mike[space] dot net

Wanted is bloody awesome. I never read the original comic books, so I don't know how well it compares, but I do know that as a standalone film it works very well. It's by the director of Nightwatch, so as similar visual flair and some excellent set pieces. Well worth the visit, in particular at the cinema - it's a big film that deserves a big setting!

It's been a long time, but I am now finally back online. I'm using virgin media cable, and so far it seems to be pretty good. The TV box looks very like Sky, we got the plus so we can record shows and there's a bunch of on demand tv available (although a lot of it seems to be charged for, rather than free to air, which is a bit shit). The broadband seems punchy, and the phone looks to be working fine. If anything, the customer service has been a little too attentive (actually having someone come to your house to sign the contract seems a bit over the top), but other than that, all seems good.

Am about to move flat, so as usual my internet connection is about to disappear for anything up to two weeks. BT want to charge a bastard fortune to get a phone line hooked up, and Virgin want to read my data and decide whether they want to keep me as a customer or not. In the meantime I will be stuck with my 2G connection on my iPhone. Which just became very old hat ;-)

So I made the pasta florentine this evening but it didn't work out as well as hoped. The first problem arose when I realised I was following a recipe that would serve 1. Instead of measuring everything again, I panicked a little and just chucked stuff in. I think that as a result I had too much wine in the sauce, and I also used jarred garlic which might not be such a good thing. It has potential, but Claire had an additional thought which I will also try which is to use a frying pan to give a larger surface area to the sauce, hopefully improving on the thickening front (although the thought occurs that less wine will also help).

So not bad, but definitely needs more work!

[edited to link to recipe and correct the name of the dish!!!]

Yesterday I entered a brave new world of cooking, following a recipe that had no suggestion of weights and measures in it at all. I fried up a bunch of prawns in the wok with groundnut oil and garlic, and just went for it. Threw in a load of aubergine and courgette and fresh chillis. Overall, it was pretty nice, but I think the proportion of the flavouring for the soup vs the quantity of water I used was a bit off. I was worried about having too much fish sauce or soy sauce in there so erred on the side of caution. I think that I want to:

I'm not quite sure how this happens, but apparently I am able to keep up my blog more regularly when I have a fulltime job, than when I have all the time in the world! So how about a quick catch up?

The biggest news is that Claire has got herself a teaching job for next year, which is bloody awesome. In fact Claire has very nearly finished the whole course as well, which is also awesome, if for no other reason than it will mean she can catch up on her sleep ;-)

The next biggest is that we have found ourselves a new flat. We initially plumped for a large 2 bed place with a big garden, but a second visit revealed just how big a problem the damp was likely to be, and we wound up with a large 1 bed place with a garden instead. It's smaller than we have now, which is going to mean we will need to be a bit neater than we are now, but it's a really nice place, the garden is in good condition and a nice size for BBQs, and it's literally a stone's throw from Brockwell Park, which I am very happy about.

It's been a couple of weeks since I've mentioned the writing, so thought it might be worth an update. The piece I mentioned in my last posting progressed to a 3rd draft just over a week ago, and has been titled "Just Good Friends". I've been getting feedback from a couple of people, and will hopefully be tackling another draft (possibly final) in the next week or so. However, last week was not a good week overall, as I struggled a little with the assignment from City Lit, and didn't seem to get past it. At the same time, flat hunting has begun in earnest, which is a fairly distracting process. I'm trying not to be too hard on myself, if for no other reason than being miserable about it isn't going to help all that much, and if anything risks making matter worse. I knew getting into this that were bound to be more and less productive phases, and I need to develop strategies for dealing with it rather than wallowing too much.

My latest adventure in cooking, most noticeable because it was the first time I've filleted a fish in many years, and because it was the first time I ever did anything with Mackerel. The recipe can be found here, it was all very straightforward, and tasted great. Even if I did forget the coriander. Piece of piss and highly recommended (especially cos mackerel is dirt cheap ... mmmm, tasty and budget-friendly ;-)

On Saturday, Ro and I went and saw Speed Racer, the latest effort from the Wachowski brothers (those of Matrix fame). I was in the perfect frame of mind for it, I wanted a fast moving, loud, brash and fun adventure, and that's exactly what I got. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite so bright, and it has a cartoon styling to it that works exceptionally well - a live action take on Japanese cartoons. It's absurdly fast, but unlike some of the money shots from the later Matrix films (the Burly Brawl for example), it never goes beyond the reach of the technology, or drags on for so long that you get bored. It's impossible to be bored by it, it's too bloody fast. Of course, you might find the story itself a little lacking, but this is not the film to watch if you want sophisticated twists and turns in your plot. Only if you want sophisticated twists and turns in your race cars. Disengage the thinking part of your mind, engage the inner child who simply wants the cinema to be exciting, and go enjoy yourself!

Another video from ted.com:

How self interest can save the world - Robert Wright provides grim inspiration in this talk regarding the non-zero sum game of life.