I'd rather jack than Fleetwood Mac.
As previously mentioned on this blog and elsewhere, the world of superhero comics is a confusing one. Especially since every summer, MILLIONS WILL DIE. It's a little like hurricane season but with giant robots and holes in the space-time continuum (and no, Polyfilla doesn't work, sadly). This year? Well, EVERYTHING YOU KNEW ABOUT THE MARVEL UNIVERSE IS WRONG! Again. But this time they mean it, as after Marvel is finished with their imaginary world dreamt up by The Scarlet Witch Which Is A Bit Different From The Alternate World Where Professor X Died Or The One That Franklin Richards Made When All The Heroes Were Killed By Professor X Who'd Gone A Bit Bonkers' story, they're coming back with Decimation, a title that conjures up all sorts of fun images. The rumour is that in the 'new' Marvel Universe, there won't be quite so many mutants around. So lotsa people gonna die.
It's all DC's fault, of course. Twenty years ago, they released a series, which really did change everything, and everybody has been copying it since. You see, Superman, Batman, and a few other DC heroes debuted in the 1930s, but by the end of the 1940s, superhero comics weren't selling in big numbers anymore. Most of the titles faded as both Marvel and DC (or Timely and National, as they were known then) moved into romance, horror, and true crime genres. In 1955, though, that all changed, as the Flash was reintroduced and heralded a new age of superhero stories. But the new Flash wasn't the same as the old one. This Flash was Barry Allen, a police scientist who gained speed powers after being involved in a chemical accident (and some lightning). He took up the name of Flash, because he remembered reading about the adventures of the original Flash (Jay Garrick) during the 1940s.
So far, so good. New versions of other characters followed, eventually leading to the comic Justice League of America, which comprised all of DC's big heroes; Flash, Green Lantern, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and many others. Then came the slight wrinkle - after all, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman had been going since the 1940s - how come they hadn't aged?
The correct answer, I suppose, is 'who cares?', but that's not how DC decided to answer the question. Instead, in Flash #123, Barry Allen travelled to an alternate Earth, the one that contained the 'real' Jay Garrick. In Justice League #21-22, this was explored further, revealing that in this other Earth, known as Earth-2, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and others fought in WWII, whereas in the proper Earth (Earth-1), they had started their adventures after the war.
Simple, eh? And then it got very complicated. There was an Earth-3, filled with evil duplicates of the Justice League and a good Lex Luthor, Earth-X, where the Germans won WWII, Earth-S, the home of Captain Marvel, and Earth-Prime, which was supposed to be the real world (although given that it was ravaged by nuclear war, let's hope not). The fun thing for writers was that you could use the older age of Earth-2 characters to write stories that you couldn't do with the Earth-1 ones (who were always set in the here and now); for example, the Huntress was originally an Earth-2 character, and her name was then Helena Wayne, being the daughter of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle.
By 1985, it was a mess. People kept jumping between universes, and it was a major headache for both the writers and readers to keep everything straight. So, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of DC Comics, Marv Wolfman came up with a proposal to streamline the DC Universe in a 12-part mini-series called Crisis On Infinite Earths. It's one of the goofy things that I love about superhero comics; sure it'd be much easier just to restart everybody at issue #1, and not even mention what's gone before, but no, we have to have a huge event to explain a new editorial mandate.
The plot of Crisis was simple: a big bad guy (the Anti-Monitor) is wiping out universes. In the first ten pages, an unnamed Earth and Earth-3 are completely destroyed - this series has the highest body count of, well, pretty much anything ever (Infinite Earths, remember?). The heroes from the remaining universes band together to save what's left. They succeed, but at a high price: Barry Allen is killed when he destroys one of the Anti-Monitor's machines, and Supergirl is completely erased from history (both Flash and Supergirl weren't selling well). The series ends with just one Earth, which has elements of all the old ones, but has a new history. Simple!
Except...well, it would have worked, if the comics had truly started again from scratch. But most of them didn't, leaving some readers clueless about which stories 'happened' and which didn't (again, it mostly doesn't matter, but some people like to know these things). Then there was the Legion of Superheroes, who screwed everything up. You see, the Legion was a group of teenagers from the far future, who came back in time to visit Superboy and Supergirl, taking them back to their time to have lots of fabulous adventures. But in the new timeline, Supergirl didn't exist, and Clark Kent didn't get his powers until much later - there never was a Superboy. This completely wrecked the Legion's origin, and was fixed by a pocket universe, the Time Trapper, another alternate world ruled by the sorcery of Mordru, and finally replacing the lost pair with the Daxmaites Mon-El and Laurel Gand.
If you understood even half of the previous paragraph, then I feel for you. And I hope you feel for me.
Ten years later, and some of the continuity wrinkles were just too big to ignore, so there was another big story, this time called Zero Hour. Hal Jordan, Green Lantern, went a bit loony after his home city was destroyed as a result of an alien invasion, and decided he was going to fix things. By recreating the multiverse (it's possible that the aging Jordan was chosen to represent the older fans who were rather upset about Crisis), and giving everybody a lovely little paradise to live in. His plan failed, but he did reboot the universe, allowing editors to decree that certain stories never happened, and fixing the Legion Problem by starting it over from scratch (like they probably should have done back in 1985.
And now, ten years on, we're here again; DC's big event for this year is Infinite Crisis, another story that promises to change everything. The run-up to the story involves rape, mindwipes, TINY FOOTPRINTS ON THE BRAIN, the Batbooks continuing to suck, Superman having his throat ripped open by Wonder Woman's tiara, and the General Death of Fun (and all of Giffen/DeMatteis’s JLI characters). I think that they're trying to get us to welcome the reboot by making the current universe such a miserable place. And, as mentioned at the top of the post, Marvel is also having its first reboot this year as well (Marvel didn't reuse too many 1940s superheroes during its 1960s boom, so its managed to hold off a reboot for longer, but these days, the origins of the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, and many others are tied a little too tightly to the Cold War)
There you go, a handy guide to the Crisis and why superhero comics are rather complicated, but one mystery remains - why is Power Girl's costume like that?
Why does it hurt when my heart misses the beat?
(Aside: SOS Titanic. Now, admittedly, as it's the same event, I'm sure that some crossover was inevitable, but I swear, Cameron stole several shots from that for use in Titanic. But in this version, David Warner lives!)
I'm guessing that we're all now thinking that Patricia Cornwell is obsessed with Jack The Ripper…
From No Rock & Roll Fun and Sweeping The Nation: Lauren Laverne to host CD:UK (some other people as well, but do they count? I think not, although will it be the first time two former musicians hosted a music programme since Mark & Lard's all-too-brief residence on TOTP?). I've been re-reading some old NMEs in the past few days (as part of the Britpop nostalgia which is going around; and indeed, my copy of Slight Return has gone missing), and the best possible CD:UK line-up would be to drag Emmy-Kate from university, Marie from the PR firm she works at, and just let the trio run free for an hour.
It'd last three weeks, but it'd be glorious.
The Pussycat Dolls - "Don't you wish your girlfriend was raw like me?" Is there a problem with cooked women in the west coast at the moment?
The Go! Team — Bottle Rocket 2005
There are many reasons why a band chooses to re-record a song. Sometimes, there's a change in line-up, sometimes the original may fall foul of sampling rules, and well, sometimes I guess a band thinks it can do better. I don't know for certain, but I suspect that this new version of Bottle Rocket is mainly down to the first two reasons. According to rumours, Thunder, Lightning, Strike is being held back from release in America until Sony/CBS can clear all the samples it uses. So a new version of Bottle Rocket is, perhaps, a little suspect (and maybe a sign that we should stock up on the UK version to sell to our overseas friends). But it can also be explained by reason two.; as far as I can make out (and yes, I should have perhaps asked about this when I interviewed them a while back), the original version was made before Ninja joined the group, so it features a different vocal. So it's fairly reasonable to remake the track in the image of the band before they are given a big push by their new record company.
But does it work? Ah, not quite. The wonderful thing about The Go! Team is that their songs sound so compressed; tinny delights packed close together with no room to breathe. As soon as Bottle Rocket 2005 (as the hip cats, er, probably won't be calling it) begins, you can tell the difference immediately - there's so much space; it's like they've blown the song up with a pump. It's not bad, but the jump outside of Ian P's bedroom has hurt it a little (strangely, Ninja's version sounds better live).
Robyn — Robotboy
It's this year's Annie! Just look at the similarities! Five letters in their name! Both from Scandinavian countries! The blogs are fawning over them! And an almost-equal record of setting the charts on fire! (check charts: hmm, not even smouldering)
And, just like Annie, it's a bit of a shame, as Robyn's album, Robyn (boo, you could have gone for a pun, dear! Annie did and it got her, um, well, okay, you might have a point) is full of great songs drawn from the New Pop school, stopping off to pick up some sass from Missy Elliot and flick dirt in Gwen Stefani's face (Konichiwa Bitches anybody?). The album limps a little at the end; finishing with four ballads is probably something to be avoided in most circumstances, even if Bum Like You and Eclipse are rather splendid. Abby has already waxed lyrical about the double-timed cello in Be Mine, so I'll point out this track, about the oh-so-common problem of a death-dealing robot running out of power far away from home. No, really. The moment of genius in this piano and strings ballad? That'll be the first verse, as Roybn sings 'find your co-ordinates home', at which point 'home' breaks off from the verse, looping and repeating over the rest of the song. Makes you just want to give it a big hug.
Erm. Moving on…
The Shortwave Set — Is it Any Wonder
Common descriptions of The Shortwave Set include 'Saint Etienne if they started playing in the 1880s' and 'Fairly splendid, Jeeves'. Despite that, their album The Debt Collection is an enjoyable British take on the Avalanches/Go! Team/Plus Tech! Squeeze Box style. Annoyingly, Is It Any Wonder reminds me of someone, but I just can't remember who. Anyway, pleasant and mellow; just the right thing for a sunny day. Let me know when one turns up.
Scarlet — Independent Love Song
"Oooooh! I'llll shoooooww yooooouu hooow too taaake meeeee! Goooo dooown, goooo dooown!"
Wonderful meta-pop, and anyone who says otherwise is dead inside. Dead. Inside.
As I promised - Japanese school girls.
Jisatsu Sakuru (Suicide Club) is a manga adaptation of a 2003 film with the same name. Having said that, it has very little in common with that film, except for the opening scene: a group of schoolgirls, holding hands, jumping into an oncoming train. The story follows Saya, the sole survivor of the accident, and her best friend, Kyoko, who begins to get suspicious about the company Saya is keeping.
Somewhat unusually for manga, it's only one volume long, so can be read very quickly (although the last few pages are somewhat…uncomfortable). It hasn't been officially translated yet, but you can get hold of a fan-translation here (a warning: it's definitely not for children). If, for some reason, you're in the mood for an unsettling story involving teenage suicide, well, it's your lucky day!
Also enjoying Viz's Short Cuts Vol. 1 at the moment. It's been around for a while (as you can tell by the Western right-to-left layout of the official translation), but I've only just come across it. Manga has a fairly well-deserved reputation of having stories that take place across 30+ 200 page books, but here, a tale is doing extremely well if it gets to a third page. It's a funny send-up of the clichéd handling of, er, schoolgirls in the manga scene (look, I swear, this post didn't start out as dodgy as it's turning out).
In cartoon news, Bonnie and I have discovered The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, currently showing on the Cartoon Network. Billy and Mandy are typical children, winning a bet with the Grim Reaper, and as a consequence, he's their Best Friend Forever. The Grim Reaper also appears to be Jamaican. Series Three began on Sunday, and since then we've had a spider that insists Billy is his dad, an Evil Tricycle from an alternate Pittsburgh (complete with bad British accents), Billy racking up thousands of years of bad luck in a mirror shot, and Grim's body becoming a supermodel. It's insane and very amusing…
Tomorrow…music!
I do have an entry planned involving Japanese schoolgirls and mass suicides, but that's later - this is now:
Stars are playing a concert at the Garage in London on September 7th. Anybody fancy going?
The new Rachel Stevens song sounds much better blasted through headphones on a summer's day. We can only hope that it sparks a mini-Adam Ant revival.
Secondly - someone from the Stevens/Girls Aloud/Sugababes/Xenomania/Richard X axis should cobble together a cover of Bis's Eurodisco…
The eternal sale seems to have turned up a few more gems:
Hard Boiled for £2.99!
Singles Going Steady — The Buzzcocks (£5.99)
Unknown Pleasures — Joy Division (£4.99)
Superfly — Curtis Mayfield (£5.99)
Greatest Hits — Leonard Cohen (£4.99; go on, the man needs the money at the moment)
New Gold Dream — Simple Minds (£3.99)
Please, hide my credit card…
If you had the choice between getting Daphne & Celeste's album, We Didn't Say That, or their individual singles, which would you plump for? Are there any lost gems on the full-length, or can I be satisfied with Oooh, Stick You and U.G.L.Y.?
Rachel Stevens — I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)
That's Deuce Bigalow 2's Rachel Stevens, fact-fans. I hear she doesn't even get to speak during her cameo (and I draw the line at actually seeing the film to verify this). Anyway, the theme of this record seems to be: "*glances at previous chart positions* Oh dear. Anybody up for a bit of glitterstomp?" So we have a mixture of Adam Ant, Marilyn Manson, Some Girls, and a 70s song that I just can't pin down right now (although the words Tiger Feet keep creeping up on me). Better than the new Sugababes & Girls Aloud efforts, but I don't think it's going to send her back up to the top of the charts…although, the release date is around the time of Children In Need…
Franz Ferdinand — Do You Want To?
∀FF: Angles2 + ∫ f(hype) = Eh + ∅
Stellastarr* — Sweet Troubled Soul
That asterisk will be the death of them, you know. I still don't hear The Cure in them, either, but everybody else does, so I give in. This is the first track from their new album, which appears to be going in the same direction as the first. In the immortal words of computer games journalists "if you liked the first, then you're sure to like — arrrrrrrrrggghhh" (Not quite so immortal after Stuart Campbell got his hands on a chainsaw, readers).
The Cardigans — I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer
A Title of Champions, I'm sure you'll agree. Again, listen to this, and you'll instantly think "hmm, a Cardigans song". I was surprised to discover on first listening that a Cardigans song was exactly what I needed to hear. Not exactly a glowing recommendation, I know, but if you feel that you need to hear such a record, then this is as good as any (aside from Rise and Shine, of course, but then I always skewed twee).
1x1: The DVD stripped back to its most primitive form and extended into infinity. 1x1 uses a custom algorithm based on the particular settings of your DVD to generate a unique infinite sequence. An experiment in generating variety from limited resources, it uses movements in the x and y axes to create a different animation every time the disc is played.
1x1 has the catalogue code SNAP022 and is available now from Snappish Productions, in two different formats. A physical copy of the film is available for the price of the media and shipping (email for current prices), or on request, an ISO image can be sent direct to a designated email account.
1x1 is available now.
So, Top of The Pops on Monday, eh? When did that happen? Or is it just the BBC having some fun before the axe finally comes down?
The NME attempts to re-enact Country House vs. Roll With It almost exactly ten years on, but I'm guessing that it won't make the news this time around.
What the world has been waiting for — the iDuck!
A new line of Lego sees the company heading back to its roots: Lego Factory (comes complete with instructions, which is quite nice).
Ah, for the days where I could see the words "Warren Ellis" and not flinch uncontrollably.
Willie Campbell and Kevin MacNeil — Local Man Ruins Everything
(see Laura, I found out who it was eventually)
Because, well, I'm a sucker for songs that sound like Arab Strap's The First Big Weekend. "You think we're worthwhile / because we conquered the world / but I raise a toast / to the local man / who ruins everything" Yay for Scottish misery!
Annie — The Wedding
I assume that this song was recorded from a live set, partly because of the audience noises (aha!), but mainly because it sounds rather unfinished. Sounding Kraftwerk-y and electrolounge-y (I'm officially allowed to make up these words now, you know), it sounds promising, although much of that is down to Annie's breathless "I do / I do / I do / I do" refrain that echoes throughout the track. Not quite as catchy as the rest of Anniemal, though.
Sugababes — Push The Button / Girls Aloud — Long Hot Summer
It's the return of Pop to save us all! Maybe. I have to say that I'm underwhelmed by these two songs. I couldn't quite put my finger on what was wrong with the Sugababes track until someone on Popjustice pointed out that it sounded a little like Abba. And it does. And I hate Abba (heretical, I know, but still). It does have a fantastic line in "My sexy ass has got him in a new dimension", but aside from that, a miss (watch it storm the charts, naturally). And Long Hot Summer? Eh. They should have just covered Cruel Summer instead.
Handsomeboy Technique — Your Blessings
J-Pop crossed with the Avalanches. Pure summer joy. (Probably a pain in the neck to get hold of, though; the album was only released in Japan last week, and isn't showing up in the usual places. I do have six tracks if anybody is interested…)
Also, it's been a year since You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve. So what have Johnny Boy been doing since? It appears that after their storming of the charts back in August 2004 (in a manner akin to Mark & Lard's Records of The Week, naturally), they 'parted company' with their record label, and headed off into the wildnerness. But I've been checking their website infrequently, and can now tell you that Generation has been re-released! In Sweden. So, er, well, to be honest, I still don't know if we'll ever hear anything else by them again (there's an argument, I suppose, that it'd be better if they never made anything else, and just left us with one moment of genius and a few scraps, but I would like to see if they have other tricks up their sleeve. Although the word 'Ultrasound' keeps coming back to me for some reason), but now that they have SWEDISH MIGHT! behind them, it's looking more hopeful.
(and I apologies for the amount of asides in this entry (this one added for hilarious effect))
I give you Comet, The Super-Horse, Supergirl's close companion during the 1960s…
Wow, Mr. Blair, you really have taken Mr. Bush's "You're either with us or against us," spiel to heart, haven't you? Missing Robin Cook's funeral, getting the Lord Chancellor to look into restricting the power of judges…congratulations! All you need now is to endorse intelligent design and we can start heading back to the dark ages too!
(incidentally - has this been played up in the news anywhere? The mayor of Baghdad being deposed by a militia - oh sure, we're in the last throes of the insurgency all right…)
(will hopefully write more once I've recovered from jetlag and finished Harry Potter…)
Leaving again. Wandered around Weaver Street again this morning, saying goodbye to Collin, and bumping into people that I've met over the course of the past three weeks. Outside on the grass, the weekly brunch is in full swing; crowds of people having breakfast while a a singer-songwriter plays his guitar earnestly. It's Carrboro. Things are a little different here. I laughed at Collin on my first day when he said that he didn't go into Chapel Hill much anymore, but at the end of the trip, I can see where he's coming from. Going back on Franklin seems strange compared to the quieter and less commercial main streets of Carrboro (its concessions to typical America consist of a Wendy's and a Harris Teeter). Not that there's anything wrong with Chapel Hill; it just takes a little adjustment.
(Also, it's quite charming to see just how well the town is simply ignoring last November's result. Go into Carr Mill's parking lot, and you will see hundreds of stickers for Kerry/Edwards. It's like a little Tinkerbell Experiment)
While we're on the capitalist kick, it's been a little sad to see how many places have closed. The Carolina Theatre showed its last film while I was here, although Stacie and I have grandiose plans to buy it (with Monopoly money, obviously), and turn it into a gay bar called Bottom of The Hill. (joke only valid to citizens of Chapel Hill, I'd imagine). Even Southpoint has seen shops close. But they still have sesame chicken…mmmmmm.
Laura spoke disapprovingly of RDU airport, but I think it has a hapless charm. Which means I was disappointed to see an advert for the new, improved terminal that they're going to be building shortly. It's all huge glass corridors, just like every other airport. Boo.
To all those reading from Chapel Hill (unlike Simona, I didn't plug my blog to everybody else in the car last night, but most of you know it anyway), thank you for a wonderful time. Once again, lots of new experiences, new people, and great moments that I'll always remember. Hope to see you again, whenever I can.
The last Saturday, and as you might imagine, a few things to mention. After having breakfast at Weaver Street Market (waking up quite early to go and check my email using their free wireless - hurrah!), and visiting The Carrboro Yard Sale That Could (admittedly, it might have been very impressive at 8am. At ten, however, there was a yard, and not much of a sale), I headed off for…The Last Walk To Franklin Street In What Can Only Be Described As Far Too Warm Temperatures Whilst Looking For A Skirt. The walk part went reasonably well, I guess.
But then! Stacie, who had been spending the past five minutes talking in my shorts (the mobile phone keyguard was on, but obviously, it's still unhappy about going home), tracked me down, and we headed off to the Wootini toy shop in Carrboro. The shop is extremely dangerous to wallets and credit cards, being stacked full of all sorts of weird and wonderful Japanese toys. Oh, and books. Now, you'd think that a manga version of Cinderella would be fairly tame, wouldn't you? And so it was, to begin with. Until Cinderella walks around naked. A few pages later, one of the Ugly Sisters rips her breasts off. The Japanese: still weird.
Having done so well scaring the drivers around Raleigh by having Laura wear a Batman mask the night before, Stacie and I thought it would be a fantastic idea to buy some more, and wander around Carrboro like a pack of, well, Batmen. Our quest took us to Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart, a dollar shop, a party/costume shop, KB Toys, and I even made Stacie confront her fears and go into a Hot Topic, but it was all for nought. The Triangle area is bereft of Batman masks. Damn them all!
For dinner, we headed back to the Spotted Dog, where we made ourselves the Customers From Hell, drinking gallons of soda, taking ages to order, and general teasing (sadly, our plan to deliver a tip in pennies failed due to lack of earlier planning. And we wouldn't be that nasty really. Maybe). Mind you, we almost didn't eat there, as when we went in, the host told us that Laura wasn't there; news to us as she was supposed to be working a double-shift. While we went outside and pondered the possibility that she had taken the Batmask too far and was, at that moment, fighting crime and injustice on the mean streets of Chapel HIll, the host came back out: "Oh, you're still here! Did you mean Spiff?" Remember, at the Dog, always Ask For Spiff.
Stacie had to head back because she was working on Sunday, but she mixed Collin and I a Blue Penguin (the official drink of Monavidulo, Inc and of course the Blue Penguin group), as we sat down to watch The Corporation. The perfect recipe for a great Saturday night in! It's good greed, job destruction, continual law-breaking, tax-dodging, and the destruction of the planet's resources! But Naomi Klein is hot.
Ahem.
Anyway, Laura got off from work, Naomi came in from her work, and it was time to go to Hell. And yes we did inquire, and yes, they have heard every permutation of Hell Jokes over their lifetime. Apparently, Hell is going to be holding dance parties every month from now on, and I can definitely recommend it; lots of hip-hop, dance, a smattering of 80s classics (Blue Monday featuring a little cameo by M.I.A.'s Bucky Done Gone. Oh, and Galang made an appearance as well; she's quite popular here (plus in Stacie and Laura's cars, but they don't really count, seeing as how they were playing CDs I had made for them)). Lots of fun was had; as Collin put it: "We were dancing machines, Ian!" (He may have had a little too much to drink. Possibly) I had a tiny Eternal Sunshine moment, but thankfully it passed and enjoyed being asked to dance, actually dancing, and making a shameless fool of myself during the Crazy In Love /1 Thing mix.
We stumbled out of Hell (ahahahahaha. How the staff don't go on a killing rampage every time a new person says "Boy, it's hot in here! But I guess it's supposed to be hot in Hell, right?" is beyond me) around 2am, dropping off Tara and Simona at their houses before heading back to Laura and Collin's. Naomi and Laura went off to bed, but Collin and I were made of sterner stuff (okay, in Collin's case, it was because he had had a four hour nap earlier, and in my case, well, it's not as if I pulled a double-shift or worked in a shop with faulty air-conditioning all day), so we went over to 112. The legendary number. The house where it all happens. Having said that, it was actually fairly quiet; only Esther and Ryan were there. Still enough for a little craziness, (drunken VCR hookups! Sleeping on the roof! The sketchiest area in Chapel Hill! Invented holidays! And more besides) and a fun couple of hours.
Collin and I got back at four. As final days go, I think I managed to pack a lot in. And I can offer a helpful tip — really, don't wear stripey tights underneath trousers to a dance party while it's already quite warm outside. I have a new-found respect for the goths of Camden. Which is not something you can say often…
Strange how I've heard M.I.A. more in Chapel Hill than I ever have at home…
Number one - never let me mix my first drink.
Number two - don't let me near computer hardware afterwards.
Number three - Friday can become akin to an inbetween day.
Number four - if next door turn off their wireless connection, then things get difficult. We were doing so well!
Number five - Johnny Depp is rather scary on a 90ft high screen.
In all, a rather strange day yesterday. After the events of Thursday night, which I can remember, thank you very much, although things get a tiny bit hazy at certain points), Friday turned out to be a quieter affair. Breakfast at Elmo's (coming to your screens in early 2007), followed by a trip out to Maple View Farm for ice-cream, and then back to Laura's apartment for much-needed nap.
We spent the evening in Raleigh, watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on an IMAX screen, and taking turns on the way back to wear Stacie's Batman mask to scare oncoming drivers. As you would, really…
Talking with Christa about religion Harry Potter, C.S. Lewis, Bob Jones University, singing a chorus with Collin and Esther over Bizarre Love Triangle, and talking to Katie Shields about Oxford, having Tara come over and talk to me, and such like. Getting drunk on vodka and giggling with Stacie and Christa before Donald and Lisa turned up with Spanish wine.Mandy being surprised by being kissed by a girl and Laura is a good influence, really, , dancing to New Order Temptation '88, and Tirangle and Ceremony. yay Esther! More sober than I was, although I doubt you believe it, and we know things about Stacie's sister…who was Donald? Hannah's friends wanted to make pasta! Want to stay up forever and watch Aliens; stay away from her you bitch and where is Mandy. It's all good. Dancing but no Dexy's sadly, but Stacie played it earlier, and Srav! She should have stayed! Lots of people - a glass separation, and hot lesbian girls making me a Cosmo with an English and Scottish accent…it's Carrboro, and I'm sad that Hannah left :-(. I only knew her for a couple of weeks, but she was very nice! I am perhaps still drunk, and less dancing, but I put Ralph's cowboy hat on while Mandy looked embarrassed, which seems new considering her bra is by my side…every time i think of you i get shot through with a bolt of blue I'm sad that I'm sad that that I probably won't see Esther or Christa again the wisdom of a fool won't set you free…
Amd here's Tammy! I have 32% battery left, and am prepared to continuetyping until the power runs out, handlebar moustaches and evil frenchmen, more and more and I have Rachel Steven's gloves, and you can't have them. Stacie's sister has it going on, and that's all i'll say.
My mobile phone is unhappy with the thought of its upcoming hibernation, it seems. Last night, it crashed, resulting in me not getting voicemails from Margee and Collin and thus missing the chance to have a meal with them at the Spotted Dog. And Margee is leaving for Mexico shortly as well. A pox on my phone then, although I hope it holds out for the next few days.
In other news: Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper. Stacie has got me back for the Stacie's Mom jokes; I haven't tasted anything quite this vile since I tried the classic "I know! Let's add a shot of Lemon Pledge!" idea that was Coca-Cola with Lemon.
Resurrecting a feature I used to do while I was living here. For my sins, I tasted Pepsi Blue, Mountain Dew: Code Red, and others, reporting whether we should be jealous that they're not available in Britain (in the main: no). So, today: Coca-Cola Zero!
The story goes that back when Coca-Cola was developing Diet Coke, their first idea was to simply replace the sugar with NutraSweet. However, the results of this proved to be quite disappointing, so they came up with a different flavour, which is why Diet Coke doesn't taste the same as Coke. A couple of years later, they tried to do it again; this time though, they had looked at the success of Diet Coke, and thought: "hey, why don't we add sugar back?" Thus, New Coke was born. And fairly quickly shoved into a Moses basket and sent out to sea, but that's another story. Coca-Cola Zero goes back to the original idea, perhaps due to advances in technology since the early 1980s; it's Coca-Coca, but just as healthy as a Diet Coke. The taste is…slightly underwhelming, as it lacks the suagr rush of normal Coke, and feels bland in comparison to Diet Coke. So there you go…
In other news, I can also recommend that you avoid watermelon milkshakes, as they are perhaps one of the most disgusting drinks to grace this planet. Other things we learnt last night while driving around Durham: don't discuss irons around Mandy, cars that disappear and reappear on dark country roads are quite unsettling, Ian should speak up during the milkshake collection phase of the drive-through, it's harder to give bite marks whilst wearing braces, the toiletry habits of certain Scottish people leave something to desired, and caramel fudge really doesn't taste the same as chocolate cherry. Considering that was all packed in to three hours late last night, I think it was a fairly successful day!
(Also, the new Apple mouse is sooooo good. I had to pull myself away)\
I tried my first digital jukebox last night. An interesting experience, although I think I prefer the old-fashioned scrolling-through-every-single-album-to-find-the-song-you-want interface as opposed to the new-fangled touchscreen version. It was, dare I say, an indie/hipster-type venue, so there wasn't a lot of pop on the menu, but some of their choices were bizarre, from a British point of view. Think Tank and Blur but no Modern Life Is Rubbish or Parklife? All of the Oasis albums except Morning Glory, but for Definitely Maybe there's only one song present, and that's Supersonic? Very strange. There's also a search function, to get you straight to the song of your drunken desires, but sneakily, if you use this option, it costs 2 plays for a single track rather than just one. Which is a little ungentlemanly, I feel. And it's Carrboro! The jukebox should ideally be a free commune-type affair, with hippies providing their own compositions. Or perhaps not…
(In the event, my choices: This Charming Man for Josh, Fairytale of New York, which was met with bemused indifference, damn them all, and The Human League's Don't You Want Me?. I never claimed to be original.)
Sometimes, I think that it's good that I don't live here, as I'd spend all my time in the second-hand shops. I've found a copy of the tape version of Substance, which has the full 12" version of The Perfect Kiss, unlike the CD version with its missing forty seconds. Somebody please stop me from going in these shops!