Wasn’t really what I was expecting, can’t say I really enjoyed it that much. I guess it was a good film though; I just didn’t enjoy it.

Saw Cast Away over the weekend – wasn’t really what I was expecting, can’t saw I really enjoyed it that much. I guess it was a good film though; I just didn’t enjoy it.
Also played Gran Turismo 3 on the PS2. To be honest I was disappointed; perhaps my expectations were too high? Nothing wrong with it at all – but I’m also not sure where the significant improvement is over GT1.. the graphics aren’t *that* much better….
Also went to the gym.. 5k in 22.51.

Finally started going to the gym! Been twice this week (intend to go two times every week).. Am going to do the ergo (rowing machine) – did 5k just now in 23.13 – nothing special but I’m starting slowly (and even that knackered me!!)

Got Enigma 1140 (A long, long road) right – haven’t managed to solve the last three though (1144, 1145, 1146), but I only looked at 1146 (Units fore and aft) for the first time today!

Found an even cheaper source of DVDs – Australia! DVD.net do dead cheap DVDs (mostly ‘cos of the strength of the pound against the aussie dollar – something like 1 UKP buys 2.77 AUS$) Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for UKP 13.56, Aliens:SE for UKP 8.41, or how about The Matrix for UKP 10.25, all including int’l p∧p.
Reason I found this site is because the only english version of the film The Final Countdown is on Region 4 (ie Aus/NZ) DVD.
They also sell episodes of Monkey (including one – volume 8 – with Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung?!?), and Friends very resonably.

Last day of July! Just a quick entry – found a very impressive retailer of Region 1 DVDs: North American DVD. I ordered Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Friday 20th, and it arrived on Friday 27th, with total cost of UKP 15.84 (and this was one of their more expensive DVDs). The online environment is a bit lacking – no account or order status or anything like that, but the service speaks for itself.

Saw Searching for Bobby Fischer over the weekend (On a region 1 DVD – my PS2 chipping worked!!!!). Very enjoyable film, although the friend who lent it to me led me to believe there was a romantic/emotional subtext involving a woman, which I spent the whole film looking for!! Going to watch it again this weekend before sending it back – worth a view though.

A very pleasing little number – Reese Witherspoon is suprisingly good too – but I can’t help thinking that this is a story and script which deserves the stage.
But very engaging and funny, can’t really fault the acting or screenplay. Definitly worth watching if it’s your thing!

A moderate film; not really enough plot or action to satisfy, and only one significant car chase in a film where 50 high-performance cars are stolen!

Meant to say – saw Shrek last week at the cinema (superb film – go see!), and then Gone in 60 Seconds on DVD (a moderate film; not really enough plot or action to satisfy, and only one significant car chase in a film where 50 high-performance cars are stolen!).

Also played my first Playstation 2 game (Sky Odyessy) which is fun, but also very frustrating as it is sort of half a flight simulator, only with the useful aspects of flight-sims missing (such as an artifical horizon on the HUD). Was glad I only rented it (would be worth picking up for a tenner, I guess, but not worth 30 or 40 quid).

Last of all I chipped my PS2 to play all-region DVDs and output them in RGB. The RGB fix works, but haven’t tested the region coding bypass (see channeltechnology.com).