Alex Hardy

I’m currently applying the design to this website. So it’s probably going to look a bit of a mess for a week or so. When I’ve finished, I’ll post about it.

See the news story on Reuters.

I’m no fan of the nanny state, but I remember the scrape I had a couple of years ago (which truthfully was as much my fault for listening to my music as the driver’s for trying to jump the lights).

Speed camera fines are proof enough that many people won’t take the correct action by default, so if the prospect of a fine makes people a little more cautious then maybe it’s not such a bad idea.

Set against the backdrop of the chaos and civil war that enveloped 1990s Sierra Leone, “Blood Diamond” is the story of Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), an ex-mercenary from Zimbabwe, and Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), a Mende fisherman.

Both men are African, but their histories and their circumstances are as different as any can be until their fates become joined in a common quest to recover a rare pink diamond, the kind of stone that can transform a life…or end it.

This film was a pleasant surprise, having heard mixed reviews from friends. The acting is generally strong although Jennifer Connelly isn’t given a great deal to do as the earnest journalist. Hounsou gives a fierce performance – I was first impressed by him in Amistad – but risks being lazily typecast as the token oppressed African. I expected to cringe at DiCaprio’s South African accent, but he pulls it off convincingly enough.

It is a violent film, quite shockingly so for a 15. The indiscriminate horror of war is captured, with women and children finding themselves in the firing line as often as soldiers.

The main criticisms that I would level at the film are that the Archer’s redemption story is so heavily foreshadowed that you find yourself simply waiting for his Good Deed At The End. It is also overlong - Steph and I felt that at least 20 minutes could have been edited without compromise. I suspect that The Last King of Scotland is better on the whole.

[rating:3.5]

Visit the Blood Diamond website for more information.

My friends Stephen and Richard have started blogs.

Both are designers, so you can expect them to put the world to rights on that front. Richard is an enthusiastic mountain biker and videogame player, so if you want to read Nintendo DS and Xbox 360 opinions from a purchasing gamer rather than a journalist, look out for his star rated reviews.

Meanwhile, I’ll be adding a category for websites and services that I think are particularly good (not necessarily what’s already on FWA, Styleboost etc), as well as wider inspirational material.

Coming soon.

If like me, you find those Snap thumbnail previews that are turning up on various websites (why, Vitamin… why?) to be an irritation, help is at hand.

Snap’s FAQs page provides a link that you can click on to turn them off. Note: Javascript and cookies are required.

I doff my cap to Daring Fireball for pointing this out.

… it’s the sound of Windows Vista launching. No, that’s not a joke about the general apathy surrounding the most important Windows since the hot topic was “who’s better: Blur or Oasis?”

There’s much debate about what Vista means - is it more secure or will the UAC nags desensitise people so much that they carelessly *OK* any prompt that appears (thereby making it less secure)? - are the additional bells and whistles timely enhancements or is it lip gloss on an old hag? Are the various multimedia apps a shameless rip off of iLife, or an essential response to the demands of today’s user?

MS, just like Apple, has its hardcore supporters and detractors. Reality (read: “the market”) lies between. The Apple camp who see Vista’s lukewarm reception as the beginning of MS’ end are deluded. The business world and most homes have computers that Mac OS X would refuse to run on. The greatest threats to MS are open source software (eg: OpenOffice.org) and Internet services (eg: Google).

It would please me to see Apple regain some market-share through Mac OS X and the so-called “iPod halo effect”. 10%, 20%? Who knows… Maybe that would bring the games developers. In any case, Apple will remain a niche player, and this is how it must be.

This has nothing to do with Mac snobbery - just realism. Apple users rejoice in the Mac’s simplicity, and pour scorn on MS’ uphill battle to rally countless disparate components together and call it a platform. To their credit they do a remarkably good job. Now flip it. Go to the Apple Store. You’ll find two classes of laptop, and three classes of desktop computer. Imagine that this was all the choice there was. Sound appealing?

If Apple became the dominant platform, the aspects that users praise as its key virtues would become its worst crimes. The only way to compete with MS would be to open Mac OS X to run on generic hardware. If they did, any stability advantages would disappear. Apple also consistently prove that they don’t have the manufacturing capacity even to satisfy the demand they have now. Fancy waiting six months for your new computer?

It works to think of the Mac as the Milan catwalk, or the Tokyo concept cars of computing. Ideas filter through to the mainstream, to George at Asda. Windows is a Ford Focus. Vista was never going to roll out to an Apple-style ta-dah: it will be routinely installed on every PC sold from now on. In three years’ time, most users will be on Vista. The ones that matter will anyway - the ones that spend money on such things.

It’s a fait accompli. The most important thing is that it appears to be a significant improvement. I’m looking forward to trying it out.

Brilliant

Thirty years after Sylvester Stallone first introduced the underdog backroom brawler from Philadelphia in the Oscar-winning ROCKY, Rocky Balboa returns for one last dance. Speculation as to whether Balboa, in his prime, would have been able to defeat lackluster champ Mason “The Line” Dixon spurs Dixon’s management to set up an exhibition fight between the two… Life hits harder than any man can, and one’s ability to keep getting up until the final bell rings is the true measure of self. Corny? Perhaps. But when Bill Conti’s legendary score kicks in and Rocky starts pounding the heavy bag, the metaphor feels truly profound.

First up, an admission: I had never seen a Rocky film. It’s my understanding that the original is seen as something of a classic, its numerous sequels declining sharply in quality.

This is a film where you really have to leave your 21^st century cynicism at the door. It belongs to a bygone generation of films from the late seventies and early eighties - it’s an uncomplicated parable about self belief. The notion that a sixty year old could fight a man thirty years his junior to a standstill takes some swallowing, but the story of the film makes it surprisingly easy to suspend your disbelief.

Stallone’s script stays lean (it hints at Rocky’s developing friendship with Marie, but resists forcing a love story into the 102 minutes) and the pace doesn’t drag, even though at least half the film passes before the Big Training Montage. At the end, you want to cheer Rocky! Rocky!

I want to see the first now.

[rating:3]

David is sending off our application to take part in the Great Manchester Run on Monday. The difference is that we’re each running for charities of our own choice because it was a pain for him to chase up all the cash last time.

Any suggestions then for what charity I could run for?

I’ve been hoping ever since Jade and her tribe got back on telly that this would mark the beginning of the end for Big Brother and other shows like it… No more sad wannabees clawing for a taste of fame, no more (sadder) has-beens trying to recapture it by disgracing themselves for money.

Shilpa Shetty has no business on a show like Big Brother being an actual, real, movie star. In a way she’s brought it on herself. If she wanted exposure to new audiences, she couldn’t have picked a more ridiculous way to do it.

Jade Goody is an ignorant, abusive pig. I’m going to skip the racism debate, because it’s unacceptable to speak to people the way Jade, Danielle and Jo have spoken to Shilpa because of racism. It’s apparently totally peachy to do so because of “cultural or social differences”, according to Channel 4.

I hoped it would be the beginning of the end for Big Brother because it completes their production line:

• Step 1: Make some talentless simpleton famous for nothing at all.
• Step 2: They profit from their ill-deserved fame.
• Step 3: Invite them into a “celebrity” version of same show, thus proving what a shallow freakshow the whole business is.
• Step 4: The public sees that they have created a monster. A monster who has made more money than they will ever know for being an idiot. Cue the backlash. The press line up for - their favourite part - the vilification before they disappear again.

And that, dear reader, is the celebrity life-cycle completed. Now for pity’s sake, switch off.