This weekend sees the final race of 2011 at Interlagos in Brazil.
The championship was decided a while ago of course and it's actually fairly rare that it comes down to the wire, so since Brazil is normally towards the end, usually it's been decided before then.
The place where the race is in Brazil is not a particularly nice area, as I understand it. Brazil has a lot of poor people and big slum areas, and I believe the track is close to one of those.
This usually leads to someone getting robbed or mugged or something similar. This usually makes the headlines, but the media generally reports it as crime, rather than focusing a spotlight on the poverty. I mention this specifically because in India that was clearly the angle they'd gone for - F1 is profligate and rich but India's poor, so do the Indians really want it?
It's a ludicrous argument of course.
Football is wasteful and rich, with big British team players being paid ludicrous salaries and tickets costing a small fortune, but I don't hear anyone saying there shouldn't be football allowed in India.
And any sort of argument that anyone can play football is only on slightly firmer ground. Okay, very few people ever become F1 drivers, but then few ever become premier league players of football. And there's lots of motor racing people can have a go at, from rallying to carting.
Anyway, got sidetracked a bit there.
Brazil is usually a really good race. The circuit has always had lots of opportunities to pass and it's not uncommon for it to rain and make things a bit complex for the teams. I'll be interested to see what happens with things like DRS and KERS - could this be a track where they're not really needed? Could they make things silly in terms of passing and repassing, etc?
The race will be on fairly late in the evening as it's run on local time, which is always interesting.
I will hopefully also go and get a haircut at some point this weekend. It's really becoming something of a mop head at the moment.
And I'll also hopefully be able to get some more stuff on e-bay. I put a lot of the DVDs I ripped up there last weekend. I thought about putting some up that I hadn't ripped, but it's always risky doing that.
I've done it before with things I hadn't quite finished, and if something happens it can be very tricky. The obvious example this time is not finding the time, but I've also had problems ripping some of the DVDs and while I sorted them, that suggests there's a risk of delay or finding one that just won't rip at all.
Friday, 25 November 2011
Thursday, 24 November 2011
downton abbey & other telly stuff
While I was away I saw this Downton Abbey people seem to have gone nuts for.
I can't honestly say I understand why it's so popular. It seemed very poorly written and had an odd, staccato feel to it - like all the scenes were filmed with the intention of being the last in the show, or just before an ad break.
You know the drums you get at the end of Eastenders and there's that dramatic pause while they play? All of the scenes seemed like that in Downton.
Also, the camerawork was very sedate, with mostly static shots, so it had a feel of only having 1 camera, which usually goes along with a low budget, but it clearly had some money spent on it. It looked very lush - lots of lovely costumes and old cars and stuff.
But as I say, the story was very languid and it seemed daft. It also seemed a bit theatrical - you know that way in which things are a little bit hammy in theatre sometimes, because they're having to emote to a big room? It felt a bit like that.
I wasn't keen at all, to be honest.
There's still no sign on Total Wipeout's return to the telly. The latest series of QI is well past half way and Have I got News for You is back again, so it's well into the autumn season, but there's no sign of it.
I ended up suspecting I'd actually missed the series, but I did some investigating and my theory about them showing the celeb specials (which were clearly intended as the last thing in the series run) and nothing else appears to be correct.
I'd have thought if they were planning to run it up to Christmas they'd have started by now and Chrimbo is only 5 or 6 weeks away.
There's been a brilliant new wildlife series on BBC one all about the frozen bits of the world (the far north and south). I actually got to watch the first episode at home and at my Dads. This is significant because my Dad has recently purchased a gigantic High Definition TV and has Freesat HD (basically the satellite version of digital telly - he used to have Sky so already had the dish).
It really looked good in HD and again made me think about getting a freeview HD box. I've decided against it for a while at least, because the analogue signal isn't being turned off for me until April 2012.
It seems to have taken ages for the switchover to happen where I am. I'm pretty sure it was originally planned for 2010, but then got pushed back.
It's a real pain because I'm just on the cusp of a receivable signal. Indeed, if it weren't for my brilliant Humax box I probably couldn't watch digital. My telly has freeview built in, but it can't really get a very good signal. But as I say, it's just on the cusp - sometimes it will be okay, sometimes it will break up a little bit and sometimes it will be so bad you can't tell there's any picture at all.
I did identify that the plug on the arial was in pretty poor condition, so redid it and the signal quality improved massively, but strength was basically unaffected. When they switch off analogue they will turn up the strength of the digital - they can't set it to "max" at the moment as it would interfere with the analogue.
After that I will probably look again at getting HD. Another issue will be that, while my telly is a nice size for my room and the space I have available, it won't really make full use of HD. I mean, I can see the benefit a bit when I watch Blu-Ray movies, but I'd need a bit bigger telly to really get the full effect, and so it's quite an expensive proposition.
Lastly, the Big Bang Theory is back on... but I unfortunately didn't realise and have missed the first couple of episodes :(.
The problem was that it's come back to E4, but doesn't appear to have been shown on channel 4 yet. Usually (or at least, my memory is) they show new episodes first on E4 and then repeat them a week later on channel 4, but this time they seem to have just started showing them on E4 without the repeats.
As such, I've only realised because the new series of the Mentalist started and I was like "hang on, shouldn't the Big Bang Theory be on too?" so I did a search on the old PVR and eventually worked out the new series was already 4 episodes in.
I say eventually because there isn't a day when E4 aren't showing multiple (old) episodes of Big Bang - they repeat it like they used to Friends - so finding new ones is a tricky task.
I can't honestly say I understand why it's so popular. It seemed very poorly written and had an odd, staccato feel to it - like all the scenes were filmed with the intention of being the last in the show, or just before an ad break.
You know the drums you get at the end of Eastenders and there's that dramatic pause while they play? All of the scenes seemed like that in Downton.
Also, the camerawork was very sedate, with mostly static shots, so it had a feel of only having 1 camera, which usually goes along with a low budget, but it clearly had some money spent on it. It looked very lush - lots of lovely costumes and old cars and stuff.
But as I say, the story was very languid and it seemed daft. It also seemed a bit theatrical - you know that way in which things are a little bit hammy in theatre sometimes, because they're having to emote to a big room? It felt a bit like that.
I wasn't keen at all, to be honest.
There's still no sign on Total Wipeout's return to the telly. The latest series of QI is well past half way and Have I got News for You is back again, so it's well into the autumn season, but there's no sign of it.
I ended up suspecting I'd actually missed the series, but I did some investigating and my theory about them showing the celeb specials (which were clearly intended as the last thing in the series run) and nothing else appears to be correct.
I'd have thought if they were planning to run it up to Christmas they'd have started by now and Chrimbo is only 5 or 6 weeks away.
There's been a brilliant new wildlife series on BBC one all about the frozen bits of the world (the far north and south). I actually got to watch the first episode at home and at my Dads. This is significant because my Dad has recently purchased a gigantic High Definition TV and has Freesat HD (basically the satellite version of digital telly - he used to have Sky so already had the dish).
It really looked good in HD and again made me think about getting a freeview HD box. I've decided against it for a while at least, because the analogue signal isn't being turned off for me until April 2012.
It seems to have taken ages for the switchover to happen where I am. I'm pretty sure it was originally planned for 2010, but then got pushed back.
It's a real pain because I'm just on the cusp of a receivable signal. Indeed, if it weren't for my brilliant Humax box I probably couldn't watch digital. My telly has freeview built in, but it can't really get a very good signal. But as I say, it's just on the cusp - sometimes it will be okay, sometimes it will break up a little bit and sometimes it will be so bad you can't tell there's any picture at all.
I did identify that the plug on the arial was in pretty poor condition, so redid it and the signal quality improved massively, but strength was basically unaffected. When they switch off analogue they will turn up the strength of the digital - they can't set it to "max" at the moment as it would interfere with the analogue.
After that I will probably look again at getting HD. Another issue will be that, while my telly is a nice size for my room and the space I have available, it won't really make full use of HD. I mean, I can see the benefit a bit when I watch Blu-Ray movies, but I'd need a bit bigger telly to really get the full effect, and so it's quite an expensive proposition.
Lastly, the Big Bang Theory is back on... but I unfortunately didn't realise and have missed the first couple of episodes :(.
The problem was that it's come back to E4, but doesn't appear to have been shown on channel 4 yet. Usually (or at least, my memory is) they show new episodes first on E4 and then repeat them a week later on channel 4, but this time they seem to have just started showing them on E4 without the repeats.
As such, I've only realised because the new series of the Mentalist started and I was like "hang on, shouldn't the Big Bang Theory be on too?" so I did a search on the old PVR and eventually worked out the new series was already 4 episodes in.
I say eventually because there isn't a day when E4 aren't showing multiple (old) episodes of Big Bang - they repeat it like they used to Friends - so finding new ones is a tricky task.
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
tron legacy
I seem to recall quite a lot of negative reviews for tron legacy when it came out. However, looking at the page on Wikipedia it describes critical reaction as "mixed".
I think that probably sums up my opinion of it too - mixed.
I can't honestly say I've watched tron in a while. I have seen it quite a few times over the years, but I guess with it being from the very early 80s it's not something they tend to show much any more.
If I'm honest, I don't really remember the plot, as such. I remember the awesome, innovative and clever visuals once it goes inside the computer world, I remember the games (the light cycles and disc battles) and I remember the sound, which had the dull and flat quality, like it was set in a foam box.
I do also remember it was riddled with clever little 'puns' and usage of names - programs and users being good example, but also that the whole inside world cleverly parodied (if that's the word) the outside world.
So what about this sequel?
Well, the plot was bobbins. It was such a generic action film plot that was so predictable as to be almost painful. It was like they'd taken a big book of Hollywood movie plot ideas and just transferred them into the film.
But as I say, I'm not entirely sure the original tron was up to much cop in terms of plot anyway.
The visuals were amazing.
Well, generally amazing. They'd done something to produce a young Jeff Bridges and the results were okay, but a little freaky. Now as it happened this kinda worked with the character in question, but it still looked a little off to me.
The games part of it also still worked well. They'd taken the basic ideas if the games and amped them up to the next level. This was rather in keeping with how games computer work - sequels are often the same basic concept (or, indeed, exactly the same game) but with more bells and whistles.
And the sound was great - more because of a storming sound track by the Chemical Brothers (turns out it was actually Daft Punk - groups that use keyboards really aren't my bag :/) than any particular overall clever strategy, but it still worked.
The thing that didn't really seem to have made it through and that I really missed was the clever ideas. I'll give you a specific example.
In the real world at the beginning the encom corporation is launching its latest operating system and the main character sneaks in and plays a tick on them. Fair enough, but in the meeting of the board (which was weird - you'd normally expect a big launch party, but whatever) there's this young guy who's meant to be the son of the first film's bad guy and he's also a bit of a bell end.
But when they go into the digital world, rather than him being the bad guy or, indeed, involved in any way, it's all about the old tron mythos.
Now there are justifications for this, but you could easily have made it so that they weren't issues. Indeed, a plot along those lines may have worked a bit better.
I think that probably sums up my opinion of it too - mixed.
I can't honestly say I've watched tron in a while. I have seen it quite a few times over the years, but I guess with it being from the very early 80s it's not something they tend to show much any more.
If I'm honest, I don't really remember the plot, as such. I remember the awesome, innovative and clever visuals once it goes inside the computer world, I remember the games (the light cycles and disc battles) and I remember the sound, which had the dull and flat quality, like it was set in a foam box.
I do also remember it was riddled with clever little 'puns' and usage of names - programs and users being good example, but also that the whole inside world cleverly parodied (if that's the word) the outside world.
So what about this sequel?
Well, the plot was bobbins. It was such a generic action film plot that was so predictable as to be almost painful. It was like they'd taken a big book of Hollywood movie plot ideas and just transferred them into the film.
But as I say, I'm not entirely sure the original tron was up to much cop in terms of plot anyway.
The visuals were amazing.
Well, generally amazing. They'd done something to produce a young Jeff Bridges and the results were okay, but a little freaky. Now as it happened this kinda worked with the character in question, but it still looked a little off to me.
The games part of it also still worked well. They'd taken the basic ideas if the games and amped them up to the next level. This was rather in keeping with how games computer work - sequels are often the same basic concept (or, indeed, exactly the same game) but with more bells and whistles.
And the sound was great - more because of a storming sound track by the Chemical Brothers (turns out it was actually Daft Punk - groups that use keyboards really aren't my bag :/) than any particular overall clever strategy, but it still worked.
The thing that didn't really seem to have made it through and that I really missed was the clever ideas. I'll give you a specific example.
In the real world at the beginning the encom corporation is launching its latest operating system and the main character sneaks in and plays a tick on them. Fair enough, but in the meeting of the board (which was weird - you'd normally expect a big launch party, but whatever) there's this young guy who's meant to be the son of the first film's bad guy and he's also a bit of a bell end.
But when they go into the digital world, rather than him being the bad guy or, indeed, involved in any way, it's all about the old tron mythos.
Now there are justifications for this, but you could easily have made it so that they weren't issues. Indeed, a plot along those lines may have worked a bit better.
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
audible burning
I discovered a little problem with audible and itunes the other week.
Basically, I like to listen to audio books while I'm walking. I found music difficult to walk to as the tempo mismatch was disruptive. The best audio books to listen to are autobiographies and non-fiction, as they tend to be in the form of little stories and you don't have a big plot to follow.
Anyway, I use audible, which is run by amazon. The prices are really good (you get a book a month for your subscription, which is only about £7 and they're constantly running special offers. Also, it operates entirely through download, which is nice and convenient.
When I first started using it I did have some issues. Firstly, they have their own proprietary format, so most programs can't use it. secondly, the manager software that allows you to play the files is horribly flaky. It actually looks really naff - like a "my first application" thing you'd put together when learning C++ - and has poor functionality and constantly crashed.
But also, although they allow you to burn a copy of the audio book to CD, you can only do so via itunes. I hate itunes with a passion, so this is horrible, but also you can only burn a copy of the book once. SO if it goes wrong, you can't simply retry it.
I do understand this, as they need to be careful with pirating, etc, but there should be a simpler mechanism for redoing it if it fucks up.
Fucks up like it did a while ago.
What I tend to do is take advantage of the offers and buy a chunk of audio books at one time. I also stack these up with my cheap subscription book and then burn and rip them all at once (you burn them as a standard audio CD, so you can then rip them to your heart's content!) and I did that last weekend (which, given how much other stuff I was doing, I'm not sure).
Anyway, I burned the CDs in one go on Saturday and then went to rip them all on Sunday.. and discovered some of them were totally silent. Initially I thought maybe I'd turned the volume down, but no, it turned out there was nothing but 80 minutes of silence on each CD.
After some quick investigating I discovered that this is a know problem with itunes 10.5 and audible "format 4" files and the "solution" was to use another format (format 3, which is slightly poorer quality). Initially I was worried because of the issue of only being able to burn them once, but I guess that applies to each format, or maybe they've lifted it temporarily while they fix the problem.
It was actually on the audible site I found out about the issue, but they've not actually announced it, so I Wonder how many people have been affected?
What was also weird about it was that it was random - some of the books all of the CDs had burned fine, some none of them had burned at all and others it was just one or two of the CDs.
All very weird and obviously it cost me money in the sense that blank CDs aren't free and I wasted quite a bit of time, but now I know for future reference at least.
Basically, I like to listen to audio books while I'm walking. I found music difficult to walk to as the tempo mismatch was disruptive. The best audio books to listen to are autobiographies and non-fiction, as they tend to be in the form of little stories and you don't have a big plot to follow.
Anyway, I use audible, which is run by amazon. The prices are really good (you get a book a month for your subscription, which is only about £7 and they're constantly running special offers. Also, it operates entirely through download, which is nice and convenient.
When I first started using it I did have some issues. Firstly, they have their own proprietary format, so most programs can't use it. secondly, the manager software that allows you to play the files is horribly flaky. It actually looks really naff - like a "my first application" thing you'd put together when learning C++ - and has poor functionality and constantly crashed.
But also, although they allow you to burn a copy of the audio book to CD, you can only do so via itunes. I hate itunes with a passion, so this is horrible, but also you can only burn a copy of the book once. SO if it goes wrong, you can't simply retry it.
I do understand this, as they need to be careful with pirating, etc, but there should be a simpler mechanism for redoing it if it fucks up.
Fucks up like it did a while ago.
What I tend to do is take advantage of the offers and buy a chunk of audio books at one time. I also stack these up with my cheap subscription book and then burn and rip them all at once (you burn them as a standard audio CD, so you can then rip them to your heart's content!) and I did that last weekend (which, given how much other stuff I was doing, I'm not sure).
Anyway, I burned the CDs in one go on Saturday and then went to rip them all on Sunday.. and discovered some of them were totally silent. Initially I thought maybe I'd turned the volume down, but no, it turned out there was nothing but 80 minutes of silence on each CD.
After some quick investigating I discovered that this is a know problem with itunes 10.5 and audible "format 4" files and the "solution" was to use another format (format 3, which is slightly poorer quality). Initially I was worried because of the issue of only being able to burn them once, but I guess that applies to each format, or maybe they've lifted it temporarily while they fix the problem.
It was actually on the audible site I found out about the issue, but they've not actually announced it, so I Wonder how many people have been affected?
What was also weird about it was that it was random - some of the books all of the CDs had burned fine, some none of them had burned at all and others it was just one or two of the CDs.
All very weird and obviously it cost me money in the sense that blank CDs aren't free and I wasted quite a bit of time, but now I know for future reference at least.
Monday, 21 November 2011
through the barrier
For the last few months (since around summer, in fact - so the best part of the last six months) I’ve been struggling.
I've been struggling to make it below the 19 stone mark.
19 stone doesn't represent anything in particular. It doesn't signify a shift in my BMI from one category to another. It doesn't represent any particular milestone (well, give or take it's about vaguely half way to my hoped for target weight).
But it did seem to present me with a particular barrier I just didn't seem to be able to overcome. As such I've been hovering around in a sort of limbo between 19 stone and 19 and a half stone for all that time.
The issue has been my diet. Generally what's been happening is I've been having random days where I was on my diet, but then other days where I'd slip and eat lots of bad stuff.
Also, generally speaking, I would have to buy lots of said bad stuff (for example a packet of x, as that's what they come in) so I'd then be locked in to eating that bad stuff for several days to come.
I'd also then loose my commitment - having slipped up a bit I'd then fail to come back properly on course ("well, if I'm going to slip, I might as well just not bother this week at all") and so the week would end up with me either not loosing weight or gaining weight.
Oh, there'd be weeks I would loose weight, but those were always been balanced by weeks I'd gain.
Well, last week I finally told myself I was being silly and decided to adjust things to try to get below 19 stone. What I did in particular was make an upward tweak to my walking (I walked quickly round the industrial estate after work) and also stick as close as I could to the diet and not slip.
I also deliberately bought some more and different breakfast cereals so that I could have them as a snack instead of the more destructive types of things I was having (chocolate cakes or whatever was replaced with breakfast cereals).
Anyway, upshot was I got past the 19 stone barrier. Indeed, it was a bit of a gangbusters week in that I actually lost around 4 pounds, which is similar to what I used to loose when I started this process.
I guess what it really proves to me is that I can still loose the weight, I just need to stick to the diet and exercise (who'd have thunk it?!).
I've been struggling to make it below the 19 stone mark.
19 stone doesn't represent anything in particular. It doesn't signify a shift in my BMI from one category to another. It doesn't represent any particular milestone (well, give or take it's about vaguely half way to my hoped for target weight).
But it did seem to present me with a particular barrier I just didn't seem to be able to overcome. As such I've been hovering around in a sort of limbo between 19 stone and 19 and a half stone for all that time.
The issue has been my diet. Generally what's been happening is I've been having random days where I was on my diet, but then other days where I'd slip and eat lots of bad stuff.
Also, generally speaking, I would have to buy lots of said bad stuff (for example a packet of x, as that's what they come in) so I'd then be locked in to eating that bad stuff for several days to come.
I'd also then loose my commitment - having slipped up a bit I'd then fail to come back properly on course ("well, if I'm going to slip, I might as well just not bother this week at all") and so the week would end up with me either not loosing weight or gaining weight.
Oh, there'd be weeks I would loose weight, but those were always been balanced by weeks I'd gain.
Well, last week I finally told myself I was being silly and decided to adjust things to try to get below 19 stone. What I did in particular was make an upward tweak to my walking (I walked quickly round the industrial estate after work) and also stick as close as I could to the diet and not slip.
I also deliberately bought some more and different breakfast cereals so that I could have them as a snack instead of the more destructive types of things I was having (chocolate cakes or whatever was replaced with breakfast cereals).
Anyway, upshot was I got past the 19 stone barrier. Indeed, it was a bit of a gangbusters week in that I actually lost around 4 pounds, which is similar to what I used to loose when I started this process.
I guess what it really proves to me is that I can still loose the weight, I just need to stick to the diet and exercise (who'd have thunk it?!).
Friday, 18 November 2011
dvd burning
I really need a haircut, but I doubt I'm going to get the chance this weekend.
In fact I know I won't get the chance, as I need to do loads of washing and I do that first thing Saturday, so I won't be able to go to the hairdresser's early, which is my usual slot. Plus it's a cleaning weekend and that takes up all day Saturday anyway.
I'm a bit sick of this new pattern of doing stuff - it's kinda burdensome. It was sparked because of my desire to save a bit of money (well, more like not be ripped off so badly) on getting my washing done. This hasn't worked out too well, because I'm pretty sure my local laundrette charges a lot more for use of washing machines and tumble dryers than the place I used to get my washing done via service wash.
So although I'm not paying for the service wash and I'm able to adjust the payment base don size of load and how much drying it needs, the extra expense of the wash itself kinda wipes that out.
It also has the issue that it now sucks up a total of about two hours of my time on the days I do it. This is quite a bit of time, and because I'm doing it first thing (so I can get easy access to tumble dryers) it blocks me from doing other stuff.
I've actually considered going and doing it after work or late on - the place is open pretty late, but I dunno. A big problem there is I never seem to have much time in the evening anyway (I go to bed pretty early) and I've no guarantees it will be any easier. I'd also be worried about getting finished before it closes.
I think the whole BBC loosing full rights to coverage of all the races may be a blessing in disguise, as it could free up a lot of spare time.
Anyway, that wasn't what I wanted to talk about. What I wanted to cover was how my adventure with ripping DVDs is going.
Last weekend was actually stupidly busy. There was all the GP stuff to watch, but I also decided I was going to process some audio books (more on that another day) and see about ripping the DVDs.
I mentioned this a little while ago and I've been investigating options. The one that I thought I'd try was by slysoft and there are two parts. Firstly they have a bit of software that allows you to watch any region locked DVD and then there's another bit of software you can use to clone/copy DVDs.
Both are available on free trial, so I downloaded them and gave them a go.
Results were pretty good. Initially I tried it out on my laptop. My theory was that this will be a convenient way of doing it - I can position my laptop to keep an eye on the progress of the rip and burn while I watch TV or whatever in the evening.
It worked well. My laptop DVD isn't the quickest, but it took about 45 minutes to rip and burn a DVD containing a complete series of the show peep show. I think it took less time burning a film, but I didn't pay attention tot eh time.
There was a problem with one disk I tried, but I didn't experiment to see if this was solvable. The software has various options and it's very easy to use. The only difficult is working out what's what ("title 2" doesn't mean anything, but it has a preview thing so you can see what it s).
It wasn't quite as successful when I tried it on my proper PC. The issue was that it failed to burn at a decent speed, although I've had this problem before and I think it's more to do with the drive itself. This meant it wasn't any quicker on the desktop, so I think laptop is the ay to go.
As I've said before it's a little daft if you think about it - why not spend that time watching the stuff instead of ripping it? Well, I can still watch other stuff and it's way quicker ripping than watching - that 45 minutes was for a series with 6 half hour episodes, 3 of which had commentaries and about 45 minutes of other extras, so time wise it's better.
So yeah, I think I may actually purchase this software, with the hopes that it will quickly pay for itself via e-bay selling.
In fact I know I won't get the chance, as I need to do loads of washing and I do that first thing Saturday, so I won't be able to go to the hairdresser's early, which is my usual slot. Plus it's a cleaning weekend and that takes up all day Saturday anyway.
I'm a bit sick of this new pattern of doing stuff - it's kinda burdensome. It was sparked because of my desire to save a bit of money (well, more like not be ripped off so badly) on getting my washing done. This hasn't worked out too well, because I'm pretty sure my local laundrette charges a lot more for use of washing machines and tumble dryers than the place I used to get my washing done via service wash.
So although I'm not paying for the service wash and I'm able to adjust the payment base don size of load and how much drying it needs, the extra expense of the wash itself kinda wipes that out.
It also has the issue that it now sucks up a total of about two hours of my time on the days I do it. This is quite a bit of time, and because I'm doing it first thing (so I can get easy access to tumble dryers) it blocks me from doing other stuff.
I've actually considered going and doing it after work or late on - the place is open pretty late, but I dunno. A big problem there is I never seem to have much time in the evening anyway (I go to bed pretty early) and I've no guarantees it will be any easier. I'd also be worried about getting finished before it closes.
I think the whole BBC loosing full rights to coverage of all the races may be a blessing in disguise, as it could free up a lot of spare time.
Anyway, that wasn't what I wanted to talk about. What I wanted to cover was how my adventure with ripping DVDs is going.
Last weekend was actually stupidly busy. There was all the GP stuff to watch, but I also decided I was going to process some audio books (more on that another day) and see about ripping the DVDs.
I mentioned this a little while ago and I've been investigating options. The one that I thought I'd try was by slysoft and there are two parts. Firstly they have a bit of software that allows you to watch any region locked DVD and then there's another bit of software you can use to clone/copy DVDs.
Both are available on free trial, so I downloaded them and gave them a go.
Results were pretty good. Initially I tried it out on my laptop. My theory was that this will be a convenient way of doing it - I can position my laptop to keep an eye on the progress of the rip and burn while I watch TV or whatever in the evening.
It worked well. My laptop DVD isn't the quickest, but it took about 45 minutes to rip and burn a DVD containing a complete series of the show peep show. I think it took less time burning a film, but I didn't pay attention tot eh time.
There was a problem with one disk I tried, but I didn't experiment to see if this was solvable. The software has various options and it's very easy to use. The only difficult is working out what's what ("title 2" doesn't mean anything, but it has a preview thing so you can see what it s).
It wasn't quite as successful when I tried it on my proper PC. The issue was that it failed to burn at a decent speed, although I've had this problem before and I think it's more to do with the drive itself. This meant it wasn't any quicker on the desktop, so I think laptop is the ay to go.
As I've said before it's a little daft if you think about it - why not spend that time watching the stuff instead of ripping it? Well, I can still watch other stuff and it's way quicker ripping than watching - that 45 minutes was for a series with 6 half hour episodes, 3 of which had commentaries and about 45 minutes of other extras, so time wise it's better.
So yeah, I think I may actually purchase this software, with the hopes that it will quickly pay for itself via e-bay selling.
Thursday, 17 November 2011
liverpool
So what was this mention about Liverpool all about then?
Well, it was a trip for work and it was very interesting. Unfortunately, I can’t really tell you any details about the reason for the trip and what we did, but what I did want to talk about was the journey.
It was, to be frank, rather horrible.
I basically set off at 8AM and got back at about 9PM.
I went by train and went via London. This was good in that the journey was simple (single train journey, up the northern line, single train journey) but it did make it slightly longer. In particular I ended up having to wait at the station on the way up and the way back, adding a good hour to the total journey time.
Getting back at 9PM wasn’t great - it was a horribly long day and I obviously didn’t get to bed until something like 11PM. And of course, being Thursday, I went to work on Friday. I tried to sleep in, but failed, to be honest.
I did, however, go home from work early, but then I was achieving very little at work because I was so tired.
You may be detecting a bit of a negative tone to this post, and that’s really directed at the journey and the day and its aftermath, rather than reason for the trip. That was very interest, but as I say, it’s not really appropriate for me to talk about.
But also, the negative tone is there because, well, I did really badly with my diet last week, and while it would be wrong to blame the trip, it was a big part of the cause.
I ended up gaining two pounds, which was very disappointing, especially as that was the amount I lost on my holiday. I was actually a little surprised it wasn’t more, which kinda shows me just how much exercise I had and energy I burnt off with the trip. The problem was I massively overcompensated.
In particular I ate loads of junk (5 big chocolate bars, for example). This was because I was just so tired by the time I was heading home, which was when the slide really took hold. IF I’d managed to maintain some willpower I’d have lost eight, but once I reached that low point I just ate crap in the afternoon and evening and then on Friday I ate crap too.
This was partly because of an effect I’ve noticed before where as soon as my diet slips, I’ll jut keep on “being naughty” until the end of the week. But also, because, as noted I was shattered on Friday, I just felt like eating lots of comfort food (Another big area of problem of me).
Well, it was a trip for work and it was very interesting. Unfortunately, I can’t really tell you any details about the reason for the trip and what we did, but what I did want to talk about was the journey.
It was, to be frank, rather horrible.
I basically set off at 8AM and got back at about 9PM.
I went by train and went via London. This was good in that the journey was simple (single train journey, up the northern line, single train journey) but it did make it slightly longer. In particular I ended up having to wait at the station on the way up and the way back, adding a good hour to the total journey time.
Getting back at 9PM wasn’t great - it was a horribly long day and I obviously didn’t get to bed until something like 11PM. And of course, being Thursday, I went to work on Friday. I tried to sleep in, but failed, to be honest.
I did, however, go home from work early, but then I was achieving very little at work because I was so tired.
You may be detecting a bit of a negative tone to this post, and that’s really directed at the journey and the day and its aftermath, rather than reason for the trip. That was very interest, but as I say, it’s not really appropriate for me to talk about.
But also, the negative tone is there because, well, I did really badly with my diet last week, and while it would be wrong to blame the trip, it was a big part of the cause.
I ended up gaining two pounds, which was very disappointing, especially as that was the amount I lost on my holiday. I was actually a little surprised it wasn’t more, which kinda shows me just how much exercise I had and energy I burnt off with the trip. The problem was I massively overcompensated.
In particular I ate loads of junk (5 big chocolate bars, for example). This was because I was just so tired by the time I was heading home, which was when the slide really took hold. IF I’d managed to maintain some willpower I’d have lost eight, but once I reached that low point I just ate crap in the afternoon and evening and then on Friday I ate crap too.
This was partly because of an effect I’ve noticed before where as soon as my diet slips, I’ll jut keep on “being naughty” until the end of the week. But also, because, as noted I was shattered on Friday, I just felt like eating lots of comfort food (Another big area of problem of me).
Wednesday, 16 November 2011
cod: mw3
Yesterday I mentioned I’d talk about Liverpool tomorrow, because today I’m going to give a few thoughts on call of duty: modern warfare 3.
I went into the weekend wondering what I was going to do, but then MW3 turned up and basically absorbed a whole chunk of my spare time. MW3 is the third in the modern warfare series and I played through the whole campaign and a few of the spec ops missions over the weekend.
It looks as great as ever, although I have to say the basic graphics engine doesn’t seem hugely different to that used across the rest of the series, but then I think there’s a very good reason for that.
You see, the modern warfare series is really one thing in three parts. The first was done in such a way that a sequel wasn’t essential (presumably in case it was a flop) and so it was actually a bit of surprise that mw2 picked up directly after mw. Indeed, I wasn’t hugely keen as it had been so long since the first part I felt a bit disjointed.
I don’t know for sure, but the gap seemed smaller this time. Even if it wasn’t, I was prepared for a direct sequel this time, so I didn’t get that same disjointedness.
But, more importantly, it occurs to me that the call of duty games pre-cod used to have really long single player campaigns. The campaigns in the mw series have actually been pretty short. I mean they’re not so short as to not be enjoyable, but certainly I can remember it taking several weeks to get through the campaigns in the old cod series, where the mw series you could play the entire campaign in a single lengthy session if you wanted.
I guess it helps them make he games “bigger” in the sense of being more complex set pieces and stuff, but it’s also a way of getting more cash for the same amount of story.
One thing that the cod series has always used in pre-scripted sequences. These always work well and I like them, but I will admit they're quite old hat. Also the other thing they do that is very old school is enemy spawn points and waves of enemy.
The idea is you keep moving forward and thereby pass points that switch these off and if you remember that you can lessen the effect, but it’s still very old hat. It’s also quite old hat that the levels are very fixed, guiding you along a single path through them. This last one I also don’t mind, though.
Anyway, overall I quite liked it. I thought the story was a little simpler his time compared to mw2, which actually helped. It also seemed to come to a pretty solid conclusion, so I’m guessing if there is a MW4 it will be a different story.
So yeah, enjoyable enough, but could have been a bit longer.
I went into the weekend wondering what I was going to do, but then MW3 turned up and basically absorbed a whole chunk of my spare time. MW3 is the third in the modern warfare series and I played through the whole campaign and a few of the spec ops missions over the weekend.
It looks as great as ever, although I have to say the basic graphics engine doesn’t seem hugely different to that used across the rest of the series, but then I think there’s a very good reason for that.
You see, the modern warfare series is really one thing in three parts. The first was done in such a way that a sequel wasn’t essential (presumably in case it was a flop) and so it was actually a bit of surprise that mw2 picked up directly after mw. Indeed, I wasn’t hugely keen as it had been so long since the first part I felt a bit disjointed.
I don’t know for sure, but the gap seemed smaller this time. Even if it wasn’t, I was prepared for a direct sequel this time, so I didn’t get that same disjointedness.
But, more importantly, it occurs to me that the call of duty games pre-cod used to have really long single player campaigns. The campaigns in the mw series have actually been pretty short. I mean they’re not so short as to not be enjoyable, but certainly I can remember it taking several weeks to get through the campaigns in the old cod series, where the mw series you could play the entire campaign in a single lengthy session if you wanted.
I guess it helps them make he games “bigger” in the sense of being more complex set pieces and stuff, but it’s also a way of getting more cash for the same amount of story.
One thing that the cod series has always used in pre-scripted sequences. These always work well and I like them, but I will admit they're quite old hat. Also the other thing they do that is very old school is enemy spawn points and waves of enemy.
The idea is you keep moving forward and thereby pass points that switch these off and if you remember that you can lessen the effect, but it’s still very old hat. It’s also quite old hat that the levels are very fixed, guiding you along a single path through them. This last one I also don’t mind, though.
Anyway, overall I quite liked it. I thought the story was a little simpler his time compared to mw2, which actually helped. It also seemed to come to a pretty solid conclusion, so I’m guessing if there is a MW4 it will be a different story.
So yeah, enjoyable enough, but could have been a bit longer.
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
plumbing / heater
While I was away my landlord had a radiator fitted to my room.
I’m pretty sure I mentioned this before I went, but if not, basically he’s increasing my rent by £5 a month and for that I’m getting a radiator in my bedsit area. It’s plumbed into my landlord’s heating, so I don’t have any control over it (well, I can turn it on/off and I can adjust the “balance” - whatever that is) but it’s better than an increase and getting nothing in return.
Last week was therefore the first week I’ve been experiencing it and the results are mixed, if I’m honest.
The weather has been quite mild, so it's difficult to know just how much they have their radiators on, but there’s a bit of an “all or nothing” effect. When the radiator is on, it’s very effective, but it doesn’t really come on when I would have it on.
It’s been okay in the morning (a little later than I get up) but it soon warms the place up when it’s on. In the evening, it’s on before I come back, so I get back to a somewhat warm flat. However, it’s a bit unpredictable if it’ll stay on all evening or just for an hour or so.
So some days it turns off and I have to put my own radiator on, other nights it’s stayed on right until I go to bed.
The effectiveness of the radiator is partly a function of its size. It’s a lot bigger than I was expecting, which means it really pumps it out when it’s on, but it also takes up a heck of a lot of wall space, which I wasn’t expecting. Indeed, I’ve ended up re-arranging everything and moving my bed across to the other side of the room.
I’ve still got the other radiator of course, and so my bed is up against that, as it’s on the other side of the room. It’s long winded to explain, but fairly simple in practice.
So yeah, mixed result really - it’s saved me a few quid, but it’d be nice if it was more consistent.
It did also have a weird effect in that it caused me to strain my knee. Basically my bed is very low down (it’s sort of a futon thing) so I have to get in/out in a specific way. Well, moving to the other side means I’ve had to do all that in a different way, and I made a mess of it and strained my knee.
The timing of that wasn’t brilliant, as I was off to Liverpool in a couple of days, which I’ll talk more about on Thursday.
I’m pretty sure I mentioned this before I went, but if not, basically he’s increasing my rent by £5 a month and for that I’m getting a radiator in my bedsit area. It’s plumbed into my landlord’s heating, so I don’t have any control over it (well, I can turn it on/off and I can adjust the “balance” - whatever that is) but it’s better than an increase and getting nothing in return.
Last week was therefore the first week I’ve been experiencing it and the results are mixed, if I’m honest.
The weather has been quite mild, so it's difficult to know just how much they have their radiators on, but there’s a bit of an “all or nothing” effect. When the radiator is on, it’s very effective, but it doesn’t really come on when I would have it on.
It’s been okay in the morning (a little later than I get up) but it soon warms the place up when it’s on. In the evening, it’s on before I come back, so I get back to a somewhat warm flat. However, it’s a bit unpredictable if it’ll stay on all evening or just for an hour or so.
So some days it turns off and I have to put my own radiator on, other nights it’s stayed on right until I go to bed.
The effectiveness of the radiator is partly a function of its size. It’s a lot bigger than I was expecting, which means it really pumps it out when it’s on, but it also takes up a heck of a lot of wall space, which I wasn’t expecting. Indeed, I’ve ended up re-arranging everything and moving my bed across to the other side of the room.
I’ve still got the other radiator of course, and so my bed is up against that, as it’s on the other side of the room. It’s long winded to explain, but fairly simple in practice.
So yeah, mixed result really - it’s saved me a few quid, but it’d be nice if it was more consistent.
It did also have a weird effect in that it caused me to strain my knee. Basically my bed is very low down (it’s sort of a futon thing) so I have to get in/out in a specific way. Well, moving to the other side means I’ve had to do all that in a different way, and I made a mess of it and strained my knee.
The timing of that wasn’t brilliant, as I was off to Liverpool in a couple of days, which I’ll talk more about on Thursday.
Monday, 14 November 2011
abu dhabi don't
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this last weekend.
On previous occasions it’s been horribly dull. Last year it was where the championship was decided and that, to be frank, was mainly because neither Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber nor Lewis Hamilton could make overtakes that they needed to.
As such, I was pretty much not expecting very much from the race. They’d introduced two DRS zones, both of which were pretty big which was clearly an acknowledgement that overtaking was nearly impossible. Indeed, they actually extended one of the zones for fear it wouldn’t help.
In the end the race was... okay.
The first third of the race had quite a lot of interest, but once things had settled down there was very little action. My guess is there was more of interest further down the pack, but we didn’t get to see to much.
So I wouldn’t say it was the worst race this year, but it certainly wasn’t the greatest either.
I’m also a bit worried about the tyre issue. The teams seem to have started to get a better handle on them, as you'd expect, but also, Pirelli have been talking about making the softer tyres more durable for next year, which doesn’t bode well. I was hoping they'd make some decisions that would throw another cat amongst the pigeons. If they go for more “normal” tyres it could make next year less interesting.
Perhaps the most interesting thing in the race actually happened right at the beginning, when Sebastian Vettel seemed to have a puncture (there wasn’t a very good shot of it), which caused him to spin off and by the time he’d gotten back to the pits the back end of his car was trashed, so he had to retire.
This opened things up for a bit of a different result, but it also really underlined just how reliable the Red Bulls have been this year. I’m pretty sure this has been Seb’s first retirement all year.
Reliability nowadays is remarkable - you very rarely see cars breaking down any more. Back when I first started watching F1 you regularly used to see more than half of the grid braking down.
Given the extremes they deal with and the levels of precision required, it’s really remarkable.
On previous occasions it’s been horribly dull. Last year it was where the championship was decided and that, to be frank, was mainly because neither Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber nor Lewis Hamilton could make overtakes that they needed to.
As such, I was pretty much not expecting very much from the race. They’d introduced two DRS zones, both of which were pretty big which was clearly an acknowledgement that overtaking was nearly impossible. Indeed, they actually extended one of the zones for fear it wouldn’t help.
In the end the race was... okay.
The first third of the race had quite a lot of interest, but once things had settled down there was very little action. My guess is there was more of interest further down the pack, but we didn’t get to see to much.
So I wouldn’t say it was the worst race this year, but it certainly wasn’t the greatest either.
I’m also a bit worried about the tyre issue. The teams seem to have started to get a better handle on them, as you'd expect, but also, Pirelli have been talking about making the softer tyres more durable for next year, which doesn’t bode well. I was hoping they'd make some decisions that would throw another cat amongst the pigeons. If they go for more “normal” tyres it could make next year less interesting.
Perhaps the most interesting thing in the race actually happened right at the beginning, when Sebastian Vettel seemed to have a puncture (there wasn’t a very good shot of it), which caused him to spin off and by the time he’d gotten back to the pits the back end of his car was trashed, so he had to retire.
This opened things up for a bit of a different result, but it also really underlined just how reliable the Red Bulls have been this year. I’m pretty sure this has been Seb’s first retirement all year.
Reliability nowadays is remarkable - you very rarely see cars breaking down any more. Back when I first started watching F1 you regularly used to see more than half of the grid braking down.
Given the extremes they deal with and the levels of precision required, it’s really remarkable.
Friday, 11 November 2011
abu dhabi du
It's the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend.
I can't say I'm particularly looking forward to it as it's not really produced any classics so far. It's one of the newer races and it's also one of the duller ones.
From memory it's held in the evening, so it starts out fairly light but the sun sets during the race and it's dark at the end. This doesn't really add much to the race, but I guess it's something different.
It's also the circuit where it goes under the weird hotel which has loads of glowing lights on it. Also, the exit from the pits is a tunnel. Again, neither really add anything to the race, but it's something a bit different.
It's also the second to last grand prix. The season is way too long this year - the last race is Brazil, which is usually a good race, but it's way out at the end of November and the new season starts mid-March next year.
I appreciate with F1 being a properly global sport you can go on for a long time, but I think it's kinda reached a maximum length this year. Also, by adding more races you actually amplify the effect of dominance. So this year there have been lots of races where Vettel has already won the title.
To be honest, I don't think it matters as much in F1 - they still want to win each race, but the heat does go out of it a little.
Other plans for the weekend are... to be honest, I'm not sure. I know I need to do a big shop and one of the things I did do when I got back of holiday was identify a bunch of stuff for e-baying.
In fact I'm actually almost out of stuff I could put on e-bay in the shed. Indeed, I've actually got loads of empty stacking boxes in the shed that I've positioned to give the illusion that the space is has still got loads in it, but actually they're mostly empty.
Well, I say that - there's still quite a bit I could get rid of, it's just it would take quite a lot of sorting out, and I'd say half of what's left is really only tip-worthy if I was forced to dispose of it.
Also I've actually cheated. I've brought all of my manga in and stacked it up on top of my smaller set of shelves.
I do actually want to sell most of these titles, it's just that I'm either waiting for them to finish (which could take a few years in some cases :/) or to get a good chunk that I can sell as a batch (1-10 say) and then when new volumes turn up I'll sell them individually.
This doesn't get me such good prices, but it reduces the amount of stuff I've got hanging about.
Oh, I also made a bit of a decision - I want to rip some of the DVDs I've got so that I can get the originals on e-bay. Having spent quite a lot of time recently sorting through things there's a lot that clearly isn't going to be of "classic - must keep" status so I think I'll rip them and sell them.
That does mean I need to work out a quick, easy and efficient way of doing that. And of course it means there's a weird bit of transference going on - I won't be doing what I really need to (watching stuff) but I'll still be able to sell it :/. Also, I'm going to spend hours (?) ripping it when I could be watching it... ?
I can't say I'm particularly looking forward to it as it's not really produced any classics so far. It's one of the newer races and it's also one of the duller ones.
From memory it's held in the evening, so it starts out fairly light but the sun sets during the race and it's dark at the end. This doesn't really add much to the race, but I guess it's something different.
It's also the circuit where it goes under the weird hotel which has loads of glowing lights on it. Also, the exit from the pits is a tunnel. Again, neither really add anything to the race, but it's something a bit different.
It's also the second to last grand prix. The season is way too long this year - the last race is Brazil, which is usually a good race, but it's way out at the end of November and the new season starts mid-March next year.
I appreciate with F1 being a properly global sport you can go on for a long time, but I think it's kinda reached a maximum length this year. Also, by adding more races you actually amplify the effect of dominance. So this year there have been lots of races where Vettel has already won the title.
To be honest, I don't think it matters as much in F1 - they still want to win each race, but the heat does go out of it a little.
Other plans for the weekend are... to be honest, I'm not sure. I know I need to do a big shop and one of the things I did do when I got back of holiday was identify a bunch of stuff for e-baying.
In fact I'm actually almost out of stuff I could put on e-bay in the shed. Indeed, I've actually got loads of empty stacking boxes in the shed that I've positioned to give the illusion that the space is has still got loads in it, but actually they're mostly empty.
Well, I say that - there's still quite a bit I could get rid of, it's just it would take quite a lot of sorting out, and I'd say half of what's left is really only tip-worthy if I was forced to dispose of it.
Also I've actually cheated. I've brought all of my manga in and stacked it up on top of my smaller set of shelves.
I do actually want to sell most of these titles, it's just that I'm either waiting for them to finish (which could take a few years in some cases :/) or to get a good chunk that I can sell as a batch (1-10 say) and then when new volumes turn up I'll sell them individually.
This doesn't get me such good prices, but it reduces the amount of stuff I've got hanging about.
Oh, I also made a bit of a decision - I want to rip some of the DVDs I've got so that I can get the originals on e-bay. Having spent quite a lot of time recently sorting through things there's a lot that clearly isn't going to be of "classic - must keep" status so I think I'll rip them and sell them.
That does mean I need to work out a quick, easy and efficient way of doing that. And of course it means there's a weird bit of transference going on - I won't be doing what I really need to (watching stuff) but I'll still be able to sell it :/. Also, I'm going to spend hours (?) ripping it when I could be watching it... ?
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
indian grand prix
The Indian Grand Prix was on while I was away.
In fact it was on while I was at my Dads and so I watched it down there.
I have to confess it wasn't the greatest of races - there was very little overtaking (mostly the rubbish DRS type overtaking) and not much really seemed to happen. I think there were a couple of reasons for this dullness.
Firstly, and probably most crucially, Pirelli brought the wrong tyres. They basically said they were being conservative, so the tyres they brought were harder than they really needed to be. This meant they lasted ages and it kinda took us back to the situation for the last few years.
In a way this was a good reminder of the great things the Pirelli tyres have done for the racing this year, but in a more important way it meant that they didn't really have to worry about the tyres and could all just do one stop pretty much when they wanted too.
So next year a much less conservative approach please.
Another problem was the incredible dust. To be fair the circuit is new, so a bit of construction dust is to be expected, but I also think they've built it in a place that's quite dry and dusty, which bodes less well for future years.
The dust meant that going off line (which is what you have to do to overtake) quickly coated your tyres in dust, meaning you'd loose grip and therefore struggle to overtake.
What they need to do next year is get some of those jet washers and clean it up a bit (they even have these at Silverstone).
Another problem, I think, was it's yet another circuit where they've gone for gigantic straights. I really don't understand the obsession with giant straights. I mean, I guess they're okay for more normal cars which take a while to get up to top speed, but maximum straight line sped (vmax) s achieved incredibly quickly in F1 cars (and most other formulas).
I mean that's the point - they're very fast, very light cars, so they can hit top speed quickly. The bit that's interesting is the corners - cornering speed is where you gain real lap time and it's also where F1 cars excel. Nothing corners like an F1 car.
And of course if you're going to have some huge straights you reduce the number of corners.
Another issue was that I think they overhyped the circuit. It's brand new and it's Tilka, who has built most of the new circuit, most of which are rubbish, but everyone was saying this layout was great and there'd be loads of overtaking, but there wasn't
To be fait it did look like an interesting circuit and elevation and super wide corners designed to help overtaking, yet in the end it just didn't seem to work.
Well it was only the first year and so perhaps next year will be better.
Note that tomorrow I'm away in Liverpool all day (it's going to be a really long day) so no post tomorrow.
In fact it was on while I was at my Dads and so I watched it down there.
I have to confess it wasn't the greatest of races - there was very little overtaking (mostly the rubbish DRS type overtaking) and not much really seemed to happen. I think there were a couple of reasons for this dullness.
Firstly, and probably most crucially, Pirelli brought the wrong tyres. They basically said they were being conservative, so the tyres they brought were harder than they really needed to be. This meant they lasted ages and it kinda took us back to the situation for the last few years.
In a way this was a good reminder of the great things the Pirelli tyres have done for the racing this year, but in a more important way it meant that they didn't really have to worry about the tyres and could all just do one stop pretty much when they wanted too.
So next year a much less conservative approach please.
Another problem was the incredible dust. To be fair the circuit is new, so a bit of construction dust is to be expected, but I also think they've built it in a place that's quite dry and dusty, which bodes less well for future years.
The dust meant that going off line (which is what you have to do to overtake) quickly coated your tyres in dust, meaning you'd loose grip and therefore struggle to overtake.
What they need to do next year is get some of those jet washers and clean it up a bit (they even have these at Silverstone).
Another problem, I think, was it's yet another circuit where they've gone for gigantic straights. I really don't understand the obsession with giant straights. I mean, I guess they're okay for more normal cars which take a while to get up to top speed, but maximum straight line sped (vmax) s achieved incredibly quickly in F1 cars (and most other formulas).
I mean that's the point - they're very fast, very light cars, so they can hit top speed quickly. The bit that's interesting is the corners - cornering speed is where you gain real lap time and it's also where F1 cars excel. Nothing corners like an F1 car.
And of course if you're going to have some huge straights you reduce the number of corners.
Another issue was that I think they overhyped the circuit. It's brand new and it's Tilka, who has built most of the new circuit, most of which are rubbish, but everyone was saying this layout was great and there'd be loads of overtaking, but there wasn't
To be fait it did look like an interesting circuit and elevation and super wide corners designed to help overtaking, yet in the end it just didn't seem to work.
Well it was only the first year and so perhaps next year will be better.
Note that tomorrow I'm away in Liverpool all day (it's going to be a really long day) so no post tomorrow.
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
no water
So I got back last night and discovered there was no water.
I knocked on my landlord's door, thinking he may have turned it off and forgotten to turn it back on (I'll explain why in a future blog post), but actually it turned out there's a burst main and there's no water for the whole street. It had, apparently, been off for more than four hours at that point already.
Why does this stuff always happen to me at the worst possible times?
I mean, I've lived there six years and at no point has the water been shut off (the heater for the hot water has failed occasionally, but that's it) but now, the very day before I have an important meeting the water is totally gone.
And that's the thing I missed.
Water to drink being gone was annoying (I like to drink quite a lot of water) but copable with - I have bottled water, milk and other stuff - but water to do things like wash up, have a shower with, shave with and even use to clean your teeth is really difficult to replace. And as for flushing the loo... well.
But the real key is this was happening the night before I've got an important meeting. I mean, why now? The odds must be astronomical.
And given the amount I sweat during the night I couldn't really get away with not washing at all.
I decided to leave a tap on so that if and when it did come back on and luckily at about 9:00 it sputtered into life.
Of course the water that came out of it was a horrible muddy brown, and the hot water had been emptied so that glugged and gurgled as it filled up for several hours. However, in the morning I was able to take a shower and do some of the other water dependent things, so that was good.
The cold water in the morning wasn't brown any more, but it was full of bubbles and it tasted a bit funny. Hopefully I can run it through a bit tonight and it will clean up and be okay.
I guess somewhere in there is a big indicator of my personality - my reaction was "why is it always me? and why now?" but I could be reacting in a "lucky it got fixed in time" way.
I knocked on my landlord's door, thinking he may have turned it off and forgotten to turn it back on (I'll explain why in a future blog post), but actually it turned out there's a burst main and there's no water for the whole street. It had, apparently, been off for more than four hours at that point already.
Why does this stuff always happen to me at the worst possible times?
I mean, I've lived there six years and at no point has the water been shut off (the heater for the hot water has failed occasionally, but that's it) but now, the very day before I have an important meeting the water is totally gone.
And that's the thing I missed.
Water to drink being gone was annoying (I like to drink quite a lot of water) but copable with - I have bottled water, milk and other stuff - but water to do things like wash up, have a shower with, shave with and even use to clean your teeth is really difficult to replace. And as for flushing the loo... well.
But the real key is this was happening the night before I've got an important meeting. I mean, why now? The odds must be astronomical.
And given the amount I sweat during the night I couldn't really get away with not washing at all.
I decided to leave a tap on so that if and when it did come back on and luckily at about 9:00 it sputtered into life.
Of course the water that came out of it was a horrible muddy brown, and the hot water had been emptied so that glugged and gurgled as it filled up for several hours. However, in the morning I was able to take a shower and do some of the other water dependent things, so that was good.
The cold water in the morning wasn't brown any more, but it was full of bubbles and it tasted a bit funny. Hopefully I can run it through a bit tonight and it will clean up and be okay.
I guess somewhere in there is a big indicator of my personality - my reaction was "why is it always me? and why now?" but I could be reacting in a "lucky it got fixed in time" way.
Monday, 7 November 2011
holiday
So, back to work today.
Can't say I enjoyed it.
I dunno, normally I'm pretty happy to go back, but this time it just felt like the worst thing ever.
Part of the problem was that the holiday just flew by. It really doesn't feel like I've been away for more than a day or two, but I've actually been off for more than a week.
The first part of the holiday as spent at my Dads - Friday to Monday, and I think this was too long. Not that I don't like seeing him, it's just it meant that the Friday and Monday were pretty much right offs.
And when I visit my dad it doesn't really feel like holiday proper. So, in a way I sort of had a weekend at my Dad's and then a four day holiday, making it not feel like long enough.
Anther reason is that the holiday wasn't really very good. The weather was a bit meh (cloudy and drizzly and foggy for most of it and it was just the wrong side of chilly) and I didn't really seem to enjoy it very much. I kept thinking about work stuff and as I say I "lost" a few days.
Usually I go at the beginning of October / end September and the weather is much better - just the right side of chilly, usually at least a few sunny days.
Also, the clocks changed while I was on holiday. While this technically gave me an extra hour, I always find it a confusing experience when the clocks change. Also, it meant that it suddenly switched to getting dark really early and that made all the days feel very short.
And I didn't really seem to get any of the other stuff done - I didn't pre-write any blog entries, didn't watch hardly anything on DVD, didn't read a single page of any books. The only thing I did do was read plenty of manga and that was silly in a way as it's not really something I struggle to do normally.
One thing I would say is the walking and diet went pretty well. This time I'd planned to eat some specific bad things (clotted cream teas, 1 Burger King meal and 1 McDonalds) and I think because I'd included them in the plan I didn't go nuts on the other days. I also walked loads and so still managed to loose about 2 pounds despite eating those bits of rubbish.
When I got back things seemed to be manic - it took ages to unpack and there was loads of stuff for me to catch up on. Plus it was a cleaning weekend, so that was on top of all the regular stuff.
I've also come back on a Monday so I've the prospect of a full week at work. I usually try to stagger holiday so it's a half week once I'm back, but I don't have the days to spare this year. That's partly because of the Grand Prix holiday, which, although greatly enjoyable, has kinda made a bit of a mess of my holiday timings for the rest f the year.
I'd also kinda hoped that someone who was filling in for me while I was away would clear up a few niggling jobs I haven't had the time to deal with, but when I got back I found they hadn't done any of them. I mean, I don't blame them, it's just it would have been nice if at least a few had been done and I could focus on the bigger stuff (which didn't really seem to have advanced any further either, which I'm less pleased about).
To be frank, I'm in a bit of a "roll on Christmas" mood. I think I may take quite a long Chrimbo holiday this year.
Thursday, 27 October 2011
last day
So today is my last day in the office for a while.
I'm off on holiday, but it's nothing spectacular - I'm going down to Devon. Initially I'll be seeing my dad over the weekend and then I'm booked in to a travel lodge until the end of the week.
IT was my dad's birthday at the beginning of the month, which is why I want to see him, but I've also not seen him since the British Grand Prix back in July, so that will be nice. It's also a Grand Prix weekend, with the Indian Grand Prix on.
India is new this year, so it will be interesting to see what the circuit is like and how the racing is. Both of the championships are well over after Red Bull wrapped up the constructors championship at Korea. Now it's all just about who can win the races. Some people tend to think as soon as the season's over that's it, but of course in reality, the drivers and teams want to win every race they go to - otherwise why turn up?
Plus, since there are very few rule changes next season, it follows the cars won't be hugely different and it will be important to keep momentum up for the beginning o f the next season.
Anyway, after that I'll stay in a travelodge for a few days. The idea there is I'm going to do lots of walking. This is the same pattern I've done a few times now and it works quite well, so long as I can resist the temptation of eating lots of junk food. I mean, I'll have a couple of treats, but if I can avoid eating junk continuously I should be able to concentrate on loosing a few pounds.
I will also use the opportunity to watch a load of DVDs and read a bunch of manga. I'm hoping that I'll be able to watch a few films mainly so that I can then e-bay them when I get back. t would be nice to eat a chunk of unwatched stuff away.
Also, while I'm away my landlord is apparently going to install a new radiator in the flat. The idea is they're going to run the pipes across from his place and put the radiator in the living room/bed area.
The hope is this will cut a big chunk out of my heating costs (now that it's turned chilly I'm starting to put the radiator on), although I'm not getting it for free - it's costing me £5 extra month in rent, and while that may seem a bargain, it's not quite as good as that, because of course during spring, summer and early autumn I don't use heating at all and of course the rise is across the full year, not just the winter months.
Still, it should represent better value at least.
I think he's also a bit concerned about the possibility of pipes bursting. By putting a bit of heating it should stave off the cold a bit, so it's a preventative thing - clearing up after flooding would not be cheap.
I'm off on holiday, but it's nothing spectacular - I'm going down to Devon. Initially I'll be seeing my dad over the weekend and then I'm booked in to a travel lodge until the end of the week.
IT was my dad's birthday at the beginning of the month, which is why I want to see him, but I've also not seen him since the British Grand Prix back in July, so that will be nice. It's also a Grand Prix weekend, with the Indian Grand Prix on.
India is new this year, so it will be interesting to see what the circuit is like and how the racing is. Both of the championships are well over after Red Bull wrapped up the constructors championship at Korea. Now it's all just about who can win the races. Some people tend to think as soon as the season's over that's it, but of course in reality, the drivers and teams want to win every race they go to - otherwise why turn up?
Plus, since there are very few rule changes next season, it follows the cars won't be hugely different and it will be important to keep momentum up for the beginning o f the next season.
Anyway, after that I'll stay in a travelodge for a few days. The idea there is I'm going to do lots of walking. This is the same pattern I've done a few times now and it works quite well, so long as I can resist the temptation of eating lots of junk food. I mean, I'll have a couple of treats, but if I can avoid eating junk continuously I should be able to concentrate on loosing a few pounds.
I will also use the opportunity to watch a load of DVDs and read a bunch of manga. I'm hoping that I'll be able to watch a few films mainly so that I can then e-bay them when I get back. t would be nice to eat a chunk of unwatched stuff away.
Also, while I'm away my landlord is apparently going to install a new radiator in the flat. The idea is they're going to run the pipes across from his place and put the radiator in the living room/bed area.
The hope is this will cut a big chunk out of my heating costs (now that it's turned chilly I'm starting to put the radiator on), although I'm not getting it for free - it's costing me £5 extra month in rent, and while that may seem a bargain, it's not quite as good as that, because of course during spring, summer and early autumn I don't use heating at all and of course the rise is across the full year, not just the winter months.
Still, it should represent better value at least.
I think he's also a bit concerned about the possibility of pipes bursting. By putting a bit of heating it should stave off the cold a bit, so it's a preventative thing - clearing up after flooding would not be cheap.
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
black swan
There are some things on my rental list where I'm really not all that sure why they're there.
Black Swan was one of those things. I mean, I'd heard good things about it, but I can't say that the thought of watching a film about Ballet was really very high up on my list of things I want to do.
I can't really be doing with Ballet.
Well, to be totally honest I can't really doing with dance.
Oh, I've no objection to people dancing and enjoying themselves, it's the whole formalised types of dance I can't be doing with - if it has a proper name and things like "forms" it probably doesn't do anything for me.
Which, to some extent, is hypocritical, as, in general, dancers (general dancers like you see on X-Factor and the like) are almost universally "well fit".
And perhaps that's the real root of why I don't like ballet - it seems to be one of those things that acts like a grindstone, grinding away at the people involved. In particular it seems to be something that involves impressionable young girls being forced (or, at least, forcing themselves) to do horrible things to themselves - keep themselves horribly thin and dance around with their whole weight supported just on the tips of their toes.
Oh, I'm sure the reality isn't wholly like that, and those are those are clichés, but the other issues is it falls into that whole world of classical music and opera that takes itself too seriously. It taps into that whole thing of formality and "proper" ways of doing things that just rubs me up the wrong way.
Sorry, I got a bit carried away, but that's kinda the point - despite hearing good things, when this turned up I was hardly desperate to get it into the DVD player and watch it.
But I was rather wrong. Well, no, actually I was partly right in that it really is about ballet, but it's also a psychological thriller of all things. Which I was not expecting at all.
The ballet is key to it - this isn't just a thriller that happens to be set in and around a ballet performance or anything like that. Indeed, the key element - the "black swan" (from Swan Lake) of the title - is core to both the ballet and the psychological thriller elements.
I think if you know a bit about ballet you'll probably enjoy the film even more - apart from knowing that there is such a thing as Swan Lake (which was created by Tchaikovsky, who virtually rejuvenated ballet as an art form) I don't really know what it's about. So I'd say a quick trip over to wikipedia beforehand if you don't know about it would probably be the way round to do it - I looked it up afterwards, and realised there was a lot of clever stuff in there.
I seem to have rambled on quite a bit. Basically, what I'm trying to get around to is that, yes the Ballet is important and knowing a bit about it helps, but the psychological thriller part is the key bit and it's a really good film as a result.
It does leave quite a few questions unanswered, but I always think that's a good thing in a psychological thriller. Leaving it up to you to work out what happened is always the best way to go, in my opinion.
I'm not sure if that counts as a spoiler as such, but one thing I would also say is that the film really reminded me of the anime film Perfect Blue by Satoshi Kon. Which is a good thing.
Black Swan was one of those things. I mean, I'd heard good things about it, but I can't say that the thought of watching a film about Ballet was really very high up on my list of things I want to do.
I can't really be doing with Ballet.
Well, to be totally honest I can't really doing with dance.
Oh, I've no objection to people dancing and enjoying themselves, it's the whole formalised types of dance I can't be doing with - if it has a proper name and things like "forms" it probably doesn't do anything for me.
Which, to some extent, is hypocritical, as, in general, dancers (general dancers like you see on X-Factor and the like) are almost universally "well fit".
And perhaps that's the real root of why I don't like ballet - it seems to be one of those things that acts like a grindstone, grinding away at the people involved. In particular it seems to be something that involves impressionable young girls being forced (or, at least, forcing themselves) to do horrible things to themselves - keep themselves horribly thin and dance around with their whole weight supported just on the tips of their toes.
Oh, I'm sure the reality isn't wholly like that, and those are those are clichés, but the other issues is it falls into that whole world of classical music and opera that takes itself too seriously. It taps into that whole thing of formality and "proper" ways of doing things that just rubs me up the wrong way.
Sorry, I got a bit carried away, but that's kinda the point - despite hearing good things, when this turned up I was hardly desperate to get it into the DVD player and watch it.
But I was rather wrong. Well, no, actually I was partly right in that it really is about ballet, but it's also a psychological thriller of all things. Which I was not expecting at all.
The ballet is key to it - this isn't just a thriller that happens to be set in and around a ballet performance or anything like that. Indeed, the key element - the "black swan" (from Swan Lake) of the title - is core to both the ballet and the psychological thriller elements.
I think if you know a bit about ballet you'll probably enjoy the film even more - apart from knowing that there is such a thing as Swan Lake (which was created by Tchaikovsky, who virtually rejuvenated ballet as an art form) I don't really know what it's about. So I'd say a quick trip over to wikipedia beforehand if you don't know about it would probably be the way round to do it - I looked it up afterwards, and realised there was a lot of clever stuff in there.
I seem to have rambled on quite a bit. Basically, what I'm trying to get around to is that, yes the Ballet is important and knowing a bit about it helps, but the psychological thriller part is the key bit and it's a really good film as a result.
It does leave quite a few questions unanswered, but I always think that's a good thing in a psychological thriller. Leaving it up to you to work out what happened is always the best way to go, in my opinion.
I'm not sure if that counts as a spoiler as such, but one thing I would also say is that the film really reminded me of the anime film Perfect Blue by Satoshi Kon. Which is a good thing.
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
source code
With the lack of posting I naturally also got a bit behind with posting reviews of stuff.
It's actually a short week for me as I'm off on holiday Friday (thank god) so I thought I'd post reviews today and tomorrow before wrapping the week up.
So a few weeks back I watched source code.
I actually quite enjoyed it, but I'll actually start at the end, if you see what I mean.
No, I don't either - what I mean is, I'll run through my thoughts as soon as the film ended. They went a bit like this:
"Well that was quite good. Bit of a paradoxical ending, but then the whole thing was a bit paradoxical. And if you go with m theory I guess it's not a paradox in a way.
"Actually, you know they could even make a sequel. Actually, I think it would make a better TV series. You could well imagine him popping into different people each episode and solving a different problem.
"Where have I heard that before? Wasn't that what happened in Quantum Leap? Hang on, the whole thing is really like Quantum Leap, isn't it?"
So I should explain a few things. The film doesn't quite join all the dots in terms of what's happening, but it seems to make use of m theory. M theory is one f those areas of physics that strays right into science fiction territory. It's basically the idea of multiple dimensions.
So in this film they're essentially using m-theory to repeatedly bounce into dimensions (or, potentially, they're creating them - as I say, it doesn't fully explain things) that are only fractionally different to ours and then find out the answer to a particular question. I won't go too much into the detail as it would spoiler things a bit, but it's quite a neat idea.
Paradoxes are one of things that are difficult to explain without using an example, and the classic example of one in time travel (which is sort of what this is) is going back and killing your own father/mother/grandparents/ancestor before they spawn the next generation. If you do this, then logically you never came into existence and hence you could not go back and kill your ancestor.
But as I say, if it's m-theory, then you're obviously not technically changing your own time line, you're popping back into the timeline of other dimensions. Indeed, the events "changed" in those alternate dimensions could be what originally happened or you could be creating those dimensions through the very act of your travel. It's the Back to the Future 2 alternate 1985 bit where everybody who isn't a physicist gets confused.
Anyway, the real point I was trying to make and then used up a lot of words talking about other interesting stuff was that it treads around in the waters of Quantum Leap. Quantum Leap was a science fiction show I really enjoyed as a kid where the main character hops around in time, leaping into the bodies of other people and then "fixing" or "altering" things in a positive way before he can move on. The paradoxes created in that show were never really explored, but Source Code plays with those ideas more.
It also repeatedly uses the same time slot, which makes things a bit like Groundhog Day as he 'remembers' what's going to happen.
I think you can probably tell from the above I rather enjoyed the film, because it let me think about this sort of stuff, but also, crucially it has at its core some really good character stuff. In a way it's more like a love story than it is a science fiction story, it just uses the sci-fi stuff in a clever way to help enhance that story too.
It's actually a short week for me as I'm off on holiday Friday (thank god) so I thought I'd post reviews today and tomorrow before wrapping the week up.
So a few weeks back I watched source code.
I actually quite enjoyed it, but I'll actually start at the end, if you see what I mean.
No, I don't either - what I mean is, I'll run through my thoughts as soon as the film ended. They went a bit like this:
"Well that was quite good. Bit of a paradoxical ending, but then the whole thing was a bit paradoxical. And if you go with m theory I guess it's not a paradox in a way.
"Actually, you know they could even make a sequel. Actually, I think it would make a better TV series. You could well imagine him popping into different people each episode and solving a different problem.
"Where have I heard that before? Wasn't that what happened in Quantum Leap? Hang on, the whole thing is really like Quantum Leap, isn't it?"
So I should explain a few things. The film doesn't quite join all the dots in terms of what's happening, but it seems to make use of m theory. M theory is one f those areas of physics that strays right into science fiction territory. It's basically the idea of multiple dimensions.
So in this film they're essentially using m-theory to repeatedly bounce into dimensions (or, potentially, they're creating them - as I say, it doesn't fully explain things) that are only fractionally different to ours and then find out the answer to a particular question. I won't go too much into the detail as it would spoiler things a bit, but it's quite a neat idea.
Paradoxes are one of things that are difficult to explain without using an example, and the classic example of one in time travel (which is sort of what this is) is going back and killing your own father/mother/grandparents/ancestor before they spawn the next generation. If you do this, then logically you never came into existence and hence you could not go back and kill your ancestor.
But as I say, if it's m-theory, then you're obviously not technically changing your own time line, you're popping back into the timeline of other dimensions. Indeed, the events "changed" in those alternate dimensions could be what originally happened or you could be creating those dimensions through the very act of your travel. It's the Back to the Future 2 alternate 1985 bit where everybody who isn't a physicist gets confused.
Anyway, the real point I was trying to make and then used up a lot of words talking about other interesting stuff was that it treads around in the waters of Quantum Leap. Quantum Leap was a science fiction show I really enjoyed as a kid where the main character hops around in time, leaping into the bodies of other people and then "fixing" or "altering" things in a positive way before he can move on. The paradoxes created in that show were never really explored, but Source Code plays with those ideas more.
It also repeatedly uses the same time slot, which makes things a bit like Groundhog Day as he 'remembers' what's going to happen.
I think you can probably tell from the above I rather enjoyed the film, because it let me think about this sort of stuff, but also, crucially it has at its core some really good character stuff. In a way it's more like a love story than it is a science fiction story, it just uses the sci-fi stuff in a clever way to help enhance that story too.
Monday, 24 October 2011
what a week it was
So last week I posted only two blog posts, because things were so manic at work I just wasn't getting the time to write blog posts.
I mean, I could theoretically have written them in the evening, but to be frank, I was so tired in the evenings I could do little other than watch a bit of telly and then go to bed.
So what was I so busy doing?
Well, I'd need to explain quite a bit about how my company works, but basically we were putting together a response to a particularly important framework. But what is a framework?
Well, the fundamental idea is that when somebody wants something done (a piece of work) they put out an Invitation to Tender (an ITT). That ITT sets out what they want doing and companies whose business it is to do that sort of work put together a response to that ITT. The people who put out the ITT then assess the bids they've received and pick the one that best meets the assessment criteria and offers best value for money.
That company therefore wins the work. You may have heard in the news about companies being awarded contracts and others not getting contracts they were expecting and having to cut jobs. Well that's the basic process.
However, you will appreciate that in some arenas there are lots of companies able to do the same sorts of things. You'll also appreciate that if you advertise things publicly potentially all of those companies will put in an ITT.
Also, when you put things out publicly you have to have all sorts of stuff in the assessment process that isn't hugely important, or is just the same as all the other pieces of work you want doing, but because it's a fully open competition you need to "tick the boxes".
So, to avoid that big process you can create an initial step where you compete a framework agreement. This framework can take various forms, but generally they have different "lots" (areas of work) and companies bid to get a place on that lot / framework. The idea is that you are effectively pre-assessing the companies in order to avoid the need to assess all the "boring stuff" every time and also to create a much smaller pool of suppliers.
The big advantage of this is that when each piece of work comes out it can be done in a lot less time and in a lot sleeker fashion.
And it was one of these frameworks that we were working on.
It's an absolute monster and covers a huge range of work that my company is involved in, so it took a huge amount of effort, so that's why I couldn't post.
I mean, I could theoretically have written them in the evening, but to be frank, I was so tired in the evenings I could do little other than watch a bit of telly and then go to bed.
So what was I so busy doing?
Well, I'd need to explain quite a bit about how my company works, but basically we were putting together a response to a particularly important framework. But what is a framework?
Well, the fundamental idea is that when somebody wants something done (a piece of work) they put out an Invitation to Tender (an ITT). That ITT sets out what they want doing and companies whose business it is to do that sort of work put together a response to that ITT. The people who put out the ITT then assess the bids they've received and pick the one that best meets the assessment criteria and offers best value for money.
That company therefore wins the work. You may have heard in the news about companies being awarded contracts and others not getting contracts they were expecting and having to cut jobs. Well that's the basic process.
However, you will appreciate that in some arenas there are lots of companies able to do the same sorts of things. You'll also appreciate that if you advertise things publicly potentially all of those companies will put in an ITT.
Also, when you put things out publicly you have to have all sorts of stuff in the assessment process that isn't hugely important, or is just the same as all the other pieces of work you want doing, but because it's a fully open competition you need to "tick the boxes".
So, to avoid that big process you can create an initial step where you compete a framework agreement. This framework can take various forms, but generally they have different "lots" (areas of work) and companies bid to get a place on that lot / framework. The idea is that you are effectively pre-assessing the companies in order to avoid the need to assess all the "boring stuff" every time and also to create a much smaller pool of suppliers.
The big advantage of this is that when each piece of work comes out it can be done in a lot less time and in a lot sleeker fashion.
And it was one of these frameworks that we were working on.
It's an absolute monster and covers a huge range of work that my company is involved in, so it took a huge amount of effort, so that's why I couldn't post.
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
korean gp
In this small chunk today I appear to have hit a slight lull in work.
I've basically managed to finish what I needed to do slightly early and it's taking slightly longer for someone else to finish what I will next have to work on. As such, I though I'd do a quick blog post so the blog isn't totally empty all week.
Well, I should definitely be able to post Friday and I hope Thursday we're finished, but you never know.
Anyway, last weekend it was the Korean Grand Prix, which I actually really enjoyed. I managed to make a more sensible fist of things that I did for the preceding weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, so I was a bit more alert, which may well have helped.
However, I think actually the combination of tyres, DRS, KERS and track layout worked quite well together. The layout seemed to have a good few places where overtaking would work normally and the addition of the tyres and sensible placing of DRS helped add further opportunities.
The highlight of the race was probably a huge battle between Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton. Their cars clearly had different strengths and it lead to some really close racing. Also, of course, they're both really good drivers and up for a fight.
Lewis seemed very out of sorts when he wasn't in the car. In the car he seemed well up for it, pumping in some top qualifying times and really battling with Webber.
However, out of the car you wouldn't believe it was the same guy. He actually seemed like he might have been unwell, but I think it was more a reflection of some sort of unhappiness.
The weird thing, as I say, was that, in the car, he was fine. It therefore made the out of car stuff seem deliberate - as in, he wasn't unwell, but wanted to show he was unhappy. I dunno - it was all very odd.
So yeah, overall, I enjoyed the race and it seems that last year's wet race (it was wet all day Friday so that may have helped the racing as it meant there was no dry practice until Saturday morning, making it difficult to set the cars up - last year was the first year and it was wet, of course, and we have a different tyre supplier) might have robbed us of a great race.
Unfortunately, a lot of the stands seemed empty. I mean, it wasn't as bad as some of the new circuits we go to, but certainly some of the stands clearly had no-one in them.
I've basically managed to finish what I needed to do slightly early and it's taking slightly longer for someone else to finish what I will next have to work on. As such, I though I'd do a quick blog post so the blog isn't totally empty all week.
Well, I should definitely be able to post Friday and I hope Thursday we're finished, but you never know.
Anyway, last weekend it was the Korean Grand Prix, which I actually really enjoyed. I managed to make a more sensible fist of things that I did for the preceding weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, so I was a bit more alert, which may well have helped.
However, I think actually the combination of tyres, DRS, KERS and track layout worked quite well together. The layout seemed to have a good few places where overtaking would work normally and the addition of the tyres and sensible placing of DRS helped add further opportunities.
The highlight of the race was probably a huge battle between Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton. Their cars clearly had different strengths and it lead to some really close racing. Also, of course, they're both really good drivers and up for a fight.
Lewis seemed very out of sorts when he wasn't in the car. In the car he seemed well up for it, pumping in some top qualifying times and really battling with Webber.
However, out of the car you wouldn't believe it was the same guy. He actually seemed like he might have been unwell, but I think it was more a reflection of some sort of unhappiness.
The weird thing, as I say, was that, in the car, he was fine. It therefore made the out of car stuff seem deliberate - as in, he wasn't unwell, but wanted to show he was unhappy. I dunno - it was all very odd.
So yeah, overall, I enjoyed the race and it seems that last year's wet race (it was wet all day Friday so that may have helped the racing as it meant there was no dry practice until Saturday morning, making it difficult to set the cars up - last year was the first year and it was wet, of course, and we have a different tyre supplier) might have robbed us of a great race.
Unfortunately, a lot of the stands seemed empty. I mean, it wasn't as bad as some of the new circuits we go to, but certainly some of the stands clearly had no-one in them.
Monday, 17 October 2011
work wins again
Unfortunately no blog post today as I've been incredibly busy at work just recently - so busy, in fact, that I've used up all the pre-written posts I put together and haven't had a chance to generate any more.
I've a fair few things to talk about, just not the time to write the posts.
I've a fair few things to talk about, just not the time to write the posts.
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