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30/05/06 : Top Gun

As it was just on the TV and I have nothing else to do right now, I thought I'd review the afore mentioned 20-year-old film.

Ace fighter pilot - bit of a wild card - goes to an elite training school. Falls for cute female instructor. They fuck in silhouette. His friend gets killed. He quits. He returns. There's a battle. Good guys win.

Actually, if you can ignore the jingoism, it's a great film - entertaining and visually stunning. Great soundtrack too, which I'll have to re-buy someday.

I actually remember going to see it with my dad and step-brother when I was 14. Nearly 20 years ago . . . makes me feel old!

28/05/06 : Talking 'bout the weather

The weather is a frequent topic for an English pleasantry - but it is sometimes worthy of discussion due to its weirdness. Over the past few days its been hot and sunny for a few hours before suddenly chucking it down with rain, only to be hot and sunny again a little while later.

I've been gardening during the sunny intervals and as I'm trimming bushes (stop snickering!) all these bugs and things are running away in terror and I feel like a complete git. I think I must have been a Buddhist in a past life or something.

The main reason for doing the gardening is that the letting agents are coming round on Wednesday for an inspection. Why they bother I don't know - we've been here for nearly three years and haven't trashed the place so far. The woman who does the inspection only stays for about 30 seconds but it still feels like a massive invasion of privacy. Still, it does force us to actually do some cleaning and stuff.

Anyway, after the gardening I was sat on the sofa and Rosie shoved a microphone in my face, expecting me to say something interesting. I said the first thing that came into my mind, which for some unknown reason was "No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space". I then felt the urge to listen (in part) to Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of War of the Worlds, and - obviously being in the mood to listen to slightly strange 70's concept albums - followed it with Rick Wakeman's The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knight of the Round Table, which April did a stately dance to and Sarah told me was crap.

22/05/06 : How to spoil a good rock song

I like the Mark II Deep Purple line up, but I'm not so familiar with the really early stuff. The song Black Night is generally well known, but I knew it from a live version. On listening to the original recording (on a greatest hits album) I discovered to my great annoyance that it is one of those songs spoilt by one thing.

Clapping.

I'm not talking about the electronic clap sounds that littered 80's pop songs; this is the feeble, not completely in time clapping performed by a few people who were probably just hanging around in the studio at the time of the recording.

Why the producer thought that this would be a good idea I don't know; perhaps he thought that it would give the song "a lift". It doesn't. An interesting drum part is obscured and the whole song gets a "singalong" feel.

If anyone knows of any other songs that commit this dreadful crime, let me know! Off the top of my head I can think of two others:

Boston - More than a feeling
The Beatles - I Want to Hold Your Hand

16/05/06 : Been busy

Helped Sarah re-write one of her websites (here).
Finished Zelda 1 (NES) and Eternal Darkness (GameCube - excellent game).
Started re-playing Conker's Bad Fur Day (N64).
Accompanied / played in a church social evening for the minister's retirement (deluded in his beliefs like the rest of them, but a nice guy - shame to see him go).
Did a recital for (mainly) old people at the church.
That's about it.
Interesting stuff to follow soon hopefully.

08/05/06 : My deadly sins

I think the results are quite accurate ... I particularly like the last bit!

How Sinful Are You?

Obviously hell is a mythical place - although if such a place did exist, it would be rather more interesting than heaven. Hell would be full of the people who had done cool stuff and heaven would be full of Christians.

Having said that, I bet most Xians would get a higher figure than me if they took this test - and are sloth and lust really that bad compared to the others?

04/05/06 : Sunny day

Ahh, Beclomethasone dipropionate . . . the taste of summer . . .

03/05/06 : Old games

I have finally completed Zelda II : The Adventure of Link. For the NES. From 1988.

Ok, I haven't actually been playing it since 1988 - I didn't even have an NES then - Sarah had it before I met her. The last time I played the game was about five years ago, and I got bored of it before completing it (as I did with the first Zelda game, which I got from Ebay not that long ago). Still, I'm glad I did it, and I enjoyed it more this time. It's probably the most difficult of the series. I guess now I'll have to play the first one - just so that I can say I've completed them all.

Then perhaps I'll try to complete Twin Kingdom Valley - an adventure I had on my Acorn Electron / BBC Micro. Which I did have in 1988.