Oh my sainted Starcraft!

It's official. Blizzard are making a sequel. Starcraft 2 is in production. And there was much rejoicing.

Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind

My compliments to Ray Charles for the fitting lyrics

My favourites for this year's Eurovision made it through the admittedly weak competition in the semi-final, and will be pitted against some decidedly strong contendors in tomorrow's final. I don't hold out much hope for a victory - the music's way too good to have any hope of garnering the popular vote - but there is a small spark of light in the selection of semi-finalist winners. At least two of the other contestants going through can lay claim to a semblance of musical integrity, and many of the strong favourites - inadulterated pop acts all - have been ousted in their favour. Maybe the Eurovision audience is ready for musicians in the competition. If so, then it's "Georgia, Georgia, the whole day through" for me.

And another Daemon

Zara's, after she caught sight of mine and wanted to know:

Stop that, it's s... ooooh!

I know I've always maintained that Willow is way hotter than Buffy, especially in Series 6, when she goes all Big Bad Willow, but The Erotic Adventures of Buffy and Evil Vampire Willow is just ridiculous. Yet... Strangely... Compelling...

That's my weekend spoken for

The lovely people at Play sent out my special edition of God of War II to arrive on the release date. Goodbye mortal realm, for a short while at least. Pizza, port and Playstation... Mmmmm.

[Update] Actually, not the whole weekend, as it turns out. Six hours on Friday night and 8 hours on Saturday were enough to complete it. Of course, my hands were like claws by the end, and my eyes like coals and, most painful of all, my right elbow like that hot point on a wire coathanger that's been bent repeatedly until it's on the verge of stress fracture, but it was worth every twinge and whinge. In fact, I'm going to play it through again now, in Bonus mode, so excusez-moi, s’il vous plait...

A Dark Materials movie trilogy

Oh happy day! Now let's hope they don't do a Narnia on it.

Webclippings

I just have to share these:

• Something to remind you just how irretrievable every day of your life is
• Something to help you escape the fact
• Something to fuel the inevitable nightmares (nsfw!)
  

And the award for cunning use of visual elements in a music video goes to...

Just caught Star Guitar by Chemical Brothers on Sophie Ellis Bexter's MixTape on E4, and was quite blown away by the neat use of visual elements that tie in with the song construction. Easier shown than explained:

It's almost as fascinating to see the principle being developed for the pitch to the producers:

In case you're wondering how it is I would even be watching a MixTape session on E4, well, you try to find something worthwhile on daytime television when you're on your back recuperating from major surgery!

Eurovision 2007 warm-up

After last year's Lordi victory, I'm more than a little curious about this year's contest. Just how many people will copy them to try replicate their feat?

Well, all entries were finally posted to the Eurovision site today, so I took a quick gander. As it turns out, only one country (Switzerland) went all the way down that particular dead end, but there do seem to be far more rock-y entrants this year as a result, which is not a bad thing necessarily. There are, at my count, SIX girly symphonic rock entries, very reminiscent of the like of Lacuna Coil and Evanescence, so I'll get my fill of eye candy at least. Israel are coming in with a very tongue-in-cheek political comedy act, and Denmark's Drama Queen will probably garner quite a few votes for its completely Cabaret feel.

I'll be voting for Georgia, though. I knew that the instant the first few bars of the song played. It may not win - in fact, going by previous contests, I would judge it too good to win, not enough cheese - but it's just so musically fine that I would feel remiss supporting anything else. Sopho (Sofica) Khalvashi has a lovely, lovely voice, and the wonderful tempo contrast in My Story between her melody and the musical counterpoint gives me goosebumps.

But don't take my word for it - listen for yourself! You'll see...

Delightful Dita

I know it's just not the same as seeing her in person, but it's still a lovely bit of fun.

As aspirin to my Spring fever

So much for my grand plans to go rambling in the winter sun today. A complete lack of takers for my Colne Valley proposition led to a fairly decent alternative involving Highgate Cemetery and the taking of pictures therein. Unfortunately, in spite of the numerous assurances from the weathermen - or perhaps, indeed, because of them - gray skies predominate, and damp the ardour for nature ambling. I wasn't impatient with the tail end of winter before, but now that my spring sap has been woken, I'm getting antsy for some sun and green. Come on, Spring!

Collecting Double-Takes

Today's xkcd, although immensely funny in itself, has an even funnier tag:

Fun game: find a combination of two items that most freaks out the cashier. Winner: pregnancy test and single coat hanger.

Bwaaahahahaha!

My contribution: sharp knife and roll of bandages. Come play...

Another eminently desirable cartoon character

When the Metro first started publishing Nemi, they made a half-hearted effort to put the occasional strip on their site, but I'm pleased to see that they're pulled up their socks since then and are actually hosting all of the published strips now. I've been having a fabulous time going through them all, and as good as they all are, there are some especially pithy encapsulations of :

• Zara's attitude towards adulthood...
• ... and children
• ... and tact
• ... and dating
• ... and dieting
• ... and alcohol
• ... and I realise I'm married to Nemi :P
• Also, one or two specially for Jacqlyn
• ... and one for Kitty

Ah, just read them all. You won't regret it, I guarantee it.

To boldly go where no man has gone before

The sheep are revolting

A new kind of creature feature. Hell yeah!

Movie day (reprised)

Arthur and the Invisibles

Every bit as enjoyable and appealing as I had hoped. They managed to capture a genuine sincerity and warmth without descending into schmaltz. There were some lovely little snide asides as well as a whole lot of un-saccharine sweetness. The animation was fairly impressive too, with a lot of effort put into facial tweaks that make the characters compelling. I'm seriously considering buying it when the DVD is released, it's that good. Besides, Selenia's just so cute (yes, I have a thing for animated females.)

The Number 23

I didn't have great expectations for this, and was pleasantly surprised by the resulting suspense. It wasn't a cheesy horror adaptation at all, but more a variation on the paranoid obsessive genre, closely resembling The Machinist in its handling and subject matter. Jim Carrey was believable enough as both male leads that it took me a little while to figure out he was playing both characters, and the plot was paced well, keeping me hooked and guessing at least until the last 20 minutes, which is pretty impressive in comparison to my normal 'Eureka' time.

Ghost Rider

Predictable plot, cheesy dialogue, cheesier posing, and none of that unexpected. I went for the flaming skull dude on a burning bike, and that's what I got, so no complaints.

The Illusionist

Probably would have had more of an impact if The Prestige hadn't mined this exact same vein first, but it was well crafted and well presented and Rufus Sewell as the Crown Prince completely stole the show for me, with Paul Giamatti coming a close second, completely eclipsing Edward Norton and Jessica Biel.

Movie day

As I do every once in a while, more often when there's a cascade of cinema I want to see, and occasionally when I have nothing better to do, I'll be at the Cineworld in the Docklands today watching a handful of movies:

14.45 Arthur and the Invisibles - the trailer appealed, what can I say?
16.25 The Number 23 - filler, and hopefully not too tedious
18.10 Ghost Rider - got to catch this at the cinema, as it'll be pants on DVD
20.30 The Illusionist - wasn't going to watch, but it's been getting good reviews

The timing's quite tight, but I'm pretty sure I can make it between them during the adverts! I was hoping to shoehorn The Good Shepherd into that list, but it seems there are no really late shows tonight, so I'll have to keep that for another visit, or wait for the DVD release; I don't think it'll suffer for the change in format.

I'm perfectly happy watching these on my own - sad as that may seem to some - but company is welcome too.

Jury service - Day 9, and last

Free! I'm free to go back to my normal humdrum life! I can't wait.

It was a close call, actually. Given the number of jurors out at trial, and the number of cases scheduled to start tomorrow (quite unusually, as it is rare for cases to be started on Fridays), the jury manager was seriously considering asking all of us waiting in the jury lounge at 4pm to return tomorrow, to ensure they had enough jurors. She did a little math, and announced that, if 20 people volunteered to return tomorrow, the rest of us could be dismissed completely. You'd be surprised, but there was actually a rush to get to the counter in time to be one of the 20! I hung back, waiting for the mad stampede to subside, then slipped in at the back of the queue to get my expenses verified before the remainder realised that we were released. I never thought I'd be so happy to be returning to work.

I didn't get out completely unscathed, though. I was called to a trial just before lunch this morning. It was a complete departure from the conventional trial by challenge that you'd expect. The Crown's case was unchallenged, and the Defence and trial itself were a formal requirement of due process in the case of an assault and bodily harm charge against a person who was incapable of entering a plea for reasons of mental illness. The judge was quick to explain the nature of the trial, and the variation of its form, as we were not there to deliberate on guilt, but merely to act as impartial confirmation that the acts described had in fact been committed by the Defendant. The oaths and affirmations we made were, therefore, somewhat different to the standard format, as was the process of trial. The Prosecution merely outlined the agreed facts of the case, whereon the Defence established that they were not challenging the evidence. The judge selected a foreman - the person closest to him - and without further ado asked him to speak on the behalf of all of us as to whether we agreed that the Defendant had done the acts that led to the charges being brought. The look of consternation on the foreman's face when asked by the bailiff whether his answer of "yes" to the question "Do you agree that the Defendant did the act in Charge 1?" was the answer of the entire jury was priceless. Fortunately, the judge directed him to look around at the jury and answer in light of our unanimously nodding heads, which simplified things.

It must have been clear from our expressions that some of us - myself, at least - found the whole affair a little hasty and convenient, and the judge picked up on this and reassured us that our presence wasn't merely a rubber stamp affair and was designed especially to prevent exactly that scenario in which 'undesirables' are despatched to mental hospitals without any impartial witnesses to verify the legitimacy of the action. It can't happen very often, though, as our jury usher commented it was the first time he'd seen such a trial, and he's been at Snaresbrook over 13 years. The other jurors, as we were led out, opined that it was all a grand waste of time, but I disagree, if only because it showed me yet another facet to the criminal justice system of which I had been unaware.

Jury service - Day 8

And very nearly my last one, too. Those of us who began jury service last Monday were on the brink of being dismissed completely this afternoon, when the jury manager was informed that a whopping 7 new cases are being introduced tomorrow, and she might just run out of new jurors and have to make inroads on the veterans. So, having dodged a second case since Monday, I may yet find myself involved in a further trial.

So, another reading day, although a little less reading and more talking seemed to be the order of the day. There was another jury out of a rape case, and so we had a fair sized group discussing their thoughts and reactions to very similar scenarios. One interesting difference between our respective ways of handling the deliberation was the choice regarding the assessment of a verdict at the beginning of deliberation. It seems that some juries elect to hold off on counting verdicts until they've gone through the evidence at least once, and others prefer to get a reading on the prevailing mood right at the start. There are, of course, pros and cons for both methods. Finding out that the entire jury is agreed on a verdict at the very beginning can save a lot of wasted time if they had begun deliberating immediately. On the other hand, returning a verdict without deliberation could result in some crucial evidence being overlooked or forgotten. This, I guess, is one of the complaints about the jury system as it exists; it is as inconsistent as the mix of people chosen, so one person's justice is not the same as another's.

On a lighter note, it was decided that, since no direction is given on the choice of a foreman, and there is no way to choose a juror who would be 'best' at the job, as it has to be done right at the start of deliberation, it is as good a criterion as any other to choose the juror with the neatest handwriting. After all, one of the primary roles of the foreman is to pass requests and questions to the judge in writing, so why not make the judge's day just a little easier by making the notes easy on the eye?

Unless I'm selected for a case tomorrow, we've been assured it'll be our last day. So at least one more of these posts will grace my blog.

An apology for the Iraq war

You've just gotta like this guy.