Bristol Christmas 2010 – Christmas Starts Here With News of All the Markets, Events and Shopping

CHRISTMAS IN BRISTOL 2010

This year Bristol hosted some of the very best and most popular events ever including the Balloon Fiesta, Harbour Festival and BristFest, to name but a few. Now Bristol has its work cut out to make Christmas as memorable an experience as the 2010 summer months. Fear not however, Bristol will not let you down since the itinerary of Christmas activities this year is bigger and better than ever before. There will be more champagne corks popping in Bristol than in any other city in the country. Bristol will host more events, more decorations, new attractions, better shopping and more festive spirit in order to provide Christmas shoppers and visitors to Bristol with a sparkling and festive atmosphere.

Christmas in Bristol officially commences on Thursday, 11 November 2010 when the switch on of the even bigger and brighter Christmas lights will occur (127,000 lights in Cabot Circus alone). Also, on this day the Christmas tree lights in Bristol’s city centre will be switched on together with other Christmas lights throughout the city centre, making this one of the most spectacular Christmas displays ever (this should silence the critics of last year regarding the “lack of lights and decorations”.

In competition to the Winter Wonderland skating rink at Cribbs Causeway, a “state of the art” skating rink will be located in Quaker’s Friars and surrounded by exclusive shops and restaurants including the Cabot Centre. Not to be forgotten is Bristol’s permanent ice skating rink located in Frogmore Street, just off the City Centre which also offers a large number of different activities available for all the family – so come on all you budding “Torvil and Deans” – no excuse now!

Bristol shopping is some of the finest available in the country, with major centres like The Mall, Cribbs Causeway incorporating over 125 top name stores together with free parking whilst the Cabot Centre in Bristol provides a further 150 stores, shops, boutiques, cafes and restaurants. Parking is available but unlike The Mall a charge of £1.20 for the first hour and £1.00 every hour thereafter is asked which is a shame as it should be free parking for Christmas shoppers. Alternatively, there is always the “Park & Ride” in various locations around Bristol. Clifton Village in Bristol possesses a wonderful array of boutique style shops offering unique ideas for Christmas gifts. With a very pleasant ambience and charming watering holes in abundance Clifton is a delight to explore. Other exciting shopping venues in Bristol include St Nicholas’ Market, a great place in which to rummage for a bargain or discover a gift, both unusual and unique – a great place to visit suggesting a bygone era. Park Street will keep you fit whilst shopping! Although a steep climb the array of quirky individual boutiques together with high-end retailers make this worthwhile – in fact a perfect reflection of Bristol residents’ eclectic stylish look.

During the months of November and December there is an enormous array of diverse markets in and around Bristol. These range from German, French and English markets supplying food, wine and gifts to craft markets with locally made interesting gifts and crafts ideal for a unique Christmas gift. Further details of these diverse markets can be found by clicking onto the Christmas card icon located on Activ Bristol’s home page.

Bristol, in keeping to its tradition as the major entertainment hub of the South West will not disappoint the 2010 Christmas reveller, providing a host of pantomimes, comedy shows, music (both modern and classical), theatre shows, carol services, special events and Christmas attractions such as Christmas at Bristol Zoo and Avon Valley Railway Santa Special. Also, the actress Barbara Windsor will be opening The Mall’s Winter Wonderland and also appearing in panto at the Hippodrome. All these attractions and more can be found on Activ Bristol’s Christmas page.

Christmas in Bristol 2010 is building up to be a fantastic shopaholic entertainment bonanza time but while we are all enjoying ourselves spare a thought for those who through illness, mental incapacity or loneliness, to name but a few reasons, will not enjoy this magical time of year. Listed on Activ Bristol’s Christmas page you will find a number of local Charities so while you are having fun, please give generously to help those less fortunate.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all at Activ Bristol. Click here for more information on Activ Bristol

A Brief History of Home Entertainment

The concept of home entertainment and indoor recreational activities changed when home electronics invaded our lives. One can say that access to numerous electronic products at home has revolutionized the idea of what constitutes a complete home entertainment. Nowadays, anyone can have immediate access to every kind of electronic entertainment via different media within the comforts of their homes. They can have their choice of entertainment which may range from the latest DVD players, radios to the wireless internet connection which offers them the convenience of mobility. Advancement in technology has gifted us with loads of home entertainment options ranging from radio, television, CD, DVD players, home theatre system, games consoles and so on.Music has always been one of the most preferred leisure activities. It found its way into our home through the long playing discs and the gramophone. Of course with the coming of radio a decade later made music a more widespread home entertainment. Before the advent of the CD or DVD player, the radio was the most popular home entertainment system available. Though there were some juke boxes available in the local pubs or salons where one could listen to a song of their choice at home there was only the radio. With radio, the choice of listening was however quite limited as people had to listen to the songs that the radio channels would play, even though some of the stations would at times play the selected numbers based on listeners’ requests. But there were no complaints as there wasn’t anything better for decades to come.Initially, when television had not yet become an everyday part of our lives, the visual entertainment strictly meant those theatres which had large screens to view a movie. Things changed dramatically with the invention of the television in the initial phase of the 1950s. The television was a complete wonder in the days when it was discovered. People did not have to restrict themselves anymore to music as their only entertainment at home. They could actually watch a full length movie in the comfort of their own home.Not only movies, this small wonder box started entertaining people with more and more new ideas, programs and techniques. Television has been considered as one of the pioneers in the history of home visual entertainment. Of course it provided more than just entertainment. With news and special documentaries, TV soon became the most important source of amusement. The long playing discs were also a part of home entertainment which was an early discovery. While radios, LPs and television made a permanent place in everyone’s home, the quality of sound in those times essentially required tremendous development.Good sound systems and speakers stared to develop in the mid 1970s. Various technologies were discovered to enhance the quality of sound. And with the music genres like rock, pop and discos coming into being, there was a specific and urgent requirement for good quality sound systems. Thus the electronic giants did not stop producing recorders and put more emphasis on amplifying and equalizing the sound to give it a new dimension.Good quality sound systems were specially designed and created for homes which produced outstanding music. Woofers and subwoofers along with various amplifiers equalizers and multi channel audio were being used to produce crisp stereophonic sounds.However, this concept took a back seat when CD and DVD players came into existence. During the end of the ’70s and early ’80s some of the electronic giants worked in collaboration to develop the world’s first Compact Disc system. Experts proved that this CD player was quite compact and lightweight with its unique durability. For music lovers it was truly a boon. At the same time this CD system opened a new window in the audio equipment industry.Compact discs were more durable than any other long playing discs or tapes. Thus the CDs removed all other music disc and tapes from the market and held prominent position. The 80s and early 90s saw a vast improvement in the technology of compact disc systems. It became very popular with people because of the crystal clear sound it produced and was affordable. These CDs not only stored music, it was versatile enough to store movies, data, pictures or even software.Along with CDs a much improved device which actually revolutionized and changed the entire system of home entertainment is the DVD or digital versatile discs. These discs are powerful and large enough to hold two movies in one. It stores data digitally and is more durable. The scratch proof technology of the DVD players also makes the DVDs last a long time. Both music and movie buffs felt delighted when the DVD player came into the market. Recent survey statistics reveal that the DVD player is the most successful product of home entertainment. It was introduced in the year 1997 and has reached great heights of success ever since.Nowadays, people can have the same effect of a movie theatre in their homes. With the latest DVD players, LCD screens and the sound systems with woofers, sub woofers and multi channel audio systems, anyone can have a fantastic home entertainment system with high quality sound and spectacular visual effects. The plasma and LCD screens are high resolution televisions which started to develop in the latter half of the 1990s and these sleek televisions enabled the viewers to experience digital sound and vision with fantastic picture quality and various advanced features.With the invention of DVDs and a major development in the visual media such as Plasma and Liquid Crystal Display or LCD in the late 90s gave home entertainment its latest technical dimension. With it, the meaning of home entertainment changed significantly with more and more people installing the home theatre systems with newest gadgets and technologies.