A very interesting article (and even more lucid comments) on the videogames and violence debate which is a personal fascination of mine. I wrote my dissertation on the same subject although now I've read this I feel like I might have missed the mark. I'm not bitter, the clever sods.

In fact, it gets even more highbrow over at Other Players. Centre for computer games research. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that's a sweet area of study. Count me in.

On the same site there's an amusing page (at least I thought so) which describes the blurring of online life with reality. Although when they start abbreviating real life to RL, my solidarity starts to evaporate. Quickly.

See what I told you? 

An esteemed ex-tutor of mine recently described me as 'evil'. I haven't given too much thought to what he meant, being as I am busy hatching nefarious plans for world domination to worry about such things. But it reminded me of an acquaintance from some years back who was known as 'Evil Dave (The Bastard)'. Evil Dave, from what I could make out, was not really evil. If anything he was a bit of a nobody who, from what I saw, revelled in the name as it invested in him something close to a personality. Amusingly to these eyes he was neither evil or had any real personality of which to speak. The origins of his monicker (I assume he really was called Dave) are lost to me and of little interest. Where my evil reputation comes from, and whether to sustain it, are my focus here. Okay, so I have a few dark thoughts. Quite a few in fact, but who doesn't? What could be the possible advantages to being evil? And do evil people really think of themselves as such?

I hate to jump on another bandwagon but if you really want to stare into the face of evil, sign up for a Hotmail account and get on MSN Messenger. This apparently simple process will strip your patience from you piece by piece and nudge you gently but inevitably towards insanity. And into the bargain you may find you've rewarded the Microsoft Corporation with enough personal information for one of their employees to assume your identity so comprehensively that they'll be eating Sunday lunch at your mum's table and even she won't notice.

Avoid. Yeah, you're stuck with Windows. Yeah, the new one's the best version yet if only because when it crashes spectacularly it informs you politely that you're work is screwed. But leave the rest well alone and let the new evil on the block get a look-in. Now I'm off out in the rain to kick some puppies.

This has to be one of the funniest sites I have ever seen. Perhaps it just appeals to my sense of humour. Whatever indeed. 

Now there's an answer you can use. 

An amusing email found its way here this morning and it would be remiss of me not to post some of its contents on this site. This is for anyone who ever hated exams. Eventually I will educate myself in the ways of hosting these nuggets elsewhere when my snazzy new site is up and running. But not today. 

This is how we do it... 

Let's briefly revisit last week's swearing theme. It's hard not to agree with this ranting maniac. Takes one to know one and so on.

The road less travelled. Not sure of the relevance, but that's the general style round these parts. 

There's the Dark Side for you... 

A theme appears to be emerging here...

What a way to start the day. This morning's Guardian provided me with a boost in saying that graduates ain't what they used to be and degrees are worth less than they once were. Not a huge revelation to many of us. Well, me at least. In summary:

Simply put, the more people go to university, the less special the word "graduate" is, and the narrower the gap between graduate and non-graduate lives. In the era of Lucky Jim and CP Snow, with only around 5-7% of people going to university, the lucky few really did find their lives transformed, as if by a magic wand that took them from factory lines to middle-class plenty.

Good points, but it doesn't take into account that, despite the facts, some people study for a degree for their own personal development, whatever you take that to mean. I'd like to comment further but I must now continue my hunt for gainful employment in the light of my last three years having been an apparent waste of time.

Ho hum.

More job hunting-related activities today. I've set myself a list of tasks for today and managed to get everything dome that I intended. Paltry as some of those tasks were admittedly pretty paltry. But that's not the point. The point is that you've got to have a plan, as far as I keep hearing.

So, what was on this list? I had to give the new Coldplay album a good listen for a start. You've got to keep abreast of these things. Then there's the job business. Searched the web until my eyes stung. Then I did it some more. So far there's not much to shout about, although I might not be looking in the right places. It's good for ideas and focusing the mind. Plus it makes you think about new strategies, like writing to some people who I'd like to work for. That would be quite novel. There's more to the list but it really doesn't merit the bandwidth. Trust me, it was all crucial, grown-up stuff.

Anyway, I met a colleague in uni today and we had a very brief chat. He asked if I'd seen this job and that bloody job and if I'd gone for that and applied for that. I said I hadn't and I could sense he felt quite pleased with himself. Maybe I was bit touchy about it. Of course I should have looked ahead with a little more clarity and blah blah blah.

The way I see it, I just thought I'd give the poor bastards a fortnight's head start.

So, here it begins.

The job hunting starts in earnest on this very day. I have no illusions about finding anything at the first attempt although my financial situation and the impending need for to pay the rent means I don't have the luxury of unlimited time. That and the fact that I'm on the verge of inciting my long suffering girlfriend into killing me. Anyway, I'm sure it'll all turn out just fine...