Tim's Tips for Tv (Part 2)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00lydf1/Classic_Goldie_Episode_1/

Heaven

On my trawls through the internet, I found this video of Good Day 21, an arcade in Tokyo where several world record high scores have been set. Oh my God, it actually looks like the best place on earth! An absolute, smoke-filled shithole. With awesome videogames. Magic.

CLASSIC MICHAEL #002

10/10/05 10:36

So had a pretty fantastic weekend.

On fri got to see deerhoof, who i'd been looking forward to for ages and ages, and they were predictably wonderful. So much great noise for such an unassuming looking bunch! The singer was about 4 foot tall, and came out with the most endearingly terrible dance moves ever, but she played guitar like a mother fucker, had a voice that could shatter glass, and was a totally incredable focal point. Perhaps even better was the drummer, who looked absolutely weedy, and played with only a bass drum, snare and a (broken) hi-hat, and still made the most amazing noise ever. Splinters of wood showered everywhere, wowee it was great. And i got their set list!!!! Hoorah. And autographs, and a t-shirt (which i got the singer to pick for me). This is why independant bands are so good to see live; for £15 (inc ticket + t shirt) i got an amazing gig, a chance to meet the band, and fashion advice too.

And then the next day, after getting up at 7 am ( :( ) i got to see becky!! After talking to a crack head on the train on the way over (why am i a magnet for drug adicts on public transport??) for over an hour, it made seeing her at the platform that much more wonderful. I saw her dingy little room (heh heh), her lovely flat, her quiet flatmates (made me realise how full on living in halls actually is) and the super posh wharf that she lives on. I swear she's turning into a yuppie. Totally amazing to see her, im jumping around even tho i'm knackered and ive got lots of work to do. Bt still, great wekend

GEEK(?) OUT!

Those of you with TV licenses might have seen this last night.

I did and it was a relatively interesting science program which the BBC seem to be pushing as the next Tomorrows World (The Day After Tomorrow's World if you like). Anyway, apart from the ham-fisted presentation there was some good fun SCIENCE in there, not least of which was the 'supersonic vortex cannon'. Now although they say in the piece that the vortex is travelling at 200MPH, or approximately mach 0.3 and therfore distinctly SUBsonic, the final contraption was properly incredible.

Then this afternoon in a fit of boredom I decided to go on the website, and found a surprisingly mature video on the genesis of the 'supersonic' vortex cannon - worth checking out for anyone interested in crazy science.

PICTURE: SMOKE RING CAUSED BY VOLCANIC VORTEX CANNON, APPERENTLY

SEE ALSO: PAST TIMSPLOITS

CRAZY SHIT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8170027.stm

Apparently they're called 'Bokodes' but I'm not convinced it isn't just the guys accent.

And on a completely unrelated subject, there was a program about Hunter S. Thompson on yesterday and it's well worth checking out on teh iplayerz.

EPIC PARTY

For the 14th August. Any ideas? I've been itching for another house party, but obviously, things would be a lot harder to organise now uni is dead and buried. I could just say HOUSE PARTY, invite everyone I know on Facebook and see what happens.

If anyone has some suggestions, I'm all ears. I can't wait to shed my theatrical shackles.

MESSAGE FOR TIMOTHY A BUTLER

Dear MR TIMOTHY A BUTLER

Thank you very much for your recent correspondance. We take the experiences of our house mates very seriously and strive at every possibility to make sure they receive the fairest possible service. In your message, received 25/07/09 00.04 BST, you indicated you were dissatisfied with the service you had been given regarding the notification of one or more event. I hope this automated message can elaborate on your problems and perhaps even supply some solutions.

EPIC PARTY

The concept of an epic party was fabricated between the hours of 12.00 and 14.00 BST on 24/07/09. Please note, it can take upwards of 6 working days to receive notification of an event. If you have not yet been formally notified, please acknowledge that this is a very busy time of year for Excalibur Cottage PLC, and that you will receive a notification in due time.

CAMPING TRIP

The event CAMPING TRIP is being organised by Fairstead Enterprises LTD, which although used to be a part of MICHAEL CORP, is now privately owned. As such, Excalibur Cottage PLC cannot accept responsibility for notification of this event, especially during the planning stages. However, I would like to inform you that a merger has been proposed, and consequently, it may soon be possible to 'invite' you to join in the planning of this event. As it stands, the following dates are viable possibilities:

19th-21st August, 2009, or

21st-23rd August, 2009.

The location will most likely be Sandringham, Norfolk.

I hope the information provided answers at least some of your questions.


Please note this is an automated email, and all replies should be directed somewhere else.

CLASSIC MICHAEL #001

01/10/05 20:46

I'm at Uni.

So i swore i would never do it,that i would never start a blog,but here i am,breaking my vow,so you guys better be happy.I have my own 'puter, the best room ever, and i'm as happy as larry. everone is brilliant and lovely and more than a little wierd:thank god there are no 'Hugo's'!I've been pretty wankered quite a lot recently,last nite especially dancing to cheese singing my little heart out, having beer thrown in my face (cheers charlene) so now i'm having a nerdy sat nite in front of my shiny new laptop (did you know you can listen to music on the internet?it's releeh releeh kewl).I'm now in a permenant room on the same block,aargh i'm quite hungover.Being catered rocks!Etc.well, just a kwick hi to you peeps,stay safe,love you all.

Mxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

And again

Yup, another link. But seriously, WTF. We've all seen bad tattoos, but bloody hell :/ getting stuff in your arm to put fake boobs on your tattoo :S :S

Nom Nom Bleargh

Shown this already to Mike and Mary, but this really is the best website ever.

Thank God I don't live in America, otherwise I'd be pretty dead right now.

edit: also this, good grief!

Chaz and Mike do....Derby!

A skip and a hop and a £4.60 Zig Zag away lives Nottingham's rival sister city Derby - a nice change for an average shopping day trip to Nottingham busy centre - or so we thought.. Actually yes, yes it was, it turned out to be an interesting and productive day out. We started our adventure on the extremely commendable Red Arrow service, which serves Nottingham, Derby and Chesterfield (another possible 'Mike and Chaz do' destination perhaps?) every 15minutes. It's advertised as a 20 minute journey between the QMC and Derby, but in reality it was more like 25/30.

Derby's main attraction is the new Westfield shopping centre [the advantages of which being pretty apparent in the already baking sun] a recent controversial development containing all the usual high street chains - Marks and Spencer, Topshop, H&M and so on and also a luxury cinema and a large food court - the latter being our first destination. It was pretty futuristic with its high ceiling and "Mexican-fusion" and "Asian Noodle" food. There was a large variety of choice, with many places to sit (often the downfall of a shopping centre food court) with choices ranging from "KFC" to "Jacket Potatoes" and "Pie and Mash!", after not much consideration we plumped for a "Burger King" meal of Cheese and Bean burgers. Mine was pretty average - a bit too dry for my liking. After lunch a bit of retail therapy temporarily soothed our empty souls, Mike bought a bargain of a suit from H&M for a mere £22 and I made good use of my discount.

Outide of the bright, air-conditioned Westfield, we found clear examples of the 'doughnut effect', i.e. many of the surrounding streets are filled with pretty grimy cheap shops or sad empty buildings. What appeared to be the central square, complete with grumpy goths and skater teens of course, was a concrete nightmare, with for some reason had a large screen showing a Wimbledon matches for an audience of no one. Even weirder was a small shrine underneath to the recently deceased King of Pop himself. Walking over, we had expected it to be a local death, but nope instead we found a few framed pictures of MJ. Resisting temptations to steal one, we wondered further around the city finding what would probably be one of the main reasons to visit again - an amazing guitar shop.

Foulds actually consisted of more than just guitars, but other instruments were located in a separate room downstairs, which we did not visit. The guitar part however, was good enough containing enough beautiful guitars for us to drool over - I myself enjoyed a black custom tele and Mike a black and red Ibanez and the lovely Jaguar. Also, of interest was a fairly strange bass, I've not come across before with some rubber strings, which looked quite fun to play. The shop itself, was set across many small rooms, across 3 floors, with a very extensive classical and acoustic room and a jazz guitar room that was closed, it felt a bit like a very strange house. We also enjoyed a room full of lovely Orange amps, a sight rarely seen in music shops outside of London, which made a nice surprise, another being the range of pedals, which as well your usual tasty range of multi-coloured Boss pedals and also not usual elctro-harmonix range there was also a welcome selection of Behringer pedals, for your not so discerning povo guitar player. While not as pretty as the aforementioned Boss range, these plastic beasts are overdraft friendly at more than half the price and the delay pedal has been quite tempting to me for some time, however, I have only seen them on the Internet - thus far. Whilst musing over the matter, Michael decided to jump right in and shit over my deliberations and decided to buy one for himself. As fate would have this be, it was the last one in stock. Typical. However, it also meant i still the money and also have the pedal to play with. Move over Mono indeed.It was definitely one the best music shops I've ever been in, more tall and cosy than your usual boring ones. Apparently, the first store was opened in Nottingham and was one of largest music stores in the country but sadly closed down during the depression, tis a great shame indeed.

As we walked towards the Cathedral we walked past the most grandiose and palatial Wetherspoons I've ever seen:



The picture here doesn't really do it justice. As you might have guess from its name, The Standing Order was once a bank with the old 1930s hall now as the main room complete with booths and books. Sadly, we didn't stop, but I would definitely like to go back for a drink one time. There seemed to be lots of interesting hidden pubs/bars around that might make it worth a good drinking trip someday!

Onwards from the Cathedral - which itself was a nice visit, but you know pretty much your average church and not really worth its own paragraph - we headed towards the 'Derby Museum and Art Gallery' , the ambiguity of its name a clue to the utter randomness of the shite that hid inside.



Reluctant at first to go and scared off by unwelcoming foyer and old people, I was finally persuaded when Mike pointed out some fossils on the floor. Our first point of call being the china/pottery gallery (see facebook for picture references). It was pretty boring, unless you're into that kinda stuff, my mum woulda liked it. The website tells me that it is a collection of 'international importance', I didn't really see it. We've similar stuff at home. Next, was some paintings by some famous Derby painter. Then we stumbled into the 'natural history' part, a wollaton-park-lite esque place, that was pretty 1970s BBC science, all dark and musty. This obviously led on to a military gallery featuring uniforms and a tank, a quick pose in a old army jacket and we then learnt about 'Bonnie Prince Charlie'. This was probably the only section where I actually learnt something, um, something about someone invading somewhere and then Prince Charles wrote a letter in a room and there was a storm. Other points of interest included the mummy room (a corner with two, count them, two mummies - British Museum eat your heart out) and a picture gallery about landscapes and then random exhibition about music. And there you go. All in all, pretty damn strange. For all its present over usage, random really is the word to describe the place.

And that was mostly it. Had Michael actually taken his finger out and actually done his contribution, this would have been published several weeks ago and be a bit more relevant. Although, we did drop by Derby the other day coming back from Insert Coin to have a cheeky pint whilst waiting for our connecting train to Notts. We stumbled across the infamous pub/venue the Vic Inn, which I had heard had shut down, but it was indeed alive and kicking and seemed a really nice place. I definitely vote Derby for the next pub crawl!

Lookatthis

http://2dgoggles.com/

Kings Lynn reaches Critical Mass in Shitness/Awesomeness Ratings

According to this dribbling mass, Kings Lynn is now the Proud New Home of Gary Glitter, who did something or other a while back and now no one likes him. Apparently he lives down Nelson Street, which is where I used to go and hang out, smoke fags and hide from life at the quay.

Anyone doing a bit of research on the Internet would have deduced that while Lynn might look all nice and cobble stoned and rustic, it's actually a shit pit filled with toothless simpletons and slack armed yoofs wondering around looking for nonces to bash. I would urge all peadophiles looking to relocate to safer climes to do some research before high tailing it to some rural idyl.

Worst Ideas for Blog Posts

1: Hot List (Under 16 edition)

2: Top Ten Bloated Corpses

3: MY FORESKIN

4: I Bet This Post Can Get Get 1000000 Comments

5: www.Self-catering-breaks.com is now becoming one of the largest sites on the internet

for people who wish to list their own properties!

Sleepy Man

Just finished 6 days of work on the trot. Some of them were bad boys, too. And at different times of night/day. I'm a bit of a shell of a man. In fact, it's taking quite a while to do anything, such is the extent of my braindead state.

But anyway, I have in front of me (with varying degrees of actual physicality)

1: 8 cans of Carlsberg, the shitest larger I will actually drink. It's not too bad, though I have a feeling tonight may end badly.

2: A bottle of 'Florida' flavoured Sunny Delight. Not quite as nice ever since the government forced them to remove 95% of the sugar (new sugar content: 5%)

3: A copy of Front magazine. The bint in Spa scowled at me. Actually scowled at me. It's not like it's porn. Well, it pretty much is, but it's not like the models look under aged. Well they do but, well never mind.

4: Monkey Dust, series 3. Obviously series 2 would be preferable, but you can't complain when it's gratis. Look, BBC, release it on DVD, and I will actually buy it.

5: Black metal, Transylvanian Hunger by Darkthrone. I've had a craving for BM all day.

6: THE INTERNET, awesome.

Oh My God I am Tired.

Youtube Link Post

Pretty embarassing, but so so..

Neoliberalizing Space

There are, in fact, many parallels between analytical treatments of globalism and those of neoliberalism. Both have been associated with a mode of exogenized thinking in which globalism/neoliberalism is presented as a naturalized, external “force.” Both ascribe quasiclimatic, extraterrestrial qualities to apparently disembodied, “out there” forces,which are themselves typically linked to alleged tendencies towards homogenization, leveling out, and convergence. And both have attributed to them immense and unambiguous causal efficacy: while conservative commentators emphasize the (ostensibly ubiquitous)benign effects of globalization, critics focus instead on the (just as pervasive)malign effects of neoliberalism. Yet their common flaw is that they have tended to naturalize and exogenize their object of study be this in the form of an all-powerful globalization process or the allencompassing politics of neoliberalism. Certainly, critical analyses do have the virtue of underscoring the inescapably political character of the globalization project and the hegemonic position of neoliberalism in global agencies and discourses. However, there is more to be done, both theoretically and empirically, on the specification and exploration of different processes of neoliberalization.

Tickell, A. and Peck, J. Antipode 34(3)382-383

Some thoughts..

Mike Style.

God, it's fucking hot.
Summer is SHIT.
Walked past Tim's room.
That's a big fan.
Thanks Tim.
Palms are sweaty.
Wonder how much weight I've lost through sweat today.
Nail varnish smells nice.
Might drink some lambrini.
Lambrini girls DO have more fun.
Re-discovered the joy of loud music.
Fuck you Social Club.
Need to do recyling.
Keep hearing noises.
Turn music down so as to hear the burglars.
No TV is a terrible idea.
Need to hoover the stairs.
Mould on hoover puts me off.
Smelt some mouldy pesto.
Might die.
How DO movements in the global South analyse neo-liberalism?
Want to play more Zelda.
House is lonely.
How do case-studies work?
Want to go out and dance more.
I'm a great dancer. Fuck you Michael.
Got no food.
Slightly addicted to Oreos.
Fabs aren't how I remember them.
Why aren't I better at guitar yet?
Why don't FOE want me?
I like my new notebook.
How will I end this post?
Looking forward to Oxford.
Look too manly in new uniform.
[...]

The Next Pub Crawl

So I guess we're getting fed up of Nottingham's pubs, even Beeston's. So what next? Japan obv. No, actually, some of these pubs seem kind of cool. For such a culturally homogenous country, it's weird to see that some people are turning to UK/European style beer, and not just expats presumably. The prices are pretty damn steep (£3 seems to be about as cheap as it goes, with £5 apparently being a very good deal for Guinness :O), but I guess if you have the cash to go halfway around the world, you wouldn't think twice about pissing away the best part of a tenner on a pint.