Date:	2009-07-05 11:14
Subject:	“It matters not what you fight, but what you fight for”
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused
Music:	"The Red Car and the Blue Car have race" is stuck in my skull at the mo.

Working on a Sunday, damn them (I am not even allowed moral outrage for working on the Sabbath, damn my (sexy) pagan hide.) Luckily, it's a bit quiet, so I'm going to see if I can read Dice Box, because it's always looked fun.

This made me laugh this morning: Verb that noun.

Picked up The Mouse Guard RPG recently, because I'm a big fan of the comics, and it's swiftly jumped to the top of my 'Games I want to run' list. (Surpassing Unknown Armies and Delta Green). Partially, this is because of the way the game is put together: It's written with new gamers in mind, and the game itself is designed to focus on the roleplaying elements of being a small heroic mouse in a huge, scary would full of owls, bears and suprise blizzards.

Mostly though, it's because it looks flat out fun. If it plays the way it should, it would be one of the most immersive and entertaining RPG's out there, without being the pain to run that a lot of immersive games can be. (*cough* Nobilis.) Glowing reviews of Mouse Guard can be found here. Some day I'll run it, some day.

ION: I may be in Birmingham next weekend. Note the may, but it'd be awesome to see people.

Date:	2009-07-04 13:13
Subject:	"Poop Poop" went Toad
Security:	Public
Mood:	cheerful

Help my Lazyweb, I know nothing about buying cars, and I need to replace the Fiat.

I'm looking for a vehicle that should, in theory, last me 12 months, is reasonably safe, and costs around £500.

It's going to be pootling about Manchester a fair bit, I plan to drive regularly to Bolton, Chorlton and Failsworth in it, but it shouldn't need to be a work car.

Not fussed about looking like a dork in it, never have been worried about that sort of nonsense. Decent boot space would be nice, but reliabilty and safety are the priorities.

Hints, tips, suggestions and guffaws of laughter all appreciated.

Date:	2009-07-02 12:38
Subject:	"Hans, are we the baddies?"
Security:	Public
Mood:	content

Yesterday, I started playing in Russ's Star Wars game

It's an Imperial game, which runs on the opposite week to a Rebel game Russ has been running for a while.

It was an absolutely ace session, and reminded me as to why I like this sort of thing so much.

The party so far consists of:
A spunky fighter pilot modelled very much on Kara Thrace from Battlestar Galactica.
An angry Corellian police detective modelled very much Gene Hunt.

A sinister Imperial Officer modelled on the German Officer from any given World War 2 movie.

Plenty of conflict, plenty of dumb movie references and vast amounts of fun. Hurrah!

ION: Work has been sweet the last few days, pity about working on the weekend.

Date:	2009-07-01 13:05
Subject:	Raimi can still scare the pants of you, whilst making you smile
Security:	Public
Mood:	contemplative

Saw Drag Me To Hull last night, a lovely and coo, fully air conditioned cinema.

The movie is classic Raimi, who is famous for his Evil Dead and Spiderman movies. It's horror, but Raimi knows that jumping out of your seat is meant to be fun, and paces the action accordingly, mixing in frenetic action, high speed close-ups and genuine 'Oh my goodness' moments, going for both the gross-out and the bone-chill without ever going for melodrama.

Fun, and worth watching, if horror movies are your sort of thing.

Date:	2009-06-30 12:59
Subject:	More Odyssey
Security:	Public
Mood:	blank

The sneak-peak previews for both Egypt and Greece can be found here.

For those of you reading this who aren't fans of games like the LT or Maelstrom, or who tried LRP and got put off, take a look at Odyssey when it comes out, it might appeal more.

Pass it around if you fancy.

Date:	2009-06-24 11:59
Subject:	Zoogs, Gugs and Cats of Ulthar
Security:	Public
Mood:	calm

khyungbird has announced that they will be republishing their comic-book adaption of the Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath. The 160 page book will also include "The White Ship", “Celephais” and “The Strange High House in the Mist.” It's due out later this year.

More information can be found on the Mockman Press Website.

I've been after a collected works of this for eons.

Date:	2009-06-24 09:51
Subject:	Travel Plans
Security:	Public
Mood:	busy

I will be in the North East on Friday and Saturday, back up on the Sunday.

The week as been a bit of a bear already, looking forward to seeing people and chilling.

Date:	2009-06-22 09:16
Subject:	IT Haiku's
Security:	Public
Mood:	crazy

Having pretty much gotten away with doing Haiku's for my closure reports, heres the most recent ones.

(Have redited to please the Haiku Patrol, am really not trying too hard, sorry Haiku Patrol.)

In touch will not work
logging off and then back on
Should not spring back

Till Printer jobs fall
Most in need of good reseating
Reboot also helped

till rebooted now
A wintery blue was on screen
issue now resolved

Now considering limericks.

Date:	2009-06-20 23:44
Subject:	Time for bed...
Security:	Public
Mood:	lethargic
Music:	Sailing By

For the various, terribly British insomniacs out there: Permanent Bedtime. It's a collection of shipping forecasts, used by over-tired people all over the nation as an aide to entering the land of Nod.

Rather handy, really.

( Geek wise, it's a novel use of one of the numerous 'make your own radio station' thingies that you get on the internet these days, in this case combining the Amazon.com data storage service with this bit of clever. )

Date:	2009-06-17 08:50
Subject:	"We already know the answers..."
Security:	Public
Mood:	apathetic

There is a meme floating around about asking each other questions to bring us all closer together. To be honest, I find that picking up the phone or popping round to someone's house is much more effective, but as some of you are too many miles away, this will have to do.

So in keeping with the spirit of the thing, ask me questions and I will answer as best as I can.

Date:	2009-06-16 06:44
Subject:	Stuff, things and linky fun
Security:	Public
Mood:	blah

Doncaster's new mayor gets a solid kicking in one of his first interviews. The Mayor of Doncster got elected on an idiotic agenda, turns out, he's an idiot. Who'd have thunk it?

Tactical Corsetry - Combining boobs and body armour. I expect this one to go down well in the Bigg Market.

The British Legion's incredibly polite cease and desist open letter to Nick Griffin worth a read, worth passing around.

Scientists have discovered the sonic equivalent of a black hole - By complete conicindence, this article is full of excellent name ideas for heavy metal bands.

In other news, I saw Krod Mandoon and the Flaming sword of Fire last night. It is very, very stupid, the humour base and the plot is deeply silly, all wrapped up in a cod-fantasy wrapper. In short, fun

Date:	2009-06-14 21:34
Subject:	A masterclass in stupidity
Security:	Public
Mood:	introspective

So, I've had a few days off work, got my sleeping pattern back to normal, and some how turned myself into the king of all biffs.

Not only have I been a colossal dumbass around the flat over the past few days, I have also managed to turn myself into lobster thermidor by going out in the sun without adequate protection.

On the plus side, I am currently a pleasing deep red, which matches my eyes. On the other hand, it's not the most comfortable condition to be in, but at least it's drawn my increased oaf-ishness to my attention.

Apologies to anyone if I'm being more of a stumble-bum than normal. Something's got me distracted, I've currently no idea what, how ever.

Date:	2009-06-12 12:39
Subject:	Mark Thomas's Manifesto
Security:	Public
Mood:	bored

So, last week I took the lovely Anne to the latest show from agit-prop comedian Mark Thomas.

It was fun, and I was in the aisles laughing at times. Part of this show's gimmick, however, is to ask people to contribute and vote on to a People's Manifesto, basically a list of policies you'd want to see if you were in power.

The full list is here, but the two from the show I was at were:

1: There should be an age of consent of 16 for all religion.

2: Introduce a recall of MPs so if 10% of constituents sign a petition to recall the MP they have to stand again.

Now, both are quite flawed as ideas (and bear in mind that 1 started out as a rather oppressive proposal to ban all religion and was worked on), but it's fascinating to see what comes up. (Especially given that though the sample of people at the show are 'People who find Mark Thomas funny', some of the proposals aren't exactly left wing.

Still, I'd be curious to hear what those of you out there in LJ land think of the whole thing. (It's Friday...)

Date:	2009-06-10 10:21
Subject:	Obvious Weaknesses...
Security:	Public
Mood:	awake

Nicked from the Warren Ellis forums (Which can be found here.) Also worth a look is this Guardian article.

To pass round and distribute, if you're so inclined:

1. The BNP winning European parliament seats means they have a budget to employ staff and various sub-contractors.
2. These budgets and staff positions are subject to anti-discrimination laws and scrutiny, as they come from public funds.
3. Watch out for when these positions are advertised. If anyone sees them advertised, chuck the ads about on as many social networks, blogs etc as possible.
4. Man the Harpoons - If you fall outside of the BNP's membership criteria, for whatever reason, apply. If you are white British and want to help out this plan anyway, just spread the idea about.
5. When you/they don't get the job, take it to an employment tribunal.
6. ????
7. Profit.

Date:	2009-06-09 11:42
Subject:	Attention!
Security:	Public
Mood:	loved

Happy Birthday anne_l_davies.

Date:	2009-06-08 21:03
Subject:
Security:	Public
Mood:	crazy

Poll #1412989 The UNIT dating controversy
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What is your take on the UNIT dating controversy

Date:	2009-06-07 18:07
Subject:	The *yawn* Game
Security:	Public
Mood:	cranky

You know what annoys me? The Game.

Back in the mid-90s, it was a fun, quirky little nonsense, which allowed people to re-affirm the bonds of friendship in a silly way, with the same sort of oddly charming 'in-crowd' feel that Mornington Crescent has.

Over time however, it's simply become a tedious, boring, running gag. An in-joke that everyone knows doesn't work. It simply becomes a way of drawing attention to one's self, and if you need to use a venerable meme such as The Game to do that, then perhaps you need new material.

For those of you who have look at this post and gone 'I've just lost The Game', please look at the picture below. Then never speak of it again.



I fully accept that these things are new to some people, however, I reserve the right to be grumpy about unfunny gags, especially ones that, by their inclusive nature, it's felt that I'm meant to laugh at...

Date:	2009-06-04 12:28
Subject:	Not a good sign...
Security:	Public
Mood:	accomplished

"Headquarters had even started an Employee of the Month scheme to show how much they cared. That was how much they didn't care." - from Going Postal by Terry Pratchett

Date:	2009-06-04 00:29
Subject:	European elections 2009
Security:	Public
Mood:	chipper

George Monbiot on why you should vote Green.

Spider Jerusalem on why you should vote.

What is it all about anyway...

Date:	2009-05-15 10:55
Subject:	We could give it a little hat...
Security:	Public
Mood:	busy

In Japan, the trains are so reliable they make clocks that use the various stop off points as measurements of time: Yamanote Clock.

Not to be out done, I heartily suggest that the UK comes up with some similar. Though it's tempting to suggest some kind of randomiser, such as a large collection of dice, (including a special excuses die), that seems a little clinical.

Perhaps, in the same way the American's use a Groundhog to predict weather patterns, we should sponsor a ferret to be Transport Czar, and use it's random movements to run the timetables.

This will lead to an increase in cities becoming shinier in order to attract the Transport Ferret's attention, and in the case of remote area, large ferret treats being hung from public monuments in order to ensure at least one train turns up sometime in the week....