This book rocked.
For those of you who don't know:
Horatio Hornblower is a fictional officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, originally the protagonist of a series of novels by C. S. Forester, and later the subject of films and television programs.
Having just read the second book in the series, Lieutenant Hornblower, I could thoroughly recommend them. This is my second attempt to read this book. My first was in 2002, but I was struck down by an illness and left the book to rest on my shelf. I've recently just picked it up again.
The book is mainly focused from the point of view of one of Hornblower's shipmates and superior, Lieutenant Bush (3rd Lieutenant, Hornblower is 4th by about 6 months). This gives an interesting perspective and Forester does it very well, and the reader stands right next to Hornblower in all of his pursuits. I was impressed.
The television programme is also rockin'. Unlike many television programmes, this one gets the balance between loyalty to character and loyalty to story-line right. Much of the book would be terribly difficult to portray on television, and so the story-line is compromised but not to the expense of loosing believability or character.
I still haven't seen the season of television programmes that coincide with Mr Midshipman Hornblower, which was chronologically first in the series of books.
Comment.
In Scott Adam's The Dilbert Future he devotes a chapter to why life would suck if it were like in Star Trek. I disagree with him.
For a start, there are so many technologies that would just rock if they really existed. Phasers, for instance. If life was like Star Trek the dorks that sit across from me in my class last year would have been annoying no more. Thankfully they've dropped out, but if that hadn't, I surely would have given them whats for with my phaser. Phasers have this amazing ability to only stun (i.e. not kill) without being detected. No one would know it was me...
If I did get detected all I'd need to do was claim I was possessed by an alien. That happens all the time and people just get over it. It's great!
Also, I'd probably replicate me one of those dermal regenerators. Those things seal holes in people's skin instantly like a magic wand. Perfect for shutting stupid people up. Imagine them sitting there jabbering on at you while you're trying to get some work done and WHRRZZ, their mouth is sealed shut.
Another cool technology would be the replicators. Imagine a world where I could just replicate whatever I wanted. I swear if I had a replicator, all I'd ever replicate would be bouncy balls. Thousands and thousands of bouncy balls.
Secondly, female cadets in those uniforms: hawt.
Finally, look at the alternatives. The first one is Star Gate, a world were a bunch of American jocks run around like cowboys saving the day and high-fiving each other while staring the only female character's boobs. That does not sound promising. The second one, Star Wars, has its Jar-Jar Binks and Yoda. The future of Star Wars would be filled with annoying Aliens with speech impediments. Not my cup of tea.
So there you have it. Life in Star Trek would rock. I'm sure you can think of a few other reasons, too (so leave them in the comments, you cretins).
From this article:
In a recent online poll conducted by Esquire magazine, 11,000 women in 15 countries were asked to rate Mr Bush's sex appeal on a scale of one to 10, and America's commander-in-chief failed to register much more than a two.
Women in Australia, Germany and the Netherlands were the harshest judges of George W's sexual allure, giving him an average rating of 1.4 each, Esquire said in its survey.
By contrast, Indonesian women were the most generous, giving Bush an average score of 2.2, while American women found their president slightly less appealing, rating him a 2.1
Well, I ask you, what the hell did you expect? He's a monkey.
As an afterthought, here are some ideas as to how Time magazine's "Person of the Year" in December could improve this rating:
- Learn to pronounce words correctly, your voice is the world's biggest turn-off. For me, anyone who sounds like an ageing cowboy is about as sexy as a monkey smoking weed. I recommend speaking lessons. Now, for that you need a good speaker. We don't want you speaking like some snob now, that's even worse. You need to speak like the ladies want. Who has the sexiest voice in the world? That's right, Sean Connery. I say you use that amazing amount of cash of yours to good use and pay that man to teach you how to speak.
- While you're at it, learn how to laugh. Currently your laugh is like grating my ears on the front of a Power Mac. Hopefully, Mr Connery can help you out here, too.
- Ditch the wife. None of the ladies want you if you're taken. While you're at it, take up a slightly camp nature. If the girls think you are gay, it only entices them to try harder. I'd dare say that the sexiest men in the world are homo.
- Be a bad man. Stop giving a crap about the Middle East. Don't be plane evil, just be kind of apathetic (not pathetic, apathetic). Oh, and one day, you have to turn up to a State of the Union address drunk. It'll drive the ladies nuts, man.
- Stop hanging out with the dork crew. John Howard, Tony Blair? I mean, they are so not sexy, you won't learn anything from them. Ditch those losers, man. The Bush doesn't need nobody.
Okay, so there are the ideas. They may not win you the election, but maybe you can change the law so that the sexiest man wins the US election. Don't worry, Master Sean Connery isn't a US citizen, so he doesn't count.
This is going to be a monthly feature of The huwr factor.
Eventually I'll come up with an awesome trophy for this.
Anyway, this week the Monthly Huw Rowlands Coveted Music Award goes to one MC Frontalot for his undying effort to be a nerd and cool at the same time. He claims to be the world's 579th-greatest rapper and meets up to the expectations fully.
What is his best work, you might ask? Probably I Heart Fags (language warning).
Second place goes to The Mathematicians for their awesome geekery in the face of undying... non-geekery.
Good on you, guys!
My very reliable source (as opposed to my very reliable sauce) has informed The huwr Factor that Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger has gone Mercury Master.
"It's one step above Golden Master. It's an even more master master than a master!"
This is amazing news for Mac OS X fans. About the time that Tiger was only Hydrogen Master, we received a very reliable word that about the time Tiger was going Calcium Master, the features first seen in Silicon Master would become stable. These rumours have turned out to be true so far. Obviously, if they keep going, a Thallium Master is not far off.
Three cheers for Jshei.
Hip hip!
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Hip hip!
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Hip hip!
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Ah... Doesn't that feel better?
I'm sorry but the stress of taking care of this blog over the passed few days has been tremendous. I don't think I can do it any more.
You guys have been terrific, I mean, I love you!
April Fool's.
