Mark Dalton

So erm well if you know me you know I don’t go in for all this motivational fluffy self help stuff and if I had known what this was I would never have added it to my library. But I didn’t and I did. So I listened to it.

The book follows the enlightenment of a fat overpaid and burnt out lawyer who gives it all up and journey’s to India and Kashmir where he meets a group of monks who teach him how to get the most from life on the condition that he returns to the US and teaches others. He does this by teaching his former assistant and friend.

Now I’ll say it again, I don’t buy into this stuff and found it tiresome, but listened to the whole thing regardless. It did make me think about my own life however and question if I am really getting what I really desire from it. I don’t think I will be using any of the methods described but will be looking how I can get a better work / life balance.

Overall I wouldn”t recommend this one unless you are into the whole “heal thy self” mumbo jumbo. It”s not particularly long which from my point of view is a good thing.

So I have been a little slack with my reading of late but last weekend I decided that I really need to catch up. I had been following the anticipated release to the new Watchmen movie and noted a review that stated that the ending had been changed from the original and decided that I needed to read the original so I could compare when I did get around to watching the movie.

Well, it wasn’t something that I would normally pick up (graphic novel), but I was quite surprised to find I actually enjoyed it. The artwork is very good and the story line given when the book was actually written is interesting as it really does show the paranoia of the time (cold war).

The book follows a group of human vigilantes that have advanced skills and knowledge be it through training, natural gifts, or workplace accidents that dedicate themselves to ridding the world [Well mainly the US] of the growing criminal element only to find themselves outlawed by the government and disbanded.

I won’t ruin the story line but somebody decides that they are in the way and resolves to remove them totally from the scene and the story follows this through to, what I think at least, is an ending that is needed in more of todays books and movies.

The underlying politics of the era and the general social issues of the time are evident and add to the general tension of the story line.

The movies reviews haven’t been great but I think I will wait until it is available on DVD, or better still from iTunes and will watch it just to see how true to the original book it is.

So today I took the plunge and splashed out on the Macheist Bundle. For those that don’t know what the Macheist Bundle is it’s a collection (bundle) of 12 Mac applications for a very low price. The total bundle is worth $950.75 but is being sold for just $39. Further more 25% of every purchase is given to charity!

8 of the applications are unlocked straight away; iSale ($39.95), Picturesque ($34.95), SousChef ($30.00), World of Goo ($20.00), PhoneView ($19.95), LittleSnapper ($39.00), Acorn ($49.95), Kinemac ($299.00)

Then when they have raised $100,000 for charity they will unlock the 9th application, WireTap Studio ($69.00). As the charity pot increases the 10th, 11th, and 12th applications are unlocked. Now this is the third Macheist Bundle and although it’s no a guarantee the previous bundles have made the numbers and all the applications have been unlocked.

This is a great way to get some top quality applications for a fraction of the retail price whist doing your bit for charity. Don McAllister over at ScreenCastsOnline (affiliate link) has put together a great ScreenCast overview of the applications which is worth watching if your still unsure.

[Update: 28/03/2009] Okay so since drafting this post during the week I see the 9th Application WireTap Studio ($69.00) has been unlocked. I also hadn’t realized that if you already own any of the applications you can gift the new licenses to somebody else when you purchase the bundle.