Paranormal Pics

Everyone loves a gimmick, so why hasn't a camera manufacturer launched a SLR specifically designed to help the amateur photographer capture the spirit world. It could feature Derek Acorah in the ads - I'd buy it.

We all love a good ghost story, and the news is full of tales of inexplicable images; the BBC recently ran with this one about the image of a man who could either be kneeling by a bed nursing a sick child or an executioner holding the severed head of one of his victims....easily confused.

iCan't buy from iTunes

I needed to buy an iTunes voucher, but I needed it pronto, thank the Lord for the online world.

So...first step, I had to install iTunes. Then I had to set up my own account with my card details. But oddly enough, when I tried to buy it said that my account wasn't valid to buy gift certificates.

So I called the Apple store support, who walked me through the online FAQ (I couldn't have done it without you boys) and suggested that the problem was because I was using a debit card not a credit card. So I changed the card. And still couldn't buy.

Everyone loves Apple right?

Switching off

Addendum:

Just figured out how to stop my Blackberry winking it me with its hungover red-eye every time I get an email.

Personal Time as we know it is about to get better...WOO HOO

Mental Health Ravaged by Technology

I watched ITV's Tonight programme last week which featured an experiment where year 10s (that's 14 year olds to you and I) we're required to give up their luxuries, everything from their TVs, ipods and mobile phones right through to make-up.

I was expecting to see a bunch of spoilt teens moaning about how miserable life was, but instead I found myself wondering how we got here; at what point did childhood slip away?

The stress the young girls felt about not wearing make-up is an angst I remembered having during my acne riddled early twenties - but I had an excuse right?

The focus of the show was about helping boost self confidence, getting the youngsters (boys and girls) to worry less about image and enjoy living life.

They all struggled with losing their phones, and one lad really struggled with what to do in his spare time with no laptop. Of course what they found was that they became more social, with family and friends, and opened themselves up to new experiences. One girl even did her homework whilst killing time before a party because she couldn't preen herself in the same way.

This weekend our servers changed over meaning email was down and my Blackberry didn't work. Whilst I make every effort NOT to check my work email in my spare time, this weekend was one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. Having the access to those emails taken away from me relived that pressure valve and I actually found that I switched off.

So maybe all these gadgets and gizmos are bad for us, adding to our stress levels whether it's because you're anxious that you can't afford the coolest, or you're always on at work.

I then watched another programme, The Incredible Human Journey, and pondered about how the people of Siberia managed to organise the annual reindeer festival when they live such nomadic lifestyles...

Technology - can't live with it, can't live without it.

P.S. Looks like a similar social experiment of bling binning went on in the US

Outraged, From Barnes

I love theme parks, so last week when I took a trip to Thorpe Park I was so excited that I didn't care it was raining and had to pee the moment we arrived.

Because it was a week day, queues were not too bad, but I asked what it had been like at the weekend: "120 minutes for SAW."

SAW is the latest addition to the roller coaster thrills of Thorpe Park. Based on the "popular blood, gore and suspense horror film series 'Saw' this ride has been advertised to death, with suspense filled radio ads filtering into my ears as I ate my cornflakes.

I'm a huge horror film fan and I was impressed with the first SAW movie. The concept was the most gruesome aspect and helped the film stand out from most of the other gore-filled scream-fests vomited up by Hollywood.

But as the sequels drew on - part 2, 3, 4 and then 5 - it quickly became gore for gore's sake. Now I ain't no horror prude; my movie collection features some of the best (and worst) zombie horrors, surely one of the most gore-filled of film genres? But the SAW films contain a very different kind of violence, human on human, and pushes the boundaries of how much torture one person can inflict on another.

So when I heard the ads for the new SAW themed ride on breakfast radio I commented to my work colleagues that I thought it was a bit inappropriate to advertise something so closely aligned with such a film outside the watershed.

Most people dismissed me as having Daily Mail Syndrome and being overly sensitive, but my point is that children are not stupid, and the concern we used to have over their access to video nasties seems to have been long forgotten.

That said, I didn't disapprove so much as to boycott Thorpe Park, and of course when I was there, have a go on the ride myself.

And I loved it! It was great fun. But it is utterly inappropriate for a family theme park. Riders queue in a fenced area topped with mock barbed wire whilst all along the queue are rusty 'torture' machines helping to set the scene and create the atmosphere.

All reasonably inoffensive so far as imagery for children as it's not that obvious, so nothing to really get my knickers in a twist over. But then you go inside where you see a man with a naked torso suspended from the ceiling, tangled-up in razor wire which is cutting into his flesh and making it bulge like a bloodied brie being sliced in two.

There are height restrictions on the ride, you have to be over 1.4 metres to ride, meaning really young children will never see that disturbing mannequin. But 1.4 metres is the average height of a 10 year old.

Am I just a prude, or am I the only person left (who doesn't read the Daily Mail) that thinks children should not be exposed to this sort of imagery, and that theme parks, and indeed any company working on a co-branding project with a horror film, need to be more responsible in how they execute it?