Well I got my new power supply unit for my gaming PC and installed it.
I was a little afraid that perhaps it wasn't the PSU that was the problem, so I stood well back when I turned it on. But everything was okay, so the PSU was definitely the problem.
The only shock I had was the noise - this new PSU is virtually silent compared to the old PSU. I think it's a bit of double whammy - this new PSU is a quiet model, but also the old PSU was incredibly loud.
I'd always known my machine was loud - it sounded like a blooming Hoover! - but I'd never realised it was entirely because of the PSU. I've got one of those mega-powerful PCI-E graphics cards in it that's a got a big fan on it (it takes up two slots) and there's the CPU cooler and stuff so I'd assumed all of that was making a large contribution.
Turns out not at all - with the new PSU in and the covers on, it's almost silent :/.
Of course, having regained my PC, guess what I did? Yup, played Anno 1404.
I could have used this as an excellent opportunity to watch some DVDs or do some scanning, but unfortunately, I'm now realising, because I bought as you do (Richard Hammond's book I mentioned earlier in the week) I've been reading that pretty intensely instead.
Ah well - at least this weekend is a bank holiday so at this stage I can con myself into thinking that I'll be utilising the bonus time to do something I should do, like scanning or watching DVDs. I'm sure the reality will be a great big pile of Anno.
I don't think I discussed it on here, but my landlord inquire about me getting cable and basically, virgin said they won't allow two separate accounts at the same address. This seemed very bizarre to me - I mean, what difference does it make how many accounts you have at the same address? Surely it just means they're turning away perfectly good business?
So having go this bad news my landlord came up with the idea of running a cable from his router to my place. I dunno what's happened with this, though, as I've not seen him to ask. I don't like to be pushy with it, because he's basically offering to give it to me for free.
I must admit to also being slightly worried about the practicalities - I'm an extremely high bandwidth user and I wouldn't want to push him over any sort of fair use quota.
In the meantime I've been investigating different broad band deals and phone lines and stuff.
I pay a lot for my broadband, I've always known that. The thing is though, it seems to be you get what you pay for.
Where I am, distance from the exchange wise and line quality wise, I get about 1.5 meg tops. This is pretty much as I'm expecting and all I will ever get, so deals going on about 24 megs and even 8 megs are just no-goers. I will never achieve those sorts of speeds (cable not withstanding).
But also, the line I'm currently on is a business line. This means it has a low contention (25:1 or 30:1 I believe). My experience is that this makes a lot more difference to your speed than anything else.
All non-business broadband I've seen has had contention of 50:1 - so a heck of a lot worse, meaning the speed would be a lot lower during peak times. Peak times are during the day and evening, when I'm either using P2P or doing my general surfing.
Also, as mentioned, I'm a very high bandwidth user. I have a facility for checking how much I've used each month and I've never checked it and seen my monthly usage bellow 100gigs.
That's a lot of bandwidth and the vast majority of ISP's "fair use" policies would be triggered. Indeed, many have stated monthly caps that are way below 100gig.
Basically then, non-business accounts are out.
So what about other business accounts? Well, the ones I can find are essentially either identical to my other account, or, again, they don't offer quite as good a service.
The basic point then is that while I could get broadband a heck of a lot cheaper, I can't get broadband that meets my needs any cheaper.
Unless I get access to cable via John. I may see if I can get hold of him this weekend and see if he's still keen on the idea.
If I could do that I'd be very tempted to dump my landline entirely. I virtually only have it for broadband - certainly I could cope with all my calls being via my mobile phone.
And speaking of phones I may have mentioned my bill had suddenly shot up - it went from £11 a month to £19 a month: nearly double. So I was looking at non-BT deals, but while I was doing so I was also checking the BT site and everything on the site seemed to be saying that although line rental had gone up, it was only by about £1.
I therefore gave them a call and what it seems has happened is that my direct debit for £11 wasn't quite enough to cover the cost of the line. Therefore, some automatic system kicked in and decided that £19 was the value for it be.
This is utterly ridiculous - across 5 years of having the line (so 5 * 12 monthly payment), the entire total of the deficit was £20. And in the space of 4 months paying at £19 I've therefore built up about £16 of credit on the account.
So the woman re-ran the software and it came up with the much more reasonable £12 monthly charge and she also said I can claim back the over-payment, apparently.
Bizarre.
Friday, 28 August 2009
Thursday, 27 August 2009
monaco pics - coach journey back
I thought what I'd do today was just finish off the Monaco trip pics.
One of the reasons I didn't take many non-race photos was because I wasn't' sure how long my camera batteries would last. As it turned out I didn't really have anything to worry about, but I thought it better to be safe than sorry.
As such, on the last day of the race, on the coach back, I decided I'd take a few snaps and these are the best ones. They're all very sunny and Mediterranean, and I don't have much more to really say about them than that, so here they are:
One of the reasons I didn't take many non-race photos was because I wasn't' sure how long my camera batteries would last. As it turned out I didn't really have anything to worry about, but I thought it better to be safe than sorry.
As such, on the last day of the race, on the coach back, I decided I'd take a few snaps and these are the best ones. They're all very sunny and Mediterranean, and I don't have much more to really say about them than that, so here they are:
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Wednesday, 26 August 2009
hellboy II - the golden army
I found the first hellboy to be enjoyable fair.
It had it's flaws, to be sure, but I thought as comic-book adaptations go, hellboy was entertaining enough.
Hellboy 2 is a direct sequel, made by the same director, Guillermo del Torro. Del Torro is probably one of the most imaginative and creative people working in film today. He has a simply amazing visual sense, but also manages to team this with a superb narrative style and strong story-telling ethic.
Proof of this abounds - Blade 2 is by far the best of the Blade films, both visually and from the story-telling point of view, for example. Then there's Pan's Labyrinth, a film I didn't quite see eye-to-eye with, but one that was dripping with gorgeous visuals.
Hellboy II therefore kinda shows-up the first film. Although I personally enjoyed it for what it was, this second film really emphasises what was missing from the first to make it truly great - del Torro himself.
I remember in the first film's commentary del Torro kept going on about how much of a Hellboy fan he was and how he'd strived to transfer Mike Mignola's characters to the big screen as faithfully as he could. And it worked - they're good characters - but what that therefore mean the first film was missing was a true del Torro-ness.
I'm struggling to explain this, to be frank, but in Hellboy II, del Torro really seems to have let himself go and infused the film with his style. But there's more - in the first he treated the Hellboy world with the utmost respect, whereas in the second it's more like he's expressing his love for the characters.
Does that make sense? So if the first film was reverential and slightly dry and stand-offish because of the respect, then this film is up-close and personal because we're getting a glimpse into the soul of its creator.
That's a bit over the top, but you get the idea.
The film is also staggeringly brave in places.
For example, there's a sequence where Hellboy has to fight an elemental. The elemental grows huge and is destroying the city in its attempts to kill Hellboy.
Hellboy fights back and shoots it and effectively has it on-the-ropes when the villain appears and explains that this is the last of its kind - if he kills it, he ends a race.
Even though this is a block-buster type movie there are shades of grey here. Protect the humans and the city (that is the humans who hate and fear Hellboy and his compatriots) by ending an entire race - it's an intelligent, thoughtful moment where traditionally you would not be presented with anything of the kind.
It had it's flaws, to be sure, but I thought as comic-book adaptations go, hellboy was entertaining enough.
Hellboy 2 is a direct sequel, made by the same director, Guillermo del Torro. Del Torro is probably one of the most imaginative and creative people working in film today. He has a simply amazing visual sense, but also manages to team this with a superb narrative style and strong story-telling ethic.
Proof of this abounds - Blade 2 is by far the best of the Blade films, both visually and from the story-telling point of view, for example. Then there's Pan's Labyrinth, a film I didn't quite see eye-to-eye with, but one that was dripping with gorgeous visuals.
Hellboy II therefore kinda shows-up the first film. Although I personally enjoyed it for what it was, this second film really emphasises what was missing from the first to make it truly great - del Torro himself.
I remember in the first film's commentary del Torro kept going on about how much of a Hellboy fan he was and how he'd strived to transfer Mike Mignola's characters to the big screen as faithfully as he could. And it worked - they're good characters - but what that therefore mean the first film was missing was a true del Torro-ness.
I'm struggling to explain this, to be frank, but in Hellboy II, del Torro really seems to have let himself go and infused the film with his style. But there's more - in the first he treated the Hellboy world with the utmost respect, whereas in the second it's more like he's expressing his love for the characters.
Does that make sense? So if the first film was reverential and slightly dry and stand-offish because of the respect, then this film is up-close and personal because we're getting a glimpse into the soul of its creator.
That's a bit over the top, but you get the idea.
The film is also staggeringly brave in places.
For example, there's a sequence where Hellboy has to fight an elemental. The elemental grows huge and is destroying the city in its attempts to kill Hellboy.
Hellboy fights back and shoots it and effectively has it on-the-ropes when the villain appears and explains that this is the last of its kind - if he kills it, he ends a race.
Even though this is a block-buster type movie there are shades of grey here. Protect the humans and the city (that is the humans who hate and fear Hellboy and his compatriots) by ending an entire race - it's an intelligent, thoughtful moment where traditionally you would not be presented with anything of the kind.
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
as you do
I've recently been reading Richard Hammond's new... I was going to say autobiography then, but it isn't really. It's more like a diary/journal thing, although there are some auto-biography elements.
The first part covers the race to the North Pole Top Gear did, where Hammond was racing Huskies and James & Jeremy went in a four-by-four. Later on - although I haven't got there yet - it seems to cover the Desert race they did, as well as Hammond's meeting with Evel Knievel in a documentary.
I remember those episodes and the documentary well and it's been interesting to read Richard's take on it and the behind-the-scenes stuff. I'd certainly recommend it, but probably only if you're a Top Gear watcher or interested in Hammond. It's not quite got the broader appeal of his autobiography, since it's a bit more focused on things you need to have watched Top Gear to get properly. But it's still an entertaining read.
And speaking of reading, although I've not been watching any anime (naughty Mark!) I have been plugging away with the old manga. So much so, in fact, that my pile of unread manga has almost halved. Indeed, where it actually consisted of two separate stacks, it's now down to 1 stack.
Okay - that's not quite true. Because I deliberately read all my manga twice, actually it's changed from 2 stacks of totally unread to 1 stack of read-once and 1 stack of unread. But that's a sufficiently good achievement for me to be happy.
Anyway, the point is I thought I'd do one of those summary-type list of my thoughts on some of the newer stuff I've tackled:
The Welcome to the NHK manga has been rather disappointing, if I'm honest. The main problem I'm having is that it doesn't seem to be very consistent, both in terms of plotting and tone.
I'm left puzzled as to quite what it's trying to say or to achieve. At some points it comes across as an all-out comedy, at others it seems to be trying to make more serious points about the hikikomori (shut-ins, basically, though this shut-in spends a remarkably large amount of time outside his apartment, which kinda exemplifies my issue with it). At others it seems be going for a more straight drama style.
It almost comes across as vaguely schizophrenic - switching from one idea to another as it suits the whims of the writer. Now this is either a clever representation of the psyche of the main character, or just plain bad writing. And unfortunately I've been erring towards the latter.
Samurai Harem: Asu No Yoichi is a series I picked up because I rather liked what I saw of the anime version. Whilst I wouldn't say I didn't like the manga, the anime is better. That's a raft of double negatives, isn't it?
Basically, what I mean is that the manga seems okay, where the anime seemed good. There's a lot of commonality between the two - all the same characters are featured and the set-up is the same - but the anime is slightly better written. Weirdly, this is because the anime is more happy to use already familiar harem-type devices.
Normally I'd have been rolling my eyes at this rolling out of clichés, but the thing with Harem was that the main character was actually quite likeable and not the usual loser/milquetoast they often feature. In the manga this is also true, but the writer has tried to be innovative about lost of other stuff too, and it doesn't quite work.
In other words, for the anime, they seem to have picked the best aspects and used those. Plus the tweaks to the chara designs make them a bit better in the anime, if I'm honest.
Two series I think I've mentioned before but I've now read a bit more of are Doujin Works and Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei.
Doujin Work I was a bit on-the-fence over, due mainly to the format, I think. Well I've decided I pretty much like it now. Weirdly, it actually reminds me of Garfield.
Not in the sense of sharing any plot elements, obviously, but Garfield was formatted in a rigid panel format that was designed mainly for short, gag-based strips. However, occasionally it would veer into longer stories across more strips.
Doujin works is very much like that and it suffers the same problem. Long-form comics almost demand the use of varying panel sizes. Kept in fixed formats they feel oddly contained; broken up somehow.
But the point is, when you get past that, it works as a series. It also helps that I'm now used to the weirdness of it all.
However, another series I was a bit on-the-fence about has proven to be less of goer. Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei is really leaving me cold.
And I just can't understand why - when I watched the anime I really loved it, but the manga. I dunno, I just can't explain it.
My only theory is that the manga is confusing me. A lot of the characters look very similar and the panels are riddled with obscure, Japan-centric visual jokes that I don't get.
But in the anime, these jokes are either ignorable, or they are better explained by being animated. For the characters of course, you have colour to help distinguish them and different sounding voice actors.
It's a pretty flimsy theory, but it's all I can think of.
The first part covers the race to the North Pole Top Gear did, where Hammond was racing Huskies and James & Jeremy went in a four-by-four. Later on - although I haven't got there yet - it seems to cover the Desert race they did, as well as Hammond's meeting with Evel Knievel in a documentary.
I remember those episodes and the documentary well and it's been interesting to read Richard's take on it and the behind-the-scenes stuff. I'd certainly recommend it, but probably only if you're a Top Gear watcher or interested in Hammond. It's not quite got the broader appeal of his autobiography, since it's a bit more focused on things you need to have watched Top Gear to get properly. But it's still an entertaining read.
And speaking of reading, although I've not been watching any anime (naughty Mark!) I have been plugging away with the old manga. So much so, in fact, that my pile of unread manga has almost halved. Indeed, where it actually consisted of two separate stacks, it's now down to 1 stack.
Okay - that's not quite true. Because I deliberately read all my manga twice, actually it's changed from 2 stacks of totally unread to 1 stack of read-once and 1 stack of unread. But that's a sufficiently good achievement for me to be happy.
Anyway, the point is I thought I'd do one of those summary-type list of my thoughts on some of the newer stuff I've tackled:
The Welcome to the NHK manga has been rather disappointing, if I'm honest. The main problem I'm having is that it doesn't seem to be very consistent, both in terms of plotting and tone.
I'm left puzzled as to quite what it's trying to say or to achieve. At some points it comes across as an all-out comedy, at others it seems to be trying to make more serious points about the hikikomori (shut-ins, basically, though this shut-in spends a remarkably large amount of time outside his apartment, which kinda exemplifies my issue with it). At others it seems be going for a more straight drama style.
It almost comes across as vaguely schizophrenic - switching from one idea to another as it suits the whims of the writer. Now this is either a clever representation of the psyche of the main character, or just plain bad writing. And unfortunately I've been erring towards the latter.
Samurai Harem: Asu No Yoichi is a series I picked up because I rather liked what I saw of the anime version. Whilst I wouldn't say I didn't like the manga, the anime is better. That's a raft of double negatives, isn't it?
Basically, what I mean is that the manga seems okay, where the anime seemed good. There's a lot of commonality between the two - all the same characters are featured and the set-up is the same - but the anime is slightly better written. Weirdly, this is because the anime is more happy to use already familiar harem-type devices.
Normally I'd have been rolling my eyes at this rolling out of clichés, but the thing with Harem was that the main character was actually quite likeable and not the usual loser/milquetoast they often feature. In the manga this is also true, but the writer has tried to be innovative about lost of other stuff too, and it doesn't quite work.
In other words, for the anime, they seem to have picked the best aspects and used those. Plus the tweaks to the chara designs make them a bit better in the anime, if I'm honest.
Two series I think I've mentioned before but I've now read a bit more of are Doujin Works and Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei.
Doujin Work I was a bit on-the-fence over, due mainly to the format, I think. Well I've decided I pretty much like it now. Weirdly, it actually reminds me of Garfield.
Not in the sense of sharing any plot elements, obviously, but Garfield was formatted in a rigid panel format that was designed mainly for short, gag-based strips. However, occasionally it would veer into longer stories across more strips.
Doujin works is very much like that and it suffers the same problem. Long-form comics almost demand the use of varying panel sizes. Kept in fixed formats they feel oddly contained; broken up somehow.
But the point is, when you get past that, it works as a series. It also helps that I'm now used to the weirdness of it all.
However, another series I was a bit on-the-fence about has proven to be less of goer. Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei is really leaving me cold.
And I just can't understand why - when I watched the anime I really loved it, but the manga. I dunno, I just can't explain it.
My only theory is that the manga is confusing me. A lot of the characters look very similar and the panels are riddled with obscure, Japan-centric visual jokes that I don't get.
But in the anime, these jokes are either ignorable, or they are better explained by being animated. For the characters of course, you have colour to help distinguish them and different sounding voice actors.
It's a pretty flimsy theory, but it's all I can think of.
Monday, 24 August 2009
kaboom!
My computer exploded.
Well, exploded is a bit of an exaggeration, but the power supply for my gaming rig shorted out. It made quite a bang, I can tell you, and I expleted quite loudly as a result.
At the time I wasn't sure what had gone so after the shock had warn off a little I reset the power for my bedsit and re-tried the power for my PCs and it shorted again with another loud bang. This time there was also a strong whiff of burning stuff.
I therefore decided to take my games rig apart and the smell was definitely coming from the power supply.
I've heard that power supplies actually store quite a lot of charge in capacitors, so I decided not to actually open the supply up. Pretty sure I wouldn't be able to fix it any way so I ordered a new supply.
So that was £50 I wasn't planning on spending :/.
In a way, it was a bit of a godsend, though. If the rig had been working I'm pretty sure I would have blown the entire weekend playing Anno. I would have enjoyed it, I'm sure, but the point is by not being able to play at all it meant I could do a load of stuff, and it turned out there was way more for me to do than I'd thought.
For example, I've prepared loads of updates for trismugistus.com - 8 weeks worth, in fact. This takes me up to the middle of October, I believe, which will be nice.
Also, I had a bunch of e-bay auctions on the go and there was quite a lot of effort with that. I always forget how much effort there is with e-bay stuff.
And then there was a surprisingly large amount of telly to clear. That was an odd one - at the start of last week I'd managed to totally clear my PVR and I was watching shows too, so I was keeping it clear. But then on Saturday/Sunday there were loads of unwatched things.
I think what happened was a conflagration of stuff - a few shows were coming to the end, some with double-episode things, while other shows were starting. And then there's the Thursday effect. For some reason loads of shows I watch are scheduled for Thursday, but by the time Thursday rolls around I'm often fed-up of watching telly or absorbed in the middle of something else and so I leave it to my PVR. I therefore end up with a big list of stuff being added on one night.
Plus it didn't help that this week's rental DVD had two commentary tracks on it, so that took way longer to watch than I had anticipated.
Still, the point is I cleared it all, which I'm sure I wouldn't have if I'd had a working games rig.
Unfortunately, I still didn't do any scanning, though. I did prep last months mags for scanning (taking out the staples and un-glueing them) but never quite worked up the desire to sit and start scanning. This is silly for two reasons - it builds up a barrier because the number of hours needed to scan it all is daunting, but also because I don't watch any of the fansubs I've got.
And there are a lot of unwatched fansubs. I mean, we're reapidly approaching the winter season and things will get bonkers if those shows start without me finishing most of the past two seasons :/.
Well, exploded is a bit of an exaggeration, but the power supply for my gaming rig shorted out. It made quite a bang, I can tell you, and I expleted quite loudly as a result.
At the time I wasn't sure what had gone so after the shock had warn off a little I reset the power for my bedsit and re-tried the power for my PCs and it shorted again with another loud bang. This time there was also a strong whiff of burning stuff.
I therefore decided to take my games rig apart and the smell was definitely coming from the power supply.
I've heard that power supplies actually store quite a lot of charge in capacitors, so I decided not to actually open the supply up. Pretty sure I wouldn't be able to fix it any way so I ordered a new supply.
So that was £50 I wasn't planning on spending :/.
In a way, it was a bit of a godsend, though. If the rig had been working I'm pretty sure I would have blown the entire weekend playing Anno. I would have enjoyed it, I'm sure, but the point is by not being able to play at all it meant I could do a load of stuff, and it turned out there was way more for me to do than I'd thought.
For example, I've prepared loads of updates for trismugistus.com - 8 weeks worth, in fact. This takes me up to the middle of October, I believe, which will be nice.
Also, I had a bunch of e-bay auctions on the go and there was quite a lot of effort with that. I always forget how much effort there is with e-bay stuff.
And then there was a surprisingly large amount of telly to clear. That was an odd one - at the start of last week I'd managed to totally clear my PVR and I was watching shows too, so I was keeping it clear. But then on Saturday/Sunday there were loads of unwatched things.
I think what happened was a conflagration of stuff - a few shows were coming to the end, some with double-episode things, while other shows were starting. And then there's the Thursday effect. For some reason loads of shows I watch are scheduled for Thursday, but by the time Thursday rolls around I'm often fed-up of watching telly or absorbed in the middle of something else and so I leave it to my PVR. I therefore end up with a big list of stuff being added on one night.
Plus it didn't help that this week's rental DVD had two commentary tracks on it, so that took way longer to watch than I had anticipated.
Still, the point is I cleared it all, which I'm sure I wouldn't have if I'd had a working games rig.
Unfortunately, I still didn't do any scanning, though. I did prep last months mags for scanning (taking out the staples and un-glueing them) but never quite worked up the desire to sit and start scanning. This is silly for two reasons - it builds up a barrier because the number of hours needed to scan it all is daunting, but also because I don't watch any of the fansubs I've got.
And there are a lot of unwatched fansubs. I mean, we're reapidly approaching the winter season and things will get bonkers if those shows start without me finishing most of the past two seasons :/.
Friday, 21 August 2009
cable confusion
Yesterday was a near-total right-off.
I was just so tired from the intensity of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I could hardly even see straight, let alone do anything useful. I'm also pretty shattered today, but then I didn't help myself by playing Anno quite late into the night - dunno why I did that as I knew what the consequences would be.
I do feel a bit better, though, so hopefully I can get something done.
Tomorrow looks like it's going to be a bit manic, though.
Recently, they've been digging up the roads in the town (well, village is more accurate) where I normally do my shopping. This has caused traffic chaos so where I normally slip my shopping in during my lunch break, it's meant that I've been having to do it very early on a Saturday.
I mean, there are advantages to shopping very early on a Saturday, but generally I find the advantages offered by shopping during the week tend to outweigh these.
But anyway, the point is that I've got the shopping to do, but I've slowly been adding more and more other stuff too. First off, I'll need to fill up with petrol, which isn't a huge hassle, but it's easier if I do it before the shopping, which means getting up super early.
Then I need to go to the post office, but the slight problem is it's a bit of a triple-whammy. First off I need to get some photos done for my passport (this means I'll have to shave either tonight or tomorrow morning) and then I need to post a parcel for an e-bay auction thing and finally I need to collect a parcel because there's a customs charge to pay.
What makes it annoying is that the first two are best done in Alton, but the last has to be done in Farnham. I'm very tempted to pay the customs charge online and then basically go from there - they'll try to deliver it and if I'm lucky my landlord Jon will be in to collect it. If not, it at least puts the problem off for a week and I can collect it next week when thins will hopefully be a bit less busy.
And they get even busier when I get home after the post office, because I'm supposed to be experimenting with my landlord's broadband. I mentioned before that I was looking at trying to get cable, well it turned out that this was impossible.
Basically, Virgin said they don't allow two separate accounts at the same address (my place is a self-contained annex and so has the exact same address as the main residence). Why the won't is a bit of a mystery to me. BT will let you have multiple accounts at the same address - that's what I've got now.
So that seemed to put a serious kibosh on things until John offered that we run a cable from hi box right the way through to my place and that should let me plug into his broadband. If it all works it means I should be able to cancel my broadband at least.
I've actually been giving serious consideration to stopping my phone line as well. Ideally what I'd like to do is just have a mobile (indeed, I'd actually like to switch to a pay as you go mobile as well, rather than be on contract).
I dunno - I need to think about that a bit before I go ahead.
But anyway, the first step is the broadband, so I'm going to test my laptop on John's router and see how we go. If it works, then he's going to see if he can run a long cable into my place and if so then I may well be sorted.
I was just so tired from the intensity of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I could hardly even see straight, let alone do anything useful. I'm also pretty shattered today, but then I didn't help myself by playing Anno quite late into the night - dunno why I did that as I knew what the consequences would be.
I do feel a bit better, though, so hopefully I can get something done.
Tomorrow looks like it's going to be a bit manic, though.
Recently, they've been digging up the roads in the town (well, village is more accurate) where I normally do my shopping. This has caused traffic chaos so where I normally slip my shopping in during my lunch break, it's meant that I've been having to do it very early on a Saturday.
I mean, there are advantages to shopping very early on a Saturday, but generally I find the advantages offered by shopping during the week tend to outweigh these.
But anyway, the point is that I've got the shopping to do, but I've slowly been adding more and more other stuff too. First off, I'll need to fill up with petrol, which isn't a huge hassle, but it's easier if I do it before the shopping, which means getting up super early.
Then I need to go to the post office, but the slight problem is it's a bit of a triple-whammy. First off I need to get some photos done for my passport (this means I'll have to shave either tonight or tomorrow morning) and then I need to post a parcel for an e-bay auction thing and finally I need to collect a parcel because there's a customs charge to pay.
What makes it annoying is that the first two are best done in Alton, but the last has to be done in Farnham. I'm very tempted to pay the customs charge online and then basically go from there - they'll try to deliver it and if I'm lucky my landlord Jon will be in to collect it. If not, it at least puts the problem off for a week and I can collect it next week when thins will hopefully be a bit less busy.
And they get even busier when I get home after the post office, because I'm supposed to be experimenting with my landlord's broadband. I mentioned before that I was looking at trying to get cable, well it turned out that this was impossible.
Basically, Virgin said they don't allow two separate accounts at the same address (my place is a self-contained annex and so has the exact same address as the main residence). Why the won't is a bit of a mystery to me. BT will let you have multiple accounts at the same address - that's what I've got now.
So that seemed to put a serious kibosh on things until John offered that we run a cable from hi box right the way through to my place and that should let me plug into his broadband. If it all works it means I should be able to cancel my broadband at least.
I've actually been giving serious consideration to stopping my phone line as well. Ideally what I'd like to do is just have a mobile (indeed, I'd actually like to switch to a pay as you go mobile as well, rather than be on contract).
I dunno - I need to think about that a bit before I go ahead.
But anyway, the first step is the broadband, so I'm going to test my laptop on John's router and see how we go. If it works, then he's going to see if he can run a long cable into my place and if so then I may well be sorted.
Thursday, 20 August 2009
son of rambow
Hmm.
Unlike yesterday's Blood Diamond, where I went in expecting it to be poor and really liked it, Son of Rambow I'd heard a lot of good stuff about and, well, I was a little disappointed if I'm honest.
I dunno - it just never really seemed to get going for me.
One of the problems I had was that you'd get a scene that was very realistic - this is what school is really like, but then suddenly there'd be a moment in it that was totally unrealistic. Or the entire next scene would just be daft.
There were also quite a few jokes that seemed to fall a bit flat to me. It reminded me quite a lot of Napoleon Dynamite, in that it kept feeling like I'd not quite got the gag. I mean, it wasn't that bad - I did find plenty of it funny - but it was that sort of thing.
But the thing is there were some truly excellent moments in it.
One of the characters was an artist with a huge and vivid imagination and every so often it sort of slipped into showing his imagination. There was a particularly effective dream sequence, for example, and another where he was travelling along in a car and his drawing were animated onto the surrounding fields.
These moments I absolutely loved - it was imaginative and lovely and clever all at the same time.
But other bits just didn't work for me. The whole issue of the same character being brought up in a weird religious sect just didn't really work.
Another element that didn't' quite gel was some of the dialogue. The main characters were all kids and some of the dialogue was perfectly framed for their age, but other bits were too grown up.
Not so much in the sentiments and feeling, but in how eloquently they were expressed. This was especially true for the scruff-bag/ruffian character - I had no problem with him being smart, but they way he talked needed to be less well rounded and clever in order to suit his character.
The problem is that makes me feel like a cynical, miserable git. What I mean is I didn't quite enjoy the film as much as I thought I was going to, but I'm left with a nagging feeling that maybe I was just not in the right frame of mind to enjoy it, rather than is being actively bad.
Unlike yesterday's Blood Diamond, where I went in expecting it to be poor and really liked it, Son of Rambow I'd heard a lot of good stuff about and, well, I was a little disappointed if I'm honest.
I dunno - it just never really seemed to get going for me.
One of the problems I had was that you'd get a scene that was very realistic - this is what school is really like, but then suddenly there'd be a moment in it that was totally unrealistic. Or the entire next scene would just be daft.
There were also quite a few jokes that seemed to fall a bit flat to me. It reminded me quite a lot of Napoleon Dynamite, in that it kept feeling like I'd not quite got the gag. I mean, it wasn't that bad - I did find plenty of it funny - but it was that sort of thing.
But the thing is there were some truly excellent moments in it.
One of the characters was an artist with a huge and vivid imagination and every so often it sort of slipped into showing his imagination. There was a particularly effective dream sequence, for example, and another where he was travelling along in a car and his drawing were animated onto the surrounding fields.
These moments I absolutely loved - it was imaginative and lovely and clever all at the same time.
But other bits just didn't work for me. The whole issue of the same character being brought up in a weird religious sect just didn't really work.
Another element that didn't' quite gel was some of the dialogue. The main characters were all kids and some of the dialogue was perfectly framed for their age, but other bits were too grown up.
Not so much in the sentiments and feeling, but in how eloquently they were expressed. This was especially true for the scruff-bag/ruffian character - I had no problem with him being smart, but they way he talked needed to be less well rounded and clever in order to suit his character.
The problem is that makes me feel like a cynical, miserable git. What I mean is I didn't quite enjoy the film as much as I thought I was going to, but I'm left with a nagging feeling that maybe I was just not in the right frame of mind to enjoy it, rather than is being actively bad.
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
blood diamond
Last week with all the photos I didn't post a review of my weekly DVD rental and today is a little less manic, so here it is. I'll probably do this weeks rental tomorrow.
For some reason I went into this expecting it to be rather bad.
I don't know why I thought that, but I did, and overall I'd say I was wrong - it was actually pretty good.
There are some slightly patchy elements, though.
One of the most glaring is the question who's the star? Who's story is this?
Well, Di Caprio is the biggest name and you could also therefore argue that he's the star. He's not the nicest of characters, so I guess anti-hero might be the best phrase to use, but ultimately in the end he doesn't' feel like the star - he's more of a scene stealing support.
Similarly, the framing device for the whole film is that of a family that's torn apart by the civil war. A civil war that's fuelled by an illegal diamond trade.
But as I say, it's more of a framing device - it lends impetus to the story and allows us to follow a thread that lets us get a grip on the real story, but it's also at many times a secondary element. The father, whose looking for his family and then specifically his son who's been taken by the rebels adds a lot of emotional depth, but he and it also don't feel like the star.
The female journalist takes a supporting role, so what about that title element - the blood diamond?
Well again, it's not really the start of the show. It's the McGuffin - the thing everyone is searching for and chasing, but in many senses what it actually is is irrelevant.
And I would also argue that the whole idea of corporate greed, the civil war, political machinations and man's inhumanity to man that form powerful elements to the story are also not quite the star.
The star, in my opinion, was Africa.
In a David Lean Lawrence of Arabia type happening, it seems the film falls in love with Africa more than it does the story or the players in the actual movie. And this is an Africa of equal parts beauty and dynamism as it is brutality and cruelty.
So yeah, I really quite enjoyed the film. They only bit I didn't like came towards the end. The film's violence was portrayed quite realistically up until a helicopter attack that's towards the end. for some reason it suddenly got very 'Hollywood' at that point with lots of squibs and earth exploding up as bullets hit.
This kinda lost my respect a bit, as it came across more like an episode of the A-Team :/.
For some reason I went into this expecting it to be rather bad.
I don't know why I thought that, but I did, and overall I'd say I was wrong - it was actually pretty good.
There are some slightly patchy elements, though.
One of the most glaring is the question who's the star? Who's story is this?
Well, Di Caprio is the biggest name and you could also therefore argue that he's the star. He's not the nicest of characters, so I guess anti-hero might be the best phrase to use, but ultimately in the end he doesn't' feel like the star - he's more of a scene stealing support.
Similarly, the framing device for the whole film is that of a family that's torn apart by the civil war. A civil war that's fuelled by an illegal diamond trade.
But as I say, it's more of a framing device - it lends impetus to the story and allows us to follow a thread that lets us get a grip on the real story, but it's also at many times a secondary element. The father, whose looking for his family and then specifically his son who's been taken by the rebels adds a lot of emotional depth, but he and it also don't feel like the star.
The female journalist takes a supporting role, so what about that title element - the blood diamond?
Well again, it's not really the start of the show. It's the McGuffin - the thing everyone is searching for and chasing, but in many senses what it actually is is irrelevant.
And I would also argue that the whole idea of corporate greed, the civil war, political machinations and man's inhumanity to man that form powerful elements to the story are also not quite the star.
The star, in my opinion, was Africa.
In a David Lean Lawrence of Arabia type happening, it seems the film falls in love with Africa more than it does the story or the players in the actual movie. And this is an Africa of equal parts beauty and dynamism as it is brutality and cruelty.
So yeah, I really quite enjoyed the film. They only bit I didn't like came towards the end. The film's violence was portrayed quite realistically up until a helicopter attack that's towards the end. for some reason it suddenly got very 'Hollywood' at that point with lots of squibs and earth exploding up as bullets hit.
This kinda lost my respect a bit, as it came across more like an episode of the A-Team :/.
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
still maxed out
I'm still snowed under and am barely getting the chance to even think abotu the blog, let alone write any new entries.
It may be a case of disregard the blog this week, I think.
It may be a case of disregard the blog this week, I think.
Monday, 17 August 2009
fecking hell
I'd thought today I might do a bonus post for the holiday pics.
I took a few photos as I was coming back on the coach on the last day - not many, but there's a few pretty things to look at.
However, today has just been fucking manic. It's only Monday, but it feels like Friday with all the dashing around I've been doing.
And the rest of the week doesn't exactly look like it's going to quiet down any so blog posts may be few and far between.
I took a few photos as I was coming back on the coach on the last day - not many, but there's a few pretty things to look at.
However, today has just been fucking manic. It's only Monday, but it feels like Friday with all the dashing around I've been doing.
And the rest of the week doesn't exactly look like it's going to quiet down any so blog posts may be few and far between.
Friday, 14 August 2009
monaco pics 3
So here it is - day 3, race day.
Let's crack straight in shall we with the establishing shots. These are where we sat on day 3:
For these next ones I'm actually hanging out over the side of the stand, which I can assure you I didn't really enjoy as I have a serious fear of heights:
Monaco is so small that there's not much room for, well, anything, really. So instead of the paddocks (where the teams 'live' being in the pits, they're a ways off to the side. These shots are aimed at the paddocks, but you can't really see them, as such:
This is actually the 'RED Bull experience'. Whether that means 'overly sweet with and with an unpleasant after-taste', I can't confirm.
Hubba-hubba:
The next lot of shots are all of the pits:
We were actually facing 'the rock' from this stand:
Here's one of the support races with Porsches:
Note how the red and white thing is there to keep them in the race-track and not skip the corner. The curbs are not much of a deterrent at all for an ordinary road car:
And some GP2 action:
Note the red and white thing has gone now:
This is them wheeling the Red Bull into the garage. At most circuits they don't need to bother, because the paddocks are right there, but as mentioned, Monaco is so tiny they can't fit them in:
Before the race they have a pit walk about where people can wander around the pits. If you can see anyone famous, let me know:
And here's the driver's parade. See if you can spot anyone you recognise:
And here, finally, is some F1 race action:
Not that I took many photos during the actual race, because you're so focused on the racing, you forget to:
A Ferrari skipping the corner. They got told off for skipping this corner:
A pit stop. On telly, pit stops look quite smooth and well-oiled, but in real life they're barely controlled chaos:
And here was one of the more exciting events: Kovalainan crashed his car right next to us:
And that's pretty much it, really. Here's a shot of Button holding his trophy aloft as shown on the big screen:
Let's crack straight in shall we with the establishing shots. These are where we sat on day 3:
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For these next ones I'm actually hanging out over the side of the stand, which I can assure you I didn't really enjoy as I have a serious fear of heights:
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Monaco is so small that there's not much room for, well, anything, really. So instead of the paddocks (where the teams 'live' being in the pits, they're a ways off to the side. These shots are aimed at the paddocks, but you can't really see them, as such:
 |
This is actually the 'RED Bull experience'. Whether that means 'overly sweet with and with an unpleasant after-taste', I can't confirm.
 |
Hubba-hubba:
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The next lot of shots are all of the pits:
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 |
 |
 |
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 |
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We were actually facing 'the rock' from this stand:
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Here's one of the support races with Porsches:
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Note how the red and white thing is there to keep them in the race-track and not skip the corner. The curbs are not much of a deterrent at all for an ordinary road car:
 |
And some GP2 action:
 |
Note the red and white thing has gone now:
 |
This is them wheeling the Red Bull into the garage. At most circuits they don't need to bother, because the paddocks are right there, but as mentioned, Monaco is so tiny they can't fit them in:
 |
 |
Before the race they have a pit walk about where people can wander around the pits. If you can see anyone famous, let me know:
 |
And here's the driver's parade. See if you can spot anyone you recognise:
 |
And here, finally, is some F1 race action:
 |
Not that I took many photos during the actual race, because you're so focused on the racing, you forget to:
 |
A Ferrari skipping the corner. They got told off for skipping this corner:
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A pit stop. On telly, pit stops look quite smooth and well-oiled, but in real life they're barely controlled chaos:
 |
And here was one of the more exciting events: Kovalainan crashed his car right next to us:
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And that's pretty much it, really. Here's a shot of Button holding his trophy aloft as shown on the big screen:
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Thursday, 13 August 2009
monaco pics 2
So here's the photos for day 2 of our little excursion to the Monaco GP this last May.
Again, clicking the pics should take you to the full album to have a look through.
On day 2 we were in casino square. If you look at the photos yesterday there's one where I refer to the hill being really steep. Well, that hill leads up to casino square, which is where we were on day2.
There's only one stand up there and it has to be the most comfortable stand I've ever been in. The seats are moulded to a bucket/back-side shape and while that may sound uncomfortable, it's actually exactly the opposite. Unlike all the other days where I got a numb-bum and a slightly sore back, on day 2 I was fine.
The first shots are the establishers, then. Building on the right of Casino square:
Big crane, big screen, expensive casino:
Man with natty t-shirt distracts me from the point of the photo:
Over to the left of the stand. Quite empty at the mo, but it soon filled up:
Some close up now. First off the restaurant:
Next the big screen, which was unfortunately covered by the arm of the camera crane thing:
And a shot of the crane. Crane's are very important at Monaco as there's little in the way of run-off:
And the casino:
A side street to the right of the stand:
And this is the track. So that must mean it's time for some car action:
I've actually mixed these together - they're from both the morning practice session as well as the actual qualifying. From your point of view, I figure a shot of an F1 car is a shot of an F1 car :/.
So, halfway through the day was luncheon and this gives me an opportunity to show you the gardens that were out the back of the stand. I have to say it was incredibly civilised being in this stand. And no, shots of statue cocks was not my intention, it just happened to be the closest statue to where we crashed out over lunch.
In the afternoon was qualifying, so here's some more cars.
Of course, for qualifying, the crowds filled up. Here's some people on the balcony and in the restaurant. This is one of the things that gives Monaco the atmosphere it has.
Some more car action and then guess what happened?
Lewis Hamilton binned it just up the road from us. And here he is, walking back to the pits, helmet still on because he knows it was entirely his own fault:
And here's two more cars failing to crash like Lewis:
Overall, I'd probably say that day 2 was my favourite day (the actual race not withstanding).
Again, clicking the pics should take you to the full album to have a look through.
On day 2 we were in casino square. If you look at the photos yesterday there's one where I refer to the hill being really steep. Well, that hill leads up to casino square, which is where we were on day2.
There's only one stand up there and it has to be the most comfortable stand I've ever been in. The seats are moulded to a bucket/back-side shape and while that may sound uncomfortable, it's actually exactly the opposite. Unlike all the other days where I got a numb-bum and a slightly sore back, on day 2 I was fine.
The first shots are the establishers, then. Building on the right of Casino square:
 |
Big crane, big screen, expensive casino:
 |
Man with natty t-shirt distracts me from the point of the photo:
 |
Over to the left of the stand. Quite empty at the mo, but it soon filled up:
 |
Some close up now. First off the restaurant:
 |
Next the big screen, which was unfortunately covered by the arm of the camera crane thing:
 |
And a shot of the crane. Crane's are very important at Monaco as there's little in the way of run-off:
 |
And the casino:
 |
A side street to the right of the stand:
 |
And this is the track. So that must mean it's time for some car action:
 |
I've actually mixed these together - they're from both the morning practice session as well as the actual qualifying. From your point of view, I figure a shot of an F1 car is a shot of an F1 car :/.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
So, halfway through the day was luncheon and this gives me an opportunity to show you the gardens that were out the back of the stand. I have to say it was incredibly civilised being in this stand. And no, shots of statue cocks was not my intention, it just happened to be the closest statue to where we crashed out over lunch.
 |
In the afternoon was qualifying, so here's some more cars.
 |
 |
Of course, for qualifying, the crowds filled up. Here's some people on the balcony and in the restaurant. This is one of the things that gives Monaco the atmosphere it has.
 |
 |
Some more car action and then guess what happened?
 |
Lewis Hamilton binned it just up the road from us. And here he is, walking back to the pits, helmet still on because he knows it was entirely his own fault:
 |
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And here's two more cars failing to crash like Lewis:
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Overall, I'd probably say that day 2 was my favourite day (the actual race not withstanding).
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