Unexpected holiday!

Amazing random fact for the day: Did you know that on 31st January 1606, Guy Fawkes and several of his naughty, naughty mates were hanged, drawn and quartered for trying to pull the Gunpowder Plot? Apparently he tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London village. Good for him, I say. Is this a good time to admit that I have officially given up smoking for an entire month now? How fab am I?

So I’ve finished work for the day, and found myself on my holiday already. Yup – ten days off. That’s plural. More than one. Consecutive. Sequential. Altogether. In one go. At once.

I’m having trouble taking it in. I mean, I didn’t have it planned, it just kinda happened, and the last time I had time off was… er… hang on…

Anyway, at least I can finally do all that stuff I’ve been meaning to but never had time for. Hairdresser’s, getting me new bed in (Tuesday) and totally re-arranging me bedroom, nails, cinema (x 4), iMac, clothes shopping, gym-finding, reading/employing the shooters recipe book I got from Granny W, finishing the book of H. G. Wells short stories I got from Bestest Mate, watching those missing five episodes of season two of ‘Super-bloody-natural’, whiling away a few hours with some series three ‘Doctor bloody Who’, catching up on series two of ‘Torchwood’, producing more Wallpapers of the Week (and some Winchester Wallpapers too), maybe finishing that third ‘Super-bloody-natural’ fan-fic, and shitloads of other stuff I can’t remember right now.

It’s also Chinese New Year next week (Thursday 7th – Year of the Rat), so I’m even off beforehand to get drinks in and stock up on Purple Nurple ingredients. How fab is that?

Tomorrow I shall mostly be sleeping. And making a start on this hyowj backlog of shite I obviously have to get through. I think ten days is not going to be enough – I’ll have to take an extra week at this rate.

Tell you what though – I’m now officially on holiday. It’s going to be ace, it’s going to be a relief, it’s going to be bloody marvellous. And it is going to be… fantastic.

Peach and lube everyone. Lots and lots of lube.

Tags:
HK ~ holiday ~ CNY

New Shoes

Woke up cold one Tuesday
I’m looking tired and feeling quite sick
I felt like there was something missing in my day-to-day life
So I quickly opened the wardrobe
Pulled out some jeans and a T-shirt that seemed clean
Topped it off with a pair of old shoes
That were ripped around the seams
And I thought these shoes just don’t suit me.

Hey, I put some new shoes on
And suddenly everything is right
I said, hey, I put some new shoes on and everybody’s smiling
It’s so inviting.
Oh, short on money but long on time
Slowly strolling in the sweet sunshine
And I’m running late
And I don’t need an excuse
Cos I’m wearing my brand new shoes.

Woke up late one Thursday
And I’m seeing stars as I’m rubbing my eyes
And I felt like there were two days missing
As I focused all the time.
And I made my way to the kitchen
But I had to stop from the shock of what I found
A room full of all my friends dancing round and round.
And I thought hello new shoes – bye bye blues.

Take me wondering through these streets
Where bright lights and angels meet
Stone to stone they take me on
I’m walking to the break of dawn.

Also for you lucky, lucky people, I have uploaded my second ‘Super-bloody-natural’ fanfic. Called simply ‘T.M.I.’, it’s available to read here. Apparently it’s quite funny, too. Sorry. As with all my ‘Doctor bloody Who’ fanfiction, I don’t do angst. Bores me.

P.S., American Idol’s farmer-boy Drew, who gets my vote.

Peach and lube everyone ~~

Tags:
Converse ~ Paulo Nutini ~ American Idol ~ Drew ~ Supernatural ~ Sean ~ fanfiction

Upcoming films and stuff

One date, two movies. It’s decision time. Do we go for Stephen Chow’s latest big-budget laughfest, or Johnny Depp? Let’s back up here:

Starting with Stephen Chow then. I’ve very, very fond memories of nearly dying of asphyxiation trying to watch ‘King of Comedy’, and was almost sick cos I were laffing too hard to simply cry when attempting to watch ‘From Beijing With Love’. Then when ‘Shaolin Soccer’ came out, I nearly died all over again (Eggs! Eggs! Dance routines!). Suffice to say, he is the funniest man ont planet and I’ll be buggered if I’m going to miss out on his newest offering – even if I did think ‘Kung Fu Hustle’ was a little lacking. Anyway, I’m well up for this new one, 'CJ7' (A.K.A Cheung Gong 7, or Long River 7, a piss-take of the name of the Chinese space rocket) and it feels like I’ll be there 31st January when it comes out (yes, films change on a Thursday night over here).

But.

On the other hand, we have Johnny Depp hamming it up as only he knows how, daft Mockney accent an’ all, in the Sweeny Todd film. And that also opens 31st January. Hmm. Now, far be it from me to pass up a film of Johnnyness in its shiny shiny fun, but I think it’s going to be Stephen Chow first, Johnny next. Don’t get me wrong – Tim Burton + Johnny Depp = fantastic enjoyment on every available level. However, I’m just more in a rush to see Stephen Chow than their efforts right now.

I think I’ve answered me own question then.

Soopytwist.

Tags:
Hong Kong ~ asian cinema ~ Stephen Chow ~ CJ7 ~ Tim Burton ~ Johnny Depp ~ Sweeny Todd

That was a big ol’ gob of spit!

[Apologies for the ‘Super-bloody-natural’ Sam Winchester season two gag reel joke int title, but it just kinda summed up how I were feeling when I were much too over-excited to speak earlier.]

This post is a big hyowj massive fuck-off “ah-haaaaaaaaaaa!” vindicated-Bill Murray-in-‘Scrooged’ in so many ways.

First off, and let’s be honest, it’s the writer VS. Hollywood thing. Obviously I’m wi the writers on this one. I’m vain enough to think that in a few years’ time I might be publishing fiction novels under a pseudonym, so obviously I’m thinking all writers, whatever career path or however they sell their shite, should be looked after, paid for their efforts, given due royalties and basically treated like the saviours of the entertainment world that they are. ‘Nuff said. So it’s no surprise that I laffed me arse off (and completely agreed with) Jack Black and his Tenacious D act at the Writer’s Guild of America rally thing, which you can take a squiz at over here. And if you missed all the hoo-ha and wonder what in fucking hell everyone is so upset about, take a look at this. It’ll set you right. Reason To Squee No. 1: Hollywood brass brought to their knees and Golden Globes ceremony cancelled? Fucking ace! That’s telling them!

Reason To Squee No. 2: A personal victory, long time int making, very very infinitesimal time int bringing about – far be it fer me to expound on personal shite as shouldn’t be included in an obviously so not impersonal blog, but I have to show you my victory dance. It goes at follows:
Wait, wait. Back up. Stand up from yer keyboard / mouse arrangement. Right. Move the monitor so you can see it from where you are now. There we go. Right, now imagine me doing the old circular Running Man routine, coupled by a big “huh!” Johnny Bravo stylee to finish it off. Nice, dontcha thing? Kinda like that Cyberman in the series two ‘Doctor bloody Who’ boxed set DVD outtakes. You know, the one int park. Yeah, like that. Anyway, why am I so made-up? I can’t say. But suffice to say, it’s fucking ace and I’m still dancing round me bedroom right now.

Reason To Squee No. 3: Add to this, the fact that a rather young but ‘Doctor bloody Who’ mad student at work (who may or – ahem – may not have been influenced by me) told me, very amazingly Doctor Ten stylee, that if you put too many magnets on yer fridge right where the side doings are, it fucks up the workings. Yep. Five years old and already concerned with how a great big box fits inside a smaller one (cue lots of ‘see this small block, and now you hold this big one and I’ll show you how it works’ discussions), he lays on me the most influential and helpful piece of info since I stopped int Mac shop determined not to buy one. Yeah, he’s right. Purr wee Frankie (our fridge) has not been a happy bunny for a while now, and we were contemplating getting an engineer in to see if he had to be taken away to the big fridge shit heap in the sky. Yeah, it were that bad. Then wee Student tells me this big secret and we shift all the bastard magnets as have been cluttering purr wee Frankie’s sides.

You know what’s coming next, right? Yeah. Purr wee Frankie the Fridge wi a defrost-cyle problem reverts to Frankie the Super-Fridge, and all’s right wi the defrosting / chilling cycle world. Bloody marvellous, as you might agree. Hundreds of dollars of engineers, call-outs, replacements and several nerve-endings of stress have been avoided. Bless you students, for you are the future.

Reason To Squee No. 4: Then I got tired of arsing around wi Mavis (me mobile phone) and decided to retrofit my Mac Mini (a first-generation 1.25 Ghz PPC G4) wi Bluetooth. No, stop it, hold on – don’t ask why I didn’t just get Bluetooth on it when I bought it – it’s a fucking long story. Anyway, did a little research and apparently a wee D-Link DBT-120 version B2 or later dongle would do the trick. Went to the Wan Chai computer centre (the one by the 24-hour McDonald’s, near the Southorn Playground) and found an equivalent – an Omiz Bluetooth V2.0 + EDR adaptor (dongle). Fucking ace – if yer on Mac, ignore the hyowj fuck-off installation CD and assorted shite as int package. Just plug it into yer Mac’s USB port (or yer USB hub – that’s mine, int shape of a TARDIS ~ how fab is that!), give it a second and then go to ‘Finder’ int top toolbar. Slide down to ‘Services’ then ‘Send file to Bluetooth device’, and yer away. You have to validate the device it finds the first time you use it o course. After that it were ‘hello, new ringtone!’ (The Steve Carlson Band’s ‘Wasted Jamie’, featuring the delicious Jensen Ackles and his particular talent for backing vocals) and ‘hello new wallpaper!’ (one of my most recent Winchester Wallpapers – the one featuring both Dean Winchester and the Impala – double phwoooooaaarr!).

Then Reason To Squee No. 5: Long-lost mate arrives back in Hongkie Toon and calls me out of the blue to treat me to yam cha on Sunday morning, seeing as it’s me birthday an’ all Friday. Not so bothered about the free breakfast / brunch, more excited and totally fucking stoked cos I’ve not seen her in literally eighteen months. We have so much ground to cover, so much gossip to go over, so many in-jokes and stupid stories to catch up on, it’s unreal. It’s going to be another three-hour yam cha, I can see it coming. Just like the good old days! Bring it on!

And not really a reason to squee… Oh alright, yes it is! So then Reason To Squee No. 6: Won a few rounds at’ pub quiz, and overall winners too, so won a coupla bottles of red wine, two rounds of lemon-ish shooters (woo-hoo!) and a bottle of champagne. All o which we necked. Got home, re-watched Friday Night Poject wi David Tenninch Tennant (‘there’s been a murder!’) and then John Barrowman (‘well look who’s famous now, girl!’) while imbibing copious amounts of Purple Nurples. A great night was had all-round I think…

That’s it then. Life’s pretty good right now… Just have to buy a new bed at some point so I can finally stop being an insomniac and also stop finding shite to do so as I don’t have to sleep on the crappy excuse for a bunk that I have right now.

Soopytwist everyone!

Tags:
Bill Murray ~ Sam Winchester ~ Supernatural ~ Dean Winchester ~ Golden Globes ~ WGA ~ writers ~ fridge ~ Doctor Who ~ Mac ~ Bluetooth ~ Steve Carlson Band ~ Jensen Ackles ~ Yam Cha ~ pub quiz ~ David Tennant ~ John Barrowman~ bloopers ~ outtakes

Birthday wishes

I know I probably did this last year too. In fact, yeah, I know I did. So on wi the birthday requests, then. I will of course be 25 again, so stop wi the Old Wimmin presents. And I live in Hong Kong, so don’t send me owt for winter. Our winters are 10-15° C without rain, so don’t be so nesh.

First ont list, then. Anyone as feels like furnishing me wi this wee present would be in me good books – or no, my bloody star books – for eternity:

Just like that, as Tommy Copper used to say. And probably still does.

Next. Any combination of the usual suspects, AKA the Royal Marines Commando Fantasy Corps, with or without attire, is fine. Would be rude of me to try and pick any one of em over the others. Unless he's Karl Urban or David Tenninch Tennant, praps. They kinda get bumped to the top, mostly. Anyway, next ont list, and I know this is asking a lot, but would it really be rude to ask for an Aston? Either a 4 litre straight-sixed 280 bhp 1963 DB5, a 1977 V8 Vantage (well, let’s just say that year is a special one) or a full-on DBS V12. Or all three, if yer feeling particularly generous.






Off the car stuff and back to Geekville, where I reside with pleasure. I still want a new iMac – cos they’re so amazingly fab. And the extra special 1 terabyte drive would be fucking lush – that’s one thousand gig, to anyone else. Phwoooaaaaaarrrrr…

Ahem. Anyway, think we’re done here. I feel a pub quiz coming on, down’t Winchester White Stag again.

Peach and lube everyone.

Tags:
birthday ~ Hong Kong ~ Jensen Ackles ~ Aston Martin ~ iMac ~ pub

What did I miss?

Sorry, been busy. Back now. So where are we, what did I miss?

Oldham whipping Everton’s arse and sending em out of’t FA Cup – nice!

Golden Globes Ceremony cancelled due to actors actually helping out their writers – fantastic! Save the writers, save the world!

Another new album, excellently fab but still not managing to knock ‘Jason Manns’ off the top spot, is ‘Rollin’ On’ by none other than the Steve Carlson Band – yes, the very same simultaneously solo Steve Carlson as did ‘Come Around More Alabama’ and the ubiquitous ‘Night Time’, the funky choon used as backing in a lot of the ‘Super-bloody-natural’ season three episode, ‘Bad Day At Black Rock’ (minus the vocals, of course). So far I’m made up wi ‘Rocking Chair’, ‘Nonstop Lady’, ‘Dynamite’ and the title track, ‘Rollin’ On’. There are moments of very clever lyrics and lush backing vocals, thanks to brief moments of participation by Jensen Ackles (again). Quite a distinctive voice, and have to say, having a different voice than your own do the backing harmonising makes all the difference. Yes, we like the Jensenness going on there.

Ta for the heads-up, Camera Obscura – I did give ‘Raising Sand’ a listen (Robert Plant and Alison Krauss), but sadly it did not float me boat. Ah well, no harm done, eh?

Erm… what else? Oh yes, Jimmy Barnes is over here for a gig on 17th January – how nice of him to put himself out like that, playing the night before my birthday? What a star!

Weather – bouncing around the 15 – 20° C mark round here, so can’t complain, seeing as this passes for ‘depths of winter’ over here. Bloody marvellous.

And I totally missed this, till I went to post this one. This will be my 201st post. I know, I know, yer all way too excited and grateful for words. It’s ok, I understand.

Still haven’t seen ‘Aliens vs Predator’ yet, although tomorrow night’s looking good. I know it’s going to be shite, but that’s what I’m paying for, so it’s going to be fun shite.

Saw ‘The Golden Compass’ last week. It were alright. It all looked very exciting, but just didn’t make me particularly excited, which is odd, cos the thought of Daniel Craig somehow being twinned with a white tiger were strangely enticing ‘fore I went in. Ah well.

Still thinking about getting a new phone – and seeing as me phone is always called Mavis (name’s passed on, you see), I’m thinking it might have to be a funky Motorola after all. Just picking the right one will be a bit of a chore, but still. I feel the need, the need for 3.5G speed.

And so to fan fiction – yes, that old chestnut. I finished one ‘Super-bloody-natural’ story, and never even entertained the thought of doing another. And then I did. Nearly done, just needs polishing, and then it’ll be unleashed on an unsuspecting Tinternet, hopefully to the same reception as’t last one.

So that’s it, I’m off (no smell jokes, please). Have to plough through me Facebook shite and work out what the world wants of me this week.

Soopytwist.

Tags:
Oldham ~ Latics ~ Everton ~ Golden Globes ~ Steve Carlson ~ Jason Manns ~ Jensen Ackles ~ Supernatural ~ Robert Plant ~ Alison Krauss ~ Jimmy Barnes ~ Motorola ~ fanfiction

Top banana!

Downloading an album from iTunes: UK£7.99.
Listening to it and falling in love with it: an afternoon.
Realising much later that the familiar voice that's performing all the backing vocals does in fact belong to Jensen Ackles: priceless.

Let’s back up here. Got a cyber-cookie about a week ago, a real gem of a track called ‘Come Around More Alabama’ by some American bloke called Steve Carlson. Absolutely loved it, played it over and over, decided to root out his other stuff and buy, buy, buy. Found out it came from the album ‘Spot In the Corner’, found it on iTunes, and a paid download later, I’m completely in love with the entire album. Now I know why the donator in question sent me the track int first place.

A couple of the tracks remind me a little of Thirty Odd Foot Of Grunts at times, mostly cos of the (sparse) use of violins. But the songs themselves are bloody ace, not least of all numbers like ‘Radio In My Head’ and ‘Pinata Novia’. ‘Kinda Crazy These Days’ is pure gold, but without doubt my absolute first love remains ‘Come Around More Alabama’, for many more reasons than the fact that you can sing along so easily. I’ve stumbled upon music that I would never normally give owt more than short shrift to, but I’m finding it’s just terrific. I can’t stop listening to it. And of course it doesn’t hurt that Jensen Ackles’s harmonising int background is all kinds of fab. In fact, there’s only one reason the album’s not constantly on repeat on me iPod, and that’s cos there’s another album to bang on about tonight.

The very tenuous connection between Steve Carlson and the next act, Jason Manns, is Jensen Ackles. Mr Manns got up on stage at some ‘Super-bloody-natural’ convention to sing a cover of Van Morrison’s ‘Crazy Love’, and Mr Ackles got up and provided backing vocals for fun. I’d never heard the song before, but found it so bloody catchy I wanted a copy. Again, a very short hunt on iTunes found the guilty album and it was bought and paid for before you could say ‘musical diversity’.

Jason Manns’s self-titled debut album is nowt short of fantastic. He’s got a nice strong voice without being harsh, singing all ranges without sounding like a girl. The entire album is full of excellent guitar arrangements, easy, upbeat numbers that are both cheerful and comfortable without being cloying or saturated in saccharine. It’s a real ray of sunshine on any day of the week, and it’s temporarily replaced Steve Carlson’s ‘Spot In the Corner’ as my favourite music. There are too many definite winners to mention, but if I had to choose just two tracks they’d have to be ‘Another Number’ and ‘Perfect Spot’. The first is just so jumpy-jump-jump cheerful and celebratory in an acoustic kinda way, and the latter is so goddamn bluesy and loveable. The reason for buying, ‘Crazy Love’, is also excellent still (though without Mr Ackles providing the wonderfully harmonised backing, it’s strangely singular). The whole thing is chock full of ace lyrics, wonderful guitars and just a nice easy-going feel to it, instead of the usual Madchester / Sheffield new rock / Britshit I listen to. It’s just a pleasant diversion, one of them albums I’ll remember for the rest of my life because of the change it saw.

So because I’ve been feeling more sociable of late – I’m normally very anti-social around Christmas and New Year, ask anyone trying to get me off me arse and out down the Winchester White Stag – I’ve bothered to update both the ‘Doctor bloody Who’ Wallpapers of the Week and the ‘Super-bloody-natural’ Winchester Wallpapers. And yes, 4D, the Kylie wallpaper thing is for you.


I’ve also done the unthinkable and finished a fan-fic for ‘Super-bloody-natural’, available over at my place on the Fan Fiction Archive. Immense fun, and although I said I’d never do another, guess what? Yeah, that’ll be me poring over the latest the second and last fert plot holes and such. Sad, I know. But it keeps me off the streets.

And that’s about it, really. Off to watch possibly the second best Christmas movie of all time, namely ‘Scrooged’ with Bill Murray, and see if I can’t make the best damned Purple Nurple this side of Crawford Hall.

Peach and lube, people.

Tags:
iTunes ~ Jensen Ackles ~ Steve Carlson ~ TOFOG ~ Supernatural ~ Jason Manns ~ Kylie Minogue ~ wallpaper ~ Bill Murray ~ Scrooged