You may have noticed a distinct lack of posts for the last few weeks. As mentioned previously, I’ve been in London. As part of that trip, taken with some very nice people, a list was produced. Not just any list mind, a quote list.

Now, be warned: that’s probably not safe for work. Also, I take no responsibility for any of the content. It’s something I said I’d host for those who wanted to remember the best banter. Ass now covered (but not in Hellman’s) from a future employer perspective? Hopefully. Enjoy, assuming it makes sense to anyone out of context.

Apologies for the lack of noise being put out by Solitude. It has been an incredibly busy fortnight. Been doing stuff most every day and night for that time period and I’m now royally knackered. This was going to be a post of random stuff that I’d noticed or heard in that time period, but since I forgot most of the good, it’s a quick catch-up for the people I haven’t spoken to in a bit.

• First of all, I started my graduate job last week. It’s pretty good and should prove to be a challenge, though things haven’t gotten into full swing. The hours certainly beat the amount of time spent in the lab last year.
• Spent Friday night in Stirling for a birthday party. On my way back on Saturday, the weather was boiling hot so First Scotrail were kindly giving passengers free bottles of water. Nice. Noticed the platform was full of G8 protestors (dreadlocks, bongos, banners the works). They all seem quite pleased with the generosity of the railways. Someone, however, had a sense of humour. The bottles, you see, had a competition on them: “Win a 5-star holiday in… Gleneagles!”. Well played, Scotrail, well played.
• Sin City is as good the second time around.
• Pub quiz team names are getting ridiculously offensive; a trend I both encourage, admire and actively participate in.
• Band practices without any singers tend to go horribly wrong.
• If you’re lucky enough to have my mobile number and aren’t getting replies, it’s because I semi-broke my phone in an incident involving red bull, Biffy Clyro and a drunken friend. It should be sorted soon and the number will remain unchanged so don’t be put off. This is just a slight warning.

I’m off to London on Sunday for nearly a fortnight (courtesy of my employers) so updates may well be light again. I’ll try and post a bit over the next few days, but still a bit busy.

UPDATE: I’ve got a new phone with the same number. It’s just a temporary phone for the next few weeks. Because of some insane offers, I effectively got it for £10.

A fairly disappointing month for music, all in all. Lot of garbage albums appearing where people had hoped for more.

Funeral For A Friend released the follow-up to their debut album, “Casually Dressed and Deep In Conversation”. The more modestly titled “Hours” is mediocre, at best. It’s not that any songs are particularly bad, it’s just that absolutely nothing stands out. You can listen to the full thing and not notice a single track transition.

Uber band the Foo Fighters also released a new album. Split into 2 CDs, this was supposed to take them back to their rockier roots (CD1) and let them keep some of the mellowness of recent years (CD2). Sadly, it didn’t really work out. CD2 is mellow… and bland… and largely uninspired. CD1 is better, but doesn’t feature an anthem of “Monkey Wrench” calibre. The “Sulk” rip-off (see the Radiohead discography) that is track one is good, but the rest of CD1 is filled with the same stuff the Foos have been putting out for the last few years (including one song that sounds a lot like “Breakout” with different words). Not that it’s necessary bad, it’s just not very good.

Coldplay and Oasis also put out albums. The former is as terrible as the rest of their output, the latter the same Oasis tribute band efforts that Noel has been doing for the last 3 albums.

What has been good this month? Well, Reuben released the second single, “A Kick In The Mouth”, from their forthcoming second album. While not quite as good as first single, “Blamethrower”, it’s still a damn fine song.

After their split a number of years ago At The Drive-In finally have a retrospective album. Even if you have their entire back catalogue (all of which is excellent, occasionally seminal) “This Station Is Non-Operational” is worth if for the B-Sides, rarities and (unmarked) different versions of old songs. With the exception of the “Relationship Of Command” era tracks, most of the songs sound, at the least, cleaned up. Well worth a buy. Plus the release of this has meant that the “One Armed Scissor” video has been appearing on MTV2; a very good thing.

Bloody hell, what a month. This way, with exams and ensuing celebrations completely done (with the exception of some results night outs), it’s back to the classic four films.

First up, is the absolutely stunning Sin City. Enough has been said about how it’s a near frame for frame adaptation of the comic book of the same name to know that this is something a little different. An abnormal amount of time has been spent getting everything just right visually, and it pays off. We’re pulled into a world where it doesn’t seem absurd to have a goliath of a man (theinimitable and invincible Marv) jump through the windscreen of a car and be unharmed. Or where prostitutes use fairly extreme measures to defend their turf. Or where a central character can, because he knows the right people, change his appearance when necessary. The characters may be simple and have one-track minds, but that’s the point. It’s such a perfect realisation of a world that you can’t help but smile from start to finish.

Heading into more bizarre territory is The League Of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse. The characters of Royston Vasey find out their world is being destroyed because the writers (who play the characters) have moved on to other projects. Several characters then fleet between “the real world”, their home of Royston Vasey and other stranger places. It’s fair to say it’s an odd film and, not surprisingly, wouldn’t have much appeal for people who didn’t know the show. The jokes were fairly consistent, but giggles rather than gut-wrenching. Worth seeing for the mini-film half-way through.

Next is Batman Begins, the effective reset of the wayward Batman movie franchise, taking us through the earliest pertinent periods of Bruce Wayne’s life. For a huge budget Hollywood film, it does it with a surprising amount of tact and reliance on effects. That’s not say the film isn’t rammed with CG (it is) but director Christopher Nolan (see Memento for another example of his skill) makes it seem like it’s a useful addition to the film, rather than the basis for it. He certainly manages to bring a wayward series back on track, with Christian Bale tackling the most difficult period of Wayne’s youth with remarkable talent. The film goes awry in a few areas (criminal underuse of both Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, the Bat Tank, the love story, the gliding at the end), but these are largely conceptual nitpicking and don’t undermine everything that Nolan got right. The character has finally been done justice.

Finally, Kung Fu Hustle is from the same people that gave us Shaolin Soccer. Again, this is more a concept than a complete film and, in some ways, shows considerable talent. The usage of surround sound and CG is imaginative and usually of the highest quality, with the effects being central throughtout. Shame that the rest of the film is so poor. Even through the language barrier, you can’t help but cringe at the woeful acting on display. Coupled with the comedy aspects (slapstick was never funny, remember that), it falls down pretty fasty.

All in all, a good month for cinema. League Of Gentleman could have scrapped a win in other months and Batman Begins would almost certainly have won if it were not for the sheer brilliance of Sin City. However, with the exception of Kung Fu Hustle (and League if you’re not at least a casual fan of the show), I highly recommend all of this month’s films.

I’m not usually one to get excited over maps, but Google Earth is fantastic. When it first loaded up I thought it was pretty shit. After a minute or two, Earth suddenly appeared. Interesting. The search bar caught my eye next.

If you give someone a pen to try out, they will write their own name most of the time. Give someone a map, and they’ll look for their house. I hit search and it slowly zoomed into a brown mushy image. Oh. Great. Then it began resolving. The first holy shit: that’s the town centre. A whip along the route to my house slowly started showing up the landmarks I see every day. There it was: my house.

That was good. But, now that it had the data cached, I zoomed out to planet level and did a single click to get it back to my house. My jaw literally dropped as it whapped from planet to house level. Wow.

I pity, truly pity, those who are not lucky enough to have good satellite data for their area such as those people in Glasgow (I’m actually in the nearby area with data available). Sure, I can’t think of any really decent uses for it. Sure, I’ll get bored of it sometime soon. As toys go though, it’s pretty fun to play with.