- 10:17 T175 TMA 01 submished! Now onto M150 unit 3 ... #
- 10:25 Putting mah feet up for #caturday twitpic.com/nno4b #
- 12:18 Listening to @adamgilder and Daffyd on www.rhonddaradio.com - excellent! #
- 14:02 Just got a namecheck off of @adamgilder on rhonddaradio.com - hurrah! :-) #
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Bad to the bone
Or not as the case may be.
I was up (relatively) bright and early to crack on with my OU work, submitting my TMA for T175 and completing half of this week's unit for M150. I'm easily on schedule and enjoying all of the optional activities and podcasts too. Nobody else has done the online component for M150 yet though, even though it was posted yesterday. I held off replying until today, but still no sign of life in the forum. I hope that the rest of my tutor group are still alive!
From 12 till 3 we tuned into the Adam and Dafydd show on Rhondda Radio via the magic of the internet. You may know Adam as @adamgilder from off of Twitter or via his excellent blog Provoking The Idea Dragon. Anyhoo, him and his mate Dafydd have got themselves a show and jolly good it was too. Some of the playlist was a little ... dated is probably the polite expression ... but they did slip a couple of good tracks in there when the station manager was looking the other way, not least some Green Day for Jan - hurrah! The best bits were the talky bits and mucking around between the records and their special guest interview with a ghost for Halloween made me laugh lots.
After that, I gave in to temptation and bought Rock Band for the iPhone, mainly because @thatrevchap told me too, and also because it is on sale this weekend for a bargainlicious £3.99. Good stuff, not least each track can be played as bass, lead guitar, drums or vocals with considerable differences to the game play in each case. Expect Facebook updates for my scores on this one.
Now, time for light, coffee and Gay Tony. I'll be playing Animal Crossing after 8:00 for KK Slider and also a visit from Jack Pumpkins (or whatever his name is) ...
I was up (relatively) bright and early to crack on with my OU work, submitting my TMA for T175 and completing half of this week's unit for M150. I'm easily on schedule and enjoying all of the optional activities and podcasts too. Nobody else has done the online component for M150 yet though, even though it was posted yesterday. I held off replying until today, but still no sign of life in the forum. I hope that the rest of my tutor group are still alive!
From 12 till 3 we tuned into the Adam and Dafydd show on Rhondda Radio via the magic of the internet. You may know Adam as @adamgilder from off of Twitter or via his excellent blog Provoking The Idea Dragon. Anyhoo, him and his mate Dafydd have got themselves a show and jolly good it was too. Some of the playlist was a little ... dated is probably the polite expression ... but they did slip a couple of good tracks in there when the station manager was looking the other way, not least some Green Day for Jan - hurrah! The best bits were the talky bits and mucking around between the records and their special guest interview with a ghost for Halloween made me laugh lots.
After that, I gave in to temptation and bought Rock Band for the iPhone, mainly because @thatrevchap told me too, and also because it is on sale this weekend for a bargainlicious £3.99. Good stuff, not least each track can be played as bass, lead guitar, drums or vocals with considerable differences to the game play in each case. Expect Facebook updates for my scores on this one.
Now, time for light, coffee and Gay Tony. I'll be playing Animal Crossing after 8:00 for KK Slider and also a visit from Jack Pumpkins (or whatever his name is) ...
Mini Halloween Links
- Zombie Brain Vodka Shots
- Danger - Poison!
- You want a hand with dinner?
- Top 50 Vampires
- Lovecraft 101 Everything you need to know about the master of scifi-horror
- Creative Commons Halloween Mix From the Free Music Archive - perfect spooky music!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Groundhog Day (Again)
Imagine yesterday's post, but with the following changes.
We walked the doggo and then I dismantled the shower and remantled it again, and I think that I may have stopped the verdammt thing from dripping, at least for a while. It looked horribly complicated in the diagrams on the internet but in the end it just involved unscrewing four bolts and unclipping a few bits of plastic. At least I know that if we need to replace the cartridge I can do it reasonably easily.
After that, well you know the pack drill. An hour of Animal Crossing in which I went to the city and bought a yellow balloon, some lunch and then more of Gay Tony. I am splitting my time between fighting a drugs war during the day and running a nightclub at night (logically enough) which involves me throwing drug dealers out of the door. Makes some sort of sense I suppose. I also had fun escorting a rapper out my gay club and getting him away from the paparazzi who were chasing us on motorbikes. Needless to say, I took the route through the underpass ... :-)
Finally to wrap things up, an emotional roller coaster of Sarah Jane Adventures featuring a certain timelord. I'll not say anything about it for fear of spoilers, but it was one of the best bits of Who telly in a long while and highly poignant.
We walked the doggo and then I dismantled the shower and remantled it again, and I think that I may have stopped the verdammt thing from dripping, at least for a while. It looked horribly complicated in the diagrams on the internet but in the end it just involved unscrewing four bolts and unclipping a few bits of plastic. At least I know that if we need to replace the cartridge I can do it reasonably easily.
After that, well you know the pack drill. An hour of Animal Crossing in which I went to the city and bought a yellow balloon, some lunch and then more of Gay Tony. I am splitting my time between fighting a drugs war during the day and running a nightclub at night (logically enough) which involves me throwing drug dealers out of the door. Makes some sort of sense I suppose. I also had fun escorting a rapper out my gay club and getting him away from the paparazzi who were chasing us on motorbikes. Needless to say, I took the route through the underpass ... :-)
Finally to wrap things up, an emotional roller coaster of Sarah Jane Adventures featuring a certain timelord. I'll not say anything about it for fear of spoilers, but it was one of the best bits of Who telly in a long while and highly poignant.
Tony Jaa - Longest Fight
Extraordinary martial arts scene with a single point of view camera shot tracking the action for three and a half minutes. (H/T KakapoJayne for the link!)
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Holy Thursday
Day off, numero uno.
A bit of a lie in to start with and then out in the garden to satisfy my atheist work ethic. I spent a good hour putting away the garden chairs, raking the leaves and sucking up the stray ones with the leaf blower. There's still half a tree full threatening to come down, so no doubt I'll need another session at some point, but at least things look tidy out there now.
The reason for doing some housework was so that I could spend the rest of the day playing video games with a relatively clear conscience. I set a particular download going and then fired up Animal Crossing. It's the first time that I've played in the daylight so I had a whole different set of bugs to hunt - monarch butterflies mostly - and I caught a couple of new fishies as well. Somehow I managed to blow 8000 bells that I had just earned buying a giant chess piece from Tom Nook - ah, how I've missed this!
At last, the download completed and it was time to switch from the family friendly Wii to the grim world of Liberty City and the long awaited (by me at least) Ballad of Gay Tony. First impressions - very positive. The opening scene intercuts with one of the most iconic moments from GTA IV, followed by a shot of the protagonist of this episode Luis Lopez, walking down the street with a swagger. If GTA IV was Goodfellas and The Lost and The Damned, The Wild Bunch then Gay Tony is looking like Saturday Night Fever.
I've seen a range of reactions online from 'Gay Tony is teh gae! LOLZ' to 'Gay Tony is homophobic' but I think that Rockstar have actually done something very subversive here. In the opening missions Luis and Tony are subject to a torrent of insults from various characters and, for a straight, white male at least, being on the receiving end of such homophobic and racial abuse really did make me stop and think. I hope that it has the same effect on the typical xbox live players who use such language with casual ignorance.
Oh, and an acebest episode of Sarah Jane as well which you should all watch as soon as possibles!
A bit of a lie in to start with and then out in the garden to satisfy my atheist work ethic. I spent a good hour putting away the garden chairs, raking the leaves and sucking up the stray ones with the leaf blower. There's still half a tree full threatening to come down, so no doubt I'll need another session at some point, but at least things look tidy out there now.
The reason for doing some housework was so that I could spend the rest of the day playing video games with a relatively clear conscience. I set a particular download going and then fired up Animal Crossing. It's the first time that I've played in the daylight so I had a whole different set of bugs to hunt - monarch butterflies mostly - and I caught a couple of new fishies as well. Somehow I managed to blow 8000 bells that I had just earned buying a giant chess piece from Tom Nook - ah, how I've missed this!
At last, the download completed and it was time to switch from the family friendly Wii to the grim world of Liberty City and the long awaited (by me at least) Ballad of Gay Tony. First impressions - very positive. The opening scene intercuts with one of the most iconic moments from GTA IV, followed by a shot of the protagonist of this episode Luis Lopez, walking down the street with a swagger. If GTA IV was Goodfellas and The Lost and The Damned, The Wild Bunch then Gay Tony is looking like Saturday Night Fever.
I've seen a range of reactions online from 'Gay Tony is teh gae! LOLZ' to 'Gay Tony is homophobic' but I think that Rockstar have actually done something very subversive here. In the opening missions Luis and Tony are subject to a torrent of insults from various characters and, for a straight, white male at least, being on the receiving end of such homophobic and racial abuse really did make me stop and think. I hope that it has the same effect on the typical xbox live players who use such language with casual ignorance.
Oh, and an acebest episode of Sarah Jane as well which you should all watch as soon as possibles!
- 18:58 Finished my T175 TMA 01 assignment - hurrah! Will sleep on it and proof read in the morning before submitting it. #
- 21:21 RT @SDChown: #UGVX www.ugvx.com is up and in Beta! Yes. there are bugs. We know. :) #
- 21:23 Coo - this #ugvx is pretty nifty #
- 11:38 Just spent an hour raking up the leaves in the garden. There's still half a tree load up there, mocking me ... #
- 11:44 Gay Tony is downloaderizing now - hurrah! Listening to Adam and Joe and having a coffee while I'm waiting for it #ugvx # Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter
Runaway Train
Every so often a podcast pops up in the queue that you start listening to with no idea of what is coming up. This fifteen minute gem from speechification is well worth a download - it gripped me from start to end with a true story of a runaway train incident in Canada in 1987.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Daily Post - Wednesday
A surprisingly warm and sunny day today, which was nice. It felt more like early September than late October - if it holds I might get out in the garden tomorrow to tidy up the leaves and make use of the two days off I've got this week on Thursday and Friday.
Working at home today, so no amusing or exasperated tales about my cow-orkers or the daily commute. Just a generally productive day with some work finished, timesheets and expenses brought up to date and a bit of time prototyping some web pages for our app with balsamiq.
At five o'clock I went straight into my OU work and finished the TMA 01 for T175. I included a mindmap generated with mind42.com which looks pretty snazzy, if I say so myself. I'll sleep on it and proof read it in the morning before submitting it. The deadline isn't until the 5th of November so there's no particular hurry.
Right, time for a brief sojourn into Animal Crossing, me thinks ...
Working at home today, so no amusing or exasperated tales about my cow-orkers or the daily commute. Just a generally productive day with some work finished, timesheets and expenses brought up to date and a bit of time prototyping some web pages for our app with balsamiq.
At five o'clock I went straight into my OU work and finished the TMA 01 for T175. I included a mindmap generated with mind42.com which looks pretty snazzy, if I say so myself. I'll sleep on it and proof read it in the morning before submitting it. The deadline isn't until the 5th of November so there's no particular hurry.
Right, time for a brief sojourn into Animal Crossing, me thinks ...
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
All cats are grey
Late night, early morning and old school apocalyptic dreams of warheads and wastelands.
Oddly flat mood today, starting with a drive in on a foggy motorway listening to a Stephen King audiobook. I really could have done with an Adam and Joe podcast, but it hadn't turned up in my itunes by the time I synchronised last night. Still, at least we've got As It Occurs to Me for tonight.
Work has been a bit disjointed as well, with incoming queries interrupting the bit of development that I was trying to finish off. I popped things off my stack one at a time and was mostly caught up by lunchtime, with just the work to commit into subversion now. I also managed a bit of T175 TMA work at lunchtime as well, for a précis of an article about biometric scanning methods.
In phone news, I downloaded a NASA app to keep an eye on the Ares mission, but unfortunately it was scrubbed. It's nifty to have all of the pictures and videos in one handy place though, including an Astronomy Picture of the Day archive. All I need now is a Maru app and I will be happy.
Oddly flat mood today, starting with a drive in on a foggy motorway listening to a Stephen King audiobook. I really could have done with an Adam and Joe podcast, but it hadn't turned up in my itunes by the time I synchronised last night. Still, at least we've got As It Occurs to Me for tonight.
Work has been a bit disjointed as well, with incoming queries interrupting the bit of development that I was trying to finish off. I popped things off my stack one at a time and was mostly caught up by lunchtime, with just the work to commit into subversion now. I also managed a bit of T175 TMA work at lunchtime as well, for a précis of an article about biometric scanning methods.
In phone news, I downloaded a NASA app to keep an eye on the Ares mission, but unfortunately it was scrubbed. It's nifty to have all of the pictures and videos in one handy place though, including an Astronomy Picture of the Day archive. All I need now is a Maru app and I will be happy.
- 08:43 Mist shrouds the gas works / Rusted pipes faded in gloom / Match the Autumn leaves #
Monday, October 26, 2009
Nothing but blue skies, from now on
Winter draws on!
So, with the clocks going back it is both dark in the mornings when I get up and also when I leave the office in the evening. Lovely. The traditional excuse given for making this change is so that Scottish cows won't have to be milked in the dark. How does that work exactly? Do the cows watch the clock and not notice that they've had to wait an extra hour to be milked? Couldn't they just put up a few lights in the milking parlour, or are they still relying on milk maids with those wooden bucket holding things and a couple of candles?
Anyhoo, my escape this year is going to be a blast of light and some time in Animal Crossing where it is still light at six in the evening. Faroon asked me what the appeal was and I was thinking about it this morning on the way into work. Animal Crossing is like going on holiday to a favourite destination that you've been to for several years on the run. You know what to expect, there's no pressure to do anything that you don't want to do and you can just potter around talking to animals if you so wish. It's a very relaxing experience all told. I've got a house right on the beach in this town, so I can mooch along the shore listening to the surf and collecting shells, and maybe catching the odd fish or too. I've already added a ray and an octopus to the aquarium in the museum. Which is nice.
Don't get me wrong - I still enjoy the visceral thrills of xbox gaming and no doubt I'll be gaying it up with Gay Tony in Liberty City when it is released on Thursday this week, but Animal Crossing is like a comfy pair of slippers and a chair by the fire - it's like coming home.
So, with the clocks going back it is both dark in the mornings when I get up and also when I leave the office in the evening. Lovely. The traditional excuse given for making this change is so that Scottish cows won't have to be milked in the dark. How does that work exactly? Do the cows watch the clock and not notice that they've had to wait an extra hour to be milked? Couldn't they just put up a few lights in the milking parlour, or are they still relying on milk maids with those wooden bucket holding things and a couple of candles?
Anyhoo, my escape this year is going to be a blast of light and some time in Animal Crossing where it is still light at six in the evening. Faroon asked me what the appeal was and I was thinking about it this morning on the way into work. Animal Crossing is like going on holiday to a favourite destination that you've been to for several years on the run. You know what to expect, there's no pressure to do anything that you don't want to do and you can just potter around talking to animals if you so wish. It's a very relaxing experience all told. I've got a house right on the beach in this town, so I can mooch along the shore listening to the surf and collecting shells, and maybe catching the odd fish or too. I've already added a ray and an octopus to the aquarium in the museum. Which is nice.
Don't get me wrong - I still enjoy the visceral thrills of xbox gaming and no doubt I'll be gaying it up with Gay Tony in Liberty City when it is released on Thursday this week, but Animal Crossing is like a comfy pair of slippers and a chair by the fire - it's like coming home.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
- 20:57 Oi #xfactor - a manky old U2 song does *not* count as big band! #
- 17:05 Don't have a cow, man! twitpic.com/mwgzq #
This town, comin' like a ghost town
Well, that's summer time over and done with for another year.
I put back the clock radio before going to bed, but unfortunately nobody put back the clock on the cats. A certain ginger kitteh came upstairs at six o'clock to start biting my face until I gave in and fed her. Still, I'm hoping that my light will help me to beat the usual blues that hit at this time of year.
I used this morning to finish my T175 block one work, so that just leaves the TMA to do now. I've done the first two questions on it and one of the last two is an online debate in the forum so that will get done next week.
This afternoon we dodged the showers and went into town for the annual Fright Night event in Sheffield. It was the usual collection of stalls, funfair rides and various costumed monsters wandering around. We mooched around for an hour or two before having a coffee in Starbucks and coming home, leaving Jamie to get up to mischief with his friends.
One notable score was Animal Crossing : Let's Go To The City on the Wii with the Wii Speak microphone for £18.00 - result. I don't care that this is the third time that I have played this game in various iterations - I am really looking forward to spending some time pottering around a village full of animals. The only question that remains is what I'm going to call my village ...
I put back the clock radio before going to bed, but unfortunately nobody put back the clock on the cats. A certain ginger kitteh came upstairs at six o'clock to start biting my face until I gave in and fed her. Still, I'm hoping that my light will help me to beat the usual blues that hit at this time of year.
I used this morning to finish my T175 block one work, so that just leaves the TMA to do now. I've done the first two questions on it and one of the last two is an online debate in the forum so that will get done next week.
This afternoon we dodged the showers and went into town for the annual Fright Night event in Sheffield. It was the usual collection of stalls, funfair rides and various costumed monsters wandering around. We mooched around for an hour or two before having a coffee in Starbucks and coming home, leaving Jamie to get up to mischief with his friends.
One notable score was Animal Crossing : Let's Go To The City on the Wii with the Wii Speak microphone for £18.00 - result. I don't care that this is the third time that I have played this game in various iterations - I am really looking forward to spending some time pottering around a village full of animals. The only question that remains is what I'm going to call my village ...
Sunday Links
- ZooBorns: Four Baby 'Taz's' Live Up to Their Reputation Cute *and* lethal!
- 私信 It's the battle of the century - Maru vs Mantis!
- The Story of The Honduras Coup in webcomic form
- Photos Reveal the Secret Superhero History of WWII
- Left vs Right I like the social justice of the left and I have a sneaking admiration for the fiscal conservatism of the right but which one is better? There's only one way to find out ... FIGHT!!!
- Steampunk Wallpaper Giveaway It's steampunk month on Tor.com and what better way to celebrate than with this excellent wallpaper available in every size from an iPhone to a 30" monitor resolution
- Landscape photo of the year 2009
- Pretty, Vacant A Slideshow of Abandoned New York
- Saturn at equinox - The Big Picture Brian Cox pointed out on Twitter this week that for a fifth of the money spent on bailing out Northern Rock we could have had a British equivalent of Nasa. Why are we so parsimonious about exploring the solar system? Look at these pictures from Saturn - this is human science at its very best.
- Cluster tucked at the far reaches of the Universe Pictures of a galaxy 10.2 *billion* light years away. Incredible
- The Evolution of Phones A bit like the ascent of Man but with phones
- A people's history of the internet from Arpanet in 1969 to today
- Chillits 2009 ambient music mixes online Need some ambient mixes for your listening pleasure? Step this way ...
- Zombie Boogie Perfect for Halloween party music!
- 42 Essential 3rd Act Twists Handy tips for when writer's block threatens
- 40+ Lurid, Bizarre Science Fiction Dream Sequences
Saturday, October 24, 2009
- 09:47 On the train on the way to my M150 tutorial - £3.00 return which is cheaper than the car park and only takes 15 mins to get there. #
- 09:50 Meh. #caturday twitpic.com/mpnmu #
- 14:58 Timothy Taylor's steak pie for lunch ... nom! twitpic.com/mqb91 #
Friday, October 23, 2009
Richard Herring - As It Occurs To Me
Just in case you haven't got around to subscribing to this excellent podcast yet, here's a mini documentary about the show
Friday I go mad
Well, no, not really. I don't even like the song that much really, but what the hey.
Another quiet day with not much to report, other than sleeping through until just before seven o'clock and only waking up once which makes seven and a half hours sleep in one night, so hurrah for that. Mind you, being completely knacked from driving to Liverpool and back in a day probably helped.
Unlike most of the rest of the twitterati I didn't bother watching fat Hitler on Question Time last night, choosing Russell Howard's excellent new show 'Good News' on BBC3 instead. Much funnier, and as Iain Dale pointed out it's not the opinion of folk like us that count in this matter - we already know that Adolf Brent (h/t @serafinowicz) is an obnoxious twunt - it's the people on the Barnsley and Barking omnibus who voted BNP last time around that are going to watch this unedifying spectacle and decide whether to put an X next to the swastika next time.
Good summary of the programme here:
In happier news, it's Friday night and I've just watched this weeks episodes of Sarah Jane Adventures. Top notch and spooky enough in places to make the kiddly winks hide behind the sofa I suspect. The homeless people with red eyes sitting on the fun fair rides were rather creepy for starters. Next week's episode looks good too, with a certain blue box about to materialize in the attic ... :-)
Another quiet day with not much to report, other than sleeping through until just before seven o'clock and only waking up once which makes seven and a half hours sleep in one night, so hurrah for that. Mind you, being completely knacked from driving to Liverpool and back in a day probably helped.
Unlike most of the rest of the twitterati I didn't bother watching fat Hitler on Question Time last night, choosing Russell Howard's excellent new show 'Good News' on BBC3 instead. Much funnier, and as Iain Dale pointed out it's not the opinion of folk like us that count in this matter - we already know that Adolf Brent (h/t @serafinowicz) is an obnoxious twunt - it's the people on the Barnsley and Barking omnibus who voted BNP last time around that are going to watch this unedifying spectacle and decide whether to put an X next to the swastika next time.
Good summary of the programme here:
In happier news, it's Friday night and I've just watched this weeks episodes of Sarah Jane Adventures. Top notch and spooky enough in places to make the kiddly winks hide behind the sofa I suspect. The homeless people with red eyes sitting on the fun fair rides were rather creepy for starters. Next week's episode looks good too, with a certain blue box about to materialize in the attic ... :-)
- 11:17 #myfirstsearchengine : Gopher #myfirstcomputer :ZX80 #myfirstproglang : Sinclair BASIC #
Thursday, October 22, 2009
The Guardian Tech Weekly
All change over at The Guardian Tech Weekly podcast. Still no sign of that Krotoski woman, so new girl Susi Weaser is taking over presenting duties. Still the same mix of features and news, with a fascinating bit on hacking the Wiimote to use with a computer rather than the console. Worth a listen if you have any interest in technology issues.
Going down to Liverpool (to do nothing)
Up early this morning and out of the house at seven to drive to Liverpool for a meeting.
Needless to say, it was as dark as a very dark thing out there but I had my iPhone to keep me company loaded up with an excellent electro playlist. By the time I was over the Woodhead pass the sun was up, but that was about the time that I got stuck in the queue of traffic going through Tintwhistle (to which the traditional response is 'Tis a whistle').
I found my way to the Liver Building, more by luck than judgement, and went inside. Wow. What a contrast to the boarded up buildings and urban decay on the drive through the suburbs on the way there. The lifts were suspiciously chatty though. You have to select your desired floor from a touch pad display in the lobby and then a voice tells you which lift to use and pre-selects the floor for you - there are no buttons to press once you are inside. Very swish.
Anyhoo, the meeting was over in less than two hours so it was back over the Pennines again with grey skies lowering over the Autumnal colours of the moors. As is pretty much usual I was stuck behind a lorry and behind me was a boy racer in a turbo nutter bastard xr3i (or something of that ilk). He was itching to overtake and in one of the few passing spots he tried his luck, making it past me until an oncoming truck forced him back across. For the next couple of miles you could see him trying to jockey for position, drifting out on corners and looking for passing opportunities like some sort of demented Jenson Buttons, until he finally managed it - just before the lorry in front pulled into a truck stop lay by. He roared off into the distance with a triumphant roar from his motor until two minutes later I caught up with him behind another mini convoy of three more trucks. Hah. Pwnd.
In games news, I finally finished all of the hard levels on geoDefense:Swarm last night (although I noticed that the original geoDefense has acquired another four levels in the last update which I haven't tackled yet). I was after a new game to splash out fifty nine shiny new pennies on and after perusing that Rev Chap's blog I went for Minigore.
It's an excellent little twin stick shooter with absolutely no pretensions to being anything other than it is, which is perfect. I particularly like the option to choose your own soundtrack from your iTunes library. I have decided that 'Psychokiller' is the ideal musical accompaniment for shooting hundreds of little demony thingies. Aces.
Needless to say, it was as dark as a very dark thing out there but I had my iPhone to keep me company loaded up with an excellent electro playlist. By the time I was over the Woodhead pass the sun was up, but that was about the time that I got stuck in the queue of traffic going through Tintwhistle (to which the traditional response is 'Tis a whistle').
I found my way to the Liver Building, more by luck than judgement, and went inside. Wow. What a contrast to the boarded up buildings and urban decay on the drive through the suburbs on the way there. The lifts were suspiciously chatty though. You have to select your desired floor from a touch pad display in the lobby and then a voice tells you which lift to use and pre-selects the floor for you - there are no buttons to press once you are inside. Very swish.
Anyhoo, the meeting was over in less than two hours so it was back over the Pennines again with grey skies lowering over the Autumnal colours of the moors. As is pretty much usual I was stuck behind a lorry and behind me was a boy racer in a turbo nutter bastard xr3i (or something of that ilk). He was itching to overtake and in one of the few passing spots he tried his luck, making it past me until an oncoming truck forced him back across. For the next couple of miles you could see him trying to jockey for position, drifting out on corners and looking for passing opportunities like some sort of demented Jenson Buttons, until he finally managed it - just before the lorry in front pulled into a truck stop lay by. He roared off into the distance with a triumphant roar from his motor until two minutes later I caught up with him behind another mini convoy of three more trucks. Hah. Pwnd.
In games news, I finally finished all of the hard levels on geoDefense:Swarm last night (although I noticed that the original geoDefense has acquired another four levels in the last update which I haven't tackled yet). I was after a new game to splash out fifty nine shiny new pennies on and after perusing that Rev Chap's blog I went for Minigore.
It's an excellent little twin stick shooter with absolutely no pretensions to being anything other than it is, which is perfect. I particularly like the option to choose your own soundtrack from your iTunes library. I have decided that 'Psychokiller' is the ideal musical accompaniment for shooting hundreds of little demony thingies. Aces.
- 19:35 I just conquered "Slightly Buggy" in geoDefense Swarm! bit.ly/SfWey #
- 07:54 On the way to Liverpool for a meeting - currently in a queue of traffic here bit.ly/3MnsJS #
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
- 21:20 Please welcome to the league of rubbish superheroes ... Sauce Attack Boy news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/8317433.stm #
What a tangled web
Tired today.
I woke up at 4:00 am for the first time in a while this morning and didn't go back to sleep for an hour or so, giving me not quite enough time to hit deep sleep before the alarm went off. I'm hoping that this is just a blip as the light box has really helped with the problem of nodding off in the evenings.
I spent half the morning fiddling around installing a local copy of our web app on my laptop to have a look at. It's an interesting exercise, as one of the activities in M150 that I have just completed was looking at an archived copy of the RSPB website from 2003 and considering the issues involved in a re-design project.
As I promised myself last night, I watched the first two episodes of "The Sarah Jane Adventures". Tremendous fun and made with a real lightness of touch make this one of my favourite bits of the Whoniverse at the moment. It's obviously working on a lower budget than Doctor Who or Torchwood, but smart re-use of Who costumes and props and a sparing use of CGI really make this show shine. Worth a watch, if you have any fondness for SF.
I woke up at 4:00 am for the first time in a while this morning and didn't go back to sleep for an hour or so, giving me not quite enough time to hit deep sleep before the alarm went off. I'm hoping that this is just a blip as the light box has really helped with the problem of nodding off in the evenings.
I spent half the morning fiddling around installing a local copy of our web app on my laptop to have a look at. It's an interesting exercise, as one of the activities in M150 that I have just completed was looking at an archived copy of the RSPB website from 2003 and considering the issues involved in a re-design project.
As I promised myself last night, I watched the first two episodes of "The Sarah Jane Adventures". Tremendous fun and made with a real lightness of touch make this one of my favourite bits of the Whoniverse at the moment. It's obviously working on a lower budget than Doctor Who or Torchwood, but smart re-use of Who costumes and props and a sparing use of CGI really make this show shine. Worth a watch, if you have any fondness for SF.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Fade to Gray
This is by way of a parish notice, as it were. You may well have noticed that my blog posts have been titled with nothing more adventurous than 'Daily Post' and the day lately. There is a reason for this.
Back before everything went quiet on here, I used to give each post a carefully crafted title line, more often than not a song reference or a pun. One of the reasons that blogging ground to a halt was that I simply could not think of titles and even though I had things to write about, a bizarre mental block would stop me from actually posting anything untitled. When I started writing daily posts again, the logical thing to do was to simply call them 'Daily Post' and leave it as that.
Well, the good news for title fans is that daily titles are back, but if I can't think of one then 'Daily Post' it will be. The other minor change is that podcast reviews will go in their own posts now, with an appropriate tag so you can query them to your hearts' content.
Anyhoo, why the title above, you may be asking? Well, it's a horrible grey day out there. Drizzly and miserable, with not much to recommend it, and a miserable crawl home on a rainy motorway. I'm trying my bestest not to let it get me down, honest. Tonight may well have to involve a glass of red wine and two episodes of Sarah Jane Adventures downloaderized off of iPlayer.
Back before everything went quiet on here, I used to give each post a carefully crafted title line, more often than not a song reference or a pun. One of the reasons that blogging ground to a halt was that I simply could not think of titles and even though I had things to write about, a bizarre mental block would stop me from actually posting anything untitled. When I started writing daily posts again, the logical thing to do was to simply call them 'Daily Post' and leave it as that.
Well, the good news for title fans is that daily titles are back, but if I can't think of one then 'Daily Post' it will be. The other minor change is that podcast reviews will go in their own posts now, with an appropriate tag so you can query them to your hearts' content.
Anyhoo, why the title above, you may be asking? Well, it's a horrible grey day out there. Drizzly and miserable, with not much to recommend it, and a miserable crawl home on a rainy motorway. I'm trying my bestest not to let it get me down, honest. Tonight may well have to involve a glass of red wine and two episodes of Sarah Jane Adventures downloaderized off of iPlayer.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Daily Post - Monday
I know how these things are supposed to go.
A list of symptoms that you tick off day by day - sore throat, blocked nose, runny nose, maybe a cough and a selection of aches and pains on the side. When you've run the gauntlet of all of those, that's supposed to be it and you are all better. What's *not* supposed to happen is that you go back to square one and start again, do not pass go, do not collect 200 pounds. For some reason my cold has rebooted itself and I'm getting an action replay of all of the best bits as if it were some sort of virus based version of Big Brother.
In non cold related news, I thoroughly enjoyed the final episode of 'Last Chance to See'. I hope that it jogs the consciences of everybody who has watched it to do just a little bit more to protect the wonderful diversity of life that we have on this little blue-green gem of a planet that we are lucky enough to live on.
A list of symptoms that you tick off day by day - sore throat, blocked nose, runny nose, maybe a cough and a selection of aches and pains on the side. When you've run the gauntlet of all of those, that's supposed to be it and you are all better. What's *not* supposed to happen is that you go back to square one and start again, do not pass go, do not collect 200 pounds. For some reason my cold has rebooted itself and I'm getting an action replay of all of the best bits as if it were some sort of virus based version of Big Brother.
In non cold related news, I thoroughly enjoyed the final episode of 'Last Chance to See'. I hope that it jogs the consciences of everybody who has watched it to do just a little bit more to protect the wonderful diversity of life that we have on this little blue-green gem of a planet that we are lucky enough to live on.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Daily Post - Sunday
I know this is a daily blog and therefore I will tend to say the same sort of things over and again, so I will apologise in advance but can I just say, I *really* don't like it getting dark at six o'clock. Yes, I do know that it's kind of inevitable what with the axial tilt of the Earth giving rise to seasons and all of that sort of stuff, but that doesn't mean that I can't not like it, however irrational that might be. So there.
Apart from that, it's been another quiet day. A bacon sarnie for breakfast, a bit more work on M150, a few games of geodefense swarm, a walk or two with the dog and to round things up a vanilla skinny cappuccino and a blast of light from the light box whilst listening to The Bugle podcast.
Last night we watched Synth Britannia recorded from the other night, and an excellent meander down memory lane it was too. It was nice to see a bit of a hat tip to Cabaret Voltaire as pioneers of the Sheffield synth scene as I remember going to see them at the Leadmill all of those umpty-tum years ago, complete with Luis Bunel film loops and suspiciously fragrant smoke coming out of the smoke machine. Good times.
Apart from that, it's been another quiet day. A bacon sarnie for breakfast, a bit more work on M150, a few games of geodefense swarm, a walk or two with the dog and to round things up a vanilla skinny cappuccino and a blast of light from the light box whilst listening to The Bugle podcast.
Last night we watched Synth Britannia recorded from the other night, and an excellent meander down memory lane it was too. It was nice to see a bit of a hat tip to Cabaret Voltaire as pioneers of the Sheffield synth scene as I remember going to see them at the Leadmill all of those umpty-tum years ago, complete with Luis Bunel film loops and suspiciously fragrant smoke coming out of the smoke machine. Good times.
- 08:16 I just conquered "Singularity" in geoDefense Swarm! bit.ly/SfWey #
- 08:22 I just conquered "Looking Glass" in geoDefense Swarm! bit.ly/SfWey #
Transition by Iain Banks
Transition by Iain BanksMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
There are many worlds, each slightly different from the next. There are those with a talent for transitioning who can flit between the worlds, occupying the mind of an inhabitant of that world and borrowing their body for a short while. There is an organisation of such talented transitionaries that has taken upon itself the duty of policing the multiverse, using its talents to nudge particular realities in certain directions at critical times. As you might imagine, such an organisation is not without its dissenters.
This is an intriguing novel, told from multiple points of view that overlap in ways that only become apparent towards the end. There is the city trader and wide boy Adrian, Patient 8262 - an amnesiac in a strange institution, The Philosopher - a man with a dark past, Madame D'Ortolan who is the de facto head of the council of The Concern and Mrs Mulverhill, now a renegade, and the Transitionary himself - one of the most talented agents, faced with a challenge to his true loyalties.
The story is initially confusing, spanning not just different worlds but flashing backwards and forwards in time with no particular indication that it is doing so. It mostly becomes clear in time, but some loose ends are inevitably left dangling at the end. Definitely worth persisting with though, as each strand of the story is interesting in its own right, particularly that of Patient 8262.
Excellent science fiction with nary a talking squid or space opera starship with a silly name to be seen.
View all my reviews >>
Sunday Links
- The World's Most Beautiful Object
- ZooBorns: A Bundle of Joy 16 Months in the Making Look at his big clompy feets!
- ZooBorns: Panda Explosion! More panda videos than you can possibly handle in one sitting
- Sirocco the kakapo He's a star! Also Sirocco the kakapo’s baby snaps
- 私信 Maru phone wallpaper - you know you want it!
- Space travel visualised Every journey into space is represented by a line on this diagram
- Stars Over Easter Island Stunning picture
- Space pioneers Chimps in SPAAAACE!
- Worlds alien and familiar… from an alien world The Earth and Jupiter, as seen from Mars
- 35 Years of the World’s Best Microscope Photography
- Classic tobacco adverts
- Science of Scams Derren Brown debunks woo in an excellent series of short videos
- Antique Vampire Killing Kits! Better lay some in for Halloween ...
- Whisper A spooky short story - probably not one to read just before bedtime!
- 10 other ways to use / It's not just for web addresses.
- Speechbreaker Remix Brown, Cameron and Clegg
- Icycle Wonderful little side scrolling game
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Daily Post - Saturday
Today I have been mostly doing my OU work.
I finished Block 1 Part 2 of T175 as well as the associated TMA question and then finished most of M150 Unit 2 with just some of the activities off of the CD-ROM to finish tomorrow. The M150 work involves talking to other people in the tutor group about aspects of netiquette but only me and somebody else seem to have posted anything so far. Hopefully other people will post during the week before the tutorial session.
I did have one or two breaks to play the odd game of geodefense swarm in my coffee breaks. I've cleared three of the hard levels now after being stuck on the first one for ages. It really is a superbly balanced little game, and actually closer to a puzzle game than a straight forward tower defense. Each level requires a different strategy with towers costing different amounts and restrictions on availability each time. It is advisable to read the end of level messages though - I only realised that lasers were actually healing a new type of creep after I had failed a level three times and then spotted the bit of text that came up if I waited before hitting restart.
I also managed a nice walk in the woods, although it was a bit gloomy. The light box came in very useful today, as well as a daylight spectrum bulb for the study.
I finished Block 1 Part 2 of T175 as well as the associated TMA question and then finished most of M150 Unit 2 with just some of the activities off of the CD-ROM to finish tomorrow. The M150 work involves talking to other people in the tutor group about aspects of netiquette but only me and somebody else seem to have posted anything so far. Hopefully other people will post during the week before the tutorial session.
I did have one or two breaks to play the odd game of geodefense swarm in my coffee breaks. I've cleared three of the hard levels now after being stuck on the first one for ages. It really is a superbly balanced little game, and actually closer to a puzzle game than a straight forward tower defense. Each level requires a different strategy with towers costing different amounts and restrictions on availability each time. It is advisable to read the end of level messages though - I only realised that lasers were actually healing a new type of creep after I had failed a level three times and then spotted the bit of text that came up if I waited before hitting restart.
I also managed a nice walk in the woods, although it was a bit gloomy. The light box came in very useful today, as well as a daylight spectrum bulb for the study.
- 18:31 Excellent article by @charltonbrooker skewering the loathsome bigotry of Jan Moir of the Daily Mail tinyurl.com/yfsjlvl #
- 07:35 This is my #caturday tweet twitpic.com/lug6l #
- 10:54 I just conquered "Lovely Flowers" in geoDefense Swarm! bit.ly/SfWey #
- 14:29 I just conquered "The Race is On" in geoDefense Swarm! bit.ly/SfWey #
- 16:02 I just conquered "Thump This!" in geoDefense Swarm! bit.ly/Sf Wey #
Friday, October 16, 2009
- 19:32 Time for a skinny vanilla cappuccino and some rays from the light box - take that SAD! twitpic.com/lmx7y #
- 08:52 Waiting for the dentist ... #
- 15:09 The Daily Mail is still the paper that says "Hurrah for the Brownshirts!" tinyurl.com/yhlwal2 #
- 16:43 I just conquered "Middle Ground" in geoDefense Swarm! bit.ly/SfWey #
Daily Post - Friday
A crisp sunny day, and one spent mostly at home too, which was nice as I am still shaking off the remnants of this damned cold.
First business this morning was a trip into Sheffield for a dental checkup. It was ironic that it took the same length of time - about half an hour - to drive the six miles through traffic as it normally takes me to drive the thirty miles into my office in Leeds. The checkup was fine - I just needed a replacement for a small filling that had worked loose.
Back home and down to work, some of which was taken up by a half hour phone call to one of the other developers who had some questions about a spec that I had written. This is why I have avoided any situations where I might have to manage people for my career ...
At lunch time I had a quick play with Google Wave - first impressions are that it is interesting, but it's a tool looking for a function to perform rather than the other way round. Disappointingly it doesn't seem to work particularly well on the iPhone just yet, but I imagine that they will be developing a web app for it as they have with Reader. I think it could be useful if coupled with some sort of push notification.
Dog walked, leaves raked and the sun is setting outside so it must be nearly time to put the light box on for the evening.
First business this morning was a trip into Sheffield for a dental checkup. It was ironic that it took the same length of time - about half an hour - to drive the six miles through traffic as it normally takes me to drive the thirty miles into my office in Leeds. The checkup was fine - I just needed a replacement for a small filling that had worked loose.
Back home and down to work, some of which was taken up by a half hour phone call to one of the other developers who had some questions about a spec that I had written. This is why I have avoided any situations where I might have to manage people for my career ...
At lunch time I had a quick play with Google Wave - first impressions are that it is interesting, but it's a tool looking for a function to perform rather than the other way round. Disappointingly it doesn't seem to work particularly well on the iPhone just yet, but I imagine that they will be developing a web app for it as they have with Reader. I think it could be useful if coupled with some sort of push notification.
Dog walked, leaves raked and the sun is setting outside so it must be nearly time to put the light box on for the evening.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Daily Post - Thursday
I don't know what they put into Lemsips but it's good stuff.
Last night I finally got around to watching Accion Mutante. I'd wanted to see it for ages, without really knowing much more about it than the title, and hence stuck it on my Lovefilm list. It's a very strange film. It starts out like a Spanish language version of 2000AD with ugly mutant terrorists waging an incompetent war against the beautiful people and being smacked down by fascist police with big batons and bigger shoulder pads, then it gets weirder. A botched kidnapping of a beautiful heiress from a wedding party that makes 'Rocky Horror' look staid is followed by increasing bizarre plot twists ending up in a spectacularly bloody shootout in a bar on a mining planet where just about everybody dies or gets blown up or loses various body parts. Er, and that's it. Good fun.
Anyhoo, I watched that and then had a Lemsip just before going to bed for what turned out to be a reasonable night's sleep but a vivid set of fever dreams. Strange underground caves with cats and books, flooded rivers, Collins and Herring performing in an amateur talent show for children in a youth hostel, Mitch Benn playing football with a flaming ball of rags and an ill advised camping trip in the rain at 11:00 o'clock at night. Or something.
I enjoyed writing my TMA answer about Turing Tests and ELIZA, mainly because I found a link to the original Weizenbaum article written in 1966 which detailed the procedural nature of parsing language and responding in a pseudo-intelligent manner. Fascinating stuff and it links in nicely with the sort of things that Hoffstatder was saying about language symbology in 'Godel, Escher, Bach'. Harvard referencing is a necessary evil though, and it took me ages to work out how to quote and reference a journal posted on a website. I could do with some sort of macro for Open Office to prompt for the details needed and then mong them into the correct format.
The meeting at work today was very interesting, with more details of the role that I'll be taking on. It's quite open ended, but in a nutshell I'll be taking on product consultancy for our web software, involving looking at what the other divisions are doing (and nicking their best ideas *coff*), documenting what we've got at a technical and user level and ultimately planning strategic development for the product as a whole. Potentially interesting, and also potentially a minefield, but fun nonetheless. It will also get me out of the office on occasions as well, which will make a change.
Last night I finally got around to watching Accion Mutante. I'd wanted to see it for ages, without really knowing much more about it than the title, and hence stuck it on my Lovefilm list. It's a very strange film. It starts out like a Spanish language version of 2000AD with ugly mutant terrorists waging an incompetent war against the beautiful people and being smacked down by fascist police with big batons and bigger shoulder pads, then it gets weirder. A botched kidnapping of a beautiful heiress from a wedding party that makes 'Rocky Horror' look staid is followed by increasing bizarre plot twists ending up in a spectacularly bloody shootout in a bar on a mining planet where just about everybody dies or gets blown up or loses various body parts. Er, and that's it. Good fun.
Anyhoo, I watched that and then had a Lemsip just before going to bed for what turned out to be a reasonable night's sleep but a vivid set of fever dreams. Strange underground caves with cats and books, flooded rivers, Collins and Herring performing in an amateur talent show for children in a youth hostel, Mitch Benn playing football with a flaming ball of rags and an ill advised camping trip in the rain at 11:00 o'clock at night. Or something.
I enjoyed writing my TMA answer about Turing Tests and ELIZA, mainly because I found a link to the original Weizenbaum article written in 1966 which detailed the procedural nature of parsing language and responding in a pseudo-intelligent manner. Fascinating stuff and it links in nicely with the sort of things that Hoffstatder was saying about language symbology in 'Godel, Escher, Bach'. Harvard referencing is a necessary evil though, and it took me ages to work out how to quote and reference a journal posted on a website. I could do with some sort of macro for Open Office to prompt for the details needed and then mong them into the correct format.
The meeting at work today was very interesting, with more details of the role that I'll be taking on. It's quite open ended, but in a nutshell I'll be taking on product consultancy for our web software, involving looking at what the other divisions are doing (and nicking their best ideas *coff*), documenting what we've got at a technical and user level and ultimately planning strategic development for the product as a whole. Potentially interesting, and also potentially a minefield, but fun nonetheless. It will also get me out of the office on occasions as well, which will make a change.
- 22:33 Just watched Accion Mutante - quite easily the most bizarre movie I have ever seen! #
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Daily Post - Wednesday
Bit of a rough night - I woke up at two o'clock with a thumping headache and a mouth like the bit of the Sahara that the camels use as a lavvy. I drank a bottle of water and sat up in bed for a while and eventually nodded off again until the dread hour of six o'clock. I felt a bit more human after a cup of tea and a hot lemon drink and struggled into work.
I probably would have stayed at home but I've got meetings today and tomorrow that link in with the new responsibilities that I am taking on, so I can't very well skip them at this stage. Other than that, I finished the bit of development work for including an external address database lookup in our system and it works pretty darn well, if I say so myself.
Last night's episode of 'Electric Dreams' was an excellent end to the series. Not quite as many nostalgia buttons pressed, but it was amazing to see the rate of change accelerating as the decade progressed. Brick sized mobile phones and digital cameras with a capacity of eight pictures, and even web pages written using FrontPage in comic sans were all superseded in short order. Congratulations to the family for a highly entertaining and informative three hours of telly!
I probably would have stayed at home but I've got meetings today and tomorrow that link in with the new responsibilities that I am taking on, so I can't very well skip them at this stage. Other than that, I finished the bit of development work for including an external address database lookup in our system and it works pretty darn well, if I say so myself.
Last night's episode of 'Electric Dreams' was an excellent end to the series. Not quite as many nostalgia buttons pressed, but it was amazing to see the rate of change accelerating as the decade progressed. Brick sized mobile phones and digital cameras with a capacity of eight pictures, and even web pages written using FrontPage in comic sans were all superseded in short order. Congratulations to the family for a highly entertaining and informative three hours of telly!
- 21:00 Nearly time for #electricdreams - hurrah! #
- 07:03 RT Me too! @skyekat: I'd so buy that!! RT @McKelvie When are they releasing Fraggle Rock Band? #
- 10:55 Feeling sorry for myself. One hour until I can have another hot lemming so having a cheese n onion pasty instead. #
- 12:43 It's hot lemon o'clock at last ... #
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Daily Post - Tuesday
Incredibly strange and vivid dreams last night - being stalked through a city by giant mechas firing miniguns into buildings and demolishing them, and then playing a game of poker using slices of ham instead of cards. As I said, strange.
I'm set up for my routine of working in the evenings on my OU stuff. I've now got another Lumie light (a smaller one) on the desk in the study to save having to lug the big one up and downstairs. I am on top of work at the moment, but I think that I'd like to do a bit every night to keep the momentum going, even if there is not something specifically scheduled in my timetable.
After thinking I had got rid of it, my cold seems to be back with a vengeance - runny nose, muzzy head, aches and the works. I suppose it's possible that it's a different bug on top of the original one - there certainly seem to be plenty going round at work at the moment. Yuk.
Flash Forward episode three was good last night, dialling back on the soap opera and upping the mystery quotient with the intriguing prospect of paradox loops between the future vision and the present. Plus points for having subtitled German dialogue rather than the usual American trick of having somebody speak English with a cod accent.
Podcast of the day is Richard Herrings' new internet based venture 'As It Occurs To Me' - a weekly, topical sketch show recorded live and put out as a podcast. This is partly an experiment to get away from the onerous restrictions placed on BBC comedy where causing any sort of offence is now a very grey area, or it would be if that wasn't offensive to grey people. Probably. Anyhoo, it's a worthwhile project so please support it by subscribing to the podcast and going to the live shows in London if you are able.
I'm set up for my routine of working in the evenings on my OU stuff. I've now got another Lumie light (a smaller one) on the desk in the study to save having to lug the big one up and downstairs. I am on top of work at the moment, but I think that I'd like to do a bit every night to keep the momentum going, even if there is not something specifically scheduled in my timetable.
After thinking I had got rid of it, my cold seems to be back with a vengeance - runny nose, muzzy head, aches and the works. I suppose it's possible that it's a different bug on top of the original one - there certainly seem to be plenty going round at work at the moment. Yuk.
Flash Forward episode three was good last night, dialling back on the soap opera and upping the mystery quotient with the intriguing prospect of paradox loops between the future vision and the present. Plus points for having subtitled German dialogue rather than the usual American trick of having somebody speak English with a cod accent.
Podcast of the day is Richard Herrings' new internet based venture 'As It Occurs To Me' - a weekly, topical sketch show recorded live and put out as a podcast. This is partly an experiment to get away from the onerous restrictions placed on BBC comedy where causing any sort of offence is now a very grey area, or it would be if that wasn't offensive to grey people. Probably. Anyhoo, it's a worthwhile project so please support it by subscribing to the podcast and going to the live shows in London if you are able.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Daily Post - Monday
As is usual on a Monday morning, I really didn't want to get out of bed at six o'clock in the dark. Still, needs must and all that.
Work was busy - we've finally got the specs for the new development release signed off so we can start work on them, only a week later than we should have done. Hopefully we'll be able to catch up on some of the lead time with a bit of slack in the time estimates.
I should have gone to bed a bit earlier last night, but I ended up watching the last two episodes of the TV adaptation of 'The Crow Road' by Iain Banks that was repeated on BBC4 recently. I really enjoyed it, having re-read the book not so long ago, particularly the way the mystery unravels slowly without relying on some dramatic denouement. It's the journey that matters as we come to understand the tangled family history of the McHoan clan.
Right, time for FlashForward and a glass of beer, methinks.
Work was busy - we've finally got the specs for the new development release signed off so we can start work on them, only a week later than we should have done. Hopefully we'll be able to catch up on some of the lead time with a bit of slack in the time estimates.
I should have gone to bed a bit earlier last night, but I ended up watching the last two episodes of the TV adaptation of 'The Crow Road' by Iain Banks that was repeated on BBC4 recently. I really enjoyed it, having re-read the book not so long ago, particularly the way the mystery unravels slowly without relying on some dramatic denouement. It's the journey that matters as we come to understand the tangled family history of the McHoan clan.
Right, time for FlashForward and a glass of beer, methinks.
- 19:46 No Last Chance To See on tonight, unless they now count snooker as an endangered species - boo! Rubbish! #
- 20:58 How thoughtful of Robbie Williams to mentor the contestants and give a free performance when he has a new single coming out #xfactor #
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Daily Post - Sunday
A bit of a quiet day, all told.
After waking up early, I managed to get back to sleep for an obviously needed lie in. I was genuinely surprised when I looked at the clock to see it was half past nine when I finally got moving. Mind you, I did stay up late watching the film Event Horizon all the way through for the first time. I usually see either the start or the end of it when flipping channels. Not bad, but pretty daft on reflection and I still don't know why the engine room of the space ship looked like a medieval torture chamber with spikes on the walls.
The afternoon was more legendary co-op Halo 3, with an absolutely epic battle against a Scarab tank that took us nearly half an hour to take down. Good stuff.
Podcast of the day was an exclusive listen of beardy Welshman Adam Gilder's show off of Rhondda FM where he has a cultural exchange with his mate, alternating tracks between two different musical genres and arguing about them after. He sent me a copy of the Power Pop vs Prog smackdown which I enjoyed hugely.
After waking up early, I managed to get back to sleep for an obviously needed lie in. I was genuinely surprised when I looked at the clock to see it was half past nine when I finally got moving. Mind you, I did stay up late watching the film Event Horizon all the way through for the first time. I usually see either the start or the end of it when flipping channels. Not bad, but pretty daft on reflection and I still don't know why the engine room of the space ship looked like a medieval torture chamber with spikes on the walls.
The afternoon was more legendary co-op Halo 3, with an absolutely epic battle against a Scarab tank that took us nearly half an hour to take down. Good stuff.
Podcast of the day was an exclusive listen of beardy Welshman Adam Gilder's show off of Rhondda FM where he has a cultural exchange with his mate, alternating tracks between two different musical genres and arguing about them after. He sent me a copy of the Power Pop vs Prog smackdown which I enjoyed hugely.
- 20:05 Harry Hill sponsored by wink-bingo.com - just be very careful how you type that address! #
- 20:21 Dear god, just kill me now #xfactor #
Sunday Links
- Disapproving Rabbits Bunnies disaprove of everything. True.
- ZooBorns: Brood of Barbary Babies Hits Taronga Zoo Check out the knobbular knee action on these bebe sheepersons
- "Close. The. Box. Walk away" Schrodinger's Owl
- 私信 Maru can't get enough of boxes!
- 私信 or laundry baskets
- Punkanimals It's what photoshop was invented for
- Human Skull Alas poor Yorick! Thou art now an excellent papercraft project for Halloween
- Eight Horror Webcomics to Read in the Dark
- 10 Reasons Not to Bring Someone Back from the Dead
- Dead Flies Art Clever, but ewww
- Mojo Nixon: MP3 Downloads Free MP3s from Amazon - hurrah!
- The wages of sin Handy flow chart guide to whether sex is sinful
- Superhero Facebook Status Updates Well, *I'm* not going to poke the Hulk ...
- Wheel of Stars The music of the spheres
- The Art and Motion of The Beatles: Rock Band It's not so much a game as an interactive documentary. If you haven't the time to play it or the £180 to shell out to buy it, then these videos and bits of concept art are well worth a look
- How to pretend you've seen a classic film Bluff your way with film buffs
- The Ultimate Cinematic Spaceship Quiz This should test your SF geek cred (H/T Flickums)
- 50 Movie Titles That Got Lost In Translation I particularly like the French title for 'Annie Hall' which comes out as 'The Urban Neurotic' - does what it says on the tin
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