Plenty to come... please hang in there!

Sorry for the lack of posts this November. As November's go, this one has been, and will be, an extra special month. In 12 days I'll be getting hitched. The weekend just past was my stag do weekend. The evenings are taken up planning and sorting, the days working and getting things done and the spare moments hopefully dedicated to writing a speech that is still only a small bunch of notes long... eek!

Though for once I have a list of events, meaningful thoughts and feelings to blog about, the time isn't yet there to put them into the form of a blog post. To that end I am making a real and actually-written-down-in-a-hard-backed-notepad type list and I am determined to make my way through writing about them as soon as I find time - this is more than likely after the wedding. Possibly in the sun whilst Norn Girl reads chick-lit books about divorces ;)

So from appearing in the audience of BBC TV/Radio shows and a Leeds game, to Stag do's and meeting old friends, from ponderings about keyboards and time travel to hopefully (what will probably be many an entry of) the biggest event... the wedding and honeymoon.

Unfortunately life doesn't seem to have a pause button. So what has been and what is to come will have to just hold on a little while longer. Please don't venture far... I'll try to make small updates in the mean time but I'll be back soon, with more to blog than ever!

Random Google searches - 'voluntary stalking'?

After another long week at work and with my fiancée at the other side of the Irish sea, enjoying her weekend long hen party with the girls. I’ve had plenty of time to watch random TV, and loiter on the t’interwebs. Ok, so maybe I’ve not had the most wholesome time, all I’ve managed to do is choose my transfers for the fantasy football, to play online scrabble and complete another inquisitive but slightly nerdy task, that of looking through the Google search queries for my blog. Bemusing myself with the odd things that this here blog has been located by in the several months I’ve been typing here. Ok so it’s not exactly everyone’s idea of a great start to the weekend but it gave me a giggle!

With Christina Martin - occasional writer and comedian - leading the way (at least in my realm of reading about random search results beyond Googlewhacking), I thought I’d share some of the more random Google searches that have found my blog. Before I start, I’ll warn you they’re not quite as bizarrely random and as wonderfully absurd as those Christina found. After all, ‘comedian more powerful than jesus’ and ‘goose costume sale’ are searches worthy of awards let alone finding a blog – well that, or at least worthy of an explanation by the original search author.

So here goes... the first that caught my eye:

‘camera above the royal mail in belfast‘

I wonder if they were hoping to find if they could use it or if they were being watched? Maybe they were just hoping to find out if someone’s doing something about those letters that grow legs and make a run for it?

‘how to become a captain of a ship in ireland’

Ah this makes more sense, well – maybe. If it was possibly the same person as the camera query, and that person was going to be looking out for an important letter - it could easily be their Master Mariner’s licence they were trying to keep their eyes peeled for. Avast me hearties, I’ll be understanding!

‘belfast and northern island street directory ‘

Shiver me timbers! No wonder they wanted to be Captain. There might be treasure to be had if we can but find our way around the Northern Island... best set sail for Rathlin on high tide! Whilst we wait, here are a few more...

‘funny contact lenses in northern Ireland’

that hopefully didn’t result in the following search...

‘tragic stories blogs northern ireland‘

...and...

‘bargain buys vans on ebay no mot ni county down ‘

hopefully wasn’t anything to do with...

‘northern ireland explosive’

Then there were some people seemingly searching for the more random...

‘natalie imbruglia looks like carol vorderman’ - this is vindication of sorts, I knew I wouldn’t be alone in thinking that! Here's the explaination about the doppelgangering.

‘europe easter egg for kings ‘ – probably a DVD related search but I like the thought of an Easter egg fit for a King. I bet it’s like those kinder eggs you can get that have the giant toy inside... if I was a king I’d like one of those... but bigger! And then there were my two favourites...

‘huge statue of a lady in a bed in ireland’

I’m intrigued.  Does anyone know what they might have been looking for? If there isn’t one, I implore someone with more money than sense to make this a reality! I suspect they were the most disappointed to only find my blog.

And my overall favourite but also the search results I least wish to appear in...

‘voluntary stalking’

Sometimes you have to wonder what people are really looking for or if they’re just typing into a search box for the fun of it. When someone types in voluntary stalking, whats going on in their mind? Do they want to be stalked or are they looking for a consenting victim or are they looking for examples of such phenomenon - hopefully its the latter.

P.S. I am not volunteering for being stalked - no matter how many ‘funny contact lenses’ or ‘bargain buy vans on ebay no mot’ you might find my blog with! You might tempt me with ‘a huge statue of a lady’ but she has to be in bed and both she and the bed have to be in Ireland. You can send this via royal mail, a captain might be along to pick it up in the next few years if it needs importing and we’ll have someone watching to make sure it arrives at the sorting office ok. If you can fit it inside a European Easter Egg suitable for a king that would be awesome. Cheers!

Bits of Belfast - Part 4 - Belfast City Hall

The shortening daylight hours are quickly becoming a lot more noticeable and if Usain Bolt has found himself trying to beat the progression of the seasons to a finishing temperature, he best get a move on because it isn’t hanging around. With the leave’s falling off the trees, the first of this year’s Christmas decorations were being placed on Belfast City Hall over the last two days. It’s external redecoration co-in siding with it it’s reopening to the public after almost 2 years of refurbishment.

Part of the refurbishment is a cafe open to the public. The council ran a public vote to see what it should be named and of the choice of name put forward (all of which were related to the industrial/economic development of the city) it was the apt name of ‘Bobbin’ which won out and so this new coffee shop called the Bobbin Coffee Shop is now open and for the passerby to 'bob in' and have a warming brew. I have to admit; I’ve not made it in myself yet but have heard good things from those who have. Besides the improved functionality and intended use of the City Hall here is the councils run down on the refurbishment works.

So the Bobbin seems to be a name we might hear a lot in the future as Belfast City Hall does have a habit, for many of us who live and work in or around the city, as being a place we pass by an awful lot because it is seemingly the heart of Belfast. All roads might lead somewhere new but seemingly more so to this location than any other, roads in Belfast lead to City Hall. However you end up there, it’s probably only going to be a place to grab a bite to eat during lunch, the opening hours leave something to be desired. Monday – Friday, 9am - 4.30pm only (after the initial reopening celebrations).

The names popular in the vote for the coffee shop of ‘Bobbin’ and ‘White Linen’ seem very suitable because by all accounts, City Hall is where it is due to Belfast’s economically bright yet humanly gloomy industrial history. My curiosity of the history of Belfast got the better of me and I’ve recently been reading a book called Belfast – The Making of the City by J.C. Beckett et al. This book contains many photos and pictures from the past but most interesting to me was a map of Belfast of 187 years ago. On this map the River Lagan’s path is almost unrecognisable to today’s channel; the centre of town is dominated by High Street and the White Linen Hall, on the site of which that big impressive City Hall now sits, is on the edge of town to the South. The map depicted in the book shows the layout of the streets less than half a century after the completion of the White Linen Hall and within another ¾’s of a century the White Linen Hall, as a sign of the times and Belfast becoming a city, was being replaced by today’s City Hall. The location became a focal point through its importance to trade and is now the proud centre, however its development to a vibrant city.

Fittingly, this spectacle of a focal point, if only in passing, to so many of our days, is taking on the next stage of its civic role with a good dose of the past woven into its fabric. The start of a double dose of re-openings... soon to follow, the Ulster Museum on the 22nd of October.

Climate change, a very local story.

Northern Ireland has many of its own unique problems to solve but there is one problem that Northern Ireland, Ireland and Great Britain have in common and a problem that they all contribute to on the global scale - influencing climate change. How do I know this... because I live in Northern Ireland and I believe that I too contribute to the problem. I know, not a great admission to make, especially when you take into account I spent 3 very worthwhile years of my life studying the environmental sciences. So why am I telling you this?

I’m telling you this because I don’t mean to detrimentally exploit our environment, but I know my actions are likely to be contributing to the problem. I’m telling you this because, although I’m by no means an expert, I studied the literature from what I hope was a balanced perspective, I’ve read the arguments for and against and have made my own mind up from the scientific data and theory I’ve had to sift through to write my essays. I was even going to write another essay for this occasion of Blog Action Day. However to cut a long story short, my opinion is that we are precariously playing with natural systems that are resilient but that are part of such a complex balance that we’re foolish to think we aren’t at least having a significant impact. An impact that could leave a much harsher world for our offspring to live in by worsening pre-existing problems that it seems mankind can’t even resolve during the best of times... the likes of poverty and war.

It wasn’t that long ago I was at university, and climate change was a leading topic but as we found when searching the media, it hardly made the news that often and it wasn’t such a large part of a political parties manifesto. Thankfully that has in recent times begun to improve, even if it has led to a slight transference of scepticism because of its increasing use as a political tool to win votes. Eventually though, those with the ability to approach the problem, i.e. government and the industrial and business world, those who are reliant upon the systems people have developed up to this point, have at least on the surface begun to show signs of acknowledgement. Sadly though, change is slow in human behaviour. A change that has not been helped by those who have a vested interest to oppose such change, especially when the change might affect their profits or control. But like the political scene in Northern Ireland it’s likely to be a generation or two before a general consensus overwhelms the petty arguments and those in a position to do so get their acts together. Let me put it this way, Northern Ireland has its fair share of sceptics on climate change problems but I’m not one of them, sadly regarding the hope for change, our last Environment minister here in Northern Ireland was.

My more immediate and local problem though, is that in my current situation I find more often than not that I am not in a ready position, like billions around the world, to do what I would need to in order to restrict my own impact.

For instance... I choose not to drive but I still have to use a bus that is stuck in traffic pumping out its fumes because Northern Ireland is seemingly obsessed or dependent on the petrol motor car and there are only limited mass transit facilities in Belfast. I try to buy locally sourced produce, for instance if I buy bottled water for my desk at work I buy the one that was bottled and sourced closest, but I still end up buying it because it’s convenient when really I could go out of my way to carry a 2ltr bottle of water to work each day. I use a lot of electrical devices and lights and I turn them off when not in use, we’ve also replaced most of our bulbs with energy saving light bulbs but the electricity here is still predominantly provided from non renewable power stations and it’s either their way or the highway. We don’t use hardly any heating and wrap up in blankets but when we use hot water it’s powered by a gas boiler, we live in a rented home and neither our landlord nor we are eager to fund an expensive conversion to renewable energy sources. We like to travel and experience new places and culture but to do so we have to get on a plane or a boat, there is no realistic alternative. We recycle but just about everything we buy comes in packaging and bags. These are just a few scenarios whereby whether I or not I like it, I end up playing a small part in reinforcing mankinds effect on climate change through many of my choices.

Sure, some choices are not exactly choices, others are indirect consequences and some are my choices and those I do hope to change the outcome of in future.

The point though, is that even with a conscience acknowledgement of the problem, it’s not so easy, at least in my experience, to make changes that can help rather than hinder on your own. Northern Ireland isn’t the best place to try and live carbon neutral or in a sustainable manner right now, but I’ll keep trying even if I’m frowned upon by others in their 4x4’s. I intend to make a more concerted effort and hopefully I won’t be alone. Though just another view, much like the rest of this post, Northern Ireland is in a great position to repolarise the effect in place at present - there is hope yet and we can all make a difference if we try a bit harder. Given also the support shown today with Blog Action Day 09 we won't be alone. I’ll hopefully blog further on this topic in future, preferably with some facts and interpretation rather than just opinion.

Up 3D and the 3D Cinema Showdown.

On Monday it was another cinema night and a trip this time to the Movie House cinema at City Side Mall (aka Yorkgate Shopping Centre) on the outskirts of the central business district of Belfast. There we enjoyed a trip for a cup of tea and then on to see the recently released Pixar /Disney Digital 3-D film, Up. After Toy Story 3D at the Odeon where RealD is the preferred format, this was a chance to try out the 3D experience at the Movie House’s flagship cinema, with a Dolby 3D system. So what did we find?

Well, to begin with, a delicious raspberry muffin and a cup of tea at a near by cafe. It was there I met up after work with Norn girl and friends, closely followed by my soon to be sister and brother-in-law. The group were set. Losing one to other commitments, the group heading to the cinema comprised of 4, 20 something’s and a 12 year old. It was the oldest of us, *cough* Norn Girl, who with the encouragement of her younger brother ended up buying some crazy coloured clip in hair extensions which were worn all evening until donated to a lion... don’t ask!

We made it to the kiosk outside the York Gate/City Side Movie House and bought our tickets. After a quick ice cream stop for some. We climbed the stairs and handed in our tickets. The rest of the group headed to the queue for drinks and refreshments but I only wanted a bottle of something wet and cold so made my way around to the vending machine that’s around the corner near the higher numbered screens. After I had bought an overpriced bottle of Oasis compared to any other shop in the area I had a look around at the machines whilst I waited for the others to catch up. One caught my eye. It was a grabber machine like I used to play in Blackpool on family holidays as a kid. I was tempted to play this one because it had a nice sign on it saying ‘win every time’. I got my £1 and put it in the slot. I moved the stick and the grabber moved forwards, I had my eye amongst the random items for a toy SpongeBob Squarepants... the grabber stopped, I hadn’t meant to but it hit the back wall and was just out of reach of Spongebob. Oh well, I pressed the lit up button and the claw descended and missed everything. Thankfully it was a win every time... take 2... this time I headed for a pile of stuff and managed to dislodge a few things and there was another Spongebob... if only I could grab it with my grabber. Take 3 I tried, and failed. Take 4, the claw grabbed, and started to pick something up... in a real life version of Sid’s space ship grabber machine victory in Toy Story, my first thought was also...“Alright! Double prizes!”. The others were soon with me and I gleefully donated Spongebob to Norn Girl. I offered the weird bee thing around but sadly for this ‘Buzz’ there were no takers.

We made it to our screen and the staff were handing out the glasses. The Dolby3D glasses are reused and are apparently washed each time between uses because they are expensive to produce. They look the part, like trendy sunglasses and have an almost two tone coloured shimmer to them.

We picked our seats and watched the 3D ads and the 3D Pixar short film called ‘Partially Cloudy’ which was funny and a good warm up for our eyes. The view through the glasses though seemed just a bit off being 100% clear. There was almost like a slight fog around the outside of the field of view from the glasses which didn’t take away too much but was just noticeable. We tried each other’s glasses but they were all the same. A wipe on a cotton t-shirt to see if it was a smudge or residue from cleaning or something didn’t make a difference.

Up started and we settled back into our seats. I won’t spoil anything but the story sets up in the past with the lead character Carl Fredricksen as a boy, we are given his life story... and then the main story begins. The comedy is brilliantly done, the situation is so imaginative and well thought out that it’s hard to describe. All I will say is that Kevin and the dogs with their collars, at least for me, are the funniest movie characters to grace our screens this year, the movie lives up to its name and is as uplifting as the name suggests.

The 3D effects were quite subtle in places and not always used as much as they could have maybe been but the story to this movie and the comedy is its charm, the 3D effects are just the icing on the cake.

So yet another excellent movie experience. I don’t like to promote products and services and the corporate world but it seems like its probably about the right time to declare that 3D isn’t just a fad anymore. With the new push to promote digital 3D systems, its well and truly being integrated as part of the motion picture art form and it looks here to stay... which is good news for me because I’ve really enjoyed it so far!

The only let down to the movie (that was my own fault!) was the slight discomfort that came when I had randomly lifted off my glasses. I was trying to hold them away from my face try to try to see how the 3D was working out and to see what the brightness was like between that actually on the screen compared to what was coming through with the lenses filters. On their return to my head, I ended up missing the side of my head and poking myself in the eye with the end of the ear piece... oops! I missed a couple of minutes of 3D due to this slight mishap but I can officially say I’ve safety tested the ear pieces of the Dolby 3D glasses and that pair at least are a good level of blunt.

With the Storm cinema at the Odyssey at the time of writing not having a 3D showing advertised on their website (though they do have the VIP screenings with the lazy boy chairs – to which I’ve only been once, but they were so very comfy!) and having now experienced a 3D movie at both a Movie House and the Odeon. I think I can outline my experience mingled with a bit of the experiences of those with me on each occasion.

Customer Service: Both venues were great – excellent customer service, as in no fuss and friendly and clean (before other people made them messy). All good!

Prices (at the time we bought the tickets):
Movie House City Side - standard 3D showing ticket price £7
Odeon Victoria Square – standard 3D showing ticket price £8.45

3D experience: The 3D technologies of RealD and Dolby 3D were both good and produced a good quality 3D experience but here are what we found to be the pro’s and con’s of our visits.

Movie House City Side:

Positives - Choice of seats on the day. A few arcade and vending machines in the corridors between screens though if you’re a parent this could well be a negative hehe.

Negatives - What we judged to be slightly more uncomfortable glasses for our heads than the Real D (4/5 of us anyway) and slightly less clear/vibrant images but still a very good quality, however this is likely to be subjective and also could be influenced by the colours used in the movie itself. You can't take home the glasses and look cool/an idiot on the way home. Food and drink is expensive compared to same products at local shops and supermarkets.

Odeon Victoria Square:

Positives - What we judged to be slightly more comfortable glasses for our heads and what appeared to be slightly more clear/vibrant images, though this is subjective and also could be influenced by the colours used in the movie itself. The glasses are your own to keep and you too can look cool/an idiot on the way home :).

Negatives - Lesser choice of central seat locations without increased cost. Food and drink expensive compared to same products at local shops and supermarkets.


In regards to the technolgies involved, I’ve had a read around the t’interwebs and the best description I’ve found so far (one that isn’t too out of date yet) is a post by a user on the Audio Visual Science Forum who describes his observations of RealD and Dolby3D.

Conclusion:

It’s honestly very hard to choose between them but personally from these experiences, I preferred the actual 3D movie experience of the RealD technology in the Odeon but preferred the physical venue at the Movie House.

However, if I had to choose what I enjoyed most of all; I enjoyed the good time had with Norn Girl, friends and family, the rest is just a bonus.