Ralph’s Place

This one really doesn’t make any sense to me. Muslims around the world are angry at what the Pope said (whatever that may be, something about being evil and violent from what I can figure) and some groups respond by firebombing churches and shooting nuns. Riiight.. because that’s the perfect way to respond to allegations of being evil/violent. To dumb this down:

A: I think you have a short temper and get violent when angry.
B: How dare you say that! I’m nothing like that at all! I hate you!
** B punches A in the face then kicks him in the balls **
A (now a bleeding soprano): Yes absolutely. I’m sorry, how could I have made such an obvious mistake.

The world is seriously fucked up I’m tellin ya.

Today’s BBC update

** To add: Some good discussion (for once) on the BBC. Plenty of blame thrown the media’s way, naturally I agree, as well as plenty of other valid comments.
Discussion link

Not sure what tho… could be as simple as to take more photos, could be something more creative, but I definitely want more. Some thoughts (and they really are only thoughts):

• A community calendar - a great way of letting people know what you’re up to, and making the calendar shared would allow a group to all do the same. Could prove to be a great way to organise nights out/trips?
• Wiki - Not trying to just jump on a bandwagon here. A wiki is a great way to store and share knowledge between a group of friends. Everything from restaurant/bar reviews to handy coding tips could sit here.
• Message board - to sort of achieve either or both of the above, but a classic failure of the personal website. It’s an easy option if it would be used though.

I wish I was more creative lol…

Sleep through alarm, eventually waking up 30mins later than planned. Rush through the shower etc and end up leaving the house only 10mins later than planned (should still be ok). After that the tube runs slowly without warning taking a good 5mins longer than normal to get to Kings X. On arrival at Kings X you see your train waiting to leave so just jump on thinking you’ll buy your ticket on there (as you’ve no chance of catching it if you stand in the 3 deep queue to buy one from the machine. Later, a mere 5mins or 1 stop from your destination the guard comes by and asks for your ticket. When you ask to buy one he tells you that’s not allowed and you’re hit with a penalty fare of double a normal single price. Damn

I sure as hell couldn’t! My tollerance for the media, BS and the public in general is far too low, if it exists at all.

The media in particular piss me off. For most of the country, the media (in it’s various forms and providers) is the sole source of information about what’s going on in the world. The problem with this is that individual news providers only gives their view of a story, and most readers then take this as the whole truth. Sometimes this view has such a spin on it that it’s blown some tiny, tiny fact out of all proportion and thus missed the point of any action entirely. Some newspapers even resort to - quite frankly - making shit up! How is this acceptable?

That brings me nicely onto BS (for the not-so-quick among us, I mean Bull Shit ). I can’t stand the abundance of BS in the world today. Whether it’s political spin, sales lines or (pet hate #1) the media making mountains out of mole hills to sell a story, I say just drop it. It’s totally unnecessary and the world would be a better place without it. Just cut the crap and tell it like it is. If you did that then maybe people could actually know the truth and draw their own conclusions from it, rather than the ones drawn for us and waved in our face.

As for the general public, I can’t be bothered to go into that again…

So, suffice to say that I’m fed up with the way the world works at the moment. Shame there’s nothing I can do about it besides rant, but it’s good to get it out the system occasionally

Well… a lots been going on and I’ll be honest, I don’t know where to start!

The week before last was spent “sort of” moving into the new flat. By which I mean, we picked up the keys, did a bit of sorting and I moved a few things over (basically enough to get me through the night). Not terribly exciting, not yet anyway…

That Thursday morning, I hauled a bag that weighed about as much as I do, all the way to Reading (with the help of some public transport of course) for Reading Festival. I couldn’t possibly tell all the stories from the weekend, but here are some highlights:

Comedy - One night culmunated with 3 guys running past our camp, one with a policeman’s hat on, with some proper comedy silent movie music playing through a megaphone… “get back here you bastard!”

Antics - On second thought…

Food - Can’t say better than a fried brekkie every day (in one form or another). The walk into Reading was well worth it, as was getting up before just about everyone else!

and of course… The Bands! - The ones I saw:

Panic! at the Disco, never heard of them before but they weren’t bad. Fair play for carrying on after a hefty bottle to the face… and definite kudos for playing Karma Police and pulling it off!
The Subways, maybe I’ve been living under a rock but I hadn’t heard of these either. Would see them again tho, some emphasis on see?
Fall Out Boy, a heavier change to what had come before. In response to Panic!’s bottling, they decided to start a bottle war in the crowd. “Nothing dangerous, no glass, cans or anything with a cap on it” *cough* yeah right!
Kaiser Chiefs, was looking forward to this all day and it was worth the wait!
Franz Ferdinand, headlined on the Friday and they were much better than I was expecting (which was doubly good since I was the only one from our camp who stuck around to watch them :P). Put on a hell of a show and I may just have to pick up the album at some point.
Wolfmother, who? The singer reminded me of Led Zep, but the music didn’t.
The Automatic, “what’s that coming over the hill?” I dunno, your mum? Their other songs were decent too, but everyone was only really waiting for this… me included.
Dirty Pretty Things, put on a good show, just a shame I didn’t recognise many tunes. Need the album me thinks.
Jet, the surprise of the weekend. Having thought I’d not heard of them, I recognised 1 tune, but was blown away by some of the others… must get some of their stuff!
Feeder, they were brilliant, just a shame I was about a mile back from the stage. Still good fun though, finished with Just a Day… perfect!
Arctic Monkeys, I wasn’t really that impressed, but I don’t think the crowd helped. Was fun at times, at least when I recognised the tune and didn’t have a fist/elbow in the back of my head.
Muse, I could write an essay about how amazing these guys are live. How many on stage? Yes, only 3 They’re still by far and a way the best band I’ve seen live… and I’ve just bought the new album off the back of this performance. They deserved their Saturday headline spot and more!
Taking Back Sunday, I wasn’t sure what to make of these… they were ok, the singer seemed to really like swinging his mic around. Was just begging for it to go wrong.
Less Than Jake, these guys were ace! Inbetween a mexican stand up and up on shoulders chicken, the music was pretty good too
Slayer, maybe it’s just because I’m not the biggest fan anyway, but I was disappointed. They’re getting old, and they looked it. Kept disappearing of stage for some reason.
Boy Kill Boy, another surprise. Recognised 1 song but was impressed with the others too. Worth standing up on weary legs!
The Kooks, watch out for these guys. If you think they’re big now, wait for what’s round the corner. They packed the R1 tent and the the whole surrounding area, and some of the new stuff they played sounded awesome. They’re gonna be massive!

So that’s Reading in a (rather large) nutshell! Want more, gimme a shout I’ll tell you all about it. Fancy going next year? Get your ticket ASAP, or be prepared to sit on the phone/hit refresh a lot when they come out for general sale.

Beyond that life’s pretty quiet tbh. Finally moved into the new place properly, courtesy of a very tiring Monday (moving all your stuff the day after a festival, tiring stuff) and subsequent evenings of sorting. Only thing missing is an internet connection - hence the lack of posting (typing this at home to post tomorrow at work) - which isn’t due to arrive for another week… rubbish. Once that’s here tho everything’s sorted, and I’m looking forward to getting on with life here… it should be a blast!

That’s enough for now anyway. There is other stuff going on too, Mr Mayer, yes I’m talking to you! But besides the fact this post is now mahoosive, I’m sleepy. More when I get the chance…