DavidBlanar.com

There is but one doubtless conclusion: a single path leads us out of these moribund days, darkened and close from war, pestilence, scandal, mistrust and fear.

We are doomed to this unyielding night until Baby Boomers are no more.

It is the only explanation that makes sense: Baby Boomers, the largest living crop of humans around, must be suffering a subconscious trauma, an abstract pain of dangerous proportions. It’s for this reason our society seems in a perpetual funk, unable to escape the brooding and malevolent cloud lingering above us all.

I’m sympathetic, for sure; indeed, were I to suffer such so much repeated disappointment as this generation, I’d be feeling blue too. Read more…

Far be it for me to advise you to otherwise follow your instinct and be either disappointed, subdued or even downright antagonistic towards the Apple iPad.

It’s inevitable such hype surrounding the launch of a physical piece of kit will inspire these emotions and more. Yet when the dust settles, after all the bloggers and pundits have their say, the ultimate verdict will be inevitable: the iPad is yet another inspired offering from Apple.

Mr. Jobs – no dummy when it comes to product development – got the obvious out the way immediately during his January launch presentation: there is a gaping hole between the fixed, large investment hardware of a desktop or laptop computer and the nimble, pocket-sized mobile phone. Read more…

One of the delightful presents I received for Christmas 2009 is the Amazon Kindle (dear you-know-who: thank you very much!).

I’m not new to this kind of device: in 2006 I enjoyed putting the first generation Sony Reader through its paces. I loved the reading experience; it’s a shame everything else about the Sony Reader was poor.

From the cumbersome software to the closed technology which severely restricted the types of files it would display, the entire offering was seriously flawed. To add injury to insult, the Reader died after about 2 months of use. D-e-a-d dead.

The experience put me off purchasing another e-reader and, being a somewhat snobbish Sony fanboy, I had turned up my nose when considering the Kindle. Read more…

It feels somewhat cynical to write about a cinematic endeavour in the context of a personal fight against climate change, but these are two topics brought together by strange circumstances: my Christmas Project 2009, recently completed.

I thought I might share my reflections on my experience. Read more…

What a decade of film, particularly for the aficionado of the sci-fi and fantasy genres which got a much-needed boost of quality, thanks mostly to the vastly improved technology available all levels of film makers, but also due to the bar being set incredibly high with the arrival of the Matrix and the unbelievable Lord of the Rings trilogies.

I’ve looked back at the films I’ve seen this decade and considered them across several distinctions – quality, script, acting, score and the always-difficult-to-assess emotional impact.  Of course, my opinion is just that, but I’ll have a go anyway. Read more…

Photograph: Marko Djurica/Reuters

I admit it: I’ve taken the outcome of the farcical World Cup 2010 playoff between France and Ireland more seriously than I ought. My smug, albeit neutral, perch affords me the lofty position of unbiased – and therefore the harshest possible – judgement.

Thierry Henry’s shameful handling in the lead-up to the final French coup de grace, reminiscent more of a touch-down in rugby than the usually prescribed path to soccer goal scoring, leaves even the non-partizan reeling in contempt.

The incident has been described as the ultimate expression of human frailty; for the referees, whose experience and good sense abandoned their eyes at the crucial moment; for the French players, whose desire to win at all costs cruelly hijacked their common decency; and for the spectator, neutral and invested alike, who have been left roiling or rollicking to face a long, cold winter digesting the ugly and inescapable realisation that – regardless France’s performance in next year’s World Cup – the outcome is immutably corrupted. Read more…

In the very early 1990s America, my friend Eric and I revelled in the then-advanced technology of Laser Disc.  I’ve included a link to its Wikipedia entry as I’m guessing a few people will have no idea what Laser Discs are, having skipped that generation of technology entirely.

Eric and I stared, rapt, at the glorious picture delivered in delectable elegance on a magical disc.  It ditched all the horribleness of VHS – the dodgy picture, the interminable rewinding and the fragile tape – and bestowed crystal clear images, instant chapter skipping and full THX-like sound. Read more…

Where to begin?

As many of my friends have repeatedly observed, I’m loathe to admit pain, the defining personality characteristic of an Eight according to the Enneagram model, I’m reliably informed.  In this case, the pain is ‘lack of knowledge’.

However, I’m liberating myself of the marketing consultant’s burdensome, perceived Cloak of Omniscience. I wish I knew everything, alas I do not, and at the risk of losing out on future contracts, I think it only fair to share some of the areas I know spectacularly little about: Read more…

Open Up Now was founded by a small group of thoughful, committed citizens.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
– Margaret Mead, US anthropologist (1901 – 1978)

I have been continually impressed by the recent campaign launched just this week by Open Up Now, a small group of concerned citizens asking, simply, that the UK “hold an Open Primary in every constituency before the next General Election, so that voters can directly select the MP candidates that will stand in the General Election.”

It is surely the least we deserve.

Of course the movement has a web site, a Twitter account and – most impressively – a dedicated YouTube channel with a selection of incredibly well-produced and humourous videos which aptly skewer the inanity forced upon us by the shenanigans and goings-on of our Parliament.  You can even be a fan on Facebook. Read more…

Perform provide the Ukraine v England match feed, featuring former England Manager Sven Goran-Eriksson

I watched the first web-only distribution of an England football match, the 2010 World Cup Qualifier hosted by Ukraine.  Ukraine won the match 1-0, I’m confident you can find a competent match summary elsewhere.

However, the real story is the fact that the game was only available via the internet; it was not screened on terrestrial television, via commercial satellite broadcasters or any other dodgy continental method.  Perform Media was the only distributor of the match which is the “biggest ever pay-per-view event in the UK”.

Defining success is difficult.

Success for Kentaro, the Swiss agency that held the rights is easy to define: did it profit from the initiative?  Undoubtedly, that answer will be yes; clearly, the largest pay-per-view (PPV) event in the UK will, almost by definition, deliver a profitable adventure, considering the target was the £900,000 offered by the BBC.  With estimates of more than 250,000 subscribers at £11.99 a pop, they look well on target to clear this amount.

But as others have already noted, the key factor to look at is not necessarily the distribution method – which, let’s face it, has been around for a while – but whether or not this is a legitimate channel for future delivery. Read more…