by subtitles at 7:48 PM | TrackBack | Television
How To Link Back To Here, Because So Many People Do.
If you want to display this lovely button:
You'd paste this code on your site (if you don't want the image loading lag, you might want to save the image locally and link to it that way):
If you want a text link like this:
You can paste this:
<a href="http://blog.fallingbeam.org">subtitles</a>
The button was made with this. The instructions on how to display code can be found here. An idiot-proof-ish code generator can be found, referred from the last link, here.
Posted by subtitles at 7:35 PM | TrackBack | Site Updates
Search Blues - Opera, MSN, Yahoo, Google - The Importance of Width
I've been yoyo-ing about what search to leave as default and I'm still pretty flux-y about it. I was doing my best to use Opera Search, which you can get to via search.opera.com or the more expansive portal.opera.com. It's good - according to Haavard they use Overture, but it lacks features like image search, languages etc. But it also lacks ads. Unfortunately the main issues are that it's not customisable in that I can't get it to show more hits per page, though I'm sure it could be handled easily with a tweak to the url and it doesn't group hits by site; more importantly though, it's width limited, which annoys me.
Many pages limit how wide the content can be so that it will a) display the same to various monitor resolutions - ie the designers were just lazy b) they want to squeeze more ads in to less content - which I have not too much problem with, except it leads to squeezed content strips which are annoying. I suspect that in certain ways column paragraphs are less intimidating, though it might lead to the wish to format shorter paragraphs otherwise.
But getting back to the searches, MSN I like because the layout is pretty, and so is the butterfly icon. The annoying thing is that the paid searches aren't filtered out by Proxo. Yahoo I'm getting very fond of because it has tended to find the things I want to find - it's also doing a good job of indexing my site, especially my broadvoice sucks post (as is Opera, but not quite as well). The customised Google search is cut down and a bit annoying - I'll eventually upload a fixed custom search.ini. I think I'm sticking with MSN for a bit, but Yahoo is again climbing the charts, despite being a bit plain. But yes Google also tends to limit widths.
I make it a point to format this site to fit variable widths - and testing is easy, just zoom with Opera and you can see how it'll look. granted I have menus on the right with the main page, but that's mainly for navigation - if you read via the RSS feed, you'd never really need to see it, and you get full width pages - the MSN notification thing I still find pretty fun, more so if not for the frames. Not to say I'm able to fund the site on ads (yet), but prospects look promising, despite me not going crazy with them.
I'm considering moving back to the cheaper broadvoice plan. If only to spite them.
Posted by subtitles at 6:07 PM | TrackBack | Computer Stuff
To See If I Can Make It Not Ugly
I'm pretty damn sure that installing graphics drivers is going to piss me off. To be fair, I saw behaviour with Nvidia drivers that I wasn't too wild about, but I can't imagine how things could ever be quite as bad as with ATI - and the process is annoyingly painful. Makes me wonder if a clean install would even fix it. I think there are good reasons why I've become lazy about clean installing, not least of which is that it's a pain. I'm ever so slightly disappointed that no one's tried skypeing me via my link, I've even hooked up my telemarketing gear.
And so I'm getting ever closer to removing most of the ads from my site - the search boxes are annoying me now, and to be honest, their search is pitiful - unless it's just that indexing the site too difficult - the built in search is much better. The ring tones will be gone - I'll just stick to the adsense ads, maybe even cut out the economist link, or at least the image link, along with the other bits from CJ. The buttons I'm also getting annoyed with. Basically I'm just concerned at how long the page load for the main page is.
And so it's done. The old site I can't be bothered. I'm thinking of getting rid of the forum and auditioning WordPress, to see if I can make it not be ugly. I'm also reminded now that my junk fastmail address is starting to piss me off, so I might move to another one and abandon that one. Anyway it shouldn't really matter to anyone other than me, since I tend to send mail and give the address that is personal, and the e-mail link on the site will always be active.
Posted by subtitles at 3:43 PM | TrackBack | Computer Stuff , Site Updates
I fart puckabees (what do you want from me?)
And so much biting. Naomi Watts is lovely. And she's good. She either gets the better lines, or she just does them better. Film is an absolute load of annoying me. Another strand of american masturbation that makes me wish I owned a baseball bat. But really Naomi Watts seems to be able to really carry off that very deft being of faffy and sincere. Nice lookin' too. Have I said it's annoying? Granted the activism is meant to be more or less peripheral, but there's this mallet and tongs and a sign that hits you on the head.
It's just disappointing that smart intellectual people seem absolutely incapable of getting out of their political lockstep - from Tracey Emin to Morrissey, it's all blah blah blag blag, no nuance, no complexity, just justification and buttress like a tree. It's like an inability to think, encouraged by this bent educational echo chamber. I look forward to shouting.
For whatever reason, webcam is broken in the latest leaked builds of MSN.
It appears to have something to do with scrolling in IE while video is playing - I think I shall disable smooth scrolling and remove IE from my list of optool browsers.
Posted by subtitles at 1:35 PM | TrackBack | Television
Oh My God Is There No Escape From Countdown
I wonder what is more interesting to me, the fact that people post Countdown, that I downloaded it to watch, or that it's broadcast in HDTV. They posted it because it was an 8 year old kid who appeared in 3 shows, presumably winning twice. It's not quite as fun when you're not baked, but it's okay. Not the worst thing I could watch, I'll give it that. But also very very wrong. You do realise I'm going to end up watching Dr. Who for Billie don't you?
Well that explains what happened to Mel C. Still quite fetching isn't she? And Avril is similarly fetching - though it might just be washed out look the show seems to go for.
Posted by subtitles at 10:39 AM | TrackBack | Television
March 26, 2005
"the office" - absolutely gut-wrenchingly motherfuckingly assholerippingly bitchfacedly awful
Again I'm surprised that I never wrote about it when I first watched it, but there you go. I'm sitting here, watching what I didn't finish watching of this cycle of Sports Night, and it occurs to me I've never told you how absolutely gut-wrenchingly motherfuckingly assholerippingly bitchfacedly awful The Office is. And just to be clear, I don't mean that the American version is bad while I would gladly give the UK version head. I'd rather be raised by my left testicle up a flagpole while imagining that over-enunciating anti-biotics is clever.
Anyone who lauds any or either is going to have me mocking them to their face like the cockmunching intellectual midgets that they are. If I'm not wrong I might have written about how the opening titles alone of 6 feet under can make me want to stab myself - and so the title song of the office makes me want to turn green wearing pants.
American comedy is often deeply and endlessly flawed - SNL in particular epitomises all that is wrong with american comedy, and after watching Mean Girls, I think Tina Fey should be shot - slowly. All this is nothing to the fact that american comedy presumes to itself that it can transpose comedy. But when you compound that sick fancy with the inability to discern what is absolutely gut-wrenchingly motherfuckingly assholerippingly bitchfacedly awful, you get a glimpse into why there are times when you think american comedy should be left on an island with a gun containing only one bullet.
It's an awful show. Why would I want to watch something that even in the original was offensive, pathetic, masturbatingly contrived, and - wait for it - about as vaguely amusing as a poke in the eye. Watching it made me want to hit things. Honestly, to the people I know who admit watching it to me - I will fuck you up.
Posted by subtitles at 5:12 PM | TrackBack | Television
Appears Very Deliberate
I can't quite bring myself to muster up to write anything worth anything about Extraordinary Machine (which I'm listening to again right now) and Psycho Beach Part (which I just finished watching). Fiona's growing on me, though I think I prefer her light touches, her aggressive stuff sounded more convincing in When The Pawn.
Psycho Beach Party I never quite realised isn't quite as trashy as I imagined it to be, apparently it's by a reasonably prominent queer/drag playwright, who's responsible for Die, Mommie Die - not that I know what that is. Amy Adams didn't get much of a role, which is unfortunate - I'm sure that Lauren Ambrose being red-headed like the drag self-image helped her in inhabiting the role. It's a pity the number lost to the pit that's 6 feet. I suspect that the episode I like so much of crazy Buffy owes something to this. It's interesting in any number of ways, not least in the narrative framing, which appears very deliberate.
I'm now satisfying my Go-Gos craving - very very much like early REM. I'm now remembering it was brought on by missing Rich Girls. UKNova is working out rather handsomely. I'm always digging myself holes with not burning things. I hope I'm not getting I Heart Huckabees for the umpteenth time.
Posted by subtitles at 2:20 PM | TrackBack | Personal
Chicken Chop Fried Rice @ Shaw Towers Food Court
It's good. I've been going there rather a lot he past weeks, and it's good. The eponymous dish is particularly worthy, their chicken chop is really rather nice - but it's chicken chop bits rather than one big hunk. And there's something about the over-poached egg on top of the fried rice that's quite pleasing. What I also really like though, is the noodles they have, sort of fettucini like, but mixed in a kind of soy-sauce based gravy which is really quite nice. They pair the noodles with chicken cutlet and pork chop (deep fried), which are good, especially at the starting price of $3. Honestly, it makes paying almost double that at the Ramen place seem a bit silly. I just had the deep fried pork chops, and the outside is just nicely done, not crispy, but sort of glisten-ny and nice. There are other permutations available, but mostly with similar bent to what I've described above - I must endeavour to try the fish the next time.
Posted by subtitles at 12:25 PM | TrackBack | Food Diary
March 24, 2005
The 3-Headed Monster's Back
I don't know why, but it's important that you know that I've moved back to using the classic theme for XP, ie the Win2k theme. It's just cleaner, and if Win2k had a slightly expanded feature-set, I'd seriously think about moving backwards. Opera is back using Oxid, since the toolbars are so much more convincingly compact. The panel button will eventually annoy me enough. The black skin has great icons, if only it wasn't black.
I wonder if I could keep a promise to myself not to build a new comp till Longhorn comes out. It would mean that by then dual core would have become more commonplace, and the various platforms would have stabilised. And also it'd always be nice to be able to make use of all the UI features that they ask you to have a higher end graphics card for. I'm so going for Athlon 64 though, because I doubt Pentium M is going to make it to the desktop so convincingly in that time frame.
Makes me think I should go for a cpu upgrade on my shuttle - wait till the 3.2 gig P4s for my socket become dirt cheap. Oh, and the 3 headed monster is back - CMV still makes shitty panels - the backlight luminesence problem is still as pronounced. I can't put my finger on it, but my samsung looks cross hatched - it's probably just me being paranoid - and the zap was probably the dvi connector rather than the internal ones.
Posted by subtitles at 4:31 PM | TrackBack | Computer Stuff
TypeKey Registration
I'm just sick of having to moderate anonymous comments, and to be honest, I've still not recieved a comment that's made it all worth it, so from now on, you need to go to TypeKey.com and register before you can post - it's not a big deal and you can then comment on any typepad or MT blog that uses this. And so far I've not had a spammer who bothers to sign up, so yay. The easiest way is to just follow the link when you're at a post, it'll ask you to 'sign up'. Any grammar geeks out there can now enlighten me on the circumstances under which you use "" rather than ''. But yes, I allow registered users to post and it'll show up immediately, so no more moderation in that sense, though once you're banned, that's it.
Posted by subtitles at 4:25 PM | TrackBack | Site Updates
They're Going to Make Bartlett Vice-President
I'm not saying I'm going to go and watch MASH right this minute, but Alan Alda is good at what he does. But yes, I now know it for a fact that they're going to have the former/sitting president be the nominee for the Vice Presidency, as Clinton teased. It would help the next season in so many ways, most important of which is that Martin Sheen would have carte blanche to recur. It would explain Santos' win, and it would make it easier for all of the cast to stay the same.
Now obviously none of this is true - they wouldn't do it just because it'd cross the line, even for the, in terms of stunt politics - it would rob them of a meaningful debate by the start of next season between the two candidates; which would allow them, again, to dig deep into the ideology of how even at its best, the Republicans are going to get pwn3d by the Democrats. I wonder if they brought Bruno back to prove a point, and whether no one on the regular cast would talk to him.
So yeah, they realised that they need really strong episodes to end out the season, so break's over. Good episode. I hope Mary Louise Parker appears again. Oh, and clarification on nummy status - supposedly Jennifer Connelly is marriagable material and endlessly sweet and heartbreaking, rather than out and out nummy. Though Career Oppurtunities might cause that to be revised.
Posted by subtitles at 4:10 PM | TrackBack | Television
March 23, 2005
The Way I'm Most Comfortable With
So yes, the Andorians are really cute, and having watched one of the few Enterprise episodes that I unreservedly like, I must say they are one of creations of the series that I think entirely successful. I'm sure the episode wouldn't be quite as resonant if you didn't watch the one about P'Jem first, but I remember this episode serving well, even when I first watched it. It makes me think it might actually be worth it to watch the Andorian episode in season 3, even though that's the season that quality forgot. I can't quite explain why I'm watching early seasons of Enterprise when I could be watching say the Shameless that I haven't yet, or even Spaced or My Life in Film again. Perhaps I find the simplicity of their guile-less representations comforting. I wonder whether the misdirection, or lack of, in the Stigma epsisode, is an alienating part of their insidious liberal agenda.
Speaking of which, Daily Show's been good the past few days, I think they respond well to crap being hefted. I'm sure you realise I just can't bring myself to respond to certain kinds of crap when it gets saturated, my previous post to this one covers at least one of the pertinent events in the way I'm most comfortable with. I don't know if it was Billy Campbell listening to Debaser that set it off, but I've been cramping up my hand trying to get down Here Comes Your Man and Headache.
I can't help but say that Enterprise isn't very good, even though I like it enough to watch it - and it'd help if my season 2 rips were worth a damn - this must have been back in the day when FOV and SFM were still ripping in analog - yikes. The Daily Show, and House for that matter, was good for my rage. I promise, I really will fuck them up.
Posted by subtitles at 5:23 PM | TrackBack | Television
Hands Wringing
I refer you to this.
Posted by subtitles at 1:38 PM | TrackBack | News
Isn't House Wonderful? - I underestimate Rena Sofer's appeal
They must really have had the backs up - they're pulling out all the stops, using the notes and running. The thing between him and Cameron is unbelievably good, and the rest of the cast is really showing off rather well - especially Cuddy and RSL. They represent commercialism is the most crass manner possible, and I think they mistake the person for the ideal, and they have no conception of what 'Good Management' is. I can't say enough about how good a series this is, and how much you should be watching it as opposed to other crap (you know what I'm talking about). But the actor isn't bad.
And So Definitive Guide to getting House. Torrents found here, get them while they're still seeded. The rest you'll have to get via Donkey, here.
If you put any faith in my sense of taste, and ability to smell, shower or not, watch it - and why not? Often enough it comes on after American Idol.
Oh, and Blind Justice is becoming more and more watchable, there are many good things about it. I underestimate Rena Sofer's appeal, and I actually really really like the titles. And it's unashamed of just being a cop show. At the moment, everything's still available.
Posted by subtitles at 11:22 AM | TrackBack | Television
March 21, 2005
Generation - Button, Mail - Wordpress
I've discovered how to make those lovely buttons that have been popping up all over the place, and I've spent 5 minutes making one for here. The generator is here. I think I like the second one better.
Speaking of generators, I can't remember if I've already mentioned that you can make e-mail buttons here - like so:
I've also been looking enviously at WordPress, especially since it specifically works towards valid XHTML and CSS - I'm probably too lazy to change over, but it looks cool. I'd have to figure out how to use MySQL properly someday though - and the idea of dynamic databases like that frightens me. Obviously I'd just like to be in a position where I could pay someone to do all the hard stuff for me.
Posted by subtitles at 6:30 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Computer Stuff
Omnibus, With Lesbians - Go Down - Opera Search
Burr Steers does good work. Apparently he's decided to really embrace the whole of the camp potential they've been going for. Really brought things out of the people - Bette being an ass. He's good. I'm sure I'll never quite get over Igby Goes Down.
I think I've come a bit tired of writing like this, part of me is really starting to think that I need to do some real work and finish something - I'm not going to be that guy who writes short stories - that's just silly like floral curtains.
Opera search is rather fine - it uses Overture, which I'm not sure how to differentiate from yahoo, but the searches aren't identical. Regardless I've decided that I should use it as default, the MSN butterfly isn't *that* pretty. If nothing else, it doesn't seem to include ads at the moment, which is nice - they probably don't expect massive traffic, but the layout is reasonably pretty, and it's by a brand I like, so why not.
Posted by subtitles at 4:00 PM | TrackBack | Television
Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine Released Now Online - Get It Here
There will be no proselytizing here, it'd be just too silly to say too much, go find a news service worth a damn and read it. Get it here - live torrent link - ed2k link - another ed2k link. None of these are verified yet, I'll correct the post as necessary.
I'm ashamed by the fact that apparently it leaked since the beginning of the month, so I'm just another johnny-come-lately, but whatever. The torrent file is intact, but the sound quality isn't spectacular, I'm wondering if the donkey links are better. I'm now wondering how I missed this on isohunt. Ok, the second ed2k link completed, and the sound quality is *much* better - it's all in 192kbs.
After getting all of them, you'll realise that the second ed2k link is the best - the torrent is awful, the first link is of variable quality, the second has them all at 192. The "bonus" track with the first ed2k is just the alt mix of Better Version of Me - not worth it, though get both, since, well, it's free.
Posted by subtitles at 3:10 PM | TrackBack | News
Mahjong Night - Thursday 24th, Day Before Good Friday
It's strange not having no future any more. It makes buying a mahjong set and table seem almost rational. But yes, Mahjong night is on Thursday - Su-lin requests dinner. If air-conditioning is required, as I assume it is, the pasta place or ramen place at Shaw Towers spring to mind - though with the former we might need to make reservations. I'm assuming expensive japanese food is too expensive. No air-con we can just get hawker stuff from the place just at the start of Liang Seah Street proper - the one I keep telling people gives me bad vibes.
Do people want to come with me to buy the stuff? It's always more comforting having moral support - I'm just worried that if I put it off for too long, it'll end up being closed on Thursday or something. Anyway, tell me if $60 is too much to spend on a set, and that same amount on a table. The date of the event puts my holy grail reference in rather sharp perspective I think. I no longer have no future, yay me.
And really, this requires both Delwyn and Dion, if not there won't be sufficient hardcore people to play. Eugene has said he would come, but that'll depend if he flakes like last time. Any and all are welcome - edel? clarissa? (is she even back yet?). I wonder though if Delwyn's day of jubilee has yet arrived from the UK, and how that will affect all this. I don't have great hopes for Under the Sea, but I can now play most of Frank Black's Headache.
I now wondering if I should get another gmail invite from someone so that I can get a shorter username - and one that's not misspelt.
Posted by subtitles at 9:45 AM | TrackBack | Personal
March 20, 2005
Not Quite as Bad as Dialectic
It appears that all this time I've been misspelling the word - it's supposed to be weltanschauung, rather than weltenschauung. I wish someone would have told me, not that it would have made a lot of difference. But I could have sworn that that was how it was spelt in the narrative texts I read - misprinting or me being silly? Oh well, not much I can do about the e-mail addresses I have with it. I was considering putting up a button with my gmail address, as seems to be the rage, but it's just free advertising isn't it, for a service that I really don't use - and whose pop service seems to be flaking on me. Bugger, it turns out that I'm just the leader in following instructions - it's not my fault they don't provide screenies for the advanced screen and make sure you turn on SSL - bastards. But yes, the misspelled word above is my gmail address. But apparently the buttons aren't gmail produced, you can find the generator here. I suppose it's useful in that you can use the smtp for fastmail :). I still think IMAP is a more useful protocol, especially if you have as many accounts as I do.
The Frank Black version of Hang on the Your Ego is incredibly apt for him.
Posted by subtitles at 5:18 AM | TrackBack | Computer Stuff , Personal
Let the Mahjong Commence!!
It's like finding the holy grail, only not holy, and with cupholders rather than a chalice. It's a place near to OG on the way to Sim Lim, and it sells a range of tiles properly, as well as a not entirely shabby looking table. Now the downside is that the nicer set of tiles costs $60, which I'd be willing to pay, as long as I knew someone was going to buy it off me at the end of the day when I leave (since I'm pretty much definitely leaving now). The table is $60 as well, which I don't mind, since I'd get a smaller bedside table in the deal. Chips for poker aren't that pretty, and $500 worth is about $7, so I'd get say 2 or 3 packs? Enough for about $15 worth of chips, with plenty of change.
But yes, drawers in the table for chips and extendable cupholders. The only thing holding me back is that the rim might be too high if I want to put my notebook on it. The felt looked pretty nice though. This is the Hong Kong supposedly good stuff, as opposed to the cheap ass China stuff. Get back to me on what you think, and as and when someone shows up to help me carry it to the cab on the way back - we're in business. I'd call people out today, but last minute appeals don't seem as effective as the once were.
Posted by subtitles at 4:26 AM | TrackBack | Personal
March 19, 2005
How Incredibly Not Worth It is That Crappy-Ass Email Service?
Pretty damn - would be the answer to that question. There's a long documented saga of how that silly company seems determined to use things that break in Opera, the beta forum is full of people complaining. And really, I need another e-mail account like I need herpes, or an Alanis Morrisette/Coldplay album. Honestly, if you want free IMAP, I recommend, as I always have, FastMail.fm - I've used them for years now, and not a single piece of spam that I didn't deserve. And their free accounts ask you to use long usernames, so all the better to frustrate dictionary spam. SMTP is an issue, but you can use your isp or any other smtp server. If it comes down to it, you could get a fallingbeam.org account if you wanted, just contact me - no strangers need apply, sorry. And please don't become a spammer, or I'll turn you into your father's sperm. I have about 90+ accounts on my domain with my hosting plan, so go crazy. Oh, and I'm not not mentioning names because they otherwise advertise on this site, I'm just tired of hear the tripping whine that is branding hell - and I think it's actually unlimited accounts if I'm not wrong.
Posted by subtitles at 3:31 PM | TrackBack | Computer Stuff
Opera's Nobody's Bitch
I get the feeling Opera's decided that they want to stop getting creamed, and have a much more effective PR strategy. It's just crazy the amount of headline news they've been getting in the past couple of days alone. Someone must being doing something right in their PR department. Whatever the case, I can only assume that this is the blitz before the big launch of the soon to be named not-Opera-8. And every big headline gives it more exposure, which for them would translate almost directly into downloads and sales. So no more being slapped around by ugly sister, it's moving day - graduation. So far no reals signs of "big thing badly".
How could you love me and leave me, it's only, your first time.
Posted by subtitles at 3:50 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Computer Stuff
March 18, 2005
The Factual Thing Itself
And so when I tell a lie I feel the need to make that lie be real - to tell the lie to others who I don't need to tell the lie to, and be convinced of it as I persuade them of the fullness of the factual thing itself. I suppose that that would that mixture of extraordinary and unremarkably natural. Though really I've not had the chance, nor the inclination, nor the circumstances under which, to lie on that scale and need for say 5 years?
Posted by subtitles at 8:47 PM | TrackBack | Personal
Louis' Definitive Guide to Buying CDR - Idiot-Proof Version
The simplest I can make it is this: look for 50 disc spindles that have a grey base and a flat edged top. That means getting spindles that look like this
rather than this
which has a sharp edged top and a black base. The brands that normally have the former are TDK and Maxell. TDK tends to have both (as evidenced above), so pick the right one. Maxell I've only really seen having the former. Beyond that, brand really doesn't matter. You should never be paying anything like $30 for 50 discs - the benchmarks should be that 50 shouldn't cost much more than $20. If you go to Sim Lim, you can get it for about $18 - $20. I recommend Z-Nix upstairs 6th floor, turn right as you get out of the lift. If you ask them for "Ritek" discs they'll tend to know what you're talking about.
End of Simple version. I might do more detailed versions if the need arises. That version would include the fact that Ritek manufactures the former, CMC Magnetics the latter. Also that these manufacturers make CDRs for many many brands - and brands don't always stick to a particular manufacturer. Manufacturers, however, stick to their own unique packaging - hence the diffentiation between spindles. Ritek happens to be the good (and compatible) of the cheap.
Posted by subtitles at 7:13 PM | TrackBack | Computer Stuff
Tempting Fate
I'd try to find and post the quote from Toby, but it's funnier when you watch it - Election Night, 4th season, directed by Lesli Linka Glatter. So I should be writing 2 speeches, one, yay computer, the other, I'm sorry for your loss. Apparently Eugene was asleep at home, so it wouldn't have been a good idea for me to have just gone over and tried calling him there. I'm bringing popiah, which is happily halal (there's a sticker on the wall), though there's one less than there was because I was hungry.
I'm currently reinstalling Neverwinter Nights, since I've discovered the new campaigns, I hope they don't suck. If only the DVD versions weren't all in Italian or spanish. The side glare of the panel is much better now that they changed the panel, and they'll get back to me about the colour issue. Not all that bad, them coming over, and prepared to do the swopsies on the spot - but still plenty of annoyance to get there. Tech repair people are so meek and unassuming, I wonder what that's about.
The Maxell discs I bought (well, eugene bought) are fantastic, especially with the Benq - exceptional in fact. I'm very tempted to replace the Lite-On, but then I wouldn't have pretty scans anymore. At least not on this box. I'm being stubborn about restarting but I really should, so my mouse gets turned back on and the monitors work properly again.
Posted by subtitles at 10:42 AM | TrackBack | Computer Stuff , Personal
March 16, 2005
House - Rescued from CSI
That was a rather superlatively good episode of House I just watched. It was written by Lawrence Kaplow, who's apparently written quite a few of the episodes of House that I think are very very good. The director Randall Zisk is also a familiar name, but to not so much that I remember him, nor is his long filmography *that* striking. But my it was a good episode. New nemesis is good - very very amped up presentation of the premises of the show, more drama than usual - you can tell it's the beginning of a new story arc from having had more episodes ordered. No end of interesting, knowing more about the production process and the way the episodes have to be batched.
Nina from 24 was the patient, good guest stars always raise the game. But yes, Lawrence Kaplow makes me now want to watch Hack, which I hope I can find somewhere. But apparently not. And thankfully they've rescued Baba O'Riley from CSI. Also the mentions of control and shame are really rather good in the presentation of Bulemia - I really liked it. Cameron was good in the episode as well, heartrending vulnerability does that, aussie boy was fine, Omar Epps is still annoying.
I will burn House DVDs for anyone who promises to stop watching DP.
Posted by subtitles at 4:11 PM | TrackBack | Television
Bittorrent Sites after Suprnova/Lokitorrent
My old bog has been getting a bunch of hits from people looking to find Mininova.org, so I thought it's about time I provided a list of good current torrent sites:
Open Sites (No Registration):
My favorite is ISOHunt - probably the broadest search and aggregation site I know of, and the RSS feed allows you to view by category. If you want the search bar in your Opera Personal Bar, look here. It's best for searching and monitoring via RSS, the listing UI isn't great, for which you might want to try MiniNova, which is sort of subsidiary of ISOHunt, or:
TorrentSpy, another very good indexing site which I tend not to use because it's main "torrents for today" page is split into different pages, but otherwise it's very "Suprnova-Like". Didn't have RSS last I checked but that might have changed.
For TV, there are 2 main sites, which amongst others are also indexed by the above sites - TVTorrents, and BTEfnet. I prefer TVTorrents because it has an autodownloading application via RSS (TVTAD). Also TVTorrents tends to only post proper files, and well seeded, whereas BTEfnet tends to just go for prompt releases. I monitor both though, since sometimes one has something the other doesn't.
Registration Required:
The big ommission above regarding TV is UKNova - it requires registration, which means that if they're not taking new members you're sunk, and your ratio actually matters. But it has what the other TV sites lack: UK TV in spades.
Filelist.org does very high quality releases. They only release "scene" stuff, so mostly it'll be things in 15mb rar files - but they'll be the proper stuff. I go there to get good quality games and movies, especially movies that otherwise aren't available in WideScreen. Oh, and pr0n. The download rates, as long as you're a member in good standing, are off the charts fast, because of their very sensible ratio system.
Notes:
There are plenty of other sites, but these are the ones I use most often, and are most familiar with. There are many many more sites, especially niche sites and wannabe sites - feel free to add them as comments and I'll be updating this post as and when anyway. In particular there are a lot of new registration sites - but it doesn't make sense to join too many of those if they aren't comprehensive though. These are only BT sites, I'll do a seperate post on post-Sharereactor/Shareconnector sites later. I personally use Azureus as my client - be sure to do a clean install of the latest Java before you use it. If you're looking for NFO's, this is the place to go. When I have time, I'll hunt down the RSS links for you guys, especially since some of them aren't very prominent.
Posted by subtitles at 1:44 AM | TrackBack | Definitive Posts , P2P , Previously Pinned
March 15, 2005
Soon to be Superceded by the new PowerMac - The President's Voice
Oh my fucking god this is awful - the fuck-faced idiots also did a cover of Bohemian Rhapsody - Freddie Mercury is absolutely spinning. Wet bastards - twats basically, tossy little white boys. I never quite realised how much talentless gimpy trolls got featured on CD:UK, but I suppose that's as much my fault by now. Busking with My Sweet Lord was fun, and I think there was Neil Young song once that I liked.
Scott McClellan always seems so baby-faced, though recently he's begun to look more and more tired and worn. You can watch the press briefings on C-Span, which I do every once in a while. The latest briefing is normally on the front page. I went there because Fox News Online has more silly headlines about the new China law. When news organisations say so and so says this, doesn't it strike you as somewhat disingenuous?
So it's true, Jem - like Beth Orton, only nowhere near as good.
Posted by subtitles at 12:12 PM | TrackBack | Television
To Which Belong Her - Jennifer Connelly in Career Oppurtunities
A lovely inflection of awk-wardness. The proliferation of google search boxes on Blogger blogs is comic to no end. I never realised that Pooh-Bah was derived from a character from the Mikado. I wonder if Colin Goh knew this.
Watching Career Oppurtunities now, with the immensely lovely Jennifer Connelly. For those that don't know, she is counted as one of the nummys, to which belong her, Mary Louise Parker, and Poppy Montgomery. I'm sure there's more, but can't remember right now. Anyway, the film is written by John Hughes, and it's pretty good, I must say. Makes me want to get more of his oevre than I already have. I wonder how much Target paid them. I'm now suddenly impressed that the director (Hughes only wrote it) directed a whole list of tv stuff that I like, including Sports Night and Freaks and Geeks. Immense. And really, so far it's an absolutely lovely film.
It was recommended by being ripped off on the OC, in a portion that I had ignored.
You can get it here: Career Opportunities - Jennifer Connelly.avi. The rip requires Zoom Player to properly display the aspect ratio though. I suppose all this isn't quite television, but I'm treating it as such, as I should. It's really really good.
Jennifer Connelly is *so* lovely. And the music's great. The white tank-top is I can't get my eyes off, her moving is so fetching with the hips, it's not even true. Oh, and the unbelievable riding of the horse. I can't get over how wonderful it is.
Posted by subtitles at 8:57 AM | TrackBack | Television
Lesbians on a Sunday
Mia Kirshner looks nice being coy. She's less annoying this season, allowed to be more vulnerable and happy - so as to be an attractive draw for the show - no doubt that explains the bare breasted shot of her in the credits.
On a mildly related note, Dion sent me a bunch of pictures of the Nikon Booth Babes from the IT show, which makes me feel so much like a dirty old man - unabatingly lubricious.
Don't look, it's naughty.
I was saying that not since the Wire was on, have my sundays' downloading been so active - Deadwood, L Word, Simpsons, Arrested Development. I wonder if it's all just a response to the fact that DP has revealed the untapped potential of Sundays? I'm trying to think of a show to keep people from watching Arrested Development. Not that it's as bad as DP, by any means, I still watching if there's nothing left, but it's flawed in a bad way, and it's also annoying in a bad way. So I came up with Scrubs, Daily Show, and 2.5 Men - the good ones are good, much better than Arrested Development which really, just isn't visceral enough.
Lilac wine, is sweet, and heady, like my love...
Oh well, I'm putting it down to Mia Kirshner was just ill-used in the last season, because she's really good in this one - especially her getting her hair cut - incredibly lovely.
Posted by subtitles at 7:00 AM | TrackBack | Television
Whipping Cocks is Coldplay
I just remember Melissa Etheridge, when the whole pedo-lesbo-pop thing was around with that russian girl band (tatu), saying that well, in the past you'd never have thought saying you're a lesbian would be good for your career. And so music trivia abounds watching Never Mind the Buzzcocks. I actually got a couple of Once and Agains posted, though the rest were rejected for lack of sources - eventually then. I'm so gratified that another of Mark Lamarr's whipping cocks is Coldplay, incredibly gratified. I can't say listening to the radio is quite my thing though - I'd like something more talky, but obviously funnier or as laid back as Showtalkers. And yet again I'm in a quandary about what to eat, and whether I should just finish watching.
Posted by subtitles at 2:19 AM | TrackBack | Television
March 14, 2005
You're So Fucking Special
Granted I don't think Radiohead are worth much, but they deserve better than this. Some fuck-faced idiots (named after a generation of mac processors) are doing an operatic cover of Creep. They didn't even have the decency to swear as appropriate, just stuck filler in where they were supposed to be. Oh my. The UK, the land of nothing being sacred. Grave turning self stabbing dig your own eyes out with a spoon. They don't even have the decency to express at least some smidgen of unseemly irony. Eli's Coming. That's what you get from downloading TOTP - thanks UKNova. It must have done something to me, because I now actually quite like the Britney single - Do Somethin' - she's pretty effective being squeaky.
Posted by subtitles at 4:05 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Television
China, Taiwan, All Your Base Are Belong To Us - and The Arbiter of All Meaning
Just because I keep seeing things talking much alarmist about what's happening with China's anti-secession law to stop Taiwan from declaring independence - I point you to the arbiter of all meaning. It's a law enacted mostly to appease the nationalists - meant to leave the administration with plenty of wiggle room with regards to what actually warrants what and what actually counts for what. Move along, nothing to see here.
Posted by subtitles at 12:27 PM | TrackBack | News
Sketch Show Doesn't Suck
It's surprising I know, but it's actually better than some. And they do a very good job of making Mary Lynn Rajskub of 24 fame, look very convincingly hot. There's also another pretty blonde woman. It's flawed in that it's american, but other than that it seems to be trying very hard, and is very gaggy, which is a good thing. The insistence seems to be on keeping it short, but the interspersing of stock clips is a bit annoying - I preferred the Smack The Pony drifting off. Very contrived, but still funny. Very Methodical. TVTome.
Posted by subtitles at 11:06 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Television
'Creation'-ism
That headline sounded so much better when I was thinking about it on the way back here.
I eat quite a lot at this place called Creation - just opposite me in Shaw Tower. It's close to the Burger King, before the corridor leading to the food court. It's good.
Basically it serves pasta. I think it has a couple of other dishes, but mainly pasta. I personally prefer creamy pastas, which they do pretty well - they have a workmanlike salmon alfredo, the seafood version is better, but the one I keep going back for is the spicy thai cream sauce with seafood (I can't remember the actual name). The tomato sauces aren't too bad either, the meatballs are particularly good, and I just tried the italian sausage, which wasn't bad. The spicy crabmeat would be great if it wasn't so messay, and the carbonara is a bit uninspiringly plain.
The best thing about the place though is that it serves small portions - just right as far as I'm concerned, especially if you want to have dessert after. But even if you don't, by the time you walk across the street and start writing your review entry, you'll feel sufficiently full - and this is me talking, after having arrived there practically tackling the guy to order. The ordering system is DIY, which is fine. They serve cold water, which is always a plus. I'd personally stay away from the set meals, since the soup is like creamy water and the brownies are ho-hum at best. An ala carte pasta is at most about $10.
Part of my problem with them though is that they, with great economic sense, close when it's not peak meal times, so I have to go there when things aren't chocked up with lunchy bastards, but not so removed that I miss it. In those instances I tend to go next door to the Ramen place, which I actually am rather fond of - open without gaps. I'll write about it when the occasion call for it, but it'll be a favourable review.
Posted by subtitles at 10:23 AM | TrackBack | Food Diary
Straits Times Protects the World... From Having to Read The Straits Times
Apparently the venerably institutionalised, jingoistic, navel-gazing press release that is the Straits Times has decided that it could no longer stand the scrutiny of a public audience, just as the government it pimps for can't stand the scrutiny of an un-gerrymandered and properly multi-party election. So from now on you're going to have to pay to read bad writing, wire copy, dick-headed windbags, whiny forum cock-heads, and the gaping abyss that is Life. So if you want to lose the will to live...
Posted by subtitles at 9:42 AM | TrackBack |
The Giant Sucking Sound that is Broadvoice
I've updated my Broadvoice post to reflect my recent problems with the scum sucking bastards, you can find it here. I was going to do a proper write-up on my issues, but got lazy and annoyed so I just posted the latest e-mail with the attached history of e-mails. Hello Broadvoice employees - your service, and your customer service, SUCKS ASS.
Posted by subtitles at 9:35 AM | TrackBack | Site Updates
And Love Her
I knew there was a reason I keep reading Su-lin's boggling. It's because she's intelligent and clever, and actually knows how to write - which is always nice. It's the kind of thing that it's nice to wake up to, to discover a tiny narrative of happiness or little vignette of a happy occasion, evoking perhaps the shared memory of the future while exercising the will towards nostalgia and the romantic desire for companions. I'm rather ashamed that I ever chastised Su-lin for not making her prose more interweb friendly by using short paragraphs as I do for the sake of plate-spinning attention. I think it has a lovely pith to it that reminds me (not in terms of pith necessarily) of the picnic in Brideshead. The perhaps unfortunate effect of the passage though is to render the character of the author as a vaguely marmish and scoldingly fond woman - one that is held in such regard by those that love her. And love her in an almost dismissive Sports Night manner. Just because this is what I'm doing right now I might as well confess that I've probably thought in the past, and likely think now, that Su-lin and I are probably not the best or most natural of friends, but happen to be people who despite that try very hard at working at it, for whatever reason, to attempt to make it work. The silly romanticism of Louis early in the morning. That requires the shame-laden indecision of a dismissive and vaguely comically rendered and protractedly convoluted retraction and disavowal. With that easy shame of shrugging of shoulders, 'I don't know'. I suppose I do subscribe to the notion of reading with the spine, but every so often, the sentimentality of the gripping of the chest is a rather fine way to judge and experience narrative. You can find the entry here.
Posted by subtitles at 2:29 AM | TrackBack | Personal
Pyramid Aliens Selling Time-Share
It's the two of us going for no discernable reason to a farmhouse, in response to a dubious ad to make money, except that there's a twist to why, which is that they are supposedly supposed to be hiding the fact that they are aliens. Actually now that I think of it it's as if they come onto our farm and proposition us as a family to start the production, careful to say things out of place, like bodies when it's supposed to be plants or something. We both sort of know that it's theatre because I'd heard about it before, from hearing about it online, that they pretend to be aliens to hook you in, but it's really just a pyramid scheme. It ends with me after a while having been at their place, and they've finally managed to steal my wallet which they almost seemed obliged to do, and there's my IC in it so I go back to at least try and get it back. Which I think is still a good ending. Obviously throughout there's an amibavalence as to whether they are really aliens or just actor salesmen or the the professional troupe the conspiracy hires - all kinds of incongruities as to how they can afford to run the scam on the scale for small pyramid selling etc. And the children. Just as you leave the house is when they have the hooded people in black carrying a black shrouded body and mistakenly leave it for you to pull back the veil, but we don't bother. Perhaps that's part of what occurs when I go back. Perhaps they're asking us to move to the country and get others to do the same - as if they were asking us to join the troupe. Stilted formality and slips of mentions of violence and harvesting. I could work in the bit from Big Train where he asks people to give him money and they do as long as he promises that it's not for a time-share. I'm sure I could work Pixley in somewhere.
Posted by subtitles at 2:05 AM | TrackBack | Personal
March 13, 2005
Dan and Casey's Dance Fever
Two speeches, tempting fate on Sports Night, but for the moon landings, no spit. I love Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Again, UKNova is the bomb and while I suppose it'd be nice to have more, or a longer half-life via ed2k, it's great that they have it at all. I wonder if they do Nigella.
Apparently a new season of Family Business has started, it's not exactly classic, but fun enough for a single viewing. I'm listening to Mark Lamarr on BBC radio now, it should be fun.
Numb3rs is becoming increasingly background viewing - more will they won't they drama with entrance of old girlfriend - they must teach a course in TV storylines 101 somewhere. Somehow they make Sabrina Lloyd look less diminutive, but she seems to have gained gravitas with age.
Posted by subtitles at 7:35 PM | TrackBack | Television
Troubleshooting Narrative
Not surprisingly, I credit with a kind of wistful holding the half an hour I spent at the computer fair before the thronging, and the fire, and the jumping. I would walk and see them eating before, the dressing applying the final tart, primping and smiling and hiking, groups in huddles going through the ritual of preparation. And me, walking away with CD sleeves and - oh what was it again - a $500 Samsung monitor.
The Benq that Eugene got as quite a steal at $99, and I'm sure the Analog version of my monitor that they bought will do well. At some point I'll post the quote of what I'm getting for them, again to all comers. I don't really feel like telling the story so they mixed up and gave me the wrong monitor, I got a $1000 LCD TV instead of a monitor, but I gave it back because I couldn't stand the though of having to come back to get a monitor after all the drama and effort.
There's a whole troubleshooting narrative to accompany this, but what I choose to mention now is that the cloning of monitors appears to have made the old CMV look sultry. At the moment I'm still finding it endlessly useful, so all of the non-existent offers can now stop. Unless you're a vintage CMV collector.
Posted by subtitles at 7:13 AM | TrackBack | Computer Stuff
Without The Rough Boys
I'm sure I'll get around to doing a more informative post about the state of torrenting, but right now the big news for me is UKNova.com. Everything that's good about living in the UK without the rough boys. It's absolutely heavenly, so that I'm now able to get at all the shows I had gaps in, not to mention the iching rips of Shameless Season 2.
The RSS feed is a bit tricky, but have a look at the forums and you'll find they did pretty cool things with it - and bothered to document it properly. Now if only there were an agnostic tool for harvesting torrent links from feeds. I'd link to everything, but unless you're registered, there's no point, so register (if they're still offering memberships) and go bananas.
Posted by subtitles at 6:20 AM | TrackBack | P2P , Television
Titties and Beer
I can