Silent So Long
My but I've been quiet. Between a promotion at work (longer hours, boo; more money, yay), Christmasness, being sucked ever deeper into my Go habit and suffering a home PC crash, I've had little time or inclination to blog. Hardly in the sprit, though, as all of the above could be grist for the mill. Anyhoo, news and updates follow:
I spent much of my annual leave attempting to improve my Go skills, and believe I may have succeeded a tiny bit. My kyu is up to 23 or so, but this may have been due to someone resigning rather than any intrinsic improvement in my own ability. Nevertheless, I'm getting a better sense of shape, am beginning to pick up on errors in the way I play, and feel like I have some direction in my learning now, rather than the fearful "where now" sense I had when I first started playing. I've a total of four computer opponents now, TanGo, GnuGo and my current horror inducer, Many Faces Of Go (v 10), to which I am currenty losing on a nine stone handicap at the lowest setting without komi. I tend to play too fast against computers though, so I'm probably not working at my best. Hem-hem. My library is slowly building, but I feel it difficult to find a balance between reading and playing. Often it seems that I have to read, play then reread, which seems to help. Next on the purchase list is The Second Book Of Go which apparently has a very good chapter on capturing races.
Politics is still making me angry, although I did enjoy the farce of the Terror Bill. Of course the Liberal Democrats plainly need to get their act together if they're going to abstain on a vote despite having the potentially deciding number of seats. It's quite strange to watch the Conservative party and the other Conservative party slogging it out to make themselves different enough. Having watched the topsy-turvy spectacle of the House Of Lords standing up for civil liberties against a bill instigated by the Labour party, we now have the confusion of a Roman Catholic prime minister who is softer on abortion than the Tory Party. The election is sure to be a major pissing contest. Oh well - whilst the two giants fight, the dwarf runs away with the ricebowl. Hopefully.
And Channel 4 are trying to wrestle the shock crown from Channel 5 following their (apparently) stiffy friendly documentary that aired before Christmas. Four are running another Banned season (mind wandering to Frank Skinner jokes about thwapping off to documetaries about mining disputes). Last night it was a documentary about celebrity sex tapes. Naturally they can't get away with showing Paris Hilton sucking someone off, so they show the footage with genital fogging. I've always found it curious that you can show a couple having sex, but you can't show the organs, as though watching someone on the job is more acceptable than actually seeing the old in-out-in-out itelf. Am I rambling? I guess what I mean is that surely it's witnessing the act that's the bit that's shocking or offensive, and the act is all about what is happening to the individual as a whole, not just the rude bits. It's almost as though you could happily watch the news read by Huw Edwards whilst he is being felated, as long as it's all happening below the desk.
Oh, and I'm reliably informed that Tessa Jowell is taking a lead from MAFF and will be awarding Channel 4 a subsidy if they agree not to commission a second series of Nathan Barley.
I spent much of my annual leave attempting to improve my Go skills, and believe I may have succeeded a tiny bit. My kyu is up to 23 or so, but this may have been due to someone resigning rather than any intrinsic improvement in my own ability. Nevertheless, I'm getting a better sense of shape, am beginning to pick up on errors in the way I play, and feel like I have some direction in my learning now, rather than the fearful "where now" sense I had when I first started playing. I've a total of four computer opponents now, TanGo, GnuGo and my current horror inducer, Many Faces Of Go (v 10), to which I am currenty losing on a nine stone handicap at the lowest setting without komi. I tend to play too fast against computers though, so I'm probably not working at my best. Hem-hem. My library is slowly building, but I feel it difficult to find a balance between reading and playing. Often it seems that I have to read, play then reread, which seems to help. Next on the purchase list is The Second Book Of Go which apparently has a very good chapter on capturing races.
Politics is still making me angry, although I did enjoy the farce of the Terror Bill. Of course the Liberal Democrats plainly need to get their act together if they're going to abstain on a vote despite having the potentially deciding number of seats. It's quite strange to watch the Conservative party and the other Conservative party slogging it out to make themselves different enough. Having watched the topsy-turvy spectacle of the House Of Lords standing up for civil liberties against a bill instigated by the Labour party, we now have the confusion of a Roman Catholic prime minister who is softer on abortion than the Tory Party. The election is sure to be a major pissing contest. Oh well - whilst the two giants fight, the dwarf runs away with the ricebowl. Hopefully.
And Channel 4 are trying to wrestle the shock crown from Channel 5 following their (apparently) stiffy friendly documentary that aired before Christmas. Four are running another Banned season (mind wandering to Frank Skinner jokes about thwapping off to documetaries about mining disputes). Last night it was a documentary about celebrity sex tapes. Naturally they can't get away with showing Paris Hilton sucking someone off, so they show the footage with genital fogging. I've always found it curious that you can show a couple having sex, but you can't show the organs, as though watching someone on the job is more acceptable than actually seeing the old in-out-in-out itelf. Am I rambling? I guess what I mean is that surely it's witnessing the act that's the bit that's shocking or offensive, and the act is all about what is happening to the individual as a whole, not just the rude bits. It's almost as though you could happily watch the news read by Huw Edwards whilst he is being felated, as long as it's all happening below the desk.
posted by Hamilton's Brain | 7:43 pm
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