'Let them know you realize that life goes fast, it's hard to make the good things last' - The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize???

I think Gem is right about the whole 'not updating very regularly' thing, noting it's been a fortnight since I let the world know my feelings. But to look on the B-side, I note that I've spent longer lengths not writing anything (May to September, for instance).

I feel a little shattered after drinking too much coffee and not being able to sleep soundly. *sigh* My fault I suppose, but the advantage is that I spend less time oversleeping :-P Also, it means I can bring another installment of my life to you!

Man, I sometimes forget how good 'Back in the USSR' by The Beatles is. I have been converting my CDs to AAC format (Advanced Audio codec, I believe, which is based off MPEG-4 technology). The advantage of AAC is that it I can get higher quality music, but with less space taken up. Good for me.

Hmmm... I wonder when someone will work out a Super Audio CD solution for computers. It drives me bonkers that I have 'Dark Side of The Moon' by Pink Floyd, but can't yet experience the quadrophonic beauty of it's original music. I do recall reading something about it in relation to next-generation DVD-ROM drivers Oh well, I'll just have to wait and see.

Anyway, what have I been up to in the past fortnight?

Well, I've been watching all the episodes of Nathan Barley (top series partly made by the creator of many weird radio and TV programmes, Chris Morris) and Look Around You (a very tongue-in-cheek micktake of 70s 'Tomorrow's World') that I'd previously missed. Good start to the week. I'm currently trawling through My Life In Film, a 6-part comedy series starring Kris Marshall (of My Family's Nick fame). The story revolves around a struggling filmmaker called Art (played by Marshall), and his life imitating various famous films. It's quite entertaining so far.

Also, I encountered the first episode of the new series of 'Doctor Who' that got leaked by either a Canadian TV company or a post-effects studio, nobody can be certain. {spoilers-beware} In any case, I didn't watch this rough edit of this first episode, entitled 'Rose' after the Doctor's new assistant. Nor did I see the 'Autons' reappear (called Liquid Plastic by the Doctor, trying to explain it to his assistant), or even see Rose's boyfriend being consumed by an angry wheelie-bin. I especially didn't encounter any footage of London being terrorised by killer shop-dummies, or anything involving the new tardis interior. So I can't tell you how incredible this will be, especially since I can't claim to be a fan of Doctor Who at all, just as an average member of the public. I can't give the episode 5 stars, can't tell you that Christopher Eccelston makes a highly entertaining character, that Billie Piper can actually act, or that Russell T. Davies has done a fine job. I can, however, tell you the series starts on BBC One on Saturday the 26th of March at 7pm, and you must at least give the first episode the chance. People outside the UK, just hunt through the listings, you may find it. {end of spoilers}

So far I've gone through 37 albums and counting on the 'ripping' front. And yes, they are my albums; I just keep a copy on my computer because I rotate my CDs between home and Uni, and so I don't always have tracks I want to listen to with me.

Ahhh, there's nothing like breakfast for clearing your head in the morning. It's one of those meals which, done properly, can make the morning more bearable. It's also, unfortunately, the one I'm most likely to miss due to what they call 'poor time management' in Uni. It's what I like to call 'waking up after your alarm clock's been going off for 30 minutes'. Today, I'm going for the classic cereal and toast combination (though sadly without the orange juice, because I am poor and slightly forgetful when I get down the shops).

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah.

Filming for both mine and Harley's (who's my group mate) Personal Story film projects are going well. The project centres around a story about something that happened in your life. I decided to focus on an unfortunately messy breakup between me and my ex-girlfriend (which, in retrospect, I would have done in a snip if I knew then what a loving, caring, amazing girlfriend I would still have almost 3 years down the line). In the past few years, I've been living down the fact that I actually broke the heart of my ex and not having a suitable medium in which to tell my half of the story (which few people know). A 2-minute preview of the films both gave positive results. All the lecturers who were there were astounded at the acting. Little did they know I was equally astounded by Chris' (my house mate) acting ability. I just said to him a week ago 'Fancy acting for my film?', he said yes, and then when he actually did it: Blimey! It was almost as if my personal story was his. I will be forever indebted to Chris for this. Hopefully, I can get the thing finished before the end of term.

Speaking of films, I ended up with some preview tickets to 'Constantine'. So, grabbing a load of people from The TermiSoc, we wandered (well, got a lift), to the cinema, and then patiently queued for the special screening. During this period, the conversation fell onto the topic of the upcoming Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy movie. The two girls on the opposite side of the flimsy queue-penning barriers started nattering about it too. Soon, a conversation began. All the single TermiSoc guys lined up for a converse with the attractive yet mentally geeky women. Gem looked on, unimpressed. Anyway, I'm getting distracted.

'Constantine' (based off the comic 'Hellblazer', apparently) is a dark action/theological thriller, cross-bred with dark spiritual debate. But don't attempt to connect this to The Matrix. Yes, it stars Keanu Reeves and contains action and possible philosophical debate, but it's a bit like trying to compare Meet The Parents to East Is East. They both contain stuff about families, and they are both comedies, but they are set in totally different locations and feature totally different concepts and situations. Anyone who does try to compare this film to The Matrix is probably trying way too hard and should be beaten down at any cost.

To be perfectly honest with you, I wasn't expecting much from this film. The trailer portrayed it to a market of action-junkies, with no plot points revealed. Whoever made this trailer should be hung from the gallows for a poor portrayal of the film. The film revolves around a 'excorcist' named John Constantine. He spends the majority of his life rounding up angels and demons who have 'illegally' traversed onto the Earth. He's not doing this for kicks though, he's trying to buy his way back into God's good books, securing a place in heaven, after seeing Hell for real and realising to himself 'I've got to not end up there'. Then one day, something weird starts to happen. Hell's nastiest demons are trying their best to get onto the Earth, and a totally devout catholic has just committed suicide (when suicide would get any catholic a one-way ticket to the burning-hotness). So, he has to work out what on Earth is going on and what he can do to stop it.

Now, I know Johnny Mnemonic was dire and quite a lot of people didn't enjoy the last two Matrixes; although I find them just as good as the first one, but that's another story; but I think that this is the best film I've seen either Reeves or Rachel Weisz in for quite some time. That's why I'm giving it 4 stars out of 5. Go see it, for your own sake. Oh, and on a side-note, seeing as quite a lot of critics couldn't understand The Matrix, it's unsuprising they'll immediately hate it because it has a parting connection to the trilogy.

I really don't understand the concept of 'Copy Protected' CDs. In what way are they Copy Protected? So far I have made copies of Turin Brakes' 'Ether Song'and The Thrills' 'So Much for The City'; both with Copy Protection warnings on, both having normal-sounding MP3s and AACs on my PC. Maybe the majority of these have the warning labels, but no real 'meat' to them, just a low-grade copy supplied on the disc for the computer illiterate and the easily scared.

Ooh, funky. On the bottom of U2's latest album 'How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb' is etched (in the centre coding section) the words 'Miss You Sugar'. I haven't seen many albums with a secret message written in the 'matrix' of a CD (it was quite common in the good ol' vinyl days, but CDs are usually mastered by someone professional so there is not much opportunity for a band to wander into the pressing plant and etch a message on the master copies). This isn't the first time I've seen a message on this part (I do recall a couple of less commercial CDs with ominous messages written on the inner spiral). But what does it mean? One possibility is it is referring to Brendan Robert Hewson, Bono's father, who died in 2001 from cancer. The album is dedicated to him (as seen in the liner notes). It could, less dramatically, refer to an Oxfam photo-shoot he did where he was covered in sugar to raise awareness for unfair trade in third world countries. Or, slightly more obsurely, it could relate to what's written in this post. I would say that may be the truth, if I wasn't laughing so much at the vague stab in the dark '"Sugar" is often a cryptic nickname for God' is. Unless someone can prove me wrong, then I'll stop laughing. :-P

Anyway, I think I'll wander off for now, as I have things to do, people to see, websites to create. Bye for now.