Tuesday, 15 March 2011

10 Fictional Places I'd Love to Live

This is a blog thingummy that has been done rather to death. I'm doing it anyway!

 

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

 

1. Noodle's Flying Windmill Island (Gorillaz' El Mañana and Feel Good, inc. videos)


Why? The idea of having the freedom to drift around the world, without the need to refuel! Powered by wind and the gently borrowed dreams of a thousand innocents, this ol' thing is economical as well as aesthetically pleasing.

Issue: Pirates. In helicopters.


2. Brightwood Tower (Fable II)

Why? Because it's a magical medieval-style tower that is imbibed with ancient magic, has lovely views, a great patio, and, as you can just about see in the above picture, apparently comes with beer. ALSO! When you sleep in  this bed, you are transported - while asleep - to a magical nightmare world where you become a child   and have to fight monsters to appease a socio- and psychopathic treasure chest who just wants to be BFFs. Sweet!

Issue: The tower is surrounded by goblin things and highwaymen. Rubbish



3. Bag End (The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings)

 

Why? Because it's a charming English cottage-cum-manor built into the side of a hill... in the Shire. In my head, the Shire is the idealised version of New Ash Green, my hometown.

Issue: I'm 6-foot-4, so those low doorways would get boring after a while.

 

4.  Deep Space Nine (Star Trek: DS9)

Why? Because it's a massive space station. Because it's next to a wormhole populated with non-corporeal beings that leads half-way across the galaxy. Because it has holodecks.

Issue: It seems to have a huge death rate. Also, it's strategically placed between the Space Nazi Lizard Men and the Space Buddhist People, who are the Jews to the Space Nazi's regular Nazis. Smashing.

 

5. Edoras (The Lord of The Rings)

Why? Just look at it, darnit! Je voudrais habiter en Rohan, s'il vous plait: stunning mountains, huge plains, horses, spears, fancy helmets – what's not to like?

Issue: Dark wizard. Daaaarrk wizarrrd.

 

6. Rapture (Bioshock)

Why? I absolutely love Art Deco. An Art Deco underwater city just sounds so amazing, and Bioshock does an excellent job of realising one – whales and fish flit between buildings, as bright neon outshines the sea-filtered sunlight, while chrome and class walkways do the job of streets. Another cool thing: superpower vending machines. Hey-oh!

Issue: Said vending machines vend hypodermic needles full of gene-altering drugs that eventually send you mental.

 

7. The Millennium Falcon (Star Wars)

 

Why? I don't understand the question.

Issue: what issue?

 

8.  The Jenny Haniver (The Mortal Engines Quartet.)

 

Why? In a similar fashion to the windmill and the Falcon, this is to me the manifestation of earthly freedom. Airships have the unique ability to go wherever they like, with no restriction of terrain that you get with almost every other form of transport, and without restriction of liveability that you get with helicopters and planes – with an airship, you can go anywhere and live anywhere.

Issue: The anywhere that you can travel to in this airship is a post-apocalyptic world populated with mobile cities and zealous eco-terrorists, as well as the occasional Terminator.

 

9. Sanctaphrax (Edge Chronicles)

Why? It's a university on a floating rock with a dock for flying pirate ships, that's why.

Issue: everybody who lives there is a big ol' massive elitist. Sad times.

 

10.  The TARDIS (Doctor Who)

Why? With this bad boy you can go anywhere and anywhen. It has a library, a swimming pool, a multi-story wardrobe – blamazing.

Issue: I can't actually think of one, though I suppose that it's pretty unstable sometimes

 

Geekery brought to you by

Sam D Grover 

Monday, 14 February 2011

Suff-rage Against the Machine

"The opposition was great. Some men objected to women having the vote because they believed them to be inferior. It was suggested that women could not think out matters coolly and calmly. Others would not agree to women’s suffrage because they did not want change. Women had never voted before. Why should they start now?." - from a 1970s textbook

The opposition is great. Some adults object to teenagers having the vote because they beleive them to be inferior. It is suggested that young people cannot think out matters coolly and calmly. Others will not agree to youth suffrage because they do not want change. Teens have never voted before. Why should they start now?


  • "Because [young people] are not capable of full citizenship, for the simple reason that they are not available for purposes of national... defence.   All government rests ultimately on force, to which [young people], owing to physical, moral and social reasons, are not capable of contributing.
  • Because there is little doubt that the vast majority of [teenagers] have no desire for the vote.  
  • Because the acquirement of the Parliamentary vote would logically involve admission to Parliament itself, and to all Government offices.   It is scarcely possible to imagine a [teenager] being Minister for War, and yet the [introduction of teenaged suffrage would] involve that and many similar absurdities. 
  • Because past legislation in Parliament shows that the interests of [children and young people] are perfectly safe in the hands of [adults].
  • Because [youth] Suffrage is based on the idea of the equality of [age], and tends to establish those competitive relations which will destroy... consideration [towards the ideal of innocence].
  • Because the physical nature of [young people] unfits them for direct com­petition with [adults]."
- Grace Saxon Mills' arguments against the female vote, some time preceding 1914. [bracketed portions adapted by me, with "women" being replaced by "young people," etc, and "men" replaced by "adults"]



Youth Suffrage. The arguments against it seem as patronising and prejudiced as those against female suffrage.

The youth of this nation are totally unrepresented in elections and in parliament. One could make the argument that "they don't understand the issues!" -  well, such was the view of women 100 years ago. "But they have representation - their parents are voting on their behalf!" - well, a century ago the view was that a woman voted through her husband.

V0T3Z 4 TEH TE3NZ!

Baron Sam-a-D Grover

Monday, 7 February 2011

Wanderlust

Why am I sitting here at a computer typing out my thoughts? Why am I about to go to bed, just so as I can get up at a reasonable time tomorrow? Why can't I walk out the door and see where the road takes me?

Sometimes the fact that I don't live in a world where I can have an adventure gets me down. I have very little money  - this year my income will be 4000 pounds, with most of that going on rent - so I can't just find a plane going to Australia or San Fransisco or Morocco. Heck, I couldn't do that even if I had money. The world we live in is a global one, yet I don't see myself seeing much of it for a long time.

I'm going to Turkey in May, at least. That should be a good ol' time. But that's organised now, months in advance. Like most people, I wish I lead a life that was totally free - but this c&w rhyme I wrote pokes holes in this - "How can a man be free? Could someone answer me? Cos when a horse is free, he's free to roam - but when a man is free, he ain't got no home".

I'm going to shut up now.

May you live in interesting times.

S D G

Wednesday, 26 January 2011

Reworkéd

My blog has been renamed and reborn. SamfiSh.... you served me well. very well. You broke me into the internet, gave me a virtual persona to hide behind, to preserve my anonymity. You've been slowly fazed out, what with me putting my name on twitter, actual info about me on my gravatar and wordpress, and now even my face and voice up on youtube.

Your purpose has been served, old friend.

I'm ready to be myself. Good gravy, I'm so effing pretentious!

Sam D Grover.

G*ee makes me...

The Kings of Leon were branded as "self-centered a******s" by the Glum bosses for not having their music on the show, and "The Cast of Glum" have beaten a record set by Elvis.

My insides actually hurt. I'm misting up over the 2nd one. Culture is dead, chaps. Bugger. What now?

Damon Albarn said that Glum-type shows are a symptom. Of? I'd say a cultural meta-cancer that grips us. X-fat-chance, Glum, Nobody Has Talent - all the same, all created by our cultural body, all slowly, painfully, inevitably killing it.

The answer? No idea. Overthrow capitalism. Ride out the storm. Live in a bubble.

SDG