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Saturday, February 7th, 2009
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2:36 am - Bill Hicks: Vindicated
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On October 1st 1993 Bill Hicks had been scheduled to perform on The Late Show with David Letterman, in what would have been his twelfth appearance on a Letterman-fronted show. The entire performance was removed from the broadcast due to concerns by Letterman and his producer over Bill's religious jokes, though both the show's producers and CBS publicly denied responsibility. At that time it was the only occasion in which a comedian's entire routine had been cut after taping.
On the December 30 episode of The Late Show, almost fourteen years after Hicks' death, David Letterman invited Bill's mother onto the show and finally aired the footage that he now admits to censoring back in '93. Entertainment Weekly covers it, with clips, here. I'm sure some of you across the pond may have already seen it, but Bill was hugely popular here in the UK and we don't get The Late Show (as far as I'm aware) so it's news to me.
I'm not a particular fan of Letterman but I don't hate the guy, and in my opinion it took a lot for him to own up and admit he made a mistake by cutting the routine. It must have preyed on his mind for him to feel the need to devote a chunk of his show to Bill and make up for something I doubt his audience were even aware of. It's also great to see Bill's work finally vindicated in such a way.
Overall, I found it very moving.
current mood:  amused
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| Friday, January 23rd, 2009
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9:03 pm - This is the way the world ends
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| Thursday, December 11th, 2008
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1:07 pm - Acting is Serious Business
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From the BBC:
"Actor cuts throat on Vienna stage"
An actor narrowly escaped death after slashing his throat on stage with a real knife, instead of a blunt stage-prop blade. Daniel Hoevels slumped to the floor with blood pouring from his neck during a performance at Vienna's Burgtheater.
...
Mr Hoevels recovered after hospital treatment and, in true theatrical tradition, appeared on stage the following night although with a bandage around his neck.
Somewhat more uncomfortable than wetting yourself, admittedly. It seems to me like something that should have been in an Agatha Christie novel, albeit the victim surviving to get back up on stage the following night. You have to admire the guy's professionalism.
current mood:  impressed
current music: Voltaire - "Happy birthday (My Olde Friend)"
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| Thursday, December 4th, 2008
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5:08 pm - So I have a job interview tomorrow
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And in the parlance of our times, "I'm fucking bricking-it."
For those of you who don't know, it's an interview/tryout for a Poker Dealer job at the local casino. So this afternoon I went round a friend's house for a crash course in dealing, which has helped alleviate my nerves a little but not entirely. The guy who called me on Sunday to offer me the interview said I was pretty much guaranteed a job since they're that desperate for staff. It's all new and strange, a far cry from the office admin work I've been doing these past 4+ years. It'll be unsociable hours so my social life will suffer somewhat, but it pays about £1000 per month and that's decent money around these parts.
With a steady income like that (compared to the uncertainty of temping/agency work), I can start crossing things off my list of "Shit to get sorted-out". This includes, in no particular order:
1) My bank loan - I have about £2000 left to pay on this thing, which I took out two years ago to consolidate certain debts. After it's sorted I will no longer be indebted to the bank, which means I can then save for...
2) Renting a place of my own - Due to my financial situation I'm living at home with the folks, a not uncommon situation these days. It is however cramping my style. With my loan paid off and all other outgoings reduced to an absolute minimum, and if I can find someone to share with, I will regain a measure of independence I've sorely been in need of.
3) Creative projects - I've made some progress on a script for a short horror film I hope to get made on zero budget, with the odd edit to the book now and then. With a fresh new start job-wise and some decent income my confidence will hopefully improve, giving me some of my drive back so I can make further progress on realising my ambitions.
So here's hoping tomorrow I don't shuffle and deal cards like an epileptic with Parkinsons disease and a bicycle pump rammed through their skull.
current mood:  nervous
current music: Lustmord - "Aldebaran of the Hyades"
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| Thursday, November 27th, 2008
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8:43 pm - Bandgladesh is richer than America
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As are Norway, Taiwan, Iran and 184 other countries, according to this page from the CIA World Factbook. Not the best security agency to get stats from, I admit, but there's no Mossad World Factbook so I have to go with what I've got.
The UK is only two places above the US, with a balance of $-119,200,000,000. No thanks in part to Our Glorious Leader Gordon Brown pissing away 60% of our gold reserves between 1999 and 2002, when it was at its lowest price in 20 years. $275 an ounce to be exact. For comparison, gold is currently trading at over $810 and is very hard to get one's greedy little mitts on.
current mood: amused
current music: Deus Ex main theme - Orchestral version
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| Thursday, November 20th, 2008
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9:10 pm - Stolen from elle_knitwear like a purse from a Lady
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01. What's the last DVD you watched?
The Orphanage, which is the best horror film I've seen this year. It creeped me out more than Jacob's Ladder.
02. What are you wearing at the moment?
Old and tatty Cradle of Filth t-shirt, jeans, socks, boxers.
03. Who is your favourite writer?
I have too many to list in full, so here's a few; Philip K Dick, Robert W Chambers, H.P. Lovecraft, Poppy Z Brite, Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison...I could go on.
04. What is your favourite scent?
Napalm in the morning.
05. What's that one movie you can watch over and over again and never get tired of?
Jacob's Ladder.
06. What do you drink the most?
Coffee, wine and Jack Daniels, though not at the same time.
07. Is there a useless thing that you cannot brace yourself to throw out?
A busted orange lava lamp. All it needs is a new 40W bulb.
08. What is your occupation? What do you do there?
Currently I am a temp employed by the local Social Services to punch dates into a computer, like some kind of trained monkey.
09. What did you want to be when you grew up?
Esteban from "The Mysterious Cities of Gold".
10. What are your favorite song(s) of the moment?
"Die for Love" by Johnny Hollow.
11. Which characters are overrated?
All the characters from that anime about people screaming at each other. DragonBore something.
12. What 3 people would you invite to dinner?
Bill Hicks, Philip K Dick and Alan Moore.
13. What is your current desktop?
Hastur the Unspeakable, as his avatar The King in Yellow
14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
Have I been tagged? I dunno. If someone's tagged me then I guess they're pretty damn awesome.
15. What are you afraid of?
I'm scared of mice and spiders, but oh-so-much greater is my fear that one day the two species will cross-breed to form an all-powerful race of mice-spiders, who will immobilize human beings in giant webs in order to steal cheese. Nah, just spiders really.
16. Where would you love to go in your next holidays?
Sunken R'Lyeh or the doomed city of Carcosa. Failing those, I'd like to go to America again.
17. What are you into right now?
The Alex Jones show. Regardless of whether or not he's entirely accurate about a unified global capital-C Conspiracy seeking to establish a New World Order (I tend more towards multiple, conflicting, small-c conspiracies) I find him informative, entertaining and a little bit scary.
18. What did you do today?
Another tedious day at my miserable excuse for a job.
19. What do you want?
"Never ask that question!"
20. What should you be doing right now?
Writing a script for a short film a friend and I have been brainstorming.
21. What's the meaning behind your LJ username/name/nicknames you go by?
(CopyPasta'd from Goth.net)
I originally chose my name for several reasons, but mainly because I felt a deep kinship with the archetype of the Sad/Tragic Clown; the figure who entertains others while keeping his own sadness hidden behind a mask. No-one else on the internet seemed to have it either, which was a nice bonus. I think I condensed it into "thetragicclown" because some forum I was on had a limit on username lengths or something. The more I've researched it however, the more my name choice makes sense. It fits me eerily well, or maybe I adapted to fit it. It must be said I'm quite a bit cheerier these days, with the emphasis more on "clown" than "tragic"
current mood:  bored
current music: "Die for Love" - Johnny Hollow
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| Monday, November 17th, 2008
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9:19 pm - Stephen Fry has got 99 problems...
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| Saturday, November 15th, 2008
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1:11 pm - Because I am an attention-whore
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Stolen from threnody
If you saw me in a police car, what would you think I got arrested for? Answer, then if you want, post to your own journal and see how many crimes you get accused of.
Entertain me!
current mood: amused
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| Saturday, November 8th, 2008
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12:33 pm - My Friday Night, or "How I broke a young man's heart in several places"
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So there I am leaving my usual Friday night hangout at a little before two in the morning, looking rather dashing in my black jeans, New Rocks, trenchcoat and black Jolly Roger t-shirt. I've lost quite a bit of weight this year so I generally feel a lot more confident about myself, as you can no doubt tell from my profile pic. All this hopefully leads to a mental image of me as a suave, dashing young man of the night. I'm going to smash this image with the fact I was drunk off my tits and in a bit of a foul mood, for reasons unrelated to this story.
I stopped outside the nearby derelict cinema to compose a text message to someone, regarding the aforementioned reasons unrelated to this story, half-sitting half-leaning on one of several concrete bollards to rest my weary legs. As I was composing I spotted this lad looking at me out of the corner of my eye. He was talking to a young blonde girl and she seemed to be trying to encourage him in something. I thought nothing of it until he walked right up to me and just stood there staring.
"Can I help you mate?" I asked, somewhat perturbed by being stared at.
"You're beautiful," he replied.
"Um, thanks"
Then he tried to suck my face off.
It all happened in slow motion. Arms crept up, out and forward to encircle me, like those big horn things Unicron from Transformers has when he's in planet mode. A face loomed towards me and I could see every detail in awful clarity; the small cluster of zits on his forehead, the wrinkles in his dried lips. In my addled state it took a second to realise what he was trying to do, and my hands went out just in time to push him away gently before he slobbered all over me.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold it right there Kemo Sabe," I said, painfully self-conscious of looking like a Homophobe.
"I find you really attractive," the lad slurred, clearly intoxicated or on something but seemingly sincere.
"Hey I'm flattered, but I'm kind of in the middle of something here." In the tradition of UK sunday tabloid journalists, I made my excuses and left. As I walked off I heard one last, despairing "you're beautiful!" from the spurned young man. Now I feel a bit bad as I feel I could have let him down a bit more gently, but given the area I live in he could have had a far worse reaction if he'd done it to someone else. If it had been the hypothetical "Man I'd Find Sexually Attractive" I'd have probably acquiesced, but the hypothetical "Man I'd Find Sexually Attractive" wouldn't jump me like a dog.
current mood:  lazy
current music: Beats Antique - "Nou-Ashta"
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| Friday, November 7th, 2008
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1:29 am - The Daily Mail's reaction to Obama's victory
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Not really, but I wouldn't have been at all surprised if they'd run with this front page.
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| Sunday, November 2nd, 2008
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1:51 am - Eco-friendly death ray
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| Friday, October 31st, 2008
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12:56 am - Attention citizens of Richmond, Virginia!
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Someone thinks you're a bit thick.
"Phony flier says Virginians vote on different days".
RICHMOND: A phony State Board of Elections flier advising Republicans to vote on Nov. 4 and Democrats on Nov. 5 is being circulated in several Hampton Roads localities, according to state elections officials.
In fact, Election Day, for voters of all political stripes, remains Nov. 4.
Sneaky, sneaky.
current mood: amused
current music: Dr. Steel - "Raja"
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| Monday, October 27th, 2008
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7:59 pm - Dalek vs Scientologist
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What I really wish had actually happened when the BBC's John Sweeney lost his temper with Scientology's Tommy Davis.
current mood: amused
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| Sunday, October 26th, 2008
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11:43 pm - Words from the Past about a Future manifested in our Present
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"We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the instruments through which we shall be able to do his will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket."
A quote from an interview with Nikola Tesla in 1926, decades before Star Trek brought the idea of mobile phones into the public consciousness
One of many reasons why Tesla was fucking awesome.
current mood: impressed
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| Friday, October 24th, 2008
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3:34 pm - Some people love Barack Obama a bit too much
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I know, I know, two politics-related posts in a row, but the last one was funny. This is one mildly disturbing.
"Head O State"
Link Not Safe For Work, because it's a dildo. Yes that's right, a sex aid modeled on Barack Obama. In light of this I'd like to suggest some new slogans for the Obama campaign.
"Barack you all night long."
"Change-of-sheets you can believe in!"
"Oh God yes we can!"
These are just a few off the top of my head, so if anyone in the Democrat party wishes to hire my amazing brain...
current mood: amused
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| Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
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1:44 pm - Why Barack Obama won't be the first black President
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Truthiness courtesy of Stephen Colbert.
current mood: amused
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| Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
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4:21 pm - My latest eBay purchase arrived today
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1 x Mad Scientist Lab coat
All I need are the gloves and welding goggles, and then I'm all set for Halloween.
current mood: pleased
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| Sunday, October 19th, 2008
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11:01 am - I've just leapt from a moving car
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A dramatic climax to a fun weekend.
I spent Friday night round a friend's house drinking wine, listening to 80s cheese and engaged in deep and meaningful conversation about everything from metaphysics and theology to "What makes a penis ugly?". We kept the crazy agoraphobic blood-fetishist lady upstairs pacing back and forth with our renditions of Spandau Ballet's "True" and Culture Club's "Church of the Poison Mind", before slapping on some Sisters of Mercy.
On Saturday I went for a lovely meal at our local Mexican joint with some chums and went back to theirs to play Singstar and butcher "The Final Countdown" by Europe. That was followed by a party round some other people's house that went on long into the night, featuring copious amounts of alcohol, discussion and cheesy horror movies. I got a lift back this morning by a good friend who literally dropped me off at some traffic lights near my house. The lights had just turned green you see, so as quick as I could I removed my seatbelt, opened the door and dived out like an action movie star. Alright so the car wasn't exactly moving much, but I did fall over and skin my knee a bit.
All in all, a highly enjoyable weekend marred somewhat by the pathetic mockery of a job I have to go back to Monday.
With apologies to those who expected a blog of more substance. ;)
current mood: mellow
current music: Dr. Steel - "Atomic Superstar"
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| Wednesday, October 8th, 2008
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10:57 pm - The Prodigal returns...
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Been a while, no?
So I've recently rediscovered my LJ after many, many months...ach, I can't remember exactly, of loitering around the likes of Facebook like a doxy in a football team's locker room. Facebook is a marvelous way to keep track of people I know locally, like a Digital Panopticon where I'm both an unseen warder and a fully exposed inmate. You know we don't need to fear losing our privacy because we're all willingly surrendering it to everyone else. Hey, Mr Government man, so you know what I was doing last week at 3am? Pfft, so does half the internet, and the other half were there getting drunk with me!.
Moving swiftly away from my mad tangent, this was and is my only real way of keeping up with the many people I've got to know around the world. People I've not recently communicated with as much as I'd like. I'll try to summarise the last seven months or so in a future update with a witty title, so for now consider this the LJ equivalent of a scruffy, dusty oik storming into your living room and plonking himself down on the sofa, asking "Miss me?" with a cheeky grin as he lights a cigarette. All this before you even think of picking up the phone to call the police.
And I promised myself this post would be a paragraph at most. :(
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| Friday, February 1st, 2008
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12:53 am - Writing Blog 2 - Return of the Revenge of the Journey of the Electric Boogaloo
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"Dreamspinners"
Prologue, Mk III
Wordcount – 1004
Total word count – 1004
No lyrical title for this one because I'm listening to instrumental stuff at the moment. For the record it's the soundtrack to an old PC cyberpunk adventure game called "Dreamweb", which is fitting given the title of the book I'm working on. You know, that word right at the top of this page.
So yeah, long time no literary bloggage. "Why now?" none of you ask except in my twisted imaginings, where I also hear things like "All hail Matt The Eternal God-Emperor, Lord of The Thousand Pacified Worlds and Master of The Stars Themselves!" and "The Imperial Harem is prepared for you, most glorious one!" Not forgetting the screams of the scabby little alien peasants I destroy with Rods from God, launched from the 1000 kilometre-long self-replicating spacecraft that has become my immortal body, controlled by the stupidly advanced computer system that houses my posthuman consciousness. But enough about my amazing plan for physical immortality and space-faring divinity.
In an over-used, tatty-looking and somewhat mouldy nutshell, I think I've at least partially overcome the writer's block that kept me a creative cripple for the past X amount of months. You may have read my previous "writing updates" and thought I'd already accomplished this, but alas I inadvertantly lied to you. I wrote words sure, lots of words, but they were not words I felt happy with. There was no energy in them, none of the spark and passion that allegedly comes across in the first book I wrote (more on trying to get that published in another update). I'd struggle to write a thousand words that I'd want to chuck away completely after reading them.
The new chapter marks my third attempt at trying to get this new book off the ground, hence the Mark III prefix. I've started with a prologue like I did in Buried Echoes; I consider prologues the book equivalent of the pre-title scenes you get in most of the best TV drama shows, like The Wire and Battlestar Galactica. My previous prologues were set during World War 2 and in the bedroom of a mopey aspiring musician respectively, though the sequence of events remained the same; a person has a wish or desire, said person nearly gets that wish granted, then person gets denied their wish and punished by an outside agent. That's all I'm saying for now because I don't want to spoil anything, but every sentence I've written so far pleases me in a way I haven't been since I was writing the last book. This is a good sign.
Not that any of you miserable peons have read any of this. I swear when my consciousness is transferred into the computer core of an immense nanotechnological spaceship, able to rain destruction upon an entire planet like some orbital death god of the Diamond Age, I'll make you all regret not reading this blog entry. If you have read this far, feel free to join my glorious vision of the future as a conscious sentient spaceship and travel across the stars, seek new worlds, screw a carnal buffet of alien lifeforms, and watch C-Beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate.
Sweet dreams,
Matt
current mood:  tired
current music: Dreamweb OST by Matt Seldon
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uncomfortable
