It beats the hell out of me why a phone manufacturer would release a mobile phone into the market place which was soiled by the software of another company.
I refer to SonyEricsson & the release of the W810i (I'd be confident it occurs to other models as well).
The phone itself is brilliant, but only after some extensive work through forums & programs, have I been able to get to this point.
I purchased the phone from a dealer without being on a plan (which works out cheaper for myself in the long run). Straight out of the box from the supplier, without any intervention from a single person in Australia, on it's way to my doorstep, I find it has been encoded with a whole heap of software from Optus.
All the menus, buttons & configuration in the phone was locked so that virtually anything pressed tried to link to the services of Optus. Now, being a Telstra user, obviously this is not really appropriate & I had one of those cold sweat, "What have I done?!?" moments!
After many hours of research, I found the only way to correct & remove the offending material was to "flash" the phone. Not something for the faint hearted! Thankfully, hundreds of people around the world have had the same issue, carrier dependent firmware which destroys the use of the phone.
I took the plunge & used some third party program to perform the flash & I'm unsure at this stage about my standing on the phone's warranty. However, it was completely successful & is as SonyEricsson intended it to be in the first place & it's nothing short of first class.
I've upgraded from a SonyEricsson T610 which has been perfect for three years, but with a nice camera, music player facility & extra stuff I'm still finding, the W810i is the new friend in my pocket.
The question is though, why would SonyEricsson allow Optus to install software on it's mobile phones if it literally ruins them? There is such a good phone hidden by the software that I'm surprised they would damage their reputation unless there was major money involved.
Now I have the ability to provide substantially better photos on this site & potentially video, if I can work out how to integrate it properly! Expect some better quality content around here!
I'm going backwards to go forwards here, which is probably appropriate because I'm writing about Split Enz!
Split Enz entered the music scene way back in 1972, three years before I came into being. There was little chance I would have been a fan back then, but due to Neil Finn joining the band in the early 80's & the success of his solo & Crowded House efforts, I've been exposed one way or another to the sounds of the Enz over a number of years.
Last Wednesday night, the Enz played the Entertainment Centre in probably the biggest show I've been to. Literally thousands of people crammed the foyer before the show & unfortunately I didn't manage to even get close to the merchandise stand. Even after the show I had to walk away empty handed.
Evermore played support & for a three-piece band with songs which don't really fit a large venue, they did exceptionally well & probably gained a few extra fans in the process. Normally support slots suffer from poor sound, but who ever they've got for a sound engineer, they should keep them.
Split Enz made a theatrical appearance, then got down to the job of bringing some old hits back to life for one last blast. Everyone in the band enjoyed the show & at various points some of them couldn't stop smiling as the crowd of all ages got into the songs for all they were worth. Neil's voice had a couple of moments of straining which has plagued him recently, but after a cup of his wife's tea, by the encores was back in full flight.
It was good to see that the arrangements of the classics were held pretty close to the originals. I've heard many versions of "Message to my girl" & was glad to see an original Enz version rather than something new & out of context.
Whatever Tim Finn does solo or otherwise, he will always be the front man of Split Enz & through personality alone, no one else could hope to come close. Noel played his spoons solo to a great reception & Eddie played the piano just that little bit too well to be human!!
By the end of History Never Repeats, the whole crowd was standing, which is a miracle in conservative Adelaide. All in all a great show.
I must note that I had two other Frenz fan club members on either side of me who were both seeing their first Enz show. I never caught the name of the lady on my left but on my right was Gerald from Kassel in Germany who had a great time & hopefully enjoyed the Perth gig as well. Traveling from Germany & leaving his wife & two kids behind shows one hell of a commitment!!
Adelaide Airport is a desolate place just before 5am on a Saturday morning.
My folks caught the red eye to Sydney for the week & I dropped them off & had a look around the new terminal. Before too long there was a flurry of activity & Hudson's Coffee right in the middle had it's work cut out trying to wake people with it's hot caffeinated goodness.
While we were there, all the other outlets began to open their doors. Cocolat, Virgin, Cibo & even Shades Sunglasses were beginning to trade. Why anyone would want to buy sunglasses at 6am when it's pitch black is beyond me! The girl serving there should have waited until 10 to open!
I was caught off guard by just how long the terminal is from one end to the other. There are a couple of travelators which should help the situation but they don't really go anywhere. They last probably 20 metres & then stop, yet the area they are in is a couple of hundred metres long!! Very strange!
The whole time I was there, I was hoping for the cameras to turn up & film "Hello/Goodbye", then I could start crying & making a fuss. A few girls & someone who seemed to be their grandmother turned up & were indeed quite tearful. We though all the girls were going but in the end only one of them was. There was a fair bit of hugging & sobbing, but as soon as the gate was opened & the girl started her walk down to the plane, the rest of them were walking back through the terminal & never once turned around. The girl heading towards the plane was visibly distressed & by the time she would have made it to her seat, her family were probably half way home!
By the time I made it home, the sky was just starting to turn to a navy blue. I thought about going back to bed, but I did a bit of tidying & when it felt like it should be early in the afternoon, it wasn't even 9am!! One thing about getting up early, you gain a whole lot more of the day!
Yesterday, I made up for it by waking just before the clock hit midday. Now I'm back to normal, so all is right with the world once more!
Pick a number between 1 & 99, add the two digits in the number together & subtract it from the number you chose. Find the result in the table & it's corresponding symbol & be amazed when you click on the crystal ball!
Last week was a three movie week for me, seeing one which was okay, one which was great & one which was crap of the highest order!
Firstly, due to the Hotel wanting to find a movie for a promotion night, I managed to see Confetti, which will be released in Australia in a couple of months. The venue was the Wallis Theatrette on Richmond Road, attached conveniently to their head office. I would never have found it in the dark had it not been for other cars I recognised heading into a car park. It seats about fifty or so & is used for reporters & critics to preview films as well as other private functions. The only problem is the critics seated around us had no problem with talking or shuffling around, but I suppose they see films there all the time & are quite simply bored.
Confetti is a British comedy in the same vain as the Full Monty. Essentially, the plot covers a wedding magazine holding a competition for the most unusual wedding & follows three couples contesting to win a house & their faces on the magazine's cover. It's filmed like a documentary which is novel but breaks up the flow of the film. Overall, it's a chick flick with a few good laughs, but wait for a rainy day & pick it up on DVD. It's not one for the big screen.
Animated films like Cars are no longer written for kids. Whilst they are marketed as being movies to keep the younger age group entertained during the holidays, Cars is full of detail which only adults can appreciate. From drowsy driving to the extremely hotted up Japanese cars with fluorescent lights everywhere are touches which can't help but make you laugh out loud. I know I first spotted the making of Cars back in 2002, but the changes to CGI technology required it to be reworked & it's come up a treat. Go see it, Go see it, Go see it!!
I don't think I've ever had a giggling fit in a cinema before & at one point I seriously considered walking out to compose myself. What the hell were Kurt Russel & Richard Dreyfuss thinking when they took roles in Poseidon?!?
I knew the film was going to be reasonably bad going in, but unlike the Poseidon Adventure, the original version, this one is way too corny to get any sort of involvement with such a desperate situation as you're ship falling over. What caused my fit of sniggering was the constant one liners which are very out of place in a life threatening environment. Clichés a plenty!
From the way the characters act, it's almost like they had just watched the original film & knew they had to climb out through the bottom of the ship without considering any options. Don't bother going to see this flick, unless you want a laugh. I probably wouldn't watch it on DVD either as no afternoon could be wasted as badly!
Firstly, a big thank you to the people who flashed their headlights at me on Happy Valley Drive. It made me spot the koala walking in my path & you'll be happy to know I missed him & he made it across the road safely! If I hadn't had someone attract my attention, I most probably would have hit him in the dark.
Okay, Something For Kate played at Fowlers Live last night with one of the most enthusiastic crowds I've seen at a SFK gig.
The support act of Damn Arms were interesting.... The jury is still out on whether they were any good, but from where I was standing, they weren't the greatest. One guy pushed people out of the way on his attempt to get to the front of the stage where he proceded to try & grab the bass player & declared "You guys are wicked!!". So at least someone liked them!
It was good to hear Paul, Steph & Clint in Adelaide playing new & old stuff again. Plenty of classics including the eventual inclusion of Pinstripe after persistent screaming from two girls beside me. I still don't know if they recognised the song when they played it! I was going to put up a set list, but since I don't know the names of their new stuff, it would make it a bit pointless.
Random highlights: Clint got all over enthusiastic & smashed a drumstick in two during a song, which Paul then stepped on barefoot a few times without noticing (I'm sure there are some nasty splinters. (I also noticed the tip of a drumstick fly off into the crowd at high velocity at one point.)) The crowd singing (especially during Beautiful Sharks) was of a high quality & far more noticable than prior shows. Electricity, a song I've always wanted to hear live was worth the wait. Totally unexpected covers of Rock the Casbah from the Clash & Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen. To whoever did a bluetooth search & sent me an image, cheers!
Hearing a band live gives such a good appreciation of what distinguishes a good band from a crap one. I'm finally giving Muse a bit of a rest, with SFK's playing on my stereo which I'm enjoying all over again!
