The Eugent ships boiled out of dark space and deposited themselves, like turds on a sheet of glass, in orbit around the planet. They coasted for a while from the momentum of their remergence back into reality before their plague engines flared back to unlife with sickly incandescence. Within the bowels of their monstrously bloated forms the galley slaves who had survived the transit across the howlingly insane depths of space began to tread on the vast fly wheels. There was no purpose in their mindless stepping. It simply made the Eugent laugh.

Merry Christmas!

Canon braces itself for arse induced copier carnage

Theres a lot of blogs out there, an awful lot. Some of them are the rambling of loons (where if they were on paper, they would be writen in shit), some are thoughtful observations on everyday life, some a stream of expert opinion on important things and others an interesting insight into someones life. This blog is none of those things. What is it? I dunno. Its not like its a chronicle of life in Sweden as, on average, I barely manage to mention the place more than one a month. Its certainly not (chump) an insight into the world of my work which, lets face it, is not that exciting. Nor is it particularly funny as usually when I blog its when I am tired, hysterical, weepy, drunk, sedated or spent....none of which are states of mind appropriate to being particularly witty. (speaking of which, I foolishly plugged the word 'arse' into google and then pressed 'images' rather than 'news', resulting in a flurry of shocking images to scroll down my screen.).
It does not provide any kind of great angle on the pop culture that I consume at a voracious rate (though my recent realisation that given the choice between a Bergman movie and a Die Hard movie (well, number 1 anyway) I'd plump straight for Brucie has made me realise that I'm much less the offbeat film buff that I like to pretend I am). So what is it? Its mine, its been a little focus for the last 2 years (well, not quite - but almost) of my life here. A distraction which has proven to be almost therapeutic. So the early resolution for the New Year is to keep on going - if you read this, and return (chump) then so much the better - I'll be here, not writing about anything in particular.


Annoyance In the space of 12 hours we have managed to destroy to large white goods, to wit, one siemens washing machine and one siemans oven. Accidently. And with much gnashing of teeth.
Reading Spares (again), which was the original script idea for that recent Ewan Macgregor movie, I think Bruckenheimer was the director
Listening Steve Earle

Trouser Press....indie rock heaven.

Wankers, obviously poorly sighted and thus unable to recognise the raw talent which slumped in the chair in front of them...in not one, but two interviews....yes, the fucks decided not to give me the job (and thus give me a 5 year contract, loads of dosh and a 75% position) which means I'm still jumping from one 3 or 6 month contract to the next. What was there not to like? Lets see, BSc, MSc and PhD - so straight away we're dealing with a serious fuck off academic ninja but, hold the press, in the subjects which the job was concerned with. Next, European Project experience - yeah, fucking loads. Next question. Entrepreneurial skills - well, lets see, founded a very successful and rapidly growing biotech service company, how do you like them onions, eh? So...and, oh whats my Swedish like, ska vi se, ja, Jag kan prata en del av svenska och det komma att blir bettre och bettre varje dag eftersom jag gå till en kvälls kurs två gånger en vecka........


wankers

This is something which has crossed my mind from time to time, as I gaze at my PC screen and wonder why am I not having more fun here? As Franz Ferdinand say "if you did the things you like, you would be happier". Fun, is of course, totally subjective and one mans fun may be anothers nightmare but the underlying concept seems to be that our work lives are based on fundamentally un-fun premises.

"Indeed, as my lectures bring me from industry to industry, I find myself amazed by just how little fun most people are having. Whether separated from one another by policy, competition, or cubicle, the last thing that seems to occur to people is to have fun together—when it should be the first priority. Instead, managers feel obligated to reign over employees; executives think they must hoodwink their shareholders; sales believe they must strong-arm their clients; and marketers assume they must manipulate the consumer. All for the life-or-death stakes of the next quarterly report."
Douglas Rushkoff.

I've been listening to Ricky Gervais's podcasts on the guardian siteand heard them discussing a fantastically bizarre story about 42 cambodian midgets squaring off against a lion. Sadly, or perhaps happily, this is another piece of internet lore and is a fake, but a bloody good one.
The podcasts are very funny though.

Listening: Franz Ferdinand
Watching: Animatrix
Reading: Strangers in Paradise (Comic), Hellblazer (Comic) and A big boy did it and ran away by Christopher Brookmyre. The last is fucking brilliant and this is the second or third time that I've read it. Constantly references all the games we grew up with (i.e. everything from 3D Monster Maze for the ZX81 to Quake) against a thriller examining what would happen if your flat mate from student days turned out to be an international terrorist.

You may remember the story scooped by the Mail on Sunday (?) which concerned bullying of Royal Marines...i.e fighting naked and then being kicked unconscious. Well, heres the follow up from the Evening Herald in Plymouth, with a great quote from the soldier who was sparko "The bloke who kicked me in the head is the nicest guy in the company"....which makes you wonder what the horribliest guy in the company is like.

Sometime last year I blogged about the first incarnation of this game, well, heres the second...I could not get the page to work but I guess its probably collapsed for the time being due to the link from BoingBoing....Samorost 2...I was actually looking at the Crimson Room the other day and went back to play it just now, stumbled across the Veridian Room...excellent, more point and click fun.

We were supposed to be at a Jul Fest (Christmas Party) this evening but E, and K, are both feeling a bit ill...we instead had a splendidly cosy time in town....I purchased the History of Violence comic book which I've been gradually reading this evening, good so far. Speaking of geek things, went to see Serenity with my chum S last night - must say, once again Joss Whedon comes up with the goods, a stonking good space opera of a 8 out of 10....I've not actually seen any of the series, which would - I guess- make the movie even better.

Still nothing from the potentially new employers, I'll give them (another) phone call next week - they said in the interview that I would hear within two weeks. When I phoned on monday the guy said they had not made a decision and would be getting in touch. Presumably with a brick through the window with a burning dog turd tied to it.

Saw this on BoingBoing, thought provoking....

map of world by population.....

Caught my eye that Swedes are amongst the most honest when it comes to downloading music (and paying for it)....whats strange is that since I moved to Sweden I went from knowing about the existance of filesharing services to being a subscriber to the services of iTunes. Must be some kind of infectious civic responsibility disease they put in the water here......

Young 'prefer illegal song swaps'

Good old Sweden, beneath that mild mannered exterior lies the beating heart of an arsonist.......Wierd Ritual of the Burning Goat.