xkcd does it again *applause*
Wednesday, 21 November 2007
Monday, 19 November 2007
RCRD LBL
Here's an interesting idea; rather than treating their customers as criminals, a group of record labels (including Warp, Modular and Kompakt for starters) have teamed up with a variety of music blogs/websites (Drowned In Sound, Seen) to offer ad-supported online content for free:
Seems to have only been going less than a week, but I imagine many more will want to jump onboard. They ask you not to 're-host' anything you find but in return offer a variety of widgets for your website/blog so that you can have auto-upating content direct from the RCRD LBL site (although if I'm honest I tried to get the Warp Radio widget to embed here and it wouldn't so some work to be done there. Or perhaps I am a muppet. That's more likely.)
Anyway, this was the weekend roundup of the posted MP3 - some interesting stuff, I'm sure you'll agree. More details of the usage policy and the Creative Commons license in the FAQ. Sign up, looks good.
Seems to have only been going less than a week, but I imagine many more will want to jump onboard. They ask you not to 're-host' anything you find but in return offer a variety of widgets for your website/blog so that you can have auto-upating content direct from the RCRD LBL site (although if I'm honest I tried to get the Warp Radio widget to embed here and it wouldn't so some work to be done there. Or perhaps I am a muppet. That's more likely.)Anyway, this was the weekend roundup of the posted MP3 - some interesting stuff, I'm sure you'll agree. More details of the usage policy and the Creative Commons license in the FAQ. Sign up, looks good.
Thursday, 15 November 2007
HelvetICA
Last night, I spent 80 minutes looking at a font.
Alex has written a brief review here with which I concur, on the whole. So type designers (should they be known as 'font fiddlers'?) are a bit crazy. And people who make films about type designers are also somewhat on the squiffy side :)
But it was a very entertaining documentary with some lighthearted moments - and that was, I think, the first time I have been to the cinema since Freyja was born in December 2005. It was really enjoyable; the ICA is a very intimate venue, with only ~6 rows of ~10 seats. There was a good deal of chuckling and light-hearted comment; it was more like watching the film in your front room, on a massive telly with a few mates round.
And yes, you were even allowed to take your beer in.
* this may not be Helvetica, obviously
Alex has written a brief review here with which I concur, on the whole. So type designers (should they be known as 'font fiddlers'?) are a bit crazy. And people who make films about type designers are also somewhat on the squiffy side :)
But it was a very entertaining documentary with some lighthearted moments - and that was, I think, the first time I have been to the cinema since Freyja was born in December 2005. It was really enjoyable; the ICA is a very intimate venue, with only ~6 rows of ~10 seats. There was a good deal of chuckling and light-hearted comment; it was more like watching the film in your front room, on a massive telly with a few mates round.
And yes, you were even allowed to take your beer in.
* this may not be Helvetica, obviously
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
Surreal Landscape Of Nostalgia
No, not Milton Keynes, but an interesting dissection of current parents' favourite, In The Night Garden on StrangeHarvest:
Not sure he needed all the screenshots, but my curiosity was piqued by this paragraph towards the end:
"The history of children's TV echoes throughout. There are references to the Magic Roundabout in the bandstand, to Camberwick Green in its mechanics, to Thunderbird 2 in the Pink-Ponk's [sic] green livery, to Trumpton in the echoey naive folk music. The texture of the image is made just as rich by combining live action, rickety stop-frame and gradient perfect CGI, and the soundtrack whose organic sci-fi squelching might have arrived fresh from the Radiophonic Workshop. The programme construction is perhaps the most sophisticated on British TV. And the effect is fantastic."
Blimey. The Pinky Ponk is Thunderbird 2 - look:
Not sure he needed all the screenshots, but my curiosity was piqued by this paragraph towards the end:
"The history of children's TV echoes throughout. There are references to the Magic Roundabout in the bandstand, to Camberwick Green in its mechanics, to Thunderbird 2 in the Pink-Ponk's [sic] green livery, to Trumpton in the echoey naive folk music. The texture of the image is made just as rich by combining live action, rickety stop-frame and gradient perfect CGI, and the soundtrack whose organic sci-fi squelching might have arrived fresh from the Radiophonic Workshop. The programme construction is perhaps the most sophisticated on British TV. And the effect is fantastic."
Blimey. The Pinky Ponk is Thunderbird 2 - look:
Tuesday, 13 November 2007
Overheard #27
Who said City boys are incapable of meaningful relationships:
Right, I'm going to spend more time with my synthetic woman.
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
Higher! Lower! Take The Money! Open The Box!
Good grief.
"Tina Farrell, from Levenshulme, called Camelot after failing to win with several cards. The 23-year-old, who said she had left school without a maths GCSE, said: "On one of my cards it said I had to find temperatures lower than -8. The numbers I uncovered were -6 and -7 so I thought I had won, and so did the woman in the shop. But when she scanned the card the machine said I hadn't. I phoned Camelot and they fobbed me off with some story that -6 is higher, not lower, than -8 but I'm not having it. "
Well, you're not having your £10,000 either, duck :)
(from the Manchester Evening News)
"Tina Farrell, from Levenshulme, called Camelot after failing to win with several cards. The 23-year-old, who said she had left school without a maths GCSE, said: "On one of my cards it said I had to find temperatures lower than -8. The numbers I uncovered were -6 and -7 so I thought I had won, and so did the woman in the shop. But when she scanned the card the machine said I hadn't. I phoned Camelot and they fobbed me off with some story that -6 is higher, not lower, than -8 but I'm not having it. "
Well, you're not having your £10,000 either, duck :)
(from the Manchester Evening News)
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
Demento (Slight Return)
Rattled, Fergie old fruit?
"Manchester United are compiling a security dossier after claims that their manager Sir Alex Ferguson was verbally abused by Arsenal fans."
You. Don't. Say.
Sheesh :)
"Manchester United are compiling a security dossier after claims that their manager Sir Alex Ferguson was verbally abused by Arsenal fans."
You. Don't. Say.
Sheesh :)
Monday, 5 November 2007
Grapes, Anyone?
Ah, it's nice to see we have them this rattled so early in the season.
"Both of our goals were from really beautiful pieces of play ... their goals were a bit more scrappy."
So Rooney scuffs his shot, which rebounds off his knee onto Gallas's elbow and trickles in at the near post past a wrong-footed Almunia. Er, yes, beautiful. I will happily admit that their second was a lovely flowing move through Saha and Evra but so was our first and Cesc's cool-headed finish showed real class.
Sorry, Owen, wrong again.
"On our bench, we were getting terrible abuse from people two or three feet away from us. There is a lack of security. It is absolutely disgraceful the abuse you and your staff take. All sorts of things are being shouted and screamed at you and there is an absolute danger here."
Now I am very glad he has brought this to the attention of the watching media. Next time 65,000 people at Old Trafford start chanting 'disgraceful abuse' at Arsene Wenger, I shall watch with pride as Sir Alex halts the game, marches to the centre circle and turns to the fans with arms spread wide, shouting "Stop."
No, really, I'm looking forward to it.
And three final words: "Game. In. Hand."
"Both of our goals were from really beautiful pieces of play ... their goals were a bit more scrappy."
So Rooney scuffs his shot, which rebounds off his knee onto Gallas's elbow and trickles in at the near post past a wrong-footed Almunia. Er, yes, beautiful. I will happily admit that their second was a lovely flowing move through Saha and Evra but so was our first and Cesc's cool-headed finish showed real class.
Sorry, Owen, wrong again.
"On our bench, we were getting terrible abuse from people two or three feet away from us. There is a lack of security. It is absolutely disgraceful the abuse you and your staff take. All sorts of things are being shouted and screamed at you and there is an absolute danger here."
Now I am very glad he has brought this to the attention of the watching media. Next time 65,000 people at Old Trafford start chanting 'disgraceful abuse' at Arsene Wenger, I shall watch with pride as Sir Alex halts the game, marches to the centre circle and turns to the fans with arms spread wide, shouting "Stop."
No, really, I'm looking forward to it.
And three final words: "Game. In. Hand."
Friday, 2 November 2007
Like, The Colours, Man
If you don't subscribe to strangemaps, do so at once. This one is brilliant:
"This map is of the dark side of the moon, which here looks more like a Jackson Pollock action painting, its riotous colours corresponding to geological materials and phenomena. Many of the colour spots are circular in nature, reflecting the large number of meteorites that have impacted on the lunar surface, unprotected by an atmosphere, over many, many centuries. The map is one of a series produced by NASA and the US Geological Survey between 1971 and 1998."
Mesmerising.
"This map is of the dark side of the moon, which here looks more like a Jackson Pollock action painting, its riotous colours corresponding to geological materials and phenomena. Many of the colour spots are circular in nature, reflecting the large number of meteorites that have impacted on the lunar surface, unprotected by an atmosphere, over many, many centuries. The map is one of a series produced by NASA and the US Geological Survey between 1971 and 1998."
Mesmerising.
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