Since I’ve now got the last thing I wanted, it’s time to for the materialistic part of my mind to focus on something else.
And it’s has, the Ice Cream Ball:
I’ve seen this before but previously it was only available in America, once again FireBox comes up with goods and are offering it over here. I’m not actually sure how much I’d use this since I don’t eat a lot of Ice Cream, but it’s just so damn cool (no pun intended) that I want one.
Just don’t put your hamster in it by accident.
Oooo, it’s a box …
It’s too damn hot.
Anyway, here’s a couple of games to waste some time. A slick little asteroids type thing: Neon and a deeply annoying patience/puzzler card game: RSVP.
Finally, proof that everything is somewhere on the internet, Marmaduke Explained. Quality, my favourite is this one.
Games, as always, from JayIsGames. Random internet link thanks to Freakgirl.
I saw Superman Returns on Monday. It’s tremendous, everything I wanted from a new Superman movie. If you haven’t already then go see it, it’s well worth it.
I’ve no idea why Dead Mans Chest did so much better at the box office because, between the two movies, Superman is a far better film. It’s not that Pirates 2 was a bad film, but it has some major flaws like the length and the sketchy plot. In comparison Superman earns most of it’s two and half hour running time, the ending dragged a bit, but it’s the only part of the film that did. The plot is enough to keep the film going without over complicating things and the special effects manage to be spectacular without ever looking fake or overshadowing the story. The shuttle disaster sequence, in particular, is fantastic and it works brilliantly. The rest of film is littered with special effects but at the time I didn’t really notice, they just seemed ‘natural’ in the context of the movie which is a huge achievement.
The film’s not perfect but I’m not going to pick at it’s flaws, you can get that elsewhere. I’ll remember what I liked and be glad there’s been at least one film this summer I’ve really enjoyed. I’ll leave you with a couple of (spoiler filled) links both of which make points I broadly agree with, first a look at the some of the flaws from Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy, and here’s Harry Knowles raving about the film over at Ain’t It Cool News.
I saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2 last weekend, I’d had high hopes going in and this was probably my mistake. This is the Empire Strikes Back of the Pirates trilogy but the beauty of Empire is that it’s quite a simple film with a easy to follow plot. Dead Mans Chest, in comparison, seems have had a plot retrofitted to it to give a poor excuse to get all the characters in the right place and join the end of the last film on to the start of the next via a checklist of set pieces and special effects. There’s none of the subtly of the first film where parts of the scenery suddenly become involved in the fight scenes, here the everything is introduced just before it’s used and discarded afterwards. It still has it’s bright spots, it’s a beautiful film to watch, Johnny Depp and Bill Nighy are outstanding in their roles, and the last hour is much better than the start even if the last ten minutes are effectively a trailer for the next movie. Worth going to see but it could really do with having a better plot and being half an hour shorter.
Failing to learn from my “high expectations” mistake I’m really looking forward to seeing Superman Returns this week, everything I’ve read says it should be fantastic. I only hope they’ve got enough content to justify the two and a half hour running time.
Finally, while the film of the year for 2006 is going to be Snakes on a Plane, we have a early contender for the honour in 2007: The Turtles are back. Woohoo.
The Edinburgh Film Festival lineup is online. The horror lover in me is drawn to Them, nothing else jumps out at the moment but I’ll probably go and see a few things if I have time.
What I’d really like to mention, and you knew this was coming, is the website: it’s great. It’s not perfect, but it’s both stylish and useful, just take a look at the daily view. Now that is how you present listings information, the pane scrolls so no reloading the pages, it makes it obvious what clashes and you can mouse over films for full information. Perfect for people who want to find something to do on a particular day, if you don’t like that you can just display everything alphabetically and page through it, sadly only shows ten entries per page but you take what you can get.
Each film has it’s own full details page with a good long blurb, full show times, links to more information and recommendations for other films you might like. That last feature combined with the Suggest-O-Tron, which suggests films that are similar to other films, allows you to really browse through the site.
To be fair they’re probably the smallest of the festival sites but it’s still the only one that hasn’t annoyed me. It’s intuitive and easy to use but still has some great features. If I was being picky I’d want more search results per page and to have to click through less pages to bookmark a movie or book tickets. The keyword search function does seem to be flaky, that might be a temporary glitch and they have so few events that it hardly matters.
What’s even better is that, if my memory is correct, they’ve changed and improved the site this year rather than just sticking with what worked last year. If only other sites would follow their lead.
Well it might not be due to a mistake but the site’s been up and down all weekend due to some file server sanfu at dreamhost. I recall my on-call support days and so I don’t really envy them working all weekend with a server that’s eating disks for no discernible reason.
I also make mistakes, six weeks ago, I said:
So, instead of that post, you get a Big Brother prediction.
Overall Winner: Nikki. Yes. Really. Not saying that’s who I’d like to win, but it’s what’ll happen. Just wait and see.
Well that was clearly wrong. I’d revise my predication but it’s all too tediously obvious now. I doubt that’ll stop me watching but then I may be a little addicted to it.
We shouldn’t feel bad, even nature makes mistakes, it forgot to colour in half this lobster.
… of pies.
They took the trophy with a traditional steak and ale pie. Although it’s seems slightly unfair to win a world cup based on pie sales from an outlet that only sells in England. Some of the other pie fillings sound good, kangaroo in merlot, beef stroganoff, or chicken with plantains would all make a tasty pie.
I’m forced to wonder what pie Scotland would field if they made the next world cup (stop laughing, they might). I guess the obvious would be a traditional scotch pie, or haggis, neeps and tatties, although haggis in whisky sauce might make a better filling. You could go a more eccentric route, cullen skink pie, arbroath smokie pie, or maybe porridge pie.
Hmmm, it might be worth actually trying some of them but it’s far too hot to have the oven on.
Perhaps I’ll have a pie party when the weather cools down … fear my freakish fillings.
Well, back from T in the Park and still in one piece. A tiny bit sunburned and tired despite sleeping for ages for the last couple of nights.
The weekend itself was great although, if pushed, I’d have to say that it didn’t quite live up to last year but then the line-up and the weather in 2005 made it a hard act to follow. I’m not going to say much more about it, I might work some thoughts into future posts in the meantime there’s plenty of other comment out there. Try this search to find some pictures, opinion, etc. I will give a quick shout out to elvis_chimney, and his recommendation to start Sunday with Fuck Off Machete who were a great way to kick off the day.
That last sentence is probably enough to get the site banned by another set of work filters.
They released 35,000 tickets for next years festival yesterday morning. They sold out in under an hour and a half, which is a pretty good indication that people had a good time. Predictably there’s already a whole bunch of tickets on eBay although it’s unclear whether the bidders or the sellers have any ability or intention to follow through on the deal.
Win Stuff. Ewan’s stuff to be precise, Paypal him a fiver, get random stuff in return. I’ll let you know what I get.
Watch TV. T in the Park for instance. The BBC are flexing their extra channels with a ton of coverage this year. Look out for me. I’ll be the drunk Scotsman.
Be Anonymous. With your very own black bar.
Make Art. with toast. Originally on this site, which has some pretty … eh … interesting other stuff on it.
Send a Message. in a bottle.
Watch More TV. Particularly the last episode of Baby Mindreader next Monday, which should be stunning if he continues to up the ante from this week (yes, I watched it again). See what he can come up with to top literally bursting into tears whilst ‘channelling’ a two-year old’s fear of growing up.
Get a Widget. From Widgetoko.
Find More To Read. Amuse yourself by searching Google News for classic phrases such as “politcal correctness gone mad“, or “sick as a parrot“. Make an RSS feed of them and add them to your news reader. Share your phrases and stories — my favourite: Bonnyrigg Primary renames classes ‘1a’ and ‘1b’ so the bs don’t feel second best. Idiots.
Take a Step. The longest journey begins with a single step …
Credit to Slashfood, Ben Werdmuller, and Defamer. This post 98% filler. May contain hints of future postings. Written in an facility that handles nuts. Enjoy your weekend everyone.
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