Glory days ahead? I hope so. I've decided to write a gamblers diary this season ....this world-cup season that is. With just £10, William Hill and the good ol' BBC Online I hope to try and double my money at least before the end of the tournament. ...Yeah, okay so it's no great sum but it's more about taking an initiative and getting involved in the game then it is with the payback - if I was to win big then hey! I'd be happy, but it's £10 so it become the objective. I wanted to maintain interest in the whole show rather than just rooting for my home country/the soon to be crowned winners - surely! (England) By making small bets, I'm tracking each game as it's played with fervent anticipation. I've been at it since the first match last week with Germany the host nation. By Saturday, my own team England, had me on a winning streak - I was up £11.50. I've got them down to win outright and Germany to make it to the semi's (I suspect Brazil in the final but haven't committed yet) However, let me bring you up to date, Japan and Mexico threw a spanner in the works slightly and I was down to 83p ....I thought my fun was going to end prematurely ...but alas salvation was found when Australia kicked Nipponese ass and the Czech Republic followed suit against the USA. Now, all I need for a successful day is Italy to come out tops against Ghana... More soon.... [size=8]* Unfortunately ASCII doesn't allow the pound sign (£) for titles - so £10 is the equivalent to $18.44 ...which ASCII will allow.[/size]

My my, how it's been a while since I last wrote a blog, I might have to address this lapse in drudgery - everyone needs a penance for their sins, right? Anyway, I rarely bother with this kind of thing now but I thought I would get back with it so as to submit this little exotic bird, otherwise known as the McHottie ...in Japan at least. Wasn't sure how well it would go down with the OT forum so I gave it a second thought and here we are. Wondered what folks thoughts were. It's been praised by designers as a clever reworking and by business strategists as a coup d'état in efforts to regain its market. It must be a year or so old now, but as it's exclusive to Japan, this is the first I've seen of it. Happy musing.

Is it so hard to read the rules and regs. of a forum? Evidently, people would rather do as they please and then stomp their foot when they're told not to. I practically migrated from one forum to another and it's actually meant to be better off now - if the rules were adhered to. I'm talking about the Off-Topic forum of course, yes that's right, that place where some used to abuse to the extent where you didn't know if you were on TV.com or MSN/Microsoft Messenger. Slowly, but not quick enough, the luddites and childer are seeking refuge on another site and I'm all the happier for it. This is my blog (if only to remind you) so if I'm whittering, ranting or spewing frustration feel free to avert your eyes. Ah! Release!

Yes, today is/was the first day of Autumn and as if like clockwork, the weather gave us a helping reminder. Love it! The blustery winds are here, as were the previous nights rainfall reminding us to search out that national icon - the umbrella. The temperature though is mild and perhaps will get back to normal (cool, breezy and chilly) in the coming week. Still on weather, the nations await with baited anticipation the forthcoming wrath of Rita. Oil is set to rise - again - and queues will undoubtedly follow at stations across the realm. It's ridiculous that you can actually forecast this kind of behaviour. If my car was on the road I'd be taking the pre-emptive action of doing the sensible, before time. Alas, that brings me on to what actually resulted in my car spending the coming night at the local-garage. Of course my dumb luck doesn't allow me to break-down 'getting' to work, it waits with twisted glee until I am ready to go home. It's a 20 mile journey and I probably made 3-4 miles of it before the cam-belt decided to cal it a day. I knew he was having problems and took hi into the garage the day before last. Good fellas my mechanics - their advice however was to keep an eye on it between then and the due service they were going to give it this next week. Land Rovers!! - everyone should have one! My cousin helped me out of the jam I got stuck in and towed me the rest of the way in his spanking Defender. (Makes you proud to be British! I can hear the lions roaring and Churchill's oratory somewhere about 'never being defeated') Anyway, we managed to get it to the deserted garage and the saga continues first thing tomorrow morning when I see if it's salvageable. Fingers crossed folks. Anyone wanting to make donations to a Land Rover of my own are encouraged to PayPal me! All contributions will be rewarded with a smiley-face email! ;) Wowza! More to blog about.... The Party conferences of U.K. politics began this week with one of the big three, the Liberal Democrats and some of the smaller 'cults' like the SNP (Scottish National Party). It was Blackpool for the LibDems. Next weeks seaside resort to host the Labour party will be Brighton. You can expect the Tories down in Bournemouth the week after. Who says my blogs aren't a learning experience? Expect more trivial insights into Blighty's ways next time....

Today, I watched the teaser trailer to [size=7]Superman [color=red]Returns[/color][/size]. I don't really have an opinion worth voicing yet.

Does the forum only save a certain amount of threads? I checked out some of the earliest available but thought there were even earlier ones. I thought it was 'all' archived. Correct me if I'm wrong. What's more, my earliest posts seem to correspond to what's still availablel on the forums. I was sure I had posted other stuff. (Am I making sense?)

This last week I came across a thread stipulating,

"...this is a JLU forum, keep politics out!"User

Politics is a part life, it's everywhere. The program may not be blatantly/directly a political scenario but it is full of political issues. You can look at this both 'internally', dealing with the stories and issues covered and 'externally', dealing with the production of the show. ...case example i) Episode: Divided We Fall. Just within the first few minutes, we have a bio-technologically transformed Lex Luthor/Brainiac ready to destroy the Justice League. How topical is it that we find news coverage of cloning, technology based implants, designer-babies and other genetic topics? The fight against good and evil is alone an everyday argument/battle. Wars rage on throughout the world - the difference is we aren't faced with aliens and super-heros. Moral judgment is another political issue when it has implications for the masses. Are the League right to fight Luthor/Brainiac? How much devastation would that cause? How many lives are at risk? etc, etc,. Maybe they're not hot topics when analysed like this but they 'are' political nonetheless. ...case example ii) Who decided that episodes would debut outside America? Surely the largest audience is in the U.S., so there must be a reason. How long is the episode allowed to be? What can it contain - what can't it? What time should it be broadcast? These are all political issues. To pretend political issues have no place here is to pretend that humans can live without water.

It's not even the peak of the week and it seems as though decent threads have gone in to hibernation again. Eeek! I have to agree with other folk that the Batman fanboys here are spoiling the atmosphere - there's even now a dedicated thread to lambasting one member because he doesn't agree with them. This is [b[crazy! You have my sympathy Silverstar. However, I don't think it would help if I posted a reply to the drivel two individuals seem happy to spew. Let's just put it all back in context... This is fiction and not religion - nor is it a Batman forum even though he comes under its banner. One of the individuals even said, "I hate people who..." That's pretty serious stuff right there - and enough for concern. Hating is about as bad as it ever gets, although I seem to think based on all his other posts that the person doesn't really appreciate the value of his choice of words. As if I really needed to write this >> My 2¢!

This last week or things seemed to have turned round. I've read a few interesting posts which have redeemed my much beleaguered faith. There's great deal to said for the benefit of doubt. I'm by no means mounting a *high-horse* when I write this. I lost interest in the threads when all I noticed was a constant trend for 'X vs. Y' and banal rants. It'd be much more interesting to read peoples thoughts on topics rather than their favourite colours, so to speak. Something with a bit of substance - an idea prompting consciousness! One of the differences between TVTome and TV.com is the ability to see which threads you've looked at and how many posts are unread. Unfortunately, there are still many I wouldn't bother with. I deduce the adolescent-fanboy contingent has much to answer for. Poor threads and weak posts are likely to turn people away. Well. This really has turned out more opinionated then I first thought. However, I feel slightly more at liberty as this is 'my blog' and not part of the forum. Contentions and contradictions are always welcome as are any other comments. Avanti!

Well, I signed up to this site mainly for the JLU activity but am dismayed by the lack of quality floating through the forums topics. TVTome seemed to have a bit more going for itself. I'll watch how things develop. As the series has come to its seasonal end I haven't been as frequent with my visits. I've since been to a Taiwan for a fortnights trip, took temporary management of a family business, carefully consumed the London bombings here in England, been punting in Oxford, attended several Summer weddings and purchased a 'spanking' Nikon D70s. The ranking system with this site has me labeled 'Weatherman' so I guess it wouldn't be out of place for me to give a forecast or something. "Cloudy, 17°C, 1009mB - rising, visibility - moderate, relative humidity 100%. End of forecast." Blighty's weather has to be the best in the world! It's so varied it's exciting everyday! You don't know what to expect; I'd be lost living in somewhere like California. No offense is meant of course. I'm sure Californians think they have the best of meteorological occurances; as they seem to think of the U.K. as miserable when they imagine rain and cloudy skies. Some of us love it! Brisk winds! Sleet! Permafrost! You can keep your sun-tanning blue skies and mushroom clouds which pop up day after day. Variety is the spice of life. I saw Batman Begins of course. I liked it but I consider the !989 movie better. In fact I may only like it comparitively speaking. It's been a long time since I saw anything decent at the cinema. Each to their own I say - hence my last valued outing was the screening of Assassins back in 1995 I think; starring Sylvester Stalone and the still emerging Atonio Banderas. Okay, that's all you get for the moment. Savour each word, I don't know when I may next return!!!! S-i-m-o-n