Books of gods

Double Eagle comes to a close, and Only in Death is ordered for great victory.
My only criticism is that Double Eagle ends very abruptly after reaching an epic climax, the unification of the characters that had up until that point belonged to their own separate stories and their entrance into one final gigantic Battle of Britain style showdown was cool, but the conclusion pretty much consists of 'and then the battle ended, the Imperials won the war, and everyone that was still alive lived happily ever after'. Still a good read for any 40k Black Library or Gaunt's Ghosts fan.

In search for books to ask for Christmas (aside from Initial D, obviously) I had a look at the Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades after certain reviews favorably highlighted it, however in my infinite quest for balance in all things I found some negative reviews that were slightly more than the gripes of disgruntled kids, one of them critically spoke of the book simply building itself on ridiculous sources, and as I had a look at a few pages online I could see that it was spouting absurd snippets of misinformation in 'did you know' segments that even I could see through with my limited knowledge of the prophet Muhammad.
In one of these negative reviews the book God's War: A New History of the Crusades was suggested as an alternative, but at an epic 1040 pages this is reportedly a very dry read.
I will continue my search for new novels, and books on Islam and the Crusades, but am expecting a difficult time of it.

Salaam

I entered Blockbuster on Sunday to rent a film for later that night, I scanned around for a while without finding anything I was particularly interested in, although I was pleased to see the Russian box office hit 9th Company had been imported and subtitled properly, as that is too cool a film for it not to get the publicity it deserves.
Finally I laid eyes on Soldier of God, with the cover looking awfully inviting, and suspiciously close to the Assassin's Creed time period and location, of which I have been playing so much recently. I picked it up and flipped it over to read, "The Holy Land, 1187. When dedicated warrior-monk of the Knights Templar, Rene, is captured in battle, he escapes into the desert. He is saved from starvation by Hasan, a mysterious Muslim traveller..." Little more had to be said as I was sold, no doubts and no hesitation.
Unfortunately despite winning various awards -including two 'best picture of 2005'- it left a lot to be desired. The budget was evidently lacking, even though many famous films have been in the same situation and have seamlessly created masterpieces, this title however did not disguise it so well with poor direction uncomfortably highlighting these shortfalls.
Scripting was going to be its savior, a good story and be damned to everything else, yet again, things were not going to be so easy. It's not that the script was entirely bad, it's just that it laid it on so heavily it became hard to take it seriously. Yes it's a comment on religion and humanity, yes it's very relevant, yes you are not the first film to do this by any degree.
If it wasn't for the scripture, Muslims, and entire setting of the Third Crusade it would have been rather unwatchable. For instance, if it was set in America during the worst of the hostilities between the native Indians and the settlers -which would have been just as applicable a setting- I would have switched off completely before the end.

No crust

The Rally Ireland ends and Loeb clocks the 10 points he needed to take the lead, with Sordo taking second and Latvala proving he most definitely has the skills to pay the bills in third. Gronholm will now have to come first in Wales with Loeb in sixth to win, and as that won't possibly happen all he can do is compete with Loeb for first and hope the Frenchman crashes out, which is entirely possible.
The young Jari-Matti Latvala in his Stobart Focus has shown incredible skill for so little experience and has amazingly snatched seventh place overall, only one point ahead of Atkinson. The 22 year old Finnish driver is rumored to be replacing Gronholm next year in the Abu Dhabi Focus team, I certainly hope he does move in to support Hirvonen as he easily has the potential to match - or even surpass him in the future.

This week has proven relatively uneventful save for the rally, I occupy myself with work during the day and looking after myself in the evening, as my parents are celebrating their 30th anniversary in Barbados.
After cooking myself an epic Indian meal on Wednesday night I came down in the morning to find I had left the oven on, evidently I did not burn to death in my sleep, so it was generally a victory all round.
I went into work today at 08:40, what I thought was ten minutes late, and as I hurried to sign in Si -one of the cooler officers- said "You know we start work at seven..." in a reprimanding tone, I made my excuses and only realised a little while later that he wasn't having a go at me for being ten minutes late, but for being over an hour and a half late. I totally forgot that everyone does the 0700 to 1600 shift on Friday, my bad.

I've taken to reading Max Power during my breaks over the last two days, as it does satiate my voracious desire for automotive material. Sadly however, while it is not quite as tragically chav-tastic as it is notoriously known as being, it's not far off, and I have spotted a few sections of cringingly conspicuous misinformation that were exposed and denounced in the latest issue of Redline's '28 Tuning Myths Busted' feature. That, along with severely lacking event coverage, features and a ridiculous excess of advertisements assures that I will not purchase another issue of Max Power, while every incarnation of Redline will be desperately sought after.

I decided to sit down and spend tonight watching The Fast and the Furious, as it has been far too long since I last saw it. I found this impossible, as after 15 minutes I found the film simply far too epic to watch alone.
The Fast and the Furious has always been the foremost film in my circle of friends, with all of us being able to recreate any scene word for word on the spot, I unfortunately underestimated how truly incredible this film is and before I knew it I found myself shouting "I'm in your face!" at the TV along with Toretto.
I also had to sit down for a few moments to lower my blood pressure after Letty, Leon, Vince and Jesse make their first appearance, as they pull their vehicles into view I see Letty driving an S14a, giving me enough reason alone to pause the film, jump out of my seat and drop kick myself in the face. After I calm down a bit from the sheer epic scale of that I unpause the film to see the next car to be an R33 GTR, words alone are too weak a medium to convey the emotions I was feeling after that dual revelation.
Watching this film after so long without other people to appreciate the moment cannot be done, so tomorrow night Bertie, Andrew and Paul will be coming over to witness the extremity of script writing that is The Fast and the Furious.

Shared experiences

It looks like this time it really is over for Marcus Gronholm in the World Rally Championship.
He started the Irish rally with the daunting proposition of having to keep up with Loeb on the Frenchman's favorite surface, but on day one the Finnish driver simply loses traction on the wet roads and hits a wall sideways, completely destroying the car and even knocking him unconscious. Luckily both Gronholm and co-driver Rautiainen were uninjured after being looked over in a hospital, but this gives Loeb a ten point advantage that only a retirement on his part will lose, and after he sacrificed that benefit in Japan we can't expect him to make the same mistake again.
Subaru once again fall out of favor as Atkinson, Pons, and Irish privateer Meeke all familiarize their Imprezas with the bushes, with Henning Solberg and his Focus the last victims of the day.
My favorite, Mikko Hirvonen once again proves how incredibly awesome he is: Both Citroen drivers Loeb and Sordo overshoot a corner due to a small muddy bump before it, with Hirvonen coming up behind them not long later and doing exactly the same thing. The difference being that as the Citroen drivers hit the breaks and reverse back onto the track, Hirvonen keeps his foot down and speeds to the junction just down the road, spectators think he's out of control and scatter in every direction, but they underestimate the flying Finn as he does a handbrake turn in the extra room, actually smiling and giving the crowd a wink before dashing off back onto the track. Absolute legend.

Last night was spent bowling in Stevenage with the boisterous Bertie, the delightful Cassie, the sultry Chrissie, and the fantastically lascivious Nicola. It was an enjoyable outing that highlighted the fact that Wii sports does not improve your proficiency in real life activities.
I also reinforced my domination on the brilliant arcade racer Outrun 2, which will now no doubt be played upon every trip to Stevenage.

Packing at work today wasn't too bad, it's more engaging and physically demanding than picking, but I still don't appreciate getting home at 1730.
The highlight of the day was seeing an S14 drive past me just outside the warehouse, my jaw dropped and I could only stare enviously as it turned off to park nearby. Tomorrow I'm going to get there a little early and see if I can talk to the driver, and maybe even blag a ride.

Everything is permissible

Despite Super Mario Galaxy receiving nothing but rave reviews I have been spending most of my time playing Assassin's Creed, killing the enemies of peace in the name of Allah most definitely entertains me.
While the game almost entirely takes place during the Third Crusade amongst the cities of Jerusalem, Acre and Damascus, the game is actually based in the near future. The story revolves around genetic memory, which is the concept that our instincts are passed on genetically, AC takes it in a more literal sense that we could actually carry our ancestors memories in our genes. Desmond -the 'main' character- uses a machine which allows him to tap into these memories and take control of Altair, an Islamic member of the Hashshashin sect, which are known as the original assassins. The story has come as a surprisingly deep drama with a lot of depth if you care to seek it out, which appeases my interest in both science fiction, and Islam and the Arab states.
The games main selling point is often seen as the parkour style of navigation, Altair has the ability to grab onto any ledge that protrudes more than three inches, and in the richly designed cities of the holy land this skill is well used. Combat plays a mostly secondary part, you quickly gain the ability to get instant kills if you time your attack right, while this may seem like it makes it too easy it still remains a bit of a challenge and just about manages to keep combat from becoming a tedious chore.
I can see why many people are not particularly thrilled by the game as many of the optional objectives become extremely repetitive, but even in these I have yet to find an annoyance, and for the rest of the game I would happily endure them even if I did.

As for Mario, I am only 9 stars in out of the 120 (only 60 required to complete the story) and have only truly found it all that enjoyable once, in the most recent level which provided a distinct challenge. Up to that point I had found the linearity of the level designs almost boring as I went through the motions with distressing ease, I can only hope that these levels are supposed to be training sections and that it soon becomes a real test of dexterity. And unless it markedly improves I think I will be one of the extremely few people alive to prefer Super Mario Sunshine to Galaxy.

Not over yet

I was told at work today that I will be moving from picking to packing on the 0830 to 1730 shift next week, which hinders my chances of seeing people after work even more than it already was. Absolutely fantastic news to add to the list.

I returned home -however- to have my spirits lifted slightly by the sight of the rally tickets having arrived, putting a very real edge on the exciting event which is now only two weeks away.
I have also received an email informing me that both Super Mario Galaxy and Assassin's Creed have been dispatched from ShopTo.com, set to arrive tomorrow, both are highly rated games which I should hopefully be able to lose myself in for a while.

face-palm

Well things most definitely did not go as planned.
Saturday in old Stevenage was alright, if a little uneventful, but my plans for Sunday which I was extremely looking forward to were canceled at the last minute.
It's not so bad though, I've got something even better lined up after work on Monday at 5. I go to bed Sunday night to have my Mum walk into my room and tell me not to forget about my long-ass, expensive-ass dentist appointment the next day at five o'-freaking-clock that I haven't heard about for months, great, that absolutely ruins all that then.
And then I get home from work at 4:15 to have my Mum tell me that they called up and said that they want me to go in at 4:30, well they can piss off, I'm paying a lot of money and have called off a very god damn important meeting for this appointment, the least they could do is have it on time. So I sit here now typing this as I burn time until my appointment at 5.

Update: Turns out my front two teeth are going to fall out of my head and that I need to give people more money for more painful treatment to delay that event.
Fuck this shit.

The Emperor protects

It has been a while since my last post, not to say that I haven't had anything to write about, I just haven't really had enough energy after work. Things have been looking up though, without going into too much detail a rather important phone call a few days ago dismissed a lot of my very paranoid worries, and a party at Bertie's place last night introduced some very cool characters. I've got a lot more planned for the next few days, so things should prove to be quite fun.

Alpha Dog was the film of the week, telling the true story of the kidnapping and murder of Nicholas Markowitz and the involvement of Jessee James Hollywood. This is an absolutely amazing film, very gritty and pulls no punches with an impressive performance from Justin Timberlake. I highly recommend it.

I've started watching the anime Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, which is a comedy about a ridiculously pessimistic teacher and his variously insane female students, all of which have fallen in love with him for each of their own deluded reasons.
It reminds me of Fruits Basket in the way it holds its own style of humour, and in that while most of it is rather standard laughs, which certainly isn't a bad thing, every now and then they'll pull out something really hilarious. Definitely a good title.

I've decided to dive into Dan Abnett's Double Eagle while I wait for The Book Depository to get his latest Gaunt's Ghost novel, Only in Death, in stock. It's good to be back in the 41st century and among devout Imperials once again, of course with Abnett's absolutely brilliant lexis it proves to be an expectedly excellent book.

Leads to engine damage

It turns out work isn't as distracting as I would've hoped, as I get quite an abundance of time to myself my mind is free to wander, which is not presently enjoyable.

Other distractions have been plentiful however, last night I went out to let off some fireworks in a park behind someone's house, the owner of which was nice enough to cook us burgers and give us choc ices afterwards. There were nine of us in all, including some absolute legends that I haven't seen in far too long, so it was a very profitable trip. The only downside was that I didn't get back 'till about midnight, not giving me much sleep before having to get up at 6 for work this morning, leaving me rather tired as I type this.

I've been spending my breaks at work avidly reading Redline magazine, and now that I'm entering the world of full time work I think it just might be worth a subscription. But I'll wait until I've read Sport Compact Car and have a full time job before I do that.
Redline has introduced to me an excellent looking event for next year in the form of Trax, spoke of as the ultimate automotive one day event in the UK, featuring track races, drag, drift, thousands of cars on display and a massive trade area, I'll definitely have to take the gang along to Silverstone for this.
Another slightly more epic event that I'll be teaming up with Paul for as Bertie and Andrew join forces, is Stales To Naples, a rally which navigates Europe exactly as the name suggests. The only catch is that you have to do it in a car worth less than £100, so full on banger derby hilarity is assured. My brother even says he'll be entering, so it is truly lined up to be an absolutely monumental trip, assuming the duct tape, super glue, and Paul's epic mechanic skills manage to hold things together until the finish line.

An unwelcome distraction comes in the form of Redline the film, and I can easily say that this is one of the worst movies I have ever had the misfortune to witness in my entire life. I am currently too tired to waste my time going into how unbelievably atrocious this film is, but I assure you that as good as the trailer may look, it is diabolical. I am positive the sole reason that the script is such a piece of toilet paper and the actors are dressed up homeless people is because they blew the entire budget on all the incredible cars the screen is intermittently bathed in. I'm almost tempted to recommend this film just so that everyone that reads this is entirely clear on how deadly serious I am, watching this film is like watching the imagination of a bored nine year old in high definition.

I like the tuna here

I've got a long week of work lined up, 7 to 4, Monday to Friday. I can't say I'm exactly looking forwards to it, but at least it will keep me distracted from a certain cripplingly depressing subject that has been on and off my mind for the last month.

Another welcome distraction would be some god damned driving lessons, if I ever get insured on my Dad's Focus, which I have pretty much come to accept that I won't.
I've certainly spent this weekend absorbing myself in all automotive related media, sitting on /o/, watching interviews with rally drivers on youtube, revising my theory and doing some research on Wikipedia, like finding out what the hell a misfiring system does.
I'm even trying to find a good magazine to get into. I've bought a copy of Max Power, and as ridiculously chavvy as it may seem it has definitely risen in quality since I last saw it, but I pretty much know without even reading it that I won't be continuing with it. Redline has very much impressed me, and I managed to grab the local WH Smith's sole copy. The most highly recommended title has been Sport Compact Car, yet while it absolutely looks the best it has proven extremely difficult to get hold of, my hunt will continue however.
Paul has also decided that his wheels are fit to go to Wales, so tickets have been ordered and we are ready to go.

Yesterday I watched the film Night At The Museum, which was only marginally better than I thought it would be, but I was expecting it to be alright so it's all good. Quite surprisingly it had absolutely loads of well known actors, including a cameo by the legendary Charlie Murphy! Enjoyable stuff.

I also finished Horus Rising last night, an excellent book from an excellent author. I don't know what I'll be reading next, although I'm not really in a mood to read anything tonight so I'll probably think about it tomorrow.

I begun composing todays entry just as I returned from the local aerodrome, at which we mourned Guy Fawkes failed attempt at destroying the Houses of Parliament. Burgers and hot dogs were consumed, fireworks were viewed, and a bonfire was withstood, the flames from which were so fierce they gave me a newfound respect for firefighters.