Brussels and Beer

The thing about your continentals, is that a) they brew beers stronger than your normal UK cooking beer and b) they don't kick you out a resonable time like they do over here. That is why I felt ridiculously hung over the day after a trip to Delirium. It really was a tough day.

However, I managed to pull myself together in time for a saturday out around town where we were kicked out of one bar at 3.00am, only to find another one next door open until 4.00am, and then another next door again that opened until 7.00am. Me, I ran away at 5.00am, but full marks to Jonathon and Simon for making it all the way till closing time. Aparanently it is only an atypical weekend in Brussels...!

It's fantastic: just excellent 10 minute snippets of top entertainment...

Sunshine

The new Danny Boyle film Sunshine is fantastic. The crew of the spaceship Icarus II head towards the sun with a bomb the size of Manhattan Island to try and kickstart the dying star.

You can guess that this film could be labelled as science fiction, and frankly it is (due to science not yet being able to take us to the sun). However, the label science fiction immediately gets some people's backs up and they immediately decide they don't/ won't like the film which I think is a shame, and which I believe misses the point.

Like many other films in this so called genre, this is an intelligent film with very rounded and believable characters faced with decisions with enormous consequences. It is about people under stress and how they react to situations and each other. It just happens to be set in space.

There are many appalling science fiction films: Lost in Space and Stargate to name two, but I think it is wrong to dismiss a whole body of films due to being set in space, and thus being complete fiction.

Really is a fantastic film though...

Reinstalling Windows...

After 3 years, my Windows XP installation started running so slow that it would take nearly 5 minutes for the PC to come out of hibernation. This only occurred after I installed (and then removed) Windows Desktop Search, so there could be a link but I couldn't find it.

So the only solution was to reinstall Windows. Not a technically difficult job, but boy does it take time, mainly due to all the necessary stuff you need to put on afterwards. So here is a quick list of what to do:

• Reinstall Windows (also making a separate partition for data if not already done so: means that after any future installations, you don't need to copy across everything in 'My Documents'.
• Reinstall SP1 and SP2 and any necessary updates from Windows Update.
• Install IE7 (much better than IE6), although I had to reinstall Windows twice to get this to work.
• Move the IE7 menu bar to the top where it rightfully belongs: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\WebBrowser] "ITBar7Position"=dword:00000001
• Move the default Favourites setting to point to your favourites handily stored in My Documents (helps back them up and keeps all data in the one place) by updating the value in: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders]"Favorites"=REG_EXPAND_SZ:"D:\My Documents"
• Add the fantastic Inline Search to IE7 from IE Forge.
• Add the excellent Task Switch manager from NTWind.
• Set up IIS for your local website development.
• Download and install Php.
• Download ActiveState Perl.
• Download Filezilla (for all your FTP needs).
• Download Microsoft ActiveSync for your Windows phone.
• Download the very nice Desktop Earth backdrop.
• Download Digiguide, so you know what is on the TV.
• Download Password Safe, for all those less secure passwords we all need to keep track of.
• Download ConTEXT programmer's editor, as it hanldes C/C++, Tcl/Tk, Perl and lots else although at the moment I am trying Programmer's Notepad.
• Add the very useful Microsoft Photo Info.

And that is more or less it, although I'm sure there will be more stuff that you vaguely remember having on your old machine, and only remember when you really really need it... Still, it's nice to have a brand new clean installation running at top (or probably just relatively high) speeds...

Later additions to the list...

• Download the excellent Firebug for script debugging in Firefox.
• And this very good Html Validator.
• And CutePDF for writing pdf files for free.
• And don't forgot to make sure Command Prompt auto completion is turned on.

Put it Away...

I'm talking cameras: I know I am quite bad for always wanting to photograph stuff when on holiday, but I'd like to think I know when to put the camera down and just use my eyes.

But when in Paris we went to the excellent Musée d'Orsay, which is a beautiful building jam packed with fantastic paintings by Picasso, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, Van Gough and Toulouse-Lautrec amongst others. And I couldn't believe the number of people who their time taking second rate photos of these beautiful paintings with their digital cameras. They did get in the way of other people trying to look at the paintings although I admit to enjoying getting in the way of their photos...

If you like the paintings, get a print or a postcard, and enjoy the originals while you can!

The Prayer

Am particularly liking the new Bloc Party album at the moment, especially some of the lyrics. Like in The Prayer:

"Lord, give me grace

And dancing feet..."

A fantastic sentiment!

Dr Who and Technology

This article is great:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2006031,00.html

the best quote being:

"PCs are the ramshackle computers of the people. You can build your own from scratch, then customise it into oblivion. Sometimes you have to slap it to make it work properly, just like the Tardis (Doctor Who, incidentally, would definitely use a PC)..."

Me, I've never really used a Mac outside of Apple shops where they are at their most shiny and so I have no real opinions about them (other than they look very nice). But great to a read a passionate, reasoned argument...

Back...

Well I thought I should get round to posting again, it being a while since I have posted anything. But what to write about... there's been holidays, kayaking, films, beer, gigs, tech stuff, wine, job hunting: it goes on.

So this will do to start off with, and will think of something more worthwhile to write about next time...

Videos..

Who needs them: we all watch DVDs these days... So I am sorting out all my possessions, trying to pare them down so they will fit in W's none too large house, and I decide to get rid of them all, welcome to the 00's and all that.

And then I look at the titles and work out which ones I'll have to get again on DVD: Grosse Pointe Blank and A Life Less Ordinary are the stand out ones (what does that say about my film tastes!)... but then Shooting the Past is superb and was bought for me by N&D. The Last of the Mohicans I thought was excellent, and the Big Lebowski... The Dude Abides!!!

Romeo+Juliet is amazing; Leon is one of those films you don't think much of until you watch it again; True Romance fantastic; Restless Natives... sheesh I bought that second hand, but takes me back to my Big Country fan days...!

It either going to be difficult to get rid of these films, or expensive replacing them in DVDs...!

p.s. not sure how this film choice reflects on my chances of ever replacing Mark Kermode, but I've seen the greats and critically acclaimed, and it is quirky, different and basically fun films that catch the attention every time...

Risk, Confidence and White Water...

The Alps were fantastic: six rivers in three days culminating in the Gyr, a full on grade IV/ IV+ paddle of 3km which we completed in 20 minutes with only about three breakouts!

However, I was nervous on some of the rivers (and I think overly so) and it took me a while to get into things. And on reflection, I don't think I'm too good at assessing risks and balancing these against what I am capable of paddling.

On the surface, it would seem that being cautious is the best way of avoiding trouble. But kayaking on fast moving water it is also important to paddle agressively and confidently. It was hesitation on the Upper Clarée (because I wasn't in the right frame of mind) that resulted in me dislocating my arm after a moments hesitation over which side of the rock to go...

The Upper Véneon was very fast and I didn't paddle as well as I should have done. I decided to walk round a drop just before Jon swam on the lead in to it. Given his swim, perhaps it was the right decision, but I ended up being the only one on the water below the drop when I had to ferry glide across to help Jon get his paddles back. I was nervous and very uncomfortable about this, and as a result I missed a couple of break-outs and didn't make the ferry glide as I should have done.

On previous trips, the Gyr had always been a big boys river and as we had paddled well in the morning, it seemed the obvious step up to push ourselves.

And before getting on the river I was again very nervous. To counteract this, while Rob and Jim did the shuttle, I spent the time putting myself in a positive frame of mind, remembering my capabilities and other rivers I had paddled (and thinking about W). As a result, I was grinning before we got to the full on stretch, and I enjoyed the river immensely!!

The point is that is important to assess the risks correctly: if you decide to walk, fair play and walk. But if you decide to paddle, make sure you are in the right frame of mind first. You will enjoy it more, and at this level, it may hurt otherwise...!