Posts Tagged ‘free’

So a nicely put together time travelling episode that not only managed the emotional plot development and remained reasonably logical throughout. Along with a hint of the shows darker side although given a get out of jail free card to do something nasty because the alternative was worse. The time constraints of the single episode story structure unfortunately limit the chance to include secondary plot lines. It would have been nice, for example, if there had been something or someone in Pompeii that The Doctor would like to have not destroyed but would, for whatever reason, been unable to rescue. Unfortunately I know they can’t do that in a 40 minute show. My only other complaint would be the same as last week: some of the green screen work looks like it was done on the late 90s incarnation of the show.

I have to congratulate Ryan Air’s marketing department. One very cheap looking advert designed to offend and attract attention and they get it all over the BBC news and web site for free. It’s not the first time one of these ads has gotten on to the BBC. Twelve people complained about the advert. I wonder did eleven of them work for Ryan Air’s marketing department? Someone please wake up and realise you’re being used.

I do see the irony in blogging about it too…

Went out with a few friends for a pre Christmas drink in Liverpool tonight. We met in a city centre pub for convenience. We might have stayed there if they hadn’t hired the kind of DJ who finds it hard to mix from one track to the next and tries to cover it up by playing the music as loud as possible. However he seemed to be popular with the group of already inebriated women at a nearby table who were constantly running in and out of the pub for a cigarette.

The second pub we visited was a more sedate atmosphere free of music until a small choir began singing carols. Now I’m picky about carols in pubs. If your going to ask me for money I want to at least hear you make an effort. I have a mental tick at the first hint of carols these days from too many choirs gone bad. However for once I was soon enjoying some of the best carol singing I’ve heard in Liverpool.
I think they said they were the Philamonic Choir but I could be wrong and they were singing to raise money for Shelter. They really gave the end of the evening a special ambiance.

As I was walking past the first pub we’d been to to get the last bus home I noticed the same women dancing to the same song that had been on as we left three hours earlier. So I think they had the ambiance they were looking for too. Hope they had as good an evening as we did.

This article on the BBC web site intrigued me earlier Boys of 12 ‘abusing asteroids’. Turns out I’d miss read it and it was Boys of 12 ‘abusing steroids’ serious but no where near as intriguing.

Angel wings ‘unsafe’ for nativity. Political Correctness not the same as Health and Safety. Plus isn’t the BBC giving allfairythings.com store owner a free advert- one that they couldn’t buy? I find the person-in-the-street saying it’s Political Correctness gone mad line an anoying bad cliche but someone who gets free publicity for their business saying it – thats sloppy journalism. It’s Friday, it’s raining outside some BBC journalist couldn’t be bothered to go out in the cold for the quote just e-mail someone pretty much guaranteed to say it instead.

And finally Postman leaves DVD package in bin: Hope she gets the full refund and not just £34. Does make me wonder if this is what happened with a phone book that was "Left in a hidden place" by a postman for me a few years ago. I’ve been dreading suddenly discovering it ever since.

Astonishing Adventures Magazine Issue 1 is now available in print through Lulu and includes my short story, The Electron Jockey. The free PDF of Astonishing Adventures Magazine Issue 1 is also still available.

1. Boy Meets Girl – Waiting for a Star to Fall
2. Bob Marley – Iron Lion Zion
3. Beverly Craven – Promise me
4. Tasmin Archer – Sleeping Satellite
5. Jennifer Warnes – First We Take Manhattan
6. Level 42 – Running in the Family
7. Pearl Jam / Neil Young: Rockin in the free world
8. Michael McDonald – Sweet Freedom
9. Mark Cohn – Walking in Memphis
10. tanita tikaram – Good Tradition
11. Starship-Nothing´s Gonna Stop Us Now
12. John Farnham – You’re The Voice
13. Midnight Oil – Beds are Burning

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. Adulescent – Dresses and acts like he’s 16 although he’s now in his 30s.
2. Barbiedcutie - Would be attractive woman who has spent too long on the sunbeds.
3. Brandroid – Everything in their life has a brand on it not just their clothes.
4. Imobilised phone – In front of you at the check out with only a few items but too
   busy on their phone to pay, pack and move on. Shop assistants won’t challenge them if you do your clearly a lower form of life.
5. Robbin’ Hoodies – Hoodie wearing youths hanging round wherever there is light with no where better to go.
6. Mosher – Neo Goths in their all black uniforms hanging round where the Robbin’ Hoodies aren’t.
7. Sugar Plum Scary – Some mothers used to dress their kids to look like them and that was frightening. Now some mothers dress like their 8 year old which is far, far, far scarier.
8. Anorakxia – Thin, pale individuals who frequently lack social skills but who can bore you on a diverse range of subjects from Apples latest Operating System to a TV show that isn’t available over here yet but they’ve downloaded the first three series from the US.
9. Black Collar Worker – People who work in marketing and other creative jobs who who wear a uniform of designer jeans and polo neck shirts in ten thousand shades of black.
10. iPod Shuffler – They move in a rythmic way that suddenly jumps as their iPod randomly picks another track.
11. Sticker Stacker – You see them in the supermarket. They came in for milk and bread but the lure of Buy One Get One free was too much and now they can’t decide how many they need so they’ll have to take the lot.
12. Saga Louts – Over sixty, Over there and Over the Top. But most of the time over here wanting to be over there. You may find them, as I did tonight, hanging round bus stops. My Saga Lout told me about the football score and then told me a dozen jokes. Badly. Then he wandered off without catching a bus.
13. Google Eyed – Someone who has spent too much time on the Internet and now has a rather odd stare

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Miss January 2008: Skenan Ann Bones ~ She wants to be a famous model at all the best shows.

Miss February: Finnea Bone ~ She’s got a great sense of humour

Miss March: Di Bones ~ She Welsh and she mixes a great martini

Miss April: Bona Fide ~ An Italian lady who cannot tell a lie so please don’t ask her age

Miss May: Bon Voyage ~ Wants to see the world

Miss June: Boneshaker ~ She loves to dance

Miss July: Boneanza ~ She just adores Lorne Greene

Miss August: "Hip" Bone ~ She’s just one cool chick

Miss September: Bonhomie – A little ostentatious but benevolent too

Miss October: Bon Marche ~ She’s French and she likes discount shopping

Miss November: Bonehead ~ Not the brightest skeleton in the pack

Miss December: Talulah Bonny ~ A good looking lass with great ankles

Bonus Girl: Shelly "Bob" ~ Favourite TV Show: Blackadder

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. A reasonably up to date computer with at least the recommended specification for any of the software.
2. For landscapes I use Vue. There are different versions Vue 6 Easel is the cheapest and a good starting point or if you have a bit more cash to spend get Vue 6 Esprite. Once you know what your doing you’ll probably want Vue Infinite, which I use and which was used for Pirates of the Caribbean II and III.
3. For adding figures Poser 7 and a willingness to overcome an interface which many find frustrating. The alternative is Daz Studio which is free and has a nicer interface but doesn’t work as well with Vue.
4. To touch up or play with your finished pictures Photoshop Elements is a good choice. I find Photoshop elements does most things I want to and isn’t going to set me back by a huge chunk of cash. If you want to dive into animation you can get Premier Element bundled in too but I’d get the hang of the basics of still 3D work first as animation is a lot harder to learn.
5. Vue 6 Revealed is a good book to help you learn.
6. For sea pictures Monsoon’s Sea Vue adds some nice extra stuff you can use in your pictures.
7. For space pictures Monsoon’s Postcards from the Rim.
8. For landscapes the TerraPak toolkit for Vue 6 is a great starting point.
9. Vue comes with some plants but you’ll probably want more. Realms Art, Martin Frost and Linda Daireaux’ Incredibly Lush plants at Cornucopia 3D are all well worth considering.
10. I’ve been a member of Daz’s Platinum Club since it launched. It lets you buy lots of Poser and Daz Studio stuff cheap or at a discount. Once you’ve got it you’ll probably want Victoria 4 and Michael 3 and some of their basic clothing packs. I’d suggest restraint though. Don’t get drawn into buying every shinny new outfit with a discount. Buy the ones you need for a specific picture when you’re going to make it.
11. If you got Vue 6 Infinite and you’re working with Poser figures SkinVue and the Daz and/or Poser plug in depending on which figures you use will improve the look of your figures in Vue.
12. Keep and eye on 3D World Magazine and to a lesser extent ImagineFX and some of the other computer graphics magazines like Computer Arts for useful free stuff and tutorials. I’d be careful of Digit as it’s cover disc often sounds more tempting than it really is, in my opinion.
13. Time to work through vue tutorials, time to spend on vue forums asking questions and time to play more.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

I’ve finished the first two variations of my paper house model

Update: These models are now available free from the impworks web site cardboard buoings page.