Torchwood: Children of Earth

Wow.

That was... bleak. Excellent drama, but oh so very bleak.

I think I ought to watch something super-happy tomorrow.

Soaring

Glorious fan version of the Flight theme from Xenogears. It's a straight orchestral arrangement, using a combination of synthesized orchestra and live instruments.

It's a little over a year since I last linked to a fan arrangement of this piece. As I mentioned in a response to a comment against that entry, I think the melody has a bittersweet quality. Thinking about it, I'm not entirely sure whether it's the melody itself, or the connotations, though; if memory serves (and it may well not, it's been years), the piece was used as the backing music during a heroic sacrifice scene in the game.

Codec Error City, Berkshire

The atmospheric conditions due to the hot weather are playing havoc with my TV reception.

An adult return to Skaro, please

I was riding in a bus yesterday afternoon. There was some kind of wave interference effect going on between the deep thrumming of the engine noise as the bus idled at traffic lights and bus stops, and the sound of the conversations around me. It was not unlike a ring modulator. Everyone sounded like Daleks.

Sakuraba squee

I saw a TV advert for Star Ocean: The Last Hope, which made me wonder what the soundtrack is like.

I found Squenix's official site for the soundtrack which has clips of some of the tracks. I'm guessing "Blood on the Keys" is the standard battle theme; give it a listen if you've ever heard a Motoi Sakuraba battle theme before and you'll see what I mean.

I wish the clips were longer. "Night of the Chase" sounds tantalizingly good.

Bite my shiny metal cancellation

Good news, everyone! Futurama is coming back!

Ugh. Just... ugh

There's no need for me to outline what happened in the elections; you can read about it on actual news sites.

I will, however, mention how embarrassed and ashamed I am that this country's delegation to the European Parliament will include two members of a racist party. At least one of these people is a real, genuine, bona fide, honest-to-goodness fascist. I am angry and disappointed with those of my fellow citizens who voted for these people.

Nothing further to add

I was going to post about today's political developments, but flabio has said it all already, so I refer you to his writeup.

Three in three days

Another member of the government has called it a day. Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell resigns, and calls for Gordon Brown to quit.

He didn't even wait for the election results. He's gone, and thrown down the gauntlet. Goodness knows how much longer the prime minister can last.

We want to be governed differently

A survey shows that the British people are in favour of sweeping changes to our political system. Recall elections, fixed-term parliaments and reducing the powers of party whips are among the measures supported by the public.

Various political bigwigs are making noises about pushing for some or all of these, but will anything actually happen? I'll believe it when I see it.