I’m not the biggest Abba fan in the world so when I was persuaded to go along and see Mama Mia a few weeks back it was reluctantly. The prospect of loosing 90 minutes of my life to the back drop of over-used, over-enthused Swedish pop didn’t really fill me with joy.  

For those of you unfamiliar with the plot, here it is. A young bride-to-be is trying to work out who her father is in time for her wedding. After reading her mum’s diary she invites the potential dads over to the Greek island she calls home. Throw in an Abba soundtrack and lots of dancing in the sunshine and you’ve pretty much got it. 

So anyway..I loved it. It was glorious.  This wasn’t just because of the illegitimacy theme, you understand, oh no. It was the music that did it for me, that and Pierce Brosnan’s singing. He gave it his all but he looked like he was in pain and sounded a bit like a braying donkey; the poor bloke.  

This film not only made me dance in the aisles as soon as the lights came on but I was whistling the soundtrack for the next week and a half.

Dancing Queen, Waterloo, whatever the rest of the songs are called, I could say, hand on my heart, that they’re not enthused enough. So for the rest of you fans out there you can pre order the DVD now.

Aptly titled Circus, is Britney’s sixth album after the much neglected Black Out which contained Piece of Me a complex post-modern pop song that unpicked the nature of modern celebrity in under 3 minutes. Interesting fact, Britney was offered the grossly successful Umbrella to sing before Rihanna. Rumour goes the production team rung her up and offered it to her but she was too drunk, high, whatever to return the call so they gave it to the tiny Barbadian. It probably wouldn’t have been such a hit with Britney’s slurred vocals and irregular dancing.

That rumour goes to show how far Britney has come in the last 2 years. She is once again releasing best-selling singles and pulling off amazingly choreographed dance routines. Remember the VMAs where she listlessly stomped around the stage to general dismay. Womanizer the standout track from Circus is like old Britney, the Britney from Toxic days. There is a similar synthy, dance-pop feeling to both songs, both videos even include naked Britneys. In Toxic her modesty covered (barely) by lots of diamantes, in Womanizer she is as bare as God intended rolling round a sauna.

1st of December is the day when Circus is released and teenage girls the world over can start practising their made-up dance routines and singing along to  the innapropriate adult-themed lyrics.

Amazon has named Philip Hensher’s The Northern Clemency as book of the year. The book was also nominated for the Man Booker prize. If Hensher was unprepared for the amount of publicity that Man Booker nomination gave him, it’ll be nothing compared to what will happen after Amazon’s endorsement. Amazon through it’s recommendation will catapult Hensher’s book onto an international stage. It will be a shock for Hensher who has been quietly writing novels for the past decade to achieve such instant acclaim. This is his seventh novel

The book follows a northern family, from the mid seventies to the rise of Thatcherism and the turbulent political and social upheavals of the 80’s. It seems a strange book for Amazon to choose, Sheffield in 80’s doesn’t seem to me a subject that would engage Amazon’s world wide audience. But I guess that is the point, Amazon can use its might to highlight worthy books that may get overlooked because of the glut of published fiction. The book is bound to get an awful lot of attention in the future and is bound to become an instant best seller and even a modern classic.

According to the Financial Times, Netbooks have managed to fascinate Britain’s tech-savvy community so much that they are tipped to be one of the most gifted wanted products, this Christmas! So, if you feel your present laptop is just too heavy to lug around all the time and you could do with a smaller one when you’re out at the coffee shop downing lattes and blogging, now is the time to start looking.

What is a Netbook?

Shortest definition = A small, low-cost, mobile computing device designed for consuming content, rather than creating new content.

It’s interesting how after the likes of OLPC Chairman Nicholas Negopronte were laughed off for wanting to create a small inexpensive laptop which wasn’t exactly a powerhorse, Asus pioneered the ‘’small budget laptop” revolution with their EEE PC. However, it looks like Asus may find it difficult to maintain their grip over the market as Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo and Samsung are now in the market, trying to lure consumers with a wide variety of choices…

No, you’re mistaken if you think the netbooks are just small cheap machines which run only on Linux. Agreed, the price for running on Windows is higher but that hasn’t deterred HP from offering you the HP 2133 Mini which runs on Windows Vista. I’d have thought that Microsoft should actually be quite happy that 70% of netbooks run on Windows but given their 90% dominance in PC’s, they are apparently concerned about the impact, Linux may continue to have.

Is Apple going to enter the race? Sorry, folks but looks like Mr. Jobs just ruled it out last week, saying

“We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that.”

Terribly upsetting but hey, maybe he’s got some uber cool gadget in the labs now. Yeah,Optimism!!!!!

There are some new releases on DVD in the coming month. To set up a stock alert click on the DVD title:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Harrison Ford returns in the fourth instalment of the popular series, this time the antiquated archaeologist is pitted against the Russians, helped by a much younger Shia La Boeuf. The film is released on the 10th of November.

Kung Fu Panda - Jack Black’ animated film about a Kung Fu Panda is released on the 17th of November. The cowardly panda must learn the secret arts of Kung Fu to save his valley from an evil snow leopard. He is helped in his quest by Angelina Jolie and Dustin Hoffman who play a snow tiger and a red panda respectively.

Wall-E - Pixar’s film about an abandoned robot left on an earth covered with rubbish is released on the 24th of November. The film centers around the adventures Wall-E a robot who’s job it is to clear up all the rubbish left on earth by humans who have long since left.

Hancock

Will Smith plays Hancock the amnesiac, alcoholic super hero who is vilified by the city he tries to protect. The film is both funny and action-packed, and sees Will Smith at the top of his game. Hancock is released on the 1st of December.

Batman: The Dark Knight

There is one major reason to see this film: Heath Ledger. His performance as the joker, the clown-faced psychopath was truly out of this world. The Dark Knight is dark, edgy, dramatic and utterly compelling. The Dark Knight is released on the 8th of December.

Wii Music is out on the 14th of November. Set up a stock alert here to be alerted when the game is released.

Wii Music lets you play over 60 instruments in a variety of fun and zany challenges.But don’t take my word for it, this guy’s somehow got a copy. Check out the harmonica playing.

Here’s the official trailer:

Welcome to Invisible Hand. Come on in, careful though the paint’s still wet.

Invisible Hand is the ultimate stock finding site, we’re here to help you get your hands on well….whatever you want. You make the rules, you choose what we search for and from what sites. Then using our search technology we check the retailer sites for the availability of your product.

When your product becomes available we send you a stock alert by email and if you want we can even send you a text. Cutting edge, eh?

Upcoming Products

There’s some great products out in the next couple of months that you should definitely keep an eye on. Here’s a couple of suggestions for mobile lovers, book worms and gaming enthusiasts. If you’re interested in any of them why not set up a stock alert by clicking on the item below.

The Samsung i7110

The Samsung i7110 is a sleek little handset, boasting a 5 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, a massive 2.6″ QVGA screen, and wi-fi connectivity. It also runs DivX and XviD format material with ease. read a full review here

Scarpetta

If you love CSI then you should check out Patricia Cornwell who has been writing about the adventures of Kay Scarpetta, forensic scientist for over two decades now. Scarpetta Cornwell’s latest novel promises to be her most extraordinary yet.

Grand Theft Auto IV - PC

Grand Theft Auto IV was a massive hit when it was released on the xBox and the PS3 earlier this year. Now it’s time for PC users to experience Rockstar contraversial game where you play various felons rampaging through the fictional Liberty City committing crimes and causing mayhem.