Taken, Hancock and Amp

Films watched:
Taken

Don’t mess with the Neeson! Enjoyable enough action flick, even if the protagonist is a single minded, uncaring bastard.

6.5/10

Hancock

Doesn’t live up to initial premise, but all the same a fun throw-away movie with some real good moments.

7/10

A couple of weeks ago now I purchases a Yamaha amplifier and also a Jama 5.1 speaker setup. The reason for this being that since I have been using my PS3 both as my blu-ray player and also my primary DVD player, I have been using my TV solely for the sound. Now granted, a large proportion of the films I watch are late at night, and as such I tend to wear (very good quality) headphones, but still when I do watch films during the day, the lack of decent surround sound has been noticeable.

Previously I had a DVD/amplifier combo, but this was getting very old in the tooth and also it lacked any optical hdmi inputs and as such I could not hook up my PS3. So really this needed replacing. I had toyed with getting an Onkyo unit, but in the end I decided upon the Yamaha DSP-AX763, which I managed to get at a reduced price (as new models are due out soon).

Overall I’m very impressed, it supports hdmi v1.3, Dolby True HD, DTS-HD amongst others. Comparing regular 5.1 to either Dolby True HD or DTS-HD does really reveal a crisper, cleaner sound. I can even go up to 7.1 should I wish in the future. One of the main reasons that I went for the Yamaha over the Onkyo is that the Yamaha also features a Silent Cinema mode, which recreates the 5.1 experience even using headphones.

The only downside is that the amp plays havoc with the brightness and contrast setting and I have had to re-tweak everything. That and the fact that I’ve had numerous sound settings on the amp to tweak and the PS3 to set up all over again. Anyway, I’ve spent the last few weeks tweaking everything until I’m reasonably satisfied.

Anyway, here is a picture of the model:

As can be seen, it has more than enough inputs (although a couple of extra hdmi would have been nice).

Lara, Kong and face

Films watched:
Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

Surprisingly entertaining game adaptation sequel. No Indy, but still fun. Angeliana Jolie in a wet suit helps.

6.5/10

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

Probably the most entertaining documentary I have ever seen. Equally hilarious, tense and above all fun.

8/10

I’m also, I have to say, getting pretty fed up with my face. I seem to alternate between earache, throbbing teeth, a stiff jaw, pain in my cheek or a combination of these. It is, however, pretty constant in one form or another and after a while that can get pretty wearing. Most of the time it isn’t too painful (although there have been occasions when it has become very painful), but all the same it’s always in the background and as such nearly always on my mind. The additional medication doesn’t seem to be making much more of a difference yet and I also haven’t received confirmation of my specialist’s appointment.

I shouldn’t grumble, but then again what are blogs for apart from the occasional grumble and to get things off your chest.

Happy pills and boiler

Well, I went to the doctor again today as my face continues to give me pain and discomfort, also in addition I have been rather depressed of late, as well as grumpy. I have also been trying to mask the facial pain lately with either parecematmol or Southern Comfort – which isn’t an ideal situation.

Anyway, the doctor has upped my current prescription to help with the pain and also prescribed me with happy pills (anti-depressants). Here’s hoping that these help with the pain and my general demeanour.

Also, our boiler broke down yesterday – which is annoying, especially in light of the fact that it was only serviced a few weeks back. Thankfully we can always pop downstairs to my parents flat if needed, but still the lack of hot water is annoying.

I’m hoping that this is the third breakage (as these things happing in threes), after my DS and PS3

BTW – have a new PS3 now…

Tentacle All Stars!

WOW!

These are by far the most awesome pair of custom All-Star trainers I have ever seen! A one of the kind, which can be found on Ebay starting at 250 Euros... AND THEY ARE MY SIZE!

Darn - If only I had the money. Then again, I doubt I'd ever wear them even if I owned them!

BTW... For the record, The Day of the Tentacle is by far the best Lucasarts adventure game (which were all generally excellent). Ah... For the good old days when Lucasarts made consistantly great games and not utter s**t.

Clone Wars, Instinct 2 & DSi keyboard ?!?

Films watched:

Star Wars : The Clone Wars



Irritating nick names and zero plot aside, this was really, pretty, meh! Elliot enjoyed it!

5/10


Basic Instinct 2





The first film was really bad. This was really, REALY bad (and not in a funny way - as I'd hoped)


2/10

Okay, top marks must go to Dover, from Monday Night Crew who found and unique way to utilise the DSi photo channel to compose piano tunes! What an absolute find! Also, great choice for test tunes :)

PS3 update

So, no luck, PS3 still not working, i.e. it does the following:



(Not my PS3 btw - just someone with a similiar issue)

I think that this is also called the yellow light of death in some circles, but there you go.

Anyway, contacted Sony, but all that they could do since the warranty is out of date is replace my PS3 with a refurbished PS3 for £145.00. Since I didn't fancy what would be in effect be a second hand repaired model for this price, I have decided to get a new model.

Unfortunately PS3's are completely sold out in Guernsey at the moment, so I have order from Amazon and will hopefully get next week some time.

It means that I have now lost all my save game data, but thankfully I wasn't really in the middle of anything to drastic (thank goodness I completed Fallout 3 a few weeks ago).

Flashing Red Light of Death (FRLOD)

So, this afternoon I was happy watching Dark City on Blu-ray whilst Elliot was out to a party when my Ps3 mysteriously turned itself off without any warning.

When I tried to turn it on… I just got a flashing red light.

I phoned up Sony and my worst concerns were realised. My PS3 is buggered. It would seem that this flashing red light is similar to the 360 RROD, but less publicised (i.e. likely less common). Either way, no PS3 for me at the moment :(

Sick me and Red Dwarf

Not been feeling too good of late.

This is partly down to a cold which has then become a persistent cough and also due to some further attacks from my Trigeminal neuralgia (facial nerve pain) which has been causing me some discomfort. All in all, it’s been a bit of a bummer…

Red Dwarf is back.

Over this Easter weekend Red Dwarf is returning to our screen for 3 episodes starting this Friday. It’s being shown on the TV channel Dave, which I must confess, I have never heard of before, but appears to be some sort of comedy channel (which is probably why I haven’t hear of it as I generally am not a big fan of comedies).

It has been an absolute age since Red Dwarf graced our screen. When I was much younger I really enjoyed the first few seasons, but felt it was somewhat lacking in the later seasons. I will, however, make sure that I watch the new episodes.

Anyway, here is a picture of the crew…

Nintendo points mystery

What on earth is going on with Nintendo points?

Since the launch of the DSi Wii points have been renamed Nintendo points, as they can be purchased for either the Wii or the DSi. I recently ordered 3000 Wii points cards from Amazon for just £11.20 (which is less VAT), as it would seem that Amazon made a mistake with the pricing, since then, I have noticed a bit of an oddity with the price of Nintendo points both from Nintendo, online stores and also local stores. Incidentally, the Amazon price increased shortly after my order… I wonder if many people took advantage of this particular error.

Previously, Wii points were pretty stable and have been RRP of £15.00 for 2000 points. This means the following:

£1 = 133 points

However, now, the prices for Nintendo points seems to be the following (so far as I’ve noticed)

Buying direct from Nintendo store (Wii or DSi)
£1 = 142 points

In store from HMV or on Amazon (at reduced price).
£1 = 100 points

RRP from Amazon
£1 = 86 points

As such, if Amazon RRP is to believed, the cost of Nintendo points has increased, and yet, based on the Nintendo store cost, it has actually slightly decreased.

This is of course utter madness when you consider that you are just buying money to be spent solely on Nintendo Wiiware/Dsiware!

Chocolate, Quantum and BSG

Films watched:

Chocolate

An alternative Malaysia martial arts movie with an autistic protagonist. Rather entertaining if ultimately a one trick pony.

7/10

Quantum of Solace

An adrenalin filled and wholly unnecessary final act (strung out to a whole films length) to Casino Royale. Oh dear.

4/10

I managed to catch the final episode of BSG the other day. Overall I thought it was okay, not great, just okay. The whole “higher power” aspect of the storyline, namely the god or gods guiding the characters grated with me somewhat. Another thing that really annoyed was the fact that previously the crew and remaining humans aboard other vessels would revolt at the drop of the hat, but for some reason they all seemed perfectly happy to be separated, stripped of all their possessions and plunked in the middle of nowhere on a new and strange planet to fend for themselves without complaining once.

Anyway, it was okay I guess, just not a classic ending in line with the likes of Star Trek: The next Generation, Babylon 5 and Twin Peaks.

Better than me + i

It's official.... Roz is now much better than me at drumming on Guitar Hero :(

+ Now have my DSi and it's great :)

Please, PLEASE, be good!

The first picture /poster for the new adaptation of The Day of the Triffids, which is due to be shown on BBC1 later this year has appeared online. I've also placed it below.


I only pray that:

a) It's a relatively faithful adaptation.

and

b) It's does justice to the source material (which is IMHO one of the best books of all time)

It's certainly got a good cast with maybe a couple of exceptions (*cough* Eddie Izzard and Jason Priestley).