devolute.net

Well, it’s finally happened. I’ve got a job. No… more than that, I’ve got a job I actually want. I’ll be working for a small Sheffield company called Rocket Science. They make websites and I’ll now be responsible for helping them do this. What seems exciting about them is that they have the similar passion about creating the sort of standards-compliant, accessible sites that I do (please don’t go and attempt to validate my page now and see it failing, that’ll be terribly embarrassing). Of course, this all means that I have to once more relocate myself to the other side of the Pennines, back in Yorkshire. Last time I did this I ended up in Hull, but Sheffield isn’t quite that far. I’ve been to Sheffield a number of times (the best visit was when I saw Belle & Sebastian supported by an as yet unknown Franz Ferdinand) and it seems to be a pretty decent city. Still, I admit to being a bit intimidated by it all. I’ve moved away from home before, sure. But that was university! Everyone’s in the same boat there and lets face it, for many it is a 3 year drinking binge (myself included? maybe not). This is different. I’m trying to find a house/flat share and this is pretty hard work. I visited on Wednesday and saw a few places (one of which was worse than the worse house I saw whilst a student in Hull) and I’m visiting tomorrow to check some more possibilities out, one of which is temporary. Fingers crossed ‘eh? I want a place sorted soon, because I’d like to get working and make myself part of the company, I don’t like the situation I’m in now; seemingly strung between two towns and without very much to do.

Anyway, hopefully I’ll be busy but not too busy to let you know how I’m getting on. Wish me luck!

I’ve taken to watching the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, which follows it every night. To those who know me this won’t come as a surprise; I am a bit of a political whinge-bag and satire is always very much what’s for dinner. However, TDS (as I’m now going to call The Daily Show) is very American and I’m not. Although you can watch it in the UK on More4, this is a somewhat watered-down edition for us Europeans. So I’m forced to BitTorrent it. I’ve started watching for two reasons: Firstly; I’m unemployed and apart from job-seeking and the odd little project, I’m not exactly super-busy (more on this in a later blog post, though). Secondly; It’s brilliant TV. Not only are these shows full of bad puns and wonderfully delivered swipes at the powers that be, but it’s also pretty educational. It’s all delivered from a centralist / media-critical point of view, but personally I don’t have a problem with that. The past weeks have featured an insightful interview with the Pakistani president and the moment Fox News labelled disgraced Republican creepy-congressman Mark Foley as a Democrat.

It’s quite worrying viewing sometimes but host Jon Stewart gives us Europeans a little insight into perhaps why things are the way they are in the US (and hence Iraq too I suppose). It’s reassuring to hear that it’s not just me who finds the content quite educational, as this Indiana University study claims, despite being ‘fake news’ it’s just as real as the ‘real news’ channels. Whether this is down to excellent TDS reporting, or a poor show from the other news networks, I’m not sure. I’ll hazard a guess and say it’s a bit of both. I heartily recommend my fellow ‘Eurofags’ to download via BitTorrent, tune in via More4, or at least head to YouTube and grab some clips.