July 12, 2005

Civ3, S&S, Yes Minister

"Willie Nelson's long-awaited reggae album, "Countryman," comes out Tuesday

"Produced by Don Was, the album includes reggae versions of Nelson songs such as "Darkness On the Face of the Earth" and "One in a Row." There also are covers of Jimmy Cliff's "The Harder They Come" and "Sitting in Limbo," and a song called "I'm a Worried Man" by Johnny and June Carter Cash that Nelson recorded as a duet with Toots Hibbert of Toots and the Maytals."

Huh.

***

I actually like working on the weekends and late at night. I mean, I'd also like to do other stuff, but it feels like I'm really accomplishing stuff when I'm not interrupted every ten minutes - though I'll admit that at least some of the interruptions are self-generated. :) However, I guess that's a dangerous path to wander down...

Speaking of dangerous paths - I installed Civ3 on my laptop, which may have been a tactical error on my part. I mean, I wanted something I could play in-between films, but I suspect that Civ is the sort of game that can cause me to accidentally miss movies. :) Luckily, Mum has asked to borrow the laptop for a week during the Festival, so I'm saved during that week. Maybe all I need to do is get it out of my system - just play until I'm sick of it? No, actually, I think that's a terrible idea - down that path lies pressure-sores, kidney stones and exhaustion. I'll just have to moderate myself.

And Civ4 is coming out soon. Please, whatever patron saint is in charge of game development, can you delay release until after our work on the film is complete? :)

***

Saw Sense and Sensibility and liked it, as expected. Nice to see Alan Rickman in a non-villiainous role, though I did annoy C by saying "Eeeevil!" the first few times he turned up. (C reciprocated by hissing at the Lucy Steele character when she arrived, long before this poor viewer had any reason to believe her to be a manipulating minx. ;) Emma Thompson is, as always, teh lovely.

Now, all I have to do is get around to watching Pride & Predjudice. :)

***

It's unnerving how relevant Yes, Minister still is; and I wonder whether the fact the nearest American equivalent I can think of is The West Wing is symbolic of the difference between the attitude towards government in Britain and the US. Or it may simply mean that I'm not familiar enough with US television. ;) I don't know that we've had any similar indigenous shows, though I'm not sure why... McPhail & Gadsby imitating Rob Muldoon (or more recent Shippley/Clarke imitators) isn't quite the same. Admittedly, it's hard to imagine how you'd do it... maybe our political parties and public servants aren't demonised enough in the public mind? I'd be tempted to either fictionalize the parties, or have a fictional party unexpectedly gain power. :)

See, I'm now tempted to work out an alternate NZ timeline where the Greens are in power... I suspect that this would involve the Greens being very different than they are in our current history.

Posted by svend at July 12, 2005 2:47 PM
Comments

Hugh introduced me to Yes Minister this year and I fell head over heels in love with it. The West Wing doesn't even compare.

I do hope to see you on Saturday!

Posted by: Jacke at July 12, 2005 7:37 PM

Civilisation 4 is coming out soon?

Oh golly, I will need to set my alarm to shut off my computer when it's time for work.

Cheers
Grant

Posted by: Grant at July 13, 2005 9:13 AM

"Long-awaited" is right... Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson talk about that album on their VH1 Storytellers set from 1998!

Posted by: Pearce at July 13, 2005 12:36 PM