Birthday meme

OK. I’m not sure of the point of this, but anyway: Look up your birthday in Wikipedia. Pick 4 events, 3 births, 2 deaths, and 1 holiday. May 15th Events 1718 – James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world’s first machine gun. 1756 – The Seven Years’ War begins when England declares war on France. 1940 – World War II: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years …

How I fixed my iPod nano

Please note: this fix requires doing things to your iPod that you wouldn’t normally do. Even though I’m certain they’re safe, I can’t be held responsible if you knacker it following these instructions! How frustrating. After almost a year’s loyal service, I went to charge up my 3G iPod nano before a trip, only to find it wasn’t working. It would turn on, but after about 5 seconds of showing the menu, it would reset itself. Over and over again. …

Fillum review: Batman Forever (1995)

No, I haven’t seen The Dark Knight yet. But this’ll do, yes? Sort of. Unlike the first two 1990s Batman films, which were a bit dark and "grown-up", Batman Forever doesn’t pretend to be much more than a film based on the 60s series. It’s a comedy. The baddies, The Riddler and Two-Face, are maniacal in the same way the baddies in 60s Batman were. It’s all bright colours and puns and silliness. The plot doesn’t make much sense. There …

Writing a speech

My baby brother is getting married next weekend. Again. He actually got married a couple of months ago, eloping to Canada with his then-bride-to-be, but he’s having a wedding blessing with vow renewal ceremony in this country on Saturday. I thought they only renewed wedding vows in Neighbours, but it would appear I was mistaken! Anyway, I’ve been asked to be his Best Man. After all, I am a Man, and I am Best, so it makes sense. It’s not …

What are they planning?

I came home yesterday to find the council marking the pavement behind my Allocated Parking Space(TM) with yellow paint. They’d done the same down the street. What are they up to? On a related note, why are half the roads in Norwich currently, and somewhat suddenly, being resurfaced?

Fillum review: The Fly (1986)

Jeff Goldblum only seems to fit a role if he’s playing a slightly strange scientist. In The Fly, he’s a physicist who develops a teleportation device. Having met a journalist who initially wants a story, but eventually falls in love with him, he manages to work out how to successfully transport living matter. Without turning it inside-out like the baboon it didn’t work on… He later gets drunk having jumped to conclusions about his new girlfriend’s relationship with her boss, …

More “netbooks” on the way

Lenovo, them folks what make the ThinkPads these days, are about to release their own machine into the EeePC/Aspire One/MSI Wind/HP Compaq 2133 region of the mini laptop markets. The IdeaPad S9 and S10 have slightly higher specs than the Wind, but with similar price tags. All these netbooks can only be a good thing for the prices of the things, yes? Lenovo heralds netbook PC duo | The Register

Baby progress update

Today we went for the 20 week (well, 20 weeks and two days) scan at the hospital. Thankfully, everything was fine, even though we appear to have a wriggler – it wouldn’t stay still to let the nurse get a proper look! It also kept putting its hands over its face, which, although cute, didn’t really help. We did manage to get a great picture when it finally calmed down though. I suspect it’s the ice lolly (onna stick – …

Fillum review: WarGames (1983)

OMG! Matthew Broderick looks about 7 years old! The plot: boy “accidently” kicks off World War 3 by hacking into a military defence computer, thinking it’s part of a video game company, and playing “Global Thermonuclear War”. He’s arrested, escapes, finds a guy who was legally dead (who wrote the “games” on the computer), and obviously, saves the day. I don’t even know where to begin with regards to the nonsensical way computers are portrayed. But then, every film involving …