That’s not to say I’m not a fan of stuff, but as Ben Elton noted several years ago with a routine about extra lanes on motorways, crap always expands to fill space.  I have recently moved house, and shifting large chunks of my gear has reminded me that despite my best efforts I still have way too much stuff that I don’t need.  Most of this clutter needs to go before I have to move again in three months time, and it seems that I may have found the answer to my music, TV and movie needs.  Or at least some of them.

I recently purchased the Onkyo TXNR609 home cinema amp as part of my new A/V set up (more on that in the near future) which includes Spotify streaming built as, as well as other internet services.
I’ve used Spotify briefly in the past purely with a freebie account and got bored with it after being forced to listen to adverts.

My previous music listening set up involved having iTunes or Zune software running on a number of different machines, and then streaming the music via AirPlay to an Apple TV.  Which is fine, but constantly ripping CDs or downloading music and ensuring that it is in the library on the various computers is a bit of a pain.  Yes I know iTunes Match would get around this problem but sometimes you just want a quick and easy solution that just works.

So I decided to throw caution to the wind and upgrade to a Spotify Premium account.  All you can consume music for £10 a month, streaming with unlimited devices and the ability to make tracks available offline.  This was the big draw for me, not that I am ever that far away from a decent internet connection that would make streaming difficult.  But the ability to set up a playlist for a weekend away and make it available offline was definitely the final bullet point that made me pull the trigger.  3,333 tracks can be synchronised on three devices concurrently (yes, that number is very specific) so you won’t run out of music any time soon.

What I love about Spotify is that any playlists or changes that are made automatically update on each device.  If I create a new playlist on my iPhone it’s there the next time I login to my iPod, the Spotify PC client or wherever.  The big “wherever” for me here is the aforementioned Onkyo amp.  Fire up the NET mode, login to Spotify and there are all my playlists ready to stream.  And importantly, the sound quality is superb.  With purely streamed music through the Onkyo I haven’t particularly noticed a difference in quality between streaming music and CDs that have been ripped to MP3 format.

I have an iPod Touch connected to a Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Mini in my bedroom, and music streamed from Spotify sounds fantastic.  Only tracks that have been ripped in Apple Lossless format sound better to me, and that’s with the volume cranked pretty high.  Anyone who has heard the Mini or its larger brother will know it can kick out some serious bass.

I’m currently running Spotify on the Onkyo, my iPhone when I’m out and about, an iPod Touch in the bedroom and on my home laptop.  Never a complaint about how many devices I’m using, it just works, which is the hallmark of a truly great service.  Plus if I can’t be bothered to fire up the Onkyo, or the internet goes down, I can still use AirPlay to stream from the Spotify Mobile client directly to the Apple TV.  So it’s fair to say, I’m liking the service so far, and the catalogue is pretty exhaustive as well.  Far better than Microsoft’s Zune Pass service that I also subscribe to.

Netflix

On the video side of things, like many folks here in the UK I have been extremely envious of my friends across the pond having access to Netflix, but the service has now finally launched here in the UK.  Some have complained about the amount of content on offer, but I’m sure that it will improve over time, and given how I’ve looked through the catalogue and found probably a good two hundred hours that I would like to watch I don’t think I’ll be twiddling my thumbs any time soon.

I’m actually using Netflix right now primarily for streaming TV series.  I will usually watch the latest movies at the cinema, or if it’s that good actually buy the Blu-ray disc.  So the movies on offer don’t grab me at all, but being able to stream some of the greatest comedies of all time such as the still utterly sublime Arrested Development justifies the £7 a months subscription for me.  Having Netflix integrated into pretty much every device I own also helps, especially directly into the Samsung Smart Hub.  But again, that is for another post.

So is physical media dead?  Or have the rumours of its death been greatly exaggerated?  Well for me there will always be certain bands who I will purchase the actual CD of, but those are very few and far between.  I will never buy another DVD box set that’s for sure, I have enough of my treasured TV shows already in my posession.  The only other disc based media I will still purchase will be Blu-ray discs.  If I want reference quality video and audio I will always go for some DTS HD Master Audio goodness combined with the best quality visuals currently on the market.

So the physical disc may not be dead, but it is certainly on life support.

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Well this month I’ve pulled the iPhone camera out of retirement to bring a 12 of 12 that’s dedicated to Matt and Scott who have had such a run of sadness lately I thought I’d bang one of these together and show them some love.

So whereas a traditional 12 of 12 is made up of photos taken on the 12th day of the month, several of this months have but there are a few which have come from other times but should hopefully appeal.

As ever before we start we namecheck Chad Darnell for creating our favourite photo blog challenge, which is on life support but still refuses to die.

Alright so starting off this month with a photo from today, a cup of tea while getting ready for work.  For some reason over the past few months I’ve developed a liking for football.  Although the reason why may have something to do with this.

I’m fortunate to be friends with a gentleman who has an Executive Box and we are lucky enough to go to many of the games and enjoy premium hospitality treatment.  The food is absolutely superb, and this picture was taken at last Saturday’s first home game of the season against Leeds.  The full menu from the game is below, and yes it did taste as good as it looks/reads.

This Tuesday was Sally’s birthday, and our friend Alison made her the most amazing birthday cake, and it’s only just now I’ve realised it’s red and white, there’s the theme tied in with the football club then.

No calories in this at all either, fresh strawberries on a sponge cake covered in fresh cream with layers of strawberries inside for good measure.

During the present opening Will leant a hand and I couldn’t resist a photo for his adoring public.

Back to today and being as it’s Friday it was pub lunch time, so I tucked into this diet burger.  Remember, it’s Friday today so calories don’t work on the body on Friday.  And that’s science.

Back home after work and our village is having its annual scarecrow competition at the moment, so we went out for a walk and snapped a few.  Please don’t be alarmed by my reflection in one of the shop windows.

Coming towards the end of the month a quick techie shot of my new laptop.  I’ve replaced my gaming PC with this Alienware laptop.  I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was swayed by the fancy lighting, but it did receive a 5 star review from PC Pro.  So that justified the cost.

And that’s the end of 12 of 12 for this month, let’s finish up with another picture of this amazing cake.

That’s all for this month, please be sure to check out the other guys photos from around the world.  Until next time.

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I was very, very late last month with my effort because I didn’t have time to do it on the 12th and ended up taking a few photos at another random event.
It’s with a slightly heavy heart I do this months 12 due to our good 12 friends Scott and Matt having such a terrible time with their pets (kids) over in Seattle and I hate to see friends going through such hard times.  Head over to Matt’s blog and show them some love.  For now, on with the show.

It’s a work day, and some of you may remember this sign from a previous month as it gained quite a few comments.  I find it’s best to start the work day with a cup of tea in this mug as a reminder for the day.

We’ve been looking for a new rug for our main room for months, and then when out window shopping on Sunday we found this, the absolute perfect fit.

Plus we also bought this canvas to hang over the sofa.

The weather has been extremely warm the last few days, and Will has now taken to sleeping in his summer abode during the day.  This is on top of the wardrobe in our bedroom.  He doesn’t look any more impressed at having his picture taken up here either.

Remember back in February I was waiting for my new car?  It arrived a couple of weeks ago and is…simply gorgeous.

Out and about in Lymington at lunchtime after a quick trip home.  There’s a bit of a mug theme emerging this month.  These are in a home shop called Willow.

While out exploring side streets in town I also saw this house and found it quite interesting so had to get a photo in.

And also on one of the sides of the shops you can see these old signs from many years past.

Obligatory dinner shot back home, lasagne with rocket salad.  Homemade of course.  By Waitrose.

And finally this month a special photo for my Mum & Dad’s wedding anniversary.  36 years today, we wish you were here with us old friend.  But I’m sure you’re enjoying this months pictures as always

That’s it for another month, see you next time, and be sure to visit the other folks from all around the world and leave a comment if you like what you see.

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First up apologies for the quality of some of these photos, I’ve found with the iPhone 4 camera when HDR is on if I move too quickly after taking the initial shot it tends to blur things a little bit so these aren’t the best that they could be.  And there’s only 10, you know because it’s not a 12.

We’ve headed up to Gunwharf Quays today which is in Portsmouth, crazed obsessed stalkers or people with long memories may possibly remember we did a 12 from here once before.  But that was several years ago, and if you do actually remember that then you probably need to get out more.  First shot of the day is trying on shirts in Ted Baker.  We’re going to a party next weekend which I need a new shirt for.  I ended up buying two of these.  And two more.  And a blazer.  Oh well.  And we did have breakfast before starting off but I left the phone in the car and couldn’t get a picture of it.

Somewhat lighter after the first stop of the morning we carried on, and noticed a Kath Kitson shop has just opened, this is part of the window display.

These next few photos are from down on the waterfront.  Unfortunately the sun didn’t break through until after we left, so it was a pretty grey day.

After leaving Gunwharf we stopped off in Lymington on the way back home.

First order of business, tea and cake.  You know, for medicinal purposes.

On the way down to the quay I saw these in a shop window, they’re called Jellycat

On the way down to Lymington quay.

And finally the result of the mornings efforts.  Sally didn’t buy a thing, probably not necessarily a bad thing.

Normal service will be resumed next month.

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I’m starting off with some unashamed indulgence this month.  I ordered a new car back in November, and this morning I had to go and talk to the finance people just to make sure I understood everything (ie you give us cash, we give you a car).  While in the used vehicle section I took these two snaps of a TT RS which is the big, big brother of my model (TT Black Edition).  Current delivery estimate is in around six to seven weeks time.

Say what you like about Audi, but they certainly know how to look after you while you are waiting.

After I finished visiting The Mothership(TM), I headed over to see my friend Martyn for copious amounts of tea and generally putting the world to rights. Meanwhile…

While I was dribbling over German cars (not literally) Sally was on the bus to Bournemouth.  She very kindly took these photos with her new Samsung Omnia Windows 7 phone through the bus window.

Eagle eyed readers may remember seeing Christchurch Priory before in previous 12′s, this is the view coming over the river.

The Regent Centre in Christchurch high street.  An old theatre venue that was refurbished a few years back and attracts a variety of musicians and comedic acts.  Many of the original art…er decco(?) themes remain.

And finally from Bournemouth, the gardens while Sally ate her lunch.

Flash forward back to me, and while Sally was on the bus coming home, I returned home to find this cheeky scamp asleep on a forbidden chair (ie one that doesn’t have one of the roughly 800 cat seating blankets draped over it).  I like how the one eye open seems to signify “get lost”.

No rest for the wicked. I’m working on a project for someone who likes shiny things, so there’s a lot of Sony VAIO kit sat in the house.  Please don’t burgle my house before Wednesday, or preferably ever.

And a big, shiny server to go with it as well courtesy of Target IT Services.  It’s been a while since I’ve got one of these prepared.

And finally a double helping of food to finish off this months entry.  We’ve been to a pre-Valentine’s Day dinner and started with these chicken wings.

Followed by an incredibly delicious steak, and bonus points for mushrooms fried in butter.  Not very heart healthy I know, but sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind.

That’s my 12 of 12 for this month, next month we’re fortunate that it’s another Saturday.  Until next time…

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I even have a half written post where I got bored halfway through and left it sat waiting for further inspiration.  But the trouble is I’m starting to realise that I am beginning to hate, loathe, detest and generally dislike smartphones.  Or perhaps just mobile phones in general.

Last night we went to a party, not an altogether uncommon occurrance, but when we got home I fished my iPhone out my pocket and started tapping away on it.  At this point Sally commented it was nice to see me not constantly messing around with my phone every five minutes as I do at home.  She’s right too, I purposely left my phone in my coat pocket because nobody wants to see someone playing with a phone during a party do they?

But adding fuel to the fire is an opinion piece by PC Pro editor Tim Danton that I have just read, commenting how when in the pub (or any other public place) when someone is left alone for a brief moment the first thing they do is get their phone out and start tapping away.  It’s a great article, and one I wish I could reproduce here, but that would probably attract some unhappy lawyers.

If you people watch any high street in the land you see the same thing, people shuffling along with their eyes glued to the tiny colour screens of their smartphone of choice.  I myself have walked into doors repeatedly at work while replying to e-mail on my BlackBerry, and I bet you have an embarrassing story of equal stupidity.

I’ve written about this modern digitally connected age before in a post entitled The Absurdity of Immediacy, and things seem to be getting worse.  I’m as guilty as anyone else, I wake up in the morning and the first thing I do is take my iPhone out of Airplane mode and check Twitter, then Facebook followed by my e-mail before getting out of bed.  In the evening I’m constantly noodling around while watching TV doing exactly the same thing.  It’s like having a form of smartphone OCD, must check each online service in strict rotation every ten minutes or something bad will happen.  Like I’ll miss a Twitter update where someone ordered a pizza.

Of course I’m a ridiculous hypocrite given how much time I spend on various social networks, news sites, tech blogs and every other online distraction we have.  Even writing this (admittedly slightly angry) piece I’ve had to re-focus my attention no less than three times after opening up browser tabs to look at something else.  Because like many other people I now seem to have the attention span of a goldfish, and will forget something as soon as I have thought I need to check it out.

So in summary then, maybe I don’t dislike smartphones, but perhaps the way they have become a new appendage that is permanently attached to our hands.  I’ll be doing my best to not incessantly check mine for fear of missing what flavour that pizza is.

And in case anyone was wondering, Windows Phone is a very capable (albeit buggy) new operating system that responds well and has a decent selection of apps.  The AMOLED screen is bright and provides a decent resolution that never comes close to the detail of the retina display found on the iPhone.

PC software connectivity via Zune is simple, and individual tracks and albums of music can be dragged directly from the Zune library to the phone, none of the horrible iTunes synchronisation horrors.  And it will sync wirelessly.

Worth getting?  Maybe when the next round of handsets appear or when Microsoft patch away some of the initial round of bugs.  But their lack of interest in providing any such update at the time of this writing for a phone that was released last October is nothing short of criminal.

There you go see, I’ve gotten all cross again at smartphones.  Or maybe just at Microsoft.  Perhaps I’ll go and have a little lie down now.

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As this is the start of a new year, and I have several new blog visitors via Twitter and other channels, I will explain what this is all about.

Quite simply, take twelve photos on the twelfth day of each month to represent your day.  Share the link and enjoy the entries from folks from all around the world.Thanks to Chad being introduced to Linky Tools by his brother Andy we are back for a sixth year.

Sadly today is a work day, which is always a bit of a struggle to find photos for.  I’m also now permanently employed in Lymington after being made an offer I couldn’t refuse (so to speak), so I’ll try my best.  Off we go then.

Today has been a truly terrible day for photos, the weather has been sunny one moment and then completely appalling for the rest of the day, so my apologies for not exactly getting off to a barnstorming start to 2011.  One thing that is nice about working where I do now is it is only ten minutes away from home.  So I can fall out of bed at a time when I would usually either be at, or on the way to work.

Welcome to sunny, sunny Lymington. At least it was the day before.

Part way through the morning, the view from my office.

Back at home for lunch today, Will was vaguely pleased to see me.

This was definitely a high strength Nespresso lunchtime today, and as it happened I needed to pick this little switch up from my stores to use on a job.

I don’t know what these two are looking at.

Back at work and imaging a new batch of PCs for installation. Don’t try this stacking method at home, I’m a trained professional.  Sort of.

Back at home and this voucher was sat starting me in the face, so I decided we should take advantage of the cheap carvery.

Pub! It’s much nicer than it looks, I promise.

Carvery! Turkey, beef and gammon.  Just what was needed today.

Back home and sadly no rest for the wicked. I had to do some remote work for a customer, and finally finished off this new PC for my Mum.

Time to collapse in front of the TV with some Blu-ray action. Next month the 12th is on a Saturday, thankfully.  Hope to see you then.

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First up, this all-in-one Sony VAIO desktop PC.  Just before Christmas I installed the top of the range version of this machine for my boss.  That one was £1,700 worth of the cream of the crop featuring 8Gb of memory, a Blu-ray writer and more bells and whistles than the local pet shop.

This one is a far more terrifying prospect, as it is for my Mum.  This particular model is at the other end of the spectrum, but with the Core i3 chip and a modest but workable 3Gb of RAM I actually rather like it.  Being designed for the person with slightly tighter purse strings means several corners have been cut.  The keyboard and mouse are wired, the screen is bright but nothing like the cream of Sony’s crop, and the fit and finish of the entire unit is a little cheaper.

But for a touch enabled device that will be used for general internet use, iTunes and writing this should fit the bill perfectly.  Most retailers seem to be selling this one for around £800-825 but we found it online from Marks & Spencer for £770.

Next up is this Samsung Omnia running Windows Phone 7.  I bought this as a Christmas present for Sally, and haven’t gotten round to writing a proper post about it yet.  One will be coming in the next couple of weeks.  But initial impressions are very good.  The AMOLED screen is bright and crisp, but lacks the iPhone’s retina display for colour claritry and reproduction.

And finally this is the first time I’ve had to procure a MacBook for work purposes, and I’ve been setting up the 15″ MacBook Pro on the left (my 13″ model is to the right for a size comparison).  Unfortunately I couldn’t update everything in OS X through the work firewall so I simply HAD to bring it home.  No really, I had no other choice.  Ahem.

As with everything Apple this model is absolutely gorgeous, with small enhancements since I bought mine around 18 months ago such as a smaller Magsafe power adapter and now a Core i5 processor.  I’ve set up Boot Camp on it as well so it’s now running the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium, which seems to perform extremely well.

That’s it for now.  As I mentioned above there will be a proper post about the Windows Phone 7, and I’m working on a couple of probably quite lengthy ones relating to both the Apple and Microsoft digital home eco systems.  Watch this space.

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The primary reason (apart from liking shiny things) is that as I spend my entire working life surrounded by Microsoft products and PC hardware, when I am at home I don’t even want to think about looking at a PC.  So I have replaced almost every bit of PC kit with Apple hardware.

Long time readers will know I have always had a Mac of some description here in the home office, and the original iMac that was used way back in the Red Rant days to record the podcast is still in use.  But I’ve replaced the desktop Windows PC with a 27″ iMac, Dell XPS laptops are out, a 13″ MacBook Pro is in.  Couple that lot with an iPhone 4 and also an iPad (not to mention the new Apple TV) and you get my drift.  The only remaining PCs in the house are a three year old quad core Dell gaming PC, and the main media centre one.

So as a regular worshipper at the Church of Jobs(TM) I was forced to make a pilgrimage to the Apple Store at West Quay, Southampton yesterday morning for a serious repair.

Unfortunately last weekend (while the country was gripped by the latest “big freeze”) I packed my MacBook up and went to visit my Mum, with the aim of fixing my nephews very broken Vista laptop.  Having to deal with Vista again after over a year of Windows 7 joy was bad enough, but the usual spyware outbreak that all teenagers get (thanks to an insistance on using Limewire) was far more unpleasant than I originally thought.

So the laptop had to come home with me (and I was forced to endure a good eight to ten hours of fixing it) and when I got home my bag sort of fell out of the car.  Not exactly a problem usually, but when I opened my MacBook screen later on I was confronted by this.

Ouch.  When you break something it’s always upsetting but on a machine as lovely as this it felt downright heartbreaking.  And as we all know, Apple hardware isn’t exactly cheap, so I knew a repair wasn’t exactly going to be one I could cover with some spare change.

So I made a Genius Bar (don’t even get me started on the ridiculous pomposity of the name) appointment for yesterday morning.

First up I give Apple props for doing a fantastic job of looking after their customers.  I know the staff all look like they are part of a cult (in many ways the staff and us customers are I suppose) with the seasonal matching red t-shirts, but from the moment I got there I was well looked after.  I was 15 minutes early for my appointment, and bang on 9:20 I sat down with my..ahem..Genius.

I was fully expecting to have to leave the machine with them for a few days, given that the entire screen assembly would have to be replaced (at the trouser troubling cost of £280 no less) but they had a replacement part in stock and it could be done by lunchtime.

So we went off and did some Christmas shopping, during the expedition I bought Sally a new Windows Phone, but that’s a story for another blog post.
After a couple of hours I went back to the store just to see how they were getting on and again was treated like royalty.  The machine was already repaired so I just had to wait a few minutes before it reappeared, working perfectly and cleaned to within an inch of its life.  I am always very careful to look after my electronics, but the notebook looked like it had just rolled off the production line again.  Even Sally thought it was a brand new machine.  Sadly, no such luck.

So while Apple hardware is rather expensive, you really can’t fault their service both technically and personally.  And that is why I will keep using them, at least while the bank account will allow.

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Last month the much loved (by Matt and Steffi at least) food photos were mysteriously absent while Sally took over blog duties for me.  We have suitably rectified that this month.

Our day started off with some sad news, the husband of a lifelong family friend sadly passed away overnight after a long battle with cancer.  It’s tragic when anyone is taken from us, even more so when a whole family is left behind and Iain was only just in his forties.  On days like these colours seem sharper and brighter, the air clearer and the whole world seems different.

It’s certainly been an eventful year, one that started off very badly but (present circumstances aside) has ended up a hundred times better than this time in January.  Here is our final set of photos for 2010.

Starting off for breakfast in Christchurch at Cheese & Alfie’s.  This rather quirky cafe/restaurant has only been open a few months and the food is excellent.

As witnessed by this!  “The Pan”, breakfast served in a skillet on a hot wooden tray.  The Boston Beans are particularly good.  This photo doesn’t really do much justice to the food because it looks like a fairly small breakfast, but trust me, it kept us going until dinner (at 3. Ahem).

After breakfast we headed into Poole to Makro cash and carry to stock up on the healthiest essentials for over Christmas.  Well at least the Eat Natural bars are healthy.  The Yorkie bars are medicinal, honest.

After lunch we went for a walk around Lyndhurst.  Which of us fills which role is a choice I leave up to you.

You see these everywhere here at the moment.  I bought a mug with the slogan on (and there is also a canvas hanging in Cheese & Alfie’s just out of shot in the first photo).  Wise words.

The Ferrari and Maserati garage.  We decided not to visit having just ordered a new Audi.

The pub just next door to the garage.  You’d probably need a stiff drink after buying a car there.

Back at home and our light sprinkling of festive lights.

Breaking out the big guns for dinner (if you can class 3 o’clock as dinner) photos.  This is Sally’s lamb shank.

And this is my lasagne.  We’d love to say we made these from scratch, but sadly they were from Waitrose.

Getting in his final appearance for the year, Will makes his feelings felt due to a lack of food for him.

Finally for this year our outdoor icicle lights, which Sally hung all by herself while I was at work on Friday

Well that’s another 12 months of 12 of 12 done, Chad says he will keep going for another year now thanks to the link tools he is using.

Until next time, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

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I didn’t participate last month, and this time around things haven’t panned out quite how I expecting.  I had great plans for this months 12 of 12, I was going out in the evening to see a comedy show, would have gone for a very nice pub lunch with my friends at work and included a photo of an amazing steak and an explanation of how I ended up with the nickname of “Pete the Meat”.  Sadly it’s because of me enjoying food and nothing else.

But unfortunately that hasn’t happened because I got a migrane yesterday which has moved on to today.  So I didn’t go to work today, and having a head that is pumping like an all night rave has meant that I can’t look at screens for longer than a couple of minutes either.  So this month I’m actually dictating the text to Sally who is typing this up.  So before we get going we can only apologise for the very dull set of photos that follow. And also the technical quality of some of the photos.  I need a new camera.

Starting off the morning in bed, checking out tweets and e-mailing various people at work regarding the days events.  Funnily enough the Mac screens although bright don’t hurt my eyes like others.  With the exception of the new iMac which is brighter than a meeting of Teeth Whiteners Anonymous.

With Sally out of the equation/bed, Will decides to take up residence before she returns. Eagle eyed viewers will notice he has now torn his right (our left) ear in another recent fight.  Never learns.

Now if you listen very carefully and put your ears up close to the speakers of your computer then you may actually hear the sound of me scraping the bottom of the barrel.  I’m actually descaling the Nespresso machine. Given that I can’t drink any coffee for fear my head might explode which more pain than Harry Potter’s scar, this is all I can do with it.

I even broke out the instructions, and that’s a cardinal sin for an IT person.

After being badgered by friends at work, I fired up the Tesco opticians website and booked an eye test for this afternoon to see if they were the cause of my headaches.  Yes I am an Apple whore. I’m sorry.

Speaking of which, since the last 12 of 12 the office furniture has changed from crappy, overpriced Ikea to this much more sturdy stuff from Marks & Spencer.  Told you I was an Apple whore didn’t I?

This just recently arrived in the post.  We’re going to a “VIP” event at Poole Audi tomorrow morning.  Which is just where they close the garage to the public and try to sell cars to previous customers.  I’ve been ordered to leave credit cards and all forms of identification at home, but we’re looking at cars early before the current lease runs out.

The stack of new games that have yet to be played.  Yes we got a Kinect this week, I look forward to actually being able to use it soon.

Before lunch I needed some ambient(ish) music and can’t decide whether this Orb and David Gilmour album is an ambient triumph or an over indulgent mess.

This is Sally’s photo of a flower basket she bought for her Dad’s lady friend.

And these were a present from a greatful local resident who gave them to Sally’s Dad after he helped them with a rat problem!  Apple pie/crumble will be made in batches this weekend.

Then we headed down to Tesco opticians and the answer to my headaches (hopefully) is that my right eye has weakened so when I concentrate and it overcompensates then BANG, instant headache.  These are the new frames I chose which will be ready in a week.  Hopefully farewell headaches.

And finally this month a thank you card my cousin made for us after her recent birthday.  The fact that it was made just for us makes it all the more special.

That’s it for this almost excruciatingly dull installment of 12 of 12.  See you next time for the final 12 of the year, and one where Pete can actually function.

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This month I have had a real problem trying to choose which 12 photos to include because I’ve taken so many that things such as food (sorry Steffi!) didn’t make the cut.  However, I’ve gone back to my old way and created a Flickr album containing higher resolution versions of these 12 photos and many more from our day out today (which includes food).  So let’s get going.

It’s Sunday morning, and Will pretty much sums up how we are feeling today.  Just leave me alone, I need more sleep.

A couple of months ago my photos were from a National Trust property called Mottisfont, and I mentioned that there was an exhibition of rare Beatrix Potter original drawings coming to the site this summer.  The exhibition is finishing in a couple of weeks time, so we headed up to Romsey to see if we could get some photos as the idea proved very popular with you kind folks who comment.  The rest of the photos this month come from there.

This is the Cellarium which dates back to the early 13th century and would have been used as an office and store room underneath the abbey.

Watch out for this little fellow.  The team at the abbey have recreated Mr McGregor’s garden, including Peter Rabbit hiding in the shrubs.

Here’s another photo of the garden.

And Mr McGregor himself is looking rather straw-like in his garden shed.

In another building next to the garden is a display promoting bees (including a webcam inside the beehive in the grounds) and so was this corn-made teddy bear.

A new walking trail has just been opened on the site so we took full advantage of the long circuit.

After that we headed back up to the house to check out the exhibition.

Sadly photography wasn’t allowed in the exhibition itself.  What was on display were original watercolour and some ink drawings from the Beatrix Potter books, including some concept art sketches that have never been seen before.  Because the pictures are so fragile they had to be viewed in a completely dark room, inside glass display cases that were backlit and temperature controlled.  They are apparently only allowed out of their home once every ten years for a brief amount of time.

I wish I could have taken some photos and shown them here because the drawings themselves were amazing to see, even including notes saying how they must be resized to be in the finished books.  Sadly we will have to make do with the next few photos.

After exiting the exhibition (through the gift shop, naturally) we were treated to this absolutely amazing display.  I had to use up three of my twelve photos to show this off.  It’s a banquet for Peter Rabbit and his friends, and the attention to detail in everything is simply stunning.

I particularly like here on this final photo you can just see that where the mice are allowed onto the table there is even a ladder stitched into the tablecloth so they can climb up and join their host.

And finally this month the font itself from the Mottisfont name (three metres deep numeracy fans).

That’s all for this month, I hope you have enjoyed our photos from our return trip to Mottisfont, sadly we are back to a work day next month.  Hope to see you then.

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This month was another “not sure if I’m doing this” type affair, but I’ve thrown some shots together.  I apologise for the vast number of technical photos this month, I was desperate to try and get the 12 pictures which proved to be a real struggle this time around.

Starting off in the kitchen at work doing the most important task first thing in the morning, getting the pre 8:30 start cup of tea.

This beast of a new Sony VAIO “lap”top arrived today for our MD.  It’s a bit of a powerhouse with a Core i7 CPU, 8Gb of RAM and a Blu-ray writer.  It still can’t do the ironing or make the tea though, ergo its rubbish.

And here it is, and this is as far as it got today, I was too busy with other things to even be able to switch it on.  Tomorrow will be build day.  If I get chance!  It’s pretty crazy busy both here at my main clients office and with my other folks, the weekend can’t come quickly enough.

In the Chairman’s office installing a new PC for his PA.  This is the view from her window out into Lymington.  I didn’t dare open the blinds

Late morning and I moved over to my second office where I build all the new kit.

Attempting to be clever is always a dangerous thing.  This is a touchscreen terminal PC which is used on the factory floor for booking jobs.  This one decided to give up the ghost and die first thing this morning, a dying hard drive being the culprit.  I took the drive out and imaged it and was fortunate it held on long enough for me to be able to do it.  End result it was working again by the end of the day.

At lunchtime I rejoined the “Three Mile Walk”" club, and promptly failed to photograph any of the picturesque scenery around Lymington.  Sorry we are left with a photo of the second delivery of the day.  Looks like my Friday is going to be pretty busy then.

After visiting two further customers after the day job I arrived home at around 6:45 and found His Willness alert and pleased to see me as always.

Your obligatory food photo.

It was Sally’s birthday on Monday and I’m astonished we have this much cake left still.  Not for long.

Flowers from Sally’s birthday from her Dad and brother which are just beginning to bloom.

And finally my total number of steps for the day.  Given that I could barely break 4,000 while I was on holiday last week I’m pretty pleased (and exhausted) with this figure.

That’s all for this month, next month the 12th falls on a Sunday so I promise there will be some more interesting photos then!

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This months 12 of 12 is a very late in the day, last minute affair I’ve cobbled together because up until late this afternoon I wasn’t going to participate.  I’m incredibly busy at work and started pulling a lot of “I’m too busy” excuses out of the excuse hat.  But I took some photos and dug into the spare parts pile to bring this months effort.

As he didn’t make an appearance in last months 12, Will sums up how I feel about Monday morning.

My desk, this is the first photo taken with the new iPhone 4 camera which is a great improvement on the previous model.  Hard to believe I’ve been here almost three months already.  I was fortunate enough to have my earliest contract extension ever sorted out last week, so I’m now staying here until the end of the year rather than November.  Hooray, now I can pay for Christmas!   Not sure if I mentioned before that I actually have my own office as well.  Well, it’s the IT managers office while he is on the project I’m covering for but you get the idea.  First time I’ve had my own office, and I like it.  A lot.

Just a little project to keep me occupied.  I’m doing PC replacements amongst other things, eight of these beasts a month for the next four months.  Fortunately I have a store room/build area in a recently vacated building so I can hide out over here and listen to music while working.

I’ve recently joined a group of folks from the office who go out walking each lunch time, doing a circuit around the town and surrounding countryside that is just under three miles.  It was a bit of a struggle to begin with but I’m really getting into it now, plus it gets me away from the office for an hour and I am presented with scenes like this.  Gorgeous.

Back at home after another hectic afternoon and it’s all change in the home office.  Sally has now christened the office The Orchard because it is now full of Apples!  I’ve consolidated computers down, sold some PCs and bought this gorgeous beast of a 27″ iMac which is simply stunning.  And this very bad photo doesn’t do it justice at all. And yes that is an iPad as well which has a shiny factor of 10.

Playing some Singularity before dinner and I had to include this photo, an Easter Egg late in the game for Lost fans.  Hidden down in a low section is the donkey wheel.

Microsoft sent me this plaque last week which I’m quite proud of, so thought I would include it here as well.  Fallout 3′s Pip Boy likes it too.

Obligatory food photo especially for Steffi.  Amazing omelette with homemade fried potatoes.  This was pretty epic.

One photo of him isn’t enough this month.  He jumped into the ironing basket of his own accord too.  Camera hog.

Second walk of the day.  I’m walking around four to five miles a day now and it’s really starting to benefit after getting to the goal weight on my diet from a few months back.  Plus we’ve discovered places on our back doorstep we never knew were even there.  We strayed into one field and found these folks.  Fortunately I managed to take this photo between bouts of involuntary urination.  From the sheep, not me.  I’m not that old yet.

We saw a roe deer in one of the fields but sadly it was too far away to be able to snap, so here’s some horses who didn’t want to turn around.  Never work with children or animals..

And finally a rare photo of me.  The t-shirt is significant because it hasn’t fit since 2004 when I bought it in Orlando when we were on holiday.  I’m rather pleased.

That’s all for this month, see you all next time and a big thank you to everyone who always takes the time to check out the photos, read my waffle and leaves a comment.

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As I know photos around Britain always go down well with my fellow 12′ers I’ve got a complete set this month from a beautiful National Trust site called Mottisfont.  I’ll keep the chat light this month and let the pictures speak for themselves.

But just as a quick aside before we get going, I may be a little slow in commenting on you other fine folks’ 12s this month, lots of things going on at present but I will do when I get time, promise! Unless your pictures are on Facebook, because I disabled my account. I’ll e-mail you   And now…onwards.

We didn’t take them up on the suggestion, but several children did!

The abbey itself, sadly you can only look round a small part of it.  Pretty impressive isn’t it?

Mosaic angel, this photo doesn’t do it any form of justice whatsoever, it’s a beautiful piece of craftpersonship

Starting in July Mottisfont is having a Beatrix Potter exhibition, with original drawings being displayed for the first time away from the Potter estate.  They’re just preparing us here in the shop.  They are also recreating various scenes from the books which are currently works in progress.  When it’s finished it will look very nice indeed.

We’re hoping to return and show some more photos from this gorgeous place later in the year.

Banana splits.  Wouldn’t be a 12 without some kind of food would it?  They were gorgeous, especially the honeycomb ice cream in the middle.  And only 100 calories.  Ahem.

Someone in a 12 comment last month said how much they liked waterfalls, I’m afraid I can’t remember who it was but I took this one to hopefully brighten someones day.

These two didn’t seem too unhappy when I woke up them up for a photo.

Quick shot from inside the house. I wasn’t sure if we could take photos or not!

And finally a few shots from around the grounds.  Light on chat, heavy on the photos this month as they don’t need much explanation.

Thanks for stopping by this, and every month.  Until July…

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When I was sent Bad Boys to review I went back and did a little digging to refresh my memory, and came back with the unwanted statistic that the film is now fifteen years old.  Was it really fifteen years ago I went to see this action film from a director I hadn’t really heard of starring The Fresh Prince?  I went along with friends for the ride, and initially ended up slightly disliking the experience.

It was loud, brash, bold, stupid and contained a lot of yelling and swearing.  Not that I have any problem with the latter whatsoever, but some movies just drop constant f’bombs for the sake of it and revel in their edge adultness.  Bad Boys is a big offender in this category.

The movie centres around Miami detectives Lowry (Will Smith) and Burnett (Martin Lawrence) working Homicide.  When the departments career drug bust gets stolen from under their noses by a drugs kingpin named Fuchet (after inside assistance from cop Eddie Dominguez) our heroes have five days to crack the case before the unit is shut down and they are all reassigned.

I’m sure you don’t need me to go any further with the plot.  This is the movie that effectively launched Will Smith’s career with a budget that is now roughly his salary alone.
Bad Boys is a great action movie of its time, still slightly in the Die Hard/Lethal Weapon mould before everything got high tech and CG driven.
As thin as it may be, Bad Boys relies on its story, the action, characters and the chemistry between the two leads which is pitch perfect.
Yes they shout, they scream and yell at each other at regular intervals, but Lawrence plays the slightly comedic sidekick to Smith’s straight as a die action cop movie protagonist perfectly.

As with all Bay directed movies, Bad Boys is stylishly shot showcasing Miami and the surrounding areas.
Bad Boys may be two hours of macho cop action movie, but it’s an incredibly entertaining ride primarily thanks to the already mentioned chemistry between the leads.  Many of the movies most memorable lines are improvised (such as the convenience store FREEZE MOTHER BITCHES sequence) which gives the dialogue a believability we often don’t see in Hollywood screen writing.

Bad Boys contains considerably less action that its sequel, but it serves to prove what director Michael Bay can do when money doesn’t grow on trees and CGI robots aren’t destroying the planet.

Audio Visual
Bad Boys comes to Blu-ray as a catalogue title from SPHE with the standard 1080p MPEG4 encode we always seem from their titles.
Many movies from around the time of Bad Boys tend to have a slightly soft look about them, and Bad Boys reminded me of A Few Good Men, a very bold and colourful movie but a little soft in the visual department.

There is no doubt that this is the best that Bad Boys has ever looked, and although the source isn’t pristine (there are some dirt specks here and there) this Blu-ray is a considerable step up from the already high quality DVD version.

That’s not to say its perfect, and many could argue that if the movie received the full on remaster treatment that it deserves it could look better.  But Bad Boys looks above average for a catalogue title reissue, and fans should seek this new version out.

On the audio front we have a DTS HD Master Audio track that is indicative of the time of the movie as the picture quality.  Bad Boys is a very solid soundtrack, explosions are suitably boomy and dialogue is clear through the centre channel.

But anyone expecting a miracle and for BB to sound like a modern action film that really excels as a DTS HD MA soundtrack such as Die Hard 4.0 will be sadly disappointed.  That’s not a slight against this track, just the more stereo-bound soundtracks from that particular era.  As with the picture it is a considerable step up from its DVD counterpart, but is nowhere close to being a reference disc.

Bonus Features
Nothing new here, in fact this Blu-ray release contains less bonus features than the special edition DVD of Bad Boys.

Michael Bay Commentary – This commentary is a good listen for anyone interested in the filmmaking process primarily because it’s his first movie (although this track was after he had made a could more movies) and has a very low budget so there’s no “this was all handed off to ILM” chat here.  This is a lengthy information dump about the moviemaking process and contains a lot of technical and personal information.

Putting The Boom & Bang In The Bad Boys – Not a talking head feature in sight on this Blu-ray, just a standard def documentary feature the effects crew.  Michael Bay likes to blow stuff up, and these are the guys who make it happen.

Save for a couple of music videos that’s it!

Summing Up
I have a lot of love for Bad Boys.  Although my initial impressions of the movie weren’t exactly stellar back in 1995, repeated viewings on DVD have made it one of my favourite action movies with a wealth of quotable lines.

This Blu-ray release does as much justice as the movie could possibly have without a fully extensive remaster, leaving a visually impressive and sonically middle of the road affair.
My only major gripe is with the lack of any new or enhanced special features.  If there was a Bad Boys 3 on the horizon I’m sure we would have had special editions of both movies with new interviews, documentaries and commentary tracks.

For now, this BD release of Bad Boys will semi-please fans with what is a reasonably essential catalogue title purchase.

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After five years in development (three of which were remarkably silent publicly from Remedy Entertainment), a change to a single platform and assorted trailers we finally have the game itself.  While I have always said that Resident Evil 2 is my favourite game of all time, I add a caveat that Silent Hill 2 is right up there with it, and on a purely story level alone it trumps Capcom’s slice of survival horror perfection.

From the first moment I saw Alan Wake I got the Silent Hill vibe from it (before Konami started farming the franchise out to anyone who would pitch an idea for a sequel) and became very excited.  Small American town, idyllic perfection which all goes to hell when the lights go out?  Count me in.

But I have to confess that when I finally started playing A.Wake I felt a little bit underwhelmed.  Why had what appeared to be a rather run of the mill third person action game been in development for five years?  Clearly Alan Wake has been a long time labour of love for the relatively small development team of 45, but where was the hook?

It didn’t take long for me to stop being such a nit picking moaner and start enjoying the game, because the real star of Alan Wake is the story, the characters and the setting.  One of the greatest criticisms of the game from the early reviews was that towards the end of the game the action got in the way of just wanting to learn more about the story.  This is a testament to the writing and storytelling from Sam Lake and the team at Remedy that the story is more engrossing than the action at times.

Let’s talk about the action for a moment, because I want to get my minor moans and niggles out of the way right up front here.  The action is very well crafted but it very quickly gets very dull and repetitive.  There are perhaps only five enemy types (The Taken, posessed by the darkness/black presence) so enemy variety is not so much on the menu.  A typical encounter will find you faced by between three and five enemies, two will attack you straight out and the other three will flank and try and, for want of a better phrase, take you from behind.
It’s alright for the first couple of chapters, but the action soon gets repetitive and while things do become more tricky when objects in the world become possessed (anything from barrels to diggers), the core mechanic never really changes.

As you would expect weapons change up as you progress from the standard hand gun to shotguns, a hunting rifle, and my favourite, the flare gun.  You also have supplemental secondary ammo such as flash bangs and flares (distress rather than the fashion variety).
Yes Alan Wake is all about light and dark.  In the light you are safe from the monsters, but in the dark you are in their playground.  Wake carries around one of three different lanters/torches/flashlights (pick one depending on where you live in the world), going from standard, heavy duty and then up to a lantern.  You use the light to burn off the darkness from enemies before you can use your firearms.  Flare guns, flashbangs and other light weapons can do this, or just outright kill your enemies.

As an action game, Alan Wake is solid but not outstanding.  Remedy have taken the unusual approach these days and have not included an easy game mode.  Normal, Hard and Nightmare are your three options and the difficulty level doesn’t bow down to inexperienced players.  I played through the game on Normal and save a couple of daft mistakes I never found the game to be too hard a challenge, but I can see that inexperienced players may put down the controller and walk away in frustration.  This would be a shame because they would be missing one of the finest narrative driven psychological adventure games in years.

For while the story in Alan Wake is pure pulp stock shlock Stephen King fayre, it is without a doubt in my mind the best game of this type that I have played since Silent Hill 2.
When you start to delve into the small town world of Bright Falls you see where the love for the game and its characters the creators at Remedy have, and why it has been in development for so long.

Wake himself is actually not the most likeable of characters in the early stages of the game, a sulky novelist suffering from writers block.  He swaggers and pouts around like a sullen teenager while his wife tries to make him cheer up and get back his creative spark.  When she pushes him a little too far that’s when the story kicks off properly and the mystery of Alan Wake starts to unfold.

I am deliberately not mentioning the story in any detail here because I feel that anything I say about the plot would spoiler it considerably.  But suffice to say as the chapters progress, and Wake meets more characters such as the town sherrif and the superb comic relief manager character Barry, things rapidly pick up from what feels a bit like a nature ramble through the woods (with killer light fearing enemies, naturally).

Alan Wake is broken up into TV show like episodes.  At the start of each episode you see a “Previously on Alan Wake” plot retread, and while this works far better than it did in Atari’s Alone in the Dark, the episodes are between two and three hours long each (depending on how much you are ambling around the game world looking for collectible thermos flasks and manuscript pages) as opposed to the 42 minutes of a standard US network TV show.  I ended up playing the first couple of episodes/chapters in one sitting and then taking the rest of the week to play through the game, usually taking two days to complete one section.

Alan Wake’s six episodes are split into multiple chapters, so there is a fairly lengthy game here (some may say a slightly too bloated one), albeit one with an ambiguous and rather rushed ending.  When the credits rolled I was taken completely by surprise with a “Is that it?” sensation as the achievement unlocked for completing the episode.
But this particular adventure for Alan Wake is being closed out properly by the free downloadable content episode that is coming in July.  So there’s a couple of months wait before discovering the final part of this particular mystery.

I am also extremely glad for once that I preordered the special limited edition version of the game, which comes with a soundtrack CD, a bonus disc containing lengthy documentaries, trailers (one unreleased), exclusive avatar items and dashboard themes as well as unlocking a special video commentary feature for the main game.  This is one thing I feel probably should have been included with the regular version as well, as after installing the commentary you can watch a DVD/Blu-ray style video window commentary from various members of the Remedy team at specific parts of the game.  But as it is laden with spoilers you certainly wouldn’t want to watch it on your first play through of the game, and they tell you this right up front.

I often feel a sense of apathy towards certain game genres when I play too many of them (especially first person shooters) but just recently I have become a third person action game junkie, and despite having spent over forty hours playing Splinter Cell Conviction, I had no qualms about playing through perhaps a dozen hours of Alan Wake.  Nor do I mind starting the game again and going back for the atmosphere, the characters and the collectibles.  Those damn fine cups of coffee thermos flasks aren’t going to find themselves…

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The best surprise was on day one when I was introduced to my office! Having been working in IT for sixteen years and never having my own office before I was rather happy at the prospect of peace and quiet for the majority of my work day.  I’m just a caretaker though, looking after it for the IT manager while he works on his big project and I fill in as best I can for the next few months.

After being out for over two months, getting back into a daily regimented work routine has been quite a challenge.  But more specifically, I have never worked a day this long before.  Fixed hours of 8:30-5:30 are the norm for most office staff, but for me they are a real challenge.  My permanent jobs were all flexitime based, and I always preferred an early start, half hour lunch and therefore an early finish.  It was rare to ever find me still at by desk past 5 o’clock in the afternoon, so this is certainly an interesting adjustment.

The first couple of days were killers, but last night was the first time I didn’t feel completely wiped out when leaving the office, and that should hopefully continue to improve over time.
Probably the greatest bonus about where I am now is it is ten minutes away in the car, which is the greatest novelty of them all.  My very first job in IT back in 1994 was five to ten minutes away from home, but since then it has been a mixture of between 15 and 45 miles each way and a good couple of hours total commuting each day.  Now I can fall out of bed at 7:30, be out the door in forty minutes and at my desk well before 8:30.  I’m certainly not going to complain about that.

So for long may it continue.  There is a lot of work to do here but it’s varied and interesting.  It also pays, which is perhaps the most important thing of all.  Now if only I could find a way to get paid to play videogames and watch movies all day…

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I also realised when I was out and about in town taking photos this lunchtime that even though I live a few minutes away from Lymington I haven’t really taken any photos from around the area, so I went on a lunchtime voyage of discovery to try and get the best snaps I could.  Weather was against me a bit, but I tried my best.  Waffle over, on with the photos.

Making a breakfast decision.  It’s either porridge or granola.  You may possibly remember last month I had just started doing a diet programme called Diet Chef.  One month later, fourteen pounds lost and I’m a week or two away from being my correct weight.  I went for the granola.

As always, His Willness is settling down for his day of “work” before I leave.

Just wanted to include this photo of the bluebells outside our back door which I spotted before leaving work.  I’m ridiculously unobservant, they’ve been there for ages.

I know you folks always like a photo of a New Forest roaming pony, so here’s one.  Sadly I couldn’t find a pack of them today.

Here’s a shock photo.  It’s my lunch, I’m having a pasta salad.  It was ok, but got a bit sickly after the fourth layer of salad goodness.  It was incredibly needed too, back to a full time position after over two months.

Time for the lunchtime break from the office.  I couldn’t resist a stereotype red telephone box photo.  There aren’t many of these left any more.

Just down from the phone box I had to wait at the level crossing going into Lymington station.  I managed to snap this photo quickly without looking like too much of an idiot

Just by the “Welcome to Lymington” sign is this so called flower arrangement.  It’s pretty rubbish isn’t it?  There’s another one on my route into work, I’ll try and get a snap of that next month as a contrast.  Very poor indeed Lymington.

Heading back up towards the office I took a photo of this pub for a good reason.  Johnny Depp drinks here, he has a house on Lymington Quay.  I’ve not seen him myself, but locals have seen him and he’s very friendly.  His daughter goes to school here, that’s why he has a house.  Fun fact.

Second shot of the crossing on the way back up to the office.

Back home after a very tiring day.  Such a welcome sight isn’t he?

Had to finish up with this slice of decadence from a sandwich shop down on the quay.  Sally ate most of it.

That’s it for this month, sorry I haven’t been able to weave a lengthy story like I usually do but this work thing gets in the way.  Good job next month’s 12 is on a Saturday.  See you then.

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