Bloglifters Of The World Unite.....

i am highly flattered by the skill that fellow blogger
Expensive Mistakes and Cheap Thrills attributes to me, but i fear that it is somewhat misplaced! it would appear that she is part of some sort of fascinating competition or other, the details of which you can get by clicking here.

i would seem unable to open the link to the competition registration and instructions, but that could be because i am clicking it with the wrong kind of mouse or something. as Expensive Mistakes and Cheap Thrills has nothing but kind words for me and has a really interesting blog (or two), i am sorry that i cannot seem to help her with something or other (an ipod, methinks) directly. if you can make all of the links work and do whatever it is you need to do to assist her in victory, or perhaps win yourself, please do so! Expensive Tastes, please by all means guide me further if you want me to try and help!!

oh and i hope you don't mind the Cheap Thrills image which came to my mind straight away with your name; i know at the least that my dear wife will be delighted to open this site and see that picture :)


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the changing face of verk

hey everyone


well, the common view out there would be that these blog thingies are all "me me me", with the narrator talking of themselves and just themselves alone. i would like to think that i don't do too much of that (at least not in a bad or self indulgent way!) with this site. that said, thanks to my chum Sinbad, i have a series of pics of my good self during the recent overhaul and redesign of our office here at verk.


here's one of me sat at my old desk, as dedicated as ever, just before all the furniture and things that you can see got removed from those nice chaps that work for the building contractors. i say nice chaps, but, alas, my chum Sinbad has had one or two experiences with them that he has likened to those infamous men from Mr O'Rielly, or if you will "Orilley men" out of Fawlty Towers.





for the two or so weeks that they took to reconstruct my particular corner of our building, i was moved to a temporary area. as you can see, i was able to show the same levels of dedication and interest despite not being in my usual surroundings...





and finally, here i am at my shiny new desk. i have no doubt that you will have observed that, other than the usual display of high dedication, i have also had something of a shave and a haircut in between pictures. the shave and haircut was purely co-incidental, but if any of you feel an urge to see it as a tribute or consequence of my new desk at verk, so be it.





well, there you go, then! i will do my best to not have too many vanity posts like this in the forseeable future!!

cheers again, Sinbad!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the intelligence-free world of Hasbro and Mattel

oh dear!


well, this is a sad day for me and a number of friends around the world, in particular my dear sister Gillian. i am sure a number of you got to see this page today when you went to have a go at Scrabulous :





it seems that the "owners" of Scrabble, Hasbro and Mattel, got upset at how popular this game was. instead of exploring ways to be involved with it or to milk the whole thing for some advertising, these two greedy Corporate types insisted that the program be removed so no one can play it anymore.

well done - two toy and game manufacturers making headlines worldwide by stopping people playing games!!!! that's a really brilliant marketing decision, chaps.

at least there's a backlash against the two involved going on - it would seem that some dedicated types have hacked and crashed the "official" interwebnet version of Scrabble. good work, whoever it was. if they fix it, i trust you break it again on behalf of all of us!

i don't think Hasbro and Mattel have thought this through. nearly one half of a million people (that's 500,000) people played Scrabulous every day. that's an awful lot of people you have told not to buy your products. a strange move with Christmas just around the corner, no?

oh, to live in a world where common sense prevails.......



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lyla at last!!!

hey everyone


my apologies for the late update, Richard and Erika kindly sent some ace pictures through a while back. i've been ill of late, and had some interwebnet thingie connection problems, both of these matters seem pretty much fixed!

and, by the way, by "ace pictures" i mean ones of Lyla not looking terrified in the presence of clowns, thank you!

here's the little princess with dummy and doll! i believe we got her the doll in question and in picture for Christmas - we are then delighted to see that she rather likes it!





and here's a well captured image of young Lyla looking as lovely as ever - well done to the photographer, great work!!





if we are lucky, we should be seeing the Middelburg clan this weekend!!!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haircut #2 - 1 Fizzer and 1 Wall-E toy

hey there


well, as i have mentioned before, James has (or rather had) been long due a second haircut. Mummy decided that this weekend was the one to try and do it, and success was achieved. at a cost, of course.


here he is in the "before" state. as class as his hair looked long, it was getting in his eyes a bit too much and was clearly annoying him. you will note that he is busy eating a fizzer, one of his top sweets and usually a pretty good way to keep him sat still for a few minutes!!





and a few minutes was all he did sit still for - here's him graciously agreeing to sit down again midway through his haircut. he decided that it was all a bit too boring and so went for a wander around the house for a bit, it has to be said. however, the promise of another class Wall-E toy saw him returning to the seat and thus allowing Michele to tackle his fringe!!





and, behold! the finished article! Grandma made a comment about him being a mini Onslow out of Keeping Up Appearances! not sure that they do string vests for 3 year olds, but you never know!!





well done Mummy, he looks all the more handsome with his class new haircut!!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009 : Remake / Remodel

hey everyone

whilst 2008 has been a varied and rather good year for cinema thus far, the hints are that 2009 might be a trifle familiar to those of us who were around and watched movies in the 80's. is this to be a good or bad thing? not sure, but let's have a gander at 3 of the "big" titles due 12 months from now.....


thus far there has been, i think, 11 or so Jason Voorhees films in a range of Friday 13th incarnations. it's not a further sequel on the way, folks, but a remake i believe. erm, yeah. i am trying to avoid *** SPOILERS ***, but if the plan is to "reboot" or remake the original Friday 13th film, then the iconic hockey mask, which only appeared in Friday 13th Part III, would not or rather should not be there.

i rather enjoy the Jason films, so i am keen to see what this one turns out like. methinks, however, this will be more suited to a late night DVD crowd than it would to any special cinema screenings. it's tempting to boycott it, mind - if this is a success (and it most likely will be as low budget remakes = excellent % profits), watch them go and "re-imagine" the Nightmare On Elm Street films next.



i would love to know who it is that took the effort to decide that the world really needs an update or remake of Red Sonja. i do recall seeing it back in the 80's. i know that i watched it purely as i had a "thing" for Bridgette Nielsen (and if you are reading this Bridgette, bad luck, i am married now, find someone else), and there was something of a cameo performance by Arnie in it. i think Arnie was some sort of quasi-Conan mentor type figure.

erm, that's all i recall of the film. i really do not remember what it was about, or if it was any good or not. if it was bad i suppose some horrid memory would remain, so i guess it was distinctly average. Robert Rodriguez being involved could be a good thing or a bad thing. if it is the Rodriguez genius that delivered Desperado, then this will be an ace sword and sorcery film. if the Rodriguez involved in that total, qualified mess that was Grindhouse is the one behind this, then expect a lame, contrite "homage" that published critics will get all indulgent and excited about in an attempt to show how clever they are by "getting it" when you don't.



and finally, well, now we are talking. after the excellent Sarah Connor Chronicles TV show, a welcome return to the big screen for The Terminator. looking at the $$$$ currently being thrown at The Dark Knight (will try and see that this weekend), Terminator Salvation is going to have a "big star" in the shape of Christian Bale in it. as i said in an earlier post, he is a quality actor; and has been in everything he's done from Empire Of The Sun onwards.

the trailer for Terminator Salvation does a rather nice job - gets you very excited, and very impatient that there's still some ten months to go before we get to see it. the plot details and most of the (alleged) script is out there on the interwebnet. if you are of a mind to do so, go read up on it, but as with The Dark Knight i am trying to keep a spoiler-free stance with this one.


well, there's 3 of a couple of hundred films heading our way next year. one can but hope that they turn out to be decent!!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!

Are you Roman tonight? Statue of 'Elvis' chiselled 1800 years before his birth goes under the hammer

With his dashing chiselled features, swept back hair and perky bouffant the resemblance is unmistakable.

But incredibly this carving of Elvis Presley was created around 1800 years before the King of Rock and Roll first warbled his first note.

The amazing likeness has come to light as part of a sale of ancient antiques by the auction house Bonhams.





The Roman Elvis is in fact a genuine marble acroterion - a kind of architectural ornament often found for decoration on the corners of a sarcophagus, a stone tomb or burial chamber.

It forms part of a collection owned by Melbourne-based Graham Geddes - one of the world's most foremost collectors - which is estimated to sell for more than £1m when it goes on sale in October.

Even the Geddes himself has nicknamed the astounding lookalike ‘Elvis’.

Antiquities specialist Georgiana Aitken added: 'It bears an uncanny likeness to Elvis Presley. It's the quiff that does it.

You do some weird and wacky things at the corners of sarcophagi.


'I don't know what purpose they served and the quiff was not a hairstyle of the day as far as I know.'

The 'Elvis’ sculpture is 2nd Century AD and is estimated to make £25,000 to £30,000.

A spokesman for Bonhams said: "It is perhaps the strangest item in the sale, certainly to modern eyes.

"Fans of the King of Rock 'n Roll, seeing this face from the distant past will be forgiven for thinking that their idol may well have lived a previous life in Rome!


"Looking at this face with its Elvis-like quiff, strong jaw and nose, one is inevitably led to the thought that the human face for all is diversity and subtlety has after all an ability to repeat itself."

speaking of haircuts....

hey everyone

well, whilst we debate exactly how we are going to persuade James to let us either give him a haircut again, or take him for one, it seems that this act is going reasonably well in New Zealand at the moment!!

Katie it seems is rather comfortable with this haircut business, as shown in this picture!





now, how much of her comfort is down to having an appreciation for excellently cultivated hair and how much of it is down to the fact that she knows she gets sweets and treats if she behaves is debatable!

Daniel, however, did not look at all comfortable with his first haircut. i have decided not to include a pic of him getting his haircut here, pretty much for the same reason that i did not post the picture in which Richard and Erika proved rather well that Lyla does not like clowns (don't ask!!).

that said, he looks rather happy with it all over and done with, and you can't fault the stylish job done on his new hairstyle!





as i recall, it took Michele all of 3 lolipops to get James to sit still for his first haircut. let's see what the cost is this time, as and when we get around to trying once again!!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Building and Gardnening

hey everyone

James spent most of Saturday with Grandma and Grandad. it's not that he needs much of an excuse to see them, but has he had not seen them for a couple of weeks he was all the more excited about going, even behaving at bathtime the night before!

the latest project for James and Grandad is some bird tables, along with putting some new plants in. in regards of building bird tables, well, i doubt that i was ever trusted with even this kind of power tool!





given the real equipment, mind, i would probably have a go at drilling and sawing very much like this. i gather that this would be the incorrect, and perhaps, unsafe way to do it. all this DIY business does not seem to have much in the way of a margin for experimenting!





don't you just love this picture? i mean, is it me, or is James having a quick practice swing to see what might happen if he decided to accidentally kick the tin of paint?





and here we are putting some nice plants in. apparently James picked out some nice purple ones to do, because purple ones are Mummy's favourites!





yep, doing the barrow work was usually the one job i was "trusted" to do in and about the garden with my Grandad, James!!





and finally, a picture i really like! mindful of the fact that yes, it shows that he is probably due a haircut, doesn't it just look like a class 80's style thing going on?





not sure if James is particularly happy with this look, but up to now he just demands that quality music like Duran Duran and Frankie Goes To Hollywood is switched off in the car!!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Terminator Salvation

for a few months now, the interwebnet thingie has been debating Terminator Salvation. i say "debating", it's rather the case thatsome sad cases (presumably those who didn't allow themselves to enjoy Terminator 3 because the interwebnet told them not to) have been slamming the choice of director, the choice of cast, the lack of Arnie, etc, etc, etc. no doubt these types did not enjoy the excellent Sarah Connor Chronicles TV show either.

anyway, in the case of Salvation, people have been trying to slate it without seeing an image, script or anything. well, here's an image from the film, an image which i believe suggests my "optimistic, wait and see" approach to the project.





wow, man. if the above image does not look cool to you, then i guess you are not a Terminator fan. no crime in that, i suppose. i am very much a fan, though, and to me this looks ace! a film cannot be judged on one picture of course, but if this is what they are releasing as a sneak look, then so far so good, thank you!

believe it or not, some sad cases have now started to suggest that Christian Bale is "not an action star". huh? no, he isn't in the sense of Stallone, Arnie and the gang. he is an actor, and a rather good one. that's probably the most appealing part of Bale being cast as John Connor, and also the point of the character. he isn't a big action man or military hero, he's an ordinary (sort of) boy who fate called upon to salvage mankind. it rather needs an actor than it does muscles.

not sure of the release date, but the sooner the better!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vodacom + Post Office = No Post For Two Months

my my, isn't the South African Post Office having their best ever year? first it was the humiliation of having the world's biggest online store, amazon.com, blacklist South Africa and refuse to send parcels as the staff of the SAPO were stealing too many of them.

despite being inept and incompetent at the service they are supposed to give, the SAPO branched out last month and started selling shares in SASOL. in a no way surprising sequence of events, they were woefully ill-prepared to deal with doing this, and thus for the last two weeks of June and the first week of July neither i, nor most of South Africa, got any post, save the adverts they get paid to deliver.

one would have hoped that this served as a lesson to them, but no. if you read this complaint i posted you will get the gist of the disaster that is about to befall us.

for some obscure reason, both the SAPO and Vodacom are refusing to discuss the upcoming share issue, saying they are waiting for the right time to make an announcement. as SAPO staff are already complaining about the avalanche of work that they will be smothered under and fear for the complaints coming about their inability to deliver post, i am not sure what they think is so secret at this stage.

for those of you not in the know, let me help Vodacom out by telling you all what is about to happen. for two months, commencing in August 2008, the South African Post Office will be focused on selling "empowerment" shares to the general public. as noble and as generous as the offer may seem, in reality these deals usually involve people handing money over that they can ill afford to do in return for an insignificant amount of shares.

whereas one hopes that the Vodacom offering will not fall in to this category, it does not change the fact that they are going to bring disturbing levels of disruption to the postal services in this country. to issue the shares via the Post Office is a move motivated purely by cost cutting and greed. i have no doubt that it is rather cheap for Vodacom to get the Post Office to do it for them, and as for the Post Office, well, any income is welcomed, any excuse not to deliver the service they are supposed to is embraced.

the above is made clear by the fact that Vodacom are doing this via the Post Office instead of through their own stores; their extensive networks of "VodaShops". they will come up with the excuse just now that the Post Offices are being used as they are more accessible for everyone. this is utter nonsense - Vodacom and their partners have stores everywhere, and are easier to find and have longer operating hours than any Post Office. no, Vodacom are not using their own stores as they do not want to clutter their stores with hundreds (thousands) of people. they want to focus their attention on the service they are supposed to provide, and evidently do not care what happens to the service the Post Office is expected to deliver.

if you are of a mind to do so, by all means bombard the contact details on any or all of the links provided with complaints and questions about this. owing to the general apathy in respect of avoiding problems in SA, i doubt much action will occur. that is, until late August or early September, when bills have not been delivered and accounts go unpaid. i dare say then the SA media, even those who get rather large wads of cash in advertising from the two culprits, will have to report on it.

on that note, i am rather looking forward to the angle they conjure up. when the SA Post Office was blacklisted by amazon.com for theft, you may recall, Johannesburg based semi-professional (ahem) "independent" radio station , who coincidentally were carrying a large amount of expensive, peak time adverts for the SAPO, somehow managed to twist the story to be that customers were actually stealing the parcels themselves, no matter how many people phoned in to tell them stories of items never delivered. how will they manage to re-interpret this one?

ho hum, be excellent to each other, and if you are someone i usually correspond with via the post, see you in October i guess!!!

the worst film article ever?

The Times newspaper has had a good run of some interesting film articles of late, but it seems to have come to a very sad end!

their article today, the 20 worst film endings, is shall we say somewhat suspect in certain choices. most one would agree with, although the inclusion of Apocalypse Now and 2001 suggests that those evaluating the films had no idea whatsoever what they were watching. to include those two suggests that they simply did not understand the film itself.

the biggest disaster, however, is their inclusion of The Great Escape. now, i will try and keep this SPOILER free, but it will be tricky.

here, written by someone called "KM", is their comment on the end of this fine film :


The Great Escape
John Sturges, 1963

“The Great Escape Attempt”, more like it. After 170 minutes of digging tunnels and faking documents, nearly every one of the escapers is captured or killed. Even the hero Virgil Hilts (Steve McQueen), after a botched bike jump, is sent back to the cooler. But, hey, he’s got his baseball. So that’s OK.

did you read that with some care? let me just highlight the interesting part of this analysis for you....

Even the hero Virgil Hilts (Steve McQueen), after a botched bike jump, is sent back to the cooler.

now, all of you who have seen the film know that this is not what happens. i won't say what actually happens just in case you have not seen it, and i would not want to spoil the actual ending for this "KM" as and when they get around to watching the film!


a poor show, Times newspaper, a very poor show!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

G8 World "leaders" - a sense of perspective

well, the 'biggest' and 'most important' world leaders all met in Japan or somewhere recently. you will note the lack of the word 'best' there, as few (if any) of them are currently all that popular, with at least two of them challenging for the title of "worst national leader of all time".

when not indulging in massive dinners or symbolic planting gestures, you would have thought that they would have turned their collective attention on the biggest problems facing the world. it would have been nice, for instance, if they had thought up some way of resolving the fossil fuel reliance and cost of the world, or economies facing harsh times or ruin. they could have even contemplated a chat about the alarming tales of food shortages, or even that dubious matter of "global warming", also known as "climate change" when it is too cold to get away with the initial term. oh, and perhaps all of those military conflicts that some started and could not finish might have been worth an honourable mention.

it would, however, seem that these matters are of no concern to the (ahem) top eight nations in the world, and were pretty much discarded. the focus of these curious minds, it seems, was instead on that all important, world threatening and critical matter of paving the way to allow inept and unqualified airport security staff to have a good look at your ipod or music player and see if they can determine if all on it is legally there.....





G8 leaders ratify 'iPod search'
G8 leaders meeting this week in Hokkaido, Japan, will ratify an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta) which would give customs officials the right to search laptops or iPods for illegally obtained music.

One of the provisions of Acta states: "Members shall provide for the provisions related to criminal enforcement and border measures to be applied at least in cases of trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy."

This could be interpreted as meaning that individuals could be asked about content such as music and films on their MP3 players or portable computers.


now, other than being a subject not worthy of the attention of those who wield the power for the most powerful nations in the world (in mind if not in fact), this idea is just plain silly. as those of you who have an ipod thingie or some other music / media player will know, once the files are on the device, it is impossible to tell if a file is a "pirate" or if it has been legally purchased. the files would all look exactly the same to a trained or, in the case of airport security, untrained eye!

there's also the small matter of just how much you can get on to an ipod. are they seriously suggesting that airport security and customs staff really take the time and trouble to examine and give an analysis on the contents of a 160GB player? that could well be tens of thousands of files that one would have to check. that could lead to some spectacular delays and issues, and that's without going anywhere near the privacy issues this idea throws up.

the fight against piracy and intellectual property theft is an important one, but should rather be a battle of common sense than this display of alarming stupidity. rather tackle the "big guns", ie the ones that obtain and distribute these law violating files, instead of trying to pick of someone who has, for all anyone knows, abided by the laws and has everything on their media device in a perfectly legal manner.

in the mean time, i can only look forward to my next flight somewhere. i would imagine that, after having my shoes x-rayed, my ipod examined and my travel bag emptied into a clear, see-thru environment damaging bag, the usually rude and incompetent flight attendants on the actual flight itself will seem like an odd, but welcome comparative joy to deal with.


be excellent to each other, and do give thought to actually using the vote you have as and when the above clowns next ask if they can be in power again......

Thursday in New Zealand

hey everyone


well, if i recall Gillian's mail correctly, Thursday is a veritable buzz of activity in the Farnworth household, making today an appropriate day to update the site with pictures i was sent a not inconsiderable time ago!!

Gillian did not give much information, other than a cautionary bit of advice surrounding visiting them on a Thursday. i trust that it was intended as a mere slice of warning advice rather than a warning off, as the tea and biscuit party looks like tremendous fun!





now, i am not sure what they make New Zealand tea from so i will try and reserve a certain ratio of implication in regards of what i suspect might be in it. the photographic evidence of how the fine people of New Zealand believe you should drive a car after some tea, however, in many respects speaks for itself.





and there's certainly no holding back Daniel! not only does he not consider himself in a situation where he may have drank far too much tea already to be at the controls of this curious New Zealand car, far from it.

The Further Adventures Of The Artist As A Young Man..

hey everyone

well, a rather cold weekend here last week, but not a miserable one. we were inside for the majority of it, but we found plenty to do and have fun with.

like, for instance, some painting! James does love messing around with paints and brushes. sometime he even manages to get the two on to the paper and not the walls, furniture and so forth.....





just check out his ace dinosaur hat! James usually doesn't like wearing a hat, as it happens. however, as it is rather cold he's appreciating the benefits of it. plus, he is overdue a haircut (or "aircute" as he calls it), so the hat helps keep the hair from his eyes!!





erm, sorry, no pics of the magnificent pictures he painted! i will be trying to send one or two of them off around the world at least!!


hope it's warm wherever you are in the world!!!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Conan returns?

now this is interesting....





no director and no cast has yet been given for this new Conan film, and yet somehow they have a poster for it! they would also seem to have a release date in mind, although "2009" covers any one of 365 days that they intend to show it i guess.

the only problem i have with the Arnie Conan films from the 80's is that they only made two of them. they were most excellent fun movies, so i am delighted to see that the character, if not the actor, will return. as long as they do not make it on the cheap, of course.....


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3 out of 4

hey everyone


well, for two of my regular readers (Mum and Dad), here's an update of 3 of your 4 beautiful grandchildren! i imagine some new pics of Lyla will arrive eventually. they are all fine and well (or, if you will, well and fine), but probably just a bit too busy for pictures since our last visit to them!

first up is James from the weekend, where he went off to "help" Grandma and Grandad with some gardening whilst Mummy recovered from a trip to the dentist! and yes, the weather was as cold as the picture suggests!!





i would imagine that Grandma is in the background to make sure that James does not decide to remove any of the new plants from the garden!!

right, time for some images of New Zealand which, i believe, is also having a rather cold time at the moment. i know of one visitor in particular that must be thrilled to be there whilst it is so cold, but let's all rather concentrate on this stunning and gorgeous pic of Katie!!





and of course, where there is Katie, Daniel is never too far behind! it looks like Daniel has taken a shine to building blocks just like James did at his age - let us see if he follows suit and finda joy in throwing them about!!!





and, since we don't have a new-ish picture of Lyla, let's sneak in an extra one of Katie, then!! looks like she is having fun on the piano!!





i don't think anyone other than Grandad has all that much musical ability, actually, unless you count Richard's excellent skills at loading tracks on to an ipod i suppose. who knows, perhaps Katie's heart will lead her to a passion for making music, otherwise i am sure she will just enjoy listening to it like the rest of us!!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!

to show from where i came

hey everyone

my dear Uncle Trevor has been sending a number of pictures from the village i still call home, so i thought i would add selected highlights here!

here's a view of the Beck running through Great Ayton, a little after Low Green and before it weaves past High Green - Middle Green, then?

the picture is taken not too far away from Grandma H's bungalow. many, many times have i walked the paths that you see! it would be nice to think that i will do once again one day, in particular heading off to the right, as that's where Suggits Ice Creams are!!





and here's a shot of my equally dear Uncle Colin, stood outside Gran H's bungalow, proudly showing off his new wheels, as it were, man.





i believe i have been supplying some of the quality tunes that one could hear in this car. nice one, hope the vibes sound good!!!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!

the actual film of the year?

whereas we are all eagerly awaiting the majesty of The Dark Knight to be unleashed upon us in about a week or so, i have a suspicion that it will not be the film of the year. going on instinct along, all that i have seen and read of this WALL-E film makes me suspect that this one will be the winner at the end of it all. it would not be without precedent, either - 2005 should have had Star Wars Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith as the clear cinematic event of the year, but instead it finished third behind the brilliance of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and the terror of The Descent.

so far i have seen only the trailer and the toys for WALL-E, but it's all looking good. how exactly Disney and Pixar weave such magic is beyond me - taking a box then adding a pair of bionculars, some wheels and arms to it seems a somewhat simplistic thing to do to create a character, but that's what they have done and made an adorable one at that.


as for the plot and whatnot, i am not quite sure. it would appear that Wall-E himself has been left alone on earth for some 700 years, and has spent that time cleaning the planet. then he gets a visitor, and the whole thing would appear to stem off into a mixture of a love story and a crusade of sorts. as i say, i am not quite sure, but i am interested enough to wish to find out soonest!

i believe the film is out in the States as we speak, and gets released here this week - a rather strange decision, since the school holidays finish here as it opens? i am debating taking James to the cinema for it, but i am not sure how he will be. he may get somewhat annoyed that he can't stop or rewind it, as much as i suspect he will love the size of the screen it is on!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!

Duran Duran to collaborate with Mark Ronson for James Bond theme?

Duran Duran keyboard player Nick Rhodes has revealed that his band would like the opportunity to tackle the new James Bond theme with Mark Ronson.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, the keyboardist said it was an ambition of theirs to work with the super-producer on the tune for 'Quantum Of Solace'.

"We'd love to collaborate with Mark on a single for the next Bond film," he said.

It wouldn't be the first time the band have soundtracked a Bond flick - they previously contributed the theme to the fictional spy's 1985 outing, 'A View To A Kill'.

"With him [Ronson] we may even surpass 'A View To A Kill'", Rhodes told the newspaper.

Duran Duran met Ronson in Paris, where they are set to play a gig together.

oh, please let this be true!!! let's be honest, with some respect to a-Ha, the last decent, awesome Bond theme was A View To A Kill. it will be ace if they get the boys back to deliver another classic!!