Ink-redible idiocy or deliberately printing money?

A minor gripe inducing piece of stupidity occurred to me today as I was sat, working away like a good little boy on my essay rather than heading outside into the sunshine which has decided to grace us and bake the interior of the library. I was tapping away at the slightly tacky keyboard as you do and decided to print out what I had of my essay so that I could hand write the links required and refine my argument somewhere away from a computer screen. I can't think when I'm staring at one, not a bit. And it was hot. Really hot.

It then occurred to me I might not have enough printer credits to print off all three pages as I needed to.

It's alive! Frankenstein's Wedding- Review

You shouldn't have to force yourself to sit through the first twenty minutes of a show to wait for it to get good, or even get really good and have an emotional pay-off at the end to reward your patience at the start, but with Frankenstein's Wedding if you did stick with it that's exactly what you got. A phenomenal piece of live musical theatre which succeeded in updating the Frankenstein tale, keeping all of its emotional clout and upping the heartstring pulling idea of The Creation all in one evening of entertainment.

An open letter to the people of the country Libraria

Dear all,



I have noticed recently that there has been some confusion over what constitutes being a colossal dickhead in the nation of Libraria and what does not. Allow me to clear a few things up for you, but first may I just say that yes, it is your fault that I have become that guy, and no, I'm not happy about that, either.

The Shit On TV These Days Series overview- Outcasts.

Good lord. Location: South Africa. Budget: More than most BBC drama years. Outcome: Eh...

Okay, I have watched every episode of Outcasts. And it yo-yoed between mediocre and awful. Why? Well, it all got a little out of control to be honest, after what was a frankly painfully slow pair of opening episodes which established the world and the people in it with the speed of a geriatric gastropod and the all the detail of a senile account of an event which happened in the individual's infancy. The main thing to blame for the whole show being a disappointment, really, was the writing.

It's a shame that a nation which has brought Doctor Who and Being Human (at least, before it too became overstuffed with ideas in the third series) to the international table still suffers and can't do decent sci-fi drama justice in the way that the States do. Look at Battlestar Galactica, for Christ's sake, then look at Outcasts again. Not only is their a a lot lifted from the Americans' series, it's been copied and mimicked badly.



And it was a decent premise, really-

“Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience.”

Hi. Me again. You know, the bloke who was moaning about not being able to get at money that's sitting around with his name on not two hours ago. I ended that post with the news that I was going down to the tax office to try and " 'ave it aat" with them.

That went well. My request/ obligatory confusingly worded form has been submitted, a polite gesture akin to saying "Hello, excuse me, that money over there with my name on? Yes, that reasonably moderate pile? Well, could I have it?".

The problem is the lady who works there, who was very helpful, informed me that it could take up to three months before I hear anything. Lovely stuff. So once again it's been dangled just above my reach and then hidden in a see-through box.



It's not that I haven't expected to be poor. I'm doing an English Literature and Creative Writing degree, clearly I have to accept that at some point I may end up in a doorway with a bowler hat and the toes of my boots missing. I just didn't expect it to be while I was still studying for that degree. Perhaps I was naive.

Still irritates me though.

"Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." -Terry Pratchett

The wealthiest person is a pauper at times compared to the man with the satisfied mind.

Money. It's a funny thing. It's the root of all evil, according to those who misquote the Bible. According to those who quote it properly, it is the love of money which will bring about the doom and fiery fate of your eternal soul. According to ABBA it must be funny in a rich man's world, and Pink Floyd would have you believe it's a crime, a gas and a hit.



It's no end of trouble, is what it is. When you can't get your hands on it, anyway, and there's a stash somewhere with your name on just PENDING, hanging around in the ether waiting for someone at a desk to press a couple of keys and make it yours. Jonny Cash (and Jeff Buckley and Bob Dylan) all sang about the man with the satisfied mind being better off than a fool with a hell of a lot of money. Which I agree with, sort of.

Getting a bit of perspective

It's been an interesting couple of weeks at uni. The annual rigmarole of the six students' union Sabbatical/ Full Time Officer/ Full Time Executive Officer/ Unaccountable Overlords has wheeled around again, and for the second year running I've been on the frontlines of campaigns etc and deep in The Thick Of It as part of the student newspaper's coverage. There's two things that need to be said straight away here- one, people act as though they really are in the the level of power and importance that is featured in Armando Ianucci's program with Malcom "Rip your bollocks off" Tucker, and two, because people act like these elections are much more than they are, it's great in terms of news stories and filling pages, not so great in terms of reenforcing your faith in humanity.

An ode to that friend- we all have one.

So you've all settled into your seats in the cinema ready to watch the latest serious drama, the sort of film you have to listen to the dialogue of to keep up to date with what's going on. Or, you've done a hard day's work out at your job or your college or on campus, and you get in late expecting to be able to slump in front of the telly. Or to use the living room to read.



And then the friend appears. Not that they haven't been there all along. They don't appear visually, but aurally they suddenly emerge. Right when you thought that maybe, just maybe they would sit and enjoy what they're doing, or what they're watching, quietly.

That is the moment when they decide to pipe up and start making noises. They might choose the tensest part of the film to start up a conversation. "Oh! That's what I was going to ask you..." they shout, as they sit forward and completely drag your attention kicking and screaming away from whatever you're trying to pay attention too.