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I cannot tell you how stressful this last week has been – last minute projects and other stuff have been keeping me so wound up that I’ve been struggling to sleep properly. However, the semester is over now, and I’ve got a nice long recovery before the exams after easter. I feel I could use one now.

I’ll be heading home for the holidays, which’ll be great. It’ll be nice to see everyone again.

So…tired…

Today, Nintendo and Sega announced that Mario and Sonic would be appearing together in a game set at the 2008 Olympic Games. Hell has issued a blizzard warning in response.

I think this represents the true Olympic Spirit, when two rivals game characters can come together to compete. *sniff*

Also, the book jacket for the last Harry Potter book has been unveiled. It looks good.

This post is not likely to be of particular interest to the vast majority of people who read this, but it is something important to me and possibly a few others, so I’ll put it here.

My friend Jon Stuttard has put a petition on the government’s petition website with regards to the DSA (Disabled Student’s Allowance). Both him and me have had a lot of trouble with the current system, and the petition basically suggests that more could be done to get rid of the bureaucracy that surrounds the whole thing. Like I said, this probably won’t affect many directly, but it is important to a lot of people.

The address is: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/DSA-Funding/. People in Britain feel free to sign up.

Can I make a quick post pointing out how much I like the new BBC Two website design? Good.

It’s really very nice. For a start, it’s got videos from Buzzcocks and Top Gear, which is good enough reason to like it, and better than that it actually manages to be really easy to use as well. I’ve never really liked the BBC as a web portal, and some of their sites aren’t really that impressive, but I like this one. The green theme makes it seem very nice and mellow, and you don’t have to spend hours looking at what you want. In fact, in a very YouTube sort of way, you can spend quite a while browsing the videos on the site and finding all kinds of cool stuff.

Kudos on making a fun site, BBC Two. Now all you need to do is bring back Mock the Week and we’ll all get on just fine…

I’m a bit of a satire nut (sounds exotic, doesn’t it?). I’ve always liked stuff like Buzzcocks and Have I Got News For You, and were it not for the limitations of my current accommodation, I’d have my Freeview box permanently glued to More4 for The Daily Show. The fact that I can’t tune in is a source of great depression for my satire dependant mind.

I always wondered whether the UK could have it’s own equivalents of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report – actually, having the American version would be a start. And it seems I’m not the only one, as this blog post from Adam Wilcox (my new bestest internet friend EVAR!!) suggests.

The closest we have to a Daily Show / Colbert Report is The Late Edition, presented by Marcus Brigstocke and broadcast on BBC Four. Now Marcus is an extremely funny comedian, the only problem is that The Late Edition is rubbish. The jokes are weak, sketches are unbelievably naff, and it sadly only highlights the fact that we in the UK are yet to match the Americans in this game.

I have to admit I’ve never seen The Late Edition as a result of both being unable to access it and general ignorance of it’s existence. Part of it comes down to me not really seeing BBC Four as a comedy channel – although now I think about it, it also broadcasts Screen Wipe, another show I was ignorant of and now absolutely adore thanks to the marvels of YouTube. I can’t really say the same thing for The Late Edition, though – after a quick look at some of the clips it doesn’t seem to flow right – it could be good but can’t quite make it through.

It’s certainly not like we can’t do Daily Show style comedy. John Oliver – one of the Daily Shows main correspondents – is British after all, and arguably one of the best of the newer batch. I’d love to see a British team come up with something to match it.

Thoughts, please?

(By the way, you should really check out the rest of Wilco’s World. It’s a good read.)

I’m a little too obsessed with Madness at the moment – but then again, the thought that their new album is coming very soon indeed is very exciting. Well, it is if you’re a nineteen year old CS student at Birmingham with a slightly unhealthy interest in 80’s ska music.

I got to see them perform on TOTP2 and Al Murray’s Happy Hour today, and they sounded as good as ever. Hopefully if all goes well, I’ll be able to be a Madness fan without having to put on my “ironic” persona, which gets exceptionally annoying.

Anyway, I’m glad Madness are back. They’re certainly more deserving of a renaissance than Take That are…

I’ve seen Hot Fuzz. For all of those who want to know what it’s like – it’s brilliant. Amazing, in fact. Got quite a bit of gore and whatnot, but there is some hilariously funny stuff, from “never taking a shortcut before” to Peter Ian Staker to the sea mine to the crossword to the final epic battle of good and evil. A must see.

I should point out that it’s not Shaun Of The Dead. That’s not to say it’s not as good as Shaun Of The Dead (it is), but they are different films. I’ve seen the film twice now, and the second time was more enjoyable than the first, because by then I’d cleared my head of all preconceptions about it. The first time I saw it I ended up being far to analytical about it and not enjoying myself as much as much. Don’t make that mistake. This is not Shaun Of The Dead with villagers and police officers, this is Hot Fuzz, as this comic points out.

Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright are now my favourite film people. They were already pretty high up my list for signing my Shaun Of The Dead DVD, but this puts them right at the top. I think the best think about them is that they are not “film stars” – they are people who genuinely enjoy what they do. Edgar Wright in particular is the kind of person who I want to be – he’s proof that you can craft a genuinely good artistic work without having to be pretentious or arrogant about what you do.

In summary – I liked it. And you will too.