Time well spent
Is this thing on?
Photo of the day: Brand new (almost)
Mar 8th
I should have taken this photo last Monday but everything was a bit go to really take a photo.
This is the new office! Well, newish. Moved last week to a new building and a much nicer office. We have windows!
My desk is bottom right.
Going for Chrome: One Week On
Mar 7th
Roughly a week ago I made a big change in my Internet browsing habits and ditched Mozilla’s Firefox for Google’s Chrome for a week long trial to see how it compares. So how did it do?
The fact that I’m still using it now bodes well for it. I’ve really enjoyed using it. Mostly from the speed aspect of the browser. It’s a lot faster and slicker at loading heavy pages. Noticeably quicker than Firefox, which has been a refreshing change. Also I’ve noted no crashes while using the browser, either at work or at home. Usually at work the Firefox crashes at least once a day and I’m having to restart my whole computer sometimes. That could just be my work PC, but I’ve not had any crashes at home with Chrome, which I would have had too.
There’s a few things I’m still getting used to. Like in Firefox I would simply type whatever website’s name I wanted to go to, hit enter and Firefox would take me there. I know it’s doing a little Google search, but it was a ‘1-click’ thing for me. Meanwhile with Chrome if I were to do that I’d be taken to the search engine of my choice. I know the answer would come in the drop down as I was typing in the address bar, but not used to it yet!
I am missing a couple of extensions. I’m missing Echofon for Twitter a fair bit. Just the fact that it has the ability to have multiple accounts is what I miss. If I only had 1 Twitter account Chromed Bird would be fine.
The other Firefox extension I really miss is Fireshot for taking whole website screen grabs. The alternative Webpage Screenshot is working out OK, just doesn’t have the functions I’m used to with Fireshot.
Still, those couple of things aren’t stopping me sticking with Chrome. Let’s see how the next week goes!
Photo of the day: Lazy Sunday Afternoon
Mar 7th
A very lazy Sunday afternoon. Still recovering from being ill, the afternoon was spent on the sofa, film and some Green & Black’s chocolate. Please note I didn’t eat the whole bar! Just a few squares.
100 movies: From animated to just plain weird
Mar 7th
I think this is the highest number of movies I’ve seen in a single week. Or the last couple of weeks. It’s what helps me feel better when I’m not so well. So here’s the last few days worth of movies.
Alice in Wonderland (05/03/10)
I didn’t have the highest of high hopes for this movie. I was going into it expecting some amazing stuff from Tim Burton’s mind, crazy stuff from Johnny Depp’s and general entertainment. That’s roughly what I got. I did go and see the 3D version of the film and, to be honest, the 3D didn’t grab me. As more and more movies try out the 3D I’m finding myself getting more and more jaded by it. Not once did I oo or ahh at the 3D. In fact I was vaguely more impressed by the 3D trailer for Toy Story 3 and the Sky 3D advert! Some people in the cinema ooo’d when a teacup came flying at the screen, but in my mind it wasn’t really coming out of the screen.
Enough poo-pooing 3D, what about the film? I really enjoyed it, as I already said. The couple things I really liked was the vision and the casting. Tim Burton’s mind never fails to give you something that looks amazing. And I wasn’t disappointed at all here. Wonderland looked amazing. All the characters were brilliantly conceived. Just lovely to look at. Then there’s the casting, which in my mind was perfect. Everyone from Mia Wasikowska as Alice to Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. I couldn’t fault any of the cast on their roles. Just perfect casting. And Johnny Depp? Well he plays crazy really well and I thought he was great as the Mad Hatter.
I was slightly disappointed with Danny Eflman’s score. It really wasn’t that memorable. I can’t remember the last score of his where I thought ‘wow’.
It was a nice enough story. Nothing mind blowing and nothing unexpected. Good entertainment in my mind. I think my score might look slightly inflated, but I really loved the look of the movie.
Rating: 4/5
Bolt 06/03/10
Disney’s Bolt – a movie about a girl and her dog. Or just the dog. I’m a bit upset at myself for waiting so long seeing this movie. I’m a dog lover and I lap up anything that involves dogs and Disney. Yes, even Snow Buddies. I loved the film. Much funnier than I was expecting and I warmed to all of the characters more than I thought I would. I even forgot Miley Cyrus was in it! Bolt just reminded me of Axel so much at times! I miss that dog. So I had a fair few tears watching the movie. More than I was expecting. Rhino was hilarious. He really made me laugh. All in all a be-awesome Disney movie!
Rating: 4/5
Gran Torino (06/03/10)
I wasn’t expecting to laugh in this movie. All I knew was that it was Clint Eastwood going all badass on a bunch of neighbourhood thugs. There were quite a few laughs! Just at the bits where Walt is getting to know his neighbours and really getting into the community spirit. Fantastic film. Clint Eastwood was brilliant and I just really enjoyed the whole thing. Not completely what I was expecting, but that was a good thing. And the car? It is a thing of beauty! And here it is!
Rating: 5/5
Franklyn (07/038/10)
Umm, I don’t know what to say about this film. Throughout most of the beginning I was clueless as to what was going on. I thought the two narratives jarred incredibly. I understood how the two narratives were connected, but I just couldn’t buy into it. I was impressed by Ryan Philippe’s English accent! Eva Green was good too. Just couldn’t get behind this film much.
Rating: 2/5
Read more to see the full list of movies I’ve seen so far this year.
Photo of the day: Nearly Spring!
Mar 6th
Such a nice day today! So nice I managed to actually hang clothes outside to dry. While doing so, spotted the first few crocuses starting to grow in the garden. Pretty!
Photo of the day: Not so 3D
Mar 5th
Went to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D today. I liked it, though the 3D? I’m not so sure I want to spend the extra dosh to see a 3D movie again. It just wasn’t very 3D, or my brain just can’t accept 3D.
