Gather some people in a room and ask them to put their hands up if they want to be famous and I bet you they will. Everyone wants to be famous but it always has a price to pay and this is what I'm gonna be delving into. People are generally quite nosey, as far as my understanding. Celebrities are like that window that allows people to look in and see how different or similar they are to each other. Famous people are a laugh. Tom Cruise, for instance is short, and that's funny. And yet you know who I'm on about because he's a well known actor, he's appeared in films you have probably seen, and he is friends with David Beckham, which has to be a round of applause for sustainability. How does he cope? Probably the wealth. That's what people really want. The wealth to buy all the fast cars, the big houses and the helicopters. And the way to get that is to either be a lottery winner, which is a game of chance. Honestly, you have more chance of winning Mouse Trap. Unless you're really lucky, that is. So, the next way to become easily wealthy without having to do much is to be famous. And people would like to get famous easily, which logically doesn't add up.
Sir Alan Sugar rolls in his Rolls(-Royce) because he has worked incredibly hard to get his wealth and so has Tom Cruise, no matter how short he is. The same goes with Bill Gates. Apparently, if he kept his dollar notes under his mattress, it would take him 5 years to hit the floor if he falls out of bed. Some people want to get from A (which is normal, everyday person) to C (incredibly rich) without the B part (HARD WORK). They'll do it any way necessary. Cue reality TV. I'm am of course referring to Big Brother, X Factor and Britain's Got Talent. Quality TV it isn't. It is only watchable because we like to see people we don't know fail. That's the only reason I seem to watch it. To see Simon Cowell shun a nobody. It makes us feel better about ourselves. I don't particularly like what the end product is either. I say end product because the only winner is Simon Cowell. And also put this in perspective. The boy band JLS from X Factor (2008) have got a number one selling single in the UK charts. It's theirs forever and ever and no one can take that away with them. The thing is, they didn't even win. How did that happen? Alexandra Burke came in in first and that's been that. It's claimed that she is in the process of making an album. Without releasing a single before the album is out to prove that work is being done? Hmmm, we do have a problem. The same goes with another X Factor winner called Leon Jackson (2007), got DROPPED by his label, Sony BGM for not selling enough albums. That's right, they jilted him! He's now touring with runner-ups Same Difference, who if you covered in wax, would rival Babybell in cheesiness. It's all very hollow. Big Brother is probably the worst culprit. The difference between the Big Brother and a zoo is the camera coverage. It's no surprise that after 2010, it will be axed by Channel 4. Because it's boring the life out of everyone. It's past its sell by date. Once upon a time, TV could be held responsible for making all matter of decent shows. Now it wants to vomits out reality TV which, and there's no other way of putting this, cheap. Actors, scriptwriters and other experts cost and it's simple to just get a handful of wannabe fame seekers, put them in house together or get them to sing and take it from there, keeping the people in who you want to keep and sling the rest out on their sorry backsides where they belong. All with a phone call of course, giving Mr Tvchannelman a hefty profit and hardly a blind bit of notice to whoever wins. Winning should be rewarding and glorious but in this case, it's as fake as a Japanese watch sold at a market.
The only way to truly succeed is to work really hard. The one's who do receive fame should be in my opinion, actors, musicians (as opposed to the tosh X Factor gives you. I mean proper instrumentalists and proper singers and vocalists, not karaoke singers), comedians (because we all need to laugh) and some sport personalities to name but a few. F1 drivers give a bit of a spark when something potentially goes wrong. Rugby features tough guys against more tough guy. Generally being a battle. Golf...ah, that's where it ends. Unless one of them gets struck by lightning conducted by their club. Footballers aren't sportsmen. I don't see how kicking a bit of rubber up and down a field for 90 minutes should result in a player getting paid more than a brain or heart surgeon who can save a precious human life. Football isn't a sport. It's a popularity contest between big egos. Christiano Ronaldo was sold to Real Madrid by Manchester United Carpets and Beds for and incredible amount of money. £80 million! Why? If I had £80 million to spend, I'd buy him. And I wouldn't even use him for football. He would do the jobs I find boring and tedious like pulling up weeds. He'd also make a very good dartboard. That'll be £80 million well spent if that's the case. He's 24 and he owned a Ferrari 599, smashed it up and got let off scott free. If I was to do that, the expense in insurance would be enough to wake the dead. "Oh it's cos he's a footballer!" Footballer shouldn't be a title. It should be a punishment. I'm even going to send in my idea to the Football Association to put a time bomb inside the football and only I'll know when it will detonate. Which'll show them whose boss. They don't deserve any of the credit. Writing about the Bomball (as I will now call it), I realise the same thing could be done with Big Brother. To spice things up, put a revolver in there and see who resorts to it. Alternatively, they could all play reverse Russian Roulette. As in, take one bullet out and leave the rest in. Do this with 12 guns and give them all one and see who clicks first. Note: May need to do a lot of window/mirror cleaning after this takes place. I also don't like the fact that some of them take their status for granted and flaunt it. But I do like to make fun. Here we go... Katie Price - also known as glamour model Jordan (I'm using the term "glamour" loosely. In fact I don't even want to use the word "glamour.") - recently mentioned in a newspaper, and I quote "...It's not like I can't pull anything..." Fine then. She can start with pulling a cart and then move on up to stagecoaches if she's finding that too easy! It's the media gone mad the majority of the time. The otherway around is also true. What also makes me laugh is the fact that some of them don't like being under that media spotlight. They don't like it when they're photographed stumbling out of a cab after a few drinks. Some of them despise being photographed full stop. Which doesn't make sense. They want the fame, the money, the big houses and whatever but they go into a hissy fit when they're seen at their worst.
And when they get it right, they do indeed get it right. Steven Hawking is famous for having an astonishing mind. Sir Paul McCartney is famous for being in one of the biggest pop bands on earth, The Beatles. Johnny Depp is extremely untypecast as an actor, meaning he can play almost anyone from Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean, to the dark and sinister demon barber, Sweeney Todd. And Arnold Schwarzenegger is up there for being the Terminator and the Governor of California. You can go one better with Morgan Freeman. God and The President of the United States. This makes a lot more sense. These are what people really want to be. But the Big Brother route isn't an option. Because it's being axed (I'm getting a buzz just from writing that. I'm going to do it again. Big Brother is being axed). Put the hard work in and you'll be rewarded. Now, get them same people in a room, get them to read this and ask them "who wants to be famous?" For those who think about and plan it out, it may just well work. For those of them who just put their hand up without so much as thinking, send them to line up for Britain's Got Talent. I dunno, we'll get them to juggle fire engines.
Wednesday 26 August 2009
Gadgets
The wonders that have grabbed hold of the world that you can get today is truly outstanding. Not a day goes by when I don't wonder how better my life would be without a Margaret Thatcher Nut Cracker or the aptly named Nothing. But, without their doubts, gadgets bring the world of science and understanding to you at a price, and they bring with them hours of entertainment and boasting. As in "I got a Lightsaber Brolly, be jealous and bow down in awe...". Many gadgets are tech brilliance, especially for those who never really grow up. I mean, who wouldn't want a radio controlled Apache helicopter? Or better still a USB missile launcher to fire missiles from their office desktop? There is an endless list to all the items that I (and then, no doubts you) could possibly dream of. It's also a lot of stuff that I'm not going list here otherwise it'll look like I'm plugging iwantoneofthose.com (which is a wonderful website, go look). Gadgets range from the 'make life easier' to the 'outrageously silly' and all that in between. I praise the items that give such joy. There was once a shop in a local shopping centre where I live, called The Globe - which has been replaced with a fake jewelry shop, which is somehow going to make my life better (?) - that sold all sorts of useless stuff. From plasma globes, fibre optic lights and police beacons to radio controlled Daleks, bubble machines and yapping toy dogs that performs backflips (just like real life then). It was always worth a visit, when it was there. I realised, in a nutshell, they're just there to give your life that lil' bit of zing. And they are, of course, highly uncivilised. Which is a nice cue to move me onto civilised gadgets. The big boys of the tech industry. I'm talking about the stuff only science fiction could only have dreamed of 30 or 40 years ago.
Phones, computers, laptops all spring to mind. And then there's the everyday items such as TV's, radio's, games consoles and related paraphernalia like sound systems. Again, the list is endless. Let's start with a main consumer. Apple. Apple have gained a lot of respect in the gadget world, and with me, with their high powered computers, iMac's; their smaller lap-based offspring, MacBooks (with the impossibly thin, MacBook Air); sleek iPods; the even more sleeker iPod Touch, to name some of their most famous innovations. And out of them, there is one that can't seem to understand and that's the iPhone. Not hate, I don't NOT like it, I think it's rather clever and highly advanced for a phone with the amount of applications and wizardry like the accelerometers to turn the screen when you hold the device in whatever way, but it's the claims that's given out. In a recent UK advert, it shows the iPhone (3GS) amazingly shooting video. It then shows that it can miraculously edit and trim said video and send it to someone. Now, I have a Sony Ericsson K800i, which isn't a Smartphone, but can do what the iPhone does so easily. And the K800i is a big block 'candy bar' phone that's almost 3 years old and it isn't even a rival competitor, nor does it have the processing power of the International Space Station which the iPhone does, which I suppose is where the Apple brings it back. But, whoa, all is not in the clear yet! The iPhone, as with other Apple products, encounter another hurdle and that's the expense. On contract, under O2 for two years, the iPhone will set you back nothing for the handset, but £74 a month! Do the maths, that's in excess £1,776 a year (Based on the best you can get). If you saved that up, you could buy the International Space Station. There is a cheaper option, of course, which is to buy the handset. £538.30 (32GB). One of the iPhone's main rival's, the Nokia's N97, is cheaper and more likely a better deal. £40 a month for 32GB, a better camera and a QWERTY keyboard (from Vodafone). Or you could go cheaper still and get a K800i and spend the money you save on better things like the Poptastic bubble wrap-Sim keyring. I'd rather have a big manly phone with a lot of buttons (men like buttons). Not for a moment am I knocking Apple, they make wonderfully crafted pieces of tech but the prices can be sky high and you can only afford them if you can be patient enough to save up. Which I am not.
Now Apples main computer competitors are the ever trouble Microsoft. And Microsoft and their operating system Windows, are without a doubt, utterly useless. They're slow, they get infected and they're not made for fun. It's the computer equivalent of becoming old. But it'll have to do until I can afford a MacBook. There's a lot not to like about them. I don't like the way it doesn't respond and I don't like the way it wants to send error reports to nowhere. But I do like that I can play Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 with ease. These computers are work horses, not objects of desires. So what did Microsoft do? They made a games console...
As I type, Earth currently has the Xbox 360, the Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii. These are the 3rd modern generation consoles to date all of which derived from the Nintendo N64, Playstation, Playstation 2, Xbox and Gamecube, and upto the modern day Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii, respectively. Games consoles have been an escape from reality and into a new realm of digital vastness. And they have advanced as years have gone on. "Back in the day" of Pac-man and Space Invaders, it gave you the experience of running amok eating ghosts or dealing with aliens and this sort of thing took the world by storm. Now-a-days, you can do almost anything! You can shoot Nazi's in World War Two in Call of Duty; You can race Ferrari's through London in Gran Turismo 5 and you can even beat Tim Henman at tennis (albeit, not that difficult) in Virtua Tennis 2009. The sheer amount of what you can do is unlimited within the gaming world. It's hard to imagine where game makers get their ideas from, unless you work for Grand Theft Auto in which case, if it's not broken, don't fix it because it's basically the same, game in game out and they've pretty much cracked that because it's one of my and proven, the worlds most popular gaming titles. It's brilliant. Gaming has opened up what is a new release on life. The media then has to get in the way by claiming that games like Burnout glamorise car crashes, but I fail to see the glory of going out and becoming a part of twisted metal. It's not justified. These consoles and games have sold in record numbers over the past years and they can still deliver. Whats more, these are essentially toys with enough processing power of more than the International Space Station. Take that Apple! The PS3 comes with a 30GB hard drive. My Acer TravelMate doesn't have that much. Well at least it doesn't now, now that it's all full of music and whatnot. Both the 360 and PS3 together are just as powerful as each other, boasting high quality graphics, much more power and overall just better than what we had before. You would expect that this would leave Nintendo, which had a bit of a downfall after the GameCube wasn't as successful as it's competitors, to be left in the dark. Yet, this story is the other way around. Out of the three, the Wii is more successful than both the Sony and Microsoft machines. Which just goes to show. You don't need High-Def picture quality or realistic graphics. What you need is playability and that's what the Wii gives because it let's you, your mum, your grandparents and anyone else who would never really think twice about playing on a console, to play on this outstanding piece of kit. It also because it's more user friendly. No doubt the majority of Xbox' and PS3's are in a bedroom being played by only one person physically there (notice I said physically there. Just because you're playing online against some American doesn't mean you're not playing by yourself. You're isolated in digitals, or whatever the term is). So, not only does the Wii beat it's rivals, it absolutely trounces them! And it doesn't end there. There is a current battle with the handheld market with the DS and the PSP. The Sony PSP is so much more powerful, but the innovation with the DS dual screens and voice, touch and with the DSi built in camera compatibility, these two couldn't be any different. It's a good battle as Sony are up against handheld lords Nintendo, famous for the Gameboys. It could start to get interesting...
Mobile phone? Check. Console? Check. What next? What you need next is a telly. And a whole new barrel of fish fingers. HD being the fishiest. High-Definition TV is now very popular but I don't see the reason why. Sure it give crystal clear pictures but when you're sitting on your sofa, does it really matter? HD TV is a good thing yes, but no one watches TV up against the screen. HD is really meant for watching blockbuster movies on, I think, to give you a cinema experience in your own home. Not really to show Bruce Forsyth's face in all it's clarity. And to go with your TV, you're going to need surround sound to capture the home cinema experience even more. All you need is the popcorn dispenser and people walking in front of you to go to the toilet and you're practically there. Now in the 21st Century, there's DVD and Blu-ray, to make it that little bit better for you. Radio has even been given a cool, futuristic makeover. The way forward is to destroy all transmitters and get everyone to go digital, as the same with TV channels. Go go gadget, ultimo-recorder (with Sky + and Virgin Media) which does what the VHS video recorder - or the BetaMax to all you retro lovers - could do but better as it records, pauses and rewinds live TV all without the dreaded tape which has since died out. It looks like DVD really has killed the video star as the song states, if it were to be updated...
So you've got your flash phone - to call; text; play music; play games; take pictures; film; surf the web; send you're pictures, music, films wirelessly via blutooth; you've got your games console - to submerge your everyday fantasy of smashing up cars and blowing up buildings; and you've got your massive 500 billion (beating around the point) inch TV to watch Eastenders on in the best quality and make it sound like a Michael Bay epic. Yes it does cost but at this day and age, if you don't pay that lump sum and say 'wait until it comes down in price,' then there's going to be something else that's a lot better when you do eventually buy it. And you'll be kicking yourself for it. The flip side to that is buy the cheaper stuff. Example: Instead of buying a top of the range phone, get a phone that performs just as well as a phone and use the money you've saved to buy a camcorder to film on, a camera to take pictures and a laptop to put it all together. But where does that leave you? Well, you go onto iwantoneofthose.com and you buy what you like the look of, be it a chain wine bottle holder to impress your party guests, or a Nerf Havok Fire Automatic Blaster (or as I call it, Insane but Impressive, and that's just the name of the thing) to shoot whatever moves. That's what all these things are. Toys. Like I said earlier, you never really grow up, you just want to show off what you can afford and that'll give you a broad smile on your face in knowing you can afford such a thing and that you own it!
Phones, computers, laptops all spring to mind. And then there's the everyday items such as TV's, radio's, games consoles and related paraphernalia like sound systems. Again, the list is endless. Let's start with a main consumer. Apple. Apple have gained a lot of respect in the gadget world, and with me, with their high powered computers, iMac's; their smaller lap-based offspring, MacBooks (with the impossibly thin, MacBook Air); sleek iPods; the even more sleeker iPod Touch, to name some of their most famous innovations. And out of them, there is one that can't seem to understand and that's the iPhone. Not hate, I don't NOT like it, I think it's rather clever and highly advanced for a phone with the amount of applications and wizardry like the accelerometers to turn the screen when you hold the device in whatever way, but it's the claims that's given out. In a recent UK advert, it shows the iPhone (3GS) amazingly shooting video. It then shows that it can miraculously edit and trim said video and send it to someone. Now, I have a Sony Ericsson K800i, which isn't a Smartphone, but can do what the iPhone does so easily. And the K800i is a big block 'candy bar' phone that's almost 3 years old and it isn't even a rival competitor, nor does it have the processing power of the International Space Station which the iPhone does, which I suppose is where the Apple brings it back. But, whoa, all is not in the clear yet! The iPhone, as with other Apple products, encounter another hurdle and that's the expense. On contract, under O2 for two years, the iPhone will set you back nothing for the handset, but £74 a month! Do the maths, that's in excess £1,776 a year (Based on the best you can get). If you saved that up, you could buy the International Space Station. There is a cheaper option, of course, which is to buy the handset. £538.30 (32GB). One of the iPhone's main rival's, the Nokia's N97, is cheaper and more likely a better deal. £40 a month for 32GB, a better camera and a QWERTY keyboard (from Vodafone). Or you could go cheaper still and get a K800i and spend the money you save on better things like the Poptastic bubble wrap-Sim keyring. I'd rather have a big manly phone with a lot of buttons (men like buttons). Not for a moment am I knocking Apple, they make wonderfully crafted pieces of tech but the prices can be sky high and you can only afford them if you can be patient enough to save up. Which I am not.
Now Apples main computer competitors are the ever trouble Microsoft. And Microsoft and their operating system Windows, are without a doubt, utterly useless. They're slow, they get infected and they're not made for fun. It's the computer equivalent of becoming old. But it'll have to do until I can afford a MacBook. There's a lot not to like about them. I don't like the way it doesn't respond and I don't like the way it wants to send error reports to nowhere. But I do like that I can play Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 with ease. These computers are work horses, not objects of desires. So what did Microsoft do? They made a games console...
As I type, Earth currently has the Xbox 360, the Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii. These are the 3rd modern generation consoles to date all of which derived from the Nintendo N64, Playstation, Playstation 2, Xbox and Gamecube, and upto the modern day Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii, respectively. Games consoles have been an escape from reality and into a new realm of digital vastness. And they have advanced as years have gone on. "Back in the day" of Pac-man and Space Invaders, it gave you the experience of running amok eating ghosts or dealing with aliens and this sort of thing took the world by storm. Now-a-days, you can do almost anything! You can shoot Nazi's in World War Two in Call of Duty; You can race Ferrari's through London in Gran Turismo 5 and you can even beat Tim Henman at tennis (albeit, not that difficult) in Virtua Tennis 2009. The sheer amount of what you can do is unlimited within the gaming world. It's hard to imagine where game makers get their ideas from, unless you work for Grand Theft Auto in which case, if it's not broken, don't fix it because it's basically the same, game in game out and they've pretty much cracked that because it's one of my and proven, the worlds most popular gaming titles. It's brilliant. Gaming has opened up what is a new release on life. The media then has to get in the way by claiming that games like Burnout glamorise car crashes, but I fail to see the glory of going out and becoming a part of twisted metal. It's not justified. These consoles and games have sold in record numbers over the past years and they can still deliver. Whats more, these are essentially toys with enough processing power of more than the International Space Station. Take that Apple! The PS3 comes with a 30GB hard drive. My Acer TravelMate doesn't have that much. Well at least it doesn't now, now that it's all full of music and whatnot. Both the 360 and PS3 together are just as powerful as each other, boasting high quality graphics, much more power and overall just better than what we had before. You would expect that this would leave Nintendo, which had a bit of a downfall after the GameCube wasn't as successful as it's competitors, to be left in the dark. Yet, this story is the other way around. Out of the three, the Wii is more successful than both the Sony and Microsoft machines. Which just goes to show. You don't need High-Def picture quality or realistic graphics. What you need is playability and that's what the Wii gives because it let's you, your mum, your grandparents and anyone else who would never really think twice about playing on a console, to play on this outstanding piece of kit. It also because it's more user friendly. No doubt the majority of Xbox' and PS3's are in a bedroom being played by only one person physically there (notice I said physically there. Just because you're playing online against some American doesn't mean you're not playing by yourself. You're isolated in digitals, or whatever the term is). So, not only does the Wii beat it's rivals, it absolutely trounces them! And it doesn't end there. There is a current battle with the handheld market with the DS and the PSP. The Sony PSP is so much more powerful, but the innovation with the DS dual screens and voice, touch and with the DSi built in camera compatibility, these two couldn't be any different. It's a good battle as Sony are up against handheld lords Nintendo, famous for the Gameboys. It could start to get interesting...
Mobile phone? Check. Console? Check. What next? What you need next is a telly. And a whole new barrel of fish fingers. HD being the fishiest. High-Definition TV is now very popular but I don't see the reason why. Sure it give crystal clear pictures but when you're sitting on your sofa, does it really matter? HD TV is a good thing yes, but no one watches TV up against the screen. HD is really meant for watching blockbuster movies on, I think, to give you a cinema experience in your own home. Not really to show Bruce Forsyth's face in all it's clarity. And to go with your TV, you're going to need surround sound to capture the home cinema experience even more. All you need is the popcorn dispenser and people walking in front of you to go to the toilet and you're practically there. Now in the 21st Century, there's DVD and Blu-ray, to make it that little bit better for you. Radio has even been given a cool, futuristic makeover. The way forward is to destroy all transmitters and get everyone to go digital, as the same with TV channels. Go go gadget, ultimo-recorder (with Sky + and Virgin Media) which does what the VHS video recorder - or the BetaMax to all you retro lovers - could do but better as it records, pauses and rewinds live TV all without the dreaded tape which has since died out. It looks like DVD really has killed the video star as the song states, if it were to be updated...
So you've got your flash phone - to call; text; play music; play games; take pictures; film; surf the web; send you're pictures, music, films wirelessly via blutooth; you've got your games console - to submerge your everyday fantasy of smashing up cars and blowing up buildings; and you've got your massive 500 billion (beating around the point) inch TV to watch Eastenders on in the best quality and make it sound like a Michael Bay epic. Yes it does cost but at this day and age, if you don't pay that lump sum and say 'wait until it comes down in price,' then there's going to be something else that's a lot better when you do eventually buy it. And you'll be kicking yourself for it. The flip side to that is buy the cheaper stuff. Example: Instead of buying a top of the range phone, get a phone that performs just as well as a phone and use the money you've saved to buy a camcorder to film on, a camera to take pictures and a laptop to put it all together. But where does that leave you? Well, you go onto iwantoneofthose.com and you buy what you like the look of, be it a chain wine bottle holder to impress your party guests, or a Nerf Havok Fire Automatic Blaster (or as I call it, Insane but Impressive, and that's just the name of the thing) to shoot whatever moves. That's what all these things are. Toys. Like I said earlier, you never really grow up, you just want to show off what you can afford and that'll give you a broad smile on your face in knowing you can afford such a thing and that you own it!
Sunday 16 August 2009
Travelling
Everyone loves to get out once in a while, me in particular. There's nothing more I like than getting out there, forgetting about life's worries and embrace with what's out there. It's so captivating when you realise what lies beyond home. Especially when you're native to a city in the Midlands called Lincoln. Don't get me wrong, Lincoln is a great place, it's just that there are a lot of places that are better than Lincoln. Maybe others could sympathise that getting out of their home town/city is like a breathe of fresh air or maybe I'm on my own on this? It's good to get out, even to down the road to Newark. That would give a glimmer so satisfaction because Newark isn't Lincoln. Simple logic really. Sometimes you want to go somewhere else for longer. You need a holiday!
Holiday's are great aren't they? I'm not talking about a week down to Eastbourne, I'm more in the 'overseas' direction at the moment because they are what really get the juices flowing. Everything about going away on holiday is something to be excited about! The endless days, the blistering heat, even watching peoples luggage go around on the carousels at the airport, wondering who's the rancid pink suitcase could be and then realising you haven't had much sleep, you're jet lagged, slightly stressed and you're watching peoples bags doing laps. With everyone else. And when that's all done, you soldier on to go to were ever you're going to live for the next week or so in a coach for an hour. With the same people. One of my favourite places to go on holiday was Greece, way back in the year of 2005. Halkidiki is one of the peninsulas off mainland Greece and there was a lot to take in. Picturesque mountains, crystal blue seas, the works. It also had a Lidl which looked exactly like the one's over in Britain! And I thought the yellow and blue signage scheme stopped on the UK border. I was wrong. You travel 2,000 miles around the globe to find shops you're familiar with. That's spectacular! The cuisine wasn't too bad outside of Lidl either. I remember getting a pizza with a choice of any toppings for a couple of Euros and due to the drinking age limit (there isn't one), a complimentary shot of Ouzo. Which went down nicely. Even holiday weather is something to enjoy. Normally, at home, watching rain is a pretty dire hobby and I don't recommend you participate in such activity. But on holiday, it's better. In 2002 on the Isle of White, the heavens opened and rain was unleashed on a biblical scale. We're talking car drowning rain and I'm not making that up. A bloke misunderestimated the depth of a pool of water in a dip in the road and flooded his engine. And back to Greece, there was a storm on one of the first nights we [family] were there. It was a sort of tropical-type storm. Howling wind and crashing waves that looked like they were about to eat the small beach side shops selling beach ware. We thought we had to stock up on supplies because these shops may not last the night. Morning came, it was like as if nothing happened. The same can't be said about a holiday to Great Yarmouth. Six days miserable weather, one day shine. The less said about that the better, so expect me to bring it up later.
Okay, so when you're not on holiday, what do you do? Have a day out. There is a limit to what a good day out must include though and sometimes, especially when visiting beaches, they have to have a good cut to make it enjoyable. British seasides cannot be compared to the Mediterranean beach fronts. In Spain, for example, they seem to have the right idea and we take a back burner. Spain is awash with bars, restaurants, clubs and we have chip shops, arcades, places that sell Elvis memorabilia and another chip shop. Because that's what I think about when I go to the beach. Elvis and chips. However, sometimes, we get it right. Put a small theme park on the seaside and you've got a good'un. The same goes with the bandits that let you win. Not only are you a winner but the seaside is also a winner because you're a winner. You could also give it one of them heavy purple summer sunsets and...our survey says...top marks. I think this is down to the fact that you can have a good time no matter where you are in the world. You leave home at home and start to take on board what's around you where you are. There are some days out that can be brilliant. Scarborough for example. I had a good time there because there was a chance for a ride in a speedboat around the harbour, which was rather fun. I don't know how it would fair as a holiday destination. Maybe short weekend. Cleethorpes on the other hand wouldn't make a good holiday destination. It isn't even a seaside. It's more of an 'opening to the river Humber' and rivers can contain all matter of nastiness. What am I on about 'more of an opening?' It is the opening to the Humber. Great Yarmouth on the other hand is a holiday destination. I told you I'll bring it back up. Yes, I did say that the miserable weather made it memorable for the wrong reasons, but everything else was thumbs up. It had the theme park. It had the one sunny day which was spent on Goreston beach. And it also had a sense of mystery with the derelict Jim Davidson theatre on the pier and the windmill generators in the sea that looked rather eerie as the sun set which is another of them factors covered. So it's not all that bad, outlooks can end up being good even if they look bad. We all like a holiday or a day out. Be it to Spain, Greece, Bournemouth, Great Yarmouth, York, London, anywhere, it can be a wise move. You're going to enjoy it because you're not at home!
Holiday's are great aren't they? I'm not talking about a week down to Eastbourne, I'm more in the 'overseas' direction at the moment because they are what really get the juices flowing. Everything about going away on holiday is something to be excited about! The endless days, the blistering heat, even watching peoples luggage go around on the carousels at the airport, wondering who's the rancid pink suitcase could be and then realising you haven't had much sleep, you're jet lagged, slightly stressed and you're watching peoples bags doing laps. With everyone else. And when that's all done, you soldier on to go to were ever you're going to live for the next week or so in a coach for an hour. With the same people. One of my favourite places to go on holiday was Greece, way back in the year of 2005. Halkidiki is one of the peninsulas off mainland Greece and there was a lot to take in. Picturesque mountains, crystal blue seas, the works. It also had a Lidl which looked exactly like the one's over in Britain! And I thought the yellow and blue signage scheme stopped on the UK border. I was wrong. You travel 2,000 miles around the globe to find shops you're familiar with. That's spectacular! The cuisine wasn't too bad outside of Lidl either. I remember getting a pizza with a choice of any toppings for a couple of Euros and due to the drinking age limit (there isn't one), a complimentary shot of Ouzo. Which went down nicely. Even holiday weather is something to enjoy. Normally, at home, watching rain is a pretty dire hobby and I don't recommend you participate in such activity. But on holiday, it's better. In 2002 on the Isle of White, the heavens opened and rain was unleashed on a biblical scale. We're talking car drowning rain and I'm not making that up. A bloke misunderestimated the depth of a pool of water in a dip in the road and flooded his engine. And back to Greece, there was a storm on one of the first nights we [family] were there. It was a sort of tropical-type storm. Howling wind and crashing waves that looked like they were about to eat the small beach side shops selling beach ware. We thought we had to stock up on supplies because these shops may not last the night. Morning came, it was like as if nothing happened. The same can't be said about a holiday to Great Yarmouth. Six days miserable weather, one day shine. The less said about that the better, so expect me to bring it up later.
Okay, so when you're not on holiday, what do you do? Have a day out. There is a limit to what a good day out must include though and sometimes, especially when visiting beaches, they have to have a good cut to make it enjoyable. British seasides cannot be compared to the Mediterranean beach fronts. In Spain, for example, they seem to have the right idea and we take a back burner. Spain is awash with bars, restaurants, clubs and we have chip shops, arcades, places that sell Elvis memorabilia and another chip shop. Because that's what I think about when I go to the beach. Elvis and chips. However, sometimes, we get it right. Put a small theme park on the seaside and you've got a good'un. The same goes with the bandits that let you win. Not only are you a winner but the seaside is also a winner because you're a winner. You could also give it one of them heavy purple summer sunsets and...our survey says...top marks. I think this is down to the fact that you can have a good time no matter where you are in the world. You leave home at home and start to take on board what's around you where you are. There are some days out that can be brilliant. Scarborough for example. I had a good time there because there was a chance for a ride in a speedboat around the harbour, which was rather fun. I don't know how it would fair as a holiday destination. Maybe short weekend. Cleethorpes on the other hand wouldn't make a good holiday destination. It isn't even a seaside. It's more of an 'opening to the river Humber' and rivers can contain all matter of nastiness. What am I on about 'more of an opening?' It is the opening to the Humber. Great Yarmouth on the other hand is a holiday destination. I told you I'll bring it back up. Yes, I did say that the miserable weather made it memorable for the wrong reasons, but everything else was thumbs up. It had the theme park. It had the one sunny day which was spent on Goreston beach. And it also had a sense of mystery with the derelict Jim Davidson theatre on the pier and the windmill generators in the sea that looked rather eerie as the sun set which is another of them factors covered. So it's not all that bad, outlooks can end up being good even if they look bad. We all like a holiday or a day out. Be it to Spain, Greece, Bournemouth, Great Yarmouth, York, London, anywhere, it can be a wise move. You're going to enjoy it because you're not at home!
An Overview
So, what's to be of this then? This blog will be a set of in depth observations on things we take for granted; things we love and hate and generally, well, things. Things from day to day that may be floating around but not in the literal sense. I may get around to blogging about boats and balloon, who knows? I did originally call it Focus On: but after getting bored of writing Focus On: in every title, knowing that all blogs won't need it, I aptly got rid of them. You will notice that all that appears in my blog are my observations that are covered under a massive blanket known as "Jimmi's Scrutiny." It is entirely my opinion and as we all know, opinion should always be backed up with fact, which is what I'll do. I'll even look at both sides of whatever argument to keep 'the other side' happy. I have to stress that I have to mention it's my opinion otherwise they'll "'Av a go." Don't ave a go though. It's not even meant to be taken seriously. It can be, if you really want it to but there is a voice somewhere in there that's tells you the truth but that's behind the shouting of Mr. Daft and Mr. Silliness, but that voice of reasoning is still there. (I must warn you, I am very clever with words and if you do have a go, I will probably tear you to shreds. Don't tempt me...Yes? Yes. Good. Then we're all happy) As for what I write, you may agree with what I put or you may disagree. You may laugh at or you may not but if that's the case then go to your doctor to get your sense of humour checked out as it is clearly going to put me off and we don't want that.
Righty-o, sit back, feet up, get a cup of generic beverage and let your eyes stray across the words in front of you from left to right and process it into your brain and...you get the picture.
ENJOY! Before it's too late...!
Righty-o, sit back, feet up, get a cup of generic beverage and let your eyes stray across the words in front of you from left to right and process it into your brain and...you get the picture.
ENJOY! Before it's too late...!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
