Nope, nothing else, not today.

I was hoping for a “crowd goes wild”, which means a personal best, or “great finish” which means that the last km was the fastest.

Oh well.

I stop looking at it and enter my house.

Running is a funny business. It is the most simple and easy of sports to take up; all you need is a pair of shoes (and these days there is a whole barefoot running clique who claim you don’t need even those) and yet, and yet, never in my life have I run more than 100 meters. Not that I was shy of sports; fencing, martial arts, marital arts – you name it. However, my first day’s attempt to run down to the gym was a disaster once those 100 had passed. My body simply stopped me flat and demanded to know what I thought I was doing, was I being chased by a hungry lion? Or avoiding an imminent meteor strike? No? Then why the hell are you doing this to us? It asked, gasping.

In the past such stern questioning, not to mention the following sensation of aching lungs, were enough to stop me. But, not today because I had caught a bug.

A Nike bug.

I have always been a fan of the colourful US brand. When I was a child, Nike was the coolest thing in the world; both ridiculously expensive and stylish. Unobtainable. Since then they have gone through a bit of a sea change themselves, upping the quality levels, creating some great equipment and yet keeping that cool label, that newness. Even when they come late to the party and a little underpowered in the features department even then they make a splash with their style and their enthusiasm.
It is that enthusiasm that is the key feature of this watch.

My early morning conversation in the “pro-running” shop near London Bridge highlights what “proper” running people think of that fact. (Imagine the scene in Point-Break where Keanu Reeves buys his first surfboard…)

“Good morning, sir,” said the thin and fit looking shop girl from behind her achingly cool piercings.

I guess I did look like a fish a bit out of water, in a running shop at this time in the morning; she looked like a 20 mile run was a daily occurrence before breakfast. Dressed for work, I guess I have the look of a geek with a love of good quality gadgets.

“I’m looking for a running watch with a heart strap,” I said.

“The Garmin” she said, pointing into a small glass fronted cabinet next to me.

I looked at the watch in question; it was a phenomenally ugly and boxy device like one of those stop-watches PE teachers carry that had been welded to a watch strap. Next to it stood the Nike GPS. To say that the Nike looked better is an understatement. I realised that I could wear that watch all day, even at work.

“The Nike’s nice,” I said hopefully.

The girl gave me an appraising look, followed by a pause as she mentally switched records in her head.

“Yes, sir, they are very popular, they have similar features to the Garmin but they are not as good.”

Even I know that’s code for, “she wouldn’t be seen dead in one”. However, Given that she has trouble walking through metal detectors or passing large magnets, I wasn’t swayed by the opinion her expression was trying oh so hard to hide. I realised that I was entering a new world with two groups, the sort of people who run every day for miles and miles and miles, and the sort of people who run a couple of times a week for around 30k total.

Journeymen and Beginners.

Experts and hobbyists.

The élite and the, well, not so élite.

I knew which group I was in, so I decided to change the metric the girl and I were using to judge the value of watches,

“how much is the Garmin?” I asked.

“£350” she answered, clearly of the opinion that mere price was an irrelevant point.

“And the Nike?”

“£170 and £50 for the belt”

I looked again at the choice. There was nothing more to say. If I turned up at home with a £350 watch I would be strung up by Cesca and rightly so. I did a mental calculation in my head as I was going to have to sell a beloved Christopher Ward watch to pay for it.

“I’ll take the Nike please”

Unwrapping.

Apple has indelibly changed the definition of what is cool in packaging when it released the iPhone. Since then many manufacturers have copied their approach. For example, my Samsung phone came in a box almost identical to the iPhone (and the phone is so similar that Apple is suing). Nike, who is surely BFF with Apple, has also followed Apple’s philosophy. The box containing the Nike watch is small and very well designed while at the same time evoking the spirit of the sort of boxes high-end watches come in. Everything is compactly slotted in. Compared to the competitions simple blister packs this speaks volumes. Once its secrets are open the following items are found within.

Another thing Nike has learned from Apple is to have no truck with anything but complete brand loyalty in a passive aggressive way. This is displayed perfectly with the lack of any way to attach the Shoe Pod to anything but a Nike shoe (which has a special hole for the nugget like device in the sole). I would have despaired had I not expected it and ordered a small pouch from amazon that attached to my laces. This little fella is cleverly designed and extremely snug – so it holds the Pod perfectly.

I followed the simple instructions and charged the watch up while signing up to download the sync software from Nike’s web site. (We will come to the website in-depth in a moment).

The watch has a thin USB adaptor hidden under the flap at the end of the strap. This clicks open and can go straight into a computer USB socket or via the short and branded extension cable given away in the box (presumably since some people still have under desk computers and not laptops). Once socketed the watch displays a charging message.

One of the most interesting features of this watch is its display. The LCD is in negative mode meaning that the screen is dark and the numbers and lettering are in blocks of “turned off” colour.

It has a large-size font choice meaning that the time display is split over two lines, which looks great and a close-up of the LCD shows it to be of very high “resolution”, the fonts curving smoothly and not blocky at all. There is no doubt that this display could show graphics with ease if it wanted to. The boldness of that display puts it firmly in the extroverted cool realm and the bright yellow on the reverse of the band (visible only in flashes and glimpses when on the wrist) follows this.

Next to the time, at a 90 degree angle, sits the day and date information along with the battery meter. This is the battery meter for the running part of the watch not the clock part. Once charged, which took about an hour (so it must be part-charged out of the box) the watch is ready to go. An “up down” rocker is on the left hand side above a bright yellow button. The rocker moves the watch through its menu system and the yellow button acts as an “enter” selector.

After using some serious gym watches in the past I was very presently surprised with the purposeful simplicity of the Nike. Some watches have a mind mangling choice of menus and settings for every sport. Nike has opted to throw most of these out and focus on the core experience, again following Apple’s lead. The watch menu has only four options, all visible on the first menu:

“Clock” This returns you to the clock mode.

“Run” Start a new activity.

“History” The last 50 activities.

“Records” This shows a rotating display of:

Total distance
Fastest mile
Fastest km
Fastest 5k
Fastest 10k

Notice there are no settings to be configured. Rather all the settings, apart from the registering of new sensors, is performed in the computer software upon attaching the watch via USB. This configuration software enables you to change lots of features, such as the default screen display while running; settings for laps, whether the watch will bug you to go for a run or even what your weight is for the calorie calculations.

On the wrist the watch stands quite tall and with its nice curved glass screen is just waiting to get smashed. Never the less I wear it every day. It goes well with my work clothes in that it is in a way a totem. Wearing a running watch to work, especially this running watch, is making a statement. That statement says that you are a member of the “club”. Not a geek member totally obsessed with statistics; no you are a “cool” member. This is a watch design for enthusiasts to meet other enthusiasts. I get a lot of interested questions regarding it, as many as I got for my other watches and this is all to the good as it provides motivation. Balancing the design of something is nearly as hard as wearing it if it makes a statement. All too often that statement is perhaps not the one intended. Consider the 50+ guy with his Jag car, or oversized Tag watch. Most of the time such a person’s statement is “I’m a berk with too much money and a lack of inner success”.

This watch simply sidesteps that. Anyone who challenges your “right” to wear it can be simply provided with the “Records” section to check your bonafides in seconds.

As long as you have them that is. When all is said and done, you must run the miles yourself; the watch will not do that for you!

It is not heavy at all and doesn’t bother me on the wrist. One thing to note is that the strap is integrated and therefore cannot be changed in any way. This may not be an issue unless the watch doesn’t fit. I have heard of people with very small wrists not managing to get the watch flush to their skin. For me, I run the risk of the opposite problem; my wrists are too big! I have the watch on the largest setting and it is snug and not loose. Of course having a watch this tight sometime means I can accidentally press a button. This has only happened in the gym once when lifting a 55kg bar weight above my head; my hand was pushed back enough that the back of it pushed a button. After stopping and pulling the watch up my arm the problem was solved.

Running in the watch.

The first thing one has to do when running for the first time is pair the sensors with the watch. I have the heart belt and shoe pod and I found that on first attempt at pairing (standing in the gym) the watch picked up too many sensors in range. Standing, briefly, outside solved this issue and I have not had it happen again as the watch remembers the pods, etc. it knows.

When deciding to do some recorded exercise you select the “run” menu and then turn on or off the sensors. So, if you are working out in the gym on weights, you turn off all but the heart rate belt and it will record your time, heart and calories. On the other hand, running outside (the watch’s primary use) will involve all the sensors and after turning their options to on, and selecting “continue”, the watch will announce that it is “linking sensors”. If you have wetted the Heart belt and moved the shoe pod within the last minute then it will pick these up in a few seconds. However, I have had the GPS take up to a minute (which feels longer when you are staring at the screen). Nike claim that the watch gets better at pinpointing the satellites in each use, and indeed I have seen the text “Updating satellite data” in the computer GUI as I sync it with Nike website. However, the watch also features the ability to start your run before the satellite has a fix, known as “quickstart”. This option is clearly there because the GPS lock takes so long (sometimes!). Of course, you wait. Eventually the link works and you get a little set of beeps that you are ready to go. A touch of the “start” menu option and you can head off!

While running the watch displays your selected options and occasionally beeps if you have turned on to have laps. During a lap moment the watch displays some quick data on the lap. You can have automatic laps or manual ones, which requires a tap on the case here:

Not a touch of the screen mind, you have to tap the top of the case front. Coincidentally, tapping this while in “clock” mode turns on the backlight for a brief moment. You can also have intervals as programmed again by the computer GUI. This means your speed work training will benefit from the watch telling you the splits and assisting you in not cheating.

Using the up and down rocker buttons you can switch the upper part of the screens display to show various metrics such as km, time, km average, heart rate, etc. All are easy to read when on the move. Tapping the yellow button pauses the action, something I use only when crossing a busy road or my phone rings or I come across a giant queen bumble bee (all of which has happened on my runs). Once you have finished your run, the watch displays a little congratulations message dependent on your performance and plays a little tune on a personal best time.

This is very cute in action and I find myself quite looking forwards to it. Then the watch displays the stats for the run all on one screen.

You can also use the watch to only record workouts on the HRM. In this mode the watch turns off the GPS and foot pod. I use the watch in like this every other day and it performs its functions well. The BPM is the useful metric when lifting as it enables you to properly manage your between sets and recovery times. So, while the watch doesn’t offer and specialist mode for lifting, it is just as good as any other HRM.

On the elliptical and other machines the HRM is often compatible and the machine will show that rate rather than that of the “grip” sensors. I often note that the watch is one or two calories different from the elliptical machine, something that is probably to do with the method of calculation.

Uploading

The Nike watch is designed to synchronise with the Nike Running website and is one of the largest features of the system.

Upon placing the watch in the USB it uploads to Nike and then boots their website.

Nike present a very high end website built in flash. However, the flash programming is terrible. I often find that the flash fails to load in sections of the site. For example, I have logged in to the “home” screen and selected “goals”. Blank. Nadda. So I select “home”. Now that’s blank. So I log out and back in. Now my profile is missing. So I select “all runs”. Blank. This isn’t my version of flash or my browser choice; this is simply a bad website. The choice of flash is bizarre, as Apple mobile devices cannot display flash and so you have the situation where your iPhone can upload a run, but can’t show the run in Safari mobile.

It’s not as if Nike can’t program great websites. Consider this one, which invented a completely new method of coding using parallax techniques and is written in fantastically quick and smooth HTML5.

When the site works, it is very good indeed. But, it is a very inconsistent experience. I emailed Nike regarding this and got a slightly glib reply. Hopefully, they are going to ditch it, but until then it is an issue. This is what I sometimes see:

Some of the features provided in the website are excellent. There is the runs themselves and each will show a map of the distance covered on a mapping system. This system is improving all the time and now you can use it to plan a run as well as review one. This is very helpful if you need to find a 5 or 10km route around your town.

Also great is the “goals” section that assists you in tracking progress. I find that having a goal that is within a few weeks’ reach is much more motivating than the long term goal of “getting fit”. Humans as a species tend to be terrible in focussing on longer term goals compared with immediate sensations (hunger for example). When you upload runs (and only runs – it doesn’t count workouts) they are automatically counted towards your targets. I have found that this has motivated me much better than I thought it would. It is the feature I love the most.

Above all this there are also “challenges”, which are like goals mixed with online clubs. Anyone can create a challenge and have people sign up to join you in it. Some are silly, some are charity based, some are mega hard and the website helps filter them based on your “Nike Level”.

This simple metric grades your progress as a runner using colours. Upon going up a level you get a small movie of some runner congratulating you and a new set of challenges to run against. It’s clever and motivational. I am now half way to the third category and I find myself considering running more often to speed up my progress. That’s a great design influencing my motivation. Nike certainly has that aspect of the experience nailed. The site also links in to Facebook and Twitter and when you upload a run it posts it to the social networks as well as when you set a new goal. This enables your friends to comment on it and motivate you even more. I have even found that friends have read my constant Facebook posts and taken up gym’ing themselves. However, for some stupid reason the system only posts your last run, so if you upload them in batches like me (as I run to the gym, gym, and run back) then the others are not Facebooked. This is slightly annoying as the final run of my routine is always the slowest as I am tired from lifting.

Are there any other problems with the watch and experience?

Nikes forums are full of people complaining about problems with their watches. The main one seems to be that the GPS is not super accurate. I have not found this myself. Reviewing my runs on the maps shows that the system has correctly picked up my journey. Perhaps it is to do with the satellites overhead?

I have noticed the system downloading GPS data:

Others have complained that the website doesn’t show enough detail of the runs for post analysis. I think this is an issue for those in the “elite” group. Nike hasn’t got all the detail recorded in the run on the site, but I understand they are considering it. Recently I received a questionnaire about the Nike site and it asked my preference for detail. I said that I always wanted as a much as possible.

Hopefully they are listening to the criticisms of those shouting. As is often the case on the web, the loud, angry minority make much more noise than those happy with their product and experience. I personally am very happy with the watch itself and unhappy with the website. However, I am content to give Nike a chance to repair or replace the online portion of the system. Such an action would not hurt their brand in the slightest, as flash is dead. No one in their right mind programs flash anymore and to block out Apple device users is a stupid direction given their popularity.

Key Features & Benefits

• GPS by TomTom + Shoe Sensor: GPS functions in tandem with the Nike+ Sensor to optimize seamless data tracking during runs (e.g. when running through an urban canyon, where GPS connection may not be available).
• Tap Interface: Users simply tap the display to activate the backlight and to mark laps during their run.
• Direct Connect: USB contacts are molded into the watch strap allowing the user to plug the watch directly into a USB port to upload run data and recharge the battery.
• Run Reminders: Users get automatic reminders from the watch when a run has not been logged in the past five days.
• Attaboys: Users receive recognition for achieving personal records, such as fastest mile, longest run, fastest 10K and fastest marathon.
• Nikeplus.com: Run data is saved to Nikeplus.com where runners can map their runs, find new routes, track their goals, receive coaching tips, challenge their friends, share their progress through Facebook and Twitter and more.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Ease of use
• Great Design
• Waterproof
• Nike+ website is great for motivation
• Easy to configure and install

Cons:

• Glass screen can be knocked
• HRM only workouts dont count towards your “goals” grrr
• Nike centric – no data coming out to other websites
• Problems with Nike Running Website – Flash (yuk!)

Final Verdict

For its motivational components, great design, high end experience I give the watch an 9/10. It is a simple and well-made device that I have a great affinity for. I am wearing it now on the train into London.

For the online portion of the experience I can only award Nike 7/10 with a note that when the site works well its potential is manifest. However, this is not all the time and so they “must try harder”!

Regards

Basho

You can buy a Nike watch from their store here:

Please note our affiliates policy

Staffed almost entirely by Ex-Royal Marine Commandos, Tier 1 Military Simulations has taken the mission to bring the fun back into milsim while keeping the “experience”. Their first 3-day event, “Operation Snakebite”, is coming in April, attendance at which my team mates have talked me into. I am not a natural milsim player, being more of an urban and CQB regular at such sites as The Mall in Reading and Longmoor Urban Training Complex, but recently I have been trying my hand at a little realism. Last year my team and I played as the “scripted enemy” in Operation Zulu by TA Events, which involved getting “very muddy” with the best of them and I enjoyed that immensely. So, when I found out that Tier 1 Military Simulations was putting on a “Training Day” at Elite Action Games in Dorking, I signed up as it offered me the chance to “ease into it”.

We arrived early on Saturday to meet with the Tier 1 crew; a four man team of instructors led by the smart looking and straight backed Stewart and his business partner Eddie. After dropping my bergen (holding all my camping gear and packed for the field with rations, a bivi and my roll mat) we were invited into a small hut. It was then that I realised that Tier 1 were not your normal airsoft instructors. In the hut were five tables all laid out with pencils, print outs and paper pads. As we sat down I also noticed that there was a large plasma flat screen to the front displaying what surely must be a PowerPoint screen. Stewart came in with the others and introduced themselves. In an airsoft world where many people have “served” in one form or another, but more importantly where there are a ton of fakers and exaggerators who claim undue respect through fictional exploits; 1000 yard stares and “issue” gear, these guys stood up and told us where they had served. The entire group had over 50 years’ service in the Royal Marine Commandos between them including decades as instructors. If there is such a thing as getting the “real deal” in airsoft, this is it.

Once the lesson started, and the PowerPoint started moving, I relaxed. Stewart was clearly a professional at teaching. I detected that this was no ego trip for these guys and they had the serious aim of teaching us real Marine tactics straight out of the manual. He had a well laid out day planned with short classroom sessions to discuss the tactics and answer any questions, split by practical tuition in the woods and finally culminating in performing the drills learned under fire at night in a test to see if we have picked any of it up. Despite being extremely tired from London commuting, I found it all clear and well presented.

The lesson started and I took notes. We learned that Operation Snakebite would be “Patrol Warfare” with orders given to platoons to patrol between GPS coordinates with certain orders when contacting the enemy (who have been given orders to patrol a dissecting path) and it would be in this way that they would introduce some form of control to the event that will be otherwise unscripted. But first, we needed to learn what different types of patrol there were.

Soon we were out in the field putting the lessons to good use in three groups. Our first jaunt was patrolling with Bergans in a line formation with the Team Leader at the front. We practiced halting and finding cover, crossing obstacles, how to reccy a village and the use of silent signals to communicate. All led by our short and stoic instructor who very quickly corrected mistakes and offered advice. I asked him what he had done in the Commando’s. He replied that had been a sniper mainly and had never played airsoft or even been shot by an AEG. We immediately offered to rectify that, but he declined with a smile, reminding us that the night event will include “live” fire. I could immediately tell that this night event was going to involved my being shot at by an ex-Commando sniper!

At the end of this patrol we met up with the others and were taught how to lay up a harbour. Harbours are how Commandos form a defensive position in the field. This can be for many reasons, but the most obvious is to be able to sleep. We were shown how to peel into a triangle of one group per side with a command element in the middle with support weapons at the points. Then how to recy the area in front and lay out sentries and communication string. This was particularly interesting stuff as I have never heard of harbours before and it was all explained expertly and made perfect sense.

After a late-lunch of hotdogs we went into a lesson of laying up an Observation Post, something the instructors were all experts in. After taking copious notes we were invited outside to see one for real. Stewart gave us a 30 meter area of trees and asked us to spot the OP. I must admit that I couldn’t see any possibility that people were hiding in that area but, after being led around the rear of the copse, I saw that the other three ex-Commandos were layed up in a smart OP mere yards from where my feet had been. It had a guarded entrance, sleeping/cooking area and front Observation Post all draped in cammo netting. Very impressive and something I would need to know when on ops.

After this we went for a lesson in defensive contact drills. This was more familiar territory, but I still learned a lot of new things. We were taught how to form a tunnel formation on a “contact front” and then peel back while firing, how to form a “gatepost” leading to a “baseline” formation and then retreat by sections. How to manage a man down while providing fire support to the men dragging the casualty from the field. This was all practical and useful stuff that enabled my small team to learn to work together and put down impressive levels of fire onto the enemy.

As the sun dipped down and the night fell the already cold day became freezing and the test was upon us. We had to patrol in the pitch-black night through the wood, following chemical lights tied to trees at 50 meter intervals. We were going to come under fire along the way and we had to react with the drills we had just learned, all under the watchful eye of Stewart who was wearing high end night optics. I wish I had been, as in my mesh mask I couldn’t see hardly a thing. I could just make out the man in front and would be performing the drills basically with my eyes closed. As we picked our way through the wood we suddenly had fire from the left.

“Contact left!” Screamed Trip.

I spun left and went down on one knee and started laying down aggressive and large amounts of fire towards the sound of an AEG firing at me. I had loaded my P-Mags as “Real Caps” and so I was soon performing a mag change (many long hours of practicing in front of the Magpul DVDs paying off).

“Peel right!” Shouted Trip.

It was then it all went to pieces. After a minute of everyone running in different directions, shooting each other and bumping into trees, Stewart called a halt and brought us in. He then took us through the contact and our reaction. It was very impressive, even with the NVG, that he had a total grasp of what happened. He gently led us through it and promised that the other teams had also messed up the first one; we would get better he told us. It was a bit embarrassing for us and Trip in particular took it all to heart as we were a team of very experienced players and used to being together. Only two months ago we executed a perfect peel drill to an aggressive contact when playing at Stirling Airsoft. That had left jaws on the floor, but that had been during the day; this was at night. I was suddenly reminded that Operation Snakebite was to be a three-day event and night ops was to be expected.

We were determined to get better and I am glad to say that we did. Of course the chaos of the contacts, which came from all directions along our route, lent a realistic element to the training that practice can never give. I ran out of ammo and had to transition mid fight, Trip ran into a load of wire hanging from a tree and had to cut himself free (winning our argument about knives in milsim in the process), guns went down, men tripped up. It was marvellous chaos and pressure like all good training should be. By the end we were doing it very well and Stewart announced that our last contact was “75 to 80%” of perfect. That was good enough for me.

After the event we dropped off our gear, ready to camp overnight, and went to the pub with the Instructors. They were very interesting and good company as we drank like only airsofters and Commandos know how.

I asked our team what they thought of the event. Trip has been in airsoft as long as I and is leading the DA Team’s transition to playing more milsim. He and Keith (who has passed Stirling Selection) loved it and are looking forwards to our special role in the event.

“How about you Simon?” I asked our other team member, a stocky Ex-Paratrooper.

“How many jumps did you do?” Asked Trip.

“Oh more than I can count mate,” he answered smoothly, “I used to be 6ft 6!”

I laughed so much I spat out my beer on the table.

“I think its excellent training,” he said, “these guys really know how to teach this stuff.”

I had to agree, Tier 1 don’t teach watered down airsoft versions of real tactics, it is all the real deal. The philosophy is that if we learn the real Commando way of doing things then we will naturally perform better under fire in airsoft. It’s a great idea. Most teams are little more than a barbarian horde in combat or, like myself, unused to woodland. This training has enabled me to react like an element in a larger team. As far as I am concerned the argument about the value of training is dead; if the training is of the quality of that provided by Tier 1 it is worth every penny paid and every effort put in.

Regards,

Basho

Basho and the DAs went to the Tier 1 Military Simulations Woodland Training day at Elite Action Games in Dorking. They paid £50 for a full day of training with food and drink provided as well as overnight camping at the event. This was training given in advance of Tier 1 Military Simulations’ first game coming in April.

Basho (the author) has been playing airsoft for 10 years. He is a committee member of Team Delta Alpha (the DAs) and was the senior marshal at their (now closed) home site of Electrowerkz in London. Basho in no way affiliated with Tier 1 Military Simulations, but Trip is as an airsoft consultant.

Announcing the opening of a new Basho website!

www.buddhabooks.co.uk

I have been writing reviews of books on this site for something like 5 years, also I have – as I am sure you know – a passion for Eastern Philosophy. Finally I can bring them all together!

Buddha Books is an editorial review website specialising in books on Daoism, Buddhism, Philosophy and other Eastern Religions in both book form and also audiobooks.

Here is the deal:

• I will be posting a couple of new reviews per week.
• All the reviews will be of books I own and have paid money for (I have a simply enormous collection).
• They will all take into account my knowledge (degree in Philosophy), views (one who has travelled the East) and beliefs (Daoist) and those of Cesca.
• Every review will contain a link to somewhere where you can buy the book.
• 50% of all the referral commissions will be donated to the The New Cambodian Children’s Life Association (NCCLA), which is a charity set-up for orphaned Cambodian children.

Also – after the great success of Cesca’s Photo exhibition, we will be offering prints of her collection for sale in a variety of sizes and frames all set to be posted straight to you. Bonus!

I invite you all to take a look and let me know what you think. The site is new – as is the theme – so there will be changes in the coming weeks as well as a large amount of new entries. My hope is that some serious discussion can be had over the books. If you disagree with a review – don’t hesitate to post up a comment.

Regards,

Basho

www.buddhabooks.co.uk

P.S. This does not effect this site. OC will continue on a dual monthly posting rate until the new year where it will then go back to weekly (I am working on a Diploma in Preventing Financial Crime at the moment)

I’m an avid reader of New Scientist magazine. In fact I get it every week. The headline will usually be about something “quantum” or allude to some current or near “breakthrough”. Of course real breakthroughs are hardly on a weekly schedule. I know this, but still I buy into it. It is a classic marketing technique that tempts impulse buying. New Scientist covers about Quantum are the geek equivalent of putting Princes Diana or perhaps Jordan on the cover of a ladies magazine or putting Bruce Lee on the cover of a martial arts magazine. In each case the marketers know what make people pick up the edition, what buttons to push.

It is this technique that got me to buy this book.

A few weeks ago my wife started a Skype chat to me at work. Normally this signifies that I need to pick something up on the way home or that I forgot to turn the iron off, or similar. However, this time she was definitely excited about something,

“Stephen Hawking was just on Radio 4 and said that Philosophy was dead!” she announced.

“As an ironic statement?” I typed back.

“No, he means it”

This I had to hear. Sure enough the Cambridge Physicist had a new book out. I picked it up at the train station and thumbed through it. On page one he announces “Philosophy is dead”. Like the banner of a New Scientist magazine, I found myself wanting to buy it just to read why. To be able to feel the argument’s weight, to be able to rebut it, because, frankly, he had really pissed me off. Cash was exchanged for book and I walked to the train with it in my bag, most of my arguments already forming in my head. Then something struck me:

I had fallen for it.

I had, as John C Dvorak would say, “Drunk the Kool-Aid.”

I was now even more miffed. Without even opening the book I suddenly knew how this would go and, I’m sorry to say, I was proved right. This isn’t a book about M-Theory. This isn’t a book inviting debate or interested in discussing the issues. This isn’t even a book for anyone who has access to Wikipedia. This is a book making a statement. Not, as the first page claims, that Philosophy is dead – I will deal with that in a minute – no, this is a book that is trying to setup a different type of mythology.

The mythology of the Physicist.

In this book Physicists are accorded a very special significance, a higher order than mere mortals. We are told again and again that their works are special, unique and different. That they stand apart.

All that is rubbish.

You see, it is a commonly held belief that in the past it was possible to be a specialist in multiple disciplines at the same time. Indeed some of the greats from the enlightenment were what we called then a “Polymath (these days we say “Genius”). Such giants as Goethe, Leibnitz and Hook. These men’s understandings, works and contributions to humanity are almost immeasurable and the fruits of it surround us every single day. However, since then science has been branching further and further into divisions and specialism’s and it is considered impossible for another Leibnitz to exist without him having to focus on one subject or become a businessman. This has led to a lot of scientists jostling for “rank” and “order”.

XKCD satirised this internecine strife perfectly in this cartoon:

The “purest science” award is generally granted to the Mathematicians; creators and guardians of the official language of science and pure in their abstract prowess to describe things in forms of numbers. But there is another group, self-aligned with the math geeks, who apply that language to something in particular; the Universe. These are the Physicists. The self proclaimed wizards of science, they formulate theories that attempt to probe the deepest corners of space and time. Even to the point of realising that space and time are actually spacetime. They exist in a constant battle against each other. The battle of modelling. Since there is hardly any evidence for much of theoretical Physics, these Physicists aim to create models that are “elegant” in their mathematical construction. A poem of maths, which they say points to the truth. They even get a feeling of “just knowing” that the theory is solid due to the ability to simplify the maths down to as small an equation as possible. These mini equations are their haiku’s; piquant attempts to explain the almost ungraspable.

Works of art?

Such grand and lofty aims sometimes lead to a kind of arrogance, conceit and over bearing self confidence that many scientists can get in their work. Ego mania is a strange and afflicting problem in the community (I’m looking at you Dawkins!).

However, entrenched positions that take generations to dig out of are against the basic fundamental principles of science in the first place. Chief being the principle of falsifiability. That is the principle that any theory can be proven wrong.

My Christian friend once asked me what it would take to prove science “wrong”.

“If I held out this beer can and dropped it,” I answered, draining the drink from it. “And if as I let it go, it didn’t fall; it just sat there in the air. And you wrote it down and photographed it, and filmed it and told people, and every time I did it; it was the same result…”

“Right…” He ventured.

“Then, Well, then they would get out the Theory of Gravity and tear it in half.”

“They would do that?” He sounded sceptical.

“Yes. The most cherished, most important, most agreed upon theory. They would tear it in two and throw it away.”

He now looked sceptical as well.

“And I tell you what, they would be glad. They would be happy about you having proved them wrong.”

“Why?”

“Because science is not one man. Not one theory. It is linked together on one vital understanding.”

“What is that?”

“That a theory, any theory, even a theory that has become a law, is only right until it is proved wrong. Once it is proved wrong by demonstration, then it is thrown out!”

“Really?”

“It’s happened before, many times.”

“That must hurt”

“It must be a real bitch mate,” I said and I held out the can and dropped it. It clattered on the floor. I looked at him and smiled, “The Theory of gravity survives for another day…”

He chuckled and passed me another beer.

Professor Hawking has written this book to try and pass the “good news” of his latest thoughts regarding a type of String Theory. A theory he has, in fact, changed his mind about in the last 5 years or so. Early types of String theory have been around for even longer than that. String theory is an attempt to answer two conflicting truths and to unify them. What is called “Classical Physics and Quantum Mechanics” Or in laymen’s terms, the theories of Newton, which are about the everyday normal sized objects, and the theories of Quantum scientists such as Feynman, which are about the very smallest of objects. These two theories make predictions about the future (another vital ingredient) that are seemingly both born out by experiment. In other words, Newton is demonstrably correct regarding gravity and Fennyman is demonstrably correct about Quantum. However, they don’t agree.

How can they both be right?

The general approach to this is to say that they are both wrong in different ways and that a further “truth” is waiting us to work it out to account for them both. A grand theory that unifies all Physics together. This is because, strange as it might seem, Physics theories are a moving target. For example, when I was young, I was taught in school the classical model of physics. This is what most people think of when they think of atoms and such. That classic iconic image:

This is now considered wrong as it ignores much of the known universe – such a gravity of the very very small; quantum gravity. One of the theories trying to explain quantum gravity was Super String. You don’t need to understand it to realise that this will eventually be proved wrong too. But it is a better type of wrong than the first. Lots of people worked on the theory and came up with different flavours, variations and entrenched positions. Then, one man, almost for a joke, wrote a theory for a conference that suggested that the competing string theories should actually be seen as one theory from different angles. He called this M-Theory. The M standing for both nothing and everything that starts with an M, which if you think about it is a part of the joke. However, M-Theory was thought to have something and many people started working on this. It became fashionable rather than freaky and soon Super String was moving from the fringes of Physics to the mainstream. Now it is the official “best candidate” for the Grand Theory and thereby for reasoning (with justification) how the Universe started. A question that has always been levelled at scientific explanations for the creation of the Universe theories such as the Big Bang is basically “who lit the match?” Simply put, in M-Theory, the Universe started by itself and is one of multiple Universes, endlessly flowing like bubbles in a bottle of coke with a Mentos Mint thrown in.

There is only one problem with it. Well, there are buckets of problems including that it requires many more dimensions to exist that are observable. However, by any measure the largest problem is almost unassailable; that it is almost impossible to prove.

The other day a scientist on Radio 4 claimed that all discovery was over and science would shrink in importance. This is a predication people have been making for generations, and it fails to take into account discoveries that await while we apply science in new and exciting ways. For example, the European Fusion reactor is running at something like 60% efficiency. Once they get it to run at 99% then they predict that the issue will become one of engineering; that is improving the machine to squeeze out the extra juice needed. During such a process a startling discovery may be made that changes everything. it’s happened countless times before in almost every field, especially medicine – take smallpox, it wasn’t until we discovered that milk maids didn’t get it that vaccination was posited, and no one can say that hasn’t changed the world.

Physics may be heading for a period of reengineering, where theory is not being moved forwards, it is the physical application of that theory (the experiments and the products) that is going to have to catch up. What is impossible to prove now, may be discovered to not only be provable, but may prove wrong as well.

This is Hawking’s good news: he thinks M-theory is almost impossible to prove, not totally impossible to prove. Great to hear, after all: if they discover the Higgs all this may become more important than ever.

However, that aside, Hawking tries a number of unconvincing things in this book that ruined it all for me:

1. He tries to suggest that M-theory is the natural successor in the smooth progression from ancient to modern man. He takes history and draws a straight line through it claiming some sort of manifest destiny for M-theory. This is rubbish. Super String is and more importantly was waaaay-out-there as far as mainstream science goes.

2. His grasp of historical thought. The book is peppered with quotes from historical figures all taken light-years out of context.

3. He places Physics on a pedestal. A big pedestal. I understand that he is a physicist, but in the book he tries very hard to make them look special and cool. It is as bad as Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory and as arrogant.

4. He tries to establish Physics as separate from other sciences. As I said at the top, science does struggle with over-specialisations, but the borders between one discipline and another are not as solid as Hawking claims. They are often walls only of our making, and he knows this! Theoretical physicists are not a true breed apart no matter how much they only live through their blackboards. All science is a brotherhood and should be treated as such.

5. He has a few pops at Philosophers.

Taking that last point in detail. On page one he claims “Philosophy is dead”. This is possibly the most ironic statement I have ever heard since Jim Tyler stated to me that if he ran the country:

…all extremists would be taken out and shot.

You literally cannot form the sentence “Philosophy is dead” and have it be true. Such a statement is a philosophical position by default. It’s oxymoronic to claim that “Philosophy is dead” Given any reasonable definition of the terms he is talking nonsense.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. Later in the book he refers to Philosophy as though it was all made up. I personally think it is a bit rich for someone who is forwarding a theory that has no shred of evidence to point the finger at Philosophers. After all, Science and Philosophy were once the same subject called “Natural Philosophy”. That they have diverged is not the wish of the Philosophers! Anyway, the only true difference is the usage of Maths. Philosophers are sceptical of maths whereas physicists love it. His claim that Philosophers lack the maths to understand his answers is not telling anyone anything they didn’t already know. Philosophers don’t want to use the maths! That doesn’t stop them coming up with the same answers in their own language.

Many great Philosophers have postulated the multiple universes stated in M-Theory. Not to mention that over 2000 years ago Plato suggested that other dimensions may exist, Indian Yogi suggested alternate realities and Chinese sages wondered if they existed on another plain in a different form. M-Theory?… pah!

Secondly, in the modern world, Philosophy is more important than ever. The Prime Minister of England studied it, as did many MP’s. Books on it are everywhere. It pervades the fabric of humanity at every level, from talking to friends down the pub, to high end intellectual conferences. This is because Philosophy is the human inclination to turn a question on its head. Philosophy is less about having the answer to everything, rather it is about having a better understanding of the question.

Clearly, he is trying to be contentious to make the book sell in the US.

I am not sure who will enjoy this book. There is nothing in it that you cannot read for free on the web, and if you already know the “public understanding of science” version of M-Theory and Quantum then you won’t read anything new at all. In fact I found his description of the famous Double Slit experiment to be one of the worst I have ever encountered and it is one of the most amazing scientific discoveries of all time. I still use it to amaze bright children.

I really like Hawking. I love his TV shows and would count myself as a fan. But this book was too lite to be interesting, too confident to be correct and too ready to jump on the money-train driven by such people as Dawkins to garner respect from me.

I would advise you to skip drinking the “Kool-Aid” on this one:

5/10 & YMMV

The story of a simple Buddhist priest travelling from India to China in the 5th Century doesn’t sound like something that would make for an interesting novel, but the after effects of this solitary man’s journey still reverberate today. In all parts of the far east, the name Bodhidharma is still very well known. In Japan, for example, little girls have Bodhidharma key-chains and all sorts of other cultural influences and footprints can be found. And not only in the geek fringes or the religious halls, no his is a visage often seen in paintings; most of the time shown as an old priest with a particularly fierce expression of concentration, and it is for this ability that he was most highly prized. Bodhidharma didn’t bring Buddhism to China or Japan, but he started a school of Buddhist thought that spoke to something deep inside the Eastern people that heard it. Spoke to their marrow with a simple and unselfish message of compassion, dedication and submission.

This effect changed them forever.

Can anyone claim to “know” the east without knowing the message of this man? His sandals touched the ground lightly, but his teachings thundered across half the world like a spreading earthquake. This was the effect of the Chan school of Buddhism, known in Japan and in the west as Zen.

As with many classical figures from Buddhism, and indeed many other religions, Bodhidharma’s journey has a few undisputable facts that have been the skeletal bones around which many tall tales have been spun. Some tell of his almost magical ability to stare, even to the point of literally “drilling” into rock with his eyes. Others say that he cut off his own eyelids, so that he couldn’t fall asleep when meditating (something that gets you a whack around the head with the stick in Zen training). All these tales have been worn smooth like pebbles on a beach and over the last thousand years have come to a “standard version”. That Goran Powell  diverts from the standard version in A Sudden Dawn is not relevant at all. His tale is the mythical idea that Bodhidharma not only brought Chan to China, but also brought Kung Fu along with it. That Kung Fu descended from India is almost too obvious to be true and many have seen traces of Yoga in the Chinese martial arts. The idea is that Bodhidharma was born into a martial class in India, which became knowledge he carried with him. Knowledge that he taught and that he used. However, such origins are hardly conclusive, as it is worth noting that the Buddha himself came from a martial class (again in the “standard version”), and he certainly never raised his staff in anger. Anyway and regardless, it is a very enticing idea and the martial reputation of the Song Buddhist monasteries such as Shaolin means that there must be some explanation to how the knowledge travelled from India. That is unless, like the calculus, it was discovered in two places at the same time. I am quite happy to imagine that it was Bodhidharma who brought it, whatever the real history.

The other “deviation” from the standard version is that he walked. Common lore says that he caught a boat, but this is mainly due to the belief that walking into China from India was impossible. Nothing could be further from the truth. The walk to Tibet from Himachal Pradesh is not for the unprepared and unfit, but it isn’t impossible. I have been to the starting point and spoken to guides who say it is not only possible, but that many amazing sights and temples await the brave. I plan to do it 9 years from now (Chinese government willing.) Bodhidharma could certainly have done it if he picked his time of year.

In many respects this novel is in the classic old-fashioned genre of Historical Action Adventure. Whereas very modern writing is obsessively focussed on the details of exactly what happened, here we have an attempt to tell us why. Why did Bodhidharma tell the Emperor of China that he had achieved nothing by building hundreds of Buddhist temples? Why did he sit in a cave staring at a wall for months? The answers that Goran finds to these questions illuminates some of the fundamental truths of Zen and the genre this novel belongs to is the same as that of Siddhartha by Hesse and Musashi by Yoshikawa. It is a genre that is fascinated with the East, see’s it through a certain idealised point of view and gazes at it like one would gaze at a beautiful flower. It is somewhat similar to Shogun, in that its idealised depiction of the characters and situations follows certain tropes. So here Bodhidharma is a giant of a man, able to amaze all around him very quickly. He has a diamond-hard stare, a firm staff hand, a kind heart, and knows his Buddha Nature like no one has since the great B himself. He is also a folk hero and protector of the weak, someone who is humble (a priest) but also someone able to stand up and be counted amongst the highest in the land (and to back-chat the Emperor of China!). The reason that Goran gets away with this is that by all known accounts Bodhidharma was exactly like this.

I loved this book. I found that it spoke to me personally in many ways. Firstly, the action is well written and clearly from someone who knows the martial arts inside and out. I have trained with and under Goran in Goju Karate and I can attest that he has a very high level of skill with the Bo Staff, which is the “weapon” wielded by Bodhidharma in the novel. The fighting depictions raised my pulse level and I found myself imagining the fight in my mind. And this wasn’t the cold style of combat writing, again more modern, that permeates the works of writers such as Iain M Banks and William Gibson. Goran brings the emotionality and desperation of combat into the writing enabling an intimate connection. These fight scenes bare this emotion out on the page and the reader is taken along with it. An effect similar to watching Star Wars for the first time and something of a rollercoaster ride. This feeling is also there with the other emotional scenes. There are a number of sex scenes in the book and they are handled well by not being over written and too involved. They also, mostly, manage to stay away from the purple overused prose of sex writing (again something that terrifies modern authors; because they fear the winning of a “bad sex award”). Goran handles the fact that we know Bodhidharma makes it to Song, by putting those he travels with under the hardest pressure and in danger and although I guessed the end scene I was still deeply involved with its conclusion.

The second way it touched me was that, as mentioned above, my wife and I have almost exactly covered the journey made by Bodhidharma in the novel. We have stood in the mountains of Northern India looking at the mountains of Tibet in the distance, we have stood on the other side (we flew over) in the Tibetan city of Shangri-La where I drank Yak Butter Tea (its horrible!). We have walked Tiger Leaping Gorge . We have seen the Buddhist treasures of the Emperors (now in the Forbidden City in Beijing). We have even been to a great Chinese martial-arts mountain (although, being Daoists, we went to Wudang Shan rather than Song). Reading about Bodhidharma’s journey and realising that Cesca and I, unconsciously, echo’d it was a great pleasure and brought memories of China flooding back to me – what an amazing place and people! I can’t wait till I get to that part in the writing on this site (it’s not long now before the Buddhism parts of our journey start, with a visit to the Bodhi Tree in northern India.) This definitely increased my enjoyment of the book and made me long to return there. If you have an urge to visit the far east, this book may well be your tipping point!

Finally, there is Zen itself. Zen is a jewel; a world treasure. It is incredible. The happiness that comes from a Zen Satori will stick with you forever, touch you deeply and change you in many ways. However, obtaining a satori is one of the hardest things it is possible to do, because you can only do it by not trying, by breaking down barriers in your mind, in your life and accepting a big leap. While Buddhism in general demands dedication and practice, learning and the gaining of wisdom, Zen cuts through all this with a transmission outside the scriptures. Its formation comes from the famous sermon given by the Buddha where he stared a flower and said nothing. However some Buddhist sects claim that this never happened. Whether they are right or wrong is not relevant as the Buddha definitely said, “Buddhism is like a raft across a river. Once to the other side, you no long need the raft.” You can’t argue with that! Goran handles the Zen parts of the book exceedingly well. Bodhidharma’s own enlightenment moment is swift and not drawn out – which to my mind is correct and just as it should be. Zen is romantically un-romantic. No great peal of thunder. No Vangelis music and no Matrix slow-mo. Just a switch in your head. Bodhidharma’s understanding of Zen is driven by strife and is grasped only after going through traumatic experiences, and this shows that Goran too clearly understands Zen. In a book where Zen is the “main” character, exemplified by Bodhidharma, this is the vital element in the book’s literary success.

I loved it and feel it would read well for people interested in Bodhidharma, Buddhism, historical fiction, martial arts, the far east or even just a good read. I think, you will surely agree, that this is almost everyone.

8/10.

Regards,

Basho

_______________________

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About Goran Powell

Goran Powell’s martial arts training spans more than 35 years, and today he holds the rank of 4th dan black belt in Goju Ryu Karate. He is a qualified instructor with Daigaku Karate Kai (DKK), one of the United Kingdom’s leading clubs, and assistant coach to the successful Mixed Martial Arts team, DKK Fighters.

There follows a selection of images regarding Buddhism and Bodhidharma from Cesca and my travels around the world. These images contain a few spoilers, but if you like what you read in the book, these may help your imagination.

To those of you who play computer games, the country of Chernarus may ring a few bells. As anyone who loves the Arma series of games from Bohemia Interactive will tell you Chernarus, or Black Russia, is a fictional post-USSR country somewhere in the East that is used as the main game location. TA Events have licensed the entire storyline from Bohemia meaning that players at the event could sign up to the various factions found in the series. When someone says that you should get out from behind the keyboard and get some exercise, these events enable you to re live the brilliant, in-depth storyline for (almost) real. A detailed account of the factions and background to the event can be found here and it has a very professional depth to it not usually available to airsofters.

.The real-life location was no less impressive. The Army FIBUA site of Sennybridge in Wales is a complete “fake” English village in which generations of UK warriors have trained in FIBUA (Fighting In Built Up Areas). The level of detail in the village is very impressive. Not only is the village replete with gardens, walls and buildings, but it also has a church with gravestones! Even more than this, the houses have built-in speakers hooked up to a centralised system that can be used to deliver synchronised sounds to the player. So, when the Marines call in an airstrike the sound of the helicopters can be heard in all the houses surrounding the target. This turns up the immersion to the max.

Another attempt to keep the realism high was the game rules themselves. BattleSim is a strange beast. Not quite as ultra-real as the Milsim games at Stirling Airsoft, but definitely miles more involved than normal skirmishes. The teams were all structured with roles and responsibilities. There was designated snipers and support gunners and normal riflemen could only carry 600 rounds into combat. What weapons you could use was also mandated. Not here will you find some of the more “speedball” over the top M4 Patriots with dual box mags, and even secondary weapons had to be in keeping with the role. For example, a sniper had a pistol backup, not an AEG.

A complex medical system was in place that meant that when a player got hit he had to refer to a randomly drawn medic card and read the instructions therein. It was a great idea in principle, but it did have a few drawbacks.

For example, a player could (card permitting) be “medic’ed” by anyone. Thus in the film where I took out 8 out of 9 players in a house, I had effectively achieved nothing. That last player, medic’ed the “injured” players and the house was back up to operational. It is an unfortunate fact that mechanics that appear a good idea in theory and on paper, rarely work in the heat of combat. Similarly, players naturally find way around complex rules. In my  opinion, and as a creator of more than a few airsoft games myself at the late Electrowerkz, rules in airsoft should be like water flowing down hill. A golden rule to ask oneself when devising game is, “is it easier to follow this rule than not?” If not, then don’t be surprised to find that people will not follow them clearly. I certainly saw quite a few people not playing the medic rule correctly, but this was mainly due to them not understanding it as we only had a very short briefing on it.

For us DAs: we followed the rules as best we could, but when we found a player of ours who’s card mandated a medical evacuation that would have exposed the position to being overrun, well… we just shot him and saved the call. The chaos of battle was all around us all day. Something that many players were not used to and reacted against, but this was their problem, not the event’s. TA did have a few hiccups with the collecting of deaths as they had not provided a large number of players with “tags” and so their deaths were never logged and the marshal in our command tent had no idea of our objectives, but all in all the event was quite well run. I saw only one player not taking his hits all event and that is to be applauded.

Part of Team Delta Alpha marshalled overnight in exchange for a free game and I was part of a small band selected to role-play the part of “NAPA” villagers for the first hour or so. We had a lot of fun dressing up as moustached locals, with Keith really getting into the spirit with a brilliant costume resplendent with comedy beard; you can see him in the film dancing to Trip’s Russian ringtone. Also the team leaders of Delta Alpha were invited to become “Commanders” and run the US Marine team. The commanders had a lot of fun with this, doing impressions of R. Lee Ermey (the drill instructor in Full Metal Jacket) crossed with General Patton. The night before I helped DA1 write his speech to the troops using Patton’s famous address to the third army and the beginning of Arma II. Under the commanders we setup out the traditional two units of DAs, led by a Section Leader and Deputy (should the leader be killed). This structure worked quite well in play, but we may change things around a little next time.

USMC deployment in Chernarus consists of 27th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), which is supposed to overturn the balance in the civil war in the favour of Chernarussian government. Marines are skilled in asymmetrical warfare and are backed up by superior weapons and technology.

The DA faction: the US Marines

The game niggles, together with the ugly weather on Saturday, meant that the fighting spirit flagged in the latter part of the first day.

This was good.

Good?

Sure, Milsim is milsim. In real life, do you think that the troops are pumped all the time? No. They learn to pace themselves or they suffer tiredness and moral lapses too. This wasn’t a quick shunt around Electrowerkz before having a beer, this was fighting all day with no relenting. Even having lunch meant setting up a perimeter and eating with eye protection on. On this day all the DAs were made to Man-Up and fight on. Personally, when I found events confusing, I relied on something I once read in a Flashman novel,

“When you are tired and unsure whether to walk or run, look to your officers and march to the sound of the guns.”

Thus I let others worry about the storyline and I charged when told, held when commanded and slotted anyone dressed in green. One of the problems in house to house fighting is that people tend to not want to assault and you end up with with people in windows just plinking at each other all day. The DAs were having none of this and would always ask for permission to assault forwards. A few times this led to all of us being hit and killed, but for the times it worked – it really worked. For example, on Sunday morning, we assaulted a key house, slotted all 6 defenders, and consequently dominated the entire village for the second day of play.

I, personally, loved this event. I enjoyed the challenge and I hope this comes across in the film. I salute TA for attempting such a complex event and I could tell that they worked very hard. I think there is still some way to go with the rules and a print out of the objectives wouldn’t go amiss (after all we paid over £80 for the event.)

Was it worth it?

Yes definitely, I am sure the problems will be smoothed out through constructive feedback and TA Events listening to their client base.

About the film

For a while now I have been trying to find a way to add “context” to the filming of airsoft play. It is often very hard to tell what is going on, who was shooting who and where the enemy are on the screen. I have been trying to think of an answer to this for weeks. Finally I hit on the idea of us being “spied” on by a US Satellite who could act on behalf of the viewer and provide an overlay to bring the “tactical view” into the film.

I hope it worked.

Airsoft is not scripted. Everything you see is as it is. Often situations don’t pan out how you would like (as a filmmaker), and you cant cut what you didn’t film. My answer, at the moment, is to saturate the event with cameras and hope to catch some gold nuggets. On this event I got one shot I absolutely love, that of DA1 firing his Support Gun over my head. I love that shot, not least because he was shooting at someone who had just slotted me! The BB’s streaming out of the barrel look great. I hope to capture many more like that in the future.

Anyway, here is my film of the event. I have had fun making it, although it was a lot of work to cut the 20GB(!) of footage down– a one moment it was over 24 minutes long! – In order to upload it I have had to split the YouTube version into two. Of course the Vimeo version is full length (I love those guys).

Please leave any comments at the bottom here.

Regards,

Basho.

Vimeo Version:

Sennybridge, a Basho film about “The Chernarus Conflict” from Basho Matsuo on Vimeo.

YouTube Part 1:

YouTube Part 2:

In Kick Ass we have all the elements of a standard “super hero” journey. The voice over, the sad life in school, the lust after the school’s best looking chick, the bullies and the obsessive compulsive masturbation fantasies. Yep, all present. Geeks must truly have inherited the earth, and must be earning millions, for films to try so hard to show them in such a positive light. Then the first person dies and it is the only person in the film who doesn’t die violently. It is Kick Ass’s mother, who drops dead in the opening montage. Nothing is made of this and she sort of fades from view. Nothing changes for the “hero”.

My Spidey-sense started tingling at this point.

I watched an amazing film once by Japanese director auteur “Beat” Kitano, called Boiling Point, in which the main character was a looser. After being struck out at baseball, he heads to a toilet shack and sits down. From that point his life changes and leads rollercoaster-like into confrontation with local Yakuza, ensuing violence and things being blown up. It was only after one character went into battle wielding a pineapple that my senses told me that something was amiss. Sure enough, the film appears to end with a fade to black… and then suddenly shows the looser still sitting in the toilet, he flushes and runs out to meet with his comrades.

The whole film had been a fantasy.

Kick Ass is like that. I kept thinking that after the credits would be a moment where he would wake up and it would all be a dream. Or more like a nightmare.

Trying to take a stand against crime, but for some reason wearing a costume – not that he has a secret identity to protect – the hero immediately feels for the lack of martial arts lessons and gets stabbed and run over on his first attempt. This leaves him with the ability to withstand more pain and on his second attempt, saving a guy from a gang kicking, he manages to outlast his three opponents to win the conflict.

Admirable.

Less admirable is the horde of people just watching. Why did no one call the cops? Or help? No, they just record it and put it on YouTube. Suddenly, his super hero identity has fans, lots of fans. This brings him to the notice of lots of people. Meanwhile the local crime lord is tracking down who has stolen his drugs, which he is doing by cutting people’s fingers off and putting other people in industrial microwaves to explode. The real culprits are the other super heroes in the movie, psycho vigilantes Big Daddy and Hit Girl.

They are truly an amazing father and daughter team of psychopaths. Big Daddy is this century’s winner of the Most Inappropriate Father Award who is on a punisher-like killathon working through the ranks of the crime boss’s henchmen and he has taken his 11 year old daughter along for the ride. By using comics to manipulate her mind and teaching her how to kill he has turned her into Hit Girl.

And Hit Girl is cool.

One definition of coolness is this, “The making of something that is difficult look easy”. That is why wearing sunglasses makes you look cool; walking in the sun requires that you squint. Squinting is effort. Wearing sunglasses you make walking in the sun look easy, therefore they are cool. Hit Girl makes killing look easy. She effortlessly slices up a drug-den of aggressive and violent “bad people” and inavertedly rescues Kick Ass from another serious ass kicking. In another scene she displays some of the best CQB gun play I have ever seen in film. She employs gen-3 night vision, the Mozambique drill, strobe lights, CQC knife/gun holds, tac-reloads and even ‘search and asses’! That this is being performed by a little girl, too young to fancy, made my spider sense go into overdrive.

I finally snapped when Kick Ass not only got the girl he had been lying too for weeks, in the most unlikely way, but he fucks her in the parking lot of the comic book store. I had that moment where you pull out of the film and wake up.

And suddenly it was all clear.

This film, with all its knowing winks to other super hero franchises, it’s horrific depictions of murder (such as a horrible moment where Dexter Fletcher is squashed in a car crusher by Hit Girl – and you see it all), its casual depiction of goodies & baddies by virtue of their masks, the Tarantino-inspired music and everyone but the main characters having nothing to do, is a satire. But not of what you think.

In one scene, the background characters see, as we do, the torture of Kick Ass and Big Daddy on screen. They are rescued on camera by a furiously shooting Hit Girl who then – having not broken sweat – casually shoots out the camera. They then comment to each other in a reflection of the thoughts going through the audience, and what do they say?

“I think I am in love with her.”

“Dude she is like 11 or something.”

Not a single word about Kick Ass and Big Daddy being brutally tortured, beaten to near death and Big Daddy being set on fire. They don’t care about that. Just like we don’t when we are watching. We already know what is going to happen, Kick Ass must survive, Big Daddy must die, but we don’t care at all. All we care about is how fucking cool Hit Girl is.

Yep, this film is a dark satire; It is a satire of us.

We film-watching idiots who sit through this stuff because it is cool, the comic reading fantasists living only on the internet. The porn watching, hentai viewing, YouTube nation that loves ultra-violence. The grosser Kick Ass was, the more the audience giggled and sighed like we were in a “feely” from A Brave New World.

The film is actually asking us, “Is this really what you will put up with?” Do we really want to apologise for an 11 year old shown slicing people up with a cute grin because it is a “cool” movie? Are we really going to accept whatever is thrown into our eyes and ears and make arguments that it is OK because we are completely desensitised to it all? Have we not played games with similar moments? Watched worse things on the net? Do we “care” about anything?

No, because this film kicks ass.

90% of the audience missed the point, missed that joke was on them, that they are the losers sitting around watching super hero movies rather than living a “real life”. Today I glanced through the comic in the bookshop and in the original version of Kick Ass, Big Daddy is eventually shown to be a liar and not an ex-cop with a grudge. A real nutter fantasist ruining his daughter by making her into Hit Girl. Also, Kick Ass doesn’t get the girl. And why? Because he is pathetic and had nothing to offer her.

That would have been a more satisfying ending than Hollywood’s version that hides the real target of the film’s satire. So, yes, Kick Ass handed me a stick and I have drawn my line. It was not where I was expecting to draw it on walking out of the film, but it is where I want it.

Kick Ass – do not want.

6/10

Regards,

Basho

This is the story of Jesus and his brother Christ, of how they were born, how they lived and how one of them died.

Despite the use of the definite ‘the’ in the first line of Philip Pullman’s new novel, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, it is not actually claiming to be the real back-story of the influential spiritual leader. Rather it is a telling of a myth; a fable. And in doing so makes us face what the story of Jesus really means. All stories of the Gods are the subject of myth and they all have within them the patterns that stretch directly into the mind and subconscious. As with other tales of half remembered, but not forgotten, ancient wisdom, the story of Jesus has meaning beyond the telling. His is the hero’s story told again and again through the ages, and its lessons are to be read and dwelt upon over many tellings. So, as he steps though the doors of his life – the foretold stages of his journey – we step with him and arrive on the other side together.

The layers of understanding, which come with changing from child to man, are ones I remember clearly. At 10 I was always told that Jesus was also a God. Or was the Christian God himself in a certain form. This lesson led to my childlike wondering of, given the immense creative powers ascribed to this God, how it was that Jesus allowed himself to be nailed up in the first place. Why did he not use his godly power to save himself? Such are the practical thoughts of the child.

To an adult, the answer to this question is Gnostic and illuminates the spiritual level, understanding and beliefs of the speaker. The story sold to me at my Sunday school was that Jesus let himself be executed because he wanted to save us. This was something my young mind could not understand and, I presumed at the time, I would have to ‘grow up’ to realise. In the same sense that one finds an answer to Santa Claus’s apparent ability to travel around the world in one night, I did. In the sense of coming to an understanding of the churches’ view of Jesus, I did not. Growing up involved coming to terms with the world, my limited place within it and to walking some of the steps of the spiritual journey within myself. Together with the practical teachings of my schooling, the categorisation of reality scientifically defined in certain ways, this meant that the Christian God did not fit into my life.

I then came to another step on the path by wrestling with the relationship between God and Jesus. I was told that he was the father to Jesus, the son. My now adolescent mind, fresh from GCSE Biology and genetics class, wondered at the holy power that Jesus would inherit from having such a powerful father. After all, God apparently created everything, and had only one son. That son should have some serious power. I did not know then of the power of myth or of the real Jesus inside the tale. I had only the first inkling of the separation between the man and the myth. For Jesus died in a very human way. A visceral end of brutal reality. A grounding. At this point the myth rises to meet us, finding us contemplating the horror of such an end. My school told me that this was a humbling of the God, a sacrifice by the creator who wanted to understand his creations. But, my mind knew that the God could not really sacrifice anything. Astride the clouds of time and space, outside the mundane and unknowable in his extremes; so that even hearing his voice would shake the foundations of the planet, a God could not know fear, and without fear Jesus’ death meant less. His was the certain knowledge of his coming assention and his seat next to the father. For Jesus’ death to mean what it claimed he would have not been able to ask his father to forgive his persecutors. He invalidates it by his knowledge that he was immortal.

Finally, as an adult, I came to fully understand myth. I came to understand allegory and the nature of belief. Jesus suddenly became what he truly was; just a man. His is the hero myth of my culture, adopted over those of countless others. The myth of Jesus and God the Father rather than that of Buddha and the Bodhisattvas of Compassion. Or the Avatar Krishna and great blessings of Shiva. Jesus, like all these heroes’s, wandered into the desert, or sat under a tree, or flew through space or any number of ways of being removed from normal life. These forced the hero to look within and pass through temptation. Coming back from such an experience with new powers, new understandings and the ability to grant boons in the form of special teachings. The power to promise futures near at hand and of rewards from the Gods. Jesus was a man with in certain frame of mind. A man who had an experience in the desert that changed him. A man who really died on the cross and who suffered fear, doubt, uncertainty and pain for teaching his understanding. A human man of special significance, whose mind altering thoughts have been distilled into the strong myth around us today, taking in parts of all other myths, fulfilling all prophesies and speaking all truths.

That Jesus would have disappeared into the sands of Israel, swallowed whole by history like so many enlightened ones, without such myth making is a fundamental truth. As such was necessary for the teachings of Jesus to survive and flourish. How that came about is one of the great stories never uncovered. Who made the man Jesus, who died on a Roman cross as a Jewish heretic, into one of the ultimate personifications of the monomyth?

And what was their motives?

This is what is explored in Pullman’s novel. But instead of placing it historically or pointing the finger at anyone in particular (such as Saint Paul), Pullman makes his story a part of the myth itself. He uses the language of the myth to highlight the influence and effect. To point out which parts are which. So in this book Jesus is like so many other spiritual leaders in that he had an epiphany in the desert, changing him forever. However, in this book Jesus is born along with a brother called Christ. Christ represents many characters in the familiar story, but is actually the chime of the myth acting on the history of the man. At one point Christ acts in place of Judas, in another he is the elder brother in the prodigal son fable and in the finale stands in for Jesus himself.

As Robin Williams once said, being the brother of Jesus is a tough gig, especially since Jesus pretty much ignores his brother all the way through the story. Christ is left to run around after his more popular sibling and, like someone not cool enough to be in the band, becomes a chronicler of the events in Jesus’ life. The story is about how those events are presented in future times.

And the lesson is that no one can watch and record without changing what they write.

Jesus is not the first ancient philosophical master to have his words distorted by those around him. Socrates also never wrote anything down, yet he had all the ideas. It was his lover and friend Plato who was the author of the Republic.

20 years later.

How accurate an account is that going to be? Is there not a lot of temptation to round off the corners of the story and to join up the loose ends? To smooth out the kinks, enhance the events and to simply make the story fit with what you want to say? At which point do such actions become alteration and embellishment, rather than clarification and judicial editing? And why do it? To place yourself in the story or to keep on message?

Or just to make the story survive? To make the power of the message live on in myth?

Jesus didn’t write anything, but taught much, and so perhaps he expected such treatment? I feel that is the question Pullman must have asked himself before writing this novel and he really does a magical job of weaving the story of his narrative into the history, embellishing it so that the myth is formed in front of our eyes. Christ is present, Forest Gump like, at many major event in Jesus’ life and writes down what he sees. Jesus is presented as a powerful and contentious religious leader, more forceful and less eloquent than in the Bible. I found the speech of Jesus to be much more believable than in that older-tome. Jesus, in much of the New Testament, spoke in the riddles of emotionality and story, all powerful myth indicators. Indeed he never debated anything directly. Everything was thrown a curve ball that illuminated his point of view rather than expressed it. However, this may have been as in reality; I once met a poet on a train who spoke in the same rhythms and it was almost impossible to get a straight answer, which was most hilarious when he was asked for his ticket. This is not because Jesus is being difficult, says Pullman; it is because he has been getting rewritten. Jesus in this novel is a practical man, not aloof in his view of the world, but more alive, closer to the core of it.

In Pullman’s account Hirram the cripple is briskly told to, “take up your mat and walk”. This “get on with it” style of speaking is how Jesus deals with almost everything. Very direct, cutting out peoples illusions. Indeed Jesus is very believable and I found myself liking him. His directness and sight of what is really there is at the core of my own religious beliefs founded on yet another hero, Lao Tze. Of the events around Jesus Pullman reports those plainly and lets us draw our own conclusions. It is only into the mind of Christ we are shown, not Jesus, until the last moments. Christ wants Jesus to start the church and it is he, not the Devil, that approaches Jesus in the desert to “tempt” him with tales of the church’s future.

Christ himself is eventually approached by, “the Stranger” who convinces him to record the life of his brother, and he does but cant help subtly editing it. Why he would do this is brilliantly realised. The message of Jesus is not timeless, but the story of Jesus is. Thousands of preachers have expounded similar teachings. History has crushed them all underfoot. It is only Jesus’ story that is allowed to shine by the church in his name. Anyone else with a vision of eternity was burned or simply ignored. Christ needs to make Jesus special or, as the Stranger says, Jesus will disappear into history; forgotten. The Stranger tempts Christ by using his wish to help his brother and also his want to grab some of the limelight for himself. A subtle fall. The fall of making a myth. Christ is given a decision atop a slippery slope: help the Stranger and Jesus lives forever, refuse and stay true to your brother and his truths die with him.

I felt sorry for the Christ character, his final fall – the betrayal of Jesus – is seductively realised. Brought into the presence of the Jewish religious leaders by the Stranger, Christ is completely overawed by the proximity of their power. Suddenly he is inside the circle where he wishes he was with his brother, he is being asks for his advice; solicited not politicked. He gives Jesus up with barely a whimper of complaint by swallowing some comfortable lies. The arguments given by Pullman in the passage are those given to the coward looking for a way out, agreeing to anything to end the torment of embarrassment of being in the limelight for a brief moment. Told that it is the “right thing to do” and, believing it over his better judgement, it is he who kisses his brother in the famous olive garden and sends Jesus to his death.

This leaves Christ to become the immortal and risen saviour and to be mistaken for Jesus on Easter and suddenly the myth is made real. The actual message of Jesus almost becomes lost against the power of this story. Myth that grows to reach all corners of the world. That allows for no questioning of the story because pull the myth down and one risks pulling the message down with it.

I get the distinct impression that Pullman respects Jesus but hates Christ. I think he understands the power of the myth all too well. He blames the priesthood for using that power to conduct “evil”. So much “evil” that there aren’t enough rivers to hold the blood that has been spilt in the myth’s name.

Pullman has written an excellent book and one I recommend. It is important to be able to step along the hero’s journey and understand the ever repeated rhythms within it. Whether it is the ancient story of the Minotaur, the modern tale of the Skywalker or the encompassing monomyth of Jesus, the story goes on and will be retold in the same forms forever. I don’t think Pullman has a problem with that, his is a problem with what we listeners then go and do after hearing the story. We forget the point is to transcend the tale and grow spiritually along with it. As the Buddha said of his teachings – that it is a boat to cross a river – once to the other side you no longer need the boat.

You leave it behind.

I realised that those questions of my youth have no answer, no truth, they are the unknowable koans of my tribe. I celebrate them and no longer resent my apparent lack of answers for I have put away childish riddles and have found my way in the spiritual realm; this other shore. I can love Jesus the man as I can see him separate from the myth created around his life. I don’t think of him as God, unless in the sense that “I am God, you are God and we are God”.

Pullman too respects Jesus, but he cannot forgive the myth for its affects. He cannot forgive Christ.

A note on versions.

I read this novel in the iPhone Enhanced version and it was fantastic. Philip Pullman himself read the audio novel aloud and with a quick gesture I could move from the audio to the text version. The package also included some interview videos with Mr Pullman that I found most interesting.

You can also get the audio version on Audible without the text, also read by Mr Pullman.

Finally, you can of course buy the book in the traditional sense.

Regards,

Basho

Requirements.

So, I need a new laptop, one that covers all my specific bases. What those bases are has an influence on what I think of the machine in this review so I list them here.

1. It must be portable. This is the most important thing in a laptop. The machine must be light enough for me to be able to carry it to work every day. I have an 80 minute journey on the intercity train into London from Ipswich so a laptop cannot be too large in size or I will not be able to fit it in the small space afforded. Sometimes I see a person with a 17inch Macbook on the train. If someone sitting next to them wanted to use a laptop as well, they can forget it. Fur will fly before you manage to squeeze two machines into that space. Then, I have a 1.5 mile walk from Liverpool Street to London Bridge. So any machine of mine must be light enough to not hurt my shoulder after this distance. These are the portability tests I will be using. They are a little more “real world” than just weighing the machine, as would some other reviewers, but that it how we roll on the OC.

2. It must be powerful. My passion is being creative in my spare time. I write, I paint, I make films, etc. My current laptop runs Office just fine, but it struggles when rendering films in Sony Vegas. In fact I often have to leave it overnight to complete a high quality version of a film and it crashes with alarming regularity. So, my new purchase must be able to power through rendering in Vegas and in my new suite of Adobe Premiere. The other aspect to this is that I used to be a gamer, a big gamer. As raid master of the Hooded Nomads guild I ran a high end rig to support operations in Star Wars Galaxies, Crysis and Eve. I need those FPS! My current machine, as fine as the processor is, cannot even run Mount and Blade. I want something that will nail both requirements.

3. It must have a long lasting battery. My Samsung has a good battery, but nothing to write home about. I can squeeze out something like 3 hours in Windows 7 (which is excellent at battery management compared to Vista). However, Cesca –my wife- can make her Macbook Pro last all damn day. Any machine I buy will have to outperform the Samsung and give a £2000 Macbook a run for its money.  A tall order.

4. It must output to a TV. While small screen gaming is sweet on the go and on the lap, I want to be able to run this baby by a bigger screen for when at home. I have a LG 26 inch 1080p LCD TV, so we shall see what picture we can get up.

5. It must be good value for money. Cheap, like the budgie, is the motto. I don’t want to spend £2000 on a laptop, I don’t want to buy anything that expensive that could be dropped! The price/performance ratio is a vital metric.

So with those 5 requirements in mind, what to buy?

Dell and Alienware.

I have been flirting with many machines in the last few months, then I saw this:

And this:

Dell was a supplier of choice when I was an IT manager of a London Investment Bank. I bought hundreds of Dell machines. I also had a classic IT policy regarding laptops; IT got them first. If someone wanted a laptop, I would buy a new one and give them mine. This had real business benefits (honest!) in that we would be able to learn the laptop before trying to support it. The upshot was that I changed my laptop for a new model every 4 months or so. I have had HPs, IBMs (new and old ones), even a massive and ugly as sin Sony. But it was to the Dells that I returned, and not to just the business models. At one point Dell gave the XPS range a free deskside support contract, so I had one of those. I know a good laptop when I use one.

A few years ago Dell bought out the custom PC maker, Alienware. Before Dell got involved Alienware was a bit of a rich-kids brand. All that high-end hacker/gamer bullshit. I have no doubt that half the high end guilds rocked Alienware’s. They cost a fortune. Since Dell have owned them, they have come down in price. This is mainly because Dell have leveraged their better production model to be able to produce the machines at a lower price. All the better for us. At the moment, we stand in a cross roads for the brand. Dell’s own XPS gaming laptop is standing in direct competition to the Alienware brand, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Dell dropped one or the other. If they keep Alienware as they stand, I would also expect the branding to be toned down a little as well. Not all of us are 15 year olds (lucky you if you are!) and I personally don’t fancy sitting on the train with a “loud” machine saying in no uncertain terms that I am a punk bitch.

With the announcement of the m11x I grew excited. I have held the Alienware 17 inch model and it is the size of a bus. Definitely not something that I would want to carry, so the idea of an actually portable Alienware laptop was enticing. Also enticing was the price. An amazing £750 starting price is not to be sniffed at.

Ordering and Options.

I logged on and started to order.

Dell’s ordering website is quite good. It has all the features you would want. For the Alienware’s you can usually setup the machine in many different configurations, so that a 17incher can start at £1200 and soon be up to £4000 with all the trimmings. So, I was surprised to find that the M11x had little in the way of upgrade options. You could change the version of Windows, upgrade the RAM – but not too much – to 8GB, you had two processor choices and three harddrive ones. Sounds like a lot, but most Alienware models allow for thousands of possible combinations, rather and just hundreds. Perhaps they are coming soon. I didn’t mind, being an early adopter is fun and if it is a lemon, well it’s my loss not yours.

There are a few options to select:

Processor Options Intel® Pentium® Processor SU4100 (2M Cache, 1.30 GHz, 800 MHz FSB) Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo SU7300 (1.3GHz, 800 MHz, 3 MB) Chipset Mobile Intel® GS45 Chipset Operating System Options Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-Bit Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate 64-Bit Dimensions & Weight Height: 32.7mm (1.29 inches) Width: 285.7mm (11.25 inches) Depth: 233.3mm (9.19 inches) Preliminary Weight: Start at 1.99kg (4.39 lbs) Keyboard AlienFX® Illuminated Keyboard – Exclusive Design Audio Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio Network Adapter Options a/b/g/n 2×2 MIMO Internal WWAN Mobile Broadband

Memory Options 2GB, 4GB, 8GB DDR3 - 800MHz Display Options 11.6-inch WideHD 1366×768 (720p) LCD Hard Drive Options 160GB 5,400RPM 250GB, 320GB, 500GB - 7,200RPM 256GB - Solid State Drive Bluetooth Internal Wireless Bluetooth 2.1 Video Card Options 1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 335M Battery 8 Cell Prismatic (64 whr) – Primary Ports IEEE 1394a (4-pin) port Integrated Ethernet RJ-45 (100 Mbps) 3 Hi-speed USB 2.0 ports DP / HDMI – Video Output 3-in-1 Media Card Reader 2 Audio Out Connectors Audio In / Microphone Jack (retaskable for 5.1 audio) Two Built-In Front Speakers

I took the upgraded processor, 4GB of RAM and the 320GB hard drive.

The final total was a respectable £868 including VAT and delivery. Lucky, I had a Christmas bonus then!

Just before the date the laptop was due, I received a call from Dell. It was an automated message asking me if I want to change the delivery date. A nice touch.

Unboxing.

The box the laptop comes in is very tightly made and nicely presented, if you are giving this machine as a gift: you will impress them. The standard Dell layout has been customised with a Alienware shaped bits and pieces box that neatly fits into the larger case. The laptop is presented in a nice soft bag/cover. Impressive.

Looks.

OMG this is a good looking machine. A hard and metallic outer shell makes it as sturdy as a rock, what I would expect from a gaming rig, but it also adds to the allure. It is light years better looking than my Samsung and gives Cesca’s MacBook Pro a run for its money.The screen hinge opens to a 140 degree angle and does not roll flat. Being a wide screen, the frame has a thick besel of unused real estate around the screen, but this is not deal breaker. Alienware have toned down the styling a little, and I don’t think I will have any issues with using this on the train in the morning.

Speaking of the screen, is is pleasantly thin with no thick back plate. This is a bonus for use in confined areas.

Stacking up against other machines.

The Alienware is small and dainty for something so powerful. Here it is against my work laptop (A Dell Latitude 7700):

And against my 11inch Samsung:

As you can see, while the M11x has still got the classic Alienware lines, it has been gently toned down and has lost a lot of weight. The laptop weighs no more than the Samsung, even with all that metal.

Powering Up & First Use.

On first use the Alienware immediately starts to impress. The entire keyboard lights up and the logo under the screen glows bright. The first boot is swift and running through the microsoft nonsense is thankfully quick as well. After the desktop appears, the system then runs the Alienware facial recognition software that records a picture of your face to act as your password into the desktop, removing the need to type a password. A gimmick, but a nice one that actually works.

After years typing on my Samsung keyboard, there was an adjustment period to the layout of the Alienware. The keys are flat, even perhaps  shade concave if they have any raised sections at all. They are punchy and responsive, but small. It will definitely take a little while to learn this layout, so at the moment I am looking at the keyboard to type. The font of the keys is a semi-scifi, StarTrek style. This is not problem, but a little strange. The gamers keys “wasd” have another symbol on them under the letters, which looks like Klingon to me.

The default backdrop and programs is as follows:

The famous Alienware Alien FX Control Panel software enables you to change the lights to any colour you could possibly want. I leave mine on blue and turn it off to play DVD’s.

As far as Crud Software goes, I only saw MacAfee, which I ripped off immediately.

Film Making and Rendering.

Making films is perhaps not the classic use for a laptop, but for me has become a real pleasurable experience. I make two types, films of my world travels and films of my airsofting. For this test I am going to make a film of one of my recent airsoft games and render it on my old and new machines. This will give us a real world test of the power of these boxes. I am not hoping for too much difference between the reference Samsung and the Alienware as the processor is not too ahead, but let us see!

Premiere Pro is a professional, real-time, timeline based video editing software application by Adobe. It was the software that rendered the Academy Award winning film, No Country for Old Men. A serious application!

Note. I only have the 32 bit version of this software, but the latest version is enhanced for 64bit, so if you have that, expect even more.

Both systems rendered a 2.40 minute clip in 1080p high def. The final file size was around 600Mb.

The Alienware did it in: 13:05 minutes.

The Samsung did it in: 14:27 minutes.

Victory to the Alienware!

Film Watching.

This system does not come with an internal CD/DVD or Blu Ray drive, but I have a Blu Ray external drive I use for backup. With the combination of this, a HDMI cable and a HD TV I am able to test high definition video playback.

It looks glorious!

However, on playing I suddenly got a bit of stuttering in the Blue Ray. A quick check online found that the system comes with the Dell Backup Manager installed, once I removed that, the system worked flawlessly. The picture was brilliant.

To even improve it further I installed the CoreCodec program that pushes all the video through the GPU and things really started to fly! I was able to play a full Blu Ray and download from Steam at the same time.

Sure enough, this machine can be easily used as a multimedia platform!

Gaming!

Rock on Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2!

OMG, I have missed gaming on the PC. There is something just not quite right about gaming on a console. I just don’t get on with using a controller. I am a keyboard and mouse man and proud of it!  Well, for my £800 do I get something that can compete with all the PS3 and XBoxes in the world? You damn well bet your balls to a barn dance I do!

For many people, the gaming applications on the Alienware are the point of getting it in the first place. So, I can report that I subjected myself to many hours of hardcore gaming just for you. It was a real struggle I can tell you.  To put the system into gaming mode, simply hold down FN and push F6, this boots the Hybrid Graphics into, what I like to call, ‘Whoop Ass mode!”

You get one of the following pop ups to let you know it has happened:

My wife would come in and say, “please take out the rubbish, darling,”

I would shake my head sadly and say, “Sorry sweetpea, I have to finish this review,” and continue playing on for hours. It was funny at the time, but she is making me suffer for it now!

I got 45FPS on COD4:MW2 and 70(!)FPS on MAX SETTINGS in Left for Dead 2!

Playing games on this laptop, either through the HDMI or on the small but fast screen, is bliss. Pure and simple. From the point of view of gaming, this laptop is a new generation of size/price/performance.

Dell videos on the subject:

RAW Power Matrix.

Numbers mean everything to some and nothing to others. Nevertheless I did run all the standard tests on this rig.

CPU Rating:

The basic Windows 7 Experience Index runs a number of tests on the system that enables 5 metrics to be judged. Knowing Microsoft, this tool will not be the whole story, but I ran it anyway. The Alienware was run through twice, once with the integrated graphics card and once with the gaming card enabled. I also include the score from our reference system to show a comparison.

First, Samsung:

Then the Alienware with the Whoop Ass button off and on

Then I booted up the more in depth testing software PCMarks Vantage. This was again run through twice.

With the Whoop Ass button off the final score was 2884:

With all things set to maximum, the score was a much more impressive 3209:

Over-clocking

Over-clocking the machine is a simple BIOS option on bootup. With this on I reran the Windows Experience Index and came up with:

Noise

While it was putting the machine through its paces, I had a decibel meter sitting by the fan, to check the noise coming out during high stress. It registered a respectable 70 decibels, which is not too loud for anyone. You can definitely hear the fan, but it is not the Hoover-with-a-full-bag noise that I was expecting. When watching a film, you cannot notice it and while gaming I don’t notice anything but the action.

Battery.

Windows claims 6 hours in discrete mode, which is an enormous number considering the system is on “balanced”. I was able to get 6 hours with no problems when discrete graphics was on, and 4 hours in the high power mode. When playing games I got about 2.5 hours. Really good!

Real World Portability.

I cannot stress enough what a game changer this little monster really is. This is true potable gaming. In size, bulk and weight this bad boy is no better or worse than my Samsung and I carried that every day for a year on my journey around the world. I am very impressed in this respect. I slid the Alienware into my neoprene sleeve and went to work us usual. Brilliant. It raises no eyebrows on the train, and that is a bonus in such packed environs.

Wrapping up.

So, before reaching some sort of conclusion, there a number of bad things you need to consider:

For some bizarre reason SD cards stick out when in use. For those of us who would like a high speed card to sit in the machine to provide Readyboost, this is a real pain in the ass.

Also, the screen. While I am a fan of glossy screens for watching films, it is not a good idea for outside use. I mean, I know gamers will be in unlit basements mainly, but still!

Conclusion.

So, with those little niggles out of the way, let us consider this laptop:

It has amazing build quality.

It has stonkingly fast graphics.

It is a joy to write on.

It is fantastic to watch Blu Ray’s on.

It is great to create semi-pro films on.

It is small and truly portable.

It has outstanding battery life.

It doesn’t make you feel like a dork.

It gives a Macbook Pro a run for its money on the catwalk.

It is a dream of a laptop.

An incredible 9/10.

If you want a Dell Alienware M11x, I have a couple of link for you to follow. If you don’t want to buy a Dell Alienware M11x, then I also have a link…

… for a good Psychiatrist!

I have some Dell DEALS for you!
These are automatically updated by DELL to always give you the best deal.

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So, if you are interested in getting a Alienware M11x, please click one of the following:

Firstly though, what makes a man’s watch?  It seems to me that the big names in male watches are struggling to sell their brands.  Unfortunately this has led to truly hideous watches that have all the hallmarks of a marketing department struggling with not only reality, but also a sense of the times.

The times are hard.

For some, and perhaps this is you – I hope not, the response to hard times is to not only ignore them, but to spend more.  After all this is what the government wants you to do to help the economy out of recession.  For that reason, modern watches are more expensive than ever.  Companies are pushing celebrity endorsements down everyone’s throat under the belief that we, as watch buying men, don’t know that said celebrity was given (or even paid to wear) such-and-such a brand.

I hate celebrity endorsements.  Take this one:

All that I get from these adverts is that Tiger Woods needs more roughage in his diet.  I mean why the “look”?  That, “I have a big wallet and no muesli,” look that is supposed to say, “Success, I have it – you want it.” Sure, Tiger is a good golfer, but do we really think that his watch defines that? This sort of thing is the advertisers pulling the wool over our eyes to fool our heads.  Is the product any good? Will I look like a berk when wearing it? Lets have an actual look at the watch in question:

I am actually amazed that Lewis Hamilton can tell the time on that over-designed lump on his wrist!  I mean, presumably, he has to check his watch in a hurry while driving 200 miles per hour.  If I was in that situation I would want a watch that was easy to read.

I choose another path and it is this I want to speak to you about.

• The path I choose is one of forming a relationship with your watch maker that goes beyond the financial.
• The path I choose is one where you are wearing a quality watch that is worth more than any celebrity.
• The path I choose is one of the very best quality at the optimum price.
• The path I choose is where people ask me about my watch and immediately go and buy one for themselves.
• Turning heads matters to me, I am a manly-man and I want a man’s watch.  However, I don’t want any part of the “pretender” watch culture.

I therefore turned to Christopher Ward London Limited.
 
 

 
 
His website makes his “mission” clear:

We are a new watchmaker with a simple aim.

We want to put high quality luxury watches within the reach of everyone.

To achieve this we have inverted the usual business model used by brands such as Rolex, Cartier and Omega. Instead of their extremely high margin requirements and the myriad of middlemen and retailers in the equation, we take a small but fair margin and have the ultimate direct business with not a single middleman and no retailer other than ourselves.

We can’t begin to match the hundreds of millions spent on advertising campaigns, sponsorships and “A” list celebrities of our better known competitors. Instead, we concentrate our efforts on designing beautiful timepieces and relying on delighted customers to recommend the brand to family, friends and colleagues on our behalf.

So, when I was looking for a timepiece to go around the world with I knew which company I wanted to use.  I passed on the faceless mega-brands, and instead went quintessentially for quality. My travels will include diving, caving, many many flights; buses; trains, and even bungy jumping 140meters.  I needed a watch that didn’t quit on me. I eventually selected the The Kingfisher Diver-Pro.  It is described by Christopher himself  in these terms:

I am a fanatical scuba-diver as is Philip our Swiss trained manufacturing partner so you can imagine how important an addition to the CWL collection is our first divers watch. The brief was quite simple: Create the ultimate professional divers watch that marries extreme condition functionality with exquisite good looks.

The quality of this watch will be understood by all those familiar with all good things hierological (the Swiss Ronda calibre 715 movement, the additional thickness of the sapphire glass, the screw-down case back with the engraved No Decompression Table – perhaps a world first, the 2-piece uni-directional bezel and Super-luminova markings, etc) which means the Kingfisher is water resistant to an astonishing 30 atmospheres/1000 feet, but to understand its beauty as well, just look at it. It’s enough to make a grown man dive!

I sent in the order to include two straps; leather and rubber.  I have a large wrist and so needed to make sure that I could swap the straps if needed.

Features

• Swiss made
• 5 Jewel Ronda quartz movement
• 2 Piece uni-directional bezel
• Screw-in crown and back plate
• 30 atm (1000 feet) water resistant case
• 4.5mm Sapphire crystal
• Adjustable strap with easy opening butterfly clasp
• Highly luminescent indices bezel marker and hands
• Unique engraved serial number and No Decompression Limit table

You can also upgrade to a automatic movement version (ETA 2824-2), which winds on the wrist.  After a short wait it arrived (Shown here with the leather strap):

Metal strap option:

The box:

One of the best features about using Christopher Ward, no matter the model you go for, is that the customer service is second to none.  I had called and checked the status of the order on numerous occasions and every time had received a full and helpful reply.  Moreover the packaging included a welcome letter signed by Mr Ward himself, this wasn’t so much a purchase as a relationship.

The Watch

So lets have a closer look:

Once I had the watch in my hands it felt quite heavy, but it slipped into the wrist very easily.  The sides of the case curve to match the wrist well.  Movement wise the automatic movement (ETA 2824-2) of the upgraded watch is top notch and of a quality far above the price point.  The basic movement is the ever reliable Ronda Quartz movement (pdf here) and forum posts and online reviews attest to its reliability over time. The backing of the watch face is a cobalt blue that is a little darker than this photo suggests and the hands are highly luminescent. The dial of the Kingfisher is available in the colours black, white, yellow, orange and blue.  The bezel aligns well and twists with a good click that makes time marking simple and easy to use. The straps I ordered with the watch are only two of the four options available.  I now only use the rubber strap.

The back of the watch includes a dive table.  This is, of course, not something to bet your life on under the water, but it is a nice addition.

The rubber strap is stamped with a Christopher Ward logo and the clasp is a firm click to set.

More images:

Review

So, how did it perform in the “real world”?

Upon receiving the watch I wore it with the leather strap.  I must say that while it does look hansom in this configuration, I very much prefer it with the rubber strap.  The leather is of a good quality but not as nice as alligator (which is available). Time was at first a few seconds out per day and this is totally normal for a Swiss movement.  After a few weeks it settled down and is now perfectly accurate and consistent. I changed the strap to the rubber one myself.  This was highly unnerving and not something I want to have to do again.  Mainly because without the right tools such a procedure is going to be much harder than it needs to be.  I eventually used my Leatherman to assist.  Once the leather strap was off (the easy part), I cut the rubber to the required length and then proceeded to attach it.  The trick in doing so it to make sure that the pin’s heads are completely pushed into the holes before wearing.  Once this is achieved the strap is very sturdy and has not been any problem in over a year.

I took the watch diving in the Great Barrier Reef:

and the watch performed perfectly.  I dived a total of 14 times in 3 days.  I even took it down to 25 meters and both the timing and the hand’s luminescence (3 seconds torch charged) worked fine. A total success and a few of the dive instructors asked where I had got such a nice watch.

Having successfully tested the watches primary function, I wanted to give it a challenge.

I rode with the watch up Mount John in New Zealand and it worked fine at that height.  I could detect no changes in movement and timing.  Also the strap worked fine on my very sweaty wrist without turning nor moving out of position. Even this was not enough for me.  I wanted to test the watch under the highest stress I could and since I am not a test pilot I had only one choice:

At 250 meters above a river, the Nevis is New Zealand’s highest bungy jump with a fall-distance of 134 meters.  It involves a drop with 8 seconds of free-fall, a mighty snap and having all that momentum suddenly reversed as the bungy reaches its longest point and pulls you back.

I made a video of my experience:

The watch again performed splendidly.  Nothing broke lose and nothing showed any signs of stress.  This is a watch designed for action. I then took the watch into the Jungles of South East Asia.  In such environments any watch will have to put up with coming into contact with all sorts of chemicals. Namely DEET, the active ingredient in anti-mosquito spray, and something we lathered all over skin open to the elements.  The use of DEET was made famous in Desert Storm when the mid strength version (up to 50% concentration) managed to melt the rubber and plastic on the SA80 battle rifle.

I have used DEET up to 90% concentration and have had no problems with the strap melting.  A victory again for the CW brand.

In my travels the watch has drawn looks and admiring comments from a very varied group of people.  While not so outlandish that I become a target for robbers, it is an eye grabber and I have had conversations with dive instructors, Tuk-Tuk drivers, fellow travellers and all sorts of Indian street urchins.  It seems that the brand is not one that elicits derision of spend, nor does it reek of cheapness.  It says quality.

On a train in India, writing this article:

In Mumbai:

On my wrist in Hanoi, Vietnam during Tet:

Clearly, this is a man’s watch.  Clearly, this is a brand to be proud of.  Clearly you should consider Christopher Ward in your next watch purchase.  I will continue to wear mine over the next 6 months of travel and if it fails at all I will post here.

If you are interested in having a Christopher Ward watch please click below to open his website: Christopher Ward watches.

Christopher Ward London Limited

Update!

Chris has now released a very nice GMT version of the watch, click to take a look:

Regards,

Basho