Year: 2014

Kirk, Spoc, McCoy and ensign Ricky beam down to a planet….. [lol]

Red.

Ok.

Scifi person + Red. Throw in a bit of Christmassy time. Whatever can that lead to ?

Could it have been anything else ? Muahaha.

Don’t worry – I should have worse to come. Actually, the one I took of last night’s shopping ahead of Sunday’s pic is worse. Darn it – shoulda taken the pic of the people walking through Bristol today. I did take a few pics in Brizzle, they’ll come later in the month.

Oh wait ? You want a sneak preview ? Ok.

I found a new Happy Place.

Those cookies are as thick as they look. You could probably use them as doorstops. Except I hope not, because I plan to eat the two I got there today and want some teeth left afterwards. I don’t think I’ll find a better cookie wall pic than that, so I’ll be reusing it again later in the month.

Still not sure what I’ll use for green though. Oh – I have my Hot Drink pic as well, although I may have to GIMP it with extra pics added in to make it truly hot. (Although that may risk my family-fiendlyness)

Quandary time – do I tell you where the Happy Cookie Place is or do I withhold the info in the hopes that there are more cookies left for me ?

Hmm. I’ll be nice. They’re from the German Market in the middle of Bristol.

One last thing for today – it was the return of the name Orion to space travel. It looks like the mission went as you hope a mission goes – Boring. The fact the mission goes ahead is exciting but you want the mission itself to be boring with no surprises. If something exciting happens, that usually means something unexpected (and highly dangerous) has occurred which puts future progress at risk.

So it looks like today’s Orion space capsule test has gone swimmingly well. But it is a shame that it’s a pale shadow of the original Project Orion. Picture if you will :

A Star Trek sized Cruiser space ship. Massive.
An immense shield mechanism like a radio telescope dish.
Bombs coming out of the back end.
Nuclear bombs.
And the blast from the nukes pushing the Massive Cruiser Spaceship across the solar system.

Something that big has a realistic chance of having the shielding to reach the other planets in the solar system, without killing the crew inside. Of course, you’d want full fusion bombs providing the blast-thrust instead of dirty fission/fusion nukes.

That Orion concept died a long time ago, although it’ll hopefully come back if they can make clean fusion bombs for power.

Hopefully the new Orion concept has proven itself today and paves the way to future excursions to the Moon and Mars.

Cya in a brighter future 🙂

You’ll like this one.

Promise.

If I put the tree up, I definitely need one of those.

Wonder if Forbidden Planet do them ?

Firefly was a wonderful series. I think it got so popular, so quickly because it was so well acted with huge amounts of humour. But not just that. There was a certain sense of freedom that I think would appeal to anyone. The sort of freedom where you set your own rules, your own agenda, see new scenery every time you make port and a bit of danger too.

That independence from authority, from legal interfence, from idiots who don’t know how to run their affairs properly (translation – all politicians) and from idiots who grab in resources from everything they don’t have in order to make it cheaper for themselves (translation – all politicians).

Am I being too rough on the politicians there ? Hmm.

Nope.

I’m hoping to make another run into Bristol centre tomorrow. Partly to get me out and about and wandering around, partly because it will give me a chance to get pictures :
6 – Christmas Lights
7 – Shopping (got one but it’s rubbish)
13 – Presents (to be honest, I think this’ll be either lifted from Hannah or somewhere else on the internet)
14 – Hot Drink (am now a confirmed hot chocolate addict again)
15 – Decorations

I can get the pictures from the internet but I’d prefer to supply my own. Cos that makes the meme more uniquely mine. Still wondering what I’ll put in for Reflect 2014 though. (Yep – it says 2013 but … I can’t remember that long ago – or is it wanting to remember 2013 ?). Lol – thinking about it, I was more Zombie Like in 2013 with more visible nasty patches.

I’m steadily improving, although the conditions at work don’t help. We work in air recirculated buildings and the air is incredibly dry. Most people remark on it. I’m continually with a mug of coffee to stave off the dehydration. It gives some of my colleagues headaches while it makes my hands superdry.

The Xmas break will definitely help there.

Cya tomorrow with another pic – you’ll like tomorrow’s pic. Muahaha.

Day 3 !

Christmas tree day today.

These trees these days. No staying power.

I should clear a space so I can put my tree up. I have to admit, it’s not gone up for too many years. I just never really seem to get around to it.

I have a night in planned tonight. I mentioned that there’s some livestreams going tonight and it’s Hannah & Kim’s turn tonight and the plan is :

Watch the end of the cricket. Could be a close one …
Ignore the warm up stream (they don’t really excite me but at least it’s not a case of turn off as soon as they come on – like the people tomorrow)
Grab a pizza after the cricket
And hopefully get back in time for the start of the Hannah & Kim fun.

It’s onesie night tonight and I feel I need one so I don’t feel left out. Here’s one :

So cute.

And the onesie ain’t bad either.

Another reason for the pizza is that I need a picture of it for a post later in the month.

Oh dear – looks like England are falling to bits after a promising start. I may have more time for pizza collecting than I thought.

Cya tomorrow !

And the update – England won ! Yey ! Yogstream – disaster with lots of R.I.P. stream. Oh well. But we did get to see our Kim & Hannah for a little while at least and I read a few chapters of book while waiting for the stream to come back up.

Ok,

Day 2 and I’ve already had to cheat :

Don’t you worry, I’ll be cheating much more over the next few weeks.

I don’t actually have any candy canes in the house. It’s not something I tend to have. The sweeties I have are :

Pure chocolate – well, someone has to eat it to relieve all those on a diet of the temptation.
Lemon Sherbets – love ’em. But I think I’m allergic to the lemony bit.
Fruit Pastelles – these are the current non-chocolate sweetie of choice, although I’m having to be careful because they … erm … do strange things to my digestion.

What do they say about nice things ?

That they come with a price ? Sure do. I fully intend to have a pizza for the Hannah and Kim stream tomorrow and I will love every bit of it. I need a pizza for two reasons : Cos it’s pizza. And because I plan to take a pic to use on day 12. But it will exact its price afterwards. (The cheese causes me to make too much acid)

More non-chocolatey sweeties ?

I’m a cookie fiend. No cookie is safe. Some muffins are safe, that’d be the ones with anything resembling healthy stuff in. So keep your blueberry muffins for yourselves and save me the triple chocolate ones.

Cupcakes ? I used to love lemon topped cupcakes but … see above for lemon sherbets. Allergies can be very cruel sometimes.

Marshmallows. Not had those for ages. That might be a partial answer for my current energy debt problems* because they’re pure sugar. I may pick some up when I avoid the Hat Films stream on Thursday.

* I have a huge suspicion that I’m one of the masses who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. I’ve been struggling for energy, despite having a bit more sleep lately. I have the usual suspects for it – difficulty getting going in the morning, tendency to oversleep (yep, combined with inability to get to sleep), I’ve got real munchies and want to be continually eating, I’m having issues with concentration. (Yep – I’m reading off the symptoms from Wiki, partly cos I recognise them in myself).

Oh and there’s the Thorntons stuff … Butter Tablet is also pure sugar pretty much. Crumbly goodness. And I’m also a sucker for their chocolate mouseys.

But outside that tendency for SAD, I still get that lift when seeing familiar looksees in the hitlog here, when I get texts or messages from people, when I get the Big Smiles from the ladies in the office. Even better when the giggles hit them.

The counter to that is when I write nice things about people and when I tell them, they don’t bother to look. That’s a little sad. I get sad on their behalf. (I know one peeked – Hello Dodger!) But …

I do like writing nice things about people. It makes me feel better. If they don’t look, they’re the ones who have missed out.

I may have some more of my guilty pleasure later – popcorn ! Dinner first though, it’s about to come out of the oven.

Cya!

Nuts ! Hadn't spotted that one. Must find something suitably apocalyptic from Revelations or ask Google about "silly Bible verses".

I'm personally looking forward to an illustration of your fave Bible Verse…. [grin]

I spotted a meme …

And you know me and meme’s. Yep. Can’t resist. Especially if the person who I got the meme from just happens to be irresistably gorgeous. What’s the meme ? First the picture. Today’s theme is “My View”, here’s the view out of my back window. It’s from a few years ago (Too dark now to take pics … which is a very good excuse to hide the mess out there)

That’s Chronos, one of the neighbourhood cats. This must be from quite a while ago, I can’t remember Chronos tapping on the window lately. That was His Chair though. He’d be there, rain, shine or … snow.

Here’s the meme :

And I got it from the incredible Dodger, who has the Youtube channels PressHeartToContinue and Dexterity Bonus but I know her more from Twitter (@dexbonus)

I have ideas for most of those, although I’ll have to cheat with a few. I’ll definitely be cheating with the ones that might breach the lessening anonymity I try and maintain … (If you want to get in touch, there’s a working email in the profile !) But yeah, we shall see ! Hopefully I’ll acquire pictures for them all. Expect lots of dwagons …

My view at the moment ? I’m half listening to the opening Yogscast livestream. They’re live on www.twitch.tv/yogscast, the schedule is on reddit and the donations go in via humble bundle. I won’t watch all of them. The Yogscast are pretty big now and one of their strengths is that they have something that appeals to everyone. And one of the weaknesses is that variety too, they have some that I’d avoid like the plague.

So this week :
I’m mostly listening tonight;
I’ll mostly listen tomorrow;
Hannah and Kim are streaming on Wednesday !!!
Thursday night will be shopping;
And I’ll be trying to figure out who wins the Civ V on Friday.

Thursday and Friday are pending travel plans though. I’ll watch anything Hannah and Kim come out with, plus I’ll be aiming to see the Rythian and Zoey streams too.

But Hannah and Kim’s streams will be the highlights. I’ve said plenty about them before but ? Why watch ? Cos it’s pure fun. They have a gift of including the viewer with their antics, which appear on screen as being totally unscripted, outside of the script which is an integral part of the game they’re playing. I hope the banter is as much fun for them as it for us watching.

What can I say ? Both ladies are smart, good with the games, funny, are blessed with a couple of lovely voices, have an indomitable attitude and put all their spirited nature into enjoying the games and transmitting that enjoyment to us.

(From PajamaForest.com, aka AugustLovesMay) And watching Kim in her early Minecraft made me picture that cartoon exactly … (muahaha)

Or, knowing these two, maybe that should be :

Don’t mention the gravelly voiced one to “I Lost My Heart To A Starship Turian” Kim, we may lose her into rapture …

At least, I hope they’ll be livestreaming, cos Kim’s doing the active playing of Alien Isolation (playlist link) with Hannah cheerleading and it’s giving Kim heart attacks with Hannah doing a good impression of a gibbering wreck. Good game – it’s 50% off on Steam today and I’m kinda tempted. (Won’t buy it, cos I wait for these things to get ultra cheap). Hell of a game actually to give these two hardened horror game veterans the shakes like it does.

I’ll definitely be checking in on Wednesday. I may even donate …

I mentioned before – no Q for this series, I don’t actually own any Q albums … Ok, there’s 2 Queen greatest hits cds but they’re in the G’s. Their second greatest hits just joined the collection actually, I needed a second for a 2 for deal to introduce me to Nightwish.

How’s Nightwish ? Very theatrical. Very polished. That seems to be a trend in metal music lately. Less thrash, more heavy operatic. I’m not convinced by that trend, by polishing the music, they take the raw emotion out of it. That’s why I like Evanescence, because they keep that raw emotion coming through the music.

R’s ?

I’ve found Radio 1 Live Lounge to be a good source of new artists to add to the collection and have a selection of the cd’s in the library. Highlights are where artists cover other people’s songs and make them truly special. Like Little Boots with Beat Again, Avril Lavigne with The Scientist and Arctic Monkeys with You Know I’m No Good. I prefer all 3 of those over the originals.

One of my teenage music influences was T’Pau and they followed a decent first album with Rage. It’s one of those albums which has big highs, big lows, good bits, bad bits. I played the hell out of it and was happily singing along to tracks like Secret Garden. Carol Decker’s still got it 20 years after she recorded the original.

Back to something more contemporary. I discovered Daft Punk through enjoying their soundtrack to Tron Legacy and then checked out their own stuff. Random Access Memories is their latest. It’s a decent listen, not quite what I usually listen to (not enough girlie vocals) but tracks like Get Lucky still get my toes tapping.

And now backwards – I dislike U2 as people because they’re a typical example of what happens when too much money make people a little loopy. But … they still made some amazing music. Like Rattle And Hum, including tracks like All I Want Is You. Now who might “You” be ?

But I do much prefer female vocals like the ever incredible, ever evolving, ever beautiful Madonna with Ray Of Light (I almost typoed Yay of Light, which sums up what I feel when some of its tracks come on). The famous track here is Frozen but my favourite is Nothing Really Matters.

Strictly Come Dancing has introduced or reminded me about a few people, this time it’s Sophie Ellis-Bextor with her collection album, Read My Lips. There’s a few great tracks here, Groovejet has that characteristic dance groove, Lover makes you want to have someone feel special, Is It Any Wonder has that ethereal voice

Crowded House have stood the test of time. They’re still doing well today and their R album, Recurring Dream, is full of great songs. Like … the one that opens it, Weather With You. What’s it like where you are ? Sunny here today.

Going way back to before I was born now. It’s Pink Floyd with Relics. It’s a collection of their music in the 60s. Floyd changed considerably with the decades, their 60s music is definitely the quirkiest music they did. I’ll pick out Remember A Day here for the Richard Wright tribute.

I don’t have too many collections albums in the library, I usually get the full original albums instead. Retrospective by Suzanne Vega is another of these, although it does have some different versions of the original songs, like The Queen And The Soldier.

Another collection ? All About Eve have had their back catalogue mercilessly raided over the years with albums like Return To Eden which has versions of their songs which didn’t have the final production polish behind them. It’s saved by Julianne Regan’s voice and a wonderful cover of Devil Woman.

I have most of the Star Wars soundtracks ! And I’m proud to admit that. Ha. Most of them come under S but there’s one under R – Return of the Jedi. You know this one already don’t you ?

Paul Simon is another golden oldie that’s still knocking around with albums like Rhythm Of The Saints, including tracks like The Obvious Child. He’s still got something unique with that soft voice of his.

Franz Ferdinand keep my attention with their quirkiness. Their Right Thoughts, Right Action album is another pretty good one but make sure you get the deluxe version as it has a second cd with live versions of the album plus some of their best stuff like Ulysses.

Paramore burst into everyone’s attention with their first album Riot! Love this album, it was a great introduction for another full band group. Tracks like Let The Flames Begin having the band fully complement Hayley’s voice.

Chris Rea’s been knocking around for a while too and one of his better known albums is Road To Hell. This one’s packed with great songs too. Texas ? They got big long roads out there.

Another oldie ? Meat Loaf’s been around a while too and I have his Rock N Roll Hero collection. It’s ok for a collection but he’s not really a favourite. Perhaps I hear the damage he’s done to that incredible voice of his.

And talking of an incredible voice, here’s Duffy with Rockferry. I have the special 2cd version, which I’d thoroughly recommend because the second cd has some excellent songs on it. Like the plaintive Please Stay but there’s also other sad but wonderful songs like Warwick Avenue and Delayed Devotion.

Puss In Boots was a great film (well, I enjoyed it) and it introduced me to the instrumental guitar music of Rodrigo y Gabriela. I need more of their stuff alongside their self titled album with tracks like a sublime cover of Stairway to Heaven.

Last 2 ! The penultimate of Coldplay’s A Rush Of Blood To The Head. I’m not sure about Coldplay, a lot of their music mushes into the same track. There’s not much distinctiveness to them, outside of their Wall Of Sound technique. Favourite here is Clocks.

And … finishing on a high note … Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours is one of the best albums of all time. It was born in a time of emotional turmoil for the band and that fire forged an incredible album with tracks like Oh Daddy, Go Your Own Way, You Make Lovin’ Fun and … The Chain.

Yep. I’m a child of the time BBC had the Grand Prix coverage and there’s something that feels very Right and The Chain being the theme of Formula One.

Time to close now. S will be on the way … sometime. But I should actually hit under 1000 tracks left to listen to by the end of today ! That’s only taken … 13 months. Cor.

I’ve been having one of those Bad Pete Good Pete battles.

Good Pete says – you don’t need a new telly, the one you have now is perfectly adequate.
Bad Pete says – but the new one would be HUGE, 3d, it’s on sale and … it’s SHINY.

Shiny things are always good.

What am I looking at ?

I could get a 55″ Samsung 3d capable LED backlit telly today only for £650. That would be an immense upgrade to the 32″ LCD telly I have now. And in theory, I could use the LCD telly as a new PC monitor. I won’t because this monitor is just big enough to fit where I put it, the corners fit my field of view well and it’s a decent quality LED lit monitor. It’s got better display quality than my ageing telly.

It’s not ageing, although I did have to replace the batteries in the controller not so long ago.

The telly is actually the only bit of my system that doesn’t support 3d, the bluray player and amplifier both do. But … those spec thingys are confusing aren’t they ? What’s available and what do I think of it ?

Curved – this is the new Big Thing. I see it as a marketing fad, soon to fade away into obscurity. It depends on the viewer being in a certain position and … I most often watch telly from where I have my desktop PC chair. That’s about 20 degrees off the midline where I’d be for the optimal position on the sofa. So curved is a waste of time for me.

3d – I um and arr over this. I can see the 3d benefit but … I’d only have advantage of the 3d on a very few blurays that I’ve bought. And then there’s the wearing of the 3d glasses over my normal glasses. So why think 3d ? To enable the effect, means high refresh rates on the screen. This is good for 2d as well, because it vastly reduces flicker and motion blur.

4k – this has more pixels per inch. 1080p is good for my current telly at 32″, because the dots are small. At 55″, the dots are that much bigger, so having more dots gives you that sharpness that would otherwise go away. This works best if the telly has enough intelligence to turn 1080p into 4k. Otherwise, I don’t have any sources that could send the higher resolution to the screen.

So all those fancy things are all a bit of a waste of time for me. However … there is such a thing as future proofing … And that says I should be looking at the tellys which have more dots in. (A 4k).

I’m going to let Good Pete win this time for a good reason – I’d want the telly delivered. I think it would fit in the car with the back seats down but I’d want them to come and take away my older CRT telly and the various telly packaging I have. Which means being in.

Telly buying can wait until the January sales come along.

Many other people aren’t thinking about that, they’re rushing to the sales anyway …

They crazy !

The world seems to be genuinely going mad at the moment. Mob rule is raising its ugly head more and more. Crowds of rabid shoppers are assaulting the stores, the storepeople and each other in the rush to get bargains. And it’s not just that, we’re seeing raising civil unrest in places like Ferguson where it seems like the mob didn’t get its way, so the mob protests. Led by a rabble rousing lawyer.

I don’t have the full facts there but it’s a sign that things are starting to get out of control.

It could be time to get that house in the hills and turn it into a fortress.

As long as it has internet, a generator and plenty of places to keep the snacks.

Plans for the weekend ? I’ve been feeling run down, so it’s time for chilling out, watching stuff, maybe reading stuff, quite possibly buying stuff in the Steam sale and generally trying to recharge those batteries. But if someone has a better offer, I’m all ears 🙂

Oh and there will be the occasional raiding of the hot chocolate supply.