Voices From The Pulpit (Ramblings of an Inadequate Messiah)

I seem to have gathered a fair number of new friends in the last couple of weeks (14 have added me, 4 have unsubbed me - but 3 of those where name changes that also re-friended me (one even going through two name changes!)).

This made me wonder where I'm picking people up from and it looks like the following:

Clubbing (mainly B-Movie) - 2
Just Met Socially - 2
Old Friends (people I've known for 5+ years) - 2
Camarilla/RPG - 3
Because I Friended Them But Don't Know Them - 1
A Friend of a Friend - 1
LJ Name Changed - 3

(Of these all 14 are based in the UK and I've met 13 in person)

So it seems my role-playing ties are still slightly ahead but I'm glad to see my actual social life (when combined) is pulling more people to this Journal than my RPG/Industry activities currently are. It must mean that I do actually have a life outside of my work!!!! :D

Anyway, welcome aboard one and all I hope you enjoy the journey!

These lyrics always touch a chord in me. Not sure why but I get very emotional when ever I hear them....

The main part for me is Line 5 thru 10. <sigh>

And I wonder
When I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when

She sang

Breathe out
So I can breathe you in
Hold you in
And now
I know you've always been
Out of your head
Out of my head I sang

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I know I've been ranting about my money turning up (sorry folks) and it still wasn't in my account by this morning (although I have been assured it'll be there tomorrow - which gives me an afternoon/evening to find and book a hotel in Paris for Friday and Saturday nights - thanks bank!) but I needed to buy a few bits for Delphine as a belated Christmas present so headed in town with some *loaned* money.

Whilst there I was caught up in the *retail therapy* mindset at the HMV sale (again - I should really have a restraining order put on me not to enter that damn store....).

Apart from the pressies I picked up for Delphine (Firefly Season 1 and the Scissor Sisters and latest Interpol CDs) I ended up coming back with the following goodies for myself (I can justify this purchase by the fact I am soon to have a lot of money in my account - ok, lame excuse but hell it's made me feel better!):

CDs
Afrocelt Soundsystem - Volume 3: Further In Time
The Future Sound of London - Dead Cities
Kinks - The Ultimate Collection (44 tunes for only a £5!!! :p)
Miles Davis - The Complete Birth of the Cool (another double for a £5!!)
Joy Division - Still
Mr Scruff - Trouser Jazz
Mr Scruff - Keep It Unreal
Zero7 - When It Falls
Zero7 - Simple Things

So all in all I'm a bit of a jazzy and experimental Angus at the moment it seems. Not cutting my hair or stopping wearing black anytime soon though :D

Just to reenforce serpentstar's misguided opinion of me and also as a reminder to people........

Tally Ho (North Finchley) pub tonight from 8/8.30 for another First Wednesday of the month get together!!!

Be there or be somewhere completely different!!!

OK, I've been told this works by a good authority on the subject whose been to Japan and been to the club mentioned herein. Although being a married man (and with wife at the time) he didn't follow the steps but saw many others doing so. As silver_blue is probably the only single guy on my Friends list whose spent time in Japan I'm going to ask for his knowledge and experience on the matter (with the aim of making him completely blush and unsettled :p).

Anyway, without further ado.....

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PS - I'd like to quickly state now that THIS is NOT the reason why I've been so keen to go Japan for the last few years. I'm not 'totally' that shallow you know!*

*which implies a certain degree of shallowness in me admittedly :p

Hmmm....felt I should have done better on this considering I write. But then again I'm an uneducated writer so I should be pleased I still managed to rank up there with the high brows :p

Advanced
You scored 93% Beginner, 86% Intermediate, 87% Advanced, and 72% Expert!
You have an extremely good understanding of beginner, intermediate, and advanced level commonly confused English words, getting at least 75% of each of these three levels' questions correct. This is an exceptional score. Remember, these are commonly confused English words, which means most people don't use them properly. You got an extremely respectable score.

The Commonly Confused Words Test
http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=14457200288064322170

Oh, and yeah, the fact that I'm posting this before pub closing means I'm back home. The weather killed everyone else so once I'd had my grub (steak - yum yum) and a drink I braved the conditions and headed back to the warmth and familiarity of home :)

I'd heard about this one from a few sources but finally got a link from gmskarka_feed to an actual news account of the situation.

Basically an 18 year old student in Kentucky has been arrested on Terror Charges after his grandparents found, and handed to police, a short story he'd been writing about a school being overrun by zombies. Said school was not his own nor where any of the characters. Apparently in Kentucky it is a crime to make any threat involving a school or function - so I guess they should start banning a lot of films, novels, etc over there!

The student says it is all a big misunderstanding as the story was for his English class whilst the judge has upped his bond from $1000 to $5000 due to 'the seriousness of the charge'.

Now there is a ton of things that should disturb everyone about this story but apart from the fact that he's currently in custody over writing a 'zombie' story it's also bloody worrying that HIS grandparents handed in the story to the police in the first place. 1984 anyone?

Student Arrested For Terroristic Threatening Says Incident A Misunderstanding (LEX18; Wednesday 2nd March 2005) (Lexington Kentucky News Station)

Now I'm one of these people who DOESN'T LIKE STAR TREK. Sorry, needed to get that out of my system. The show does nothing for me (well, apart from Tribbles and Borg outfits) and I actually think it's very poor compared to a number of other programs. I'll admit to watching the original series on BBC2 when I was a kid and I saw a few of the earlier films, I even caught a few Next generation episodes I think but none in their entirity I'm fairly sure.... anyway, I'm digressing.....

The fact of the matter is that are there are plenty of MORE WORTHY causes to be raising money for. A group of fans (TrekUnited) is campaigning and trying to raise up to $30 million (or a good chunk thereof) to keep the latest Star Trek incarnation alive ('Enterprise') after it was canned by the US TV Network. Apparently a new season would cost that sum and they are holding meetings all over the world trying to raise the cash and protest at the shows cancellation. They have just received a pledge of $3 million from some people involved with the space flight industry. Now come on guys, I was upset when they canned Buffy/Angel/Firefly but there are better ways to spend money than raising it for new season - regardless of the show (and how I'd have loved any my favourites to have been extended) and ESPECIALLY STAR TREK!!!!

LET IT DIE!!!!!!

Anyway, it hit the news and you can read the story at Star Trek Campaign 'Raises $3m' (BBC News Online; Wednesday 2nd March 2005)

So please, if you're thinking of giving some money to TrekUnited. Think of the starving in Africa, the homeless on your own streets, Cancer or sufferers of other illnesses and think who 'really' needs that money more.

I'm wrapping up voting on The Angscars: The Alternative Oscars tomorrow so if you still haven't voted please do so within the next 48 hours :)
Competition is still very hot although two films are beginning a final push over the others.
I'll try and announce the results before I head to Paris, failing that I'll do it when I return on Sunday (if I do manage to go that is...)

Oh Oh Oh!!!! Just found that the first teaser for 'A Scanner Darkly' has been released to the net :D Now Philip K. Dick (who incidently died on the 2nd March) is one of my all-time favourite authors. For those of you who don't know his books you'll certainly know many of the films based upon them (including Bladerunner, Minority Report and Total Recall). Anyway, A Scanner Darkly looks very good so far.
A Scanner Darkly Teaser

And for gweenwarrior (and anyone else who hasn't seen it yet) here is a list of sites you can watch the utterly brilliant SIN CITY trailer on!!!