Info and forum posts by 'Nick Dickens'

RE: Reprimanded by Work

jesus... don`t those twats have anything better to do?, Do you get a set quota - at my place if you get an hour for your lunch you could can spend it surfing if you want. (Mostly I do my surfing at home as our I.T. helpdesk is a joke if you get screwed at work with your computer(crashes, blowes up unable to get printer connection time of the month, alien invasion)).

This item was edited on Friday, 11th October 2002, 13:31

RE: STAR WARS DVDs

Sorry Mike - look it up, that is where most of my research was directed - better still speak to the home office or look at the governments websites on it.

RE: The Wicker Man: Another version to buy?

Hi, yep, *apparently* it was taken from the print good ol` Roger had.

The rights to the documentary are held by C4 so you aint gonna see it as was shown them last Christmas (New Years eve I think).

Same way as the R1 and R2 "Fear of God" BBC documentaries on the DVD of "The Exorcist" were slightly re-edited (or cut) for the DVD (its all about copright, as the TV station who commission the programme do have some `artistic` control over it.

Also some of the more `imflamatory` parts on these programmes (about the idiots destroying the full cut of Wicker Man burying it under a motorway or something) could be, if put out on a DVD be liable as they are out in the public domain. (it`s a bit like shouting John Major boffed Edwina Curry from the roof of Big Ben - without proof you`re stuffed).
The reason it`d be `actionable` is that the TV version would reach an audience of say 2 million (while the DVD could sell 10 million copies in 6 months worldwide thus reaching a larger audience) and if someone were to sue say C4 over the programme, all C4 would have to do is apologise on air and never broadcast those comments again.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 9th October 2002, 18:47

STAR WARS DVDs

Sorry to be a party pooper, but this has to be stated, THERE ARE NO AS YET NO (read that) NO STAR WARS DVDs OF THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY. THEY ARE ALL ILLEGAL.

They are all illegal bootlegs dubbed from the video tapes.

If this doesn`t convince you, remember the hubub in the news this past summer of the ILLEGAL copies of the Star Wars episode II DVDs or the Spider-Man DVDs that are illegally made by organised gangs of criminals who use the monies from the sale of these DVDs to finace their trade in child prostitution and drug trafficking.

Regardless of George Lucas` personal stance of when (if ever these films come out on DVD) it gives no one the right to try to pass off these DVDs from the Far East as legal, or in anyway legitimate (they ain`t).

The governments of these countries don`t have the resources to stop the trade and they rely on us in the West to not buy them.
Remember that when you sit down with the children to watch Return of the Jedi, Indiana Jones, The Lion King, or Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets on illegal DVDs. Someone else`s kids have suffered and died for this.

Of course these DVDs may be legal, but after exhaustive research George Lucas and 20th Century Fox has stated there are NO DVDs beyond the Episode 1 and the upcoming Episode 2 DVDs.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 9th October 2002, 18:26

RE: dddhouse help !!!

When it comes to porn brought over the internet (unless it contains fisting, sado-masichsm (is this spelt right) bondage, simulated rape or anything depicting violence (it is simulated) you should not have any other problem getting it through the post. The usual illegal (child abuse, beastiality) stuff will get you arrested and banged away. But the sort of scum who get this just down load it.

If you order say a Private hardcore video, or DVD, or say a Ben Dover title that has explicit imagery of sexual acts, you won`t be in any danger from customs - just like all the thousands of men and women who look at legal and legitimate sexual content on the internet (remember you must keep it out of the way of your children,/younger brother or sister if you have any).

As for Customs (fact: they do not open a great deal, unlike America they are forbidden from keeping lists and say going Mr Smith of X lane Manchester has got another jiffy bag from Amsterdam. I bet its porn lets open it). This does not happen. Customs may open items in the course of their duties, but opening everything (sorry but illegal immigrants are more of a pain for them than legally brought legal porn) is not possible. In about two years I`ve had three items stopped by customs and only one contained hardcore porn from America (it was just before Christmas last year. My fiancee got it rang me at home then rang me up at work saying a box had arrived and she had to pay the postman £10 approx for it (she didn`t know what it was) That fee is a customs and excise charge (basically they charged me £4 for the privelige of opening my package, then Royal Mail charge £6 for their handling charge, because customs open it. I know its a pain, but anything coming into the country can be checked for matters of a legal nature (to stop crime) and for security). Post 9/11 not much has changed. The Customs staff only stop certain items coming from `sensitive areas - say the Iraq, or if the package is deemed suspicious. If you order say the new Lord of the Rings box set from Americ a because you might want the R1 over the R2, this might get stopped because its a big item and you will pay say £10.

A friend went a little mad a while ago and purchased six boxsets of DVDs (X Files, Buffy, Jurassic Park trilogy, etc and it was a big box. He had it sent to work (so he`d guarentee it getting there asap) and he got clobbered by Customs - know what he was charged... £17, he`d ordered over $400 worth of stuff, and the box weighted about 4 kg. So it ain`t that bad.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 9th October 2002, 18:06

RE: 6 week problem with movityme,can anybody help???

Basically, I hope this can be of help to anyones problems when chasing up, DVDs etc, Ring them up again and again, at least twice a week Monday and Friday are best. Try to be real polite (its a pain they took your money, you wait and wait, they don`t respond to e-mails (Amazon.com are as bad as Microsoft when it comes to e-mails )they don`t reply (Just dont bother typing, ring em up instead) amazon.com don`t publish their number but you can get it from amazon.co.uk.
Same with all DVD retailers, they are busy, but it doesn`t help to nudge them in the right direction (futureent.com and Movietyme are good and they do seem to listen). I couldn`t tell you how much grief getting some dumb yank to understand me about an order (the funds are in my account on Friday, the day after tomorrow, try my card then). 1 week later the card they say has been declined (I`m thinking theres £200 in my kitty and i`m ordering something costing $20 why can`t you people do it right!)

Basically ring, ring, send `em an e-mail (wait until the reply period they say they`ll get back to you expires), they e-mail `em again, then leave it a week - this is when you ring up, as by this time it will usually be a month since you ordered the DVD (giving a week/10 days for the DVD to turn up before e-mailing them). If they can`t sort anything out askk for a refund and say you`ll take your trade elsewhere (and do give them a name say Play.com) or someone else (they will try to keep you as a customer).

RE: BT Anytime my ars*!

Can`t provide broadband service for £15.99 a month, without turning a profit, hell their overheads must be astronomical (that or really big expense account lunches). As we all know broadband is coming down all the time there are people begging you to join up (some are crap but not as much as BT (they really seem to be corner the market when it comes to complaints from customers, not giving what they sold you ( I mean `anytime` access that isn`t anytime))).
I personally use Demon, Tuscali are really good, and thgere are a few others, type Broadband provoiders into say Yahoos` search engine and look at the comparisons on a compare site (you will be amased)

As a rule today (Oct 09 2002) you can get really good access talking 256 kbps for around £20 to £25 per month, or Tuscakli do 512!!! (yeah thats right warp speed access) for £27.00 a month and they assure me they do make a lot of profit. Just goes to show.

RE: New dvd site found

Yeah, I`ve used em befor Future Entertainment (futureent.com)
They are good some of the 3-5 days stuff takes up to two months to arrive (but it`s all the adult stuff).
The do take your cash first (but the do give it back after lots of emails and phone calls), if you cancel the items.

They usually supply Canadian DVDs so if you hate multi lingual titles, or know which ones to avoid use `em. If you don`t want Canadian DVDs use Movietyme as they offer the option and I have had a lot of stuff broken and they have replaced it them no problem (like most places do)

I have never (so far) had a problem with stuff not turning up. I have had some stuf come really badly damaged. I work in corporate documentation and do a lot of mailing and I know what wt[at]st the royal Mail (consignia) are.

When this happens the DVD supplier has twoi options
1. give you (the customer) a new item (if they feel that it was lost beyond their or your means (like you did not give them the wrong address, but it went somewhere else), or option 2
2. They may replace it if its damaged and Royal Mail own up to it. (they are more likely to deny it as they DO DAMAGE stuff (deliberately?, lose or maybe someone somewhere steals it (shock horror).
If the R. Mail do not own up to it its gone and thge supplier is legally obliged to not replace it (referred to in Legal terms as tough s***).