Cinema: February 2008 Archives
Last night's Oscars led to the usual mixed bunch of wins.
Ratatouille won. (The acceptance speech is amusing.)
Atonement won, but didn't sweep the boards.
Marion Cotillard won - yet another reason for me to actually watch that film!
Of course the biggest award for anyone here in Ireland was that picked up by Once
I posted a couple of the acceptance speeches over on FilmReviews.ie
Ratatouille won. (The acceptance speech is amusing.)
Atonement won, but didn't sweep the boards.
Marion Cotillard won - yet another reason for me to actually watch that film!
Of course the biggest award for anyone here in Ireland was that picked up by Once
I posted a couple of the acceptance speeches over on FilmReviews.ie
Adrian Weckler's column this week doesn't mention facebook, but he does cover EULAs and the demise of HD DVDs. (I can't seem to find either article on the SBPost site)
Argos has opened in Carlow, so I'm going to see how bad the traffic is shortly. Hopefully the bypass will help take some of the traffic away from the town, as the commercial centres must be suffering. I'm currently in the market for DVD storage solutions and a new TV stand, so I'll be heading to a few of the shops around the town this afternoon to see what's available and at what price.
AJ has an interesting post about security. His focus is on what the search engines are indexing and highlights some common mistakes.
Tonight is the Oscars. I'd love to stay up and watch them live, but I've got to be awake for work in the morning! The Academy is offering some really cool posters again this year including one celebrating 80 years of best picture. It won't be shipping until after the ceremony (obviously)
While working on one of my quieter blogs I realised that Google Analytics wasn't installed BUT the Google Analytics web interface happily told me that it was. Moral of the story - don't trust them!
I'd love to be able to report some of the odd sales and support queries we get, but this week we've had one that I can mention:
- caller number 1 who wins the prize for odd sales query of the month wanted to know if we ran an escort service
- caller number 2 wanted to apply for a technical role and asked what a PDF was. And no - their native language was English!
Argos has opened in Carlow, so I'm going to see how bad the traffic is shortly. Hopefully the bypass will help take some of the traffic away from the town, as the commercial centres must be suffering. I'm currently in the market for DVD storage solutions and a new TV stand, so I'll be heading to a few of the shops around the town this afternoon to see what's available and at what price.
AJ has an interesting post about security. His focus is on what the search engines are indexing and highlights some common mistakes.
Tonight is the Oscars. I'd love to stay up and watch them live, but I've got to be awake for work in the morning! The Academy is offering some really cool posters again this year including one celebrating 80 years of best picture. It won't be shipping until after the ceremony (obviously)
While working on one of my quieter blogs I realised that Google Analytics wasn't installed BUT the Google Analytics web interface happily told me that it was. Moral of the story - don't trust them!
I'd love to be able to report some of the odd sales and support queries we get, but this week we've had one that I can mention:
- caller number 1 who wins the prize for odd sales query of the month wanted to know if we ran an escort service
- caller number 2 wanted to apply for a technical role and asked what a PDF was. And no - their native language was English!
It seems that even Hollywood's biggest events are trying to embrace environmentally friendly practices.
This year's Oscar ceremony will have a green "flavor" (sic):
This year's Oscar ceremony will have a green "flavor" (sic):
More information on the official site
-With support from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, 100% of the energy used for the telecast, the red-carpet arrivals show and the Governors Ball will be supplied by renewable wind power.
-All of the generators used for the production, for press support and the red carpet arrivals area are powered by a fuel mix that includes biodiesel.
-The majority of vehicles made available by General Motors for use by production staff and presenters are zero-emission hydrogen-powered cars and hybrids.
-Nearly all food service ware for all events associated with the Awards Presentation is either reusable or biodegradable/compostable.
-The programs, invitations, RSVP cards, envelopes, parking passes and other printed materials include a minimum of 30% postconsumer recycled content.
While I still haven't settled on a multi-region Blu Ray player I did pickup a HD DVD player in the last couple of weeks.
Some people may say I'm insane, but they probably do that already anyway!
To be perfectly honest the only reason I got the HD DVD player was because the price was right. At just over 100 euro it would have been silly to pass it up!
The player I got was a Toshiba HD-E1, which seems to have had reasonably good reviews.
I'm still exploring the possibility of getting an "unlocked" Blu Ray player, but I'm not quite ready to hand over that much cash just yet. Of course I may wake up tomorrow morning and do it anyway, but that's part of the fun! Spontaneous and totally unplanned purchases may make me feel bad when I get my credit card bill, but they're great fun until then!
The other thing I need to sort out is a TV stand.
The one that currently graces my sitting room is simply too small. I won't be able to fit the HD DVD player in it when I take it home (it's currently sitting beside my desk in the office, as I still haven't received any HD DVDs from Amazon)
So I'm currently looking for a TV stand that can hold:
Of course there is a simply huge selection on offer over on eBay.. I just don't know how to narrow it down!
Some people may say I'm insane, but they probably do that already anyway!
To be perfectly honest the only reason I got the HD DVD player was because the price was right. At just over 100 euro it would have been silly to pass it up!
The player I got was a Toshiba HD-E1, which seems to have had reasonably good reviews.
I'm still exploring the possibility of getting an "unlocked" Blu Ray player, but I'm not quite ready to hand over that much cash just yet. Of course I may wake up tomorrow morning and do it anyway, but that's part of the fun! Spontaneous and totally unplanned purchases may make me feel bad when I get my credit card bill, but they're great fun until then!
The other thing I need to sort out is a TV stand.
The one that currently graces my sitting room is simply too small. I won't be able to fit the HD DVD player in it when I take it home (it's currently sitting beside my desk in the office, as I still haven't received any HD DVDs from Amazon)
So I'm currently looking for a TV stand that can hold:
- TV (obviously!)
- Sky Box
- Surround sound / DVD player
- HD DVD player
- Space for at least one more device
- Really ugly
- Overpriced
- Combination of both
Of course there is a simply huge selection on offer over on eBay.. I just don't know how to narrow it down!
I am not happy.
Over the last two months I have spent a disproportionate amount of money on Ebay. I should be ashamed, but since that isn't likely to happen I shall condemn eBay.
Ebay - you are evil!
Why do you tempt me with cool and fun ways to spend money?
Why do you let me buy high quality goods at a fraction of their high street value?
According to my eBay control panel I've spent about EUR3000 in the last 60 days!!
What have I been buying?
1 x iMac desktop computer.
Lens for my digital SLR
Bluetooth headset for my mobile phone
Carrier bag holder (thing you hang on your kitchen door for holding plastic bags - couldn't find one in the shops...)
Batmobile - Corgi diecast models
Firewalls - well I do run a hosting company!
Over the last two months I have spent a disproportionate amount of money on Ebay. I should be ashamed, but since that isn't likely to happen I shall condemn eBay.
Ebay - you are evil!
Why do you tempt me with cool and fun ways to spend money?
Why do you let me buy high quality goods at a fraction of their high street value?
According to my eBay control panel I've spent about EUR3000 in the last 60 days!!
What have I been buying?
1 x iMac desktop computer.
Lens for my digital SLR
Bluetooth headset for my mobile phone
Carrier bag holder (thing you hang on your kitchen door for holding plastic bags - couldn't find one in the shops...)
Batmobile - Corgi diecast models
Firewalls - well I do run a hosting company!
I was down in Cork over the weekend, as my family hadn't seen me since Christmas.
As it was my birthday the previous weekend they'd a couple of little things for me - never a bad thing!
My sister, who is about ten years younger than me, seems to have an uncanny knack at finding me really cool presents. She got me a gorgeous Lord of the Rings mug from the souvenir shop at the London stage show. She knows I'm a bit of Tolkien fan (still jealous that my mother's seen the show about 3 times!) and that I like to collect mugs (even if it's not intentional)
Very cool!
As it was my birthday the previous weekend they'd a couple of little things for me - never a bad thing!
My sister, who is about ten years younger than me, seems to have an uncanny knack at finding me really cool presents. She got me a gorgeous Lord of the Rings mug from the souvenir shop at the London stage show. She knows I'm a bit of Tolkien fan (still jealous that my mother's seen the show about 3 times!) and that I like to collect mugs (even if it's not intentional)
Very cool!
