Over the past few weeks when we’ve gone along to screenings at the Ambassadors Cinema, we’ve seen digital “prints” of films. Prior to seeing the films themselves, we’re treated to some nice new 3D Ambassadors Cinema logos and fancy stuff along with improved resolution adverts. All of them stamped with an EasyDCP logo in the left hand corner of the screen. Which is annoying.
I’ve done a bit of Googling and it turns out that EasyDCP is a digital cinema content creation suite, and what we’re seeing is specifically produced by a trial version (which lasts six months which is quite generous and suggests to me that it’s quite pricey as a consequence).
I’m hoping though, that Ambassadors will soon license the software to get rid of that blasted logo because it’s quite distracting, but thankfully because it only appears on their own generated content (i.e. the adverts and fancy 3D Ambassador logos) so it doesn’t matter too much. The alternative is for Ambassadors to use a dedicated post-production facility to produce their digital projection content on their behalf, but it given that adverts change every so often it could work out much more expensive. That said, it pleases me that they are upgrading individual theatres to digital projection – it can’t be cheap.
But what’s happening with their loyalty scheme (as in the cards you collect which are then stamped to get you a free screening that can be used between Mon-Fri) as they’ve not had any new cards in for weeks? It’s all a bit up in the air as to what happens until they get new cards in stock (if they’re still planning on running the loyalty scheme, that is) – you’re either stamped twice on an existing card (for two people visiting on one payment) or a ticket is stamped (and I guess you need to keep all tickets and present that when 9 stamps hav been collected, which is a bit messy). That said, we have two cards full but haven’t been able to get out to the cinema outside the weekend. Hope there’s no expiry!
Just came back from the Ambassadors Cinema in Woking having watched Dear John. A very good film – much better than I thought it would be. The downside was having to put up with an audience made up mainly of teenagers with an attention span of a one day old gnat. Many of them were still using their mobile phones during the film, or talking. A more evil me would have gone up to a member of staff complaining that there were people videoing the film on their camera phones which would have prompted ejections from the cinema at a pace that would make a gold-winning Olympic athlete look bad. As for the talking, I wanted to tell them that I’m grateful for the additional audio commentary but I’m having problems finding the MUTE button.
What shocked me most was coming home. Whilst walking through Woking we noticed the Saturday night crowd of girls. They were mainly wearing spandex/lycra – either leggings or mini-skirts. Which prompted to think that perhaps I should have invested some of my mother’s inheritance money in the textile industry back in 2000 rather than my then-employers, a web hosting and ISP company for which I lost over £2,000 of my investment. Everybody needs clothes, and the cycle of which particular fashions is regular enough that one would probably see a better return than in a technology company. An ironic statement from me given the industry I work in, but even so I still think that’s the case. If I still had the money today, I’m not sure I would risk in with the likes of Apple & Co. Too risky an investment. Every other girl seems to be wearing leggings, jeggings or something spandexy. That’s where my money should have gone. Du Pont, I should have invested in you. I am kicking myself.
But back to the issue that made me think about this in the first place. I’m wondering if Woking is turning into Soho given the drunkenness, the loudness, the poor taste in clothing and general lewdness that was going on. It felt like a Friday night in Soho with the prostitutes touting for business. Either way, it’s not good.
While my bike is out of action (although now borrowing a colleague’s bike as from today):
I’ve been using Arriva Buses to get me to and from work. And boy is it an eye opener. I usually leave 6:50am to catch the 7am 34 to Guildford. This is a pretty good route and gets me to work in plenty of time (turning up around 8:15). The only real downside is the stop at Bellfields where school kids get on. There are a couple of girls who are constantly screeching and making as much noise as possible and when they’re not doing that, they’re playing music on their mobile phones at full blast. Two businessmen scolded them for this and they just answered back until they were told off again. As soon as the businessmen got off the bus, they cranked up the phones until I told them it was too loud (I had the iPod on with headphones and could hear them loud and clear). They answered back, saying that they were just having a bit of fun before school. I left it at that. I had no wish to get into a shouting match with them. All I know is that they then get on a number 4 or 5 bus and head to Park Barn. They repeat this action almost every single morning. I wonder how Arriva bus drivers keep their sanity.
This morning I took the 28 as I had to prepare for the bike swap and thus left a little later than usual. A group of kids from Merrist Wood College get on at Sainsburys (Knaphill) with me. I’ve seen them before having used to take the 28 during previous bike outages. But they seem to be getting much worse – they’re taking to insulting fellow passengers who have done nothing to them. One girl got off near Pirbright and was immediately criticised by these teenagers about her weight. A man was getting on at Brookwood station and had insults about his hat. And this continued, including insulting the bus driver, pedestrians and so on until they got off at Worplesdon. It got worse as school kids soon embarked and started making racist comments towards a Sikh passenger (who had, perhaps, been lucky enough to be wearing earphones and didn’t hear) – they little game of giving their fellow passengers different names. Don’t know which school these kids were from – they had black blazers and red embroided coat of arms.
Even back in my day (God, I sound like I’m 70 years old) we didn’t take to insulting people. Makes me wonder what kind of parents these kids have to encourage their anti-social behaviour against people who have done nothing to them to warrant such verbal abuse. It’s getting worse, as we’re seeing drunk teenagers boarding the 91 bus and making far more aggressive gestures to passengers. The bus driver tries their best to reason with them, but they just get stroppy and fling more insults until they eventually get bored and leave.
So what’s gone wrong? I have no idea. But I will most glad when Memset upgrade their bike fleet and we get a bike that’s not going to keep breaking down every month – I really dislike using public transport at the moment and will be glad to get away from it.
It’s not terribly nice to see adverts relating to contraceptives and alcohol before a 12 rated film – especially a film which refers to child rape and murder (The Lovely Bones). Felt it was very inappropriate. Not usually a prude, but I’ll make an exception in that case. Unfortunately The Lovely Bones was a load of old trollop and absolutely awful on so many levels, but that’s not your fault (there’ll be another blog post pleading with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens to start writing original material again and lay off the adaptations).
Secondly: love going to the cinema, but why can we not have a better loyalty rewards scheme? The one we’re got at the moment restricts viewing times for the free screening which is awkward and requires NINE trips just to get that. How about a monthly pass, operated similarly to other cinema chains, which would for a fixed price. allow unlimited trips to the cinema each month? Would prefer that rather than a loyalty card to be honest.
Thirdly: please provide better, more comfortable seats or at least put in superior/more comfortable seats for additional cost (again, similar to other cinema chains). The past few things have ran well over two hours and after that time my lower back is really beginning to ache. Those seats need better lower back support.
I decided to leave the electric pushbike at home and embark by bus to Guildford (and consequently to the Surrey Research Park). Sadly, after two buses failed to turn up and an ever increasing queue of old people and student-types, I decided to go by train. This particularly journey didn’t go too bad. Coming back: not so good.
By the time I got to Guildford train station, it had been announced that a car had hit a railway bridge which would affect trains heading into London Waterloo. The announcement boards for incoming trains kept repeating this fact over and over again. By the time a train did come in, all of us bundled into the nearest carriage and set off, thinking we were heading to Woking first.
Oh dear, no we weren’t.
We travelled all the way into London Waterloo where it turned out that the train was going back to Basingstoke via Woking. Had to explain to the ticket inspector that there were no announcements or indications that the train wasn’t a stopping service. The inspector was quite understanding and told me that she had spoken to quite a few people in a similar situation. Got back to Woking close to 8pm and home about 8:30pm. Two and half hours after I left work.
Back on the bike Monday..
Oh, to make matters worse – had to re-install OS X Snow Leopard on the Macbook as it’s been playing silly buggers over the past few weeks. Lots of rainbow beach balls and no activity at all. So had to spent an hour and half wiping and reinstalling everything again. Thankfully our own SquirrelSave service saved me embarrassment when I realised that my SSH keys were wiped. Thank goodness for Cedric the Squirrel!
This week I’d like to have a go at both car drivers and my fellow cyclists. Pedestrians get an honourable mention.
I’m encountering too many cyclists, both adult and children, who are out and about after dark without any lights or reflective clothing. Or helmets. There are also a good number of cyclists who like cutting up both pedestrians and other cyclists without paying attention as to who else may be using the road or pavement. I was coming down the road that leads out of the Vyne and suddenly a cyclist (who DID have lights) cut across my path rather than turning properly into the road.
To the car drivers of Woking and Guildford who have graduated from the School of Psychic Motoring, you will already know what I’m about to say. SIGNAL. And especially: SIGNAL AT TURNINGS AND ROUNDABOUTS. But in particular: KEEP TO THE CORRECT LANE. I cannot describe how frustrated I am at trying to outguess the increasing number of car drivers who fail to correctly signal at junctions and at roundabouts.
I’m also fed up with cars and vans overspilling into the cycle lane around Sainsburys in Brookwood/Knaphill as well as the cycle lane further up Aldershot Road. Or cars PARKED in the cycle lane. And the cars that park right by the roundabout between Southway Road and Aldershot Road in Guildford: why? You’re effectively blocking off an entire lane by your selfishness. It is very difficult to turn left.
is seeing a good number of drivers who fail to get in the correct lane and consequently then pull off when it’s not their turn and nearly collide with cars turning from the opposite direction. The traffic lights at that junction are quite obvious, and yet so many are getting it wrong.
Speaking of Sainsburys at Brookwood/Knaphill – why do Sainsburys security allow kids to ride their scooters/bikes/whatever around the car park? I’ve nearly collided with these kids who shout abuse (at both staff and customers) and generally get underneath the feet of shoppers. This suggests to me that we need more open space/parks in the area for kids to go. A Sainsburys car park is no place for kids to play.
Also to the college students who attend the Merrist Wood College and who walk down the cycle path that connects Holly Lane to Aldershot Road: it’s a cycle path – there is PLENTY of room to the either side (pavement or the road itself). Don’t act surprised to see cycles coming down it. Oh hang on, you don’t – you don’t look or pay attention where you’re going and need to be alerted that somebody is coming down the path. Perhaps the college could offer courses on the Green Cross Code?
