Monday, August 30, 2004

Catch-23

My birthday was on Saturday - I'm 23. It doesn't feel any different from being 22, you'll be surprised to hear.

I had a great birthday though, thanks to Suzi who invited me out to Glasgow. We stayed at her brother Joe's in Ibrox. It was a fun night.
The night was made even better when I met this gorgeous piece of ass...


- If the pic doesn't appear, it should be viewable here.

Her name's Amy, and in my opinion an example of female near-perfection. Mmm - Sexy!
I was surprised as she seemed to really like me (the feeling is very mutual!). She came back to Joe's after the club and stayed for a wee while before heading back to Edinburgh. She's from California and is just finishing her masters in Economics. Unfortunately, she's going to stay in London for a while, but I'd love to see her again.

I'm currently back up on the bonny banks of Loch Morar, as I hope to finish my Aunt's clothing website soon, and it helps if she's there to supervise the design and construction of it.

Nice to get away from Prestwick again.

Friday, August 27, 2004

Minority report

Saw the film "Minority Report" the other day. It stars Tom Cruise, who works for a department called "Precrime", where crimes are predicted before they happen and the would-be murderer is caught just in time.
Cruise is framed for a future murder and goes on the run. What follows is a very clever story.
All in all, a very good film - Highly recommended.

Also, downloaded "Firefox", a web browser, mainly due to being so fed up with pop-up ads and adware/spyware creeping onto my PC (this stuff tends to target Microsoft IE). It is free to download and features pop-up blocker, tabbed browsing, more informative status messages, and appears generally faster. Overall, I'm impressed. It's so refreshing to be able to browse the web in peace! So far I've encountered 1 pop-up and Firefox warns you it has been generated and gives you the option to block it or not - Ideal!

Anyway, in fear of becoming more geeky by the day, I'll try to avoid talking about software and the internet in every post. Mind you my life recently hasn't consisted of much else!

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Silencio

F**king spyware! I hate it! There is some currently installed on my PC in Prestwick, and so far my attempts to get rid of it have failed miserably. This particular variant is not as intrusive as the last one, but one really infuriating thing is that when I try to open my e-mail inbox, IE is forced automatically onto some "search" page!

Saw "Mulholland Drive" today - what a strange film. Eerie, atmospheric, dark - and very strange. I'd heard about it before, that it didn't make much sense. During the first section of the film, there seemed to be some discernible plot, and just when I was expecting certain aspects to become clearer, it went all bizarre.

It starts with a woman being involved in a car crash and subsequently suffering from amnesia, who meets up with an aspiring actress, who tries to help her discover her true identity. There is another sub-plot with a film director being pressurised into casting a particular girl for the lead role in his new film. However, that's about all that appeared to make sense. There is also a seemingly unrelated scene where 2 men are in a diner discussing a nightmare one of them had. Then, events in the nightmare begin to come true, and the man ends up walking outside, collapsing to the ground when he sees this goblin-like thing which peers its ugly head round from behind a wall - wierd.

The film seems coherent up until the girls indulge in a bit of lesbian passion. Then, when they are asleep, the one with amnesia recalls a place called "Silencio" (talking in her sleep). She wakes up then they go to this mysterious place, a sort of cabaret club, where they take a seat and watch the show. This "show" involves a woman who sings a song in Spanish then collapses.
One of the 2 women finds a mysterious blue box in her handbag.
They then go home, one of them vanishes in the bedroom, and the other opens the blue box with a blue key she has, and appears to disappear into the box!

What happens afterwards appears to be in a sort of parallel universe, but I won't go into all that. The film ends with a transvestite in the audience at "Silencio" whispering the words - You guessed it - "Silencio". Then, the film ends.

This film is truly strange, but in a good way - I really enjoyed it, even if it didn't make much sense. I think David Lynch is a very talented director - He also made "Lost Highway", which I saw on the outdoor screen at Glastonbury '99, and was also very dark and strange. He did "Blue Velvet", too, which I saw recently.

Love it or hate it, "Mulholland Drive" is a film you should at least check out.

Monday, August 23, 2004

Title change

I changed the name of my blog, from "Dunc's Post ESE Diaries" to "What Dunky Did Next", because firstly, the naive reader might not know what ESE is, and secondly, there is a TV show called "What Sadie Did Next". As a new title I considered "My Ayrshire Adventures", but that would sound deceptively interesting!

Sad? Moi?

Another movie review

I'm up in Glasgow, for something to do and so I can check my fanmail - Sorry, e-mail, because my dad's PC is infected with "spyware" and prevents me from doing so at home. I'm in the CS lab - It's surprisingly busy for this time of year.

Just been to see Spider Man 2, and, in all honesty, I found it mediocre. Apart from the occasional good bit, the film as a whole didn't rock my boat. I've not seen the first one and now I don't feel any burning desire to.
It was too over-the-top and far-fetched for me, but in all fairness, it is based on a comic book. I found it too cliched and predictable, with typical Hollywood plot and one-liners etc etc - Not particularly original.

I'm going to see if the Stevie is open and hopefully relax in the steam room and do few lengths in the pool before returning to Prestwick.

Sunday, August 22, 2004

Disappointment

Been watching a lot of films recently. Last one I saw was "City of God", about gangsters in Rio de Janiero, as seen through the eyes of a young aspiring photographer. It' in Portugese and quite long, but don't let that put you off - it's brilliant.

Anyway, I am slightly disappointed as it looks like I may not be going to Barcelona as planned. My sister is back in Prestwick, to review a research paper that she is to have published, and may not be going back for a while. This means my plans to go back with her are scuppered, and I don't fancy going myself just yet. It's just so typical: you hype something up for so long, and then circumstances do their thing and force a change of plan.
However, there's a possibility I may be going to Ibiza at the end of September. Fingers crossed...

To make matters worse, some more of that "spyware" has installed itself on my PC, which is a pain. I can't yet get rid of it, and not even Spybot can save the day (see previous post)! As a result, when I go into my Hotmail inbox, some annoying "search" page appears - Which means I can't check all my fanmail - Ha ha! Oh well, worse things can happen!

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Movie review

I went to see The Bourne Supremacy at Odeon Ayr today. You should go and see it, it's really good, or as an American would say: "it kicks ass". I still haven't seen the first one, but hope to rent it out of Blockbuster soon.

Thursday, August 12, 2004

Under the weather

As the title suggests, I'm feeling a little under the weather. Got some kind of virus (probably a bad cold) and been confined to the house for the past few days. It's so frustrating.

My sister Abi is back from Barcelona for a few days, with tales of corrupt employers, homelessness and a lunatic coke-snorting French photographer. I must say it sounds better than Prestwick!
She plans to go back next week, until the end of September. Hopefully I will be going with her.

I've spent way too long in my mum and dad's house. I really need a change of scene.

Also, I'm getting concerned about my beer belly - although I have given up drinking for a while, the belly remains. I've been doing a bit of exercise, but obviously not enough to burn it off.

One of these days I hope to get rid of the f**ker!

Tuesday, August 03, 2004

Note to self : get a life!

Been living with my parents for about 3 weeks now, and boredom is increasing at an exponential rate! Working on a website for my Aunt, and although it isn't going to be a large site, progress is slow. Seen a few friends, in fact I was out for Suzi's 30th birthday party last Friday.

Although it's very nice down these parts, I feel that moving back in with my parents is a bit of a step backwards (almost like travelling back in time, like Uni didn't exist!). My papa is moving in with us soon also.
However, I may be living here for a while, until I've got a job and can afford rent elsewhere. I hope to go to Barcelona in about 2 weeks.

I miss Glasgow, but most of all, I miss having a day-to-day occupation (like a job or uni). I guess I'll be looking for a job sooner than I expected.

Someone get me a life!! Oh no, wait - I've got to do that myself!