Viper Squad Ten
We're from the future. And we're stuck....
......VSX......                                                                                                              ......Been a little bit quiet lately......                                                                                                                                                                    

VSX, A shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist: Starbuck Powersurge - a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of Viper Squad Ten, a long-disbanded group of stranded timetravelling troubadours, formed to help finance repairs to their time-machine. Now very much stuck in C21...

Sometimes guest editors: Mr Stu and DJ Tim.


[ Archives ]


[ Recent Posts ]

Dexter Season 4 finale review
Now that's magic!
Inception
I did this!
Frank Sidebottom RIP
Lost - The End - an atheist's viewpoint
Viper Squad Ten - the return
[breath drawn]
[rib cage expands outwards]
[intercostal muscles contract]



[ Contact ]

As You'd Imagine
@gmail.com


[ Hyperlinks ]


[ Comments ]

Click on a post's Comment link to view or add Readers' Comments. No purchase necessary. (Click [!] for backup Haloscan Commenting).


[ Search ]

Technorati search


[ Site Feed ]

Atom


[ Copyright ]

All text is copyright the Viper Squad Ten blog team 2003-2006 unless otherwise quoted or credited. If we've not credited you properly, please let me know. Throw us a link if you're desperate enough to use this guff...


[ VSX Latest ]



[ Friday, December 30, 2005 ]

Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion
Starbuck [11:41] Comments: 6 []
 

Christmas round at Powersurge Towers was as good as Christmas ever gets. i.e. utterly fantastic.

This year was especially special, however, with 16 family members crammed around the television for the very special Christmas special that was .

Our audience spread was aged between three and eightysomething with everything in between, but everyone (apart from the three-year old) agreed that ex-Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant was an utterly fab (and may I say "special"?) Doctor. Very watchable, and hey, as always in the new series, its full of right-thinking (as opposed to right-wing thinking) to help meld the minds of mini-fans into better future citizens of this planet.

Exciting to hear the most explicit references within the episode to future spin-off series Torchwood (my Uncle Phil: "Isn't that a shopping centre in Solihull?"), further to those buried within Bad Wolf (the ruins of the famous Old Earth Torchwood Institute being the site where the Great Cobalt Pyramid was built - am I getting to nerdy for you here?)

And I look forward to wheeling my behemoth dinosaur PC into the front room to watch the commentary, downloadable from the BBC.

And so, to celebrate the forthcoming new series in 2006, I bring you an exclusive photo of Tennant and his assistant that I scavenged out of Russell T Davies' rubbish bin...



Not so heavy weather
Starbuck [11:22] Comments: 0 []
 

Garumph! Sounds of solid water rattling against the skylight in this morning's pre-dawn gloom had led me to expect a winter wonderland of snow drifts and treachourous ice when I woke up.

Not even a flake.




[ Saturday, December 24, 2005 ]

Christmas gifts
Starbuck [17:03] Comments: 0 []
 


Christmas is the time for giving. Also taking, but mainly giving.

With this in mind, I am asking my reader to visit The Hunger Site - one click will let them make a donation on your behalf, paid for by advertising. Capitalism giving something back for once. Or something.

As my own Christmas gift to you, dear reader, may I bring your attention to Sober Santa 2, although I'm sure to be the hundredth person doing so. Not sure why Santa's been captured and held within an electrified toy train track... is he a terrorist?... surely there's regulations against such unsafe children's products anyway... how and why does the food and drink keep teleporting in... but still. Merry Christmas!




[ Thursday, December 22, 2005 ]

The Birthday Party
Starbuck [09:46] Comments: 2 []
 



[ Wednesday, December 21, 2005 ]

The Christmas party
Starbuck [12:13] Comments: 2 []
 


I accompanied my wife to her previous workplace's "Christmas party" round at her boss' house last night. My God.

I must say that I'm feeling pretty proud of myself for getting through it without screaming out (though I was yelling loudly within - a strange feeling - shutting out the experience with white noise).

There are some situations that I'm just not built for, and dinner parties with the "its -politically-correct-gone-mad" brigade are one of them. A number of times I really felt an interjection rising, only for common sense (and fear) to thankfully stop me.

I didn't want to let Mrs Powersurge down by arguing with her ex-colleagues, and I didn't want my lack of articulacy to let myself down when faced with the resounding certainty of someone who won't accept that they're wrong and life isn't always as simple as they think.

A very strange atmosphere as well, with no-one wanting to put a foot wrong in front of the boss. I hate all the back-sniping that happens at these things, and I hate that sensation that there's a very dark underbelly lurking just under the surface of the conversation, daring itself to rear its ugly head. Thankfully it didn't.

Still, these things are an experience, and most undamaging experiences are good in some way. And it reminded me that "high" society in Britain is still very much a poisoned chalice.

OK, maybe I have read to much into it, but I can't deny how it made me feel. But the whole thing, with the boss' wife and children waiting on us hand and foot, had a certain unease. It was like something out of a dark comedy, with tinges of Pinter's "The Birthday Party" or Brydon & Davis' "Human Remains" about it.

It made me glad for my own simple life, however tricky the twists and turns may be.




[ Tuesday, December 20, 2005 ]

Infected spam for Christmas
Starbuck [17:31] Comments: 1 []
 


Ah, that special time of year, and the goodness of the Christmas spirit washes over everyone. Even those nefarious virus authors have written to me personally to wish me a merry christmas...

Reminder Online Greeting Card Waiting For You

Hello, CENSORED

We've noticed that you haven't picked up your greeting card that Wirginia (srynld@yahoo.com) sent to you on 18/12/2005.

To view your greeting card, CLICK this pick-up address or COPY and PASTE into your browser:

http://krallicus.net/nov30-76554.html

(c) All-Yours Greeting Cards
Provided as a free service by All-Yours Greeting Cards
http://krallicus.net/nov30-76554.html



4 TV bullets
Starbuck [10:59] Comments: 2 []
 
  • Unretentive memory annoyance: My mate Kev of the Travelkev blog happened to be appearing LIVE on the Channel Five gameshow Brainteaser at 12:30 last night, however I forgot to record it. Which is a great pity, especially as I'll watch any old tat that time of night. And I wanted to see him squirm...

    Related fact: I unsuccessfully applied to go on Bullseye one as a youngster, by trying to make myself look middle-aged in the submission photo.
  • Chris Evans annoyance: I actually dreamt that Chris Evans died the other night. I suspect my subconscious knows just how painful an experience OFI Friday is for all involved.

    I also dreamt that I'd been "hanging" with Jeremy Clarkson, but enough said about that the better.
  • Setting-myself-up-for-disappointment annoyance: Yesterday I booked tickets to go and see one of my favourite stand-up comedians, Omid Djalili. He tickles my funny bone like very few others - intelligent, charming, and a true master of the art, darling - but I've never seen him "live" in person.

    And I won't this time, as it turns I've got a holiday booked for then... oh the sweet self-loathing of an over-privileged Brit being slightly inconvenienced...
  • Annoyance at other annoyances: Space Cadets on Channel Four - am I the only one in the country who is proud to say they thoroughly enjoyed it?



[ Sunday, December 18, 2005 ]

'Tis the season to be scatalogical
Starbuck [20:38] Comments: 2 []
 


Note to the M&S advertising team: To increase sales of your succulent and exceptionally tender turkeys, refrain from arranging the advertising display in a manner that brings to mind the image of a defecating cow...





[ Friday, December 16, 2005 ]

Upgrade to Gee-mail!
Starbuck [12:48] Comments: 1 []
 
Let's face it, Gmail (or Google Mail as it's legally obliged to be named in Britain and Germany) is marvellous.

And it just keeps on getting better.

Case in point, I was reading just now about some recent improvements - the "Vacation Responder" automated reply, Gmail Mobile access via http://m.gmail.com, and perhaps most importantly for bloggers, the option to display RSS feeds as "Web Clips" across the top of the interface.

However such new features sometimes seem to take their time trickling through to non-US users.

Slightly frustrating, until I realised that there is a way to force the changes in the meantime, at least when using my UK GoogleMail (presumably every country variation will behave similarly.)

Click on Settings, and within the "Google Mail display language" drop-down box towards the top of the General tab, select "English (US)".

And that's it - all of the new options are now available!


Starbuck's Christmas Message
Starbuck [10:30] Comments: 5 []
 


I love this time of year.

Ancient memories of frost-tinged excitement - inherited from our Pagan forebears back when modern religion was but a twinkle in a politician's eye - mingle with my personal nostalgia of childhood excitement.

I love the ritual of Christmas, the tradition, the feeling that the country is excited as one. I love the thinking of others, the sharing, the giving, the joining of family. The time off work.

I love it's difference in comparison to the rest of the year - the sense that the nation has been working up to this for 12 months, and now we're going to have a party. I love the fact that, as such, the television companies feel they have to pull out all the stops. And the organ-players.

I love everything except it's religious conoctations (although some of it does again make me dewy-eyed with childhood nostalgia, such as the thought of clopping two coconut shells together as accompaniment to Little Donkey in a candle-lit church), but I'd sound like a right plonker if I started wishing everyone a Merry Yule, so I'll stick with the common vernacular thankyouverymuch. I don't want to get all Neopagan on your ass.

But as well as the Winter Solstice festivities, which celebrate the passing shortened days and the revitalisation of the sun (or something), this time of year marks a very special birth.

Mine.

Oh, and VSX sub-editor Stu as well.

Which all helps to make December Number One in Starbuck's Top Twelve Month Chart Rundown. Yip yip yip.


[This article was entitled Starbuck's Christmas Message. I've not quite got round to disseminating my planned message on how to make the world a better place, much like wot the Queen does on the twentyfifth. I guess I'll have to defer for a few days my plans to heal the world and make it a better place (© MJ). Hope her Maj doesn't mind if I encroach on her territory.]




[ Thursday, December 15, 2005 ]

Christmas shopping
Starbuck [20:28] Comments: 2 []
 


Crikey! I've just been Christmas shopping.

What a palaver!

I swear that the shops start putting all of the Christmas stuff out earlier every year...




[ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 ]

Girding my loins
Starbuck [10:32] Comments: 3 []
 
Well, the anticipation is building in the run-up to Christmas, and with that in mind I would like to refer you to a super-fun builder simulation that has been eating into my worktime. It's Rocket Bob everyone!

Well, I call it a simulation, but it may not be 100% factually accurate, in that an essential tactic is bouncing Rocket Bob off the invisible walls constraining the sides of the screen. Aside from that, the physics of launching yourself off a girder using a pneumatic drill are indisputable. As far as I'm aware.

It's Worms without the weapons! Or the worms.

Great fun. And to add to it's festiveness, the game is German. As was Santa Claus, of course (or was he Turkish? Finnish? To be honest I don't care what he was, anything but the fucking American Santa Claus from The Movie.)

And not one bit of sulphate attack in sight...



[ Thursday, December 08, 2005 ]

FOLLOW UP TO LAST POST... FILMS OF THE YEAR
Stuart [09:07] Comments: 4 []
 
So I was annoyed at my lack of memory. I have consulted with Empire and my wife, and I think this is (pretty much) a list of the films I have seen this year (and were released this year). This does not make me sad, although it's a pretty poor showing. I still don't know which of these fit into the Top Ten. One step at a time.

So I've seen (in addition to the top 5)...

Million Dollar Baby
Ocean's Twelve
Ring 2
Vera Drake
Napoleon Dynamaite
Garden State
Constant Gardener
Harry Potter
Some Italian thing - Everything goes round or something
Mirrormask
Innocence
Bonbon
Wallace and Gromit
SIN CITY (how could I forget that?)
Kung Fu Hustle
Crash
League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
Land of the Dead
Serenity
Hitchikers Guide To the Galaxy

Which means I have not seen, and have to await on DVD or catch soon:

Stealth (in a beer and pizza way)
Lord of War (as above)
Fantastic Four (er, again)
Domino (ahem)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Broken Flowers
Hotel Rwanda
Doom
Nightwatch
Devil's Rejects
Wolf Creek
Last Days
Howl's moving castle
The Island
War of the Worlds
Mr and Mrs Smith (ahem again)
KING KONG

Ta-da.



[ Wednesday, December 07, 2005 ]

TOP TENS OF 2005
Stuart [18:09] Comments: 3 []
 
MUSIC

Current Top Ten... (pretty much in order)

Arcade Fire - Funeral
Eels - Blinking Lights...
Editors - The Back Room
LCD Soundsystem
Gorillaz - Demon Days
BMRC - Howl
Dandy Warhols - Odditorium
Nine Inch Nails - WIth Teeth
Goldfrapp - Supernature
Four Tet - Everything Ecstatic/Royksopp - The Understanding/Chemical Brothers - Push the Button/Dalek - Absence/65 Days of Static - One Time For All Time

The number 10 spot (which I realise has 5 contenders) could drop off in favour of one of these runners up/possible contenders...

Sons and Daughters - The Repulsion Box
Death From Above 1979 - You're a Woman I'm a Machine
Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better With
Idlewild - Warnings/Promises
Nine Black Alps - Everything Is

CDs that I have bought that might have, but did not make it, not even into the runners up...

QOTSA
Coldplay
Bloc Party
Kaiser Chiefs

CDs that might have been in there if I'd bought them and heard them...

Foo Fighters
White Stripes
SFA

FILM

A tie at first place between:

A History Of Violence/Sideways

Then, in no particular order,

Batman Begins
The Descent
Star Wars (if only as an honoury mention)

Erm...

I'm a bit stuck now.

Top 5 films then... I must have watched lots more... none were much good though. Or were they?

C'mon I need some help here.



[ Friday, December 02, 2005 ]

Howl's Moving Castle
Starbuck [14:37] Comments: 2 []
 
Text review of Hayao Miyazaki's animated adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones' fantasy creation:

A breathtakingly beautiful fairytale, with oodles of warmth to keep the darkness at bay. Some great characters (especially Heen the mute dog!) and a wonderful love story, it left myself and Mrs Powersurge feeling all warm and cosy. As well as the rest of the cinema by the looks of all the end-of-film-kisses being exchanged by couples around us! Just what this slightly life-fraught reviewer needed...

The subtitled Japanese language version was terrific, but I'm also looking forward to the DVD release of the dubbed-English version so I can lose myself fully within the magnificent art.

Visual review:



[ Complete Viper Squad Ten blog archives ]

April 2003 / May 2003 / June 2003 / July 2003 / August 2003 / September 2003 / October 2003 / November 2003 / December 2003 / January 2004 / February 2004 / March 2004 / April 2004 / May 2004 / June 2004 / July 2004 / August 2004 / September 2004 / October 2004 / November 2004 / December 2004 / January 2005 / February 2005 / March 2005 / April 2005 / May 2005 / June 2005 / July 2005 / August 2005 / September 2005 / October 2005 / November 2005 / December 2005 / January 2006 / February 2006 / March 2006 / April 2006 / May 2006 / June 2006 / July 2006 / August 2006 / September 2006 / October 2006 / November 2006 / December 2006 / January 2007 / February 2007 / March 2007 / April 2007 / May 2007 / June 2007 / July 2007 / August 2007 / September 2007 / October 2007 / November 2007 / December 2007 / January 2008 / February 2008 / March 2008 / June 2008 / September 2008 / May 2010 / June 2010 / July 2010 / October 2010 / November 2010 /


[ VSX Latest ]

Link to the Powersurge Portal
Photos, vids, webgames, broken links etc.

[ Other blogs, from back when time was endless ]

Regular:
A Girl I Used To Know
Cyber-Satan.com
Diary of a Wages Slave
Doing The Right Thing
Doppleganger
The Frumplingtons
In The Aquarium
Iron Monkey
Mr Biffo's Blog
NiceGuyUK
The Saturnyne's Lounge
Sensei Katana
The Stratford Upon Avon Strumpet
Two Tone

Also:
A Day In Paradise
AfterTheDebauchery
And Then He Said...
Antipasta
The Armstrongs
Autoblography
Background Noise
Boing boing
Boopses
Captain Fishcake
Chilli and Crackers
Confessions Of A G33K
Deus Ex Machina
Groovymother
Keelhauling
Memepool
Open Book
Planet Maffydoo
Random Acts of Reality
Retro Remakes
Richard Herring
Sensitive Light
Shuffling Chunks
Snowbabies
Travelkev
random blo.gs
random Blogger

[ Photowankery ]

www.flickr.com
This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from Starbuck Powersurge. Make your own badge here.


[ Censorship ]



[ Blog admin ]

< # Blogging Brits ? >

«#Euro Blogs?»

« Obscure Logs »


[ VSX Latest ]

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours? www.blogwise.com Listed on BlogShares Weblog Commenting by HaloScan.com

Rate Me on BlogHop.com!
the best pretty good okay pretty bad the worst help?

[Blogarama] [Globe Of Blogs] [Blog Search Engine] [TTLB] [BritBlog]