Lej, it would seem, unsatisfied with his reality TV fame, is now soaring to the heady heights of daytime television. That’s right, ladies and gents, I am told our very own Lejmund will be appearing on none other than that bastion of daytime procrastination, Richard & Judy, Tuesday 5-6pm. Hopefully they’ll be a little less superficially critical than The Sun article…
Since reformatting this machine my font collection has been sizably diminished. In checking out the latest new batch I came across the new Microsoft collection from the latest Vista builds. Easy on-screen reading has become their priority and, aside from confusingly all beginning with the letter C, this new range of defaults looks very good. That said, although the Calibri font has been heralded as a great improvement, the use of ClearType in the IE7 beta has had mixed reviews. I should point out that although I link to the beta for completeness, given Microsoft’s infamous browser insecurity I wouldn’t recommend installing it on any machine that is, say, actually connected to the internet. Especially with the recent news of an exploit being sold underground by Russian hackers in December for $4,000. Hacking can be more profitable than many people realise.
I haven’t discussed recent trailers for a while so here are my hot picks. Having seen Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s performance in Mysterious Skin, my anticipation couldn’t be higher for Brick, a seriously gritty looking modern film noir — the antithesis of the comic Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, I suppose. Idlewild looks as though we may at last have a black cast producing an all-round film instead of relying on race clichés. That it stars OutKast is sure to bring in the crowds, André Benjamin carving quite a reputation for himself in acting circles. Hard Candy will make for uncomfortable viewing, but the trailer’s closing leaves me utterly perplexed as to where exactly the film is going. Silent Hill could transfer the tension of its game origins to the big screen, and at worst should be a visual treat. Ultraviolet looks utterly silly but with the beautiful Milla kicking arse and shooting guns, what more can you ask for in no-brain sci-fi?
Finally, for all you undead fans out there, I came across a story about zombie roaches. The wasp Ampulex compressa has developed a toxin which it can inject directly into the brain of its cockroach victim, destroying its escape reflex. It can then lead the cockroach back to the nest, whereupon it lays eggs inside it. The larvae then feed on its organs until they emerge from inside in Alien fashion. Nature is twisted fun.
6 February 2006 at 12:49 pm
Did you know that there are more species of parasitoids, insects whose larvae feed on other insects (often from the inside), than there are species of vertebrates? Well now you do. And they are all grusome and very cool.