I need some inconsistency

Magnolia's not working

2006-03-15T15:12:00.000Z

I don't know why but for some reason the social tagging and bookmarking website ma.gnolia.com is down. They've let their domain name expire?

William Orbit 'Spiral' Lyrics

2006-03-12T18:16:00.000Z

The idea is that if you're looking for lyrics of William Orbit + Sugababes and their song 'Spiral' then you'd head over to my new, or 'other' blog because that's where google is sending some people.

Oddly, it's not linking to the post itself, but to the homepage which is majorly annoying. I don't know what's up with that. Very strange.

Some people stop blogging

2005-08-09T22:31:00.000Z

I don't stop blogging, I just direct the reader to a newer, more beautiful site that's full of color and light and pretty things that XP's Internet Explorer just hates to high heaven. My long time blogging inspiration, Patricia over at thelast5pages.com is throwing in the towel. I think she's still going to 'maintain' her site, but the musings on the random thoughts of everyday life are going to stop, the mo-blog is going to wind down, and her site will drift in space, locked in its deliberate keep-out-google confines of 'nofollow' tags and 'crawler beware' signs.

If I ever take a bit of a pause in my blogging, it's never really worth writing about because I'm back to the fold within a week or so. I have too many interesting things I've read to tell everyone about, I have too many thoughts or ideas or inspirations in my mind to not want to put them out there.
I don't care if nobody reads what I have to say because most of the time there's nothing of consequence to it, but I like to think that by writing down what interests me, I'll have some sort of personal record, some sort of public diary of what has taken place in my life and some of the things I've seen.
It's like how I don't like to read library books because if I have to return the book, how will I remember that I've read it. I'm such a slower and occasional book-reader that when I finish something, it's really worth having read. I don't mind that fact that I'm a slow reader, but not having a book that I've actually taken the time to read seems like a cruel trick.

If I ever stop blogging, you know I'm just biding my time to find some greater, more colorfull and creative way to come back with a bang.

It's all about the focus

2005-03-06T00:39:00.000Z

As I continue to struggle with the main problem of my writing, namely what in particular to write about, what to really concentrate on, I will meander along the alleyways of the web and the news and the culture of today in an attempt to find some real focus. I have no idea what it's going to be, but there it is.

It's just that writing about only one subject seems so limiting, so shallow. I suppose it means you'd eventually become some sort of authority about it, simply through reading so much about it, but I really don't know if I have the attention span to maintain that kind of thing. Perhaps a group blog about a couple different topics where each person could blog to their own individual strengths. It's a thought....

All clear!

2005-02-08T01:12:00.000Z

I'm so completely over being sick - I bored myself better; I'd become so tired of being ill that I just had to be better. One scary thing, my mother asking me "you're not HIV+ are you" when she commented on how I'd had a flu-like thing four times in the last two years. I'm like... how whoreish does she think I am?! Scary mad.
Anyway, back on form, but not really posting here as much as I should because I'm still trying to sort out www.sortroom.net so that images actually display on IE 6 and so forth. If you can't see it - it's Microsoft's fault and I'm working to make images work by a hack for the site design so that there's a special version for IE.

The internet's a real pain to be honest; such a lot of bother...

Carl Cameron in the White House

2005-02-01T20:22:00.000Z

As revealed in Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's war on journalism, the wife of chief political correspondent for the Fox News Channel,Carl Cameron, actively campaigned for the President during November's presidential elections. When interviewing Bush during the campaign Bush asks after Cameron's family. The reply:
"[They're] very well, my wife has been hanging out with your sister."
Bush replies:
"She's a good soul, she's a really good soul."

In a website report dated October 1st for Fox News, Cameron notoriously fabricated quotes from Senator John Kerry including:

"Didn't my nails and cuticles look great? What a good debate!" Kerry said Friday.

This work, and the other documented troubles with Cameron (link), don't show the objectivity one would normally expect of a national news channel. As a result I was astonished to hear, on an NPR program called On the Media (Jan 28 2005), that Cameron has just last Wednesday joined the White House Press Corps as the Channel's White House correspondent. Now we have a man who George Bush already knows on first name terms, whose wife has campaigned for Bush, spoonfeeding the President easy questions that will push his political agenda, as is discussed in the OTM piece which can also be watched on a PBS archive here in which Cameron corrects his use of private [social security] accounts to personal accounts. A small change but indicative of the attitudes of the reporter.

Result of an illness

2005-01-31T11:40:00.000Z

I've been sick in bed with the 'flu all weekend and it looks like I'll be here all of today too. I've been couging and spluttering and generally feeling sorry for myself. It's not a great look - whenever I go near a mirror I scare myself back into bed because my hair is just so crazed. It sticks out at odd angles and in weird patterns that make me wonder how exactly I cause them; how do I sleep in such odd ways?

I'm not too pleased about being sick, but there's nothing I can do except stay in bed and sweat it out. Anyway, the supposed changes that were coming, will be a little later since I haven't been able to work on them. So keep calm and wait. It'll be worth it when its done.

A certain stillness

2005-01-27T19:19:00.000Z

There's reduced activity on the home front; there's a stillness in the air that makes one wonder if a major assault is imminent. Change is coming and things will look different soon. Changes are coming.

wasting time

2005-01-26T09:54:00.000Z

I woke up two hours early today, long before my appointed hour, for a class that has now been cancelled for not apparent reason; perhaps the lecturer simply couldn't face it this morning. The worst thing about it, having to sit next to the wet drips who are the Biology students in this place - it's like talking to a defrosting fridge - slow, morose, cold and unaware.

Crushed worshippers

2005-01-26T09:36:00.000Z

In a tragic turn of events, a party of worshippers set fire to shops surrounding a Hindu temple 150 miles south of Bombay yesterday, after they heard news that relatives and loved ones had been earlier trampled to death.
The incident occurred after an earlier festival event went awry when participants slipped and fell on spilt coconut juice, a part of the ceremony, then were trampled to death by some of the 300,000 strong crowds pushing forwards to make their own religious offerings. When their relatives heard that the events had been fatal they set fire to nearby structures, resulting in a further stamped and the loss of over 250 lives.

"The fires were set along a packed, narrow walkway lined with tea stalls and shops leading up a hill to the temple. They set off what witnesses said was a stampede of screaming crowds fleeing in horror.

Though his leg was injured in the stampede, Yerunkar, a 45 year old pilgrim from Bombay, said he helped pull 15 people alive from a mound of bodies. "But I couldn't find my wife Nirmala. I kept shouting for her,'' he said, weeping uncontrollably.

His wife of 22 years was among the dead. Yerunkar fainted when he identified her body at the Wai hospital."

-The Malaysia Star

link

Hello? This is room service

2005-01-25T10:15:00.000Z

It was a courtesy call; I knocked on the door of a friend of mine, down the corridor in my dorm. It's just after 10 o'clock in the morning so I assumed it was safe to think that she'd either be awake and working or gone into University already.
Much to my surprise, a wail comes from behind the door, a plea for peace that astounded me with it breadth,

"Can you give me like... thirty minutes?"

Uninspiring choices

2005-01-25T02:14:00.000Z

It's being reported today that the forthcoming film adaptation of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code will star Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou.

Reuters is reporting that the director of A Beautiful Mind, Ron Howard will also direct this movie. Whilst Howard is an interesting choice, bound to create the necessary tapestry of storylines that weave the tale to a conclusion, the heavy style of Tom Hanks and his recent over use in Hollywood productions, will offset the tone of the film.

Tautou's delicate style is the one redeeming feature - she's a wildcard in the mix that may save the production from being a standard laborious thriller. Her skill in leading the camera is perfect for a mystery of this nature and hopefully her abilities will make the film, but Tom Hanks still rankles. Though he may be an adept director, as shown in Band of Brothers, he should take a break from pressuring the public with high profile, low intelligence movies.

Have some fortitude!

2005-01-24T23:50:00.000Z

Just as Chrisafer was yesterday asking the US Democrats to have some sort of backbone, today the UK press is asking the 'New Labour' government to hold firm on their immigration stance. The Conservative party, in a desperate attempt to swing right-wing voters back towards their fold, have been calling for caps on the numbers of asylum seekers allowed into the country each year, and swift ("but fair") return to their home country, the country they'd been fleeing.

"It's not racist, as some people claim, to talk about controlling immigration - far from it. It is plain common sense - a vastly underrated quality in British politics today."

My question is this; why is it that I really don't care that the British are being their usual racist selves, why does it all seem so insignificant. When politics swings into action on a European scale, on a US scale - when decisions really affect thousands of people, I begin to care. Now, it's just so small. If I'm reading news from across the globe, the xenophobia of a guy who only won 15 million votes doesn't matter to me; my interest isn't raised. Should I care?

Howard calls for strict immigration cap
Migrant madness

Speaking of improvements

2005-01-24T23:45:00.000Z
This is yet another design. Forgive me the lack of style - I hand coded it and therefore, it's a bit raw. I'll do the graphics and prettiness over the next few days. I can't stand it looking quite so bare as it does at the moment. It all takes time. Time which I've spent today, but time which only produces limited results despite the hour. Not being a natural webdesigner, coding by hand (since Dreamweaver etc really doesn't work all that well with Blogger), takes me an extraordinarily long time.

By the end of the week, it'll look good.

Google makes me better

2005-01-24T23:34:00.000Z
In reading through goodle's zeitgeist today, I came across a page in which the company details how the google websearch improves people's efficiency through correcting our spelling. The example they gave was that of Britney Spears, the ever present pop-princess. She was Google's number one search query for 2004 and apparently, some people still don't know how to spell her name, for there are thousands of people who had to have their searches corrected by the Google bot. Of course some of this is simply mistyping the new madonna's name, but some people evidently had never seen her name written down, or on a screen or whilst watching tv. There were 332 combinations of errors in spelling her name - and these are just the spellings that occurred when more than one person typed in the query.

1096 britiney spears
   991 britaney spears
   991 britnay spears
   811 brithney spears
   811 brtiney spears
   664 birtney spears
   664 brintney spears
   664 briteney spears
   601 bitney spears

how to spell brytni spears

Galvanize this!

2005-01-23T23:17:00.000Z
The Chemical Brothers have released their next single on us, a huge dance track that is going to take over with its repetative beat and heavy bass. The video is crazy, shot with kids who look twelve years old, sneaking into a dance club with their faces painted like clowns. They run around the streets of the city and eventually infiltrate the club's impromptu freestyling competition on the dancefloor. It's crazy and busy and flashes by your eyes; perfect for the song, perfect for the sound.

link

Spoon me

2005-01-21T20:37:00.000Z
One of my most cherished friends from this place is leaving.
She's on her way home to another country, across oceans and miles of tundra, cold and heat, vast distances.

Perhaps I'll see her again, perhaps I won't. I hope we keep together. She's going to be married next year to a guy I haven't talked to her about; I know nothing about 'them' and don't know what it'll be like. I'm going to miss her a lot even though we never had a very deep or meaningful relationship.

Tonight, as a going away evening, we're going to get drunk and play Spoons in the bar. She's an expert at getting wasted and having a good time. I'm an expert in taking care of those who get wasted, whilst trying to not get drunk myself. Tonight, both of these activities will be a challenge.

Spoons; the language of silliness and childish play makes the most enjoyable evening wherever you are.

The Notebook: Russell Beattie

2005-01-18T22:27:00.000Z
I'm really liking the trademark and copyright, technology and comment site by Russel Beattie. Perhaps I've missed something over that last few years but I've never heard of him, and I think he's great!

I hope I don't find something horrible on his site in a few days time, making me regret thinking I like him! I'm sure he's a dude.

link

Also of note, I'm engrossed in a review of the iPod Shuffle, which I orderd a couple days ago, on iPodlounge.com. It's great - in depth and long but not overly pontificating; strangely unusual on the web!

link

Ch-Ch-Ch Changes

2005-01-17T16:21:00.000Z
Today is time for a new look. Every so often - especially when I use another computer and find that a feature I thought was working isn't - I snap into a 'new design mood'. Today is that day - and so we have a grey and green look for the site. It's a new mood and a new look and hopefully it'll not crash, have an annoying sidebar halfway down the page or falter when used by IE. For some reason I've had to delete all modifications from my sidebars for IE to understand them - it really doesn't make sense - the Internet Browser from On High seems to be rather picky and even more choosy about what elements of a site it renders correctly. On the other hand, Firefox and Safari have no problems! I don't know; I despaired and so didn't bother trying to fix it for more than an hour - I got fed up.
Now it's a different style that I'll muck around with once my computer's back up and running. For the moment, suffer in a Blogger-induced standard template. It works and doesn't glitch when doing nothing but its basic job: presenting the page.

"Enjoy now! Run along, don't diddle daddle on the road there children. Run! And Y'all have a good time won't you. Have a real good time"

Disconnected Aspirations

2005-01-16T13:41:00.000Z
I have been, and will continue to be temporarily disconnected from the web for the moment. I'm in the midst of an Apple warranty-replacement operation since my Powerbook's power supply stopped working entirely a couple days ago, having been operating in fits and starts for a number of weeks. It gave up the ghost and so I'm now stuck with an empty battery and a lack of connection.
I've even resorted to buying a newspaper in hard copy to get some news; I was shocked by my own gaul!

Back soon, read BoingBoing or something instead - it seems like the 'fashionable' thing to do now, so, may as well stick with it since it now gets you credit on the blogging 'street'. I feel like the offspring of a bohemian family who've suddenly realised that what they've lived their whole life is, suddenly, intensely cool and desired by all. But in my situation I'm really just the friend of a bohemain offspring who gets a little cool rubbed off by association...
It's that mediocre level of cool that is so difficult to aspire to!

Comment posts

2005-01-11T13:02:00.000Z
I'm really sorry if you've commented on the site and not had a reply - there's some crazy stuff been going on with my email link that sends me commetns whenever they're posted. Normally I don't actually read my own site (since I kind of know what's on there already) and so I hadn't seen that people were commenting when I didn't know about it. Hopefully it won't continue; I've changed things around a bit.

Anyway, that's all really, so I've been going through the comments, reading.
So I know you're there if you were there! Thanks for the input everyone!

link

Today's pearl of wisdom

2005-01-11T01:50:00.000Z

My memory gets worse every time I try to use it.

Want to know about porno in... Italy?

2005-01-09T23:37:00.000Z
In researching my paper on the political systems in Europe I somehow stumbled across this site that documents the status of various sexual issues in various countries around the world. It's the most detailed and, to be honest, fascinating read.

"A recent public opinion survey (Buzzi 1998) shows that most young Italians have a more severe judgment about the clients than about the prostitutes. Prostitution, however, is seen above all as a problem of public order, and 64.7 percent of young people agree with the idea of reestablishing brothels. Moreover, the majority of young men do not exclude the possibility of going with prostitutes."

Sexology of Italy

The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality

Oscar

2005-01-08T19:01:00.000Z
I'm doing an essay on Democracy now, and whilst looking for inspiration I came across this quote by Oscar Wilde; a unique interpretation on Abraham Lincoln's famous line.

"Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the poeple by the people for the people."

It didn't inspire... me but it gave me at least of moment of respite from the utter boredom of writing.

It's too early to talk

2005-01-08T05:29:00.000Z
I've just finished re-writing an essay for my Politics course. The title is:

To what extent are immigration and asylum policies the main reason for the growth in electoral support for extreme right parties?

I wrote a good draft of it about a month ago but had decided that the draft was simply too badly written to hand in. So I've gone through it all over again and rewritten the whole thing, with all the references re-jigged and everything sorted. I sat down again to work on it at 10 PM after looking at other work all day, and then I worked through the night.
I'm on the top floor of our house and the rain is buffeting the Victorian structure like it's trying to push the whole building over. I feel like a bubble of light amidst the darkness. Everyone else is asleep and I'm all alone typing away in the sodium-swathed brightness.

And just as I finished, as I completed the last section of tedious and longwinded formatting, a song came on over my headphones. Thomas Newman's theme to American Beauty with its calm stillness and tranquility caught my mood and now I'm sitting in the brightness, surrounded by wind and rain, listening to the sounds of beauty.