Saturday 27 October 2007

Saturday at Central Milton Keynes

And it came to pass that the legend who is Tom Baker appeared at Central Milton Keynes. Although he didn't wear his trademark tie, and I couldn't hear his trademark coarse language, he still manages to impose himself at Collectamania in Central Milton Keynes. I managed to get this almost in focus and almost close-up of the man (ne TimeLord).

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There were also a number of Heroes regulars at Milton Keynes too. Including the below Ando. And this gives me the chance to use my wonderful joke. A marketing coup would have got the heroes star with Billy Dee Williams at the local chicken restaurant at the Xscape building...

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Ando and Lando at Nando's

I didn't say it was a great joke!

Friday 26 October 2007

In the changing room


In the changing room
Originally uploaded by dazzer67
Going shopping for clothes uses more male calories than shopping for food. This can be seen by the attached photo where tiredness overcomes me after only a few minutes shopping for clothes.

Although it has been widely thought that men have fewer calories to use for shopping, it was not known until now that the calories available also varied depending on what was being shopped.

It has long been assumed that men were able to spend hours on end looking at DVDs, audio or computer equipment, but this has been put down to their higher brain function and not to calorific availability. This thoery is now open to widespread abuse.

Tuesday 23 October 2007

The Mighty Boosh is back

Here's the press release:



“The funniest comedy double-act in Britain”(NME) are back!


Transmission details announced for series three of



The Mighty Boosh


“Easily the freshest comedy on TV… The Mighty Boosh looked kaleidoscopically beautiful.” THE TELEGRAPH
“Charming, audacious and genuinely innovative.” THE TIMES
“Horror, music, art and comedy in one terrific psychedelic melting pot.” SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE



Baby Cow Productions and BBC THREE are pleased to announce the transmission date for the eagerly-awaited third series of THE MIGHTY BOOSH, the comedy show written by and starring multi-award winning comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. The series will transmit for six weeks, every Thursday night at 22.30, from Thursday 15 November on BBC THREE.

The third series of THE MIGHTY BOOSH sees Vince Noir (Noel Fielding) and Howard Moon (Julian Barratt) working in Naboo's second hand shop in Dalston. Howard, unsuccessfully trying to sell his esoteric jazz records, mainly moons away the hours in delusions of grandeur while Vince lays around in a hammock playing loud music, trying on wigs and finding Howard ludicrous. Needless to say they don’t get much work done. This doesn’t bother Naboo too much, firstly as the shop is really only a cover for his shady interplanetary Shaman business and secondly, he's usually quite chilled out from sampling his own magical herbs and remedies.


EELS
Naboo and Bollo are off on the Head Shaman’s stag do, leaving Howard and Vince in charge of Nabootique. The duo challenge one another to a sales contest, each trying to sell their latest fads, Elbow Patches and The Indie Celebrity Radar. Things are going pretty well until an unexpected visit from the evil cockney Hitcher. After summoning Elsie Queen of Eels, The Hitcher demands protection money from the boys, but this is money the boys just don’t have…

JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF A PUNK
In an attempt to impress his new punk mates, Vince rebelliously bites Howard’s rare jazz record. Unbeknown to Vince however he has bitten off more than he can chew as the corruptive Jazz Beast enters his blood stream. As Vince’s life hangs in the balance, Naboo has no alternative but to shrink Howard and his jazz companion Lester Corncrake down to the size of a pea and send them into Vince’s body to locate and kill the invasive cell. Can they kill the Jazz Beast before it kills Vince?

THE CRIMP
Vince and Howard are distraught to learn they’ve had their style stolen by The Flighty Zeus. As The Flighty Zeus’ popularity rages amongst the kids, The Boosh find themselves increasingly pushed out. The boys hope to regain their popularity with the invention of a new dance craze, Crimping, but with a massive face-off planned at The Velvet Onion, will Crimping be enough to win back their reputation?

THE STRANGE TALE OF THE CRACK FOX
Whilst putting the rubbish out, Vince befriends the Crack Fox, inviting the poor soul into Nabootique for some hot soup. However, the Crack Fox is not as he seems and after knocking Vince out with his potent smell, he vanishes with Naboo’s most precious possession, a bottle of Shaman Juice. Punishment for the loss of the juice is death and whilst Naboo awaits his fate on Shaman Death Row, it’s left to The Boosh to recover the juice and destroy the evil Crack Fox once and for all.

PARTY
It’s Howard’s birthday. Reluctant to celebrate, Howard finally succumbs to Vince’s plan for a huge party. With Bollo on the door, Saboo and Harrison on the decks and Vince’s uber-trendy friends on the dance floor, the party really starts to hot up. That is, until someone is caught in a compromising position with the Head Shaman’s wife in Naboo’s stock room.


Sammy The Crab
Vince is MCing a night at the Velvet Onion, to be headlined by The Black Tubes. Keen to fill the shoes of their recently deceased front man, Vince goes to immense lengths to get into their obligatory drainpipe jeans, but at what price? Meanwhile Howard takes acting lessons from Montgomery Flange in an attempt to overcome his stage fright and secure work with director Jurgen Harbourmaster, but will he miss out to Sammy The Crab?

Friday 19 October 2007

Gene genie? (rated 3 stars)

by Michael Crichton

I have usually enjoyed most things that Michael Crichton does, from Andromeda Strain to Jurassic Park, but what about Next?

In this novel Crichton takes on the interesting topic of genetics, how genes work, affect us and how they might be used to ‘better’ our existence – or perhaps increase the bank balance of those involved.

Although the book was interesting and worth reading, I have to admit that the plot wasn’t overly gripping. As a novel, although it came to a conclusion, it didn’t flow and I had difficulty following where the story was and where it was heading. The characters were a little cliched and becasue of this we didn’t really delve into them.

So why was it worth reading? Well it made me think. I am interested in learning about new things and the insights into genetics that the book delivered were interesting and thought-provoking. Crichton looks at how companies are buying up bits of the human genome and explores this through some legal banter as the book moves on.

One question it did leave me, was that if companies are buying the patents on genes, and perhaps they buy the patent on genes that cause disease, could individuals who get those diseases sue the owners? Perhaps owning a large part of the genome isn’t the best financial aquisition you could make.

Monday 15 October 2007

Just think about it

It sustains us, shouldn't we help sustain it?

Saturday 13 October 2007

England vs France Full-time

Robin Rolls should never be believed, apart from matters of faith.

England beat France in the Rugby World Cup semi-final

England vs France Half-time

Well it is half time and the French are leading by one point. Robin Rolls on Facebook believes that France will win, so far he is right, so we'll see.

Friday 12 October 2007

Ever had one of those d'oh times?

Now I want to make it clear that I wouldn't change my broadband supplier. I believe the service and features, for the price I pay, is wonderful. So there you have it, I wouldn't move from BTBroadband unless it was a matter of life and death - and I would recommend them to anyone.

However (yes it is coming), there are one or two quirks that I have had to deal with and sometimes they come back to haunt me. For instance when I got the wireless hub it wouldn't connect. Despite all my best efforts in trying to place the wireless adapter close to the hub, inline and even right on top of it, it wouldn't find a strong enough signal to connect. I did however find the solution at an online forum, where they said change the hub setting to channel 11 from automatic or 1. Of course to do this you need to have a connection to the hub - can you see the problem? Wireless connection won't connect to the hub, solution change the settings on the hub, via a connection!

Fortunately I have an adpater card and so was able to pull out the wireless adapter, plug in the network card and then change the settings. It worked fine and I have enjoyed problem free connection ever since... until tonight.

As you can see from previous posts I have got a new Hub phone to use on the broadband connection and to other pcs - so if you have a Skype number feel free to drop it in. The instructions for the phone told me to click a button and then press the button on the back of the hub for 3 seconds. I stopped reading. When I pressed the number nothing appeared to happen... so I kept it pressed. The hub lights flashed.

For some reasons all connections to the internet were gone.

I reread the intructions, 'press the button for 3 seconds... only, any longer and the hub will reset. And you know what that means, channel reset to 1 and not 11. The solution... unplug the wireless adpater, plug in the network card and reset it all.

Perhaps I should read the intructions a bit more.

BT Broadband issue resolved

Just an update, as I like to be fair, to say that the issue with BT that I had has been resolved. I recieved a message from them yesterday saying that the situation was sorted and that I would not be charged in any way, shape or form. Now all I need is the phone that should have got to me yesterday as well - but there has been a postal strike.

Update... the phone has arrived too. Well done BT

Thursday 11 October 2007

It started with a bang, no a constant, no a string (rated 4 stars)

by John D. Barrow

I loved this. I must admit it wasn’t easy going, I haven’t had any great scientific education, and I am not sure how much I actually understood. It will probably need another read through now that I have got through it once.

What it has done though is inspire me to read further about the subject, and that is no bad thing. So I’ll be googling away for the next few days.

The book basically introduces the theories of how the universe began (I won’t give away the ending [or should that be the beginning?] but it does have a twist). Looking at the basic Big Bang theory, constant expansion, inflation, and then moved into the realm of Quantum theories.

Thursday 4 October 2007

So I have an issue with BT Broadband

I decide to give BT a call because of an issue I have with a new order. I call at about 6 in the evening, this is the busy time, most people with issues have just got home and like me decide to call at the same time. I dial, I listen to the voice prompts and press my buttons to get into a queue and then I make my first mistake.

I am told that they are busy and that there will be a wait, I can, if I want, press some more buttons and wait for them to call me back, however, I am a little concerned about the issue I have and want to sort it out, so I decline this option and begin to hold.

In total the call lasted an hour and a quarter, in which I was passed through four people before I got to talk to someone who took my details, took down the issue and said he would call back within twenty minutes. He called back within ten, telling me the issue was sorted. I await to see if it will be sorted, but I think he was from a call centre several thousand miles away, unlike some of the people I had spoken to in the previous hour or so.

Mid-crisis Life

Compared to other people I have an awful lot, I have been blessed many times, am healthy, wealthy (apparently in the top 5-7% of earners across the whole planet) and wise (well I'm educated). However, as is the way of so many Gen Xers it seems my life has lurched from one crisis to another.

I now believe that I am going through some sort of mid-crisis life. I feel more focussed than ever before, I feel more confident than ever before and in general I feel good about things. That isn't to say that everything is peachy, the norm is still crisis, however the life is starting to break through.

Now who was it that said 'life begins at 40'?

Tuesday 2 October 2007

Cacti got my tongue

My fingers are reasonably long, friendly relatives have previously said they are piano playing fingers. However, this has not proved true... I can't play the piano apart from bashing out a few chords, the lead and bass lines of Kraftwerk's Das Model (showing off with my linguistic skills there) and experimental riffs that Ross Geller would be proud of.

My fingers are definitely not green. The garden that I tend (ha - I use hay fever as an excuse) is a mixture of lawn, concrete and weeds. Many a time I have bought a house plant to add that eco feel to the living space and many a time they have died, usually in a long drawn out process that I have been unable to stem. If there was an RSPCP association I am sure they would have convicted me.

Nevertheless I have once again ventured into the house plant arena and bought a cactus. I have a picture below, enjoy it while it lasts.