Neil's Slightly Random Wiblog

This is not me.

Shame though, looks a fun job.

This is me though, looking young, with a very young looking Shiv!

…Sorry about that, have been pretty busy and away for some of the week, the last bout of training in Cardiff, so I am now fully inducted into my job (and no cling film in sight). Made some good friends on training, some have even added me on Facebook! I am sure many will fall away as the year go by (Didn’t Jesus mention something about this?) but it would be fun to think that in a few years time some of us find ourselves on a training course (perhaps for senior management… hmm, very unlikely I think).

Now facing a weekend with no plans, Ivonne is wiped out from marking all week, perhaps a trip to Sainsburys later – what a wildly middle class way to spend an evening.

…Went to see Brick Lane this afternoon, thought it was a great film about identity and “finding a place to call home”, a lot cut out from the novel (which I read a very long time ago!) but really worth checking out.

This evening we watched Omid Djalili on BBC1 , I know it has got some bad reviews but we laughed until it hurt, the survival guide was brilliant, the Bin Laden video sketch was very funny and the line “Kevin from accounts is just hilarious” just killed me.

Finally I have been addicted to Pandora, which picks songs you might like, a taylored radio station – splendid.

…In a small way our actions last month made the press, The Guardian on the SPCK saga today.

Not many plans for the weekend, met up with people from the bank after work briefly and then played poker last night (didn’t win), will go an see Brick Lane later, and then do as little as possible!

…I have watched three films in the last few days, in reverse order of how I liked them…

Punch Drunk Love. I usually hate Adam Sandler, but this is not a typical Adam Sandler film – but I still hated it. Trying to be quirky it aspires to be like Eternal Sunshine or Being John Malchovich, but falls far short of the mark. Looks good, great music from Jon Brion, but there is nthing to really latch on to in the film.

Big Fish. Tim Burton film about a father and his tall tales, quite touching in some ways, but just lacking a real heart.

Once. A busker meets a Big Issue seller on the street on an Irish city (Dublin I think!), a connection is made, and the story plays out in songwriting, subtle emotions and genuine feeling. A life affirming film with a soundtrack you will want to own the moment you leave the cinema! Seek this film out now, it is one of the best of the year!

…One of the joys of buying the weekend papers is the adverts in the magazines, the cream of these adverts will usually be from the esteemed Coopers of Stortford, selling the most useless and strange range of items that one company could possible sell. Unnaturally obsessed with items that need n batteries, or are rechargeable, or simplify some part of your life that you never realised needed simplifying. Real modern technology never really gets a mention, computers, MP3 players and High definition TV do not exist in the world of Stortford, rather they are still marvelling over rechargeable batteries, wind up radios and record player styluses.

Here is an example from their advert for their All in One Music Centre advert…

With this superb all-in-one Music Centre you can play all of your CDs, tapes, records and even listen to your favourite radio station all from one system! This remarkable stereo has a front loading CD player which is CD/CD-R/CD-RW compatible and features all of the compulsory key functions (play/pause/stop/skip/search/etc), as well as a 20 CD programmable memory, repeat and random function. The semi auto-stop twin cassette deck has high-speed dubbing, playback and recording functions…

Woohoo, high speed dubbing! Really pleased to see that it features a play button and a stop button!

So next time you read the Sunday papers do look out for Coopers of Stortford, after all you wouldn’t want to miss out on rechargable nail clippers or polyresin meercats for your garden, would you?

…back from training again, just one more time away and my induction is done.

Not a great deat to report really, I was shown the delights on an IT Box in pubs, a sort of computerised pub quiz. I was so average at it that I niether lost or won money playing it. We talked a lot about personality types, and used a sort of mixture of models, bad psychology I am sure, but useful for its purpose.

Elizabeth:The Golden Age, well I don’t know about golden, but it was certainly bright. Thanks to the Picturehouses new digital projector this film looked just fantastic, no changing reels, no scrathyness, no jumps – great stuff!

Sadly the film was rather substandard, some parts were great, it started well, but towards the end she was standing on the cliffs like a Scottish Widow or some sort of Irish banshee and it all just got a bit too much for me!

Anyway, another few days training tomorrow, hope the hotel is not quite as posh this time…

…Only in The Guardian would you find this line in an article…

“From a feminist point of view there is next to nothing to recommend on CBeebies.”

…Much amusement can be found on the train into Bristol from Cardiff, just before getting to Filton Abbey Wood is the wonderful Munters* warehouse. I took a picture on my phone, but me being me I can’t work out how to get that picture onto my computer. Instead I offer you some choice quotes from the companies website.

“Why choose Munters?”

“Munters get the edge at Borders Ice Rink!”

* Note to non-british readers, or those not born is the 70s or 80s I will offer you the definition given by the Urban Dictionary

British slang. A girl unblessed by the beauty fairy. In use – “O my god! did you see the right munter kevin picked up last night”