Archive for November, 2009

I’ve added a set of 10 leafless, winter tree gel materials for Vue to my free stuff pages today. Tested in Vue 7 Pioneer, Vue 7.5 Infinite and Vue 8 Infinite.

• Why do some sites think they need to invent new ways of doing e-commerce rather than just having a simple check out system? #
• Twitters new Retweet has 1 big advantage – no post shotening required if its too long #
• RT @very_true_thing: There's a 'sausage' retweeter bot?!? #
• I usually lose 10% of words when editing. Edit on One of THOSE days is pushing it from 800 to 1000 . In Danger of becoming a short story. #
• One of THOSE days : exactly 1000 words including title but no byline. #
• A quick polish on "Final Confessions of Dale Hoover; Small Time Syndicate Realtor with a Gun" done. Now off to do chores. #
• Wonder which of my tweets suddenly drew in a flock of new followers. Welcome one and all of you but will you still follow me tomorrow? #
• And the piano spam to my blog is back in force tonight – not that any of it gets past Akismet… #
• Spooks at its best – preposterous fun #
• @KimKnox I can't say I blame you for feeling fragile its gone a chilly today although yesterdays wind has gone and the rain isn't torrential in reply to KimKnox #
• I'd kind of hoped to finally get to Dragonmeet this year but life has conspired so I'll miss it again #
• @richeym That would be an interesting, immoral reality TV show: can writer write an ending to save their life – with tigers if they fail. in reply to richeym #
• Thought I'd almost finally got a render of Dirk Dangerous done but he's suffering from a wardrobe malfunction around his left nipple area. #
• Wardrobe malfunction – set nipple (and surrounding chest) not to render and Dirk is now Decent as well as Dangerous #
• @DanDiplo If you used the cards that were by the box your suggestions will taste like pringles too. in reply to DanDiplo #
• @pookie_uk I remember Manchester GenCon in 2000 where everyone was complaining about and not buying a game that cost a shocking £30! in reply to pookie_uk #
• @ehlanakovas Pokethrough is a well recognised if somewhat poorly named issue in 3D art. Usually its the freudian slips that fail though. in reply to ehlanakovas #

Since my vague plan to finally go to Dragonmeet failed (again) this year I made a somewhat easier journey to Mattas in Liverpool to restock my herb and spice cupboard.  I’ve a big bag full of herbs and spice sitting in my kitchen waiting to be put away including…

• Basil
• Chilli Powder
• Chinese Five Spice
• Ground Coriander
• Coriander Leaf
• Green cardamom
• Ground Cumin
• Ground Ginger
• Mild Madras Curry Powder
• Garam Masala
• marjoram
• Mint
• Mustard Powder
• Ground Nutmeg
• Oregano
• Sage
• Tandoori Masala
• Tarragon
• Thyme

The smell coming from the bag is quite amazing.  Tomorrow I’ll transfer it all to jars.

Oh dear looks like I need to get my grumpy hat out for both Il Forno and The Informant…

Went to Il Forno on Duke Street in Liverpool for dinner before going to see the early evening showing of The Informant at FACT.  Things started well with quick service and an excellent swordfish tart starter (with a name far too long to remember).  Unfortunately this is the point at which I have to become Mr Grumpy.  If a waiter announces that your pizzas are amongst the 10 best in the whole country they’d better be very good.  I’ve certainly had better pizzas from two other restaurants in Liverpool, two Liverpool takeaways, a restaurant in London and a takeaway in Sheffield.  Unfortunately both pizzas we ordered were described as bland so it wasn’t just me.   Personally I’d have prefered a more interesting pizza that was half the size.  To be fair I’ve had far worse ones in lots of places too.  Then I could have tried one of the deserts they offered us three times.  Overall opinion starter good, service OK and I’d try a different main course if I went again.

So on to the real main course of the evening as it were, the film The Informant picked largely because nothing else was on that appealed.  First could someone explain to me why Matt Damon was playing Mark Whitacre in the style of William H. Macy.  Did he have a bet with George Clooney, couldn’t they get William H. Macy himself or did someone decide that William H. Macy wasn’t a big enough name to star so cast Matt Damon to try and sell the film to audiences?

The story itself was a mess that every time it threatened to get interesting ran away from itself.  The meat was the technicality of the various crimes, deceptions and alleged crimes.  Each time they got close to one they brushed it out of sight as though it was scary stuff requiring a bit of (oh no!) thought and comprehension.  It was like watching a heist film in which showing a safe being cracked was technical and boring so lets not bother.  Hang on though did they really think this film was going to attract an audience who were looking for a no brainer action flick?

Then there was the really odd sound track and the 1970s retro font.  Fine except the film was set in the 1990s.  There were a large number of supporting characters who became interesting and then vanished.  Scott Bakula in particular was there and then suddenly gone treatment.  I’d make a Quantum Leap reference but it would be too easy a joke.  Now you may say this was based on a real life story but as they made clear before the film started they’d taken liberties with it.  So why not take the liberty needed to make it interesting?

The Informant just didn’t seem to know what it was: docudrama? docucomedy? In the end it was just docudisaster.  As it stands it’s a bad attempt at making a film in the style of a sprawling based on real life drama from the ’70s.  Maybe with William H. Macy and the Coen brothers directing possibly focusing on the investigation of what must have been an ever more bizarre situation it could have been a film worth seeing.  Personally I’d suggest saving your time and money.

• Be very very quiet we're hunting unescaped & … #
• Washing up, then dinner, then Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars #
• My unimportant musings on Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars http://bit.ly/15ErUX #
• RIP Edward Woodward #
• RT @guardiantech: A Dragons' Den for James Bonds http://bit.ly/1wGoXx #
• Memento – the TARDIS of web browsers just don't try to make me make pages from '90s compliant http://bit.ly/3pDheI #
• Did Flash Forward go a bit Lethal Radio tonight with bad guys with Special Forces tattoos? #
• Just noticed my last tweet got garbled new version to follow… #
• Did Flash Forward go a bit Lethal Weapon last night with bad guys with Special Forces tattoos? #
• RT @stephenfry: Man and the moon … rather sweet animation #
• @guardiantech Is a former former person a way of saying someone left a job and then came back to it or is it just a typo? in reply to guardiantech #
• Horizon: How Long is a Piece of String – hard to measure the part of it I didn't know already but an amusing reminder of the stuff I did #
• Been trying to find my way into writing a short, short story for awhile – just discovered the best point to start it is at the end. Typical. #
• About 2/3 written of short story prequel for Dirk Dangerous and the Giant Balls of Doom I started last night #
• First draft of flash fiction 'One of THOSE days' done. #
• @very_true_thing Yes had piano spam for a few days now + hairdressing & some for a hot chili sauce web site too. Very odd. in reply to very_true_thing #
• Cool cover RT @dianagill: At long last, the cover for QUEEN VICTORIA: DEMON HUNTER! http://tinyurl.com/yfz4d4l via @KimKnox #
• I hate it when ideas are like buses and two come along at the same time… #
• @very_true_thing 4 more piano spam comments to my blog how about you? Since you mentioned it now it stands out from the Viagra clutter #
• A little accidental art http://bit.ly/3PRejy #
• It was an accidental but what was it of? http://bit.ly/3PRejy #
• RT @DanDiplo: Great blog by Eric Lippert on why writing specs, even for seemingly trivial code, is so important http://bit.ly/2dvrgE #
• @very_true_thing Piano blog spam links to a site that google safebrowsing suggests was distributing malware in September. Mystery solved. in reply to very_true_thing #
• My thoughts on Fantastic Mr Fox the Film http://bit.ly/8ct2F9 #
• @DanDiplo Like you're new friend – I see some gangs of the small Go Penguines have occupied shop windows in Liverpool 1 in reply to DanDiplo #
• Yeh got my rain material for Vue to go sideways as well as vertically #
• I know I've been experimenting with rain mats for Vue but I don't need help from the weather to get it right… #
• @ehlanakovas If making virtual rain made real rain I'd try for sunshine or for something interesting like torrential Smarties in reply to ehlanakovas #
• @ehlanakovas Green and Blacks bars falling from the sky might be a Health and Safety issue. The G&B mini bars would probably be OK. in reply to ehlanakovas #
• @pookie_uk Yes you can ban them from using may so long as the fifth month isn't going to be renamed Pookiery in reply to pookie_uk #

Fanstastic Mr Fox is probably my favourite Roald Dahl children’s story.  So today I decided I’d go and see it at the Odeon in Liverpool 1 and crossed my fingers they’d not treated the source material as a slum clearance job it like Disney did with Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

Given the source materials brevity it’s unsurprising they had to pad it to make it up to feature length.  The core story still sits at the heart of the film but a additions at the start and the end along with some padding in the middle brought it up to its 87 minutes.  While none of the additions were bad the incomprehensible sport seemed to me to be a joke forced a little to hard.  On reflection and a quick reread of the original story the ending is probably, saddly a little two Hollywood.  Maybe something less action orientated and closer to the heist movie theme that works so well earlier on.  They were almost there but not quite.  One last big job to break into a highly secure supermarket knowing it was a trap might have worked.

George Clooney and Meryl Streep had a lot of work to do and both delivered good performances.  Willem Dafoe’s take on the rat made his my favourite character of the film.  It was completely different from his Raven Shaddock performance in Streets of Fire (1984) but just as distinctive.  Part of me wonders what his take on Mr Fox would have been.  If you need someone to nail that kind of bad guy he’s still got it.  Michael Gambon was another exceptionally fine choice for Bean and while I had to check on IMDB Brian Cox was another fine piece of casting.

The animation style reminded me of Jill Bennetts illustrations in the book and was very well done.  Unfortunately it wasn’t quite up to the standards of say an Aardman Animation but was by no means sloppy.  Somehow Aardman’s work looks more cinematic and less like some of the eastern European animations of the 1970′s.  However maybe that was the look they were trying for in which case they nailed it.  Anyone with the resources or time to do stop animation deserves a great deal of respect.

Ignoring my gripes about the way the original material was expanded I’d say it was a very enjoyable 87 minutes.

I saw it on the first showing of the day in a screen which I thought I had to myself till someone else left from the very back at the end.  Odeon really need to get on top of their cleaning because if the cinema is dirty for the first show of the day what hope is there for the later shows?

I was messing around with a photograph I took and ended up with this picture completely by accident.  Its just a meaningless pattern but I like it.

Before I get to any more lucid thoughts – was it just me or did the two water zombies marching around look a lot like Ray Liotta and Mark Kermode?

So the long awaited second Doctor Who special The Waters of Mars was on tonight.   It was good fun.  From the trailer I’d expected a lot more of the creaping horror in space and not so much of the Doctor running through corridors.  Which brings me to a little gripe: if lifting a bicycle from Earth would have used so much fuel how much did lifting those long corridors use?  It’s the daft things like that that pull me out of the show.

Good points the acting was good, the effects didn’t let it down.  Excellent points: the early parts with the scary, martian, water zombies.  Best bit: the Doctor walking away – Tennant’s wordless performance reminded me of Bob Hoskins at the end of The Long Good Friday.  Part of me wishes he’d just kept walking because that would have been more powerful and dramatic.

Anyway I’m looking forward to the next special. Especially given who it looks like is coming to Christmas dinner…

Update: Dark Dwarf and Kim Knox have now posted their thoughts too.

• Just noticed my blog has now had 2000 real (not spam) comments #
• Were you watching carefully was it a bird, a ball or a bullet? Should be: Did you not sleep through the last show. #
• On the plus side Flash Forward good with great ending. #
• RT @mediaguardian: Kate Humble shows true balls | Media Monkey http://bit.ly/2PO9mo #
• Do celebs need a listing system like buildings? So we know which are national treasures & when it's press hyperbole #
• @aniakovas & @ehlanakovas I believe the phrase (before this goes too much further) is: Get a Room. #
• @ehlanakovas lol in reply to ehlanakovas #
• RT @KimKnox: Warflesh is available now from Ellora's Cave! http://bit.ly/2P0qbK #
• RT @ghostwoods: Meep. http://bit.ly/R4z7x [Although I always thought it was either a Battle of the Planets or Road Runner reference] #
• Muiltiple WordPress sites successfully updated #
• RT @newscientist: Uncorking the past: humans are born drinkers, more Homo imbibens than Homo sapiens http://bit.ly/KwxAU #

Tonight I’ve added a page to my web site about Wessex Games’ Aeronef - at the moment it is an article I wrote for Ragnarok War Kites and Flying Batteries.