christopher-hill.com

Clumsy

As if to demonstrate how clusmy I am, this morning I managed to spill a hot cup of Lemsip Max over my head.
Don't ask.

Tuesday, January 31, 2006 10:32 PM 4 comments

Help Yourself

Heh. I've just been flicking through Help Yourself's first ever gig on DVD. Recorded in Guildford - 31st Jan 1992 - and shot by world renowned documentary film maker - Jon Croxford. It's all very dark and the sound is really distorted, but you can see Tim on the keyboard (sadly I couldn't find a shot of him wearing the legendary cape), Pat Hughes on Bass, Mike on vocals, Simon Edwards on Guitar, and some skinny kid on drums. There is also footage of Jim with lots of curly hair, Phil with lots of curly hair, and Jane should be in there somewhere though I've yet to find a shot of her. I think even Nick might have been there too(?), but can't quite remember.
I've also watched some footage of the Frank Sextet busking in Guildford High Street two days before Christmas 95. Notable if nothing else for the fact that whilst the rest of the band are wearing jeans and whatnot, Mike is impecably turned out in a suit an tie as always.
Anyway, once the Mac is fixed (or I've bought one of those shiny new Intel books), I'll edit the video into something that can be put online.

Friday, January 27, 2006 10:39 PM 2 comments

Top Thirty Facts About Jack Bauer

Jack Bauer was never addicted to heroin. Heroin was addicted to Jack Bauer.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 2:57 PM 3 comments

Dammit!

I've been called back to division to help re-work the messaging protocols. Then I'll be with agent 2926 finalising measurements and also running through the plans for operation Loch Ness. The timing mechanism on my primary attack vehicle is being replaced on Monday. Until all these tasks are completed, I'll be going dark, in a flank 2 position.
Out.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 9:48 PM 2 comments

Jack Is Back!

Yeeaaaahhhh!

Monday, January 16, 2006 10:02 PM 0 comments

Random Shit

Apropos of nothing, here's some random stuff that I've done this week...
Bought a random magazine in WHSmiths called "Organic Life", decided it's a great and have ended up subscribing to it.
Gone round Jamie from work's house with Phil and Will (who together for a gypsy jazz duo that may or may not be called Japsy Jizz) and recorded some Freeform Gypsy Techo Funk Fusion.
Gone to Leeds to buy an accordian.
Had a flash of reality as I was about to hand over £500 for an accordian and headed home empty handed.
Made probably the best smoked salmon and scrambled egg bagel I will ever make in my life.
Cracked the LCD screen on my iBook by air drumming to Rush.
Sworn loudly because my iBook keeps crashing (may or may not be related to above incident).
Sworn quietly to myself in the street because 5 minutes after leaving house my iPod reset itself and wiped all the music off it, leaving me with nothing to listen to.
Suffered from insomnia.
Sat down and played the piano properely for the first time in over two years.
Shaken off my cold.
Drunk ten different types of Green/Oolong/Floral teas and given them all marks out of ten.
Ate scallops for the first time.
Signed up for one of those weekly fruit and veg deliveries from Beanies.

Saturday, January 14, 2006 10:39 PM 3 comments

The World's Ugliest Dog

I saw a link on the internet claiming to point to the world's ugliest dog. I thought it was a bold claim. I clicked on it. I saw something horrific. Don't believe me? See for yourself. If I was walking down the street and saw that dog, I would shoot it in the head. I would also shoot its owner in the head just to be sure. You can't take any chances with these things.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006 12:02 AM 3 comments

Burning Man

Up until now, I've never really fancied going to Burning Man. As great as a drug fueled orgy of self expression in the Nevada desert sounds, I'd probably just get a headache and need a lie down. However, these photos are just incredible, and make me want to go. If I did, I would like to dress like John Steed, you know, to try and bring some dignity to the whole event.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006 11:04 PM 0 comments

Proof That God Exists

Un-fucking-believable.
A couple of weeks back, Tony at work received a free DVD through the post from his local evangelical church. The DVD promised scientific proof that God exists, that there is a creator, and that evolution is impossible. He leant me the DVD today and I watched it as part of a double bill with a Richard Dawkins programme that was also on tonight (Richard Dawkins is an eminent exponent of the theory of Evolution).
Now, I am quite open minded, despite the image I like to present here (for the sake of those that weren't paying attention, I don't really believe that Barrymore bum raped a man to death just because that's what the Daily Mirror said, I was ridiculing the tabloid response to the incident in the face of the evidence. Irony, if you will.) In fact, I really appreciate someone coming up with an argument I can't counter, it literally forces the mind to expand. I was therefore quite prepared to listen to any sensible arguments put forward about why evolution was not possible, though to be honest I expected nothing but transparent sophistry. As it turns out I didn't get even that. It was just utter garbage, containing the kind of nonsense you'd get from someone that had absolutely no understanding of even the basics of evolution. I found it hard to finish watching the thing because the arguments were so fatuous, so infantile that it made me genuinely angry.
I have absolutely no problem with people not understanding the principals of evolution; if not properly explained it is counter-intuitive, and the human mind can have conceptual problems in trying to envisage the vast amount of time required for a massive ball of molten rock to evolve into the world we see around us. I have no problem in people believing in God, after all the leap of faith required to believe that everything around us happened by chance is mind-boggling, and becomes even more so the more you learn about the universe. But I do have a huge problem about people that have absolutely no understanding of evolution (or in this case what seems to be a willful ignorance of evolution) actively teaching falsehoods about the theory of evolution as if fact.
Helpfully, Tony has also blogged about this DVD, so I don't have to re-iterate some of the arguments here.
UPDATE - Update - I've just finished watching that Richard Dawkins programme too, and whilst his view of the world broadly mirrors mine, I'm not sure how his patronising and reactionary view of religion is going to win any converts to "reason" and "science". If you throw another discipline into the mix - the study of history - you will see that it's not always religion itself that causes persecution and violence in the world, it is doctrine, be it religious or political. Dawkins's scientific dogma seems to me every bit as capable of breeding persecution as does Islam, Judaism or Christianity.
If science has been unable to convince so many people of its virtue, then that is a problem with the teaching in science, and not in my eyes necessarily the fault of religion. I happen to hold the view that a big problem here is that people are normally only ever taught the conclusions of the scientists, and are rarely taught how and why the scientists came to their conclusions. It makes a massive difference to the understanding of, say, why the Earth is believed to be 4.57 billion years old, if you are aware of history of how this belief was formed over the preceding centuries. I strongly recommend reading Bill Bryson's excellent book A Short History of Nearly Everything which takes exactly this approach to teaching scientific theory.
Anyway, enough of this shit, Celebrity Big Brother is about to start. I just read a rumour that Jimmy Saville will be going into the house for lunch one day. Imagine that!

Monday, January 09, 2006 8:00 PM 3 comments

Barrymore

As all discerning readers will know, celebrity bum-wrecker Michael Barrymore has entered the Big Brother house. Now, there is a lot spoken about Barrymore, largely due to the fact that a drugged up dead person was found in his swimming pool who was later discovered to have significant injuries to the anus. As a result of this technicality, we have been denied any new series of genius quiz show Strike It Lucky, which is an utter shame. "Fair enough," you may say, "the man is clearly guilty of doing a murder".
Well, hang on a minute.
As anyone at work will tell you, I am not one to present slanderous gossip about celebrities as fact simply because it amuses me to do so. I like to seek out the truth about a person, and discover both sides of the story before I come to the inevitable conclusion that they are guilty. I would like you to do the same, so check out this article which clearly and calmly lays out all the facts of the case, and points, in my mind, to Barrymore's obvious guilt.

Friday, January 06, 2006 12:17 PM 2 comments