Free information!

That's right! Free information, for your brain, in video format! Of course I'm referring to this website which provides you with free documentaries to watch on a whole load of subjects, from Mystery to Science and Biographies. There are even some documentaries from the beeb. Check it out, post haste!

Next vs The Golden Man

During the summer Ms AllClick and I took the time to see two Nic Cage films. Seems he obviously has time on his hands as his choice of movie has been a little...second rate. I enjoyed Ghost Rider, but it was pretty silly, and since Spiderman and Batman Begins have been setting a new standard for superhero movies, it fell well below these. It's one of those movies I will probably flick onto when it comes on TV and let it play in the background while i'm doing something more interesting. I did enjoy Sam Elliot though.

The other film was called Next. I was compelled to see this after I discovered it was based on a story written by one of my favourite authors Philip K. Dick. The story is called The Golden Man and I finally got around to reading it this week. Not to spoil anything but the only similarities between the two is that the main character can see into his own future. Apart from that the movie is completely different and probably would make Philip cringe. The acting was pretty poor from Nic who just seemed bewildered the whole time, despite knowing what was about to happen. I actually didn't mind the storyline so much, and I enjoyed the movie overall simply because I enjoyed thinking about having the ability to look into the future, even it was just a few minutes.
Both the film and book are completely different so I recommend reading the story if you have seen the film. I'm all for movie adaptations of Philip K. Dick stories. In my opinion the best one so far is probably Blade Runner. Minority report was also a decent movie, but both of the stories these are based on are some of my personal favs so maybe I'm biased. I wonder what story will be next.

Up Late - The Challenger

For your viewing pleasure, a clip from Episode 6 of Up Late, Marshall's very own late night talk show. This guy tries to eat Hillbilly hotdog's belly buster. It's pretty darn big so I sure hope he did his homework (e.g. ate loads of hotdogs).

Bloons Tower Defence

Ah, this was the game that first got me started on the road to....well playing MORE tower defence games. Great animation with this little thing and there are tips and comments after you complete each level. Plus, who doesn't love monkeys throwing darts. Especially that super monkey, which is a MUST for the later levels. I struggled a lot before I learnt to use a mixture of different towers..but spend your money wisely! Enjoy.

Desktop Tower Defence

Usually Ms AllClick and I rarely differ on our choice of online gaming entertainment..except with the latest craze of Tower defence games. I love them. Ms AllClick declared loudly last night that it looked very boring. I guess it's not much of a spectator sport! I was hooked after playing the Bloons tower defence but have moved onto the Desktop Tower Defence which is currently beating me like 18th century serving boy. I wish you the best of luck with it..and then please come back and give me some good advice!

I know this is late but...

Did anyone see the Bridal Gown giveaway segment they had on the "Today Show"? They had a whole bunch of wedding dresses to give away for free and then had a whole bigger bunch of brides-to-be who had to run after them and fight for a free dress. Is it me, or does this seem kind of ..sadistic..and cruel? I mean these brides really wanted these dresses and we, the viewer, were gaining entertainment pleasure from watching these ladies fight it out. I wonder what will be their next entertainment.. putting out a whole heap of booze for alcoholics :-p they wouldn't...would they?

Welcome back..to a fellow Blogger

I've certainly been slacking blogwise this month having taken a whole 10 day vacation (including weekends) and so I know it's a struggle normally to get back into the swing of posting. I think I'm still building up to that swing. Anyway, I'd like to welcome back RedZeppelin (who never really went away) and I recommend going to his blog (Destination Unknown) pronto. You can click here. Not only does he enjoy the same Food Network Chef as me (see picture) but always seem to bring up topics that I've been feeling about..or blogging about...and then writes about them in a much better way than I could! Well worth the daily read.

Snowshoe Mountain

As I continue to explore more of West Virginia I find that the state has so much to offer. It's latest offering enjoyed by myself and Lady AllClick was Snowshoe Mountain. To me, it's the perfect time of year to visit a ski/snow resort as there is no snow, no people, no crowds, no lines and no worries. The weather was perfect, nice and cool so you actually felt like being outside for more than 5 minutes, many restaurants and stores will still open and then wasn't a whole load of people moving ski's around. Apparently it is one of the top 10(0) places to see a sunset in the world which is easy to believe. I didn't get a picture of the sunset..but we did snap a few of the view up there. I fully recommend it to anyone who fancies a peaceful gettaway. Another bonus was that we were real near to Cass and Greenbank so I checked out the massive Telescope they had over there and enjoyed the free tour with real liquid nitrogen. They also have a cool room with all kinds of space/telescope related toys to play with...erm..some kid told me. oh and freeze-dried Ice Cream.

Holidays aka Vacation

Long have I heard complaints about a lack of vacation time when in England. "Look at the rest of Europe" they say, "They get many more public holidays and vacation days". It's a fact that they do, Italy averages 42 days off a year, but 21 days (in my experience 21 days, the stats say 28 days) of standard vacation time is nothing to sniff at. Not when you consider the poor yanks who not only average between 9 and 14 days off when starting a job but there is also no federal regulations requiring employers to provide vacation days. What can you accomplish in 9 days?? You are probably expected to spend some of those days with your family, other days running important errands you couldn't do while at work... it's no wonder that on average people take 8-10 days sick leave a year. I guess it probably explains why a lot of American's don't own a passport too, they just don't have the time to spend their vacation flying across the globe. So a word to all you moaning Brits (I know you're out there), there is always someone more worse off than you.

Life on Earth V1.2.

So we have lots of life on Earth now. The Population is about 6,615,939,292 so I'd say the Earth is getting pretty full. However, Top boffs (aka Scientists), have been able to manufacture their own "wet artificial life". It's pretty small at the moment, but they say if they are able to create their own life, they could start solving problems like cancer and world pollution. I've ranted on about these kinda stories before. Yes, it's pretty cool (IMHO) but again the research is years away from actually being completed so it gives us the excuse to say "Well, I'm not going to bother recycling, some scientists in white lab coats are making life forms to eat all the garbage and poop out gold." Or something similar to that.

It begs an interesting question though about the creation of life. If man can now create a new form of life, how do the religious feel about the implications? Will the life form have a soul? Will it have rights? Will it be elected President? I'm off to read the story of Prometheus. I'm pretty sure it's kinda relevant.

Wax on...

Well I had my first go at waxing a car over the weekend (along with a lot of help and instruction from Ms. AllClick). Using a medium sized buffer, some goopy white polish and then a whole heap of elbow grease rubbing the damn thing down. While rubbing wax off I remembered the Karate Kid and a smile swept across my face. I was completing my first step towards becomgin a Karate warrior..wasn't I? However, upon finishing I felt more like eating a pork chop than performing a Karate chop. Still, the car looks nice and shiny, and I feel a little more like a Karate expert. Ms. AllClick, however, reports no Karate-like powers. Now time to paint a fence...

I must have cursed it...

Man, I should have kept my mouth shut. Turns out that two days ago a Monet was stolen! I wonder what Monet would think of it. If I were a famous painter i'd probably be quite amused thinking that people would spend the time and effort and risk to go into a museum with handguns and demand a piece of canvas and some paint that i'd thrown together. How do you even sell famous paintings? I mean they are famous. It's not like getting rid of a stolen phone (i'd imagine). I think i'll stop reading the news tomorrow.

Stolen art recovered.

I'm a moderate fan of art. I like what I like. I like going to art galleries but rarely do so. If I had to say who my favourite artist was I'd probably say Monet. His work is used way too often as "Wall Filler" but it still amazes me every time I push my face up close to one of his paintings. Regardless, I am always saddened when I hear stories of art getting covered in acid (happens more than you think!) or stolen. So I was pleased to see this article today online. I'm not really a Picasso lover either, but I respect that it is respected and so it makes me happy. I think the news fails to cover a lot of the happier stories so I'm going to go fully enjoy this moment...then I'm reading " Monkey hidden in ponytail on plane". Sweet.

The County Fair

I live in Putnam County. I'm still figuring out what it means to be in a County. It's a lot different from English County's as far as I can deduce..especially as they are a lot smaller. Hence, they can have such a thing as a county fair. This was my first fair-going experience in WV and the USA so I was pretty excited. Especially as Ms. AllClick had talked about getting a "Funnel cake" for about 3 weeks previous and I was interested to sample this culinary delight. My first surprise at the fair was the price. I wouldn't say I'm particularly tight, I'm just not used to paying money to attend fairs. So I paid the $8 and strolled on in. The rest of the fair was similar to fairs I had been to before. Kids rides, some scary rides with questionable safety and a whole lot of food stands. I hadn't ever seen ATV tracks at a fair before though, and that was a big crowd puller. I stayed a couple of seconds just to see what was happening and then wandered off again. Not my thing. Then I saw something else I wasn't used to: live animals at the fair! So we wondered over and I finally got some sort of reference to the word "4-H". There were a heck of a lot of pigs, some cows, and donkeys. I'm fond of animals so I really enjoyed it. I tried to put it out of my mind that these were probably not bred just to be petted. They had some more exotic animals too, monkeys and snakes but I passed on those as I strolled over to the stage where a band were playing. Brilliant. I'd never seen that before either (at a fair). We ate our corn dogs and watched the band a while. Overall an enjoyable experience. I think the cost was about $40 for the whole night. Not bad for some wholesome entertainment..but I couldn't help thinking that I'd have probably felt better spending those $8 at the door on some of the stands that were raising money. Maybe next year I'll remember to ask where my $8 is going.

P.S. The funnel cakes were excellent.

Showdown at Marshall

No, I'm not talking about the WVU vs Marshall game which is rapidly approaching. Instead I'm talking about a much bigger showdown. Cola product vs Cola product. This morning I saw the wondrous sight ( and I probably shouldn't have been this excited) of a Coca-Cola van..on Marshall "Pepsi is all we have" University campus. The side door was open. There were Coke products stacked up on the floor. But there was no driver, or person to unload the drinks. My guess is that there is either a) a new Coke dispensing machine in the bookstore, or b) an anti-Pepsi-ite has stolen a Coke truck, driven it carefully to campus, unloaded and ran for it with as many bottles as he could. I'm hoping for a) but would love to see b) in the Parthenon. Now I just need to spend time planning the rest of my week to go around campus finding all those lovely Coke Reward codes....

The Weather

I thought I'd choose a subject that everyone likes to talk about for my first post in a little while. The Weather. I'm a big fan of talking about the weather. I'm not really an meteorologist, nor do I even watch or read the weather that often, and I rarely ever have the weather channel on (it always gives me my "local" forecast for Culloden, which I haven't even heard of) I just always think it's a perfectly fine starting place for a conversation. I don't know why it gets such a bad rap. Talking about the weather can lead to (in a conversation) a story of the hottest ever summer, or that time the snow came and I had to sleep in my car, or even a discussion about global warming. It is whom you speak to and what they have to say about the weather that really tells me a lot about the person. Either they blow it off, "yep it's hot out there" and throw you a conversation stopper, or they may reply "yep, and did you feel that breeze last night? I was out on the porch watering my plants and...". So, don't be afraid just to talk about the weather, it might bring some sunshine to your day.