Celebration Europe

AS you can see from the pic yesterday we were at Celebration Europe. We arrived at about 10:45 at the Excel Centre, and just about everyone else on the train was going there as well. As we were walking from the station to the centre we saw the first signs that we were there for Star Wars, when we saw a little kid dressed in a Darth Vader outfit, as we got to the entrance there were some Stormtroopers and Imperial Officers hanging about for fans to have their pics taken with them.

When we got inside the centre, the first sight was a model Death Star followed by a Jabba the Hutt model. To the right was the autograph hall, where they had some of the actors/puppeteers from the films. To the left was the merchandise hall and fan areas. We met up with a friend, Steven, who C has known for many years and who I know from the SFX forums, along with some of his friends. We were all wearing T-shirts C had made for us, though mine was not SW related. We had a bit of a wander round the various stalls and the official CE merchandise area, we managed to meet back up with Steven and another of C's friends at lunch time'ish, before heading to the "One Man Star Wars Show" at 1pm.

We started queuing at 12:30, by which time the queue had already double backed on itself, but we managed to get in ok. The One Man Star Wars Show is basically what it says, one man, Charles Ross, re-enacting scenes from the OT. This was really good and quite funny, though some people couldn't have thought so as there was a constant stream of people leaving during the performance. All in all the show took just over an hour.

After the show we had a bit more of a wander around the main hall looking at all the things people had for sale, as well as picking up some freebies, mainly promotional pamphlets and the like. We had a look at an exhibition of Darth Vader Helmets that had been "modified"/"painted", some of them were pretty good.

We then had more of a wander around which allowed C to finally have her pic taken with various characters from SW, from Stormtroopers and Darth Vader to Obi Wan Kenobi. We then headed outside at about 18:00 for the official opening of CE. They had set up a big screen by the small field area, and at 18:30 the SW music started and we were introduced to Steven Sansweet, fan relations, who gave a speech about how good it was to be here in London etc, he was followed by Mark Hamil and Ian McDiarmuid who introduce Star Wars EpIV A New Hope to loud cheers and appluase. Shortly after this we decided it was time to head home and grab some much needed dinner.

Overall it was a good day, and I'm glad we went, though the one day was more than enough for me, and I think C felt/feels the same.

Tomorrow - Friday 13th

Tomorrow on Friday 13th we go to Celebration Europe at the Excel Centre in London. For those that don't know Celebration is the big Star Wars convention held in America, and for the first time they've decided to hold one in Europe - London.

Seeing as my GF is a big SW fan, I bought her (and myself) a ticket for Friday (though it's actually on for three days, Friday to Sunday). She's really excited about going to this, but me, I'm still not sure if I'm excited by it or not...as I said to her over dinner, I may well take moments away and just sit in a cafe having tea while she wanders around...or something, we'll see.

The tickets themselves weren't that bad, costing approx £21 for a one day adult pass, or about £50 for a three day adult pass. There are a number of SW stars going to be in attendance, including Luke himself, Mark Hammil, though if you want his autograph it's going to cost you £85. Yes that's right £85, alas there will be more than enough people who will queue up for his autograph, personally I think it's disgusting how much they'll be charging.

Metallica

On Sunday, as an early birthday present from my parents, I went to a Metallica concert at Wembley Stadium. So two first for me, first time seeing the fantastic Metallica live, and the first time at the new Wembley Stadium.

The approach to the stadium from the underground station (Wembley Park) has been much improved, with better access to/from the station, the signs were clearly marked for the various entrances around Wembley, and I soon found myself making my way up to the third tier of Wembley to find my seat. Unfortunately this happened to be right at the back of the seating area I was in, had a short bout of dizziness when I first got there, but soon got over that.

The concert itself started at 16:30 with the first support act, Mastadon, I don’t think I’ll be rushing out to buy any of their cd’s, that’s about all I can say for that. Then at about 17:10 came the second support act, Machine Head they came out and played a 30 minute set, again, not really a group I like and again wont be rushing out to buy any of their stuff. Just before the end of their set I decided to make use of the facilities, which surprised me by being quite clean and reasonably plentiful, decided to use the time to grab a bite to eat as well, which wasn’t cheap, paid £7 for a small portion of fish and chips and £2.20 for a medium coke, after this I made my way back to my seat and at approx 18:00 we had the main support act, HIM, and I’ve got to say they were pretty good and played for a good 40 minutes or so. But lets face it, I wasn’t there for the support acts.

After HIM we had a loooong wait from 18:40 to about 19:30, during which time they changed the stage around. I used this time to have a wander round the stadium, and gave into temptation by buying a Metallica T-Shirt for £18. By about 19:20 fans were getting restless and some chants of Metallica started up with whistling and clapping and some Mexican waves, finally at about 19:30 the big screens came on, and they came on out to huge cheers and applause, the crowd were quite literally electrified, it was an awesome moment. They played for nearly two and half hours, with a good mix of classic and newer songs, from Master of Puppets to The Memory Remains.

One of the highlights of the night was when Rob played his bass like the bongos, treating us all to some monster bass. This was shortly followed by The Memory Remains, with the crowd asked to join in, at one point they dimmed the stage lights and just let the crowd sing away, James and Lars looked really moved by this, with some great gestures to the crowd. It was without a doubt a great night, and Metallica were quite simply magnificent live. I decided to leave just before 22:00, and by looking around the web, seems I only missed the one song, but as I didn’t fancy my chances of making my train home with 60 odd thousand other fans pouring into the local underground stations at the same time, I thought it best to leave a little early (I wasn’t the only one mind, the guy who had been sitting next to me left at about 21:00 and didn’t re-appear).

Seems that at the end Lars promised the new album and a new tour for 2008, so I guess I best get saving now for that.

Natures Cry

Such beauty all around
But so few of us truly see
The wonders of nature
Such diversity and passion
A variety of life

From the feel of the wind in your face
To the smell of springs first bloom
The excitement of the young
When winters first snow comes

The simple joy of watching a squirrel
Run across a field, or waking to the song
of birds. Such great tranquility surrounds us
But so few of us truly see.

Then a great roar in the depth of forests
Natures peace so rudely disturbed
As JCB’s and chainsaws are brought to life
To wreak havoc and death to it’s splendour

Huge plumes of smoke high in the sky
As our factories and homes spew forth great filth
Nature itself left to wonder, as the seas and oceans,
polluted with humanities waste

What did she do to deserve such treatment
To watch as her children are killed and maimed
Hearing the cries of her beloved planet
go unanswered, as the plague of humans spreads.

What price will we pay for this disregard
Already nature seems more vengeful than ever
With the seas rising and wreaking havoc upon humanity
Storms lashing the landmasses we over populate
Earthquakes so powerful ripping the earth from beneath our feet

This is surely but a warning from the oldest living thing
Take better care of my child for she supports you too
Listen not to this cry, and surely we will perish
Then who will care about humanity?
The animals shall once again have their peace.

Deaths Eternal Charge

Lurking in the shadows
Too afraid of the light
Waiting for our cry

Watching all the world
Coming for us one by one
Taking from us our greatest prize

Young and old
Rich and poor
None exempt from it's call
For always it claims it's prey

Something to be feared?
Or a freedom from our chains
Only when it comes
Will we know the answers to our lives

This is deaths eternal charge.

A Summers Day

A break of light shining through the curtains
Woken by the sun of summer
The birds chirping and singing
Flowers in bloom, their scent in the air
Animals out playing and having fun.

Children allowed out
Playing with friends
A purity of soul
An innocence we forget.

Nice long days, weather to bask in
From dawn to dusk, time to enjoy
Relaxing by a pond, or out with friends
Summer is a joy for all.

But just as quick, dark clouds form
A storm a summer storm
With rain and thunder, lightning too
A little cooler, the temperature dropping
But nice enough still, to have that BBQ.

My Celebrity Look A Likes

Faith

There’s been a lot of publicity in the UK recently about Muslim women/girls wearing veils in public places/schools. This has been due to some high profile court cases where schools have banned girls from wearing veils, and a teacher was sacked due to her wearing of a veil in a school. In both of these cases the schools argued that the wearing of a veil in a teaching environment interferes with the teaching/learning process, as the teacher (in the case of students wearing veils) is unable to tell if they are paying attention to what is being taught etc.

Now, I fully believe that everyone is entitled to follow their own beliefs/religion whatever, but, only as long as it doesn’t break any rules/laws of this country. After all this country predominantly Christian, yet things have gone so far out of whack that it’s practically racist for us to openly admit this. It’s got to such an extent that schools are now banning traditional English celebrations in schools for things like Easter/Christmas, stopping the morning assemblies where hymns are sung, are even some councils have been following suit, all for fear of offending people of a different belief system.

Surely, rather than trying to force their beliefs on the majority of the populace, in instances such as these they should follow the rules of this country. If they don’t like these rules then of course, they can either go to a country that is predominantly of their faith, or in the instances above find a faith school to attend rather than an ‘English state run school’


I think this quote sums things up beautifully, and not just about this, but about the state of the world today: “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts” Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970)

Job Hunt

I've been in my new job for about four and a half months, and I've decided it was a mistake, the work itself is ok, it's just the big boss is one very annoying twat who doesn't listen to what you say, and you have to do everything exactly as he wants it done, even if that way makes no sense and will take two or three times longer than another way.

So yeah, I've had enough and have started looking for a new job, again. So far I've applied for 4 jobs, keeping my fingers crossed for a couple of them.

Windsor

The Saturday before last we went to Windsor to see C’s friend Sara, and as she’s working at Windsor Castle she was able to get us complimentary tickets to go in. Now, what can I say about the castle, it was nice for a castle, but you don’t actually get to see that much of it, and even though the tickets were free, we both felt a bit disappointed by it, thank god we didn’t have to pay the £28 entry fee (£14 each).

After the tour of the castle, and a quick walk round the gift shops, we met up with Sara and went for a lovely meal in the King and Castle along Thames Street.

Windsor itself looked like a lovely area, with some lovely looking areas by the Thames, unfortunately we didn’t have a chance to really explore Windsor, something we’ll do next time.

If you drive to Windsor, you should really make a day of it, and not just afternoon like we did, as finding a parking space can take a while, and a lot of the car parks are on the expensive side costing almost £10 for 5 or more hours. Fortunately we parked in the King Edward Court car park, which only cost £4 for the same amount of time.

Down and Out

A few weeks ago I was struck down with the flu virus. Now, a lot of people say they have the flu when in fact they only have a very very bad cold. But this was like nothing I’d ever had before. I had no energy for over a week, was feverish at times, going from freezing cold to burning hot in the space of milliseconds and just felt like I wanted to curl up and sleep all the time, and then there was the annoying cough.

So yes, not a very fun time for me at all, the one bonus was, I did have to stay home from work for nine days, this let me catch up on some TV/DVD viewing.

The annoying thing now though is that where I work, they include the weekends in the time you take off sick, so although I only missed seven days of work, by their reckoning I was off sick for 10 days, this means that I need to get a doctors certificate, for which the doctor will charge me £13 which I cannot claim back from work even though it’s because of work that I need the thing in the first place. What’s up with that.

Vista is here...god help us all

Vista has arrived, after delays and a long gap from windows XP to this. What have most people got to say about it, that it's an improvement, that about sums it up, no great OS revolution, but plenty of potential problems.

Already some people have found potential flaws with the program, that given the right circumstances your computer could actually delete files or folders without your consent or knowledge. However, perhaps even more worrying than that is this little phrase in the t&c/licence agreement...

"this agreement only gives you some rights to use the software. Microsoft reserves all other rights".

Simply put, this means that you will have limited control over your computer, whilst MS will be able to do pretty much as they please with YOUR system, even going so far as to remove programs that aren't properly licensed/registered. The full story of this can be read here.

Lastly, after 2011, MS will no longer offer support for XP, which means you'll either have to upgrade to Vista, or run XP with all of it's flaws and security holes. Of course you could always do the more sensible thing, and ditch Windows completely and join the growing community of Linux users.

New Toy

Kinda. My shiny new 80GB hard drive arrive today, so of course as soon as I got home and had eaten I had to install it, took all of about 5 minutes, however, installing WinXP took about 3 hours, well at least it's restricted to only 25GB, and that's just for gaming, should be enough for the few games I've got.

The remainder of the space is for Linux, which from now on will be my main OS for everything else, it's so quick and easy to install, and the interface is very simple and straight forward, very hassle free, quite a surprise after all the crap XP has put me through in the time I've been using it, so there we have it I'm a Linux convert.

New Arrival

On Tuesday 9th Jan, my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, they've decided to call her Amelia. Today, we finally got to see my new niece, and she is beautiful...and small, very very small, it's amazing how fast they grow.

Of course, for most the time we were there Amelia slept and slept some more was fed and then slept some more. C had personalized a couple of baby grows as gifts, which are very nice, and my sister liked very much.


New Arrival

So small and innocent
So charming with her smiles
And hugs so sweet and dear
She'll steal your heart so gently
With her precious baby ways
For love is all around you
When a baby shares your days.

Asta la VISTA Windows

New year, new start for my computing ways. With the imminent release of Microsoft Windows Vista, I've finally decided to install and run Linux as my main OS (Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy) and to get away from the whole MS world of computing. The install was straightforward and very painless, have so far only opted for a dual boot machine, so I do still have windows XP installed, but as soon as I've backed up all my files from Windows, I will going for the full thing.

The only minor niggles with the installation was a lack of internet connection, due to out of date firmware on the router, a quick update of that and I was up and running on the web. Next, had to install codecs for 'non-free' encryption codes, MP3 MPEG etc, as they are not natively supported in Linux, going against the whole 'it's free' ethos. As with the install this was very very easy and painfree.

The only thing I still need to sort out is getting the wireless connection working, this however may never work, as my laptop has a bcm4303 wireless chipset from Broadcom, and it seems as if Broadcom are just as anti-linux as MS is, there are some 'tricks' that seem to get most people up and running with this chipset, but so far I've not had that luck, I'll keep trying and plugging away though.

All in all, Linux is just as user friendly as Windows, and I would even go as far as to easy it's an improvement, more options to control the computer than you get with Windows, a huge amount of online help/support, so far I'm impressed.

Godt Nytaar

Or Happy New Year for those who don't speak/understand danish.

I know, tis a bit late, but you know what they say, better late than never.

Christmas and new year are well and truly behind us now, seems like a distant dream almost. Just 359 days to go until we go through it all again, not that I'm counting down the days or anything.

Poor Japanese

You gotta feel sorry for the Japanese. It appears as if they have such a romantic impression of Paris, that when they actually get there and encounter the true Paris and Parisians, it comes as so much of a shock it can cause a psychiatric breakdown, this is apparently known as the 'Paris Syndrome' and affects a dozen or so Japanese visitors to the country each year.

Full story here.

Christmas

All I seem to be hearing/reading at the moment, is how fed up everyone is with Christmas, why the shops have to shut for Christmas day, why is there so much rubbish on television. Then of course we get to the political correctness gone mad, where schools are banned from having nativity plays or nativity scenes for fear of offending those of other religions. Well, what about our right to celebrate Christian holidays, we do after all, live in a predominantly Christian society, but it’s almost as if that’s a taboo subject these days.

Well, even though I’m not religious, I still look forward to Christmas, to spending time with my family. That to me is what Christmas is all about. Just taking a few days to stop your busy hectic lifestyle, and spend time with your family, your loved ones. Take the time to talk to one another, enjoy the company of people you may not have seen for some time and in some cases may not see again until the following Christmas.

All this about people ‘escaping’ abroad for Christmas, have we as a society as a culture fallen so far that we cannot even stand to be around our friends families anymore, is it so horrible to have to spend just one day of the year with the shops closed. I for one actually enjoy this, can remember as a kid, opening my presents Christmas morning and then going out to play, yes play, with my friends, showing off my new toys, and just having fun on Christmas and Boxing Day. Yet, this year, just as it has been for many years, there will be people who will gladly drag their kids round the shops on Boxing Day, to you I say STOP! Let your kids enjoy this time, let them play with their new toys, their friends, you’ve got 363 other days you can go shopping, just stop for these two days, do nothing for a change, play with your children, spend time with your families, after all Christmas only comes once a year.

Two Minutes Silence

We was out doing our shopping today at 11:00, which is when the two minute silence is held for remembrance/armistice day.

Now, the supermarket we were in was good, gave us notice and asked people to observe the silence. I'd say that about 90% of the people in the shop did, however, there was 10% that couldn't be bothered. They obviously felt it was more important to do their shopping than spend two measly mintues thinking about and remembering all those who fought and are fighting for the very freedoms we take for granted.

I felt like going up to some of them, and just saying "thank you so much for paying your respects"...arrogant sods.

Remembrance Day

Today is Remembrance Day. As I’m sure most people know, at the 11th Hour on the 11th Day of the 11th Month there will be a two minute silence held across the nation. Giving people time to reflect and think of those who have fought and are fighting for their country, for their way of life and their freedom, which so many of us take for granted.

I bought my Poppy last week, as a sign of respect, and to show that I am very grateful for everything our soldiers do for us. However, I have been almost saddened by how few people I have actually seen wearing them, it seems that every year fewer and fewer people are prepared to wear them.

Then, this year, there has been some controversy over the traditional red Poppy, which was first sold for Remembrance Day way back in 1921. There are some people who refuse to wear it saying that it doesn’t show thanks or respect to black soldiers who fought, and some that are claiming it’s an almost religious icon, with calls for it to be treated as such (if you’ve followed the news in the UK recently, the wearing of a Christian cross is practically banned in a lot of workplaces). All these people need to stop their selfish moaning, the Poppy is a way to say thank you, to show respect for ALL those who have and all those who are fighting for their country, which is what we need to remember at this time, not start some political correctness rubbish. I for one am proud to wear a poppy, and will do so every year until I’m dead or until they stop selling them.

The whole reason for the red poppy is that it was the only/first form of ‘life’ to grow on the battlefields of France after WWI. The full story of the poppy and its association with Remembrance Day can be read here.

So to those of you out there who are moaning and complaining, I say grow up, shut up, and just think how the world could have turned out if all those brave men and women hadn’t stood up for YOUR freedom.