What else I’ve been watching
Posted: March 5, 2009 Filed under: Science Fiction, Television, Uncategorized | Tags: Battlestar Galactica, Big Bang Theory, Dr. Who, The Wire, Torchwood 15 Comments »I started this post when I was talking about The Wire, I figured I’d put out a list of what else has been keeping my attention TV wise these days. Its late, but I already wrote most of it so I figured why not. I’m not really a huge TV person, never have been. I tend to time-shift my shows and then watch them when I’m not doing anything else, which usually ends up being late at night.
- Battlestar Galactica: This has been one of my favourite television shows of the last few years and is now heading towards an ending. If you haven’t seen any of it, you should have. Its really, really good. Basically its a rimagining of on old science fiction show in which the human race is wiped out my a race of machines we’ve created and the survivors are forced to run for their lives while being hunted by the same machines. Along the way thugh it becomes a great meditation on the nature of humanity, morality, religion etc. Its science fiction at its upper end. I recommend highly.
- Big Bang Theory: This I was determined not to like. Its a sitcom about a pair of socially awkward physicists and their friends. I pretty much expected that the writers would settle for the dumbest possible nerd stereotypes, add no real depth and screw the story up. Instead, they kept the stereotypes but managed to add enough depth and authenticity to make them real people. Interestingly enough, there are quire a few scientists I know who are followers of the show because of how well its written and the inside jokes it throws our way. Also recommended
- The Unit: Dennis Haysbert shooting people and looking cool in the process. Need I say more? Its a bit on heavy handed in its stance at times,but its great pulp action and good acting. All things I’m partial to.
Other stuff I’m watching but not so keen on writing a short paragraph about, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 and the new season of Hajime No Ippo (yes, I like anime. It doesn’t say geek up there because I couldn’t come up with another name)
I was also watching Dr. Who and Torchwood until both seasons ended. I’m really, really waiting for them to start back up again, even though they shall no longer be servicing my Freema Agyeman crush. Again, if you are a science fiction fan and not watching these, your loss. Majorly.
In which the absentee host returns. Again
Posted: March 4, 2009 Filed under: Random Musings 1 Comment »A very belated happy new year to you people. Apologies for the long absences. Again. At this point I’m pretty sure I’m down to just the people who forgot to remove me from their feed readers.
Quick Updates on what I’ve been up to:
I was officially awarded my Masters by Research in Physics. My parents and big sister were in town for my graduation and that will easily pass for my best day this year. Since then I’ve gotten accepted into a physics PhD program with the same advisor at the same university. 3 more years of this and I get to walk across a stage again in a gown with a hood on it and put ‘Doctor’ on my business cards.
On the Physical side. I persist with my judo and have now logged hundreds of hours of being thrown around, pinned, choked and armlocked. On good days I get to do the same to other people. In a little under 2 weeks I get to compete in the BUCS(British Universities and Colleges Sport) kyu grade competition. Hopefully all that work will end up in me getting a few good throws. Either way there will be pictures and maybe even video. At some point before I get the PhD I want to get my first dan(black belt)
Otherwise, I live in London, I study, I train, I hang out with friends, I still read too much, I watch the odd movie and life continues.
There’s a bit of a backlog of topics I was planning to write about but never got around to. Some will make it out in the coming weeks, some won’t. Either way, keep me in your readers people. If nothing else I need the touch typing practice
HE WON!!!!!
Posted: November 5, 2008 Filed under: Uncategorized 3 Comments »
Yes, I stayed up all night to watch the results come in. I’m still not entirely sure it happened though.
We are officially living in interesting times people. Lets see how it goes
*Hat tip*
Posted: November 3, 2008 Filed under: Random Musings Leave a comment »
H & H
Great race. And hopefully a good omen.
Recent additions to the bookshelf
Posted: October 15, 2008 Filed under: Book review, Books 4 Comments »One of the advantages of this past year has been a commute from the south of London to the center of the city daily that meant I had between 1 1/2 and 2 hours sitting or standing while waiting to get where I was going. Sometimes that went to reading academic papers for my masters, but a lot of the time it went to recreational reading. Add that to the fact that I got a library card as soon as I could(making this the sixth city on the third continent where I have paid library fines) and I was able to get through quite a few books. Well, considering that I was in school at the time.
The highlight list includes:
- Charles Stross: The Laundry novels and The Halting State
- Neil Gaiman’s American Gods
- Nicholas Hornsby’s High Fidelity
- Terry Pratchett’s Making Money and Going Postal
- Steven Barnes’ Great Sky Woman
- Mark Law’s The Pyjama Game: A journey Into Judo
That’s not a fully complete list, but those are most of the books I remember. Well, there’s also a bunch of classic science fiction books, but I’ll talk about those later
And its done (pretty much)
Posted: October 10, 2008 Filed under: physics, Random Musings 6 Comments »So I am (semi) officially done with my Masters. Research is done, my thesis has been turned in and I have defended it. While my results still have to be ratified by the college(pretty much a formality) I can say that I have a Masters by Research in Bio, Nano and X-Ray Photonics from the Physics department of King’s College London. Bit of a mouthful, I know.
And so with that done it is time to move on to the next phase of my life. As soon as I know what that is, so will anyone actually still reading this blog(I’d assume there is maybe one of you at this point)
Until later people
Not dead, missing or abandoned
Posted: August 14, 2008 Filed under: Uncategorized 2 Comments »Just working on getting this thesis done as well as I possibly can for my Masters. After its done expect a bunch of rants about the evils of Visual Studio, my love of Python, Numpy, iPython, Matplotlib, Mayavi2 and 
Oh, and musings about my slow but steady infatuation with judo.
In the meantime Wish me luck, 
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