Kitty | The Painter of Modern Life

scoobygang63 @ 2009-05-16T14:05:00

2009-05-16T13:06:39Z

OMG best video of the week! It's an animated Star Trek music vid (Kirk/Spock, obvo, although not heavily so) set to Shatner's version of Common People. Brilliant!

Starting fights with fuckers.

2009-03-08T02:58:17Z

Some guy started on me in a club tonight, and it really pissed me off.">

This dude was dancing enthusiastically behind me and kept jamming with his elbows and slamming in to my back, clearly unaware/too drunk to notice/uncaring of the fact that this was a) painful for a slight woman b) annoying and c) unnecessary on a not too crowded dance floor provided he tone down the vicious gyrations. After one particularly violent body slam, I elbowed him off me. He took great offence to this and took hold of my arm to say, in a tone dripping with sarcasm: "Sorry if I got in your way."

Well, there you're implying I needed said space, when in fact I was already IN said space, and you just shoved me. Hard. So I replied: "Well, you kept jumping on me so I just figured I'd let you know I was here." I prepared to leave it at that. Oh no.

"Whatever," replies Agressive Dancing Man. "I didn't jump on you, and..." At this point I am no longer listening, because Agressive Dancing Man is RIGHT IN MY FACE, spitting his little tirade at me. Uh, not okay. I pushed him away from me to a decent distance, and getting angry myself I say "Fuck off you fucking dickhead." (I'm lovely, really.) "Oh! And again!" he yells, angry that I've pushed him away for a second time. I've had enough and turn away.

Then he utters the line that really fucked me off.

"You're not that hot."

WHAT?! How is that even minutely fucking relevant? How does my level of physical attractiveness come in to this argument about who shoved who first? Do I have less right to this space I am occupying on the dancefloor because you do not deem me to be attractive? Am I demanding space because I think I'm pretty? Am I here dancing because I think I'm pretty? Do you have the right to ignore the fact that I'm here, and then when I bring myself to your attention, to act aggressively towards me because you do not think I'm pretty? Please explain to me WHY IT MATTERS WHAT YOU THINK.

I replied, quite truthfully: "Well, neither are you." As in, why go there?

"Uh," he gets all disdainful. "I'm GAY."

At this I am completely stumped. You're gay. Uh, fine? Does my opinion on your attractiveness not count because YOU are gay? But YOUR opinion of MY attractiveness, a gay man judging a woman, DOES count. The implication is that this gay man clearly KNOWS where as my opinion is worth nothing.

And this frustrated and irritated me. The accepted stereotype of the fashion and beauty aware homosexual who is insightful and untouchable when it comes to judging the appearance of women is both incorrect, stupid and unhelpful. Perpetuated by the likes of the sickening Gok Wan, who passes judgement on women he supposedly feels a kinship with because he used to be fat, the myth that gay men are accurate and fair judges of female beauty has to end. Not only does this turn all gay men into camp charicatures along the Queer Eye line, which is simply not true, but by condoning this believe we breed a half-hidden misogyny which I have glimpsed in many gay men of my acquaintance. Whether it manifest as the seemingly harmless "Oh, I'll only hang out with women if they can be pretty accessories" or the downright insulting "I am an unquestionable judge of female beauty- do as I say". Either way, the most common attitude amongst gay men towards women appears to be that of exclusion and disdain.

I don't mean to generalise, and this cannot apply to all male homosexuals, but very few straight men have ever used "well, you're ugly" as a reason for being aggressive towards me, and the "I'm gay, so your opinions are worthless because you are a woman and you are not relevant to my world" argument is the worst and most sexist, bigoted thing anyone has ever said to me.

I am a woman, yes. And sadly for you, we make up half the world's population. So I AM relevant to your world, because I demand space in it. If you don't like it, you can have my fist in your face.

2009 resolutions.

2009-02-06T14:07:41Z

I feel like this year is going to be a crucial time for me. 2008 opened with me desperate to leave St Albans, where I no longer feel at home, depressed and confused. Despite some major money issues this year, I've spent most of it in London, living with Bethan and no matter how unhappy my work situation (or lack thereof) has made me, I love living here. I don't want to leave. Now my mother has started to guilt trip me about my apparent failure to find gainful employment, and is suggesting heavily that she expects me to move back home, broke and unemployable, at the beginning of this year.

For a while I thought she might be right. Sometimes I still do.

This year I can clearly see the two paths I can take. I can fail to find work, to scrape together my rent, and I can go back to my parents and be sad, and broken, and fail. Or, I can not. I can find work. I can do something, anything to avoid that fate. I drunkenly told a friend that I would rather, if it came to it, if I'd exhausted every possible option, throw myself off Tower Bridge rather than admit defeat. Too much pride, you see? And this is very melodramatic, I know, but I need to remind myself to be determined. To try other options. Hell, if I have to, I'll start over somewhere completely new. I'll run away to sea. Or something.

Perhaps my mum is being really clever here, actually, because nothing has ever motivated me more than her casual assumption that I will fail.

So that's resolution number one for 2009. Keep living my life. No one elses. Everything else is just a bonus.

But because "earn enough to pay the rent" is a little bit dull as resolutions go, I have at least one more so far:

I think I'm going to actually start running this year. I need to exercise, and it's cheaper than gym membership. I'll get some cheap running shoes to start with, and a sports bra, and I'll give it a go. It would be nice to be healthier, and my solid little beer belly would worry me less. I'm thin, but I'm not fit. And I think an exercised me might be a happier me, too.

scoobygang63 @ 2009-02-02T12:19:00

2009-02-02T12:24:03Z

I'm torn between wanting to stay in my nice, toasty flat and wanting to stomp around in the snow!

Sadly, none of my REAL footwear is in the flat- my fake ski boots (oh, how I wish for that fur lining now!) and my walking boots are all still at my parents house because the flat is too small to fit in things that I only use once a year. Which is sad, as it means I will get cold, wet feet. But the park is only twenty minutes away so I'll probably just risk it.

This morning there was a snowball fight of epic proportions in the car park outside my building, as all the hundreds of children who live in these tiny council flats poured outside to pelt each other. Will venture out a bit later on so as not to get caught in the crossfire.

Snow is so great when you actually don't have to leave the house!

Mostly squee.

2009-02-01T22:43:37Z

I watched the new episode of Being Human and I still love it! I love Mitchell, ~~because he is TEH SEX!~~ because he manages to convince as scary, broody, bloodlust-y vampire, but also as charming, friendly, perfect neighbour guy. I loved how protective he got over Annie, because I was really panicking with her over how creepy and sick Tully was, and I felt so relieved when Mitchell did his Voice of Wisdom thing (although the weird non-kiss? Please, no Annie/Mitchell. Nonononono! So wrong.). Annie was adorable, as usual, and Tully was terrifying, disgusting, and pitiable. George I just wanted to hug. He was so damaged again in this ep. Cute, flailing, socially awkward George was still there, and I liked dark, unforgiving George at the end, too. ButI felt just like Annie did when George's idolisation of Tully turned him into a rude little shit... when he told Annie she "loved it" when Tully hurt her was so horrible.

Okay, babbling... what else did I like? The neighbour who's obsessed with Vin Diesel, the fact that Mitchell was super proud of being in Casablanca, the hint that Annie's fiance may have been abusive (she calls Tully "Owen" when he's menacing her in the kitchen), that Mitchell can't separate his bloodlust from the regular kind, that George visits patients on his days off, that time is a like a snowstorm, that Mitchell didn't like Tully muscling in on his territory...

What didn't I like? That we're apparently stuck with Lauren, the cringe-worthy attempted pick-up (George, be SWEET not GROSS!), "vampire porn", the promise of MORE LAUREN in our sexisode next week (seriously, next week is apparently ALL about the boys getting laid).

I'm sure there will be more once I've done my rewatch...

I also watched the last episode of SPN, which I LOVED, far better than last week's. And I watched an episode of Demons "Smitten", which was okay. Luke is an idiot, Mina is sexy, Galvin is... a bit of a dickhead. I just kept thinking... Mina looks really good for someone who can't see to do their own makeup. Does Galvin do it for her? Because that is some seriously good eyeliner. I suspect this makes me a bad person, but it wasn't like the stellar plot was distracting me

ETA: I just looked out the window and when did the world turn entirely white? OMG SNOW! Snow that settles in the fucking East End, too. Impressive. Tomorrow there may be a trip to the park to marvel at it, I feel.

A lot about laptops and PIGGIES!

2009-01-29T00:51:23Z

I am switching computers around lately like more often that I switch pairs of jeans (trufax, kids. The pair I have on now haven't been washed in about three months and I wear them nearly every day. I only wash when there are obvious stains. Is that gross?) so please excuse any type-o's I fail to catch. I'm doing my best but so many unfamiliar keyboards!

Yeah, I gave my laptop (technically my dad's, I've been borrowing it since he physically broke mine by dropping it) back to my dad who needs it because he's going to work in Vietnam for a few months. I've been hankering after a replacement for ages anyway, because it was starting to suck. BUT I am too broke to afford a new one right now, so I borrowed Jim's beautiful, shiny, new Acer until I could get the slightly dodgy one I borrowed from my friend Sara up and running. Which it now is. Hence the switching.

Compared to Jim's machine this is... rubbish. It's narrow, with a tiny keyboard that rattles like the many-bangled-wrists of a hippy drama teacher when I type. And the keyboard is about two inches off the desk which creates a terrible angle for my wrists. And the cd/dvd drive doesn't work. BUT it is faster, with a far bigger memory than the laptop I gave to my dad. AND I was lent it for FREE for an UNLIMITED period of time. So I'm pretty fucking happy! Sara, I heart you.

Anyway, today I made a guinea pig breakthrough and I'm so excited that I thought I would share! I was putting the piggies into their run (made from my guitar hero box) so I could clean them out and they could have a run about and stuff. Also I worried they were getting bored as I haven't been getting them out more than twice a week because they seem to get so scared of me... But more on that later.

Before I lifted them out, when I had taken out their house and everything, I offered some carrot, which only Merlin would take from me. But I held my hand out still and Arthur sniffed it a bit then ran away. Merlin, on the other hand, had dropped the carrot and come to sniff at my arm. Then he stayed, post sniff-age, so I stroked him a bit and he let me! Then I offered the carrot again and instead of taking it from me, he proceeded to eat it whilst leaving it in my hand!

After I picked up Arthur and moved him to the run (he still hates me, wriggles like a bitch and wont stop), I picked up Merlin, who always struggles with less conviction. I held him close to me until he was quiet, then I was able to hold him on my front and one arm and stroke him with the other hand for a little while. He let me! He didn't try to escape! He just sniffed my arm and eventually went "chirrrrrp" to himself. I offered carrot, but he was not moved. Then I put him down in the run and he had a fun time playing with his toys. AND HE WASN'T SCARED OF ME! He still doesn't like being lifted, which is fair enough, but he was okay with being held for a few minutes! PROGRESS!

Anyway, to battle piggy boredom, I have mostly just been moving their little wooden wall around, and they have in turn been shoving it around themselves, but it's not enough. Today I have reintroduced the haynet that my mum crocheted for them out of string, which they seem to love. I've been using the hay manger that came with their new cage, but it's a bit like "here's your food, eat it" whereas the haynet requires some effort to get the hay out, and they seem to enjoy the challenge. I also stuffed an old pop sock with shredded paper. Really. I read about it online whilst looking for tips on DIY toys, and at first I figured it was a stupid idea, but I tried it in the run and Merlin started dragging it around by the toe and snuggling on it like a little pillow! They've put it inside their cardboard tube so far, which is nice.

ETA: I have uploaded reviews of Underworld:Rise of the Lycans, My Bloody Valentine 3D and Role Models to my blog. The rss feed is prettyfacekitty for more like this! [/shameless self-pimpage]

scoobygang63 @ 2009-01-27T16:33:00

2009-01-27T17:22:53Z

I miss Merlin. I miss having something funny, exciting and really, really slashy to watch at the weekend. I also really miss having something British to watch. And so it was with great excitement that I sat down last night to watch the first episode of Being Human, which looks set to fill the void for a little while (the less said about the truly appalling Demons the better. Until ITV give me a new series of Primeval, I'm not talking to them).

I really loved it! Spoilers follow under the cut:

Now, I watched the original pilot, which was broadcast forever ago, and liked it a lot, so I was a bit worried about what changes they might have made to the mythology as well as the casting changes. Turns out they've improved on the original! The scaling back of the vampire mythology worked well, as in the original it was all going a little bit Anne Rice, with underground meetings of incredibly attractive vampire covens, which tried really hard to be gothic and scary but just managed to look a bit ridiculous when set in modern day Bristol. The British have to accept that we are not, and never will be, as glamorous as we would like to be, and that Cardiff is never going to be LA. We have our own charms, and the best shows we have (I'm thinking Dr Who, Life On Mars...) know that, without letting it limit the storytelling. I think Being Human now has a lot more potential for that.

Anyway, it was GOOD. It was funny (George being socially awkward made me laugh out loud at one point) and it was scary (Herrick was creepy as an influential vampire). I loved all the main characters, too. Annie is adorable, and I'm really intrigued to find out why she's stuck in the house, and why her fiance couldn't see her. George is probably my favourite. He's the dictionary definition of adorkable! His insistence that his werewolf side is something he has to keep completely seperate from his regular life makes for interesting conflict with vampire Mitchell, who "never gets a day off" from his thirst.

Mitchell and George, trying to take care of each other and lead a normal life, are built for shippers. Mitchell takes care of George, and in return George acts like a lifeline, reminding the long-dead Mitchell what it is to be normal. The scene where George is turning in the living room whilst Mitchell sits outside the front door, hugging the TV he's rescued from the impending carnage, is so touching. As is George's eventual realisation of the struggle Mitchell faces every minute to hold together his humanity. Add to that some nice euphemisms and yeah, this could easily be as slashy as Merlin.

The only thing I really didn't like was the campy vampires, mostly poor Lauren, murdered by Mitchell in the original pilot and doomed to be ambiguously sexy as a signifier of eeeeeevil. Le sigh, show, le sigh. I could get sick of her pretty quick, I feel.

Which Neil Gaiman novel do you like best, oh mighty flist?

2009-01-22T17:14:29Z

Concentrating is HARD. Despite the poverty and the joblessness, writing out my entire job history endlessly (even though the majority is cut and pasted from other applications I have filled out) is SO BORING I could cry. And then I have to try and explain why I am fantastic which takes quite a long time, and a lot of rewriting.

This is going slowly. Although later on after my cinema trip I intend to stay up ALL NIGHT if need be to finish the next couple of applications. Although experience has taught me to wait until the morning to proofread and send because 3am does terrible things to my typing.

But I'm listening to Led Zep, which was always what I listened to whilst doing my homework as a kid, on my dad's old records or the tapes he made me from those records. I associate it with knuckling down to something and it does sort of help, weirdly enough.

I also have a Cadbury Apricot Crumble Crunch bar to eat in the cinema later. Which is exciting me because I think it is new and I haven't eaten it before and it intrigues me.

Yes.

Oh, and I'm reading Neverwhere at the moment, which is actually my first time reading a Neil Gaiman novel. Yep, that's right. I love his short stories, and enjoyed the Sandman comics I managed to get my mitts on, but I have never read his novels (I'm not counting Good Omens here, which I have read LOTS). So far I'm... not masively impressed. It's all silly names and London Underground gags and whilst that is all pretty good fun, especially seeing as I live in London, it seems to lack... depth? I have received conflicting advice too, with one person saying this is their FAVOURITE Gaiman novel and others pale in comparison, especially American Gods, which is a bit rubbish towards the end, and another person saying that this is their least favourite and that American Gods is amazing.

So I thought I'd ask you lot...

View Poll: Neil Gaiman Novels

scoobygang63 @ 2009-01-18T22:24:00

2009-01-18T22:44:55Z

I'm going to bed in a minute because I have stuff to do before work tomorrow (the penultimate day before the full horror of unemployment hits me on Wednesday)... I'm not convinced I have done the right thing by quitting my job as it turns out I am much more overdrawn than I was expecting to be, thanks to Christmas, rent timings, and recently switching from weekly to monthly pay. Hopefully I will be able to get a new job pretty soon though, and thus not struggle too much to find February's rent...

Anyway, enough of that. There's no point stressing out about that right now. Instead I want to talk about TV...

"Family Remains" was great! I may be biased by the fact that I was going crazy waiting for new Winchester Time, but I thought that it was a good example of Supernatural doing a self-contained episode that ripped off some favourite genre cliches and did it really well. It was scary, definitely the scariest episode of season four. It was different, too. For a change the Bad Things weren't things, but people removed of their humanity (but, apparently, not their ability to write) which is something I don't think we've really seen since season two's "Benders". And the episode pacing was unusual for the show, too. A lot of time was spent building atmosphere, acquainting us with the Victims of the Week and their story, and very little was spent with the boys and their ongoing saga of mantears. I absolutely LOVED the "psycho under the bed licking her hand" scene. This is one of my favourite sleepover horror stories, and I know Kripke is a fan of this one too, so I was so excited (not to mention freaked out) to see it done on Supernatural.

As for the scenes with the boys dealing with the ongoing plot arc of the season that bookended the episode, they felt a bit stuck on. Much like in season two's "Croatoan", you get the sense that the boys spend all this time in close quarters not talking to each other at all, so they can have these teary little exposition scenes a few episodes later. Also, if I was Sam, I would get a seriously bad feeling every time Dean randomly pulled the Impala over in the middle of some picturesque scenery and went to sit on the bonnet for no good reason that I can fathom.

So Dean tortured people, and he liked it. What does this mean? Will it just mean that Dean will be all torn up inside with the guilt, or will it have repercussions later on? I must admit, I'm more curious as to why earlier in the season Dean was all "I died but now I'm back with a renewed sense of purpose. Let's save people!" (see "Monster Movie") and now he's all angsty about the torturing. It lends credence to the theory that I have always held, that at first Dean really didn't remember anything of his time in hell, and that those little flashes he had in earlier eps were him starting to recall things. Now he seems to remember everything, hence the chipper outlook earlier on and the angst now.

Anyway, my favorite boys moments in this ep include Dean saying "Please nobody grab my leg!". The boy lives in a horror movie, yet he still gets freaked out by the suspense. Love it. Also Dean's Juno reference (when do the Winchesters have time to keep up to date on their films? Do they watch bootleg downloads on Sam's laptop post-hunt? I need fic of this, people!) and the fact that for once, someone questioned their clearly very flimsy alibis. Even if doing so did lead to death.

New blog...

2009-01-12T22:27:56Z

I have a second home on the net...

A Pretty Face is my new blog. The aim was to create something that I could point to when people asked me about my writing. As opposed to this, which is full of Merlin squee and ranting and things of a more personal nature. I can't condition myself to write here as though no one else can see, and every aspiring journalist has a blog these days... so I made myself a more public home.

I wont be moving though. You couldn't prise my LJ away from me if you tried. I heart this place, and have done ever since I started blogging here way back in 2002, when I was apparently moving from another public blog that I don't even remember having!

If you want to add the new blog too, be my guest. So far it has a readership of one! I'm expecting it to have more actually content than I usually post here, more in-depth reviews and things, although there will undoubtably be some crossover! I imagine things here will continue to be far more informal. And filled with slash.

ETA: the rss feed is prettyfacekitty, which I totally forgot that LJ even did last night, despite being subscribed to loads of them. Oh dear.

Dude, Twilight? Really?

2008-12-22T00:51:56Z

Just went to see Twilight with Bethan. It was unbelievably shit. Pretty much Titanic but with vampires instead of icebergs. Or The Notebook with vampires instead of, uh, chemistry. Somehow they managed to make vampires about as sexy or as scary or as interesting as a fucking golden onion. And Bella is such a Mary Sue... A new girl in town who literally ALL the boys we see become instantly infatuated with? Seriously? Also, the vampires in this closely resemble My Little Ponys. They glitter in the sunlight? All the stuff that I found interesting, like the back stories to the other vampires (especially Rosalie and Carlisle) and Bella's relationship with her dad, is completely ignored in favour of scenes of the two protagonists staring at each other in a way that strongly suggested they needed a big shit, whilst they rambled on about never leaving each other, ever, despite having been together for all of five minutes.

Bollocks. I suspect the books are better but after that monstrosity I really don't want to try them.

Anyway, I may review this properly at some point. Or I may not.

I also saw Inkheart recently, and that too was utter bollocks (although better than Twishit). It was saved for me, however, by Paul Bettany's incredible hotness, and the fact that he was in it LOADS and sometimes with his SHIRT OFF JUGGLING FIRE. That man is extremely sexy. And he had a ferret. Considering I've watched Wimbledon hundreds of times for Mr Bettany and endured Kirsten Dunst, I could easily sit through some terrible plotting and Brendan Fraser on autopilot for the sake of some shirtlessness. Thoroughly recommended to all fellow Bettanyphiles. Everyone else? Maybe Changeling is good. I hear it's good.

scoobygang63 @ 2008-12-18T15:29:00

2008-12-18T15:59:38Z

As promised here is my new hair cut:

As you can see, it is still fairly mullet-y. The lady blended all the layers through, though, to try and make it sit better. And the fringe is new. Why do I always looked fucked off in photos I take of myself?

Also, whilst I'm here, photos of the new tattoo!

It's still a bit flaky but otherwise looking good! I love the shading on it... Hah, I'm listening to Pink Floyd "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" as I type this! I'm shifting my arm for a better shot here, so you don't get a sense of the placement, so here's a shot that I took for the hair that actually shows the position of the tattoo better...

And I'm done posting pictures of myself. See that baby face though? That's why no one ever believes I'm twenty three. I'll be thirty and people will still be asking me what I'm studying. Doesn't help that inside I still feel like a giant child! Mind you, my mum is definitely still not quite grown up so maybe that's where I get it from.

Was supposed to work a double today but cancelled the earlier shift so I'm just working this evening. I know it's bad, and I really need the money, but I hate my job so much! I just keep thinking, "bah, put the rest of this month's rent on the overdraft and stay home" which, needless to say, is an absolutely terrible idea.

It's just that my job is so repetitive and incredibly boring and I think people really underestimate how torturous it is to be forced to sit and do absolutely nothing for hours at a time. It's a bit better when I'm working on my evening campaign, because my line manager for that shift pretends not to notice if I sit there doing a sudoku while I wait for someone to pick up the phone. My afternoon shifts are with a different manager at the moment, who is much stricter (the rule is NOTHING on the desks. I can doodle a bit on the back of my tally sheet. That's about it. For three and a half hours) so those shifts are usually spent staring into space fantasising about killing myself with office furniture.

Even if I AM able to sit and do sudokus and get paid for it, it's still so horribly depressing to be achieving absolutely nothing. And then there's the trying to get people to give me money, which is pretty soul destroying too.

Aargh! Okay, now I feel even worse about my shift later! At least it's a sudoku-playing shift and I have new ones to do and everything.

After Christmas I have to try and get a new job. Or at least actually go to this one full time and steel myself to it. I'm going to work the less well paid full day hours now that I have been there long enough to qualify for them. That would be a 10-5 day (so short! So badly paid!) and I think that might be easier to motivate myself for. At the moment, starting at half one just gives me too much time to bum around the house in the morning thinking about the awful day to come. And so I don't go! If I don't give myself time to think about it, it's much easier.

At least I have a job, to keep me in tattoos and haircuts, huh? Millions of other people aren't so lucky.

scoobygang63 @ 2008-12-18T00:02:00

2008-12-18T00:17:30Z

This is probably TMI but whatever, it's my journal.

I have run out of loo roll. This is bad. I forgot to get some while I was out and now it is cold and I am sleepy and headachey and ready for bed and really NOT wanting to put on three extra layers to run to the shop for loo paper.

BUT it's a very inconvenient time of the month! It's like a train wreck down there! All gore and severed limbs (okay maybe not that last part). And this makes the need for paper more pressing, but also makes the likelihood of me leaving the house again tonight very slim indeed.

I think I'll just wash. Like they did in the days before loo roll. I'm sure, uh, Cleopatra didn't fret because she was a bit gorey. She probably just bathed in goats milk or something. Hmm. We do have some skimmed in the fridge, but I think I'll just stick to soapy water.

In less gross news, I got a haircut today. I am very paranoid about getting haircuts as I find hairdressing salons the most terrifying places on earth. My mum's friend used to cut my hair in my kitchen when I was a kid, so I just don't really know how they work. And then people pull you about and massage your head and TOUCH YOU and UGH. And then how on earth does one tip a hairdresser? I never do, because I don't know if I'm meant to, and I'm sure they always think I'm stingy. And they judge you. "Oh, you don't spend much time on it do you?" they say, tutting. Well, no I don't actually. Because it's just HAIR. Washing the stuff is effort enough. My hair straighteners only come out for weddings and funerals.

ANYWAY, the point I was trying to reach was that this particular trip was fairly untraumatic. They were very chilled out, and gave me tea (I was supposed to get beer but they were obviously fooled by my baby face and I didn't want to embarrass myself by pointing out that I am actually 23 and would quite like some booze now, please) and the hairdresser did her utmost to fix the mess of a mullet-y thing I got last time. Actually, the look on her face was priceless. She even said "I'm not a miracle worker!" and then gamely attempted to make it look less stupid. She was very encouraging too, and told me to be patient and grow it out and it'd all be fine.

Anyway, she gave me a sort of long side fringe to try and make my short layers at the back look a bit longer. It's quite nice, but I'll have to see what happens when I style it myself (by style I mean wash and blast with a hairdryer. None of this weird, blow-straight with brushes malarky, which seems like so much effort, just thinking about it makes me sleepy).

I dyed it darker too. Pictures later, I'm sure.

Merlin finale fun...

2008-12-15T18:54:08Z

In celebration of the Merlin finale, and the show which has EATEN MY BRAIN (but I'm oddly okay with it), my friend Sara and I created the faces of our favourite slashy boys in cake!

I made Arthur. I wanted to use the blue liquorice allsorts for his beautiful blue eyes, but in the whole bag of sweets there was only one! Which is why Arthur has developed a weird, floppy, indie-boy haircut... The hair is made from jelly snakes, which also helped to provide the stroppy, pouty expression.

That pink thing at the bottom? Well, Sara said I had to make him a sword, but I had limited supplies at my disposal, so I made it out of pink wafers, with a chocolate finger and a pink liquorice allsort for the hilt... And it ended up looking really quite rude. Especially when later on I ate the tip and got icing on my face...

Anyway, here's Merlin! Sara constructed him, using chocolate fingers for hair and yellow allsorts for his eyes (we decided this was because he was doing magic at the time) and pink wafers for those iconic ears! Unfortunately his complexion isn't as creamy and flawless as Arthur's because, well, we were impatient and iced him while he was still hot from the oven!

And here I am proudly showing off my creation... You can tell from my slightly crazed expression exactly what kind of day we were having. I had already consumed a fair amount of Sailor Jerry spiced rum! After this we all tucked in and ATE THEIR FACES whilst watching the episode!

scoobygang63 @ 2008-12-03T00:32:00

2008-12-03T00:41:20Z

I am achey in one arm from blood tests and the other arm from tattoos...

I R NEEDLE QUEEN!

To briefly expand on that statement, I got a new tattoo on Sunday. It is lovely and brilliant and I loved getting it so much that I nearly dozed off in a little bliss/pain trance on the bench with my hand flung in the dude's lap while he inked my arm. Yummy. And not too pricey either, so I am happy. My laptop fund is slightly less than impressed, but I decided my need for a new computer was not as pressing as my need for a large, blue-shaded diamond on my left arm. Pictures to follow.

The blood tests (ohsomany) are because my stomach pain that I keep whining about but then ignoring finally kicked my arse on Sunday evening, and I was left in agony, collapsed in a heap on the floor, while my long suffering housemate Bethan brought me codeine (mmmmmmmcodeine) and hot water bottles and things. My stomach looked like I'd swallowed a bowling ball. And I may have gotten very sad about these things. So I went back to the doctor, and she asked about the bowel cancer and the suspected food intolerances and stuff and decided to test me for EVERYTHING EVAR. Which also includes another, less pleasant test, involving certain othe bodily functions. Yeah. GROSS.

Um, yeah. And I'm very, very sleepy. But the third collected graphic novel of Buffy season eight arrived today, so I am going to read that until my eyes glue themselves closed and I HAVE to sleep.

scoobygang63 @ 2008-11-24T21:06:00

2008-11-24T21:11:01Z

I am ILL and this time it's proper, cold-having ill. I have a sore throat and I am IN MY BED right now. At 9pm. I USUALLY WORK UNTIL NINE. I had to go home to my BED I am that ill. And I am so angry about it that it's inducing capslock issues...

Gah, and I'm supposed to be spending the day with my mum tomorrow and I will not bail on her because she sounded all sad on the phone but I just want to spend the day in my bed... And my computer is misbehaving and wont let me watch the last episode of Merlin and I keep hearing all this stuff that makes me think it was SO GOOD and the capslock has returned so I'm going to go cough and splutter in my bed again.

Body? I hate you so much right now.

Review of Bloc Party- Intimacy

2008-11-14T00:21:51Z

I have the flat to myself tonight as Bethan is at a friend's house, so I'm listening to the new Bloc Party album loudly, although not loudly enough to upset my downstairs neighbour Chanel (I hope) who hates her kids getting woken up (she liked them to be well rested for a day of being screamed at).

Anyway, the Bloc Party album, Intimacy is pretty good. Bloc Party are an odd one. Their first album, Silent Alarm made them an integral part of the indie scene, and yet they never really fitted in with the likes of Franz Ferdinand and the Kaiser Chiefs with whom they shared the covers of the NME. Which is probably a good thing, since the last offerings from those two were boring, lager-lout friendly, shouty anthems that sounded like rehashes of Oasis songs, which in turn are just rehashes of Beatles songs.

One thing Bloc Party does not have is chanty lyrics that can be yelled at the top of ones lungs in a Yates bar. "Mercury's in retrograde!" does not have the same instant appeal to the drunken masses as "RubyrubyrubyRUBAAAAAY!". In fact, Bloc Party's penchant for difficult lyrics is both a blessing and a curse. Their songs, often dark in tone, are filled with evocative imagery; Intimacy's "Talon" is a fantastic example of this: I try to stand still so it will not see me/Its talons rake the side of my face ... And when it comes it will feel like a kiss/silent and velvet. Then there are the other Bloc Party lyrics. The ones where some clumsy turn of phrase stops a song dead in its tracks. The worst example on this latest album is the name check of East London on "One Month Off"; When we started this it was paradise, not just Bethnal Green. Maybe it's just because I actually do live in Betty Green, but this line makes me cringe.

That said, Intimacy is by far an improvement, lyrically, on the last album A Weekend in the City, which has some songs that I just can't listen to without wincing. That album introduced a much larger "stadium rock" sound, as the Vice review at the time put it, that I felt cancelled out a lot of what had made the band special. Good news is the enigmatic lyrics and the driving drum beats are back in force on this latest venture. Bloc Party have instead turned to electro dance influences; you may have already heard the single "Flux" (a track that is on the American release of Intimacy but the UK re-release of A Weekend in the City and thus sits sort of between the two albums) which sounds like a dance remix of a Bloc Party track. It seems to me a logical progression, and whilst the raw element that made Silent Alarm an instant, punchy favourite is missing on the more evolved Intimacy, the album is still far more exciting than anything else in the charts at the moment.

...

*nods authoritatively*

US Elections (reprise)

2008-11-05T04:10:55Z

OMFG.

America just voted in their first black president. The world just got a little more amazing, and a little less scary.

America? I HEART you!

US Elections

2008-11-05T02:01:32Z

I should really be in bed, but the BBCs auto-updatey map thingy has me glued to my screen... No, body! Brain says no sleep tonight!

It's not all bad...

2008-11-04T01:08:43Z

My tummy hurts all the time at the moment. No longer is it purely a response to dairy goods. My doctor said something about gall stones or something but I am now convinced I have bowel cancer. It's all the fault of the Cancer Research UK briefing I got sent on at work, where we got told this story about this twenty something guy who had a tummy ache and it turned out to be bowel cancer. I'm not usually a hypochondriac but since my entire family had bowel cancer (two of my aunts, and my granddad had part of his bowel removed and had a colostomy bag half his life) I am not convinced by my doctors mumblings of "probably just indigestion". That's what case study guy thought too! I try to laugh it off, but I'm definitely rotten on the inside.

I'm chilling out before bed with Neil Young, who I had forgotten that I loved until I went to the East End Thrift Store on Sunday and they were playing his greatest hits. I heart him.

In more music news, a guy started talking to me, quite unprovoked, about Bob Dylan. Dylan's okay. I'm not a fan. He's a bit like the Beatles in that you're supposed to think he's a genius, and that if you admit you find his voice a bit grating and his songs a little uninspiring you are automatically reviled as knowing nothing whatsoever about music. I like some Dylan songs. He's alright. I think Dylan never really got a fair shot with me, as so many of the Dylan fans I met at university are hugely pretentious wankers who use Dylan as an opportunity to show you how a)deep they are and b) how much more they know about music than you.

As a counter balance to how much I hate my job (muso guy in the office, you are not helping), I actually love living in Bethnal Green at the moment. It's not perfect, but my flat is lovely. It's cosy and, yes, the size of a shoebox, but it's very cute. And Bethan is easy to live with (I am only occasionally struck by a crippling fear that I am the worse housemate in the world ever and somehow this manifests in being even more annoying than ever as I try, with unfunny, potentially offensive jokes, to find out if she really hates me. But no one's perfect). And we have some nice little rituals. Like Sunday brunch at the greasy spoon, which is a relatively new tradition, but one that I thoroughly enjoy. Especially when hungover. And this is often followed up by some pottering about the east end. Like last Sunday's visit to the amazing East End Thrift Store in Whitechapel where Bethan, Jo and I stocked up on vintage winterwear (I got two jumpers for £20, which makes me a bit more confident about the suddenly freezing weather). I also went to the Vicky Park fireworks and had a pint after in the Misty Moon, which is nearly the closest pub to my flat (it was chosen over the trendier boozers on the merit of being nearly empty).

Maybe this is all just yet more proof that you can't have it all together. One part of your life is great, another is rubbish, and that's the way of the world. It's like the Chucklebrothers intro. You pick up one letter and another letter falls over. To me...

To you.

Atlantis geekery

2008-10-15T20:03:46Z

I'm watching "Tracker"... and is it me or does Rodney not care that much about Keller getting kidnapped, seeing as how he supposedly confessed his love for her in "The Shrine" (I mistyped that as "The Shire" first time round, and was invaded by the mental image of Rodney turning into a hobbit. Snigger.)? I mean, he's all worried, but in a jokey, competing with Ronan, stopping because there are pebbles in my shoes kind of way. Whilst Ronan is all single-minded, "you're slowing me down!" on a mission. I definitely prefer the Ronon/Keller relationship than Rodney/Keller. Also, how jealous was Sheppard at the start of the episode, that Rodney is devoting his day off to trying to impress Keller? The answer is: plenty jealous.

Anyway, I love some Ronon/Rodney odd couple action, and whilst I was initially disappointed that Keller was so LAME when she was originally kidnapped, I love that she got to kill a wraith to save a little girl, and then drag the runner to safety, and then even do a little ass-kicking later on. Oh, and the reveal that Ronan has been teaching her to fight was super cute! And her reaction to the "he's not mean, he just pretends" of "yeah, I know someone like that" was also adorable. See! Ronan/keller is super cute. And at the end he has "intentions"! Oh, surely thay wouldn't have brought this storyline back after that barrage of weird "Rodney LOVES HER! She loves him too! Despite the lack of sexual tension!" unless they intended to do something with it, right? Aaargh!

scoobygang63 @ 2008-09-26T00:24:00

2008-09-25T23:24:39Z

Heh, I just saw someone on a House notice board saying they saw a bit of Jeeves and Wooster and loved it, but that guy who played Jeeves was pretty good too, it's a shame he hasn't made it like Hugh Laurie has. He should get his own show! Bless. Poor Stephen Fry. Apparently getting your own show and becoming a household name in the UK doesn't count as "making it"...

I watched the second episode of No Heroics tonight (after I got in fromn work at half nine- YAWN) and nearly cried laughing. If you haven't seen it yet, I would really recommend it, especially to fans of Spaced who are missing a decent piece of geeky comedy on British TV. It's an ITV2 sitcom, but don't let that put you off. Based around four superheroes in a world where superheroes are the norm... Alex (The Hotness) is a pathetic excuse for a superhero who is constantly getting the piss ripped out of him by his ex-girlfriend Sarah (Electroclash) who uses her ability to control machines to mostly get free fags out of the pub vending machines. Sarah's best friend is the sweet and downtrodden Jenny (She-Force). The group is completed by Don (Timebomb) who can see sixty seconds into the future, and is hot, gay, Spanish and a bit psycho.*

The Spacedean aspect of the show is not just in the comedy, or the premise of four friends who are torn between wanting to succeed in life and wanting to get another round in, but in the sheer geekiness. Anyone with any love for comic books, EVER, will be astounded by the geeky references that are crammed into every episode. The central location is a pub for off-duty superheroes (who all wear suits, because what else do off-duty superheroes wear?) is called The Fortress after Superman's Fortress of Solitude. The bottles of spirits over the bar include Gin City, V for Vodka and Logan's Rum. If beer is more your thing, order a bottle of Shazamstell.

Seriously. It's geek pun-tastic. And piss-myself-laughing funny.

</i>*I mention this because this is a sitcom made for ITV2 that has a main character who is gay. And not in a reinforcing unhelpful gay stereotypes way. Hurrah!

scoobygang63 @ 2008-09-13T00:59:00

2008-09-13T00:15:40Z

I have had two spider situations in 24hours. Last night I can home to find a sizeable spider on the ceiling. Spider phobics will know that on the ceiling is the least manageable situation. I am solo in the flat. Spider is on the floor. I can trap it under a (big) glass and with much huffing and panting and crying and wailing and shaking, I can probably get rid of it, or at least move it out of my room. Wall, I may be able to hit it with a shoe and run (I hate killing them but sometimes it is, as a last resort, neccessary. It's them or me, people, and I like me better). Ceiling, and you have to tackle it from below. Which means potential for droppage. Which means, it could fall onto ME. Which is NOT GOOD.

Eventually, with much coaching and the fear that if I lost it in my room I would never be able to sleep in here again, I hit it with a sponge mop (decent firm, flat surface, plus long handle for drop avoidance) until it was dead and stuck to said mop. Then I left it in Bethan's room for her to deal with when she got back, long suffering flat mate that she is.

Then, of course, all last night I couldn't sleep. I felt like it was on me. Every over-tired black spot in my vision made me jump out of my skin. I actually sat bolt up right at 3am, scratching at myself all over, convinced a spider was on me.

Yes, I am a crazy person.

Then this evening I only find a dead one in the middle of my floor! The suspicion is that the cat brought it in (I'm STILL cat sitting) as why would a spider walk into the middle of my floor and die? In a ten minute window when I wasn't in there? Unlikely. So it probably didn't come from my room (it was a body dump. A secondary crime scene, if you will. I am a crazy person but I'm still a dork).

But now I'm all paranoid again! So this'll be another sweaty, wrestless night of many-legged nightmares and periodically waking up to switch on the light and check for spiders.

I really fucking HATE being an arachnophobic. The panic attacks are horrible (crying, hyperventilating, shaking uncontrollably) but they're followed by intense paranoia, and usually, humiliation. "Don't be silly, it's only a spider! It's so small it can't hurt you!" I KNOW. STOP PATRONISING ME. Clearly, if being obnoxious was going to help, I wouldn't be screaming and crying. Thankfully, Bethan is absolutely lovely about it, and always reassured me that it's an irrational fear, and that I don't need to be embarrassed... In fact a lot of people now are much nicer to me about it. It's probably down to the sheer levels of terror I go to.

I want hypnotherapy. Seriously. I'm going to save up.

scoobygang63 @ 2008-09-03T15:05:00

2008-09-03T14:18:10Z

I'm catsitting at the moment for a friend who has gone to Sicilly to get married. Anyway, the cat is adorable, a sort of ragdoll thing called Edith, with a chirrupy little meaow and a fondness for having her belly tickled.

Only problem is, she hasn't been spayed. And so, instead of ejoying a nice cuddle, she wiggles her rump, howls, and uh, drips. It's really, really gross. Bless her, it's not her fault her owners don't love her enough to get her done, but it's so icky! I have instilled the rule that "fruity time" happens on the floor, and not on any of my soft furnishings but still! ICK.

I other news, it looks likely that I will soon be returning to the world of the call centre. This time not cold calling for conservatories, but following up warm leads (telesales speak for "you once gave us your details, more fool you") for various charities. So hopefully I'll get sworn at less. It's flexible hours so I can maybe do some interning and stuff or just do it full time to earn as much money as I can until I can get a real job. They only make you commit to three months and fourteen hours a week, minimum. So even if I get something better in less than three months, I can fit fourteen hours in around that, during the evenings or the weekends, if I have to.

Whatever. It'll probably suck, but I can't sit about, appling for jobs and never hearing, without end. My overdraft can no longer take it. I need some money, stat.

The Blechdel-Wallace test.

2008-08-28T22:40:02Z

The Bechdel-Wallace test is a measure of how inclusive a film is to women. After a post in which anw considers how many of the IMDB's top 25 films would pass the test, which requires the following:

1) That there are at least two named female characters,
2) Who talk to each other,
3) About something besides a man

I scanned my DVD collection for films that might pass. I have a lot of films that would definitely NOT pass, so I was only looking to really test the ones that I love, and figured might have a chance of fulfilling the criteria.

Here goes.

1) Shaun of the Dead- I think it fails. Liz and Diane talk about Shaun and David, Liz and Barbara talk about Shaun... nada. Only conversations about men, as far as I can remember.

2) Lost In Translation- One of my favourite films, and it fails. Charlotte does have a phone conversation with her sister, who we never see, but I'm not convinced this counts, if I'm being strict. Her sister isn't a character who appears in the film, after all.

3) Snakes on a Plane- The female flight attendants talk about lots of stuff that's not men. Like passengers, and the FBI, and snakes. I think this probably passes.

4) The Royal Tenenbaums- Passes. Margot and Ethel have at least one conversation, when Margot is in the bath and Ethel is telling her that she might electrocute herself. Oh, and when Ethel tells Margot to quit smoking. Hurrah!

5) Serenity- I cannot, definitively say, that the film has a conversation purely between female characters that isn't about men. I will have to re-watch it to be sure...

6) Stranger than Fiction- Passes! Karen Eiffel and Penny Escher (Emma Thompson and Queen Latifah) talk all the time about Karen's writing and general state of mind. Yay!

So out of these six films I thought WOULD pass, only three definitely do. Eeps. How do your favourite films fare?

Also, a quick look at the films I've seen recently. Hellyboy 2 and Wall-E fail. The Dark Knight might scrape a pass on the strength of a phone conversation between Rachel and Detective Ramirez, and Baby Mama passes because the two female leads talk a lot about babies and stuff. A fifty-fifty split there too!