h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's a long time since I last wrote a journal entry, mainly because my prediction that I'd be spending an awful lot of time on buses this year was entirely correct; although being able to live with relatives while at university has many advantages, when they live in Sunderland and the university is that of Durham one does end up finding that a lot of time is eaten up just in getting from A to B. Getting to far-flung lecture rooms in time for 9 o'clock lectures involves a pretty tight schedule; luckily there's only one of those a week. My social life, or what I have of one, has also taken something of a battering, although I still managed to attend most of the society meetings I wanted to last term. Luckily, I'm guaranteed a room in college again in the third year; I came up eighteenth in the room ballot, so I should be able to pick a decent room. So next year I should be able to manage my time better and have more of it to devote to the important things, like h2g2.

As things stand, I have finally got around to writing a Final Fantasy VI Entry (A3424736), along with the beginnings of one for Compilation of Final Fantasy VII (A3424448). I've deleted my Excel Saga Entry while I give it major surgery, having not looked at it for a while despite continuing to collect the manga. Hopefully it'll be back up soonish; given that I've agreed to have a go at writing up the proposed collaborative Entry on Asterix -- Otto Fisch reckoning he won't have time, and nobody else having volunteered -- I hope I'm not overstretching myself. But at least I don't have deadlines for this.

Additions to A3076571 have taken it past the 12,000 word mark.

The Half-Life 2 glass is half empty; I'm one of the people who enjoyed the game a lot but thought it really should have had more varied enemies. And Steam is evil. I've had far fewer technical problems with it than some people, but it's still caused me a lot of frustration. (Some of the defences I've seen on the Halflife2.net fora are particularly eyebrow-raising; 'It works fine on my PC' is about as helpful as 'Well, I'm not having problems with _my_ marriage.' There have been quite a few people saying what a 'great concept' Steam is -- again, missing the point, viz. that the execution is dreadful, both technically and in what one is forced to endure for the privilege of not playing a pirated version of a game.) Still, I'm looking forward to seeing what the HL2 modders can come up with; I'm particularly intrigued by this: http://returntomana.mods.de/eng/index2.htm . Although my only exposure to Seiken Densetsu thus far has been the original (a.k.a. Final Fantasy Adventure) on the Game Boy -- not an ideal start, especially given that I came to the game having already completed Zelda: Link's Awakening.

Meanwhile, the recently released Advent Children trailer is brilliant, and Paranoia Agent, one of the series shown at Anime Soc. this term, has given me lots to get my philosophical teeth into. (Satoshi Kon is an expert at playing with viewers' perceptions.) And, having helped to dissect that on the society fora, I've now agreed to subject Serial Experiments Lain to the white heat of my philosophical analysis in a bid to produce a vaguely meaningful interpretation; so I'd better get on and watch the final disc.


I am rather troubled by what I read in Private Eye concerning another DNA site: 'Get Writing has been popular with potential writers of all ages and, perversely, this is probably why it is doomed.

'A letter to the BBC begging the corporation to reconsider brought a reply from the interactive drama and entertainment department that "unfortunately, Get Writing no longer fits with Learning's strategy or ID&E's increased focus, with limited resources, on the under 25 audience. Therefore the project will come to an end, on or before 31 March 2005."

'It seems the BBC is under the impression that no one over 25 uses the internet or wants to learn about writing or indeed anything for that matter.'

All of which has me wondering whether h2g2 meets the BBC criteria for appealing only to under-25s, as opposed to appealing to people both under and over 25. Its appeal seems to be alarmingly broad... and _I'm_ only five years off 25 (but still too young to adopt children or sit in parliament). I'm too young to be made to feel I'm getting aged.

Social life? What's one of those then?

On a serious note - if you don't mind talking about Uni arrangements - what's this room ballot? Do you have any idea if it's standard throughout all unis? And - is Durham a decent place to be looking at considering?

As for H2G2 articles, I'm willing to help with the Asterix entry when and if you need aid, being a fan of the series. People who complain about all the stories being similar just don't seem to get the point...

I don't play PC games, but some of my friends are mad about HL2. I shall probably react in the same way when TimeSplitters 3 is released.

What exactly are you saying about this Mana game and Link's Awakening? I enjoyed the latter, but have no idea how it ties into the former series. I've also played Sword of Mana on GBAdvance, but wasn't overly impressed.

As for the stuff about Get Writing...well, that's beaucracy for you (ironically enough, the current system is making many young people feel old before their time because they're all so cynical about it - not to say that older paople aren't cynical about it, of course.)

A 'social life' is what you might have a chance of having if I hadn't posted a new raft of links to the PR thread for the FF Entry. (I really suggest you declare it finished bafore anything else ocurs to me...) Then again, who needs one?

The room ballot exists in John's because some third years can have a room in college, but there isn't room for all; the college does offer accommodation to everyone, but for a lot of people in the third year (and 4th if applicable, and postgrad), and virtually everyone in the second, this means living in a college-owned flat or house. (Or you can opt out and find your own accommodation -- with relatives, in my case.)

I think it's pretty standard for unis to offer everyone rooms in hall during the first year; after that it depends on the institution, and in a lot of cases it'll be expected that people will rent accommodation from the 2nd year onwards. So in that case there's no need for a room ballot. But arrangements vary from place to place -- in a collegiate uni from college to college -- so you need to check arrangements for each place individually, I'm afraid.


Regarding Durham... Please bear in mind here that (a) I've been a student at no other uni, and (b) in a collegiate uni college loyalties can run deep.

With that in mind: the (accurate) Freshers' Week stereotype goes that there are three questions you'll be asked repeatedly: What's your name, where are you from, what are you studying? At Durham we have a fourth: which one rejected you? (Christ's College Cambridge, in case you were wondering.) Although after a short while we cease to talk about the 'Oxbridge complex' much... Actually there are lots of us who never applied to either one, and personally I now suspect I'm better off without any more academic pressure, but anyway -- that's the first thing you have to be aware of to get an idea of what Durham's like. The university has one of the best teaching reputations, but not enough research clout to get into the Russell Group. Luckily there are some very good teaching staff here -- although obviously I can only comment on the departments I've taken modules in, which are all Arts and Humanities ones.

Now factor in the colleges. I am fond of the collegiate system; it's good to have staff and a JCR that aren't remote in the way the University Offices are. And it's a lot less offputting (from my point of view) than a single mass of people, although it can be an incestuous gossip mill if one isn't careful. What they don't mention in the prospectus is that Everybody Hates Hatfield College. (Except Hatfielders, mostly.) It's the mostly harmless sort of tradtional hatred, like patriotic Anglo-French enmity. This is the number one thing to realise when wondering whether any of the colleges looks appealing. The second thing is that St. Mary's College will, after long being a women-only college, start accepting male students from next year; how this will affect it's legendary reputation as 'the whorehouse on the hill' remains to be seen, and frankly I advise thinking twice about applying there. The third thing is that most of the colleges are run by the university Council, but Chad's and John's have more independence, despite the university's ongoing efforts to remove it. And it's my opinion (as a Johnian) that being that bit less in Old Shire Hall's power is a good thing.

As for teaching -- the modular system is nice in that it lets one add a little variety to a degree course. It produces hellish queues every year, even when there isn't a new computer system, but I'm told nightmarish queueing happens at all unis. But things can get a touch chaotic, and the required information isn't always easy to come by. Largely that's a departmental thing -- the colleges aren't involved with teaching -- so again, I can comment only on certain departments.

Durham itself is a decent place to live, especially for those who aren't going to complain about a lack of 'nightlife' -- although some areas are none too pleasant after dark. (But isn't that the same in any city?) People living out of college (and not in Sunderland) do sometimes experience 'town and gown' tensions though; the locals aren't noted for a love of students. (Not that I can bring to mind anywhere with the opposite reputation.) Limited shopping, but Newcastle's a short train journey away (£6.30 for a day return last year, if I recall correctly). Do be aware that there's a chronic shortage of bedsits, etc., so when it comes to out-of-college accommodation you really need to have found people you're prepared to share with (unless you have relatives nearby).

Hopefully that at least gives you some useful info. The short answer to your question would be 'yes, probably', but since I don't even know what degree course you're lookinh at I thought I'd better provde something less vague.


The CWW thread for Asterix is at F57152?thread=436213. I'm hoping I'll have time to put something together before the beginning of term, but depending on how much Philosophy work I end up doing it could end up on the backburner for rather longer.


I was making a general statement about the comparative quality of SD/FFA and Link's Awakening, viz. that the latter is a lot better. FFA is mildly diverting (and has some nice music), but it's really not terribly good -- whereas Secret of Mana, like Link's Awakening, is regarded as one of the great classics. Hence FFA isn't a terribly encouraging introduction to a series that's said to have some classic installments. They're both action RPGs, but FFA has full-on RPG stats, whereas Zelda has always been more of an adventure game.


I have a hypothesis that if the BBC, DfES and Old Shire Hall bureaucrats ever met all at once, there might be some sort of explosion. But it might wipe out several square miles of surrounding countryside.