Monday, June 13, 2011

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Absolutely brilliant end to the gp. Hard luck to schumi. #f1
After all that, it's looking nice again. Lovely racing. #f1
No huge fan of Schumacher, but great to see him racing again. #f1
After giving up on celery after last week's disaster, I've now developed a love of tomatoes + olive oil + salt & pepper. I may be pregnant.
Canadian Gran Prix looks tasty. Wet race should be fun #f1
Well done to @villagepig for a great boys' 5th birthday party yesterday. All the kids who attended were ace, too. Parents should be proud.

Monday, June 06, 2011

I'm sure that's Alexander Armstrong in game of thrones.
Lots of #kinect announcements at #e3. Hope @villagepig doesn't think this is why the kids got #kinect for their birthday.
Happy Birthday to my little dudes. Can't believe it's been 5 years. You've given back a million times more than you've taken.

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Sepp Blatter IS the emperor.
Never listen to #IronMaiden immediately after listening to #AdamAndJoe. You won't be able to take it seriously.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

That was a long day. Both sons' smart-arse genes appear to have kicked in at an alarming rate.
If you're in London and want a great night out please support @herring1967 by going to aiotm @ leicester square theatre. Hilarious filth.
Today is not the end of the world! That's not till October. Today is just express check-in day.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Monday, May 09, 2011

"He'll be a recurring character". Lance to the neck. Maybe not. #GameOfThrones

Sunday, May 08, 2011

Saturday, May 07, 2011

Friday, May 06, 2011

No to AV campaign's argument was electorate were too thick to understand it. Thanks Britain for proving them right. :( #yes2av *whimper*

Thursday, May 05, 2011

Given a choice between something a bit better or something no better i'll go for the marginal improvement. So I'm voting #yes2av today.

Monday, May 02, 2011

Can't help thinking that Four Lions had a bigger effect on the war on terror than killing Bin Laden #obl

Friday, April 29, 2011

Can't get the beauty and the beast music out of my head.
Harry is so gonna nail Pippa.
Watching wedding coverage on The Wright Stuff (with @DaveGorman). Much more entertaining.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Sad that the most intelligent discussion about av is on the Wright Stuff. Thanks @timminchin and @DaveGorman. Can the news do this now, pls?

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Tough weekend of sick kids. Still, it's the times when your kids need you most that make you realise how much being a parent means to you.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Just watched Four Lions. Funny, sad, sweet and tragic all at the same time. Brave and very, very good. Chris Morris is a genius.
Just completed Dragon Age 2. I know it had it's critics (and i'll admit it had a couple of flaws), but I loved every minute. Great stuff.
Finally getting rid of this cold. #Claire - I'm looking at you.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Wow. RIP Sarah Jane. First Dr Who companion I was aware of. Very sad and shocking news.
If anyone's in any doubt about AV, this might help explain it: http://ping.fm/HXRXk #yes2av

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Love how monarchy going through the male line is discrimination issue, but being head of state through accident of birth isn't.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Just watched Yukiko Horie on BBC news. This is the real story of the tsunami. Enough of this nuclear cr@p.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Wow. Tom Selleck is possibly the coolest man ever #BlueBloods

Monday, April 11, 2011

French con. on Muslim women protesting the banning of the veil - "they need to understand, this is not how we behave in France". Really?

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Friday, April 08, 2011

Social Network was great. Know I'm gonna be thinking about it for a while afterwards, too.

Sunday, April 03, 2011

Hi to all the yummy mummies out there. Hope you have a great day. Especially the yummiest of all, the one I'm married to.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Home alone with the kids. One now has a temperature, other will be lucky if he hasn't broken his nose. It normally goes better than this.
In interviews, Fernando Alonso is played by Ben Stiller #truef1fact
Ross Brawn is Daddy Pig.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Trust our kids to have a best friend called Tom. Three kids. Two look the same. Two are called Tom. Confused.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Think Merrill may be the best character in any game ever.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Happy Birthday, Einstein. In honour of your birthday, can we have more sensible reporting of the actual nuclear risk in Japan?

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Made a lovely chicken chaseurre tonight. Even the brats ate it. #winning

Saturday, March 12, 2011

My God. Why does Alex Jones still have a job on tv?
Sorry there was no comment on #decemberists last night (battery shot). Absolutely fantastic. Plus, @colinmeloy is a very witty man.

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Just watched Sigur Ros - Heima on Sky Arts. Beautiful stuff.

Saturday, March 05, 2011

Van Helsing. Fun film, slightly let down by plastecine cgi. Still... Kate Bekinsale.
Responding to kids' philosophical questions would be so much easier if I was a dogmatic religious type.

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Second helping of my carbonara for Tom. Not sure if that means it was really good or really bland.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Only a matter of time before Obi starts humping cushions. Dude needs to be fixed.
Surprised by The Heartbraker. Should have hated it, but really enjoyed it.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Sunday, February 20, 2011

The King's Speech was absolutely amazing. Totally blown away.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Jennifer's Body was a lot of fun. Never knew where it was gonna go next. Nice.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Monday, February 14, 2011

Desperately resisting the urge to go around spell/grammar correcting people's romantic status messages.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Hot Fuzz was ace. Just want to watch all of Spaced back-to-back now.
I'm disturbed by how much I laugh during Total Wipeout. Hot Fuzz next, methinks.
I'm gonna start DadsNet.

Saturday, February 05, 2011

"The King Is Dead" has met the kids' approval. They're swaying, riding horses round the living room and singing their version of the lyrics.

Monday, January 31, 2011

We prop up an oppressive dictator for years and then have the cheek to worry that his people might democratically elect Islamic extremists?
RIP John Barry.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Tonight's feature presentation: Iron Man.
Check out flushtracker on Friday, need to get septic tank drained on Saturday #irony

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

If anyone is feeling down, the best advice I can offer is "get a kitten".
That's one parent's evening down. Another 16 (at least) to go. Kids have done well, hope they can keep it up ;)
So Andy Gray sacked. Not sure that adds a great deal. Think it would have been better for them to have to interview Massey on air.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Impressed with 10 o'clock show. Funny and refreshing in the way it actually lets interviewees answer questions.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Awful night's sleep as expected. Why are most British hotel room thermostats stuck at about 30 degrees?

Monday, January 17, 2011

Confit of duck, followed by cheese board. Always wondered if I suffered from gout.
Guy on table opposite, eating burger with knife and fork #tryingtoohard
How did we cope, away for work, in restaurants, on our own without smartphones?

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Misfits season 2 watched. Absolutely fantastic. All those who never watched it - you're all fools. Fools I tell ya.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Wow! Kick Ass was brutal. Brilliant, but really f*ckin brutal. Hit Girl was ace.
Welcome Obi to our strange little household. Pics to follow.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Looking forward to f1 in hd next year. Should be v. perdy.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Sausage casserole was bloody lovely tonight. Very proud.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Bizarre, watching Sky News fumbling to separate Arizona shooting from rights' rhetoric.

Sunday, January 09, 2011

Yet more brilliant service from @RicherSounds. Gotta love 'em.

Saturday, January 08, 2011

Friday, January 07, 2011

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Monday, January 03, 2011

Ah, MisFits. Hadn't realised how much I missed you.
Really impressed with Hickory's. Lovely food that isn't too expensive. Kids demolished theirs.

Sunday, January 02, 2011

Oops. I've gone and done a blog post http://ping.fm/IX22W

A year lived

So that was 2010. So it's worth having a look back.

Relationships

Amy and I have now been together for seven years and the itch hasn't set in. We niggle and bitch more than we used to, but we're no less happy together and we can't imagine ever not being together. Besides, I niggle and bitch with everyone more than I used to. I'm a grumpy old man at 37.

As far as friends go, some have come and some have gone. We had to say goodbye to our old childminder as our kids were moving schools and unfortunately it was too hard for her to remain friends with us. Friends that were previously just Amy's came into our life and thankfully, some of them stayed and have become people we couldn't do without.

Being analytical, I'd say it's been a net gain in the relationship stakes ;)

Entertainment

It's been a great year for media. We got to see a couple of fantastic bands (Green Day and Biffy Clyro) and there have been some lovely albums released, Jónsi's Go being a standout.

TV has been pretty good. Some shows that had some real promise have been cancelled (SGU and Caprica) and some look like they might stay around (Walking Dead being a particular highlight). Can't help wondering if we're reaching a tipping point with the way that the popularity of shows is gauged, with Sci-fi shows suffering more than most from downloads not reflecting in the ratings.

Movie-wise, we've seen some good blu-rays thanks to Lovefilm - Moon being a surprise highlight. We also got to see Inception, which I'd honestly put down as one of the films of the decade.

It's been a good year for games, too - especially if you're an RPG fan like myself. We started the year with Dragonage Origins and Mass Effect 2. Two RPGs that contrasted the old style with the new and were both fantastic in their own way. Mass Effect 2 took RPGs to a cinematic level that I hadn't seen before. We ended with Fallout New Vegas, which managed to make subtle changes to the mechanics of Fallout 3 that had a significant effect on the game. Despite it's detractors (some people seemed to be playing a much more buggy game than I was), I still think it's pretty brilliant. The gaming year for me was topped off with Gran Turismo 5, which is the RPG version of a racing game. It's everything I hoped it could be in a racer. There are few gaming feelings better than slotting a couple of corners together properly.

Technology

Given our new sensible approach to spending, it's been a year of saving up for toys and it's been very satisfying. I've become increasing dependent on my iPod and have found a love for all that comes out of Smodcastle. My iPod has been a bit glitchy, which seems to be more to do with my library than the hardware itself and it still has a habit of crashing immediately after being synced and ejected.

The PS3 in March was a great buy, despite only buying my first game for it in December. It's simply a great media player and has finally got me buying movies again.

My new Amp is now nicely settled in, thanks in part to yamaha support who were very helpful. There are still a couple of improvements to make, but things are looking and sounding great right now.

All in all it was a lovely year.

We ended the year in a better position than we started. We're financially a little more comfortable and we're a bit more competent at most of the things that we do. I think this has required a bit of an adjustment from people as we were struggling a lot not so long ago. Perhaps our lack of dependence on others and our increased self-reliance is part of the reason that some of our relationships with others have been a little turbulent.

I hope that those who are still in our lives realise that if you're here now, it's because we want you to be.

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Wow. Brilliant support from yamaha in smoothing out the last couple of niggles in my a/v setup. Very impressed.
Uncle John and Uncle Al fed me too much food. Send help.
This had been one long-ass Christmas.
From was ace. Stunning to look at (and not just Olivia Wilde). Ace soundtrack, too.
Happy New Year, everyone. Did I miss anything?

Stuff

My ugly mug and my beautiful family Geek Stuff