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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Age's LiveJournal:
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| Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 | | 11:13 am |
Fuck!
Fuck! I just spilt tea on the remote for my TV, ruined a conversation with a close friend because my poorly suppressed rage cast a pall over everything, I'm stuck in my new game and my best friend is in hospital with what, in the best case, is probably appendicitus. Also? Suggesting someone claiming to be a rape victim be regarded with a degree of healthy skepticism is apparently not well-received on the internet. I say again: Fuck! I know, I know... Whiny journal entry is whiny. Current Mood: irate | | Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 | | 6:57 pm |
Lousy Day
Phone-line and internet have been down intermittently, I've had half a dozen e-mails to reply to at length, and its turned out that going out of your way to offend people is not the best way to make friends. Today has been pretty depressing. Still, posting that survey hasn't turned out all bad. So far, two people who I thought were done with me have expressed an interest in us talking more, and one person has expressed an interest in talking to me less. If you can apply the principles of profit and loss to relationships, I guess I came out ahead. Doesn't really feel that way, though. It's strange. In the UK, there aren't really many people who would oppose a persons freedom to abort their child. The general attitude is that it's unpleasant but something you just have to do, like having a pet put down. Intellectually, I have few qualms about it. Emotionally, I have even less. A foetus has less of a mind than a rat or a cow, things we kill in the hundreds. More human tissue died when I had my tooth pulled. No mind, no real body... And yet I'm troubled. The human mind is a pattern recognising machine. It builds up an intuitive understanding of right and wrong through it's experiences of the world. Not just things it's told, but things it sees and hears. Everything I know tells me abortion is a normal, healthy thing to do. Yet, at the same time, the Romans probably felt that way about the Circuses. American settlers probably thought the same about giving disease-infested blankets to the Indians. I don't know what's right and what's wrong. I don't think I can ever know. All I have are what I think and feel. How can I hold to that in the face of another persons certainty? How can I debate the point with someone who really believes they know right from wrong with no doubt? And if I can't, doesn't that mean I'm wrong? | | Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 | | 4:13 pm |
The Controversial Survey
1. Do you have the guts to answer these questions and re-post as The Controversial Survey? I'm not sure if "guts" is the proper term. Sometimes I think the internet evokes a sense of anonymity so acute it could drive a person to start throwing punches randomly on a crowded subway train just to get noticed. Anyway, none of this stuff seems all that controversial to me. Ask me about eating meat or imperialism, then I'll show you controversial. 2. Would you do meth if it was legal? I think so. I'm a lazy, fat bastard, so anything that over-clocked my metabolism and blunted my appetite... Well, I'd be prepared to gamble that the benefits would outweigh the hazards. 3. Abortion: for or against it? For. I believe a persons identity is something that needs time to accrue. Frankly, I don't even fully consider very young kids to be fully-fledged people. Furthermore, even if a foetus were a person, no person has the right to gestate inside another persons body like some grotesque parasite. Sometimes, killing someone is the best way forward. 4. Do you think the world would fail with a female president? No more so than it would fail under a male one. I do have grave misgivings about the idea of a global government, though. Sometimes, it seems as though the only way to achieve stability is to have dozens of different factions working at cross-purposes. 5. Do you believe in the death penalty? Yes. It's quick, clean and far more merciful than keeping someone cooped up in an over-crowded prison. However, I think it should be limited to very specific crimes, and instances where there is incontrovertible evidence. For example, the perpetrator can clearly be seen committing the crime on a video recording. I would also favour the reinstatement of corporal punishment for first-time offenders. As with capital punishment, it's far quicker, cleaner and more merciful than a spell in prison, and far less likely to introduce the offender into the society of career criminals. 6. Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already? Yes. Whilst I think there are far too many addictive and harmful substances on the market already, people are currently giving their money to organized crime in exchange for a product that is often tainted with a wide variety of unsavoury or toxic substances. Not good on any level. 7. Are you for or against premarital sex? Meh. People should be free to stick it in whichever consenting adult they choose, under whatever criteria they choose. 8. Do you believe in God? Not really. The world seems like such a shoddy, half-arsed place, I don't really see how any guiding intelligence could be behind it. 9. Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized? I don't see that there's a single good reason for same-sex couples not to enjoy the same recognition in law as their heterosexual counterparts. 10. Do you think it's wrong that so many Hispanics are illegally moving to the USA? Hmm... I think they should be staying at home and trying to improve their own country. Other than that, I can't see a problem with it. 11. A twelve year old girl has a baby, should she keep it? No. Hell, no. What for? Why the hell was this girl not carted off down to the hospital for an abortion by her parents or some other responsible adult? 12. Should the alcohol age be lowered to eighteen? I think a child should be permitted to drink at the discretion of their parents, with the parents taking the responsibility of seeing to it the child doesn't make themself ill. An adult should be permitted to drink whenever they damn well please, as long as they don't plan on driving. 13. Should the war in Iraq be called off? Firstly, what war? There is no war in Iraq, and there hasn't been for years. What we have now is an extended police action. And, if nothing else, it serves the purpose of providing a soft target for Islamic extremists who would otherwise be trying to blow shit up over here. Also, western involvement in the area is pretty much the only thing stopping Iraq from turning into a war-zone or a second Iran. So, no, pulling out wouldn't help them, us or anyone else. Anyone who thinks otherwise is either naive or a drooling imbecile. 14. Assisted suicide is illegal: do you agree? Whoever worded these questions should be shot through the lungs... The actual question is whether or not I agree that assisted suicide should be illegal. And... No. No, I don't agree. Given that so many able-bodied people have good cause to top themselves, I can't imagine more than one good reason why the option should be denied to those who are suffering the most. The only concern I have is that people who would not ordinarily opt for the option of suicide may feel obliged to if they believe they're a burden on their family. 15. Do you believe in spanking your children? As I said earlier, I consider children to be more akin to animals than fully fledged human beings. As such, they can't be reasoned with. They can only be enticed or driven in the desired direction. I won't say that it's not possible to raise a child without employing some form of intimidation, I'm just saying that no reliable method has been documented. 16. Would you burn an American flag for a million dollars? No. I've no great respect for any flag other than the Union Jack, but I'm aware of the symbolism involved, and would be loath to invoke it recklessly. I'd also be very suspicious of anyone offering me money to do so... 17. Who do you think would make a better president? McCain or Obama? Don't know. They're both pretty anonymous to me. Obama is a completely unknown quantity behind the spin, and McCain is so well camouflaged amongst the Republican herd that he's just as much a mystery as Obama. Also, McCains military service is as irrelevant to his fitness for the presidency as Obamas being black. Ultimately, though, I'm just not convinced it'll make much difference which of them gets in. 18. Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers? A bit, but I suppose it's better than being irrelevant and ignored. | | Thursday, November 22nd, 2007 | | 2:13 pm |
Further Thoughts: The Walking Dead.
Well, FA is down, so, in the interim, I'll be making a few journal entries here. Today I'll be talking about the comic book entitled "The Walking Dead". The story relates the misadventures of a group of survivors in a post zombie-apocalpyse America. Walking Dead suffers from the same problem as a lot of daytime soap operas. The characters exist for the sole reason of having terrible things happen to them. There's no tension, because you know they can't win. All they can do is lurch from tragedy to tragedy, slowly losing their minds over having been forced to gun down their zombified family or saw off one of their own infected limbs. And it will never get better, because, if it did, the story would be over. Any improvement in the characters circumstances is temporary, a brief respite that allows them to set themselves up in order to be knocked down again. Of course, these are all problems inherant in the genre. Where Walking Dead *really* falls down is the characters themselves, who are uniformly detestable and come in two varieties; the quaking weakling and the vicious thug. So, yeah, I don't recommend it. Thanks to the kind charity of a friend of mine called Brazz, I read it for ages before giving it up, and, having recently looked back in on it, I can say that it most definitely has not improved. Addendum: I am prepared to take back a lot of the bad things I have said about the common house cat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGTZoyARvnQ | | Thursday, June 14th, 2007 | | 11:58 pm |
| | Thursday, May 3rd, 2007 | | 11:19 am |
| | Monday, March 12th, 2007 | | 11:10 am |
A Brief Apology
Just wanted to quickly apologise to everyone who'd hoped to see me online yesterday. I share a computer with someone, and, having hogged it all day on Saturday, it seemed only fair to let him have it for most of Sunday. Rest assured, if I could've been online without screwing anyone over, I would've been. | | Monday, March 5th, 2007 | | 2:22 pm |
Don't know how much I'd agree with this, but...
The Everything Test There are many different types of tests on the internet today. Personality tests, purity tests, stereotype tests, political tests. But now, there is one test to rule them all. Traditionally, online tests would ask certain questions about your musical tastes or clothing for a stereotype, your experiences for a purity test, or deep questions for a personality test.We're turning that upside down - all the questions affect all the results, and we've got some innovative results too! Enjoy :-) | Personality | You are more logical than emotional, more concerned about others than concerned about self, more atheist than religious, more dependent than loner, more lazy than workaholic, more traditional than rebel, more engineering mind than artistic mind, more cynical than idealist, more follower than leader, and more introverted than extroverted.
As for specific personality traits, you are adventurous (70%). | | | Stereotypes | | Geek | 90% | | Punk Rock | 87% | | Old Geezer | 67% | | | | Life Experience | | Sex | 31% | | Substances | 22% | | Travel | 9% | | Politics
Your political views would best be described as Socialist, whom you agree with around 100% of the time. | | Socioeconomic
Your attitude toward life best associates you with Working Class. You make more than 0% of those who have taken this test, and 96% less than the U.S. average.
| If your life was a movie, it would be rated PG-13.
By the way, your hottness rank is 36%, hotter than 51% of other test takers. | TAKE THE TEST brought to you by thatsurveysite | | Monday, February 26th, 2007 | | 7:03 pm |
I got interviewed! 1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I'll respond by asking you a couple personal questions. If I already know you well, expect the questions to be a little more intimate!
3. Then you update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
Interviewed By ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) bluewoozle
1) If you met Charlie Brooker in the street, what would you do? I'd ignore him. He could probably do without being bothered. 2) Of all the pizza toppings in all the world, what would be your ideal? (Doesn't necessarily need to be an actual pizza topping) Anchovy and ground beef, with sour-cream and BBQ Sauce. 3) Which is your favourite comic-book hero (and why?) It's hard to think of any comicbook characters whose ethics mesh comfortably with my own. I'm pleased to say the only two that do are both English creations. It'd have to be either V, from "V for Vendetta", or Marvel UK's Deathshead. I may not agree with their politics, but they both represent a great balance of style and substance. 4) When did you decide to grow a moustache and beard? I guess I always kind'a meant to, at the back of my mind. I was just waiting until I was fairly certain I could pull it off. 5) Given the chance to change one thing, how would you improve the country? Well, I've got a lot of ideas that are pretty out there, but I'm going to be conservative and stick with something that I think would almost certainly work. I would replace GPs with more numerous and larger walk-in clinics, where you could see a doctor without an appointment, wherever you were. I think this would be a more efficient use of funds and resources, whilst at the same time offering an improved service. | | Wednesday, February 14th, 2007 | | 8:12 am |
I was tagged, no-one was hurt
1. Grab the nearest book. (N.B. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.) 2. Open the book to page 123. 3. Find the fifth sentence. 4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions. 5. Tag 5 people. V for Vendetta- Moore/Lloyd "... Bloke over in Pimlico." "Magic. Tell Terry I'll see him Saturday about the money." One of the crackiest comics in the history of forever, and I get what sounds like a snippet of conversation overheard at a taxi rank. Anyway... I'm afraid I don't really know five people I can tag, let alone five people who read this journal, so, if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged and leave a reply, letting me know about it. If five people have already replied (It could happen!), then you needn't bother. | | Monday, January 22nd, 2007 | | 10:04 pm |
Word of The Day
"Apiphany: [a-pif-uh-nee] A sudden, intuitive insight into the nature of something which, whilst being self-consistant and appealing, has no grounding in reality whatsoever." A word I invented a while back, and was provoked to finalise whilst watching Grant Morrison lecture at Disinformation, back in 1999. Seriously, listening to that was like inspecting my own crap. Every now and then I'd spot something familiar, but most of it was just a jumbled mess. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this sigel stuff doesn't work. I'm just saying that, if it does, then every single piece of information accumulated in the entireity of human history is wrong, and that the whole universe is circling the u-bend. | | Thursday, January 18th, 2007 | | 3:30 pm |
| | Sunday, January 7th, 2007 | | 8:13 pm |
Stolen from Mike Fang
Your results: You are Venom| Venom |
| 70% |
| Dark Phoenix |
| 64% |
| Juggernaut |
| 52% |
| Mr. Freeze |
| 50% |
| Apocalypse |
| 50% |
| The Joker |
| 49% |
| Two-Face |
| 44% |
| Mystique |
| 40% |
| Magneto |
| 39% |
| Green Goblin |
| 36% |
| Dr. Doom |
| 29% |
| Kingpin |
| 25% |
| Catwoman |
| 22% |
| Lex Luthor |
| 18% |
| Riddler |
| 16% |
| Poison Ivy |
| 13% |
|
Strength, disguise and adrenaline are your greatest weapons.
 |
Click here to take the Supervillain Personality Quiz | | Thursday, December 21st, 2006 | | 11:56 pm |
"Gone Fishing"
So, from Friday the twenty-first onwards, I will be away on holiday. I know, I know. However will you cope? Tragically, even I need to go away from time to time, and the last couple of months have been pretty harsh, so I'm looking forward to spending Christmas "en famille". I'll get onto those sketches I owe people once I get back. Until then, I hope everyone has a pleasant time. I'll leave with the following link to YouTube, where you can watch the intro to "Frontier: Elite II". I used to watch that thing over and over when I was a kid, so it's either really good, or else I've got Aspergers Syndrome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEJ603FAqXs&mode=related&search= | | Friday, November 24th, 2006 | | 2:38 pm |
Supposing ... There's only one thing worth debating online
Charlie Brooker
Friday June 2, 2006
The Guardian
Last week I wrote a load of nonsense about flags and idiocy; as well as appearing in print, it also turned up on the Guardian's "Comment is Free" blog-o-site, where passers by are encouraged to scrawl their own responses beneath the original article. Some people disagreed with the piece, some agreed; some found it funny, some didn't. For half a nanosecond I was tempted to join in the discussion. And then I remembered that all internet debates, without exception, are entirely futile. So I didn't. There's no point debating anything online. You might as well hurl shoes in the air to knock clouds from the sky. The internet's perfect for all manner of things, but productive discussion ain't one of them. It provides scant room for debate and infinite opportunities for fruitless point-scoring: the heady combination of perceived anonymity, gestated responses, random heckling and a notional "live audience" quickly conspire to create a "perfect storm" of perpetual bickering. Stumble in, take umbrage with someone, trade a few blows, and within about two or three exchanges, the subject itself goes out the window. Suddenly, you're simply arguing about arguing. Eventually, one side gets bored, comes to its senses, or dies, and the row fizzles out: just another needless belch in the swirling online guffstorm. But not for long, because online quarrelling is also addictive, in precisely the same way Tetris is addictive. It appeals to the "lab rat" part of your brain; the annoying, irrepressible part that adores repetitive pointlessness and would gleefully make you pop bubblewrap till Doomsday if it ever got its way. An unfortunate few, hooked on the futile thrill of online debate, devote their lives to its cause. They roam the internet, actively seeking out viewpoints they disagree with, or squat on messageboards, whining, needling, sneering, over-analysing each new proclamation - joylessly fiddling, like unhappy gorillas doomed to pick lice from one another's fur for all eternity. Still, it's not all moan moan moan in NetLand. There's also the occasional puerile splutter to liven things up. In the debate sparked by my gibberish outpouring, it wasn't long before rival posters began speculating about the size of their opponent's dicks. It led me to wonder - has the world of science ever investigated a causal link between penis size and male political leaning? I'd theorise that, on the whole, rightwing penises are short and stubby, hence their owners' constant fury. Lefties, on the other hand, are spoiled for length, yet boast no girth whatsoever - which explains their pained confusion. I flit from one camp to the other, of course, which is why mine's so massive it's got a full-size human knee in the middle. And a back. A big man's back. Anyway, if we must debate things online, we might as well debate that. It's not like we'll ever resolve any of that other bullshit, is it? Click. Mine's bigger than yours. Click. No, it isn't. Click. Yes, it is. Click. Refresh, repost, repeat to fade. For more from Charlie, look here. | | Tuesday, October 24th, 2006 | | 9:30 pm |
| | Sunday, October 22nd, 2006 | | 11:16 pm |
Torchwood
Wow. So... Torchwood. That was despair-inducingly bad. I mean, seriously. That was... fucking diabolical. The plots were dreadful, the characters were, to a man, loathsome, and the writing was almost entirely devoid of the smallest shred of intelligence. I may expand on this later, but, to summarise for the time being, and in the words of Tim Bisley, it made me want to drown things. | | Sunday, October 15th, 2006 | | 2:54 pm |
| | Saturday, October 14th, 2006 | | 9:35 pm |
Mike Fang: Intercontinental Stalker!
I doubt it, but I'd be seriously impressed... | age_a's LJ stalker is mike_fang! | | mike_fang is stalking you because they have nothing better to do with their time. They are also stalking you in real life. Look out! |
| | 1:04 pm |
I have to wonder where the hell my life is headed, sometimes. I expected to long since have crashed and burned by now, and I certainly would've if I'd been left to my own devices, but, for some reason, people just don't seem able to let me go. I can't imagine why. I have no skills, no talents. Not even anything in the way of raw physical ability. I'm incapable of getting along with people. I'm lazy, slovenly, arrogant... I just wish this shit would hurry up and go away. |
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