I am now the proud(?) owner of a roof rack for the first time. Oh dear. It’s one step away from the caravan park.

Nikon recently recalled the EN-EL3 batteries that were shipped with many Nikon D70s, including mine. Apparently they can get overheated during recharging.

These things happen. Nikon were let down by their contractor making the batteries, and now they’re fixing the problem. Fine so far as it goes. Some time last week I did what they asked to start the procedure to get a replacement: I registered my battery on the Nikon support website. Over a week later, and the Kraken wakes:

All I can say is, it’s a good job that I chose to buy after-market batteries off eBay rather than extra official EN-EL3s as my spares. Without them, my D70 would be entirely useless for a month or more. Not good enough, not good enough at all. What do Nikon think they are achieving by waiting for a duff battery before deigning to replace it? If I don’t own a D70, what use to me is a battery that only fits that camera? What possible kind of scam could I be running? They are succeeding in alienating customers who’ve spent hundreds of pounds on their products for the sake of twenty quid’s worth of replacement parts.

What the heck? I like chocolate, I like sushi, but really… Kooki Sushi

… the proper mode for a Chinese take-away to package their sesame prawn toast. Just like the ones that we just had this evening. For the record, it should be one of those nice rectangular plastic containers (the ones that make a handy receptacle for your Nitro-Mors next time you’re stripping a wardrobe) but no lid. There is nothing worse than a sweaty, saggy portion of prawn toast. Well, OK, there is. Head in a vice, for instance. Um.

I thought it was fairly likely I would never utter the phrase “that is a beautiful advert”. I suppose it’s almost like Douglas Adams’ famous quip about there being no language which posesses the phrase “as beautiful as an airport”. Anyway, here I sit having seen what I reckon is a lovely piece of film which happens to be trying to sell me a flash Sony LCD telly. Not that I’m too bothered about that: I’m resolved to wait until SED displays arrive and I can have a shiny flat panel screen hanging on my wall that doesn’t have the shortish life and fearsome heat output of plasma, and neither the lag, poorish viewing angle and murky blacks of LCDs.

Still, the Sony Bravia Advert is indeed lovely. I haven’t seen it on TV yet (and God knows I watch enough telly) but it really blew me away. Of course it helps that the music is provided by none other than Jos��� Gonz���lez. I have K to thank for giving me his CD, and her music recommendations are pretty rock solid usually. His album “Veneer” has that rare quality - a real grower that’s already pretty damn good on first listen. “Deadweight on Velveteen” gets close to Stina Nordenstam at her best, and believe me, coming from my mouth that’s a compliment.

I can imagine that the ad execs are going for the same kind of buzz that surrounded the Honda “Cog” commercial, and they may well succeed. I just think it’s pretty. They don’t miss a trick in that they put the whole website up, including behind-the-scenes stuff, from day one. The director, Dane Nicolai Fuglsig, has done himself proud. Now I realise he’s already done great-looking ads like the Audi “Bull” spot, it all starts to make sense…

This is a rare bit of good karma for Sony at the moment, bearing in mind their DRM snafu and so on. I still won’t be buying their telly, though.

Sadly, it’s not one of mine. That would be because the tackle needed to get the shot is a bit beyond my budget. By a lot. A very lot….

Dione and Tethys

How the mighty have fallen. Having to play in the F.A. Cup first round is bad enough, but being taken to a reply by bloody non-league Weymouth is just toe-curling. I remember talking to my bro in law, the shame when I realised that because of our lowly position in League One that we don’t even get a break when it’s an international game weekend - the assumption is we don’t have any internationals, and it’s almost true.

I do wish Forest wouldn’t play in a Brazil looky-likey away strip. It’s just taking the piss.

I can see I’m going to have to add a permanent Stuff-I’d-Like-Treasured-Friends-And-Family-To-Buy-Me page to the nascent About section of the site. Handy!

Anyway, it’s about food. Never miss, either giving me food or a means to make nice food. This time it’s some people’s idea of THE Italian cookbook, recently rejigged and translated into English. Who am I to argue? The guy who recommended it to me is a genuine Italian…

The Silver Spoon

Don’t read work email just before you go to bed, if you want to sleep soundly.

As you may have noticed, I’m in the process of scrapping the drop-down menu at the absolute top of the page in favour of a sidebar, which hopefully you can see to the right. Sorry for any inconvenience.