n.p. The Wannadies Bagsy Me
n.d. Heineken

Today's gone well, on balance. Firstly, I managed to lay some smack down on my dissertation's candy ass, which was nice. It's even conceivable that I'll do some more this evening, but perhaps its the long-awaited beer speaking. After that, and having lunch whilst discussing commercial European TV with Mino, I went upstairs and put together a shopping/to-do list, then chatted with John and Will for a bit before going to town with Mino. Here's the list as it stands:

Walkman     NAS
Power Lead     Petrock's
Pants and socks
Shaving Foam (Oil)
Handtowel
Shampoo & Conditioner
Church Fathers
Toothpaste

Duty Chaplain 1630
Phone places
Inland Revenue

Sainsbury's first. I asked for a tenner cashback, and somehow walked out without it. I didn't notice for about an hour and a half. Doh, you can't just walk into a supermarket and ask for your tenner back, so I guess that's it gone. Mino wanted to buy a sim card for his phone, and we dived into phone shops as and when such a thing was possible. I found a cheap walkman, which I intend to use as a stopgap for my hi-fi, but I couldn't find a power supply cheap enough for it, so I didn't get it. My towel was a hasty purchase from Poundland. It's an 100% beach towel, which has taken up residence in the upper toilet. I only wanted it to dry my hands on - I can't use the curtains forever. I was rather surprised to find that Wesley Owen did indeed stock a copy of some of the writings of the church fathers, The Apostolic Fathers, but I didn't buy it because it didn't have some of the ones I wanted to read in, and it also had the original Greek alongside the translation which is probably more expensive, and not of much benefit if you don't know Greek. I'll shop around. They can also be found on my links page, but I'd really rather not read a lot of text from a screen. I was going to see if the duty chaplains at the cathedral knew of some compelling reasons to not be a catholic, but that would've meant abandoning Mino, so I'll do it tomorrow morning, 1030, together with the other stuff I didn't have time to do. By the time we got to the Inland Revenue, it was 1645, and there were tonnes of people already there, so I guess I'll do that tomorrow too. I expect I'll just need to get a form. When Mino and I were in Virgin re. phones, I was drawn as if by a malevolent force towards the sale section in videos. Mino emerged from Virgin with a new Virgin pay-as-you-go account, and I with Zoolander and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I had expected Zoolander to be terrible, but I liked it when I saw it. I'm not sure anyone else will though. We shall see. So much for me not buying videos anymore. Videos deteriorate too easily - if I'm going to buy films at all, I should really get them on DVD I think.

On the way back we stopped off at the Phoenix. Mino wondered if this was just because I like shortcuts, but it was actually because I want to see a play now that I have some money. Nina said she might see the Iliad there this evening. She clearly can't get enough Iliad, as I saw a production of it with her a bit ago. Then again, she had issues with that production, whereas I thought it was awesome. Here's what grabbed my attention anyway:

MUFFIN MEN
featuring Jimmy Carl Black
Sat 10 [May] / 8pm / £8 (£6) [...]
Back by popular request, The Muffin Men "play Frank Zappa music with some Captain Beefheart and stuff thrown in...". [...] Special guest Jimmy Carl Black, original drummer and vocalist with The Mothers also played with Captain Beefheart.

Awesome!!! I'm going even if no-one else does - and they won't. Black's "the Indian of the group" on We're Only In It For The Money, a hefty piss-take of the Beatles and hippy hangers-on generally and one of a select few Zappa albums I would actually reccommend to anyone. I believe he also referred to Beefheart as "the real deal" in comparison with Zappa, which makes him an astute man by my reckoning. Hmm, this is the evening I've just arranged today to go to Tamsin and Martyn's for tea. This calls for a mind with wisdom.

MARK THOMAS presents
AFTER ILISU
What I Did Next
Mon 19 [May] / 8pm
£12.50 (£8.50)

BASIC WEBSITE DESIGN
Tutor: Ben Patterson
Introduction to web design using Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Photoshop.
[...] £135 (£115)

You pay someone £135 to show you how to use a WYSIWYG package?!

I also note with interest that Mr. Scruff's gonna be at Timepiece - I forget when. I've heard of Mr. Scruff. I think they/he are/is make the kind of noise that people think I like. I have no idea.

Once back, I had tea and watched some of Richard and Judy. It was like travelling back in time to last term. Highlights included Richard describing himself as "a famous pop star" because he once played guitar in a folk duo and begging Alan Cumming on his knees for another series of The High Life.