Just wacthed Jet Li’s new film Fearless. Which sadly is to be his last movie, since he is retiring from making Kung Fu films. It was pretty much what I was expecting a non stop Kung Fu movie. What I hadn’t realised is that ii is based on a true story of Huo Yuanjia. Huo Yuanjia founded the Jin Wu Sports Federation which is still around today, and has teaching schools all over the world. This is a most for action and kung fu film fans, other people will find it interesting, but I have a feeling most girlfriends will shy away from this one.
Monthly Archive for June, 2006
Well after trying to work out why the output from my HTPC is garbled on DirectX screens I have concluded that there is a problem with the motherboard. I’m not the only one with this problem since I have found a couple of threads on AVForums which detail this problem.
Called Aria and they have told me that it might be better to take the issue up with Asus since the board has just been discontinued. Aria would be happy to RMA the board and swap it for a similar board, they said to get back in touch if Asus prove to be unhelpful. So I have tried to contact Asus so far no response, I guess it really will take 48 hours.
Well it looks like I have misplaced my iPod totally. Was driving back in Ed car on friday evening when I realised it was not in my pocket, however I thought I might have just left it on my desk. As it turns out I must have dropped it somewhere. Have tried retracing my steps, but no luck. Means no music to and from work 
Not sure I want to get another iPod at the moment, I think I might wait for the next update. In the meantime I’m going to try and use the PSP for music, which is a little awkward but I don’t have an alternative right now.
Raj came over today to have a look around the new place and help me sort out my HD issues.
I decided to use the VGA output to drive the plasma screen since it requires the least amount of tinkering, the screen automatically converts the 1024×768 signal to 720p however some DVD clips appear to jump around and some alledgedly full screen clips still have borders.
Have decided I need to give the DVI-HDMI cable a try, so I will have to order one. It is odd that the MediaPortal UI does not render correctly, since it is just a Direct X application. I have tried to find out more about this problem but no one else on the Media Portal forums is having this problem.
After tinkering around we sat down to watch the Brazil Vs Austrialia game, Alum, Raad and Sina also joined us.
Just got back from the Foo Fighters gig in Hyde Park, had an amazing time. The Foos were just amazing live, damn the Hyde Park noise curfew, the gig finished at 10.45pm. The Foo Fighters have to many great songs, so they could have easily played for another hour. Also saw Juliette and The Licks, Motorhead, Angel and Airwaves and Queens of the Stone Age. QOTSA rocked the hardest, it is a shame they only had the stage for 45 minutes. They did do all of my fav songs so I can’t complain I suppose.
The turn out for the event was 85,000 people which was the biggest audience the Foos have played for. Steve managed to get a ticket for Jill, so in all there were 6 of us. Nikki and his mates Rob and Nicky also joined us. Afterwards we headed down to Paddington to get food and on to trains to head home.
I have just flickr’d some pictures so I will cross link at some point.
Spent the evening assembling the Media Center PC, and it is up and running. Have installed Media Portal which rocks by the way, though the UI seems to be corupted on certain screens. So I can watch my TV episodes and DivX rips without any issue on the new plasma. Have installed the Pure Video codec which will give me HD output and also upscales any video to HD.
Spent the evening setting up the plasma screen. It took a little while to do since I had to assemble the media center stand I bought from Ikea weeks ago. Just been watching some TV and The picture quality is just amazing, games also look great from the PS2.
Still waiting on the PSU to show up for the media center so that I can actually watch some HD content.
Whilst on the train into work I got a phone call from the company which is delivering my Plasma screen, informing me that they will be showing up the next hour. I told them that is fine and that Mati is at home so he can recieve the delivery. They were meamt to show up tomorrow, but I’, not complaining.
The other good thing that happened to me this morning was that whilst walking into my building some one had put up a notice on the board, hawking tickets for saturdays Foo Fighters concert in Hyde Park, I legged it it into the RHUL office to grab Lydia who was selling them at £ 20 each. Unfortunately she only had 2 left which is not a problem. I tried to get tickets back in February when the gig was announced but failed,Ticketmaster had sold out on the first day.
So I’m off to Foo Fighter on saturday. Steve is taking the other ticket and is going to try to get a ticket for Jill. Can’t wait, haven’t seen them live before so it should be great, On top of that Queens of the Stone Age are also playing.
Was wondering back from the bus stop after work, and noted this sign board.
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It is kind of worrying that the Police still have the Waterman’s Center under surveilance for drug dealers. Since I went to school in Chiswick even back then Brentford had a rep for drug dealing. What worried me more is that the Police believe that some one might run off with the sign. I guess it is a valid concern.
Well I made it back to DFS today to place an order for the sofa suite I’m after. Luckly they are still taking the order because they had discontinued that design a couple of weeks back when I had originally seen it. The only thing is that because Italy shuts down for the month of June we are going to see a 4 week delay, on top of the usual 6-8 week quote that they give for delivery.
So I have no places for visitors to sit at the moment. Made worst by the fact that I decided to go and get the dining table and chairs I wanted now rather than waiting a couple of weeks since the credit cards had been taking a hard battering in the last couple of weeks. The situation at Ikea was even worse the table will be back in stock in 3-4 weeks and the chairs in 2 weeks time. So the living room remains blank, except for the access packaging and TV bench, which remains un assembled at the moment.
So when the Plasma does show up we are going to have to stand unless I can get some bean bags or folding chairs for the interim.
In the process of getting a big Panasonic Plasma screen. Had ordered one from Empire Direct however when I rang today to find out what was happening with my order they informed they were in very high demand, and they only had 60 units coming in on the 26th, of which 43 were pre-aid so in order to get one of the remaining units I would have to commit to paying now.
So I decided to ring around a couple of other places, digital direct was another place I had already considered buying from, but changed my mind for some reason. Luckly they had 6 left, so I reserved and paid for one immediately. The only thing is that they can’t get it to me till next wednesday which is fine.
Started to move my things into the new place this evening. Had to assemble the bed which was great fun on my own. However we did manage to finish getting everything in. In fact the minute I finish this post I’m going to hit the sack. Only brought along the essentials for the next couple of days. I’m going to be going back and forth for the next couple of days.
Tonight was the first time I was seeing the whole of the building at night, it is bloody beautiful. In my mind it definately looks better at night. However the sun is going to be up soon, and it is starting to get light and it also look great.
