27 Jan 2003 (Monday) 

Back from Wembley Arena now - went to see Counting Crows playing there. I've not been to the Arena that much, but I don't remember seeing it packed before. We were standing about 3 rows from the front which was quite cool. Of the highlights, I really don't know what to suggest. They did 'Murder of One' which is always cool, although Adam replaced the middle section that I like, again. I think that's just a concert thing - it works better in concert with the alternate middle.

The 'big thing' was 'Rain King' which was, for a change quite difficult to follow. Adam does this thing where he embelishes one track by expanding the lyrics in the middle or the end with a little more story and bits, which is really great for a concert because you get something new in a track you thought you know. It's a little bit of a new perspective on the track which is quite refreshing.

It might have been just me, but I found the sound a bit ropey, at least at the beginning of the set anyhow. Maybe that's why I found 'Rain King' harder to follow. Anyhow, that was cool. Gemma Hayes was doing support which was really quite cool. I've not heard much of her stuff except what I've heard Julian and Simon listening to, but it sounds quite interesting. Later, in 'Hanging Around' Adam got Gemma and the band to come up on stage and play with them, Gemma singing a verse herself - that was quite a change and rather nice .

All your life, is such a shame, shame, shame. All your love, is just a dream, dream, dream. Are you happy where you're sleeping ? Does he keep you safe and warm ? Does he tell you when you're sorry ? Does he tell you when you're wrong ? [ A Murder Of One, from August And Everything After, by Counting Crows ]

Not the middle section I meant, but I just love that track anyhow.

I'm alive. I survived you. And the bitter taste, the years I wasted, all the hate is gone. I'm alive. I still have visions of you. I still have nights to get through. [ I'm Alive, from Siren, by Heather Nova ]

For some reason, I woke up with 'I'm alive' in my head this morning. Not quite sure why.

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23 Jan 2003 (Thursday) 

Anyone know how to hack a MySQL server to give yourself access when you've forgotten the root password ? Well, this isn't exactly a method I recommend, but it appears to work. It's probably very wrong, but you can just shoot me for it. Go to a machine that has a known password on a root account. Load the file 'user.MYD' into an editor. At around offset 77 in the file, after the words 'localhost' and 'root' you should see a number of hex digits followed by some binary (2's in the cases here). Copy these. Stop the database you want to hack from running. Load the same file into your text editor. Remove the hex digits from this file and replace them with the ones you copied before. Restart the database. Login as root with the other password.

The lessons to be learnt from this ? Never leave your files open to editing by anyone, but you knew that anyhow. But the one you really should have known more than that is not to forget important root passwords in the first place.

You can call me stupid now .

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22 Jan 2003 (Wednesday) 

Today's episode of Stargate was purely a clips show. What is it about American series producers that makes them think that clips shows are actually interesting to the people who watch the shows ? If you're watching the shows then you've probably seen the bits anyhow - if you missed them in the first place, then you may wonder what they're on about but you don't actually gain anything by seeing the small snippet that is shown. If you're not watching the shows, then invariably the snippets are so intertwined with the story that you're going to gain very little insight into the series.

In case you're unaware, a 'clips show' as I call it (and possibly others call it that, too) is an episode with about 1/5 the actual content of a normal episode, but with the rest made up of tiny sections of previous episodes. Imagine an advert for the series that runs for a full episode instead of just a minute or so and you'll get the idea of the kind of tedium it induces. Why do I watch them, then ? In the vain hope that the content that there is might actually be worth it. And you keep watching, through the clips to the new sections because you just want to see what's in these new bits.

Maybe it's just me, but I really stop paying attention when the clips are on, which means that - in the case of StarGate - I've wasted an hour to watch what is essentially a 10 minute programme. Maybe I'm a little unfair, because today's episode did have some bearing on the programme, and maybe that's their way of making up for the fact that there was very little else going for a clips show.

On a purely practical level, I expect that the clips show fill the production time where the primary actors are having a mid-season holiday. If that's the case, does it really have to impact on the flow of the story. If you know that the holiday is coming then you plan for it - which I guess is what they're doing by keeping the production team working on the clips show with the minor characters filling in the parts. But it does make for an episode that - for those who are watching the show - is really quite tedious and unfulfilling.

Maybe I'm being unfair by saying 'American shows'. Off the top of my head, I can only think of three shows that I've seen doing it, but then I don't actively watch too much television (honest!) - Friends, StarGate and The Simpsons (and the much older slash and pastes that went for cartoons like Tom and Jerry). For The Simpsons... well, I've really got nothing to say there, 'cos it's almost as pointless as the Tom and Jerry clips shows, except that with The Simpsons we've come to expect so much more. With The Simpsons, we expect a story - it may not be a sane story and it may change after 2 minutes into the programme, but we expect it to follow on. With Tom and Jerry (and their kin) pasting together small snippets wasn't noticeable most of the time because... well, it's a cat chasing a mouse around a house - there's not actually the much variation when it comes down to it (not to knock Tom and Jerry, but it doesn't really have that much of a story).

What basically happens with the clips show is that you sit down to watch it and then it turns out it's a clips show and you feel cheated. Because you've waited a week to watch this and it wasn't worth it. You could have reorganised your time to do something else. Of course, if you'd checked the TV guide, you'd know that it was a clips show. But of course, I don't do that because I don't want to spoil the episode by knowing what's going to happen.

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19 Jan 2003 (Sunday) 

Added image fetching and rendering to NetSurf tonight, for the laugh.

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18 Jan 2003 (Saturday) 

Finally finished Monkey Island 1. So I've done 3, 1 and I have 2 to go. I suppose I should get 4 at some point. It's taken me ages to get to this stage though - no doubt 2 will take me as long.

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17 Jan 2003 (Friday) 

I'm pretty much better now, which is quite nice. It means I'm able to concentrate properly again and don't feel like ... well, I can't quite remember what I felt like, but I feel better than that anyhow .

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13 Jan 2003 (Monday) 

I've got an awful cold at the moment, so I'm really not concentrating all that well. As a result, I've decided to update the diary. It doesn't take a lot of 'real' thought, and I can scan through what I've done in the last few months. And the result is 'not much'. Oh well.

Anyhow, it's up to date now. Whee!

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11 Jan 2003 (Saturday) 

I turned the telly on this evening - I've got a nasty cold and I feel awful so I'm watching telly - and "Truely, Madly Deeply" was on. For some reason, it just grabbed me and I couldn't turn it off. It seems quite cool; I really must remember to watch it from the beginning if it comes on again.

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3 Jan 2003 (Friday) 

Why should I care ? 'cos you weren't there, when I was scared; I was so alone. [ Losing Grip, from Let Go, by Avril Lavigne ]

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