Raisin Racing:
I was trying to explain this to Moose the other day, but she just looked at me funny and said that Virtual Pooh Sticks was better. The new flatmate got out of the kitchen as quickly as she could, positive that I am certifiable. Was it just my (admittedly slightly odd) family who used to play this innocent game on a Sunday afternoon whilst waiting for the roast potatoes to get nice and crispy?^*1* Or are there other closet Raisin Racers out there? Come on, we’ll start a club!

How to Raisin Race:
1) Get yourself:
A fizzy drink, preferably clear like lemonade.
A tall glass.
Some raisins.
2) Pick a raisin each.
3) Drop them in the glass
4) The first raisin to the top that wins. Easy.

The theory behind it is that the bubbles get trapped in the wrinkles on the raisin, and force it to rise. You have to choose carefully though – which will reach the top first? A large one with oodles of wrinkles, or a smaller one with fewer wrinkles but that is lighter?^*2*.

Once again, I lay no claim to, you know, being good at making movies. But I was having fun with iMovie, adding a soundtrack and the like, so enjoy (music is the 9-to-5 remix by Too Many DJ’s). That was my raisin that won, by the way!
Raisin Racing Live!

Well, it might not be useful in my thesis, but I just learnt why we yawn (and why it is contagious) – “One example of this interaction is the contagious yawning effect. Yawning is a reflex triggered by the body’s need for increased oxygen. In a situation where one is not getting enough oxygen, others are also encountering the same circumstances. Therefore, witnessing other people yawning serves as a reminder to one’s body that its own cells are feeling deprived.” Now you know. Not sure how that got into my archaeology/social computing research pile. Google Scholar does throw up some slightly odd results sometimes.

Over at Dark Meadow I have been spammed by Jesus Christ. Go, look – the comment on Cryptonomicon. Not sure whether to be pissed off or amused. I will delete the comment soon, but I’m gonna leave it for the next few days at least. What is annoying is that somehow whoever did it sneaked past my page-stats tool. I’m on my third already, and they are all pants. Can anyone recommend a good (free) one?

You have to go to this site! Lots of adorable (but evil) penguins. Even pictures to download and everything! March of the Penguins film site

I live to serve: Spyware? Throw your PC away… (As a Mac user, I am currently feeling all smug and superior. THe feeling won’t last long, I am sure, but for now – Mwhahahaa!!!)

For no reason other than I think I showed you all Darth Tater before, Star Wars Spud Trooper Mr. Potato Head. Yes, this amuses me.

Cas’ first International Sushi! Made with Korean yakinori (found on the Great Seaweed Hunt of 2005), Scottish smoked salmon, cucumber of some European origin, Hong Kong (via Kent) rice vinegar, and American long grain rice. Oh, and eaten with chopsticks from China Town in New York, and dipped in Sharwoods best soy sauce from Malaysia (via Surrey). Tasty!

Lastly, I tried to watch Secret Window last night. I had been warned, but I like Johnny Depp, and figured that a film he was in couldn’t be that bad. Oh, how wrong I was. I lasted about 30 minutes, by which time it was starting to get a little creepy, and I had no one to hide behind^*1*. Figuring that the pay-off wasn’t worth scaring the crap out of myself, (dog + screwdriver = unhappy Cas), I went to see how it ended (Moose knows everything, she’s good like that 🙂 ). Yep. Glad I didn’t stick with it. Bad movie. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad movie!^*2*.

Got to forgive the film something though, because in the process of IMDB’ing it (can you make that into a verb?), I discovered that The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is in pre-production, with Depp to play the lead. If you haven’t read the book, do. Well worth it. Thematically on a par with The Sea Inside, and another true story, it is one of those inspirational books that you have to read.

It was Jeff’s birthday yesterday, so in honour of that, I quickly (and rather badly) photoshopped the following ¹:

Happy birthday for yesterday Jeff 🙂

And following in the humorous badger theme, enjoy the following: Atomic Badger Racing

Well, I did it. I jogged, walked, and occasionally ran 5 km around the Common for Cancer Research UK.

To everyone that has sponsored me already, than you so much, and it is time to pay up if you haven’t already. Everybody else, there is still time to donate online at the secure site www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/brightmeadow.

I ran today in memory and celebration of the following amazing people:
Lily Fraser, a good friend, who died before her 13th birthday of acute recurring leukemia.
Aunty Helen, who died of skin cancer, leaving behind two children, a husband, a sister, and an extended family who all loved her very much.
Grandad (Gordon Buchanan), who died on the 17th of September 1996 of stomach cancer, after fighting it for many years.
Jess’ father, Warren Anderson, who’s death last year from acute blastic leukemia came as a shock to everyone who loved him.
Jason’s friend, Cathy Pastore, one of the survivors,
and everyone else affected in any way by cancer.

Photo’s from the race can be found at the Race for Life set on Flickr.

Also, there are four short films:
Movie 1 – an introduction
Movie 2 – 10,000 women doing aerobics on the Common!
Movie 3 – at the Start Line (recap)
Movie 4 – crossing the Finish Line
These were taken on my digital camera, so the quality is not great, nor do I lay any claim to being a great cinematographer, but enjoy anyway. Warning! Don’t watch Movie 4 if you are prone to seasickness. It was filmed whilst running, so is more than a little shaky! When the guy says “taking pictures of us!”, that’s me he was talking about. Tee Hee.

And now, I am off to soak my feet, and read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince as my reward.

We have a new flatmate.

Clompy, YoYo, and Emilie all moved out a couple of weeks ago, and it was looking like we’d be only the four of us in the flat. Very nice it has been too – not having to worry that Clompy will be in the kitchen when we want it, just… generally knowing you won’t run into Clompy has made a world of difference actually! The flat is owned by the university, so we have no say (or warning for that matter) on who moves in, and today, a new girl arrived. Not exactly spoken to her yet, but she can’t be as bad as Clompy, can she?

Fingers crossed.

New review of “The Roses of Roazon” by Cherith Baldry over at Dark Meadow. Also a new rating system for books, details of which can all be found if you look in the sidebar of that blog.

Three little pieces of stuff for you before I go to read some more.

• “If vitamins and exercise alone explain why Tom Cruise is so, um, knowledgeable and well-grounded, pass the Prozac.”
  – Chicago Tribune
• It does make me laugh, when watching trailers on Apple, that British films are classed as “foreign”. Case in point, Asylum, which is as british as they come! It’s got Ian McKellan, Natasha Richardson, Hugh Bonneville for pete’s sake! And was written by Jullian Fellows! But still, ‘foreign’, which conjures up the image of subtitles and the like. Well, our accents are inpenetrable, aren’t they?
• Ok, I’m a sucker for musicals. Loyd-Webber can do no wrong. So colour me all tingly when I rewatched the Rent trailer this morning.
• There’s a penguin in the new Wallace and Grommit movie!

So that was four pieces, but the last one was small. If you don’t believe me, get your butt over to Moviefone and watch this clip (on the set prt 2).

As the badge says, you have to be nice to me, for I am currently sitting here typing with aproximately a pint of blood less than normal swimming around my veins and arteries. Also, due to lack of blood, I am feeling a bit lightheaded and not at all in the mood to type coherent sentences (or to spell correctly). So enjoy these few snippets.

I’m feeling a bit low today, and not just as a result of blood loss, so I need some eye candy. Don’t care about the rest of you so much, this one is for me. Now, if only such men existed in real life… Mr Fantasic himself

Now, I’m a good girl, and am waiting eagerly till I can read the new Harry Potter (not letting myself start it till after the run on Sunday), but the news that it’s already been on sale in Canada narks me something rotten. Moose is right – things are better over there!

Ouch! Be warned, they’re coming to get you: Wi-Fi signal thief arrested

Read before they get sued from here to the second coming. Tom Cruise is Nuts.com

Just see what you can do with sparklers, and a digital camera with the exposure set real slow. Flickr sparkler set

If that’s all, I’m off to have a nice swoon on my bed. Toodles.

Ok, had a snooze, and eaten lots of nice sugary things, so I’m feeling a bit more human. Time, I think, to tell you all about the great Cheesecake Debacle of 2005.

Ever since YoYo started making cheesecakes like a little demon six months ago, Moose and myself have, on and off, been heard to mutter things along the lines of “we should make cheesecake”. The other would invariably follow this comment with something like “yes, for cheesecake is good”. I belong to the school of thought that says you need gelatin to make cheesecake set properly (some time soon I’ll get around to posting the best cheesecake recipie EVER, but not tonight, because I am lazy). Moose, on the other hand, is positive that you can make cheesecake without such aids.

*edit* She is REALLY adamant that you don’t need gelatin. She’s looking over my shoulder now. I think that if I don’t stop going on about the gelatin she will…

Nope, not going to go there. She is brandishing a glass of Pepsi at me. Very dangerous that Pepsi.

Anyway, back the story.

Alas, poor Moose, she lost her trusty recipie for non-gelatin-requiring cheesecake^*1*. Determined to prove me wrong (I, as already mentioned, think gelatin is the cheesecake-makers friend) she did a google on “Cheats Cheesecake” and came across a recipie from the SU at Edinburgh University. The internet is great, isn’t it?

She made it last night, so that we would have a nice treat awaiting for us when we got back from the vampiric blood service. (Every time I go, I half expect the church hall to have been taken over by the dudes from Blade II). It needed condensed milk, cream cheese, biscuits, and some butter, thats it. And two hours to chill.

24 hours later, we had the Self Healing Cheesecake.

Not set.

1:0 to the gelatin camp.

It really is an odd experience, eating cheesecake that you could drink with a straw. It was more of a cheesecake-flavoured yoghurt with biscuity inclusions. Very tasty, wonderfully sickly and sweet, and the ‘fruit de la passion’^*2* juice mixed added just that little extra, but… odd. There is no word for it, other than odd.

If you don’t believe me, I took pictures. Go here to view the set of pictures on Flickr^*3*.