My view on the world

I hate spiders. I mean seriously... I can't stand the little black 8-legged freaks. If they left me alone forever and didn't ever come near me then I'd be very happy. Not only that, I could guarantee I would never suck them up with a vacuum, drown them in the bath or batter them to death with a very long broom. I know where the phobia came from. When I was a child, we'd be sitting peacefully at home when suddenly my mother would erupt in an explosion of anger and swear words, all directed at the black blob on the wall. She would leap onto the sofa, throw whatever was near to hand at it, all the time shouting and cursing as if it was the devil incarnate. Naturally, this had a huge impact on my brother and me, and we would be scared witless, cowering on the sofa, terrified of the threat my mum had identified. I was chatting to Rachel tonight about spiders and she trotted out the old cliche about them being more afraid of us than we are of them. Where did this particular e...

For reasons I cannot yet fathom, there seems to be certain fundamental but cruel laws that govern this universe. For example: money is so hard to earn yet it's so easy to spend. Losing weight (and keeping it off) takes a lot of determination yet putting it on (and keeping it there) can be done with no great hardship. In fact, it's fun! The best medicines seem to taste the worst, you have to be cruel to be kind, and it hurts more to be cut by a blunt knife than a sharp one. I'm aiming to do two difficult things over the next few months: save money and lose weight. Now, why do I get this funny feeling it's going to be the other way round?

I'm not sure for how much longer we can refer to the Wachowski Brothers (Andy and Larry) as "brothers". Larry's cross-dressing has developed from wearing wigs and dresses in private to growing his hair long and being seen in public more and more frequently as Lana . I wonder when the official announcement will come that Lana has had her Sexual Reassignment Surgery?

I'm conscious that so far I haven't posted any pictures on this blog. To remedy this, here is an exclusive look at the first ever recorded case of a resident of Britain suffering from Avian Flu.

The good thing about the internet is, it's not just for porn. I know some of you may find this hard to believe, but it can actually carry information in the form of words, rather than pictures! I've compiled a short list of links to some articles and essays I found to be particularly stimulating. They're long enough to be interesting but short enough to print off and read when you're not at your computer. Paul Graham (the man who suggested using Bayesian filtering techniques to reduce the amount of spam we receive in our inboxes) made his millions in the DotCom era. I recommend you read How To Do What You Love and How To Make Wealth as both are well written and thought-provoking. More of his essays here . Isaac Asmimov was one of my favourite sci-fi authors and he once wrote a very haunting short story. I don't want to give anything away, but have a read of it here and tell me what you think. From reading people's opinions of the story online, I guess it...

I still have 99 invites to use up for Google's Gmail service. It's the best email service I know of, but at the moment it's an invite-only affair so if you want to see what all the fuss is about, leave a commment with your email address and I'll send you an invite so you can sign up.

Despite feeling under the weather on Saturday, I went to the cinema with Rachel to see V for Vendetta , the film based on the comic book from the '80s. And boy, was I pleased I did. The last film I had seen before this was Serenity . Serenity is a very ok film. I'd not seen Firefly (the series the film is based on) so my take on the film was perhaps different than some, but I found it to be funny in places, good in places and starkravingly average in places. It was just too...predictable. Hackneyed. A popcorn movie. A way to spend 90 minutes without being too bored. The CGI spaceships looked exactly like CGI spaceships. I thought the idea of CGI was to look like the real thing? Anyway, I digress. The reason I mention this is because I was pleasantly surprised by just how thoroughly good Vendetta was. It was original. It was intelligent. It was arty without being pretentious and it was a damn fine film. Go and see it!