Well, I'm back! And, for several days, I've been composing the uber-blog entry that will tell all you INTERESTED people (ie. me in 6 months when I've forgotten) what we got up to on the Princess Bride tour. Since that's taking longer than I thought it would to prepare, I fob off frequent readers of this blog (me in 6 months &c.) with this picture from March's expedition to PARIS. Pretty much next to the Jones' apartment we found this graffiti of Hoborg, the character from the Neverhood:

Given the size of Paris and the rarity of Neverhood fans, it's more than likely that this was drawn by the vibe himself. All shall know him and despair.

Well it's goodbye from the FaceOmeter team once again as far as cyberspace is concerned - the Princess Bride Tour is all set and ready to get massively rained off, I mean, shoot us to world fame! Those of you who are planning to rock - we salute you. Others, no.

Back in August!

...is to be at the front of the ridiculous queue for Harry Potter for six days, wait through rain and fire and ice to be the first at the counter, and when at midnight they say "okay we're open", say "yeah have you got a copy of 'the worst witch' by Jill Murphy?"

Oh the joy on the faces of those behind me as they wait while the assistant shuffles through the electronic catalouge

"Well, we can order it in for you"
"Excellent... I live in an area with no postcode, will that be a problem? That's often a problem"

A problem like that time I queued in New York for the PS3 release in Circuit City: "yeahhh um do youuu haaaaaaave a UK to US plug socket adapter basically? I can't shave at the moment"

I narrowly escaped with my life but I'd be a fool to return to the states in the next five years. Those sony guys have long memories!

There's a big powercut over here and the electricity keeps going off in my big empty house. It's terrifying.

Edit: Went to Borders in Birmingham at 01h30 this morning with Emily, because some dreams can't wait. Either we missed the London-esque street party or Birmingham's just less WIZARDY, but no-one was dressed up and instead of a vibrant Potter community-of-love there were just a few sordid people intently speedreading the thing at a big table and looking at you the way a rural cornish pub looks at you if you walk in with a copy of the Koran and a CND T-Shirt. After much thought, we decided not to spoil them on the ending, because there's still an outside chance I might want to breed some day. I'm nailing it down at 2.1%. Then we went to THE CASP. Finally got to bed at about 7, but I KNOW WHAT HAPPENS, so Potter lovers, you'd better not cross me till you've finished it yourselves.

Well I'm back from a delightful gig in Birmingham's Jug of Ale. The good people at Becky's Haircut assisted in the performance of a new song, and the crowd was going to help with the recording as well but I left the memory card in my computer, just one of a large number of things which has gone wrong today. For another example, did you know that the Birmingham Accordion Centre is not on Midland Road, Strichley, but is in fact on Midland Road, Vauxhaul. About an hour's rush hour drive in the opposite direction...!

Anyway this and all the other things that have sucked about today were put right by the Becky's Haircut team and I when, joined by special guest star Jon (of Misty's fame), we went for a secret midnight curry, with stomach filling results. All to the good! Now I must focus on going to sleep, the plan being to write some songs tomorrow. Hoho.

Tonight, we at FaceOmeter Industrie ask: Is this the most hateful thing ever?

Fortunately, more life-affirming stories are still out there.

I finished shadow of the colossus. Could that have been the best ending to a video game ever? It's certainly on my list! 9/10 if you must know, 10 if it wasn't for the slightly picky "getting on horse" controls.

"Set on the banks of the River Exe, in the beautiful grounds of Powderham Castle, the Graduation Ball is the way to remember your days at Exeter University..."

Not that I was going anyway of course, but this little promotional whiffle is right on the mark. There is no more appropriate way to remember the University of Exeter than an overpriced ball being cancelled due to rain half an hour before it started.

After four weeks of rain.

Ahh, the old alma mater. All shall know her and despair.

"Sorry! an unexpected error has occurred.

This error has been forwarded to MySpace's technical group."

What are the chances, do you suppose, that it hasn't? Still, I was trying to do something particularly complicated this time: I was trying to... sign in. OH YEAH

If MySpace is the third most visited site in the universe or whatever, would it kill them to make the bloody thing work? Anyway the reason I was going on there was to post information at on the 17th of August I will be playing the Flapper and Firkin in central Birmingham. Not a stone's throw away from Symphony Hall, this iconic public house has never been graced with FaceOmeter's presence, but was the site of Will Tattersdill's first LIVE MUSIC PERFORMANCE at the tender age of, oh, I dunno, 17, I forget. Anyway I'm sure it will be nostalgia city so come on down and get involved!

In other news, preperations for the Princess Bride are underway. I've borrowed some of my dad's waterproof trousers, picked up a copy of Cornish Bears: Defeating Them by Jane Austen and done a montage of pressups on my bedroom floor HARDCORE HARDCORE. The Vibe has stolen Max's accordion and given it back to him, in what I interpret as a gesture of encouragement for the tour. In short, we're all unbelievably excited, I mean you just wouldn't believe how excited we are. Oh and I have a new melodica which I'll probably be getting out for the lads. Enit enit enit.

I know it's before Silly Season #1, but it's certainly worth drawing attention to the 100% beef flame grill which is the annual E3. A quick perusal of the "ganking" and "trolling" on EG will swiftly amuse and appal you.

As I've previously said, it's irritating to me that a group of people who have so much basically in common and who are all essentially on the same 'side' are seperated by such high levels of devisive stupidity. That said, the PS3 is an unholy abortion of a console purchased only by wealthy lepers. Long live Miyamoto! &c.

My EG most wanted list will reveal to you that more than ever, gaming is an exciting thing to be up to. I'm on my twelfth colossus, and have Twilight Princess to finish before getting Okami and Super Strikers Charged. And my PC still isn't entirely worthless. The quest to waste all of our time and have a laugh is common to users of every gaming platform, and it's time we were all a bit nicer to each other.

(Gears of War still blows)

(Shigsy is still the best)

(yup)

Well it's wednesday. The new song (below) is part recorded, with some minor lyric alterations and is sounding quite fun! Meanwhile, my father and I took a road trip to Oxford and had a curry. Good stuff! Here's a game I've been playing lately:

Holy God mother of Christing bastards this is a good one. I mean, seriously. WHOA. WHOA. Whoa.

I was told that this was worth buying a PS2 for. It is.