it's not that im a big fan of star trek or anything. but ive lately grown nostalgic for watching that Deep Space Nine show, which seems like a lame version of a lame version of that one star trek episode that was fucking awesome. you remember the one, where picard is bitching out that Q guy and he busts out the Hamlet, and he's all like, "What Hamlet set with irony I now say with conviction: What a piece of work is man. How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty," and it went on and on and you were like Hell YEAH! that guy IS a shakespearean actor, and he WILL hamlet all over your ass. HELL yeah. so now you watch that guy with the tattoo wax philosophical about his people, and you think, this is a loathsome, offensive show, yet i cant look away (i cribbed that line from an old Seinfeld episode, and it makes me laugh to this day). Comment: Name: Pale Blue
i bought a bottle of Isopropyl alcohol at the store for like $ .65, and i was astonished at how cheap and easy it was to come by this stuff. i have it sitting close to me on my desk now, and i use it to clean my mouse and other delicate electronic products. it makes me so happy. i didnt know it was possible to buy so much joy for less than a dollar.
i have pretty much finished my thesis, for the most part, and today i made a student cry, which means that i am done for the day. so i sat around feeling jittery all evening, like a heroin addict who has no smack, and then i paced a little while. im still trying to figure out what to do with my exhausted, keyed up self. i'll let you know what i decide.
poor student. she waited until she had left my office to really start crying, which was nice of her. but even so, i felt like an asshole. in a good way, mind you.
okay, so jen is standing over my shoulder right now and critiquing my blog entry AS I TYPE IT, which as you probably know makes any kind of creativity like twenty times harder. it's like i ate glass and now im trying to pass it, and jen is laughing at me. so im signing off now. thanks, jen.
Email: paleblue@darkblue.2ndmail.com
I couldn\'t comment on the Star Trek / Deep Space Nine thing, but the sad
decline in the standards of spin-off shows IS distressing.
Let me offer a reason to be happy, in the continuing rude health of \'reality
shows\' - some of which are really starting to explore the boundaries of what
you can do with a group of people who need attention like they need oxygen.
Recently, I\'ve been glued to the latest reality show to hit the UK; \'Cave
of the Brave\'.
It\'s almost exactly the same premise as all of the \'small, diverse group of
people vs mother nature\' shows, except that this one is intended to
replicate life as a Neanderthal. I was slightly sceptical when I heard the
game\'s premise, but like the best-designed reality shows, it\'s actually
completely absorbing.
The twelve contestants have been living in a cave about 200 miles north-west
of the Mongolian city Erdenet, near the Yenisey river. A shoulder of granite
rises up from the steppe, with numerous caves on the south-facing slopes.
Each contestant was given a fur to wear, but no other possessions were
allowed.
Anyway, it\'s been very educational, and pretty gripping at times.
It took the group some time to get used to the freezing Mongolian winds, and
the tough, abrasive Mongolian grass - in fact, the vast majority of the group
swore not to even leave the cave, and one of them briefly chased after the
helicopter after being dropped off, but after numerous appeals to the cameras
had proved fruitless, they had no choice but to go out hunting.
Little by little, they have adapted to their new way of life. Many of them
spend their days huddled together at the back of the cave, cursing
semi-audibly. Others have demonstrated more ingenuity.
A software programmer from Cambridge and a yoga-teacher from Whitby managed
to catch the group\'s first substantial meal ten days after the game started:
as a hapless yak passed through a narrow path between overhanging shelves of
rock, they dropped a boulder on it.
But the group\'s joy was short-lived when a) they found that Mongolian grass
is difficult to light, and b) the yak belonged to an indigenous band of
nomadic farmers, who chased them across the steppe for hours before catching
a financial director from Hull and taking him to Erdenet, where he was sold
to a local merchant.
Last week, there was a near-revolt, when one of the group claimed to have
found a deeper, drier cave on the north-facing side of the rock, and tried to
entice several of the group\'s colder members to join him. The debate
developed along fairly predictable lines - it was a fairly simple, \'fear of
the unknown vs potential warmth\' debate - but it became so heated that the
instigator (a milkman from Essex) was eventually driven out by the others,
and now roams the steppe, howling.
Personally, I\'m looking forward to next week\'s episode, where the producers
plan to up the stakes by introducing a group of Homo Sapiens (played by
actors) into the equation, and leaving the two units to fight over the
territory\'s meagre resources.
posted by Paully at 2:29 AM link/comments
