Rock and Chips - Five Gold Rings

Rock and Chips, Five Gold Rings is the second feature length episode in a fantastic trilogy that depicts the early life of Derick Trotter and all of his family and close friends.

It's just as brilliant as the first Rock and Chips DVD that I saw the other day.

It was like a trip down memory lane as we've all heard the stories that Delboy and Grandad spoke about in the Only Fools and Horses TV Series and now thanks to Rock and Chips we get to see them first hand!

In this episode Del is still selling records from the docks and has thousands in the garage that belongs to the flat they now live in and it's in this episode that we first hear Del being referred to as a trader and his long and winding 'career' has now begun...

Rodney has been born and **spoiler warning** it is confirmed that Freddy the Frog is definitely his father.

The mannerisms of all the characters fantastically mimic those of the older versions of themselves that we have seen in Only Fools and Horses so not only is the writing fantastic but the acting is too.

As with the first part of the Rock and Chips trilogy, this an absolute 'must see' DVD.

Raspberry Pi Latest Update - Pt 1

I've just received an email from RS Components regarding the latest update on the Raspberry Pi.  The first batches of the devices will be in their warehouses any moment now and emails will be sent out to people who signed up purchase the computer as soon as they become available for them to buy.  The sooner you registered your interest, the sooner you will be invited to purchase one.

Many weeks ago when the Raspberry Pi was launched I personally got the impression that had already been manufactured and ready for sale on the launch date.  It turns out that this is not the case and they only had a limited supply.

None appear to be for sale at the moment as it has been reported that they have had a manufacturing error where they soldered on the wrong components to the boards.

What the Raspberry Pi people did was, instead of taking the risk of manufacturing them themselves, they licensed out the design to a couple of different companies in the UK, Premier Farnell and RS Components.  I bet they're glad they did it this way as it's an Open Source device and the manufacturing error would have cost them big time.

I registered my interest with both companies and when I got an email indicating that the actual cost of the £22 device once postage and packaging had been taken in to consideration came closer to £30 I unsubscribed and deleted the message.

I don't know what RS's total price will be as they are not taking any payments until they have the devices to sell which is a responsible thing to do.

Useful Links:

http://www.raspberrypi.org/

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/

http://uk.farnell.com/

Rock and Chips - DVD Review

Rock and Chips is the feature length prequel to the hit TV series Only Fools and Horses and what a fantastic prequel it is!

If you enjoyed watching (and growing up with) Only Fools and Horses this is an absolute 'must see' DVD.

You get to put faces to names you have heard in the Only Fools and Horses shows but never got to see.  People from the Trotters past such as Freddy The Frog and Jelly Kelly!  All the usual characters are in this prequel so you get to see Delboy, Trigger, Boyce and the gang in their youth!

Even at a teen at school Delboy was selling hookey gear from records to nylon carpets that give of so much static there's a wonder they need electricity!

Fantastic writing, fantastic cast and all-in-all a fantastic program.

OnyX - OS X System Maintenance Utility

If your looking for a way of cleaning up your Mac then this free piece of software should be right up your street.

OnyX is quite a powerful tool so if your not sure on something then read the help file found in the help menu before you do anything.

The main reason I have used OnyX in the past is to make use of the Cleaning facility that it has to offer which is the section I am going to focus on as part of this review.

WARNING: Ensure that you don't have any programs open when you run OnyX.  If you do have some programs running it will close them so you may lose your work if you've not saved any open files.

 

Click Continue and the S.M.A.R.T. status box will appear

Click Continue to verify your startup volume

 

Grownups Series 3 - DVD Review

Oh my god, just when I thought it couldn't get any weirder I've just seen Grant in a dress pretending to be Kylie to cheer up the boy he blinded playing tiddlywinks who isn't actually blind (he's just pretending so he doesn't have to go to school) and Michelle in a gimp mask and full rubber outfit!

Grant doesn't stop with dressing up as Kylie, he even ends up dressing up as a Geography Teacher in a 'sexy' attempt to turn on his new girlfriend from his office.

They're still trying to have sex with each other (and anything else that moves) but the humour seems to be a lot better than Series 2 but it's still pretty strange.

Don't bother with Series 2 as that's just complete tosh in my opinion but this one isn't too bad.

Grownups Series 2 - DVD Review

Until I joined LoveFilm I hadn't realised there had been a second (and third) series of Grownups and as I enjoyed the first series I thought I'd give the second one a go..

To be honest, I wish I hadn't bothered as it was nowhere near as good as the first.  All that it seemed to be about was all the main characters having sex with each other and that was as deep as the plots got.  I'm not saying that the plots in the first series were exactly intellectual (they're not) but they were so much better than this series.

If you're a fan of the first series and were hoping they would make a second - please don't bother with the second series as it will ruin it for you.

The third series is on my LoveFilm list - despite the second series being pretty poor, I'm going to give it a go so I'll be leaving it on my list.

The Inbetweeners Movie - DVD Review

Just when you thought The Inbetweeners was over this fantastic and hilarious film comes along!  If you enjoyed the TV Series then you must watch this film.

Will, Simon, Jay and Neil head off on holiday together, not a camping trip like the last episode in the TV Series, this time they venture further afield to Malia where they do everything you'd expect on a lads holiday from staying in a crap hotel to attempting to attract the ladies by wearing Pussay Patrol T-Shirts!


Full of all sorts of politically-incorrect humour you are bound to find this film absolutely hilarious.


All-in-all this is a great British Movie and if you're looking for something to make you laugh then make sure you watch this film/DVD.

The Inbetweeners Movie [DVD]

Blue Streak - DVD Film Review

In this film Martin Lawrence plays the part of a criminal who gets caught in the act.  Just before he is brought to justice he stashes the diamond in the ventilation system of a building that is in the middle of being constructed.

Two years later when he is released from prison, he returns to the scene of the crime to find the building is complete and is now a Police Department.

He then takes on the role of a cop using false ID some bloke in a cafe has made for him.  Lawrence ends up meeting a few of his 'colleagues' as he is partnered up with a rookie cop to tackle crime.

When he can, he gets inside the ventilation system and finally finds where he stashed the gem only to find it has gone.

Will he find the gem and if he does will he get away with it?  There's only one way to find out!

It's not the greatest of films I have ever seen but it's worth a watch if it happens to be on TV or someone you know has it on DVD.

 

Northamptonshire Ghosts - DVD Review

Richard Felix has been on a Ghost Tour of the UK and in 2005 he found himself in Northamptonshire.  If you're a fan of Most Haunted and are expecting this DVD to be like that then I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed.

Unlike the TV show, this DVD will not show you any ghost hunting - what it does show you however are some of the most haunted parts of Northamptonshire, from Fotheringhay Castle (where Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded) to The Hind Hotel (where Oliver Cromwell stayed for a few days before he went to battle).

So if you're looking for some haunted places to visit in Northamptonshire then this DVD will be right up your street!

If you're not looking for haunted places to visit or you're not interested in the paranormal at all then this DVD will also be up your street for the simple reason that the places that are haunted are great places to visit as they have a bit of interesting history behind them so the DVD can act as a tour guide!

I'm having difficulty in rating this DVD as I'd like to give it 3 stars but I think I'm going to have to give it just 2 stars for two reasons; firstly because the recording quality isn't particularly brilliant, it's only in 4:3 ration and at time the camera angle is wonky. Secondly I was hoping it would show a lot more places to visit than it did.

So 2 stars it has to be I'm afraid, don't let that put you off, if you want some ideas of places to visit in Northamptonshire then this will show you some of them.