Sony...Since my rant, the battery recall has escalated. In addition Sony have been forced to cut the launch price of the PS3 in Japan. This has meant Sony's predicted profits have been cut by 53%! Income is down an amazing 94%! This is before any other manufacturers claim compensation. In addition their BluRay player has been further delayed until December, and yesterday they successfully managed to close down one of the most popular importing companies down. Despite the company in question being based in Hong Kong (so technically they aren't importing - simply selling products to people abroad) it was ruled that they were breaking the law. In revenge, they have published a list of Sony executives who imported PSPs from them last year before their UK launch. Sony's statement after the result of the case included the phrase "Ultimately, we're trying to protect consumers from being sold hardware that does not conform to strict EU or UK consumer safety standards, due to voltage supply differences et cetera". Odd because PSPs carry CE approved power supplies from Sony that can be used all over the world. Of course, the way their laptop batteries have been going maybe there are some safety issues.
Ghibli...Reviews of their August film Gedo Senki (Tales of Earthsea) haven't been positive at all. Hasn't put me off wanting to see it though. Could be a while though as it can't be released in the US (who will produce the English dub) until 2009. In related news, Film4 has been showing further Ghibli films including the fantastic, magical Whisper of the Heart complete with its original Japanese dub.
Home...It's been over three weeks now. I'm worryingly used to it by now - it's worrying because I love being self sufficient - the cooking, shopping and cleaning but once you've spent a few weeks living with your parents again you get used to be lazy again. Thesis-wise I'm nearly done - I'm waiting on my supervisor getting back to me on the two chapters I sent him. My pet project is helping my parents tidy the house. It's absolutely unbelievable - after getting so much shit for having an untidy room when I was younger, it's amazing to look at the house. There are piles of papers everywhere, business cards from the 80s, years worth of Tesco points statements and catalogues. They are complete hoarders (getting them to buy a new kettle after finding the current one had lost most of its inside coating and sported a green filament was very hard) but I'll beat it out of them.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Monday, October 09, 2006
Comfort TV
It's been over a week now and so far I've just about managed to get my stuff sorted out. I've even managed to do a bit of work, but that starts properly tomorrow. In my prior post I mentioned the lack of decent TV. In fact, since I started my PhD I've actively avoided watching new programs - the OC, Lost, One Tree Hill, Invasion - I've managed to avoid getting hooked. I've stuck to Scrubs, Family Guy and 24; and I download those. What I have realised is that there is some stuff that I watch over and over. Thanks to C4, E4 and abc1 I've found myself watching a heavy dose of Scrubs and Friends. They are waht I class as comfort TV - things I've seen so many times before, but feel safe watching again.
E4 show 2 Friends episodes a day and get through a series every 12 days (that means they show the whole thing about 2 and a half times a year). The jokes are memorable and its still funny even after all these years. At the moment we've just got to the start of season 3 which is probably the best. To my delight it was favourite episode; "The one where no one's ready" which is very cunningly a real-time episode based around Ross' attempts to get his friends ready to attend a dinner function at the museum with the whole episode (apart from the epilogue) set in Monica's apartment. It's also the episode most quoted by my friends and I at university - chair stealers are greeted with "In the words of A. A. Milne, get out of my chair dilhole!" or "Right, give me your underwear" whilst the stealer normally replied with "you went to Spain" and cries of "drink the fat" were not uncommon. Friends is the ultimate feel-good program, the ups and down's of the characters lives are mainly played for laughs. Even though, there are some major story developments, they are all pretty cheesey with the exception of the first Ross and Rachel breakup in season 3's "The one the morning after" where the comedy is very much downplayed in the second half of the episode. These two episodes explain why season 3 is probably my favourite.
Scrubs has gained in popularity over the last few years. I started watching from the start and feel quite proud of it. The humour is very different from Friends and the best episodes are often very bittersweet. From the very first episode the young doctors are forced to deal with death, but it's the forth episode, my old lady that really shows how uplifting the episodes can be - at the start the 3 new doctors are each introduced their new patient as the narration informs us that on average 1 in 3 patients dies. There's an awful moment about 2/3 of the way through the show where you realise all the patients will die, but somehow the fact that all the doctors take something from the day fills you with hope. Inspirational use of music (as frequently mentioned before) often elevates episodes to classic standard; my philosophy features the cast performing a Colin Hay song, my sex buddy finishes with Del Amitri's "Tell her this" as JD struggles to open up to Elliot. my screw up is frequently referenced as the best Scrubs episode due to the Sixth Sense-esque plot and recent episodes such as my cabbage and my lunch in which the previously infalable Dr Cox has his confidence shaken.
Friends has now finished so we are left with 10 seasons and perpetual rumours of one-off specials and Scrubs enters its 6th and possibly last season in January (Zach Braff has stated he wants to concentrate on films). Infinitely rewatchable, comforting and it's always far too easy to watch them again thanks to their heavy rotation of the Freeview channels than it is to do work on my thesis, get back to learning Japanese, look for jobs or do any of the things that seem like hard work.
E4 show 2 Friends episodes a day and get through a series every 12 days (that means they show the whole thing about 2 and a half times a year). The jokes are memorable and its still funny even after all these years. At the moment we've just got to the start of season 3 which is probably the best. To my delight it was favourite episode; "The one where no one's ready" which is very cunningly a real-time episode based around Ross' attempts to get his friends ready to attend a dinner function at the museum with the whole episode (apart from the epilogue) set in Monica's apartment. It's also the episode most quoted by my friends and I at university - chair stealers are greeted with "In the words of A. A. Milne, get out of my chair dilhole!" or "Right, give me your underwear" whilst the stealer normally replied with "you went to Spain" and cries of "drink the fat" were not uncommon. Friends is the ultimate feel-good program, the ups and down's of the characters lives are mainly played for laughs. Even though, there are some major story developments, they are all pretty cheesey with the exception of the first Ross and Rachel breakup in season 3's "The one the morning after" where the comedy is very much downplayed in the second half of the episode. These two episodes explain why season 3 is probably my favourite.
Scrubs has gained in popularity over the last few years. I started watching from the start and feel quite proud of it. The humour is very different from Friends and the best episodes are often very bittersweet. From the very first episode the young doctors are forced to deal with death, but it's the forth episode, my old lady that really shows how uplifting the episodes can be - at the start the 3 new doctors are each introduced their new patient as the narration informs us that on average 1 in 3 patients dies. There's an awful moment about 2/3 of the way through the show where you realise all the patients will die, but somehow the fact that all the doctors take something from the day fills you with hope. Inspirational use of music (as frequently mentioned before) often elevates episodes to classic standard; my philosophy features the cast performing a Colin Hay song, my sex buddy finishes with Del Amitri's "Tell her this" as JD struggles to open up to Elliot. my screw up is frequently referenced as the best Scrubs episode due to the Sixth Sense-esque plot and recent episodes such as my cabbage and my lunch in which the previously infalable Dr Cox has his confidence shaken.
Friends has now finished so we are left with 10 seasons and perpetual rumours of one-off specials and Scrubs enters its 6th and possibly last season in January (Zach Braff has stated he wants to concentrate on films). Infinitely rewatchable, comforting and it's always far too easy to watch them again thanks to their heavy rotation of the Freeview channels than it is to do work on my thesis, get back to learning Japanese, look for jobs or do any of the things that seem like hard work.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
One last time
Throughout the last year I've finally started going on nights out with chemists. The best nights have always stemmed from very innocuous beginnings such as chemSoc lectures or poster presentations. These inevitably lead to the realisation that it's 10pm, we've been drinking for 5 hours and not yet eaten anything. These always go on to be fantastic nights. On Thursday, Blondie and I organised another night out to celebrate the end of our time in Durham. Comprising our friends from Trevs who were still around and as many of the chemists as we could muster. Starting out in the New Inn we moved on through The Court Inn, perenial favourite the Swan and 3 before the survivors moved onto Chase and finally Walkabout.
The New Inn and the Swan and 3 have been favourites since our undergrad days whilst Chase has become our favourite post-11pm haunt over the year. My "Vote for Pedro" tshirt even attracted some attention. This is where things went to the dark side with the cheap double vodka and fake Red Bulls. How many of these we actually got through I don't think anyone knows. Thankfully, we didn't get onto the cocktails or Jagermeister like normal. What was very sad is how Blondie's group and other chemists made a big deal about him leaving including cakes and cards, where as my group couldn't have cared less that I was leaving. I've always felt on the fringe this past year (and before) - I sway wildly between feeling accepted and as an outsider and I've finished mostly on the fence between the 2.
The next day the vokda-fake Red Bulls had their revenge as I woke up a 6.30 and couldn't get back to sleep. Eventually I got up at 7.30 and wondered downstairs to be greeted by alan dancing around in his pants. I've seen it before, but this is likely to be the last time we are all so carefree.
It's been a very trying year - possibly the hardest year I've had to deal with - but it's nights out like these that have probably kept me sane in the face of a great deal of stress.
The New Inn and the Swan and 3 have been favourites since our undergrad days whilst Chase has become our favourite post-11pm haunt over the year. My "Vote for Pedro" tshirt even attracted some attention. This is where things went to the dark side with the cheap double vodka and fake Red Bulls. How many of these we actually got through I don't think anyone knows. Thankfully, we didn't get onto the cocktails or Jagermeister like normal. What was very sad is how Blondie's group and other chemists made a big deal about him leaving including cakes and cards, where as my group couldn't have cared less that I was leaving. I've always felt on the fringe this past year (and before) - I sway wildly between feeling accepted and as an outsider and I've finished mostly on the fence between the 2.
The next day the vokda-fake Red Bulls had their revenge as I woke up a 6.30 and couldn't get back to sleep. Eventually I got up at 7.30 and wondered downstairs to be greeted by alan dancing around in his pants. I've seen it before, but this is likely to be the last time we are all so carefree.
It's been a very trying year - possibly the hardest year I've had to deal with - but it's nights out like these that have probably kept me sane in the face of a great deal of stress.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Packing up and moving home
It's finally over. After seven years my time at Trevs has officially ended. I woke up in my room on Wesnesday, as it has been for the last 15 months. Everything seemed normal. By the end of that day I had started packing away my stuff - even though I've lived in the house's smallest room I've still got 3 years worth of accumulated crap. The big things like books, folders and DVDs packed away easily, but it was the small things that really made the room my own. Whether it be the notes left on my door, my "junior server of the year" tankard or even things like my fast fret jar that's now a pen holder, these were the things that I noticed every day and made it my room. Indeed, when I woke up on Thursday it was only my pictures and posters on the walls that still made it my room. As I packed these away, the room reverted back to being a college room. The subtle difference in how sounds reverberated was a reminder of its emptyness.
Thursday evening brought about our leaving do. An assortment of chemists and Trevs students gathered at the New Inn at 5.30 to celebrate the passing of myself and Blondie which you can read more about in the last post or next post - I'm not really sure what's happening.
Unfortunately, all the cheap vodka-red bulls took their toll as I woke up at 6.30 and couldn't get back to sleep. Blondie and I walked down to the department for the last time. I finished off cleaning out my desk and lab space and handed back my lab keys (although the £75 deposit refund looks like it will be mostly swallowed by the chrge for continuation). Eventually Matt had handed in his thesis and I had handed in my thesis title.
We said goodbye to Matt and dropped off our House 3 keys before getting a taxi to the station for our respective trains south. Blondie and I met on our first day in Durham and now 6 years, 362 days later here we were on our last day in Durham getting trains 20 minutes apart. Our friend Emma had accompanied us so we all said our goodbyes and caught our trains. It was nice to be seen off as it meant we didn't just annonymously leave Durham by ourselves.
I've been at home for a couple of days now and it's exactly like I thought it would be - I feel like I'm going back to Durham soon and I can't get used to the fact that I don't have to do anymore practical work for my PhD. Hopefully I get most of it written in the next few weeks and begin the fine tuning for the week after for a submission in late October. I decorated my bedroom just before my PhD so it really doesn't feel like my room at all anymore. In many ways "my room" is gone for ever.
I'm already bored and I hate television. I'd be quite happy to never watch it again. Desite Freeview having nearly 40 channels, there's either nothing on or they schedule 3 decent films at the same time. In my first 12 hours here I saw a load of adverts for the first time and now I'm fed up to the back teeth with them. The fact that my parents seem happy to witter away the nights watching ITV3 is almost unbearable. The good thing is it's made me even more anxious to get finished up and find a job so I can move out. I finally feel like I can be self sufficient, but I'm probably just kidding myself.
Thursday evening brought about our leaving do. An assortment of chemists and Trevs students gathered at the New Inn at 5.30 to celebrate the passing of myself and Blondie which you can read more about in the last post or next post - I'm not really sure what's happening.
Unfortunately, all the cheap vodka-red bulls took their toll as I woke up at 6.30 and couldn't get back to sleep. Blondie and I walked down to the department for the last time. I finished off cleaning out my desk and lab space and handed back my lab keys (although the £75 deposit refund looks like it will be mostly swallowed by the chrge for continuation). Eventually Matt had handed in his thesis and I had handed in my thesis title.
We said goodbye to Matt and dropped off our House 3 keys before getting a taxi to the station for our respective trains south. Blondie and I met on our first day in Durham and now 6 years, 362 days later here we were on our last day in Durham getting trains 20 minutes apart. Our friend Emma had accompanied us so we all said our goodbyes and caught our trains. It was nice to be seen off as it meant we didn't just annonymously leave Durham by ourselves.
I've been at home for a couple of days now and it's exactly like I thought it would be - I feel like I'm going back to Durham soon and I can't get used to the fact that I don't have to do anymore practical work for my PhD. Hopefully I get most of it written in the next few weeks and begin the fine tuning for the week after for a submission in late October. I decorated my bedroom just before my PhD so it really doesn't feel like my room at all anymore. In many ways "my room" is gone for ever.
I'm already bored and I hate television. I'd be quite happy to never watch it again. Desite Freeview having nearly 40 channels, there's either nothing on or they schedule 3 decent films at the same time. In my first 12 hours here I saw a load of adverts for the first time and now I'm fed up to the back teeth with them. The fact that my parents seem happy to witter away the nights watching ITV3 is almost unbearable. The good thing is it's made me even more anxious to get finished up and find a job so I can move out. I finally feel like I can be self sufficient, but I'm probably just kidding myself.
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