Technology is passing me by….damn it!

Posted on November 22, 2009 by paul

I was taking a look at WordPress this morning. Considering a change to where I blog. Curious more than anything else, I was trying to figure out if WordPress would suit my blogging requirements better than Blogger.

Cut to a couple hours later and I am none the wiser. Don’t get me wrong WP looked ok but I then complicated matters by deciding to see if it would be possible to tweet my latest blog to Twitter and then onward to Facebook automatically.

(I figure if your going to write your thoughts down on a regular basis and send them out into the ether it makes sense to get as large and audience as possible.)

The problem I have is that there are so many different bloody methods and tutorials and how to do this my head may fucking explode. I was just looking for one easy simple method to bring together all this social networking malarkey together. Under one roof so to speak. AARRGGHH

It’s driving me nuts.

Rant over

UPDATE: Typical, five minutes after I posted this I figured it all out. I’m going to go have a lie down now. As you were.

Films I can’t live without

Posted on November 18, 2009 by paul

This afternoon I was busy working and listening to my iPod. As is often the case a random thought just popped into my noggin. I often blog about films I’ve seen recently but don’t often revisit my favourites. I thought I would try to establish a list of 10 films that make my life better and also try to explain why. I should add a note at this point that the list is in no particular order.

Krull – The theme to this film always cheers me up. I can’t explain why it just makes me smile. Regular readers will know that I am a sucker for good music. That and part of me really would like a flying horse, fuck who wouldn’t.
Who Dares Wins – If testosterone was collected from every action star to grace the silver screen, distilled, dried and reconstituted as celluloid the resultant film would not be as action pack as this eighties gem.
Brazil – I work in an office, I will always work in an office. I have made my peace with the universe regarding this. Mr Gilliam helped.
The Dark Knight – I read comics. This is the best comic book based film I have ever seen.
Saturday Night Fever – Sometimes when I walk down the street in my head I’m Tony Monero. I don’t care who knows it!
Aliens – I like Alien but I love Aliens. Game over man
The Long Good Friday – Best Gangster film ever. Gritty as fuck and all the better for it.
The Italian Job – I cannot convey in words what this film means to me. It warms my heart every time. 1969 brought the world this film and my soulmate. Best year ever.
Flash Gordon – If this film was a dairy product it would be cheese. It is a beautiful explosion of sight and sound….oh and Brian Blessed is in it.
It’s a Wonderful Life – you know…it is.

Quick to the living room and lets slip one of these beauties on!
Mr C

The Eloquent Page (an infrequent book related blog)

Posted on November 16, 2009 by paul

For a bit of a change of pace I thought I would write a blog about books rather than film.

I’m a genre addict. I love sci-fi, fantasy, horror and the occasional thriller thrown in for good measure. There are so many excellent authors out there that deserve more recognition than I think they get.

In September I had to opportunity to go to FantasyCon 2009. It’s right on my doorstep (so to speak) and I have to admit I quickly found myself in the dealer hall wandering from table to table trying to decide what to spend my hard earned cash on.

In the end I went for some novels from Abaddon Books. This publisher has a number of series that caught my eye. Specifically I was interested in Pax Britannia and The Afterblight Chronicles.

Pax Britannia is just great. Set in an alternate timeline where the Victorian era never ended. I believe the phrase du jour is ‘steampunk’ ? There are characters with splendidly evocative names like Uriah Wormwood and Devlin Valentine. The main character is dandy adventurer, Ulysses Quicksilver. Forever accompanied by his faithful man servant, Nimrod, Mr Quicksilver is thrown from adventure to adventure as the series unfolds.

The most recent book is Evolution Expects. Like the majority of the series it’s written by Jonathan Green. Top stuff all round. Nods to The Fly, green issues and even a certain ‘caped crusader’.
I strongly recommend picking these book up. There is a new one on the horizon in December and I’ll be added it to my Xmas list. I do hope Mrs Cheesecake takes note.

Till next time
Toddle pip

PS – I should stress just because I didn’t mention anything else about The Afterblight Chronicles doesn’t mean I didn’t like. I did it’s just I’ve still got one to read so will reserve my comments to some later blog.

Cirque Du Cheesecake: The Vampire’s Assistant

Posted on November 6, 2009 by paul

The second film this week was Cirque Du Freak. Now before I get started on the film I should be honest and admit I have read The Saga of Darren Shan. I liked it and read it all the way to the end. No small accomplishment when your talking 12 books.

I went into the film realising that there had to be changes made for a movie version to work. Some other reviews I have read have been very dismissive of the film due to these differences. What do I think? You know what fuck em. Books make for great source material for a movie but people have to expect changes. Reading is such a internal process. People envisage the story they read and everyone can have a different take. A film is always going to be another person’s vision of the material and I would guess likely to be different from your own.

I’m also not that bothered that the film is set in America. I thought I would be but I seem to recall the books were always pretty geographically indistinct anyway so no real issues there.

One thing I really enjoyed about the film was John C Reilly. He was great. I’ve seen him in other films but this is the first time I think I have seen him in anything as the main lead and I thought he was brilliant. Some of the other character seemed a bit two dimensional but Mr Reilly seemed to flesh out Larten Crepsley.

Also incredibly weird to see Salma Hayek with a beard (Talk about conflicting emotions!)

Will there be more Cirque? Probably. If it makes enough money. I would love to see to war between the Vampire and Vampaneze. Maybe one day?

Enough of this disjointed muttering.

I’m off

9

Posted on November 6, 2009 by paul

This week I was fortunate enough to get to see a double feature with Mrs Cheesecake. First off, based on the 2005 short film of the same name, 9 is a dark fantasy telling the story of life after humans.

The visual elements of this film are a real treat. Personally I feel sometimes that computer animation can be a bit to crisp but in this case there was a nice grungy quality will still being picture perfect.

Shane Acker directs and the voice cast includes Elijah Wood, John C Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover and Christopher Plummer.

The film nips along at quite a pace and the seventy nine minutes are done before you know it. I, for one, would have liked to have see more.

Perhaps a bit scary for younger children but I think the rating of 12A was a bit extreme.

Till next time

toddle pip

Mr P Cheesecake Esq

Desktop Tinkering Win 7 Style

Posted on November 6, 2009 by paul

This afternoon I have been messing about with the desktop functions in Windows 7. I have been tinkering away using Rainmeter, ObjectDock and the Win 7 options themselves. Now I don’t claim to be an expert by any stretch of the imagination but I think it has turned out quite well.

I was particularly pleased you can hide the clock on the taskbar. You can probably spot I use quite a large desktop gadget for this so find it unnecessary in the bottom right of the screen as well.

Techno Odds and Sods

Posted on October 25, 2009 by paul

I’ve been using Windows 7 for a couple of days now and it seems pretty good. The gripes I had regarding windows explorer in Vista are gone. Banished like a bad memory.

Been using Sony PS3 as my new DVD/Blu-ray player. Works quite well. Haven’t had the chance to use a blu- ray on it yet but hopefully soon.

I have finally managed to locate a mobile Twitter client that seems to tick all the boxes. And the winner is Twittelator.

– Posted using BlogPress from my mobile interwebs

The Imaginarium of Doctor Cheesecake

Posted on October 25, 2009 by paul

Terry Gilliam is Marmite. You know what I mean. You either love his work or hate it. I fall squarely into the first camp. I have been a fan since at the tender age of eleven years years old I first saw Brazil. It blew my mind (still does to this day). I spend hours wishing to be Harry Tuttle but end up always being Sam Lowry. The less said about that the better.

Yesterday Mrs Cheesecake and I saw Mr Gilliam’s latest film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. I try, whenever possible, to avoid reviews in advance of going to see a film. Especially when it is a film by a director like Gilliam. Like I said earlier…Marmite. Unfortunately being as exposed to the interwebs as I am some word had managed to sneak through. I had heard words like disjointed and messy.

I’m glad to say that I firmly disagree. Mrs Cheesecake and I enjoyed the film and found it both coherent and thought provoking. Obviously there were changes made due to Heath Ledger’s untimely death but I think they worked. Johnny Deep, Jude Law and Colin Farrell all do good work. The changes to the character’s appearance made sense and I don’t think detracted from the film’s narrative in any way.

I also really enjoyed the performances by Lily Cole and Andrew Garfield. Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits and Verne Troyer were all excellent too. I guess I’m saying that this was really an ensemble piece and everyone brought something to the show.

As expected the film was visually stunning. Gilliam seems to love switching between huge sweeping vistas and small enclosed claustrophobic sets. I guess scope is important when comparing the real world against your own imagination.

I really hope that Mr Gilliam gets the opportunity to make his Don Quixote film. His work deserves a lot more recognition. If you haven’t already seek out Brazil, Time Bandits, The Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys. These films might just blow your mind. They did mine.

TTFN

Mr Cheese

Robin Hood: And you’re a robber too. How long have you been a robber?
Strutter: Four foot one.
Robin Hood: Good lord! Jolly good. Four foot one? Well that-that-that is-is- a long time, isn’t it?

Pablo Cheesecake vs The Undead

Posted on October 11, 2009 by paul

Dead is the new black. Over the last couple of years everyone’s favourite undead shufflers have gone very mainstream. From Shaun of the Dead to Pride, Prejudice and Zombies by way of World War Z and Dead Set. It seems that we all enjoy a bit of zombie chic.

British Zombie Chic Literary Zombie Goodness

Latest entry to the fold is Zombieland. Mrs Cheesecake and I got the chance to see Zombieland recently and I’m pleased to report it is a worthy addition to the deceased cannon. Much like Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland is playing for laughs. Where SOTD has a very British sensibility, Zombieland is all about the US of States. Where we have cricket bats and pool cues our American cousins are all about baseball bats and shotguns.

Undead American Style

The cast are all good. Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin are convincing as survivors of the end of the world. Each of them willing to do whatever it takes in order to ensure that they survive. Jesse’s character Columbus has a series of rules which he follows to the letter. While Emma and Abigail play sisters who above pulling a con to get what they want.

The real star of the show though is Woody Harrelson. Here he plays Tallahassee; a redneck cowboy who has discovered his place in the universe thanks to the end of the world. He plays the character just right. The sort of don’t give a shit attitude Tallahassee exudes adds to his air of cocky bravado.

I read somewhere that Zombieland was originally conceived as a TV show and that the team responsible have got loads of material that could be used in a sequel. I for one will be there.

Till next time remember rule number #1 – Cardio

Cheesecake away.

Pablo Cheesecake vs Pandorum

Posted on October 4, 2009 by paul

This morning I had the opportunity to see a most impressive sci-fi flick. Up till this experience District 9 was dead cert to be crowned 2009 Sci-Fi film of the Year (in my head that is) but Pandorum has snuck in as a late contender.

Pandorum by Christian Alvart is in turns tense, sinister, claustrophobic and action packed. The story unfolds at a perfect pace and the viewer only learns what is going on as the characters discover this for themselves.

Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster make for compelling leads. The atmosphere, set design and effects are grungy as fuck. I thought it was all great.

Without giving too much away I felt there were nods to The Descent, Alien and The Thing. Pandorum is right up there in the nail biting stakes.

I had a look on IMDB turns out the director is the same age as me. Damn him *jealous shake of fist* Seriously though I enjoyed the film immensely and look forward to seeing more of his work.

See you on Tanis

Mr Cheesecake – Flight Crew 5