Too many Ideas

This Blog Has Moved

2009-07-03T22:19:00.002+01:00

Too Many Ideas has now moved into my rebuilt impworks site.

Please Mind the Gap

2009-07-01T00:54:00.001+01:00

I'm in the process of switching my web site to running on wordpress. A lot of the hard works done but there may still be a few bits I've not quite finished moving properly and there may still be the odd problem for a couple of days. So in the mean time Please Mind the Gaps when Boarding the Train.

Things that make me go eh?

2009-06-29T18:52:00.002+01:00

Bought new pots and pans today from John Lewis after spending months trying to pick ones I liked. I'd spent ages looking for pans that were oven proof. It didn't say they were on the top but on Saturday I discovered that along with exactly the same information that was on the top of the packaging there was just one extra important technical information - Oven proof to Gas Mark 4!

Thats not what made me go eh? though. The pans just had the information on the top. The frying pans had a photograph to brighten them up. If you were looking for a picture to make a frying pan more attractive you might choose one of bacon or sausages or maybe a couple of golden fried eggs. Not whoever designed this packaging. No they design the packaging for frying pans and they think: sliced carrots.

Rolf's Lyrics Explained

2009-06-25T12:54:00.001+01:00

Maybe they should have tied the wallabies down as well as the Kangaroos because it sounds like they're high as kites.

268 Links Sitting in a Database

2009-06-22T22:28:00.002+01:00

I rebuilt the Vue Links Directory from one database to another yesterday as part of finishing off a complete rebuild of the impworks site into WordPress. There were 268 links to migrate and while the basic move was handled easily I then had to work my way through and do some data cleaning to improve the quality of the directory on the new site. I've been working at it on and off for a couple of months now and its getting closer and closer to being done. One last push in the next few weeks and it'll be done and I'll be able to get on with adding stuff to it more easily.

Tweeting Hash Codes Batman

2009-06-17T23:27:00.001+01:00

I'm not really a twitter user, I've got an account but while I'll post a certain level of boring mundanity here I'm not into the recording the minute up to the minute stuff. I just don't think it or I'm interesting enough and while blogging is probably a bit weird tweeting just goes over the line. Odds are I'll get into it about the time something new takes over in microblogging: in the same way I bought a PDA when they were about to start the slide to obscurity as netbooks took off.

Anyway today I've been doing some work on Twitter at work to get a live feed of tweets onto a site during a streamed video from a conference. It would have been absolutely straightforward had I not run into something a bit obscure to do with hash codes. Our friends at the vinspired wanted a hash code #generationdigital. Fair enough everythings up and running to pick it up and display it on the site. Except it just wasn't showing up. After some messing around we worked out that the presence of digital in the hash code for some reason stopped it being picked up by searches. #digital exists and works. #digitalXXX seems to be OK too. #XXXdigital or #XXXdigitalXXX is right out. #XXX-digital or #XXX_digital also work but just feel a bit clumsy. No idea why digital runs into a brick wall or if other words can do to. Anyway, since the hash code hadn't been publicised in advance we decided to just use a different hash code.

One odd little discovery along the way though was a hashcode in German that left us a bit puzzled. Our, admitedly school boy quality translation, was that the hash code would have been #nocheesecakeprincess_digital. The mind boggles.

Radio 7 Heinlein

2009-06-15T23:13:00.002+01:00

Discovered Radio 7 is doing a series of readings of abridged versions of Heinlein short stories. Forget the endless discussion of his politics which too often ignore a lot of the "meaning" in the stories in favour of having an easy bash at something the analyst doesn't like (and sometime miss that Heinlein made it sound bad which may have been his intention). its short stories like Ordeal in Space and next Sunday's The Green Hills of Earth along with his juveniles that got me into Heinlein's writing.

Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire

2009-06-12T11:56:00.000+01:00

I owe the creators of Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire a big thank you. A couple of months back I wrote a script for a 30 minute radio sit com more by accident than intention. I had an idea one morning and seven hours later I had 6,700 words written set in a generic fantasy world. I'd been struggling to work out what wasn't right with it. Having watched the first episode of Krod Mandoon I've now got some pretty good ideas about what not to do.

First Terry Pratchett has produced so much comedy fantasy since 1983 that you've got to work hard at it. Its not like Pratchett, with 55 million books sold worldwide, is some sort of secret, niche author that a good chunk of your audience won't have read. So a wizard who can't do spells needs something to make them special if they won't be unfavourably compared to Rincewind. The same goes for pretty much any cliche character you decide to use.

Anachronisms in fantasy settings also need to be clever - be it a character's with 20th century attitudes or one suggesting going for counselling. Stoppard did it far better in that little known film Shakespeare in Love (Worldwide Gross $279,500,000).

And if you're going to have a narrator that everyone in the scene can hear you're going to have to push the boat out a bit and take a real run at the third wall and go way past Up Pompeii or Hustle to make it be funny - its been done before.

Which left humorous names, which tend to wear thin pretty fast (except some of the ones the Python team pulled off), the silly jokes - in the style of airplane (which made me laugh to be fair) - and the below the belt jokes - which I have no objection to but I prefer them to be funny. Still its a fantasy show so dressing your attractive female lead in leather, make their character just a little promiscuous, say Xena Warrior Princess a hundred times, and hope it will save your ratings (and make sure your male star will go down well with the ladies too).

So I'm going to be taking a red pen to my script and cutting or reworking anything that's like that and a whole line of jokes about an ass I was thinking of adding are not getting anywhere near the script either.

Maybe it didn't help that several review I read compared KM to Red Dwarf which builds an expectation. Red Dwarf wasn't highly polished but it was funny. KM on the other hand was very polished but, at least as far as I was concerned, wasn't very funny. However I'll be fair to them the one hour format and it being the first episode might mean it wasn't their best work. I'll watch at least another couple of episodes of Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire. At worst they'll give me some more pointers on what not to write.

Too Many Things

2009-05-26T21:58:00.003+01:00

I think I need a few extra hours in the day - if I did each of the following would probably be its own post...

Having finished a fascinating book on illegal gambling in the UK in the '50s I started reading the first volume of Michael Palins' diaries on Saturday and there a great read...

One unfortunate combination of words set an idea for a humorous, slightly strange Murder Mystery short story idea off and I wrote the first four pages yesterday...

That stopped me finishing the longer game writing project thats so close to having a complete first draft its bugging me...

So I was going to tackle it in the evening but I got an e-mail with an offer from Cornucopia3D for GeoControl2 which I've been tempted by for a while. So I ended up playing with that instead...

Plus Kim's got a new novella out, Flesh and Shadows, with a very cheesy cover but I'll probably give it a read because despite the cover its supposed to be Science Fiction not Mills and Boon...

Oh and having decided not to take out a subscription to the new version of Pyramid magazine because now its themed of the first six issues I'd only found three I was interested in. So inevitably the latest issue is one I wanted to pick up...

Then there's the vue video tutorial from Quadspinner I want to write a review of for my Vue News Blog...

I'm just glad that The Wire (which is good but not as good as some of its exponents would like us to believe) is on three nights a week so I know when its finished its time to get some sleep or I don't know how I'd know to end the day.

There and Back Again and Again

2009-05-14T22:29:00.002+01:00

Two trips to London this week for work - Today and Tuesday. I didn't feel so tired coming back tonight but its just hit me and I feel like I've run into a solid wall of exhaustion and my throat feels like someone ran a sander over it. I'm glad its Friday tomorrow and I've no plans to do anything at the weekend, I think some sleep may be in order.

It'sTrek Jim - Just as we Know It

2009-05-10T00:37:00.004+01:00

But maybe there was a twist of something in the Romulan Ale.

I was pretty happy with J.J. Abrams take on Mission Impossible so I had high hopes for the new Star Trek film. I think I can safely say it didn't disapoint. The cast played the characters rather than doing impressions of the original actors playing the characters. The effects were impressive. There were lots of nice touches for the fans without making it impenetrable for anyone who hasn't watched all the gazillian hours of TV series and films plus read the various technical manuals. The plot made sense, which is always a plus point, even though it involved time travel.

It's late so I'm going to leave it at that. Excellent film.

Update: Dark Dwarf has posted his impressions of Star Trek.

The Onion on the New Star Trek Film

2009-05-06T12:50:00.003+01:00

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

Curried Black-Eye Beans

2009-05-04T20:32:00.003+01:00

Tried this out earlier in the weekend and enjoyed it so thought I'd post it tonight. The quontities here are for it as a side dish for a wet curry or light meal with Chapatis.

Serves 4. Serve hot or cold.

150g Black-eye beans soaked in a bowl overnight
2 tbsp Oil
2 Medium Onions
1 tsp Fresh Ginger root finely chopped
1 tsp Fresh Garlic crushed
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Ground Coriander
2 tsp Ground Cumin
150ml Water
2 Green Chillies
Fresh Coriander
1 tbsp Lemon Juice

Rinse and soak the black-eye beans overnight.
Boil the black-eye beans in a pan of fresh water over a low heat for about 30minutes.
Drain the beans.
Heat oil in a pan. Add the onion and fry until golden brown.
Add the ginger, garlic, chilli powder, salt, ground coriander and cumin and stir fry for 3 to 5 minutes.
Add the water to the pan, cover and cook till the water has evaporated.
Add the black-eye beans, green chillies and coriander leaves to the onion and stir.
Cook for 3 to 5 minutes.
Sprinkle with lemon juice.

The Panzerfaüste Song Book

2009-04-30T23:22:00.002+01:00

Just sent off the finished draft of the The Panzerfaüste Song Book to Ragnarok.

A Short Back and Sides

2009-04-28T23:21:00.002+01:00

A Short Back and Sides was a scenario I wrote for Kenzar & Company’s Fairy Meat which appeared in the SFSFW's journal Ragnarok back in issue 33. Funnily I've had three different people request copies of it in the last month. Its been around for years and I don't remember anyone asking for it before. So I dug the files out, converted the ones that were in odd (by today's standard) file formats and assembled a PDF of it which can be downloaded from my web site.

A Short Back and Sides (367KB PDF)

Finally an Espresso in a Book Shop I Want

2009-04-28T12:10:00.000+01:00

I'm not a coffee lover but I am a book lover so I sometimes find the replacement of shelving with books on in book shops by trendy coffee area a bit annoying. Blackwell's Charing Cross Road now has an espresso machine I have no objections to.

Spotted on WWdN: In Exile

Chicken in Chardonnay and Peach Sauce

2009-04-26T23:22:00.002+01:00

I'd not done this in a while but I cooked this for my dinner tonight.

60g Butter (Unsalted is best)
2tbsp Vegetable oil
4 Chicken Breasts
8 spring onions chopped
300ml White Wine (Chardonnay)
4 tbsp Clear Honey
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
4 Fresh, ripe Peaches stoned
250ml Double Cream
2 tbsp Cornflour mixed to a paste with cold water
Salt and Fresh Black Pepper

Melt the butter in a large pan with the oil
Add the chicken breasts to the pan and brown them off
Remove the chicken breasts and set asside
Add the spring onions to the pan and saute for about 1 minute
Add the Wine, Honey and Lemon juice to the pan
Season well and stir
Return the chicken breasts to the pan
Cover and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes
If the liquid reduces to much add a little water
While the chicken is cooking roughly chop one of the peaches
Blend the other three peaches in a food processor till smooth
When the chicken is cooked remove it from the pan and set to one side
Add the cornflour to the sauce and cook for a couple of minutes till it has thickened
Over a low heat add the blended peaches, chopped peach and cream to the pan and stir
Heat gently but do not boil the sauce
Put the chicken on a plate and cover with the sauce
Serve with green vegetables and plain white rice

Be Very Very Quiet...

2009-04-24T23:08:00.004+01:00

I was walking home tonight from work and walked into a street I walk down most nights. Now its not winter there are usually people in the street when I walk down it. Tonight isn't unusual there are kids playing in the street, someone is unloading their shoping from a car and two girl who have a basket ball are occasionally passing to each other across the street while they talk. Three more girls turn into the street from the far end, the one in the middle is carrying something but its hard to see what from a distance.

As I pass the ones with the basket ball and one of them yells to the newcomers, "What have you got there?"

The one in the middle of the group of three says something back but its hard to make out what. The first one yells back "What did you say?"

The middle one says something indistinct again and this time the first one yells back "What?"

I'm getting closer to the group of three now and I can see that the middle one is carrying a large, grey rabbit which is casually chewing on the stalk of a flower. The middle one raises her voice a bit "I've got a rabbit Don't shout you'll scare him."

The girl starts to bounce the basket ball on the road and again shouts back "What?"

I was coming up to the three girls now. I could see the girl in the middle was about to reply again but the girl next to her who'se the smallest of the group by far opens her gob and at the top of her voice yells back "Its a rabbit, don't shout you'll scare him and don't bounce that F'ing ball either."

The street went silent for a moment. The girl holding the rabbit unconciously tightened her grip on the rabbit.

I swear the rabbit was the only living thing in the street that didn't react.

The Case for the Defense of British Grittiness

2009-04-16T19:20:00.003+01:00

I've just seen another talking head piece where it was said that Britain doesn't make gritty police shows. I like The Wire but there isn't any need to get into self flagelation that all we ever make is Dixon of Dock Green and Heartbeat. If I swore on this blog I'd use a single word to say just what rubbish that is but I don't so instead I'd suggest the lazy look at a few shows that make their case look frankly stupid...

Z Cars
The Sweeney
Edge of Darkness
Between the Lines
Cracker
Dead Head
Rebus
Waking the Dead
Red Riding

And thats without being able to remember the titles of a couple of British shows including the one where a witness had his nipples ripped off using pliers at the end of the first part...

Ok some of them look tame now, especially the older ones, but for their day they were gritty. I just hope the talking heads who are making their penny today complaining will keep their traps shut and not spout moral indignation when someone makes a British cop show or mystery that sets the bar way past The Wire.

Rhapsody in the Trafford Centre?

2009-04-13T11:43:00.003+01:00

Someone must have been short on ideas when they made the advert for the Trafford Centre I just saw. First some uninspired footage of clothes. Second an innane voice over. Third a script about a formula. Forth add a bit of mathmatical notation to The Trafford Centre's name at the end. Finally top it all off with Rhapsody in Blue trying to fight through behind the voice over. None of the elements had any cohesion with any of the other elements. If you're going to use something like Rhapsody in Blue you've got to pull off something like Manhattan - and I mean the Woody Allen film not the cocktail. Certainly not a shed full of shops with little architectural merit on the edge of Manchester.

All it sold me was putting Rhapsody in Blue on to listen to and maybe watching Hell is a City later because of its unlikely, but successful, combination of '50s Manchester and a jazz sound track...

Consort Review

2009-04-08T22:38:00.004+01:00

Having finished The Translated Man I felt like reading some more fiction so I've just finished reading Kim's latest novella Consort. Skipping quickly past the rather cliched cover. Not that its badly done but it reminds me of racks of second hand romance books in charity shops. At least with an e-book its not there on the shelf for visitors to see and you can skip printing that page.

Its not obvious from the cover (which at least means its not a total cliche - no blood - no fangs) that this is a vampire story. Clearly Kim has gotten past her worries about writing the naughtier bits of romantic fiction. I've not counted but I'd say half to three quarters of the pages could be rated on the Scoville scale. We're not talking Bell peppers either more something in the Tabasco pepper to the Naga Jolokia. Yet somehow Kim manages to keep the plot moving too even in amongst all the main characters hormones. And she subverts her favourite tea related scene into something a bit different this time too.

Back in the 80s the Guardian ran a series of jokes about Amstrad launching weird devices combining different white goods the PC and Tea Maker. I'm wondering if Amazon won't need to release a Kindle with Fire Extinguisher and integral Cold Shower if Kim keeps putting out work like this...

The Translated Man

2009-04-05T23:07:00.004+01:00

Finished reading The Translated Man by Chris Braak yesterday. Since I'm being regularly e-mailed by a web site who've taken to including my posts tagged reviews are included in their review listings where the reviews are in turn reviewed I'm going to do a bit of a Corbett first. While I may tag this as a review it is in fact more of a loose collection of ideas and opinion strung together without any proper, formal review process being undertaken. Nothing that follows is rigorous or properly thought about and in fact its just my opinion in the end. If it were a review (like the ones I wrote for Valkyrie a long time ago) I'd put a lot more effort in even though I know that in the end it is just my opinion and is fairly meaningless after all that.

But to get back to my (not) review...

The Translated Man is a novel available from Lulu running just short of 240 pages in length laid out at a size that means two pages comfortably print to a side of A4. That was a good thing as I was enjoying it so much that I printed the whole of it out so I could read it away from my computer. Thats a first for an ebook I've bought of this length. It was a real page turner so I had to have pages to turn.

The story is an atmospheric police procedural tale that could be said to be steam punk or perhaps victorian fantasy in genre. Its set, mostly, in a city. A city where everything, including the architecture, has been shaped by various power struggles between wealthy families. A city which is struggling under the burden of war and with racial tension waiting to boil over.

The main characters work for one of a number of police organisations in the city, the Coroners. Their specific area is hunting down criminals who comitt heresy including such acts as reanimating the dead. Their colourful staff include a hard bitten detective a the young, foppish junior detective, a clairaudient and the only reanimate ever declared not to be a heresy. All the characters are interesting. Even when at first glance they might have been detective genre or fantasy standards are more than two dimensional cliches.

The story itself has an excellent plot which twists and turns from its in medias res opening to its dramatic finale. It cuts back and forth amongst the investigators. Even though the setting is fantasy it holds together logically and provides enough information to allow the reader to leap to the right (or wrong) conclusions as the events unfold.

It isn't a perfect work. A bit more proof reading would have picked up the handful of places where typos slip through, robe for rope at a dramatic moment springs to mind because it distracted me at a crucial moment in the plot. A few sections where none of the view point characters are present are described in a slightly awkward tell rather than show kind of way. After a fair amount of thought I wonder if might have been avoided by adding a character of a lowly gendarme from a competing police force who could easily have been on the scene at a couple of points in the story and who could have acted as our eyes. Early on in the story there is also a two page info dump about the city's architecture which I can't think of an easy way round. While later in the story dates are given for historical events early on years relative to the main detectives time are give. Not a huge problem but as a reader of detective stories it pulled me out of the story as I started to try and look for clues hidden by the slightly awkward writing when there were none.

Those however are my only criticims of the story. I can't go into a lot of what I enjoyed about it without risking spoiling the story. I did have a small laugh when the characters attend The Bone-Collector’s Daughter given Kim wrote The Bone Magician's Daughter. As I said already - a real page turner. All in all very good.

Marketing not Quite Joined Up

2009-03-29T23:46:00.002+01:00

Littlewoods recently sent me an e-mail thanking me for my business in the last year and hoping I'll continue to spend as much with them this year as I did last year. I may well take their advice - I spent nothing last year and its quite likely I'll do the same this year...

Moondash Showreel

2009-03-23T23:06:00.001Z

Daniel Munteanu's show reel at the Moondash project is well worth a look.

Today Programme Viral Advert

2009-03-20T19:50:00.000Z

I'm a bit late with this but it did amuse me. The Evan Davis' blog on the BBC web site explains it. I found some of the comments amusing just because they say more about the commenters than the piece itself. A few obviously don't get there is a difference between an advert being viral (which it could be if people do things like copying it to their blog) and guerilla (which this isn't).

The Dangers of Turning the Page too Fast

2009-03-19T19:30:00.000Z

Flipping through g2 in the Guardian quickly at lunch today I half caught the text on the picture above. Except not quite. I miss read it as "Est Aux Folies Bergerac". That was an image of John Nettles I didn't need...

The Customer is Always Wrong...

2009-03-18T23:51:00.002Z

at least if their a tennant. The picture is of a leaflet sent out by Arena Housing and they have now apologised (see the BBC for more details). Last year another Liverpool landlord put notices on the house of tennants who they say hadn't paid their rent. A growing number of tennants are being evicted or forced to move because while we have to go through credit checks and put down deposits a property owners word is their bond as far as estate agents are concerned. I got a letter a few weeks ago from the agency I rent through which started out with a threatening tone and carried on that way implying legal threats even though it was they who were at risk of breaking the law and their contractors who had failed to contact me using any of the three phone numbers, email or by sending a letter.

Don't get me wrong I understand that there are bad tennants. Ones who don't pay their rent or who wreck a property. I've seen a flat where there were footprints on the walls from floor to six feet off the ground. Not just a few but enough to leave you wondering. I've also been shown a house that was being let that the landlord couldn't figure out why he couldn't let even though one room had a ceiling covered solid in fungi. A friend of mine was charged by their landlord after moving for batteries for the smoke alarm - a smoke alarm they had fitted themselves saving the landlord from breaking the law.

Getting back to my original point - are there really many businesses where customers paying thousands of pounds each year are treated with such utter contempt?

Lego's Business Cards

2009-03-12T19:35:00.001Z

This is so much cooler than a standard bit of card... Lego's Business Cards.

Two Ragnarok Articles almost Ready to Go

2009-03-10T20:00:00.001Z

I've finished an article for Ragnarok, The Panzerfaüste Song Book, porting the shanty rules from Strange Grogge to Panzerfaüste and bringing the songs up to date. Needs a bit of checking before I send it off but hopefully its ok.

I've also just finished a short article for Ragnarok for the game Slag!. Three new systems and four ship designs using them. Need to make graphics for each of the designs but otherwise done. Frustratingly it would be done but when I finished the drawings last night the file not only failed to save but destroyed the earlier save in the process.

The International

2009-02-28T00:12:00.000Z

Just back from seeing The International, a twisty euro thriller that jumps between Europe and New York weaving the tail of a bank which is tangled up in some very shady deals. Clive Owen gives a strong performance and is ably supported by an excellent cast. The pacing is deliberately uneven which avoids the danger of a predictable ABC action film where every twist is sign posted before it arrives. The down side is that the films biggest set piece is somewhat earlier than the lower key end.

Big Vue News Catch Up

2009-02-26T21:00:00.000Z

Catching up on Vue related stuff: nearly 2200 alerts (which may have up to ten possible web pages in each alert) to possible Vue content checked of which a grand total of 3 pages made it into the Vue News Blog. The hit rate is normally higher but there were a lot of Vue 7 Pioneer press release hits that probably explain that. Some that didn't make it were a smattering of Vue UFO posts (I find it hard to believe some conspiracy theorists have kept this one smoldering along for so many months). Also a couple of amateur reviews where the reviewer just didn't get what Vue is - when they spend the entire review on Vue not having modeling feature X or something else that just isn't part of what Vue does they don't get listed. Maybe its just me but the world needs another modeler as much as it needs integration between Vue and my microwave oven.

I've also scanned the usual forums. Now I may have missed something someone else thinks is important. If I have my appologies and feel free to drop me an e-mail.

This Way Up

2009-02-24T23:59:00.000Z

Just saw a short (9 min) animation on BBC1 "This Way Up". Well worth a look.

Ragnarok 53

2009-02-24T22:32:00.000Z

Issue 53 of Ragnarok, the Society of Fantasy and Science Fiction Wargamings magazine, is out now and includes an article by me - When Ants Attack - for use with the game Tusk.

This issue, and the last three back issues are also now available from Wargames Vault as PDFs.

All Joomla! and no Play makes Mark...

2009-02-08T14:34:00.002Z

... really tired.

Just finished a couple of month long project in Joomla! at work including a solid weekend in the office last week to finish it off. I've learnt a lot about Joomla! although there are somethings I still need to learn. Its an interesting content management system with a different way of approaching a site from most of the other CMSs I've worked with before. My biggest gruipe with it would be that the administration interface needs some work to make it more user friendly. It doesn't, for example, retain the state of many of its displays between actions. So, say, you list all the modules on a site in a particular position, then you deactivate one of them you have to set the filter up again. It would also be nice to be able to quicly find out all the modules that are on a particular page. Hopefully the development team will add workflow improvements like those in the future rather than getting caught up in a never ending headline grabbing new features.

Anyway I'm now playing catch up with life. My last load of washing finished an hour ago and I've caught up on a lot of the last months Vue news. I'm hoping to get some time to write and play with Vue too.

Gingered Lamb Stew

2009-01-09T22:18:00.003Z

Something I cooked last weekend and I was typing the recipe up for a friend so I thought I'd post it here too. Double the ginger if you've got a cold (triple it if you dare).

Makes: 4 to 6 Servings

Serve with plain rice or lentils.

500g Lamb Stew Meat Diced into 1 inch chunks
2 Cloves Garlic Minced
2-3cm Fresh Ginger Minced or 2 tsp Ground Ginger
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 tsp Sugar
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
2 tbsp White Wine or Rice Vinegar
1 Cup Chicken Stock
2 tsp Dried Mint
1 Fresh Hot Red Chilli (Optional) or 1 tsp Chilli Powder
1 Red or Yellow Bell Pepper Sliced into Strips
1/2 Onion Roughly Chopped
Salt
Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Heat the oil in a medium sized saucepan.
Add the Garlic, Ginger, Chilli and Sugar and cook for a few seconds till you smell the aroma
Add the Onion and stir cooking for a minute
Add the Soy Sauce, Vinegar, Mint, Lamb, Stock, Lamb and Bell Pepper
Bring to the boil
Season to taste
Simmer gently for 45 to 60 minutes until the lamb is tender

Hustle - Series 5 Episode 1

2009-01-08T22:04:00.003Z

So Hustle is back - much improved for the return of Adrian Lester and hopefully not troubled by the departure of Marc Warren and Jaime Murray. While I enjoy Hustle's supperficial self importance, its modern Robin Hood approach to its victims and the bravado with which it breaks the fourth wall I hope tonights example of telegraphing the plot won't be repeated.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T13:22:00.001Z

And a Happy New Year!

Happy Christmas!

2008-12-25T12:12:00.000Z

Have a very happy Christmas!

Transporter 3

2008-12-12T09:00:00.000Z

Went to see Transporter 3 at the Liverpool One Odeon last night. It delivers exactly what it says on the packet - a straight forward action film. Of the three films I'd say its plot it probably the most coherent (well as coherent as any of them). I'd like to have seen more of François Berléand's Inspector Tarconi. Glad to see less of the CG effects that crept into Transporter 2.

The Good, The Bad and the Upside Down?

2008-12-06T00:07:00.003Z

No not a new Peter Jackson and Russell Crowe remake of the Sergio Leone classic just a little accident with the film at the Philharmonic tonight. Then I did some pretty awful things when I was a projectionist so I'll not hold it against them.

Stay on target...

2008-11-30T23:45:00.003Z

Sometimes the biggest problem I find when writing isn't writing too few words its writing too many. Stop heckling from the back - I know when you're trying to get past the end of the first chapter of a three volume novel trilogy to propel you into the best seller list so you can spend your days at book signings and your nights at glittering functions with your favourite authors that doesn't sound like much of a problem. However I like writing articles and short stories. One piece I've been working on is just about to pass the 15,000 word mark. There is no specific limit for it but it keeps wanting to go off in other directions to make it complete. Thank goodness for editing.

The punch line to the Star Wars joke that I've used as a title tonight is So Luke closed his eyes. If you know the rest of the joke please leave it as a comment.

New Glasses Yeh!

2008-11-29T23:09:00.002Z

Got my glasses back with the new lenses today - apparently they were waiting for me to contact them - strange that they went to a lot of trouble checking my address, phone number, work phone number, mobile phone number and address when I ordered them so they could let me know as soon as they were in. I'm not mean enough to name them but give they used an excuse last time and backed out of their own guarantee on the frames this time I think I'll be taking my business elsewhere next time...

Vue Texture Resizer ...

2008-11-28T23:26:00.001Z

Spent some time wrapping the script I started on last night into wxPython but mostly I've just been sciving off tonight.

Vue Texture Resizer

2008-11-27T11:59:00.000Z

One perenial problem reported by Vue users is running short of memory. Part of the problem is that it is so easy to import objects that are loaded down with image based textures, bump maps, reflection maps etc. At the moment its a bit of a pain to hunt down all the textures, make copies and resize them based on how they are used in your scene. I was messing round with a Vue python script earlier to find all the image nodes in materials in a scene. This will form part of a new add on for Vue that I hope will be able to find all the images and then either let you move all of them to another directory to work on with your favourite graphics package or resize the copy without leaving Vue. Tomorrow I hope to have the time to put a wxPython wrapper around it to make it a bit frendlier than it is at the moment.

Joomla Day Again

2008-11-26T23:25:00.002Z

Well almost a year since I last posted about Joomla and I find myself gearing up to a development based on it.

2008-11-25T13:01:00.003Z

I use the Liverpool to Norwich rail service several times a year to get to a variety of destinations. Central Trains were never perfect but East Midlands Trains seem to take pride in getting it wrong. Where Central Trains would provide vouchers as compensation when late with an explanation of the cause I've yet to see anything from several delayed journeys on East Midlands Trains. Instead they employ an SEP field. So I was pleased to discover a campaign site has launched to try to change their ways: trainsardine.org.

Up the Parthenon

2008-11-24T23:59:00.000Z

I've been saving this for a night when I couldn't face NANOBLOWHATONEARTHAMISTILLDOINGTHISFORMO and with 5 days to go...

Possibly the worlds oldest joke book found at the BBC. By which I mean I read the report on the BBC web site not that their still using it to write jokes for sitcoms.

So far its a Cunning Plan

2008-11-23T23:20:00.001Z

I typed up the idea I mentioned on Friday today and so far it seems to hold water. I need to do some work around the edges to flesh out the detail still.

Intentionally Blank

2008-11-22T23:54:00.000Z

I was thinking of saying something about BBC2's Einstein and Eddington but I think I'll just say I enjoyed it. One odd thing I noticed today (other than how busy the shops are and how long the wait to be served is when we are supposedly not spending on the high street) was early on in the report about America's future in the world. First given the song and dance journalists made about it the other day not one mentioned this was the 2005 report so its not based on anything we know about the last 2-3 years. What amused me more though was the second page of the PDF which only included the words "This page intentionally left blank". Just seems out of place in a PDF somehow.

Hold on a Minute Lads, I’ve got an Idea!

2008-11-21T23:44:00.003Z

I wrote an article on heist movies, You're Only Supposed to Blow the Bloody Doors Off!!! , for Valkyrie issue 25 several years ago. I've been working on game ideas related to that and to a detective based game for quite a while either as a role playing game or as a wargame. I've been struggling to find a way to resolve the problem of finding a clue hanging on a single dice roll. While I like Gumshoe system's solution of no random chance to finding clues I don't think it would work well in a wargame setting where players are pitted against each other.

Well tonight while I was watching Have I Got News for You an idea came to me and I've got three pages of scrawled notes. Hopefully tomorrow I'll type them up and they'll make some sense...

Vue Mass Convert 0.6

2008-11-20T23:45:00.002Z

I've just uploaded Mass Convert 0.6 for both Vue 6 Infinite and Vue 7 Infinite to my web site. The major improvement to this version is that when producing Vue's VOB files it now produces a preview render of the object or if an appropriately named file is present on your computer with the objects converted it uses those instead. More details are included in the help menu when you run the script.

As with all my other Vue python scripts I'll update the web page with details soon.

Vue Mass Convert 0.6 on Its Way

2008-11-19T23:34:00.001Z

I've been putting a few finishing touches to a new, improved version of the GUI version of my Mass Convert script for Vue tonight. Hopefully I'll have the time to package it all up and post it tomorrow.

Mark II Eyeball

2008-11-18T20:02:00.000Z

Spotted this on the BBC web site - the I-Ball - a camera for use in looking in dangerous places. How long till they adapt the idea for sport? It will make for interesting footage from football and cricket plus no more watching a blue sky where there might be a ball during golf. It might cause a bit of motion sickness for tennis.

Oh Chear Up Duck!

2008-11-17T20:11:00.000Z

Well I started on NaNoBloWhateverIGotLostSomeWhereInTheMiddleOfTheAcroCumuloNymbusMo by accident. Some days I can't find anything to write and others I've more than I need. Anyway the Princess Trust show from the other night has started turning up on YouTube and here are three of the bits I liked most.

EcoSystem to CSV / CSV to EcoSystem Tested in Vue 7

2008-11-16T22:24:00.000Z

I've checked EcoSystem to CSV / CSV to EcoSystem in Vue 7 Infinite and its working. As with the other scripts once I've tested them all I'll update the impworks web pages.

Le Doulos

2008-11-16T01:02:00.003Z

I saw a write up of Jean-Pierre Melville's film Le Doulos [1963] in one of those greatest films of all time lists burried between the always present classics and the good recent films that get voted onto lists for a few years and then fade. It caught my attention because its not one of the usual group that turn up in the former category and being made in 1963 its not one of the later either. Then a couple of days later I spotted it as a new release DVD for a not unreasonable price and picked it up. I was in the right mood for a black and white, subtitled film tonight so I've just finished watching it.

I'll try not to spoil it (which also saves me writing too much given its past 1AM). While there are the odd bad 1960s back projected car journeys there are also some wonderful bits of cinematography especially the opening titles where a character walking alongside a canal under bridges is followed by a long tracking shot. The plot is convoluted but also easy enough to follow. The subtitles are legible throughout and don't make the film hard to follow. In places its age shows but I'd say it fares far better than some other films from the same era. If you liked modern films takes on similar themes such as The Usual Suspects or Resevoir Dogs this is probably worth its 106 minutes.

I Just Want My Glasses Back Now

2008-11-14T23:18:00.002Z

I put my glasses in for new lenses last week and so I'm using an old pair that are so close to the same prescription that I can see almost as well as normal. What I'd forgotten is how heavy these are compared to my current glasses and how being so much bigger they catch on my face. Yet despite having lenses so much bigger than my current ones I don't feel like I have better periferal vision.

Its started to make me kranky and I just want my proper glasses back now.

'Addicted' to Addiction

2008-11-13T19:03:00.000Z

As I get older one thing that annoys me more and more is the quantity of what passes for journalism. The rise of editorial over actual reporting. The need to have a journalist at the scene of the event to give a live report to camera and have a nice chat with the studio where a recorded piece with more information used to do quite nicely. Especially when the journalist is standing on a bridge over the motorway reporting on a predicted snow storm that may trap motorists (and presumably the journalist and their crew) on the motorway or reporting from the edge of an outbreak of foot and mouth. Or in its most vile incarnation reporting from outside the home of the victim of an act of crime when they probably want to be left alone.

Today's story to get my goat comes from the BBC: Hordes greet Warcraft expansion followed by 'Addicted' to Warcraft?. What follows is an amended version of my comment on that post.

From Jazz to Horror Comics through Rock and Roll to Dungeons and Dragons then Computer Games and now Online Gaming the press has found an ideal target for writing stories like this one. They appeal to a wide readership either horrified by the harm to kid or kids who are offended by the inaccuracies and broad brush descriptions. I sometimes wonder if such accusations were leveled even earlier against the Waltz, Orchestral music, printing or maybe cave painting?

Yes I'm one of the people who's enjoyed some (not all) of these and for 20 years found the claims made about them to have little in common with my experience of any of the activities.

Over the years professionals in various fields and concerned pressure groups (some eventually shown to have hidden agendas to push, political campaigns to start rolling or books to promote) have provided studies of the damage figures are quoted levels of addiction, cost or suicide. I wouldn't mind so much but usually the figures start to fall apart when a back of the envelope calculation is carried out.

Take this story as an example: 11 million registered players for World of Warcraft. 10-15% become addicted. That equates to 1.1-1.65million addicts worldwide. I'll leave it to others to draw their own conclusions from those figures. If this were a real addiction on a par with the addiction to, say Cocaine, wouldn't there have been more than 2000 people waiting for the midnight sale? I don't see a horde of Warcraft destroyed souls wandering the streets begging for the £8.99 a month subscription. Nor do I see a large number of older people whose lives have been ruined by their rock and roll habit from their youth.

Maybe an interesting article would consider the widespread use by journalists of the word addiction. Then place this addiction in the context of a spectrum of addictions from illegal drug use through alcohol and tobacco on to football and people who regularly buy books, magazines and go to their local library. Finally you could look at how journalists are addicts to writing articles about addictions.

New Google Analytics Features

2008-11-12T11:47:00.001Z

Some of the new Google Analytics features look interesting. I'm going to reserve judgment on the animated graph as I'm not convinced its really comprehensible for many sites. Having looked at it on Tuesday night I'd rather not have discovered even more new features had appeared overnight while in a meeting showing it to a client...

Just Messin' Around with Vue 7

2008-11-11T23:30:00.004Z

I've just spent the evening messing around with Vue 7. Nothing really to show from tonight but I made the yet to be titled picture above last night. I've resized it for the web from a larger, print quality render and cropped it a little too. The ship is from Cornucopia 3D and the Water Dragon from Daz. Vaguely inspired by my long since finished nautical Ravenloft campaign.

Spooks won't be Winning...

2008-11-10T11:56:00.000Z

...Great British Menu. Microwaving a land mine might be an original way to diffuse it (and inverts the microwave as bomb from Under Siege) - unfortunately it was a dastardly French landmine so it would fail the test of being regional. Not sure if it would count as seasonal either. The Bondish technobable element (like the localised EMP last series when a few well disguised tire bursters would have done the job just as well) crept in again - a bit of a shame since they could have just skipped it and then tracked the snatch car using a technobable CCTV / car number plate tracking system.

Cloud Builder Script Tested in Vue 7 Infinite

2008-11-09T13:41:00.002Z

I've checked my Vue python script Cloud Builder in Vue 7 Infinite. No problems detected so just a small update to the Readme file to note the test.

Centre Finder 0.2

2008-11-09T13:16:00.002Z

I've just updated and tested my Vue python script Centre Finder for Vue 7 Infinite. No significant changes just a little tweak so the cube it creates is name "Centre". The zip file on the Centre Finder page has been updated and I'll update the web page itself later.

NaBloPoMo...

2008-11-08T11:59:00.000Z

I didn't mean to do NaBloPoMo this year but since I seem to be by accident I ought to come up with a post for today...

Except I can't think of one so this NoNaBloPoMo post will have to do otherwise I'll fail today.

Burn after Reading

2008-11-07T23:55:00.002Z

Today's cinema outing was to see Burn after Reading a film more in the style of a 1970s or 1960s slow burning thriller than the big action thrillers usually made today. There were no car chases or fight scenes, no high tech gadgets or flash cars and not one of the characters was remotely competent at what they did. What it had was well drawn, flawed, interesting characters who tangled up in each others lives through their petty little schemes and inadiquacies. Possibly a little slow for a lot of film goers but I enjoyed it.

Industrial Britain Photographs

2008-11-06T23:01:00.001Z

Came across the Industrial Britain site via a report on the BBC - the images are stunning.

My first Vue 7 Render

2008-11-05T20:30:00.003Z

A quick (around 12 minute) render using Vue 7 Infinite. One of the new infinite procedural terrains with the desert preset and a slightly tweaked god ray atmosphere (I made the sky a bit more red and a little less blue). User defined render settings.

Page 56 Meme

2008-11-05T20:24:00.000Z

From Very True Things

Grab the nearest book.
Open the book to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST

Remember how hot it was yesterday?

From Comedy Writing Secrets: How to Think Funny, Write Funny, Act Funny and Get Paid for It

I could be cruel and say buy the book for the punch line but here it is...

Well a dog was chasing a cat, and they were both walking.

I did have to think a bit about which book - not because I was selecting one just working out which one was technically closest since I have bookshelves to the right and left of where I'm sitting writing this. I decided right since I'm right handed and then since two books are equdistant because of a gap for magazines the one in front as my arm would move the shortest distance. Otherwise it could have been wxPython in a nutshell, the Dungeons and Dragons rules cyclopedia, an Ian Rankin novel, a Jack Higgins Novel, a guide book to Shanghai, Hey It's that Guy or the Home Guard Manual 1941...

Leaning on a (Virtual) Lamppost

2008-11-04T16:07:00.003Z

For anyone waiting for Vue 7. To be performed in the style of George Formby or for those of us who take our ukulele seriously The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.

I'm leaning on a lamp, maybe you think, I look a tramp,
Or you may think I'm hanging 'round to steal a modo-car.
But no I'm not a crook, And if you think, that's what I look,
I'll tell you why I'm here, And what my motives are.

(Tempo Change)

I'm leaning on a (virtual) lamppost
At the corner of e-on street
In case Vue Seven comes by.
Oh me! Oh my!
I hope the Vue Seven comes by.
I don't know if Vue7'll get away,
Vue7 doesn't always get away,
But anyhow I know that Vue7’ll try.
Oh me, oh my!
I hope the Vue Seven comes by.
There's no other renderer I’d wait for,
But this one I'd break any date for.
I don't want to ask what Vue7’s late for.
Vue7 wouldn't leave me flat;
Not with procedural terrains like that.
She's absolutely beautiful
And marvellous and wonderful,
And anyone can understand why
I'm leaning on a (virtual) lamppost
At the corner of e-on street
In case a certain Vue Seven passes by.

(Tempo Change)

Repeat previous verse to End

I Won

2008-11-03T23:57:00.002Z

I won a little competition over at the Fraternity of Shadows web site. Doubly cool as it saves me from writing another review.

Odeon Liverpool 1

2008-11-02T22:56:00.002Z

Last night's trip to see The Quantum of Solace was also our first expedition to Liverpool 1's new Odeon. In most respects its a big improvement over the old Odeous on London road. It helps that the seats are actually set so you're looking at the screen and I was impressed with how easily they were able to process a refund on two tickets. On the down side they seem to be a little overwhelmed with their own success long waits for tickets and for refreshements. Their management might also want to allow customer transactions to be completed before adding coins to their tills since they then had to open the till so change could be given. All problems I'm sure they'll resolve with a little practice and a little staff training.

Sharpe's Peril

2008-11-02T22:45:00.002Z

There are few things that lure me to watch ITV and few things that lure me to costume drama. I missed the original Sharpe's and only discovered them as a bright spot on day time television when I was sick a few years ago. So I'm very pleased that the latest episode Sharpe's Peril was up to the usual standards tonight and I'm looking forward to next weeks conclusion.

Now if someone could persuade Ioan Gruffudd back to play Hornblower again I'd be really happy.

Quantum of Solace

2008-11-01T23:16:00.005Z

Just back from watching the new Bond film Quantum of Solace at the new Odeon in Liverpool 1. I'll talk about the cinema tomorrow for tonight I'll foist my opinion of the film on the rest of the world.

The pre credit sequence opens up fast and hard in media res and is very effective at setting up the film. After that the action scenes and plot twists come fast for the next one hundred odd minutes. Like 2006's Casino Royale this is a leaner paired back Bond with no vanishing cars or other silly gadgets. There were some funny lines delivered completely straight and there were a few nods to the earlier films. As a building engineering graduate I'd like a word with the designer of the fuel cells in the hotel. I can't think of a good reason for placing them throughout the building other than as an excuse for a lot of explosions.

The locations are great and the use of a London flat is a nice contrast to the more exotic. As with Casino Roayle there's no repeat of the bad CGI of Die Another Day. The supporting cast are excellent, the sound track effective and the film is technically well put together.

This is a harder, colder, tougher Bond than Casino Royale. Where Casino Royale gave us a chance to see inside Bond this film gave us fewer windows into his state of mind. That's a shame because part of what made Casino Royale so effective for me was that it humanised Bond which in turn made him more believable and more vulnerable. Bond being vulnerable makes the action more interesting because (even though we know he won't die) it feels more like he might. While I wouldn't expect them to try and incorporate the short story the title comes from into the film including a little more reflection would have been as nice a homage as the sniper sequence is in The Living Daylights.

Overall a good Bond movie and a good film.

BrandRossGate

2008-10-30T13:23:00.003Z

So BrandRossGate continues to spin out of all sensibility. What they did was wrong but the reaction is just completely loopy. Newspapers claim the moral high ground - yet how many of those leading the call have printed details of the private lives of people and then a copy has been pushed through the door of some unsuspecting grandparent who'd paid for the privileged? Conveniently for politicians on both sides of the house it diverts attention from a far more worrying story connecting them to rich people...

Now I'm seeing BrandRossGate - it used to be a *gate was something important but now any scandal will do. Interfering with an election or something that actually matters but now we'll just stick gate on the end of something to give it an air of scandal.

I supposed for the press its a change from yet more credit crunch stories. They helped spin us into a property boom and are bored with milking the bust for headlines already.

In other news something important happened somewhere today...

Some Site Rates this Blog

2008-10-29T21:58:00.000Z

Apparently this blog rates 7 out of 10 on some rating site I've never heard of as an entertainment blog.

I could have had a higher rating if I posted more often about entertainment.

I'm so pleased. Really I am. My life is now complete.

A Love Song for Statisticians

2008-10-16T13:10:00.000+01:00

From the Secret Policeman's Ball 2008

Comment Spamming for the Novice

2008-10-11T15:59:00.002+01:00

Here is a public service announcement tip for comment spammers spending their time posting to people blogs with meaningless comments. Posting to blogger (and any other system that adds a no follow to links) is really just a waste of your time. You won't get any page rank from the blog you spam. Even on a popular blog (and I'm not claiming this one is one of those) you won't get much traffic from a comment like I named my dog vue. Thus endith the rant.

Thanks!

2008-09-25T20:29:00.002+01:00

I got an e-mail through my web site about a problem with a part of it earlier. I've fixed the problem but can't let the sender know as the e-mail address they used is bouncing messages as not known - I'm guessing its typoed. So if you see this thanks :-)

Making a Searchlight in Vue

2008-09-24T10:49:00.002+01:00

Vue doesn’t have a parallel light source that creates a fixed width beam so making search lights and other lights with parallel edges requires a little work. Here is one way I’ve used, it may not work for all situations but it works for some. All the values I give here are those I used to make the example picture (above).

We need to allow a light placed under the ground to shine through it. Select the ground in your scene. Select the material applied to the ground. In the Advanced Material Editor in Effects uncheck “Cast Shadows”. You’ll need to do this for any objects that might block the beam of light your going to create, so in my simple example above I had to uncheck it on the red material on the Cylinder too.

If you need these objects to have shadows in your picture you’ll have to create two renders (one with the light beam but without shadows and one without the light beam and with shadows) and then composite the two images.

We’re going to use a little geometry to make the beam look like it has parallel edges even though it doesn’t. Now create a spot light in Vue. Place it under the ground shining upwards at a Z position of -500m. Now set the spot lights spread to 0.25 degrees and its power to 500.

In the light editor enable volumetric lighting and increase the Intensity to 10 by typing it into the box.

Now when you render the picture you should get a beam of light shining from the ground with fairly parallel edges.

That will do for a lot of scenes but what if you need the light to appear to start from an object that can be seen under – like the crude example below?

The trick here is to use Variable colour in the light editor. Select the spot light and go into the light editor and select the Lighting tab. Now right click the color map and select “Edit Color Map”. Create a New keycolor at -1 and set it to black. Create another at -0.8 and set it to black. Create a third at around -0.6 and set it to white then drag the keycolor to the left so it is right up against the one at -0.8. Set the Key color at 1 to white too. Set the cut off distance to 5km. Now by tweaking the lights Z position move it till it appears to shine out of the object but not appear under it. In my example I put it at -480m.

You can also use these tricks to make headlights that shine from a car’s headlights that don’t start as unrealistic points or for street lamps.

I've posted a 200K Zip file with the two scenes in to get you started: vuesearchlight.zip

Searchlight in Vue

2008-09-23T22:26:00.003+01:00

Jonj1611 asked on Renderosity how to create a searchlight like effect in Vue - if this is what he's looking for I'll post an explanation here soon.

Edit: Its now up as: Making a Searchlight in Vue

Tropic Thunder

2008-09-21T23:33:00.002+01:00

Went to see Tropic Thunder yesterday at FACT. Enjoyed it. I'd read a couple of reviews that said it was packed with too many in jokes but I didn't think that was a problem. Stand out performances were Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise. Jack Black's role didn't seem to work too well, partly because while a comedian like the one he's playing might get a part in a buddy cop film they don't tend to turn up in war movies. His character was just too thin - maybe if he'd been a "Hey its that Guy" character actor who found fame through a comedy he hated and who'd been driven to drugs by always being in the shadow of thinner actors and who resented them it might have worked.

Item 3 on the Agenda

2008-09-10T23:36:00.000+01:00

Not really up to the standards of Oh, God! but an attempt at something with a similar sentiment inspired by the current round of CERN inspired madness...

Item 3 on the Agenda

"Item 3 on the agenda. Do you want to kick off?"

"How about next Tuesday?"

"Sorry can’t do next Tuesday."

"Why not?"

"Little Mary Stevenson of Chipping Norton gets her spelling test results and you know how she reacts to those nought out of tens."

"So that’s every Tuesday off for the next what?"

"Ten weeks."

"Wednesday then..."

"CERN’s turning on the LHC."

"But it won’t be operational for months."

"Doesn’t stop some nuts thinking it’s going to be Wednesday."

"So when can I launch the apocalypse?"

"Well I’ve had research run some projections and I’m not sure how to break this to you but we missed the window."

"What do you mean?"

"Well for the foreseeable future you can’t because someone has predicted the end of the world for that day and for every hour."

"But Mathew made that up not me not my right hand or for what it’s worth my left hand one either."

"Sorry boss doesn’t matter legal’s been over it and you didn’t challenge it when you had the chance. Apparently there was a thousand year window but now it’s set in stone."

"How did any of this happen? He wasn’t even there. He was just some bloke who decided to have a go at it after the siege and destruction of Jerusalem. He was bored and always thought he’d be a pretty good writer. He was just looking for something to do after the Romans knocked down his shop."

"Trouble is it got into the book and now it’s too late."

"So basically you’re telling me I’ve just got to keep waiting."

"Pretty much."

"Oh well maybe they’ll do the job for me. They’ve got enough nukes and their polluting the place so much it can only be so much longer."

"You’re really having one of your happy days aren’t you boss?"

"No. I’m blaming the lawyers."

"It’s not really their fault."

"Do you think anyone would notice if we started you know treating lawyers like we used to overly fan boyish prophets?"

"What extending their life span as long as possible."

"Something like that."

"You were saying Earth was getting too crowded these days only last week."

"Well yes..."

Large Hadron Rap

2008-09-10T12:45:00.001+01:00

I've already got a post about the LHC lined up for tonight but I just came across this...

A few Words Here and a few Words There

2008-09-09T23:21:00.003+01:00

Since I seem to be back to more regular blogging a quick post for tonight...

Put the finishing touches to the second in a series of article for Ragnarok earlier tonight. One of those times when looking over some old stuff you get a fresh look at it and realise what it was lacking. In this case it needed more villains, more humour and less high powered good guys. Hence why one 20 page article has spawned two eight page articles and left material for at least three more articles of a similar length.

Also knocked out a two page first draft of some Ravenloft ideas and sent them off to the Fraternity of Shadows.

Get Smart

2008-09-08T23:29:00.002+01:00

Its funny, its got quality slap stick and its definitly Get Smart.

You want more detail? OK. Far too many TV remakes have become cynical, star vehicle exercises. Shows which wern't comedies reduced to a series of punch lines, some "funny" period references (drugs, flared trousers, sexism, bad haircuts or whatever) and a manufactured gag reel for the end credit because Jackie Chan had great end title gag / accident reels.

Get Smart isn't one of those remakes. Yes its a star vehicle for Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne Johnson and the rest of the cast but their all playing their part not just playing for cheap laughs. Thats not to say there is a shortage of laughs. There are plenty of them. Not say Airplanes constant in your face assault but a high enough count for a comedy film. Theres enough slapstick without it becoming heavy handed. Then again it ought to be hard to mess up a comedy origally created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry - just distil out the best gags from the original and use them in a well constructed story.

My final verdict - funniest film I've seen in 2008 so far.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

2008-09-07T22:04:00.000+01:00

My trip into the city centre earlier was to catch Hellboy 2. So here's the short review - not a bad film. The action was good. The special effects were good. The acting was (you guessed it) good. It had nice character moments and it proved again that Ron Perlman should get more leading roles because he's manages to get more character on screen under all that makeup than some of the prettier action heroes do with nothing to get in the way of their performance.

Trash Liverpool?

2008-09-07T16:27:00.005+01:00

I missed La Princesse missed it yesterday when out shopping. Much that I like art I decided the crowds heading towards it were huge and with a heavy shopping bag to carry I'd give it a miss. Today on my way in to town I was pleased to discover it back on Concours Tower by Lime Street Station so I got to see it after all. It seemed to have pulled a fair sized crowd at just after 3PM so what the crowds will be like for tonight I'd hate to guess.

Since I wasn't expecting to see it today I didn't have my camera with me - but if you want to see some pictures Dark Dwarf has a couple of posts about it on his blog:

Its inspired me with an idea for a Trash Tokyo article too so thats £1.7 million well spent ;-)

The Dark Knight

2008-09-01T22:13:00.002+01:00

Went to see The Dark Knight last Saturday - got back too late to want to go online and write this (very short) review. Enjoyed it. It was a bit long but I couldn't see anywhere particularly to cut it without making it a poorer film. It also takes a brave script writer to keep telling us a lead character isn't a hero. I do look forward to the sequel - The Dark Couch. A film in which the Caped Crusader admits he needs counciling and goes to see a psychologist. He'll come out with the I'm not a hero line and have it explained to him that he's right. Superman is a Hero - Batman is an Outlaw but don't worry you've got Han Solo and Robin Hood for company. All in all a good thing as you could be the Joker (a shadow Jester) or Two Face (who starts out a hero and ends up a shadow hero)

A Very Wordy Bank Holiday

2008-08-25T09:53:00.002+01:00

Sometimes the words don't come easy. Its a stuggle to get 50 words out of my characters in a day. Then there are days when they just won't shut up. Over the last two days I've knocked out 6,500 words primarily from three miscreants I've had sitting waiting for an idea.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

2008-08-14T23:37:00.003+01:00

Wow. How can you take a franchise as good as the resurected Mummy and pretty much destroy it in 112 minutes?

Could it be the completely miss cast replacements? Maria Bello was no Rachel Weisz. Luke Ford just wasn't interesting. Perhaps thats part of it too. I know Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Michelle Yeoh, Jet Li and David Calder all have something they can do on screen but they were criminaly wasted on this outing. John Hannah and Brendan Fraser certainly pulled it off in the previous films too so maybe it was the flat dialogue, the forced jokes, the hackey attempts at character development and the poor editing. It took three lines of dialogue to say what Brendan Fraser said in the middle line which amounted to lets go and get on a plane illustrated just how baddly the script needed work. It kept hitting duff notes. Which brings me to my next gripe - possibly the worst score for a film I can remember where someone had spent time and money to add music. It was distracting, it didn't fit. The score from the Mummy lifted the film. This was the musical equivalent of concrete shoes. The opening just dragged and the attempt at a humerous ending was weak beyond words.

The special effects were competent but special effects rarely turn a film into a classic.

Hopefully the Mummy franchise has been laid to rest like the eponymous monster of the title until it can be resurected by someone with an interesting take on it comes along and raises it from the dead again...

Tapas Tapas

2008-08-14T23:30:00.003+01:00

Went to the new tapas restaurant near Fact in Liverpool tonight for dinner with the highly original name of Tapas Tapas. The puddings won't win any awards but the main courses were excellent. Good service and a reasonable price as well.

Sleepers on BBC4

2008-08-09T00:21:00.002+01:00

BBC4 are repeating the brilliantly funny end of cold war satire Sleepers later today (8PM) for only the second time since it was first shown in 1991. Hopefully they'll bring it out on DVD soon too.

The Emperor and the Tiger

2008-08-01T23:44:00.002+01:00

Went to see Walk the Plank's The Emperor and the Tiger in Newsham park in Liverpool tonight. It seemed to have drawn a reasonable crowd. I'd thought it might not because I'd only seen the poster at the start of the week but coverage on the front page of the local papers and the regional TV seems to have worked.

I was interested to see how the show was put together. I tend to find that in the last ten years firework displays try to cram more and more wows in to less and less time. While I like a big finale I also like a chance to enjoy some of the individual fireworks so the idea of adding dance, lighting and story telling to fireworks appeals to me.

The first problem with the show was that the very long stage wasn't high enough. I'm quite tall so I could see some of what was going on but anyone shorter than me was struggling. The length of the stage also created problems because there were times when everything was happening at the far end of the stage and so it was hard to see what was going on. This ment that the opening was underwhelming and so the crowd thinned a bit making seeing what was happening later easier.

Then the story proper began. The two biggest sculptural elements of the show, the Tiger and the Emperor from the title were dramatic and large enough to be easily seen. The story itself could do with a little expansion as an editor for a ladybird early learning version would have sent it back as too short but the basic idea wasn't bad.

As the production went on the quality of the effects improved. The floodlighting of the trees behind the stage to create different looks with simple colour changes created effective backdrops. Using skytracker/searchlight effects combined with the smoke from fireworks worked well and the later firework effects were effective (including the big finale).

So it turned out to be not a bad show after all. With a bit of work to liven up the opening, a bit of expansion on the story and more thought about sightlines for the audience I'd say it could become an excellent production.

Watch out for Floating Key frames in Vue

2008-07-29T20:47:00.003+01:00

I was tinkering with an animation script for Vue when I discovered something I thought I'd share to save others scratching their heads...

I was using SetCurrentFrame() to set the key frame for the animation. I was later returning to an earlier key frame to apply a tweak to the same objects animation. The current key frame was a floating point variable: currentframe. To do the back step I was doing something like SetCurrentFrame(currentframe-1). Once in a while this was resulting in two keyframes very close together rather than a single key frame. The solution is straight forward - SetCurrentFrame(int(currentframe-1)) and SetCurrentFrame(int(currentframe)). That makes the problem go away.

Burn Up

2008-07-23T23:59:00.003+01:00

So based on part I of Burn Up I think we can take it Bradley Whitford felt it was time to show he can play an American capitalist pig. Does he know something about Morgan Freeman's availability because I thought he had those movie roles sown up...

And as a fan of David Calder's work since Star Cops could he for once make it all the way through a piece without being killed off. Spooks, Between the Lines, The World Is Not Enough and now Burn Up. I'd not put any bets on him lasting long in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor either.

Refactoring the Restroom

2008-07-21T00:00:00.003+01:00

After spending a few hours refactoring python code on an ongoing (not yet ready for release) Vue python script I'm reminded of a cartoon that used to be on the wall of the Guild of Students projection room. Under a picture of Charlie Brown was the line "Working here is like wetting yourself in dark trousers. You get a warm feeling on the inside but no one else knows."

This wouldn't be quite so apposite had the projection rooms not been ripped out to make way for first floor toilets so the Guild's office sabatical officers and management didn't have to walk all the way to the toilets in the basement.

Dark Knight Trailer

2008-07-18T21:21:00.003+01:00

For no good reason other than it being Friday but which one is the joker in the pack?

Bonekickers

2008-07-15T22:05:00.004+01:00

I think the Radio Times had it right when it points out that Bonekickers includes the word Bonkers. Although as anagrams of the title go Obscene Kirk has something to be said for it. While it has something of Time Team about it and a touch of A Very Peculiar Practice too you can tell they would never make proper TV archaeologists: yes they go to the pub, do some geophys, drink, use a trowel and did I mention the pub already. However after two whole episodes I don't think one of them has suggested something was ritual once. Oh well I wonder what next weeks hint about the sword will be and if we'll get another mysterious room somewhere near Bristol...

Sugary Pulp Research Goodness

2008-07-14T23:13:00.003+01:00

I love it when research material falls into my lap. I came across a book about the espionage and shady goings on in Shanghai in the 1920s-40s era for the massive sum of £1.99 in my local remaindered book shop on Saturday. Handy since some of NitS is set there around then and involves shady goings on.

On top of that the second of the two Pulp Guns books from SJ Games came out today. Yes these are game books for players of GURPS but they also include lots of handy details. Including a description of the flame thrower Dirk Dangerous uses in a story I've been writing. Which is handy because up until now all I'd been able to find out was it was a flamethrower that was combined with a sub machine gun. Every hero should have one.

Film Meme

2008-07-09T22:04:00.002+01:00

Via Very True Thing. Below is the Entertainment Weekly’s list of 100 Classic Movies of the past 25 years. Bold the ones I’ve seen, italic the ones I plan to.

Pulp Fiction (1994)
The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03)
Titanic (1997)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Toy Story (1995)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Die Hard (1988)
Moulin Rouge (2001)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
The Matrix (1999)
GoodFellas (1990)
Crumb (1995)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Boogie Nights (1997)
Jerry Maguire (1996)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Casino Royale (2006)
The Lion King (1994)
Schindler's List (1993) [I showed this twice when I was a projectionist but I've never seen it without breaks]
Rushmore (1998)
Memento (2001)
A Room With a View (1986)
Shrek (2001)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
Aliens (1986)
Wings of Desire (1988)
The Bourne Supremacy (2004) [Why just Supremacy on the list? Identity relaunched the Eurothriller and Ultimatum has the cleverest structure of a thriller in a long time ]
When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Fight Club (1999)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Fargo (1996) [Seen the start but not the end]
The Incredibles (2004)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Pretty Woman (1990)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
The Sixth Sense (1999) [Probably would but someone told me the twist]
Speed (1994)
Dazed and Confused (1993)
Clueless (1995)
Gladiator (2000)
The Player (1992)
Rain Man (1988)
Children of Men (2006) [Wish I hadn't though. Not convinced it should be on this list]
Men in Black (1997)
Scarface (1983)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
The Piano (1993) [Love the sound track never seen the film]
There Will Be Blood (2007)
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988)
The Truman Show (1998)
Fatal Attraction (1987)
Risky Business (1983)
The Lives of Others (2006)
There’s Something About Mary (1998)
Ghostbusters (1984)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Scream (1996)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
sex, lies and videotape (1989)
Big (1988)
No Country For Old Men (2007)
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Donnie Brasco (1997)
Witness (1985)
All About My Mother (1999)
Broadcast News (1987)
Unforgiven (1992)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Office Space (1999)
Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
Out of Africa (1985)
The Departed (2006) [I'd rather see all three parts of Infernal Affairs with subtitles though]
Sid and Nancy (1986)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Waiting for Guffman (1996)
Michael Clayton (2007)
Moonstruck (1987)
Lost in Translation (2003)
Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)
Sideways (2004)
The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)
Y Tu Mamá También (2002)
Swingers (1996)
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Breaking the Waves (1996)
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Back to the Future (1985)
Menace II Society (1993)
Ed Wood (1994)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
In the Mood for Love (2001)
Far From Heaven (2002)
Glory (1989)
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)

A few very American choices on the list with a lack of international films that I would expect to make the list. A few big omissions