Technophobia Again!

Quotation of the day: John Lennon – This is for love i'm doing this. And Art.

Hi, everyone.

My ongoing love / hate affair with technology continues. That new DVD player i bought a few weeks ago has been giving me grief.

Jen at the pub lent me her copy of the DVD of the first season of "The Big Bang Theory" – a series she loves but which i'd never seen. The first time i tried to watch it, the volume kept going from loud to soft to muted altogether. I just figured a plug had come loose somewhere, but had no time to play with it, and watched the the first couple of episodes of the series on my computer instead (well, i just now finished watching the first half and it definitely has its laugh-out-loud moments!), resolving to deal with the problem the next day.

 

The next evening, i tried to watch an episode of "The Sweeney" (season 2) and it played back with no trouble, but the following evening i decided to press my luck and watch another episode of "The Sweeney" and ... i had the same volume problem -- which convinced me that there was a plug that i hadn't seated properly or had put in the wrong jack (and there are a lot of jacks back there!)

Then, i tried to watch the recent (2010) Roman Polanski film "The Ghost Writer," and all i could get was a loud HUMMMMMM!  Grr, grr, i said to myself.  I'm not a technician, why is nothing ever plug-and-play compliant?!?  So i played with the cords a bit (a bit more, that is), unplugged one and eureka! the sound was perfect and remained so throughout this really rather excellent film.

Album Of The Year 2011? And Other Gnus

OK, i know, i haven't posted much lately.  I've been busy.  If you have a paid subscription, you're probably really pissed off (oh, wait, i don't have paid subscriptions). (Which would explain why i haven't been able to pay my 'phone bill yet this month.)

But i am writing tonight with my two cents' worth  -- a couple of weeks ago, Mr Postman delivered to me, a CD which may well be my pick for "album of the year, 2011" -- Joe Bonamassa's "Dust Bowl."

For fans of blues-rock (such as like wot i am) this is a must.

OK, obviously it's a bit early to be choosing an album of the year -- it's barely Spring, the streets are mud, i went out this morning without my Winter coat for the first time since October and bloody froze (although it was nice and warm later it was darned chilly at 7 a.m.).

Er, where was i?