It’s been a while since I’ve written a film review, so I felt now was the time to resurrect that old tradition
Most of the Transformers movies have been pretty naff – lots of action and explosions and not much else. The third movie isn’t much different, but it is at least better than the second one.
The idea behind Dark of the Moon is that an Autobot ship, launched during the Cybertron war, crashed on the moon in 1961. This was detected on Earth and hence the entire moon landing was part of a mission to find out what it was about. Therefore Armstrong, et al, actually landed where they did because it was near the crashed ship. There they found very little and everything was kept Top Secret. Back to today and the information leaks out. Optimus Prime upon finding out explains that the ship contained a secret weapon that could have won the war for the Autobots and it’s imperative that they get to it before the Decepticons. They do, find the weapon but it soon ends up in the wrong hands.
All the characters from the first two films return, with the exception of Megan Fox who has been replaced by an English actress with even more bionic lips and even less acting ability. I wasn’t impressed. In some cases the characters added nothing – such as Sam’s parents.
Sam has left college and is looking for a job. He’s represented as being more adult by the fact that he gets angry a lot and tries to take charge. However, like the other films, he spends most of his time complaining.
The effects, as ever, are amazing. The best example of this is the collapsing building scene, in which Sidewinder (an excellently designed Decepticon which is like a giant rotating worm) tries to destroy it and the humans inside slide around, break glass, free fall and everything else they can to avoid it.
Having said all that, the CGI for me was ruined by a few elements that were just poor. After all the time and budget spent on effects why would obvious problems be left? Here are some examples…
During the road chase scene a number of cars are pushed aside by the Transformers. However you can blatantly see smoking holes on the underside of the cars where the rams have been deployed to flip the cars.
At the end Bumblebee, fresh from a massive fight, drives up and his yellow bodywork is immaculate. As soon as he transforms to his robotic self, though, the yellow paintwork is scorched and damaged.
The less said about the CGI’s JFK the best. It was hideous – they should have used a double as they did later in the film with Obama.
And whilst I’m having a moan… those Star Trek references. Leonard Nimoy voice a new Prime and so Michael Bay, hardly known for subtlety, crow-barred in every Trek reference that he could. Annoying.
However, even after all the above, which are more minor issues, I enjoyed it. It won’t tax you and it won’t leave you feeling any different to how you did before you saw it. And even at 2 1/2 hours long I found it just right – as it was I felt the ending was a bit rushed.
Summary of Transformers : Dark of the Moon
Great effects, but notable flaws and annoying aside, this was an enjoyable action film. Don’t expect too much and you won’t be disappointed.
Yesterday PC Pro a story about how system administrator Lewis Peckover had discovered that O2 were transmitting customer’s mobile number when you visited a web page. Lewis even produced a web page where you could if your phone was doing this. However, by the afternoon O2 appeared to have back-peddled quickly and removed this functionality, as my phone was not displaying any information.
Why would O2 be doing this in the first place? Well, they’ve since given a few reasons but the most important, as far as I’m concerned, is so that their website can identify you. Unlike other networks who make it difficult for you to find your remaining balances, O2 give you a useful web link to visit – it reads your phone number from the web page header and then displays the information.
Sadly, now they’ve removed the phone number transmission, that site no longer works (see screenshot from my phone). Boo. Of course, I equally don’t want my phone number spread about the internet – would it have been too much to ask to have O2 encrypt it?
This review is part of the 1 Pound Challenge - can you find a decent gadget in a pound shop?
This unbranded (other than the ITP Imports name in small print on the back – this appears to be a range exclusive to PoundWorld) retractable has been designed to connect your iPhone or iPod to your PC. It has a 75cm cable which winds onto a reel, in a similar way to the reTrak products. The difference here, initially, is the price – retract equivalents are ten times the price at least. In fact on inspection the reel mechanism seems very similar to the reTrak version so I had high hopes of a product well worth the pound.
The cable reeled in and out without a problem even after repeated use. The mechanism felt a bit rougher to me than the reTrak, but my daughter felt this was easier to use.
The plastic connectors on either end let it down though – they appear to made of very cheap white plastic which you feel wouldn’t last very long. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the biggest problem. After some initial problems getting the iPod connector to fit into my daughter’s iPod Touch we got it to connect to the computer. That was the first and last time it did – after that nothing happened. It would appear that it simple failed after one successful use.
This came from PoundWorld but an equivalent Signalex branded version can be bought at Poundland.
Summary of Retractable USB iphone & ipod Cable
For a pound the reeling mechanism works well but the connectors on the ends are so cheap that failure is always imminent. Save the pounds and get a quality version with a guarantee!
I’ve been hosting this site with Memset for some time. They’ve provided an excellent, quick and stable service throughout. With a change in emphasis towards providing servers rather than hosting, though, my recent time with them has not been without its strained relationship.
Some time ago my hosting package was done away with to new users and they continued to support existing customers. However, at each turn they’ve attempted to push me towards a virtual server option that I had no interest in. Bandwidth and disk space limitations have caused my costs to spiral yet Memset have put more pressure on me during support. For example, the other day I needed to housekeep some folders from the site that I couldn’t, for one reason or another, access. In the past they’ve been quite happy to do this for me – after all as I’m not in control of it I don’t always have the access I need. This time they warned me that in future they may charge me. Excuse me? They are hosting for me, I have no control over the PHP or Apache installation and the security restrictions. If these restrictions prevent me from removing some files, it’s hardly my problem.
Equally when I kept finding my MySQL database was done on repeated mornings, their solution was again to suggest that I move to a server package where I could control this.
The last straw was when I tried to downgrade my bandwidth requirements. Memset let you add on file size and bandwidth to your package for an additional monthly fee. After some recent caching issues my bandwidth went out of control so I bought some more to get me through one month. Now it’s under control I tried to downgrade to what I had. However, I was helpfully told that I couldn’t and had I thought about a Virtual Server package.
I’ve searched for new hosts in the past but not found any that truly stand out. I’ve tried moving a couple of times but pulled out after finding the new host didn’t offer all the features I wanted in the end. However, after a search yesterday I came across Tsohost. And it was astonishing – glowing reviews and superb value for money.
In the end I purchased their standard hosting package for £34.99 a year. I was paying £15 a month for Memset. This gives me more bandwidth and file space than I had at Memset and with better support – including a helpful customer forum (always useful for looking for problems before you sign up!). They appear knowledgeable and are regularly responding to issues on the forum (as well as writing up articles on how to resolve issues).
The transfer went ahead yesterday – I did it all manually and, yes, I cocked it up. After a stressful evening I got it working. The site is faster than it was at Memset (about 3 times quicker based on home page timings).
And I, for one, welcome our new hosting overlords. I for one expect this won’t be the last time they get a mention on the site – and hopefully always positive.
Update 19th Jan:
Having some problems, but not the fault of tsohost. The move of my blog from one host to another appears to have unsettled one of the plugins that I’m using and it’s looping, constantly accessing this site and sending my bandwidth use through the roof. I disable the most likely candidates yesterday and that appears to have worked – now it’s a case of narrowing down the culprit. Thankfully (in a weird way) my personal blog is having the same issues so I can cross-check the plugins that I’ve disable here with those that I’m using on that one – it’s now down to 2.
Big news today… Waterstones has dropped the apostrophe from its name <gasp>. From some responses you’d think the world was coming to an end (apt as it’s 2012 – cats and dogs living together, etc).
The chairman of the Apostrophe Society (I really can’t believe it exists) John Richards has condemned the change, calling it “just plain wrong” and “grammatically incorrect”.
But, is it?
The original Waterstone’s was named after its found, Tim Waterstone. Hence the ‘s on the end of the name indicates that it’s his shop. But it’s not now. It’s just a title. Hence, you can do whatever you want with it and it’s grammatically correct. Surely?
Yesterday PC Pro a story about how system administrator Lewis Peckover had discovered that O2 were transmitting customer’s mobile number when you visited a web page. Lewis even produced a web page where you could if your phone was doing this. However, by the afternoon O2 appeared to have back-peddled quickly and removed this functionality, as my phone was not displaying any information.
This review is part of 
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Transformers : Dark of the Moon
Most of the Transformers movies have been pretty naff – lots of action and explosions and not much else. The third movie isn’t much different, but it is at least better than the second one.
The idea behind Dark of the Moon is that an Autobot ship, launched during the Cybertron war, crashed on the moon in 1961. This was detected on Earth and hence the entire moon landing was part of a mission to find out what it was about. Therefore Armstrong, et al, actually landed where they did because it was near the crashed ship. There they found very little and everything was kept Top Secret. Back to today and the information leaks out. Optimus Prime upon finding out explains that the ship contained a secret weapon that could have won the war for the Autobots and it’s imperative that they get to it before the Decepticons. They do, find the weapon but it soon ends up in the wrong hands.
All the characters from the first two films return, with the exception of Megan Fox who has been replaced by an English actress with even more bionic lips and even less acting ability. I wasn’t impressed. In some cases the characters added nothing – such as Sam’s parents.
Sam has left college and is looking for a job. He’s represented as being more adult by the fact that he gets angry a lot and tries to take charge. However, like the other films, he spends most of his time complaining.
The effects, as ever, are amazing. The best example of this is the collapsing building scene, in which Sidewinder (an excellently designed Decepticon which is like a giant rotating worm) tries to destroy it and the humans inside slide around, break glass, free fall and everything else they can to avoid it.
Having said all that, the CGI for me was ruined by a few elements that were just poor. After all the time and budget spent on effects why would obvious problems be left? Here are some examples…
And whilst I’m having a moan… those Star Trek references. Leonard Nimoy voice a new Prime and so Michael Bay, hardly known for subtlety, crow-barred in every Trek reference that he could. Annoying.
However, even after all the above, which are more minor issues, I enjoyed it. It won’t tax you and it won’t leave you feeling any different to how you did before you saw it. And even at 2 1/2 hours long I found it just right – as it was I felt the ending was a bit rushed.
Summary of Transformers : Dark of the Moon
Great effects, but notable flaws and annoying aside, this was an enjoyable action film. Don’t expect too much and you won’t be disappointed.Reviewed by David Artiss on 28th January 2012.
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