Cinema Disgrace

Teresa and I are avid film fans. At home we have a ginormous plasma screen and regularly rent DVDs. We'd given up going to the cinema because our local establishment (an 8-screen complex in Algarve Shopping Centre, Guia - operated by a company called Castello Lopes) consistently disappointed us on every visit - poor focus, poor sound, pour ventilation, exhorbitant popcorn prices and so on.

But the new film about Queen Elizabeth I - The Golden Age tempted us back. What a mistake! Castello was once again spectacularly successful in spoiling our evening out. First, the men's toilets stank of stale urine. A neatly printed label above each urinal declared that the flushing mechanism had been disabled "to save water" and that instead there was a special chemical block with a "microbiological action" to ensure that everything would smell fresh and hygenic with just one flush per day. Well, Lusmundo management, it doesn't work - the toilets in a Moroccan bus station smell better. And when I pointed the problem out an employee in the foyer, he simply said "Yes, I know." So if he knew, presumably "the management" knew, and yet it still stank.

The next jab at one's sensibilities was the price of the popcorn and drinks - the Ritz in Paris wouldn't dare ask that much.

Once in our seats, it was quickly obvious that the auditorium ventilation was not operating - it was unpleasantly hot and stuffy. Since the outside temperature was mild, I guess they thought they could save money by not running the ventilation.

Then the film started and, guess what? It wasn't properly focussed. After an eye-straining ten minutes I got up and went to find a functionary to fix the problem. A few minutes later it was apparent that someone in the projection booth was attempting to set the focus correctly. The picture snapped into focus, then quickly blurred again. This was repeated three or four times over a five minute period. Then all activity stopped - with the picture still out of focus.

What's more, the projector appeared to be having a problem with it's power supply - the screen image was constantly flickering and oscillating in brightness.

At the interval, Teresa and I got up and walked out in disgust. We'll wait for the movie to come out on DVD. And we are never going back to any establishment owned by Castello Lopes - ever.

Did somebody actually listen to me?

As a follow-up to my earlier post on Languages and Locations, maybe it just a coincidence, or maybe somebody in Google actually read my post and acted on it.

Fact is, all of a sudden, the Blogger toolbar at the top of my blog (which was previously in Portuguese) is now in English!

Well done, Google!

War

Some of the most memorable photographs ever taken have been war images from the likes of Robert Capa, Don McCullin and W. Eugene Smith (to name some of my own heroes). The current conflict in the Middle East is also producing some outstanding photography, in spite of the obvious preference of the US media for images that glorify the combat and the combatants.

The capacity of an image to move a viewer greatly exceeds that of words, written or spoken. Yet today I found a quotation that seems to me to express perfectly the futility of war, a quotation that deserves to be displayed alongside the most telling images.

You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.

- Jeannette Rankin

Languages and Locations

This one has been annoying me for some time now.

Every browser (i.e. Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) has a setting allowing the user to specify their preferred language. Indeed, you can also specify additional languages so that a site can display itself in the first available language in your list. A simple mechanism, understood by all browsers and all web-servers.

More recently, a number of clever geeks have started selling software which locates you, the internet surfer, geographically, according to your current IP number - that being the "coded address" used by the internet to make all the magic happen. Being able to tell that a website visitor it located in Portugal is useful to some sites, in a variety of obvious ways.

Unfortunately, as with every technology, this new capability is already being abused and misused. Microsoft themselves are guilty of misusing it: if I go to look for some technical information on their site, chances are I'll be shown the required document in Portuguese (since I am physically located in Portugal), even though my browse setting clearly states that my preferred language is English and the document is obviously available in English.

Google are also guilty, both on their search site, which regularly tries to make me use their facility in Portuguese, and also on their blogging site, where this blog is hosted. The little tool bar at the top of my blog insists on remaining in Portuguese, in spite of my browser setting AND my stated preference in the blog settings.

This is a clear case of geeks being thrilled with a new toy but failing to think the problem through properly. Come on Microsoft and Google (and countless others) - use the established mechanism for choosing the language and confine your use of that ever-so-clever new geo-location toy to choosing which of your many servers should send me the requested page IN THE LANGUAGE I HAVE SPECIFIED!

Scary stuff!

Are you an adrenalin junkie? Do you like to jump out of airplanes or scuba-dive with sharks, just to get your blood pumping? Perhaps you're the more passive type: do you watch scary movies to get a buzz?

Well, I just came across an alternative. Right here. No white water rafting or crocodile wrestling required: just spend a few minutes to watch this video. I guarantee you'll be frightened.

A Wedding - Una and Alan

Una and Alan, a lovely couple from Dublin, got married last week and I was privileged to photograph their great day.

The ceremony took place in the adorable chapel of São Lourenço, the patron Saint of barbeques (he was roasted over an open fire for his faith). Then it was on to an open air reception at the Vila Sol Hotel followed by a banquet at the Restaurante Caso do Campo in Almancil.

Off the air

Sorry - been off the air for some time thanks to a particularly nasty throat virus for which my doctor says we must thank Eastern Europe.