Apparantly...

..it's national novel writing month. Given that i have way to much time i am going to have a bash. I expect to abandon these efforts by the time i go to my bed tonight but it's an interesting idea. More likely i'll sit down tomorrow to try and start, not sure if i'll be able to keep myself away from the distractions of the internet, pro evo soccer and football manager however.

Don't suppose i'll manage to squeeze out War and Peace or Lord of the Rings, but i'd be quite chuffed with myself i got a wee novella. Wonder if i should try a genre novel? I'll give it a little thought tonight.

A bit tasteless but what the hell...

...Take this test to find out if you would have fallen under the sway of Nazi rhetoric in 1930's Germany!

I would have fled the country apparantly and not have been taken in by it all, i should like to think so to.

Disappointing news as quite frankly...

... the guy seems guilty as sin. Can't even be pleased at Bush's supreme court nominee being withdrawn, as the basic jist of why she wasn't going to be accepted is that she isn't lunatic far right enough for certain people, so no doubt someone more acceptable will be found.

Indeed i saw an interview with some Christian activist type fellow and he was forthing at the mouth almost over it, good luck to sane people in the US if someone that guy liked gets appointed. For once a setback to Buch might actually be a set back to the country as a whole, who'd have thunk it!

Still fingers crossed on getting some indictments sooner or later and showing up this administration forthe corrupt swines that they are!

Current Affairs

I don't know if it is just a phase but right now i cannot be bothered with what is happening out there in the wide world these days. It was petty politics and seriously bad weather the last i looked. Does anyone read a real newspaper everyday? I don't mean a comic tabloid either. I enjoy sitting reading a newspaper that has something at least vaguely intelligent to say about the world, but sometimes i just can't seem to sit still for even 5 minutes to do so.

At the moment, i'm preferring to read a book when i'm in the mood to read anything. Currently reading The Difference engine, a co effort between William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Which makes me wonder, is it more or less difficult to write a book with someone or by yourself. Of all the books i own and/or have read the only other joint effort has been Good Omen's by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. An enjoyable read and i have to admit to been fans of the solo work of both these guys.

Right this very moment, i'm playing football manager on my pc(I can taste that primera liga title) and trying to get to grips with Pro Evo 5. I'm thinking of wrapping both up for the night as it's late and i'm not feeling to grand, sore throat and bit of a tempreture. I thought i should post something as i felt strangely guilty at neglecting my blog lately. I didn't even post a petty rant yesterday, it might well have been based on tonights efforts at football, my side threw away a 3 goal lead and i was merde. Then again i'm not that well but even so it was rather disappointing.

I bet i could ramble on about nothing for paragraphs yet but i think i'l save that experiment for another day!

Ridicule and Ridiculous

It had been pointed out to me that i have been in the habit of spelling ridiculous as rediculous. Now i'm well aware of how it is spelt. It is just that i tend to type out what i write on here rather quickly and more often than not i don't really check it before posting. So no doubt my questionable spelling and grammar will continue unabated.

It would be rediculous of me to expect to change such little foibles overnight!

Wow, todays headline news was quite something.

It was just the free copy of the metro i've looked at, but even that with it's mediocre news reporting told me enough to get me thinking what sort of world are we living in! The two main news stories being the trial of Saddam Hussein and the news that computer printers were issueing a secret tracking code on every sheet printed.

Ok, the Saddam trial seems fairly straightforward. We know he has committed atrocities, and is essentialy guilty of many crimes. Certainly there should be evidence to prove it also, all we need do is check through some of our old receipts and we'll see that we probably sold him torture equipment. Should be an open and shut case. But you have to wonder at the gall we have when he's being tried for a 1982 massacre of Shia. It's not like we didn't know and given that he was given the enthusiastic support of the US during that time it seems a touch hypocritical now to censure him for that. Still the guy is really due whats coming to him, so who is really going to care? I'm just bitter because i'm convinced Bus hand Blair are war criminals and should also be in the dock.

The news about printers having a secret code that enables those who know what to look for to track a print out back to the printer that printed via it's serial code however is absolutely outrageous. Well done to the Electronic Frontier Foundation for cracking the code and letting it be known. As the headline was quick to point out, talk about "big brother is watching you" it's an outrageous violation of civil liberties and the fact that companies like Xerox, Brother, Hewlett Packard and Canon have allowed the US government to implement such a scheme sickens me. As EFF lawyer Lee Tien said, "What else has been made to ensure our technology rats on us?"

Tuesday rant

Conservative party leadership election is going on, and they can't seem to do this right, delays etc over the first ballot. Does seem completely pointless, as if they can't get that right who'd let them get hands on the wheels and cogs of power. Although i am of the opinion that wants to be Prime Minister should immediately be barred from the position.

Result has come in though and big jovial Ken Clarke is out. Going by the numbers i think the early frontrunner David Davis, in terms of declared votes anyway has made sure the probably more popular with the party members Ken Clarke is punted out by getting a few of his voters to vote for the candidate Liam Fox.

I suppose the rant is really about the depressingly pointless nature of democracy in the modern world, who really wants to choose between New Labour and the Conservatives? Please someone give me a better choice than this!

Forgot the headline. Mark Thomas/Robert Newman

The Mark Thomas/Robert Newman double bill went down a treat. Was a little disappointed it was Rob's turn to headline last night as i'd saw his show before. With for myself the mostly fresh material of Mark Thomas holding the greater appeal.

Still due to the unusual nature of the show it meant that both slightly edited down their acts and certainly in Robert Newman's case the combination of better sound at the Garage compared to the Bongo Club and a slightly tighter routine meant i still got a great deal of enjoyment from it, even if some the gags just couldn't possibly pack the original punch. His polemic about the the US role in the world and it's own debtor status is intriguing to say the least. It would be interesting to see if this theory(albeit i think borrowed from someone he credited in his act who i can't remember) proved correct should all the major oil trading countries transfer from US dollars to Euro's.

Mark Thomas main area of interest outside of the obvious US foreign policy was the arms trade, and indeed has a book forthcoming on the subject, presumably well worth buying. I do have a sieve like memory, so really can only say he was hilarious and well a more common touch is one way of describing him. Certainly i don't think Rob ever shouts you CUUUUUNT during his act and the sweat stained Thomas was a bit more animated. It's a damn shame that channel 4 no longer have the bollocks to back his TV show, but with his live act and even books now, there is still no stopping the man. Even if he is now a pasta and foccacia bread eating type whose dad is proud that he lives near a cheese shop! For all the ranting and engaging political commentry of an hour plus length set and THAT is what i remember!

Before i go...

...and see Mark Thomas and Rob Newman tonight i thought i'd post about finally seeing Serenity today. I was gutted at missing out on seeing it at the Edinburgh Film Festival but i was soon consoled by the fact it was on general release not to long after.

I thought the film was excellent, but i must say it was a bittersweet experience for someone who is a fan of the TV series. Big spoilers aside, even though the film is really good i feel we've missed out by not getting the slower development and evolution of a good TV show. Also the current box office figures that i've saw don't suggest a sequel is to likely to be on the slate anytime soon. I've only saw really complimentary reviews as well, it's a real shame people are missing out on what is a fairly intelligent as well as rollocking piece of Science Fiction. Miles better than Speilbergs over bloated War of the Worlds pish!

Anyway, i've got my fingers crossed it turns into a sleeper hit in the US and/or does much better in the international market to keep hopes of a sequel or rebirth of the TV show. I's be lying if i said i held out much hope. Still i look forward to seeing it again, either on DVD or possibly another time on the big screen.

Football tonight

Absolutely no sense of excitement about tonights fixtures, will presumably stick the Scotland game on the telly for a bit but it'll be more out of a sense of duty than relish for the battle. A game where neither team really has nothing much other than pride for play for. Still it's better to bow out with a roar than a whimper and if we can belatedly get a good result tonight i'll be delighted.

Then again if we do win tonight, i'll be thinking could we not have had a bit more of that on Saturday. No point fretting about it tonight, hoping for a good result so that come the the next qualification campaign it'll hopefully be on the back of some good results and we can kick on and do the job.

tuesday rant

Anyone in central Scotland will tell you the rain is fucking rediculous just now. Spent 2 hours playing football tonight, outside getting soaked! Was like a drowned rat at end of it, thankfully i had a towel and change of clothes so i could enjoy a shower at the end, bliss!

Scottish Football

With a population of around 5 million people can we ever hope to even qualify for the finals of major championships on a regular basis again? I along with many others are currently pondering this. France 98 was the last time we got to the finals of the World Cup and we've not qualified for the Euros or WC since. Especially disappointing as who knows when the next time the WC finals will be in europe again, a good while away.

Still hopefully by that time we might have a team capable of getting us there again. I think it's disingenuous to suggest we were as good in the past as many would have you believe. Lets face it it was a damn sight easier qualifying for the World Cup finals in the past, in Europe with the exceptions of the Faero Islands, San Marino and possibly Luxemburd there are no truly awful teams. Even the weaker ones have some decent players, Belarus who ended our dreams on saturday there have a player in Alexander Hleb we would kill for.

So right now we don't have many players that look even close to world class. We have some good players and on another day Kenny Miller buries one the good chances he had and we at least equalise and who knows go onto win. As it was at 1-0 down Belarus almost got a 2nd to kill the game. On balance of play i thought a draw was a fair result, but that wouldn't have been good enough anyway.

It was disappointing to see how cautious we were to start with, a 4-1-4-1 formation at home to Belarus? I know we don't want to risk losing an early goal, which we did anyway, but get a 2nd striker on up there, this is one game we were meant to be going out to win. Also i love to see ex Motherwell players do well but Lee McCulloch is still a big haddy, he's not good enough at international level and most likely never will be, good to see him and Wigan do well but we must have better players to play wide left than him? Davie Cooper would be birling in his grave.

Fingers crossed we have a few real promising youngsters set to emerge in the next few years to compliment likes of McFadden and Fletcher, i'm not used to seeing Scotland be brilliant but i'm fed up watching us being fucking whipping boys!

Quiet week

I've been neglecting my blog a bit lately.

Blogging is a great idea though, i've enjoyed writing about stuff and getting things off my chest but i think it's fair to say that my initial drive has waned a touch. I've not exhausted all that i have to say about the world, but i've certainly posted at least once on topics close to my heart.

So i'll be interested to see just how much i have to post from now on, i will hopefully take the time to post more quality than quantity. Indeed i think today/tomorrow i'll go over that email i composed on religion and post about that on my blog as it isn't somethign i've really mentioned and well relgion plays a big part in the world.

On a more personal note i enjoyed the football at the weekend despite Scotland getting pumped out of the World Cup. We didn't play that great but if we'd taken chances at the right time we might well have won. I still have question marks over Walter Smith as manager, 4-5-1 formation in the first half, a total nonsense and we were murder. Gave in to the latest fad and showed just how much he was bricking it, we had next to nothing to lose and as manger there has been as little pressure on him as he'll ever have, from now on he's going to be much more in the spotlight as we build for the next major championships.

Also going to see Mark Thomas and Rob Newman on thursday, had tickets so long now i'd better pin them to my computer screen as it's been so long coming it's not really 'there' in my mind yet that it's this week, i'll do well to remember.

tuesday moan

I want moan about the cinema again, not so much the experience but why the fuck when after there hardly being anything i want to go see for ages are there now 3 films i'd like to go see. For one thing the cinema isn't the cheapest thing in hte world now and you have to smuggle in your own sweets and drinks unless you want to forego them or spend a small fortune. Could they not just release films i want to watch in a more orderly fashion? Also because i am so unorganised i'll probably only see one of them in the end, who knows, maybe i'll go look online and book tickets all in the same day and make a day of it. I'd feel like a tube though, so maybe not.

As it happens the films i'd like to go see are Serenity, A History of Violence and Nightwatch. Serenity is the one i will definately go see as i loved the TV series Firefly. As much as i'm looking forward to the film i'd much rather it never existed in it's current form as i'd really prefer the TV series had been more succesful. But better this than nothing at all.

The other two films well it'll depend on how healthy my funds look while they are still in the theatre.

What i meant to write about yesterday

Again related to the Labour Party Conference and the 82 year old pensioner getting evicted, obviously many other people have their thoughts on this and it was a letter in the independent i found interesting.

This letter suggests that New Labour still have a way to go to match their American cousins in the Republican party. Mr Tom Wiseman from the state of Maryland had insight to give on how at George Bush meetings they were just that little bit more fussy about who they let near. For one Bush's meetings and rallies are invitation only. Good enough surely to weed out undesirables? Can't be to careful though, better sniff about the car park for and see if we can't spot anything. Whats this a bumper sticker, don't like the look of that particular bumper sticker, lets go kick out the couple whose car this is.

There is apparantly also a standard procedure for this sort of thing. A staffer or Secret Service member will have the local police arrest the person. Later a judge will free them as it's technically legal to show dissent within the USA and the Secret Service will deny all knowledge of it and it's all kept well away from Geaorge who doesn't have to worry about it.

Is this true, i don't really know, but it sounds quite plausible.

Finished that email

I'd like to copy the main part of it onto this blog, but unless i am being a complete doofus i've never been able to copy and paste onto this blog and frankly i don't think i have the patience just now to type it out again. Essentialy my point of view is that having a belief in god is no bad thing in itself, so long as you arn't using religion as a stick to beat people with and so long as you still ecourage people to think and to question. It's not for me though, i don't feel any divine presence urging me on and i'm fine with that, i'm quite happy. Sure i believe that when i die my existence will cease and well if it continues somehow i'll be pleasantly suprised. Well hopefully, if it's that fire and brimstone vengeful god i am so screwed!

A bit sidetracked today

I'm currently trying to put into words my thoughts on religion. I stumbled across a blog of someone with quite a strong religious faith. Now i'm quite anti relgion at the best of times and at times it can be rather virulent if it is something that really pisses me off, i.e the religious right wing in this country or generally more prominently in the US.

I am aware that a strong religious faith doesn't necessarily equal a love of George Bush, it just seems that the people with the seemingyl strongest faiths are the fantatics and extremists who wish to force their views and believes on the rest of us.

So the upshot of it is i said i'd try and explain my thoughts on religion and get into a bit of a discussion about the whole thing. Currently doing that, the mail is currently saved as draft as i am not finished, if there was a powercut or something and i hadn't saved it i'd scream! Once i've finished it i'll get it sent off and i'll probably post it on here, well the main thrust of it anyway.