In Sydney, Australia, Karan (Harman Baweja) is the son of a super-duper rich and busy father who lost his mother and is lonely. To get his dad's attention he does silly things like race and wreck his dad's multi-million dollar sports car etc. One fine day he sees a beautiful girl Sana (Priyanka Chopra) playing with a butterfly and yes, falls in love with her. He then begins to chase, impress, sing, propose etc and finally wins her. Karan wins Sana's heart when he goes to meet her in the town where his uncle lives. Uncle Ya, is a genius from NASA who is building a time machine. It doesn't work yet, but nonetheless Karan and Sana sit inside it and Sana wishes to go to Mumbai 2050. But before this wish is fulfilled, on that fateful night Sana dies in a car accident.

Uncle Ya suggests that they travel back in time and rescue her, but unfortunately the time machine is locked for Mumbai 2050. At this point Karan realizes that probably Sana is in 2050 and her punching in those numbers into the time machine before her death is a sign. So Uncle Ya and Karan travel to Mumbai 2050. By this time Mumbai is completely transformed---flying cars, robots, etc etc...its more like Mumbai 3050! Anyways, Karan finds that Sana is a super star pop singer named Zeisha. Oh yes, there is a villain just for the sake of having a couple of fights who wants the time machine. The villain looks like a clown dressed as Darth Vader. Karan convinces Zeisha that she is Sana and that they loved each other and finally takes her back. All ends well and everybody is back in Australia 2008 looking at videos and photographs of their trip to Mumbai 2050.

Now, why did i take the pains of writing the story in such detail in the above two paragraphs? Answer---to save you the pain of sitting through this film in case you get tempted by the flying cars. The first one hour is a complete waste because the proceedings are too slow and simply lack the fizz that is needed for a love story. Ten minutes before the interval move fast and are interesting. Again, the second half is just a big waste. The futuristic Mumbai, flying cars, red hair, artificial robotic intelligence, special effects, grand sets...nothing works because there is nothing for them to rest on. The film is lengthy, three hours plus, but fortunately the theater wala (Ramakrishna 70mm) decided to bail out the audience by chopping off some portions. Either that, or the film makers themselves decided to trim the film.

Harman Baweja is good, but i would really like to ask Harman and his dad whose idea it was to make him look like Hrithik?---i mean, the same sideburns, stubble, hairstyle...cummon man. He was even trying to act like him and at times like SRK (thankfully he didn't try to bend or twist his lips like SRK). He dances great (the opening dance steps of milo na milo; a few dance steps will remind telugu audience of Chiru's dance steps) and has good agility for action movies (there should have more action scenes for the newcomer). Harman has potential to be a star, but he has to be himself---acting and looks as well. Rest of the cast were okay, but they could hardly do anything given such bad direction.

Harry Baweja should simply have stuck to this forte of making an action thriller; and set it in the future if he was that keen on wanting to create a new trend. The movie is a complete let down and a big bore. Just read this review and check out milo na milo video on YouTube and save yourself the pain of watching this film.

Mr. Inkenti's Movienomics Verdict: Thumbs Down!

Rating:

Authors: INS Team, Twinke Masta, Powerskull

Review: This is one of the most popular custom weapon models. It replaces the iron sights on the M4 (vertical grip) with an EOTECH sight.

Very accurate, easy to use, with larger area to see while aiming.

Sight picture (click to view large):

Goes great with: U.S. Army ACU

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1. Oster Classic Beehive Blender - Best General Blender
2. Braun PowerMax MX2050 - Best Budget Blender
3. Vita-Mix 4500 - Highest Quality Blender

You can visit Mandy's blog here - Best Blenders Blog

The weather was muggy, and the skies cloudy, but this was far better than the rain we were expecting for this outdoors event.

The Taste of London is in it’s 3rd year (we first visited in 2006, last year we did Taste of Bath), and is essentially a food festival run over 4 days in July in Regent's Park.  It’s an opportunity for some of the best restaurants in the London area to showcase some of their favourite dishes.  In addition, there are plenty of drinks to be sampled, and merchants representing the food and drink world.  The festival has it’s own currency – the Crown.  One crown is equivalent to 50p, and can be purchased in books of £10.

We had purchased VIP tickets at a cost of £50, which included £20 of Crown.  This enabled us to join a much shorter queue to get in, and also allowed us access to the VIP tent where we were provided with a complimentary glass of Laurent Perrier.  A glance at the drinks menu inside told us that an additional glass could be purchased for a scary 20 crowns.  When we first visited in 2006, we were treated to some tasty amuse bouche in the VIP area, so we were a little disappointed that this time the nibbles were confined to olives and nuts.
The other ‘advantage’ to access to the VIP tent was a chance to mingle with the 'stars'.  I spotted Anthony Worrel-Thompson in an early scout for a table, and beat a hasty retreat.  Later in the evening, the tent became packed with people eager to listen to a performance by Jazz performer Jamie Cullum.  We were fairly close to the stage, so I was able to take a few photographs before escaping the crowds.

There were 40 restaurants represented there, but we were only able to sample a handful.  We each tried different dishes each time, and where possible tried different restaurants.

I think one of my favourites was one of the simplest – fish & chips from Tom’s Place.  I joined the crowd of people at the stand, but it was obvious what that popular dish was.  “who wants fish and chips” was answered with a  show of hands, resulting in a quicker service than anticipated.  The portion of beer battered red gurnard was generous in comparison to most of the other dishes, the chips were deliciously chunky, and tartar sauce was served on the side.  At the next stand, my husband sampled the 'Seven hour braised lamb shoulder with balsamic onions and mash' from Tom's Kitchen.  It was worth the crowd and wait – the lamb was beautifully tender, and complemented well with the slightly tangy taste of onion and simple mash.
From the Arbutus stand, I found that the gruesome sounding 'Braised Pigs Head' was in fact delicious - moist and tender, though a little fatty.  It was accompanied by potato puree and caramalised onion (a popular combination it seems!).  Meanwhile, my husband was enjoying Canteen's 'spit roasted pork with mash & gravy'.
The only stand where we both tried a dish was Bumpkin – he had the Bumpkin Burger – a lamb burger with rosemary and olives, whilst I tried the Charter Pie.  I had no idea in advance what this pie may contain, and found that under the light pastry lid was chicken, ham and vegetables.  Later research indicates that 'Charter Pie' is the traditional name for this type of pie, and was the dish that Bumpkin manager Dariush Nejad recommended for 'starving models-'  Full story here.

Also available was wine and champagne tasting classes, cooking demonstrations and book signings.  The chefs demonstrating included Gary Rhodes, Aldo Zilli, and Marcus Wareing, but we did not attend any of these events.  At last year's Taste of Bath event we participated in a beer tasting session, and thought it was a bit of pity that there was nothing similar here.

Despite them twisting our arms (again!) into spending lots of money on wine, I really must recommend Charles Mitchell wine merchants.  Not only is Chris Pacey extremely knowledgeable, he is also friendly and happy to help you choose the perfect wine – no matter how many samples it may take!

The atmosphere was laid back, with visitors ranging from the well-heeled to the more casual, and from couples to young families.  The dishes generally are quite expensive (and small!), but if you plan carefully you can make the most of your crowns, and take the opportunity to sample dishes that you may not if faced with a larger dish.

Sorry for the late post on this one - it took me forever to find subs! Anyway, on to the review - Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto ~Natsu no Sora~ (from here on referred to as simply Natsu no Sora) Episode 1.

OP: “Fly Away” by THYME

I’ll be honest; I wasn’t a really big fan of this song. It was upbeat, and I think it fit the anime pretty well, but not something I’d listen to on my MP3 player or anything…I get the feeling it’s going to be one of those that I skip in the future. Screenshots are above, molded into a killer montage for your viewing pleasure!

[wp_caption id="attachment_40" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The dead (?) father"][/wp_caption]

Summary

This was pretty much your basic introduce-the-characters episode. We got a good look at Sora’s family – her mom, her dog, and her dead (I presume? That wasn’t particularly made clear…o_O) father.

[wp_caption id="attachment_33" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Mitsuki and Sora’s meeting spot under the bridge. Made me think of FLCL, minus the smoking…XD"][/wp_caption]

We also see her uncle and cousin Mitsuki, who she seems to be very close with. In addition to being introduced to the characters, we also see a fair amount of scenery and get a good feel for where Sora lives…which is pretty much Hicksville, Japan-version.

[wp_caption id="attachment_34" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The scenery really is gorgeous in this anime."][/wp_caption]

And then the true story begins – Sora’s mom gets a call from the Magic Bureau, informing her that Sora has been accepted to the Mage Academy! I kind of got the feeling that she had applied more than once for this, so… yay, Sora! She’s gonna go be a mage like her daddy! Unfortunately, this means leaving Hicksville (population: you and you dog), and going to stay by herself in Tokyo. Everyone congratulates Sora, but she has one thing she needs to do before she leaves – she’s gonna go help Mitsuki confess to her secret object of affection, who happens to be transferring schools.

[wp_caption id="attachment_35" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sora and Mitsuki discuss the secret object of affection."][/wp_caption]

Mitsuki says she wanted to see the winter scenery with him before he transfers away to Hokkaido, so Sora uses her magic to make snow fall from the ceiling while Mitsuki is confessing. All together now: AWWWWWWWWW~!!!

[wp_caption id="attachment_36" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Definitely the highlight of the episode – Sora uses her magic!"][/wp_caption]

Finally, a tearful goodbye between momma and Sora, as Sora hops into the pickup to be driven to the airport. The last shot we get is Sora on the airplane, wondering what Tokyo will be like…

[wp_caption id="attachment_37" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Momma and Sora share a touching moment. I intrude to capture this moving screenshot."][/wp_caption]

Impressions

I like the storyline and characters thus far – episode one was a good hook. I want to see where this goes – especially on the magical front, since this is supposed to be an anime about magic, and so far magic has only had about 1:30 minutes of screentime…

[wp_caption id="attachment_38" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="A strange blend of art. I know I’m re-using this picture, but it works here too."][/wp_caption]

Art-wise is where I hit difficulties, though. I find the contrast between the style of the characters and the style of the backgrounds to be rather distracting. I wish they would have put as much work into the moving characters as they did the backgrounds. On that note, I wasn’t sure whether the backgrounds in some scenes were pictures or photographs. See the bridge picture above for an example of that. If anyone can tell, please let me know…either way, however, I wasn’t a big fan.

…although, I’m really interested to see the Tokyo city-scape with this kind of background detail…

https://cid-1aa26630dccde52d.skydrive.live.com/

In keeping with the 18-month life cycle of its consumer DSLRs, Canon announced the 12.2 megapixel EOS Rebel XSi on January 24, 2008 just prior to PMA. Canon also kept the tradition of upgrading the Rebel series by a couple of megapixels, which it has done with every generation since the original EOS Digital Rebel debuted in 2003 at 6.3MP. For your reference, the Rebel XT weighed in at 8MP and the Rebel XTi touted 10.1MP.

FULL REVIEW :
www.photographybay.com | Canon EOS Rebel XSi Review

So: Mimi Khalvati's latest collection, The Meanest Flower. It opens with a beautiful twelve-sonnet sequence called 'The Meanest Flower' that I really enjoyed - an extended meditation on childhood. I love these lines, from the first sonnet:

... Childhood,
swing your little bandy legs, take no notice

of worldliness. Courtiers mass around you -
old women all. This is your fat kingdom.

Khalvati is a master of very elegant - and zestful, too - form. As well as the many beautiful sonnets, she writes a lot in the Persian form of the ghazal (my favourite was 'Ghazal: after Hafez'), which I hadn't come across before, and the truly stunning sestina (I think? I'll have to check) 'On Lines from Paul Guaguin'.

It's great to read poems when you've recently heard them read by the poet. My favourites were the opening sonnet sequence, 'The Middle Tone', 'Scorpion-grass', 'Soapstone Creek', 'Motherhood', 'The Robin and the Eggcup' and 'Sundays', which was heartbreakingly tender. Although it's not very seasonal, here's 'Soapstone Retreat':

Late summer sun is falling through the forest.
As if the forest knew it would soon turn yellow,
it shifts a little, stars in the creek below
signalling to the sunlight on its crest.

In the centre it is still. Still late August.
On the periphery, branches, leaves, follow
the scent of autumn. Like a woodfire slow
to get going after the stove's long rest,

the forest stirs with ambivalent longings
for movement, stillness, as if its life were elsewhere
but its heart were here. And as cold nights near,

those last sweet sips at the cusp of the year
hang suspended in the balance as the flask swings,
hummingbird feeds and the sun sinks, stair by stair.

The Meanest Flower, Mimi Khalvati (Carcanet, 2007, Poetry Book Society choice)

Which is a shame – his gripping tales of madness and cosmic terror are unparalleled. And his effect on modern horror fiction continues to be felt – Stephen King (who called Lovecraft “the 20th Century horror story’s dark and baroque prince”), Anne Rice, and Clive Barker have acknowledged his influence. His unique contribution to American literature was a melding of Edgar Allan Poe’s traditional supernaturalism with the emerging genre of science fiction.

But Lovecraft, who died in 1937, discarded ghosts and witches and instead envisaged mankind at the mercy of a chaotic and malevolent universe. His historical context is the cusp of the the 19th Century and the early years of the 20th Century, a period when Einstein had discovered relativity, but Howard Carter had not yet opened Tutankhamen’s tomb.

Originally appearing in pulp magazines like Weird Tales in the 1920s and 1930s, Lovecraft’s work has inspired generations of fans.

The first paperback to include the definitive corrected texts, The Call Of Cthulhu And Other Weird Stories, reveals the development of Lovecraft’s mesmerising narrative style. The selection of stories range from early tales of nightmares and insanity such as The Outsider and The Rats In The Wall, through the grotesquely comic Herbert West – Reanimator.

His best-known short story is also included in the book – The Call Of Cthulhu, which fuses traditional supernaturalism with science fiction.

Set around 1925, it begins with Francis Wayland Thurston’s account of the death his great-uncle, Professor Angell, a prominent professor, and a study of his papers which include the account of a raid on a supposed cult. In this tale “sensitive individuals” around the world are afflicted by horrid nightmares transmitted by the Great Cthulhu, an extra-dimensional creature who “cannot live” because “the stars are not right”. Driven insane, they perform despicable, unholy rites.

The study of the cultists brings to light clues about the hideous creature, Cthulhu, that they worship. The Cthulhu creature, said to have come with his alien followers from the stars millions of years before the dawn of man, now rests in a death-like sleep in their sunken city of R’lyeh.

Lovecraft is not a brilliant writer but he is an important one. Reading this collection, the reader constantly has to remember he was the first to truly explore the idea of an alien being something other than prosthetics on humans. With him, the nature and method of horror writing underwent a sea-change, away from the quaintness of the English ghost story.

Das iPhone 3G bietet:

• UMTS, HSDPA, GSM, Wi-Fi, EDGE, GPS und Bluetooth 2.0
• Umgebungslichtsensor, Annäherungssensor, Beschleunigungssensoren und ein Multi-Touch-Display

Das iPhone 3G kostet:

Leider gibt es das iPhone wieder nur bei T-Mobile. Man kann zwischen vier Paketen wählen zu 29,-€, 49,-€, 69,-€ oder 89,-€. Ab dem Paket zu 49,-€ ist dann auch einen Daten-Flatrate mit dabei. Zuvor ist die Datenmenge auf 500 MB begrenzt. Der Preis ist 169,95€ (8 GB Version) bzw. 249,95€ (16 GB Version). Ab dem Paket zu 69,-€ gibt es die 8 GB Version dann für 1,- €. :-)

Wenn man das allerdings mal auf die Laufzeit von 24 Monaten umrechnet heißt das:

• 49,-€ Vertrag: 24 x 49 + 60 + Gesprächskosten = 1236 € mindestens!
• 89,-€ Vertrag: 24 x 89 + 1 + Gesprächskosten = 2137 €

Nun ja... so gerne man das iPhone 3G auch haben möchte... angesichts dieser Kosten sollte man es sich vielleicht doch noch einmal überlegen. Außerdem gibt es ja durchaus auch Handys ohne Vetrag zu kaufen.

O filme é cheio de clichês , copia descarada de O casamento do meu melhor amigo , piadinhas do tipo quando a pessoa leva um tombo e é engraçado , mas até que diverte um pouco .

Conta a história de um cara mulherengo que quando a melhor amiga vai viajar descobre que está apaixonado por ela ,só que quando ela volta traz um noivo escoces de brinde, e aí chama o amigo para ser Madrinha , ele aceita só pra tentar conquistá-la, tem direito a coisas como entrar quando o padre diz "Se alguém tem alguma coisa contra essa união que fale agora ou cale-se para sempre " e no final eles acabam juntos , bem água com açucar ,diverte ,mas não é lá grande coisa .

Eu amo musicais, des de pequenininha, e olha que na minha familia não a nenhum grande cinéfilo , então já tinha varios pontos na minha cotação , e ainda por cima dirigido por Tim Burton e protagonizado por Johnny Depp .

A fotografia do filme é perfeita , e Johnny Depp é aquele tipo de ator que consegue dizer tudo com um olhar ,adoro isso , é claro que tem umas coisinhas que são ligeiramente clichês que você sabe exatamente o que vai acontecer em seguida, mas acho que o diretor fez isso pra fazer uma homenagem a outros filmes do genero .

Mas de tudo o que eu mais gostei foi Helena Bonham Carter , no geral dos personagens Mrs Lovett ( o garotinho que no final mata o Sweeney também rules )  é a mais carismatica, traz humor e dá pra entender o que ela sente, e as musicas dela são as mais legais .

In 1978, the world was in danger, and only one laser cannon, shileded by bunkers, could save us all from an invasion of blocky bleepy aliens... This is of course the story of Space Invaders. A story that has been remade and retold countless times over the years, introducing, sightly less blocky looking aliens, and adding more bleeps to their vocabulary, but now, after thirty long years, the next chapter of the story unfolds as Space Invaders gets a true sequel. This game is extreme... Extremely Fun!

Space Invaders Extreme looks at the slow repetitive gameplay of the original, and kicks it into a fast paced frenzy of psychedelic colours, rapid fire, alien smashing beats, combos, double combos, powerups and pixel demons from another planet.

At it's core, Space Invaders Extreme still holds true to the originals move left, move right and fire at a seemingly infinate number of waves of Invaders, but kicks it up several gears. Gone is the slow moving aliens and even slower firepower in place for quickly scrolling formations which can be hit within the same half second of firing. Formations now take ten to thirty seconds to demolish rather than five to fifteen minutes. Once one groups gone, a completely new formation (no more identical blocks) appears to crry on their onslaught. Speaking of everything being the same, this time the aliens bring with them some interesting powers, including bomb drones (which blow up everything around them when hit) shield barers (hold shields), giant laser carrying demons (you get the idea) and many more. Colour also plays a big part in your enemies as well. Space Invaders Extreme has a brilliant combo system in place, where hitting four of the same colour in a row drops a powerup, ranging from bomb cannons (red) to multiple fire (green) and the laser cannon (blue). Chaining two of these combo's together lets you try your hand at a bonus stage, where your given a set time limit to clear a goal and unlock fever mode. Fever mode lets you take control of an even more powered up weapon for an even longer time, giving you the change to cause some massive damage as well as rack up a phenomenal score.
After you've taken down enough of these rapid fire formations it's time to meet one of space Invaders eleven bosses. These giant pixelated nasties take up a good portion of a screen and offer a great challenge and a lot of fun.

While gameplay is the most important aspect of the game, Space Invaders does an excelent job of wraping it up in some stunning visuals and sounds. The game offers a beautiful changing belnd of colours, while the retro looking invaders wiggle around in front managing to keep their retro look while feeling right at home in this new-age invasion. The soundtracks filled with funky beats, but what realy sets it apart is your interactivity with it. Your bullet spray and the crushing sound of the aliens defeaat are made up of different beats, giving your defending a melodic tone, complimenting the soundtrack prefectly.

Overall, Space Invaders Extreme takes the classic gameplay of one of the grandfathers of gaming and gives it a much needed rennvation, setting its place in modern gaming. It's fast paced fun is prefect for quick blasts, while a deep combo sytem alows a longer session to make the most out of their time. While an endless mode would have been a nice addition, the replayability of the levels makes up for it's absence. It's also a shame to see that there will be no paddle controller (just like the arcade days) included with the western versions, but thankfully, a Japanese paddle will work with any copy of the game. If your looing for a game to keep you playing over and over again then look no further.

The Flipside:

• Fast Paced Fun
• Combo system opens up many opportunities.
• Very repayable

The Flopside:

• Still the same game at it's core
• No paddle controller with EU or US versions (although a JP paddle will work)
• No endless mode

Order Your Copy From Play-Asia.com - Your One-Stop-Shop for Asian Entertainment

Because now I am in the middle of watching Making the Band 4, I will talk about it. Not much. I promise.

Only one remark that I notice from marathon-ly watching this Making the Band 4 in Weekend Break a la MTV. Almost all of the nice song with a killer beat, is not written by them. But by someone. Someone that really sit behind the shadow.

Actually,  I wanted to show you that full-beat-club-music, is not written by a bling bling person with a very cool looks.  Day 26 looks very fabulous, with their style and Danity Kane as well. But I saw one of the song writer is very... err.. sorry, ugly.

How can it be?

Review - The trailer to this looked very good, and when it was on TV i decided i would write a review. I saw this in the cinema and here is what i thought.

Over all the film has a good dark look, and filled with a good cast list....but that doesnt really help. The films plot line is mega thin and isnt great, the only good thing about this film is the cast and FX.

I was a little bored from start to end, and I dont think i would ever watch it again.

My Rating : 4 out 10

Review - I heard a lot of mixed reviews about this film, so when it was on TV i gave it a go. From start to finish i didnt really enjoy this, and thought it was Tim's worst film ever. I would not recommend this to anyone especially Tim fan's.

My Rating : 2 out of 10

Review - I started to watch this on channel 4 in the mornings before going to work, it took me a few episodes to get in to the feel and style of the show but then it really grew on me. I was laughing from start to finish, much like i did when watching Friends.

Each episode is very well scripted, and the jokes are very funny some even make you laugh out loud. I ordered the DVD from amazon and loved watching it again, and still found every episode just as funny as i did when i first saw it on TV.

My Rating : 8 out of 10

Producer's lies.

Until hearing this album, I was on the 'NOT' side of the impressed scale for Death Cab for Cutie, I thought that they were bland and pointless and stupid. There are songs on this album, that still fall into this category. After an interesting start to the album, I do not want to turn it off and am being sucked into this album, like a pea in a black hole, they decide to turn the suction to reverse with the rest of the album. At first I was hopeful, and thought that I was going to get some interesting variation on the standard indie by numbers format, especially when reading that the producer of the album say " "thus far it's pretty weird and pretty spectacular; lots of blood. It's creepy and heavy..." I was really expectant, but all I am now is thoroughly disappointed and think that producer, Chris Walla is a liar.

There are some interesting points to the album, 'I Will Possess Your Heart' and 'Grapevine Fires' are different and refreshing in a dessert of never-ending blandness. I must admit, this is better than a lot of the indie that is around at the moment.

Listen to this album: While eating sand.

Rating: 69%

Extracts from 'Bixby Canyon Bridge', 'No Sunlight', 'Grapevine Fires' and Long Division'
[audio http://bumchickens.googlepages.com/DeathCabForCutie.mp3]

'I Will Possess Your Heart'

Review - I missed this in the cinema, and wasn't tempted to get it on DVD so I taped it off TV. I actually enjoyed this film from start to end, I found it a lot better than what I thought it would be. I dont think i could watch it again, or get it on DVD but i found it easy to watch and enjoyed it very much.

My Rating : 6 out of 10

Warbling screaming rock at it's best.

Although nothing that 36CF have brought out since Bitterness the star has been as good as that début album, they have been a solid supply of good metal, but this album steps it up a notch. This album has a good selection of really heavy riffs and screaming fun along side a good slopping of wailing and wobbly long notes that we find so amusing.

My favourite songs on the album are the really heavy ones, 'Clear the coast' and  'We gave it hell' are especially strong tracks.

The whole album is tight and strong and powerful and leaves no room for any of your nonsense.

Listen to this album: While carrying a hand-held video camera.

Rating: 77%

Extracts from 'Clear the coast', 'Waiting on a war', 'Absent are the saints' and 'Northern November'
[audio http://bumchickens.googlepages.com/36_crazyfists.mp3]

'We gave it hell'

So with the bbc legal eagles in it for suing the shite out of people who knit they at least can say it was good for them.

As usual we left our place in the zoo and visited the zoos security office (that's where the tv is) and consumed a banana and made pleasant conversation with the security staff. You know when the priorities have changed at the bbc when then play schedule games with the time. For the latest season (season 4 post year 2000) I don't think that it had a consistent time slot for its entire run.

Its such a shame that the wrong staff of the bbc have got there hands on dr who. S/F is not Dickens or other over wordy crap but has the opportunity to engage in some quite philosophic ideas rather than sell chinese made lead paint infected toys.

But then who wants to think ?

1. De installatie

Zoals ook bij de vorige versies reeds het geval was, is het ook ditmaal geen moeilijke opgave om aan een cd'tje van Hardy Heron te raken. Je kan deze ofwel downloaden en zelf op CD branden, ofwel (gratis!) laten thuisbezorgen op CD door snippet. Eenmaal je de CD hebt, kun je deze uitproberen zonder te installeren. Indien het de eerste maal is dat je ubuntu gebruikt, is dit ten zeerste aan te raden, om zeker te zijn dat al je hardware wordt ondersteund door ubuntu.

De installatie zelf verloopt relatief eenvoudig. Je selecteert je taal, je toetsenbord, je tijdszone. Bij het indelen van de partities kan het voor de leek wat moeilijker worden. Wanneer je de volledige schijf wilt benutten, is er geen enkel probleem. Om er een dual-boot van te maken, wordt het iets ingewikkelder. Doch, hier wordt de beginnende gebruiker zeer netjes opgevangen door de community, die met handleidingen, een forum, een chatroom en zelfs mensen die zich vrijwillig beschikbaar stellen om je bij je thuis te komen helpen met de installatie. Verder beschikt men ook nog over de mogelijkheid om je bestanden vanuit Windows over te zetten op je nieuwe systeem. Je moet een gebruikersnaam en wachtwoord invullen dat zal worden gebruikt telkens je je computer opstart, of om ingrijpende acties zoals het installeren of verwijderen van een programma of systeembestanden te voltrekken.

Na het invullen van deze gegevens, begint de installatie zelf - die alles samen nog geen uur duurt (afhankelijk van je machine). Bovendien moet je niet achter je pc blijven zitten, maar kan je op je gemak iets anders gaan doen, de pc voert alles volledig automatisch uit. Wanneer de installatie voltooid is, krijg je de vraag of je wilt verder werken op de CD, of of je wilt heropstarten en op het geïnstalleerde systeem werken. UIteraard kies je daarvoor (tenzij je zeer goed bent in het bedwingen van je nieuwsgierigheid)

2. De eerste indruk

Wanneer je het grafisch nogal eenvoudige standaard-gnomescherm ziet, zou je geen flauw vermoeden hebben van de enorme mogelijkheden van dit programa. Je ziet een look die laat denken aan het 'windows-classic'-thema, maar met een iets lichtere tint van grijs, en een bruin-oranje achtige titelbalk. Wanneer je voor het eerst linux-gebruikt, snap je misschien niet meteen wat de rechthoekjes onderaan zijn. Wel, dit zijn de verschillende bureaubladen. Waar windows multi-tasking is, gaat linux nog een stapje verder: meerdere bureaubladen. Wanneer je klikt op 'programma's', zie je dat er reeds een resem aan basisprogramma's is geïnstalleerd: van fotobewerking (gimp) tot openoffice. Je kan dus meteen aan de slag, wat een heel verschil is met de hele collectie CD's die je mag bovenhalen indien je windows hebt gedownloaded. Kortom, de eerste indruk is een sobere, maar professionele en multifunctionele plug-and-play besturingssysteem.

3. Grafisch en multimedia

Zoals reeds gezegd, doet de gnome-look standaard nogal windows-like aan. In tegenstelling tot windows echter, waar de grafische mogelijkheden beperkt zijn, is dit bij gnome lichtjes anders. Zo heb je een hele reeks aan standaard-thema's. Daarbij komt ook nog dat je, op websites als gnome-look thema's kunt downloaden om je computer een heel andere look te geven: iconen, inlogscherm, wallpapers, GTK-thema's. Voor de meer ervaren gebruiker: ook zelf zo'n thema's maken is perfect mogelijk. De looks zijn dus onbeperkt. Voor de mensen die houden van grafische effecten, is er echter nog veel meer dat ubuntu in petto heeft. Zo kan je met het standaard ingebouwde compiz effecten bereiken die ver boven deze van Vista staan, en met een eenvoudig programma'tje als AWN komen ook de dock-liefhebbers aan hun trekken. Grafisch geef ik ubuntu alvast goede cijfers.

Ook wat betreft multimedia voelt zit het snor. CD's branden is eenvoudig, en zo goed als alle formaten worden ondersteund (enkel wma weet ik niet te vinden). Ook zelf muziek of films bewerken of zelfs maken is een fluitje van een cent, door het uitgebreide aanbod van programma's dat je kan vinden onder installeren/verwijderen. Wel een minpuntje is vind ik, dat je vaak de codecs nog moet installeren, positieve is dan weer dat dit zeer vlot gaat, en dat je steeds geholpen word door de ubuntu-community, indien je hulp vraagt.

4. Gamen

Voor ubuntu zijn er zeer veel spelletjes beschikbaar. Doch, vele spellen worden niet ondersteund, daar bijvoorbeeld DirectX niet draait. Ook het aanbod aan deftige MMORPG's is zeer klein. Spellen als archlord  draaien niet. (WoW doet het wel, via Wine). De PC-Cdroms die met dingen als flight-simulator kreeg ik ook niet aan de praat. Op het gebied van games is er dus nog veel werk aan de winkel, al is er verbetering op komst.

5. Dagelijks gebruik en gebruiksvriendelijkheid

Hardy Heron is reeds veel makkelijker voor dagelijks gebruik dan zijn voorgangers. Zo heb je onder meer ook het 'Mijn Documenten-systeem' dat je ook bij Windows aantreft, en waardoor je via snelkoppelingen en dergelijke meer eenvoudig door je bestanden kunt navigeren. Ook het terugvinden van reeds geïnstalleerde, en het installeren van programma's is uitermate eenvoudig. Men treft een zeer groot aanbod aan downloadbare applicaties. Ook op het internet kom je steeds meer programma's tegen die een versie voor ubuntu hebben: skype, google earth... Een hoop programma's die geschreven zijn voor windows kan je hier ook draaien door middel van Wine. Kortom: een hele hoop applicaties, en voor elke gebruiker, van de particulier tot de zakenman, zijn er tientallen softwarepakketten ter beschikking.

Op het gebied van gebruiksvriendelijkheid steekt deze jongen ook al ver boven zijn voorgangers uit, maar is hij toch nog niet voltooid. Bij het minste probleem moet je naar de terminal teruggrijpen, wat voor de minder ervaren, of niet terminal-minded gebruik voor problemen kan zorgen. Gelukkig is er ook hier weer de community die steeds bereid is je te helpen.

6. Besluit

Met deze versie is Ubuntu gerust volwassen te noemen. De veiligheidsupdates zorgen voor een optimale veiligheid, en het systeem kan door de grootste computerleek eenvoudig worden gebruikt. Enkel jammer is de beperkte ondersteuning voor games, en dat je bij het minste probleem naar de terminal moet teruggrijpen.

Mijn cijfer: 8,5 /10

WANTED

Starring: James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, and Morgan Freeman

Release: June 27, 2008

Wanted is the story of the everyday corporate slave, who’s life is changed by his adoption into a deadly fraternity of assassins, responsible for balance and order in the world. It is packed with all the summer blockbuster essentials required for box office success. Crazy special effects? Check. Super sexy, half-nude, crazy baby adopting co-star? Check. Extreme amount of violence? Check. Overblown action set pieces? Check. Well wait, wait, wait. A movie that has all of that stuff has to be awesome right? Well sort of.

Aside from all the car explosions, bullet time scenes, and Angelina Jolie ass, there is an actual story behind Wanted. Wesley Gibson, played by James McAvoy, is your regular corporate American desk jockey. He has a boss that makes his ears bleed and girlfriend who is sleeping with his best friend and co-worker. His character is almost exactly the same as the protagonist from Fight Club played by Ed Norton. He follows along the my life is pointless plotline until one day he is rescued from redundancy by Fox (Angelina Jolie), who adopts him into the Fraternity of assassins, and trains him to become one seriously bad ass dude. I thought the Fight Club sub-plot was actually the most entertaining part of the movie.

Once Wesley is trained to become an assassin, now comes the fun part. Wanted hits the gas and never lets up, swerving through shootouts and new assassination attempts. Every action scene is well crafted and avoids the problem of being so choppy that you can’t tell who is shooting who. This is pulled off by showing every bullet enter and exit victims, or targets, in gory slow-mo cgi. The violence is definitely in tact with a hard ‘R’ rating and is one of the reasons the movie is so entertaining. That and the fact that the tempo never stops and the action keeps building until the climax which contain a symphony of gunplay.

The main complaint I have with this movie is that the writers never even considered establishing rules to the universe in which we see the characters on screen. I mean if you are going show me a guy literally lunging out of a skyscraper shooting curving bullets perfectly into his targets heads or a car barrel rolling through midair just to get a shot through the neighboring car’s sun roof, you better set some ground rules. This is why the Matrix made its ridiculous action scenes work. The first half of the movie was entirely exposition, delving into exactly why these people could jump across buildings and dodge bullets. Wanted never establishes what is possible in its fantasy world nor gives an explanation why.

Wanted is definitely better then you average summer action flick. If you can put aside your reasonable thought process and questions as to why things on the screen are happening, you will be treated to a relentlessly violent good time.