Minimal

Dynamite

Along with a number of work colleagues, I’ve become a big fan of sam brown’s drawings at explodingdog.com. Insane, but inspired, they’re rarely less than brilliant. Here’s one that resonates right now: it is a wonderful world.

When I finally get a place of my own (looks like I’ll be renting), I’m going to print a load of these out, frame them, and scatter them liberally across my walls. I can’t wait. :)

Well, that’s a relief

Apologies for the unexplained downtime — my hosting providers gave me less than a day’s notice to renew my account. Muppets. At least, they managed not to delete my files in the meantime.

Friendly fire

Friendly fire: how it can happen. In a time when news bulletins appear to be nothing more than 30 or more minutes of war footage and endless, biased, emotional debate, it’s refreshing to come across something as matter-of-fact as this. Yes, it’s still war-related, but at least it’s technically interesting.

As an aside, are you already as sick of the reporting as I am? I can’t even see how the conflict might be resolved. It’s like being stuck in hospital with an illness you know will pass, but you’ve no idea of how long it’ll last. Just lie still and wait for it to end. I think I’m still slack-jawed at the fact that it’s happening at all. What a world. What a crazy, messed up world. :(

Mini adventure

This driving stuff’s addictive. I only went out for a short walk in some pleasant surroundings. Before I knew it, I’d left the gorge and was being held up by bikers on Hartside Pass. Following a welcome cuppa outside the café at the top, I then trundled down to Penrith... and kept on going.

Keswick was next, but after a comical and totally unintentional loop of the town, I found myself exiting by the same road I’d come in. Not wanting to make the same mistake twice, I set off towards Cockermouth, making the most of the Mini’s handling on the insanely twisty dual carriageway beside Bassenthwaite lake. Alas, the sun was now setting, I’d had my fix of supercharged fun, and half of my tank-full of petrol had made its contribution to global warming. Time to head home.

But had it been better than in the Puma? All will be revealed shortly.

Robots in disguise

National guardman changed his name to a toy. Pure gold. I think my favourite bit is the response from the Pentagon.

Summer’s here

It’s official, summer’s here. Okay, so it’s not really official, but on my drive into work today, I smelt the sweet, sweet smell of cut grass for the first time this year. A couple of weekends back, I’d caught the distant rattle of a lone (and somewhat over-zealous) lawnmower, but it was very much alone. Today, however, the council are at it and you just know we’ll all be joining them in a few days’ time. Yes, folks, the grass-cutting season is upon us. :)

P.S. I’m well aware the world is on the brink of collapse. Today, I’m ignoring it.

Your new favourite band buzzword

And this week, it’s “liminal”. So far, featured here and here. Should a site like 37signals or metafilter pick up on it, you can expect to see it everywhere by Friday. ;)

Who do you trust?

In the coming weeks and months, we are likely to be bombarded from all sides by... propaganda, spin, bullshit. Call it what you want, it’s not pleasant and it’s coming our way. In fact, you could argue that we’ve already been desensitized to the possibility of war by months of reporting on the “inevitability” of it all. Sadly, war does now seem inevitable.

It’s good to know, then, that there are people in this world like Peter Arnett (CNN, CameraPlanet, National Geographic), Jon Swain (Sunday Times, Observer) and pretty much everyone at the BBC. Even if we are powerless to influence our leaders’ actions, hopefully the media will help us to keep them accountable.

BTW, did George Bush really say that the UN needed to regain its “legs of responsibility” in tonight’s news conference? Without a carefully prepared script to save him, that man’s ramblings are those of an utter buffoon. Oh, wait...

Pure poetry, pt 2

Last night’s game between Inter Milan and Newcastle was breathtaking. Full of highs and lows, and fast-paced action, it ended up in a 2-2 draw that almost certainly spells the end of Newcastle’s Champions’ League campaign. As I sat on the sofa, dumbstruck in the aftermath, I struggled to make sense of how I felt. And then I realised — it was like the last day of a fortnight’s holiday in the sun. You’ve had a fantastic time, but now it’s back to the real world. Roll on the next holiday. :)

Pure poetry, pt 1

We all knew it was coming. :)

• Sunderland sack Wilkinson
• Sacked Wilkinson reveals shock
• The worst managerial records in history
• Cram: Why Wilkinson had to go

Good luck to Mick McCarthy — he’ll need it. No, scratch that. He’ll need a miracle. Mwah ha ha ha ha!!! :)

Email? Pah, that’s so last century!

What is wrong with me?!?! I spend so much of my time online surfing the web that I’ve started getting in touch with people via comments on their weblog entries instead of just sending them emails. Scary. It’s not like I don’t know the relevant email addresses. I could quite happily keep my missives private, but in some insane kind of exhibitionism, I choose to do it in public instead.

It even seems to be catching. My latest pointless note — to Matt of Frownland fame — was not only dumb enough to require 2 extra notes back and forth, but also garnered a response telling me to send stuff via a web-based contact form. Matt: my sincerest apologies for infecting you with this nonsense.

*pause*

Gah! I’m even blogging about it now! I think I can hear the men in white coats coming...

The new KGB

There’s a lot of opinion stated as fact in this article about the Bush administration, but it still makes for very interesting reading. Link via Wilka.

Best show on television

Did you see Grand Designs tonight? Consistently the best and most in-depth of the myriad housing-related programmes on TV, it really lives up to its name. Very rarely do you see something less than seriously impressive, but tonight’s barn conversion surpassed them all. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more perfect building in my life. Seriously, it was awesome.

When asked how pleased they were with the result on a scale of 1 to 10, the owners answered the only way they could. “Twelve-plus,” said Philip. “Oh, I was going to say eleven,” Angela replied. There’s no doubting it, this place was a work of art — even the windows had a hint of Mondrian to them.

If you missed it tonight and Channel 4 ever repeat the series, you have got to see it! :) In the meantime, you can content yourself with the owners’ website.

But all the kids are doing it!

There’s bad ideas, there’s stupidly bad ideas, and then there’s trying to manipulate a grass-roots phenomenon like blogging. D’oh!

[This blog entry was brought to you by the great taste of Pepsi — the choice for a new generation. Or something.]

In defence of the Inter-two-bob Cup

I see Newcastle have expressed an interest in the Intertoto Cup for next season. Contrary to how the majority of clubs’ fans in England would feel about this, I’m actually quite pleased. Along with pretty much everyone else in the country, I used to think the competition was a fairly worthless pre-season energy sapper. Ever since Newcastle’s involvement last season, however, I’ve totally changed my opinion of it.

In theory, Newcastle’s run in said cup was the worst case scenario. We got all the way through the competition, only to lose out on away goals in our half’s final. This has always been seen as the greatest risk involved with the competition — no reward for plenty of endeavour. Those pre-season competitive matches, however, got us off to a cracking start in the Premiership. While all other clubs were just getting out of first gear, we were already firing on all cylinders. Not only that, but we kept it up throughout the season, dispelling the myth of the early games causing excessive tiredness.

Sadly, not every club sees it this way. It looks like next season will see no English participation at all. With the Toon looking more and more likely to qualify for the Champions League, the back door to European competition will remain firmly shut. Given that there’s not even a World Cup or European Championship to stretch the elite players this coming summer, I can’t help feeling the likes of Villa and Leeds are missing out, especially Leeds. You would’ve thought they’d do anything to bolster their finances right now!

Or maybe they’re just afraid they’ll meet Barca. ;)