Dragon on a stick

A fellow pro games designer Rich Burlew produces fine rants and other assorted articles on his website. However, his main contribution is a wonderful comic called the The Order of the Stick. Those (like me) who spent their youth playing D&D, this comic is an endless treasure trove of fun.

RPG humour might be an acquired taste but once you've 'got it', it never ceases to amuse you.

Nothing's hotter than Harry Potter

To top a peaceful Bank Holiday Monday we went to see one of the first previews of Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban. Our hopes were high on this one as all the reviews have praised this movie to high heaven - and the third book is Dragon's favourite in the series.

And for once, the hype was all worth it. This was a charming, well made, well acted movie. The new director Alfonso Cuarón had taken a slightly different approach to the story, and it's darker and more adult. Of course all that comes naturally when the all young actors have grown up - and I think they all did wonderful jobs this time. Daniel Radcliffe as Harry actually managed not to annoy me with his "scared face" look that really used to drive me up the walls, and Emma Watson as Hermione was positively lovely and reminded me constantly of my sister who's also a charming pretty little thing. Of course the adult actors were great as always - but I would have to give a special mentioning to always charming Alan Rickman as Snape (that voice), Gary Oldman was perfect fit as Sirius Black and David Thewlis was absolutely brilliant as Remus Lupin. And Dawn French was excellent Fat Lady.

But not only was it well acted, it was also stunningly beautiful. Cuarón had chosen a totally different setting for Hogwarts - it is now in beautiful barren valley which suited the mood of the movie perfectly. The cgi (by Industrial Light and Magic) was also great - especially Buckbeak was beautifully animated, but dementors were suitably scary too.

Ah, you can probably see that I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I would imagine this movie should also entertain non-diehard Potter fans, as it also deals with important and difficult themes that do deeper than the surface. Highly recommended.

Back home

Ah, home. Another too many miles behind the wheel for me, but I'm back at home after having dropped Chu at Heathrow and Dragon at work. But again, the trip was very much worth it - we had a really good time and got to see some favourites live we haven't seen before.

Loveliest moment was definetly after a match between La Resistance vs. Hurricane & Rosey, when Hurricane picked out from the audience two little boys who had dressed up as Hurricane and Rosey and took them to the ring. There they did some posing in the ring and on the ropes - and the kids could do it just as well as their heroes.

Good trip, but now I'm totally exhausted and totally need a nap.

Tour of Defiance

Triple H is just... that... damn... good.

Good will traveling

We were threatened with the International Motor Show at the NEC causing travel chaos so we set out well early this morning. Now, after having filled up with petrol, taking a break for coffee and toilet, and after none of the traffic jams materialised, we're checked in at the hotel and we still have over four hours until the show starts. (Not that I'm complaining after the last trip.) The hotel is full of little boys and their dads and atmosphere is excited. We can't wait either.

Dragon of Nightmares

Mea's musings on dentists reminded me of my one and only re-occurring nightmare:

I am eating something, and suddenly I feel in my mouth how one of my teeth breaks as I am chewing the food. As I reach with my finger to remove the piece, another one chips as I touch it. Panicking, I spit out the pieces of teeth, swallow some air and close my mouth, and yet more of my teeth crack. I try to touch them with my tongue to count the number of damaged tooth, but my tongue gets covered with tooth-splinters. I spit and cough the pieces away from my mouth for minutes as more and more of pieces crack away. It feels like every one of my teeth is broken, their nerves are exposed to cold air.

There is never any physical pain, but the anguish of the dentist bill (UK private dental care prices are sky-high) and the feeling of physical degeneration (which I loathe) always makes me wake up with cold sweat and drumming heartbeat, and it takes minutes before I realize my teeth are OK.

Every time there is financial trouble in my life or I am highly stressed, this same nightmare comes to haunt me. It may not sound so terrible as you read it, but the experiencing is always horrible, perhaps because it feels so damn real.

Harm's Way by Colin Greenland

"My mother loves me!" I bellowed. "She is not gone!" Could he not see her standing there, drawn up alongside the bridge, her hair like a red flag of danger? Like Jesus in the chapel at S. Sebastien, pointing to his flaming heart, Mama pointed to the inky hole in her throat. "I was all she had," I charged him, in a voice to split his ears, "but she sent me away, to keep me safe from you!"

"Nowhere," he said, "is safe from me."

Colin Greenland has apparently been described as 'one of the most distinctive and best loved of British sf writers', but I've never heard of him or any of his books before. But as per Chu's suggestion, I lately aquired Colin Greenland's book Harm's Way. This book is actually out of print (since the previous print in 1993), but I got it from Amazon's marketplace for 99p plus p&p, and although the book is in theory used it arrived in perfect condition.

It was then left lying then on the kitchen table for couple of weeks, against the old saying of never judge a book by it's cover, as this book has the most hideous cover I've seen in a long while. It looks like it would fit well in the Harlequin bookshelf - it's got a picture of a handsome half naked angel cradling a scared looking young woman on his arms. But based on my research on the award winning author and Chu's recommendation, I finally picked the book up and read it.

The book tells a story of young Sophie Farthing who runs away from his father looking for answers to what happened to her mother. The world is very fantastical - Chu called it steampunk: but there's not even steam in the technology. There is interplanetary travel - but it's done with sailing ships sailing on space fluxes. There are fauns and angels, and there are total aliens from other systems. Britannia rules the waves, still, and all the ships that sail under her flag need to adhere to the strict rules of the Pilot's Guild. (And I would be very surpised if China Mieville hasn't been influenced by Greenland.)

I think it was my suspicion of the book's cover, combined with the very formal 19th century English Greenland uses as an effect, I had difficulties with this book in the early chapters. But once I got used to the narrative and the plot kicked in, I had difficulties in putting it down. Sophie was although at times an irritating narrator, also very refreshing heroine - she was very naive in the beginning, and wasn't overly smart either, but grew up in a very believable way. Certainly facinating and well written fantastical science fiction - I would recommend reading it if you manage to get your hands on a copy.

Trolley talk

I was listening to a guy on the radio this morning who had invented a supermarket trolley that never goes wonky (wonky trolleys are one of Dragon's pet hates), but I didn't manage to catch the end of the interview so I was looking for the information in the net. I didn't find anything about him - but I found something else: while other people have been trying to make supermarket experiences easier, others have been concentrating on efforts to make it more difficult.

I present to you: the trolley workout. A German company has designed a trim trolley for Tesco - a trolley with a resistance gizmo attached to it that allows you to make pushing the trolley even harder work than it already is.

This must be one of the silliest inventions ever. Shopping on a busy Sunday is stressful enough as it is, I can't imagine anyone actually wanting to make it sweaty as well. Keeping fit is good, but there are some lines that shouldn't be crossed.

D/k goes mobile

When you're out and about, and can't get to your computer but you've just absolutely posetively got to check out what's happening at D/k - accept no substitute: Dragon/kolibri mobile version. Can also be found from the side bar with other webfeeds.

Full lotus

I don't know if it was very smart thing to do to go to the ashtanga class last night since I'm still recovering from Monday's Pump, but since I can't make it this Friday either as I'm picking Chu up from the airport I went anyway. It's funny how things change - when I started exercising I had to drag myself to the class by sheer willpower, and now even willpower couldn't keep me away.

But the thing is, I've just improved so much within tha past month or two, that I can't bear the thought of missing a whole week of ashtanga. Last night I sat in a full lotus for the entire ten minutes of the finishing sequence, and three weeks ago I couldn't even get to a full lotus.

I felt like that little buddha sitting there in my full lotus, hands on my lap.

War is good for absolutely nothing

It's interesting how whole of Portsmouth is buzzing with upcoming D-Day celebrations. Celebrating the war is something that Finns just don't do, maybe it's because losers don't celebrate. In here though, it's a yearly event: D-Day, or something else, I don't usually pay that much attention to it.

Why is it then that this time I notice my thoughts keep coming back to it? It could be because there is a war going at the moment that distresses me and makes it more real, or that the celebrations are this time actually happening in a city that I live in and are affecting my life in practical ways. Also thoughts about the book Dragon's mother has just written are lingering in my head. In any case, I've been thinking about my grandfathers: I'm lucky as I've grown up with both of them - they both went to war but returned alive and well to raise families and grandchildren.

I remember when I was a kid riding on my grandfather's shoulders, I used to wonder about funny bumps on his head. I was told that they were grenade fragments he got in the war and that they couldn't be removed. It meant nothing to me of course - I learned to repeat the words, but I had very little understanding what grenades were, or even what war meant. Also, the war was never talked about at home, and neither of my grandfathers never mentioned it, not when I was present anyway. I don't think it was a taboo or anything like that, but it was just never a topic - and it's unlikely it would have interested me as a kid anyway.

But lately I've been thinking about that more. My grandfather is now practically deaf from one ear - this is a result of being posted as a gunner during the war - so he didn't really escape without injuries as I had thought when I was younger. I also keep thinking about the fact that to get grenade fragments on his skull he must have been really close to the action - in fact the thought that he might have been very close to losing his life is bewildering.

So my feelings about WWII veterans have changed - but maybe not to the direction of "they fought for our indipendence" that is the usual way they are put on a pedestal. But in a way of better understanding the horrors that they went trough - I was listening to a veteran talking about D-Day and how ever since that he's every year returned to the battle field to honour his fallen friends, and it brought tears to my eyes... something that would have never happened before.

When WWII ended, and all the horrors started to surface, the whole world was adamant that this would be the final war to end all wars. None of the people who were involved ever wanted to go trough anything like that again and for a long time there was (relative) peace on earth. I've been formulating a thought in my head about GWB, and his passion for war, and I think that one of the reasons he's so bloodthirsty is the fact that he's never experienced an actual war, or any effects from it.

We're now living in an age where all the people who actually took part in the previous world war are so old their stories are being forgotten... Or maybe that's not true - maybe the words are known, but they are just being repeated over and over again without understanding of their meaning, like I was doing as a kid. I'm just hoping that if nothing else good comes out of the war in Iraq and the recently exposed prisoner abuse, at least it will make some people undertstand what going to war means.

Jung Dragon

Every time I begin working in a new games company, I have a little ritual. I thought the D/k readers might appreciate it as well:

Before undertaking any other tasks, I print out an A4 paper and hang it on a wall above my desk so I can glance at it any given time. The text is always the same:

One of the most difficult tasks men can perform, however much others may despise it, is the invention of good games...

Quote by C. G. Jung

Gulp

It was one of those moments - I had been in the server room, and meanwhile I had received a call on my mobile. I checked my voicemail, and it was from the company we had purchased the tickets to Toronto with, saying that they needed to talk to me about the trip. Heart rate up, sweating - oh my goddess, what's wrong, what's wrong...

So I call them back and it takes the guy forever to dig up my details, and when he finally gets them he says: "Oh yes, we'd just like to confirm the flights with you". Well, he did mention the word security but he didn't actually want to ask me anything, just tell me what I already knew which was when the flights were.

But after that came the real reason he called.

"Ma'am, we have very good rates for hotels and car hire, would you like me to quote you some figures?"

Ah. I see.

Body Pump 49

Ask and you shall recieve - here is my review of the Body Pump 49 program that I did last night. This morning I'm - surprisingly - not quite as dead as I thought I would be after over six months lack of any kind of weight training. So looks like ashtanga keeps me in good shape.

If you've never been to a Body Pump class, here's how it works: you have a bar and selection of weights (1/2,5/5 kg), and you lift the weights accoring to the teacher's instructions. You have ten tracks, and each track concentrates on working on one muscle group, and streches in between. The choreography (if you can call it that) is typically very simple - the most skill is really needed for changing the weights between each track in under a minute - it takes a bit of time to get used to that.

It's also worth pointing out that the weights I use and my opinions on them are mine only, and shouldn't be used as a guide. For anything. I mention them only to keep some kind of record on my progress.

But here's what #49 was like.

Warmup: Warmup consists of doing a bit of everything to get the pulse up and get the muscles warm for the rest of the class. I used to do this with 10 kg weights, but decided take it easy and start with 7 kg this time - which turned out to be a good choice. This warmup had basic back moves, squats, upright rows, lunges and biceps - warmed me up but not the point of exhaustion. Music was Jackie O's Wonderwall.

Squats: Now I hate doing squats in the gym - I just find it very boring and painful. But I enjoy doing them in Pump - I was going to chicken out on the weights on this one but Gary looked at me sternly and told me that I should put my weights up... so I went with 10 kg (my old weight used be 17 kg, and I think I could have used some more on this one). Squat track is the one where you can really try yourself and put the biggest weights on, my problems are usually more to do with the fact that the weights that my legs can do are much bigger than what I can lift over my shoulders. But as always with squats, you can make them easier or harder by changing how low you squat. Choreography is like this: you squat: fast ones and slow ones and everything in between. The #49 music for squats is Lionel Richie's All Night Long - but Gary changed this to #47 which is Enrique Iglesias' Escape, one of my personal favourites: in fact so much so that whenever I hear this song I feel like I should immediately start squatting. This is the track that I sing along with, until I get to exhausted to do so... but it's lot of fun.

Chest: Chest track is done on the floor, and it consists of, well bench presses: again, slow ones, quick ones, upstairs, downstairs. It can be painful, but there is a little streching break in the middle. I used 5 kg weights for this one, but I had to skip some reps later as my shoulders were burning. In the end there are some push-ups, but I can't do those because of my wrist. Music was Madonna's Don't Cry For Me Argentina.

Back: Back track is fun, and there are a bit more moves here. There's the Pump core move "knees and squeeze" bent over rows, and full and partial deadlifts. I used a 5 kg weights for this, but didn't get too much out of it, so next time I'll have to go back to 7 kg, although that can be quite challenging for the full deadlifts, especially towards the end. Music was DJ Bobo's Pray.

Triceps: My triceps are puny little muscles so I picked the lightest weights possible (2kg), but I've never done this with much more than that. Tricep track is done on the floor again with two basic types of tricep curls, all done in different speeds. It wasn't painful, not with such light weights, but my muscles were trembling like crazy from start to finish. Music was TOF's Funk It Up.

Biceps: Ah, bicep track - this is a one that you can dance to if you have a good track, and funnily enough since you do all the work with you biceps you actually can have the energy to do that. I continued this with the 2 kg weights, but I have to say it wasn't very challenging - on the other hand I don't think I could have done it with my old 5 kg. The track is all about bicep curls, again done in different speeds. Music was Bobby Brown's Humping Around.

Lunges: Lunges are like squats - I hate doing them in the gym, but in Pump they are bearable. Not much of a choreography here, it's all about lunges, one side at a time, in different speeds. You can do this with weights if you want, but I've always found that lunges can be very challenging without weights too, so I never use any. Music was Stay by Sash.

Shoulders: I like to shoulder track, and although it is very challenging it's also good fun. There are two sections in this - first part is done with dumbells or plates, and the second one with the bar. For this I used 1 kg plates for the first part which consists mainly of different lateral raises. For the second part I used 2 kg bar to do the upright rows, front raises and the killers military presses in the end. Music was inspiring Thunderstuck by AC/DC.

Abs: At this point you're totally ready to lie down again, so abs at this point feel like heaven. Track consisted of just bog-standard abs and a plank in the middle. I also realised why I used to hate abs: it's because at school there was only one type of abs excercise and that was the horrible sitting up move that I've never ever been able to do... another pleaseure killer from those days. Music is Missing by Everything But The Girl.

Streching: Last track is the streching track, and it contains streching of all major muscle groups both on the floor and standing. Good cooldown to finish the workout. Music was Nothing Like The Rain by 2 Unlimited.

All in all - and I'm sorry to say this Chu darling, but it's true - it's a really good workout. Challenging, yes, but in a good way. It's much more suitable for me than for example normal aerobics which make me hot and bothered - Pump makes you hot without a doubt, but not with burning lungs which is the feeling I hate most. If you want to spice up your gym routine and like working out to music, this is a good one to try.

Liika on liikaa

DISCLAIMER: Ranting in Finnish about holy things. Well, the traditional Finnish ice cream brand being sold to Nestle.

Nestle, tuo eettisyyden tyyssatama, siveyden sipuli ja kaikkien kehitysmaiden kaveri on ostamassa Valiojäätelön itselleen.

Kaik' hyö vievät. Tuhkatkin pesästä. Valion vaniljasta puhumattakaan.

Pumping on

I got an inspiration while talking with Chu last night - she was considering joining a gym and I tried to get her to consider going to a Body Pump class, when I realised it's something I should do, too. I've been thinking about adding something to my yoga classes that I currently do three times a week, and Body Pump should compliment yoga very well. It's also something approved by my doctor, as I wouldn't be using heavy weights.

Luckily enough, one of my favourite Pump instructors Gary does Body Pump classes at my club on Monday evenings, so this morning I packed my gym gear and took them with me so I can go to the class straight from work. I'm really out of touch with this stuff - I've used to packing my yoga gear - and I really needed to concentrate on getting all appropriate stuff with me: shoes, gloves... (either are needed in yoga) and took out the mat as I only realised when I was leaving that I wasn't going to need it.

Next time I'll remember to take socks, too.

Material Dragon

There are two things in my current wish list of material things: a new wallet and a new gym bag.

I really don't want to give up my Prada wallet, for it has served me with distinction for years, but the sad truth is that it has come to the end of its illustrious career. I want something that looks equally good and will last just as long as the old one. I've always been a proponent of spending a lot of money as it seems that I save more money in the end that way -cheap stuff simply always falls apart quickly.

Gym bag is a bit more troublesome. I've never had one that I really like, though I've used everything from plastic bags to proper sports bags. Never found anything that fits my style, either. I need a bag that can hold my towel, shaker bottle, weightlifting belt, training shoes, and my training clothes. It needs to be able to stand rain, heavy wear and tear, and not to be too big or cumbersome.

Can anyone suggest any good ones? Oh, and black is the colour of choice for both items, in case anyone was wondering.

Proud to present...

I'm proud to present Dragon/kolibri, version 2. New appearance is inspired by Jerry Smith who produced these wonderful pictures, and by Thor who has given me a lot of help with usablity, and by all the web sites I've ever visited and admired.

There are even some new and improved features: you can now subscribe to D/k comments using your favourite RSS reader to stay up-to-date with Mikki's insults and other random mumbles that our dear readers leave us. Or you can send your own insults to us by email - both features can be found on the side bar.

All comments are welcome, as always.

Ghost town just a sham?

You remember the Chernobyl ghost town story by a woman who had been touring there on her motorcycle that made rounds in blogoshpere some time ago? Well, looks like the whole story is just a sham - photos might have been real, but the story and "scientific facts" were essentially made up. I have to say when I saw the site for the first time I was uneasy about the story, but the power of the photos was so compelling I just swallowed it hook and all and never though about it more than that.

I'm really annoyed about the whole thing now. This is a serious subject and then some idiot just puts a spin on it all to create fame for herself, and quite succesfully too. I'd like to say I don't understand why people do it but it's probably more that I understand, and just find it unfair that they get away with it. I hope she won't after this.

Via Neil Gaiman. Original ghost town site has apparently been extensively redone.

Travel fever

I picked up two travel guides to Toronto today (Rough Guide and Timeout), and suddenly I find that I have travel fever. This is simply unheard of - I don't get exited about travelling, I get agitated and anxious. It's difficult to say what has happened - maybe it's just that I've been trying to avoid travelling for so long that I haven't noticed that things have changed. Suddenly I'm feeling very positive and I'm actually looking forward to this. Amazing.

No nipples please, we’re British

I can appreciate that there is a time and a place for nipples, but surely breastfeeding is one of the legitimate uses for them. Apparently not, according to the Cinema Advertising Association who has cut the brief apperance of a bare nipple in a promotional film encouraging people to vote in the European elections that will be shown in cinemas across the country. Most Europeans get to see this depraved 5 second scene of baby breastfeeding, but alas, it would shock Her Majesty's loyal subjects to the core to see this unnatural act.

What next, make it illegal?

From The Herald.

10,000

D/k celebrated it's 10,000th visitor very early this morning. The lucky guest came here from Finland trough the Pinseri list and has a very dreamy username. Congratulations and them and us, and everyone else who's visited, and I hope you've enjoyed everything here.

Dragon on the roll

Summer is almost upon us so it is time for me to see if I could live up to the promises I made to myself in this blog in February. Let's see how I fared.

Deadlift 325 pounds.

Easy. I probably could have done even more, but I am concentrating on my technique for now. I don't want to break my lower back.

Increase my bench press max from 250 to 275 pounds.

This one was easy, too. 300 pound bench, here I come!

Do 500 Indian squats in a row.

Miserable failure. My best was 306, and my legs cramped so badly that I couldn't do a single squat more no matter how hard I tried. And the pain was unbearable. This will take years, I reckon.

Hit my kickboxing trainer until he breaks.

Very successful here. Granted I most often grapple to finish him off, but I am getting my rythm back.

Do 35 chin-ups in a row.

30 max is my best fro this spring. But I don't feel too bad as I've put on more mass. I'll try it again after the cutting phase.

Finally master the complete Sa Kwon Bo kata.

I never even bought a Bo stick so I could practice properly. Shame on me.

As for the rest of my training: My illness robbed me of some of the mass I put on, but I did go from 70 to 72,5 kg in weight without gaining any fat. I've increased weights in all my excercises, and even my running is going pretty well.

Come summer, I am ready. I must get Henri to do some comparison photos when I take my holidays.

Holidays

It's funny how Finns don't tend to think Finland being a religious country - but forget the fact that almost quite a few of the Finnish public holidays are religious ones. Like today - Ascension Day - is a public holiday in Finland while here it's hardly mentioned. I guess these holidays are weird customs that have lost their religious meanings ages ago, but no one is complaining as they appreciate the extra day off.

And as I'm in the subject of holidays, looks like my summer holiday plans are pretty much made for me. June is pretty much out for us as Dragon is very busy at work, and my collegue John's girlfriend has only one brief window when she can take holidays - so mid-July looks to be the choice for this year.

Not that I mind - July is my favourite month to be in Finland: nature is at it's best, it's warm and most of my friends are on holiday too.

Yay for me

Dragon's grandmother is usually the only person who remembers my name day (nimipäivä in Finnish, there isn't an equal custom in UK), but this year if Chu hadn't congratulated me I would have forgotten it as well. So a big yay for me.

Enterprise saved

Fans have once again saved Star Trek - this time the Enterprise variety - and the series has been given a fourth season. It's not a cause I would have personally campaigned for, but I'm happy that they got one more season - third season was already a big improvement on the second one and one can only hope that things get even better for the next one.

From TrekToday.com.

Dragon over Troy

WARNING!!!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!

Saw Troy last weekend and thought a lot about it. I will not write a review, as it would just lead into pointless comparisons between the movie and Iliad. I will simply write some of my reflections and thoughts running through my head after seeing it. As a movie it was OK -same as rest of the Hollywood movies. But as the subject matter is dear to me I analyzed it more than I normally would.

Ajax was brilliantly cast, as were Agamemnon, Nestor and Menelaus. Odysseus was good, though we did not see much of him or witness his legendary cunning -even the wooden horse was added as if an afterthought. Helen was a disappointment -as was most of the female cast.

I understand why the ten-year war was cut to just a few days, but I think it truly ate away the sense of doom and struggle, and mocked the efforts both sides had to put into the war. The whole point of the war at Troy was that it robbed ten years of life from the greatest and most vibrant men of their generation, even if they survived the slaughter. Now we had a quick siege in fifteen days or so.

Historically the movie was a mixed bag: some things such as funeral traditions of placing coins over the eyes of the dead and spilling first drink to the gods were good touches while others were atrociously bad, such as the port of Sparta (Sparta is a land-locked city) and the use of classic Greek battle ships which were invented much later. But then, the movie makers probably want to use the strongest visual images possible. Battle scenes were thrilling, though pure fantasy. It did not matter over-much, for all the duels of the movie were really exciting and well choreographed.

It is strange that Paris was not killed at all -after all if anyone was the villain of the movie, it was the young prince of Troy. Then again Orlando Bloom is such a heart-throb for the millions of teen girls that the film-makers probably did not have guts to do it. Being scratched to death is a painful way to go I hear. Perhaps if Oenone, his first wife would have been added, he would have been seen more as Homer meant him to be: the death of his nation who cast his wife aside.

I was glad how heroic Hector was in the movie, though I guess even that might be problematic for modern audiences. He was too pure and fair to be in any way realistic in today's terms, though in Iliad he was even more heroic: in Homer's epic poem Achilles was invulnerable save for his heel, so when Hector faced him he knew he was going to die -there was no hope of victory at all. Hector embodied the virtues of the ancient Greeks, where the good of many outweighs the good of the individual. But I liked him –call me old-fashioned but I prefer my heroes like this.

This brings us to Achilles... No, this role was beyond Brad Pitt, though I have to admit he gave it his all. But his mannerisms and physical presence simply did not reflect those of an utterly invincible warrior. He was arrogant and angry, yet he lacked some of Achilles' pride. His love for Patroclus did not seem real enough, either. This was most likely due the crow-barred romance which ate away from his Philadelphia, love for the comrade of arms.

Finally, the ending. I liked the last stand of the Troyan warriors at the palace gates, but the death of Agamemnon was done clumsily. In the Greek legends he was slain by his wife who coveted his throne, a fitting end to his ambition.

Comeback

Some things just need to be written in Finnish. This review of Finnish pop music is definetly one of them - don't worry, you're not missing anything as it's unlikely anything I write would mean anything to you. Normal service will resume soon.

Nylon Beat on yksi niistä suomalaisista ilmiöistä jotka olen onnistunut välttämään Englannissa asuessani. Yksi niistä asioista joista puhutaan radiossa, mutta josta minulla ei ollut mitään konkreettista käsitystä. Joten kun J-Ko toi meille Nylon Beatin kokoelmakaksois-CDn lahjaksi käydessään viimeksi meillä, odotin kauhunsekaisella innolla mitä levy pitäisi sisällään.

Ensimmäiset askeleet otettiin J-Kon asiantuntevalla opastuksella: "Tää oli iso hitti" ja "Tässä niillä on jo kunnon bändi", mutta vierailun päätyttyä otin levyn töihin kuunnellakseni sitä tarkemmin. Kaksi CDllistä kevyttä suomipoppia, mikäs siinä kuunnellessa - onnistuin tunnistamaan 40:n kappaleen joukosta kaksi biisiä ("Rakastuin mä looseriin" ja "Anna mulle") enka ole varma siitä onko tämä hyvä vai huono asia.

Ensimmäinen reaktio on: mihin ikäluokkaan taman musiikin on tarkoitus vedota?

Koulussa kanssas kun kohdattiin
Minä ihastuin silmiis sinisiin
Ja me yhdessä jäätiin jälkkäriin sun kaa

"Teflonlove" on jonkilainen koulutytön grrrrlpower itsenäisyysjulistus, ja monet muut kappaleet seuraavat samaa teemaa. Henkisesti siis Nylonit tuntuvat olevan Spice Girlsien opetuslapsia, musiikillisesti biitti tuntuu seuraavan sellaisia 90-luvun ruotsalaisia ilmiöitä kuten Ace of Base.

Suurimmaksi osaksi kappaleet ovat helposti sulattevaa iloista sekamelskaa, ja kahdella levyllä on vain muutama kappale jonka poikkeuksetta ohitan niitten aiheuttaman verenpaineen kohotuksen takia - "UmmMammMaa", "Kauhea kankkunen", "Venäjää" ja erityisesti "Oot kuin karkkia mulle":

Oot kuin karkkia mulle
Hunajasuulle
Namusedän sinusta teen
Vie mut makeutetulle
Rakastelulle
Karkkipäivä uudelleen

Toisaalta parhaat kappaleet jäävät ihastuttavasti soimaan päässä päiväkausiksi - erityisiä suosikkeja ovat nimikkokappale "Comeback", "Naparengas", "Syntinen" ja "Sairaanfuckingkipeenraastavaa".

Sä oot niin puhdas, kilttikin
Mut vähän saarnaa kaipaisin
Oisit ees hiukan syntinen

J-Ko kuvaili Nylon Beatin musiikkia sanomalla että se on musiikkia joka sopii joka tilanteeseen, ja minun täytyy olla samaa mieltä. Normaalisti jos tarvitsen "keskittymismusiikkia" valitsen Rammsteinia tai jotain muuta joka eristää minut tehokkaasti ulkomaailmasta, mutta huomaan yllätyksekseni etta Nylon Beat tekee tämän myös aika tehokkaasti.

Mutta loppujen lopuksi tämä ei ole musiikkia jota itse koskaan ostaisin. Musiikkimakuni on niin laaja ettei minulla ole mitään tätä lajia vastaankaan, mutta yleensä valitsisin jotain raskaampaa ja vaativampaa.

Signs of summer

One of the sure signs of summer is that your windscreen becomes a killing field for all sort of insects. And I obviously need to get some better windscreen wiper fluid.

Firestorm dying down

Most of the MT community has taken one of these now and Six Apart has clarified their position on the new licenses. There have been a lot of people who have been talking for Six Apart, most notably Jay Allen who also has managed to get somebody's knickers in a serious twist about it.

I, for one, am perfectly happy with new licensing clarifications - the new allowances of

...adding a new "Personal Edition Add-On" package that gives someone who has purchased a Personal Edition license the ability to buy 1 new weblog and 1 new author for $10. You can purchase as many additional author/weblog packs as you want, each for $10.

For the Personal Edition, we're increasing the number of allowed authors from 3 to 5. The number of allowed weblogs will still be 5.

solve my biggest worry about being able to accomodate the kinds of setups I'm likely to have in the future. I have absolutely no problems with paying for software, but I will be waiting for the actual release (as per 6A recommendation) before making the decision whether to update from 2.661 or not.

If you build it, they will come

It's crazy how much time it's possible to spend by tinkering one's website. Dragon showed ages ago some upcoming artwork for the new look Dragon/kolibri, and that's what I've been playing with for the past week or so.

It's all a bit mad - I'm by no means a web designer, so figuring out how I can do what I want to achieve with combination of HTML, CSS and PHP is all very stimulating. Google and MT Support forums are my best friends at the moment: I've installed several plugins and one script... but of course you don't want to hear any of that.

So I'll just say that it's not long now.

The bigger pizza theory

One of my friends had a theory called 'The Bigger Pizza Theory'. The basic idea of this theory is that now matter how much your income increases, you can always buy a bigger pizza to offset any extra income (you can replace the pizza with more expensive clothes, fancier car, more powerful PC, bigger house or whatever takes your fancy). This means that you are permanently stuck in a hamster wheel, chasing after money in a vain hope you could take it easier at some point. Any hope of getting a break is an illusion -when you buy the next biggest pizza, you must work even harder for the bigger one.

Looking at my outgoings now and eight years ago, as well as the number of hours in my average working day now and then, I have to admit he had a point.

Of Abu Ghraib

I've followed with great dismay the events taking place in Iraq recently.

I think one of the most significant points in the recent scandal over the prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib is the sophistication of the methods used by the US reservists, and how well they are honed to break down Arabs especially.

At the moment the people are busy shifting the blame on to the reservists seen in the photos. However, the experts say that the whole set-up seems far too professional:

'The photo could have been a textbook illustration of a classic torture method known as crucifixion’ says Darius Rejali, an associate professor of political science at Oregon's Reed College and author of Torture and Modernity. This kind of torture was used by Gestapo and by Stalin he says, although the wires and the threat of electrocution if you fell were a Brazilian police innovation.

An Israeli interrogation expert had a few lines to add: 'Typical Arab male will do anything at all to avoid being put into position of (sexual) inferiority to a woman'. The use of a leash on a male prisoner by PFC England is something a western businessman would pay good money for, but it is a very serious thing in Middle East –it is the ultimate humiliation.

Use of dogs seems too much to be a coincidence, too: Muslims consider dogs unclean animals. Using dogs to attack a Muslim is like using giant spiders to attack someone suffering from arachnophobia.

All this adds up to more than a few pranks played by young reservists who should know better. According to all reports, the soldiers seen in the pictures are small-town youths who would be unlikely to orchestrate such complex operation with such a good understanding of what cracks down an Arab mind-set.

Other hot topic has been the feeling that what the Iraqis have been subjected to does not measure up to full 'torture', even though the interviews of the detainees do speak of lots of physical torture as well. But the rest of the photos that the current US government is fighting to keep out of public view are almost certainly going to show scenes of rape and murder (based on comments of those who have viewed them). They will surface eventually, and will most likely shock the westerners more than the current ones in the media, but at least in the opinion of the Arab populace, the sexual humiliation is a fate worse than death. The fear of the sexual humiliation is going to break any chance of reconciliation. As an Israeli expert put this on TV recently: ‘…they (Arabs) now consider Americans monstrous sexual perverts. This was not the case before, as deaths at war are reconcilable in Arab eyes. I don’t think the US administration fully realizes the damage done.’

Revenge attacks will follow (started already with the revolting murder of Mr. Berg by the Jordanian terrorist who saw a great opportunity to inflame the situation) and I seriously fear the escalation of violence. It will take a great leader to solve this all.

I for one, as a pragmatist, was happy to see Hussein go -he was a hideous tyrant responsible for horrible deaths of hundreds of thousands -at least something good came out of it, though no war without UN mandate is legal in my eyes. I have no pity for terrorists, though the Spanish approach of treating the Madrid atrocity as a police matter rather than a military business seems to be yielding better results. As I've said before, I really am not big on American-bashing -I have too many friends over there, and I've always been treated with great hospitality when visiting US (excluding the customs troglodytes, of course). I have a lot of respect for many Americans. I think the US people will set things straight in next elections, just like the Spaniards did in theirs.

Spamming continues

It seems that I'm the spammers' favourite choice today. While I was in ashtanga today, I had received a voicemail on my mobile phone. I called my voicemail number, but there were no messages. Odd, I thought, but reconed it was possible that my opeator had changed the voicemail number so I called the number on the message.

Turns out I had won £5000!!!!

Yeah, that will allow me to buy all those flying pigs I always wanted. So lets see now - I get "voicemail" that is not left in my mailbox. My mobile phone number has been picked to win in a competition I knew nothing about. It comes from a company that I can find no information on from the internet. I need to call them back on a premium rate number (that they don't specify the rate on) to claim the price within 48 hours or the price will be reallocated - and oh by the way, the lines might be a bit busy but I should just keep on calling, I'll get trough at some point.

Yeah, thanks but no thanks. Here are some cues for spotting hoaxes:

• The approach, whether in writing, by phone or email, is unsolicited
• There is a very short time in which to respond to claim a prize
• It is an invitation to send a "processing" or "management" fee to claim a prize
• It is an invitation to purchase goods to obtain a prize or reward
• It is an invitation to use premium phone lines
• The source of the promotion is based overseas
• It is in invitation to send money out of the country, particularly to the Netherlands or Canada
• Prizes are expressed in foreign currency
• It is an invitation to provide credit card or bank account details
• Rewards are wholly dependant on persuading others to join a scheme
• Premium rate services generally begin with the numbers 090
• Premium reverse bill text messages usually contain a four or five digit short code number to reply to

And now, weather and spam

Wonderful weather today - it started up again with a pea-soup-like fog, but by the time I got near Newbury I had to put my sunglasses on. I just couldn't believe it when I got out of the car - it was so sunny and warm, like a summer morning. We have been suffering from unusually cold weather for this time of year for the past month or so, so this change is very welcome. Especially with the weekend coming.

It even made me feel a bit better about the fact that some comment spam escaped the Blacklist again last night. This week has been especially bad spam-wise - Blacklist seems to block around 10-20 spams a day, but newest addresses that haven't yet been added to the list yet can still come trough, and I'm not the only one who's had sudden increases in spamming recently. In retaliation I installed the CloseComments plugin for MT, and closed comments on most of our old entries. You can still comment on the old entries by sending us some email.

Androgynous Dragon?

Today, for a third time in two weeks a shop assistant has called me "miss" or "mam" while looking me into my eyes.

Apart from my overall build, and relatively low voice, I have a pretty damn visible stubble nowadays, and today it was closer to a beard.

I must be prettier than I thought.

MT 3.0 released

Well, the moment many MT-heads have been waiting for is here - MovableType 3.0 is here. There has been quite a lot of discussion and rumours about this for months, and unfortunately most of it has been negative. People have been complaining that features Six Apart has added to the new edition do not warrant a major version number change, as very few things have actually changed.

Now it's all in the open. Mena Trott (co-founder of Six Apart) explains what it's all about:

"It will be available to everyone, not just developers; we're calling it a Developer Release to emphasize the fact that 3.0 itself is not a feature release in the traditional sense. With this release we hope that the developer community will implement some great extensions for 3.0.

Since many of Six Apart's employees are Apple fanboys/girls, we make the analogy to the first releases of OS X: the first releases did not offer that many new features themselves, only a more stable and robust platform for developers to build upon."

Sounds fair enough - I'm all for robust platforms, but what really surprised - and yes shocked - me is the new licensing structure. While MT will still be available for free, the restriction of only one user and maximum of three weblogs seems... a bit harsh. I'm not against them asking money for it - hey, I've donated them money because I think it's only fair - but what they consider personal use is in my opinion a bit limited: maximum of three users and five weblogs - with the pricetag of $99.95. How about situations - there are numerous just in Finnish blogosphere - where you'd like to offer your friends their own blog on your server. If you don't ask money for it, it can't be exactly called commercial can it, but you'd have to pay hard money for it in 3.0.

I had been looking forward to this update for a while now, but looks like I need to think about this a bit more. Depending on how the features will be coming along, I imagine I will eventually be upgrading. But that's what it all seems to be depending on now - I imagine Six Apart will be concentrating on the infrastructure, and voluntary developers will be concentrating on the additional features people want.

I'm hoping of course that it will all turn out well. But it will be interesting to see if this kind of reliance on voluntary support will pay off.

Later: As I assumed, the licensing pricing has caused a furore.

Talking to a machine

Well, that was a first. I just called ParcerForce to rearrange a delivery of a package that they tried to deliver yesterday, and I got to talk to a machine. And I mean, really talk to a machine, not just navigate in a menu jungle: they had a voice recognition program. Or non-recognition, in my case anyway - first question was ok as they he/it was asking if I had previously asked for a redelivery (yes/no), but the next question was more complex. I wanted the package to be delivered to my local post office so I could go and pick it up when I have time (i.e. Saturday), but obviously the program had a problem with my accent and didn't understand what I was saying - but also they could have chosen an easier string than "local post office". After three failed attempts I got to talk to a real person and got the delivery arranged.

I knew these systems existed, I'd just never come across one before. Personally I'm more comfortable in navigating trough menus than trying to get a machine to understand what I want to say, but I can imagine that I might be in the minority here. The machine was very friendly, apologising for not being able to make the delivery and no doubt as these systems become more sophisticated we'll see/hear more of them.

The Skinner by Neil Asher

"Welcome to Spatterjay... where sudden death is the normal way of life."

I'm continuing to explore new authors, and next in line was Neil Asher with The Skinner. First reaction to the world he's created is not hugely original - we have The Polity (poor man's Culture), we have AIs running it (poor man's Minds), we have Spatterjay (poor man's Deathworld)... But the second reaction is that it doesn't actually matter. Characters and stories behind them are interesting enough, and plot holds in place very well. It's funny - it's the second book I've read in a row about immortality: in Altered Carbon it was about immortal minds while bodies were dying, and in The Skinner we have immortal bodies while the minds die. Both books explore the concept of what happens to a human when they live longer than their natural lifespan would allow - in Altered Carbon they go more or less mad, in The Skinner they either adapt and find peace or die.

There are three main characters who each come to the planet Spatterjay with their separate missions. Erlin is an immortal scientist who is coming back to seek an old lover, Janer is a man working for a hive mind taking care of business for them, and Keech is - what I can only describe as - an Egyptian mummy, a 700 year old walking corpse on a 700 year old vendetta. And Spatterjay is extremely hostile planet where life is based on the spatterjay virus making all inhabitants immortal and nearly indestructible.

There were some things I didn't care too much in this book - main issue was probably the very jumpy plot. Obviously the purpose of the narrative was to keep the reader on their toes - but because there were quite a few sub-plots going on at the same time, jumping between them every couple of pages was at times quite painful. I even did something I never normally do - skim reading some bits because I wanted to get to the bit of the story that I really liked. And that's of course what kept me going - the plot was good, it was well written, it was interesting and I did really care what happened to the characters.

So Neil Asher might not be right on the top of my list of authors, but I believe I will come back to his books sooner rather than later.

Vending hell

Oh crap. Our company has just aquired vending machines, full of lovely chocolate and crisps... making the afternoon snack cravings that much more difficult to cope with. Although I find that I don't really crave for chocolate as much as I used to (not that I don't appreciate good quality Belgian or Swiss chocolate). Crisps are of course my particular vice - anything savory, really. There's something about that instant combo hit of fat and carbohydrates and salt that just satisfies that afternoon energy slump and keeps you going.

But I'm going to be strong. I'm confident that today, armed with two apples and a banana, I will make it trough the day. Now if I can just make the siren song in my head go away...

Elections

Like all the other Finns, we got our notifications of upcoming EU parlament elections yesterday. So far we've always voted in all Finnish elections - and in fact I consider it to be a kind of civil duty. This time... yes, I'll vote but I'm seriously starting to feel detached from Finnish politics. I have no idea of any of the candidates, their credentials and what they have achieved so far, and I'm not even sure if they would be driving my interests. Certainly I feel that if we're still living here next time the EU elections are held, I'll be applying for the right to vote local candidates - at least then I feel that they are doing something my local community.

Dragon's top 5 games

Once again today I got the usual question from a game journalist: what are your favourite games of all time? After writing this down for the umpteenth time, I thought I might post it here as well.

Drum roll, please: here are Dragon’s top 5 games of all time!

5. Ultima IV: Quest for Avatar

I liked most of the Ultima series, but IV was the game that really grabbed me and made me a gamer. The Quest for Avatar was the first open-ended RPG I played, and it captivated me utterly. There were the great cities from Skara Brae to the citadel of Lord British, hundreds of NPCs to interact with, spell components to mix, dungeons to conquer, and the eternal strife to be true and pure in order to prove yourself worthy of the title of Avatar. Yes, it is outdated RPG game –but it must be venerated as the granddaddy of them all.

4. ICO

If there ever was a game that could teach Hollywood a thing or two about storytelling, this is it. It tells a story of a boy called Ico, who is doomed to be locked in a stone tomb for all eternity in the abandoned castle. His crime? Two horns that grow on his head. Ico manages to escape from his stony prison and must find his way out of the castle. Ico is a puzzle game on surface, but it is really a story of a tender, sisterly love between Ico and a captive girl he rescues. Using almost no dialogue and some simple animations the game still manages to convey more emotion and warmth than all Hollywood blockbusters for the last ten years combined. Graphically and aurally, Ico is perhaps the most beautiful game I’ve ever seen. The gameplay, though excellent, is almost an bonus compared to the deep immersion of the game created by the dazzling visuals and sounds. My only gripe is that instead of a single castle I wanted an entire universe done with the same passion, so I could lose all my waking hours exploring it.

3. Silent Hill 2

Almost no video game has power to influence my emotions anymore, But Silent Hill 2 is a glorious, glorious exception. It is a horror game, set in the town of Silent Hill, where the protagonist, James Sutherland is driven by his anguished mind after the death of his wife. In Silent Hill are answers for all his questions, but also horror beyond imagination.

Silent Hill 2 is truly, truly scary game. Remember, I do video games for living. I know exactly how these things are done and in fact, looking back when playing the game I could easily tell when I was in danger and when I wasn’t. But I was so absorbed in the game that all my years of experience counted for nothing. And my fear was not for the (admittedly disturbing) monster trying to kill James –I feared for the corruption of his soul.

Very good books make me think about them for weeks on end –Silent Hill 2 did the same for me. Granted the localised voice acting was not brilliant, and neither was the translation, but these are tiny minor gripes. I wish I could make a game that shakes players as deeply as this.

Mikki, if you are reading this, how is Silent Hill 3 going?

2.Soul Calibur

I love beat-‘em up games, but Soul Calibur is so far ahead of the competition that it s not even funny. Intuitive, deep, easy to pick-up-yet-difficult-to-master, playable, gorgeous graphics and great sound –there is virtually nothing to fault here. I must have spent excess of 1000 hours on this game. Even years and years after it release, I still shout with Mitsurugi each time I win a game ‘You'll be in HELL ...before me!’ Note I consider both Soul Calibur 1 and 2 the same glorious game.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time

They just don’t get any better than this. Huge in size and scope, original, utterly playable, fun, touching, exciting… A true adventure that you really never want to end. There is not single feature that makes Zelda stand out, all of it is brilliant: exciting combat, fiendish puzzles, frightening bosses, classic story, the clever time travel game mechanics, lovable characters… I could rave all night about it. Sufficent to say that I cannot see any games on the horizon that could challenge this game, despite it's age. Miyamoto-san is that good.

That’s it. Admittedly, I could easily do a top 100 and still leave out some of my absolute favourites, but these five came to my mind when thinking about truly great games. Perhaps I should do a list based on genre one day…

Colour update

I know you're all dying to hear the results or my eye colour change project, so here it comes. Chesnut (that means brown) was a big disappointment - I had been dreaming about dark brown eyes but the lense didn't change my colour in any way. Green (they didn't come up with a fancy name for that) was nice, not bright green like the photo let you believe, but natural looking dark moss green - not too far away from my natural colour. Sapphire (that's blue) was Dragon's favourite: it made my eyes quite blue but still pretty natural.

So this morning I ordered ten pairs of green and sapphire each, although the price tag on the lenses was fairly staggering. But hey, it's just a bit of fun.

Stand-up comedy

Generally I don't like stand-up comedy. I just don't get it - or maybe it's just that I've never really seen really good stuff. Thor showed me some of Eddie Izzard's best ones and that was pretty funny, but he's also showed me some of his not-so-funny stuff. So I'm not convinced... the concept of a guy standing on the stage telling jokes just seems a bit weird.

There's one man I'd be prepared to pay to see on stage though: Bill Bailey. In fact so much so I'm seriously considering going to see him when he's in Portsmouth next month.

The War at Troy by Lindsay Clarke

As Troy the movie is almost upon us, I wanted to brush up on some historical reading on the Homer’s epic Iliad. amongst the other things I read was a fictional re-telling of Iliad by Lindsay Clarke.

The book tells of the events that lead to the ten-year war between Troy and the Greek nations, but above all it is the story of the heroes that are larger than life. It is as Clarke puts it in the prologue of the book:

"The people who lived in those days were closer to gods than we are, and great deeds and marvels were commoner then, which is why the stories we have from them are nobler and richer than our own. So that those stories should not pass from the earth, I have decided to set down everything I know of the stories of the war at Troy -- of the way it began, of the way it was fought, and of the way in which it was ended."

Surprisingly enough, the book covers the war itself in relatively little detail, and concentrates on the relationships between the characters and their personalities: love between treacherous Paris and fair Helen, the cunning of Odysseus, King Priam’s pride in his sons and nobility of Menelaus and his anguish when Helen is taken from him.

Agamemnon, the High King of Men and the leader of the Greek armies is painted as a ruthless tyrant, exploiting the capture of Helen to bring his armies to the shores of Asia. Indeed Clarke takes the view (supported by most historians) that the true cause of the war was the struggle for dominance between Asia and the Argive Greeks. Indeed the author details the political machinations between the different courts in great detail and with apparent relish. I always appreciate this as it makes the time and the people to come alive in my mind –very few people exist solely for war after all.

The supernatural elements are present in the book (starting with the argument between the goddesses of Olympus on which one of them is the most beautiful), but many mythological elements have been ditched too –for example, Achilles is not magically invulnerable to all wounds as in the original epic, but rather is simply the greatest warrior of the age.

By far the strongest elements are the epic encounters between the Troyan Champions and the Greek heroes: the most touching of all being the most famous duel in the history of the world: Hektor’s valiant but pointless battle against the god-like Achilles.

Though not the best of all historical epics I have ever read, it is well worth your time if you enjoy heroic stories of love and war.

Van Helsing

Despite several warnings, we decided to go and see Van Helsing. You see, it's about Van Helsing - father of all vampire slayers - directed by Stephen "Mummy" Sommers and stars Hugh "I'm really hot" Jackman and Kate "broody" Beckinsale, and the trailers kicked arse. So it should have been really good, it really should have. But alas, everyone who's seen it so far has pretty much regretted it, so I didn't have my hopes up.

And that's the best way to see movies, for me anyway. Because I ended up kind of liking it despite all it's faults... and let me just confirm to those who haven't seen it yet, they were numerous: biggest problem was probably the weird plot that kept jumpin back and forth and sideways and up and down. Some people have complained that it was too long - I say it was too short: it was clearly missing about 20 minutes of plot development that might have made a difference.

On the good side though - I thought it was pretty funny, in a very light sort of way. And it was incredibly pretty, there was much nicely animated CGI, and the wardrobe was to die for. Hugh Jackman was very easy on the eye, and so was Kate Beckinsale (although I'm less and less sure about whether she can pull of any other roles than this kind of moody heroic beauty). Then there was Dracula, the last of the Brunnen-G (sorry, it's the hair... and the make-up... but wasn't that guy just Michael McManus' long lost twin brother?). But seriously, I thought he was pretty good too - unlike what I thought initially, I didn't really have anything against vampire babies, or werewolves, or Frankenstein monsters or other mythical creatues being in the mix: that's what Sommers does.

So all in all, I didn't regret time or money spent.

Eye OK

Since I use contact lenses daily, I should really have my eyes checked every year, and this is a service I get for free from my optician. Due to general laziness, I haven't been though, not since I moved to Southsea because that would have required me to register with a new optician and... ok, I said it was because of laziness. For the past month or so though I've started experiencing some pain in my eyes while driving, so that kind of prompted me to book an appointment.

So I had my eye check today, and turned out it was almost two years since the previous one. Luckily everything was in order, and my optician said that the pain most likely was due to air conditioning in the car combined with the fact that I wasn't blinking enough when concentrating on driving. Sounds plausible enough so I will give that a go. Another news was that Acuvue has finally brought out daily coloured contact lenses - it's something I've been waiting for a while now: I don't want to use the monthly lenses if I only want to change my eye colour occasionally, plus daily lenses are so much more comfortable. I've now got pair of brown, blue and green lenses to try on... I'm quite curious to see what they will look like.

Another thing that occurred to me is that I have yet to meet an optician that I didn't like - they are usually very nice and sociable chatty people: my new optician was first curious about my accent (he reconed it was either Dutch or German, both common guesses) and then he wanted to know everything about Finland in about 20 minutes. I ended up just staying and chatting to him for about ten minutes after my appointment ended and explaining to him intricacies of Finnish history, culture, language and people.

Goal!

You remember my Baddha Konasana? Today I achieved "the goal" in that asana, getting my forehead to touch the floor while keeping my back straight.

I'm still in a shock about it. Just see what little encouragement can achieve!

Beast in you

Lately there has been a lot of talk about American and British soldiers abusing prisoners in Iraq. What amazes me is the fact that everyone seems so surprised that this is happening - that everyone thinks that "our" soldiers should be so much more civilised than "their" soldiers.

Well, it doesn't work like that. Most people, soldiers included, have deep in-built morals that make them behave nicely towards other people. Army training tries to get rid of this, but it's very difficult - apparently when soldiers go to battle for the first time while shooting the enemy most people actually try to miss because killing other people is so difficult. But what eventually happens in situations like that is the soldiers change, snap, and cross the line: they purposefully start killing other people. When this change happens, it's not something that can only be applied on the battlefield and then be turned off - it changes people permanently and makes them capable of doing things "normal" people would never do.

There are other reasons for the kind of abuse we have been witnessing. There is the human reason - these people have seen the enemy kill their friends, and it makes them angry, angry enough to take it out on people who most likely have nothing to do with that (particular incident). While not acceptable, this is easy enough to understand.

But it's also about the old saying: power corrupts. This can be seen everywhere where people are given unguarded power - be it playground or school or nursing homes. In case of Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq the reports say that there was very little discipline enforced on the soldiers - so no wonder they went too far. The fault of course lies with the whole chain of command: individual soldiers commiting these acts are to blame, but so are their commanding officers and everyone else up to Defence Secretary Rumsfeld. Some of them might have directly been able to prevent it, some of them are resposible for guidelines and morale.

What is true though, is that we should aspire to engage in more humane warfare, if there is such a thing. War is not pretty, but honestly, it's not a good reason not to try. I just hope these allegations are taken more seriously than just an inconvenience to election campaigns, that something good will come out of them.

I'm gonna Kill Bill vol. 2

Note: there are some mild spoilers in this entry.

I've been digesting Kill Bill vol. 2 since I saw it. In retrospect I think I can say that I really liked it - with some movies it's not always apparent to me just after I've seen them if I like them or not. Kill Bill vol. 1 just blew me away so there was no question... with vol. 2 the effect is much more subtile.

Despite the lack of physical violence (ok, so obviously not total lack of violence, but compared to the first one), I think the second part is still much more distressing... due the gruesome mental violence this movie was full of. I'm especially thinking about the scene where Beatrix is buried alive (which BTW features the best track on the soundtrack which I've been listening to for couple of days now) which I found really difficult to watch.

But most of all, I think the underlying story between Bill and Beatrix (ooh! B.B. I just got that) is what touched me the most. I think - if you can possibly say that in the context of this movie - it was very realistic and understandable. And most of all, it made perfect sense in the context of all the events in both movies.

It will be very interesting to see if/when Tarantino makes is one-movie version how he's going to tie in both movies. With his non-linear storytelling he could do almost anything - I think one thing we can be sure of that it won't be just one movie after another.

Getting to know you

While a bit tipsy, Kerry suggested me on the company boat trip that we should get to know each other and that we should "do lunch". There are only five women working in our company, and I'm the only woman on my floor - and she thought I was the closest match to her age and experiences and that we could become friends... and fair enough, when we met for the first time on our girlie Christmas lunch last December, we got on really well.

But people have suggested me different things while drunk, and usually none of them mean it - but I had promised her though that I'd come and meet her in her floor and we should agree on a date. Since I was actually sober while making that promise, I had no reason to not to do it, and so I went to see her last week - she was busy talking to some sales guy and I needed to go so we didn't get to talk. So I figured, this was a good way to not do anything about the issue, in case she had changed her mind and didn't want to do it anymore.

And understand my apprehension - I'm not very good at meeting new people, and to top that, I have even more difficulties with English women as they often seem to be very different to me (or Finnish women). But Kerry emailed me last week after my visit, and we did agreed to go out for lunch today.

And I admit, I was totally wrong. We got along like house on fire - there was no silent moment at any point. We talked about moving, getting old, blokes, shopping, husbands, studies, exercise... you know all those things that you talk about with you good friends that you've known for ages.

It is strange: I've gotten so used not meeting "compatible" people that I'm really surprised when it actually happens. This might be a beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Planet Football

Sometimes I just hate living on Planet Football, especially in cities whose football clubs are in the premier league. This is because when there is a match on like, say yesterday, the whole city grinds to a halt - it's impossible to get anywhere by car, or by any other means of transport come to think of it. Legs are a good choice, especially if you live close enough to walk wherever it is you're going, which I did yesterday.

In addition to the ashtanga classes my teacher Karen teaches at my club, she also teaches full two hour classes privately. She's been doing these in a hotel about five minutes walk from our house, and yesterday I thought I'd go on my old regular, the Tuesday class. Annoying thing was that because of the aforementioned sport and the transport issues it causes, I was the only one who made it. Karen was there too, but she decided not to hold the class in lack of attendees.

Damn. I was kind of looking forward to that class: scared, but interested to see if I could still do two hours of demanding yoga.

Wooooooooo!

Subject: SummerSlam Confirmation
Date: Tue, 4 May 2004 09:40:29 -0400

"We are pleased to confirm your SummerSlam Travel Package. You will receive an invoice for your records and a package confirmation letter within ten (10) business days."

And we're one step closer to SummerSlam in Toronto this August.

Mail annoyance

I wasn't too surprised to hear this morning the news about Royal Mail losing 14.4 million letters each year. While I don't think I've lost any letters (although how would I know if I never receive them? at least I know I haven't lost any letters I have been waiting for), I see several mis-delivered letters daily coming to our house.

We live in a house where postman can't get to our apartments directly, so he drops the mail trough the hall letterbox, and all the residents (four altogether) collect their mail from downstairs. It was pretty good when we moved in - almost all the mail coming in was for someone in the house. This all changed maybe six months ago, and we started receiving lots of mail where the address resembles our address - sometimes the address is on our street, sometimes not. Sometimes the people are real, sometimes not - for example I refuse to belive that A. Hallway is a real person.

But there are not just four apartments in our particular street address, there are actually five. The fifth one is a basement flat, and it has a separate entrance from the street and a separate mail box - in fact they don't even have access to our entrance at all. Despite of this, most of their mail seems to get delivered with our mail - which mostly then sits in the hall for weeks before some generous soul (sometimes me) takes it downstairs.

So far I've been with the other 90% of Royal Mail customers who never complain. But this news inspires me to do something about it.

Reflections

We just watched Star Trek: Enterprise's two latest episodes Damage and The Forgotten. At first morals in these epispdes - especially Damage - is painful, but it got me thinking about the whole Star Trek franchise and the morals in all the different series. Because - it's always been the case that Star Trek has reflected very strongly the morals of it's time.

In the golden 60's and the Original Series, it was all about the cold war. Americans and Soviets, Federation and Klingons. Traditional gender roles were enforced despite Roddenberry's intentions and ideals - women were wearing miniskirts and men were the protectors. It's easy to laugh at it now, or take it very lightly - but one of the original writers of the series D. C. Fontana once said that sci-fi gave them the opportunity to explore subjects and ideas that were otherwise out of bounds in TV. And that's what they were trying to do, underneath all that crome and bright colours.

Then in the 80's there was the Next Generation, and it was all about ideals. The cold war was ending and there was racial and gender equality. Women were doing mens jobs on the Enterprise, there was a black man and even a Klingon. The captain was morally always right, in fact, wrong and right always existed. There was no war, just occasional conflicts which of most were solved peacefully, and generally Federation was a good and happy place to live.

In the 90's the shift changed. First Deep Space 9 and later Voyager introduced a more sinister and dark world were things were not bright and happy and everyone were not friends. War had just ended and morals were low - Federation was no longer the all-powering strong presence - just a party trying to hold up law and order. There were rebels and underground movements, and in these troubled times women and black men could be captains too. First war ship was built and casualities were high, and sometimes tough decisions had to be made for our heroes' survival.

Now, it's all about terrorism. Women and coloured people have gone back to more traditional jobs and white men are once again leading the show. There is us and them and there is no right and wrong anymore - there are just different choices, and some of them are less wrong than others. We're coming back to the "needs of the many outweigh needs of the few... or the one" like Kirk and Spock used to say, but the difference is that the few (or the one) are not making the choices anymore.

But whatever the situation, whatever the time, with Star Trek there is always hope. Yes, there is them but they are not as black and white (or good or evil) as they appear. There is always the human element, always the possibility of your enemy becoming your friend, of finding common ground and settling things.

I don't think Gene would have approved any of the Star Trek incarnations that have come to our screens since he parted ship. But then again he was the biggest idealist of all - for him there was always a peaceful solution and right and wrong. He for sure would not have liked to live in these times. But I'm sure though that he would appreciate the underlying thought.

Quality of life

International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has made a study about quality of life of people working in the games industry. For a wife of a game designer, the results are bleek, but not surprising. While I would never tell my partner (or anyone) that they don't earn enough, I can definetly recognise myself in the "You work too much..." (61.5%) and "You are always stressed out." (43.5%) responses from the spouses. It would be nice indeed to have a relaxed and happy husband.

Via my dad via visakopu.net.

What are Sundays for

What can I say, another peaceful Sunday behind us.

We went shopping this morning - weather was gorgeous and Dragon left his jacket in the car, but I'm more cautious (still suffering from a sore throat in the mornings). It was very warm though - and these are the days when I'm so happy to live in Southsea on such a beautiful spot as we do. The seaside was full of people, Southsea Commons had at least two fun fairs and a heavy horse show on, and when we came home it was almost impossible to find parking spot (as there is no separate resident's parking).

Rest of the day was spent eating, watching wrestling, napping, reading and playing Zuma. Life is good.

There goes vappu

Last night Dragon was stuck in Nottingham because the train was broken down (yes, really... there were no trains going to London... only in this country, I'm sure...) and spent then night at Jervis'. After I got home from ashtanga, I spent the night chatting with Chu on the phone. As she was still ill and I was still alone, it was the perfect way to spend the vappu eve.

Also, no picnic this morning - not only would I have to do it alone, but also the weather is really damp and unpleasant. Maybe tomorrow or Monday - I haven't given up the hope altogether yet.