It's raining today. You can tell I have absolutely nothing to write about when I start commenting on the weather. It's annoying because the weather’s been fine for the last week; it only started raining today just when a fun fair comes to town. Apparently it's going to be even worse tomorrow too, but I’m going to go to the fair anyway. Maybe the rain will scare people off and it won't be quite so packed, if it's open at all. Got a girl coming with me, and while I would normally hate to conform to such a cultural cliché as "dating", I feel it'll be worth the exception. In the worst case scenario I get some free candy floss out of it (she's loaded and insists on paying for everything, and who am I to deny her that?).
After I'm done with the fair I'll be heading for a house party, hosted by a very good friend of mine. He had one seven or eight months ago, and if the last one's anything to go by this should be an extremely messy evening. Last time, I arrived late, started drinking furiously, and by the morning my sins included jumping in his swimming pool fully clothed (with my phone and mp3 player in my pockets), making out with my ex, making out with some random guy, running around the house bollock naked, reducing his kitchen table to splinters by jumping up and down on it, throwing up all over his garden, getting locked outside for about an hour around 3am when everyone else had either left or gone upstairs, soaking wet and almost naked, and being forcefully raped (no exaggeration) while still shivering and barely conscious by this girl I'd only met once before. Epic times.
That’s my plan for Tomorrow anyway, as it’s Good Friday and I don’t have work. I may just keep drinking through Saturday, if there’s enough alcohol left in the house when I wake up to hang about for a bit tanking up before heading home for a shower and something to eat then back out to town for another friends birthday bash. Everyone knows the hangover can’t get you if you never sober up!
Anyway, just so I feel like this wasn't a completely pointless post: Here's a video I found today from when I was at college (about 3 years ago now), of a traditional event, Penny Wrestling. It consists of someone throwing a coin on the floor, and everyone else trying to get it. I'm the guy with the long blonde hair, now you know what I look like.
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
More Metals
Today I think, another list of what I've been listening to over the last week or so.
As I mentioned yesterday, Brain Drill are amazing. Technical Death Metal with old school Brutal Death Metal sensibilities. Obscenely fast, gore obsessed and dangerously nihilistic, Brain Drill were formed by Dylan Ruskin after his ill fated band Burn At The Stake bit the dust, and also originally featured Marco Pitruzella, formerly of Vital Remains and The Faceless. The weird thing is, their songs are strangely catchy and don't bleed into one another as happens with a lot of death metal bands. Their lineup is now complete again after a few changes, so I'm hoping to see them live sometime this year if they come to the UK.
It is proven fact that everyone, even hardened metallers, love The Prodigy. They're undeniably drum'n'bass, but have just enough originality and eccentricity to tickle the more subversive tastes without losing mainstream appeal. Unfortunately, I fear the latest installment Invaders Must Die has lost some of their eclectic inventiveness, although there is defiantly still a spark of genius there. Turns out I've been hearing songs off this album for months at clubs and in shops and just assumed they were by Pendulum or some other run-of-the-mill rock'n'rave band, and only realized what I'd been hearing when I got my copy. Don't get me wrong, they're all good tracks, but they seem a little tame and overproduced. I realize calling something "overproduced" in a genre that is, by definition, more reliant on computers and technology in making music than actual musical instruments is a bit of a moot point, but if you compare this album with classics like Spitfire or Firestarter you'll notice a distinct lack of Prodigy's old edge. I can't help but think that most of these songs sound a little too much like something you might hear in a TV advert, but on the other hand I would never accuse The Prodigy of playing "safe" music. All it needs is more of Kieth Flint yelling shit and acting crazy.
Ravnenes Saga by Svartsot is a good solid Melodic Death/Folk Metal album from Denmark. Imagine a band with the guitar and vocal styles of Amon Amarth, playing songs written by Eluveitie and Korpiklaani and you won't be far off Svartsot's sound. Don't let the guttural vocals and bleak album cover deceive you, these songs are mostly about feasting and drinking, both things I hope to do excessively while I'm in Denmark. Looking at their current live dates, they seem to play a lot of shows around Denmark, so maybe I’ll get to see them live if I can time it right.
Blues/southern rock/grunge/punk isn't usually at the top of my favorites, but Supersuckers have made it up there somehow. Comedic, feel good blues rock is done better by few bands, and tracks like "I'm a Fucking Genius" and "Paid" pack enough punch to keep me entertained through the quieter moments, along with a few epic bluesy solos performed with true Lynyrd Skynyrd dexterity. Bands like this often seem to put on great live shows too, and their current tour stops off in my town very soon so I may have to put on my cowboy hat, grab a bottle of Uncle Jack and go check them out.
As I mentioned yesterday, Brain Drill are amazing. Technical Death Metal with old school Brutal Death Metal sensibilities. Obscenely fast, gore obsessed and dangerously nihilistic, Brain Drill were formed by Dylan Ruskin after his ill fated band Burn At The Stake bit the dust, and also originally featured Marco Pitruzella, formerly of Vital Remains and The Faceless. The weird thing is, their songs are strangely catchy and don't bleed into one another as happens with a lot of death metal bands. Their lineup is now complete again after a few changes, so I'm hoping to see them live sometime this year if they come to the UK.
It is proven fact that everyone, even hardened metallers, love The Prodigy. They're undeniably drum'n'bass, but have just enough originality and eccentricity to tickle the more subversive tastes without losing mainstream appeal. Unfortunately, I fear the latest installment Invaders Must Die has lost some of their eclectic inventiveness, although there is defiantly still a spark of genius there. Turns out I've been hearing songs off this album for months at clubs and in shops and just assumed they were by Pendulum or some other run-of-the-mill rock'n'rave band, and only realized what I'd been hearing when I got my copy. Don't get me wrong, they're all good tracks, but they seem a little tame and overproduced. I realize calling something "overproduced" in a genre that is, by definition, more reliant on computers and technology in making music than actual musical instruments is a bit of a moot point, but if you compare this album with classics like Spitfire or Firestarter you'll notice a distinct lack of Prodigy's old edge. I can't help but think that most of these songs sound a little too much like something you might hear in a TV advert, but on the other hand I would never accuse The Prodigy of playing "safe" music. All it needs is more of Kieth Flint yelling shit and acting crazy.
Ravnenes Saga by Svartsot is a good solid Melodic Death/Folk Metal album from Denmark. Imagine a band with the guitar and vocal styles of Amon Amarth, playing songs written by Eluveitie and Korpiklaani and you won't be far off Svartsot's sound. Don't let the guttural vocals and bleak album cover deceive you, these songs are mostly about feasting and drinking, both things I hope to do excessively while I'm in Denmark. Looking at their current live dates, they seem to play a lot of shows around Denmark, so maybe I’ll get to see them live if I can time it right.
Blues/southern rock/grunge/punk isn't usually at the top of my favorites, but Supersuckers have made it up there somehow. Comedic, feel good blues rock is done better by few bands, and tracks like "I'm a Fucking Genius" and "Paid" pack enough punch to keep me entertained through the quieter moments, along with a few epic bluesy solos performed with true Lynyrd Skynyrd dexterity. Bands like this often seem to put on great live shows too, and their current tour stops off in my town very soon so I may have to put on my cowboy hat, grab a bottle of Uncle Jack and go check them out.
Monday, 6 April 2009
Frakking hell, another week.
Well I've had a fairly eventful weekend, in my love life at least. I came dangerously close to getting back together with my ex on Friday night, by which i mean i almost slept with her, then realized that would be a chronically bad idea and extremely hazardous for my mental health and made myself scarce sharpish. This decision obviously caused her to throw a massive tantrum, from which she is still recovering today. So then, feeling kind of low, I started talking to another girl and got myself a date later on in the week. Happy days, so long as i can keep the ex from scaring her off, which she's managed to do in the past. Hell hath no fury... But other than that a pretty standard weekend, I drank and spent too much as usual. I really need to learn to spend less money.
On a lighter note, I found out today that Hitler had a dog called Blondi, which is what a lot of people call me (although usually spelt Blondey or Blondie) due to the color of my hair. This amused me, being immature and un-politically correct.
For lack of anything better to write about; My current favorite lunchtime distraction is Crossfire, a free FPS based around multiplayer battles between terrorist and counter-terrorist squads. It plays like Unreal Tournament crossed with Counter Strike - Realistic weapons, exp points to spend on equipment and bomb disposal missions, but with large health bars, continuous respawning and fast paced gameplay. The graphics leave something to be desired, but that's just as well as my work PC has an Nvidia 5500 GPU (mid-range when it first came out, now 6 years old). Aside from the clunky graphics, a lot of the character animations look stupid, there's no physics that I've noticed and it takes a little too long to build up the EXP to buy new weapons. All in all it isn't a brilliant game, but you get what you pay for and it passes the time.
Also, Brain Drill are officially fucking awesome and everyone who doesn't already have it should rush out right now and buy Apocalyptic Feasting because it's amazing.
On a lighter note, I found out today that Hitler had a dog called Blondi, which is what a lot of people call me (although usually spelt Blondey or Blondie) due to the color of my hair. This amused me, being immature and un-politically correct.For lack of anything better to write about; My current favorite lunchtime distraction is Crossfire, a free FPS based around multiplayer battles between terrorist and counter-terrorist squads. It plays like Unreal Tournament crossed with Counter Strike - Realistic weapons, exp points to spend on equipment and bomb disposal missions, but with large health bars, continuous respawning and fast paced gameplay. The graphics leave something to be desired, but that's just as well as my work PC has an Nvidia 5500 GPU (mid-range when it first came out, now 6 years old). Aside from the clunky graphics, a lot of the character animations look stupid, there's no physics that I've noticed and it takes a little too long to build up the EXP to buy new weapons. All in all it isn't a brilliant game, but you get what you pay for and it passes the time.
Also, Brain Drill are officially fucking awesome and everyone who doesn't already have it should rush out right now and buy Apocalyptic Feasting because it's amazing.
Friday, 3 April 2009
That Friday Feeling
Good morning my imaginary friends, how's life in fabricationville? Things are well out here in the real world. I've been off work for the last two days with an acute inability to keep food inside me, an ailment i suspect can be attributed to the barely warm (temperature wise anyway) Vindaloo I consumed on Tuesday evening. Perversely however, I've been mostly free of the typical symptoms of food poisoning, specifically those relating to fecal matter and it's lack of solidity, so it hasn't been too bad. I'm one of those strange people who actually enjoys vomiting. There's something enormously satisfying about it, almost cleansing, your body convulsing and rejecting all the bad stuff inside. Afterwards you're left with a bizarre euphoria, glad the ordeal is over and feeling empty yet brimming with potential. There must be some kind of chemical release immediately after throwing up, because you always feel like you could punch through a brick wall. Then again, maybe that's just me.
Apparently there's a fire on the London Underground today. I can't see anything on the website, the only delay announced there is due to a signal failure on the Bakerloo Line, but I've been handling a fault on a point-to-point leased line near London Bridge today which I'm reliably informed is part of a major service outage caused by a fire on the tube. This one’s probably going to drag out for ages too, as the engineers who are supposed to be fixing it can't get access until the fire service give the all clear that the area is safe, which is going to take about five days. The upside of that is, if I can talk my boss into letting me be on call this weekend, I could have 62 hours of overtime. That's... A whole lot of money for doing fuck all. It does mean I won't be going out this weekend, but the money's so worth it.
This is kind of old now but it still makes me lol. COWS GO MOOOOO WHEN THEY POOOOO!!!
Apparently there's a fire on the London Underground today. I can't see anything on the website, the only delay announced there is due to a signal failure on the Bakerloo Line, but I've been handling a fault on a point-to-point leased line near London Bridge today which I'm reliably informed is part of a major service outage caused by a fire on the tube. This one’s probably going to drag out for ages too, as the engineers who are supposed to be fixing it can't get access until the fire service give the all clear that the area is safe, which is going to take about five days. The upside of that is, if I can talk my boss into letting me be on call this weekend, I could have 62 hours of overtime. That's... A whole lot of money for doing fuck all. It does mean I won't be going out this weekend, but the money's so worth it.
This is kind of old now but it still makes me lol. COWS GO MOOOOO WHEN THEY POOOOO!!!
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Bored.
Well, I have an hour and a half until I can leave work, and I'm so bored the only thing I can think of doing is making another post here. Admittedly, that may be the reason most of my posts are written at work anyway, but today I am especially bored.
I'm about out of interesting things to talk about that have happened recently or are about to happen, and I've given up arseing about with Linux on the netbook (which I haven’t got with me today anyway), so I guess I'll fall back on a brief explanation of my name. Skallagrim was a fairly common Norse name (like John or Dave in modern English), but was also the name of a famous mythological Berserker. The Berserkers were Viking warriors, chosen for their size and physical strength, who were renowned for fighting in an uncontrollable, trance-like frenzy of rage, which is where the modern word "berserk" comes from. They were also known for wearing animal pelts, particularly those of wolves and bears, and for engaging in many of the activities with which Vikings are now popularly associated - Pillaging, looting, killing indiscriminately and generally being fucking awesome. Some sources suggest their fearlessness and fits of rage were brought on through the use of psychotropic substances found in plants or funguses, whereas others claim their behavior was due to their being temporarily possessed by the spirit of a wolf or bear (hence their dress code). Skallagrim on the other hand, was supposed to have the ability to completely transform into a wolf when entering the Berserkergang, which y’know is pretty cool, so that's why I chose it.
Well now it's time to lock up and go home. Here's some relevant folk metal, no video though I'm afraid.
I'm about out of interesting things to talk about that have happened recently or are about to happen, and I've given up arseing about with Linux on the netbook (which I haven’t got with me today anyway), so I guess I'll fall back on a brief explanation of my name. Skallagrim was a fairly common Norse name (like John or Dave in modern English), but was also the name of a famous mythological Berserker. The Berserkers were Viking warriors, chosen for their size and physical strength, who were renowned for fighting in an uncontrollable, trance-like frenzy of rage, which is where the modern word "berserk" comes from. They were also known for wearing animal pelts, particularly those of wolves and bears, and for engaging in many of the activities with which Vikings are now popularly associated - Pillaging, looting, killing indiscriminately and generally being fucking awesome. Some sources suggest their fearlessness and fits of rage were brought on through the use of psychotropic substances found in plants or funguses, whereas others claim their behavior was due to their being temporarily possessed by the spirit of a wolf or bear (hence their dress code). Skallagrim on the other hand, was supposed to have the ability to completely transform into a wolf when entering the Berserkergang, which y’know is pretty cool, so that's why I chose it.
Well now it's time to lock up and go home. Here's some relevant folk metal, no video though I'm afraid.
Tattoos
I've been thinking about getting a few tattoos for a while now, trouble is they're so fucking expensive. Everything else I have no problems with - pain, blood, sitting still for hours on end - but the costs seem insane to me. Of course it depends entirely on where you go, where one place quoted me £140 another quoted £60, so I am currently searching for somewhere with a good enough price/quality and cleanliness ratio.
My current favorite ideas are:
A set of Norse Runes, probably as a band round my upper arm. This is a quote from Havamal, a book of practical and metaphysical advice supposedly writted by Odin himself, reading "He doesn't flee from fire who leaps over it". This is the original text in Old Icelandic converted to the elder futhark runic alphabet by yours truely (I hope fairly accurrately), not an English translation. I was thinking I might get this in Norway or Sweden in the Summer, for added Nordic Authenticity.
This is another of my long-standing favorites. I'll probably have it changed slightly to fit a half sleeve, with the extending bit on the right going out over my collar bone to the middle of my chest. I came accross the design on DeviantArt a while ago and emailed the guy who made it to see if he minded me using it, but he never replied. As you can see, it doesn't mean anything but it does look cool.
And finally I was thinking about getting this on the back of my calf. It's the Municipal Waste logo =D
My current favorite ideas are:
A set of Norse Runes, probably as a band round my upper arm. This is a quote from Havamal, a book of practical and metaphysical advice supposedly writted by Odin himself, reading "He doesn't flee from fire who leaps over it". This is the original text in Old Icelandic converted to the elder futhark runic alphabet by yours truely (I hope fairly accurrately), not an English translation. I was thinking I might get this in Norway or Sweden in the Summer, for added Nordic Authenticity.
This is another of my long-standing favorites. I'll probably have it changed slightly to fit a half sleeve, with the extending bit on the right going out over my collar bone to the middle of my chest. I came accross the design on DeviantArt a while ago and emailed the guy who made it to see if he minded me using it, but he never replied. As you can see, it doesn't mean anything but it does look cool.And finally I was thinking about getting this on the back of my calf. It's the Municipal Waste logo =D
Monday, 30 March 2009
Urgh...
Went out Saturday night for someone’s birthday celebrations, and I'm still feeling a little hung over today. If I never see another Tequila Slammer it'll be too soon. It was quite an epic evening really, definitely worth the hangover, and that didn't even kick in until yesterday evening. I was fine most of Sunday, I even went for lunch at my Cousin's and was cheery and sociable, it wasn't until i got home that The Beast of the Previous Nights Many Poisons reared its ugly head. Strangely enough, I didn't throw up until about 1am this morning and haven’t slept much since then which probably explains why I feel like shit now. I guess this is what they call a "Ninja Hangover" - One that appears with deadly intent when you least expect it, just when you think you're safe.
Not much else to report. Killshot is a pretty good film, I love Mickey Rourke. Prodigy's new album is also rather good. Not my usual taste but everyone loves The Prodigy and they're excellent live.
My brother, who has until recently been working in Dubai, got made redundant a few days ago due to this "economic readjustment", as they call it over there. It's a shame, I went and visited last winter and Dubai is an amazing place. It's pretty much a huge city built entirely over the last 10-15 years that just rose up out of the desert when the UAE found out they had oil, so everything is new and makes for a bizarre mixture of modern western and traditional Arab culture. On the plus side, the firm he was working for has to give him 3 months pay in lieu of notice and cover the costs for his flight back to Australia, where he was working before moving to Dubai. He has a house in Aus still and can probably find work there without too much trouble knowing him, so this isn't even close to being a bad hit for him. Even better, he'll be going back to Aus via the UK, so I get to hang out with him and my Nephew for a while in May. I'd better book some time off.
I like this picture, it makes Dubai look like something from Blade Runner and the tall building in the background looks a bit like The Citadel from Half Life 2.
Not much else to report. Killshot is a pretty good film, I love Mickey Rourke. Prodigy's new album is also rather good. Not my usual taste but everyone loves The Prodigy and they're excellent live.
My brother, who has until recently been working in Dubai, got made redundant a few days ago due to this "economic readjustment", as they call it over there. It's a shame, I went and visited last winter and Dubai is an amazing place. It's pretty much a huge city built entirely over the last 10-15 years that just rose up out of the desert when the UAE found out they had oil, so everything is new and makes for a bizarre mixture of modern western and traditional Arab culture. On the plus side, the firm he was working for has to give him 3 months pay in lieu of notice and cover the costs for his flight back to Australia, where he was working before moving to Dubai. He has a house in Aus still and can probably find work there without too much trouble knowing him, so this isn't even close to being a bad hit for him. Even better, he'll be going back to Aus via the UK, so I get to hang out with him and my Nephew for a while in May. I'd better book some time off.
I like this picture, it makes Dubai look like something from Blade Runner and the tall building in the background looks a bit like The Citadel from Half Life 2.
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