Day: 13 April 2005

Day off tomorrow

Tomorrow is my day off — I have lots of website to finish. I’m hoping to really crack on with the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain website. I’m converting it to a WordPress site so that it can be updated more easily by the bods at NYCGB HQ.

I’ve been looking into how to do pure CSS drop-down menus. Web guru Eric Meyer (of course) paves the way with his pure CSS menus. Only, guess what! Internet Explorer doesn’t support ’em! What a surprise! Fear not: Patrick Griffiths and Dan Webb come to the rescue with a cool little Javascript trick to fool poor old IE into thinking that it really does support CSS2.1 in all its glory.

Open Water

I’ve just watched the movie Open Water on pay-per-view on cable. The only preparation I’d had for it was the few trailers I’d seen at the cinema sometime last year. All I knew was that a couple were stranded out in the ocean after a diving trip. I expected tension, I expected a long wait, I expected them to be rescued. Well, you would, wouldn’t you! It’s that kind of movie, isn’t it? Humankind vs. nature: we always come out on top, don’t we?

I was very impressed with this movie. Seemingly you either love it or hate it. I wonder what those who’ve said that they hate this movie were looking for in it, what were they hoping for? What would you do if you were stranded in the ocean? Swim for shore? (What direction?) Wait for the boat to return (They will come back … won’t they?) This movie doesn’t answer any questions for you. It makes you think. (If you are willing to do so.) It doesn’t take the easy option and satisfy you with a cheap and cheesy ending. A lot of films I finish watching and I feel bigger and better and able to do anything — after this one I feel suitably put into place: a six foot four man on a huge, water-covered planet.

That’s Entertainment!

I use the DigiGuide application to check what’s on TV and radio (on our 105+ channel package with Telewest. For only £8.99 per year (plus the cost of a £1,000+ PC and my broadband internet connection) I have free access to all the television broadcast information that I could ever dream of. It even highlights the programmes that I want to watch regularly (which reminds me, I’ve still to watch last Sunday’s episode of 24).

Every programme in the listings is categorized: Magazine Programme, Documentary, Music, Political, etc. Last week we saw both the Requiem Mass of Pope John Paul II and The Royal Wedding: Charles and Camilla. Here’s an interesting thing: how might these two programmes have been categorized, do you think? This is how these two programmes appeared in the DigiGuide listings:

08/04/2005 08:40
The Requiem Mass of Pope John Paul II (Religious)

09/04/2005 12:00
The Royal Wedding: Charles and Camilla (Entertainment)

Entertainment?! Is that what both marriage and the royal family have become these days?