Imagine living your life as normal, with the odd weird thing happening, only to find out in adulthood that you've actually got special powers.
Similar to boy wizard Harry Potter, whose magical powers were unknown to him until he was made aware of his wizarding heritage at the age of 11. And so it ends, and that's where I've been; reading the final instalment of the series. I had to read the Deathly Hallows as quickly as possibly in case some bastard tried to ruin it for me. Four days isn't bad for me; I'm quite a slow reader.
I really enjoyed this one - a fitting end to a most enjoyable literary era. When you think about it, it's been quite unique; all these millions of children growing up with Harry and chums. With each book, the stories darkened, the writing style aged accordingly too.
So that's that.
Under the weather
Parts of the midlands have quite literally been under the weather since torrential rain caused heavy flooding at the weekend. Many towns are cut off, without a fresh water supply, without electricity. Vulnerable people have been airlifted from their homes. Those who remain can only wade through deep water to get to the shops, shops that have very little stock. Bottled water is being dropped off to the stranded by RAF helicopter. It's something akin to a third world disaster zone.
I was watching the scenes on the news the other morning and it occurred to me that Tesco were really missing a trick. With all their billions, how come they haven't invested in a few Chinooks and a frigate to drop off provisions bought through their online shopping service?
Excitement
This weekend sees me and Trump going on a Pride parade in the town where she grew up and now works. It's not the most cosmopolitan place on the planet and is seen to be home of some very polarised communities: large areas of solely muslim occupants separated from solely white areas. The demographic profile has caused problems and has been a magnet for extremist trouble makers on both sides.
A gay pride parade is probably about the only thing that will unite them.
Ain't diversity a wonderful thing?
If you're in the North West on Saturday and have nothing better to do, come along and show your support. You can contact me for details if you're serious.
If we survive the muslim extremists and BNP and get through Saturday, Sunday sees us pick up Little Rocky. Little Rocky? Who?
This is Rocky:
I've never had a dog before. I am excited.
At the moment, he is a furball, but once he is grown a bit and clipped to shape, he'll be a miniature Schnauzer.
I think the priority is getting him an appropriate neckerchief, but Trump is thinking of boring things like toilet training and discipline. I think Looshkin will have his face off within a minute if she's given the chance.
Updates to come.
Now... HEROES!
At the moment, he is a furball, but once he is grown a bit and clipped to shape, he'll be a miniature Schnauzer.
I think the priority is getting him an appropriate neckerchief, but Trump is thinking of boring things like toilet training and discipline. I think Looshkin will have his face off within a minute if she's given the chance.
Updates to come.
Now... HEROES!
11 comments:
I'm so excited I could pee.
The cat will love him. We can get her a lead too.
I was the only person in Asda not buying a Harry Potter book on Saturday, at about half-past-midnight. The cashier was stunned and didn't seem to understand. I didn't want to tell her "I'm broke and so have downloaded it, and read it already", so I claimed my Sister had it, and I would read hers. The people in the queue still didn't understand why I wouldn't want one of my own, like a talisman, as though each one were, say, a Horcrux (tm), but fuck'em. I was only there because I was giving a lift to someone who neeeeeeded the book, like now. Half the people there had brought the likkle kiddies. What's the point? Give it to them in the morning. They can't read anyway, they'll just have to wait for you to read it to them. Those few of them who can read do so so slowly that it's not worth losing sleep over the twelve pages they would manage between midnight and morning. Scorn@"kids today".
The book was OK.
I watched Heroes tonight, too. It had been recommended to me. The recommender has tastes mostly different to mine, but they were sure I'd like it.
It was fun enough, but the second episode was a bit jarring, the way it seemed to have been made exclusively for people who are watching TV whilst doing other things. Recap, fine. 5-minute recap for each person on screen, as they appear, yaawn. Footage so good they had to use it twice! Very funny accents ¦¬) Woeful acting from the Spiderman character in particular. Rubbish, actually, from the dialogue/acting point of view (apart from the played-for-laughs Japanese sections), but a fun timekiller so far. When it starts to take itself seriously, which I'm sure it will in the next episode, then I suspect it will become something very like "Lost", which I really didn't rate at all. As long as the overall plot remains ambitious and interesting then it will remain watchable, but my impression so far is that if it pulls it off it will be because people remain fascinated with the fantasy of the idea, and despite the acting. Maybe it will surprise me! I know lots of people have seen the entire series already and there seems to be a buzz so it certainly hasn't been a failure for all, so I look forward to watching part 3.
They've ripped ideas off shamelessly, though, haven't they. Unbreakable, X-Men, you name it, if it shares a tangential idea with this series, then that's because this series has robbed and pillaged it wholesale. So far anyway. And wasn't that the dude from Smallville who the regenerating cheerleader is trying to get into? I don't watch it but I've seen the trailers. I know they try to grab people who conform very closely to one of a few templates, but was it he? Because that's just.. impatient. You can't be a cameo when your series is still running and too recent to be a classic of the genre, it's "not ready", like Grolsch adverts.
If you keep the dog, please cut the hair on it's face so it can actually see out, if it gets in the way. It's always made me sad to see these poor designer bastards whose eyes are always running and causing stained fur round them, or who have too much hair to see through. The irony of being blinded just so you are "fun" to look at.
I think you should breed Shnauzers and set them on the BNP. They wouldn't feel so big and brave then. (The BNP that is, not the Shnauzers).
What's BNP?
Aak
PS. Trump - if you get a lead for the cat, I promise you, one of you will die. Either she'll get all tangled up in it and choke herself out, or she'll smother you in your sleep. No bueno either way.
BNP are nazi facist c*nts who cause no end of hassle for the town in which I work/was born in.
No lead for the cat. She hates me enough as it is.
Loz actual has some good points.
Heroes does recap a bit too much. but I'm willing to forgive that.
And maybe a lot of ideas are pinched from comics, but then Quentin Tarantino does that with flims and everyone loves him for it.
If there's one thing I like more than invention it's re-invention.
Generally Heros is brilliant! I've seen a bunch more episodes than Loz and it rocks.
"Save the cheerleader. Save the world."
Thank you Spleenal, you have doused my ember-like misgivings in cool, refreshing hope. Reinvention is cool and fun, very good point, though can be so dismaytastic when it goes wrong just because it always holds such great potential.
I'm actively looking forward to more now, cheers. In fact, I'm even going to resist the temptation to download the lot and watch them serially in a couple of sittings. If you reckon it's good, then I'll enjoy the anticipation.
That cheerleader, though. I wouldn't bother saving her because of this (paraphrased):
"This sucks, I can't be killed or injured, how am I supposed to enjoy my life now?"
Fuck riiiiight offffffffff!
I quite like Heroes, although I see Loz's point about it being a bit derivative. But you know what? Who cares? It's entertaining.
Harry - I had to read it 3 times before it all sank in and I was finally able to put the book down and read something else. And I was one of those nutjobs waiting in the bookstore until 2 am for my copy. Stayed up until 7:30 am to read it all, too. Yes, it's all done, and rather neatly, too. I'll be rereading that series of books for years to come, though.
The pup is adorable. Don't worry about the cat - she'll establish dominance right quick, if she's smart.
Okay, so now I know what BNP is. What does BNP stand for - and by that I don't mean their political platform, but the initals BNP.
My cat tripped me and made me fall down the stairs. She said she was sorry, but I don't think it was an accident.
Aak
Trump here.
BNP stands for British National Party. Or Bloody Nuisance Party if you want to be nice about it. Bastards, the lot of them.
Rocky = -38 hours and counting.
Ooh, haven't you got hairy arms, Sniffy? Heh heh!
The only bad thing about Heroes is that there're too many main characters - just as someone's story gets going, it's cut short to focus on someone else. It's still bloody brilliant, though. 1st season has just finished on Sci-Fi channel and I can't wait for the 2nd now.
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