Author Archive

12

iPhone – The disk could not be read or written to

Friday, March 12th, 2010

So last night I got in from work and did the usual – went straight to my computer and plugged my iPhone in to sync it up. I came back to the comp after my dinner and noticed the I had an error on the screen: ‘The sync could not be completed, the disk could not be read or written to’. No biggy I thought. Just do it again. Same error. Gulp. Change the USB port. Try again. Same story. Blind Panic.

Started googling the problem. Usual generic responses on apple threads ‘roll back iTunes, Restore, take to apple store’. Fuck all that man. I’ve been there and it ain’t nice.

In my desperation I unplugged the phone and went back to my Spectrum +3 days when I used to blow on the metalic strip of the floppy disk if a game wouldn’t load. In this case, the pins on the bottom of the iPhone. I noticed a wee flutter in there when I blew. Cue me pulling out a massive nasty collection of fluff with a paperclip.

Plugged the phone back into comp. Sync succesfull.

My life is back on track.

Phew.

7

My Top 100 Movies Ever (So Far)

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

couch potato

This is a continuation of this post and this post.

Yeah! The top 100!

The most interesting thing that happened when creating this list was me identifying just how much I loved ‘The Planet of The Apes’. If someone had asked me my top ten before using flickchart I don’t think I would have mentioned it. But through the voting process I really discovered my thoughts on it. It was very hard to vote against.

A last minute vote saw ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Return of the King’ change positions. It was too hard to pick, but I think the re-watch-ability and personal history with ‘Star Wars’ made it the only number one.

The Top 100

Position Movie
1 Star Wars
2 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
3 Planet of the Apes (1968)
4 The Empire Strikes Back
5 The Fugitive
6 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
7 The Shawshank Redemption
8 Vanilla Sky
9 Signs
10 Die Hard
11 Saving Private Ryan
12 King Kong
13 Contact
14 Minority Report
15 Braveheart
16 Watchmen
17 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
18 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
19 The Green Mile
20 Back to the Future Part II
21 Lost in Translation
22 Raiders of the Lost Ark
23 Back to the Future
24 Pulp Fiction
25 A Time to Kill
26 Little Miss Sunshine
27 Misery
28 Fargo
29 12 Monkeys
30 Magnolia
31 Almost Famous
32 Se7en
33 The Prestige
34 Once
35 The Whole Nine Yards
36 Speed
37 The Matrix
38 American Psycho
39 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
40 The Goonies
41 Forrest Gump
42 Panic Room
43 Pianist
44 Gladiator
45 The Dark Knight
46 Jerry Maguire
47 Terminator 2: Judgment Day
48 The Machinist
49 War of the Worlds
50 Finding Nemo
51 Fight Club
52 Ransom
53 Batman Begins
54 The Last of the Mohicans
55 Rain Man
56 District 9
57 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
58 Good Will Hunting
59 City of God
60 Stir of Echoes
61 WarGames
62 As Good As It Gets
63 Jurassic Park
64 Am?lie
65 Avatar
66 The Terminator
67 Moon
68 Airplane!
69 Only You
70 Cloverfield
71 Superman Returns
72 Stargate
73 Sleepers
74 Star Trek
75 Independence Day
76 Cast Away
77 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
78 Ferris Bueller`s Day Off
79 Oldboy
80 Wall-E
81 The Fountain
82 The Squid and the Whale
83 Unbreakable
84 Aliens
85 Collateral
86 The Ring
87 The Sixth Sense
88 Dumb and Dumber
89 American Beauty
90 Battle Royale
91 Return of the Jedi
92 Leon: The Professional
93 Taken
94 The Man From Earth
95 Disturbia
96 Lucky Number Slevin
97 Close Encounters of the Third Kind
98 The Basketball Diaries
99 Planes, Trains and Automobiles
100 Kiss The Girls

5

Top Movies Ever (So Far) – Numbers 199 to 101

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Movies!!

Hiya! This post is an continuation from this one in case you are wondering about the weird numbers.

I look down this list and I’m like “woah!” what an amazing couple of months in the house that would be. Really brilliant. In my opinion of course.

Some people might say that The Godfather is too low. For having a name like Mario, you be surprised to hear that I’m not really one for Gangster movies. Goodfellas isn’t in my top 250. Or even The Departed. I’m happy enough with the final place that he old Don has been given.

Stay tuned for the top 100!

199 to 101

Position Movie
199 The Silence of the Lambs
198 South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
197 The Orphanage
196 House of Sand and Fog
195 The Breakfast Club
194 Kill Bill Vol. 2
193 E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
192 Office Space
191 Dawn of the Dead
190 A Few Good Men
189 Pan`s Labyrinth
188 Cocktail
187 Shaun of the Dead
186 About Schmidt
185 Labyrinth
184 We Own the Night
183 Crocodile Dundee
182 Phone Booth
181 Home Alone
180 (500) Days of Summer
179 Cinema Paradiso
178 I Heart Huckabees
177 The Thing
176 The Karate Kid
175 Superman: The Movie
174 Absolute Power
173 The Last Boy Scout
172 Sin City
171 Kill Bill Vol. 1
170 EDtv
169 The Others
168 Bruce Almighty
167 Jaws
166 Blade Runner
165 Hotel Rwanda
164 Dawn of the Dead (1979)
163 Ghostbusters
162 X-Men
161 Irréversible
160 The Count of Monte Cristo
159 Total Recall
158 Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
157 Children of Men
156 Very Bad Things
155 Dazed and Confused
154 The Godfather
153 Atonement
152 A History of Violence
151 Sleeping with the Enemy
150 The Wedding Singer
149 Lethal Weapon
148 I Am Legend
147 Let the Right One In
146 Gangs of New York
145 Apollo 13
144 Liar Liar
143 The Truman Show
142 3:10 to Yuma
141 Big
140 Training Day
139 The Number 23
138 A Fish Called Wanda
137 Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
136 Crash
135 Gattaca
134 A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
133 Ghost
132 Burn After Reading
131 Alive
130 Krull
129 Mallrats
128 Ratatouille
127 Closer
126 Starship Troopers
125 Aladdin
124 Stand by Me
123 Heartbreakers
122 Con Air
121 The Incredibles
120 Requiem for a Dream
119 The Butterfly Effect
118 Sideways
117 Waitress
116 Toy Story
115 The Hangover
114 Enemy at the Gates
113 Sleepy Hollow
112 The Lost Boys
111 The Negotiator
110 Coming to America
109 Finding Neverland
108 Back to the Future Part III
107 Cape Fear
106 28 Days Later
105 Alien
104 21 Grams
103 Groundhog Day
102 Spaceballs
101 Monsters, Inc.

4

My Top Movies Ever (so far)

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Movies!!

There is a fair few blogs I follow. Some of them are written by good friends. We constantly talk (and sometimes blog) about movies. My good friends at swordfishtrombones.com, chasethehaggis.com and murphyslaw.com have recently been doing the IMDB challenge; where they attempt to watch as many movies in the official imdb top 250 as possible. I was really opposed to the idea because the movies that I have left to watch (110) are really not appealing to me.

Our friend over at Pontiac Dream then pulled the cat out the bag by announcing that he was going to create his OWN top 250 movies ever. I liked the idea, but I thought it was an almost impossible task. Just the thought made my mind boggle.

I was kinda leaning towards the idea, then I came across the site flickchart.com. This site has made the idea possible. It uses movie by movie comparison and creates a chart of your movies based on the results of the comparisons you have made. So,8300 movie comparisons later, I have my official top 250. I’m really happy with it and has even opened my eyes to the opinions I had about some movies. The stats don’t lie people.

I’m sorry for steeling your idea Keith. Most sincere form of flattery n’all that.

250to200

Position Movie
250 Stakeout
249 Wolf Creek
248 The Mist
247 Last Action Hero
246 Dead Poets Society
245 Serenity
244 Toy Story 2
243 The Exorcist
242 Juno
241 The 40-Year-Old Virgin
240 300
239 The Hills Have Eyes
238 Schindler`s List
237 12 Angry Men
236 Four Rooms
235 American Pie
234 My Cousin Vinny
233 Planet Terror
232 Top Gun
231 Poltergeist
230 White Men Can`t Jump
229 Iron Man
228 Life Is Beautiful
227 Stranger Than Fiction
226 Donnie Darko
225 Commando
224 Trainspotting
223 The Cable Guy
222 Hot Fuzz
221 Superbad
220 Reservoir Dogs
219 [Rec]
218 Invasion
217 The Elephant Man
216 Amores Perros
215 1408
214 Bad Boys
213 The Princess Bride
212 American History X
211 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
210 The Godfather Part II
209 Funny Games
208 A Bronx Tale
207 Skeleton Key
206 The Running Man
205 Titanic
204 Revolutionary Road
203 Wayne`s World
202 Primal Fear
201 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
200 Uncle Buck

Yes. Titanic is in there folks. I thought it might even come in a little higher, but I’m pretty happy with that.

I tried to be as honest with myself as possible when voting. I didn’t change anything to look cool or controversial. I based my votes on the impact the movie had on me at the time and also if I was struggling to decide I would think “which one would I prefer to watch now on a rainy Sunday?”.

Looking at the list I supposed the most ‘out there’ movie is Four Rooms. It’s basically a movie which brings together a few directors and they each have a 35/40 min short story about something bizarre that is happening in one of the rooms of the hotel. Great fun. The last story with Bruce Willis is the best of the four.

Stay tuned for the next batch in the coming days.

21

Christopher Hitchens

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

Just watched this video on youtube and had to share it with you. The guy speaks the truth.