Lovely prezzies.
December 27, 2016
July 14, 2016
Prime Day
Prime day (July 12) came and went and I got an Amazon Fire TV Stick for £19.95. It shipped a day late with a book I had ordered earlier and arrived 14th. I already had a discounted Prime membership I got earlier so after hooking it up I am all ready to watch shows like Mr Robot, Preacher, Braindead & American Gothic.
SKY HD on HDMI 1, Fire on HDMI 3 and Blu-Ray player on HDMI 4. Just one HDMI input left free!
The biggest problem I had setting it up was typing my WiFi password incorrectly a few times due to being unable to read my own scribbles. There were no issues working with the YAMAHA receiver as expected. Apparently the Fire Stick doesn’t work properly with some makes/models of home theatre equipment but there is no official compatibility list.
September 17, 2013
Sennheiser PSU
My Sennheiser wireless headphones had taken to cutting out (no lights on the base-station) after several hours of use. Unplug it and leave it and they’d be working next day. Since the cheapest part I can replace is the PSU, that’s what I got for £13.75 with next day First Class post delivery. The new wall wart is a switching unit whereas the old one was a heavy copper transformer. It’ll be a while before I know if I’ve cured it as it was an intermittent problem anyway.
July 26, 2012
The Dark Knight Rises
I thought it was the best of the trilogy, albeit a bit too long for comfort in the cinema. They really need to bring back intermissions on these long films. It had a reasonably interesting female role for Anne Hathaway, a fair number of twists and turns that I didn’t see coming, and a bit of have your cake and eat it that it mostly got away with.
May 25, 2012
Marvel’s Avengers Assemble
I went to see this last week (not in 3D) and enjoyed it quite a bit. Not as much as some of the reviewers did, but I found it an enjoyable well-made entertainment. Which makes it a lot better than most of the blockbusters in recent years.
April 12, 2012
The Hunger Games
Seemed a bit rushed despite the length. I quite enjoyed it as a non-reader of the books although several scenes seemed like they might have been more significant in the book that the film managed to make them feel.
March 21, 2012
John Carter 3D
Went to see John Carter 3D today. Two other people were in the less than 1% filled theatre. The retrofitted 3D didn’t add much. Having read A Princess of Mars nearly forty years ago I was able to follow the over-complicated story but I found it very rushed. Important story elements whizzed past without any weight. Lynn Collins did a great job as Dejah Thoris. Taylor Kitsch was a little bland as John Carter. I guess there won’t be a sequel.
February 9, 2012
The Artist
Today I saw The Artist and it was good. Very entertaining. I don’t think there was any more to it than that despite some weird theories on the internet, but being entertaining is my number one criterion for a film so I have to rate it highly. And cute dog.
February 2, 2012
Haywire
Saw Haywire today. Gina Carano is a credible action star and the rest of the stellar cast comported themselves skilfully. The plot and the script are a bit perfunctory, simply sketching in motivation for the bone-crunching and convincing action scenes. I was the only person in the screening, on the last day of the film at that complex. Underworld: Awakening (3D) is back for another week.
January 24, 2012
Underworld: Awakening (3D)
More action, less mythology. Kate Beckinsale still brings it. Better than the third one. 3D doesn’t add much. Clearly looking for another sequel if this one is successful.