Sunday, November 19, 2006

New Laptop

Greetings from my new laptop. It is huge. The keyboard is so wide my fingers get lost because I have a 17-inch screen. It takes ages for the mouse pointer to get anywhere!



You do realise this is good-natured grumbling! If you don't want details, skip the next section...



Also, what I like is the piano-lacquer-type finish on every part of the chassis. They say it is taken from car manufacturing techniques. Let's see, what else...? Oh yes, so shiny they included a microfibre cloth for the polishing of it. Oh my darned fingerprints get all over the black cover!



I have a remote control that stores in the media card slot, also I have a 5-in-1 card reader so no wasting camera batteries when I want to transfer pics. I can do bluetooth exchange with my phone. I have a webcam built in to the top of the screen with two microphones. I had no idea infrared and bluetooth and wireless networking were built in to the new laptops, how cool is that!



I am blogging from a Firefox add-on called Performancing, which is cool as I don't have to log in to Blogger just to blog. Which means I will get even lazier as to tweaking my template, so apologies in advance to those of you who are waiting to get onto my blog links.



I've transferred all my music, photos, even passwords thanks to a fantastic Firefox add-on that transfers them as a little file.



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At the moment, I am watching A Cock and Bull Story starring all England's familiar TV faces including Steve Coogan (as Tristram), David Walliams (as priest), Jeremy Northam (as the director), Stephen Fry (as a literary commentator). It is a film about the making of a film based on the of autobiographical novel Tristram Shandy and is actually quite entertaining on screen. There are many asides, like Mr Shandy pausing the action to step in and comment, with the addition of showing the director and crew with the actors between a few scenes, also in meetings discussing props and budget constraints, and even gossiping at dinner after filming. You might be tempted to think that this is where it gets lost as I was just waiting for it to get back to the book, but it turns out that it wades through a huge chunk of the book - and its narrative disjointedness - through this device, as those were the parts that can't be acted out. This works in the movie, but I must admit to getting bored with the book, even though I bought it because it was acclaimed as one of the first books in stream of consciousness. I suppose it was too ahead of its time in the 18th century.



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Cross your fingers that I can blog for you next week. I was so exhausted this week that on Friday I was literally floppy, have had a variable 3-day headache, and slept for 12 hours on Friday night.

Let's hit the publish button now and see if it appears on Blogger....

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[EDIT] P.S. Some of you will be pleased to note Sunday's sidebar article:

Article of the Day

Aston Martin

The Aston Martin is a British luxury car manufacturer that is today part of the Ford Motor Company. The company's name was derived from Lionel Martin, one of the founders, and Aston Hill, the location where Martin enjoyed racing specials. The British glamour that characterizes Aston Martin cars has made them a natural choice for the James Bond series of action films. A silver Aston Martin DB5 appears in which four Bond films? More...


25 comments:

Lasto-adri *Blue* said...

hay O.. congraaats..

i am in the process of searching one myself too...

c ya soon dear :)

Olivia said...

Bluuuuuuue I was thinking about you yesterday evening.

I was thinking of the day when you and Jia Li and I wrote that wonderful story about going to Paris!

Miss you.

Anonymous said...

Sounds cool! With my new HD I feel like having a new comp too but it certainly doesnt have a cool sparkly chassis like yours!
I loved a Cock and Bull Story. I am not very fond of This is Alan Partridge as the guy is just too obnoxious for me. But in this film I thought Steve Coogan was very funny. I thought they many asides in the film were very clever as they are so much like the book itself. I foud that hard going too at times, especially for its -in English- unusually long and involved sentences. But some of the anecdotes were just too funny for words!

Anonymous said...

As an Italian I am not supposed to say this... but I looooooove the Aston Martin!! What a car! What a design! What technology! What a perfect automobile!

Have you seen the new Bond yet? I must must must!

Anonymous said...

Both my dad and brother drive Astons and although it certainly is a fab car, on long journeys it makes you feel as though your lower back was used as a punching bag by Ali. Groan! Besides Id much prefer a Jag E Type or a Morgan. Though both arent famous for comfort either.

Olivia said...

Rox - I used to watch Alan Partridge precisely for his cringe-worthiness.
For some reason, I haven't been able to bother with his newest incarnation (has been on TV this autums).
I do like him in films, though. He was hilarious in 80 Days Around the World.

***

Rebecca - wow, you really do like it!
I used to have a toy model of the one shown here, the silver James Bond type with an ejector seat. Still have it, except James Bond himself got ejected and lost.

I do want to see it, but when... :P

***

Rox again - I suppose I have mildly fond memories of the vintage types as my uncle the artist had one and loved it, but I can't remember much now.

There is a photo of him on his wedding day in Kensington, cutting a caper beside it which ended with him clicking his heels out to the side.

I would definitely prefer a Jag E type to a Morgan. Those things are low!

michelle said...

hey, me no feel well...again. head cold

michelle said...

blueeeeeeeeeee!

AmitL said...

Wow..congrats on getting the new laptop.Can imagine the mouse pointer getting lost,on the 17" screen.heh heh....and,nice usage of the word' floppy'(I was literally'floppy')- I must use it one of these days,when I feel tired out in the evenings.As for James Bond's favourite car,Aston Martin,DROOL.:)

Um Naief said...

you're not only artsy but technical... i'm impressed.

i forgot to comment about Memoirs of a Geisha. so you liked the movie? have you read the book? i loved the book and thought it was much better than the movie. they left out so much in the movie, but it always happens that way. no one could possibly fit all the details into a movie such as that.

sorry about your 3 day headache. thankfully i haven't had one in a while... but i get some like that as well.

i love aston martins... i know there was one in the last james bond movie, and then sean connery used one and there was one in this last one. am i right??? hmmmm.. i wonder.

Anonymous said...

JL take care of yourself. Did you get your stomach ailment taken care of earlier?

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Amit - that's it, next time you can't keep your head up and can barely lift your arms, that is floppy.

I set a diminishing ring to appear over the cursorwhen I can't find it. It is a Windows feature that I even used on my old 14 in laptop.

***

Tooners - if I were not also technical, then my father has failed. As an only child with two parents, I used to split my time between the kitchen and the garage, my bookshelf and the garden.

And thank you ;)

I do I do want to read the Geisha book! I watched the making of docus in teh DVD and they said that it was a challenge. Much of what went on in her head that you could read in the book had to be conveyed to us through her expressions, small gestures, and some but not too much narrator overlay. I can understand their dilemma and so we agree here. Following a book too faithfully can make any adaptation unwatchable.

Indeed there was another Aston in this movie. They crashed about 4 in the making of it, I think. Sacrilege! Nah, one is as good as another, but it must hurt to see such lovely machines totalled!

Anonymous said...

Your new laptop sounds great! Enjoy!

Ollie said...

Your new laptop sound amazzzzzzzing! I am still using a 1999 iBook but the features you describe might well tempt me into re-investing! Have fun with it!

michelle said...

yes, I did. allergic to caffine...eek...as for the head cold, wrking drivethru will do that to u

Olivia said...

ML - like right now?

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Oliver - 1999...gosh, my first one was a 1997 but second hand and I think I got it in 2000. It crashed twice and then I got my HP in 2003.
How have you kept yours from crashing or dying???

I buy mid-ranges because I thnik 3-4 years is a good length of time to own one. I can guarantee that even for £500 you will get a laptop that your old iBook can't match, and I wouldn't like to think how much you paid for it back then.

***

Jia Li - oh girlie, I didn't know you were in the drive thru, I thought you were inside!!! Be sure to wear warm clothes and polo necks.

michelle said...

I have to do both on the night shift, I will ask if I can wear a sweater next time...I feel really dizzy and achy...but with two weeks before finals I can't miss much

The Moody Minstrel said...

17 inches??? That's not a laptop...it's a lapdesk!

Is your James Bond Aston Martin model a Corgi? If it is, it might be worth quite a bit. (Of course, it would be worth more if JB were still in it...) Somewhere in my parents' house they still have a Corgi Batmobile that I got back in the '70s...and now I hear it's worth several hundred bucks!

Anonymous said...

Jia Li - for crying out loud, you live in Canada, everyone should be in undersweaters!

Build yourself up and get better. Listen to Pandy where she told you about Vit C with D & E. All the Bs are good too. Get a really decent multivit if you can't be bothered with individuals.

***

Minstrel - hehe, yes it is! There is enough space on the wrist area to write a note on an index card.

Yes, a Corgi. I have quite a few Corgis and loads of others from the 70s and 80s. I have an old Mini but scratched off the sport markings, silly me, because I wanted it to be plain silver. Grrr.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link. Very good but a wee bit inaccurate. I am going for a car like this one:
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/111575.htm
I love that blue. I got a new phone today as well and a blackberry. Cannot work out how to use them (I'm a man, manuals are optional) but I'm sure I'll work it out...

Olivia said...

Anonymous - I KNEW you would change your mind this week. That's it, I have a new nickname for you. I shall call you Flip Flop.

michelle said...

hehe, year right, people think I'm crazy for wearing sheepskin boots when its 5 degrees out, al my class mates wear sweaters

Anonymous said...

5 degrees is cold, girlie. I'd be wearing sheepskin boots at that temp too.

michelle said...

ok liv, I may have mono or a viral infection of my spleen

michelle said...

I went to a doc today

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

I want a laptop with a battery that can go for HOURS!