Christmas '08

Well, I was awoken this morning by screams of some sort, apparently someone was on the Wii Fit and was shocked to find that their net weight loss this week had 'only' been 5 pounds. Now this may have set the tone however not me, I awoke, bleary eyed from writing my previous post last night determined not to let any earthly concerns and bickering ruin this one day. My brother is currently playing his new piano to great applause, it lends a slightly gothic atmosphere to today's proceedings as he insists on playing the Tetris theme at a slow tempo on the church organ setting, apparently this is how the Tetris theme should be played. I was the one who wrapped his piano present, took me an hour to wrap it, and it was damn good wrapping I'll tell you now, I winced as he ripped it off in 10 seconds, how I'll deal with it when I'm wrapping bikes and stuff that Santa had to drop off early because of his workload for my own kids I don't know...

I do believe I've done throughly well this year. The gifts I recieved include:-

Apple stock, that's right, I'm a filthy Apple shareholder now, I profit off all those fanboys and pretentious losers buying stuff they don't know how to use.

From Mr Tom Jones

Apologies for the shakiness, the quality of the photo is a tad poor (Damn iPhone direct picasa uploading service being so convenient) I blame the light myself.

A Colbert Christmas (The Greatest Gift of all), no notes necessary

Tom Jones Greatest Hits.... I guess that'll teach me to mention him on my blog and talk about him incessantly for 3 weeks afterwards, it's now on my iPhone and will keep me happy on my travels.

And of course from Miss Nastassia Dhanraj (Who seems to know me far better than I gave her credit for) got me HANNAH MONTANA STATIONARY :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D I've got loads of stuff to do on planes and such and I'll be using this stuff when I need to write something so (thanks Nastassia)

My Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Ian got us awesome presents again this year (They're presents are usually pretty awesome, but the last few years they've stepped up a few gears) We got recycled beer bottle glasses, beaker and wine glass style, they're so awesome I had to put a photo in:-

From Mr Tom Jones

As for me, I'm off 'cross the oceans, where I'll end up, goodness knows. But I've got an ideas or two, the Jonas Brothers are at Times Square this New Years Eve..... might be interesting... Doctor Who was brilliant, I am a hardcore Doctor Who fan, I particularly liked the little nods to Dickens throughout this years Christmas special. Photos from my travels will follow, whenever the heck I can find a Wi-Fi connection....

Fare thee well.

Christmas

Quite a bit has happened since I last posted so I shall give a summary, no new photos I'm afraid.

I got my stuff at College sorted, my grades are significantly up from last year, solids 1sts every time now. An external viewer might say that I've finally shaken off my Sixth Form slump in form and am back to peak performance and I can see why they would take that view.

All of a sudden, people have developed a certain fixation with setting me up with women, apparently I am a thorough gentleman who would any woman would be proud to be associated with. Pity no one's told any of the ladies so far. But despite this, and despite my usual hostility to the idea of a blind date I've accepted these offers. I've always been interested in meeting new people and this would provide the ideal forum for meeting people I would never meet under normal circumstances. Either way I win.

Lab presentations were recently as well. My lab partner and I did our presentation on the Michelson interferometer 10 minutes of preparation beforehand has gotten us a minimum of 68% based on snooping around King's. I discovered merely 3 days before my formal written Lab report was due in that protocol forbade doing both the presentation and report on the same experiment. No one told me that until 3 days before it was due in. In the end I managed to better my original work and complete something on Fresnel Diffraction.

I tried my hand (errrr feet) at ice skating at Alexandra Palace (Map link here)after several attempts at skating (And 3 hours) I finally managed to wobble across, there were people practicing for one of those TV ice skating shows and I was amazed at how they did it. I have a new-found respect for ice skaters now.

I also had an opportunity to meet the friends of a very close personal friend of mine, all of whom were very nice, exactly as described. One of them was even a Hannah Montana fan! I do hope our paths cross again in the future so that we might continue our discussion as to who runs the country, I keep getting new ideas I want to test out.

Well, I'm out of the country for a few days, hopefully I'll be able to post when I'm out there, I'll try and post to twitter while I'm at it. There'll be photos and such. Oh and if anyone wants to know what I really thought would be a great christmas present, a red cape and goggles wouldn't go far amiss.....

My Debt to Labour

Mark Zuckerberg: Palo Alto won't be big enough for the 2 of us

wtf?

Thank god someone in Silicon Valley still has a soul. Microsoft and Facebook seem made for each other, both produce products that increasingly seem to ruin the fun of computers. Remember War games, when us nerds were the good guys? I miss those days, nowadays, Silicon Valley executive seems like a synonym for 'evil dictator'. I'm talking about Ballmer, Zuckerberg, and to a lesser extent Jobs. Now I know they have their own licensing agreements to keep to, and that it falls to my generation to reverse their mistakes, breaking the law if necessary to do so. I refer you to Fake Steve. Pitting consumers against corporation in the new media will result in one thing, all your hardcore computer geeks will just migrate to someone a little more ethical.

Buying Twitter Zuckerberg, won't help you with your current market valuation, you're turning into a faceless corporation with no soul, only a desire to make profit and control everything. I applaud Twitter's board for having the guts to stand up to Facebook and refuse to let money get in the way of independence. But I'm horribly biased, I'm a facebook-exile, I got sick of all the attention whores posting photos of themselves and making attention grabbing comments that clogged up my inbox. The new Silicon Valley Brat Pack like Zuckerberg, they don't care about what computers can do, I cannot imagine Zuckerberg and Wozniak having a nice conversation about changing the world through computers. Zuckerberg is only interested in exploiting his customers to extraxt maximum profit out of them. It's a shame really that money has corrupted his heart.

And lets face it, at the end of the day, Facebook has an excellent business model... and Twitter is developing a business model but errrrr *shifty look* it's a secret... I'd rather go for the business with a sense of humour, but most importantly, a soul.

Incidentally, Palo Alto is one of many places in the world I'd love to live someday..... but not if Zuckerberg is still there.... just look at a photo of him, you know he's not smart enough to code Facebook.... god I hate him.... ConnectU really should have taken him for everything he was worth....

Mr Tom Jones continued

As I mentioned yesterday, I saw Tom Jones yesterday, I was so impressed. He came on, sang for about 45 minutes and went straight off. He was fund raising for Cancer Research UK, I gave what little money I had in my pockets (72p) and in the end he raised over £460. His setlist was a little small, he did two of his classic songs (It's not unusual & Green grass of home) with a selection of classics (Almost all of which were related to what he called 'these times' about money-obsessed men with a lack of money).

I was left most impressed, I've even been photographed and I'm in today's Daily Telegraph which I've got a scan of below. But photos first of all....



Better res version here

This is a nice photo which I believes nicely illustrates the sheer weight of people there, as well as that despite his huge reputation and media machine, this Tom Jones fella is mortal like the rest of us.



Better res

I believe this is where Tom Jones was doing a Roy Orbison-esque growl. This 50/60 year old man was growling like a sex object, what's worse all these female students were growling back, giving credence to his claim. Shocking stuff really :O



Better res at:- Better res

This is probably the best photo I took of Tom Jones, I managed to get him fully in shot, staring properly towards the camera, at this resolution, you can properly see the fretboard guitar that 'Keith' was playing, a rather fetching Gibson acoustic. The fish sculpture in the background came out well in this one, as did Somerset House, and by contrasting Tom Jones' skin colour with that of the crowd, you can understand what I mean when I say he look a bit out of place. I am planning on going to Somerset House for my next set of photos, I feel sufficiently prepared (just).



Another one of the man himself. Better res

And lastly, even though I had deliberately turned off the flash for this photo thus it appears a bit dark, I couldn't possibly not show this photo. I think it nicely sums up his showmanship. It was pure poetry to see him working a crowd.



Better res

Enjoy the better-than-average resolution photos. Next post will most likely be about Somerset House (The marble building across the river in the photos).

Here's the Daily Telegraph article with me in it, I'm in the lower left hand side with bare arms above the crowd wearing a watch on my left wrist. Sarah Kennard is just to the right of me, with a dark blue jacket.



As a final note, after the free concert, I picked up a bottle of water that I'm 90% confident Tom Jones drank from, eBay awaits.....

Tom Jones

Today I went to the Royal Festival Hall, I'd read in a free newspaper that Tom Jones was doing a free busking gig there for Cancer Research and I figured, free is free and decided to go. He's such a pro, it was marvellous, he was accompanied by a man called Keith (Not Keith Richards I'm sorry to say, THAT would have been incredible) and I realised what an incredible voice he has. I guess it does show in a raw environment, right in front of an audience without any effects, his talent.(Photos will follow at some point)

Japan Centre

Today, I visited the Japan Centre London. It's on Piccadilly, almost right across the street from the Japanese embassy, quite a few Japanese places in that part of town, I like it. I get to practice my Japanese (I'm currently taking lessons) and read seemingly crazy language and decipher it. It's even one of the places where you can buy the famous Japan rail pass (Not valid on the Nozumi trains :)) in the travel centre (not so much a centre, more of a cupboard)

First of all is the door itself. As you might imagine, it is red. A very nice shade of red common in Asian cultures with the obligatory cute anime characters in the window.





Although on closer examination, I'm not so sure the guy holding onto Totoro is happy, terrified might be more apt. (I'm not so good at the Japanese characters, I know most of the hiragana characters, and notice the character for 'no' in there)



Anyway, the Japan Centre is well-known for its cheap yet substantial food. Check the prices, you get so much more than in M&S or Waitrose and the quality is on a par with wasabi. The smell as you walk in of a slightly fishy, slightly seaweedy smell is almost intoxicating. It's very addictive and I hope that Japan itself smells like that. The place is always packed out with hungry office workers queuing up for the sushi. Japanese ex-patriates frequent the place too for their groceries so it must be good.







Downstairs is the bookstore, full of all sorts of Japanese magazines with people trying to look like westerners and not doing so well. I was tempted to buy this one called 'potato' though. Simply so I could see what it was all about.




I also saw this, I wasn't quite sure what it was, I was in a bit of a rush, but it looks pretty nonetheless.



And my two favourite books are here. I am a cat, a book about being a cat. And the Japanese guide to busking.





(Obglitory pokemon photo)



Back on the top floor, is the tea section. They sell everything to do with tea you could possibly want, teapots, tea, teacups, saucers, and a guide to green tea (called ochai, in roman-ji)







And last of all, is a photo of some attractive boxes of some sort. I was busy helping a friend decipher the hiragana, of limited use as you can imagine when it's mixed up with katakana and the other two alphabets used in Japan.

I love the Japan centre, it's great for immersing yourself in the language, just today two elderlyJapanese ladies were searching for a specific brand of tea, arguing about where their tea was, it was great and totally decipherable, even to a novice like me.

Here's the Japan Centre link for those interested in learning more.

The drink that dare not speak its name

Today, I was in Starbucks, and I decided to use the knowledge that has been garnered through a teenagehood spent reading wikipedia. I decided to ask for the drink that the Starbucks menu does not acknowledge the existence of. I decided to order a short latte, the barrista looked at me with a slightly quizzical expression as if to say 'how did you know about those?' and then quickly got on with my drink. A photo follows with a ruler for a size comparison, followed by the wikipedia article I got my information from:-



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starbucks#History

Now isn't that depressing, Starbucks keeps all its employees trained on making a drink that they rarely if ever sell, they even keep the place supplied with cups to make such drinks, and it's only the rare fool such as myself who believes the wikipedia conspiracy talk and doesn't mind looking ridiculous who asks for it.

To seal the idiocy deal, here is a photo of my sushi mat for when I get a sushi craving.

The reports of the Olympics popularity were greatly exagerrated

At some point, I can't recall when, the Olympic parade was held. It just so happened to go right past King's front door so like a typical opportunity-taker I had a peek. I was underwhelmed, whatever parade the media claimed was full of people, I wish I'd been there. It was friggin' empty. Most of the people watching were 2nd year Physics students like me. I did take some photos (When I wasn't being assailed by corporate sponsors. But if I ever need phone service, I'm sorted)

I did see that Tom Daly kid, he really is short, even for a 14 year old. He seemed to be doing something with an equally short girl.



Nothing else really worth reporting about it, it was so underwhelming I didn't think it worth a post. Quite a few people got free national lottery foam fingers but the entire thing looked like a massive corporate sponsorship exercise. Shame really it wasn't held at a weekend, would have been loads of people and much better as a result.

James Bond premiere

Wednesday October 29th was the James Bond premiere in Leicester Square. Sarah and I went along to see what was what, along the way we managed to acquire 3 other companions, Rachel, Chris and Andrew. Despite only arriving about 45 minutes before the event was due to begin there was ample room around the edges of the barriers to get a good view. This was a huge event, unlike anything I'd ever seen in London before, the entire square had been cordoned off and a large platform erected in the northern end of the square which as you would expect was covered in a red carpet with a convex TV screen behind the stage.

Quite why red carpet, despite red being a communist colour is used was a subject upon which I pondered for quite some time. In the end, I assumed it was due to some sort of association with Catholic Cardinals, but I digress.

The event was hosted by Jennie Falconer, she was at a far smaller premiere I'd visited, perhaps the job of premiere announcer is contracted out like poet laureate. She was quite good initially, announcing when all the famous celebrities arrived, but towards the end she was flagging, the final arrivals were announced a full 20 minutes after they'd arrived so I have no idea what happened there.

A female violinist group played to start the evening off, now I'd expected it'd be Bond, Bond film, Bond violinists, it makes logical sense and they were certainly in the Bond mould however were not. A missed chance for shameless promotion methinks.

The first people to arrive were to producers, Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccolli. I had no idea who they were but I took some photos of them as practice.

Here's Michael Wilson, looking very much like a Producer:-



And Ms Broccolli, I feel very guilty at using this photo, poor woman looks as if she has the worst cold:-



In the background are presumably one of her children and their date, I have no idea which is which but while practicing for later pictures I took a few of them.

A string of cars arrived, mostly Mercedes and Aston Martins. Judi Dench arrived and went straight into the theater, which resulted in a few boos across the square. Her behaviour was a definate exception. She's far shorter than you would expect, no taller than 5foot6.

About midway through Daniel Craig arrived, looking exactly like you would expect Daniel Craig to look like. 5foot10 perhaps? He had his arm in a sling which I later learnt was due to him spraining or breaking a shoulder blade during filming. (I think the caption for this photo should read "THIS IS SPARTA")



This was the last photo I took, my camera ran out of battery so I am unable to show you any photos of Jack White whom I met. A nice guy who seemed impressed at how many people turned out.

I never got to see the Royals, had no desire to stay cold and they were ridiculously late, forcing the poor war veterans to wait out in the cold for them. I dashed off to the nearby Ciao cafe on Charing Cross Road and feasted on espresso and imported Italian Diet Coke.

In the future, I'll be sure to keep my camera battery well charged.

Introduction

This is my first blogpost for a very very long time. I used to have an old blog account but circumstances and people change and I didn't believe I had a sufficiently interesting life to justify telling others. Now though many people who subscribe to my twitter (twitter.com/davideggleton) have requested more information about certain posts and I am only happy to oblige. Hopefully readers will find what I write interesting.