The Ephemeric

song of the day: "Time to Pretend" by "MGMT"
pic of the day:


HOT:
Debbies
Being in Medical Journals
the Spy Party

NOT:
Oscars
Being in real newspapers
All other parties past present and future, til the next one i throw

song of the day: "Can't believe a single word" by "VHS or Beta"
pic of the day:


HOT:
Christmas
Everyman Cinema
Acting your age

NOT:
Other days of the year
Other lesser cinemas
Acting like a perpetual 11 year old

So Fabio Capello, or 'Don' Fabio is our man (and cue relentless godfather jokes for the duration of his tenure). As everyone this side of the atlantic knows I was a big advocate for Mourinho taking the job and im upset that he decided not to, but that being said Capello will do as good a job if not better. And he's pretty cool too, a big kandinsky fan, bit of a hardass, and he wont put up with crap from underpeforming louts like gerrard or rio.

roll on world cup 2010

song of the day: "What's This?" by "Fallout Boy"
pic of the day:


HOT:
rick roll
curb your enthusiasm
new breaks

NOT:
other rolls
seinfeld
old flames

song of the day: "Dirty Little Secret" by "the All American Rejects"
pic of the day:


HOT:
old songs
houseparty
cusqueñas

NOT:
bad songs
small party
corona

Hey all, welcome back for another exciting update. Lots going on these days. First of all, got the iphone, its awesome, and whenever i whip it out it draws randomers to come commenting at me like a magnet, its so unreal the effect it has, and highly amusing. Also today I will write about new tv shows, the accursed tv writers' strike and more.

In other news the new flat continues to be awesome, in fact its shaping up better and better each day. My new bed spread is far too comfortable, i just cant get out of it in the morning. good thing as itll probably get a lot of use lol.
Along those lines we have a date for the housewarming party, which is going to be crazy. It will be next friday, the 23rd. If I haven't already i should be getting touch with you shortly about it.

Meanwhile I won't be around much longer, I'm going off to st peters hospital for my clinical attachment next week, which will last the next 4 weeks, after which im really looking forward to the concerts, football games, and my brother coming home over xmas, should be great.


got my schedule booked full with people coming to visit at the new flat, so ill see you soon, got lots to show you.
now if youll excuse me, im going to watch heroes, i love the british guy.

I'm not the only one getting majorly depressed about this, but the writers' guild of america have finally gone on strike, meaning no new episodes for tv shows are being written, and won't be until this strike is sorted out. This is dark news indeed for many of us, as most serialised shows such as lost and heroes are only written a few episodes ahead of what is currently shooting, which means these shows look like will have to end prematurely, after only 10 or so episodes as opposed to the usual 20 or so.
This is particularly devastating for new shows just starting to create a bit of buzz, such as pushing daisies, which havent yet got the required fanbase to warrant renewal, but it is thought that the unusual circumstances will be taken into account. Less affected are animated shows like family guy and the simpsons, which typically are written much further in advance than live action tv shows.

For your own information the last time there was a strike like this it was in the 1987/88 season and lasted 22 weeks. Thats almost half a year, a similar length would almost certainly mean no more new tv until next season, and it has been suggested that shows which have yet to restart, such as lost, may not return at all until then. Similarly Scrubs, now in its final season, may be without a finale.

I thik it's safe to say we are all praying that history does not repeat itself and we can all get back to normal asap.

Decided to do a double bill of reviews today just for the hell of it, a lot of new stuff to check out. Im going to start with the best.


The Iphone- the definitive review

In the buildup to this being released there has been a lot of mixed press. Most of it was hopeful, awash with awe at the cutting edge design and interface, and yet there was the odd article, even from within reputable tecchy sources casting doubt on the overall quality of this product. Things such as 'the screen wont look as good as in the adverts because it has low resolution' or 'the battery only lasts 40 minutes', etc.
It is my distinct pleasure to announce that pretty much all of this is bollocks. The screen looks astoundingly sharp and colourful, is precisely responsive, and a good size for watching videos, while the interface is not only intuitive but highly functional. The battery life has yet to fail me, even though i've been whipping this thing out at every opportunity to watch videos, browse the internet (more on that later), listen to music, map out my journey, check the weather forecast, take photos, take notes, the list goes on. From the moment you pick it up from the shops, the iphone is a feast for the senses. Every last detail has been given extra import, the box just feels... right... and when a product's box can impress me you know theres something good here.
The best thing about this phone, the one thing that will change your life the most, is the free, unlimited interenet, which can work either through wifi, or 'edge', apple's high(ish) speed phone-internet connection. It allows you to browse to your heart's content no matter where you are, which ends up making a bigger difference than you ever expect it to. Lastly the camera impresses, despite being weaker on paper than many other camera phones. The quality is very high indeed, and not at all grainy like many more powerful camera phones are; the only thing it lacks is a flash for night pictures.

However the phone is not perfect. The disappointing thing is that most of the bad things apple brings on itself. Most notably is the annoying and tedious activation you have to go through in order to make sure youre using valid sim chips on valid networks, followed soon by the annoying ringtone issue, whereby you can only use tracks from the itunes music store (completely idiotic when you think other phones can use just any mp3), and indeed most niggles continue in this fashion, the lack of 3rd party application support, going so far as to block out negating hacks in each update... what possible reason could apple wish to prevent the update of software that can add infinite functions and re-usability to its product, much like facebook apps have done for facebook, they wouldnt be liable afterall.

This is still the best phone, the best gadget and one of the best pieces of technology we as a species have yet constructed.


Pushing Daisies- new tv show

This is a brand new show which has been met with considerable success in just 4 episodes that have been broadcast in America. In a season blighted with poor performing new shows, poor performing returning shows (heroes) and the constant threat of strike (which has now taken place), this show has been one of the few big highlights, and even with the strike potentially bringing its debut season to an early close this is one show that is likely to be given another shot and renewed next year.
So what is it you ask? It is a show who's plot borders on the fantastic, about a man who can bring dead people back to life with his touch, but then kills them forever with a second touch. I'm sure you, like me, were not blown away by that plot description, but its not so much the premise that gives this programme its x-factor. The style, direction, characters, and every tiny little detail that appears on screen is so stylishly, and perfectly finessed into a tim burton-esque, dark, quasi-fairytale, that it becomes difficult to drag your eyes off the screen. Even the tiniest of guest characters are given a full vibrant personality with their own quirks, and this depth really adds something to the experience that comes across in spades.
Indeed, ultimately you are rewarded by a rich and well written tv experience that certainly makes this a show to watch out for.

song of the day: "Countdown" by "Jupiter One"
pic of the day:


HOT:
iphone
wii sports
flat warming

NOT:
otherphones
real sports
cold flat

a new section here, the 'how to' section, where i share with you articles of my immense and unparalleled wisdom. the first such article is a classic, one that i have been called upon to assist people with countless times. nowadays many people download resource consuming, spyware carrying, generally painful and crappy (and some times pricey) software such as tweakxp to do things such as this; but for those in the know it is much much simpler and can be done without downloading a single thing.

The procedure is as follows:


METHOD 1:
1. Click Start, Run and type Regedit.exe
2. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile
3. Delete the IsShortcut registry value.
4. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\piffile
5. Delete the IsShortcut registry value.

You may need to restart Windows.

METHOD 2:
1. Click Start, Run and type Regedit.exe
2. Navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Shell Icons
3. In the right-pane, create a new String value named 29
4. Double-click 29 and set its Value data as: C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll,50
(shell32.dll,50 is an empty icon)
5. Close Registry Editor.

To apply the changes instantly, follow this
6. Right-click Desktop, choose Properties
7. Click the Appearance Tab.
8. Click Advanced button
9. Choose Icon from the drop-down list
10. Set it's size to 31 and press OK, OK.
The changes will be applied now. Repeat the above steps and then set the Icon size back to 32 (defaults). The above steps are required to force Windows to redraw the icons. Even Tweak XP does this.

song of the day: "Alive" by "VHS or Beta"
pic of the day:


HOT:
spookalicious
portal
halloween bop

NOT:
spooktacular
halo 3
halloween blood trail

Well I have seen many productions in the theatre this summer, much to my enjoyment, most of which were of a very high quality and very recommendable, so here I will briefly go over a few of the highlights (hopefully with a little feeling). Maybe you can catch them if theyre still on.

Recently I saw moonlight and magnolias at the tricycle theatre, about a producer/director/writer team trying to write the movie 'gone with the wind', who lock themselves in a room for a week in order to hurry out a script to what they see as 'schlocky', money making rubbish, hence the rather starry-eyed title. Clearly this is a premise that suits theatre well, where scene changes are difficult, allowing the inclusion of very good detail in the set (i was keen eyed enough to notice american plug sockets on the walls on the set). The play itself is absolutely hilarious, well written and very well acted. To give a feel for the characters I would direct you towards the television show Seinfeld. The writer is jerry, the porducer is george, and the director is kramer. It is not like me at all to describe characters in a play using tv analogies but so fitting are those characters to this production, in appearance, mannerism and behaviour, that it is difficult to imagine the director of this play not having them in mind.

Next up is Parade at the Donmar, which as everyone knows is my favorite theatre; small, intimate, and bloody hard to get tickets for! This particular production was a musical, with what can only be described as an unusual choice for such a show: the persecution of an innocent jew for child rape and murder in the old south of america... right. Despite this you still get swept up in the emphatic and patriotic spirit of it all, in good humour, before getting sunk in the hippocrisy and injustice of it all, a good use of juxtaposition, though not as effective as in the production of the bacchae we saw at eton 2 years ago.

However saving the best for last is the Vanishing Number, at the barbican. Anyone who was with me to see the elephant vanishes will remember how masterfully done it was, with use of video and sound that was practically unparalleled anywhere else, leading to a surreal, almost dream-like experience. This production follows in a similar vein, also being a production by theatre complicité and comes off as highly impressive for doing so, as most of their productions are. The story revolves around the relationship of a mathematician and an american she meets at a lecture, who knows nothing about maths who, for reasons which dont become clear until the end, both become intensely fascinated with an historic indian mathematical progidy who went to oxford, coming up with the apparently revolutionary equation 1+2+3+4...+infinite= 1/12 (no i dont get it either, but was impressed i managed to follow the maths for at least a few minutes) and the two stories are told simultaneously, coming together at the bittersweet finale. Aside from containing extremely high production values, the writing and acting is very good, and consistently funny throughout right until the somewhat darker end, which you probably wont see coming until late on. A very high recommendation.

There were others I saw, but these three were probably the most notable that I can think of now.

song of the day: "Unglued" by "Jupiter One"
pic of the day:


HOT:
blog posters
magic
forgiveness

NOT:
'anonymous' posters ;)
devils and dust
pettiness




p.s. if you get the pic reference... youre as big a geek as i am :)
x

Well it seems to be the first thing people ask me these days when they see me, so let us get down the official 'debs approved' opinion on the departure of our beloved jose mourinho and the ensuing calamity for chelsea. it sucks. really does. mourinho was/is the best, and grant is just a patsy. Chelsea fans are used to seeing their team self destruct but i dont think anyone expected it to happen now during our golden age at the top of european football.
Abramovich is truly being ridiculous if he wants to run the club as he seems to. But that being said, I dont think its all doom and gloom like most people do. There is some form of logic behind the madness at stamford bridge, a desire for better football and a more positive image in the media. Even at our best times there were teams i feared playing against, barcelona in particular, and if Roman gets his way that will no longer be the case. The best way to combat these teams isnt to scrape 1-0 wins against them by having better stamina than them, it should be to out play them and run rings around them with passing movements. Avram Grant probably is not the man to deliver on this promise, but if, as is widely expected, he leaves us in the near future, I'm sure his replacement will be able to.

song of the day: "Window Bird" by "Stars"
pic of the day:


HOT:
Freshers
Reynolds
Reliable friends

NOT:
Getting home from Freshers
Student Union
Disloyal friends