05 Feb 2010
Posted in Life, Self-indulgence at 4:28 pm by alby
Two things occurred today.
Firstly I did an on-line “Are You Autistic?” quiz. Apparently scoring 32 or higher is very common in those we see as autistic. I scored a worryingly close 28.
And secondly, after lots of hassle with crap internet support from my ISP I changed it today. The lady on the phone was very nice and had a lovely Welsh accent and things went smoothly and I’ve now switched providers for both phone and broadband. Got my confirmation email and it was addressed to a “Mr Williams”. I thought this was a little odd. For 2 reasons – 1 I hadn’t used that name at any point in the conversation and nor had she, and 2 the dDebit details were for my account and with the correct name and my email address has my correct name before the @.
Weird.
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01 Feb 2010
Posted in News, Rants at 1:59 pm by alby
Seems this anti-homeopathy protest (10:23) has confused an awfy lot of folk.
Naysayers re hom are saying it doesn’t work.
Yaysayers are saying an variety of things. Namely:
- “Ah but yes it does. My cat had severe cirrhosis of the liver and they were going to amputate its face but then a homeopath gave it some pills and it’s been fine since. That was 15 years ago.”
- “But I had herbal medicine once and got better”. What this has to do with homeopathy is anyone’s guess.
- “The evil bad pharma people want you to think that it doesn’t work. It’s because they don’t control it and can’t charge you vast amounts for it.” Quite why these loons think that “big pharma” can’t extort a fiver for a small bottle of water is anyone’s guess. I thought it was only charlatans and frauds that repackage water as something it’s not.
- “Some other random treatment I tried worked therefore homeopathy is correct.
This last one was shown on the Beeb today with this marvellous burst of ignorance:
Laughingly this stunt to me actually proves the benefits of homeopathy. Surely the fact you can’t overdose is a positive. Taken with a common sense approach homeopathy can be used to compliment modern medicine. This polemic argument does no one any good. If I have an infection I take antibiotics, but correct exercise and diet has done more to control my back pain than pain killers.
“the fact that you can’t overdose is a positive”? Really. In that case lets all start using air as a remedy. Oh they’ve probably done that already. Has this guy never heard of drowning? That’s a clear overdose of homeopathic “medicine”.
The killer bit is the last phrase of the letter.
“correct exercise and diet has done more to control my back pain than pain killers.”
Maybe that’s because exercising is by far the best treatment for general back pain. Analgesia just kills the pain for a bit, if you don’t deal with the underlying fitness issues then the pain won’t go away long term. The good diet bit has probably allowed you to lose a bit of weight which will stress your back less. And being healthy generally will help with aches and pains.
This literally isn’t rocket science. It’s also nothing to do with homeopathy.
I mean really.
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27 Jan 2010
Posted in News at 8:42 pm by alby
Computer company brings out computer.
Is this really that exciting?
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13 Jan 2010
Posted in Reviews at 9:57 pm by alby
The Grauniad have just put up a wotsit about their critics’ favourite drama shows ever.
Not sure I agree with certain aspects but that’s the nature of lists.
I should point out that I haven’t seen a lot of them including many that are considered “vital” by those who know about such. Eg The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men (I tried but hated it), 24, West Wing, Hill Street Blues, and more.
But there are some very strange oddities in there.
Let’s start at the bottom.
Number 50 – Grange Hill? An unusual start but it seems to make sense if you think about it. Gripper and Tucker are characters that many of my age fondly remember.
Number 48 – Eastenders. Hmm well close to Grange Hill as loads of the actors from one ended up in the other. No idea what Stenders is like as I’m not sure I’ve ever seen more than the occasional badly timed channel surf glimpse of it.
Up to no 40 for The Twiglet Zone. Now we’re talking. I assume they mean the original series complete with Shatner wigging out on a plane and the freakiest one ever where the man woke up and all the nouns had changed. Top stuff – well done Rod Serling.
Number 38 – Brookside? How bizarre. Perhaps the Graun’s critics like the odd bit of Anna Friel lezzing up.
Number 34 – The Prisoner. It isn’t number 34 it’s a free series. Proper good stuff this. No editorial needed.
Ah but then they go and ruin it with number 31 – This Life. Really? Wannabe lawyers shagging? Really? Very poor.
Half way up the list now with Battlestar Galactica at 25. I really REALLY hope they mean the 80’s original (starring Face from off from The A Team and Lorne Greene – other brands of garden fertilizer are available) rather than the remake.
To 22 with Buffy tVS. Top stuff and I have to admit I was cynical before being more or less forced to watch it. Annoyed by sniffy types who don’t get the subtleties of this show and refuse to see the humour. Beyond that there are certain episodes that rank as some of the best telly ever. Hush won awards – and not many shows would have something approaching 40 minutes of no dialogue (partic in a series noted for its dialogue). Personal fave episode is called “Passion”, doesn’t seem to get mentioned a lot but it’s the nearest a telly show has come to a good horror fillum (except maybe Ghostwatch). And I reckon “Once More With Feeling” (the musical episode) was inspired and it worked. Yes that’s me, endorsing a musical. “The dead rising from the grave. Human sacrifice. Dogs and cats living together…”etc.
Twin Peaks at 12. Another good idea but too many episodes not directed by Lynch and killed off by dim mercans when they found out who killed LP (no not that one), as if that was ever the point of the show.
And that’s it for dramas. Haven’t seen any from any higher up the list than that.
But there’s more weirdness. At number 16 there’s “How Do You Want Me?” starring Dylan Moran and Charlotte Coleman. Excellent dark comedy series. I started watching this again on DVD and it’s awfully uncomfortable at times. Not quite sure it counts as drama tho.
And at number 5 the very little known “A Very Peculiar Practice” starring Doctor Who and that bloke from “Waiting for God” (sadly missed). I adored this show and they only ever released series 1 on DVD. Annoying as I wanted to see the episode from series 2 where the band Loop (I think) played hellish noisy noise stuff pretty much throughout [edit: Just remembered it wasn't "Loop", it was a band called "Slab!"]. Bring it out BBC!
And that leads us to what isn’t in the list.
For a start House isn’t in there. I can sort of understand this as every episode of House is effectively the same as every other. But the writing’s good and Hugh is bloody brilliant in it.
And if you’re going to have “A Very Peculiar Practice” in there then where are the 3 Beiderbecke series? (Starring James Bolam, the lovely Barbara Flynn – also in AVPP and lots of ace trad jazz) A major omission in my book.
Ah well as I said, lists do this I suppose.
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Posted in Music at 8:30 pm by alby
D sent me a text today from out of the blue. It made me awfy happy indeed.
It seems that one of the bands that I grew up with is re-forming.
Not any old band no but probably the band that influenced my tastes more than any other (thanks to my brother).
Yup SWANS are coming back. I somehow doubt they’ll be returning to the likes of classic pieces such as this but I’m still going to be looking out for albums and concerts.
Made my day!
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Posted in Life at 11:36 am by alby
I’d assume most people who read this would already know this but I thought I’d make it known again.
I’m on the NHS Organ Donor registry and should the occasion occur that my organs can be used for someone else’s benefit (AND when I can’t benefit from them) then I would be most annoyed if they were simply thrown away. Seems such a waste. Get ‘em used!
If you’ve always thought about joining the donor register then you can do it online here.
I recommend it to all and sundry (except those with manky organs obviously).
Have fun.
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05 Jan 2010
Posted in News, Rants at 5:10 pm by alby
Head teacher to bullied child’s parent: “Well I’m afraid your son deserved it. He’s ginger you see.”
Grr. The idiocy of it.
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01 Jan 2010
Posted in Life at 12:40 pm by alby
How odd!
PowerDVD Ultra from the manufacturer via download = £77 with their special discount for new year.
PowerDVD Ultra from Amazon on CD ROM including postage = £48.
Thought I’d try to be green by buying it as a download but stuff that. Amazon wins.
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30 Dec 2009
Posted in Life, People at 4:04 pm by alby
For the first time in years Christmas was not spent at home with mates coming round in the evening. Rather I was invited with R to her sister’s place for food and company.
A fine time was had. Met one of the remaining 2 sisters I’d not met before who turned out to be perfectly pleasent and chatty.
Photos were taken too and can be found here.
The last few were of a walk in Belper where we found the most disturbing nativity scene I’ve ever clapped eyes on.
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