Journal Entries
Good Weekend?
Posted Nov 30, 2003
It has been a pretty top class weekend for me, here's a rundown of why.
1) Saturday morning and afternoon:
Leeds won! We beat the Addicks 1-0, keeping our second clean sheet of the season, and our third win! Plus the Sheik Royal of Bahrain is getting his buddies together to set up a rescue bid to stop us going into administration and probably out of business! Hooray!
2) Saturday night:
Ryder's birthday party, beer, cigarettes, special cigarettes, live bands, more beer, Ryder getting pulled by the dibble for "running in a suspicious manner" and Alis for "public urination." I managed to ditch the section of roadworks I was in the process of stealing and so avoided any dodgyness.
3)Sunday Morning:
No hangover! For the first time in months I get legless, don't spew up at night and don't have a hangover! Hooray!
4)Sunday Night:
Find out the third "Last Chancers" novel is planned for release in March! Hoorah and Huzzah! Plus there's a new Sharpe novel in the works!
Ok, some of it isn't too exciting but this is the best weekend I've had in a while.
Keep on trukkin'
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Latest reply: Nov 30, 2003
It's about time!
Posted Nov 27, 2003
Got bored tonight so I cobbled together a Guide Entry which was planned, researched, written and put into PR within an hour, ladies and gentlemen I present "An Alternative Student Night Out in Manchester."
In other news, my UCAS form will be sent off tomorrow hopefully, and then I have to turn around my flagging grades (not helped by my spoof essay entitled "Hitler and the Invasion of Czechoslovakiamany" sequel to last year's "Martin Luther King, genius, plageriser, stud." both of which were a waste of exam practise).
I am seriously considering getting back into Wargaming as there have finally been rules made for Leutenant Kage of the Penal Legion from one of my favourite books, 13th Legion by Gav Thorpe. The prospect of hurling this psycho and the Last Chancers into AD's orderly Tau gunlines is mouth watering and the only thing holding me back is a lack of funds.
Oh, and Leeds are a week from administration and predictably I'm depressed.
Keep on Trukkin' (until that fragger Schaeffer is DEAD)
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Latest reply: Nov 27, 2003
Well, what to say....
Posted Nov 22, 2003
First up to the Rugby team, well done lads, well well done. Comiserations to the Ozzies, you played well but Boring Boring England and Jonny in particular were always gonna win through. It feels good to hear it, say it, write it and even think it.
ENGLAND ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS!
Secondly, good luck to Eddie Gray, he managed Leeds a few months before I was born, and now he's back in the driving seat. We play the Trotters today (fourth biggest match of the season for me after the scummers, Citeh and Chelski, due to the fact I have a few Bolton supporting mates) and we need to win to have a chance of staying up. Thing is without Smudge and Dom we need Dukes to bag a few and/or Bridges to finally show us that he's recovered from injury.
To the Scottish and Welsh (or Jocks and Taffys as they are usually referred to in our house). You talked the talk and you talked it big but face it, you ain't good teams. Scotland, not one of your players would get into the England team and I hope you all enjoyed '96 and '98 because you are never going to qualify again. You're too crap. Oh Wales, Giggsy is a class player but the other ten you put out? Why not just pick ten from the crowd? I'd comiserate with you because you hate us less than the Jocks do but Mark Hughes is a scumbag and I hope he fails miserably in his next job. The best part of it is YOU THOUGHT YOU'D BE IN PORTUGAL! Bwahahaha!
Oh, and well done Turkey.
I went to see the Stereophonics at the MEN on Wednesday, they were pretty good. Better than the last gig of theirs I went to but not as good as Travis (who I'm going to see again in March) or the 'sis.
Well, that was a disjointed ramble but hell, I've written worse.
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Latest reply: Nov 22, 2003
Icons
Posted Nov 17, 2003
Apparently David Beckham was the VH1 Icon. Humans have landed on the moon, eradicated kinds of disease, killed whole species of animals but our alpha male of the whole damn species is a (mediocre) footballer/paparazzi prey/fashion disaster?
Here's my top 4 Icons. Maybe they're different to yours, but I have reasons.
1: Sir Arthur Wellesley. The Peer, the Duke of Wellington, Nosey. Britain's greatest ever soldier. Never defeated he secured a European peace that lasted for 50 years (an amazing feat for pre-WW2 Europe). He defeated Napoleon's armies and Napoleon himself, then returned to become Prime Minister of England. A truly remarkable and amazing man.
2: Nelson Mandela. If I have to give reasons to you people, then you obviously should be reading the encyclopaedia parts of the Guide. A man of unbelievable courage of conviction.
3: The Beatles. In my opinion the greatest band of all time, mainly for inspiring my beloved Britpop. They all actually talent, which is now a rare occurance for a band who gets to number one and consists of four guys. Add onto this the principles of McCartney, Lennon and Harrisson, and the fact that as a kid I loved Starr's Thomas the Tank Engine and you have true musical Icons.
4: Sir Bobby Moore. The consumate proffessional footballer. He won the World Cup whilst suffering from cancer and even in the elation of winning his proffession's greatest prize had the forethought to wipe his hands clean of mud because the Queen was wearing white gloves. Surely an infinately better role model than the media-courting and petulant Beckham.
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Latest reply: Nov 17, 2003
May contain spoilers
Posted Nov 9, 2003
This being an entry in two parts, the first discussing abysmal football, sneaking into dockyards and police brutality and the second discussing the cinematographical piece of sputum known as "The Matrix: Revolutions."
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Portsmouth vs Leeds United ~ 8/11/03
Up at 6am, taxi at half past, train at 7am, first 
by Stockport station. The journey there consisted of sleeping, reading Q and discussing the finer points of staying in the Premiership. When at about 12 noon we reach Portsmouth Harbour I decide that instead of following my dad, brother and Gak to the pub, I'll try and get a look at HMS Victory, so by simply walking through the exit I managed to see Nelson's flagship and was impressed the same way all warships impress me, only more so.
Then we go to Fratton Park. The stadium is not anywhere near Premier League standard. In fact, even having been to Scunthorpe and Goodison Park, I can say Fratton is the worst ground I've ever been to. No roof, portabogs, etc. The football was crap. We had no defence and the 6-1 defeat was fully justified in the worst performance I've ever seen by any team ever.
So the game finishes and a thousand or so Leeds fans are locked in a stairwell. In the cold. For their own protection. Then we're herded through the streets by riot police. Most walk with thier heads down but a few try to plead with the police about the trains and a few drunken lads have a sing song. One riot facist smacks a woman who was talking to him in the face with a shield. For her own protection. I get a baton to the side for wandering too close to a stormtrooper. For my own protection. Then we're herded like animals into a patch outside the station and locked in to be placed on trains to London, where we'll be unable to get home and be forced to sleep on platforms. For our own protection. I'm a law student, I commit no crimes (apart from sneaking in to see HMS Victory) but because I went to see a football match I get treated like an animal, assaulted and had it not been for some quick phone calls and a switch at Southampton, would have spent the night on a platform at Waterloo with a grand total of 50p to my name. I can't actually find the words to express the outrage at our treatment and the disappointment that in a civilised country people can be treated as the lowest of the low for going to watch sport. I can safely say I will never go to Portsmouth ever again, and would like any people from Portsmouth reading this to know that I liked your town, I liked the few locals I talked to but your Police Force could be taken out and flogged for all I care, in fact I'd watch with a smile on my face because they truly are Facist pigs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Matrix: Reloaded with Dave and Joe - 7/11/03
CONTAINS SPOILERS. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM, TURN BACK NOW!
Not that knowing what happens would spoil the film, no, the lack of coherent plot did that. As usual I'll do this point by point.
1) Morpheus - Between the original and the sequels Morpheus's aims go from "free all humans" to "oh please stop the war" and this is never explained. Am I supposed to believe that this is natural character progression? Then again the focus shifts away from the humans to "the exile programs" for no good reason as well.
2) Zero-One and the Dock - Nobody's been within 100km since the war started. Yet it seems all the have to do is go OVER the defences. How stupid are these people?? Never mind The One, go over 0-1 and then drop an EMP onto it. The EMP is the ultimate weapon vs machines but the humans won't use it in the dock because it knackers the machine guns. Well if you have a weapon that destroys HUNDREDS of sentinels in one go, why do you need machine guns? It's STUPID!
3) Pointless plot points - Neo blinded. It adds nothing, oh, he can see the source, well we knew that in Reloaded, he could feel it! So in effect he is blinded but can see. And Smith seemed to be a side story until the end. And all they did was reload the matrix and start again! Why not just press Alt-Ctrl-Del? It achieves the same. All in all, especially including the ending the plot is confusing and badly thought out. It stank of writing yourself out of a corner.
Conclusion - Like being battered by a beautiful woman. You may be concentrating on the prettyness (CGI graphics, Fight scenes, the War) but when it's moved on, you realise you have a banging headache.
So the first trilogy of the millenium has finished. Badly. Lets hope that in the wake of Return of the King (a month to go!!!) and Episode III (erm, 2 years to go!!!) nobody need mention the Matrix sequels as they seem only to detract from the amazing first film.
Keep on trukkin'
Discuss this Journal entry [56]
Latest reply: Nov 9, 2003
Secretly Not Here Any More
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