As an amateur blogger, I'm very interested in other stuff that's out there and I have a few favourites I read every day.
Random acts of Reality - to quote the website "Welcome to Random Acts Of Reality, a Blog based in London, England, written by an E.M.T working for the London Ambulance Service. Also, number one search result for "Womble porn". All names have be changed to protect the guilty. This Blog was previously known as "Why I Hate Humanity" but the antipsychotic medication seems to have kicked in."
NHS Blog Doctor - Dr John Crippen* is angry! Angry about the NHS, the UK and the world!
Mr Eugenides - one of the best ranting websites around!
There are more but I'll list them in another blog post!
19 Feb 2008
Guardian Tsunami of Hate
I read quite a few blogs regularly using Firefox's RSS feed reader (don't worry Mum I'll show you how the next time I'm home) and I noticed over the weekend, at least 3 of them mentioned a particular article from the Guardian website which had had some 'viral' attention from the world's blog readers and commenters.
To summarise; Max, a 19 year old gap year student is going to blog his way round a 2 month trip to Thailand and Australia. Unfortunately, alongside his rather uninspired writing style, (Hi! I'm Max! I'm 19!) young Max happens to share a surname with one of the Guardian's travel hacks (daddy dearest) and once this fact was outed, this proliferated a set of comments so scathing and vitriolic, that you can actually forgive the blandness of the original article, for the entertainment value provided by the comments section. There are 500+ of them so take a bit of reading, but settle down with a cuppa and enjoy the frenzy.
You might think that the level of comment is OTT, and that it's slightly unfair to pick on the poor lad, but the problem lies with the fact that these people weren't commenting on someone's home-grown family blog, or travel diary, or informal witterings (as per this one!). This is a national newspaper, with people who are PAID to write! Expectations are high, and passing off someone's informal travel blog as a piece of quality journalism is just asking for trouble! Especially when your dad works for the firm!
Read and see for yourselves......The original blog article is here.
Needless to say, that wasn't the end of the story - the following day, the Editor published a response to the comments, and also, his father is quoted in a further response here.
Poor Max, whose only fault lay in a slightly slack opening article, landed in Mumbai over the weekend, and has decided against any form of journalism career!
To summarise; Max, a 19 year old gap year student is going to blog his way round a 2 month trip to Thailand and Australia. Unfortunately, alongside his rather uninspired writing style, (Hi! I'm Max! I'm 19!) young Max happens to share a surname with one of the Guardian's travel hacks (daddy dearest) and once this fact was outed, this proliferated a set of comments so scathing and vitriolic, that you can actually forgive the blandness of the original article, for the entertainment value provided by the comments section. There are 500+ of them so take a bit of reading, but settle down with a cuppa and enjoy the frenzy.
You might think that the level of comment is OTT, and that it's slightly unfair to pick on the poor lad, but the problem lies with the fact that these people weren't commenting on someone's home-grown family blog, or travel diary, or informal witterings (as per this one!). This is a national newspaper, with people who are PAID to write! Expectations are high, and passing off someone's informal travel blog as a piece of quality journalism is just asking for trouble! Especially when your dad works for the firm!
Read and see for yourselves......The original blog article is here.
Needless to say, that wasn't the end of the story - the following day, the Editor published a response to the comments, and also, his father is quoted in a further response here.
Poor Max, whose only fault lay in a slightly slack opening article, landed in Mumbai over the weekend, and has decided against any form of journalism career!
18 Feb 2008
The Holiday - Skiing
I suppose we couldn't go away on such a fab holiday without mentioning the skiing. Let's make no bones about it IT WAS TOUGH
We both found it quite hard. Dan from a beginner's perspective....
I think we did really well and skied within our limits, and really enjoyed ourselves. We didn't go too far out of our comfort zone as I didn't fancy being brought down in the blood wagon / helicopter. That said, we're deffo up for another one - we were only chatting about it last night - and it'd deffo be in the Les Arcs area (and probably the Arc1950 resort in particular) that we'd return to.
We both found it quite hard. Dan from a beginner's perspective....
- doesn't like learning new things
- doesn't have very good balance or coordination
- doesn't like being told what to do
- loves being taught new stuff
- knows how to ski reasonably well
- BUT am about 4 stone heavier than I was last skiing holiday
- my fitness was such that just WALKING with the skis wiped me out!
I think we did really well and skied within our limits, and really enjoyed ourselves. We didn't go too far out of our comfort zone as I didn't fancy being brought down in the blood wagon / helicopter. That said, we're deffo up for another one - we were only chatting about it last night - and it'd deffo be in the Les Arcs area (and probably the Arc1950 resort in particular) that we'd return to.
Oscars - Into the wild - Review
Well were both full of cold this weekend so ended up having to sit in and watch some films (I know what a nightmare, But someone has to do it).
INTO THE WILD
Long but very good. It is base on a true story and is about a young guy who has had enough of the everyday rat race, and after finishing at university he leaves on a journey of discovery.
The scenery is amazing the acting is great (the main character is very good), and it makes you think on what in life is important (Or not).
As i said previously a little long, but very well done and again Sean Penn as Director shows that he knows what he is doing.
Oscar widget below (link to the movies we're going to review)
INTO THE WILD
Long but very good. It is base on a true story and is about a young guy who has had enough of the everyday rat race, and after finishing at university he leaves on a journey of discovery.
The scenery is amazing the acting is great (the main character is very good), and it makes you think on what in life is important (Or not).
As i said previously a little long, but very well done and again Sean Penn as Director shows that he knows what he is doing.
Oscar widget below (link to the movies we're going to review)
17 Feb 2008
We love the Oscars!
....well kind of!
Every year we make a point of trying to watch as many of of the Oscar nominated movies as possible so that we can rant and rave at the outcome of the voting (you can't comment if you haven't seen the movie, right?)
So here is a nice Oscars widget - and watch this space for our comments on the movies in the main categories!
Every year we make a point of trying to watch as many of of the Oscar nominated movies as possible so that we can rant and rave at the outcome of the voting (you can't comment if you haven't seen the movie, right?)
So here is a nice Oscars widget - and watch this space for our comments on the movies in the main categories!
16 Feb 2008
Nick has Pood His Pants
Well, not really! It was the day he'd done the most skiing so far....and also had come into the bar and left his boots done up...
The Holiday
Wow, well how can you sum up a week like we just had? I suppose there were several bits to it.
Firstly, the journey.
We went by EuroStar from St Pancras all the way to Bourg Saint Maurice....
View Larger Map
...which was amazing, because B-S-M was only about 20k (took us half an hour) from our final destination of Les Arcs 1950. This was a BIG advantage over the various airports (Chambery and Geneva) which were at least a 3 hour transfer.
Of course being on the train meant that we could move around, get up, change seats, wander to the restaurant car/bar, and go to the loo when you wanted(!) so I think it's a much more relaxed kind of travel than flying!
The only thing we did wrong on the journey out was not plan to bring butties or any refreshments ourselves. We had to buy everything from the train. However we rectified this on the way home with fromage et jambon butties, crisps, biccies & pop.
So in summary, yeah we'll deffo be doing the EuroStar snow train again!
Next, the hotel & the resort.
Well what can I say, we got off the coach at Arc1950 after our half hour jaunt up the mountain from Bourg-S-M and were led by the Inghams rep through a hotel, out the other side into a winter wonderland village (check out some of the pics) we all kept saying 'it's like Christmas!' across some snow and into our hotel where we proceeded to check in. We were then given our room number, 608. Of we traipsed....into the maze of corridors, up a lift, across a bridge(!), up another lift. Finally we arrived at the door of 608. Looked like any old hotel corridor....until you opened the door. First thing we all noticed was that we had a staircase within the room. Turns out the 'room' (well apartment actually) had 3 stories within it. 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and a view to die for. We were all VERY chuffed with the place.
The resort itself was SUPER. A very small village - purpose built - but with every amenity. Shops, bars, restaurants, and the most important thing....ski-in-ski-out facilities.
Firstly, the journey.
We went by EuroStar from St Pancras all the way to Bourg Saint Maurice....
View Larger Map
...which was amazing, because B-S-M was only about 20k (took us half an hour) from our final destination of Les Arcs 1950. This was a BIG advantage over the various airports (Chambery and Geneva) which were at least a 3 hour transfer.
Of course being on the train meant that we could move around, get up, change seats, wander to the restaurant car/bar, and go to the loo when you wanted(!) so I think it's a much more relaxed kind of travel than flying!
The only thing we did wrong on the journey out was not plan to bring butties or any refreshments ourselves. We had to buy everything from the train. However we rectified this on the way home with fromage et jambon butties, crisps, biccies & pop.
So in summary, yeah we'll deffo be doing the EuroStar snow train again!
Next, the hotel & the resort.
Well what can I say, we got off the coach at Arc1950 after our half hour jaunt up the mountain from Bourg-S-M and were led by the Inghams rep through a hotel, out the other side into a winter wonderland village (check out some of the pics) we all kept saying 'it's like Christmas!' across some snow and into our hotel where we proceeded to check in. We were then given our room number, 608. Of we traipsed....into the maze of corridors, up a lift, across a bridge(!), up another lift. Finally we arrived at the door of 608. Looked like any old hotel corridor....until you opened the door. First thing we all noticed was that we had a staircase within the room. Turns out the 'room' (well apartment actually) had 3 stories within it. 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and a view to die for. We were all VERY chuffed with the place.
The resort itself was SUPER. A very small village - purpose built - but with every amenity. Shops, bars, restaurants, and the most important thing....ski-in-ski-out facilities.
Skiing pictures
Well, the skiing pics are now up on Picassa. Access them -----> here.
They will also be present for a while in the photo widget we have over in the right margin for a while, (well until something else more interesting comes along!)
They will also be present for a while in the photo widget we have over in the right margin for a while, (well until something else more interesting comes along!)
15 Feb 2008
Normal Service has been resumed!
Apologies for the lack of posts since our return - neither of us has felt particularly inclined to blog or even upload the piccies....until now that is! I've removed all snow-related messing about from the blog and normal service will be resumed.
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