Archive for March, 2006

« Older Entries

“wolf creek”

Friday, March 31st, 2006

after talking with loic last night about “hostel”, he let me borrow this australian movie named “wolf creek“. supposedly based on true events. probably about like “texas chainsaw massacre”. overall, it was good. well acted and looked great. it was shot in hd using a sony camera to tape, if you care. it’s worth watching if you like that sort of movie. has a very good “real” feel to it. the slight spoiler is in the next paragraph.

unfortunately, the vast majority of the movie hinges on the stupidity of the main character. the main female character shoots the crazy man in the throat and he’s now unconscious. unfortunately, she only had one bullet. so, instead of grabbing the big knife the guy had and repeatedly stabbing him to make sure he’s dead (didn’t check for pulse either), she grabs the other girl and they make a break for it. not only that, there was a whole set of other hand and power tools on a work bench in the same shack. apparently, people in horror movies have never seen at least one other horror movie in their pathetic lives. sure it’s tramatic, but i would hope that were i in a similar situation i would at least make sure the job is done. for me, this is what made “hostel” better. the story line didn’t require the main characters to be morons in order to progress the plot. sadly, this problem seems rampant in hollywood movies of all types. maybe they’re actually trying to teach us a lesson about being a dumbass. i seriously doubt it though.

i’m not going to go to the crystal palace v watford game as you can’t get there by tube and it seems a long way out.

Posted in eurotrip-2006, movies | 1 Comment »

“hostel”

Thursday, March 30th, 2006

i just got back from going to see it. it’s pretty good if you like horror movies. i can’t imagine the slovakian tourist board is too thrilled about it. definitely represents your stereotypical post-college americans. i was really hoping they would die early, but since they were the main characters it seemed unlikely. fairly good realism. not for the squeamish. it seemed like an original story though. i wonder if it’s based on any facts? a bit expensive to see a movie at the big cinema here at p6.80 for a matinee. i think later it’s p8.80. i believe the small chain theatre is cheaper, but it’s more an indy type of place. apparently one screen and not showing anything i really want to see.

i noticed this in the theatre at stratford-upon-avon as well, but they have a real problem with putting too bright of lights in your field of view. particularly exit signs. don’t they realize it’s incredibly destracting when all other lights are out. this theatre also had 2 small lights on throughout the entire movie as well. maybe it’s like that in the u.s. as well, but i don’t go to the theater enough there to know.

Posted in eurotrip-2006, movies | No Comments »

result! qpr v stoke city

Thursday, March 30th, 2006

qpr 2006-03-29 ticket

it is only a championship match, but you can’t have it all. it’s hard to believe that with the exception of thursdays (?) you can catch some sort of football match every week. the quality is good too. granted it’s only one game, but i would say the quality compares favorably with m.l.s., maybe more physical. the attendance was 10,918. i would have guest more, but it was a wednesday. thankfully, the temperature is getting better as it was about 10c. a large improvement from watching a game at 0c.

in some ways, i would think it could almost be preferrable to support a championship league side. they seem more community oriented and down to earth. there’s not all the money and push for global brand recognition that comes from top premier league sides. however, i would expect it to be even harder to hang on to good players.

as far as this match, qpr were doing well going a goal up, but then blew a pk. that’s gotta hurt since stoke city came out strong in the second half and equalised with a successful pk. they later went up with a decent game winner. i didn’t get any particularly good pictures, but here’s a couple. the first is before the match and the other is the missed pk.
qpr v stoke city 2006-03-29 pre-game

qpr v stoke city 2006-03-29 missed pk

the win for stoke city pushed them above qpr in the league standings to 13th. of the two, stoke city seemed to have better play. qpr self destructed in the second half. there problem was mainly not having there skilled players making the offensive passes and create chances. far too many times, it was the poor right back making long balls. not good. i believe his name was bignot. he’s my anti-man of the match. there excellent left midfielder lee cook did not see nearly enough of the ball. i could see him or their center defender and captain shittu playing in the premiership.

at any rate, i’m going to attempt to see crystal palace v watford on friday. it should be a good match and comparison since they are ranked 5 and 3 in the league respectively.

Posted in eurotrip-2006, football | 2 Comments »

dst has got to go

Wednesday, March 29th, 2006

there are already plenty of reasons why daylight saving time is annoying. i just ran across another. i couldn’t understand why my computers clock (America/Chicago tz) was now 7 hours behind my phone (London tz). turns out that the uk changes to dst (british summer time (bst) is the timezone) on the last sunday in march. the u.s. changes on the first sunday in april. lovely. so for a week, it’s 7 hours difference.

will we ever drop all timezones and just go to a world clock on utc? i suppose for most people it’s not a problem they encounter very often. i suppose it’s another battle for globalization versus local customs.

Posted in eurotrip-2006 | 2 Comments »

yes, i can read…

Tuesday, March 28th, 2006

i had meant to do this before, but sandy reminded me by asking about “memoirs of a geisha”. so, here are some 30 second reviews.

memoirs of a geisha

overall, i would say i liked it. the first 100 pages were a bit slow for me. it took about that long to get to where the main character was actually becoming a geisha. i found the parts that talked about during world war 2 interesting. it highlighted how wars really aren’t good for anyone. bush? i’ll have to see the movie to see how it compares. as usual, i expect it won’t be as good. the details are, to me, what makes the book worth reading.

is it just me or is everything shit?

i enjoyed this one. there were a few bits about people i didn’t know who they were. the target audience was british. however, the majority of the book revolved around things that aren’t specific to any first world country and equally apply. it’s also an encyclopedia style thing with mostly short entries so would be a good book to have in the bathroom. the unfortunate thing about this book, and similar books, is that it will only be read by people who already agree with the premise, like myself. therefore, you are preaching to the choir. i can’t imagine someone picking up this book and then going, “you know what, i think everything’s shit”. obviously, the book is targeted for truthful humour.

collapse: how societies choose to fail or survive

so far this has been an interesting read. i’m only about 100 pages into it. very detailed and academic, but well written. it should be required reading so that you’re prepared when the u.s. collapses from its own stupidity. hopefully, he covers how to prepare for collapse at the end. you might try watching the pbs series based on his other book “guns, germs and steel“. i haven’t read the book, but the series was excellent.

random

not much happened today. slept 10 hours. the shower sprayer was broken at the flat so i offered to go get a new one. the only flatmate here, loic – french guy, said they weren’t supposed to come to fix it until saturday. is there every really a point to calling the landlord? i sorted it out no problem. the new one rocks. i might have to steal it when i leave.

tomorrow night, i’m thinking about trying to catch the qpr game. i actually didn’t end up getting to see the arsenal v juventus game tonight. unlucky. i couldn’t find a good place to watch it as all the pubs were packed and i still had to eat. i also don’t really like crowded bars. i also just tonight realized a small problem with the fact that there’s not a television in the flat. i won’t have a good way to watch “match of the day”. that’s going to be a problem. i wonder how cheap of a television i can get? however, i was kind of looking forward to not having a tv. maybe i would quit wasting so much time.

stop

Posted in books, eurotrip-2006 | 1 Comment »

« Older Entries