Oh broadband! How I have missed thee!

So despite my best attempts to keep this a regular thing, I seemed to have failed to grasp the basic fact that a blog needs post and there has been quite a drought in the past seven months! Oh dear...

However my circumstances have changed somewhat in the past few weeks. The significant change being that I have moved into a place where I actually have internet. OK so some wouldn't say that the internet is that important that residing in an area where you are privy to it makes a significant change, but it does change things...a lot. I coped mostly because I had internet at work which allowed me to check e-mail and most social networking sites. I wasn't, however, allowed to watch video links much which means a few internet memes have gone over my head in the past two year. And I haven't made any internet purchases or checked my bank accounts because I was sure how secure the network at work is.

I digress though. The point that I'm (vaguely) trying to make is that I really hope to become more regular with my posts. I'll be posting from various topics (because I'm schizophrenic like that) such as book/film/music/tv reviews, political/social/economic issues, sport (MMA or football/soccer) and just random shit that I feel is worth typing about.

If you've bothered to read any of this and are interested I hope that you'll follow my blog. If you've read this an felt nothing but apathy or ssimmering sense of rage I hope that you have the sense to never come back!

Communicating in the 21st Century

As mentioned in my previous post, I've become internet impaired somewhat. The problem I found was really maintaining communication, primarily with people who live abroad.

I'm trying to figure out a way around this. So far I've got to calling cards and writing letters.

The former wouldn't be such a problem if it wasn't so expensive. £5 calling cards just don't last that long depending on the country you are calling. And it always lies to you too. You'll be in the middle of the conversation and an automated message will promt you that you have 200 minutes remaining then appoximately 20 mins later you're down to 100 minutes. The other problem is that its rather difficult to call someone without arranging a proper time between the both of you to have the conversation, and that's normally done on the internet.

Now letter writing is much cheaper than calling cards but not as free as the e-mailing. And the problem in the 21st century is that letter writing is becoming a long lost art from. With an e-mail you can screw it up as much as you like but the del or backspace keys will always be there for you and bail you out in your darkest hour. Del and Backspace are non existent in reality. Well they are but they exist in more cumbersome forms such as an eraser or tippex and they're just not as clean or time efficient as those two overused keys on my laptop. Those two keys can help you turn your literary skills from Katie Price to Marcel Proust in 5 secs. Pen + Paper = Fend for yourself!

But whilst I curse the time and effort in writing a letter I must praise the beauty of receiving a letter. Really, when was the last time you received a hand-written letter from a friend? And how did you feel when you received it and opened it?

For me receiving a hand-written letter is genuinely one of the most touching and heart-felt acts in this world. It's a beacon of light emanating from dark cloud of bills and final reminders that reside at the bottom of the front door. The time and consideration someone has put into writing to you is priceless. Reading their thoughts and anecdotes that were penned down in their own unique handwriting style is a beautiful thing. Arial and Verdana just don't do it for me like handwriting does, sorry guys!

Now all I gotta do is figure out where these things called "stamps" are sold...

Getting carried away by the Raptr

Last night when I was browsing my friend's twitter profile, I noticed she was updating her profile with a feed of her gaming activity. Curiosity got the better of me and I followed the link to her profile and discovered Raptr. It's basically a social networking site that "helps you connect with friends who like to play and discover games. Our goal is to make playing games more fun and social.".



I previously wrote an article about last.fm, my current favourite networking site. The concepts are very similar. Raptr detects what games you play by downloading their client and updating your details, it then updates your profile status (e.g. what game you're playing and what achievements you have made in that game). It allows you to add games to your library so people can see what games & consoles you own. Based on your own library and games you like, it'll recommend games to you that might be of interest. You can add fellow gamers and keep up-to-date with their gaming activity and compare your gaming tastes.

I've already recommended it to my oldest brother, an avid PC gamer that uses Steam, and he was very intrigued! It's still a Beta version and has a feedback console on the side of the page, allowing users to give thoughts for room for improvement. I can definitely see this gaining popularity as the gaming industry is vastly growing and gaining more share in the entertainment world.

If you're interested you can find my profile here!

The Silver Fox hits a sore spot...

I was browsing through Dlisted when I came across this video of Anderson Cooper on his show for CNN News. The report is about how pubs and bars in South West London are going to start issues lollipops to keep the punters gob shut long enough to minimise alcohol consumption. The segment leads to Coop going on a bit of a rant about how England and London in particular is "The Most Disgusting Place in the World at 11PM":



To be honest he has a point. It only got worse after the smoking ban as 24 hour drinking law was instated in England to substitute once vice for the withdrawal of another. What is funny is that this was a segment about South West England and he goes on about London, which is in the South East. And 11pm, really? That's when it's getting started Coop, baby! Maybe he's confused because of the time difference because its 3am when things get nasty!

Having said that, is it really a lot different from other European countries? Some other countries just have piss and dog shit everywhere and that's when the people are sober! Americans like to road trip to Cancun, get rat-arsed during spring break and then blame it all on the Mexicans! Hey, maybe Swine flu never orignated in Mexico...it was those drunk, Americano frat boys that probably started it!

If I was given a lollipop in a pub/club, it wouldn't stop me drinking. I'd just use it to stir up my Gin & Tonic! And now Cooper has got me craving Gobstoppers - I haven't had them in ages!

What do you think - Is London really the most disgusting place in the world at 11pm?

"Do you do Pot Noodle?"

After perusing a friend's comment about the Bombay Bad Boy Pot Noodle flavour on Facebook, it reminded me of an old advert for the snack that got banned. This was so funny because the slogan was so true:



By the way, what's your favourite flavour? When I was younger I used to eat Beef and Tomato (but I never mixed the tomato sachet in LOL!) and when I was a young teen I think it was Chow Mein or Sweet & Sour. I've tried many in the past but I haven't had any in bloody years!