darkstrEam's livejournal

I don't really use this journal any more, not enough to warrant having a paid account anyway.
As such, what remains will probably look less interesting than it has been as most of my image posts will disappear. Same goes for most of my amusing/odd user icons.
C'est la vie. Frankly i'd rather have the cash.

Posting this in case anyone's interested but hadn't heard yet...

...Designer's Republic seem to have gone bust

Their head honcho seems to be viewing it in a reasonably positive way, but it's still the end of an era for such an influential design house.

Scared of spiders?

If so, DON'T CLICK HERE!!!

If not, go ahead 'cos it's really cool.

Tomorrow night I'm DJ-ing Drum n' Bass and dark electronic stuff at ElectronBreaks on the middle floor of Redeemer, Belgrave Gate, Leicester. Come out if you're in need of tunes that could be described as "bangin'".

got 15 grand you don't need?
buy me one of these...

http://www.audioturntable.com/

it reads vinyl records with lasers instead of a needle. it's the future of the past, baby!

it's funny, I was just reading a bit about the history of flying cars the other day and then this shows up...

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/12012009/36/t/flying-car-takes-skies-0.html

hardly a breakthrough really - this idea's been around since the '50s, minus the vertical take-off option. I won't be impressed by flying cars until they're wingless, and preferably using anti-gravity technology. Sticking wings and jets on a car is never going to be the answer. End of.

Since the end of June last year, I've had to endure living directly below a bunch of maniacs who have no concept of how to live in a shared building. Violent arguments, smashing stuff around and insanely loud music at whatever hours of the day or night take their fancy have made living here pretty fucking miserable, and it's taken the best efforts of cyniborg to keep me happy/sane.
Anyway, they've just aggressively informed me that they're getting evicted in a week. Thank fuck for that, is all I can say. Although I do feel slightly sorry for the less horrific of the couple, I'm mostly hoping they'll just bugger off without much further incident. That would be nice.

If you're interested in the current legal wrangling going on between Fox and Warner Bros. over the release of Watchmen, this open letter from on of the film's producers makes for an enlightening read...

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/2008-12-6-motion-captured/posts/2009-1-8-an-open-letter-from-watchmen-producers

http://www.myspace.com/x-menorigins

new X-Men Origins: Wolverine trailer on MySpace, if you ain't seen it.

Hello,
This is a lovely, refreshing pint of St Helier Pear Cider with Blueberry.



It tastes really good.










warning - this product may turn your poop green

for years James Bond has, amongst other things, been associated with very expensive watches (the current Bond seemingly content with hawking Coke Zero too). Now Bond villains are getting in on the licensing act too, as Swatch have produced a range of watches for the majority of bad guys from each Bond movie. Some are actually pretty fun - check 'em out...

http://www.swatch.com/gb_en/villain/villain_watches.profile-goldfinger.html

http://video.scifi.com/player/?id=729141

that link'll take you to a sci-fi channel video about the creation of Doctor Manhattan for the upcoming Watchmen movie. pretty cool stuff :)

well I'm scared. was just looking round the shops and discovered there's a musical version of The Ten Commandments out on DVD, starring Val Kilmer as Moses. we live on a thoroughly odd planet, no?

When you think of the vast range of subjects, social commentary, psychology, technology and possibilities of science fiction...

Poll #1262273 what hovers your saucer?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6

What's your favourite sci-fi concept?

My answer's fairly predictable, if you know me, but I really enjjoy the concept on numerous levels, especially the psychological connotations.

according to Forbes magazine (rankings based on earnings against paycheck for star), Nicole Kidman ranks #1 as the most overpaid Hollywood star;

"The Invasion, a second remake of the 1956 classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers, actually lost $2.68 for every dollar Kidman earned."

Full article here. There may be an ad screen to click through.

http://www.forbes.com/home/2008/09/05/hollywood-kidman-garner-biz-media-cz_dp_0908overpaid.html

Scarily enough, their #1 best value for money is Vince Vaughan... judging by most of his films, though, I'd still say he's overpaid. :P

Pointless scaremongering aside, what do you think will happen when they use the Large Hadron Collider?


Poll #1256637 collision...
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 12

what do you think will happen when use the gigantic particle smasher?

any theories of your own?

good weekend despite the crazy ass weather.
got plenty soaked Saturday night, but apart from venturing out to DJ RockBox, which went really well I reckon, I had a nice quiet weekend with cyniborg avoiding the downpour.

Sunday afternoon we watched Death Note, which is a live action version of a Japanese manga, and is a genuinely entertaining, twisted fantasy. Much better watched with minimal knowledge of the ideas therein, I'd recommend it to anyone with an appreciation for devious thought processes. Quirky, but really good quirky. 4 out of 5.

Also, I'm currently reading Crooked Little Vein, a messed up detective novel by comicbook scribe Warren Ellis. Only 7ish chapters in, but it's thoroughly entertaining stuff and, as much of my reading is done on the bus to and from work, is one of those rare reads that makes you begrudge having to stop enjoying yourself and get off the bus. Funny enough to make you look like a nutter laughing to yourself in public too.

Finally, I know there are some folks on my friends list who were interested that my old genre-free club night Nowhere was returning on the occasionally occurring 5th Saturday of the month slot at Redeemer. Alas now it's not, for whatever reason. It may yet resurface at some point in time, but for now you'll just have to make do with me DJ-ing cheesey retro metal. I'm generally spinning such tunes at Redeemer on the first two Saturdays of each month. Had a couple slow-dancing to Thunder's Love Walked In this weekend just gone. Makes it all worthwhile, really, don't it?

( aww you, go on then have a photo, ya big lug )

Poll #1253179 best buds
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

on your iPod/MP3 Player/Portable Music thing, what headphones do you prefer?

I've been trying to find a pair of good "in-ear buds" that don't keep working their way out of my ears.
Drives me absolutely crazy to have to keep readjusting them every few minutes.
Currently using a pair of "Skull Candy 'Smokin' Buds'" with the rubber covers from my previous pair of Phillips in-ear headphones, as all the supplied ones were too big for my seemingly freakishly small ear-holes. I might revert to the style with the over-ear grip soon as it's doing my head in, and I just feel slightly ridiculous wearing large cans over my ears when I'm walking about, regardless of the sound quality.
The pressures of modern life, non?

Sad to hear that 'movie trailer voice guy' Don LaFontaine has died...

http://www.joblo.com/trailer-guy-passes

Sure there's plenty of sound-alikes to carry on the tradition, but he's had a massive impact on the way certain movies are sold.

Had a cool weekend up in York seeing my folks for their 40th wedding anniversary, and catching up with my friends Alex and Lucy.

When me and Sam got back to Leicester we went to see Babylon A.D., the new Vin Diesel flick which, interestingly, director Mathieu Kassovitz absolved himself of all responsibility for due to studio (Fox) interference.
Whereas it's not the worst film i've ever seen (reckon that's still House Of The Dead), and there's much of interest in the plot and concepts discussed herein, there's a lack of narrative direction and resolution throughout. Diesel himself is on pretty good form, as are his costars Michelle Yeoh and Mélanie Thierry, and whereas his career's in something of a slump, Diesel's still got the requisite sneer and gravelly voice of a genuinely great action movie star, but this movie probably won't do him any favours. What amounts to a 'more sci-fi' take on the plot of Children Of Men, but with excessive shaky cam and confusing direction, with an archetypal "so what?" ending, all the nice ideas and decent casting can't save this film from being a dissatisfying experience. We're talking Jeepers Creepers levels of nice concept screwed up by shoddy execution here. 2.5 out of 5 - a wasted opportunity.