Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered

A meme taken from Tuesday Twosome.

1. Do you check your email once a day or more? Explain:

I do indeed, though usually it’s just a case of leaving Thunderbird ticking away in the background to remind me if I get anything important. I rarely ever do however but I still check regularly.

2. When you receive SPAM emails, do you just delete them or take the time to mark it as SPAM? Explain:

I take the time to mark them as spam in the vain hopes that the intelligent spam detector will learn from this. So far it appears to be working, until a new method of spam crops up.

3. When a friend/acquaintance emails you a “forward” email like a joke or chain letter, do you forward it to your friends or just delete it? Explain:

I tend not to forward them on as I know many people hate these things…I feel bad for doing that but at least I take the time out to read them.

4. Who are two people whose emails you look forward to receiving? Explain:

I love emails from Sian, in the early days before our relationship this was our main method of getting to know each other. Who else? Well I’d have to say my old mate from uni, Clare. We don’t actually keep in touch any other way but every few months we drop each other an email to see how life is.

5. Do you believe that email has completely replaced other forms of communication?

Definitely not. For one thing, I know pretty much the majority of my friends communicate with each other via text messaging, the rest through actual phone calls.

I’ve just heard over the ever faithful Internet that the intense speculation of a price drop following the release of the XBox 360 Elite is to come true as of August 24th. Interestingly the price drop is as major as was being suggested as well, with the new Elite itself also getting a fairly hefty amount chopped off the price.

So on August 24th any new buyers will be able to buy an Elite for £299…an almost £40 drop, while the Premium (the choice amongst dedicated gamers) will be going down £30 to £249.99 and the low-end system, the Core is to drop to £179.99. With the Playstation 3 having received such bad press despite the teething troubles of the XBox 360, I think Microsoft may have cornered the console market.

It’s still got to fight with the Wiiiiiiiii though.

I have to admit that it has been a busy year for me when it comes to the big screen. With Sian being as much of a film nut as myself and with the opening of the new Vue Cinema in my home town, I’ve had a far greater incentive to actually pay the extortionate ticket fees to go see films as they arrive in the cinema. Since the closure of the small Odeon on the Kingsway Swansea was left with just the UCI, a cinema which had already seen better days. With non-tiered seating and the owners showing no interest in refurbishing it, upgrading the screens and sound systems, I had taken to waiting for the DVD of the film rather than putting up with having to watch it through someone’s head.

The Vue has changed that, modern screen, modern sound system, impressive tiered and comfortable seating has made the ticket price worth it and the experience fun once again. As you know I enjoyed Live Free or Die Hard, I absolutely despised Pirates of the Caribbean (which is a shame considering I loved the first of the series,) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was far more enjoyable than the book, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer was okay if you like that kind of thing, Transformers was a film I loved despite the fact that I was expecting to hate it and The Simpsons didn’t fall foul of the lack of jokes I was expecting from a feature length Simpsons episode (In other words, funny and enjoyable!)

So what of one of my most anticipated films of this year? I’ve been a big fan of Jason Bourne ever since The Bourne Identity established Matt Damon as an action hero capable of forcing the venerable Bond to change tactics in order to win back fans. So I had high hopes for this one, the film that cast and crew have gone on record to say will likely be their last.

The Bourne Ultimatum is without a doubt the greatest film I have seen this year. It was an action film which actually managed to pull in intelligence and substance and did so with the style of it’s predecessors.

For those who don’t want to be spoiled, the rest is behind the cut…
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The Orange Wednesday ticket is all ready, tonight we’re off to see Transformers! I have to admit this was one film I actually wasn’t eager to see until I saw the trailer…for once a film which was sold to me purely on the basis of eye candy and action. I’m not saying my enjoying a film based purely on shallow aspects such as “It looks good and there’s loads of action” is rare (Take Die Hard for example), however for a cult show like this it is rare for me to come into it purely on this basis. I shall be sure to let you all know what I thought.

Speaking of cult followings, the teaser trailer for The Dark Knight was finally released onto the net in all it’s glory this week. As with all teasers, there’s almost nothing visually to get excited about, though there’s a rather nifty flashing of light which slowly illuminates the bat-symbol before turning into what seems to be an avalanche of destructive light blowing it apart. The audio is what is interesting, there’s a lot more of it than I’m used to from a teaser, and it revolves around a conversation between Bruce Wayne and Alfred. The conversation pretty much sums up the plot of the movie (though only in generalised terms) before a familiar voice chimes in…then breaks into psychotic laughter. Ledger does sound a little too much like Jack Nicholson for my liking though.

p.s. There’ll be far more about non-movie related themes after the cut.
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