Gladfan Musings

This blog is no more

2011-07-27T08:12:00.002Z

I dont know if anyone actually reads this that isnt why i do it, it would be nice if someone did but i dont mind.
anyway i have now got my own blog site up and running using wordpress so this one wont be used anymore. My new blog is at blog.gfnville.com hopefully it will continue in the spirit.

Blogger has been good to me for 5 years, but its time to move on to my own (and of course if it goes wrong i will be back!)...EOL

Comment - update 25 07 11

2011-07-25T11:31:00.003Z

Well i have decided to take the plunge and setup my own website for blogging and information. Having trauled the net i settled on beachcomber.net as the host as the prices simply couldnt be beaten. Also their support is excelent.
So have setup a wordpress blog and am working on a wiki for the main site, but that will definately take a while as there is a steap learning curve on setting one up based on what little ive seen so far. So keep looking out and i should have news and a new URL soon...Oh i have also purchased a logo from ebay so it should have a nice look when i get the site working...EOL

comment - 22 07 11

2011-07-22T08:26:00.002Z

Well i failed, through work and other things i did not manage to maintain my one a day blog postings. So although i must admit the thought of having to do it did pop in my head, the actual habbit of if you do something for 21 days in a row you are compelled to do it forever doesnt actually work. It seems that you can break this by simply not having any time to do things.
Anyway i am going to break my own rule and catch up on a few things in one post.
the news of the world phone hacking scandal, this is getting lame, they have been interviewed by the police, questioned in the house of commons and now a member of the Sun newspaper team has also resigned over aligations of this. Heres a thought, why oh why did they have to go to the house of commons over this, to explain why they did it or why the company folder. Sorry, but to me if there was a criminal act then parliament should not be getting involved. The perpitrators should be arrested byt the POLICE and properly prosecuted, it doesnt matter if the subject of the case is rich the laws of the land still apply! so stop all the speculation, following things in the media, allowing publication of rumours all this should stop and a proper criminal trial started. If there isnt the evidence for this let it go until there is. All we are doing is helping them in getting notices.
Torchwood: miracle day, the new series has been on for 2 weeks, and sorry to say it is definately dissapointing. The acting is the same quality, but the story is dragging on to say the least i have watched 2 hours of television and am so bored i might give up. They spent an entire episode on a plane this week sorry but thats not the most exciting tv to be put on air. Things need to be re-edited to speed them up, if they have a budget they should use it. Hiring a plane and filming an hours worth might be cheap but its bl**dy boring!
Oh and on a purely selfish note, wanted to plug a great PC game, its called minecraft and can be found at minecraft.net (i am not affiliated with this in any way just love the thing) i have spent many an hour on this, you built and survive. Have a look...EOL

comment - 100711 - News of the World is dead, long live the news of the world

2011-07-11T10:53:00.002Z

Well i had to jump on this bandwaggon, today marks the last edition of the newspaper (if you can call it that) the News Of The World (NOTW). It closes its doors for the last time in 160 years, this is the direct results of alligations that it illegaly obtained material from dead peoples phones by hacking! them. There are also other alligations of bribery to the police force and many others.
so rather than face the music and hope he can save the paper, its owner decided to cut his losses and close the paper down. Yes they had problems, the vast majority of the papers revenue came from advertising in its many forms but starting when the alligations were made the various advertising companies pulled their adds so not to be linked to the paper and take bad press. But this meant that revenue was down, loss of earnings and no money to keep the lights on....so he closed it down..

But there is a twist in the tale of this one, and thats in the form of another paper that is rumoured to be in the works of being published, another of the groups papers "The Sun" is said to be designing a "Sunday Sun" to take the place of the NOTW, now is this just coincidence or did a businessman take a business decision to let one ship sink so that all the resources and the advertisers could go over to a new clean decked ship ready to set sail. The new paper wouldnt have the stigma of the old one and its "dubious" goings on, would be able to offer the advertisers a clean slate. yes its the same group, and maybe it will be the same employees we will have to see..
Lets just hope that the events of the past week are enough to stop the groups takeover bid of BskyB one of the UKs largest media companies, would you want this lot in charge there, imaging the damage they could do to the brand and the television of our country if they were allowed to have a controling interest, i shall watch that story with some interest....EOL

comment 07 07 11 - mobile phone insurance

2011-07-07T13:59:00.002Z

In this day and age of the smartphone and the iPhone it is more important than ever to ensure you have the proper protection for your device whilst you are out and about. Although your phone operator may offer you some protection as part of your contract there will be allot of other possibilities that they wont cover so make sure you read their terms and any cover they give you fully. Normally they only cover the warranty of the phone and if you are lucky, lost calls following a theft or reported loss from the time you report it, because if they let someone use your phone when they know it is stolen it is their fault.
What they normally dont cover is the actual, theft loss, damage and dropping in water, things that can and do happen and this is where the insurance product can come in usefull. For an extremely small fee a month (separate to your operator) you can take out your own insurance on your device, this insurance tries to fill the gaps left by your operator in what might actually happen, but be warned make sure you read all their terms and the small print. They are in business too, so they put conditions on cover, things you have to do and a timeframe to do it so they can ignore your claim if you dont meet them.
your policy could have a "must be reported to police within 24 hours" or losses must be reported within 2 hours written in and if you dont, they dont pay and you are liable for all the loss including any calls the thieves make! This has come about because my own insurance company sent me new terms, and reading through them they are allot more restrictive than i thought. I cant reprint the whole thing here as i dont have permission but an example would be "Damage to or malfunction of the Mobile Phone caused by or attributed to the operation of a software virus or any other software based malfunction." now the virus bit is normal but the software based malfunction, on most smartphones this is a definate issue you dont have cover for.

The moral is therefore simple, no matter how streight forward a policy looks...ALWAYS READ THE SMALL PRINT...EOL

comment 06 07 11 - emergency vehicles

2011-07-06T10:06:00.000Z

Now this is one of my personal peeves, and i will be looking at how i can take this one further in the real world. Perhaps we should write to our MPs and open a petition on the No10 website.
What is it you ask, well i am thinking that it should be a offence not to move out of the way of an emergency with its lights and sirens on, now the thought was you get three penalty points and a 50 fine if you dont move in 20 seconds, because any delay at all for these vehicles could be life and death.
Many a time i have seen idiots, sitting infront of a ambulance at lights, blocking them in on narrow roads or not swerving out the way in rush hour...so at the minute they get nothing, they could hold up the service indefinately and people can (and sometimes according to the press) do die because of these delays. Therefore as sending police bike escorts with every ambulance or paramedic (which is a good idea) isnt really viable in these economic times why not equip the vehicles with relatively cheap cameras and scare the public into complying.
If a driver knew they would get a fine and points they would definately get out the way or at least try... isnt that what you want, would you like a loved one to die from a heart attack, burn in a fire or be beaten because someone didnt get out the way! this really is a problem of our time with more traffic on the roads.

The alternatives i can think of are to issue a outrider police to each paramedic and fire unit, but thats hundreds and there are already police cuts in the works. Have more helicopter responce units to fly over problems, there is no money most of the ones that exist are run by charrities because the government pleads poverty...and dont get me started on that one... we cant pay for police, fire ambulance local government but we can send aid and armed forces to other countries at our expence...come on. fix home becore the rest of the world...see of topic...
so i am proposing the introduction of cameras on the exterior of emergency services, a small group of admin to review and issue tickets (this will therefore pay for itself in short order) and the introduction of points so that if you do it 4 times your off the road and out of the way...doesnt it make sence...now to write to my MP and the PM.....EOL

Comment - 05 07 2011 - childrens savings at banks

2011-07-05T10:39:00.002Z

Well as a parent i wanted to drop this one here, it is now actually quite difficult to get a child under 10 a proper savings account with a bank. Now i dont know if this is due to regulations, laws rules or just that they dont make the banks enough money but the offerings are pityfull to say the least.

Like most children my youngster gets a bit of money, christmas, birthdays and a few pound here and there from family and friends. Now this isnt allow but enough so we can start to teach them the importance of saving for things they want and keeping money safe. For instance my daughter thinks the bank just gives out money, when you tell her you have none she points to a cash machine and says go get bank will give. She needs to learn, so her own account might be the answer.

After only a few minutes online one thing is clear, banks are not geared to winning customers young, looking at the major banks firstly, the main thing is that most of the big banks are linked. Santander, natwest, royal bank of scotland the whole group only have one account that gives the kid a piggy bank for free, and their terms are standard and dont look atractive. Plus as they are all the same it makes you think they cant be bothered with them the website layout of these pages is identical as well. So onto the others, the co-op has an account but its all completely old school, you need an actual paper application form (yes they still exist) and you will then get a passbook for the child to use in the branch, only issue, they are slowly closing all their branches.
then there are the online banks, first direct, smile dont offer specifics for children...so a non started.
so how do these banks think the next generation of children will become their customers if they cant teach them young and hold onto them.
back in the day when i was young it was not like this, the banks recognised the importance of early teaching, hell the griffin bank (bought many moons ago by hsbc) used to set up banks inside schools giving out free gifts to new account holders. The halifax had special beginer accounts with card withdrawal and others...and then (and i actually still have my book for this) there was the post office, when i was 2 my parents got me a postoffice savings book and you HAD to deposit birthday money in it, it teaches importance of saving and back then there were post offices in every village in the land so you never had any problem...

My plea therefore is simple, come on banks help us parents stem the tide of borrowing in later life, the dependency on loans and bad debts, give us the tools to properly educate our children on the art of banking and budgeting and get yourself a new generation of customers that you can teach and earn money from from a very young age....oh and from the looks its either Natwest, or Co-op bank for our kid, natwest as its the best of the santander group these days and co-op is still local to our areaEOL

comment - 02 07 11 - torchwood fans not happy

2011-07-02T13:54:00.000Z

So i mentioned earlier that Torchwood the spin off from the classic british sci-fi series is returning to out screens. Well a bit more free publicity for the show has come about. It seems that although the show originates in the UK and has a british writer they wont be showing it here first or even at the same time. The main excuse out there though is that starz the network showing in the states has funded the majority of it so they have the right. There is to be a week delay in showing to the USA and in Uk. the stars have already commented that they are not happy but it is out of their hands. This is yet another show of a collaboration with licence payers money and british actors where they are just leaving themselves open to piracy. Once shown it is pretty sure that the episodes will show up online within hours.. the only defence that the producers have come up for the delay is that the UK will get a few extra minutes ontop of the USA show, which is nothing new as the USA will have to include adverts which the BBC are not allowed to do this so we will win a good 10 minutes for that alone unless its more than an hour when it shows in the USA.

Perhaps when they agree to allow others to produce their shows the BBC should come to an agreement that will aleviate the pirates and fans and show them at the same time.

comment - 01 07 11 - prepay credit cards a good earner

2011-07-01T11:33:00.000Z

Living life online these days means that without a method of payment that is universally accepted you are in trouble. There are many methods that you could use, paypal is good for one but thats only for places that will accept it and it only allows you to use it in your home country without issue. So what to do, if you dont want (or cant get) a normal credit or debit card then there are a couple of options available for you, and the main one seems to be the pre-pay credit card.

Unlike a normal credit card these ones only let you spend what you have in the account and do not actually lend money, you buy the card, load it with money and use it as normal when you run out you cant go overdrawn or in debt it just stops working. Now I went looking around for one of these and a couple of things struck me (and this is based on UK findings it might be different in your local). Firstly, they all charge you money to set up an account, that can range from a few pound to thirty, so they are making profit already, then they charge you for basically everything you do with it, there is charge to add money, yes they actually charge you a fee to put money INTO the account, which bank could normally get away with that one! They charge you for buying something, this is usually a set percentage of the cost which is worying so if you spend 100 you pay 2.75 to them for the privalege. If you buy oversees they charge exchange and the fee. So at every stage of events you have to pay them. They make money for letting you use your money....but what choice do you have?

Then there is their customer service premium rate call anyone...most charge you 30 a minute to call them so they are in profit there. All in all they are making money on money on money... but we let them.

So when looking for a method of payment, yes you have to get a card but look out for costs ...
do they offer a flat charge a month rather than a transaction fee
will they waive the issuing fee if you load the card whilst buying
do they offer email customer support to save on phone charges
if your going to use abroad whats the charge...

I am going to get one but still looking for the best contender...EOL

news - 300611 - warcraft releases big chunk for free

2011-06-30T14:32:00.002Z

The online game from blizzard entertainment "world of warcraft" has announced that it will allow users to sign up and use the game for free, indefinately. There are ofcourse restrictions, you cant earn many coins and you cant join a guild (a group in the game you join). Blizzard say that this will allow new users to enjoy between 10 and 15 hours of gameplay for free before they have to pay anything.

From the terms and conditions published on game websites though it may actually be a bad thing, this is unconfirmed at the moment, there are rumours that if you go for the free option the only way to keep the character you create when you get to the higher levels is to purchase the game and subscribe but also you have to buy the three expansion packs so in the end you could shell out £20+ each...So it may be a bit of a bad deal in the long run.

For one though i will definately be taking them up on this you can practice for free but when you are confident and happy you arent wasting your money you can scrap the free and sign up normally.

Remember to play the game you need to download the software, last time i did this is came in at a whopping 4gb effectively downloading the content of a dvd...EOL

Comment - 290611 - beat the salesman at their own game!

2011-06-29T11:18:00.006Z

I got a cold call last night, well there is nothing unusual about that you might think, they were from my phone company. "As you have been with us for some time you now qualify for an amasing phone and broadband deal, could i spend a minute to discuss them with you".
Now i hate sales calls especially when ive already told them not to. But the mood was good and i felt like having a go so we start.
"We can offer you a great deal on broadband",
"no thankyou i like who i am with",
"but we can beat...",
"You cant beat their terms and conditions or their speed and reliability",
"but sir we think our deal is the best in the country",
"but your wrong, your terms of service and supply are greatly inferior to my current carrier, your fair usage policy is a joke mine has none, it is the only uk carrier not to have one",
" but how reliable are they sir and are you getting the best speed",
"i am getting the same speed as yours as they are using your equipment on your lines, services by your engineers just paid for and run by them, the distance from exchange means i am getting the best either of you can offer",
"Oh" ...YES I GOT THEM...
"well erm, then perhaps you would like...",
"sorry but you cant offer me better than i have with terms that dont strangle me or that will limit my access if i actually use the service, yours has a clause if i use it as much as i do you reduce speed to dialup!",
"well we have to be fair!",
"im paying them not to be 'fair' and they have a better deal",
"oh well erm,, ha ha i might have to look into theirs myself if they are that much better and priced cheaper"....

Yes i actually turned a sales call around on them, their script doesnt allow for anyone to actually have done research into them already, to know how to deffend options and choices, and to recomend someone that is better than them, i left that call with a sense of achievement and a belief that my provider might end up with another customer....RESULT...EOL

comment - 30 06 11 - footloose the last of the remakes?

2011-06-29T11:07:00.005Z

I was watching american television online last night when it was interupted for adverts, now this time it caught my attention, the splash screen was for "Footloose", and for a few seconds, the thought was "ah they are re-releasing the 80's classic with Kevin", but then the scene starting playing out and it turns out MTV have remade this corny classic. This has to be one of the last remakes of 80's movies, its not that old really and they are redoing it. And it wasnt that good just a cult following thats all. The original was badly scripted the acting was mediocre and it was definately cringeworthy! but they have remade it anyway and set it in modern american high school.

I cant get into the plot as its corny the point is they have remade yet another movie from only 20 years ago! is there really that litle left in the idea bank that they have to yet again attack a cult classic, whats next breakfast club, which wont work without the original cast. Back to the future Again....howard the duck..oh right sorry there is one 80's film that could benefit from a remake. But really, we need better and new ideas not remakes. This will end up as a TV movie of the week by next year....EOL

comment - 28 06 11 - think bike! yeah right more like think berk!

2011-06-28T11:06:00.001Z

We have been assaulted in the media as of late with reminder advertisements that all motor vehicle drivers should look both ways and think bike at every junction. No doubt in a vain attempt to reduce the number of road incidents involving motorcycles and to reduce the need on the emergency services. This in itself i have no objection to, the premise is sound, look and ensure that you have a clear road ahead and in your intended direction before making a manouvre and do so safely taking into account other road users and pedestrians, simple driving experience gains this. However, they still want to remind us about motorcyclists, and there is only one reason for this, with the exception of some more advance trained riders the majority of motorcyclists are suicidal berks! and that is the nicest way to put it.

Now ofcourse this is a generalisation but the need is there to do this, anyone who goes out on a motorcycle is already taking their lives into their own hands and should not expect to survive any incident they may be involved in, the only thing between a rider and the incident is fresh air and whatever they are wearing which in most cases is scantly anything.

No the problem definately lies with the riders that are out in good weather, inexperienced show offs, clad in nothing more than jeans and a jacket. These riders are why the adverts exist in the first place, the majority of accidents it sounds like are from motorists in four wheeled vehicled making indicated turns and riders just appearing out from another direction and colliding with them. The blame however cannot be put with the vehicle driver but the rider, on many many occassions there have been incidents where a motorist starts a manouvre on a completely clear road to seconds later hitting a motorbike who has swerved to illegally overtake or undertake at speed, and in 90% of these incidents the rider comes off much much worse, as they only have minimal protection their injuries are severe, broken bones, internal bleeding, dismemberment and beheading to name but a few with body parts strewn for metres...

The main problem then is with the riders not the drivers, the riders (and this is from my own experience and the occupation i am in) are known to take risk and ignore road rules. As an example, on my drive in today alone - riders ignoring road markings that dont allow overtaking, speeding at least 10-15mph faster than the road limit, showboating swervinig in and out of moving vehicles cutting infront of trucks and cars at scary distances whilst on the move. Dressed in shorts trainers and the like. they are now called "organ donors on wheels" in our house and sometimes in the office.

Perhaps rather than targetting money to advertising drivers to look out for these riders who have no regard for others the money would be better spend on policing, traffic cameras, hotspot monitoring. In my humble view, the thousands that it has cost in production and air time for the reminders would be better spend on reviewing the motorcycle licensing test, implementing video monitoring at known hotspots (mobile units probably best so they can move as traffic builds in vulnerable locations), introducing better penalties for the riders and educating them. it is not good enough to out the onus on the humble driver, aking them feel guilty if a rider undertakes a suicide manouvre at the last minute in the hopes they miss you that you are made to suffer. Increase motorcycle insurance premiums to keep them off the road and increase their tax to pay for the cleanup when they inevitably do come off, the jet cleaners to clean the road of hazards and the undertakers to take them to their final resting place. The culture of younger people getting a motorcycle as cheap transport then riding like madmen must be kerbed before it should impact regular trained drivers...EOL

comment - 27 06 11 - police cuts

2011-06-27T10:28:00.002Z

The latest round of police cuts are in the news, apparently they have to save more than 100m so they are of course cutting the number of police! So why not just get rid of them all and let the bad guys have the country, thats about what is happening now anyway. The last round of cuts reduced police force and now this again, its rediculous, at least before if you rang for the police they would come, tell the bad guys off a bit and move them to the station for a couple of hours with a warning or a night to sleep it off. Now they wont have enough to even do that, it is already impossible to speak to anyone or to come accross anyone on the beat. At this rate we will be down to a single bloke in a beat up astra sitting on the side of the motorway not being able to stop anyone... We should be ramping up the police, giving them better powers, getting back to how things should be. Back in the day when you saw a bobby you would worry if you were a bad guy, they would catch you cuff you and throw you in a van and if you resisted it was a trip to A&E now they cant even cuff you if you say their too tight. Human rights and political correctness gone mad, if you commit a crime and are caught in the act you should automatically have your right lessened, no they cant maim and kill but they should be allowed reasonable force including tasers, battons and the like to protect themselves and the victim. At the minute they can be sued for doing anything but asking nicely..

We need a return to the older system, the older rules, if you are a criminal you are treated as one, you have the right to shut up and be smacked if you dont, you shouldnt have the same or more rights than the victim, this stupid system we have now means that they get away with everything, and if they are caught they get literally a warning on a bit of paper and asked nicely not to do it again. And they wonder why the country is in such trouble. Bring back their ability to police properly!

If they want to save money cut other things, reduce spending on MP expenses, normal workers have to pay for their own food and lodgings why shouldnt they. reduce spending on stupid bits of art and spend it on the comunity, its no good having a pretty shopping area or a pretty high street for the community if the locals are too scared to venture out to see it! Dont regenerate bad areas, give the police the backing to deal with the problem and it will regenerate itself with private funding. If an area is bad can be turned then builders will come...

All in all cuts cuts cuts will lead to a crappy country with no real law that can be enforced, with a crap health service that cant help you and no transport to get you there anyway. Stop cutting at the heart of things and trim the edges first....EOL

comment - 26 06 11 - public transport

2011-06-26T11:49:00.002Z

Public transport, the government want us to use it as a viable alternative to our hated car, the gas gussling pollution machines that we all are so linked to… There are however a number of drawbacks to actually using transport, firstly and foremost is the cost, I was looking into this and to get a day saver (which appears to be the best option of a bunch of bad ones) it would cost me £5 per day to travel by bus, opposed to £3.22 I calculated it to when you take into account, car tax, petrol and petrol tax, insurance and maintenance. So its already more expensive. To get to my place of work takes 3 busses as it is not on a main route..and then a walk anyway. So my first choice is not to go that way it also takes more time, 32 minutes in a car 2hrs 12 on the busses. So why would anyone here use them (we have 1000 employees in our location and the shopping area opposite must have thousands too. They then argue why not take a train…well we haven’t got one, that trip would be a payment on a tram to go 10 miles in the opposite direction to get a train back paying again to walk a mile from the station..and at a large cost…

Also who in their right mind would want to travel on a disgusting bus, that hasn’t been washed since purchase that the insides have been abused by every drunk in the borough graffiti and gum plus a whole host of bodily secretions have embedded the seats…plays against my car, I clean outside and tidy inside where I know what is going on in there whats been where and that I wont catch a disease from… If they want me to use the transport, the network has to be expanded to all areas, it has to be reasonably priced and it has to be clean…

Oh and as for the pollution aspect, there are thousands of busses on british roads and as of yet, there has to be a sighting of one that isn’t throwing out black smoke from the exhaust polluting worse than 10 clean running cars..come on government and councils get your act together, make it viable we might surprise you all….EOL

Comment 23 06 11 - American Stand Up

2011-06-23T14:41:00.000Z

short comment today and it is this, why is american and english sence of humour so different. Having managed to signup for Netflix i decided last night to have a surf around, see what was on offer and entertain myself for a while. So i looked at the categories they had the usual suspects, action adventure, drama, romance and comedy..ah comedy its good to laugh every now and again so i select it. I am met with a whole list of american stand up comedians, some with multiple releases so i go for the first one on the list, Daniel Tosh - completely serious, it has a good writeup and it says he has appears on shows like letterman and late night so we give it a go...i lasted 7 minutes, this guy comes on, insults mothers, married people, drivers women and bird flu sufferes he started a rant about huricane victims and how their death was funny and that was it i switched it off. How can even an american audience think it is fun to insult and berate people who undergo natural dissasters and infections of a deadly nature. Yes it can sometimes help to make light of a situation but this went that step too far... so i think this might be a one off and move on. Next i select the next on the list and the audience are laughing the comedian (and this time i didnt even bother to read the name) is stood there stone faced telling a tale of a mother and child so off that one went. What is with this american humour, they find the oddest things funny and things that in the UK would probably start a mob scene and linching. I give it one more go, and find Bill Ingham, the blurb said the soutern homeboy returns from blue colar tour, and i start this off, its excelent but then i think to myself why and it becomes easy to spot. This guy is on about, drinking, watching tv, mother in laws and farting, something that every english person is brought up to find hilarious so not to ostracise sufferers. He went on about how after 25 years of marriage he had never felt the urge to fart when he was in the car alone but get in with the wife and its like a pain like no other you just have to release, and if you try to do it outside odds are it will follow you inside anyway and i was laughing too.

The answer is therefore simple, any comedian that does not leave the united states, whos appearences are limited to only american comedy channels will only appeal to them, their humour their idea of funny, but the minute you find someone who has been on any sort of international tour youve got it cracked, they have no choice but to go for subjects that everyone human will understand and not just home topics like politics and hurricanes....thumbs up and thumbs down to the rest....EOL

comment - 22 06 11 - Torchwood hits the bigtime

2011-06-22T14:28:00.002Z

Its finally arived, today sees the start of the advertising campaign for the long awaited return of the bbc spin off series Torchwood. Since its start as a spin off from the classic doctor who it has gone from strength to strength. Starting as a lowly bbc2 late evening filler, to prime time BBC1 and now to internationan with BBC worldwide and american television network...John Barrowman must be doing something right.

Today the coverage seems to have begun in ernest, as the show is due to start showing in the US on 8th July and in the UK in September. The stars are already commenting on the show, its move to america, the inclusion of stars like Eliza Dushku and other dollhouse cast members. It appears that Jos Whedons Dollhouse cast have moved to torchwood which isnt a bad thing they will bring a cult following to the show which can only make it stronger.

The comments on the show so far are that it wont forget where it started in Cardif, still have its welsh roots and maintain the two lead characters. The show will start in wales traveling accross america, the storyline so far has only been mentioned as everyone cannot die..mmm! Images that have been published include helicopters flying to cardiff bay and shots of Eliza for the web series.

I have to say it is great that a BBC show has become large enough with enough of a following for an american company to pick it up, there are way too many shows being axed in the states and this is one they have picked up. Hopefully, the charm and neuonses of the british and welsh will not hamper its reception and the inclusion of american stars will help it make another series, it would be bad if the show tanked but with the number of american and british followers its gonna be good.

But why we ask, if this is a british american colaboration do the british have to wait another 3 months to see it? isnt that just a kick in the teeth to the brits, its licence payers money that is helping to produce the show and we have to wait! But then dont expect geeks to wait, if we cant get the show legally the odds are that this will be another torrent pirated show for the list, dont blame them its not their fault if they want it they will find a way. so why not stop the issue and make it available globally at the same time legally and accept if you dont its going global anyway...

Lets hope that the show doesnt take John Barrowman and the cast from our shores permanently, although the writer and producer of Dr Who has ruled out a linked story for this first US series lets hope that, when he has time, they will pen something that the BBC can afford and gives Dr Who a global reach...we wait with baited breath for the new series!...

Just learnt that there is to be a interactive iTunes app for torchwood voiced by Eliza Dushku this too is being plugged from today. Do apple really need more money, is this available on line because if it isnt it again wont be long until its cracked packaged and distributed. ...EOL

jackass star dies in car crash

2011-06-20T14:09:00.002Z

Just read the news that one of the jackass cast Ryan Dunn, has been killed in a car accident early this morning. Its a bit of a shock as, considering all the stupid dangerous things they have done, he dies in a car! We will have to keep reading for full details of what actually happened, but of course the first thing the romour mill wants to say is drink driving...we will see.

comment - 21 06 2011

2011-06-20T13:58:00.004Z

So i am a great fan of all things american, american television, movies, podcasts, news, information technology...but im not in america. They have wonderful services like HULU Plus, netflix things that as i am not there i dont have access to. Is there a way to fool these services into letting me watch them.

The first is simple, to watch any streamed USA television you need to be seen as being in the USA, it isnt good enough to log onto their website, your IP gives away the fact your not there and you get "this content is not available in your country". Thankfully this one is extremely easy to fix, just use a VPN a virtual private network, you get an account in the USA and connect to it from anywhere. Then the sites see the USA IP address and you can watch what you want...to a point. the services are relatively cheap (compared to flying there once a month to watch your shows) for a few dollars you get access to all their local content. The only drawback is you still live in your country so you cant sign up to any of their premium or paid content as you need a usa address.

Next you need an address, so things like hulu and netflix need a USA registered adderess to enable you to register for them, this is their way of protecting the contents. Well to get round this you need 2 things, an address and a credit card. So there are a few services, designed for shopping, that will give you an address (not a PO Box as they wont work) that you can register some need a fee to maintain but again thats cheap). You register and get that address.

The last hurdle is how to pay for things, you have a american IP address and a physical address, last you need to be able to pay them with a USA. Prepay cards to the rescue, the americans have virtual credit cards, you can register using the address you bought, and have them email you the virtual card details. Thats it, you now have a USA address and usa payment method on a usa address, you can now happily watch surf and sign up for american content...

surely though it would be simpler for them to just let anyone who pays watch anything they want this would stop piracy there would be no need for it. until that happens these three steps are all i need and for $30 and then $7 a month for the VPN i can pretend to live there...EOL

comment - 20 06 11

2011-06-20T10:20:00.002Z

so this is a bit of a borring one but i wanted to pose the question and a possible reasoning."What actually happened to the humble VHS video cassette?".

invented in the 70s the humble VHS took the world by storm, giving everyone with enough money to rent or buy the ability to chaply record television to watch whenever they wanted. The format went up against betamax and won, then just as suddently as it came it seems its gone, there are no longer video cassettes to rent in blockbuster. No more to buy in asda or hmv or any other retailer, without a whimper or a bang they have just dissapeared to be replaced by the shiny silver disc of the DVD and now the Blueray disc. And what actually happened.

I remember when DVD came out, the local video store and retailers, introduced a single shelf unit, they had a extremely limited number of titles to offer, they sat happily next to the video, they were vastly superior in quality and sound but then they were digital, no hiss or clicks, no tracking to adjust for better quality, no need to remember to rewind them before you return, so yes we can see the advantages of the DVD but what happened. it seems to me that overnight, litterally, the shelving units were adapted to house DVD the shelves swapped out for dvd case storage, and VHS was relegated to the bargain bin near the door. The format was good, it held up and didnt get scratched, but it did degrade, now you are told if you have any to transfer them over to dvd or digital before they are lost forever. But what then of the video that is held by the BBC or independants, has all this been converted, have the vast bunkers of storage they used to have been replaced by a single computer server farm? We dont know, they didnt say, no one did, there was no big anouncement fromt he manufacturers to say they were stopping making VHS, no update from a supermarket to tell us they would no longer be stocking them. Compare this to the death of the humble audio tape, this was at least mentioned in the media when phillips the company credited with inventing it, ceased, they got a few mentions and column inches. Can you say the same about VHS...NO. and the format actually had its advantages, although it took up more space, it made the job of a video pirate a pain in the backside, unlike digital you had to copy a video at real time, not rip it in 3 minutes from a dvd, you had to get around replay technology like "macrovision" that needed special equipment, not like a dvd you just shove in...so why replace it, yes the quality was poor but that could have been improved, but what about players. Again without a word to us, shops stopped selling them, to replace a video player nowerdays you have to do some serious digging, your high street store might have a single model they are holding onto a limited supply of but that will be it. You are actually being encouraged to pirate tape to DVD to get rid of them.

My daughter (who is 5) didnt even recognise a video, i held up a tape to her and told her it was a movie and she just said oh daddy its a dvd then, i didnt bother to explain just called it an old version of a dvd and let it go. We should look for the technology to be in museums and taught in school, no kid should grow up without the joys of at least hearing of the story of the furguson videostar from the early 80s you could hear starting up 3 streets away. Lets not let any other technology just fade away, they should be given the dignity of being missed. We grow but we should recognise what has come before...EOL

Comment 190611

2011-06-18T23:48:00.001Z

so i thought that for todays comment we would put a little time behind the subject of television advertising. Who exactly comes up with the ideas for these advertisements and their supporting campaign and what sort of halusenagenics are they on at the time.

case in point m&m's this is an internationally renowned brand and their campaign is to have giant sentient confectionary that is ficting to be the first to be eat, this is not at all sain for one, what sentient being would knowingly allow themselves to be killed! If they were alive and that size they could start their own little town and get left alone, so what sort of narcotic was the inventor of that one on?

next we have the latest in a line of advertisements for old spice, this time a rather well formed coloured gentleman spends 30 seconds telling us what would happen if we did use the product. Well newsflash to the inventors of that one, if you walk down any average street in the USA or UK then you wont see many well formed gentlemen, most are overweight on the verge of heart attack and those that are built like that dont watch television because they are in the gymnasium maintaining it and not on a couch lowering their IQ and physique.

now dont even engage me when it comes to the idea that came through the head of the individual responsible for the latest barclaycard advertisements for contactless technology, who would believe that a single individual would build a rollercoaster just to get to their place of work that just happened to pass a single point for them to buy a banana! The outlay needed for such a endevour would not really be fiscally viable, nor would the reader they use have time to validate the transaction in the time on screen. Surely they arent trying to bring some fiction to the matter of purchasing fruit! oh and on the subject, have a thought about this contactless, and i emphasise the word contactless technology, when it does come into full effect what is to stop some 17 year old layabout from taking money out your pocket whilst you walk down the street just by passing you by within 30cm, think how many people brush into you in the shopping centre, or down the street, or on a bus each one could be taking 15 from your card, or 15 from the card of everyone they meet... not a good idea...

and as for pain relief, i have just watche an advert that will remain nameless, they spend the first 10 seconds showing how a athlete swimming had come over in pain, now to me that is the first sign that there is a problem, usually when there is pain and excercise its a good indication that its time to stop and in most cases seek medical attention. Not for this advert though, rather than taking the time out to rest and seek help take two little pills hide the symptoms and continue on. Isnt this how deaths or serious injuries are caused, mask pain so that you cant feel it, they do this in most sports and the culprit is prosecuted, in this advert though it is encourages

then there is the completely weird advertisement for cadburys chocolate, so we think to ourselves its chocolate, children like it, there will be children happy eating it playing with their friends... NOPE the advertisers decided to smoke something i think. Their take on the matter get clothing in a dry cleaners to come to life and undertake a dance number to some hip hop music, a shirt and some pants doing a dance is perfectly normal and might happen if you eat their product...their is no way if this is how you see the world i am going near this proudct..EVER!

and then there are the car adverts, i shant bore you with the details of all of those as you will no doubt have had to sit through several in your day already. Surfice to say what ever happened to the days when an advert would focus on the facts of the matter, how safe the vehicle was, what sort of fuel economy they could maintain in regular use what sort of servicing...oh no! why do that when you can drive a vehicle around a sleeping city and blow up buildings and signs. you can have drivers operate the vehicle and halucinate about wild animals surrounding them. you can have the car drive like its under attack by alien paintballs and heavy equipment. And of course there is the great scene in a art gallery, pan around, see the flowers the cube displays the art...and no car...for renault. In all just give me back the good old advert follow it down the road tell us its features and just keep the thing sane...

in short i am getting more and more concerned with the advertisers of this world, most must be on narcotics. They appear to be striving to win awards on the best effects in a advertisiement an award which i believe does exist. I find myself going back to the ideas of the advertising agent played by dudley moore in the movie crazy people, where they actually make the breakthrough of advertising things in real terms and giving real advice, for instance volvo ..theyre boxy but there good. no wonderfull smoke mirrors or explosions just a picture of the car and a fact... so here are a few of my own suggestions in this vain...

Alfa romeo...were more expensive than others, but we look good and you wont get lauged at for the badge.
Immodium...got the craps its either a cork or 2 pills...
anadin...got a headache or other pain, mask it with this until you can get to a real doctor and check your not dying
tesco...better than asda not as good as sainsburys, but its all moderately good value and staffed by people over 21, and we do want to take over all aspects of your life, in our stores expect us to ask you to buy other services want to buy loo roll we will try to sell you finance
asda...were cheap but thats what you want right...
microsoft...if you want to use a PC on planet earth you really dont have much of a choice but to use one of our products, but we will make it pretty whilst we screw your for hundreds...
apple..we used to be small now were bigger and better, smart shinny products you will pay way more than their worth just so you can show a cute apple picture to other people...
and so on and so on..if your product is good and people will use it then word of mouth works better than 1000000 adverts on the televison...state the facts and let the people decide...EOL

comment 17/06/11

2011-06-17T14:34:00.001Z

so today i will have but one comment of opinion on this entry, why on earth would the BBC in their infinate wisdom, use a single writer for what have turned out to be two of the corporations most prestigious and highly rated (in viewing figures that is) shows. Namely, today on twitter and on the BBC news website, the BBC have announced that writer and producer Steven Moffat is responsible for both "Sherlock" their updated version of the classic Connan Doyle stories, and Dr Who the corporations oldest and unless mistaken best loved series. This has lead to them having to announce that there are just not enough hours in a day to enable this gentleman to work on both series at once for next years seasons. Rather than deciding to take the sensible option and have other writers assist they have said they will cut the run of the afformentioned Dr Who show to just 6 or 7 episodes instead of its normal 13. Now this may be just another of the BBC public relation stunts or a call for more media attention for both shows, but put bluntly they dont need it. Both of these serials have enough of a following to ensure that their popularity will be high without such stunts.

Perhaps they should spend more time better organising their own affairs than publishing information like this, in no other organisation would the fates of two series and numerous hundreds of other employees and distributions companies hang in the balance of just one man. Yes he is a writer that has helped relaunch both franchises but he is not the only one, over the years Dr who has had a number of writers on screen and off, why not open the floor for them to aid in the continuation rather than shortening the run.This is a bad use of the licence payers fee, we have to pay for eastenders and other sub standard productions, and here we are limiting the good product for lack of leadership.

it further transpires that there is also a arguement brewing on twitter of all places, between Mr Moffat and the controler of BBC one saying that the one cannot affect the other. we will just have to see who shouts loudest. Remember though that a shorter run will effect everyone, from the corporation itself, to the stars, the cameramen, the lighting technicians the caterers and the cleaners for the show, also the knock on effect is huge only 2 dvds in that set, less plastic needed, less order less product. Impact seems small and annoying to the viewer at home but the impact to the whole production machine behind it and distribution after the fact is astronomical...lets hope a happy medium and solution is reached without delay...EOL

Comment of the day (unpopular one no doubt) 160611

2011-06-16T13:15:00.001Z

So for this days comment, my thinking is that i should address a matter that may cause some contention or controversy with its readers, namely that of the matter of the humble smoker. Now is should preface this article by the fact that I myself, have never, smoked do not drink and have never engaged in the use of any recreational drug at any time so any reference made is from teachings or news related articles and not life experience in the matter. That said as an individual an opinion is held and this is my forum to voice that.

Smoking is an addiction, the contents of any material that is legally sold over the retailers counter for igniting and inhaling contains a concoction of noctious and harmful substances. As youself if you would what a firefighter has to go through to avoid smoke inhillation and then think of the individuals choice to actually inhale this voluntarily, there has to be an underlying cause or addiction that causes you to do this. And there is, the average cigarrette for instance contains a number of addictive ingredients that are found in the tobacco plant and those that might be added accidentally during its processing, making the finished item addictive, once smoked for any length of time the user will find it difficult if the stimmulants and addictive materials are removed from their daily routine. This addiction is what drives them and what makes them time and time again secum to the dreaded item. It is also why it is such a problem to stop the action, the addictive ingredient is missed and to stop you must gradually reduce your daily dosage until it is nearly completely removed.

Anyway that being said we get the the crux of the matter and the reason i thought it prudent to comment, why is it acceptable to employers to make special arrangements and acceptance of this addictive habbit, comparing this to other legal habbits it should be treated no differentl than if you turned up having partacen of cannabis, this too is a naturally occuring plant, its leaves treated to enable them to be smoked, its packaging made useable. However, if you turn up under its influence you are more likely to be dismissed than if you took a break for a cigarette. Employees are regularly afforded the time to have a cigarette out of a working day and most of the time this is just lost. Non smokers get no such allocation of time, you are not permitted to cease work for 15 minutes every two hours to simply stop.. but if you had this addiction please do so! this makes no sense, so the question is this, should all addictions be accepted no matter their severity or content. Should addiction to narcotics in any form be accepted by an employer, and should you be allowed time to partake of your particular choice. Or, and this would be the preference, should you be made to abstaind from all stimulants other than from food, whilst at your place of employment.

The choice is to accept all forms of addiction, all vices that your employees may have or to ban them all, otherwise my rights and the rights of an addict are not the same, i am loosing out for not being addicted to anything. there is no designated non smokers break area otside our premises, or outside most public houses the old seating areas have been changed to smokers as they are evicted from the main premises (which i for one applaude). Everyone should be treated equally in life and in employment, if dispensation is given to smokers then the same terms and times should be given to non-smokers, no loss of time benefit should be granted to one group and not the other.

And whilst we are at it why is smoking legally accepted anyway, the drain on the NHS and emergency services, lost work hours and pay, lost productivity and impact on the environment should be enough to have the past time banned, however, as there are too many people addicted (theres the word again) to this we cant afford to, the tax income is to great and that is the ONLY reason it continues. So why not legalise all drugs, control their distribution tax their sale, we already put millions in man hours to police unlawful production so why not switch that to lawful production monitoring like with tobacco. Quality could then be controlled, and medical issues paid for with the taxation. legalise all forms of drug, control their supply, use the tax to pay for counceling and control...in short do to other products what was done with tobacco and the product pay for its own use.. if it is harmful put the tax to managing it. instead of taxing us non users to pay for its effects socially...EOL

my thought for the day - 150611

2011-06-15T14:59:00.002Z

just perusing the multitude of periodical publications in our local supermarker. I have to ask myself who in their right mind would buy any of these rather overpriced pubications more than once... i found a linux magazine for 5.99 one for 6.49 and others for computer games all around the 5 mark, surely there are many better places to get more accurate and timely news stories from online and for free. If these pubilcations were around the 40p mark then yes, its fair enough that we pay a little to get the infomation but when i can google a article and find out that it is now superceded by several issues then how can they justify it.
In this multimedia interconnected, broadband culture in which we live, there should be a bit of common sense, yes businesses need to earn money to stay trading however not at silly money.

And dont get me started on the "free gift" tat they they might attach to the front of a publication to entice you to purchase it. If i wanted a bright pink, self inking cartoon character that is guaranteed to break on first use then i am more than capable of importing my own for the 5p the no doubt reimbursed for the item. And as for computer magazines for 6 that include a "free software dvd" on closer perusal it is all opensource anyway, so give me a version for 2 that does not include this waste of space.

EOL

Comment blog 140611 - BBC TV Centre

2011-06-14T09:48:00.003Z

This one is aimed squarely at anyone who lives in the UK, having just read on the news that the BBC are to sell off another of its assets, namely, the actuall BBC TV centre in london I was torn. On one part there is the actual building, a icon of the modern media, a hub for all things licence fee, where the majority of television programs have been made from events hosted and records broke...a institution that the licence fee should help to maintain until the end of time.

Then there is the more shall we say, efficient, way to look at things, the location is getting old, it is 50 years since it opened its doors to the production of television, in that time we have seen so many changes that there is not real way without ripping it out that a facility of this age could ever be expected to keep up. Think about it since it was built we have had, man on the moon, satellite radio, the mobile phone, satellite television, interner was born, fibre optic communications and home broadband. Now i dont know it as a fact but i can guess that when they built the original one they couldnt have had more than a bunch of phone lines or coms because they couldnt have known about the internet revolution and satelite link news... so it may actually be time to mothball this facility and turn it into a national museum..

lets remenis a while, from tv centre they brought us Blue peter, the institution of the child for over 40 years the show has come from a studio in these halls, from the humble elephant pooing to john knokes and then onto goldie and simon groom, with cooking bits and events in the circul courtyard these images are what us oldies grew up with and we will remember them even when it has been sold off to pasture in some form Generation game was another institute of the 70s where families onscreen and off came together to just laugh without the problem of violence or indecency, just fun... dr who was first made in its studios, then there are the news rooms and of course bits of top gear... it will be a sad loss to stop using the exterior but as this one came in hopefully a new facility will have a new sign for them to show. I remember on saturday mornings them showing the exterior before they started Swap Shop and then saturday superstore. They also use the exterior for every, and we mean every children in need since it started.

All we ask then is that the place is given a fitting send off for it holds many memories for all young and old, also national memories of the late roy castle and his tap crew which have to be arguably the most memorable use of the place. Lets not see it demolished for flats or a hideous office complex, reuse it for education and training, a proper use remove the letters but keep the building. And please, please please when you make a new hub for the media for the future dont make it look like a stupid "art" project, something that will, like the original, stand the test of time.....EOL

Comment 10/06/11 Cancelled tv shows

2011-06-10T09:49:00.001Z

I am a follower of all things USA TV and was sickened by the extermely long list of shows both old and new that have been given the axe this year and wont be back. Surely the stuidos in the USA have some money in their back pocket to allow shows to mature to a full following. But no. anyway the list is here.

All My Children (ABC) ... The daytime soap opera is going the way of the dinosaur, the dodo, and Eddie Murphy.
Better With You (ABC) ... Canceled.
Big Love (HBO) ... Just finished its fifth and final season.
Breaking In (Fox) ... Is it the Christian Slater curse or the Bret Harrison curse?
Brothers & Sisters (ABC) ... Was rumored to be coming back, but it just didn't happen.
Caprica (Syfy) ... Canceled-prica.
The Chicago Code (Fox) ... Just didn't have the viewership to keep going.
The Closer (TNT) ... Final season premieres July 14. TNT is currently working on a possible spin-off.
Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (CBS) ... Lots of trouble right out of the gate, a rare spinoff failure.
The Defenders (CBS) ... Jim Belushi is available, guys!
Detroit 1-8-7 (ABC) ... 187'd, yo.
Entourage (HBO) ... The upcoming eighth season will be its last.
The Event (NBC) ... But what will happen to Sean Walker and Vicky's potential romance?
Friday Night Lights (DirecTV/NBC) ... Final season already aired on DirecTV, will begin airing on NBC in April.
Glory Daze (TBS) ... Canceled after one season.
The Good Guys (Fox) ... Hope you already said your goodbyes to the Good Guys, because this one is long gone.
Hellcats (The CW) ... Well, we got this one wrong. Canceled.
Human Target (Fox) ... On the wrong side of the bubble after escaping cancellation last year.
In Treatment (HBO) ... Canceled, but its storylines could continue in "a new format."
Law & Order: Criminal Intent (USA) ... Final season begins in May.
Law & Order: Los Angeles (NBC) ... DONE-DONE.
Lie to Me (Fox) ... Truthfully? This really didn't stand a chance.
Life Unexpected (CW) ... It should be noted that The CW hasn't officially canceled the program, but showrunner Liz Tigelaar has said that it won't be coming back and several cast members have moved on to other projects, including Britt Robertson to the high-profile Secret Circle.
Lights Out (FX) ... Canceled after just one season.
Lone Star (Fox) ... Canceled last fall, just two episodes into its short life.
Mad Love (CBS) ... No love for Mad Love.
Medium (CBS) ... This one is already gone, dude.
Mr. Sunshine (ABC) ... Mr. Sunshine, Meet Mrs. Darkness.
No Ordinary Family (ABC) ... These TV heroes were powerless against ruthless TV execs.
Off the Map (ABC) ... Now it's waaayyyyyyy off the map. These things just write themselves!
One Life To Live (ABC) ... This show only got 10,000 episodes! Give it time to develop!
Outsourced (NBC) ... Its departure opens the door for a new "non-racist racist comedy."
The Paul Reiser Show (NBC) ... You barely even gave him a chance.
Rescue Me (FX) ... Airing its final season this summer.
Running Wilde (Fox) ... A massive disappointment that ended in cancellation.
Secret Diary of a Call Girl (Showtime) ... Just debuted its fourth and final season. Won't be back.
$#*! My Dad Says (CBS) ... @%$&ing canceled.
Smallville (The CW) ... The tenth and final season ends in May. Won't be back.
Stargate Universe (Syfy) ... Canceled. But at least Face Off was renewed! Right?
Terriers (FX) ... Don't even get us started.
Traffic Light (Fox) ... Red means stop.
United States of Tara (Showtime) ... Currently airing Season 3—which will now be its last.
V (ABC) ... We'll miss you, Queen Anna.

Blog 240511

2011-05-24T12:22:00.002Z

well its been another week since i posted but hey what do you expect when its so hard to come up with anything that you dont have to worry about posting. i mean when twitter has to worry about being sued over allowing its users to break a super injunction out, then its a bit worrying. but then when twitter were told of the breach they just said "bring it on" ther is no way that a law suit brought by a UK resident will effect them in the USA they dont recognise such things besides you cant sue the internet. And i have to think that is true freedom of speech is a right we shoudl all have (within the reasons of ethical guidelines of course, freedome of speech doesnt and shouldnt cover racism) so twitter should be safe. On other topic i was awaoken this morning y a rather large and heave hail storm it woke me as i thought the windows were coming in, randam i know but i wanted to mention that in spring we are getting hail stones the size of marbles...is this global warming gone mad again, i am thinking yes.

oh and definately worth a mention is the explosion in china, the factory that makes iPad 2 for apple blew up killing at least 3 people, does this mean apple will have to slow its world domination? i think not. anyhow thats all for now lots of random ramblings, i think that going forward i will pick a topic an entry and stick to it. having just re-read this and it reads like a brain dump. so next time one topic... hope that works EOL

blog 170511 gotta mention eurovision

2011-05-17T12:46:00.004Z

Now you have got to have known that i had to mention the eurovision, it has to be one of the largest tv shows in europe, this time with over 110million viewers, which is some going when half the time the countries involved dont talk to each other and usually dont even talk the same language. This show seems to bring people together, which was the original idea of the thing after all and its nice to see that it still works. This year the event was held in dusseldorf, germany after they won last years contest. The organisers completely converted their main football stadium into the venue to house multi thousands of audience and miles of tv cable and equipment. It has to be said it was impressive to see them do it but when it was done looks like they spent the majority of the budget on the large back screens that did all the scenery. That said they then went on to let themselves down by following in the tradition of having completely corny and annoying presenters host the thing.

the evening went well with everyone but moldova taking the event semi-seriously the entrants songs might have been bad but at least they didnt take it as a joke, moldova turned up in gnome hats and stupid outfits jumping round like loonies. Oh and honorary idiot mention to those prats jedwood, they didnt deserve to represent ireland, they should not have been allowed on stage, my comment of taking it seriously applies to them as well, ireland have a grand tradition of winning 13 times so far, these idiots then come out with spikey hair and red glam rock shoulder pads, an insult to the event.

scoring is the most boring part of the night it takes 2 horus about to have singers perform and then another hour and a half to do the scoring! they seem to labour on the scoring making sure that even when no one else can win everyone else gets a vote. it was close, between azabaijan and others but in the end azabaijan won out, only thing on that is that in a way the UK did win as one of the pair is from London...EOL

Misc - Stargate Universe ends

2011-05-14T00:05:00.002Z

Well i have just watched the last ever episode of stargate universe, it seems in their wisdom that sci-fi who make the show have decided to kill it after such a short run. I have to admit that myself, after watching the shows first season had to agree with them, it was crap, but then the second season came allong and it is like the writers woke up or similar, the plots became exciting and connected, the story unraveled over the episodes there seemed to be a purpose...and then it ends! what are they playing at, what would it take to make them reconsider... The final episode of the season (or so the actors thought) actually left us on a cliffhanger worthy of the stargate name. And now we will never know what happens, hopefully there may be a movie like SG1 had to try to wrap things up, but wouldnt bank on it. Perhaps the fans could come up with fan fiction worthy of the name to explain things. I just know that there is a big gap in the sci-fi world by leaving this hanging in the balance. And worse yet news, the creator brad who has worked on stargate in its many forms for 17 years, cleared his desk and quit the studio. After his show has been treated so badly we cant really be surprised can we, but we have to hope that he has ideas on where to take the franchise next, there have been three incarnations around the wonderful prop the stargate, there is scope for so so much more. this cant be the end...please no, dont leave us with endless re-runs of minder or dougie houser MD, give us original series to captivate our minds and hearts... Bring another incarnation and give this one a fitting ending.. or do we wait another 10 years when we are old and in my case grey.... RIP SGU you went before your time...

Friday the 13th

2011-05-13T20:21:00.001Z

Now i am only a bit supersticious but its friday 13th and that is one thing for some reason i do believe in, that and the number 13 being unpopular. For instance, today so far, my bloggs have been lost (well for now as blogger.com is down) i have gotten dressed inside out and spilt stuff. Hopefully thats the worst thing today but as we are only half way through the day cant see things getting better if anything the possibility of things going wrong will now increase.

The idea of friday 13th being unlucky comes from urban myths and some real history, the urban myth i think comes from the movies and TV, series like paranormal and horror movies using it dont help. the origins of the actual phobia are unclear, i did a wiki search and got the long text below, but what it boils down to is simple, there is no one event that made it unlucky or unlike any other day but through social word of mouth and passing on through families 21 million people are stressed by it 3 times a year…

According to folklorists, there is no written evidence for a “Friday the 13th” superstition before the 19th century.[4][5][6] The earliest known documented reference in English occurs in Henry Sutherland Edwards’ 1869 biography of Gioachino Rossini:

Rossini was surrounded to the last by admiring and affectionate friends; Why Friday the 13th Is Unlucky

Consequently, several theories have been proposed about the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition.

One theory states that it is a modern amalgamation of two older superstitions: that thirteen is an unlucky number and that Friday is an unlucky day.

In numerology, the number twelve is considered the number of completeness, as reflected in the twelve months of the year, twelve hours of the clock, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve Apostles of Jesus, twelve gods of Olympus, etc., whereas the number thirteen was considered irregular, transgressing this completeness. There is also a superstition, thought by some to derive from the Last Supper or a Norse myth, that having thirteen people seated at a table will result in the death of one of the diners.
Friday has been considered an unlucky day at least since the 14th century’s The Canterbury Tales,[3] and many other professions have regarded Friday as an unlucky day to undertake journeys or begin new projects. Black Friday has been associated with stock market crashes and other disasters since the 1800s.[6][7] It has also been suggested that Friday has been considered an unlucky day because, according to Christian scripture and tradition, Jesus was crucified on a Friday.[8]
A theory by author Charles Panati, one of the leading authorities on the subject of “Origins” maintains that the superstition can be traced back to ancient myth:

The actual origin of the superstition, though, appears also to be a tale in Norse mythology. Friday is named for Frigga, the free-spirited goddess of love and fertility. When Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity, Frigga was banished in shame to a mountaintop and labeled a witch. It was believed that every Friday, the spiteful goddess convened a meeting with eleven other witches, plus the devil — a gathering of thirteen — and plotted ill turns of fate for the coming week. For many centuries in Scandinavia, Friday was known as “Witches’ Sabbath.”[9]

Another theory about the origin of the superstition traces the event to the arrest of the legendary Knights Templar.

The Knights Templar were a monastic military order founded in Jerusalem in 1118 C.E. Their original mission was to guide and protect Christian pilgrims along the path from Europe to Jerusalem during the Crusades. Through this mission, the Templars developed a banking system to protect the finances of the traveling pilgrims, then expanded this system throughout their holdings in Europe. Over time, France’s Philip IV of France amassed a debt to the Knights Templar for years of service. He had nearly depleted his money due to his ongoing battles with England. King Phillip became envious of the Knights Templar and their rise to power, so he set his sights on their famed fortunes. Philip devised a plan to arrest all the Knights Templar and charge them with crimes so devastating that no person or group would come to their defense. The charges against them were religious in nature and backed by the papacy of the Vatican and Pope Clement V. His plan had to be swift and carefully put together so as to not alert the Templars in advance.

Knights Templar and Philip IVKing Phillip’s orders were sent a month in advance to the King’s Men and other Bailiffs. They were not to be opened till dawn on Friday, October 13, 1307. The charges against the Templars were of the highest accusations of heresy: that the Knights Templar asked members to spit on the cross and step on it, to deny Christ, to perform homosexual acts, and so on. The king’s orders were to engage and arrest every Templar in France. All Templar outposts, homes, wineries, mills, and castles were to be taken in the name of the King of France and Pope Clement V. This nationwide arrest was widely successful, and medieval torture tactics were used to obtain confessions from the Knights. This single act against the Templar Order is now viewed as one of the most unlucky days in History – Friday the 13th. King Phillip attempted to further bury the Templars in a public manner: a large event in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral would have Templar Grand Master Jacques De Molay publicly admit guilt of heresy. Instead, the defeated grandmaster took to his forum and apolgized to the people and Templar Knights for his weakness and for signing forced confessions. He then rescinded his original confession and testified to the public that he, his men, and all Templar Knights were innocent, despite their forced confessions. An embarrassed King Phillip was enraged by the old man’s actions and had him burned at the stake along with his second-in-command. De Molay’s dying last words were to curse King Phillip and Pope Clement V, claiming that by the year’s end they both would meet their demise. To add to the superstition of the Friday the 13th and to the power of the Templars both men did die that year. [4]

The connection between the Friday the 13th superstition and the Knights Templar was popularized in the 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code. However, some experts think that it is a relatively recent correlation and is a modern-day invention.[3][7][10] For example, records of the superstition are rarely found before the 20th century, when it became extremely common. One author, noting that references are all but nonexistent before 1907 but frequently seen thereafter, has argued that its popularity derives from the publication that year of Thomas W. Lawson’s popular novel Friday, the Thirteenth,[11] in which an unscrupulous broker takes advantage of the superstition to create a Wall Street panic on a Friday the 13th.[4]

In Spanish-speaking countries, instead of Friday, Tuesday the 13th is considered a day of bad luck, commonly referred to as ‘Martes y trece’ (Literally translates to: Tuesday and thirteen).[12] The Fall of Constantinople, when the city fell to the Ottomans, marks the end of the Byzantine Empire. It happened on Tuesday, May 29, 1453. That is why the Greeks also consider Tuesday to be an unlucky day.[12]

random comment

2011-04-28T09:17:00.003Z

can anyone explain to me how it is that after a few months of non use in my bag when i go to get my headphones out they are in a ball of wire and fluff. i put them in there nice and neat, what happened! did a little fairy go in there and mess them up to be a git... there has to be a logical explanation to this problem... now i have to spend half an hour untangling the things to be able to use them again.... OH NO there are two pairs...thats an hour of my life i want back.

blog - 26/04/11

2011-04-27T10:36:00.001Z

So was again listening to my favorite radio station of the year so far "heart" london in manchester, and this morning was getting more and more annoyed with the thing. Not only was the wonderful royal wedding in every news story on the half hour but the presenters were on about the rehersal early this morning and they even had a competition to win a meal on a roof reseraunt in london to watch it on a big telly. woopee... come on if you are going to do a competition at least have it somewhere on the route, if we want to win a meal to watch it, might as well be on the telly in my local chineese takeaway! not very special. But back to my comment, i am so sick of the coverage that this thing is getting, the setup for tv coverage started week ago and they have actually been doing news on how they are going to do the news...is the world really that boring at the minute this is the best we can do. not cover wars, deaths politics..just fluff pieces on upcoming 24 hour coverage of something some of us dont actually give a toss about... I bet the politicians are loving this week, they will be taking it as an oportunity to get through all the laws and changes that would normally get stuck in review, with everyone otherwise engaged they wont get the media coverage and things will slip through. Look out for new privacy laws soon that remove you right to it! New road laws and anything else that has been turned down more than once. Lets keep our eye on the ball, dont let them slip under the radar!

on the tech front, sony announced today that they PS3 accounts have been hacked, they lost all user details including payment details..woops! only thing i havent read is what they are actually doing about it, have they told customers, frozen accounts or actually done ANYTHING! lets wait and see, only 2 days to the media frenzy that is the royal wedding, all tv channels will be covering i am just hoping that they leave the childrens channels alone so i can watch 24hours of spiderman to avoid it....EOL..

Bad service of the day!

2011-04-22T13:37:00.001Z

I just wanted to put a note on here, I went out todqy to buy a cheap phone for the mother in law. So I go to tesco, nice store normally bit in bury they have a separate area for phones so I go, we see a good one and look for the assistant. There is one Guy serving and he's on the phone so we wait. He's only on the phone t his mates for 5 minutes he shows Jo signs of dnoshong so we leave as do allot of others. Dont know about you but I call it bad service and ignorance, if i did that I'd probably be tired. Will complain later

Judgment Day

2011-04-21T15:47:00.003Z

its here, as per the terminator movies 3rd incarnation (moved for every movie) today is judgment day, the day the machines take a stand and wipe out humanity..they have 8hours left to launch their offensive... or some say that they have already won, we are that dependant on technology, rather than launch an attack all they have to do is freeze up for a week and we would be in serious trouble. Without computers (if they crash or decide its game over) we would have no power, no fuel, no transport (other than some older cars) no food as distribution would fall down without computers to manage it. lets hope nothing happens and tommorow is just another day...watch the skies and your phones people....!

Blog 21/04/2011

2011-04-21T15:31:00.001Z

this time...england is in glorious sunshine, we have nice warm temperatures the sun is shining, the clouds are gone, all is well...untill they issue a smog warning for the whole country. Yes you read that right a actual smog warning, I cant remember one of those in years, its from all the crap our cars and industry put out. So instead of relaxing in the garden with children playing we will have to wait for the instruction to stay indoors close all your windows, and stay there until it passes. Its rediculous, the only time i heard of smog was in old sherlock holmes black and white movies where smog covered london town...if this is the product of all those cars then impose a 2 car per household maximum and a engine size limit. its the only way, otherwise we will all be dying in the next few years (and i only have one car so it wont bother me)...

the FAA or air controlers in america are in the news this week for aparently cocking up the first ladies landing, they had to abort as the controller fell asleep and apparently the plane came within 2 miles of another one and had to be diverted. On looking into the story there were "several" controlers found asleep at work were suspended and have now been fired. To me this should be a criminal offence not just a slap on the wrist, if you are responsible for the lives of leterally thousands of people at any one time then you should be held responsible if you fall asleep, if its that boring dont do it. Compare it to any other high power job, what would happen if your local fire service slept through a callout, what 1 maybe 2 people might die, they would be arrested and probably jailed for negligence and the whole service under review. Traffic controllers fall asleep in charge of a hundred planes of 500 people thats 5000 lives to end when they collide because there tired, arrest them and give them the chair...it should come with the job. Fair enough if you are training and make the odd mistake within several miles but to be asleep means you are not able to stop anything. how were they found out as well, did they have a crash they covered up because of it, are there already fatalities out there yet to be discovered! its a crime!

And in sad news, as a sci-fi fan since childhood i was a fan of the BBC's doctor who in the 70s and was saddened by the news that Elisabeth Sladen who played sarah jane in the 70 series has dies age a mere 63 another victim of cancer. She also had success in the latest version of the show and her own spin off. For once there isnt much to say other than its a shame and hope her family are all at peace...

and a rant for the last of the post here, i went to our supermarket today and found...they have put up union jacks and banners, they are selling royal wedding merchandise, and its all a con, we saw, a tin of buscuits from mcvities for £5 just because it had the royal couple picture on it, not bad except when you go looking you can find twice the weight and half the price without the picture, are we really that sad that we will buy anything at rip off prices just because of a picture. if you are that bothered buy a commemorative radio times and stick to normal stuff....EOL.

blog 150411

2011-04-15T14:52:00.001Z

its been a while again since i pasted anything here so thought i should do a bit of a catch up, since last time i have been to movies, seen several on the tv and heard a bit of news. also watched alot of TV to catch up on series and just watch american stuff. so to start of with i went to the movies, this was after i spent a stupid amount of money on a ticket and even paid a couple of pound extra to sit in a posh seat, and they wonder why piracy is a problem, it works out that for one person to go to an actual cinema it costs probably more than waiting for and buyin the dvd in a couple of months time. If they made it more reasonable with at least a drink thrown in and released a movie on all formats at the same time giving us the choice i am pretty sure there wouldnt have only been 2 of us in the theatre for this movie. But anyway, i went to see "Source code" about a soldier who switches places for the last 8 minutes before a train explodes, repeatedly, i must say that the movie started out slowly and took a while but once stuck with it the story unfolds, turns out the soldier isnt in real world and that everything is inside a computer...you have to see the ending though as i liked it...and they all lived happily ever after time! 4/5.

On the tv front i have been keeping up with my favourite shows like NCIS and NCIS LA, and there have been a burst of new pilot shows in the USA anyway, body of evidence for one following a county corroner and co-starring jeri ryan, only watched a bit of this but it looks good, i mention jeri ryan as she also turns up online as sonya blade in a remake of mortal kombat coming soon, then there is the walking dead, i know i am a little late to this one as its been on every network there is, but i was recomended it so took a look, it is actually very good, the storyline is that at least a city has been overrun by zombies who bite and therefore kill everyone, a lone survivor wakes in hospital to find everyone he knew dead..but not his wife who he is convinved survived..and he has to survive to find them. The effects on this are a bit gruesome for tv but it works in the end, dismembered bodies and smashed heads with animals being gutted on screen all lend to the horror, it works but there are moments when you question its believability as some makeup can be visibly seen as rubber and for zombies they dont do much biting or eating...but the story is good, i meant to just watch the pilot end ended up watching the first three episodes! but it is good, not one for the kids though this is definately late night only.

The news, well the usual muerders and people being fixated on the royal wedding which is now in 2 weeks, radio shows run competitins to watch it from rooftops, speculation over what they will wear..i have to say that unlike the rest of the population i dont actually care! along with the royals there are literally thousands of other weddings on that day and this one should be no more special than those, the royals dont actually have any power anymore and it will probably end in divorce anyway! give it a rest will ya, and make sure that not all the tv on that day is the wedding i want to be able to avoid it...

its the school holidays next week and i am not looking forward to going out anywhere, it will be overun by either young kids and mothers shouting at each other or teens being kicked out the house for the day and loitering at shops and on streets as they have nothing better to do but try to intimidate people, there shoudl be organised locations and activities for these kids, keep them occupied by the government, ground that one parlimentary plane taking them off to some summit costing 20million and build youth centres and parks...keep em away from us doing our weekly shop!...EOL.

Comments - 050411

2011-04-05T10:16:00.002Z

Again its been a few days since my last post, i really must try to do this more often, i have no clue if anyone reads this but it has a positive effect on me for writting it so we continue...

This time think i will comments on our wonderful government yet again doing stupid things, but hey its the government, we elect a bunch of muppets to run our country and its our own fault! this time they are cutting our already small armed forces by another 2000, at this rate the 3 ships we still have in the navy will be manned by polish work experience kids from a city, the army will also be a small force of 10 who spend their careers behind a desk and the worlds walks over us...hopefully not literally, all this means is that the next time some stupid dictator decides to have a pop at the UK there wont be anyone to stop them, they will have to reinstate conscription and pay more money than maintaining a force. its stupid burochracy to say the least, there will be no-one left to protect anyone in any country everyone will have to hire defence forces and the bill will be high anyway...muppets!

then there is the referendum they are holding on a vote to pay out 250million to change our voting system! Whos is paying for the referendum of the UK we ask ourselves, why the tax payer, so to try to save 250million they will have to pay millions talying votes from a referendum and in the end probably end up doubling their money. And i bet you that during any referendum and tour that the MPs are making to support the voting system will be paid for by the public so add that to the bill! So rather than having the government defend this ludicrous voting system they are proposing, the people should veto it, the queen should speak against it (go on do something to earn you money) it is the ditch attempt of a shaky current government trying to change the century old rules so that they increase their chances of staying in power even if they dont get the most votes! Save the money, stop trying to cling to power and give it to....the army! It could save lives instead of change the way the people get to vote, from what i read anyway the system they are suggesting is only used in 3 relatively small countries, i mean who went on holiday and came up with this idea?

on another note the ipad 2 sales figures are going great, its a shame to say i actually fancy getting one of these proprietary apple tablets but happy to say i cant as they are just too expensive, how in the name of anything, can they justify £399 for a wifi version of the thing, we are paying apple to be able to buy apple software, because no one else is allowed to release anything, even stuff written in a back bedroom has to be approved, endorsed and royaltied to apple. myself i think i will go with a nice reasonably prices android tablet, the only reason i want one anyway is to make it easier to read a book as my phone screen is a bit small. Apple do it again though as their sales are extremely healthy, there was a small waiting list for the units, apple again get the consumer to buy a locked down item that they will dissable if you try to do what you want with it...come on people vote with your wallet, refuse to buy it until they make it...open

and finally just a quick one, the unhealthy lifestyle of the UK office worker, a little bit for you to think over, as a office worker you are expected to turn up at 9am sit, at your desk and only your desk, and be available for 7 hours of the day, you then get up go by whatever means of transport home, to do what you need and then sleep, if you have a family then you are out of luck, tie this all with fast food culture, cheap ready meals and the decline of actual free time and you get one nation of unhealthy bordering obese people, is it not time that we took the inititative and set an example, enployers should allow time (as schools do) for activities to improve their employees health, be it organised keep fit on the premises or locally, walks (if in rural areas) or just being allowed to move free around the building then they should, they might loose out a bit on revenue but if the place is a joy to work at then they win in moral and probably money in the long run reducing absence...everyone wins, oh and ban anything with a sugar or fat content over a safe level. just a thought...by the time we get in or go home we are too lathargic or have other chores to do. Gone are the days of getting home before 6 slaving in a kitchen, washing clothes by hand and gardening to eat...so we need alternatives...just a thought...EOL!

review/comment - The Backup Plan - J LO

2011-03-29T19:44:00.002Z

I just had to comment on this movie, its been out for a while but only got round to seeing it this morning and ....oh i wish i had never wasted another hour and a half of my life on this drivle. as bad ideas go this was one of my worst it has to be in the top 100 worst movies of all time (although i havent checked the IMDB poll yet!). The acting was cronic, the story line so old hat it wasnt funny, there was only one slight smile moment in the thing. I mean give it up JLo this is another bad idea, stick to singing and making music videos. This reminds me of Gigi the other jlo movie that was slated back in the day, when she did win a rasperry award for being crap. If it were up to me it would be deleted from the dvd archive of the worlds, erased from the movie studios stupid store and wiped from my memory forever,but failing that take my advice avoid this smouldering pile of brown crap... 0/5 from me.....EOL

Comment - 280311

2011-03-28T13:37:00.001Z

its been a week since my last entry here so lets see what i can think of for an entry mmmmmm

Well i have been trying to avoid the news as usual, but whilst keeping up to date selectively, and with a bit of sucess i have no real need to know how many people are dead in a disaster or the need to listen to politicians rant over countries that we have no need to but i do like to keep up to date on other stuff. the budget for instance, could do with a laugh, i mean what exactly do we expect every time someone in a suite who earns at lest four times my salary stands up to tell us
the country is skint and oh, you can have a whole 1p off your petrol. But we will screw you somewhere else. whoopee! If there are so many cuts needed to our infrastructure of local authorities then simply scrap something for them, why not remove ALL expenses for politicians, remove all travel that isnt paid for by a company (which isnt much) and remove travel allowances from them, make em pay like we have to, theres a quick couple of million right there. Then have them scrap stupid multi million research on weapons we cant afford to buy when there built anyway and put it towards bullet proof vests and..oh yeah! BULLETS! Its why the budget should carry a bi-line of "for comedy value only!"

next, well comic relief, its good to see that the country has money to spare for a good cause but what about all the others, it was a night they took over the TV (that we pay for) and force images of foreign countries down our throats, why not use ALL the money raised and help out those dying in our hospitals and on our streets, then when that's fixed and cancer is cured they can go help out other countries that have been hapily (or rather unhappily) the way they are for centuries, it is only us that try to enforce our western ways on them not their choice, do we really think that someone in african village cares if lenny henry comes and tells them their water is dirty, its been dirty for generations and the race survived!

its been a slow week for movies too, normally i get to post a review or two a week, but this week i havent come accross anything out there to make me want to go and write about it, the only thing i have really seen was "Paul" staring Simon Pegg, this was a nice little diversion, it was stupid, silly and definately not high inteligence. Just lots of slapstick, if they had left out the expletives then this would have made a great family movie. But again nothing special. Hope next week brings more entertainment.

TV.. how did i survive before i got sky+ it is a tv adicts dream, you can go through an entire weeks listing of shows and record everything you want to veg out infront of the idiot box for hours on end, record those daytime shows and see what the unemployed get to watch, thinking about it...its a curse, you can watch reruns of 70s shows, more soaps than you can stand, have no excuse to miss anything...help!!! Must impose a limit on myself to keep what little sanity i have left!

and finally, having to make do, in these financially challenging times there are many, including myself that have to "make do" this was somethign of the norm back before the abundance and the disposal nation we have turned into since the 80s you didnt buy something knowing that you would have to replace it in a week it had to last, a washing machine had to last decades not 3 years until the new model came out, im wining because my missus has decided that she doesnt like our bathroom, to me its one thing, blue and works! to her it isn't up on the latest fashion, but she doesnt want to help pay for it oh no..just tell me how much she hates it whilst going on a shopping spree for a new top! I am now calling for the reinstatement (where it is practicle) for the make things to last, we should insist manufacturers have a minimum life on any item they sell, for anything over 50 it should be 5 years and more for more expensive, not just let them put out plastic rubish that needs replacing, they will make their money out of servicing and referals and those few who can afford the latest. if it works use it if you really cant stand it then pass it on....bring back the make do mentality.

until the next time...EOL.

Comment - 19032011

2011-03-19T22:11:00.002Z

Well i actually managed to do it, i have gone for 24 hours without hearing any news, It was relatively easy just have a sick kid who just wants to watch hours of peppa pig reruns on nick jr, and your there, no oportunity to catch a bulletin or listen to the headlines, every time i went near my PC it was "daddy can i play on disney" and that avenue is off. So yes i actually am in the dark not knowing the state of world events..and you know what..it doesnt matter, its like being back in the 70s when they had power cuts we didnt cry about it (much) we just didnt worry. All media does is tell you information you have no control over to scare you into buying things you dont need, do we need to know the latest murder statistics or events to scare us into buying bigger and better locks for car and home...no we got on pretty well before it and we can exist now. Dont think though no matter what we will ever go back to being able to leave our front doors unlocked or open as too many people want what we have...

oh and we had another childrens birthday party today, it went relatively better than last week as it wasnt run by two wannabe gistapo agents, this week it had two actually happy and accepting dance teachers who understand children run and dance of their own accord. It was actually an enjoyment to watch the children happy for once, (even if our kid cried and wouldnt leave my side for first half hour). on the whole a good day. i now intend to sit back and enjoy a marathon of 70s battlestar galactica and a hacker movie (note again no news yet) have a nice evening and back soon...EOL

Comment - just another blog entry

2011-03-18T00:03:00.002Z

Well its been a few days since i last posted anything here so thought that i would just do a roundup of events and thoughts for the past few days in rapid fire -

number one, japan. it is painful to watch the pictures and events unfold for such a large and proud people, it will take decades to repair and replace the homes and lives affected by this natural disaster and everyone should do what they can to help them. But...ah there you go a but...they live on a geo faultline, their premises are supposed to be built to survive this and the first time it actually properly happens everything they have done including the safety of nuclear plants turns out to have been a waste of time. come on! its a bit of a sad event, we cant have another chernoble and we cant have the technology coming into question when the world is in need of alternative fuel and power. Rally together people governements need to act NOW! save the people the places and the powerplants.

Childrens parties - bit different to the last one but had to be mentioned, i had the misfortune to take my child to a organised childrens party, yes i thought this will be good she can interact with others her own age, she will play she will laught... But oh no, the parents of the birthday child had hired a dance studio so things were already a bit bleak, we got their to tunes of children crying and organised activities. OK you might think but NO! the event was being run by two ladies, the owners of the place i think, who were running it like an old style concentration camp. They had the kids in a set area, doing set things at set times with rules. They even told the kids they couldnt run aroung...for god sake they are kids, thats what they do. If you dont understand kids or like them around the place dont hold parties you bunch of gits. I must admit i am not one for violence but in this case i felt like telling all the kids to gang up on em and kick em!!! you cant run a party for fun like they did, its just not fun. And some of the kids responded by crying the whole time... the time i might add that was exactly 1.5 hours and at the end as per the invite to the second the lights came on and everyone had to leave there and then. That has got to go down in my books as one of the worst events i have had the missfortune to attend so far. lets hope other venues arent as strict for kids... who tells a kid they cant run indeed!

sky hd - this week we finally took the plunge in our household, upgrading our sky to the newer set top box, having payed the stupid upgrade fee and now paying more subscription i thought that installation would go well... it went as i thought, just about managed to get it done. The engineer (all subcontracted by the way) rang and told me he would attend between 3 and 4 pm, he got here at 4.42 only to tell me he didnt think he had enough cable to do the job! he ended up using second hand stuff he pulled from his last job. Installation actually went well, if you dont count the fact he told me he fell off his ladders a week before, we had to carry ladders through the house because he couldnt be bothered to walk around, and he dumped the old dish from a hight. He also managed to take a chunk out of the wall with a drill and filled it with the usual silicone...not the most impressed ive ever been with an engineer. But it was finally here. and i have to say i am impressed and unfortunately addicted to the new toy, its got record functions 14 days in advance for every channel i can get, has remote records from my mobile and even can download items over the net. This however comes with a caution from them that if you only have limited download allowance you will eat that in 30 minutes so pay them more for that too.. i am addicted to the thing now, its recorded hours of tv i wouldnt otherwise get to watch because of work, so i feel like its better value for money. We will see in the longrun how the HD bit works as i havent really tried it properly yet.

the royal wedding - i have to say that its only a month off and i already wish they would just get the damned thing over with. the media are all about talking about things they dont know about. The bbc for instance filled 15 minutes of their morning news to tell us that they dont actually know who is designing the ruddy dress but heres some other dresses that it wont be. The radio is constantly on about their preperations or how good they are together, sorry but to me (and i am definately in favor of a royal family) they should be left alone to get wed, the item should get 30 minute news special and thats your lot. But i just know every stupid glossy mag and tabloid will be discussing it for the next 12 months at least.

red nose - couldnt let this post go without a bit of a rant for my child, this rant is simple, there is a charity in the UK called comic relief, it is lead by comedians (real ones) and each year they take over the tv for an entire evening on main channel BBC1 to raise money for other countries, now this i have no real problem with, would appreciate it if they didnt do it every single year, and that they shouldnt really be allowed to take over a entire channel that is paid for by our licence fee without our concent, shouldnt they have to use a commercial station that isnt supported by a enforced licence fee, but thats another rant altogether. The rant here is that the merchandise they sell, in this case aimed at children isnt fit for the purpose. Each year the charity put out a red nose, a wearable item that retails for one pound that can be worn on the day to make you look silly. This year however they have gone and made these things out of some sort of foam, so my childs school showed support for the charrity and purchased 300 of these things to sell to its students to raise money, we bought one and gave it to the child, now she is only small and her nose is still forming so it takes a big squeeze of the thing to get it on her, awww she looked cute! for all of 5 seconds before the foam it was made out of just gave way and split the thing right in half. Ok we thought, we got a bad one, lets support them and try again, so we bought another and the same thing happened, looking into it about 50% of the ones the school sold are in pieces having split down the middle of the foam. this is just appalling, these things are sold as fun wearable items mainly for kids and they are useless, it also doesnt look good for next year, if they are bad now why would we want to do this again next year. Anyway i have complained to the charity and will let you know what the outcome is.

until next time, goodbye.

Blog -090311 (Donnie darko , petrol and todlers )

2011-03-09T19:13:00.001Z

So what have i been doing? In short busy, let's see I watched a movie on recommendation of workmates and that was a mistake, they said I should see a movie called Donnie Dario and I have to say it was aweful and that's the polite way to say it. Yes it was weird as I was warned but it was also very long and for the most part extremely boring , the idea is a good one a kid mixed up due to time travel its just a shame it was so long and plain. After that it was back to normal so nothinwg new rhere now on the way to work saw tyinga I hadn't seen cars stalled at side of thwart road out of fuel, this I think is because of the rising price people are having to try to get that little bit more out of the tank and in some cases just misjudging it this is not a good start it will cause knock on problems the government should address fuel or alternative fuel problem now rather than later.
Oh ajd one last thing today, do we need rules for parents like all kids under 3 should be kept on a lead, today I saw several kids running around a busy carpark with parents trying to catch them this is just plane dangerous , anyone found with an out of control toddler should be arrested and made to do compulsory parenting classes!
Oh and to add to another thaught from earlier I phaeton just been to petrol pump and been greeted by a long que and lots of empty pumps I think I wasnt the only one to see those broken down empty cars this morninf and they scared the whole town!
Have a good evening...keep thinking..trust your techno lust!

Comments _ipad2

2011-03-03T12:06:00.001Z

So I was watching some coverage of apple event last night for the launch of apple ipad 2 and I think to myself do we really need this to me anyway the new version is what the original one should have had in the first place. It is just a bit thinner supports better apps has camera for conferencing and a cool cover . He original one didn't have the functionality and we have to ask did apple actually have all this for version one and just held it back so try could release better models whenever sales look like they may fall. Somewhere on te apple campus I AK sure there are designs for the next four versions of the thing. Anyway that said i would like to maoe one other comment..during the presentation Steve jobs took it upon himself to slag off android saying things like "lets see them do that" like android tablets are so far behind it is funny to him. Well Mr jobs heres one for you Tue difference between appear and droid is that anyone can do things for droid it's open unlike yours where your developers have to seek authorisation to sneeze. So you have issued a challenge to manufacturer a geek. Manufacturer does the hardware leave the geek and in a few month we will be back on level pegging on everything bar...price yours so so expensive sir.

comment - the i, newspaper

2011-03-01T15:40:00.001Z

I was thinking today that i have not actually read a hard copy newspaper in many a year, so whilst mooching around the local supermarket i decided it was time. Perusing the news stand coming across a new cheap paper simply called "i" for just 20 pence. A bargain! so purchased. Sitting down with this paper i must say there is a reason it is only 20p thats because you are simply buying the actual paper it is made out of, there is so much whitespace in this thing you could actually (with some better editing) reduce its size by about 40% (in myopinion). it seems to be a collection of extremely short articles on events, with summaries of the same stories in the middle to pad the thing out. Throw in the normal number of adverts to pay for it and you are left with a rather poor paper, you would get far better coverage from the internet newspaper sights and those are free. yes its understandable that the paper is smaller and contains less, but to actually repeat things in dumbed down form is insulting.

my choice..avoid this one, spend a few more pence and pick up something like the mail or better yet use your mobile and read bbc news..theres more on it.. what a dissapointment.

comment - oscars...why?

2011-02-28T10:55:00.002Z

after hearing the oscars film award results this morning i am left asking myself just one question... Why Bother? the outcome was already set and was correct leading me to believe that the only reason to hold this event anymore is simply to rake in as much money as you can from basically a televised party! The results are known before the fact, every television news team out there puts up their "thaughts" on the subject weeks in advance and low behold they are right.

tv companies pay millions in royalties to watch celebrities in stupidly priced "free" outfits basically walking advertisements walk in and sit smirking at how much they are making for showing up. We should all come to our senses and let them just publish outcomes quietly, they are basically raking it in from all sides, dont support them let them just get on with it in a nice posh hotel like every other company has to.

as it stands think about it...

celebrities get paid for appearances to discuss the possible outcome

celebrities get given thousand dollar outfits to wear..for free as adverts for designers

they get paid by transport (limo) companies to use their services

they get paid by news companies and entertainment channels for interviews on the red carpet

they get paid for post result show interviews

they get paid for stories of the event and its runup

they get paid to wear jewelry watches and accessories by companies or just get it free

they get paid by their studio if they are under contract

and remember.. in the first place they get paid multi million dollar salaries to play act in the first place.

be under no illusion the oscars is a cash cow for all involved, it is not as they used to portray it a way to recognise exelence in the field of film, but to celebrate who can put the most money into a film, its production its effects and most of all its marketing. Case in point, the social network, billed as the history of facebook, it has now won oscars but the only problem is it isnt a history of facebook, the founder himself said the only thing true was the clothes. its a sham. If you win it means little as you already knew you were gonna win when you wrote the thing... its a sham that most people join in about.

comment - how stupid is our teacher

2011-02-16T12:15:00.002Z

wanted to just put a quick note on here over something that happened to our child today. Yesterday, the teacher sent her home with one little bit of homework. Knowing that the majority of people now have internet access she set the relatively simple task of asking them how long it took to build a certain church, fair enough. But they seem to have overlooked one small point! The kid cant yet read or right properly so how are they supposed to record their findings for class the next day . We could have written it down, but she cant read it, we could have got her to write it down but she cant write it. so how in the hell was she supposed to take the info back to the teacher! didnt they think of this at the time.

sufficed to say my kid did what every other 5 year old in her class no doubt did, she got ready for school, remembered that there was something she was supposed to know, couldnt remember and broke into an almighty paddy and crying session over it. Not her fault! So teachers i emplore you, if you are giving a task to a kid that cant write, make sure it is something easy to remember or just dont do it!

Comment - what is the facination with apple "app for that" mentality

2011-02-16T11:18:00.000Z

I ask myself one simple question when i hear the phrase "theres an ap for that" and that is, why have so many people fallen for such a simple sales pitch. When they say the phrase they are always refering to the proprietary apple application store, a store which by its own virtue ties you into so many rules regulations, copyright laws and distribution methods (there being only one) that it pains me to think of it. And the store is for one single set of devices "apples" own which although pretty is overpriced and locked down.
(surely if you buy something its yours to do with as you please, if you buy apple you cant rebuild it, root it or anything else, its like you buying a car and being told you can only use it between the hours or 8 and 7 daily for 10 miles, who would do that, but thats another argument)

What we should be saying is, i bet there is a smartphone application for that, and vendors being made to put out android, iphone and symbian (the main three) versions all at once, it is actually a fact that in the world as a whole the humble iPhone does not actually hold the largest market share! they just had the biggest advertising budget and already had a marketplace set because of iTunes.

The only problem this writer has with apple though is that they are not open, not opensource and not open to anyone. to get an app on the iTunes store you have to meet many rules, be authorised by apple themselves, use apples own programming package (that is incompatible with anything else) and have to use apples distribution rules and payment details if you are making a app to sell.

On the other hand there is the android market, the software to develop is based on linux and so is OPENSOURCE no massive rules and copyrights to worry about, anyone has open access to any of the code (thats what opensource means) and there is a marketplace that is managed but not strangled by its makers, yes there is some vetting of applications on androids marketplace but only in so much to make sure that the app that you place their isnt malicious or offensive.
And then there is the older symbian platform, nokias own ofcourse, again this is proprietary but the difference is the development is open to anyone and you can put apps in their store more openly.

So if anyone is to consider themselves a techy in this day and age they should not be aiming at just one market. The point in technology or software is to be as open as possible to as many platforms as possible, dont fall for apple's hype, they dont rule the world of technology they just make cool looking gear at a premium price tag. This year for instance the humble (overpriced) ipad will be outsold by android tablets for sure because of price.
Aim for an audience not a market. dont fall for a sales pitch.

Comment - I have no comments

2011-02-16T00:53:00.001Z

This post is great I can actually post that I have managed to avoid anything to post about. For the past two days I have attempted to avoid any sort of media news and have succeeded! How you might ask well that is actually quite easy just watch video online and avoid live tv and radio and that's it. I don't know what is going on out there and I don't think it has had a bad effect its like being in the seventies again the world isn't any different but I am not as concerned. The world of news so set to scare you into watching and getting addicted to bad thing in the world is a now gonna try being a. Child. Of. Seventies media and see if I live any happier

Idiotic road signs

2011-02-11T13:03:00.001Z

Why. Is it that when the council put up signs to inform drivers of upcoming road works they fill them with so much detail you have no chance in hell of reading it all on the way past it at speed. Are they stupid or something! Keep it brief and informative so we don't have to risk crashing to read it

Review - life as you know it

2011-02-10T21:03:00.001Z

So I just watched the movie life as we know it.
This movie is great I am a fan of the actress in this film is won't name here as it might encourage you to go and see it. Now this is no high browser movie the premise is simple the friends of a couple go on a blind date to discover they hate each other. Friends die and leave 1 year old daughter in their care, the two struggle with the task and fall in love... I will leave the final outcome for you tjo watch. Suffice to say there aren't many surprises in this just a nice movie for an evening in. I give this 3/5th

Comment - should some mini-cab drivers even be on road

2011-02-10T12:00:00.002Z

Having had a very scary trip into work this morning I have to ask the simple question, do mini-cab drivers have a license or in most cases just common sense?

They seek to lack basic skills like speed control, lane management, obsticle avoidance and traffic lights. The basis appears to be get to the fare as soon as possible and sod the risk. For instance this morngin I witnessed unsignalled lane changes narrowly missing others OVER 3 LANES, stopping wherever they want no matter the traffic situation, stopping on doubel yellow lines amidst a heavy traffic buildup, also acceleration at amber lights to get through in time but missing and going through on red. There was also one extremely scary incident of a cab just outright ignoring a red light, at a school no less, and then pulling up to let his far out there anyway.

Surely these people should be held to a higher standard than other road users, rather than apparently being ignored by the police, surely if they are ever caught breaching any rule of the road, as their job should be safety of their passengers they should be made to take theire test again and in some cases simply banned from the job alltogether. They should be held to a much higher standard than the rest of normal road users as it is safety of others, i am sure if a bus driver or HGV driver did what they do they wouldnt have a job for long at all. Anyone wanting to be a cab driver should have to take additional safety testing, maybe have gps monitoring on their vehicles and a 2 strikes and your out rule to their licence to carry passengers. it is scary what they get away with and I for one want to see things improve.

Comment - childrens television in the 2010s

2011-02-04T16:26:00.002Z

I have just read the best and most heartwarming thing to come out of our parliament this year, was it about ending war, fixing the economy or ending homelessness...NO it was about the state of childrens television in the UK. Now there are those out there that would say that this is a non story, that such things are only put out on slow news days to help hide another more offensive story, thats not the case. This like other issues is something that we as british parents have to think about every day, television these days for children is nothing like it was back in the hayday of television the late 70's and 80's when you could safely put the tv on of a morning or afternoon after school and be entertained by hidden education shows such as playaway, playschool, blue peter and the like. Nowerdays, these, rather educational shows and some that were also educational and teaching by their storyline like grange hill or biker groce, have been replaced by mindless airfilling dross like "spongebob squarepants", "Dexters laboratory", "Power rangers" and the like, these shows have no real meaning, teach no skills and are simply their to take up time of the child so parents can use the goglebox as a surregate babysitter.

TV should go back to its roots for television, be educational, fit in with things learnt at school, ok make it entertaining, no kid wants to sit and watch a teacher when they get home but have it mean something, i for one have invested in DVD copies of the old shows sesame street, chorlton and wheelies and charlie and lola, these are more preferable to the dross on BBC these days. Surely, as licencepayers and fee payers for government we could force them to pass rules for this type of television, in fact their used to be rules for how much television had to be children orientated and educational why not just bring it back.

I was glad to see this and the fact was only driven home more in that it was raised by an ex-childrens presenter of some standing Floella Benjamin who is now a member of parliment, she made some great statements during a rather good speach today which has prompted this -

"Appropriate children's television is beneficial to childhood development.
"It can improve attention, expressive language, comprehension, articulation, general knowledge as well as social interaction and life skills.
"So I urge the government and broadcasters to wake up to the crisis in the production and quality of public service broadcasting for children.
"I ask the government to find creative ways of funding to maintain the traditional well-made British pre-school programmes which contain all the necessary and essential elements required for our children's well-being."
Well-made shows could help parents to "develop educational and stimulating techniques to use when interacting with their children".
Play School was remembered "fondly" because the producer "put children's well-being at the heart of the programme", she said.
She added: "Many parents do not have as much time to spend with their children as they would like. However, high-quality television and radio can be an ally, allowing parents to let their children watch and listen, safe in the knowledge that they are benefiting from the content."

we should all take it upon ourselves to back her on her plee for sanity on television, no we dont want to take things back to the 80s as morals and rules change as does style and kids interests. But unless we bring the Values of the era back the next generation of children who will replace us will turn out mindless zombies partially illiterate (because school only has limited time to teach and it should always be complemented by out of school activity) and things will suffer.

comment - advertising targetted to children

2011-02-02T01:26:00.004Z

so i was sitting watching this weeks episode of Click online, this is the BBC technology program that is on a weekly basis. This week they did a piece on targeted advertising on children. This is when companies put tracking software and reporting cookies on sites that children will visit, this software like the adult counterpart tracks a childs surfing habits and buids up an online profile. Now the main difference and the cause of the contraversy is that children cant understand whats happening, at some point in their surfing day an advert will show up for something that they will actually want. Now to an adult we will see that and just ignore it, but children it is thought, might not have enough about them to understand and ignore things.

So the question is should companies be allowed to do this at all, should they have to adhere to the same sort of rules they do in the real world, out there they are not allowed to target children, they are not allowed to product place, they are not allowed all sorts of things. So why dont these rules apply in the real world, if there are rules they should aply everywhere and at all times. time to come up to date.

Review/Comment - Movie - Due Date

2011-01-31T23:14:00.002Z

Can i have the last hour and a half of my life back please? this is the question i am asking myself after finishing this movie! Decided to watch this as, perhaps misinformed, thought that Mr Downey jnr was on a good streak with his past movies. So give it a go, oh how disapointing it was. This was slated as being a comedy and i can see that, if your 4, the humour was morose, the puns predictable, the antics old fashioned. If this had been made back in the 80s it would have been a national lampoon movie and made a fortune, but this is 2011 and this type of crap just wont cut it any more. Yes i laughed once, but that was it. There are crashes, a masterbating dog, personal injury and vomit.. classic movie this is not.. on the whole i think that this zach character just wanted a paycheck and robert downey was bored between iron man movies. Because if either of them thought this was good they need to be committed to the nearest psychiatric unit NOW! This toilet level humour is not what we should be seeing in a movie these days, this should be up for a rasberry award and knock something else out of the worst 100 movies OF ALL TIME! 0.5/5 (and thats generous)

Comment - my great idea, give tv soaps their own tv channel and give us a break

2011-01-29T00:11:00.005Z

so i was driving to work this morning, like i do most mornings listening to our local radio station and to my disgust the presenters are discussing last nights goings on on eastenders, this is bad enough i think but after 5 minutes of inane wittering about this i think hey that has to be it..but no they go on to analyse coronation street in total 16 minutes they wasted of my drivetime talking about a fictional show. Now this in itself is disturbing but more than that they sounded like they believed the storyline actually had merit that some baby swap line or other or alien murder might actually have happened. OK i think thats over with.... then the news comes on, good, current affairs, the state of conflict in afghanistan, police chase on motorway... oh no! nothing like that the first story, coronation street. aaaarrrrgghhhhh! havent we got enough to fill the news they have to report on a work of fiction! (although conspiracy theorists say all news is manipulated lets not go there). It is a sorry stat of affairs when 20 minutes including what is supposed to be the news is taken over for fiction, what happened to current affairs!
The problem in my humble opinion, the TV stations, and most hurtfully the BBC spending my forced licence fee payment on this drivel that i have no intention of ever watching, of ITV for making programs for sad people to watch and they sell adverts to at inflated prices... i didnt pay my licence fee (which is law by the way) for them to spend it on depressing fiction drama every bloody night.

heres my solution, give them their own channel on freeview and sky in the uk call it something like SOAP TV and put all soaps and so called drama shows on there for people to actually choose to watch, make it advertising based so i dont have to subsidise it. Then i get the choice whether to watch this crap or avoid it like the plague (personally if this happens im locking this channel out of my tv lineup). The channel should show all the current shows and reruns to keep the housebound entertained, it could be funded by adverts and sponsors as most of it is now, and my license fee and airtime can be put to better use on real news and infotainment shows!

Then maybe the radio stations will have to pay to review the channel or sponsor it so hopefully reducing their eagerness to pad their shows with wasted time and fictional talk and make them work for a living. And make the news actually about news!

i am going to start a petition and i hope you will all join me in signing it

Give soap tv a chance, support choice not enforcement!

Comment - give soap their own TV channel

2011-01-27T14:34:00.000Z

is it not time that these so called, soap opera's received their own channel! in this current climate it appears that there are channels for everything and for all tastes. If you look at the sky lineup for instance they have, food channels, knowledge channels, history channels, lifestyle channels, comedy channels, kids channels and so on. So why then dont they offer sweet relief for us soap dislikers, and offer a soap channel. Get these incepid waste of space depressing, bad acted, long running things off our mainstream screens and put them on their own channel that can run these things 24/7 for anyone who wants to watch them (and the rest of us can simply lock the channel out of our tv's). In the scheme of things how muc revenue do these things bring to the BBC...erm... NONE they are paid for by the licence fee payer in the UK and I for one dont want to be made to pay for this drivel. The independants make them so they can show adverts around them so they wouldnt loose much if they moved them, the revenue would still come in.. they would also benefit from having another platform to show depressing re-runs for the unemployed and housewife. Its win win for everyone, and they could use this regained mainstream time for other more interesting and upbeat shows that might actually be liked. So come on, save my money and get the ball rolling. Lets all wright to the TV companies supporting this idea, hell i think i might even start an online petition.

Stop the dross, support Soap.tv an independant channel!!

Please please please....just stop! the real news is depressing enough without the prime time slots being filled with baby swapping, tram crashes. it might also make newspapers report an actual news story instead of goings on in fictional shows and locations..its so sad really... After so many years its time to free the airwaves, redirect funds...

Review and comment - The Social network

2011-01-24T22:58:00.002Z

This is a really geeky film, or so i thought, this should have been a film about the birth of the phanomanon known as facebook, that well known and much tallked about social network. The one i try to avoid like the plague because it has a weird and hard to understand privacy policy...oh right this is a movie review.
The film starts out at the start of mark zuvkenbergs college years, when he was a lowly freshman finding his nerdy and in most cases hapless way around the place. After dumping and then blogging about his girlfriend things pan out, he has a revalation invents the facebook and the rest of the movie is about people trying to sue him... well not very geeky really. but i have to say that i have watched this movie some 20 times so far and will many more times as it is great background noise when you have something to do more important. it is no hackers or antitrust but a good time killer.
Now the reason it is just a timekiller is that it is a work of fiction, they hailed the thing as the history of facebook, only one problem the real mark has already said that the only real thing in here is the wardrobe! so a work of fictionk, if you understand that then enjoy 3/5 stars

Comment - tv show - daybreak

2011-01-24T10:32:00.001Z

I had the distinct missfortune today to catch 10 minutes of itv ones breakfast show called 'daybreak' and i have to say was less than impressed. After only a few minutes i.can see that every expence has been spared, they must have got the producer from primary school and the graphics from a 1st year art project. The presenters were aweful and the conteny lughabpe, they spent 2 minutes selling some stupid quiz rather than trying to entertain. The links weee jo better, the idea is to smoothly kove from one item to the.next with.a nice graphic for the viewer, they failed, some stupid psycodelic graphic popped.up for half a second whilst the whitless presenter was still talking. I am begijing to understand why this drivel gets such.low viewing figures! Back in the 80 tvam this shows predesessor has to invent rolant rat to save them but at this point i think all rats woulsld jump overboard. Come on itv come to your senses (if you have any) cut your losses at this point axe this crap and try again, or better yet admit the mistake and bring back tvam its props should still he in storage.

Comment - HTC updates, 2.2 whenever they get round to it

2011-01-19T14:27:00.001Z

Just wanted to post a quick comment here, I like others i think went out last year and got my first android mobile phone. To save money i went for the HTC wildfire which, although a base model does most things that the expensive ones do with just one exception. The operating system is old, it runs version 2.1 when the latest is 2.3 no big deal.. according to the manufacturers website the updated version would be with us by december. So i go and buy it, its a good little phone, you can install thousands of apps and customise it to your needs. I like the thing but its major drawback is the fact you are limited in memory as you cant install applications to a expansion card on the current software. So we need an update.

November comes, no news, december comes and HTC post on their site that update coming shortly so yay for me problem soon to be solved. January comes and still nothing so i email their customer support, helpfully they mail back with the joyous news that the update is available in Europe, so i go check .... NOTHING! so i write back and they come back with the wonderful news, that they release the update systematically over the air and i would just have to wait their turn.

So i am not happy, they wont say when it will come, when the phone will become more usable, my advice to anyone thinking of doing the same and entering the smartphone market at the cheap end is simple...DONT get your phone supplier to give you a better handset already up to date, and dont take anything less than version 2.2... HTC customer service, quick responce but of NO USE AT ALL...

Comment - BskyB not supporting existing customers, non customer focused company

2011-01-14T12:50:00.002Z

Just wanted to quickly point out the complete lack of support that sky offer their existing customers when it comes to upgrading their receiving equipment. There is not one single discount or offer on to upgrade you box on their website. I have an original (and i mean original) digibox only and want to be able to use their new services (giving them yet more money) but to do this I require an upgrade to at least a Sky+ box so i go looking they want £199 plus £60 installation so £259 just for a BOX! on top of the monthly subscription i pay them.

Why then is this the case, if i was a new customer i would get the box for FREE!!!! and half price installation, shouldnt they offer me that to keep me with them.

With the advent of Virgin media, BT and even online TV surely they should be after retaining customers as well as getting new ones... its rediculous.

they have made litterally thousands out of me over the years so why cant they give me the ability to pay them more (yes i am asking to be able to pay more in the longrun)

Boxes should be FREE!! thats why we pay subscription..... We pay them in the region (depending on the package) of £300 a year to watch telly, why should we pay for a box that enables us to PAY. treat everyone equally, offers to get you and offers to keep you, if any other company did this they would be out of business in 2 years!

Comment - the uk in 2000 and snow

2011-01-07T12:27:00.001Z

It seems that the mere mention of snow is enough to grind our little country to a halt. But this isnt the first time its snowed so we should ask ourselves, whats changed? Back in the 70s a bit of snow didnt kill the country, it went white kids went to school offices oppened and we all just got on with it! But now in a consumer world of family cars, electric trams ajd air conditioning (not to mention the massively annoying list of healtj and safety rules) it appears that snow stops everything have we really gone that bad that our technology and our mindset doesnt just say, ah well its white lets go to work. Back then you got a bit cold and walked if all else failed but now were to lazy to do that at this rate it will snow for a month andthe country will die! Get a grip enbrace old values and get on with it

So cool discovered usb star trek movie, while movie on 4gb usb stick in shape if logo.

2011-01-06T20:47:00.001Z

Comment - a little snow causes us all to panic

2011-01-04T20:43:00.002Z

Well ive had the worst trip to work for many months (dare i say years), this morning in the NortWest of england we had about 10mm of snow, that snow fell overnight the council did not prepare. The result chaos, when i set off this morning i didnt think anything of it, thought things might be slow but nothing on the epic scale of crap i came accross.

it took 2 hours to travel what would normally take 11 minutes, and another 1 hour to get home after giving up. Now remember the snow was thin, the ice wasnt there, roads clear just thousands of muppets in cars driving at 1mph. It should now be mandatory to take a snow driving course, if things are going to get worse over the next few years then the government must intervene revenue will be lost...get a grip.

Comment - sky cancel Bravo and Channel1

2010-12-27T12:09:00.002Z

I might be a little late to this news but i have just learnt that in the immediate future (3rd January to be exact) sky television will be shutting down 2 bravo channels and the Channel 1 station. They site that fact that they want to put more money into living and challenge. I have one question though, who the f**** wants living to get more money, its just an excuse to give katy price and kerry katona more funds to get drunk and abuse blokes... and to have some brainless bimbos compete to become a model.. real life threatening events i hope you can agree.

surely if they cancel these channels the money should go to sky 1 original programming, proper american shows without the screaming women. Lets hope this doesnt turn 4 more channels into the lowest common target audience of dimwits... or so sky think.

Comment- Envirofone vs Ebay, company recycling vs gambling

2010-12-22T12:19:00.001Z

well i have just had an actual good experience online, after a extremely bad experience of selling a second hand mobile phone on ebay and being basically screwed out of the phone, the money and any chance of seing either ever again i decided the next time that i would wave the chance of getting a bit more money than its worth and trying a reputable recycling company instead.

Having made the choice i set out to do a little bit of research on the web, there are lots and lots of companies out there that offer you money for your old mobile, just watch your tv for an hour in the daytime and you will see at least 4, having looked at payment options and other factors (like how to send them the phone, how they deal with them), and having read some horror stories about several of these comapanies that just lie the phone is broke when they get it to reduce you outcome i decided on envirofone, they have a good looking simple to follow website. On checking the value it was also the highest of the 6 i tried. for the value though, check daily if you have the time as prices fluctuate drastically on demand, if the handset is newish you may gain a few pounds by waiting a day or so (the reverse is also true so be warned).

They offer a freepost address and will even send you a free padded envelope to send them the unit, simply package it up for them and send it off. they suggest recorded delivery for high value items which is always a good choise otherwise if it goes missing you get nothing but 6 first class stamps).
Once they received it, they graded it, mailed me with details, then mailed me again that money was on its way. Of all the companies i checked these offered good payment methods, paypal, bank transfer, cheque or argos vouchers, all good quick ways to get your money. The payment went smoothly and they even followed up with a quick satisfaction survey.

All in all a much better experience than trying to sell the item on ebay, hoping you get a good price, then hope they pay, hope the phone gets to them and they are honest and dont claim its lost, loose all your money and the phone too. All in all if the phone is newish then the recycling company is definately the way to go!!!

Comment - ebay and paypal a buyers dream

2010-12-20T15:41:00.003Z

I have just had the rather bad experience of dealing with a case via ebay, the seller of the item has stated they havent received an item. Fine you think things will get sorted from the post office, paypal wont do anything and ebay will just tell you.
WRONG!!! the minute the buyer says they havent got something they request the money back from paypal! AND PAYPAL GIVE IT! no questions no authorisation they just take it back. So you have no item and no money and it might not even be your fault...but unlike the uk where buyers have to prove problems ebay uses the european/american rule of screw you over first and you have to defend yourself.
In this case the buyer has agreed i sent it as they have proof they tried to deliver it but ebay dont care... to them you havent sent the thing...your at fault and you have to pay back.
So the best thing you can do if you get an item from ebay is tell em you haven’t received it, you can get the item, the money and still have option at claiming against the royal mail as well so you could get the money, the item and a refund from the carrier.
This has to be the best rippoff of the year, should we all try this and see if ebay come to their senses! Fair enough you should have to prove you sent the thing, but once you have ebay should take that into consideration and leave you to sort things out. This cant be legal, well it probably isn’t but as you are out of the law and into the agreement with ebay, watch those terms and conditions, it seems you give up your countries legal rights when you use them..

So im out of pocket and out an item… the joys..

Comment - how bad is our nhs

2010-12-15T22:45:00.002Z

how bad is our nhs they are so afraid of the law and getting sued they basically wont give any advice over the phone infact why don't they just shut down any and all advise lines, decline all requests to "talk to a doctor or nurse" or basically anything that isnt an appointment. you see they are that afraid of giving you some advice that you might hold against them they wont tell you anything. they just invite you to come in and see them in person. they wont discuss a common cold, wont talk to you about what sort of cough mixture might work...they just invite you in. You can ring NHS direct but thats even worse, if you dont match their script they just say they cant help and that you should go and see you doctor...
then there is the next problem, the advice lines send that many people to see your doctor you have to wait a week or be dying before you can get in, if i was that ill i wouldnt be calling a advice line you say, well i dont know how ill i am thats why I am bloody calling you... anyway you make the appointment, you spend an hour in a hot waiting room (why those places have to be 30 degrees is beyond me) catching everything you didnt have when you went in, to see someone just to be told "its a virus and it will pass" couldnt they have told me that on the phone before i spent time in the waiting room catching the plague of someone that i wouldnt have otherwise met!!!
its all a farce, heres my suggestion, close all phone lines, close all call centres close all drop in centres (there no better), shut down all lines to actual people because it gets you NOWHERE!!! put the multi million pound investment those things cost to set up back into the NHS build bigger and better hospitals and local doctors that can cope with the right number of people in the right environments and solve the issue of needing the helpline in the first place!!! wollah!!!
it was a official not a doctor i bet who set this phone line up in a attempt to give his mate in IT the contract and his mates wife the job on the call centre...to tell you they cant help anyway... close them all... put the money where its needed... heal people... or at least give someone born with at least a smidge of common sense the option to talk to us....

Comment - 2010 christmas

2010-12-13T01:29:00.002Z

its that time of year again, when the complete country goes mad. For two weeks prior to 25th december, the country acts like the blitz is back that the world is going to come to some sort of end. It takes 30 minutes to check out the weekly shopping in a superstore. it takes weeks to get mail, and if you want to buy a pc part forget it. its ludicrous... take a long hard look at thing people the world still turns, you still need milk and the power wont go off on december 25th... get a grip.

Review – Eureka – Series 4 Episode 10

2010-12-09T09:44:00.001Z

This show just gets better and this time its seasonal, the cast and crew of the excellently made and well thought through Eureka come up trumps this year going all out with a festive special. Unlike other shows this includes the title sequence all the decorations and a silly but believable (to us geeks anyway) storyline.
Eureka works towards the holidays with stile, there is a problem with the shield and the kids and jack cant leave like normal for the holidays, jack then spends the episode entertaining the kids with story of old, when santa clause visited the town. A must see episode for any fan with a liking of Christmas.
As a further note Warehouse 13 is also slated as having a Christmas special so will be checking this out soon.

comment - roadtax uk

2010-11-26T07:54:00.001Z

I have just had the missfortune to have to yet again have to pay roadtax, and i ask myself what do they spend the money on? From what i see out there it isnt the roads! And it isnt police, so are we just paying for our MPs lunches?
If it where a normal company then we woild get a receipt, we should petition the government to use this money for roads and police and even the nhs, i wouldnt mind paying a bit extra if it keeps tue nhs going!
Then ofcourse there is the debate on having the charge in the first place. Why not just offer the option upfront of paying a tax/fee at point of sale when you buy your car, tue rich could pay more there and then. Wouldnt that be better?

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comment - weathermen

2010-11-25T15:08:00.001Z

Now its not fully their fault but how can weathermen call themselves that when tossing a coin has a better chance at getting it right than they do! I mean for the past 3 weeks they have been wrong everyday.. why not give it up as a bad idea and just look out the window!

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comment - miners

2010-11-24T09:50:00.001Z

This might not bee a popular post but it has to be.said - what is the new facination with mijers?
It seems over past few months that there have been more and more miner stories on tv, trapped or freed they arr shown! I ask why as miners have been around for thousands of years they fuel industry, power homes build tunnels and normally you wouldnt jeat anoit them, they just avvept losses as part of the job amd get on with it. Thos isnt to say losses arent bad but they are part of the way of life, you dont dig miles underground without expecting to loose someone! But why is it in the news now?
Are there ao few stories out there that the medoa has to latch onto something that will not and in most cases cannot change. They are not going to stop mining as it would literaly stop the.world.
Lets vote that papers go back onto reporting about boob jobs and weddings and hide what we cant and arent able to affect. Mining will go on no matter the losses.

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comment - royal wedding

2010-11-23T21:45:00.001Z

Well I just heard the news they announced the date of the royal wedding. And rather than being happy I ask myself what this news will cover up.
iYou see I am of the opinion that when the government or your local mp get a chance to hide things, what bad things or stupid law will they manage to get through. Watch the small print of your paper what normally would get front page will het a single column inch.

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Comment – twitter comment – 1st grader bullied for liking star wars

2010-11-19T23:24:00.002Z

I was on my twitter this morning when I came across what at first glance looks like a rather disturbing tweet, it read “1st grader bullied for liking star wars! Read the starwarsblog for details”, now on initial look this would have an impact on every geek or sci-fi fan on planet earth. This is completely unacceptable that anyone, anywhere at any age is bullied for their being a fan of star wars. Something must be done, it is unacceptable string em up, throw them out of school have them locked up for bullying….but then, I took the time to look into it in detail.

It would appear that the story is somewhat exaggerated, the full article from the official source reads like, “Katie a 1st grader (that’s primary school to us brits), was teased by two boys at lunch for having a star wars water bottle, she loved the water bottle when her mother gave it to her and was excited to be allowed to use it and now she is upset”. This is a far cry to bullying that was tweeted, in this case it is more like a children being children, picking on a girl for having a blue water bottle. The tweeter along with their blog made this out to be people bullying for liking star wars, or sci-fi in general which wasn’t the case. Its just that a couple of kids wanted to tease a girl for having something blue, it could have been a Thomas tank engine bottle and it would have had the same effect!

As usual one person takes it too literally and goes off the handle, trust me, if it were a slam against geeks or fans you could guarantee that lucasfilm, the state gouvener and the prime minister in UK would have their say to stamp it out, there are too many geeks out there to let things lie. As it is we should just take this that someone hasn’t taught these children to accept others as they are, that they can like what they want, that they can be fans of anything no matter whether a boy or a girl. If they cant get the simple message across at a young age then the school is failing. Myself, I think I will just remind my child that everyone is different and leave it at that….

Comment - memory

2010-11-04T11:22:00.001Z

when we get older it appears that one of the first things to go is our memory, well thats the story and i am sticking to it. I have made the gaff of forgetting my wedding anniversary, after so many years they should give us medals instead, as usual, the retailers want us to buy stuff to remember we got married, now this is normally a good thing but this year i forgot... she didnt throw things at me she didnt shout but i am definately in the preverbiel doghouse.

Comment - Actors getting honors

2010-11-03T10:41:00.003Z

I have jst had the misfortune of listening to the local radio news, and to my surprise and disgust i hear that there are 2 actors, yes actors getting MBE (which is a award from the office of the queen) for wait for it,,,drama, not nurses, not police, not firemen but bloody actors for drama. Now to me this is what they actually get paid for, they get rather a good wage to perform someone elses words and direction. they done save lives, they done help the sick the dont run into burning buildings. So of course they get a award. This is a farce, the MBE and other awards should be kept special for those who deserve it for things that effect real lives and real people not just entertainers.

It is time for the government to step in, to make the awards what they should be once more, get rid of the stupid ones and recognise those that actually deserve it, would a actor run into a burning building or wipe your bum after an accident... i think not. So lets get a grip...

comment - TVShow - caprica cancelled

2010-10-27T23:15:00.002Z

Well its offical, syfy network in the USA has cancelled the prequel show Caprica. Unlike its famous original batlestar galactica, the prequel has not had the share in viewers that the network need to justify a second series. In fact its doing that badly over their that they have pulled the remaining first season run from the schedule for the rest of the year saying they will fit them in sometime early 2011.
i have to say though, after having watched this show i actually agree with them, the first 3 of 4 episodes had promise, they showed great theory using CGI and computing worlds as a basis but then they went off on a tangent, terrorists and subplots with fenatics.. this show did have promise but didnt have that X factor that captures the sci-fi fans imagination and so was really doomed to failure.

lets just hope that this isnt the end to the galactica franchis, infact they are already talking of a pilot for another spinoff show about commander adamas early years as a viper pilot, this gives scope for battles and plots that will hopefully capture us from the outset. We will just have to wait a year to see if this happens...

best wishes to the cast and crew and hope this does not too badly affect a group of new talent and others, no doubt the idea and show will live on in fan events and media over the net. perhaps fanfiction out there can pick up where the TV leaves off.

Comment - local chip shop - three threes

2010-10-16T12:48:00.003Z

Just wanted to add a quick note about a subject i thought had ended, our local chip shop, its called the three threes, its a local chip shop, there arent many of them left out there, a local run shop with great value and thought for children. they do meals for kids and adults alike. no this isnt an advert more a review of the fact that this kind of shop is on the way out, just last week another 2 of such shops locally went to the wall. If we keep this up the local family touch will be lost, for instance this time i didnt have enough on me for all my kid wanted but he did me a deal, could you imagine in a million years that McDonalds would help you out if you were short. To them you are jhust another customer to spend what you have, they wont get used to you as a customer, they wont ask how your day is, they will say what do you want take your money and not help you out. We have to remember that the local shop, be it a chipp0y a newsagent or a sandwich shop should get our support just as much as the big boys out there. If we dont support them they are gone... and when we need help or the community needs something they wont be there... support your local store...

Review - Life Unexpected - Season 2

2010-10-11T21:35:00.003Z

Life unexpected returns in the states a couple of weeks ago, and i have to say after a wait for this to return i was not disappointed. In the first episode they burn down a bar and this sets them up well for the season as baze will have something to do this time round. Kate and Ryan continue to have arguements and kate needs a job. Lex has a crush on a teacher (this unfortunately has pangs of 90201 for those of us who remember it) and she will have to handle this thorughout the season. I like it for the first 3 episodes.

So i like this and give it 4/5 for the first 3 episodes and i like it.

Comment - bike riders

2010-10-11T21:22:00.002Z

Well i have to have a rant here, bicycle riders in the UK have it so bloody easy its madenning, they get the side of the road to themselves. They add cycle lanes to the side of the road, they get priority at the lights, we have to give way to them, they dont get fined if they decide to ignore the traffic lights (and they all do), and they dont pay any tax for the road or for anything. They use the roads like the rest of us hhaving all of this for them, but they dont pay, they have accidents hitting cars (so therefore their fault) and they dont have to have insurance so again we pay... If they want to use the roads then they should pay just like any other road user, they should pay a small amount of road tax to pay for the road markings, they should be made to pay registration so that their bikes could be tracked, and most importantly they should be made to legally have to insure themselves so when they decide to kick cars or run into buses then they can pay for the damages like the rest of us. They moan that they are so vulnerable on the roads, they have to wear helmets, if you are that bloody bothered about safety BUY A CAR. they ride on a thin piece of metal on wheels, you are gonna crash! there are no two ways about it, stop moaning about us not taking care about hiting you and just DONT BE THERE... if cyclists want their own safe area then its called a pavement...

review - Sherlock - bbcone

2010-08-18T23:05:00.002Z

I have just watched the final episode of bbc ones remake of the classic sherlock holmes. This time there are a few changes, this iteration of the story has major changes to it but they actually work. For starters John Watson was in afghanistan sherlock is not a pot head and the story takes three episodes to get interesting. I must say that the rethinking behind this one actually works.

Review - The A Team 2010

2010-08-03T21:54:00.002Z

I saw an advert for this severalmonths ago, and the first thing that came to my mind then was..oh no they cant do that..George pepard who made the role passed away many years ago..but then i saw the movie.
This movie introduces the idea of the a-team to a whole new generation of teenagers, the only links to the original are the names and the base story. Other than that everything was different. The main characters remain the same, the leader hannibal smith (liam neeson) puts together a a-team of army rangers whos unorthodox methods make them he best. they are framed for a crime and have to clear their names and madness ensues. As with all remakes they have taken allot of liberties, for instance in the series millions of bullets were fired over the seasons but not once did the a-team actually kill anyone, in fact, they had to be the worst (or best depending on the viewpoint) shots in army history. this is definately not the case here, killings and explosions a plenty. In short its a good movie, but for us oldies dont expect it to be like the original... a nice way to spend 2 hours of action and humour...3/5

review - TV - Tonights the night

2010-07-24T16:59:00.002Z

Well just wanted to add a nice short comment, its good. it is nice to see a family variety (well singing) show back on the television on a saturday night. It is only unfortunate that the run is only a few episodes long. couldnt the BBC actually wisely use some of my licence fee to fund this family show. in this culture of cop shows and sex in the city type series it is good that there is something i can sit down with my kid and just watch without having to vet it first.
Mr J Barrowman makes a good frontman for the show especially as he can actually sing and is a good entertainer anyway. Lets hope that this keeps returning and that the beeb can use its figures to validate such shows in the future.

Review - Movie - Solomon Kane

2010-07-11T22:48:00.004Z

This movie is not my usual fair, it is sword and sorcery in the old school way, we start out with a evil pirate robbing a castle, being ambushed by a devil and narrowly escaping with his soul. (not a bad start but, raise your hands if you believe that in the event the devil came after you, jumping out a window would save you). He then spends the rest of the film as a man of god with skills that would make conan the barbarian weep. After turning to the path of good he finds himself having to turn back to violence to save the daughter (and hottie) of a friend from the evil sorcerer, with a scary henchman. There are a couple of good plot twists out there, a good appearance by the legendary BRITISH Pete Postlethwate, and excellent CGI that would make lucasarts cry a bit... a good watch all round and definitely one i will be watching again.

Review - TV - 101 Ways to Leave a gameshow - BBC

2010-07-11T22:41:00.002Z

Now i am a definite fan of the old Saturday night variety game shows that they used to show, hell i was a definite fan (for my sins) of noel Edmunds Saturday shows. The generation game was avid viewing for much of the past 30 years off and on. So when i saw on the tv last week a advert for a new Saturday night TV show that seemed to be aimed squarely at the Family audience, looked funny full of fun and quirkiness...what a let down we were in for.
Myself and my child sat down Saturday night really looking forward to the dawn of a new show that will entertain us for 30 minutes every Saturday.... oh where we disappointed. The hype that the trailers and adverts had put up where as per usual actually the good bits, yes only 30 seconds of this show could be considered “entertainment”. They spend more than 60% of this god awful show asking the same question to all the contestants, then they spend another 18 minutes of the ruddy show building up the anticipation (yeah right) of who will be out this time. This show is awful, and the disappointing thing is that the format itself is actually good, If you get a question wrong you are ejected from the show in a spectacular stunt way, but this would only work if a)the presenter was actually any good b)the show didn’t consist of just 5 questions... it should be answer a question, get it wrong and get ejected, the pace would be better and it might actually entertain.

Do yourselves and the rest of the human race a favour, avoid this thing like the plague, write to the bbc and complain about it, ask them to improve it and if they cant can it and give the money to a remake of the generation game!!! Come on bbc there has to be a good Saturday night show that all the family can watch without problem. Next week John Barrowman is back, lets hope that show is as good as it was for family viewing.

Commernt - HAK 5 podcast

2010-07-04T20:46:00.002Z

now i just wanted to use this post as my own personal moan about an item i watched on the technology podcast hak5, i am an avid viewer of the show as i like all things geeky. No this perticular show was how to make your own mini pc that simply stacks on a piece of plastic.l So for the first time ever i decided that this would be a very good thing to build as a cheap running file server and possibly a web server to the internet. the main selling point of the build they did is that the whole thing runs at 50w max, so saving me allot of running money. The only problem is that they missed out one or two rather important parts, how to actually plug the bloody thing in. They ran through how to put it together to tie it to the plastic and set it up. But they did not at any point tell you what sort of power they used to plug it in.; No matter i went for it. Buying a nice cheap motherboard, a harddrive and a plastic to mount it together so i did all this and got the power adapter they recomend but cant for the life of me get the right power, i am now guessing how to plug this thing in.
i have emailed the show the hosts and the forum and NOONE is helping me out there, its a nice thing to look at but if you cant plug it in then its all a waste of money.
My opinion therefore is that as a show for entertainment this is a good thing but as a instruction manual to build a pc it is CRAP.

Football rules - why

2010-06-11T15:18:00.003Z

Can anyone tell me which person or group came up with the rules to football. Why is it 45 minites each way and why are things decided in extra time, i propose change.
Make it 20 munites each way with 5 min break this will liven up the game and make it more interesting.
Instead of extra time just have a race, if its a tie then each team nominates a runner in a streight 100metre dash. Getting rid of scheduling problems for tv companies.
For out of bounds have punches player kicks thee ball off is allowed to be hit twice above the belt and play continues. Make it more fun.

Just a thought!

World cup fever - why

2010-06-11T15:18:00.001Z

Well the world cup is upon us and it looks like im in the minority in disliking the game enough to try to avoid it. This is made extremely dificult as it saturates tv and radio and all printed media on the planet. There are no more oil spills, no war no death no murder just football.
This is idiocy, fair enough there are literally millions/billions of sheep who glue thhemselves to games they have no control or interest in, but the world does not stop moving on because of it.
also there is the financial impact, businesses throw amounts of billions of lost revenie around, yet put up flags and install TVs so staff can view it, if they are that bothered about it go the other way. Ban tv ban decoration and fire anyone who is calling in sick on match day.
There should be alowance for us who dont watch or want to be forced to watch this incpid display of skill..ahem. We should be catered for as a minority..nay race..lets call it racism and see who we can wake up.

comment - iTunes pricing

2010-04-24T22:54:00.002Z

I just wanted to take a moment and comment on the iTunes store pricing that i have encountered so far. well lets see, there is the trek at £50 a series when the dvd is £15 how about Dr Who at £2 an episode. How do apple justify such pricing there are loads on the store that are at least 3 times the actual store price of DVD's so how do apple stay in business. On every single one of the high priced items there are comments from people just saying that they wont be buying from this source. Surely if the studios and the distributors of tv and movie material dont want pirates to go out there and steal they should make it more reasonable to get hold of the material at a reasonable price. Then there would be no need to get the stuff illegally. Come on everyone lets be reasonable about things bring down the price and everyone is happy, especially for those shows that have already been shown on normal television anywhere in the world.

Window installation an update!

2010-04-21T20:58:00.003Z

So it is now a day after the installation of the windows was supposed to have taken place. So lets see what happened, well they turned up on time...well if we are to be accurate they turned up in their van and sat outside my house for about 20 minutes beforehand drinking coffee. Then team one came in, didnt announce themselves or tell me fully what they were doing other than there would be 2 teams to get the job done one for back and one for the front... the team that arrived walked into the kitchen and had at it to the back window. they had destroyed the glass and with allot of effort ripped out the window frame within 20 minutes. leaving a god awful mess for us to clean... then they proceeded to do the same to one bedroom window. The bottom window was installed and nearly ready by the time bedroom 1 was started and it looked good, but that was the end to my hapiness for the day. the bedroom window apparently was badly fitted which i took with a pinch of salt until they showed me the old window behind the current window it turns out the old original building window had been covered up including weights so they had to destory the place. Then team 2 turned up, these were the scarier ones, the first team where normal workment polite enough, then the second team are here. These are what i feared a bit. one bloke was silent didnt speak took himself to the second window and worked on thier own all day on the one window, the other was a irishman, a smoking old timer who said he had been on the job for 12 years and had a story for everything. And now the problems started, old guy knocked out the front room window and then proceeded to see about installing it.. but wait whats this...the paperwork was wrong. it wasnt just a window but a whole surround, he hadnt planned for his so off he goes to get wood and parts leaving a whole in the wall a cold wind and me scared he would be so pissed off he wouldnt come back. And work goes on for the others. But then they realise that there is no Door, no arch for the door. whats going on.
The whole point to this undertaking was to replace the door which didnt currently fit and didnt close properly, and they hadnt braught a replacement. no matter they would look into it later and chase the makers.
Then scary guy returned and spent the day putting together what in my humble untrained opinions was a shoddy wooden structure that was draughty and looked truly horible.. at which point they called it a day.. and left.
Back windows complete, other than one, front windows a mess, upstairs finished downstairs patched and messy and no door. Not a good start. the back team were good the front team did not impress me at all.
Day 2 - and they arive on time back team proceed to finish off their windows and rip out and replace the small bathroom window in about an hour, im thinking must be a crap job due to speed but no its perfect. they repair any wall holes seal all units and do a good job.
Then team 2 is back, well one of them anyway and he proceeds to work on the front again, it looks a bit better when he gets to a finish point, but whats this, an aerial lead oh sh*t missed that. lets put it through... it wont go through cos the units nearly finished...weres that hammer...bash and two hours work destroyed. casings missing and a new hole to fix... and still no door.
I call their office and speak to them, he gives me a story that the door will take more time as it is more intricate and hard to make and they cant rush it and the fitters will do it on a saturday... so i sit back and watch fitter man repair the whole he has made for the aerial with spray foam on the outside (every home owners nightmare foam that is) and patch up inside. then he says hes out of time and as the door will need doing he will be back later to repair the front.... this is not good but what can i do. We sure as hell dont pay them in full for a start...
So he leaves,
after 2 days work which should have been an end to it. we are left with no new door, all new rear and upper windows. A new front room window and surround you can feel a gail through and no date to have all this sorted. oh and one more thing....A WHOLELY MASSIVE MESSS.. the amount of dust doing this work creates has to be experienced to be believed.. there is dust on every surface, every posession and orniment every countertop and floor hoovers cant cope with the amount of crap there is but we soldier on.

So for this entry i sum up some pointers i have learnt from the run in with the company we used -
1. make sure that whoever is in when the survey is done is in when the fitters come so that they are aware what was agreed.
2. make sure BEFORE any windows are demolished that the fitter knows what they are doing with it
3. make sure BEFORE they destroy anything that the new windows are what you ordered, its pointless watching them smash your window out,, then discovering the one they are installing is a piece of crap...
4. ask them if they have all the parts for the job and if not stop them doing anything otherwise there will be problems
5. if anything is unfinished crap or unhappy with DONT PAY THEM, money is your most powerful tool, if they wont fix something to your satisfaction, only pay them what its worth. bear in mind though that any money you withhold should be proportianal to the problem otherwise you could get in real trouble. So if they miss a trim or a handle hold back say 20 quid not the lot. or if they mess it up completely insist on a full fix.
6. plan for cleanup, the biggest understatement i made was on how much mess there would be to clean up, turned out after ours the wife took a full day off to tidy and dust the house to a useable safety
7. Curtains and rails not included, they dont have to refit your curtains or blinds for you so unless you want to be in a goldfish bowl have a plan. Maybe paper the windows with masking tape for a day or two or already buy replacement curtains and poles.

i will post what happens next when something is known, for now i have a chunk of their money as incentive for them to come back and get the door and windows finished.

not impressed really.

Comment - home improvements

2010-04-18T23:11:00.002Z

Well the time has come, we finally are having double glasing fitted to our home, this will be the first big thing that we do to the house. This in itself isnt really that interesting but i just want to comment that i have absolutely no idea what to expect. Tomorrow morning men will turn up to our house and start ripping big holes in it. the only guarantee that they will fix these holes is the large amount of money that they have received for doing the job. And on that front dont get me started, how they can justify over 4 grand for some moulded plastic and glass is beyond me... anyway. Back to the thought at hand, what to expect, we have made the place accessable to them as much as we can, but they havent left a cheat sheet as to what we need to prepare before they get here. We have cleared up areound the windows and moved things to give them safe acces and can only hope that this is enough. But then there are the other thoughts that are going through the mind, what if they turn out to be theives or just walk off midway through the job. we would be buggered then right! so we go into this thing with the problem of bad thoughts. No one actually offered any advice about the job other than recomending the company in the first place i think that after we get through with the job i will post some pointers for anyone else that might be having similar thoughts.

Comment - TV Show - Bones ep 15

2010-04-01T19:51:00.003Z

I am sitting here watching the opening moments of the latest episode of bones, and im sad to say that this has to be one o the most corny starts. Spoiler, the opening scenes are a subway that floods and a train that crashes... problem anyone who has watched even a couple of tv or movies in the past 20 years knows that this is just a ride on the universal studios tour. It was even shown on beverly hills copy 2 as a ride surely the tv company arent that hard up that they have to use a ride as a set!

Comment - Vodafone suresignal

2010-02-16T21:02:00.002Z

I have just heard the advert on the radio for a new service from vodafone, they are calling it suresignal, a nice gimmic to help ensure that you have a good mobile phone signal in your home. So i tootle allong to their website to see what this is all about and am shocked at what i find. Vodafone have come up with yet another way for you to have to pay for their lack of coverage, and to spin it so that you think it is a good idea!
What they have done is no less than genius, they make you pay them for a device that you have to plug in your home power, and your own broadband to add coverage to their network as they might not have you properly covered. you are in effect paying them to enable you to pay them
think about it, they get you to pay them money to set up a small basestation in your own home, you also have to pay for the calls, pay for the handset, pay for the broadband, and through you contract or minutes pay the broadband provider more for using broadband. they have the idea of screwing you over down to a fine art.
This has to go down in the anles of business history as the best and biggest user screwing that they have come up with to date.
What we should make them do, is pay YOU for setting up a statiion in your home, pay you a cut of the calls for hosting the mast, and give you a discount on your broadband too.
Hats off to vodafone, and hats off to anyone stupid enough or desperate enough to get one of these. If the coverage is bad in your house, consider an IP phone provider, the equipment they give out is FREE and calls are pence per minute not 20p+ per minute..

Review - TV - Life Unexpected

2010-02-05T21:01:00.002Z

Well i have come across this new show from the states currently airing over there on the CW channel on a monday night.This is a new show so far there have only been 3 episodes which i must say lay a very solid and entertaining groundwork for the series to come, i can see the makings of a show that could run for at least 3 seasons but with the current state of looney TV executives over there it probably wont get past 1!
The premise i shall leave to those wonderful people at imdb cos they do a far better job than me -

Fifteen year-old Lux has spent her life going from foster family to foster family. She has finally decided to become an emancipated minor. During her journey through the legal maze, Lux finds her biological father, 30-something Nate "Baze" Bazile, who lives above a bar and is astonished to learn he has a daughter. Lux learns that her mother is Cate Cassidy, a star on local radio, along with her boyfriend, Ryan Thomas. A judge decides to grant temporary custody of Lux to Baze and Cate instead of emancipating her.

this show is both heart warming and comedy wrapped into one, i feel that anyone who likes things like dawsons creek, thirtysomething (if you remember that one) will like this show. Oh and to tie it into dawson creek there is Ker Smith who was a main cast member of the aformentioned creek, now all grown up having to deal with a fiance that hid the fact she had a kid in high school.

The pilot was a bit rough but they tightened up the acting and unfortunaltey Cate's hair in subsequent episodes. This has a good chance of becoming a cult classic watch it... 4/5

review - the time travelers wife

2010-01-10T18:47:00.000Z

when i set out to watch this movie i have to admit i was not overly enthrawled with the idea of wasting my time with it! But happy to report that it was worth my time, now the idea is one of simplicity really if a bit far fetched, our main character played by Eric Banner (of hulk fame) has a genetic dissorder that makes him bounce through time without control. This in itself sounds funny but has been well done, he bounces back to meet a 6 year old girl who he visits over her growing up until they meet in real time when they fall in love nd get married. The story then continues showing how it may be to live with someone who literally dissapears for weeks on end. Add to this some twists of everyday life and you have a good watch once movie. There is no real action to this just the main story and a roller coaster emotional ride. It wont win any oscars but is worth time to watch.
My favorite bit is when he meets himself at 6 and tells him his problem, so he himself prepares himself for life, neat.
If you are a true sci-fi watcher then bear in mind whoever wrote this doesnt seem to of been as they dont speak or cause any paradoxes or fidle timelines, this was written as a drama and works as such.
3/5 stars but watch more than once 2/5

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Review - TV- Gadget Show Gadget of the decade episode

2009-12-14T22:30:00.003Z

I know that there havent been many posts of late and that any posts i do are because of a strong feeling that the subject invokes.. and this is no exception. tonight when tuning into my only show of the week that cannot be missed, namely, channel 5s "The Gadget Show" what meets my eyes. Well not the usual review of tech filled toys of goodness. No this time the show has done a speciel edition where viewers have done voting on the subject of what they consider to be the best gadget of the past decade. Now this is nothing new similar was done coming up to the millenium but in this case i have to comment.
The items picked were rigged, or if not rigged prompted by advertisers and current media rather than anything that a person on the street would actually go out and vote for (this is only my opinion, you should see the show for yourself and make your own findings, but if you do, then remember to watch the adverts too!). the entire show was ruled outright by one company APPLE and sorry, but althought he introduction of the iPhone and the iPod cannot be ignored these cannot really be considered winners. Without the apple there would be neither, without iTunes then oh yes, neither, withouth agreement and DRM there could be nothing. So in this humble writers opinion this is a fix of the advertisers who sponsor the show to boost sales.
If you actually want to do this for real then start at the begining, iTunes software which is not platform specific, and the DRM invented that allows the sale of material in the first place. Without iTunes neither of the winning items could or would exist, they would have no easy content and no legal use. so how can this outcome be. For the more legally tech minded there is DRM, yes it is the bain of any law abiding persons existance but, consider that without the introduction of Apple DRM then no record company woud have signed up, no digital distribution of any kind would be possible either apple, microsoft or napster they would all be deemed illegal and shut down. So though it pains me to say it the outright winner of the tech gadget of the last 10 years the winner should be.... DRM (Digital Rights Mangement). lets hope that the next 10 years sees its demise but without it the iPod, iTunes, Microsoft, HMV, Tesco, Asda, Amazon, Play and many many other sites and devices would just cease to exist....

christmas madness comes to a shopping centre near you!

2009-12-03T18:48:00.001Z

Well its started, the shopping frenzy for christmas, the date is still november but from the weekend turnout to shopping centres and arcades is remenisent of the days before a war. This past weekend things got mad, people arguing over parking spaces, bashing elbows in que in supermarkets and generally bein unsivilised to every member of the human race. What is it about christmas shopping that bypasses the sense centre of the human brain, logic would say, the car park is full this place must be busy i shall try again later, this is replaced with..need that f***ing present will that bast**d get out the way, if i hot the pedal can i get that parking space without serious injury? The idea of christmas is a nice one, be nice to each other, or at least dont draw blood. With a bit of planning and patience it is more than possible to get things done in time for the day. Especially due to 24hr trading, fair enough
you dont want to be shopping for presents at 3am but 730 isnt late these days. Keep christmas in mind when your thinking of thumping the bloke who pushed in and jist think of karma 'what goes around comes around' if there that bad to you sooner or later bad thongs will happen to them withput aid from you.
Be calm, think with logic if you can and kindness if you cant and rember..theres always the internet!

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review - album robbie williams, killed the radio star

2009-11-19T07:09:00.001Z

Well i thoight that this one deserved to be commented on because it has to be one of the most god aweful albums i have ever had the missfortune to come accros. The lyrics are completely non sensicle, things like turrets and the like. My advice is to avoid this like the plague. Its crap... An insult to the world how this got past producers beggers belief.

--www.gladfangroup.co.uk--

Review - Flash Forward - Pilot/Episode 1

2009-09-28T22:09:00.002Z

Well after all the hype this show has been given in the UK and the USA i was hoping for a monumental opening episode. Shows before it had been selling it as a vision of the future a new epic to be followed. Im thinking X-files big or Lost hype fan base. Well after sitting through the first episode i cannot currently agree with the hype.
Yes there is a good storyline so far to it, everyone on planet earth (it seems) passes out at exactly the same moment and has memories for 6 months to come. But thats as far as this goes for now, if they wanted to get us hooked sorry but im thinking it should have done more. I got bored of it in 30 minutes only followed it to the end so i got a good picture of the plot and the characters and am not at all impressed.

The main characters show no conviction, the acting and dialogue is predictable. The only real twist in the show was at the very end of the episode (the old hook to get us to watch) when they see a video of someone unaffected.

Not impressed, and for all the hype i was hoping for state of the art special effects blended in with real life action to give a seamless reality. What we got were third rate effects and fire that a bloke with a PC could knock up in an afternoon. Where did all the money for this show go? not in the effects not in the actors, not in the story..... overpriced and unimpressive. I will give this show one episode more to convince me but for now Channel 5 in the UK .. you paid too much for this one! 2/5

Comment - Robbie Williams, Bodies, new single

2009-09-04T19:31:00.001Z

I was listening to the radio today and heard a quick intro and the new single 'bodies'. Now im not robbies main fan at all he has done some good tunes but sorry, this isnt one of them. From what i've heard its a mediocre song with a heavy drum beat stuffed behind it. along with the beat they have thrown in lots of Jesus references to try to get religious backing, sales soar when you get a church to say it's fine. So all in all its a cop oit, drum beat and god references. 2/5

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