Occupational thoughts

This morning I tried uploading some HL2 Ep2 gameplay footage to Facebook, miscalculating the transfer rate the app calculated that it would take over 6 days to upload my video:

And I found an odd scribbling on my profile wall:

Since my last post I’ve been sort of lost as to what to write, I have a few sketches which I have yet to scan and post but the effort seems not worth it. I’m also at something of an impasse, I’ve recorded Halo 3 footage for a machinima and have found a service with which to capture it. I can’t pay for the service because I haven’t yet been issued with a card from the bank.

I have an idea for a short film which was sort of shelved a month ago and then re-entered my imagination, and is now languishing somewhere in the back of my mind.

I still have an essay to write in politics and I’m horribly tempted to churn out any old waffle just to get it over and done with. A little voice deep down is telling me that to ‘fill 2 pages’ with nonsense would just be a bad thing to do.

My room again looks like a mini-whirlwind just came through and blew everything into disarray. I still haven’t cleaned it.

I’m still waiting for my new pocket camcorder which has been delayed due to yesterday’s bank holiday. I did request another book called ‘White Niggers of America’ (in it’s original french) by Pierre Vallières which arrived. There is now a small pile of 4 unfinished books to get through.

Seeing as I don’t have much other content, I’ve still got a few pictures which I don’t belive I’ve posted yet:

What happens when you leave Facebook alone for a week.

Another Facebook picture of someone who has 404 pictures of themselves. By my standards that’s far too many.

The xbox broke while I was away… but is now working… and we don’t know why. Anyway, I’ve been forging High Ground (on Halo 3) with many teleporters, grav lifts and fusion coils while not doing what Matthieu loves to do in forge – which is to spawn about five spartan lazers, overshields and a Scorpion Tank – resulting in an overpowered explosion-fest. Using subtle changes to create large impacts on gameplay. Matthieu says it’s ‘not fun’, in which case the map has failed and must be improved until it becomes fun.

Yesterday an angry group of Unite Against Fascism supporters threw some eggs at the British National Party leader Nick Griffin. The UAF people got lots of stick for this, even some people calling them ‘undemocratic’. They tried to repress the right of free speech of an elected representative of a group of society. Yes, in theory that’s a bad thing to do. Except they’re missing a very fundamental point here: Nick Griffin is a Fascist. Fascists are bad.

There are two things wrong with the argument against the UAF protesters. Firstly, I am not elected, nobody has voted for me, that does not make my voice any less relevant than someone who has been voted for. Just because you’re the leader of something doesn’t mean that your opinion is more valid than anyone else’s – it just means that you represent the opinions of the people who voted for you. If we start thinking of MP’s opinions as more/less important depending on how many people voted for them that would be wrong.
Secondly, it’s okay to deny free speech to people like Nick Griffin. This is the start of a slippery slope which ultimately ends in the confiscation of civil liberties. I remember Mariah once presenting the idea that democracy wasn’t effective because some people just need to be gagged and told to shut up. It’s completely okay to throw eggs at them if they’re being racist.
And anyway, throwing eggs at him wasn’t nearly as bad as arresting him for incitement of racial hatred. He got on the news. I bet he’s actually quite pleased with himself.
I know for a fact that one or two members of the Socialist Worker’s Party must have been there because they sent out a mail beforehand telling everyone about it. They’ve got a meeting tonight and I’ll ask them about it.

I won’t post a picture of Nick Griffin’s ugly face because that would give him the attention he doesn’t deserve, instead here’s the worst of the internet:

First exhibited on this post.

I’ve been trawling through loads of photos on facebook of people who look (as someone in my Citizenship class pointed out) so completely full of themselves. The pretentiousness is unbelievable and yet it continues. But that’s not what I wanted to post. On our last day before study leave some popular socialites went out to point-and-shoot the last day forever and give it some kind of meaning “it’s not like we’re all going to come back next year in Sixth-Form is it?”.

I came across this photo:

A typical Cherwellian schoolboy in his native dress.

And I watched Gordon Brown’s YouTube address to the nation (I felt like the only person in the country to have taken it seriously). The government channel had blocked comments and here’s why:

Someone had re-kicked the video on their channel with comments allowed and that was the result. Methinks the government did well to protect themselves from such abuse.

Something about the internet is that it gives everyone a view. Thank the maker for this vast pool of free speech:

Also, I made a sample facebook advert earlier:

The image in the ad was this one, enlarged:

I was able to have a successful multiwinia match with the parents tonight. But couldn’t go see Mark Steel. I’m not sure whether to be happy or sad. Spend time with family/spend time with Mark Steel.
And I’ve been adding new subscriptions to google reader. Webcomics and articles by interesting people.

I just got bitten by a mosquito or some black flying thing. Dam insects.