The Borgias

Watched the last episode of (season 2) of The Borgias last night. What a good series. Buy the DVDs, you won't be disappointed.

Spot the difference

The difference between Google Maps and Apple Maps displayed here.

Definite or indefinite

Always looking for an opportunity to raise the level of culture in the house, and noticing that The Guardian were offering tickets, I booked to see A Government Inspector at Harrogate Theatre. Part of Harrogate theatre's All Points North Season.
Now, as you all know, The Government Inspector was a satirical play by the Ukrainian born Nikolai Gogol. Based upon an anecdote allegedly recounted to Gogol by Pushkin, the play is a comedy of errors, satirizing human greed, stupidity, and the extensive political corruption of Imperial Russia (please keep up). So far so good.
The seats were relatively inexpensive and I managed to get my favourite seats with plenty of leg room and a quick exit to the bar, just in case. The small mistake that I made was in not noticing that there is a difference between 'A Government Inspector' and 'The Government Inspector.' The actual difference being that one is the original play and the other isn't. It's an adaptation placing the action in a northern provincial town. Guess which one we went to see?
Now, I have no objection to farce, this farce was well produced and directed and well acted but lacked some of the subtlety and gravitas that I'd expected. After about 30 minutes I knew that Jan's cultural levels were not going to be improved. Nor was I alone in my disappointment. It raised barely a titter because I suspect that like me the audience was expecting something just a wee bit different.
Ah well.

Mr Gorsky

As commander of the Apollo 11 lunar module Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon.

His first words as he stepped onto the moon were, 'That's one small step for man but one giant step for mankind.' These words were heard by millions.

Just before he re-entered the lander he was heard to say, 'Good luck Mr Gorsky.' Many thought that it was a casual remark aimed at some Russian astronaut. However, upon checking, there was no Soviet or US astronaut by that name.

Over the years many people questioned Armstrong about what he had said but all he ever did was smile.

On 5th July 1995 he was asked the question again and this time he replied. Mr Gorsky had finally died and Armstrong felt that he could now answer the question.

In 1938, when he was a kid, he was playing baseball with a friend and his friend hit a ball into the neighbours back yard. The neighbours were a Mr and Mrs Gorsky. Armstrong went into their yard and as he bent to pick up the ball he heard Mrs Gorsky shouting at Mr Gorsky.

'Sex, you want sex? I'll tell you when you'll get sex. You'll get sex when the kid next door sets foot on the moon. That's when.'

Regular are best

The annual taste test has started.
On our way back from dropping the dogs off for their wash and blow dry I popped into our local coop to get some cash from their cash machine. As I left it hit me.
I hadn't noticed them as I'd walked in but there they were in their wonderful, glistening Christmassy box. Mince pies.
I may have mentioned before that I'm rather partial to the odd mince pie, so much so that we have been known to fly back from France just to buy some of the delicious little blighters.
The annual routine runs like this. Buy a box of the deep filled ones from every supermarket during October and November and decide which ones get pride of place in my stomach during December and January.
Avoid the 'luxury' brands because in the attempt to make them 'luxury' they usually spoil them. Regular deep filled are best.
Supermarket shares rise steeply at this time of the year and now you know why.

So true

This cartoon by Matt in today's Telegraph is funny.

The caption reads: 'I see you buying the iPhone 5 and shortly after Apple launching the iPhone 6.'

I'm just popping out

Despite the fact that the outdoor sequences of this film were made near Coventry and the indoor shots at a studio in Barnsley (that should keep the conspiracy theorists happy) it's very interesting. Well done NASA.

C'mon Andy

Andy Murray's recent victory at the US Open was like a fairytale.

So what could me more appropriate than Fairytale of New York. Here it is, my favourite Christmas carol ever (a bit earlier than normal).

Amazon

It was Friday at around 6 pm and I had a small technical question for Amazon regarding their new Kindle Fire, so I emailed them.
Given that it was late in the day and the weekend was about to start I was quite prepared to wait until Monday for a reply. In fact, I picked up the reply the next morning, Saturday, and noted that it was sent at around 10pm on Friday night. A four hour turnaround. Now that's what I call customer service. Outstanding.
After living in France for several years where I could reasonably expect a reply somewhere around Tuesday (blame the 35 hour week, weekends off and closed Monday) it was a very refreshing change.

You've gotta be joking

I was reading this article about deep fried Mars Bars the other day and couldn't help laughing when I read that, "Plans to bid for EU protected geographical status were dropped."
Excellent.

La Vida Loca

Everyone should watch this before leaving for work in the morning. I love it. It puts a smile on my face and makes me want to dance.

Just a bit different