Archive for the 'TV/Film/DVD' Category:

Today we upgraded our L 10MB Virgin Media Cable Broadband to their XL package, with speeds up to 20MB! We also opted for the XL phone and also XL TV packages, all for £56!

Thinking we’d be waiting a few days until the upgrade, I continued surfing the ‘net as normal. However, after another trip to Speedtest.net, I found that the speed hike had already taken place:

Bearing in mind before it hit around the 8MB[500kb/s] mark (10MB package), the extra throughput is instantly recognisable. Everything is instant, no lag, no delays. So, slickhouse.com (and other sites hosted here) will reach you even quicker.

Virgin Media have come on leaps and bounds since the NTL days; whereas the latter’s customer services left a lot to be desired, Virgin Media are fantastic and very helpful. Also, the fact that Samuel L. Jackson regularly fronts their TV ads also helps. Fibre Optic broadband is super fly.

I’ll no doubt be posting again in the coming weeks, regarding Virgin Media - as our V+ box is to be installed soon. It’ll allow us to record 2 channels, whilst watching the third, all in HD-goodness. About time too - as we regularly miss our favourites.

Here’s two teaser trailers worth watching today, firstly Star Wars: Clone Wars clip, showing a large battle between the Clone Troopers/Jedi vs. the Droid army:

Original Video- More videos at TinyPic
Secondly, Pixar’s next moving, titled UP:

Original Video- More videos at TinyPic

This year’s Apprentice, season 4 is drawing to a close. Last night’s episode showed the final 5 candidates clawing their way through 4 gruelling interviews.

Whereas in previous seasons, we have seen Sir Alan fire several candidates to leave him with 2 potential Apprentices for the final - this year he decided to just eliminate Lucinda, the oddest candidate to date.

In fact, this series has seen a lot of shock firings in the boardroom, with Sir Alan getting rid of multiple candidates in several episodes. Has he become more ruthless this time around, to ensure he won’t end up with a monkey working for him?

We’ve followed each week’s episode very closely and have our bets on Alex walking away with the apprenticeship. Roll on next week’s final!

Tonight we met my grandparents in a pub for a catch-up meal, as they were staying in the area. This meant that we missed our usual Wednesday evening ritual - The Apprentice, Tuesdays @ 9pm on BBC1.

Luckily, BBC’s iPlayer makes the unmissable, unmissable. So, a few minutes after it had finished on BBC1 (just as we returned from the pub), I turned on the wireless laptop and we were able to watch the full episode in full-screen glory. No installations or 3rd party programs, no active-x controls or scripts, just the usual Flash 9, as per YouTube.

I have to admit that it’s the first time I’ve used the iPlayer - though Anneka and Emily have used it countless times recently, to watch programmes they’d missed. The quality is good and consistant, though there was visible tearing and stuttering from time-to-time. I think this is due to the limitations of streaming Flash media, rather than bottlenecks in the 10MB cable broadband, or the wireless connection.

So, if you’re going to miss, or have already missed a BBC TV programme - then catch up with the unmissable via the highly recommended BBC iPlayer. We’re going to use it again next Wednesday for The Apprentice, as we’ve already booked tickets to go and see Sex and the City.

Oh, as for tonight’s episode of The Apprentice - we were shocked that Alpha won, as their advert and packaging looked horrid, but Rennaissance missed one minor point - their ad contained no mention of the product that they were trying to sell. School boy error #1.

As The Lounge is becoming full (464+ comments) and summer is pretty much here, I think we should move conversation outside into the sunshine. Hence, The Summer House. Feel free to talk about anything, as before…

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