December 31st 2009
After getting back into the flow of writing regular blog posts Christmas inconsiderately got in the way! Once new year is out of the way I’ll get back to writing some posts which could include:
– Avatar, Moon, Star Trek and Gladiator reviews
– First impressions of the Motorola Milestone (Droid) and Android
– A continuation of the podcasts series
P.S. this post was written using the wpToGo app on my Milestone. I can now blog wherever I am!
December 21st 2009
Just in case you are one of the two people in the world that hasn’t seen this yet…
December 20th 2009
I love walking to work. It is a great way to get some fresh air before the day starts and is so much better than sitting in traffic to clear my mind on the way home. Also, I have found some nice walks in the area around where my office is to get out a lunch on a nice day.
That can give me up to 1.5 hours per day where I am out with nothing to do. I choose to fill this time with podcasts.
Before I get into the actual podcasts I listen to I should start by explaining what a podcast is: The best comparison I can make is it is like a downloadable radio program that you can put on your mp3 player and listen to on your travels.
Getting podcasts is really simple. You find the website it is on and you download it. Then it is just a matter of transferring it to your mp3 player in the normal way. The trickier thing is to keep up to date with the latest podcasts, especially if you listen to as many as I do. This is where RSS feeds come in to it. Most podcasts will have an RSS feed available which you can subscribe to in something like Google Reader (http://reader.google.com) which will update itself automatically whenever a new episode is available and all you have to so is remember to check this one place.
As the tagline of this website suggests, I can easily break down my podcasts into three separate categories:
I’ll be focussing in on the talks I regularly listen to in each of these categories in later posts.
December 19th 2009
When I first saw the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are I thought that it was going to end up being a huge disappointment for the millions of fans of the source material. Then when the first reviews started trickling in I was amazed that it was getting 5 star reviews everywhere I looked! But something in me still wasn’t convinced.
I had never read the children’s book so did not know what to expect. I knew the director Spike Jonze was not known for run-of-the-mill films so I knew I wasn’t going to get a simple kids film.
The basic story is that young boy Max has a fight with his mum and runs away. But he doesn’t just physically run away he mentally runs away across a vast ocean and into his imagination where the titular wild things are. These giant monsters accept Max as their new king and play games together, build a giant fort amongst other things.
The puppetry is amazing and with only minimal CG to make the facial expression of the monster a little more believable this is a stunning achievement and goes to show that physical special effects still hold an important part of this world. An Oscar nod is certain but whether it can hold off the mighty Avatar awaits to be seen.
So what did I think of it? Sadly I have to report that I just didn’t get it. Either I was too intelligent for it or or not intelligent enough I can’t tell. Either it went way over my head or way under it. I was bored for large chunks of the film and while I could see that the monsters could have been the various parts of Max’s psyche (his rage, his shyness, etc.) I couldn’t settle into it and found myself checking my watch after only 30 minutes.
Now I’m not saying it is a terrible film, I was just not the correct audience for it. I have heard some people say that kids will get its portrayal of the imagination of youth while others have said that it is clearly a film about kids and not a kids film.
I can’t be sure but would but would love to hear what other people thought of it. Especially if they saw it with some youngsters as well.
[5/10]
December 17th 2009
I can’t keep them a secret anymore. Having such incredible money saving tools at my disposal is too big to keep to myself. I have to share them…
Over the past few weeks I have been doing a lot of Christmas shopping and renewing of things like car insurance and broadband and I have managed to save myself a lot of money in the process.
What is my secret I hear you ask? Do I scour the Internet for hours on end and ring up supplier after supplier? Nope, I utilize three simple websites. That’s it:
Whenever I need to renew anything or buy anything or want to change supplier of a service my first port of call is Martin Lewis’ amazing website. He has a page on any topic you could want to save money on, from mobile phones to holidays. My advice is if you are looking at renewing any service for your home, car, etc. you pop along to his website first and see what he says about the matter.
This last week I have saved over £200 by using his website to change energy supplier, get car insurance and change broadband.
I also highly recommend you sign up to his weekly email newsletter which lets you know about all the latest deals to keep an eye on.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com
When I have finally found through Money Saving Expert the thing I want to spend my money on, the next step is to pop along to Quidco and see if I can get any cashback on the deal. I don’t know how it works but if you just pop along to Quidco before you buy anything online and sign in, search for the store you are going to buy from and use the Quidco supplied link to get to their website and they will track your order and give you a % cashback on your purchase.
I don’t know how it works but I have been using them for about 3 years and have earned over £500 cashback on my various purchases from anything from play.com to car insurance. They are absolutely genuine!
For example, I currently have £20 cashback pending from a £28 RAC breakdown cover payment! Don’t delay, get on there today. The hardest part is remembering to use them before you make a purchase but you get used it after a while.
And finally, before I make my purchase, I quickly pop along to Hot UK Deals and see if there are any discount codes I can use to make my order a little cheaper. I don’t often find a suitable voucher but occasionally I have stumbled off an extra 10% off and every little helps!
P.S. I have also heard of http://www.myvouchercodes.co.uk/ but have never tried it out. Feel free to give it a go!
December 15th 2009
I can’t help it. I like Roland Emmerich films: Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla and The Day After Tomorrow (I haven’t seen 10,000 BC on purpose).
So I had been looking forward to 2012, his latest end of the world flick, all year. I had heard various reports, some saying it was awful, some saying it was fun. I went in knowing that it had a 2.5 hour running time and ready for what I hoped would be a mindless disaster film similar to The Day After Tomorrow.
What I saw was a total surprise; I haven’t laughed so much through a “serious” film before. It was hilarious! The acting was really bad and they all seemed to be taking it so seriously (except Woody Harrelson appearing to be the only person who realised how bad the film was and played a very entertaining wacko).
The story running through it involved by far the luckiest family ever to have graced the big screen. They always seemed to be in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. Be it to hear all they need to now to predict and escape the impending disaster or to catch the one and only plane out of Vegas (with a capable pilot tagging along for good measure). With all the luck they were experiencing I would have just stood still as the whole world would have fallen apart around them but they would have managed to stand on the one piece of Earth that didn’t collapse!
The special effects were good but far too over the top. The sequence of California being destroyed as a limo manages to escape being the pinnacle.
What worried me though was that the cinema I was in was full of people that were staring intently at the film and taking it all so seriously. Could they not tell how comically bad it was?!
So if watched as a dead-serious action film it is beyond rubbish. There are clichés piled on clichés and some of the worst dialogue I have ever heard. However, if watched as an unintentional comedy it is actually very very funny!
For me it is a one watch only film as I don’t think I can bring myself to watch it again. Unless time wipes my memory of how bad it was.
[4/10]
December 12th 2009
I was getting overwhelmed with stuff a while ago so I went through a cleansing phase and quit FaceBook and Twitter as well as unsubscribing from a number of blogs and dropping a number of jobs at church.
My problem with Twitter before was that I loved it but didn’t feel like it was worth me doing it as not enough people I knew were using it so my tweets were going to waste.
I am back on it though as I had a brainwave and found a widget that allowed me to show my twitter feed on the sidebar of this website! I can now share my Tweets with everyone I know who looks at this site.
This should help those of you who are interested in what I’m up to keep an eye on what I am doing.
December 12th 2009
The 80’s was the decade of action. Schwarzenegger and Stallone were kings of the roost and had successfully dominated the genre. Then, near the end of the 80’s someone else cropped up that nobody expected. An actor had had only previously played romantic roles. And he hit the screen with such force it turned everybody’s head.
The man was Bruce Willis.
The film was Die Hard (1988).
He was not a super strong action hero who could throw his enemies through walls, instead he seemed to be just a normal cop “in the wrong place at the wrong time” and caused havoc for bad guys.
The original Die Hard film is superb. It still stands out as one of the best action films ever made. I remember being up with friends on New Years Day at 2am really wanting to go to sleep but at the same time wanting to watch a film. Die Hard was the film of choice and it kept us all gripped and wide awake. Not many films can do that!
The acting is great, the characters are entertaining and the plot is excellent. As solid an action film that you can hope for – 9/10
But with any successful action film there is always the threat that someone is going to come along and try and make a sequel to cash in on it. Most of the time this is a bad mistake but occasionally it pays off.
So, upping the stakes from a skyscraper to an entire airport came Die Hard 2 (1990). While it was never going to be as good as the original it still managed to keep some of the things that made the first one so good (great characters and explosive action) – 7/10
And of course, where there is a successful sequel the logical next step is to make it into a trilogy, which they did by moving from an airport to an entire city with Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995).
With most trilogies, the third film is the worst. It’s just how trilogies work. Most of the good plot and action ideas have been used up and while it may be fun it is essentially a waste of time.
The third Die Hard film is not entirely that bad but it is the worst Die Hard film. Bringing in Samuel L Jackson to partner up with Bruce Willis was a nice touch but it couldn’t help the film from feeling a little by-the-numbers.
Action was good, characters were still fun but it was lacking that something the original two had – 6/10
And that was where John McClane rested. For over ten years the character was put to bed, never to be brought back again. That was until in the late part of the 2000’s Hollywood started bringing back old characters for new adventures: Indiana Jones, The Terminator and a rather aged John McClane.
So we were given Live Free or Die Hard (2007), nearly 20 years after Nakatomi Plaza Hotel when BANG! Bruce is sporting a new bald haircut but he is still as action packed and unstoppable as ever. Last time is was a city so of course the next logical step is for terrorists to take hold of an entire country!
What should have been a cringeworthy to watch OAP action film (Indy 4 anyone?) turned out to be surprisingly good. Yes it was a little far fetched in places and it had one action sequence too many but it was incredibly entertaining. Bruce Willis still has the charisma and charm to captivate an audience. It was a return to form and a welcome addition to the franchise – 7/10
So what next for John McClane? Well, to keep with tradition the terrorists would have to take over the whole world. So the logical option would have to be an alien invasion! Only I hope for their sake that they have done their research and make sure John McClane is retired before they start. But even then he’ll kick their butts from his wheelchair!
