A Strange Case Of Deja Vu At Vue

Although deja vu is a topic that runs through all the Final Destination films, my headline today refers to last night's 3D effects at the local Vue cinema. Marion and I have been to three 3D offerings in the last few months, "Coraline 3D", "Ice Age 3D" and now "The Final Destination 3D" and there is no question that the effects are quite spectacular but all three films rely heavily on two effects - floaty things (e.g leaves, burning paper) and long pointy things that zoom out of the screen towards you. I enjoyed last night's film immensely for these effects (it would have been mediocre without them) but, unless the film makers manage to move away from long pointy things and give us a bit of variety, I can see a short life for this exciting new media. (It may have potential for a niche in the porn industry).



It's celebration time next week at Instanta with two big events affecting three of our people. Factory leader Tony Mercer is 50 on Monday but just because he is on holiday next week doesn't mean he won't get coverage on the blog. And on Tuesday it's THE WEDDING. Office manager Jenny Wright is marrying Salesman Craig Buckley.To my knowledge this is the very first Instanta marriage in 52 years and we have let them both have the day off! Look out for the photos on Wednesday.





Our sales team is off the road today as Nick, Peter and Craig are in Liverpool undertaking a training day with Andy Bounds Ltd. I'm really looking forward to their feedback from the day and hope that it gives them some good ideas.





This year's Big Brother has passed almost unnoticed here at Instanta. Last year it was a real water cooler topic and, with Craig, Max and Jenny's advice I managed to win a couple of hundred pounds without watching it. This year nobody has watched it and I stand to win a meagre £22.50 on Betfair if the favourite wins and about £18 if it's anybody else.


We haven't had a competition on the blog recently. But if you like them here's an interesting one with $300,000 in prizes.

The Future's Bright. The Future's 3D

With a deluge of biblical proportions going on yesterday we weren't able to do any of the gardening we had planned for the holiday so we went to Vue at Bolton as it is probably the nearest cinema that shows the 3D versions of the latest animated films. Coraline was a fantastic stop motion animation that would have been brilliant in 2D but the 3D really did add an extra dimension and all seven of the people in the cinema were totally blown away. Let's hope that Southport's Vue gets the necessary technology to show future 3D offerings as the trailer for "Up" was shown in 3D and looked amazing.



From our holiday bolt hole in the attic I realised that I soon won't be able to see our factory landmark the famous gas tower. The demolition is continuing and the first level has almost gone.



Freddie the garden contractor proved himself a pretty good antique restorer as the headless lady returned to the pond yesterday while we were out. She'll never be the same but nobody will be examining her closely on the rockery.



I read yesterday that ailing firms have started carrying out drug testing their workers and these tests have increased over fivefold in the last 12 months. The reason? To give them an excuse to sack workers without paying redundancy. How could they stoop that low? Which reminds me that those breathalisers we bought are getting past their sell by date.



Another bad weather forecast means that we are off to the Tate in Liverpool this morning to see the colours exhibition and then to the arthouse cinema FACT to see "In the Loop". More culture tomorrow with Brenda Bletyhn at the Manchester Royal Exchange. I'm sure things will be running well at Instanta. I got a message from Jenny last night saying that orders were good and the overdraft was still within the limit.

I'm completely out of this year's Guardian Pick the Score which looks to be going to Tony Lowe. Nick, who led the field for most of the season has faded badly and may struggle to hold on to third place. Meanwhile, 2-0 up with a few minutes to go, it's good to see that my team were still passionate about keeping a clean sheet.