Showing posts with label Free entertainment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Free entertainment. Show all posts

Friday, 10 July 2015

My Favourite Toy

There's something I have been meaning to rave about it on the Blog for ages.   Do you remember back in the 1980's/1990's, when you'd read science fiction books and the hero/heroine would reach for their "communicator" or "link" to look up something on the computer?  Or to make a video call/read a document/watch TV?  Or to record something?  I remember wistfully thinking "I wish I had one of those!".  Well, four years ago, I got one - I purchased my first iPhone - and, as far as I am concerned, my iPhone is the Best. Toy. Ever!   I use it for everything.

Really, I do. I currently have a 64GB iPhone 5, bought a year ago, and there's less than 10GB free.  As well as making calls or sending text messages via my phone network, I access my bank from it; quickly surf the internet to find out or confirm something; read my latest book via Kindle at lunchtime; chat to Our Man in the Middle East via WhatsApp;  chat to my sister in Australia for free on Viber.  It's my primary camera and stores most of my music.  I've written blogs on it (although the Blogger App is a bit clumsy).  I talk to friends and family on Facebook; visit Ravelry for knitting inspiration; download and listen to podcasts, as well as audio books while I drive.  Every morning, you'll find me doing my daily French lesson on Duolingo (which is free).   There are exercise programs I attempt follow (look out for the free 7-Minute Workout and RunKeeper).  For calorie counting, I use My Fitness Pal.   I use the BBC apps all the time, including iPlayer and iPlayer radio.

So much of what I use on the iPhone is free.  As well as podcasts, most of the 100+ Kindle books I have were free via BookBub (or discounted to 99p).  All the BBC content is free.  As is Duolingo and the Learn French videos on youtube.

The only thing that detracts from my iPhone is the network.  A year ago,  when I upgraded to the iPhone 5, I switched to Vodafone and I'm not impressed. Can't get a consistent signal anywhere.  Can't get a signal at all for large tranches of the day in my office - never had a problem with my old network - and even in the centre of London I've had problems.   I am counting the days until I can break the contract.

Excuse me.  I'm off to play with my Toy.

- Pam

Sunday, 26 February 2012

Free Entertainment: Kermode and Mayo's Film Review Podcast

I've mentioned before that I'm a big fan of radio.  I'm also a huge fan of podcasts and audiobooks.  If you look at my MP3 player, half of its 16GB is occupied by music; the other half is occupied by either podcasts or audiobooks. Of course, podcasts are the free/cheap entertainment of the affluent - you need a computer/smartphone and internet access to play.

My absolute favourite podcast is Mark Kermode's and Simon Mayo's Film Review, which is their Friday afternoon radio program edited to remove the travel and news items.  Even if you aren't a huge film buff, the interplay between Simon and Mark will have you in stitches.  The only problem I have with them is that I have so many knitting podcasts on my playlist that I have to make a conscious effort to move  "Kermode" up to the top of the list each week, or I fall too far behind and have to spend a week catching up.

Last Friday, I caught up on the "Kermode" from 10th February, where they reviewed both the 3D release of Star Wars Phantom Menace and the new Muppet film, The Muppets.  Mark was justifiably scathing about George Lucas' latest attempt to extract money from a gullible public.  To summarise:  the original film was poor; the retrofitted 3D version was worse.  Lucas has only re-released it for the money to be made from merchandising. 

What cracked me up, though, was their response to the clip he played of Yoda ("Thank you Fozzie") because Yoda did sound exactly like Fozzie Bear.    Sadly, I can't find that clip but you should try Simon's Fozzie Bear impression  because it's very entertaining.  I'd just walked back to the car after a night out and had to lean against it to stay upright, I was laughing so hard.

I really urge you to try this podcast.  It's available globally via iTunes and there is an archive of several years' worth of podcasts.   Each episode lasts approximately an hour and forty five minutes.  You can get a flavour from this collection of clips. I'd particularly recommend their Twelve Days of Christmas if you want a laugh.

- Pam