Diary of an up and coming sociopath

Big things going on here at Sociopath Towers. December’s a busy month for many reasons. Reason the first:

CAPTAIN! The band, that is. On the 5th Nikki and I went to see them perform songs from their debut album, and songs not from their debut album, at the Mean Fiddler. I ain’t never been to the Fiddler before, and despite the world’s rudest door staff and a grotty as fuck interior, it’s not a bad venue. The gig was great, though. Captain were one of the few bands that manages to impress me at the V festival when I hadn’t heard any of their songs before. Usually it takes me knowing the songs to keep me interested, but they managed it. By the time we saw them this time, I was far more familiar with their material and enjoyed it even more. Annoyingly, the best song was a track that I don’t believe there’s a studio version of yet. Oh well.

The 8th heralded the start of what we can, due to the inescapable nature of the pun, describe only as the “Wii-kend.” Keen-eyed readers will have noticed my mention of this. I took the day off in anticipation of this glorious occasion, so imagine my glee when I discovered that this would also allow me to be hitting up the major ticket websites in time for the Arcade Fire tickets going on sale. Tickets were duely procured and roughly an hour afterwards, Josh fought back the crowds and made it back home with his Wii and accessories, including my controller. We performed the ritual unpacking, hooked it up to our gear and then spent the rest of the day frying our brains with this wonderful new piece of technology. We went up to Sam’s in the afternoon so that we could indulge some 4-player fun with him and Ian, who was also off work and Wii-ing all over the place. Wii sports is surprisingly excellent. Bowling and Golf especially, which I don’t very much enjoy in real life, is great fun on the Wii. The pool game in Wii play is excellent stuff too, and the virtual console games amaze with their accuracy. Josh and I are currently trying to beat Golden Axe, and we already got through Sonic, then there’s Donkey Kong Country.

On Saturday, I didn’t play much Wii because my joints all hurt from the exercise I’d had playing so vigourously the day before. An utterly pathetic display, but thankfully I wasn’t the only one afflicted. The gaming revolution is going to be harsh on us all.

Tuesday a large collection of local nerds (and nerdettes) convened in Brixton to see THE TWO FACES OF MITCHELL AND WEBB. You may notice that clicking on that link takes you to a review by fellow-attendee and local philanthropist, Cappsy. I mostly agree with it, so feel free to assume that’s merely a slightly more Northern version of what I’d be saying. The gist of it is, it’s fucking funny, but also a shame they repeated so much from the TV and Radio series. The interlude act was painfully horrible, and some of the material, while familiar, becomes far more impressive when done live just because you can’t quite believe the technical genius that goes into delivering it without a second’s pause. There was a “Big Talk” audience Q&A session that was great. Rachel and Seb both asked questions, and though I didn’t suggest it at the time, I think Rachel should’ve asked the same question she did at Alan Moore and see how the reactions differed. Being in the Brixton academy with seats in was bizarre, though it did still smell heavily like the Brixton Academy. As part of the tube journey home, Sam and I conceived of the drink Pimlito, Pimms and Vimto, which will soon make us rich beyond your wildest dreams. We also passed through Stockwell, or as I like to call it, “The Murder Station.” There’s no ailment that automatic weaponary can’t cure at Stockwell, especially if you run towards a departing train. As a white person, I have relatively little chance of death but ethnic minorities probably feel ill at ease there. I know I would.

Yesterday, I did not go to the work’s christmas party. Not part of any boycott, though, I’m just not a party person, especially if it means dressing in a suit. Maybe I’d go to a knife-party, but for insurance reasons work is unlikely to sanction this.

On a lighter note, I am enjoying the current antics of Britain’s most recent serial killer. I was very glad the media started calling him a “ripper” for a while, but they seem to have settled on “strangler” for now. I always wanted to be a ripper, as far as serial killing goes it’s quite a prestigious title. Best bet is to start murdering people in a place that begins with R, I think, the tabloids love alliteration.

In the coming week before Christmas, we’ll be seeing Tenacious D, The Pipettes and David J. Ford himself, but totally not in that order. I should do the Christmas shopping.