Archive for July, 2011

• @Troppers Is that a long term commitment or just a short term too much sausage situation? #
• Loud, possibly mad, Frenchman complaining to a room full of Brits that "The English they do not appreciate Vorticists" repeatedly #annoying #
• @call_me_salome Either that or a massive copyright infringement is coming our way #
• A true classic of our art form RT @GRIMACHU: Lest we forget, or be forgotten… http://j.mp/n0YvDC #Munchkin #
• @call_me_salome BTW might have a Red Phone Box story for you. Got an opening need to see if it goes anywhere. And connect to the others… #
• @call_me_salome …which I'm not sure about yet. #
• @GRIMACHU Go for it I predict audiences of the film version to rival the original Star Wars #
• After a day of "proper" culture time to get ready for a little lighter stuff. #
• @call_me_salome How did you get to be Queen of making stuff up? How was the coronation? Did you beat Josie Lawrence in an interview for job? #
• @call_me_salome You made up pants? Now all the pants in the world have just vanished – Britain is going commando and the US is half naked! #
• @TheCrazyGM Just out of curiosity – could you DM it to me too please #
• @call_me_salome We've heard all the fuss about Fermats last theorem – what about his first, second and third ones? #
• Scary Doctor Who thought having mistaken seeing one in the trailer – Dalek / Cyberman hybrid http://youtu.be/76vzfxJRByA #
• @sciamannata I've been told washing powder attracts customs attention. False box bottoms used to hide stuff. Don't know about flour. #
• @daneofwar Like your new avatar #
• Nice to be back home. #
• @daneofwar Cool miniature – I thought it was a cubist version of you #
• @symatt Like the figures for scale #
• @call_me_salome Afternoon #
• 2010 Gerbil metaphor is shocking RT @ghostwoods: A terrible opening line contest winners http://t.co/zqMHMjc /v @ONoesUDidnt #
• Today I am a project specing machine. #
• Just spotted the BBC writers room has a call out for 5-10min scripts responding to #Hackgate deadline 1st August #
• Must stop messing around in Photoshop. #
• @dr_monkeyface A bit late here… because I needed sleep more than Photoshop #
• My work day may make sense if I view it as the realtime uncut version of a montage sequence of writing technical specifications for websites #
• Messing about with Sculptris – looks like it might be a handy tool to add to my 3d toolkit #
• @Danacea Your caveat shows just how well you know your twitter readership and our dirty little minds #
• Ooh RealFlow has finally worked out that not everyone could afford their prices and released a cheaper version #
• My photos of The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2011 http://t.co/vc3XCwH #
• @AinstyCastings That reminds me I must finish my Ragnarok article adapting the film Then! for Tusk #
• @jearle Sweet #
• Great punch line… RT @empiremagazine: It's Han and Chewie… reunited! Sort of: http://t.co/Yg04N48 via @xtamsynx #
• Gorgeous RT @CityEngine: Great CityEngine work by Redjuice (@shiru) from Japan http://t.co/vuIYZhA #
• @KimKnox I'd love to see an indignant reply from Daniel Craig #
• @scimon I've squinted at your avatar photo – and I think I can just make that out in the noise in the cloud behind you #
• Thankfully the busking bagpipe player seems to have put a cork in it and moved on. #
• @Danacea I've not ridden a bike in a long time but I know how annoying that can be #
• @Troppers Only last weeks – and possibly a little lost #
• @symatt Not sure? Where did you draw it? #
• @symatt Its bending the rules but you know I think you can get away with it – so long as there is a counter involved #
• What idiot decided to use tables to layout in this game? PITA to DTP them. #
• @ehlanakovas Its not so much the size of the table its the number – and I need to take each one from word into the DTP and then style it #
• @ehlanakovas And probably won't work on 2010 either #
• 2 Minutes to Torchwood. #
• @GRIMACHU Give yourself a day off. If that doesn't work – hit whatever exhibitions you can for some stimulation… #
• @GRIMACHU Do something creative but different from your usual creativity. Look through period stock photos. Eat somewhere new & different. #
• @GRIMACHU Go for a long walk in the country or a park. Do something repetitive and that doesn't need a lot of thought. Mow the lawn. #
• Hello World. Spec Week Day 4. I've lost count of the number of specs I've writtern this week. #
• @garymurning Thanks for the #ff #
• @call_me_salome Are you saying my bum looks like a gas giant in this solar system #
• @call_me_salome Thanks for the #ff So you're saying it does then? #
• @call_me_salome lol. It started out not so funny but then swapping big to Gas Giant hit me #
• @jazzchantoozie Its a great format breaker – especially the way it all ends. #
• @dr_monkeyface Thanks for the #ff #
• @DaddyDM Thanks for the #ff #
• @RobertWThomson Thanks for the #ff #
• How bad can it be? No really… How? Bad? Can? It? Be? RT @CharlesMRyan: The Battleship movie. [Snip] http://t.co/viMT8CO #
• @TheAngryDM Only if you use it to print a flat object with a stereographic image on it #
• @simplychrista Thanks for the #ff #
• Essential parts of any British summer: 1 BST 2 Rain 3 Cider 4 Cream Tea 5 Proms 6 Sun 7 Sand 8 Sea 9 England Batting Collapse 10 Ice Cream #
• Hometime. #
• Rob Brydon covering Elvis with Bill Bailey on cow bells! Brilliant BBC 2. #
• @vmdolphin Thanks for the #ff #
• Catching up with The Hour. #
• Burn Gorman is like a creapy young version of Stephen Rea's Gatehouse in The Shadow Line – although it could just be the hat. #
• @Danacea Have to agree. Went to it last weekend, twice. Once you get inside it ceases to be a modernist black box and becomes so much more #
• Is it just me or is having your bio on Google+ listing circles you can be added to and circles you can request to be in a tad arrogant? #
• @thedeadone I should have said it was someone I don't know, I've never heard of & there was no bio to suggest why I'd want to add them #
• I've never had the urge to model cars in 3D but I need a very specific look for some pictures so here goes… #

Last weekend I took myself to London to throw myself round a series of exhibitions. One of the highlights was going to see the 2011 Pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens by Peter Zumthor. I’d only seen shots of the outside and have to admit I was a bit concerned it was going to be a rather boring black box. Fortunately while from the outside it appears to be a plain black box punctured by rectangular openings on two sides it has a more interesting interior.

Going through one of the entrances you find yourself in a passageway that runs around the entire outside of the Pavilion openings into the interior staggered from the exterior lead into a rectangular courtyard.

The outer edge of the courtyard, below the buildings inward sloping roof, has continual bench seating broken only by the entrances. Simple chairs and tables are arranged around the edges. At the heart of the courtyard is a long thin bed planted densely with a variety of plants of different heights and colours.

I managed to get to see the gallery on two trips to the park. It reminds me of a cloister but as though designed for monks who have a very modernist, minimalist aesthetic taste. With its inward sloping roof I’d have been interested to see what the interior is like during a heavy rainstorm. I imagine that water races off the roofs, especially at the corners.

This years Pavilion will be at the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens London from July to October and entry is free.

• @xtamsynx DId you see BBC4's Perfume? I thought the custom perfumes at $2000 were expensive till they got to the £6000 vintage perfumes! #
• @Man_Chops Ah one of the classic. If you like that one look up the Guardian's San Serriffe supplement from the 1970s #
• @xtamsynx I know – that was my reaction. The really scary part was when an unnamed middle eastern buyer bought 9 bottles of the £6000 one! #
• @xtamsynx I'd forgotten there was a movie. Hope you enjoy the documentaries. I stumbled into the part 1 by accident but really enjoyed them. #
• @jearle Probably – so far we've seen a few of the lesser players wobble. The players who could be a Nixon are still in play. #
• I'd forgotten just how bad Word's typography was – even a cheap DTP like PagePlus lays text out so much more cleanly. #
• Turns out BBC story "Will writers 'rip off' thousands" isn't about inflating word counts or cloning Harry Potter for your next best seller #
• @ForbiddenPlanet I'd be more worried about what Mrs Peel is going to do with it in about 2.5 seconds… #
• 4 in 5 surveys quoted by media aimed to get business PR for free http://t.co/uGbiBcu #
• @jazzchantoozie But will they take my sitcom about a tabloid newspaper and the hilarious lengths they'll go to to get a story? #
• @jazzchantoozie Shame. Every day Drop the Dead Donkey looks more like a documentary. #
• @richard_iorio We have some air in our hydrosphere here too #
• @xtamsynx I was wondering if they'd actually made him up to look rougher! #
• @symatt Night. #
• @xtamsynx Hopefully they'll update Tweetdeck to add G+ so everything can streamlined. #
• This spec won't write itself… #
• @the_ravener I had a look at MapTools (free) which looked pretty good – not actually used it in anger yet. http://t.co/8CcnXAu #
• Seen enough is/isn't Google+ a Facebook/Twitter killer posts – I need a blog about when it will make me a toasted cheese sandwich #
• @dr_monkeyface @Drunken_Goblin I can assure you there was no collaboration & if asked I'll go before a parliamentary committee to say so #
• @symatt Well personally I'm not a big fan of music on websites I don't turn on but that may just be me #
• @symatt And nice work with the last couple I'd not seen until I just checked #
• @symatt WIth a podcast I'm expecting to listen to something – when I go to a webpage I'm listening to music or a podcast already #
• @KimKnox Now that is a cool image #
• @dr_monkeyface @Drunken_Goblin Hopefully this will clear up the confusion: http://bit.ly/qaFRHz imps have wings and tails #
• A new quick render of my avatar and he isn't happy about being mistaken for a Goblin http://bit.ly/qaFRHz #
• @Drunken_Goblin lol. I've not come across fungal goblins. I've a mini miniatures game about goblins that should be in an anthology sometime. #
• @Drunken_Goblin Thanks he's – all my own mashing up of other people's hard work but I have a soft spot for him #
• @Drunken_Goblin Ah Whfrp I remember playing it and college – think my first character was decapitated and lost an arm in our second fight #
• #withhindsight I'd not have bought that bright yellow jumper in the 1980's #
• #withhindsight opening the 6th bottle of wine was a bad idea. #
• @xtamsynx 6 was a bad idea, 7, 8 and 9 were when it went off the rails. #
• #withhindsight getting a Betamax was a bad idea. #
• @xtamsynx Fortunately it wasn't my dissertation that we were working on – and we had started at noon and finished at 8AM lol #
• #withhindsight invading Russia was a bad idea. #
• #withhindsight hiring Coulson was a bad idea. #
• @KadrinaLage Yeh! I was starting to think #withhindsight I shouldn't have started the #withhindsight hashtag lol #
• #withhindsight I should have asked where the information for the story we ran on page 1 came from. #
• @TheAngryDM Have you played Og where that would be "Small smelly thing thing thing sleep cave. Me You go bang short pointy thing." #
• @Troppers Are you watching Rick Stein's Spanish cooking show? #
• @Troppers To quote the West Wing: There's two things in the world you never want to let people see how you make 'em: laws and sausages. #
• @Troppers But seriously what I found interesting was that north Spanish black puddings have rice in them #
• @Troppers The price of the throats was a bit of a shock! DId look like an interesting place to visit – and eat #
• Is trying to come up with ways to corrupt Player Character's wrong? #rpg #
• @dreaming_iris lol. That could be a problem in some games. How to corrupt them further. #
• @thewritertype So you're an old fashioned anarchist – the kind for whom anarchy was an opportunity to take power during the chaos? #
• @dreaming_iris I've run that sort of game. Unfortunately my current party are so far shockingly sticking to the straight and narrow. #
• @dr_monkeyface Possibly a little more extreme than what I was planning on putting my players through but I can see the appeal lol #
• @sciamannata Excellent seems to be the general appeal is in luring your PCs off the straight and narrow #
• @thewritertype A friendlier approach than the one's Conrad was writing about. Do you worry that satirist are now part of "the system"? #
• @dr_monkeyface Shame – sometimes players just wont do what you want lol #
• @sciamannata Hm. No paladins in my setting but I wonder if I can find a way to work something like them in. Just to corrupt them lol #
• @sciamannata I've made a note – and I'll have a bit of a think on it #
• @cha0tic I was thinking the same – just give them opportunities to be corrupt and if they start on that slippery poll well then have… #
• @cha0tic … extra consequences that can come about as things go on. Advantages / Disadvantages are free but have consequences and GM… #
• @cha0tic …can hand out extras or take them away to fit. #
• @cha0tic I have about 1m length of GURPs books sat a bit too my right. So I know how it works #
• @cha0tic My game has Hooks instead – player gets some extras for their character but GM gets plot hooks tied to them they can use #
• @thewritertype I'd not thought of it quite like that but I like the idea. I've been wondering if the industrialization damaged its integrity #
• @cha0tic Good luck on your chipquest #
• @cha0tic Yup. In my game having Honest would make that PC the one who'd be asked to see if the guards were infiltrated by the thieves guild #
• @pookie_uk Do you mean the Great Patriotic War? #
• I love the smell of badly ventilated laser printer ozone in the evening. Not! #
• @call_me_salome Been spending time with David Icke again? #
• Wibble. Wibble. Wibble. Wibble. [Repeat till my brain returns to functioning] #
• @Danacea Gratz. Shame they don't pay even 1p a word. #
• @Dicecreator Nice #
• @Dicecreator WIll you be putting Serenity on all the dice or something different on each one? #
• @Dicecreator Cool #
• @symatt Good night #
• @MisterDrow I think one of the Fraternity of Shadows netbooks was on Ravenloft / aquatics http://bit.ly/n70jQG #
• @xtamsynx But my Chrysler building is a 5 inch high model #
• @xtamsynx lol. No winning with that one – if I'd said 12 inches you'd have had a reply too #
• If you had to pick one #rpg for its page layout which would you pick? And which one for the interior art? #
• @daneofwar Ok how about does a well laid out #rpg have a clean layout or an atmospheric layout? Is it varied or consistent? #
• @grahamwalmsley Original paranoia or a more recent edition? I get what you mean about layout. Are any frills a good idea? #
• @grahamwalmsley I was looking through some of my RPGs for inspiration laying out my homebrew better for players…. #
• @grahamwalmsley … Trying to decide between the artbook school of heavy design and simple clean, maybe with some minimal frills. #
• @daneofwar Cool. Thats the way I was leaning but good to get inclination of other people whose opinion I value #
• @DaddyDM Bye! #
• @Drunken_Goblin Thanks – I'll take a look at those #
• @simplychrista Thanks for the #ff #
• @DaddyDM Thanks for the #ff #
• We have discovered today that Segmentation like Fezzes are cool. #
• @vmdolphin Thanks for the #ff #
• @RobertWThomson Thanks for the #ff #
• @garymurning My Potted review: a solid thriller with action, a bit psychological but unremarkable. Full review http://bit.ly/gGRzEs #
• @garymurning So yup a good Saturday night movie #
• Today I have discovered I may have expensive tastes. I have also proved I have willpower… #
• First I saw the Margaret Howel / Kenneth Grange Plus Shirt http://bit.ly/mX4RYB and then I saw the £200+ price tag… #
• Then I saw the Quartz Series glasses http://bit.ly/n4lDgD and then I saw the £100+ a glass price tag… #
• @garymurning Cool. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did #
• So I was good and I just got the book Kenneth Grange – Making Britain Modern. Which smells new and looks better. #
• And if you can get to the Design Museum the Kenneth Grange exhibition is well worth a couple of hours and a few quid. http://bit.ly/qCmLph #
• Somehow it feels wrong to use tweetdeck to get bit.ly shortened links cause its already open – even if I'm not posting through tweetdeck #
• @pookie_uk That stinks. It really does. We all know who you are in our little community by that name. #
• Has two sore feet, a 2 inch deep stack of new books and a bottle of wine. #
• @pookie_uk Not wanting to make fun of your situation but do we get to have the two Steve Jacksons wrestle for the rights to the name? #
• @GRIMACHU I've managed to get most of the domain names around impworks to give me some claim to the word even if its not a trademark #
• @GRIMACHU To be fair I was confused by Grimachu when I first saw it but worked out who you were pretty quickly #
• @GRIMACHU I think from reading your profile but the swearing helped #
• @daneofwar @GRIMACHU I'm not surprised but sorry to see it happen to someone I know and their identity. #
• @daneofwar I've the DVD to get round to watching – I need to be in the right mood for Shane Meadows. #
• @daneofwar Will try to remember. Meadow's work often reminds me of the estate we lived on in the 70s. Lots of concrete and no nostalgia. #
• @daneofwar His first film 24/7 is worth a look. Sad that being B&W put people off seeing it. It added rather than took away from the film. #
• @daneofwar Even better – nice to get something good cheap – and if you don't like it I'll not feel so bad #
• @daneofwar Good luck. Bob Hoskins so often a pleasure to watch. #
• @GRIMACHU @daneofwar Except Super Mario Brothers – I showed that to an audience of 5 in a hall that sat 550 at Uni. #
• @GRIMACHU @daneofwar Plus side of that was we got to change the way we booked films – book a bit later but no more turkeys. #
• Only took 260ish photos today will have to try harder tomorrow #
• @ozrax @sylvester_33 Looks like Jeremy Brett's Sherlock http://bit.ly/roxHTc 1984-1994 #
• @sylvester_33 Looks like Jeremy Brett's Sherlock http://bit.ly/roxHTc 1984-1994 #
• @GRIMACHU Thinking back to you're earlier question wondering about some of Bourne Ultimatum sound track particularly Tangiers #
• @Danacea I'd not call what I'm drinking wine from a glass so we each have half a civilised drink. Cheers! #
• Great – inspiration hits after 3 mugs of wine at 11PM. Thankfully my handwriting isn't affected by drink – its always this bad lol #
• @symatt Nice. Riders or Snacks that haven't realised they're second breakfast yet #
• @garymurning Excellent #
• Culture Weekend Round 3: Modern Architecture – Done. Culture Round 4: Art – Here I come – just give me a minute to get my breath back #
• @MarcUpdates Morning #
• @symatt Its that whole halfling recipe hashtag all over again #
• Those works of art won't view themselves. Down periscope. #

…You’ll not like him when he’s angry.

My avatar was mistaken for a goblin’s mugshot and he really isn’t happy about it.  First he’s never been in trouble with the law.  So they don’t have his DNA, clawprints or photograph on file.  Secondly he’s not a goblin:  Goblins don’t have tails or wings – at least not the goblins he’s come across.

• Reports of my leaving twitter are greatly exaggerated. Well they would be if anyone had reported that. #
• @Stigmatyr Yes they would have but they dropped the story in favour of the cover from the famous dog trapped under bridge issue. #
• @TrapCast_Jenn Can we cling to the sides or underneath while doing an Indiana Jones impersonations? #
• @grahamwalmsley What was life like before BBC4 documentaries #
• Just stumbled on this quote… "Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art." Claude Debussy #
• Why does something going without a hitch make me nervous? #
• @garymurning I'm sure you can get a lotion for that #
• @garymurning Go to your chemist and ask for Tincture of Welsh Brydon – effective in 95% cases of Cooganitis they should have it in stock #
• @garymurning Thank you #
• @grahamwalmsley Had to look Phenomenology vaguely remembered it. Must be from from musing of architects at Uni. #
• @xtamsynx My sandwiches would confuse you since they're spread free. #
• Paul Trevor – Like you’ve Never Been Away at the Walker http://t.co/gMjI53D #
• @xtamsynx Not usually, I've years of practice. A slice of cucumber did make a break for freedom yesterday. It got eat anyway. #
• @simonjrogers Weird stat: companies whose clients have minor issues that are resolved promptly retain more than ones who never have issues #
• I think the first spec I've ever seen that includes smilies. Thankfully no "i" with hearts as dots or doodles in the margin #
• A bit more filling written for Jam Sandwich – and now some dull website stuff to do #
• Step 1 of boring stuff done: 5 sites updated to WordPress 3.2.1 without a hitch. #
• Bored now – but 500 potential broken links reduced to 50 left to do #
• Summary of Yells "plan": Waste SMEs time with cold calls because they can RT @guardiantech:Yell targets small businesses http://t.co/Fl1MALu #
• Tonight Matthew, I'm going to be Davros RT @RogerQuimbly: Rupert Murdoch sends emissaries to respond to Parliament. http://t.co/0DT1H0J #
• Overheard in a shop book: "Do you have any inflammatories?" "Sorry we don't stock Mein Kampf or anything like that" "For my legs" #
• @symatt Yes please #
• @symatt Nice #
• @symatt Not at all, keep them coming #
• @symatt I count for two at most (possibly) but that makes the others have to go 29 times so they're really keen (or possibly married to you) #
• @TheAngryDM Not as far as I know. #
• @symatt Then you have two really, really, really good friends #
• @DaddyDM @symatt So now it starts coming out and the finger pointing begins – I think it was the Gnoll on the grassy mound #
• @DaddyDM You're one of those that says the Gnoll was minding its own business by the railway line & tries to pin it on the shambling mound? #
• @DaddyDM A Hob-Knob could be the accidental cross of a Hobgoblin and a door #
• The first draft of a chapter of Jam Sandwich is that is 9436 of background and I've not started on the crunch to go with it #rpg #
• @Troppers I can guarantee that it won't be predictable a month in advance due to that chaos butterfly flapping its wings #
• BILLY BRAGG – Never Buy the Sun http://t.co/IcwhjHI #
• @GRIMACHU I've had a HP colour laser for a couple of years and it was a really good buy. Still on first set of ink cartridges! #
• "It's only a matter of time before they take over Farmville and turn it into a communist dystopia." lol http://t.co/UoM7Zsq #
• @Domikko Thanks for the #ff #
• If you find my energy could you please return it to me as I seem to have misplaced it somewhere this week. #
• @symatt Really sorry to here that #
• @symatt So what happens now? #
• @6violet9 Thanks for the #FF #
• Watching BBC4's excellent 1960: Year of the North #
• @daneofwar If you squint can you see a dung beetle pushing it along? #
• BBC4's 1960: Year of the North very good but didn't go beyond the usual suspect films, books and TV – No Hell is a City #
• @xtamsynx Tweets – yes. Actual items – no #
• @simplychrista Try http://bit.ly/nFHNoD #
• @simplychrista Weird – it gets mine and while I'm not in your league I've more tweets than that #
• @simplychrista Shame – saddly with all the JS tricking twitter's site to give it you probably wouldn't be easy anymore #
• @simplychrista While twitter is about the now being able to access historical content would be nice – even if firsts tweets aren't profound #
• @simplychrista From memory I think the Library of Congress holds an official archive of every tweet #
• @simplychrista If nothing else they'll have value to historians. There are already worries about the lost history of early websites. #
• @simplychrista Our boring paperwork is out descendents' family history #
• @simplychrista Sadly won't be the last time that happens #
• The rain has really freshened everything up nicely – now if the sun could just make an appearance… #
• @daneofwar Tomorrow – if the weather maps are right it'll hit you around 5 or 6 tonight #
• @Stigmatyr Hello. #
• @daneofwar Is that better or worse than my prediction? #
• Time for a little writing – Down Periscope #
• @vmdolphin Thanks for the #ff #
• Stopped writing as Big Cat kept growing tangentially. So I started messing around with layouts which is why I'm hunting the perfect fonts. #
• @RobertWThomson I've seen that a lot lately – amazon need to do something before it affects their reputation. #
• @RobertWThomson I saw an in print £10 going for £65 + £20 p&p the other week. Really do some of the sellers think we're idiots? #
• @RobertWThomson Have to wonder if some of those sellers actually ever make any money or just wonder why they have masses of unsold stock #
• @RobertWThomson Reminds me of a comic store owner who filled his basement with 1st issues as they would be rare, sold little & went bust… #
• @RobertWThomson a chain bought him out & made a killing clearing the basement as some of it was already rare just not as rare as he wanted #
• Secret of the Pop on BBC2 song lyric they're working on has "my precious time" in the chorus. Sounds good but I keep thinking of Golem… #

In a smaller gallery next to the Art in Revolution: Liverpool 1911 is an exhibition of black and white photographs by Paul Trevor of inner city Liverpool taken in 1975.  The exhibition features a sequence of stunning images that reflect both the poverty and material decay that afflicted inner city life in the 1970s.  Most of the pictures feature children and amongst the battered landscape they add a sense of joy, hope, happiness and freedom.

Like you’ve Never Been Away is free and is at the Walker until 25th September and is well worth a visit if you’re passing.  An excellent way to spend a lunch hour if you work in Liverpool City Centre.

• Lawn – Cut. Windows – Washed. Papers – Filed. Floors – Scrubbed. Dinner – Eaten. Relaxing – Now. #
• Is it just me or is there something suspicious about online shops listing in print 2nd hand books for 10 times the price of the new book? #
• @cha0tic That's what I normally think but in this case only a hardback and a paperback edition exist (both 2009) – both still in print! #
• @pinpointzero Night #
• @TeamDraven Resist (Sorry the comedy accent just doesn't come across in a tweet) #
• Is there a Beer thing going on? Three of the last four tweets I've seen all mention beer. Is 22:48 GMT / 17:48 EDT Beer O Clock? #
• Rain managed to raise the humidity with little change in the temperature so its now hot and moist #
• Paul Trevor 's Like you've Never Been Away is hard to get into. Its wrapped in the book version of a transparent, skin tight, latex catsuit. #
• Yeh! Cracked it – nail scissors to make a tiny incision at one corner then carefully peel the plastic off. Now enjoying new art book smell. #
• @CraigWFSmith If you use an RSS reader I find piping them to that makes them really easy to manage. #
• @CraigWFSmith I find Google Reader is pretty handy http://bit.ly/Bl1G6 and added bonus that it's free #
• @sylvester_33 I know the new book smell is solvents & old book smell is decay but I'd miss them both if they weren't there lol #
• @eyedoubleyou The front pages today Tabloids front pages today were a joke. Can you imagine the headlines if it hadn't been journalists? #
• Was there any B5? Starbug but no Red Dwarf? RT @eyedoubleyou: SF Spacecraft Top 75 – http://j.mp/fTcAb – Where is the Shadows ships from B5? #
• @DanDiplo Was that the one that was found in a back garden and led to an evacuation because it had radiation/bio hazard symbols on it? #
• @CraigWFSmith Just messing around with getting my new machine up and running 64bit at last so I'm not running out of RAM #
• @CraigWFSmith Cool Reader is great – keep up with your favorite websites without having to keep going and looking to see if its changed #
• @CraigWFSmith I've literally hundreds but I'm not sure I could suggest any – 3d sites aren't so good at doing feeds #
• @CraigWFSmith Doh! I'm to buried in 3D stuff today – writers blogs I follow – http://bit.ly/Y3BFx and http://bit.ly/a45vKl are good #
• @DanDiplo To think that a little bucket like that once caused panic, cleared streets and made national news in the '70s. Simpler times #
• Now there is some data I could raise a glass too RT @datastore: Wine strengths by country http://bit.ly/l31nF2 #
• 5 WordPress sites updated – had to tweak the htaccess of one to set the PHP version – otherwise no other complications #
• The sky keeps getting darker and darker – at this rate I expect the hordes from Mordor to arrive within the hour… #
• @TeamDraven Should arrive just in time for supper. Excellent. I'll put the kettle on. #
• 5 inch thick pile of paperwork cleared out. Now an early lunch. Next fun. #
• @call_me_salome Fingers crossed he does #
• @call_me_salome So he fixed it for you then? Excellent #
• Useless empirical observation: my shredder increases the volume of paper by a factor of ten. Jumping up & down on it only halves the volume #
• @shainorton A little stress relief and a certain amount of childish fun #
• @ehlanakovas If I have quite a lot of unused compost as it is. My gardening is on a strictly controlling the hedge and grass basis. #
• @inrepose Only the giant space hamsters I use is fake spoiler posts who'd get through it in no time at all. If they weren't fictional #
• @ehlanakovas While the principal would be sound the carbon footprint of transporting it to you would outway any environmental benefit #
• @CharlesMRyan A rather graphical example of the failure of quality control, cost control and everything else that went wrong #
• @jearle Your double life finally coming to light there #
• @symatt Good luck #
• So when a cop show prominently features a strip joint in the pilot & in titles its telling us its not going to be the next The Wire, right? #
• @GRIMACHU lol – 5 USA will have that just as soon as its been through a Cable channel – I'm guessing Sky will pass on importing it #
• @GRIMACHU NCSI: Navel Criminal Stripclub Investigation – With lots of forensics on little bits of fluff and hunt for piercings. #
• @GRIMACHU Ealing Studios' The Red Lamp and the long running BBC spin off I'm too polite to mention #
• So much for the allegorical fairy tale about the Princess and News Fairies I was writing – overtaken by events before the ink was dry lol #
• BBC2's shouldn't worry that Mock the Week was very funny but had no mention of phone hacking – no one will notice when its repeated on Dave #
• @jearle If this thing gets bigger he'll end up on a whole other level to JL. #
• @dr_monkeyface Thanks for the #ff #
• Is today National Stop Suddenly in Awkward Places Day? #
• @xtamsynx Well I'd need to find a new job & waiting in the banks would be a pain but on the balance it wouldn't be the end of the world #
• Great word – minimum Scrabble: 13 points RT @KimKnox: I got to use the word 'libidinous' in a post. Love that word. http://bit.ly/nMZT1d #
• @GRIMACHU Local colour is good. Do game writers in non-English speaking countries worry about International appeal in the same way as Brits? #
• @GRIMACHU I agree but I'm not sure its as much of an obstacle as it appears – your starting at no worse place than a unique sf/f setting #
• @DaddyDM Thanks for the #FF #
• I like Google+ but what I really need is TweetDeck integration so I can do all my other social networking in one place #
• @DaddyDM Hard to say but I do appreciate the thought and effort – I only FFs occasionally as I end up spending ages deciding who to include #
• @DaddyDM I do have a list but each time I do FF I end up revising it and checking everyone's still got the same username / still exists etc #
• @xtamsynx I'm not sure yet but personally right now Google+ is Facebook with the control over sharing I've always wanted #
• @call_me_salome Or if you do make sure you mix them like the cocktails Bernard used to serve on Yes Minister/PM #

• Lawn – Cut. Windows – Washed. Papers – Filed. Floors – Scrubbed. Dinner – Eaten. Relaxing – Now. #
• Is it just me or is there something suspicious about online shops listing in print 2nd hand books for 10 times the price of the new book? #
• @cha0tic That's what I normally think but in this case only a hardback and a paperback edition exist (both 2009) – both still in print! #
• @pinpointzero Night #
• @TeamDraven Resist (Sorry the comedy accent just doesn't come across in a tweet) #
• Is there a Beer thing going on? Three of the last four tweets I've seen all mention beer. Is 22:48 GMT / 17:48 EDT Beer O Clock? #
• Rain managed to raise the humidity with little change in the temperature so its now hot and moist #
• Paul Trevor 's Like you've Never Been Away is hard to get into. Its wrapped in the book version of a transparent, skin tight, latex catsuit. #
• Yeh! Cracked it – nail scissors to make a tiny incision at one corner then carefully peel the plastic off. Now enjoying new art book smell. #
• @CraigWFSmith If you use an RSS reader I find piping them to that makes them really easy to manage. #
• @CraigWFSmith I find Google Reader is pretty handy http://bit.ly/Bl1G6 and added bonus that it's free #
• @sylvester_33 I know the new book smell is solvents & old book smell is decay but I'd miss them both if they weren't there lol #
• @eyedoubleyou The front pages today Tabloids front pages today were a joke. Can you imagine the headlines if it hadn't been journalists? #
• Was there any B5? Starbug but no Red Dwarf? RT @eyedoubleyou: SF Spacecraft Top 75 – http://j.mp/fTcAb – Where is the Shadows ships from B5? #
• @DanDiplo Was that the one that was found in a back garden and led to an evacuation because it had radiation/bio hazard symbols on it? #
• @CraigWFSmith Just messing around with getting my new machine up and running 64bit at last so I'm not running out of RAM #
• @CraigWFSmith Cool Reader is great – keep up with your favorite websites without having to keep going and looking to see if its changed #
• @CraigWFSmith I've literally hundreds but I'm not sure I could suggest any – 3d sites aren't so good at doing feeds #
• @CraigWFSmith Doh! I'm to buried in 3D stuff today – writers blogs I follow – http://bit.ly/Y3BFx and http://bit.ly/a45vKl are good #
• @DanDiplo To think that a little bucket like that once caused panic, cleared streets and made national news in the '70s. Simpler times #
• Now there is some data I could raise a glass too RT @datastore: Wine strengths by country http://bit.ly/l31nF2 #
• 5 WordPress sites updated – had to tweak the htaccess of one to set the PHP version – otherwise no other complications #
• The sky keeps getting darker and darker – at this rate I expect the hordes from Mordor to arrive within the hour… #
• @TeamDraven Should arrive just in time for supper. Excellent. I'll put the kettle on. #
• 5 inch thick pile of paperwork cleared out. Now an early lunch. Next fun. #
• @call_me_salome Fingers crossed he does #
• @call_me_salome So he fixed it for you then? Excellent #
• Useless empirical observation: my shredder increases the volume of paper by a factor of ten. Jumping up & down on it only halves the volume #
• @shainorton A little stress relief and a certain amount of childish fun #
• @ehlanakovas If I have quite a lot of unused compost as it is. My gardening is on a strictly controlling the hedge and grass basis. #
• @inrepose Only the giant space hamsters I use is fake spoiler posts who'd get through it in no time at all. If they weren't fictional #
• @ehlanakovas While the principal would be sound the carbon footprint of transporting it to you would outway any environmental benefit #
• @CharlesMRyan A rather graphical example of the failure of quality control, cost control and everything else that went wrong #
• @jearle Your double life finally coming to light there #
• @symatt Good luck #
• So when a cop show prominently features a strip joint in the pilot & in titles its telling us its not going to be the next The Wire, right? #
• @GRIMACHU lol – 5 USA will have that just as soon as its been through a Cable channel – I'm guessing Sky will pass on importing it #
• @GRIMACHU NCSI: Navel Criminal Stripclub Investigation – With lots of forensics on little bits of fluff and hunt for piercings. #
• @GRIMACHU Ealing Studios' The Red Lamp and the long running BBC spin off I'm too polite to mention #
• So much for the allegorical fairy tale about the Princess and News Fairies I was writing – overtaken by events before the ink was dry lol #
• BBC2's shouldn't worry that Mock the Week was very funny but had no mention of phone hacking – no one will notice when its repeated on Dave #
• @jearle If this thing gets bigger he'll end up on a whole other level to JL. #
• @dr_monkeyface Thanks for the #ff #
• Is today National Stop Suddenly in Awkward Places Day? #
• @xtamsynx Well I'd need to find a new job & waiting in the banks would be a pain but on the balance it wouldn't be the end of the world #
• Great word – minimum Scrabble: 13 points RT @KimKnox: I got to use the word 'libidinous' in a post. Love that word. http://bit.ly/nMZT1d #
• @GRIMACHU Local colour is good. Do game writers in non-English speaking countries worry about International appeal in the same way as Brits? #
• @GRIMACHU I agree but I'm not sure its as much of an obstacle as it appears – your starting at no worse place than a unique sf/f setting #
• @DaddyDM Thanks for the #FF #
• I like Google+ but what I really need is TweetDeck integration so I can do all my other social networking in one place #
• @DaddyDM Hard to say but I do appreciate the thought and effort – I only FFs occasionally as I end up spending ages deciding who to include #
• @DaddyDM I do have a list but each time I do FF I end up revising it and checking everyone's still got the same username / still exists etc #
• @xtamsynx I'm not sure yet but personally right now Google+ is Facebook with the control over sharing I've always wanted #
• @call_me_salome Or if you do make sure you mix them like the cocktails Bernard used to serve on Yes Minister/PM #

The Art in Revolution: Liverpool 1911 exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery celebrates the centenary of the 1911 exhibition of Post-Impressionist works and local avant-garde artists at the Bluecoat  (The Sandon Studios Society exhibition of Modern Art including work by the Post-Impressionists).  The breadth of styles is breath-taking – there are works by van Gogh, Gauguin  and Signac.   The art runs around the outside of the gallery its being shown in.

At the heart of the exhibition, literally and metaphorically, is a focus on events in Liverpool during the hot summer of 1911.  There were strikes; a peaceful protest on St George’s Plateau that turned ugly after police apparently overreacted to a minor incident with a baton charge to clear the area; troops stationed in the city; and H.M.S. Antrim stationed in the Mersey.  Black and white film of the disturbances plays in the foyer as you enter and then exhibits in the middle of the gallery, along with a timeline on one wall, place the revolutionary artwork in the context of the time it was being shown in.

A final, smaller room shows works that created in the years afterwards, how the art influenced other areas of design and photographic prints exhibited at the Walker in its 1911 exhibition.

The Liverpool Revolution 1911 is well worth a visit if you’re in Liverpool.  It runs till 25th September 2011 and entry is free.

A quick post for a quick render – Sunrise City – my first proper test render with my new 64 Bit PC built entirely with it.  My last PC was supposed to be 64 Bit but there was a complication in the manufacturing (otherwise known as Dell used some 32 Bit parts thus rendering the whole box trapped in a 32 Bit body with 64 Bit RAM and Processor).   Anyway I’m now enjoying the 64 Bit life style.  This quick image was made by taking a quickly built Wizard City from CityEngine and dropping it into Vue 9.5 Infinite.  A few tweaks to one of the out of the box atmospheres to make it redder, to add a low cloud layer and to darken the buildings’ materials so they became stronger silhouettes and nine minutes later a larger version of the cityscape above was done.  Resources never dropped below 85% even with both Vue and CityEngine running at the same time.