Xmas at the Boswell's

On the 25th day. More food. 29 people. I won the name game!

Xmas at home

24th day of xmas. I cooked!

I bought a paper ticket for the bus

£2. Outrageous!

Done and done!

All presents bought and wrapped with two whole days to spare! This is a new personal best.

Chasing Serendipity

Travelling through south America.

http://fatmeercat.blogspot.com/

What the?? Manual labour?

The bath and toilet in the living room. An interesting design choice.

Today has brought several hours of proper, standing up, dirty hands work. Painting my brother's new flat.

Yes, I did delegate more than do but did do enough. Especially after a 4am finish last night.

Check out my smoooooth finish

Check out my handy work and how I went grey from working so hard.

Double Dream Hands

http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2010/12/08

When it starts you'll think it's stupid. Then you'll laugh. By the end you'll be wanting to give it a go.

Advent catch up

All at once :)
So far, we've had:

No. 1 - A cracker!
No. 2 - A bird!
No. 3 - A xmas tree!
No. 4 - An xmas pudding!
No. 5 - A basket with a bear?
No. 6 - An angel!
No. 7 - A cracker...again!
No. 8 - A bird...again!

Oui, je suis allé à Paris

A weekend away taking care of some long overdue stop-click-ticks

Blogging away with Blogaway

Now I can blog on the go with Blogaway.

You know what? It's pretty darn good. All it needs is the function of being able to add a picture from a picasa gallery and it's as good as, if not better, than the web version.

Let the blogging commence, or continue, as the case may be.

Mo!

My mo! Gotta love it (ingore the hair!!).

Stodge turns 30

http://www.laserpanda.com/davidsjodin.php


Awesome!

Not long to go, Dave!

Barcelona

http://picasaweb.google.com/fcanfora/Barcelona

Barcelona... Ahh... a gorgeous city. Even though I was exhausted the entire time.

Knight(mare) and day(dream)

You know what? It's alright (just about). Not great, not bad and pretty much what I had been expecting. A Tom Cruise version of the forgettable, yet quite fun, Mr and Mrs Smith. The plot may not be the same but is just as negligible. A mere vehicle to show Cruise trying to be funny and some cheezy, tongue in cheek action which ends up with little tongue and a lot cheese. If it was a half hour shorter, it would be a perfectly middle of the road film which I've already forgotten much about.

Twenty Eight And A Half

My (early) half birthday celebrations were great. I had a great time. Thanks to all who came. Most of the pics are a little blurry (which feels just about right).

Pics up at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/fcanfora/

Over the net five [slaps screen]

In-contra-ception

NO INCEPTION SPOILERS HERE!

Talk about a hyped film. I've not heard so many talk about a film and so many others hush the talkers not to spoil it since the likes of The Sixth Sense.

Yeah, it's good. Best big budget film ever? Hmm, no. Film of the year, definitely not. It's well told and will get you talking for a good half hour after the credits roll.

While it is a smart film, I think a complicated plot has been somewhat mistaken for cleverness.It doesn't get you thinking in the way the "It will get you thinking" saying implies. The only thing you'll think about is how the ending was possible.

Still, it's well paced, looks great and I left the cinema not having noticed two and a half hours pass and having had a good time.

BTW, he's a ghost!

maybe you can hire.....

Duh, duh, duh, duuuh.... duh, duh, dummmm. Duh, dah, duh, duh, dah, duuuh.. duh duh, duh duh, dumm.... [Sing it with me]

Yes, its pretty cheezy. Yes, they fly a tank. And yes its over the top and ridiculous but, remember, it's the A-Team.

It's not as camp as the original (buzz word of the decade, "gritty") and it's difficult to let go of the original cast but if you keep in mind what it's a film of, you'll probably have a good time.

Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson is a little weak as B.A. but Liam Neeson just about gets away with Hannibal's catchphrase. Sharlto Copley (yeah, the guy from District 9) is just Murdock. I can't help but like Bradley Cooper even if he doesn't quite (but almost) bring Face back.

Leave brain at the door. Popcorn a must.

Lastest music

Darwin Deez's self titled album is good. Radar Detector is a song that just wont leave me alone. I think I'm developing an unhealthy obsession with it.

Digitalism -  Idealism. German dance punk, sounds rubbish right? Wrong! The song Pogo will super-glue itself to your brain.

Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History, is a must right now.

Wild Beasts - Two Dancers, is a great album to stick on at work.

Honorable mentions go to:
Ivan Mihaljevic has some great guitar riffs. Sandcastle is good tune.
For something a little more mellow, give Babeshadow a go. There's a bit of Vampire Weekend about them.
Elektrik Kezy Mezy sounds like a brother to The Hives (who, we all know, are awesome)

It's all so quiet...shhhh....shhhh

My new Bose QuietComfort 3 headphones have arrived! Sound quality is fantastic. It has great clarity and udles of bass. The noise canceling also does a great job of dumbing down most ambient noise. As with all noise canceling headphones that I have used, it doesn't cut any sharp or clanging noise. A clap of a hand is easily audible (if slightly quieter) while the drone of a car is almost completely gone.

I have one complaint. It does not work without the noise canceling on. This means that if the battery is drained the headphones no longer work and so you must carry the charger with you. A carry case is included which fits all of the necessary components and the charger plugs straight into the power socket and negates the need for extra wires.

I am happy with them and am looking forward to testing them out on a flight. I find that the loud in-flight humming of a plane is the best test for noise cancellation tech. That sounds like a great excuse to go away for a weekend ;)

Walking the Earth

It may be a viral ad (for jeans I suspect) but it's still awesome.

Toy Story 3

It's every bit as great as the 2nd. 3D not required!

The first remains my favourite due to the originality of the story but the subsequent sequels have been a delight.

Andy's all grown up and moving on so the toys go on a bit of an adventure of self discovery. There are plenty of laughs, sad and nostalgic moments along the way with the new characters adding to the fun.

There is a very special moment when you first see your favourite characters appear. Your heart leaps and a huge smile comes across the faces of everyone when Woody and Buzz grace the screen together. It feels like you're meeting up with old friends you wish I you could spend more time with.

The emotional (and they are emotional) scenes are handled with as much consideration and sensitivity and Pixar's last release, Up. In that respect, Toy Story 3 becomes a very interesting case study showing their development as story tellers. As much as I still prefer the story of the first (more so after watching the 3rd), it's obvious that the studio has matured, developed and honed their skills and it is difficult to find anything negative to say about the techniques, both technological or artistic during the captivating almost 2 hours.

My only criticism is for the ubiquitous 3D. I've enjoyed some 3D films where the 3D is used well but in Toy Story 3 it is not necessary. One or two sequences may look more impressive with the perceived depth but on the whole it does not add anything except some irritation at having to pay more and wear glasses which gives everything the polarized look which bugs me. Also, 3D technology still isnt good enough yet. Motion blur looks terrible and if you're sat too far to the side it's easy to see a double image.

Saying that, Toy Story 3 should be seen by anyone who have enjoyed the previous two, regardless of how many dimensions it has. It feels like meeting up with some old friends which you really like to see more often.

Ben and Jerry's balls

Free ice cream, beer, Pimms, music and people dressed up. I felt totally ill by the end. Oh, and yes, there were some testicles wondering around. Girls loved it ;)

Randomly, some bees

For unknown reasons, a few hundred bees decided to cover a lamp post for a few hours yesterday. Those crazy bees!

Spotify Premium

I've gone premium. I can't have spotify on neither computer at work so have opted for the mobile variety.

Currently listening to old trusted favs Guillemots, which led me to revisit Elbow after a long absence. Also have just begun listening to the talents of Laura Marling and The xx enjoyment hasn't halted.

The sporadic switch to Florance and Mumford & Sons for the odd tune continues. After Glasto, Muse and Flaming Lips keep sneaking in for a quick reminder of awesome times.

Play him off, keyboard cat

My top 3

In third place: Gas Station Fail. Painful!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdK8pttkLcQ&feature=related

Second: Spiderman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jpauryqCpU&feature=related

In first place it has to be Jerry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J_doeDjI9o

Glasto '10

OK, Glastonbury was a couple of weeks ago so I thought it was about time to give it a mention.

The following bands were amazing:

The Flaming Lips - Never felt so good after a gig!

Muse - I don't know how they do it but instead of music, pure energy comes out of the speakers.

Stevie Wonder - Legend.

Norah Jones - Amazing voice and a really nice lunchtime gig sat in the sun.

Kate Nash - I'll be ripped for liking her but I do. The performance was really good.

Florance and the Machine - Radiated happiness. Really pleasing gig even though the mike kept cutting out.

MGNT - Not a great fan of the new stuff but they played their first album hits. They were good but the sound levels were dreadful. Could barely hear the vocals. It was all base and a bit of guitar. Real shame.

Leisure Society - Relaxed as ever. Always a pleasure.

Robin Ince - A last minute entry covering for a another comedian. Typically Ince (in a very good way).

There were too many others to mention. They were all great.


Julian and Bella - Not exactly a band but constantly awesome to be around!

Pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/fcanfora/Glasto10#

Mike tries to fly a kite

More at http://picasaweb.google.com/fcanfora

Profile pic

A couple of years ago, friend doodled a caricature (thnx Helene) of me and I painted on top.

 

It could work.... right?

Well, here is my foray into the world of blogging. Get ready for spelling mistakes, grammar errors and a plethora of stolen material to bolster my otherwise twitter of a blog.