Slumdog Millionaire...

Is not the "feel good film of the year" or whatever it is they are claiming it to be on the posters. It is much better than that: a finely crafted fable (to quote Mark Kermode), with fantastic acting, sounds and visuals. And with subject matter including poverty, theft, prostitution, torture and murder, it is a lot darker than the tag line suggests.

It deserves all the accolades it is getting at the moment, and is miles better than 'No Country for Old Men' and 'There Will Be Blood" that somehow managed to win Oscars last year, in this humble critic's opinion...

The Incompetence of Banks...

I'm not talking about the credit crunch, but you can easily see how it happened with this level of incompetence...

So I opened a joint web saver account with Halifax as we already have a joint current account with them, but it was opened with W's maiden name instead of her married name (and I must admit to a sneaking suspicion that this was my fault) and £150 was taken from our current account to open it.

To access the account, we both had to agree the terms and conditions, but W couldn't do that as the account wasn't in her name. I tried telephoning their helpline to change W's name but they said they needed to see a marriage certificate. I already tried taking our marriage certificate to the Halifax branch, but they said W needed to be there in person for them to change it.

So I have just spent 32 minutes on the phone to their online helpline trying to close the account and get our £150 back.

But here is where it got weird. They couldn't close the account until the Terms and Conditions were approved; W couldn't agree to the terms and conditions until her name was changed. I argued what happened if we didn't agree to the T&Cs and just wanted to close the account. They said (again) to close the account, we would both have to agree the T&Cs. I said what if we got divorced tomorrow and W didn't want to agree the T&Cs on a joint account. They said we would have to go into a branch with evidence of the marital difficulties (honestly they did) and then it would be up to the discretion of the branch.

They asked a senior colleague who agreed with all that had been said. I asked to speak to him. They refused. I asked to speak to the duty manager. They put me on hold...

And I was finally put through to customer services who said they would change the name on W's account so the T&Cs could be agreed so we could access the account and close it. Now why could they have not done that 30 minutes ago!!

I was angry but trying really hard not to be, so the only retort I managed to make was 'Good. Goodbye', which is a shame really...

I really, really want to change banks now, but the hassle you have to go through...

Corporate Videos...

Fantastic corporate video here from BAE SYSTEMS in 2000 that I remember from my time with the company. Makes me proud to be an engineer, though I can't help thinking that it does glamorise military hardware a little...

Viva La Puppets...

Another fantastic video from Coldplay. Inspired and funny. Although I have to say I prefer the instrumental only version...

Mr President...

Great inauguration speech from new President Obama, full of great imagery, great phrases and (obviously) fantastically well narrated. It is genuinely exciting time even as a non-American,  as lets face it, the choice of US president affects the world...

I liked the way he described the days we live in:

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.

It just underlines the difficult times we live in, and whilst I think he will be very much more than capable in his new job, I don't envy his position. All new jobs start with a bit of nervous anticipation, but becoming US President at this point in time, well I think he'd be right to be just a little nervous...

And I liked the imagery he deployed when talking about normal people:

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the fire-fighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

I'm not generally a fan of public speeches and the like, but I have to say, I liked this one...

Browser Wars...

I've decided to forgo my allegiance with IE7. It is good and well featured, but increasingly seems to freeze and sometimes crash on my Vista installation.

I use Firefox at work, which is great especially the password manager and the Add-ons that are available. But aesthetically, I've never preferred it.

So, for the moment I've decided to move to Google Chrome. It is very fast and has good separation between browser windows (one crashes the whole lot doesn't). It also has a nice clean interface, and I like the integrated address and search bar.

The only thing it does lack is an RSS reader. I prefer a downloadable on rather than a desktop interface, so for the moment I am using FeedReader, which is similarly clean of interface and very straight forward.

Then again, when IE8 comes along, perhaps I'll have to look again...

Once...

Superb film. Great music. Perfect ending. Excellent...

What a Difference a Year Makes...

01-01-08: New Zealand

01-01-09: Home

and in between, got married, went to France, went to Thailand, started a new job... It was good.