"Gay ass" is what people who don't like Code Geass - LeLouch of the Rebellion. The problem with this insult is that Geass isn't pronounced "Gay-ass", it's pronounced more like "Geeh-ass" with the G being a hard g. It's actually more like the Indian clarified butter stuff, which is Ghee. Although the ass bit isn't far off.
All of which random dribbling is meant to act as an introduction to the fact that I have been watching Geass.
There's actually a hell of a lot of weird namery in Geass. It kinda suffers from that old problem that a lot of the characters are supposed to be western (The "Britannia" many of the characters come from is kinda supposed to be a warped version of the British Empire) and the Japanese phonetic systems doesn't always cope well with western names.
Throw in the fact that the Japanese often like to pick bizarre names from the western canon (if you can point me to a Steve or a Fred in any anime ever you win a prize*) and you end up with people called stuff like Kallen Stadtfeld. Yes, not Karen, Kallen. Now Kallen is a name, but I've never seen it used as a forename - only as a surname.
And what's more, that's not because she's actually Karen, but the whole pronunciation problem is rearing its head, but both the subtitles and English dub call her Kallen with the l's as well.
Anyway, all of this is really beside the point. I'm finally watching Code Geass and it's just as good as I remember. It's jam-packed with twists and turns and that dash of moral ambiguity I enjoyed when I first sampled it all those years ago.
I've also been ploughing through Matter with some gusto.
I'm now about two-thirds of the way through. Which actually means I've read about 400 pages of the 600, so there's still loads left.
I have to admit I have been flagging a bit just recently. We seem to have reached a point in the narrative that's almost totally devoid of action. Previously, there were several wars kicking about, chases, murders and the regular introduction of new characters, alien lifeform and amazing vistas.
Now the wars are pretty much over, the chases have stopped and it feels like most all the characters have been introduced. I mean, I'm not saying it's bad, it's just some of the story momentum that kept me turning the pages has dissipated a bit so I'm only reading small chunks. Hopefully it'll swing into its final arc pretty soon and I'll be re-invigorated.
The only plan for the weekend is a relatively mundane one - I need to give the place a bit of a clean and do some domestics.
I'll tell you one good thing that came out of last Sunday's "free work" session - it made me realise that if I put my mind to it I can really sit down and get stuff done. I mean, I spent about 8 or 9 hours working on the Sunday and it wasn't because I abandoned doing other stuff, it was because I got my arse in gear and cleared the to do list on Saturday, leaving Sunday free.
It was also because I felt I had to do it. I think often on the weekend I end up drifting a bit, doing an unsatisfactory amount of lots of small things, rather than ticking off the big jobs. So hopefully it's lesson learned and I can start thinking that way more often in the future.
* No you don't.
Friday, 16 July 2010
Thursday, 15 July 2010
trouser conundrum
My work requires that I dress in a suit.
I actually own two suits. Both are pretty cheap affairs and both are black - they're actually the same suit in the sense that I bought two sets of the same suit at the same time. So of course, both are the same size.
Except they aren't. They both have the same size labels in them, but one pair the trousers are ever so slightly smaller than the others.
The difference has to be really quite small - visually you can't see a difference, so they can't be, like, 2 inches different or something like that. No, this is more in the realms of manufacturing tolerance.
Manufacturing tolerance is that tiny little difference you get between products that have rolled off of some sort of assembly line. Mass production is probably the most important advance in terms of the functioning of modern society, and the idea behind it is that every single thing that rolls off the line is identical.
It's the source of the idea that if you go down a shop and buy a particularly screw that is labelled as being 1 inch long then that screw will be one inch long. And all the other screws in the bag will be 1 inch long as well.
In the mists of time, this wasn't' the case - you'd drill your hole and have to make your screw fit based on the individual hole (well, you probably wouldn't be using screws, but you get the idea). Anyway, the point is that manufacturing tolerance is the margin of error that's allowed before that 1 inch screw stops being a 1 inch screw.
In some cases - like with screws - the tolerance can be tiny. Often things with those sorts of tolerances are entirely produced by machines, so you can see why the variation would be so small.
In the case of my trews they've probably be produced by some Chinese Sweatshop by a small child and he'll have flubbed the exact position of clasp or something. Probably as a result of the beating his supervisor gave him for making too many mistakes.
I'm kidding of course. I'm guessing the supervisor has probably been replaced by a machine - far more efficient.
Anyway, the point is that the trews I am currently sporting are ever so slightly tighter than the other pair of trews I own. This has the weird effect of making me think I'm either gaining or loosing weight each week.
Now this isn't because of the obvious, I know the trews are differently sized. The reason is because when ~I put the other pair on, the difference is greater than I remembered. So, when I put these on, I knew they would be tighter, but the extent of that tightness was more than I was expecting, so I thought I must have put on weight.
The reverse will happen next week - I'll put the looser pair on and be surprised at just how loose they are and think my efforts to combat the tightness experienced this week had more effect that I thought.
How's that for self-delusion?
I actually own two suits. Both are pretty cheap affairs and both are black - they're actually the same suit in the sense that I bought two sets of the same suit at the same time. So of course, both are the same size.
Except they aren't. They both have the same size labels in them, but one pair the trousers are ever so slightly smaller than the others.
The difference has to be really quite small - visually you can't see a difference, so they can't be, like, 2 inches different or something like that. No, this is more in the realms of manufacturing tolerance.
Manufacturing tolerance is that tiny little difference you get between products that have rolled off of some sort of assembly line. Mass production is probably the most important advance in terms of the functioning of modern society, and the idea behind it is that every single thing that rolls off the line is identical.
It's the source of the idea that if you go down a shop and buy a particularly screw that is labelled as being 1 inch long then that screw will be one inch long. And all the other screws in the bag will be 1 inch long as well.
In the mists of time, this wasn't' the case - you'd drill your hole and have to make your screw fit based on the individual hole (well, you probably wouldn't be using screws, but you get the idea). Anyway, the point is that manufacturing tolerance is the margin of error that's allowed before that 1 inch screw stops being a 1 inch screw.
In some cases - like with screws - the tolerance can be tiny. Often things with those sorts of tolerances are entirely produced by machines, so you can see why the variation would be so small.
In the case of my trews they've probably be produced by some Chinese Sweatshop by a small child and he'll have flubbed the exact position of clasp or something. Probably as a result of the beating his supervisor gave him for making too many mistakes.
I'm kidding of course. I'm guessing the supervisor has probably been replaced by a machine - far more efficient.
Anyway, the point is that the trews I am currently sporting are ever so slightly tighter than the other pair of trews I own. This has the weird effect of making me think I'm either gaining or loosing weight each week.
Now this isn't because of the obvious, I know the trews are differently sized. The reason is because when ~I put the other pair on, the difference is greater than I remembered. So, when I put these on, I knew they would be tighter, but the extent of that tightness was more than I was expecting, so I thought I must have put on weight.
The reverse will happen next week - I'll put the looser pair on and be surprised at just how loose they are and think my efforts to combat the tightness experienced this week had more effect that I thought.
How's that for self-delusion?
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
red cliff
Usually when I do these reviews I'm pretty sure what I think about whatever it is I'm reviewing.
I mean, at the very least I'll know if I liked it or not. And I'll have a fair idea of the specifics - what about it I liked or didn't like. Often of course it's mixed - I liked it overall, but x, y or z annoyed me.
As you can probably guess, I'm not entirely sure whether I liked Red Cliff or not.
The Red Cliff in question is a place in China that was the site of a big battle some 2,000 years ago. If you've ever heard of the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history (which is the setting for the famous Romance of the Three Kingdoms stories) then the Red Cliff is, I believe, the history immediately prior to it.
Now that makes things a little difficult for me - I know next to nothing about Chinese history and this film does little to really clue you in. It's a bit like if you're doing a TV show about Churchill and you make the assumption everyone knows about Churchill. Fine, except for all the people who don't know about Churchill.
And what's more, there were a lot characters in this and they all have very Chinese names that are difficult for me (not least of all because it's all subtitled and they way the names were written was sometimes not anything like how they were said) so I have to confess I got a bit mixed up.
However, the different characters did have very recognisable personalities, and they all looked very different, so it wasn't that I couldn't tell them apart, it was just that when bloke a was going on about girl b who was off-screen I wasn't always sure who that was.
What also didn't help here is that there was very little real characterisation or depth. I understand that what I watched was a chopped down (it was still 2h20m) and stuck-together version of 2 films, so perhaps there's more of this sort of stuff in the original. Certainly, there was very little in the way of background to the film - again, I got that feel of "let's just get stuck into it everyone know the history already". But I didn't know it.
However, that approach also meant that something like 80% of the film was action stuff. There were at least 4 separate big battles, plus a lot more fighting besides. And given that it was directed by John Woo, these action sequences were really well done.
Which I think is where my real dilemma comes in - should I really be thinking of this as a Hong-Kong style action film?
If so, then actually it's a really good example of one - there was loads of really entertaining combat that was imaginatively shot but still really easy to follow and enjoy. In other words, if you look at it from that point of view, then the story is actually quite good in the sense that it doesn't' get in the way too much.
I guess the conclusion is that I did enjoy the film, but I would have wanted more depth and back-story for it to be elevated to a really great film.
I mean, at the very least I'll know if I liked it or not. And I'll have a fair idea of the specifics - what about it I liked or didn't like. Often of course it's mixed - I liked it overall, but x, y or z annoyed me.
As you can probably guess, I'm not entirely sure whether I liked Red Cliff or not.
The Red Cliff in question is a place in China that was the site of a big battle some 2,000 years ago. If you've ever heard of the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history (which is the setting for the famous Romance of the Three Kingdoms stories) then the Red Cliff is, I believe, the history immediately prior to it.
Now that makes things a little difficult for me - I know next to nothing about Chinese history and this film does little to really clue you in. It's a bit like if you're doing a TV show about Churchill and you make the assumption everyone knows about Churchill. Fine, except for all the people who don't know about Churchill.
And what's more, there were a lot characters in this and they all have very Chinese names that are difficult for me (not least of all because it's all subtitled and they way the names were written was sometimes not anything like how they were said) so I have to confess I got a bit mixed up.
However, the different characters did have very recognisable personalities, and they all looked very different, so it wasn't that I couldn't tell them apart, it was just that when bloke a was going on about girl b who was off-screen I wasn't always sure who that was.
What also didn't help here is that there was very little real characterisation or depth. I understand that what I watched was a chopped down (it was still 2h20m) and stuck-together version of 2 films, so perhaps there's more of this sort of stuff in the original. Certainly, there was very little in the way of background to the film - again, I got that feel of "let's just get stuck into it everyone know the history already". But I didn't know it.
However, that approach also meant that something like 80% of the film was action stuff. There were at least 4 separate big battles, plus a lot more fighting besides. And given that it was directed by John Woo, these action sequences were really well done.
Which I think is where my real dilemma comes in - should I really be thinking of this as a Hong-Kong style action film?
If so, then actually it's a really good example of one - there was loads of really entertaining combat that was imaginatively shot but still really easy to follow and enjoy. In other words, if you look at it from that point of view, then the story is actually quite good in the sense that it doesn't' get in the way too much.
I guess the conclusion is that I did enjoy the film, but I would have wanted more depth and back-story for it to be elevated to a really great film.
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
those crappy feet
My toenail is falling off.
You remember I walloped my toe a few weeks back? Well, it's healed up, but I was scratching my toe last night and noticed that the nail was hanging off. You know when your nails grow how the part that's not attached to your flesh hangs off? Well almost the entire nail is like that. There's just a small sliver at the bottom keeping it on.
It doesn't hurt in any way, and that small sliver seems quite rigid, but it's a weird feeling knowing your toenail is dangling off.
Generally, I suffer with my feet anyway.
Or, more specifically, I suffer with my heels. The problem really, I guess, is that I'm appallingly fat. This means that my feet have to support a much greater weight than most people - imagine spending all day giving someone of equal size to yourself (for I way twice as much as I should) a piggyback ride all day. That's roughly what it's like.
So as a result, my feet are subject to a hell of a lot of stress and one of the ways this manifests itself is in a thickening of the skin on the heels of my feet. I think most people get a bit of this - the skin naturally thickens to provide additional protection and cushioning where you're getting a lot of friction and wear. It's like an accumulation of dead skin to act like an extra layer of padding.
So it's basically normal, but my problem is I get excessive amounts of it, due to this excess baggage I carry around. My feet are subject to such heavy forces that the natural effect is sped up and emphasised. In other words I get whacking great lumps of dead skin on my heels.
Now this would okay - cushioning can hardly be a bad thing for someone of my size - except for the fact that it tends to reach something of a critical volume, after which is cracks. Anyone who has had cracked skin will know that this is not a pleasant experience.
Indeed, when standing in certain positions, the stressing forces make it feel like someone is jabbing needles into my heels. See, the cracks go deep - right down to the soft flesh beneath, and here's where it gets gross.
See, the only cure I've got for this is to cut the dead skin away. However, it's almost impossible to easily tell the amount of dead skin there is, so this means I end up hacking it away in uneven lumps, often using the blade on my penknife. And when you get right down to the roots of the cracks, I generally find that they go far enough down to actually have small amounts of blood seeping out.
Oh, it's not properly flowing - think the sort of overly red flesh you get from a small paper cut - but it's definitely there. And it doesn't help the overall effect that the hacking and slashing makes it look like my foot has had an accident with the business end of a chainsaw.
To try to stave off the need for such extreme action I use a special cheese grater thing once a week on my feet. You have to use it after you've had a shower, because otherwise the skin is too tough to get through (hence the need for the penknife) and every week I scrape away loads of dead skin, but over time it still builds up.
Oh the price of beauty. No wait, this isn't that is it?
You remember I walloped my toe a few weeks back? Well, it's healed up, but I was scratching my toe last night and noticed that the nail was hanging off. You know when your nails grow how the part that's not attached to your flesh hangs off? Well almost the entire nail is like that. There's just a small sliver at the bottom keeping it on.
It doesn't hurt in any way, and that small sliver seems quite rigid, but it's a weird feeling knowing your toenail is dangling off.
Generally, I suffer with my feet anyway.
Or, more specifically, I suffer with my heels. The problem really, I guess, is that I'm appallingly fat. This means that my feet have to support a much greater weight than most people - imagine spending all day giving someone of equal size to yourself (for I way twice as much as I should) a piggyback ride all day. That's roughly what it's like.
So as a result, my feet are subject to a hell of a lot of stress and one of the ways this manifests itself is in a thickening of the skin on the heels of my feet. I think most people get a bit of this - the skin naturally thickens to provide additional protection and cushioning where you're getting a lot of friction and wear. It's like an accumulation of dead skin to act like an extra layer of padding.
So it's basically normal, but my problem is I get excessive amounts of it, due to this excess baggage I carry around. My feet are subject to such heavy forces that the natural effect is sped up and emphasised. In other words I get whacking great lumps of dead skin on my heels.
Now this would okay - cushioning can hardly be a bad thing for someone of my size - except for the fact that it tends to reach something of a critical volume, after which is cracks. Anyone who has had cracked skin will know that this is not a pleasant experience.
Indeed, when standing in certain positions, the stressing forces make it feel like someone is jabbing needles into my heels. See, the cracks go deep - right down to the soft flesh beneath, and here's where it gets gross.
See, the only cure I've got for this is to cut the dead skin away. However, it's almost impossible to easily tell the amount of dead skin there is, so this means I end up hacking it away in uneven lumps, often using the blade on my penknife. And when you get right down to the roots of the cracks, I generally find that they go far enough down to actually have small amounts of blood seeping out.
Oh, it's not properly flowing - think the sort of overly red flesh you get from a small paper cut - but it's definitely there. And it doesn't help the overall effect that the hacking and slashing makes it look like my foot has had an accident with the business end of a chainsaw.
To try to stave off the need for such extreme action I use a special cheese grater thing once a week on my feet. You have to use it after you've had a shower, because otherwise the skin is too tough to get through (hence the need for the penknife) and every week I scrape away loads of dead skin, but over time it still builds up.
Oh the price of beauty. No wait, this isn't that is it?
Monday, 12 July 2010
fuck up
Super late blog post today as I was too busy fucking up at work.
I'm tempted to go on a rant about how it's not really my fault, but I think probably the balance of evidence would show that actually it is basically my fault. My fault with additional circumstances is probably the best way to put it.
Given the horrible state of the UK's economy and the fact that my job is totally reliant on government work, it's not really the time to be fucking up like this.
But the thing that makes it really depressing is I spent all day Sunday working on it. And I don't mean as over-time or even as part of my actual hours - this was me doing it off my own bat, because I realised there was no way I could do it in the allotted time.
For it to turn out that everything I did was stuff I shouldn't have done is a real kick in the balls. serves me right for fucking up, I guess.
I'm tempted to go on a rant about how it's not really my fault, but I think probably the balance of evidence would show that actually it is basically my fault. My fault with additional circumstances is probably the best way to put it.
Given the horrible state of the UK's economy and the fact that my job is totally reliant on government work, it's not really the time to be fucking up like this.
But the thing that makes it really depressing is I spent all day Sunday working on it. And I don't mean as over-time or even as part of my actual hours - this was me doing it off my own bat, because I realised there was no way I could do it in the allotted time.
For it to turn out that everything I did was stuff I shouldn't have done is a real kick in the balls. serves me right for fucking up, I guess.
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