|
|
|
January 1st, 2013
12:21 am - Winter War Index
Index of Winter War posts.
( Below the cut. )
|
May 28th, 2012
01:14 am - zap zap blam zap frost nova zap
I have spent several hours today finally playing Diablo III.
I wish to say that it is awesome.
(All right. Perhaps there's nothing very new since Diablo II. But I loved Diablo II and I am currently loving Diablo III.)
And the dialogue bits are hilarious.
And my Templar meatshield minion is cute.
(For the record, I'm playing a wizard. Standing back and blasting things is definitely a good way to go.)
|
May 27th, 2012
01:09 am - not really that surprising
I cannot say that I am particularly surprised. Our entry was melodic, but it was also dull, and we were the very first to perform, meaning that the listeners had 25 other songs to forget us in -- songs which, to be fair, were frequently more interesting than ours. So the UK was second from bottom in the final scoring. I will be grateful for Humperdinck's sake (if not for the UK's) that we were not the very bottom.
Perhaps next year we might actually have a decent song that is worth listening to and a little more memorable?
Weather continues stunningly good. My cold is improving, and I am now mostly able to breathe again, and coughing/sniffing less. This makes the world a much better place.
---
Alistair Blunt said: "I've killed three people. So presumably I ought to be hanged. But you've heard my defence."
"Which is - exactly?"
"That I believe, with all my heart and soul, that I am necessary to the continued peace and well-being of this country."
Hercule Poirot allowed: "That may be - yes."
"You agree, don't you?"
"I agree, yes. You stand for all the things that to my mind are important. For sanity and balance and stability and honest dealing."
[...]
He went on: "It's in your hands, Poirot. It's up to you. But I tell you this - and it's not just self-preservation - I'm needed in the world. And do you know why? Because I'm an honest man. And because I've got common sense - and no particular axe of my own to grind."
Poirot nodded. Strangely enough, he believed all that. He said: "Yes, that is one side. You are the right man in the right place. You have sanity, judgement, balance. But there is the other side. Three human beings who are dead."
"Yes, but think of them! Mabelle Sainsbury Seale - you said it yourself - a woman with the brains of a hen! Amberiotis - a crook and a blackmailer!"
"And Morley?"
"I've told you before. I'm sorry about Morley. But after all - he was a decent fellow and a good dentist - but there are other dentists."
"Yes," said Poirot, "there are other dentists. And Frank Carter? You would have let him die, too, without regret?"
Blunt said: "I don't waste any pity on him. He's no good. An utter rotter."
Poirot said: "But a human being . . ."
"Oh well, we're all human beings . . ."
"Yes, we are all human beings. That is what you have not remembered. You have said that Mabelle Sainsbury Seale was a foolish human being and Amberiotis an evil one, and Frank Carter a wastrel - and Morley - Morley was only a dentist and there are other dentists. That is where you and I, M. Blunt, do not see alike. For to me the lives of those four people are just as important as your life."
"You're wrong."
"No, I am not wrong. You are a man of great natural honesty and rectitude. You took one step aside - and outwardly it has not affected you. Publicly you have continued the same, upright, trustworthy, honest. But within you the love of power grew to overwhelming heights. So you sacrificed four human lives and thought them of no account."
"Don't you realise, Poirot, that the safety and happiness of the whole nation depends on me?"
"I am not concerned with nations, Monsieur. I am concerned with the lives of private individuals who have the right not to have their lives taken from them."
-- One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, Agatha Christie
|
May 26th, 2012
01:06 am - climbing back up again
Cold has gone down a couple of notches, and I was a bit more functional at work today, though still making loud noises at irregular intervals. (And it did give me an excuse to avoid a big optional briefing/position statement after lunch this afternoon, as I pointed out that it would probably not be a good idea for me to be in close quarters in a meeting room with a lot of other people. So no cloud, silver lining, etc.)
I also had the pleasant surprise of another shirting-cotton fabric donation from the friend of a friend who works in a nearby men's tailoring firm. So that was a very nice way to end the day. It was partly a set of those cloth samples you get, where they're pieces of a foot or so of fabric, clipped to a cardboard header giving the name/type/details of the fabric, which you may have seen in fabric or upholstery stores, but all shirting-cotton weight. I can make excellent use of these.
---
The Second Coming
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
-- WB Yeats
|
May 25th, 2012
12:42 am - possibly I exaggerate slightly
Three of us at the same desk island at work have The Cold. I suggested that we should put up a sign saying, LORD, HAVE MERCY ON US, or some other suitable plague warning, which got laughs, and then coughs.
The weather continues beautiful.
Second Eurovision Song Contest semifinal was entertaining: I particularly liked Serbia and Portugal, though only Serbia got through, alas.
Had got about a quarter around the hand-stitched binding of my current quilt project when I decided that the thread colour I was using really didn't work. So I unpicked it and started again with a different colour. The new colour looks much better, which to some extent consoles me for having got quarter of the way round the first time before realising that it really wasn't working.
---
In Time of Pestilence
Adieu, farewell earth's bliss!
This world uncertain is:
Fond are life's lustful joys,
Death proves them all but toys.
None from his darts can fly;
I am sick, I must die —
Lord, have mercy on us!
Rich men, trust not in wealth,
Gold cannot buy you health;
Physic himself must fade;
All things to end are made;
The plague full swift goes by;
I am sick, I must die —
Lord, have mercy on us!
Beauty is but a flower
Which wrinkles will devour;
Brightness falls from the air;
Queens have died young and fair;
Dust hath closed Helen's eye;
I am sick, I must die —
Lord, have mercy on us!
Strength stoops unto the grave,
Worms feed on Hector brave;
Swords may not fight with fate;
Earth still holds ope her gate;
Come, come! the bells do cry;
I am sick, I must die —
Lord, have mercy on us!
Wit with his wantonness
Tasteth death's bitterness;
Hell's executioner
Hath no ears for to hear
What vain art can reply;
I am sick, I must die —
Lord, have mercy on us!
Haste therefore each degree
To welcome destiny;
Heaven is our heritage,
Earth but a player's stage.
Mount we unto the sky;
I am sick, I must die —
Lord, have mercy on us!
-- Thomas Nashe
|
May 24th, 2012
01:56 am - sniffing
Still have cold.
World is miserable place full of depression and woe. (does Zuko impression)
In other news, the sun was shining brightly today and the weather is beautiful.
Hope to be able to breathe a bit better tomorrow.
|
May 22nd, 2012
11:53 pm - the Albanian contestant had the most amazing voice
I have a cold and am therefore feeling depressed. All right, so it isn't that bad, and definitely not bad enough to keep me home, but -- well, you all know that stage. It makes itself felt.
Eurovision first semifinal was entertaining. I particularly liked Latvia, Iceland, Albania, Moldova, and San Marino. Iceland and Albania and Moldova got through to the final, which was nice, and none of the other finalists were bad, so that's positive. (I'm not surprised that the Russian grannies got through. They were an obvious popular choice.)
I've been avoiding knowingly listening to any of the songs pre-competition, including the England one. It's more fun hearing them for the first time in the semifinal or final. Plus this way, if our entry this year is ghastly/bad/appalling/boring/unworthy, at least this way I won't have to be depressed by that until I actually hear it on Saturday night. Which is probably a bit self-deluding of me, but hey.
(Question: will I be able to avoid doing Princess Bride impressions at the television set on Saturday night and muttering, "Humperdinck! Humperdinck! Humperdinck!" at the television set? Answer: probably not.)
Now I will do my yearly ponder of how to use the Eurovision Song Contest as part of some occult conspiracy or in a Library plot. As one does. Because one should.
---
Inigo Montoya: You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you.
Man in Black: You seem a decent fellow. I hate to die.
-- The Princess Bride, William Goldman
|
11:30 pm - Diane Duane on writing fanfic
Very good piece here by Diane Duane about a certain genre of Sherlock fanfic, and writing for it.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1) flemmings, I am strongly reminded of an earlier piece of yours on Aestheticism. She even brings up (and shoots down) the good old lie/lay. And the "the adjective man" referencing method. :)
|
02:54 am - travelling hopefully
How fast the day goes.
Spent a little while this evening starting to chop some of my fabric-remnant stash up into usable squares and rectangles (rather than leaving it in chunks of dubious size and shape). This gives a great feeling of accomplishment, even if it doesn't actually result in much finished work. So that was good.
Will hopefully get round to playing Diablo 3 one of these days, when I don't have a deadline to meet.
First Eurovision semifinal tomorrow evening. Surely there must be at least a couple of decent songs . . .
|
May 21st, 2012
12:59 am - and they say the weather will be getting warmer
A problem with having an ache in the small of your lumbar spine and putting a heat patch on it is that it then becomes difficult to sit back in things if it means sitting in such a way that you're putting pressure directly on the heat patch. OTOH, my back does definitely feel better now.
Work tomorrow, and QA meeting, and other fun stuff. Where did the weekend go? Oh yes.
But there's the Eurovision Song Contest this week for entertainment value. I have a big armchair in front of the television, and I have knitting and binding-sewing to work on while I watch. That'll be neat.
---
Lament for Yin Yao
We followed you back for your burial
on Mount Shihlo
And then through the greens of oaks and pines
we rode away home
Your bones are there under the white clouds
until the end of time
And there is only the stream that flows
down to the world of men.
-- Wang Wei, translated by GW Robinson
|
|
|
