Just started a new diet, in an attempt to be able to fit into my clothes once more!
I'm measuring progress using my weight, and also my fat index (there's a machine here which can apparantly work it out). So, the starting stats are:
Height: 178cm (5'10")
Weight: 80.8 kg (12st 10lb)
Fat Index: 21.6%
Apparantly the normal weight range for my age, etc is 63.4kg - 78.9kg, so I'm a little bit over! That said, I do think it didn't quite get my height right!
James's Journal 2002 (show oldest first)
Fri 8 November 2002
Tue 22 October 2002
Just a quickie to mention the films I caught on my recent trip to the states. Will do reviews when I have half a second (it's a mad time for me right now), but at least if they're listed I might be around to it one day!
So, in full and in no particular order:
Part of my lack of time has been contributed to by a couple of new games - Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness and SOCOM: Navy Seals, the latter of which also happens to be an online game!! But more about that in the games section
So, in full and in no particular order:
- Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life
- Terminator 3
- Pirates of the Caribean
- Two Week's Notice
- Down with Love
- Agent Cody Banks
- X2
- Tortilla Soup
Part of my lack of time has been contributed to by a couple of new games - Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness and SOCOM: Navy Seals, the latter of which also happens to be an online game!! But more about that in the games section
Tue 1 October 2002
Yes- managed 15 mins @ 10kph.
Also went to the theatre on Thursday - saw Up on the Roof - and am going to the cinema tonight to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Also went to the theatre on Thursday - saw Up on the Roof - and am going to the cinema tonight to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Tue 24 September 2002
Gym update.
Another morning to the gym - 15 mins @ 9.5 kph.
Followed it up with some messing around with the multi-gym, but nothing serious.
Another morning to the gym - 15 mins @ 9.5 kph.
Followed it up with some messing around with the multi-gym, but nothing serious.
Tue 17 September 2002
Gym update.
Went last Tuesday and this morning. Last week I did the treadmill - changed speed a bit, but probably averaged out to about 15 minutes at 8.5 kph.
This morning did the ergo - 3k in 14.05 minutes, followed by 3 minutes on the treadmill @ 9 kph, before it hurt to much to continue! :)#
Went last Tuesday and this morning. Last week I did the treadmill - changed speed a bit, but probably averaged out to about 15 minutes at 8.5 kph.
This morning did the ergo - 3k in 14.05 minutes, followed by 3 minutes on the treadmill @ 9 kph, before it hurt to much to continue! :)#
Mon 10 June 2002
Well, another day, another diary entry..
Just spent my lunchtime fixing this website, thanks to the W3C HTML Validator. Lots of petty things can up (like the fact you are supposed to use quotes if you do something like <td width="50%">), but there were loads of proper HTML errors too, especially in my tables (</tr></td> is always a good 'un).
So anyway, apologies for any of you who couldn't read my tables!!
Also, off to Stirling on Wednesday for a week's graduate school - should be fun!
Just spent my lunchtime fixing this website, thanks to the W3C HTML Validator. Lots of petty things can up (like the fact you are supposed to use quotes if you do something like <td width="50%">), but there were loads of proper HTML errors too, especially in my tables (</tr></td> is always a good 'un).
So anyway, apologies for any of you who couldn't read my tables!!
Also, off to Stirling on Wednesday for a week's graduate school - should be fun!
Wed 3 April 2002
H'mm - not very good at doing this, am I?
Right, finished Z.O.E. all through, although if I can be bothered I'll go through again and do it a bit better, which releases new options in the head-to-head mode. Got a lack of other games at the mo, so might do it...
Saw Monsters Inc. and Ocean's 11 at the cinema recently. Very different films, but both are very good and enjoyable. I think Monsters Inc. just gets the edge - could see the ruse in Ocean's 11 a mile off, and personally think it could have been done a lot better (take a leaf out of "The Sting", for example).
Also saw Along Came A Spider on DVD - very enjoyable film.. gotta love suspense-y detective films, and I admit I didn't see the twist coming (but wasn't trying too hard). Naff all extras though, which is a shame in this day and age.
On the DVD front, just got 3 through from Oz - Big Trouble in Little China.. superb film, and loads of extras on the DVD, although I've only got half way through the director's commentary. The commentary is.. um.. interesting - seems to be Kurt Russell and John Carpenter in hysterics and catching up on all their news, and occasionally remembering to comment on the movie.
The other two are Dead Poet's Society and Jerry McGuire, neither of which I've played yet.
Finally, just ordered Spyro 2 on PSX. I hugely enjoyed Spyro 1, and it turns out there's another 2 or 3 Spyro's on PSX, and a Spyro on PS2 on the way! Strongly tempted by Gran Turismo 3 on PS2 platinum at only 19.99 now, but am trying to save up for the Linux kit in May.
Right, finished Z.O.E. all through, although if I can be bothered I'll go through again and do it a bit better, which releases new options in the head-to-head mode. Got a lack of other games at the mo, so might do it...
Saw Monsters Inc. and Ocean's 11 at the cinema recently. Very different films, but both are very good and enjoyable. I think Monsters Inc. just gets the edge - could see the ruse in Ocean's 11 a mile off, and personally think it could have been done a lot better (take a leaf out of "The Sting", for example).
Also saw Along Came A Spider on DVD - very enjoyable film.. gotta love suspense-y detective films, and I admit I didn't see the twist coming (but wasn't trying too hard). Naff all extras though, which is a shame in this day and age.
On the DVD front, just got 3 through from Oz - Big Trouble in Little China.. superb film, and loads of extras on the DVD, although I've only got half way through the director's commentary. The commentary is.. um.. interesting - seems to be Kurt Russell and John Carpenter in hysterics and catching up on all their news, and occasionally remembering to comment on the movie.
The other two are Dead Poet's Society and Jerry McGuire, neither of which I've played yet.
Finally, just ordered Spyro 2 on PSX. I hugely enjoyed Spyro 1, and it turns out there's another 2 or 3 Spyro's on PSX, and a Spyro on PS2 on the way! Strongly tempted by Gran Turismo 3 on PS2 platinum at only 19.99 now, but am trying to save up for the Linux kit in May.
Mon 4 March 2002
Finished Jak and Daxter now (top game) - when I have some time will continue with Z.O.E. I've actually also noticed that there's quite a few Spyro games for PSOne (plus a new one on the way for PS2). Saving up for a PS2 hard drive at the mo (May!), but after that...
Been dead busy of late (hence no diary entries) - life is a frantic whirl. At home we've finished digging up the first stage of patio stones, and the skip has been and gone. Next stage is to try and sort out the drainage, plus lay a new patio.
Anyway, main motivation for this entry is a new word - haven't done one for a while, but it caught my fancy:
colubrine \KAH-luh-bryne\: of, relating to, or resembling a snake.
Oh yes, and you can now pre order Harry Potter I on DVD...
Been dead busy of late (hence no diary entries) - life is a frantic whirl. At home we've finished digging up the first stage of patio stones, and the skip has been and gone. Next stage is to try and sort out the drainage, plus lay a new patio.
Anyway, main motivation for this entry is a new word - haven't done one for a while, but it caught my fancy:
colubrine \KAH-luh-bryne\: of, relating to, or resembling a snake.
Oh yes, and you can now pre order Harry Potter I on DVD...
Mon 11 February 2002
Loadsa reviews to do!
Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Rings.
This is a very long film - I'd strongly suggest seeing it somewhere that a) has no kids, and b) has an intermission. After about 2 hours I was getting fidgetty, and starting to mutter "get on with it".
To be honest I wasn't greatly impressed with the film. Nothing wrong with it - very clever in many ways - but ok rather than superb. The cinematics were very good though - loved the scenary, special effects, and the casting was spot on. It's hard to see how they good have made the film better, given the book they were working from, but it just overstayed somewhat, and defintely dragged in places.
Jak and daxter on the playstation 2 - what a fantastic game!! I'm loving it - highly addictive, superb pitch of difficulty (puzzles get progressively harder - almost none are manageable at first attempt, but all of them are possible after several attempts, and can usually be beaten before you get naffed off / check the Internet), and awesome graphics. Well worth obtaining if you have a PS2 (nice and cheap from dvdcrave.com in Oz - see link on left)
Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Rings.
This is a very long film - I'd strongly suggest seeing it somewhere that a) has no kids, and b) has an intermission. After about 2 hours I was getting fidgetty, and starting to mutter "get on with it".
To be honest I wasn't greatly impressed with the film. Nothing wrong with it - very clever in many ways - but ok rather than superb. The cinematics were very good though - loved the scenary, special effects, and the casting was spot on. It's hard to see how they good have made the film better, given the book they were working from, but it just overstayed somewhat, and defintely dragged in places.
Jak and daxter on the playstation 2 - what a fantastic game!! I'm loving it - highly addictive, superb pitch of difficulty (puzzles get progressively harder - almost none are manageable at first attempt, but all of them are possible after several attempts, and can usually be beaten before you get naffed off / check the Internet), and awesome graphics. Well worth obtaining if you have a PS2 (nice and cheap from dvdcrave.com in Oz - see link on left)
Thu 31 January 2002
Been a little unwell of late, so no gym.
Other excitements - started to knock down a wall in our new house - converting the bathroom and toilet into one. That's a new experience for me (and a vvery messy one).
Seen a couple of films recently - Tomb Raider and Miss Congeniality.
Tomb Raider was actually better then I was expecting, because everyone had slated it so much. First of all the DVD is packed full of extras, which we like, and the sound (dolby digital) is reasonable too. It seemed to be heavily biased towards the bass, and the dialogue didn't really seem to be loud enough to hear (unless you wanted to be knocked off your seat by the explosions). That might just be my set-up.
As far as the film goes, it's pleasingly enough on the eye. Angelina Jolie does a fair job of Lara Croft, but the 'emotional' scenes (of which there are many) fail to engage, and the sub-'plots' (I use the term loosely) are just plain obtuse. One's left not caring enough to try to work out who's thinking what, or who has just changed sides (or not). Worse perhaps, it's often only clear that a figure on screen is not a major character when they get killed by some ancient creature or mechanism.
Awesome CGI though - especially love the stone creatures in the Cambodian temple, and it must be said the sets and scenery are breath-taking.
Miss Congeniality is a real "Ronseal" film - it does exactly what it says on the box. No plot surprises (not even a hint of a twist) no gratuituous 'dressing-room' scenes (which would have been oh-so-easy), no mental energy required.
Sandra Bullock really shines though as FBI Special Agent Hart, who has to enter a beauty pageant as Miss New Jersey. She doesn't really convince as the hard-as-nails one-of-the-lads tomboy, but has the fish-out-of-water slighty accident prone woman discovering herself down pat.
I actually really enjoyed it though - very very funny in places, extremely camp throughout, and no-one in takes themselves seriously at all (which is always fun to see).
Have to say a quick word about Michael Caine (who trains her up) - absolutely fantastic, and in some danger of stealing the film.
Finally the DVD - only watched it in stereo, and the sound was fine, picture quality and so on excellent. The extras rock too. Lots of lots of them, and well worth a scan. I unfortunatly didn't have time to watch them, but there seemed to be a lot to choose from.
Other excitements - started to knock down a wall in our new house - converting the bathroom and toilet into one. That's a new experience for me (and a vvery messy one).
Seen a couple of films recently - Tomb Raider and Miss Congeniality.
Tomb Raider was actually better then I was expecting, because everyone had slated it so much. First of all the DVD is packed full of extras, which we like, and the sound (dolby digital) is reasonable too. It seemed to be heavily biased towards the bass, and the dialogue didn't really seem to be loud enough to hear (unless you wanted to be knocked off your seat by the explosions). That might just be my set-up.
As far as the film goes, it's pleasingly enough on the eye. Angelina Jolie does a fair job of Lara Croft, but the 'emotional' scenes (of which there are many) fail to engage, and the sub-'plots' (I use the term loosely) are just plain obtuse. One's left not caring enough to try to work out who's thinking what, or who has just changed sides (or not). Worse perhaps, it's often only clear that a figure on screen is not a major character when they get killed by some ancient creature or mechanism.
Awesome CGI though - especially love the stone creatures in the Cambodian temple, and it must be said the sets and scenery are breath-taking.
Miss Congeniality is a real "Ronseal" film - it does exactly what it says on the box. No plot surprises (not even a hint of a twist) no gratuituous 'dressing-room' scenes (which would have been oh-so-easy), no mental energy required.
Sandra Bullock really shines though as FBI Special Agent Hart, who has to enter a beauty pageant as Miss New Jersey. She doesn't really convince as the hard-as-nails one-of-the-lads tomboy, but has the fish-out-of-water slighty accident prone woman discovering herself down pat.
I actually really enjoyed it though - very very funny in places, extremely camp throughout, and no-one in takes themselves seriously at all (which is always fun to see).
Have to say a quick word about Michael Caine (who trains her up) - absolutely fantastic, and in some danger of stealing the film.
Finally the DVD - only watched it in stereo, and the sound was fine, picture quality and so on excellent. The extras rock too. Lots of lots of them, and well worth a scan. I unfortunatly didn't have time to watch them, but there seemed to be a lot to choose from.
