Fantastic Fantastic Four

Went to see the "Fantastic Four" film tonight. One fantastic film. The fashion these days is for super heroes to be full of angst and grief for some reason or other. So it was good to see a superhero film where the people concerned actually seemed quite pleased to be able to vanish, fly, lift heavy things, squeeze under doors etc etc. Also good to see a film where those involved had the self confidence work on the basis that this good feeling and comic possibilities in the situations would be enough to carry the film, which they were.

If you are being a bit picky you could say that the final confrontation is a bit of an anti-climax and the surname of "Von Doom" is probably a bit of a giveaway for a baddy. But apart from that I'd reccommend it strongly.

The Dean and Edna

Met Derek (aka the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and Technology) up town today. Last week, on the way to the Scarborough Degree ceremony, I suggested that he buy an "Edna". Number one daughter had got one a couple of days before and they are very good. An Edna is an interactive doll tied to The Incredibles film. Very funny. One of the first toys that actually listens to what you say and replies sensibly. You ask "How do I look?" and she will respond with "Sensational dahling", or something else....

Well, Derek bought an Edna (very good price at the Disney store in Hull). Apparently it has been driving everyone up the wall in the Faculty Office ever since.

Doncaster Doings, and Skin Those Teeth

Went off to Doncaster College today to do external examining type stuff to their course. They have a lovely Business Computing Degree (if such a thing can be said to be lovely). We validate it and look at the projects and exam papers. They have some very nice scenario based assessment which is really great stuff. Found out that some of the staff there actually won the lottery! Nothing at the "Retire and buy an island" level, but enough to put a big smile on anybody's face. So now I know a lottery winner or two. Just don't give up the day job yet folks.

Then home to finish off my backup recovery. By some file diddling and renaming we finally brought everything back from the grave and all is well.

I wonder where the expression "Skin of your teeth" comes from?

Skinny Teeth

What do you say to someone who has lost all their files because the server has crashed?

"Good thing you've got a backup"

Then run like the wind.....

My Class Server and Where Would You Think Host went "toes up" last week. I wasn't that worried, because I'd taken a backup of the assessments and the databases around the end of the term. It also needs to be rehosted onto my "Shiny New Hardware" (tm) so I was just going to rebuild the system and restore the old files onto it.

Then I remembered that I had enticed the boss to have a go with Class Server and he had created some work on the system after the backup.

Darn.

So today I got busy with Virtual PC, a few database files, the SQL Enterprise Manager and the Registry Editor. At the moment I can see the files but not touch them. I think I'm going to get those files by the skin of my teeth.....

Van Lag with Dynamite

Got "van lag" today. Didn't think that all that driving would affect me much, but today I'm pretty tired. Of course I still managed to achieve superhuman type things at work today (thank heavens I only use my powers for good) but I felt rather tired as a result of all the effort.

Number on daughter forced me to watch "Napoleon Dynamite" tonight. I'm glad she did. It is an American college flick about the agonies of being young, fit and having a whole life's worth of potential mostly in front of you. The characters are distant and disconnected in that special way that only teenagers are and I suppose that you could say nothing much happens throughout the film. But the locations and events are quite engrossing and it even manages to shoehorn in a surreal happy ending as well. If you want car chases, alien invasions and extravegant set pieces, then don't watch this film. But if you enjoyed "Ghost World", "Gregory's Girl" and "Clueless" then you could do much worse than take a look.