Paul Grenyer

The best thing about this film is the soundtrack. It was great to sing along to Roachford, John Farnham and the others. The next best thing about this film is trying to spot all the places they filmed in and around Norwich. While singing along to Cuddly Toy in the opening credits, Alan drives into Norwich along the Dereham Road and over the Bowthorpe roundabout and then somehow onto a dual carriageway with an armco barrier! Evidently this is some sort of secret sci-fi film and he’s accidentally driven through a wormhole. The film itself was ok. Steve Coogan plays the anti hero Alan Partridge very well. The character is a pretty horrible, self obsessed man. I enjoyed the references to Marillion (didn’t know they’d sold over 15,000,000 albums though), but was disappointed to find the actor wasn’t really one of their multiple early drummers and he looked nothing like Ian Mosley. Sean Pertwee was superb, as he is in everything. There’s no real story to Alpha Papa . It’s all very p...

What: Continuous Integration 101 Where: Agile Cambridge , Cambridge, UK When: Thursday 26th September 2013, 2pm to 3.30pm I will be giving a stripped down version Naked Element 's Continuous Integration 101 course at this years Agile Cambridge . Continuous Integration 101 “Continuous Integration is a software development practice where members of a team integrate their work frequently, usually each person integrates at least daily - leading to multiple integrations per day. Each integration is verified by an automated build (including test) to detect integration errors as quickly as possible. Many teams find that this approach leads to significantly reduced integration problems and allows a team to develop cohesive software more rapidly.” -- Martin Fowler  Course Objectives Continuous Integration 101 is a foundation continuous integration course for Java developers. It is a practical course that can be completed within a working day in most cases. After completin...

Emperor to headline next year's Bloodstock festival . What more needs to be said?

Friday We started Bloodstock early this year, as I wanted to see Ex Deo. We arrived just after 11.30, so we caught Death Angel (5) on the main stage as well. For an 80s thrash band, they were remarkably good, but not good enough for me to rush out and buy an album. Ex Deo (7) were definitely worth the cost of the extra night in a hotel. They didn't have the best PA sound and their live performance exaggerates just how dependant on keyboards their sound is, yet they don't have a live keyboard player. I'd like to see them again in a smaller venue. Dark Funeral (6), another band I was looking forward to seeing, also had a poor PA sound, but appeared to be playing their socks off. After they played Stigmata, in my opinion their best song, I went over to the Sophie Lancaster stage to see The Prophecy(7), a progressive death metal band. As with a lot of progressive bands, their songs were long and I only caught the last two and a half. They were good and had a great live sou...

What: Implementing Graph Search with Neo4j & Building a successful agile company When: Wednesday, 4th September 2013 @ 6.30pm Where: Virgin Wines, 4th Floor, St James' Mill, Whitefriars, Norwich, NR3 1TN Sign-up:   http://www.meetup.com/Norfolk-Developers-NorDev/events/125599622/ Building a successful agile company – people first, software second  Mark Wightman @markwightman75 When we talk about agile we often concentrate on process and technical practices, but to achieve greatness you must focus on what matters most – your people. If you can harness their energy, intellect, passion and creativity effectively then success will follow.Red Gate Software is a successful ISV based in Cambridge. We are proud to have been in the Sunday Times “Best Small Companies to Work For” list for six years in a row. We’ve also won the Special Award for Innovation in Engagement Practice and have won numerous other employer awards. Over the last five years Red Gate have ...

At the last Norfolk Developers meeting in July numbers were low. Only 17. There were a few factors that probably contributed to this. The July event was only a couple of weeks after the June event and SyncNorwich had their first birthday party the night after. And of course they had beer and cake! And it’s the summer. Lots of people were on holiday. At Norfolk developers last night however the numbers were back up. When you consider the technical focus of Norfolk Developers compared to the broader appeal of some of the other community groups in Norwich, 38 is a good number. What’s more is that a lot of potential regulars were on holiday. I think we’ll see much bigger numbers in the future. Less than 24 hours after RSVPs opened for the next Norfolk Developers meeting in September, 28 out of 60 places have already gone. Last night saw Basho ’s third trip to Norwich this year to speak to the local tech community. This was the first time they came to give a technical talk, rathe...

I’ve seen all but one of the other X-Men films and The Wolverine isn’t one of the best, but it is very enjoyable. However, it's time they made a film about a different character. It’s a bit slow to get going, but then it’s action all the way once it does. Rila Fukushima is the clear star of this film for me. She’s fantastic. All the best lines and great moves. The red hair and stripes are just incredible. I kicked myself after the twist, because I should have seen it coming. Also when the robot is draining Logan of his gift and then Hal is defeated by Mariko there is no explanation of how Logan recovers his gift or for the bone like blades that come from his knuckles soon after. 3D still does nothing for me and makes action scenes very difficult to follow. Although towards the end I did manage to forget I was wearing the glasses. Until of course I realised I’d forgotten I was wearing the glasses. There is a false ending, so make sure you stay in your seat until the cr...

Locally it has been well known for over a year now that Norfolk is teeming with technology companies and has a thriving tech community. It has everything from startups to SMEs and even a few large firms. Groups like Hot Source and SyncNorwich have helped promote technology in Norfolk and have done an astoundingly good job of forming the tech community and bringing it together with the business community. Now it’s time to tell the world about technology in Norfolk and the fabulous companies and community groups that the county boasts Together with Naked Element Ltd. , the tech group Norfolk Developers wants to produce a monthly tech online journal, backed-up by a website and a small paper copy distribution. Within its pages you will find reviews of each of the local groups’ events and details of their upcoming events. You will find news about local tech companies and how they are working together with each other and the local community groups. You will also find technical and b...