Dork Adore

Merlin: Season 3 DVD Boxset – Dork Review

Nick Bryan — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:00:12 +0000

Recently, Merlin season 3 was released on region 1 DVD in the United States, and we were offered the chance to review the boxset. Yes, we’re a UK-based site, but we love Merlin, so why not? Join us, as we relieve the year that saw Merlin battling ever harder to disguise his magic powers in the face of goblins, family secrets and the hidden-in-plain-sight threat of Evil Morgana!

Not to mention, the ultimate DVD set question: do you need to watch any of these bonus features?

Episodes – As Seen On TV

Of course, I’ve already reviewed every episode on this boxset for Dork Adore – click through to our Merlin tag, you’ll find them there. But to summarise, this was the year that saw the show settle into a confident rhythm. There were many good episodes, although fans hungry for plot progress may grow impatient.

Still, the actors are comfortable in their roles by now, and they introduce some new characters who work well, primarily Gwaine and Elyan. Not to mention another return for Lancelot, and as I’ve established at length in past reviews, I love that guy.

Oh, and Morgana smirking at the back of crowd scenes. That’s definitely the most memorable feature of year three.

Special Features – How Special Is Special?

Of course, for those of us who guzzled down the episodes when they were on TV, the special features are the big event. Merlin season 3 gives us the usual ‘Making Of’ film, packing 13 episodes of insight into 25 minutes. Some of it is fluff, but there are some interesting effects facts to be gleaned, as well as Colin Morgan’s real accent, always more Irish than I expect.

Surprisingly, the “proper” documentary is outdone by the 2010 Merlin Comic-Con panel. I was cynical about a 40 minute table-sitting session, but both actors and producers are on witty, insightful form here. If you only watch one special feature, make it this one.

Aside from that, there’s the usual deleted scenes and out-takes, from which we can conclude that Bradley James makes the most (or at least most amusing) mistakes, whereas Angel Coulby is beyond human failure.

Anyway, those are the extras, and let’s not forget the episodes themselves. If you’re a Merlin fan, there’s plenty to get your hooks into. The US set came out on January 17th, and the UK region 2 version has been out for a while, so you can own it on DVD whichever side of the ocean you’re on. But, sadly, the British edition doesn’t seem to contain the Comic-Con panel footage, which means the American boxset may win this review.

More Merlin on Dork Adore | Merlin: The Sword In The Stone – Part 2 – Dork Review

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Groupon for hippies: Alternative group buying sites

Emma Cossey — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:30:40 +0000

You can’t budge on the web these days for adverts promoting Groupon, Living Social, Keynoir or Wowcher discount deal on spas, restaurants, 4×4 drives and even holidays.

Everyone and your gran has either been tempted by, or purchased one of these deals.

In fact, we know quite a few people suffering from compulsive Groupon disease that sees them buying vouchers for things they’ll never actually do and don’t really want.

But what if you’re an eco-worrier filled with middle class guilt? You’re in luck!

There are a few group-buying sites popping up that take a new spin on the popular business model.

Eco-friendly group-purchasing sites

Zipongo

Zipongo is a Bay Water, USA-based site that promotes deals for healthy foods (rather than the glut of cupcake offers a certain group-buying site prefers). It’s all about natural foods, like cereals and coconut water.

It’s not entirely a surprise to see a scheme like this succeed in San Francisco – a place known for its healthy habits –but it would be great to see it branch out. Whether Londoners feel the urge to bulk purchase quinoa, millet and bulger is moot, however.

Blissmo

Blissmo offers discounts on organic and eco-friendly products, ranging from independent jewellery designs to toxin-free nail products. Recent deals include plant-based iPhone cases, organic homemade dog treats (I wonder how that one did) and a water-powered alarm clock.

Currently only serving the US and Canada.

EthicalDeal

EthicalDeal helps you discover green things to do in your area. Deals include organic hair cuts, eco-friendly spa stays, discounted yoga clothing and tickets to Make It! Vancouver.

It’s currently only running offers for the US and Canada, but hopefully bleeding heart liberals all over the world will soon be able to acquire raw, vegan and sugar-free confectionary.

[Image: Ethical Deal]

Do you know of any alternative group-buying sites? Let us know in the comments!

A version of this article originally appeared on Jorg & Olif

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Organisation Dorkage: Getting stuff done with WunderKit & WorkFlowy

Amanda Foley — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:00:54 +0000

Feeling a little scatterbrained lately, my friends? Well, never fear, fellow disorganised dorks, because I’m here to help you achieve a little “To-Do” list zen with some nifty tools for getting stuff done. Read on!

WunderKit

Chances are you’ve heard of the incredibly popular task manager, Wunderlist. It’s a simple but effective personal task manager, which makes syncing your “To-Do” list across various devices a seamless experience, with desktop apps for Mac & Windows, and mobile apps for iOS and Android.

Well, as awesome as Wunderlist is, the folks over at Berlin-based startup 6WunderKinder have decided to bring even more awesomeness to our lives in the form of Wunderkit.

Wunderkit incorporates the ideas of Wunderlist and brings them into a much more interactive and collaborative workspace. Wunderkit is a social platform, a team task manager and a personal organiser, all in one.

The site has a beautiful, easy-to-use interface which is based around creating various “workspaces”. Within each workspace, you can create tasks, track team progress on projects, post status updates, collaborate on notes, and add more people to your workspace using Twitter and Facebook integration.

Wunderkit is currently in private beta, but sign-up on the website or ask a friend for an invite, and you should have access in no time!

If you want to know more about WunderKit, take a look at the beta walk through video below.

WorkFlowy

WorkFlowy (tagline: “Organise your brain”)is another fantastic way to organise your everyday life. One might say it’s a lot simpler than Wunderkit, but it’s no less powerful.

WorkFlowy is a list-maker. It’s also a wonderful planning tool, helping you to create detail-oriented notes, brainstorm ideas and manage your tasks.

Currently, it’s an in-browser tool only, with no desktop or mobile apps launched (though if you’re on a Mac, you can use Fluid apps to create one for you).

It is available on mobile browsers though, which makes it easy to access your WorkFlowy task list on-the-go.

There is a collaborative element to Workflowy as well, allowing you let others view or edit any WorkFlowy task with a unique URL for every task.

Check out WorkFlowy’s blog to see a bunch of cool tips, tricks and features about how to use WorkFlowy.

What are your favourite tools for task management and productivity lately? Anything we should know about?

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Primeval : Volume 3 DVD Boxset (Series 4-5) – Dork Review

Nick Bryan — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:00:23 +0000

Last year, knockabout dinosaur drama Primeval aired its fourth and fifth series, aired on ITV and Watch in the UK, and BBC America in the US. The last of these episodes comes out in DVD today in the UK, and the whole thirteen episodes were issued in the US as “Volume 3” earlier this month. And fair enough, as they were one big story.

We’ve been sent a copy of the US boxset to review, so it seems a good chance to look back on the evolution of the run, not to mention the special features available.

Episodes: Soldiers Vs Capitalism

You can read my reviews of all thirteen episodes on this site at your leisure. But as a reminder, this is the series that introduced a range of new characters, including the excellent Ciaran McMenamin as Matt, and pitted them against the slow commercialisation of the ARC.

Looking back, I grew to enjoy it by second half (or “series five” if you like), due to more focus on the main plot. In the early stand-alone episodes, Primeval is rather prone to trailing off with “and then they ran in and shot the dinosaurs THE END”.

Which is fine if you’re a kid, but lacks drama compared to the wrenching character decisions of Doctor Who or Merlin. Still, it has likable characters, especially Ben Miller as the world-weary boss, who almost makes the series single-handedly.

Special Features: Jurassic Park Tours

The prime bonus is “New Dawn: Making The New Primeval”, a two-part documentary taking us behind the scenes, including discussion of the reasonings behind some of the changes made in the new series.

Oh, and it’s split into two halves, the second of which covers “series five”. Those of you who have the all-in-one US boxset and are particularly spoiler-conscious, watch the first seven episodes before the second half of the documentary.

The US set also gets the cool extra of an original prequel to series four setting up the new cast. It doesn’t seem to be on the UK version, but jealous English fans can see them on the ITV website.

In short, I can’t say the extras exactly justify the cost of the DVDs on their own, but the prequel episode especially is a nice touch. If you love the show and want to own it on blu-ray or DVD, this is a fine addition to your collection.

More Primeval on Dork Adore | Primeval: Series 5, Episode 6 – Dork Adore

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Quirky Retailing: QR T-shirt for full frontal geekery

Emma Cossey — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:00:33 +0000

QR codes. Whether you’re addicted to scanning them (in which case we are forced to question your mental well-being) or you’ve already dismissed them as an obsolete technology thanks to augmented reality (you giant technology snob), there’s no doubt that they’re finally having their day.

Scan Me has created a range of t-shirts with customised QR codes. So in theory, you could make a QR code for your Twitter/YouTube/Tumblr page, a video or just a simple message, and wear it for all to scan.

You’ll have to get used to strangers on the street snapping your frontal area on their phone, though. But that shouldn’t be a problem. How else do people make friends these days?

Prices start at £9.95, and they’re available on the ScanMe website.

So the big question is, what would you QR code link to? Let us know in the comments below!

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VHS Tape Notebooks: two obsolete media combined!

Emma Cossey — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:00:02 +0000

When I was little, I had a VHS tape that I used to record all my favourite snippets of programs.

If memory serves me, it was bright pink with “Please keep off, this means you!” scrawled across the top to warn off my family. Rocking the passive aggression note writing from a young age there.

If you’ve ever spent the Sunday Top 40 with your fingers hovering over the record and pause button on your cassette player to cut off the tape before the DJ spoke, you’ll relate to how immensely time-consuming and yet satisfying it was to record the best bits of TOTP and SM:TV (remember Chums?)

Clearly, these were the days before Sky+ and TiVo. And possibly a social life. And thankfully way before the time-suck that is Facebook.

I miss the days of VHS tapes and cassettes, as inconvenient and clunky as they were. While they might not fit into our ultra-busy, always-connected lives, these VHS tape notebooks will (unless, of course, you’ve evolved beyond writing in notebooks and now insist on using your freakishly over-developed typing thumbs to store all your thoughts in your smartphone.)

They’re from Mocha, and they’re just £11.50.

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Three alternative ways to do your shopping in 2012

Emma Cossey — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:00:32 +0000

Supermarkets are soulless places, aren’t they? All those busy aisles of grumpy shoppers who wield their trolley/pram/wheelchairs like a lethal weapon, diving for the last cut-priced cuts of meat and avoiding the zombie-like members of staff.

This is exactly why they stick the wine aisle at the end of the shop, so you’re driven to bulk buying booze just to recover from the experience.

Oh, and food shopping online isn’t much better. Nothing quite like ordering a food shop only for it all to arrive with a use by date for the next day.

Thankfully, supermarkets are no longer our only option. Obviously, there are your friendly local shops that you should definitely support. But there are a few more shopping options you might like to check out too..

The People’s Supermarket
This actually started out as a TV series a year or two ago, but I’ve noticed various versions of the concept springing up all over the place.

These supermarkets are run by communities with members each working a day or two a month. They’re designed to connect urban areas with local farmers. Members of the community decide what stock they want, which the supermarket then orders from local suppliers.

Membership costs vary. The official People’s Supermarket charges £25 a year (which gets you a 10% discount in store). Near me, in Reading, there’s a not-for-profit called True Food Co-Op which does pretty much the same thing and doesn’t charge for membership.

City Farms and Community Gardens

In response to the huge demand for allotments, dwindling garden spaces and an appreciation of the Slow Food way of life, City Farms and Community Gardens are popping up all over the place.

They offer communities the chance to get away from the city and grow some fresh, organic fruit and veg. And they also help empower communities and connect those who may otherwise feel detached. Plus they make the limited green spaces in the cities look beautiful.

Head to Farm Garden to find out where your local city farm or community garden is.

CarrotMob

CarrotMob is a concept that approaches businesses and encourages them to commit to a more eco-friendly way of working. If a business agrees, they have to submit a deal. The agreement might be something along the lines of “If 500 members of CarrotMob turn up and buy something, we’ll commit to spending 50% of the revenue on more eco-friendly machinery”

How Organized Consumer Purchasing Can Change Business from carrotmob on Vimeo.

I love this concept. Boycotting has a negative feel to it, but buycotting? This feels like a positive move where both parties stand to gain.

What alternative ways do you do your food shopping?

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LEGO Star Wars Miniland is coming!

Tamsin Worrad — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:45:54 +0000

Last week saw an epic battle between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi take place on the face of Big Ben in the showdown of Good vs Evil with the Sith Lord even getting the tube home afterwards.

OK, it was the Big Ben at Lego Miniland in Windsor and not the real deal, but I don’t think that makes it any less exciting.

Star Wars characters cropped up all over the tiny London replica in honor of the opening of the LEGOLAND Star Wars™ Miniland Experience in Windsor this March.

Seven scenes (one from each film and one from The Clone Wars animated series) will be recreated in painstaking miniature detail using a mind-blowing 1.5million bricks and dozens of talented workers behind the scenes.

The scenes will follow a chronological path through the story, with lighting and sound effects bringing the whole experience to life.

I’m more than a little excited about this launch and I’m not sure I know a sci fan who doesn’t get giddy over the Lego Star Wars™ range. I know it’s wrong but there’s just something so adorable about tiny bad guys!

Are you a fan and will you be visiting when it opens? Let us know below or tweet us @dorkadore!

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Are eco-friendly cars any fun? Ford Fiesta Econetic

Emma Cossey — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:00:08 +0000

I don’t review cars often. I have a little Peugeot 206 that I drive like a go-kart and it gets me from A to B. It’s nice but…well, lacking in gadgets and not exactly eco-friendly.

While I’m quite content with my little run-around, I’m still keen to keep an eye out for something a little better.

And if it can be eco-friendly as well, all the better!

So with rather excellent timing, the PR people at Ford got in touch with a new car they wanted Dork Adore to try out. In fact, they wanted us to drive it all the way down to eco hotel The Scarlet in Cornwall.

The Ford Fiesta ECOnetic is part of Ford’s eco-friendly range of cars that have “ULTRA LOW CO2 output without sacrificing power and performance.”

So, does eco-friendly mean you scrimp on the fun?

In a word, no.

The Ford Fiesta Econetic is packed full of those gadgets I hanker for, including an eco-mode to help drivers achieve better fuel economy and Auto-Start-Stop which turns off the vehicle when it’s idle (say, at traffic lights).

Sadly our car didn’t have the rear camera that some of the other tester cars had, but the general consensus was that it was a handy tool (especially if you’re a nervous reverse parker).

We did have the Gear Shift Indicator, which lets you know when you need to change up a gear. This works with the ECOnetic system to get the most out of your car: you produce more power, but with less fuel.

There are all sorts of other eco-friendly tools too, but most of them work away with very little input from me.

Final thoughts

If you’ve driven a Ford Fiesta before, the actual driving experience won’t be hugely different. It’s just as good to drive on the country roads as it is to speed up the motorway (and it really can speed). But the gadgets enhance the driving experience, and it would be foolish to not consider an eco-friendly car when your transport needs an upgrade.

Prices start at £15,845.00 on the road for a 3-door Ford Fiesta Titanium Econetic.

PS. What about The Scarlet eco hotel?

Visiting The Scarlet eco-friendly hotel in Cornwall was definitely an added bonus to trying out the Ford Fiesta Econetic. The building itself is beautiful, with outside pools, balconies in all the rooms and scented fires that help you relax straight away.

The bedrooms are slightly odd….I think I’m a little too reserved for a bath tub in the middle of a shared room and a wet room shower that leaves the toilet soaking. That said, the rest of the room was luxurious, proving that being conscientious needn’t mean going basic.

A word of warning though, you’ll get very little wi-fi signal here. You can use the hotel’s, but I think they like to encourage you to disconnect. It goes in with the whole ‘retreat’ atmosphere I guess!

Ford Fiesta ECOnetic official website.

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Stargazing Live, The American Office and Partners in Pretension: WWBW

Anna Lowman — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:22:26 +0000

This week I “marvelled at the majesty of the night sky” with Dr Brian Cox, finally got the bug for The Office: An American Workplace, and learned all about generating ad revenue with comedy web series Partners in Pretension. Busy week…

Spacewatch

Following the success of last year’s Stargazing Live mini-series, I don’t think there was ever any doubt that it’d return, and — understandably and correctly — the producers have seen fit to keep the format pretty much identical. Dr Brian Cox and Dara O Briain led the way once again, and with its mix of in-studio (or in-space-telescope in this case) hosts, presenters out in the field, expert interviews and dodgy live-feeds, the show certainly has a touch of the Springwatches about it. An undeniably Good Thing.

So what did I learn? Well there were some lovely “beginner’s guide” packages from Dr Cox — even in the depths of winter he headed to the beach to get his trusty sand-scraping stick out and explain the movements of the tides — and I have to say it had never really struck me that you see the moon “upside down” in the southern hemisphere… I should probably have known that one, though.

But for all of this interstellar information, live images of the Andromeda galaxy, mind-blowing distances and even the discovery of a new planet, the most brilliant moment of the three live shows came within the first half-hour, when Brian and Dara spoke to Captain Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the Moon. He was everything you want an astronaut to be — inspiring, humble, and eloquent — and best of all, he referred to the Moon as a ‘planet’, adding “I call the Moon a planet, sometimes.” You’ve been there, mate, call it whatever you like.

Late to the Office party

The Office: An American Workplace (as we Brits alone call it) has been around since 2005, but somehow it has taken me until now to get around to actually sitting down and watching a few episodes properly. These episodes are like 22 minutes long, by the way; you’d have thought I’d have found time in the intervening seven years to catch one or two.

But now that I have finally got around to it I am, rather inevitably, hooked. It’s got such heart, the performances are insanely good, there are a handful of laugh-out-loud lines every episode… But you guys already knew all this, right? Luckily, I’ve now got over 100 episodes to go back and enjoy. Can’t wait.

Partners in Pretension

Having not even found time in my busy schedule for one of the biggest US comedies of the past decade, you’d think I would avoid adding web-only series to my long To Watch list. But when info about Partners in Pretension dropped into the Dork Adore post box, I thought I’d give it a whirl — after all, how often do you get contacted about a comedy show with ‘it’s about online ad revenue!’ as a selling point? They know their market, clearly.

The show stars Fernando Noor and Tristan Scott-Behrends as a couple of highly pretentious college graduates looking to make a few dollars in this gloomy economic climate by raising money off the back of ‘how to’ videos that they post online. There are some nice lines, Scott-Behrends particularly is a cool performer and it looks good – but perhaps the most interesting thing about the show is that it exists at all. It may not change the face of comedy, but they’re clearly a talented team and, this being 2012, they’ve been able to make it, and get an audience online. Imagine the vast wealth of great stuff there must be out there… if only we had the time.

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Dork Adore

Merlin: Season 3 DVD Boxset – Dork Review

Episodes – As Seen On TV

Special Features – How Special Is Special?

More stories like this

Groupon for hippies: Alternative group buying sites

Eco-friendly group-purchasing sites

More stories like this

Organisation Dorkage: Getting stuff done with WunderKit & WorkFlowy

WunderKit

WorkFlowy

More stories like this

Primeval : Volume 3 DVD Boxset (Series 4-5) – Dork Review

Episodes: Soldiers Vs Capitalism

Special Features: Jurassic Park Tours

More stories like this

Quirky Retailing: QR T-shirt for full frontal geekery

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VHS Tape Notebooks: two obsolete media combined!

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Three alternative ways to do your shopping in 2012

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LEGO Star Wars Miniland is coming!

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Are eco-friendly cars any fun? Ford Fiesta Econetic

Final thoughts

PS. What about The Scarlet eco hotel?

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Stargazing Live, The American Office and Partners in Pretension: WWBW

Spacewatch

Late to the Office party

Partners in Pretension

More stories like this