tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-310902402008-08-25T22:51:30.649ZJephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comBlogger168125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-78427935780566900052008-08-24T17:21:00.007Z2008-08-24T19:02:29.395Z

So yesterday I went to the 2nd day of Leeds Festival 2008. I'd been looking forward to this ever since I bought my ticket 3 months ago, mainly because because I would be seeing Rage Against the Machine! We started off the day by catching a coach from Sheffield to Leeds at around 10am, passing the Tinsley cooling towers which would be knocked down at 3am the next morning. We arrived at the bus

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-44340636192000080772008-08-21T10:54:00.000Z2008-08-21T10:55:44.099Z

I'm going to Leeds Festival on Saturday and it's gonna be awesome. I wanna see Goldfinger, Taking Back Sunday, Anti-Flag, Tiger Army and most importantly, Rage Against The Machine. I also wanna see Less Than Jake, but I think they're gonna be on at the same time as RATM. Can't wait though! I'll try and get some photos too.

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-53184237999860724482008-08-16T16:53:00.008Z2008-08-17T14:59:20.299Z

I bought the DVD ages ago, but the other night I got round to watching Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. This one is different to the live-action Street Fighter film released in the same year (1994), which I haven't seen, but I'm informed the animated film is much better. I was actually hoping for the film to be viewable in Japanese for a bit of language practice, but there was no option

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-23051127380871970032008-08-11T16:22:00.005Z2008-08-11T16:56:46.230Z

I just came across this piece of news about a film adaptation of William Gibson's cyberpunk novel Neuromancer. I recently read Neuromancer for the first time and it was quite unlike any other book I've ever read, largely due to its unique narrative style, which I found really hard to follow. Gibson doesn't paint a full picture of what's happening in his story, rather he prefers to give you bits

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-72432363660814243902008-08-08T10:24:00.003Z2008-08-08T12:08:23.662Z

More food blogging! After discovering the nicest sweets ever, within a relatively short space of time I've discovered the nicest cereal ever. It's called Honey Monster Honey Waffles and it's awesome. It reminds me a lot of a cereal called Start which used to be made Kellogg's when I was a kid. They stopped making it though, and I've been looking for something like it ever since. And who knew

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-71196022046140202162008-08-05T21:24:00.005Z2008-08-08T12:21:35.377Z

I don't normally post about food on here, but I've recently discovered The Natural Confectionery Company, and they make the nicest sweets ever, my favourite variety being the Jelly Dinosaurs. Also, they've just updated their website. Before it only linked through to the Cadbury site, but there's now an amusing animation to watch, and when it finishes you can order a free sample, which is pretty

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-48730535726640776202008-08-02T21:36:00.010Z2008-08-08T12:22:30.039Z

So I'm going to have to agree with everyone else and say that the The Dark Knight is AMAZING. I went to see it on Friday night, and although I don't go to the cinema all that often, it has to be one of the best new films I've seen in years. I'd been hearing very good things about it from all my friends, but I still entered the cinema with a degree of scepticism. By the end of the film though,

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-31908833814572690272008-07-28T08:53:00.005Z2008-08-08T12:22:52.550Z

So the other day the time came for me to buy some new drum sticks. I probably buy about 4 pairs every 7 or 8 months due to breakage, and now I think about it I've probably spent quite a lot of money on sticks over the years - something I wouldn't be doing if I played guitar or another instrument. And for what they are, I think drum sticks are a bit overpriced really, so I'm always looking for

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-39990489756745180762008-07-26T10:06:00.004Z2008-08-08T12:23:17.606Z

I'm a week into my Japanese study now, and it's all going quite well so far, especially the kanji. I often surprise myself with the amount of kanji I know - they're all finally starting to sink in after two years. Booked my ticket for Japan too yesterday. I'm flying over with one of my mates from the course, so he's sorted most of it out really. We're flying with Asiana Airlines as it was the

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-60979110751338213452008-07-22T20:42:00.007Z2008-08-08T16:11:13.619Z

I spent much of today looking at family photos as my dad had brought down 3 boxes full of old photo albums from the loft. Photos are so crazy, and really cool, capturing a moment forever and all that. There were photos of me from being a baby all the way up until a few years ago, and I had so much fun looking back at the places I've been and the things I've done, as well as all the different

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-7330584526336683182008-07-20T11:07:00.004Z2008-08-08T12:24:19.513Z

I'm feeling much better now - if there's one good thing about being ill, it's that you always feel pretty good afterwards - so yesterday I got out my notepad and decided to start studying Japanese again. I've drawn up a really precise timetable of all the stuff I have to do over the next couple of months and I plan to stick to it. I'm actually quite glad to be learning again, because although

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-90146970171003169972008-07-18T12:05:00.003Z2008-08-08T12:24:48.221Z

And the illness continues. I feel better today though, but still not good enough to leave the house. I think I'll just sit around and watch TV some more. Yesterday I watched some Freaks and Geeks (I'm going through the whole series for a second time), Grease (this was the first time I'd seen it all the way through, it was OK, too many songs), The Squid and the Whale (that was depressing) and

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-40469739567053826212008-07-16T21:27:00.005Z2008-08-08T12:25:18.584Z

I'm ill with a cold (in the middle of summer!), and it's a pretty bad one. I haven't been able to leave the house for the past two days and I've had to cancel stuff I had planned, which is annoying - illness is so inconvenient. But after two days with a cold, I should be getting better by tomorrow, right? I've just been eating, drinking and watching TV and films - loads of Peep Show, Friends

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-64399794563021579522008-07-14T07:15:00.006Z2008-08-08T12:26:07.176Z

My exam results for the spring semester at uni just came out today and I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. I took 3 modules: one in Japanese language, one in contemporary Japanese society and one in web journalism. Web Journalism was the first module I've taken outside of the East Asian Studies department, but it's the best result I've ever had out of 10 modules over the last 2 years,

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-31131418611136179132008-07-11T09:22:00.004Z2008-08-08T12:27:16.058Z

You know, I really should start studying Japanese again. I can feel my Japanese ability slowly leaking out of my brain, but I need a break! I haven't really had a decent break from it all since last summer, and I don't think I had much of a break then. And I think my brain truly does need a rest after this year, but I've had about a month's break now, so I'll probably try and pick it up again

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-72038783833646349682008-07-06T19:18:00.010Z2008-08-08T16:09:15.671Z

The weather's been crazy recently. It's warm and sunny one moment, then raining really heavily the next. I think it even hailed yesterday. I do hope we start to get some prolonged sunshine sometime soon, but the forecast for the next few days doesn't look too promising. When we do get some nice weather though there's this massive area of hills and fields near my parents' house that I'd like

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-4725611172798391982008-07-01T21:25:00.003Z2008-08-08T15:32:39.539Z

I recently watched a really great documentary called The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. I heard about the film through a podcast I listen to, and the hosts agreed that it was one of the best films made last year so I decided to check it out. Set within the world of competitive gaming, the documentary follows two players of Donkey Kong, Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell. Mitchell is

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-48770874001428886502008-06-29T11:17:00.003Z2008-08-08T12:28:57.531Z

My friend told me about this site where you can send emails to your future self, which is a pretty cool idea. I just sent two emails - one to myself in a year, and one to myself in five years. I just hope I still have the same email address by then. As well as sending emails to yourself you can also read anonymous emails that people have sent. There's some really interesting ones.

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-81772417925648582592008-06-27T19:32:00.003Z2008-08-08T12:30:29.941Z

I must apologise for the lack of updates over the past two weeks. The reason for this is that my PC broke, and I've only just got it working again. There was a problem with the power button which meant I couldn't turn the PC on at all, and while it only needed a new wire, getting it fixed became more complicated than that. First I contacted Ebuyer whom I bought the case from just under a year

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-35748943695181437762008-06-12T07:46:00.006Z2008-08-08T12:30:47.767Z

My phone broke a good few weeks ago now, and I only just got it back yesterday. It's been really annoying not having a phone to use, but even worse was trying to get it fixed. First, we tried contacting Dial-a-Phone, the company that we bought it from, and they said they'd send a pre-paid envelope thing in the post for us to send the phone back to them. But after waiting for a while, nothing

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-61244974331144033552008-06-10T21:31:00.005Z2008-08-08T12:31:29.047Z

Wow. Exams are over! It still hasn't sunk in yet and I'm finding it hard to comprehend having free time without feeling like I should be working. It's such a nice feeling after a really hard year. My last exam was yesterday and it was on Japanese language. I found it quite tough, and don't think I did too well really, but I should have passed, which means I can still go to Japan in September

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-27453750184700085702008-06-07T16:22:00.006Z2008-08-08T12:32:53.917Z

I've been wanting a GameCube for a while now, and as I'll soon have loads of spare time for playing games, I bought one yesterday. Me and my brother had a 'Cube back when they were current-gen, and I think it's a great system, mainly because of some really great games. This one I bought was only £20, boxed, from CeX in town, which is quite good I think. I did buy one yesterday, but when I got

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-12486967745564607792008-06-03T22:47:00.004Z2008-08-08T12:33:16.615Z

Revision is really starting to do my head in now. I've only been revising for like a week, but when you just sit in the house and read through endless sheets of paper all day it starts to get to you. Saying that, my first exam is this Friday, and then my second and last is on the Monday, so I should be all done in a week's time. After that I just have a few things to sort out at my student

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-2708160496629884302008-05-31T09:07:00.008Z2008-08-08T12:33:42.505Z

I read this article about CGI in the Guardian the other day, and thought it was good. I'm so tired of CGI in films - it really can spoil a movie for me. Take Star Wars for instance - I think CGI was one of the big reasons that the prequels felt more lifeless and generally not as good as the originals. In the article, a guy called Rob Burman makes a couple of interesting points. First, real

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31090240.post-79699823671521807812008-05-27T08:38:00.008Z2008-08-08T12:34:06.162Z

Andrew Sztein makes a lot of good points in his article The Top Ten Reasons Gaming Was Better in the Early ‘90s. I agree with just about everything he says, especially points #8, #3 and #1. Games just seem so complicated and serious these days, while back then it was all much simpler and felt more like fun. I've often had to explain to my younger brother why playing the NES and Mega Drive back

Jephsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05454919753092038659noreply@blogger.com