The Devil's Adjutant
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Steve's LiveJournal:
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| Friday, June 26th, 2009 | | 7:35 pm |
God Bless British Gallows Humour
They've been dead less than 24 hours and I've already heard about two dozen jokes of varying comedy value and tastelessness, my two favourites of which are: What's the difference between Michael Jackson and Alex Ferguson? ( Cut for the easily offended )Isn't it a coincidence that Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett died on the same day? ( Likewise ) | | Friday, May 22nd, 2009 | | 11:32 pm |
Wow. Ramón Estévez is definitely and firmly in my 'hero' category. I mean, I always knew he was cool, but on Jonathon Ross tonight he was just ace. | | Friday, May 1st, 2009 | | 4:09 pm |
| | Friday, April 24th, 2009 | | 9:59 pm |
Oh Gods. Got in about 25 minutes ago to discover the BBC have done a 'modern update' of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. Which could suck the chrome off a trailer hitch, it's that damn bad. I mean, Martin Clunes is generally okay, but Leonard Rossiter he surely ain't. That poor man could be powering Liverpool with the RPM he must currently be doing... Current Mood:  nostalgic | | Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 | | 6:32 am |
All the same, I saw it first
I just had a wonderful moment of mono no aware*. As I arrived to work this-morning the weather was bright and crisp, the river was at slack water and there obviously hadn't been any water traffic for some time; the Thames was absolutely mill-pond smooth. I watched the wake of a coot spread and gently distort the reflection of the Belfast until the incoming tide slowly set the whole river to turbulence and erased the scene.
*'sensitivity to things' - the aesthetic of ephemeral beauty. Current Mood:  relaxed | | Monday, April 20th, 2009 | | 1:26 pm |
Gray Area
Those members of the Court of Public Opinion who are so willing to convict on a few fragmentary moments of video footage alone may find this and this instructive reading. | | Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 | | 12:35 pm |
| | Monday, February 16th, 2009 | | 5:59 pm |
I seem to have developed a rather painful back, shoulder and neck, at the moment. I suspect as a result of the frankly dreadful bed I slept in over the weekend at Leanne & Colin's wedding (that'll teach me not to go for the cheaper hotel option, I guess). Other than that, however, it was a lovely day. The venue (Addington Palace in Croydon) was suitably impressive and the bride, of course looked beautiful as did the bridesmaids ( ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ebq and quisalan). The groom scrubbed up alright, too. Food was good (jam sponge for pudding - yum) and the table decorations were magnificent - rather than flowers each table had a single red rose encased in a block of ice (something like these), which were gorgeous to look at and generated a good half an hour of conversation while we worked out how it was done. Better yet I got the opportunity to catch up with people I don't see nearly enough of ( quisalan, inskauldrak and Lily, notably) and make further and better acquaintance of sparksoflight, who I was pleased to find is a fellow member of the Grammarian Sicherheitsdienst. This became particularly relevant during our Scrabble game in the downtime between the wedding breakfast and the evening - sparksoflight, you will be pleased to hear that we were right, "rezone" is not allowed and inskauldrak didn't therefore win. Neither did we, of course, but it's the principle of the thing... All in all a good weekend, but I'm feeling plenty drained now. | | Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 | | 4:41 pm |
Today has been a day of lapsus linguae. My boss today described the new colleague who is joining us as: "Easy to get on to" and a colleague described our current pre-trial state as "at the mercy of judicial quim", which is quite the image to conjure with... Current Mood:  tired | | Monday, January 19th, 2009 | | 3:42 pm |
Like most people I'm sure, I often re-read books I particularly loved. Just lately I felt a real need to re-read William Gibson's sprawl trilogy. In doing so I rediscovered how absolutely fantastic the opening sequence of Count Zero is. I reproduce it here in full: ( They set a slamhound on Turner's trail in New Delhi )To me I think it's the best opening page of any book I have ever read. ( wafflling as to why )And of course, I immediately want to read more. I want to know who Turner is, who wants to kill him, and why, how come he has such a fantastic connect? So, dear Flist, what is your favourite opening sequence to a book and why? | | Monday, January 12th, 2009 | | 11:58 am |
Well, I think we can finally lay to rest the question of Prince Harry's parentage. Given recent events he can only be Phil's grandson. | | Friday, December 12th, 2008 | | 9:19 am |
I have just used a slang expression that I thought was fairly comonplace. Based on the peculiar looks I got from my colleagues, I guess perhaps it isn't so common. So dearest flist, if I were to hand you a pile of papers and say: "This is all gash, can you shred it for me?" Would you: (a) know what I meant? (b) have heard the term before? Certainly it was in use by me and mine at university, as both verb and noun, and I have heard my leader (also a 'nose man) use it recently, but I find it hard to believe it is so geographically confined. | | Friday, November 21st, 2008 | | 8:24 am |
You know how it is when you get a song stuck in your head? How do the rest of you go on about evicting it? Because I've got Prefab Sprout's The King of Rock and Roll" stuck in my head and if I don't get it out soon I'm going to be seriously considering a 9mm lobotomy... | | Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | | 9:04 am |
On page 9 of today's Metro there is a picture of Nick Griffin giving a press conference. The Union Flag behind him is flying upside down. That's either a beautiful little dig by the person who set the thing up (flying the flag inverted is a traditional naval symbol of distress), or a beautiful piece of incompetence by an alleged 'nationalist'. Either way it's hilarious. | | Thursday, October 30th, 2008 | | 2:00 pm |
The Precise Nature of the Catastrophe
Right. I need: Duct tape (several rolls); Silverware (sharp, assorted sizes); Det-cord and satchel charges; Jellied petroleum; Flares (actually, I have those); A sledgehammer; A Winchester Model 1912 (sawn off); A duster (brown leather); and A map to the Amazon Head Offices. Those bastards have buggered up my Fallout 3 pre-order and as a result it will NOT be delivered tomorrow. Bastards. Current Mood:  atop a towering pillar of rage | | Monday, October 27th, 2008 | | 3:54 pm |
Profit Margin
I never realised that my wife comes with small print and terms and conditions attached. Now I don't, in principal, object to the fact that the US chooses to tax its citizens wherever they may be in the world and wherever their income may be earned. That is what the US is entitled to decide and has decided to do. We've made similar decisions to impose our society's morality on our subjects wherever they may be in the world (as I understand it you can be prosecuted in the UK under 'sex tourism' laws for having sex with say, a 15 year old, even if 15 is above the age of consent in the country where the act occurs and of which the other party is a citizen.) Fair enough. It could even, potentially, give us an opportunity to reduce our tax burden through cunning use of gifting exemptions and so forth, although I suspect that it would cost us more in accountancy advice than it would save. What I do object to though, what makes my liver fizz, my blood boil, and (to borrow a phrase from a squaddie friend) my shit itch, is the fact that, because ebq is married to me we may be required to file our US taxes jointly. Or, in other words, as I am married to a US citizen I may have to register for an Individual Taxation Identity Number (ITIN) as a non-resident alien and file US tax returns. How on God's green earth can they require me, a non-resident alien (which is to say, one of the 5.7 billion people who aren't Americans), who is not now and has never been a member of the Communist party US Citizen and has never earned so much as a single red cent within that country, to pay their bloody taxes?! Current Mood: aggravated | | Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 | | 4:18 pm |
Reformed Nice Guy
There's a bunch of terrorists moored on the Thames outside my office. They are flagrantly breaching the Merchant Shipping (Registration) Act 1993 by flying the Union Flag from the masthead. This makes my liver fizz but, as far as I can tell, I am the only person in the world who actually gives a monkey's about things like that... *sigh* Grumpy old man-dom isn't far away... | | Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 | | 4:33 pm |
Okay, I realise I'm about eight years behind everyone else here, but bear with me... The wonderful failing_angel recently lent me the entire Angel DVD boxed set. I missed most of it first time round and was pleased to be able to watch the lot - doubly so as I was off sick earlier this week and was able to plough through almost the whole first season in one sitting*. And this set me to wondering... ...Angelus is a big bad vampire and gets cursed by Gypsys gipsies Guppies indigent Romanians to have his soul back, right? Well okay, that makes sense. Leave him staggering around, mired in his own guilt and effectively neutered. Cool. So why the hell throw in the caveat that if he experiences a moment of 'perfect happiness' he loses his soul again? Big bad vampire is defanged. Over two and a half centuries he gradually comes to terms with himself, his nature and his guilt (pretty much a given, I'd have thought, for perfect happiness) and, whoops, suddenly he's a soul-less killing machine again? They never really thought that one through, did they? I mean, there are so many other, altogether more appropriate little filips they could have included. How about 'if he experiences a moment of perfect happiness he becomes mortal'? That has a nice aesthetic, is dramatically appropriate and has the advantage of not inflicting a hugely powerful baby-eating monster on the worldAmateurs.
*The dreams that a fever, fifteen straight hours of Angel and whisky (it's medicinal) conspired to provoke were... interesting. | | Monday, September 29th, 2008 | | 1:25 pm |
It has long been an article of faith amongst a large number of my friends that "James Blunt is a ****". Having caught the Top Gear re-run last night, I have to say that I'm puzzled. He came across as a perfectly tolerable, good-humoured and self-effacing sort of chap. Now, I wouldn't personally choose to listen to his music, but I don't think that 'making music I don't like' should, by itself, qualify one for membership of the Canterbury University Netball Team... So why, oh wise ones, is he so regarded? Surely it can't just be for the saucy rhyming opportunity? Curious of EC3... | | Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 | | 8:14 pm |
I am currently sitting on a train, staionary, somewhere south of Rugby. It has been stationary now for 91 minutes. It is stationary because there is a person on the track up ahead and the police are trying to apprehend him. Thay have been so trying for the best part of the preceeding 91 minutes. Unless he is cunningly disguised as a railway sleeper, I'm not sure why it should be taking this long. Personally, after an hour and a half, I'd be inclined to requisition a bullhorn and explain to the inconsiderate waste-of-rations that, seeings as he obviously doesn't want to be apprehended we're going to let the trains back through and he can take his chances with an InterCity 125. Which is why I'm not a police chief, I suppose... *sigh* 99 minutes and still counting. At least I have a Crackberry and a good book. Current Mood: aggravated |
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