bulkbrit

Since Virgin Mobile UK put up their prices effectively doubling our phone bill, I've been looking for alternatives. One of the problems is that we are limited in which networks work at our house and where Steve works. We get tmobile, O2, and Orange networks with a good enough signal to use at home with Orange and O2 being the strongest signals. Vodafone really doesn't work at all.

I've been looking for PAYG deals on the main networks and on MVNOs and I think I've finally found a great deal, new start up giffgaff looks like it could be a great deal for us, especially as it uses the O2 network. I've ordered a SIM which I'm hoping will arrive soon. I've already got a Tesco SIM (also on O2) so I can wander round with a phone this weekend to check signal levels in all the usual haunts.

I'll see what the Virgin bill is like this month, and if it's as high as last months I'll order up a second giffgaff SIM and transfer the numbers in the new year.

WTF?

I still don't get it. What on earth has this imagery got to do with a liqueur? I read the marketing speak but, as expected from marketing people it's total bollocks that makes no real sense.

Alice



Alice in Wonderland was written by an opium riddled pedophile, creating social satire of the British government/class system. Given that, some fantastic adaptations have come forward with varying degrees of darkness. American McGee's Alice was a lot of dark suicidal fun while Disney's Alice in Wonderland showed you what bitches flowers can be. Looking at you Iris.

Alice is a hugely popular icon in the nerd/subversive culture and I am always apt to check out any new interpretations. I'm not in love with Wonderland as much as some of my friends but I have read the dark comic series, read both books and still enjoy the Mickey Mouse cartoon Through the Looking Glass. Also, there is a hugely appropriate comment on winning in the Caterpillar's rhyme.



The previews for SyFy's Alice had some very promising elements. First and foremost, Kathy Bates. Followed by Tim Curry and the guy who plays Roman on Big Love. Fun! Plus it looked like it was done over in a Sci Fi world with a 1960s modern aesthetic. Fantastic.

Unfortunately, the writing and pacing of this show was absolutely brutal. Watching it in downloaded form, the original four hours without commercials made the entire show 3 hours. Good god, ask Ryan. I was dying. Dying trying to make it through this thing. It was ridiculously boring, with only a few moments of cool concepts not fully realized. The romance between Alice and the Hatter, the Queen's ultimate plan...none of it makes sense. That might be fantastic for Wonderland except that this is clearly the product of bad character development/plotting.



This was clearly a big budget production and man, what a sad case of resources and talent wasted. Kathy Bates does the best she can, so does Tim Curry. The end result, complete and utter feeling that this was a made for TV movie with a first draft script. I would be thrilled to take what they made, re-write it several times, flush it out and discuss. If you had the time to make the plot more solid, the characters more developed and the scenes more cleverly designed, the show could actually be artful. Unfortunately, it fell incredibly short.

Totally forgot to come back here and do a post interview update. It went well. I liked them and the sound of the job, I think they liked me too. Now I wait to see if I make it to the next round. They won't be making calls about the next interviews until after New Year's so I am in a holding pattern.

What is apparently not in a holding pattern is my waistline! I am up another 5lbs to 396lbs! And to be honest I don't feel like I am really trying that hard. Yikes, I could top 400 again by the time the ball drops on New Year's eve! I gotta watch it though, my new dress shirts are definitely on the tighter size and gaining much more would mean I needed to buy new shirts, shirts I cannot afford at the moment. So that stresses me out but on the flip side...

Oh man do I feel fat! Like I can feel myself reinflating. My belly just feels huge lately, the rolls of fat under my arms (the tit rolls if you will) feel like giant soft pillows that get in the way sometimes. I even feel myself waddling a bit. My forearms are starting to get fat again too. It all feels great. It truly does. Now if only I had a job so I could afford to speed the process up!

... fattening snacks, and it's one of the things I like most about December.

In particular Jacobs Cheese Footballs and Twiglets both of which I remember from my youth. I do remember, however, that Twiglets used to be a lot longer than they are now.

I know I can get Twiglets any time of year and I'm sure the same is true of cheese footballs, but nostalgia dictates that Christmas is the only time to buy them ...

Editor:

Recent events have once again highlighted the gross problems our nation faces without a democracy securely in place. We find ourselves yet again subject to the whims and decisions of a tyrannical government with little thought to the wellbeing of us, the people. I would like to examine the last few weeks of egregious breaches of trust that our current leader has engaged in and point out that the majority of the problems lie in our lacking of properly defined democracy.

1. Crime

Let's be frank. The entire country has known for a long time that there were serious abuses of 'business' conducted by a known criminal on the borders/outskirts of our nation. Rather than support a death penalty option and punish this scourge, our leader simply sent the woman away. Out of sight, out of mind, I suppose. Away to where? To a location where she could conduct her business in a more obscured and frankly, less policed area of the country. How many of our citizens have since fallen prey to her heinous acts of bait and switch, only to wind up in personal bondage? Our leader practically facilitated the creation of a ghetto in our waters. This raises an additional question: why physical abuse, bondage and slavery are apparently legal in this country? What kind of leader allows a known criminal to continue her wheeling and dealing in dangerous mediums that always, ALWAYS, results in the slavery/bondage of our people? Name a contract that woman has crafted that has not ended extremely badly for our citizens. Our leader should be held responsible: apathy is the worst crime of all.

2. Homeland Security

It has been a long standing policy in this nation to not let other countries have any working knowledge of our people. Period. The obvious maxim of 'on a fisherman's hook' has large implications should any security be betrayed. In the past few weeks, we discovered as a people that not only has our leader's daughter compromised this security in a massively dangerous fashion but ultimately, he supported her decision. There were no political committees or meetings to discuss whether this was the appropriate time to breach the safety of our people. Instead, our leader unilaterally moved forward by providing potential enemies with locations, intricate knowledge of our political structure and an obvious target for kidnapping by allowing his daughter's marriage to be so highly publicized.

3. Negotiating with Terrorists

This act on behalf of Triton seems to be the biggest security breach, the largest insult to our intelligence as a people and ultimately, the clearest indicator that we need a new government. Leaders must make hard choices that ultimately protect and serve the people of the nation. When presented last week with this difficult decision, our leader was torn between the wellbeing of his daughter [not her mortal life mind you] and the actual potential destruction of us all. He chose to put ultimate power into the hands of a woman known to grossly abuse the laws and harm people when grasping even the smallest amounts of power. This man sold us as a nation to the most dangerous of enemies in order to save his daughter from an impetuous decision/contract that she by all rights had already signed. Thanks Triton. Glad to know that as a citizen living under your rule, if any of your daughters run afoul of any teenage mistake, the rest of us will be handed over to get her out of a jam. Thanks a lot. You have how many other daughters? Six?

Ultimately, I would push all of the citizens of this great nation to raise their voices and their force to demand that this country become a democracy where reason and logic prevail, not the whims of a monarchial family with little care for the average merman. We have survived an enormous breach of security, a crime wave that has lasted for decades and ultimately, now face the daunting future of our enemies knowing our location as fact. There is no time left for discussion. I humbly push my friends, family and countrymen to make this aquatic world a better place for our children to come. We fight now so they won't have to.

Regards,

DangerCocktail
Merman

Seriously? 10 quid for a pint of Guinness and a red wine? And it's not even remotely London.

At Steve's work Christmas do.

Occasionally things collide that you love and there is no possibility of being present for the explosion.

A Streetcar Named Desire starring Cate Blanchett



This play has been a constant favorite. The brute sexuality of Stanley, the papershade thin elegance of Blanche and the culminating horror of working class raping what used to stand for sophistication. There is a lot to mine there for discussion and analogy.

Then you add Cate Blanchett.

I first fell in love with Cate Blanchett in The Talented Mr. Ripley [brilliant film]. She had a secondary role, not even from the original book, but she imbues the character with depth that becomes more refined every time you watch the film. Meriedith Logue, the textile heiress with a presentation of mindless chatter and seeming superficiality, has a show stopping scene in its subtlety at the cafe when confronted with Gweneth Paltrow and Matt Damon's eventual in-film boyfriend. Cate manages to convey, through her continuing emotional abuse and apparently racing mind, that superficiality is an act and Meredith does indeed have a brain. It's subtle but extremely interesting. That movie is filled with complexity upon complexity upon murder.



Anyway, that is all to say, Cate adds layers to roles that are presented in an obvious light but are actually pointing to entirely different conclusions. This is the embodiment of Blanche DuBois. Her background, her goals, whether she deserves what happens or was caught in the wrong time period; you love debating whether she is the protagonist or antagonist. The argument can be made for Streetcar that it is decidedly feminist or actually a subtle commentary on the failings of women. I love ambiguity in dark shades.

The show is completely sold out at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. I will never see this show.



It is a funny feeling to know there is something out there, you know it exists. Aware of how much it would mean to you, you have to concede it will absolutely never happen.

...

I'm starting to trim up.

Christmas cards first, then outside lights, then trees. Because I'm doing it in stages quietly, it will take me until Friday evening.

Pictures will, no doubt, follow.

Well, the visit to South Wales was as expected, although the journey down was a lot faster than usual with light traffic and we actually got there at around 10pm so stopped in at Gwynfor and Ceri's for an hour to drop off their presents and cards before heading to Muriel's to sleep.

On Saturday morning we left at silly O'clock to pick up Ceri and head to Cardiff for some shopping. We got there at around 08:30, got prime parking, had a breakfast butty in the market followed by fifteen minutes sitting in Starbucks chatting over coffee. Having spent a couple of hours traipsing round the shops (with a coffee stop in there too) we had to head back to Bryncethin to meet Gwynfor and Muriel for lunch at the Masons Arms, which was "pleasant". Then we headed back to Muriel's place and after setting up her new bedroom TV (Christmas pressie from me and Steve) I started repairing things. The doorbell, her telephone, her stairlift, the electric jar opener, the upstairs Sky remote, and a couple of other things. She then wanted us to trim up for Christmas so we dutifully got the boxes from upstairs, put the tree up, decorated it, and hung stuff on the walls while she sat down and directed.

I slept well Saturday night!

Sunday morning was a trip to the dump with the old TV and loads of cardboard boxes, more family visits and then we headed home around lunch time. Another painless journey home, again traffic was light.

Sunday night I was very ill, throwing up and throbbing head all night. By teatime Monday I was feeling good enough to eat something, and this morning I'm feeling much better but I still have a lingering headache and gurgles going on. So thankfully whatever it was was short lived, and I expect to be fully recovered by tomorrow, which is just as well because I have to take the VW to Chester for a service.

I'm hoping that it's going to be fairly plain sailing now all the way to Christmas ...

Batman: Arkham Asylum



My endless knowledge and love of Silent Hill is followed secondarily by the world of Batman. Fueled especially by Batman: The Animated Series. I would come home from elementary school, eat a snack, do my homework and appreciate the rugged jawlines and Art Deco architecture of Gotham City. There were a multitude of episodes that centered around black tie galas and elaborate parties. Fantastic. It made additional sense that Bruce Wayne never really settled down with any of the throngs of women around him.

My favorite storyline from the series had to be the introduction of Victor Fries. It was heartbreaking in its cartoon simplicity. Nearly every villain in Gotham City was conceived through psychological tragedy or injustice. It was a dark world, almost realistic in its grand sweeping archetypes and I was immediately drawn in.

Not to mention the madcap antics of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy on their specialized episodes of girls having fun. Fun!

Anyway...

The video games centered around Batman have been godawful. Bad mechanics, bad storyline and bad design.

Until now.



Currently halfway through Batman: Arkham Asylum and it is an intricately created venture into Gotham City's most dangerous architectural masterpiece. The voices of Batman, Harley Quinn and the Joker [Mark Hamill] are directly carried over from BTAS and for the benefit of the story. The really enjoyable part of this new game is the combination of BTAS sensibilities with Christopher Nolan's series. You have the styling and beautiful grandeur of Art Deco combined with the gritty realism of Nolan. The guards, doctors and civilian bystanders are murdered and horribly killed by the criminals in this game. There is a reason Gotham City is so afraid of these sociopaths and the game illustrates that well.

Plus, NEW OUTFITS!

Harley



Poison Ivy




Rating so far: 8.5/10. Batman:Arkham Asylum is a solid game so far and I'm very much enjoying it. Took me a moment to realize I could back to areas of the Asylum I had already visited so that calmed me down from my constant and frantic searching. Cruising through now and enjoying the general beatdown of the beefy, hairy chested/stomached bad guys. Yes, I noticed. Some are hairy, some are smooth. What about it?

First snow of the season is on the way and I have the house to myself... full of leftovers from the party last night. I am totally resisting the urge to just go crazy and binge like mad because like I said earlier, I have a job interview monday and yes indeed my shirts are s-n-u-g! ... Ok, maybe a little gorging won't be too bad! hehe

Christmas shopping.