watch tHe skies

Just a quickie on a monday morning to tell you that Digital Lard, the successor to DVDLard is now up and running, and you can find it at www.digitallard.com. Head over there to talk about movies, downloads, games and music, and most likely read me spouting the same or similar indecipherable rubbish that you read here on a daily basis.

Plug over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Well I have finally gotten around to adding a few new pages on the site. Firstly as I harp on about NLP and related subjects almost ad nauseam, I thought it would be useful to actually tell you what it is, or what I think it is anyway. So head over to this page to find out more and add your comments if you so wish.

Also I have finally got a contact page working, so you can hurl your insults at me straight from this site. I know it’s been a long time coming - up till now you guys have had trouble finding my email address, well this way you still don’t know it but at least you don’t need it, head over here to pass comment on anything you like.

Finally, user registration is back online again which means new people can register and leave comments on the site. You do need to be registered to comment at the moment, though that may change as I see how the system is being used.

I thought you might like to know that my positive intent article has been reprinted over at onekindact, a website devoted to the idea of doing something kind for someone every day, and spreading that word. So if you would like some inspiration, head over there and have a read through some of the great articles and comments waiting for you.

This week, Jenny has discovered ebay. That is to say she has finally found something to buy on ebay, discounting the 2000 beads she had me buy last year to help the guides make “ethnic” necklaces.

She has realised that quality, expensive educational toys are cheap as chips on ebay. This is because a) everyone is flogging them, b) most kids have ADD now and so can’t concentrate on one toy for more than a couple of hours without wanting something new c) they cost a lot to post and d) global warming can be singularly attributed to the carbon emitted in making all these plastic toys and disposable batteries to power them.

So she has finally caught the ebay bug and despite the fact that Ben received more presents than he could possibly play with at any one time (our lounge looks like a scene from Toy Story most days), she is logging in to my ebay account and buying tonnes of stuff for £0.99 (plus £7.50 postage). Still, it keeps her busy, and the postman will love us for continually humping around parcels that repeatedly play twinkle twinkle little star.

In the process she has depleted my paypal account (it’s where I keep my profits from ebaying, a kind of gadget offshore account, if you will), meaning that the gadget monster won’t get fed this month unless he takes a liking to Fisher Price Roll Around Treehouses…

I’ve kept off ebay pretty much since I bought my lovely shiny voice recorder, which is proving to be a very useful tool. I’ve gotten over the wierd sensation of insanity that was bothering me when using it, although to be fair I still haven’t strolled down the high street whilst dictating to myself. As a result many of the banal observations like this one are now making it to the screen rather than disappearing in to the ether.

I recently read this article on Reuters (the only news site not blocked by SurfNazi at work), which reports the results of a recent study in to internet usage in the US. The results suggest that more than one in eight U.S. adults finds it hard to stay away from the Internet for several days at a time and about one in 11 tries to hide his or her online habit.

I must admit that the thought of being offline for a few days does seem unnatural to me, but is it because I’m addicted to the internet? Or is it that I am addicted to information, and the fastest way to obtain information is through the internet. With RSS feeds, podcasts and my trusty uber gadget the MDA Vario II, i can stay totally up to date with the latest news, get my emails on the go, as well as listen to internet radio stations from all over the world wherever I am. Does this make me an addict or is it a simple case that the internet has become a fundamental part of my operational infrastructure?

I guess that the answer depends on how important you think that the internet is to your life. My wife Jen would probably say that yes I spend too much time on it, whilst personally I’m waiting for someone to invent a wifi antenna for your brain so I can get my emails direct in to my mind just by blinking. Very Doctor Who I know, and I’d want to be sure that I had a good spamfilter installed or I would get some wierd, dark dreams…

Since tuesday I haven’t received a single email due to my hosting company having some disagreement with the UK data centre. Apparently they are carrying out jiggery pokery on each and every account.

So I thought I could handle it. Wednesday was tough but I survived. Thursday was a test; I checked my email many times just in case it was working again. Friday and today are a challenge - I’m missing out on all of those lovely jokes and people commenting on the pointlessness of my blog! Hopefully it will be back soon and the nightmare will be over!

“What is?” I hear you ask. Well, I will tell you shortly. Has anyone else noticed that there are some really cool advertd on the TV at the moment. From the Citroen ice-skating Transformer, to the ever so slightly odd Orange advert with inflatable animals, my attention is often drawn more to the advert than the dross that is the stale white bread to its juicy multi-sensory filling in that sandwich that is television.

Eh? Thirty seconds aint long to entrance a consumer, and modern adverts assault you with a multisensory experience that means that adding up the total sensory stimuation time (6 times 30) might be enough to get you to part with your money.

And that’s where the music comes in. In the absence of smellyvision, advertisers search for the perfect tune to stimulate the senses, to add to the lush visuals and to create multiple anchors in your mind to get you to buy buy buy.

Does it work? Sometimes. I suspect that they get it wrong more often than right. A good example of right for me is the O2 campaign with Sean Bean. It uses a recognisable audio theme, with futuristic “looking forward” visuals and lots of happy people - O2 will look after you. The old Vodafone advert with the Dandy Warhols music was another inspiring ad that I bet sold a lot of contracts. Does the Citroen Ad sell more cars? Doubt it. And although the Megane ad with the lovely lady bums is very nice, I don’t see it drumming up more sales.

So what is the point of all that? Actually it was that the upshot is that I’ve found a website that tells you what music is used on all of the ads. it’s http://www.commercialbreaksandbeats.co.uk. It has a neat search facility, which you can use with iTunes to find, listen to and buy the tune without shelling for an album.

I ain’t buying new phones or cars, but it’s got me spending more at iTunes!

(Like I needed a reason)

Ever noticed that doing something nice for someone else makes you feel better? It may be holding a door open for someone at work, or making someone laugh with a joke. Perhaps it is giving your missus a hug or buying a pint for a mate, it always lifts your spirits and makes the day go that little faster.

So what would happen if you did that every day, can you think about the effect that one kind act every day of your life would make to your wellbeing? Well that is exactly the question that new site www.onekindact.com asks. So head over and have a look. In the meantime put an extra quid in the charity box, help that person with their suitcase or just pass on a smile to someone having a bad day… It won’t hurt you know!

Ever watched a superhero movie and wished it was you? Well I can’t give you superpowers, but I can point you at SciFi.com, where you can design your own costume and go out an fight crime in your own way. And when you’ve done that, be sure to check out my effort, skateytrumpet boy…

Dammit, I’ve been attacked by some more losers, resulting in more downtime and a final warning by my host. So if the site goes offline you know why. Due to this I’ve switched off commenting and registration. Sorry but it’s the only thing I can do to keep the site online…