Two of three

Best thing about Fathers’ Day is having kids. This year a special shout out has to go to Ellissa. I know we don’t get on a lot of the time, but she made me really proud last night at her dance show.

She’s really been putting work in. Even better than she was last year and I’m sure I saw a few of her group following her lead when they weren’t sure what was next.

Then there’s Little Mister who’s qualified for a place at the school I work at, despite his speech/language issues. He’s come on like you wouldn’t believe the last year or so.

And of course, Littler Miss just continues to amaze. Every day a fresh challenge with that one…

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Fathers’ Day

Dodgiest marketing *ever*

I’ve been using 1&1 for quite a few years now and – unlike some, it seems – I’ve had pretty good service and support from them. However, the same cannot be said for their marketing.

There was a sudden push a year or so ago involving a ridiculous amount of cold-calling, trying to sell me upgrades to my account which I didn’t want or need. Despite my geekiness, I’m a fairly simple user of the system. I only run a handful of WordPress instances on a few mySQL databases. So nothing really techie, business-y or anything.

Anyway, I got an email from them yesterday. It regaled me with a bunch of new features that would come into affect at the start of August. All lovely, none of any use.

Oh, and by the way – it mentioned down at the bottom – these extra facilities will raise your monthly fee by around 20%.

And, squirrelled away a sentence later, was the option to “opt out”.

Now, assuming this marketing mail didn’t end up in your spam folder… and assuming you read it right through once you realised it was just telling you about a bunch of new tools you’ll never use… and assuming you got past the additional fees to the last sentence… then you have the chance to not be charged extra each month.

I posted on their facebook page and did get a response, but it’s just not satisfactory.

They argue that most people accept these offers. Well – do they? Or do they just not get the mail / read far enough / care (maybe they’re corporate and it’s not their cash) and just suck up the extra money each month putting the increase in their bill down to inflation?

To put it into another scenario: if I wander around Tesco with a shopping trolley, would I find it acceptable for random members of staff to just drop things in with the rest of my shopping (perhaps subtly when I wasn’t looking) and expect me to remove them if I didn’t want them before I got through the checkout and realised I’d paid more than my budget? No, I wouldn’t. And I don’t see how this is any different.

Also, they kindly informed me that my name hadn’t been put on their “Do Not Call” list to prevent cold-calling. This came as a surprise and I had (twice) been told that it had.

So, despite having a decent service in my experience, their marketing is abysmal. Still better than 3, though, who have a crap service, awful support and horrible sales staff.

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Using 1&1 for your web hosting? Check your email!

English: Gmail logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I don’t post on here very often any more so I’m going to try and replace any lengthy facebook posts with blog posts. Just because.

So, the new Gmail update on Android – WTF? Complete nonsense. They’ve removed the checkboxes next to messages for multiple select in mailbox view, instead replacing them with “sender images” which seem to default to randomly coloured squares with the first letter of the sender’s name in it. Clicking on these is the same as clicking a check-box, but is completely non-intuitive. Would you expect to click on a picture to select an item?

There is an option to remove these images. Great. Only it doesn’t restore the checkbox. Instead you have to long-press to select multiple items individually.

So. Wow.

Taking a perfectly standard and well-recognised interface feature and replacing it with something counter-intuitive and unlike anything else. Google are becoming Microsoft.

P.S. There’s supposed to be an option to either reply or delete from the notification screen as well, which is great as I’m generally a deleter, not an archiver. I’ve set the option (“show delete and archive”) – I just checked it. And yet I’m still getting archive and reply as my options.

P.P.S Got it – just went for “Delete only” and it appears. I guess there’s not enough space on portrait for Archive and Delete as well as Reply at the same time.

Related articles

• Select Multiple Messages in the New Gmail, Even With Sender Images Off (lifehacker.com)

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Gmail for Android v4.5

Iron Man 3

“Where’s my sandwich?”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Nasty bad man starts blowing places up and Iron Man / Tony Stark decides to stop him

See it if you like: well, Iron Man and Iron Man 2. Dur.

So how does this do as a rounding-off to what’s apparently going to be a trilogy? Very well, in my opinion. Not perfect, but good.

As has to be the case, it’s much “bigger” in terms of wow factor than the previous two. How you manage to top that kind of thing on an ongoing basis is probably what limits most films to trilogies. Iron Man 3 manages it without getting (too) stupid and also without just being a repeat of the first two.

There is a little less of the wise-cracking in this one, and this is in part due to the overall darker tone. IM3 has a much more complex plot and a much nastier villain to go with the increased action quotient. The effects are also staggeringly good as well, due in part to the huge digital effects crew listed in the end credits.

For once, though, Robert Downey Jr has serious competition as the best actor. Ben Kingsley is simply superb as the evil Mandarin, a terrorist seeking to overthrow – or destroy – the US government.

There are some nice moments with Stark dealing with children in various situations which manage not to be at all mawkish, and an under-running theme of “how did you get out of that wormhole in New York?”

As ever, no spoilers, but there is an end-of-credits sequence. I shall say no more.

Oh, do watch the start of the credits up until the part where the big text list appears even if you’re not staying until the end. They’re made up of flashes from all three films, put together in a 1970′s-esque TV montage. It seems to suit the Stark image perfectly.

Related articles

• Iron Man 3 Review (eatpraymedia.com)
• Iron Man: Ironclad Reasons Why You Should See It (halloweenexpress.com)
• Review: Iron Man Three (maahinandfilms.wordpress.com)

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Iron Man 3

Asterix would be proud (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We had a little household incident the other day which some may find amusing.

A couple of years ago, I used to take great delight in asking Little Mister what a big boat was called. His mispronunciation of the word “ship” was, to my childish sense of humour, the best thing ever. Especially when I asked him to say it louder as I hadn’t heard. And louder. And louder.

While in the check-out queue at Asda.

This time we has a slightly more private and accidental experience. Words have been changed to make things a little more family friendly. I shall leave it to the reader to translate into “gutter”. I’ve also slightly changed the names, but if you can’t guess who the people are then I recommend you begin your education again with Topsy and Tim just to keep things nice and simple for you.

Mummy Hen (that’s one of the characters I’ve renamed, by the way) was making dinner the other night. Unfortunately, she burnt her hand on one of the oven trays and let out a fairly sincere “Cluck!” (sort of).

Seconds later, a small song was heard from the dining room. Little Mister Hen was singing – to the “Go Compare” tune – “Clucking Bell! Clucking Bell!”

Over. And over. And over.

It’s very hard to tell a child small chicken off when you’re laughing so hard, especially when they don’t know they’ve done anything wrong

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Careful what you say…

Grab those tracks (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yes, it’s possible. The instructions are buried on one help page amongst dozens and you’re limited to downloading one at a time… but you can do it. Personally I’m just loathe to install a piece of software just to download one album every third blue moon, which is as often as I buy music from Amazon. One of the reasons for this is their insistence on making you install crapware just to get at the items you’ve legally purchased.

So, go to Amazon and purchase your album. Click the option to go to the Cloud Player not the one to download.

Locate and select one track to download by ticking its checkbox in the left hand column.

Click on the “Download (1)” button and you’re presented with the usual “Click this huge button to install the crappy download software” popup. Down at the bottom of this box is a little link to “Skip installation”. Click this instead.

You’ll now get your usual download dialogue allowing you to actually gain possession of the media you paid money for.

You can download more than one track at a time if you’re quick enough to uncheck one box, check the next one and click “Download (1)” again. This time you won’t get the annoying popup, instead just being presented with your web browser’s standard download dialogue.

Why Amazon have to make thing so bloody awkward, I don’t know. A simple “click to download ZIP” or similar would do the job. Regardless, I now have my free Nuclear Blast album downloaded so I can pop it on my phone and listen in the car. Happy now.

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Downloading mp3s from Amazon without their bespoke downloader

Man On A Ledge

“That’s what’s great about this county. If you want it bad enough, you can make it back. Hmm? In this city, on this island, we don’t go to work, we go to war! And if somebody takes something from you, you take it back. And more.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Ex-cop banged up for a diamond heist stands on a window ledge 21 floors up to help prove his innocence.

See it if you like: Crime thrillers and heist movies

Fairly enjoyable if nothing new, some nice moments and ideas and a truly nasty bad guy. It’s not going to blow your socks off, but on the other hand it’s not a waste of an evening. A perfectly slightly above-average heist movie.

Trivia point – the guy who plays the hotel valet also played the Grim Reaper in Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey!

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Man on a Ledge

Warm Bodies

“They’re not curing themselves. We’re their food source. They are not becoming  vegan.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: walking dead becomes walking slightly-less-undead when he falls for a survivor

See it if you like: Funny horror films, basically. And cheese. Lots and lots of cheese.

While Shaun of the Dead couldn’t really be held responsible for a “slew” of spin-off comedy zombie films, there have been a few kicking around over the last few years and the success of Pegg’s film is bound to have had some effect. This one is based on a novel and one I do want to read if it’s as good as its adaptation.

The tale definitely owes a nod to Romeo and Juliet as our “hero” zombie R (he can’t remember the rest of his name, played by Nicholas Hoult) hooks up with Julie (Teresa Palmer), a survivor of a plague that turned most of the world’s population into shambling brain-eaters. Those which go even further down the infected line lose all their skin and turn into skeleton-like “Bonies”. Fast-moving, fierce and not-very-well-CGI‘d, these are the real bad guys in this piece.

As well as this “stages of zombieness” idea is a nice twist where it’s explained why zombies eat brains in the first place. I won’t spoil it though!

It’s apparent from the start that “R” is a little different, holing up in an aircraft with a collection of stuff that makes him appear like a shambling WALL-E. A lot of the dialogue is voice-over material as we get to share his thoughts, a novel idea for a zombie flick where we normally assume that they don’t have any.

Soon enough, he rescues Julie and the two start to bond. She, of course, is the daughter of the leader of the anti-zombie forces (Grigio, played by John Malkovich) which is bound to cause some problems should she try to take her new boyfriend home to meet daddy.

The film follows their development as a couple, the changes it makes to “R” and also the other zombies. This is definitely not a fast-paced, taught zombie fest. This rom-zom-com focusses heavily on the “rom”, has novel ideas about the “zom” and manages very well with the “com”. The audience in the cinema (sold out) were very vocal with their laughter around a lot of the dialogue – deservedly so.

Simply, it’s a nice film. Not excessively gory, though the Bonies would likely give younger viewers a few nightmares. It doesn’t run too long, it’s a clever idea, the cast work well and the jokes don’t fall flat.

Gillian really liked it, I enjoyed it and we’d both recommend it.

Related articles

• Warm Bodies – Review (thefilmfellas.wordpress.com)
• Warm Bodies REVIEW “a shock to system in the most pleasant way imaginable” (noframeof.com)
• Movie Review: Warm Bodies (2013) – zom rom com!? (cinemainterruptus.wordpress.com)
• Movie Mention: Warm Bodies (shannonathompson.com)
• Warm Bodies (poptropicalthunder.wordpress.com)

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Warm Bodies

First up, just to say that I got this book for free after winning a competition on Tor’s facebook page. This won’t influence my review other than that I’d probably not have picked this particular book up on a whim, nor read it as quickly! It’s actually not due for release until May 2013, and it’s always nice to get something before everyone else.

The book’s set in the late 1950′s, predominantly in a psychiatric hospital in the middle of nowhere where experiments are taking place with new techniques to alleviate illness. Nothing particularly gory, but old-fashioned by our viewpoint today. It’s written in the first person from the point of view of a new staff member, Dr James Richardson, as he tried to unravel the mysteries surrounding the patients while getting on with his job (and getting off with one of the nursing staff).
Imagine something along the lines of Shutter Island for the feel of things. Not quite “Gothic”, but just that dark, historic feel.

The medical talk all sounds pretty convincing, and indeed in the acknowledgements quite a few professionals are credited. It’s surprising to realise that some of the techniques mentioned were still pretty commonplace towards the end of the last century – or at least well past the halfway mark.

As time progresses in his new job, “things” start to happen. Some explainable, others less so. The story gently strays from medical thriller into horror as the pages turn.

If I’m honest, I found the ending a little predictable but the story on the way there was always enjoyable with a couple of particularly spooky sequences that had me looking over my shoulder as I read on my own at 2am! The fact that I managed to get through the whole thing in a couple of days is a definite indication that I was engrossed.

Well written, well-paced and with good characters. I loved the language and the viewpoint of the protagonist, which I thought sat very well with the era in which the story was set.

As I said, not something I would have picked up myself but I’m very glad I ended up with it in my hands. If you like spooky horror rather than gross-out slash-fests, this could well be something you’d like.

View all my reviews

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Review: The Sleep Room

The _real_ EDL!

That’s right. I’m fully behind the English Disco Lovers, a small organisation which has set out to undermine the English Defence League (a bunch of Neanderthal racists) by stealing their initials and – instead – promoting togetherness and harmony through the power of disco!

Their first aim was to gain more “likes” on Facebook than the knuckle-draggers, something they succeeded in doing today. Pretty impressive given that they only set up the facebook page around the new year. At the time of writing, Disco is winning on the “likes” with 18,075 against the low-lifes’ paltry 15,112 or 18,050 depending on which if their two pages you look at. The latter, with the higher score, is a Wikipedia page whereas the former is the “active / official” one.

Anything that gives racists (especially those with very dodgy criminal records) one in the eye is worth supporting, especially when it’s done with no real malice, a sense of humour and D-I-S-C-O!

For more information, check out the real EDL’s page  With luck, the more links and the more clicks, the higher up Google’s rankings they’ll get as well!

UPDATE (6th Feb): There is an EDL (skinhead bottomfeeder version) “community” on facebook as well, with around 38,605 likes. EDL (disco) has 19,982 as I write this. Get liking!

Related articles

• How to disco dance the EDL off Google and Facebook (guardian.co.uk)

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I support the EDL!