I tawt I saw a puddy cat
I did, I did! Mega-bucks Bengal kittens. Even cuter than a bouncy tigger.
Tuesday, January 4, 2005
Sunday, January 2, 2005
Hasta la vista
The Governator, 'ole Arnie himself has supported new legislation in California which came into force yesterday which will penalise those who inflict spyware onto user's computers. Spyware and adware is at best a flaming nuisance leading to more spam and unwanted pop-up ads but can also lead to credit card fraud, identity theft etc. Many systems, even those with the likes of the excellent Spybot, harbour unwanted 'guests' in their systems with users unaware. As more 'normal' folk (i.e. not just we IT literate geeks) increasingly come onto the online community this is a growing problem for users and also for legitimate online business since it dents consumer confidence. It's a virtual equivelant of lice and syphilis and requires computer users to practise safe data transfer (use a rubber during sex and a good firewall/spybot detector when online, the virtual equivelant of a propholactic for your interface - oh, and an ointment if you still have that embarrising rash).
Hopefully more legislation will follow round the world on this growing and irritating problem. I did find it ironic though that Schwarzennegger is supporting this legislation given his famous roles in the Terminator movies, where the enemy was an invasive machine intelligence which comes of age when it infects the web in Terminator 3. So perhaps it is a case of 'fighting Spyware today so we don't need to fight Skynet tomorrow'? But maybe Spyware writers will send their software back in time before the legislation...
The Governator, 'ole Arnie himself has supported new legislation in California which came into force yesterday which will penalise those who inflict spyware onto user's computers. Spyware and adware is at best a flaming nuisance leading to more spam and unwanted pop-up ads but can also lead to credit card fraud, identity theft etc. Many systems, even those with the likes of the excellent Spybot, harbour unwanted 'guests' in their systems with users unaware. As more 'normal' folk (i.e. not just we IT literate geeks) increasingly come onto the online community this is a growing problem for users and also for legitimate online business since it dents consumer confidence. It's a virtual equivelant of lice and syphilis and requires computer users to practise safe data transfer (use a rubber during sex and a good firewall/spybot detector when online, the virtual equivelant of a propholactic for your interface - oh, and an ointment if you still have that embarrising rash).
Hopefully more legislation will follow round the world on this growing and irritating problem. I did find it ironic though that Schwarzennegger is supporting this legislation given his famous roles in the Terminator movies, where the enemy was an invasive machine intelligence which comes of age when it infects the web in Terminator 3. So perhaps it is a case of 'fighting Spyware today so we don't need to fight Skynet tomorrow'? But maybe Spyware writers will send their software back in time before the legislation...
Saturday, January 1, 2005
Curative curries
Following on from some research a year or two ago which shows a good, hot curry helps to protect against cold and flu infections an article on Boing Boing now highlights futher medical benefits of one of my favourite foodstuffs: curries protect against alzheimers!
Now considering red wine is supposedly a great antioxidant with benefits for hearts and anti-cancer qualities and chocolate also, and factoring in the minerals in good real ales and stouts I reckon I must be much healthier than I look since these and curries are all firm faves. Mmmmmm...curry...........
All this and they keep you regular too...
Following on from some research a year or two ago which shows a good, hot curry helps to protect against cold and flu infections an article on Boing Boing now highlights futher medical benefits of one of my favourite foodstuffs: curries protect against alzheimers!
Now considering red wine is supposedly a great antioxidant with benefits for hearts and anti-cancer qualities and chocolate also, and factoring in the minerals in good real ales and stouts I reckon I must be much healthier than I look since these and curries are all firm faves. Mmmmmm...curry...........
All this and they keep you regular too...
Happy New Year
We had a good time round at Gordon's place for Hogmanay and I also was lucky enough to get some rather nice birthday/late Xmas pressies. Really unusual string of mini-lamps from Mel, decorated with a flock covering making them very Victorian Gothic (just my kind of thing) and a very fine crop of classic Universal horror movies of the 30s from Gordon. We went out into the garden for the Bells (and to get away from Bruce the greyhound's smelly farting) and popped some champagne (outside so free to let the cork go wwwwooooooossssssshhhhhh into the sky then realise it is going to fall back on us... D'oh!). Bang on midnight off went the fireworks across Edinburgh. We had a pretty good wrap-around view because we could see them going off from several different sites and not just the ones from the Castle.
Weather broke today back to howling gales and rain - good day to curl up with the mogs and drink hot coffee and the ever-popular Scottish remedy for alcoholic poisoning, Irn Bru (officially blessed by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for it's healing powers). Some nice big thunder rolls and lightning too - nice of the weather gods to wait until today so the Hogmanay party in Edinburgh wasn't ruined like last year's bash (for those who don't know there is an enormous street party in Edinburgh each year for Hogmanay). Today the annual charity event called the Loonie Dook took place where mad folk (the loonies) take to the frigid waters of the Firth of Forth, which are chilly enough to freeze the balls of the proverbial brass monkey msot of the year round, let alone January. As Comrade Ken noted though, it was so wet and wild weatherwise you didn't really need to get into the river to get soaked and frozen :-)
pics via the BBC's Scottish news section (I was too busy drinking to take any)
We had a good time round at Gordon's place for Hogmanay and I also was lucky enough to get some rather nice birthday/late Xmas pressies. Really unusual string of mini-lamps from Mel, decorated with a flock covering making them very Victorian Gothic (just my kind of thing) and a very fine crop of classic Universal horror movies of the 30s from Gordon. We went out into the garden for the Bells (and to get away from Bruce the greyhound's smelly farting) and popped some champagne (outside so free to let the cork go wwwwooooooossssssshhhhhh into the sky then realise it is going to fall back on us... D'oh!). Bang on midnight off went the fireworks across Edinburgh. We had a pretty good wrap-around view because we could see them going off from several different sites and not just the ones from the Castle.
Weather broke today back to howling gales and rain - good day to curl up with the mogs and drink hot coffee and the ever-popular Scottish remedy for alcoholic poisoning, Irn Bru (officially blessed by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for it's healing powers). Some nice big thunder rolls and lightning too - nice of the weather gods to wait until today so the Hogmanay party in Edinburgh wasn't ruined like last year's bash (for those who don't know there is an enormous street party in Edinburgh each year for Hogmanay). Today the annual charity event called the Loonie Dook took place where mad folk (the loonies) take to the frigid waters of the Firth of Forth, which are chilly enough to freeze the balls of the proverbial brass monkey msot of the year round, let alone January. As Comrade Ken noted though, it was so wet and wild weatherwise you didn't really need to get into the river to get soaked and frozen :-)
pics via the BBC's Scottish news section (I was too busy drinking to take any)
Get bent
No, I'm not being rude (who, me?) but am actually making a reference to a rather good blog you should check out, Bent Fabric, written by a friend of my dear chum Lili. I especially direct your attention to the excellent series of skits the lovely Ms Fabric has of the HR department's plans for the Xmas celebrations - enjoy!
No, I'm not being rude (who, me?) but am actually making a reference to a rather good blog you should check out, Bent Fabric, written by a friend of my dear chum Lili. I especially direct your attention to the excellent series of skits the lovely Ms Fabric has of the HR department's plans for the Xmas celebrations - enjoy!
Friday, December 31, 2004
B'day
Yep, as the calendar year draws to an end so to does my personal one, Hogmanay also being my birthday. Not been the greatest year for the world or myself personally and the holiday period for me has been overshadowed by personal events which my parents, family and friends have been quite wonderful in dispelling for me. On the other hand, despite some blows I'm healthy, so are the furry girls, my family and my friends so quite frankly all other considerations are secondary to that.
Off for an afternoon birthday treat to the movies to finally see the Lemony Snicket adaptation (the books are fabulous and I commend them to adults and children alike - very Edward Gorey-esque and also with some educational content for the sprogs) then I am going to spend a Hogmanay evening with some dear friends. I hope the New Year may bring better fortunes for us all and wish you all best hopes for health, peace and love for you and yours.
gaudy decor courtesy of animatedgifs.net once more
Yep, as the calendar year draws to an end so to does my personal one, Hogmanay also being my birthday. Not been the greatest year for the world or myself personally and the holiday period for me has been overshadowed by personal events which my parents, family and friends have been quite wonderful in dispelling for me. On the other hand, despite some blows I'm healthy, so are the furry girls, my family and my friends so quite frankly all other considerations are secondary to that.
Off for an afternoon birthday treat to the movies to finally see the Lemony Snicket adaptation (the books are fabulous and I commend them to adults and children alike - very Edward Gorey-esque and also with some educational content for the sprogs) then I am going to spend a Hogmanay evening with some dear friends. I hope the New Year may bring better fortunes for us all and wish you all best hopes for health, peace and love for you and yours.
gaudy decor courtesy of animatedgifs.net once more
Monday, December 27, 2004
Films of the year
Return of the King has come top of the BBC's Film 2004 viewer's poll. Although I am glad to see Lord of the Rings taking top spot for the third year running (I've been enjoying the extended DVD myself an the gazillion hours of extras which includes a deleted scene where Sauraman and Gandalf do wizardly battle dressed as Emperor Penguins and throwing Toffee Crisps at each other) I am a little puzzled since Return of the King was released in December 2003, so technically it ain't a film of the year, is it? Or maybe they run the poll time for 12 months from a certain date rather than a calendar year? Or perhaps the Elves put a spell on the timekeepers. Actually it's a pretty good list for the top ten since it also includes the Incredibles, Hero and Lost in Translation, all of which were fab films and brightened my year up. Garden State, Hellboy, Kontroll, Skinned Deep, Switchblade Romance and Tokyo Godfathers all slotted into my film sprockets rather well in 2004 too.
Just caught the Phantom of the Opera movie last week with Mel and that won't be joining my Best Of List. Watchable enough nonsense, but the music is often very dated and visually Joel Schumacher has simply filmed the stage musical (so it does not flow, it comes in pieces, very lazy) and he has raided a large back catalogue of other movies for the look. Heavy-handed cribbing from Cocteau's classic Belle et la Bete (and Coppola's Dracula which referenced the Cocteau rather more artistically) which is one of the best movies ever made and liberal borrowing from many other movies. Plenty of borrowings (or outright steals) from the 1920s classic silent version of Phantom of the Opera with the incomparable Lon Chaney Snr (the man who would have been Dracula if not for the untimely death. If not for that Bauhaus would have been singing 'Lon Chaney's Dead' instead of Bela Lugosi). The 20s version is visually far more stunning than this paint-by-numbers hack job - the scene punting beneath the Opera is gorgeous; Chaney's make-up (he did it himself) is astonishing and the early colour photography section in the Masque Ball is ravishing (Chaney's Phantom appears as a luridly-coloured Red Death and the scene ends with him pursuing the lovers to the roof of the Opera, cloak billowing against the 20s Paris backdrop - stunning). Well, it filled a couple of hours okay and Melanie certainly enjoyed it.
On the movie front BBC4 is running a Mel Brooks night. In between shows Mel is on a link to Alan Yentob via the web. On the run up to the screening of the Producers Yentob asks him how the film was made. Well, says, Mel, there was a lot of hard work night after night, cutting those little square holes into the edges of the film... He then take a black comb and does a Hitler impression (hey, this is Mel Brooks after all - you know Hitler is going to end up in there even in a short link) and says that Hitler has been good to him. Not so good to other Jews but he's made a great living out of him for years...
I love Mel Brooks. Okay, so the last few movies may not have been that great (apparently he is trying to raise funding for Spaceballs 2 now - oh dear. Please, Mel, forget it and do History of the World Part 2 instead, I beg you - hell I'll even help you write some of it! My scripting rate are very reasonable.) but he's still Mel Brooks; if he was a city the UN would list him as a World Heritage Site. Dear old Mel is up there in my personal Comedy Pantheon along with Spike Milligan, the Pythons, Ronnie Barker, the Goodies and Bill Hicks. But now time for the Producers: all together now, "Springtime for Hitler and Germany; winter for Poland and France...". One of the funniest scenes ever in movies. And Mel has two other entries in my personal top ten of funniest movies ever: Young Frankenstein and possibly the funniest film ever made, Blazing Saddles.
Return of the King has come top of the BBC's Film 2004 viewer's poll. Although I am glad to see Lord of the Rings taking top spot for the third year running (I've been enjoying the extended DVD myself an the gazillion hours of extras which includes a deleted scene where Sauraman and Gandalf do wizardly battle dressed as Emperor Penguins and throwing Toffee Crisps at each other) I am a little puzzled since Return of the King was released in December 2003, so technically it ain't a film of the year, is it? Or maybe they run the poll time for 12 months from a certain date rather than a calendar year? Or perhaps the Elves put a spell on the timekeepers. Actually it's a pretty good list for the top ten since it also includes the Incredibles, Hero and Lost in Translation, all of which were fab films and brightened my year up. Garden State, Hellboy, Kontroll, Skinned Deep, Switchblade Romance and Tokyo Godfathers all slotted into my film sprockets rather well in 2004 too.
Just caught the Phantom of the Opera movie last week with Mel and that won't be joining my Best Of List. Watchable enough nonsense, but the music is often very dated and visually Joel Schumacher has simply filmed the stage musical (so it does not flow, it comes in pieces, very lazy) and he has raided a large back catalogue of other movies for the look. Heavy-handed cribbing from Cocteau's classic Belle et la Bete (and Coppola's Dracula which referenced the Cocteau rather more artistically) which is one of the best movies ever made and liberal borrowing from many other movies. Plenty of borrowings (or outright steals) from the 1920s classic silent version of Phantom of the Opera with the incomparable Lon Chaney Snr (the man who would have been Dracula if not for the untimely death. If not for that Bauhaus would have been singing 'Lon Chaney's Dead' instead of Bela Lugosi). The 20s version is visually far more stunning than this paint-by-numbers hack job - the scene punting beneath the Opera is gorgeous; Chaney's make-up (he did it himself) is astonishing and the early colour photography section in the Masque Ball is ravishing (Chaney's Phantom appears as a luridly-coloured Red Death and the scene ends with him pursuing the lovers to the roof of the Opera, cloak billowing against the 20s Paris backdrop - stunning). Well, it filled a couple of hours okay and Melanie certainly enjoyed it.
On the movie front BBC4 is running a Mel Brooks night. In between shows Mel is on a link to Alan Yentob via the web. On the run up to the screening of the Producers Yentob asks him how the film was made. Well, says, Mel, there was a lot of hard work night after night, cutting those little square holes into the edges of the film... He then take a black comb and does a Hitler impression (hey, this is Mel Brooks after all - you know Hitler is going to end up in there even in a short link) and says that Hitler has been good to him. Not so good to other Jews but he's made a great living out of him for years...
I love Mel Brooks. Okay, so the last few movies may not have been that great (apparently he is trying to raise funding for Spaceballs 2 now - oh dear. Please, Mel, forget it and do History of the World Part 2 instead, I beg you - hell I'll even help you write some of it! My scripting rate are very reasonable.) but he's still Mel Brooks; if he was a city the UN would list him as a World Heritage Site. Dear old Mel is up there in my personal Comedy Pantheon along with Spike Milligan, the Pythons, Ronnie Barker, the Goodies and Bill Hicks. But now time for the Producers: all together now, "Springtime for Hitler and Germany; winter for Poland and France...". One of the funniest scenes ever in movies. And Mel has two other entries in my personal top ten of funniest movies ever: Young Frankenstein and possibly the funniest film ever made, Blazing Saddles.
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