Good news everybody! Futurama to return

In the last day, it's been announced that my favorite tv show ever, Futurama, is to be revived and another series made. Listening to the commentaries on the DVDsets of the show, it seems that from as early as the 3rd episode in, the Fox executives didn't like it.
The show premiered in 1999 and told the story of Philip J Fry, a 20 something loser from New York, who was accidentally cryogenically frozen untill the year 2999. He eventually finds his distant reletive, Hubert Farnsworth - a 159 year old inventor who runs a delivery service. Initially, the show generated a lot of controversy over the characters of Bender and Hermes Conrad. Hermes was alleged to be a racist stereotype of Jamacans whilst Bender was an antihero - he stole, drank, gambled and smoked. Show creators Matt Greoning and David X Cohen brushed it off by saying that the show asn't aimed at the same age group as The Simpsons.
Whilst Futurama is based 1000 years in the future, most of the comedy revolves around the fact that things haven't really changed. Certain things are given a slight futuristic twist (for example in the future, owls have replaced rats as vermin) Celebrities from today are kept alive as heads in jars allowing the usual culture references. In the first episode we are introduced to the suicide booth - a telephone kiosk esque device that aids suicides. Instead of the legend of Atlantis, we are told of the legend of Atlanta - the state which was transported to sea and then sank. Most of the writers of Futurama hold PhDs or masters degrees in mathematics and science and this has lead to a large range of nerd jokes that geeks like me can pick up on. For example in one episode a horse race is so close they have to examine the photo finish on the electron microscope to which Farnsworth angrily exclaims "No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it" citing Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and in another Bender launches a dating agency that is "dicreet and discrete". Some of the jokes are sogeeky that I only got them once I'd heard the commentry track - for example, Bender's apartment number means something in ASCII and one of the alien alphabets is a modular addition code after fans cracked the first one within minutes of the first episode airing.
The main reason the show is so repected by it's fans is that, like Scrubs, it can turn from comedy to drama at the drop of a hat. Episodes such as Luck of the Fryrish and Jurassic Bark have the most perfect, heart-breaking endings that shows like the Simpsons just can't even dream of producing. Groening and Cohen had also mapped out some long plot arcs that were very subtley put into place as soon as the first episode and then had hidden references made several times before they were revealed in the last season (hint - look at the shadow on the floor underneath the desk every time we see Fry fall into the cryogentic compartment). This kind of foresight implies that they had a lot more ideas, but unfortunately cancellation meant that most of them had to be quickly resolved in the 4th season.
The sad thing is that, The Simpsons used to be the best show on television, but soon became more and more wacky (exactly the kind of thing that could be rationalised in Futurama) and less and less witty over time. Futurama was screwed over by Fox who moved it around the schedules and often sports games overran episodes meaning some episodes couldn't be seen in some states. It was picked up for syndication by the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim channel (that also picked up Family Guy and Ghost in the Shell: SAC) and proved to be the most popular thing on the channel - often beating what Fox was showing. It was announced that a series of straight to DVD movies would be made and today the announcement of another run of 13 shows was made. Unfortunately, they won't air until 2008, but hopefully the movies should arrive before that. For all things Futurama, head over to Can't get enough Futurama.

Our lite entertainment for the summer

One of the few disappointments of Japan was the fact that the Nintendo DS lite was so hard to find. Nearly all the electronics shops had sold out and those that had stock were selling at the full rrp of 16,800yen (£80). I've heard that this console is the fastest selling of all time. In addition to this the games were £20 and we'd need stepdown convertors (Japan runs at 100V and some devices are so sensitive that even the US standard of 110V would damage them so the UK's 240V was a big no-no). Although I returned emptyhanded I had seen a good deal from Australia. From £100 including shipping we could get the DS lite and a copy of the new Mario game a month before they were available in the UK (and £25 cheaper). As an extra bonus, Australia also runs at 240V so we just needed an adaptor plug. The systems turned up a mere 5 days after ordering (and no import tax) so Blondie and I have been in gaming nirvana ever since. He's picked up Tiger Woods 2005 and Bomberman and I've aquired Mario Kart. The nice thing about DS games is that you don't each need a copy of the game to play multiplayer. In addition, Nintendo has negotiated loads of free wifi hotspots across the country where you can play people across the world for free. To my surprise there are loads in Durham including the New Inn, 24 North Bailey and even Chad's JCR. Nintendo have also dropped region protection, so games from anywhere in the world will work in all DS'.

After being out of gaming for the best part of 10 years since the SNES it feels weird going back in (Gamecube, DS lite and next up: the Wii). Still this time around I'm far more frugal so I should be able to get the games a lot cheaper. Initially I doubted how good the DS was. I mean, a dual screen handheld with a touch screen? But there are some really innovative games out such as Pheonix Wright (a Japanaese lawyer simulator where you do things like shout objection into the built in microphone) and Trauma Centre (where you perform operations on the touch screen) and the newly released Brain-Training that has got most of Japan hooked. Nintendo proclaim they're trying to appeal to the non-gamer and with the demographics of those playing Brain Training in Japan, they may be onto a winner...

Have a look at the E3 promos for the Wii here and here. I think the reason I lost interest in gaming was it was becoming so bland. Now the xBox360 is just a jumped up PC and the PS3 is going to cost nearly £500 (for a games console!!!) where as Nintendo are doing something different (and cheap - 25,000yen/$250 max). The video speaks for itself.

My best friends' wedding

A few weeks ago a group of us from Durham travelled down from Essex to the wedding of our university friends Mark and Catherine. They've been together for 5 and a half years and engaged for 4 years. Ever since they got together whilst we all lived together in Wynyard Grove, none of us doubted this day would eventually come. It was almost a waiting game for us until they became a couple as soon as we found out they shared the same birthday.

Blondie, Tim and I travelled down in Blondie's Saab on a pretty laid back road trip. We travelled down to Crystal Palace to stay with Mel where we were warmly welcomed. The next day we set off to Vaulty Manor, close to Tiptree where Catherine is from. We arrived with plenty of time to spare and settled into our "family" accommodation block. Gradualy we started seeing old friends milling around and eventually we filed into the main hall. There were two ladies officiating, one of whom just starred at me. I turned to Mel to point this out and when I looked back she was giving me real evils. Strange. Both Mark and Catherine looked very laid back and relaxed and everything went to plan.

After signing the register they posed for photos inside and outside, before they were lead away to let their photographer have his way with them whilst we set about the bucks fizz. The former Trevs students were easily identified as those going back for repeat visits to the alcohol table. This was the part where I got to chat to loads of peope I haven't seen in years. It's really sad because I haven't really kept in contact with a lot of them. They're on my MSN list, but I always fall into the "if the want to talk to me, they'll start a chat" trap. These are the people that I lived with for 3 years and pretty much saw every day. We grew together, finding out who we were, laughed and cried together and I was really close to several of them. It's far too easy to drift away from these people, but it made me resolve to try harder to keep in touch with them. After all, they formed a massive part of an important part of my life. The year after they left (2002-3) I essentially started again at Trevs and it's been nearly 4 years since then. Needless to say after 4 years of working, most of them can't even imagine what it's like to live as a student anymore as we PhDers do.


Eventually Mark and Catherine reappeared for the group photos. We only appeared in one so we took the time to explore around the hall. Finally, the photographer was done and Mark and Catherine were free to mingle with the guests. We were then called into the dining hall for the lunch, consisting of a fantastic salmon/prawn starter and lamb main. I was sat on a table of half Trevs, half Mark's friends whom we had been paintballing with a month or so earlier. Of course, I'd brought my camera and for some reason I seemed to be on it and got a lot of pretty good pictures - you can see the complete set by clicking on any of them.


The centre-piece of each table was a metre long vase with flowers that had all the ex-students thinking the same thing - trophy. The banter was entertaining and in no time it was time for the speeches. Catherine's father decided to go hi-tech and gave a powerpoint presentation to delve into Catherine's past. The fact he is a teacher played up in the style of talk and the over-dinner quiz. Next up was the best man - Mark's brother, David. His speech was short and to the point and then it was left up to Mark to wrap up which he did well.

After the cake was cut we returned to the main hall for more drinks before some free time during which we sat and chatted more. Eventually the evening buffet was served before fireworks outside and the obligatory cheesy DJs introduced the first dance of the new Mr and Mrs Carrington. The bar wasn't too badly priced for a southern wedding venue (although £3/pint still hust).

Things wound down at midnight and we were ejected. On the way out we spied the "yard" vases and one of them accompanied us back to one of the bedrooms where the drinking continued with the aid of the vase.


The next day dawned with the prospect of being kicked out of our rooms at 9.30. Thankfuly we were all up and made our way to the breakfast room for brunch. Soon after, people began drifting off. Thankfully, there's an alumni weekend in a few weeks so it won't be too long before I see people again. We drove Mel to visit her grandmother in Theydon Bois and went for a walk around the local wood. It was fantastically hot day. It's probably a good thing the wedding wasn't a day later cos although the photos would have looked better, it would have been uncomfortably hot.
Eventually we piled back into the Saab (after having to disable the alarm due to a beeper fault) and tore back through East Anglia and up the M1 back to Durham.

Japan entries complete

I've finally got around to sorting through all my photos from Japan and getting them onto Flickr. There's a link to all my photos on the right hand side of my blog, or you can just click on a picture in or after the Japan entries and be taken there by the magic of the internet eeeeee! I've also gone through and tidied up the writing style a bit to compensate for the dodgy keyboard on my laptop which spontaneously misses out random letters (thankfully, this problem has now been fixed) so the entries might actually make more grammatical sense!

It's over

All the photos are coming along - I've over half way through. In the mean time I'm happy to report that after 9 months of blood, sweat and many many tears, Blondie and I have finally finished Super Monkey Ball 2. The final level of world 10 was conquered on Tuesday leading to mass celebrations. Hopefully this means the level of swearing in the house will be drastically reduced.

An overview of Japan

It's been a week since I arrived back in the UK so I've had time to readjust. Now, for some reason, I've been unaffected by jet-lag on both journeys which is something I'm very thankful for - my theory of hardcoring it until nighttime in the country of arrival seems to have paid off. One of the things that struck me most about my trip was that I simply wasn't hit by culture shock at all - I know I was only there for 2 weeks, but for most of the second week I was by myself and had to communicate in Japanese and get by myself in their society. Perhaps I had expectations of ultra-wackiness, perhaps England is getting more outrageous, perhaps learning Katakana before I went ensured that I wasn't completely isolated - who knows. I've never really considered myself to be well-traveled, but it has now occurred to me that I've been to a lot of cities around the world, so maybe new places don't intimidate me the way I expect them to. Certainly in Japan I felt lots of similarities to Mumbai and European cities. In fact it may be safe to say I experienced more severe reverse-culture shock. Or it may just have been the crushing disappointment of sharing a departure gate with a load of drunk Geordies who were returning from Amsterdam, the dirty, unreliable Metro and finally the complete lack of trains anywhere after 10pm from Newcastle. Not what I really needed after experiencing the upmost efficiency and then 14 hours on planes.

Japan itself is a series of contradictions and I'll give you a few examples. Recycling seems to be a big part of everyday life with different bins surrounding most conbinis and vending machines, but then the massive use of non-reusable chopsticks is putting pressure on wood supplies. Things like food, drink, local travel and everyday items are very cheap (the prospect of having to pay £3.69 for a sandwich at a service station this weekend had me launch into a rant), yet something as simple as a CD or DVD will set you back one and a half times what we pay. Maintaining face and honor are big here, yet drinking is encourageed at every possible juncture - witness the conference poster sessions with no water; only beer. The number of mum-ra'd businessmen I saw being carried home through the streets of Osaka as though it was the most normal thing in the world was certainly baffling. Japan is famous for being one of the mst technologically advanced countries, yet hardly anywhere takes credit cards, Japan lags behind Scandinavia in terms of internet connections and Japanese mobile phones aren't as advanced as you'd think. Western models can now rival, if not beat the Japanese equivalents.
The biggest thing though were the people. In the UK we have history all around us - from castle remains all the way through to the blue plaques on buildings throughout the country. It is something we can be proud of without caring too much. In Japan, the recorded history doesn't really start until the 8th century, with the country descending into anarchy until reunification in 1600. The Japanese seem obsessed with their history to a massive extreme. Major tourist attractions are actually recreations of the originals - Osaka castle, the golden pavilion, Todaiji temple at Nara. It's sort of the equivalent of us putting Stone Henge back together. The sites have become such tourist traps that a lot of the wonder that should exist around them is lost in the swarm of school tours. It seems like a lot of the events and visits that unfold arise because of tradition rather than an actual affinity for the past or religion. A good Western example of this is Christmas - now it's simply a winter festival that has lost all of it's meaning. It's now simply tradition and unfortunately if we ever stop the commercialism of it our economy would head south pretty fast.
I'd read about widespread discrimination against foreigners and I can certainly believe it's true. Whilst in the west, different nationalities can blend in, in Japan they stand out. We drew some strange looks as we walked through some of smaller areas of Osaka. I have to say though, that I found the people of Osaka to be by far the most welcoming, always offering us a smile and trying to help us if we looked too confused. Kyoto was another matter. I've read that it's citizens even regard Japanese not from the area as gaijin. The sheer number of foreigners trapesing through the city must aggravate the locals (especially with the loud Americans). People in Tokyo seemed more understanding of foreigners due to the higher concentration of gaijin who work in the city. Japan has certainly opened up to the world since the war, but it is still an insular country. Perhaps the lack of ethnic diversity has helped the country - everyone is Japanese so they all have their sense of honor, which helps keeps the crime rate down and traditions alive.

The trip has reconfirmed to me that it can really suck travelling by yourself. From having noone to talk to (1/3 of a learn Japanese book isn't too helpful when trying to strike up conversations), to having to ask people to take your photo all the time and then sitting by yourself in restaurants like the strange old man that every pub in the UK has...
I definitely want to go back - perhaps to the famous Sapporo Snow Festival held in February every year - especially if I can climb onto the ANA/JAL 10000yen flights. It may have to be fairly soon though. Due to heavy US pressure, Japan will be adopting the tactic of fingerprinting any foreign national who enters the country from November 2007...

Anyway - I'm working hard to edit my photos and tidy up all the blog entries. Hopefully within the next week... In the meantime enjoy this video of me negotiating the famous Shibuya crossing. I won't embarrasss Angharad by posting her karaoke video - I know I was just as bad as she was!