almost witty

Had to get up at some ungodly hour (like 6am ?!) to head to the air show. We still ended up queueing for a couple of hours but we were much closer to the air base and got there in plenty of time to see some action. One plane emitting a *lot* of smoke. Otherwise, it was planes going up, down, up, around, loop the loop, loud, quiet, or just standing still so we could all admire them. Sometime it all got a bit too much for us and we just napped.

It was also funny listening to the commentaries from either the Italian pilots (very enthusiastic), American pilots (all military and boastful… like boasting that they hadn’t lost a single plane in combat against Iraq, but not mentioning that there was a lot of friendly fire) - whereas the British pilots seemed relatively stand-offish and quiet.

British Airways had a stand with a virtual Boeing 737 simulator - so I thought, great, plonked down my £10. I’d have had a better experience with MS Flight Simulator and a paddle or something - total waste of money. As was being charged £1.50 for some chips.

The Stealth Fighter flew by, and that was quite cool to look at - although I missed the stealth bomber. Probably the Italian team were the best. We were going to stay for the Red Arrows but the exit routes from the base were already getting clogged, so we decided to leave early. My sister drove back to her place, while I caught the bus back to Swindon, for an uneventful trip back to Cardiff reading John Simpson’s book, and his eyewitness accounts of his night at Tiananmen Square, amongst other things.

Got back to Cardiff - flatmate S seemed in a foul mood, and she was on this computer for just forever. Sorted out a couple of emails, packed my suitcase ready for my Greek holiday. The more I read about Crete and Greece, the more I realise that it may well not be my ideal place - but on the other hand, maybe all I need is a relaxing holiday on a beach where I can meet new people, and I can forget about the architecture, the history, and trying to blend in with the local populace. It was quite nice just lying in the sun today with my new specs

Well, it’s been a hectic week. Let me see…

Friday 12 July 2002: hired a Transit van to get me from London to Cardiff. That journey was painless - although I’d cycled to the depot and forgot to bring my bike with me. So I had to drive back, tail between my head (or whatever the term is)… drove to London, stayed overnight.

Saturday, the heavy task of moving my worldly goods from the top floor of the flat to the back of a transit van. Helped by my sister and her boyfriend. Although we got interrupted by two people wanting to look at the flat — www.michael.phatcatz.net/awtv/house - and my neighbours and stuff. After my sister left, I had to talk to Barry before driving back to Tywyn via Milton Keynes. Except the boxes were packed so that at the first gentle application of the brakes, half the boxes nearly flew over my darned head. So by the time I got to Milton Keynes, I was a wee bit pissed off. Still, drove home with no complications.

Sunday, unpacked the van with everyone’s help, and stacked boxes along one wall of my old bedroom as well as upstairs. By the end there was stuff everywhere! I was also going to take my widescreen TV down to Cardiff, but my parents helped me decide to swap the widescreen TV with the Sanyo TV I’d bought for them a while ago. Fortunately, as by the time I got to Cardiff I was in no fit state to try and lug a huge widescreen TV around the tight corners of the flat. It was bad enough for the Sanyo TV, since the remote control wouldn’t work once I plugged the TV in! So I went to bed convinced I’d broken it…

WARNING: This was written over 10 years ago, and I think marks the beginning of a vague attempt at a diary-style update. If you bear in mind I was 23 then and had no real idea who I was writing to, let alone about … it’s cringing to read now but I’m putting it up for archival purposes!

Well, since I last updated this page, some interesting things have happened. Most notably a General Election due to be held in 10 days time. The two main parties seem to have the same policies, so the Conservatives tend to just attack, Labour take the moral high-ground most of the time, and the Lib Dems do a sniper action on both parties. Pity really, seeing I’d vote Lib Dem if I’d actually been able to register to vote in time…

The depressing thing is that when I look at the news, all I see is election, election, election. But when I get home, no-one could give a figs’ leaf. No-one’s even trying around here. Mind you, this is one of the safest Labour constituency seats, and it’s 50% populated by ethnic minorities - and obviously no-one seems to want their vote. Mind you, my MP has come out of the closet as a Trekker, so at least he has a vague personality…

But who cares about politics? You want to know what’s happened to the Spice Girls this week! Also, apparently the primary school populace want Mel B and Scary Spice to become the next Prime Minister. John Major was challenged to name the Spice Girls, and he managed two of them (not too bad for a man of his age…). I read through the new Spice Girls book Girl Power! in 10 minutes at Woolworths, and amongst all the absolute drivel, came the gem that the girls apparently thought that their video “2 Becomes One” was a special effects extravaganza. Sorry girls, but standing in front of a blue screen, is not exactly the height of special visual effects. Your other videos were better in this regard!

Staying on music, the theme from the latest Levi advert’s been released, and it’s actually the most distinctive thing on British radio at the moment. No guitars, and no driving drum beats either - quite unusual these days. Though I have to admit, Robbie Williams’ new song isn’t too bad either. I didn’t even realise it was him, but any song that has the line “I hope to live to see the day, the Pope gets high” can’t be too bad. Pity the chances of me getting high are rather minimalistic…

The Pet Shop Boys have recently announced tour dates, which is good news. Unfortunately, they start slap-bang during the time my girlfriend’s in this country. Tough call. Also, I’ve got a wedding to go to this weekend, which is costing me a ruddy fortune. Gawd knows how much it’s costing them, but I’d wager it’s equivalent to the National Debt! Still, good luck to them - especially if they’re reading this! Which reminds me, Jo and Darren, where’s my invite to your wedding ?!

I was recently offered a job as Project Manager with Janes’ Information Group, but eventually for some unfathomable reason, I turned the job down. Still, the job I’m at isn’t too bad - the Head of Sales from BBC Books came in, and left me with enough promo material to house a folder - and I get to read books all the time. Plus I’m off to the Internet Show this week - see you there?

WARNING: This was written over 10 years ago, and I think marks the beginning of a vague attempt at a diary-style update. If you bear in mind I was 23 then and had no real idea who I was writing to, let alone about … it’s cringing to read now but I’m putting it up for archival purposes!

Well, this Sunday I thought I was going to see The Hamster Factor, a documentary on the making of the superb Terry Gilliam film 12 Monkeys - alas I’d forgotten to buy the tickets beforehand and it was sold out. Plus, previous to that I was taking my friend for some dim-sum in Gerrards’ Street, London (Chinatown) but it took forever to get served at the restaurant, and when we were served the food was a wee bit over-steamed. So not a good day.

It was rounded off by us traversing six lanes of traffic to see Hamlet - the four hour version by Kenneth Branagh. I don’t know about anyone else, but to me half the time the characters were speaking complete gobbledegook with the odd catchphrase that has permeated itself into British culture - “Neither a borrower nor a lender be”, “A tradition more noticed in the breach than in the performance” (or something like that)… The chromakey was awful and Kate Winslet should win the award for person most likely to be a Doctor Who companion. But all in all, a big epic film technically well done and to me, any film with both David Yip, Don Warrington and Charlton Heston in it can’t be that bad!

Oh, and surprise surprise Spice Girls are no.1 with their new single. Unfortunately, it’s a Comic Relief single which continues the annoying tradition of not even being remotely funny. Let’s face it, it would have gotten to No.1 without Comic Relief’s help. Still, it’s all for a good cause. Though I seem to remember a group called Right Said Fred, who were big at the time, did a Comic Relief single, everyone loved them - even the critics. And then their second album disappeared without a trace, only to emerge in bargain bins all over England and the US.

At work, we were discussing the phenomenon that is The Spice Girls - it’s not a good news day unless I can squeeze a Spice Girls mention into the “Books in the News” column at Bookpages! And I was reminded by the Wannabe video, and the god-awful clothing they wore in that one. Still, they’ve dressed themselves up (?) a bit - their performance at the Brits was rather stunning, if I may say so myself.

Well, it’s back to late nights at Bookpages - especially if I’m going to get time to do this redesign of the site - so bye for now!

WARNING: This was written over 10 years ago, and I think marks the beginning of a vague attempt at a diary-style update. If you bear in mind I was 23 then and had no real idea who I was writing to, let alone about … it’s cringing to read now but I’m putting it up for archival purposes!

Well, here I am back in Blighty after having been in Hong Kong for the last two weeks, at the behest of my parents. And eating humble pie, it’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Some of the best food in the world (orange spare ribs are an absolute must, as are the delectable Chinese bakeries), combined with enough toys to satisfy even the jaded geek techie… Of course, one of the major problems was that my Cantonese isn’t particularly fantastic (about as good as John Redmond’s Welsh) and as a consequence, your average market trader wasn’t that keen to be friendly with me.

However, going to Hong Kong has reminded me of the fact that it still exists - something I wasn’t sure of while living in the UK! It’s England’s last great colony - you would have thought that by now there’d be whole reams of books, tapes, documentaries and so on all dedicated to the story of Hong Kong and the Opium Wars. Hell, it’s only 1997 and we’ve already got the Chronicle of the Century! But so far, all I’ve heard in terms of media coverage for 30th June 1997 is that the BBC will mount its’ biggest outdoor broadcast (though since it’ll be 4pm in the afternoon UK time, I doubt many people will see it) and China’s contributing a film called Opium Wars, about how Hong Kong was handed over to the British to begin with. However, if someone wants to throw me a book, or even guide me to a good one, I will be more than grateful!

On the music front, I find myself shamefully enjoying with great gusto Mark Owen (ex Take That)’s new single Clementine… certainly far better than his previous effort Innocent Child, or summat like that. Other new singles I like include Republica and Ready To Go, Don’t Speak by No Doubt. There’s also some kind of country & western song haunting me called Blue, which I can’t remember who it’s by or anything.

In films, England’s still catching up with the films I saw when I was in the USA over Christmas. Mars Attacks! is now out, to a hopefully better reception than the Amerikanski gave it - though if I was running Warner Brothers with the aim of making money, I wouldn’t have invested US$100m in it! As for Michael, alright it’s pathetic and annoying, but it does have a certain charm. And I like Andie Macdowell anyway.

Television may well be the drug of the nation, but it soothes my brain after a hard day Web designing They’re showing the mini-series Asteroid at the moment on ITV, and despite the fact it’s *remarkably* similar to the film Meteor (1982) starring Sean Connery, which includes the seminal moment when they launch nuclear missles into space and fragments from the aster… sorry, meteor end up engulfing Hong Kong in a tidal wave, I liked it. Maybe it’s because I have a strange fascination for works of art where everyone dies! On the other hand, it’s good to see Michael Biene back in a leading role of some sort - he even gets to tell people to “stay cool”…

Well, that’s all for now… catch you later!