I am a massive fan of Hybrid, and have been ever since 1999/2000 when I first heard their music, so readers of these comments may think that I am biased, but this review is a honest, unbiased opinion of what I think of the album.

It's a bit of a departure from the normal thread of Hybrid music, and I must be honest, this album was bit of an adjustment for me, having listened to Wide Angle, Morning Sci Fi, and I Choose Noise for the last few years. I was expecting upfront breakbeats, and you have to wait until around CD1 track 5 before there is any resemblance of a beat. So initially I was disappointed, but I listened to the first CD later on the same day, and I eased into the music a lot more. The quality of the atmosphere portrayed on the first CD is outstanding. I really hope that Hybrid integrate this soundscape feel into their next studio album as it's top notch, and the collaboration with Harry Gregson-Williams has been a smart move because the partnership works really well.

So the first CD is cracking, just don't expect any breakbeats. It's more like Chilled Out Europhia, but done extremely well.

The second CD is also very good, the mixes are done very fluidly, and none of the tracks become repetitive. The choice of remix tracks is very good, and on the whole, the CD sounds fresh. The quality of the tracks are on par with the classic techno and trance tracks from the late nineties (Cafe Del Mar, etc), and nothing like the Cascada-esque crud that pollutes the charts at the moment.

One last thing, the mastering of both CDs is fantastic. The clarity of the music is extremely crisp, and I really enjoy playing them in my car with the bass cranked up full. All-in-all, and excellent compilation and easily worth the money. Much better than the Hybrid Re:Mixed album that was an up-yours from Distinctive Records when Hybrid left them to join Hope.

Buy it!

One of the boxes opens, and it's a '1p' box. Cue dancing, singing and hugging, and lots of geeing-up of the audience. I absolutely f*cking hate 'Deal or No Deal'! I quite like Noel Edmonds; he's a good presenter, but this programme is absolute bullshit. A proper waste of a hour's airtime. I can see the point of the game; you may or may not have the £250,000 box, but instead of f*cking about opening 15 different boxes, just f*cking open the one on your table and let me watch something a bit better on Channel 4 in the mid-afternoon. Put anything on in that time slot. I'd even watch a hour of Time Team for Christ's sake. You could fit that entire programme into one of those 60-second news slots.

The contestant says that she loves you, when you open that box, and it says '1p' on the blue label. Just remember, if she's got the £250,000 box, she wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire, and she'll probably spit on you as she passes in her brand-spanking new CLK. With AMG alloys. Just remember, love; you opened a box. You didn't paint the Cistine Chapel, perform open-heart surgery, build an XML-based, ASP.Net-powered website from scratch, or even give birth. You opened a box. You didn't even answer 15 questions. I have no respect for you, as you spit from your car.

The only reason I can possibly think of to watch the programme, is the groan when one of the plebs behind the row of boxes, opens up a £250,000 box. That gives me will to live. I long for the day when the contest picks up an STD from one of the people he/she kisses on the panel.

I use this site to rant about the things that really annoy me about life, and Deal or No Deal is right up there at Number 1 at the moment, closely folllowed by Barnsley Council, who spend £17m on the roads around Barnsley in 2007 (according to their literature). 'Doesn't sound too bad, mate' I hear you say, until you find out they spent £45m on Arts and Crafts! ARTS AND CRAFTS? I'm a graphic designer and appreciate art myself, but I would have rather them spent the £45m pounds on re-tarmacking the roads. Anyway that's a rant for another day. I hate Deal or No Deal!!!

I know what you're thinking; why don't you change the channel? I would if I could sum up the energy to reach for the remote control.

 GC

I'd been waiting for years for a Transformers live-action film, having been a collector of the magazines and toys when I was a kid. I feel sorry for girls; they never had the experience of boys toys, and I really think they have missed out. Anyway, I was really excited when I heard about the new film.

And it got better and better. Steven Spielberg was producer, and some really good screenplay people were involved. I couldn't believe it; this film should be amazing. Then I heard Michael Bay was directing it. EEK! But I gave him the benefit of doubt, as he may actually do a good job of it.

So having waited approximately a year from the day I heard about the film, I was chomping at the bit to see the film. Initially I was amazed; mainly due to the jaw-dropping special effects. I think these are some of the best special effects I have ever seen in the film. The transformations of the characters in the film were a joy to behold and stunning to watch. Shia LeBeouf is really strong as Sam Witwicky and I reckon he's going to be a very popular actor in the future. I was also impressed by some of the extra updates to the film namely the Allspark and how it gave life to objects.

But, and this is a big but, once you get over the splenour of the special effects, what remains is a very shallow film. It's a bit like Independence Day in a way. The dialogue of the robots for the most part is terrible, although there are some genuinely funny moments. Shia LeBeouf carries this film through in a lot of ways and I don't think it would have been watchable without him. The script is mostly terrible and they've wasted lots of great talent. Although I think Megan Fox is gorgeous in that dirty way I like, I don't think her part adds much to the film and to be honest it would have been better to exclude it. In my opinion she is not a particularly good actor either.

Anyway, I was both disappointed and impressed at the same time. If it weren't for the special effects and a couple of the characters, I would have been entirely diappointed. Hopefully they will sort these things out for the second film.

 

GC

It was such a simple error that I am absolutely kicking myself! I dropped a right clanger last week. I forgot my administrator password, which basically meant that I lost all useable access to my machine. I've never forgotten a password before, and I feel like such a nob. As I was typing it, I remember thinking "I'm not going to remember this one".

The upshot was that I needed to rebuild my entire machine, and this was a stern lesson not to forget passwords again. I know there are some hacking options but none would have helped me in this case!

I must say too, that I am completely disappointed with Fasthosts' support. They basically didn't want to get involved. I assumed they would have kept a track of all the passwords on the machines in their care. Obviously not. They would have got involved if I paid them £60 per half-hour. I told them to bollocks. They talk about their 'great' 24/7 support, but what they don't talk about is the 95% of administrative tasks they don't cover; some even with their own proprietary Mail dedicated server component. Not impressed at all. At the earliest opportunity, I will be moving my business elsewhere.

GC

 

This one's a quick post. I was almost ran over at a traffic crossing at lunchtime by a woman in a Volkswagen Polo. Was too busy thinking about Emmerdale or something. Then two numpties five minutes apart almost ploughed into me in my car, turning into my lane. Obviously had no sense of speed. The first numpty in an MPV was only looking in one direction. The second one was a very attractive brunette, who thought it was amusing to pull out right in front of me. Nice one. I'm thinking twice about bringing my motorbike up to Scotland. May not live to see my next birthday! GC