Sunday 31st January 2010 10:41
The last day of January was a cold and frosty one, so we decided to make the most of it and go out on a little mystery tour that ended up taking us around Rowlands Castle, Forestside, Dean Lane End, Finchdean, Idsworth, Ditcham, Buriton, Compton and Racton. Took a good few photographs and will hopefully add some to my galleries later.
From there we went on to Havant Garden Centre because Tanya had seen some boots in Cotton Trader, a new section within the store. Unfortunately, they weren't quite what she was looking for, however, there were a good few new lines of products that caught both our eyes, one of which needs a mention.
Dora Designs products are totally different to any other. Their range doesn't just consist of home accessories and gifts mainly based on animals, they're made with high quality fabric and it certainly shows. The designs are all the creation of Angela Stevens, the founder of the company, and include characters such as Dora Mouse (Highly Commended Gift of the Year 2009 by The Giftware Association), Daisy Cow, Porkie Pig, Terry Terrior and Bruno Bulldog plus many more characters. I particularly liked the dog draught excluders, although they don't appear to be on the website as yet.
For more information, please click on the logo above.
We managed to get back to watch the Premiership tie between Manchester City v Portsmouth, played at Eastlands, although I'd rather not talk about the 2-0 defeat Pompey suffered. There was quality play in the middle of the park, the only difference being that City had players on the field who could finish, whereas the closest Pompey came to scoring was when a deflected shot hit the bar. I have a bad feeling now for the future of the club, I just hope that I'm wrong.
Later on that night, I happened to watch the premier of a film on Five called 'Vacancy', a thriller starring Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale (totty). A brief synopsis of the film is that the couple's car breaks down in the middle of nowhere after David Fox (Wilson) had decided to drive a different route rather than the interstate. They are then forced to spend the night at the only motel around and the only thing they have to entertain them are some low-budget slasher videos that they find in their room. They then realise that these videos were filmed in the very room they're staying in. With hidden cameras, traps in their room, crawlspaces and underground tunnels, David and Amy (Beckinsale) must struggle to stay alive, unless of course they end up being the next victims caught on film.
To find out more, please visit the official website by clicking on the movie poster above.
Saturday 30th January 2010 18:14
Having struggled to upload my Havant Camera Club PDI entry for the majority of the week, I had no other alternative but to email it directly tonight, otherwise there would have been every chance of me missing the whole competition.
Talking of Havant Camera Club, Tanya attended a meeting about the next time they host their Annual Open Competition and the best ways of making entries easier online, amongst many other things. She was quite surprised at just how long it went on for, as was I, so I knuckled down to completing some urgent work I'd been asked to do. I actually managed to work through a large percentage of it, since she was out from 10:30 - 16:00.
Anyway, back to the two 'images' I chose to enter into the 3rd Open Projected Digital Image competition... both are manipulations of images I have taken but have been manipulated to the point where they are completely unrecognisable, therefore taking on nothing but an abstract form. The first image I have named 'Chrome', the second is 'Express'... I shall update you on their progress next week.
In the first competition of this kind, the judge absolutely loved my work, whereas the second one meant that one of my images only received a 4/10, possibly the lowest mark ever to be given at Havant Camera Club. I felt rather proud at achieving such an accomplishment!
Friday 29th January 2010 20:30
I wouldn't ordinarily talk about Big Brother, yet I suppose tonight's final and the fact that it was the last ever Celebrity Big Brother deserves a mention I guess. Having graced (or disgraced as the case may be) our screens since the year 2000, Commissioning Editor, Angela Jain, admitted that she'd rather end the whole programme on its tenth anniversary. Tonight's final drew in a staggering 5.8m viewers, so it's hardly become unpopular.
I have to say that despite finding it a somewhat annoying show, the celebrity one (which, by the way, only lasts four weeks) has engaged me at times. As usual, the word 'celebrity' is used in its loosest form, yet the likes of Vinnie Jones, Stephanie Beacham and Ivana Trump were relatively impressive names to be drawn in. Other names in there were Stephen Baldwin, best known for his roles in double Academy Award-winning 'The Usual Suspects' and Oscar-winning 'Born on the 4th of July', Dane Bowers, famous for shagging Katie Price (who isn't?) and was a member of the band 'Another Level' who achieved seven top ten singles and the only other housemate worth mentioning was Heidi Fleiss, famous for running an extremely successful, yet illegal, prostitution ring (not the best use of word - Ed).
Anyway, the highlight for me was the Tree of Temptation, a speaking tree that gave housemates orders to do things, more often than not, the requests were either downright bad or just ridiculing. If the 'tasks' were not completed, all of the housemates would face the wrath of the tree. A few examples were when it ordered Alex Reid (Katie Price's current boyfriend and eventual winner of CBB 2010) to 'kick the shit' out of a snowman, it asked Dane to have a convincing nightmare by yelping out in the middle of the night and then receiving a sympathetic hug off a fellow housemate and for Nicola Tappenden (another contestant) to compliment and then insult each housemate finishing off by giving them a peck on their cheek. Nicola asked the Tree for an example, to which the tree replied, "Well Nicola, I could say you're well fit but you look a bit like Bruce Forsyth". Classic.
Please click on the famous Big Brother Eye logo above to watch the clip.
Thursday 28th January 2010 06:45
For the life of me, I don't know how I ended up on this website, nevertheless, it has to be one of the funniest sites I've seen in a long time. I thought I had issues with many trivial day-to-day things, and I also thought that I was possibly within the ranks of being King Grumpy... sadly, I'm a long, long, long way off.
The site's motto is 'A website with some things on it'. Indeed. It does have things. It has sections such as 'Home Made UFOs', 'Shitbox of the Week', 'Hoover your hair off with Mike Hunt' and the rather brilliant 'Bellend Blog'.
I've only scratched the surface with this website and it's already had me laughing out loud to myself, particularly his rant about dogs in his blog as well as photographs of drunkards pissing in his drive. I'm not entirely certain as to how often it's updated, yet there's plenty to be digesting for quite some time... it may be a case of contacting him anyway, just to let him know that his website will undoubtedly gain a cult following (You possibly made a typographical error there - Ed).
Anyway, without further ado, please click on the bellend above.
Wednesday 27th January 2010 21:37
There are many iconic logos that are instantly recognisable the world over, the most famous are probably Nike or Macdonalds. Some of these logos have evolved over time, given current trends in shapes, colours and fonts, ones such as Apple, Shell, Xerox, BMW, IBM, Canon and Pepsi, to name just a few. Periodically, I shall try and cover some of the ones that have made major transitions since their early days of trade.
Remarkably, Kodak was the very first company to integrate its name and looks into one graphic logo in 1907. After 1935 the company then used the familiar yellow and red colours that we automatically associate them with, along with the complete name, Kodak. In 1960, they experimented by introducing a corner curl which was then developed into the iconic 'K' graphic in 1971. In 1987 the font within the graphic was changed to reflect a more contemporary look to the overall logo. By 1996, like many other companies, the logo was then simplified and ten years later the logo took on another major overhaul when it became custom drawn by Allen Hori of Identity Design.
For more information about Kodak, please click here - alternatively, please click on the graphic above to view a vector-based PDF of all the logos, some of which I've had to redraw.
Tuesday 26th January 2010 10:04
During the Christmas break, I'd been asked to hunt around for a DSLR camera on behalf of my biggest client. The reason why they'd asked me, is because ultimately, it will be me who will be using it on a day-to-day basis. There are many major jobs that have been held up since not being able to use my own equipment.
As you can imagine, there are many options out there, both with makes, models, and of course, budget. I'd been set a limit of £300, and although it's not a huge amount of money in the scheme of things, it was undoubtedly ample for what I would need.
The cyberhunt (made up word ©igimages.co.uk) took me from sites such as www.priceinspector.co.uk to www.kelkoo.co.uk, www.pcworld.co.uk to www.electronicmegastore.co.uk and from www.buyacamera.co.uk to www.camerapricebuster.co.uk. In the end though, the best deal around was with www.warehouseexpress.com, especially as they had the camera I was looking for, a Sony Alpha A230, along with an 18-55mm lens and £50 cashback. This meant that I'd gone under budget by one pence and used an incredibly reputable company. Job done.
To find a great camera deal yourself, click on the graphic above.
Speaking of jobs done, Bolton managed an all-important win tonight, against local rivals, Burnley. There had never been any love lost between the two clubs; I remember hearing many a tale from Bolton fans I knew where there had been more than a kerfuffle or a brouhaha after matches they used to play way back when.
Tonight would have been no exception at the Reebok either, none more so than Owen Coyle's departure as manager of Burnley to Bolton. As if that wasn't enough, there were reports of Burnley supporters venting their anger within the stadium with admonished chants of 'Judas' before the match even started. The game was decided with just the one goal in the 35th minute by Chung-Yong Lee, 'The Blue Dragon', that rattled the underside of the crossbar, before crossing the line and bouncing straight out of the goalmouth.
The 1-0 result meant that it lifted Bolton out of the bottom three and sent Burnley into it, not the best result for the claret-and-blues and it reminds me very much of how Big Sam left us stuck knee-deep in the brown stuff a few seasons ago. What made the victory even more special was the fact that it's the first time this season that Bolton actually managed to keep a clean sheet, particularly as they were the very last club in the whole of the English Leagues to do so!
Monday 25th January 2010 12:16
A rather belated Monday blog (it's now Wednesday), I've been immensely busy this week, plus tonight's blog (once I catch up) has taken quite some time to compile... you'll see what I mean when posted.
So, I've been busy designing t-shirts, based on the humour that the troops might find funny... one particular design involves a camel, and to keep it even more authentic, I decided that I'd use the font on the Camel cigarette packet, or at least something as close to it as possible. After some hunting around, I found that the font is ironically called 'Coffin Nails' (yes, Alanis, that's what irony is). What's even better is, the font is free, and there are 30 others that are free as well, although I feel it necessary to make you aware of their font usage rules (you'll see a column on the right hand side of the page with a link).
So, what's the site? Well, it's like a bizarre mixture of all art, design, fonts and other shit, created by artist and designer Britton Walters, or Mr. Walters, as he likes to be known. Basically, it's his online portfolio, some of it professional, other areas are on a more personal level; either way, it works brilliantly. There's load of other cool stuff on there, I particularly like 'Sparky-Cam' a 'live' broadcast of a dinosaur, called Sparky.
Get that mouse clicked on the cool logo above to see the other cool shit on the website.
Sunday 24th January 2010 09:43
Stumbling upon sites out-of-the-blue is something I thoroughly enjoy doing, particularly when it's one that you'd imagine using time and time again. It's also great that I'm able to share sites such as this on my blog because otherwise I wouldn't feel as if I was spreading the word.
Before I announce the site though, I just want to say that we were actually out of the house relatively early this morning and on a refreshing walk down the Billy Track in Havant. We were constantly reminded that it was morning too, for the 'morning crew' were out in force. When I say 'morning crew', I mean the people that go out of their way and greet you with a smile and a "good morning". Call me an old softy but a smile and a "good morning" goes a long way with me; makes you feel like life's worth living.
There was an early afternoon FA Cup fourth round tie between Stoke City and Arsenal, televised on ITV1. I watched the whole match and it was incredibly engaging, especially as Stoke City won 3-1. It was the second occasion today where life certainly was worth living. I hate Arsenal with a vengeance and I'm absolutely delighted that the arrogant bastards have been knocked out. Wonderful, remarkably so.
Anyway, back to the site that I was harping on about earlier. It's owned by the OwnerIQ group and allows you to either search or upload documents, and not just any old documents, for this site is called Manuals Online.
Once you've registered, you're able to store and manage your manuals in your free online filing cabinet; alternatively, you can still search using the manual finder which allows you to select the brand from a drop down menu and also select the product type. The site holds over 30,000 user manuals from over 5,000 different brands. It also has the added advantage of having over 2 million members and a community where you're able to ask for product help and much more.
I think I've provided enough ammunition for you to go and take a look... please click on the logo above, which I happened to end up redrawing, a PDF of which can be found here.
Saturday 23rd January 2010 15:02
After a slow start to the day, we finally managed to get out and about. We went into Emsworth in the hope of finding a handful of kitchen utensils and appliances that we desperately needed and then followed that with a brisk walk around Emsworth Mill Pond.
We were in need of a decent frying pan, some digital kitchen scales and a hand-held food blender so we visited two stores in Emsworth town centre, both of which were likely to sell what we were in need of. The first, Emsworth Home Hardware, found on High Street is a brilliant shop, almost Tardis-like and stock a range of 15,000 products that range from cookware to hot water bottles and Dulux paint right through to bird tables. With over 50 years experience, this family-run business take pride in providing a modern yet traditional retail outlet, and since they're part of the Home Hardware group, they also have large stores based in Rowlands Castle, Alton and Romsey.
For more information, please click on the logo above.
Further on down the road, based on North Street, is Classy Cooks, a store which, would you believe, sells kitchen utensils, appliances, cutlery and crockery, as well as may other things you may associate with cooking. The shop is owned and ran by Mary Coburn, along with two other women who help make it friendly and relaxed from Monday to Saturday, 9am - 5pm.
Please click on the logo above to find out more.
Before we made our decision, we decided it best to see if the new Tesco in Havant was any more competitive on price. I know that this would ultimately mean knocking two store's jaws out of joint, yet as much as they want to make money, we want to save it... and sure enough, they had everything we needed, as well as being cheaper, there was a bigger choice available as well.
On a slight side-issue (albeit contradictory), I do feel that multi-million superstores are killing off local businesses, particularly greengrocers, butchers, bakers and the like, which is why I've made a point of including the links above.
Anyway, we bought two great products from Tesco, a superb frying pan and some nifty digital kitchen scales.
The frying pan, from Tesco's own 'Go Cook' range is made from hard anodised aluminium with a soft grip stainless steel handle. The 30cm pan has a Teflon classic non-stick interior and is absolutely wonderful to cook in (I tried it out tonight), however, it does weigh over a 1kg so it's not the lightest pan available.
To find out more about it, or the 'Go Cook' range, please click on the logo above.
After much deliberation, we plumped for one of the cheapest kitchen scales, an ARC electronic kitchen scale, priced at just £9.99. With a 15 year guarantee, this lithium CR2032 battery-powered scale is very compact and easy to store. It comes with an add and weigh function, allowing you to measure multiple ingredients, saving on washing up. As well as having a large LCD display, it also allows you to weigh in either metric or imperial. All-in-all, it's a great device and comes from one of the world's leading brands, Salter.
Please click on the logo above if you'd like to find out more about the scales or see what else the company has to offer.
Friday 22nd January 2010 16:37
For those of you who know me very well, you'll know how much I love food. You'll also know that I thoroughly enjoy cooking as well. No, seriously, I do. I particularly love cooking low fat and healthy eating meals... especially if there are plenty of herbs and spices in them; the more exotic, the better.
During the week, I've cooked several low fat meals, Butternut Squash Risotto, Beef Lasagne, Glazed Pork Fillet and Leek, Potato and Bacon Bake, all of which were delicious and all of which, bar the Leek, Potato and Bacon Bake, were from the Rosemary Conley website; the latter was from the BBC Good Food website.
Anyway, tonight's dish was a Chicken Tikka Masala, supposedly serving four people, which would have made for pathetically measly portions, so please bear this in mind if cooking for a dinner party. Amongst the mouthwatering ingredients were a 2cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped, 1 tsp cumin seeds, ½ tsp ground tumeric, 1 tsp garam masala... the sort of spiciness I love in food.
If you're interested in finding out some recipes for other scrumptious dishes, including a whole range of vegetarian ones, please click on the logo above - alternatively, if it's just the Chicken Tikka Masala you're interested in, click here to download the PDF of the recipe.
Thursday 21st January 2010 10:03
You often read my condemnations about spam. Staying true to my word, 99% of it is utter garbage, yet a few filter through and sometimes they can actually be informative. The baffling part of it can be the fact that you know you never ever 'subscribed' which does piss me off. Anyway, today I want to direct you to UK Net Guide.
The company is owned by Crystal Guides Ltd, with their registered office based in London. UK Net Guide is a site that provides you with quick and easy access to all the resources you need, whether you're wanting to buy a new car, finding out about a flight, looking for a new job or just trying to organise your finances.
Unlike the majority of search engines, the site is compiled by its visitors, providing independent reviews and ratings covering many sectors, thus eliminating any frustration you may find with normal search engines. With a clear layout and simple design, it has attracted a huge number of positive responses and is a testament to the service they provide.
Click on the logo above to see for yourself!
Wednesday 20th January 2010 19:45
Had the distinct displeasure of watching the second meeting between Premiership sides Bolton Wanderers and Arsenal, this time the fixture was being played at Arsenal's ground, The Emirates Stadium.
Unfortunately, the match wasn't being shown on any of the usual sports channels, however, there are a good few sites out there where you're able to watch live streams of virtually any football match, tonight's was being broadcast via Veetle.
Veetle is a venture-backed digital media company based in Silicon Valley, California. A team of the very best engineers who were former graduate students from Stanford University started the unique live broadcasting platform. It allows content owners, broadcasters and websites to reach millions of simultaneous viewers at very little cost and their Beta website is attracting millions of visitors per month.
I've avoided talking about the actual game because despite Bolton going 0-2 up within the first half hour, they lost the game by 4-2, the pivotal moment coming after a despicably gruesome challenge by Arsenal defender, William Gallas on Bolton Midfielder, Mark Davies.
Anyway, I'd rather provide a link to the Veetle website... please click on the logo above to find out more.
Tuesday 19th January 2010 21:50
A colleague of mine leant me a book entitled, 'Wit' by Des MacHale, an author of thirty humour books or more. This particular one, first published in 1997 by Prion Books, was a labour of love, a collection of quotations which he accumulated over a period of twenty years. He is a full-time Legend/associate professor of Mathematics at University College Cork in Ireland. Along with author Paul Sloane, he has also written fourteen books about lateral thinking problems.
The book includes such brilliant quotes by famous people in all walks of life and I shall include some of my favourites here.
"I inherited a painting and a violin which turned out to be a Rembrandt and a Stradivarius. Unfortunately Rembrandt made lousy violins and Stradivarius was a terrible painter." - Tommy Cooper.
"Some mornings it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps." - Emo Philips
"The secret of longevity is to keep breathing." - Sophie Tucker
"Sex is allowed in Scotland only when Rangers beat Celtic." - Ronnie Barker
"I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train." - Oscar Wilde
"I go to the theatre to be entertained. I don't want to see rape, sodomy, incest and drug addiction. I can get all of that at home." - Peter Cook
"The only time my wife and I had a simultaneous orgasm was when the judge signed the divorce papers." - Woody Allen
"I could eat alphabet soup and shit better lyrics." - Johnny Mercer
Please click on the book cover above to access the Prion Books website, part of Carlton Publishing.
I did a talk at Havant Camera Club tonight, I shall include something about that later in the week...
Monday 18th January 2010 11:55
Had a mare of a day today and, as I had suspected over the weekend, my abscess had returned, only with exacerbated pain this time.
Yesterday was depressing enough with the fact that Bolton lost to Arsenal but the pain I was experiencing as I went to bed last night was unbelievable. The inflammation caused the remaining half of the tooth to be pushed up, so the first thing I was biting down on whenever I ate, was the tooth. It was like a miserable Catch 22 situation and going to bed seemed the best option of all.
Sure enough, the pain was intense this morning, I had no option but to 'phone my dentist. It just so happened that they'd advertised for new patients in last week's newspapers so it took until after 10:00 before I actually managed to speak to someone, and that was only because I used some common sense and emailed them saying that I'd been frantically trying to get in touch.
The soonest they could book me in was 11:55 although they could not guarantee that I'd be seen right away because my appointment had be slotted in between regular patients; this wasn't helped by some inconsiderate soul arriving 15 minutes late for his appointment. Great.
I was finally seen at about 12:20 and prescribed yet another course of antibiotics to tackle the abscess which was making me look like a chipmunk stocking up for winter. I couldn't have been sat in the chair longer than a minute which seemed ironic compared with the huge wait I'd encountered just to get there.
The saga didn't end there though... I took my prescription down to the pharmacy in ASDA only to be told that the dental nurse hadn't written any information down about the strength of capsule required, nor the dosage, so she had to 'phone my dental practice, which happened to be permanently engaged due to new patients calling, and eventually, at 1:00, I was given my prescription.
A waste of a day, money and my patience all round. For the delight of my blog readers, I have included a wonderful photograph that Tanya took of the split tooth.
Sunday 17th January 2010 16:00
We enjoyed a late morning walk around Emsworth Mill Pond and couldn't believe the amount of people who were out and about. It was obviously the fact that it was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures almost reaching double figures for the first time this month. On our way back, we stopped in on Abbi and James' house to see how it's progressed over the last few weeks and it's looking superb, they've both put a lot of time and effort into slowly making it show home status.
Once home, we then sat down to watch the first of two Premiership meetings this week between Bolton Wanderers and Arsenal, today's match being played at the Reebok.
It was the start of a new era for Bolton since Gary Megson had been fired on December 30th. He made way for ex-Bolton striker, Owen Columba (yes, that's his middle name) Coyle who had chosen to leave local Premiership side, Burnley, in favour of The Trotters. Although Coyle was only at Bolton for two seasons between 1993-95, he made 54 appearances and scored 12 goals and with the likes of John McGinlay, Mixu Paatelainen and Andy Walker, Bolton's strikers were a formidable force back in the days when they played at Burnden Park.
Bolton opened the first half with vigour and came close to scoring on numerous occasions within the first ten minutes. It certainly looked like Coyle had given the home side a magic touch. Unfortunately though, Arsenal withstood all of the pressure, although with some added flair in the last third of the field, I'm sure Bolton would have capitalised on their impressive start. In the 28th minute, however, Cesc Fabregas scored a stunning decisively angled goal beyond the reach of Jussi Jaaskelainen. The score stayed at 0-1 until half time.
The second half opened with Bolton's foot on the pedal and once again they came close on three occasions, particularly some frustrating finishes by Matt Taylor, especially one in the 61st minute. Just as it looked like Bolton were to find a much deserved equaliser, Arsenal struck again in the 78th minute when Fabregas released Eduardo on the right, his shot not being dealt with by Zat Knight, only for the ball to fall to Arsenal substitute, Fran Merida, who placed a low drive into the far corner of the net. Game over at 0-2, nevertheless, Bolton certainly played with some passion and the scoreline certainly didn't reflect that.
Saturday 16th January 2010 11:30
Ever wanted to find out the answer to a question and despite the amount of 'Googling', you just cannot find what you're looking for? Well, there's a site out there that could be the answer to your problems (and hopefully your question).
With a heart of nine people, notably Tim O'Shea (Managing Director) and Chris Lee (a Co-Founder), the team at Blurtit.com now have over 400,000 visitors a day, with the figure expanding by the minute since its launch in June 2006.
Their vision is to create an online community which will allow people from all over the world to share their knowledge and ask any imaginable question. They were also adamant that it was completely free to use and the people didn't necessarily need to register. Eventually, the site would become the most comprehensive database of questions and answers in the world. In principal, this site is a great idea, yet it does attract some complete twats... ones whose English is cringeworthy and ones that ask fuckwit questions.
A few from the other day, along with my answers:
'Am I going to have a Blackberry tomorrow?' I had my response of 'Stupid question' reported for abuse.
Somebody asked, 'Why is it so cold?' I replied with, 'Because the temperature is low.'
Another asked, 'When a seed begins to grow?' (like that's a question) my answer was, 'It becomes a plant.'
Another couple of questions with my answers...
'What are the most popular rivers called in Norfolk?' I replied, 'I imagine that the Nile and the Amazon are called the same whether you're in Norfolk or not.'
And finally, my favourite answer to this one... 'What tricks can Pandas do?' I couldn't resist... 'They're pretty good at giving each other black eyes.'
I do feel as though my contributions have helped this site expand somewhat and have every intention of spreading my knowledge across the globe.
If you feel like joining me, please click on the logo above and register.
Friday 15th January 2010 11:50
From the sublime to the ridiculous... I really couldn't believe what I heard on the radio this morning about children's cartoon character, Peppa Pig. Created by British animation company, Astley Baker Davies, the series, aimed at children aged two and above, is all about a five-year-old pig named Peppa, her family and friends.
Now then, here's where the Nanny State and Political Correctness suddenly outshine any harebrained ideas that had previously been brought to the fore. Apparently a parent made a complaint that her daughter had refused to wear a seatbelt in the car because Peppa doesn't. In my opinion, that parent couldn't be any more deplorable if they tried, and I'll tell you why. For one, how on Earth did they ever allow a child to tell them what to do? Secondly, their life must be so empty to want to write a letter of complaint. There are people buried under tonnes of rubble in Haiti and all you can be bothered about is whether a cartoon character is wearing a seatbelt or not! What a sad fucking loser!
Anyway, because of her complaint, the animation company have taken it graciously and Peppa, family and friends will all be seen wearing a seatbelt in future episodes. They have also chosen to reanimate scenes from the first and second series to reflect the change. After all, we wouldn't want to see them in a fatal accident now, would we? If I was a parent, I'd be far more concerned about Peppa's head looking like a big-bollocked cock.
To find out more about the Bafta-winning series, please click on the logo above.
Thursday 14th January 2010 13:24
The government are brilliant at making the general public feel guilty about their own individual carbon footprints, yet it's so blatantly obvious that if anyone is to blame, it's the people in charge of running our country. Apologies for voicing a political rant, not usually my thing, except they choose to point the finger at relatively innocent people. In the whole scheme of things, it's time to be outspoken, especially when ridiculous amounts of energy are wasted on things that we don't have any say about. However, that's where my platitudinal spout ends, and I'll tell you why...
As part of a new governmental scheme, they're aiming to make everyone aware of the need to reduce food waste. Many of us find it all to easy to throw food away, particularly if it looks out of date, past its best or doesn't look as if it's worth doing anything with. I'm sure we're all guilty of throwing away what we would consider to be waste food, yet if we kept the potatoes that had started to 'grow' or had the patience to have one last go at getting more meat off the chicken, it would ultimately benefit us, as well as the environment, particularly by minimising landfill sites. Bizarrely enough, Britons throw away a staggering 8.3 billion tonnes of food a year, most of which could have been eaten and to think that if we all stopped throwing away perfectly good food, it would equate to taking one in every four cars off the UK's roads.
For once, this sort of scheme does make an awful lot of sense and will inevitably save you money in the long run. Please click on the logo above to find out more.
Wednesday 13th January 2010 21:13
Every now and again, something from my subconscious comes to the fore... tonight was no exception. If memory serves me correctly, I'm certain that Jonathan Ross featured the following products on his Friday Night show.
Sharing a similar macabre sense of humour, three school buddies, Adam Arber, Mike Velcro and Charlie Bradshaw started their own brand of soft toys in the Spring of 2005. It all developed after one of Adam's innocent doodles had gone horribly wrong, and so, from a dingy Shepherds Bush basement came the idea for forming their Squash-plush idea. In their misspent youths, the team often photographed roadkill and also make artworks from splatted furry animals... so Squash-plush ended up being a range of teddies, as if they'd been run over. Not to everyone's taste, yet I think it's a bloody brilliant idea (good use of a pun there - Ed).
Since those dark and dingy days, they've become a small but modest outfit, employing moles and squirrels to sort out the mundane day-to-day office work at Roadkill Toys as the company is now affectionately known as.
The range of roadkill 'victims' are 'Twitch' a five year old raccoon that met its fate with a green Ford Mondeo in 2007, 'Grind' a rabbit flattened on the A34 southbound by a Skandia Juggernaut, 'Splodge' the hedgehog who died at the age of only two after a freak accident on Silverstone Racetrack involving Jensen Button's Honda and finally 'Pop' the weasel who managed to survive an incident on the B23, just outside of Scunthorpe, with a sky-blue Robin Reliant yet sadly died shortly after. Other characters include 'Fender' the fox and 'Smudge' the squirrel.
Please click on the logo above to find out much more.
Tuesday 12th January 2010 19:45
The Ricoh Arena saw the FA Cup third round replay between Coventry City and Portsmouth. The first leg, played at Portsmouth's Fratton Park ended a 1-1 draw so tonight's match had to decide who would go through to the next round, even if this meant it going to extra time, or a dreaded penalty shoot-out.
For the majority of the first half, I don't think that Portsmouth even turned up, to be honest. Okay, I fully understand that much of the first team squad had commitments in the African Nations Cup, nevertheless, we're talking about a club struggling for Premiership survival and yet they just weren't playing with any drive.
Sure enough, it was Coventry City who took the initiative in the 22nd minute when City's goalkeeper, Kieren Westwood delivered a long kick that reached the heart of Pompey's half, and after a poor clearance Michael McIndoe passed the ball to Leon Best who scored a phenomenal volley from 20 yards out.
Despite Avram Grant's tactical substitutions that gave Pompey some much-needed attacking threat, the two fresh-legged players, John Utaka and Danny Webber, found it difficult to penetrate the home side's defence. Then, in the dying minutes of the game, Angelos Basinas crossed the ball, only for Coventry's captain, Stephen Wright, to head the ball into his own net in the 89th minute. Coventry did not deserve such bad fortune, they'd been the better side overall.
The match was hopefully going to be decided in 30 minutes of extra-time, and although Portsmouth dominated with Frederic Piquionne, Danny Webber and John Utaka all coming close to deciding the game, it certainly seemed that a penalty shoot-out was on the cards. With 120 minutes showing on the clock, Angelos Basinas crossed from the right flank, only for an unmarked Aaron Mokoena (possibly the worst player of the night) to nod a superlative header past Kieren Westwood which meant Pompey now face Sunderland in the next round.
Monday 11th January 2010 21:00
One of my favourite television programmes started again last week, although I was particularly surprised to see that it had been moved to a Monday night slot, rather than the Thursday night slot that we'd become accustomed to. The series is just as slick as ever and stars the same line-up from that of last year's series; Mickey Stone (Adrian Lester), Ash Morgan (Robert Glenister), Emma Kennedy (the delightfully gorgeous Kelly Adams), Sean Kennedy (Matt Di Angelo) and of course the brilliant Albert Stroller (Robert Vaughn).
Tonight's episode was exceptionally good, as with many of Kudos' television productions. Kudos Film and Television began in 1992 and has since grown into one of the UK's most successful and original producers of popular award-winning creations. Part of Shine Group, the company has been responsible for broadcasting brilliant series such as Spooks, Ashes to Ashes, Occupation, Law and Order: UK, The Fixer, Life on Mars and Hustle, as well as many others.
For more information, please click on the logo above... and whilst you're at it, Google 'Kelly Adams'...
Sunday 10th January 2010 12:32
Having spent the last two days out and about in the snow, we'd put today aside to just lounge around. We'd both managed to take a number of photographs, although many were almost identical but that's what happens when you are both out at the same time and see very similar things.
Other than look through the shots we'd taken during the week, we really did very little else, which in hindsight, sounds rather boring. Saying that though, I don't care, it's about time our schedule wasn't so hectic! Rather than link the images above to their relevant pages, I've chosen to link them to my recent additions page because I've actually found time to update my entire website.
Saturday 9th January 2010 10:57
It was the second day on the trot that Tanya and I had made the most of the snow that just hasn't budged since Tuesday night. We drove to Idsworth yesterday and today we decided on going to Stanstead House, both of which were a test of our driving abilities. All in all, we probably walked four miles or more today and everywhere looked magical, especially as the low sun was casting some amazing shadows. I shall sort through the best images I've taken and post them up shortly.
Earlier on in the day, we tried to eradicate the pungent smell that had started to attach itself to much of the laundry that had been through our washing machine. We'd had a representative from Hotpoint out to see if he could get to the bottom of the problem. He suggested a decent cleaner that would also remove the limescale build-up around the washing machine's drum. There are a good few different products out there that are capable of doing this, yet there only appeared to be one that cleaned, freshened and maintained and that was the Original Dr. Beckmann 'Service-It', a registered trademark of ACDOCO.
Due to advanced detergents and lower washing temperatures it has meant that the build-up of washing machine residue is more prevalent than ever before. This reduces the efficiency of washing and increases the likelihood of malfunctions. Service-It not only protects the visible parts but also cleans the areas you cannot see, such as water pipes, heating rods and filters.
To find out more about the huge range of cleaners and stain removers that Dr. Beckmann has to offer, please click on the logo above.
Once we were thoroughly knackered, we then chilled out for the rest of the day and sat down to watch a film directed by Nick Cassavetes called 'My Sister's Keeper', an emotional, yet inspiring film all about a young girl with leukemia. Based on the popular Jodi Piccoult novel, the storyline involves a sibling, conceived to be a donor for her stricken sister and, at the age of eleven, she demands the right to have control over her own body. Cameron Diaz stars as the mother with Academy Award nominee, Abigail Breslin as the 11-year old girl. Other cast members include Alec Baldwin, Jason Patric and Sofia Vassilieva.
Although this film would be undoubtedly categorised as a 'chick flick', I found it quite an enjoyable film, particularly as the emotions of each family member was fairly well acted, considering.
To visit the site of the movie, please click on the poster above.
Friday 8th January 2010 08:30
As you all know, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of application programs out there, many of which are open-source. Founded in 1998, Telestream, Inc. is a privately held provider of both software and hardware products. Based in Nevada City, California, their products focus on video capture, encoding, transcoding and network-based delivery with a team of experts also employed in France, Germany, Sweden and the UK.
One of Telestream, Inc.'s proprietary digital media tools is Flip4Mac. The trademarked name is particularly known for being the only QuickTime component for Mac OS X that supports WMV (Windows Media Video) although this isn't entirely true, there are other programs out there that offer free players yet charge for their production versions.
To download your free copy, please click on the logo above. I ended up redrawing this, please click here to view the PDF of the vector-based artwork.
During our country's 'Cold Snap', numerous television channels have been showing NASA's satellite view of Britain, which is absolutely stunning, especially as I have absolutely no recollection of it ever being totally white... the last time was 1963, four years before I came into the world. Anyway, I lay no claims to taking this image and it's purely the copyright of NASA. Click on the image above to view the full-size one.
Thursday 7th January 2010 10:00
Having had a day off from work yesterday, I decided that enough was enough and walked the mile or so down to Havant train station, in the hope that I'd be able to catch a train up to Petersfield. A colleague of mine, Michelle, had chosen to do the same thing, so I met her at the station. Many of the trains had been cancelled and even the ones that were running, were not running on time. It was more a case of pot luck really. After quite some wait, one did arrive and it wasn't long before we were at Petersfield.
The ones that had made it into work seemed somewhat surprised that we'd managed to get there and when you take into account that it is just short of 15 miles, we did rather well. It sounds odd I guess, but I actually felt proud that I'd managed the trip because the roads and pavements were still treacherous. At times, Petersfield seemed like a ghost town, there was that little traffic about and even on our journey in, we could still see the cars that were abandoned on the A3 from Tuesday night.
Obviously, one of the key factors in keeping our roads clear is the spreading of grit; without that, your journey is somewhat impeded. The largest suppliers of natural rock salt in the UK are Salt Union Ltd. Based in Winsford, Cheshire. The operators are capable of extracting 30,000 tonnes per week, producing it all year round where they build stock levels through the spring, summer and autumn, shipping up to 100,000 tonnes per week during the winter.
Winsford Rock Salt Mine, which lies almost 200m under the Cheshire countryside, is Britain's oldest working mine and although rock salt was first found in Northwich in 1670, it wasn't until 1844 when prospectors were looking for coal with which to heat saltpans, that rock salt was first discovered in Winsford.
The salt was formed here some 220 million years ago, during the Triassic geological period. At the time, the United Kingdom was still attached to Europe and central England consisted of a series of inland seas that were regularly replenished by the surrounding seas. The combination of the inland seas and a developing desert environment led to the slow evaporation of water, and over the many millions of years, resulted in the formation of the salt beds that now lie under Winsford and nearby areas.
To find out much more about Salt Union, please click on the logo above.
Wednesday 6th January 2010 07:39
Last night, it started to snow, and before long, we had a 4" covering of it. Obviously this country was on its knees because regardless of all the warnings, no-one ever seems to be capable of doing anything about it in time. Blame whoever you like, it's a fact. Having heard on the news that the A3 had been shut from Horndean right the way up to Guildford and that there were no trains running, I didn't stand a cat in hell's chance of making it to Petersfield; doubtful even in a 4x4.
I looked out of our bedroom window and not a single person had attempted to budge, so at least I didn't feel on my own. Tanya also opted to stay indoors rather than venture out in her car.
Being a through and through northerner, I've been very used to conditions like this in the past and have driven in all kinds of conditions, both in a car and on a motorbike (now that's serious fun).
No disrespect to southerners but they really don't give snow the reverence it deserves when it comes to driving. It's almost as if it's alien to them (which, I guess it is), so they drive around as if they're invincible and have the strength to overcome it. Errr no, it isn't like that, that's why so many ended up being stuck on the A3, causing an utter ruckus and manic mayhem.
Ah well, there are blizzards and all sorts predicted for the weekend that spread well into next week, so hopefully some may learn from their mistakes.
Although it was very late on in the day, Tanya and I decided to voyage out in it, by foot. It was hard-going in places, yet the majority of the journey had already been visited, which obviously meant that much of the snow had been flattened. I'd suggested Staunton Country Park as it's relatively close by, plus we'd been intrigued as to what it might look like in the snow. Whilst going through the main gates, we noticed a crowd surrounding a distraught boy who appeared to have broken his leg. Luckily an ambulance had just arrived for the temperature was dropping rapidly and there was very little daylight left.
We both managed to take a few photographs whilst out, some of which can be seen above. I may add some to my galleries soon, others will just be a record of the day, especially as snow is such a novelty down here.
Tuesday 5th January 2010 21:18
Whilst omitting a huge amount of spam since adding 'recaptcha' onto my contact and order forms, every now and again, some manages to filter through; not via the forms, via some other means, and I haven't a clue how or why.
One that seems to find its way through on a very regular basis is from an online auction company that operate in a similar way to eBay, called Alibaba.com. It appears as if the online company are totally legitimate, yet they've certainly pissed me off, especially as I've never registered with them. As a matter of interest, I've just tried to 'unsubscribe' even though I never 'subscribed' in the first place, and the link just takes you to a registration page. Flying carpet wankers.
Anyway, even though I've had a good rant, I'll still talk about them, even if it's to warn you to steer well clear. The Alibaba Group is a privately-owned Hangzhou-based family of internet-based businesses. Originally founded by Ma Yun (Jack Ma) in 1999, it operates five e-commerce sub-companies that operate different aspects of trading, such as business-to-business trade, online retail, a payment platform, business management software and regionalised classified listings. The name of the company was decided after Jack Ma was in a coffee shop in San Francisco and asked a waitress what she knew about Alibaba and when her reply was 'open sesame', he knew that that was the name to give his company.
Take a look at their website by clicking on the logo above and then decide for yourself as to whether you want to find out more!
Monday 4th January 2010 10:37
First day back and I was 30 minutes late - not intentionally, I hasten to add, more down to the fact that Tanya was frighteningly ill during the night with severe nausea and vomiting. She scared the living daylights out of me at first, claiming that the bed was moving and tilting up to the point where I thought I was amidst a scene from The Poltergeist.
In the end, I had to 'phone NHS Direct in the hope that they'd be able to shed some light on as to why she was feeling so ill. Unfortunately, the woman I spoke to wasn't a qualified nurse and she stated that because they were so busy, it could be anything up to six hours before someone called back. I decided to stay awake for two to three hours, hoping that they'd call in that time and then I'd still have enough time to catch up on some much-needed sleep. Clever plans like that always fall flat on their face and by the time someone did call back, I'd managed about two and a half hours.
Although they were unable to pinpoint exactly what Tanya had been suffering with, they were able to pass on some sound advice and suggested that another appointment with the GP would be the best solution.
Anyway, once I arrived at work, it was almost as if I'd never been away, and to be honest, I prefer it that way, it means that it doesn't give you that time to dwell on how depressing it is to be back. Luckily, we filled the majority of days with something of interest because I'm not particularly keen on sitting around wasting my life away when there's plenty out there to see and do.
Whilst at work, my colleague Chris and I started chatting about open-source projects available for download on the internet. Open Source means that anyone is able to contribute to make the product (and project) better by joining the community. He told me of one that I just cannot recall ever hearing about, OpenOffice.org. It has been in existence since October 13 2000 and was released on April 30 2002. Their community-based goal is to create the leading international office suite that will run on all major platforms, providing access to all functionality and data through open-component APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), along with an XML-based file format (Extensible Markup Language).
For more information about the project that is primarily sponsored by Sun Microsystems, along with other major contributors such as Novell, Redhat, RedFlag CH2000, IBM and Google, please click on the OpenOffice.org logo above.
Sunday 3rd January 2010 13:00
Bollocks, it was our last day of the Christmas break. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a workshy bastard or anything, I just enjoy being leisurely and doing next to fuck all, particularly when opportunities like this are few and far between during your working life.
To make the very most of it though, we were up and out early this morning because there was a nice crisp frost about and despite it being cold, it was pleasant to walk in. We headed off to the award-winning Staunton Country Park, a beautiful area with acres of ancient woodland and landscaped parkland.
As well as all of that, there is a fully restored Victorian Coach House within the grounds, once part of a Gothic Mansion and is now a nucleus of activity including cycle hire and an information point for walkers, anglers and cyclists. Other interesting aspects of the park include The Beacon, a Shell House and The Chinese Bridge. It has plenty of interest for children as well such as an ornamental farm, lots of trails including dinosaur and nursery rhyme ones.
Click on the logo above to find out much more.
Since we didn't want our day to end too quickly, we then drove to Emsworth in the hope that we could catch a late breakfast somewhere. Much to our disappointment, The Greenhouse Café was shut and just as we had given up all hope, Tanya spotted that Heidi's Patisserie was open.
Normally we end up buying loaves of bread, sandwiches or pasties to take away, yet we chose to sit down in the seating area located at the back of the shop. Better still, they were serving all day breakfasts which included two rashers of bacon, an egg, toasted granary bread, baked beans and a cooked tomato; a coffee, including a refill, was also included within the excellent price of just £5.00 per head.
Whilst there, I noticed that Heidi's logo had been given a stylish makeover (does your mind ever switch off? - Ed), using the timeless Baskerville font and parts of an ornamental font.
Although their whole website isn't up-and-running as yet, they do have a home page in place that can be found by clicking on their logo above.
Saturday 2nd January 2010 14:56
We took our Christmas Tree down today, after all, it had served its purpose and, to be brutally honest, we were pissed off with the amount of room it was taking up and how bloody awkward it was making simple things like opening the blinds in the morning. This also meant that, according to a particular rule book, the house needed a general spruce up (I thought you'd taken the tree down... make your minds up - Ed)
Anyway, once we'd completed our chores we chose to have a drive into Havant and find somewhere to eat. Trouble was, it was that late on in the day that the few places still open had little or nothing left to eat. In the end, it was a case of going to Greggs, not that that worried me, especially as they produce the best vegetable pasties that you'll ever taste; they even have sweetcorn in them, and yet I still eat them, that's how incredible they are.
Greggs plc is the UK's leading bakery retailer and specialises in sandwiches, savouries and other baker-fresh food. Originally founded by John Gregg in 1939, the Tyneside bakery opened its first shop in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne in 1951. Major expansion of the company began soon after it was taken over by his son in 1964, after John died and this included acquisitions of other bakeries in the 1970s. The company now has over 1,400 shops in the UK alone, with others being opened to test the foreign market.
Please click on the logo above to find out more.
Friday 1st January 2010 21:05
My parents would be proud of me... stayed totally sober, though not teetotal, throughout the whole festive period; this isn't the way forward for 2010, I hasten to add... I'll still make sure I enjoy my beer.
With us both feeling bright and breezy, Tanya suggested we headed off to West Wittering for a walk around East Head. The sea 'breeze' was bitingly cold, yet people were there in their hundreds... no joke. We both agreed that even weekends during the summer months can often be quieter than today. It was actually great to see, although it did prove somewhat difficult to find a spot on the car park, especially as they probably hadn't accommodated for so many people to be heading there. We spent quite some time just milling about the sand dunes and taking in the fresh air; it was a great way to start the year.
On the way back, we took a slight detour and headed up Portsdown Hill, stopping off at the burger van and buying some fantastically healthy food which we scoffed in the car whilst watching the sun set over Portsea Island.
Once home, we sat down and watched the much-awaited second part of Doctor Who and the regeneration from the tenth Doctor (David Tennant) to the eleventh (Matt Smith). He's not the most well-known of actors and, without sounding as if I'm some sort of Adonis, he's a distinctly weird looking chap. Having said all of that, I think he's a perfect replacement at a spritely age of only 27 (possibly the youngest Doctor yet?)
His heart was originally set on playing professional football, although a serious back injury completely dented all hopes of that, despite having played for the youth teams of Northampton Town, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City.
For more information about Doctor Who and to watch his spectacular entrance as the regenerated Doctor, please click on the incredibly cool new logo above...
Later on that evening, we also watched the ridiculously funny, 'Big Fat Quiz of the Year', hosted by none other than the hilariously funny stand-up comedian, Jimmy Carr. The annual British television programme is broadcast by Channel 4 during the last week of the year on Channel 4. Loosely based on a pub quiz, it's essentially a comedy panel show, comprising of three teams, two celebrities on each. The questions throughout the show bear relevance to the events of the year just gone by. The first edition was broadcast in December 2004, and there has been one at the end of each year since.
To watch this year's offering, please click on the programme's logo above.
