Mat Bowles

One of the things that always bugs me online is different peoples reactions to plot 'spoilers' for media things—unpredictable and at times downright weird, as Nick Mamatas demonstrated last month. Now me, I tend to seek them out for shows I like—before the internet I had a subscription to SFX partially for the spoiler zone section, I loved reading about shows way in advance and knowing what would happen. But then I tend to rewatch stuff I like a lot anyway. So, inspired by this old poll at nmg's, I thought I'd update it a bit.

Warning though, below the fold are some minor spoilers for recent films such as Iron Man, Harry Potter 5 and Spiderman, and also endings/character reveals for Hamlet, Sixth Sense, Citizen Kane, the Star Wars trilogy, Soylent Green and Fight Club. Nothing is revealed that isn't on this classic t-shirt but if you really are that averse, just scroll to the last question...

[Poll #1199471]

Obviously some things, like the end of a genuine mystery, are worth hiding if that's how it's written—knowing who did it never seemed to hurt my enjoyment of Columbo though, and a chunk of my reading is always history books where, y'know, I normally know the ending. It's not what happens that matters to me, it's how—I'm there for the ride, not the big splash at the bottom. You?

It has come to my attention that a correction must be made to previous comments made about the above named film starring Simon Pegg and others. Comments made in the past such as I thought it was arse. All the good bits are in the trailers, Do not go to see Hot Fuzz and funny at times but not funny enough to make up for The Stupid, nor for the awful plot may have given the impression that this movie was a waste of celluloid unworthy of consideration. In fact, the only comments made that, on reflection, appears to be true, was some great set peice sequences and damn fine acting and a drunken night in front of the DVD might be worth it because that's what we did last night, and I loved it, laughed all the way through it. The first-person-shooter pastiche, the cop/buddy movie pisstakes and the overall quality of the cast really did make for a nice end to a great day.

So I must apologise to those of you who listened to my opinion and avoided the film—have a few drinks, and rent it to watch in good company. It's great fun. I must've been hungover or something.

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Jennie and I got a free trial of LoveFilm through one of my agencies awhileback and are still using it, rather good service, happy to recommend it. You can register for a free trial with this link (I hope) and if you like it enough to sign up we get some free credit, which can't be bad, right?

Went to Leeds today, Jennie's off for a hen night in York this evening so split the journey up. Plan had been to have lunch in the excellent Scarbrough Hotel opposite the station, but it was packed full of Leeds fans and all the seating was taken by a hen party, so we went on into town and ended up lucking out with seating at Whitelocks. Considering that it's the oldest pub in Leeds, it's damn impressive. Went there before^[2] but not actually had a meal. Um, yeah. Menu made it look a bit pricy. Really, it's not. It's really not. I ordered veggie bangers and mash with a side of onion rings. Plate full. And really really good. Jennie had roast chicken. She got a roast chicken. Seriously. It even looked good to me, and I don't eat meat. If you're in Leeds and looking for good food or good beer, either is worth a try, and Whitelocks is just cool anyway.

We wandered a bit after that, I wanted to get hold of a book. Smiths didn't have it, but they did have a nice pile of DVDs on offer and, well, we couldn't resist, so more classic Who^[1] and a few other things, including a boxed set of wooden board games^[3]. Waterstone's didn't have it either, but they did have an import of Android's Dream so that's ok. We decided that out of Borders and Waterstone's, Waterstone's wins, could've spent all day there, easily. Instead we just spent money we don't really have. Ah well, books are never bad.

So, given she's off galivanting in York and I'm not in the mood to go back out, it's me, the dogs, a wide screen TV and a glass (or three) of whisky. After a nice long bath that is. What should I watch first then?

[Poll #1162622]

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[1] And some 5th Doctor stuff, does that count as "classic"?
[2] our first proper 'date' as it happens
[3] Does anyone actually play backgammon properly? Never actually tried it.

makinglight has this years list of nominees, and there are some interesting choices (remember, nominations are a ballot of members).( Some of the nominees, some observatios, Battlestar Galactica & Doctor Who are in, etc... )

Oh yeah, Jim Baen for best editor, naturally. While a lot of his books were pulp, they were great pulp, and his approach to e-books and the Baen free library were spot on, hope the industry catches up soon.  I have no Hugo vote, and there's no way I can get to WordCon in Tokyo, but always interesting to follow.

Part xvii, comment notifications that make me smile. Where? here:

This suggestion has been submitted to a team of staff members for implementation consideration.

From coffeechica on my comment editing suggestion.

Red Dwarf series iii. Backwards & Bodyswap, two of my more favoured episodes, with Bodyswap having one of the best sample quotes to hit the charts ever (Carter USM sampled Rimmer's fat bastard speech).

Buffy VTS special Faith DVD. Because, y'know, Faith. Buffy still a whiny preaching moraliser, but Faith = cool.

Books. Specifically, have now also finished Bester's The Stars My Destination, which I'd never read before. Gaiman's right (the Gollancz classics edition has an intro from him), it's prot-cyberpunk and then some, complete with magic mcguffin. Definately deserves the description one of the great SF novels, and although it's got some elements that are incredibly dated (I just don't see jaunting leading to the repressive society with women effectively locked away as described), overall as a future dystopia novel it's not bad.

That puts me on 5 books read so far this year. Considering last year I could find about 20 total, maybe I'm back to my old ways?

I also bought a copy of John Rawls' Political Liberalism. I've read (and studied) A theory of Justice, but not the follow up work. Given I've read the great 17th, 18th and 19th Great Liberal Thinkers, I really ought to finish of Rawls, right? And then I'll add back a little Nozick just to make sure I'm not going nuts...

Sleep pattern completely shot so I'm doing my annual (ish) all-nighter, watching Torchwood again. Done that so re-watching the Capt. Jack Dr Who episodes. Hadn't tied it in but the Torchwood lift comes out exactly where they parked the TARDIS. Cool. Combine that with Jack's most treasured possetion being Tennant's hand from Xmas Invasion and you have some very subtle crossovers. I approve.

There's a meme going around. People ask you to comment and they promise to say something about you. I can't see the point of fishing for compliments, nor does gratuitous niceness appeal. I was thinking of doing a gratuitous insult post, or a random promise for off topic comments, but, well, I can't be arsed. So you'll have to make do with a "Mat says disdainful things about the most recent meme" post instead. Feel free to comment and tell me I'm wrong though, I even have an icon for the very purpose.

Meh. V for Vendetta is a cool movie. At some point, I really ought to get around to reading the damn comic (it's not a graphic novel FFS, it's a trade paperback collection of a previously published comic series, gah!), especially given that I like the writers other stuff, but, well, meh. I suspect the movie is nothing like the comic, but then, if it was written as an allegory for Thatcher's Britain, you'd have to change it. And a blatent satire on Blair's britain is much more relevent. I'm trying to make an icon using the V. Have I mentioned I suck at design stuff? I think I have.

Meh, I'm off to bed. What, me going to bed at midnight not 2am? Yup. I've got autopope's first novel open on the bed, it's quite good so far, I'm on page 4. But before I log off, I just heard mp_bradshaw_exe on the radio. Not only is he a hypocritical git who's broken the recycling laws he's responsible for enforcing, he's also minister for chewing gum. And to think I once voted for the smug git...

Oh my, I think I've found something I actually want for Xmas:

Each volume also contains memos written by JMS during production on Babylon 5. These never-seen-before memos cover every aspect involved in creating the Babylon 5 universe, from casting to sets, prosthetics, wardrobe, photography, the science behind the creative decisions and the history of the various races and species. These previously-classified memos provide a fascinating perspective on the show as it was being created

For those not aware of my ongoing tradition, Christmas remains cancelled unless you're giving me chocolate or money, and I neither want nor will give any cards out, cos, well, I just don't like them.

Oh yeah, insomnia still sucks.

OK, I'm in the office, unable to actually do any work as the phone is non-stop "you promised me you'd get back to me"-yes, I said I would by the end of the week, I can't get work done if oyu ring me every 5 minutes asking why I haven't done it.

People. Deosn't help that next week is a quiet week in the school, more leaving than arriving; it goes up againt he following week but, well, that doesn't help me.

Anyway, postman rang while I was shaving, my most recent DVDs have arrived.

So, if I finally get home, opinions.

Deadwood (starring Ian McShane and others, never watched an episode but it sounded good so I bought the series)

or

Star Cops (classic BBC cops in space, from the early 80s, I can remember being addicted as a kid but decided to buy it for nostalgias sake (should the be an apostrophe befor the 's' in nostalgias)).

Your opinions are sought...

Well, another wasted weekend, unless you count serious relaxing and getting head back together as time well spent. It's mid June, so I've had one month of hell at work with another two to go. It's actually going OK, the bosses are listening to me (quote from MD; "what we've found from this meeting is that, essentially, the only numbers we can rely on are Mat's") and the staff are doing great.

Minor cogs; no matter how far ahead we are from previous years, no one believes me except my sister, whose specific job requires her to pressure me to work harder anyway. Ah well.

Went to see Sin City with colleagues Wednesday; I thought it was cool, but I'm in the minority, most weren't the type to even look at comics so the style was lost on them, and many had never seen Pulp Fiction, one was unable to sit through Reservoir Dogs (why she went to see Sin City if she couldn't watch Dogs is beyond me, but, well, People). If you like Tarantino-like stylised violence, comic book humour and messed up morality, go watch it. If the idea of watching people hit people disturbs you, then, well, don't. Really.

Oh, and yes, Jessica Alba was incredibly sexy throughout.

So, to subject. I cooked breakfast, and came online to eat; the idea was to drive to Exeter afterwards. Well, 4 hours later, I'm still sat at my desk trawling through webcomics (http://www.vgcats.com/archive/ and http://gucomics.com/ ) that I hadn't seen before. Not 100% compos mentis though; I just picked up my coffee mug, which was next to the glass of orange juice I've been refilling. The coffee looks a little funny as I go to drink it.

It's half coffee and half orange juice; I must've poured some into the wrong receptacle while looking at the screen. Y'know what?

It tastes damn nice. I've always liked Muddy Puddles when I'm driving in pubs (pint, 50/50 orange juice and coke), so perhaps it shouldn't surprise me too much. Then again, my lack of sense of smell means my taste buds do strange things at time.

Meh; I need to get to Exeter this week sometime, and hopefully I can confirm to silentgreeneyes that I can drive the minibu for her, but that means taking Friday afternoon off work, which will be hard to justify, so I may need to put a lot of hours in the rest of the week. Not a good time of year to need me to do stuff.