It's been one of those weeks where people have been amazingly helpful or rat-bastard idiots from the planet Arse. (Otherwise known as PC World).Let's get the necessary rat-bastardiness out of the way by laughing heartily and crying softly at the PC World complaints liasion who told me that if I didn't like the fact I'd have to wait for a written response to my attempts to halt my ongoing problems and complaints then I should... write a letter to them explaining my grievances. I swear I nearly reached...

Apparently it was just 'Talk like a Pirate' Day. Why are these days so popular... I don't know, they just arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.*ahem*But talking about pirates, the PC World/lost laptop situation stumbles ever forward. I've now been recompensed for the actual new laptop I bought. It doesn't take into account the TWO WEEKS I've had to wait for a refund on my credit card, nor the 4+ hrs of phone-calls, curtailed travel and general incompetence at every level, so I'm pursuing further compensation...

A couple of the bulletin boards I'm on have been talking about the new TV season's offerings and some of the attention has been on the returning Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. For me it's one of the most annoying programmes, only because I WANT to like it: it has a great premise, some decent performances, a truck-load of mythology to draw from and yet... and yet, if feels so damned lazy.I appreciate I'm not a TV writer - sure, I think I've got one in me somewhere, but with the Impact duties,...

Okay, a public service announcement for anyone who might be confused:RIGHT: My brother's debut novel from a few years backLEFT: NOT my brother's debut novel... from a few days ago.I'm reliably informed the interiors are different...

Yesterday was a long day. I went down to London (where surprisngly the sun was shining) to do an interview with Alan Moore. For those who don't know the name he's the guy who originally wrote Watchmen and V for Vendetta, two of the biggest / most controversial comcis ever produced. He has a reputation for being opinionated and has fallen out with Hollywood numerous times (sometimes understandbly) and given his Hell's Angel like frame /unfeasibly bushy beard, I was a tad nervous.I needn't have worried....

The laptop saga ("This time it's personal... computer") continues, though at least someone seems to be on the actual case. As I suspected the refund will take some extra days to come through but one of the tech people at PC World is at least trying to establish exactly what happened, why and how I'm further compensated - added to the fact that he doesn't think I'll get my hard-drive (or e-mails) back as they can't even find the damn machine or track where it went. Apparently all the problems may...

So, I'm typing on a new laptop. An ACER 5920 for those who want to byte off more than they can chew. :)Of course, it wasn't - and maybe still isn't - that simple. Because of the whole 'replacement operating procdure' and the fact I wasn't prepared to wait for the crdit note/vouchers to take days to come through, I've had to pay for this laptop (£399-ish) upfront. What is SUPPOSED to happen is that the vouchers should be sent to PC World and the manager will then cash those in and recredit my VISA...

Further adventures in Lap-topping...My laptops always seem to cause me problems. Though the untold benefit of having access to a computer while travelling is, well, untold.. they always seem to develop faults and those faults seem to be compounded by when they happen and how easy they are to get sorted.Earlier this year I think I blogged about problems with the keyboard and the fact it took two weeks to send away and repair. Ha! The good old days. I noticed the minute the laptop came back from repair...

Spent a day in London as Warner Bros. launched Rocknrolla on an unsuspecting public - well, probably quite suspecting as the public knows what to expect from a Guy Ritchie film and his last couple haven't done that well. However this is the guy (sic) that brought the world Lock, Stock... and Snatch so there's a certain kind of film that he does well if you like your gangster-chic to be of the cockney dramedy style.The film is actually fairly good as long as you know what to expect and the likes...