Just got upgraded to Upper Class on my flight from Shanghai to London on Virgin-Atlantic. Not really too sure why but happy nonetheless. It was actually my first flight with them.

The seat configuration is pretty amazing. You can’t even see another passenger so have a complete feeling of privacy. The onboard bar is also pretty cool.

The last time I was upgraded for free like that was 10 years ago on a United flight from New York to LA.

What better film to watch when you are flying out of a city than The Departed?

This is the perfect American remake of the Hong Kong Chinese movie “Infernal Affairs”. Martin Scorscese has been demolished by the critics for this movie. However, those critics obviously haven’t seen the original. This is Scorcese’s tribute to Hong Kong cinema.

The masses will never queue up for a movie in Cantonese with English subtitles and so they will never understand how far Hong Kong film makers have come since Tarantino and his ilk started stealing from them.

The Departed does not feel like a US movie and that is because Scorcese stayed as true as he could to the orginal but still transporting the story from HK and Triads to Boston and the Irish Mob.

I loved it and despite what you will read in the press, rent “Infernal Affairs” and then watch “The Departed”. You will enjoy both and also understand why the undisputed genius of American film making (Godfather, Raging Bull, The Aviator, need I go on?) saw fit to pay homage to Hong Kong cinema.

If you like “Infernal Affairs” then rent … You will not be disappointed.

Technorati Tags: the departed

Could their new gaming console, the absurdly named Wii, be the end of Nintendo as they descend into bankruptcy in a hail of class action law suits?

One of the consoles main differences from the X-Box and PS3, is that they have a unique controller that you actually use as if it were the implement in the game. For example if you are in a sword fighting game you swing the controller around like a sword.

wiihaveaproblem.com is a blog dedicated to people who have incurred personal injuries or have inflicted pain on others as a result of their Wii’ng.

Here is a sampler of the sort of content you will find.

This is either a media relations nightmare for Nintendo or an expertly crafted buzz marketing campaign. You decide and we’ll check the sales/market share figures in a few months.

Technorati Tags: nintendo, wii

Only in the UK do you find a regional magazine dedicated to people who like drinking beer. It’s good to have hobbies and interests.

My deepest, deepest sympathies to Steve Irwin’s family.

This is still funny though.

British ‘guerilla artist’ Banksy asks a very good question of Paris HIlton. He has cleverly doctored about 500 copies of her new CD and then slipped them into the stock at various HMV and Virgin Megastores in a bout of reverse shoplifting. Brilliant. Check out the full set of photos on Flickr.

Technorati Tags: paris hilton, banksy

This is apparently a new trend in Consumer Generated Media. Ninja photographers sneak up on couples in cars with steamy windows and post the photos online. You have been warned.

This was clearly some geek’s idea of a joke when they wrote this code. Here is the connection URL and class name for JDBC connection to a MS SQL Server 2000 database:

jdbc:microsoft:sqlserver://SQLSERVER;DatabaseName=DATABASE;selectMode=cursor;
com.microsoft.jdbc.sqlserver.SQLServerDriver

For the new MS SQL Server 2005 JDBC driver:

jdbc:sqlserver://SQLSERVER;DatabaseName=DATABASE;selectMode=cursor;
com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver

Spot the difference yet? The new connection string URL doesn’t have microsoft in it, and the new class names has the jdbc and sqlserver switched around.

jdbc:sqlserver://SQLSERVER;DatabaseName=DATABASE;selectMode=cursor;port=1433
com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver

Good way to drive a developer crazy for a little while when migrating their application to SQL Server 2005. I think this is Microsoft’s way of messing with you for using Java instead of .NET for your application.

These guys have developed a Skype client for cell phones and have a wide range of handset support. Unfortunately they don’t support my Blackberry yet so I can’t try it out, but it looks to be very good.

A genunine SWAROVSKI ® Crystal Icing Pepper Spray of course. I am not kidding. http://www.crystalicing.com/.