Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays ! this is just a short post to say merry Xmas to anyone that reads my blog , ive had a good year blogging it has been a good way to vent frustration in a fairly constructive way , I'd like to thank everyone I have interviewed this past year they have all been very compliant with my request and for that im very grateful. And id also like to thank everyone that has read my blog over the past year your support is much appreciated.

Ill be back in the new year with a Xmas round up and also updates on our new Puppy regarding how he is getting on .

so until then ill say again  MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Noisy F****ng Neighbours

************RANT WARNING RANT WARNING ************

So I live in a council house converted into two flats , the girl who lives downstairs from me is a 100% bitch who must actually be deaf or very very hearing impaired to need to have music played at that level constantly.

In my opinion if you are living in flats you need to consideration for the people living upstairs/downstairs from you , its not hard to let someone know when your having a party for instance and then maybe shutting the music off at  around 2am I don't feel this is asking too much !

But the fact that I can't even lay on my own sofa with out the vibrations from the music giving me a headache is a bit much .

Rant Over


on suggestion from my neighbour about how to deal with the noise i got told to buy some of these ! How Nice

Sorry But SELF PROMOTION

In a shameless attempt to get some of my blog readers to have a listen to the new Podcast i have created with the help of my co host Ryan i will now provide you with all the links you need to "Like" us on Facebook , the website where you can download our show and the email address you can use to get in touch with us .

The Facebook fan page is here : Fan Page

The Download page is here : Podbean Download Page

And the show email is this : Email

so come on over guys and please leave us some feedback in any of the various forms you can

Cheers Ross

Interview With The Answer Me This Podcasters Helen & Olly

I'd like to start this post of by thanking Helen and Olly for taking the time to do this interview with me at this busy time of year , Lets get straight to it 

Helen , Olly & Martin the soundman in studio

Ross - How does it feel to know you have such a large audience who are looking for answers from you each and every week? 

Got a Question email the show
answermethispodcast@googlemail.com

AMT - Extraordinary! We never could have imagined that so many people around the world would find us. I mean, it's not often we bump into people from, say, Mongolia or Ukraine, but here they are corresponding with us as if we're firm friends.


Ross - I think that would of come from the whole friendly atmosphere to the podcast , how did the 3 of you meet?

HZ: We all met at university. I first clapped eyes on Olly almost exactly a decade ago and we became friends straight away. I used to go to his room every day to watch Neighbours.
OM: Our relationship is much more businessy now.
HZ: Oddly enough, I met Olly's girlfriend when I was about 6 years old, because she lived next door to my grandparents. I went round to play because they had swings in the garden and a cockerel. Small world, etc etc.
OM: People sometimes assume that Helen and I are a couple. The mere thought is nauseating.
HZ: Nauseating! Martin and I got together almost nine years ago. I wish there was a funny story to tell you about that, but there isn't

Ross - what made you decide to start a podcast?

OM: I was doing a shit TV job that I hated and, around the same time, noticed Ricky Gervais was doing a podcast and earning a load of money from it. So I thought, "We could do that." Although we are yet to earn a load of money from it, so far.
HZ: I was self-employed and in somewhat of a rut at the time. So when Olly suggested it, I thought, "Why not?" And at that point nobody piped up, "Because it will ruin your social life for the next few years," so we did.

Ross -  - how long is an average podcast recording?

Showing off the merch !

AMT : An hour and a half to two hours. That includes breaks for arguments, toilet trips, fresh cups of tea and waiting for noisy sirens outside to die down.

Ross - after a recording has finished, how long does it take to edit (if any) and upload to iTunes?

AMT : LOADS. Altogether, from start to finish, each episode takes about three days. Three days! This was supposed to be a fun hobby, not an unpaid part-time job...

Ross - on average how many questions do you get in a week?

AMT: We'll sift through around 200-300 emails and calls, although some people will stick several dozen questions into one email. If they do so without using punctuation or line-breaks, we usually won't quite get to the end. Even so, it takes a whole day to go through the questions before

Ross - how do you select which questions you'll answer on the show?

playing nice 

AMT : We try to avoid answering questions we've done before, or ones we think will lead to similar answers we've done before. Although now that there's nearly 80 hours of back catalogue, we struggle to remember if we've already covered something in the podcast or whether we just had that conversation in real life! So we'll choose questions that look like they might lead us to a fruitful discussion, and we try to have a variety of subjects in each show.
HZ: There are certain subjects that always seem to do well - for instance the Royal Family, even though I have absolutely no interest in them - and ones that never work out. Us talking about tea is always boring, even though I'm far more interested in tea than the Royal Family.

Ross - what are your own areas of expertise when it comes to question answering, by this I mean which questions would you not need to do too much research into to answer confidently ?

HZ: Olly seems to answer questions about wanking quite proficiently.
OM: Years of research have not gone to waste.
HZ: I like questions about language and where words come from. I applied for a job at the Oxford English Dictionary once, but didn't get it, so this podcast is now the outlet for my lexicological dreams.

Ross - are you planning to do any more live shows in the future ? 

AMT: We've been doing a few live appearances reading from our new book, and it has been really fun to meet listeners in the flesh. They've been lovely people - one lady even baked us a pie!
As far as live podcast episodes, though, we have no plans at the moment. The live 100th episode was a blast, but took weeks of preparation, a cast of several, some ridiculous costumes and hundreds of party hats; a stage show has to be considerably more visually exciting than a normal recording, which is the opposite of visually exciting, involving the three of us sitting around a small folding table and not moving much.
   The nice thing about doing a recording at home in our studio with just the three of us there is that the conversation is a lot more spontaneous - we can go down unexpected avenues, and if they grind to a halt, we can cut it out and nobody need know... Then with a click of a button, we can be speaking to an audience all around the world, in far greater numbers than could fit into a live show.
    Still, never say never! Stadium tour for 2011?

Ross - are there any specific categories of questions you wouldn't answer on the show?

AMT - We wouldn't rule out any particular category - though these days we do try to steer clear of most bowelly questions, believe it or not, because there's only so much bowelly stuff we can talk about in one lifetime. But there are certain questions that we get asked all the time which we won't answer, including:

Why is Martin the Sound Man's voice echoey?
Which armrest in the cinema is mine?
Will you answer this question?
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Why do I like the smell of my own farts?
Do blind people see in their dreams?
Why are the numbers arranged in a different order on a phone keypad to a calculator?
...and so on. We really don't think anyone's missing much by not knowing our answers to these.

Ross - I couldn't agree more what's next for the answer me this podcast ?

AMT: Well, we've just done the book, so the next step must be a perfume range, or an aerobics video. 

Ross  -  I have just started my own podcast with a friend what's the best advice you could give to people wanting to get into the world of Internet broadcasting?

AMT: Above all else: just go for it - there's nothing stopping you. If you're rubbish (and we definitely started off rubbish!), you can practice and get better without anyone hearing your mistakes; you don't need to publicise your show until you're happy with it and, because podcasting is not live radio, you have the benefit of going back and cutting out the bad stuff. We highly recommend editing: you always have to remember that you're competing with the whole of the rest of the internet for your audience's attention, and people won't give you very long to grab them before they move on to something else. It's better to have a good, lively 5-minute show than a 40-minute one in which you sound miserable and/or bored.

Come up with a show name that is distinctive enough that it doesn't make you impossible to find on Google. However, bear in mind that while disgusting titles are eyecatching, they aren't a sensible option; if you're too ashamed to say the name of your show to your grandmother, ditch it. We discarded many potential titles using this test, and thank god we did, because we don't think we'd have been allowed on national radio or write a book had our show really been called 'The Boobs' or 'All That Jizz'.
And, finally: don't expect to make money out of podcasting. If you can, please tell us how...

Ross - And finally would you care to plug anything? 

AMT: The book of the podcast, Answer Me This!, is out now! So please buy it for people for Christmas. You can read a sample of it at http://answermethispodcast.com/book

Once again I'd like to give a huge thank you to Helen & Olly for agreeing to participate in this interview i have personally found it very interesting and can only hope you all do aswell 

Interview With The Square Ball Podcast Presenter Dan Moylan

In the first of a special 4 part interview with the guys from the Square Ball Podcast/Fanzine where better to start than with the anchorman Dan Moylan so in a treat for fans of the mighty whites lets get down to it 

Ross - Hey Dan lets start with a easy one how did the idea to do the magazine come about ?

Dan - For a long time - since the mid-to-late-90s - there had been a chat 

forum loosely attached to The Square Ball magazine; the two were run 

separately, but the magazine took a lot of its content from the forum. I 

took on the administration of the forum in early 2008 and moved it to 

new hosting and a new address: www.thesquareball.net. In the summer of 

2009, it was clear the magazine was in steep decline; issues were 

sporadic and much of the content was simply cut and pasted from the 

forum. The forum community expressed a desire to take it on and produce 

original, fresh content. Michael and I adopted loose roles as joint 

editors, dividing up responsibility between us: although we both edited 

in the tradition sense, Michael fell into the admin and finance side of 

things and I did the design side. Meanwhile, Oddy took care of the print 

production side of things, because that's his professional background, 

while also trying to track down the mag's old editor, Ian Dobson, to 

seek his blessing for us to take it on. We're still looking for Ian! 

People from the forum started writing for us and it has grown ever 

since. From a personal point of view, I knew only the very basics about 

layout and graphic design when I took this on, so I've been learning as 

I've gone along and this is probably reflected in the appearance of the 

mag, which looked very amateurish when we started, but has improved 

greatly ever since.

The motivation behind taking over the magazine was probably Ken Bates' 

colourful programme notes and the club's gradual takeover of all aspects 

of its media output. It was clear there was no independent voice for the 

fans, in the written sense at least, so we wanted to make sure TSB 

continued as a medium for fans to express themselves. Obviously, 

messageboards and internet fourms gives instant gratification where that 

is concerned, but we think there's still an appetite for print media at 

football matches. The matchday programme can be a bit dry at times, so 

what else are you going to read at half time? We were adamant that we 

wanted it to remain £1, even when we went to 48-page full colour this 

season, so it always represented a great deal versus a £3 programme. Not 

that we're trying to compete you understand, Ken...

Ross - Ken wouldn't like the competition as we all know , along the same kind of lines how did you get into the world of podcasting ?

Dan - I was working part-time on commercial radio at the time when we 

started the podcast in January 2010, so it seemed like a natural
extension to the magazine. I'd always wanted to talk about Leeds United
on the radio and podcasting is as good as doing that - it's great fun.
At that time I'd only met Michael twice before, playing in a couple of
football matches for TSB against Waccoe.com several years previously. We
were actually running the magazine on a virtual basis, communicating via
email. We'd chucked around the idea of a podcast a couple of times, so
we met up for a beer and a chat just before Christmas last year and
decided to push ahead with it, most likely for the 2010-11 season. We
realised we needed more people to make it work, so we invited
Moscowhite, who was doing a lot of writing for the magazine, and Oddy,
who was doing the production, to the pub. Despite having never all sat
in room together before, we all hit it off and had a funny evening. We
thought it was probably worth giving it a shot in the studio - a vastly
different environment to the pub - to see if it would work. Ultimately,
we decided to jump in at the deep end and just go for it. With the new
year and the Manyoo FA Cup game on the horizon it seemed as good a time
as any. (We couldn't have chosen a better game to start with!) It was
difficult at first - the first recording took about 3-and-a-half hours -
but we got to know each other, got used to the mics and the studio, grew
in confidence and here we are a year later.

Why Not Visit Beeston

Ross - And after a year it hasn't lost any spark I love the way you all play off each other , talking about the show what kind of download numbers does the podcast achieve ?

Dan - The 18 podcasts we've done so far have been downloaded a total of
25,000 times, so they're averaging out at around 1,400 each. In the very
first fortnight we did 200 downloads, which was actually more than we
were expecting - we genuinely had no idea how it was going to be
received - but we've now reached a point where we're doing 1,000
downloads in the first week of each podcast being released, and then
there's a steady trickle thereafter. We're all genuinely flattered and
humbled by the number of people downloading it, from allsorts of far
flung places around the world. This is going to sound cheesy, but it
gives you a great feeling to know you're doing a little bit to help our
fans around the UK and around the world to feel like they're a part of it.

Ross - with myself living in Portsmouth the show gives me the sense that im part of the Leeds United community , anyway on to some football what was the first Leeds game you attended and what memories do you have from that day ?

Dan - I can't remember my first game as my parents were taking me all the 

time from being about 2 or 3 years old, but I have clear memories of
running up and down the gangway at the back of the old Lowfields Road
stand and in my mind I was clutching a huge Wagon Wheel. The earliest
match I can remember was the opening day of the 1982-83 season, just
after we'd been relegated, and we were away to Grimsby on a sunny August
day. I was only 4 at the time, but I recall there was trouble and I can
remember peering over the edge of Grimsby's main stand, which oddly
doesn't go the full length of the pitch, and seeing a bloke covered
head-to-toe in blood. I've no idea which team he supported or what had
happened, but that's my earliest memory from football. The game finished
1-1, with Terry Connor scoring our goal.

Erik Bakke

Ross - Even after that you still remembered the goal scorer and final score , for me it was Leeds vs West Ham at Elland Road Erik Bakke scored and we won 1-0 i also remember someone throwing a bottle of coke at Lee Bowyer (Good Times) as he'd just signed for them . Anyway After the recent refusal of Bradley Johnson to sign a new contract , do you think it's down to the club being tight with new offers or do you think it's the players demands that were to outrageous?

Dan - Without being a fly on the wall it's hard to know what's happened 

with Johnson. You get the sense that he probably rates himself highly,
and we all know what agents are like these days, but I think it's fair
comment to say that Leeds United aren't as generous as they used to be
where contracts are concerned. So, the truth probably lies somewhere in
the middle. Regardless of what the truth actually is, it's safe to say
that Bradley would miss Leeds United more than Leeds United would miss
Bradley. Good luck to him if he thinks he can get himself a lucrative
deal elsewhere or if maybe have a shot in the Premier League, but from
the team's point of view I think he's very replaceable.

Ross - I couldn't agree more with that , following on from that do you feel there is a danger of this becoming a nasty trend at Leeds ? , first beckford now Johnson , with new contracts for becchio and kilkenny to be sorted it's a frightening thought that two of our genuine best players could also go the same way.

Kilkenny beats Scum's Anderson

Dan - I think we have to be careful not to get whipped up into a panic over 

out-of-contract players. The Bosman ruling and Sky's financial clout
have dramatically changed the footballing landscape; players and agents
have the power now, and agents are driven by money. It's always sad to
see players leaving, especially talented ones, but the days of a player
having a club for life have gone. If they seek pastures new, there will
always be others to step into their shoes. While I would definitely like
to see Becchio sign a new deal, I'm not sure we should be bending over
backwards to retain players if what they're asking is beyond sensible.
I'm no fan of Mr Bates, but it's entirely correct that the club should
stick within its budget. Whether the club's budget is actually enough is
a different matter, and that poses questions about the resources of our
owner(s) and whether we can continue moving forward. Without knowing how
far apart the club and the players are, it's hard to comment accurately.

Ross - Very true , what are your thoughts on the signings made by Simon Grayson so far ? , he seems to have a knack of finding slow lumbering centrebacks.

Dan - In a way, my answer is going to be an extension of the previous 

question. Where some signings are concerned, it's hard to know whether
Simon Grayson is buying badly or whether he's working under financial
constraints that mean he's making the best of the resources he's got.
There's also a question of just how much influence Glynn Williams has
over player recruitment, as he seemed to have a big say when Wise and
then McAllister were in charge. The big question mark for me has been
the mental strength of the players we've recruited and persisted with.
We desperately need some leaders. The addition of Andy O'Brien has been
an important one as he's added experience and leadership to the camp;
him and Bruce are looking solid. We still need a Shaun Derry type leader
or two in the midfield, which may happen with some midfield departures
looking likely. Elsewhere, I think Paynter and McCormack, especially,
will prove to be astute signings, with plenty to come from the latter.
I'm confident that Grayson knows where we need to strengthen and he's
aiming towards that. He's probably done enough to earn our patience!

Andy O'B

Ross - I couldn't be happier with SG to be honest , also along those same lines what are your opinions on the amount of loan signings we make?

Dan - Loans don't really get the pulse racing, but they're also a major 

part of the game today, especially with the transfer windows in place.
They also come at a Leeds United-friendly price! I guess the beauty of
loans is that you can always send them back if they don't work out. I
think we're just going to have to get used to loans as Simon Grayson
seems to like them and they also give us the chance to evolve the squad
without shelling out loads of cash on permanent signings. O'Brien looks
like a good one and McCartney has been alright, but last season seemed
to see a lot more 'misses' than 'hits'.

Ross - True this seasons loanee's are a improvement over last season , The draw for the fa cup 3rd round has just been made and we are away at arsenal this season , after the heroics of beating scum last year can we do it again?

Beckford after our winner at Old Trafford 

Dan - It's a tough one, but you never know! We said the same about scum 

last year and that worked out alright. In many ways it's a perfect draw,
for the finances, the players and the fans; it reminds us of where we
want to be and what we need to do to be playing in those places every
week. We should lose, and we probably will, but with Leeds United
there's that magical performance that is unleashed every now and then...
Either way, it'll be another fun, noisy, boozy away day!

Ross - I'm almost certain the emeraites stadium hasnt ever got close to the volume it will be come 3rd day , we've started this season fairly well and are currently 6 unbeaten what are your hopes for final league position this season ?

Dan - It's too hard to say with any conviction because The Championship is 

wildly unpredictable. We're capable of anything from 3rd to 20th,
depending on what sort of run we go on after Christmas. The signs are
good that we're achieving some consistency now and on the evidence and
results so far we should be looking at top 10 and aiming for a play off
place. From there, who knows?! There's the possibility of another
crushing playoff defeat, or maybe, just maybe...

The Blue Vomit Kit

Ross - i don't think i could handle another play-off game ever again , which has been the worst kit we've had on recent memory ? for me it's got to be that awful green and blue striped shirt !

Dan - I really liked the green and blue number! It's not traditional 

"Leeds" but it was something different and Asics seemed to knock out a
few decent shirts. They were better than those horrendous Admiral ones
we were lumbered with after we won the league; the blue "vomit" kit
was... interesting. Although the dark blue pinstriped Nike one was
pretty smart, it'll always remind me of our relegation, so I've never
been keen on that. We've had some cheap looking kits since we've been
out of the Premier League; the Macron one with the blue panels was
hardly a high water mark, although they've really upped their game with
this season's efforts. After this season's stylish and understated home
shirt they don't fly off in the other direction next time and get their
blue and yellow crayons out and go crazy.

This seasons Kit

Ross - This's seasons is a very nice strip i agree , so every one has there own opinion but who's really to blame Risdsle or O'Leary ?

Dan - Ridsdale and O'Leary - the perfect storm. It's probably fair to say 

that trusting the running of your club to two egomaniacs wasn't a recipe
for success. O'Leary was blind to the deficiencies of his squad and he
should have been in more control of player recruitment. He just seemed
to want to fill his squad with a scattergun approach when, for example,
he really should have made a new left back his number one priority.
Ridsdale was guilty of allowing himself to run away with the idea of
Leeds United being the very best. He was responsible for all the huge
contracts that extended beyond the first team, all the way down to youth
level. Ridsdale seems to have shouldered the blame for the PLC board,
which is unfair, but if you are prepared to put yourself in the
limelight like that - he even posed in the squad photos, for crying out
loud! - then you have to be prepared to accept the flak when it starts
to fly: you live and die by the same sword. O'Leary should have been
controlled by Ridsdale and he wasn't; Ridsdale should have been
controlled by the PLC board and he wasn't. The whole thing was rotten to
the core.

Ross - thanks for all the honest and great answers finally is there anything you would like to plug ?

Dan - I'd love to plug The Square Ball magazine. By the fans, for the 

fans; it's published 11 times a season, costs only £1 and can be bought
in paper format around the ground at Leeds United home matches or online
via http://www.thesquareball.net/shop either in paper or PDF format.
Also you can hear the accompanying podcast every fortnight or so and
that can be subscribed to and downloaded via iTunes or via
http://www.thesquareball.net/podcast.

You can also find us at:
Web: www.thesquareball.net
Facebook: facebook.com/thesquareball
Twitter: twitter.com/thesquareball

I'd  like to thank Dan for agreeing to take part in this interview with me i hope all the Whites fans out there get as much enjoyment out of reading it as i did . MOT !

Blogger iPhone app test

This is a test post from the Blogpress app for iPhone everything seems to be working ok so far apart from a rather annoying warning about the location services , I'll even try and upload a picture from the app and see how that turns out


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Durley Rd,Gosport,United Kingdom

Resturant Review

I have just spent a very nice evening with members of my extended family for my sister-in-laws 26th Birthday (Happy Birthday Jen) and for dinner we went to The Slug and Lettuce in Gun wharf Quays , Portsmouth ,

From the moment we were seated we got service from a very friendly waitress who bought us our drinks in prompt fashion once every one's starters had arrived I heard nothing but good things coming from my fellow diners .

When the main courses arrived I was amazed as to the size of the burger I ordered it came packed full of all the extras including bacon , mushrooms , onion rings and salad along with a bowl of chips and a small plate of coleslaw .

All I can say after enjoying this main course was DAMN ! it was bloody gorgeous & i finished it off completely .

I finished my meal off with a lovely Caramel apple crumble pie , with a scoop of vanilla ice cream which was also gorgeous .

To top it all off as it was a Monday night all food on the menu was 50% off so in total we saved over £100 for our table of 8 so its also very good value for money .

I highly recommend

I'm off to bed to sleep that meal off now

Dave's Game Reviews Oct - Nov

Guest Videogames reviewer David Green

 

We Doodle

my first impressions were that the game had no appeal to me but after a few hours playing it had become addictive. As a not very good drawer it does me well to say this game make me worse but still fun.

I found it a lot easier after turning off the doodle assist, making my pictures, kinda matching the words. 

Alas this game is only complete due to the fact you challenge your friends to guess what you have drawn, then the challenge you and you find out that they can't draw either.

Overall' this games provides hours of fun and silliness, so I highly recommend you download this from itunes.

Enslaved: odyssey to the west


After playing the demo, I knew this was a game I wanted to buy. After weeks of having no money I went on the hunt to get my copy eager with anticipation, I strolled in to blockbuster and found it at an ridiculous price, thinking Asda was my next best chance I went there and after thinking that was the best price I was gonna get for it I went to Morrisons to find a bargain.

Blockbuster new : £39.99
Blockbuster pre owned: £37.99
Asda :£34.71
Morrisons:£24.99


Once home I threw the disc in to the tray and loaded it up with great eagerness, as it loaded up the music and cinematic's played wow sheer brilliance, but I already knew that as the game plays on the unreal engine. So game play it a cross between Prince of Persia and Assassins Creed( a hack and slash breed with adventure gaming). The game consists of 14 levels most of which take 25 – 35 minutes, game completion in about 5 -6 hours long so not very long but you wont be disappointed with what you get.

The storyline
Your enslaved by a teenage girl who controls you with a slave headband, the girl wants to go home but she cant make it on her own so she forces you to help her or die. So as you cross the landscapes you come across enemies in the form of mechs, which want to kill you as they are out for them selves and hate humans.

Upgrades
As a hack and slash game of course it has upgrades.
Which come in four types
health
shield
plasma stick
fighting
All to which can only be upgraded by collecting red orbs or defeating enemies,

Overall

After my first play through I got 545 achievement points. I found this was a game to which my girlfriend wanted to watch me play as the storyline had gripped her so I have given it extra points and based on game play and graphics an 86%

xbox 360 kinect


My first impression is this device for me was a good purchase unlike some may think (you know who you are). It entertains the kids and the rest of the family too.

Kinect adventures

This game comes with the kinect device, I had low expectations for this game due to what I had read or heard about it but I found it fun and it differs a lot from the Nintendo Wii much more advanced technology I think. This game makes you look stupid and funny as your doing the various activities which is what makes it fun.

So don't be shy and buy your kinect today overall score for game 78%

New Xbox 360 Dashboard Update

So the new dashboard update is now live on the Xbox 360 lets have a little look through the features shall we , the main reason for the update is for the launch of microsofts new peripheral which apparently makes you the controller (we'll see) .

The first change you will see is the new opening sequence of the xbox which has been modified slightly , check out the video above to see the new start up 

The most noticable changes are to the overall appearance of the dashboard , gone are the old neon green tabs replaced with new white square one , for me this is a step backwards in appearance but hey each to there own .

They have also included a new easier way to get to your family settings very handy if you share a console with your children 

There has also been updates to the lay out of both game and music marketplace and also new features in the zune marketplace , it now also displays your microsoft points total in the top right hand corner for a quicker way to view them 

One minor change is to the font that the dashboard uses its a subtle difference but its one that i like a lot it makes names and Cheevo's that much clearer to read 

Overall I'm fairly happy with the new look , it certainly does load up quicker and the new font is very nice .

Let me know what you think in the comments section Cheers 

iPhone folders vs pages

As a  lot of people now have the iPhone im sure everyone uses it in a different way in terms of folders or pages.
For me personally i go for the folders option i cant be doing with going through page after page of Apps to find the one i want

This is my set up , all on one page with all the folders i need .

How do you set up your home screen ? Let me know 

Tips on Xmas Shopping

Well its that time of the year again everybody yes you guessed it ; its Christmas shopping time again already (doesn't it go quick!) and here are my top 3 tips for getting through this hectic time of year, enjoy.

1. Write a list of who , what & where , it will save you hours if you know where your going to get the things your after.
2. Go online , these days you can get most things a lot cheaper online especially books and dvds/blu rays , websites like Amazon and play are a great source of bargains.
3. If you do decide to brave the shops TREAT YOURSELF , this is probably the best part of having to go xmas shopping , it doesn't have to be something big just something to make yourself smile 

Edit: thanks to @Markmuir on twitter for pointing out the following website http://www.quidco.com/ which is a great way to save money this coming holiday season which offers Cash back , Voucher codes & Printable Discount Vouchers , Thanks Mark you've just saved me and hopefully the readers some money aswell

Medal Of Honor : Guest Reviewer David Green

I recently went into blockbuster in the mind set to rent 'Enslaved: odyssey to the west' but it was all out so I picked up the new 'Medal Of Honor'.

The missions in this game are short and not really full of action it took me only five hours to complete this game to make your experience better I personally recommend that you play through on hard I found your AI team mates will kill most of your opponents before you get the chance to aim. The only thing that stand out in this game are the cut scenes which are nice and very realistic. 
There are a few in mission achievements to pick up that you could quite easily miss if you don't look at the achievements list first.

The multi player experience is good but nowhere near up to the standard of call of duty, first of all you have the choice of three weapons in total one with each class which you don't get to change until you level up a few times. The maps are far to small for a 12 VS 12 team games. You do however get achievements for p levelling up each class and playing online for long hours for example playing online for two hours.

Overall I give this game a 72%

I highly recommend you rent and not purchase this game!


(ed- id like to thank Dave for taking time out of his day to write up this little review for me here's hoping for more soon)

Rock Band Sells Out (SHOCK)

When I first heard Youth and Young Manhood I thought i had finally found a good old fashioned rock band in the Kings of Leon but ever since that album they have slowly worked there way towards becoming more and more radio friendly right up to this latest release "Radioactive" .

You could see this coming with tracks like "The Bucket" on Aha Shake Heartbreak and "on call" and "Fans" on Because of the times , mainly as the rest of those albums contained good ol' rock tunes the real problem happened when the monster "Sex on fire" was released , the amount of times that song got played on was very disturbing for someone who had been with them from there first "Rock" album .

And now to this latest single "Radioactive" is so radio friendly it makes me feel a little sick , I'm fully expecting the video for the next single to contain no musical instruments and have a full on dance routine , anyway that's my view on the Kings of Leon i know lots of people love them these says like i used to , as many parents have said I'm not angry I'm just disappointed.

back to work = blurghhhhhhhhhhhh

So after having 2 weeks off and feeling fine the day before i have to go back to work i get a horrible cold along with a sore throat !

It kind of reminds me of having a holiday from school and then suddenly feeling ill before having to go back to school , but hey on the bright side there is only 11 weeks untill my next week off , not like im counting down or anything though !

My new laptop

well after saving some of my money for the first time in my life Ive gone and treated myself to a new laptop
the link to which is here if you'd like to check out the full specs   New Laptop  i am very pleased with it so far it is running very fast and smooth it plays the games i like without any issues which is a major plus especially with Civ 5 now being available.

all in all id give it a 9/10 so far .

One week down

Well that's one week down of my holiday and I can safely say I haven't done anything of note , that is unless you count playing football manager 2010 for 6 hours a day and when I haven't been cooking for my wife the rest of my time has been spent food shopping and playing FIFA 11!

So not a very exciting week but still time off from work is time off from work I have one more week left now. I'm currently way behind in my podcast listening with the current number of unheard ones standing at 19 at this moment in time that number is going to at least double before I go back to work.

Anyway back to FM
peace out


*Edit i also made spent a afternoon with my good friend Dave laptop shopping and playing with toys in toys r us

Ebayers who dont pay

There is nothing worse than selling items on eBay and then waiting a bloody age to get payment !

That is all good day to you.

Upcoming holiday

I am now only 4 night shifts away from my first ever two week holiday from work , I have been working full time now for 10 years so I feel as If I deserve this !

I have no plans for this time off apart from catching up on sleep , working nights really catches up with you !

So I'm looking for suggestions on things I can do during this time off , what ya got ?


Also keep a eye on the blog In the coming weeks for very special interviews with the guys from the football ramble coming soon.

Interview with Comedian , Author , Podcaster, Journalist - Andrew Collins

(Edit - Andrew's DVD Secret Dancing is now available at Go Faster Stripe so go buy it Richard Herring Claims and in a no way tongue in cheek way that it "might be the greatest comedy DVD of all time")

Today i have a very special interview with the one and only Andrew Collins , lets not waste anytime lets get straight to it 


Ross - You now have a very well respected job as the Radio Times film editor , but how did you make your start in journalism ?


Andrew - Via the back door, or tradesmen's entrance. I did a degree in graphic design and illustration, and a year out of college, I had grown bored with commercial art, and started my own fanzine. I wrote most of it myself, and laid it out - years before desktop publishing, this was all photocopying and cutting stuff out - and sent a copy to my beloved NME to see if they would mention it. This was 1988. New features editor James Brown liked the fanzine and asked me to come in. I did. It was the most exciting moment of my life, as the NME had really been my bible since the end of the 70s. James promised to put a few bits of writing my way. In the meantime, the paper was looking for a part-time design assistant, so I applied for that, and got the job. This was my way into the NME office, from whence I pestered every section editor until they caved in and let me write some reviews, and then features, and eventually I left the design job and took over the gossip column. Then I applied for my first staff job, features editor, in about 1990, and got it. All of a sudden, I was a journalist. Without any training. Each office job then basically led to another, for the best part of ten years.


Ross - Do you get any kind of extra perks being a member of the Radio Times staff ? 


Andrew - Not really. I get a copy of the Film Guide, which is published once a year, but then I also contribute to it. There are advance tapes of TV shows knocking about the office, but I'm not that bothered about watching things before they're aired. Sky Movies were kind enough to send me The Pacific on disc, as I didn't have Sky Movies. So that was a nice perk, I guess. Working for the magazine is enough of a perk. If you'd told me as a kid, in a household that got the Radio Times and TV Times without fail, that I would one day have my name and photo in it, I wouldn't have believed you. And nor would I have dreamed I could meet Barry Norman, who was one of my TV heroes in the early 80s, and even consider him a co-worker! When I first met Richard's parents, his father treated me like a celebrity because he'd seen my face in the Radio Times. It means a lot to a certain strata of people. It's very mainstream.

Ross - Have you ever had to review any films that you really didn't want to watch , and of these films were you surprised by the film once you had actually seen it ?


Andrew - Over the years, whether as a journalist, or as a critic, or as the presenter of Radio 4's weekly film programme Back Row, or as the Radio Times' film editor, I've been to a lot of preview screenings. I am disappointed by most modern films, certainly the Hollywood ones. If anything thrills me, I am over the moon. I expect very little. So, yes, I've seen hundreds of films that I didn't particularly love, but there are always surprises. And I find that on the whole, the foreign language films that earn a release here are far and away more interesting. You know, I didn't expect to dislike Inception, and I went in there with high hopes, but it let me down. I have to adjust my expectations, as you are prone to crashing disappointment if you get too excited beforehand.


Ross - This is a obvious question but what is your favorite film ?


Andrew - The Poseidon Adventure. It's not the greatest film ever made, that's Apocalypse Now, or The Godfather, but it's my favourite. I saw it at an impressionable age, ten, and it scared the life out of me. I can see its technical shortcomings - it was after all made in 1972 - but I still love every minute of it. If I ever get on Mastermind, 1970s disaster movies will be my specialist subject. I was lucky enough, while working on Back Row, to meet Ernest Borgnine, one of the stars, and speak down the line to Ronald Neame, its director. He passed away this year, so having spoken to him is even more precious

Ross - With regards to the Collings and Herrin podcast it started off with the general premise of going through the newspapers and finding entertaining stories to discuss in recent months you seem to have moved away from that format instead going with the (in my opinion) more enjoyable format of just chatting and telling stories with occasional references to the newspapers , are you happy with the way the podcast is developing ?


Andrew - I'm happy because we never sought to develop it. It develops itself. I love the organic nature of it. It's artificial, to make yourselves sit and talk into a machine for an hour every week, but beyond that, it's entirely natural. The newspapers are just there as a prop, or a prompt. Some weeks we rarely touch on the news. The relationship has grown in public. Or at least, the partly fictional relationship, which is rooted in reality. In real life, Richard isn't as horrible to me as he is on the podcast, and in real life, I wouldn't let him be. But it's fun to be called an idiot, as long as you don't start to believe it. Every week now, Richard says he wants to end it. But look how long he's been writing his daily blog! Once he's locked into something, he won't give it up lightly. And anyway, I do all the running. I have to get to his house every week. He doesn't even have to get dressed.


Ross - Aside form buying the newspapers do the two of you do any other sort of prep for the show before you hit record ?


Andrew - None. It would kill it. Other improvised podcasts are out there, and many have started since we started ours, but few are as genuinely unedited and unplanned as ours. That's its selling point, even though you don't have to buy it.

Ross - What are the differences from doing the podcast live as compared to doing it in Richards attic ?


Andrew - With an audience, you feed off the laughter, or the response, which you don't get in the attic. This can be good - Richard is particularly lively with an audience, and some of his exchanges with the front row have been golden - but it also turns it into a performance. We may be sitting down, and talking into a laptop, and rustling papers, but you have to raise your game a bit, as there are sometimes hundreds of people sitting staring at you. They have paid; they deserve a show of some sort. They must be weird to listen to at home. We still don't prepare though, and have no idea what we're going to say. That's pretty rare in live comedy. To do that every day for ten days, as we did this year in Edinburgh, was something of an achievement, despite the wavering quality, which is built in, I guess. 

Ross - are you aware of the number of subscribers your podcasts get ?


Andrew - The last count Orange Mark at the British Comedy Guide conducted, based on downloads from his site, was around 29,000 a week, on average, but people go back and download older ones all the time, so that adds to the total. This is an astonishing figure. Why do they do it? I don't know. Our 6 Music podcast is downloaded around 59,000 times a month, which is not too shabby either. That rates pretty well among weekly BBC podcasts. We're not Chris Moyles, but it's a healthy audience to go to the bother of finding it and downloading it. We never did it for the numbers! Ratings are the curse of entertainment. If you compromise to grow your audience, you have betrayed yourself. I know this, as I spend my life compromising, whether it's nodding my head at the suggestions of a TV commissioning editor even though I know they're wrong, simply because I'm desperate for a commission, or taking on a writing job that your heart's not in, simply because you need the work. So at least with the podcast, which costs almost nothing to produce, and nothing to consume, the relationship between art and commerce is more balanced. We could try and get special guests stars on - we know enough famous names to do so, and once Stewart Lee threatened to turn up at a live podcast recording - but that wouldn't be in the spirit of the thing. It might get us noticed, but for the wrong reasons.


Ross - How did you feel when it was announced that BBC 6 music would be staying on the airwaves ? 


Andrew - I was relieved. I'd dared to think it could happen, that the BBC Trust really could reverse the decision, because of the sheer noise of all the support, but until Lauren Laverne read out the press release that morning on 6 Music, it was too exquisite a prospect to count on. I love 6 Music. I was there on the very first day it went on air in 2002, and it's hard to shake something like that off, especially as they've recently taken me back on in a subs'-bench manner, and given Richard and I our own show ... a nice circle when you remember that it was having Rich as a guest on my then-regular weekend shows that sowed the seed of the eventual podcasts. If I had never been on 6 Music, I would still have believed passionately that it has a vital role to play in the BBC's music radio portfolio. But it's not often you see people power actually affecting change.

Ross - You've recently started a stand up career is that something you have wanted to do for a long time ?


Andrew - Well, it was Banter that started it. I'd been up to the Fringe in 1989 with a student theatre group, and had done plenty of performing onstage in that regard, but actually doing stand-up was another thing altogether. We couldn't afford a warm-up on Banter, so I was asked to go on first and get the audience in the mood. My first go at this was in Edinburgh, in 2005, where we recorded the pilot in front of a live audience. This was quite nerve-racking, but I got a few laughs, and it felt good. I proceeded to do the warm-up for all three series of Banter, admittedly before a very partisan, easy crowd, and the fact that professional stand-ups were always waiting in the wings, or behind a curtain, upped my game. One week, everything I'd come up with died, and the likes of Lee Mack and Rob Deering and Richard were waiting to come on. It was horrible. I realise I'm a comedian's worst nightmare: the emerging stand-up who hasn't paid his dues, or done the bear pit comedy nights, or touring his arse off, but that said, I am good friends with a lot of comedians, and actually, they've been very supportive. Even Richard. I haven't earned the right to do my own Edinburgh solo show in the usual way, but I have improved as I've done more podcast gigs with Richard, and I just wanted to have a crack at it. The Free Fringe allowed me to do that without the usual, built-in financial risks. It was emotionally draining, but I didn't really expect any sympathy for this, or my homesickness, from Richard or the other hardened comics I was flatsharing with, so I mostly kept my mouth shut. 

Ross - After your first Edinburgh show was pretty well received , do you have plans to go back next year or maybe take Secret Dancing on tour ? 

Andrew - I'd like to do Secret Dancing again, now that I've knocked it into shape at Edinburgh. I don't really fancy touring, though. I'm too old and too fond of my own bed for all that. I really admire Richard for his stamina and commitment, but he's building up his audience every time he tours, and it would be mad not to give them what they want. Also, he's at a stage where he can now actually make money from a tour. I'm not sure I could. Comedy is a young man's game. That said, I'd really like to have it filmed for a Go Faster Stripe DVD, and if that happens, I'll have to do it again, perhaps in Cardiff? And there are plans afoot to do the show again in Northampton, my home town. My guess is that Secret Dancing may reappear, sporadically, after Christmas, when I've done a bit of actual, paying work to make up for the indulgence of spending the best part of three weeks in Edinburgh. I am self employed; if I'm not working, I'm not earning, and if I'm not earning, I'm not eating.

Ross - How did your partnership with Richard Herring come about  ? 

Andrew - We met in 1993, when Stuart Maconie and I got our first Radio 1 series, and we took over from Lee & Herring in the old 9-10pm slot, before what was then Mark Radcliffe's evening show. I had already met and interviewed Stewart, and I was a fan of Lionel Nimrod on the radio, so I was quite excited to meet them both, outside Broadcasting House. Richard does not remember this, which rather suggests meeting two journalists from the NME was less exciting for him than it was for me to meet two comedians off of the radio. Anyway, I continued to be a fan of Richard's work - firstly, with Stew on the telly, then, as a solo performer. I have seen every single one of his Edinburgh shows since 2001, and until this year, I had paid for every ticket! When I got my first daily show on 6 Music in 2002 and we started Roundtable, the singles review show, a couple of years later, I pushed for Richard and Stewart to come on as guests. Richard and I had a fairly easy rapport, and even though he knows nothing about music, we had him back on regularly. So when I needed a regular guest on my weekend shows, he was my first choice. He was sort of between careers at the time, post-double act, pre-solo fame, and was happy to have a regular outlet. In lighter moments, I might suggest that he owes his career to me. This is presumably why he affects to not remember our first meeting!

Ross - And finally do you have anything you would like to plug at the moment ?

Andrew - I am on 6 Music, filling in for Lauren Laverne and then Steve Lamacq, until October 8, so tune in. More importantly, Richard and I have three podcast gigs coming up. The link for all the details is here 

where did it all go right

I'd like to thank Andrew for taking time out of his busy scheduale to agree and take part in this interview with me i hope you all enjoy reading it as much as i did 

Cheers Ross