Posts tagged Meh News

England: Who is on the plane?

So Fabio Capello has finally announced his squad of 23 men, 23 English men, with the hopes of a nation riding on their shoulders, that will be flying from the UK to represent England in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Fabio Capello

The headlines will be full of the absence on Theo Walcott. But lets be honest, he has been poor this season, and poor for England for quite a while. Aaron Lennon should be the first choice left winger with Joe Cole a worthy replacement. Ledley King also makes the cut despite long term injury worries, another great call in my opinion as he has been one of the best (if not the best) defenders in the Premiership last season. His Tottenham co defender Michael Dawson misses out on a place on the flight, but to be honest he did have a great season, but perhaps this is a bit beyond him.

So far so good. but he did make a very poor call in my opinion. Do we seriously live in a country that chooses a 32 yr old Emile Heskey as one of it’s elite athletes? Darren Bent had a great season, and although rarely performed for England, he is surely better than Heskey. God help us if he actually gets picked over Rooney, Defoe and Crouch. Here is the full list of the 23 men that have perhaps the best chance of winning the World Cup since the legendary team of 66. Don’t let us down boys.

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Manchester City), David James (Portsmouth), Robert Green (West Ham).

Defenders: Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Ledley King (Tottenham), John Terry (Chelsea), Matthew Upson (West Ham), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa).

Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham), James Milner (Aston Villa), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City).

Forwards: Peter Crouch (Tottenham), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham), Emile Heskey (Aston Villa), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).

Apple vs Microsoft

So yeah I tried to avoid talking about this but nothing much else is happening on the internet at the moment so I guess I have to. Last week was a big week for Apple as their new product, the “iPad” hit stores in the UK on Friday, days after officially becoming bigger than Microsoft. The iPad is deemed likely to fail miserably or transform portable computing, creating a new category of product that we will all end up needing.

Apple iPad

I personally am not an Apple fan boy. However, looking at me and what I own you might say that I am. I have an Macbook Pro with Final Cut Studio and Logic 9, an iPhone, and I used to have an iMac. The reason I have these things is not because I think they are cool, or because I want to look cool like the Apple stereotype would have you believe. I have them because they are the best tools for the job that I use them for. Period.

I do sound engineering, I do video editing and live video mixing. The best software for these tasks run on Macs and they work well on Macs. I can’t be doing live visuals only to have windows cut in half way through saying you have committed an illegal operation and need to shut down. I have seen that happen first hand and it can destroy shows. So there you go, at the end of the day if you look past all the bullshit arguments between Mac or PC, Macs are better for this situation that I am in, by a long way.

Anyway back to the iPad. It is basically just a massive iPhone lets be honest. Lets be brutally honest here: iPads are cool. They are fun to play with and it is much more exiting to view web pages with. But is it useful? That is what really matters. I wont buy one, because I don’t need one. For me it would essentially be a toy. I can do far more things with the combination of my smart phone and my laptop than I could with an iPad. But if you want to give me one for free, I would love it.

This viral video however tries to prove that iPads can be more than a toy. So how do you make the iPad useful? No, not through modern technology, you need something from the past to help you out. Velcro. The video shows off it’s many uses from using as a digital picture frame to a sat nav for your car hire journeys. I’m still not buying one.

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Summer Car Hire

Loads of you will be going on holiday this summer, if you actually still have a job that can pay for it that is. If you are from the UK it’s safe to assume you will be going to Spain or Cyprus or some place hot like that, just like everyone else does.

Be sure to do one thing. If you are going to use car hire when you are on holiday, you should book now before its too late. Car hire companies across the board have reduced their fleet size over past months in an effort to see them through the recession. This year I am hearing of likely shortages in Spain and Cyprus especially, so if you think you are going to need to hire a car, you should book now before you miss out.

“Rental companies always try to look ahead and estimate demand for peak periods, but with finance in short supply and new vehicle prices rising, they can ill afford to have cars sitting around idle. There will be periods when demand outstrips supply. You wouldn’t go to an airport and expect to buy a ticket on the day you want to travel, and the same should apply to renting a car.” Source: The Telegraph

You don’t want to end up like this guy:

Florida Times

You may or may not remember that I recently travelled North America. On the last leg of my travels I went to Florida to stay with some friends for a few days. It was a weird place to be, having spent months in the freezing mountains of the north. It was certainly strange to no only be in the heat of the south, but to be somewhere where the land was so flat.

Florida

Car hire in Florida is a must as everything is so spread out. It’s worth getting a GPS as well, as there are tall palm trees everywhere which makes it pretty hard to navigate where you are going. We were in the city of Orlando, in Central Florida, which is best known for its theme parks and water parks. The Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Studios Florida, SeaWorld Orlando, Discovery Cove and Wet n’ Wild attract millions of visitors each year, making it one of the most popular tourist destinations in the U.S.A.

Orlando’s International Drive is home to attractions such as Wonder Works and Ripley’s Believe It or Not, as well as mini-golf courses, food outlets and some of Florida’s best malls. Other attractions in and around Orlando include: championship golf courses, such as Shingle Creek; the Gatorland alligator park, where you can watch “gator wrestlers” in action; and the city’s famous themed dinner shows, which include the Pirates Dinner Adventure and the Arabian Nights Dinner Show.

Gator

On the last day we took a drive to the city of Fort Lauderdale. It is situated on the south-east coast of Florida, just north of Miami, and is often referred to as “the Venice of America”, thanks to its canal system and waterfront homes. Greater Fort Lauderdale has more than 23 miles of beaches, including Deerfield Beach, Hollywood Beach and Hillsboro Beach, so the city is a great place to use as a base from which to explore these.

Fort Lauderdale has a reputation for attracting the wealthy. Its marinas are usually filled with expensive yachts and you can take a closer look at these on a sightseeing cruise. For arts and entertainment, head for the Riverwalk in Downtown Fort Lauderdale, where you’ll attractions such as the Museum of Art and the Museum of Discovery and Science, as well as restaurants, shops and the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Other Fort Lauderdale attractions include the Beachfront Promenade, and the Bonnet House Museum and Gardens.

Not Viral: Ironing Man

Not every funny video on the web makes it to ‘Viral’ status. Much like this Iron Man spoof “Ironing Man” which I have just come across. It has been out for the better part of a year, and has been seen more than a quarter of a million times, yet I would describe it as a flop.

A flop only because it has clearly been designed to be a viral video and has had a lot of money spent on it. Yet Viral videos of recent days have managed to hit millions in less than a couple of days of release. If it was just 2 guys messing around having spent no money, maybe we could class it as a success, but not when its had so much work into it. Anyway nothing else interesting is happening on the internet today so here it is:

Cirque du Soleil Does Dubai

The Cirque du Soleil is to begin a 15 year run in Dubai after branching out to the middle east. Nakheel has signed an exclusive multi-million dollar 15-year deal with Cirque du Soleil to have a permanent venue and show at the heart of the Palm Jumeirah.

Cirque du Soleil in Dubai

The venue will be the only permanent Cirque show outside the US, China, and Japan – “a major coup for Dubai,” claims Nakheel CEO Chris O’Donnell. “We will have the Atlantis Hotel, Trump tower and now the Cirque du Soleil, three iconic buildings and entertainment venues on the Palm Jumeirah”. Cirque du Soleil made its first appearance in Dubai at the beginning of this year from January 4 and ran an extended two-month long run of shows.

Their permanent show in Las Vegas called ‘O’ opened in 1997 and every show has played to full houses for thirteen years bringing in seven million people. People often plan their holidays around their viewing of the show. This is the desired effect for the Dubai version.

But this the deal was signed back in 2007 before the global economic meltdown. Will people still be prepared to fly to Dubai now that money is much tighter? Here is what they had to say to BBC News:

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