Sunday, August 31, 2003
Grrrr!!!I just tried logging into my launchcast station and was refused access due to the number of login attempts having exceeded the set limit. Now since I haven't logged in for days, this says to me someone has been trying to hack into my account.
No doubt some little asshole wants to mess up my playlist. Obviously they didn't manage to get in, but it means though I can listen to my station, I'm unable to edit the playlist till it's unlocked.
Labels: annoyed, launchcast
Steve 10:44 AM [+] (0) comments
Saturday, August 30, 2003
Ah, the wonders of this blog.Not only do I bring you occasional movie reviews before they're out in the cinema.... I also bring them to you several months after everyone else on the planet has already seen them.
So... Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers.
In a word - AWESOME!!!
Everything about this film is perfect. The effects are fantastic, the sets are amazing, the acting is fantastic... but y'know what really impressed me about it? The editing. I just loved the flow of it. How you follow one of the groups of characters in their given situation for exactly the right length of time, and then the scene switches, builds up, and switches again.
Film of the year!!!
Judging by the additional material on disk two, The Return Of The King is going to be even better. I can't wait.
Labels: movies
Steve 8:39 PM [+] (0) comments
Thursday, August 28, 2003
Are we really supposed to believe the power outage in nyc was a technical fault with no foul play involved?While it may have been plausable before today, I simply can't believe it now. The whole of central London and surrounding areas is currently without power.
This just screams of an inside job.
Steve 8:06 PM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
I just watched a film that took me back to a time I'd rather forget.In the early to mid 80s cold war tensions were still high and everyone lived with that nagging fear in the back of their minds. I was in my early teens and rather neurotic to say the least.
QED, a doccumentary describing in great detail the effects of a nuclear attack was shown on uk tv, followed by two movies... an american film 'The Day After', and the british doccumentary style drama 'Threads'.
It's hard to describe the effect these films had on me, though traumatised might be a good word to use. Looking back, I find myself rather angry that Threads was actually shown to us in a special lesson at school. I was 14, maybe 15... is it honestly a good idea to be showing kids of that age people being burned alive in a nuclear blast, and all the horrors that follow?
Already a neurotic child with a nervous disposition and emotional problems, watching this film in a school lesson was like saying to me "Okay kids... watch this, because this is what's going to happen to you."
I lived in real fear every day after watching that movie, probably untill around the time the Berlin Wall came down, and had nightmares of nuclear attack on a regular basis well into my mid twenties.
So this morning I watched Threads again for the first time in nearly 20 years. It's predictably dated, but its impact isn't lessened for it. It's not a film to watch for pleasure, and seeing it again, remembering the fear I lived in because of it and how it fundamentally damaged a large part of my younger years... I find I'm very relieved to be so unfucked up in my 30s and enjoying life to such a degree.
There are some aspects of the 80s I love, most notably the music... but watching that film and remembering the darker aspects of that decade, I wouldn't ever want to go back and relive it. Indeed, Y2K and onwards have so far proved to be the best years I've ever known, and I'm very glad to be here.
Labels: movies
Steve 8:14 AM [+] (0) comments
Saturday, August 23, 2003
It's abnormally quiet here this week.Anyone who reads Brigitte's blog will know she's in Reading for the week.
You really know when you're used to living with a person when they aren't around for a while. Life goes on here as usual, nocturnal sleep patterns, junk food, junk tv, video games and chat, but.... y'know.
Steve 9:42 PM [+] (0) comments
Thursday, August 21, 2003
What utter bastards!!!I opted for popups instead of banners on tripod 'cause banners would mess up my funky design and what do they do? They stick banners on it too.
I'm not impressed.
Obviously though, it being a free webhost, there's not a lot I can do about it, other than pay to get rid of them, and I'm far too much of a cheapskate to do that... not no mention skint. At least the banner's at the bottom.
Labels: annoyed
Steve 5:38 PM [+] (0) comments
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
Someone out there who has me in their email address book (and that could be one among thousands of people) is infected with the sobig-f virus.How do I know this?
I keep getting failed email responses from various servers, where an email has been sent to addy's that I've never heard of. My addy has been used as the sender, and the usual topic lines set by this virus have all been used in the original emails.
The virus, being a devious little shit, fakes the email addy of the sender, replacing it with that of someone in the user's address book, so they never actually realise they're infected.
Now, it could be anyone, considering my email address appears on various of my websites, and the virus checks browser chaches for addresses, but even so, anyone reading this would be well advised to update their anti-virus software and run a scan.
For anyone who didn't understand what I've just said... no, I am not infected, my sites are not infected, but someone who has my email addy IS infected.
Steve 10:59 PM [+] (0) comments
While I'm in a movie reviewing mood, I just watched Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life.
Now that's a much better movie than last night's.
While the script may be pure Indiana Jones, it's a highly entertaining flick and the production values are spot on. As a side line, I really liked the music... it's the kinda stuff I find myself inspired by when making my own tunes.
Just as an afterthought... Angelina Jolie..... yummmmm!!!
Labels: movies
Steve 10:03 PM [+] (0) comments
I just finished watching Freddy Vs Jason.
Hmmm.
For a trashy piece of rubbish, I have to say it was fairly entertaining. No real surprises, but the novelty of seeing two splatter movie icons ripping each other to pieces was quite amusing.
Not one to watch if you're looking for anything remotely ground breaking or mentally stimulating though.
Labels: movies
Steve 12:50 AM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
How odd.No spam in my hotmail inbox. Have microsoft done something right for a change?
I'm sure not complaining though.... just very surprised.
It says something about how eventful life is at the moment that all I can find to talk about is a lack of spam though... lol
Steve 4:09 AM [+] (0) comments
Sunday, August 17, 2003
I'm tinkering with the new Google Toolbar... or more specifically, the "Blog This" button on it.Cool stuff, especially as my toolbar was looking a little empty since the Grapevine toolbar I mentioned last week appears to have died an early death.
Yup... I like this. Expect to see assorted random link poping up in this blog... or not. Depends really. I'm so lazy.
Steve 3:22 AM [+] (0) comments
Thursday, August 14, 2003
There's not much going on here but an (un)healthy recurrence of my Gran Turismo 3 addiction.After a couple of nights of heavy gaming I completed the beginner and amateur sections, and all the pro level races requiring the IB lisence... before going on to get the Special raceing lisence.
That GT All Stars race series is damned hard, the three GT cars usually romping away into the distance. I finally beat it using the Pagani Zonda C12 Race Car.
Yeah yeah, I know, it's all nerdy twaddle, but since nothing else of note's been happening...
Maybe I should just make something up.
Steve 7:33 PM [+] (0) comments
Monday, August 11, 2003
Seaside trip number two then...Brigitte, myself, Alicia, Les, Emma, Nickie and Richard... that's two carloads of (allegedly) adult kids piled into two cars and headed off to Hunstanton, Norfolk, on the English east coast.
After the mostly shingle beaches of Devon, Hunstanton beach was a revelation... miles of sand... perfect :-)
After lazing in the sun on what was the hottest day ever recorded in Britain (100 degrees f) we swam (or paddled in my case) in what turned out to be a very warm sea, and then set to making a rather impressive sand castle.
Now, while we were doing this, something very strange happened.
There'd been a nice gentle sea breeze from the moment we got there, just perfect as it stopped us from completely frying under the blazing sun... however, a sudden almost gale force wind blew up out of no-where. I don't mean a sudden brief gust... I mean a continuous very powerful blast of cold air that lasted for maybe a couple of minutes.
Lots of people including myself were quite startled, never having experienced such a thing, and in all seriousness, I looked out to sea half expecting to see an incoming tsunami or tidal wave. Umrellas, wind-breaks, hats, beach towels and anything else not tied down were sent flying and I was hit full on by a very large umbrella.
Needless to say, there was no tsunami, no comet striking the sea, no nuclear strike or any other scary event. All I can conclude is that as the tide turned and started coming back in, it must have pushed a front of cold air back inland which was amplified by the very large cove that forms The Wash... the bay we were in.
The wierdness didn't end there though. The colder water coming in with the tide joining the very warm water, coupled with the now stronger sea breeze combined to form a very thick mist or even fog, transforming the scene from this scene of sun drenched beach to this scene of foggy confusion.
The fog kept coming in waves of cold air and wind for a couple of hours, almost untill the tide was at it's highest, and then things settled back to a more normal sun drenched afternoon/evening.
Weirdness aside, we all had a great and chilled out day, one we'll hopefully repeat on a fairly regular basis. The place is probably the closest piece of coastline to us and well worth the two hour drive.
Steve 5:43 PM [+] (0) comments
Saturday, August 09, 2003
There's likely to be more seaside pics coming fairly soonish.Tomorrow we're off to the east coast with some of Brigitte's friends from work. I've no idea what the area we're going to is like or whether it's as scenic as on the last trip, but considering the company we'll have with us, I'm expecting it to be something of a scream.
Whatever else, I'm likely to come back with quite a tan, as the weather of late has been scorching and doesn't look like changing any time soon.
Labels: holidays
Steve 11:34 PM [+] (0) comments
Here's a cool new surfing toy. Grapevine adds a toolbar to your browser. You have a friends list... whenever you click "Forward" on the toolbar, the url of the site you're on is forwarded to everyone who's online and has you on their friends list. If someone's on your friends list and they click "Forward" on a site, the url is forwarded to you.
It's very new and I haven't explained it very well, but it has the potential to be very useful, or at the very least, quite fun.
If you decide to give it a go and would like to add me to your friends list, I'm on there as benway68, predictably.
Steve 1:26 AM [+] (0) comments
Wednesday, August 06, 2003
Ahhhh... life is good.Scorching hot weather, ice cold vanilla coke, windows wide open and my rather substantial mp3 collection blasting out from the stereo.
Bugger the neighbours... hehehe.
Steve 3:10 PM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
I just watched Showgirls on tv having never seen it before.I guess I can see what all the debate was about when it came out.
Was that a valid movie or just a mass market porno?
I enjoyed it, kind of... but for the right reasons? Maybe not.
Very questionable.
Labels: movies
Steve 12:48 AM [+] (0) comments
Monday, August 04, 2003
You know, there was one odd and frustrating thing about being in Devon....MacDonalds... or rather the TOTAL lack thereof.
There seems to be a certain point on the map where the moment you travel south of it, you will never again see a MacDonalds, Burger King or KFC.
I dare say there's a good reason for this... probably not good for the image of traditional english villages and towns to have such places around, but damnit, when all you want for breakfast is a Bacon Egg MacMuffin, a full traditional english breakfast in a quality bed and breakfast guest house really doesn't do the trick.
I know, I know... I shouldn't complain. The whole south coast trip was wonderful, and MacD's really has no place down there.
Now just gimme a 1/4 pounder with cheese and I'll shut up.
Labels: holidays
Steve 5:17 PM [+] (0) comments
Sunday, August 03, 2003
Finally, here we have the long awaited holiday blog entry.First off, the pics form the London trip are online, starting here. Just click through using the 'next' links at the bottom.
There's 14 or so pics and then you'll come to the Devon holiday pics, so you can either keep on clicking there, or read the full account and click the links here.
The Devon Holiday
We started out at Seatown, where after a drink at the pub, we went for a walk along the beach. After about half a mile crunching through the pebbles, we came to the headland where rocks had fallen from the cliffs... some very big rocks. Looking beyond these, we could see the seaside resort town of Lyme Regis.
So, back into the car and down the coast to... Lyme Regis. The seafront and town centre are classic english seaside resort, with a quaint little fishing harbour.
Next stop was Sidmouth, with beautiful teahouses built into the cliffs, and a castle come resteraunt at the top of the cliff.
At the end of the seafront we found a little bay. Looking closer through the zoom lense of my camera, I could see that the tiny white speck on the side of the cliff was in fact a quaint little cottage. I'd hate to be living there if they had a landslide... something quite common on our coastlines. Turning back, we see the resteraunt/castle from another angle, and then wander back along the seafront to look up at the houses on the hillside. Next, we drove up that very hillside (Steep? You better believe it) and stopped half way up when I caught a glimpse of the town below and just had to take pictures. Seeing the spot we'd been looking up from from such a vantage point was quite something.
Stopping in Budleigh Salterton for food, we were accosted by a very persistant seagull who wasn't at all impressed that we'd eaten without saving it any food. After circling the car for some time and then landing on the roof, the daft bird flew away, so we took the oportunity to head back to the guesthouse we'd booked into that morning. Chimney's in Chideok is a great little 17th century cottage run by Roz and her husband Dave, and if you should ever find yourself in Dorset and in need of a place to stay for the night, you could do a lot worse than look them up.
Our first stop next day was Dawlish Warren, south of Exeter. Not the most thrilling of locations and oddly deserted, possibly because the tide was in. I did find a pretty nice view though, by climbing up onto that rock outcrop in the last photo. The public aren't supposed to go up there, but damnit... if you want to get a good photo you sometimes have to break the odd rule.
We'd been planning to find accomodation in Torquay, but despite a very nice view of Babbacome Bay, the town itself really wasn't our cup of tea.
Off further down the coast then, and a ferry ride across the estuary into Dartmouth.
After finding a room for the night in Stoke Fleming we carried on down the coast road till stumbling across an almost hidden beach in Blackpool Sands, not to be confused with Blackpool on the north west coast. The water, weather and view were fantastic, but the beach itself was fine and not so fine pebbles, and not that comfortable under foot, so after messing about in the water for a while, frying under the hot sun and digging a very impressive hole, we headed south again.
Just down the hill the road to Torcross ran between the sea on the left and a wildfowl sanctuary on the right. Having water on either side of the car felt quite unusual... if impressive. Maybe I'm easilly pleased, `cause we just don't have that kind of scenery around here.
Following the road up from Torcross, after getting lost on numerous VERY steep unmarked roads, we came to the lighthouse at Start Point from which we had a great view across Start Bay. There was an added bonus in going up there, as not only did we get a great view, but it also allowed us to spot several places we'd never have noticed if we hadn't been up there... places like Hallsands.
Having spotted what looked like derelict buildings in the cliff, we consulted the map and headed on down to see if we could get to the place. What we found was a "Road Closed" sign, beyond which was... well... the sea... and this. What had once been a thriving fishing village had been washed away in a storm in 1917, leaving only 2 buildings inhabited today, at some risk to the occupants, and a few ruined shacks.
Next morning saw us making an early start towards home across Dartmoor, the secluded and rugged scenery having a very particular appeal.
Slap bang in the middle of the moors, is The River Dart, starting somewhere above Dartmeet (where we found it), and running down to the coast at Dartmouth where it meets the sea. The rather curious orange/brown colour of the water is caused by the water filtering through the peat of the moors.
Apart from peat bogs, heater, and wide open empty spaces, another common site on the moors is the wild ponies... like this one which decided that our lunch wasn't enough, so it'd eat both me and the car too.
Our final stop before heading directly(ish) home was Avebury Stone Circle. This is a neolithic circle of ditches and standing stones, dating back some 5000 years, surrounding part of the village of Avebury.
We finally arrived home around 9pm after 12 hours on the road, excluding several stops for sight seeing and visiting some of Brigitte's relatives. That's 660 miles over 3 days. Quite a trip, and one we'll both remember for a long time.
Steve 10:57 PM [+] (0) comments
Saturday, August 02, 2003
We've just got back from 3 awesome days spent in Dorset and Devon on the English south coast.After travelling 660 miles I'm absoutely shattered, so you'll have to wait till tomorrow for a full account with a few photos. It's gonna be a day or so till all the photos are online, as apart form the 150 or so (no I won't be putting ALL of those online) pics taken over the past 3 days, I still have the pics from the London trip last week to upload.
Labels: holidays
Steve 10:04 PM [+] (0) comments
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