Rock Star

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Drama

Let's rawk!

Ah, eighties poodle rock/hair metal/whatever. I will confess a liking for the louder forms of rock, but never adopted the look. This film is about an aging british rock band who take on a singer from a tribute band when their front man quits. It's a bit of a fairy tale as the young fan becomes the thing he worships. But will he be happy?

It's a bit of light fun. Marky Mark tries a different style of music and where else can you see Jennifer Aniston and Timothy Spall in the same film?

It explores the rock and roll lifestyle in all it's excessive glory. Read 'Hammer of the Gods' to learn about the real thing as done by Led Zeppelin.

Details here.

It's available to loan from my DVD library. I actually won it in an on-line competition ages ago, but just got around to it.

The Map that changed the world

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	History
Author:	Simon Winchester

A science history book about a man that most of us haven't heard of. William Smith mapped out the geology of the UK in the 19th century single-handed. This involved developing an understanding of how to date rocks, so he ended up eventing geology as we know it.

Rocks are not really the most interesting things, but this man did lead an eventful life. I'm just not sure it's as exciting as the author seems to think. He does repeat himself a bit, probably just to pad the book out a bit.

So not the best science history book I've read, but I guess it filled in some gaps in my knowledge.

Intolerable Cruelty

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Comedy

I generally love Coen brothers films, although I haven't seen them all. This one is a bit different in that it's not as quirky and the characters not as eccentric as usual. According to the making-of film they didn't originally write it to direct themselves.

It's more of an old fashioned comedy like Cary Grant used to do and quite well done. George Clooney is growing on me as a comedy actor. Catherine ZJ looks great and has some potential.

It's a fun film.

Impressions of Sweden

I'm in Stockholm for work this week. Lots of snow at the moment. Made it quite pretty at first, but it gets annoying when they don't clear all the pavements. Some are dangerously icy. They do seem to be into clearing some roofs for some reason. Maybe to prevent snow and ice falling on people.

I've not seen too much of the town really. There's a big shopping area with a few interesting looking shops. There's a huge number of H&M stores. Most are not open when I come back from work.

We've been using the tube and buses. Both are good. I bought ten journeys' worth of tickets which come in a paper strip. You get it stamped each time you travel. A bit primitive compared with other networks.

They are really into recycling. Bins for newspapers at the stations (they have Metro too). Sets of bins around the office, including compost for fruit etc. The kitchen has a movement activated light to save some power. On the other hand they seem to leave lots of TVs and monitors on at night. That seems to be a problem in offices generally. That bugs me.

There's some good food to be had here. Plenty of fish and veggie for me. Drink is a bit expensive. £3 or £4 for a beer, but I don't drink too heavily.

Most people seem to speak good english. I can make out some stuff on signs and menus based on slight similarities to German.

I'd like to come back some time and have a proper explore.

Good sailor?

Just saw this quote

'if Ellen MacArthur is so good at sailing, why does she still need the stabilisers on?'

Made me smile

Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Action & Adventure

A rollicking pirate adventure from Disney, based on a ride apparently.

Johnny Depp adopts another strange accent and camps it up, almost matched by Jeffrey Rush. Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley are there to look pretty.

It made for an enjoyable couple of hours. Not one for our kids due to the skeletal pirates, but older kids would love it.

At the end of the credits there's a short extra scene. Also, it registered on my surround system as having 6.1 Dolby Digital. At on point I thought someone was banging on the wall behind me, but I suspect it was part of the soundtrack.

Making good use of Multiply

I notice that many of my contacts are not making any use of their own pages. Here's the things you can do:

1. Share photos. You get 1GB of space, which should be enough for a few hundred pictures. As with everything here you can restrict access to selected people. e.g. pictures of the kids can be just for the family

2. Keep a journal. Write anything you want

3. Post calendar dates. To let others know what you are doing or events coming up

4. Post reviews. I use this to log books I've read and films I've see

5. Buy and sell stuff. Most sites that let you advertise stuff will charge you to do it. This one is free. As you build a network of local people this becomes more useful

6. Post recipes. I'm no cook, but others are more interested

7. Post links. If you have a great web link, then share it. del.icio.us is better, but you can always post a link to your page there

8. Network. I see this as mostly being used to keep in touch with people I already know. I have 18 contacts and many of these have linked to each other, but many jus have me as a contact. Click around other people's contact lists and see who you know. This helps you to see their updates and will give you access to their restricted content.

Have a play and give me a shout if you need help