Star Wars in 250kb

For those that haven't yet seen Star Wars, or at least these animated GIFs:

Star Wars Episode IV, A New Hope

Star Wars Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back

Originally brought to my attention by my Father, a little digging shows that they're several years old and the original creator says there's The Return Of The Jedi lying around the Internets somewhere - let me know if you find it!

comments Posted: Tuesday 13th July 2010, 05:36pm
Categories: Video
Tags: star-wars

Schumacher to return

For the past 5+ weeks since I last posted, I've been contemplating what to write about next. There have been a few minor news stories that I could have reflected on and the weather itself has been extraordinary this month for the UK.

However, today's big story had to be echoed - Michael Schumacher is to return to Formula 1 next year! The story goes on - he's to drive for Mercedes (Brawn GP of 2009) alongside a fellow German, Nico Rosberg and with Ross Brawn heading the team who helped him achieve many of his previous F1 wins.

What with McLaren and their 2 British Drivers, Hamilton and Button and now Mercedes with their 2 aforementioned German Drivers it'll be a cracking season next year. The interesting part will be seeing if Michael still has what it takes to be a championship winner. The Brawn/Red Bull match throughout the 2009 season may unfold in the form of Britain/Germany (McLaren/Mercedes) for 2010. Or, he could find that his determination and previous wins aren't enough as he struggles to qualify and race at the same level as before - the field is mostly young drivers these days, most of which has shown promise over the past 3 years since his retirement.

So, the 2010 Formula 1 season is shaping up to be another one worth watching. There are new teams, new transfers, the previous 2 champions racing with each other and now Schumacher's return. Roll on Bahrain!

comments Posted: Wednesday 23rd December 2009, 05:36pm
Categories: Cars, Links, Video
Tags: formula-1, mercedes, schumacher

media.slickhouse.com

A few months back my (now) sister-in-law was looking through our DVD collection to find a few to rent, when she suggested I should have a list of them all - as it would be easier to find.

So, I decided to make a simple web application that would store all of the DVDs and games within a database, allowing friends and family to browse the catalogue and to 'rent' any they wished. The application itself was easy to create, the time consuming part was entering all 321 items into the database! It took Anneka and I about 8 hours spread over several evenings. The result is:

media.slickhouse.com

Have a look, filter the collection and view the individual DVDs/games. Let me know if you find any issues too - as it's still in development. I plan to add several more features including:

Let me know if you have any suggestions for additional features or if you're interested in the source code. We were a little surprised with the 321 items in total - I had estimated over 400, but if you split out all the box-sets then it's fairly close to the latter!

comments Posted: Thursday 1st October 2009, 05:36pm
Categories: Games, Slickhouse, Video, Web
Tags: dvd, media, slickhouse, xbox-360

Shoot 'Em Up

It's been a long time since I last wrote about a film here. This is partly due to us watching very few since Lily arrived, although now that she's going to bed earlier, we're finding time to sit back and continue using our LOVEFiLM subscription. We're signed up to the 2 rentals a month basic package and have yet to return both DVDs within the month timeframe. For example, Hitman arrived during October and we sent it back in January.

So far, our choices have been spot on - until we watched Shoot 'Em Up.

Admittedly, the film should be taken with a pinch of salt - as the title suggests it'll be a blood-bath. But I eyed up the counter on the DVD player, eagerly awaiting the final minutes of the running time. Shoot 'Em Up is over the top and lacks substance, though I'm surprised to see it's achieved a 7.0 on IMDB.

As it's a rental, we've returned it straight away and are now awaiting the delivery of the next [random] selection - Evan Almighty. Unfortunately, it's received a mere 5.6 stars, but I have high hopes for Steve Carell.

On a related note, we picked up a few bargain DVDs at ASDA Living earlier this week, including Hotel Rwanda (fantastic) and Fight Club (how has this missed a place in my collection to date?) - for £5 and £3 respectively.

Let me know what films you've been watching recently and whether you'd recommend them.

comments Posted: Tuesday 24th February 2009, 05:36pm
Categories: Video
Tags: dvd, lovefilm

Virgin Media 20MB Broadband

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.

comments Posted: Saturday 16th August 2008, 05:36pm
Categories: Computers and Technology, Slickhouse, Video, Web
Tags: cable-broadband, virgin-media