Welcome to the Wibble Farm

Meme from C's Facebook. I've seen 79 of 239 films. I am under the arbitrarily chosen threshold! Woo yay!

SUPPOSEDLY if you've seen over 85 films, you have no life. Mark the ones you've seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own facebook account, paste this as a note. Then, put x's next to the films you've seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click post at the bottom. Have fun.

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
( ) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane
Total: 7

(x) The Princess Bride
( ) AnchorMan
( ) Napoleon Dynamite
(x) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management
( ) 50 First Dates
( ) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far: 9

( ) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
(x) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 11

(x) Harry Potter 1
(x) Harry Potter 2
(x) Harry Potter 3
(x) Harry Potter 4
( ) Harry Potter 5 (this doesn't exist yet O.o)
(x) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
( ) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
(x) The Village
( ) Lilo & Stitch
Total so far: 16

(x) Finding Nemo
( ) Finding Neverland
( ) Signs
( ) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
(x) Butterfly Effect
( ) 13 Going on 30
(x) I, Robot
() Robots
Total so far: 19

( ) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
() Along Came Polly
(x) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
( ) Never Been Kissed
( ) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
(x) KING KONG
Total so far: 22

( ) A Cinderella Story
( ) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
( ) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
(x) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
(x) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving X-MAS
( ) Flubber
Total so far: 24

( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
( ) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
( ) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far: 25

(x) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child's Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
( ) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
( ) Nightmare on Elm Street
( ) Sixteen Candles
( ) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 27

( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Sleven
(x) Ocean's Eleven
( ) Ocean's Twelve
(x) Bourne Identity
( ) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(x) Ice Age
(x) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
Total so far: 31

(x) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
( ) Maid in Manhattan
(x) War of the Worlds
(x) Rush Hour
( ) Rush Hour 2
Total so far: 35

( ) Best Bet
( ) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x) She's All That
( ) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks
(x) Event Horizon
( ) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
(x) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
( ) The Terminator 3
Total so far: 43

(x) X-Men
(x) X-2
(x) X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
( ) Freaky Friday
( ) Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
(x) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total so far: 53

( ) Swimfan
(x) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
( ) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf's Tribe
( ) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old Virgin
Total so far: 54

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
() Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
() Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total so far: 58

( ) Baseketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
( ) Elf
(x) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
() American History X
( ) Three
Total so Far: 59

( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(x) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
Total so far: 63

( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
( ) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
( ) Chronicles Of Narnia The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
( ) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
(x) Waterworld
Total so far: 65

(x) Kill Bill vol 1
(x) Kill Bill vol 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness
Total so far: 67

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far: 73

(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
(x) The Matrix Revolutions
(x) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
(x) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
( ) Hannibal
Total so far: 79

What do we do
With ten baby shoes
A kit-bag full of marbles
And a broken billiard cue?

What do we do?

As I learned in Japanese on Tuesday, there is only one syllable's difference between "husband" and "honourable prisoner".

A spelling mistake probably better made in a written test than, say, a formal letter...

Lack of postage as usual. There should and will be more, although my motivation for doing so would increase if there were more comments (*hint*) :)

If you are, watch this: it's a very touching and beautifully drawn Japanese animated short called She and Her Cat. Thanks to K for the link!

While I'm on the subject of web video, I've probably shown everyone these before, but if not, you should watch them now. No, seriously. The trailer for Jerry Seinfeld's The Comedian is pure genius. And Kevin Smith talking about how he didn't write Superman Returns is 19 minutes long but essential viewing.

(Copied from my last.fm music journal.)

Been listening to a lot of new (to me) music recently. Most of it would probably be classified as indie or alt rock or some such thing, although I've bought a few metal albums as well (which I'll probably discuss in another post).

In this post I'm mainly going to rant about the amazingness of The Decemberists. I came to them late - bought their album The Decemberists - Picaresque a few months ago, and it impressed me enough to buy pretty much their whole discography (yes, my Amazon habit is becoming a problem). There's a lot to these guys.

I'm a big fan of lyrics, and the Decemberists have a very appealing kind of intelligent, evocative writing that's as essential to their songs as the music. There's a hint of "look at me, I have a thesaurus" reminiscent of Harvey Danger; but like HD they're not just showing off their vocabulary - although I have to admire a band that has words like "largesse" and "oligarch" and isn't afraid to use them - but using their wordplay to poetic effect. A sample punning verse from Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect:

And I am nothing of a builder
But here I dreamt I was an architect
And I built this balustrade
To keep you home, to keep you safe
From the outside world
But the angles and the corners
Even though my work is unparalleled
They never seemed to meet
The structure fell about our feet
And we were free to go

Just to show that not all their humour is derived from long words, here's another passage from the same song:

And we are vagabonds
We travel without seatbelts on
We live this close to death

They also like to put a historical or narrative spin on the standard love song:

How we kissed so sweetly
How could I refuse a favour or two?
For a tryst in the greenery
I gave you documents, and microfilm too

(from The Bagman's Gambit)

The music is generally folk-tinged rock, but they have a lot of different styles. (I was a bit surprised to find that their first full-length album was actually closer to mainstream rock than their next two.) They have a 22-minute rhapsodic epic, several "story" songs, various sea-shanty-inspired pieces, and even a prog rock track in their latest album, as well as more conventional rock. They even get political at times (e.g. Sixteen Military Wives, whose excellent video was released via BitTorrent). It's all very melodic and musical, and quite a few catchy rhythms too. Me like.

I've also recently been impressed by Deerhoof, Broken Social Scene, Sufjan Stevens and Explosions in the Sky, all of whom I should probably say more about in a post that isn't already far too long. I've also been repeatedly re-listening to a lot of Sigur Rós and Radiohead because, well, they're just that good.

Thanks to SY (who probably isn't reading this, but you never know) for giving me a link to this article from an English textbook for Japanese schoolkids (definitely not safe for work). Given the general wackiness that the Japanese get up to, I'm undecided as to whether this is actually real or a fairly detailed spoof (complete with grammatical analysis). Either way I am a little disturbed.

While I'm on the subjects of Japanese and language learning, I should also mention JapanesePod101, a free podcast of Japanese language lessons (and coincidentally another link from SY). It's got a somewhat practical spin, but they do a good job of explaining every new word and pattern they introduce, and they have native Japanese speak all the dialog in order to get used to the correct pronunciation. This way I've been filling the tedium of my morning commute with bite-size segments of Japanese.

Will try to do the photoblogging thing soon, as have started to warm to the fact I now have a halfway decent cameraphone.

HOMA and a photo appears.Moblog via Picoblogger

If this works then I have successfully made an LJ post from my phone.Moblog via Picoblogger

It's been a month or so since I was convinced to accompany some friends to a LARP (Live Action Role-Playing) event - referred to in my last August post - so this comes a bit late, but people have expressed interest in how I found it, so here are my largely unstructured thoughts on LARP.

The less geeky of my readers may wish an explanation of the title (or possibly not care). A LARP-safe weapon is one designed to reasonably reproduce the experience of wielding and/or being hit with the weapon, yet be incapable of inflicting serious or lasting injury. Examples include life-sized swords made of carbon fibre with foam padding, and arrows with large rubber tips too large to fit into an eye socket. Jokes about LARP-safe trout are common and inexplicably funny. So the post title indicates that the following are ramblings incapable of inflicting serious or lasting injury.

( LARP LARP LARP )

Overall I don't think I'll be going to any more LARP events. There was a lot of fun had, but there seemed to be too much bullshit to traverse in order to get to the fun. The roleplaying aspect of it didn't work at all for me - at the end of the day it seemed more like a duty than a game. It also seems like a very expensive and time-consuming hobby (event fees, buying equipment, preparing costume, etc). Still, it was different, it was entertaining, and at a time when I badly needed a break from the real world, spending four days in a forest pretending to be a ninja and drinking far too much mead seemed to be a decent option.

This post brings you a couple more amusing music videos I have discovered in my travels.

After van_damsel induced me to buy a couple of metal albums, I took a browse around bits of teh intarweb reading about various types of metal. This led me to this rather excellent parody video about metal fans. It's worth it for the last minute and a half alone.

Also came across Pitchfork's feature on 100 Awesome Music Videos. Probably the highlight for me is the video for Bjork's Triumph of a Heart, which is summed up by a line from the Pitchfork reviewer's comments: (and also cat becomes huge).

I'd been starting to worry that there didn't seem to be any films coming out in the near future that I actually wanted to see. I was wrong.

Partly because I like wittering about music, partly to tide over the angry mob crowding around my LJ clutching fish, here is a musical meme courtesy of chess.

The rules: You reply to this post and I give you a letter of the alphabet. Then you dredge up 10 songs that start with said letter and put them in your journal or in the comments here (with these or similar instructions).

chess gave me a W:

1. We Both Go Down Together - The Decemberists


2. Wrong Time Capsule - Deerhoof


3. We Are Nowhere And It's Now - Bright Eyes


4. White Flag - Dido


5. We Can't Rewind - Feeder


6. Wine, Women And Song - Harvey Danger


7. Winning A Battle, Losing The War - Kings of Convenience


8. Who Wants To Live Forever - Queen


9. Where I End And You Begin - Radiohead


10. Will You Follow Me - Rob Dougan

My poor neglected blog... and inbox... and friends... I'll pay some proper attention to you all once I feel I have some control over my life.

So, since my last post, lots of stuff happened. This may or may not include: a holiday, bovine intervention, copious beer, Sigur Ros, the Proms, various films and games, and my computer falling apart as I watch. More details available to anyone interested via email or blog post, either of which at my current rate will occur some time in 2007.

For some reason Rachmaninov piano concertos are playing on repeat in my head. I don't know what this says about my mental state or my musical associations. Not that I'm complaining; it could be the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny, or the Llama Song, after all.

Tomorrow I'm off to a forest for four days to escape from reality. This could not have come at a better time. Also, hitting people with sticks.

Santa Amazon delivered a few goodies in the last couple of days. Among them, three recent albums: Zero 7's The Garden, Keane's Under The Iron Sea, and Muse's hot-off-the-press Black Holes and Revelations. The first two I've not yet listened to. BHaR I've already posted about, but it needs a few more dedicated listens to consolidate the opinions I'm gradually forming about it. I'll probably review all three here eventually.

I also got three Japanese books. Heisig's book on Remembering the Kanji (on Nick's recommendation), a kanji dictionary, and an interesting book which contains seven Japanese short stories in parallel text (i.e. original Japanese and English translation on facing pages). The latter is somewhat beyond me at the moment due to the pitiful amount of grammar my course has covered so far, but it should be useful soon.

Finally, in case you were just reading this in the hope of some ecrap to absorb your free time, here (courtesy of Adam) is an addictive little Flash game called Dice Wars. If you've ever played Risk it'll look very familiar, but I actually think it's a more strategic and interesting game than Risk (it's also quicker). Unfortunately you can't play against another human, just against 1-7 computer opponents, but the AI is reasonably good.

One of the best four-panel punchlines ever?

Since I posted about Prey a couple of days ago, I'd be remiss if I didn't also report this scholarly analysis of the game, by Tim Buckley of Ctrl-Alt-Del.

Well, I thought they were anyway.

Been watching a few Broken Social Scene videos on YouTube. BSS are some kind of lo-fi indie band that I should pay more attention to. The videos are generally good because the music is, but I particularly liked the one for Fire Eye'd Boy. While not particularly representative of the music, it's fairly comical.

I can't remember where I found this one, but Ding by the German band Seeed (sic) is... well, you need to watch it. I'll just say "dancing animatronic raccoons" and leave it there.

Middle of the night and it's 20 degrees. Can we do something about this? People, if your friendly neighbourhood supervillain has a weather control machine, get in touch!

( General life and Japanese blah )

Muse's new album is nearly out! You can listen to some of the songs on their MySpace page, and NME are streaming the album in its entirety (free registration required).
( My thoughts on the album )

I played the Prey demo the other day (you can download it from... well, everywhere). It's pretty good. ( Fun with gravity and portals ) You'll need a fairly hefty computer to try it out, but if you do, go for it. It's only a couple of hours long, but very entertaining.

Giant blog post Of Doom... signing out.

On July 30th the National Film Theatre in London is showing a live broadcast of a Sigur Ros concert. Anyone want to go to this? I've (re)discovered Sigur Ros fairly recently and their music is definitely something different. Could be very powerful live, although this isn't exactly the same thing as a live concert.

I had a fairly strange dream the other night. It was set in some kind of post-apocalyptic world, where people were eking out a simple existence with the threat of annihilation hanging over them (I think there was an oppressive government involved somehow as well). I somehow wound up living with this marginal community - I know I'd come from somewhere outside, though I don't know much about what my "character" was supposed to be. One of the weird things about it was that it felt like a Miyazaki film. Plenty of the people I met were fairly gruff and unpleasant, but somehow very lovingly drawn, and had that "they're lovely villains if you get to know them" feel about them; and there was this feeling that despite the grim surroundings, there was hope that everything might get better soon. I didn't seem to be a protagonist in this tale, more of an observer - there seemed to be a plucky young girl rather like Princess Nausicaa from Valley of the Winds who had a plan to save the world.

The thing was there semeed to be a definite storyline to it. I woke up before the story really developed, but I had a definite feeling of being part of a narrative - which is the other weird thing about the dream. Does anyone else get these "epic dreams"? I have them now and then, in various different settings, and they're often quite involving as dreams (the kind you're upset to wake up from) because I get caught up in the story and the emotions of the characters.

Maybe I've just read too much epic fantasy (and watched too many films and anime, and played too many roleplaying games) and my brain's got used to escapism...

Whoo, busy busy. Went up to Cambridge last weekend (plus Monday and Tuesday) to catch up with friends and enjoy some May Week sun. Punted, drank beer, frisbeed, even walked to Coton for tea. Wonderful relaxing few days, just what I needed - unfortunately now I'm back I have to catch up with everything!

That aside, this post is mainly an advert. Not for me - for the Open Rights Group, an advocacy organisation dedicated to "protecting your rights in the digital age". For the politically averse I'll put the rest into a cut, but I do urge you to have a read - by campaigning on the side of consumers, private citizens, small businesses and so on - voices that aren't usually loud enough or concerned enough to be heard, but who are affected by laws that are made - these people are providing a balancing factor that UK politics really needs.
( More about the Open Rights Group )
And if you couldn't care less, you probably have some friends who'd be interested to know about it. So tell them about it :)

Had an office party on Thursday night, in celebration of 70 million phones having shipped containing our software. (Go us!) The venue was Baltic, a Polish bar in Southwark, and the company tab was generous. I'm still mildly hung over and it's over 24 hours afterward... I blame the combination of lethal cocktails, several shots of really good vodka (which sadly they wouldn't put on the tab!), and the only food available being little canape type things on trays.

Annoyed by today's Argentina result. Argentina is the team I was allocated in the team sweepstake at work, and there are funny rules whereby we pay £1 into the pot each time our team scores. So 6-0 against Serbia & Montenegro... bastards! They could have stopped at 3-0, but nooo... they got greedy. They'd bloody well better make it to the semis so I get my money back! :)

Going up to Cambridge for an extended weekend tomorrow. It's May Week so everyone's finished their exams and should be nice and chilled; hopefully there will be punting and lounging around on the grass and similar.