Joe Blogs: October 2009

Saturday, October 31, 2009

"You Know I'm No Good"

After trick-or-treating yesterday with the children, I have to admit I wasn't completely honest when stating that a hero's work is never done! I returned them to their mother but headed into London for an organised Halloween party with Snow White, who was my date for the evening!

Just imagine the headlines in the Daily Bugle, Mary Jane would also be devastated by this developing story and I expect that there would be seven dwarfs with an axe to grind! Not that the "friendly neighborhood" hero was contemplating any backlash because he was only interested in laughing and experiencing the good times!

There was plenty of laughter on the agenda, it was great that everyone had made so much effort and my friends place had been completely transformed to represent the spirit of Halloween! Many friends from work were involved and there were a few that had travelled a distance to participate. I'm sure that someone even mentioned that their teacher had arrived to make an appearance but I didn't encounter their presence! A thoroughly enjoyable evening although the late night wasn't convenient considering the amount of travelling on the agenda today!!

Friday, October 30, 2009

I Fight Crime But This Is Family Time...

Image by joedawson via Flickr

Newcastle is the destination this weekend, to celebrate a birthday, Halloween and to participate in the Carnage event! I decided that I would take the children trick-or-treating tonight instead because I wouldn't be available! They looked amazing and I was really impressed with the effort. It was all about the participation so I collected a Spiderman costume from a friend to become a feature as well! It was a BIG look!!

On route to our 'trick-or-treating plot' I had to purchase some petrol! People appeared to be in disbelief that sometimes Spiderman spends time with family and travels in a Ford Focus! A great exchange followed with the cashier when I went to make payment -

"So is the costume for Halloween?"

"No sorry, this is my work attire, I fight crime!"

The cashier attempted to remain composed and take the payment but the excessive shaking and facial expressions were an instant giveaway! Laughter should not be ingested because it does have adverse affects!! Moving onwards, the evening was a success considering that I had opted for the day prior to Halloween! Many had made preparations and were keeping with tradition but there were a few who reminded us that we were early! It was a cold evening so I returned them both home frozen and ready for Pizza! A hero's work is never done, somewhere there is a crime taking place.....

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Reader Introduces Magic

Image by filiph via Flickr

Google Reader introduced two changes last week to assist us with discovering more interesting content faster. Any improvements to Google Reader are usually well received as they enhance the functionality of the feed reader. We all need to experience 'Magic' in our lives and the Google Reader team have obliged with a setting to "Sort by magic" under the "Feed settings" menu. This re-orders items in the feed based on our personal usage, and overall activity in Reader, instead of default chronological order.

The other change is the introduction of an 'Explore' section, I'm impressed with this more than the ability to use 'Magic'. Can anything really be more popular than magic? I expressed recently a desire to expand my reading preferences and this feature provides a suitable method of discovery through the "Recommended sources". This uses our Reader Trends and Web History (if you're opted into Web History) to generate a list of feeds which should be relevent. "Popular items" uses algorithms to find top-rising images, videos and pages from anywhere (not just our subscriptions), and orders them by our preferences. Google Reader continues to evolve and the latest enhancements I feel will become a primary method of how I discover content on the Internet!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Google Social Search

Image by metaroll via Flickr

Google is always experimenting with new features aimed at improving the search experience. Today, the Google Labs experiment Social Search which was announced last week has been made available. Google Social Search helps you find more relevant public content from your broader social circle -

Sign in to Google and do a search. If there's relevant web content written by people in your social circle, it will automatically show up at the bottom of your search results under a section called "Results from people in your social circle."

To learn more about how Social Search works behind the scenes, including the choices and control you have over the content you see and share, read the help center article or watch the below videos.

I'm disappointed that Facebook aren't featured considering the amount of friends that interact through the social network but we must not question this decision. It's clear that there is a impass between the two companies and the open web needs to overcome this hurdle to progress. I understand the reasons because Facebook want to control the information and activity shared within the social network. If they hand over the keys to Google then with the walls down how will that affect the foundations they're building?! Let me know what you think about Social Search, does it present any value or does the experimental feature need to be fine tuned..

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Indiana Jones Doesn't Like Sundays

Image via Wikipedia

Any quest requires an iconic look, wry sense of humour, deep knowledge of many ancient civilizations and languages, and a fear of snakes?!

Not too sure about the fear of snakes as it was always unlikely that I would encounter any in the local area but we reserved the sentiment just in case one should make an appearance! Lets focus on the iconic look as the bullwhip, fedora, and leather jacket approach would have been flattering but I opted instead for a tuxedo! I wouldn't promote the sense of humour as sarcastic or mocking but it's vaguely along the same line. The understanding of civilizations and languages is my speciality, through social networks there aren't boundaries anymore just those that aren't real-time and those who we must be patient with at all times! FACT!!

Arrived at the venue at approximately 20:00 hours and proceeded into the establishment. It wasn't long until we were interacting with those in attendance, I recall softly kissing another man intimately on the cheek. It was always going to be one of those nights! The primary objective was to introduce ourselves to an individual that has inspired us this month. It wasn't until we arrived upstairs that we were greeted by destiny! Although the introduction could have been better received as we were humble and honest but the presentation clearly frightened the talented individual. The following attempt provided a similar outcome but we made a breakthrough as we made contact through telecommunications to offer ourselves as friends!

"It's the guys that you just passed on the stairs.."

"How did you get my number?"

"That's not important, what do you want to drink?"

"Blackcurrant.."

"WTF?!"

"Okay, Blackcurrant and Vodka..."

"That's even worse..."

We were then introduced to the entourage and the acceptance was overwhelming, the burden of expectation had been cast from our shoulders and we felt proud! Presented with the photo opportunity we weren't going to resist the chance to capture the memorable occasion to share with friends and relatives. We were disappointed that more people didn't attend as there was considerable interest but I'm sure those that had confirmed had their reasons! Afterwards we returned to the promised land and were to be greeted by the expected admiration and excitement! The evening provided many opportunities, adventures and I feel that we could possibly even advance into the lucrative American market! Has anyone seen the bullwhip?!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Decisions

Image by Torcello Trio via Flickr

Every decision making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an opinion of choice. After watching the Wizards of Waverly Place this evening I decided to head out for the evening to Shoreditch. I'm not sure what rationality led to this invariant choice but it certainly wasn't a Magic mirror on the wall!

Although the iPhone has become an extension of this fully poseable action figure physique, I still don't utilise the full range of functionality provided by the applications. If I did then I would have avoided the road works and probably ended up at another location. Although organisation aside, sometimes it's better to see what opportunities present themselves without any plans or knowing what's around the corner! Shoreditch provided a decent evening and even though I attempt to be innovative with my appearance, I wasn't comparable with the trendy kids around Old Street! Not sure why so many people were gathering around a shoe store but will definitely return to investigate another evening!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Your Upgrades Have Arrived...

Image via Wikipedia

Facebook claim that their main priority is helping us stay on top of what is going on with the people and things that we care about most. Although social networks are seen as unproductive, they have become an integral part of how we communicate with our family and friends.

Today Facebook have launched some changes to the home page that aim to simplify our experience by offering two views of News Feed:

News Feed
When you log into Facebook, you'll see the most interesting things that happened in the last day in the "News Feed" view. News Feed picks stories that we think you'll enjoy based on a variety of factors including how many friends have liked and commented on it and how likely you are to interact with that story.

Live Feed
Once you've caught up on what you missed, you can click through to "Live Feed" to see what's happening right now. As long as you remain logged into Facebook, you'll continue to see posts and activity from your friends in real-time. You can edit what appears in this view by clicking "Edit Options" at the bottom of the home page.

Facebook have limited the number of friends shown in Live Feed to 250 people but you can control how many you want shown. Scroll to the bottom of the feed and click on “Edit Options.” Here you can manually adjust the settings, a higher number means you will see new posts more frequently! Suggestions has also been improved, providing the ability to reconnect with friends and assist those who haven't made much progress. There will be the inevitable negative feedback but I rate this approach, what do you think of the latest changes?

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Twitter Lists Preview

Image by Vincent J. Brown via Flickr

Twitter Lists have gone live for my account and I agree with the header that it's a great way to organise the people you follow and discover new and exciting accounts. I have followed a few lists created by the usual suspects and also created one briefly to group people that I know personally! This feature has long been requested and the introduction finally adds the ability to control the stream of updates!

My preference when interacting with friends/followers on Twitter is through desktop clients and applications. I have read that the Lists API is supposed to be impressive and will allow developers to add support for Lists into our favorite Twitter apps. I agree with the view that the introduction of Lists adds a new layer of meta data and makes it much easier for the search engines (especially following the Microsoft’s Bing and Google search engine deal) to quickly crunch the data for search queries! The Twitter blog states that they are just doing limited testing for now. But once they have tested the feature out a bit, they will launch it for all accounts!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Google To Launch Music Service

Image by Ferrari + caballos + fuerza = cerebro Humano via Flickr

Several sources are reporting that Google will partner with Lala, iLike and 'Others' to launch a new music service. The announcement date is Wednesday, October 28, 2009! Google have sent out invitations to the event and the information available at the moment indicates that this service will be integrated into Search!

The invitation, titled “Discover Music!” says announcements will be followed by performances, and that Lala, iLike “& Others” are hosting. The “& Others” includes Google, we’ve heard from multiple sources, and the new service will be unveiled. All four major music services are backing the service.

I have really embraced Spotify and Last.fm lately so this service will have to provide something really amazing and innovative. The portfolio of products and services from Google continues to expand all the time. One ring to rule them all or are they spreading themselves to thinly across too many areas?!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The Incredible Journey

Image via Wikipedia

I was presented with an incredible journey yesterday morning. I ventured out over the weekend and instead of carrying everything I decided to just take the required cards! Bad decision, well actually it was convenient but arriving at London Bridge Station I suddenly realised that although I had the wallet I wasn't able to progress any further without any cards on my possession!

Coincidentally I had just updated a social network status that I absolutely loved Monday's! I will know better in future!!

With no alternative other than to travel home I began the return journey back in the opposite direction to the intended destination. Due to signal problems affecting the line I was delayed a further thirty minutes before I arrived at the station. As the connecting train was cancelled/delayed, I decided to walk to where I had parked the car. This section of the journey was fine, I travelled home and collected 'the package' before heading back to the station. Further delays and line problems meant that I eventually arrived to work three hours and fifteen minutes late which is a record by any standard you have to admit! The moral of the story is please check your baggage at the door...

Monday, October 19, 2009

Twitter Scares Hollywood

Image by Joe Penniston via Flickr

I learnt that Hollywood still doesn’t get social media, studios are scared that actors could be leaking sensitive material through social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Instead of embracing the exposure and marketing potential they have decided to insert clauses in their contracts forbidding them from reaching out to their followers and fans.

This could also explain Miley Cyrus’ Twitter exit earlier this month. The Disney talent contracts forbids confidentiality breaches via “interactive media such as Facebook, Twitter, or any other interactive social network or personal blog.” Dreamworks are restraining eager writers with a similar clause in their contracts regarding sharing of press releases on “a social networking site, blog or other Internet-type site.”

I understand that they want to control their asset but I enjoy reading about Woody the Cowboys wild nights out and what Snow White thinks of eating out without the seven dwarfs. The ability to interact with people on a personal level enhances the brand and raises the profile. Hollywood needs to move into the modern age!!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Wave Preview

Image by mightyb via Flickr

Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. Google Wave is currently in a limited preview, I managed to secure an invitation courtesy of @wilk3sy!!

I'm impressed, the real-time interaction is incredible, friends at work feel that I'm easily convinced when it comes to everything tech and new but I feel that Google Wave has massive potential. Whether it will become a replacement for email, instant messenger or become a collaboration standard the online tool has me convinced! I would be interested in participating with a large number of people in a wave, jump into conversations and playback the wave to see who said what and when! If you are also using Google Wave, I'm interested to read about your thoughts! Do you feel that it will eventually replace email?

For Every Action There Is A Reaction

Image by Dude Crush via Flickr

First impressions create a lasting opinion or mental image. I have often wrote about the disconnects between our 'brand' the way we're perceived online and in real-life. How we act differently and feel a sense of freedom online that seems to compensate for the restrains we might feel in the real world.

For example the de facto Facebook profile has become a curriculum vitae. Here we are now, entertain us! The best-of-collection profile photos, predictable album featuring standard photographs that have been heavily vetted, throw in the shoe perspective, preparation photo and we have the brand. Not one for norms, straight no chasing, I attempt another angle; Is the glass half empty or half full? Neither...

Saturday night; points, skinnies and bowtie, the objective to 'act different and feel a sense of freedom' in the real world and eventually arrive home wearing the proverbial and yet metaphoric t-shirt! Mission accomplished!! The theme was to celebrate a friends birthday, he's crossed the barrier - 31 years old - and into the unknown wilderness! Everything was everything until we arrived at the nightclub!

Last night these two bouncers, and one of em's alright! The other one's the scary one! His way or no way, totalatarian!! ~ Arctic Monkeys

Advised that the evening was ladies night, I couldn't resist, promptly made our entrance and after indulging in chocolate at the bar -random- I duly made my way onto the dancefloor. My presence here was accompanied by screams of enthusiasm and excitement! Those in attendance thought that I was the next act, a stripper ready to share myself with them!! These women were wild!!! After the exhibition, involving the obligatory Usain Bolt pose, I introduced composure and participated in the birthday proceedings. I definitely experienced freedom through the remainder of the evening and the photo album will be testament to that although I'm slightly disappointed that we didn't present the shoe perspective!

Friday, October 16, 2009

We're Looking For....

Image by Roscoe Van Damme via Flickr

Today was unique, I started with an adapted morning routine but then stumbled across the story of Falcon Heene. The six year old boy was feared to have been carried away in a wayward homemade helium balloon. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide watched on live TV and on the Internet as the situation unfolded. Whatever happened to kids falling down wells?! Anyway predictably the boy came out of hiding, having climbed up the rafters in the garage and hid there after his father chastised him for climbing into the balloon earlier in the day.

Falcon will now forever be immortalized as the "Balloon Boy" and sparked a massive media sensation. I have a feeling that this will become a huge viral success and also that the parents will likely be charged for their involvement in what many are referring to as a hoax!

Having started the day with "Balloon Boy" it was fitting to actually bring the curtain down with a real superhero. Enjoying an evening with friends, through the consumption of alcohol the night progressed and fancy dress costumes were introduced. Driving around after midnight with Spiderman occupying the backseat, asking innocent bystanders if they had encountered the Green Goblin was an emphatic conclusion!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Add Lists To Rule Them All..

Image by koalazymonkey via Flickr

Twitter Lists have been made available to a select number of users. I'm not sure of the selection process but I presume SUL or influential industry figures! The feature sounds intriguing and the ability to group the people that we follow has been requested since I began using Twitter.

Admittedly a number of third-party sites and services have solved this problem but this has been seen as an attempt to not only organise but also drive users back to the web interface.

TechCrunch have an article about the new feature and they also have screen shots available which show what will be available! For further details on Twitter's biggest feature update yet, The Next Web have information available on How Twitter Lists Work.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

iPhones Have Layers

Image via Wikipedia

I acknowledged the potential of augmented reality recently, the combination of real-world and computer-generated data (virtual reality), where computer graphic objects overlap real footage in real-time. Who doesn't want this in their lives, I mean writing the introduction to this post I even feel smarter already!

Today Layar, which was first launched in June 2009 in the Netherlands, has finally arrived on the iPhone. If you have an iPhone 3GS you will now be able to experience the concept of augmented reality. It’s free and available globally through the App Store! I'm intrigued by Layar as the ability to overlap footage with directions, discover restaurants, places of interest and much more is useful and innovative! I'm interested to read more feedback on this to determine whether this is a game changer or whether it's still too soon for augmented reality to receive mainstream adoption!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day...

Image via Wikipedia

Although I haven't -yet- upgraded to Spotify Premium, I believe that the popular streaming music company presents the future for the music industry! The company co-founder Daniel Ek recently shared his thoughts on the last twelve months acknowledging that 'Overnight success takes a long time'. Although it's been an interesting year within the music industry many have questioned whether the Spotify business model is sustainable one.

It appears that a revenue model that doesn’t devalue music is what Ek cares more than most about. The Spotify business model is, and has been since launch, more about the mix of subscription and ad support! Referring to iTunes, which missed its revenue targets in its first year by 30%, and label executives were far from convinced that this was the future. We all know how well that story turned out! Spotify are in this for the long haul and aren’t interested in just trying to hype the company and then “flipping it”. Success in the music industry takes time and the comparisons with iTunes may be wrong but the point is clear!

Overnight success takes a long time. To quote Daft Punk - work it harder, make it better, do it faster, makes us stronger, more than ever, hour after hour, our work is never over.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Good Business Is The Best Art..

Image by joedawson via Flickr

Tate Modern has brought together artists from the 1980s onwards who have embraced commerce and the mass media to build their own 'brands'. Pop Life includes Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and more. I admire Warhol, I'm inspired by his vision which has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, and feature and documentary films.

I travelled to the Tate Modern with my children to experience the exhibition and was really impressed. Although admission to three of the rooms is restricted due to the featured work being of a 'challenging and sexual nature' there is more than enough available to engage! Warhol’s most radical lesson is reflected in the work of artists of subsequent generations who, rather than simply representing or commenting upon our mass media culture, have infiltrated the publicity machine and the marketplace as a deliberate strategy. I recommend this exhibition and I will definitely return again to experience what's available before the closing date!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

What Happens In Mordor...

Image via Wikipedia

We were prepared to enjoy the heart of Mayfair, described as quite simply the ultimate night out in London! Embassy was supposed to be our destination but it wasn't meant to happen and instead this story takes place in the context of historical events in 'Middle-earth'.

Not unlike how the novel begins with Frodo Baggins inheriting the Ring from Bilbo, we went straight for the Gin. Both of us were unaware of its origins but we travelled from ~~the Shire~~ home through the ~~Old Forest~~ ASDA car park, and after passing the ~~Barrow-downs~~ trolleys we stopped for a night in the town of ~~Bree~~ Bexleyheath! It was like destiny had entwined our paths with this journey through Middle-earth! We were to be joined here by someone that would act as guide and protector and I believe we found him as we made our way towards the bar. I thought the night went well although according to the Lord of the Rings we narrowly escaped being attacked by the Ringwraiths. The Ringwraiths didn't attack so I can only presume that the guide and protector served his purpose at this point of the night!

Unlike the hobbits we travelled to another venue and carried on the evening, I was most impressed with the events that transpired. The Council of Elrond revealed some significant history but we weren't in any condition to react accordingly, instead we choose to participate in a karaoke session! This must have offended the Council because they decided that the threat of Sauron is too great and that the best course of action is to destroy the Ring! I felt this was a complete overreaction to be honest! The Fellowship was comprised of nine members, there were two of us remaining as the night concluded. The following conversation was the defining chapter -

"Where are you..."

"Outside the Job Centre eating Chinese!"

"No... Where are you..."

"Outside the Job Centre eating Chinese!"

"Seriously, where are you..."

"Outside the Job Centre eating Chinese!"

"Where are you Joe..."

To be continued......

Friday, October 09, 2009

Who's Says The Sequel Is Never Better Than The Original?

Image of Twitter

The Twitter client that redefined Twitter clients has returned and Tweetie 2.0 is even better than the original. My timeline on Twitter became a discussion board for Tweetie 2.0 as the news circulated and everyone discussed the enhanced functionality and design.

This update was made available as a complete new build as the client was rewritten from the ground up with a fast and powerful new core. As the iPhone app has been rebuilt it's available as a premium download and doesn't replace Tweetie instead operating independent. I have both version installed but I have no reason to return to the former as Tweetie 2.0 offers many features and functionality that leave us spoilt for choice.

I would have liked push notifications and the ability to create lists but I suspect that with Twitter introducing Lists soon that we may see that made available through the API. Overall I feel this is the best Twitter client available at the moment by some distance and you need this in your life -

Seamlessly handle multiple Twitter accounts
Explore all of Twitter, from your own timeline and mentions, to the favorite tweets of your followers and friends
Full persistence: more than just caching tweets, Tweetie 2 restores your entire UI if you quit or get a phone call
Fantastic new offline mode. Read, tweet, favorite, follow, save to Instapaper and more even when you don't have a connection. Your actions will be synced as soon as you go back online
Full landscape support (configurable of course)
Live-filter your tweet stream
Post photos and videos, even configure your own custom image host
Vastly improved compose screen with recent hashtags, @people picker, URL shortening and more
Compose screen multiple-attachments manager
Drafts manager ensures you never lose a tweet (and you can even send drafts to Birdhouse)
Link Twitter contacts to Address Book contacts
Follow, unfollow, block and unblock from multiple accounts simultaneously
Saved searches sync with Twitter.com and the upcoming Tweetie 2 for Mac
Autocomplete recent searches and Go-to-user
Threaded Direct Messages and improved conversation navigation
TextExpander integration
Rich integration with Follow Cost, Tweet Blocker, Favstar.fm and more
Edit your own Twitter profile
Specify custom API roots on a per-account basis
Nearby map view
Translate tweets
Preview short URLs
Safari bookmarklet support for easily sharing links
In-app rich text email composition
Tons of little things, including improved avatar caching, auto-refresh, refresh-all, seamless Twitlonger support, hashtag definitions and more
This is just the beginning. Tweetie 2 is already built to take advantage of great new features coming from Twitter, so expect updates turning them on soon!

Thursday, October 08, 2009

I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose

Image by Ian Wilson via

Not to be confused with the Indian Restaurant, Bombay Bicycle Club are an indie rock band from Crouch End, London. This evening I travelled to Heaven, their debut album I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose has really caught my ears attention lately so I had to attend! I arrived and met the person I had courted on Gumtree for his available ticket!

He seemed surprised that I wasn't female, I understand the thought process behind this conclusion because of the standard x text message closing character! Even though it was at my expense, I participated in the humor from the group and acknowledged that it was misleading! After the exchange I travelled onwards to meet friends who were also attending the gig and had gathered at a local bar.

To accompany the evening I was interacting with Foursquare, which is now available in London with an iPhone app available through the AppStore. Foursquare is a location-based social network that gives you and your friends new ways of exploring your city. Earn points and unlock badges for experiencing new things and completing tasks from the To-do lists available! I managed to succeed in unlocking a few badges but the majority of my Foursquare friends aren't based in London so not much interaction!

Eventually arriving at the venue, we were greeted by Jack Steadman, the Bombay Bicycle Club frontman, announcing "It's good to be back home," to the capacity crowd. They then began to play through a one-hour set which was energetic, infectious and involved plenty of hand-clapping and singing along to the choruses! Evening/Morning, Dust On The Ground, What If, Always Like This and Cancel On Me were beautiful with vocals that captivated and a performance that inspired! They also played a new track Ode To Lucy which was well received. This was an emphatic performance and they definitely take on a more ambient feel live than on record. You need to experience Bombay Bicycle Club live! My evening took on a completely unexpected direction at this point but just like Cinderella I was hope before midnight!

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Touch The Sky...

Image by Eman Hurtado via Flickr

Proactively the children's mother has introduced extra curricular activities for our son. He will now receive assistance in his education by a local headteacher who provides home tutoring for children. He attends a weekly session and today he received a star in recognition for the work he had completed!

I'm really encouraged by his recent progress and through the feedback that has been provided it's another positive development. At times it's been difficult with motivation but he has really embraced this opportunity and works well with the tutor. The school also continue to provide email updates, although there isn't full disclosure I appreciate being kept informed. Enhancements to communication tools continue to innovate and hopefully when the children progress onto secondary school there will be better methods to track their work and development.

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

The End For Traditional Broadcast Television?

Image by pickledshark via Flickr

England play Ukraine at the weekend, although due to the collapse of Setanta the match will be shown exclusively live over the internet. It will be streamed online rather than broadcast on TV which hopefully won't be the beginning of the end for traditional broadcast television.

I suppose that it was inevitable that this would eventually be considered although we're used to high definition and streaming doesn't provide the same visuals. Perform are the company responsible for streaming the match and they have agreed a deal with Kentaro to provide the match for a minimum fee of £4.99. It's definitely expensive following football and I'm intrigued to see how the Internet debut is received!

Monday, October 05, 2009

New Horizon..

Image by cuellar via Flickr

Recent matters with the Ford Focus I drive have meant that it required some attention. The Ford dealer quoted an excessive amount for the repair work but thankfully my brother was able to assist!

He has experience having worked as a mechanic for several years. He completed the repairs at a fraction of the quoted price so I definitely owe him a favour!! I have applied for a partial MOT test and Wednesday I will learn the results. I'm optimistic as the work has improved the vehicle considerably and it's much better to drive!

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Can You Stay Up For The Weekend?

Image by shin2chi via Flickr

Organisation wasn't exactly outstanding, forget the preparation as the evening started as I walked backwards towards the bus shelter. In a typically vain manner, attempting to prevent the weather conditions from disturbing the hairstyle that I had managed to immaculately produce.

As I staggered towards the shelter, I heard my name and coincidentally it's the friends I was travelling to meet. They had been attacked by sauce throwing youths, although according to the discussion this worked in their favour as there were similar shirts on display so this enabled the changeover!!

Arriving at the Kinky Malinky 'pre-party' was enlightening, I don't really remember too much from last weekend but thankfully many people were at hand to fill in the blanks. 'You're the guy..' Maybe, and I would love to remember but I need assistance to reach that point darling!? I won't be satisfied until technology presents 'There's an App for that..' and enables our lives to be chronologically documented. Random nights will never be the same and through photography, video or maybe even augmented reality - that would be impressive - I would have the opportunity to view the events that transpired! I'm sure that I will have long retired the brogues from the scene when that date arrives. Until then, the objective remains to continue to interact with as many humans* as possible!

There are comparisons with Roald Dahl's classic children's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We required tickets for Kinky Malinky's 11th Birthday but unlike Charlie Bucket we had the iPhone which provided the convenient method to acquire the tickets!

Matter is an exceptional venue and although the queue was excessive we were soon inside. There were many people there that I recognised and I managed some serious mileage as I travelled between conversations and listening to the music. The lighting was really impressive and the sound system pounded the beat as those in attendance danced! I'm Not Alone by Calvin Harris received the reaction of the night and Ghosts N' Stuff by Deadmau5 was another favourite. I'm not used to these all night events anymore so I was thankful for the journey home!! Embassy next weekend...

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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Friday, October 30, 2009

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Monday, October 26, 2009

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Friday, October 23, 2009

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Monday, October 19, 2009

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Friday, October 16, 2009

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Monday, October 12, 2009

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Friday, October 09, 2009

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Monday, October 05, 2009

Sunday, October 04, 2009