Six Point Eight Millon Phone Activations On Christmas Day

Thats more than one phone for every ten people in Britain , given the saturation of mobile phones in this country , that's quite amazing , obviously sales campaigns are being amazingly successful . Apple are the greatest marketers with the abiltity to create want and need in people , and their target market don't even know why they want the damned thing (iPhones and iPads especially) , hell I nearly bought an iPad so that's how good they are!

Anyway this must create a lot of disused handsets which companies like Boots will take off your hands and give you a couple of quid in return. Anyway I didn't get a mobile phone , my trusty San Francisco 1 still going strong and enabling me to make calls , text , surf the next and take bad pictures!!

Christmas Resistability

Well I managed to resist the excellent Orange Christmas box offer  (free Angle & Curve Headphones worth £60 with any PAYG phone over £30)  , and am soldiering on with my first generation San Francisco that fulfils the main requirement of a phone , which is to make phone calls!! It also is fairly good for texts , and OK for internet access . Camera and processor are barely adequate but I can live with them

It seems to me that me are zooming to a point of no return with theese handheld devices . Unless there's another quantum leap in power storage , or distributed power becomes a reality mobile devices will become anything but that if they have to be plugged into a power source!!

No doubt Apple will come up with a marketing idea and Samsung will come up with an innovation , but I cant see for the life of me what it will be . We'll have iPhones 5s , iPad 4s , Galaxy IIIs and some new Blackberry , but we shall see .....

A Playlist For Christmas

Am quite impressed with Grooveshark , not sure how exactly it works , but thought I would try this playlist I put together in "Crimbo Limbo". Hope you enjoy it , I certainly do!

Crimbo Limbo

A phrase I heard today on BBC Radio to by the excellent Craig Charles standing (or sitting) in for the entirely not excellent Steve Wright (as opposed to the very excellent Stephen Wright). Well Christmas day has gone , as has Boxing Day , present have been opened and we're now into that space where we are waiting to see what the New Year will bring .

Are you working (I am) , are you on Holidaday , will you get to a party , who knows.

Did you do the sales  (I didn't) ,

Any hope everyone had a great Christmas , and hope the "crimbo Limbo" has kept you on a high.

I nearly filled up my hard drive with films , and we still have Sky 1's Treasure Island to come!!

Ghost of Christmas Future

he world is improving and despite what the Dail Mail , Dail Express and most of the media tell us, life is getting better for most people . The progress of technology has been phenomenal , so you can watch what you want , when you want , where you want , how you want. Mobile phones these days are like something from Star Trek , but we still don't have hover boards and card or cities on Mars or under the sea.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

The blot on the horizon is the continual erosion of the holiday for commercial concerns , I don't want shops open at Christmas , it gives us time to socialise , and enjoy stuff at a leisurely pace , but certain chains wont be happy until they're open 24/7 , 365 days a year in case someone wants a newspaper and they can chalk up another sale regardless of the cost.

Anyway there will always be Christmas films on at Christmas (most a variaton on Dickens' Christmas Carol) and business entrepreneurs will continue to try and remove the spirit of Christmas in the name of money!!

Ghost of Christmas Present

It's amazing how much we have available to us today , how much we take for granted. Today I had lunch with my girls with a choice of excellent Sounth American food in pleasant surroundings at Las Iguanas in Newcastle . Within a stones throw of that are Pani's (Italian) , Dabbawal (Indian) , Hei Hei (Chinese) , The Bacchus (English) , Simply Greek (Greek) , Little Saigon (Vietnamese) , El Torrero (Spanish) and that's just for lunch , and by no means the only restaurants or cafes to eat at. As a kid yohurt and pizza were the height of exotica and if you were really adventurous you could try a Vesta Beef Curry or Paella!

As well as the food technology gives us things like catch up TV , mobile smart phones amd timy music players that will hold most normal people's music collections. Never has life been more convenient with such choice. Despite all the golom merchants predicting global coolapse , the reality is that we probably never had it so good. And it feels good at Christmas

Ghost of Christmas Past

The other night ran into Hazel Plater and Carl Taylor authors of a book reminiscing about the Riverside one of Newcastle's iconic music venues, second only to the magnificent Mayfair . Progress doesnt always mean better and we now have to make do with the  (Insert current brand name) Academy , although we do have the Cluney and The Sage is a good upmarket venue , but not a rock venue as such.

The City Hall is still there , as is The Tyne Theatre , and the aircraft hagar that is the (Insert current brand name) Academy.

I would happily bulldoze the Gate if it would bring back the Mayfair  , but now we have a multi screen cinema , various chain restaurants , and sticking out like a sore thumb the excellent Spice Cube Indian restaurant. The old Odeon lies derelict and listed so nothing can be done with that magnificent building.

Anyway we don't have these places anymore and it was interesting the read the comments from various friends in there . I remember seeing Rocket From The Crypt , supported by the Coyotemen on my birthday, and remember seeing loads of bands such as Faith No More , Stiff Little Fingers etc at The Mayfair  , the Academy seems to do its best to crush the life out of gigs , The Mayfair was just the most perfect  venue ever for concerts.

We humans have a penchant for progress and nostalgia and while both can be good , sometimes they can also be destructive!!