Weekly-ish musings. I know these are long winded but I don't get a chance to write daily entries so just dump everything down that I've done and what I was thinking during that week.
Bruce impresses but Essex disappoints - 02/07/07
Not a massive week in the grand scheme of things, though I got up to a few things. I seemed to have quite a few late nights. Not work related but rather as I tinkered and put the new section up. One night I had another chat with Jen, which was cool. The internet world is pretty similar to the real world in that it's hard to meet nice, genuine people. I go on about as much as I do in the hope that something I've mentioned attracts the odd one or two who can make a difference. Along with Amy and Steph, I'd say Jen belongs in this category. She's fun, intelligent and entertaining. Internet friendships, for want of a better word, can be short or long and just like the other two I can't say how long I might know them. What is comforting though is that purely through having my website I have made three genuine connections with really cool people and ultimately that is what having and running my website is about.
During the course of the week I noticed that my rear tyres seemed to have slow punctures. One of them was practically flat when I pumped it up on Tuesday morning and it seemed to last until Thursday night before needing another substantial fill up. My friend recommended heading up to a tyre place on the Old Kent Rd to get them to take a look at it. They were a bit rough and ready but more than helpful and friendly. They jacked the car up and discovered a nail in each rear tyre. If I'd taken the car in for a service, which it's due for soon, I would have been told they were damaged beyond repair yet these guys removed the nails and repaired both tyres for just £14. It felt great not to have had to fork out nearly £80 a tyre and I felt nicely up.
Booked during the week the final pieces of the Orlando jigsaw. As these needed to be booked direct in the States I had wanted to wait for my Nationwide card to arrive so I didn't get stung with an overseas transaction charge (watch the pennies and the pounds will come). Anyway I got us VIP tickets for Dolly Parton, front row no less for charming the lady on the phone, and also for Medieval Times. I tried to work a similar magic with the lady at the Kennedy Space Centre, not that I was trying to getting anything, rather just demonstrating my enthusiasm. She must have been the most miserable Yank working in Florida that day. Also booked us into the Disney Hoop Dee Doo Revue dinner show. I remember this being one of the first ever things I'd read about in the travel books when I was a lot younger and there was no I was going to miss it. There are three performances during the evening at 5.00, 7.15 and 9.30 and the woman sais she had absolutely nothing for the first two ones yet masses of availability for the last one at 9.30pm. I did wonder if because she knew we were two adult males that she assumed we would be rowdy and put us in the later one. She said that wasn't the case when I jokingly challenged her and although later than we had wanted it did mean that we had near the front seats.
We couldn't book the Airboat private tour as they didn't take bookings anymore, you just turned up and we reserved a good table in the 50's Prime Time grill for our evening meal when in Disney MGM. So that is pretty much it for the holiday. All the attractions tickets, dinners, flights, hotel, car and insurance are taken care of. It's just a case of saving some spending cash, deciding whether to take an empty suitcase to fill up, sorting out the dog tags, ordering a couple more of my 'zany' t-shirts to help instigate conversation in the clubs and attempting to lose a few more pounds. It feels good knowing it's even more solid, though when it gets closer I think I might experience a little trepidation about what might go wrong etc.
Friday night and we got some fisn'n'chips for tea to have with our step dad and give him his powerboat voucher. The wrapped M&S biscuit variety helped provide a little distraction but I think he was quite chuffed with his powerboating experience. I'm not sure how much of it he took on board as he hasn't done one of these kind of 'red letter day' experiences before but it should be a good day and the three of us will try to organise our diaries and get a date booked.
Bruce Willis was on Jonathan Ross on Friday night and I've got to say that the guy is cool. He's moved into that George Clooney area of ageing with real class and with his shaved head, lean physique and black suit and shirt he looked smooth. He was also quite funny. He has that slow, measured style of delivery that can initially seem quite arrogant in its reticence but he must see so many chat show hosts that he probably needs a little time to warm up. Jonathan played a trick on him by answering a mobile phone call during the show. It was in return for Bruce doing it in Ross' last interview with him a year ago. Jonathan's call was apparently from his mother in law but Bruce asked to have the phone and launched straight in with a 'what are you wearing right now?'. It was his spontaneity that I liked and this continued when JR got out the chilli chocolate russian roulette game. You get the impression with these movie stars that everything is always so scripted and measured that they'll never do anything off the cuff but Bruce came across really well for taking it in his stride and having a laugh. Even at the end of the interview you could hear him through the applause thanking JR and telling him that he was a funny man. Nice work Bruce. If could have a smidge of that cool and charm heading north of 50, I'd be pretty chuffed.
The MotoGP in Assen, Holland took place on Saturday, probably to avoid clashing with the F1. It was an entertaining race as Casey Stoner scampered off into the lead. Rossi set about trying to reel him in and for once I was actually cheering on Rossi to catch him. I'm not switching camps or anything but I like to see exciting racing and Vale is the only one with the balls to have a go. He did catch him and after three laps of hanging behind him managed to get past for a deserved win. Nicky Hayden came in third which was a great result bearing in mind his awful season. He's such a nice guy and hope this year he gets some more success by adopting a devil may care - I can't win the championship so might as well go for it -mood.
Headed to the gym for another knackering session before heading over to pick my brother up. As time was a little tight I didn't bother going into the steam room and just hit the showers straight after my session. What is wrong with some people's spatial awareness. When I get changed in the locker room, like most normal people I'll try and find a space away from others, yet as I was getting undressed this guy plonks down close behind and chooses a locker next to where I'm standing. I don't think he was gay or anything but I felt like turning round and saying "Mate do you really have to be this close to me or take a locker this close to where I am standing". I was trying to take off sweat sodden clothes and disrobe for the shower yet this guy was invading my body space. I should have just removed by boxers and presented my sweat glistened butt crack into his face as he sat down to tie his laces but I decided against it.
Headed into Essex and particularly Romford that night. I'd been to a few Essex nightclubs when I was a lot younger and had always been impressed at the extra effort that the women there always seemed to make. Ok there were some that went a little over the top but on the whole the quantity and quality of females was always better than what we were used to. I therefore wanted to see if this was still the case and also to give my brother his first taste of them. We considered Southend as this was where I remember seeing the best selection but decided to try a little closer to home in Romford. A little internet research revealed a club called The Opium Lounge that was over 21's, open until 5.00am and had a free guest list if you out your name down online.
We decided to give this a try, thinking that if it was poor we could move onto Time & Envy, which was the bigger, more popular club in town. When we found the club, and I must add Romford centre was disturbingly quiet for a pay day Saturday night, early impressions were good. It was done out in a Turkish style with plenty of comfy chairs and little booths with scatter cushions etc. There was a good selection of bars and the drinks weren't too steep either. We'd got there around 10.30 ish and settled in for some chatting and to see what developed.
Unfortunately not a great deal did. The club did get busy, probably about 1/2 to 2/3rds full but I hardly saw anyone that 'lit my fire'. I'm not trying to being unkind to the girls there but I didn't find many of them attractive and I'm sure the feeling would have been mutual had they been asked. Maybe I'd been spoilt after the previous Saturday nights highlight but I thought the women were better looking in the places we normally go. I don't know if it was because of the slightly older crowd who seemed to know everyone else or the house music which wasn't fast enough to be a rave but too fast to have a laugh on the dance floor. There just wasn't that spark or air of excitement that something might happen or one of us might catch someones eye.
Like some of the areas in the Venue it would be a great place to take a bunch of people. With a late finish and those little booth areas it would be very cool to be able to chat, chill out and then have a boogie if one wanted. It was spacious, getting served was never a problem and even the GTA was polite, smartly dressed and friendly without any of the annoying songs that they chant. Maybe it just lacked that impulsive energy that a younger crowd brings rather than the slightly more mature and sensible one that it had. We gave it a good go until about 3.30am before blowing the joint. Stopped at the McDonalds in Docklands for a particularly fine quarterpounder with cheese meal before dropping off my mate.
The French F1 grand prix was a little boring and predictable with a 1-2 for Ferrari and Hamilton continuing his run of podiums places with an ok 3rd. Gorged on a some pizza hut for tea along with step dad, well it was his birthday weekend before watching School for Scoundrels with Billy Bob Thornton and the guy from Napoleon Dynamite. It was ok but didn't offer the sharp wit and clever humour that the trailer had intimidated that it would. Indeed every single decent scene was featured in the trailer.
The Insider was on ITV4 that night and despite it being on ridiculously late, I had to stay up and watch a fair chunk of it. It's such an awesone piece of work. I like the films of Michael Mann such as Last of the Mohicans and Heat but I have to say I think this is his finest film. The shoot out in Heat is great but I didn't like Al's wife and the whole story with his step daughter and I thought the ending was a little lame. The Insider is something else. Al Pacino is just awesome as the 60 minutes producer trying to tell the story, retain his integrity and protect his source while Russell Croww is simply outstanding as the whistleblower. He injects the character with this nervous uncertainty that is miles away from his normal heroic roles. I love the piece of music with the Spanish guitar when Wigand is driving to the courthouse, the moment when his lawyer shouts down the big tobacco lawyer and when Pacino is animatedly defending the programme in the offices of CBS. What a killer film, outstanding.
We did have some muppets try and start a bombing campaign over the weekend but it's so pathetic and I'm so un fazed by it that I can't be arsed to comment on it. I don't say this as some kind of tough guy but rather because they only do this to cause disruption and thus paying them any form of recognition or altering your life only lets them win.
Another chance slips me by - 25/06/07
I eventually got the car insurance renewal quote back from my insurers and my three points have earnt me a £70 increase in my premium. Brilliant. So along with my spot fine, my transgression, cost me a total of £130. When you lump the two together it's a useful sum that could have been used for something far more enjoyable and productive.
Booked my step dad's birthday present that I'm getting in conjuction with my brother on Tuesday. When we were younger we always used to head down to Dorset for the annual holiday. Along with the regular visit to Nellie Crumbs in Wareham (finest cream tea in south England) and Swanage, we would always head out to Portland Bill to see the offshore powerboats that would race from the Isle of Wight, skimming past the outlying Bill and across Lyme Bay before turning round and heading back. He used to love it and it was one of his passions though it was a difficult sport to follow bearing in mind that TV stations at the time rarely covered the more eclectic sports.
It's always a toughie to know what to get him so we decided on a kind of red letter day where he could go out in a Honda F-4 offshore powerboat. It takes place in Southampton and means he gets to go out down Southampton Water and out into the Solent, naturally with an instructor. The whole thing last about one and a half hours and he should even get to take the controls for 15 minutes. We hope it will be a really nice day for him and nice for the three of us to spend some time together. We booked it through a company called Exelement and the guy I spoke to was great. He'd been on the actual excursion and talked well about it. Even for someone who as it happened actually owned the company and had done his fair share of adrenaline stuff he still really enjoyed it. It's just a voucher at the moment and we will need to arrange a Saturday or a Sunday when the three of us can do it but I hope he likes it. We always struggle to get him anything as he provides little inspiration besides asking for vouchers!
IGN had reported how bungie fans had discovered through the receipt of a mysterious email from Microsoft a secret website that had some kind of Halo connection. http://206.16.223.65/ It had a countdown running on it and when it reached 0 (not that I was witnessing it when it did that) it revealed a spinning server. On this were some symbols which if you clicked on them would allow you to download snippets of information. None of it was really clear but it eluded to some kind of message from the forefathers, ie those responsible for building the Halo rings. Ultimately it talked about how they had done something when there was no other option left to wipe out the 'antithesis of life' (aka The Flood). It sounds geeky but it stoked me up about the story behind Halo and added another delicious nugget of what further depths Halo 3 might uncover.
Managed to download a couple of State of Trance's on Thursday. I've missed out on a few weeks worth and it's great to keep up on some fresh trance, particularly when in the gym or keeping me entertained when bored. When out to our local Indian/Nepalese restaurant that night as one of our work colleagues was leaving. We had a good laugh and the curry was excellent as always. I couldn't decide between the tikka massala or pasanda so I went for both but we were all sharing so it wasn't entirely for me. I'd gone without lunch so I made sure I had a damn good scoff. We all had dessert but I had to have the special kids ice cream that came in this kind of plastic penguin. I guess my colleagues think I'm some kind of kid, what would give them that idea? It was nice ice cream but it's plastic feet seemed to have come off so after finishing the ice cream I playfully demanded that I wanted the penguin's feet. They must have still been in the freezer and as the owners are still keen to build up their clientele, they got me another one. This one did have feet, making it a far more useful keepsake but I did have to eat another load of ice cream!
Friday was the colleagues last day and we started it with an unhealthy sandwich from the cafe opposite. I've slowy moved away from having either a bacon or sausage sandwich from there as the bacon was like eating rubber whose rind meant that the thing bungee'd back up your throat once you thought you'd swallowed and the sausages were dry and hard as anything. The best solution from there is a double fried egg sandwich. You can't screw up a fried egg, well he can't, and with a sprinkling of cheese and splodge of ketchup it's the perfect morning starter. We were quite busy but I managed to catch a trailer for a New Zealand film that looked great fun called Black Sheep. It's in a similar vein to Dog Soldiers with clever humour, horror and action in equal measure. I don't think it will be out over here until October but I look forward to catching it then.
Hired out Apocalypto that night and I thought it was an amazing film. I've got a lot of respect for Mel Gibson. So he doesn't like the Jews, so what? He wanted to make a film about Christ in the native Aramaic and all the studios told him it would never work. He wasn't daunted and raised the finance himself, making a deserved killing when the film did amazing business. I must confess that I still haven't actually seen The Passion of the Christ. So he made a shit load of money allowing him to self finance anything he wanted to make. Instead of doing a George Lucas and using the freedom and independance to turn out the same old crowd pleasing, vanilla pap Gibson films another foreign language film with unknown actors in an unfamiliar setting.
Although set in the jungle and highlighting the Mayan race, Mel doesn't get bogged down in over indulgent, pretensious shots of jungle wildlife or sunlight glistening off streams. He sets the story within those realms and lets the setting be the backdrop rather than the actual story. It's graphic, brutal and violent but hugely entertaining and exhilarating. The music by James Horner is spot on, the acting breath taking and the action scenes highly charged. It's not formulaic and although you might find yourself trying to second guess what might happen to characters, the script and direction keeps you fresh on your toes. A genuinely brilliant, unique film and one that I'll be investigating for a future purchase.
I thought I had to go into my local branch to validate my new account on Saturday but apparently upon getting there was told I didn't. It closed at 12.00 so I'd pushed to be in my local area for 11.30, which on a normal Saturday would be ridiculous. At least we were up and after my brother got himself a shirt that looked really cool on him we headed down to the swimming pool. It was my shameful one nod to the health drive all week. I've had this dull ache behind my kneecaps and I wasn't sure if it was pushing too hard or from taking a few days off.
Went out that night into Blackheath for a friend of a friend's birthday. Something was different in the bar and there seemed a far higher proportion of girls, which naturally was fantastic. The gang that were out for the birthday girl was 2 to 1 females to men and there was another gaggle of six or seven females in the corner that I noticed remained together even when they headed downstairs.
I got chatting to a woman I'd met at the birthday girls housewarming party and amazingly remembered me. Her life story was fascinating and amazing. She'd been a dancer who had travelled the world appearing at the Lido in Paris, the Stardust in Las Vegas and Sun City in South Africa. Not only had she made something of her life and pushed it to the extremes of enjoyment and travel but she had also then managed to hang up her dancing shoes and raise what sounded like two very talented girls. It humbled me at what is achievable in one's life when you really go for it.
Talking to her about her time as a dancer in Paris reminded me of my fondness and amazement at the women of Crazy Horses (see my Paris trip report in Holidays). She tried to convince me how when she was a dancer she was lonely as few men would talk to her. She argued a convincing case and there was some legitimacy in how at the time women couldn't/wouldn't approach men. She talked about how the girls would finish their shows then party until dawn dancing and having fun and then sleeping on the beach during the day to work on their tan. I still don't believe the thing about them being lonely. Maybe it applied then but it certainly can't now. It's too crushing to imagine that these wonderful women would consider mere mortal men if they were just given the chance of an introduction. The calibre of women at Crazy Horses that I saw where such that I'm sure they could pretty much have any man they wanted. I'd love to believe that if you could just create an introduction I'd have a chance with my love of dancing and having fun but we all know the reality. I would need to be loaded beyond my dreams and be able to offer them something that they didn't already have for them to even notice me.
We moved downstairs to the dance area and I immediately noticed this girl who was dancing with two other female friends. I think she noticed me as well and despite the dim lighting and regular directional beams right into my eyes I tried my best to look at her some more. She was a lovely thing. Short, slim but with some curves, tanned, pretty in the face (though this was hard to get a good long look at) and had this wonderful bobbed blonde hair. It must have been a great cut for despite the movement of her dancing it would always return to it's rightful place, like something out of a silvikrin advert.
She wore a pair of dark jeans and this silky green camisole top that had the tiniest, thinnest little straps holding it up. She must have been wearing a strapless bra or the top had a built in underwire as she didn't have any chunky, unsightly bra straps on show. She looked cute and bubbly but also classy. Nice shoes and not too much jewellery. Oh and she could dance as well. A lot more than the basic side step shuffle but without descending into pussy cat doll sluttiness. We exchanged more glances and I was certain she had clocked me but fears and a lack of confidence crept in. Granted she might like what she saw but the nice illusion she had built up would be shattered if I went over and bumbled through an introduction. It was almost like the anticipation of what could be was better than the reality of floundering conversation and a desire to bolt for the door when I realised I was crashing and burning.
I saw a couple of guys moving in with the whole 'dance really close behind them whilst brushing your groin against their arse and wait for them to turn around' approach. I almost wanted her to respond to them as my disappointment would be nullified by the confirmation that she was just like the rest of them who would respond to that bullshit. I even considered whether offering to rescue them might be a way in. I sarcastically commented to one of her friends "blimey, I think this gentleman is really interested in you" as they increased their efforts to desperately blatant levels. She smiled but I don't think she heard or understood me. And here was the problem with attempting an approach.
How could I say something clever and funny that she would actually hear without having a painful stand still and shout in her ear moment. Along with her mates, she brushed the guys aside with ease and glanced over again. Christ if she was looking at someone else I would have been screaming at them 'she's giving you all the signals, go for it'. But my old fears returned. I don't want to be like all those other guys who assume the opening gambit is a shameless grope.
The lady I'd been speaking to earlier was boosting my ego by saying how good I was at chatting to people and that it was one of my strengths. The difference though is that in a house party environment, which is where she'd first seen me, you have a platform to work from. You have the time to breathe and people give you the chance to impress, even it it's because they have nowhere else to go. In a club/bar environment, you are only as good as your last sentence. There is no room for pauses, silences or mistakes. I'm sure people reading this are shouting at the monitor saying 'just go over, say hello and keep it simple for gods sake'.
As the night progressed I felt my chance beginning to slip away. In my mind I wanted to go and tell her that I had spotted her the moment I came down and as she'd noticed hadn't been able to take my eyes off her since. What was her name, what did she do, what did she like? Instead all I could do was stand there attempting to dance with the others yet feeling like I was floundering like a man with his feet set in concrete. At one point one of her straps slipped off her shoulders and she must have danced like that for about 4 - 5 minutes. God it was so damn sexy. Again, for anyone else I would have said that she knew it had come off and wanted the observing person to notice but as it was me I thought ' No, it can't be that'.
The crowd began to thin out and I watched as a guy walked past and unashamedly rubbed her arse with his hand. I thought she might turn and blame me but he disappeared in seconds. The mauling muppets that girls must have to put up with never ceases to amaze me. And then she was gone. She collected her coat with her mates and I considered attempting something but the moment had been an hour earlier and anything done now would look crap and lame.
Maybe if she'd given me an 'out and out' beamer of a smile that would have been my green light. I know women still expect men to make the approach, which I respect, and maybe in the subtleties of attraction and interaction in a club you aren't ever going to receive an 'out and out' invitation. Naturally once she was gone sensibility returned and I thought why didn't I just say something? Surely anyone would be flattered at someone coming over. She had declined other guys so it wasn't like she was just looking for any port in the storm as some girls seem to.
It bugged me for the rest of the weekend. Maybe I wouldn't have liked her if I'd got chatting, maybe up close she might not have seemed as pretty (and I'm not implying she would have thought I was any better up close). Maybe it's better to maintain my dead end status quo. What with the hol's coming up would I really want the distraction of something developing to distract me from that or eat into my finances. My brother pointed out that I was being silly and I couldn't let the holiday stand in the way of meeting someone special. What am I saying though? This was someone who just caught my eye in a club and I didn't respond to. It was hardly going to be the special one. Had to drive some of the girls in the party home and after doing so grabbed some late night KFC for a chicken munch up as dawn's first light crested over the horizon. I have to also say that my brother was great that night. He looked so cool in his new shirt. Slim, buff, good looking and comfortable holding court on the dance floor with some killer moves that put mine to shame. He's such a great guy and I'm eternally proud of him.
Watched a rained out MotoGP at Donnington on the Sunday. The rain only served to spread the field out and remove any great deal of excitement. Still Casey Stoner deservedly won again, extending his lead over Rossi in the championship. It was a shitty day outside and with little else to do bar some washing and drying with the heating on watched Matrix Revolutions again in the afternoon. Followed this with a short nap that seemed to make all the difference and is something I might need to investigate when we hit Orlando. Watched Brother, where art thou that evening. We'd both seen the last hour of it a year or so back and really enjoyed it. This was our chance to watch the whole thing. Good little film and one of the most accessible Coen films that I know of.
Walked my brother home and then went for one of my marathon, hour long midnight walks. I needed to do some form of physical exertion, I'd got a good State of Trance that I wanted to listen to on my nano and I wanted to think a little more about Saturday night. Being able to talk about it on this journal really helps. Committing my thoughts down for others and myself to read almost stops it from eating me up inside and helps it to lose some of its power. It also I hope makes for slightly more entertaining reading than the 'yeah I went out and not much happened'.
Until that day.
PS I'm sure my legion of dedicated, nay obsessive fans will have noticed that I added another section to my site this week. It's one that I've considered putting up for a few months now. It's probably the most personal/revealing in a way but I hope it amuses more than it shocks. Content is a little light at the moment and I have pulled in a few pieces from other sections but I think there are one or two good stories in there. We will see how it gets on.
Another notch in the Bad Boy handle - 18/06/07
Back to the pool on Monday for another belt out in the pool. Thankfully the late night canoeing that used to occupy the pool from 9pm on a Monday night doesn't seem to happen anymore and thus I can turn up later for a swim. This is handy because after 9pm the numbers begin to dwindle and hence the chances of being delayed and annoyed by some slow moving arse are lessened.
Headed home for my first stab at the leftovers of the spag bol. There was a big chunk left and eating it completely nullified any good work I'd done in the pool but it tasted good. I did feel fat and it led to feeling a bit low. Man, am I ever going to shift this extra weight and ultimately would it make any difference? Was I deluding myself that I'd be any more successful in the clubs in the US? It's not that I think I will be any more or less attractive over there but rather that I'm expecting to be so excited and charged that it will carry me over any hurdles. There is a certain freedom and liberty in knowing that you won't see these people again and I'm hoping this is what will make the difference.
What I realised though is that I've effectively discounted meeting anyone in the UK for the rest of the year. I've the holiday, I've got paintballing, I've got Halo 3, the release of some great films and even my best mate getting an awesome car yet the notion of meeting anyone is as distant as winning the lottery. I just seem to plod on from day to day with practically no one being aware of or caring for my existence. This might be easier to accept if I was cold, insular or miserable. Yet I try to be friendly, open and honest. I'm fun to be with and you'd think the website would provide a little more exposure but it all makes no difference. I don't use this site to get girls but just to 'reach out' if possible. Ok there may be faults with it and it's not interactive enough for people to leave comments but does my earnest honesty count for nothing?
Well the interaction I was talking about came on Tuesday morning. I've been chatting www.kentuckygurl.com, she was the one behind my entry on 30th April who had come from the pasting that I'd received at italk2much. As I said at the time she likes a long email and we'd exchanged a few which was good fun. Anyway she has on her blog, in the top left hand corner, a little box that talks about a webcam. I've noticed it for quite a few weeks but it's never been on and I kind of discarded it. We were quiet this morning and as I went on to read her latest entry, there she was in the box.
It felt really weird seeing her. You see pictures of people that you communicate with and have an image of them in your mind when they are sitting at their PC but to see them actually moving around adds a frightening sense of reality. It seemed really voyeuristic and felt that I was doing something naughty. She couldn't see me yet I could of her. Mention a webcam and there always seems to be a porn connection and I strangely seemed to get a small knot in my stomach. I wasn't scared of speaking to her but it suddenly seemed very real and I was concerned that others in the office might think it strange. I wasn't talking to a mailbox anymore but an actual person.
I did some MSN with a girl over a year back and whereas our emails were fine when we tried the messenging route everything seemed to go wrong. We felt miles apart in how our minds worked and almost everything I said seemed to get taken the wrong way. Kentuckygurl is married and I wasn't trying to woo her but Ii wondered whether I would be funny and entertaining when it was more immediate and what if I suddenly got busy and had to go? I dived in and it was amazing. Thankfully the rapport between us was good but the incredible thing was being able to type something and then see her expression as she read it. Technology is amazing isn't it? I mean I was aware of webcams and all but it isn't until you actually use one in practise that you can truly appreciate it. It's amazing to think that if I had a web camera or even just a microphone you could chat away virtually for free.
Drove home late that night and had the joy of being tail gated by a motorbike most of the way. What is it with these fucks. You are on a bike not a car so just go round me like all your other kind do. Why should I change lane for a goddam motorcyclist? As you enjoy sitting in my blind spot, it's likely that just as I attempt to change lane after your continued presence that this will be when you eventually decide to go round me and I end up taking you out. Anyway this chump caused my anger levels to rise somewhat in the car and hence when I came across him later on driving slowly, took the chance to cut him up a little. I wasn't dangerous but having gone from being up my arse to a dawdling tortoise he needed to be taught a lesson. I came off the three lane A road and noticed that a black BMW had also done so even though he'd been in the middle lane. I got to the mini roundabout, hooked a right and gave it some welly. He seemed to drop back and I turned left onto a two lane dual carriageway. Next thing I notice is that he's turned left also and has the police lights on as it was an unmarked police car. I stop on the carriageway but lean out of the window to ask him whether it would be better if I pulled up in the bowling alley car park which is about 200 metres on.
He asked if I could do this and I don't know if this demonstrated that bar the speeding I had a little road savvy. We pulled up and he said
"Ok, you were doing a little speeding on the A road and did cut across a motorbike causing him to brake but this isn't why I have pulled you over. I've done so because of your speeding in a 30mph zone. Why were you speeding?"
There's no point in lying so I responded that "I thought he was chasing me but there aren't really any excuses for my speeding". We didn't discuss the actual figure, and thinking about it now he might not have known it otherwise he woud have mentioned it, but it was over 50mph. I wanted to say that it was a shame he hadn't seen the tail-gating areshole motorcyclist but you never want to antagonise them if you don't have to. He threatened that he could take me up infront of a magistrate but that instead he would issue with me a speeding ticket, resulting in a fine and endorsable points. Being in a state of thinking 'christ, I really can't afford to lose my license' I was happy to just take the points. He asked if I had any ID. I never carry my driving license but remembered that I had my insurance details in the car as it was due for renewal at the end of the month. I handed him the information and he looked through it.
"This insurance runs out on the 6th June" he said. I knew it didn't but still it sent a chill through my heart. Christ, pulled for speeding and then get done for not being insured, made even worse by the fact that I'd handed him the evidence! I didn't want to say 'you are wrong arsehole' and I could see he was thinking 'I've had a result'. I looked through my bag a bit more whilst he looked through the attached sheets. He then conceeded that he'd been looking at the wrong page and that it did expire on the 29th June. I knew it was then but it was a relief to have it proved.
As in the previous time that I'd been pulled I didn't quite know what to do with myself whilst he wrote out the ticket. Do I put my hands behind my back like a naughty schoolboy, do I put my hands in my pocket and give the impression that I'm not appreciating the consequences of my actions. He finished up and I thanked him, what else was I supposed to do. It was kind of frustrating. You find yourself thinking if I'd come home a different route or not had the motorcyclist would it have been different.
In the end though I do a lot of driving and do sometimes push the boundaries of the speed limit, so getting done for speeding is just something that happens. I can't really grumble when I think of the times I have speeded so I took my licks fairly. A £60 fine and three points on my license, that I know will have a financial impact on the figure of my renewal quotation, stings but surely it makes me even more of a bad boy? Couple this with my nightclub barring and I should be a virtual babe magnet. All I need to do is 'pop' my collar and kick the shit out of an innocent bystander and I'll be in the highest echelons of bad boyness, able to choose whichever girl takes my fancy.
Had a meeting at one of our major clients on my own on Wednesday. I was a little anxious about it. The companies situation is a little more fluid at the moment and hence I don't want to do anything wrong or make any bumbling mistakes. I don't think I would. I mean I used to be an estate agent and hence am well versed in dealing and interacting with people. You just always think of the worst case scenario and being asked the killer 'achilles heel' question that stops you dead in your tracks right in the middle of the meeting. It was a nice day and having had the car cleaned it felt good driving home. I must have left there at about 5.30pm, which couldn't have been a worse time for the drive.
Hit the gym once I'd got back and it was good to see that on a midweek venture the same old antics take place. People on mobile while apparently exercising, pumped guys wandering up and down the whole gym for totally spurios reasons to simply strutt or girls that go to the effort of putting on gym gear only to do about 5 mins on the rower.
The film Space Cowboys was on that night with Clint Eastwood and the gang. It's an enjoyable romp about four oldies going up into space but it did make me think about the questions I want to ask when we lunch with an astronaut at Kennedy. 'How amazing are the stars when seen in space' is one and another is 'Does going into space change you forever. In that as humans we've always known the Earth as home. Our environments are land, water and air yet stepping out of that and seeing the fragility of the planet in the emptiness of space must mess with your head. We know the Earth is big but you never, unless you go into space, get to see it all neatly in one package'. Talking of Kennedy the attraction tickets that I'd ordered came through along with a free underwater camera which was a nice touch. Seeing them in hard format adds another element to the onset of the holiday, which is great.
Work was quiet so I didn't do a great deal for the remainder of the week bar a spot of swimming on Thursday night which was ok. Driving into work on Friday morning and I heard on the radio that Johnny Vaughan and the Capital Radio morning gang were at EuroDisney in Paris to celebrate it's 25th anniversary. Being still really into Voyage, voyage as I'd played it almost continuously the night before I decided to text them and suggest that as they were in Paris maybe they should drop the song. The song dates back to 1986 but amazingly 20 minutes later and they actually played it! I couldn't believe it. Capital radio is like London's premier radio station yet my oddball suggestion had got through and they actually went with it. Ok it was cut short as Johnny thought it was rubbish but either way I'd managed to affect the listening tastes of London that morning!!
Caught the last two thirds of a film on Friday night called The Company of Men. It starred Aaron Eckhart, who I like, as one of two guys who decide to 'get back' at women by dating at the same time a new female work colleague. The thing is the woman they chose was a deaf woman. She could do sign language but when she talked it in that slightly duller way that they do it struck this protective chord that really made me want to look after her. She was so sweet and these two guy's game was cruel, particularly when Aaron's character broke up with her and left her just destroyed. I realise they made the woman deaf to increase the dislike of the two guys and with no form of comeuppance against the two blokes it was quite a sombering, thought provoking film.
Had promised that I would go with P when she first let Biscuit off her lead when taking her for a walk. I didn't mind and was looking forward to seeing Biscuit running around free from the lead. I also understood the reassurance that P wanted from me being there. Biscuit was amazing. Considering it was the first time she'd been let off on her own she would come back when called and unless investigating something, would canter along within a comfortable 10 foot radius of us, looking back frequently to make sure we were still there. It was a long old walk and I'd forgotten how big parts of the Epping Forest can get.
Had a spot to eat afterwards and watched an episode of Andrew Marr's excellent series on the political history of Britain. The period of the programme was that of Margaret Thatcher, who I've always had a lot of time for. She might not have been always popular but at least she stood for something, was prepared to argue and defend her country and opinion and almost singlehandedly dragged this country from the shocking hole that it was slipping into. Granted she administered some tough medicine to our sick country and the resulting hardship did not endear her to many but it was exactly what this country needed. The successes of our country and it's current state is largely attributed to the measures that she brought in. In my opinion she was the greatest leader this country has had since a war time Churchill and in some areas even better than him.
I had to do a producer of my driving license at a police station following my being 'pulled'. Tried to do it at my local, village police station but this rather pointlessly is only open 10am - 2pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. En route to Bluewater to pick up my brother I stopped at the bigger police station in Bexleyheath. Here I was asked if I could come back in half an hour as she was very busy at the moment! Bollocks to that, I'll try another day.
Picked up brother and decided to go for a snazzy shirt and black velvet trousers for a change instead of the normal 'zany' t-shirt when we went out that night. Went to one local bar/club where I was asked for photo id! At my age it's rare to be asked for that but apparently it was for health & safety regulations, which I think is a load of rubbish. I could understand it if they quickly scanned everyones id so they had a record of who was in that night but I can't see how it would be needed for H&S. Grabbed a few drinks there but there wasn't much going down. At one point I went to the toilet and this shaven headed chav walked past and as he did turned to his mate and said 'you can tell he's gay'. It was so blatant that at first I thought he couldn't possibly be talking about me. I didn't make an issue of it but he was standing not far away when I returned to the others and it kind of riled me up. It did the same to my brother when I told him so we decided to move on.
We'd noticed that the club I'd got barred from didn't have the bouncer on the door that had 'barred me' so we decided to try in there. I chatted to the owner who knows me by surname and he didn't seem to have a problem with me. I explained what had happened and he said the guy was his head bouncer, hadn't mentioned it to him but was very good at remembering faces. We moved downstairs and it was ok but there wasn't that 'vibe' in the air. Left a good half hour before the place closed, walking right past the head bouncer who 'remembered faces'. Said goodnight to him and he wished us well so I guess he's forgotten me, which is quite handy.
The usual crap on Sunday of washing, tidying etc. I managed to catch most of the Falklands War memorial service. We really do these kind of things well. Both from the spectacle and parade style. It was mainly set on Horse Guards Parade and they set up this stage in the shape of the islands which was pretty cool. The ceremony was intercut with two pieces. One from a Royal Marine and the other a wife of a paratrooper killed in action at Goose Green who went to the Falkland Islands. The wife met up with two female islanders, one who was just a kid when they were freed when the Paras re-took Goose Green. The women explained how they hoped they'd lived their life to make this woman's husband sacrifice worthwhile and how very grateful they were of the bravery of the armed forces. The two women hugged each other with tears in their eyes and the emotion of it made me cry. It wasn't false, there wasn't any music overlaid to 'make' you feel upset but rather the sincere outpourings of two women united by the death of one, of many men. It was probably one of the most genuinely moving things I've seen all year.
Watched Lewis Hamilton win his second back to back Grand Prix races in Indianapolis. The guy is truly amazing isn't he, though I thought the scenes of the rap producer Pharrel trying to align himself with him rather opportunistic. Granted I'm sure he could take Lewis to some awesome parties but hearing him talk about how he admires Lewis in following his dreams, proving that anything is possible and wanting to help him push forward his brand kind of stuck in my throat. Would you be as impressed if he were white I wonder?
Finished the night by going to see Fantastic Four : Rise of the Silver Surfer, which I really enjoyed. Obviously after reading so many other reviews of a weak script etc I must be brain dead but I liked the story and the characters. The four main characters are likeable, do actually work together as a proper team and aren't constantly bemoaning their lot in life and the curse of their superpowers. I found the humour entertaining, I loved the scene where Reed stood up to the major and defended his nerdiness. Who wouldn't want a girlfriend/fiance/wife to say "I'm so hot for you right now" after standing up to a bully? Being freed from the over wrought drama and continual 'damsel in distress' shit that fills the Spiderman series made this a considerably more enjoyable experience.
I've not read the comics so I can't comment on the Galactus representation issue but as a newbie I found it worked. I also like the issues of sacrifice and bravery that the film used, particularly in the satisfying final action scene. Films, especially comic book ones, are meant to be visually entertaining and it more than delivered on this. Great action sequences, cool characters and good ideas.
On a final note what is happening to Stan Lee's ego? Can't he see the damaging impact that his woefully lame and intrusive cameos have on the flow of his movies.
On the way home stopped in again at the police station. It must have been close on 1.00am but I was determined to get it done and out of the way. The policeman on duty was ridiculously pleasant, even seeming to sympathise with my plight. We talked about cars and when he discovered what car it was that I drove thought maybe that was why I got pulled. He told me what car he had and another copper came up to say how he'd got three points on his license only a week ago. I was really quite surprised. It's so much easier to think of all of them as arseholes but meet a couple of nice ones and it starts to make you question your thoughts on them. Of course there is a difference between someone bored on the graveyard shift and a lonely traffic cop patrolling in his car.
Thanks for stopping by, talk soon.
Exploding toilets and great motorsport - 11/06/07
It was another quiet week in the office, meaning we did some client work but there was time for a fair chunk of internet surfing. I'd talked with my work colleagues about how frustrated I was with sorting out holiday finances. I'm not too keen on travellers cheques as there's normally a small commission when getting them plus the potential of being stuffed on the exchange rate. I know everyone says that you can exchange them anywhere but I was told this when I went to Canada and it wasn't the case. The last thing I want is to be lumbered with needing to go to a bank. American Express do a travellers card where you can load it up with money but again there is commission involved, the exchange rate is not fantastic and I don't trust Amex that I won't be charged everytime I make a transaction.
Just take your normal card I hear you shouting at the monitor. Unfortunately my bank like to charge for making foreign transactions and nothing annoys me the more than the thought of having to pay to simply spend my own money. Out of pure frustration my work colleagues suggested I try Nationwide. I've banked with the same bank, ok post office, since I've had money, much to the laughter of my colleagues. So I looked into Nationwide and it's true. There is no charge on using the card for foreign transactions. They don't even charge you if you draw money from an ATM, which almost everyone does. I was suspicious though. They must make their money from somewhere so maybe it's the exchange rate that the transactions go through at. I called them, confident I would ruin their scam only to be told that it goes through Visa, like all Visa related transactions do, and thus it is Visa not Nationwide that set the exchange rate. A quick check on Visa and their exchange is practically the same as the currency markets rate. Outstanding.
So basically using Nationwide there is no fee, I can spend what ever I want on my card without being charged and I'm getting a better exchange rate than I would if I bought currency. Wonderful. Needless to say I've applied for one to take care of the holiday money. Naturally I will be taking currency as well as I will need some dollars to tuck in the barmaids tops when I tell them to 'get themselves something pretty'!
Managed to get in some swimming on Monday and it was good to be back though I'm not making any claims of 'I'm back for good'. It takes a lot of effort and it will be a slog to get in shape for Orlando. My mate eventually watched and returned the South Korean war film Brotherhood and I decided to watch it again that night. Such a good film with battle scenes that are as easily as good as Saving Private Ryan and a lot more ferocious. It's a little bit more sentimental than most films but I've noticed this seems to be the case with films from SE Asia. Either way the music, combined with themes of courage, sacrifice and brotherly love (a cause close to my heart) did lead to the shedding of a tear or two.
During the week the toilet in the office overflowed. Basically one of our work neighbours has been tipping the fat and oil from the cooking that they do down the sink. They've also then been simply dumping the multitude of cans behind a wooden screening that fools no one, literally feet from the front door. The laziness of them not properly disposing of their shit incenses me and I did phone the council about a year ago to report them. Needless to say the council did bugger all to act on the actions of concerned citizens. Anyway behind the arches are some local football courts and this week they started to have the drains backing up over them. Oh, I wonder where the blockage could have come from? What could have caused it? Well the council sent round a team to clear the drains who proceeded to pump water down them at a pressure of about 4,000 psi to clear any blockage.
In typical sod's law fashion for people and a company that does things by the book whose toilet is it that suffers the effects. Yes ours. I was chatting to a work colleague when at the same time we both detected a rancid stench. There was a moment when we kinda looked at each other thinking 'was that you'. In seconds the stench got worse and we realised no one man could have produced something that vile. We thought it was the drains until we went to the toilet and discovered the toilet floor soaking in foul smelling water and it dripping off the walls. Basically this pressure had forced all the water and resulting smell up through our toilet. Thank god no one was sitting on it at the time. With colleagues who like to take at least 2-4 craps a day there was a real chance that it could have given someone at worst colonic irrigation and at best a bidet like tickle.
This smell was something else. A pungent mixture of off mushrooms, spilt milk, rotten sausages, mouldy eggs and eye watering onion. There was no choice but for us to evacuate for a good 30 minutes and let the air get in to remove the smell. P bravely volunteered to clean it out and we filled the toilet with a host of smells, toilet duck, bleach, air freshener and even a dash of Lynx body deodorant.
I also got round to ordering the attraction tickets. Phoned for prices from attraction tickets direct ATD) and even got them to come down a little bit on the price. There was a little worry when another ticket agency said that if booking the all inclusive Discovery Cove resort then one of the party had to do the dolphin swim. Neither of us wanted to do it. I would love to swim with dolphins but not in a group of six where you don't really feel special and you are crowding round the poor thing. Anyway this didn't apply if booking through ATD, so I got tickets for Disney, Universal, Discovery Cove, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Kennedy Space centre and the dinner shows Medieval Times and Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. I'll wait for my Nationwide card and then I can order the Boggy Creek Airboat Tour direct along with Disney's Hoop Dee Doo Revue dinner show and then we are all done. Everything after that is spending money and preparation.
It felt pretty cool to be honest and added another layer of 'yep, this is really going to happen'. As we were quiet, I did a bit more research, tinkered a little more with the day planner itinerary and added a little colour to it.
Hit the pool again on Thursday night. I managed 60 lengths which pleased me and then got the bottom half of my trousers wet when the obviously blind attendant was spraying the floor down and it went under the bottom of the cubicle. By the time I'd pulled on a t-shirt to kindly ask if she could stop soaking my calves and ankles she had moved on. In a show of rebellion I turned the tap off to her hose when I left. She was at the other end of the changing area so the inconvenience of her having to come back was a fair exchange for my wet trousers I thought.
Question Time was on that night. I used to watch this a lot when younger but became so disillusioned with how all the panellists seemed to say the same thing. No one it seemed had the courage to voice, or intelligently argue, a differing opinion. On this evening though the Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips was on the panel and she was amazing. Not necessarily for her opinions, all of which I happened to agree with, but rather her gusto in debating her opinion. She didn't need to interrupt or raise her voice but made her points in a considered and thoughtful manner. When challenged on her views, and at one point heckled, she stood fast and stated her case. She was fantastic and I felt compelled to drop her an email to let her know this.
People nowadays are so terrified of expressing an opinion for fear that someone might disagree. Politicans want to remain as 'vanilla' as possible to not offend and dissuade voters and celebrities are constantly in fear of negative press. Is it any wonder in this climate that a mood of utter apathy would then spread through people. I love discussing topics that rile me up and have an opinion on almost everything. I'm sure you've already gathered this from my other pages on this site!
During the week my brother heard on the grapevine that a trailer for I am Legend was going to be released on the Friday. I've always been fascinated by, and enjoyed, the thought of apocalyptic stories. I don't know if it's the notion of being released from society's boundaries, not having to tow the line or being judged anymore for what you do and don't have but the idea of being alone, or one of a few left, on Earth really excites me. Along with Stephen King's The Stand, I am Legend must be one of my favourite 'last man on earth' type stories. It was written by Richard Matheson and came out in the 50's helping to inspire a raft of related fiction from I'm sure the Stand right through to directly the Omega man and indirectly the Day of the Dead.
The film stars Will Smith and I was initially worried that it might go down the road of Independance Day but the trailer was excellent in giving a good indication of the films mood. It won't be a like for like adaptation of the book and I'm ok with that. I love the novel but I don't want to see a carbon copy of it on the screen. As long as the subject matter is handled with respect and not dragged down to PG rated tosh then I am more than happy to see their intepretation of the book. You can see the trailer at apple.com/trailers and I'd recommend doing so.
I love the music, how it seems to show the virus starting out (which the book didn't really), the scenes of a desolate New York and Will with the dog. I hope they feature the dog properly. So many films have to have a token love or child interest that it would be refreshing to see the relationship of an adult and animal. There were grumbles on IMDB that the character of Neville shouldn't be black but his colour isn't integral to the film and it is a fictional character. There will, or should be, long periods of time when the whole story will be on the lead actors shoulders so I think you need someone with screen magnetism. Will has that aplenty in my book.
My brother has started driving lessons and as I couldn't get him insured to drive mine on the roads even as a learner, we went up to the carpark in Bluewater late on Friday night. He'd had one lesson with an instructor and my hope was just to let him practice what he'd learnt rather than try to confuse him with more teaching. He took to it quite well. I hadn't realised that he hadn't really learnt finding the biting point and pulling away but once he stopped thinking about it and started just doing it, he was excellent. It was entertaining fun and I hope really helpful for him in his quest to be a driver.
Hit the gym on Saturday for another blast. I even managed 1100 calories this time which represented 5 km on the running machine, 6 miles on the bike (don't ask me why they are in different measurements) and I don't know what on the cyclic machine. I don't exactly know what function it is my eyebrows perform but it certainly isn't preventing the sweat going in them because again they felt tired and a little sore. I know I could wipe it away but it's like a badge of honour when you are working and genuinely encourages you to push even harder to sweat even more. Got a few bits of shopping before returning home via the DVD shop.
Brother and I then faced the eternal dilemma. We were both feeling a little tired but do we push on and go out locally for a few beers or save a little cash and energy and stay in. If you stay in, your mind taunts you with images of how on this night you would have stumbled across a bevy of buxom beauties and had the night of your life. Seriously consider going out and your mind reminds you of all the nights when nothing has happened and you might as well have been invisible. You then start trying to second guess the timings to work out the proximity to pay day and how many people might be out and also if having been hot all day more girls are likely to be at all day BBQ's. It sounds silly to base whether you go out on the movement patterns of women but if my brother and I are happy in each others company wherever we are then this is basically the sole motivation for going out. Don't get us wrong we aren't players and I'm not very adept at the chat up as you know but it's always nice to believe that there might be possibilities on a night out.
After much thought and consideration we decided to say 'fuck it' and stay in. I'd got a couple of DVD's for us to watch and the ingredients of a Spag Bol. As you already will know it was awesome but this time I cooked it with 750g of mince instead of 500g and it is the way forward. I still put in onions and mushrooms but the ratio of meat was higher and boy did it work. Coupled with the cream which is so the coup de grace, it really is my signature dish. If only I could regularly cook it for women on say the second or third date I'm sure they would be falling into bed with me shortly afterwards! This would only be because they were so stuffed and had immediately lost the ability to remain awake as their stomach struggled for energy to consume it. Imagine though if they didn't like? Well, I'd just have to leave immediately wouldn't I?
The first film we watched was the The Host. At last it had been in and the previous person had returned it when they were supposed to. It's a South Korean film with subtitles and was refreshingly different. It's about this mutated fish/thing that exists in the Han river in
We followed this with Gridiron Gang, a film based on a true story about a young offenders institue that builds an American football team. My brother and I like our fair share of American football films (Remember the Titans, Friday night lights etc) and this had a lot of similar cliches. It starred The Rock, who we both like, and it was an entertaining romp. What looked the most fascinating was the clips at the end of the film from the original documentary that must have inspired the film. In it you saw the actual guy that The Rock played uttering almost the same lines for real that he had. Two good films and an entertaining evening. There was still the smidgen of regret that maybe we'd missed a great night but you never know do you?
Sunday was the MotoGP from Catalunya in
It was truly blistering excitement and as we approached the final few laps I braved myself for Rossi's final few laps onslaught that he always pulls. Stoner wonderfully responded to the pressure, soaked it up and remained in the lead to cross the finish line in first place. Easily the most exciting race of the season and just confirmed my thoughts from last season that Stoner was a guy who was prepared to fight for victories. Normally when Rossi is behind someone with a few more laps to go there is an inevitability that he will pass and win once again but Stoner has some backbone and as strong a desire to win as Rossi does.
This was followed in the afternoon by the Canadian F1. Lewis Hamilton whose record so far has been nothing short of astonishing (5 races - one 3rd place and four consecutive 2nd places) qualified on pole for the first time. In a difficult, incident packed race that had no less that five occasions when the safety car came out he remained cool and unflappable and won his first race. Truly amazing. I know he's been groomed by Ron Dennis and is in the current top form team but his speed and maturity is very impressive. He's clean cut, intelligent, good looking, polite and hungry for success. He's a marketeers wet dream and I wish him continued success.
Went out that night to see Oceans 13. It was ok. Entertaining for the two hours but far from memorable. It was nice to see some shots of
As I've been typing this up I've been constantly listening to Voyage, voyage by Desireless. This song came out in the mid 80's and I remember was a song that I loved. At a time when I didn't have much money it was a single I remember buying and playing endlessly at both 45 and 33 rpm, which seemed to be something I did at the time to get two versions from the same song!. It was a big hit in Europe and even made it to No 3 in the UK which was even more impressive for being a French language song. At the same time I think was also just discovering Jean Michel Jarre and his brilliant Rendevous album. One of the few times in my life when I've loved the French! It's such a catchy tune with a really strong backing track and even now sounds really classy and fresh. Check out the original and best version, which seems ridiculously hard to buy now, here
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x231r_desireless-voyage
Right oh. Signing off until the next time.
I just couldn't wait - 4/06/07
I tried waiting but it was no good. After confirmation that it wouldn't ruin the film and the return to the office of a work colleague who also hadn't seen the second trailer, I watched the Transformers trailer. Wow, it left me charged to the max. It just looks so cool. It was dramatic but not predictable and some of the action scenes and transformations looked wicked. The attention to detail with all the little cogs etc when the robots change and how the sound effects are layered so your ear can detect all these subtle nuances is fantastic.
At one point a character called Starscream I believe jumps in the air as a robot, backflips and then as he does transforms into this F-15 or F-22 and blasts off. Other scenes show missiles flying around, bad robots chasing combat soldiers, two robots fighting and a building series of shots combined with an increasingly tense background score. I felt like someone had delivered a shot of adrenaline to my heart and easily confirmed that this was my most eagerly awaited film of the year. I'm sure it will disappoint and the story not be as satisfying as I would like but if it just delivers the kind of action scenes and mind bending change sequences that the trailer indicates then I will be delirious.
After the disappointment of the early blockbusters, Spidey 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean (that I can't even be bothered to see) I think we could be in for a couple of good ones; Fantastic Four 2, Die Hard 4, Transformers, Bourne Ultimatum and the end of the year, I am Legend, with Will Smith. Hopes are high for this final one but confidence not so at this stage.
I've been a little behind with updating my journal but I've not really had a great deal happening. I guess you have months where there seems to be a fair chunk going on and others where there is isn't. On Friday I got a circular email from FHM that happened to mention the release of a Rambo 4 trailer. Surely not, it hadn't been filming for long I thought. At most we thought it might just be a collection of scenes from earlier films but it was over three minutes of footage.
It shows John Rambo minding his own business in the jungles of SE Asia and some missionaries wanting to borrow his boat. John looks resigned and reserved as ever but when they are captured he reverts to type and kicks some major arse. I thought that after the success of Rocky Balboa this might be a more muted affair but credit to him for not toning it down, because this was very violent. Beheadings, throat rips and firing a truck mounted .50 calibre machine gun into the trucks cabin reducing the occupant to bloody chunks. If that wasn't enough to get one excited we had the killer line "when pushed, killing's as easy as breathing". It won't be out until 2008 but I look forward to seeing John's exploits.
Had an awesome pasta dish on Friday night. Following on from a method of cooking some mushrooms the previous week I fried some onions in a little garlic scented virgin olive oil. While they browned, I fried some small pieces of chicken breast in another pan, also in the scented virgin oil, and in a saucepan browned some mushrooms in butter. When all the elements were brown I tipped everything, including the oil, into the mushroom saucepan and stirred. This thickened into this lovely sauce that was made even better by adding a pot of double cream and some chopped parsley. In the meantime I boiled up some pasta. It was like spaghetti but was hollow and twirled into twists. It certainly looked different. When cooked it was added to the creamy mushroom, chicken and onion sauce and heated over the hob. Served on a plate with some grated cheese over the top and it was fantastic.
Initial thoughts were that it looked disappointing, especially as I'd toyed with using tagliaterre, but the hollow nature of the pasta in a way seemed to absorb the creaminess of the sauce and it really was great. It left such a wonderful after-taste that although I wanted to eat more, I felt I didn't have to. Jonathan Ross was good that night. He had Bear Grylls on who seems such a nice bloke. He was in the SAS but he didn't even mention it and is so modest. His shows are some of the best things on TV and they showed a clip from his forthcoming series where in an attempt to demonstrate how you can get moisture from the unlikeliest of sources, he squeezed a freshly laid elephant shit above his head for the liquid to run out and into his mouth!
Saturday was a lovely day weather wise and on the way to the hairdressers there were a fair few sights to behold/enjoy. When the weather is like this it's easier to picture what it will be like in Orlando and at least adds to the motivation for losing a few pounds. Headed onto Bluewater to pick up brother and have a look around. There was some nice stuff in JD sports. Some cool 3/4 lengths and t-shirts but here is the dilemma with Orlando. It's natural to want to buy stuff for your hols but with a trip to Premium Outlets and it's Nike, Gap and Adidas stores pencilled in for the first afternoon it seems foolish to get items beforehand. Of course with this though it means by the time I come back to the UK it will be too cold to wear any of these new clothes!
My brother got himself a t-shirt from French Connection after he'd finished work. It was a transformers one but not a cheesy one but rather grey material with a black line drawing of this robot running down the left hand side with this white Japanese writing laid over the top. When he put it on to go out that night he was a little frustrated by the shortness of the sleeves and worried that they made him look gay. Far from it. Over the course of the evening I decided it was the coolest t-shirt that he owns. It was a lot more classy than one you might imagine and being a little more snug in the fit only made him look a little bigger.
Went into town that night and found a bar near the Old Vic theatre in the Waterloo area. It was a nice place and had a large terrace but was full of annoying luvvie twats. Most of them seemed either lacking in manners (pushing infront at the bar) or lacking in spatial awareness (repeatedly pushing into us while they were conversing with their comrades). There was however one lovely looking woman there. She had shoulder length hair and an exquisite face. The cleavage revealing split design of her top helped but I confess that I was more enchanted by her face. She was surrounded by a bunch of arses and naturally oblivious to my presence. From here we moved onto another bar that although looking quite cool was only about a 1/4 full.
Headed over to Blackheath where we hooked up with some female friends. It was a nice night and there was some fun and laughter but although there was a gaggle of women further along the dance floor I couldn't really see them as I was being continually blinded by the disco lights!
Sunday was the MotoGP in Mugello. The race started off exciting enough but Rossi worked his way to the front after about 10 laps with Pedrosa behind but he looked like he had little chance of over-taking him. I know it's wrong but it was clear that Rossi would win and having seen more than my fair share of race wins and the over zealous, post race Rossi adulation, I turned it off even before it had finished. Headed over to the gym, as I hadn't been on the Saturday and it was even quieter than normal. Gave it a good go and managed to nail out 1050 calories. I try not to set myself targets as I then find myself trying to beat them the next time I go, which almost acts as a dis-incentive. I sweated so much that it stung my eyes and seemed to lead to increased sleepy men production that night.
Watched Small Soldiers that night on the TV. Such a clever film with so many great lines and scenes. Some of the ingenuity used to create weapons out of household appliances is just brilliant. You also can't help but love the cuteness of the Gorgonites. The big one's voice, who says at the end "I hope we don't hit an iceberg" manages to generate a lump at the back of my throat almost everytime he speaks.
Short entry this time I'm afraid. Hope you have a good one.
Something Lost and something re-discovered - 28/05/07
Was chatting to one of my clients on Monday about my forthcoming trip to Orlando. It seemed he was an Orlando expert having been there at least four times. His first visit when he was 17 was to the very hotel that we were booked in to stay at. Amazing. We got chatting and he suggested that although it sounded controlling it was worth drawing up a day planner and that I try to insert rest days every couple of days. I can't remember if I've mentioned on here that I've been doing this very thing. Ok I'm a bit OCD but some of the things we intend to do need to be booked in for specific dates so we need a timetable to work towards.
I told him how I'd already knocked up the very things with the inclusion of rest days every third or fourth day. Great minds think alike. He sent me a link to a Japanese restaurant that he particularly liked and was literally a stones throw from our hotel. The site had a google map which also gave me the chance to look at a satellite map and actually see the hotel. Even better was the fact that the Japanese restaurant was in the same complex as Hooters. Meaning of course that Hooters will be just a short walk away. Naturally this doesn't mean that just because I can walk there means I'm expecting to 'pull' a bevy of Hooter honey's and get them back to our penthouse suite. Rather it's just good to know that as this is where we always intended to go on our first night (purely of course for the wings, which are meant to be very good) we won't have to go far to do so.
Talking to someone who had a similar level of enthusiasm only served to ramp my excitement up considerably and sparked a fresh round of research, which is never a bad thing. I don't think I'm going mad but there is nothing worse than going all the way out there, on a holiday of a lifetime and then grinding to a halt because we don't know what to do next.
The second Transformers trailer was released this week. I was very keen to see it but concerned that if I did, they would include so many key moments that it would ruin the film when I go and see it. I'm trying to do the same with the Fantastic Four sequel. I was happy to show it to my brother and work colleagues who it seemed to blow away and really impress. They suggested I watch it as it didn't seem to give anything away but I'm not sure. It's downloaded and sitting on my desktop so we will see how long I can last.
Some other clients were having a leaving do on the Thursday which we attended. It was a nice night weather wise and everyone seemed to congregate in the sizeable beer garden. It was good fun and nice to see the faces of some people that I've either spoken to on the phone or emailed. The three of us didn't really get a chance to grab anything to eat prior to the evening do so had to make do with a quick pit stop into a McDonalds on the way home. We decided to try some of the chunky chips that are part of their current campaign and I have to say that they were pretty fine. Even at the late time that I hit the Blackwall Tunnel coming home that night, which must have been around 11.30, it was screwed up with some problem and just continues to re-inforce my worst conspiracy theories about it.
Saturday night and brother and I decided we would head out as M was at a wedding. We thought about going local but I remembered that my brother hadn't been to the Venue in New Cross and that maybe he should at least see it. We quickly checked that our neighbour could run us up there and collect us later, which he could and got ourselves ready. We finished off the remains of the 89.9% Absinthe along with a couple of Reef's each.
Got dropped off in New Cross at around 9.00ish and grabbed a beer in a nearby bar. It was pretty grubby and worryingly not that busy. Some band were meant to come on later but in the meantime we were entertained by this hooded knob who was on stage with his Apple laptop. He told us how the tunes were available to download from his myspace page indicating that they'd obviously been pre-recorded. Nothing wrong with that of course but it did make his remaining on stage and randomly moving his finger over the mousemat whilst staring intently at the screen all the more pointless.
Moved next door into the Venue at about 10.30. It wasn't as busy as we'd hoped but it gave us a chance to have a good look round. From when I last went in there, they've spent a fair bit of cash on it. The bar on the ground floor as you walk in still looks the same, like something out of a Harvester restaurant though it had been cleaned up. I'd only ever hit downstairs very briefly and this almost felt Spanish like with terracotta coloured walls etc. We moved up to the main dance floor which having just opened was virtually empty. I can't remember ever having seen the dance floor etc and it looked new enough that I considered whether they had re-laid it. The carpet certainly had been replaced as it no longer looked or felt like you were walking through a treacle like swamp. On the next floor up was another bar with a viewing gallery that circled the main floor and was dotted with comfortable leather sofas.
The best was reserved for the top floor. This used to be the domain of the grungers, dark lights and rock/metal music yet now it looked like something out of a Vegas nightclub. There was new wood everywhere. The floor and walls were sculpted to almost give the look of a space age capsule, there were these little cubicles and areas that you could sit within close to the dance floor and a good scattering of leather sofas. The bar was more of this glorious wood and it wasn't let down by the lighting either. Even the toilets were clean and tidy with split lavatory rooms for girls and boys but a central, combined area for people to wash their hands.
It felt a million miles away from New Cross and the Venue that I used to know. We headed back downstairs to watch the Beatles tribute band in the main floor who were pretty good. We had a good time and a particularly energetic session on the main dance floor at one point when the DJ was dropping some awesome 80's classics. There was no female interaction though. Although there were a few girls dotted around, the place wasn't rammed and neither of us saw anyone that caught our eye, or vice versa. It's a shame because it is just the perfect place if you were to start chatting to someone or went along with a couple of girls on a second/third date. There are so many little cubby holes and places to go and have a chat or maybe a cuddle! If there was a group of you that were having a laugh, the separate areas on the top floor would just be ideal. The club actually goes on until 4.30 but we left at around 2.20. It was good to see it's improvements and I think a re-visit will have to be on the cards soon.
The next day we were over at P's. It was time for some more Lost though it wasn't until we were about two episodes in that we realised it was the series finale that night. Forewarned with that knowledge, it seemed to intesify the watching experience. We started the day with a couple of hamburgers whilst watching the Monaco F1. This was one of the best burgers I've had in a long time and if I'd been served it in a restaurant I would have been very happy. Alonso won the grand prix but Hamilton was behind him all the way and I really don't think it will be long before he gets his first Grand Prix victory.
Spoilers Ahead:
Lost built to quite a rousing finale. Granted they still had some annoying conveniences in the script, Juliet was her usual lying self and did make me a little angry that the people kept being so trusting and willing to be duped by her. They also telegraphed the whole 'hearing someone get shot over a radio but in reality the gun was fired into the ground and no one was killed' device. The final act was quite clever in that it sold you a little red herring into believing that we were seeing a flashback of Jack being haggard and depressed. His stumbling looking round hospitals and contemplating suicide was intercut with him leading his people up a mountain on the island to make a distress call using a satellite phone from a recently downed helicopter pilot. Whilst he was doing this Charlie was trying to unblock the jamming device that Ben and his 'others' had set up to stop people broadcasting off the island though Desomd had warned him that he would die doing this.
Charlie switched off the jamming device but still died and Jack made the call. At this point you still don't believe they will make it. It's the series finale, it has to be ambigious and with at least another two series to go they won't be ruining it now will they? You then see a little more of the flashbacks and realise that they are in fact flash forwards as Jack talks about how he wishes he was back on the island, where he was someone of use and importance and how he keeps using the gold pass that the airline gave them to fly back over the ocean in the hope that it might crash and he could be back there. Quite clever really and at least it gave you something to mull over until early 2008 when the next series returns.
Finally this was followed with UFC where Chuck Liddell was facing up against the one man who had beaten him, whose defeat he hadn't avenged. Clinton 'rampage' Jackson. My brother is a lot more into UFC than me and we'd been looking forward to seeing what happened in this showstopper. They both came out swinging but Quinton caught him with an absolute peach, flush on the jaw, which sent Chuck flailing to the ground. Rampage jumped and started pummeling and the moment Chuck relaxed, the ref finished the fight. It was quite a turn up as Chuck was the clear favourite but I think things like this can only be good for keeping the excitement and unpredictability of the events.
Monday and my brother was back at work so I carried out the usual boring tasks after which I sat down and watched Titanic again. My feelings for this film, as I've detailed in my review of it, still stand of it being a great film. It's hugely entertaining, involving and never feels like a 3 hour film. I also listened to James Cameron's commentary as well as seeing the alternate ending. Thank god they didn't go with that and James realised the thrust of the story was with Rose and Jack and not the salvager and the heart of the ocean diamond. James' commentary is very illuminating and there is also an additional cast and crew commentary plus a historian based commentary. It sounds geeky (what doesn't on this site!) but it's my all time favourite film so the level of interest would naturally be the highest.
Hit the pictures that night to see the film Zodiac. I read this had been descibed as another Seven as it was by the same director, David Fincher. Because of this and my fear of deducing plot spoilers I refrained from watching any trailers of the film and entered the cinema unaware of what it would entail.
As it had done with 28 weeks later the opening trailers started with the edges of the screen set in from the edge of the screen. Fearing that this would continue into the film I collared a worker and asked him to rectify it. He gave me the same old bullshit that they had last time about how some films weren't made for widescreen. I wasn't getting cross with him but I did have to say that that was crap and question how in over 25 years of going to the pictures I had never (apart from 28 weeks later) seen a film that had been cropped from the edges. I asked him to check with the projectionist or someone which he must have done because when the film started it had returned to full screen.
As for the film. Well, it was interesting and it did show how long and frustrating investigations can take into some serial killers but it wasn't that exciting. When you start to become aware of how uncomfortable the seats are, the surprising lack of padding on your arse and how the second amount of chewing gum you've popped in is beginning to lose it's flavour, you realise something is up. This was basically a long crimewatch re-enactment made for the big screen. Ok it was informative and I didn't regret seeing it but it certainly wasn't the edge of the seat thriller with a killer twist that Seven was. Indeed how any critic could ever compare this to Seven is beyond me.
Thanks for tuning in and apologies for the delay in the posting.
Halo disappointment and a couple of good films - 21/05/07
A quiet-ish week really. I seemed busy at work though there wasn't anything major to report. Seemed to be playing catch up with my journal and some emails that I needed to send. Bungie, the company behind Halo, released the Beta multiplayer version of Halo 3 this week. Quite a marketing coup really. Less than a month or so after the PS3 came out and they release a trial version of the multiplayer part of the game for people to play online and get their thoughts and comments on.
I haven't got online because I'm worried that if I succumb to being online at home that I will descend into weekends off wearing pants, eating crap (ok even more than normal!) and never, ever leaving the house. If my brother and mates coupled up and never came out then maybe it would be a fall back option but until then it's Pandora's Box that needs to remain firmly closed. Anyway it didn't stop me checking out some of the videos that IGN had posted up of it and it looks pretty damn cool. The graphics don't look like a huge leap forward from Halo 2, which is a little disappointing, but apparently the gameplay is lots of fun. It's great to see the Assault Rifle back, my favourite weapon from the first one but cruelly dropped by Bungie for the second one. There are also some new tricks with a portable shield (bubble grenade) along with the ability to pick up heavy machine guns and move them to other locations. A great idea that my brother had only recently been discussing would be cool to do.
My enthusiasm was suitably stoked until Bungie then told us the release date for Halo 3. They had said it would be the Fall of 2007, which I always thought meant would be October / November. Unfortunately though they said it will be the 25th September which is when my brother and I will be away in the states. I have to say that I was a little disappointed.
I love the Halo universe. I own all the books, the graphic novel, all three albums, traded my PS2 to get the Xbox purely for Halo and bought the special edition of the second game. I helped my brother buy an Xbox so he could play it on the same day in the living room, whilst I was playing in the bedroom, to ensure that we had our own individual single player experiences but could still talk about it at selected intervals, normally in the kitchen over a quick cuppa. I even remember first becoming aware of the game in a copy of Edge when it was first mooted for the Mac and aroused enough interest to be tucked away at the back of my mind.
The wait for Halo 2 was delicious and naturally my excitement has been bubbling for Halo 3. I really enjoy the shared anticipation as the day draws closer, the titbits of info that we get and the discussing of it’s arrival with members of other forums I visit. I watched the Halo 3 trailer in the office with my colleagues on the day it came out, loved the starry night commercial and have already lined myself up to buy the Legendary edition of Halo 3.
Needless to say the fact that I will miss the build up and first play is a little gutting. I know it will be going on but being a bloke I can’t multi task and thus wanted to focus my excitement purely on the holiday and then get excited about the launch of Halo 3 a month or so later.
You know seeing the first TV adverts for it, seeing the first hoarding for it on a bus, self censoring the reviews to get a feel for the reviewers thoughts but not enough info to spoil the game, chatting about it with all and sundry, stock piling all the best crisps, sweets, drinks, pizza menus etc for those first few days of gaming heaven and basically doing my bit to add to it’s launch day fervour. I guess it will be exciting to see how the marketing is handled in the states as we thought the advertising in the UK for Halo 2 could have been better but it will feel like discussing the best party in the world for weeks beforehand only to arrive when the lights have gone up and people are beginning to clear things away.
I know it’s only a game, I’m not saying I’m contemplating cancelling the holiday or anything and this is all said in a light hearted tone. In reality you don’t get that many things to get really excited about in a year and it’s just unfortunate that like two buses coming along at the same time, both of these genuine highlights happen to horribly clash.
I wouldn't ask Bungie to put the release date back as that would be out of order to everyone else and I’m sure release dates aren’t based purely on the holiday patterns of a few English geeks. I would just say to them that if they were to suddenly discover some little glitch or some cool new feature that needed a few extra weeks to fix/add then they’ve got two huge fans here who would more than understand.
I went on the bungie forums to discuss my thoughts, effectively posting what's above, and bar one or two comments got flamed and criticised for complaining. Unfortunately many seemed unable to read what I'd written or detect the humour in it. I wasn't complaining per se, just discussing how in my own circumstances the timing was a real bummer.
Did more research on Orlando and managed to nail out the day planner. It isn't set in stone but having a rough framework does help you to co-ordinate when you think you might be able to do stuff. Found some decent looking nightclubs including one on a Saturday that is both a 'Ladies night' with discounted drinks and an 80's night. Could there be a better scenario?
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. It was P's first week back in the office with Biscuit and she settled in reasonably well. Yes there was still little wee's and pooh's around the office but she is still very young and house/office training her will, I'm sure, take time.
Hired out a couple of DVD's for Friday night but by the time I got in and had some tea with my brother it was too late to start them. Hence Saturday morning-ish and I was plonked in front of the telly with some tea and toast and the first film. I really should watch more films at this time because I was wide awake and taking everything in but it's quite natural to leave a film to be your 'tentpole' piece of entertainment for the evening. This normally means that in a 'saving the best to last' tradition I end up leaving it so late that I'm almost falling asleep when it's playing.
Anyway first up we had Pan's Labyrinth. It's a Spanish language film by Guillermo del Toro, he of Blade II and Hellboy fame. I was always disappointed with Hellboy but respected the attention and dedication that he lavished on the production and thus have always been keen to see this film. It's a strange one really. It's a film about a young girl discovering a fantasy world in a truly dark time. It's set during the Spanish civil war and some of the treatment meted out by the Spanish is so barbaric you wonder if you are watching Schindlers List. I guess the idea was to make the real world so real and horrible that in a way the fantasy world was more believable. It works and was a thoroughly enjoyable film. It's subtitled but that didn't detract from the film and the characters were a lot richer and possessed more depth than any other of his films. Refreshingly different.
Next up was Smokin' Aces. I'd come close to seeing this at the pictures but the trailer looked almost so cool that when I read a few negative reviews it worked against it. I wish I'd seen it at the pictures. It was like a Guy Ritchie ensemble piece but only a lot better. There were some good names in the mix, Liotta, Garcia, Affleck and their characters although having not a great deal of exposition are pretty cool. The plot gets a little convoluted and twisty but bear with it and there are some cool set pieces, particularly involving the .50 calibre rifle being fired in anger. Burt Gummer would have been very proud of it's usage. I really enjoyed this and it was a shame that my brother was working and didn't get a chance to see it.
Dropped the DVD's back en route to the gym for a Saturday afternoon burn-up. Had some cool ASOT mixes on the Nano but it was still hard to get myself to go. Cranked out 400 cals on the running machine, then a punishing 200 cals on the bike that took me just a fraction over 20 minutes to complete. Future goal to beat there. My legs were a little wobbly after this and I went on the cyclic machine to get some blood flowing back in them. I was going to just do 200 but still felt good at 250 so decided to push onto 300. This is when male pride took over as I noticed a woman next to me was just coming up to 250 cals. I thought she might stop there but she carried on going to what I thought would be 300. I wasn't going to be matched by a girl so I thought I'd raise the bar a little higher and pushed onto 350. She hit 300 and carried on going. Goddam it, right 400 here we come. It was pathetic really but hell any kind of stimulus to keep you exercising can't be bad can it. I finished at 410, wanting to go a little over just in case her cut off was 400, and was utterly shattered. She slowed at around 375 but by this point I was so knackered she could have carried on. Overall I'd done 1000 cals, which bearing in mind my lack of attendance I was pleased with. It felt good but I'm not stupid enough to realise that it doesn't achieve anything unless I keep at it.
Hired out Will Smith's The Pursuit of Happiness that night as our attempt, once again, to watch the film The Host was thwarted by someone not returning their copy even though we had reserved it. It was ok but a lot more schmaltzy and sentimental that I'd thought it might be. I knew it would have elements of this in it, and it did reveal how horrifying it must be not having somewhere to sleep at night, but I would have preferred seeing more of Smiths rise through the ranks of the interns.
MotoGP was from LeMans this Sunday and was pretty rain soaked. It made for a good skill leveller and Chris Vermuelen of all people got Rizla Suzuki their very first 1st place with a great ride. At a circuit where Rossi was expected to be more dominant than Stoner, he ended up coming three places behind Stoner (who finished in third) which only allowed Stoner to increase his lead, bravo. Watched Seven again to round out a weekend of good movies. It is a truly cracking film with a twist ending that I never saw coming. So clever, so original and so great to see a film that isn't afraid to assume that it's audience has some form of intelligence. I listened to the commentaries over the last couple of scenes and even though there are three different ones, they are all pretty poor at handling those final scenes with the reverance they deserve.
Take care.
A little stealth, a little rush and you could win a stunning prize - 14/05/07
Back in the office on Tuesday and back to the busy-ness. Got two compliments from people who had found my website through me mentioning it on a messageboard that I've been on for a good few years. One of them said something so complimentary that I added it onto the self flagellation page if you want to check it out. Wednesday was equally busy and come the evening the Old Kent Road and A2 were completely solid due to the Blackwall Tunnel being closed. This seems to have been the third week on the trot that it has been closed for one day due to some spurious reason. This time it was due to a lorry carrying Asbestos crashing in the tunnel. I don't know but ever since they closed the tidal flow scheme that they have in the mornings (when they use one of the southbound lanes for Northbound traffic) and rumours said it was because Red Ken wanted more traffic to head into Greenwich making it easier for him to extend the congestion charge out to cover Greenwich, I've been suspicious.
My cookie dough combats turned up during the week and they look pretty cool. They aren't quite as smooth as the arctic ones but I still like them, they look a little different and are very practical. I'm now looking like the consumate military obsessed, middle aged, wannabe soldier, loner twat that I've been aiming for!
My brother had been working next door that day and as the traffic clearly wasn't moving we decided to head over the Indian/Nepalese for something to eat. I was keen to see what he thought of it and it was only once we were inside that he said how he'd never eaten inside an Indian restuarant before. Nothing strange in that really. I didn't go to my first one until I was about 25-26ish. That wasn't a conscious decision or anything but more that I didn't belong to the kind of group who would go out for a lashing and then end up in an Indian. Anyway it was a nice night, the food was good and I tried my first chicken Pasanda. Naturally we were going to have a chicken tikka masala but wanted to try something else. Our tastes don't go a great deal hotter but we didn't want to go as mild as a Korma. The Pasanda filled the gap nicely and tasted just as nice when dripping off a fresh, hot naan.
Headed off around 10.00ish and the traffic had begun to clear. Coming home on the A2 and I saw possibly the most dangerous, reckless and plain irresponsible piece of driving ever. The dual carriageway that I was heading home along was fine but the other side going back into town was completely rammed. With the tunnel closed people were simply having to wait and edge their way off the road and through Blackheath. Anyway as we were driving along we noticed this black Fiesta (I had to check the next day with my brother to make sure that I hadn't imagined it) driving the wrong way back through all the queuing traffic. Somehow the female driver must have done a three point turn and was driving back along the road in between the two lines of cars. She had no flashing lights, no sirens and wasn't dressed like a copper. I was outraged, who the hell did she think she was. So important that she couldn't wait like everyone else and had to pull that kind of stunt.
I assumed her intention was to get to the next turn, where I might add the traffic was still flowing, and do a sharp turn onto the exit road. That meant that as other cars approached the slip road they would see her lights pointing towards them on their side of the road. I can't believe that people let her turn round or that cars were letting her move down in between them. I would have flung my door open to prevent her stupidity. I think we need to accept a little civic responsibilty sometimes and this would have been a time to do so. If I had been coming the other way and been dazzled by her lights as I took the slip road I would have happily dragged her from the car and kerbed her for her utter selfishness and desire to put others at risk. Stupid bitch.
P brought Biscuit in on Friday to introduce her to the office and the other guys. It was good to see her again. She had certainly grown, was still as cute as I remembered and was very well behaved. We had to shoot off to a client meeting later in the afternoon which was ok but made a little fraught by me stupidly forgetting to take a pen. I had plenty in the car but none to write down notes in the meeting. Borrowed one of the other guys but that meant he couldn't then write anything down. Poor show by myself.
Up early on Saturday as the five of us were heading off to Thorpe Park. I hadn't looked on the site or anything about and to be fair thought it would be pretty pants. I've been to Chessington before and that is woeful so I didn't expect more than that. The drive was fun with a pick up of everyone en route before attempting to follow the multi-map directions that we'd printed off. I'm never keen on following these and always prefer just handing the map to someone to get us where we are going. My brother is a very capable map reader but we thought we'd give the instructions a go. Needless to say at the first junction where they told you to turn right but you couldn't because it was a no right turn they were virtually useless. In the end we just followed the signs for the M25 and worked our way to the park from there.
I was looking forward to it. You can't beat the simple thrills of some rides and it would be a nice appetiser for what we would encounter in the states. The big ride of the park is called Stealth and it's like a smaller version of the top thrill dragster at Cedar Point. It's a simple ride really. It uses magnetic propulsion to accelerate you very quickly up a 200 ft track, crest over the top and down the other side. Being the parks big ride we raced over to queue up for it once we'd got our tickets. 200 ft looked reasonable and it was incredible to think the one in Cedar Point is twice the height at 420ft (16 storeys). The queue slowly snaked it's way along and we inched ever closer. I paired off with one of the girls as I knew I wanted to sit at the front. I've got a simple philosophy when it comes to rollercoaster rides. I only get one chance to ride it for the very first time and if I'm going to queue for an age I might as well ensure that the first ride is as best as it can be. Hence why I'll wait that little bit longer to get the front seats. I know the sensations are all still there but it is so much better enjoying the swoops, turns etc of a ride when you've no one in front of you.
Queuing up in the final turns before your go when you could watch the next cars going out was a hoot. Normally coasters pull off at a clunk as they start some slow climb up a hill. Not with Stealth. With it's special form of launch you had the chance to watch people preparing themselves for the go but yet still being taken by surprise by the force of the acceleration. I joked with my fellow rider why people always screamed at these things. Couldn't you just enjoy it. The next train pulled in and I hopped into the outside seat as the cars were a traditional two by two design. The straps came down, the trepidation began to build and we watched the lights count down. Should I still being chewing gum? was my head back against the headrest? should I put my arms....................
Wham. A kick in the pants, head back into the support and we were hurtling off. The acceleration was eye wateringly, incredible and I couldn't stop whooping and hollering like an over enthusiastic cheerleader. In almost a second we were at the foot of the 200ft hill and racing up to the heavens for all it was worth. The wind was howling, the car was shaking and I was a screaming in wild exileration. It crested the top of the hill and I had a nano second to look round before it began to dip over the edge and race back down the 90º incline on the other side. It was so steep that at one point you couldn't actually see the track and you felt like you were going to hurtle down into the ground. It was over in a flash as it basically just comes down and back round behind the queue. But what a flash and what a rush. I was charged when I got off and was hungry for more. The ride had gone down equally well with the others and we headed over to Nemesis.
I was looking forward to this as it was a foot dangler coaster and I just love these ones. Seeing my feet hanging in front of me with no support as they whip through the air just gives me a killer rush. Again I queued for the front, this time with my brother, and off we went. It starts off slowly and dips down racing through a mist filled tunnel. It then starts the climb up an incline from which it swoops down pulling twists, a wickedly sharp loop-the-loop and corkscrews with gay abandon. It strays close to the ground and at one point seemingly and alarmingly close to one of the strutt like supports. As it had done in Cedar Point this one definately left me the most shook up and my legs were a little wobbly when I clambered off.
It was a particularly warm day in Thorpe Park but there were a lot of pretty girls milling around. To be honest I was surprised by how many there were. My mate said that if you think this is a lot expect at least three times the amount in the US, with a marked increase in the calibre of girls. Looks like my jaw will be dropping for more than just the rides in Florida. After this we headed over to Colossus as we had fast passes for it. Colossus is this slightly older coaster that's USP is that it offers riders 10 loops. It looks quite slow moving and tricks you into thinking that it will be quite pedestrian but it really does have a sting in it's tail. The cars were incredibly small and seemingly designed for kids but it was a fun ride and even though it's slowing by the time it hits the last few corkscrews they are still great fun purely for the fact that they are happening slower than you'd expect.
We then decided to give Slammer a go. It looked fairly innovative and the best way to describe it is it being like a see saw that is lifted into the air and then swung round through 360°s. Naturally you are strapped in at either end along with 23 other hapless fools and you get three rotations going forward and then three backwards. I didn't quite know what it would feel like but it looked cool and certainly different to the coaster rides. We decided that the back row would give the best feeling of speed and plonked ourselves there. The two girls took two seats in the front row as one of them was quite unnerved by the thought of the ride. Give her credit though for she manned up to the challenge and didn't wimp out. We did have a moment when my mates harness wouldn't secure down properly and we were unsure whether the guy would be coming back to check. Being hung upside down whilst being spun through a 360 degree rotation wouldn't be much fun it you weren't secured in!
The thing started and hydraulically lifts itself 105 feet into the air. It then starts its first revolution and it's a real rush as you feel yourself being spun over and effectively racing towards the ground before being pulled through the middle and then up the other side. Your head gets heavy, my jaw started to hurt and you find yourself holding onto the harness for dear life. Three revolutions one way and then you get to do it backwards, which is equally amazing. It's a very simple ride when you think about and I take my hat off to the inventor for creating something that in a limited amount of space delivers a real thrill.
We were getting a little hungry and decided that we would do the water rides before breaking for lunch. I wasn't going to but as the other decided to get waterproof ponchos thought I'd do likewise. I guess half the point of a water ride is the danger of getting wet so doing all you can to prevent it happening seems pretty pointless. I think we managed to find a half way house compromise between trying to prevent absolute soakage but knowing that we'd still get wet. We had another fast pass for this, the Tidal Wave, and jumped on the next available car/cart/boat? The seat was already covered in water and seeing earlier ones we knew it threw up a hell of a wave. My brother was sitting next to me with the hood of his poncho up and just as we slid down the slide I reached behind him and yanked it down. We hit the water and the wave was immense. It just didn't seem to stop raining back water on us which naturally found its way into almost every nook and cranny. We came round and disembarked from the boat thing to take the walk over to the main park.
As we did another boat made it's descent and I grabbed L who'd done her best to avoid being soaked. In what was a truly hilarious scene I held her against the railing whilst I cowered behind her as the full force of the next wave crashed over us. It's only water but it was the image of us huddled over the railing facing the whole wave which really tickled me. Credit it to her that she took it and along with M getting previously soaked when she was caught stranded by a monster wave we were all a little wet. Followed this with their river rapids style ride which was pretty tame, despite my brothers and I attempts to get the thing rocking.
We agreed that the eat all you can buffet at the on-site Pizza Hut would offer the best remedy to our rumbling stomachs. £7.49 for all you could manage food and drinks and we hit those racks hard. The pizza's were fresh and hot and they did this very tasty tomatoey penne pasta sauce. The girls gave a good account of themselves but us guys made sure that we at least broke even in what we had spent to what we ate. The heavens opened up whilst we had lunch which demonstrated spooky timing and meant that there was no need to rush our food.
With that kind of ballast on board the afternoon moved at a slightly slower pace once it stopped raining. A couple of the rides seemed to temporarily close which was initially frustrating though not unexpected for a British theme park. Managed to get another ride on Colossus, Nemesis and Stealth as well as going on a ride called Rush. It had a ridiculously slow moving queue and we questioned whether we should do it as it was basically a glorified swing. As it happens though it was quite cool and a real surprise, especially for the second or so of fright and weightlessness when you reached the apex of the full swing.
A good day in all. My face felt tired and stretched from the exposure to the wind and the sun but it was good to have done something good with the day. Thorpe Park had delivered a lot more fun than I would ever have expected it to and it bodes well for Orlando in September. Dropped the girls off and then headed over to Bluewater to try and catch a performance of 28 weeks later. It was fully booked out and we had to resort to booking tickets on the telephone for the Odeon at Greenwich. We wished we hadn't bothered for it was really poor.
It showed some promise. Some of the ideas were good and the producers had certainly spent the money getting the right uniforms, guns, props and shots of a desolated London. I have never though seen a worse example of shaky cam and lightening editing ruin a film. It's all very well spending the money and having some decent set pieces but if you can't see what's going on because the director is rooted to the notion that the only way to show confusion and action is to shake the bloody camera around it just doesn't work. All the action s