Time to get serious!

RFID tags (Radio Frequency Identification tags) - something I think you might be hearing a lot about in the future. A future where you could find that everything you buy is monitored and tracked. Sound scary - well thats cos it is.

These things are little electronic chips that have now shrunk to about the size of half a grain of sand and need no batteries. Bring the appropriate scanner to within a dozen feet or so, and the unique id allows all sorts of information about the item to be obtained. When and where it was bought, how much it cost and who purchased it, all available instantly.

For retailers this is good. Just being able to scan a container to make sure everything ordered is there would save billions for instance. But what about the other side of the story. Would thieves be able to stand outside a house and scan to find what was inside worth stealing? If you walked back into a clothes shop wearing something puchased there before, would a screen address you by name and tell you about similar items you might want to buy (something seen in the film Minority Report)? Already certain Tesco stores have a system where once razor blades are removed from the shelf, a hidden camera takes a picture so the person at the checkout compare and see if it was you (razor blades being small and expensive are one of the things stolen most).

I wont go on. You can find much more detailed information in the following articles, one from CNET News.com and two from the Guardian (one here and another here).

Enjoy.

Its true - aliens are out there and they want to invade our minds with thier 'weird' alien telepathic powers so that they can control us and abduct us!! But fear not, for help is at hand. Simply follow the instructions on this page and make your own 'thought screen helmet' to protect you. Take that alien scum!!!

He also has another page over at www.aliensandchildren.org with more alien info. I must admit that I find it a little hard to believe that a race of beings that can control gravity, walk through walls, have spaceships that can travel at 100,000mph and have amazing telepathic powers, would be unable to abduct some woman just cos she wrapped herself in string and hid the scissors.......?

Following on from the last post that I made yesterday about a tool that helps you women to 'size him up', I found this handy dandy chart that may also be usefull to you. Its a conversion table that goes by shoe size.....

One for the ladies. Helps you to Size Him Up - tho I think it's a little innacurate.....

A webpage by a man called Scott who has decided to wear a name tag - forever - cos he says it helps to make the world a friendlier place.

Who wants to go to the International Bigfoot Symposium??

Introducing the Tango - a new 'commuter car'. As much as I like the idea behind these things, I just can't see cars such as this catching on unless things really change or governments make them compulsory....

Seems 'some' people might think my blog is getting a little smutty or seedy, so I'm here to defend myself. Okay, I'll admit that 'sometimes' I'll make the odd comment that might be a bit smutty - like voting for a governerial candidate just cos she likes thongs - but usually at that point I've be staring at a computer screen for several hours straight and my minds gone a little funny. Anyway, whats wrong with a little smut now and again?

I also try never to post stuff that is too over the top or disgusting. You'd be amazed at the number of links I trawl thro that are not suitable for posting here. I mean (and this is just for examples sake) I would never post links to sites such as
www.huntingforbambi.com or
www.ratemyimplants.com
(copy and paste the URL if you are really curious) but because of the nature of the internet these are the kind of sites that usually appear high in the lists of whats 'doing the rounds' at any given time.

Some of the stuff might be a little rude (like inflatable sheep websites) but is not really offensive (and often amusing). And stuff that might be a bit offensive to some (like the guy from this post yesterday) I considered informative - he does link to some interesting stuff in his ranting!

Just thought I'd make my position clear.

Ladies, your search for the perfect man is over. Visit the website for Alan Studowski - No.1 Stud.

(okay I know its a piss take, but a quite amusing one)

One for all you Lego fans out there. Be sure to check out thier site of the week.

There is always someone out to spoil your fun isn't there!? According to this, BBQ's are bad for you and should carry a health warning! Well, I was worried till I read this:

"I'm sure that just the odd barbecue during the summer is not going to have any effect.

"But if you have a barbecue once or twice a week through the summer, and all crowd round it and inhale the fumes then over 10 or 20 years maybe that would do something."

Well duh!!

Just seemed like a page worth noting. A huge amount of information online relating to 200 years of migration to England - Moving Here.

Edit - I think the page may be under a heavy load at the moment.

God, the trend for new - and ever more weird - reality TV shows continues. Take this one from America called Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. It even introduces a new word into the vocabulary, Metrosexual???

Still, I have to admit that after watching a few episodes, I am starting to get hooked on Big Brother 4 USA. Yeah I know its sad, but its just soooo much more interesting than the UK version. To start with, 10 of the 13 people are in there with an ex boyfriend or girlfriend (something they weren't told about before they went in and imaginatively known as 'the ex factor' by the show). They are also allowed to plot and scheme as much as they want about who they want out - and seem to spend most of thier time hidden away in cubby holes doing just that! UK show producers take note.......

Just happened to come across this bloke. At least he is honest and points out some of the more interesting blogs that are around I suppose....

Want to learn to juggle (I'm an expert already...) then this is the thing for you. A virual juggling simulator.

Okay, something I'd never heard about before (maybe I've just led a sheltered life?) but this site has all sorts of nipple jewellery.

For all your inflatable sheep needs - Mutton Bone.

Here is a young lady that wants to be the next governor of California. At number nine in her own 'Top Ten reasons that she is best for the job':
9)She's the only candidate who sells (wears) thongs.

Hey, thats good enough for me!!

For those that dont know it, I'm a big kid. Yeah I know, most blokes are at heart, but in my case its worse cos one of my loves in life are cartoons. I watch all sorts, all the time. So, in my quiet and dull periods such as today on the library helpdesk I thought I could enlighten you with some of my favourites.

I mentioned yesterday that I'd bought 5 Dangermouse DVD's. Now Dangermoue has to go down as one of the all time greats. Produced by UK animation studio Cosgrove Hall and featuring the great voice over talents of David Jason and Terry Scott, it was a classic of its time. Penfold is still one of my favourite cartoon characters ever.

There are a few Dangermouse sites out there, but by far the best of the bunch is a place called Cosgrove Hall Ate My Brain which not only has a great Dangermouse page (with more links) but also pages on many of the other creations of Cosgrove Hall (you may recognise quite a few...). I highly recommend a visit!

Some people are just weird....

It was a great program in its day, and now it seems they want to bring back Blakes 7. I watched a lot of the re-runs on UK Gold not so long ago. The sets were shoddy, the acting pretty bad and as for the special effects...... But it was still good viewing.

This is a pretty good game. Blast the human scum!!!

Its pretty pants to be honest unless you like virtual women in bikini's playing beach tennis.....

It's Bug on a Wire!

Need an interesting fact to astound your friends? Then look no further than Hooked on Facts.

Or along similar lines, 101 interesting facts about the Earth.

Finally a chance to post something. I'm stuck on the %&$^% helpdesk AGAIN! I seem to spend half my time out here at the moment and its just soooo dull. And when you finally do get someone coming in, they ask the most stupid question and annoy you even more. And I was going to take friday off but have just been beaten to it. I have so much holiday left to take and everytime I think about taking it, someone else gets in first.

Okay - breathe........

Right, thats better. Least I had a good weekend. Went to a b'day party on Saturday. Got a little more drunk than I intended. Played pool again yesterday evening and I'm almost back to how good I was a couple of years back when I was at my peak. Little more practice and no one shall stop me mwahahahahahahahaa!!! *ahem*

And to finish it all off I bought 5 Dangermouse DVD's on Saturday for a bargain price of 25 quid from HMV! Hours of viewing fun to be had at some point....

I dont usually post on a Sunday, but I wanted to congratulate Manic on making it through 24hrs of blogging for Blogathon 2003!! I watched him start yesterday, missed the middle bit while I was at a party, and then watched him cross the finish line earlier. He even answered my question about the best way to cure my hangover! My donation shall be made to Amnesty International tomorrow morning.

Actually I think next year I'd like to give it a shot myself. I'd be curious to see if i could go the distance, and see what sort of crap I'd be writting at the end of it all! Remind me I said this nearer the time.....

Anyway, well done mate.

Final one for today. This article makes for grim reading. Not only does the Coca-Cola plant use so much water that it is destroying the land around it, but they are also selling, giving away or dumping what they claim is 'fertiliser' but which when analysed was found to contain high levels of lead and cadmium in the sludge.

I'm sure there's not many people that have not heard of the Star Wars Kid by now!? Well, in case you dont know what I'm talking about, he is a 15 year old Canadian kid that made a 2 minute video at school where he tries to demonstrate his Darth Maul type skills with a mock lightsaber. His 'friends' duly stole the video, digitized it and within a week or two milions of people around the world had seen it and the SWK was born. The original movie (available here should you wish to view it) is pretty amusing, but it didnt take long for people to add actual lightsaber sounds/affects to make it more realistic (the remixes are also available at the Jedimaster website.

Anyway, it appears that he has now decided to take legal action against the friends that stole the video.

If you fancy, there is an online petition to get him a cameo in the next Star Wars film.....

Phew, hopefully thats enough in the way of links for the time being? Was 'ordered' to come and update this today by a friend ('lo Cat) who is bored now that DoM has finished for the time being - not that she should be busy writting up her thesis or anything......

Its true what they say, all men are just kids at heart. And if you want to make that big kid happy, then get him a minature remote controlled tank. If anyone was looking to buy me a present.....?

Ummmm, to me this just seems weird. Air stockings - seems to be a can of spray on stockings? Not being a stocking wearer myself (contrary to whatever rumours you may have heard!) I'm not sure if this is a good or bad idea. Any comments from you ladies???

I did quite like this. Join in the adventures of Johnny Rocketfingers. It's an interactive Flash movie so be sure to wave the mouse around and click on stuff. I got stuck after they tied Johnny to a chair.....

Some of the other animations on the page by the same bloke are quite good (+ violent) too.....

Dude! Its just like ironing, but to the MAX!!!! Go check out the Extreme Ironing website.

As my workmate Bruce pointed out tho - its not actually ironing if the iron is not plugged in. Unless they use cordless irons....?

Sure pretty much everyone has an ex boyfriend or girlfriend that they wouldnt mind a rant about. Then this is the site for you.

Fancy a bit of Clay Kitten Shooting??

Who said computer people were geeks? This computer case mod is perfectly normal....

Okay, today's question is "What job should BlogMonkey do?"

Been thinking for a while that I should really move on from where I am at the moment - I've had this job for 6 years almost now - but really dont know what I want to do? Thats where you (yes you) come in. Maybe you can suggest a new job for me? First some background info.....

Qualifications - 10 GCSE's, 3 A-levels and a Degree in Physics.
Current Job - Senior Computer Technician at a large university - in charge of the Operations Section.

Thats my official title anyway. Actually I'm only really in charge because my old boss died, they knew I was looking for a new job and wanted to tempt me to stay, and someone had to do it! Did I get a pay rise for these new responsibilities - did I heck. They just 'happened' to miss the regrading date, meaning it would be 10 months till I got more money.

And what does the job involve you may ask. Well, not much really. Aside from having to manage 3 people, we get to work the helpdesk, keep an eye on the systems and deal with support queries. Then there are the exciting jobs like putting paper in printers and our newest job, vacuuming the servers to keep them clean from dust! Two people would have no problem dealing with all the work - yet we have 4 in the section, meaning lots of sitting around bored. Basically we are considered the lowest of the low - given all the worst equipment and shittiest jobs. Fun eh!

I've realised that i have no interest in becoming a 'Systems Administrator' - I'm just not into that stuff enough. I've also quite got into this interweb stuff recently, but doubt I'm creative enough to do it full time (the first incarnation of The Page With No Name took me 6 months to finish as I kept changing my mind about icons and colours etc.).

So what should I do. Any suggestions welcome - not just computer related ones. Just send me an email. My life is in your hands....

SotallyTober - a site dedicated to that wonderfull pastime of drinking!

Be sure to add this to your chrismas DVD wish list.

Isn't young love great....

Last night I went to play pool for the first time in about a year. I'm not talking about 8-ball pool on those small pub tables, this was proper american 9-ball on the large tables. I used to be pretty good you know - not great, but better than most casual players. I couldn't believe how bad I was when we started!! Still, one application of the magic pool playing ingredient known as beer and I was back on track. A little rusty maybe but I've still got it! Only problem was during the break - all that hard cueing didn't much help my bouncy castle injury....

We also timed it well as it was £1.50 night at Rileys, so renewing my membership was free, beer was £1.50 a pint and 3 hours of pool between four of us on one table cost £1.12 - bargain!!

Just realised that I've not as yet linked to my dear little brothers website in my month or so of blogging! Not that he ever updates the damn thing.....

Anyway, its got some poetry and pictures and is all dark and gothic. Its not bad actually, so if you fancy, take a trip to Calv's website - Fragments

Bored of using plain old Google? Why not try the Klingon version, or maybe Elmer Fudd. Or maybe you'd prefer Gaygle...?

Speaking of blogs, I'm still not entirely sure what I'm doing with this one? To start it seemed like a good place to dump the links to all the junk I found whilst bored at work. It was easier to update than my other website with little bits of news and stuff - so making it easier to stay in touch with all those mates spread around the country. And I suppose it just gave me something to do at work (cos I'm so damn bored most of the time).

It is still all those things, but I think it might also become a little more. I've had the chance in the last 5-6 weeks that I've been blogging to look around at other weblogs out there. I know I'm never going to be as witty or talented at writting as some of those bloggers. I know this place will never be known by more than a dozen or so of my friends. Still, I once was a very shy lad (its true you know!) and I think this journal may well help me to develop as a person as time goes on?

Watch this space....

I seem to be in one of those moods today - the sort where I feel the need to 'do' something. I had my little waffle earlier about computer waste and the environment, but that wasn't really doing something other than bringing an issue to the attention of the few odd people that actually visit this site ('lo to you all). So, I decided to do something a little more direct.

On the 26th of July will be Blogathon 2003. For those that dont know (and cant be bothered to follow the link to find out), this is an event where bloggers sign up to blog for 24hrs straight - hopefully earning mucho cash from being sponsored in the process. I'd heard about this a week or so ago, but being in 'one of those moods' I finally decided to do something about it today. No, I'm not taking part, I'm sponsoring someone - Tim Ireland at Bloggerheads to be exact.

Seeing as how it was my visits to Bloggerheads that motivated me into creating this weblog in the first place, I thought I should give a little back. Tim's charity of choice is Amnesty International and I'm sure he would appreciate more sponsorship if you wanted to help out. Or you could choose someone else listed on the Blogathon site to sponsor maybe?

For all you out there still not sure what the future is for blogging, maybe this article will be of interest....

I've read before about the growing problem of electronic waste nowdays. Things like computers have such a short life that they are replaced every 2-3 years. And this produces huge amounts of waste - much of it highly toxic - that has to be dumped. Articles such as this and this give a little more insight into the scale of the problem.

So, it was nice to read today about this recycling scheme in Japan thats tackling the problem. Admittedly they deal with 500,000 bits of old electronic equipment a year and the amount dumped is placed at 20 million, but its a start. The plant also cost £27m to set up, which in the grand scheme of things is not that great. I see that as a much better cause that lottery money could be spent on - especially when you consider the amount of lottery money they want to 'waste' on something like this.

Its not what you think. Nice-Tits.org.

This site has me tempted. I've not signed up (yet) but as far as I can tell you create a questionaire, send the link to your friends, and then they can anonymously fill it in. So, do you want to know what your friends really think of you??

For all you ladies that like to exercise, you might want to visit LessBounce.com.

I've never been that tempted to become a vegetarian, but maybe if one of these ladies wearing nothing more than a few strategically placed lettuce leaves asked me I'd reconsider.... Plus, vegetarians are apparently more virile "If you wouldn’t eat veggies for your mother, maybe now you’ll do it for your lover!" Oooh, hand me that carrot!

And dont worry ladies, for you there are the Broccoli Boys! Still cant really figure out why Riardo is wearing a string of sausages tho...?

Any smokers out there want to quit?

I'm not sure which would be worse, being found guilty, or found innocent cos of this evidence!!

I happened to come across this blog a while ago. Was mainly just the title that drew my attention in the first place - My Boyfriend is a Twat is kinda an eye catcher. Its definitely worth a look, she's an amusing and clever lady.

I'm still looking through her good list of other blog links....

Decided that even with my sore neck and back (okay, so I'm milking it slightly) I'd go swiming this morning. Dont usually go on a Tuesday and there was this lifeguard there that I'd never seen before - and he was really putting me off! He kept walking around the edge of the pool, stopping to stand at the edge every now and again watching as someone swam past. I kept expecting him to shout "You boy, move your legs properly. Put your head further in the water - thats the way to do breast stroke!" I HATE being watched whilst I swim!

Oooh, an island shaped like a palm tree (amazingly called the Palm Island Resort). The main site seems to have some interesting satelite images on so worth looking around....

Do you ever find yourself in need of a palindrome (one of them sentences that spelt the same backwards as forwards)? Well, you need never go without one again thanks to Jim Kalb's Palindrome Connection.

This did bring a smile to my face today. One of the few online petitions I'd sign.....

Yawn!!!!!

Hmmm, think that says it all about how I'm currently feeling. Tiring weekend followed by having to start Monday morning on early shift. Of all the luck.....

Anyway, it was a good weekend. The much talked about - often delayed - spit roast and bouncy castle party was on Saturday and it was good!! We invited everyone we knew to come - and a fair few did. Lots of bouncing, lots of bruises (a stiff neck for me) and lots of roast lamb with mint sauce. A few very drunk people - mostly ones I work with. I myself didnt get that drunk. Think it was after having a slow comfortable screw against the wall and then getting a brain hemorrage in return. That about finished my drinking exploits for the night.....

To be honest I'm still too tired to describe everything that went on. Your best bet might be to go and look at the pictures I took. They can be found here.

There are a lot of people linking to this story at the the moment - so I may as well too. As if this is suspicious at all!?

A slight variation on a game thats been doing the rounds for a while.

Sometimes I wonder if childrens TV program creators nowdays are on drugs, or that they just think the kids are! Just take a look at the website for the new TV show The Boohbah's. Large quantities of psychadellic drugs is the only answer...

So maybe you'll go blind - but at least you wont get cancer!

Friday at last - and that means the day of the Big Bouncy Party at my house is almost upon us!! Soooo much tidying to do tho. An early night with no booze so I'm ready and raring to go tomorrow is in order methinks....

Actually I dont think I could stay awake late today. After doing 40 lengths this morning in the pool I'm fairly knackered. Least it seems to be getting easier - I shall have that body that makes women go weak at the knees in no time now!

When I first saw this link refering to Big Brother, I instantly assumed it was to do with the annoying (yet oddly addictive) Channel 4 program. Will Scott and Nush get it on? Can Ray get anymore sun tanned? Anyway, it wasnt - unless its in the sense that we could soon all be under the same sort of scrutiny. Read this article and worry......

Edit - Least its not all bad news.

"Oooh, I seem to have a cockroach in my throat. I shall just retrieve it with this handy fork and.... Ooops!". Some people must just be born stupid.

Man who "went off food", survives on sunlight (and the odd cup of tea).

Regulars at B3TA will have seen the work of HumanDescent regularly adorning the front page. He creates a lot of brilliant animal hybrid pictures and other stuff. Its all over at his webpage - take a look.

There was me stupidly thinking that another 50-60 (or more if I'm lucky) years and it would be all over. And then, thanks to the wonderfull world of the interweb, I find that you can now actually live forever.

Was trying to decide if I should post this or not!? Personally I'm not sure its funny (I think you'd just have to find testicles in general funny to like this), but its just so odd I had to link to it. Just to warn you, its basically a bloke sticking his two veg through a peice of cardboard and waving them around. So without further ado, I give you the Testicle Theater.

Who wants to point out to him that its spelt wrong...?

Something for all you lonely women out there.

Are you a goth and bored of using Google. Why not try Googoth. Its a little more limited considering it only searches 8662 compared to the squillions searched by Google, but hey....

Now yesterday I was talking about Super Heroes. Well, as super powers go, being able to balance stuff on your head is not exactly the most useful but impressive none the less. And you'd definitely have something to talk about down the pub "...so I was stood outside Asda with this mini on my head last Thursday, just minding my own business when....."

Still, fair play to the guy. He has raised a lot of money for charity.

Has been so hot the last few days! When the sun is out I'm convinced I can almost feel my DNA being mutated by the intense cosmic rays! And here I say is proof of the effects of the sun - a mutant chicken with four legs!!

Maybe we should call the Chicken Man to help out this little freak of nature...?

Just browsing through the usual few sites that I visit every morning, seeing whats what, and I notice that my conversion yesterday to the Universal Church of the Interactive Network was noted by Tim Ireland over at Bloggerheads. I feel so proud!! My own little site - visited usually by about 4 people a week I suspect - linked to from a popular place like Bloggerheads.

Knowing my efforts are appreciated has also boosted my resolved to spread the word! Soon everyone I know shall be made aware of the religion they should be following. As the lyrics in a song by the great Alabama 3 say, "I've been Converted!"

I've found my new religion. Its directives include the top 10 email directives.

- Thou shalt not spam
- Thou shalt not believe everything on thy screen
- Thou shalt be wary of the urban myth
- Thou shalt use thy spellchecker
- Thou shalt think before thou sends
- Thou shalt not burden thy brother with superfluous attachments
- Thou shalt be prompt
- Thou shalt exercise brevity of text
- Thou shalt exercise restraint in the use of emoticons, for they are the most holy of textual expressions
- Thou shalt learn and use universally acceptable acronyms, as all others are an abomination

Wise words indeed...

Ever wanted to be a super hero/villian. Well, I have the answer for you. Its Lee's (Useless) Super Hero Generator.

God I dont know where today has gone to. Well, some of it was spent mucking around with making amusing pictures from movie posters and my workmates face. A lot was spent lugging large boxes of tapes around campus (too hot for that) and a lot was spent emailing (both work and private).

Anyhoo, finally got some peace and quiet!!

Now I dont know about you, but I always thought these new picture phones were a waste of time. Yeah maybe once in a while you'd see something interesting and want to show someone else, but I cant see it happening often. Its basically a toy and nothing more!

What is becoming worrying is how they are being used tho! I remember reading articles recently about how phones were being banned from swimming pools (like this one in fact) because there was a worry that they could be used to take pictures of kids or in the changing rooms. Then today I came across this site where anyone that takes a picture can submit it and get it shown. A lot are just of people posing or 'interesting' scenes, but I was suprised by the number of shots where people are obviously not aware that thier picture is being taken (or of what is being taken)!!

This site called Mobile Asses takes it one step further in that virtually all the people are unaware of whats going on - altho at least the pictures are generally less smutty.

My point? Well, these camera phones are only going to become more common and so therefor will sites like these. Watch yourselves folks - especially you girls......

You like dogs?? You like noses? Well then, this is the site for you!!

Now I think Scott Mills was talking about this on the radio the other morning - but I was half asleep and not really paying attention at the time. The whole idea just seems a little scary to me. Why would anyone want toilet paper with peoples faces on?

Still, might be a laugh if you were having a party or as a unique christmas present to someone.....

Ermmmm, just odd. Brains for Zombies.

An invaluable guide to the art of being a temp....

What is the world coming to? Seems this vicar headbutted an annoying photographer at a wedding. He claims he just 'slipped' and his head hit something. And his proof of this....

"I had robes and a prayer book. To headbutt someone is a very skilful job — we aren’t trained for that."

Skillfull, yes........?

Ooooh, stylish.

Tony and George having a bit of trouble finding those pesky weapons of mass destruction!? Why not give them a hand.

Its funny sometimes what you can learn about people when you least expect it. You think you know them, know how they think and what they are like and then something makes you take a step back and look again. All of a sudden you see things that you didnt notice - or maybe didnt want to notice before. You realise that you dont actually like the person you see anymore and maybe never understood them at all?

Guess its all a matter of perspective.....

Sorry, been a little too distracted today to post much. You know how some days just start mediocre and get worse as they go on......

This will become a new extreme type of excursion holiday next I bet ya....

Seems my plan to have a nice brown tan on my back has now worked properly yet. At the moment my back is still a kinda pink shade........

Probably be even pinker soon - damn ticket in the back of my t-shirt is itching my neck like a bugger today and I have to keep scratching it!

Went to see The Hulk earlier this evening. Was with Zoe, Mr K, Mark and Lee and I dont think any of them were impressed to be honest. Me - I'm in two minds......

I can see what they were trying to do. They wanted to try and give the film a comic book feel, and they did that with lots of multi-panel shots and strange fade in's or cut aways. I doubt you'll have seen anything similar before. They also wanted to try and show the human side to Banner and the Hulk. I can see why, but they went too far.

What the average Hulk fan - and anyone really - wants to see can be summed up in two words, HULK SMASH!!! So much time was spent on faffing around describing Banners troubled past and what his father did to him, that the first hour or so of the film drags horribly. Even when Hulk finally starts to pummel everything around him to bits, its still interspersed with more dull tripe. Hell, we all figured out the basic plot in the first half hour!!! After that it should have just been non-stop action.

And the bits of action you do get are good. Watching the Hulk take apart 3 tanks was great fun. But we just needed more. It always surprises me how often directors muck this up. Some films need to be thought provoking - have a good and deep plotline - draw you in and make you feel for the characters. Others just need lots of kick-ass action with the minimal of plot!!! This should have been one of the latter - he's a 20ft tall green behemoth for gods sake, we want to see him rampage and cause carnage not struggle with his childhood memories! And why didnt he talk much??? Where were all the "Hulk hate puny Banner!" and "Hulk crush tank!" comments?!?

One final note, watch out for Stan Lee (Hulks creator) and Lou Ferrigno (the original Hulk from the TV series) as security guards about 30 mins in.

Sorry for lack of blogage the last couple of days. I tend not to bother at weekends, but feeling in the mood this evening.

Spent most of today tidying up read for the BIG PARTY next weekend! Much work was done in the garden but it was sooooo damn hot today. Least it gave me a chance to work on my tan. Well, actually in my case more of a chance to try and make the bulk of my pasty white body match the tanned bits around my neck and arms. From the redness of certain parts of my back (he says straining to see in the mirror) I should be a little more brown by tomorrow.

Anyway, garden work was done as was clearing out and tidying up the back porch. Its now spick and span and ready for peope to lounge around in.

Feels good to have had a productive day!

And the award for 'most pathetic excuse of the day' goes tooooo (drumroll)........ this man!!

Very tired today. Tried to get an early night but was woken up early by some bloody noisey birds outside!! On top of that I was having some very funny dreams - but I wont tell you about those.....

Have being trying to help Sparky out this morning. After plugging Summer Sundae 2003 yesterday, I was curious and did a search for it on Google. This is what I found. Now it seems to me that if you search for Summer Sundae, the offical site should be the top result.

So anyway, I have emailed some suggestions to Mark about how to improve the page rank. And during the course of my investigation I may also have found why my page got removed from the Google listing - I may have put some non-relevant keywords in....

This is just weird!!! Nuff said!

I had a look at this link yesterday but didnt post it at the time. Is pretty good tho - turning a work of art into, well.... a different sort of work of art.

Time for a little bit of a plug. Coming up from the 8-10th of August is the Summer Sundae fesitval at De Montfort Hall. I went last year and had a damn good time! Was great to spend 2 days just sat in the sun, drinking plastic pint glasses full of beer and heckling the MC on stage - oh, and listening to the music of course!

I'll admit that this year there aren't as many well known bands as last year - hell, I've not heard of most of them to be honest. Still, there are more stages this year, and just cos you havent heard of these bands, doesn't mean they aren't any good. Some of the best acts I saw last year were ones I'd not heard about before. Besides, Alabama 3 are on, and I'd be up for going just to see them ('Hypo Full of Love' is a great song)!

Anyway, thats my pluggage done. And if Sparky ever gets round to sending me the files I need, you might even see a short promo Flash movie for it, from me.

Ok, this is just weird. Not sure what the point is, but go take a look anyway.
Hint: Its an animation involving someone on the toilet.

Thursday already - how did that happen? Sooo tired, was intending to have an early night yesterday, but went round to see Mark and found that Matt Archer was visiting. Not seen him since Marks wedding 2 years ago...

Anyway, spent well over an hour entertaining Ellen, thier 3 year old daughter. We sat on the sofa looking thro all the exciting books she could find on the bookshelf (after she discared the English Dictionary, a french phrase book and Shakespears Sonnets as boring). Pretty easy to do when its Mr Bump, but you try making '100 Recipies with Tea' exciting for a little girl ("oooh look, an apricot and green tea sorbet - doesn't that look nice!?")!

So struggled out of bed this morning, dragged myself to work and have so far managed to achieve very little. Least no one is around to notice!

Oooh, if you didnt follow that link above to the Mr Men site, I would recommend you do. Its full of some great stuff. You can make your own Mr Man (or Little Miss), find out interesting fact (did you know Mr Tickle was the first Mr Man, and that the worm in the books is called Walter!) and mucho other Mr Men goodness.

I remember showing an episode of Spongebob Squarepants to some friends a while ago to show them what cartoons were like nowdays. By the end of it they were totally confused! I think more wine would have helped to make the weirdness make more sense....

If you already know about Spongebob, maybe you could join The Church of Spongebob Squarepants.

Safe to say that its a good job that his trousers dont spilt when he turns into the Hulk

Hmmmm, I seem to have a smutty theme going today!? Not my fault, just happens to be the links I find. I'll look for something nicer....

And I wouldnt want to miss you ladies out, so tell me, are you a sex Godess?? No I mean it, please tell me.

One for the lads. Are you a Sex God?

I wont tell you what my result was (unless you ask nicely).

Ahhh, feel better after a bit of a rant. Sorry about that. Have been active and tidied up all the junk in the room now - will just probably take them 6 months to remove it...

First link of the day - Test Your Senses.

How did I know I was gonna end up being the one that gets the stick for stuff thats been going on in my section. Always the same.....

Let me explain. Couple of weeks ago I was asked to get someone from my section to remove all this very old computer kit to make room for some new stuff. I allocated the task to a couple of my minions and they did the job. Being bored and not liking to throw stuff away they 'borrowed' the old stuff - with the blessing of my boss - and set about building thier own little network. As they were given the stuff by 'he who is my direct boss' and he often came to check up on what they were up to, I let them get on with it - mainly cos it kept them busy (it is very boring at work at the moment) and I wasn't really interested to be honest.

Now my boss has asked me to have words with them to find out what they are doing and tell them that he wants the old stuff thrown out sooner or later. On top of that one of the blokes has been emailing other senior section heads asking for more pc's to add to thier little network - all without my knowledge. This has led to my BIG boss having words with me - I assume he feels I'm not controlling my section.

So although I didnt start it and didnt encourage it, I'm now responsible for it. Pah!!! Thats whats so f**king annoying about this job. My position as section head is not taken seriously until either:
a) There's some crap job that no one else wants to do - ie. "So can I leave the disposal of this rubbish to you!?"
b) Something goes wrong.

I suppose I should take the job seriously but I just cant be bothered to put the effort in when I know they couldn't really care less.

I dont know about you, but I could never manage to get more than two sides of my Rubix Cube done when I was a kid. Just never seemed to have the patience (or skill) to finish it. If you wre like me and would like another crack at it, then now's your chance with this online rubix cube.

Ever get really annoyed by the.... well..., annoying paperclip icon 'Clippy' that MS uses for its Office Assistant? Well, now it's time to get your own back with this game.

I have decided to add a Disclaimer to my page as some people seem to blame me for the content here stopping them from working.....

Dear god I think these might be real. They are Earglasses!!! As it says in the ad, No Batteries. No Noise. No Discomfort.. Shame you'll just look like a complete tosser really.....

This is fairly odd. A squirrel and a penguin in a musical duel. Starts off slow but gets better (tho I think the end might be broken).....

I'll throw this in just for the hell of it!

I'm sure its an important scientific survey.

Yesterday was a pretty heavy post, so today - something light!

This story almost makes me want to believe!! Well, maybe if it hadn't caused $20,000 of damage I'd be more convinced.....

Had a very lazy day today. Actually its been a lazy weekend to be honest. I did manage to do some manual work in the garden in preparation for the bouncy castle. For manual work read using a spade to remove all the prickly things from where its going to go. Bouncy castle + prickly things = holes = not good. Was warm work so I was stripped to the waist for a while tho that didnt last long cos I forgot to wear a belt and without a t-shirt my trousers kept slipping down.....

Anyway, much of the time today that I wasn't parading around half naked in the garden, I was checking out some of the other blogs around the place. Although most people dont seem to believe me (well most people have no idea what I'm even talking about when I use the term 'blog'), the blogging phenomenon is starting to snowball. Just like back in the days when the old interweb took off and loads of people set up a personal webpage - blogging is becoming very popular. The difference is that a webpage took some effort to set up and maintain and most examples contained nothing but loads of animated gif's, a few pictures of friends and family and the odd paragraph of waffle along the lines: My name's Becky. I'm 19. I have a lovely boyfriend and a pet cactus called Barry. Here are some exciting links. More updates soon!!!! etc...... Not very exciting, but dont just take my word for it, go check for yourself. Pick a name and run a Google search for 'PersonsName Homepage'. For instance here are the results for Becky Homepage.

Now blogging is different. Its easy to set up and even easier to maintain. You just log in, type what you want to say and press the 'Publish' button and voilla - instant webpage update. And thats the good thing, it is so easy that people will keep updating them. Of course there are different types of blogger. Some just post links to stuff they find on the internet. Others are there for a reason - to keep people updated/informed about some project or holiday or club or whatever. Others are like mine and have a bit of everything - a place for links, personal waffle, keep people updated about stuff etc. The majority tho just use them as a place to pour out all that stuff that goes on inside them - made easier cos they know they its unlikely people will ever see it!!

And thats what I've been looking at today (yeah, I bet you wondered when I was going to get to the point). You get to be the ultimate voyeur and find out all about someone you are never going to meet. Its kinda strange. I wont post links to some of the stuff I've found cos I think that would just be cruel - its not for me to say "Look at this" and advertise someone elses feelings. It can be interesting tho to read about other peoples lives - so many teenagers and thier outpourings about how the world is soooo bad, how lonely they are, how no one understands them and everyone hates them. Was I that bad back then? Maybe? Probably!

Anyway, if you can get past the WeIrD wAy ThaT SoMe Of ThEm LiKe To eXPrEsS ThEmSelVeS (try reading pages of that crap!!), the way some type everything like its a text messages (not sure they even know how to spell half the words they use properly) and the other oddness (like the girl that kept talking to 'Nicky' and saying how much she loved him, asking when he was coming to visit and telling him everything that was going on in her life. Thought it was her boyfriend for a while until I realised it was some bloke out of a boy band...) - you might find something interesting? Try Blogger and 20Six as both have links to recently modified blogs on thier pages that are updated constantly. Always something new to see and you never know when you might find something genuinely funny, interesting, sad, thought provoking or just weird.

Phew, on that note I wish you a good night.

Nobody has told me if they like my new blog layout yet. Just send me an email to tell me how fantastic it is - and of course how wonderfull I am!

Urghhhhh, little too much wine last night methinks. A night of not nice dreams hasn't really helped either....

Anyway, my heads not that bad really - another cup of tea and some breakfast in a bit and I should be fine. It was a good night tho. Mark, Lee, Zoe and Steve came round for a bbq in the garden, and this time we used proper self lighting bags of charcoal so we didnt have to wait for 2 hours to get some heat!! We had some nice 70's cheese on the stereo - including a few songs I downloaded especially for a little tribute session to the late great Barry White who died yesterday.

After the food eating was over we decided that a nice fire would be good, so we raided the big pile of dead wood at the back of the garden, stacked it up and then poured the hot bbq coals over them. A good 10 minutes of tag team blowing by me and Steve and we finally got a roaring fire going!! Then followed a 20 minute period with the girls from next door (plus a friend) leaning over the fence and annoying us with constant "Thats a big fire!", "We lost our ball, have you seen it?" and "Can I have a tomato?" comments. To make matter worse the main culprit to me sounded like Janet Street-Porter with a Leicester accent! We ignored them for the most part in the hope that they would get bored and go away, but think maybe next time we need to come up with some form of deterrent (can you imagine what they will be like when they see our bouncy castle?). A large water pistol seemed a good option - altho I'm still tempted by the idea of some wire along the top of the fence, 240V of mains electricity and a large switch I could throw at the appropriate moment........

Anyway, when they finally got bored and p**sed off, we had a great time sat around the fire, eating chocolate cake, roasting bananas, drinking wine and of course poking the fire and trying to set light to stuff (its a man thing). Happy days!!

My first ever late night blog! Just sat in the garden (well, obviously not this exact second cos I'm sat by my computer) with a big fire, banana's, wine, chocolate cake and some good friends. A good night indeed!!

Just so you dont think I'm leaving you without any entertainment (how would you survive), I found this for you - The Insaniquarium. Its pretty easy to keep your little fishies happy at the start of the game but it gets harder pretty quickly as you progress.

Morning all. As you can see I'm still making a few changes to the blog layout (altho if you dont bother coming here very often you'd not notice).

I know I've been pretty slack the last few days, so am trying to be better today. Think its this whole 'work' thing. Its soooo dull most of the time - finding it very hard to be motivated when I'm there. Dont think I've been particularly helpfull to anyone on the helpdesk this week!! Think I need a long holdiday............

Phew. Having spent the last day and a half fiddling with the layout of this page, I am getting close to having finished. Okay there is still some work to do but I thought I should at least make the page workable again first and then fiddle some more with minor changes.

Was tougher than I thought. Didn't want to go down the road of using tables so decided to try making the layout with 'div' tags - and that wasn't easy!!!! Like I said it still needs a bit of work but I think I'm getting there.

Sorry for lack of bloggage. Working on a site revamp. Back soon.....

Bouncy castle is now booked and invites sent to a fair few people. Its a big bouncy castle too (15' x 15') so much bouncy fun goodness shall be had I think....

Sometimes I think people are getting more stupid. Had a man tell me earlier he was having problems transfering some pictures to a CD (cos they wouldnt go on a floppy disk). I asked him if he had a cd-writer on his pc, and he says "whats that??". I have to wonder if he was just waving the CD at the computer in the hope that they would copy over....

And when I asked him how big the files that he was trying to transfer were, he says "About A4 size........."

Last one for the minute. Modern day bounty hunter Duane 'Dog' Chapman was arrested in Mexico whilst trying to nab Andrew Luster - convicted rapist and heir to the Max Factor fortune.

I like the bit where his partner says "He unselfishly sacrificed himself to make sure Andrew Luster was captured, and the United States has turned their back on him and has just left him there". Guess the $200,000 reward had nothing to do with him trying to capture the bloke......

I really dont know what this advert has to do with Lipton Iced Tea?? Maybe you can figure it out (if you speak Chinese)....?

This is just a very odd game from the BBC. It took me several minutes to even learn how to return the ball.....

Drinking last night?? Got a hangover? I have the perfect cure for you.....

Library helpdesk - ah its a wonderfull job. Well okay it used to be when all the students were around and there was something to do. Now its just dead - been here for almost an hour and not had to help anyone yet.

Went to the Old Horse pub quiz last night. You wouldn't believe how badly we did - think we are slowly getting worse!

When I was round at Zoe's house for dinner the other day we were having this conversation and it set me thinking about a story. A story about Tommy, a little boy with a secret. You see, little Tommy has a cupboard, but this isn't just any old cupboard - its a magic cupboard! For when Tommy is hungry he just opens the door and there - at the back in the darkness - is a cake. Or maybe a triffle. Or any pudding that Tommy desires.

Wish I had a magic cupboard.......

Another game for you to try. Gets harder.

A very quick game that might keep you occupied for a couple of min's. My best time was 13 seconds.....

Cartoons. I love 'em!! So this is a great page to find a complete and illustrated list of all the acme products. Never know when you might need a 'Hen Grenade'!!

Been a little slack updating this today. Guess it doesn't really matter as I dont think that many people look, and probably not in the morning anyway.

Still feeling a little tired today - hopefully will perk up before the pub quiz tomight. Didnt go last week, so need to make sure we go today. Also have to measure the garden again when I get home to see about getting a bouncy castle in there. We can get one that is 15' x 15' but that is pushing our space to the limit. Big is good tho (so I'm told) and I'm looking forward to a good bounce. Yay!!!