01/26/03

I thought it was needlessly cruel of the Superbowl organizers to inflict upon us Canadian Celine Dion singing 'God Bless America' before the game, thus tarnishing an otherwise enjoyable afternoon's entertainment. There were some good commercials too. The FedEx Castaway piss-take was cool, as was the GMC one of the dude choking in the truck, but the best one was probably the Reebok commercial with Terry Tate, just because of the amusing Office Space reference.

01/23/03

Should I take the plunge and delve into the world of digital cameras? I've been toying with the idea of finally purchasing one, as I think it might suit my photography needs, but I've always been skeptical about the quality of the images, and the overwhelming emphasis on automatic features. But this Olympus C-4000 seems to have got some good reviews, balances absurdly complicated automatic features with a totally manual mode, and it retails for under $500.

01/18/03

Strange things in Albertson's again.

I should've been working.

A night out in the Mission.

01/15/03

The Windscreen Gallery is a cool little idea dedicated to showcasing photos taken through car windows. A couple of my pictures are on this site.

01/14/03

Whoever thought that the "reply all" function in email clients was a good idea should be shot.

01/09/03

Be careful who you call an idiot! Here's a movie that completely passed me by until I caught it on IFC last night: The Dinner Game (Le Dîner de Cons) is an exquisitely crafted and very, very funny French farce, that had me laughing out loud and has great performances by all involved. No gimmicks, no flashy effects, it's completely entertaining from start to finish.

01/08/03

Was I bitten by a spider, and did it lay its eggs in my brain? Yesterday morning (Tuesday) I woke up and found I had a small bruise under my left eye, which felt a little like I'd got a black eye from being punched in the face after getting ripped to the tits on PCP and starting a fight in a pub. It got worse during the day, and during the evening felt kind of uncomfortable, and looked to be darkening further. This morning (Wednesday), I woke up and found that my neck was swollen, and that my legs ache. The bruise is still under my eye, and still feels sensitive, but doesn't seem to be darkening that much anymore. A number of theories have been expounded to me by colleagues and friends including an allergic reaction to something, a potential fever, sleepwalking, and best of all, a spider bite. Funnily enough, I don't feel any loss of energy or fatigue, but it's all a tad peculiar nonetheless.

01/07/03

Anything and Everything: sweet little presentation of Lomo photos and commentary from users.

01/05/03

There's this great site which was a Yahoo! Pick of the Day on January 3rd called The Ticketstub Project where users can submit those ticket stubs they've kept that hold some significance or stand as a piece of personal history. I'd always kept an old ticketstub from a Mike Watt concert that was scheduled for September 11th, 2001. Obviously, the show was canceled and rescheduled later, but it was only when I dug it out again that I noticed it was more significant than I thought. See it here, and tell me whether or not those supporting bands aren't just a little spooky and haunting considering the date.

01/04/03

Oh dear, oh dear. I've just wasted over two hours of my life struggling through Gosford Park. Was this film really deserving of so many Oscar nominations? It was thoroughly over-hyped! It feels over ambitious and doesn't work because of this. There are too many obnoxious characters to become acquainted with that half way through, the viewer just doesn't care that much anymore. Then, along comes Stephen Fry (an actor and writer whose work I usually very much enjoy) and his performance is completely embarrassing. As a study of the social differences in 1930s England, it does not succeed, because it fails to be compelling. As a murder mystery, it also fails because it lacks suspense, and it takes an hour-and-a-half before the actual murder is committed... but I'm sure die-hard Altman fans will say that was the point. There's a lot of great actors here going to waste in one of the most pretentious and incredibly vacuous pieces of filmmaking I've witnessed in a long time.

OK, rant over for today.

01/02/03

I finally booked a flight back to the UK for the end of February. It's really been a long time since I've been home to London, and it'll be nice to see my folks again and hang out with my friends there, plus I've always wanted to use my Lomo in the city streets. The last time I visited was April 2001. Time just flies by way too fast...

01/02/03

The nice things of 2002 (in no particular order):

1. The delights of DVD.
2. How much my parents enjoyed their first visit to the USA.
3. Watching England in the World Cup.
4. Modifying my car.
5. Reading some great books.
6. Remaining vaguely sane.
7. Curb Your Enthusiasm.
8. Taking photos of dogs.
9. Visiting the truly northern part of California.
10. Eating more sushi in one year than I ever have in my entire life.

The not so nice things of 2002 (in no particular order):

1. Enron, Worldcom, et al.
2. A misguided president leading the nation into another futile war.
3. Watching England lose in the World Cup.
4. People talking and making noise in movie theaters.
5. Snipers.
6. The weather here wasn't that great, frankly.
7. Taxes.
8. Getting food poisining twice.
9. Sitting in a cubicle pushing buttons.
10. American Idol.