Sep 2007
I give in
27 September 2007 @ 20:02 in Life
When in Paris
I am in Pareeee for the expo, and, as usual, using my
pretty convincing French accent and Gallic shrugs to
fool waiters into thinking I can actually speak the
damned language. I can usually make myself
understood, with many crunching gears as tenses and
verb endings are treated more as Platonic ideals than
actual grammatical rules, but the problem with
translation is not necessarily understand what the
individual words say, but a grasp of idiom as well.
Take this poster as an example:
I understand that the top line translates as “Your new best friend”, so I'm assuming the French call dogs man's best friend too. I understand that in response to one dog's question “But what does it have that we haven't?”, the other answers, “Dog, Oscar, dog”, and I imagine that there is some hilarious play on words there – ‘chien’ meaning both simply dog and something else – but without knowing what that ‘something else’ is, the whole thing takes on a surreal quality which is only heightened by how dazed I already am from this whole expo thang. Bleh.
I understand that the top line translates as “Your new best friend”, so I'm assuming the French call dogs man's best friend too. I understand that in response to one dog's question “But what does it have that we haven't?”, the other answers, “Dog, Oscar, dog”, and I imagine that there is some hilarious play on words there – ‘chien’ meaning both simply dog and something else – but without knowing what that ‘something else’ is, the whole thing takes on a surreal quality which is only heightened by how dazed I already am from this whole expo thang. Bleh.
In at the deep end
Despite a to-do list that is running to a third volume, MacFormat took the afternoon off to celebrate its recent circulation announcement that puts it as the highest circulating Mac magazine in the UK. (Actually, you can cut the pie in different ways to say the same thing about MacUser or Macworld, but as far as the bare stats go, MacFormat is #1.)
So we had lunch at a rather nice little Italian next to the weir and then went next door to a pleasantly grotty pub to play pool. I had to confess that this was essentially the first time I had ever played. And the wine and gin didn't really help. Despite this rather phenomenal handicap, James and I managed just to pull in front of Michelle and Graham to win four games to three. How very exciting. So this is what normal people did at university. As well as bonking like bunnies.
I'm tired of staring at that damned chopper vid...
10 September 2007 @ 20:47 in Media
...so here is a sickening picture of a rose I snapped
today. Oh yeah. I can take a competent picture of an
object famed for its beauty and supplement its impact
with very basic Photoshop curves stuff. Oh yeah. I'm
a real revolutionary. Full-res pic here, released under a
licence. Oh, and by 'snapped' I mean 'took a
picture of'. I didn't just snap a rose stem in a fit
of pique.
licence. Oh, and by 'snapped' I mean 'took a
picture of'. I didn't just snap a rose stem in a fit
of pique.
Why does this video disturb me so much?
03 September 2007 @ 16:45 in Media
http://view.break.com/295948 - Watch more free videos
The blades of the Russian MI-24 Hind helicopter in this video are perfectly in sync with the ‘shutter’ of the videocamera filming it, giving it this severely freaky ‘hanging in the air’ vibe. [Via]
My name is Chris, and I am a norm
Today, folks, marks the final phase in my transition
to a normal person – or ‘norm’ as we like to call
them in our contemptuous way. We now have all the
accoutrements of adult life: as well as a filing
cabinet, small economical hatchback and washing
machine, we now own a dining table. For the first
time since either of us left home. No longer will we
have to squat like Neanderthals in the floor,
scooping food into our gaping maws with our fingers*
but can sit like fully-fledged members of Western
society on chairs and use cutlery and everything.
Note that we even plumped for rattan chairs.
Rattan for chrissake. Plus, note the peace
lily on the windowsill. What has become of our
mock-indie credentials? The table even extends so
we have dinner parties. I think I need to have a
lie down.
* Never actually happened. Though I think that if we had not bought this table now, Mrs RH would have bought lap trays. And that really would have been the end.
* Never actually happened. Though I think that if we had not bought this table now, Mrs RH would have bought lap trays. And that really would have been the end.
