The quiet before the storm takes many forms, like for example I'm looking forward to there being far less weary-some traffic on the way to work due to children breaking-up from school and due to some commuters starting their hols early. Timmy Town, on the other hand, does not look forward to the school holidays, because, as she complained last Sunday at the customary gathering round Russ's: there is, of all things, a distinct Frosties shortage during school holidays, presumably from hoards of juveniles on a backlash from school dinners gorging themselves all day on multiple bowls of sugar-encrusted cereals, whilst Timmy Town, alas, hath none, all sad, peering into an empty breakfast bowl.
The last Sunday gathering was adorned by Russ's new 42 inch (or one of those really big sizes)high def TV, fully wired for hi def via a PS3 and cable TV, we merely had Russ's projector to watch movies on before, how impoverished were we?... seriously though, I'm more impressed with hi res TV than I thought I was going to be -- the way you can see the patterns on people's irises on portrait shots is really impressive, perhaps even it'd take a bit of getting used to.
Hermit, not all that unexpectedly in my mind, has gotten into the final of the IGF video game writing comp with Studio Work3, for Ooki Bloks. The clever thing about Ooki Blocks, where Hermit is concerned, is to do with the sounds that are made by your character in the game as it rebounds around the levels and collects stuff and all that. These sounds are cleverly manipulated or contrived so that they are in time and in tune with the main background music... maybe even the back ground music is adapted live, I can't remember. This is a development in video game that is well over-due in my opinion...with most games it'll remain impossible or undesirable to do this, but for some games, like Ooki Bloks it must add a lot to the satisfaction of game play -- the fact that you contribute to the sound track rather than detracting from it when playing the game -- normally the sound-effects (eg. bags, crashes, swooshes etc) of what your character does on screen over-ride or upstage the music to some extent at least, but with Ooki Bloks your actions should instead add to the music -- music and sound effects co-existing in perfect harmony. Would it only be that directors of some music videos could learn this lesson and harmonize what is happening on screen with the music -- some of the poorest examples make me so mad -- sometimes people can be doing something really abrupt like jumping-up and down in the video and it's not in any way in time with the music. Bah.
Oo-yack! (that is, as I remember it, the Finnish for 'yuk', in phonetic form). Oo-yak!! Why? Because I had a cup of tea from a bad tea bag on Friday. From what I gather I'm one of the few people who can taste when a tea bag has gone off in it's early stages of going-off-ness. I think it is because I have been sensitised to the particular taste. The taste is basically like how rotting Altumn leaves smell, if that makes any sense. We (Russ, Barkfoot, me, etc) nick named Earl Grey tea as 'twig tea' because of it's unusual taste... and a cup of twig tea is the traditional initial gesture of hospitality at one of Russ's Sunday gatherings --Russ brews you-up a nice cup of twig Rosy as soon as you arrive. By chance, last year, in some sort of emporium, Barkfoot came across a type of tea that was actually made from twigs, and he brought some of the tea bags to Russ's for general sampling. I had a cup of it and thought it was quite interesting, not an every day drink for sure but none the less a taste I thought I'd like to sample now and again, and so Barkfoot gave me a couple of bags to take home which I put in my bag and... promptly forgot about for the next six, maybe 10 months. Still, not wishing to be wasteful, upon their eventual discovery, I brewed-up a cup of (actual) twig tea and started drinking it... there was definitely a 'funny' secondary taste to the tea... but again, not wishing to be wasteful, I drank on. The taste kind-of accumulated in my mouth and became more and more horrible, and soon over-powered the taste of the tea itself. But again, not wishing to be wasteful, I drank-on. I finished the cup of tea and, as it turned-out, any desire to drink any other cup of any kind of tea for the next few days. I felt totally nauseous for the rest of the day with this indelible taste of rotten leaves in my mouth. Now if I have a cuppa made from a tea bag which is even remotely thinking about going-off, in a way as ordinary folk would not notice at all, it makes me feel really repulsed for a couple of hours.
Oh yeah by the way ... have you ever had a 'custard apple'? What is this custard apple of which I speak? you might ask. Well it's doesn't look like much like an apple, and it's much softer, but it is some type of fruit or veg (I know not if it groweth on the branch like an apple though). But I don't think you will ever find another example of a fruit that is so aptly and exactly named as regards its taste. It tastes exactly like apple and custard (probably lightly stewed apple and custard)... plus, perhaps, there is a very slight third taste -- perhaps a slight taste of strawberry, I'm not sure. I cut mine open and spoon-out the soft flesh. I don't eat the skin or seeds -- I think that's probably right, but what do I know, your guess would probably be as good as mine on how to eat'em. Anyway,if you're interested, keep your eye's open in the shops next year about October time (if this year was anything to go by). If you do get one then don't delay in eating as they go off very quickly -- they go ultra soft and crack and ooze very very very sticky goo, presumably, appley custard tasting goo, from the cracks. I have a very bizzar plan.... and the plan is to grow a custard apple orchard and make custard apple cider...mmmm... more of a yummy dream than a plan -- I never expect to do it, and as I said, I don't even know if the things grow on trees or anything.
Well now it's Sunday already and the ramp-up to Christmas is starting to pick-up a pace. There is already illogical extra panic-buying styley Christmas grocery shopping to do (my Mother was most insistent yesterday that we stock-up on many extra items that I've never in all my life known not to be in plentiful supply right up until Christmas Eve and all through Christmas but by her general tone you would have thought yesterday was the last chance saloon for these items). I have allowed myself to properly listen to Slade's famous Christmas song for the first time these festivities which is an official mile-stone for me. It is a bit like me not letting myself listen to any Beach Boys music until about July so that the surfy vibe it creates does not become lack-lustre by the time my surfing season actually starts in late September. Lets hope amongst the eventual Christmas panic I get time to do my Christmas blog entry -- it's bound to be the last this side of Christmas day.
2 comments:
Nothing worse than a crap cup of tea. I once had a cup from tea bags that had got wet..I was on coffee for weeks.
hi, new to the site, thanks.
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