Excessive Opinions

Sorry, I’m away from my computer until Sunday and I hadn’t really had time to plan ahead. My bad. Yesterdays lack of an update was caused by the need to sleep.

So Sunday there’ll be an update, and then next week should start updating as normal.

I forgot I needed another post today, oopse. So excuse if the following seems rushed.

So the new Facebook? It looks exactly the same just more confusing. I’ve had to explain to two people how to log off already and it’s barely been a day. Facebook changes, that’s just part of life but usually it changes for a reason.

The best point about change, when it comes to websites, is it keeps things fresh. Myspace died because it was the same, constantly. Facebook changes a lot and usually it’s for the better: new security features, improved friend-finding services, better application interface, a twitter rip off and a chat service. (To name a new good changes in the past.)

The problem here is the new design… Looks like the old design. There’s a different between “doing up” your kitchen and simply moving everything around so that you can’t find your oven mitts. For some reason they’ve moved the tabs found at the bottom of the page, yet left the chat and duplicated it on the left with the “Friends Online” (Which in itself is pointless, as all it does is open up the chat tab.). They’ve changed the slightly confusing news/live update stream to a weird Top/New news stream. It’s only one feed but now you can change the order. At least News/Live made more of a difference.

Where the right hand bar used to be filled with important information, they’ve slightly just moulded it into the background more. With a confusing application navigation on the left I’ve just completely given up on the Facebook poker. At least the bookmark system gave you the applications you wanted.

There are now four links to my own profile so either they left the old links in by accident or they pointlessly decided to add a new ones. If you include the logo, there’s also an extra home button too. Practically the entire top right hand corner of the page is useless apart from the moved “Account” tab. The single “Chat” tab on the bottom right looks weird on it’s own, and can be opened by either simply clicking on it, like before, or by clicking the “View All” on the left below “Friends Online.”

They’ve moved the Notifications to the top left, adding a Friend Request and Mail feature with that. Probably the only decent change within the whole site.

Basically, the options you need are hidden away and then the ones you don’t they’ve simply duplicated. The chat looks weird by itself and pretty much all the options on the left are either useless, too confusing or just stupid. I’m not usually one to complain about the Facebook changes, it’s a part of being online and usually only takes a few days to get accustomed. This time it just seems like they haven’t thought it through.

Seriously, I know nothing of music. I’m still listening to The White Stripes, have they even released an album this millennia? I don’t know this stuff.

Wow, so Wikipedia tells me they have, last one was 2007? I didn’t know that, gotta find that newish one then. Hm. So yeah, I don’t know music. The Lonely Island is a real band for me, honestly. That stuff is actual rap.

I don’t know where I’m going with this. Music isn’t my strong suit.

Having said that, I was listening to Florence and the Machine before anyone else, literally that stuff was on my myspace back when people used myspace. That’s like my only forward thing I’ve done music wise. Florence is my claim to indie music knowledge.

I know webcomics, films and TV shows, I write a fair bit and I even read a little. Music I listen too, just not much. Black Eyed Peas, Freezepop, Hot Chip and the Flobots.

So, I own a 32GIG second generation iPod Touch, my phone has an 8GIG memory stick which is hardly touched my music. Even my computer has an extremely organised iTunes list; every song and album is in its correct place and has assigned tags and artwork.

They’re just not really listened to.

(To prove exactly how little I know, I thought “album” was spelt “albumn” until like just now.)

I’m sorry that this post isn’t particularly inspired or meaningful. Or even really about anything too much. It doesn’t have a purpose or a meaning or even really written too well. I just can’t seem to think straight, so this is what you get.

No major post today, just wanted to take a step out from the norm to say “Woo, Go Saints!”

I have been telling everyone it was Saints year, mentioned it on my twitter and I even put a little money on it. So that’s rather nice. =P Being in England I haven’t seen the whole game yet but I’ll probably give it a watch later on in the week, from what I’ve seen it looks good.

So the saints hadn’t won a super bowl till today and they were the underdog this year despite performing amazingly well all season. The victory parade has already been planned for Tuesday, but no mention of the route or what have you. Kinda makes me wish I was in America because that’ll totally be awesome to be a part off.

Anyway, I’ve got money, I’ve also got bragging rights as everyone I know has been telling me Colts. Today is a good day.

So I got a massive virus attack on Sunday, that sucked and it was incredibly annoying. What is more annoying would be that once I got rid of the virus, something I’m not actually positively sure I have done, my computer was all screwy.

It’s still all screwy.

Nothing quite works, it’s somehow decided to forget how to use an .exe file and most applications don’t work fully. The CPU is constantly being overused and I’m now left with a painful choice. Do I format and reinstall everything, or do I wage through. This is my work laptop and I need it actually working.

Luckily I’ve written my site’s posts up to Thursday, and the computer is working enough for me to write this here now for Friday. The weekend? I’m not so sure. Next Monday is completely uncertain.

So don’t expect anything, I’m staying optimistic but I very well might have to buy a new computer. Over the next few days I’m going to try and backup the information here but it’ll be a long process and even after I’ve done that there’s no guarantee I can get everything on here working. I don’t have the discs to reinstall windows and most of the software licences will simply be invalid by a reinstall so it’s a hard choice to make.

Just a heads up.

A slight modification on the mysterious background, this peeve is slightly less prominent but notably more annoying. This is: limitless ability. To explain better, this is when a character has the ability to do just about anything, although it’s usually focused on one specific aspect.

Obvious examples here: the spy who always makes the perfect shot, the thief who can break any safe, the poker player which always wins or the policeman who always sees what other don’t. These crop up in a lot of shows and it can be either a crutch or actually done rather well.

To be fair, I wouldn’t include the Sherlock Holmes books here, it may seem as if he knows everything but there’s always justification. His using a new form of investigative perception here and so in context he knows a lot. I would, however, include Sherlock Holmes from the recent film. Although we, as the audience, would easily be able to work out everything he does, it may all make logical sense and not everything always goes his way; he still works out things using information his not actually privy to.

People who use new technology, have a better background knowledge or are just lucky can still have faults. The problem here is when it’s overplayed or not thought out correctly.

Something pointed out by a lot of people, even the writers, is that Dr.Who’s sonic screwdriver is the ultimate tool in which to get out of trouble. The Doctor can talk his way out of any situation, he can work through any computer, he knows every piece of information necessary and with the screwdriver he can get through any door, lock or physical obstacle.

This device has changed a lot over the years, mainly for that reason. Writers have made it less powerful, creating a couple ‘kryptonite’ locks. Removing it completely from The Doctors arsenal in a few incarnations, others simply using is sparingly or keeping it as a backup. For further information on the specifics:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_screwdriver