Live From KY

This week Grand Cayman has been invaded by former God’s of tennis! The Outback Champions Series world tour has hit the courts at the Ritz Carlton and yours truly is attending the final tomorrow!

Judging from the crowds I’ve seen milling round the complex while driving around the area most lunch times this week, the event has proven very popular with residents and visitors alike. The stands appear to be brimming to capacity and gossip spreading around the island is that the event has been excellent to watch so here is hoping the final is even better!

John McEnroe is looking reasonably good to make the final, I hope he does as he is a player in particular I have always wanted to watch. It looks like it will be a final between Wayne Ferreria and Jim Courier though. Fingers crossed he makes it through the semi’s today!

Visitors to the Cayman Islands will likely have to hand the widely available tourist map on one of the Information Office pamphlets. But what about a decent online map? One that visitors could use for reference prior to visiting the islands or one for residents to use to find their way to the less than regularly visited places?

Having hoped that Google would come up with some sort of decent map for the last 857,000 years, I had pretty much given up hope. Even a flash map of Grand Cayman and the Sister Islands is pretty useless (just try searching for even the most well known roads for proof).

Then I found this , a phenomenally detailed series of maps of the whole of Grand Cayman and the Sister Islands!  Ok, so it would be nice to see it in some sort of Ajax-sexed-up goodness or Flash or what have you, but each PDF is detailed enough to point out not just road names but also crucial places of notability which should jog the visual memory of even the most incompetent persona!

Consider it bookmarked.

No not the Mick Hucknall Awards, I’m talking about the Oscars!

Is anyone watching these awards this evening? Backslapping, ridiculous swag bags and general Hollywood guff aside, I’ll take a shot at making some predictions (though I am gutted Grindhouse didn’t get any recognition anywhere. Also annoyed several other movies got no nods but oh well. Here’s hoping Rambo sweeps the board in 2009 too!). I love film so I half-care about these awards, sort of.

What about you?
Best Motion Picture of the Year: No Country for Old Men

What I want to win: There Will Be Blood / No Country for Old Men (Tie)

Actual Result:

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood

What I want to win: Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood

Actual Result:

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Marion Cotillard for La Môme

What I want to win: Marion Cotillard for La Môme

Actual Result:

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men

What I want to win: Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men

Actual Result:

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Cate Blanchett for I’m Not There

What I want to win: Cate Blanchett for I’m Not There

Actual Result:

Best Achievement in Directing: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for No Country for Old Men

What I want to win: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for No Country for Old Men

Actual Result:

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: Juno by Diablo Cody

What I want to win: Lars and the Real Girl by Nancy Oliver

Actual Result:

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published: Le Scaphandre et le papillon by Ronald Harwood

What I want to win: Le Scaphandre et le papillon by Ronald Harwood

Actual Result:

Best Achievement in Cinematography: Atonement by Seamus McGarvey

What I want to win: No Country for Old Men by Roger Deakins

Actual Result:

Best Achievement in Editing: Into the Wild by Jay Cassidy

What I want to win: The Bourne Ultimatum by Christopher Rouse

Actual Result:

Best Achievement in Art Direction: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo

What I want to win: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo

Actual Result:

Best Achievement in Costume Design: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Colleen Atwood

What I want to win: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Colleen Atwood

Actual Result:

Best Achievement in Makeup: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End by Ve Neill, Martin Samuel

What I want to win: La Môme by Didier Lavergne, Jan Archibald

Actual Result:

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score: Atonement by Dario Marianelli

What I want to win: 3:10 to Yuma by Marco Beltrami

Actual Result:

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song : August Rush by Jamal Joseph, Charles Mack, Tevin Thomas (”Raise It Up”)

What I want to win: Once (2006): Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová (“Falling Slowly”)

Actual Result:

Best Achievement in Sound: No Country for Old Men by Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, Peter F. Kurland

What I want to win: No Country for Old Men by Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, Peter F. Kurland

Actual Result:

Best Achievement in Sound Editing: No Country for Old Men by Skip Lievsay

What I want to win: Transformers by Mike Hopkins, Ethan Van der Ryn

Actual Result:

Best Achievement in Sound Editing: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End by John Knoll, Hal T. Hickel, Charlie Gibson, John Frazier

What I want to win: Transformers by Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl, John Frazier

Actual Result:

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: Ratatouille by Brad Bird

What I want to win: Persepolis by Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi

Actual Result:

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year: Mongol (Kazakhstan)

What I want to win: Tropa de Elite (Brasil) Not nominated sadly.
Actual Result:

Best Documentary, Features: No End in Sight by Charles Ferguson, Audrey Marrs

What I want to win: Sicko by Michael Moore, Meghan O’Hara

Actual Result:

One of my favourite finds here in Grand Cayman is the Humane Society on the Butterfield roundabout. I first ventured in about 2 weeks ago and walked off with armfuls of great books during their half price sale. Today however was truly glorious.

I walked off with FIVE MS Press MCSE books (albeit for 2000), an MCSE Networking Essentials book, a Proxy Server 2 MCSE book, a CERT Security book, a QUE A+ book and two Carl Hiaasen books.  Oh, and I also got a brand new Drinking Games book (very useful!). Total (when new) retail value was CI$393. How much did I pay for the whole lot?

*drumroll*

CI$10!! Can’t say fairer than that! What a bargain! These will make great casual reference material until I buy the current MCSE books later in the year when I being my path to an MCSE certification.  All bar one book was like new, with the CD’s unopened in their slip cases!

If you are around the area, go take a look, you’ll find some great bargains. Just leave the computer, Carl Hiaasen and Tom Clancy books for me!!

According to French website PC Inpact the official release dates for Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 and Microsoft Windows XP SP3 have been announced. Vista SP1 is confirmed as February 18th or 19th and XP SP3 isset for March 23rd or 24th.

Maybe SP1 will make Windows Vista worth upgrading to at last…or maybe we should just stop kidding ourselves.

Thank you for stopping by. As you are probably well aware, this blog/site/thing is in it’s very early infancy. Providing I don’t rest on my laurels you will see plenty of new content each day! Bare with me as the site is due to go through some major changes as I test and tweak, add/remove and generally potter about with the site as a whole.

 Thanks!

Welcome to Live From KY, an intriguing blog from the Cayman Islands smattered with the most select juicy cuts of local island news; IT, entertainment and links to select (legal!) software downloads all blended with a writing style that can only insert a sense of fear, due caution and dread to you, the captivated new reader randomer.

This blog is also a useful resource (well, to myself anyway) for those wanting to earn a valuable computing certification. You will find useful news links and occasionally my notes and musings where you, the trusty reader are invited to comment and debate!

 Enjoy the site.