3 Daws

Yippee it's new years party time!

We went out to the 3 Daws Pub which is run by one of my Aunties, so a good time was pretty much guaranteed!



I've not been out for a proper drink with my mate Andy in far too long, originally he wasn't going to be coming as he was going to be in Reading... thankfully he decided to join us at the last minute :-)



My mate Matt joined us from Lincoln, he's easily got to be the funniest drunk I've ever seen, both me and him were tilting back the Magners cider with abandon (Sadly Green Goblin isn't readily available down here :-( )



Both Nomi and my sister were wearing corsets and looking fantastic.



We all had to have a cigar to celebrate the end of 2007, unfortunately the bad only had Hamlet, next time I'll have to get some proper cigars in advance.

I am Legend

I seem to be starting a lot of my posts with... "I've not read this", but yet again I have watched the film before reading the book or indeed watching any of the previous film adaptations. So I'll be taking this film purely on it's own merits:

I am Legend stars Will Smith... and that's about it for characters... the majority of the film is spent with him conversing with himself of his dog Sam. Now although I like will smith as an actor, he can rarely pull off anything that is too far away from his character as the Fresh Prince, this is not a total exception, but it's pretty close. He's convincing as the last man alive in a city populated by "zombies", but not as a scientist trying to save the world... I have to say it, but he just doesn't pull off intelligence, it's a horrible thing to say about someone, but he just appears to be to much of a wide boy to be an intellectual.

The storyline is very good, as a-typical zombie hoards taking over a city go. It adds some elements usually overlooked in the genre of survival horror. One scene sees him hunting his own food, another shows him renting a DVD from a store (Manned by mannequins), this gives an interesting incite into what psychological impact the physical isolation from fellow humans is having.

The film has excellent SFX and where CGI is used it's seamless with the rest of the cinematography.

The only complaint I would have is that there is not really enough explanation behind the creatures behaviour at one point:...

Spoiler so look away:

The creatures show a instinct to reclaim one of their females (The mate of the leader?), and they go to great lengths (Including setting a trap identical to the one that captured the female) to recover her, and display a hierarchical nature along with it. Sadly this is not expanded upon, and in fact is totally overlooked by Will Smiths character... it would have been a nice twist to the storyline to have some intelligent interaction between the leader and Will Smith. Sadly it was just there to tempt me to think the storyline was deeper.

All in all it's a very good film, and visually appealing. I recommend going to see it.

On a side note people have been getting their knickers in a knot over the Batman Superman billboard seen early in the film... come on... it's most likely a joke by the director/scene setters. It it is true (And any reader of dark horse comics will know this) it's only going to be mediocre. I personally can't see why they'd to this crossover, as neither franchise is struggling at the moment (Well perhaps Superman is, but only through lack of information regarding the next film).

After watching the film (And when we got home) Naomi realised she'd left her hat behind. Me and Matt raced back to the cinema, but unfortunately the next film was underway (Seriously they must have been seating them as we left!). One of the ushers went off to see if he could find it, sadly he couldn't. So we opted to come back when the film finished (It was the last showing).

When we went back we managed to get into the cinema just as the last scene was running, so as soon as the credits rolled I dashed over to our old seats (Which were unoccupied) and there it was plain as day laying on the floor. Personally I reckon the usher never even looked... we were fortunate tho, as I swear the cinema hadn't even been cleaned (I'm sure my cup was still in the holder). Naomi was pretty relieved to be reunited with her hat

I don't think it suits me tho.

Guitar Hero 3 PS3 vs Wii

For Christmas I got a copy of Guitar Hero 3 for the PS3, but before I got a chance to play it me and Nomi went around to her friend Lucy's house where she had a copy of Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii.

I played it and absolutely loved it (Even tho I sucked at it). So when I got back to Kent we cracked out my version.

Now in essence the two games are identical... mash the coloured buttons in time to the music. But that's where the similarity ends... the Wii version used the Wiimote inside the guitar and transmits back to the Wii. The PS3 version uses a (Quite frankly shit looking) USB dongle to receive the signal from the guitar. Now both guitars are the same in appearance except the Wii's is white and the PS3's is Black (Standard livery colours for the consoles), but because the Wii's used the Wiimote it has rumble and speaker capabilities, which actually is really good, as bum notes sound through the Wiimote (Brilliant on 2 player modes) and when "Star Power" is achieved the guitar gives a little shake. It's a lovely touch that is sadly missing from the PS3 version. However from an engineering perspective why Activision didn't develop a guitar that worked with both consoles (Even if it does use a USB dongle, because the Wii does have 2 USB ports that are often overlooked) I don't know... perhaps there's a deep rooted difference in the control inputs that is impossible to overcome. But it's a shame as if you two guitars from different systems they sadly wont work. But enough of the rant about the guitars.

The game itself is radically different in visual quality. Now I know the quality of the PS3s graphics engine dwarfs the Wii, but is it really so profound that the characters in the Wii version need to look like Terrance and Philip? I know it's not, as other games (Such as Resident Evil 4) have superb graphics... I don't pretend to know the reason, but I imagine it may have something to do with the quantity of songs vs the capacity of the disk. This would also explain why all the tracks are presented in mono as opposed to DTS on the PS3. The PS3s superior graphics engine sadly shows up the Wii version, but during the game you rarely have time to take in the graphics as you're too busy focused on the button mashing.

The worst thing that lets the Wii version down however is the on-line capabilities, now I've always disliked the whole "friend code" system as being unnecessarily clunky, but I won't mention the on-line play with the Wii as I've not tried it. But it's the ability to buy extra songs on-line for the PS3 that really catches my interest. Sadly the construction of the Wii (Lack of a HDD) means that downloading tracks is unlikely to ever become a reality (A SD card would be far too slow a transfer rate) which is a real shame... although it irks me that it's a sort of "stealth tax" on owning a game these days, downloadable content extends the longevity of a game, and continues to do so as long as content keeps rolling out.

All in all it depends on the system(s) you own as to which you buy, but if you have the luxury of choice the PS3 version wins hands down, I'd like to recommend the Wii version, as personally I love the Wii as a console, but without it's innovative control system it sadly falls at the processing power of the PS3.

Christmas Lights

I like Christmas decorations... It's what sets Christmas apart from any other time of year. My mum uses lots of decorations that have been added to over the years, some of which i can never remember us being without. Others purchased only that year and added to the cacophony of illuminations and singing paraphernalia. Strangely it's always been centered on the insides of the house, and never the outsides as in this picture above, I think that these houses can look lovely, although sometimes they can go a little over the top especially with lawn based ornaments. Please just leave it to hanging lights and perhaps the odd character/sign on the side of a house... remember we're not competing with Vegas or Blackpool here people.

One quick observation is that very few people ever decorate beyond the living room and dining rooms. Me and Nomi had our own Nintendo themed tree (Which will hopefully make the Official Nintendo Magazine), but aside from that the other rooms of the house remained undecorated. I wonder why people very rarely decorate bedrooms?

Another AC Snowman

Built another snowman in my Animal Crossing town :-) sadly not quite the right size tho :-( got to try again tomorrow.

Pressie Time with my Nomi

I know it's a little materialistic, but I love giving and receiving presents at Christmas... I always put a lot of thought into anything I buy, but I very rarely pay any attention to how much it costs, as the most important thin is that the present is right for the person.



I bought Naomi (Amongst other things) a new DVD player that will also play DivX and other computer format videos. Her old DVD player has just about bitten the dust so hopefully she'll get a lot of use out of it (Especially when I figure out how to make it multi-region):




From Naomi I got a replica walking stick as used by Lucius Malfoy from the Harry Potter series of books:



It's absolutely amazing, as they only made a limited number of them and they sold out literally at the point I discovered it existed. So the fact Naomi managed to find one is pretty lucky.

Somewhat Broken

I've had my car since brand new in 2001 so she's just turned 6 years old. I've done a hell of a lot of mileage in those years tho... And sadly it's taken it's toll on her somewhat fickle K series engine. As regular readers will know my car's not been quite right since the water pump went in 2005, and it turns out that shoddy workmanship in its replacement is possibly where all my problems stem from. Sadly there's not much I can do about it though as it's difficult to prove what's at fault.

The latest problem is one that's going to cost me big time... (Click here for a explanation on various engine parts) As the big end has gone in one of the con rods, which in turn has worn the crank shaft to an unrepairable level (Normally it'd be reground, but sadly the wear is too much and would result in the big end bearing being loose if it was reground). So as you can see from the photo, it's engine out and rebuild time. What is useful tho is that because it's now lying all over a bench the impending replacement of the clutch is rendered a 5 min job :-) hopefully it'll only take a week as I've left it in the hands of a well known (In there parts) professional. In the meantime thankfully I have the loan of my dads car to get me around :-)

My dad owns a rather nice Volvo V70, which I've driven before but only in Germany, so I never really paid much mind to the power the engine had as speeds were not and issue on the autobahns. Driving it in the UK now though I've learnt it's got a lot of poke in it... As cruising at 70 on the motorway involves barely touching the throttle. And getting there involves no effort at all. Even better though is the fact that it looks like an unmarked police car so other road users give it a wide birth :-)

Pressie Time With My Family

Ever since I can remember of Christmas Day me and my sister have woken up to presents in pillow cases and stockings at the foot of our bed... we've then preceded to burst into my parents bedroom and unwrap them all in front of them.

As the years have gone on we've woken them up later and later (Think we started off at about 5am). Given I was still wrapping presents at 4am I need a bit of extra sleep. I was still up by 10 tho :-)

I received some very cool presents this year. Amongst them were:

• A watch that synchronises with my phone and tells me who's calling and what music's playing
• A wireless speaker that works with my phones MP3 player
• A copy of Jericho for the PS3
• A Gothic mirror
• Harry Potter Professor Snape Wand

Of course it wasn't all be getting presents. I got my dad tickets to see Spamalot (Both from me and Nomi), my mum a load of Harry Potter books (She's a fan too), and for my sister I managed to get hold of a replica antique crossbow and a toy one for her to practice with.

28 But Still a Kid

I'm 28 yet I'm still excited about Christmas and can't sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day for sleep deprived me if this carries on :-(

Santa Claus is Coming :-)

I don't think the magic of Christmas will ever die in me... I mean I know Santa isn't real (strangely I don't remember it being traumatic when I found that out) but the love of Christmas is still alive in me... As I said earlier it's more about the family connection than anything else. Only thing is I wish I could get myself organised better, now whilst all the presents are bought I'm yet to wrap them... Until now that is... Yawn... So now it's finally off to bed... I only hope Santa visits us last :-)

200th Post

Wow is all I can say... 200 posts, it really doesn't feel like that many. I know it's sad to mark this as an achievement, but to be honest I never thought I'd actually get this far before I got bored and gave up.

But I've really gotten into doing this, and hopefully I'll continue to post amusing and insightful stuff well into the future.

Thanks for reading.

The Fog (AKA $1 Sex Train Gig)

The lead singer and the bassist from Pauls band Cursed as Angels have a side project called $1 Sex Train. Now I actually liked their sound, however it wasn't exactly in keeping with the gig.

The biggest issue I had was with the copious use of a smoke machine and strobe:



Seriously this is the view you got from 10 feet away, somewhere up their I'm assured the band was playing:



Can just about make out the band here... after they were told to turn the smoke machine off.



Cursed as Angels were the second act, and pulled off a good one considering that 2 of them had pretty fierce colds. Pauls hat was a source of much amusement doesn't show up in the photo, but it says "Bah Humbug"... was hilarious how it bobbled back and forward to the moshing:

Sinfull Revisited

Greed:	High
Gluttony:	High
Wrath:	Medium
Sloth:	High
Envy:	Low
Lust:	Medium
Pride:	Very High

The Seven Deadly Sins Quiz on 4degreez.com

Well almost 6 months later here's the results of how sinful I am again.

Compared to 6 months earlier:

Envy's up
Pride's up
Lust down

Pride I can understand, as with Nomi in my life I've plenty to be proud of. Guess I'm less lustful, as now my entire attention if focused on one woman, tho personally I think it's gone up in that respect :-)

Hmm envy is a tough one, don't really envy anyone, guess I'll have to find out what that's all about and post about it later.

More Fruit? Sultanas vs Raisins

I know what the difference between a Sultana and a Raisin is, but what is the difference between a golden Raisin and a Sultana?

New But Old Posts

Got a few posts that I'd never completed writing to add, the first is below:

http://roamingjay.blogspot.com/2007/11/diy-tardis.html

Edited 20/12/2007

Another new "legacy" post

http://roamingjay.blogspot.com/2007/11/back-to-shop-floor.html

Champers in a Can

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/12/hilton_desert/

Seriously, why? As if making drinking Champagne wasn't cliche enough by spending most of her time falling unladylike out of limos, underwear in one hand and a small yappy type dog in the other, then why oh why make Paris Hilton branded Champagne in a can?

I've no problem with celebrities, I do however despise these mock celebrities like Paris Hilton and Jade Goody (To name but a few), not only do they highlight exactly what's wrong with todays society and somehow make it acceptable, but they actually contribute nothing other than the controversy that surrounds them over their latest gaffe. Kind of like a self perpetuating merry go round of media hype until eventually everyone gets bored of hearing the same story retold.

Push them all into a pit and set fire to them, along with the PR people and journalists that make these people "celebrities" :-)

Dried yet Juicy?

As part of my new drive to eat healthy I'm trying to eat as much fruit as I can... Which sounds simple, were it not for the fact that I am allergic to most fruit acids (unless cooked)... So I've been trying out dried fruits. And i have to say i love them... Raisins, cranberry's and even pineapple. But what perplexes me is the definition of "dried"... Surely dried would imply no moisture or rather juice... Yet the pineapple in my lunch today states it is "juicy dried pineapple"... Not that it's not nice... But where is the line drawn... And how can something be both juicy and dried... They're mutually exclusive? A case me marketing mumbo jumbo me thinks? I'll best get back to eating them before they cease being juicy and truly become dry :-)

Physics Engines

I'm a hardware junkie... and I like to keep up with the latest PC hardware so I can play the latest games as they were intended. Now physics have always been a bugbear in games, taking the realism away from a otherwise visual masterpiece, but physics calculations can be extremely taxing on a PC's resources so Ageia came up with a physics card... hurrah I hear you say... but sadly not many are hearing the call, as the card has not been adopted by many publishing houses yet, sadly even the beautifully crafted Crysis doesn't use this latest technology... so looks like I'll be holding out for a bit longer before buying one.

This is a excellent example of what can be done with the physics inside Crysis, you'd just need a monster of a PC to run it:

Snowman

It's snowing in my animal crossing town so I've built myself a snowman :-)

Christmas Time

I love christmas... And I know it's a little sappy... But it's because of the people, not the presents (though they are good too). Christmas is always unique amongst holidays as very few people go away, so i usually get to see family and friends that usually remain elusive. It's a good time, as i'm a very sociable person, so i love being surrounded by people i care about. Especially my best mate Matt who usually makes the special effort to travel down on new years.

As I imagine all families do, the board games come out after dinner, which again brings people together. As strangely we all feel compelled to play scrabble and monopoly (must be something in the turkey :-)). So for all it's corporate "selling out" Yule still serves it's original purpose as a festival to celebrate and bring people together.

Golden Compass

I've been waiting for this film to come out with baited breath... but before I go on I need to get a few things off my chest:


1. It's an Alethiometer... Not a Golden Compass
2. It's Iofor Raknison not Ragnar Sturlusson!
3. No one in their right mind would take a paddle steamer into an ice flow.
4. Anbaric engines on a helium airship = asking for an accident
5. Panserboure or Armoured Bear... not Ice Bear

I actually loved this film, but not for the reasons it should be loved.

This film was made to be a PG, as the original story called for some rather gratuitous violence in the Armoured Bear scenes and violence towards children. Its removal is not a bad thing as it adds more accessibility to a wonderful story, but it does water it down. Or rather it would if it contained the original story. The original novel was written by Philip Pullman and called Northern Lights, there's a small history behind the name change, but suffice to say it stuck because of the predominantly American audience, and probably no small part was to jazz it up a bit:

According to Philip Pullman, the title "The Golden Compass" came about
when he was deciding what to name the trilogy that the book this film was based
on was to be the first part of. He came across a passage by John Milton
referring to "golden compasses" as in instruments used to draw perfect circles.
Ultimately, he ended up calling the trilogy "His Dark Materials" based on
another passage by Milton, and named the first part "The Northern Lights."
However, the American publishers heard about the term "golden compass",
mistaking it for a reference to the alethiometer, and insisted on using it as the title
of the first book.

Quoted from IMDB

I don't know what input Philip Pullman had on the screenplay that was ultimately created by Chris Weitz, but unless there is some alteria motive that will become apparent in the next 2 films (Please please please, let them make the other 2 books) I think not a lot.

Now I understand that all film adaptations have to cut things out, LotR being a prime example, there are vast swathes of chapters pertaining to the Shire missing from the films. But this is necessary lest you end up with 6 hour long films. Done with the precision of a surgeons scalpel these can be unnoticeable and not detract from the storyline. Sadly Chris Weitz attacked this story with a rusty hatchet. The ultimate essence of the book is still there but it is somewhat jumbled and a mockery of its former glory. In these cases I tend to ignore the book and take the film on its own merits, but given the vast amounts of background information required to fill the blanks you need to have read the books to be able to appreciate what is going on. Which brings me back to the original problem of if you have read the book you want to stand up and scream at the screen that it doesn't happen like that.

This heavy spleen venting about the storyline being over I will come to the visual aspects of the film... stunning... you are dragged into a beautiful world that is a steampunk version of our own, with the elegance of the Victorian era, and not one second of it is unbelievable, even the CG talking animals only look fake when they speak, and that's because deep down our psychies tell us it must be fake. Casting was excellent, especially Nicole Kidman as Marisa Coulter, she just has that atmosphere around her that makes you think she's the loveliest person in the world, despite the fact she's a "baddie"... exactly as the books portray it.

To fully enjoy The Golden Compass you need to have read the books ages ago, and not like me in the morning before watching it. As you will be able to fill in the essential information that is missing, and be able to overlook (If you're as forgetful as me) the jumbling of the storyline and plot holes. This all being said I still enjoyed the film, but only because it added a more visceral element to my memories of the book.

Knackered

So tired seems to be the word of the day... you would have thought that 2 days off would have rejuvenated me. However one day was spent in a 7 hour lodge meeting (Which although I thoroughly enjoyed it, it left me struggling to stand!) and the other doing last minute Christmas shopping. Seems I managed to get no rest at all. So tonight it seems like an evening sitting down in front of the TV is in order... god I sound old!

Hitman

I should really learn to write these reviews earlier, because now I've seen it and the anticipation is over I have to say Hitman was somewhat forgettable. Which is a shame as the franchise itself is one that I'd been looking forward to seeing converted to the big screen. This is not to say I hated the film, far from it I enjoyed it. But ultimately it left an unsatisfied feeling of what might have been. The only real negative point I can say is that the film added an element of humanity to Agent 47, which is totally at odds to the game. But in the same token, it's not a game but a film, so it needed a little more than just to assassinate people as a storyline. On the plus side though Timothy Olyphants acting I felt captured the cool calm and collected nature of Agent 47. Not a bad adaptation, but defiantly not the care it deserved.

Feh

Quote for the day:

Well if the jaws of fate insist on dragging me down they're going to end up with a
fat lip.

I'm not going down without a fight... And
I never pick a fight I can't win. All I need is a loving girlfriend,
family and friends that care about me. Thankfully I have all that and more!

Jamie Bennett 06-12-2007

Rodeo

The erotica festival was this weekend. I've never been before, and i guess i had no idea really what to expect. I did however expect to see a lot of fetish clothing and other items... Fetish wear was represented, but strangely only by a few retailers. The majority of stuff on sale was elegant clothing, such as corsets. It was very interesting to see such beautiful clothes and i suppose in the truest sense they are erotic, being clothing not commonly worn in public. I find the whole concept of what we find erotic interesting... Everyone is different... But one universal truth is that something on display that is usually hidden fires passion... Speaking from a purely male perspective, for example an ankle is erotic to a man from a nation where women usually cover up (such as an Arab nation), whereas a woman in underwear is erotic to a westerner. However although sexy a woman in a bikini swimsuit is not erotic, as we expect to see it in public (even though it is as revealing). So at least from my point of view, i find corsets and elegant clothing alluring (which is good because Naomi likes to dress in this fashion :-) ).

Something that struck me was the people walking around, some were obviously deeply in love and very affectionate to one another... more so that would be deemed appropriate in public. Now I'm not a reserved person, and me and Naomi often kiss passionately in public (It's who we are... and I love it), and it was refreshing to see people doing the same.

Along with the retailers there was also a show... The highlight of which was Dita Von Teese. Which i must say was something i looked forward too. However although well performed it seemed lacking in any passion from her part. Which was a shame, as it let her down greatly.

On the top floor of the hall they had in interesting ride (see picture), I've seen Rodeo bulls, and even a Rodeo camel... But never a Rodeo whore.

Beowulf

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0442933/

Sadly I've not read the epic poem Beowulf... but it's on my list of things to do (That list is getting too big now!). Me and Nomi went to see the new film adaptation it at the local cinema.


Now I'm a fan for pushing the envelope of cinematography and also animation (Both cell and CGI), but it just didn't seem to sit right in a fantasy story. Now I know they spent a lot of money on LotR, but I'm sure that it would have been cheaper to use CG monstas (More on that later) and "live" action instead of all CG... the reason is that throughout the film the consistency of the quality left a lot to be desired. One minute the CG was perfect, the next... like a dodgy version of Shrek. Sebastian Roché who played Wulfgar ended up looking like the godfather at one point where they cheapened up on the rendering of his mouth.


It just seems a little unnecessary... like it was made in CG because it could... not because it was needed.


The bit that stuck out a mile was Ray Winstone portrayal of Beowulf, now for the uninitiated Beowulf is a Geat which is now modern day Sweden, hence he would have something close to a Swedish accent... instead he has a distinctly cockney accent, see the clip below:

It's most apparent when he tells the guard "I am Beowulf, and I'm here to will your monster". Or rather with the accent... "I am Beowufd and I'm 'ere to kiwl yaw monsta".

This all being said the film was actually really good. And I would recommend going to see it if your a fan of fantasy films. Especially as Beowulf influenced Tolkins Lord of the Rings.

The Universe

A good friend of mine sent me these in an e-mail. When you look at the grand scale of things it shows exactly how insignificant earths place in the universe is.

Wii Hands

I'm always intrigued by how things work, and being an engineer I usually take them apart to figure it out, However not being electronically minded (IE Understanding how microprocessors work) I usually leave expensive pieces of kit like the Nintendo Wii well alone.

This guy obviously spent a bit of time discovering how the Wii-mote actually senses the position relative to the screen.



Reminds me of the nursery rhyme here comes perter, here comes paul, fly away peter, fly away paul.

Back To The Shop Floor

Being an engineer is a passion for me... I've always been interested in engineering since a young age (Due to my fathers influences), so naturally when it came to choosing a career path when I left school I traveled the oft neglected road of an engineer... now I've yet to meet a super wealthy engineer, as by the nature of the job we tend to do it for the love. But after the first few agonising years as an apprentice living on a pittance it can be such a relief to finally break through into the "big time" as it were, this I did several years ago, and although I'd always welcome more (Who wouldn't) I'd say I've got the balance right with a career that not only interests me, but also leaves me with a comfortable feeling in my wallet.

With my new job I hope I'm going to go far... today, for the first time in nearly 10 years I've been working on the shop floor and learning the processes involved in making the things I design. Now I'm not ignorant to how the various machines work, but it astonished me the advances that have been made in as little as 10 years, this combined with the fact that we use a lot of "fancy machinery" to achieve cuts in 6 axes at once left me looking like a slack jawed newbie (Most common or garden machinery only uses 3 axes). I'm hoping to learn a lot here, as I've always prided myself on the fact that as a designer I know what the machinist is having to do to make the finished item, therefor I can make his life easier :-)

Critique/Reviews

I'm no journalist, but in writing this blog I hope to become a little more well rounded (Not in an eat more pie way), so I'll be trying to write a critique/review of films and gigs and so on, more for my own benefit, so I can remember why I mentally placed a film in the "don't bother buying it" pile in my head. Hopefully it'll advance my skills in writing. As being an engineer I've not had much call for writing anything other than very boring technical/legal documents/specifications (As you can tell fro my liberal use of the "/" and come to mention it brackets as well :-) ).

Don't expect any massive transformations tho, as this is still a bit of a general dumping area for my brain. So cut me some slack with grammar and spelling. Hopefully I'll get better soon and be able to pour my thoughts in well constructed sentences without much effort.

Weblinks - Powered by Del.icio.us

I've added a new block on the right hand of the screen which shows the most recent 15 links I've added to my Del.icio.us account. It'll be a general dumping ground for links to news articles and other things of note that I haven't specifically mentioned in my blog.

If anyone's interested you can also add it as another RSS feed.

If you new to RSS I'd recommend either the inbuilt reader in IE 7 or Feedreader

DIY Tardis

My sisters performance for Woodshed this year was based upon A Christmas Carol, but with a modern Dr Who twist. As the resident engineer and all round gopher it fell to me to make it.

Sadly I didn't nearly have enough input into making this as I'd have liked (Due to ill health), but I had a hand in designing the way we were to construct it, and acted as general gaffer to it's construction and assembly on stage.

Made from a cardboard box for a 3 seater sofa (Yes they come in boxes these days!) an old drinks bottle for the light. combined with an industrial strobe, lots of poster paint and a sticky label for the finer details I think it did the trick perfectly. We also plugged a smoke machine into the back of it to add that eerie Tardis effect when the doors opened. Thankfully we didn't gas the occupants :-)

BSOD - Windows Has Caused a General Fuel Pumping Fault

It scares me that so much stuff is controlled by Windows these days... even our petrol pumps have computers running XP in them these days... if only it crashed and dispensed free petrol :-)

MTV - Don't Do Drugs People

My sister had the MTV music awards on thins morning... i don't normally watch MTV as it's not really my type of music... but I was intrigued at Amy Winehouses performance. She looked so hammered... clutching the mic stand like a drunk clutches a lamp post as if it's his only friend in the world. She had this curious little shuffle going on to try and "dance", but every step she took took her further away from the mic stand, so she tottered unsteadily back to it.

I hope when she comes down that someone shows her that video so she can see exactly how wasted she looked.

Fireworks Display AKA WMD

My dads flying club is next door toy a gun club, so the ability to come by some rather "large" fireworks is quite easy this time of year. With enough rockets to start a small war, and some boxes that looked like bunker busters. So a good show was expected by all.

Unfortunately the wind was a little against us, but we managed to compensate... not before nearly shelling some of our neighbours. Hopefully no lean too was broken :-)

When my dad set off the second (But not the largest) boxed firework a gust of wind combined with a rocket firing knocked it over, this sent one of the rockets between me and Naomi (We were totally oblivious as we were looking up at the other fireworks) which exploded on the windowsill. If it'd been just 6 left or right it would have hit one of us, 6" higher and it would've gone through the kitchen window. Luckily it righted itself on the next shot.

The final and largest firework naturally we pegged into the ground.

Afterwards we all stuck around and played a good few rounds of poker... it was good as we had a couple of learners at the table. I so need to resurrect poker night, it was always a really good laugh.

iPhony

Saw the iPhone for the first time today... now I'm a total gadget geek... I have a PDA, Satnav, DS, PSP, PS3, Wii and a whole host of other stuff. So this is gonna sound weird. i think the iPhone is rubbish.

Now it's not without its merits... its stylish, has a superb capacity for MP3s and does everything else you could want out of a phone... but at that price (When most handsets are now free on contract) I think it's a total rip off. If you can't find a phone with the same MP3 capacity, but a real iPOD at a fraction of the cost... that being said you can... only simple fact is it does everything the iPOD does but it's 3G to boot and that's the Sony Ericsson W960. I am slightly biased, as I've always had SE phones... but it does everything and more... plus it's free. So why buy a iPhone... tell me that? And if you dont like SE phones... what about the LG Prada just as nice... with even more style.

Louise Ventures Into Narnia

As I've said before I'm a hoarder, but so is my sister... so she's got more clothes than you can shake a stick at (Not to mention old Cosplay costumes).

In her bedroom there's a cupboard that fits over the staircase, but it's a nightmare to get anything in there as you have to climb over her desk to get. So in an effort to clear some wardrobe space Louise is cramming as much as she can in there with a little help from me (I was handing the stuff to her). Let's hope she doesn't get lost in Narnia.

A New Start... Hope It Lasts

Well here I am again starting at a new job... lets hope this one last as I'm fed up with moving about. *shakes fist at sky* Come on I deserve a break!

Everyone's so nice... especially by boss and the MD (Probably helps that they're father and son) . I really think I can go far with this place... I get a good vibe from them :-)

Categories

Been adding categories to all my blog entries (I must be really bored :-) ). Hopefully make it easier for people to look around my old entries.

It's not quite done yet, as there's nealy 170 posts to go thru, so please be patient :-)

30 Days of Night

I don't pretend to be a critique, but I know what I like, so I'm going to try and write a few words about all the things I go see... so here goes my review of 30 Days of Night:

A classic horror film is one way to describe this, but it doesn't really have a classic feel about it. It's got an interesting plot (I love vampire films), and if I'd read the comics I'm sure I would have got more from it. But it doesn't really have a storyline, the vampires have almost no background (Apart from the fact they're brought there by a vagrant, who in turn is promised immortality as a fellow vampire). It has plenty of blood and gore, and makes you jump a few times. But it feels like a remake of "The Thing"with vampires, but even then it dirtys the name of "The Thing" to say such a thing (Hmm lots of things in that sentence, sure that's bad grammar), I guess on it's own it's a ok vampire film, with ok plot... but it made me walk out going meh. I always see it as a bad sign that I can't recall a memorable moment of a film.

Shandy Float

Off to the cinema tonight to see 30 Days of Night, I messed up the time so we ended up in a bar. I don't normally order a shandy, but I fancied something refreshing.

I don't think the barmaid has ever poured one before, as somehow she managed to perfectly float the bitter on top of the lemonade... not something that's easy to do... especially by accident!

Aliens Vs Predator 2 - Not For Kiddies

Now I've not heard a lot about this film yet, but I've seen the first trailer... and from that I can gather that 20th Century Fox have got their head screwed on again with the Aliens Vs Predator franchise, as it's actually got a 18 rating (Well a US R rating which means it'll be a UK 18) which means it'll actually contain blood and gore. It looks quite a good premise with Aliens and Predators running amock in a remote hick american town. I can only hope that this means a return to the roots of the franchise and it'll be a horror movie rather than an excuse to cash in on merchandising with the kiddies.

Hell I watched Aliens when I was 12, and it did me no harm *twitch* and I went out and bought the merchandise (Which was airfix kits of the vehicles).

Halloween Bioshock Cosplay

Thought this was a really cool costume:



Originally posted at a webcomic I usually read http://www.rpg-tv.com/

Stardust

Me Naomi and Natalie went to see Stardust last night, I've not read the novel by Neil Gaiman, but after seeing the film adaptation I'll definitely be adding it to my Christmas list.

A typical children's fantasy story but adult enough to be suitable for most ages. Throughout the film a few characters are killed (Mostly by assassination... you'll have to watch it... i don't want to spoil it), but blood is never shown and in the one instance it's necessary it's shown as a vivid blue (Being a prince he has blue blood), which i think is a nice touch to make this more accessible to younger viewers.

The storyline is touching... at the start you dislike the lead character for his somewhat spineless groveling to his "beloved"... but by the end you love him for his character growth. It pulls at the heart strings.

That as side you have to watch it for De Niros performance... whoever cast him was a pure genius. I'm glad he accepted the role as it's a wild detraction from his usual roles.

In the trailers before the film we saw the trailer for "The Golden Compass", based on a series of novels called "His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman. I'm planning on reading the book before i see the film (Naomi's kindly lent it to me), hopefully they'll release all 3 as separate films, as I've not seen a good trilogy since LotR.

Halloween Cursed as Angels Gig

I love dressing up for Halloween, but this is the first time I've ever been to a gig at the same time. Paul insisted that we all dressed up (As he and the band were dressing up), suffice to say we didn't need persuading... me Lou and Nomi all being cosplay fans we decided to pull out all the stops. We managed a pretty damn good set of costumes given the limited time (And Funds).

Naomis costume was fantastic... especially the make up. I was really impressed how well it held up... in fact when she got back it took her ages to scrub it off. Lou pulled off a good all red devil. I dressed as an elegant vampire (All i needed was glasses, which i couldn't find). The fangs impressed Naomi :-) but not her neck ;-)

The guys all dressed up really well... difficult to know what to do that won't restrict playing an instrument.

The set was cool, with a rendition of the Ghostbusters theme going down a storm. Shame the set had to be rushed for the headline act Paralax to come on.

After the gig Paul was "dead" tired, so Louise decided to revive him




Paul then demonstrated that the only reliable way to stop Lou from nibbling your ear was to cut off an arm... kids never upset a man with a meat clever!




Me being the Gentleman Vampire was content to kiss my fair Lady's hand...



Well I had to try the fangs out didn't I :-)

Korpiklaani Gig

I was absolutely mortified when I missed Korpiklaani at Bloodstock this year, thankfully tonight they played the Camden Underworld.

I've never been to the Underworld before, so I had no idea what I was in for, I've been to the Worlds End loads of times (The Worlds End is the pub above it), it was pretty tiny given the number of people there but we managed somehow to get ourselves right to the front.

I saw the funnest thing whilst waiting for the first band to come on... the guy beside me, who was extremely drunk, decided it'd be a good idea to roll a joint, so out comes a rizzla and a pouch of tobacco and the tiniest bit of resin i've ever seen. Now not being a smoker I've maximum respect for people that call roll their own, but this was lunacy. He made a good attempt to fill the paper with tobacco and resin, but made the fatal mistake of jumping up and down with the music, this ended up with the majority of the contents thrown on the floor, unperturbed he rolled up the paper (Which by now had something like 3 strands of tobacco in it). He then lit it and whompfh it disappeared in almost one puff :-)




The support band Kivimetsän Druidi, had one hell of a time setting up. After what seemed like ages of sound checks they started, only to find out the lead singers monitor wasn't working, and worse still neither was her microphone! It took the roadies a couple of songs to iron out the bugs (You could see the lead singer was absolutely gutted, but she carried on singing in the hope that we could hear). They were a pretty good band, but nothing special. The crowd liked them and a few mosh pits broke out... I even saw a few people in the crowd wearing the same style of makeup as the lead guitar so they obviously had their own fans there.

The crowd went absolutely mental the second the iconic antler microphone stand was brought out



The sudden surge of people clambering to get to the front ended up pushing me and Naomi right to the very front (Naomi was leaning over the stage). The concept of personal space evaporated and everyone was shoulder to shoulder (Or rather elbow to ribcage). When Korpiklaani finally came out the crowd went absolutely crazy and everyone pushed even harder to get to the front. In an effort to save herself from being crushed Naomi hopped onto the stage and sat next to a speaker. I however was not so fortunate and had a battle to stand up.

It's funny how a camaraderie amongst those that just want to watch the band (And protect their girlfriends being crushed) breaks out, I found myself teamed up with a man called Joe to provide a somewhat crude human shield/battering ram to keep the crowds at bay.



This all being said the gig was fantastic, the music was excellent and I felt the band played for the crowd, not just a wooden set like some other bands.



When Happy Little Boozer came on I thought we were gonners, but I found a rhythm and managed to jump and sway with the crowd like some giant mexican wave mosh pit!

Throughout the gig the singer Jonne had the odd beer and cigarette (Obviously no one told him about the new no smoking law, but no one cared) which he casually passed out amongst the crowd. Naomi sitting where she was ended up not only smoking his fag, but drinking his beer also. Everyone passed the can around, I got handed it twice and on the second go finished it (I still have the can in my pocket sitting here on the train!).

As always I picked up a tour shirt. And limped my way home... it was a fantastic gig, but I'll definitely feel the effects in the morning!

Too Many Post Its!

I just had to write about this, as to see it was to believe it, unfortunately you can't see it from the photos I took. But the lady in the middle of this photo must have a million post its marking the pages in her book.



What did make me laugh tho was the rather disturbed look the woman on the right gave both of us as I took the photo. Probably had something to do with us both laughing so much.