New Phone Time Again

It has been 12 months since my last phone upgrade and so my mind once again starts to look at the various options out there that may appeal, Since getting the HTC Advantage 6 years ago (Probably why I did not think the iPad was particularly groundbreaking) I have only had one handset from a different manufacturer (The Samsung Omnia) however each upgrade I look at all of the handsets available so I am not tied to a particular brand.

I had been expecting the choice to be made between three handsets – The HTC Desire S, An update on the HTC Desire which I still think is a great handset. – The Samsung Galaxy S, currently the fastest selling Android device. – The Motorola Atrix, Which would be my first Motorola since the graphite around the start of the millennium. This all changed around January when I had a quick turn on a friends HTC 7 this windows 7 device was a bit of a game changer as I had considered Windows to be too far behind the other OS’s and have not had a windows phone since the Advantage. The question is could I be bothered to switch OS? Obviously if I switched to a Windows phone I would need to reload and repurchase all of my apps, also the interconnectivity between my google powered life and the phone would be lost possibly bring in all of the interconnectivity limitations of the iPhone. I think I have therefore decided that changing OS is just too much of a hassle and therefore I think I will need to stick to an Android device – In fact I guess if none of the OS’s come up with an easy way to transfer your programmes then there will likely be a situation where movements between Operating Systems become less and less common.

So the HTC 7 out I am left again with the first three, of the three The HTC Desire S is obviously a good well known model and simply being an update to my current HTC Desire a phone I know I will like, question is, Is it so close to the Desire that I will lose that “New Phone” buzz? If so I may as well just keep my Desire. So I started to look at the other two Android leaders, the Samsung Galaxy S is a fast phone with great features and has the clearer screen resolution but the Atrix comes with a dual core processor and an amazing array of accessories which can turn your phone into just about anything you require – but these come at a cost equal to that of the phone itself. The camera is 5MP in the Atrix and 8MP in the Galaxy with the Galaxy also being lighter and larger.

Looking at it I am starting to think that I will need to go for the Galaxy S II however I struggle to get away from the Atrix’s finger print reader for unlocking that ensures that only you can open the phone – and despite the fact that this is not a real necessity and because as a human being I am entitled to go against even my own logic I decided I would be getting the Motorola Atrix.

Decision made it was perhaps foolish of me to look at the “Coming Soon” section of the website where I found the HTC Sensation, combining the Dual Core of the Atrix to the 8MP camera of the Galaxy with a host of new features such as HTC’s new Video on demand service and a four app locked screen to give quicker access to you favourite apps (A must for anyone who has ever whipped out a camera only to miss the moment as you mess about trying to open the application.) So it may not have a finger print scanner but it does contain enough exciting new features for me to delay getting the new phone until I get to check it out.

Another Season Comes to an End

Well the Premiership is over for another year, Tottenham could not match last season by qualifying for the Champions League but their fifth place is only the 22nd time the club have finished in the top 5 in their history and the fourth since I started to support them so I am happy. It was always going to be a tough ask as although we have several players with Champions League experience they had never played at that level as a team, in the end I think we were simply suffering from a few injuries at the wrong points and in the end the team just ran out of steam. (Not to mention the Ref in the Chelsea game who cost us three points.)

Question is can Tottenham get back in the top four next season? I hope so but I think if it is to happen it will need to be at the expense of Arsenal and probably with a harder challenge from Liverpool. Obviously it would be slightly pointless to try and work out the strengths of the teams next year before we see the effect of the transfer window but I would fully expect the champions to come from one of Man Utd, Man City and Chelsea - And Chelsea are my least favoured team - This will leave Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool to fight over the final Champions League space and I think a lot of this will come down to how the teams strengthen and the effect that Arsenal and Tottenham competing in Europe will have.

Movie Review: Beastly

Whilst it is true that I have a very low opinion of this film I would suggest that I am not part of the target audience (I am guessing 12 year old girls)

The film starts with I am Number 4 star Alex Pettyfer working out without a shirt on (A look he would continue throughout the film.) He plays Kyle Who is the son of a famous News Anchor, He is young, rich and good looking, in the first big scene he is running for Green Committee President with a speech which I would translate as "You're all ugly, I am rich and handsome so do as you're told and vote for me." I think this is called doing a Blair or style over substance. He then tells his pugly classmates to "Embrace the Suck" and vote for him – I admit I had to look up Embrace the Suck which I am reliably informed by the Urban Dictionary is a military term for having to do a job that you feel is pointless, I guess the US are letting too many 12 year olds into the military.

Anyway his speech angers the school "Witch" who it turns out is an actual witch so after deciding to set her up for some public humiliation he is turned into a beast (The beast make up is possibly the one thing that this film does correctly as it is quite a gruesome look including several slashes with metal pins visible inside them which left me wishing someone would stitch them up. The look however isn't really added to by the addition of several tattoos which being a life choice rather than a disfigurement don't really add to any sympathy but rather make you think – You already had your entire face tattooed so why should we care that there are cuts on top. But that aside the effect is still off putting a few skin graphs however would have been a bit better for some real disfigurement. The witch played by Mary Kate Olson (Still trying to throw off the Olson Twin persona) is more an excuse to dress up in Neo-Gothic club wear than a cogent part of the film. The actors in this film however are the one saving grace as they struggle under the weight of a ridiculously repeated story with nothing new added at all and the terrible script mostly held by Pettyfer who must have really started to regret his choices.

The beauty to Pettyfer's beast is Lindy, played by Vanessa Hudgens (Who is starting to become more famous for leaked "personal" images than for her High School Musical role) She acted well enough however the fact that her character who is working to keep her place at the exclusive academy and spends her evenings (after school and work) taking food to the homeless – assumingly all to prove that she is a lot deeper than the usual shallow high school girl – falls for the Rich kid long before he has even an ounce of humility during the two times they spoke prior to his transformation is quite out of keeping with the character they are building, after his transformation Kyle Starts to stalk Lindy in what did start to feel a little bit disturbing, how far do you go to show that you like someone? following them home? following them out in the evening? knocking them out and keeping them in a small cage? He did all of these – Ok, not the last one but it felt like he was getting close. He did however blackmail her father into sending her to his house.

Star act goes to the always good Neil Patrick Harris, Doogie Howser to those of us over 30, who plays Ryan's? blind tutor however he is not on the screen nearly enough to make his part contribute to the enjoyability of the movie.

Overall this film takes an unlikeable looks obsessed boy and shows that he has changed by making him fall for Vanessa Hudgens (Ranked the 54th most beautiful woman in the world by Maxim) guess that will really make him learn his lesson. But the holes are almost entirely related to the weak story and laughable script, the cast should really only been criticised for one thing – agreeing to be in the film in the first place.

Scottish Independence a few figures

Also in the vote the SNP got a majority government in the Scottish Parliament so I am greatly looking forward to the referendum on Scottish Independence which I personally should extend to the entire UK so we can all get a chance, I will in fact be calling on my MP that in the case of a “No” result that the rest of the UK get a vote on if we still want them.

Over the next few years I am sure I will blog extensively on this topic as it would be the biggest political change in a few hundred years (I guess since 1707) however first I wanted to post a few facts and figures (Taken from the Scottish Office research) just to put it into some context.

• Scotland's public finances exhibit a structural fiscal deficit, having not been in surplus since 1980-81.
• Even adding all tax revenues from oil and gas production for all of the UK reduces but does not eliminate this deficit over time. For the period 1980-81 to 2007-08, the cumulative net deficit, after adding tax receipts from all UK offshore oil and gas production, amounts to £23.5 billion.
• Notwithstanding the success of devolution, the UK Government retains a large and direct role in the provision of public services in Scotland. Spending by the UK Government on reserved matters, either directly in Scotland (such as on pensions, tax credits or research council funding) or on behalf of Scotland at the UK level (for example defence and overseas representation) amounts to 40% of the total of all Government expenditures in or on behalf of Scotland.
• The largest single item of expenditure in Scotland each year by either the UK or Scottish Governments is on social protection -such spending by the UK Government amounted to £12,647m in 2007-08.
• The scale and importance of UK Government social protection expenditure to Scotland is emphasised by comparing it to the total expenditure by the Scottish Parliament. In the past 6 years, UK Govt social protection expenditure corresponds to between 45% and 39% of the total expenditure by the Scottish Parliament.
• Total spending by the UK and Scottish Governments in Scotland currently amounts to 145% of the total of Scottish tax receipts. Hence a fiscally autonomous Scotland would be dependant on the continuance of a fiscal transfer from the UK to maintain current levels of public spending. Equally, a fiscally autonomous Scotland could not make any contribution towards the provision of goods provided at the national level, such as defence, the regulation of markets or overseas representation whilst maintaining current levels of public expenditure.
• The deficit between Scottish tax receipts and the sum of UK Government expenditure on social protection payments plus the entire budget of the Scottish Parliament was around £6.2 billion on 2007-8, equivalent to around £2,700 per household.

So basically Scotland operates at around a £6b deficit and this does not include spending on military and other “Nation” expenditure. Now I am not actually of the opinion that England subsidises Scotland anymore than I accept that England is subsidised by Scotland, what we have is a Union where everyone works together and both sides benefit however if the SNP want independence then I fully support them, it is a Union that was entered into as Scotland was bankrupt and England feared they would enter a union with France to pay of their debts. We are no longer at war with France so there is no fear from Scotland being bankrupt again so why not let them go and see how they get on. And after all just think of all the money we would get from the 2.5 Million people of Scottish decent having to apply for working visas or losing their rights to state benefits/the NHS.

The AV Vote - The Country Says No

Well another years elections have been concluded, Unfortunately my wife was not successful in her campaign to represent Langley Green on Crawley Borough Council but it was otherwise a good night for the Conservatives with their share of the vote holding up well possibly indicating that while people are unhappy at the cuts that the coalition are doing the electorate do not have as short a memory as Labour would like them to have.

The AV referendum when all said and done wasn’t much of an event with the public rejecting thoroughly the concept of electoral reform. (Backing up the No2AV camps claims that the only thing the vote did was waste money, but hopefully we can put this to bed for a while now.) Only a few hours after the result became clear a “Yes” supporter said to me that this result showed that the British Electorate were clearly stupid and wanted to hand over power to an unaccountable elite – nothing like being a bad loser! However I read a different message into the win for the No vote. Clearly there have been a great deal of problems with the entire political environment in the last few years (and longer) and a great deal of the trust that is needed for a democracy to continue has been lost. What this says however is that the electorate do not think that the problem sits with the system but rather the politicians themselves.

I was unable at any point to fully understand what AV would offer, I was told that it would

“Make MP’s work harder for your vote!” – How? In a safe seat AV makes no difference and in a marginal they take nothing for granted.
“Help the smaller parties to get more votes!” – But would not help the BNP and wouldn’t actually change the results as the likely winner would still be one of the big three.
“Give us a real democracy!” – Again, what does this mean?

In the end I think that the Yes campaign was simply too disjointed and too unsure about what they were offering and what it offered, that said the Yes people I spoke to were passionate and thoughtful and in local politics this can make a very pleasant change.

Movie Review: Thor

Back to the Cinema after missing a week due to the installation of our new bathroom and we went to see Thor, This is a film based on the Marvel Comic based on the Norse (And old Saxon) God of Thunder. The film is in itself as you would expect very formulaic. Thor is a young (A few Thousand Years old) and foolish Prince, Blah Blah, Cast out, Blah Blah, Lands on Earth, Blah Blah, Learns his Lesson.

This is not to say that I found the film bad as in actuality I did enjoy it but then I am a sucker for a bit of Marvel escapism, This film is the fourth set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (A shared setting for several Marvel films where they are free to cross over – The previous ones were Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and Hulk with Captain America and The Avengers in the pipeline.)
Thor is played by New Zealander Chris Hemsworth who whilst he has the look of Thor it does lead to a few questions such as why would Thor have an antipodean accent (I would have imagined a Scandinavian/German tone to be more expected) or why when expelled back to earth he was expelled into the heart of the American desert a place where belief in the old gods or Germanic/Norse cultures has never been extensively practiced. That said the only member of the cast of Scandinavian decent (Stellan Skarsgard – Born in Sweden) has claimed to have never even heard of Thor.

Natalie Portman played Thor’s human love interest Jane Foster who has been updated from her comic book Nurses job to an astrophysicist, however thankfully she didn’t do any ballet or descend into any kind of madness so the entire film was a lot more uplifting than January’s Black Swan. The other supporting cast include Anthony Hopkins as Odin a pert which seems to suit him well and Tom Hiddleston as Loki who in Marvel’s telling of the Norse mythology is Thor’s brother and the Son of Odin, Although you will get no points from guessing who is the main antagonist between the tall blond god of Thunder and the Smaller dark haired god of Mischief.

Updating our Bathroom

Been quiet for the last couple of weeks as been a bit snowed under with lost of things happening at once, Firstly I took a week off to update our bathroom. I have never particularly been a keen DIYer but when received quotes for changing our Bathroom of £3000+ I decided to give it a go, firstly I took a basic plumbing course and armed with all the education that £35 will get you from West Sussex Adult Education we got started.

It would be fair to say that just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong but I think for the most part these elements can be easily broken down between “lack of Experience” and “Strange Installation of the old suite” To be honest for me the plumbing was the easy part however most of the problems came from removing and then replacing the tiles and flooring, That said although we were surprised by how hard that was it was actually accomplished in a reasonably quick time and the entire bathroom took seven days which I don’t think was too bad as we really had zero experience.

I have no intention of doing it again in a hurry but I have to admit to a large amount of pride at having actually managed it at least once.