Look at this here blog post....

Charlie Brooker: We shouldn't have to feel paranoid about snoops listening in to everything we say | Comment is free | The Guardian

"We’re in danger of creating a world where everyone has to walk around beaming like an inoffensive gameshow host."

Wonderful insight on the GrayKeysGate by Charlie Brooker. I especially like the comment on how "context is vital".

Sorry, internet. I take you for granted.

It's seems so childish and pathetic that as soon as the pitiful internet connection I have at my student accommodation goes down, I instantly run to my Blackberry and moan about it on Facebook or Twitter. Most of the time my internet use is largely for procrastination, sometimes I'm writing a blog post, sometimes I'm actually doing research for uni... but most of the time I'm just pootling around the dastardly addictive Tumblr, mooching over the BBC news homepage, having the occasional glance at Reddit, all whilst flicking backwards and forwards to goddamn Facebook.

Sometimes I think I take the internet for granted. It's possible to do so many good and wonderful things but here I am reblogging a picture of a dog standing on his hind legs. "Reblogging", a word only really exists in the shallow end of the swimming pool of the interwebs.

Credit: Cristóbal Cobo Romaní

Egypt has no internet access right now. Yeah, they can use dial-up to get their voices heard but it's the protests that are still being stifled in a massive way. The internet is such a symbol of freedom and I... we... take it for granted. The Egyptian people are being oppressed and this huge thing, this brilliant form of communication has been shut down in a blink of an eye. This shows how important the internet actually is. Not for online shopping or talking to your friends but as an actual force of good, a way of spreading a campaign or message. Egypt is offline and the rest of the world are chipping in, free dial-up is being offered from all corners of the world, photos and videos are managing to get out and people are sharing and sending information to keep this moving.

Sometimes I think the way I use the internet is a little pathetic. I need to stop updating and staring at Facebook all the time. It's pointless. See me demoralised.

Mmmm... Luke warm water, so refreshing!

Is a hot shower actually too much to ask for? Since coming back after Christmas instead of the hot water from the hot tap and the cold water from the cold tap coming out and making a happy union I seem to either get a cold or luke warm shower. Out of nowhere the hot water will disappear entirely for no reason what so ever. I want to step out onto the (spongey and rotten) bathroom floor feeling refreshed, not grumpy.

On top of all this our (sexy sexy 0.4 meg) internet disappears for several hours now and then. It's bad enough that it's barely usable at the best of times but Lighthouse have the cheek to claim "high speed wireless broadband" on the FRONT OF THE GODDAMN BUILDING. We would literally be better with dial-up.

So I'm officially adding "I want a working shower!!" to our long list of complaints including the extractor fans have never worked, the bathroom floor is rotting, the radiators don't work, the windows don't close properly and there's no light in the oven so I can't see my noms.

Basically, fuck you, Lighthouse, fuck you.

Illness, listlessness and generally melancholic boredom.

I hate being ill.

I had this 24 hour thing, which has thankfully buggered off. However now I still have an excruciating sore throat. Y'know the kind were it hurts to breath? And now I'm just utterly utterly fed up of it all. I'm running out of anything to entertain myself with. In my fatigued state I'm not exactly in a writing mood, nor to I have the will power to lift up a book let alone focus on the words. I'm unwilling to play on my PSP because I don't have my charger with me so no games for ill Suzal. And because the TV here doesn't have Dave I'm left with watching miscellaneous stuff online, mostly Bones*.

I'm just so listless right now. Add my sore throat, tiredness, and lack of human company and all I've been doing all day is staring at my computer screen and waiting for Mom to return from work so that I can enjoy listening to anecdotes from the Co-op then eventually faceplant my bed until tomorrow. Tomorrow, at least, I can escape the house. I'm off shopping with the Mother and to Burger King (omnomnom) for lunch which shall really cheer me.

Until then, however, moping around the house and being unproductive is all I shall do. I'll just stare at this here screen until my eyes turn square.

*I also watched an episode of Silent Witness... on the inferiority. The US make a lot of rubbish but crime dramas are something they do well. (Let's not talk about CSI.)

Excuse me whilst I push my teeny tiny trolley around this here teeny tiny supermarket.

Scrambling up onto a chair to reach the top of a wardrobe after a few glasses of wine probably wasn't my best idea. However what I discovered was well worth it.

On a sidenote... I'm glad my hair didn't suffer the 80s.

This toy took me through many an afternoon at my Nan and Granddad's. And it wasn't even my toy. My Aunt was originally bought this when she was about 8 at Christmas. Though I've learnt via anecdote that when first putting the little stickers on the supermarket items my Mom and Uncle apparently took over, eliciting 8-year-old Aunty Sarah to say "Who's toy is this?!"

Not enough swashbuckling for my liking...

According to National Geographic this mess of metal was once a sword guard, possibly under the ownership of the infamous Blackbeard. Yaargh argh argh and all that jazz.

Oooooh... archeological.

Ship wreaks, now they're exciting. Probably not for the archeologist who's cleaning artifacts like this one with a toothbrush. But for though of us who like to swish invisible swords, watch our coats billow and long for a trained (and therefore not inclined to poop on you) parrot on our shoulders all the pirates we have are either fictional or uncool somali pirates who, with their violence and kidnapping, aren't really partaking in the swashbuckling traditional. How unfun of them!

The closest we get to a swashbuckling lovable rogue is David Guetta when he starting hoisting girls over his shoulder in that Black Eyed Peas video.

Dancefloor sea shanty, anyone?

This (decidedly obtuse) thought reminded me of my excitement for Pirate of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Even though the franchise slightly fizzled out during the later two films (one might say it "did a Matrix") I still remember throughly enjoying Johnny Depp corsets the swashbuckling goodness. Sword fights, hats, big dresses, ships, the occasional beach and/or semi-naked man, all in one film? Oh yes please.

It seems quite a while since I was last enjoying a good ol' pirate romp and I rather can't wait for it this time. Yes, I love my quality films but big budget, cheesy adventures are always just too much fun to miss out on.

Richard Castle is a Browncoat... and so am I.

Ah, wonderful Nathan Fillion, so charming and dashing that you'd think he was British.

Generally someone becomes on of my favourite actors or actresses when they're in more than one of my favourite shows or films. Nathan Fillion managed this spectacularly. With Firefly and my most recently discovered addiction, ABC's Castle. Firefly is without doubt my favourite ever television show. About the crew of a Firefly class spaceship, set 500 years in the future. Now I love my sci-fi and with Firefly's added swashbuckling, Western vibe it's just a complete winner. How it got cancelled by bastard Fox when it had gained such a loyal and huge fanbase (Browncoats forever) after only 14 episodes is just beyond me. It could have been a cult classic. And to be fair, it still kinda has been.

And my favourite bit of it? The characters. Notably Captain Malcolm Reynolds. Dashing, charming, mysteriously and god-damn swashbuckling. *sigh* And he looks good with a gun. Fillion's performance is brilliant. He manages to create a brilliant and believable hero who remains mostly a mystery through the entire series.

And also this...

Then there's Richard Castle. Cocky, metrosexual, grammar-nazi and adorable father. I discovered the show not long ago and I adore it. I love US crime dramas as it is, they're my guilty pleasure. Castle is a little different though. Ric Castle is a best-selling author who, thanks to his connections, is shadowing (gorgeous) NYPD detective, Kate Beckett.

I just love this show. It's so genuinely entertaining. It's cute, funny, has brilliant storylines and has just the right amount of clichéd goodness. And brilliantly every now and then a little Firefly reference slips in. I say little.... one episode Fillion bounded onto screen in a full Mal Reynolds costume claiming to be a space cowboy. I love this show.

Castle as Mal

I suppose I'll stop blathering on about my love for Nathan Fillion now and I intend to continue my Firefly marathon.

Re: Jeff Bridges broke my laptop.

My wee netbook.

This is now my current set-up. I've gone from a thousand pound Macbook to a netbook and now comically oversized mouse. *headdesk* Please may I have my loan now for I wish to buy my new harddrive?

Jeff Bridges broke my laptop.

I have decided that Tron Legacy has just concluded inside my Macbook. The hard drive hasn't broken, no. There were light cycles, bad guys and Olivia Wilde. The hard drive certainly did not break. Either way I kinda need to buy a new one and considering my current funds will just about allow me to eat this week I guess I have no computer until I get my loan.

So I do not have a laptop, just a very expensive paperweight which has the sole function of bonging when you attempt to turn it on. Oh, and there's a picture of an apple on it. And a sticker.

*le sigh* If I knew what I know now about computers (which still isn't a incredibly large amount) I don't think I would have bought this heavy white box. It's not a bad computer, it happily runs Quark, Photoshop and Chrome all at the same time and would gladly make you a cup of tea as well (if it could*). However the case cracks every couple of months, when the battery inevitably dies it'll cost £99 to replace and at the moment it's a very expensive "thing that goes 'bong' when you press a button.

Though saying that, it's never had a virus, the incompetent Vista was the competition when I bought it and both the
machine itself and OSX are beautiful.

Oh do the pros and cons and the Windows/Mac arguments never end?

I used to be a Mac fangirl, now I'm a confused lover of my mac and admirer-from-afar of Windows 7 and my only computing power is now a netbook using Windows XP. Oh dear.

2011 fun activities for waking hours

This morning I woke up with something of a hangover but then I saw two good things. Firstly, a glass of water placed beside my bed by my kind drunken self and then I moved it and discovered this. My hungover self giggled.

Ice Bear likes tape.

I'm not sure I have achieved much so far this year. 2011 for me has so far involved some light housework followed by and afternoon sat in bed watching some good old US crime drama. I feel I did actually achieve some things last year however. I upped my game with my uni work, I got myself a nice cushy job (not that I'd say no to one with more hours), I even found a gorgeous house for next year and most importantly I snagged myself a wonderful boyfriend. The latter made 2010 amazing. And the former three helped a teeny bit too.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. 2011 is waiting for us and I'm gonna start it with an evening in the pub. Start as we mean to go on, I say. 2011 shall be a year of friends, pubs and some goddamn journalism.

And my new year's resolution? 920 x 1080


Eh, who am I kidding? I wouldn't keep it anyway.