Rev Stan's blog

First time I've seen images of David Tennant as Hamlet. Did I mention how excited I am about seeing this at The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford in August?

Been planning to upgrade my digital compact for a while. Mosh bought me the little Pentax Optio SV about four years ago and it's been brilliant but technology has moved on and, most importantly, so have shutter speeds.

My only real gripes about the SV were the terrible shutter lag which made taking shots of moving objects very tricky if nigh on impossible and the small viewing screen which made it difficult to see the picture, particularly in bright weather.
Anyway Mosh hinted that he might get me a new one for my birthday which would be just in time for our holiday. As I'm familiar with the Pentax and have all the batteries and memory cards that go with it, it made sense to get another, so now I have a shiny new Optio A40.
Haven't really had a chance to play with it much yet as it's only a few days old but I am already impressed with the improvement in the shutter speed and have discovered one or two new little functions that the old model didn't have for example the soft flash:

With full-on flash (left) and soft flash (right) which I think gives the subject a more natural look.

(Model: AKA Vasquez; cocktail: Camilla Parker Bowells at the Hard Days Night Hotel Liverpool; jacket: Model's own.)

The A40 also has a staggering 12 mega pixel capacity which is way more than I need but nice to have for those one off detailed shots. I remember when Mosh got me the older model which is 5 MP and he said then that was way more than I needed. Technology doesn't half move fast.
So we are off to Greece at the crack of sparrow tomorrow. All the guide books say how photogenic Greece is so I'm hoping to put my new toy through it's paces and you never know I may actually have learnt how to use one or two more functions on it by the end of the fortnight (or Mosh will have worked them out for me, hopefully)

It's not often I agree with Empire magazine but in this I do. Donnie Darko is up there among my top 5 favourite films of all time and it is just wrong, wrong, wrong.

The Greek for please is pronounced pa-ra-ka-lo, thank you is ef-kha-ri-sto and 'that was amazing' is i-tan ka-ta-plik-ti-ko

Anyone else learn something new today when they should have been working?

What does Chinese short-hand look like?

Apologies. It was my birthday and I got so wrapped up in me, me, me that I completely forgot that it was also my friend Alan's birthday (I did text him), Tony Blair's birthday (didn't text him) and George Clooney's (wanted to text him). And so as penance I've posted these pictures ;0)

In pictures, sort of:

(I had my lap top in a ruck sack which is why my shadow looks a bit like a Ninja Turtle
Views along my walk (I'm so lucky to live close enough to enjoy this walk to work)
It's refreshing to know that I have such an innocent reputation around the office. Several people asked Nadia if the card was a little too rude for me. In fact it made me snort with laughter, it was perfect. And I spent most of the day eating the cake, after all a chocolate high is a good state to  be working in...
Decided to have a picnic at lunch time (Nadia actually got a tan mark).
Or two with Mosh and my friend Kate followed by delicious chinese at my favourite restaurant in China Town: Fung Shing (soft shell crab followed by honey roasted eel, delicious)
And back home to open my pressies which were particularly fab this year, most notable being a new digital camera which is a much better version of the one I've already got from Mosh and some headphones to replace the ones I lost in Cuba and a beautiful silver bangle from my friend Chris with a quote from my favourite Shakespearean play on it.
Also got a massive haul of my favourite brand of plain chocolate which should probably last me weeks but probably won't...

What personality trait has gotten you in the most trouble? 

Opening mouth before engaging brain.

Have a friend who is living and working in Moscow at the moment. Her birthday is at the end of November so I sent her a small present and card to her work address copying it from her email signature.
It never arrived.
Stolen I thought.
Then yesterday it turned up in my office, in London, card and gift opened but intact. The return address I'd put on it was my home address.
So where has it been for the last five months?
I know it's been bouncing around south London for a while because of the scrawls of different postcodes written on it. My return postcode was a little unclear and, as I'd reused a padded envelope, a postman with initiative had partially ripped off the Moscow address to reveal the original label which was to me at my work address.
But there are no clues as to whether it got to Russia and why it came back.
Once I received a postcard a friend had sent while on holiday in Italy a year after she got back.
Is it a case of it maybe falling down behind the sorting bench and being forgotten about until someone decides to do a thorough tidy up or do posties play postal roulette and if the bottle stops on your package it get lobbed in the corner for six months?

Boris got in.
And even more worrying, the BNP won a seat.