Welshrogue

Thomas Lang is an ex-soldier who now hired to do various things by various people. He has ties to the British intelligence and on top of all that, is a pretty decent sort of a chap. And now rather than assassinate someone, who has chosen to try and save them. You know this isn’t going to end well.

Hugh Laurie is first and foremost an actor, both serious and comedic. His stints in Blackadder and House have pretty much made him famous so why not write a novel. That is what he has done. The Gun Seller is a book that is part Andy McNabb with gritty realism and part sarcastic humour, such as can be found in Jeeves and Wooster. Even looking down the barrel of a gun, Lang has the ability to comment and have witty asides all the while avoiding being killed. As a lead character, Thomas Lang is pretty fun to read. Obviously talented, intelligent and quick thinking, he is also honest in his thoughts, a good guy, and funny as well. What more could one ask for in a leading man?

The plot serves up a few twists here and there that keep the reader concentrating and with some great support characters such as Solomon, the book is hugely enjoyable. In the brief interview with Mr Laurie at the end of the book, he mentions the possibility of the book being made into a movie, and if this were to happen, it would make a very enjoyable movie indeed!

Since my general idea is to cut down as many expenses as possible I thought I would go after the vampires next. NOT the garlic hatin', stake through the heart, crusifix fearin', mirror avoidin' type vampires. I am looking for electrical vampires also known as vampire power or phantom load. This  refers to the electric power consumed by electronic appliances while they are switched off or in a standby mode. Individually the load is insignificant but all told the amount could be about 5% of your yearly electrical costs. Typical offenders are

• Power supplies, transformers and inefficient electronic devices.
• VCRs, DVD players and some audio systems.
• TVs and Set-top boxes
• Microwave ovens
• Computers, digital monitors and printers
• Air conditioning systems with remote control.
• Devices with "Instant on" functions, with remote control receivers, or waiting for the user to interact.
• Devices with a stand-by light or clock.
• Power adapters (such as wall warts), whether they are powering a device or not.
• Some home video game consoles (e.g. Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360 & Sony PlayStation 3)

I know 5% is not much, but even if its only $60 saved in a year, that could be an extra night out with pizza and beer or in my case a few more pulls on the slot machines..... Hhhhmmmm I wonder how much vampire power is lost in Las Vegas with all those slot machines and video poker displays on just flashing away waiting for some hopeful to drop in their coins? Now that would be some coin I would like to pocket!!!!

Related articles

• How Low Power Chips Can Beat Back Vampire Power (gigaom.com)
• Modlet Smart Outlet Kills Vampires, Controls And Measures Energy Use (treehugger.com)
• In Honor of Halloween, Kill Your Energy Vampires. (energycircle.com)
• Beware the Energy-Sucking Vampires in Your Home (prnewswire.com)
• How to Slay Energy Vampires (getrichslowly.org)

A group of soldiers are betrayed after running an operation for the CIA in Bolivia. Believed killed, they plot their revenge against the man who betrayed them, but all they know of him is his name, Max.

The year of macho movies continues with The Losers, from the graphic novel of the same name. Five men whose talents cover most of the violent destructive requirements for work with the CIA. So this movie is violent, not excessively but its not a walk in the park either.

The one thing that almost doesn’t fit the style of the movie happens very early one and is violent and while needed still not the most enjoyable part of the movie.

While there are several well-known actors in the movie, there is no big name superstar which works well as this movie works well as a ensemble piece.  Jeffery Dean Morgan plays Clay, their leader and plays it with a gruffness that suits such a man. Chris Evans plays Jenson, a tech wizard who couldn’t chat up a woman if he paid her! Zoe Saldana is Aisha, a mysterious woman who helps the Losers with their plan.

The Losers doesn’t draw out the action, involve complex plots, or tax the brain cells too much. It doesn’t need to, as the action and dialogue keeps an audience entertained from start to finish. Its fun, explosive and very enjoyable. The Losers could easily be a pilot for a 21st century tv show in the same vein as The A Team. Its that much fun!

An everyday school kid decides to take the law into his own hands and become a superhero but discovers that he isn’t the only one.

Imagine Zombieland with superheroes instead of zombies and you have Kick Ass. Yes it has a young girl who says bad words, and yes it does have violence, and yes it does feature McLovin dressed up like Robin’s gay friend but it also contains lots of humour, lots of violence and a good story.

Directed by Matthew Vaughn who has only two other features to his directorial name, including the gangster flick Layer Cake, Kick Ass takes the current superhero fetish the movie makers seem to enjoy and throws it on its head and drop kicks it in its groin. Rather than possessing super powers, being super rich or even just being super dangerous, Kick Ass is simply a good citizen who is fed up with the crime in the city around him.

Aaron Johnson plays Dave Lizewski who is Kick Ass’s alter ego with great innocence and yet a steely determination to do the right thing. His love interest, for there must always be a love interest for a superhero is Katie, played by Lyndsy Fonseca who is sweet and very nice looking.

The villain of the piece is a gangster by the name of Frank D’Amico and is played by Mark Strong who was recently the villain in Sherlock Holmes. Perhaps Mr Strong will be the next bond villain or Batman foe?

A lot has been written about a foul mouthed little girl by the name of Hit Girl, played by 13 year old Chloe Moretz. Yes she swears which attracts all the attention while the violence is not mentioned. Why yes, we do live in a twisted world when words are more shocking than a gun totting 13 yr old female assassin!

The soundtrack totally suits the movie with even a moment of Miami Vice like serious driving with no dialogue and just music which made me smile.

All in all Kick Ass is exactly what you would expect to see if you went to see it. Its violent, doesn’t take itself too seriously, has some very dark moments that are balanced by some great humour and will probably generate a sequel in the not too distant future. Its a great movie.

Its not easy to save money when you aren't spending money. Although technically I am saving money by not spending it, I am not putting any money aside because of this. However this weekend is a 20X points weekend at Shopper's Drug Mart so I will be spending and saving money there for sure. Tomorrow I will likely go and get a $50 gift card. I will get 500 optimum points for that alone, Then on Saturday I will hit up the sales, use up some coupons, cash in some freebies and basically stock up on a bunch of stuff and hopefully only spend around $50, giving me 500 regular points (at least) and another 10 000 bonus points!!! I should be set for the next bonus redemption then netting me $200 in free stuff and 10 000 points back to start the savings cycle all over again!!! I love Shoppers!!!

I used $22 in coupons today and my favourite deal (besides the free 12 pack of pepsi max) was Gillette shaving gel. It's regularly $3-4 each, it was on sale for $1.98 I bought 3 for $5.94 I had a coupon that said buy any three gilette products and save $5....so I got 3 shave gels for about $0.32 each!!!

Unlike Jesus, I want them to follow my blog. I really would like to encourage you to share this blog with your friends and family. I want you to share your Vegas experience with me and help me avoid the pitfalls. So please follow my blog and add some comments. Tell me what you love/hate about Vegas, or love/hate about this blog. If I am able to get 10 followers by the end of April I will hold a draw for a $10 gift certificate. (I will give you a choice of a few different certificates.) And I will post the draw details on May first. So get out there and follow my blog, help me out with comments about Vegas or my blog, and very possibly win yourself a $10 gift card. You KNOW you wanna!!!

I just received another mail in rebate cheque, this time for purchasing Fabreeze. I can't believe more people don't just go around and getting all the try me free stuff!!! It boggles the mind!!!

You read that right! I read on a message board that you can get restaurant.com gift certificates at a very reduced price. These certificates are already a great bargain, the usual price being $40 for a $100 certificate. I found a coupon code ( DISH ) that got me an extra 70% off...so $100 gift certificate for $12. What's the catch...weeeelllll These are not straight forward "gift certificates" exactly... that is to say I can not use $100 to pay a tab of $100. Each participating restaurant has criteria set out for their use. I may buy a $25 gift certificate for the house of blues...I would still have $75 left on my restaurant gift certificate and I would have a $25 voucher for the house of blues, but there may be restrictions like total bill must exceed $50 to use the $25 voucher. At that point I would have paid $25 out of pocket and $24 for my certificates for a meal that cost $50, so after one use I have recoverd the cost of my original $24 investment. After that, the rest is savings. I spied a voucher  for 50% off  Ben&Jerrys that costs $5. I think that might come in handy in the heat! There are hundreds of restaurants to choose from for Vegas and the best part is they are also good for restaurants all across the United States. So If I only choose $125 to use in Vegas, I will still have $75 that never expires to use any time I am in the States. I will let you know how this actually works in practice, but in theory, I think I did good!