alexsarll: (Default)
[personal profile] alexsarll
Last night I watched and thoroughly enjoyed a film about footballism. Yeah, you heard me. Well OK, you didn't, you read my words on a computer screen, but you know what I mean. If all footballism were like Shaolin Soccer, I would understand why people cared about it. Kung-fu masters versus players called Team Evil and enhanced with Super-Soldier Serum - now *that* is a game worth watching.

Carson "Queer Eye" Kressler has written a book for children called You're Different And That's Super. There is no way future historians will ever believe that this happened *after* the Big Gay Al episodes of South Park.

I very much enjoy comedian Richard Herring's blog, but every now and then he develops an obsession to the extent that he's not even being funny about it, and I end up skimming whole entries. Last year it was the Marathon; now it's Scrabble. But for those of you who share the latter religion, now's the time to start reading.

I was most surprised when Newsnight announced John Bolton as the USA's new ambassador to the UN. But not as surprised as I was when a Chinese mayor declared with a straight face that China had never threatened human rights. Alas, I suspect he had more of a point when he said that investors weren't concerned about their human rights record so long as they could continue to deliver economic growth.
Doctor Who also made Newsnight, and the front cover of today's Times. Obviously I'm glad it's all so high profile, but the downside is that I already know far more than I want to about the new series, in spite of my best efforts to avoid spoilers. Plus, from what clips they showed, I think I'd much rather have Jeremy Paxman as the Doctor than Eccleston, who looks like far too much of a hard-case. And the explosion effects were shockingly bad.


(Where no alias was offered, I've had to construct my own. The degree of guessability varies)

Higsley Boothsborth: If you respect your friends' opinions on other matters, it seems sensible to accept that they think you're ace. Apart from anything else, if they didn't like you, why would they bother lying to you on that point? They've no wish for you to change or to be lonely, and see no need for you to be embarrassed.

Help Me, Mathsnerdville: Sadly, since my visit to Arkham I have preferred the non-Euclidean mathematics which better express the nightmare geometries of R'lyeh. Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fthagn!

Lady Pout, London: A punch in the face seems a little excessive, and its effects also more likely to be noticed and remarked on in public. I'd recommend a stamp on the foot or a kick on the shins.

Tardy, Poland: The majority of both genders are fairly rubbish. You just notice it more on men because they're the gender with whom you've had your romantic dealings.

Fangirl: Much of what I hear about the rock'n'roll circus suggests that, after the first flush of excitement, it's just another job like all the rest.

Pained, Ribs: Avoid heavy lifting, slamdancing and hugging bears.

LonelyHeart1983: I think there's a certain sort of attachment that doesn't come again. But obsessing over the absence of that can make you miss the other, different, wonderful sorts of attachment you can still form, simply because they aren't so all-consumingly obvious. And in some ways the other, later sorts can even be more fun.

Person impressed that it's called Ask Barry: Enjoy the situation for what it is, and continue administering such punishments as you see fit. But not the silent treatment, you're hopeless at that.

Angry Clown: I used to think your problem was that you'd seethe in locked posts but never tell the people who angered you. Of late you seem to have got a lot better at doing the latter, but it doesn't seem to have improved the situation. Given the situation, poisoning or suffocation with a pillow would seem your best bets.

Kermode fan: Tube walks should see you through at least the next year of it. Are they not vocation enough for anyone?

Alfie: You're a lot more likeable than you think. And tolerance isn't really a factor - look at what a ranty git I am, but I seem to get away with it.

GrowlyFace: It's tempting, but that would seem to have a very high clusterfvck potential - particularly if the other half objects to such behaviour.

Geoff, Croydon: a) You are fairly gay, but we knew that anyway. b) Make sure you have plenty of spare batteries.

Person who really should have left a pseudonym: Yes, I know who he is. And I know how it feels. I know people say that losing oneself in meaningless encounters isn't the answer, but in my experience that's utter tosh, because sometimes those encounters gradually develop more meaning and you end up realising you've found something new after all, and the old thing you'd never get over has imperceptibly faded into a bittersweet piece of nostalgia.

Tom Servo: I was going to suggest preparing a whole speech, rather than trusting to inspiration. Then I remembered how easy it can be to fluff a speech, or wuss out, but it occurs to me - why not prepare it, but then leave it written, and post it? A letter can't be unsent, after all. And even if you chicken out of posting it, it still exists, and you can not post it however many times, because it need only be posted once.

the Whiner: a) Now here I'm stumped, because I'd like an answer to that one myself. Maybe you'll have more luck on the Lottery than I do. b) I'd suggest hijacking an extant clubbing or pubbing plan, or else a schoolnight which no one on your friendslist has mentioned as booked. c) Mine were too yesterday, so maybe it was atmospheric pressure or something.

Instructress: Yes, that would be evil. If he's at fault, though, justifiably evil and rather funny. However, it might backfire, either through resumption of prior arrangements, or if some of them turn out to like it anyway.

Carlos: I'm an agony uncle, not Jimmy Saville! But I'm sure it can be achieved if you just stop playing so competently and are more of a drug-addled mess on stage.

Esmeralda: Not obliged, no, but it might be worthwhile anyway judged by that meeting.

Tigger: You really don't come across as lacking in confidence, you know. And it's worth remembering that most men (and women) are to some extent the wrong man (or woman); it's only when you let them get too much power over you that this becomes a problem. Keep a certain distance, at least until you've both established a workable modus vivendi, and then, gradually, let your guard down.

Peachy keen: Is that an Uzi made of ouzo? Ace. Yes, but only if you can make sure to get people who really count rather than functionaries and expendables.

Date: 2005-03-10 10:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ksta.livejournal.com
you b@stard, you could have chosen a) a more flattering pseudonym, and
b) a less recognisable one .

Still, am amused.
:)

Date: 2005-03-10 10:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] beingjdc.livejournal.com
Oh my life, that was almost as funny as Wardytron.

Date: 2005-03-10 10:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barrysarll.livejournal.com
Except where it was a genuinely sensitive question, I felt I should take the opportunity to teach people who didn't comply with the pseudonym instruction a lesson.

Date: 2005-03-10 10:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ksta.livejournal.com
yer sorry, i didn't notice the pseudonym bit till after I'd posted my thing, see?

Date: 2005-03-10 10:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barrysarll.livejournal.com
You can always go back and re-fill polls, innit?

Date: 2005-03-10 10:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ksta.livejournal.com
ah.
I refuse to rename my juornal: 'tardy, Poland', tempting though it is.

Date: 2005-03-10 10:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pippaalice.livejournal.com
I can't work out who anyone is if that is any benefit? I only just worked out who I was... ;)

Date: 2005-03-10 10:46 am (UTC)

Date: 2005-03-10 10:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] carsmilesteve.livejournal.com
you are very very right about shaolin soccer, it is aces. was this the dvd? you see the thing is i saw it in new york (with subtitles) and in london (dubbed) and i think the version in the uk cinemas was hacked to bits (although this could just be my brane getting confused). are there exciting dvd extras?

Date: 2005-03-10 10:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barrysarll.livejournal.com
DVD, yes. I watched the version dubbed into English, and it was fairly short - less than 90 minutes. The extras are fairly rub; a Making Of, a special effects piece and some out-takes which I suspect are more amusing if one actually speaks Cantonese and so can tell which bits are actually being garbled.

Date: 2005-03-10 10:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] atommickbrane.livejournal.com
Waaaa I still never got to see it :(

I'm going to go and cry in the corner now.

(Cor look, I don't have a generic "sad" icon = I am not a 13yr old goff HOORAY!!)

Date: 2005-03-10 10:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barrysarll.livejournal.com
It was another from the work DVD cabinet, but alas I have already returned this one.

Date: 2005-03-10 10:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] atommickbrane.livejournal.com
Oh ALAS!

BTW, Herring has been banging on about Gameboy Scrabble for yonks, hasn't he? It probably uses the wrong dictionary for my likes anyway.

Date: 2005-03-10 10:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barrysarll.livejournal.com
Yeah, but that bit about the friend faking critical illness to nick his Gameboy Scrabble was actually *funny*. There was one recently about playing people online who are cheating which simply wasn't.

Date: 2005-03-10 10:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] carsmilesteve.livejournal.com
well yr not 13 anyway ;)

Date: 2005-03-10 10:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] atommickbrane.livejournal.com
In my new "be nice to my friends" I shall let Mark E Smith speak for me here :)

Date: 2005-03-10 10:44 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pippaalice.livejournal.com
There is a lot less suggestions of threesomes here than I was expecting. ;P

Date: 2005-03-10 10:47 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barrysarll.livejournal.com
I can only work with the material they give me...there's one where it's vaguely implicit, I suppose.

Date: 2005-03-10 10:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pippaalice.livejournal.com
Carson "Queer Eye" Kressler has written a book for children called You're Different And That's Super. There is no way future historians will ever believe that this happened *after* the Big Gay Al episodes of South Park.

Just read this! I <3 Carson. He is ace.

Also Christopher Whatsisface does look very gritty but I am kind of looking forward to that.

You're Different And That's Super

Date: 2005-03-10 10:50 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] boyofbadgers.livejournal.com
Oh, that's simply *fabulous*!

Date: 2005-03-10 10:50 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barrysarll.livejournal.com
I find him intensely annoying myself, and found the one episode of Queer Eye I watched was even turning me homophobic. I think I decided it was all a Republican conspiracy.

And yes, dear, we know you like bad boys. ;p

Date: 2005-03-10 10:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ksta.livejournal.com
altogether now:

'I'm Super, thanks for asssking...'

Date: 2005-03-10 10:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] violentbec.livejournal.com
ah man, me and sarah really wanted shaolin soccer to go to the peckham cinema, alas and alack it never did. good it hear it is just as GRATE as we knew it would be.

you make a good agony uncle :)

Date: 2005-03-10 11:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barrysarll.livejournal.com
Thank you! Also, I am aware I owe you mail but it may be a while, Thursday mornings are the busy bit for me.

Date: 2005-03-10 11:04 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] violentbec.livejournal.com
nae worries, i was pretty much offline all day yesterday. and i should do these damn minutes. grumble grumble...

Date: 2005-03-10 11:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] p-dan-tic.livejournal.com
having seen the episode I think ecclestone is a great doctor, especially if you concider that mccoy (my favorate) wasn't his usual amasing self in the first serise of his dr who

Date: 2005-03-10 11:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barrysarll.livejournal.com
Very true (his other two series and the books make the Seventh my favourite too). And the effects were worse back then too...
Don't get me wrong, I'm still looking forward to it. I'm just a little cautious.

Date: 2005-03-10 11:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] offensive-mango.livejournal.com
hehe, thanks :)

Date: 2005-03-10 11:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] miss-newham.livejournal.com
Thanks, Uncle Barry! I feel all reassured.

Date: 2005-03-10 12:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gregjames.livejournal.com
"I think I'd much rather have Jeremy Paxman as the Doctor than Eccleston, who looks like far too much of a hard-case. And the explosion effects were shockingly bad."

Well, Eccleston has said in interviews he wanted the character to not be foppish & as someone he could have related to when he was growing up. I think it's going to be an area dictated by your own Who tastes. I know some people who aren't so keen on the new series being dark and gritty.
Re: bad special effects - the series has been there before and still done good.
And I can't work out who people are from the pseudonyms but the answers don't surprise me.

Date: 2005-03-10 04:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stu-n.livejournal.com
S'funny. You say Ecclestone's Doctor is a hard-case, [livejournal.com profile] anw says he's a gurning Playschool presenter, I've seen someone else saying he's too much like Sylvester McCoy... I haven't seen it yet, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of common ground between those points of view.

FWIW, apparently the leaked episode was a roughcut, with unfinished FX and soundtrack.

Date: 2005-03-10 06:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] guntrip.livejournal.com
I remember reading some arguement about the edits made to the western version of Shoalin Soccer, but the thing one guy took most offense to was the use of 'Kung Fu Fighting' over the end credits. He likened it to ending Goodfellas with Joe Dolce's 'Shaddup You Face' :D

Date: 2005-03-10 11:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ravenblack.livejournal.com
That analogy doesn't really do it for me, but then, I feel the pain of adding "Kung Fu Fighting" and don't care about Goodfellas, so I suppose the analogy is good for those who are vice-versa.

I do hope "Western" = "American" in this context. I would have to, I don't know, do something to the UK before moving there otherwise.

Date: 2005-03-11 10:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barrysarll.livejournal.com
I think there's only one dubbed version for the US and UK, but the British DVD certainly includes the Cantonese original too. Make of that what you will.

Date: 2005-03-11 10:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barrysarll.livejournal.com
Yeah, I did wonder about that. Especially since it was the even worse remix rather than the original version...
That said, ending Goodfellas with Joe Dolce would actually be really fvcking funny.

hmm.

Date: 2005-03-10 10:52 pm (UTC)
superba: (ghost)
From: [personal profile] superba
thank you for the reply, and great current music by the way. you're a doll (and very good at this agony uncle malarky).

Re: hmm.

Date: 2005-03-11 10:19 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barrysarll.livejournal.com
I thank you. I'm on a bit of a Mansun tip at the moment because I grabbed a bunch of EPs [livejournal.com profile] tiny_tear was chucking out.

Re: hmm.

Date: 2005-03-11 05:19 pm (UTC)
superba: (Default)
From: [personal profile] superba
chucking out?!?

*crosses herself*

the horror.


;)

Date: 2005-03-11 12:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rentaghost31.livejournal.com
Ye gods...in America for 5 minutes, and look what happens to my spelling capabilities

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