Sad day

It's been a foregone conclusion since what... about September if I'm honest but it still makes me sick to the stomach to see the deviants win the title. When will this nightmare end? The only thing that'll cheer me up right now is gazing at my archived copy of the Times from Monday 23rd May 2005 with that great photo of Craig Bellamy greeting into the turf. The only way is up from here surely.

Category:

• Sport
• Football

Move It!

I got an e-mail from my savings account provider yesterday. No, not a scam email from our friends in Africa or Russia, a real honest to goodness email from a bank telling me they were about to commit daylight robbery upon my savings.

Get this, they're cutting the interest rate on their top savings account. Now, unless you've been living under a rock for the past week you'll know that inflation in the UK took a huge jump and consequently a interest rate rise is a certainty next month to at least 5.5% and tipped to hit 6% by the end of the year. Despite this they've decided to cut the rate! B*stards, they probably think we'll forget this cut so they can announce a rise after the Bank of England raises rates next month. Or maybe they won't even raise it again relying on the public's inertia. Hmmm... to say I was pissed off is to put it mildly.

So, come Monday morning I'll be shifting my savings to a different provider with a higher interest rate who also guarantees to be at least over the base rate by 0.25% until 2009. Naturally, I'll keep my existing account open with a glorious £1 just to get my own back on the scum as it'll cost them the same to manage £1 as £100,000 (not that I've got that much mind). Losing my custom will hardly shake the foundations of the company but if enough of their customers bite back and march away then maybe they'll be a bit more inclined to stay competitive. Thanks to web based accounts, shifting money from one account to an other is a breeze. Take a few minutes and check how your existing rate compares with the market leaders, and then move your cash!

B*stards!

Category:

• Money
• Personal

Wii Genius

So, we've had the Wii for 3 weeks or so now so a little post about my impressions of Nintendo's latest console is required. One word, fantastic.

Every weekend we've had a house full of friends and family round to play some serious Wii sports. At the latest count there are 15 Mii's ranging from a nine year old with a broken wrist to Lesley's Mum in her sixties. Within a couple of minutes every single one of them has been happily playing Tennis, Golf, Baseball, 10 Pin Bowling, Cow Racing, Table Tennis, Laser Hockey...

The controller is sheer genius in Wii Sports, and therein lies the main problem. I've no need or desire to buy any other games other than Wii Sports (which is basically just a tech demo, albeit the best tech demo ever). Hopefully in the future game development will catch up but the need to focus on the untapped market of, not even, casual gamers but people who would never think of playing a game is where the money is to be made. Simple games and graphics with short play times suitable for all the family from kids to the grand-parents is where the Wii's future lies. The sooner game devs realise this and stop porting crap games from other consoles the better.

As part of the bundle I got Wii Play with an extra controller along with some Sonic game and Zelda. Both Sonic and Zelda will be disposed of on eBay, they just will not be played. The Wii is for social gaming with real people and is quite fantastic. I fear the carpet is going to wear out in a matter of weeks judging by the look of it.

The fitness aspect of the Wii should also not be underestimated. A quick 10 minutes of two player tennis and me and Lesley are throwing ourselves around the room to get those tricky returns of serve. But for the ultimate workout a frenetic 3 round boxing match is hard to beat. I've seen grown men crumple in a heap after 30 seconds of boxing.

Is the Wii a fad? Maybe, but I'll still be playing Wii Sports next year, and if Nintendo can come up with some similarly addictive gameplay in a new game, you'll be too.

Category:

• Nintendo
• Wii

Five Star Film

I'm still renting all my DVDs from Tesco to feed the Home Cinema. Haven't counted how many DVDs I have now but as I'm on the 3 discs at a time tariff I must have over 400 or so all safely ripped and burned :-) Anyway, I thought I'd write a quick review of a very good film I watched yesterday courtesy of the service.

I've been a fan of French Cinema for a long time now and I've rented a fair view in the past 18 months. There's something about French Cinema that Hollywood can only dream of reproducing. The style, the writing, the acting the backdrops when they get it right the results are generally fantastic, enter 36 (Quai des Orfevres)Starring French acting royalty in Gerard Depardieu and Daniel Auteuil as competing Police Officers in Paris' equivalent of Scotland Yard this film gripped me from start to end. I always watch foreign films in the original language with English sub-titles which can be irritating for some but I refuse to insult my ears with overdubbed dialogue.

In the underbelly of the Parisian criminal world, the Police are frustrated by a gang committing a series of violent robberies. Leo Vrinks and Denis Klein are two cops seeking promotion and the imminent departure of the Chief sets the scene for them to compete for the vacant throne. Their competition between them becomes increasingly ruthless and blurs the usual lines of morality until there seems no difference between the police and the criminals they chase. Vrinks, meeting with a source, becomes involved with a murder. Klein seizes the opportunity to up the ante and arranges for the arrest of Vrinks but when he goes further and viciously involves Vrinks' wife, Camille, revenge is inevitable.

As the casting would suggest this is a high class thriller. Lots of smoking moody hard men, sexy women (are all French actresses gorgeous?) superb performances, genuine edge of your seat moments and all underlined with that certain French style. I'll be watching the film again, soon, a sure sign that it's possibly entered my Top 10. Anyway it's five stars from me.

Imagine my dismay when I read that Hollywood is remaking the film with Robert DeNiro and George Clooney *sigh* it'll not be patch on this original (though 36 has been described as a French version of Heat). I still shudder at the excellent original version of Taxi sullied by the crap remake from Hollywood (Queen Latifah WTF?). Leave good films alone, you'll not make them any better.

Category:

• Film
• DVD

Green Fingers

In preparation for the end of civilisation I've decided to start growing some vegetables. This isn't so much a reaction to "Green Issues" but more to do with taste and satisfaction, though honing my vegetable growing skills will come in handy when supermarkets are a distant memory.

When I was a lad we lived in a big house in the country with a massive vegetable garden. My Dad spent all his weekends mowing the vast lawns and tending to the vegetables. He grew everything from Potatoes, Carrots, Peas, Beans, Salad stuff, Raspberries, Strawberries, Gooseberries etc. You haven't really tasted fruit and veg until you've picked your own straight from the garden. Raw peas, shelled from the pod, yum yum.

So I've started with some easy to grow herbs which I can start off inside as it's still too risky with frosts and the like to be sowing seed in NE Scotland. Some Coriander, Basil and Rocket just to get going. These were planted last Friday week and the Rocket had sprouted by that Monday afternoon, nice.

Once the threat of frost has passed I'll plant some Lettuce, Carrots and Spring Onions in pots and place them on the patio. I'll take regular photos and place them on Flickr to show progress.

Category:

• Garden
• Vegetables
• Food