Once in a while, I like to watch a teen movie to see what the recent crop of up and coming talent may be. Talent spotting is a fun endeavour, as is to find out how it plays out in the long run. Sometimes, there's a young actor or actress that makes my old cynical heart beat faster and that makes sitting though a movie such as Prom 2011 absolutely worthwhile.

Here we are - coming up to the final tense frames of the 2011 Shanghai Masters Snooker Tournament. The combatants are the World No. 1 and 2 respectively - Mark Selby from England and Mark Williams from Wales.

We are sitting on the edge of our seats as the score moves to 7 frames all - and the coverage cuts out!

Well, it's official now.

The New Age is dead.

It was already in the hospital in the mid eighties, then was moved into the hospice at the turn of the century. There it lingered on, until the global recession hit ... hard ...

RIP, New Age.

How do I feel about it?

Banks ... don't you just love'em?

Or are you amongst those who feel that all working in the banking industry in the UK are evil, bloodsucking leeches that should be doused in petrol and set alight?

Well, whatever viewpoint you might hold, here are some bank fun examples that crossed my path just recently, featuring NationWide, Barclays, Virgin Credit Card, Capitol 1 to name but a few. Read them and weep.

Next time you are thinking of buying a Mercedes Benz through a dealership in the UK, STOP. Don't.

Instead, find a gypsy on a street corner to buy your car from. He'll be friendly. He'll sell you a car for an agreed price with a handshake and won't go back on that, or come round later with a bunch of solicitors demanding more.

The car will have an MOT, a bit of tax. You know what you let yourself in for and you take your time and check the car, see if it's ok. Then you drive away and that's that.

Which is an experience one million times better than you would have if you were to try and buy a Mercedes Benz from an official Mercedes Benz dealership in the United Kingdom today.

I don't know what it is about this show, it certainly isn't pretty boys, it certainly isn't uplifting in the traditional sense of the word, or inspiring in the same sense though it grabbed me within the first couple of episodes.

Sons of Anarchy is about a biker gang. It's brutal, uncompromising, stark and at times shocking so it's quite unusual for me to have become so deeply engrossed so quickly and I found myself watching the first two seasons back to back over a couple of weeks. I just couldn't put it down, as they say.

I found myself, with Silvia and my daughter, one Saturday evening on the rooftop of the De La Warr Pavilion with 60 life sized cast iron bodies of Antony Gormley. Not something that happens everyday.

There were five each of twelve different postures casted from moulds of the artist himself. In itself something of a feat of endurance I suspect.

I saw the other day on BBC TV a science spokesperson make the case that the normal way in which things are reported by the BBC, namely to state one opinion, and then to find another alternative opinion to give a balanced view of the situation or argument, should be suspended in the case of science, as science knows the truth, and anyone who holds a divergent opinion to whatever that science truth may be, must therefore be a deluded idiot and should never be quoted on TV.

This incredible arrogance that goes even beyond what the Catholic Church would dare say in public these days has prompted me to think about science - and how deeply disappointed I am with science the religion of the 20th century.

Here is my open letter to the members of the church of science.

And I really do. It's an amazing thing, like when you find something for the first time and it feels so right, like something you've been waiting for or a song you've heard for the first time and it feels familiar like you've known it for ages. That's what something classic, elegant, useful and timeless feels like. And that's what holding an iPad for the first time felt like.

I have been watching the British election chaos of 2010 with some interest and from some different perspectives. One of those is my own, as a non-voting permanent resident foreigner in the UK and with slightly detached amusement; the other is that of a first time voting 20 year old, who has taken an interest in politics for the first time and is asking some rather interesting questions.

Right.

I've had it with that Go Compare Opera Ad - I am now declaring this to be the worst advertisement EVER, and I am calling for a full on boycott on anyone getting their car insurance from a company that does not just destroy MY TV viewing pleasure, but also must cost OTHER advertisers A FORTUNE.

Let me explain.

Has Microsoft solicited the services of Satan for their new Windows 7 operating system advertising campaign entitled, "I am a PC ..."?

Alex Kent got asked for ID at Tesco when purchasing a bottle of red wine and was not happy about it...

I've been getting increasingly more fed up with the state of affairs in the UK. 112 years of labour government, and all the fun seems to have gone out of everything. Endless annoying laws "for your own good". Speedbumps everywhere, metaphorical speedbumps as well as real ones, and I hate both. Tightening the screws on personal freedom. Such as the new proposed law to make it illegal to smoke in your own car.

What is a person to do, we ask?

I am delighted to hear that a fourth movie from the Riddick universe is on the cards (or a third, if you don't count the animated one). The Chronicles of Riddick wasn't well received when it was first released in 2004, but I think it's an excellent movie for a number of reasons.

I switched to BT last year, thinking that as they own all the lines they would be the most reliable of all services offered. Not so!

I love this camera!

My partner lent me his new Olympus Pen E-P1 for a trip I never took and I have completely fallen in love with it and am hoping he will leave it here, indefinitely. Every time he comes over he looks at it longingly and I give him a, please leave it a little longer, look back.

On behalf of the super admins of The StarFields Network, I would like to welcome I SAW THAT DOT COM to the world wide web!

SpaceNodes have a habit of inspiring new projects and visions, and to make friends with the Zeitgeist is certainly a good idea, especially if you're getting on in life, getting married, getting long in the tooth, as the case may be.

So, who is the Zeitgeist, and where do you get to meet it in person? And what happens when you do ...?!

I was hanging around at WH Smith and saw this book on the shelf. "Hey!" I said. "Paul's got a new book out! I shall purchase it forthwith!" My son questioned the wisdom of this as he is used to me WRITING just such books, but I told him that we should encourage one another and the least we can do is to buy and read each other's books! So when I got home, I put my feet up and took a good look at Change Your Life in Seven Days  ...