Devastated.
I was at the Kasabian concert at the SECC last week (which was absolutely amazing). At the last song which of course was LSF, I got a text saying that the wife was waiting outside for me to give me a lift.
I took the phone out to text her back since otherwise she would have no idea how long she would be waiting, and someone knocked my arm hard. My much prized iPhone was launched into the blackness of the undulating crowd in front at what seemed like warp speed.
Immediately I went after it and created a space in the crowd with my flapping arms and panicked expressions. A few people around me noticed that I was looking for my phone and joined in the search, but it was never looking good.
The concert finished and after a few more minutes of scanning the floor for a stricken and stamped on iPhone, we were ushered out of the arena by the SECC staff. I reported it to the Control Room at the SECC, the police and O2.
Over the few days that followed, I realised how much I have grown to depend on my iPhone. Not only for the phone calls and text messages, but for the instant access to my email, Facebook and being able to find out the answer to just about any question I could think of just by firing up Safari. It's hugely sad, I know.
Thankfully, the phone is insured via my Lloyds TSB bank account. They have a deal with Lifestyle Services Group, and I've been using them to insure my phones for years. In the past when I had to make a claim, I'd just phone them up, tell them what happened, pay the excess and a new phone would be with me a couple of days later.
Not this time. What a palava.
Everything is now done via mail and fax, which seems like a step back to me. I had to prove that I had reported it to the Police, O2 and them within 48 hours (thankfully I had)and provide proof of purchase. So the claim form is now with them and I'm hoping that I will be receiving a nice new, shiny iPhone sometime soon. If not, I'm gonna be in trouble.
The lesson for me? Don't take it to concerts, sign up to MobileMe (if I had done this, I might've been able to find the phone via the GPS tracker if it wasn't broken) and keep backing everything up.
Though I do have to admit, I have quite enjoyed using the ancient backup phone which has the ability to make and receive calls, and to send and receive texts - and that's it. It's a simpler way to be, no personal data to worry about, no time spent on checking Facebook or emails, and no notion of entertainment on the go.
That said, give me an iPhone any day. Please, Lifestyle Services Group, give me an iPhone.
Bonjela Once: INSANE but effective
I've been suffering from various mouth ulcers for a few weeks now, and had a particularly bad one for a week or so.
I tried a load of different treatments but decided to give Bonjela Once a try since I heard it was very good and it is pretty much guaranteed to take the pain away.
For two treatments the price is hefty - but if they didn't charge this much, they wouldn't manufacture it since they'd never sell any other Bonjela products!
Anyway I tried it and after the initial pain, the ulcer turned white, then black. By the morning it had gone. They say it works by creating a protective layer over the ulcer, but I don't believe that for one second. The product contains Hydroxybenzenesulphonic acid to kill any infection, and also sulphuric acid!
I'm no doctor or dentist, but I think it simply works by destroying the nerve endings of the mucosa in your mouth.
It may be steep to buy, but it works very well.
I tried a load of different treatments but decided to give Bonjela Once a try since I heard it was very good and it is pretty much guaranteed to take the pain away.
For two treatments the price is hefty - but if they didn't charge this much, they wouldn't manufacture it since they'd never sell any other Bonjela products!
Anyway I tried it and after the initial pain, the ulcer turned white, then black. By the morning it had gone. They say it works by creating a protective layer over the ulcer, but I don't believe that for one second. The product contains Hydroxybenzenesulphonic acid to kill any infection, and also sulphuric acid!
I'm no doctor or dentist, but I think it simply works by destroying the nerve endings of the mucosa in your mouth.
It may be steep to buy, but it works very well.
Apple Tablet: Will Steve's New Toy do the Job?
Many people apparently believe that Apple are about to announce a new gadget, the Apple Tablet.
Since it's such a work of art, I always thought it would be cool to take an iPod Touch and enlarge it by several times. It looks a bit like the Tablet (if it actually appears) will look just like that.
I really hope that they do release such a gadget, because aside from an iPhone I've never owned a Mac. It looks like it could be the perfect first buy; possibly portable, durable and running Mac OS X, with a user experience that beats the hell out of Windows (not that difficult).
Of course, it's going to be expensive and demand will undoubtedly reach fever pitch,
so I better start saving!
Since it's such a work of art, I always thought it would be cool to take an iPod Touch and enlarge it by several times. It looks a bit like the Tablet (if it actually appears) will look just like that.
I really hope that they do release such a gadget, because aside from an iPhone I've never owned a Mac. It looks like it could be the perfect first buy; possibly portable, durable and running Mac OS X, with a user experience that beats the hell out of Windows (not that difficult). Of course, it's going to be expensive and demand will undoubtedly reach fever pitch,
so I better start saving!
Posting code in Blog Posts
It's a nightmare trying to post any code in Blog posts. The tags confuse Blogger (fair enough) so if it happens, it won't let you post the code.
I tried to install SyntaxHiglighter from Google, but it requires you to host its code on a webserver somewhere and I couldn't get it to work.
Stanley Shilov came up with a nice alternative online tool which you can paste your code into, and it will parse it and replace any characters which will confuse your blogging engine with HTML tags which it'll love. You can access the tool here, and it needs zero set up and zero hassle.
The drawback is that it doesn't offer any syntax highlighting, but it's still useful and I'll certainly be using it in future!
I tried to install SyntaxHiglighter from Google, but it requires you to host its code on a webserver somewhere and I couldn't get it to work.
Stanley Shilov came up with a nice alternative online tool which you can paste your code into, and it will parse it and replace any characters which will confuse your blogging engine with HTML tags which it'll love. You can access the tool here, and it needs zero set up and zero hassle.
The drawback is that it doesn't offer any syntax highlighting, but it's still useful and I'll certainly be using it in future!
Tech Preview: Palm Pre or iPhone 3GS?
It's been a long time since I've possessed what could be called a 'good phone'. This is because I always found myself willing to sacrifice having a decent handset for the sake of a free xbox 360, PS3 or Wii with my phone contract.
I'm finally out of contract with Orange, and dying to get a new phone with unlimited net access. The only two competitors are the Palm Pre...
...and the new iPhone.
Both have a touch screen, both have unlimited data access, both can be used as an iPod (the Pre tricks iTunes into thinking it's an iPod), both have GPS and Wi-Fi and just about everything else you can imagine (see here for a full side-by-side comparison).
But when comparing the two online, I couldn't help but be more impressed with the Pre. It looks very sleek, and as if a lot of thought has gone into designing both the hardware and the WebOS operating system on it. It has brilliant multitasking capabilities, lots of ways to intelligently organise your data and do cool stuff with GPS and social networking sites.
That, in addition to the fact that I've never liked the look of the iPhone, meant that for the past couple of months the Pre has been at the top of my wish list.
At the WWDC conference in San Fransisco on Monday, Apple announced the iPhone 3GS which is basically a pimped out version of the existing iPhone 3G handset, with a few new features and a faster user experience. It appeals, but still sits second in my wish list when compared with the Pre.
Palm have released the Pre in the US already, but for some reason they have not stated a release date for the UK, where the iPhone 3GS is out on 19th June.
In the incredibly competetive smartphone market where the Pre is undoubtedly Palm's 'do or die' handset, this is an unbelievable error. There must be literally thousands of people like me, who want a new phone and can't decide between the Pre and the iPhone. These people would like to see what the Pre can do, but are not willing to hang around for months until Palm get their act together and set a release date. It's looking likely that I will get an iPhone next week (if there's enough available!) and that in my case, Palm have shot themselves in the foot by being too slow off the mark in releasing their much-hyped phone.
It's disappointing, but if you want to compete with Apple, you need to play the game. And Palm's move should have been to release the Pre in the UK before the iPhone 3GS, or at least a matter of days or weeks after.
Maybe they underestimate the importance of the European consumer electronics market. But they shouldn't, because it could mean their downfall.
I'm finally out of contract with Orange, and dying to get a new phone with unlimited net access. The only two competitors are the Palm Pre...
...and the new iPhone. 
Both have a touch screen, both have unlimited data access, both can be used as an iPod (the Pre tricks iTunes into thinking it's an iPod), both have GPS and Wi-Fi and just about everything else you can imagine (see here for a full side-by-side comparison).But when comparing the two online, I couldn't help but be more impressed with the Pre. It looks very sleek, and as if a lot of thought has gone into designing both the hardware and the WebOS operating system on it. It has brilliant multitasking capabilities, lots of ways to intelligently organise your data and do cool stuff with GPS and social networking sites.
That, in addition to the fact that I've never liked the look of the iPhone, meant that for the past couple of months the Pre has been at the top of my wish list.
At the WWDC conference in San Fransisco on Monday, Apple announced the iPhone 3GS which is basically a pimped out version of the existing iPhone 3G handset, with a few new features and a faster user experience. It appeals, but still sits second in my wish list when compared with the Pre.
Palm have released the Pre in the US already, but for some reason they have not stated a release date for the UK, where the iPhone 3GS is out on 19th June.
In the incredibly competetive smartphone market where the Pre is undoubtedly Palm's 'do or die' handset, this is an unbelievable error. There must be literally thousands of people like me, who want a new phone and can't decide between the Pre and the iPhone. These people would like to see what the Pre can do, but are not willing to hang around for months until Palm get their act together and set a release date. It's looking likely that I will get an iPhone next week (if there's enough available!) and that in my case, Palm have shot themselves in the foot by being too slow off the mark in releasing their much-hyped phone.
It's disappointing, but if you want to compete with Apple, you need to play the game. And Palm's move should have been to release the Pre in the UK before the iPhone 3GS, or at least a matter of days or weeks after.
Maybe they underestimate the importance of the European consumer electronics market. But they shouldn't, because it could mean their downfall.
Album Review: Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Back in 2004 when Kasabian released their debut album, I hated it. I thought they sounded like Oasis wannabes who weren't as good. And I detest Oasis.
But over time I bagan to change my mind, as the radio and just about everyone I knew increasingly raved about Kasabian. So I got a copy of the album, listened to it a couple more times and finally realised how wonderful it is.
Two long years later when Empire came out, I was slobbering at the prospect of a whole new Kasabian album to listen to. It did not disappoint, not one iota. And when I saw them live at the Hyrdo Connect festival last year through a haze of beer and vodka, I was totally hooked.
Finally, here we are in June 2009 and they have released their third full album - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum. And it's terrifically up to the job.
The wonderfully paced and catchy Underdog is the perfect introduction to the album, which is designed to be a single piece of music rather than twelve seperate tracks, with each song melting into one another with carefully planned transitions. It quickly reminds you of the things you love about Kasabian, with its strong and addictive drum beats, coupled with psychodelic guitar solos.
Take Aim, with its intense orchestral beginning, takes you deeper into the technicolour, drug fuelled minds of the band and is truly different to the music they've produced before. With the 'mentally unstable' theme, Secret Alphabets adopts a nice sixties theme to it, with the traditional oscillating flutes and violins giving a kind of creepy 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest' vibe.
Probably my favourite song, Fire will undoubtedly be a concert anthem with its sleepy eyed, drowsy beginning which bursts into life as if the madman has lost the plot. Which I'm looking forward to witnessing at the gig at the O2 Academy in Glasgow on June 18. I don't normally drink that much, but I intend to tan quite a few beers before that gig so I can assimilate myself into the wild light and music show.
Rather than creating the album and then wondering if it was any good, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum was made by a band who knew it was going to be good the whole time they were making it. It comes across as confident, defiant and crisp, and will no doubt lead them to the position of domination they crave.
The love affair continues.
But over time I bagan to change my mind, as the radio and just about everyone I knew increasingly raved about Kasabian. So I got a copy of the album, listened to it a couple more times and finally realised how wonderful it is.
Two long years later when Empire came out, I was slobbering at the prospect of a whole new Kasabian album to listen to. It did not disappoint, not one iota. And when I saw them live at the Hyrdo Connect festival last year through a haze of beer and vodka, I was totally hooked.
Finally, here we are in June 2009 and they have released their third full album - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum. And it's terrifically up to the job.
The wonderfully paced and catchy Underdog is the perfect introduction to the album, which is designed to be a single piece of music rather than twelve seperate tracks, with each song melting into one another with carefully planned transitions. It quickly reminds you of the things you love about Kasabian, with its strong and addictive drum beats, coupled with psychodelic guitar solos.
Take Aim, with its intense orchestral beginning, takes you deeper into the technicolour, drug fuelled minds of the band and is truly different to the music they've produced before. With the 'mentally unstable' theme, Secret Alphabets adopts a nice sixties theme to it, with the traditional oscillating flutes and violins giving a kind of creepy 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest' vibe.
Probably my favourite song, Fire will undoubtedly be a concert anthem with its sleepy eyed, drowsy beginning which bursts into life as if the madman has lost the plot. Which I'm looking forward to witnessing at the gig at the O2 Academy in Glasgow on June 18. I don't normally drink that much, but I intend to tan quite a few beers before that gig so I can assimilate myself into the wild light and music show.
Rather than creating the album and then wondering if it was any good, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum was made by a band who knew it was going to be good the whole time they were making it. It comes across as confident, defiant and crisp, and will no doubt lead them to the position of domination they crave.
The love affair continues.
Movie Review: Terminator Salvation
It's noisy, dirty, sweaty, brings out the most basic instincts, and it's full of intense, screaming action.
Keep your pants up, I'm not talking about a porno.
I'm obviously talking about Terminator Salvation. It's been pretty much panned by critics, but it was such a high profile movie that there was no way I was getting put off.
Being a big fan of Christian Bale, I expected him to carry out his role as John Connor with the same gusto as Bruce Wayne and Batman. And I would certainly say I wasn't disappointed. He's the same in every movie, but I think it's a winning formula so a lack of variation doesn't trouble me. Something that did disappoint me however, was that I missed the first ten minutes of the movie due to spending too much time in the boozer drinking whisky.
So it took me a few minutes to get my bearings in the movie, since it was well underway when we arrived. It looked like it had been all-action, right from the beginning - and that would make sense because it was all-action right to the end. That would put some people off, since the action does come at the expense of the plot to quite an extent, but overall, Terminator is not a complicated story.
I had intended to watch the other Terminator movies before I went to see Salvation, but I didn't need to. It was nicely reintroduced, and it wasn't difficult to remember the key plot points from the older movies or to figure out who was who and what was happening.
It also didn't matter that I hadn't seen the other films again because I fully intend to watch them all, then see Salvation once more. It was terrific. I loved every single minute of it and left the cinema completely happy having spent a few quid on the ticket.
I have to admit that it would have been pretty weak if Bale hadn't been the star, but everything was built around him so it would have been a very different film. The cast is quite low-key in terms of previous fame, but they held their own for the most part. Anton Yelchin was crap, but maybe it was his character that was crap, and he was just good at playing a crap person? Not sure. Sam Worthington who played Marcus Wright, was (deliberately or not) portrayed in a similar way to Marcus Fenix from Gears of War - cold in a kind of intriguing way, but you that know he wouldn't hesitate to shoot you in the face if you stole his pint or killed his dog.
There was only one major fault in the movie, which I absolutely and completely hated. The appearance of Arnie as the T-800. The CGI was absolutely horrific, and his appearance was so short that it was as if the producers knew the CGI was crap, but knew that they had to show Arnie to please the fanboys. They clearly wanted to get him off the screen as quickly as possible, much to my relief.
Governor of California aside, I thoroughly enjoyed it but I wouldn't expect everyone to feel the same. It's a 'wash over you' kind of film, probably more suited to the boys.
I'm glad there are going to be another two in the series, and will certainly be going to see them.
Keep your pants up, I'm not talking about a porno.
I'm obviously talking about Terminator Salvation. It's been pretty much panned by critics, but it was such a high profile movie that there was no way I was getting put off.
Being a big fan of Christian Bale, I expected him to carry out his role as John Connor with the same gusto as Bruce Wayne and Batman. And I would certainly say I wasn't disappointed. He's the same in every movie, but I think it's a winning formula so a lack of variation doesn't trouble me. Something that did disappoint me however, was that I missed the first ten minutes of the movie due to spending too much time in the boozer drinking whisky.
So it took me a few minutes to get my bearings in the movie, since it was well underway when we arrived. It looked like it had been all-action, right from the beginning - and that would make sense because it was all-action right to the end. That would put some people off, since the action does come at the expense of the plot to quite an extent, but overall, Terminator is not a complicated story.
I had intended to watch the other Terminator movies before I went to see Salvation, but I didn't need to. It was nicely reintroduced, and it wasn't difficult to remember the key plot points from the older movies or to figure out who was who and what was happening.
It also didn't matter that I hadn't seen the other films again because I fully intend to watch them all, then see Salvation once more. It was terrific. I loved every single minute of it and left the cinema completely happy having spent a few quid on the ticket.
I have to admit that it would have been pretty weak if Bale hadn't been the star, but everything was built around him so it would have been a very different film. The cast is quite low-key in terms of previous fame, but they held their own for the most part. Anton Yelchin was crap, but maybe it was his character that was crap, and he was just good at playing a crap person? Not sure. Sam Worthington who played Marcus Wright, was (deliberately or not) portrayed in a similar way to Marcus Fenix from Gears of War - cold in a kind of intriguing way, but you that know he wouldn't hesitate to shoot you in the face if you stole his pint or killed his dog.
There was only one major fault in the movie, which I absolutely and completely hated. The appearance of Arnie as the T-800. The CGI was absolutely horrific, and his appearance was so short that it was as if the producers knew the CGI was crap, but knew that they had to show Arnie to please the fanboys. They clearly wanted to get him off the screen as quickly as possible, much to my relief.
Governor of California aside, I thoroughly enjoyed it but I wouldn't expect everyone to feel the same. It's a 'wash over you' kind of film, probably more suited to the boys.
I'm glad there are going to be another two in the series, and will certainly be going to see them.
Why Don't Flight Recorders Float?
In the wake of the horrible accident which brought down Air France flight 447, it would seem that the recovery ships, divers and submarines are going to have a tough task in finding the flight recorders from the Airbus A330. Some say they will never find the flight recorders since they could have sunk in the ocean to depths of between 8,000 and 15,000 feet.
The actual Airbus A330 (tail number F-GZCP) used in Air France flight 447, sitting on the tarmac at an American airport in 2006. Click for larger version
This immediately begs the question... why the heck don't flight recorders float? I cannot understand this, especially when so many flights cross oceans and seas at some point in their journey.
Surely they could be encased in styrofoam, or some other porous material which would float? Or if the space taken up the recorders is a concern, why not wrap them in some kind of inflatable which only fills with air on impact, like an airbag?
In addition, they only continue to send signals out for thirty days which makes it a race against time to find the recorders after an accident. Surely with modern battery technology, this could be improved?
And finally, if signals can be sent out via the ACARS system to inform air traffic controllers of the status of an aircraft, why can't they expand its capability and utilise it to send out verbose messages which contain all or most of the telemetry from the flight data recorders?
This all makes absolutely no sense to me. I must find the answer...
Oracle BPM: Change Application Title
As mentioned in a previous post, I've been using Oracle BPM in one of my major projects. It makes use of the WorkSpace component to form the user interface, and it offers a long list of ways to customise the WorkSpace to suit your corporate 'look and feel'.
So if you want to try changing your application title so that it doesn't say 'BEA AquaLogic BPM WorkSpace' or 'Oracle BPM WorkSpace', the recommendation is to follow this method:
1. Create a backup, then edit BEA_HOME/albpm6.0/enterprise/webapps/workspace/WEB-INF/workspace.properties
2. To enable the custom properties file, add the key-value pair to workspace.properties (I added it just underneath the # WorkSpace Settings label):
# Custom settings
fuego.workspace.customMessageBundle=workspaceCustom
3. Add the key and value: APPLICATION_TITLE=%(yourcompany) - %(yourAppName)
4. Restart the WorkSpace to see if the change has had the desired effect.
This didn't work for me. I listed the method above because you should try this first to see if it works in your deployment.
For me, the answer was in the core java jars which make up the Fuego components. So to change the application title, make a backup of Glossary.properties in fuego.core.jar, then edit it to change the company name and other attributes.
Once you restart the WorkSpace you should be cookin' with gas, so to speak.
So if you want to try changing your application title so that it doesn't say 'BEA AquaLogic BPM WorkSpace' or 'Oracle BPM WorkSpace', the recommendation is to follow this method:
1. Create a backup, then edit BEA_HOME/albpm6.0/enterprise/webapps/workspace/WEB-INF/workspace.properties
2. To enable the custom properties file, add the key-value pair to workspace.properties (I added it just underneath the # WorkSpace Settings label):
# Custom settings
fuego.workspace.customMessageBundle=workspaceCustom
3. Add the key and value: APPLICATION_TITLE=%(yourcompany) - %(yourAppName)
4. Restart the WorkSpace to see if the change has had the desired effect.
This didn't work for me. I listed the method above because you should try this first to see if it works in your deployment.
For me, the answer was in the core java jars which make up the Fuego components. So to change the application title, make a backup of Glossary.properties in fuego.core.jar, then edit it to change the company name and other attributes.
Once you restart the WorkSpace you should be cookin' with gas, so to speak.
Ahh, Outlook! DIE, LOTUS NOTES!
This is 2009 (gasp!). One of my biggest bugbears about working for a huge company is that we are often subjected to archaic technology.
To be fair, we also get to use some bleeding edge stuff, it's quite a mix.
Up until very recently we had been using Lotus Notes 6.5, which is software that seems like it has been designed by a monkey with learning difficulties. The interface is slow, clunky and ugly, its usability is close to zero and continually hangs and crashes. If you find Notes has hung and you kill off the process, you usually have to reboot your PC in order to successfully launch it again. Not only that, if you type an email in Lotus Notes in one font, there's no guarantee that it will look even remotely similar to the recipient.
We had been using it for email and to host databases (annual leave requests, some application workflow pieces etc).
Finally, it would seem that the powers that be finally decided to listen to the cries of 'BOLLOCKS, NOTES HAS CRASHED AGAIN' and 'HOW DO I LAUNCH ZAPNOTES?', and made the decision that we would migrate to Microsoft Outlook across the organisation. It's been a long process, but a well managed project.
Anyway, I think Outlook is a breath of fresh air. Now normally I'm no Microsoft proponent, and I believe that they are as guilty as IBM or Lotus of producing sub-standard software which belongs in the bin. But Outlook seems to be very stable, well designed and it has a nice sleek interface which makes it a pleasure to use. And for me, one of the best bits is that when you write an email in Outlook, that's how it will look to the other person! Woawhh!
The Outlook window stretches nicely across my two monitors, with one side containing the email list and the other a preview window for the selected email.
To be fair, we also get to use some bleeding edge stuff, it's quite a mix.
Up until very recently we had been using Lotus Notes 6.5, which is software that seems like it has been designed by a monkey with learning difficulties. The interface is slow, clunky and ugly, its usability is close to zero and continually hangs and crashes. If you find Notes has hung and you kill off the process, you usually have to reboot your PC in order to successfully launch it again. Not only that, if you type an email in Lotus Notes in one font, there's no guarantee that it will look even remotely similar to the recipient.
We had been using it for email and to host databases (annual leave requests, some application workflow pieces etc).
Finally, it would seem that the powers that be finally decided to listen to the cries of 'BOLLOCKS, NOTES HAS CRASHED AGAIN' and 'HOW DO I LAUNCH ZAPNOTES?', and made the decision that we would migrate to Microsoft Outlook across the organisation. It's been a long process, but a well managed project.
Anyway, I think Outlook is a breath of fresh air. Now normally I'm no Microsoft proponent, and I believe that they are as guilty as IBM or Lotus of producing sub-standard software which belongs in the bin. But Outlook seems to be very stable, well designed and it has a nice sleek interface which makes it a pleasure to use. And for me, one of the best bits is that when you write an email in Outlook, that's how it will look to the other person! Woawhh!
The Outlook window stretches nicely across my two monitors, with one side containing the email list and the other a preview window for the selected email.
It saves you opening every email that arrives to see what it contains, to find that it's crud and to close it immediately. Having a to-do bar on the right hand side also helps me to be more organised, because there's an obvious indicator which is on screen for a significant portion of the day which highlights the upcoming meetings, appointments and to-do tasks. I never used to use the to-do list in Notes because I never opened it. But having something which is almost always visible means that I'm much more likely to note things I've to catch up on, and thus more likely to actually do them.
Finally, something from Microsoft which does the job it's designed to do, and does it well.
Movie Review: Twilight
After having heard much hype about it, we decided to watch Twilight last night.
I'm completely unfamiliar with the book it's based on (it's designed for teenage girls!), so aside from reading a quick IMDB review I hadn't really developed any preconceived ideas of what it would be like. Apparently it has a huge cult following so I was expecting something which was interesting, if not necessarily incredible.
It's based on the story of a young girl called Bella (Kristen Stewart) from Arizona who moves to Forks, Washington to live with her Father. After the stereotypical 'new girl at school' sequence, she meets a bizarre 'boy' called Edward Cullen, and after the usual initial awkwardness, he becomes more friendly towards her and saves her from a car accident using his special vamPowers (I called them that). Eventually she figures out he's a vampire, yet decides she loves him anyway, and the story continues from there.
I'm completely unfamiliar with the book it's based on (it's designed for teenage girls!), so aside from reading a quick IMDB review I hadn't really developed any preconceived ideas of what it would be like. Apparently it has a huge cult following so I was expecting something which was interesting, if not necessarily incredible.
It's based on the story of a young girl called Bella (Kristen Stewart) from Arizona who moves to Forks, Washington to live with her Father. After the stereotypical 'new girl at school' sequence, she meets a bizarre 'boy' called Edward Cullen, and after the usual initial awkwardness, he becomes more friendly towards her and saves her from a car accident using his special vamPowers (I called them that). Eventually she figures out he's a vampire, yet decides she loves him anyway, and the story continues from there.
Basically Edward belongs to a family of 'vegetarian vampires' (even though they drink animal blood), but there are some bad vampires on the loose who are killing people. One gets a whiff of our girl Bella and decides he wants to bite her neck. So the rest of it is about the fight to defend her from the badVamp.
There are several things I really like about this movie:
- The soundtrack. It's really very good, and the the end sequence with 15 Step by Radiohead just makes it. I think it could've done with more tension and suspense, perhaps accompanied by a track from Godspeed or the Mars Volta.
- It's very laid back. Some would find it frustrating, but throughout the movie it's as if the director was constantly telling the cast to 'look pensive! Try to look like you've just smelt a freshly laid fart, look as if you're working out who did it' (Friends style). So there's a lot of angsty teenage moments. The actor who plays Edward (Robert Pattinson) is excellent at this.
- I like the setting of a slightly creepy town where it's always grey and it's always raining. The people there all seem slightly disturbed, and it all adds to the atmosphere.
Unfortunately, there are also several things I really don't like:
- Kristen Stewart is depressing. She takes the 'pensive, angsty' thing too far and she has a face like a broken leg. They could've cast someone better for the role.
- Some of the dialogue is far too cheesy.
- The special effects (particular the vampire movements) appear very contrived.
- The film feels like it's always building up to something, as if an epic scene is just about to burst onto the screen. It never happens, and you feel a bit unfulfilled by the time the movie finishes.
Apparently some people think that Twilight is so good that that they will watch it once, then immediately go back to the beginning and watch it again.
These people are easily amused. It's not a bad movie, but it's flawed. Having said that, I will watch the sequel which is currently in production.
There are several things I really like about this movie:
- The soundtrack. It's really very good, and the the end sequence with 15 Step by Radiohead just makes it. I think it could've done with more tension and suspense, perhaps accompanied by a track from Godspeed or the Mars Volta.
- It's very laid back. Some would find it frustrating, but throughout the movie it's as if the director was constantly telling the cast to 'look pensive! Try to look like you've just smelt a freshly laid fart, look as if you're working out who did it' (Friends style). So there's a lot of angsty teenage moments. The actor who plays Edward (Robert Pattinson) is excellent at this.
- I like the setting of a slightly creepy town where it's always grey and it's always raining. The people there all seem slightly disturbed, and it all adds to the atmosphere.
Unfortunately, there are also several things I really don't like:
- Kristen Stewart is depressing. She takes the 'pensive, angsty' thing too far and she has a face like a broken leg. They could've cast someone better for the role.
- Some of the dialogue is far too cheesy.
- The special effects (particular the vampire movements) appear very contrived.
- The film feels like it's always building up to something, as if an epic scene is just about to burst onto the screen. It never happens, and you feel a bit unfulfilled by the time the movie finishes.
Apparently some people think that Twilight is so good that that they will watch it once, then immediately go back to the beginning and watch it again.
These people are easily amused. It's not a bad movie, but it's flawed. Having said that, I will watch the sequel which is currently in production.
SQL Server Reporting Services and IIS: Failed to access IIS metabase - Guaranteed Fix
I spent ages trying to get SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services working, and kept getting the error "Failed to access IIS metabase" from IIS.
After spending ages trawling through documentation, Microsoft KB articles, messing about with security settings and adding Windows and domain users to the IIS metabase, I found the answer in this post which worked perfectly and took less than a minute. If you're having a similar problem, this will solve it:
My MCP: Failed to access IIS metabase.
To summarise his post, you run this command:
%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe -i
What's the lesson? Ignore Microsoft and listen to the blogosphere.
Also: if you're just getting started with Reporting Services, this installation tutorial is the business, and this one is superb for showing you how to build and deploy reports.
After spending ages trawling through documentation, Microsoft KB articles, messing about with security settings and adding Windows and domain users to the IIS metabase, I found the answer in this post which worked perfectly and took less than a minute. If you're having a similar problem, this will solve it:
My MCP: Failed to access IIS metabase.
To summarise his post, you run this command:
%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe -i
What's the lesson? Ignore Microsoft and listen to the blogosphere.
Also: if you're just getting started with Reporting Services, this installation tutorial is the business, and this one is superb for showing you how to build and deploy reports.
The Greatest Album Of All Time
Music is a gift. We could so easily have existed without the ability to enjoy the sound of noises joined together in a melodic fashion, without the inbuilt appreciation of the harmony of two voices singing together.
Yet we've been given music. It can make us contemplate our future lives and fondly recall the past, it can make the hairs on our neck stand up and it can make us want to jump up and down.
I was thinking, if I was going to prison to spend twenty years in solitary confinement, if I was allowed to take one album with me, which would it be? Which album would I never tire of listening to, day in, day out? Which album has so many layers that I would spot something new every time I listened to it? Which album is so beautiful and perfectly composed that you wonder how it was possible to create such a perfect piece of music?
There are 8,500 tracks on my iPod, but for me there is no doubt, there is only one group of songs which come together to form my winning album. And it's the winner by a clear mile.
What's the album? It's Pulse, by Pink Floyd.
Yet we've been given music. It can make us contemplate our future lives and fondly recall the past, it can make the hairs on our neck stand up and it can make us want to jump up and down.
I was thinking, if I was going to prison to spend twenty years in solitary confinement, if I was allowed to take one album with me, which would it be? Which album would I never tire of listening to, day in, day out? Which album has so many layers that I would spot something new every time I listened to it? Which album is so beautiful and perfectly composed that you wonder how it was possible to create such a perfect piece of music?
There are 8,500 tracks on my iPod, but for me there is no doubt, there is only one group of songs which come together to form my winning album. And it's the winner by a clear mile.
What's the album? It's Pulse, by Pink Floyd.
Recorded at Earl's Court in 1994, it was part of the Division Bell tour and is now known as one of the greatest live recordings of all time. Without a doubt in my mind, I think it is the greatest. It's a towering work of art in musical form, and when you watch the DVD you can appreciate it along with the incredible laser show which accompanied it during Pink Floyd's fourteen night residency at Earl's Court.
Why is it victorious? Well firstly, it's two discs, so that's pretty good value if you were only going to be allowed one album in prison!
For me, everything about it is perfect. It's missing nothing from the original album recordings, all of the sound effects are there in full stereophonic glory. The songs are faithfully reproduced and there is no self indulgent tampering or messing around to show off, as so many bands do when playing live.
It takes me back to my childhood, specifically a holiday in France in 1989 when I was five. I remember sitting in the back of my Dad's Ford Granada, caravan on tow listening to Breathe, from The Dark Side of the Moon.
I reckon if an album can impress you when you're five, then it must be doing something right. The sounds of that album have stayed with me ever since, so whenever I listen to Pulse it takes me back to my childhood, which I loved.Some have slated Pulse, saying that was borne of a middle aged band who had become 'comfortably numb' after years of touring, and after Roger Waters had departed. They had become accustomed to playing only their hits, and apparently displayed a startling lack of passion considering their auspicious careers.
These critics are wrong.
I think that quite the opposite is true. I don't profess to being a 'Floyd' expert by any means, but you can feel the blood of The Dark Side of the Moon pulsing through your body as the sounds and sights wash over you. For example, Us and Them sounds aspirational, yet it's about conflict, differences of opinion, apathy and misunderstanding. Why make a song with depressing lyrics sound depressing? With this Pulse song in particular, Pink Floyd did quite the opposite.
I've said enough. Get the DVD, plug in a decent amp and some speakers, turn the lights down and the sound up, and decide for yourself if you agree that Pulse is indeed one of the greatest albums of all time.
Movie Review: Marley and Me
I used to have a dog. She was called Tess, and she was a cross between a labrador and a collie. A lollie, if you like. Or a cabrador.
Anyway, she was awesome. A totally loyal, totally loveable creature who inevitably became a fully fledged family member. She had big floppy ears and a very long suffering nature, which was perfect because she was constantly surrounded by children who pulled her tail, pushed her over and chased her around the place.
One day she was standing near the fire, and a yelp was heard. She'd been paying no attention and put her tail in the fire. She had a big burnt bit on the end of her tail until the day she died. She might've been a bit of a dumbass, but boy did I love that dog.
I went into Marley and Me thinking that the dog would be more of a side character, but he was the focus of the film from start to finish. He was used as a window onto the turbulent lives of his owners (played by Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson), and it wasn't until towards the end of the film that I found myself warming towards the dog's character.
Anyway, she was awesome. A totally loyal, totally loveable creature who inevitably became a fully fledged family member. She had big floppy ears and a very long suffering nature, which was perfect because she was constantly surrounded by children who pulled her tail, pushed her over and chased her around the place.
One day she was standing near the fire, and a yelp was heard. She'd been paying no attention and put her tail in the fire. She had a big burnt bit on the end of her tail until the day she died. She might've been a bit of a dumbass, but boy did I love that dog.
I went into Marley and Me thinking that the dog would be more of a side character, but he was the focus of the film from start to finish. He was used as a window onto the turbulent lives of his owners (played by Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson), and it wasn't until towards the end of the film that I found myself warming towards the dog's character.
You meet him as a tiny puppy, the 'runt' of the litter. And of course he's ridiculously cute. But as he grows up, Marley becomes wild and destroys everything he touches, and he's portrayed as exactly the kind of dog you wouldn't want to have. Although the film continues to centre around him, this disconnect from Marley as a character leads you to look to his human counterparts for some depth in the movie.
Depth that you don't really find, but it is quite enjoyable watching them make the big decisions in their lives, make big mistakes and mistakenly plop out more kids than they had planned to.
The movie really comes into its own towards the end, as you begin to see old age taking its toll on Marley. It's not that it's fun to watch an animal succumb to its weakened state (it's exactly the opposite in fact), but it brings out the other characters as they struggle to cope with watching him deteriorate.
I won't say anything else about the end of the film, but I was blubbering like a girl at points. It really brought home how strong the bond between animals and their owners can be, it reminded me strongly of how much I loved my dog and detested watching her grow old, and on the basis of that I would recommend it for others to see. It's a popcorn movie, nothing spectacular about it - it's just good fun to watch.
You're obese, get off the plane!
A couple of times, I've been charged a fortune for going one or two kilos over my allowed baggage weight.
Most times it led me to grumble about how unfair it is that the large number of enormous people who are given the same baggage allowance as me, fly on the same plane while taking up a hell of a lot more weight and space in the cabin, with their rolls of fat, sausage gut and morbidly obese massiveness.
Of course, I never thought that any airline would share that completely non-politically correct opinion - especially an airline in the U.S.
But United Airlines have had hundreds of complaints from people who've had the same thought as me, yet acted on it by making their thoughts known to the airline.
So the Guardian reports that United have decided to bump fat people off busy flights, and make them pay for TWO SEATS on the next flight! That's wild!
But I completely agree. Clearly it would be unfair to discriminate against people who are moderately chubby, since it could be argued that they don't actually make much of an impact on the space left for other passengers. But when someone can't fit into a seat then damn right, make them pay for the two seats they take up!
On another note, apparently fat people are being blamed for Global Warming. Now that's ridiculous.
Most times it led me to grumble about how unfair it is that the large number of enormous people who are given the same baggage allowance as me, fly on the same plane while taking up a hell of a lot more weight and space in the cabin, with their rolls of fat, sausage gut and morbidly obese massiveness.
Of course, I never thought that any airline would share that completely non-politically correct opinion - especially an airline in the U.S.
But United Airlines have had hundreds of complaints from people who've had the same thought as me, yet acted on it by making their thoughts known to the airline.
So the Guardian reports that United have decided to bump fat people off busy flights, and make them pay for TWO SEATS on the next flight! That's wild!
But I completely agree. Clearly it would be unfair to discriminate against people who are moderately chubby, since it could be argued that they don't actually make much of an impact on the space left for other passengers. But when someone can't fit into a seat then damn right, make them pay for the two seats they take up!
On another note, apparently fat people are being blamed for Global Warming. Now that's ridiculous.
Circuit Training Update: Day Twenty
A few months ago, you could've safely taken a bet that I wouldn't have stuck to such a thing as a circuit training schedule, especially since it involves me getting up at 7AM and losing an hour's sleep.
But I've been doing it almost religiously each day for a few weeks now, and I'm beginning to notice some improvements.
I started off doing two circuits of each day's programme, then after two weeks I bumped it up to three. Every morning I end up red faced and dripping with sweat (blech), but that's GOOD. It means I'm burning fat and building muscle, which is attested to by the fact that I've lost precisely 400g of body weight. Four hundred grammes. That sucks.
However, in reality I haven't really changed my diet so I couldn't expect to lose all that much weight. My main objective was to be less chubby, less weak and less unfit. And fortunately, that seems to be slowly happening. The only vital statistic which has changed is that I've lost 4.2% body fat, which takes me down to 21.2% - just below average.
I feel a lot better though. In addition to a slightly trimmer appearance, it feels good to know I've finally motivated myself to get my arse out of bed in the morning and do something to combat the chub which I so often moan about. I feel a bit fitter when playing football or on the rowing machine, and a bit stronger.
So even though progress has been a little slow, I plan to make circuit training part of my daily routine until I drop dead, so hopefully the progress on fitness and physique will continue. It's not too much of a pain to get up an hour early for the sake of my health.
But I've been doing it almost religiously each day for a few weeks now, and I'm beginning to notice some improvements.
I started off doing two circuits of each day's programme, then after two weeks I bumped it up to three. Every morning I end up red faced and dripping with sweat (blech), but that's GOOD. It means I'm burning fat and building muscle, which is attested to by the fact that I've lost precisely 400g of body weight. Four hundred grammes. That sucks.
However, in reality I haven't really changed my diet so I couldn't expect to lose all that much weight. My main objective was to be less chubby, less weak and less unfit. And fortunately, that seems to be slowly happening. The only vital statistic which has changed is that I've lost 4.2% body fat, which takes me down to 21.2% - just below average.
I feel a lot better though. In addition to a slightly trimmer appearance, it feels good to know I've finally motivated myself to get my arse out of bed in the morning and do something to combat the chub which I so often moan about. I feel a bit fitter when playing football or on the rowing machine, and a bit stronger.
So even though progress has been a little slow, I plan to make circuit training part of my daily routine until I drop dead, so hopefully the progress on fitness and physique will continue. It's not too much of a pain to get up an hour early for the sake of my health.
Fuel Duty Increase: The Last Straw
I'm sick of paying through the nose for fuel tax and not knowing where the money goes. I'm sick of the roads in Britain - and in particular in Glasgow.
I wrote to my M.P today:
FOR THE ATTENTION OF:
John Robertson MP
Glasgow North West
Friday 10 April 2009
Dear John Robertson,
I am writing to request that you bring up the issue of fuel duty in Parliament prior to the Budget on April 22.
I am an ordinary householder who lives in the Glasgow area, and would normally be reluctant to write such a letter as this. But I feel it's time that I passed on my thoughts on the current situation with regards to fuel duty and the state of Glasgow's roads.
I understand that there is potentially going to be a 2p petrol tax rise in the next budget, which I think is unacceptable for several reasons:
- Ordinary people already have to pay the huge 71% cost in petrol tax, and given the current economic situation it seems bizarre that when the government say they are trying to give people more money to spend in order to revive the economy, they take this money right back again through other means.
- For example, I run a little Renault Clio and only spend £50 a week on petrol. This proposed hike in fuel duty will cost me £58 a year, above the already exorbitant prices I am subjected to.
- The government seem desperate to revive the motoring industry, manufacturing and infrastructure - yet they stab these industries in the heart by demanding another increase in the already crippling cost of fuel.
- I would like to see greater visibility on what exactly this tax is spent on, and in particular, exactly where this new 2p tax rise would go.
- If fuel tax is spent on anything other than transport, roads, or the various government organisations which look after Britain's motorists, the government should have to publicly explain why.
In addition, I would like to complain about the terrible state of the roads in Glasgow. You will have seen recent news reports that research carried out on Britain's roads and its motorists concluded that people in Scotland and Northern England appear to have much worse roads than those in the rest of the UK. I accept that these studies do not always paint a truly accurate picture, yet it lines up with the view I have taken for some time now.
On two occasions in the past year, my car has been damaged by these terrible roads to the point where I have had to spend my own money on repairing bent suspension, buckled wheels and burst tyres. The roads are cracked and sagging, there are huge holes in them and there seems to be very little getting done about it.I would think that many people would really appreciate it if a Member of Parliament who represents a Scottish constituency would stand up and speak out on this issue, in order to let the government know that it is not acceptable that people are left to pay the price of damage to their cars due to the mismanagement and irresponsibility of those in power.
We are spending hundreds of millions of pounds on the M74 extension, yet Glasgow's roads are in a worse state than they have ever been. I would like to know: why is this?
I understand that this letter may come across as more of a rant than a constructive request for representation, but I think that it illustrates the view of an ordinary person who feels that they are being short changed by the government, and that nobody appears to be standing up and publicly asking for change in behalf of those they represent.
I would like to receive a reply to this letter, outlining your thoughts on it and anything you plan to do in response to the points I have made. Thank you for your efforts in advance.
Yours sincerely,
Philip Reid
I wrote to my M.P today:
FOR THE ATTENTION OF:
John Robertson MP
Glasgow North West
Friday 10 April 2009
Dear John Robertson,
I am writing to request that you bring up the issue of fuel duty in Parliament prior to the Budget on April 22.
I am an ordinary householder who lives in the Glasgow area, and would normally be reluctant to write such a letter as this. But I feel it's time that I passed on my thoughts on the current situation with regards to fuel duty and the state of Glasgow's roads.
I understand that there is potentially going to be a 2p petrol tax rise in the next budget, which I think is unacceptable for several reasons:
- Ordinary people already have to pay the huge 71% cost in petrol tax, and given the current economic situation it seems bizarre that when the government say they are trying to give people more money to spend in order to revive the economy, they take this money right back again through other means.
- For example, I run a little Renault Clio and only spend £50 a week on petrol. This proposed hike in fuel duty will cost me £58 a year, above the already exorbitant prices I am subjected to.
- The government seem desperate to revive the motoring industry, manufacturing and infrastructure - yet they stab these industries in the heart by demanding another increase in the already crippling cost of fuel.
- I would like to see greater visibility on what exactly this tax is spent on, and in particular, exactly where this new 2p tax rise would go.
- If fuel tax is spent on anything other than transport, roads, or the various government organisations which look after Britain's motorists, the government should have to publicly explain why.
In addition, I would like to complain about the terrible state of the roads in Glasgow. You will have seen recent news reports that research carried out on Britain's roads and its motorists concluded that people in Scotland and Northern England appear to have much worse roads than those in the rest of the UK. I accept that these studies do not always paint a truly accurate picture, yet it lines up with the view I have taken for some time now.
On two occasions in the past year, my car has been damaged by these terrible roads to the point where I have had to spend my own money on repairing bent suspension, buckled wheels and burst tyres. The roads are cracked and sagging, there are huge holes in them and there seems to be very little getting done about it.I would think that many people would really appreciate it if a Member of Parliament who represents a Scottish constituency would stand up and speak out on this issue, in order to let the government know that it is not acceptable that people are left to pay the price of damage to their cars due to the mismanagement and irresponsibility of those in power.
We are spending hundreds of millions of pounds on the M74 extension, yet Glasgow's roads are in a worse state than they have ever been. I would like to know: why is this?
I understand that this letter may come across as more of a rant than a constructive request for representation, but I think that it illustrates the view of an ordinary person who feels that they are being short changed by the government, and that nobody appears to be standing up and publicly asking for change in behalf of those they represent.
I would like to receive a reply to this letter, outlining your thoughts on it and anything you plan to do in response to the points I have made. Thank you for your efforts in advance.
Yours sincerely,
Philip Reid
Circuit Training Update: Day One
I had my first go at the circuit training programme today. Got up at 7AM, went for a quick run round the estate where I live (just to get the heart rate up) and then had a go at the circuits I mentioned in my last post.
It was tough! Even though it only takes about thirty minutes, it's hard going since you don't really stop during it. I think I did alright, and I guess it was a good sign that I felt like I had ran five miles in a diving suit by the time I'd finished (good in that my body was working hard, bad in that my fitness is shocking!).
It was tough! Even though it only takes about thirty minutes, it's hard going since you don't really stop during it. I think I did alright, and I guess it was a good sign that I felt like I had ran five miles in a diving suit by the time I'd finished (good in that my body was working hard, bad in that my fitness is shocking!).
Played football last night and going to the gym tonight and tomorrow, so hopefully it'll have a positive effect sooner rather than later.
So I made it past step one. Here's hoping I can keep up the motivation. It's my very own anti-moob protest.
Further updates in a few days!
Circuit Training: I've got a fat belly, can I get a flat belly?
Here's a thought: Should fat people be chastised for their obsession with self-satisfaction? Is getting drunk really worse than sitting gorging yourself on food? Or could it be that getting drunk is perceived as worse because it affects other people, where gluttony only really affects the individual?
Obesity is estimated to cost the NHS £6.3 billion a year, in treating related illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease. It is becoming a national problem, and people have taken to suggesting various measures in an effort to tackle it. Take the recent example of the Lanarkshire MP who made the ridiculous suggestion of taxing chocolate. Thankfully, the British Medical Association rejected this as bumf.
It seems that shortsighted individuals regularly attempt to tackle problems by taxation. But why should ordinary, self regulating individuals be made to pay for the lack of self control of others by paying through the nose for chocolate or alcohol?
Forget taxing chocolate. People should be encouraged to eat less, drink less alcohol and exercise more.
I could probably be used as an example in this regard. I'm 25, of average height and generally in good health. But I'm slightly overweight, with a 90kg bodyweight and a BMI of 27.6 (BMI can be skewed by muscle vs fat content, but its a rough indicator). I don't seek to blame anyone else for the fact that I could do with losing a few pounds, and I don't think that making me pay more for chocolate or beer is going to help. That whole idea is proposterous.
Rather, what I need is to do is slightly change my diet to avoid processed carbs and excessive sugar consumption, and to get more exercise. The nature of my job means that I'm sitting at my desk for most of the day, and therefore I am not burning as many calories as others who have more physically active jobs. But this leads to a problem which most people come up against when contemplating additional exercise: lack of time.
The monotonous prospect of spending hours and hours on a treadmill or lifting dumbells fills me with horror, and I'm quite a busy person, so I don't get the chance to go to the gym for hours at a time. I go when I can, (usually about three times a week) and I swim and play football. But this is not enough, because my weight is not coming down. So I need something else, in addition to the exercise I currently get. And I think the answer may be circuit training.
Obesity is estimated to cost the NHS £6.3 billion a year, in treating related illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease. It is becoming a national problem, and people have taken to suggesting various measures in an effort to tackle it. Take the recent example of the Lanarkshire MP who made the ridiculous suggestion of taxing chocolate. Thankfully, the British Medical Association rejected this as bumf.
It seems that shortsighted individuals regularly attempt to tackle problems by taxation. But why should ordinary, self regulating individuals be made to pay for the lack of self control of others by paying through the nose for chocolate or alcohol?
Forget taxing chocolate. People should be encouraged to eat less, drink less alcohol and exercise more.
I could probably be used as an example in this regard. I'm 25, of average height and generally in good health. But I'm slightly overweight, with a 90kg bodyweight and a BMI of 27.6 (BMI can be skewed by muscle vs fat content, but its a rough indicator). I don't seek to blame anyone else for the fact that I could do with losing a few pounds, and I don't think that making me pay more for chocolate or beer is going to help. That whole idea is proposterous.
Rather, what I need is to do is slightly change my diet to avoid processed carbs and excessive sugar consumption, and to get more exercise. The nature of my job means that I'm sitting at my desk for most of the day, and therefore I am not burning as many calories as others who have more physically active jobs. But this leads to a problem which most people come up against when contemplating additional exercise: lack of time.
The monotonous prospect of spending hours and hours on a treadmill or lifting dumbells fills me with horror, and I'm quite a busy person, so I don't get the chance to go to the gym for hours at a time. I go when I can, (usually about three times a week) and I swim and play football. But this is not enough, because my weight is not coming down. So I need something else, in addition to the exercise I currently get. And I think the answer may be circuit training.
There was an article in Men's Fitness Magazine which was a circuit training programme entitled '28 Days to a Flat Gut'. It only involves about 40 minutes a day, and you don't need to go to the gym or buy any expensive equipment (though you can use equipment for certain types of circuit training).
To me, an investment of very little time and money with a high return of fitness and weight loss is 'the holy grail'.
The main benefits of circuits are allegedly; improved core fitness and stability, improved muscle tone and of course, weight loss (when combined with a proper balanced diet). All of this with no cost and little time used. This is because the nature of circuit training means that your heart rate goes up and stays up for the entire duration of the exercise, which increases your metabolic rate and leads to increased energy consumption both during and after the exercise.
So I'm going to start doing circuit training, and will post an update on my progress on my blog. I doubt anyone except me will ever read it, but having this record which I can go back to and which could be read by others will provide me with extra motivation. I'm going to get up at 7AM, go for a short run and then do the circuit training which involves groups ten exercises, each of which is done for 40-60 seconds, with no rest in between. In addition, I'm going to watch what I eat and mostly cut out booze for a month.
Tomorrow is day one. So before I begin, let it be noted that I am 5 foot 11 (180cm) and:
Current weight: 14 stone 1 (89.8kg)
BMI: 27.6
Body fat: 25.4%
Target Weight: 12 stone 0 (76.5kg)
BMI: 25
Body Fat: 19.5%
It's an optimistic target and will probably take longer than a month to reach, but I'm certainly going to try.
Fact of Life #2: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is
I'm in the market for a new telly, since I'm doing up my 'den' room.
I've put a nice leather couch in it, got my desk all set up and the last thing to add is a telly. In the room next door are my consoles, and I want the option of playing them either in the living room or in the den, without having to physically move them or buy new consoles altogether. So I plan to get a 3 in, 2 out HDMI splitter which will allow me to run an HDMI cable through the wall to the den room while not interrupting the TV signal in the living room. With the wireless controllers on 360 and PS3, I should be able to use the machines even though they're through the wall.
So when I saw an advert in the paper for an auction being held in the Crowne Plaza Glasgow by a company who I will not name, I was intrigued. The advert said something like:
'Fine art auction. Hotel Clearance, Customs and Government auctions.
Blah, blah, blah. The auction was taking place near where I live, so I decided to go along and take a look. Having never been to an auction before, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I will not be going back to one run by that particular company.
Like the advert said, there was a huge amount of items for sale, including HD TVs of all makes and sizes, cases of wine and champagne, paintings, laptops, furniture, the lot. So I was quite impressed at first, but wasn't sure about the fact that there was only an hour to view the items and there was no catalogue or agenda for when each item would be auctioned.
The guy who conducted the auction absolutely loved the sound of his own voice, and babbled away for about half an hour, desperately trying to build the appearance of a friendly rapport with the huge audience before finally getting on with the business in hand. Since I know nothing about art or wine, I couldn't be bothered with the paintings, furniture or wine auctions, and was hoping that I wouldn't have to wait too long to see what prices the TVs and laptops went for.
After about an hour, the first laptop came up (a Dell Studio 15, average spec) for sale and went for more than you could buy it for from Dell. The price started at £50, and immediately dozens of people put their hands up. Now I know that people can be stupid, but there were so many people willing to inflate the auction price that I can only assume that some were planted there by the auction company. Basic logic would tell you not to bid too quickly, and keep the price low - especially when you consider that there were multiples of most items and that as soon as the first one was sold, the rest of them were offered to other bidders at the same winning bid price.
The auctioneer was a smarmy git. He tried to placate the audience by saying that in the past they had bid too high for items which you can get cheaper elsewhere, and that he would try to keep the prices down in order to give people the best deal. What a load of tosh.
After what seemed like an eternity of horrible paintings, crap redwood furniture and boxes of ties and unknown perfume brands, one or two TVs were auctioned. Dozens of people ended up paying £187.50 for a really crappy 19 inch LCD TV (sale price was £150, then add 10% auctioneer commission and 15% VAT = £187.50) which you can buy for £100 online. RIP OFF (Though to be fair, the additional 25% was clearly indicated on the auction leaflet and by the auctioneer).
They then sold a Sharp 50 inch 1080p Plasma TV for £600 (£750) which you can get for £645 online.
Even though I was disappointed, I was still intrigued by the auction process. So I stayed a bit longer to see what prices the rest of the stuff would go for. The auction swiftly returned to the horrible paintings and crap furniture, with the occasional laptop sale in between.
After three hours in total, I gave up. The whole thing was a farce, and I feel bad for the stupidity of the people who paid a fortune for something they could've gotten from a local retailer for a lot less.
My conclusion then, is this: if you are looking for something specific, do your research. Check out the online prices, because if you go to one of these 'auctions' you will most likely NOT get a cheaper price. Take the easy route, buy your item from a reputable online retailer and save yourself the hassle of being conned by a company who try to give the impression they're looking out for the bidders, but who actually want to fleece them for every penny they've got.
Fact of Life #2: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is
I've put a nice leather couch in it, got my desk all set up and the last thing to add is a telly. In the room next door are my consoles, and I want the option of playing them either in the living room or in the den, without having to physically move them or buy new consoles altogether. So I plan to get a 3 in, 2 out HDMI splitter which will allow me to run an HDMI cable through the wall to the den room while not interrupting the TV signal in the living room. With the wireless controllers on 360 and PS3, I should be able to use the machines even though they're through the wall.
So when I saw an advert in the paper for an auction being held in the Crowne Plaza Glasgow by a company who I will not name, I was intrigued. The advert said something like:
'Fine art auction. Hotel Clearance, Customs and Government auctions.
Valuable paintings, fine wines and champagne, all at heavily reduced prices to clear.
Also available are HD Televisions all with full manufacturers warranty, in sizes from 26 inch to 50 inch, LCD and Plasma. Reserve prices starting from £100.
Laptops, brand new with warranties from manufacturers such as Dell, HP and Toshiba. Starting prices from only £50'
Blah, blah, blah. The auction was taking place near where I live, so I decided to go along and take a look. Having never been to an auction before, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I will not be going back to one run by that particular company.
Like the advert said, there was a huge amount of items for sale, including HD TVs of all makes and sizes, cases of wine and champagne, paintings, laptops, furniture, the lot. So I was quite impressed at first, but wasn't sure about the fact that there was only an hour to view the items and there was no catalogue or agenda for when each item would be auctioned.
The guy who conducted the auction absolutely loved the sound of his own voice, and babbled away for about half an hour, desperately trying to build the appearance of a friendly rapport with the huge audience before finally getting on with the business in hand. Since I know nothing about art or wine, I couldn't be bothered with the paintings, furniture or wine auctions, and was hoping that I wouldn't have to wait too long to see what prices the TVs and laptops went for.
After about an hour, the first laptop came up (a Dell Studio 15, average spec) for sale and went for more than you could buy it for from Dell. The price started at £50, and immediately dozens of people put their hands up. Now I know that people can be stupid, but there were so many people willing to inflate the auction price that I can only assume that some were planted there by the auction company. Basic logic would tell you not to bid too quickly, and keep the price low - especially when you consider that there were multiples of most items and that as soon as the first one was sold, the rest of them were offered to other bidders at the same winning bid price.
The auctioneer was a smarmy git. He tried to placate the audience by saying that in the past they had bid too high for items which you can get cheaper elsewhere, and that he would try to keep the prices down in order to give people the best deal. What a load of tosh.
After what seemed like an eternity of horrible paintings, crap redwood furniture and boxes of ties and unknown perfume brands, one or two TVs were auctioned. Dozens of people ended up paying £187.50 for a really crappy 19 inch LCD TV (sale price was £150, then add 10% auctioneer commission and 15% VAT = £187.50) which you can buy for £100 online. RIP OFF (Though to be fair, the additional 25% was clearly indicated on the auction leaflet and by the auctioneer).
They then sold a Sharp 50 inch 1080p Plasma TV for £600 (£750) which you can get for £645 online.
Even though I was disappointed, I was still intrigued by the auction process. So I stayed a bit longer to see what prices the rest of the stuff would go for. The auction swiftly returned to the horrible paintings and crap furniture, with the occasional laptop sale in between.
After three hours in total, I gave up. The whole thing was a farce, and I feel bad for the stupidity of the people who paid a fortune for something they could've gotten from a local retailer for a lot less.
My conclusion then, is this: if you are looking for something specific, do your research. Check out the online prices, because if you go to one of these 'auctions' you will most likely NOT get a cheaper price. Take the easy route, buy your item from a reputable online retailer and save yourself the hassle of being conned by a company who try to give the impression they're looking out for the bidders, but who actually want to fleece them for every penny they've got.
Fact of Life #2: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is
Snowboarding in Scotland: Glenshee or Glensheet? The Lecht or the Shect?
I used to think I was quite good at snowboarding. I've been to France quite a few times, mostly to the amazing resort of Tignes. But I can't even handle a simple poma, I must've fallen off about ten times yesterday!
Anyway regardless of my ability, I think that snowboarding is one of the most incredible things you can do, and I always try to promote it to people. There's nothing quite like thundering down a mountainside, taking in some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet, knowing that the chances are if you fall, it won't hurt that much.
Snowboarding is something that I think everyone should try at least once, but up until recently I would've recommended that nobody go to the ski resorts in Scotland. But since I haven't been able to go to France for a few years, I thought that desperate times called for desperate measures and agreed to go to Glenshee for the day.
It was brilliant! We had sunshine most of the day, and the runs had a lot of good coverage.
There was fresh powder on most of the hills with one or two icy patches, particularly on the Sunnyside run (which was still easily usable, even with the patches), with the best runs to be found at the back of the range, near to the Coire Flonn Pomas.
Anyway regardless of my ability, I think that snowboarding is one of the most incredible things you can do, and I always try to promote it to people. There's nothing quite like thundering down a mountainside, taking in some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet, knowing that the chances are if you fall, it won't hurt that much.
Snowboarding is something that I think everyone should try at least once, but up until recently I would've recommended that nobody go to the ski resorts in Scotland. But since I haven't been able to go to France for a few years, I thought that desperate times called for desperate measures and agreed to go to Glenshee for the day.
It was brilliant! We had sunshine most of the day, and the runs had a lot of good coverage.
There was fresh powder on most of the hills with one or two icy patches, particularly on the Sunnyside run (which was still easily usable, even with the patches), with the best runs to be found at the back of the range, near to the Coire Flonn Pomas.
In addition to the fenced off runs, there were some brilliant off piste areas with powder up to about two feet deep in places, which I did not think was possible in Scotland.
The facilities are a bit bare, and you do need to be able to rush up to the mountains at the last minute when the weather is good, but I think that on a good day you can get some brilliant boarding done in Scotland. It doesn't even begin to compare to some of the foreign resorts, but it's certainly worth the effort.
I'm glad I went up, and will definitely be going next year when the snow returns.
Album Review: Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Elbow recently won a Brit award for being Britain's Best Group. I'm no proponent of the Brit awards, or indeed very much of the music that it features or glorifies.
For example, in my opinion it's a travesty that Duffy beat Radiohead to the best album award. Duffy's album is very middle of the road. She sounds like she has a cold throughout the entire recording, and the songs are overrated and overplayed. I do have a copy of Rockferry, so I'm not completely biased.
Conversely, Radiohead's album In Rainbows is one of the greatest albums of the past few years. It's beautifully composed, beautifully arranged and marks the return of Radiohead to the same planet Earth from which we watched as they took a tour of far away worlds in their past few albums, squinting our eyes and covering our ears as their confusion created sounds which distanced themselves from so many of the fans who had followed them from childhood.
Listening to In Rainbows gives me the same warm feeling you get when someone you have missed comes home, an inner satisfaction that Thom Yorke and friends have realised that their earliest recordings were in fact their greatest, and that to progress without taking steps backwards into their past, they should fuse their recent recording style with the magic of their grass roots.
So when comparing the likes of 'Nude' to 'Mercy', I struggle to see the merit in recognising Duffy as having produced the greatest album of the past year.
Finally, to the point. With this mistrust of the judgement of the voting public in mind, when I saw Elbow receiving the Best British Group award I was a bit perplexed, because I didn't really know much about them. But when they played back a montage of their songs, I immediately understood. So many of the tracks which Elbow have produced are songs which I've loved, and yet never known who they belonged to.
As a result, I've been listening to The Seldom Seen Kid, and it's absolutely brilliant.
For example, in my opinion it's a travesty that Duffy beat Radiohead to the best album award. Duffy's album is very middle of the road. She sounds like she has a cold throughout the entire recording, and the songs are overrated and overplayed. I do have a copy of Rockferry, so I'm not completely biased.
Conversely, Radiohead's album In Rainbows is one of the greatest albums of the past few years. It's beautifully composed, beautifully arranged and marks the return of Radiohead to the same planet Earth from which we watched as they took a tour of far away worlds in their past few albums, squinting our eyes and covering our ears as their confusion created sounds which distanced themselves from so many of the fans who had followed them from childhood.
Listening to In Rainbows gives me the same warm feeling you get when someone you have missed comes home, an inner satisfaction that Thom Yorke and friends have realised that their earliest recordings were in fact their greatest, and that to progress without taking steps backwards into their past, they should fuse their recent recording style with the magic of their grass roots.
So when comparing the likes of 'Nude' to 'Mercy', I struggle to see the merit in recognising Duffy as having produced the greatest album of the past year.
Finally, to the point. With this mistrust of the judgement of the voting public in mind, when I saw Elbow receiving the Best British Group award I was a bit perplexed, because I didn't really know much about them. But when they played back a montage of their songs, I immediately understood. So many of the tracks which Elbow have produced are songs which I've loved, and yet never known who they belonged to.
As a result, I've been listening to The Seldom Seen Kid, and it's absolutely brilliant.
It's aspirational and lyrically brilliant. So good that I can listen to certain songs from the album (Starlings, Mirrorball, One Day Like This), get shivers up my spine and immediately play them again. Parts of the album sound like a mix of Sigur Ros and (oddly enough) Crowded House, where others sound totally unique.
I think one of the things I like most about it is that it sounds 'pure', like it hasn't been too heavily interfered with in post-production, as if it will sound exactly the same when you hear it live.
I love those occasions when you listen to an album that's so good you can get a little excited about it, especially when you consider that there'll be more albums coming your way which are of a similar calibre.
So throw those curtains wide, get a copy of The Seldom Seen Kid, turn up the volume and let the Vino Di Vici flow like a river in spring, and sit back and enjoy the uplifting experience.
After all, it's perfect weather to fly.
Movie Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Versatility is a quality which I think seperates great actors from good ones. Kevin Spacey, Edward Norton, Johnny Depp: all have demonstrated that they will forgo appearance and the 'cool factor' to make a movie with integrity. Another one I'd add to that list is Brad Pitt. Some may object, but look at some of his filmography:
Se7en
Fight Club
Snatch
Ocean's Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen
Burn After Reading
I doubt many could argue that his performance in Se7en turned the film into a classic. Fight Club, I think was simply the epitomy of cool. Both of these films are so good that no matter how many times you watch them, you will probably spot something you hadn't seen before. Of course, that can't be attributed solely to Brad Pitt: but it makes for a pattern of brilliant films that are so good they become timeless.
In each of those films, he tries to body swerve the 'dumbass pretty boy' image with intelligent dialogue, sophisticated plot and character developments, and by putting a distance between himself and the viewer in an attempt to come across as mysterious. I think it works.
And to prove that he isn't fussed about simply pleasing the hordes of women who scream at him everywhere he goes, he is happy to take the role of the gormless idiot (Burn After Reading) or the pathetic old (young) man. Take the example of his recently released film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, directed by the same man as Se7en and Fight Club - David Fincher.
I saw this in the cinema recently, and went into it expecting something very different. That's probably because I hadn't even seen the trailer and had no idea what the film was about, but it was still different.
The film begins in 1918 with an unknown baby, born to a mother who dies in childbirth. At first he appears to be horrifically disfigured, but in actual fact he was born old. The film follows this character throughout his life right into the 21st century, as he grows younger with time, as the people around him grow older. It's a bizarre plot in a way, because no attempt was made to explain why Benjamin found himself in this situation, and nobody around him ever seemed to display much surprise or interest in his apparent age-reversal. But if they had tried to explain that, the film would have been far too long.
Cate Blanchett is brilliant in the film, providing a beautiful constant in a story with an ever changing series of characters, as the plot follows Benjamin through his varied life across the United States. Blanchett plays Rosie, the love of Benjamin's life whom he meets when they are both children (though Benjamin looks 90), and they oscillate round each other, finding themselves back together at various intervals throughout their lives.
It's an excellent story with a few really exciting moments (though there could have been more of those), which really envelopes you and you can't help buying into the plot - even though it's not without its holes.
Brad Pitt continues his long list of great performances in this movie. At no point throughout the story, as a nine year old who looks eighty, or an eighty year old who looks nine, did he ever compromise his character by showing 'too much of himself' - he was believable at all times while showing the occasional flash of brilliance.
Mobile Phone Review: Nokia 5800 ExpressMusic
How times have changed. In 1999 when I was 15, I plucked up the courage to spend £40 (all the money I had in the world) and went into the Vodafone shop and got my first mobile, a little Trium Astral:
At the time, in a world where not too many people had mobile phones, I was absolutely dumfounded by its features. The fancy little flashing green light at the top to alert you of a call or a text, the extending aerial and the impressive three lines of text you could fit on it's 'giant' screen. Let's see how it stacks up to modern phones:
Camera: No
T9 Predictive Text: No
GPS: No
GPRS: No
HSCSD: No
EDGE: No
3G: No
WiFi: No
Bluetooth: No
Infrared port: No
USB: No
Hmm, 'No', then. Conversely, a phone which answers 'Yes' to all of those bullet points and many more is the Nokia 5800 ExpressMusic:
Now, that's become a reality and you could be miles away from home or a WiFi connection and still order your ASDA shopping or upload your latest photos to Facebook. Some of the 5800's main features are:
- 3.2 inch touchscreen display with response feedback
- 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and dual flash
- Integrated GPS and Nokia Maps application
- 8GB memory (via upgradable MicroSD card)
- Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPRS, EDGE, HSCSD etc
- An accelerometer which tilts the screen depending on which way up you hold the phone.
- Nokia's 'ExpressMusic' feature which gives you an impressive one year's unlimited music downloads (you even get to keep the stuff you've downloaded after the year is up!)
I won't write about its specifications in a huge amount of detail, since loads of others have reviewed it. I just wanted to record my thoughts on it so far.
The 5800 is a lot smaller than I thought it'd be. It's actually a very neat little phone which isn't embarrasingly large, and won't make you look like a twit when you whip it out to see where the nearest pub is when you're lost. It comes with a decent protector which you slide the phone in and out of, which is good because if you left the phone in your pocket or bags with keys or coins, you'd have to make a claim on your insurance. There's a stylus clipped into the back of the phone, but for those who don't like to be seen using them, you can prod at the screen with your fingers (I found it's not really all that responsive to touch, particularly on small web page links etc), or attach the little 'plectrum' which comes with it and use that instead.
The operating system is Symbian OS (all Nokias are, as far as I know), and this is where I was a bit disappointed. I was hoping to see a completely revamped system which would be able to compete with the iPhone in terms of usability and design. But it's just a scaled up version of what you find on smaller Nokia phones, with extra features added to support the larger screen and touch response. I'd rather they'd pulled out all the stops to make the animations and transitions as sleek and smooth as the iPhone, since for me that's one of the iPhone's greatest selling points. But unfortunately, they've just done enough to make it acceptable and I don't think the menus or navigation are particularly intuitive or user friendly.
The screen also looks a little bit grainy and dull to me, and doesn't seem to glow as brightly as other phones (even the meagre 6300 has a brighter, clearer screen). I think it would've been better to bump the price up slightly, and use an OLED screen instead, like in the N85.
However, it's a very nice phone and Nokia have done a lot to convince people to choose the 5800 over the iPhone. And avoiding an exclusivity deal with one of the UK networks was a good idea, since many who were considering switching to O2 to get an iPhone will be convinced to take a 5800 instead, to save the hassle of switching providers and phone numbers. The one year's unlimited music download feature is absolutely brilliant, and sploshes Apple into a big yellow, steaming puddle of shame for charging their ridiculous prices.
But even though the 5800 is pretty excellent, I'm still holding out for an iPhone when I can wriggle my way out of my Orange contract.
Laptop Review: Dell Studio 17
Being an I.T. boy, if you believe in stereotypes you might think I'd have loads of computers everywhere, whirring away, lights flashing. But since my PC blew up last year, I've only had my work laptop to use.
So the time came when I got sick of typing my password into the encryption program, then waiting five hours for it to boot up and then to get logged into the laptop, only to forget why I switched it on in the first place. Grudgingly at first, I decided that now was the time to get a new computer all of my own.
It took me ages to choose a laptop. I wanted a fairly high spec machine, since I'll be using it for software development as well as some image editing, and I didn't want to have to replace it after just a year. Plus, if I decide to buy a PC game or two I'd like it if it could run it (even in lower resolutions).
After hours poring over which machine to choose, it came down to a short list between the Sony Vaio VGN-AW11M/H, the HP HDX18 and the Dell Studio 17.
I was tempted by the Sony, but the Vaio brand comes at a premium and the reviews said it was too slow to be a proper desktop replacement machine (plus, it's just a big black slab of a thing). The HP machine was very nice to look at and very quick, but too expensive (a rip off, actually), and in the end I decided an 18 inch screen was a little too large anyway. So I spec'd up my machine at Dell:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 (2.26GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB cache)
Display: 17in Widescreen WUXGA with Truelife - CCFL (1900x1200)
Memory: 4096MB (2x2048) 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel
Storage: 500GB Serial ATA (5.400RPM) Dual Hard Drive (2x 250GB)
Graphics: 256 MB ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3650
Optical Drive: Slot loading Blu-ray Disc (DVD+/-RW + BD-ROM) Drive
Network: WiFi (802.11 a/b/g/n), Bluetooth, built in Vodafone mobile broadband
Other: Backlit keyboard, 2.0 megapixel webcam
I plumped for the spec above, and managed to get 16% off the cost by using my 6% Employee Discount (because I work for a company who buys thousands of Dell machines), and by calling and asking them for another 10% off.
The spec is very similar to that of the HP HDX18, but cost me about £200 less. When it arrived on Friday, I was immediately impressed by it. To be honest, I wasn't expecting to like the appearance of the machine too much since Dell's previous offerings have been as dull as a day locked in a room with John Major. But it's nice. The very solid build quality, the nice plastics, the backlit keyboard, a glossy screen and a decent pattern on the lid come together to form a handsome machine.
Working for a InvestCo, we're still using Windows XP on all of our machines, so my contact with Windows Vista had been minimal. Obviously I'd heard that people hated the OS, that it was too sluggish and constantly bombarded you with irritating popups (from User Account Control) and convoluted menus. Fortunately, I quite like Vista. The first thing I did was turn UAC off, and delete all the crap which Dell preinstalled on the machine. And so far, I'm more than happy with the performance.
Most of the other Vista machines I've seen (none have been particularly high spec, to be fair) have shown signs of poor performance when loading up the windows sidebar, and some of the property screens on Control Panel, among other things. But this machine doesn't do that - it loads pretty much everything nice and quickly, fast enough to avoid an irritating wait for windows to render. One benchmark test I had concocted was to see how fast it could convert a 70*40cm GIMP XCF image I'd been working on from RGB to Grayscale. On my work machine (Dell D610, 1.8Ghz CPU, 2 GB RAM), it took about twenty seconds, but on the Studio 17 it took about half that.
I paid a bit more and got the upgraded screen (the 1900x1200 WUXGA with Truelife one), and I was not disappointed. It's incredible. Being an extremely high resolution panel, everything on the screen is small, so you can fit a lot on it. Some people hate that, but I like it since I have loads of windows open at once. When playing a video or looking at photos, it really comes into its own, and if you were considering a Studio 17, then I'd upgrade the screen every day of the week. If you don't like the small text of the high resolution screens, you can increase the DPI settings to make everything a bit bigger (but this kind of defeats the purpose of having the high res panel!).
The battery life is alright, but I didn't expect much from a machine of this size. I think I'm getting about an hour and a half from the battery, which is acceptable to me since it'll be plugged in most of the time anyway.
It's heavy though. Heavier than Michelle McManus leaving McDonald's on a JCB. So it's not really all that portable, but I think if you get a decent messenger bag style case, you'd be able to carry it about without any problems. The weight doesn't really bother me since I don't intend to travel around with my laptop too much, just when travelling sometimes and maybe the odd client visit.
My only gripe with it is that there's too much light leakage from underneath the keys, it gets a bit irritating when you're working on the laptop when its on a desk. But the backlit keyboard is still worth the extra cash.
So in summary, it's a fast, well built machine with a stunning screen and nice features. Fortunately, with my wallet being several hundred pounds lighter, I'd recommend it to others.
Bobbing Along the Bottom?
According to Jamie Robertson at the BBC, some people think that because equity markets don't appear to be reflecting the negativity towards the current financial situation, we have hit the bottom of the downward spiral.
I'm not sure about this, and want to make my prediction so that I can come back and read this post in a year or so and see how far off the mark I was!
Through my limited knowledge of the financial markets, it's clear that most equity investors flee the scene at the first sign of trouble. When bad news surfaces on Bloomberg or the secondary news channels, share prices tend to fall as people sell up, afraid that their investments are going to fall in value. At this point, they become like lemmings, jumping off the proverbial cliff one after the other, leaving the 'danger' behind.
The graph above is a short term view, but illustrates the willingness of individuals to abandon any investment plans they had in particular firms in bad times, and the effect that this has when everyone gets the same idea.
However, apparently if you look at a graph of the same indexes over one year you would see them levelling out along the bottom of the chart. I looked this up and came up with this:
One year FTSE-100 Index (Blue) vs Dow Jones
I suppose if you blur your eyes a bit, then the performance of the equity market in the UK and the U.S. has been 'bobbing along the bottom' for a few months.
But does this reflect that from here, the only way is up? Personally, I think not.
My view is that some people think that the worst is over, and that those investors are therefore more willing to hold onto their stocks because if the prices don't go down, they will go up and that obviously means profit. Others are stepping into the market, buying up shares in companies whom they think have hit rock-bottom, in the hope of making a few quid when their share prices recover.
This is all very nice, but the equity markets aren't the defining factor in how the world's financial system performs. Many BigCo results are showing this in full, bright technicolour for all to see.
Take Toyota, who posted their first loss in history recently. That's not all down to equity markets.
That's mostly down to Joe Public not being able to buy a car because he can't get credit. Joe was made redundant recently, and his bank can't afford to risk lending him the money because the bank itself hasn't got as much available credit as before. That's caused by the interbank lending market falling to lows which are unheard of, so ordinary high street banks have a lot less cash to lend to people in the first place. And because of the gung-ho lending of the past few years (which caused the 'Credit Crunch' in the first place), reducing risk is now the number one priority of every lending company in the market. So because Joe is 'between jobs' he is too risky to lend to.
If Joe Public can't buy a car, then the chances are that tens of thousands of other people will be in the same position. So Toyota sell a crapload less cars than they thought they would, they have a lot less cash to pay the manufacturers who make the car parts, they can't afford to repay the huge debts they've run up because they thought they were going to keep making profits and weren't worried about cash flows, and their entire business and all its dependent companies begin to struggle.
The manufacturers then have to make redundancies of their own, and the whole vicious circle begins again. This domino effect has been seen throughout the world, and I don't think we've come to the end of it, unfortunately.
Everyone knows that the key goal of most governments is to get the banks lending to one another again, and to pump money into economies - and small businesses in particular. I think this will take time, so my prediction is that we'll begin to come out the other end of this downturn sometime in the middle of 2010, after you first see reports of growth in the UK's GDP (therefore officially marking the end of the recession).
So for me personally, it's a case of battoning down the hatches, trying to hold onto my job and trying to manage what little resources I have as best as possible. But it's important to try not to stop spending completely. If everyone is ultra-careful with their money and never buys anything except life's necessities then there won't be enough money flowing around the economy, and the situation gets much worse.
Of course, spending money like a crazed person is not good - but if everyone tries to act normally and spend money if they can then businesses will begin to recover and the economy will strengthen once again.
Virgin's 'Dead Hamster'
You may have read it already, but this is superb. A truly hilarious story to pierce through the doom and gloom which is all over every news channel.
Movie Review: Hancock
I think Will Smith is great.
He can be a gung-ho, hilarious, apparently low intelligence action hero in movies like Men in Black, Independence Day, and I, Robot then do a film with a little more substance like The Pursuit of Happyness and come across as an ordinary person with proper feelings and emotions.
So I like to watch his movies. And until I see Seven Pounds I thought I'd hire Hancock from BlockBuster.
Wasn't really expecting much to be honest, since the reviews were not good. But they've been regularly wrong in the past, and I'm probably a little more tolerant than most.
At first it was a breath of fresh air, and I was riveted to the screen for probably the first hour or so. I liked the fact that he was drunk all the time, couldn't fly without waving his arms and legs all over the place and was more concerned about getting his next bottle of booze than not destroying stuff. But unfortunately I had to agree that it lost it a little when they explained why he had super powers.
I could've accepted a Spider Man or Hulk-esque 'bit by a spider' or 'fell in radioactive stuff' explanation more easily than the reason offered. It felt like they had gotten to the bit where they had to explain his superpowers, ran out of ideas and went cross eyed.
I hate it when a film goes awry like that, especially when it had a huge budget and started so well. But even with its faults, I did enjoy Hancock and will definitely watch the sequel because apparently Will Smith hated the first film and will be much more involved with the next. And even though this film has its faults, it's one hundred times better than the drivel that is Superman Returns.I'd recommend it for the kind of night where you just want to sit and watch an action film which just washes over you. Get a beer and ogle Charlize Theron.
Fact of Life #1: You Get What You Pay For
Getting stuff cheap is good. You feel like you've won a small victory, that you've beaten those who'd extract all of the money from your wallet given the slightest opportunity.
Being a software developer, I drink coffee a lot. It's not that I find my job boring, and contrary to the stereotype, it's not just a case of sitting like a little monkey in a cubicle writing thousands of lines of code without any human interaction. So even though I do enjoy my job, coffee does help to put an extra positive spin on the day, and it tastes good (mostly).
The only drawback is that I find it quite expensive to support my habit. Obviously I'd prefer to have a Starbucks than an instant coffee, but if every coffee I drank was a Starbucks it'd cost me about £40 a week and I'd be so fat that I'd be the subject of a Channel 4 documentary. So I always have a jar of instant at my desk, because I refuse to drink the pig swill that comes out of the vending machine.
I've tried a few different brands, but learned a lesson when I brought in a jar of 'Nescafe Original'.
It was cheaper to buy than the other types, and you get a huge jar for the price. But the lesson I quickly learned this morning was that you really do get what you pay for.
It's vile. It induces you to screw up your face with horrible bitterness as you drink it, then leaves a taste in your mouth that resembles the pencil you chewed in Maths. I now have a huge jar of coffee on my desk that I won't use.
But in this office of stressed out people, if I leave it in the kitchen it will get used up by those who forgot to bring their own coffee, those who can't afford a Starbucks or just those who will take anything as long as it hasn't come out of the vending machine. So I'll do that.
It's back to the shops to get a better jar of coffee for tomorrow, and it definitely will not be Nescafe.
Being a software developer, I drink coffee a lot. It's not that I find my job boring, and contrary to the stereotype, it's not just a case of sitting like a little monkey in a cubicle writing thousands of lines of code without any human interaction. So even though I do enjoy my job, coffee does help to put an extra positive spin on the day, and it tastes good (mostly).
The only drawback is that I find it quite expensive to support my habit. Obviously I'd prefer to have a Starbucks than an instant coffee, but if every coffee I drank was a Starbucks it'd cost me about £40 a week and I'd be so fat that I'd be the subject of a Channel 4 documentary. So I always have a jar of instant at my desk, because I refuse to drink the pig swill that comes out of the vending machine.
I've tried a few different brands, but learned a lesson when I brought in a jar of 'Nescafe Original'.
It was cheaper to buy than the other types, and you get a huge jar for the price. But the lesson I quickly learned this morning was that you really do get what you pay for.
It's vile. It induces you to screw up your face with horrible bitterness as you drink it, then leaves a taste in your mouth that resembles the pencil you chewed in Maths. I now have a huge jar of coffee on my desk that I won't use.
But in this office of stressed out people, if I leave it in the kitchen it will get used up by those who forgot to bring their own coffee, those who can't afford a Starbucks or just those who will take anything as long as it hasn't come out of the vending machine. So I'll do that.
It's back to the shops to get a better jar of coffee for tomorrow, and it definitely will not be Nescafe.
World of Weirdos
Recently, my mate in work told me that in the World of Warcraft game, one of the top players in the world had died in real life (or 'RL' as the WoW players call it).
Now that is not amusing for anyone, but it did lead to a hilarious story which made me wonder what kind of absolute weirdos spend their entire lives in this game.
Apparently (this all happened a while ago), the news of this player's death went out on a forum which is used by thousands of World of Warcraft players, and they arranged to down their weapons and hold an in game funeral at a 'contested' location set by one of the deceased player's friends. Some of the best players of the game had agreed to attend, and they declared a tentative ceasefire so that nobody would attack other 'griefers' during the online event.
But of course, you can't trust anyone on the Internet. The forum was being watched by a bunch of newbie players led by someone called 'azshira' who were looking to make a quick points bonus by killing the players who attended the 'funeral service'.
They arrived on Lions and caused chaos, 'ganking' people indiscriminately. Here's the video. It's quite long but hilarious - if you get bored the action starts at 4:37.
To quote one of the 'lowbie' players who got 'ganked': "I hope azshira's Dad dies of a heart attack, then at the funeral some guy runs in naked and pushes the coffin over and runs around slapping people screaming 'LOL OWNED' and releases a video of it on the Internet."
For me this almost, but not quite, beats Leeroy Jenkins. 'God Damn it, Leeroy!'
Now that is not amusing for anyone, but it did lead to a hilarious story which made me wonder what kind of absolute weirdos spend their entire lives in this game.
Apparently (this all happened a while ago), the news of this player's death went out on a forum which is used by thousands of World of Warcraft players, and they arranged to down their weapons and hold an in game funeral at a 'contested' location set by one of the deceased player's friends. Some of the best players of the game had agreed to attend, and they declared a tentative ceasefire so that nobody would attack other 'griefers' during the online event.
But of course, you can't trust anyone on the Internet. The forum was being watched by a bunch of newbie players led by someone called 'azshira' who were looking to make a quick points bonus by killing the players who attended the 'funeral service'.
They arrived on Lions and caused chaos, 'ganking' people indiscriminately. Here's the video. It's quite long but hilarious - if you get bored the action starts at 4:37.
To quote one of the 'lowbie' players who got 'ganked': "I hope azshira's Dad dies of a heart attack, then at the funeral some guy runs in naked and pushes the coffin over and runs around slapping people screaming 'LOL OWNED' and releases a video of it on the Internet."
For me this almost, but not quite, beats Leeroy Jenkins. 'God Damn it, Leeroy!'
Berlin
I used to think that Prague was my favourite city, with its unspoilt charm, cheap food and drink, and cool Eastern European style. But in the past few years, because of cheap flights on easyJet or Ryanair, it seems to have become festooned with beer swilling, prostitute-using idiots who seem to be trying their best to ruin it for everyone else before getting deported by angry Czech policemen (who hopefully batter them before putting them on a plane back home). So Prague has lost its charisma a little for me. Not to say that I'd never go back, but it has some pretty serious problems now.
Then there was Rome. Full of history, beauty and class, I thought I was in love with the place until I visited Paris, which blew me away. So for a while, Paris was my favourite city. Even New York couldn't topple it, but last weekend, the title of My Favourite City went to Berlin.
It was my second visit, the first time I was there it was because my brother was about to get married so we'd taken him there for the weekend. This time around, it was the turn of one of my best mates to get engaged - so when trying to decide where to take him, Berlin came off as the obvious winner.
My brother is a very convincing liar, so he had been tasked with telling Neil that we were taking him to Ullapool. We laughed from the bottom of our bellies at the disappointment he tried hard not to display at the prospect of freezing his ass off in a dingy town here in Scotland for his 'stag' weekend.
Struggling to hide his despair, Neil contemplates a weekend in Ullapool
It was only when we got to the airport and after a few fake phone calls that we told Neil that we were not in fact getting picked up by 'Alastair the Minibus Driver who was taking us to the train'. He was delighted that we had actually planned something decent, and that he was going to be freezing his ass off in Berlin instead. That made the effort of arranging everything worthwhile.
'Ah, ich spreche Deutsche! Ich hasse Ullapool.'
So on our descent into Berlin Schonefeld, we were greeted by snow covered fields and temperatures which were well below zero (apparently -20c at night). I'm not going to write an account of the entire weekend, but I'd like to write about some of the best sights we saw during our visit. Berlin is rammed with things to see, and if you're willing to stay in a Hostel, I'd thoroughly recommend The Circus Hostel at Rozenthaler Platz. It's clean, it's cheap, it's in a brilliant location (two stops from Alexanderplatz), it has great staff and a really nice Cafe and Bar for breakfast and booze (not necessarily in that order). Great Places in Berlin
Pergamon Museum
I think the Pergamon Museum is great. When you walk into the main museum you're given an audio guide and headphones, which make the whole thing vastly more interesting than if you were looking at the exhibits with no idea what they are.
The Museum is split into three main parts, the central area which contains the stunning Pergamon Altar, and the two wings which contain the Market Gate from Miletus, the Ishtar Gate and some of the facade of the Temple of Artemis. It was certainly worth a visit, and you could spend hours there, poring over the incredible exhibits which take you back in time.
Tacheles
A lot of people who visit Berlin will never hear about Tacheles. And some who do would be afraid to visit there, fearing they'd be out of place or unwelcome. But it's a place that everyone should visit, since it is about as 'Real' as Berlin can get. (Click on the pictures for larger versions)
Tacheles, before the facade was repaired
It's quite hard to find, being tucked away in the Jewish area of the city. But it's a big place, having been a department store, then an office of the SS. When you walk in, there are artists selling their wares, usually prints of works they've done previously. It's pretty dark and every wall is completely covered in graffiti. On the first floor there's the club where they have paneled windows and a proper bar, with a DJ. Some people seem to think that having glass windows on Tacheles means it's not the same as it used to be. Further upstairs there are corridors with lots of locked doors and mysterious sounds coming from behind them. Some large areas are filled with bits of junk, some sculptures and yet more artists hoping to make a few Euro by selling their stuff. At the top there's an open air bar next to the gig venue, which serves beer by the bottle and lets visitors sit down on manky couches to look out over the city. You can see what's now this area if you look at the photo, at the top floor where the roof arches.
Tacheles isn't the kind of place you forget in a hurry, it's a view onto a completely different world.
Berlin by Bike
The other great thing we did was hire bikes. Even though the temperatures were well below zero, there was snow and black ice everywhere and we had no experience of cycling on busy German roads, we decided that the best way to see the city would be to hire bikes rather than walk everywhere or use the U-Bahn.
We covered about 22km on the day, which isn't bad for a few hours. You can see our route on this map:
Our route through Central BerlinStarting out at Rozenthaler Platz, we went down Friedrichstraße to Unter den Linden which contains the foreign embassies and a few car dealerships, as well as the Brandenburg Gate at the bottom.
Jolley struggles to hide his delight at finding a hat almost exactly the same shape and colour as Neil'sThe Reichstag is pretty awesome, but it takes hours to queue up to get inside, so we stood outside for a bit and admired it. Apparently Hitler wanted the Riechstag to form the gatehouse of the Welthauptstadt Germania, which would have made it part of the biggest building the world had ever seen. But of course, Hitler was an idiot and it never came to fruition because instead of the biggest building ever seen, he started the biggest war the world had ever seen. Still, the Reichstag is very impressive.
David wishes he was as tall as the Riechstag. Now THAT would be fun.The Tiergarten is beautiful when covered in snow. It's nice to be able to cycle through a park without fear of your tyres being punctured by broken glass or a used syringe, and to have the confidence that you won't be beset by neds who want to nick your bike and sell it for money fur ra dancin'. Berlin is a world apart from the likes of Glasgow. It's full of culture, intrigue and the people of Berlin really love and take care of their city, rather than attacking each other and wrecking everything they can.
Alan just does not agree with Calum's sock-glove choiceBy this time our collective nuts were beginning to freeze off. So preferring to keep at least the option of having kids in the future, we decided it was time to get some warmth. So we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts (not for the first, nor the last time on this trip) and refuelled. Then we arrived at a showcase section of the Berlin Wall. Across the street from the wall, there was an enormous advert for iPod.
The contrast between the old iron curtain divide between East and West and the new, colourful 'free world' image of the iPod was quite cool.Maybe it was just me, but I always loved the Trabant. I think it's a symbol of East Berlin, communism, and the acceptance that people must have had for the crap technology to which they were subjected by their regime. The strange thing is, that even though it was small and unreliable, smoky and uncomfortable, the Trabant was loved by East Germans. It's still popular today, even after all this time.
When I saw a whole load of Trabants across the road, I had to have a look, while nobody else appeared to be interested. If I had a collection of cars (as opposed to one rubbish car), I'd definitely add a Trabant to that.
When I saw a whole load of Trabants across the road, I had to have a look, while nobody else appeared to be interested. If I had a collection of cars (as opposed to one rubbish car), I'd definitely add a Trabant to that.
Next time I'm in Berlin, I'm going to hire one of theseOnce we'd seen the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and the old Air Ministry, we headed up towards Eberswalder Straße, where I'd heard that the best Currywurst in Berlin could be had. I wasn't wrong! Then we visited the flea market and headed home before our fingers fell off from the cold.
Capt'n Schillo
On our final night we went to the Capt'n Schillo restaurant, which is a barge tied up on the Spree. We were running late, so basically sprinted across Berlin and onto the S-Bahn to try to get there on time so that we wouldn't miss our reservation. We needn't have bothered: we were the only people there! Not sure why, because it was a great little place. A single waiter served us really excellent fish dishes (some had steak) and kept his Amy Winehouse CD on repeat (that was a downer). Then it was speech time. Each person had to give a speech about Neil and why they'd enjoyed the weekend, as well as why he was a good guy who was worth the time and expense of visiting Berlin.
Capt'n Schillo
On our final night we went to the Capt'n Schillo restaurant, which is a barge tied up on the Spree. We were running late, so basically sprinted across Berlin and onto the S-Bahn to try to get there on time so that we wouldn't miss our reservation. We needn't have bothered: we were the only people there! Not sure why, because it was a great little place. A single waiter served us really excellent fish dishes (some had steak) and kept his Amy Winehouse CD on repeat (that was a downer). Then it was speech time. Each person had to give a speech about Neil and why they'd enjoyed the weekend, as well as why he was a good guy who was worth the time and expense of visiting Berlin.
Petrie folk are notoriously emotionally and linguistically stinted, so the best speeches came from others who spoke about the past we'd all had together, the good times and hopefully the better times to come.
All in, Berlin was brilliant. I'd go back again and I'd thoroughly recommend it to anyone.
More pics can be found on Photobucket
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)