Month: January 2013

January 30, 2013

3D Glasses

Once expensive, prescription lens 3D Glasses are now fairly reasonable – I have just purchased a basic pair (RealD 3D only), for 50 quid, from Optics3D. RealD is what my local cinema uses, and is also compatible with my passive screen 3D TV.

This probably seems a lot of cash to those on a budget, but not compared to my spend on 3D so far. I am now fairly committed to the format, so I thought I may as well be comfortable. While my cheap RealD 3D clipons are more convenient than glasses worn over my specs, they are still slightly over-balanced.

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January 29, 2013

Damages (spoilers)

As I mentioned earlier, I have been catching up on Damages on NetFlix. I had seen the first two seasons, and all but the final episode of the third, but had missed the fourth or fifth.

I’ve been fair speeding through it, at an unhealthy rate (but what else is there to do if you are snowed in). I have just finished season 4, and although I am still enjoying it, I didn’t get the same buzz from it as the previous seasons.

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January 27, 2013

That’s where they were!

When I had my lounge decorated in 2011, one of the first things I had to do was pack away all my DVDs and CDs that took up two walls. They got packed into an assortment of boxes. The new lounge doesn’t have the same dust-traps, so I have a small book-case with my “not-watched” stuff downstairs and several shelves of “stuff I’ve watched, but might want to watch again” in my office. This still leaves some more boxes which are mostly bound for the charity shops, but needs me to sort through for any hidden gems.

However, there were some things that I just couldn’t find. Stuff that I vaguely remembered buying, but never watching; DVDs that I said I would lend or give to friends, that couldn’t be found.

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January 21, 2013

Simple “push-to” telescope system

Over the years, there have been various methods to help astronomers find their way around the skies.

The first is simple – learn the skies.

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January 21, 2013

My telescopes

As I was writing what will become my next post – Simple “push-to” telescope system, I realised I hadn’t ever mentioned my telescopes here.

This is mainly because, although I have 3 telescopes, I don’t do anything that serious with them, just use them for fun. I have dabbled with some astro-photography, but usually, I am just sitting out in the garden, browsing the skies with them.

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January 18, 2013

Just horsin’ around

In Tesco’s cafe, I was asked if I wanted anything on my burger. “Yes”, I said, “How about a quid each way?”

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January 18, 2013

What a difference an IP address makes

As I’ve mentioned a couple of times, I took out a free month of NetFlix, and then decided to keep it on for a while. The first attraction was watching the first 3 series of “Warehouse 13” (the 4th series isn’t available yet), numerous films and the excellent “White Collar”. I then got heavily into “Breaking Bad”, and devoured it from beginning to end; and more recently, I enjoyed Hank Azaria in “Huff”. A short diversion was the very weird (but watchable) “The Booth At The End”.

All of this is being viewed on my TV, using the NetFlix app on my Wii; as YouView hasn’t got either NetFlix or LoveFilms yet.

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January 11, 2013

Table Talk

I’m just going out to collect a new eBay purchase:

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January 8, 2013

You might very well think that; I couldn’t possibly comment

A favourite TV show of mine was the 1990’s political thriller “House of Cards”, based on the novel by Michael Dobbs, and starring the late Ian Richardson as the manipulative and treacherous MP and Whip Francis Urquhart. I watched it when it was first shown, caught a reshowing of it a few years later, and now have it on DVD.

So, I have had NetFlix for a couple of months, now. I originally got it for the free trial month, then got dragged into “Breaking Bad”, and kept it on to complete the series. However, I was considering suspending my account for a few months, as although I think NetFlix is great, I have quite enough TV content and DVDs/BluRays to catch up on.

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January 5, 2013

The Company by Robert Littell

Last year, I caught an episode of a TV Miniseries, and it looked interesting. I never did see the whole thing, but it did cause me to check out the book it was based on. It has since sat on my Kindle, until just before Christmas, when I started to read it. After that, I couldn’t put it down.

First published in 2002, “The Company: A Novel of the CIA” is a work of fiction, but set against a lot of historical truth. It tells the story of the CIA from 1950, through to the mid-90’s. Some of the characters (including major ones) were real, and their activities well documented. Others are fictional or heavily disguised, and are perhaps fictional amalgamations of real people.

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