Reasons to be cheerful

I'm more aware than ever that this blog is just a mismatch of ideas and thoughts, but I think that adds to its charm. If you don't like it, you don't have to read it, and that's just fine. Today's thoughts will be on things in my life I have been pleasantly surprised with recently, i.e. things which I hadn't expected to be as good as they are, and are therefore more pleasing than the everyday joys you expect. You might be thinking to yourself that there is nothing profound or meaningful about this, but I just want these things to get some good press.

1. The Eureka 'Masters of Cinema' Series:
I've been lucky enough to have bought and received a fair few of these since they have started making them, a few as gifts, and a few bought of my own volition. They are labelled as 'Dual Format' which means: the same disc in both DVD and in Blu-Ray. The version of the film on the DVD has been cleaned up and restored, and the extras are uniformly excellent (although I am a fan of not watching the extras, I often find that they ruin the magic for me). They each come with an informative and entertaining booklet, (the one for Nosferatu is 80 pages!) and it goes without saying that the Blu-Ray definition just blows the DVD resolution out of the water. They also have a great, eclectic range, and continue to bring more out. Either way, great stuff. My recommendations: 'A Man Vanishes', 'The Ballad of Narayama' (1983) and 'Harakiri'. Excellent.


2. Rykodisk
This is more of a surprise, I went through a two year period where I was a huge 'Meat Puppets' fan. I even bought the DVD of a performance, which is saying something - how often do you watch a music DVD? They're a good band, and are most famous for having songs played by, and playing with Nirvana on MTV unplugged, and listening back, they're certainly interesting. Up on the Sun, Huevos, and II are all fine albums, and Rykodisk have done a good job reissuing them, with sleeve notes and b-sides, and videos sourced from their drummer, Bostrum. however, that's an aside, I am more pleased with Rykodisk because of their customer service, part of the Meat puppets reissue was that if you bought them all, you could send away CD sleeves which came with the CDs and in return receive a live album. I had lost one of the tags, but they still sent one back, signed by Mr. Bostrum and Kurt Kirkwood, I'm very impressed.
Things to check out 'Get on down' - Video, 'II' - album, 'Sexy Music' - song

3. Tamars 21st Century Back Care
I think this may be a particularly local thing, but in Edinburgh these guys have saved my life. I've been plagued with back and shoulder problems since breaking a shoulder-blade playing basketball about a decade ago. I had been going to chiropractors, physiotherapists, even to an acupuncturist, but I still had problems with my shoulder, forearm wrist and neck. Despite this, I still played rugby last year, brave or what? But these guys have come as close as anyone to helping me out. There are only two of them working there, both of them are good blokes who know what they are doing. The science of it all is beyond me, but I put that down to Australian schooling, what happens is, through gentle manipulation and prodding, the muscles in your back and spine are repositioned to straighten the spinal chord; the resultant straightening of the back helps to correct posture and reset muscle and tendons. It also has made me noticeably taller, and I was already pretty tall. One of the guys is very good at massaging damaged tissue, and now, for the first time in ages, I can sleep without my shoulder causing me pain; there is still a long way to go though, but I'm optimistic for the first time in years, hooray.

4. Nintendo 3DS
I'm happy to admit that poor posture is a result of the awful way in which I sit, and my lifelong addiction to video games, but that's incidental. I had played my sisters DS (the non 3D version) and know that with nintendo, you're guaranteed quality. Knowing this, I received for Christmas the 3D version, and have three games, 'Mario Land 3D' 'Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' and 'Mario Kart 7' all of which are excellent, and I have been massively surprised by the quality of the 3D itself, it is subtle and believable, and works really well. Either way, these three games will help make my 2012 the least productive year ever.

P.S. to anyone who says that someone approaching in his mid-twenties shouldn't be playing such trifles, I respond with a hearty "get fucked"


5. The US remake of 'The girl with the Dragon Tattoo' 
Much better than it had any right to be, and I look forward to the sequels, which should be infinitely better than the Swedish ones, which looked like they cost about £1.50 to make (and whose idea of a Chinese person was to put a Swedish person in a silk dress). That's enough on that I think.

and the Bastards of the day: BT.
Those ads with that irritating family have thankfully gone, but their service remains the same. It took a full month of ringing up Indian call centres to receive internet which we were already paying for. Faults in the line weren't fixed for another few weeks. They sent our equipment to the wrong address three times, despite reassuring that they would rectify the problem. After calling them, and waiting on hold for ages, they would tell me that "within three days, your problem would be resolved." After three days had passed, you call again, and they apologise profusely for not sorting it out, but this time it would definitely be sorted out in three days. After this happened three times, I called up after two days to check on progress, where I was told by a very ratty woman to "just be patient." I understand that Call centres are unpleasant places to work, but I would rather have someone competent resolve my issue than someone apologising to me for the fifteenth time. Fuck 'em. N.B. I know that it is hypocritical to publish a blog online through a company which I am complaining about, but what are you gonna do about it?

Also, a special mention to Halifax, who have received huge bail-outs and now brag that they offer you extra. Their ads show a bunch of suited bankers singing, instead of, you know, banking, or serving customers. Over the top of the song their most recent ad boasts that it'll give you £5 a month when you deposit £1000. Wow. Shitbox, and a travesty that they have been bailed-out again.