New Year (same old, same old)

Is it just me or has the time inbetween Christmas and New Year has flown by especially quickly?

Well, the new year is a few hours away for me and I would like to wish all the other bloggers who have commented here and in my other blogs a very happy and peaceful New Year! Thanks for reading (and listening) and sticking with it, I can't promise my writing will get any better but I thank you

:-)

I'm a bit indifferent to the New Year this time around, some years I get either depressed or I feel optimistic but this year: nah, nothing! I don't know why this is, I just do.

Post Christmas

It's been a busy week, seeing family and friends and watching TV and eating and drinking (mostly). Also done some online shopping. Bought a digital camera to replace our compact that went wrong, this was our present to ourselves - we had a small budget for gifts between us before Christmas, knowing that we'd want to hit the sales post Christmas. Despite the small budget I did quite well getting a good reaction from my wife on the things I got for her. I got some nice things too, one I'm looking forward to is a coffee mug I have to paint. Santa was good to the children this year, although the noise of electronic beeps and whistles has almost driven me insane! We've a shed load of Christmas crackers still to pull, I don't understand how we could have got so many. The Christmas tree went down yesterday, which I think is a little early, and our living room now looks spacious and bare! In a way though, I'm glad it's all sort of nearly over. I'm not glad though about having to go back to work later next week, nevermind though at least I have a few more days. We also have to try and organise buying a car - a process I hate having to go through but a necessary one.

Are you a Grinch?

From Tara and L.B.

Nope, You're Not a Grinch

Although you may feel Grinch-like at times, it's just because you're worn out from the holidays. You get into the holiday spirit more than most people - and you truly enjoy celebrating with your family and friends.

Are You a Grinch?

What holiday food are you?

You Are a Fruitcake

People pretend you're sweet and precious, but they know how weird you really are!

What Holiday Food Are You?

Oh, I see...

Holidays are here!

Yes at last, the holidays have begun. Now it's time to try and get everything that you dreamed of doing while you were at work done. I was fantasising about playing lots of videogames, little things like eating, drinking, sleeping and the family do tend to get in the way though! (only kiddin') But I have spent several hours this evening installing The Sims, House Party and Hot Date. It took a lot longer than it should have because we had installed the Triple Deluxe version and Makin Magic. And I found out this evening that there is a special order you have to follow for installations and if you get it wrong your better off starting again from scratch (including wiping any remnant files off your hard drive). But still, all is working now so my wife can play Sims to her hearts content - and I may even have a play myself. I've been trying out Rollercoaster Tycoon on an older machine we have upstairs and I'm enjoying learning how to built theme parks. What a great job that would be! You can see my handy work below.

What kind of gift giver are you?

You Are a Funny Gift Giver

Your gifts are wacky, offbeat, and even borderline naughty. You prefer to give a gift that makes someone crack up... Forget utility. You prefer to give something that's totally hilarious.

What Kind of Gift Giver Are You?

Christmas meme

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate. Hot chocolate just because I've never tried egg nog.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wraps, but only with special Santa wrapping paper that nobody else uses.
3. Coloured lights on tree/house or white? Coloured, on tree.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Not this year but we have done in the past. Come to think of it I haven't seen mistletoe anywhere this year.
5. When do you put your decorations up? Second weekend in December.
6. What is your favourite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? A roast turkey dinner with cranberry sauce, sausage, bacon, chestnut stuffing, roast potatoes and sprouts (yes, sprouts).
7. Favourite holiday memory as a child? Playing Space Invaders on my Atari, after wanting an Atari for months and months.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? What truth is that?
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? No! (oh, alright then, yes).
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Lights and baubals. A mix of old and new decorations with a tinsel star at the top.
11. Snow. Love it or dread it? We get snow so rarely, I love it.
12. Can you ice skate? Nope, never tried.
13. Do you remember your favourite gift? Yes, my Atari game console.
14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Time off from work with my family, playing family games and visiting my parents.
15. What's your favourite holiday dessert? I don't really have one.
16. What is your favourite holiday tradition? Videotaping the kids coming downstairs to unwrap their presents.
17. What tops your tree? Uh, I answered this in 10.
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Both are fun, although I take more pleasure in giving these days - it was different when I was younger of course!
19. What is your favourite Christmas song? I believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake, I just like his voice.
20. Candy canes? Never tried one. They look nice though, probably better than they taste.
21. Favourite Christmas movie? In my childhood it was Wizard of Oz because I only saw it once a year. Now I have kids they watch it several times a year (sometimes several times a month). I like It's A Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street is good too.
22. What do you leave for Santa? A glass of milk and a mince pie and we leave a carrot for Rudolph.

Finish the week out!

The weekend was going well, right up until the point a stomach bug caught up with me. So Saturday afternoon and evening I was asleep most of the time. So not a great weekend for me, I saw half of the carol concert and what I saw and sang along to I enjoyed. The second half went by in a bit of a blur though. I'm taking some holiday over Christmas though - yay! So I'll finish work on Friday and won't be back until 4th January, which is totally great!! Something to look forward to, just got to finish the week out....

Wii Games

If you fancy a little light entertainment over the weekend, try these Flash games for the Wii. You don't need a Wii to play, just use your mouse as the controller. I thought Off Sides was good but very confusing!

Classic Rock of the Month

A month has elapsed since I posted the Jethro Tull video, so it's now time for another trip down to the dusty archives to blow the cobwebs off another treasure of my audio heritage. This month my classic rock band is Caravan. I've got three Caravan albums on good old vinyl: Caravan (1968), If I Could Do It All Over Again I'd Do It All Over You (1970) and For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night (1973). I'm sure my dad has Blind Dog At St. Dunstans (1976) on vinyl somewhere too. I dig the crazy screen effect!

Christmas Carol Sing A Long

On Saturday my family and I will dress in our best clothes and head into London, to sing with other families in a great big happy Christmas carol singalong! My boy is going to be looking smart and well turned out, my wife will be her beautiful, sexy self and my daughter will be looking fabulously pretty and princessy. I shall be smart and generally try my hardest to stay at least something like in tune (and pretend that I know the words and phrasing without making too much of a fool of myself). We did this last year and it was a great family trip out, we push the boat out a bit and get a box in the gallery which has a nice space behind the seats where the children can play and dance and we can eat and drink in private. The concert is at a brilliant venue in London known as the Royal Albert Hall and was built in honour of Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert. Bob Dylan played a famous concert there in 1966, I have a recording of that performance and it's something special - for that reason alone I'm going to enjoy the concert on Saturday, just knowing that my idol once graced that stage. Here are a couple of photos of the venue.

What classic movie are you?

I came across this on another blog but I've forgotten whose, so apologies for my bad memory skills. I only did 9 questions because, well, I couldn't be bothered to answr more than that! Does that make me a bad person??

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Stuff and stuff and stuff

Finally, I got the chance to move over to the new Beta Blogger yesterday, woohoo! It took a few minutes while all three of my blogs moved over but it's all done now at last. Not sure what I do with labels for posts yet though, does anyone know what they do? Group posts into themes?

My daughter's Christmas nativity is performed tomorrow and unfortunately I can't go :-( as duty calls and I have to be somewhere else for work. My wife can go and is going to videotape it though, so at least that's something I guess. The dates this year just haven't fallen well for me as my son's carols sing song unfortunately also falls on a date when I'll be elsewhere. It's not great that dad's have to go to work during these times, we miss out on a lot. Ah well, the videotape is better than nothing I suppose.

I've seen a couple of good friends over the weekend, so that was great. I saw a few bands play at a gig on Saturday night and that was excellent. Also I had a few hours to myself on Sunday, which was great. On Saturday I managed to do a bit of Christmas shopping too. I'm feeling a bit more organised this year than I usually do. Christmas is less than 2 weeks away now, that's a scary thought! I haven't been even slightly tempted to buy a Nintendo Wii, not that I'd be able to buy one in any case - I think the stock situation is pretty bad here in the UK. It's great if all you want is a box, there are plenty of those...

Make a snowflake

Try Make-a-Flake and design your own snowflake, take a larger look at mine here.

Lonely Snowman

Tara's holiday for today is called Make A Snowman Day. Well, there has been rain here but no snow, so my snowman is a virtual one. I feel sorry for the snowman who gives us so much pleasure during the day and is so alone at night. Here's my picture in support of the lonely snowman.

Thoughts on Christmas

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I last posted something here. I've been pretty busy at work and my wife has been on the PC doing a lot of stuff for her job. The podcasting has been occupying a lot of my time too, it's fun but is time consuming.
I was starting to get a bit depressed about Christmas a week ago or so but then I realised something that had just gone over my head before. Here it is: Christmas is the climax of the year, it's the time to have fun, see friends and family, look back at the year's achievements and relax. I usually spend a lot of time worrying about presents (who to buy for, when to organise my shopping, what to get for whom, who got me a gift last year etc.) and the emphasis on shopping takes the fun out of Christmas I feel. It's much better to treat it as a big party. I love the film It's A Wonderful Life, realising how much you are loved by those around you is what Christmas should be about.
I'm starting to think about Christmas and New Year. I'd like to do something different next year, maybe take a course in something or do an evening class activity. I haven't figured out what yet but I'd like to get out one evening a week to experience something new.

6 Weird Things About Me

I got tagged by Tara today, so here are my answers.

1. I rub the sock fluff off the soles of my feet before hopping into bed
2. I am a podcaster
3. I squeal like a girl when frightened
4. I can't sing in tune (but pretend I can to my family, who ask me to stop singing all the time)
5. I like to keep stuff pristine, like I'll spend 15 minutes carefully, slowly peeling a difficult label off of a CD case so it doesn't leave marks
6. I like fruit sandwiches

Don't run away! Come back!

What kind of rocker are you?

You Are an Emo Rocker!

Expressive and deep, lyrics are really your thing. That doesn't mean you don't rock out... You just rock out with meaning. For you, rock is more about connecting than grandstanding.

What Kind of Rocker Are You?

Christmas Present

I saw this today and fell in love with it! I want one for Christmas and if you have cats it would be even better I think!



Check out some other videos here.

Friday (hurrah!)

I'm glad it's the weekend again. Tomorrow is going to be a windy day, our windchime is going bananas outside already.
Not many days ago I mentioned how good I thought The Gossip were, well low and behold the NME this week has published a Cool List and Beth Ditto (singer) is the no.1 coolest person. I think I can rightfully claim some coolness of off that since I mentioned them before the list was published!
Staying on the music front, I saw Jools Holland's Later again this evening and saw an awesome young band from Bournemouth called Air Traffic. The two songs they played are on their My Space page: Just Abuse Me and Charlotte. Very good indeed!

Mutant X

I rented Mutant X this week. You can read my review of the first two episodes here.

Introspection

Well I haven't really done a lot since my last post except work a lot and look after my family. It's been a busy weekend but without me really doing anything, if that makes any sense. I have the first few episodes of season one of Mutant X to watch, never seen that before so I'm looking forward to it. I bought Kasabian's CD Empire at the weekend after really enjoying their performance of Shoot The Runner on a music show called Jools Holland's Later a couple of weeks ago. I picked up a copy of Final Fantasy IX for Playstation for one quid on Saturday from a charity shop. I did some more work on organising my music collection but that's a big job and one I'm only chiselling at.
We bought our kids a digital camera each with the intention that each week we'll give them a project to help them with photo composition. This week we started on lights, photographing all sorts of lights. I'll have to create a photo collage of the shots, there were some really good ones. We got two 3MP cameras, two 256MB SD cards (that's about 300 pics each camera) and they came with pouches and batteries. The kids love them, we got a silver and blue one. It was a bit of an impulse buy but already we have some great photos and they'll hopefully last a while too. We don't have a small pocket camera since our died a few months back, so this way we get to use the kids cameras when we need one! I love that idea I heard of once, when someone was getting married they bought disposable cameras and put them out on the reception tables for guests to use as they partied. The couple got some really great informal shots of their wedding when they had them developed. At my own wedding the best photos were from a friend who just took snaps from interesting angles and close-ups of happy faces.

Tattoo

No, I'm not thinking of getting a tatt - the permanence scares me and I'm just too changeable in my tastes. The fact is that some people are repulsed by tattoos, I'm not their biggest fan but I'm not repulsed by them, although I can be repulsed by anything truly shocking. I've heard a lot of comments on tattoos from the sceptics but I don't hear many positive things said by people who have them. From my experience, I think tattoos are much more common in young women now than 20 years ago. Of course, I might just be being fooled by better fake tattoos. There must be a reason for the increased popularity?

Ultraviolet

I watched this rental this week. If you'd like to read my review of the movie, you can head over to my Multiply site and read my opinions.

Conversations

I was reading through this list titled "Do you make these 10 mistakes in conversation?" this evening. I find conversation an eternally fascinating subject, mainly because I'm always seeking to improve my conversation skills. Here are a few things that happen to me during conversations:

I'll be listening and then I don't hear one word because of a noisy environment or a loud noise and it ruins the meaning of what the other person is saying BUT they're talking so fast I don't have the nerve to break their flow and ask them to repeat. So after they've finished I find my reply is a weak one because I wasn't sure whether they said they liked something or they disliked it. If only some people didn't talk so fast!

I hate being left in a room with people I don't know, I enter with someone I know and they drift off or leave. It's worse when everyone else knows each other and are being really loud, I feel like I stand out because I'm not talking to anyone. And then I get that "why am I here?" feeling, I hate that.

I hate it when someone has really bad smelling breath. I'm sorry, but they could be the most interesting person in the world but if their breath stinks I'm not going to want to hold a conversation with them and I move away, hopefully without them noticing my recoil.

I find it quite difficult to talk to strong, highly motivated, competitive people. I mean the kind who talking briskly, don't have time for anyone who's not powerful and only seeing the world their own way. Obsessively driven people. I prefer relaxed, creative people to business people: a stereotype I know.

Often I find it difficult to talk to people I think it would be "good to be friends with". I think one of the lessons for me here is that friendships evolve, you can't really force them but I think some people try to.

One thing I don't like is when introductions go round the table and you have to say who you are, what you do and why you're there or what you want to get out of the session. My mind goes seems to go blank!

I don't have a data bank of hilarious stories about stupid antics I've got up to that I can draw upon. Often I am telling someone a story about someone I've read about or something that happened to somebody else. Sometimes I feel there is a gap there.

I get nervous if I find the person I'm talking to very attractive. So I'm glad I'm not dating! In my past when I've arranged to see someone I found really attractive before the date I've not felt like eating and have felt a bit sick in my stomach. Feeling nervous and hungry aren't great starters for a relaxed and entertaining evening!

I dislike it when a date or meeting isn't going well but you have that feeling that you've got to go through the motions and be polite. Even though you know inside your never going to repeat the event or the relationship isn't going to be the one you hoped for.

I find it can be difficult if I unexpectedly bump into someone I haven't seen for a long time. It's awkward if I've forgotten their name and don't want to let them know I've forgotten.

In general I'd say I'm better at one to one conversations, in a quieter environment. I like to listen to what the other person is saying, so that I can understand them and respond accordingly.

I would say I'm guilty of not saying the right things to make keeping the conversation flow with ease. Sometimes its me not picking up on things they are saying but other times I'm sure its my fear of the conversation drying up that makes my thoughts dry up on what to say next.

Oh dear, quite a list of things to improve. That's the great part about conversation, it sounds like its a simple effortless thing but it's really not. Everyone has something to improve in their conversations. I hope the list in the link at the top of this helps in some way.

Sunday, the day before Monday

It was Remembrance Sunday today. At 11am everything stopped for two minutes of silence, prayer and respect. My wife and daughter were in the supermarket when the silence period was announced. But a few people continued to shop, a lady reached for a really noisy, crinkly bag of crisps. I just don't believe how insensitive some people can be, they can't spare two minutes of their time?
This afternoon my kids asked if we could play a game they like. We've played it a million zillion times and it was OK for the first 100 times but now I'm a bit bored with it. They could carry on playing it and not get bored. But instead of getting it I suggested making our own game. So my kids and I came up with this game where up to four players go on a journey through jungle to catch a train that passes through a mountain to arrive at one of two destinations: either the beach or a birthday party. Along the way, there is a chance to pick up one or more special cards that are used at the end of the game to help decide who has won - it's not merely a case of first past the post wins. It takes less than 10 minutes to play and we had some fun. We don't have a name for it yet, does anyone have any suggestions?
Work starts again tomorrow (Boo!). Hope you have a good Monday, folks.

Classic Rock Of The Month

I thought I'd introduce a new regular monthly feature where I link to a video of a classic track. I enjoy rock classics as much as the next man, so why not share some of my personal favourites with you? This month's featured artists is Jethro Tull. When I was but a boy I came across Jethro Tull's album Stand Up in my father's record collection, it was a gatefold sleeve and the members of the band actually did stand up as you opened it. I thought that Ian Anderson was Jethro Tull, being vaguely aware that there was actually someone called Jethro Tull from history at school. I later learned the truth but apparently the label of their first single read "Jethro Toe"! Through five decades now, the Tull have been rocking the world and that deserves a lot of credit. So, Tull I salute you and to celebrate you are my first classic rock of the month.

The Week So Far

Yes indeed, I've been pretty busy and on the go for much of this week. Several long journeys have worn me out a little bit. I hope to recover now and over the weekend though. Life has thrown a couple of things at us this week, nothing too major, so we've managed to get along and I should be sorting my car, which was one of the things, out tomorrow hopefully.
I've been fairly occupied this week with podcasting. Both in terms of listening and doing. There's a lot of stuff to learn and I've sort of steamed into it without any background knowledge - which is great in one way and not so great in another. But I like the music I've chosen and at the end of the day, that's what's important. I've been busy tonight preparing my notes for next week's show, which I think will include some great artists and songs. (Yes, the shambles that is my podcast actually does take preparation believe it or not!).
On other fronts I hear that George Bush took a battering in the US polls and Donald Rumsfeld has resigned. To be honest, I haven't really been following the news that much and this news hardly seems surprising. But the lesson for any politician is that the people will ultimately have their say.
I quite fancy seeing the new James Bond film - a thought I haven't had in a long while. I think Daniel Craig is probably going to do well, despite the criticism meted out to him when he was first announced. I've heard he's the best Bond since Sean Connery and I hope he is. The Bond franchise needs it I fear.
Music-wise, outside of podcast world, I've been quite liking the sounds of The Gossip from Portland Oregon. They are over in the UK at moment but unfortunately, I won't be able to see them. They sound bloody good though.

Goliath on the rampage

I have been playing around with a few images and came up with this composite tonight. It's funny what you can create when you're just playing around with different effects.

Serenity

I watched this film this week, it came out last year and was just one of those films that I never managed to catch up with until this week. I've written my review of it here, check it out to see if I liked or disliked this film.

Cold

I was knocked sideways with a right hook last Saturday by a cold and I have only just shakily got my balance back. I'm usually affected more during the evenings but the first part of this week, I seemed to have a constant headache and on Monday I also had muscle aches in my back. Today though, I have a bit more energy and although I'm sneezing and blowing my nose I am feeling a bit better. So now, I feel I can continue to fight and start punching back.
Today, for lunch I had a New York Deli sandwich which consisted of pastrami with mustard dressing, gherkins, sauerkraut, gruyere and emmental cheese on rye and caraway seed bread. It was a complex combination of flavours that sort of overwhelmed my tastebuds at first. It left my mouth trying to decipher the code of what I was eating, undecided whether I actually liked it or not. I'm still in that particular quandary actually.
Jack Frost has been about this week, leaving his sheet of white on the blades of grass and windscreens of cars in the mornings. The mornings have been nice and sunny and bright though - which I like. A nice sunny morning encourages me to find a sense of hope, I don't know why it just does.
I'm off now to check if we won any money on the Euro Lottery, the kackpot is apparently 88 million pounds - now that would come in handy!

***

It begs the question, what would do with 88 million?

I'd give up work
See that my parents do whatever they want to, in comfort and luxury
Buy my children a wonderful education
Start my own business (which would probably operate at a loss, as I'm no business head)
Buy a mansion
Buy expensive clothes, gadgets and luxuries
Go on holiday for the rest of my life
Give to my favourite charities

Clearly, it needs serious thought - what would you do?

***

Surprise surprise, I didn't win :-(

Podcast Ahoy!

Don't forget to keep your pumpkin lanterns burning tonight (safely, of course!).

I managed to upload my first podshow, if you visit my playlist blog you'll find some great stuff like a Flash MP3 player to listen to the podcast with in my sidebar (see, I am good to you!) and some wonderful videos (check out the Sylvie Lewis one), and you can also say Hellodeo to me by following the Send Me An Odeo link on the left underneath the archives link.

Well, that's enough shameless self-promotion for one night.

Happy Halloween 2006!

Here's a couple of versions of my favourite Halloween song - the one hit wonder of Monster Mash by Bobby "Boris" Pickett. Have a good party if your going to one tonight. Th first is a version by The Misfits and the second is a video that has an intro with some spooky sounds before it gets into the song. See if you can spot the second or two that looks out of place.

Vigilante!

Ever since watching Dirty Harry the first time as a kid and Death Wish too, I've sort of been attracted to the notion of vigilantism. There was also the Edward Woodward show The Equaliser that I enjoyed too. I'm attracted to the appeal of cops who are tough and who cross the line sometimes in order to bring the bad guys down. This week I was lucky enough to purchase a copy of the Gameboy Advance game Max Payne. It has a great storyline and cool graphic novel slides inbetween the action. These story sections are narrated, knowing the limitations of sound on the GBA, you'll appreciate how great it is to get anything like real human speech out of it but Max Payne does a great job, the game was less than a fiver too, amazing!

If I had a gun I would have used it today in a vigilante attack. I was crossing the road at a leisurely pace, no vehicles in sight. When suddenly a massive cement mixer truck is bearing down on me, like a rabbit I dash across to safety only to see the driver laughing heartily. I shouted back "You think that's funny do you? Do you?" but he just kept laughing. Fortunately, I was fit enough to be abe to run across in time but an old person or a child might not have been. What a dozy wanker he was!

Side note: Blogger should be renamed Bogger. It's let me down badly this week. Does anyone else notice that it's getting worse? It seems to be down for maintenance a lot too.

Won't be around for a couple of days now, due to a family outing.

Miserable, Wet, Cold, Dark Day!

Well, that sums up my day. I'm exhausted and spent a fruitless day with strangers today. Mostly today, I have been waiting for something that didn't happen. It just goes to show that life is short and you might just as well do something you like instead of what you think you must do. But then, I do have a family and we need to keep living. So I can't yet quit the day job and go live in a beach hut on a tropical island being paid to blog and surf the web (by satellite, of course). Oh why, oh why can't I win the Lotto?

Does My Bum Look Big In This

Miles Mendoza mentioned this website the other day. It's a service that allows strangers to send in comments on how you look wearing garments in order to help you make a decision on whether or not to make a purchase.
So you'd walk into a clothes store, ask to try on a pair of trousers (for example), take them into the dressing room, put them on and take a photo of you in the mirror with your cameraphone, leave the shop saying thanks but your not sure. Then you send the photo to the site by multi-media messaging and then wait a few minutes until texts start arriving from strangers who view the image (now on the website), leaving a comment and can say honestly whether the trousers make your arse look fat or not. I think this is hilarious! I bet it was a guy who came up with the idea.

A Song for a Sunday

I can't think of a better singer songwriter at the moment than KT Tunstall. I splashed out on a few CDs this weekend:

• KT Tunstall - Acoustic Extravaganza
• Scissor Sisters - Ta-Dah
• Lily Allen - Alright Still...
• Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better
• Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I am, That's What I'm Not
• Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere

I watched the DVD with the KT Tunstall CD and it was brilliant. Recording an album in a day in someone's living room on the Isle of Skye in Scotland! Brilliant stuff. There was one video with KT and the band playing around with the effect pedal she uses, it was very funny. While looking for a video to play I found this one with the same pedal in it. It shows how adept she is with it, but also how rythmic and utterly blinding she is on her own with an acoustic guitar. I'd say she's mesmerising, a great end to a Sunday - hope you enjoy!

Creating demand for a toy this Christmas

People on some forums are attempting to earn a profit by buying all of these up and selling them for higher prices on e-Bay. The idea being to make parents think their kids are going to be distraught if they don't get one for Christmas 2006, as it's "the toy" to get this year. I have no objection at all to e-Bay, it's an excellent service, but I do object to individual profiteers who seek to manipualte parents in this way.

Dreams

I woke up laughing this morning after dreaming this:

Some bloke is talking to a friend, offering him advice on getting a new car for free. He is explaining how to dig a pit into which a rusty old car can be pushed and covered over with sweetcorn. He explains that in 24 hours time, if the sweetcorn is removed, a gleaming brand new car will have replaced the old banger.

It's odd what we dream isn't it? I don't know if watching the film Silent Hill influenced me to dream that or not but there was a lot of rust in it.

If you want to check out my review of Silent Hill, you can find it here.

5000 Visits / Lets get real

My site statistics tell me that this blog has achieved 5000 visits, how cool is that? I began it in January 2005 and my first year it was me just dumping thoughts. But after a while I started reading other blogs and posting comments. So I consider that I've really only been an active blogger for about a year.

The next bit of this post is titled LETS GET REAL!

Next up, Madonna and her adoption of a Malawi one year old boy. There's a lot of hooha about it at the moment over here. I read a column in one paper on the way home tonight that called for people to stop the monster! I don't think she's a monster - although Lourdes portrayed as Damien from The Omen in Star Stories was quite funny. It's one of those issues that I don't consider to be a "news" story at all, I don't know if the facts are really known yet but a lot of people are blowing hot steam they're so angered by it. It's only because it's Madonna that people think they have a right to make a stink. As far as I'm aware she's also given money to the orphanage and it's a wonderful chance for a competely new life for a little boy. There may be fair criticism of what she's done, but she's no monster - let's get real!

I read with interest the story about Bono's stetson hat (trousers and a few other items of clothing) and the stylist who wanted to auction it. I'm not the world's greatest U2 fan, infact I find most of their output a bit ropey. With large acts there are people poncing all around them all the time I'm sure. Why the band has bothered to take issue at all confuses me. Don't they have enough money to buy several hundred hats? Obviously the items hold meaning for them, but at some point don't you just give up and say it's not worth it? Let's get real!

Lastly, on my way home this evening I bought a little pot of Greek Yoghurt with raspberries and honey at the bottom of the pot. Believe it or not, I've never tried Greek yoghurt before. It was absolutely the finest yoghurt I've ever tasted in my life. There was also some with muesli that I didn't try. I'm definitely going to buy me some Greek yoghurt and honey tomorrow to have with my muesli.

John Peel Day (Belated)

Well, I meant to post something last Thursday and it didn't quite work out for me. I think there were celebrations all over the world in one form or another, this link gets you to a list of the UK gigs held in honour of the great man. This is the John Peel Day Flickr group photo pool, you will see lots of band shots.

Radio just isn't the same without Peely.

I'm not quite sure how The BBC's Electric Proms ties in with the John Peel Day celebrations but here is a guide to what's on - it all kicks off on Wednesday 25th. The 28th and 30th look like they will be my favourite days. There is going to be a John Peel Night but I haven't found out yet when that is. The performances are going to be watchable online and through BBCi.

BBC Radio 6 is also having a week dedicated to Peel from 23rd to27th October, called Keeping It Peel. On this page you can find out what was in John's emergency record 7" records box (and vote for your favourite track: Johnny Fortune - 'Dragster' was mine) and hear the 6 part documentary he did with John Waters (friend and producer).

Sunday Tech Thoughts

A bit of a techie post tonight. I've a few things on my mind:

• Am I hallucinating or has the line "Switched to the new beta version?" just started appearing when leaving comments? What's different about the new beta Blogger? Can old Blogger blogs switch to the new beta version of Blogger? Anyone use it enough to be able to tell whether it's worth changing to it?

• I had a go on a friend's new smartphone and was disappointed to see that Mobile Word doesn't have the drawing functionality that Pocket Word had. Most of my Dinkums and Doodles contributions use the old Pocket Word

• I see that the Google Reader has undergone a user interface makeover and is much easier to use. The old interface was not very intuitive and I couldn't work it out but I get the new interface without too much effort. I'm going to try and use it to keep better tabs on my favourite blogs, I'm very hit and miss at the moment. On the other hand, I'm slightly worried that I won't visit blogs as much - I enjoy looking at the templates, links, profiles and all the other stuff my online buddies do to their blogs: I sometimes get just as much enjoyment seeing what other stuff people are into and reading (and adding) comments as I do from reading their blog posts: Google Reader doesn't cover that.

• I'm moving into audio territory in a couple of weeks with a podcast show and I've seen a microphone I want but it's like 50 quid, so I'll add it to my imaginary Christmas list

• I use Personalised Google as my home page, when I set it up I added a few widgets to it that I dropped but I haven't gone and had a look at what widgets were available for a while. Boy, was I surprised at the stuff that I can now plug into the page - practically anything I like. Cool! (although I suspect after my initial enthusiasm for adding cool stuff, I'll realise I can't possibly use all of it and return to my few staple widgets I use most often)
  

The last thing this evening is about a chef who made his bride to be a wedding dress out of profiteroles. I hope this link to the full story works. You might say she was good enough to eat!

The Baby (1973)

It's getting colder, the nights are drawing in. Winter is on its way and so is Halloween. Yes, it's horror film season, yay!! It's also Friday the 13th!!!!!! Now, I'd be failing in my duty to you if I didn't try and interest you in something bizarre and disturbing wouldn't I? So here it is, one of the strangest and unsettling horror films I've ever seen. It's so seventies, if you're into that scene you're going to love this film. The plot synopsis is here, it's a psychodrama and a classic that I have on VHS taped from the TV late one night a few years back. I had taped a documentary a few weeks back and fell asleep while watching it, when I woke up I realised that I had missed my documentary and there was something else on the tape. Fortunately I hadn't taped over this seventies masterpiece of sick! Enjoy it, if you can find it!!

Lego

In a couple of weeks we'll be going to Legoland Windsor for the weekend. My kids love it there, especially my daughter - she loves to ride on the coasters. I love Lego. Of all of my construction type toys, I spent more time playing with Lego than any other set. I did inherit a lot of Lego from my brother, but I had some bought me as my own too. I made mostly vehicles and guns. I made a fair proportion of space vehicles. I play Lego building with my kids every so often, I should do it more often. It's good to play like a child, using your imagination. And I bet my models would be so much better now I'm older, LOL!

Blogrolling

I hate it when my Blogroll links don't load, it's happened a few times lately. I rely on those links to visit my favourite blogs. It's so annoying when they're not there!

(this was what I forgot from my last post!)

Wednesday Welcome

It feels like a long week for some reason. It was only Wednesday today. Last night, believe it or not, felt very much like a Friday evening to me. I didn't get much sleep last night: my daughter had a nightmare and came into our bed. Then a few hours later my son yelled out my name because he had peed the bed. I hate it when that happens, its not often fortunately but talk about a rude awakening! I've found motivation at work difficult this week, probably due to the tiredness and the feeling that it's a long week.

It absolutely poured down with rain this afternoon, we had dark grey skies and thunder and lightning - very exciting. More exciting than actually doing any work anyway.

There was something specific I was going to mention but it just plain jumped out of my head at the end of that last paragraph. Darn it!

TV Dinners

Not quite literally a tv dinner for me this evening, I am sitting at my computer rather than the tv. You get the idea though.

I'm trying to make the most of my tea tonight, which consists of supermarket chilli con carne ready meal and glass of flat lemonade. The lemonade has gone flat, it was originally bubbly. Making the most of actually consists of adding a couple of slices of bread and butter! You see, we were in a rush today and the children had eaten elsewhere and my wife worked late and then had to go attend a speech tonight. So I thought I might be starving when I came home and would be eating later than usual. So here I am, not really enjoying this very much.

I've never eaten a tv dinner as depicted in the picture though. It looks like it is highly packaged for tv convenience, it's quite appealing in that way. It's more appealing than my chilli con carne, which I've now stopped eating. I'm going to cut up some apple, cucumbers and cheese to have with a few grapes: we call simple stuff like that "bits and bobs".

On the subject of TV Dinners one of the first tracks I heard and liked by ZZ Top was TV Dinners. It must have been on of the first 12 inch singles I ever bought infact. Robert Palmer did a great version of the song on the last album he did before he passed away, Drive.

Coming soon....

I've been working on a new project. Here's a clue, just to tantalise you...

Friday night pubs

It's been one of those wet, cold Fridays. I'm glad its Friday and that I can put the heat on and settle into a relaxing evening knowing that I don't have to go out or get up early tomorrow. At times like these though, I know from past experience, its usually the best time to go out. There's something about wet, cold Fridays that make sitting in a warm pub getting a bit drunk and talking to your mates more attractive. Mostly in pubs people talk a lot of rubbish about work, relationships, who they fancy, who they don't fancy etc. It's good to talk though. And in pubs there's usually a fair amount of laughter.
That's a rather rose-tinted view of pubs. But from where I sit right now, I quite fancy a pint...

Dressing Up

It'll soon be Halloween. How the days fly by! I like to see the shops change their stock in preparation for different seasonal events. The supermarket has a lane dedicated to orange and black Halloween goodies like masks, devils horns, capes, cauldrons, witches broomsticks and so on. I don't yet know if I'll get an opportunity to wear the Dracula cape I bought last year. I had been invited to attend a kids party with my son and we both went as vampires. I liked dressing up as a kid and it's a shame that I don't have an opportunity to dress up in the normal course of my life. Actors get to dress up all the time. Other workers get to wear a uniform. I don't have any formal dress code in my job or my leisure time. It's a shame that dressing up is usually just limited to actors. Just the act of putting on strange clothes and prancing about must make you happy. It would make me smile, I think.

Second Chance

Have you ever felt something was broken so that you reluctantly had to let go, only to find some time later that it wasn't actually broken so bad and can be fixed? No, I'm not talking about relationships, I'm taking about my old PDA. I own an old Compaq iPaq that's been gathering dust in a drawer. The battery is screwed, but the screen is still OK and as long as it's not left on AC power too long it works. Long enough for me to draw with anyway. I thought I broke it a while back because it wouldn't even turn on after I'd gven it a good charge. It's probably some power cut out thing. I wish I could get my old digital camera to work but I don't think that's ever gonna happen...

Dragon's den

I want to post an opinion I have of a TV show called Dragon's Den: it's one of those shows that is easily transferable to any country (similar to The Apprentice) and I'm not quite sure in which country it originated. The format is that people with ideas for products or services (or who have small businesses already and want to enlarge) pitch a business plan to a panel of business experts in order to secure funding from them. The experts apparently are willing to put up a quarter of a million of their own money into these businesses to own a share of the profits.

OK, now you know the basic format. My problem with this show is that the experts are thoroughly unlikeable. They sit watching the pitch, eager to tear the poor victims apart. They are predatory, each circle, trying to find weaknesses in their prey so that they can make a killing. Get a slice of something for nothing. They're greedy and nasty and ugly. It's like licensed bull baiting, except the bull is a sheep in this case (though not literally I might add).

I do find myself watching though, as these thoughts go through my head. I think I watch for the reactions of the victims, it's awful to admit it but I want to see them react badly. Either just disintegrate into vegetables or get angry and hotheaded and storm out under the abuse dished out by the trolls.

It's nasty TV. Watchable. Addictive. Grrrr

Strange Week

It's been a strange sort of week. I was on the phone to a friend with a PC problem and after I hung up I found that my modem was, well, dead. I couldn't get through to order a replacement, trying up until I went to bed at 20 after midnight. I was up before 6am and got through after a couple of tries. I think the support call centre is based in India and I haven't any idea what the time difference is. The replacement came, today thank God. I forget how reliant me and my wife have become on it - even though it's not been that long ago since we had trouble before.

Now I'm looking forward to catching up on my favourite blogs...

Apologies

I've been off-air since Monday night, when my modem stopped working. Replacement arrived today! More on this later this evening...

Manic Monday

It's just another Manic Monday...

Funny how a line pops into your head the minute you sit down at the keyboard and start typing isn't it? Well, I'm itching to start editing my face off. I bought a 250GB external HD at the weekend and I have hours of video on miniDV to capture and edit. The eventual goal is to create DVDs of the hours of footage we have shot. To be honest with you, I think a good film editor could probably cut the lot down to half an hour without seeing to lose anything important. But home video is like that I think, there have been times I've left the camera running without realising it was still taping. But fortunately I don't have any embarassing "up the skirt" footage shot that way!

My blog posting average has gone down a bit lately. I think that's due to my wife bringing more work home. Now my daughter is getting into The Sims too. I am beginning to think we need a rota. What we really need is a laptop and wireless internet but I can't see me getting that what with the new electricity bill we've just had. I'm convinced we're running the streetlamps off our meter. How did we use so much juice since June I'd like to know? It's getting ridiculous, I'll have to start putting timer switches on the plugs: "you can only read in bed between 9pm and 10:30pm dear, I'm sorry. Rules is rules." What do we run? We have a fridge, a TV, a PC and the lights. The boiler is gas. The cooker is gas. There's the dryer....ah, the dryer. Don't get me started....

A friend of mine has a PC problem that I'm trying to help him with. He can't boot his computer. It's like this: you have a PC, it runs Windows, at some point it's gonna break. You need to make a few preparations for when that day comes people! Preparation means less perspiration, especially true when having to sit through hour upon hour of Windows progress meters. Backup your important data regularly. Backup your browser favourites, email accounts info, address book, everything you can. Buying a backup hard drive is a good idea, especially now they're cheap. All so when that day comes (and it will come) that you need to reinstall Windows, you can do it without breaking into a cold sweat.

Channel Hopper

Last week I watched Rock Star Supernova and was strangely drawn to watching it - I was actually disappointed to turn it on last night only to find out it was just the last 5 minutes. I don't consider myself above this kind of show, over the years I've watched different series like Pop Idol, X Factor, Fame Academy and at times have watched the American versions too. Simon Cowell usually livens things up with his criticisms, his attitude reminds me of my brother in many ways even though he looks quite different. Anyway, back to Rock Star Supernova I think the reason I liked it was that I like rock music and I like the idea of contestants coming up with their own lyrics and songs. Fame Academy did a similar type of thing (remember Alex Parks anyone?). Lukas won the Rock Star Supernova finale (sorry if thats a spoiler), I'm a little surprised he won but I guess he did have something sparky about him (and a bit annoying if I'm honest).
On TV tonight there's a show hosted by Big Brother's Big Mouth (BBBM) presenter and tabloid celeb Russell Brand. He's always having it off with birds in dirty sleazy kiss and tell stories, if you read the tabloids and you can't always believe what you read can you? He doesn't seem to take himself too seriously, which is an endearing quality. Well, I watched BBBM and thought it was quite funny the first few times but after a while I sort of thought actually it's not as funny as I thought - I think it was Russell just saying stuff to be rude that did it for me. I guess the new show will be just a platform for him to do more of the same, we'll see.
On the music front I heard Graham Coxon's album Love Travels At Illegal Speeds today and thought it was very good, sort of guitar power pop like the best that Blur can play - not surprising since he was a Blur guitarist/songwriter for 7 albums.
I also see that the film Battle Royale is on one of the Freeview channels tonight, FilmFour I think. It's a great film, it's on really late though unfortunately.

Lost Day Ramblings

It was one of those days today. My computer was not working how it should so I had to make alternative working arrangements while waiting for the IT people to call me back. In the end I called them but even then they didn't fix it. I needed my computer today too, so I feel as though I haven't got as stuck into all the work piled up for me as I should have. What can you do?

My weekend was quite good though. We got a dance mat and some Dancing Stage software for the PS2. My wife was telling me about this lady who lost something like 4 stone quite quickly by a combination of diet and exercise on her son's dance mat. I can believe it, it does help you work up a sweat. I was surprised that the software had a workout mode that records your weight and tells you how many calories you burned off during a session. I was so impressed I bought another dance mat so that two of us can compete. Maybe that was excessive - just think how I'd explain it to the paramedic if one of us slipped and fell! But at least my daughter and her friends can play together.

I've been watching a few episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm recently, it's good. I'm not sure why I've never really watched it before.

Spooky: Part 2

This clip is a bit longer, about 10 minutes, but I hope you stick with it as it's worth it. I watched it on TV and it was one of those moments when I thought "this is going too far"! It's actually quite terrifying and you'll look at video games with a fresh eye and it might just give you nightmares.

Part of me is fascinated by this stuff. I can't believe he actually pulled this off. It is all explained in the end and the guy involved is alright afterwards but for a few minutes, believe me, you'll be concerned.

Spooky!!

My wife likes to refer to Derren Brown as her second husband! I'm not sure what Derren would think, it's possible he would be flattered. I like Derren, I've actually been to see his stage show and it is truly amazing. I think I can understand my wife's attraction, there is an allure to people who have crafted their skills to such a refined level. I've seen several series by Derren on the TV and some of the stuff he does you think you've seen before - just like he's taken an old trick and changed it a little - but then he takes it into a completely new direction and the performance goes someplace you didn't expect. Sometimes things go out of control and you know that if you were there you would be shaking! I enjoy that kind of terror.

For your entertainment, I've selected two examples of Derren's work to illustrate what I mean. The first of these clips is shorter and is chilling in a spooky way but isn't terrifying. I'll post my other example in the next post.

Dictionary

I was having a quick snack break tonight, a few Ritz crackers and cream cheese. I peeled back the top of the cream cheese and there it was, that little bit of cheese dew that forms a little sour pool of liquid on top. Does that stuff have a name? I'll invent one:

Klab




(Hope that's not already used).

Music Update

I've been listening a lot to new music, courtesy of:

• The Alternative Music Show (podcast)
  
• iTunes free download of the week
  
• KCRW Today's Top Tune (podcast)
  
• NME (occasional free CDs)
  
• Q Magazine (occasional free CDs)
  

We also got a DAB radio a few weeks ago, so I have that next to my bed and I like to wake up to Alice Cooper's morning show - rock is great wake me up music.

I've enjoyed Stars of CCTV by Hard Fi recently, it's a great album.
The new Bob Dylan CD is great, got it last week.
I also enjoyed the Scandinavian metal of In Flames' CD titled Come Clarity.
I've been listening to Shakira's Oral Fixation vol. 2 as well, it's good.
Snow Patrol's Eyes Open album is great for singing along to.

CDs still to hear this week include Editors - Back Room and Cerys Matthews - Never Said Goodbye.

Remembrance

Love, peace and respect to those who were there and those who lost loved ones.

Five years and it still seems utterly unbelievable to me.

Celebrity

On the train home tonight, someone had left a photo glossy magazine on a seat behind me, Heat I think it was called. I was falling asleep reading my book, so I decided to retrieve it and give it a read through. It's not the kind of magazine I would buy, but I quite like a skim while at the doctors surgery for example.

Instead of it showing great photos of celebrities looking their best it contained papparazzi style photos of celebrities looking horrid. Some were of fashion disasters at premiers or parties. Most unpleasant, even photos of ladies underwear showing as they were getting out of cars.

One shot of Julia Roberts was particularly bad, showing her with no make-up and with a bad hair day. It destroyed my illusions.

I like stars. To me they are beyond normal human beings. I'm not saying they can't be nasty people but to an ordinary citizen they are icons of coolness or sexuality. I don't want to see the colour of their knickers as they make an unceremonious exit from a taxi cab. I want them to be beautiful, I want to suspend my disbelief and keep them fresh in my mind - unsullied by normal duties like parking the car or carrying a carrier bag from a grocery store.

So I shall avoid certain magazines in future. And why do they foster this type of naff photo by paying snappers thousands of pounds for photos that show people looking bad. The world is quite sick sometimes.

Stranger Etiquette

I've heard it said that men think about sex every minute of the day. I'm not sure of the research provenance of that claim but its an interesting thought, the implication of the claim is that women think about sex a lot less than that. I wonder whether that is true or not?

As I go about my travels I often look at women. It's at a very superficial level and while I don't fantasize in a sexual way I do often think how would I ever make some connection to this person? What would I say to make her smile? I guess it's some kind of insecurity on my part, a need to be liked. What always happens is that she walks on by and leaves my thoughts. Once, I was on a tube train and opposite sat a lady who I thought had a very pretty face - she was not young and not old, maybe thirty or just a year younger I guess. I left the train and somehow I found I was standing on an escalator with her just behind me. Something came over me, a desire to move out of my comfort zone of not talking to strangers - especially pretty women. I told her she had a very pretty face and she thanked me. I said no more and continued on my way, glad that I had made some sort of brief connection, I hope she dined out for a while on a stranger saying that. Perhaps, she instantly forgot it. I have urges to do similar things and I struggle to control them knowing that probably I'd make a fool of myself and also likely I would offend or a comment would be misconstrued in some way. It's safer not to talk to strangers but is safety always a good thing?

A Little Reading...

Over the last three years I've developed an enjoyment of the novels of Tom Clancy and various spin-off series. I'm not a fast reader so I don't get through nore than about 10 books of a fairly lengthy size a year. I wish I read faster but a combination of slow reading speed and competing amount of leisure time available puts a limit on the volume I can get through. I rarely buy a new book these days, if I do it's usually not fiction but either for work or for personal development or it's a biography. I buy secondhand fiction and try to buy series to start at the beginning (not always possible). I keep a stock of books to read in the future, which I just got down from the loft and to my astonishment there are 40 novels! Cripes, that's 4 years of reading!! The shot below is the collection I have to get through. It's a bit intimidating isn't it?




I don't hang onto them when I've read them, which my wife is grateful for, as I rarely re-read a book. I don't really see the point of re-reading novels but I do re-watch films so I guess the principle is the same but I just don't do it. Maybe because I'm a fairly slow reader it is always more appealing to read a new book than to re-read an old one.

I've just finished a book and you can read my review of it on my Multiply site here. I'd be interested to hear about your reading habbits and what your reading at the moment. I've just started Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy, which was the first Tom Clancy novel I bought (I wanted to read them in order) - bought following enjoying playing the computer game.

Back From Hols

I've returned from my holiday and have almost recovered! We all had a great time, the stay at the B and B was good and the people there were really friendly and nice to us. We were very lucky with the weather because end of August can be very wet but this time all of the days we were away were nice and sunny, there was some breeze but for the days we were on the beach it was hot, sunny and generally very pleasant. I can only stand so much beach time, so I'm glad everyone was happy to do something different on the last day. My wife doesn't want photos of the kids up on the net so that kind of restricts what I can show of our holiday but here are a few. The wooden frog sculpture was in the middle of a maze in this enormous adventure park calle Moors Valley Park and the beach shots are of Bournemouth beach - I don't know if they convey this but the beaches were fairly empty, clean and very pleasant. I'm happy we went when we did, I think we'd all like to go back and do some other stuff as there is so much to do. We walked several miles each day and my legs are still aching a bit. The nice thing about this holiday is that I feel like I've been away plus I have the added bonus of not having to return to work until Thursday. Yippee!

I'm so glad it's Friday!

Friday's work is over at last and I can begin the process of coming out of work mode. It'll probably take me most of the time I have off to get over being at work. Just when I've done that I'll have to return. But still, I don't want that to grump me down.

I was walking up the road for my last session with the counsellor and I just turned my head in time to notice a cyclist coming up from behind. He went around me but he didn't ring a bell and he was on a pavement. This happens quite often, I hate it. I hate the fact that people ride bikes on pavements. Don't get me wrong, I like the fact that people use bikes rather than cars its just that cyclists are very vocal about their rights on the road - so they should respect pedestrians rights on the pavement. A couple of weeks ago I was walking back from town and about 5 small kids on bikes cycled past again on the pavement but very erratically. If I was an old person, unsteady on my legs, it would have been very scary. One of the little brats shouted "Scuse!" as if I should have to step aside to let him past, he gets 1 point for alerting me to his presence but -5 points for his bad manners. I've a mind to run the next cyclist I encounter when I'm in my car off their bike!

Someone at work has really got me wound up. I have had to stop myself from sending an email with my true feelings in it. I want to object to what they're doing but it's not my area of work anymore. I hate it though because I can see something I've worked on just being poured down the drain. It stinks that I haven't even been consulted. There are good ways to do things and bad ways. When someone comes in from outside and makes decisions without consulting people who understand more than they do, I think it's arrogant and bad for business. I hope someone does the same to them.

I don't think I'll get a chance to do any blogging or read anybody's blog until near the end of next week. I'll miss you guys, but my eyes have gone to shit recently. I could probably use the break from the screen. See you next week, my friends.

The Descent

I saw The Descent a couple of weeks ago. I've posted a review on my Multiply pages here. Check out whether I liked it or not.

The Beach Beckons...

For some time my wife and I have appreciated the need to get away from it all with the kids and have a family holiday. Today, I booked three nights away next week by the beach for us. It's been a couple of years since we last went away. I hope the weather is going to be nice and sunny for us. We'll find stuff to do if not, but it would be nice to be able to just lie on the beach without a care in the world. I've had less than 5 days off all year so far, I really need this break so I hope it will be good. The lady who owns the place we're going to be staying in sounds really nice.

New Captain Scarlet - pretty darn good

As a kid I loved the Gerry Anderson puppet shows. The vehicles were great and the stories were set into the future and had a good sci-fi slant to them. The shows are enjoyable for adults as well as kids, I enjoy watching the shows we have on VHS with my kids - who adore them. So, with some trepidation I loaned series one of New Captain Scarlet out the library. It's CGI, a medium that is quite hard to get everything right in. I've seen some shows that I thought were good and ones not so, mainly it's the story that lets them down - the graphics are generally quite good: the flexibility in camera angles can get you closer to the action. Sometimes the characters don't have expressive faces or body positions, sometimes little details like hands, elbows etc. make the CGI characters seem oddly shaped.
These comments are bout CGI in general though. I have to declare that I'm terribly impressed with New Captain Scarlet. The stories are probably the most engaging thing but the action is great and so are the vehicles. You can tell that money has been spent on all aspects from graphics, script, music, direction and actor's voices. I recommend it to anyone.

Oops he did it again!

Well done to that jazzy cat, Ryan. He has yet again proved he has a brain the size of a planetary system (or just had a misspent youth watching cartoons) - either way I'm impressed that another previously unknown action figure has been identified. This time it was a Shadowkhan Ninja Warrior from the animated series Jackie Chan Adventures. It's a cartoon series I have never seen.

Aeon Flux

I watched aeon Flux last week, and here is my review of it. Read what I liked and didn't like about it. Other films I'd like to review include Lucky Number Slevin and Descent, those reviews to follow soon.

Guess Who Again

I need help again folks. I'd like to identify the figure in these photographs. On the sole of one of his feet is 2001 API. His right arm is spring loaded and chops down if you push it up. Is he some kind of Ninja character perhaps? Any help very gratefully appreciated.

Miami Vice

I saw this on Monday night. You can read my review of it here and hear about why I enjoyed it.

Musings on the cinema

I've been to the cinema a few times lately and I thought I'd put down a few thoughts, maybe there is something in here that you recognise too?

The first thing is the screen. How much has the screen technology changed over the last fifty years I wonder. The projection machinery has probably got smaller and less prone to bursting into flame but really the picture quality hasn't drastically improved between what it is now and what I remember as a kid. It's even more stark for me since I had a bit of an epiphany as I stood infront of a flatscreen HDTV in the John Lewis store recently. Honestly, I was watching a film that was shot at various locations (by a river, by some snowy mountains, by a forest etc.) and it was like being there - or seeing a photograph. I hadn't realised or appreciated before just how clear a HDTV is compared to normal TV. Our own home TV is a cheap-ish 21 inch, with no special features really. It sort of blew me away.

The second thing is the size of the popcorn and drinks. They're giant food, no mortal human can consume that much popcorn and Coke. Surely? Actually, it is possible to eat down to the bottom of the popcorn box but it is so full with unpopped corn that, frankly, the hit rate of getting a good popped corn is very low it makes it not worth the effort. I do like the holes in the armrests to put your drink in, I wish we had those at home - that would be good.

The third thing is the adverts. Man, do they ever end? It used to be the case that you could enjoy watching an advert about a local florist or local tandoori restaurant and laugh at how badly produced they were. Now, most adverts are either about a cellphone company, an alcoholic drink or a car. They're all so bloody clever nowadays. They're over-produced so that you can't work out what they're advertising until the very last shot, when you say "Oh, I get it now". I bet the advertisers are grinning smugly about how clever they are. Gits.

The fourth is the floor. I think I know where the Coke ends up. My feet just stick solidly to the floor under my seat. I hate having to peel my shoe up off the floor to occasionally move my feet. It makes me feel urrghh. Like soiled.

The fifth thing is the price of stuff. The tickets are highly priced (unless you go on a cheapie Tuesday with all the other scruffnecks) as it is but when you add the cost of foodstuffs too, no wonder people buy DVDs - it's much cheaper.

My final thing is the selection of movies, would you believe that Garfield 2 is missing my local cinema. I enjoyed the first Garfield movie and was looking forward to taking my kids to see the second. Now I found out that I can't take them to our local to see it. How crap is that? I bet Snakes On A Plane (good grief) ends up being shown instead. It'll probably end up being a smash movie, Snakes On A Plane - who the hell thought that one up?

Night Watch

I finished this film tonight, thought it was great. You can read my review of it here.

Last night I went to the cinema with my wife and saw Miami Vice, so I'll be writing a review of that soon too.

Saturday Salvo

Perhaps this title is in bad taste, bearing in mind the rockets flying in another part of the world. However, that particular war is making it very difficult to watch the news these days. Mostly, I watch with a sense of numbness. War is just so.....violent. I read about Dr Stephen Hawking asking the Internet to respond with answers to the question:

How can the human race survive the next hundred years?

I haven't actually read his answer but I read someone's summary of it - essentially, it seemed to be saying we have to explore space and spread the human race into new worlds. Great idea, because we're going to blow this world apart with nuclear weapons.

I haven't done much blogging this week, I'm not really sure why. Maybe tiredness, listening to music etc. I like the new Muse album Black Holes and Revelations but I haven't got a clue what the songs are about. I also really like the new Snow Patrol album Eyes Open. I've also been reading a Batman compilation of Scarecrow stories from various decades.

I did watch 25 minutes of the film Domino and when I can get into Mulitply to login I'll write a sort of review, in a way it's not really fair to write a review after only 25 minutes but there you go - that's all I managed before I had to return the film to the library.

At the moment I'm halfway through the film Nightwatch. I also have Lucky Number Slevin and Aeon Flux to watch too. Reviews shall be posted, if Multiply is open for business...

What else have I been up to? I watched something on TV about British folk music and I'm a little enchanted at the moment by Eliza Carthy. I like some folk stuff and I have some friends who can play their own variations of folk tunes but it's not a scene I'm very aware of. From the programme I watched I think there are factions within the scene. Maybe that's overstating it but there seemed to be strong views on what constitutes being folk. I'm not really interested in all that, just let me hear some nice tunes and good songs.

I had a night out with a friend on Thursday. Haven't seen him for a while, we had a nice cheap meal and a pint in the pub around the corner. Some other people we knew joined us, so it wasn't all just us both. It's nice to get out, the consequence though is catching up on my favourite other blogs!

Great Night

I treated my wife to an evening out last night, thankfully I was able to get a babysitter. We enjoyed a nice meal (I had a tangy and tasty Cantonese dish) and then went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest at the cinema. I've written my review of this film here.

Today though, I've been so tired I've fallen asleep a few times. That was a long film! I've got Domino to watch before the end of the week, I may go and watch the start of that now, catch you laters folks...

Mystery Identity No More

Well, congratulations to fellow blogger Ryan who has helped to track down the mystery action figure my wife bought yesterday. Thanks man! Thanks also to Misfit 138, who confirmed that the character was not from the He-Man series.

Ryan says:

"Goliath from Gargoyles, boys! Gargoyles was a successful cartoon series originally on ABC and later Fox Kids. Produced by Disney, it created controversy because it was one of Disney's more violent cartoons - lots of guns on the show. It can now be seen on Toon Disney in the States. The show ran from 1994 to 1997 - and was at it's heightest popularity in (drumroll please) in 1995."

Ryan makes it sound interesting, I'd quite like to see the cartoon series now!

Some research following Ryan's lead me to find out that he was sold originally with wings and an axe thing (both are missing) but at least he still roars. The listing where I identified the exact version to buy him was here. You can see his original packaging below. I don't know what he's worth in this state but it cost us 10p and I doubt we'll be approached with offers for him, LOL!

Cars: the movie

I saw this today and have written a review of it here.

Mystery Identity Bad Guy

He's bad and he's mean. He is also unknown unknown. My wife picked him up at a car boot sale today and we have no idea who this guy is. I put some new batteries in him hoping he might say something that would allow us to pinpoint him but no. He roars like a baddie and his eyes light up, that's about it - except he doesn't stand up too well and his arms are the most moveable part of him and they only have a shoulder movement. I don't even know for sure that this guy is a baddie, I might be wrongly attributing this to him.

Can anybody out there help or tell us how we might find out his identity? He looks to me like a He-Man bad guy but I can't find him after a look on e-Bay for "heman baddies". Any help in identifying him will be greatly appreciated.

Putting the Squeeze on

I like English mustard. Give me a plate of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, peas, runner beans, baby new potatoes, roast potatoes, carrots and a small knob of mustard on the side of the plate for my Sunday lunch and I feel like a King. Something is happening lately in the supermarket, normal things that usually come in jars are going squeezy. Like English mustard, for example. Like Marmite, for example. Now, don't get me wrong - I'm no luddite when it comes to squeezable condiments: I have entertained squeezable Heinz ketchup bottles at my table and squeezy Heinz salad cream. I've even pushed the boat out and bought squeezable Hellman's mayonnaise. My wife bought squeezable Marmite into the house and within weeks was complaining that you couldn't tell if the jar was empty or not. The plastic squeezy bottle is the same colour brown as the usual glass bottle variety. An inherent design flaw but at least with the glass jar you could see how much was left and scrape the last dregs out with a knife.
I fear squeezable mustard is one step too far! Let's look at the facts:

• it's hot, so you don't want much of it, you can get a sort of head-rush if you take too much in one go (kind of pleasant sort of pain though, once in a while)
  
• dipping a knife into a jar is a nice, clean and easy way to take all the mustard you want
• no, no, no and NO!

If I wanted squeezable mustard (I don't), I would buy French's American Mustard (I don't). Occasionally, about once or twice a year I have a really strong desire to eat a hot dog loaded up with ketchup, mustard and onions. And over the years I've bought French's American Mustard because each time it's long enough inbetween for me to forget what the taste is like. No offence to my US friends, but it is foul. I like Dijon mustard, so I'm not completely biased towards English mustard. Incidentally, my wife tells me a story that she had a friend load up a hot dog with English mustard in the same quantity as if it were American mustard and to save grace ate it all: then threw up! I'd like to try a good hot dog in the states to compare with what I get over here. I wonder if French's American Mustard is anything like real American mustard. I like the mustard at MacDonald's, that must be American mustard right? I like their mayonnaise too. Oh boy, now I'm hungry again! All this damn food talk!

Postscript: I couldn't find an image of squeezy Colman's mustard on the web. Actually, they don't seem to have a website, there's a Unilever one but I think they should give each product it's own site: for the fans if nothing else!

Krispy Kreme Delicious!

A while back I posted about Krispy Kreme coming to the UK with a shop opening on 4th July near to where I live. The funny thing was, after I posted that, I had a very polite email from Krispy Kreme asking if I would be interested in attending an opening celebration involving champagne and complimentary doughnut. I said YES PLEASE and got my invite in the post, but unfortunately on the day I was working and couldn't make it. I also found out that it wasn't the first Krispy Kreme shop to open in the UK.

Today, I found one in High Holborn in London. Boy, the tube was stifling and humid - very unpleasant. Anyway, I entered Krispy Kreme and picked up an Original Glazed, a Maple Glazed and a bottle of Coka Cola. I didn't sample the delights until I got back to the train station to come home. Wow! The dough was so light and delicious, it was wonderful. Beforehand I admit I had a bit of trepidation because the smell inside the shop was so sugary but seriously, they are great tasting. I'm going to have to try the other varieties. I'm no longer a Krispy Kreme virgin.

Thanks to Tara for mentioning the brand originally. It just goes to show, you never know who is reading your blog!

August

Wikipedia is a wonderful thing. I've gone through August and selected an arbitrary list of events that have caught my eye for some reason, some happy and some some not so. What astounds me about Wikipedia is that there are so many interesting pages on just about anything you could think of and others you would never have thought of. Anyway, enjoy my list and I wonder (with some trepidation) what awaits us this year?

1st 1936 - The Berlin Olympic Games open.
2nd 1932 - Birth of Peter O'Toole, Irish-born actor
3rd 2004 - The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty reopens after being closed since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
4th 1782 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is married to Constanze Weber.
5th 1914 - In Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic light is installed.
6th 1991 - Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web.
7th 1968 - Birth of Furtive Wangler, writer, poet and artist.
8th 1930 - Betty Boop premieres in the animated film Dizzy Dishes.
9th 1994 - Dilbert (character) is drawn with his necktie down, signifying that he "lost his innocence" with Liz.
10th 1959 - Birth of Rosanna Arquette, American model and actress
11th 1999 - A total solar eclipse visible from Europe and Asia.
12th 1960 - Echo I, the first communications satellite, launched
13th 1913 - Invention of stainless steel by Harry Brearley.
14th 1885 - Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint.
15th 1877 - Thomas Edison makes the first-ever recording - "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
16th 1975 - Serial Killer Ted Bundy originally arrested for suspicion of burglary, only to later escape twice.
17th 1786 - Birth of Davy Crockett, American frontiersman and soldier (d. 1836)
18th 2004 - Death of Elmer Bernstein, American composer (b. 1922)
19th 1955 - In the Northeast United States, severe flooding caused by Hurricane Diane, claims 200 lives.
20th 1920 - The first commercial radio station, 8MK (WWJ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan.
21st 1911 - The Mona Lisa was stolen by a Louvre employee.
22nd 1970 - Neil Young released his album, "After The Gold Rush."
23rd 1833 - Slavery abolished in the British colonies
24th 1690 - Calcutta, India is founded.
25th 1944 - World War II: Paris is liberated by the Allies.
26th 1966 - Birth of Shirley Manson, Scottish singer
27th 1896 - Anglo-Zanzibar War: the shortest war in world history (9:02 to 9:40) between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar.
28th 1996 - Britain's Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, are divorced.
29th 1966 - Last Beatles concert, in San Francisco, California.
30th 1965 - Rock musician Bob Dylan releases his influential album Highway 61 Revisited featuring the song "Like a Rolling Stone."
31st 1997 - Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a car crash in Paris.

Bad Dates

This is a little bit scary for the single people out there but you have to remember the bad guys are a very small percentage. I've had dates that were just bad and I usually squirm in my seat when I think of them, the good part is they are just a memory. Being able to walk away is a mercy in its own little way, be grateful for small mercies I say. My advice to the guys is learn from your mistakes and move on. You were lucky to get a date in the first place.

This story is about the meanest date ever. The lady in question didn't take the bait and never went on a second date with the guy. However, that wasn't the end of it. He had no concept of normal behaviour and went in pursuit of half the cost of dinner. I don't think it was about the money. He was arrogant, stupid and not mature enough to deal with a personal relationship in the first place.

Doom reviewed

Okay, I've written and posted my review of the film Doom here, thanks for stopping by.

Shedding some light on the matter

Apparently, a prisoner just "woke up" one morning to find a lightbulb up his ass. Okay, so its obvious he did it - you just don't sleep through something like that, right? But, at the end of the day I can understand a prisoner hiding some kind of tool or weapon up there (or drugs) but a lightbulb? What's the point of that? Perhaps he's part of a requisition crew that are supporting the tunnel crew who are digging under the prison. Obviously, they'll need light down there. I think the authorities should be warned.

Some good comments here.

Chocolate May Harm Your Health

It's a bit scary when you know salmonella can get into something like chocolate. I thought that a bug like that would have a "shelf life" that was only very short lived. Apparently not. It's frightening how contaminating some foods can just wipe out so many people at once. Chocolate is something so many people can't live without. Personally, a bit of chocolate now and again is a great experience - I don't have too much but a slab of Belgian chocolate every month goes down very well.


More info here.

Robert Downey Jr

My wife is a great fan of Robert Downey Jr. Apparently he's writing an autobiorgraphy. More here.

Heat: Have Mercy!

The last few days have been hot with high humidity, making the heat feel worse. Even rain today hasn't managed to cool things down. I work upstairs and it has been very tiring due to the heat.

My wife has been doing hours of work on the computer for her job, hence my lack of opportunity to actually get on and do some blogging. I have been downloading a few podcasts though, so I guess that has taken some of my time up too. Here are the ones I've been listening to:

NYUB
The Alternative Music Show
Radio 1 Unsigned
KCRW Today's Top Tune
XFM Sessions
Take Your Medicine

They are all music related, I like The Alternative Music Show because the presenters Eric and Sara Skiff seem so laid back and nice as people. They have a nice little chat inbetween some really good mellow tracks.


From the library today we borrowed two films: Creep and Doom. I'll let you know what I think once I've watched them. I used to love playing the Doom computer game but films based on videogames are usually notoriously bad, so my hopes aren't high.

The Lost Boys is on TV tonight, might give that a go I think I've enjoyed it in the past. The good news on the film front is that Film Four changes from a subscription based channel into a free digital channel tomorrow. That' s a great move and I'm looking forward to watching some great popcorn films over the newxt few years. Maybe I'm looking forward to the popcorn too!