December 27, 2005
Well So Could Anyone
If you want to watch a rather engaging piece on the making of the Pogues song "Fairytale of New York", you can have a look at it here. Distributed and capped by UKNova, as far as I know, but someone reposted. It really is a lovely song, and the Pogues definitely grow on you. Wonderfully used in the Wire.
Posted by subtitles at 6:31 AM | P2P
Shocked, Shocked
This is from maybe a week ago or more, but it's Colin Powell talking about detained prisoners and Casablanca - a rather nice analogy.
Posted by subtitles at 6:25 AM | News
December 22, 2005
Wag of the Finger
Oh my fucking god. Could this be any more of a tool of a column? I have no problems thinking of Google as a corporation, and I've always been suspicious of the way in which it has tried to "brand itself cool". Boo Hoo, companies being "irresponsible". I wish companies would be in it less for the profit and more for the jacking me off, that's what I say. If companies aren't jacking me off, they should be given a stern talking to by the likes of Mr Thurrott.
As a stunning corollary, we can have a look at the wonder and monomania of people who fixate on those who are not first (Economist premium access). Target "dicking" their workers. Makes me happy to love Walmart in my unseemly capitalistic running-dog fashion.
What I hate most is that because of my surroundings, I'm forced to change the tenor of my dislike, which is annoying to me. When can I sound reasonable again?
Gah your own damn self. You see what happens when you lose all self control? It's like a rage blackout.
Posted by subtitles at 3:28 PM | Computer Stuff
Comedy of Socks
I have pens, and as I told Winston (who I'm indebted to about the pens), I have socks to last me through nuclear winter. I also have Oral-B toothpaste, Simple, the shower gel I like and shoehorns. I should have bought clips - I'll probably angle to get them from the place at Shaw Towers tomorrow. Need to go to B.S Moey.
Apace I tell you.
Props to Golden-Haired Sammy.
Posted by subtitles at 9:16 AM | Personal
Prague TV Screenings? - The Get-Psyched List
I'm considering what to bring. I have delusions of having screenings of some things while I'm over there. I'm assuming I'd be able to find someone with a nicer laptop screen/default audio than mine. If someone has a TV and S-Video, I will weep.
This is preliminary list:
Spaced
I Spy Apocalypse (Spooks)
Game On
Bit of Fry and Laurie
NewsRadio
OC Pilot
Sports Night
Scrubs
State of Play(?)/Shameless
Freaks and Geeks
Wonderfalls
Firefly
The Inside
Poliakoff (Shooting the Past/Perfect Strangers)
The Wrong Trousers
How Do You Want Me
The Wire
Murder One
Twin Peaks?
Scenes From a Marriage?
2.5 Men
House (unaired pilot)
Once and Again
Smoking Room
Part of me wants to put in Nigella Bites and a season of the Bachelor, but that might be pushing it. I'm sure I'm leaving out important things. I also wonder if Election Night (West Wing season 4) would be a nice one.
Posted by subtitles at 5:10 AM | Prague Summer Program 2006
December 21, 2005
Play Now
I suppose I'm just ignoring the student issue now. It'll be amusing if my peers suddenly bother. ie the ones that don't already. It's surprising to me that all these things are coming back so instinctively. I still haven't sent off the postcards, and I think tomorrow should be my Queensway day. I should also remember about the shower gel and simple.
I suppose it's dawning on me that RSS is for people with a lot of time on their hands (actually, some time ago). But it's nice to have rediscovered VTV and EZTV feeds. If you just search for VTV RSS, you're going to find what you're looking for. And now I can even use the UKNova feed to parse if I really wanted to. Burn baby burn.
I wonder if this is why I actually have some semblance of a play now.
Posted by subtitles at 5:28 PM | Personal
Legendary. And You're Too Late
While I'm sitting here thinking about my sexual comedy, I can't get Omaha out of my head - somewhere in middle america. It's a pity that that album is such an acme of mawkish. And that is signals such a particularness. So no, apparently I don't write any differently after months away.
Did you turn the lights off?
Yes.
Really?
Yes.
When, just now?
Yes.
So I should go and turn it off now?
No.
(Goes off, light switch sounds)
So do you want to go out?
Maybe.
Yes or no?
Uh.
So where?
Can we
No.
But
No.
What about?
No.
Have you?
Yes. So should I get ready?
Up to you.
I really do like that episode of Scrubs. (which that dialog had absolutely nothing to do with, except in the most allusive of ways, and proximity)
Posted by subtitles at 4:24 AM | Personal
December 20, 2005
Fiction Collective Draft
It's probably past time that I put up a more recent draft. The stated intention being that this will be more or less what is to be sent out. Gah.
Posted by subtitles at 2:47 PM | Personal
Motherfuckers
Fuck me that was a lot of trackback spam. I really don't want to, but apparently circumstances beyond my control dictate it. At some point I might even move up to 3.2. But then I'd have to figure things out again, back things up. So yes, Motherfuckers.
Posted by subtitles at 2:35 PM | Site Updates
TVTAD is Back!!
Apparently they've been sneaky for some time now, but I've been too out of it to realise. TVTAD.com. Only thing is now you have to supply your own RSS feed - via TVRSS.net. Off to screw the man :).
Posted by subtitles at 1:21 PM | P2P
PSP2006 Blog - Electronics
I've actually snapped up the blog address psp2006.blogspot.com, if anyone is interested in editing it. I could just cede the address to you/add you as a writer etc. I'm really not interested in maintaining it, as I can barely maintain this one. I'd be happy to make periodic submissions though.
I'm wondering since I otherwise travel light, whether it'd be a good idea for me to buy a whole bunch of adaptors for electrical devices. In Singapore the mecca of cheap-ass electronics, it might be nice to bring over a couple. As for ethernet cable, it should be fine to just point people to their local Home Depot - or just bring a bunch from there. I could buy a roll and bring crimpers I suppose...
That said, I've found the most darling retractable ethernet roll-up thing. I'm just worried it won't be long enough.
Posted by subtitles at 10:58 AM | Prague Summer Program 2006
Pay as you go Mobile for Prague
Just because Margaret just sent us the very useful newsletter, with tonnes of stuff about Prague, I decided it'd be a good time to check out Mobile providers in Prague. There are 3 main providers - Eurotel (the Czech incumbent, affiliated with O2), Oskar (owned by Vodafone), and T-Mobile.
My instinct was right, in that these are networks that don't really "play well together" - so if you are making calls between different providers, you get gouged by higher rates. This doesn't happen with the US, but is certainly a concern in say the UK.
So my proposal is that people (if they're smart) will stick to one carrier, rather than going "off-piste". What I've found so far suggests that Oskar is the way to go (and I've always had a good experience with Vodafone in the UK).
Just a direct comparison of tariffs (all pay as you go, of course, by getting a sim card) - Oskar and Eurotel, the pricing seems that much better, and much less complicated, for Oskar - though you would have to take into account the free weekend calls on Eurotel (which I'm always skeptical about - read the fine print below).
Caveats I would bring up would include the following: I have very little idea of the extent to which US phones are locked in to their provider. You may very well find that your phone is unable to use a provider other than the one you're using now. But if your phone is "unlocked", it's just a matter of switching sim cards (please tell me this is an elementary skill, like walking upright and saying fuck).
SMS is also going to be very useful as a communication tool, though calling rates are actually surprising good. What also convinces me about Oskar is that their online SMS sending service has a nicer interface, compared to Eurotel's.
Honestly, I haven't tried the hardest with T-Mobile, partly because they don't have an online SMS system, and because their website is woefully underdeveloped. So much so I can't even find a tariff page.
So yes, I can do a cut down version of this for margaret, for the program, or I could wait for more consultation, or I could set up a tinyurl for this page, we'll see.
Conclusion is very simple. Stick to Oskar/Vodafone. Even in the UK they had over-taken the state-run incumbent.
Edit: to put things in perspective, 1 CZK is about 4 cents (and a bit) in the US, so it'll be about 8c for a text message, 12 cents per minute for a call within the network. Just imagine, that calling outside the network will be about 24 cents per minute and you'll realise why we'll all want to "keep it in the family".
Posted by subtitles at 10:33 AM | Prague Summer Program 2006