October ranDOM rant

I recently introduced my ranDOM rants and I’m please to say, back by popular demand (yes, there has been 1 request) we are back with this months’ edition.

Doms ranDOM October rant

Sony Playstation 3

I bought my first Playstation back in 2002. After that, I owned a Playstation 2 for many years and back in March 2007, immediately after it was released, I bought myself a Playstation 3. Yes, you could say I’m a bit of a fan. I love the console, not just as a gaming gadget but I use it as a media suite viewing my videos and photos and storing some of my music. The built in web browser and Blu-Ray player are additional features I really enjoy.

Well, my PS3 served its duty until April 2010 when it suffered the fatal YLOD. A PS3 bug that stands for ‘yellow light of death’. It’s the equivalent of XBox’s RROD (red ring of death) and basically turns your PS3 into nothing more than an expensive paper weight. Nothing will work, it won’t even turn on and if you’re really unlucky it swallows the game you were last playing and won’t eject it. I was one of the really unlucky ones but I opened the little bugger up and at least managed to retrieve my game disc.

Following this, I bought a brand new Playstation 3, slim line, 250GB. At the time, the best a gamer can get. The warranty lasts 12 months. Well, guess what … 17 months into its short life, the graphic chip is gone. Burnt. Relegated to the past tense. This results in the console freezing randomly, if it even turns on in the first place. This is far from ideal when it comes to improving your progress in a game or when you want to watch a film. The console also freezes on the main dashboard. To fix it … that’ll be £145.00 please. That’s almost the same cost as buying a new PS3, except you don’t get a new warranty.

Earlier this year, Sony announced that a hacking attack was to blame for its PlayStation Network being taken offline. The company said that it had taken the PlayStation Network down voluntarily while it investigated an ‘external intrusion’. According to Sony, it has more than 75million accounts registered worldwide. They also announced that details of these accounts such as names, addresses and yes, credit card and bank details were stolen in the hack. Ooooops!

Truth be told, Sony did make up for that last one. They handed out a bunch a free games and made services to PS Plus available for free for 1 month. Additionally, and in my point of view even more impressively, three of the most senior figures behind the SONY PlayStation brand; Kazuo Hirai (CEO), Shiro Kambe and Shinji Hasejima (both senior vice presidents) bowed during a press conference in apology for the security breach in the company's PlayStation Network that caused the loss of personal data of some 75m accounts on the online service. When was the last time you saw a CEO bow in apology?! Probably when the PS3 network went down. And before that?

While my PS3 problem was away being diagnosed and the cost evaluated, I plugged my external hard drive into my XBox and thereby re-formatted the drive. With the click of a single button, I lost my entire collection of work documents, personal photos, videos, movies, TV programmes, music, etc. All gone! I just wanted to scream. Unfortunately, I can’t blame anyone else but me for that but I can’t help but think this wouldn’t have happened had my PS not broken down.

At this point, and concluding this rant, I am severely annoyed only by the fact I should pay £200 for a new PS3. Seriously, as inventors, technology developers and pioneers we can put a human being on the moon but we can’t make a PlayStation 3 that works a whole 5 years. Bow again SONY!

Pecan Pie

I baked my first cake yesterday! 

When it comes to cooking, I’ve dabbled in the kitchen in the past. Long gone are the days where a tin of beans on toast or a pot noodle ‘will do’ for dinner. Those things remind me of my University days and are neither a tasty nor nutritious alternative to a healthy dinner. 

I would describe myself as an adventurous cook who regularly tries new recipes. I’m certainly no Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsey but I’m also not afraid to cook up a more complex meal, and do so from scratch (no sauce jars, etc.). Typically feedback is good and people enjoy my cooking … Me personally, I see it as a relaxing task which I enjoy after a hard day in the office or on the weekend when there is more time for that.

I also regularly cook in batches for those evenings when there isn’t much time. I prepare around 20 meals and freeze them so I always have a healthy dinner ready in case I don’t get home till quite late.

Anyways, baking is not something I’ve attempted before but having given it a good bash last night I have officially found a new hobby.

Firstly, I have to give it to my little corner shop up the road. Having roamed the isles unable to find a third of the ingredients I asked one of the chaps working there and in the end I got everything I needed.

Sugar, flour, shortcrust pastry mix, vanilla, golden syrup, eggs, butter and of course pecans. I didn’t have a baking tray, but I’ve managed to buy that in another corner shop. Outstanding!

This isn’t going to be an instruction manual for my pecan pie, so I want to keep this short. After flattening the base, I added all the other ingredients. 45 minutes in the oven on 190C and it was done. Taddddddaaaaaaah! My first cake. How did it taste? Lovely, if you ask me. I ate the whole thing in less than 24h, hahahaha! I must admit, Shannon did help me bake the cake but for a first attempt, I’d say that went pretty well. Hmmm, now what shall I bake next Sunday?

Rant of the month

As you will have undoubtedly gathered by now, the name of my blog is Doms ranDOM rants. If you’ve read any of my blog posts you will have noticed that there doesn’t seem to be much ranting going on here. That’s because I choose to keep this a happy place. But sometimes in life you just need to blast off.

So, the solution is a monthly rant. Ladies and gents, I hereby proudly present my monthly rant starting with the ‘September Rant’.

This story actually dates back to July but I haven’t found the time to post the blog. Never the less, the incident was rather ridiculous and I still feel strong negativity about my experience.

I needed to get my house key copied! This would be a difficult and tricky task if I was living in a remote place, 40 years ago. Surely not in London in 2011. So the story goes ...

One Monday in July, I go to Tinkton in Liverpool Street and pay £5 to get my house key copied. Of course (even in London) they have restricted opening hours so I have to rush there after work. As I arrived at ten to six I sensed the shop staff’s unhappiness about my late entrance. Anyways, I have the key and happily skedaddled home to use my newly bought key at the door. Disappointment! The key fits the lock but doesn’t turn.

Tuesday, I use my entire lunch break to go back to the store and have some further amendments made to it. The shop keeper says: “I’m only working with half the parts as I don’t have the lock.” Confused by his comments, I imagine myself taking my flats front door off its hinges and transporting it via London Underground first to work, then to his shop – stop it! That evening I was so excited about going home to see if the key works. I know it’s sad but it doesn’t even compare to the sadness I felt when once again the key slides in the lock but wouldn’t turn.

Wednesday, I return to the shop once again (of course this takes up my entire lunch break again). This time the shop keeper takes the key he made on Monday and amended on Tuesday and throws it in the bin. He grabs a new template off the wall and produces another key. Speechless, I return to the office wondering if tonight the key will work. I arrived home AND ... THE KEY WORKS!!! Hurrah, Bravo, Fireworks. Now, did that have to be this complicated!

I’d like to close on a happy note ... If you want to be happy, don’t go to Tinkton. 

Turning 30

Earlier this month was my 30^th birthday. Yes, that’s right! 30! Remember when you were in your mid-teens and heard about people being 30 something years old? I do. I also remember what I thought of them. I considered these people old, not far away from retirement, basically past their sell-by date. These people have had it!

Now that I am on the third floor, I must admit though, being 30 really isn’t all that bad. People say (I was one of them) things calm down, slow down as you get older. The pace of life just slows as you’re looking to settle. Thankfully, that’s not the case.

My birthday fell on a Tuesday this year. Tuesday is probably the worst day to have your birthday as it’s difficult to celebrate properly on a work day. I decided to fly to Germany the weekend prior to the big day to celebrate with my family. It was nice seeing everybody. The weekend after, I celebrated with friends in London at the Vibe Bar in Brick Lane. On the day itself, we went out for a lovely lunch with my team at work. What followed that evening, I can only describe as being spoilt rotten by a special someone. A wonderful dinner followed by cocktails in several bars and the day off work the next day. So, after celebrating my birthday for an entire week the outlook was a few quiet weekends. That’s what you do as a thirty year old, right!

Well, the following week went like this …

Thursday, Work Summer Drinks at the The Red Dog @ Hoxton Square. It was a great venue and a fantastic party. Boozy it was to say the least but as you can see I was on my best behaviour. Some hilarious photos of colleagues (and myself) thanks to the Pixpod on site. I'll have you know that the next morning I also woke up with a "You've won the Eat-9-Extreme-Chilli-Hot-Wings-Challenge" certificate. It now proudly decorates my desk at work.

Friday, I went to a lovely house party in Angel. My new found friend Sarah is an incredible cook and she rustled up the most amazing dinner. The food was so good, almost 2 weeks later I still think about it. BTW, this is Sarah and me at the Vibe Bar on my birthday. Sarah, please open a restaurant because people who haven’t tasted your food, they’re missing something in life.

Saturday, Lovebox 2011 in Victoria Park. Now, I am not really a festivals goer. In my book you don’t get points for running around a muddy field for five days, getting smashed out of your head and feeling dirty in the process. But Victoria Park is only stone throw away from house and I only went for one day, on the Saturday. It was incredible! Upon arrival, it started to rain so I grabbed shelter in the Wah Wah 45 tent. After listening to several cool bands, the clouds had cleared. I moved on to the Bacardi Bar ...

... and finally settled in a good spot for the main event of the evening. 

Opening acts included De La Soul who certainly got the party started. But the best was yet to come … Snoop Dogg performing Doggystyle! A life long dream. He played most of his classics and also some of his more recent releases. If that wasn’t enough, another highlight of the night was when Warren G performed Regulatooooors! Mount Up! Absolutely brilliant! 

So have things really calmed down? Nope, not really!!! And I very much look forward to the next decade!!!

Whatever happened to Shoreditch

Last Friday I went on a little pub crawl around Shoreditch so I decided to write up a quick review of the places I visited. I’ve lived in the London East End for almost 10 years and have seen the Shoreditch area somewhat grow and develop. Let me tell you, during my time here the area has seen a lot of change.

These days Shoreditch has spread so far it almost seems to be connected to Spitalfields and Brick Lane just south of it and spilling into Angel towards the north. An ever changing and growing ensemble of funky bars, modern pubs and small clubs each vying to attract punters with particular themes, extensive Y2K named cocktail lists, happy hours and supposedly unique, clever and ‘cool’ names. Some of these names are beyond ridiculous and at times it feels as though they are trying too hard.

Back in the day Shoreditch was cool. It’s hard to explain what exactly it was that made it cool. It used be a vibrant art and fashion student area, best described as underground – an uncommon alternative to the other trendy and established places in London such as Notting Hill and Camden Town. I specifically mention Notting Hill because I remember the days when several of my friends who used to live in Notting Hill first made the Circle Line trek across town every Friday and Saturday to then eventually move into the neighborhood to live here. I’ve always had a good time when out and about in Shoreditch but I guess something has worn off and got lost with time. Commercialism has taken its toll.

Anyways, it’s been a while since I’ve been to my favorite bars out here and I wanted to see if Shoreditch still had that certain ‘je ne sais quoi’! I mapped out my bars (in fact, I dug up an old mini pub crawl list I had from many years ago) and to my disappointment noticed one of them doesn’t even exist anymore. Before I remembered bars come and go here all the time I asked myself “Had it really been this long?” ‘Cocomo’ on Old Street, a tiny but great little, grungy cocktail bar. This was Shoreditch … raw, real and ready for a big night. It was the perfect place to kick things off. Oh well!

Instead, I decided to start off at another one of my favourites – ‘The Strongroom’. Discreetly tucked away down a cobbled courtyard off Curtain Road hides this cleverly designed split-level bar. Affiliated to the record studios, it typically caters for the local music and media industry and regularly features live music events. On the night, there was a DJ playing funky house music. Upstairs is the restaurant bar offering table service and a food menu along with an extensive range of beers, wines and cocktails. There’s always a good crowd here!

Next up was ‘Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen’. I am pleased to say this is still Hoxton Square’s finest and most interesting destination. Split into 2 areas, the bar/club side starts to fill quickly around 9pm (be prepared to queue if you show up later). I was hungry and decided to check out the restaurant side which was just busy enough to get that last table. To me, this is the single most telling sign of a restaurants’ food … if the restaurant is full, the food must be good! The menu here provides a solid range of cocktails and drinks and very delicious Mexican food!! Great bargains to be had here too. Decided to skip the starters and thankfully I did. The huge and tasty main course meant I couldn’t manage a desert, even if I wanted to. Good value and still going strong!

After dinner, I ended up at ‘Zigfrid von Underbelly’. This is exactly the kind of name for a bar that begs the question, why are you trying so hard? So what's that strange sounding Dutch/German name all about? You can have a read on their website ( http://zigfrid.com/about/ ) – it’s quite a story! Zigfrid is a cool bar and restaurant with either DJ or Live music depending on the night. There’s also a funky outdoor drinking area where you can sit on tree trunks and a club area downstairs.

Before I finish, I quickly want to mention another one of those crazy named bars. Ever heard of the Breakfast Club? There’s several in London but the one in Spitalfields on Artillery Lane, just off Bishopsgate has a little secret. Accessible only via a SMEG fridge inside the cafe is ‘The Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town’, a cute, little basement cocktail bar. Their website ( http://themayorofscaredycattown.com/ ) doesn’t give away much and access to the bar is only guaranteed by making a reservation. The whole experience is incredibly surreal and fun and the cocktails are great.

The Last Word … Despite my expectation that the Shoreditch scene would eventually collapse or might have already done so, the area is flourishing stronger than ever. It continues to astound me and remains one of London’s trendiest areas. It may have been around for a long time but shows no signs of aging – the bars still pack in the cool kids keen to enjoy a good and fun night out.

London Zoo Late Admission

Last week I bought 2 tickets to visit London Zoo. I like animals and always enjoyed visiting the zoo. My only concern is that the animals are kept in good conditions, which here at London Zoo they really are being cared for.

This particular visit would turn out to be quite a unique experience. London Zoo currently offer a late admission (6pm-10pm) on Fridays during the months June and July. What does this mean? Well, the late night admission means you can explore over 750 different species the zoo has to offer, just as if you were a normal visitor. However, on top of that there is additional entertainment such as funfair-rides, face-painting, picnics, penguin beach, twisted cabaret, a silent disco and a range of bars located at Barcleys Square serving champagne, Pimms, mojitos, wine and beers.

On the night, I was joined by the beautiful Shannon and upon arrival we decided to get ourselves a drink. This in itself is very unique, cool and different ... It’s not often you get to walk through an Aquarium while enjoying a cold beer. And I saw some cool fishes too.
After the water tanks, I made my way over to the picnic collection, grabbed a seat in the Amphitheatre and got stuck into the Gordon Ramsey packed dinner picnic baskets. While having dinner, the twisted cabaret acts started their show. I had no idea what it was about (at the time I was very hungry and focusing on my dinner) but even ended up being an active participant in the show. Very embarrassing but thankfully all I had to do was draw a line on a piece of paper. The show also included a burlesque strip act, a male striptease, a fire show and a lesbian scientist. All in all, the name ‘twisted cabaret’ sums it up very well!

Well fed and entertained by the cabaret we decided to check out some animals. I saw the lions, met the monkeys, walked past the parrots and straight into Butterfly Paradise. Butterfly Paradise features butterfly and moth species from several major regions including Africa, South-east Asia and Central and South America. Very cool!
Afterwards, we headed straight to Penguin Beach. The penguins were a highlight and I was particularly impressed by one. As I approached the beach, there were 20 something penguins in the water and another 20 or so relaxing on the beach. Then, I noticed 2 penguins in the distance, isolated from all the others. One of them jumped into the water and decided to dive the entire length of the pool before attempting to climb out onto the beach. He must have been both disorientated from the extra dive laps he pulled around the swimming penguins as well as tired from his exertions as he barely made it up onto the rocks on the beach. He didn’t give up and at the third attempt simply collapsed onto the beach.

At this point, the weather turned and it started to rain but I was about to experience my first ever silent disco. I got my headphones (which provide a choice of 2 stations) and walked into the centre of the ‘club’. Silent discos are strange but fun – I now consider myself a fan.

Here I was raving away in the middle of London in a zoo, surrounded by 200 something people all wearing headphones with the rain pouring down us. Everybody was relaxed, dancing and enjoying themselves. As the rain came down heavy, there was a strange sense of togetherness even though everybody was in their own little world. And to think this was all happening so close to these rare species and creatures from around the world was very cool. Needless to say, there was no noise pollution and we did not disturb the animals.

To sum it up, late nights at the zoo are different compared to your usual night out in London and provide unique experience. Go check it out, it’s fun!