Since getting the Kindle app on my Android phone I’ve bought more books in the past year than the past ten combined, many of them at a discounted price.

I’m not sure how this works out for authors, but it means that I’ve found books by authors I’d have otherwise never come across… like Conrad Jones.

The one thing that frustrates me with the Amazon Kindle store is that there’s no way to subscribe to a specific author.  When reading books that are part of a series, there’s no way to find and buy the next book in the series (assuming you like to read the books in order as the author intended!).  So this post will serve as a reminder to me as I work my way through Conrad Jones’s series Soft Target.

1. Soft Target
2. Soft Target II Tank
3. Soft Target III Jerusalem
4. The 18th Brigade, drugs war
5. Blister
6. The Child Taker
7. Slow Burn Rape and revenge
8. Nine Angels

Hopefully this list has helped others too – if it has, let me know in the comments section below.

A few weeks ago Peterborough City Council announcement their intention to move all running of public sports, leisure and arts facilities into a new Peterborough Cultural and Leisure Trust and today I found out the name of said Trust – Vivacity!

I hope this means an improvement in services for Peterborough residents, considering we’ve just lost another theatre (the Cresset is closing in a few weeks in case you hadn’t heard!) but why they feel the need to market it with a rebrand is beyond me.  Rather than coming up with names, mission statements and logos,  just get out there and provide the services!

According to an article from the Institute of Sport and Recreation Management,Vivacity is the culmination of three years’ work.  So this has been in the pipeline all this time?

“The launch marks the beginning of a push to encourage more people to use the city’s cultural, leisure and sports facilities.” – I’m not sure how many people will feel encouraged to pay more for Peterborough cultural, leisure and sports facilities but it’s not like we have much say in the matter.

What the move to a trust does mean is that once it has charity status there are additional benefits and the services will be able to dodge exempt from business rates that normally apply to business, so that alone does make financial sense.

For fans, buying tickets for popular events like the upcoming Lady Gaga Monster Ball tour can be difficult… and expensive;  events quickly sell out and can end up with touts reselling them for many times over their face value.  Thankfully you don’t need to worry any more with the Viagogo website helping to connect real fans with real tickets.

With a string of hits behind her, Lady Gaga combines singer-songwriter talent with a public image that’s as mad as a bag of frogs, just as this video shows:

I last used Viagogo earlier this year when selling some festival tickets and can recommend them first hand whether you’re buying or selling.  The website is easy to use and provides all the tools to filter search critera based on ticket price and even seat location.

Hopefully you can put the Viagogo website to good use yourself and save a few quid in the process!

As a long-time Virgin Media V+ customer, I’ve been waiting what seem like forever for them to offer HD channels (the part-time BBC HD doesn’t count in my opinion) and finally it looks like they’ve done it.

I’ve made my feelings quite clear in the past that I thought Virgin’s HD offerings were nothing short of a scam, with zero content other than a handful of on-demand offerings but by August we should have FX, National Geographic, Living and MTV Networks.  The reason I’ve stuck with Virgin Media for all this time though is because the service is generally spot on with only a couple of niggles over the years that have resolved themselves.

In all, this really makes Virgin Media a serious choice for anyone looking for fantastic TV and movie content plus high speed Internet (whispers suggest 50Mbps in the very near future!).  Hopefully they’ll use this momentum to introduce even more channels and not just sit on these for a couple of years more.

Source – TechDigest

Well, looks like the nail is firmly in the coffin for The Broadway Theatre in Peterborough.

In case you haven’t heard, the theatre owned by local businessman Rinaldo Fasulo, suffered from an arson attack which has meant that thousands of customers with tickets for future events look likely to lose their money.

The impact on local Peterborough businesses is expected to be pretty harsh too with many relying on mid-week performances at the Broadway to survive.  Gaston’s restaurant which is also owned by Rinaldo (in addition to Sessions House) has been closed until further notice.

According to reports in the Evening Telegraph, neither the intruder alarm or the fire alarm was activated so insurers Norwich Union are refusing to pay out.  Understandably, many ticket holders are outraged at this (including myself as I’m going to be down £40) and comments have been left on various ET articles.

The future of the theatre looks pretty dire too with a couple of Facebook groups being set up to try and save the venue. Join the groups here and here.

Have you lost out too or have you managed to get a refund from the bank?  Let me know by leaving a comment below.

UPDATE – The Broadway has now officially closed!

Parent company “03 Leisure Limited” has ceased trading so anyone with tickets that paid by cash, you need to join the list of creditors.  You can find out more details from the Broadway’s homepage or by downloading the statement issued by their liquidators, Butcher Woods.

I’d urge any creditors to contact Butcher Woods ASAP to discuss their options.

There’s absolutely no doubt that MMO (or massively multiplayer online) games are big business.

With millions of players worldwide it can be daunting for newcomers to find themselves up against a level 80 Horde Death Knight when they’re still only a level 3 Warrior, so it was only a matter of time before companies started providing the means to buy MMO accounts and resources. Likewise, if you’ve finally decided to hang up your leather armour for good and retire from the game, but have painstakingly built up a fantastic MMO account over time then now you can sell your MMO account.

Now you can reliably get all your account sales needs from BuyMMOAccounts.com.  With legitimacy and security guarantees, this has to be one of the safest ways of getting a boost into World of Warcraft.  buymmoaccounts.com scam has reviews from genuine customers – all independently verified by Ratepoint.

With hundreds if not thousands of companies all offering to buy or sell MMO accounts, finding somewhere trustworthy can be difficult.  With payments verified and accounts re-activated within 24 hours plus access to telephone support 7 days a week, buymmoaccounts.com scam offers a level of service that cannot be beaten.

Don’t just take my word for it, try them for yourself and get a headstart in the game!

If Peter Stringfellow’s dodgy sink and Linda Barker’s embroidered napkins left you wanting more then want no longer – the last celebrity episode was so good, Channel 4 have another celebrity edition of their popular Come Dine With Me “cookery” show coming our way this November!

Airing at 8pm on Channel 4 this Thursday (13th November) the show will star the nation’s favourite hairdresser Nicky Clarke OBE, Mrs Vic Reeves Nancy Sorrell, model and businesswoman (and pop singer…) Caprice and last but most definitely not least, the original Little Jimmy Osmond!

Whilst these celebs might not be at the forefront of current pop culture, they’re hopefully the show will be a little more bearable this time around.

So, set your Plus system, your CD-R or maybe your trusty old VCR – Celebrity Come Dine With Me, Channel 4, Thursday 13th November, 8pm.

Official Channel 4 Come Dine With Me website

Unreality TV’s comment

As I predicted in my previous Celebrity Come Dine With Me post, there were some definite cringe moments, mainly due to Michelle Heaton’s lack of underwear – does this woman ever wear a bra?  But Peter Stringfellow’s collapsing kitchen sink was probably the highlight of the show.

From the off Linda Barker was out to impress and was in her element with an immaculately presented home. Anyone would think she does this for a living…  Her napkins were embroidered with “come dine with me”, which she described as a groovy idea.  Whatever you say love.

That aside the menu was relatively normal, no disasters but her dog biscuits turned out to be dog-shaped biscuits.  I was looking forward to “double creep” Lee thinking he was a bit posh because he was nomming a Bonio.

Lee’s extravagant menu consisted of Camembert, lobster, truffles and chocolate pots.  Oh and he made a lobster bisque at the last minute and couldn’t wait to let everyone to know.

Michelle’s food was actually better than I expected, although she did put shame into the souls of healthy-eating Geordies by explaining that as she was from Newcastle, she was brought up on Greggs.  So was she also brought up to host dinner parties wearing no knickers?  Classy.

Peter Stringfellow.  If there was ever someone who you could have a preconception about it would be him and when it came to his bedroom at least, he didn’t disappoint with a ceiling mirror and obligatory handcuffs on the end the of bed.

When it came to his food, he actually put on a half decent effort.  I say half decent because 50% of his menu was flavoured ice cream which didn’t go down too well with the other diners.  The tuna and beef looked fantastic though.

Linda and Lee took first place followed by Michelle and finally Peter bringing up the rear. Overall it wasn’t the best of the celebrity specials, but it was ok.

The Channel 4 website has a whole section dedicated to Come Dine With Me and gives you a full breakdown of each episode in each season!