Insights and outsides

hellblazer — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 23:01:11 GMT

there's always one who cares...

Better luck, next time?

DarkObserver — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 13:46:45 GMT

2007 is here. 2006 was a really dreadful year for me so I hope things will start to look up this year. I'm still alive btw. This blog gets no traffic anymore, so I guess nobody cares anyway.

War was?

DarkObserver — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 22:58:34 GMT

Ach ja, ich hatte ja mal ein Weblog...angefangen damals, als das noch nicht in jeder besseren Zeitung und im Spiegel behandelt wurde. Und bewusst hauptsächlich in Englisch gehalten, um nicht in die deutschsprachige Blogosphäre einsortiert zu werden, die mir damals eine Blase voll selbstverliebter Parvenus zu sein schien -natürlich gab es Ausnahmen, wie zum Beispiel die von mir rechts verlinkten deutschen Blogs.

Was ist inzwischen passiert? Ich bin verheiratet, bin ruhiger geworden und tatsächlich dabei, eine Art Bauch zu entwickeln *lol* Die Zeiten, in denen alle paar Wochen eine andere Frau in meinen Armen lag und ich mich auf der Arbeit von den Wochenenden erholen mußte, anstatt umgekehrt, sind wohl endgültig vorbei. Tut mir nicht wirklich leid.

Übermorgen ist Bundestagswahl und wer nicht hingeht, ist selbst schuld. Deutsche Politik war schon lange nicht mehr so spannend wie jetzt gerade u. bei aller Verdrossenheit und angeblicher Gleichheit des Angebots ist es auch eine Unterstützung unserer Demokratie, wählen zu gehen. Stimmzettel ungültig zu machen, ist allerdings Dummfug. Wem man noch erklären muß, warum ist viell. tatsächlich besser unter den Nichtwählern aufgehoben.

Fight SPAM!

DarkObserver — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 10:29:30 GMT

Some fucking spammer abused this blog and posted a comment plugging some obscure medication-selling site. I deleted it.

If you or your company want to fight spam, take a look at Spamassassin. It's the best spam fighting solution out there and it's even free:

www.spamassassin.org

I use it with great results at work. It beats most commercial solutions. You should use some additional rule sets by the Spam-Ninjas though:

www.rulesemporium.com

FBI hunting for HL2 source code

DarkObserver — Thu, 22 Jan 2004 14:06:14 GMT

If you always wanted to know what an actual U.S. search warrant looked like, you might want to read the blog of this dude here:

squeedlyspooch.com

His apartment was searched by the FBI looking for the source code of the sequel to the popular game "Half Life". It's a fun read, this entry. ;-)

Weird...

DarkObserver — Wed, 22 Oct 2003 10:42:29 GMT

Guess which of my articles gets the most referrals from search engines?

Bush falling off Segway

Hmpf...

Sorry guys! I just checked and the link to Yahoo News in that article doesn't work anymore.

But if you click above, I've upated it with a link that works!

blubb

DarkObserver — Wed, 17 Dec 2003 14:58:27 GMT

Nee, dafür bin ich doch jetzt im RC-Forum aktiv

Dacht schon...

hellblazer — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 18:21:29 GMT

... du wärst ganz untergetaucht :-)

Personal News

DarkObserver — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 16:31:53 GMT

In case anyone wondered what's happened to me: I've been quite busy. Why? Because of my job and the fact that I've finally found a female companion. All is well and I intend to keep it that way. Will concentrate on the really important things from now on and blogging is not among them anymore, at least for the time being. Occasional updates may occur though if I'm in the mood.

Bush falling off Segway

DarkObserver — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 08:45:14 GMT

Update Oct. 2003:
In case you came here via a search engine, I am sorry to say that the link below to the pictures showing Bush falling are no longer available at Yahoo News.

Use this one instead:
gizmodo.net

Google is your friend ;-)

Hahah, take a look at this. I had seen these things on TV, but didn't know they were made by / are called "Segway" before seeing this.

story.news.yahoo.com

First pics of Keanu as Constantine....

DarkObserver — Sat, 11 Oct 2003 18:17:30 GMT

can be found at this excellent website:

www.insanerantings.com

The director is reported to have said, that they won't have Keanu bleach his hair and that John Constantine won't be an Englishman but a resident of L.A. more in the tradition of hard-boiled detective characters with some magic and mystery thrown in.

After the dreadful "League of Extraordinary Bullshit" adaption of a great DC comic book by Alan Moore, I fear the worst for the movie version of one of my favorite comic characters to date.

Well, "mates"...I'm opposed to the casting of Keanu Reeves to begin with. Let's just hope they won't totally succeed in watering down and destroying the character us Hellblazer fans have come to love -and sometimes- hate. The website mentions -I guess as a consolation of sorts- that they at least seem to have kept Constantine's taste for booze and tobacco intact.

But reading somewhere else that they want it to get a PG-13 rating I'm afraid this is bound to be another catastrophe. If you strip all the horror, perversion and downright evil contained in John Constantine's universe as depicted in the comic what have you got left? Not much.

The comic is intended for ADULTS and even among those only for the hard-boiled ones with strong stomachs and no religious or other ideological prejudice. Except maybe a certain understanding or even identification with the way of the underdog, the loner, the outcast.

I have a lot of insight in that respect and I have symathized with this particular comics character more than with any other. Just today I received the precious trade paperback containing his very first appearance ever in Alan Moore's "Swamp Thing." I'll get very angry, should the movie-makers spoil him big-time...

Here's another article brought to you by the cool guys at CHUD:

www.chud.com

thank

rollinger — Thu, 11 Sep 2003 07:22:14 GMT

you for that link. I hope it is authentic.

kathy — Sun, 07 Sep 2003 10:29:29 GMT

nice to see u here again ;)

Iraqi blogger!

DarkObserver — Sat, 30 Aug 2003 21:51:54 GMT

riverbendblog.blogspot.com

Is it authentic? William Gibson thinks it is, I found the link in his blog.

Hiatus

DarkObserver — Sun, 10 Aug 2003 13:32:38 GMT

Back from vacation, 2 weeks in Turkey. Heatwave in Germany. My mood and mind are confused. Will close this down for some time, because of lack of seeing much sense in writing and almost everything else currently.

Peace
D. O.

Age changes one's tastes

DarkObserver — Thu, 26 Jun 2003 20:42:00 GMT

No, really, it does! I had always hated country music, because to me it represented all the Yokel/hillbilly racist-conservative bullshit from the American South I had come to detest when I learned about the history of slavery and so forth.

On the other hand, I´ve always been a fan of ZZTop and of Black Bluesmen like John Lee Hooker or Muddy Waters. Willy Nelson rocks, too and is certainly far from being conservative. Then came the Coen Brothers movie "Oh Brother, where Art Thou?" and I liked some of the songs from its soundtrack.

For some time now I´ve been occasionally trying out country that´s supposedly different and more conscious of its relations to Black Rhythm and Blues. Through the books of Kinky Friedman I was prompted to listen to Hank Williams...I mean a cool guy like Kinky wouldn´t make some strawhead his idol, wouldn´t he?

From Hank Williams I went to his son, Hank Williams Jr. and then to his grandson, Hank Williams III, who is some sort of Metal/Punk/Country rebel. Cool stuff really. So with the bearded guys from Texas, Willy Nelson and the 3 Williams' there's in fact some country-related music in my musical arsenal now, but it's certainly not backwards stuff, no sir. Mama, let that boy boogie-woogie....

Since it seems to be some kind of fashion right now, here's mine...

DarkObserver — Tue, 10 Jun 2003 14:11:52 GMT

You are Morpheus, from "The Matrix." You
have strong faith in yourself and those around
you. A true leader, you are relentless in your
persuit.

What Matrix Persona Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Iraq War Epilogue Part II

DarkObserver — Wed, 04 Jun 2003 08:03:32 GMT

A famous American had this to say about the condition of his country after 9-11:

www.commondreams.org

I say: More power to him. Maybe he should run for president?

Old wisdom

DarkObserver — Tue, 03 Jun 2003 12:05:49 GMT

"Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber."
--Plato

Still true today, isn't it?

Iraq War EPILOGUE (sorry, wrote prologue last time, was probably still asleep)

DarkObserver — Thu, 22 May 2003 15:53:59 GMT

So what has been achieved? Saddam is gone, which is good. But: The US and the Brits apparently totally underestimated the amount of work needed after the war. Chaos still rules, electricity and other basic elements of infrastructure are still not working in most parts of Iraq. As a consequence, Jay Garner and other people were replaced to get things off the ground faster.

And all of a sudden, the American government is willing to have the U.N. play a bigger role in post-war Iraq than before - I guess, because they finally realized how much reconstruction will cost them.

The Americans have failed to achieve most of their purported war goals:

- No weapons of mass-destruction have been found.
- Terrorism hasn't subsided because of the ousting of Saddam, rather the contrary is true.
- Iraqis aren't so keen to have allied soldiers and government run their affairs for them, as people like this jerk Wolfowitz foretold.

To get Iraq flying again as a country will keep the U.S. - and the world community- quite busy for a long time and I can't say I pity them. You reap, what you sow!

Nice :)

kathy — Sun, 18 May 2003 16:18:42 GMT

it's great ! congratulations !!!
Alles gute fuer Ihre Zukunft . :)

We love the Iraqi Infotainment Minister

DarkObserver — Wed, 23 Apr 2003 12:20:18 GMT

As negative as my view of the Iraq war was and is, there's been one guy you could safely laugh at -even more so in fact than at Rumsfeld:

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, the Iraqi (Dis-)Information Minister.

His stout denial of the obvious facts had such an almost Monty-Pythonesque quality, they were on par with a play by Samuel Beckett or other surrealistic achievements.

Example: "I can say, and I am responsible for what I am saying, that they have started to commit suicide under the walls of Baghdad. We will encourage them to commit more suicides quickly."

Is that commitment to the job, or what?

To a lot of people, he's now become some sort of satirical icon, there are numerous websites celebrating his stubborness and overbearing verbal style (certainly not his grammar, though)

Here are just two of them:

www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com

www.theinformationminister.com

The latter offers you to choose your own background image, supply a small text and then have Al-Sahaf deny the whole setup. Try it out, it's fun!

Here's the link to the "press conference" I created there:

www.theinformationminister.com

Never mind,

martinh — Wed, 23 Apr 2003 12:28:33 GMT

it's not that urgent (looks like you have better things to do, anyway ;-)

With pleasure! ;-)

julia maksymova — Tue, 22 Apr 2003 13:47:33 GMT

It's a good idea!

Thank you, Julia!

DarkObserver — Tue, 22 Apr 2003 10:26:41 GMT

Yes, sometimes they do. Maybe we can take a stroll through my nice hometown as two couples with kids soon? I'll speak to Andriy about it. Until then: Take care