I've been looking at a new lens to get for a while. So naturally, I've actually got a couple! A Nikon 50mm f/1.8 has not yet arrived, however I did impulse buy (well. sort of) a Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 lens over the weekend. I love it. Love it. Love it. It's an expensive lens (at least to me) but so very worth it. The wide angle makes for some stunning (I like the one below) and some fun shots (see these family portraits).

Tags: D80, Sigma, 10-20mm

Geekery - I've been working on a couple of little things for Realmac today, and couldn't help but plug this book. "Build Your Own Database Driven Website using PHP & MySQL" is a fantastic book which I've found invaluable over the last couple of days and I'd highly recommend you look at it if it tickles your fancy!

General - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Obviously. Great read. Saying no more as I'd rather no incur the wrath of those yet to read it!

Tags: PHP, Harry Potter

As some of you were aware, I was in Manchester over the weekend. During my time there, I got a hell of a lot done - and didn't break onto the net at all due to my hosts living in a 'borrowable WiFi' area. Here's a few thoughts I scribbled down as I went along.

Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (The Good)

Damn good read. I'm saying nothing more. If you've not yet bought it, you can grab it on Amazon here.

Movie: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (The Lame)

Naively I decided it would be a good idea to go and see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Wrong move, Nik. You know, I have so few positive things to say about it that I was seriously tempted not to write at all. But it's so bad that I simply must warn people to not go. Someone recently likened Daniel Radcliffe's emotional depth to that of a tea-spoon, and it's just so unbelievably true. In the first film, he had something resembling an excuse. But by film number 5, he ought to at least seem to be semi-competent. My main problems with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix are these:

1. It's just a bad book to begin with. The source is the most painful book to read of the 7, and the one thing that stopped me, and others I know, re-reading the entire 7 books was book 5. It's just full of waffle, meanders through a seminally dull year at Hogwarts.
2. The direction was poor. It was almost as if it had no direction. I very nearly sat through the film with one long yawn. It just wasn't engaging. To think that we made it so very quickly to the Ministry of Magic shows just how brutal the screenwriters were with the book. They cut out waffle, but that wasn't the only thing they cut out.......
3. The screenplay was written by someone who never graduated screenwriters school. Tip for future reference: if it's based on a book, it's probably a good idea to encapsulate all the bits of a story line from the book into the film.

   First Example: the presence of Luna Lovegood. Luna Lovegood's entire presence in the 5th book is based around her fathers ownership of the Quibbler paper, and how he uses that against the Ministry of Magic's smear campaign against Harry. All we get in the film (unless I really did fall asleep) is Luna saying "My dad and I believe you, Harry". The Quibbler? Nada. Well. Luna is reading it at one point. But that's it.

   Second example: The unbearably brilliant Dolores Umbridge. There's meant to be a Centaur teaching at Hogwarts this year (not shown in the film). Hence why there's such hatred when the Centaurs carry Unbridge off towards the end (which IS shown in the film).

4. The visual effects were too fast, and too confusing. Oh, and totally unconvincing.

To say the film is completely lacking in any kind of excellence would be harsh. Alan Rickman is just brilliant as Snape. Utterly compelling, it's too bad he's not onscreen much. The same goes for Trelawney, played by Emma Thompson (who I didn't believe it was at first). But truly unbearble, yet superbly brilliant is Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge. She makes you blood boil just too well. Also, kudos for the Ministry of Magic building (with the spectacular black polished tiles) - but that is about it.

Rose Cottage (The Frankly Brilliant)

In some ways, I wish I'd had a chance to see Rose Cottage after Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, as I needed something witty, lively and engrossing. I was fortunate enough to see a preview of Rose Cottage (part of the Manchester 24/7 Film festival which starts on 24/7) on Sunday. An hour-long tale of immigration, a hospital mortuary and three women, it might sound a little unusual, however I found myself simply captivated. The humour, whilst being highly amusing, had underlying and unnerving touches of reality.

The way the script brought together what appeared to be 3 very separate and different lives was just fascinating to watch, and the three actresses were simply fantastic. If you're in Manchester this week I really would recommend you go see the 'heart-warming black comedy' which is being put on in Pure (yes the nightclub) in The Printworks. The tickets are only a fiver, and it's on at various times from the 24th July through 'til Saturday. More details here.

Tags: Movies, Theatre, Books

A long time in the coming, I'm delighted to announce I've got a whole new couple of pages on the site. First up is the links page. This is what the old beast used to look like. I'd invite you to head over to the new page and take a look around. I've spent hours looking over this baby, so I hope it's far more usable.

Next up is a totally re-written About page. I'm often asked who I am, and the old page frankly sucked in comparison to the new. There's a page of facts, and also an official bio (I've had to compile a couple recently so I've stuck with one) which Matt Holland has used in my Gleamd entry! I've also now enabled comments on my 'About' page, so if people want to discuss anything on there, they can do so! Enjoy.

With the summertime apparently here (not that you could tell with the somewhat underwhelming weather at the moment) I've resolved to run more frequently. I've got the Nike+ kit and a pouch to attach it to my non-Nike trainers (cheapskate I know). But what I figured is that a geek-challenge might be something that folks who've been considering getting running again might be interested in - motivation between a group. If you want to join do the challenge (whose goals are to be decided) then simply contact me here. Ideally relative noobs like myself are the folks for this, but all are welcome and if there's demand it could certainly keep going after the one challenge.

Tags: NikePlus

Despite the distinctly un-summery weather in Manchester, today brings about a day I've been looking forward to for far too long. The end of the year and the summer recess. I don't leave Manchester until Sunday (thank goodness - I've got tonnes of flat-clearing to do) but I would very much love to get an HDR shot of the Beetham Tower before I go. Fingers crossed. In the meantime, here's a shot to match the title.

Tags: Manchester