Archive for March, 2007
So today is the pretty much final day in the European re-org. Most of my old friends are no longer with the company, in fact I think with Iain leaving today all of them are gone. There isn’t anyone left from the old London days. Luckily there are a few left from the not so old London days and I’m looking forward to working with them all again.
This past week I’ve actually been getting more and more into my new job. It started with some good meetings and some solid agreements on the steps we’ll take to work closely with the teams in the US. I actually came out of the meeting with a lot of enthusiasm for going forward. It’s always been tough trying to co-ordinate work with the folks in the US and that was when I just had one country to worry about. Now with all of Europe it’s going to be a lot tougher but at the same time having spent almost a year here I have much better relations with the people I need deliverables from and I can ring them and talk things over. The next few weeks should let me build what I need on the US side before I get back to London and really get into how we’ll work in our own house.
This morning, somewhat out of the blue, I got my first go/no-go call. It’s not mine just yet but it was nice to be asked to take a review of the metrics and to give an opinion. Thankfully the stats were plainly good, impressively good, and so it was a very easy call to make.
I have a lot of work to do but I have a lot of ideas and so far I’m fairly positive about being able to be useful and to make my team key supporters of a number of teams across the business. As my old boss said the other day, now I have to “walk the walk”.
I find it odd to be looking forward to it so much.
In other news, I’ve been doing a lot of shopping in preparation for going back to London. From the sounds of it I’ll be travelling to various Europe offices every now and again and also meeting with external partners. Luckily this does not mean a suit but it does mean going back to shirt and slacks everyday. So it makes sense to pick them up here. A better selection and a whole lot cheaper. Also dirt cheap are glasses. Having a full copy of my prescription handy, I figured that for an entire $35 it was worth seeing how they turn out.
One other good thing about clothes shopping in America is that their sizes tend to be consistent between stores. In London and Dublin I found it could vary quite a bit but here it’s pretty much the same all the time. This came in quite handy for getting some shoes. I had found a pair in a store that fit well and I quite liked so I looked ‘em up and ordered some more from the same company. 2 days later they arrived and fit very well. That’s not bad going. This means that I now own about 7 pairs which is a shockingly high number and makes for the most boring post ever no doubt.
I’m listening to a band called Silversun Pickups a lot at the moment. I heard Lazy Eye on the radio and ended up with the album. It’s pretty decent stuff.
It is a beautiful day here. Everyone back in London is already in the pub, some I suspect are falling over by now. I’m thinking about taking off early and going to the zoo. It seems like one of those days. Certainly going to duck out for a nice lunch somewhere!
The last thing I need to get home to this evening a large 5 figure bill from the hospital demanding payment by tomorrow with a statement date of 3 weeks ago.
I now have the feeling I’ll be spending the morning on the phone and perhaps shouting.
It is a beautiful day, I’m sat outside on my balcony enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. Much of the week was like this and I had been looking forward to spending Saturday wandering around with my camera. Of course after being stuck inside while the temperature hit 70 for most of the week, Saturday was dull and wet. Typical.
It was still a good day. I took the chance to catch up on some reading. I had picked up some more John Varley and I read Mammoth pretty much overnight. It was good popcorn fun and while I certainly will pick up some more of his books. I have noticed that they are quite unusual for sci-fi books in that they are very quick reads. Just before this, I read a Robert Crais, Hostage, in a two and a half hour sitting which is unusual for me these days so it’s been nice to get through some. I’m now reading Elliot Perlman’s 3 Dollars. I wrote about his short story collection The Reasons I Won’t Be Coming back in the days before I moved the blog here and thus is likely to remain unsorted due to laziness but I really liked them and so I picked up several of his books. I was reading it on the way into town last night. It reads very quickly too but it hits quite hard in places. There was a moment where I had to put down for a little while because it hit so close to home. I’m about halfway through but I suspect he’s going to end up on the list of authors to buy all of their books.
So anyway, I was off into town last night. I went to Silver Diner for some dinner first and then into Barnes & Noble to pick up a present and then the Metro into downtown DC for Greg’s birthday drinks. I was slightly later than I expected, not getting in till around 9. I had forgotten that most Americans don’t like to stay out late and the crowd was already thinning. By 10 there was only a handful left. Now Greg claims that the last time we had dinner, he did not speak to the barmaid and was not playing matchmaker at the time, so I can’t accuse him of playing matchmaker again. He was however having way too much fun with it.
Anyway with so many people gone so early, the few that were left were moving onwards. It seemed like a waste of an evening to not carry on and so gay country western nightclub, I think it was actually called Remmingtons and yes there was line dancing and straw hats. Neither for me before you ask. The thought strikes as I write this down that I can’t think of a nightclub I’ve been to in the US over the years that wasn’t gay. Anyway many drinks later and it’s 2ish and a reasonable time to call it a night. Slightly hungover this morning but not so bad and Greg certainly seemed to have a good night.
So a quiet one today, I’ve just watched the first two episodes of season 2 of Life On Mars and will agree with the general it’s not as good as the first season but the two leads are eminently watchable and Liz White is adorable. Ep 3 is up when I’m done writing this and I hear that’s pretty good.
Tomorrow I start a new job kinda. I’m not entirely sure how it’s going to work but for the next few weeks I’m working with/for a team over here and I’m somewhat looking forward to seeing how all that works in more detail. Should be interesting to say the least. Tomorrow night I’m going to the 9.30 club to see two support bands for Lamb of God. I’m not familiar with them, I’m quite surprised to see both Trivium and Machinehead supporting as I’d have put either of them as headliners on their own. Machinehead were a highlight at Download a few years ago and Burn My Eyes is quite a decent album. So that should be fun.
Tuesday, making this a rather gay week, is V DC at Drag Queen Bingo. I think that really sums it up. Dinner is planned for somewhere before hand, Greek around Dupont and then well, it should be interesting. That’s about all the plans, I may take a day off if the weather is nice to head into DC and take some photos. I want to do the zoo at least a couple more times before I get out of here.
Other things. I broke and bought Crackdown for the 360. I was looking for something mindless that I could jump into for a bit every now and again and while I wasn’t too impressed with the demo there was good word of mouth on it. So that’s been alright. I was unimpressed at finishing the game in less than 4 days but with several achievements, time trials and races still to be checked out nevermind the download content I don’t think it’s so bad. It certainly works for small chunks of mindless crime fighting.
Ah yes, continuing the rewatching of TV shows, I finally reached the last episode of Babylon 5 yesterday. Some of it holds up but the flaws shine through a lot more now years later. The dialogue could go from excellent (Londo, G’Kar) to tripe (Sheridan) in a single scene shift. Getting through the first half, maybe even three quarters of season 5 was a chore. The last 5 I guess work very well together as a whole but the buildups quite poor. I may watch some of the movies and I have not seen all of Crusade but I’m in no rush.
I did make it three nights running at the cinema during the week and caught Black Snake Moan. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It has the advantage of Sam Jackson and Christina Ricci being eminently watchable but it’s an odd movie. Everything about it is charged but it’s a bit cliched pretty much from start to finish. It did leave me with quite a desire to go out and find some old Blues and take the time to listen and appreciate but it’s kinda tough to know where to start. I think I’ll just hit eMusic and grab their highest rated and see how that goes.
Washing machine is done, I guess I should go put on another load.
P.S. hi Mairéad.
Sometimes in life when you go and put some bread in the toaster and turn it on the phone rings and then a short time later you are left with two pieces of cold toast sticking out of said toaster.
Other times in life, you go and put some braed in the toaster and turn it on and then you decide to make a phone call. The end result, cold toast, is the same but it also comes with the added moment of standing in the kitchen feeling slightly confused.
Your standard web/life stuff, funny and mostly true. I was sold at the third one.
3. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.
16 things it takes most of us 50 years to learn
So I’m going to hold off the rant about fandom that’s brewing and instead tell you about my fascinating midweek life here in the US. The last two evenings have brought me to the cinema and by chance both have been “true stories”
First up was Breach. A dramatisation of the end of the investigation into the “possibly the worst intelligence disaster in US history” although perhaps that honour should go over to something about those pesky WMDs in Iraq? Anyway you know the ending from the get-go, even if you don’t know anything about it going in (I had seen the trailer and vaguely recall the news at the time), it opens with a tape of a press conference from John Ashcroft announcing the whole thing. Then it’s into the story of how a young agent in training is assigned to spy on the guy. The guy in question, Robert Hanssen is played by Chris Cooper and while many acknowledge it’s way too early, an oscar nomination has been mooted here and there. Which would be fine as he’s excellent from start to finish. Actually that goes most of the cast, Ryan Phillippe is pretty damn good as the younger man and Laura Linney does the best work I’ve seen and looks better than before too.
Interestingly, at least for me, it’s set entirely in DC and looks to have had a whole lot actually filmed here. I think it’s the first movie I’ve seen like that since I came over here and it was nice to know so many of the places and to recognise the Metro stations and many of the other places. I have not watched any West Wing since I’ve been over here but I’ve, by chance, been in a number of the bars and restaurants they filmed in and it’s nice to just notice things like that.
So, an enjoyable movie. We know how the chase ends, so it’s the chase that becomes the story and works quite well. It’s directed by Billy Ray who also directed Shattered Glass a few years ago which a number of ye mentioned (Andrew and a Scot at the least I think?) back then.
Tonight was the much longer but it doesn’t quite feel like it 180 minutes of Zodiac. This is the “true story” of the serial killer who stalked the San Francisco area in the late 60’s and early 70’s and the men who tried to catch him. Again the cast is excellent.
After Donnie Darko it’ll take a pretty poor run of movies for me to dislike Jake Gyllenhaal but he’s alright in this, not great. It’s a stretch, I thought, for him to be playing the divorced father of two at the start of the movie (with no makeup help that I could see) and then to still look the same when the movie moves towards the mid 80s at the end. They didn’t seem to do any of the job that Brokeback Mountain did in ageing him. Anyway a minor complaint, he plays Jake Gyllenhaal quite well. I think that it may have hurt slightly having the rest of the cast be so top notch. Robert Downey Jr. is easily one of the best actors working today and he shines in every scene he’s in. Mark Ruffalo, also excellent and ages slightly more convincingly. It was nice to see Anthony Edwards in something again, for some reason I thought he was dead but I seem to be mixing him up with someone else, I’m not sure who.
It is along movie and it does shift gears quite a bit about two thirds of the way through just when you think that it could possibly be coming towards an end but nope it carries on. It’s directed by David Fincher, which was the deciding factor into going to see it (aside from Black Snake Moan not being on at a good time) and there a couple of places when you’ll realise that yes without a doubt it is David Fincher. It’s exceptionally well put together, the period stuff looks really great. It’s the first San Francisco movie I’ve seen since being there so that was nice to have an idea about too. So a little long but also quite enjoyable.
Shockingly, I suspect tomorrow night will be the cinema too. I have 3 movies to catchup on over the next couple of weeks.
Lets see, last time I mentioned I had read Titan, book 1 of John Varley’s Gaea Trilogy. Well since then I’ve gone one and read the rest.
I really enjoyed both Wizard and Demon despite not really feeling the need for them to exist. Finished them and thinking about it, there are two different stories here. The first book is more of the sci-fi man (though in this case I suppose I really should say woman) goes into space and discovers something out there. The second and third are almost pure fantasy. It’s all about questing and the sci-fi bits are just trappings around. The characters are much more fleshed out, well the new ones at least and to a degree the carry overs. I found myself enjoying the characters a good deal, still some of the time it was written in showing through and at times too much going on about alien sex. To the point of including a chart with shows all of the possible combinations that the alien species can use to reproduce…not quite positions but close enough. In fairness though some of it does tie into the story. So while I still think that Titan stands well on it’s own, I did enjoy the next two and will pick up more Varley as I go along.
Comic wise, a few things lately. I finally read the last two trades of Lucifer and while it has not returned or ended with the glory that was the first 30 issues or so, it’s solid and I enjoyed it. I do want to go back and read it all from start to finish when I get back to London and get all my trades out of storage. I never thought it got as bad as others (deCampi!) did but it certainly dipped a bit. Certainly works better in trades, I gave up on singles in the late 30s after enjoying the first 3 trades enough to move into singles. No singles at all now for me though.
Next up was American Born Chinese. This was one of those “indie” books that had a small groundswell of support around the V. Lots of people mentioned it and despite not being grabbed by what I had read online about it, the V is usually right about things like this and they were this time too. Not too much to say about the art, it’s pretty, it’s effective and the colours work very well. The writing is excellent, it really does hit on the sense of self-identity, in places it hits pretty damn close. Highly enjoyable.
A couple of days ago after a recommendation from Del, I read Ross Campbell’s Wet Moon and it was pretty much the greatest load of goth wank I have ever read in my life. However! it’s pretty as fuck. The art is gorgeous. By the end of the book I wasn’t bothering with the words, I was just enjoying the artwork. I’m not sure it’s enough to pick up more in this series but I’ll give The Abandoned a try and see how pretty that is.
Finally last night I read the second DMZ trade. As usual I find Brian Wood’s work to be alright. It’s not great. I actually find myself quite ambivalent about it. I didn’t think the first collection was all that great but it got so hyped, I figured I’d check out the second one and see if there was something I’m missing. Well, if there is then I still don’t see it. I don’t think I’m onboard for more.